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byline: Robert Powell, III

Baltimore law firm opens Richmond office

Baltimore-based law firm Franklin & Prokopik has opened  an office in Richmond, its second in Virginia.

The Richmond office, the firm’s seventh overall, will focus on serving clients in Central and Southeastern Virginia, including the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas.

Lindsey Lewis will lead the Richmond-based practice. She has civil litigation experience in the areas of automobile/transportation liability, business, construction, employment, premises liability, and professional liability. 

The office, located at 5516 Falmouth St., Suite 203, plans to provide legal services for clients ranging from multinational companies to local small business owners.

Richmond will also be part of the firm’s transportation group’s Emergency Response Team.

Franklin & Prokopik’s other Virginia office is in Herndon. It also has offices in Baltimore, Easton and Hagerstown, Md.;  Martinsburg, W.Va., and Wilmington, Del.

The law firm has more than 65 lawyers.

Virginia ranks first in the nation in health metric

Virginia has made significant progress in seeing that more babies are carried to full term before they are delivered, hospital officials say.

Recent medical research has revealed that when babies are born after 39 weeks of gestation they tend to have fewer health problems. That research overturned previous assumptions that babies born between 37 and 39 weeks were just healthy as those carried to full term. Those assumptions fed a trend toward early elective deliveries (EED), early deliveries that are not medically necessary.

During the past the past four years, the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association said Tuesday, the state has reduced its EED rate from 8 percent to 1.3 percent.

That percentage makes the commonwealth first in the nation in reducing EEDs, according to federal Hospital Compare data. Virginia  had been ranked 24th in the nation on EED rate based on Hospital Compare data released in 2014.

VHHA credited the improvement to collaboration by its Center for Healthcare Excellence, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Medical Society of Virginia, the March of Dimes, and other health care providers and stakeholders.

To reduce Virginia’s EED, 53 hospitals agreed to seek ways to limit early elective deliveries. They submitted monthly data tracking the total number of births at individual facilities, and the number of births occurring between 37 and 39 weeks. When the effort began in 2012, Virginia’s EED rate was 8 percent and the national goal was 4 percent.

Hampden-Sydney announces center for entrepreneurship and innovation

Hampden-Sydney College has established the Flemming Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

The center is the result of a $1 million gift from the Flemming Foundation and 1985 alumnus Todd Flemming of Orlando, Fla., a college trustee and chairman of Infrasafe.

The center, which is named in memory of Mr. Flemming’s father, Harry S. Flemming, will incorporate the programming of the college’s former Center for Entrepreneurship and Political Economy.

The college said the new center will encourage student and faculty creativity and strive to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to pursue entrepreneurial ideas.

Plans for the center includes a full-time director, an endowed “entrepreneur-in-residence,” and the establishment of a Tiger Venture Fund. The fund would support student entrepreneurs, enabling them to develop prototypes and explore the commercial viability of their ideas.

The center’s plans also includes the creation of a “flex office” that will provide a professional base for visiting entrepreneurs who accessible to students and faculty.

The center will be housed in the new Brown Student Center at Hampden-Sydney, $11 million project made possible by seven individual gifts of $1 million or more.

In addition to the Flemming Center, the Brown Student Center will house the college post office, the Tiger Inn café, lounge and activity areas, student affairs and student government offices, and the Ferguson Career Education Center.

Claxton Logistics moves offices to Quantico Corporate Center

Claxton Logistics, a government contractor, has opened a 10,000-square-foot office in the Quantico Corporate Center in Stafford County.

Coldwell Banker Commercial Elite (CBCE) reported that Claxton occupies half of the top floor of a two-story, 40,000-square-foot building that was recently completed.

Claxton relocated its operations from Dumfries. The company’s focus at the new facility will be acquisitions and logistics in support of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.

Also located in the new building are Merrit School and Northern Virginia Dental Arts.

 

Tegna ready to spin off Cars.com

The board of McLean-based media company Tegna Inc. has approved the spin-off of Cars.com, a move that will create two publicly traded companies.

Cars.com shares are expected to begin trading on June 1.

“This spin-off is the culmination of a multiyear transformation of our company, and the board is confident that both companies are well positioned to execute their strategic plans for growth and create shareholder value,” Gracia Martore, the president and CEO of Tegna, said in a statement. She will retire upon the closing of the spinoff.

Tegna has 46 television stations. Cars.com is a digital automotive marketplace.

The Cars.com spinoff follows the June 2015 separation of the broadcast and newspaper divisions of Gannett Co. Inc. The spun-off newspaper group kept the Gannett name while the broadcast group became Tegna.

Tegna said the Cars.com spinoff will take place through a pro-rata distribution of outstanding Cars.com shares to Tegna stockholders of record at the close of business on May 18.

Stockholders will retain their Tegna shares. They receive one share of Cars.com for every three Tegna shares.

Tegna Media President Dave Lougee will become president and CEO of Tegna upon completion of the separation. Alex Vetter will remain president and CEO of Cars.com.

Hilb Group acquires Rhode Island insurance agency

The Hilb Group LLC, a Richmond-based middle-market insurance agency, has acquired Keough Kirby Associates of Woonsocket, R.I. The transaction became effective April 1.

Financial details on the acquisition were not disclosed.

Keough Kirby has been providing property and casualty, life and employee benefits services since 1914.

It will join The Hilb Group's regional operations in New England while continuing to operate out of its Woonsocket office.
The Hilb Group is a portfolio company of Boston-based private equity firm ABRY Partners.

The company ranked sixth on the recently released Fantastic 50 list of fast-growing privately owned Virginia companies.

Its growth rate from 2012 through 2015 was 818.9 percent.

Park Sterling to merge with South State Corp.

Park Sterling Corp., a Charlotte, N.C.-based community bank with operations in Virginia, is merging with Columbia, S.C.-based South State Corp. in an all-stock deal worth $690.8 million.

The merger will give South State entry to the Richmond market.

James C. Cherry, the CEO of Park Sterling, has been based in Richmond. After Park Sterling is merged into South State’s operations, he will be appointed to the combined company's board of directors.

On March 31, Park Sterling  had approximately $3.3 billion in assets and $2.5 billion in deposits. It has 50 branches across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.

After the merger, South State will have about $14.5 billion in assets, $11.5 billion in deposits and $10.4 billion in loans.

Under the terms of the agreement, Park Sterling shareholders will receive 0.14 shares of South State common stock for each share of their Park Sterling common stock.

TowneBank to acquire Paragon Commercial Corp.,

Portsmouth-based TowneBank plans to acquire Raleigh, N.C.- based Paragon Commercial Corp., the parent company of Paragon Commercial Bank, in a stock deal valued at $323.7 million.

The combined bank is expected to have $9.7 billion in assets and total deposits of $7.5 billion.

TowneBank also announced its first-quarter earnings on Thursday. Its total profit for the quarter was $21.97 million, up 23.3 percent from the same period last year. Earnings per share were 35 cents, unchaged from the first quarter of 2016.

The Paragon acquisition would give TowneBank a presence in the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas. The bank currently operates in Hampton Roads, the Richmond area and Northeastern North Carolina.

TowneBank said that, on a pro-forma basis, the combined bank will have the second-largest deposit market share among community banks in the Raleigh area.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Paragon shareholders will receive 1.725 shares of TowneBank common stock for each outstanding share of Paragon common stock. That translates into a per-share value of $59.25 based on TowneBank’s closing stock price of $34.35 on April 26.

Pending customary regulatory and shareholder approvals, the merger is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter.

Towne plans to operate in the Raleigh, Charlotte, and Cary markets as Paragon Bank, a division of TowneBank.

Robert C. Hatley, the president and CEO of Paragon, will become president and CEO of the Paragon Division as well as president of TowneBank’s North Carolina operations.

Hatley and Paragon Board Chairman Howard Jung will join the TowneBank corporate board.

A calmer pace

Big growth spurts rarely last a long time. Such was the case of last year’s top-revenue growth numbers for the Fantastic 50, an annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in Virginia.

The company with the highest growth rate last year, Ashburn-based Cynet Systems Inc., saw its revenue soar 7,388.7 percent from 2011 to 2014. That was the highest number recorded in the Fantastic 50 since the 2011 list when the top firm had a growth rate of 7,752 percent.

This year the story is different.  The top company on the list is Stafford-based Darkblade Systems, whose revenue grew 1,848 percent from 2012 to 2015. That number is 5,541 percentage points lower than Cynet’s performance last year. But that doesn’t mean that the whole group of 50 on this year’s list grew at a slower rate. In fact, the median growth rate of this year’s Fan 50 rose to 281 percent, 55 percentage points higher than the pace seen in last year’s list.

Also, five companies had growth rates of 1,000 percent or more this year, compared with just three in 2016. The more moderate but steady pace of this year’s numbers is reflected in the fact that Cynet is on the list again this year, but it clocks in at 2012-15 growth rate of 798 percent.

Also on this year’s list is Devils Backbone Brewing Co., the leading manufacturing company on the 2016 Fantastic 50. Its return might surprise some people. The company announced last year it was being sold to beer giant Anheuser-Busch, but that deal occurred after the 2012-15 period covered by this year’s list.

In addition to Darkblade Systems, three other companies on the list are being recognized as revenue-growth leaders in their categories. They are:

 

Northern Virginia companies continued to dominate the Fantastic 50 list, occupying 33 of the 50 spots. Eight companies are from Hampton Roads, while seven are from Central Virginia, and one each are from the Shenandoah Valley and the Northern Neck.

This year’s list was based on revenue growth from 2012 to 2015. To be eligible for the list, a company must of had revenue of at least $200,000 in 2012. It also must have made a profit in 2015 and have revenue of less than $200 million in its most recent fiscal year.

The Fantastic 50 companies were recognized at an awards banquet on April 27 at the Westfields Marriott Washington Dulles hotel in Chantilly.

The accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman reviews the financial records of the entries to determine the winners. Virginia Business is a sponsor of the Fantastic 50.

2017 Virginia's Fantastic 50 list

   COMPANY LOCATION YEAR ESTABLISHED EMPLOYEES (2015) REVENUE (2015) '12- '15 GROWTH CATEGORY
1 Darkblade Systems Stafford 2010 24 WND 1,847.54% Service
2 GuidePoint Security LLC Herndon 2011 139 $111,126,703 1,275.90 Technology
3 Axis Global Enterprises Inc. Virginia Beach 2011 27 WND 1,273.69 Service
4 Super Systems Inc. (SSi) Virginia Beach 1988 120 WND 1,194.03 Technology
5 Davis Defense Group Inc. Stafford 2002 658 WND 1,040.94 Service
6 The Hilb Group Richmond 2009 174 WND 818.87 Service
7 V1 Analytical Solutions Arlington 2009 33 WND 802.35 Service
8 Cynet Systems Inc. Ashburn 2010 183 31,424,000 797.83 Service
9 Concept Plus LLC Fairfax 2008 95 18,212,000 691.83 Service
10 E3 Federal Solutions LLC McLean 2004 328 52,680,610 643.85 Service
11 RM Advisory Services LLC Alexandria 2005 35 WND 636.50 Service
12 Creative Systems and Consulting McLean 2010 40 WND 522.67 Technology
13 Ingenicomm Inc. Chantilly 2010 38 WND 501.08 Technology
14 Tribal Tech LLC Alexandria 2000 45 WND 488.03 Service
15 PotomacWave Consulting Alexandria 2007 155 WND WND Service
16 American Cyber Clifton 2011 48 WND 415.49 Service
17 Cape Henry Associates Virginia Beach 2004 182 22,380,720 409.00 Service
18 Convoke Arlington 2006 24 9,374,460 392.57 Technology
19 Impact Makers Richmond 2006 100 17,851,059 365.95 Service
20 O'Connor Brewing Co. Norfolk 2010 31 WND 356.46 Manufacturing
21 Eagle Hill Consulting Arlington 2003 108 WND 334.84 Service
22 Devils Backbone Brewing Co. Nelson County 2008 132 WND 300.93 Manufacturing
23 Veris Group LLC Vienna 2005 161 WND 298.98 Technology
24 Morooka America LLC Ashland 2012 28 17,530,774 294.33 Manufacturing
25 Insignia Technology Services LLC Newport News 2007 164 WND 292.53 Technology
26 DIGITALSPEC Fairfax 2005 40 4,188,097 270.55 Technology
27 Highlight Technologies LLC Fairfax 2008 64 WND 252.09 Service
28 SOLitude Lake Management Virginia Beach 1998 83 WND 251.86 Service
29 Brandito LLC Henrico 2009 7 3,200,216 249.68 Service
30 MindPoint Group LLC Springfield 2009 77 13,465,648 218.78 Service
31 Divurgent LLC Virginia Beach 2007 57 WND 202.46 Service
32 Patriot Group International Inc. Warrenton 2004 79 33,854,740 188.68 Service
33 Marathon TS Inc. Kilmarnock 2009 120 10,289,406 187.16 Technology
34 Sevatec Inc. Fairfax 2003 289 WND 167.69 Service
35 Epitome Networks Richmond 2009 75 WND 166.39 Technology
36 The Bowen Group Stafford 2005 128 WND 159.56 Service
37 ValidaTek Inc. Arlington 2006 114 WND 154.12 Service
38 Pretek Corp. Chantilly 2002 20 WND 148.37 Technology
39 Datatility Inc. Ashburn 2002 15 WND 146.57 Technology
40 Amatea LLC Leesburg 2005 7 9,726,857 143.84 Technology
41 NuAxis Innovations Vienna 2002 244 WND 133.04 Technology
42 ODUrent Norfolk 1999 22 WND 127.77 Service
43 The Frontier Project Richmond 2008 41 WND 125.59 Service
44 AEM Corp. Herndon 1986 257 WND 115.10 Technology
45 Technatomy Corp. Fairfax 2000 284 WND WND Service
46 Chmura Economics & Analytics Richmond 1998 18 WND 113.86 Service
47 Higher Logic Arlington 2007 78 WND 109.55 Technology
48 Dominion Consulting Reston 2009 70 34,559,797 106.55 Technology
48 Markon Solutions Falls Church 2007 164 WND 101.16 Service
50 Zantech IT Services Inc. Tysons Corner 2007 210 WND WND Technology
WND – would not disclose for publication               Companies in BOLD are category honorees                Source: Dixon Hughes Goodman, Virginia Chamber of Commerce

Electronics wholesaler expected to add 66 jobs

A consumer electronics wholesaler, 2nd Life Inc., plans to expand its operations in Richmond’s Manchester district south of the James River.

The $975,000 project is expected to create 66 jobs during the next two years.

Founded last year, 2nd Life currently occupies a 27,000-square-foot warehouse in the Manchester district.

The company repairs more than 15 categories of pre-owned electronics. By repairing the devices, the company extends their usable life and creates additional value for its client’s assets.

The electronic devices handled by the company include digital cameras, computers, tablets, phones and gaming systems.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership will support the project through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP). VJIP provides consultative services and funding to companies creating new jobs or experiencing technological change to support employee training activities.

Robert Powell