LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The Los Angeles Chapter of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA-LA) will honor top local Latino communicators and award scholarships on Friday, Oct. 27th in Pasadena at the 33^rd Annual PRemio Awards and Scholarship Dinner. For tickets to the event visit http://www.hpra-usa.org/laR/2017-premio-awards-tickets/.

“The night’s theme of `Remembering our Roots’ reminds us to pay homage to our past and cultural experiences,” said Reyna Hernandez, President of HPRA-LA and owner of Creative Branding Co. “The HPRA-LA PRemio Awards and Scholarship Dinner is a celebration of the best in our public relations industry and awards scholarships to help deserving college students pursue their degree in communications.”

Winning this year’s “Communications Group of the Year” is UNITED COLLECTIVE (www.unitedcollective.com), founded to be the most culturally attuned creative collective in the U.S. The communications group includes specialty agencies located in California and New York: GALLEGOS United, ROX United, CANVAS United, POLY United and LUNA United.

The “Journalist of the Year” Award will go to Stephanie Himonidis, better known as Chiquibaby, host of Acceso Total, Telemundo 52’s popular weekday morning entertainment news and lifestyle show which rebroadcasts across 15 U.S. Hispanic markets. With nearly two decades of a successful career in media, Chiquibaby is a 4X Emmy Award-winning Television and Radio personality and recognized as an influential communicator in the U.S. Hispanic market with nearly 900,000 followers on social media. She is very involved in the community and currently serves as an ambassador for PADRES Contra el Cancer, non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for children with cancer and their families.

Being honored as “Influencer of the Year” Award will go to Patty Rodriguez, a nationally recognized entrepreneur, senior producer, founder and author of the bilingual children’s books Lil’ Libros, and founder of Patty Rodriguez Jewelry. Rodriguez demonstrated her influence when she asked makeup giant MAC Cosmetics to create a line to honor the late Selena Quintanilla. MAC Cosmetics listened. Patty and her work have been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, NPR, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, People Magazine and Buzzfeed, to name a few.

This year’s college scholarship recipients include:

• Sonia Ramirez-Muñoz, University of Southern California
• Sasha M. Chavez, University of La Verne
• Emily Lechuga, CSU Dominguez Hills

Supporting the dinner this year are: Telemundo 52, Imprenta Communications Group, UNITED COLLECTIVE, Panda Express, FSB Core Strategies and VPE Tradigital Communications. The cocktail hour sponsor is San Antonio Winery.  A special shopping spree has been donated by Lamps Plus.

HPRA-Los Angeles would like to thank its Executive Board for their commitment and hard work. Members of the 2017 HPRA-LA Board are President, Reyna Hernandez owner of Creative Branding Co.; Vice President, Norma Leon-Moncada of NLM Consulting; Secretary, Elizabeth Adams, PR Consultant and Treasurer, Norma Rodriguez of Imprenta Communications Group.

About the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA)
Founded in 1984, the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) is the foremost organization of Hispanic public relations practitioners in the U.S. HPRA is a resource for communications professionals and for individuals seeking Hispanic market expertise. It is dedicated to the recognition and advancement of Hispanics in public relations through year-round programs, professional development, seminars and networking.

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SOURCE HPRA

ATLANTA, Oct. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The Home Depot^® is increasing its protection of High Conservation Value Forests and tropical Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) by not accepting any wood products from The Amazon (South America) and Congo (Africa) Basins, unless Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/589926/Home_Depot_Responsibility_Report_Infographic.jpg

Although less than one percent of the company’s existing wood products come from the Amazon and Congo Basins, The Home Depot announced today that it will require that any wood products coming from these areas be FSC certified.  The company has given preference to FSC certified wood products since 1999.

The company announced the updated policy in its 2017 Responsibility Report. The full report is located online at: https://corporate.homedepot.com/newsroom/infographic-2017-responsibility-report.

The report also unveils newly strengthened chemical oversight practices in five product categories, including paint, carpet, vinyl and laminate flooring, and insulation.

The chemical strategy includes commitments to increase the assortment of products that have transparency of product ingredients and third party certification of chemical ingredients. Additionally, the company is committed to working with suppliers to improve chemicals in categories with the greatest potential impact to indoor air quality, and will conduct annual reviews of product categories to track progress and drive innovation.  

The company partners with the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, Healthy Building Network and Cradle to Cradle for guidance on priority chemicals and innovations.

“We recognize the role we play in the value chain for home improvement products, especially lumber and manufactured goods,” said Ron Jarvis, vice president of environmental innovation. “We believe that better transparency is the key to retailers and consumers making better purchasing decisions that will improve our industry’s long-term environmental impact.”

The Home Depot is also expanding its Eco Options program that identifies products that have less of an impact on the environment than standard products, established in 2007, to include the third party certification programs Cradle to Cradle Certified™ and GREENGUARD^® Gold.

Additional highlights from 2016 include:

• The company estimates its customers saved more than 76 billion gallons of water in fiscal 2016 from the sales of WaterSense^® certified products
• The company estimates its customers saved more than $903 million in utility costs from sales of Energy Star^® certified products, reducing consumers greenhouse gas emissions by 4.9 million metric tons in fiscal 2016
• The Home Depot Foundation has impacted  more than 34,500 veterans’ homes and facilities since 2011, with a financial commitment to veterans related causes of a quarter of a billion dollars by 2020

The Home Depot applies Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Guidelines, which are included in the 2017 Responsibility Report, as a cross-reference tool for its sustainability reporting to make meaningful data available to stakeholders.

About The Home Depot
The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,283 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2016, The Home Depot had sales of $94.6 billion and earnings of $8.0 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

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SOURCE The Home Depot

TAMPA, Florida, Oct. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — CoAdvantage Corporation (“CoAdvantage”), a leading national provider of strategic human resource solutions for small to mid-sized companies, announced today that it has acquired California-based Total HR Management (“Total HR”). The acquisition expands CoAdvantage’s national footprint and represents the Company’s first office in California. The acquisition follows the Florida-based PEMCO transaction (Oct-2017) and creates a combined platform serving more than 4,500 clients and approximately 90,000 work site employees with a range of HR outsourced solutions to small and medium sized businesses.

Total HR is a comprehensive human resources administration firm located in Los Angeles, CA that provides outsourced HR services, benefits and payroll to a white-collar client base. Total HR has demonstrated attractive growth while providing high-touch service to their clients, allowing the business to build scale through a reputation of service excellence. The business will become the core of CoAdvantage’s California operations and will service the broader work site employee base, which is now approximately 4,000.

“The acquisition of Total HR provides CoAdvantage with a strategic entry-point to the California market through a strong regional provider with a history of success and service excellence,” said Mike Maseda, President and CEO of CoAdvantage.  “We look forward to coupling our scale with Total HR’s relationship-based service model to further expand our presence in providing high-quality HR support to California’s thriving small business community.”

“CoAdvantage’s scale and resources bring added value to our customers and the California market,” said James Harwood, Founder and CEO of Total HR.  “I am excited to join the CoAdvantage family and look forward to working with the broader CoAdvantage team as we grow our presence in California.” Total HR will form part of CoAdvantage’s West Region and James Harwood will continue with the combined Company as Vice President of California.

CoAdvantage’s acquisition of Total HR follows the Company’s merger with PEMCO in October 2017. Both transactions dramatically increase the Company’s scale while adding strong management talent with similar client-focused operating strategies. These transactions follow the Company’s acquisition of Discovery Outsourcing and Compensation Solutions in 2014.  CoAdvantage now serves approximately 90,000 work site employees in all 50 states, offering the resources of a national provider with a local focus to business owners around the country.

About CoAdvantage
Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, CoAdvantage, Inc. is a leader in human resource solutions, providing Professional Employer Organization (PEO) services to small and medium-sized businesses nationwide. A portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Private Equity, the company has offices throughout Florida and Texas, as well as Colorado, California, New York and New Jersey, serving approximately 90,000 work site employees nationwide. For more information, visit www.coadvantage.com.

About Total HR: Total HR is a California-based Professional Employer Organization (PEO) with over 12 years of experience in providing payroll administration, workers’ compensation, employee benefits and human resource solutions to small-to-medium size businesses in the California region.  Founded in 2004, Total HR has built a strong book of business through service excellence and delivering high quality products to its clients. The business operates out of three client servicing operations: Los Angeles, CA, Orange County, CA and Malone, NY. For more information, visit www.totalhrmanagement.com.

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SOURCE CoAdvantage Corporation

MEXICO CITY, Oct. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — FIBRA Prologis (BMV:FIBRAPL 14), a leading owner and operator of Class-A logistics real estate in Mexico, today reported results for the third quarter of 2017.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE QUARTER:

• Net effective rent change on rollover increased 13.9 percent.
• Period-end occupancy was 96.4 percent.
• Cash same store NOI growth was 3.7 percent.

Funds from operations (FFO) per CBFI was Ps. 0.7508 (US$0.0423) for the third quarter compared with Ps. 0.7730 (US$ 0.0419) for the same period in 2016.

Net earnings per CBFI in the third quarter was Ps. 0.7049 (US$0.0398) compared with earnings of Ps. 0.7020 (US$0.0382) for the same period in 2016.

“Our third quarter results were excellent and are an affirmation of the quality of our portfolio and team,” said Luis Gutierrez, CEO, Prologis Property Mexico. “We continue to push for higher rents while maintaining better-than-market occupancy levels. This is clear evidence that our strategy to own well-located facilities in the most dynamic markets in Mexico is working.”

OPERATING PERFORMANCE

FINANCIAL POSITION

As of September 30, 2017, FIBRA Prologis’ liquidity was Ps. 3.6 billion (US$199.0 million), which included Ps. 3.3 billion (US$180.0 million) of available capacity on its unsecured credit facility and Ps. 348.4 million (US$19.1 million) of unrestricted cash. This liquidity does not include a Ps. 2.7 billion (US$150.0 million) accordion feature.

During the quarter, FIBRA Prologis fully repaid one secured debt facility totaling US$37.5 million, that was scheduled to mature this year, and with a debt cost of 6.9 percent. The secured debt facility was repaid with borrowings under the unsecured credit facility at par, decreasing the overall cost of debt by approximately 10 basis points to 3.9 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Also during the quarter, FIBRA Prologis completed two transactions with a syndicate of domestic and international banks for a US$150.0 million unsecured term loan and a new US$325.0 million unsecured credit facility with a US$150.0 million accordion feature, that can be drawn from either product. Both financings have options which extend maturity to 2022. The debt cost of the term loan and new credit facility are approximately 3.3 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Proceeds were used to repay the former unsecured credit facility, which was scheduled to mature in 2019. 

“Our 2017 refinancing strategy was completed in the third quarter,” said Jorge Girault, senior vice president, Finance, Prologis Property Mexico. “We have significantly reduced our debt costs while keeping leverage levels steady. Our balance sheet remains a key strength for the company, providing us with enhanced liquidity and flexibility.”

GUIDANCE UPDATE

“We anticipate continued strength in rent change on lease expiration, as well as elevated average occupancy, which will drive our same store performance. As a result, we are increasing our same store NOI guidance,” added Girault. “Due to an unexpected governmental issue at a property, we are decreasing our acquisitions guidance for 2017.”

WEBCAST & CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

FIBRA Prologis will host a live webcast/conference call to discuss quarterly results, current market conditions and future outlook. Here are the event details:

• Wednesday, October 25, 2017, at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET
• Live webcast at www.fibraprologis.com by clicking Events
• Dial in: +1 877 256 7020 or +1 973 409 9692 and enter Passcode 93296069.

A telephonic replay will be available October 25–November 1 at +1 855 859 2056 from the U.S. and Canada or at +1 404 537 3406 from all other countries using conference code 93296069 and passcode 31833. The replay will be posted in the Investor Relations section of the FIBRA Prologis website.

ABOUT FIBRA PROLOGIS

FIBRA Prologis is a leading owner and operator of Class-A logistics real estate in Mexico. As of September 30, 2017, FIBRA Prologis comprised 194 logistics and manufacturing facilities in six industrial markets in Mexico totaling 34.2 million square feet (3.2 million square meters) of gross leasable area.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry and markets in which FIBRA Prologis operates, management’s beliefs and assumptions made by management.  Such statements involve uncertainties that could significantly impact FIBRA Prologis financial results. Words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature.  All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future — including statements relating to rent and occupancy growth, acquisition activity, development activity, disposition activity, general conditions in the geographic areas where we operate, our debt and financial position, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained and therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that may affect outcomes and results include, but are not limited to: (i) national, international, regional and local economic climates, (ii) changes in financial markets, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates, (iii) increased or unanticipated competition for our properties, (iv) risks associated with acquisitions, dispositions and development of properties, (v) maintenance of real estate investment trust (“FIBRA”) status and tax structuring, (vi) availability of financing and capital, the levels of debt that we maintain and our credit ratings, (vii) risks related to our investments (viii) environmental uncertainties, including risks of natural disasters, and (ix) those additional factors discussed in reports filed with the “Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores” and  the Mexican Stock Exchange by FIBRA Prologis under the heading “Risk Factors.” FIBRA Prologis undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements appearing in this release.

Non-Solicitation – Any securities discussed herein or in the accompanying presentations, if any, have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements under the Securities Act and any applicable state securities laws. Any such announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities discussed herein or in the presentations, if and as applicable.

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SOURCE FIBRA Prologis