Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. last week announced it has received approval to make a generic version of the cholesterol-reducing drug Lipitor, a deal that could produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Jacksonville-based Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals is the U.S. sales and marketing arm of India-based generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.
The company employs 45 people in Jacksonville. It has a total of about 750 U.S. employees, most of which work at its manufacturing facilities in New Jersey.
Ranbaxy is the first company to receive approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce a generic copy of Lipitor, which is made by Pfizer Inc.
Ranbaxy will have the exclusive right to sell the generic version of the drug, which is technically known as atorvastatin, for 180 days.
Bloomberg News reported that Ranbaxy could receive about $650 million in revenue over that six-month period, according to a survey of analysts.
Ranbaxy reported total revenue of $443 million in the most recent quarter, including $83 million in U.S. sales.
In approving Ranbaxy’s application, the FDA said it is working “very hard” to make generic drugs available to Americans.
“This medication is widely used by people who must manage their high cholesterol over time, so it is important to have affordable treatment options,” said a statement by Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
“Atorvastatin helps millions of Americans manage healthy cholesterol levels, and we are pleased to have received U.S. FDA approval to manufacture and market a safe, effective, affordable and accessible alternative to branded Lipitor,” Ranbaxy CEO Arun Sawhney said in a statement.
Atlantic Coast Financial explores possible merger
Under pressure to raise additional capital and lift its stock price, Atlantic Coast Financial Corp. last week announced it may seek a merger partner.
The parent company of Atlantic Coast Bank said it has engaged investment banker Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. to assist in “exploring strategic alternatives,” which could include a merger.
Jacksonville-based Atlantic Coast said its ratio of Tier 1 capital to assets was 6.22 percent as of Sept. 30, and it is required by banking regulators to raise that to 7 percent.
In addition, the company announced last month that it is facing a possible delisting of its stock by Nasdaq because the market value of its shares has fallen below $5 million.
Atlantic Coast has about 2.7 million shares outstanding and its stock was trading at 87 cents a share before the announcement. After the announcement, the stock rose to $1.21 last Monday.
Atlantic Coast said its board of directors “will review all possible strategic alternatives and weigh the relative benefits of such alternatives to stockholders.”
Latitude 30 owners going public
Another local business is going public by merging with a shell company that is already public.
Latitude Global Inc., which opened the Latitude 30 entertainment complex on Jacksonville’s Southside earlier this year, announced plans last week to merge with publicly traded Blink Couture Inc.
Under the merger agreement, Latitude Global shareholders will acquire 95 percent of the stock of the company and current Blink Couture stockholders will end up with the other 5 percent.
According to its most recent annual report, Blink Couture had an online retail clothing business that was discontinued in 2008, and the company had been looking to merge with another business since then.
Its stock trades in the over-the-counter market under the ticker symbol “BLKU.” Latitude Global plans to change the name of the public company and the ticker symbol once the merger is completed.
Latitude Global CEO Brent Brown said in a news release that the merger “falls in line with our plan to expand nationally and we believe will assist our company in its access to capital, national visibility and provide liquidity to our investors.”
The Jacksonville-based company opened Latitude 30 in January and now has additional family entertainment centers under development in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
It has a goal of expanding to 10 locations in the next three to four years.
Stakool reports quarterly results
Latitude Global’s merger to go public follows a similar move by Jacksonville-based Anthus Life Corp., which merged with a public company called Stakool Inc. that had no revenue-producing businesses.
Anthus is a developing company that offers a line of natural health bars.
After completing the merger in July, the company reported revenue of $3,347 and a net loss of $69,088 for the third quarter, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Stakool.
Patriot Transportation reports lower quarterly earnings
Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. last week reported earnings for the fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 12 percent to $1.75 million, or 19 cents per diluted share.
Revenue for the Jacksonville-based transportation and real estate company rose 12 percent to $31.3 million. But results for its trucking business were affected by two “severe non-preventable incidents” and higher health insurance claims, the company said.
In a conference call with analysts and investors, Patriot officials said they could not give more details on the two incidents.
For the entire fiscal year ended Sept. 30, earnings rose 66 percent to $12.2 million, or $1.29 a share. The earnings for the year were helped by an after-tax gain of about $5 million, or 53 cents a share, from an exchange of property.
“Given the severely depressed economy and ultracompetitive real estate and trucking markets, I feel our team did a good job in fiscal 2011. We were able to maintain our profitability while positioning ourselves for the future,” Patriot CEO Tom Baker said in the conference call.
Stein Mart November sales drop
After reporting improving sales trends in September and October, Stein Mart Inc. last week reported a drop in November sales. The company said that was a result of its new strategic direction.
The Jacksonville-based fashion retailer said total sales for the four weeks ended Nov. 26 fell 5.1 percent to $102.1 million and comparable store sales fell 4.6 percent.
In a news release, interim CEO Jay Stein said November sales were impacted by the company’s decision to rely less on coupons and focus more on everyday bargains to lure customers.
“Our day-to-day business was satisfactory, however, we realized major shortfalls as we anniversaried our largest events.
It is important for our long-term competitive position that we differentiate ourselves by re-establishing the value of our merchandise offering through everyday low prices,” he said.
Hedge fund manager likes St. Joe
With its stock trading at its lowest level in nearly two decades, The St. Joe Co. got a lift last week when one prominent investor told Barron’s financial newspaper that he likes the stock.
Michael Katz, founder of hedge fund Glenrock Asset Management, told Barron’s that the real estate company is a “misunderstood bargain.”
The stock hit a low of $12.72 last month but Katz said that even if St. Joe’s 573,000 acres were used only for timberland, it would be worth at worst $12 a share. So there is little downside risk.
But looking at the development potential of some of St. Joe’s land holdings, mainly in the Florida Panhandle, he values the company at about $30 a share.
St. Joe’s stock rose $1.12 to $14.03 last Monday after the Barron’s story appeared.