Hartford Business Journal Special Editions

6 Hartford Business Journal • April 11, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY CT found lagging in highway investment Connecticut spends less than 20 cents of each dollar it collects in high- way user fees to build and maintain its highways, a leading state trucking lobby says. The Motor Transport Association of Connecticut said it reached that conclusion after reviewing available data from the Federal Highway Ad- ministration. A simple calculation of the data shows that not even 20 percent of this state's highway user fees are put into highways, MTAC President Joseph Sculley said. "Connecticut is the worst of the 50 states in terms of putting high- way user fee revenue that it collects back into highways. This needs to change," Sculley said in a statement. "If more of the highway user fees that Connecticut collects had been put into highways, it is likely that Con- necticut would have more capacity, and in turn, less congestion." Sculley said that past trends regarding infrastructure spending must be identified and analyzed before moving forward with a plan to improve in- frastructure. Otherwise, he said, trends that don't make good use of taxes and fees paid by car and truck owners and operators will continue. State policymakers and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy have discussed the pos- sibility of a "lockbox'' feature on highway user fees to fund his ambitious multi-billion-dollar proposal to upgrade the state's highways and bridges. "Trucking companies and passenger car drivers deserve to have more of the taxes and fees they pay actually put back into the highways they drive on," he said. The Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a re- quest for comment. REAL ESTATE Home and condo sales rise; prices continue to fall Single-family home sales climbed 29.9 percent in February, while sale prices dipped slightly. Condo sales also saw an increase in volume but decrease in price. A total of 1,788 single-family homes sold in Connecticut during the month compared with 1,376 sold in Feb. 2015, according to the latest report from The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record. This marked the highest number of sales in the month of February since 2007, when there were 1,860 homes sold. Year-to-date, sales were up 27.6 percent with 3,509 transactions compared with 2,751 during the same timeframe a year ago. The median price of a single-family home fell by almost 1 percent in Febru- ary to $222,750 compared with $224,900 a year ago. Condominium sales statewide posted a double-digit increase in February, climbing 18.2 percent to 493 condos sold, up from 417 the same time a year ago. The median sale price for condos in February posted a slight decrease of almost 2 percent, falling to $150,000 from $153,000 in Feb. 2015. MANUFACTURING East Granby aerospace co. buys England firm MB Aerospace, which has facilities in East Granby, has completed the ac- quisition of Centrax Turbine Components in England. It is the first acquisition for MB Aerospace following recent investment from private equity partner Blackstone. Centrax Turbine, a turbine-components manufacturer part of the wider Centrax Group, will be rebranded MB Aero- space Newton Abbot. It will continue operations at its Devon, England location, where it has 430 employees. No financial details were disclosed. Centrax Turbine Components is a longstanding family business that makes turbine-engine components on a single site and is entering its 70th year of operation by the Barr family. The acquisition takes the MB Aerospace Group to around 1,400 staff across the Devon location in addition to existing facilities in East Granby, Detroit, Mich., Rzeszów, Poland, and across the rest of the United Kingdom. ECONOMY & LABOR CT entrepreneurs bullish on economy A new survey finds Connecticut entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly bullish about starting a new business in the current economic environment. A larger biannual survey conducted by the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), called the Global Entrepreneur Indicator, revealed almost 84 percent of respondents in Connecticut reported a willingness to start a business in their current economic environment. More than half of Connecticut respondents predicted that the country's economic outlook would stay the same (51.6 percent), while 25.8 percent predicted improvement and 22.6 percent predicted deterioration. The survey — conducted in February — predicts the economic outlook and business landscapes, among other statistics, designed to identify economic trends in Connecticut as well as globally. CT posts private-sector job growth Connecticut saw private-sector job growth in March on par with the rest of New England, according to figures released by ADP in its monthly regional employment report. The report, in collaboration with Moody's Analytics Inc., said Connecticut's private sector added 1,600 positions, or grew 0.11 percent, from February 2016 to March 2016. New England private-sector, non-farm employment grew by 7,000 jobs or 0.11 percent. CT 2015 exports drop Connecticut's exports dropped last year for the first time since 2009, based on a weaker global economy and a stronger U.S. dollar that made products more expensive for foreign buyers. Connecticut's commodity exports totaled $15.25 billion, a 4.24 percent decrease from the $15.93 billion registered in 2014. That decrease was well below the overall U.S. decrease of 7.15 percent, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. BANKING & FINANCE 30% of bank jobs under threat Digital disruption is turning finance on its head — and destroying tons of traditional banking jobs along the way. A wave of innovation has made it possible for people to get their banking done without walking into a branch if they don't want to. People can now deposit checks using a smartphone or digitally fire off cash to friends using Venmo. The end result is a pretty sweet experience for consumers, but an imminent threat to people who work at bank branches. The downsizing of the bank workforce is about to accelerate as more tech- nology takes over jobs humans used to do, according to a new Citigroup re- port. Another 30 percent of bank jobs could be lost between 2015 and 2025, mainly due to retail banking automation, Citi warned. GOVERNMENT, POLITICS & LAW CT taxpayers have 7th worst return on investment Connecticut taxpayers rank 43rd in the nation when it comes to return on taxes paid, according to a new national study. The ranking, supplied by WalletHub, could be worse. The state is ranked fourth worst in the country for overall per-capita taxes. That figure is offset by its seventh-best ranking for overall government services. Connecticut's effective state and local tax rate on the median U.S. house- hold income was 13.48 percent for an average of $7,262. According to Wal- let Hub, Connecticut is ranked first nationally for water quality and No. 4 for percent of residents in poverty. New Hampshire is considered the best state in the nation for return on investment. Its total per-capita tax rate is first with an overall government services ranking of 15. Wallet Hub, a personal finance website, determines its rankings by con- trasting state and local tax rates with the quality of the services provided within the following five categories: education, health, safety, economy and infrastructure and pollution. ENERGY Eversource CEO to retire Eversource Energy said its president and chief executive officer Tom May will retire next month and become the company's non-executive board chairman. Jim Judge, the company's chief financial officer, will succeed May as president and CEO May 4, after Eversource's annual meeting. Eversource is co-headquartered in Hartford and Boston. LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS MAKE IT BUILD IT BUY IT LEASE IT MOVE IT GROW IT EDUCATIONAL PLAYCARE Financed the expansion of day care centers across the state CADCO, LTD Financed acquisition of major equipment DOYLE'S MEDICAL SUPPLY Maintaining a long-standing business relationship www.nwcommunitybank.com Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender Contact Steve Zarrella Senior Vice President & Chief Lending Officer 860-379-7561 zarrella@nwcommunitybank.com YOUR COMMUNITY – YOUR COMMUNITY BANK FOR OVER 150 YEARS Move your plans from the drawing board into action. You know your business— and we know ours. Together we can make things happen. NCB COMMERCIAL HBJ 1-4pV_Layout 1 3/2/16 1:23 WEEK IN REVIEW A report says the state doesn't use enough highway user fees on maintenance. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

• Cover