Current News

Vermont Business Magazine Ledyard Financial Group (Ticker Symbol: LFGP) has announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, to be paid December 4, 2015 to shareholders of record as of November 13, 2015. Ledyard Financial Group, Inc, headquartered in Hanover, New Hampshire, is the holding company for Ledyard National Bank. Ledyard National Bank, founded in 1991, is a full service community bank offering a broad range of banking, investment, tax and wealth management services in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region. Ledyard National Bank has eight offices with locations in Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, New London, and West Lebanon, New Hampshire and in Norwich, Vermont.

Vermont Business Magazine Gifford will work with Wiemann Lamphere Architects as they move into the second stage of building independent living apartments at the new Morgan Orchards Senior Living Community in Randolph Center, Vermont. The Colchester, Vermont design firm will build on Gifford’s original design concept to create a vibrant neighborhood for the 25-acre campus, which includes the new Menig Nursing home and planned future assisted living.

“Wiemann Lamphere has worked on many housing projects and brings specific expertise in designing for seniors in independent living facilities,” said Gifford’s Vice President of Operations and Surgical Services Rebecca O’Berry. “They are an energetic and enthusiastic team who approached our project with creative ideas on how to encourage community interaction while incorporating nature and energy conservation into the design.”

Leading medical device contract manufacturer expands thermoplastic, silicone, and training facilities

Vermont Business Magazine In response to its growing medical device business, GW Plastics announced Monday evening the expansion of its Royalton, Vermont, Manufacturing and Technology Center. GW Plastics plans to break ground later this month on a 21,000 square foot expansion – scalable to 50,000 square feet -- to accommodate the additional growth of its Thermoplastic and Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) injection molding and medical device contract assembly business. The expansion will also allow for improved workforce training and development facilities at its Technical and Training Center, where GW Plastics conducts scientific injection molding training and manufacturing classes for its employees, customers, and local area high schools.

Vermont Business Magazine Former Vermont First Lady, State Senator, and Lieutenant Governor Barbara W Snelling died today, surrounded by her family at home in South Burlington. She was the wife of the late Governor Richard A Snelling. Dick Snelling served two separate terms as governor, from 1977 to 1985 and from January 1991 to his death that August at age 64. Barbara Snelling was elected the state's 76th lieutenant governor in 1992 and presided over the state Senate from 1993 to 1997 during the Dean Administration. See obituary below.

Barbara Snelling in 2006. VBM file photo.

Vermont Business Magazine A construction contractor, a mason, and a hauler have been awarded loans from Community Capital of Vermont (CCVT) to help grow their operations. Red Rooster Construction of South Strafford, Stonewall Hardscapes of Wolcott, and JSK Transport of Sutton received a total of $179,000 to purchase equipment and for working capital.

“With our small business loans, these rural entrepreneurs will grow their business and create jobs. Our loans are helping to propel Vermont’s trades and service economy,” said Martin Hahn, executive director of Community Capital of Vermont.

Shawn Kincaid, owner of JSK Transport, used his loan to buy his own tractor-trailer and cover start-up costs. Now an owner-operator, he can work as a leased operator with established trucking companies to haul freight. “As an owner operator, I have greater flexibility, independence, and the opportunity to map out my own expansion,” said Kincaid.

Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University continues its Todd Lecture Series with “An Evening with Madeleine Albright,’’ a presentation by the former United States Secretary of State on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at 7 pm in Plumley Armory. This lecture is free and open to the public. Albright served as the 64th Secretary of State. President Bill Clinton named her to the post in 1997, making her at the time both the first female Secretary of State and the highest ranking woman ever to serve in U.S. government. As Secretary of State, Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights and promoted American trade and business, labor and environmental standards abroad.

Vermont Business Magazine State and local leaders today announced a major financial boost to improve housing stock in Rutland County. Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce was joined by Rutland Mayor Chris Louras and Ludy Biddle of NeighborWorks of Western Vermont in announcing the availability of $1.75 million in lending capital for home rehabilitation loans and home purchasing assistance financing. The funding of local investments is part of an ongoing process managed through the State Treasurer’s Office. The local investments initiative aims to invest a significant portion of Vermont’s short-term operating funds in Vermont communities, while earning a competitive rate of return. The initiative redirects funds that were invested primarily in out-of-state government agency securities and money market accounts at large financial institutions to local investments.

Vermont Business Magazine Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) announced today that it will close the James A FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Scriba, NY, near Oswego, in late 2016 or early 2017. As first reported by Vermont Business Magazine October 13, Entergy was expected to close the FitzPatrick plant for the same reasons it closed Vermont Yankee in December 2014 and will close the Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts: The plants lose money. The key drivers cited by the company include significantly reduced plant revenues due to low natural gas prices, a poor market design that fails to properly compensate nuclear generators like FitzPatrick for their benefits, as well as high operational costs.

FitzPatrick nuclear power plant on Lake Ontario.

Vermont Business Magazine Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) reported today a third quarter 2015 as-reported loss of $4.04 per share, including $5.93 per share of non-cash asset impairments for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station and James A FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant. Entergy previously announced plans to close Pilgrim and today announced the closing of FitzPatrick. On an operational basis, earnings were $1.90 per share in third quarter 2015. These results compare to third quarter 2014 as-reported earnings of $1.27 per share and operational earnings of $1.68 per share. Entergy closed its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in December 2014.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Peter Shumlin is in Montreal pitching Vermont as an ideal for place for Canadian companies to do business in the US, meeting today with leaders of the Quebec government and business community to discuss increased opportunities for investment, trade, and job growth on both sides of the border. The Governor and Quebec Premier Phillipe Couillard were also on hand to witness the signing of a new partnership agreement between the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec (FCCQ) and the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Vermont Quebec Enterprise Initiative (VQEI).

Tom Torti, President of the LCRCC, signs the agreement as Governor Shumlin looks on. Courtesy photo.

Vermont Business Magazine The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will assist a projected 77 Vermont and New Hampshire households perform necessary repairs and upgrades on their homes through its Housing Preservation Grant program. The USDA announced that it awarded $450,000 in grants to seven organizations which will use the funds to support low-income households undertake projects to increase the safety and quality of their homes.

by Rebecca Holcombe and Scott Giles Fifty years ago, on November 8, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act of 1965 into law. This historic act marked our first commitment to universal access to higher education, and represented one of the great achievements of the Civil Rights movement. Reflecting on the momentous occasion, President Johnson proclaimed, “This legislation passed by this Congress will swing open a new door for the young people of America. For them, and for this entire land of ours, it is the most important door that will ever open - the door to education. And this legislation is the key which unlocks it. To thousands of young men and women, this act means the path of knowledge is open to all that have the determination to walk it.”