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Talk of the bay: Suits prompt Jabil to change options rules

By Times staff
Published September 21, 2007

To settle a couple of shareholder lawsuits, Jabil Circuit said Thursday it will change some of its rules for granting stock options. However, the St. Petersburg-based electronics assembler isn't ready to say just what the changes will be. The only cash involved in the settlement is for legal fees of up to $800,000, which the company has agreed to pay. A couple of other shareholder lawsuits requesting class-action status are still pending. The lawsuits stem from allegations that stock options for senior managers were backdated, making them more profitable. A company review found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Commissions on Citizens' to-do list
After getting a pep talk from Gov. Charlie Crist ("If private companies don't want to compete, Florida will"), Citizens Property Insurance's board of governors agreed Thursday to look into the issue of how much insurance agents should be paid to service Citizens' 1.3-million policies. The average commission for a residential Citizens policy is now about 7.75 percent of the premium. But premiums have risen nearly 300 percent in the past three years, and commissions have increased along with them. Commissions now represent Citizens' third biggest expense, behind claims and premiums paid to the catastrophe fund. "Whatever we do won't be warmly received," said board chairman Bruce Douglas. "But I think we can work something out that will be digestible to the 8,500 agents we deal with."

Coupon distributor has jobs to offer
Cox Target Media is looking for a few good workers to help run its new $200-million Val-Pak printing plant in St. Petersburg's Gateway area. About 80, to be more exact, in pay levels that start at $12 an hour. The Largo-based direct mailer is staging job fairs Sept. 28 and 29 at the plant off 28th Street N. The facility replaces one in North Carolina that's being sold to IWCO Direct, a Minnesota direct mailer that has agreed to offer jobs to 400 people who work there. Val-Pak, which employs about 1,100 people at its Largo headquarters campus and has moved 250 into the new plant so far, has not said what its total employment will be once it's all done in 2008.

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[Last modified September 20, 2007, 23:27:11]