Fueled by vehicle fleet sales, Puerto Rico’s auto industry reported a 1.5 percent growth in 2011 that is expected to continue this year, when growth projections are pegged at between 1 percent and 3 percent, the United Automobile Importers Group said Thursday.
If the results of the first quarter of the federal fiscal year are any indication, 2012 should be good for small and mid-sized business lending activity in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which is already picking up significantly in contrast to last year’s results.
With 17 years of experience in producing and distributing highly nutritious food under its belt, Happy Products is now ready to expand beyond the island’s institutional market and into the retail sector and abroad, company officials said during a news conference Wednesday.
Surrounded by the young students of the “Niños Uniendo al Mundo/Jardín del Cielo” School in Caguas, Ford Motor Company officials kicked off this year’s Conservation & Environmental Grants program Wednesday to benefit local schools, nonprofits and grassroots organizations that are doing their part to improve Puerto Rico’s landscape.
As part of the final phase of the Corporations Registry digitization project, Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock announced Wednesday the start of a five-month grace period so that companies with past-due annual reports can become current.
Popular Inc. reported net income of $3 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, compared with net income of $27.5 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011, and a net loss of $227.1 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010.
The preliminary findings of the government’s 2011 Travelers Survey released Tuesday revealed that 88.9 percent of visitors who came to Puerto Rico last year would recommend the island as a tourism destination; the majority of visitors who arrived by air and by sea came to vacation.
Costa Mesa, Ca.-based retailer Anna’s Linens will be opening its first three stores in Puerto Rico, two this year and another in 2013, through agreements with mall operator DDR Corp., the latter announced Tuesday.
“Primera Hora” is not the island’s best-selling newspaper, but it is the one with the greatest influence on the Internet. While “TránsitoPR,” which is not a traditional news outlet but a service that provides traffic information to other media and the public, has more influence on the Internet that all news stations on the island and several major circulation newspapers.
Constructora Sambil, the Venezuelan developer behind the proposed $400 million mega-shopping center in Guaynabo, is hopeful it will be able to break ground on the project this year after the Puerto Rico Supreme Court denied a motion for reconsideration presented by Plaza Las Américas that sought to paralyze the mall’s construction.
Puerto Rico is lacking one fundamental element necessary for the retail industry to grow and welcome new players: move-in ready spaces large enough to fit the “big box” chains, Michael Kercheval, president of the International Council of Shopping Centers Inc. told News is my Business Monday.
Veteran hotelier Raúl Bustamante has been named chairman of the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau’s board of directors, the trade group announced Monday. Gov. Luis Fortuño, who had appointed Bustamante as member of the board in August 2011, designated him to the new post.
The Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce (CofC) is inviting the local business community to the Puerto Rico Healthcare & Insurance Conference 2012 “Economic Transformation in Health,” slated for Feb. 2 at the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza Hotel & Casino.
OneLink Communications and Choice Cable TV will face off against the Telecommunications Regulatory Board in federal court this week over the agency’s decision to grant Puerto Rico Telephone (Claro) a cable television franchise license to offer Internet Protocol television services, which the cable providers claim is illegal.
The number of tourists selecting Puerto Rico as the destination they want to visit has grown steadily this year, according to statistics from Expedia, Inc., the world’s largest online travel company, which operates more than 100 Expedia and Hotels.com-branded sites globally.
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