Food City wins employer award
The Council for Exceptional Children Division on Career Development and Transition (DCDT) has recognized Food City with its Employer of the Year award for providing jobs for students with disabilities.
The annual honor has been given since 1989 and has previously been won by St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee, the JC Penney Distribution Center in Lenexa, Kansas, Bank of America-Delaware, Fifth Third Bank, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and Delaware Department of Transportation.
"I'm humbled and honored to accept this distinguished award on behalf of our entire Food City team – particularly our store managers and human resource coordinators, who work diligently to ensure we provide every opportunity possible to enable our associates with disabilities to become an integral part of our team," Food City CEO Steven Smith said. "They do such a great job and mean so much to our company and our customers."
FirstBank boosts loans by 66%
Aided by its purchase of the Franklin Financial Network and the Paycheck Protection Program, loan volume for FirstBank jumped by 66% over a year ago in the third quarter to $7.21 billion.
The Nashville-based FB Financial Corp., the parent of FirstBank, said Monday that it had a third quarter loss of $5.6 million, or 14 cents per share, after reporting profits of $24 million a year ago in the same period. This year's losses reflect the application of current expected credit losses to the loan portfolio acquired from Franklin Financial . Adjusted pre-tax earnings totaled $72.3 million, which was up 25% frm a year ago and beat Wall Street estimates.
The bank holding company posted revenue of $178.2 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $165.9 million, also exceeding Street forecasts.
FB Financial shares have fallen 23% since the beginning of the year.
IVX buys Precision infusions centers
IVX Health, a national provider of infusion and injection therapy for patients with chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, has acquired Precision Healthcare, formerly a subsidiary of BAI Healthcare Services, Inc.
Precision operates 12 infusion centers in Tennessee and northern Arkansas, including one in Chattanooga.
For over 20 years, Precision has cared for patients with autoimmune disorders and other conditions.
"The Precision team has built an amazing company that shares the same passion and commitment as IVX Health for caring for those with complex chronic conditions," said Doug Ghertner, CEO of IVX Health. "Together we have the opportunity to meaningfully impact the lives of even more patients by investing in Precision's existing footprint in ways that expand patient access and enhance the overall patient experience."
With the completion of the acquisition, IVX Health is now one of the largest providers of infusion and injection therapy in the nation, operating over 40 ambulatory infusion centers across the United States.
"It's been a challenging year for the nation, but also a remarkable one for healthcare innovation, particularly for those focused on patient safety in an ever-connected world," said Dave Schulte, managing director of McKesson Ventures. "As care continues to transition away from the hospital, this acquisition enables IVX Health to better support the growing population of patients receiving biologic infusion or injection therapy."
Bayer buys therapy firm for $4 billion
German health care company Bayer said Monday it is buying Asklepios BioPharmaceutical, a U.S.-based firm specializing in gene therapy, in a deal worth up to $4 billion.
Bayer said it will pay $2 billion up front for privately held AskBio plus "potential success-based milestone payments" of up to another $2 billion. About three-quarters of the latter are expected to be due over the next five years, it added.
AskBio is headquartered at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and has facilities in Edinburgh, Paris and San Sebastián, Spain.
The acquisition will allow Bayer to advance "the establishment of a cell and gene therapy platform that can be at the forefront of breakthrough science, contributing to preventing or even curing diseases caused by gene defects and further driving company growth in the future," Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said.
New home sales fall 3.5% in September
Sales of new homes fell by 3.5% in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 959,000 million units, the Commerce Department said Monday, as the housing market's hot summer buying season cooled.
The Commerce Department said Monday that despite the modest decrease, sales of new homes are up 32.1% from a year earlier. However, the pandemic may start to weigh on the market as the colder winter months arrive and with coronavirus cases spiking across much of the U.S.
"While strong demand and low mortgage rates are supportive of home sales, the resurgence in Covid-19 cases, a recovery that may be shifting into reverse and a weak labor market pose downside risks," said Nancy Vanden Houten with Oxford Economics, in an email.
The housing market, like most of the economy, came to a near standstill in March and in April, causing the typical spring summer buying season to be delayed until the summer. Once economies reopened, pent up demand translated into sales of both new and existing homes, driving home prices in many places to record highs. In July, home sales spiked 13.9%.
The median price of a new home sold last month was $326,800, according to the Commerce Department.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner