Peet S Coffee Tea Inc

In the first initial public offering of 2001, a closely watched IPO from Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based specialty coffee roaster and marketer, will begin trading today after being priced lower than Wall Street's expectations Wednesday. Peet's IPO, the first such deal since mid-December, raised concerns that the IPO market will remain lackluster. Peet's sold 3.3 million shares at $8 a share Wednesday night, the low end of an already lowered range of $8 to $10.

Doug Welsh hunches over a glass, takes a great slurp and then jets dark brown liquid into a brass spittoon. Welsh grows animated about what he is tasting: coffee grown at 6,000 feet in the remote Colombian province of Choco, a region previously unknown as a source of fine java. "It's rare to find beans like these from a new area," said Welsh, the coffee czar for Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc.

A surge in the stock price of Peet's Coffee & Tea since its initial public offering last Thursday may be making the company's investors happy, but it is raising new questions about the special auction system used to sell the deal. Shares of Peet's, an Emeryville, Calif.-based coffee producer and retailer, more than doubled in the days after its IPO, which was priced at $8 a share through the "OpenIPO" system developed by online investment bank W.R. Hambrecht & Co.

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. on Wednesday reported an espresso-charged doubling of profit in the second quarter, helped by new store openings, wider availability in grocery stores and strong growth in food-service sales. The Emeryville, Calif.-based roaster and retailer said net income jumped 114.3% to $1.5 million, or 12 cents a share, from $718,000, or 6 cents, in the second quarter of 2002. Revenue rose 17% to $29.1 million in the quarter, compared with $24.

Gourmet coffee shop chain Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. scaled back its initial public stock offering plans Tuesday, a blow to the company and to its underwriter, W.R. Hambrecht & Co. Peet's, based in Emeryville, Calif., is now asking between $8 and $10 a share, down from $10 to $14. The offering of 3.3 million shares is slated for completion today or Thursday. Hambrecht, an online investment bank, is using its "Dutch auction" system to sell stock in Peet's.

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. on Wednesday reported an espresso-charged doubling of profit in the second quarter, helped by new store openings, wider availability in grocery stores and strong growth in food-service sales. The Emeryville, Calif.-based roaster and retailer said net income jumped 114.3% to $1.5 million, or 12 cents a share, from $718,000, or 6 cents, in the second quarter of 2002. Revenue rose 17% to $29.1 million in the quarter, compared with $24.

Doug Welsh hunches over a glass, takes a great slurp and then jets dark brown liquid into a brass spittoon. Welsh grows animated about what he is tasting: coffee grown at 6,000 feet in the remote Colombian province of Choco, a region previously unknown as a source of fine java. "It's rare to find beans like these from a new area," said Welsh, the coffee czar for Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc.

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based chain of gourmet coffee shops, has filed for an initial public offering worth as much as $46 million. The firm operates 57 shops in four states, including California. Peet's hopes to sell 2.5 million shares at between $10 and $14 each.

Forget the Starbucks on the corner. Ignore the coffeehouse across the street and the espresso drive-through a block away. Seattle needs another coffee chain. Really. At least that's the story from Emeryville, Calif.-based Peet's Coffee & Tea, which will open its first Seattle coffeehouse in June in the Fremont neighborhood -- a nervy move into the home turf of resident caffeine king Starbucks Corp.

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., the Bay Area-based cafe chain, is going private for $977.6 million - but it's not being sold to Starbucks, its giant Seattle rival. Instead, German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser will shell out $73.50 a share to buy the Emeryville company, paying a 29% premium on Friday's $57.16 closing price. Peet's had just under 200 stores as of this spring. Last spring, Peet's and Starbucks were rumored to be in talks to combine in an effort to boost both brands' presence in grocery stores.

Forget the Starbucks on the corner. Ignore the coffeehouse across the street and the espresso drive-through a block away. Seattle needs another coffee chain. Really. At least that's the story from Emeryville, Calif.-based Peet's Coffee & Tea, which will open its first Seattle coffeehouse in June in the Fremont neighborhood -- a nervy move into the home turf of resident caffeine king Starbucks Corp.

A surge in the stock price of Peet's Coffee & Tea since its initial public offering last Thursday may be making the company's investors happy, but it is raising new questions about the special auction system used to sell the deal. Shares of Peet's, an Emeryville, Calif.-based coffee producer and retailer, more than doubled in the days after its IPO, which was priced at $8 a share through the "OpenIPO" system developed by online investment bank W.R. Hambrecht & Co.

In the first initial public offering of 2001, a closely watched IPO from Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based specialty coffee roaster and marketer, will begin trading today after being priced lower than Wall Street's expectations Wednesday. Peet's IPO, the first such deal since mid-December, raised concerns that the IPO market will remain lackluster. Peet's sold 3.3 million shares at $8 a share Wednesday night, the low end of an already lowered range of $8 to $10.

Gourmet coffee shop chain Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. scaled back its initial public stock offering plans Tuesday, a blow to the company and to its underwriter, W.R. Hambrecht & Co. Peet's, based in Emeryville, Calif., is now asking between $8 and $10 a share, down from $10 to $14. The offering of 3.3 million shares is slated for completion today or Thursday. Hambrecht, an online investment bank, is using its "Dutch auction" system to sell stock in Peet's.

Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based chain of gourmet coffee shops, has filed for an initial public offering worth as much as $46 million. The firm operates 57 shops in four states, including California. Peet's hopes to sell 2.5 million shares at between $10 and $14 each.

The parent company of Tully's Coffee, the Seattle-based coffee cafe chain that isn't Starbucks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. TC Global Inc. said it would close an undisclosed number of its 175 stores in the process. Tully's has faced “significant challenges that were preventing the company from being profitable,” according to a statement . Though the filing was a “difficult decision,” TC Global said it was a necessary step in dealing with rising commodity prices and problematic leases.