The Bottom Line: BST & Co., Gallagher, Flynn & Company, Connection and Unitil

A roundup of news updates from public companies in NH and nationwide

BST & CO., GALLAGHER, FLYNN & COMPANY COMPLETE MERGER

BST & Co. and Gallagher, Flynn & Company have completed their merger and launched BST Gallagher Flynn, a regional accounting and advisory firm serving clients across the Northeast and beyond.

The combined firm offers services across assurance, tax, advisory, outsourced services and specialized consulting. The merger is also expected to increase the firm’s capacity to invest in technology, innovation and talent while expanding its industry specialization and advisory capabilities.

Clients of both firms will continue working with their existing advisors and professionals, supported by the broader resources of the combined organization. BST Gallagher Flynn will continue operating from the firms’ existing offices.

“Throughout this process, it became clear that our firms share many of the same values and aspirations,” said Ron Guzior, managing partner of BST & Co. “We are both committed to exceptional client service, investing in our people, and building organizations positioned for long-term success.”

Jason Hamilton, managing partner of Gallagher, Flynn & Company, said the firms found strong alignment in their approaches to serving clients, developing employees and planning for the future.

“This merger is not about changing what made either organization successful,” Hamilton said. “It is about building on those strengths and creating something even stronger together.”

The newly combined firm said it will maintain the relationship-driven approach of both organizations while pursuing continued growth and expanded capabilities.

CONNECTION AWARDED NASA CONTRACT

Connection (NASDAQ: CNXN), a provider of information technology solutions to business, government, healthcare and education markets, has been awarded a NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement VI Category A Government-Wide Acquisition Contract through its GovConnection subsidiary, doing business as Connection Public Sector Solutions.

NASA SEWP VI is the sixth iteration of the federal procurement program, which allows federal agencies to identify, obtain quotes for and purchase information technology products and related services. The award expands Connection’s ability to provide federal customers with hardware, software, peripherals and other technology solutions.

Connection has participated in every NASA SEWP contract vehicle for more than two decades. Over the past 10 years, the NASA SEWP V contract generated more than $80 billion in sales across all awardees.

“We are proud to extend our relationship with the NASA SEWP office and look forward to supporting federal agencies through the new SEWP VI vehicles,” said Dennis Riseman, senior vice president of Connection Public Sector Solutions.

Riseman said the program provides government customers and contractors with a streamlined way to address complex IT needs and access technology products, services and expertise.

The SEWP VI award gives Connection additional acquisition options to support federal agencies as they pursue their technology and mission objectives.

UNITIL ASSIGNS 2,100 ACRES IN MONARCH BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

Unitil (NYSE: UTL) has enrolled 2,100 acres of utility rights-of-way and company-owned land in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire in a national program aimed at conserving monarch butterfly habitat.

The New England electric and natural gas utility was accepted into the Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances, a voluntary program administered by the University of Illinois Chicago that promotes monarch conservation on energy and transportation lands.

Unitil enrolled 1,285 acres in New Hampshire, 493 acres in Massachusetts and 322 acres in Maine. The company plans to incorporate conservation measures into its existing vegetation management practices.

Those efforts will include rotational management of certain areas to encourage milkweed and other vegetation, conservation mowing to enhance floral habitat, targeted herbicide treatments to control woody and invasive vegetation, and efforts to avoid disturbances during the monarch’s active season. Unitil will submit annual reports on the effectiveness of the measures.

“We’ve really been looking at all of our rights-of-way and the lands that we manage and trying to do something to aid in monarch butterfly habitat,” said Chris Moultroup, Unitil’s manager of forestry operations.

Milkweed is particularly important to monarchs, because the butterflies lay their eggs on the plants, which also provide a nectar source.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act following population declines in North America over the past two decades.