Transportation
Amtrak hits ridership records
The National Railroad Passenger Corp. said Amtrak set new ridership and revenue records nationally for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, carrying 28.7 million passengers for $1.7 billion in revenue.
Nearly 1.6 million more passengers rode the rails this year, a 5.7 percent increase from fiscal 2009. Growth was slower on the Northeast Corridor, where passenger trips were up 4.4 percent.
Since 2000, ridership is up 37 percent.
“Just as we must earn the loyalty of the customers who ride our trains, we must work to build stronger ties to our state and commuter customers,” said Joseph Boardman, CEO of Amtrak, in a prepared statement.
Amtrak attributed the gains to a range of factors, including an improving economy that lifted business travel; higher gas prices; marketing; and the introduction of wireless Internet service on higher-speed Acela Express trains.
Acela ridership was up 6.6 percent to 3.2 million passengers in fiscal 2010.
Also in October, Amtrak marked the centennial of Penn Station in New York City. The station handles 550,000 passengers daily on average, making it the busiest in Amtrak”™s system.
Commercial real estate
UTC taps Cushman as real estate adviser
Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. named Cushman & Wakefield its preferred real estate adviser, with UTC maintaining some 52 million square feet of space across 1,600 properties.
UTC is the largest employer in both Connecticut and Fairfield County. UTC”™s Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. subsidiary is in Stratford, Shelton and Bridgeport.
Cadent coming to Stamford
Cadent Energy Partners is relocating to Stamford from Rye Brook, N.Y., leasing nearly 7,000 square feet of office space at 4 High Ridge Corporate Park.
Cadent invests in small- to mid-sized energy companies in the energy industry. Managing partners Paul McDermott and Bruce Rothstein both worked previously with First Reserve Corp., a Greenwich-based private equity company focused on the energy sector; and with Toronto-based RBC Capital Markets.
Choyce Peterson assisted Cadent in its lease negotiations, while Cushman & Wakefield advised the office park owners George Comfort & Sons and RREEF Real Estate, a division of Deutsche Bank.
Separately, securities broker-dealer Vision Financial Markets L.L.C. is expanding within High Ridge Corporate Park with an additional 3,000 square feet.
Defense
M Cubed earns Navy contract
The U.S. Navy awarded M Cubed Technologies Inc. a contract to develop lightweight armor for the Marine Corps”™ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, an amphibious vehicle produced by General Dynamics Corp.
M Cubed”™s technology allows it to design armor-grade ceramics in complex shapes. The company received the award under the Navy”™s Small Business Innovation Research program.
In addition to its Trumbull headquarters, M Cubed has research and manufacturing facilities in Monroe and in Newark, Del.
Energy
July was record month for energy consumption
Despite a sluggish economy, New England residents and businesses pushed electricity consumption to a record level in July, while also setting new marks for single days in May and September.
The July consumption of 13,385 gigawatt hours broke a record set four years earlier, according to ISO New England, the Holyoke, Mass.-based organization that oversees the regional grid.
The summer of 2010 ranks third all-time behind the summers of 2006 and 2005, ISO New England stated. Unlike the brownout-plagued year of 2006, the grid operated with relatively few interruptions thanks in part to new infrastructure, such as multiple transmission lines feeding power into Fairfield County. The single-day record for peak demand in New England was 28,130 megawatts, set on Aug. 2, 2006.
State falls in efficiency scorecard
Connecticut dropped from third to eighth on a scorecard published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
The ACEEE study examines state incentives, policies, budget dollars, and building codes that contribute to energy savings. This year”™s study included the impact of some $11 billion in federal funding for energy programs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
California was the top-ranked state a fourth straight year, followed by Massachusetts, Oregon, New York and Vermont. ACEEE criticized New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for plans to divert funds originally slated for energy-efficiency projects to reduce budget deficits.
MXenergy reaches $11.5M profit for fiscal year
A year after reporting a $100 million net loss, MXenergy Holdings Inc. recorded an $11.5 million net profit in its fiscal year ending June 30.
MXenergy sells electricity and natural gas in 14 states including Connecticut, where it has its headquarters in Stamford. The company had just over 200 employees as of June, down a dozen workers from a year earlier.
Sales were down 29 percent in fiscal 2010 to $561 million, with MXenergy attributing the decline in part to reductions in the prices of natural gas. While the company had an 8 percent drop in its natural gas business as measured by residential customers, its electricity customer base more than doubled thanks in part to expansions in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Finance
Bobby V raising money for sports films business
Former New York Mets manager and Stamford resident Bobby Valentine is raising $1 million in capital for Makuhari Media L.L.C., which plans to produce sports films.
The Stamford-based company”™s co-owner is Andrew Muscato, who co-produced the 2008 film The Zen of Bobby V. The ESPN Films production chronicled Valentine”™s tenure managing the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team in Japan.
Starwood Capital to buy Ga. Resort
Greenwich-based Starwood Capital Group and a partner agreed to jointly purchase a bankrupt Georgia resort with two rival bidders, in a transaction valued at $212 million.
If approved by a bankruptcy judge, Starwood Capital and Denver-based Anschutz Group are buying the Sea Island Co. with Oaktree Capital Management of Los Angeles and Capital Avenue Group of New York.
Sea Island has two hotels and a pair of golf courses, and this month hosted the PGA Tour”™s McGladrey Classic.
Compass to list on NYSE
Compass Diversified Holdings Inc. plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, and management is scheduled to ring the exchange”™s opening bell on Nov. 4.
Westport-based Compass owns several operating companies, including Staffmark, a large temporary employment agency based in Cincinnati; and the Hawaii-based ERGO Baby Carrier Inc., which Compass acquired in September for $91 million. In the second quarter, Compass lost $1.5 million on $404 million in revenue.
Compass shares will trade under the “CODI” ticker symbol it has used on the Nasdaq since its May 2006 initial public offering of stock.
Investors provide financing to burrito maker
Investors served up $250,000 in financing for frozen burrito maker Red”™s All Natural L.L.C., toward Red”™s goal of $700,000 in funding.
The Fairfield-based company sells burritos at a number of independent markets in Fairfield County, Connecticut and New York. Previously having worked in asset management sales, CEO Mike Adair founded the company in 2007 based on his wife Paige”™s burrito recipes.
Government
Blumenthal opening up lead against McMahon
Reversing a months-long decline in his lead in Connecticut”™s U.S. Senate race, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal opened up an 11-point margin over former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. CEO Linda McMahon, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released in mid-October.
The Democrat Blumenthal led the Republican McMahon by a 54-43 margin among likely voters, after a Sept. 28 poll had him clinging to a 49-46 lead. During the interval, Blumenthal appears to have captured a larger share of independent voters.
In the latest poll, just 3 percent of those polled said they are undecided, while another 7 percent indicated they may change their mind. Quinnipiac assigned a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points for the poll, which surveyed more than 1,100 voters Oct. 7-11.
“Linda McMahon may have peaked too soon and her advertising saturation could be causing ”˜McMahon fatigue,”™” said Douglas Schwartz, poll director at Quinnipiac University, in a prepared statement. “Even if she won all the undecided (votes), she still would fall short. This has been a very unusual election year, however, so anything is possible.”
Health care
Health center coming to Bridgeport
Under federal health reform, the Southwest Community Health Center is receiving a $5.4 million grant to build a 25,000-square-foot health center on Albion Street.
The clinic will also apply some of the funding toward the creation of between 30 and 40 units of affordable housing, in conjunction with the Bridgeport Housing Authority.
In a given year, the clinic provides medical care to more than 5,000 people lacking health insurance, and more than 1,000 homeless people. The new clinic will be designed to handle 40,000 patient visits annually.
“Southwest Community Health Center has been a lifeline to those in and around Bridgeport who lost coverage or are between jobs,” said U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, in a prepared statement.
Human resources
Street bonuses expected to rise 4 percent
Wall Street companies could hand out $144 billion in bonuses this year, according to a study by the Wall Street Journal, which would mark a second-straight year of record year-end payouts despite the lingering effects of the recession.
Bonuses make up a significant portion of the take-home pay for many upper-income Fairfield County residents, and by extension for luxury retailers, auto dealers and services companies throughout the area.
The Wall Street Journal surveyed about three dozen financial companies, and based on their responses calculated a 4 percent increase in bonuses this year.
Harman CEO compensation hits $10.4M
Harman International Industries Inc. reported it paid CEO Dinesh Paliwal $10.4 million in total compensation in the fiscal year ending June 30, up 37 percent from a year earlier but well off the $32 million Paliwal was paid in fiscal 2008.
Stamford-based Harman sells sound systems for the home, autos, stadiums and other applications. The company earned $164 million on sales of $3.4 billion fiscal 2010, up 18 percent from a year earlier when it lost $431 million.
Separately, Harman announced it is sponsoring the Stamford Symphony Orchestra for the 2010-2011 season.
Pitney Bowes to apply for TAA benefits
The U.S. Department of Labor certified former Pitney Bowes Inc. employees in Shelton to apply for expanded unemployment benefits under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, with TAA services awarded in cases where jobs are lost to foreign competition.
Pitney Bowes is based in Stamford and has a large technology center that focuses on high-tech mailing systems and services.
TAA benefits may include job training; income support in the form of Trade Readjustment Allowances; job search and relocation allowances; and participation in the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC) program, covering 80 percent of qualified health insurance premiums.
Law
Norwalk auto dealer convicted of not paying taxes
The owner of a Norwalk auto dealership received a six-month jail sentence after he was convicted of pocketing $80,000 in sales taxes collected from customers.
Roman Eleisterio, a 50-year-old resident of Purchase, N.Y., pleaded guilty in May to three counts of filing false tax returns in connection with his business Roman”™s Automotive Service.
“By collecting sales tax and not remitting it to the state, this defendant has deprived the state of much-needed revenue,” said Richard Nicholson, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, in a prepared statement. “Connecticut has zero tolerance for this conduct.”
M&A
EMCOR buys Fla. company
EMCOR Group Inc. acquired Harry Pepper & Associates Inc., a government infrastructure project company in Jacksonville, Fla.
Norwalk-based EMCOR did not immediately disclose what it paid for Pepper, which estimates $100 million in revenue this year.
Founded in 1918, Pepper today focuses on civil engineering, excavation, steel erection and myriad mechanical services.
Franchise Brands purchases taco restaurant chain
For $3 million, Milford-based Franchise Brands L.L.C. is purchasing Taco Del Mar Franchising Corp., a bankrupt quick-service Mexican concept restaurant based in Seattle.
Taco Del Mar opened some 270 restaurants over a five-year period, but operates just over 20 today in the western United States and Canada according to the Seattle Times.
In the first eight months of 2010, revenue totaled $1.6 million, and the company had assets worth $400,000 as of August.
The deal is subject to the approval of a bankruptcy judge.
Franchise Brands is backed by Subway founders Peter Buck and Fred De Luca.
Technology
mPhase sees $7.5M loss in quarter
Norwalk-based mPhase Technologies Inc. finished its fiscal year ending June 30 with a $7.5 million loss, as the company continued development of its “Smart NanoBattery” designed as a reserve battery for computer memory, activated by an electronic pulse.
The company is working under a $750,000 Small Business and Innovation Research grant. In July, mPhase announced that its smart reserve technology was passed out of subcommittee by the U.S. House of Representatives for $2.5 million in funding.
