Utah's economy is poised to outperform the economies of many other states nationwide in the coming years, Economy.com reported Wednesday.
"We're very bullish on the Utah economy," said Gus Faucher, senior economist with the research company based in West Chester, Pa. "It will be one of the stronger performing states both in the near term and the long term."
Utah had the fourth-strongest job growth among all states last year, and this year the state is among the top five states in terms of job growth.
In February, Utah had job growth of 3.7 percent compared with national job growth of 1.8 percent.
The last time Utah had job growth this high was in 1997, during the height of the state's economic boom.
The state's economy started to falter in 2000 and generated few jobs until last year, when employers once again began adding new workers.
Utah's unemployment rate in February was 4.8 percent, down from 5.4 percent compared with February 2004.
- Lesley Mitchell
Orem firm being acquired
SOSystems, an Orem-based credit union software company, is being acquired in an $11 million cash deal by Open Solutions Inc. of Glastonbury, Conn.
Open Solutions, which provides its own data processing technologies for banks and credit unions , said Wednesday the deal will include SOSystems' Centryx applications suite now serving 120 credit unions nationwide.
Under the deal, SOSystems will become part of Open Solutions' Core Systems Group and will continue to operate from its Orem offices. Current Chief Executive Richard Verhaaren will continue to run the Utah operation, which reported $9 million in revenue for fiscal 2004.
- Bob Mims
CoConnect plans to to buy
CoConnect Inc. announced Wednesday it has signed a letter of intent to buy Sandstone Publishing Group LLC, the St. George publisher of Action Zone Magazine and Action Zone Home Buyers Guide.
CoConnect, the Salt Lake City-based developer of high-speed wireless Internet access, broadband telephone and video-on-demand products, will acquire 100 percent of Sandstone Publishing for $50,000 in cash and 250,000 shares of restricted common stock. CoConnect hopes to close the deal next month.
As a result of the acquisition, CoConnect expects to add $500,000 to its annual revenue beginning this year. Once the deal closes, Sandstone Publishing will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CoConnect.
- Bob Mims Jeff Gochnour has been hired by the Boyer Co. as senior project manager. His name was misspelled in a story in Wednesday's Business section.
