News Briefs
Real Estate/Development
UMass expands in Shrewsbury
WORCESTER – University of Massachusetts Medical School purchased two office buildings in Shrewsbury for $27.5 million. The buildings – totaling 670,000 square feet – are located at 333 South St. The property was purchased by the Worcester City Campus Corp., an affiliate of the medical school. The seller was Maxtor Realty Corp./Seagate Technology LLC. The UMass President's Office and medical school currently leases 95,000 square feet in the buildings. There are eight years remaining on their lease. The purchased space will meet the current and future needs of the university, medical school and UMass Memorial Health Care, the medical school's clinical partner. Other tenants within the building will continue to occupy space for the terms of their leases.
WBDC makes $250K gift to Hanover theatre
WORCESTER – Nancy H. Sala, Worcester Business Development Corp. vice chairman, announced during the organization's annual meeting this morning that the WBDC would contribute $250,000 to the Hanover Theater for Performing Arts. The contribution, Sala said, would be to establish private box seating at the theater in the name of Alexander E. Drapos, the WBDC's former chairman, who died of cancer last summer. According to David P. Forsberg, WBDC president, $28 million of the $30 million needed for the Hanover theatre project has been raised.
Advertising
Davis charts a course to Carolina
WORCESTER – Worcester-based Davis Advertising opened a division in Greenville, S.C., in order to serve long-time client Charter Communications. The new office will manage marketing for Charter's South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia divisions, according to Davis. Davis said new Charter offices in Georgia and Louisiana would also benefit the 59-year-old advertising agency. Davis, a $45 million agency based at 306 Main St. in Worcester, hired Greenville-area salespeople to staff the new office. The company employs 46, and in addition to Charter, its clients include Fidelity Bank, Worcester State College and St. Vincent Hospital among others.
Banking & Finance
Stormy results for Franklin bank
FRANLKIN – Benjamin Franklin Bancorp Inc., the holding company for Benjamin Franklin Bank, reported net income of $591,000 for the first quarter of 2007. In the same quarter the previous year, the company reported net income of $1.3 million. The company also announced that its board of directors had declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per common share, a 50 percent increase over the amount paid the fourth quarter of 2006. The company said its first quarter results included three non-recurring items. The first was costs of $176,000 related to the issuance of $9 million in subordinated debt. The company paid out $125,000 in employee severance and operational expenses related to its ATM cash management business, Creative Strategic Solutions, which may be sold, the company said.
Chittenden increases earnings per share
Chittenden Corp., the Vermont-based parent of Worcester's Flagship Bank, reported first-quarter 2007 net income of $20 million, or $0.44 per diluted share. During the same quarter the previous year, the company reported net income of $20.2 million, or $0.43 per diluted share. Chittenden reported a 7 percent increase in loans compared to the first quarter of 2006.
Small Business
Mass. Business Owners Awarded
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) recently honored four Massachusetts small business owners at the National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C. Craig A. Bovaird from Princeton, president of Built-Rite Tool and Die Inc. based in Lancaster received the Massachusetts Small Business Person of the Year award. His company specializes in developing and manufacturing thermoplastics for the aerospace, medical, defense and high-tech industries. Patrick Turley, president of Turley Publications Inc. in Palmer was honored with the Phoenix Award for Small Business Disaster Recovery. Anne Marie Cerami from Burlington received the 2007 National Financial Services Champion award. She is the senior vice president and manager of agency guaranty programs at TD Banknorth Inc. Vice president of Sovereign Bank in Boston, James M. Hanlon, received the Export Lender of the Year Award.
Biomedical
Abbott posts strong sales, profit drop
WORCESTER – Abbott Laboratories Inc., which has operations in Worcester, reported a 19 percent drop in first-quarter net earnings. The company, which is based in Abbott Park, Ill., blamed the profit plunge on acquisition expenses, administrative expenses and research and development costs. Abbott reported a revenue increase over the first quarter 2006. The company also reported strong sales of its drug Humira.
Arrhythmia Research deal skips a beat
FITCHBURG – Fitchburg-based Arrhythmia Research Technology Inc.'s bid to acquire Biotel Inc. of Minnesota has been shot down by the firm's board of directors. Biotel's board issued a statement saying it had voted to "respectfully decline" Arrhythmia Research's previously announced proposal. Biotel announced that it received a cash and stock offer from Arrhythmia Research on April 11 and said it would consider the deal. Steve Springrose, president and CEO of Biotel, said in the statement that he and the company's board are confident that Biotel's share value would increase as investments in new products and services "come into their own."
Drug co.'s 1Q results take lawsuit hit
MARLBORO – Marlboro-based drug company Sepracor Inc. reported first quarter net income of $22.5 million on revenue of $331.4 million. The company's first quarter results include an after-tax charge of $32.9 million related to a class action lawsuit. Purchasers of Sepracor equity and debt securities alleged that the company made false and misleading statements regarding the testing, safety and likelihood of approval of the company's Soltara brand tecastemizole antihistamine. Sepracor has agreed to pay the plaintiffs in the case a $52.5 million settlement.
High Tech
Fishy link between Marlboro co., NJ insurer
MARLBORO – New Jersey-based ARI Insurance is outsourcing support for its policy processing to Marlboro-based Blue Cod Technologies. Now, employees at ARI's headquarters will access the company's Phoenix policy processing system over Blue Cod's secured site. The two companies have a longstanding relationship. ARI uses several Blue Cod software products. Blue Cod's products are aimed specifically at the property and casualty insurance market.
Manufacturing
Morgan wins Chinese steel contract
WORCESTER – Worcester's Morgan Construction Co. has been awarded a contract for work at a Chinese steel mill. Morgan will engineer and build a rod outlet, which will allow the Tsingshan Holding Group Shanghai International Trading Co. Ltd. to produce stainless steel rods in a variety of diameters. The components for the Shanghai mill will be manufactured in Worcester and in Shanghai itself. "This outlet enables Tsingshan to add stainless steel rods to its expanding product list for new markets," said David Pariseau, Morgan's vice president of corporate projects. Morgan was established in Worcester in 1888, and has customers in India, China, Europe and the Middle East.
Education
Wider prospects indeed for former chem workers
WORCESTER – The Worcester Polytechnic Institute Thursday graduated 20 former chemical workers from the school's WPI-Industry Collaborative program. The program was meant to re-train 20 workers from Polaroid Corp. in Waltham for work in the biosciences and biomanufacturing industries. Polaroid plans to close its Waltham plant. Polaroid paid for the program with a Massachusetts Department of Employment and Training grant. The workers received certificates Thursday. The curriculum was developed by WPI faculty and industry experts, and was taught by instructors, and potential employers, from Abbott Laboratories, Genzyme Corp., Lonza and Bristol-Meyers Squibb.
The News Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports.
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