Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc., or RYAM, reported a loss from continuing operations for the sixth straight year.
Still, CEO De Lyle Bloomquist said in a March 6 conference call the Jacksonville-based market of cellulose specialties products made progress in 2024.
“We made significant strides in improving profitability, strengthening our balance sheet and positioning the company for long-term value creation,” he said.
RYAM reported a loss from continuing operations of $42 million, or 64 cents a share, with sales falling 0.8% to $1.63 billion.
Bloomquist said the steps taken in 2024 include debt reduction and a repositioning of its product mix.
He is also optimistic about a new product line.
“Growing our biomaterials business remains a key initiative,” he said.
“We continue to believe that demand for sustainable solutions is accelerating and that we are well positioned to capture highly profitable growth in this space.”
Jacksonville-based RYAM began production of bioethanol last year at a plant in France and has been looking to open another facility in Fernandina Beach, where it has been operating a cellulose specialties plant for almost 90 years.
However, the city of Fernandina Beach rejected its permit for the bioethanol plant last month.
According to a story posted Feb. 5 by news4jax.com, the city said state law required it to reject the application because of requirements of the comprehensive plan and land development codes.
RYAM continues to pursue it despite the rejection.
“The city of Fernandina Beach erred in rejecting our site plan application for this project and we are pursuing all available remedies,” Bloomquist said.
“In anticipation of a favorable outcome, we are continuing to advance engineering plans and explore potential commercial agreements.”
RYAM’s stock fell to its lowest level since May 2024 after the earnings report, declining by as much as $1.79 over two days to a low of $5.70 on March 7.
Two analysts said they viewed the year-end report as mostly positive.
“We believe that the market’s negative reaction to the earnings report under values RYAM’s strong execution throughout 2024 and its achievement of several strategic milestones that position the company to capitalize on opportunities within its Cellulose Specialties and Biomaterials businesses,” said Sidoti & Co. analyst Daniel Harriman in a research note.
“Despite our mostly positive view of the updates around the quarter, we have modestly lowered our price target (from $12 to $11) to reflect a more uncertain economic environment,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew McKellar said in his note.
Paysafe Ltd. confirmed in its yearend report it has received unsolicited inquiries about a possible buyout but said it has not initiated a sale process.
The London-based payments processing company, which has its North American headquarters in Jacksonville, said it received interest before and after the possibility of sale was reported Feb. 6 by Bloomberg News.
In Paysafe’s March 4 conference call, CEO Bruce Lowthers declined to give more details about the inquiries.
“I think we’re going to stick to no real comment there at this point,” he said.
“We’ve had some unsolicited proposals come in, inquiries come in. We feel very good about the business. We feel like we’re creating a lot of value with the business, but the board will execute their fiduciary responsibility and take a look at anything that gets thrown over the rail.”
Paysafe reported revenue grew 6% in 2024 to $1.7 billion but adjusted earnings fell 8% to $132.5 million, or $2.14 a share.
“We view 2024 as the completion of our turnaround, now shifting our focus to the real growth engines of the company,” said Lowthers, who joined the company in May 2022.
“With our foundational turnaround now behind us, we are looking forward to our third year of growth, focusing on Paysafe’s biggest opportunities in the experience economy.”
Lowthers said the company is confident of success as a stand-alone company despite the takeover interest.
“Right now, we’re just executing, trying to execute at a high level, and those things will work themselves out over time,” he said.
“It was anticipated that as we were having success with the turnaround that those type of opportunities would arise as we created more value in the company and so I think it was not unexpected, but we feel very good about where we are right now.”
FRP Holdings Inc. reported higher 2024 earnings and is expecting to grow further in the coming years as it invests capital in new projects.
The company reported 2024 earnings rose 20% to $6.4 million, or 34 cents a share, with revenue rising 0.6% to $41.8 million.
Jacksonville-based FRP develops commercial and industrial real estate projects mainly in the Washington, D.C., area but has been expanding into other markets, including two joint ventures in Florida.
“The real growth for our company in 2025 is the investment taking place in our development segment as we look to deploy approximately $71 million in equity capital investments in 2025 that will bear fruit over the next five years and beyond,” CEO John Baker III said in FRP’s March 6 conference call.
“While our focus is industrial, we will continue to develop multifamily assets as long as they meet our return thresholds,” he said.
“Industrial has always been our bread-and-butter, and we will continue to leverage our competitive advantage in that asset class, where we have the most experience and control over. But we believe multifamily joint ventures in growth markets, partners we know and trust, represent a useful hedge to our aggressive industrial development strategy.”
Publix Super Markets Inc. said the price of its stock rose from $18.05 Nov. 1 to $19.20 March 1.
The Lakeland-based supermarket chain’s stock is not publicly traded and is made available to sale only to employees.
The stock price is determined by the board of directors after an independent valuation.
Publix reported 2024 sales rose 4.6% to $59.7 billion and sales at stores open for more than one year rose 2.9%.
Adjusted earnings fell 1% to $4.05 billion, with earnings of $1.23 a share the same as in 2023.
Publix operates 1,392 stores in eight states.
Dream Finders Homes Inc. said March 7 it acquired Cherry Creek Mortgage LLC, a Denver-based company that specializes in the origination of mortgage loans to support construction lending.
Jacksonville-based Dream Finders said it made the acquisition through its subsidiary Jet HomeLoans LP.
Dream Finders had owned 60% of Jet and acquired the remaining 40% in July.
Terms of the Cherry Creek acquisition were not announced.
Texas-based P3 Services announced several acquisitions March 4, including two Jacksonville companies, Bob’s Backflow & Plumbing Services and Rolland Reash Plumbing.
P3 Services offers plumbing and septic services in the Southeast, Southwest and Pacific Northwest.
Terms of the deals were not announced.
Stellex Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm with more than $2.8 billion in assets under management, acquired P3 Services in 2022.