Gartner in hiring mode
Gartner Inc. plans to expand the size of its sales force between 15 percent and 20 percent this year, while also adding consultants to its budding advisory practice.
Stamford-based Gartner provides research and organizes symposiums on information technology trends and products. The company earned $45 million on fourth quarter sales of $428 million, with its events business the fastest growing segment. Gartner finished 2011 with a $137 million profit as overall sales rose 12 percent to just short of $1.5 billion.
“What we”™re seeing is a lot of great talent out there and we”™ve been very successful in tracking that talent to Gartner, which is why we are ahead of our plan in sales hiring,” Gene Hall, CEO of Gartner, said in a conference call.
RMS plans new hotel
The RMS Cos. reportedly filed plans to create a second Hotel Zero Degrees in Norwalk, three years after opening its first hotel in Stamford.
The Norwalk Hour reported the Stamford-based company filed plans for a nearly 100-room hotel at 353 Main. Ave.
Confidence rebounds
Small-business owners are the most optimistic since July 2008, according to a Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey covering mid-January.
The index now stands at positive 15 for January, compared with minus 3 in October and following two previous index readings of zero (neither optimistic nor pessimistic).
While about half of small businesses surveyed expect revenue to increase, only about one in five say they will hire in the near term.
Charges pile up
Level Global Investors co-founder Anthony Chiasson and former Diamondback Capital Management trader Todd Newman are headed back to court to fight more insider trading allegations.
Prosecutors added new securities fraud charges Feb. 7 against Chiasson and Newman, bringing the total number of charges to 10. The grand jury also named former SAC Capital Advisors trader Jon Horvath and Whittier Trust Co.”™s Danny Kuo.
Diamondback, SAC and now-shuttered Level Global are all based in Fairfield County. Whittier Trust is based in Los Angeles.
The four men were arrested and initially charged last month, along with three other men who have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors.
According to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the seven were members of a “criminal club,” earning nearly $62 million via improper trades. Diamondback is paying a $6 million penalty for insider trading, but will not be prosecuted in exchange for cooperating with investigators.
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Harman sales up
Months after opening a massive new China factory, Harman International Industries Inc. has the plant running at about 75 percent capacity, only slightly below the output of Harman facilities in the United States, Germany and other sites.
Stamford-based Harman International sells audio sound and car infotainment systems. Harman cranked up sales 18 percent to $1.1 billion in its second fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31, with net income up 12 percent to $59 million.
“China demand continues to soar,” said Dinesh Paliwal, CEO of Harman, in a conference call. “We can always add (a) third shift. Most places we are running two shifts, so plenty of capacity.”
Late last year, Harman hired Samsung Electronics veteran I.P. Park as its new chief technology officer. And the company began running ads for its Harmon Kardon audio line featuring Jennifer Lopez.
New CEO for CI
Connecticut Innovations Inc. hired as CEO Claire Leonardi, the spouse of Thomas Leonardi, commissioner of the Connecticut Insurance Department.
Peter Longo has run the Rocky Hill-based venture capital and energy investment fund since 2007, when he was promoted to president after Connecticut Innovations saw three previous leaders depart in quick succession. Longo is remaining with CI.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy plans to merge CI with the Connecticut Development Authority, which provides loans and grants for real estate and other projects.
Leonardi previously has worked for Crossroads Capital and Fairview Capital in Farmington and Phoenix Home Life in Hartford. More recently she has served as an adviser to unnamed startups in upstate New York. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania”™s Wharton School of Business.
CEO sees ”˜pain”™ for carriers
In a conference call, W.R. Berkley Corp. CEO William Berkley said other insurance carriers”™ “sloppy” underwriting practices over multiple years are about to come home to roost.
Greenwich-based Berkley earned $118 million in the fourth quarter and $394 million for 2011, clearing the year with a 13 percent increase in net premiums to $4.4 billion.
“People ”¦ have not even begun to feel the pain of the under-pricing that took place in 2009 and 2010 and certainly the beginning of 2011,” Berkley said. “I would suggest that many people in the industry (were) probably not adequately reflective of the current (environment) vis-à -vis their pricing, and I think the pain is just beginning.”
XL overhauls underwriting
XL Group plc is overhauling its insurance underwriting operations, in the wake of a series of catastrophic events spanning the globe that resulted in a $514 million loss in the fourth quarter.
Ireland-based XL employs more than 400 people in Stamford, recently taking a lease in the city”™s Harbor Point development. After posting a $643 million profit in 2010, XL took a $401 million loss last year despite a 5 percent increase revenue to $6.7 billion.
CEO Michael McGavick said since mid-2010 XL has been overhauling its underwriting operations to get better visibility into all lines of business.
“Everything got lumped together ”“ really obscured where there were pockets of correctable underperformance,” McGavick said in a conference call. “You go, ”˜all looks okay,”™ and given the time in the cycle, ”˜blah blah blah.”™ And we just didn’t know ”¦ When we start pulling it apart and analyzing it, ”¦ we started looking and finding things that we really didn”™t like, that didn’t meet our kinds of standards of activity. And since then, that”™s when all of these things really get more intense.”
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PartnerRe absorbs loss
PartnerRe Ltd. absorbed a $520 million loss in 2011, in part due to the catastrophic floods in Thailand amid a punishing year that included the Japan earthquake and tsunami.
PartnerRe, which is based in Bermuda and has its main U.S. office in Greenwich, saw revenue drop 9 percent on the year to below $5.4 billion.
“The vast majority of the catastrophe activity occurred outside the U.S.,” Costas Miranthis, CEO of PartnerRe, said in a conference call. “Being an international multiline reinsurer, we had significant exposures in the areas where catastrophes happened during 2011.”
Obama, Murphy lead in poll
President Obama leads Mitt Romney among Connecticut challengers, 50 percent to 37 percent, in a poll published in early February by the Yankee Institute for Public Policy.
The poll had Obama defeating Newt Gingrich by a wider margin; the poll was taken before Rick Santorum”™s Feb. 7 victories in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, and did not include him.
In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy held leads over prospective Republican opponents Linda McMahon and Chris Shays. Democrat Susan Bysiewicz had the edge on McMahon 43-40 percent, but trailed Shays slightly 42-41 percent.
New tenant at Holly Pond
Beacon Wealth Consulting L.L.C. took 2,000 square feet of space in the Holly Pond Plaza at 1281 E. Main St. in Stamford.
Angel Commercial L.L.C. represented Beacon Wealth, which provides retirement, tax and investment planning, among other services.
