Briefcase – June 2018

BRIEFS

The J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE: SJM) will hold information sessions in June and August about future job opportunities at its new plant, which will be located in the Weld County portion of Longmont. The plant will help meet growing demand for Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwiches, which are pre-made frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As part of incentive deals negotiated with Longmont, Weld County and the state of Colorado, Smucker’s will be required to pay workers an average of $48,977 annually, or 105 percent of the annual average wage in Weld County. The employment sessions, to be held in conjunction with Employment Services of Weld County, will be held at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. June 6 at Employment Services of Weld County, 315 N.11th Ave., Building B, in Greeley. Additional sessions will be held at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Aug. 7 at Employment Services of Weld County’s Del Camino Office, 4209 Weld County Road 24½, in Longmont. For more information or to register for work, visit eswc.org.

CLOSING

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The original Vic’s Espresso at 2680 Broadway in Boulder will close June 30, as landlord Austin Real Estate Services prepares to lease the space to another business. Austin opted not to retain Vic’s, which had been operating on a month-to-month lease. Vic’s has been open at the Community Plaza Shopping Center location since 1992 and operates four other locations in Boulder and Louisville.

CONTRACTS

Skymet Weather Services agreed to pay the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder $1 million to use a system that will provide people across India with more-detailed and accurate weather forecasts. The agreement will allow Skymet to use a customized version of the DICast system, an automated weather-prediction technology developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

Simuwatt Inc., a Boulder-based clean-tech company that helps managers audit their building’s energy use, was approved to be on the Multiple Award Schedule by the U.S. General Services Administration, making it eligible for federal contracts.

Lightning Systems, a Loveland developer of zero-emission solutions for commercial fleets, is partnering with the city of Boulder and Via Mobility Services to repower diesel buses with battery-electric systems. The first demonstration vehicle will be on the road this summer, with more than 200 miles of all-electric range. After its success, other buses may be converted. The partnership is a step toward the combined goal of the city and Via, a nonprofit that operates the HOP high-frequency shuttle service, to convert the 35-foot HOP buses to be all-electric.

EARNINGS

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) posted first-quarter earnings of $1.16 per share, or $46.4 million, a significant improvement over the same period the year prior when Advanced Energy had a $29 million loss, or 73 cent loss per share. The Fort Collins-based company, which makes power technologies and solutions, posted quarterly revenue of $195.6 million, a 31 percent year-over-year increase and beating expectations by $7.7 million.

Array Biopharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) beat analyst expectations for its third quarter earnings by 11 cents, despite posting a loss of 11 cents per share. Array, a Boulder-based biotech company, had a net loss of nearly $22.9 million, an improvement on the same period the year prior, when the net loss was $35.3 million. Revenue was $66 million, which grew 99 percent year-over-year and beat expectations by $34.7 million. Array added that its new drug applications for the combination of its drugs encorafenib and binimetinib to treat patients with advanced or metastatic melanoma are under review with a target action date of June 30.

Broomfield-based Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) posted first-quarter net earnings of $125 million, a year-over-year increase from the same period in 2017, when net earnings totaled $68 million. Earnings per share were 35 cents, up from 19 cents last year. Revenue was nearly $2.8 billion, up from $2.5 billion for the first quarter in 2017. Beverage packaging sales for North and Central American markets were $1 billion, up from $949 million the year prior. Earnings fell from $123 million in Q1 2017 to $113 million Q1 2018. Beverage packaging sales for South American markets grew from $371 million to $459 million. Earnings grew from $58 million to $98 million. Beverage packaging sales for Europe were up from $508 million to $609 million. Earnings grew from $47 million to $60 million. Sales for food and aerosol packaging grew slightly. For Q1 2018, sales were $275 million, compared to $272 million for Q1 2017. Earnings also grew very slightly to $23 million in 2018 compared to $21 million in 2017. Aerospace sales grew from $236 million in 2017 to $264 million in 2018. Earnings grew from $21 million to $25 million.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (Nasdaq: CLVS) posted a first-quarter loss of $1.54 per share, missing analyst expectations by 18 cents. Boulder-based Clovis grew its loss year-over-year from $58 million during the first quarter of 2017 to nearly $78 million in the first quarter of 2018. Despite the earnings loss, Clovis had first-quarter revenue of $18.25 million, a year-over-year increase of 163 percent. The company beat expectations by $190,000.

Crocs Inc. (Nasdaq: CROX) posted first-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share, beating analyst expectations by 2 cents and nearly doubled from 8 cents during the same period the year prior. Net income grew from $7.2 million at the end of the first quarter of 2017 to $12.5 million in the first quarter of 2018. The Niwot-based company, which makes footwear, had revenue of $283 million, up 5.7 percent year-over-year and beating expectations by $10.95 million.

DMC Global Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOM) posted first-quarter earnings of $3.9 million, or 26 cents per share, an improvement compared with the same period in 2017, when the company lost $3 million, or 21 cents per share. DMC Global, based in Boulder, serves customers in the energy, infrastructure and industrials markets through two core businesses. DMC had quarterly sales of $67.3 million, a 73 percent year-over-year improvement. Operating income was $5.3 million, versus last year’s loss of $2.3 million for the same period the year prior.

Encision Inc. (OTC: ECIA) reported net income of $336,000 for its fiscal year 2018, a turnaround from a loss of $729,000 the previous year. The 2018 profit came on revenues of $8.75 million, down from $8.87 million in fiscal year 2017. The Boulder-based medical-device company owns patented surgical technology that prevents dangerous stray electrosurgical burns in minimally invasive surgery. Encision also posted its fourth-quarter results, with a net loss of $18,000, an improvement from the same period the year prior, when it lost $115,000. The company’s net revenue for the fourth quarter was $2.04 million.

Lakewood-based FirstBank, Colorado’s second-largest bank with branches throughout the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, reported year-over-year increases in assets, deposits, net loan balances and net income for its first quarter that ended March 31. Compared with the first quarter of 2017, the bank’s total assets increased by 4.4 percent to $18.09 billion, deposits increased by 3.8 percent to $16.27 billion, net loan balances grew by 5.9 percent to $10.23 billion and net income grew by 32.4 percent to $64.3 million.

Gaia Inc. (Nasdaq: GAIA), a media company specializing in health and wellness, posted a first-quarter loss slightly less than the loss it posted for the same period last year. Louisville-based Gaia had a net loss of $6 million, or 39 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2018, compared with a loss of nearly $6.2 million, or 41 cents per share, in 2017. Net revenue grew 66 percent, from $5.8 million to $9.6 million year-over-year. Subscribers grew by 70 percent, which generated a 75 percent increase in streaming revenues. The company’s paying subscriber count grew from 247,300 on March 31, 2017 to 421,000 on March 31, 2018.

Noodles & Co. (Nasdaq: NDLS), a fast-casual restaurant chain based in Broomfield, reported a 5.3 percent decrease in revenue as it closed 55 restaurants during its first quarter that ended April 3. Revenue for the quarter was $110.5 million, down from $116.7 million for the first quarter of 2017. The company reported a loss of $3.6 million for the quarter, or 9 cents per share, compared with a loss of $26.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. At the end of the quarter, Noodles had 411 company-owned stores and 65 franchise stores.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC) reported a 10.8 percent increase in net sales during the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. The Greeley-based poultry-processing company posted revenue of $2.75 billion during the first quarter of 2018, compared with $2.5 billion a year ago. Net income increased 27.1 percent, to $119.4 million, up from $100.7 million during the first quarter of 2017.

Feel the World Inc., which does business as Xero Shoes, filed its annual report for 2017 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, showing it grew its net income from $93,050 at the end of 2016 to more than $126,000 at the end of 2017. Xero Shoes, which makes minimalist footwear designed for natural movement, grew its revenue from $2.7 million at the end of 2016 to $5.5 million at the end of last year. Earnings per share stayed flat year-over-year at 2 cents. Total sales grew 102 percent year-over-year, from $2.7 million in 2016 to $5.5 million at the end of 2017. Direct-to-consumer sales represents about 70 percent of the business, up from 63 percent of the business in 2016. Sales through Amazon grew from 16 percent in 2016 to 17.5 percent in 2017. Sales through wholesalers and distributors fell from 20 percent of the business in 2016 to just under 13 percent in 2017. The company also grew its research and development year-over-year. In 2016, it spent more than $76,000 on research. In 2017, it spent $149,000.

Zayo Group Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) posted third-quarter earnings of 9 cents per share, missing analyst expectations by 1 cent. As well as missing on earnings, the company’s president and chief operations officer, Andrew Couch, is resigning immediately. The Boulder-based telecom company also missed on revenue by $5.4 million; however, it did increase revenue year-over-year by 18 percent to $649 million. About $532 million of the company’s revenue stemmed from the communications infrastructure segment of Zayo’s business, while nearly $118 million came from its Allstream segment. Net income fell year-over-year, from $27 million in the third quarter of 2017 to $23.4 million in the third quarter of 2018.

KUDOS

Courtney Stone, a 2016 graduate of Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, was awarded The Group, Inc. Real Estate scholarship for 2018-2019. The full-tuition scholarship is awarded to a Northern Colorado high school senior who will be entering the Colorado State University College of Business as a freshman. Selection is based on grade-point average, types of classes the student has taken during high school, community service and extracurricular activities.

Colorado State University’s Career Center launched an awards program this year to recognize on- and off-campus people who have contributed to student career paths. Impacts include career exploratory conversations and providing tools for finding jobs after graduation. Receiving awards in April were: Student of the Year, senior forestry major Marley Smith; Student Group of the Year: Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences; Distinguished Staff Member, senior academic advisor Brett Beal in the School of Biomedical Engineering; Alumnus of the Year, area wildlife manager Ty Petersburg of Colorado Parks and Wildlife; Growing Colorado Business of the Year, Waypoint Real Estate; Recruiter of the Year, Lokana Reed, Target’s lead executive recruiter; Alumnus Entrepreneur of the Year, Janay Deloach-Soukup; Employer of the Year, Keysight Technologies; Distinguished Administrator, Bridgette Johnson, director of the Black/African American Cultural Center at CSU; Distinguished Faculty,  Kevin Lear, director of the School of Biomedical Engineering’s undergraduate program; and Career Impact Award, Jody Drager, school district liaison and career development coordinator in the School of Education.

The Group Real Estate Inc. is a finalist for the 2018 Inman News Innovator Awards, recognizing the most innovative companies in the real estate industry. Nominees, which were selected independently by Inman, include some of the most well-known and respected real estate-related companies in the United States, such as Compass, Houzz, Redfin and Zillow. The 2018 Inman Innovator winners will be announced at Inman Connect in San Francisco in July.

The Boulder Small Business Development Center was recognized for the SBDC Excellence and Innovation Award, and Hensel Phelps Construction Co. in Greeley was honored in the construction category for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award during National Small Business Week luncheon in Washington.

The Fort Collins Utilities’ Administration Building, 222 Laporte Ave., was recognized as a positive example of green construction, winning the United States Green Building Council Mountain West Region 2018 Colorado Green Building of the Year award.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Texas-based Independent Bank Group Inc. (Nasdaq: IBTX) plans to acquire Denver-based Guaranty Bancorp. (Nasdaq: GBNK), the holding company for Guaranty Bank and Trust Co. Guaranty Bancorp will merge with and into Independent Bank Group in an all-stock transaction valued at $1 billion, according to a statement by Guaranty Bancorp. If the deal goes through, shareholders of Guaranty Bancorp will receive 0.45 shares of IBTX common stock for each share of GBNK common stock, or approximately $35.37 per GBNK share, based on the closing price of IBTX common stock of $78.60 on May 21. The boards of both companies have approved the transaction that is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2018. Guaranty Bancorp operates from its main office in Denver, with 32 branches in Colorado, including Berthoud, Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland. In April 2017, Independent Bank Group acquired Northstar Bank’s 18 branches in Colorado, including branches in Firestone, Greeley, Johnstown, Longmont, Loveland and Milliken. In October 2017, Independent Bank closed on a deal announced in June to sell nine of its branches in Colorado to TBK Bank, a subsidiary of Triumph Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq: TBK) based in Dallas.

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) in Fort Collins acquired the electrostatic business of privately held Monroe Electronics Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed Tuesday. Monroe, in Lyndonville, N.Y., makes electrostatic detection and measurement instruments such as volt meters that will complement those of Trek, AE’s most recent acquisition. Monroe’s electrostatic products will be integrated into Trek’s manufacturing facility in nearby Lockport, N.Y. Advanced Energy designs and develops power and control technologies for thin films processes and industrial applications.

New York-based Amalgamated Bank completed its merger with New Resource Bancorp, the parent company of San Francisco-based New Resource Bank (OTC: NRBC), which has a loan-production office at 1877 Broadway in Boulder. The planned acquisition of New Resource Bancorp, a stock and cash deal worth approximately $58.5 million, was originally announced in December. New Resource shareholders will receive 0.0315 shares of Amalgamated common stock for each share of New Resource, at a purchase price of $9.67 per share.

Massachusetts-based Cognex Corp. (Nasdaq: CGNX) leased 14,310 square feet of office space at 4990 Pearl East Circle in Boulder, where it will expand operations following the acquisition of two tech companies in the Boulder Valley. Cognex, based just outside Boston in Natick, Mass., manufactures machine vision and barcode reader systems. It leased the third floor of the building, where it will house employees of two local companies it acquired in late 2016. Cognex acquired Boulder-based Chiaro Technologies, a maker of a 3-D machine-vision sensor called Cloudburst, and Longmont-based Webscan Inc., a developer and manufacturer of barcode verification instruments. They now operate under the Cognex name.

Solix Algredients Inc. in Fort Collins is merging with the Beijing Gingko Group in China and its subsidiary, Algae Health Sciences in California, to supply ingredients sourced from nature to the nutrition, food and beverage, personal-care and feed markets. The new company that has yet to be named will be headquartered at 120 Commerce St. in Fort Collins, home of Solix.

MOVES

BizWest relocated its Boulder offices to 1600 Range St., Suite 101, office 8. Its editorial team is now based in the Boulder Digital Arts coworking space. The company previously was located at 3004 Arapahoe Ave. BizWest also has an office at 1550 E. Harmony Road in Fort Collins.

Purpose Brewing and Cellars is considering a move to the former Carquest building at 909 N. College Ave. in Fort Collins from its present Midtown location. The move would provide twice the amount of space that the company currently has.

Compass Natural Marketing moved its main office from Longmont to Boulder.

NAME CHANGES

Boulder County CareConnect rebranded, adopting the new name Cultivate. The nonprofit helps seniors connect with the community.

Greeley restaurant goers can say goodbye to the Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery and hello to The Patio Pub & Grill. Tilted Kilt, 610 Ninth Ave., shut down on Mother’s Day for a couple of days of rebranding. The new version has a new menu, decor and attire for the wait staff. The restaurant is owned by Kelley Hammel of Berthoud.

OPENING

Rush Bowls, a Boulder-born grab-and-go eatery featuring a high-nutrient smoothie-like product in a bowl, opened a 1,211-square-foot store May 23 at 3581 E. Harmony Road in Fort Collins, on the southwest corner of Harmony and Lady Moon Drive in the Harmony Commons commercial development. It’s the franchise’s fourth Colorado location. The first Rush Bowls store opened in 2004 at 1207 13th St. on Boulder’s University Hill.

U.S. Highway 34 through Big Thompson Canyon reopened May 24. Reconstruction work since July 2016 is largely complete and remaining work will not require long-term closures, according to information supplied by the Colorado Department of Transportation. The re-opening is 18 months ahead of schedule, according to CDOT. The construction in the canyon was designed to make the roadway more floodproof than it was prior to the 2013 floods.

Brian Tessari, who operates Otto Pint, Domenic’s Bistro and Vincent Heavenly Pies in Fort Collins, opened an Otto Pint restaurant on Yampa Street in Steamboat Springs.

The Greeley Farmers’ Market is open for its 26th season and will operate from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday through Oct. 27 at the Union Pacific Depot, 902 Seventh Ave.

Deka Lash and Dollar Tree are joining the retail mix at Meadows on the Parkway, a shopping center at 4760-4800 Baseline Road in Boulder. Discount retailer Dollar Tree will take 11,640 square feet of space, and Deka Lash, a national salon franchise specializing in eyelash extensions and related products, will occupy 1,479 square feet. Meadows on the Parkway is a 216,437-square–foot, Safeway-anchored shopping center that has nearly 60 local and national tenants. It is located at the intersection of Baseline Road and Foothills Parkway.

Planet Home Lending LLC opened a new branch at 1790 38th St., Suite 204, in Boulder. Mortgage industry consultants Todd Adelman, Blue Hessner, Dirk Walker and Brian Weinberg will partner to manage the branch.

A 10-year-old, Centennial-based fast-food chain specializing in Mediterranean cuisine opened  its second new-concept eatery — and first in Colorado — on May 10 in Longmont’s Village at the Peaks development. Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill rebranded as Garbanzo Mediterranean Fresh, and opened in a 1,900-square-foot space at 1232 S. Hover St., Unit C100, that had housed The Melt, a San Francisco-based chain that specialized in grilled-cheese sandwiches and soups but abruptly closed all its Colorado locations at the end of July. The Longmont location would employ 25 to 35 people.

Honey, the Los Angeles-based company that makes a browser extension to help online shoppers get the lowest price for their products, is opening a development office in downtown Boulder. The company, which made its debut at Boulder Startup Week, is planning to hire 20 back-end engineers in the next year-and-a-half to work on new Honey initiatives. The Boulder office will be run by longtime Boulder resident Jud Valeski, who previously worked as a technical director at AOL, CTO of Techstars and operated his own startup.

Lucky’s Market, a Boulder-based natural-foods grocer, will open its first store in the Denver area in late July or August. The store will anchor The Corners at Wheat Ridge development at Wadsworth Boulevard and 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge. Lucky’s operates stores in South Boulder, North Boulder and Longmont, and overall has 28 stores in 11 states.

A 125-year-old law firm based in Chicago that specializes in intellectual-property issues opened an office in Boulder. Leydig, Voit & Mayer Ltd., which also has offices in Washington, D.C., the San Francisco Bay area and Frankfurt, Germany, opened with its full complement of a dozen staffers at 4875 Pearl East Circle, Suite 301 in W.W. Reynolds Cos.’ Pearl East Business Park.

Aspen-based CP Restaurant Group is remodeling the former Conor O’Neills Irish pub in downtown Boulder, where it plans to open Steakhouse No. 316 this summer. Craig and Samantha Cordts-Pearce, owners of CP Restaurant Group, operate four restaurants in Aspen — The Wild Fig, Steakhouse No. 316, The Monarch and CP Burger. The couple has signed a lease for about 5,000 square feet of space from W.W. Reynolds Co., which owns the building at 1922 13th St., just off the Pearl Street pedestrian mall. Conor O’Neills, a longtime fixture of Boulder’s downtown restaurant scene, closed in April 2017.

The Museum of Boulder, formerly the Boulder History Museum, opened its doors May 19 after renovations. The museum, located in a former Masonic Lodge at 2205 Broadway, will include three new exhibitions and has 75 percent more gallery space. New exhibitions include Da Vinci Machines; Sportsology, where kids of all ages can test their agility and strength; and Discover NASA, created by the Boulder Space Science Institute. The museum will also include the Google Garage, where visitors can tinker with new technology and tools. A Children’s Museum space is slated for 2019. The Boulder Experience, an exhibit dedicated to Boulder’s history and present, will open in November.

Boulder’s oldest and largest technology and business-to-business public relations and marketing firm, opened an office at 324 Jefferson St. in Fort Collins. MAPRagency, which also has an office in Denver, was founded in 1991 as a technology public relations firm.

Phoenix-based Banner Health opened an urgent-care center in Fort Collins on May 1, its third in Northern Colorado. Banner Urgent Care, at 3617 S. College Ave. Suite C, is an alternative to visiting an emergency room. It will offer treatment and evaluations for patients with non-life-threatening conditions.  Banner Health operates urgent-care centers in Loveland and Greeley.

A 24 Hour Fitness will move into the downtown Safeway at 460A S. College Ave. in Fort Collins, which sat empty for more than a year. The fitness facility will include a pool and $8 million in renovations. The building is owned by LC Real Estate of Loveland.

Farmers Insurance agent Luke Hedger opened an office at 1768 Topaz Drive in Loveland.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Inovonics, a Louisville-based company that makes wireless sensors, received two United States Patent and Trademark Office design patents for its EN1221S-60 family of senior-living pendants. The pendants are 60 percent smaller and lighter than Inovonics’ previous pendant. It has a smooth shape making it comfortable to wear and is also waterproof so it can be used while showering or bathing. The pendants operate over the EchoStream wireless network. The pendants are a device that seniors can use to call for medical assistance when they can’t otherwise get to the telephone.

Fort Collins-based Waterpik, creator of the original Water Flosser, unveiled an electric toothbrush that can also floss. The Waterpik Sonic Fusion is meant to provide a one-step oral regimen for users and is designed for those who want to floss but don’t. The brush has a sonic head that cleans the surface of teeth and has a Water Flosser jet inside the brush head for flossing out any plaque and debris. The user can switch between brushing and flossing with the touch of a button, or use the device in a combined brush and floss mode. The brush also includes a two-minute timer that alerts the user every 30 seconds. It comes with two Water Flossing brush heads, a case and a three-year warranty.

MiRagen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MGEN), a Boulder-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing RNA-targeted therapies, launched its second Phase 1 clinical trial of MRG-110, an inhibitor of microRNA-92, in collaboration with Servier. In preclinical studies, MRG-110 accelerated the formation of new blood vessels, which lead the improved movement of fluid through tissues. That resulted in better functional outcomes in models of heart failure, peripheral artery disease and wound repair.

Black Swift Technologies, a Boulder-based unmanned-aircraft engineering firm, unveiled a new drone at the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018 convention in Denver. The Black Swift S2 UAS is a small integrated unmanned aerial system designed for atmospheric and earth observation. The platform was developed in partnership with NASA and University of Colorado Boulder Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing (IRISS).

SERVICES

The Better Business Bureau celebrated Small Business Week April 29-May 5 with the launch of a new website for small businesses and new programs to owners and managers. The BBB unveiled an e-learning tool for BBB Accredited Businesses, BBBedu. The program includes modules such as learning how customer reviews can impact a business’ reputation. The first module is available at the BBB’s new website  under “Free Online Course.” The site also includes research into marketplace trust, cybersecurity and other key issues for business owners.