The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) articles from May 1996

The Business Journal (Serving Greater Tampa Bay) archives from May 1996

Despite swelling demand, sponge industry keeps sinking. (Tarpon Springs businesses affected by decline)(Industry Overview)
May 31, 1996... Sponge fishing, the driving force behind the Tarpon Springs economy for most of this century, is in decline - and the state is being blamed for making things worse. Sponge fishing interests say state government has not only failed to do...

Citicorp may buy 150-acre parcel. (plans to purchase Sabal Park property)
May 31, 1996... Citicorp, which employs about 1,000 people in the Bay Area, has reportedly made an offer to buy 150 acres in Hillsborough County's Sabal Park where it would build a campus-style, back-office operation. According to various real estate...

State's tax bite: 15th lightest in nation. (Florida's taxation rating)
May 31, 1996... When it comes to taxes, Floridians probably shouldn't complain that loudly. At the per capita rate of $1,276 per person, Florida has the 15th lightest total tax burden in the United States, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures for 1994,...

Institution puts its money behind overseas deals; Latin America, Caribbean key areas for Hamilton Bank. (includes profile of Carlos Gonzalez, Hamilton Bank's vice president for Central Florida)
May 31, 1996... Julio Moisa had a mid-life crisis of sorts a couple of years back. "I just got burned out," he said. "I needed to take a break." It was a break from which his company is just now recovering. Moisa had hired a president to run his Tampa...

Manufacturing overseas may be exporter's next step: Walter International casts eye on Chile, China. (Jim Walter International Corp.)(Company Profile)
May 31, 1996... Walter International casts eye on Chile, China In the past two months alone, Arthur Noriega has traveled from Australia to Thailand, Singapore to Brazil, with several exotic stops in between. "It goes in spurts," said Noriega, vice...

Shooting for a higher profile: Sarasota studio focuses on digital technology. (Dickinson studios)(Company Profile)
May 31, 1996... The high-jumper in the photograph on the cover of Florida Progress Corp.'s 1995 annual report is in mid-air, hanging just above the bar. He is, in a sense, halfway between the world of assets and liabilities, and the realm in which an investor...

TransCor Waste Services Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 31, 1996... (TRCW - Nasdaq) 1502 Second Ave. E., Tampa 33605 (813) 248-5885 TransCor Waste Services is a full-service solid waste management company serving commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers. Its services are conducted through...

Joffrey's new, lower-octane growth plans. (Joffrey's Coffee and Tea Co.)
May 24, 1996... You might say that Jeffrey's has woken up and smelled the coffee. The Tampa-based coffeehouse chain, which once saw itself as a Starbucks-wannabe, has ground up its ambitious growth plans after coming up short in the booming specialty coffee...

On the right track: CSX reports rise in shipments. (CSX Intermodal Inc.)
May 24, 1996... Fueling it all: A mishap at sea, demand for twine The CSX Intermodal rail facility in Tampa, the nucleus of a transportation network from which hundreds of trailers and containers are shipped every day, has seen a sharp spike in its business...

Investment banker to launch IPOs in cyberspace. (Briggs, Weber and Co.)
May 24, 1996... Laurence D. Briggs admits his stock-selling service isn't for everyone. "If you want to buy IBM, don't come to us," the 46-year-old president of Tampa investment bankers Briggs Weber & Co. said. Instead, Briggs is in business as the...

Briggs Industries retires chairman, brings in new CEO. (former chairman Jack Huss replaced with Kenneth R. Wells)
May 24, 1996... Briggs Industries, a national manufacturer of toilets, bathtubs and sinks, has been handing out new keys to its executive washrooms. Jack Huss, the former chairman, president and CEO of the Tampa company, has retired after 10 years at the...

Norwegian company buys Trafalgar's British parent. (Kvaerner AS acquires Trafalgar House PLC)
May 24, 1996... Trafalgar House Plc., the British parent company of Tampa-based Trafalgar House Construction, has been acquired by a Norwegian engineering company for about $1.4 billion. The deal gives Tampa the added distinction of being the U.S...

Florida in running for biotech firm's headquarters. (USBiomaterials Corp.)
May 24, 1996... One of the Baltimore area's fastest-growing biotechnology companies is looking for larger quarters and is considering Florida as it moves to consolidate its management and manufacturing facilities. James L. Meyers, president of USBiomaterials...

Sandelli puts his stamp on brokerage. (Raymond F. Sandelli, new head of CB Commercial Real Estate Group's Tampa office)(Special Report: Real Estate)
May 24, 1996... Ex-Blue Angel pilot primed for influx of real estate capital The Bay Area's commercial real estate market is cleared for takeoff and ready to soar. So says the hard-to-deflate Raymond F. Sandelli, recently installed new head of CB...

Medical Resources Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 24, 1996... 2701 N. Rocky Point Drive, Suite 650, Tampa 33607 Medical Resources provides medical diagnostic imaging equipment, facilities and management: services to physicians though 19 imaging centers in Florida, New Jersey and New York. On May 20, the...

Honeywell to shutter plant; 150 jobs cut. (Honeywell Inc.'s purchase of Horsham, PA-based Leeds & Northrup Systems and the subsequent closure of the latter's former facility in St. Petersburg, FL)
May 17, 1996... All 150 employees at the former Leeds & Northrup plant in St. Petersburg will soon be given the option either to relocate or accept severance packages as part of consolidation efforts prompted by a recent buyout. The move represent the first...

Dissident shareholders urge sale of Village Bank.
May 17, 1996... A group of dissident shareholders of Tampa, based Village Bank is stepping up an on-again, off-again campaign to put the institution on the sales block. Village Bank President Gerry Archibald says that the $120 million in assets bank is not...

CPA firms hope to find power in numbers. (accounting firms)
May 17, 1996... Eight West Coast accounting firms have banded together to form a single practice unit, the Florida CPA Group, which will draw on the talents of more than 50 accountants and a total staff approaching 100. The main purpose of the group will be...

Laser surgery equipment firm targets Bradenton. (Physicians Laser Services)
May 17, 1996... Boca Raton-based company rents devices to plastic surgeons Physicians Laser Services, a year-old Boca Raton-based company that provides daily rental of mobile lasers used by plastic surgeons and dermatologists, is expanding to Bradenton and...

CEO prescribes right Rx for hospital's turnaround. (Michael Covert of Sarasota Memorial Hospital)
May 17, 1996... Covert's plan puts Sarasota Memorial in black When Florida's third largest public hospital found itself looking for a new president and CEO four years ago, its elected governing board turned to a man reputed to have been a miracle worker for...

Republic Bank. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 17, 1996... (REPB, Nasdaq) 28059 U.S. 19 N., Clearwater 34621 (813) 796-2900 During 1995, Republic Bank was successful in efforts to expand the bank's market coverage on Florida's west coast. Republic opened 11 new branches during 1995, bringing the...

Biggest banks post biggest declines in deposits: St. Petersburg's Republic Bank records the largest gains.
May 10, 1996... St. Petersburg's Republic Bank records the largest gains When it comes to gathering deposits, there were some clear winners and some clear losers in the highly competitive Bay Area banking market during 1995. Among the larger financial...

Connecting the telecom revolution: tower firm's fortunes rise leasing space. (Pinnacle Towers Inc.'s lucrative acquisitions) (includes company profile)
May 10, 1996... Imagine earning millions of multiplying - and near-assured - dollars per year without paying a penny in taxes. Sound too lofty to be true? Actually, the acquisition of wireless telecommunications towers has proved highly lucrative for one...

Meter project lights up K-Byte. (K-Byte's deal with TeCom Inc.)
May 10, 1996... K-Byte, the manufacturing arm of Tampa-based electronics company Reptron Electronics Inc., is close to signing a deal with a subsidiary of Tampa Electric Co. to build a device that could revolutionize the way people monitor the electricity they...

Hospitals jumping into skilled nursing bed business. (Bay area and other Florida hospitals)
May 10, 1996... Hospitals across the Bay Area and the rest of Florida, taking advantage of a recent hard-won court ruling, have submitted tentative plans to add at least 1,226 skilled nursing beds in their facilities. In the Bay Area alone, seven hospitals,...

Physician groups to Cigna: thanks but no thanks. (Bay Area doctor groups refuse contract proposal of Cigna HealthCare)
May 10, 1996... In what may be the biggest battle to erupt between Bay Area doctors and managed care companies, several major physician groups have refused to sign a management contract proposed by Cigna HealthCare of Florida. Cigna admits mistakes in...

Tampa firm to roll out PC-based telephone. (Group Technologies Corp.)
May 10, 1996... Group Technologies' nearly 7-month-old contract with a Nevada telecommunications company is beginning to bear tangible fruit. The Tampa-based electronics manufacturer will in June begin its initial-run production of a PC-based touch-screen...

Employee leasing firm is acquired. (Authorized Management Inc.)
May 10, 1996... The second largest employee leasing company in the country has swooped down from Illinois and snapped up Tampa-based Authorized Management Inc., one of the Bay Area's largest employee leasing firms. The move is the latest example of just how...

Banks put spotlight on credit union tax breaks. (Florida Bankers Association)
May 10, 1996... With taxes and April 15 still a vivid memory, what better time to remind legislators that some members of society, namely credit unions, don't pay taxes? That seems to be the thinking of the Florida Bankers Association, which recently...

Healthcare industry is happy with session. (passing of hospital bills during the 1996 state legislative session)
May 10, 1996... The health care industry was left pleased with the outcome of the 1996 state legislative session. In fact, the Florida Hospital Association considered it "one of the most successful for hospitals in recent years." "It was a productive,...

Has East Polk found road to prosperity? (on-going construction of Polk Parkway toll road)
May 10, 1996... Toll highway may open land to development or it may stop short The East Polk Committee of 100 has big plans for the rural end of what could be considered the forgotten half of Polk County. The organization envisions industrial parks,...

New battle erupts over growth in Sarasota County: Comp plan revisions to bring city east of I-75. (comprehensive growth management plan revisions)
May 10, 1996... Comp plan revisions to bring city east of I-75 The room was packed but the crowd wasn't there for the Caesar salad. Gathered were many of the movers and shakers in Sarasota County's development community. Bankers, real estate agents,...

HMO bosses earn healthy incomes. (health maintenance organization)
May 3, 1996... Executives of 32 Florida health maintenance organizations, including several Bay Area HMO officers, took home 1995 compensation packages worth tens of millions of dollars, according to newly-available state records. The numbers could...

Furniture chain finds room to go overseas. (Rooms To Go furniture stores)
May 3, 1996... Rooms To Go, which can package an entire room of furniture nearly as fast as McDonald's pieces together a Value Meal, is taking its fast-furniture concept international. Since late last year, nine Rooms To Go furniture stores have opened in...

Processor must squeeze out profits on its own now. (Glico Fruits USA Corp.)
May 3, 1996... Glico Fruits USA Corp. - once tied to the apron strings of its parent company in Japan - has been cut loose and told to make a profit or pack up its operation and come home. The ultimatum has caused Glico, which has done nothing but produce...

Cap One may add 1,500 positions. (Capital One Financial Corp.)
May 3, 1996... Capital One Financial Corp., which opened its first back-office operation in Tampa last August, is scouting the Westshore area again for a site to build a facility large enough for up to 1,500 employees, real estate sources said. Tampa is in...

Contract gives Jabil shot in arm. (Jabil Circuit)
May 3, 1996... Phone line technology deal worth '10s of millions' Jabil Circuit last Monday began large-scale production of a California company's gadget that doubles telephone capacity without the large expense of adding extra lines. The St. Petersburg...

Lykes unit faces $3.5M tax bill. (Lykes Energy Inc.)
May 3, 1996... An energy conservation program mandated by Congress and state regulators could cost Lykes Energy Inc. more than $3.5 million in back taxes. The Tampa-based company and its subsidiaries, including People's Gas Systems Inc., have filed a...

Employee leasing firm placement raises $22M. (Staff Leasing)
May 3, 1996... Staff Leasing, a Bradenton-based employee leasing firm, has concluded a $22 million private placement with a group of 25 investors lead by the New York office of Paris-based Banque Paribas. The announcement comes just days after Coral...

Medicare review group to cut at least 40 workers. (Florida Medical Quality Assurance Inc.)
May 3, 1996... A change in federal health care policy means that more than 40 of about 100 employees at Tampa's Florida Medical Quality Assurance Inc. will be laid off at the end of June. The company is finalizing a second three-year contract with the...

HMO's $60M IPO seeks investment from doctors. (Doctors' Health Plan Inc., a health maintenance organization; initial public offering)
May 3, 1996... Doctors in the Bay Area and across Florida will have the exclusive right to invest in a newly organized physician-owned health maintenance organization. The Doctors' Health Plan Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for...