Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bay Area Businesses Recognized for Bringing Job and Revenue Growth to Florida

While the economic recovery is slow, there are many bright spots in Tampa Bay. Telovations, along with two other Tampa companies, Bayshore Solutions and ReliaQuest, are recognized by The Florida Economic Gardening Institute (GrowFL) at the University of Central Florida as Florida Companies to Watch.

As announced by GrowFL, “Created by the Edward Lowe Foundation, Companies to Watch is an exclusive program that honors second-stage growth companies. Fifty second-stage companies from across the state of Florida were selected as ‘Companies to Watch’ for their impressive employment rates and revenue growth. Award winners were also selected for their entrepreneurial leadership, product innovation, social/community responsibility and competitive business practices.”

In total, nine of the 50 Florida Companies to Watch are from the greater Tampa Bay area. More than 425 companies were nominated for the award, with 140 moving to the final rounds before the 50 honorees were named.

Telovations is honored to be among the best of Tampa Bay and local businesses that are successful and growing.

According to GrowFL, “The combined impact of the 50 companies selected to this year’s Florida Companies to Watch is immense. In 2011 alone, the companies generated $355 million in total annual revenue, and held 1,576 full-time equivalent employees. The companies collectively created 350 net new jobs compared to the previous year. Between 2008 and the end of this year, these companies will generate $1.4 billion in revenue and add 1,297 employees (both in Florida and out of state), reflecting a 204 percent increase in revenue and 151 percent increase in jobs for the five-year period. In 2012 alone, that translates to a 35 percent annual revenue growth and 37 percent annual growth in employees.” (*Data compiled in August 2012.)

The 50 companies will be honored at an awards dinner and reception October 19, 2012 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. To register, visit florida.companiestowatch.org.

About Telovations:
 
Based in Tampa, FL, Telovations is a next-generation managed service provider pioneering the delivery of business communications in a Software-as-a-Service model referred to as “Communications-as-a-Service” or CaaS. CaaS from Telovations enables businesses to deploy communications devices and applications on a pay-as-you-go, as-needed basis thus eliminating the need for capital investment and ongoing overhead. Offering the latest communications technology coupled with a Quality of Service guarantee, Telovations provides businesses both flexibility and scalability that they might not otherwise afford. Telovations’ services offer a compelling alternative to traditional telecommunication services. For additional information about Telovations’ communication and collaboration solutions please visit www.telovations.com or call 1-877-934-6668.

About GrowFL:
 
Economic Gardening is a philosophy that embraces strategies to grow existing businesses in a community, region or state and is the basis for the entrepreneurship programs at the Florida Economic Gardening Institute (GrowFL). Initially created in 2009 as a pilot program, GrowFL, at the University of Central Florida, is now a critical component to Florida’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and the state’s overall economic development strategy. GrowFL focuses its efforts on initiatives that strengthen the service offerings of entrepreneurial support organizations throughout Florida and by delivering critical research and strategy support to help second-stage growth entrepreneurs prosper. GrowFL has helped more than 400 companies create more than 1,400 new jobs statewide since 2009. Website: www.growfl.com

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Calif Refinery Fire will Boost Gas Prices

Smoke pours from a fire at the Chevron Richmond Refinery, seen behind Alcatraz Island in San Francisco
Analysts say a fire at one of the country’s biggest oil refineries will contribute to higher prices at the pump on the West Coast.

The fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, about 10 miles northeast of San Francisco, broke out Monday evening.

It sent plumes of black smoke over the San Francisco Bay area and sent scores of people to hospitals with breathing problems before it was out the following morning.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, says Chevron’s refinery is big and important to the market.

With inventories of gasoline in the region already low compared with the rest of the country, Kloza says pump prices in California and elsewhere on the West Coast will soon average more than $4 per gallon.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

24 Hour Fitness, Healthy Chain, For Sale

A pedestrian walks by a 24 Hour Fitness center on July 31, 2012 in San Francisco, California. 24 Hour Fitness, the nation's largest privately held fitness center chain, is up for sale and could fetch as much as $2 billion. 

What started out in the Bay Area as a single gym in San Leandro 29 years ago and grew to be one of the world's biggest fitness chains is up for sale.

24 Hour Fitness, headquartered in San Ramon, is being put on the auction block by its owner, New York private equity firm Forstmann Little, with a price tag reportedly in the $2 billion range.

"We are working with our board of directors and Forstmann Little to pursue strategic alternatives for the company. Goldman Sachs has been engaged to provide strategic counsel as we start this process," the company said Wednesday.

It would not disclose numbers, but the $2 billion shouldn't be too hard to attain, given that the company has more than 419 outlets in the United States and Asia, including 60 in the Bay Area and Northern California, and is a veritable cash machine.

Founded by Mark Mastrov, a Castro Valley native, 24 Hour Fitness has 3.8 million members and a 22,000-strong workforce, and brings in more than $1 billion annual revenue.
Team of celebrity partners

Mastrov also recruited a number of celebrity partners, including Magic Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Andre Agassi, Madonna, Jackie Chan and a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger. For 10 seasons, contestants on "The Biggest Loser" got the services of 24 Hour Fitness personal trainers as part of a deal Matrov negotiated with NBC.

The company has sponsorship arrangements with the International Olympic Committee and Team USA's men's and women's basketball Olympians. The Bay Area's volleyball golden girl, Kerri Walsh, is one of three Team USA athletes partnering with 24 Hour Fitness to produce workout videos on YouTube.

Mastrov sold the company to Forstmann Little in 2005 for $1.68 billion, with some regret. "This is my baby," he said at the time.

In 2008, he started another business in the Bay Area, New Evolution Fitness, a private equity firm investing in health and fitness enterprises. They include a planned chain ofHard Candy Fitness centers fronted by Madonna, of which there are currently three - in Mexico City, Moscow and Santiago, Chile.

"Madonna's touch will be everywhere," Mastrov said in 2010.

He's certainly in the right business. According to IBISWorld, a market research company in Los Angeles, the U.S. fitness industry, which includes yoga studios, boxing clubs and DVD and online sporting apparel sales, is expected to total $45 billion in 2012. Despite the recession, gym memberships have grown by more than 1 million to 25.3 million since 2007.

"Over the next five years, increased youth and Baby Boomer memberships will bolster the industry's revenue," said company analyst Dale Schmidt.
Investor closing shop

So why is Forstmann Little selling? Calls and e-mails to the firm went unanswered Wednesday, but simply put, it's part of the firm's going-out-of-business sale since founderTed Forstmann died in November. The firm's one remaining major holding, the global sports and media company IMG, will be gone when Forstmann's fund formally closes up shop, probably within the next two years.

"For more than seven years, 24 Hour Fitness has greatly benefited from the sound counsel and ownership of Forstmann Little & Co.," said 24 Hour CEO Carl Liebert.

"Our management team remains focused on serving our members and executing on the fundamentals that have allowed us to have a successful 2012."