In an uncertain environment, Regency Centers Corp. CEO Lisa Palmer expects the company’s portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers to weather any economic storms.
“Positive trends in activity continued into April and the conversations we’ve had with our tenants over the last few weeks have indicated no impact on sales or shifts in consumer behavior,” Palmer said in Regency’s quarterly conference call with analysts April 30.
“Within our portfolio, we’ve seen growth in foot traffic accelerate in April from the Q1 level and for the remainder of the year, our lease commencement plans are largely committed,” she said.
“Our tenants are healthy and continue to look long term, planning for space needs years ahead of time amid a scarcity of high-quality available space.”
Jacksonville-based Regency’s 483 properties across the country were 96.3% leased at the end of the first quarter.
Regency reported core operating earnings rose by 5 cents a share in the quarter to $1.09, and net operating income at properties open for more than one year rose 4.3%.
Regency has long touted its strategy of focusing on shopping centers anchored by grocery stores, saying it does not feel big impacts from shifts in economic cycles.
“Our grocery-anchored neighborhood and community centers serve the essential nondiscretionary needs of our shoppers within a format that caters to service, convenience and value,” Palmer said.
“The trade areas in which we operate are supported by strong demographics with above-average income and employment, while the retailers within our centers are predominantly in the top tiers of performance across their chains.”
Despite the uncertain outlook, Regency maintained its forecasts for the full year, including core operating earnings of $4.30 to $4.36 a share, up from $4.13 in 2024.
“We acknowledge the elevated volatility and macro uncertainty in the economy today. But importantly, we continue to feel really good about how Regency is positioned as we are built to thrive across changing economic cycles,” Palmer said.
Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc., which agreed to a $7.7 billion buyout in March, reported slightly higher first-quarter earnings.
The Jacksonville-based business data firm said adjusted earnings rose by a penny to 21 cents a share, with revenue rising 3.6% (adjusted for foreign exchange rates) to $579.8 million.
Private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group agreed March 24 to buy Dun & Bradstreet for $9.15 a share, after a drop in the stock price that began a month before the agreement.
According to a proxy statement filed by Dun & Bradstreet for shareholders to vote on the deal, Clearlake had expressed interest in November 2024 of paying $12 a share as the company talked to several parties about a possible buyout.
Dun & Bradstreet’s investment bankers had begun contacting potential suitors in March 2024, talking to 44 possible buyers, the proxy said.
Clearlake, the only potential buyer named in the proxy, began dropping its offering price after a disappointing year-end earnings report from Dun & Bradstreet caused the stock to drop in February.
Clearlake’s $9.15-per-share agreement was subject to a 30-day “go-shop” period for Dun & Bradstreet to consider higher bids, but the company received no written alternative offers, the proxy said.
Dun & Bradstreet said in the statement it anticipates completing the deal in the third quarter this year.
Rayonier Inc. reported an adjusted net loss of $2.7 million, or 2 cents a share, with revenue falling 27% to $82.9 million in the first quarter.
The adjustments for the timber and real estate company headquartered in Wildlight in Nassau County included Rayonier’s previously announced deal to sell off its timber interests in New Zealand.
The New Zealand business is now classified as discontinued operations in its financial statements.
“First quarter results were negatively impacted by several factors, including the timing of real estate closings, challenging timber market conditions in the U.S. South, and reduced harvest volumes due to our 2024 disposition activities,” CEO Mark McHugh said in an April 30 news release.
“Despite the relatively slow start to the year, we still anticipate consolidated full-year Adjusted EBITDA results generally in line with our prior guidance (after adjusting for the reclassification of New Zealand operations to discontinued operations),” he said.
Rayonier is forecasting a second-quarter adjusted net profit of 1 cent to 4 cents per share.
Fanatics Inc. expects to continue increasing revenue but its valuation has fallen, according to an April 25 Financial Times story.
As the sports merchandising giant opened its first trading card store in London, CEO Michael Rubin told the newspaper the company expects revenue to grow from $8.1 billion in 2024 to $9 billion this year and $11 billion in 2026.
The London-based newspaper said Fanatics is valued at $25 billion, which would be a decline from its reported valuation of $31 billion two years.
Privately owned Fanatics is expected to go public at some point but the company has given no timeline for an initial public offering.
Fanatics was founded with a single store in the Orange Park Mall in 1995.
It began growing an online sports merchandising business and founders Mitchell and Alan Trager sold the Jacksonville-based business in 2011 to a Philadelphia company run by Rubin.
Fanatics maintains its commerce headquarters in Jacksonville but the corporate offices are in New York.
The Kraft Heinz Co.’s coffee business, which includes Maxwell House coffee made in Jacksonville, is being impacted by inflation, and it has nothing to do with tariffs.
Chief Financial Officer Andre Maciel said in the company’s first-quarter report it expects its second-quarter adjusted gross profit margin to decline by 2 percentage points, largely because of commodity price pressure on coffee.
“In our prior outlook, we had inflation at 3%,” Maciel said in a conference call.
“So before any tariffs, our guidance is stepped up to 5% of COGS (cost of goods sold), particularly in some commodities like coffee and meat, (where) we saw a big increase,” he said.
“Now with the tariff impact, I mean, obviously, a lot of uncertainty still around that. But we do estimate with what we know so far an impact in 2025 of 150 to 200 bps (1.5 to 2 percentage points) on the COGS.”
The only remaining U.S. Maxwell House plant is in Downtown Jacksonville at 735 E. Bay St., where the company has been producing coffee since 1924.
Kraft Heinz produces coffee under several brands, including Gevalia in the U.S.
The company does not report specific sales data for Maxwell House and does not give data on the coffee business in its quarterly reports.
However, its annual report said 2024 coffee sales fell about 6% to $835 million.
Coffee accounted for about 3% of total Kraft Heinz sales.
The company reported first-quarter earnings fell 11% to $714 million, or 62 cents a share, in part due to higher commodity prices for coffee, eggs and meat.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said May 1 its Jacksonville-based mortgage technology subsidiary increased first-quarter revenue by 2% to $510 million and the unit’s adjusted operating income rose 18% to $203 million.
Atlanta-based ICE announced in December 2024 it would establish the headquarters of its mortgage technology division in Jacksonville after it expanded the business with the September 2023 acquisition of Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc.
Technology and data company ICE, best known as operator of the New York Stock Exchange, reported total first-quarter revenue rose 15% to $3.2 billion and earnings rose by 5 cents a share to $1.38.
Jacksonville-based specialty insurance company Fortegra Group increased revenue by 0.4% to $480.6 million in the first quarter as adjusted earnings rose 18.6% to $40.5 million, according to parent company Tiptree Inc.
Fortegra is the major asset of Connecticut-based investment company Tiptree, which has tried twice to launch initial public offerings for the insurance company after acquiring it in 2014.
However, planned IPOs were called off in April 2021 and February 2024 and the company has not said if or when it will try again.
“As always, we remain committed to growing long-term shareholder value and will continue to seek constructive ways to more fully reflect the intrinsic value of Tiptree’s businesses in our share price,” Tiptree said in an April 30 news release.
Nearly two years after federal officials searched the company’s Jacksonville plant and its office in San Francisco, China-based solar module manufacturer JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. said no action has been taken related to the search.
JinkoSolar opened its first U.S. plant at AllianceFlorida at Cecil Commerce Center on Jacksonville’s Westside in 2019.
The searches of both facilities were conducted May 8, 2023, JinkoSolar said in its annual report filed April 29 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The search warrants did not specify any allegations related to any substantiated conducts that formed the basis of the searches,” the report said.
“Our production plant promptly resumed production following the searches and its normal operations and production were not negatively affected. As of the date of this annual report, we have not received any indictments or other documents presenting criminal charges against us.”
JinkoSolar also reported first-quarter revenue fell 40% to $1.91 billion and it had a net loss of $181.7 million.