Current News

by Alan Panebaker vtdigger.orgThe left-leaning public policy and consumer affairs group, Vermont Public Interest Research Group has spun off a nonprofit solar installation pilot project into a business.
The company, SunCommon, a so-called ‘benefit corporation,’ installs residential solar systems.

In support of its philosophy to manufacture and develop products exclusively in Vermont, USA, BioTek is committing a record amount for new 2012 capital investments.
Highlights include:

New computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines in manufacturing and enhanced tooling and test equipment for product assembly
A new teleconference system supporting communication between BioTek's Vermont headquarters and our international sales and service offices in Singapore, China, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom
Additional laboratory instrumentation to support BioTek's growing application research in molecular diagnostics and cellular biology

Friendly rivals Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, based in Waterbury, Vermont, and Starbucks, based in Seattle, may see that relationship change profoundly. Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ:SBUX) announced Thursday its first foray into the at-home premium single cup machine, which it calls the Verismo system by Starbucks. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters' Keurig machines have been the standard in the industry for single-cup servings through its K-Cups. Now Starbucks is challenging Green Mountain Coffee on the individual serving machine. On the announcement, Starbucks shares ($52.18, up $1.81 +3.59%) increased while GMCR's ($52.99, down $9.41 or -15.08%)plummeted in overnight trading; it finished Friday at $52.59.

FairPoint Communications, Inc (Nasdaq: FRP) has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011. The news created stock market volatility today as prices first spiked to $4.50 after opening at $4.19 and then falling to $3.58 before stabilizing around $3.90. The North Carolina firm is the principal landline phone company in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Because the company came out of bankruptcy protection early in the year, the financial results are also broken out to show the difference. While voice access lines continued to decline, though at a continuing slower pace, broadband subscriptions have increased. FairPoint emphasized its free cash flow position in 2011. FairPoint laid off 400 workers last September systemwide, or about 10 percent of its force in order to save money. Revenues and expenses were both down for the quarter compared to Q3, while revenues were down and expenses were up compared to Q4 2010.

John Mitchell, former general manager of Champlain Oil (parent company of Jiffy Mart Stores) was recognized at the recent Vermont Grocers & Retailers legislative luncheon as the recipient of the National Grocers Association Spirit of America Award the Vermont Grocers Association Person of the Year. The luncheon was held in Montpelier on February 23 and attended by approximately 200 including industry members, state legislators and officials. His career with Champlain spanned 37 years and during that time had helped the company grow into the state’s largest petroleum distributor and one of Vermont’s larger convenience store retailers. He is a past board member of the Vermont Grocers' Association.

Keen interest in buying Vermont bonds and record low interest rates has resulted in the State paying the lowest borrowing costs on record in decades. In addition, the $69 million refunding portion of this week’s bond sale will generate $5.4 million in budget savings over the next 13 years.
‘In a very diverse sale of four different bond offerings totaling $132 million, the State averaged a true interest cost of just 2.11 percent,’ said State Treasurer Beth Pearce. ‘We had originally planned a two-day sale period for the Citizen Bonds and the Refunding Bonds, but interest was so great the sale was completed in just one day. The quality of our highly rated bonds allowed us to pay less in borrowing costs, which translates into further fiscal savings for Vermont taxpayers.’

National Life Group, based in Montpelier, Vermont, today released its consolidated financial results for 2011, reporting new record highs in pre-tax operating income, net income, total assets under management, life sales, insurance in force, in-force annuity flow premium, and statutory surplus.
‘We are a healthy, thriving entity,’ said CEO Mehran Assadi. ‘To set so many records across the board in such challenging times is testament to our excellent fiscal health.’
‘We saw earnings growth in all business lines, and earnings at our asset management company, Sentinel Investments, were almost double those of 2010,’ said Assadi.

One month after selling its 300th share, the threshold needed to begin the skier-owned Magic Partnership LLC, Magic Mountain finished raising the maximum shares allowed for the investment with 333 shares sold at a price of $3,000/share for a total capital raise of $999,000.00. Much of this capital will go toward improving the snow-making capacity at the 50-year old ski area.
The final shares came just as Magic was experiencing southern Vermont’s first major snow storm of 2012 which dropped upwards of18’ of snow last week to bring a couple of renowned Magic powder days to skiers and riders.

Senator Patrick Leahy has joined in offering new legislation to breathe new life into homes and businesses made vacant by foreclosures. Leahy is an original cosponsor of the Project Rebuild Act, introduced in the Senate this week by Rhode Island Democrat Senator Jack Reed.
Leahy said, ‘Vacant homes and businesses are a drag on entire neighborhoods and communities.Abandoned buildings are a foot on the brake pedal, depressing home and commercial property values and slowing the economic recovery. Getting these vacant buildings back into productive use is one of the keys to rejuvenating our economy. These investments would turn the liabilities of abandoned buildings into assets for their communities, helping our housing market to rebound from the slump and driving job creation and economic development.’

Vermont home prices declined more rapidly than most states as home prices nationwide saw some relief over the last month, but continued to decline. Vermont prices fell 3.8 percent in January compared to a loss of 3.1 percent nationally.CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released its January Home Price Index (HPI) report, the most timely and comprehensive source of home prices available today. The report shows national home prices, including distressed sales, declined on a year-over-year basis by 3.1 percent inJanuary 2012and by 1.0 percent compared toDecember 2011, the sixth consecutive monthly decline.
Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent inJanuary 2012compared toJanuary 2011, but that same metric posted a month-over-month gain, rising 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Efficiency Vermont and Vermont Gas Systems with a 2012 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award for their outstanding contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by delivering information and services to their customers to increase energy efficiency. Award winners were selected from about 20,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program. This is the second consecutive year in which the EPA has honored the Vermont ENERGY STAR Homes program.

The Vermont Supreme Court will oral arguments in six cases starting at 9:30 am on Wednesday, March 28, in Oakes Hall in the high court’s annual session at Vermont Law School.
The court will consider the following cases: