Business Digest March 1, 2013

OPENINGS

Loveland-based Home State Bank opened its 11th branch bank in Colorado Feb. 25 at 565 W. South Boulder Road in Louisville. Five employees will staff the new location, with another two joining soon. The bank plans to hold a formal grand opening Friday, April 5. Home State Bank has about $677 million in assets and about 200 employees. The bank also has a branch in Longmont.

TechStars, a Boulder-based startup accelerator, will launch TechStars London. The program, which will help entrepreneurs by connecting them with mentors and potential investors as they develop their startup companies, is the first TechStars in a foreign country. TechStars, which now has programs in six cities, was founded in Boulder in 2006. Jon Bradford will be the managing director for the program in London.

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CLOSINGS

Can manufacturer Ball Corp. will close a food and aerosol manufacturing plant in Elgin, Illinois, in December. Broomfield-based Ball (NYSE: BLL) will report a $21 million after-tax charge as a result of the closure, according to a company press statement. The plant’s 245 workers will receive severance pay and can apply for other open positions within the company. The plant makes steel cans, aerosol cans and flat steel sheets used to make things at other Ball facilities. Those products will be manufactured at other existing Ball plants.

MOVES

Lilli, a women’s clothing store, is consolidating with sister store Violette after a little more than two years in business on Pearl Street in Boulder. The store at 1646 Pearl St. will hold a sale before moving remaining merchandise to Violette at 1631 Pearl St. Lilli opened in fall 2010 and shares employees with Violette. Wholesale Fashions LLC, doing business as Violette, was founded in 2008, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s office. Violette is known for its party dresses and other upscale clothing and accessories.

BRIEFS

National Institute of Standards and Technology’s new laboratory in Boulder received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Gold certification. LEED-certified buildings are designed to lower operating costs, reduce waste, conserve energy and water, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The laboratory, which opened last year, requires stringent controls of the internal environment for precision measurements with lasers, atomic clocks and nanotechnology. For instance, mechanical equipment takes in outdoor air and provides filtration, heating and cooling, and humidity control. Air quality is maintained through the use of low-odor adhesives, sealants and paints, and carpet and floor materials that minimize release of chemicals and gases.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., announced a bill at Alfalfa’s Market in Boulder on Feb. 20 that would required genetically modified organisms to be included in food labels.

Boulder Homemade Inc., dba Boulder Ice Cream, plans to distribute its new organic Figo! Organic Gelato nationally this spring. It will be debuted at the Natural Products Expo West March 7-11 in Anaheim, California. It then will be distributed in natural foods stores and supermarkets in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as nationally. The gelato comes in seven flavors, using recipes created under the guidance of a master Italian gelato maker.

Skiing, camping and other outdoor industry-related activities — as well as outdoor companies — in Colorado generate $13.2 billion in consumer spending annually, according to a new report from the Outdoor Industry Association. The Boulder-based trade association analyzed information on outdoor-industry jobs, gear and travel-related expenses for every state in the nation in the new report. In Colorado, the outdoor industry also generates $994 million in state and local tax revenue, according to the Outdoor Recreation Economy report. Some 125,000 jobs are directly related to the outdoor industry in Colorado, generating $4.2 billion in wages and salaries, which is based on information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, surveys and other industry groups.

J.V. DeSousa of WorkShop8 in Boulder and Mark Bloomfield of Sustainably Built in Boulder have written a white paper for the Department of Housing and Urban Development on passive and active energy-efficiency strategies. The paper is based on WorkShop8’s high-profile Paisan Green Community project in El Paso, Texas. Sustainably Built put together a comparison of the building design versus the IECC 2009 code requirement and modeled the energy consumption of a typical one-bedroom unit as built versus a unit built to base code standards. Paisan Green Community is a net-zero, fossil-fuel free, LEED Platinum, affordable senior-housing project. The 73-unit project is built on a 4.2 acre site, adjacent to the major border crossing between El Paso and Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Louisville-based Real Goods Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: RSOL), a provider of turnkey solar energy solutions for residential, commercial and utility customers, has launched Shop.RealGoods.com, an online store offering solar power and environmentally-friendly solutions for home and business.

McGuckin Hardware, 2525 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, has joined Downtown Boulder Inc., a nonprofit organization that works to maintain downtown as the center of commerce, government, culture and leisure. DBI members support the vitality of downtown through public advocacy, political involvement and community events. The organization has approximately 400 business members.

EARNINGS

Shoemaker Crocs Inc. posted record revenue of $1.12 billion for the year, a 12 percent gain from 2011 revenue, according to the company’s latest earnings report. Niwot-based Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) also posted revenue of $224.99 million for the most recent quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $203.71 million for the same quarter in 2011. The company posted gross profit of $106.4 million for the most recent quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $99.8 million for the same quarter in 2011. Crocs expects revenue of $305 million to $310 million in the first quarter of 2013, or from 32 to 34 cents per share.

Boulder-based Elevations Credit Union’s assets, deposits and membership grew during 2012. The credit union’s earnings totaled $10.6 million last year, and total assets grew $138.5 million, a 12.1 percent increase from 2011. Elevations had total assets of $1.29 billion through the end of December. Total deposits increased by 12.5 percent to $128 million. Elevations gained nearly 3,900 members in 2012, and now has more than 99,000. Business deposits increased nearly $10 million from 2011, and the credit union generated more than $760 million in first mortgages last year. Elevations has 11 branches including locations in Boulder, Broomfield, Adams and Larimer counties.

Broomfield-based Corgenix Medical Corp. launched its AspirinWorks diagnostic test kit in China during the quarter ended Dec. 31, leading to revenue and profit that exceeded the company’s expectations, chief executive Douglass Simpson said. Corgenix (OTC BB: CONX) reported a 20 percent increase in revenue to $2.5 million for the most recent quarter, according to a company earnings statement. Revenue was $2.1 million for the same quarter in 2011, the company said. Corgenix’s profit for the quarter was $55,755 compared with an operating loss of $56,722 for the same quarter a year ago.

Broomfield-based WhiteWave Foods Co. reported $609 million in revenue for the most recent quarter, up 12 percent from the same period the year before. WhiteWave Foods Co.’s (NYSE: WWAV) revenue was up from $543 million for the period ended Dec. 31, 2011. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the company reported profit of $31 million, or 18 cents per share, a 34 percent increase from the $23 million, or 13 cents per share, reported in the same quarter in 2011.

CONTRACTS

Coronal Management LLC, with offices in Boulder and Pasadena, California, signed an exclusive multiyear solar photovoltaic solutions development agreement with Secaucus, New Jersey-based Panasonic Eco-Solutions North America. The agreement highlights Panasonic efforts to bring a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for solar PV projects from 250 kilowatts up to 20 megawatts to the commercial, industrial, municipal and small-utility sectors. Together, the two companies aim to develop, build and operate a portfolio of solar PV systems in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Broomfield-based MWH Global, a consulting, engineering and construction services company, was awarded an $11.8 million contract extension from the city of Baltimore to continue work on the city’s sewer system rehabilitation and modernization project.

Broomfield-based Webroot Software Inc., a provider of cloud-based security intelligence solutions, announced a strategic partnership with FancyFon, provider of the FAMOC mobile device management platform, following release of the cloud-based Webroot Security Intelligence for Mobile Suite in January.

Boulder-based Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. contracted with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for mission analysis and engineering in a transaction with the agency and OGSystems LLC. The company will provide testing, validation and systems engineering to NGA under the Total Applicatiuon Services Enterprise Requirements contract. Dan Gibson, vice president and general manager of systems engineering solutions, will lead the team responsible for implementing the contract.

GRANTS

Boulder County commissioners approved grants totaling about $165,000 to help promote business, economic development and tourism in the county. Agencies and community groups received about $174,000 in funding in 2012. Economic development groups often get funding from a variety of public and private sources. Organizations receiving funding for 2013 include: Boulder Chamber/Boulder Economic Council, $47,450; Longmont Area Economic Council, $34,857; Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, $20,250; Louisville Chamber of Commerce, $18,600; Tourism and Recreation Partnership of Boulder County Inc., $11,475; Town of Lyons, $6,000; Town of Nederland, $6,000; Boulder Independent Business Alliance, $5,000; Small Business Development Center, $4,500; Latino Chamber of Commerce, $4,500; Superior Chamber of Commerce, $3,750; and Niwot Business Association: $2,325. The funds come from an approved 2013 county budget of $319.6 million.

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