Briefcase, May 27, 2016

CLOSINGS

FortNet, a Fort Collins-based nonprofit organization that for two decades provided free web hosting and maintenance for other nonprofits in Larimer County, will shut down on June 1.

Downtown Longmont staple Miller Music will close at the end of the month after 42 years selling instruments, although Miller Music general manager Aaron Fausnaugh and his wife still will operate the Miller Music Academy, albeit under a different name and across the street from Miller’s current location of 464 Main St.

EARNINGS

Loveland-based Heska Corp. (Nasdaq: HSKA), a provider of veterinary diagnostic and specialty products, reported $27.1 million in revenue for the first quarter that ended March 31, a 19 percent increase from the same quarter last year. Its revenue from blood-testing instruments and consumables was up 25.8 percent to $11.4 million, and revenue from digital imaging increased 44.5 percent to $6.1 million. Heska reported that it saw a 13 percent increase in gross profit to $11.4 million, a 93 percent gain in operating income to $2 million and net income attributable to Heska up 98 percent to $1.2 million, or 17 cents per diluted share. On March 31, according to the report, Heska had $6.2 million in cash and $22.7 million in working capital. It said stockholders’ equity increased to $65.5 million, up from $63.5 million as of Dec. 31.

Noodles & Co., a chain of fast-casual restaurants serving pasta dishes, reported a loss of $2.4 million for its first quarter 2016 that ended March 29, down slightly from a loss of $2.8 million recorded during the same period a year ago. Broomfield-based Noodles (Nasdaq: NDLS) reported revenue of $114 million for the quarter, a 7.8 percent increase compared with $105.8 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2015.

Calgary, Alberta-based oil and natural gas producer Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) reported a loss of $379 million, or 45 cents per share. Revenue for the company slid from $1.2 billion last year to $753 in the first quarter of this year as low crude-oil prices continue to batter the industry. Encana announced in October a deal to sell its 51,000 acres in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, which lies mostly in Northern Colorado, to a new joint venture formed by Denver-based The Broe Group and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $900 million.

Array BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY) reported a net loss of $22.7 million for its third fiscal quarter as the company continues the push toward commercialization of a pair of its cancer drugs. The Boulder-based firm’s loss for the period ending March 31 equated to 16 cents per share. Revenue climbed to $43 million, up from $6.6 million for the same period last year, thanks primarily to $36.9 million in reimbursement revenue from Novartis. Array finished the quarter, meanwhile, with $118 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.

Clinical-stage pharmaceutical company Nivalis Therapeutics Inc. reported a first-quarter loss of $7.8 million, or 51 cents a share. The Boulder-based company (Nasdaq: NVLS), which went public last June and remains pre-revenue, is developing drug candidates for the treatment of cystic fibrosis, including lead candidate N91115. The loss for the quarter ending March 31 was a substantial increase from the net loss of $4.3 million in the first quarter of 2015, before the company went public.

Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: AEIS) reported a profit of $22.3 million, or 56 cents per share, for its first quarter 2016 that ended March 31. The Fort Collins-based maker of power and control products used in semiconductors, flat-panel displays and other electronics reported sales of $103 million for the quarter compared with $86.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2015 and $109.5 million in the first quarter of 2015.

Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., which has operations in the Wattenberg Field in Weld County, posted a loss of $1 billion, or $2.03 per share for its first quarter that ended March 31 compared with a loss of $3.3 billion, or $6.45 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter fell 28 percent to $1.67 billion, compared with the same quarter a year ago. Sales volumes for the quarter in the Rockies decreased by 174 million cubic feet per day, primarily due to the September 2015 sale of certain coalbed-methane properties and a natural production decline at Greater Natural Buttes in Utah, partially offset by higher sales volumes in the Wattenberg field as a result of well optimization, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Louisville-based RGS Energy (Nasdaq: RGSE), an installer of residential and small-commercial rooftop solar equipment, reported a loss of $3.7 million for its first quarter as it continues to execute a “business-turnaround strategy.” RGS generated revenue of $4.9 million for the quarter that ended March 31, compared with $10.6 million for the same period a year ago. The company trimmed selling, operating and administrative expenses to $3.5 million from $5.7 million during the same quarter a year ago, according to the report.

Louisville-based biopharmaceutical company GlobeImmune Inc. (Nasdaq: GBIM), whose company officials disclosed that they could shut down the company if a strategic alternative, such as a buyer, is not found “in the near future,” reported $8.7 million in cash and equivalents as of March 31 in its first-quarter earnings report, enough to operate the company as a going concern through the middle of next year as it seeks out those alternatives. GlobeImmune reported a first-quarter net loss of $862,000, down from $1.6 million for the same period a year ago, thanks mainly to lower compensation expense due to laying off all but six employees last summer. The company had revenue of $943,000 in the first quarter, down from $1.2 million a year earlier.

Niwot-based shoemaker Crocs Inc. posted a $6.4 million profit, or 7 cents per share, for the first quarter that ended March 31. Revenue for the quarter was $279.1 million, higher than Wall Street’s expectations of $265.9 million. The first-quarter profit is a turnaround from the company’s loss of $6 million, or 8 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31 were $89.1 million compared with $143.3 million at Dec. 31. Inventory was $186.1 million March 31 compared with $168.2 million Dec. 31.

Boulder-based cannabis-tech firm Surna Inc. (OTCQB: SRNA) reported a first-quarter net loss of $746,214, shaving that figure nearly in half from the same period a year ago as the young company starts to see sales increase exponentially. The loss amounted to 1 cent per share and was down from a loss of $1.4 million for the first quarter of 2015. Revenue for the company was $2.5 million, up from $819,063 a year earlier. Boulder-based Surna makes products that help monitor, control and address the energy and resource use of indoor cannabis cultivation facilities.

Boulder-based Encision Inc. (PK: ECIA), a medical device company that owns patented surgical technology designed to prevent stray electrosurgical burns during minimally invasive surgery, on Monday posted net revenue of $2.289 million and a net loss of $282,000 for its fourth quarter that ended March 31. That loss, which amounted to 3 cents per share, compares with revenue of $2.307 million and a net loss of $349,000, or 3 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Gross margin on net revenue was 45.8 percent in the fiscal 2016 fourth quarter and 51.2 percent in the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter. For the just-ended fiscal year, the company posted net revenue of $9.336 million and a net loss of $880,000 or 8 cents per share. These results compare with net revenue of $9.671 million and a net loss of $1.383 million, or 13 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

FLOOD RELIEF

Five projects in Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties will receive grants to support construction or preservation of affordable-housing units that were impacted by flooding in 2013. The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority said the projects will receive funds through Low Income Housing Tax Credit awards, along with Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs-Division of Housing. Projects in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado that received funding were: Palo Park Community, developed by Boulder Housing Partners along Fourmile Creek west of Boulder; SPARKwest, developed by Element Properties, a permanent affordable-housing component in the Boulder Junction transit village; Village on Horsetooth,
developed by the Fort Collins Housing Authority in accordance with the affordable-housing land-bank policy of the city of Fort Collins;

Peakview Trails, developed by Four Corners Development LLC to  serve seniors 62 and older in Greeley; and Suites Supportive
Housing Community, developed by the Longmont Housing Authority in a Longmont building that had been an extended-stay hotel.

KUDOS

Executives from eight Boulder Valley companies were among 24 named finalists for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Mountain Desert Region. The award program honors entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Winners, who will be announced June 23 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, are considered for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year national program, for which winners are announced in November. This year’s Mountain Desert Region finalists from the Boulder Valley include Brook Eddy, chief executive and founder of Boulder-based Bhakti Inc.; Andrew Cousin, CEO of Circle Graphics in Longmont; CEO Andy Grolnick, chief technical officer and co-founder Chris
Petersen and chief scientific co-founder Phil Villella, all of LogRhythm in Boulder; chairman and founder Larry Gold and chief executive Byron Hewett, both of SomaLogic in Boulder; Paul
Berberian, CEO of Sphero in Boulder; Dave DuPont, CEO and co-founder of TeamSnap in Boulder; Rob Katz, chairman and CEO of Vail Resorts in Broomfield; and Dick Williams, president and CEO of Webroot in Broomfield.

J. Robert Wilson, president and owner of Columbine Health Systems in Fort Collins, received an honorary doctorate degree from Colorado State University.

The “Choice City” is among the top choices among small metropolitan areas for those seeking good places to find work and live after they graduate from college. Fort Collins
ranked fourth on the list of small metros in the American Institute for Economic Research’s Employment Destination Index, just behind Ann Arbor, Mich.; Bridgeport, Conn.; and Lincoln, Neb. Denver was fourth among the largest metropolitan areas, behind Washington, San Francisco and Boston.

Lisa Calkins, co-founder and CEO of Boulder-based Amadeus Consulting, a custom software development firm, was named a gold winner and female CEO of the Year for the 2016 CEO World Awards’ consulting category for businesses with 11 to 99 employees.

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