Briefcase – June 24, 2016

CONTRACTS

Oil and gas producers Noble Energy Inc. and PDC Energy Inc. agreed to trade leased land in the greater Wattenberg area in Northern Colorado, allowing each company better opportunities for longer lateral drilling that they say will result in less surface impact. Houston-based Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL) will receive approximately 11,700 acres in the company’s Wells Ranch development area, and Denver-based PDC Energy (Nasdaq: PDCE) will receive approximately 13,500 acres located southwest of Wells Ranch. The difference in acreage exchanged is driven primarily by variances in net revenue interest, the companies said in separate statements.

REI Outdoor School and the Stanley Hotel partnered to offer summer outings, classes and events to hotel guests, local residents and visitors to Estes Park. REI Outdoor School instructors will guide day trips into Rocky Mountain National Park, staff an outdoor concierge called REI Basecamp, and host activities across the Stanley’s property. Financial terms were not disclosed.

To kick off the partnership, the REI Village was to be at the hotel from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, June 24, and in the national park on Saturday, June 25.

EARNINGS

Vail Resorts Inc.’s third-quarter earnings report reflected an 18.2 percent increase in net income. Broomfield-based Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN), operator of several ski resorts across the United States, posted net income for its third fiscal quarter ending April 30 of $157.6 million, or $4.23 per diluted share, up from $133.4 million, or $3.56 per share, a year earlier. Revenue climbed from $579.3 million for last year’s third quarter to $647.5 million this year.

FLOOD RELIEF

The city of Fort Collins’ Floodplain Management Program recently was highlighted as a case study by the American Water Resources Association. The AWRA white paper provides an analysis of proactive flood mitigation strategies nationwide, as well as specific lessons learned in design and implementation after previous damaging events. The city’s multi-faceted approach to open-space preservation, flood-warning systems, stream restoration and flood mitigation funding serves as an example for other rapidly-growing urban areas that want to avoid recurring flood events. The city also was recognized in the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VIII Loss Avoidance study. The findings emphasize how drainage improvements directly reduce flooding and demonstrate how the Community Rating System is an effective flood management program. Fort Collins recently achieved a CRS Class 2 rating, making it one of only five communities in the nation to receive that rating or higher.

KUDOS

Joe and JB Kellogg, chief executives of Fort Collins-based marketing software technology company Madwire, received Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEO recognition for 2016. Glassdoor, a jobs and recruiting marketplace, released its annual report recognizing top leaders in North America and parts of Europe.

Boulder was named the least-stressed city in the United States by personal finance website SmartAsset, with Fort Collins in 14th place. Boulder topped a top five that included Iowa City, Iowa; Duluth, Minn.; and Madison and Eau Claire, Wis. SmartAsset ranked 500 cities with populations of 67,500 or more that had data for each of nine factors considered in the study. Those factors included average work week, average commute time, divorce rate, physical activity rate, entertainment establishments per 1,000 businesses, average hours of sleep per night, bankruptcy rate, unemployment rate, and the ratio of housing costs to median income.

C.B. & Potts Restaurant and Brewery was honored by the North American Brewers’ Association at the 20th annual North American Beer Awards in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The RAM Restaurant Group, owners and operators of C.B. & Potts, won seven medals, including a silver out of the Fort Collins location and a gold for its seasonal Barefoot Wit, which is now on tap at all Colorado locations.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Benjamin Brickweg, a mergers and acquisitions adviser based in Erie, acquired the controlling interest in Mountain States Business Brokers, a business brokerage based in Fort Collins. The company is relaunching as the Scout & Spur Group and has moved its headquarters to Broomfield. It maintains offices in Aspen, Fort Collins, Loveland, Steamboat Springs and Summit County. Ben Mahrle, founder of Mountain States Business Brokers, retains an ownership role in the Scout & Spur Group and will continue to serve clients in Northern Colorado.

Louisville-based Door to Door Organics is merging with Charlottesville, Va.-based online grocer Relay Foods in an all-stock deal. The companies, when the deal is complete later this year, will merge under a new name, although the new firm will keep operations in both headquarters cities.

Metal can manufacturing giant Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) has received regulatory approval in Brazil for the company’s proposed $6.7 billion acquisition of rival Rexam PLC, moving the deal one step closer to being finalized. Ball is still working to obtain final regulatory clearances in Europe and the United States. Announced in February of last year, the Ball-Rexam merger would create the world’s largest consumer packaging supplier, with command of more than 60 percent of the beverage-can market in North America, 69 percent in Europe and 74 percent in Brazil. The combined company would employ a workforce of about 22,500 employees across five continents and generate annual revenue of about $15 billion.

MOVES

Thompson Daviau Realty moved to a new office at 4450 Arapahoe Ave., Suite 100, in Boulder.

OPENINGS

Rick and Ivy Lee opened a Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes fast-casual restaurant on June 20 in Lafayette Crossings, a retail center at U.S. Highway 287 and South Boulder Road in Lafayette. The restaurant occupies about 2,000 square feet at 520 W. South Boulder Road.

Skirt Sports, a 12-year-old company specializing in online sales of stylish sportswear for women, opened its first retail outlet and held a grand opening celebration June 16. The store at 2795 Pearl St., Unit 102, in Boulder — about 1,000 square feet plus office space in back — is in a spot formerly occupied by a Pearle Vision Center. The address is a bit misleading, said founder and owner Nicole DeBoom, because the storefront faces the intersection of 28th and Spruce streets.

Creative Alignments, a six-year-old Boulder-based recruiting agency, opened a new office June 1 at 3463 Blake St., Suite 100, in Denver’s RiNo district after moving from space in the Galvanize facility at 1644 Platte St. in Lower Downtown. The Denver office has a total of eight employees at any given time, and the company has 21 employees overall. Founded in 2010, the company ranked first in 2015 and eighth in 2016 in Flight III of BizWest’s Mercury 100 list of the fastest-growing companies in the Boulder Valley. Its main office is at 4760 Walnut St., Suite 106, in Boulder.

Todd Geatches and Clayton Hartman signed a franchise deal to open 13 Toppers Pizza shops in Colorado and Wyoming, including several in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley, with an option to open 14 additional stores south of Denver. Geatches, who lives in Windsor, owns and operates three Taco John’s franchises in the area and operates six others for the Harold Holmes family through Mountain Restaurant Group LLC. Hartman is the chief investment officer for IFAM Capital’s office in Fort Collins, and is a board member for Taco John’s International. Geatches and Hartman recently formed the entity Rocky Top Management Inc. through which they will operate Toppers. Geatches said they plan to first open pizza shops in Fort Collins and Boulder and are in the process of securing locations near Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the University of Colorado in Boulder. He also is scouting for sites in Longmont, Brighton and Greeley, as well as Cheyenne and Laramie in Wyoming.

Capital One plans to open a Capital One Cafe this fall in downtown Boulder in the former site of the Boulder Cafe at 1247 Pearl St. The branch will be a sort of hybrid coffee shop and bank branch, with financial transactions carried out on mobile devices. Capital One already has 11 such branches scattered around the country.

Several restaurants opened recently in Fort Collins. The Melt opened at the Foothills shopping area with a menu featuring grilled cheese sandwiches. The San Francisco-based chain also has locations in Longmont, Denver and Littleton. Also new at Foothills is Zoes Kitchen at 3100 S. College Ave., Suite 130, serving Mediterranean fare. Meanwhile, Himalayan Bistro opened at 2720 Council Tree Ave., Suite 184, in Front Range Village. The owners are Dawa Sherpa and his wife, Tashi. Dawn Sherpa has run the Mount Everest Café, 1113 W. Drake Road, for 14 years, and his sister and brother-in-law will take over daily management there.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Broomfield-based Intelivideo announced new technology for the subscription video on demand industry. The Intelivideo Subscription Center is designed to make it simpler for companies of every size and type including health and fitness, film festivals and digital catalog firms to capitalize on the explosive growth of online video consumption. It offers a centralized toolkit for digital video content owners to create and grow a recurring revenue stream by harnessing the power of a subscription model.

Louisville-based Pivot3, a developer of hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, unveiled a product designed to take HCI from beyond targeted-use cases such as virtual desktop infrastructure, backup and disaster recovery and remote office/brand office, and into the full spectrum of data-center applications that IT organizations need to deliver. It’s the first product offering that leverages technology gained from Pivot3’s acquisition of PCIe flash array and Quality of Service innovator NexGen Storage in February.

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