RI Biz Winners and Flops - Amica, Shark Tank and Prov Equity
Monday, February 23, 2015
One Rhode Island entrepreneur whiffed on the Shark Tank, but still won.
RI has realized a little business sunshine during the winter cold. While the state continues to rank among the worst in the country in almost every business ranking, the past month had a few bright spots.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBoth ports report some positive news news in Rhode Island.
WINNERS:
Newport-based BedJet
The climate control system for your bed struck out on the television show Shark Tank, but picked up distribution opportunities with major mattress retailers, just days after founder Mark Aramli was turned down by the millionaires on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Aramli offended investor Lori Greiner, prompting her to pull out of a deal - Greiner later tweeted: “1st time I was ever really pissed off by an entrepreneur in the tank! #badtoberude.”
The Shark Tank controversy failed to slow BedJet. Mattress Firm, the nation’s largest mattress retailer, recently announced a deal adding BedJet to its line-up of top-name bedding brands starting next month.
And Jordan’s Furniture, New England’s largest furniture retailer, will begin selling BedJet at its showrooms in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.
“We are thrilled at our partnerships with Mattress Firm, Jordan’s Furniture, Bed Bath & Beyond and Brookstone. These companies are among the top players in the sleep product industry and we look forward to making our cutting-edge technology available to their customers,” said Aramli.
Bed Bath & Beyond and Brookstone are also planning to roll out BedJet to their customers.
Amica Had a Big Year
Amica Mutual Insurance Co. reported strong financials for 2014, due to “a combination of strong policy growth, an improving economy, a relatively quiet year on the weather front and a good showing in the investment markets,” claimed Amica.
Robert A. DiMuccio, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Amica Mutual Insurance Co., announced the results and financial highlights for 2014, which included the addition of more than 46,000 policies, which represents a 3.3 percent growth rate – the highest since 2010. The company also saw an improvement in the combined ratio to 98.3 percent in 2014 from 99.4 in 2013. This was the second time in several years it was below 100 percent. In addition, Amica increased its net income from $149.5 million in 2013 to $188.1 million in 2014.
“It was a year when everything came together,” DiMuccio said. “We’ve proven that a disciplined underwriting philosophy, sound claims handling and a prudent investment strategy are the keys to our success year after year.”
“If 2014 taught us anything, it was that we are on a very good course,” DiMuccio said. “All of our employees’ efforts are helping us grow and adapt to a changing market and a changing world.”
The amount of life insurance in force grew by 6.7 percent, to $34.6 billion dollars, up from $32.5 billion dollars in 2013. Expanded marketing initiatives produced impressive growth, with new business in force up more than 13 percent from 2013.
ProvPort Impact
“ProvPort has been a tremendous success for both the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island and we are excited about the potential for growth, “ said Paul Moura, chairman of ProvPort’s board of directors. “The port of Providence is run efficiently and the board has worked to incentivize and encourage growth. The result has produced a highly successful public private partnership that has become an integral economic generator for our economy.”
The economic impact study conducted by 4Ward Planning found that terminal services have resulted in economic output of approximately $164 million for the city and $211 million for the state since 1994. The indirect impact of the port has generated approximately $2.8 billion in economic output for the state since 1994, with $1 billion of that occurring within the City of Providence.
Irish Company Grows at Quonset
Greencore USA, the US division of the Irish convenience foods company, marked the opening of a new production facility at Quonset Business Park built to support the rapid international growth of its business.
The facility is 107,000 square feet and is the eighth food manufacturing facility for Greencore in the US.
Governor Gina Raimondo and the Irish Minister for Agriculture and Food, Simon Coveney TD, were in North Kingstown to tour the new facility.
"Rhode Island welcomes Greencore to the dynamic and robust business community at Quonset Business Park," said Raimondo. "The opening of this facility will bring the kinds of good, middle-class jobs that form the backbone of Rhode Island families, and we're proud to have supported the company's transition to our great state."
Rhode Island Bar Association seeking nominations of lawyers for community service award
The Rhode Island Bar Association is seeking nominations for the 2015 Dorothy Lohmann Community Service Award recognizing Rhode Island attorneys who donate their time and legal expertise for charitable work. It is given to those whose efforts most closely reflect those of Rhode Island attorney Dorothy Lohmann who devoted her entire professional life working to help the poor, volunteering her services at many human service organizations and advocating for laws and policies to relieve the suffering of the poor and disenfranchised. Lohmann Award nominations are only accepted from representatives of organizations where Rhode Island attorneys have devoted a significant amount of their time and efforts on a strictly voluntary, non-paid basis. Nominations are due no later than March 16, 2015. For information contact Rhode Island Bar Association Director of Communications Frederick Massie by telephone: (401) 421-5740 or email: [email protected]
Flops
City of Providence’s Bond Rating By Fitch
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'BBB' rating on the City of Providence General Obligation bonds. The rating agency raised a number of issues.
The rating agency raised the following issues:
SLOW FINANCIAL RECOVERY: The maintenance of the Negative Outlook reflects Fitch's view that the city still faces financial pressure and limited flexibility despite notable progress in reducing prior year structural deficits and successful pension reform. Challenges include reversing its negative fund balance position considering statutory revenue limitations, a shortage of additional cost cutting solutions, and increasing employee benefit costs.
HIGH FUTURE RETIREE COSTS: The city's high pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) liabilities result in a growing fixed-cost burden on the budget. Continued full funding of actuarially required pension contributions and changes to retiree benefits should control growth in near-term costs and reduce future liabilities over time.
ECONOMIC STABILITY; WEAK DEMOGRAPHICS: Long-term economic stability is derived from the city's position as the capital of the state and its large educational and healthcare institutional presence. Demographics are weak with low wealth levels, improved but still high unemployment and slow-growing assessed values.
Prov Equity
As GoLocal reported a year ago January, the Edward Snowden spy case has spiraled into one of the biggest hits for Providence-based Prov Equity.
A blockbuster federal fraud suit filed yesterday against the Virginia security contractor charged with vetting Edward Snowden is having massive reverberations – and nowhere more so than in Providence, where it threatens the legacy of one of Rhode Island’s top financiers and favorite sons.
The Snowden case, the biggest U.S. security leak since the Pentagon Papers, may seem like a remote affair, involving a lone security analyst based in Hawaii who leaked National Security Agency files in Hong Kong, now lives in limbo in Moscow, and has President Obama and the Washington policy establishment grappling with the fallout.
This month both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post reported what looks like a complete washout for Prov Equity - a loss of more than $800 million.
In January, GoLocal's Kate Nagle outlined the dangers to Prov Equity.
Related Slideshow: RI Business Rankings in US
See how Rhode Island stacked up.
_400_400_90_400_400_90.jpg)
_400_400_90.jpg)
_400_400_90_80_80_90_c1.jpg)
_80_80_90_c1.jpg)
Related Articles
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz: Winners & Flops
- RI Biz: Winners & Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Biz Winners and Flops
- Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island BIz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island Biz Winners and Flops
- Rhode Island BIz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- LISTEN- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- PODCAST: RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- RI Biz Winners and Flops
- PODCAST: RI Biz Winners and Flops
