Charlotte Business Journal – May 1, 2012

Red Ventures, a rapidly growing Internet marketing company based in Indian Land, plans to add 400 jobs by July. About 200 of those positions will be added at the company’s headquarters.

“Our biggest needs right now are in inside sales as we begin selling new products and services for some of the largest companies across the U.S.,” says Elizabeth Persson, Red Ventures director of human capital.

The company says it has added nine clients, which it calls “brand partners,” in recent months. Red Ventures’ brand partners include companies in the fields of entertainment, data and Internet services, small-business services, security, energy and software services. The company doesn’t identify its clients, but they are thought to include DirecTV and ADT Security Services Inc.

The additional 200 employees in Indian Land will boost the company’s employment there to more than 950. And the new hires will raise the companywide work force to more than 1,600. The new sales jobs will pay $40,000 to $65,000 per year, Red Ventures says.

About a month ago, the company purchased HomeInsurance.com of Wilmington, pledging to add about 200 employees to that business.

Red Ventures has experienced more than 50 percent growth in revenue every year for the past three years and has tripled its employee base during that period. The company ranked No. 13 on the Charlotte Business Journal’s 2011 list of the 50 fastest-growing companies in the Charlotte region, with a three-year average growth rate of 58 percent.

Charlotte Business Journal, September 7, 2011

The number of Charlotte-area homes sold in August totaled 2,289, a 26 percent increase from a year ago.

August sales also rose 5.3 percent from July, when 2,173 homes were sold, according to the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association.

The average sales price last month was $205,915, down 9.2 percent from August 2010 and down 3.5 percent from $213,371 in July.

The association reports 2,258 pending contracts last month, a 24.6 percent hike from August 2010 and up 8 percent from last month.

The association compiles the data from a 10-county service area.

Charlotte Business Journal, July 25, 2011

Celgard, a clean energy firm will invest $105 million to expand production capacity at its new Concord plant and will hire an additional 250 employees during the next two years.

While salaries will vary by job function, the overall average wage for the jobs will be $37,912, excluding benefits. The Cabarrus annual average is $32,448, according to the office of N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue.

Celgard broke ground for the Concord plant in September. So far, the company has invested $122 million in Concord and employs 304 workers there.

The company, a subsidiary of Charlotte-based Polypore International Inc has 330 workers at a Charlotte operation in southwest Charlotte.

If the company meets its target of adding 250 jobs in Concord, it will be eligible to receive up to $2.3 million in job-development investment grants from the state. Celgard also has been awarded $500,000 from the One North Carolina Fund, which assists the state in industry recruitment and expansion by providing financial assistance through local governments to attract business projects deemed by the governor to be vital to a growing state economy.

Perdue announced the plant expansion Monday morning in Concord.

“Celgard is an innovative North Carolina company that is helping us realize the promise of a greener economy,” she said. “We are able to create these ‘green-collar’ jobs, and other skilled jobs across the state, because we have invested in education and built an educated, skilled work force.”

Celgard develops and manufactures specialty membranes used predominantly in the lithium-battery industry. The expansion in Concord will increase production to supply lithium battery manufacturers focused on the electric-drive vehicle industry.

“We are excited about our plans for an additional expansion of our Concord facility,” says Celgard President Mitch Pulwer. “Celgard and our parent company, Polypore, are truly global, but we feel right at home in the Charlotte-Concord corridor. We are thankful for the support we have received from Governor Perdue, the North Carolina congressional delegation, and county and local governments that will enable us to continue our investments in production capacity and create jobs here in North Carolina as we prepare to meet the increasing demand of the electric-drive vehicle market.”

Celgard has undertaken multiple expansions in the Charlotte region in recent years. In February, it said it would spend $32 million to boost the capacity at its Charlotte plant. It was the second expansion announced for that facility, following a $43 million addition in 2010.