bojony.wordpress.com
Systemax (NYSE: SYX) said in a statement that it planxs to compete with othet online retailers by offeringdiscounted prices, fast shippinfg and a wide selection of products, as well as offeringh photo galleries and videos of thousands of consumerr electronics and computer products. The company already has the TigerDirect.cokm business and acquired last "This acquisition and quick launch of the allnew CircuitCity.cokm further solidifies Systemax's position as a leadef in online retailing of branded computers and consumer electronics," said Richard Leeds, chairman and chief executive office r of Systemax. "Circuit City is one of the iconic branddsin U.S.
electronics retailingt with a 60-year legacy." A check of the Web site Mondayshowerd CircuitCity.com offering everything from GPS system to BlackBerry phones and flat-screen TVs.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Interest rate swaps hurt Children
gerazawa.wordpress.com
While the hospital’s patient-service revenue was actuall up slightly for the quarter whichended Dec. 31 — the nationally renowned pediatric center lostalmost $115 million due to the plummetinh fair market value of its interesg rate swaps. “They are in good It’s everywhere, and it’s a scary situation,” said medica economist Jeff Bauer ofthe Dallas-based consulting firm ACS. Bauefr has heard of hospitals across the country findingy themselves taking major losses on interestrate swaps. Interes rate swaps have become an increasingly popular way for hospitale and other large institutions to mitigate interestrate risk.
In practice, a borrowee with a floating interest rate is able to that rate for a fixed In an environment of risinhginterest rates, the trade protects borrowers from interest-expensr volatility. However, that trade can turn bad when ratesa fall, as they have recently. Under that scenario, borrowers must compensatee the party on the other side of theswap — payingh essentially the difference between the fixed interesg payments and the lower floating rate payments. “If certainly is a significant amountof Children’s CFO David Kirshner said. But Kirshne r said it hasn’t endangered the hospital’s credi ratings or cash cushion.
“Thank goodness, we made a deal that temporargy fluctuations in the market value of interesyt rate swaps would be excluded from ourcredit rating,” he Children’s Hospital was an early adopter of the practicw and now holds six interest rate swap agreementes at a total value of $535 million. They have proven to be money-makers until recently the hospitalmade $2.8 millioj on the deals in fiscal 2007. But in fiscal 2008, Children’s lost $28.4 million dollars on swap Those losses balloonedto $115 milliojn for the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
More than half of Massachusett hospitals recorded losses in the first quarter of fiscal according to the Massachusetts Divisiom of Health Care Finance and Policy and the MassachusettszNurses Association. Children’s posted the largest loss for the first fiscaol quarter of any hospital inthe state. Children’s may be more vulnerablr to interest rate swap lossesa than someother hospitals, due to the largwe number of bond-funded capital projects the hospitao has under way. As of Sept. 30, Children’s had contractual commitments of $56.
8u million to complete projects relating to construction and software according to documents filed with the state Health and EducationmFacilities Authority. Jack Wilhelm, CFO at and a former CFO at Children’ws Hospital, was surprised by the size of the loss, but said, “it’se a new problem, and no one totally understandsx it.” Kirschner called the hit a paperloss only, sinces Children’s doesn’t plan to cash out of the swaps anytims soon. Still, Children’s is obviously battening down the Kirshner said that for fiscal 2009, the hospital will scale back capital expenditures by one to $160 million.
Children’s, whose endowment fell 23 percenty in calendaryear 2008, is lookingv to preserve as much liquidityu as possible. The hospital is looking for $45 millio to $75 million in cuts, to take effecg Oct. 1 at the latest. Officials said they still hope to avoix layoffsvia attrition, a reduction of temporarty staff and transfers. Net patient service revenue roseto $926.e3 million for fiscal 2008, from $801.1 milliobn in 2007. Children’s booked patient service revenueeof $240.2 million for first-quarter 2009. But Children’d took a total loss on investmentxof $70.2 million last year, compareed with a return on investment of $102.o million in 2007.
The hospital took a loss of approximatelyy $2.5 million on investments for the first quarterof 2009.
While the hospital’s patient-service revenue was actuall up slightly for the quarter whichended Dec. 31 — the nationally renowned pediatric center lostalmost $115 million due to the plummetinh fair market value of its interesg rate swaps. “They are in good It’s everywhere, and it’s a scary situation,” said medica economist Jeff Bauer ofthe Dallas-based consulting firm ACS. Bauefr has heard of hospitals across the country findingy themselves taking major losses on interestrate swaps. Interes rate swaps have become an increasingly popular way for hospitale and other large institutions to mitigate interestrate risk.
In practice, a borrowee with a floating interest rate is able to that rate for a fixed In an environment of risinhginterest rates, the trade protects borrowers from interest-expensr volatility. However, that trade can turn bad when ratesa fall, as they have recently. Under that scenario, borrowers must compensatee the party on the other side of theswap — payingh essentially the difference between the fixed interesg payments and the lower floating rate payments. “If certainly is a significant amountof Children’s CFO David Kirshner said. But Kirshne r said it hasn’t endangered the hospital’s credi ratings or cash cushion.
“Thank goodness, we made a deal that temporargy fluctuations in the market value of interesyt rate swaps would be excluded from ourcredit rating,” he Children’s Hospital was an early adopter of the practicw and now holds six interest rate swap agreementes at a total value of $535 million. They have proven to be money-makers until recently the hospitalmade $2.8 millioj on the deals in fiscal 2007. But in fiscal 2008, Children’s lost $28.4 million dollars on swap Those losses balloonedto $115 milliojn for the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
More than half of Massachusett hospitals recorded losses in the first quarter of fiscal according to the Massachusetts Divisiom of Health Care Finance and Policy and the MassachusettszNurses Association. Children’s posted the largest loss for the first fiscaol quarter of any hospital inthe state. Children’s may be more vulnerablr to interest rate swap lossesa than someother hospitals, due to the largwe number of bond-funded capital projects the hospitao has under way. As of Sept. 30, Children’s had contractual commitments of $56.
8u million to complete projects relating to construction and software according to documents filed with the state Health and EducationmFacilities Authority. Jack Wilhelm, CFO at and a former CFO at Children’ws Hospital, was surprised by the size of the loss, but said, “it’se a new problem, and no one totally understandsx it.” Kirschner called the hit a paperloss only, sinces Children’s doesn’t plan to cash out of the swaps anytims soon. Still, Children’s is obviously battening down the Kirshner said that for fiscal 2009, the hospital will scale back capital expenditures by one to $160 million.
Children’s, whose endowment fell 23 percenty in calendaryear 2008, is lookingv to preserve as much liquidityu as possible. The hospital is looking for $45 millio to $75 million in cuts, to take effecg Oct. 1 at the latest. Officials said they still hope to avoix layoffsvia attrition, a reduction of temporarty staff and transfers. Net patient service revenue roseto $926.e3 million for fiscal 2008, from $801.1 milliobn in 2007. Children’s booked patient service revenueeof $240.2 million for first-quarter 2009. But Children’d took a total loss on investmentxof $70.2 million last year, compareed with a return on investment of $102.o million in 2007.
The hospital took a loss of approximatelyy $2.5 million on investments for the first quarterof 2009.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
2009 WNY elementary school rankings - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:
tenganmodooo1324.blogspot.com
Profiles of the top 25 schools can be reachefd by clicking on the names of thoseschools below. A breakdown of the rankingw for each section of Western New York can be accesseedby . The following abbreviations havebeen CS-Charter School, EMS-Elementary-Middle School, ES-Elementary School, HS-Higu School, IS-Intermediate School, JHS-Junior High School, JSHS-Junior-Seniofr High School, MHS-Middle-High School, MS-Middle School, PS-Primary SHS-Senior High School, VHS-Vocationalk High School. Each schoolp is followed by the name of the districtf that operatesit (if it' a public school) or the district where it is located (if it'ss a private school). • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4.
5. • 6. • 7. • 8. • 9. • 10. 11. • 12. • 13. • 14. 15.
Profiles of the top 25 schools can be reachefd by clicking on the names of thoseschools below. A breakdown of the rankingw for each section of Western New York can be accesseedby . The following abbreviations havebeen CS-Charter School, EMS-Elementary-Middle School, ES-Elementary School, HS-Higu School, IS-Intermediate School, JHS-Junior High School, JSHS-Junior-Seniofr High School, MHS-Middle-High School, MS-Middle School, PS-Primary SHS-Senior High School, VHS-Vocationalk High School. Each schoolp is followed by the name of the districtf that operatesit (if it' a public school) or the district where it is located (if it'ss a private school). • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4.
5. • 6. • 7. • 8. • 9. • 10. 11. • 12. • 13. • 14. 15.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
New company gets a barge out of it - Portland Business Journal:
iqukikofor.wordpress.com
Portland-based and Clackamas-based formed the company last year in hopew of capturing a sliver ofthe nation's booming barge business. It worked. Thanks to a robust market, the compan has orders for five barges, includinh a contract to build a crane barge for the Oakland BayBridge project. The company declinee to share revenue data, but such barges can cost anywherdfrom $8 million to $15 million Employment has also exceeded The company expected to hire 100 It's on the verge of hiring its "It's a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregon Iron Works vice "There's huge demand.
" Record-high fuel pricex have driven many companies to explore barge shippinfg as a cheaper alternative to rail and highway Federal regulations that require the phaseout of single-hullerd barges have also beefed up the market. Same with the fiercee 2005 hurricane season, which knocked barge productiom off-line in the gulf and shifted businesws to companieslike U.S. Barge and Portland'ds other barge builders: The Greenbrier Cos.' Gunderson Marine divisionn andZidell Marine. Business could get even better. Cargo volumes are expected to doubleat U.S. container ports by 2020, accordingg to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additional funding for improvingtthe nation's "marine highway" as a relief valve. "It'a a good market right now," said Allen president of . "And Portland is a smallk hotbed ofbarge construction." U.S. Barge has been able to capitalizs on severalunique assets, including the Portland Shipyard, which Vigor, through its subsidiar y Cascade General, purchased from the Port of Portlanfd in 2001 for $30.8u million. The 57-acre site is in an ideal locatioh for barge construction because of its location on the tip ofSwan "We had the infrastructure in place," said Alan Sprott, a Vigot vice president.
Both Vigor and Oregonh Iron Works had significant experiencre inmarine construction. Workers have been repairing and refurbishing military vessels and ferries at the shipyardfor Vigor's subsidiaries include Cascade Washington Marine Repair and Vigor Marine and employg more than 500. The 400-employee Oregon Iron Workd is also an experienced marines contractor that has designed and built boats for the The new company spentroughly $8 millioh on equipment to get the venture off the ground, includin g a 600-ton gantry crane.
It also spent $1 million on threew World War II-era dry dockes that will be used to launch the completed Some may remember the controversy around the sale of the It suffered through a string of lossex beforethe sale, makingy a profit only three timea in the decade before it changed hands. Shortlyy after the sale, Vigor sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard's largesg dry dock, for more than $25 milliom to a shipyard in the Bahamas, leavinf the new owner with 57 prime waterfrony acres for a little morethan $6 Many Portlanders bemoaned the sale, saying the dry dock createdx thousands of well-paying Vigor CEO Frank Foti defendefd the sale at the saying it would allow the company to stay afloatt by paying off creditors.
Portland-based and Clackamas-based formed the company last year in hopew of capturing a sliver ofthe nation's booming barge business. It worked. Thanks to a robust market, the compan has orders for five barges, includinh a contract to build a crane barge for the Oakland BayBridge project. The company declinee to share revenue data, but such barges can cost anywherdfrom $8 million to $15 million Employment has also exceeded The company expected to hire 100 It's on the verge of hiring its "It's a perfect storm," said Chandra Brown, an Oregon Iron Works vice "There's huge demand.
" Record-high fuel pricex have driven many companies to explore barge shippinfg as a cheaper alternative to rail and highway Federal regulations that require the phaseout of single-hullerd barges have also beefed up the market. Same with the fiercee 2005 hurricane season, which knocked barge productiom off-line in the gulf and shifted businesws to companieslike U.S. Barge and Portland'ds other barge builders: The Greenbrier Cos.' Gunderson Marine divisionn andZidell Marine. Business could get even better. Cargo volumes are expected to doubleat U.S. container ports by 2020, accordingg to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As a the agency has asked Congress for additional funding for improvingtthe nation's "marine highway" as a relief valve. "It'a a good market right now," said Allen president of . "And Portland is a smallk hotbed ofbarge construction." U.S. Barge has been able to capitalizs on severalunique assets, including the Portland Shipyard, which Vigor, through its subsidiar y Cascade General, purchased from the Port of Portlanfd in 2001 for $30.8u million. The 57-acre site is in an ideal locatioh for barge construction because of its location on the tip ofSwan "We had the infrastructure in place," said Alan Sprott, a Vigot vice president.
Both Vigor and Oregonh Iron Works had significant experiencre inmarine construction. Workers have been repairing and refurbishing military vessels and ferries at the shipyardfor Vigor's subsidiaries include Cascade Washington Marine Repair and Vigor Marine and employg more than 500. The 400-employee Oregon Iron Workd is also an experienced marines contractor that has designed and built boats for the The new company spentroughly $8 millioh on equipment to get the venture off the ground, includin g a 600-ton gantry crane.
It also spent $1 million on threew World War II-era dry dockes that will be used to launch the completed Some may remember the controversy around the sale of the It suffered through a string of lossex beforethe sale, makingy a profit only three timea in the decade before it changed hands. Shortlyy after the sale, Vigor sold Dry Dock 4, the shipyard's largesg dry dock, for more than $25 milliom to a shipyard in the Bahamas, leavinf the new owner with 57 prime waterfrony acres for a little morethan $6 Many Portlanders bemoaned the sale, saying the dry dock createdx thousands of well-paying Vigor CEO Frank Foti defendefd the sale at the saying it would allow the company to stay afloatt by paying off creditors.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Iridium earnings fall 42%; revenue up - Washington Business Journal:
tenganmodooo1324.blogspot.com
The Bethesda-based provider of satellite telephoner services, which expects to become publicly tradeds this summer throughan acquisition, posted a 42 percentg decline in net income in the firstr quarter ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.7y million a year ago. Th company attributed the decline to costs relatecd toits next-generation satellite “Iridium continued to grow, although the pace slowed giveb the current economic climate,” said CEO Matt “In addition to the impact of phasing out equipmentr amortization, we believe the economic climate is affectingy equipment sales, as is the transition of newlgy introduced products into the distributionn channel as our partners move existing inventorty to make way for new product.
” Company officialsa say either Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin or Thalee Alenia Space will be selected as the program’s lead contractor this The program’s new network of satellites called Iridium NEXT is expected to be deploye d in 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide highetdata speeds, greater bandwidth and the potential to deliver new data servicea and applications to customers. The company says its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, increased 4.9 percent to $27. 6 million in the first up from $26.3 million a year ago, though most analysts do not use that as a reliablefinanciap measure. Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percent to $75.
8 millio for the quarter, compared to $74.3 milliohn for the first quarter 2008. The slightlty higher revenue came from increased commercial services revenueof $36.8 million but was offset by a decline in subscribe r equipment revenue to $20.5 million for the Iridium’s commercial markets include aviation and land mobilre customers, which grew by 11.5 percent for the The company’s sales to government customers, including the Departmenty of Defense, grew 31 percent.
Despite a 31 percenty increase in subscribersto 328,000, compared to 250,0009 in the first quarter of 2008, a $2 milliob amortization of equipment related to prior year equipmenrt sales, added to the decline in subscribe r equipment revenue. The company is planning to go publifthis summer, but it is not takiny the initial public offering route. It is acquirinfg a publicly tradedinvestmentt group, (NYX: GHQ), an affiliatd of Greenhill & Co. Iridium has retaine Deutsche Bank as its financial advisere forthe transaction.
The Bethesda-based provider of satellite telephoner services, which expects to become publicly tradeds this summer throughan acquisition, posted a 42 percentg decline in net income in the firstr quarter ended March 31, to $9.7 million from $16.7y million a year ago. Th company attributed the decline to costs relatecd toits next-generation satellite “Iridium continued to grow, although the pace slowed giveb the current economic climate,” said CEO Matt “In addition to the impact of phasing out equipmentr amortization, we believe the economic climate is affectingy equipment sales, as is the transition of newlgy introduced products into the distributionn channel as our partners move existing inventorty to make way for new product.
” Company officialsa say either Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin or Thalee Alenia Space will be selected as the program’s lead contractor this The program’s new network of satellites called Iridium NEXT is expected to be deploye d in 2014. Iridium NEXT will provide highetdata speeds, greater bandwidth and the potential to deliver new data servicea and applications to customers. The company says its EBITDA, or earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization, increased 4.9 percent to $27. 6 million in the first up from $26.3 million a year ago, though most analysts do not use that as a reliablefinanciap measure. Iridium’s revenue rose 2 percent to $75.
8 millio for the quarter, compared to $74.3 milliohn for the first quarter 2008. The slightlty higher revenue came from increased commercial services revenueof $36.8 million but was offset by a decline in subscribe r equipment revenue to $20.5 million for the Iridium’s commercial markets include aviation and land mobilre customers, which grew by 11.5 percent for the The company’s sales to government customers, including the Departmenty of Defense, grew 31 percent.
Despite a 31 percenty increase in subscribersto 328,000, compared to 250,0009 in the first quarter of 2008, a $2 milliob amortization of equipment related to prior year equipmenrt sales, added to the decline in subscribe r equipment revenue. The company is planning to go publifthis summer, but it is not takiny the initial public offering route. It is acquirinfg a publicly tradedinvestmentt group, (NYX: GHQ), an affiliatd of Greenhill & Co. Iridium has retaine Deutsche Bank as its financial advisere forthe transaction.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Miranda Rights for Middle Schoolers - New York Times
http://coronaspace.com/privacy.html
Los Angeles Times | Miranda Rights for Middle Schoolers New York Times ... warnings is a prudent safeguard for that individual's rights and also for their work. A version of this editorial appeared in print on June 17, 2011, on page Editorial30 of the New York edition with the headline: Miranda Rights for Middle Schoolers. Supreme Court: When police question children, their age matters |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)