Six years after Kraft Heinz Co. tried to unload its Maxwell House business, the food products giant is investing in upgrades to its Jacksonville coffee plant, its only such facility in the U.S.
Reuters news service reported May 14 Kraft Heinz is spending $3 billion to upgrade its U.S. plants and the company confirmed by email the program includes all 30 of its U.S. facilities, including the Downtown Maxwell House plant at 735 E. Bay St.
However, the company did not give any details about its plans.
Pedro Navio, Kraft Heinz’s president of North America, told Reuters the company is investing in its plants to make them more efficient.
Kraft Heinz officials said in the company’s quarterly conference call April 29 that its coffee business has been hit by commodity price inflation even before the impact of possible tariffs on its business.
Maxwell House has been operating a plant at the Bay Street location since 1924.
The plant became a symbol of the city’s commitment to manufacturing jobs in 1990 when Maxwell House decided to close one of its two East Coast plants.
City business and political leaders started a “Keep Max in Jax” campaign to demonstrate its commitment, and Maxwell House instead closed its plant in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Maxwell House sold off a plant in Houston in 2006 and closed its last other U.S. facility in San Leandro, California, in 2017.
Reports from financial news outlets began in February 2019 that Kraft Heinz wanted to sell off the Maxwell House business.
The company never commented but it apparently dropped that plan when it couldn’t get the price it wanted for the business.
Kraft Heinz’s coffee business, which includes other brands besides Maxwell House, produced $835 million in sales last year, accounting for 3% of its total revenue.
Landstar System Inc. reported lower first-quarter earnings despite an increase in loads transported by its trucks from late 2024.
Earnings fell 37% from the first quarter of 2024 to $29.8 million, or 85 cents a share.
The number of loads hauled by Landstar trucks was 1.2% lower than last year’s first quarter but better than the fourth quarter, CEO Frank Lonegro said in a May 13 conference call.
“This was the first time in at least 15 years where the number of loads hauled via truck in the first quarter exceeded the immediately preceding fourth quarter,” he said.
“Although it is hard to determine how much of our first-quarter load count was related to efforts by shippers to get ahead of tariffs, we certainly saw this as a positive sign to start 2025.”
Lonegro said Landstar has minimal exposure to freight to and from China that would be impacted by tariffs. U.S.-Mexico cross-border traffic accounted for 11% of its 2024 revenue while traffic to and from Canada produced 4% of revenue.
Landstar’s earnings were reduced by a $4.8 million pre-tax charge for a previously disclosed supply chain fraud investigation related to its international freight forwarding operations.
“We have no evidence currently of any internal employee involvement,” Lonegro said.
“We have our arms all the way around the matter and are vigorously pursuing recoveries, and the fraud was isolated to a single satellite agent office created through a unique arrangement dating back over 10 years,” he said.
Cannae Holdings Inc. announced May 12 that Bill Foley stepped down as CEO and chairman of the board and is taking on the role of nonexecutive vice chairman.
Cannae is the investment company spun off from Jacksonville-based title insurance company Fidelity National Financial Inc. in 2017, where Foley continues as chairman.
The company has been under pressure from investment firm Carronade Capital, which owns about 4.9% of Cannae’s stock and has nominated four directors to take seats on the company’s board.
“When I stepped in as Cannae’s CEO, I initiated a strategic plan focused on rebalancing our portfolio, returning capital to shareholders, and improving the operational performance of Cannae’s portfolio companies,” Foley said in a news release.
“I am very proud of what we have achieved across all three legs of our plan and believe this momentum positions Cannae for long term success,” he said.
Cannae President Ryan Caswell was appointed CEO to succeed Foley and the company also said it is appointing two new independent directors to its board.
Carronade said it was not satisfied with those changes.
“Cannae’s latest misguided attempts to cure years of egregious governance in the midst of a proxy challenge are insufficient and in our view border on bad faith,” Carronade said in a statement after the announcement.
Redwire Corp. reported first-quarter revenue dropped 30% to $61.4 million, attributing the decline to delays in some contracts during the transition to a new administration.
“As we have continuously reinforced, we often see lumpy contract awards from quarter to quarter,” CEO Peter Cannito said in a May 12 conference call, according to a company transcript of the call.
“We believe these delays are temporary and based on analysis of the Presidential Budget Request that includes funding for key space and defense programs like Golden Dome, we remain optimistic about the future of U.S. national security space, and defense budgets,” he said.
Redwire reported a net loss of $2.9 million in the quarter.
FRP Holdings Inc. reported first-quarter earnings rose 31% to $1.71 million, or 9 cents a share, with revenue rising 1.7% to $10.3 million.
The Jacksonville-based commercial real estate developer said the higher earnings were largely the result of increased royalties from its mining properties.
In a May 13 conference call, CEO John Baker III tempered expectations of increases in net operating income this year.
“No CEO wants to pour water on a positive quarter but we have never been a quarter-to-quarter company,” he said.
“We are pleased with this quarter’s results but I continue to caution our shareholders to expect flat to slightly negative NOI results overall in 2025 since the temporary headwinds we’re up against may be too heavy a lift for mining royalties to offset,” he said.
Baker said the company is taking a long-term view and is focusing on setting up the company for future earnings growth by investing in new projects.
Duos Technologies Group Inc.’s first-quarter revenue jumped 363% to $4.95 million, mainly because of an asset management agreement announced last year to deploy and operate energy assets owned by Fortress Investment Group.
Jacksonville-based Duos, which had been mainly a railroad technology company, said it expects revenue for the full year between $28 million and $30 million, which would quadruple 2024 revenue.
The company reported a first-quarter net loss of $2.08 million but said it expects improved operating results over the course of 2025.
“As previously stated, we continue to expect to break even and may make money in the third and fourth quarters and end the full year with positive adjusted EBITDA,” Chief Financial Officer Adrian Goldfarb said in a May 15 conference call, according to a company transcript.
GEE Group says macro factors lower staffing revenue
Jacksonville-based staffing company GEE Group Inc. said revenue fell 4% in its second quarter ended March 31 to $24.5 million, which it attributed to macroeconomic weakness and trade policy uncertainty.
The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $33 million, which included $31.9 million in one-time non-cash charges.
“GEE Group has a strong balance sheet with substantial liquidity in the form of cash and borrowing capacity. The Company is well positioned to grow internally and to be acquisitive,” CEO Derek Dewan said in a May 15 conference call, according to a company transcript.
“We also continue to believe that our stock is undervalued, and especially so, based upon recent trading at levels very near and even slightly below tangible book value, and that there is a good opportunity for upward movement in the share price once we are able to operate again in more normal economic and labor conditions and continue to execute on our capital allocation strategy as well,” he said.
ParkerVision Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of $3.8 million, which included $2.5 million in one-time non-cash charges.
The Jacksonville-based company had no revenue as it focuses on several patent infringement lawsuits against major telecommunications manufacturers, contending they are illegally using wireless technology developed by ParkerVision.
The company had said it expected two jury trials to begin in Texas in the second half of this year but said in a May 13 news release the trials have been delayed to the first quarter of 2026 because of disputes regarding discovery requests that need to be resolved.
LFTD Partners Inc. reported a first-quarter net loss of $303,042, with sales falling 14% to $9.1 million.
Jacksonville-based LFTD makes hemp-derived and other psychoactive products mainly through a Wisconsin-based subsidiary called Lifted Made.
The company said in its quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that several factors reduced sales in the first quarter, including tighter regulation or prohibition of hemp-derived products in some states and greater competition in its markets.