A private equity firm offered to buy Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. in November at a value twice its trading price, but was rejected by the company’s board.
American Industrial Partners said in a Feb. 25 Securities and Exchange Commission filing it is still interested in the company known as RYAM, but only if the board of directors supports the idea.
AIP made the offer to buy the Jacksonville-based maker of cellulose specialty products after agreeing in August to acquire Global Cellulose Fibers, a maker of high-quality fluff pulp products.
“We envision likely combining RYAM with Global Cellulose Fibers,” AIP said in a Nov. 18 letter to RYAM that was included in the Feb. 25 filing, the first disclosure of AIP’s interest.
“The combination would create the leading global participant in the cellulose specialties and fluff pulp industries with an opportunity to unlock significant growth from further downstream investments such as renewable power, bioethanol, crude tall oil, among others,” it said.
AIP was considering paying $11 or $12 per share to acquire RYAM, at least twice its trading price of $5.52 at the time of the letter.
RYAM Chair Lisa Palumbo responded with a letter Dec. 11 saying the board “has reviewed your proposal and has determined that pursuit of the transaction contemplated by your proposal at this time is not in the best interest of the Company and its stockholders.”
That letter was dated one day after CEO De Lyle Bloomquist announced he was retiring. The company announced Jan. 5 that former Olin Corp. CEO Scott Sutton was joining the company to replace him.
The disclosure by AIP sent RYAM’s stock up to its highest level in five years, risings as much as $3.28 to $10.45 Feb. 25.
RYAM has been struggling financially, reporting a 2025 loss from continuing operations of $420 million on March 3, its seventh straight annual loss.
“We are attracted to the Company’s leading market positions, global presence with exposure to growing end markets and geographies, tenured customer relationships, diversified revenue streams and product offerings, and strong management team,” AIP said in its letter.
“We also believe there is an opportunity for long term growth and value creation under AIP’s ownership that would benefit the Company’s employees, their communities, and other stakeholders,” it said.
Treace Medical Concepts Inc. reported lower fourth-quarter revenue and said revenue for all of 2026 will likely be lower than last year.
The Ponte Vedra-based maker of surgical products to treat bunions and related midfoot issues said fourth-quarter revenue fell 9% to $62.5 million, due mainly to a shift in product sales toward lower-priced bunion treatment kits.
Revenue for all of 2025 rose 2% to $212.7 million, but the company had lowered its previous growth forecast of 7% to 10% in November.
The company is projecting 2026 revenue of $200 million to $212 million.
“I want to note that dynamics discussed on our last call that pressured 2025 including case volume growth, offset by headwinds related to broader economic conditions and softer consumer sentiment as well as a product mix shift within our expanded portfolio, are still present to begin the year,” CEO John Treace said in a Feb. 27 conference call with analysts.
Treace Medical has been struggling to regain investor confidence since it began lowering revenue projections in mid-2024, but John Treace believes in the company’s strategy.
“Our elevated case volume growth in the back half of 2025 reinforces our confidence that we have the right strategies in place to continue to expand our market penetration and restore top line revenue growth later in 2026 and into the future,” he said.
The company went public in April 2021 at $17 a share and traded as high as $37.17 in June 2021.
However, the stock has dropped sharply the last two years as the company cut its growth forecasts.
Treace Medical’s stock fell as much as 29 cents to a new low of $1.81 on Feb. 27.
Redwire Corp. was formed by merging several space technology companies together in 2020 but after a major acquisition last year, it’s now a different company, CEO s said in its fourth-quarter conference call.
“In 2025, Redwire transformed from a pure-play space provider to an agile, scaled multidomain space and defense tech company,” Cannito said in the Feb. 26 call.
Jacksonville-based Redwire acquired uncrewed aerial systems company Edge Autonomy in June, which expanded the company’s defense technology business.
As evidence of the transformation, Redwire’s $108.8 million in fourth-quarter revenue was evenly split with $54.5 million from space and $54.3 from defense tech.
“We expanded our customer base to more than 170 civil, national security, and commercial space and defense tech customers, emphasizing our breadth and diversity,” Cannito said.
He also said the company added 660 employees to bring its headcount to about 1,410. According to its annual report, Redwire operates from 23 locations in North America and five in Europe.
With Edge Autonomy’s operations in the company for a full year, Redwire is projecting 2026 revenue of $450 million to $500 million, up from $335.4 million in 2025.
Redwire’s 2025 revenue was affected by delays in some contracts because of the U.S. government shutdown in October.
“Although the delays from the US government shutdown impacted award timing in 2025, we continue to see a positive trend in contracts awarded as we move through the fourth quarter when compared with the first half of 2025,” Chief Financial Officer Chris Edmunds said in the call.
“I would note that given lingering timing impacts of the government shutdown, we expect our revenue to build as we move through 2026,” he said.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, reported higher 2025 earnings and expects more growth this year after completing a major acquisition in January.
The Jacksonville-based financial technology company acquired a credit processing business from Global Payments Inc. while selling its remaining 45% interest in merchant payments company Worldpay to Global Payments.
FIS reported adjusted earnings rose 4% in 2025 to $3.02 billion, or $5.75 a share, with adjusted revenue rising 5.8% to $10.677 billion.
With the addition of the credit processing business, FIS is projecting revenue to grow to $13.77 billion to $13.85 billion in 2026, with earnings of $6.22 to $6.32 a share.
“We are executing on our strategy to transform and simplify our portfolio by fully divesting our merchant-focused business and acquiring the market leader in credit issuing, strengthening our position in the large financial institution space,” CEO Stephanie Ferris said in a Feb. 24 conference call with analysts.
“I’ve never been more confident in the growth prospect of the financial services industry or of FIS’ ability to grow with it,” she said.
Shoe Carnival Inc. said Feb. 25 that CEO Mark Worden left the company, and the footwear chain is searching for a replacement.
Vice Chairman Cliff Sifford, who Worden succeeded as CEO in October 2021, was named interim president and chief executive as the company as it searches for a permanent replacement.
Former Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver is chairman of Shoe Carnival and its largest shareholder, controlling 32.3% of the stock along with his wife, Delores.
No reason was given for Worden’s departure.
Shoe Carnival, based in Fort Mill, South Carolina, operates 426 stores in the U.S. under the Shoe Carnival and Shoe Station banners. The company is converting most of its stores to the Shoe Station brand and intends to change its corporate name to Shoe Station Group Inc. later this year.
The company said preliminary results show sales for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31 were $1.135 billion, down from $1.203 billion in fiscal 2024.
Earnings are expected to be $1.90, down from adjusted fiscal 2024 earnings of $2.72.
The St. Joe Co. reported Feb. 25 that fourth-quarter revenue rose 24% to $128.9 million and earnings rose 58% to $29.9 million, or 52 cents per share.
For all of 2025, revenue rose 27% to $513.2 million and earnings rose 54% to $115.6 million, or $2 per share.
Panama City Beach-based St. Joe is a former industrial conglomerate based in Jacksonville that moved to the Florida Panhandle in 2010 to focus on real estate development.
“Each of the Company’s operating segments continued to reflect organic growth in revenue,” CEO Jorge Gonzalez said in a news release.
St. Joe has three operating segments: real estate sales, hospitality and leasing of commercial properties.
Gonzalez said St. Joe is hoping continued growth of the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport will continue to increase business at St. Joe properties. The Panama City airport opened in 2010 on land donated by St. Joe.
“As access continues to improve and our area continues to be discovered by more people from a wider range of locations, we are cautiously optimistic that these factors will have a positive impact to our segments in 2026 and beyond,” Gonzalez said.
CSX Corp. said Feb. 26 its board of directors approved a one-cent increase in its quarter dividend payments to 14 cents per share.
This is the sixth straight year the Jacksonville-based railroad company has raised the dividend by a penny.