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Eleven Maryland employers last month gave the state notice of plans to lay off a total of 1,094 workers due to either closures or cutbacks, according to new information from the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. That's a dramatic increase from March 2008, when only one company filed a layoff notice.
Among the recent filers were Vertis Communications in Baltimore, which laid off 114 workers; Givaudan Flavors of Owings Mills, 63 workers; and CSC in Lanham, 57 workers. In Baltimore, M&T Bank of Buffalo, N.Y., said it was cutting 517 from its work force.
Ritz Camera Centers of Beltsville, which includes Boater's World, filed for bankruptcy and reported 131 layoffs as it announced store closings throughout the state.
Balducci's selling six stores, closing four
Balducci's, a 10-store gourmet grocery chain with headquarters and a location in Bethesda, has sold most of its stores to a group led by Jim Demme, a New York investment adviser with experience in the food industry. The price was not disclosed.
Balducci's, acquired by Sutton Place Group of Bethesda in 1999, sold its six stores in Bethesda; Alexandria and McLean, Va.; Scarsdale, N.Y.; and Westport and Greenwich, Conn., plus its licensing, catering and gift basket operations. Five years ago, Sutton Place adopted the Balducci's brand name from its New York City locations.
The chain's four other stores are slated to close. Its Washington, D.C., location is to remain open until the end of June. The other three stores, in Connecticut and New York City, are to close this month.
Shore Bancshares buys back stock under TARP
Easton banking company Shore Bancshares has repurchased the $25 million in stock it sold to the Treasury Department under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The repurchase price was $25 million, plus accrued dividends of $208,333.
Shore Bancshares owns Talbot Bank of Easton, Centreville National Bank of Maryland and Felton Bank. Other holdings include three insurance agencies, an investment adviser firm and a mortgage broker subsidiary.
Stratos Global acquired by Inmarsat of U.K.
Stratos Global Corp. of Bethesda, which provides mobile and fixed-site remote communications systems, has been acquired by Inmarsat Finance III Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of British communications satellite provider Inmarsat.
In 2007, CIP Canada Investment acquired all the issued and outstanding common shares of Stratos. The deal was indirectly financed by Inmarsat Finance III, and included an option for Inmarsat Finance to acquire CIP Canada. Inmarsat Finance has exercised this option.
Stratos, now a wholly owned operating division of Inmarsat, will operate as an independent subsidiary under current management, according to a company statement.
Seven more Starbucks to close in Maryland
Starbucks is closing seven more stores in Maryland. Last summer, the Seattle coffee shop chain shut down more than 200 locations, including 12 in Maryland.
The Maryland locations are at Annapolis Mall II-North; 300 N. Charles St., Baltimore; Bowie Plaza; route 50 in Easton; Stone House Square in Hagerstown; and White Oak and Leisure World, both in Silver Spring.
The closings will still leave more than 200 locations in Maryland.
Jobless claims drop across U.S.
The national unemployment picture brightened a bit last week.
The advance number of seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims for the week ended Saturday fell to 610,000 from a revised 663,000 the previous week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday.
That brought the four-week moving average down to 651,000 from the previous week's revised average of 659,500.
However, the number of Americans receiving jobless benefits broke the 6 million mark, rising 172,000 from the preceding week.
UMBC program wins international honor
Activate, a program to train female entrepreneurs at bwtech@UMBC, the business incubator at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Catonsville, has been named as the only U.S. program to be honored as one of three Good Practices programs.
The recognition is from the organizers of FemStart, a partnership of six European universities formed in 2006 to study female entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship training programs at universities. The other university programs cited are the MEETS program in Cambridge, U.K., and the NEnA program in Halle, Germany.
In its first four years, Activate has trained 92 women and has launched more than 25 companies. Activate is a yearlong, joint program of bwtech@UMBC's incubator, the UMBC Office of Technology Development, and the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship.
Top invention no mere Band-Aid
A bandage produced from material found in crustacean shells was among the top entries in the University of Maryland's recent Invention of the Year reception in College Park. The Office of Technology Commercialization selected three inventions to represent three categories — physical science, life science and information science — among the 135 entries.
The Nano-Velcro bandage, created from chitosan, is designed to prevent blood loss inside its boundaries and also be easily removed without damaging surface tissue. Matt Dowling, a chemical engineering graduate student, and his Remedium Technologies team took the life science honor with the invention. The material can be used in a sponge or a liquid spray to treat injuries, from the operating table to the battlefield, according to the inventors.
Other winning inventions were Martin Peckerar's thin film battery, which was as thin as peanut butter spread but could power wireless sensor networks and medical devices; and John Baras' key exchange system, which allows for message encryption and reversal, but avoids the need to communicate keys. The key exchange system was built in collaboration with the Army Research Laboratory.
State OKs $410K for business loan funds
To help small and minority-owned business, the state Department of Business and Economic Development has approved giving $410,000 to loan funds in Prince George's and Queen Anne's counties.
Queen Anne's will get $235,000 to provide capital to its businesses, supplemented by a matching county grant and $175,000 will be provided for the Prince Georges County's Economic Development and Training Institute, which operates a small-business incubator and counseling facility in Suitland.
The Suitland facility provides express loans, free business workshops and counseling to small and minority-owned businesses in Prince George's. The money will supplement a $150,000 grant from the county's Department of Housing and Community Development.