Rayonier Inc. was long known as a forest products company before forming a real estate development subsidiary 20 years ago to profit from its vast land holdings.
While it continues traditional development activities in communities such as Wildlight in Nassau County, where Rayonier is now headquartered, the company is looking at other potential uses for its real estate to meet market needs.
In a June 4 presentation to Nareit’s REITweek investor conference, Rayonier CEO Mark McHugh said an emerging trend driving demand for its land is “the energy transition, the need for renewable power and decarbonization solutions.”
Rayonier controls about 2 million acres of timberland, some of which has other uses besides harvesting trees.
“Increasingly, we’ve come to see ourselves as not just a timber company, but really more of a land resources company and as a land resources company, we become increasingly focused on maximizing the value of our portfolio and our lands in a multitude of different ways,” McHugh said.
McHugh said there are several alternative uses for Rayonier’s land beyond community development.
“That would include things like leasing land for solar or leasing land for wind farms,” he said.
“It would also include leasing land and pore space for carbon capture and storage.”
McHugh said leasing land for carbon capture increases the value about fivefold, and leasing it for solar farms increases it about 10 times.
“So we see significant value creation potential from optimizing land use across the portfolio and as we grow the number of acres within our portfolio that can be converted into these higher value uses, we really see this translating into significant value creation for us over the long term,” he said.
McHugh said Rayonier’s acreage under option for solar development has grown from about 7,000 acres in 2021 to 39,000 at the end of 2024.
The company had no leases for carbon capture and storage in 2022 but had more than 150,000 acres under lease at the end of 2024.
“We’re quite optimistic about the long-term cash flow growth potential of this business for us,” McHugh said.
Although he spent much time detailing the potential for energy uses, McHugh also expressed optimism about long-term trends for Rayonier’s timber and real estate in the housing market.
“We’re certainly facing some near-term headwinds, but the U. S. housing sector remains significantly under built,” he said.
“Despite the challenging financing environment that we currently find ourselves in, we do think that the long-term outlook and trajectory of housing starts will be quite constructive.”
Regency Centers Corp. also presented at REITweek, a major annual conference for real estate investment trust stocks, and company officials said shoppers are still coming to its malls.
“We continue to see real strength in the operating environment across our portfolio,” CEO Lisa Palmer said.
“The fundamentals of the business remain really robust.”
Jacksonville-based Regency had 483 properties across the country at the end of the first quarter, mainly grocery anchored shopping centers.
The company has long maintained that its focus on supermarkets and other retailers offering daily needs tends to make it resistant to the ups and downs of economic cycles.
Chief Operating Officer Alan Roth said he heard positive feedback from retailers last month at an annual International Council of Shopping Centers conference that drew 25,000 attendees.
Roth said not just grocers but other retailers, quick service restaurants and fitness centers are looking for additional shopping center space.
“We’re seeing it from a lot of different categories,” he said.
“Despite some of the macro conversations that are out there in terms of volatility, we walked away very optimistic. It was a very productive show for us,.”
Palmer said grocers are still investing in brick-and-mortar stores despite increases in online shopping.
“They understand from the cost structure that it is more profitable for them to bring the customer into the store and let the customer do their own picking and putting in the cart, so the physical bricks-and-mortar presence of the grocer is vitally important to their success, and they understand that,” she said.
Palmer said customers still like to go out and shop, so Regency focuses on making its centers attractive.
“We think about merchandising, we think about placemaking, we want to make sure that our shopping centers are an inviting place for people to shop. They want to come there,” she said.
For retailers, “there’s still an incredible value to be being close to the customer and servicing the customer from the four walls of a physical store,” she said.
Proficient Auto Logistics Inc.’s stock fell to a new low June 4 after a presentation at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference, despite the company saying there was no new information in the session.
Jacksonville-based Proficient transports automobiles from manufacturers to dealers, and uncertainty about the impact of tariffs and the economy is clouding the outlook for car sales.
The company’s presentation was not broadcast over the internet, but Proficient posted slides from its presentation on its website. One slide noted that “full year forecasts are generally lower with a greater range of uncertainty.”
However, CEO Rick O’Dell told freight data news website FreightWaves that there was nothing in the presentation that should have caused its stock to drop.
“We weren’t saying anything, frankly, that we hadn’t already spelled out pretty clearly in the last earnings call,” O’Dell told FreightWaves.
Proficient went public in May 2024 with an initial public offering at $15 a share, but the stock has been trading below that price since September.
The stock fell as much as 69 cents to a low of $6.61 June 4.
The Jacksonville Jaguars were ranked the 26th most valuable NFL franchise last year but Shad Khan’s British football team, Fulham FC, ranks even higher on Forbes magazine’s list of most valuable soccer teams.
The magazine’s list of the 30 most valuable global soccer teams said Fulham is worth $850 million, ranking it 25th, according to a story posted online May 30 by Forbes.
Forbes said Fulham, which plays in the British Premier League, rose 8% in value since last year.
The magazine estimated its revenue last year at $229 million and its operating income at $34 million.
Like the NFL, the bulk of Fulham’s value comes from lucrative broadcasting contracts.
But Forbes said the franchise has also benefited from renovations in and around the team’s Craven Cottage stadium to add amenities.
Although the Jaguars’ ranking among the 32 NFL teams was lower, the team is far more valuable than Fulham with an estimated value of $4.6 billion, according to Forbes.
The Forbes soccer ranking is different from an annual ranking by the Deloitte Football Money League, which ranks teams by revenue, not total value.
That list published in January ranked Fulham 28th in the world with about $221 million in revenue.
All of the teams in the Deloitte ranking are in Europe but the Forbes list includes eight U.S. soccer teams headed by the Los Angeles Football Club, ranked 15th with a value of $1.25 billion.
The most valuable soccer team is Real Madrid at $6.75 billion, according to Forbes.
Stephanie Ferris of Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, was the highest paid CEO of a Jacksonville-based public company last year, and a report by Truist Securities analyst Matthew Coad suggests her pay package is fair to shareholders.
“Stephanie Ferris became FIS’s CEO in late 2022, and we believe Ms. Ferris was dealt a tough hand,” Coad said in a June 2 report initiating coverage of financial technology companies.
Her challenges included dealing with FIS’ struggling Worldpay merchants payments subsidiary, which the company began to sell off in 2024.
“We believe FIS’s executive compensation is aligned with shareholder interests. As disclosed in the April 2025 proxy, the majority of CEO pay is performance-based,” Coad said.
“Equity awards remain the primary means of connecting executive incentives to long-term shareholder value,” he said.
Ferris’ total 2024 compensation of $21.2 million included about $17.6 million in stock awards and cash incentives of $2.3 million.
Although Coad likes the company’s strategy, he rates FIS at “hold.”
“We worry that some good news may already be priced in as we struggle to see meaningful upside potential here. As such, we expect shares to remain range bound for the time being and see better value in other large caps in our universe,” he said.
GEE Group Inc. said June 6 it sold its light industrial staffing division, called Triad, to Armada Staffing Group, a division of Ohio-based Reliable Staffing Resources.
Jacksonville-based GEE Group said the sale is part of a strategy to focus on its professional staffing and human resources solutions businesses.
Reliable paid about $1 million to buy the assets of Triad, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
GEE Group’s first-quarter report filed with the SEC said its industrial division produced revenue of $1.545 million and a net loss of $163,000.
GEE Group’s total revenue from continuing operations was $24.495 million in the first quarter.