BRIEFCASE

Issue of Sept. 4, 2007

Bank of Princeton to open branches
    The Bank of Princeton announced that it has received approval from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance; Division of Banking to open two branch offices — one in Hamilton to be located at 339 Route 33, and one in Pennington to be located at 2 Route 31.
    The Bank of Princeton President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Crowley stated: "The Pennington and Hamilton markets provide The Bank of Princeton with the opportunity to deliver the high touch personal banking service and timely loan decision programs that our business and retail customers expect from a local community bank. We are eager to be partners with these important communities".
Heartland Payment results jump
    Princeton-based Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. (NYSE: HPY), a provider of credit/
debit/prepaid card processing, payroll and payment services, announced that net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 increased 40 percent to a record $10.4 million from $7.4 million in the second quarter of 2006.
For the second quarter of 2007, HPS reported record earnings of $0.26 per share, an increase of 37 percent from $0.19 per share in the year earlier period. Results were driven by an increase in the operating margin to a record 21.5 percent, a 210 basis point improvement from the comparable year earlier period. For the quarter, operating income rose 33 percent to $16.3 million from $12.3 million a year ago.
    Robert Carr, HPS chairman and chief executive officer, said in a news release: "Our strong financial performance this quarter was led by record operating margins as we are starting to see the results that are possible by leveraging our increasingly fixed cost processing and servicing platform across our growing transaction volume. For the quarter, 84 percent of new merchants installed and 73 percent of total transactions were on HPS Exchange, while our Passport back end processing system continues to provide consistent, reliable and cost effective performance."
    Total revenues in the second quarter of 2007 were $333.4 million, up 20 percent compared to $278.2 million in the second quarter of 2006. Processing volume for the three months ended June 30, 2007 increased 21 percent to $13.3 billion from $11 billion during the same period in 2006. HPS’s active total merchant count rose to 152,400 at June 30, 2007, a 19 percent increase over the past twelve months.
Ocean Power results mixed
    Pennington-based Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTT) announced increased revenues but an increased loss too for the year ended April 30, 2007.
    Revenues in fiscal 2007 were $2.5 million compared with $1.7 million in fiscal 2006. OPT incurred a net loss of $9.6 million in fiscal 2007 compared with a net loss of $7.1 million in the prior year. Contract backlog for OPT was $5.2 million as of April 30, 2007, as compared to $2.6 million as of April 30, 2006.
New TaeKwonDo school opens
    Ahn’s TaeKwonDo, with six schools in Korea, Indiana and Bridgewater is opening a new academy of more than 3,000 square foot in Montgomery Township at the Montgomery Shopping Center near ShopRite and next to Friendly’s. The Head Master of the School, Anna Ahn was the Korean National Women’s Champion and is a 6th Degree Black Belt certified by the World TaeKwonDo Federation in Korea.
DazGlobal Acquires Medical Crossfire
    DazGlobal, LLC, a multimedia agency network headquartered in Hackensack, has announced that it has acquired Liberty Communications Network, formally a Boron Lepore & Assoc. and Cardinal Health company, located in East Windsor. Liberty Communications Network produces Medical Crossfire, CaseMed and Pod Pearls branded interactive learning formats. With the acquisition, Greg S. Kloiber, vice president, medical communications development, who joined Healthcare First earlier this year and is a seven year veteran of Liberty/Medical Crossfire, will lead the integration of Liberty into Healthcare First, the CME division of DazGlobal located in Plainsboro.
MRCC presents job fair event
    The Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce, is presenting the "Career Connections" Job Fair on Sept. 10, 2007 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event, sponsored in part by Nassau Broadcasting and the Trentonian newspaper, will take place at the Colonial Firehouse at 810 Kuser Road in Hamilton.
    Hiring opportunities will be available for part-time and full-
time work, for students, seasoned workers, and professionals. There will be approximately 50 exhibitors, from the F.B.I to Six Flags Great Adventure to Sovereign Bank and Merrill Lynch, according to the MRCC. There are no fees and no pre-
registration required for attendees of the event. Resumes are the only required form of admission and business attire is highly recommended. Individuals and companies can find more information about the job fair on MRCC’s website www.mercerchamber.org.
Gannett Fleming moves its office
    Gannett Fleming, an international planning, design, and construction management firm, announced the move of its Princeton office to Hamilton. The office is located at: the Neuman Building, Suite 203, 3575 Quakerbridge Road. The telephone number is 609-584-9592.
Two businesses to open in East Windsor
    Two commercial units at 602 Route 33 in East Windsor have been leased to Fervico Express Inc., a check cashing business, and Ark Enterprises, LLC, who is currently renovating the unit for a new deli — All-Star Subs and Deli — which will open in September. Rick Kerr, the owner stated, "The old-fashioned Italian deli will be unique to the area." The building was previously vacant.