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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 9 F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 2 0 to provide residents of the towns of Owls Head, South Thomaston and Thomaston an opportunity to recycle food scraps at the cooperative transfer station on Buttermilk Drive in Thomaston. Bowdoin College announced a capi- tal campaign with a goal of $500 mil- lion to support financial aid, faculty innovation and expanded program- ming and internships. The campaign has already raised more than $300 million in gifts and pledges during the so-called quiet phase of the campaign, which began in 2018. Bowdoin hopes to raise the balance by June 30, 2024. Three County towns band together for EMT service As Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle ends its ambulance service for nearly a dozen Aroostook County com- munities, three of them may band together to form their own replacement. Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill would form the Central Aroostook Ambulance Service, a quasi-municipal corpo- ration, under legislation introduced by state Sen. Mike Carpenter, D-Houlton. e towns are cur- rently served by Northern Light Medical Transport, based at A.R. Gould. ey're scheduled to lose that coverage April 20. Last August, A.R. Gould said it would discontinue ambulance service for the Presque Isle region on Dec. 31, 2019, because there were not Gain access to unlimited articles & lists for download Access to print/digital editions, website content, email newsletters, downloadable business lists, and event discounts! MAINEBIZ.BIZ/PRINTSUB Become a premium member of Mainebiz today to receive unlimited access! Expansion continues to propel WEX sales, but profits are up as well B y R e n e e C o r d e s WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX), a Portland-based global provider of payments solutions, posted an increase in fourth-quarter earnings and revenues amid a bullish outlook on increasing market share in 2020. Earnings per diluted share in the fourth quarter were $2.61, or 24% higher than a year ago. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had projected earnings per share of $2.56. Fourth-quarter revenues were up 15% at $440 million, fall- ing short of the $456.08 million Zacks consensus forecast. Full-year 2019 revenue was also up 15%, at $1.72 billion. "2019 was another record year for WEX, capped off by an impressive fourth quarter driven by double-digit top-line growth and strong operating leverage," said WEX Chair and CEO Melissa Smith. "The fourth quarter built upon the momen- tum from earlier in the year, marked by robust transaction volume growth, strong performance from acquisitions, sig- nificant contribution from our previous contract signings and meaningful new contract wins." Shares of WEX have lately traded at the high end of their 52-week range of $169.48 to 234.95. The news comes about three weeks after the fast-growing company unveiled two acquisitions worth a combined $1.7 billion. Separately, it announced plans to build a $50 mil- lion operations center in Scarborough to accommodate its growing workforce. Nicola Morris, WEX's chief corporate development officer, told Mainebiz in an "On the Record" interview last October that more international acquisitions were likely, saying: "We're certainly evaluating all the time, and we don't preclude some- thing because it's outside the United States." Organic growth, strong returns In terms of how WEX's business units performed in the fourth quarter, health and employee benefit solutions saw a 17% jump in the average number of software-as-a-service accounts over the same period last year, while total fuel transactions processed climbed 12% and travel and corporate solutions' purchase volumes were 17% higher. "Good organic growth coupled with solid returns from our strategic acquisitions are proof of the extraordinary progress we've made in 2019," said CFO Roberto Simon. "Looking forward into 2020, we plan to capitalize on addi- tional opportunities, focusing on our core fleet business and the high-growth travel, corporate payments, and U.S. health markets in the coming year." Smith was equally upbeat, saying: "We are well-positioned to gain additional market share in 2020 as we continue to execute against our strategic pillars and create shareholder value." For the full year 2020, WEX projects revenue in the range of $1,86 billion to $1.9 million and adjusted net income in the range of $447 million to $464 million, or $10.15 to $10.55 per diluted share. B I Z M O N E Y P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F W E X WEX WEX has its global headquarters has its global headquarters on Portland's eastern waterfront. on Portland's eastern waterfront. enough 911 calls to keep the service running. Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill negotiated an extension that maintains it until April. e proposed authority, to be funded by the three member towns, would be able to contract for shared ambulance coverage. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N CourseStorm, a technology company in Orono, announced a partnership agree- ment with PatronManager, a ticketing, fundraising and marketing solution for the arts to enable PatronManager clients to register students for classes and workshops with CourseStorm. University of Maine's Cooperative Extension Potato Integrated Pest Management program was awarded $553,486 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture to conduct further re- search on potato breeding in Maine. N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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