The area's growth in new jobs and new investment for the fiscal year 2017-18 were cited in a recent report by Wilmington Business Development.

WBD stated in a news release about the report that its "project portfolio spurred the creation of 508 new jobs in New Hanover and Pender counties at annual wages averaging $49,560." 

The report also said "the organization's work helped generate an additional $25 million in regional payroll impact."

The posting, which is on WBD's website, "represents a continual effort to better tell our story and present our results in an easily understandable way through graphs and charts and also to show the financial and economic impact of these results," the group's CEO Scott Satterfield said in an email.

Satterfield did not say whether or not WBD would continue to issue the public reports. Satterfield did say, however, that the organization's members, allies and investors are "kept apprised of the organization's initiatives, client activity and results, through our numerous, and frequent member visits, newsletters and annual meeting."

WBD is contracted for economic development efforts for the city of Wilmington and New Hanover and Pender counties. 

The information in the report is derived from WBD project files and aggregate new jobs and capital investment based on plans reported by expanding or incoming companies, Satterfield said. The report, however, did not give a breakdown of most companies involved in the overall growth by name, but divided out individual growth in jobs and investment by sector.

The new jobs numbers include only newly created positions and not existing jobs moving from within the region, he said.  

"Our data (jobs and investment) do in fact include projects for which no press releases or formal public announcements were made," Satterfield added in his email. "Companies occasionally request that no press release be issued regarding their plans. Assuming no governmental incentives are involved, we honor their request."

Competitive factors within an industry are among other the reasons why companies may request that plans remain confidential, he added.

The projects generated $50.5 million in new capital investment last fiscal year, according to the report. In a breakdown by sector, $30 million of that investment was in manufacturing, $17.5 million in distribution and logistics and $3 million of the investment was in the food processing industry. 

Of the new 508 jobs reported, the largest increase by sector was in financial technology, or fintech, which had a total of 197 new jobs, about 39 percent of the total growth.

Though not naming any of the fintech companies that reflected the majority of the jobs growth last fiscal year, Satterfield said, "the companies that are represented in the fintech sector are longstanding clients in our active project portfolio."

Live Oak Bancshares, parent company of Live Oak Bank, which has seen rapid job growth, was not named in the report, but was included in the city's 2017 fiscal year budget for $50,000 in incentives.

Other workforce growth sectors included 162 new jobs in manufacturing, 82 in food processing and 67 in distribution and logistics, stated the report.

Some companies, however, were named in WBD's report as either those that have expanded or relocated in the economic development agency's territory.

The companies mentioned in the report included Cardinal Foods, Coastal Beverage Co., FedEx Freight, National Gypsum Co., Edge Works Manufacturing, Acme Smoked Fish and BlueArrow Warehousing & Logistics.

National Gypsum is the only company on the list in New Hanover County. The Charlotte-based firm, a wallboard manufacturer, announced in May that it was reopening its shuttered plant in Wilmington, bringing 51 jobs with an average salary of $57,000 and $25 million in capital improvements to the facility.

Both New Hanover County and the city of Wilmington offered incentives to bring back National Gypsum; the incentives package totaled $580,000. In August, National Gypsum officials said the firm had hired 45 people.

The rest of the businesses named in the report are Pender County firms.

Coastal Beverage and FedEx Freight were announced earlier this year as two new businesses coming to Pender Commerce Park. FedEx Freight, a less-than-truckload carrier and a unit of FedEx Corp., plans to hire 25 employees.

Coastal Beverage, however, is not a new business to the region. The beverage distribution firm is relocating its existing employment base of 140 people when it moves from its Harley Road location in Wilmington to a new headquarters facility in the Pender Commerce Park, Tee Nunnelee, president of Coastal Beverage, previously said.

Acme Smoked Fish, another company within the Pender Commerce Park, has expanded food processing operations and added an additional 40 employees this year. Acme is also looking at making additional investments into its Pender facility and is seeking a $250,000 state grant for an expansion there, which would come with an additional 50 jobs.

And in July, officials with WBD and N.C. Southeast, a regional economic development agency with an 18-county region, announced that BlueArrow Warehousing & Logistics LLC had leased space in the Cape Fear Industrial Complex in Rocky Point with plans to bring 20 to 25 jobs.

The growth and figures in the report offer insight into expanding segments of the local economy and the "increasingly capital-intensive nature" of both new and expanding operations, Satterfield said. 

"Overall, today's advanced manufacturers employ fewer workers than the pants of yesteryear. But technology-intensive production floors require higher-skilled employees, which places a premium on our talent pipelines and workforce development systems," Satterfield said. "The data is valuable for internal planning purposes, and the organization has always believed that objectives be measurable to the best extent possible."