Mainebiz

V O L . X X I N O. V I I A P R I L 6 , 2 0 1 5 6 Maine unemployment rate at lowest since 2008 Maine's unemployment rate in February was 5%, the lowest it's been since April 2008. e rate was down from 5.2% the previous month and nearly 1% less than it was a year ago. e Maine Department of Labor reported that an estimated 34,400 people were unemployed in February, 7,300 fewer than a year ago. e national unemploy- ment rate in February was 5.5%, down from 5.7% the previous month, and a decrease from 6.7% one year ago. e figures are seasonally adjusted. Foreign trade zones expand in Bangor, Waterville e U.S. Department of Commerce has recently approved the expansion of foreign trade zones in Bangor and Waterville, allowing companies in surrounding communities to benefit. e Bangor Daily News reported that the expansion of Bangor's foreign trade zone will give companies across Penobscot, Hancock, Piscataquis, Waldo and Washington counties access to duty-free import privileges. Waterville's newly expanded foreign trade zone will allow similar privileges for companies in the counties of Lincoln, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Waldo, Knox and part of Somerset. e expansion of both foreign trade zones is the result of a new "alternative site framework" that allows "usage-driven sites" at individual companies to be included within trade zones. Maine's income growth lagged national average e personal income of Mainers is still behind their New England neighbors and the national average, accord- ing to newly released federal data. e Portland Press Herald reported that new figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show that Maine's personal income grew 2.9% in 2014. By comparison, the national aver- age increased by 3.9%. Connecticut's personal income grew 3.0%, while the growth rate for the remaining New England states was 4.0% or higher. e primary culprit for Maine's slow income growth was personal transfer receipts, which grew 2.3% under the national average of 4.5% and includes payments from programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and veterans' benefits. Maine's earnings growth was only 1.97%, below the national average of 2.94%. PUC's last Baldacci appointee to stay on David Littell, the Maine Public Utilities Commission member who cast the dissenting vote in two recent contro- versial decisions, said he is staying on board after his six-year term expires at the end of March. Littell, who had been appointed by former Gov. John Baldacci, told the Portland Press Herald that he wants to continue serving to work on wind power contracts, future funding for Efficiency Maine and the establish- ment of a Smart Grid Coordinator. Commissioners are allowed to stay on after their term expires until a new commissioner is appointed, the newspa- per noted. Gov. Paul LePage is expected to nominate a replacement for Littell soon. Littell had been the dissenting vote in the PUC's decision to cut fund- ing for Efficiency Maine by $38 million and its decision to reconsider two wind projects that were initially approved by the PUC in December. Slots revenue declines as novelty wears off Hollywood Casino in Bangor and Oxford Casino both saw a drop in slot machine revenue in 2014, which the state gambling control board attributed to a decline in interest. "I think the novelty is kind of wear- ing off," Patrick Fleming, execu- tive director of the state Gambling Control Board, according to the Sun Journal. Hollywood Casino's 2014 slot machine revenue was $459.6 million, a $10 million decline from the previ- ous year. Oxford Casino's 2014 slot machine revenue was $662 million, a $15 million decline. Hollywood Casino kept $24.6 million of that revenue after returning $413 million in win- nings to payers and paying about $22 million in taxes. Oxford Casino kept $29 million after returning $604.6 million in winnings and paying about $29 million in taxes. Maine home sales, median price up in February Sales of existing single-family homes and the median sales price in Maine were up in February, indicating a sta- bilization in the market. Maine home sales reached 732 units in February, a 13.3% increase over the 646 units that were sold the same month last year, according to the Maine Realtors Association. e median sales price in February increased 4.6% to $167,400. "e slight increase in pricing (less than 2% in the rolling quarter chart), is a reflection of market stability," Marie Flaherty, president of the Maine Association of Realtors, said in a prepared statement. On a national level, home sales increased 5.9%, while the median sales price increased 8.2% to $204,200 during the same period, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales in the Northeast increased 3.6%, while the median sales price increased 3.3% to $241,800. N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, Cary Medical Center in B U S I N E S S M A I N E Business news from around the state S T A T E W I D E Maine Angels puts $2M into 26 deals Maine Angels ended 2014 with more than $2 million invested in 26 deals, including money put into nine new companies. There also were 17 follow-on deals of various sizes, Maine Angels Chairwoman Sandra Stone told Mainebiz in an email. Stone was a Mainebiz Woman to Watch in 2013. The nine new deals is a high number for the group, Maine Angels Vice Chairman Don Gooding told Mainebiz in a phone interview. The Maine investment group has gained national attention since its record year in 2012, when its members invested $3.35 million in 21 deals, ranking it in the top 10 most active angel groups in the United States that year by Halo Group. Stone said Maine Angels has invested more than $13 million in total since its first deal in 2004. The group's members also are benefitting from company exits. Stone said two unspecified members just saw Maine Angels' second exit, which she cat- egorized as a "partial" exit involving Weston, Mass.-based corporate catering company ezCater Inc. Shares of ezCater's stock were sold to Insight Venture Partners. Stone says the venture capitalist offered to buy out A-1, A and B series shares as part of a Series C deal. Maine Angels will retain ezCater in its portfolio since just the A and B shares were sold, Stone said, while some of the original A-1 shares were retained by one member to participate in future growth. Last October, a couple of Maine Angels saw the group's first exit return on investment after a Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. of Norwood, Mass., went public. Corbus was formerly known as JB Therapeutics. One of the Maine Angels investors is John Goodrich. The second declined to be identified. On March 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Corbus the go- ahead for a Phase 2 clinical trial of its experimental drug for scleroderma, a chronic and life-threatening inflammatory disease causing excess tissue growth on skin, joints and internal organs. — L o r i V a l i g r a P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Sandra Stone, chairwoman of Maine Angels, chats with a member during a Maine Angels' meeting at the Portland Regional Chamber in a 2013 file photo.

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