Should a laid-off worker be able to turn down a job and still collect unemployment benefits because he or she is starting a business? That was the question sparked by Senate Bill 142, the latest “pathway to work” program, which…
Anyone who says there has been no economic progress in the Granite State in the last three years needs to explain this fact: There were fewer than half as many bankruptcy filings last month than in February 2010, the year…
A bookkeeper working for a small Merrimack-based excavation firm diverted more than $83,000 of the company’s money for her personal purposes and has agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud in exchange for a reduced sentence, according to a plea…
GT Advanced Technologies finished the year with an awful fourth quarter, losing $159 million, or $1.34 a share, and ending fiscal year with a loss of $63 million, or 53 cents a share, the company announced Wednesday after the markets…
Two top executives of the former Cabletron Systems have settled civil charges of securities fraud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission without having to pay any penalty, while the SEC pursues monetary civil damages against a low-level executive who…
Two top executives of the former Cabletron Systems have settled civil charges of securities fraud with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission without having to pay any penalty, while the SEC pursues monetary civil damages against a low-level executive who…
But proposed high-end casino would decimate their industry, say operators
Nashua-based iCAD lost $2.7 million, or 25 cents a share, for the fourth quarter and $9.4 million, or 87 cents a share, for the fiscal year, the company reported. But the company did see an 18 percent increase in revenue…
The recent spike in natural gas prices has caught energy suppliers off guard -- particularly those that are independent and buy supplies on the spot market -- and was a contributing, if not the primary, factor that forced Resident Power to shed its 8,700 New Hampshire customers, according to sources in the industry. The Manchester-based electricity provider was in the process of transferring those customers to FairPoint Energy when ISO New England suspended Resident Power's related supplier, Power New England. In the interim, the accounts were transferred to Public Service of New Hampshire. But it turns out Power New England -- which still serves larger commercial customers -- has already voluntarily been transferring most of its customers back to PSNH to ride out the spike in gas prices. Ironically, the low price of gas over the past few years has helped alternative energy suppliers compete aggressively with PSNH. The state's largest utility has not been able to take full advantage of lower gas prices because it still supplies some of its own energy generated with more costly methods, particularly an aging coal plant in Bow. Nearly all of its large customers fled PSNH several years ago, and as of December, some 30,000 residential customers also chose to get their energy elsewhere. Indeed, New Hampshire consumers now get more than half of their power from electricity generated by natural gas. Natural gas might still be cheap and plentiful -- thanks to a new but controversial technology known as fracking -- but the supply to New England is limited by pipeline capacity, creating what a recent New York Times article described as a "natural gas trap." "The pipeline hasn't expanded capacity for 15 years, and with gas utilities like EnergyNorth and National Grid converting people hand over fist, that demand eventually adds up," said August "Gus" Fromuth, managing director of Resident Power and PNE. Last winter was so mild that no one noticed, but the demand shot up during a cold spell in January. This hasn't affected utilities with long-term contracts, however. "We measure gas prices by the year, not the month," said Alec O'Meara, spokesperson for Unitil. Actually six months is more accurate, since that is the standard contract, O'Meara said. If winter prices hold, those costs will be included in the next rate filing, but that won't affect the utility, just customers. But electric generators that depend on the spot market "get what's left over after the local distribution companies," Fromuth said. These generators "don't want to commit to a fixed supply of gas. They make electricity when ISO (ISO New England, which regulates the electric grid for the region) tells them to, when it is needed. "That's why natural gas-generated electricity now sells at a price from three to eight times higher than the amount it did during the warm winter just a year ago. "Business wasn't financially prepared for this," said Emile Clavet, part-owner of ENH Power, a Maine-based company with offices in Portsmouth with some 45,000 residential and small business customers in the Granite State. "I can't speak for PNE, but ENH runs a fully hedged book of business. When a customer signs up for a year, I buy that year's power right away. I have it in the bank. That eliminates the financial risk."
Electricity provider Resident Power's energy supplier has been suspended and most of its 8,700 residential and small business customers were switched to Public Service of New Hampshire by midnight Wednesday -- at least for now -- following a ruling by…
Employers aren’t squawking, but insurers see problems brewing when it comes to workers’ comp costs
White Mountains Insurance Group weathered the storm - namely Hurricane Sandy - and still came out ahead, but not by much, at least by the insurance conglomerate's usual standards.
Despite a 15 percent increase in revenues, Portsmouth-based Bottomline Technologies lost $7 million, or 20 cents a share, in its last quarter - a noticeable drop from the previous year's quarterly profit of $2.5 million.
Standex International Corp.'s decision to get rid of its legacy Air Distribution Products unit and acquire Meder Electronics Group hasn't changed the Salem-based conglomerate's bottom line much, at least not yet.
PC Connection did better in 2012 than the year before, but not by much.
The tax credit offered through the Community Development Finance Authority has a problem. It's too popular.
Unitil Corp. ended up 2012 with its highest net income to date, despite it being the warmest year on record, thanks to higher distribution rates and the switch to natural gas by more people and businesses. The Hampton-based utility reported…
Three Waterville Valley condo associations are trying to force Stone Property Management -- under criminal investigation for the disappearance of millions of dollars from the reserve accounts of dozens of condo associations -- into bankruptcy.
When it comes to bankruptcy filings, 2013 opened as 2012 closed - they continued to fall, at least when compared to a year ago. January bankruptcy filings (according to preliminary numbers derived from the court's electronic filing system) fell to…
Francesco Rotondo, the president of USA Springs, the water bottling company now offered for sale through the bankruptcy court, filed last month for Chapter 7 bankruptcy himself.
While some lawmakers grapple over whether to let a full-fledged casino operate in the state, about a dozen "casinos without slot machines" -- as House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Susan Almy, D-Lebanon, describes much of charitable gaming --…
Lago's Ice Cream in Rye would have to increase the price of a cone by a quarter and sell thousands more of them to get the money to pay its teenage crew the 75 cents an hour more required by the most conservative of the three minimum wage bills proposed this year, estimated Steve Grenier, the owner of the business, at a hearing held Tuesday before the House Labor Committee.
Seven years ago, Laurie Sanborn teamed up with her husband Andy Sanborn to open The Draft, a popular sports bar and grill in Concord.
Should businesses that are contracted by the state of New Hampshire or a municipality be required to use the federal E-Verify system to see if their employees are eligible to work in the United States?
There's a good chance the state's research and development tax credit cap will be doubled, at least judging by the support it had before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and by the vote of the panel's members, who unanimously and quickly approved the proposal Tuesday after a public hearing at which all but one person testified in favored of it.
New Hampshire gas stations owners are not happy about a bill that might require them to have the kind of wiring that would enable them to install a generator to ensure they would be able to provide gasoline to customers.
Small business owners will be able to get an in-depth look at how to deal with recent changes in laws affecting health care, alternative financing and corporate structure -- while gearing up for what kind of legislation may be on…
Ezenia Inc., the software firm formerly based in Nashua, last week presented a plan in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manchester that would allow it to hang on to its biggest asset -- some $70 million in prior losses that would…
This is a budget year for the New Hampshire Legislature, but more importantly it's a political swing year, which means there's a new Democratic House and a more closely divided Senate. It also means that there may be some major…
It was the first weekend in autumn, a few hours into a publishing conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in White Plains, N.Y., when Sharron McCarthy, president and publisher of McLean Communications (owner of New Hampshire Business Review) steered Jamie…
GT Advanced Technologies has idled -- and is attempting to shed -- its next-generation solar wafer manufacturing facility in St. Louis, Mo., the company announced Thursday.
Therma-HEXX makes heat exchange systems that are installed under pavement, enabling everyone from pool owners to those leasing old mill buildings to save thousands of dollars in energy costs. Conforme has created a smartphone app that will make it easier…
PC Connection's co-founders together have sold 600,000 shares of the company's stock back to the firm, for more than $3 million each. But the number of shares is a relatively small portion of their total holdings. Patricia Gallup and David…
GT Advanced Technologies will lose as much as a dime per share for the quarter, and it has substantially downgraded its forecast for the year, according to guidance released Tuesday by the Nashua-based company. GTAT said it expects revenue during…
Kingsbury Corp., the machine tool company that once was the largest employer in Keene, may still be settling issues in bankruptcy court, but the name and the company still live on, partly in Swanzey but primarily in Rochester -- Rochester,…
This year, fewer than 100 homeowners will receive a 30 percent rebate on their purchase of a wood pellet furnace. Next year it could be a lot more, if the Legislature leaves the state's Renewable Energy Fund law alone. Or…
A bankruptcy court judge in Manchester on Thursday approved the trustee's request to hire USA Springs' former law firm to chase down money allegedly owed by Switzerland-based Malom Group Ltd., brushing aside questions raised by Malom. USA Springs' bankruptcy trustee,…
Despite a political gender gap that helped create the all-women leadership at the top echelons of power in New Hampshire, the gender gap when it comes to wages is nowhere near as beneficial to women in the state. "When it…
Bank of America has sent out 3,000 invitations to customers at risk of foreclosure, inviting them to a two-hour face-to-face meeting next week in Manchester with a specialist who will try to help them stay in their home. The bank…
The contract with a consultant who is advising state officials in their evaluation of the bids by four private companies to take over the state's prison system will be extended until the end of February, should the lame-duck Executive Council…
The law firm that for three years represented USA Springs in bankruptcy court now wants to go after the Swiss firm that it had once hoped would bail out the water bottling company. The USA Springs bankruptcy trustee has asked…
Fewer New Hampshire households filed for bankruptcy in November than any month in the last year - indeed, in nearly five years. November bankruptcy filings dropped to a total of 271 households and businesses, down 43 filings, or 13.7, percent…
New Hampshire's online retailers
Christiana Thornton, a former aide to former U.S. John E. Sununu and a lobbyist for the New Hampshire Bankers Association, took over as the association's president in September 2011, replacing the organization's longtime president, Jerry Little. NHBR caught up with…
New Hampshire's wood pellet and wood boiler industries will be getting another boost, thanks to a decision by the Public Utilities Commission to fund a former federal stimulus program with $450,000 from the state's Renewable Energy Fund. Under the program…
Health care facilities in New Hampshire and its two northern New England neighbors are starting to plug in to a new high-speed federally subsidized communications network designed to bring telemedicine to remote regions, according to FairPoint Communications. Four health care…
It may not feel like it, but New Hampshire's personal income per capita rose some 4.3 percent in 2011, to $45,881, ahead of the rate of inflation. But the state actually lagged a bit compared to the nation as a…
PC Connection, basking in recently high quarterly earnings reports, announced last week that it will give out more than $10 million in dividends - about 38 cents a share. "We recently reported our highest third-quarter operating income and earnings per…
Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. has a problem most companies would love: It's selling its products so quickly that the company can barely make them fast enough. The Connecticut-based gun manufacturer, with a major facility in Newport, N.H., reported a…
O’Keefe Enterprize, a general store in West Ossipee, saved about $100 a month after changing its electricity provider from Public Service of New Hampshire to ENH Power. Poly Recovery, a plastics recycler operating at Pease International Tradeport, estimates it saved…
While home prices might be moderating in other parts of the country, the median price of a single-family house in New Hampshire rose to $550,000 in August, the second highest price point this current year. That price is just $3,000 more than the $547,000 recorded in July, but it is $47,500 more than January’s $502,500. The highest median price in 2025 was $569,450, recorded in June and the most ever recorded in the state.
3 of 5 Executive Council members oppose Taylor Caswell’s reappointment
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed Erin Creegan to serve as the interim U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire, following the resignation of Jay McCormack earlier this month.
Superior Court Judge David Ruoff has once again ruled that the state has shirked its duty to fund an adequate education and this time further held that local school property taxes, which vary in rate from one municipality to another, are themselves unconstitutional.
Nashua mayor: ‘I don't think people generally understand that this company came to Nashua as part of a state economic development initiative.’
Solar advocates in New Hampshire — backed by the congressional delegation — are denouncing a Trump White House decision to claw back $48.5 million already promised to the state to fund solar energy projects for low-income residents.
As Taylor Caswell’s reappointment as commissioner of the N.H. Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) hangs in the balance, two independent statewide economic-related associations are standing with him and saying he should keep his job. The presidents of the New Hampshire Business & Industry Association (BIA) and Ski New Hampshire offered statements backing Caswell’s reappointment by the Executive Council.
Housing stakeholders' criticism is directed largely at a new state budget that defunds or doesn't fund certain programs
With the interventionist version of President Trump on the upswing, one of its most forceful cheerleaders — former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — took a recent victory lap in New Hampshire.
