South Florida Business Journal articles from December 1998

South Florida Business Journal archives from December 1998

Health-care coverage gets a chill.(Florida)
December 4, 1998... Florida's smallest businesses, already set back by double-digit increases on their medical insurance bills, will soon have fewer health plans to choose from. Three health maintenance organizations recently announced that they are leaving...

Net stocks' allure may help IPO.(initial public offering by Smith-Gardner and Assocs Inc)
December 4, 1998... Software maker Smith-Gardner & Associates, which withdrew plans to go public when the market short-circuited this fall, will try again to connect with investors early next year. The Delray Beach-based company had planned to raise $40...

Spec buildings were too speculative.(slumping Boca Raton, FL's speculative building market)
December 4, 1998... Proposed office buildings by industry leaders CarrAmerica and Opus South Corp. are the first casualties of Boca Raton's speculative building boom. Both firms had announced plans before this summer's roller coaster stock market ride to...

Digital age changes printers' image.(commercial printers in south Florida)
December 4, 1998... In 1862, Uncle Sam literally made money with the Spyder hand press, a revolutionary machine. Today, that same innovation is paying off in a different way - modern machines that make money for printers. New processes developed from...

State HMOs' return to profitability signals stabilization.(Florida managed care industry slowly revives after 1997 reversal)
December 4, 1998... Florida's managed care industry has begun to recover from last year's unprecedented statewide loss, according to a new report based on the latest financial data. Although more than half of the state's health maintenance organizations lost...

Pushing the limits: commercial real estate cycles down after a good start in '98.(Florida)
December 25, 1998... What a difference a year makes. The year started amid a heady commercial real estate boom. Prices were rising and real estate investment trusts were on a buying spree. But 1998 ended on a more sober note. Some wondered about...

International volatility hits home.(business in Florida)
December 25, 1998... Dual forces were at work in South Florida's international business community in 1998. On one hand, there was growth, organization and maturation of trade resources from West Palm Beach to Miami-Dade. In West Palm Beach, the beginnings...

Rexall hopes Alzheimer's supplement will be a boost.(Rexall Sundown is depending on a new botanical supplement)
December 25, 1998... Rexall Sundown is counting on a new botanical supplement that may help fight Alzheimer's Disease to help power its future growth. Rexall officials are upbeat about NeuroSharp, a proprietary blend of Cat's Claw, a supplement derived from a...

Quick-pizza chain heads out of town to open first site.
December 25, 1998... Pizza Place, a new Palm Beach Gardens-based pizza vendor, has decided to leave town to introduce its new chain of drive-through restaurants, saying Palm Beach County zoning regulations are too restrictive. American Kiosk Corporation (OTC:...

Hospitality, retail industries continue strong growth.
December 25, 1998... An unseasonably warm winter up North and a shaky summer and fall for Wall Street and world markets did not seem to stymie the growth of South Florida's intricately connected retail, hospitality and tourism industries. The region has seen...

Acquisitions, snarls mark public companies.(Florida)
December 25, 1998... Like the stock market, the year for public companies in South Florida has been up and down. The merger, acquisition and IPO craze of the past was replaced by a frenzy of Nasdaq delistings and shareholder lawsuits. But for those select few...

Taking the high (tech) road: South Florida's high-tech industry has a banner year.(1998)
December 25, 1998... Although it is considered to be in its infant stage, South Florida's high-tech industry still made strides this year. Since 1990, Florida has added more than 15,000 high-tech jobs, making it the sixth-highest cyberstate in the country....

Barnett deal overshadows other bank deals.(Florida banking industry in 1998)(Industry Overview)
December 25, 1998... "Arrivals and Departures" might be an apt title for South Florida banking in 1998. Seven mergers announced during the year had a South Florida-based bank or savings and loan being acquired, according to SNL Securities of Charlottesville, Va....

Realities of managed care dominate medical field.(Florida health care industry in 1998)
December 25, 1998... Despite more than two decades of dealing with health maintenance organizations, South Florida's health-care industry spent much of 1998 adjusting to managed care demands. This is not to say that Florida's HMOs weathered 1998 without making...

No room at the table: S. Florida women still face glass wall on way to executive board rooms.
December 25, 1998... Women climbing corporate ladders in South Florida are still fighting for room at the top. The 1998 Catalyst Census of Women study published last month found that nationally, 11.2 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officers are women, up from...

A new way to surf at the beach: Ford Lauderdale's Internet Cafe allows tourists and business people to do their thing online.
December 25, 1998... Andrew Wagner, a media planner for Venture Direct Worldwide in New York, knew he d spend a few days working during his one-week vacation to South Florida to visit his folks. Since most of his work involves setting up online advertising...