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Coffee Talk
American Banker honors Orion Bank's Jerry Williams
American Banker, the influential national bankers' trade publication, will honor Naples-based Orion Bank Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Williams as one of three Community Bankers of the Year for 2006.
The publication will honor Williams at an awards dinner at the Pierre Hotel in New York City on Nov. 30. American Banker cited Orion's doubling of assets in two years to $2.1 billion without making acquisitions, and its performance over Florida rivals.
Other community banker award recipients will include John Eggemeyer, chief executive of California private-equity firm Castle Creek Capital, and Luz Lopez Urrutia, president and chief operating officer of Georgia-based El Banco Financial Corp.
In addition, American Banker will honor Angelo Mozilo, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial and present him with the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award. Richard Fairbank, founder, chairman and CEO of Capital One Financial will be honored as Banker of the Year.
Real estate firm hits the national scene
Michael Saunders & Co. is going Hollywood - for a day, anyway. The real estate firm's founder, Michael Saunders, recently flew out to Beverly Hills, where she was a top speaker at a Christi's Great Estates conference on innovative marketing for small residential projects or large-scale developments. The real estate firm is an affiliate of Christi's Great Estates, showcasing some homes in its quarterly magazine.
Meanwhile Saunders' son, company Vice President Drayton Saunders, was interviewed by ABC news for a story on the plight of the slumping housing market. Reacting to economists' predictions that the housing slump will last up to nine more months, Saunders said "there's been a lot of hand-holding and there's been a lot of nerves, nervousness in this market."
Both mother and son have long been proponents of reaching out internationally for business opportunities; the elder Saunders served as chairwoman of the Leading Real Estate Cos. of the World, while Drayton Saunders worked and volunteered in Latin American countries for nearly a decade, including opening a bakery in Chile.
For more on the real estate firm's current strategies, including its investment in technology, see the Real Estate trends story on Page 14.
Sarasota, we'll see you at the movies
Speaking of Hollywood, the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County is trying to bring a little piece of Tinsletown to the Gulf Coast. Sarasota County Commissioners recently approved giving the EDC $60,000 to create a Film and Entertainment office. The job of promoting and recruiting movies to the area previously belonged to the Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau.
EDC President Kathy Baylis says she hopes to have a film commissioner hired by January to run the program. The idea, she says, is not only to have films and TV shows shot in the area, but also provide the area's directors and actors with jobs. "We are looking at it as business development," Baylis tells Coffee Talk.
In addition to the county seed money, the film office has a budget of $140,000 - half from the convention and visitors bureau and half from business license taxes.
The EDC is a non-profit public/private partnership; it was a branch of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce until 2004. In 2005, it had an operating budget of $1.07 million, with $715,051 - 66.5% - coming from business license taxes and other government funding.
Analyst says Chico's stock may jump
Is it time to load up on shares of Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS?
Shares of the popular women's retailer may be in for a positive surprise, says Prudential Equity Group analyst Stacy Pak. "We think this is a stock that could fly and that investors would hate to miss," she tells clients in a research note on Oct. 26.
For starters, Chico's shares (symbol: CHS) may be a bargain at the recent price of $24. They're down 51% from their 52-week high $48.90 reached Feb. 21 because of declining sales at stores open more than one year.
While it's likely Chico's will disappoint investors when executives announce third-quarter earnings on Nov. 28, Pak says the fourth quarter may prove to be the catalyst that sends the stock toward Prudential's $28 target price, a 17% increase over the current price and 22 times Prudential's 2007 earnings estimate.
Among the reasons for Pak's optimism: Chico's will offer special gift packages and gift cards during the holidays, something it hasn't promoted very well in the past. It also has spruced up its inventory, updated its catalogs and implemented a new strategy to stock different clothes in cold-weather stores.
Pak says 71% of analysts rate Chico's stock a "hold" or a "sell", which may mean that much of the bad news could already be priced into the stock.
Review's top entrepreneur scores again
Coffee Talk loves it when a little validation comes its way. The latest: The Review's 2006 Entrepreneur winner, Amscot Financial founder Ian MacKechnie, was named "Person of the Year" by an industry trade group. Plus, the company MacKechnie oversees won an award from the same group for community service.
The Financial Service Centers of America recognized MacKechnie for his work with the group, the financial services industry and the innovations he's fostered through Amscot.
The company has a variety of financial services niches, from money orders to check cashing. Its 140 stores are in 14 Florida counties and it opens another store every 12 days. "Just look at Amscot's phenomenal growth and the new services that they keep rolling out to customers in Central Florida," says Gary Dachis, chairman of FiSCA. "Clearly, our entire industry is benefiting from the standards that Amscot sets."
The company was also honored for a trio of community initiatives, including:
• A donation of 75 personal computers, 75 monitors, 15 printers and 25 hubs to Cops and Computers for the Community, a group of police officers with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The contribution is the largest donation ever received by the program;
County Sheriff's community policing unit for the purchase of a new bicycle and bicycle equipment for deputies to patrol in at-risk communities;
• A donation of 200 bike helmets to the annual Community Bike Festival in Orange County.
MacKechnie was named the Review's top entrepreneur for his classic entrepreneurial spirit as well as how he rebounded from some colossal failures. A native of Scotland, he grew Amscot from one Tampa location in 1989 to $85 million a year in revenues. That was only after he sold a Tampa-based bakery business, taking a million-dollar personal loss in the process.
Home sales down across the board
Realtors around the Gulf Coast are hoping the latest existing-home sales report isn't a prelude to a dreary selling season. September existing-home sales were down by double-digit percentages in every metropolitan area, from Tampa to Naples, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
Looking at median sales prices, Sarasota experienced the largest decline (-16%) in prices for single-family homes. By contrast, Tampa's median sales price rose 6% despite a 42% drop in the number of home sales. On the condo front, only Naples and Punta Gorda saw slight price increases. Sarasota saw the largest price decline for condos, down 17%.
Here is how Gulf Coast cities compare for number of sales and median prices in September versus the same month a year ago:
Single-family existing homes
# of Sales # of Sales Median price Median price
Metro area 9/2005 9/2006 %Change 9/2005 9/2006 %Change
Fort Myers-Cape Coral 1,075 693 ?36 $288,700 $261,400 ?9
Naples 377 236 ?37 $487,500 $446,900 ?8
Punta Gorda 353 206 ?42 $229,700 $207,800 ?10
Sarasota-Bradenton 648 436 ?33 $343,300 $290,000 ?16
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater 4,443 2,595 ?42 $215,200 $227,400 6
Existing condominiums
# of Sales # of Sales Median price Median price
Metro area 9/2005 9/2006 %Change 9/2005 9/2006 %Change
Fort Myers-Cape Coral 126 61 ?52 $314,800 $305,600 ?3
Naples 456 173 ?62 $365,700 $378,600 4
Punta Gorda 104 44 ?58 $175,000 $178,000 2
Sarasota-Bradenton 397 203 ?49 $282,100 $234,500 ?17
Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater 1,068 504 ?46 $173,100 $155,200 ?10
Tech Forum award finalists announced
The Tampa Bay Technology Forum's Nov. 9 annual awards dinner will honor some of the area's best and brightest tech entrepreneurs, including Tony DiBenedetto of Tribridge, Kurt Long of EpicTide and Pam Kauten of Florida Career Link.
All three are up for entrepreneurial leader of the year.
Finalists for "Innovation of the Year" award are Electronic Learning Products Inc. of Tampa; Natura Therapeutics Inc. founded by University of South Florida scientists; and the Roskamp Institute of Sarasota.
In the running for technology professional leader of the year are Ken Cooke of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Shyam Mohapatra of TransGenex Nanobiotech and Linda Reid of Advantec. Finalists for emerging technology company of the year are LOOP, PrivacyView and Surgical Safety Institute, all of Tampa.
The "Quantum Leap Technology Award" finalists are Creative Recycling Systems, Tampa International Airport and Pepin Heart Hospital and Dr. Kiran Patel Research Institute.
In the community outreach category, finalists are Bright House Networks, IBM and Kforce.
The black tie dinner begins at 6 p.m. at the Marriott Waterside, 710 Florida Ave., Tampa. Tickets are $100 for Tech Forum members and $115 for others. For more information, visit www.tbtf.org.
Sun Coast Industry Expo postponed
The Sun Coast Industry Expo scheduled for Nov. 8 has been postponed. The event, sponsored by several local business development groups, has been a platform for Florida-based manufacturers to meet and interact with others in the industry. Kathy Baylis, President of the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County, says the event will be scheduled again, possibly next year. Baylis says there were not enough companies signed up for the event, partially due to scheduling conflicts.
What's Ahead
Nov. 15 - The Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce will host Alan Weiss, the chief executive officer of NCH Healthcare System, at a breakfast at the Naples Hilton from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Cost is $20 for members; $25 for guests. To register, visit www.napleschamber.org.
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