text
stringlengths 0
11M
| link
stringclasses 1
value | source
stringclasses 16
values |
|---|---|---|
May 1, 2018 / 5:35 PM / Updated 31 minutes ago Facebook to use augmented reality to draw ads to Messenger app David Ingram 3 Min Read
MENLO PARK, Calif. (Reuters) - Facebook Inc’s Messenger app launched an augmented reality feature on Tuesday to allow people to see products they are shopping for as if they already have them, such as a car parked in a driveway, in a move aimed at drawing in potential advertisers. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook Inc's annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S. May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Although smartphone messaging apps are not known for displaying ads, Facebook has said that targeting the 1.3 billion people who use its Messenger service with ads will be an important part of the company’s long-term revenue growth.
Silicon Valley tech firms are pouring money into augmented reality, a mix of the real and digital worlds best known from the game Pokemon Go.
Facebook, at a tech conference that begins on Tuesday, is launching a new toolkit for software developers to make augmented reality features.
David Marcus, head of Facebook’s Messenger app, said in an interview that shoppers will be able to visualize and potentially test out products that advertisers have made available. Sephora, one of the first businesses that will use the feature, will let people virtually try on cosmetics.
Similar augmented-reality features have proliferated on the apps of retailers such Amazon.com Inc and Ikea, which allow people to see how a toaster or couch would look in a room.
Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, has been encouraging businesses to use Messenger to talk with consumers, sometimes for customer service.
Having businesses using Messenger helps Facebook’s advertising business, Marcus said. Marketers can place ads directly in the service, and Facebook sells ads in its News Feed that connect to Messenger conversations.
Messenger and the News Feed create a feedback loop like a “flywheel” for ad sales, Marcus said.
Four businesses are participating in the launch: electronics company Asustek Computer Inc, automaker Kia Motors Corp, clothing company Nike Inc and Sephora, a unit of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.
WhatsApp, another Facebook-owned messaging service with more than 1 billion users, has sworn off advertising. WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum said on Monday he was leaving. The Washington Post reported he was doing so in part after conflicts about advertising, which he opposes.
Marcus said he was not worried about ads turning off Messenger users. People must opt in to talk with a business on the service. “People actually find it helpful,” he said.
Messenger is trying to attract businesses in other ways, such as automated chat “bots” that can reply to customer inquiries. There are 300,000 bots on Messenger, three times more than a year ago, Marcus said. Guests enter to atttend Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's keynote speech at Facebook Inc's annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S. May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Stephen Lam Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Frances Kerry | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/facebook-f8conference-messenger/facebook-to-use-augmented-reality-to-draw-ads-to-messenger-app-idINKBN1I243Q |
MET Gala 2018: Heavenly Bodies Hector Retamal | AFP | Getty Images Adam Jeffery | @ajefferyphoto 23 Hours Ago
Last night the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted the 2018 MET Gala with a star-studded guest list of celebs to celebrate the opening of Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination
Celebs, dressed for the theme, arrived in stunning designs or outrageous costumes to mark the night that raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute.
The following are some of the fashion highlights of the night. Blake Lively | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/08/met-gala-2018-heavenly-bodies.html |
LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - Russia’s En+ Group, which manages Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium and hydropower businesses, will present the U.S. Treasury with a plan to reduce his stake and change its directors - a plan contingent on the lifting of U.S. sanctions against the company, a source close to En+ said.
The company is still working to secure buyers for Deripaska’s stake to bring him below 50 percent, the source said.
The source said En+ would likely have to ask the U.S. authorities for an extension to the June 6 deadline for Deripaska to sell the stake and for the independent directors to be appointed, the source added. (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva and Clara Denina; Editing by Adrian Croft)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/en-group-sanctions/en-to-propose-plan-to-u-s-treasury-contingent-on-sanctions-removal-source-idUSL5N1SP575 |
Weinstein charged with rape, free on $1 Mln bail 7:46pm BST - 01:28
The lawyer for disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein says his client intends to plead not guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse, after being taken to a New York courthouse in handcuffs where he posted a $1 million bail. ▲ Hide Transcript ▶ View Transcript
The lawyer for disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein says his client intends to plead not guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse, after being taken to a New York courthouse in handcuffs where he posted a $1 million bail. Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code https://reut.rs/2IKKPKh | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/video/2018/05/25/weinstein-charged-with-rape-free-on-1-ml?videoId=430211368 |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Most hotels already offer quick checkout. Now, a growing number are selling briefer stays, too.
Through an app called Recharge, some 50 hotels in San Francisco and New York offer rooms by the minute — at 40 cents to $2 per minute, depending on demand and time of day. That means the opportunity to take an hour nap in a comfortable bed for $24 to $120 before the usual taxes and other fees collected by hotels.
That isn't exactly a bargain. For instance, two of the participating hotels recently were offering full-night stays for $269, before taxes. That works out to about $12 per hour, assuming a regular check-in and check-out time.
But it's a savings over the full-night rate for those who don't need the full night. Recharge says its app has drawn interest from travelers needing a nap after an overnight flight and from nursing mothers looking for some privacy and comfort.
Although the hotel still needs to pay for cleaning and administrative tasks, it's extra money for a room that might otherwise be empty during the day.
Recharge plans to expand to Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington this year. Another digital service, Byhours, offers "microstays" at about 3,000 hotels worldwide, but only four are in the U.S., all in the New York area. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/the-associated-press-hotel-rooms-by-the-hour-or-the-minute.html |
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TriState Capital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSC) today announced that affiliates of Lovell Minnick Partners LLC (collectively, “Lovell Minnick”) have agreed to sell 2,200,000 shares of TriState Capital common stock in an underwritten public offering. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., A Stifel Company, is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. TriState Capital is not selling any stock in this transaction and will not receive any proceeds from the secondary offering.
Lovell Minnick funds have been equity investors in TriState Capital since August 2012. Upon completion of the offering Lovell Minnick is expected to continue to own approximately 9% of the Company’s outstanding common stock. Lovell Minnick Co-Chairman James E. Minnick also remains a member of TriState Capital’s Board of Directors.
The shares are being offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement (File No. 333-222074) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and was declared effective by the SEC on December 21, 2017. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Potential purchasers of our common stock should consider carefully the information contained in the preliminary prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus and other documents that TriState Capital has filed with the SEC for more complete information about TriState Capital and the offering. Copies of the registration statement, prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained free of charge by visiting the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov , or may be obtained from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Equity Capital Markets, 787 Seventh Avenue, NY, NY 10019, or by calling 800-966-1559.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
ABOUT TRISTATE CAPITAL
TriState Capital Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., providing commercial banking, private banking and investment management services to middle-market companies, institutional clients and high-net-worth individuals. Its TriState Capital Bank subsidiary had $4.7 billion in assets as of March 31, 2018, and serves middle-market commercial customers through regional representative offices in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Edison, N.J., and New York City, as well as high-net-worth individuals nationwide through its national referral network of financial intermediaries. Its Chartwell Investment Partners subsidiary has more than $9 billion in assets under management, and serves as the advisor to The Berwyn Funds and Chartwell Mutual Funds.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release includes “forward-looking” statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including with respect to the timing and size of the offering, which statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to those that are described in the “Risk Factors” section of the preliminary prospectus supplement for this offering and the sections titled “Risk Factors,” “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in TriState Capital’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 and Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, as well as in other filings that TriState Capital makes with the SEC from time to time (which are available at www.sec.gov ). The events and circumstances discussed in such forward-looking statements may not occur, and TriState Capital’s actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied thereby. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to TriState Capital as of the date of this release.
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180522006353/en/
MEDIA CONTACT
HornerCom
Jack Horner
267-932-8760, ext. 302
412-600-2295 (mobile)
[email protected]
or
INVESTOR CONTACTS
Casteel Schoenborn
Jeff Schoenborn and Kate Croft
888-609-8351
[email protected]
Source: TriState Capital Holdings, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/business-wire-tristate-capital-announces-public-offering-of-common-stock-by-selling-shareholders.html |
April 30 (Reuters) - China Yuhua Education Corp Ltd :
* H1 NET PROFIT ATTRIBUTABLE RMB201.7 MILLION VERSUS RMB122 MILLION
* H1 REVENUE RMB517.1 MILLION VERSUS RMB421.4 MILLION * RESOLVED TO DECLARE AN INTERIM DIVIDEND OF HK$0.047 PER SHARE Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-rpt-china-yuhua-education-corp-to/brief-rpt-china-yuhua-education-corp-to-declare-interim-dividend-of-hk0-047-per-share-idUSL8N1S7577 |
First quarter revenue of $543.8 million; $518.8 million excluding effects of new revenue recognition rules (ASC 606) First quarter net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. of $66.8 million First quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $418.6 million or 77 percent of revenue; $392.3 million or 76 percent of revenue excluding effects of ASC 606 $8.6 billion contracted backlog, or $7.6 billion excluding the effects of ASC 606
LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I), operator of the world’s first Globalized Network and leader in integrated satellite communications, today announced financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2018.
Intelsat reported total revenue of $543.8 million and net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. of $66.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018.
In the first quarter of 2018, we adopted the provisions of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”). As a result of the adoption of ASC 606, total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018 reflects $25.1 million primarily related to the significant financing component identified in our customer contracts.
Total revenue excluding the effects of ASC 606 was $518.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018.
Intelsat reported EBITDA 1 , or earnings before net interest, gain on early extinguishment of debt, taxes and depreciation and amortization, of $405.4 million and Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $418.6 million, or 77 percent of revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018. Total Adjusted EBITDA excluding the effects of ASC 606 was $392.3 million, or 76 percent of revenue, for the three months ended March 31, 2018.
Intelsat’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Spengler, said, “We are leveraging our scale and global presence to drive returns on our network, making solid progress on our operating priorities for 2018. First quarter highlights included new broadband contracts on our Intelsat Epic NG satellites in Africa and Asia, as well as a North American hosted payload program for the U.S. Government. In addition, we introduced a new shared services platform for our media customers that will drive incremental value at our video neighborhood in Central and Eastern Europe.”
Mr. Spengler continued, “Our two planned launches for the second half of 2018, Intelsat 38 and Horizons 3e, are further examples of creatively utilizing our global orbital rights for satellite partnerships, delivering capital expenditure efficiencies while providing for revenue continuity and high-performance inventory for growth.”
First Quarter 2018 Business Highlights
Intelsat provides critical communications infrastructure to customers in the network services, media and government sectors. Our customers use our services for broadband connectivity to deliver fixed and mobile telecommunications, enterprise, video distribution and fixed and mobile government applications. For additional details regarding the performance of our customer sets, see our Quarterly Commentary.
Network Services
Network services revenue was $198.6 million (or 37 percent of Intelsat’s total revenue) for the three months ended March 31, 2018, a decrease of 7 percent compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. There was an immaterial effect from ASC 606 on our network services revenue.
Media
Media revenue was $239.3 million (or 44 percent of Intelsat’s total revenue) for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 6 percent compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the effects of ASC 606, media revenue was $222.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, a decrease of 1 percent compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017.
Government
Government revenue was $97.3 million (or 18 percent of Intelsat’s total revenue) for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 6 percent compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the effects of ASC 606, government revenue was $89.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, a decrease of 3 percent compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017.
Average Fill Rate
Intelsat’s average fill rate on our approximately 1,850 station-kept wide-beam transponders was 80 percent at March 31, 2018, compared to 79 percent as of December 31, 2017. In addition, our fleet includes approximately 1,150 36MHz units of high-throughput Intelsat Epic NG capacity, an increase from 825 units at December 31, 2017, reflecting the entry into service of Intelsat 37e early in the first quarter of 2018.
Satellite Launches
Intelsat has two additional satellite launches planned for the second half of 2018 on Arianespace. Intelsat 38, a satellite jointly built with Azerbaijan’s commercial satellite operator, Azercosmos OJSC, is designed to provide media and broadband services in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Horizons 3e satellite, Intelsat’s joint venture satellite with JSAT, completes the initial buildout of the Intelsat Epic NG high-throughput global network, providing service coverage in the Asia-Pacific region.
Contracted Backlog
At March 31, 2018, Intelsat’s contracted backlog, representing expected future revenue under existing contracts with customers, was $8.6 billion, including $1.0 billion attributable to ASC 606. Excluding the effects of ASC 606, contracted backlog was $7.6 billion, as compared to $7.8 billion at December 31, 2017.
Financial Results for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018
On-Network revenues generally include revenue from any services delivered via our satellite and ground network. Off-Network and Other Revenues generally include revenue from transponder services, mobile satellite services (“MSS”) and other satellite-based transmission services using capacity procured from other operators, often in frequencies not available on our network. Off-Network and Other revenues also include revenue from consulting and other services and sales of customer premises equipment.
Total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018 increased by $5.3 million, or 1 percent, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the impact of ASC 606 adjustments, total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2018 decreased by $19.7 million, or 4 percent, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. By service type, our revenues increased or decreased due to the following:
Total On-Network Revenues increased by $6.1 million to $497.6 million as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding the $25.5 million attributable to ASC 606, total on-network revenues declined by $19.3 million, or 4 percent, to $472.1 million:
Transponder services revenue of $395.7 million reflects an aggregate increase of $6.8 million, of which $23.7 million is attributable to ASC 606, comprised of $15.4 million and $8.2 million from the media and government businesses, respectively. Exclusive of these revenues attributable to ASC 606, transponder services declined by an aggregate amount of $16.9 million, due primarily to a net decrease in revenue from network services applications of $11.2 million, reflecting non-renewals and renewal pricing at lower rates for wide-beam services in Latin America and Europe, partially offset by growth in maritime and aeronautical mobility services on the Intelsat Epic NG platform. In addition, transponder services for media applications declined by $5.3 million, due to lower termination fees from certain customers in North America and lower revenues from cash basis customers as compared to the first quarter of 2017. Managed services revenue of $100.7 million reflects an aggregate decrease of $0.2 million, of which $1.7 million was attributable to ASC 606, substantially all of which was related to the media business. Excluding the effects of ASC 606, managed services declined by $1.9 million, related in part to a $3.6 million decline in revenue from network services customers for point-to-point trunking, which are switching to fiber alternatives, and a $4.4 million decline related to a previously disclosed government contract which ended in the first quarter of 2017, offset somewhat by a $3.9 million increase in revenue from network services customers for mobility applications and a $1.6 million increase in revenue from managed media solutions.
Total Off-Network and Other Revenues reported an aggregate decline of $0.8 million, or a decrease of 2 percent, to $46.2 million, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. Excluding adjustments attributable to ASC 606 of $0.4 million Off-Network and Other Revenues were effectively unchanged in the aggregate from the first quarter of 2017:
Transponder, MSS and other Off-Network services reported an aggregate decrease of
$0.5 million, inclusive of a decrease of $0.4 million attributable to ASC 606 adjustments. Excluding this, Transponder, MSS and other Off-Network services decreased slightly from the first quarter of 2017, reflecting a $3.8 million decline in revenue for third party government applications in connection with a previously disclosed termination of a maritime contract, partially offset by an increase of $2.8 million from managed off-network revenues for network services and media services and an increase of $1.4 million in revenue from MSS services. Satellite-related services reported a slight aggregate decrease of $0.4 million, primarily due to decreased revenue from professional services supporting third-party satellites.
For the three months ended March 31, 2018, changes in operating expenses, interest expense, net, and other significant income statement items are described below.
Direct costs of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization) decreased by $1.9 million, or 2 percent, to $82.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease of $2.0 million in satellite-related insurance and licensing costs.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $3.0 million, or 5 percent, to $60.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase of $5.4 million in professional fees primarily due to our liability management initiatives, and an increase of $1.6 million in bad debt expense, partially offset by a decrease of $3.7 million in staff-related expenses associated with lower share-based compensation.
Depreciation and amortization expense decreased by $12.7 million, or 7 percent, to $166.5 million, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily related to a number of satellites becoming fully depreciated during the period, offset partially by new satellite and ground segment assets placed into service.
Interest expense, net consists of the interest expense we incur offset by interest income earned and the amount of interest we capitalize related to assets under construction. Interest expense, net increased by $36.2 million, or 15 percent, to $282.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase in interest expense, net was principally due to an increase of $29.5 million related to the significant financing component identified in customer contracts in accordance with ASC 606. In addition, interest expense, net increased by $24.7 million primarily driven by our new debt issuances and amendments to our senior secured credit facility with higher interest rates, partially offset by certain debt repurchases in 2017, and an increase of $4.2 million from lower capitalized interest primarily resulting from decreased levels of satellites and related assets under construction. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $21.5 million corresponding to the increase in fair value of the interest rate cap contracts we entered into in 2017 and hold.
The non-cash portion of total interest expense, net was $20.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, due to the amortization of deferred financing fees, accretion and amortization of discounts and premiums, and interest expense related to the significant financing component identified in customer contracts in accordance with ASC 606, as well as the gain offset from the increase in the fair value of interest rate cap contracts we hold.
Other income, net was $4.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, as compared to $1.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase of $3.1 million was primarily related to an increase in other income related to leased service activities.
Provision for income taxes increased by $15.6 million to $22.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2017. The increase was principally due to additional tax expense in our U.S. subsidiaries as a result of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted on December 22, 2017. Cash paid for income taxes, net of refunds, totaled $2.2 million and $16.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.
Net Income (Loss), Net Income (Loss) per Diluted Common Share attributable to Intelsat S.A., EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
Net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. was $66.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared to net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. of $34.6 million for the same period in 2017.
Net loss per diluted common share attributable to Intelsat S.A. was $0.56 for the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared to net loss per diluted common share of $0.29 for the same period in 2017.
EBITDA was $405.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared to $398.1 million for the same period in 2017.
Adjusted EBITDA was $418.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, or 77 percent of revenue, compared to $409.8 million, or 76 percent of revenue, for the same period in 2017. Excluding the effects of ASC 606, Adjusted EBITDA declined by 4 percent to $392.3 million, or 76 percent of revenue in the first quarter of 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017. Please see the table below for further detail of the impacts on Adjusted EBITDA as a result of ASC 606.
Free Cash Flow From (Used In) Operations
Net cash provided by operating activities was $80.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, and free cash flow from operations 1 was $16.6 million for the same period. Free cash flow from (used in) operations is defined as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, less payments for satellites and other property and equipment (including capitalized interest) and other payments for satellites from financing activities. Payments for satellites and other property and equipment from investing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2018 was $68.0 million.
Financial Outlook 2018
Today, Intelsat reaffirmed its 2018 revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and capital expenditure guidance issued on February 26, 2018, in which the Company expects the following results, excluding the impact of ASC 606:
Revenue: Intelsat forecasts full-year 2018 revenue to be in a range of $2.060 billion to $2.110 billion.
Adjusted EBITDA: Intelsat forecasts Adjusted EBITDA performance for the full-year 2018 to be in a range of $1.560 billion to $1.605 billion.
Capital Expenditures: Intelsat issued its 2018 capital expenditure guidance for the three calendar years 2018 through 2020 (the “Guidance Period”). Over the next three years we are in a cycle of lower than average required investment due to timing of replacement satellites and smaller satellites being built.
We expect the following capital expenditure ranges:
2018: $375 million to $425 million; 2019: $425 million to $500 million; and 2020: $375 million to $475 million.
By early 2019, we plan to have completed the investment program in the current series of Intelsat Epic NG high-throughput satellites and payloads, thereby increasing our total transmission capacity. By the conclusion of the Guidance Period at the end of 2020, the net number of transponder equivalents is expected to increase by a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of approximately 5 percent, reflecting the net activity of satellites entering and leaving service during the Guidance Period. Capital expenditure incurrence is subject to the timing of achievement of contract, satellite manufacturing, launch and other milestones.
Our capital expenditure guidance includes capitalized interest, which is expected to average approximately $40 million annually over the Guidance Period.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1 In this release, financial measures are presented both in accordance with U.S. GAAP and also on a non-U.S. GAAP basis. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA (or “AEBITDA”), free cash flow from (used in) operations and related margins included in this release are non-U.S. GAAP financial measures. Please see the consolidated financial information below for information reconciling non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures.
Q1 2018 Quarterly Commentary
Intelsat provides a detailed quarterly commentary on the Company’s business trends and performance. Please visit www.intelsat.com/investors for management’s commentary on the Company’s progress against its operational priorities and financial outlook.
Conference Call Information
Intelsat management will hold a public conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 to discuss the Company’s first quarter financial results for the period ended March 31, 2018. Access to the live conference call will also be available via the Internet at www.intelsat.com/investors . To participate on the live call, participants should dial +1 844-834-1428 from North America, and +1 920-663-6274 from all other locations. The participant pass code is 7496268.
Participants will have access to a replay of the conference call through May 8, 2018. The replay number for North America is +1 855-859-2056, and for all other locations is +1 404-537-3406. The participant pass code for the replay is 7496268.
About Intelsat
Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) operates the world’s first Globalized Network, delivering high-quality, cost-effective video and broadband services anywhere in the world. Intelsat’s Globalized Network combines the world’s largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture to enable customers to drive revenue and reach through a new generation of network services. Thousands of organizations serving billions of people worldwide rely on Intelsat to provide ubiquitous broadband connectivity, multi-format video broadcasting, secure satellite communications and seamless mobility services. The end result is an entirely new world, one that allows us to envision the impossible, connect without boundaries and transform the ways in which we live. For more information, visit www.intelsat.com .
Intelsat Safe Harbor Statement:
Some of the information and statements contained in this earnings release and certain oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Intelsat constitute "forward-looking statements" that do not directly or exclusively relate to historical facts. When used in this earnings release, the words “may,” “will,” “might,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “project,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “intend,” “potential,” “outlook,” and “continue,” and the negative of these terms, and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Forward-looking statements include: statements regarding our expectation that the launches of our satellites in the future will position us for growth; our plans for satellite launches in the near to mid-term; our guidance regarding our intention to maximize the value of our spectrum rights, including the pursuit of partnerships to optimize new satellite business cases and the exploration of joint use of certain spectrum with the wireless sector in certain geographies; our expectations as to when the FCC may issue an NPRM and the potential timing of a final order with respect to our C-band Joint Use Proposal; guidance regarding our expectations for our revenue performance and Adjusted EBITDA performance; our capital expenditure guidance over the next several years; our belief that the scale of our fleet can reduce the financial impact of satellite or launch failures and protect against service interruptions; our belief that the diversity of our revenue and customer base allows us to recognize trends across regions and capture new growth opportunities; our expectation that developing differentiated services and investing in new technology will allow us to unlock essential opportunities; our expectations as to the increased number of transponder equivalents on our fleet over the next several years; and our expectations as to the level of our cash tax payments in the future.
The forward-looking statements reflect Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, outlook, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of Intelsat's control. Important factors that could cause actual the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include known and unknown risks. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from historical results or those anticipated or predicted by these forward-looking statements include: risks associated with operating our in-orbit satellites; satellite anomalies, launch failures, satellite launch and construction delays and in-orbit failures or reduced performance; potential changes in the number of companies offering commercial satellite launch services and the number of commercial satellite launch opportunities available in any given time period that could impact our ability to timely schedule future launches and the prices we pay for such launches; our ability to obtain new satellite insurance policies with financially viable insurance carriers on commercially reasonable terms or at all, as well as the ability of our insurance carriers to fulfill their obligations; possible future losses on satellites that are not adequately covered by insurance; U.S. and other government regulation; changes in our contracted backlog or expected contracted backlog for future services; pricing pressure and overcapacity in the markets in which we compete; our ability to access capital markets for debt or equity; the competitive environment in which we operate; customer defaults on their obligations to us; our international operations and other uncertainties associated with doing business internationally; and litigation. Known risks include, among others, the risks described in Intelsat’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2017, and its other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the political, economic and legal conditions in the markets we are targeting for communications services or in which we operate and other risks and uncertainties inherent in the telecommunications business in general and the satellite communications business in particular.
Because actual results could differ materially from Intelsat's intentions, plans, expectations, anticipations, projections, estimations, predictions, outlook, assumptions and beliefs about the future, you are urged to view all forward-looking statements with caution. Intelsat does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
INTELSAT S.A.
UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS ($ in thousands, except per share amounts) Three Months Three Months Ended Ended March 31, March 31, 2017 2018 Revenue $ 538,484 $ 543,782 Operating expenses: Direct costs of revenue (excluding depreciation and amortization)
84,461
82,571
Selling, general and administrative 57,295 60,282 Depreciation and amortization 179,132 166,457 Total operating expenses
320,888
309,310
Income from operations 217,596
234,472 Interest expense, net 246,246 282,454 Gain on early extinguishment of debt 504 65 Other income, net 1,344 4,429 Loss before income taxes (26,802 ) (43,488 ) Provision for income taxes 6,840 22,361 Net loss (33,642 ) (65,849 ) Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (928 ) (952 ) Net loss attributable to Intelsat S.A. $ (34,570 ) $ (66,801 ) Cumulative preferred dividends - - Net loss attributable to common shareholders $ (34,570 ) $ (66,801 ) Net loss per common share attributable to Intelsat S.A.: Basic $ (0.29 ) $ (0.56 ) Diluted $ (0.29 ) $ (0.56 ) INTELSAT S.A. UNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME/(LOSS) TO EBITDA ($ in thousands) Three Months Three Months Ended Ended March 31, March 31, 2017 2018 Net loss $ (33,642 ) $ (65,849 ) Add (Subtract): Interest expense, net 246,246 282,454 Gain on early extinguishment of debt (504 ) (65 ) Provision for income taxes 6,840 22,361 Depreciation and amortization 179,132 166,457 EBITDA 398,072 405,358 Effect of ASC 606 Adoption - (26,390 ) EBITDA excluding ASC 606 adoption effect $ 398,072 $ 378,968 EBITDA Margin 74 % 75 % EBITDA Margin excluding ASC 606 adoption effect 74 % 73 % Note:
Intelsat calculates a measure called EBITDA to assess the operating performance of Intelsat S.A. EBITDA consists of earnings before net interest, gain on early extinguishment of debt, taxes and depreciation and amortization. Given our high level of leverage, refinancing activities are a frequent part of our efforts to manage our costs of borrowing. Accordingly, we consider gain on early extinguishment of debt an element of interest expense. EBITDA is a measure commonly used in the Fixed Satellite Services (“FSS”) sector, and we present EBITDA to enhance the understanding of our operating performance. We use EBITDA as one criterion for evaluating our performance relative to that of our peers. We believe that EBITDA is an operating performance measure, and not a liquidity measure, that provides investors and financial analysts with a measure of operating results unaffected by differences in capital structures, capital investment cycles and ages of related assets among otherwise comparable companies.
EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, and our EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to operating income (loss) or net income (loss), determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of our operating performance, or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities, determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of cash flows, or as a measure of liquidity.
INTELSAT S.A. UNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME/(LOSS) TO ADJUSTED EBITDA ($ in thousands) Three Months Three Months Ended Ended March 31, March 31, 2017 2018 Net loss $ (33,642 ) $ (65,849 ) Add (Subtract): Interest expense, net 246,246 282,454 Gain on early extinguishment of debt (504 ) (65 ) Provision for income taxes 6,840 22,361 Depreciation and amortization 179,132 166,457 EBITDA 398,072 405,358 Add : Compensation and benefits 4,902 1,303 Non-recurring and other non-cash items 6,864 11,979 Adjusted EBITDA 409,838 418,640 Effect of ASC 606 Adoption - (26,390 ) Adjusted EBITDA excluding ASC 606 adoption effect $ 409,838 $ 392,250 Adjusted EBITDA Margin
76 % 77 % Adjusted EBITDA Margin excluding ASC 606 adoption effect
76 % 76 % Note:
Intelsat calculates a measure called Adjusted EBITDA to assess the operating performance of Intelsat S.A. Adjusted EBITDA consists of EBITDA as adjusted to exclude or include certain unusual items, certain other operating expense items and certain other adjustments as described in the table above. Our management believes that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors, lenders and financial analysts regarding our financial condition and results of operations, because it permits clearer comparability of our operating performance between periods. By excluding the potential volatility related to the timing and extent of non-operating activities, our management believes that Adjusted EBITDA provides a useful means of evaluating the success of our operating activities. We also use Adjusted EBITDA, together with other appropriate metrics, to set goals for and measure the operating performance of our business, and it is one of the principal measures we use to evaluate our management’s performance in determining compensation under our incentive compensation plans. Adjusted EBITDA measures have been used historically by investors, lenders and financial analysts to estimate the value of a company, to make informed investment decisions and to evaluate performance. Our management believes that the inclusion of Adjusted EBITDA facilitates comparison of our results with those of companies having different capital structures.
Adjusted EBITDA is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, and our Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as an alternative to operating income (loss) or net income (loss), determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of our operating performance, or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities, determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of cash flows, or as a measure of liquidity.
INTELSAT S.A. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS ($ in thousands, except per share amounts) As of December 31,
2017
As of March 31,
2018
(unaudited) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 525,215 $ 492,349 Restricted cash 16,176 18,905 Receivables, net of allowances of $29,669 in 2017 and $30,759 in 2018 221,223 226,714 Contract assets - 48,589 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 56,862 26,567 Total current assets 819,476 813,124 Satellites and other property and equipment, net 5,923,619 5,835,893 Goodwill 2,620,627 2,620,627 Non-amortizable intangible assets 2,452,900 2,452,900 Amortizable intangible assets, net 349,584 339,964 Contract assets, net of current portion - 94,470 Other assets 443,830 361,447 Total assets $ 12,610,036 $ 12,518,425 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' DEFICIT Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 116,396 $ 96,489 Taxes payable 12,007 31,841 Employee related liabilities 29,328 25,112 Accrued interest payable 263,207 285,833 Current portion of long-term debt 96,572 64,016 Contract liabilities - 151,757 Deferred satellite performance incentives 25,780 29,203 Deferred revenue 149,749 - Other current liabilities 47,287 46,636 Total current liabilities 740,326 730,887 Long-term debt, net of current portion 14,112,086 14,124,237 Contract liabilities, net of current portion - 1,134,132 Deferred satellite performance incentives, net of current portion 215,352 232,988 Deferred revenue, net of current portion 794,707 - Deferred income taxes 48,434 8,595 Accrued retirement benefits 191,079 187,635 Other long-term liabilities 296,616 66,458 Shareholders' deficit: Common shares; nominal value $0.01 per share 1,196 1,206 Paid-in capital 2,173,367 2,175,441 Accumulated deficit (5,894,659 ) (6,073,622 ) Accumulated other comprehensive loss (87,774 ) (87,189 ) Total Intelsat S.A. shareholders' deficit (3,807,870 ) (3,984,164 ) Noncontrolling interest 19,306 17,657 Total liabilities and shareholders' deficit $ 12,610,036 $ 12,518,425 INTELSAT S.A. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS ($ in thousands) Three Months Three Months Ended Ended March 31, March 31, 2017 2018 Cash flows from operating activities: Net loss $ (33,642 ) $ (65,849 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 179,132 166,457 Provision for doubtful accounts (329 ) 1,266 Foreign currency transaction gain (1,539 ) (741 ) Loss on disposal of assets 24 - Share-based compensation 4,902 1,303 Deferred income taxes (1,325 ) (50 ) Amortization of discount, premium, issuance costs and related costs 11,812 12,109 Gain on early extinguishment of debt (504 ) (65 ) Amortization of actuarial loss and prior service credits for retirement benefits 893 1,224 Unrealized gains on derivatives and investments - (21,309 ) Other non-cash items 18 (769 ) Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Receivables 6,653 (17,204 ) Prepaid expenses, contract and other assets (6,433 ) (7,441 ) Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (39,932 ) 14,377 Accrued interest payable 85,078 22,626 Deferred revenue and contract liabilities (23,408 ) (22,250 ) Accrued retirement benefits (3,106 ) (3,444 ) Other long-term liabilities 70 617 Net cash provided by operating activities 178,364 80,857 Cash flows from investing activities: Payments for satellites and other property and equipment (including capitalized interest) (178,473 ) (68,027 ) Purchase of cost method investments (16,000 ) - Capital contributions to unconsolidated affiliates (3,022 ) (12,129 ) Proceeds from insurance settlements - 5,709 Other proceeds from satellites - 3,750 Net cash used in investing activities (197,495 ) (70,697 ) Cash flows from financing activities: Payments on debt exchange (14 ) - Repayments of long-term debt - (32,603 ) Other payments for satellites (18,333 ) - Principal payments on deferred satellite performance incentives (4,570 ) (7,109 ) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interest (2,500 ) (2,601 ) Other financing activities 503 1,233 Net cash used in financing activities (24,914 ) (41,080 ) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 696 783 Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (43,349 ) (30,137 ) Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash beginning of period 666,024 541,391 Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash end of period $ 622,675 $ 511,254 Supplemental cash flow information: Interest paid, net of amounts capitalized $ 149,724 $ 241,008 Income taxes paid, net of refunds 16,489 2,174 Supplemental disclosure of non-cash investing activities: Accrued capital expenditures $ 46,775 $ 14,447 Capitalization of deferred satellite performance incentives 27,325 28,161 INTELSAT S.A. UNAUDITED RECONCILIATION OF NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES TO FREE CASH FLOW FROM (USED IN) OPERATIONS ($ in thousands) Three Months Ended March 31,
Three Months Ended March 31,
2017 2018 Net cash provided by operating activities $ 178,364 $ 80,857 Payments for satellites and other property and equipment (including capitalized
interest)
(178,473 ) (68,027 ) Other proceeds from satellites from investing activities
- 3,750 Payments for satellites from financing activities (18,333 ) - Free cash flow (used in) from operations $ (18,442 ) $ 16,580 Note:
Free cash flow from (used in) operations consists of net cash provided by operating activities, less payments for satellites and other property and equipment (including capitalized interest) from investing activities and other payment for satellites from financing activities. Free cash flow from (used in) operations is not a measurement of cash flow under U.S. GAAP. Intelsat believes free cash flow from (used in) operations is a useful measure of financial performance that shows a company’s ability to fund its operations. Free cash flow from (used in) operations is used by Intelsat in comparing its performance to that of its peers and is commonly used by financial analysts and investors in assessing performance. Free cash flow from (used in) operations does not give effect to cash used for debt service requirements and thus does not reflect funds available for investment or other discretionary uses. Free cash flow from (used in) operations is not a measure of financial performance under U.S. GAAP, and free cash flow from (used in) operations may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. You should not consider free cash flow from (used in) operations as an alternative to operating income (loss) or net income (loss), determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of Intelsat’s operating performance, or as an alternative to cash flows from operating activities, determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as an indicator of cash flows, or as a measure of liquidity.
INTELSAT S.A.
SUPPLEMENTARY TABLE
REVENUE BY CUSTOMER SET AND SERVICE TYPE
($ in thousands)
Intelsat management has reviewed the data pertaining to the use of the Intelsat network, and is providing revenue information with respect to that use by customer set and service type in the following tables. Intelsat management believes this provides a useful perspective on the changes in revenue and customer trends over time. By Customer Set Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Three Months Ended March 31,
2017
Revenues Without the Adoption of ASC 606 ASC 606 Adjustments Revenues After the Adoption of ASC 606 Increase (Decrease) With Adoption of ASC 606 Percentage Change With Adoption of ASC 606 Increase (Decrease) Without Adoption of ASC 606 Percentage Change Without Adoption of ASC 606 Network Services $ 212,933 39 % $ 198,554 38 % $ 34 $ 198,588 37 % $ (14,345 ) (7 )% $ (14,379 ) (7 )% Media 225,054 42 222,538 43 16,739 239,277 44 14,223 6 (2,516 ) (1 ) Government 91,919 17 89,075 17 8,239 97,314 18 5,395 6 (2,844 ) (3 ) Other 8,578 2 8,603 2 - 8,603 2 25 0 25 0 $ 538,484 100 % $ 518,770 100 % $ 25,012 $ 543,782 100 % $ 5,298 1 % $ (19,714 ) (4 )% By Service Type Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 Three Months Ended March 31,
2017
Revenues Without the Adoption of ASC 606 ASC 606 Adjustments Revenues After the Adoption of ASC 606 Increase (Decrease) With Adoption of ASC 606 Percentage Change With Adoption of ASC 606 Increase (Decrease) Without Adoption of ASC 606 Percentage Change Without Adoption of ASC 606 On-Network Revenues Transponder services $ 388,878 72 % $ 371,937 72 % $ 23,759 $ 395,696 73 % $ 6,818 2 % $ (16,941 ) (4 )% Managed services 100,917 19 98,980 19 1,702 100,682 19 (235 ) (0 ) (1,937 ) (2 ) Channel 1,640 0 1,184 0 - 1,184 0 (456 ) (28 ) (456 ) (28 ) Total on-network revenues 491,435 91 472,101 91 25,461 497,562 92 6,127 1 (19,334 ) (4 ) Off-Network and Other Revenues Transponder, MSS and other off-network services
35,439 7 35,432 7 (449 ) 34,983 6 (456 ) (1 ) (7 ) (0 ) Satellite-related services 11,610 2 11,237 2 - 11,237 2 (373 ) (3 ) (373 ) (3 ) Total off-network and other revenues 47,049 9 46,669 9 (449 ) 46,220 8 (829 ) (2 ) (380 ) (1 ) Total $ 538,484 100 % $ 518,770 100 % $ 25,012 $ 543,782 100 % $ 5,298 1 % $ (19,714 ) (4 )%
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180501005814/en/
Intelsat
Dianne VanBeber
Vice President, Investor Relations
+1 703-559-7406
[email protected]
Source: Intelsat | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/business-wire-intelsat-announces-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Emails among U.S. government officials show the Trump administration trying to manage a potentially damaging report on a class of chemicals found to have polluted water supplies near U.S. military installations.
The exchanges, sent in January, reveal officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Management and Budget worrying over a yet-to-be-released study from the Department of Health and Human Services. The draft report from HHS indicated that exposure to the chemicals in question is unsafe in far lower amounts than EPA previously determined.
One OMB official warned of a "public relations nightmare" when the report is released. The emails were unearthed through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Three and a half months later, the report has yet to be made public.
The chemicals, widely known as PFOS and PFOA, were found in drinking water or groundwater in quantities that exceeded amounts deemed safe by EPA near 126 military facilities , the Department of Defense said in a study in May. The perflourinated compounds, present in a firefighting foam used by the military, have been linked in some studies to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer, as well as to fertility problems and developmental delays in fetuses and children, according to the Defense Department report .
The draft HHS report alarmed administration officials because it concluded there is a minimal risk associated with exposure to the chemicals at levels as low as 12 parts per trillion.
Those concerns are laid out in an email from James Herz, associate director for Natural Resources, Energy and Science at White House Office of Management and Budget, to EPA Chief Financial Officer Holly Greaves.
"The public, media, and Congressional reaction to these new numbers is going to be huge. The impact to EPA and DoD is going to be extremely painful," an unidentified official from the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs wrote in an message forwarded by Herz to Greaves.
"We (DoD and EPA) cannot seem to get ATSDR to realize the potential public relations nightmare this is going to be," the official added, referring to HHS's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
In a subsequent email, Richard Yamada, the deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development, said the estimate HHS uses is "10 fold lower than most." He added that he is "not sure our scientists agree."
Nancy Beck, deputy assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, suggested OMB serve as a "neutral arbiter" to "step up and coordinate interagency review of this important guidance document before it is released." She said this was common in the George W. Bush Administration, but the Obama White House typically "let each agency do their own thing."
Earlier emails among EPA staffers, also provided by the Union of Concerned Scientists, indicate HHS staff held calls with officials from EPA and OMB to discuss the study and differences in approaches among agencies.
Officials at HHS and EPA did not immediately return requests for comment. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/14/trump-officials-worried-about-pr-nightmare-over-chemicals-pollution.html |
May 28, 2018 / 12:35 PM / Updated an hour ago Azarenka laments lack of matches after early French Open exit Richard Lough 3 Min Read
PARIS (Reuters) - Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka crashed out of the French Open in the first round losing 5-7 5-7 to Katerina Siniakova on Monday, short of match practice after a legal battle over the custody of her son. Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 28, 2018 Belarus' Victoria Azarenka in action during her first round match against Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The Belarusian returned to tennis in June last year following the birth of her son Leo in 2016 but then put her career on hold again after a judge in California had ruled that her son Leo should not leave the state until custody was resolved.
The former world number one returned to Europe at this month’s Madrid Open, her first clay court tennis in two years. She is currently ranked 82 in the world.
“Even though I am doing good things in practice, I’m not able to transfer it to the match,” Azarenka told a post-match news conference. Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 28, 2018 Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova in action during her first round match against Belarus' Victoria Azarenka REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Azarenka showed signs of a comeback after surrendering the first set, winning a fierce-hitting baseline exchange to go to 2-2. But she was unable to build momentum even as her Czech opponent lost her cool over a handful of disputed line calls.
“I’m pretty happy with the serve today. I just didn’t use the opportunities I created with the serve. The first shot was not aggressive and giving me that feeling of going forward,” she said. Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - May 28, 2018 General view of Belarus' Victoria Azarenka holding a tennis ball during her first round match against Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The months-long custody fight over her son Leo has been a painful distraction for Azarenka. In an open letter last year, the 28-year-old, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, said no one should ever have to decide between a child and their career.
Asked if Serena Williams, winner of 23 Grand Slam titles, should have been seeded on her return from maternity leave by the French Tennis Federation, Azarenka said the WTA was discussing making a distinction between a return from injury and a return from childbirth.
“I think that’s real important, (they) cannot go under the same rule,” said Azarenka, who sits on the players’ council. But, she added, the Grand Slam organisers needed to be consistent.
“This conversation was not on the table last year when I was coming back, and I was not seeded in Wimbledon. And this year (Wimbledon) are going to be seeding Serena,” Azarenka said.
“So if we talk about a rule, the rule has to be for everyone.”
Azarenka said she would play a tournament in Mallorca and a couple of grass-court exhibition matches in Britain ahead of Wimbledon. Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Christian Radnedge | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-tennis-frenchopen-azarenka/azarenka-dumped-out-of-french-open-in-first-round-idUKKCN1IT153 |
May 29, 2018 / 10:02 PM / Updated 13 hours ago For job-related skin problems, best prevention unclear Lisa Rapaport 5 Min Read
(Reuters Health) - It’s hard to say whether creams, moisturizers or other preventive measures might help protect workers in many industries from skin damage on their hands that can lead to painful blisters, cracks and infections, a research review suggests.
The analysis focused on so-called occupational irritant hand dermatitis, which can affect employees who regularly come in contact with water, detergents, chemicals and other irritants or who wear gloves during their work day. People at risk include nurses, construction workers, hairdressers, farm workers, restaurant employees and individuals who work in dye, printing and metal industries.
Researchers examined data from nine previous studies with a total of 2,888 workers. The studies lasted anywhere from four weeks to three years; all of them examined the effectiveness of preventive measures like protective gloves, employee education, moisturizers and creams.
Moisturizers, and to a lesser extent barrier creams, were both associated with fewer people getting dermatitis but the quality of this evidence was low, the analysis found.
“We come into contact with lots of different chemicals and other factors every day that will either physically disrupt the natural barrier of the skin or deplete the natural moisturizing factors which then causes disruption to the skin barrier function,” said Dr. Saxon Smith, author of an editorial accompanying the study and a dermatologist at the University of Sydney in Australia.
“The body reacts to these changes and develops inflammation which presents as red, dry, scaley skin on the hands,” Smith said by email.
Topical moisturizers can help replenish moisture lost when the skin is exposed to harsh chemicals, detergents or other things that can damage skin, Smith said. Topical corticosteroids and other immunosuppressive drugs known as calcineurin inhibitors can help ease inflammation in the skin caused by certain types of work.
Gloves and barrier creams can help to diminish the impact and direct contact of the irritating chemicals on the skin, Smith added. But chemicals can sometimes penetrate gloves and barrier creams, and this may explain why the study found this approach less effective than moisturizers for preventing dermatitis - a result Smith said was surprising.
Four studies in the analysis that focused on barrier creams found 29 percent of people who used this method for preventing hand skin irritation developed this problem, compared with 33 percent of workers who didn’t use barrier creams.
Three studies focused on moisturizers found 13 percent of people who used this method for preventing skin issues developed these problems on their hands, compared with 19 percent who didn’t use moisturizers.
Two of the smaller studies in the analysis examined the combination of both barrier creams and moisturizers. Eight percent of people using both methods of prevention developed dermatitis on their hands, compared to 13 percent who didn’t.
It’s not clear based on the study results whether skin protection education is associated with a lower risk of skin irritation on the hands, the analysis found.
Only a few people in the studies reported side effects from moisturizers or barrier creams, and these were generally mild reactions like itching or reddening of the skin.
One limitation of the analysis is that the smaller studies used a variety of methods to assess the effectiveness of approaches to skin irritation and examined a number of different prevention options, Dr. Andrea Bauer of Technical University Dresden in Germany and colleagues write in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Dr. Bauer didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
Still, the results highlight a need for workers in a wide range of industries to educate themselves about the best ways to prevent skin problems that may be associated with their specific job, Smith said.
“If you work in a job that is known to have a high rate of irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, educate yourself about the best workplace practices and look after the care of your hands with soap-free wash, regular moisturizer, and minimal wet work with your hands where possible,” Smith advised.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2spk3vU Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, online April 30, 2018. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-skin-contact-dermatitis/for-job-related-skin-problems-best-prevention-unclear-idUKKCN1IU2TT |
3 retail stocks to buy right now: Technician 19 Hours Ago Technician Carter Worth on rising oil and three retail stocks investors should buy, with Melissa Lee and the Fast Money traders, Tim Seymour, Brian Kelly, Dan Nathan and Guy Adami. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/07/3-retail-stocks-to-buy-right-now-technician.html |
May 3, 2018 / 4:29 AM / Updated 7 minutes ago PRECIOUS-Gold extends gains; all eyes on U.S.-China trade talks Reuters Staff 3 Min Read * Spot gold may bounce again towards $1,317/oz - Technicals * U.S. delegation in Beijing on Thursday and Friday (Updates prices) By Eileen Soreng BENGALURU, May 3(Reuters) - Gold prices rose for a second session on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady as expected at the end of a two-day policy meeting, while investors awaited U.S.-China trade talks. Spot gold rose 0.2 percent to $1,307.05 per ounce at 0705 GMT. U.S. gold futures for June delivery rose 0.2 percent to $1,307.60 per ounce. "The inflation numbers this week did point to a potential acceleration in those (interest) rate hikes... But after the FOMC meeting yesterday that appears to be less likely and so we're seeing assets such as gold being bought at the back of that," said ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes. Non-yielding gold is highly sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates as it becomes less attractive compared with assets that bear interest. The Fed left its benchmark interest rates unchanged in a target range of between 1.50 percent and 1.75 percent. The central bank raised rates in March and forecasts another two increases this year. Investors also awaited the U.S.-China trade talks between U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He due on Thursday. "Safe-haven buying has been absent, of late... But there have been some signals for the past few days that the negotiations won't be as smooth as expected so that would definitely be a focus, particularly now that we have gotten past the FOMC meeting," Hynes added. A breakthrough deal to fundamentally change China's economic policies is viewed as highly unlikely during the two-day meet, though a package of short-term Chinese measures could delay a U.S. decision to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese exports. Asian shares slipped on Thursday as hopes waned for real progress in U.S.-China trade talks, while the U.S. dollar consolidated recent bumper gains after the Federal Reserve reaffirmed the outlook for more rate hikes this year. Spot gold may bounce again towards a resistance at $1,317 per ounce as it has found a strong support at $1,302, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. Meanwhile, gold demand posted its weakest start to the year in a decade, the World Gold Council said on Thursday, as prices of the metal stagnated and the threat of rising interest rates led investors to seek better returns elsewhere. Among other precious metals, spot silver rose 0.2 percent to $16.38 per ounce. Platinum climbed 0.4 percent to $893.74 per ounce, while palladium was up 0.5 percent to $964.50 per ounce. (Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Sunil Nair) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/global-precious/precious-gold-extends-gains-all-eyes-on-u-s-sino-trade-talks-idUSL3N1SA1NV |
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department told airlines on Tuesday that they must continue to allow the transport of the most common service animals, but said it was asking for public comment about amending its existing regulations.
The department said in a statement that it “wants to ensure that individuals with disabilities can continue using their service animals while also helping to ensure that the fraudulent use of other animals not qualified as service animals is deterred.” (Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/airlines-animals-transportation/airlines-must-continue-to-accept-service-animals-u-s-agency-idUSL2N1SN1KF |
MONTRÉAL, May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Valener Inc. (“Valener”) (TSX:VNR) (TSX:VNR.PR.A), the public investment vehicle in Énergir, L.P., today reported its fiscal 2018 second quarter results. The results of Énergir, L.P., Valener’s primary investment, are also presented in this press release.
Summary of Valener’s results
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
• Adjusted net income 1 ,2 of $33.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2018, up 3% from the second quarter of fiscal 2017
Adjusted net income 1,2 of $0.87 per share compared to $0.85 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2017
• Normalized operating cash flows 1 of $14.0 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2018, up $2.7 million from the second quarter of fiscal 2017
Normalized operating cash flows 1 per share of $0.36 compared to $0.29 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2017.
“Valener’s high-quality assets continued to deliver growth this quarter,” said Pierre Monahan, Chairman of Valener’s board of directors. “ A djusted net income was up 3% year over year, as a result of Énergir’s strong performance.”
For the three
months ended
March 31 For the six
months ended
March 31 (in millions of dollars, unless otherwise indicated) 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income 35.0 32.6 49.4 56.7 Net income attributable to common shareholders 33.9 31.5 47.1 54.5 Adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders (1) 33.9 32.9 53.9 53.2 Per common share (in $) (1) 0.87 0.85 1.38 1.37 Normalized operating cash flows (1) 14.0 11.3 25.3 23.5 Distributions received from Énergir, L.P. 14.9 14.1 29.8 28.1 Distributions received from Beaupré Éole and Beaupré Éole 4 2.0 — 2.4 0.2 Per common share (in $) (1) 0.36 0.29 0.65 0.61 Valener reported adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders of $33.9 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to $32.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. This increase was mainly driven by growth in Énergir, L.P.’s adjusted net income.
In the second quarter of fiscal 2018, Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms 2 and 3 General Partnership and Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farm 4 General Partnership (collectively, the “SDB Wind Farms”) generated a combined 297,205 MWh of electric power, down 3.3% given weaker wind conditions than those of the second quarter of 2017 as well as a two-week period of frost in March 2018.
The SDB Wind Farms still generated $15.3 million in operating cash flows during the second quarter of 2018, a $1.5 million year-over-year increase resulting from changes in working capital.
Valener’s second quarter normalized operating cash flows totalled $14.0 million compared to $11.3 million in the second quarter of 2017, mainly from higher distributions received from Énergir, L.P. and the SDB Wind Farms.
Énergir, L.P.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
• Adjusted net income 1,3 of $150.0 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2018, up $7.5 million from the second quarter of fiscal 2017.
Adjusted net income 1,3 per unit of $0.87, a 2% increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2017.
• Québec Energy Distribution (“QDA”): net income of $116.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, up $2.2 million year over year.
QDA’s fiscal 2018 net income is expected to exceed the net income anticipated in the 2018 rate case by at least $6.0 million.
1 Financial measures not defined by U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). A reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures is presented hereafter.
2 Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders.
3 Adjusted net income (loss) attributable to Partners.
“Our commercial and geographic diversification strategy continues to pay off,” said Sophie Brochu, President and Chief Executive Officer. “During the second quarter, our energy distribution activities generated excellent results, both in Québec and the United States. Building on a diverse range of renewable and less-emissive energies, Énergir is well positioned to meet the needs of its Québec and U.S. customers while offering its shareholders stable, predictable financial performance .”
BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS
QDA: 4.9% second-quarter increase in normalized natural gas deliveries driven mainly by economic growth in Québec. Gaz Métro Plus Limited Partnership (“Gaz Métro Plus”): $4.4 million gain realized on the sale of server hosting assets in February 2018. Standard Solar Inc.: approximately 10 MW in solar projects completed, 23 MW under construction, and an agreement signed with an investor for the financing of solar farms in exchange for tax attributes (“tax equity partner”), representing a total investment of approximately US$50 million. Portland Xpress project: in order to meet growing demand, Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (“PNGTS”) will need to increase network capacity by adding, among other things, a compressor at the Elliot station. In the meantime, PNGTS will also benefit from future additional work at the East Hereford station of the Trans Québec & Maritimes Inc. (“TQM”) gas pipeline, scheduled for completion in November 2019. These projects are scheduled to come online in November 2020.
U.S. tax reform
In December 2017, the U.S. government adopted exhaustive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“tax reform”) that introduced complex and significant U.S. tax code changes that are applicable to Énergir, L.P.’s U.S. subsidiaries and entities subject to significant influence. The impacts of this tax reform on Énergir, L.P.’s 2018 first quarter consolidated financial statements consisted essentially of a $238.0 million decrease in deferred income tax liabilities, the creation of $246.9 million in regulatory liabilities, and a $24.2 million decrease in net income attributable to Partners. The impact of this reform on net income is mainly attributable to the deferred income taxes related to the portion not included in rate-setting as well as to the downward remeasurement of deferred income taxes related to non-capital loss carryforwards unrelated to rate-regulated activities.
With respect to the rate-regulated operations of Énergir, L.P.’s U.S. subsidiaries and entities subject to significant influence, the tax reform impacts were primarily recognized as regulatory liabilities, as current and deferred income taxes are included during the rate-setting of such entities. The regulatory liabilities recognized following these adjustments equal the amounts expected to be reimbursed through future rates over amortization periods that will subsequently be set and approved by the regulatory agencies. In their respective 2019 rate cases, GMP and VGS proposed different amortization periods that yielded an estimated period of approximately 40 years, based on Internal Revenue Services (“IRS”) normalization rules as well as the nature of the factors that led to the recognition of the deferred income taxes to be returned to customers. The proposed amortization periods were notably impacted by the estimated residual lives of the underlying assets. The amounts to be returned total approximately US$30 million for 2019 and US$4 million for the subsequent years.
Énergir, L.P.’s segment results – Adjusted net income attributable to Partners (1) (in millions of dollars, unless otherwise indicated) Segments Q2 2018 Q2 2017 H1-2018 H1-2017 QDA 116.6 114.4 180.7 178.5 Distribution in Vermont 36.0 29.6 63.2 56.9 Natural Gas Transportation 7.1 7.4 11.0 12.9 Electricity Production 1.3 1.6 2.0 2.4 Energy Services, Storage and Other 2.0 1.8 3.8 3.2 Corporate Affairs (13.0 ) (12.3 ) (26.2 ) (22.5 ) Total 150.0 142.5 234.5 231.4 Basic and diluted weighted average number of units outstanding (in millions) 171.8 167.3 171.8 167.3 Basic and diluted per unit (in $) 0.87 0.85 1.36 1.38 For the second quarter of fiscal 2018, and excluding one-time adjustments, Énergir, L.P.’s adjusted net income attributable to Partners totalled $150.0 million compared to $142.5 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2017. This change stems mainly from the favourable impact of a regulatory timing difference in the Québec Energy Distribution segment combined with a strong Québec economy in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, despite the earnings reduction anticipated in the rate case, and the effects of GMP’s favorable rate case parameters.
Énergir, L.P.’s net income attributable to Partners was $154.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018 compared to $142.5 million in second quarter 2017, resulting from the above-mentioned factors and a gain realized on the sale of Gaz Métro Plus’s server hosting assets.
QUÉBEC ENERGY DISTRIBUTION
Énergir, L.P.’s distribution activities carried out through QDA generated net income attributable to Partners of $116.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, a $2.2 million year-over-year increase that was mainly due to:
the favourable impact of a regulatory timing difference, with most of the difference expected to reverse at the end of fiscal 2018; and the favourable impact of an increase in normalized natural gas deliveries as a result of the strong Québec economy;
partly offset by various parameters in QDA’s 2018 rate case, as filed with the Régie de l’énergie (the “Régie”), which had anticipated net income of $132.7 million for fiscal 2018, down $14.9 million from fiscal 2017.
Given the change in volumes during the first six months of fiscal 2018, Énergir, L.P. now expects fiscal 2018 net income generated by the Québec Energy Distribution segment to exceed the net income anticipated in the 2018 rate case by at least $6 million.
2019 rate case
Phase 1
In October 2017, QDA submitted a proposal to the Régie seeking the renewal, for its 2019 rate case, of the authorized rate of return on deemed common equity and of the performance sharing mechanism currently in place. In December 2017, the Régie issued a favourable decision under which it renewed, for the 2019 rate year, the 8.90% rate of return on deemed common equity as well as the performance sharing mechanism in effect since fiscal 2015.
Phase 2
In March and April 2018, QDA filed Phase 2 of its 2019 rate case with the Régie. It presents, among other things, an overall average decrease in rates of 4.1% and an average rate base of $2,154 million, up $36 million from the 2018 rate case. The decrease in rates stems mainly from transportation and load-balancing services given the lower TCPL rates in effect since January 1, 2018 as well as from the net impact of amounts to be returned to customers related to the overearnings and shortfalls realized in fiscal years 2017 and 2016. The higher rate base is attributable to the general increase in property, plant and equipment investment projects in recent years, such as, among other things, the project to improve and strengthen the Saguenay region transmission system. The Régie is expected to issue a decision in autumn 2018.
ENERGY DISTRIBUTION IN VERMONT
Through Green Mountain Power Corporation (“GMP”) and Vermont Gas Systems, Inc. (“VGS”), the Energy Distribution segment in Vermont recorded adjusted net income attributable to Partners of $36.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, a $6.4 million, or 21.6%, increase from $29.6 million in the same quarter last year. Excluding the exchange rate impact, this increase was mainly due to:
the various parameters in GMP’s 2018 rate case, which anticipated an increase in adjusted net income attributable to Partners; the impact of VGS’s 2018 rate case parameters, which include an increase in the rate base to reflect the Addison project coming into service; and the favourable impact of a regulatory timing difference, most of which is expected to reverse at the end of fiscal 2018.
GMP – 2019 rate case
In April 2018, GMP filed its 2019 rate case with the Vermont Public Utility Commission (“VPUC”). Prepared on a cost-of-service basis, it provides for an authorized rate of return on common equity of 9.30%, a 49.8% common equity ratio, and covers the period of January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019 to reset the rate case to a fiscal year basis. In the rate case, a 5.45% rate increase is being proposed to reflect an increase in supply and transmission costs and an expected decrease in deliveries resulting largely from the adoption of energy efficiency measures by GMP’s customers. However, this increase will be fully offset by the impact of beginning to reimburse customers the regulatory liabilities recorded following the U.S. tax reform and resulting in an overall decrease in rates of 0.5%. The rate case also provides for an average rate base of US$1,563 million, a US$130 million increase from the 2018 rate case, to reflect greater investments in property, plant and equipment, GMP’s ownership interest in Vermont Transco LLC, and solar power projects. Lastly, the rate case contains a provision whereby US$13.9 million would be returned to GMP’s customers as a result of the synergies generated by the merger with Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. The VPUC is expected to issue a decision in December 2018.
VGS – 2019 rate case
In February 2018, VGS filed a cost-of-service proposal for its 2019 fiscal year with the VPUC. The cost of service proposed by VGS for fiscal 2019 provides for an 8.5% rate of return on common equity and a 50% common equity ratio. VGS is also proposing an overall decrease in rates of 3.8%, which includes a 14.8% reduction in rates related to the cost of natural gas, beginning to reimburse customers the regulatory liabilities recorded as a result of the U.S. tax reform, and a 4% increase in distribution rates. VGS is also proposing the use of a US$8.1 million portion of the amounts collected in the System Expansion and Reliability Fund as well as an average rate base of US$264.2 million, an increase of US$16 million. A decision is expected in time for the new rates to take effect as of November 1, 2018.
To see the financial report, click here .
Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures For additional information on non-GAAP financial measures, refer to Valener’s MD&A for the three-month and six-month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. Valener Reconciliation of normalized operating cash flows For the three months
ended March 31 For the six months
ended March 31 (in millions of dollars) 2018 2017 2018 2017 Cash flows related to operating activities 15.1 12.4 27.5 25.7 Dividends to preferred shareholders (1.1 ) (1.1 ) (2.2 ) (2.2 ) Normalized operating cash flows 14.0 11.3 25.3 23.5
Valener Reconciliation of adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders For the three months
ended March 31 For the six months
ended March 31 (in millions of dollars) 2018 2017 2018 2017 Net income 35.0 32.6 49.4 56.7 Gain on derivative financial instruments — — — (0.8 ) Income taxes on the gain on derivative financial instruments — — — 0.2 Share in Énergir, L.P.’s net income adjustments (1.3 ) — 5.7 (3.6 ) Income taxes on Énergir, L.P.’s net income adjustments 0.2 — 0.2 0.7 Deferred income taxes related to the outside-basis temporary difference on the interest in Énergir, L.P. 1.1 1.4 0.9 2.2 Cumulative dividends on Series A preferred shares (1.1 ) (1.1 ) (2.3 ) (2.2 ) Adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders 33.9 32.9 53.9 53.2 Per common share (in $) 0.87 0.85 1.38 1.37
Énergir, L.P. Reconciliation of adjusted net income attributable to Partners (in millions of dollars, unless otherwise indicated) Q2-2018 Adjustments: Segments Net income attributable
to Partners Other gains (2) Adjusted net
income
attributable to
Partners (1) QDA 116.6 — 116.6 Distribution in Vermont 36.0 — 36.0 Natural Gas Transportation 7.1 — 7.1 Electricity Production 1.3 — 1.3 Energy Services, Storage and Other 6.4 (4.4 ) 2.0 Corporate Affairs (13.0 ) — (13.0 ) Total 154.4 (4.4 ) 150.0 Basic and diluted weighted average number of units outstanding (in millions) 171.8 171.8 171.8 Basic and diluted per unit (in $) 0.90 (0.03 ) 0.87 Q2-2017 Adjustments: Segments Net income attributable
to Partners Other gains (2) Adjusted net
income
attributable to
Partners (1) QDA 114.4 — 114.4 Distribution in Vermont 29.6 — 29.6 Natural Gas Transportation 7.4 — 7.4 Electricity Production 1.6 — 1.6 Energy Services, Storage and Other 1.8 — 1.8 Corporate Affairs (12.3 ) — (12.3 ) Total 142.5 — 142.5 Basic and diluted weighted average number of units outstanding (in millions) 167.3 167.3 167.3 Basic and diluted per unit (in $) 0.85 — 0.85
(in millions of dollars, unless otherwise indicated) H1-2018 Adjustments: Segments Net income
attributable to
Partners Impact of the
tax reform (3) Other gains (2) Adjusted net
income
attributable to
Partners (1) QDA 180.7 — — 180.7 Distribution in Vermont 56.7 6.5 — 63.2 Natural Gas Transportation 13.6 (2.6 ) — 11.0 Electricity Production 2.0 — — 2.0 Energy Services, Storage and Other 8.2 — (4.4 ) 3.8 Corporate Affairs (46.5 ) 20.3 — (26.2 ) Total 214.7 24.2 (4.4 ) 234.5 Basic and diluted weighted average number of units outstanding (in millions) 171.8 171.8 171.8 171.8 Basic and diluted per unit (in $) 1.25 0.14 (0.03 ) 1.36 H1-2017
Adjustments:
Segments Net income
attributable to
Partners Impact of the tax
reform (3) Other gains (2) Adjusted net
income
attributable to
Partners (1) QDA 178.5 — — 178.5 Distribution in Vermont 56.9 — — 56.9 Natural Gas Transportation 12.9 — — 12.9 Electricity Production 2.4 — — 2.4 Energy Services, Storage and Other 15.7 — (12.5 ) 3.2 Corporate Affairs (22.5 ) — — (22.5 ) Total 243.9 — (12.5 ) 231.4 Basic and diluted weighted average number of units outstanding (in millions) 167.3 167.3 167.3 167.3 Basic and diluted per unit (in $) 1.46 — (0.08 ) 1.38
(1) Financial measure not defined by GAAP. (2) In December 2016, Énergir, L.P., through its subsidiary Gaz Métro Plus, acquired an additional 50% ownership interest in CDH (CCUM), giving it control thereover and resulting in the recognition of a $12.5 million gain upon the remeasurement of assets already held. In addition, in February 2018, Gaz Métro Plus realized a $4.4 million gain on the sale of server hosting assets. For additional information, refer to the Q2-2018 MD&A. (3) Refer to the “U.S. Tax Reform” section above. Conference call
Valener will hold a conference call today at 11:00 am (Eastern Time) to discuss its results and those of Énergir, L.P. for the period ended March 31, 2018. The public is invited to join the call at
647-788- 4922 or toll-free at 877-223-4471 . A simultaneous webcast will also be available using the link provided under “Events and Presentations” in the “Investors” section of www.valener.com . A replay of the webcast will be archived on the Company’s website for 365 days following the call; a phone replay will be available for 30 days by dialing 416-621-4642 or toll-free 800-585-8367 (access code: 1277528).
Overview of Valener
Valener is a public company held entirely by its shareholders and serves as the investment vehicle in Énergir, L.P. Through its investment in Énergir, L.P., Valener offers its shareholders a solid investment in a diversified and largely regulated energy portfolio in Québec and Vermont. As a strategic partner, Valener, on the one hand, contributes to the growth of Énergir, L.P., and on the other, invests in wind power production in Québec alongside Énergir, L.P. Valener favours energy sources and uses that are innovative, clean, competitive and profitable. Valener’s common and preferred shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the “VNR” symbol for common shares and the “VNR.PR.A” symbol for Series A preferred shares. www.valener.com
Overview of Énergir, L.P.
With more than $7 billion in assets, Énergir, L.P. is a diversified energy company whose mission is to meet the energy needs of approximately 520,000 customers and the communities it serves in an increasingly sustainable way. Énergir, L.P. is the largest natural gas distribution company in Québec; through its subsidiaries, it also generates electricity from wind power. In the United States, through its subsidiaries, the company operates in nearly fifteen states, where it produces electricity from hydraulic, wind and solar sources, in addition to being the leading electricity distributor and the sole natural gas distributor in Vermont. Énergir, L.P. values energy efficiency and invests both resources and efforts in innovative energy projects such as renewable natural gas and liquefied and compressed natural gas. Through its subsidiaries, it also offers a wide range of energy services. Énergir, L.P. is seeking to become the partner of choice for those striving toward a better energy future. www.energir.com
Cautionary note regarding
This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking information reflects the intentions, plans, expectations and opinions of the management of Énergir Inc., in its capacity as General Partner of Énergir, L.P., acting as manager of Valener (“the management of the manager”), and is based on information currently available to the management of the manager and assumptions about future events. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “plans,” “expects,” “estimates,” “seeks,” “targets,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “believes” or similar expressions, including the negative and conjugated forms of these words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors beyond the control of the management of the manager. A number of factors could cause the actual results of Valener or of Énergir, L.P. to differ significantly from historical results or current expectations, as described in the , including but not limited to the general nature of the aforementioned, terms of decisions rendered by regulatory agencies, uncertainty that approvals will be obtained by Énergir, L.P. from regulatory agencies and interested parties to carry out all of its activities and the socio-economic risks associated with such activities, uncertainty related to the implementation of Québec’s 2030 Energy Policy, the competitiveness of natural gas in relation to other energy sources in the context of fluctuating global oil prices, the reliability or costs of natural gas supply and electricity supply, the integrity of the natural gas and electricity distribution and transportation systems, the evolution and profitability of Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farms 2 and 3 General Partnership (“Wind Farms 2 and 3”) and Seigneurie de Beaupré Wind Farm 4 GP (“Wind Farm 4”) and other development projects, Valener’s ability to generate sufficient cash to support its anticipated target annual dividend growth rate on its common shares, the ability to complete attractive acquisitions and the related financing and integration aspects, the ability to complete new development projects, the ability to secure future financing, general economic conditions, exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations, uncertainty surrounding the December 2017 U.S. tax reform commonly referred to as Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the weather conditions and other factors described in section E) Risk Factors Relating to Valener and in section R) Risk Factors Relating to Énergir, L.P. (formerly Gaz Métro Limited Partnership) of Valener’s MD&A for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2017 and in subsequent Valener quarterly MD&As that might address changes to these risks. Although the contained in this press release are based on what the management of the manager believes to be reasonable assumptions, in particular assumptions that no unforeseen changes in the legislative and regulatory framework of energy markets in Québec and in the United States will occur; that the applications filed with various regulatory agencies will be approved as submitted; that natural gas prices will remain competitive; that the supply of natural gas and electricity will be maintained or will be available at competitive costs; that no significant event will occur outside the ordinary course of business, such as a natural disaster or any other type of calamity, a major service interruption, or a threat to cybersecurity (or cyberattack); that Énergir, L.P. can continue to distribute substantially all of its adjusted net income; that Wind Farms 2 and 3 and Wind Farm 4 will be able to make distribution payments to their partners; that Valener will be able to generate sufficient cash to support its anticipated target annual dividend growth rate on its common shares; that Green Mountain Power Corporation will be able to continue achieving efficiency gains and synergies from the merger with Central Vermont Public Service Corporation; that Valener and Énergir, L.P. will be able to present their information in accordance with U.S. GAAP beyond 2023 or, after 2023, will adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) that permit the recognition of regulatory assets and liabilities; that liquidity needs for Énergir, L.P.’s development projects will be obtained through a combination of operating cash flows, borrowings on credit facilities, capital injections from partners, and issuances of debt securities; and that the subsidiaries will obtain the required authorizations and funds needed to finance their development projects. In addition to the other assumptions described in the Valener MD&A for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, the management of the manager cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these . These are made as of this date, and the management of the manager assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required pursuant to applicable securities laws. These statements do not reflect the potential impact of any unusual item or any business combination or other transaction that may be announced or that may occur after the date hereof. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on these .
For additional information:
Investors and Analysts Media Mariem Elsayed Maude Hébert-Chaput Investor Relations Public Affairs and Communications 514-598-3253
www.valener.com 514-598-3449
Twitter: @Energir www.energir.com/en/about/media/news/ Photos, videos (b-roll) and logos are available in the Multimedia library .
Source:Valener Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/globe-newswire-valener-and-anergiral-p-report-their-fiscal-2018-second-quarter-results.html |
May 18 (Reuters) - Cargill, the global grains trader, sees the future of protein in the humble pea.
In a joint venture at a Wisconsin plant, flour milled from Iowa yellow peas is mixed with water and spun at high speed through stainless steel drums, separating the protein from starch and fibre.
The resulting powder ends up blended into waffle mixes, sports drinks, nutrition bars and protein shakes - small examples of a much larger push by the worlds biggest agriculture firms to find alternative plant-based proteins to feed people and livestock worldwide.
"When we looked at where is the future going, the pea is the up-and-coming thing," said David Henstrom, Cargill Incs vice-president of starches, sweeteners and texturizers.
Peas are in many ways the ideal modern American food: protein-rich, plant-based and gluten-free. While the market remains relatively small, the demand for pea powder and other emerging protein sources is soaring, from the middle classes in China and the health-conscious in California to livestock producers and fish farmers who need to fatten animals on ever-tighter budgets.
Cargill and its competitors - such as Archer Daniels Midland and Richardson International, the biggest Canadian grain handler - are investing in specialty ingredients in search of higher profit margins than they can extract from bigger commodity crops such as soybeans, corn and wheat.
(For a graphic on rising global protein consumption and demand for peas, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hc8Wjw )
Cargill invested an undisclosed sum in January in a joint venture with PURIS, a family-run company that started in Iowa as a seed company and now owns the Wisconsin pea-powder plant. The two firms are also working to boost the protein content in peas through cross-breeding, which has not been previously reported.
Cargill rival ADM is building its own pea processing plant in North Dakota and signing contracts with farmers to buy and grow yellow peas, Ken Campbell, ADMs president of specialty ingredients, said in a statement to Reuters. Company researchers are also studying another 30 types of protein options, including nuts and seeds.
Other firms are trying draw more protein from canola, oats and many other so-called emerging proteins, and Cargill has explored insect-based feed for fish and poultry.
Seed and chemical firm DowDuPont Inc told Reuters it plans to launch a canola seed supercharged with protein through traditional cross-breeding as soon as next year. (See related story: )
Richardson International started construction in April of a C$30-million ($23 million) laboratory in Winnipeg to study proteins and other food ingredients. The firm is exploring a move into pea and oat protein concentrates that could start next year, senior vice-president of technology Chuck Cohen said in an interview. France-based food ingredient company Roquette is building plant in Manitoba to produce pea proteins in North America, which currently imports from Europe.
SOARING DEMAND
Projections for soaring sales from alternative plant proteins have enticed large grain traders that make money by buying, selling, storing, shipping and trading crops. Years of oversupplied grain markets and thin margins have squeezed the trading operations of ADM, Bunge Ltd, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Co known collectively as the ABCDs - although conditions have improved recently.
Global demand for protein whether from meat, aquaculture or plant sources is booming in part due to rising incomes in emerging markets in Asia and Africa, industry analysts say. In North America, consumers are shifting their diet preferences to include more protein, and 35 percent of U.S. households last year said they follow a specific protein-focused diet, such as Paleo or low-carbohydrate, according to research conducted by Nielsen.
The trend is driving a shift in grocery shopping. In the year ended July 8, 2017, sales of plant-based food and beverages in the U.S. increased 14.7 percent over the previous period, according to Nielsen. Sales of meat alternatives are growing especially within prepared foods, an indication that consumers are trying options once only available in niche stores.
Global pea protein sales amounted to $73.4 million in 2016, according to research firm Grand View Research, but are forecast to quadruple by 2025, reaching $313.5 million in sales, helped by popular diets free of gluten and lactose and an expanding middle class in developing nations.
Even with such explosive growth, pea proteins would have high potential upside because they would account for a fraction of the projected $48.77 billion global animal and plant protein ingredients market by 2025, which is led by meat, according to Grand View.
POWERING UP THE PEA
Cargill's partnership with PURIS includes breeding pea crops for higher protein content. Standard peas contain 18 to 22 percent protein, but PURIS this year will start selling peas packed with 28 percent protein for planting by farmers in the northern Plains and Midwest, said PURIS president Tyler Lorenzen. Once processed, pea powders can contain about 80 percent protein.
Creating new varieties of protein-packed peas, however, can take seven years or more because it is done through conventional breeding rather than genetic modification, Lorenzen said. The lack of genetic modification, however, also attracts many consumers who prefer more organic foods, said Pascal Leroy, head of Roquette's pea and new protein business line.
In Canada, one of the world's biggest pea exporters, at least three pea protein plants are planned or increasing production, including Verdient Foods in Saskatchewan, whose investors include Titanic director James Cameron. That gives farmers an incentive to vary plantings that are now dominated by wheat and canola.
Roquette is building what it says will be the world's biggest pea plant in Manitoba, on the belief the vegetable has unique consumer appeal. German company Canadian Protein Innovation plans a plant in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Illinois-based ADM told Reuters it is building a new pea protein processing plant at the site of one of its soybean processing complexes in Enderlin, North Dakota. The location gives the company proximity to yellow pea producers and transportation to domestic and international customers, according to ADMs Campbell.
ADM will launch its line of pea powders as an ingredient for food manufacturers early next year and introduce other plant-based protein product lines in the following two years, the company said, declining to give further details.
Unlike Cargill, ADM is seeking to boost pea protein levels in the processing plant - rather than through crop breeding - and is buying most of its supplies from nearby North Dakota farmers, the company said. ADM officials declined to detail how it can boost protein in a factory, citing competitive concerns.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel and P.J. Huffstutter Editing by Brian Thevenot) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/reuters-america-insight-big-ag-turns-to-peas-to-meet-soaring-global-protein-demand.html |
President Donald Trump recently cast doubt on his June 12 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un . Fortunately, American national security and economic prosperity isn't dependent on getting a specific deal, but on the maintenance of our military deterrent.
Too often Americans like to view things in binary terms—black and white; good and evil; war or peace. The picture depicted by the U.S. media is binary as well.
Much of the right-leaning media poses the North Korea talks as struggle between the power and prestige of Trump versus the younger, but crafty Kim.
The left-leaning media generally casts the situation in terms of Trump "naiveté" against the more skillful Kim and that the president is "being played." The fact is, regardless of which—if either—view is accurate on the surface, the situation is far more complex.
The world of diplomacy is anything by binary and for a deal to be made, many and competing interests must be managed. Therefore, coming out of negotiations with a deal we're happy with is a heavy lift.
"Whether Kim reaches an agreement, makes a deal and then backs out of it later, or refuses any settlement, we can deter him from using his weapons indefinitely." Beijing has considerable security and geopolitical interests at stake in the outcome and is actively trying to secure its interests via discussions in Pyongyang, Seoul, Washington, Tokyo, and Moscow.
South Korea has more at stake than almost any nation in achieving a peaceful resolution and can be expected to pursue (and in some cases demand) outcomes short of war.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would also like the situation resolved but would be less worried than Moon if military means were used to solve the matter. If the process and resolution of the situation also included a sidelining of China, that would be a bonus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't want to see a nuclear-armed North Korea— but he does have regional interests that diverge from Washington's and would no doubt be happy to see North Korea remain a thorn in America's side.
To a lesser but still meaningful extent, key European powers also have an interest in seeing this resolved peacefully and are engaged in multilateral engagement with most of the key actors. American leaders must, therefore, recognize that this situation isn't going to be solved based on the answer to any 'either/or' question.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is possibly the quintessential example of binary thinking in Washington related to the current engagement with North Korea—and exemplifies the danger of such thinking. In a Fox News interview he said to Kim , "If you try to play Trump, we're going to have a war and you'll lose," implying that if talks don't "succeed"—however success is defined—then the only recourse is war. That is a dangerously inaccurate view of the situation.
The conventional and nuclear power of the United States is significantly greater than that of North Korea. Whether Kim reaches an agreement, makes a deal and then backs out of it later, or refuses any settlement, we can deter him from using his weapons indefinitely.
I cannot more emphatically and categorically state that the worst possible outcome for America would be a war, and any attempt to use a so-called "preventive" military strike would likely start a war—and almost certainly cause severe harm to U.S. security and economic interests.
A Department of Defense report to Congress last December stated in its opening line, "North Korea's primary strategic goal is perpetual Kim family rule via the simultaneous development of its economy and nuclear weapons program."
Kim's desire to survive and economically thrive means that he—like China's Mao Tse-Tung and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin before him—can be deterred.
Whether Trump and Kim meet on June 12, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is not a binary "deal v. war" prospect. It is a highly complex matter, involving several other global players with differing and competing interests.
Trump should absolutely seek a comprehensive deal. Bringing peace to the peninsula is good for our allies in the region, all Koreans, and the U.S. However the overriding objective for the United States must not be obtaining some specific negotiated deal, but the prevention of war and the preservation of American security and prosperity.
Commentary by Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who retired in 2015 after 21 years, including four combat deployments. Follow him on Twitter @DanielLDavis1 .
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/23/trump-north-korea-summit-wont-matter-to-us-security.html |
Those updated privacy policies flooding your inbox, due to Europe's GDPR, are so long that if you print out the ones from 30-some most-used apps, you could span a football field. Really. WSJ's Joanna Stern provides tips on how to tackle the gibberish. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://live.wsj.com/video/read-all-those-new-privacy-policies-get-a-football-field/773FA364-B838-46A4-88E5-E17ACD5F918A.html |
5 COMMENTS Download PDF
Share this: Previous A River Runs Through It (Saturday Crossword, May 26) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2018/05/25/labyrinth-saturday-puzzle-may-26/ |
PHILADELPHIA, May 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LBC Credit Partners ("LBC"), a leading provider of financing solutions to middle market companies, provided $41.0 million in senior secured credit facilities to support the acquisition of the aftermarket division of Cloyes Gear & Products, Inc. ("Cloyes") by Hidden Harbor Capital Partners.
LBC served as Agent and Sole Lead Arranger for the senior secured credit facilities.
Based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and founded in 1921, Cloyes is a global leader in the design, development, manufacturing, and distribution of timing drive systems and components for replacement applications in the automotive aftermarket and high-performance racing segment.
Hidden Harbor Capital Partners is an operationally focused private equity firm specializing in control investments in lower middle market companies.
About LBC Credit Partners
LBC Credit Partners is a leading provider of middle market financing solutions including senior term, unitranche, second lien, junior secured and mezzanine debt and equity co-investments supporting sponsored and non-sponsored transactions. With over $3 billion* of capital commitments, LBC has made investments in companies located throughout North America across a wide range of industries and is committed to a long-term approach to debt investing. LBC is headquartered in Philadelphia, with offices in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. To learn more, visit www.lbccredit.com .
*Information as December 31, 2017
MEDIA CONTACT:
Lisa Rubano-Volansky
Tel (724) 979-4293
Email: [email protected]
View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lbc-credit-partners-provides-senior-secured-credit-facilities-to-support-the-acquisition-of-cloyes-300656274.html
SOURCE LBC Credit Partners | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/pr-newswire-lbc-credit-partners-provides-senior-secured-credit-facilities-to-support-the-acquisition-of-cloyes.html |
ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IZEA , Inc. (NASDAQ: IZEA ), operator of IZEAx, the premier online marketplace connecting brands and publishers with influential content creators, reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
Q1 2018 Financial Highlights Compared to Q1 2017
Revenue was $3.9 million in Q1 2018, down 19%, compared to $4.8 million in Q1 2017. Revenue from Managed Services decreased 19% to $3.8 million, compared to $4.7 million. Bookings from Managed Services decreased 10% to $5.7 million, compared to $6.4 million. Total costs and expenses were $5.8 million, compared to $7.5 million. Net loss was $(2.0) million, compared to a net loss of $(2.7) million, an improvement of $674,000 or 25%. Adjusted EBITDA was $(1.8) million, compared to $(2.0) million, an improvement of $(0.2) million or 9%.
Q1 2018 Operational Highlights
Began expansion of IZEA partnership sales team, focused on increasing adoption of IZEAx A global top ten public relations agency became an IZEAx licensee Executed campaigns for two of the top five largest internet companies
Management Commentary
“IZEA saw a decrease in fourth-quarter 2017 contractual commitments as several large customers pushed their annual contracts to the 2018 calendar year. In addition, smaller, faster running campaigns made up less of the sales pipeline throughout 2017. That in turn had an impact on first-quarter 2018 revenue and Gross Billings, which were both off in the quarter,” said Ted Murphy, IZEA’s Chairman and CEO. “We began to see a rebound in contractual commitments in first-quarter 2018 as our bookings for Managed Services increased to $5.7 million compared to $4.0 million in the fourth-quarter of 2017. However, we remain off pace from last year, when we had $6.4 million in bookings for Managed Services in the first quarter of 2017. We believe it will take us two to three quarters to begin to see a meaningful impact from our customer diversification strategy, which is designed to reduce the effects of larger customers as a percentage of revenue.”
Q1 2018 Financial Results
Revenue in the first quarter of 2018 was $3.9 million, a 19% decrease compared to $4.8 million in the same year-ago quarter. The Managed Services portion of our revenue, accounting for 97% of total revenue, decreased by approximately $887,000. Managed Services decreased primarily due to slow sales in fourth-quarter 2017, which resulted from lower initial annual commitments from larger customers, along with a fewer number of smaller customers running short-term campaigns. Nearly $200,000 of the decrease in Managed Services revenue is due to the change in the timing of revenue under the new accounting standard, ASC 606, which the Company adopted in January 2018. Content Workflow revenue for self-service transactions on our platforms, accounting for 2% of total revenue, decreased 38% by approximately $39,000 to $63,000 in Q1 2018, compared to $102,000 in the same year-ago quarter. Self-service use of our platform for content-only production by the large publishers and news agencies is continuing to decline year over year, as expected, due to the ongoing consolidation, cutbacks and operational changes in the newspaper industry.
Our total Gross Billings (a non-GAAP metric management uses to measure total transaction volume, as defined below) were down 24% to $4.7 million in Q1 2018 compared to $6.2 million in Q1 2017, due to the decline in Managed Services commitments and Content Workflow transactions.
Total costs and expenses in the first quarter of 2018 were $5.8 million compared to $7.5 million in the same year-ago quarter. This decrease was primarily due to the decrease in costs of revenue on lower revenue produced, decreases in sales and public relations expense, and decreases in labor and non-cash expenses in general and administrative expense.
Net loss in the first quarter of 2018 was $(2.0) million or $(0.35) per share, as compared to a net loss of $(2.7) million or $(0.49) per share in the same year-ago quarter. The improvement was primarily due to decreased expenses.
Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP metric management uses as a proxy for operating cash flow, as defined below) in the first quarter of 2018 was $(1.8) million compared to $(2.0) million in the same year-ago quarter. The improvement in Adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to reduced expenses. Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue in the first quarter of 2018 was (47%) compared to (42%) in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue backlog, which includes unbilled bookings and unearned revenue, was $10.3 million at the end of the quarter.
Cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2018 totaled $2.8 million. At the end of the quarter, the Company had accessed approximately $731,000 of its $5.0 million credit line.
Conference Call
IZEA will hold a conference call to discuss its first quarter results on Wednesday, May 23rd at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. Management will host the call, followed by a question and answer period.
Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time
Toll-free dial-in number: 1-877-407-4018
International dial-in number: 1-201-689-8471
The conference call will be webcast live and available for replay here and via the investors section of the company’s website at https://izea.com .
Please call the conference telephone number five minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization.
A replay of the call will be available after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through May 30, 2018.
Toll-free replay number: 1-844-512-2921
International replay number: 1-412-317-6671
Replay ID: 13680424
About IZEA
IZEA operates IZEAx, the premier online marketplace that connects marketers with content creators. IZEAx automates influencer marketing and custom content development, allowing brands and agencies to scale their marketing programs. IZEA creators include celebrities and accredited journalists. Creators are compensated for producing unique content such as long and short form text, videos, photos, status updates, and illustrations for marketers or distributing such content on behalf of marketers through their personal websites, blogs, and social media channels. Marketers receive influential content and engaging, shareable stories that drive awareness. For more information about IZEA, visit https://izea.com/ .
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
We define Gross Billings, a non-GAAP financial measure, as the total dollar value of the amounts earned from our customers for the services we performed, or the amounts charged to our customers for their self-service purchase of goods and services on our platforms. Gross Billings for Content Workflow differs from revenue reported in our consolidated statements of operations, which is presented net of the amounts we pay to our third-party creators providing the content or sponsorship services. Gross Billings for all other revenue equals the revenue reported in our consolidated statements of operations.
We consider this metric to be an important indicator of our performance as it measures the total dollar volume of transactions generated through our marketplaces. Tracking Gross Billings allows us to monitor the percentage of Gross Billings that we are able to retain after payments to our creators. Because we invoice our customers on a gross basis, tracking Gross Billings is critical as it pertains to our credit risk and cash flow.
"EBITDA" is a non-GAAP financial measure under the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission. EBITDA is commonly defined as "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization." IZEA defines “Adjusted EBITDA,” also a non-GAAP financial measure, as earnings or loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, non-cash stock related compensation, gain or loss on asset disposals or impairment, changes in acquisition cost estimates, and all other non-cash income and expense items such as gains or losses on settlement of liabilities and exchanges, and changes in fair value of derivatives, if applicable.
We believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors as they exclude transactions not related to the core cash operating business activities including non-cash transactions. We believe that excluding these transactions allows investors to meaningfully trend and analyze the performance of our core cash operations.
All companies do not calculate Gross Billings and Adjusted EBITDA in the same manner. These metrics as presented by IZEA may not be comparable to those presented by other companies. Moreover, these metrics have limitations as analytical tools, and you should not consider them in isolation or as a substitute for an analysis of our results of operations as reported under GAAP. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in the financial tables included in this press release.
Safe Harbor Statement
All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "goal," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding expectations concerning IZEA’s ability to increase its revenue and sales pipeline and improve Adjusted EBITDA, expectations with respect to operational efficiency, and expectations concerning IZEA’s business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including, among others, the following: competitive conditions in the content and social sponsorship segment in which IZEA operates; failure to popularize one or more of the marketplace platforms of IZEA; inability to finance growth initiatives in a timely manner; our ability to establish effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; our ability to satisfy the requirements for continued listing of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; changing economic conditions that are less favorable than expected; and other risks and uncertainties described in IZEA’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements made in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and IZEA assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations, except as otherwise required by law.
IZEA, Inc.
Unaudited Consolidated Balance Sheets
March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017 Assets Current: Cash and cash equivalents $ 2,760,285 $ 3,906,797 Accounts receivable, net 3,288,576 3,647,025 Prepaid expenses 672,273 389,104 Other current assets 39,286 9,140 Total current assets 6,760,420 7,952,066 Property and equipment, net 369,345 286,043 Goodwill 3,604,720 3,604,720 Intangible assets, net 532,114 667,909 Software development costs, net 1,013,657 967,927 Security deposits 148,330 148,638 Total assets $ 12,428,586 $ 13,627,303 Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 1,260,531 $ 1,756,841 Accrued expenses 1,711,105 1,592,356 Contract liabilities 4,014,829 — Unearned revenue — 3,070,502 Line of credit 731,179 500,550 Current portion of deferred rent 47,072 45,127 Current portion of acquisition costs payable 530,364 741,155 Total current liabilities 8,295,080 7,706,531 Deferred rent, less current portion 4,355 17,419 Acquisition costs payable, less current portion 433,312 609,768 Total liabilities 8,732,747 8,333,718 Commitments and Contingencies — — Stockholders’ equity: Preferred stock; $.0001 par value; 10,000,000 shares authorized; no shares issued and outstanding — — Common stock, $.0001 par value; 200,000,000 shares authorized; 5,819,246 and 5,733,981, respectively, issued and outstanding 582 573 Additional paid-in capital 53,116,619 52,570,432 Accumulated deficit (49,421,362 ) (47,277,420 ) Total stockholders’ equity 3,695,839 5,293,585 Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 12,428,586 $ 13,627,303 IZEA, Inc.
Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations
Three Months Ended
March 31, 2018 2017 Revenue $ 3,896,441 $ 4,834,505 Costs and expenses: Cost of revenue (exclusive of amortization) 2,163,142 2,337,060 Sales and marketing 1,755,526 2,388,820 General and administrative 1,615,222 2,446,918 Depreciation and amortization 265,455 362,606 Total costs and expenses 5,799,345 7,535,404 Loss from operations (1,902,904 ) (2,700,899 ) Other income (expense): Interest expense (21,311 ) (17,076 ) Change in fair value of derivatives, net (125,595 ) (618 ) Other income (expense), net 4,690 (627 ) Total other income (expense), net (142,216 ) (18,321 ) Net loss $ (2,045,120 ) $ (2,719,220 ) Weighted average common shares outstanding – basic and diluted 5,802,099 5,598,200 Basic and diluted loss per common share $ (0.35 ) $ (0.49 ) Revenue stream and the percentage of total revenue by stream:
Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 $ Change
% Change Managed Services $ 3,796,665 97 % $ 4,684,123 97 % $ (887,458 ) (19 )% Content Workflow, net 63,548 2 % 102,263 2 % (38,715 ) (38 )% Service Fees & Other 36,228 1 % 48,119 1 % (11,891 ) (25 )% Total Revenue $ 3,896,441 100 % $ 4,834,505 100 % $ (938,064 ) (19 )% IZEA, Inc.
Non-GAAP Reconciliations
(Unaudited)
Reconciliation of GAAP Revenue to Non-GAAP Gross Billings:
Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 Revenue $ 3,896,441 $ 4,834,505 Plus transaction costs for third-party creators (1) 813,919 1,368,001 Gross Billings $ 4,710,360 $ 6,202,506 (1) Transaction costs related to third-party creators for services provided for the Content Workflow portion of our revenue reported on a net basis for GAAP.
Non-GAAP Gross Billings by revenue stream and the percentage of total Gross Billings by stream:
Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 March 31, 2017 Managed Services $ 3,796,665 80 % $ 4,684,123 76 % Content Workflow 877,467 19 % 1,470,264 23 % Service Fees & Other 36,228 1 % 48,119 1 % Total Gross Billings $ 4,710,360 100 % $ 6,202,506 100 % Reconciliation of GAAP Net Loss to Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA:
Three Months Ended March 31,
2018
March 31,
2017
Net loss $ (2,045,120 ) $ (2,719,220 ) Non-cash stock-based compensation 146,281 158,976 Non-cash stock issued for payment of services 28,671 60,632 (Gain) loss on disposal of equipment 853 (1,953 ) (Gain) loss on settlement of acquisition costs payable — (10,491 ) Increase (decrease) in value of acquisition costs payable (393,094 ) 103,792 Depreciation and amortization 265,455 362,606 Interest expense 21,311 17,076 Change in fair value of derivatives 125,595 618 Adjusted EBITDA $ (1,850,048 ) $ (2,027,964 ) Revenue 3,896,441 4,834,505 Adjusted EBITDA as a % of Revenue (47 )% (42 )%
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180522005759/en/
IZEA, Inc.
Justin Braun, 407-215-6218
Manager, Corporate Communications
[email protected]
Source: IZEA, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/business-wire-izea-reports-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
If markets break these levels, the 'game's over' for Trump honeymoon: Acampora 14 Hours Ago Stocks get slammed and remain under pressure. Is a bear market coming? With Altaira Capital Partners' Ralph Acampora, CNBC's Jackie DeAngelis and the Futures Now Traders, Scott Nations and Brian Stutland, both at the CME. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/29/markets-levels-games-over-trump-honeymoon-acampora.html |
Memorial Day weekend moviegoing is off to a good start, if the highly anticipated "Solo: A Star Wars Story" is any indication.
The film, which tells the origin story of the character Han Solo, took in $14.1 million in Thursday previews.
ComScore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian is projecting $130 million to $140 million for the long weekend.
"'Solo' is a great movie to kick off this next part of the summer," he told CNBC's " Power Lunch " on Friday.
Source: Disney A scene from Solo: A Star Wars Story. If his forecast becomes reality, it would be the first $100 million opener for the holiday weekend since "X-Men: Days of Future Past" was released in 2014, he added.
"Memorial weekend needs to get its groove back because it's a very important weekend," he said. "This is where the month of May passes the baton to June and keeps that momentum going."
Last year, the holiday weekend only brought in $181 million for the entire weekend, compared with other years where it saw sales of more than $300 million, Dergarabedian said. The lackluster response continued through the season, with the summer being the lowest grossing one since 2006.
"The summer season is vitally important and Memorial weekend is a big barometer of how the overall summer will perform," he said.
However, Dergarabedian is much more bullish about this summer, which is already off to a good start with Disney 's "Avengers: Infinity War" and Fox's "Deadpool 2 ."
"If this Memorial weekend is any indicator, we're going to have a really strong summer and there's a lot of big movies on the way," he said.
Those films include new installments in the "Jurassic World" and "Mission: Impossible" franchises. Pixar's "Incredibles 2," Marvel's "Ant-Man And The Wasp," Warner Bros.' "Ocean's 8" and Sony Pictures' "Hotel Transylvania 3" are also set to be released this summer.
WATCH: Can 'Solo' give Disney the force to rally? show chapters Can 'Solo' give Disney the force to rally? 18 Hours Ago | 04:53 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/25/solo-should-help-summer-box-office-get-its-groove-back-comscore.html |
'The clock is ticking', EU tells Brexit Britain 9:09pm IST - 01:56
As European Affairs ministers discuss the EU's future relationship with Britain, Britain faces warnings that next month's EU summit is the 'ultimate deadline' for progress on issues related to Northern Ireland's border. As Kate King reports, a deepening row in the UK government over EU customs arrangements could make any progress hard to achieve. ▲ Hide Transcript ▶ View Transcript
As European Affairs ministers discuss the EU's future relationship with Britain, Britain faces warnings that next month's EU summit is the 'ultimate deadline' for progress on issues related to Northern Ireland's border. As Kate King reports, a deepening row in the UK government over EU customs arrangements could make any progress hard to achieve. Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code https://reut.rs/2Gf2FPB | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/video/2018/05/14/the-clock-is-ticking-eu-tells-brexit-bri?videoId=426869164 |
Vice President, Revenue and Partnerships Damon Goodwin and Director, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships Aaron Craig join the premium digital media and lifestyle brand
LOS ANGELES, CA and SAINT JOHN, NB, May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Civilized Worldwide Inc. (Civilized) is pleased to announce the appointment of Damon Goodwin as Vice President, Revenue and Partnerships and Aaron Craig as Director, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. The new business development leaders are aggressively establishing and implementing strategic partnerships to drive the company's growth.
"This team has the know-how and network that will set us up for continued success connecting with our readers and community," says Derek Riedle, CEO and Publisher of Civilized. "Damon and Aaron bring deep experience in health-care, pharma, technology and licensing with a proven track record in analytics, advertising and sales, and international partnerships. I have every confidence in their ability to create new opportunities that will increase our revenues and deliver shareholder value."
Damon Goodwin, Vice President, Revenue and Partnerships, has extensive experience in both startups and large multinationals, with a 25-year track record in sales, and business and relationship development in the health-care industry. With a strong pharmaceutical background, Goodwin brings senior-level strategy and relationships to the cannabis industry. Goodwin has international product licensing experience in health-care throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and has been involved with the launch of more than 20 multi-million-dollar products. His sales and business development expertise stems from key account management, sales, government relations and executive leadership.
"The cannabis industry is experiencing explosive growth and there are countless opportunities for partnership. People recognize that now is the time to get involved," says Goodwin. "We're in a 'green rush' right now, and ancillary businesses like Civilized are the hottest investments. Through strategic partnerships, we'll be building a bridge for mainstream brands to enter into the cannabis market."
Aaron Craig joins Civilized as Director, Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. Craig has a decade of experience selling and using enterprise marketing and advertising technology in the media and entertainment industries. He has been in senior executive roles with fast-growing tech startups such as Salesforce and Affinio. Craig is focused on revenue-share partnerships, strategic customer partnerships, ad and content sales, and ad operations. He has been awarded the Salesforce President's Club Award twice for top sales within the organization.
"The Civilized lifestyle brand is an approachable, safe and credible source for new and existing cannabis consumers," says Craig. "As global markets continue to adopt legalized medical and recreational adult-use cannabis, the brand is poised to be the global cannabis information and entertainment hub. Civilized's approach to content and the quality of its audience will allow the brand to generate millions in revenue as the cannabis consumer industry continues to grow."
About Civilized Worldwide Inc .:
Founded in 2015, with offices in New Brunswick and California, Civilized is a premium media and lifestyle brand that embraces and highlights modern cannabis culture, reflecting the millions of adults who choose to enjoy cannabis as part of a balanced lifestyle, but don't define themselves by it. Reaching more than 2.5 million unique visitors per month, North America-wide, Civilized produces engaging content for and about people who enjoy cannabis responsibly. Other verticals include Civilized Studios, a video network available to 100+ million viewers that fills the void of broadcast quality video and original series in the cannabis space, and Civilized Events, exclusive branded experiences for both the cannabis industry and consumers – from intimate dinner parties to large-scale events like the first-ever World Cannabis Congress in Saint John, New Brunswick from June 10 to 12, 2018. For more information, visit: civilized.life .
View original content with multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/civilized-worldwide-inc-appoints-business-development-leadership-as-the-company-accelerates-growth-300649877.html
SOURCE Civilized Worldwide Inc. (Civilized) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/16/pr-newswire-civilized-worldwide-inc-appoints-business-development-leadership-as-the-company-accelerates-growth.html |
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:
To: All persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Edge Therapeutics, Inc. ("Edge Therapeutics") (NASDAQ:EDGE) between December 29, 2017 and March 27, 2018 . You are hereby notified that a securities class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. To get more information go to:
http://www.zlk.com/pslra-d/edge-therapeutics-inc?wire=2
or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.
The complaint alleges that throughout the class period Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Edge Therapeutics lead product candidate EG-1962 would likely fail a futility analysis in connection with the NEWTON 2 study; and (2) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements and Defendants' statements about Edge's business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
If you suffered a loss in Edge Therapeutics you have until June 22, 2018 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn’t require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. The firm’s attorneys have extensive expertise and experience representing investors in securities litigation, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180511005506/en/
Levi & Korsinsky, LLP
Joseph E. Levi, Esq.
30 Broad Street - 24th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Tel: (212) 363-7500
Toll Free: (877) 363-5972
Fax: (212) 363-7171
www.zlk.com
Source: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/11/business-wire-equity-alert-levi-korsinsky-llp-reminds-shareholders-of-edge-therapeutics-inc-of-commencement-of-a-class-action-lawsuit-and.html |
(Adds oil, gold settlement prices, European market close, graphics links)
* Apple hits record high in broad stock market advance
* U.S. bond yields fall on soft CPI data for April
* Dollar slips after U.S. CPI misses economist forecasts
NEW YORK, May 10 (Reuters) - The dollar and U.S. government debt yields fell on Thursday while equity markets rallied after a modest rise in consumer prices in April eased concerns the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates more than expected this year.
The U.S. Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent last month, less than forecasts for 0.3 percent, as a moderation in healthcare prices offset increases in the cost of gasoline and rental accommodations.
The dollar fell against the euro, the Japanese yen and a basket of other major currencies, while the Mexican peso and Brazilian real jumped more than 1 percent on the news.
Equity markets rose as the soft inflation data reduced the prospect of the Fed boosting rates three more times in 2018, instead of four times many in the market were forecasting.
Apple hit a record high at $190.37, with all 11 major S&P sectors posting gains.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 8/32 in price to push yields down to 2.964 percent after breaching 3 percent on Wednesday.
"Inflation is going to rise in year-over-year terms over the summer, but the rise remains moderate rather than sharp," said Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein LP.
The soft read on inflation should give the Fed comfort that their gradual approach to raising rates is the correct one and ease market concerns, he said.
"I view today's number as a slight positive for risk assets in the near term," Winograd said.
However, the broad-based Underlying Inflation Gauge released by staff at the New York Fed later in the session showed inflation at 3.2 percent in April.
"We did have a miss on CPI for this particular month, but I don't think the overall trend for higher inflation has materially changed," said Eddy Vataru, a portfolio manager at Osterweis Capital Management in San Francisco.
"With oil prices north of $70, it's hard for me to believe this is going to be a persistent trend of inflation misses," he said.
MSCI's broad gauge of global equity markets rose 0.82 percent and turned positive for the year as it hit three-weeks highs.
Apple, Chinese internet giant Tencent, Microsoft and Facebook led the index's advance, while the U.S. technology sector lifted Wall Street.
Emerging market stocks rose 1.43 percent, after Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and the Nikkei in Tokyo both earlier closed higher.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading regional shares closed down 0.13 percent, but markets in London , Germany and France closed higher.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 197.78 points, or 0.81 percent, to 24,740.32. The S&P 500 gained 23.12 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,720.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added 56.36 points, or 0.77 percent, to 7,396.27.
Oil markets were choppy but settled higher as traders eyed further declines in Venezuelan crude production in tandem with bullish drawdowns in U.S. crude inventories.
Brent crude futures rose 26 cents to settle at $77.47 a barrel, after hitting $78 earlier in the day, their highest since November 2014.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up 22 cents at $71.36.
Gold rose on the weaker dollar and as tensions between the United States and Iran also supported the precious metal.
U.S. gold futures for June delivery settled up $9.30 at $1,322.30 per ounce.
(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/reuters-america-global-markets-dollar-yields-slide-on-soft-u-s-inflation-stocks-rally.html |
Twenty two arrested in India in three rape cases 6:45am EDT - 01:23
Police arrest 22 people in eastern India in three separate rape cases involving teenage girls as grisly new attacks against women come to light despite tougher penalties.
Police arrest 22 people in eastern India in three separate rape cases involving teenage girls as grisly new attacks against women come to light despite tougher penalties. //reut.rs/2KHbzbQ | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/video/2018/05/08/twenty-two-arrested-in-india-in-three-ra?videoId=424867385 |
May 1 (Reuters) - Veracyte Inc:
* VERACYTE INC FILES FOR MIXED SHELF OF UP TO $125 MILLION – SEC FILING Source text for Eikon: ( bit.ly/2jlv3GH ) Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-veracyte-files-for-mixed-shelf-of/brief-veracyte-files-for-mixed-shelf-of-up-to-125-million-idUSFWN1S80NI |
J.C. Penney on Thursday reported sales that missed analysts' expectations, blaming the declines on a cooler start to the spring season. The department store chain also cut its full-year earnings outlook.
Its shares tumbled more than 10 percent, falling below $3 apiece, on the news.
Revenues fell about 4.3 percent to $2.58 billion during the first quarter ended May 5, missing a Thomson Reuters estimate for $2.61 billion.
Same-store sales rose 0.2 percent but this was also short of analysts' forecast for roughly 2 percent growth.
Penney's net loss narrowed to $78 million, or 25 cents per share, from $187 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it lost 22 cents a share, 1 cent better than the 23 cent loss analysts were expecting.
The retailer adjusted its full-year earnings-per-share outlook to be between a loss of 7 cents to earnings of 13 cents. That compares with prior guidance of earnings 5 to 25 cents a share.
CEO Marvin Ellison said in a statement: "Although our overall top line sales results came in below our expectations for the quarter, we were encouraged by the strong positive comp performance throughout February and March, as well as the last two weeks of April, when temperatures began to normalize."
Penney said its strongest categories of late include jewelry, Sephora and its salon business, as has been the trend .
Still, the company has been grappling with ways to fix its apparel business, which has lost share to Amazon and more brands selling directly to consumers.
Penney's first-quarter results are in stark contrast to those of Macy's , which reported a much stronger start to the year , sending its shares up more than 10 percent.
Consumer spending overall in the U.S. has been picking up, fueling optimism in the retail industry and boosting many retailers' stocks in recent days. Shares of Penney had closed Wednesday up more than 5 percent, on the heels of the better-than-expected results from Macy's.
"[W]e think JCP can clear as the year progresses — as long as initiatives in Women's Apparel, Home, Beauty, Digital, and others take hold," Cowen & Co. analyst Oliver Chen said earlier this year. "We like steps JCP has taken over the past year to grow its digital business through investments in infrastructure, technology, and leadership."
Like its peers, Penney has been looking for ways to trim excess costs and create a shopping experience that blends bricks and mortar with e-commerce. It's been cutting back on discounting and has started fulfilling and shipping online orders from stores, for examples.
It also announced a round of hundreds of job cuts in March.
Penney's stock has lost more than 40 percent from a year ago, bringing its market capitalization under $1 billion.
WATCH: J.C. Penney announces management shakeup
show chapters JC Penney announces management shakeup and cuts 360 jobs in hopes of saving $25 million a year 1:23 PM ET Fri, 2 March 2018 | 00:51 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/17/jc-penney-shares-tank-on-sales-decline-outlook-slashed.html |
SOUNION, Greece (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia held “hardworking and intense” talks on Saturday to bridge their differences in a decades-old dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav Republic that has complicated its hopes of joining the EU and NATO.
The row began in earnest in 1991, when Macedonia broke away peacefully from former Yugoslavia, declaring its independence under the name Republic of Macedonia.
Greece, which has its own region called Macedonia, has asked its neighbour to change its name, as well as what it says are “irredentist” references denoting territorial ambitions in Skopje’s national constitution, which Greece says must be taken out.
“I can characterise the meeting as being very serious, hardworking, intense a few times,” said Matthew Nimetz, an American diplomat who has been the United Nations special envoy on the name dispute since 1994. He was speaking after the conclusion of a meeting of the two foreign ministers at a resort east of Athens.
Positive work had been done, he said, and the two ministers would be briefing their prime ministers who were expected to meet in Bulgaria on May 17 on the sidelines of an EU-Western Balkans summit.
The two countries decided last year to renew their efforts to try to reach a settlement well before the summer.
The foreign ministers, Nikos Kotzias of Greece and Nikola Dimitrov of Macedonia, did not take questions. In statements on Friday, Dimitrov said discussions were at a pivotal point.
“We are in a very delicate phase ... in a way tackling one of the last remaining differences,” Dimitrov said.
Both sides see 2018 as a year of opportunity.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes to resolve the matter to gain more political leverage in Europe, and at the same time increase his popularity at home where many Greeks feel the country’s debt crisis and three massive bailouts have compromised its sovereignty.
Meanwhile, Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who came to power a year ago, wants to accelerate his country’s accession to NATO and the EU to boost international support for his fragile coalition.
Greece has said a compromise could include a compound name with a geographical or chronological qualifier by which the country would be known and referred to in all international institutions - the so-called “erga omnes”.
Examples could include Upper Macedonia and North Macedonia.
Pending a settlement, the ex-Yugoslav nation was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Hugh Lawson
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-macedonia/greece-macedonia-race-to-end-name-row-before-eu-summit-idUSKCN1ID0D0 |
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CUV Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of a Licensed, and operating (Since 2011), Panamanian Limited Liability company, which has become a wholly owned subsidiary. The company has obtained the approval from Panamanian authorities to rename this entity RevoluFIN Inc. with the accompanying approved commercial name, RevoluPAY®. The acquired entity has an existing corporate banking relationship with Tower Bank Panama. TowerBank was founded in 1971 and has a Fitch rating of A and Equilibrium rating of A+.
RevoluFIN Inc Panama
The Panamanian subsidiary will be involved in certain aspects of the RevoluFIN platform, guaranteeing, through its banking partners, fiduciary and other services to lending partners. Panama has the most modern and successful international banking center in Latin America, with more than 85 banks from 35 countries. RevoluFIN Inc Panama will also be involved in Panamanian tourism promotion, including the potential leased use of a network of +50 websites currently promoting the Central American nation.
RevoluPAY® Europe
The company anticipates that the wholly owned subsidiary, RevoluPAY® S.L, will receive final approval from the Spanish mercantile authorities to begin operations, on or before, Monday 28 th May. Shortly thereafter, the company hopes to conclude its agreement with the European EDE Banking licensed entity with which it has successfully negotiated favorable terms for RevoluPAY® digital wallet load capability. The proposed partner holds the required European banking license, permitting the projected June 2018 launch of RevoluPAY®. In parallel with the above roll-out chronology, the wholly owned subsidiary intends to seek a proprietary European EDE Banking license.
RevoluPAY® Apple and Android App
UXS Mobile has provided the company with a releasable version of both the end user and merchant apps. These apps have been tested extensively and have garnered excellent response times, meeting or exceeding all security requirements. Management of Crypto Liquidity has received APK working versions of the app, in order to properly structure the integration of their patent pending technology. Both the company and Crypto Liquidity are working towards a definitive agreement concerning the licensing and synergized roll-out of the public version of the app, expected in June 2018.
RevoluPAY® Licensing Agreements
As previously reported to shareholders, the company’s equity partner Duales Inc is a FINTRAC certified remittance operator, capable of handling disbursements in certain Caribbean markets. Further, the company is in the final stages of negotiation with a licensed partner in the Dominican Republic for disbursements in that nation. The current remittance market in the DR is approximately $5.6 Billion USD annually and, allied to other Caribbean markets included in the initial rollout, the total initial RevoluPAY® market is expected to be approximately $9 Billion USD . The company then expects to continue its progress into the Mexican market which is approximately $26.8 Billion USD , before moving onto further world markets. The RevoluPAY® app will concurrently empower entrepreneurs, primarily in the travel sector, with a more convenient way of handling receivables.
RevoluPAY® Pre-Launch Meeting Miami
The company is pleased to inform shareholders that equity partners and key management met in Miami, Florida, between the 14 th and 17 th of May 2018. Miami, Florida was chosen as the venue, due to it being the headquarters of: Havana Consulting Group, IBTO Travel and Third Circle Publishing, companies in which CUV Ventures Corp holds strategic equity positions. CUV Management and, the respective CEOs of the aforementioned partners, met for an intensive three-day period to finalize the soon anticipated rollout, in-house marketing and, logistics, of the upcoming RevoluPAY® launch. Management is elated with the meetings and proposed marketing strategy. Shareholders are reminded that the company also owns 432 websites, which collectively accrue approximately 35 million annual page views. These websites and underlying web traffic will be the cornerstone of in-house marketing, allied to the impressive marketing prowess of its equity partners and, the habitual worldwide media the company has always received.
Teide HPC Supercomputer Data Center
Shareholders were informed of the company’s interest in adopting a centralized data center on April 27 th 2018 , in which, all of its digital technology can be securely hosted. Such an advent would bring the company’s data centers and collocated servers, currently located in disparate locations and countries, into one centralized location, promoting both enhanced economy and greater control. As a subsidiary benefit, due to the disclosed computing power of the anticipated supercomputer and, its unique solar powered configuration, ancillary revenue is planned, through using the data center for crypto mining purposes and, as a central data nucleus for the, leisure industry focused, CCU Coin CryptoToken. The company is pleased to inform shareholders that Director Bernard Lonis, who has been responsible for these negotiations, received a formal offer on May 02 nd 2018 to lease the said data center facilities. The company is in the process of studying this proposal in association with its in-house network specialists and, is expected to make a decision on this dual, hosting and mining opportunity, in the coming weeks.
RevoluPAY® Trade and Image mark Granted in the European Union
The company is pleased to announce that both Image and Trademark petitions for RevoluPAY®, covering all European member states, was granted on 9 th May 2018. The protected trademark and, its associated use, are fundamental to the licensing agreements and upcoming country based roll-out.
Panamchain Fintech and Blockchain Conference
On Saturday, May 5th and Sunday, May 6th, Company Director Alfredo Manresa, Panamanian Legal Counsel, Paula Sarmiento and Spanish Legal Counsel, Rocio Jimenez, attended the notable Panamchain Fintech and Blockchain Conference, Panama City, Republic of Panama. The significant international turnout for the event, allied to the impressive caliber of Banking and FinTech attendees, promises to aid the company with its South American rollout of RevoluPAY® and RevoluFIN. Several potential country based licensing partner candidates were met and, the company expects to offer an update on these candidates and developments in due course.
About CUV Ventures Corp.:
CUV Ventures Corp. is a multi-asset, multidivisional publicly traded Canadian company deploying advanced technologies in the; Online Travel, Vacation Resort, Mobile Apps, Money Remittance, Invoice factoring, Crypto Mining, Blockchain Systems, and Cryptotoken sectors.
Our flagship technology is RevoluPAY®, the Apple and Android multinational remittance app, powered by blockchain protocols, and aimed at the worldwide + $595 billion family remittance market.
The ₡CU Coin Cryptotoken, allied to RevoluPAY®, promises to be the coin of choice for remittance senders, travelers and the hospitality industry. Its increasing adoption across several spheres exemplifies its international perspective and future value amongst users.
The company’s FinTech division continues to expand into this rapidly emerging segment, in which it; manages, operates and develops end-to-end digital platforms to monetize the blockchain ecosystem across a broad spectrum of leisure related industries, remittances and finance.
A diverse division of the company, named Cuba Ventures , is involved in Caribbean Basin strategic investments. Similar to the United States NASDAQ listed Herzfeld Fund , the focus is to control noteworthy assets related to the Caribbean Basin (including Cuba). The division is comprised of numerous assets. A wholly owned subsidiary Travelucion Media , is a duly licensed and bonded online travel company, Amadeus GDS affiliated, digital and print media powerhouse that specializes in travel marketing, electronic reservations and online booking solutions. Travelucion owns a vast portfolio of web assets consisting of 432 Cuba-centric websites in up to 5 languages which generate over 35 million page-views per year and direct traffic to Travelucion’s online booking and e-commerce sites and proprietary online booking systems, also customized for white label deployment on third party booking websites for; Cayman Islands, Dominican republic, Aruba, Bahamas, BVI, Belize, Antigua, Jamaica and Cuba, offering bookings for hotels, private residences, car rentals, tours, flights and a variety of other types of specialized travel services.
In 2017, the company acquired equity in the Florida, USA based, licensed and bonded travel agency; International Business & Travel Opportunities, LLC ( IBTO ), a Caribbean Basin focused travel facilitator operating trips in the region (including licensed Cuba trips for Americans).
In 2018, the company acquired equity in the Florida, USA based, Third Circle Publishing LLC, publisher of the esteemed and U.S circulated print and digital magazine Cuba Trade Magazine . CUV Ventures Corp owns an interest in some important print and digital media assets, reaching 10s of millions of consumers globally.
In 2018, the company acquired equity in the Toronto; Canada based, FINTRAC licensed, remittance company, Duales Inc . as part of the RevoluPAY®® remittance app partner network.
In 2018, the company acquired equity in the Miami, USA based, Business advisory/consultant think-tank Havana Consulting Group , as part of the progressive acquisition of key Cuba related but, non domiciled, businesses.
The Cuba Ventures division consulting team harnesses over 80 years of combined advisor experience in submitting and, obtaining approval, for joint ventures, joint production agreements and import/export permits for foreign enterprises. More recently the company has taken a royalty approach for future agreements between third parties anxious to begin comercial operations with Cuba and, the company’s Cuba Consulting Unit.
Through this methodology, the Company is gradually building a potentially valuable “future-ready”, non Caribbean (Cuba) domiciled asset base while, in the interim, securing revenue, growth and unique opportunities present in the Caribbean Basin, with an emphasis on the $4 billion dollar and rapidly growing Cuban travel and tourism industry, $3 billion factoring and FinTech sector, $18.6 billion Caribbean remittance industry and international corporate consulting for Cuba’s estimated $86 Billion annual economy , which remains an interesting opportunity and, one that this division strives to dominate at every opportunity by acquiring assets that are neither physically domiciled nor associated with entities located in Republic of Cuba but, that have unparalleled future takeover prospects, should the political climate improve.
For further information on CUV Ventures Corp. (TSX-V:CUV) visit the Company’s website at www.cuvventures.com . The Company has approximately 123,000,000 shares issued and outstanding.
CUV VENTURES CORP.
STEVE MARSHALL | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/globe-newswire-cuv-ventures-corp-completes-acquisition-of-panamanian-domiciled-company-provides-shareholder-progress-report.html |
'Superman' actress Margot Kidder dead at age 69 - Montana funeral home Monday, May 14, 2018 - 00:56
Margot Kidder, best known for playing Lois Lane in the ''Superman'' films in the 1970s and 1980s, dies at 69. Bob Mezan reports.
Margot Kidder, best known for playing Lois Lane in the "Superman" films in the 1970s and 1980s, dies at 69. Bob Mezan reports. //reut.rs/2L0t4UT | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/video/2018/05/14/superman-actress-margot-kidder-dead-at-a?videoId=426934659 |
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first announced their engagement in November, there was speculation that the American actress, a self-described feminist, would have her identity subsumed by the crown . She’d shut down her lifestyle blog, given up her work with the United Nations and other philanthropic organizations, and quit her acting role in Suits . Before the wedding, she’d been baptized into the Church of England , to which Harry belongs.
But the couple’s wedding on Saturday at Windsor Castle provided a powerful reminder that making sacrifices for a spouse and being a feminist are not mutually exclusive.
In short, even as Meghan assumed her new royal title—the Duchess of Sussex—she and Harry threw a big, fat, feminist wedding.
It wasn’t just that the bride walked herself down most of the aisle, that she omitted a promise to “obey” from her vows, or that her new husband Harry will break with male royal tradition and wear a wedding ring.
What truly elevated the ceremony the way it made clear that Markle’s cultural background—the child of an African-American woman, Doria Ragland—was on level footing with the traditions of Harry’s family, arguably the most prominent and storied on planet Earth.
Markle walked the majority of the aisle by herself. (Danny Lawson— AFP/Getty Images.) There were the lessons of love from Bishop Michael Curry, the first black head of the U.S. Episcopal Church, who, in the animated style associated with pastors of black churches, seemed to rattle the dust off the chapel’s centuries-old rafters with Quote: s from Martin Luther King and references to the antebellum South.
“Dr. King was right, we must discover love. The redemptive power of love,” he said in his barnstorming homily. “And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world.”
His forthright delivery left pews of aristocrats gap-mouthed and summoned admiration from on-lookers across the globe, who’d been craving an uplifting message for a world in tumult. They ate up every feel-good morsel.
Then there was the music, which mixed traditional hymns with soul classic “Stand by Me” and the civil rights anthem “This Little Light of Mine.” The Kingdom Choir, a Christian group from Southwest London made up of black Brits and led by celebrated gospel singer Karen Gibson, belted out that last song in foot-stomping fashion, as the bride and groom processed from the church and stepped into the gleaming English sun.
It was enough to give you goosebumps.
Outside Windsor Castle, after the ceremony, Karen Smith, 75, from Naples, Florida, told me she hoped Meghan would continue to promote the causes that she appeared to hold dear, like supporting women’s rights in the workplace and providing resources for women who’d experienced domestic abuse.
If Saturday’s Royal Wedding was any indication, Meghan’s feminist causes will carry just as much weight as Harry’s projects. So cheers the newlyweds and to what—in this early stage, at least—appears to be their marriage of equals. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/20/meghan-markle-wedding-feminist/ |
May 24, 2018 / 5:03 AM / in 13 minutes PRESS DIGEST -Wall Street Journal - May 24 Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
May 24 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
- Comcast Corp is escalating its threat to disrupt Walt Disney Co mega deal to buy the bulk of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc's assets, a potential move that could reshape the power structure in the entertainment industry. on.wsj.com/2kgX3eS
- General Electric Co boss John Flannery warned investors that the company's big power business faces years of pressure and reminded them that major changes at the conglomerate will take some time. on.wsj.com/2J4yjVg
- Apple Inc's Chief Executive Tim Cook this month met secretly with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper to discuss possibly putting a major new customer-service facility in the Raleigh-Durham area. on.wsj.com/2J2zO6m
- Exxon Mobil Corp plans to reduce methane emissions 15 percent by 2020, the latest in a series of pledges by major oil companies to voluntarily curtail releases of the potent greenhouse gas. on.wsj.com/2s1wXBc (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/press-digest-wsj/press-digest-wall-street-journal-may-24-idUSL3N1SV2F6 |
May 12, 2018 / 5:26 PM / Updated 30 minutes ago Just like good old days as Woods rediscovers that Tiger magic Reuters Staff 3 Min Read
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla (Reuters) - It was just like the halcyon days of a previous era as Tiger Woods carded his best ever score at TPC Sawgrass, a seven-under-par 65, in the third round of the Players Championship on Saturday. Golf - Tiger Woods Press Conference - Marina Bay Sands, Singapore - 3/11/11 USA's Tiger Woods talks to the media during a question and answer session Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Jeremy Lee Livepic
Woods, a 79-times winner on the PGA Tour, used his irons with precision and wielded a hot putter to record his lowest numerical score on the PGA Tour since 2015.
It was also his best score in relation to par since 2013, though he has played only sparingly in the ensuing five years while nursing a serious back injury.
After making the cut with nothing to spare on Friday, Woods teed off trailing halfway leader Webb Simpson by 14 strokes on another perfect morning.
“I finally got off to a good start,” said Woods, who sent waves of excitement through the gallery with six front-nine birdies.
He turned in 30 and added further birdies at the 11th and 12th holes, but he could not pick up any more.
His 65 left Woods on an eight-under 208, unlikely to be near the lead by day’s end as scoring conditions remained ideal.
Still, it was a nice confidence-booster for Woods as he works his way back to tournament sharpness after last year’s successful spinal fusion.
“It was nice to see a few putts go in. I hit a lot of quality shots and 65 was probably as high as I could have shot today, which was kind of nice,” he said.
“To be eight-under there through 12 — realistically, I probably could have got a couple more out of it and got to 10 (under) for the day.
“Today I felt more comfortable with my overall warm-up. I felt I had better control of hitting it right-to-left and left-to-right, and consequently today I was able to shape the golf ball both ways and started to control it a little bit better today.”
While Woods has shown signs of his old self in his seven-plus tournaments this year, he has struggled to string good rounds together.
The 42-year-old has displayed patience, outwardly at least, knowing that even a player of his calibre needs some time to get back to near his best after missing so much time through injury.
“It’s just a matter of playing and executing and putting the shots together,” he said.
“Eventually I was going to put all the pieces together and today for the most part I did that.” Reporting by Andrew Both,; Editing by Neville Dalton | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-golf-players-woods/woods-rediscovers-that-tiger-magic-with-65-in-players-third-round-idUKKCN1ID0PX |
May 9 (Reuters) - UQM Technologies Inc:
* UQM TECHNOLOGIES PROVIDES UPDATE ON CFIUS STATUS * UQM TECHNOLOGIES- CO, CHINA NATIONAL HEAVY DUTY TRUCK TO JOINTLY EXPLORE OTHER OPTIONS IN SUPPORT OF CO’S ENTRY INTO CHINA NEW ENERGY VEHICLE MARKET
* UQM TECHNOLOGIES-CFIUS HAS INFORMED CO THEY WILL LIKELY NOT APPROVE SECOND STAGE INVESTMENT IN CURRENT FORM PROVIDED FOR IN STOCK AGREEMENT WITH CNHTC
* UQM TECHNOLOGIES - INTENDS TO ENGAGE CNHTC IN DISCUSSIONS TO PURSUE POSSIBILITY OF ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS, INCLUDING CONTEMPLATED JV Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-uqm-technologies-provides-update-o/brief-uqm-technologies-provides-update-on-cfius-status-idUSASC0A13C |
BATAVIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Graham Corporation (NYSE: GHM), a global business that designs, manufactures and sells critical equipment for the oil refining, petrochemical, power and defense industries, announced today that it will release its financial results for the fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2018, which ended March 31, 2018, before the opening of financial markets on Thursday, May 31, 2018.
The Company will host a conference call and webcast to review its financial and operating results, strategy and outlook. A question-and-answer session will follow.
Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results Conference Call
Thursday, May 31, 2018
11:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Phone: (201) 689-8560
Internet webcast link and accompanying slide presentation: www.graham-mfg.com
A telephonic replay will be available from 2:00 p.m. ET on the day of the teleconference through Thursday, June 7, 2018. To listen to the archived call, dial (412) 317-6671 and enter conference ID number 13678791, or access the webcast replay via the Company’s website at www.graham-mfg.com , where a transcript will also be posted once available.
ABOUT GRAHAM CORPORATION
Graham is a global business that designs, manufactures and sells critical equipment for the energy, defense and chemical/petrochemical industries. Energy markets include oil refining, cogeneration, nuclear and alternative power. For the defense industry, the Company’s equipment is used in nuclear propulsion power systems for the U.S. Navy. Graham’s global brand is built upon world-renowned engineering expertise in vacuum and heat transfer technology, responsive and flexible service and unsurpassed quality. Graham designs and manufactures custom-engineered ejectors, vacuum pumping systems, surface condensers and vacuum systems. Graham is also a leading nuclear code accredited fabrication and specialty machining company. Graham supplies components used inside reactor vessels and outside containment vessels of nuclear power facilities. Graham’s equipment can also be found in other diverse applications such as metal refining, pulp and paper processing, water heating, refrigeration, desalination, food processing, pharmaceutical, heating, ventilating and air conditioning. Graham’s reach spans the globe and its equipment is installed in facilities from North and South America to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Graham routinely posts news and other important information on its website, www.graham-mfg.com , where additional comprehensive information on Graham Corporation and its subsidiaries can be found.
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180517005061/en/
Graham Corporation
Jeffrey F. Glajch, 585-343-2216
Vice President of Finance and CFO
Email: [email protected]
or
Kei Advisors LLC
Deborah K. Pawlowski, 716-843-3908
Email: [email protected]
or
Karen L. Howard, 716-843-3942
Email: [email protected]
Source: Graham Corporation | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/17/business-wire-graham-corporation-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-fiscal-year-2018-financial-results-release-and-conference-call.html |
President Trump has called off a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Before his announcement, we spoke with Ambassador Chas Freeman, a retired American diplomat, about the broader strategic issues on the Korean peninsula. Lodged between China, Japan and Russia, Korea has long been the object of great power rivalry. Occupied at times by both China and Japan, Korea was carved in half at the end of World War Two, with the North becoming a communist state allied with the Soviet Union and the South a capitalist nation allied with the United States. Eight decades later, it is still divided.
More Commentary on North Korea Kent Harrington: Trump's nuke focus misses Kim's real leverage About the Author Arshad Mohammed writes about U.S. foreign policy for Reuters as a diplomatic correspondent based in Washington. He joined Reuters in 1988 and has worked as a correspondent in New York, Paris, Algiers and Washington, where he has covered the White House 1996-2002 and the State Department 2002-2005, 2006-2016. His Washington assignments have entailed extensive travel with former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and former Secretaries of State Powell, Rice, Clinton and Kerry.
The views expressed in this article are not those of Reuters News.
0 : 0 narrow-browser-and-phone medium-browser-and-portrait-tablet landscape-tablet medium-wide-browser wide-browser-and-larger medium-browser-and-landscape-tablet medium-wide-browser-and-larger above-phone portrait-tablet-and-above above-portrait-tablet landscape-tablet-and-above landscape-tablet-and-medium-wide-browser portrait-tablet-and-below landscape-tablet-and-below Apps Newsletters Advertise with Us Advertising Guidelines Cookies Terms of Use Privacy
All Quote: s delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
© 2018 Reuters. All Rights Reserved. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mohammed-korea-commentary/commentary-korean-peninsula-at-the-crosshairs-of-great-power-rivalry-idUSKCN1IP3BG |
May 7, 2018 / 3:26 AM / Updated 17 hours ago Cuban artists stage alternative festival after government delay Sarah Marsh 4 Min Read
HAVANA (Reuters) - A group of Cuban artists launched an alternative arts festival this weekend in Havana in response to the Communist government saying it was postponing the official biennial by a year to prioritize funding on rebuilding after Hurricane Irma. Skinned pig heads, a piece of Spanish artist Diego Gil Moreno de Mora, a participant of the "00Biennial", are left to dry before being hanged in Havana, Cuba, May 2, 2018. Picture taken May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
The artists had been indignant at the delay of the state-run arts extravaganza, which typically takes over Havana for a month and allows them to showcase their art to international collectors, galleries and curators.
They said they felt the decision to postpone it to 2019 had to do with the political transition this year and a fear of anything that could cause instability. Cuba named a new president last month, Miguel Diaz-Canel, to replace Raul Castro.
While the “00Biennial” which runs for 10 days until May 15 does not have the scope of the official one, it is offering an unusual independent platform for artists in a country where the state dominates all aspects of society.
The government has criticized it as a “provocative manoeuvre” but allowed it to go ahead, something unthinkable 10 years ago, according to organizer and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara.
“We are not against the Havana biennial,” Otero Alcantara told the crowd at the event’s inauguration on Saturday outside his home in Old Havana which is hosting a dozen exhibits.
“But why should we not project our ideas from an alternative platform or that of individual art?”
Cuba punches above its weight culturally, partly because the Communist government has invested in heavily in the arts since the country’s 1959 revolution, seeking to make culture less elitist and more universally accessible. Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara (2nd R), organiser of the "00Biennial", speaks during its opening in Havana, Cuba, May 5, 2018. Picture taken May 5, 2018. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
Otero Alcantara said the 00Biennial, which is taking place in the independent studios that have flourished throughout Havana in recent years as the country has opened up, does not aim to attack Cuban institutions or showcase political art.
However, Cuba’s National Union of Writers and Artists accused it this week of creating “a climate propitious to promoting the interests of the enemies of the nation.”
Cuba’s longtime foe, the United States, has in the past provided funds to promote anti-establishment artists as part of efforts to foster political change on the island.
Many Cuban artists say they are tired of that being used as an excuse to shut down independent arts movements, and complained about pressure from authorities not to participate.
The 00Biennial is focused on a wide range of artists, including Cuba’s rappers who usually struggle to reach their public given a state monopoly on media and other public spaces.
But it is also showcasing artists working within the establishment, like Reynier Leyva Novo, who has exhibited work at the official Havana Biennial as well as the Cuban state pavilion at the Venice Biennial. Slideshow (4 Images)
In what he called a performance, Leyva Novo sold an artwork to the National Council of Visual Arts and donated the $3,800 payment to the 00Biennial, to undercut government accusations of it receiving “funds of the mercenary counter-revolution.”
“They try to discredit you saying you are counterrevolutionary,” he said. “But really this is a genuine cultural project in the absence of an official space.” Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Lisa Shumaker | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/cuba-art/cuban-artists-stage-alternative-festival-after-government-delay-idINKBN1I8079 |
May 7 (Reuters) - China Merchants Securities Co Ltd :
* SAYS APRIL NET PROFIT AT 221.4 MILLION YUAN ($34.79 million) Source text in Chinese: bit.ly/2wptxwK ($1 = 6.3632 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Hong Kong newsroom)
Our | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-china-merchants-securities-april-n/brief-china-merchants-securities-april-net-profit-at-221-4-million-yuan-idUSH9N1S901A |
May 4 (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc:
* PEPSICO INC - SHAREHOLDERS APPROVED, ON AN ADVISORY BASIS, PEPSICO'S EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION Source text: ( bit.ly/2HRzibK ) Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-pepsico-says-shareholders-approved/brief-pepsico-says-shareholders-approved-on-an-advisory-basis-pepsicos-executive-compensation-idUSFWN1SB1AA |
May 10 (Reuters) - 3D Systems Corp:
* 3D SYSTEMS AND HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES PARTNER TO TRANSFORM U.S. NAVY SHIPBUILDING
* 3D SYSTEMS - COLLABORATION WITH HUNTINGTON INGALLS’ NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING UNIT TO QUALIFY METAL ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECH TO BUILD NAVAL WARSHIPS Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-3d-systems-huntington-ingalls-part/brief-3d-systems-huntington-ingalls-partner-for-naval-shipbuilding-idUSFWN1SH1G4 |
May 11, 2018 / 5:20 PM / Updated 25 minutes ago Trump biofuel policy overhaul to include fewer refinery waivers: source Jarrett Renshaw , Chris Prentice 5 Min Read
(Reuters) - The Trump administration will scale back the use of biofuels waivers for small refineries and count ethanol exports toward federal biofuels usage quotas as part of a broad overhaul of the nation’s renewable fuel policy, a source briefed on the plans said on Friday. A fuel nozzle from a bio diesel fuel pump is seen in this photo illustration taken at a filling station in San Diego, California January 8, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The changes are aimed at easing tensions between the oil and corn industries, rivals that have been clashing for months over the future of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard - a law that requires refiners to add increasing amounts of biofuels into the nation’s gasoline and diesel.
While the RFS has helped farmers by creating a 15 billion gallon a year market for corn-based ethanol, oil refiners have increasingly complained that complying with the law costs them a fortune and threatens the very blue-collar jobs President Donald Trump has promised to protect.
After hosting several meetings between representatives of the corn and refining industries, the administration is in the “last stages” of formally proposing changes to the biofuels law intended to appease both sides, the source said on Friday.
A White House announcement is imminent, the source said, but did not have a timetable. The changes would be subject to the federal rule-making process, added the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The biofuels changes include cutting back on the number of waivers that the Environmental Protection Agency can provide to small refiners to free them from the regulation, and to ensure that any waived obligations are redistributed to other refiners.
The EPA is required by the RFS to provide such waivers to refineries of less than 75,000 barrels per day in capacity that can prove that complying with the RFS would cause them “disproportionate economic hardship”, but the agency has broad discretion over assessing the applications.
In recent months, the EPA has granted more than two dozen such waivers in an effort to help the refining industry cope with the RFS - about triple the typical level under past administrations - angering the corn lobby, which argued the exemptions are reducing overall demand for ethanol.
Reuters has reported that the recent EPA waivers have gone to refineries belonging to companies like the large and highly-profitable Andeavor ( ANDV.N ) and to CVR Energy ( CVI.N ), owned by billionaire Trump ally Carl Icahn.
The source did not say by how much the waiver program would be reduced, but said that the administration was committed to ensuring that any waivers provided do not have the effect of reducing the amount of biofuels blended in a given year - something that would be accomplished by redistributing waived blending obligations to other refineries.
Republican Senator Tom Barraso, who represents Wyoming, home to several smaller refineries, said he would “oppose any agreement that would make it more difficult for small refineries to obtain hardship relief in the future.”
Another change will be to allow exports of biofuels like ethanol to count toward the annual biofuels volume mandates under the RFS - which could ease the burden on domestic refiners by reducing the amounts they would have to blend domestically.
Biofuels groups have strongly opposed the idea, saying it could spark trade tensions and goes against the RFS’ intent to increase domestic use of biofuels.
Counting exports toward the annual volumes mandates would be achieved by allowing such shipments to qualify for tradable government-issued biofuels credits that must be turned in to EPA each year to prove compliance with the RFS.
The Trump administration’s tweaks to the RFS would also include temporarily lifting restrictions on selling a certain kind of higher-ethanol blend gasoline in the summer, called E15, according to the source.
Trump has already publicly stated his support for such a move, which has been long sought by the corn lobby because it would theoretically expand the market for biofuels.
Sales of E15 are currently banned in the summer over worries that it could increase smog - but the biofuels industry, and numerous scientific studies, show that E15 is little different from the currently approved blends in that regard.
The White House and EPA did not immediately respond to request for comment about the proposed changes to the RFS. Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in New York and Chris Prentice; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-biofuels/trump-to-soon-propose-sweeping-changes-to-biofuel-laws-source-idUSKBN1IC263 |
Lansdowne, VA, May 02, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, has named three new individuals to its board of directors: Tom Usher , Dorcas Haque , and Dipo Ashiru .
The Following Individuals Were Unanimously Approved to Serve on the Prison Fellowship Board of Directors:
Tom Usher —served as the Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Steel from 2001-2004. Prior to his role at U.S. Steel, Usher was elected to the U.S. Steel Group and Director of USX, which had changed its name from U.S. Steel in the mid 80’s. In 1994, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of USX and later named Chairman of the Board. Usher previously served on the Boards of Directors of Transtar, Inc., H.J. Heinz Company, PNC Financial Services, PPG Industries, and Marathon Oil. In addition, Usher served as Chairman of the Board of the American Iron and Steel Institute, the International Iron and Steel Institute, and the U.S.-Korea Business Council. Mr. Usher and his wife Sandy reside in Florida and Pennsylvania.
Dorcas Haque —serves on the board for the Lighthouse for Women —an organization that funds and provides safe homes to protect and empower victims of human trafficking. Mrs. Haque is also a registered nurse and passionate about Christian ministry in Africa, where her parents served as missionaries. Mrs. Haque and her husband Promod [Senior Managing Partner, Norwest Venture Partners ] are actively involved in the work of their family foundation. They reside in California.
Dipo Ashiru —serves as Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel for the TCW Group, Inc . —a global asset management firm. Prior to his time at TCW, he served as the principal and funds counsel at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Company, —a global investment firm. Mr. Ashiru started his legal career as an attorney at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP, a firm based in New York, where he resides.
“We are honored to welcome three new board members to Prison Fellowship, —each bringing a solid set of specific skills, experience and a passion to serve,” said James J. Ackerman , President and Chief Executive Officer of Prison Fellowship.
“The Board and I are very excited to have three new members join our team,” said Carl Dill, Chairman of the Board, Prison Fellowship. “They come from very diverse backgrounds, but all share the same passion for our work with prisoners and their families. Each brings unique gifts that will add great value as we support expanding ministry opportunities.”
About Prison Fellowship
Prison Fellowship is the nation's largest outreach to prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform. With more than 40 years of experience helping restore men and women behind bars, Prison Fellowship advocates for federal and state criminal justice reforms that transform those responsible for crime, validate victims, and encourage communities to play a role in creating a safe, redemptive, and just society.
Jim Forbes Prison Fellowship 703-554-8540 [email protected]
Source: Prison Fellowship | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/02/globe-newswire-three-named-to-prison-fellowshipas-board-of-directors.html |
Dates could bring Iraq and Kuwait back together 9:00am EDT - 01:54
On a former battlefield of the 1991 Gulf War, deep in Iraq's southern desert, a Kuwaiti investor is looking to grow 100,000 date palms which could turnaround decades of mistrust between Kuwait and Iraq.
On a former battlefield of the 1991 Gulf War, deep in Iraq's southern desert, a Kuwaiti investor is looking to grow 100,000 date palms which could turnaround decades of mistrust between Kuwait and Iraq. //reut.rs/2ICycB9 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/video/2018/05/22/dates-could-bring-iraq-and-kuwait-back-t?videoId=429312814 |
May 4 (Reuters) - Edgeware AB (publ):
* Q1 NET SALES SEK 48.4 MILLION VERSUS SEK 68.7 MILLION YEAR AGO
* Q1 OPERATING LOSS SEK 11.5 MILLION VERSUS PROFIT SEK 13.0 MILLION YEAR AGO
* COMPANY’S TARGET FOR EBIT MARGIN, CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND DIVIDEND POLICY WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-edgeware-q1-net-sales-sek-484-mill/brief-edgeware-q1-net-sales-sek-48-4-million-idUSFWN1SA1J0 |
Pompeo makes second quiet visit to North Korea 6:58am EDT - 01:18
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to return from North Korea with three American detainees, as well as details of an upcoming summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a South Korean official.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to return from North Korea with three American detainees, as well as details of an upcoming summit between leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, according to a South Korean official. //reut.rs/2KPDO8y | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/video/2018/05/09/pompeo-makes-second-quiet-visit-to-north?videoId=425146298 |
May 24, 2018 / 8:55 AM / Updated 9 hours ago Kohli to skip Surrey stint after suffering neck injury Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
(Reuters) - India cricket captain Virat Kohli has suffered a neck injury during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match and will not play for English county championship side Surrey next month, the country’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Thursday. Cricket - India v South Africa - Third One Day International - Newlands Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa - February 7, 2018. India's Virat Kohli plays a shot. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
Batsman Kohli had signed a one-month deal to represent Surrey in June to prepare for a test series against England this year, but injured his neck while fielding for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Sunrisers Hyderabad last week.
“Kohli, who was scheduled to play for Surrey in the month of June, has been ruled out from participating,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement.
“This decision was taken following assessments by the BCCI medical team, subsequent scans and a specialist visit. The Team India captain will now undergo a period of rehabilitation under the supervision of the BCCI medical team.”
Kohli is scheduled to undergo a fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru on June 15 and the BCCI expects him to be fully fit for the tour of England.
India begin their tour of England in July with three Twenty20 internationals and three one-day internationals. They then take on the hosts in a five-test series starting in August.
Ajinkya Rahane was earlier this month picked to lead India against Afghanistan, who play their maiden test in Bengaluru in June, keeping in mind Kohli’s county commitments. [nL8N1SF5PP] Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by John O'Brien | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-cricket-india-kohli/kohli-to-skip-surrey-stint-after-suffering-neck-injury-idUKKCN1IP17Z |
May 21, 2018 / 1:07 PM / Updated 23 minutes ago BP shareholders approve CEO's pay Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
MANCHESTER (Reuters) - BP ( BP.L ) shareholders on Monday approved Chief Executive Bob Dudley’s 2017 remuneration package by a more than 96 percent majority. FILE PHOTO: BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley addresses the gathering during a media interaction in New Delhi, India, June 15, 2017. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
Dudley’s remuneration rose by 13 percent to $13.4 million (10 million pounds) last year as the oil and gas giant’s profit more than doubled and production soared.
In 2016 Dudley’s pay package was cut by 40 percent after a majority of shareholders opposed the company’s pay policy. Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by David Goodman | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bp-agm/bp-shareholders-approve-ceos-pay-idUKKCN1IM1BB |
May 23, 2018 / 12:57 PM / Updated 11 minutes ago Brazil's Petrobras cuts diesel, gasoline prices amid truckers' protest Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
SAO PAULO, May 23 (Reuters) - Brazil’s oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA on Wednesday announced this week’s second reduction in diesel and gasoline prices amid a nationwide protest of truck drivers against high fuel prices.
In a statement, Petrobras said it would cut diesel prices by 1.15 percent and gasoline prices by 0.62 percent at refineries effective on Thursday. (Reporting by Roberto Samora Writing by Ana Mano) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/petrobras-prices/brazils-petrobras-cuts-diesel-gasoline-prices-amid-truckers-protest-idUSL2N1SU0J2 |
SEOUL (Reuters) - Asiana Airlines said on Wednesday it decided to sell its headquarters building to Deutsche Bank’s asset management arm for 418 billion won ($386.5 million).
The airline announced the deal in a regulatory filing.
Reporting by Ju-min Park, Jane Chung; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-asiana-airlines-building/south-koreas-asiana-airlines-to-sell-headquarters-building-for-386-million-idUSKBN1IA0BV |
May 28, 2018 / 10:10 AM / Updated an hour ago Tennis-Highlights of French Open second day Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
PARIS, May 28 (Reuters) - Highlights from day two of the French Open tennis championships on Monday (all times GMT): 0945 PLAY UNDERWAY ON DAY TWO
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova began her Roland Garros campaign against Paraguayan Veronica Cepede Royg on the Philippe Chatrier court.
In the men’s section, 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka is up against Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. READ MORE:
Nadal begins title defence against Bolelli on second day
Flustered Champion Ostapenko falls at first French Open hurdle
No deja-vu in Paris for sorry Venus
Nishikori feeling great and has hopes for Paris
Zverev in the pink as he leaves Berankis floundering
Pouille and Cornet lead French quest for unlikely Roland Garros glory
Stephens off to a flyer after “heart and body” connect
Dimitrov ends Egyptian lucky loser’s unexpected Paris odyssey
Kyrgios out of Roland Garros with elbow injury (Compiled by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru Editing by Christian Radnedge) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/tennis-frenchopen/tennis-highlights-of-french-open-second-day-idUKL5N1SZ1WT |
May 30, 2018 / 12:17 PM / Updated 14 minutes ago German inflation overshoots ECB target in May Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
BERLIN (Reuters) - German consumer price inflation soared more than expected in May to hit the highest level in over a year, data showed on Wednesday, surpassing the European Central Bank’s rate target of just under 2 percent for the euro zone as a whole. FILE PHOTO: The European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters are pictured in Frankfurt, Germany December 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
German consumer prices, harmonised to make them comparable with inflation data from other European Union countries, rose by 2.2 percent year-on-year after an increase of 1.4 percent in the previous month, the Federal Statistics Office said.
This was the fastest pace since February 2017 and beat a Reuters consensus forecast for a rise of 1.8 percent.
On the month, EU-harmonised prices were up 0.6 percent, the preliminary numbers showed. That compared with the Reuters consensus forecast for an increase of 0.3 percent.
The stronger-than-expected inflation figures are likely to play into the hands of policy hawks, including Bundesbank head Jens Weidmann, who want the ECB to end its asset purchases this year and see room for a rate hike towards the middle of 2019. Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Maria Sheahan | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-germany-economy-inflation/german-inflation-overshoots-ecb-target-in-may-idUKKCN1IV1JK |
Tesla may be on the verge of a pretty big leap in Model 3 production this week, reported electric car blog Electrek , citing a leaked email from CEO Elon Musk to employees.
The email said it is "quite likely" Tesla will make more than 500 Model 3 cars per day this week. If Tesla is still running production nonstop, as it said it would , then Tesla would be able to hit a weekly production rate of 3500 cars per week. For comparison, it hit a production rate of 2,270 cars in the last week of April.
Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
Musk also asked employees to identify any production bottlenecks.
Tesla has struggled to ramp up production of the Model 3, which is supposed to be the car that transforms Tesla into a mainstream auto manufacturer, rather than a niche maker of high-end vehicles.
The company is trying to reach a production rate of 5,000 Model 3 vehicles per week by the end of the quarter. The company had initially hoped to hit that target by the end of last year.
Read the full story at Electrek
WATCH: Elon Musk's big ambitions may be killing Tesla show chapters Tesla's earnings were better than expected, but Elon Musk still has a lot on his plate 8:48 PM ET Wed, 2 May 2018 | 05:31 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/15/leaked-email-says-tesla-may-have-burst-of-model-3-production-this-week.html |
May 1, 2018 / 9:10 AM / Updated 8 minutes ago Sterling falls to 3-1/2 month lows on weak PMI data Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling extended losses on Tuesday to fall below the $1.37 line for the first time in 3-1/2 months after survey data showed British manufacturing growth sliding to a 17-month low. FILE PHOTO: UK pound coins plunge into water coloured with the European Union flag colours in this illustration picture, October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
It was the latest in a run of mediocre economic data and further reduced the chances of a rate increase from the Bank of England when it meets next week.
“We are starting to see any residual expectations of a rate hike from the Bank of England next week starting to fade,” said Viraj Patel, an FX strategist at ING in London.
Swap markets now indicate a less than 20 percent chance of a rate increase next month, down from 90 percent in early April.
Struggling against a resurgent dollar, the British currency GBP=D3 fell 0.6 percent to $1.3683. It is down nearly 5 percent from a post-Brexit referendum high of $1.4377 hit on April 17.
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE hit a session high after the data sent the pound sharply down. The leading index of international companies, which benefit from a weaker sterling, was last up 0.28 percent.
British gilt futures FLGcv1 rose modestly by around 7 ticks to turn positive and were last up around 3 ticks on the day.
Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed net long speculative positions, which had started April at their highest level in four years, posting their second-biggest weekly drop of the last eight months.
Against the euro, sterling weakened 0.26 percent to 87.94 pence. Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee, Andy Bruce and Helen Reid; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-markets-pmi/sterling-falls-to-3-1-2-month-lows-on-weak-pmi-data-idUKKBN1I235W |
May 8, 2018 / 5:37 PM / Updated 2 hours ago Glitzy Eurovision pageant gives boost to Lisbon tourism Andrei Khalip 3 Min Read
LISBON (Reuters) - The Eurovision song contest kicked into high gear on Tuesday in Lisbon with tens of thousands of music fans further boosting the record tourist numbers in the city, where pop star Madonna fixed her residence last year. United Kingdom’s SuRie performs “Storm” during a dress for Eurovision Song Contest 2018 at the Altice Arena hall in Lisbon, Portugal May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
After a week of rehearsals, contestants from 19 countries will take to the stage of the 20,000-capacity Altice Arena on Tuesday in the first night of the semi-finals of the show watched by an estimated more than 200 million people around the world.
It will be broadcast simultaneously on giant screens on the city’s main Commerce Square overlooking the Tagus river, where music lovers can party for free with live shows throughout the event until the May 12 finals. Ireland’s Ryan O’Shaughnessy performs “Together” during the dress rehearsal of Semi-Final 1 for Eurovision Song Contest 2018 at the Altice Arena hall in Lisbon, Portugal May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante
The Portuguese Hotel and Restaurants Association said hotel bookings had jumped 40 percent in Eurovision week and expected the event publicity to lure more foreigners. Reservations on the online lodging marketplace Airbnb soared over 80 percent from the same week of last year to 54,000. Slideshow (13 Images)
Portugal as a whole, and Lisbon in particular, have enjoyed a tourism boom over the past few years with arrivals spiking 12 percent to a new record last year, contributing to the once-bailed out country’s strongest economic growth since 2000.
Dozens of new hotels and hundreds of apartments for temporary accommodation open every year, while a new cruise ship terminal unveiled in late 2017 doubled the number of arrivals by sea in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier.
Pop star Madonna was last year among a growing number of foreign residents in Portugal, among them movie stars like Monica Belucci and Michael Fassbender.
It is the first time Lisbon has hosted a Eurovision contest after Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won last year’s contest in Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
This year’s favorites include Cypriot singer Eleni Foureira with a fiery song “Fuego” and Israel’s Netta Barzilai singing “I’m Not Your Toy”, a fast-paced dance mix with a women’s empowerment twist.
The event also marks the return of Russia after it boycotted the contest last year amid tensions with Ukraine following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. It will be represented by Julia Samoylova who was unable to take part in 2017, singing “I Won’t Break”. Reporting By Andrei Khalip; Editing by Axel Bugge and Janet Lawrence | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-music-eurovision/glitzy-eurovision-pageant-gives-boost-to-lisbon-tourism-idUKKBN1I92FH |
LONDON (Reuters) - British Airways-owned IAG ( ICAG.L ) said in presentation slides released on Friday that it has had held talks with the board of Norwegian regarding a possible offer without reaching an agreement.
“IAG is currently considering its options in relation to Norwegian,” the company said in presentation slides on its website on Friday.
Shares in Norwegian traded down 8 percent following the news that no offer was immediately forthcoming.
IAG acquired a 4.6 percent stake in struggling Norwegian in April with a view to starting takeover discussions.
Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Victoria Bryan
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iag-results-norweg-air-shut/iag-says-held-talks-with-norwegian-no-agreement-on-deal-idUSKBN1I50OT |
A longtime business partner of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter.
Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, a New York City taxi mogul, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Albany County court to one count of criminal tax fraud. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to help prosecutors with state or federal investigations, people familiar with the matter said. It is likely he will assist federal prosecutors in Manhattan with their probe into... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-cohen-associate-agrees-to-cooperate-with-prosecutors-1527033575 |
(Reuters) - Kevin Na holed a 92-foot chip for birdie on his final shot to card a 62 and take a one-stroke lead after the first round at the Fort Worth Invitational in Texas on Thursday.
May 24, 2018; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Kevin Na plays a shot from a bunker on the eighth hole during the first round of the Fort Worth Invitational golf tournament at Colonial Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports The American mixed an eagle with six birdies to finish eight-under, one stroke ahead of Charlie Hoffman, who sank seven birdies in his bogey-free round on a brutally hot day at the Colonial Country Club.
Emiliano Grillo, Beau Hossler, Andrew Putnam and Jhonattan Vegas were all tied for third at six-under.
Steve Stricker, who appeared to injure his back on the fourth hole, recovered nicely to shoot a 65.
Na’s remarkable chip came after a heated exchange with long-time caddie Kenny Harms on the previous shot on the par-four ninth.
Na and Harms clashed over which club to use on his approach and Na ended up missing badly as the ball sailed over the green and settled up against the grandstand.
After being granted relief from officials, Na hit his lengthy chip perfectly for a career highlight and the outright lead.
“That chip was almost impossible and I don’t know how it went in but I’ll take it,” he told Golf Channel.
Harms said he knew the two clubs Na was considering for the approach shot would put him over the green and while that proved correct, he felt the 34-year-old was vindicated by his spectacular chip.
“I said it three or four times, ‘no, no, I don’t like it’,” Harms said.
“But he makes the ultimate decision and it turns out he was right again, it was the right club.”
Na said Harms was right about the approach in hindsight but was happy with the final outcome.
“It worked out great,” he said. “I got a good break.”
Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Ian Ransom
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-golf-ftworth/golf-nas-spectacular-chip-gives-him-one-stroke-lead-in-fort-worth-idUSKCN1IQ00T |
HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) today reported net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 of $111.1 million or $1.13 per diluted share, compared to $66.6 million or $0.72 per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. As of March 31, 2018, Essent had insurance in force of $115.3 billion and consolidated stockholders’ equity of $2.0 billion.
“We are pleased with our strong first quarter results as we continue to build a high credit quality and profitable mortgage insurance portfolio,” said Mark Casale, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “During the quarter, we grew insurance in force 31% compared to March 31 st a year ago, while also generating a 23% annualized return on average equity. Additionally, we closed our inaugural credit risk transfer transaction, which expanded our capital sources while also providing a layer of protection against adverse credit losses.”
Financial Highlights:
Insurance in force as of March 31, 2018 was $115.3 billion, compared to $110.5 billion as of December 31, 2017 and $88.0 billion as of March 31, 2017. New insurance written for the first quarter was $9.3 billion, compared to $11.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $8.0 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Net premiums earned for the first quarter were $152.6 million, compared to $148.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $117.7 of 2017. The expense ratio for the first quarter was 25.0%, compared to 24.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 30.9% in the first quarter of 2017. The provision for losses and LAE for the first quarter was $5.3 million, compared to $17.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 and $3.7 of 2017. The percentage of loans in default as of March 31, 2018 was 0.86%, compared to 0.96% as of December 31, 2017 and 0.45% as of March 31, 2017. The combined ratio for the first quarter was 28.5%, compared to 36.4% in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 34.0% in the first quarter of 2017. The consolidated balance of cash and investments at March 31, 2018 was $2.5 billion, including cash and investment balances at Essent Group Ltd. of $75.9 million. The combined risk-to-capital ratio of the U.S. mortgage insurance business, which includes statutory capital for both Essent Guaranty, Inc. and Essent Guaranty of PA, Inc., was 13.6:1 as of March 31, 2018. Essent Reinsurance Ltd. reinsured a total of $28.8 million of risk in GSE risk share transactions in . Net income for the first quarter includes an income tax benefit of $9.5 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, related to the vesting of common shares and common share units. Obtained $424 million of reinsurance on risk relating to $41 billion of new insurance written in 2017 with the execution of the credit risk transfer transaction. Finalized an amendment to our existing credit facility on May 2, 2018 that increased the amount committed by $125 million, to $500 million.
Conference Call
Essent management will hold a conference call at 10:00 AM Eastern time today to discuss its results. The conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet at http://ir.essentgroup.com/investors/webcasts-and-presentations/event-calendar/default.aspx . The call may also be accessed by dialing 866-393-4306 inside the U.S., or 734-385-2616 for international callers, using passcode 3588928 or by referencing Essent.
A replay of the webcast will be available on the Essent website approximately two hours after the live broadcast ends for a period of one year. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call ends for a period of two weeks, using the following dial-in numbers and passcode: 855-859-2056 inside the U.S., or 404-537-3406 for international callers, passcode 3588928.
In addition to the information provided in the company's earnings news release, other statistical and financial information, which may be referred to during the conference call, will be available on Essent's website at http://ir.essentgroup.com/investors/financial-information/quarterly-financial-supplements/default.aspx .
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may include “ ” which are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which may be beyond our control. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," “should,” “expect,” "plan," "anticipate," "believe," “estimate,” “predict,” or "potential" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Actual events, results and outcomes may differ materially from our expectations due to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Although it is not possible to identify all of these risks and factors, they include, among others, the following: changes in or to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “GSEs”), whether through Federal legislation, restructurings or a shift in business practices; failure to continue to meet the mortgage insurer eligibility requirements of the GSEs; competition for customers; lenders or investors seeking alternatives to private mortgage insurance; an increase in the number of loans insured through Federal government mortgage insurance programs, including those offered by the Federal Housing Administration; decline in new insurance written and franchise value due to loss of a significant customer; decline in the volume of low down payment mortgage originations; the definition of "Qualified Mortgage" reducing the size of the mortgage origination market or creating incentives to use government mortgage insurance programs; the definition of "Qualified Residential Mortgage" reducing the number of low down payment loans or lenders and investors seeking alternatives to private mortgage insurance; the implementation of the Basel III Capital Accord discouraging the use of private mortgage insurance; a decrease in the length of time that insurance policies are in force; uncertainty of loss reserve estimates; deteriorating economic conditions; our non-U.S. operations becoming subject to U.S. Federal income taxation; becoming considered a passive foreign investment company for U.S. Federal income tax purposes; and other risks and factors described in Part I, Item 1A “Risk Factors” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 20, 2018. Any forward-looking information presented herein is made only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events, or otherwise.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In presenting Essent Group Ltd.’s results, management has included financial measures, including adjusted book value per share, that are not calculated under standards or rules that comprise accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Such measures are referred to as “non-GAAP measures.” These non-GAAP measures may be defined or calculated differently by other companies. Management believes these measures allow for a more complete understanding of the underlying business. These measures are used to monitor our results and should not be viewed as a substitute for those determined in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of such measures to the most comparable GAAP figures are included in the attached financial supplement in accordance with Regulation G.
About the Company
Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company (collectively with its subsidiaries, “Essent”) which, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Essent Guaranty, Inc., offers private mortgage insurance for single-family mortgage loans in the United States. Essent provides private capital to mitigate mortgage credit risk, allowing lenders to make additional mortgage financing available to prospective homeowners. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Essent Guaranty, Inc. is licensed to write mortgage insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and is approved by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Essent also offers mortgage-related insurance, reinsurance and advisory services through its Bermuda-based subsidiary, Essent Reinsurance Ltd. Additional information regarding Essent may be found at www.essentgroup.com and www.essent.us .
Source: Essent Group Ltd.
Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Financial Results and Supplemental Information (Unaudited) Quarter Ended March 31, 2018 Exhibit A Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited) Exhibit B Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) Exhibit C Historical Quarterly Data Exhibit D New Insurance Written Exhibit E Insurance in Force and Risk in Force Exhibit F Other Risk in Force Exhibit G Portfolio Vintage Data Exhibit H Portfolio Geographic Data Exhibit I Defaults, Reserve for Losses and LAE, and Claims Exhibit J Investment Portfolio Exhibit K Insurance Company Capital Exhibit L Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measure - Adjusted Book Value per Share Exhibit A Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited) Three Months Ended March 31, (In thousands, except per share amounts)
2018 2017 Revenues: Net premiums written $ 165,225 $ 119,297 Increase in unearned premiums (12,667 ) (1,646 ) Net premiums earned 152,558 117,651 Net investment income 13,714 8,435 Realized investment gains, net 197 655 Other income 994 851 Total revenues 167,463 127,592 Losses and expenses: Provision for losses and LAE 5,309 3,693 Other underwriting and operating expenses 38,124 36,332 Interest expense 2,450 716 Total losses and expenses 45,883 40,741 Income before income taxes 121,580 86,851 Income tax expense 10,511 20,253 Net income $ 111,069 $ 66,598 Earnings per share: Basic $ 1.14 $ 0.73 Diluted 1.13 0.72 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 97,298 91,258 Diluted 97,951 93,023 Net income $ 111,069 $ 66,598 Other comprehensive income (loss): Change in unrealized (depreciation) appreciation of investments (28,750 ) 4,850 Total other comprehensive (loss) income (28,750 ) 4,850 Comprehensive income $ 82,319 $ 71,448 Loss ratio 3.5 % 3.1 % Expense ratio 25.0 30.9 Combined ratio 28.5 % 34.0 % Exhibit B Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) March 31, December 31, (In thousands, except per share amounts)
2018 2017 Assets Investments available for sale, at fair value Fixed maturities $ 2,080,365 $ 1,992,371 Short-term investments 380,762 312,694 Total investments 2,461,127 2,305,065 Cash 32,958 43,524 Accrued investment income 14,383 12,807 Accounts receivable 45,953 29,752 Deferred policy acquisition costs 15,563 15,354 Property and equipment 6,590 6,979 Prepaid federal income tax 151,294 252,157 Other assets 13,349 8,730 Total assets $ 2,741,217 $ 2,674,368 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Liabilities Reserve for losses and LAE $ 49,966 $ 46,850 Unearned premium reserve 272,339 259,672 Net deferred tax liability 132,325 127,636 Credit facility borrowings, net of deferred costs 263,697 248,591 Securities purchased payable 6,201 14,999 Other accrued liabilities 21,399 36,184 Total liabilities 745,927 733,932 Commitments and contingencies Stockholders' Equity Common shares 1,472 1,476 Additional paid-in capital 1,099,676 1,127,137 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (32,002 ) (3,252 ) Retained earnings 926,144 815,075 Total stockholders' equity 1,995,290 1,940,436 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 2,741,217 $ 2,674,368 Return on average equity (1) 22.6 % 23.1 % (1) The 2018 return on average equity is calculated by dividing annualized year-to-date 2018 net income by average equity. The 2017 return on average equity is calculated by dividing full year 2017 net income by average equity.
Exhibit C Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Historical Quarterly Data 2018 2017 Selected Income Statement Data March 31 December 31 September 30 June 30 March 31 (In thousands, except per share amounts)
Revenues: Net premiums written $ 165,225 $ 161,771 $ 155,055 $ 134,063 $ 119,297 Net premiums earned 152,558 147,976 137,940 126,563 117,651 Other revenues 14,905 13,134 12,263 11,043 9,941 Total revenues 167,463 161,110 150,203 137,606 127,592 Losses and expenses: Provision for losses and LAE 5,309 17,456 4,313 1,770 3,693 Other underwriting and operating expenses 38,124 36,480 37,035 35,686 36,332 Interest expense 2,450 1,817 1,456 1,189 716 Total losses and expenses 45,883 55,753 42,804 38,645 40,741 Income before income taxes 121,580 105,357 107,399 98,961 86,851 Income tax expense (benefit) (1) (2) 10,511 (57,281 ) 29,006 26,843 20,253 Net income $ 111,069 $ 162,638 $ 78,393 $ 72,118 $ 66,598 Earnings per share: Basic $ 1.14 $ 1.69 $ 0.83 $ 0.79 $ 0.73 Diluted 1.13 1.65 0.82 0.77 0.72 Weighted average shares outstanding: Basic 97,298 96,429 94,185 91,381 91,258 Diluted 97,951 98,497 96,094 93,162 93,023 Other Data: Loss ratio (3) 3.5 % 11.8 % 3.1 % 1.4 % 3.1 % Expense ratio (4) 25.0 24.7 26.8 28.2 30.9 Combined ratio 28.5 % 36.4 % 30.0 % 29.6 % 34.0 % Return on average equity (annualized) 22.6 % 35.0 % 19.1 % 19.8 % 19.3 % (1) Income tax expense for the quarters ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 was reduced by $9,549 and $3,023, respectively, of excess tax benefits associated with the vesting of common shares and common share units during each period. (2) Income tax expense for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 was reduced by $85,091 of income tax benefit due to the one-time impact of the reduced U.S. corporate income tax rate on the company's net deferred tax liability position. (3) Loss ratio is calculated by dividing the provision for losses and LAE by net premiums earned. (4) Expense ratio is calculated by dividing other underwriting and operating expenses by net premiums earned. Exhibit C, continued Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Historical Quarterly Data 2018 2017 Other Data, continued: March 31 December 31 September 30 June 30 March 31 ($ in thousands)
U.S. Mortgage Insurance Portfolio Flow: New insurance written $ 9,336,150 $ 11,234,855 $ 13,221,038 $ 11,368,276 $ 8,034,153 New risk written 2,295,314 2,737,008 3,228,603 2,786,501 1,929,832 Bulk: New insurance written $ — $ — $ — $ — $ — New risk written — — — — — Total: Average premium rate (5) 0.52 % 0.53 % 0.53 % 0.53 % 0.53 % New insurance written $ 9,336,150 $ 11,234,855 $ 13,221,038 $ 11,368,276 $ 8,034,153 New risk written $ 2,295,314 $ 2,737,008 $ 3,228,603 $ 2,786,501 $ 1,929,832 Insurance in force (end of period) $ 115,250,949 $ 110,461,950 $ 103,936,307 $ 95,494,390 $ 87,993,227 Risk in force, gross (end of period) (6) $ 28,691,561 $ 27,443,985 $ 25,807,358 $ 23,665,045 $ 21,801,667 Risk in force (end of period) $ 28,267,149 $ 27,443,985 $ 25,807,358 $ 23,665,045 $ 21,801,667 Policies in force 517,215 496,477 467,483 430,585 397,650 Weighted average coverage (7) 24.9 % 24.8 % 24.8 % 24.8 % 24.8 % Annual persistency 83.5 % 83.9 % 82.1 % 80.1 % 78.2 % Loans in default (count) 4,442 4,783 2,153 1,776 1,777 Percentage of loans in default 0.86 % 0.96 % 0.46 % 0.41 % 0.45 % Other Risk in Force GSE Risk Share (8) $ 557,692 $ 538,944 $ 501,485 $ 479,762 $ 436,991 Credit Facility Borrowings outstanding $ 265,000 $ 250,000 $ 175,000 $ 175,000 $ 125,000 Undrawn committed capacity $ 110,000 $ 125,000 $ 200,000 $ 200,000 $ 75,000 Weighted average interest rate 3.82 % (5) Average premium rate is calculated by dividing annualized net premiums earned for the U.S. mortgage insurance portfolio by average insurance in force for the period.
(6) Gross risk in force includes risk ceded under third-party reinsurance. (7) Weighted average coverage is calculated by dividing end of period gross risk in force by insurance in force.
(8) Essent Re provides insurance or reinsurance relating to the risk in force on loans in reference pools acquired by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, including in connection with Freddie Mac's Agency Credit Insurance Structure ("ACIS") and Fannie Mae's Credit Insurance Risk Transfer ("CIRT") programs. Exhibit D Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information New Insurance Written: Flow NIW by Credit Score Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
>=760
$ 3,832,218 41.0 % $ 4,551,775 40.5 % $ 3,399,754 42.3 % 740-759
1,550,138 16.6 1,793,713 16.0 1,243,278 15.5 720-739
1,339,145 14.3 1,644,956 14.6 1,149,215 14.3 700-719
1,144,900 12.3 1,378,170 12.3 958,015 11.9 680-699
809,618 8.7 1,024,440 9.1 694,814 8.7 <=679
660,131 7.1 841,801 7.5 589,077 7.3 Total $ 9,336,150 100.0 % $ 11,234,855 100.0 % $ 8,034,153 100.0 % Weighted average credit score 744 743 745 NIW by LTV Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
85.00% and below $ 1,212,336 13.0 % $ 1,532,008 13.6 % $ 1,218,800 15.2 % 85.01% to 90.00% 2,708,512 29.0 3,286,879 29.3 2,498,907 31.1 90.01% to 95.00% 4,078,208 43.7 4,845,713 43.1 3,511,603 43.7 95.01% and above 1,337,094 14.3 1,570,255 14.0 804,843 10.0 Total $ 9,336,150 100.0 % $ 11,234,855 100.0 % $ 8,034,153 100.0 % Weighted average LTV 92 % 92 % 92 % NIW by Product Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 Single Premium policies 20.3 % 19.0 % 14.2 % Monthly Premium policies 79.7 81.0 85.8 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % NIW by Purchase vs. Refinance Three Months Ended March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 Purchase 85.3 % 84.4 % 78.9 % Refinance 14.7 15.6 21.1 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % Exhibit E Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Insurance in Force and Risk in Force Portfolio by Credit Score IIF by FICO score March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
>=760 $ 50,359,464 43.7 % $ 48,668,705 44.1 % $ 39,724,096 45.1 % 740-759
18,791,203 16.3 17,939,206 16.2 14,460,034 16.4 720-739
16,473,367 14.3 15,761,787 14.3 12,550,737 14.3 700-719
12,857,417 11.2 12,167,285 11.0 9,325,770 10.6 680-699
9,622,067 8.3 9,156,196 8.3 7,051,155 8.0 <=679 7,147,431 6.2 6,768,771 6.1 4,881,435 5.6 Total $ 115,250,949 100.0 % $ 110,461,950 100.0 % $ 87,993,227 100.0 % Weighted average credit score 747 747 748 RIF, gross by FICO score March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
>=760 $ 12,519,237 43.6 % $ 12,058,196 43.9 % $ 9,791,036 44.9 % 740-759
4,707,875 16.4 4,485,439 16.4 3,609,590 16.6 720-739
4,142,041 14.5 3,957,922 14.4 3,146,943 14.4 700-719
3,192,804 11.1 3,018,341 11.0 2,303,107 10.6 680-699
2,402,777 8.4 2,286,082 8.3 1,762,997 8.1 <=679 1,726,827 6.0 1,638,005 6.0 1,187,994 5.4 Total $ 28,691,561 100.0 % $ 27,443,985 100.0 % $ 21,801,667 100.0 % Portfolio by LTV IIF by LTV March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
85.00% and below $ 13,371,220 11.6 % $ 12,917,751 11.7 % $ 10,403,824 11.8 % 85.01% to 90.00% 35,907,759 31.2 34,794,108 31.5 28,744,011 32.7 90.01% to 95.00% 56,367,801 48.9 54,323,103 49.2 44,862,812 51.0 95.01% and above 9,604,169 8.3 8,426,988 7.6 3,982,580 4.5 Total $ 115,250,949 100.0 % $ 110,461,950 100.0 % $ 87,993,227 100.0 % Weighted average LTV 92 % 92 % 92 % RIF, gross by LTV March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
85.00% and below $ 1,519,929 5.3 % $ 1,462,351 5.3 % $ 1,172,920 5.4 % 85.01% to 90.00% 8,543,010 29.8 8,262,322 30.1 6,821,725 31.3 90.01% to 95.00% 16,176,713 56.4 15,576,125 56.8 12,829,032 58.8 95.01% and above 2,451,909 8.5 2,143,187 7.8 977,990 4.5 Total $ 28,691,561 100.0 % $ 27,443,985 100.0 % $ 21,801,667 100.0 % Portfolio by Loan Amortization Period IIF by Loan Amortization Period March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
FRM 30 years and higher $ 105,438,023 91.5 % $ 100,592,946 91.1 % $ 79,647,327 90.5 % FRM 20-25 years 3,008,292 2.6 2,879,977 2.6 2,298,806 2.6 FRM 15 years 3,746,030 3.2 3,857,152 3.5 3,290,900 3.8 ARM 5 years and higher 3,058,604 2.7 3,131,875 2.8 2,756,194 3.1 Total $ 115,250,949 100.0 % $ 110,461,950 100.0 % $ 87,993,227 100.0 % Exhibit F Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Other Risk in Force ($ in thousands)
March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 GSE Risk Share (1) $ 557,692 $ 538,944 $ 436,991 Weighted average credit score 751 749 750 Weighted average LTV 84 % 84 % 83 % (1) Essent Reinsurance Ltd. ("Essent Re") provides insurance or reinsurance relating to the risk in force on loans in reference pools acquired by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, including in connection with Freddie Mac's Agency Credit Insurance Structure ("ACIS") and Fannie Mae's Credit Insurance Risk Transfer ("CIRT") programs.
Exhibit G Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Portfolio Vintage Data March 31, 2018 Insurance in Force Origination Year Original
Insurance
Written
($ in thousands)
Remaining
Insurance
in Force
($ in thousands)
% Remaining of
Original
Insurance
Number of
Policies in
Force
% Purchase >90% LTV >95% LTV FICO < 700 FICO >= 760 % FRM Incurred
Loss Ratio
(Inception
to Date) (1)
Number of
Loans in
Default
2010 $ 245,898 $ 11,906 4.8 % 84 75.2 % 72.2 % 0.0 % 3.0 % 66.2 % 100.0 % 2.6 % — 2011 3,229,720 356,998 11.1 2,063 77.3 48.4 0.2 5.7 54.0 97.7 3.7 37 2012 11,241,161 2,531,515 22.5 13,199 76.7 57.5 0.5 5.6 56.1 98.6 2.4 133 2013 21,152,638 6,393,562 30.2 32,826 79.8 58.9 1.9 7.9 51.4 98.1 2.4 365 2014 24,799,434 10,124,415 40.8 52,696 88.2 62.1 4.2 15.4 41.9 95.6 3.5 791 2015 26,193,656 16,271,432 62.1 75,633 83.6 57.0 2.5 14.6 43.9 97.1 3.9 885 2016 34,949,319 29,173,825 83.5 125,675 80.6 55.0 6.3 13.8 45.2 98.2 4.5 1,080 2017 43,858,322 41,114,906 93.7 177,474 85.3 57.3 13.3 16.3 41.6 96.9 7.0 1,146 2018 (through March 31) 9,336,150 9,272,390 99.3 37,565 85.3 58.0 14.4 15.8 41.0 98.0 0.9 5 Total $ 175,006,298 $ 115,250,949 65.9 517,215 83.6 57.2 8.3 14.6 43.7 97.3 3.6 4,442 (1) Incurred loss ratio is calculated by dividing the sum of case reserves and cumulative amount paid for claims by cumulative net premiums earned. Exhibit H Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Portfolio Geographic Data IIF by State March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 CA 9.4 % 9.4 % 9.4 % TX 8.0 8.0 8.2 FL 7.1 7.0 6.8 WA 4.8 4.8 4.8 IL 3.9 4.0 3.9 NJ 3.7 3.7 3.6 NC 3.5 3.5 3.6 GA 3.4 3.4 3.4 OH 3.2 3.2 3.1 AZ 3.2 3.1 3.2 All Others 49.8 49.9 50.0 Total 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % RIF, gross by State
March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 March 31, 2017 CA 9.1 % 9.1 % 9.0 % TX 8.2 8.3 8.5 FL 7.2 7.1 7.0 WA 4.9 4.9 4.9 IL 3.8 3.9 3.9 NJ 3.7 3.6 3.5 NC 3.5 3.5 3.7 GA 3.5 3.5 3.5 OH 3.3 3.2 3.1 AZ 3.1 3.1 3.1 All Others 49.7 49.8 49.8 Total 100.0 % 100.0 % 100.0 % Exhibit I Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Defaults, Reserve for Losses and LAE, and Claims Rollforward of Insured Loans in Default Three Months Ended March 31, December 31, March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Beginning default inventory 4,783 2,153 1,757 Plus: new defaults 1,994 4,332 1,200 Less: cures (2,270 ) (1,648 ) (1,114 ) Less: claims paid (63 ) (53 ) (65 ) Less: rescissions and denials, net (2 ) (1 ) (1 ) Ending default inventory 4,442 4,783 1,777 Rollforward of Reserve for Losses and LAE Three Months Ended March 31, December 31, March 31, ($ in thousands)
2018 2017 2017 Reserve for losses and LAE at beginning of period $ 46,850 $ 31,579 $ 28,142 Add provision for losses and LAE occurring in: Current year 9,952 18,912 7,090 Prior years (4,643 ) (1,456 ) (3,397 ) Incurred losses and LAE during the period 5,309 17,456 3,693 Deduct payments for losses and LAE occurring in: Current year — 390 1 Prior years 2,193 1,795 2,366 Loss and LAE payments during the period 2,193 2,185 2,367 Reserve for losses and LAE at end of period $ 49,966 $ 46,850 $ 29,468 Claims Three Months Ended March 31, December 31, March 31, 2018 2017 2017 Number of claims paid 63 53 65 Total amount paid for claims (in thousands) $ 2,143 $ 2,125 $ 2,307 Average amount paid per claim (in thousands) $ 34 $ 40 $ 35 Severity 76 % 87 % 87 % Exhibit I, continued Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Defaults, Reserve for Losses and LAE, and Claims March 31, 2018 Number of
Policies in
Default
Percentage of
Policies in
Default
Amount of
Reserves
Percentage of
Reserves
Defaulted RIF Reserves as a
Percentage of
Defaulted RIF
($ in thousands)
Missed Payments: Three payments or less 1,958 44 % $ 10,879 24 % $ 110,964 10 % Four to eleven payments 2,214 50 25,547 56 130,461 20 Twelve or more payments 239 5 7,877 17 13,343 59 Pending claims 31 1 1,399 3 1,576 89 Total case reserves 4,442 100 % 45,702 100 % $ 256,344 18 IBNR 3,428 LAE 836 Total reserves for losses and LAE $ 49,966 Average reserve per default: Case $ 10.3 Total $ 11.2 Default Rate 0.86% December 31, 2017 Number of
Policies in
Default
Percentage of
Policies in
Default
Amount of
Reserves
Percentage of
Reserves
Defaulted RIF Reserves as a
Percentage of
Defaulted RIF
($ in thousands)
Missed Payments: Three payments or less 3,243 68 % $ 15,925 37 % $ 187,163 9 % Four to eleven payments 1,284 27 18,087 42 73,547 25 Twelve or more payments 211 4 6,781 16 11,139 61 Pending claims 45 1 2,075 5 2,355 88 Total case reserves 4,783 100 % 42,868 100 % $ 274,204 16 IBNR 3,215 LAE 767 Total reserves for losses and LAE $ 46,850 Average reserve per default: Case $ 9.0 Total $ 9.8 Default Rate 0.96% March 31, 2017 Number of
Policies in
Default
Percentage of
Policies in
Default
Amount of
Reserves
Percentage of
Reserves
Defaulted RIF Reserves as a
Percentage of
Defaulted RIF
($ in thousands)
Missed Payments: Three payments or less 869 49 % $ 6,426 24 % $ 50,004 13 % Four to eleven payments 690 39 13,428 50 38,252 35 Twelve or more payments 184 10 5,673 21 9,403 60 Pending claims 34 2 1,437 5 1,748 82 Total case reserves 1,777 100 % 26,964 100 % $ 99,407 27 IBNR 2,022 LAE 482 Total reserves for losses and LAE $ 29,468 Average reserve per default: Case $ 15.2 Total $ 16.6 Default Rate 0.45% Exhibit J Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Investment Portfolio Investment Portfolio by Asset Class Asset Class March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
Fair Value Percent Fair Value Percent U.S. Treasury securities $ 204,556 8.3 % $ 227,805 9.9 % U.S. agency securities 32,821 1.3 33,114 1.4 U.S. agency mortgage-backed securities 476,220 19.3 456,037 19.8 Municipal debt securities 478,933 19.5 465,255 20.2 Corporate debt securities 626,943 25.5 611,728 26.5 Residential and commercial mortgage securities 86,430 3.5 79,407 3.5 Asset-backed securities 183,449 7.5 167,922 7.3 Money market funds 371,775 15.1 263,797 11.4 Total Investments $ 2,461,127 100.0 % $ 2,305,065 100.0 % Investment Portfolio by Credit Rating Rating (1) March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
Fair Value Percent Fair Value Percent Aaa $ 1,286,694 52.3 % $ 1,160,200 50.3 % Aa1 130,010 5.3 115,237 5.0 Aa2 122,350 5.0 123,551 5.4 Aa3 127,961 5.2 127,785 5.6 A1 220,156 8.9 205,369 8.9 A2 151,375 6.1 157,651 6.8 A3 135,577 5.5 148,246 6.4 Baa1 133,319 5.4 115,178 5.0 Baa2 98,590 4.0 87,869 3.8 Baa3 36,221 1.5 43,024 1.9 Below Baa3 18,874 0.8 20,955 0.9 Total Investments $ 2,461,127 100.0 % $ 2,305,065 100.0 % (1) Based on ratings issued by Moody's, if available. S&P or Fitch rating utilized if Moody's not available. Investment Portfolio by Duration and Book Yield Effective Duration March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
Fair Value Percent Fair Value Percent < 1 Year $ 707,892 28.8 % $ 628,958 27.3 % 1 to < 2 Years 141,339 5.7 164,856 7.2 2 to < 3 Years 293,604 11.9 280,177 12.2 3 to < 4 Years 199,392 8.1 263,799 11.4 4 to < 5 Years 311,762 12.7 263,273 11.4 5 or more Years 807,138 32.8 704,002 30.5 Total Investments $ 2,461,127 100.0 % $ 2,305,065 100.0 % Pre-tax investment income yield: Three months ended March 31, 2018 2.39 % Net cash and investments at holding company, Essent Group Ltd.: ($ in thousands)
As of March 31, 2018 $ 75,947 As of December 31, 2017 $ 104,167 Exhibit K Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Insurance Company Capital March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017 ($ in thousands)
U.S. Mortgage Insurance Subsidiaries: Combined statutory capital (1) $ 1,633,888 $ 1,528,869 Combined net risk in force (2) $ 22,181,471 $ 21,637,409 Risk-to-capital ratios: (3) Essent Guaranty, Inc. 14.1:1 14.7:1 Essent Guaranty of PA, Inc. 5.0:1 5.4:1 Combined (4) 13.6:1 14.2:1 Essent Reinsurance Ltd.: Stockholder's equity (GAAP basis) $ 684,762 $ 662,819 Net risk in force (2) $ 6,594,240 $ 6,299,437 (1) Combined statutory capital equals the sum of statutory capital of Essent Guaranty, Inc. plus Essent Guaranty of PA, Inc., after eliminating the impact of intercompany transactions. Statutory capital is computed based on accounting practices prescribed or permitted by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Accounting Practices and Procedures Manual. (2) Net risk in force represents total risk in force, net of reinsurance ceded and net of exposures on policies for which loss reserves have been established. (3) The risk-to-capital ratio is calculated as the ratio of net risk in force to statutory capital. (4) The combined risk-to-capital ratio equals the sum of the net risk in force of Essent Guaranty, Inc. and Essent Guaranty of PA, Inc. divided by the combined statutory capital. Exhibit L Essent Group Ltd. and Subsidiaries Supplemental Information Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measure - Adjusted Book Value per Share We believe that long-term growth in Adjusted Book Value per Share is an important measure of our financial performance and is a measure used to determine vesting on certain restricted stock granted to senior management under the Company’s long-term incentive plan. Adjusted Book Value per Share is a financial measure that is not calculated under standards or rules that comprise accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (GAAP) and is referred to as a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted Book Value per Share may be defined or calculated differently by other companies. Adjusted Book Value per Share is one measure used to monitor our results and should not be viewed as a substitute for those measures determined in accordance with GAAP.
Adjusted Book Value per Share is calculated by dividing Adjusted Book Value by Common Shares and Share Units Outstanding. Adjusted Book Value is defined as consolidated stockholders’ equity of the Company, excluding accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) plus the proceeds, if any, from the assumed exercise of all "in-the-money" options, warrants and similar instruments. Common Shares and Share Units Outstanding is defined as total common shares outstanding plus all equity instruments (including restricted share units) issued to management and the Board of Directors and any "in-the-money" options, warrants and similar instruments. Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) includes unrealized gains and losses that arise from changes in the market value of the Company’s investments that are classified as available for sale. The Company does not view these unrealized gains and losses to be indicative of our fundamental operating performance. As of March 31, 2018, December 31, 2017 and March 31, 2017, the Company does not have any options, warrants and similar instruments outstanding.
The following table sets forth the reconciliation of Adjusted Book Value to the most comparable GAAP amount as of March 31, 2018, December 31, 2017 and March 31, 2017 in accordance with Regulation G:
(In thousands, except per share amounts)
March 31,
2018
December 31,
2017
March 31,
2017
Numerator: Total Stockholders' Equity (Book Value) $ 1,995,290 $ 1,940,436 $ 1,412,752 Subtract: Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) (32,002 ) (3,252 ) (7,405 ) Adjusted Book Value $ 2,027,292 $ 1,943,688 $ 1,420,157 Denominator: Total Common Shares Outstanding 98,102 98,434 93,377 Add: Restricted Share Units Outstanding 456 536 598 Total Common Shares and Share Units Outstanding 98,558 98,970 93,975 Adjusted Book Value per Share $ 20.57 $ 19.64 $ 15.11
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180504005071/en/
Essent Group Ltd.
Media Contact
610-230-0556
[email protected]
or
Investor Relations Contact
Christopher G. Curran
Senior Vice President – Investor Relations
855-809-ESNT
[email protected]
Source: Essent Group Ltd. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/business-wire-essent-group-ltd-reports-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
Goshtigian will lead EP Wealth’s acquisition and organic growth strategies
TORRANCE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EP Wealth Advisors, LLC (“EP Wealth”), a leading independent registered investment advisor that specializes in client-centric financial planning and investment management services, has named Patrick G. Goshtigian, CFA, President and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Goshtigian served as President. In his expanded role, Goshtigian will be responsible for defining and executing on the firm’s strategic vision and growth objectives.
“Patrick has been a valuable asset to our team for the better part of a decade, and his knowledge of the industry and management expertise have been of significant benefit to EP Wealth,” says Derek Holman, CFP®, AIF®, Co-Managing Director and Co-Founder of EP Wealth. “He is leading our vision for growth, and his decision-making is key to integrating firms that share our core client-centric philosophy into the EP Wealth family. It’s been a win-win for our clients and our company.”
Under Goshtigian’s leadership, EP Wealth began an acquisition strategy with the goal of increasing scale as a means to enhance and expand its service offerings to clients. In January 2015, Goshtigian helped complete the acquisition of Moore Financial Group in Littleton, Colo. Ballou Plum Wealth Advisors in Lafayette, Calif. joined EP Wealth in January 2016. Private Capital Management Associates in San Mateo, Calif. was acquired in June 2017. In February 2018, Millie Capital Management, LLC in Walnut Creek, Calif joined EP Wealth. As a result of organic and inorganic growth, EP Wealth advises on more than $3.6 billion in client assets (as of March 31, 2018).
“Patrick has spearheaded our acquisition and growth strategy, and he ensured we were well positioned to execute on these objectives over the long-term. He was the driver behind our new financial partnership with Wealth Partners Capital Group (“WPCG”),” says Brian Parker CFP®, Co-Managing Director and Co-Founder of EP Wealth. “Patrick sorted through multiple deals to find the right partner in WPCG. The partnership with WPCG provides EP Wealth with continuity in leadership, and decision-making, supplements our mergers and acquisitions expertise and provides financial resources to help accelerate our firm growth strategy. We see growth as the major driver to improving our offering. We’re excited about the future of EP Wealth!”
Prior to joining EP Wealth, Goshtigian was head of Nuveen Global Operations in Chicago. Goshtigian was also a Managing Director and head of Institutional Operations and Administration for Nuveen Investments Institutional Services Group and held various other roles at NWQ Investment Management Company, a Nuveen Investments affiliate. He was a former Vice President at Analysis Group, an economic and financial consulting firm. Goshtigian earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management and received his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additionally, Goshtigian holds a Chartered Financial Analyst ® (CFA ® ) designation.
About EP Wealth Advisors
EP Wealth Advisors, LLC (“EP Wealth”) is a fee-only registered investment advisory and financial planning firm based in Torrance, Calif., with additional offices in the San Francisco Bay area, West Los Angeles, Irvine, Calif., Seattle and Denver. The firm manages more than $3.6 billion in AUM as of March 31, 2018 and provides client-centric financial planning, wealth management and investment management services to individuals and businesses. EP Wealth is led by Co-Founders and Managing Directors Derek Holman, CFP ® , AIF ® , Brian Parker, CFP ® and President and CEO Patrick Goshtigian, CFA. For more information, please visit www.epwealth.com .
About Wealth Partners Capital Group
Wealth Partners Capital Group (“WPCG”) is a financial services holding company, which has invested in and partnered with three leading wealth management firms. Through its three partner firms, EP Wealth Advisors , MAI Capital Management and Forbes Family Trust , WPCG is focused on identifying and integrating like-minded registered investment advisors who are seeking access to expanded business capabilities, strategic growth and customized transition solutions. The WPCG management team is led by partners John W. Copeland, Rich Gill and Sean Bresnan. For more information, please visit www.wealthpcg.com .
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180507005801/en/
Miller Geer & Associates for EP Wealth
Rick Damrel, 562-900-5123
[email protected]
Source: EP Wealth Advisors, LLC | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/07/business-wire-ep-wealth-advisors-names-patrick-g-goshtigian-as-ceo.html |
By Aric Jenkins 1:41 PM EDT
Ticket service MoviePass is down on the ground, but not out, thanks to its parent company’s acquisition of a production house that will allow for the launch of a MoviePass-branded production arm.
Helios and Matheson Analytics, the parent of MoviePass, announced the partnership with Emmett Furla Oasis (EFO) Films on Wednesday for an undisclosed sum of cash and stock. EFO, which has produced films such as End of Watch , Lone Survivor , and 2 Guns , will hand over its film library and upcoming production slate to Helios and Matheson. In turn, the two companies together will launch MoviePass Films to produce and distribute its own movies.
MoviePass, which allows subscribers to buy a movie ticket each day for just $9.99 a month , has made waves in the movie industry outside of ticketing. It announced MoviePass Ventures at Sundance in January and bought the distribution rights of its first film. Helios and Matheson then acquired movie listing and information service Moviefone in April. The moves, including the most recent one, all seem designed to give MoviePass a dynamic position in the industry in its quest to turn a profit.
But MoviePass’ ability to turn a profit remains the biggest question mark lingering over the service. Despite growing its subscriber count from roughly 25,000 to more than a million in 2017, MoviePass is spending a lot of money — fast. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported MoviePass is sinking $21.7 million in the operation every month, with just $15.5 million in the bank. Helios and Matheson CEO Ted Farnsworth later said that MoviePass has a $300 million line of credit to keep the company afloat for 17 more months at the current rate of spending.
So, while MoviePass appears to be adding leverage to its position in Hollywood with its own studio, it’s still a dangerous game to double down with more expenses when there’s a clear deadline awaiting. But MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe remains confident. “This signals our long-term commitment to the movie business,” he told Variety. “We’re here for the long haul.” SPONSORED FINANCIAL CONTENT | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/31/moviepass-films-original-movies/ |
michael cohen AT&T CEO Says Hiring Michael Cohen Was a "Big Mistake." But Its Merger With Time Warner Isn't in Any Worse Shape. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen got a big old pile of cash from drug giant Novartis and AT&T. EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ AFP/Getty Images By Lucinda Shen 12:29 PM EDT
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Friday that hiring President Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a “big mistake.” It also announced that AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn, who oversaw Cohen’s hiring, would be retiring.
That came after the lawyer of porn star Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, revealed that a Cohen-owned holding company paid the actress $130,000 to keep her quiet about an affair she claims to have had with Trump. That holding company, in turn, received millions in funding from various contributors—including AT&T which was, and still is, seeking regulatory approval for its merger with Time Warner .
“AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,” the CEO’s letter stated , noting that everything was done according to the law. “Our reputation has been damaged.”
The admission echoes one made by Swiss drugmaker Novartis on the same day. The company, which said it had paid $1.2 million to Cohen’s holding company, said it had “ made a mistake in entering into this engagement .”
AT&T also announced a number of personnel changes in the hopes of better vetting when it comes to hires with ties to Washington. In lieu of Quinn’s retirement, the memo revealed that the company’s general counsel, David McAtee, would begin overseeing the company’s D.C. operations.
“We will do better,” Stephenson wrote Friday.
Avenatti’s documents revealed payments from AT&T to Cohen totaling $200,000 by January 2018. The Washington Post later revealed that AT&T agreed to pay $600,000 in total to Cohen in return for a number of items, including advice on passing the telecom giant’s proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner.
AT&T has said that Cohen’s hiring was for “insight into understanding the new administration,” and that Cohen’s role involved no lobbying.
The telecom firm added that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had sought information from AT&T regarding Cohen in November and December, but has not heard from the attorney since.
Still, the new revelation in the Time Warner-AT&T merger saga hasn’t shaken investor confidence in the potential union by much. Shares of Time Warner have suffered no dramatic drops since AT&T’s connection with Cohen first came to light earlier this week.
Though it should be said that investors have been skeptical as to whether the merger would gain regulatory approval from the very beginning. When the deal was first announced in October 2016, AT&T (t) agreed to pay $107.50 ($53.75 in cash and $53.75 in AT&T stock) per Time Warner share (twc) . And while Time Warner shares today hover 14% below that price, the company’s stock has not broken above $104 since news of the deal first broke.
Notably, it’s not uncommon for companies to hire Washington insiders in a bid to shape legislations or lawmaker opinion. But the furor that has come with AT&T’s payments to Cohen does highlight a new and difficult dynamic companies have had with Washington since the Trump 2016 election—trying to maintain an amicable relationship with Washington, while at the same time distancing themselves from the divisive commander-in-chief’s mounting scandals. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/11/bob-quinn-att-ceo-randall-stephenson-time-warner-michael-cohen/ |
Stan Lee has filed a major lawsuit against his former company over allegations that it stole his likeness for financial gain.
Lee, a legend in the entertainment industry who co-created many of the comics characters beloved around the world—including Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Incredible Hulk, among others—filed a $1 billion suit against the company he co-founded in 2001, POW! Entertainment , as well his co-founders Shane Duffy and Gill Champion, according to CNBC.
The lawsuit, which was obtained by CNBC, alleges that the defendants used Lee’s name and likeness to sell the company to China-based Camsing International last year. Lee said that his co-founders “forged or fraudulently obtained” his signature to allow his name and likeness to be used anytime. The 95-year-old Lee said in the lawsuit that he was made to believe he was signing another contract, but because of his poor eyesight, he signed the document handing over his naming rights.
Get Data Sheet , Fortune’s technology newsletter
Lee formed POW! in 2001 as a holding company of sorts for his vast library of intellectual property for film, television, animation, and comics, among other content. Camsing International acquired POW! in 2017 for an undisclosed price and placed its U.S. vice president Shane Duffy as POW!’s CEO. Champion, who was cited as a defendant in the lawsuit, was made president.
In the lawsuit, Lee alleges that he had been asked by the defendants to sign non-exclusive rights to his name to facilitate the deal, but the agreement ultimately allowed for exclusive rights. The agreement also paved the way for POW! to use Lee’s social media accounts without his input, according to the lawsuit.
Lee is suing for $1 billion (or more) in damages. He also wants the exclusive rights agreement tossed out by the court. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://fortune.com/2018/05/16/stan-lee-pow-lawsuit/ |
Total Revenue up 34%
Enterprise business ARR crosses $100 million milestone
BELMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG), a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
First Quarter Financial Highlights
Total revenue increased 34% year over year to $150 million. Software subscriptions revenue increased 32% year over year to $137 million. Annualized Exit Monthly Recurring Subscriptions (ARR) increased 31% year over year to $589 million. RingCentral Office® ARR increased 37% year over year to $509 million. GAAP software subscriptions gross margin was 82.1%, up 1.6 points year over year, while non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin was 82.8%, up 1.4 points year over year. GAAP operating margin was (0.9%), up 1.1 points year over year, while non-GAAP operating margin was 8.6%, up 2.2 points year over year. Net monthly subscriptions dollar retention: RingCentral Office over 100% and overall subscriptions over 99%.
“Our first quarter was an excellent start to 2018 for RingCentral. Our business strengthened, driven by our mid-market and enterprise customers. Our enterprise business is now over $100 million, growing triple digits,” said Vlad Shmunis, RingCentral’s chairman and CEO. “We announced innovative new products and we continued to extend our leadership position in the cloud communications industry. We believe we are well positioned to benefit as the on-premise market transitions to the cloud.”
New Accounting Standard
The Company adopted the new standard related to revenue recognition (Topic 606) effective January 1, 2018. The financial information in this press release is prepared in accordance with Topic 606, and the comparison period amounts used to calculate growth rates are based on amounts that have been restated from previously reported amounts to conform to the requirements of Topic 606.
Financial Results for the First Quarter 2018
Revenue and Gross Margin: Total revenue was $150 million for the first quarter of 2018, up from $112 million in the first quarter of 2017, representing 34% growth. Total GAAP gross margin was 76.3% for the first quarter of 2018, up 0.6 points compared to 75.7% in the first quarter of 2017. Net Income (Loss) Per Share : GAAP net loss per share was ($0.03) for the first quarter of 2018 compared with ($0.03) for the first quarter of 2017. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share was $0.16 for the first quarter of 2018, compared with $0.09 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2017. Balance Sheet : Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the first quarter of 2018 was $555 million, compared with $181 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.
Recent Business Highlights
Announced RingCentral Collaborative Contact Center™ solution, which transforms the way organizations manage customer engagement. This new solution combines contact center features with team messaging to enable agents and supervisors to communicate and collaborate across their organizations in real-time to resolve customer issues efficiently. Announced RingCentral Pulse™, an innovative solution which provides intelligent bots that monitor critical call center metrics in real time. It provides automated alerts and notifications to key stakeholders directly within team messages via RingCentral Glip. This empowers organizations to deliver superior quality service to their customers. Announced RingCentral Collaborative Meetings™ which provides integrated team messaging, online meetings, video conferencing, screen-sharing, and task management in a single solution to enable a full meeting experience. Available stand-alone, the solution can be easily upgraded to the full cloud communications capabilities of RingCentral Office®. Issued $460 million of 0% coupon Convertible Senior Notes due in 2023. In conjunction with the issuance of the convertible notes, RingCentral also entered into a capped call transaction to eliminate shareholder dilution up to a $119 stock price, or 90% above the share price at issuance. Received a 5-star rating from CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, in its 2018 Partner Program Guide. The CRN 5-Star Partner Program Guide rating recognizes an elite set of companies that offer the best partnering elements in their channel programs.
Financial Outlook
Full Year 2018 Guidance:
Raising software subscriptions revenue range to $588 to $594 million, representing annual growth of 26% to 28%. This is up from our prior range of $581 to $589 million and annual growth of 25% to 27%. Raising total revenue range to $638 to $647 million, representing annual growth of 27% to 28%. This is up from our prior range of $629 to $639 million and annual growth of 25% to 27%. Raising GAAP operating margin range to (4.0%) to (3.4%), up from the prior range of (4.5%) to (3.5%). Raising non-GAAP operating margin range to 8.1% to 8.3%, up from the prior range of 7.8% to 8.2%. Raising non-GAAP EPS range to $0.61 to $0.65 based on 86.0 million fully diluted shares. This is up from our prior range of $0.56 to $0.60.
Second Quarter 2018 Guidance:
Software subscriptions revenue range of $142.5 to $143.5 million, representing annual growth of 28% to 29% Total revenue range of $154.5 to $156.5 million, representing annual growth of 29% to 31% GAAP operating margin range of (5.3%) and (4.3%), and Non-GAAP operating margin range of 7.5% and 8.0% Non-GAAP EPS range of $0.14 to $0.16 based on 85.0 million fully diluted shares
For a reconciliation of our forecasted non-GAAP operating margin, see “Reconciliation of Forecasted Operating Margin GAAP Measures to Non-GAAP Measures.” We have not reconciled our forecasted non-GAAP EPS to GAAP EPS because we do not provide guidance on it. We do not provide guidance on forecasted GAAP EPS because of the inherent uncertainty and complexity involved in forecasting the intercompany remeasurement gain (loss), which could be a significant reconciling item between the non-GAAP and respective GAAP measure. The intercompany remeasurement gain (loss) is affected by the movement in various exchange rates relative to the USD, which is difficult to predict and subject to constant change. Accordingly, a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure guidance to the corresponding GAAP measure is not available without unreasonable effort.
Conference Call Details:
What: RingCentral financial results for the first quarter of 2018 and outlook for the second quarter and full year of 2018. When: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 at 2:00PM PT (5:00PM ET). Dial-in: To access the call in the United States, please dial (877) 705-6003, and for international callers, dial (201) 493-6725. Callers are encouraged to dial into the call 10 to 15 minutes prior to the start to prevent any delay in joining. Webcast: http://ir.ringcentral.com/ (live and replay). Replay: A replay of the call will be available via telephone for seven days, following the completion of the call. To listen to the telephone replay in the U.S., please dial (844) 512-2921 from the United States or (412) 317-6671 internationally with recording access code 13678764.
Investor Presentation Details
An investor presentation providing additional information and analysis can be found at http://ir.ringcentral.com/ .
About RingCentral
RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE: RNG) is a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions. More flexible and cost-effective than legacy on-premises systems, RingCentral empowers today’s mobile and distributed workforce to communicate, collaborate, and connect from anywhere, on any device. RingCentral unifies voice, video, team messaging and collaboration, conferencing, online meetings, and integrated contact center solutions. RingCentral’s open platform integrates with leading business apps and enables customers to easily customize business workflows. RingCentral is headquartered in Belmont, California, and has offices around the world.
©2018 RingCentral, Inc. All rights reserved. RingCentral, RingCentral Office, RingCentral Meetings, RingCentral Contact Center, RingCentral Glip, RingCentral Pulse and the RingCentral logo are trademarks of RingCentral, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” including but not limited to, statements regarding our future financial results, our GAAP and non-GAAP guidance, our strength in the mid-market and enterprise segments, our leadership in the UCaaS market, our market opportunity, and the anticipated transition of the on-premise market to the cloud. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, which could cause actual results to expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to in any forward-looking statements are: our ability to grow at our expected rate of growth; our ability to add and retain larger and enterprise customers and enter new geographies and markets; our ability to continue to release, and gain customer acceptance of, new and improved versions of our services; our ability to compete successfully against existing and new competitors; our ability to enter into and maintain relationships with carriers and other resellers; our ability to manage our expenses and growth; and general market, political, economic, and business conditions, as well as those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission; and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time.
All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to RingCentral as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, to review or confirm analysts’ expectations, or to provide interim reports or updates on the progress of the current financial quarter.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Our reported financial results and financial outlook include certain Non-GAAP financial measures, including Non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin, Non-GAAP other gross margin, Non-GAAP operating margin, Non-GAAP operating income (loss), Non-GAAP net income (loss) and Non-GAAP net income (loss) per diluted share. Non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin is defined as Non-GAAP subscriptions gross profit divided by GAAP subscriptions revenue. Non-GAAP other gross margin is defined as Non-GAAP other gross profit divided by GAAP other revenue. Non-GAAP operating income (loss) is defined as operating income (loss) excluding share-based compensation, amortization of acquisition intangibles, and acquisition related matters. Non-GAAP operating margin is defined as Non-GAAP operating income (loss) divided by total GAAP revenue. Non-GAAP net income (loss) is defined as GAAP net income (loss) excluding share-based compensation, intercompany remeasurement gains or losses, acquisition related matters, amortization of acquisition intangibles, non-cash interest expense associated with amortization of debt discount and issuance costs related to our convertible senior notes and the related income tax effect of these adjustments.
Non-GAAP diluted shares outstanding include the impact on shares used in per share calculations of our outstanding capped call transactions. Our outstanding capped call transactions are anti-dilutive in GAAP earnings per share but are expected to mitigate the dilutive effect of our convertible notes and therefore will be included in the calculations of non-GAAP diluted shares outstanding.
We have included Non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin, Non-GAAP other gross margin, Non-GAAP operating margin, Non-GAAP net income (loss) and Non-GAAP net income (loss) per diluted share in this press release because they are key measures used by us to understand and evaluate our operating performance and trends, to prepare and approve our annual budget, and to develop short and long-term operational plans. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin, Non-GAAP other gross margin, Non-GAAP operating margin, Non-GAAP net income (loss), and Non-GAAP net income (loss) per diluted share provide useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business.
Although Non-GAAP software subscriptions gross margin, Non-GAAP other gross margin, Non-GAAP operating margin, Non-GAAP net income (loss), and Non-GAAP net income (loss) per diluted share, are frequently used by investors in their evaluations of companies, these non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Because of these limitations, these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered alongside other financial performance measures.
Reconciliations of the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures has been provided in the financial statement tables included in this press release.
Other Measures
Our reported results also include our annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions, RingCentral Office® annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions, enterprise annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions and net monthly subscriptions dollar retention. We define our annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions as our monthly recurring subscriptions multiplied by 12. Our monthly recurring subscriptions equal the monthly value of all recurring charges in effect at the end of a given month. We believe this metric is a leading indicator of our anticipated subscriptions revenue. We calculate our RingCentral Office® annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions in the same manner as we calculate our annualized exit monthly recurring subscriptions, except that only customer subscriptions from RingCentral Office® customers are included when determining monthly recurring subscriptions for the purposes of calculating this key business metric. We define Dollar Net Change as the quotient of (i) the difference of our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the end of a period minus our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the beginning of a period minus our Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the end of the period from new customers we added during the period, (ii) all divided by the number of months in the period. We define our Average Monthly Recurring Subscriptions as the average of the Monthly Recurring Subscriptions at the beginning and end of the measurement period.
TABLE 1
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited, in thousands)
March 31,
2018 December 31,
2017
*As Adjusted Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents $ 554,963 $ 181,192 Accounts receivable, net 55,379 46,690 Deferred sales commission costs $ 16,649 $ 15,424 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 24,118 21,512 Total current assets 651,109 264,818 Property and equipment, net 50,131 43,298 Deferred sales commission costs, noncurrent 40,140 37,871 Goodwill 9,393 9,393 Acquired intangibles, net 22,377 1,462 Other assets 2,328 2,972 Total assets $ 775,478 $ 359,814 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current liabilities Accounts payable $ 4,256 $ 7,322 Accrued liabilities 64,562 54,977 Current portion of capital lease obligation 1,252 — Deferred revenue 68,037 62,917 Total current liabilities 138,107 125,216 Convertible senior notes, net 352,004 — Capital lease obligation 3,261 — Other long-term liabilities 6,240 6,252 Total liabilities 499,612 131,468 Stockholders' equity: Common stock 8 8 Additional paid-in capital 484,854 434,840 Accumulated other comprehensive income 3,220 2,998 Accumulated deficit (212,216 ) (209,500 ) Total stockholders' equity $ 275,866 $ 228,346 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 775,478 $ 359,814 * Prior-period information has been restated for the adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which we adopted on January 1, 2018.
TABLE 2
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited, in thousands, except per share data)
Three Months Ended March 31,
2018 2017
*As Adjusted Revenues Software subscriptions $ 136,960 $ 104,130 Other 13,383 8,104 Total revenues 150,343 112,234 Cost of revenues Software subscriptions 24,526 20,263 Other 11,148 7,043 Total cost of revenues 35,674 27,306 Gross profit 114,669 84,928 Operating expenses Research and development 22,651 17,087 Sales and marketing 71,920 54,265 General and administrative 21,449 15,805 Total operating expenses 116,020 87,157 Loss from operations (1,351 ) (2,229 ) Other income (expense), net Interest expense (1,411 ) (79 ) Other income, net 73 122 Other income (expense), net (1,338 ) 43 Loss before income taxes (2,689 ) (2,186 ) Provision for income taxes 27 51 Net loss $ (2,716 ) $ (2,237 ) Net loss per common share Basic and diluted $ (0.03 ) $ (0.03 ) Weighted-average number of shares used in computing net loss per share Basic and diluted 78,341 74,682 * Prior-period information has been restated for the adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which we adopted on January 1, 2018. TABLE 3
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited, in thousands)
Three months ended March 31, 2018 2017
*As Adjusted Cash flows from operating activities Net loss $ (2,716 ) $ (2,237 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash provided by operating activities Depreciation and amortization 5,542 3,785 Share-based compensation 13,267 8,935 Amortization of deferred sales commission costs 3,984 2,597 Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs 1,370 - Foreign currency remeasurement (gain) loss 267 (44 ) Provision for bad debt 554 289 Deferred income taxes (6 ) (2 ) Other 206 98 Changes in assets and liabilities Accounts receivable (9,243 ) (1,594 ) Deferred sales commission costs (7,478 ) (7,226 ) Prepaid expenses and other current assets (2,270 ) (2,038 ) Other assets 337 45 Accounts payable (2,816 ) (2,224 ) Accrued liabilities 6,079 4,159 Deferred revenue 5,120 3,989 Other liabilities (12 ) 178 Net cash provided by operating activities 12,185 8,710 Cash flows from investing activities Purchases of property and equipment (4,587 ) (5,155 ) Capitalized internal-use software (2,759 ) (1,640 ) Cash paid for acquisition of intangible assets (18,470 ) — Net cash used in investing activities (25,816 ) (6,795 ) Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from issuance of convertible senior notes, net of issuance costs 449,457 — Payments for capped call transactions and costs (49,910 ) — Repurchase of common stock (15,000 ) — Proceeds from issuance of stock in connection with stock plans 3,688 2,679 Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (1,014 ) (221 ) Repayment of debt — (14,840 ) Repayment of capital lease obligations — (181 ) Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities 387,221 (12,563 ) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 181 (17 ) Net increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash 373,771 (10,665 ) Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash Beginning of period 181,192 160,355 End of period $ 554,963 $ 149,690 * Prior-period information has been restated for the adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which we adopted on January 1, 2018. TABLE 4
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF OPERATING INCOME (LOSS)
GAAP MEASURES TO NON-GAAP MEASURES
(Unaudited, in thousands)
Three Months Ended March 31,
2018 2017
*As Adjusted Revenues Software subscriptions $ 136,960 $ 104,130 Other 13,383 8,104 Total revenues 150,343 112,234 Cost of revenues reconciliation GAAP Software subscriptions cost of revenues 24,526 20,263 Stock-based compensation (876 ) (725 ) Amortization of acquisition intangibles (151 ) (151 ) Non-GAAP Software subscriptions cost of revenues 23,499 19,387 GAAP Other cost of revenues 11,148 7,043 Stock-based compensation (134 ) (32 ) Non-GAAP Other cost of revenues 11,014 7,011 Gross profit and gross margin reconciliation Non-GAAP Subscriptions 82.8 % 81.4 % Non-GAAP Other 17.7 % 13.5 % Non-GAAP Gross profit 77.0 % 76.5 % Operating expenses reconciliation GAAP Research and development 22,651 17,087 Stock-based compensation (3,094 ) (1,859 ) Acquisition related matters - (265 ) Non-GAAP Research and development 19,557 14,963 As a % of total revenues non-GAAP 13.0 % 13.3 % GAAP Sales and marketing 71,920 54,265 Stock-based compensation (5,041 ) (3,525 ) Amortization of acquisition intangibles (916 ) (104 ) Non-GAAP Sales and marketing 65,963 50,636 As a % of total revenues non-GAAP 43.9 % 45.1 % GAAP General and administrative 21,449 15,805 Stock-based compensation (4,122 ) (2,794 ) Non-GAAP General and administrative 17,327 13,011 As a % of total revenues non-GAAP 11.5 % 11.6 % Income (loss) from operations reconciliation GAAP loss from operations (1,351 ) (2,229 ) Stock-based compensation 13,267 8,935 Amortization of acquisition intangibles 1,067 255 Acquisition related matters - 265 Non-GAAP Income from operations 12,983 7,226 Non-GAAP Operating margin 8.6 % 6.4 % * Prior-period information has been restated for the adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which we adopted on January 1, 2018.
TABLE 5
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME (LOSS)
GAAP MEASURES TO NON-GAAP MEASURES
(In thousands, except per share data) (Unaudited)
Three Months Ended
March 31, 2018 2017
*As Adjusted Net Income (loss) reconciliation GAAP net loss $ (2,716 ) $ (2,237 ) Stock-based compensation 13,267 8,935 Amortization of acquisition intangibles 1,067 255 Acquisition related matters — 265 Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs 1,370 — Intercompany remeasurement loss (gain) 274 (43 ) Income tax expense effects ** — — Non-GAAP net income $ 13,262 $ 7,175 Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share Reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP weighted average shares used in computing basic and diluted net income / (loss) per common share: Weighted average number of shares used in computing net loss per share
78,341 74,682 Effect of dilutive securities 6,629 4,973 Non-GAAP weighted average shares used in computing non-GAAP net income per share
84,970 79,655 GAAP Net loss per share $ (0.03 ) $ (0.03 ) Non-GAAP Net income per share $ 0.16 $ 0.09 * Prior-period information has been restated for the adoption of ASU 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606), which we adopted on January 1, 2018. ** The non-GAAP adjustments do not have an impact on our income tax provision due to our continued history of non-GAAP losses and full valuation allowance. TABLE 6
RINGCENTRAL, INC.
RECONCILIATION OF FORECASTED OPERATING MARGIN
GAAP MEASURES TO NON-GAAP MEASURES
(In millions, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
Q2 2018 FY 2018 Low Range High Range Low Range High Range GAAP revenues 154.5 156.5 638.0 647.0 GAAP loss from operations (8.2 ) (6.8 ) (25.7 ) (21.7 ) GAAP operating margin (5.3 %) (4.3 %) (4.0 %) (3.4 %) Stock-based compensation 18.5 18.0 72.6 70.6 Amortization of acquisition intangibles 1.3 1.3 4.8 4.8 Non-GAAP income from operations $ 11.6 $ 12.5 $ 51.7 $ 53.7 Non-GAAP operating margin 7.5 % 8.0 % 8.1 % 8.3 %
View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180509006383/en/
RingCentral
Investor Relations Contact:
Paul Thomas, 650-458-4462
[email protected]
or
Media Contact:
Jennifer Caukin, 650-561-6348
[email protected]
Source: RingCentral, Inc. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/09/business-wire-ringcentral-announces-first-quarter-2018-results.html |
TAMPA, Fla., April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lazydays Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAZY) ("Lazydays" or the "Company") today announced that Nicholas Tomashot has been appointed Chief Financial Officer, effective May 11, 2018. Mr. Tomashot, the former Senior Vice President and General Manager of the National Service Center of US Foods, will lead Lazydays financial, information technology and human resources operations, and will report directly to Bill Murnane, Chairman and CEO of Lazydays.
Mr. Tomashot succeeds Maura Berney, who has made the personal decision to step down as CFO. Ms. Berney has not expressed any disagreement with the Company on any matter related to the Company's operations, policies or practices, including its controls or financial-related matters. Ms. Berney will work closely with Mr. Tomashot through June 15, 2018 to ensure a smooth and efficient transition of responsibilities.
"I am thrilled to welcome Nick to Lazydays, and believe he will make an immediate impact as we begin operating as a publicly traded company," said Mr. Murnane. "Nick has significant experience leading financial functions in complex, multi-site operation businesses, while maintaining a relentless focus on providing a best-in-class customer experience. I believe that Nick's experience and expertise will enhance our ability to provide happiness and enjoyment to many of the millions of RV customers across the country."
Mr. Murnane added, "Maura's leadership was critical in the successful execution of our recent transaction to become a public company, and on behalf of everyone at Lazydays and our Board of Directors, I want to thank Maura for her many contributions during her tenure as CFO. We wish her the greatest success in her future endeavors."
"Lazydays is leading the transformation of a dynamic and exciting industry while beginning to operate as a public company, and I can't imagine a more exciting time to join the team," said Mr. Tomashot. "Everyone at Lazydays recognizes and appreciates their purpose and mission in the RV dealership industry, and I'm delighted to be playing an important role in the next phase of the Company's growth and development."
Ms. Berney said, "I am proud of what we have accomplished at Lazydays, particularly the business combination that has positioned Lazydays to accelerate its growth initiatives, and I believe there is a strong future ahead. I am fully committed to helping Bill, Nick and the Lazydays team ensure a seamless transition over the next several weeks and wish them the very best."
Mr. Tomashot has more than 30 years of financial management experience and has an extensive background in corporate finance, financial planning and analysis, cost analysis and business intelligence, investor relations, strategic planning and operational efficiency, along with a deep appreciation for Lazydays and its unique position as the RV Authority TM and industry leader. Prior to US Foods, he was Chief Financial Officer for five years at Pinnacle Data Systems, Inc., a NYSE-traded provider of technology repair and reverse logistics services. As CFO of Pinnacle, Mr. Tomashot oversaw corporate finance, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax, accounting, investor relations, internal audit and risk management. In 2012, Tomashot oversaw the sale of Pinnacle to Avnet Integrated, Inc.
Prior to becoming CFO at Pinnacle, Mr. Tomashot held senior domestic and international finance positions at Innovex, Inc., an international manufacturer of electronic products. Before joining Innovex, Tomashot worked at Pillsbury, Proctor & Gamble and NCR Corporation where he held various finance positions of increasing responsibility. He received his bachelor's degree in finance from The Ohio State University and his MBA in finance and strategic management from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
Preliminary First Quarter Financial Results; Earnings Conference Call Scheduled for Thursday, May 10, 2018
Based on information available as of today, total revenue for the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2018 is expected to be $177.8 million, an increase of $7.9 million or 4.6% above the first fiscal quarter of 2017. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be approximately $11.4 million, an increase of $1.4 million or 14.3% above the first quarter of 2017. These results are preliminary and unaudited and are subject to change based on the completion of the company's normal quarter-end review process. As a result, these preliminary results may be different from the actual results that will be reflected in Lazydays consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2018. The Company expects to report its final first quarter financial results and hold a conference call on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
About Lazydays
Lazydays, The RV Authority™, is an iconic brand in the RV industry. Home of the world's largest recreational dealership, based on 126 acres outside of Tampa, Florida, Lazydays also has dealerships located in Tucson, Arizona, and Loveland, Denver and Longmont, Colorado. Offering the nation's largest selection of leading RV brands, Lazydays features more than 2,500 new and pre-owned RVs, over 300 service bays and two on-site campgrounds with over 700 RV campsites. Lazydays also has rental fleets in Florida, Arizona and Colorado. In addition, Lazydays RV Accessories & More stores offer thousands of accessories and hard-to-find parts at all of our dealership locations.
Since 1976, Lazydays has built a reputation for providing an outstanding customer experience with exceptional service and product expertise, along with being a preferred place to rest and recharge with other RVers. Lazydays consistently provides the best RV purchase, service, rental and ownership experience, which is why more than a half-million RVers and their families visit Lazydays every year, making it their "home away from home."
Lazydays Holdings, Inc. is a publicly listed company on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker "LAZY." Additional information can be found at https://www.lazydays.com/investor-relations .
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income excluding depreciation and amortization, non-floor plan interest expense, interest income, income tax expense, stock option expense, transaction costs and other supplemental adjustments. We believe Adjusted EBITDA, when considered along with other performance measures, is a useful measure as it reflects certain operating drivers of the business, such as sales growth, operating costs, selling and administrative expense and other operating income and expense. Adjusted EBITDA is also frequently used by analysts, investors, and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of liquidity or cash flows from operations, or a measure comparable to net income as it does not take into account certain requirements such as non-recurring gains and losses which are not deemed to be a normal part of the underlying business activities. Our use of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to other companies within the industry. Our earnings press release for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, which we expect to release on May 10, 2018, will provide a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target" or other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends, or that are not statements of historical matters. Such forward-looking statements with respect to the transition in the CFO role, the Company's preliminary first quarter financial results, the Company's future growth and development, including the acceleration of growth initiatives and the belief in a strong future ahead are based on current information and expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Lazydays' views as of any subsequent date, and Lazydays does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements. As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, actual results or performance may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to: (1) the ability to maintain the listing of Lazydays' common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market; (2) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the business combination, which may be affected by, among other things, competition and the ability of the combined business to grow and manage growth profitably; (3) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (4) the possibility that Lazydays may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; and (5) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in Lazydays' prior and future filings with the SEC, available at www.sec.gov .
News Contact :
+1 (813) 204-4099
[email protected]
View original content with multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lazydays-appoints-nicholas-tomashot-as-chief-financial-officer-300639477.html
SOURCE Lazydays | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/30/pr-newswire-lazydays-appoints-nicholas-tomashot-as-chief-financial-officer.html |
MEXICO CITY, May 23 (Reuters) - Mexican bank Accendo Banco, formerly InvestaBank, said on Wednesday it expects to finalize acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s local assets next month, capping a nearly two-year-long process that was stalled by money laundering allegations.
Accendo announced the deal in late 2016, but was forced to put it on hold after a main InvestaBank shareholder was arrested in the United States on charges of laundering more than $100 million.
Mexico’s banking regulator last year cleared the bank of wrongdoing in connection with the U.S. charges, allowing the acquisition to continue, although it slapped the bank with $1.3 million in fines for lesser violations.
“We hope that it will be, at the latest, in June that the process of acquiring Deutsche Bank concludes,” said Gustavo Vergara, who took over Accendo as chief executive in mid-2017.
The entity recently raised its capital from about 378 million pesos ($19.12 million) to 1.11 billion pesos after incorporating new partners, paving the way to purchase the Deutsche assets.
Vergara declined to state the value of the deal.
The InvestaBank shareholder accused of money laundering, Carlos Djemal, later pleaded guilty to wire fraud while the laundering charges were dropped.
InvestaBank was created in 2014 when Investa acquired the local operations of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and changed its name to Accendo in mid-May. The bank currently has 0.03 percent of the total revenue in the Mexican banking system. (Writing by Daina Beth Solomon, editing by G Crosse)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/mexico-accendobanco-divestiture/mexicos-accendo-banco-expects-to-close-purchase-of-deutsche-bank-units-in-june-idUSL2N1SU2G8 |
PARIS (Reuters) - The European Commission on Wednesday proposed to reduce farm subsidies and leave more latitude to member states under the bloc’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), drawing swift condemnation from France, which called the move “unthinkable”.
A farmer drives his tractor in his field as he plants potatoes in Estourmel near Cambrai, France April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol The CAP proposal comes as part of a bigger, new, multi-year EU budget set to trigger battles among member states over how to fill the funding gap left by Britain’s exit next year.
In an effort to cut costs and promote other policies, farmers will see aid shrink in the 2021-2027 period to 365 billion euros ($438 billion), down 5 percent from the current CAP, the Commission said.
This would represent a share of less than 30 percent of the total budget of 1.279 trillion euros, down from more than 45 percent 20 years earlier.
“Against the backdrop of Brexit and demands to fund new and emerging priorities, the CAP budget is being reduced by a modest 5 percent,” European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said in a statement.
France, by far the largest beneficiary of the CAP, said the proposals were unacceptable.
“For Stephane Travert, the Agriculture and Food Minister, such a drastic, massive and blind cut is simply unthinkable,” the ministry said in a statement.
“It poses an unprecedented risk to farms’ viability by seriously impacting farmers’ incomes, for whom direct aid is an essential safety net. France cannot accept any decline in direct income for farmers.”
In the proposals, which need to be approved by member states, EU countries will have to cap subsidies for large farms or impose degressive payments depending on farm size, with the rest redistributed to small and medium-sized ones.
“Direct payments to farmers will remain an essential part of the policy, but will be streamlined and better targeted,” the Commission wrote in its proposal.
Direct payment levels per hectare among member states will also continue to converge towards the EU average, it said.
The Commission also aims to introduce greater conditionality to direct payments with a significant part of funding to be ring-fenced for actions beneficial to the climate, the environment and rural development.
“This system will provide greater flexibility for member states, allowing them to better target environmental objectives and be more ambitious,” it said.
The proposal to give member states more room to maneuver has been criticized by farm unions as a Commission attempt to go back on the CAP’s initial idea of a common policy.
The Commission also proposed a new reserve to address crises linked notably by unforeseeable developments in international markets.
Farmers across the agriculture sector, from milk to grains and sugar, have suffered sharp drops in revenues in recent years due to hefty global supplies.
EU farmers group COPA-COGECA, reacting on Twitter, expressed “strong disappointment with the cuts”.
“A strong budget is needed for a sustainable, modern EU agriculture sector delivering on various fronts,” it said.
($1 = 0.8331 euros)
Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Dale Hudson
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-budget-agriculture/eu-reduces-farm-aid-to-cut-costs-france-says-unacceptable-idUSKBN1I31XB |
May 29, 2018 / 4:14 AM / in 17 minutes Teen mothers in foster care have high risk of losing custody of babies Lisa Rapaport 5 Min Read
(Reuters Health) - Teen mothers who are in foster care may be more likely to lose custody of their babies than adolescent mothers in different living circumstances, a Canadian study suggests.
Researchers examined data on 576 teen mothers who were in foster care and 5,366 adolescent mothers who were not. Overall, the mothers in foster care were more than seven times more likely to lose custody of their babies by the time children were two years old, researchers report in Pediatrics.
The greatest risk was in the babies’ first week of life, when teen mothers in foster care were more than 11 times more likely to lose custody than other mothers, the study found. Over the rest of the babies’ first year of life, teen mothers were more than three times more likely to lose custody, and between children’s first and second birthdays, they still had more than twice the odds of losing custody.
“Separation at or soon after birth disrupts mother-child attachment, which is critical in the first year of life and improves outcomes for both mother and child,” said lead study author Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, a researcher at the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
“Not only are the mother and child not able to form secure attachments, but mothers are often traumatized by their loss and cope with things like substance use, which make it even harder for them to regain custody and adequately parent subsequent children,” Wall-Wieler said by email. “The only real risk of mothers and infants living together in foster care is that mothers feel like they are under constant scrutiny by their social workers, and are constantly needing to prove to everyone that they are able to parent, or at risk of losing custody of their child.”
Adolescents in foster care are more likely to become teen mothers than their peers, researchers note in Pediatrics.
Compared to teen mothers living in other circumstances, young mothers in foster care were more likely to have problems with substance misuse, depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and suicide attempt in the two years before the birth of their first child.
Mothers in foster care, however, had higher rates of prenatal care and were more likely to start breastfeeding in the hospital soon after their babies were born, the study also found.
Among mothers in foster care, 25 percent had their children taken into custody by social services within the first week after birth. These mothers, Wall-Wieler noted, “have not had the opportunity to parent their child, so the child was not removed due to lack of parenting abilities, but rather an anticipation that they would not be able to care for their child, or lack of resources to support the mother with her child,” such as not being able to find a foster home that can support both mother and child.
An additional 17 percent of mothers in foster care had a child taken over the next year leading up to the child’s first birthday.
And another 7 percent of teen mothers in foster care lost custody of their children between their first and second birthdays.
This resulted in almost half of teen moms in foster care losing custody of babies before their second birthday, compared with about 10 percent of other teen mothers in the study.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how living in foster care might directly cause teen mothers to lose custody of their babies. Researchers also lacked detailed information on why teen mothers or their infants might have been placed in the care of child protective services.
“This has been attributed to inadequate parenting -the transmission of abuse and neglect across generations,” said Dr. Kristine Campbell, author of an accompanying editorial and a researcher at the Primary Children’s Hospital Center for Safe and Healthy Families in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“I don’t think that we can overlook the possibility that the many other challenges faced by young adults aging out of foster care (homelessness, poverty, unemployment and limited educational opportunities) contribute to both parenting stress and to characteristics that may increase the likelihood of (losing custody of babies.),” Campbell said by email.
But there are exceptions.
“I certainly see young mothers with a history of foster care who dedicate every fiber of their being to keeping their children from repeating the experiences of their childhood,” Campbell said.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2zjBjcw Pediatrics, online May 29, 2018. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-foster-care-pregnancy/teen-mothers-in-foster-care-have-high-risk-of-losing-custody-of-babies-idUSKCN1IU0B7 |
SAINT LAURENT, Quebec, May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IntelGenx Technologies Corp. (TSX-V:IGX) (OTCQX:IGXT) (the “Company” or “IntelGenx”) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. All dollar amounts are expressed in U.S. currency and results are reported in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles except where noted otherwise.
2018 First Quarter Financial Highlights:
Total revenue was $239,000, which reflected decreases in deferred and upfront revenues of $922,000 and 408,000, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was ($1.8 million), compared to adjusted EBITDA of ($117,000) in the same period last year. Cash and short-term investments totalled $2.4 million as at March 31, 2018, which did not include gross proceeds of $3.2 million raised by the Company in its May 2018 unit offering.
Recent Developments:
Presented overviews of the Company’s business at the 10 th Annual Biotech Showcase in January 2018 and at the Bloom Burton & Co. Healthcare Investor Conference in May 2018. Initiated Phase 2a proof of concept Montelukast VersaFilm™ clinical trial in Alzheimer’s patients, following clearance of the Clinical Trial Application by Health Canada. IntelGenx retained the services of Cogstate and JSS Medical Research as the Contract Research Organizations to support the Montelukast VersaFilm™ study. Patient screening is expected to begin in Q2 2018.
“With the completion of the private placement offering earlier this week, we now have sufficient financial resources to support our Montelukast Phase 2a clinical trial and to continue advancing the rest of our product pipeline toward commercialization,” commented Dr. Horst G. Zerbe, President and CEO of IntelGenx.
Financial Results:
Total revenues for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 amounted to $239,000, compared to $1.4 million for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017. The decrease for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 compared to the last year’s corresponding period is mainly attributable to a decrease in deferred revenues on monetization of $922,000 and a decrease in upfront revenues of $408,000, partially offset by an increase in Research and Development revenues of $218,000.
Operating costs and expenses were $2.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, versus $1.8 million for the corresponding quarter in 2017. The increase for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 is mainly attributable to a $153,000 increase in Research and Development expenses and a $376,000 increase in mostly non-recurring Selling, General and Administrative expenses.
For the first quarter ended March 31, 2018, the Company had an operating loss of $2.0 million, compared to an operating loss of $457,000 for the comparable period of 2017.
Net comprehensive loss was $2.3 million, or $0.03 on a basic and diluted per share basis, for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018, compared to a net comprehensive loss of $468,000, or $0.01 on a basic and diluted per share basis, for the comparable period of 2017.
As of March 31, 2018, the Company’s cash and short-term investments totalled $2.4 million, which did not include gross proceeds of $3.2 million raised in its May 2018 unit offering.
Conference Call Details:
IntelGenx will host a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2018 financial results today, May 10, 2018, at 4:30 p.m. ET. The dial-in number for the conference call is (833) 231-8269. The call will be webcast live and archived for twelve months at www.intelgenx.com .
About IntelGenx:
Established in 2003, IntelGenx is a leading oral drug delivery company primarily focused on the development and manufacturing of innovative pharmaceutical oral films based on its proprietary VersaFilm™ technology platform.
IntelGenx' highly skilled team provides comprehensive pharmaceuticals services to pharmaceutical partners, including R&D, analytical method development, clinical monitoring, IP and regulatory services. IntelGenx' state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, established for the VersaFilm™ technology platform, supports lab-scale to pilot and commercial-scale production, offering full service capabilities to its clients. More information about the company can be found at www.intelgenx.com .
Forward Looking Statements:
This document may contain forward-looking information about IntelGenx' operating results and business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not purely historical are within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about IntelGenx' plans, objectives, expectations, strategies, intentions or other characterizations of future events or circumstances and are generally identified by the words "may," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "could," "would," and similar expressions. All forward looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Because these are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, IntelGenx' actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in IntelGenx' annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov , and also filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and www.sedar.com . IntelGenx assumes no obligation to update any such
Each of the TSX Venture Exchange and OTCQX has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Source: IntelGenx Technologies Corp.
For more information, please contact: Stephen Kilmer Investor Relations (514) 331-7440 ext 232 [email protected] Or Andre Godin, CPA, CA Executive Vice-President and CFO IntelGenx Corp. (514) 331-7440 ext 203 [email protected]
Source:IntelGenx Technologies Corp. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | http://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/globe-newswire-intelgenx-reports-first-quarter-2018-financial-results.html |
MUMBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Three directors of India’s Fortis Healthcare have quit ahead of a shareholder vote on Tuesday to decide their future, the company said, the latest twist in a prolonged takeover for one of the country’s largest hospital operators.
A Fortis hospital building is pictured in Gurgaon, May 11, 2018. REUTERS/Saumya Khandelwal/Files Harpal Singh, Tejinder Singh Shergill and Sabina Vaisoha cited personal reasons for their resignations, coming days after two major Fortis shareholders said the directors had not met their fiduciary duties.
Their departures raised fresh questions about the direction cash-strapped Fortis will take as it considers bids from five parties who have proposed to buy whole or part of the company.
Fortis has received more than a dozen competing offers since it first agreed in March to a proposal from a consortium led by rival Manipal Hospitals Enterprises.
Fortis then said in May it planned to accept an offer from Hero Enterprise Investment Office and Burman Family Office that valued the company at 90 billion rupees. Shareholders responded by pushing the company’s shares down 5 percent.
Eastbridge Capital and Jupiter India — two large investors who together control about 12 percent of the company — had called for Tuesday’s vote.
They said the directors had not satisfactorily exercised "their respective fiduciary duties towards shareholders and have failed to maintain expected levels of corporate governance," according to a filing bit.ly/2KJdNa7 made by Fortis last week.
A fourth director, Brian Tempest, still faces a vote at Tuesday’s meeting.
Indian proxy advisory firms have previously questioned the independence of the Fortis board.
“Shareholders need a decision-making body that is objective, independent, and does have a historical association with the promoter group or their companies,” Institutional Investor Advisory Services said in a note last month.
Eastbridge and Jupiter believed that the four directors were not independent and had been appointed by Fortis’ founders, a source close to the two shareholders told Reuters last week.
Harpal Singh, one of the three directors who resigned, defended the board’s decisions.
In a letter made public by Fortis on Sunday, Singh said the selection of the Hero-Burman offer was based “on criteria of certainty, simplicity of structure, no walk away rights, an early infusion of funds, capacity to address strategic needs and the ability to traverse a challenging landscape”.
Fortis’ founders quit as directors of the company in February and have denied any wrongdoing.
Fortis itself is under investigation in India for financial fraud, though it said in April it expected the probes to be over in 12 months.
Recent developments in the healthcare industry have made the company a takeover target.
Private healthcare spending is rising, and the government is working on expanding insurance to hundreds of millions of people in a country that lacks adequate heath facilities. The insurance scheme is expected to benefit private hospitals such as those run by Manipal and Fortis, analysts say.
Days after Fortis said it planned to accept the Hero-Burman offer, Manipal Hospitals and private equity firm TPG Capital Management sweetened their bid to buy the company, sparking a rally in Fortis shares.
Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Mumbai and Alasdair Pal in London; Additional reporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Darren Schuettler
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/fortis-health-m-a/three-directors-quit-fortis-healthcare-board-amid-takeover-battle-idINKCN1IM0LL |
Lyft says it now has 35% of the U.S. ridesharing market 5 Hours Ago CNBC's Deirdre Bosa reports on new numbers from Lyft, saying the ridesharing company now has 35% of the U.S. market. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/14/lyft-says-it-now-has-35-percent-of-the-u-s-ridesharing-market.html |
May 3, 2018 / 3:33 PM / Updated 40 minutes ago Stoke defender Martins Indi out of Palace clash with injury Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
(Reuters) - Stoke City defender Bruno Martins Indi will miss Saturday’s Premier League clash against Crystal Palace with a groin strain, manager Paul Lambert said on Thursday. Soccer Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Stoke City - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - April 28, 2018 Stoke City's Bruno Martins Indi is substituted off after sustaining an injury Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine
Dutch defender Martins Indi was taken off after 52 minutes in last weekend’s goalless draw with Liverpool and has not been able to shake off the problem in time for the visit of 11th-placed Palace.
“It will pretty much be the same squad this weekend, with the exception of Bruno Martins Indi,” Lambert told a news conference on Thursday.
“Unfortunately he has a knock and hasn’t recovered in time, so he’ll miss out. He may be back for the game with Swansea City next weekend, we will have to wait and see how he progresses.”
Stoke are second from bottom in the standings with 30 points and battling to retain their top flight status with two games remaining in the current campaign.
Lambert, who won the Champions League as a player at German club Borussia Dortmund in 1997, said that keeping Stoke up would match that achievement.
“I’ve been really fortunate to win the Champions League as a player and win league titles but keeping this club up would be up there in terms of my achievements,” Lambert added.
“I expect a tough game. Roy Hodgson has done a great job (as manager of Crystal Palace). They are practically safe so whether that’s a good or a bad thing for us I don’t know.
“There is no point looking at other teams doing you favours, you have to go and do your job first and foremost which is what we’re aiming to do.”
Forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and defender Kostas Stafylidis will also be unavailable for the match with injuries. Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-england-stk-cry-lambert/stoke-defender-martins-indi-out-of-palace-clash-with-injury-idUKKBN1I41ZC |
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) _ Codexis Inc. (CDXS) on Thursday reported a loss of $4.7 million in its first quarter.
On a per-share basis, the Redwood City, California-based company said it had a loss of 10 cents. Losses, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, were 5 cents per share.
The producer of custom industrial enzymes posted revenue of $14 million in the period, topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $13.5 million.
Codexis expects full-year revenue in the range of $60 million to $63 million.
Codexis shares have climbed 40 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $11.65, more than doubling in the last 12 months.
This story was generated by Automated Insights ( http://automatedinsights.com/ap ) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CDXS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CDXS | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/10/the-associated-press-codexis-1q-earnings-snapshot.html |
BEIJING, May 5 (Reuters) - Chinese state media struck an optimistic note on trade talks between Chinese and U.S. officials after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on up to $150 billion in Chinese goods over allegations of intellectual property theft.
The English-language China Daily saw a “positive development” in the two days of talks in an agreement to establish a mechanism to keep the dialogue open, despite “big differences”, as part an effort to resolve trade disputes.
The newspaper said the biggest achievement was “the constructive agreement between Beijing and Washington to keep discussing contentious trade issues, instead of continuing the two-way barrage of tariffs, which pretty much brought the two countries to the brink of a trade war”.
The People’s Daily said the talks “laid solid foundation for further talks on trade and economic cooperation, and for ultimately achieving benefits (to both countries) and win-win results”.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency described the talks as “constructive, candid and efficient” but with disagreements that remain “relatively big”.
People familiar with the talks said on Friday the Trump administration had drawn a hard line, demanding a $200 billion cut in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, sharply lower tariffs and advanced technology subsidies.
The lengthy list of demands was presented to Beijing before the start of talks on Thursday and Friday to try to avert a damaging trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
A White House statement issued on Friday said the U.S. delegation, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, “held frank discussions with Chinese officials on rebalancing the United States–China bilateral economic relationship, improving China’s protection of intellectual property, and identifying policies that unfairly enforce technology transfers”.
The statement gave no indication that Trump would back off on his threat to impose tariffs.
The delegation was returning to Washington to brief Trump and “seek his decision on next steps”, the White House said, adding that the administration had “consensus” for “immediate attention” to change the U.S-China trade and investment relationship. Trump said he would meet the delegation on Saturday. “We will be meeting tomorrow to determine the results, but it is hard for China in that they have become very spoiled with U.S. trade wins!” he said in a Twitter post late on Friday. (Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu and Pei Li; Editing by Nick Macfie)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-trade-china/china-state-media-strikes-positive-note-after-trade-talks-with-u-s-idUSL3N1SC037 |
In the face of recent decisions taken by President Donald Trump , Europe needs to strengthen its position as a global player, the president of the European Commission said Friday.
Trump decided earlier this week to pull the United States out of an international nuclear accord with Iran. The U.K., Germany and France, who are also part of the agreement, criticized Trump's decision, saying that the deal had been working. Such countries, alongside the European institutions, are now battling to keep the agreement in place, even without the U.S .
"We need more Europe. After all we have seen in the past few days, the world needs to see a strong Europe," Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, said at a conference in Florence, Italy, on Friday.
The leaders of Germany and France made a similar point during an event Thursday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Europe can no longer rely on the United States for protection.
show chapters Former UK diplomat: US withdrawal from Iran deal 'deeply disturbing' 5:33 AM ET Wed, 9 May 2018 | 03:36 "It is no longer such that the United States simply protects us, but Europe must take its destiny in its own hands, that's the task of the future," Merkel said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, went a step further and argued that Europe cannot accept Trump's decision, but follow its own values.
"If we accept that other major powers, including allies ... put themselves in a situation to decide our diplomacy, security for us, and sometimes even make us run the worst risks, then we are not more sovereign and we cannot be more credible to public opinion," Macron said at an event in Germany, Thursday.
In order to make Europe a leader on the global stage, Juncker argued that the 28 EU member states should make further commercial agreements, following on the recent trade deals with Canada and Japan, ensuring export and employment growth.
Juncker also said that there needs to be a new approach to foreign policy, a "problematic" issue in the region. Given the lack of unanimity between the different countries, Juncker argued that foreign policy decisions should be taken by a majority vote, not consensus. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/11/after-trumps-iran-move-the-eus-chief-says-its-now-time-for-europe-to-shine.html |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Friday that the United States was prepared to continue working with Canada and Mexico on negotiations to revise NAFTA agreement.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer walks towards reporters ahead of a meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts to discuss talks on modernizing the NAFTA trade deal, in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 11, 2018. REUTERS/David Ljunggren “The United States is ready to continue working with Mexico and Canada to achieve needed breakthroughs on these objectives. Our teams will continue to be fully engaged,” Lighthizer said in a statement after a week of talks in Washington failed to reach a deal.
Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-trade-nafta-usa-lighthizer/ustr-lighthizer-says-ready-to-continue-working-toward-nafta-deal-idUSKBN1IC2IH |
RIYADH, May 10 (Reuters) - Bahrain’s government has launched an energy fund that aims to raise $1 billion from local, regional and international investors to develop the kingdom’s energy assets, Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said on Thursday.
The Bahrain Energy Fund will receive its initial capital from local entities including Nogaholding, the investment arm of Bahrain’s National Oil and Gas Authority, as well as from investment banks Osool and SICO, according to the minister’s statement.
It will invest in a range of energy projects across the downstream, mid-stream and upstream sectors, including developments in a newly discovered oil and gas resource.
In April, Bahrain said it had discovered extensive tight oil and deep gas resources off the west coast of the kingdom, estimated to contain some 80 billion barrels of tight oil resources, a form of light crude oil held in shale deep below the earth’s surface.
Bahrain, which has sub-investment grade ratings from all three major credit rating agencies, earned $4.3 billion in oil and gas revenue last year and ran a budget deficit of $2.7 billion.
The small non-OPEC Gulf oil producer, with around 124.6 million barrels of proven reserves, gets it oil revenues from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared jointly with Saudi Arabia. (Reporting by Marwa Rashad Editing by Hugh Lawson)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/bahrain-energy-fund/bahrain-launches-1-bln-energy-fund-idUSL8N1SH6AH |
US reportedly lays down a list of trade demands to China Trade representatives from the U.S. and China entered a second day of trade discussions on Friday. The world's two largest economies sought to find a way to stave off global concerns of a full-blown trade war. In a tweet posted Friday, Lingling Wei, a China economics correspondent at the Wall Street Journal, said the U.S asked China to reduce its trade surplus by $200 billion by year-end 2020. CNBC.com Jason Lee | Reuters U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, a member of the U.S. trade delegation to China, waves to the media as he returns to a hotel in Beijing, China May 3, 2018.
The U.S. stands ready to impose further trade tariffs on Chinese products if Beijing walks away from agreed-upon commitments, according to a reporter at the Wall Street Journal.
Trade representatives from the U.S. and China entered a second day of trade discussions on Friday, as the world's two largest economies sought to find a way to stave off global concerns of a full-blown trade war.
The discussions, led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, are expected to cover a wide range of U.S. complaints about alleged unfair trade practices in Beijing. A major breakthrough deal to fundamentally change China's economic stance was widely viewed as highly unlikely. show chapters 8:33 AM ET Thu, 3 May 2018 | 03:43 'Very good conversations'
In a tweet posted Friday, Lingling Wei, a China economics correspondent at the Wall Street Journal, said the U.S asked China to reduce its trade surplus by at least $200 billion by year-end 2020, citing a document issued to the Chinese before the talks. President Donald Trump has often called on China to reduce its bilateral trade deficit by $100 billion a year. The U.S. trade envoy also wanted China not to target U.S. farmers and agricultural products and sought assurances from the Asian giant that it would not retaliate over restrictions on investments from Beijing, Wei said. Tweet
The U.S. Commerce Department was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC on Friday.In response to the U.S. demands, China offered to lower duties on goods such as cars in an effort to resolve an escalating trade dispute with Washington, Reuters reported citing two sources with knowledge of the matter.China also reportedly asked the U.S. to treat investments from Beijing equally in its national security reviews and stop issuing new restrictions on investments.Ahead of Friday's talks, Mnuchin said U.S. trade officials were having " very good conversations " with their Chinese counterparts.
Shortly before Mnuchin's arrived in China on Thursday, Trump tweeted: "Our great financial team is in China trying to negotiate a level playing field on trade! I look forward to being with President Xi in the not too distant future. We will always have a good (great) relationship!"It was not immediately clear when Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will next meet, although both global players are set to attend some of the same multilateral events later this year — including the G-20 Summit and APEC. WATCH: This trade deal may be what Trump needs to take on China show chapters | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/04/us-reportedly-lays-down-a-list-of-trade-demands-to-china.html |
a minute ago BRIEF-Spherix Inc - On May 3, Board Approved An Increase In Size Of Board Reuters Staff 1 Min Read
May 9 (Reuters) - Spherix Inc:
* SPHERIX INC - ON MAY 3, 2018, BOARD APPROVED AN INCREASE IN SIZE OF BOARD FROM FOUR MEMBERS TO FIVE - SEC FILING Source: ( bit.ly/2I2JI8s ) | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-spherix-inc-on-may-3-board-approve/brief-spherix-inc-on-may-3-board-approved-an-increase-in-size-of-board-idUSFWN1SG1JB |
May 2 (Reuters) - VAKIF GAYRIMENKUL YATIRIM ORTAKLIGI :
* SAID ON MONDAY Q1 REVENUE 777,124 LIRA VS 815,889 LIRA YEAR AGO
* Q1 NET LOSS OF 1.4 MILLION LIRA VS PROFIT OF 2.4 MILLION LIRA YEAR AGO
Source text for Eikon:
Further company coverage: (Gdynia Newsroom)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N1S90TI |
May 10, 2018 / 1:08 PM / Updated 6 minutes ago BRIEF-Power Financial Reports First Quarter Financial Results Reuters Staff * POWER FINANCIAL REPORTS FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
* Q1 ADJUSTED EARNINGS PER SHARE C$0.82 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-power-financial-reports-first-quar/brief-power-financial-reports-first-quarter-financial-results-idUSASC0A1GN |
May 21 (Reuters) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp:
* ANADARKO NAMES MITCHELL W. INGRAM EVP, INTERNATIONAL, DEEPWATER & EXPLORATION Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-anadarko-names-mitchell-ingram-evp/brief-anadarko-names-mitchell-ingram-evp-international-deepwater-exploration-idUSASC0A346 |
May 8, 2018 / 5:35 PM / Updated 6 minutes ago Uber, U.S. Army ally to test quiet aircraft technology Joseph White 3 Min Read
DETROIT (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc said on Tuesday it would work with the U.S. Army to advance research on a novel, quiet aircraft rotor technology that could be used in future flying cars, or military aircraft. An artist's rendering of the Uber flying taxi concept in this handout image provided to Reuters May 7, 2018. Uber/Handout via REUTERS
The alliance highlights stepped-up efforts by Uber and other companies to transform flying cars from a science fiction concept to real hardware for residents of mega-cities where driving is a time-consuming bore.
Uber and the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering command said in a statement. They expect to spend $1 million (738,029 pounds) to develop and test prototypes for a rotor system that would be used on a vertical take-off and landing vehicle. Related Coverage Uber to provide data support for NASA's urban air mobility programme
The system would have two rotors stacked on top of each other, rotating in the same direction under the command of sophisticated software. This approach, which Uber and the Army said had not been deployed in a production aircraft, could lead to quieter operation than conventional stacked rotor systems. An artist's rendering of the Uber flying taxi concept in this handout image provided to Reuters May 7, 2018. Uber/Handout via REUTERS
“Achieving ultra-low noise is one of the critical obstacles” to deploying aerial taxis in urban areas, Rob McDonald, head of vehicle engineering for Uber Elevate, the company’s flying car operation, said in an interview.
The Army wants to develop a new generation of unmanned drones that do not need runways and are quieter than current drones, said Dr. Jaret Riddick, director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory’s Vehicle Technology Directorate.
The Army is increasingly turning to partnerships with private companies to research advanced technology, Riddick said in an interview.
Uber is planning more alliances with government agencies as it aims to launch prototype airborne taxis by 2020, Mark Moore, Uber’s director of engineering, aircraft systems and a former NASA researcher, said in an interview.
Uber already has a partnership with NASA, the U.S. government space agency, to develop software for managing large numbers of aircraft over cities, Moore said.
Uber is one of several companies, including aircraft makers Boeing Co ( BA.N ) and Airbus SE ( AIR.PA ) and a venture backed by Alphabet Inc co-founder Larry Page, that are investing in the concept of small, automated and electrified aircraft that could be used to ferry passengers or cargo across congested cities.
Uber said it would develop its low noise rotor system in collaboration with Launchpoint Technologies Inc, a Goleta, California, engineering company focused on electric and hybrid aircraft technologies.
Uber is holding a conference on flying vehicles this week in Los Angeles. Reporting by Joe White; Editing by Richard Chang | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-uber-army/uber-u-s-army-ally-to-test-quiet-aircraft-technology-idUKKBN1I92J6 |
May 3 (Reuters) - VBARE IBERIAN PROPERTIES SOCIMI SA :
* SAID ON WEDNESDAY SIGNS A DEPOSIT AGREEMENT WORTH 202,500 EUROS FOR A BUILDING IN MALAGA
* FORMALIZATION OF SALE WILL BE MADE BEFORE JUNE 30 AND PAYMENT OF THE REMAINDER OF PURCHASE PRICE (1.1 MILLION EUROS) WILL BE MADE WITH AVAILABLE CASH
Source text: bit.ly/2rgKe7G
(Gdynia Newsroom)
Our | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL8N1SA0YK |
May 2 (Reuters) - Austal Ltd:
* TO ACQUIRE 100% OF ELECTRAWATCH INC. FOR AN ALL CASH CONSIDERATION OF US$6.75 MILLION, WITH NO NET DEB
* ELECTRAWATCH IS EXPECTED TO HAVE A CY18 REVENUE OF US$2-3 MILLION
* ACQUISITION IS EXPECTED TO BE EARNINGS ACCRETIVE IN CY18 AND BEYOND Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-austal-to-acquire-electrawatch-inc/brief-austal-to-acquire-electrawatch-inc-idUSFWN1S80LU |
(Adds background, detail)
LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - Hedge fund firm Tangency Capital launched last week with $50 million in assets under management to bet on the reinsurance market ahead of the next hurricane season, one of its three founding members told Reuters on Wednesday.
Last year was the worst on record for insurance losses from natural disasters, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. But it also led to further capital-raising by funds in expectation of investor demand because of higher rates in the sector, particularly at renewal dates in June and July.
Tangency Capital, which has offices in London and Bermuda and will invest directly in non-life reinsurance risks, was founded by Dominik Hagedorn, Michael Jedraszak and Kai Morgenstern.
Investors have been attracted to funds that invest in catastrophe bonds and other insurance-linked securities as a way to gain exposure to the reinsurance market, which has higher returns than many asset classes. Catastrophe bonds, for example, pay a high coupon but default if a particular natural catastrophe occurs.
Despite capital-raising, only one insurance-linked hedge fund has launched so far in 2018, out of a market of 82 funds, according to data from industry tracker Preqin.
While funds in the sector have continued to extract cash from investors, they have also suffered losses.
The CATCo Reinsurance Opportunities Fund, managed by Market CATCo Investment Management, last week said it was increasing its loss reserves, highlighting greater losses in the Caribbean from Hurricane Irma. The announcement led to a 20 percent drop in its share price. (Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Carolyn Cohn Editing by Simon Jessop and David Goodman)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/hedgefunds-reinsurance/update-1-tangency-capital-launches-50-mln-reinsurance-hedge-fund-idUSL5N1SN3OO |
May 16, 2018 / 2:03 PM / Updated an hour ago Families of detained Venezuela officers demand their release Brian Ellsworth , Isaac Urrutia 4 Min Read
CARACAS/MARACAIBO (Reuters) - Family members of Venezuelan army officers arrested in March for alleged conspiracy are demanding their release and denouncing procedural irregularities amid what critics call a growing purge of the crisis-stricken country’s armed forces.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro on March 2 arrested nine mostly high-ranking officers during a wave of rumours of coup plotting by officers angry over the country’s economic collapse.
Family members of two of the imprisoned officers say the charges are based on circumstantial evidence, the case has violated due process, and the accused are innocent.
“We’re talking about a military professional who has had an impeccable career, who was in charge of a battalion, who was all of a sudden detained with no explanation,” said Leonela Difurt de Medina of her husband, Army Lieutenant Colonel Henry Medina.
“The process has been plagued with irregularities from the start.”
The Defense Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The nine are part of a group of some 60 military officers who are currently imprisoned, according to local rights group Penal Forum, a figure that includes former Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez, who was arrested in March.
Despite frequently denouncing foiled military uprisings, the Maduro government in this instance has made no official pronouncements about the incident.
Coup rumours have been frequent in Venezuela since late socialist leader Hugo Chavez was briefly ousted in a 2002 putsch led by opposition-linked military officers. Critics since then say the ruling Socialist Party has exaggerated coup threats as an excuse to throw adversaries in jail.
Maduro says the armed forces are broadly loyal to his government but that small groups of conspirators have sought to undermine his administration with the help of Washington.
Discontent among the armed forces has grown as hyperinflation eats away at salaries and food shortages leave soldiers and rank-and-file troops struggling to get by.
The indictment on charges of treason and conspiracy says the nine officers were holding meetings in Caracas to discuss an uprising, said Difurt de Medina. The alleged meetings took place at a time when her husband was on the other side of the country, she added.
The detentions include six lieutenant colonels and three lower-ranking officers, according to a lawyer representing the group. Last month they were transferred to different prisons around the country, including several notoriously violent jails.
Military counterintelligence agency DCGIM held the officers incommunicado for more than a week, in violation of regulations, she said. Most of them were later transferred to different prisons around the country.
Juan Carlos Peña, one of the detained officers, was held in handcuffs for the entire week, according to Leanys Ortega, his former wife and mother of his two children, who is also his lawyer. At the time, he was completing a military certification course.
DGCIM officials then falsified the arrest date in official records to make it appear as though they were presented to a judge within 48 hours as required by law, she said.
“Juan Carlos is not a commander, he did not have any troops or weapons under his command - what danger could he have posed?” said Ortega in an interview at her home in the western city of Maracaibo.
Reuters was unable to obtain comment from relatives of other detained officials. Reporting by Brian Ellsworth and Isaac Uruttia; editing by Jonathan Oatis | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-venezuela-military/families-of-detained-venezuela-officers-demand-their-release-idUKKCN1IH1W5 |
May 30 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
- Shari Redstone shot back at CBS Corp in court Tuesday, alleging that CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves gave the CBS board an "ultimatum" that he would resign unless directors voted to strip her family of voting control. on.wsj.com/2IW0TsP
- Martin Sorrell, the former chief executive of advertising giant WPP PLC, has agreed to take the helm at Derriston Capital, a listed shell company he plans to use to acquire marketing and advertising businesses. on.wsj.com/2kzKtYz
- Walt Disney Co's ABC canceled the sitcom "Roseanne" on Tuesday after its star Roseanne Barr sent a racist tweet about a top aide of former President Barack Obama. on.wsj.com/2kDmdVb
- The Trump administration sent a sudden, harsh message to its Chinese counterparts, saying the United States was moving forward with its threat to apply tariffs on Chinese imports and other actions to restrict Beijing from accessing sensitive U.S. technology. on.wsj.com/2kDl3ZP
- Train conductors and engineers went on strike at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd late Tuesday night, stranding large volumes of commodities and manufactured goods that are shipped across North America by the country's second-largest railroad. on.wsj.com/2kB0U6U
- Canada's Liberal government agreed to buy Kinder Morgan Inc's Trans Mountain pipeline for C$4.5 billion ($3.45 billion), a project the government says is vital for the country's economic future but was on the brink of collapse due to regional opposition. on.wsj.com/2IVyHX9
$1 = 1.3025 Canadian dollars Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/press-digest-wsj/press-digest-wall-street-journal-may-30-idUSL3N1T12CL |
Published: May 14, 2018 9:20 p.m. ET Share
Ted Eliopoulos made the surprise announcement Monday; was hired in 2007 to help navigate housing crisis Getty Images Departing investment chief Ted Eliopoulos, who never worked on Wall Street, cut a different image from the investing veterans who held his job in past decades. He grew up around plumbers, mechanics and pilots in a middle-class neighborhood in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco.
By Heather Gillers Dawn Lim
The investment chief of the nation’s largest public pension said Monday he would leave his post by the end of the year, the latest in a series of executive departures for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Ted Eliopoulos, 54, made the announcement at a public Calpers meeting Monday. The chief investment officer attributed the decision to “significant health considerations” for members of his family. His younger daughter, he said, had been accepted to a school in New York and “I want to make sure that we give her every bit of support as we can as she makes the transition back east.”
Other top Calpers officials have recently left or announced plans to depart, including longtime fixed-income chief Curtis Ishii. Calpers is responsible for benefits to 1.9 million active or retired police officers, firefighters and other public employees.
Read: Calpers board elects first female president, Priya Mathur
Eliopoulos led a retreat away from unconventional investments as the giant fund reduced return expectations, cut costs and tried to better protect the pension fund from the next economic downturn. His approach offered a contrast to forerunners who embraced a Wall Street-centered investment approach as a way of boosting returns. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/calpers-investment-chief-will-leave-in-2018/ |
Socialite Michelle-Marie Heinemann said she spent two decades creating an elaborate estate in Dutchess County, N.Y. Now she’s looking to sell her creation for $30 million.
In Wappingers Falls, Ms. Heinemann purchased a 6,000-square-foot house for $440,000 in 1998 and expanded it to more than 32,000 square feet. Now it includes nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, five half-bathrooms, two libraries, a basketball court, a three-story solarium and an art gallery. “It’s been like a little baby in a cradle,” she said. “It’s been loved,... | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-york-socialites-extravagant-estate-on-sale-for-30-million-1527171577 |
May 5, 2018 / 10:26 AM / Updated 7 hours ago UPDATE 2-Super Rugby summaries Reuters Staff 2 Min Read May 5 (OPTA) - summaries from the Super Rugby matches on Saturday Waratahs (14) 21 Tries: Fitzpatrick (24), Kepu (32), Hooper (70) Conversions: Foley (25,34,71) Blues (18) 24 Tries: Ioane (6), Manu (29) Conversions: Perofeta (7) Penalties: Perofeta (17,38,61,68) Yellow cards: Papali'i (23) Referee: Jaco Peyper Hurricanes (14) 28 Tries: Lam (7,44,53), Savea (24) Conversions: Barrett (8,26,46,55) Lions (7) 19 Tries: Groom (39), Schoeman (56), Mahuza (74) Conversions: Jantjies (40,75) Referee: Nic Berry Stormers (12:05) Bulls Ground: DHL Newlands Sharks (14:15) Highlanders Ground: Kings Park Stadium | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/rugbyunion-super-summaries/super-rugby-summaries-idUKMTZXEE5593FGQC |
CNBC International Afternoon Briefing: May 09, 2018 36 Mins Ago CNBC market reporters bring you the latest on the stock markets throughout the day as well as fast, accurate, and actionable business news. | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/09/cnbc-international-afternoon-briefing-may-09-2018.html |
Pyongyang’s envoy to hold talks in U.S. 1:37am EDT - 01:27
A senior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss an upcoming summit as U.S. diplomats travel to Singapore and the demilitarized zone, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again meeting between Trump and North Korea’s leader may go ahead next month. ▲ Hide Transcript ▶ View Transcript
A senior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss an upcoming summit as U.S. diplomats travel to Singapore and the demilitarized zone, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again meeting between Trump and North Korea’s leader may go ahead next month. Press CTRL+C (Windows), CMD+C (Mac), or long-press the URL below on your mobile device to copy the code https://reut.rs/2H2eyJ0 | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/video/2018/05/30/pyongyangs-envoy-to-hold-talks-in-us?videoId=431460312 |
VIENNA, May 24 (Reuters) - Austrian bank BAWAG Group said on Thursday its first-quarter pre-tax profit fell 4 percent due to front-loaded regulatory charges.
Profit before tax in the three months through March came in at 116 million euros ($136 million), the lender said.
Austria’s fourth-biggest bank, which is backed by U.S. financial investor Cerberus, still targets its full-year pre-tax profit to increase by more than 5 percent. ($1 = 0.8543 euros) (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.reuters.com/article/bawag-grp-results/bawag-q1-profit-falls-on-regulatory-charges-idUSV9N1R400W |
China is seeking a lead in editing plant genes, potentially shifting the epicenter of the emerging agricultural technology toward the East.
Syngenta AG, the seed and chemical giant now owned by state-owned China National Chemical Corp., is building up a Beijing hub for developing new gene-editing technologies like Crispr-Cas9, which enable new ways to alter DNA.
The... RELATED VIDEO Is Gene Editing the Future of Farming? A research team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is developing higher-yielding tomato plants with a gene-editing tool called Crispr-Cas9. Are these products different from traditional GMOs? Photo: Richard Beaven for The Wall Street Journal | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://www.wsj.com/articles/scientists-in-china-race-to-edit-crop-genes-sowing-unease-in-u-s-1525611601 |
May 28, 2018 / 12:57 PM / Updated 17 minutes ago Britain could sell 10 percent stake in RBS as soon as this week - Sky News Reuters Staff 2 Min Read
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could sell a 10 percent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland as soon as this week, Sky News reported on Monday, citing banking sources. FILE PHOTO: Royal Bank of Scotland signs are seen at a branch of the bank, in London, Britain December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo
The British government still holds a 71 percent stake in the bank after stepping in with a taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis.
Sky reported that bankers expected Britain to announce the disposal of a stake worth at least 3 billion pounds, but added that any share sale could be delayed by market conditions or ministers’ concerns about value for money for taxpayers.
At Friday’s closing share price of just under 290 pence, little more than half the 502 pence the government paid for them, the Treasury stands to lose billions of pounds on the sale.
The British government pumped 45.5 billion pounds into RBS in the depths of the financial crisis, and efforts since then to recoup the money have been stymied by the plunge in the bank’s share price, regulatory probes in the United States and Brexit.
In particular, a long-running investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the bank’s mis-selling of toxic mortgage-backed securities delayed the share sale.
But RBS agreed a smaller than expected $4.9 billion settlement earlier this month, paving the way for a long-awaited return of cash to UK taxpayers.
Britain said in November it would sell 15 billion pounds of RBS shares over five years, with 3 billion pounds to be sold by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
“We don’t comment on market speculation,” a spokesman for the finance ministry said. A spokesman for RBS declined to comment on the report
Both RBS and Lloyds were rescued during the 2007-9 financial crisis. Britain sold its remaining stake in Lloyds last year. Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Jane Merriman and Adrian Croft | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-rbs-stake/britain-could-sell-3-billion-pound-stake-in-rbs-as-soon-as-this-week-sky-news-idUKKCN1IT188 |
(Reuters) - A bus and around 25 other vehicles were involved in a road traffic incident in southeast England on Tuesday, lightly injuring 14 people, emergency services said.
People gather at the site of a crash involving a bus and around 25 other vehicles in Dartford, Kent, England, May 29, 2018, in this still iamge taken from a video obtained from social media. MANDATORY CREDIT. Robert Walters/via REUTERS After the incident in Dartford, Kent, one man was arrested on suspicion of careless driving, Kent Police said.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Robin Pomeroy
| ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://in.reuters.com/article/britain-crash/fourteen-people-injured-in-multiple-vehicle-collision-in-england-idINKCN1IU2R0 |
May 25, 2018 / 12:04 PM / 更新于 an hour ago 投行观点：Western Alliance Bancorp目标价从67美元上调至71--Jefferies | ashraq/financial-news-articles | https://cn.reuters.com/article/%E6%8A%95%E8%A1%8C%E8%A7%82%E7%82%B9%EF%BC%9AWestern-Alliance-Bancorp%E7%9B%AE%E6%A0%87%E4%BB%B7%E4%BB%8E67%E7%BE%8E%E5%85%83%E4%B8%8A%E8%B0%83%E8%87%B3-idCNL3S1SW46B |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.