Daily Record Financial News &
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Vol. 105, No. 136 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
A magical run for Foley’s Las Vegas Golden Knights
Stein Mart outlook, stock price improve First-quarter earnings increase and company says operations are improving. Four months after a diresounding announcement that Stein Mart Inc. was exploring potential “strategic alternatives,” the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer’s outlook continues to brighten. Stein Mart last week reported higher first-quarter earnings despite a drop in sales. Total sales for the first quarter ended May 5 fell 3.2 percent to $326.7 million, mainly due to store closings over the past year. But comparable-store sales (sales of Hawkins stores that have continued in operation for more than a year) fell 0.7 percent. However, net income for the quarter doubled to $7.3 million, or 16 cents a share. The results were helped by lower income tax payments, but the company also said operations are improving. “Our disciplined inventory management and strong inventory productivity helped us deliver higher than expected gross profit,” CEO Hunt Hawkins said in a conference call Wednesday. “We also tightly controlled our expenses, keeping them below plan. These factors drove our earnings for the period and offset the impact of our somewhat lower sales,” he said. Because of the strong results, Stein Mart increased its forecast
Las Vegas Golden Knights
Las Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley said his timetable for the expansion hockey team was to make the playoffs by the third year, but this week the Knights will play for the NHL title.
NHL expansion team exceeds expectations for team owner and chairman of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial, lands in Stanley Cup Final. By Mark Basch Contributing Writer Jacksonville sports fans fondly remember the Jaguars’ magical 1996 run to the AFC championship game, a remarkable achievement for an expansion team in its second year of play. But Bill Foley’s Las Vegas Golden Knights have gone one better. The chairman of Jacksonville-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. is the owner of the hockey team that has shocked the sports world by reaching the
Stanley Cup playoff finals in its first year of existence. “Generally speaking, all the pundits had us dead last in the league,” Foley said in a telephone interview last week. “I thought that wasn’t going to be the case.” Still, his team has far exceeded his expectations. The Golden Knights, which didn’t have a roster a year ago, beat the Winnipeg Jets on May 20 to win the NHL Western Conference and hosted the first game of the Stanley Cup finals Monday night against the Washington Capitals.
“The guys just really jelled,” he said. Foley was hoping for maybe 35 wins during the 82-game regular season, which would have been respectable, but not close to making the playoffs. He had a timetable in mind of making the playoffs in the team’s third year, becoming a contender for the Stanley Cup in the fifth year and maybe winning it in year six. Foley based that timetable on the growth of the 18-year-olds the team Foley
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Permit in review for Fishweir Brewing Company remodeling Former Murray Hill dance hall to become beer brewery and taproom. Public
Fishweir Brewing Company is preparing to remodel space in Murray Hill for a brewery and taproom. The city is reviewing a permit application for Southern Grace Homes to renovate the almost 6,000-square-foot space at 1183 Edgewood Ave. S. at a construction cost of $200,000.
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The application calls for remodeling a lounge and dance hall into a beer manufacturing plant with a taproom. Work will include interior partitions and doors, restrooms and new processing equipment. There also is an outdoor patio. Fishweir Brewing Company LLC, the tenant, is led by Broc
Flores. The property owner is Leadgen Inc., led by John Kowkabany. The architect is Hauck Architecture of San Diego. The building was constructed in 1942. In February, the Jacksonville Planning Commission approved a request to rezone the property from Commercial Community
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General-1 to Planned Unit Development. City Council enacted the ordinance Feb. 27. The rezoning allows development of the brewery, including the sale and serving of beer, wine, cider and mead for on-site conMathis
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consecutive business days