Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108Perspective 46 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine corey templeton (2) Today, Allagash White is considered one of the best beers there is. Near Rí Rá on the Portland waterfront, they’re charging up to $7 dollars for an Allagash white–and getting it. One of my golfing buddies went to Bis- sell Bros. on Thompson’s Point and had to wait in line for an hour for some of their small-batch products. They limited it to two six packs he could buy. They didn’t even ex- ist five years ago. It all comes down to this. Just ask at the Jetport–we have people flying into Port- land to drink beer. Talk about a culture shifting gears. Foul Mouth Brewery in Mill Creek used to be an auto garage. There are 22 breweries in Greater Portland right now. They all seem to be thriving. If you go in- to any local bar, all the local breweries are favored. I don’t think the margins are that big, and the breweries don’t hesitate to charge it to all the restaurants. Now there’s some product loyalty. Whodoesn’tloveadarkhorse? People in Maine love their rock and roll, their skiing, and their bagels. My No. 1 Dark Horse is the former Cumberland County Civic Center, now known as Cross “There are 5.9 breweries per 100,000 adult drinkers in Portland. I think Mainers love their beer more than lobsters.” If Idexx has a hiccup, as it did a few years ago, it can get creamed, but it comes roaring back. The animal health market is expected to grow forever and forever, and they’re into the human medical testing business, too. It’s a wonderful thing for a Maine based company like this. They have 40 percent of $3.3 billion market. The risk is competition. If their market share decreases a little bit, all these momentum investors will bail. CouldIdexxhavestartedinthe1920s? Nobody knew anything about medical test kits in the 1920s. People want immediate responses today. That’s why they’re a shoot- ing star. What’supwithWEX?AccordingtoBangorDailyNews,“It reachedadealtopurchaseafleetfuelprocessingcompeti- torfor$1.1billion”lastyearand“boughtExxonMobil’s Europeanfuelcardbusiness…”theyearbefore. Butthe newspaperreportssignificantIToutsourcing:“anetlossof 25ITpositionsbasedinSouthPortlandasofApril2016.” W EX started in 1983 as Wright Express, with their fleet card. It’s been publicly traded since 2005. In 2008, the low was $8.21 in No- vember. It’s currently trading at $104.59. The five-year return has been 165.8 per- cent. All they do is transaction report- ing, but they have revenues close to $800 million. They’re projecting $975 million to $1 billion in revenues for 2016. They’re worldwide now, with offices in US, Austra- lia, Brazil, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, and Singapore. They went from 700 employees in 2009 to over 2,500 em- ployees across the globe. Of this number more than 700 are based in Maine. They’ve bought competitors, but there’s plenty of competition. I know they’re growing expo- nentially and killing it. The question is, can somebody go somewhere else and get the same thing? I don’t see it happening. HowdoestheirgrowthaffectMaine? Regarding the outsourcing, they’re in a posi- tion to say, ‘Why pay someone here $80,000 a year when you can get someone offshore to do it for $15,000?’ Butdoesn’tWEX’sdataincludegovernmentfleet-card information?Aretheresecurityissuesaboutsomeofthis databeingheldoutsidetheU.S?Seehttp:// www.wexinc.com/fleet/government-fleets/ how-it-works/ I’m out of that loop, but they have shown their commitment here by greatly expanding their campus near the Maine Mall. Sothecraftbreweriesaretrulyshootingstars? I think Mainers love their beer more than lobsters. There are brew- eries everywhere–5.9 breweries per 100,000 adult drinkers in Portland. Matador Networks says Portland is the top craft brewery city in the world. Obviously, Geary’s was the first in town. Shipyard has it killed. In Florida, people were drinking Shipyard’s “Pumpkinhead” in the summer- time. In 1994, Rob Todd started Allagash.