Friday, May 4, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Daily Business Update
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| Thu. May. 03, 2012 Microsoft to open store in PruMicrosoft Corp. said Thursday it will open a store in The Shops at Prudential Center in Boston, as it tries to catch up with rival Apple Inc. in establishing a closer retail presences with consumers. The Pru store will be its first in Massachusetts, and will feature personal computers running the company’s Windows 7 software, smartphones on its Windows Phone 7 software, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 videogame console. The store will included a section devoted to small business users. | Advertisement  | ||
TJX gets another tax break to expand in FraminghamRetail giant TJX Cos. secured its second major property tax break in two months Wednesday night after agreeing to keep its headquarters in Framingham, where it will spend $143 million on an expansion. | |||
High Liner Foods plans to close Danvers plant that employs 160 peopleHigh Liner Foods Inc. plans to close a plant in Danvers that employs more than 160 people early next year. The plant coats and batters fish for the food-service industry. Nova Scotia-based High Liner Foods is also looking to close another plant in Canada. The company said it is “consolidating its North American supply chain as a result of overcapacity at several plants and the acquisition of a more modern plant in Newport News, Virginia.” | |||
Steven Tyler pitches chicken for Burger KingSteven Tyler is seemingly no slouch at multi-tasking. When not crooning for Aerosmith or judging on “American Idol,” he can now be seen pitching Crispy Chicken Strips in a new Burger King TV ad. The ad would have you believe he’s working the drive-through window at a Burger King near you. For female customers, it’s a case of hyperventilating only painfully restrained. Swoonings aside, the BK manager is so discomfited by the rock star’s unkempt mane that he bellows: “You need to get a hair-net, Tyler!” | |||
TJX: Same-store sales rose 6% in AprilTJX Cos., the Framingham-based retailer that operates such off-price chains as T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, said Thursday that its same-store sales rose 6 percent in April when compared to April 2011. Same-store sales, which are sales at stores open at least a year, are regarded as a key metric of a retailer’s performance. TJX said it now expects first-quarter earnings per share to be about $.54 and full year fiscal 2013 EPS to be in the range of $2.26-$2.36. | |||
Mass. schools get $778k from Stop & Shop’s A+School Rewards programThe Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. said that Massachusetts schools received more than $778,000 through the chain’s A+School Rewards Program. The program enables schools to earn cash for scholarships, technology, sports equipment, field trips, and other educational needs. Customers who use Stop & Shop cards when making purchases designate a school of their choice. Then points accrue to that school based on those purchases. | |||
First Wind marks milestone for its wind project in Washington stateFirst Wind, a Boston-based wind energy company, has just marked the start of major construction on its first wind project in Washington state. The Palouse Wind project, located in Whitman County, will include the installation of 58 Vestas 1.8 mega-watt turbines. “Once complete, the Palouse Wind project will be the largest renewable energy facility in the county with the capacity to generate enough clean energy to power about 30,000 Northwest homes,” First Wind said. | |||
Secretary of State William Galvin: RBC Capital Markets agrees to repay Mass. investors up to $2.9mRBC Capital Markets has agreed to repay Massachusetts investors up to $2.9 million, plus a $250,000 fine, in a settlement with Secretary of State William F. Galvin. New York-based RBC, a unit of the Royal Bank of Canada, allegedly sold commonwealth investors a complex type of exchange-traded funds that used leverage and “inverse leverage.” These instruments look to provide returns that are linked to the daily performance of certain market indexes. | |||
CVS Caremark 1Q profit jumps 9 percentCVS Caremark Corp. gained millions of new prescriptions in the first quarter due to a contract impasse between two rivals, and now the drugstore chain wants to keep the growth going by ensuring that those customers stick around and use the rest of its store. The Woonsocket, R.I., company said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings climbed 9 percent, and it raised its profit forecast for 2012 because the end of a contract between Walgreen Co. and Express Scripts Inc. prompted Walgreen customers to migrate to CVS stores. | |||
Minuteman Senior Services is relocating to Crosby Corporate Center in BedfordMinuteman Senior Services will relocate its corporate headquarters from Burlington to the Crosby Corporate Center office park in Bedford this summer, said a real estate broker involved in the lease transaction. The broker is the Boston office of Colliers International, which represented Minuteman during lease negotiations. Minuteman is a nonprofit organization that helps seniors, disabled adults, and families find solutions for long-term care. The landlord of Crosby Corporate Center is RREEF Real Estate. | |||
Arnold wins ad business of American Eagle OutfittersArnold Worldwide said it has been selected to be the global global agency of record for American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which sells clothing to young consumers under such brand names as American Eagle Outfitters, Aerie, and 77kids. Arnold said the account will be managed out of its Boston headquarters. MediaCom will handle media planning and buying for the ads that Arnold creates for American Eagle. Arnold’s press release did not disclose billings for the account. | |||
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Daily Business Update
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| Wed. May. 02, 2012 Secretary of State William Galvin: RBC Capital Markets agrees to repay Mass. investors up to $2.9mRBC Capital Markets has agreed to repay Massachusetts investors up to $2.9 million, plus a $250,000 fine, in a settlement with Secretary of State William F. Galvin. New York-based RBC, a unit of the Royal Bank of Canada, allegedly sold commonwealth investors a complex type of exchange-traded funds that used leverage and “inverse leverage.” These instruments look to provide returns that are linked to the daily performance of certain market indexes. | Advertisement | ||
CVS Caremark 1Q profit jumps 9 percentCVS Caremark Corp. gained millions of new prescriptions in the first quarter due to a contract impasse between two rivals, and now the drugstore chain wants to keep the growth going by ensuring that those customers stick around and use the rest of its store. The Woonsocket, R.I., company said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings climbed 9 percent, and it raised its profit forecast for 2012 because the end of a contract between Walgreen Co. and Express Scripts Inc. prompted Walgreen customers to migrate to CVS stores. | |||
Minuteman Senior Services is relocating to Crosby Corporate Center in BedfordMinuteman Senior Services will relocate its corporate headquarters from Burlington to the Crosby Corporate Center office park in Bedford this summer, said a real estate broker involved in the lease transaction. The broker is the Boston office of Colliers International, which represented Minuteman during lease negotiations. Minuteman is a nonprofit organization that helps seniors, disabled adults, and families find solutions for long-term care. The landlord of Crosby Corporate Center is RREEF Real Estate. | |||
Arnold wins ad business of American Eagle OutfittersArnold Worldwide said it has been selected to be the global global agency of record for American Eagle Outfitters Inc., which sells clothing to young consumers under such brand names as American Eagle Outfitters, Aerie, and 77kids. Arnold said the account will be managed out of its Boston headquarters. MediaCom will handle media planning and buying for the ads that Arnold creates for American Eagle. Arnold’s press release did not disclose billings for the account. | |||
Lemelson-MIT prize goes to Ashok GadgilThe Lemelson-MIT Program said Wednesday that Ashok Gadgil is the recipient of its $100,000 Award for Global Innovation. Gadgil is honored for his “steady pursuit to blend research, invention, and humanitarianism for broad social impact,” the program said. Gadgil is a chair professor of Safe Water and Sanitation at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. | |||
Three leases signed for Riverworks in WatertownThe Massachusetts and New Hampshire Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, Sabre Hospitality Solutions, and Education Resource Strategies have signed separate long-term leases that will have them collectively occupying nearly 41,000 square feet of space at Riverworks, a recently renovated office complex in Watertown. The announcement was made by Farley White Interests, the Riverworks landlord, and Jones Lang LaSalle, the broker representing Farley White in the leasing transactions. | |||
TripAdvisor surges as 1Q sales, profit top estimatesTripAdvisor Inc., the online travel- recommendation service spun off from Expedia Inc., surged in extended trading after reporting first-quarter sales and profit that exceeded some analysts’ estimates. First-quarter profit excluding certain items was 38 cents a share, the Newton-based company said in a statement. That compared with an average analyst projection of 34 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose to $183.7 million, topping the $174.4 million average estimate. | |||
Baskin-Robbins launches ‘Men In Black 3’ ice cream promoBaskin-Robbins, the sister chain of Dunkin’ Donuts, is unveiling some new menu choices as part of a promotion with “Men In Black 3,” a Sony Pictures movie that is set to arrive in theaters later this month. Baskin-Robbins focuses on ice cream. And summer, of course, is ice cream’s season. So it makes sense to kick off this year’s ice cream season with a tie-in to a movie that has promise of being a summer blockbuster, Canton-based Baskin-Robbins suggested in a press release. | |||
Jessica Alba arrives in Boston to plug Honest.com, her eco-friendly baby products start-upActress Jessica Alba joined the local technology set Tuesday to plug her e-commerce start-up, The Honest Co., which sells ecofriendly baby products. Alba was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of General Catalyst Partners, a Cambridge venture capital firm that in March led a $27 million round of funding for her company. Alba joined hundreds other entrepreneurs and investors for the gathering at The Charles Hotel in Harvard Square. | |||
OneUnited Bank argues that First Episcopal Church, not Charles Street AME, responsible for debtLawyers for OneUnited Bank argued in bankruptcy court Tuesday that the Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, the bank’s client, is not the ultimate debtor in the case, and that the First Episcopal District organization is responsible for the church’s debts. Judge Frank Bailey, presiding at the hearing, implied that the bank ought to have known the church’s relationship to its guarantor, saying “I assume in due diligence the bank became aware of this structure.” | |||
Wolverine, Golden Gate, Blum agree to buy company whose brands include Keds, Sperry Top-SiderWolverine World Wide Inc., Golden Gate Capital, and Blum Capital Partners agreed to buy Collective Brands Inc. and split up the company’s businesses in a transaction valued at about $2 billion including debt. Collective’s portfolio includes brands with local ties such as Sperry Top-Sider, Saucony, Stride Rite, and Keds. | |||
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Daily Headlines
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Daily Business Update
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| Tue. May. 01, 2012 Rep. James Vallee joins Nixon Peabody law firmMassachusetts State Representative James E. Vallee has joined the Boston office of Nixon Peabody LLP as counsel, the law firm said. Vallee, a Democrat from Franklin, will work with attorneys in the firm’s Real Estate and Government Relations & Public Policy practices. During his career in the Massachusetts Legislature, Vallee has served as majority leader, as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means and, mostly recently, as House chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs. | Advertisement | ||
US attorney: Watertown man is charged with $1.1m theft from Iron MountainA Watertown man was charged in federal court with allegations that he stole more than $1.1 million from his former employer, Iron Mountain Inc., the office of US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said Tuesday. John J. Palandjian, 34, was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud. As an Iron Mountain employee, Palandjian used a company credit card to make unauthorized purchases and take cash advances, Ortiz’s office alleges. An attempt to reach Palandjian was unsuccessful. | |||
Business confidence index rose in AprilA statewide business confidence index posted a 57.7 reading for April, the best monthly reading since August 2007 and up 2.3 points from the March reading. The monthly index, which uses a 100-point scale, is maintained by Associated Industries of Massachusetts, or AIM, an association of Massachusetts employers. “The economy has returned to health by some standards, but it has not regained its strength by any means,” Raymond G. Torto, chair of AIM’s Board of Economic Advisors, said in a statement. | |||
Thermo Fisher Scientific buys Doe & IngallsThermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a Waltham-based maker of laboratory instruments, said Tuesday that it has acquired Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, a provider of specialty production chemicals and customized supply-chain services to the life sciences and micro-electronics industries. The purchase price was about $175 million in cash. Doe & Ingalls is based in North Carolina and generated 2011 revenue of roughly $110 million. | |||
Globe circulation grows for the first time since 2004The Boston Globe said Tuesday that its paid circulation has grown for the first time since September of 2004, based on numbers released by the an independent auditor of newspaper circulation. Average Sunday circulation was 365,512 for the six month period that ended in March, up 2.5 percent for the same period a year ago. Average daily circulation rose 2.9 percent. The numbers reflect both print circulation and digital subscriptions to the company’s new website, BostonGlobe.com, which was launched in mid-October. | |||
Rockland Trust agrees to buy Central Bank for $54.8mThe parent of Rockland Trust Co. has agreed to buy Central Bank in a deal valued at $54.8 million as Rockland Trust looks to increase its presence in Middlesex County. Rockland Trust, whose corporate parent is Independent Bank Corp. of Hanover, has about $5 billion in assets and 67 retail branches throughout Eastern Massachusetts and on Cape Cod. Central Bank has nine branches in such communities as Somerville, Arlington, Burlington, Chestnut Hill, Malden, Medford, Melrose, and Woburn. | |||
KPMG will open Kendall Square officeKPMG LLP, an audit, tax, and advisory firm, looks to expand its practice for early-stage technology and life science companies by leasing space for a new office in Kendall Square, a high-tech hub. The opportunity to be “part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem near MIT is very important to us,” Pat Canning, managing partner for KPMG’s Boston office, said. The new office of roughly two dozen people at One Broadway will be the home base of Ed Sullivan, who leads KPMG’s New England Venture Capital Practice. | |||
Fidelity: 401(k) balances grew average 8% in 1QEmployee 401(k) accounts grew nearly 8 percent last quarter as a surging stock market boosted investment returns and worker contributions increased. Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest 401(k) administrator, said on Tuesday that the average balance among its nearly 12 million accountholders was $74,600 at the end of March. That’s up from $69,100 at the end of 2011. Boston-based Fidelity attributed about 80 percent of the increase to investment performance. Stocks rallied nearly 13 percent, the market’s best first-quarter performance since 1998. | |||
Affiliated Managers Group CEO Sean Healey paid $14.9 million in 2011, down from nearly $20 millionThe chief executive of Affiliated Managers Group Inc., a Beverly investment firm, received $14.9 million in total compensation last year, down from nearly $20 million in 2010, according to an annual filing with regulators. Sean M. Healey, the husband of former Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, earned the same base salary for the past three years, $750,000. He received a $5 million cash bonus in 2011, down from $7 million the prior year. He also last year received $4.5 million in stock awards, plus options and other compensation. | |||
Massachusetts small business health insurance rates continue modest increasesState regulators Monday said they approved third-quarter health insurance rates with average increases of 1.2 percent in the market serving small businesses and individuals, continuing a trend of more modest increases seen over the past three quarters. The new rates are in the Massachusetts “small group” market, which includes tens of thousands of small companies as well as self-employed and formerly uninsured individuals. They apply to policies taking effect on July 1, a smaller renewal period than the second quarter. For that period, health insurance premium increases averaged 1.9 percent. | |||
Federal regulators suspend trading in the stock of bankrupt LocatePlus HoldingsFederal regulators on Monday suspended trading in the stock of a bankrupt Beverly company, LocatePlus Holdings Corp., because, they said, it has not filed quarterly reports since March 2011. The company, which sells records online for investigative searches, was the subject of civil fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010. The charges involved alleged violations of antifraud, books and records laws, and are still pending. Last June, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. | |||
| ADVERTISEMENT Looking to catch the next big game in town? Search from a wide range of Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics and Patriots seats in our exclusive ticket section powered by Ace Ticket. For the best seats to any sporting event in Boston, go to Boston.com Tickets. | |||
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