Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I N O. X V I I I A U G U S T 8 , 2 0 1 6 6 WEX tracking to become $1B company by year's end WEX Inc. reported total revenue for the second quarter increased 9.5% to $233.9 million, which is $20.2 million more than the comparable quarter last year. e company expects its revenue trends are on track to achieve total revenues of between $975 million and $1 billion for the full year 2016. WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith told Mainebiz in a phone interview that the company "exceeded expectations" for the second quarter. Its second-quarter earnings of $1.08 per share beat analysts' expectation of $1.01, on average, according to the Associated Press and Zacks Investment Research. Smith characterized the July 1 completion of WEX's acquisition of Electronic Funds Source LLC, a fleet card provider, for $1.1 billion in cash plus 4 million shares of common stock, as "a huge lift for us." "It has the oppor- tunity to be highly transformative," she said, noting that EFS has "underlying products and technologies" that will benefit WEX in addition to helping the company gain additional customers in the fleet card market. Flowfold drafts former Putney manager as COO James Morin, the former manager of commercial operations for the Portland-based veterinary product company Putney Inc., has been named chief operating officer of Flowfold, a Peaks Island company known for wal- lets made from high-performance sail material. e Maine Startups Insider reports that Morin officially assumed the role of Flowfold's COO on July 18. In this role, Morin will be responsible for increasing sales growth, developing wholesale operations and streamlin- ing operations to assist in Flowfold's growth. In October, Flowfold's founders Charley Friedman and Devin McNeil, announced that the company had raised $200,000 in equity financing. e company also won the $30,000 purse at Gorham Savings Bank's third annual LaunchPad competition in June 2015. N O T E W O R T H Y S O U T H E R N The Maine Department of Health and Human Services, in coordination with the Office of Substance Abuse Elite Airways drops a flight A lack of demand forced Portland- based Elite Airways to drop its Portland-to-Bar Harbor flights a little over a month after the service was launched. Airport Manager Brad Madeira told Hancock County Commissioners about the loss of service in July, saying that only one or two passengers were using the Bar Harbor-to- Portland flight, according to e Ellsworth American. According to the American, those jets can carry up to 50 passengers. "It wasn't a big surprise," Madeira said, according to the American. "at wasn't a flight we requested." N O T E W O R T H Y S T A T E W I D E The Maine Department-Environ- mental Protection awarded over $195,000 in grant money for wet- land restoration projects. Recipients included the town of Falmouth, $95,000; Tri Community Recycling and Sanitary Landfill, Fort Fairfield, $94,700; and Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Owls Head, $6,220. Spectrum Generations in Augusta was awarded $636,500 and the Southern Maine Agency on Aging in Scarborough received $478,779 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to build a sustainable network of evidence based health and wellness programs dedicated to older adults and disabled persons. U.S. Cellular built a new cell site in Chamberlain to increase coverage in the towns of Bristol, South Bristol and Round Pond and a new cell site in Harrington to increase coverage in the towns of Harrington, Columbia, Columbia Falls and Addison. 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 S O U T H E R N Feds deliver $7.7 million to diversify Maine's economy The federal government will provide $7.7 million to help diversify Maine's economy in the wake of the closure of five pulp and paper mills in the past five years. Matt Erskine, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for the Economic Development Administration, said along with the money, a team of economic development experts will help create a long-term strategy for the state's struggling forest products industry. The team will meet Aug. 17-19 with local and state leaders and industry partners. He made his com- ments at a July 29 event at the University of Maine in Orono. "This is a big deal," said U.S. Sen. Angus King, who noted after the press conference that EDA has only deployed 30 such teams in its history, with the last one being in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "They'll be going to paper mills, lumber mills, biobased manufacturers, the University of Maine. This is just the beginning. Nobody expects we'll solve the problems of the pulp and paper and wood products industry here in Maine in three days. We'll analyze the problems, assess where the opportunities might be and then develop a strategy for getting there." In announcing $7.7 million of various federal grants, Erskine said EDA will invest $519,930 as part of a $856,549 project involving Bio-Based Maine, an industr y trade association based in Portland, which is partnering with the University of Maine to develop a "road map" to advance biobased manufacturing in Maine. The funding will be used to market Maine's biobased assets to investors in new technologies and processes and provide technical assistance to Maine forest products manufacturers and users in the implementation of new biobased technologies. The EDA anticipates that the cost analysis, technology assessment and market research component of the project could place one or more mills into the production of cellulosic sugars, with 195 or more jobs created in Maine. Charlotte Mace, executive director of Biobased Maine, described the grant announcement as a "milestone for the 'plants to products' strategy that can breathe new life into Maine's forest economy." Other grant recipients include: EDA will invest $711,600 with the Maine Development Foundation, which will be matched by closed to $200,000 in matching funds from the foundation. C&L Aerospace in Bangor, $1.24 million to support the further expansion of its refurbishing facility for commer- cial turboprop and jet aircraft. With the investment, C&L Aerospace expects to create at least 50 jobs. Bangor Target Area Development Corp. in Orono, $345,000, to make interior upgrades within the Target Technology Center to create wet laboratory and supporting space to the Twin Rivers Paper Co. and the Cerahelix Corp. Central Maine Community College in Auburn, almost $1.6 million, to expand its Precision Machining Technology laboratory by 8,600 square feet to accommodate increas- ing demand for skills training by enrolled students and businesses. Erskine also said that the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Logistics Agency will invest $3.3 million to advance wood to jet fuel technology at the Technology Research Center of the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute at the University of Maine. — J a m e s M c C a r t h y P H O T O / JA M E S M C C A R T H Y U.S. Sen. Angus King, who was in Orono on July 29 to talk about a plan to invest $7.7 million in the Maine economy, speaks to reporters after the event.

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