It's always sad when a local public company disappears from the market after a buyout or other event.
At least it's sad for business journalists because it means one less news-generating company to keep us occupied.
The latest talk last week, unconfirmed by the companies, was that Fidelity National Financial Inc. was working to reacquire Lender Processing Services Inc.
That deal may or may not happen, but the good news is every time a public company disappears, it seems another comes on the scene to take its place.
We do have a new public company emerging in Northeast Florida and this one looks like it will be a lot of fun to follow.
Blue Water Ventures International Inc. describes itself as "a historic shipwreck research and recovery company that locates and recovers lost treasures dated from pre-colonial times to our recent past."
In other words, this company goes after treasures that sunk with legendary ships hundreds of years ago.
"Our motto is 'join the adventure,'" said Keith Webb, CEO of the company.
According to its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Blue Water Ventures is headquartered in Fleming Island, where Webb lives. However, it carries on operations in the waters of the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean.
Blue Water Ventures started in 2005, working to recover artifacts from a Spanish galleon called the Santa Margarita that sunk in a 1622 hurricane off the coast of Key West. It worked on the ship in a joint venture with Motivation Inc., a company started by late treasure hunter Mel Fisher.
Blue Water Ventures said it recovered an estimated $16 million in gold, silver and pearls from the Margarita and after splitting the treasure with Motivation, its share is worth more than $6 million.
The company finished work at the Margarita site in 2011 and is now about to start work on a site near Panama of the ship San Jose, which sunk in 1631.
"We found part of a vessel," said Webb. "We're going into recovery mode, I think, in June."
It also will be working at the site of a fleet that sunk in 1715 off the coast of Fort Pierce.
As it works to expand its operations, Blue Water Ventures became public a year ago.
"We're looking at some acquisitions to build a revenue base for the company," said Webb. Those acquisitions include technologies for shipwreck exploration.
Blue Water Ventures became public by merging with an existing public company called SmartPay Express Inc. that was selling off its businesses.
The company has maintained a low profile and has been working to file its required financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Webb said working with the auditors has "really taken a lot longer than I expected" but he expects to have the filings up to date soon.
As the company launches what it calls its "Phase II" of operations, it expects to make more noise.
"You'll start to see some activity in the market," Webb said.
Blue Water Ventures trades in the OTC market under the ticker symbol "BWVI."
Stein Mart stock up on earnings report
Stein Mart Inc.'s stock rose to its highest level in more than three years last week after the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.
Earnings for the first quarter ended May 4 rose 36 percent to $14.7 million, or 33 cents a share. That was 4 cents a share higher than the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Stein Mart had previously said that sales picked up in April as the weather improved, and that helped increase earnings.
"Our spring merchandise is just fabulous and once the temperatures became more seasonal, our customers responded just wonderfully by going to the stores and seeing this great assortment of merchandise," interim CEO Jay Stein said in the company's conference call with analysts.
He also said the stores' home goods department is doing well.
"If you haven't seen it yet, you must. You must come in to our stores and see what spring has to offer," he said.
"Our customer seems to be very happy with our inventory and the kind of presentation that we give and I look forward to the results," he said.
Stein said the company increased sales while having fewer markdowns on merchandise, "which obviously contributed to an increase in our gross profit rate for the quarter."
Stein Mart operates 262 stores and plans to open only four new stores this year, all this fall. But Stein said the company is actively looking for new store sites.
"However, I want you to be mindful that many of these locations that are currently available in key markets do not meet our needs in terms of location and economics. But we believe in the renewed energy in our real estate department, our director is terrific and we are truly, truly having a search effort that will pay off in the long run," he said.
Stein Mart's stock rose as much as 71 cents to $12.43 Thursday after the earnings report, the first time the stock has been above $12 since the fall of 2009.
Dick's Wings owner records profit on debt agreement
American Restaurant Concepts Inc. recorded a net profit for the first quarter, due to a gain from an agreement to settle debt.
The Jacksonville-based company, which franchises the Dick's Wings & Grill restaurant chain, had net income of $209,828, or 1 cent per share in the quarter.
During the quarter, the company recorded a one-time gain of $320,798 from the debt settlement agreement with Bank of America.
American Restaurant Concepts said the agreement reduced its debt by 68 percent and reduced its annual interest expense by 86 percent.
"In addition to our debt reduction efforts, I'm encouraged by the pace at which we've been able to grow royalty revenues per restaurant in such a short period of time. We continue to make improvements that benefit our customers, franchisees and shareholders," CEO Michael Rosenberger said in a news release.
American Restaurant Concepts said its average royalty revenue per active restaurant rose by 21 percent in the quarter.
There are currently 17 Dick's Wings restaurants in the chain.
Medtronic stock rises on earnings report
Medtronic Inc.'s stock jumped to its highest level in four years Tuesday after the Minneapolis-based medical device maker reported higher-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter ended April 26.
Adjusted earnings rose by 11 cents a share to $1.10, 7 cents higher than the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson.
Revenue of $4.46 billion also beat the average forecast of $4.38 billion.
Medtronic's surgical technologies division, which is headquartered in Jacksonville, reported revenue rose 10 percent to $407 million.
Medtronic's stock rose as much as $3.94 to $53.83 Tuesday after the report.
New largest shareholder for Web.com
For the first time since Web.com Group Inc. acquired Network Solutions, the private equity firm that owned Network Solutions is no longer Web.com's largest shareholder.
According to an SEC filing last week, funds affiliated with General Atlantic LLC sold 2 million shares of Web.com on Monday, reducing its stake to 3.8 million shares, or 7.6 percent of the company.
This follows another sale of 2.3 million shares in February.
That sale leaves Wellington Management Co. as the largest Web.com shareholder with 10.9 percent of the stock, followed closely by Fidelity Investments at 10.6 percent.
General Atlantic had owned about one-third of Jacksonville-based Web.com's stock after the merger with Network Solutions in 2011, but the Greenwich, Conn., investment firm has been gradually reducing its stake.
Last week's sale came on the day Web.com's stock reached a record high of $22.84. General Atlantic sold its shares for $21.43 each.
Northrop stock reaches multiyear high
Another stock reaching a multiyear high was Northrop Grumman Corp., which rose after a couple of actions by the board of directors to increase stockholder value.
First the board of the aerospace and defense contractor announced a 6-cent increase in the quarterly dividend to 61 cents a share.
Then the board authorized an additional $4 billion in stock repurchases by the company, with the goal of retiring about 25 percent of the company's stock.
In a stock repurchase program, a company makes its remaining outstanding shares more valuable by taking shares out of the market.
"Today's action and yesterday's dividend increase reflect confidence in our performance and our belief that our share repurchase program continues to create value for our shareholders," CEO Wes Bush said in a news release announcing the repurchase program.
Northrop's stock rose as much as $4.26 to $83.28 on May 17 after the moves were announced, its highest level in more than five years.
Northrop, which currently employs 1,100 at its St. Augustine facility, is planning a four-year expansion project that will add 400 more jobs. Northrop is the largest corporate employer in St. Johns County.
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