Briefcase — December 2018

BRIEFS

Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) in Boulder is splitting into two companies. Zayo Infrastructure will be a fiber-focused infrastructure firm in North America and Europe. EnterpriseCo will be a high-bandwidth-focused enterprise service provider.

CLOSING

Ragazzi Italian Grill, which had served up hearty East Coast-style Italian classics and featured all-you-can-eat spaghetti on Monday nights since 2005 at 1135 Francis St. in Longmont, shut down Nov. 21, was somewhat renovated and reopened Nov. 27 as the second location of Garden Gate Café, which owner Steve Gaibler said has drawn ever-larger crowds ever since it was unveiled 18 years ago at 7960 Niwot Road, Unit B4 in Niwot..

Peak Reliability, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company, will terminate its operations at 4850 Hahns Peak Drive in Loveland. In a letter to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Peak Reliability said the first group of separations will take place around Jan. 7, and final separations will take place in April 2020. About 69 employees will be affected. Peak Reliability provides monitoring and reliability coordination in the electric industry.

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. (Nasdaq: CAKE) at 1401 Pearl St., Suite 100 in Boulder, will close Jan. 11 after 19 years on the Pearl Street Mall, laying off 96 employees.

CONTRACTS

Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies and Front Range Orthopedics & Spine entered into a strategic partnership to share resources, space, staff and technology. The partnership, which went into effect Nov. 15, creates a shared leadership team, with OCR chief Mike Bergerson at the helm as CEO. OCR’s Lisa Augustine will serve as chief financial officer. David Demchuk, who has served as FROC’s CEO and CFO for two decades, will retire at the end of this year. Both OCR and FRCO will continue operating their clinics under their existing names.

Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) contracted with renewable power producer Lincoln Clean Energy LLC to provide enough wind-generated electricity to power all of Vail’s North American operations by 2020. The agreement enables the development of the Plum Creek Wind Project in Nebraska, which is expected to be completed in 2020. Under the 12-year agreement, Vail Resorts will purchase 310,000 megawatt hours annually. In an additional step in Vail’s “Commitment to Zero” sustainability effort, the company is eliminating single-use plastic bags from its resorts. The company is also contracting with Eco-Products Inc. to supply all of its North American restaurants with compostable and recycled-content items.

Bongo, an education technology company formerly known as YouSeeU, is partnering with Moodle, a widely-used learning platform based in Perth, Australia. Bongo, which makes video assessment and soft skill development solutions, will be integrated into Moodle’s learning management system as a downloadable plugin.

DEADLINES

Applications for the Better Business Bureau serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming’s 2019 BBB Spark Awards for Entrepreneurship will be taken through Feb. 1. Applications and judging are based on character, culture and community and include a written and video submission. Businesses that have been operating at least six months but not more than three years are eligible to apply. Businesses do not need to be BBB Accredited but must be in good standing with BBB. Winners will be announced in conjunction with the 21st Annual BBB Torch Awards for Ethics luncheon celebration set for April 18 at Embassy Suites in Loveland. Contact Jennifer Hahnke at 970-488-2033.

EARNINGS

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) posted lower revenues in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018 compared with the previous quarter and the same period in 2017. Sales totaled $173.1 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. The Fort Collins-based power-conversion and measurement-systems manufacturer posted revenue of $196 million in the second quarter of 2018 and $176.6 million in the third quarter of 2017.

AeroGrow International Inc. (OTCQB: AERO), the Boulder-based manufacturer of AeroGardens In-Home Garden Systems, recorded roughly 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter of fiscal year 2018. It posted sales of $8.6 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, up from $5.5 million during the same period in FY 2017. It turned a loss of $129,000 in the second quarter of 2017 to a profit of $672,000 in the most recent quarter.

Array Biopharma (Nasdaq: ARRY) posted a first-quarter 12 cent loss per share, which still managed to beat analyst expectations by 9 cents. The company’s net loss was nearly $25 million, an improvement over the same period last year when Array lost nearly $38 million or 22 cents per share. The Boulder biotech company’s revenue grew 91 percent year over year to $56.9 million, beating analyst expectations by $22.4 million.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL), a Broomfield-based metal-packaging manufacturer with a major aerospace division, posted earnings of $59 million for the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, up from $51 million in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share, 17 cents in 2018 compared with 13 cents last year, were also up in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.

Clovis Oncology Inc. (Nasdaq: CLVS) posted a third-quarter $1.71 loss per share, missing analyst expectations by 12 cents. Clovis posted a net loss of nearly $90 million, a loss that grew from the third quarter of 2017, when the net loss was $60.6 million. In Q3 2017 Clovis had a loss per share of $1.24. The company’s revenue also missed by $7.5 million. Its third-quarter revenue was $22.8 million, a year-over-year increase of 35 percent. Clovis did grow its sales of Rubraca from $16.8 million in the third quarter of 2017 to $22.8 million in Q3 2018.

Crocs Inc. (Nasdaq: CROX) got an upgrade from analysts after its positive third-quarter earnings results. Analysts at Susquehanna lifted Crocs from a Negative to a Neutral rating. The shift means the Niwot-based shoemakers have no sell-equivalent ratings from any analysts. Susquehanna also hiked Crocs’ price target from $14 to $25. Crocs posted third-quarter earnings per share of 7 cents, beating analyst expectations by 8 cents per share. The company’s net income attributable to shareholders grew significantly, from a net loss of $2.3 million in the third quarter of 2017 to a net income of $6.5 million in Q3 2018. During the quarter, Crocs purchased back 604,000 shares of its common stock.

DMC Global Inc. (Nasdaq: BOOM) recorded net income of $4.9 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $14.1 million during the same period last year. The profit amounted to 33 cents per diluted share, versus net loss 98 cents per diluted share in last year’s third quarter. Revenue totaled $87.9 million, up 68 percent from the third quarter of 2017.

Encision Inc. (OTC: ECIA), a Boulder-based company, posted second-quarter  net income of $12,000, far less than the same period last year, when net income was $116,000. Net earnings per share stayed nearly flat: zero cents per share in Q2 2018 from one cent per share for Q2 2017. Encision grew 2Q revenue 1.9 percent year-over-year to $2.2 million. The company makes products that prevent stray electrosurgical burns in minimally invasive surgeries.

Extraction Oil & Gas Inc. (Nasdaq: XOG), a Denver-based firm with operations in Northern Colorado and Boulder Valley, posted higher revenues during the third quarter of fiscal year 2018 compared to the same period last year. For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Extraction reported sales revenue of $282.2 million, compared to $180.9 million in the same quarter of 2017. That’s an increase of 56 percent. Earnings per share also were up in the most recent quarter. The posted earnings of $0.33 per share compares with a loss of $0.20 per share in the same period last year.

First Western Financial Inc. (Nasdaq: MYFW) posted higher revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018, a quarter during which the company completed an initial public offering that raised $34.1 million. The company, which is headquartered in Denver and has operations in Boulder and Fort Collins, posted revenues of $14.4 million for the quarter than ended Sept. 30. That’s up from $14.1 million in the same period of fiscal year 2017. Net income available to common shareholders was $1.4 million, or 19 cents per diluted share, for the quarter. In the third quarter of 2017, net income was $500,000, or 8 cents per diluted share.

Gaia Inc. (Nasdaq: GAIA) posted a third-quarter loss per share of 58 cents, a greater loss than Q3 2017 when the company lost 34 cents per share. Gaia nearly doubled its net loss from $5.2 million in the third quarter of 2017 to $10.3 million in the third quarter of 2018. Despite the loss, Gaia did manage to grow its revenue to nearly $11.4 million, up from $7.5 million for the same period last year. The company grew its paid subscriber count to 515,000 in its third quarter, up 66 percent from the same period the year prior when the company had 311,000 paid subscribers.

Heska Corp. (Nasdaq: HSKA) posted a third-quarter loss per share of 23 cents, missing analyst expectations by 57 cents. The Loveland-based company, which specializes in diagnostic veterinary equipment, had a net loss of $1.67 million. It’s a significant blow from the third quarter of 2017, when the company had a net income of $3.1 million. In Q3 2017 Heska had an earnings per share of 40 cents. When a non-recurring $7.1 million charge is excluded, the company had a net income of $3.4 million, or 43 cents per share. Heska had revenue of $30.96 million, up 2 percent year-over-year but missing analyst expectations by about $900,000.

MiRagen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MGEN), a Boulder-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, grew its net loss per share slightly, from a 27-cent loss-per-share in the third quarter of 2017 to a 29-cent loss-per-share in Q3 2018. The company’s net loss grew from $5.8 million in Q3 2017 to $9 million in Q3 2018. Total revenue also fell, from $1.6 million in Q3 2017 to $944,000 for the same period this year.

Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL), a Texas-based oil and gas operator with a large presence in Weld County, posted earnings per share of 27 cents for the third quarter of fiscal year 2018. Noble had losses of 2 cents per share during the same quarter last year. Total company sales volumes for the quarter that ended Sept. 30 were 345 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (MBoe/d), up 8 percent over the third quarter of 2017.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq:PPC) reported lower sales in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018. The Greeley-headquartered chicken processor reported its quarterly financial results the same day it announced plans for a $200-million stock repurchase. It posted $2.7 billion in net sales for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, down 3.2 percent from the same period in FY 2017. Earnings per share for the quarter were $0.12 compared with $0.93 in the third quarter last year.

Surna Inc. (OTC: SRNA) posted a net loss of $643,562 in the third quarter of 2018, a significant improvement over the same period last year, when the company had a net loss of nearly $1.5 million. The Boulder-based company’s earnings per share stayed nearly flat. In Q3 2017, it had a loss of one cent per share with nearly 185 million share outstanding. In Q3 2018, the company had a zero cent earnings with nearly 223 million shares outstanding. Surna, which makes equipment for plant cultivation and growhouses, including for the cannabis industry, doubled its revenue year-over-year. Its Q3 2017 revenue was $1.5 million; by 2018, it grew to $3.3 million.

UQM Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UQM) posted losses in the third quarter of fiscal year 2018. In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that accompanied UQM’s earnings report, the Longmont-based electric-vehicle motor manufacturer acknowledged “substantial doubt exists about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern without taking additional actions and/or finalizing orders that are currently in the negotiation stage.” UQM reported a loss from operations of $1.2 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That’s up from losses of $1.1 million in the same period of the prior year. Quarterly revenue was $4.4 million, compared with $2.8 million for the third quarter last year, an increase of 59 percent.

Woodward Inc. (Nasdaq: WWD) posted a fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.16, missing analyst expectations by 7 cents. The Fort Collins-based company’s earnings still grew significantly from Q4 2017. Earnings per share grew from 98 cents in Q4 2017 to $1.16 in Q4 2018. Net earnings grew from $62.2 million to $74.5 million. Revenue grew 18.6 percent year-over-year to $719.36 million, beating analyst expectations by $31.2 million.

Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) reported first-quarter earnings per share of nine cents, which missed analyst expectations by two cents. Boulder-based Zayo had a net income of $22.1 million, down from the same period in 2017, when it had net income of $23.3 million. Its Communications Infrastructure segment had a net income of $25.5 million, while its Allstream segment had a net loss of $3.4 million. Its revenue was $641.1 million, which was down just slightly year-over-year and missed analyst expectations by $7.2 million.

EVENTS

Navigating the complicated, changing world of employer-sponsored health insurance can baffle small and large businesses. Flood and Peterson Insurance, with offices in Greeley, Fort Collins and Denver, hopes to shed some light during this year’s renewal season on best practices to find an affordable strategy for employers. The company will sponsor a BizWest Power Breakfast on Dec. 6 at which a nationally recognized expert will share insights. The event will be from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Embassy Suites, Loveland. Tickets for the event are $29.49.

Colorado business owners and leaders are invited to attend Journey’s 2018 Education Event, presented by Journey Employer Solutions. The event will take place from 1 to 5 p.m., Dec. 11, at the Budweiser Events Center at The Ranch events complex at Interstate 25 and Crossroads Boulevard in Loveland. Register at journeypayroll.com/event.

KUDOS

Boulder, Fort Collins-Loveland and Greeley all made the top 26 most innovative U.S. cities list, compiled by 24/7 Wall St. The ranking is based on data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for 2015, the most recent year available. The ratings look at number of patents issued for 100,000 residents. Boulder ranks No. 4, with 260.2 patents filed per 100,000 residents in 2015. Fort Collins-Loveland ranked No. 18. It had 117.5 patents filed per 100,000 residents.  Greeley rounded out the list at No. 25, with 98.2 patents filed per 100,000 residents.

Ball Aerospace recently received a Group Achievement Award from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. The award recognized the Boulder-based company for creating solutions to allow for the continued use of the Kepler spacecraft for the K2 science mission.

“Sharing the Love of Valentine Season,” a marketing program by Visit Loveland, the tourism arm of the city of Loveland, won the 2018 Colorado Governor’s Tourism Award for Outstanding Marketing Project or Program. Visit Loveland was recognized at the 2018 Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference Oct. 30 in Vail.

Boulder and Fort Collins are each home to one of the country’s most underrated music venues, according to a new ranking by Rave Reviews. The site determined that Boulder’s Laughing Goat Coffee House and Fort Collins’ Magic Rat Live Music are among the nation’s 30 best under-the-radar places for live music.

Boulder again topped Bloomberg’s national Brain Concentration Index, with Fort Collins ranked No. 2. The index looks at metro areas with a population of 90,000 or more that have a high concentration of STEM workforce, advanced degree or science and engineering undergraduate degree holders, as well as a strong net business formation.

The famous cinnamon rolls from Johnson’s Corner, a Johnstown truck stop with a retro restaurant and bakery, were recognized by the Food Network as some of the country’s best. The pastries were selected to represent Colorado on The Food Network’s 50 States of Baked Goods. The bakery whips up about 400,000 cinnamon rolls each year.

Sweet potato and black bean enchiladas took the crown at the Real School Food Challenge, hosted by the Chef Ann Foundation. The recipe was concocted by Justin Gold, founder of Justin’s, and chef Hosea Rosenberg, of Black Belly and Santo. The recipe was made with the limitation that each serving could only cost $1.25 to make, which is the budget most schools have per child to feed students.

Thirteen local companies were honored Oct. 22 at the 19th annual IQ Awards celebrating the “Innovation Quotient” among Boulder Valley companies. BizWest previously named almost 100 companies as finalists in 10 product-and-service categories, narrowing those finalists to runners-up and winners that were announced at the event at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Boulder. The awards were sponsored by Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP, Dorsey & Whitney LLP and EKS&H, now part of Plante Moran. Boulder Digital Arts provided video and live-streaming services. Uzio Technology LLC won in the Agribusiness/Weather category; runners-up were Agribotix and Anemoment LLC. Occipital Inc. won in the Business Products and Services category; runners-up were PasswordPing Ltd. and ZingFit LLC. Clean Energy Federal Credit Union won in the Clean Tech category; runners-up were HOMER Energy LLC and Hygge Power Inc. Nite Ize Inc. won in the Consumer category; runners-up were Hearth and PopSockets LLC. Bitsbox won in the Education category; the runner-up was Specdrums Inc. Cryptanite Blockchain Technologies Corp. won in the Internet/Blockchain category; runners-up were Stateless and Yonomi. InDevR Inc. won in the Life Sciences category; runners-up were AktiVax Inc. and Double Helix LLC. Cusa Tea LLC won in the Natural Products category; runners-up were Boulder Sun LLC and The Honest Stand Ltd. Flashback Technologies Inc. won in the Software/Applications category; runners-up were AlsoEnergy Inc. and Liqid Inc. Matador won in the Sports/Outdoor category; runners-up were Canaima Outdoors Inc. and Fitbot Inc. BizWest also presented two special awards. Boomtown Accelerators was honored as the Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, and Inscripta Inc. was recognized as Innovative Company of the Year.

Boulder ranks 19th in a ranking for best tech towns in the United States. The 2018 Tech Town Index by CompTIA, a leading IT association, ranks the 20 best U.S. cities for job opportunities and quality of life for IT employees. Boulder was ranked because it had 5,821 tech jobs posted over the past 12 months. Its median salary for IT professionals is $88,899. The number of IT jobs in the city is expected to grow 5 percent over the next five years. Some of Boulder’s positive stats are counteracted by its high cost of living: 15.3 percent higher than the national average.

Longmont United Hospital’s Breast Care Center was granted a three-year, full accreditation designation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, administered by the American College of Surgeons.

Two area hospitals in the Centura Health network were recognized by the American Heart Association for having healthy workplaces. Longmont United Hospital and Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville were ranked in the Workplace Health Achievement Index.

The St. Julien Hotel and Spa in Boulder ranked eighth in Colorado among Readers’ Choice winners by Condé Nast Traveler magazine.

Greeley ranks No. 1 nationwide for growth in jobs and the economy, according to a study by WalletHub released Oct. 1. The Weld County seat topped WalletHub’s list of 2018’s fastest-growing cities in America in the jobs and economy category. Greeley ranked No. 26 overall and No. 93 in the sociodemographics category.

Sana Health, a Boulder-based medical technology startup, won the 2018 global competition for MedTech Innovator, a startup accelerator for medical technology companies. Sana Health was selected as the winner by a live audience vote on Sept. 25 at the MedTech Conference in Philadelphia. Sana received a $350,000 grand prize for its non-invasive neuromodulation device that integrates a heart rate variability sensor for personalized chronic pain management.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Alpine SG LLC of Walnut Creek, Calif., acquired e-Courier Software LLC, a Loveland company that provides software for couriers. Alpine is a portfolio company of Alpine Investors V, VI, and VI-A, LP and its affiliates. E-Courier founders Phil Galdi and Bruce Robinson will remain active in the business.

Berkeley, Calif.-based Sovos Brands completed its acquisition of Bellvue-based Noosa Yoghurt LLC.

Avista Pharma Solutions Inc., a pharmaceutical-ingredient manufacturing company with a major Longmont presence, was acquired by Cambrex Corp. (NYSE: CBM) for $252 million. Cambrex, based in East Rutherford, N.J., is a manufacturer of small molecule innovator and generic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year.

Congruex LLC, a Boulder-headquartered firm that provides construction management and maintenance services to broadband service companies, purchased White Construction Co. Inc., a Wisconsin-based telecom-focused construction company specializing primarily in underground construction work. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Flowers Foods Inc. (NYSE: FLO) of Thomasville, Ga., signed an agreement to buy Johnstown-based Canyon Bakehouse LLC, a gluten-free baking company. The deal was valued at $205 million and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

MWH Constructors Inc., a Broomfield-based infrastructure construction firm, was acquired by Los Angeles-based investment firm Oaktree Capital Management L.P. (OAK: NYSE).

C&W Transportation Co., a Fort Collins-based trucking operation, was bought by private investment firm Platform Capital.

CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries Inc., the Broomfield-based parent firm behind Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom and other restaurant chains, bought Logan’s Roadhouse. Logan’s, a Nashville, Tenn.-headquartered chain of steakhouses, has 204 corporate and franchise restaurants in 22 states. CraftWorks formed a new holding company, CraftWorks Holdings, which will have a national footprint of more than 390 restaurants.

Factual Data, the Loveland-based company that operates under the umbrella of FD Holdings LLC of Columbus, Ohio, integrated with Teslar by 3E. Factual Data provides credit and data-verification services to lenders nationwide.  Springdale, Ark.-based Teslar is a portfolio-management system that automates loan and deposit processes. The integration will make Factual Data’s reports accessible to lenders using Teslar’s loan-tracking capabilities.

Fact & Fiction LLC, a Boulder ad agency, purchased Karot, another agency. Fact & Fiction is a subsidiary of Boulder Heavy Industries LLC,  an investment company that works with early-stage entrepreneurs.

BillGo Inc., a Fort Collins-based financial tech company, acquired Redmond, Wash.-based Prism, an app that tracks bills and pays them automatically on behalf of its customers.

Funding Partners of Fort Collins and Mile High Community Loan Fund of Denver merged to form Impact Development Fund, a nonprofit financial institution that creates economic opportunity by delivering flexible capital to strengthen underserved Colorado communities.

Fort Collins-based DataSplice LLC was purchased by Prometheus Group, a provider of software to heavy-equipment operators for optimizing plant-maintenance operations. Prometheus Group, based in Raleigh, N.C., also acquired Ottawa, Ont.-based Solufy Information Technologies Inc. The combined company will use the Prometheus Group name. Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.

EKS&H, a Denver-based accounting firm, completed a merger with Detroit-based Plante Moran. The combined company now is the nation’s 11th largest accounting, tax, consulting and wealth management firm. EKS&H has offices at 1155 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder and 1321 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. Each office has roughly 40 employees. The firm, founded in 1978, also has two offices in Denver and one in San Francisco and employs a total of roughly 750 people companywide. Plante Moran has about 2,300 employees in offices in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Japan, India and Mexico. Plante Moran will host a charity contest called Plante Moran Cares, which will award $30,000 to three Colorado nonprofit organizations.

Tulsa, Okla.-based BOK Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: BOKF) completed its acquisition of CoBiz Financial Inc. (Nasdaq: COBZ). CoBiz operates bank locations throughout the metro area, Boulder, Louisville and Fort Collins. BOK is the parent company of Colorado State Bank and Trust, which has a presence in Boulder. The deal is worth about $1 billion in stock and cash.

Guaranty Bancorp stockholders approved a $1 billion acquisition by Independent Bank Group Inc., according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission document. Denver-based Guaranty has more than 30 branches in Colorado, with locations in Berthoud, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland. Independent operates throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and Houston areas of Texas, along with operations along Colorado’s Front Range after its April 2017 acquisition of 18 Northstar Bank locations. Guaranty stockholders also approved a compensation package totaling more than $14.2 million for Guaranty executives Paul Taylor, Christopher Treece, Michael Hobbs, Cathy Goss and Anthony Pizzichini.

The Egg & I restaurant at 2055 Ken Pratt Blvd. became a First Watch location. First Watch, a breakfast-centric restaurant chain headquartered in Florida, acquired The Egg & I in 2015 and has since been converting select restaurants. The Egg & I, which opened its first restaurant more than 30 years ago in Fort Collins, already has seen several Colorado locations transition to First Watch. Conversions of The Egg & I’s two restaurants in Greeley and one in Cheyenne are expected in the coming months. However, those restaurants — all owned by Mike and Christy Moriarty — will not be First Watch locations. Rather, they will be a new restaurant concept called Epic Egg. Locally, there are remaining The Egg & I locations in Boulder, Broomfield, Loveland, Fort Collins and Estes Park.

MOVES

BizWest Media LLC moved its Fort Collins office to 736 Whalers Way, Building G, Suite 100, in the Boardwalk Office Park.

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (NYSE: ETH) relocated its Westminster design center to a new 12,000-square-foot location at 500 Marshall Road in the Superior Marketplace.

Tharp Cabinet Co. plans to move to a larger facility at 380 W. 37th St. in Loveland in early 2019. The cabinet manufacturer currently occupies about a total 93,000 square feet in seven buildings on Denver Avenue. The new facility will be a single, 170,000-square-foot building. The new location is the former home of QuadGraphics Inc. (NYSE: QUAD), which operated a regional telephone directory printing business.

Molecular Products Group Inc. moved its global headquarters to Louisville. The Colorado-based company specializes in the design and manufacture of devices for the treatment of breathable gasses. It makes products for carbon filtration in air respirators, as well as carbon-dioxide absorbers, among other products. To celebrate the opening of its 63,000-square-foot facility, Molecular Products hosted an open house Nov. 8 at 633 CTC Blvd. in Louisville. Molecular Products had been headquartered in Boulder, where it moved in 2009. The company has also been based in Lafayette and the United Kingdom.

The Tea Spot, a maker of loose tea and tea sachet products, moved from its former headquarters in Boulder’s Gunbarrel neighborhood to a 12,800-square-foot space on Cherry Street in Louisville’s Colorado Tech Center, more than double the size of the previous headquarters.

Cornerstone Farm, which offers horse training and riding lessons, moved to 8270 N. 87th St. in Longmont, at a facility called Maple Del Nero. Cornerstone Farm, which has been in operation since 1996, operated at its prior location on Nelson Road west of Longmont for more than 13 years. It has been owned by Jennifer Shannon since 2001.

A company that builds and maintains the nation’s dams and hydroelectric power plants will move its headquarters. Gracon LLC has outgrown its facility at 7221 E. U.S. Highway 34, just east of Loveland and will relocate to 130 Miners Drive in Lafayette.

BillGo Inc., a financial-payment system looking to help people pay their bills in real-time, moved into an expanded Fort Collins office. The offices at 3003 E. Harmony Road are part of the company’s larger overall plan of scaling the business and attracting the right talent.

Colorado Teardrop Trailers LLC, a company that makes teardrop-style trailers and operates as Colorado Teardrops, moved to an 8,000-square-foot headquarters at 1750 55th St. in Boulder. The location is double the size of the company’s previous Central Avenue facilities.

Distilled Bath & Body LLC, which makes an all-organic alcohol-based spray deodorant called Pit Liquor, moved out of the founders’ home and into its first manufacturing facility. The company, which gained momentum after a Kickstarter campaign, is moving to a warehouse in Fort Collins, where it is expected to produce about 1,000 bottles of deodorant a day.

NAME CHANGES

YouSeeU, a Loveland-based educational tech company, rebranded as Bongo. That name previously was limited to what the company called its video-assessment platform.

HindmanSanchez PC, a law firm that specializes in community associations such as homeowners associations, rebranded as Altitude Community Law PC. The firm will maintain its three offices — Loveland, Lakewood and Colorado Springs.

BlogMutt, a Boulder-based blog content creation firm, rebranded as Verblio and added services to its customers including written as well as artificial-intelligence-based video creation. Verblio under its former name was recognized in four consecutive years as one of BizWest’s Mercury 100 fastest-growing private companies in the Boulder Valley.

OPENING

A franchise location of Paul Davis Restoration opened at 2636 Midpoint Drive, Suite A, in Fort Collins. The business offers damage restoration for residential and commercial properties impacted by fire, smoke, water and mold.

Ralphies Bar & Grill will fill the Boulder restaurant space formerly home to Harpo’s Sports Grill. The owners of the establishment at 2860 Arapahoe Ave. are in the process of remodeling the 5,600-square-foot space. Ralphie’s is expected to open in mid-December. Harpo’s closed in March after 15 years in business.

Boulder-based Terrapin Care Station opened the first recreational cannabis store at 650 20th Ave. in Longmont.

In Motion Running, a locally owned specialty running store at 1830 30th St. in Market Square Shopping Center in Boulder that also provides physical therapy, was opened by physical therapist and co-founder of Boulder Running Co., Mark Plaatjes.

Northstar Liquor Superstore, a 25,000-square-foot liquor store, opened at 4919 Thompson Parkway in Johnstown, just south of the Promenade Shops at Centerra.

Eyemart Express LLC, a Texas-based prescription eyeglass retailer, opened its first location in Fort Collins at 1820 S. College Ave. It has two other Colorado locations.

Blue Federal Credit Union is in the process of building a new branch in Lafayette and plans to follow that with another new location in Erie. A 3,700-square-foot branch under construction at  U.S. Highway 287 and Exempla Circle in Lafayette is expected to be open in January.

Denver-based Power Equipment Co., a heavy industrial equipment sales, rental, service and repair firm, opened a 26,000-square-foot branch on a 7-acre site at 2836 First Ave. in Greeley. The branch, which opened in early October, features a 4,000-square-foot parts warehouse. There is also a 10,800-square-foot service shop with eight service bays, two 10-ton remote-controlled overhead cranes and an equipment wash bay.

Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd. opened a completions center on Oct. 22 at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, providing additional capacity for its single-engine turboprop PC-12 NG and new PC-24 Super Versatile Jet. The 118,000-square-foot center at 12300 Pilatus Way is designed to conduct aircraft interior and exterior completions.

Baskin-Robbins opened its second Longmont ice-cream store at 1844 Hover St. Unit A.

New Orleans-based Smoothie King opened Oct. 20 at 2860 E. Harmony Road in the Front Range Village development in Fort Collins.

Two veteran real estate appraisers joined to form Real Estate Appraisers of Northern Colorado. Bill Lundquist and Tim Graham launched the new firm at 1635 Foxtrail Drive, Suite 363, in Loveland. They formerly served as senior appraisers at Shannon and Associates in Fort Collins, which shut down Sept. 30 upon the retirement of owner Don Shannon.

Fierce45, a Denver-based chain of high-intensity Pilates studios, will open a location on Broadway in Boulder in early 2019.

Kentwood Real Estate, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate that specializes in upscale residential properties, opened a new office at 2510 E. Harmony Road, Suite 202, in Fort Collins. The operation, the company’s fourth in Colorado, is called Kentwood Northern Properties.

Ziggi’s Coffee Franchise LLC is continuing its expansion and has signed with new franchisees in Loveland. The Longmont-based coffee company has signed 24 franchise agreements in the last two years. The latest signing grants the rights to three locations. Ziggi’s operates multiple locations in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, including Erie, Firestone, Fort Collins, Greeley, Hudson, Longmont and Loveland, with additional locations coming to Estes Park, Johnstown and Windsor, according to the company’s website.

Lazy Dog Sports Bar & Grill, which operates locations in Boulder and Erie, is planning a third restaurant in Johnstown that is expected to be open by May. The new roughly 6,000-square-foot Lazy Dog will be built near the interchange of Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34.

Lice Clinics of America, which has operated since 2016 in Fort Collins, now has a second clinic Longmont. Like the Fort Collins clinic, the Longmont location is owned by Tanya Kensley and provides screening, diagnosis and treatment options for people infested with head lice. The clinic, located at 421 21st Ave., Suite 210, provides treatment using an AirAllé device.

2nd & Charles, a retail chain that allows customers to buy, sell and trade used books, videos, games, vinyl records and collectibles, opened its fourth store in Colorado on Nov. 3 at 4417 Corbett Drive in Fort Collins.

Oklahoma-based MidFirst Bank opened a Boulder branch location at 840 Pearl St., the first MidFirst in Boulder and the fourth in Colorado.

An eclectic new bar is coming to a basement space beneath a Chipotle Mexican Grill just north of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. Ehko Lounge will be “a combination of a nightclub, a bar, an arcade and a college lounge,” owner Taylor Loftin said. The roughly 4,000-square-foot lounge at the corner of 17th Street and Eighth Avenue is expected to open by the middle of this month.

A mother/daughter team opened its second workout facility, this time in Windsor. The initial location for 5280Fit is in Highlands Ranch. The facility at 655 Academy Court in Windsor is operated by Haelin Steward and her mother, Sonja Steward.

Timnath Beerwerks, opened in the old Colorado Feed & Grain building at 4138 Main St. in Timnath.

Hidden Doors by Design LLC, a company that manufactures bookcases and cabinets that serve as hidden doors, opened a showroom at 4659 Belford Circle in Broomfield.

The Women’s Clinic of Northern Colorado leased a nearly 5,100-square-foot space in the Mountain Vista Center at 7251 W. 20th St. in Greeley and will open it early next year. It joins existing Women’s Clinic locations in Fort Collins and Loveland.

Springhaus Designs LLC opened a 30,000-square-foot design center at 5000 Goodman St. in Timnath. The business worked out of temporary quarters in Timnath while the showroom was being built. It offers products for residential, commercial, interior and exterior projects.

Peaksware, a Boulder-based training software development firm, launched a ventures division called Peaksware Ventures to help identify and help fund products and companies to expand existing platforms and grow into new markets. Peaksware Ventures will be headed by Gear Fisher, TrainingPeaks cofounder and current Peaksware chief executive.

Boulder-based Renovation Brands LLC opened a warehouse and distribution facility in Florence, Ala., in October to accommodate growing customer demand. The new facility will stock products for many of the brands in its product portfolio, including Electric Fireplaces Direct, Electric Fireplaces Canada, Mantels Direct and American Tin Ceilings.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Louisville-based Vaisala Inc. developed a new platform for the autonomous-vehicle market, which can provide road-condition data to various users from multiple sensors and sources.

Boulder-based Warfighter Hemp, a maker of CBD products from industrial hemp, developed a new product for pets. The new Warfighter Hemp CBD Tincture for Dogs is a naturally flavored 150 mg tincture that can be given to pets with a droplet or mixed into food, treats or liquids. Each bottle of 15 ml is expected to retail for about $40.

OtterBox and PopSockets partnered for the holiday season. OtterBox Symmetry cases are being paired with matching PopGrips from PopSockets.

Cue Marketplace, a Boulder-based one-stop shop for recommending and purchasing software for small businesses, launched Cue Cannabis, which  offers a marketplace of software geared toward new and established businesses in the cannabis industry.

Boulder-based Wana Brands is expanding beyond the edible, releasing four disposable vapes, now available in dispensaries across Colorado. The lineup includes Sativa Diesel, Indica Kush, Hybrid Haze and Balanced 1:1 CBD/ THC.

Organic India, a maker of supplements, launched the world’s first fair trade-certified supplements during the Expo East trade show. The herbal supplements include Tulsi (also known as Holy Basil), Cinnamon, Ginger and Trikatu.

Ball Corp. will build three new wind turbines to provide power at the Broomfield-based firm’s Findlay, Ohio, beverage packaging plant. The plant currently has three existing turbines that were built in 2015. Together, the six turbines will use sustainable wind resources to supply about 30 percent of the Findlay plant’s power needs. Ball, along with partner One Energy Enterprises LLC, will begin construction on the new turbines before the end of the year. The project is expected to cost about $9 million.

Boulder-based Indigo Education Co., an education-tech company that provides comprehensive surveys about the skills and traits of students to help them better understand themselves, is automating the interpretations of its survey results using artificial intelligence. It’s also developed online courses students can take, typically when they’re college freshmen, that teaches young students how to know themselves, where they’re going and how to get to that goal.

Webroot Inc., a Broomfield-based cybersecurity firm, launched a virtual private network product called Webroot WiFi Security. It is designed to protect wireless Internet users from malicious threats that could steal financial and personal information and passwords, or infect a device with malware. The VPN also hides IP addresses and encrypts data.

Fort Collins-based Decibullz launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for its latest customizable wireless earbuds, and surpassed its goal of $50,000 in one day. The Black Diamond True earbuds mold to a listener’s unique ear shape using a heat-activated system. The earpieces can be heated in hot water, snapped into the earbuds and then pressed into the listener’s ear to fit them exactly. They will also hold their shape until they are reheated.

Broomfield-based Swisslog Healthcare, the tradename for Translogic Corp., which manufactures systems for material transport and supply-chain management for health-care systems, developed an autonomous service robot to pick up and deliver pharmaceuticals in health-care settings. In conjunction with robot developer Savioke Inc., Swisslog launched Relay robot, which can operate elevators and doors and navigate in busy public corridors. It can deliver medicines, blood, lab specimens, snacks and documents 24 hours a day.

LogRhythm, a Boulder-based cybersecurity firm, was granted U.S. Patent 10,091,217, which acknowledged the company as the creator of data monitoring methods that enable risk-based classification of data. It’s a component necessary to enable security operations center teams to focus resources on the most critical and impactful security events.

Marizyme Inc. (OTC: MRZM), a Fort Collins-based biopharmaceutical company, has acquired its first assets. The company purchased a novel protease drug platform that uses a new combination of enzymes, first developed by Pharmacia Corp. in Sweden. The treatment has been tested in more than 551 patients and has shown efficacy in wound healing, thrombogenic disease and anti-viral applications. The company’s first product candidate based on the protease platform is MB101, a patented, first-of-its-kind localized enzymatic therapy initially being developed for use in wound debridement and healing. The company’s second product candidate based on the platform, MB102, is a patented formulation of proteases delivered endovascularly to quickly and safely remove clots causing ischemic blockages.

SERVICES

Boulder Community Health officially launched Foothills Community Midwives, a new clinic that guarantees patients a midwife-attended birth in a hospital setting. Its office locations are in the Foothills Medical Building, 4745 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder, and Buffalo Ridge Medical Center, 16677 Lowell Blvd., Broomfield.

Food from three dozen Fort Collins restaurants is available for delivery from Grubhub. The service replaces an online ordering system with drivers employed by Grubhub. GrubHub is already available in other Colorado cities including Boulder, Broomfield, Erie, Greeley, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville and Loveland.

Colorado Springs-based Ent Federal Credit Union was granted approval by Colorado’s Division of Financial Services to begin taking on members in Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer, Weld, Adams and Elbert counties. Anyone who lives, works, goes to school or worships in those counties can be eligible for credit-union membership. Previously, Ent’s field of membership included Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Jefferson, Pueblo and Teller counties, as well as select communities in Weld and Adams counties. Ent operates a branch at 11211 E. I-25 Frontage Road in Firestone.

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