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Coffee Talk (Tampa edition)
Tech group makes hire
The Tampa Bay Technology Forum has chosen a local man as its next executive director.
Andy Hafer will start at his new job Monday, replacing the groupis energetic founding operations boss, Michelle Bauer.
The forum is a 4-year-old alliance of local industry officials and others who work to increase high-tech entrepreneurship in the Bay area.
iHe understands the technology sector, especially from the IT side,i says forum President George Gordon, chief executive at Enporion Inc., a Tampa electronic-commerce facilitator for energy companies.
Hafer has a bacheloris degree in electrical engineering and a masteris degree in business administration from the University of South Florida, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 1996.
Gordon says Haferis ties to USF were a big selling point because the forum wants to partner with the university on more projects.
Hafer was chief information officer at a unit of Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises Inc., which teaches job skills to state inmates. PRIDE has been under scrutiny by the governoris inspector general for straying from the non-profitis original mission.
Gordon says he isnit worried about that aspect of Haferis resume. iIim not knee-deep in the politics,i says Gordon. iBut he was in a non-political, non-controversial role.i
Helping others
Sometimes big things come from casual conversations. Thatis what happened recently when Tampa attorney Stephen C. Diaco and Robert Elder, owner of Tampais Aston Martin Jaguar dealership, talked about a fundraiser for one of Elderis favorite charities, the Big Cat Rescue organization. They talked during the string of hurricanes that recently battered Florida; so, instead, Diaco suggested they focus on a plan to help hurricane victims.
The two went to work. Diaco contacted Ron Campbell, president of the St. Pete Times Forum and the Tampa Bay Lightning, about staging the event in the arenais posh XO Club. Elder enticed friend George Maloof Jr., president of Las Vegasi Palms Casino Resort, to co-sponsor the event along with Diacois law firm, Adams Blackwell & Diaco PA.
Unbeknownst to them, the Womenis Tennis Association had proposed a tennis exhibition fundraiser to help hurricane victims. Campbell suggested the two groups join together to maximize efforts.
So at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 18, tennis stars Jennifer Capriati and Maria Sharapova will kick off the event with an exhibition match. Exhibition tickets costs from $15 to $75, depending on seating. However, a $100 contribution earns a ticket holder access to the exhibition and the VIP party in the XO Club. Even Gov. Jeb Bush plans to attend, Diaco says.
Already, the event has raised about $200,000. Big contributions have come from Don and Erika Wallace. Wallace, president of Lazy Days RV Center Inc., and his wife contributed $25,000. St. Petersburg-based Raymond James Financial Inc. contributed another $25,000.
Is Fifth Third first again?
Fifth Third Bancorp, a Cincinnati bank moving aggressively into Florida, is performing major surgery on its balance sheet this quarter.
Mistakenly expecting interest rates to stay at the extraordinary lows of recent years, Fifth Third announced Dec. 2 that it will curtail its exposure. Securities are being jettisoned, long-term debt sold off, and interest-rate swaps used to hedge against drastic rate fluctuations are being cancelled.
The securities will be sold at about an $80 million pre-tax loss. The other maneuvers should result in charges before taxes of up to $260 million for the quarter.
Bank analyst Richard X. Bove of Punk Ziegel & Co. applauded Fifth Third for taking an honest hit now, rather than dragging down earnings for years to come.
Still, the pain could be excruciating for investors.
Bove is cutting his 2004 per-share earnings forecast for Fifth Third to $2.66 from $3.20. For 2005, Fifth Third should bring in $3.28 a share, down from Boveis earlier $3.54.
The latter results will include those from the pending $1.6 billion acquisition of Naples-based First National Bankshares of Florida Inc. (See iFifth Third is first,i Coffee Talk, Aug. 6-12.)
iWe do not believe that Fifth Third will be the only bank that will take this action,i Bove says of Fifth Thirdis adjustments in a recent research report.
A Fifth Third advisory says 2005 earnings should be between 21% and 23% higher than this yearis. But that prediction comes with two important exclusions: what the bank calls non-recurring charges related to the First National Bank purchase and various capital management activities.
But Bove says the anticipated performance thereafter doesnit justify the bankis stock price o more than $51 a share at the time he wrote his report. (In the intervening week, Fifth Third shares have slipped to below $46.)
Tougher competition back home in Ohio is to blame, according to Bove.
But Coffee Talk canit help thinking. The big premium that Fifth Third paid to get into the $6 billion-asset First National Bankis Gulf Coast markets of Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota and Tampa wonit make the going any easier in the near future.
Small world
The future and past at Fowler White Boggs Banker PA met coincidentally at the Hillsborough County Bar Associationis recent annual holiday party.
It happened when GCBR asked retired Fowler White partner George Dukes, the associationis oldest past president at the event, to pose for a photo with two other attorneys sitting next to him o Susan E. Johnson-Velez and Perdita iDee Deei Martin.
Turns out, both Johnson-Velez and Martin practice law at Fowler White, Dukesi former employer. All three were surprised to learn of the connection.
Etc.O
i They just opened up a new shop last month, and already Matthew R. Danahy and David C. Murray are ready to file about a dozen lawsuits against Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the stateis public-private windstorm insurer of last resort. The attorneys, former associates at Douglas L. Grose PA, now operate as Danahy & Murray PA.
i Palm Harbor attorney Beth S. Wilson is a new member of the Pinellas County Juvenile Welfare Board.
i Attorney Howard Ross has completed his term as chairman of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. He passed the gavel to Craig Sher, president of the Sembler Co.
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