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Coffee Talk
+ Cape Coral grows,
Fort Myers sweats
The two cities that face each other across the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County - Cape Coral and Fort Myers - recently landed in the national spotlight, though for two notably different reasons.
The big news: Cape Coral is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Meanwhile, Fort Myers is, well, one of the sweatiest.
The hot news first: In a move sure to boost sales of deodorant, Old Spice says Fort Myers is one of the top 10 sweatiest cities in the country, along with Miami and Tampa. To cool off or hang out with cool people, consider Sarasota or Naples, which didn't even make Old Spice's list of top 100 sweatiest cities.
Cape Coral, meanwhile, which didn't make the sweatiest list, either (must be the ocean breeze), was one of the fastest growing cities in the country last year, according to the U.S. Census. It grew 9.2% from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, to 140,000 residents, ranking it fifth fastest in the country.
Other fast-growing Florida cities included Port St. Lucie with 11% growth (third fastest) and Miramar with 5.2% growth (eighth). The fastest growing city in the country was Elk Grove, Calif., near Sacramento, with 11.6% growth.
+ Medical manufacturers
fete Tampa lawyer
Tampa's Chuck Bavol was recently recognized as one of the best lawyers in the country when it comes to defending the manufacturers of medical devices and supplies.
Medmarc Insurance Group, which says it's the nation's largest insurer of medical device companies, named Bavol its 2006 attorney of the year at a Napa, Calif., ceremony. Bavol is known as an "adroit negotiator and effective litigator" in the industry, according to Virginia-based Medmarc.
Bavol, of Bavol Judge PA, has served as outside counsel on Medmarc cases since 1989, including infant death claims alleging defective balloon dilation catheters to mass tort claims over an adhesion prevention gel used in surgery.
+ BB&T's Klich splits duties, keeps state title
Longtime Florida banker William "Bill" Klich says he has been running hard for a guy his age (62). After reviving the late Hugh Culverhouse's Coast Bank in Sarasota in the 1990s, serving as CEO of SunTrust's Gulf Coast operation and then reviving the former St. Petersburg-based Republic Bank, Klich has spent the past two years heading BB&T Corp.'s Florida operations and its Gulf Coast division.
Convincing his superiors at corporate headquarters in North Carolina that he may not be able to leap tall buildings like the old days, Klich announced last week that his duties would be split. He'll remain president of BB&T's Florida operations, but the oversight of the bank's Gulf Coast division will fall to Ken Coppedge, who has been serving as president of BB&T's Orlando region.
Coppedge was president and chief operating officer of Republic Bank during Klich's tenture as chief executive officer there.
Klich says he'll be focusing his attention on strategic issues, including the opening of nearly 30 more branches over the next few years, participation in statewide business organizations and business development. He says he has a contract to stay with BB&T until 2009. Klich will continue to be based in St. Petersburg.
Klich and Coppedge have deep roots in Florida. Both grew up in Miami and have been career bankers. Before joining Culverhouse, Klich previously headed Southeast Bank's Tampa operations. Coppedge served 19 years with Wachovia Bank. Coppedge also is a former trustee at the University of Tampa and a former board member at the Tampa Chamber of Commerce and Greater Tampa YMCA.
BB&T has almost $6 billion in assets in Florida, with the largest share of those assets, $3.2 billion, in its Gulf Coast region, which extends from Pasco County to the keys.
+ HMA stock prices
hits new low
The promise of a $250 million stock buyback plan didn't help the stock of Naples-based Health Management Associates after it cut its earnings forecast recently.
The hospital company's stock price hit a 52-week low of $19.51 on June 23, the day the company forecast that this year's earnings would range between $1.30 to $1.34 per share.
That's below what analysts expected and less than the $1.41 per share the company earned last year. The company's stock (symbol: HMA) has traded as high as $26.48 in the past year.
HMA Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman Joseph Vumbacco blamed two industry trends as the culprits: more charity care and fewer paying patients. Both aren't likely to improve soon and HMA is not alone in suffering from the same trends.
Still, HMA is one of the best operators in the industry and its operating margins exceed those of its peers. HMA focuses on managing hospitals in rural areas and now operates 62 hospitals in 16 states.
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