Briefcase, Feb. 5, 2016

CLOSINGS

Positano’s Pizza, 3645 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins, closed after 19 years.

The Gap closed its apparel store in the Promenade Shops at Centerra on Jan. 26, one of two in Colorado and 70 across the U.S. and Canada to be shuttered.

The Lodge Sasquatch Kitchen, a Fort Collins restaurant co-owned by Aaron May and Carolina Panthers defensive end Jared Allen, closed for good after falling behind on its rent. The restaurant, opened in May 2014 and featured last year on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” turned its space at 151 N. College Ave. over to building owner Justin Crowley.

Boulder-based software consulting firm Quick Left Inc. closed its Portland, Ore., office as it brings its full development team back to Colorado and looks to grow its employee count within the state. Quick Left offered relocation packages to all six of its Portland-based employees.

CONTRACTS

Fort Collins-based Optibrand Ltd. LLC signed a global licensing agreement with Mentor, Ohio-based Volk Optical Inc. regarding use of Optibrand’s patented RetCheck Technology software, a key component of Volk’s iPhone-based retinal imaging camera sold under the tradename iNview.

Texas State University chose Fort Collins-based Community Funded’s technology platform   to help departments and programs across the campus implement coordinated and enhanced crowdfunding campaigns.

DEADLINES

Feb. 16 is the deadline to apply for an opening on the Larimer County Board of Appeals voluntary citizens’ advisory board. The Board of Appeals hears and decides appeals of orders, decisions or determinations made by the Larimer County Building Official relative to an application and interpretation of the International Building, Residential, Plumbing, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Energy Conservation, and Existing Building Codes. More specific information about this board is available at Larimer.org/boards, where residents also can apply for this vacancy. The new member fills this midterm vacancy through June 30 with possible reappointment for a three-year term beginning in July. Apply online or pick up an application at a county office.

EARNINGS

Metal food and beverage packaging giant Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) saw profit decline by nearly $190 million in 2015, the Broomfield-based company disclosed in its fourth-quarter earnings report. Net earnings came in at $280.9 million, or $1.99 per share, down from $470 million, or $3.30 per share in 2014. Revenue, meanwhile, slid from $8.6 billion to $8 billion. The biggest hits came in its Metal Food & Household Products Packaging segment, where net income slipped $46.5 million to $107.7 million and revenue declined by $200 million to $1.3 billion. Ball’s Boulder-based Aerospace and Technologies business saw earnings decline nearly $12 million to $81.8 million, with revenue declining by more than $124 million to $810.1 million. For the fourth quarter, Ball’s profit was $55.3 million, or 39 cents per share, down from $76 million, or 54 cents per share the year before. Revenue declined from $2 billion in 2014 to $1.8 billion in 2015.

Woodward Inc. officials cited weakness in the natural-gas truck market in Asia, foreign currency exchange rates and overall economic pressure in China as the main reasons for a 41 percent slide in first-quarter earnings compared with last fiscal year. The Fort Collins-based company (Nasdaq: WWD) reported its earnings for the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year, a period ending Dec. 31. Net income for the quarter came in at $26 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, down from $44 million, or 66 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue slipped 9 percent to $445 million. A 5 percent increase in sales in Woodward’s aerospace segment, thanks to growth in defense sales and the commercial aftermarket, helped somewhat offset a 24 percent decline in industrial segment revenue, company officials said in the earnings report.

Oilfield services company Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) reported a net loss for 2015 of $671 million after turning in a $3.5 billion profit one year earlier. The Houston-based company, which has been a major player in Northern Colorado’s oil and gas industry, saw revenue fall from $32.9 billion in 2014 to $23.6 billion in 2015. The net loss amounted to 79 cents per diluted share, compared with profit of $4.13 per share in 2014. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $28 million, or 3 cents per share, versus a loss of $54 million, or 6 cents per share for the same period a year earlier.

Verus Bank of Commerce, a community bank based in Fort Collins, reported a record net profit of $5.7 million for 2015. The bank, led by Gerard Nalezny and Mark Kross, paid an 80 cents-per-share dividend to stockholders in January, representing a roughly 13 percent annualized return on shareholder equity. The earnings represented a 2.1 percent return on assets and a 17.69 percent return on equity. The average bank ROA in Colorado is 0.8 percent, and the average bank ROE in Colorado is 7.4 percent, according to Nalezny. The bank reported an efficiency ratio of 33.8 percent and a loan to deposit ratio of 109 percent. The bank efficiency ratio is a measure of a bank’s overhead as a percentage of its revenue; the lower the percent, the better. Fifty percent is considered safe. As of September, Verus Bank had total assets of $277 million and total deposits of $230.5 million, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

KUDOS

Fred L. Otis, attorney at Otis Bedingfield & Peters LLC, was recognized by Martindale-Hubbell for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in real estate law and for holding an AV Preeminent Rating for more than 15 years. During more than 40 years of practice as a real estate lawyer in Greeley, Otis also served as a Greeley municipal court judge from 1979 to 1985 and as a director of the Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance from 1992 to 1997. He was a member of the Commission on Judicial Performance for the 19th Judicial District from 2000 to 2007 and served on the Weld County Planning Commission from 1978 to 1983. Otis taught real estate law at Aims Community College from 1977 to 1979. Prior to entering private practice, he was an FBI agent from 1971 to 1976.

A team at Colorado State University won the top prize in an online competition in the NASA Develop program, beating 25 other projects involving 100 researchers at 12 other locations across the nation. Each member of the winning team will receive a one-year trial version of ArcGIS software, furnished by the Redlands, Calif.-based Environmental Systems Research Institute, which sponsored the competition. The team’s project focused on analyzing cheatgrass cover across the area burned by the Arapaho Fire in south central Wyoming.

Forbes magazine named Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Co. one of the 25 Best Small Companies in America.

The Loveland Chamber of Commerce unveiled winners of its Annual Investor awards on Jan. 15. Medical Center of the Rockies was named Large Business of the Year and Cactus Grille was named Small Business of the Year. Miki Roth received the Heart Award for community involvement including work with the chamber, American Cancer Society and city of Loveland CMC. Eric Weedin of Weedin Insurance Agency was named Young Professional of the Year; Deanna Sloat of Guaranty Bank received the Ambassador of the Year award, and Food Bank for Larimer County received the Nonprofit of the Year award.

The Boulder Chamber unveiled the winners of its annual Celebration of Leadership awards, with city of Boulder economic vitality coordinator Liz Hanson and former city council member George Karakehian, owner of Art Source International sharing the top honor, the Franny Reich Local Business Hero Award. The awards event will be held March 2 at the Dairy Arts Center. Gerry Agnes, president and chief executive of Elevations Credit Union, was named business person of the year; Ken Hotard, senior vice president for public affairs at the Boulder Area Realtors Association, and former mayor Will Toor, Colorado Air Quality Control commissioner, will receive community leadership awards; and Chill Digital Marketing owner Diana Rands will receive the Chamber Champion award.

Fort Collins-based design-build remodeler HighCraft Builders was named a 2016 “Best of Houzz” company by Houzz.com, an online platform for home remodeling and design.

North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley received the 2016 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence, according to Healthgrades, an online resource helping consumers find the right doctor, hospital and care. NCMC also was recognized for pulmonary care, critical care, stroke care and treatment, treatment of pneumonia and six other clinical areas.

The Home Builders Association of Northern Colorado held its annual awards and installation banquet on Jan. 28 at Ptarmigan Country Club in Windsor. Savant Homes was named privately held builder of the year, and D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) was named publicly held builder of the year. William Griffiths of First National Bank won the Chairman’s Award for outstanding service, and Bob Peterson of Associates in Building and Design was recognized as Individual Member of the Year.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

R. Waidler & Associates PC of Boulder will become part of Eide Bailly LLP, a regional certified public accounting and business advisory firm based in Fargo, N.D. Financial terms of the deal that became effective Feb. 1 were not disclosed. Rick Waidler, president of R. Waidler & Associates, and his four-person team will join Eide Bailly’s office in Boulder, expanding its presence in Colorado to 177 people at offices in Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver, Golden and Grand Junction.

VaughnCPA, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based certified public accountancy practice, purchased Loveland-based Frink & Associates PC. The name of the Colorado practice will change to VaughnCPA.

John Murphy II sold Action Restoration and Cleaning in Fort Collins to Rex Bell and his family. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company, at 3201 E. Mulberry St., specializes in water extraction, large-loss water-damage claims, mold remediation, sewer cleanup and carpet- and rug-care services. Rex Bell recently left Broomfield-based MWH Global after 30 years, where he was a senior vice president for the employee-owned company that offers engineering, environmental and construction services around the world. Action Restoration will become affiliated with another company Bell acquired in December, Steamboat Springs-based Flood Suckers, a water-mitigation company in the region.

Louisville-based NexGen Storage, a homegrown Boulder County storage company one year removed from spinning off from Silicon Valley-based SanDisk, has been acquired once again.

Austin, Texas-based Pivot3 has acquired NexGen in an all-stock transaction. Both sides, however, characterized the deal as more of a merger that brings two companies with similar offerings together in a way that will allow them to accelerate growth.

The Colorado State Banking Board approved Heartland Financial USA Inc.’s (Nasdaq: HTLF) acquisition of CIC Bancshares Inc., parent company of Centennial Bank and its 14 locations in Colorado, including Boulder, Nederland and Denver. Heartland is the parent company of Summit Bank & Trust, which has branches in Broomfield, Erie and Thornton.

Investment advisory firms Sargent Bickham Lagudis LLC in Boulder and Colorado Financial Management Inc. in Johnstown have merged. Sargent Bickham Lagudis manages about $1 billion in assets, and CFM has approximately $250 million in assets under management. The new firm will use the Colorado Financial Management name and brand, and maintain offices in Boulder, Denver and Johnstown. Employees in the Denver office are expecting to move to a new location in Cherry Creek this spring.

Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) on Tuesday announced that it has acquired Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Broomfield-based Vail plans to renovate Wilmot Mountain, which is located approximately 65 miles north of Chicago and 50 miles southwest of Milwaukee.

Urban-gro, a Lafayette-based distributor of lighting solutions for cannabis growers, merged with Morrison-based Cannabis IPM Solutions, a provider of pest-management products for cannabis growers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The companies will operate under the urban-gro brand, led by Bradley Nattrass, urban-gro’s chief executive. John Chandler, founder and president of Cannabis IPM Solutions, will become vice president for cultivation technologies at urban-gro.

Broomfield-based MWH Constructors, a wholly owned subsidiary of MWH Global, acquired Slayden Construction Group, Inc., and together they formed a new company, Slayden Constructors Inc. Slayden is based in Stayton, Ore., and has operated in the Pacific Northwest since 1984, including construction of renewable energy and hydropower, fisheries, dams and river restoration.

The holding company for Western States Bank plans to merge with the holding company for Wyoming State Bank. The two companies, First Express Nebraska and First Wyoming Bancorp., still need regulatory approval.

Boulder-based Nostix LLC, which develops catheter-tip confirmation systems used to increase the accuracy of placement of vascular-access devices, was acquired by Wayne, Pa.-based Teleflex Inc. (NYSE: TFX). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MOVES

Enemy Tree LLC, a tech startup that launched its first mobile application in November, moved its headquarters from California’s Silicon Valley to Longmont, with plans of tapping into the local talent pool to grow the business. Enemy Tree’s first product is Mosaiscope, a news aggregation app that allows users to follow any news site or blog with an RSS feed, as well as specific news topics of their choice.

Surfside 7, a bar, restaurant and music venue in Fort Collins, reopened after moving to 238 Linden St. from 150 N. College Ave.

NAME CHANGES

The owners of Suehiro, 223 Linden St. in Fort Collins, closed the restaurant and planned to reopen it as Wabi Sabi Japanese steakhouse.

Praha Restaurant and Bar, 7521 Ute Highway in Hygiene, which opened in 1977 as Old Prague Inn, changed its name to The Prague Bistro and Boutique.

OPENINGS

Envision Energy, a China-based maker of wind turbines and energy-management software, is opening a research and development office in Boulder. The Global Blade Innovation Center will be led by former Siemens engineer Kevin Standish, who will be charged with hiring an undisclosed number of employees to staff the local office. Standish, who is working out of the Regus co-working space in downtown Boulder, aims to have a permanent office lined up within six months. The Boulder office will focus specifically on blade design.

Columbine Health Systems opened a 34,000-square-foot addition to New Mercer Commons, an assisted-living facility at 900 Centre Ave. in Fort Collins. The addition, called The Pines, consists of 40 apartments that were added to the west end of the existing 48,000-square-foot New Mercer Commons.

Richard Shane launched Sleep Easily LLC in Boulder, a company that offers a medication-free method to help people overcome sleep difficulties. Shane, a psychotherapist since 1977 and behavioral sleep specialist for New West Physicians, developed the method to cure his own insomnia. It uses audio recordings to help trigger sleep using relaxation techniques.

Little Rock, Ark.-based information-technology firm ClearPointe opened a sales office in Fort Collins that will be headed by Joe Buckner, a Fort Collins native who previously worked in sales at All Copy Products. The company implements monitoring software on a client’s network, and its technicians address problems to keep services running whether the networks are onsite, at a remote location or operate in the cloud. ClearPointe’s new office is at 242 Linden St.

A chef and entrepreneur who runs a food truck and a space at a Denver collective was to open a restaurant in Lyons specializing in locally sourced farm-to-table fare. Tim Payne, who ran the Terroir restaurant on Main Street in Longmont for five years and whose food truck is a familiar sight at the Boulder County Farmers Market, was to open Farmer Girl on Feb. 3 at 432 Main St. in Lyons. The 2,500-square-foot space, leased through Squire Realty, had been Gateway Café for many years, then Sushi Matsuri and — after the September 2013 flood — Local Eat+Drink, which closed in November.

Farmer’s Table reopened in Fort Collins at 2140 W. Elizabeth St., joined by four new eateries: The Lost Cajun, 331 S. Meldrum St., Suite 100: McClellan’s Brewing Co., 1035 S. Taft Hill Road: Sweet B’s Bakery, 1913 W. Lake St.: and The Twisted Noodle, 1335 W. Elizabeth St. Also opening there are commissary kitchens Bindle Coffee Espresso Bar, 1933 Jessup Drive; Disc O’ Inferno, 2649 E. Mulberry St., Unit 31; and Let Thy Food, 905 N. College Ave.

Green Chef, a Boulder-based company that makes certified organic meal kits, opened a distribution center in Swedesboro, N.J., allowing it to ship product to customers in the Midwest and along the East Coast.

Village at the Peaks in Longmont announced newly signed merchants including Ozo Coffee Company, Mathnasium, The Sleep Number and Brain Balance Achievement Center.

Andy Brannon and AJ Kruesel opened Beeline Bikes Colorado Front Range to provide mobile bike-shop services to the Boulder and Denver markets. Brannon and Kruesel have become franchisees of San Carlos, Calif.-based Beeline Bikes, which also has franchises operating in the San Francisco Bay area, Phoenix and Los Angeles markets.

Loveland-based development company Armada Holdings LLC will build and open 29th Street Self-Storage at 215 W. 29th St. in Loveland, just west of U.S. Highway 287. The facility will offer up to 270 climate-controlled storage units, a feature not yet available in Loveland. The project will break ground in mid-April and open by late summer or early fall. Building will be done by Windsor-based McCauley Constructors, Loveland-based Hauser Architects will provide design and Armada Properties will serve as the management company. Those who wish to reserve a unit can email contact@ArmadaProperties.com.

Rapidly expanding Lucky’s Markets, which likes to place its locally sourced natural and organic grocery stores in college towns, opened Jan. 27 near the University of Kentucky in Lexington and reportedly is looking for a spot in the Twin Cities, possibly near the University of Minnesota campus. The 47,000-square-foot store in Lexington is the 16th U.S. location for the Boulder-based chain that was started in 2003 by chefs Bo and Trish Sharon.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Boulder-based Rudi’s Organic Bakery brand launched Rudi’s Organic Bakery Kids Bread, the first nationally available organic bread made for children.

Fort Collins Brewery will add a canning line in March and revamp its beer lineup, moves that also will come with updated label designs. The 13-year-old brewery’s core lineup of four beers will be available only in cans. That lineup includes Red Banshee Red Ale, albeit with an updated alt style. Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat, an FCB seasonal, also joins the core lineup along with Far Away IPA. Shot Down, a “reincarnated version of Chocolate Stout,” will round out the year-round offerings.

Boulder software firm VictorOps Inc. unveiled a pair of new products — VictorOps Standard and VictorOps Enterprise — that provide virtual environments for on-call development operations teams to collaborate quickly and effectively, regardless of location or device.

SERVICES

Diesel Services of Northern Colorado, located in Fort Collins since 1998, expanded its truck repair territory to include Johnson’s Corner in Johnstown. The truck repair shop is located in a newly constructed building at 4738 Marketplace Drive near Candlelight Dinner Playhouse just south of the Johnson’s Corner truck stop.

Fort Collins Utilities is accepting applications on a first-come, first-served basis for photovoltaic system installations in 2016. Rebates of 50 cents per watt are available to the city’s electric customers, up to $1,500 for residential installations and $10,000 for commercial installations. Applications are available at fcgov.com/utilities/residential/renewables/solar-rebates and can be submitted electronically to utilities@fcgov.com. On-bill financing also is available at fcgov.com/financing. Details and a list of qualifications also are available at the website or by calling 970-224-6157.

January brought continued enhancements in public transit for the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado as the Regional Transportation District and Transfort extended and added bus services. RTD’s new Flatiron Flyer bus rapid transit service consists of six routes that replace and improve several of the current routes servicing the U.S. Highway 36 corridor between Boulder and Denver. Boulder now is connected directly to Loveland and Fort Collins on weekdays since Transfort, the city of Fort Collins’ public-transit agency, extended its FLEX regional route. Riders who wished to travel between Larimer County cities and Boulder formerly had to transfer at one of two stops in Longmont between FLEX and RTD’s BOLT express route.

on Facebook on LinkedIn