Although Ameris Bancorp decided to move its executive offices to Jacksonville three years ago, its official headquarters has remained in Moultrie, Georgia.
However, with its deal announced Monday to acquire Fidelity Southern Corp., Ameris is moving the headquarters of its bank out of Moultrie in Southwest Georgia.
When the merger is completed, Ameris Bank will be chartered and headquartered in Atlanta.
That doesn’t actually change anything in Jacksonville. The executive offices of Ameris will remain in the Riverplace Tower on Jacksonville’s Southbank, although the official headquarters of the publicly traded holding company will remain in Moultrie.
During a conference call with analysts Monday to discuss the merger, Chief Financial Officer Nicole Stokes said Jacksonville and Atlanta will be the two key markets for Ameris when the merger is completed.
“After the transaction closes, we’ll be the strongest community bank in our home markets of Atlanta and Jacksonville. With our current growth rates, we believe we are just months away from being the fifth largest bank in both of these markets,” she said.
Ameris and Atlanta-based Fidelity (which is not affiliated with Jacksonville-based title insurance company Fidelity National Financial Inc.) announced the agreement Monday for Ameris to buy Fidelity for about $751 million in stock.
Ameris and Fidelity Bank combined have 26 branches in the Jacksonville market with about $1.8 billion in deposits, but the merger really increases Ameris’ presence in the Atlanta market with a combined 72 branches and $4.7 billion in deposits.
CEO Dennis Zember said the merger will “really disrupt the business of the superregionals that dominate this market,” referring to Atlanta.
“It creates an absolute powerhouse of a banking franchise,” he said.
Stokes said the size and scale in Atlanta and Jacksonville, “two of the strongest markets in the Southeast, really anchors us for strong growth in good economic times.
“However, the merged less risky balance sheet also protects us in a potential downturn scenario. Combined, we feel we’re stronger and more prepared for the future than we were as competitors,” she said.
The two banks combined have a total of 191 offices in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
Shoe designer and retailer DSW Inc. has been selling footwear in Stein Mart Inc. stores for about 15 years and as DSW reported third-quarter earnings last week, it touted its relationship with Jacksonville-based Stein Mart as a success for both companies.
Shoes sold in Stein Mart’s retail fashion stores are supplied exclusively by DSW, with Stein Mart receiving a portion of the revenue.
In DSW’s conference call with analysts last week, CEO Roger Rawlins suggested the arrangement is helping Stein Mart beyond shoe sales.
“We’ve been doing footwear with Stein Mart for many years and I think if Hunt were on this call, he would tell you that we are a key driver for their business because footwear is something that attracts the consumer into their doors day in and day out,” Rawlins said.
Hunt is Stein Mart CEO Hunt Hawkins. When asked about Rawlins’ comment, Hawkins said by email: “We believe it’s our name-brand fashion and value pricing, for both apparel and footwear, that drives customers to our stores.”
Also during DSW’s conference call, Chief Financial Officer Jared Poff said comparable-store shoe sales at Stein Mart stores (sales at stores open for more than one year) were 8 percent higher year-to-date, “which is clearly one of the best performing departments in that chain.”
Stein Mart said it doesn’t report sales for individual departments but it did say shoe sales have been outperforming overall sales trends. The company’s total comparable-store sales for the third quarter ended Nov. 3 were up 1.4 percent.
DSW operates nearly 1,000 retail stores itself under several brand names and provides shoes to other retailers, similar to the arrangement with Stein Mart. In response to a question from an analyst, Rawlins said it doesn’t hurt his stores “even though in many cases we have a DSW that’s right next to a Stein Mart.”
Rawlins said he doesn’t consider partners like Stein Mart as competitors.
“Our primary competitors that we see are Amazon and the brands going direct-to-consumer, and we’ve shared that with our partners at the other retail segments, and we want to work with them to provide an insight to what we see within our customer files at the DSW brand, the success we’ve had with our rewards program, how we can help share insights,” he said.
“We want to help them grow their business and we think we’re all fighting the same fight.”
Stein Mart announced Monday the appointment of James B. Brown as executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Brown succeeds Gregory Kleffner, who announced in October he was retiring.
Brown joins the company from Adrianna Papell Group, where he also was chief financial officer.
Goldman Sachs analyst James Schneider upgraded his rating last week on Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, as part of an overall reassessment of payments and IT services companies’ stocks.
“We still forecast above-trend growth in consumer and IT spending in 2019,” Schneider wrote in his research report.
“However, we recognize that a combination of macro factors is raising the probability of a fundamental slowdown in 2019 or 2020,” Schneider said.
He upgraded Jacksonville-based FIS, which provides technology services for banks, from “neutral” to “buy” because it has “less macro sensitivity and an ability to preserve earnings growth.”
“FIS is one of the most defensive stocks in our coverage, with a large portion of revenues tied to mission-critical bank operations,” Schneider said.
“In addition, FIS has been divesting noncore businesses to improve its revenue mix and margin profile. We think these recent improvements are underappreciated by investors, and expect the stock to move higher as investors recognize the resilience and improved quality of the company’s revenue and earnings streams.”
As part of the upgrade, Schneider raised his 12-month price target on FIS from $108 to $128, with the stock trading at about $106 at the time of his report.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Wes Golladay slightly downgraded Regency Centers Corp. last week from a “top pick” to “outperform.”
“We continue to like Regency, but we have moved from Top Pick to Outperform as development disruption will likely cause a modest overhang in the near-term,” Golladay wrote in his research note.
“Regency remains our top idea for retail despite noise from starting larger redevelopments.”
The Jacksonville-based shopping center developer may see some short-term impact from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Sears Holdings Corp. Golladay said three stores in Regency shopping centers will be affected, but it will give the company an opportunity to bring in new tenants paying higher rent.
“The Sears bankruptcy should translate into a good long-term opportunity for Regency,” he said.
Metro Diner said last week it will have 66 diners open by the end of this year, after opening 21 locations during 2018.
The company, which was founded with a single restaurant in Jacksonville in 1992, now is headquartered in Tampa.
Metro Diner has restaurants open or planned for opening in 14 states.