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Public offerings rise in ’07: Three Indiana companies hit turbulence after IPOs

The market for initial public offerings in Indiana was on the upswing last year, as the number of companies to go public tripled, from one in 2006 to three in 2007. Locally based HHGregg Inc., Kokomobased Haynes International Inc. and LaPorte-based LaPorte Bancorp. Inc. became publicly traded. The fact that three more companies in Indiana became public doesn’t represent a trend. But four others that have filed IPO registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission bolster the belief that…

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INVESTING: Quality firms not always a good place to invest

Let’s play a game. I am going to write the name of a company, and I want you to say what immediately comes to your mind. I am not looking for your feelings about the stock price, but rather what you think about the company itself. As an example, let’s look at Wal-Mart. The stock has been a dog for 10 years and probably will keep dogging it for years to come. But the company is amazing in its ability…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Patent ruling a big victory for biotech, drug industries

Last Halloween a federal court in Virginia gave the biotech and pharmaceutical industries a big treat when it preliminarily halted the Patent and Trademark Office, or PTO, from implementing new rules governing certain aspects of patent prosecution. This ruling was significant because it prevented the PTO from imple menting new rules governing patent applications that many thought would weaken protection of important biological and chemical inventions. Several local life sciences businesses and entities with significant numbers of patent applications in…

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City emerging as drug distribution hub: Medco Health Solutions deal latest boon to growing subsector in Indiana’s life sciences development efforts

Thanks to a series of major economic development wins, Indianapolis is enjoying a pharmaceutical distribution business hot streak. Life sciences industry leaders hope to keep the sizzle burning in 2008 and beyond. “It’s not something we’re hoping we can do someday. It’s something we’re already doing now,” said BioCrossroads CEO David Johnson. “We’re simply trying to expand the footprint of what we’re doing.” Pharmaceutical logistics has become a big business. According to the Arlington, Va.-based Healthcare Distribution Management Association, U.S….

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Growing biomed firm rolls with the changes: Under string of owners, Seradyn develops niche producing immunoassays

Life sciences firm Seradyn Inc. on Georgetown Road has endured a revolving door of owners in the 30-some years since its inception. But what hasn’t changed is its dedication to developing immunoassays for medical purposes. Immunoassays are chemical tests used to detect or quantify a specific substance-the analyte-in a blood or body fluid sample. Seradyn develops and manufactures assays that use antibodies to measure drug concentrations in the bloodstream. In the past 10 years, Seradyn has developed 15 such products…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Exploding mobile phone? Maybe you bought a fake

Has your cell phone exploded lately? A cell phone battery literally blows up, shattering the phone and spraying hot components like shrapnel. Detonating phones haven’t killed anyone that I could determine, but they’ve caused several trips to the hospital for lacerations, burns and broken eardrums. When it happens, manufacturers understandably scramble to find out why, and the answer today is often that the battery was actually a knockoff, a counterfeit that looks just like the real thing, but might be…

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Home team vs. the Internet

Itâ??s been a tough couple of years in Bloomington for Roberts Distributors, the well-known Indianapolis supply
house for cameras and other photography equipment. So tough that the Bloomington store is closing.

Bruce Pallman, the second generation running Roberts, said the location…

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Not-for-profits lack solid IT foundation, study says: NPower Indiana says most groups fail to meet basics

A new study suggests a large percentage of the region’s not-for-profits still struggle with inadequate technology that undermines productivity, invites security breaches and hinders their community outreach potential. NPower Indiana, a not-for-profit that provides low-cost technology consulting and services in central Indiana, studied 34 local not-for-profits under a grant from Verizon Foundation and Anthem Foundation. It found that 85 percent are “constrained by outdated PCs or operating systems, which can seriously affect their system’s stability, efficiency and ability to run…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Tumult, ouster cast uncertainty over premier employer

Why did Sallie Mae cast off June McCormack last month, sending one of Indiana’s highest-profile female executives packing? After all, she’s just the sort of seasoned manager the student loan company seems to need as it grapples with some of the biggest challenges in its 25-year history as a public company. The company isn’t commenting, and McCormack said a nondisclosure agreement she signed on her way out the door limits what she can say. Yet what she does say is…

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Rash of deals saves Gazelle venture-capital fund

Back in 1999, investors in Gazelle TechVentures expected a sprint to spectacular profits. Instead, they got a marathon slog.
According to Gazelle Chairman and largest investor Scott Jones, it was like training for a race on a sunny day, then running
it through a blizzard.

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Beware: e-mail is bastion of many security lapses

Tell the truth-you’ve “Googled” yourself, haven’t you? All of us have, or at least we should. It’s interesting for me to do it for myself, because I’ve been an Internet denizen since before the Web was woven, when all most of us did was exchange e-mails. What chills me sometimes is how far back the Google results for my name can go, clear into the mid-1990s in some cases. The ‘Net never forgets anything. If you have doubts about that,…

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VIEWPOINT: The trouble with public schools: Too public

The problem with public education is that it has become too “public.” Back in the days when boards of education possessed all power over construction of school facilities, a few boards around the state were far too eager to build elaborate educational and athletic palaces when functionally and technically efficient classrooms were all that were really needed. The outrage from a handful of property taxpayers finally reached the Statehouse. (The outcry over a proposed football facility in the Carmel-Clay School…

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INVESTING: Weak sectors could have broader effect on economy

We all know that the hip bone is connected to, well, you know how it goes. But a lot of people seem to be missing the point that the same principles controlling that biology are an active force in the markets and economy. All the brilliant economists out there are telling us what we already plainly know-finance and consumer-related sectors are weak. There isn’t enough talk about the next connection, though, or how a cancer spreads from one body part…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Fiscal bombs in Hoosier political waters

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) issued a “Citizens’ Guide to Property Taxes” on Nov. 20. That document contains the following paragraph: “What factors contribute to property tax increases? Local spending is the reason for property tax increases-or decreases-depending on local fiscal management. Other factors that contributed to increases during the 2006-2007 pay cycle include the elimination of the inventory tax and the onset of the annual adjustment process, also known as ‘trending.'” Got that? Property taxes rise…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: The worst of this year’s technology snafus

Another year gone, and yet another Christmas gift for you. Every year, I collect examples of utterly horrendous technological snafus and write about them. No matter how awful your own meltdowns may have been, they can’t have been as bad as these, so enter the new year with a light heart. The first example of disaster is fresh in the news still, at least in reports from the British Broadcasting Corp. The English government has lost disks with personal information…

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INVESTING: Holding tight right now might wallop portfolio

While the seasons are a lot more predictable than the stock market, the market does go through climatic changes that investors should adjust to. In late September, after the market had been rallying for about six weeks off the August low, I mentioned it would be a good idea to reduce equity to around 40 -cent to 50 percent. In the middle of November, I wrote that it might be smart to reduce that level even more. If you’re still…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Success of rivals’ IPOs embolden 2 local software firms

It’s a tumultuous time to take a company public. But the executives leading ExactTarget Inc. and Aprimo Inc., the two Indianapolis marketing-software companies with pending initial public offerings, have an abundance of reasons to think they’ll be successful. Here’s a big one: Each has a major competitor in its niche that already has gone public and done well. In the case of e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget, the competitor is Massachusetts-based Constant Contact Inc., which raised $93 million in an IPO…

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MZD makes major changes, but keeps moniker: Name of subsidiary Telematrix could evaporate

In recent months, MZD Advertising has landed six new clients, launched three new divisions and opened two new facilities. Despite the retirement of two of the three partners that make up the ad agency’s acronym moniker, MZD will not have a new name. When Harry Davis retired this year-following Robert Montgomery’s 2005 retirement-some within the industry speculated that remaining namesake principal Allan Zukerman might choose to change the firm’s name. “We have a lot of equity built up in that…

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eGix buyout sets up Bell battle

The fiercely competitive local telecommunications landscape should get even more heated, following Cincinnati Bell Inc.’s
$18 million acquisition of Carmel-based eGix Inc. eGix provides bundled voice and data services, as well as high-speed Internet
access and messaging products, to about 17,000 commercial customers.

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ETS turns city into world’s tanning-bed capital: Company produces 24 models for home, business use

Indianapolis-based ETS Tan Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of tanning beds, annually churning out twice as many as its nearest competitor. Yet, the company founded in 1984 by Trevor and Edna Gray has plans to boost production, thanks to new ownership that has the financial clout to make it happen. In August 2006, MH Equity entered the indoor tanning industry with the purchase of Sunshine Holdings, the umbrella company for ETS, Australian Gold and software provider Helios LLC. MH…

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