When Cenntro Inc. (then known as Cenntro Electric Group Ltd.) announced plans to open its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville in late 2021, it had ambitious plans for production of its commercial electronic vehicles.
The New Jersey-based company said it produced 1,623 of its vehicles in 2021, when it reported revenue of $8.6 million.
However, as the company went public at the end of the year by merging with an existing public company, it projected growth to $2.1 billion in revenue from sales of 74,800 vehicles in 2023.
As it turned out, Cenntro reported sales of 1,135 vehicles in 2023, with revenue of $22.1 million.
It reported a net loss of $54.2 million for the full year.
Cenntro said in a July 9 news release about a plant in California that “it is winding down operations at its Jacksonville facility.”
The company gave no other details about the Jacksonville plant and did not respond to voice and email messages asking about the facility in Lane Industrial Park in Northwest Jacksonville.
Cenntro has also apparently abandoned its vehicle showroom at 11840 Beach Blvd. on the Southside, which opened in 2023.
When it announced its decision to open its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville, it said the facility would support annual production levels of more than 50,000 vehicles within four years.
City Council approved $450,000 in tax incentives as part of the economic agreement with Cenntro to open a manufacturing facility, with the company promising to create 34 jobs.
Cenntro withdrew its request for incentives in 2022.
The opening of the Jacksonville plant took longer than expected.
After saying it expected to begin assembling vehicles in Jacksonville in the first quarter of 2022 when it announced the plant, it did not begin production until March 2023.
By that time, Cenntro had another assembly plant near its headquarters in Freehold, New Jersey, and it announced plans to open a California facility shortly after that.
The July 9 news release announcing the beginning of operations in Ontario, California, said that facility would serve customers on the West Coast, while the New Jersey plant will serve the East Coast.
In addition to its U.S. plants, Cenntro’s annual report said it had facilities in Changxing and Yangzhong, China; Herne, Germany; and Monterrey, Mexico.
The company’s 12,000-square-foot vehicle showroom on Beach Boulevard was described in its annual report as “our flagship EV Center for sales and support functions.”
Cenntro scheduled its annual shareholders meeting in September 2023 at the Jacksonville EV Center.
However, while the Cenntro sign remains on the building, the showroom interior is vacant.
The company has not said anything about the status of the Jacksonville EV Center, so it is unclear when it was vacated.
Cenntro had one other U.S. EV Center at its Freehold headquarters and nine in other countries as of Dec. 31.
Cenntro’s stock price has faltered as the company reported losses since going public.
In December 2023, Cenntro enacted a reverse 1-for-10 split to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum price of $1 to retain its listing.
That reduced the company’s shares outstanding from about 304 million to 30.4 million.
The stock has traded between $1 and $2 this year after the reverse split.
CEO Peter Wang has continued to express optimism about Cenntro’s prospects in public statements.
“Our focus in 2024 will be on expanding our geographic footprint for production, distribution, and service infrastructure, we believe this will position us to efficiently scale as we enter the next phase of growth and create additional value for our shareholders,” Wang said in an April news release announcing Cenntro’s 2023 results.
Earnings season has begun this week, with major companies reporting their second-quarter results.
Normally, Jacksonville-based railroad company CSX Corp. is one of the first companies to report its results every quarter, and investors would have anticipated seeing the numbers this week.
However, CSX announced July 8 that it will not report its results until Aug. 5.
“This release date reflects the Company’s review of the capitalization of prior period engineering materials and labor. The results of this review are not expected to impact free cash flow in past or future periods,” CSX said in a news release.
“Excluding the results of this review, the Company still expects to improve both operating income and operating margin on a sequential basis in the second quarter, and management will provide more details on the earnings call,” it said.
CSX did announce its regular quarterly dividend payment of 12 cents a share on July 10.
The Claxton Bank, a small Georgia bank acquired by a group of Jacksonville investors last year, is preparing to open an office in Jacksonville.
The bank, with $170 million in assets, has two branch offices besides its main office in Claxton, west of Savannah.
The investment group led by former EverBank executive Scott Verlander acquired control of the bank’s parent company, Southern Bankshares Inc., in November 2023.
The company did not disclose the amount of the investment by the group, but Verlander said at the time the bank intended to raise additional capital and possibly expand into Jacksonville this year.
Southern Bankshares announced July 11 it sold $20 million in additional stock in a private placement to help the company expand, including its Jacksonville office.
“I’m pleased to announce the successful completion of our growth capital raise as it provides the foundation for our expansion into Jacksonville and continued growth in our Georgia markets,” Verlander said in a news release.
Verlander said by email the Jacksonville office will be on the 18th floor of 1 Independent, the 37-story Downtown tower formerly known as the Wells Fargo Center.
He said the bank has already hired additional staff in Jacksonville, with the office scheduled to open in August.
Ameris Bancorp, which formerly had its executive offices in Jacksonville, announced July 12 it is moving its stock listing from Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange.
“We believe this strategic move will provide enhanced visibility and a strengthened market position for our Company,” CEO Palmer Proctor said in a news release.
The move paid off immediately as Ameris rose as much as $1.24 to a 52-week high of $55.62 on July 12 after the announcement. The stock will not begin trading on the NYSE until July 23.
Ameris is based in Atlanta, after moving its executive offices from Jacksonville to Atlanta in 2019.
Ameris Bank still has 18 branches in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data.
The bank has 164 offices in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Ameris’ stock will continue to list on Nasdaq until the close of the market on July 22.
The stock will continue trading under its current ticker symbol of “ABCB” after the move.
Mizuho Securities analyst Haendel St. Juste upgraded his rating on Jacksonville-based Regency Centers Corp. from “neutral” to “outperform,” citing upside earnings potential for the shopping center developer.
In a research report on shopping center real estate investment trusts, St. Juste said the sector has been underperforming this year.
“We believe lackluster FY24 earnings growth and concerns about tenant credit and the health of the consumer remain top of mind for Shopping Center REIT investors,” he said in his report.
St. Juste said the companies have been conservative in estimating tenant credit trends.
On consumer health, “we continue to monitor for ‘cracks’ in tenant performance and the consumer, but see relatively healthy employment levels, well-positioned portfolios, low probability of near-term recession and ‘timing’ (theoretically more risk to 2025 earnings) as incremental buffers.”
St. Juste believes Regency’s strong balance sheet, coupled with less risk among its shopping center tenants, are favorable.
“About 80% of Regency’s centers are grocery-anchored with minimal exposure to at-risk tenants relative vs. peers. Further, Regency has sector-leading demographics, which provide incremental insulation at a time when consumer health is in focus,” he said.
St. Juste upgraded his price target on Regency from $61 to $67, with the stock trading at $61.74 at the time of his July 8 report.
Bitfarms Ltd. scheduled a special shareholder meeting for Oct. 29 to vote on the nomination of former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney and two others to its board of directors by Riot Platforms Ltd.
Riot, a Colorado-based bitcoin infrastructure company, launched a proxy fight against Bitcoin, a Canadian bitcoin mining company, after Bitcoin rejected a merger proposal. Riot requested a special shareholders meeting to vote on its nominees.
“Through the Requisition, Riot is attempting to (i) disrupt the strategic alternatives review process which the Company commenced to thoroughly evaluate all opportunities to maximize shareholder value and (ii) opportunistically acquire the Company,” Bitfarms said in a July 12 news release.
Despite its opposition, the Bitfarms board scheduled the meeting “with the best interests of the Company and all its shareholders and other stakeholders in mind,” it said.
Riot said in a July 8 news release its nominees would bring “much-needed fresh perspectives, corporate governance acumen and experience in overseeing significant corporate transactions and serving in executive management and public company director roles” to Bitfarms.
When it nominated Delaney, Riot highlighted his previous roles on the boards of two Jacksonville-based public companies that were acquired, Florida Rock Industries Inc. and Jacksonville Bancorp Inc.