November 23, 2012

Business Digest November 23, 2012

OPENINGS

New online retailer Given Goods Co. launched its website Nov. 14, with a program to distribute food to Hurricane Sandy victims through the charity group City Harvest in New York. Boulder-based Given Goods sells apparel and home goods on its website and tracks the charity impact of its consumer purchases at www.givengoods.co. The company recently raised $135,000 of a total $400,000 in planned capital it wants to raise by the end of the year, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Each purchase a customer makes on the Given Goods website from Black Friday, Nov. 23, to Cyber Monday, Nov. 26, will help City Harvest deliver four pounds of food to Sandy victims, the company said in a press statement. The “ThanksGiven: 96 Hours of Good” program also will include free product shipping from Given Goods during that time period.

Specialty gardening store Sunshine & Rain is holding a grand-opening open house Friday, Nov. 23, and Saturday, Nov. 24, at 836 1/2 Main St., Louisville. The store is owned by Boulder native Jessica Boian.

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BRIEFS

Lafayette shoppers now have an additional incentive to shop locally this holiday season: the Invest in Lafayette Holiday Contest. Through Dec. 31, consumers who save four receipts, each totaling $10 or more, from four different Lafayette businesses can submit them to receive a drawing entry for one of seven gift baskets filled with Lafayette products and valued from $300 to $500. An Invest in Lafayette Facebook page provides shoppers with a one-stop page to view special offers, learn about new businesses, download coupons and hear recommendations. Full contest details and a list of Lafayette businesses providing prizes can be found at www.cityoflafayette.com/invest.

Paving began Nov. 14 on a new taxiway at Vance Brand Municipal Airport in Longmont after having been delayed by adverse weather. Construction company HM Hill. Five days of paving work will be spread out over the next two to three weeks.

Fortune 500 food company General Mills Inc. has applied for a seat on the board of Naturally Boulder, according to Doug Radi, president of the local industry trade group. Locally, Minneapolis-based General Mills (NYSE: GIS) works with Fresca Foods Inc. in Louisville to make both LaraBar products and frozen sauces and pastas for the Progresso Foods label. General Mills subsidiary Small Planet Foods Inc., also in Minnesota, bought Denver-based Humm Foods Inc. in 2008, the parent company of the LaraBar fruit and nut nutrition bars. In August, Progresso Foods, the General Mills brand, made the announcement about its new partnership with Fresca. Small Planet Foods is the natural and organic products group of General Mills, which includes Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen brands. Naturally Boulder’s mission is to nurture start-up natural-foods companies and to promote Boulder as the epicenter of the natural-products movement, according to information on its website. It was started as an economic-development initiative in 2005, led by the city of Boulder and the Boulder Economic Council.

Webroot Inc. holds a 31 percent share of the online security software market for retail companies, according to October data from The NPD Group Inc., a retail industry information provider. That puts Broomfield-based Webroot in the No. 2 spot in its industry in terms of retail customers, the company said in a press statement. Webroot has Best Buy and Target as customers, as well as other well-known retailers. Kaspersky Lab, a Russian-based company with U.S. headquarters in Woburn, Massachusetts, recorded the highest market share in the NPD survey with a 37 percent share.

Cancer-drug research company Array BioPharma Inc. plans to raise $65.7 million in a new stock sale to fund research and development, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Boulder-based Array (Nasdaq: ARRY) plans to offer 18 million shares at a price of $3.65 per share, according to documents filed with the SEC. The offering was expected to close on Nov. 15. Underwriters also were given a 30-day option to purchase 2.7 million additional shares to cover any over-allotments. Company executives have said that Array has five drug products expected to reach the final stages of U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval by the end of 2013. FDA approval for biopharmaceutical drugs can take 10 years or more, according to industry experts.

A developmental skin cancer drug developed by Array BioPharma Inc. is scheduled for a final trial in 2013 that’s needed for government approval, Array’s partner drug company Novartis International AG said. Boulder-based Array (Nasdaq: ARRY) licensed rights to develop and commercialize the drug — called MEK162 — to Novartis (NYSE: NVS) in April 2010. The planned 2013 “pivotal trial,” as it is called by the companies, is generally seen as the last step needed in a strict approval process required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Novartis, based in Basel, Switzerland, expects to request regulatory approval for the drug in 2016, according to a press statement from the companies.

EARNINGS

Hotel TV services company Roomlinx Inc. said it more than doubled its revenue in the most recent quarter from the same period a year before — driven mainly by a Hyatt Hotel contract. Broomfield-based Roomlinx (OTCBB: RMLX) had total revenue of $2.4 million in the third quarter, up from $1.2 million in the third quarter of 2011, according to a company press statement. Net loss was $2.5 million for the third quarter, up from a net loss of $517,000 for the same period in 2011. The company now provides television services to more than 8,300 Hyatt hotel rooms, a number that is expected to grow to 60,000 hotel rooms over the next 12 months.

Zayo Group LLC, a Louisville-based fiber-based bandwidth infrastructure provider, posted a 110 percent jump in revenue in the most recent quarter. Zayo Group’s revenue reached $229.7 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, up from $109.6 million in the prior quarter and $78.4 million in the same quarter in 2011. Zayo attributed the growth to its $2.2 billion acquisition of AboveNet Inc. on July 2 and its $117.5 million purchase of FiberGate Holdings Inc. on Aug. 31. Zayo reported a $51.6 million net loss during the quarter, compared with a $3.1 million profit during the same quarter in 2011.

Medical diagnostic test company Corgenix Medical Corp. posted record revenue and profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a day after receiving approval to sell its AspirinWorks test kit in China. Revenue for Broomfield-based Corgenix (OTC BB: CONX.OB) increased 29.5 percent for the quarter to a record $2.82 million from $2.18 million in the same period of 2011. Most of the growth was in contract manufacturing (up 291 percent), liver disease (up 37 percent, coagulation (up 32 percent) and AspirinWorks (up 19 percent), according to a press statement. North American revenues increased 30.4 percent and international revenues increased 24.1 percent, the company said. Total gross profit for the quarter increased 14.8 percent to a record $1.20 million from $1.05 million in the previous year. Operating expenses declined by 4.2 percent from the same quarter of 2011, while interest expense decreased 89.4 percent to $6,000 in the current quarter from $60,000 in the prior year. Operating income increased to $205,000 for the quarter from $6,000 in the same quarter of 2011. The report was issued a day after Corgenix announced that it received approval from China’s State Food and Drug Administration to begin selling its AspirinWorks diagnostic test there.

Data storage company Dot Hill Systems Corp. saw slightly increased net revenue of $48.2 million in the third quarter and smaller losses. Longmont-based Dot Hill (Nasdaq: HILL) reported $48.1 million in net revenue for the third quarter of 2011, according to the company’s latest earnings report. The company’s net loss in the third quarter was $3 million, or 5 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $12.2 million, or 22 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2011. Net revenue from vertical-markets business was $10.2 million in the third quarter, a 6 percent rise from the same quarter in 2011. Dot Hill’s vertical-markets business includes the industries of media and entertainment, telecommunications service providers, oil and gas, data analytics and high-performance computing.

Gaiam Inc., a Louisville-based producer and marketer of lifestyle media and fitness accessories, reported an $11.2 million loss during the last quarter, as its stake in Real Goods Solar Inc. helped override a 3 percent year-to-year revenue increase. Gaiam’s (Nasdaq: GAIA) revenue increased to $43 million in the third quarter, up from $41.8 million in the same quarter in 2011. The company’s net loss per diluted share was 49 cents, up from a 5-cent loss last year. Gaiam owns about 38 percent of Real Goods Solar (Nasdaq: RSOL), a turnkey solar-power installer also based in Louisville, and its equity in the company resulted in a $15.9 million loss.

Solar installer Real Goods Solar Inc. reported a net loss of $39 million in the third quarter and a decline in revenue, in part attributable to restructuring charges related to company reorganization. Louisville-based Real Goods (Nasdaq: RSOL) said the net loss of $39 million translated to a loss of $1.46 per share and revenue of $26.36 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compared with a net loss of $478,000 or 2 cents per share, and revenue of $31.59 million, for the same quarter in 2011, according to a company press statement.

Drug research company Clovis Oncology Inc. reported a net loss of $18.3 million for the third quarter as its research and development expenses continued to grow. The loss for Boulder-based Clovis (Nasdaq: CLVS) was larger than that in the third quarter of 2011, when the company reported a loss of $13.8 million, according to a press statement announcing results for the company’s most recent quarter ended Sept. 30. Clovis also reported a loss to stockholders of 71 cents per share for the third quarter of 2012, smaller than its reported loss of $10.73 per share in the third quarter of 2011. Research and development expenses were $12.6 million for the second quarter of 2012, compared with $9.7 million in the second quarter of 2011, according to the press statement.

Vestas Wind Systems A/S said it would reduce its workforce by another 3,000 employees as the company reported a $225 million loss for the third quarter versus a $77 million loss last year. It did not say where the cuts could come. The wind turbine company, based in Denmark, has factories in Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo. It also is seeking to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent, chief financial officer Dag Andresen told Bloomberg News. In October, Vestas announced it would abandon plans to consolidate its three U.S. research-and-development operations — including one in Louisville — to a single location in Brighton. Instead, it announced it would shut down all three sites. Vestas reported third-quarter revenue of $2.5 billion, 49 percent higher than a year ago, although the company’s losses have totaled $440 million so far this year.

CONTRACTS

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. was chosen by NASA to build a new antenna that will link a spacecraft to Earth during its launch, the company said in a press statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed between Boulder-based Ball Aerospace and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ball Aerospace is a division of the packaging company Broomfield-based Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL). The Ball Reliable Advanced Integrated Network, or BRAIN, will be able to send data for seven to 12 minutes during the launch phase of a spacecraft mission, according to the press statement. At the same time, workers at Ball Aerospace are continuing to develop a special antenna for the Orion spacecraft being built by Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems & Solutions (NYSE: LMT). Lockheed has Colorado offices, including one in Boulder. Ball is supplying other components to Lockheed Martin for Orion as well, including docking cameras, star trackers and a vision navigation system.

Hotel TV services provider Roomlinx Inc. has hired an investor-relations consulting firm to help with growth plans. The Broomfield-based company (OTC: RMLX) hired Hayden IR to create a strategic investor relations program, according to a company press statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hayden has offices in New York, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Seattle and San Diego. Roomlinx is putting its television products into up to 60,000 new hotel rooms in connection with an agreement with the Hyatt Hotel chain. The company raised about $3 million in new capital in May. The company also has partnered with DISH Network and Starz Entertainment to offer on-demand content. Roomlinx offers interactive TV applications for the hospitality industry using HDTV, Internet, personal computer functionality and video-on-demand services.

Louisville-based Envysion, Inc., a provider of Managed Video as a Service, was selected by CCT Wireless as its exclusive video provider and has begun an enterprise deployment of Envysion’s video-driven business intelligence. CCT Wireless, a Sprint retailer with locations throughout Colorado and Wyoming, will use Envysion to improve sales and the customer experience. 

Deadline to submit items for Business Digest is three weeks prior to publication of each biweekly issue. Mail to Editor, Boulder County Business Report, 3180 Sterling Circle, Suite 201, Boulder, CO 80301-2338; fax to 303-440-8954; or email to news@bcbr.com with Business Digest in the subject line. Photos submitted will not be returned.

OPENINGS

New online retailer Given Goods Co. launched its website Nov. 14, with a program to distribute food to Hurricane Sandy victims through the charity group City Harvest in New York. Boulder-based Given Goods sells apparel and home goods on its website and tracks the charity impact of its consumer purchases at www.givengoods.co. The company recently raised $135,000 of a total $400,000 in planned capital it wants to raise by the end of the year, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Each purchase a customer makes on the Given Goods website from…

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