plus 4, Midas signs 3-year extension of credit facility - CNBC |
- Midas signs 3-year extension of credit facility - CNBC
- Billions made in support-program overpayments: Ontario's AG - Vancouver Sun
- The Bump in the Road at Advance Auto Parts - MSN Money
- Windsor's Anne Jarvis: Neighbourhood reborn in the shadow of the ... - Windsor Star
- Reviews Summary for SteppIr BigIr Vertical - eHam.net
| Midas signs 3-year extension of credit facility - CNBC Posted: 07 Dec 2009 10:49 AM PST NEW YORK - Auto repair chain Midas Inc. said Monday it signed a three-year extension on a credit facility worth $125 million with a bank group led by JP Morgan Chase Bank. The company said the existing unsecured revolving facility was due to expire in 2010, but will now end in October 2013. None of the facility's covenants have materially changed, Midas said. At the end of the third quarter, the company's bank debt was $77.4 million, while total debt was $111.3 million, Midas said. Aside from JP Morgan, other banks in the lending group are PNC Bank, Bank of America, BB&T and Northern Trust. Shares of Midas fell 4 cents to $7.87 in afternoon trading. |
| Billions made in support-program overpayments: Ontario's AG - Vancouver Sun Posted: 07 Dec 2009 10:56 AM PST TORONTO — Ontario's Auditor General said Monday authorities over-paid recipients of provincial support programs more than $1.2 billion because of "weakness" in the eligibility verification process. Auditor General Jim McCarter detailed a host of examples of weak government oversight and loose spending controls in his report. "The government must do a better job of treating taxpayer money like it was their own," McCarter said Monday. "This must be first and foremost in the minds of both management and those on the front lines actually delivering services to the public." McCarter said his audit found a variety of issues with the way public money was spent including ministries overpaying for good and services and not ensuring those receiving government benefits were always entitled to them. The province overpaid more than $663 million to recipients under the Ontario Disability Support Program, up from $483 million in 2004, the report said. It was also "delinquent" in following up on tips the auditor found. In one case, the ministry ignored five complaints about one family that was later found to have received more than $100,000 in overpayments. The province has also made "minimal efforts" to recover $600 million in overpayments from 350,000 current and former Ontario Works recipients. He also said Ontario's bridges are not being properly inspected or repaired as needed. McCarter said 180 bridges — or seven per cent of provincially owned bridges — are in "critical need" of repair within the next year. Yet the province has no plans to make needed fixes to more than one-third of these bridges. The AG's report questioned the thoroughness of bridge inspections finding inspectors often conducted more than five bridge inspections during a day despite guidelines dictating a typical inspection should take at least two to three hours. In one case, an inspector evaluated 10 or more provincially owned bridges in one day on 36 occasions, the report found. The auditor also found the latest inspection results of provincially owned bridges showed an improvement in the overall condition rating of more than 300 bridges even though little or no rehabilitation work had been done on them since the last inspection. There are about 14,800 bridges in Ontario with the province owning 2,800 of them. Municipalities own the rest and are responsible for their maintenance. A survey of municipalities found 85 per cent had a backlog of rehabilitation work, McCarter found noting the province does not have the authority to inquire into the adequacy of municipal bridge inspection and maintenance processes. The audit found: - The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) has an unfunded liability — the difference between its assets and obligations — of $11.5 billion. If included in the province's financial statements, that figure would raise Ontario's reported accumulated deficit by more than 10 per cent. The WSIB does not appear on the province's books because it is classified as a trust under administration. - The province spent $347 million for health-related assistive devices such as scooters or home oxygen systems but is paying excessive prices because of inadequate oversight. For example, home oxygen concentrators last five to seven years and cost between $400-$1,000 to buy yet the province paid vendors $389 a month per client or $23,000 per unit over a five year period. - The Ministry of Consumer Services is not doing enough to help Ontarians with consumer problems. Last year, the province did not make a single proactive visit to business named in the top 10 complaints list including collection agencies, health and fitness clubs and auto repair shops. - Ontario collects more than $500 million a year in user fees that could be judged to be unlawful by a court because the government hasn't passed the necessary legislation. The province is also charging a "convenience" surcharge to use kiosks for driver and car registration despite provincial guidelines that require ministries to offer discounts for services provided over the Internet to encourage increased use. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Bump in the Road at Advance Auto Parts - MSN Money Posted: 07 Dec 2009 11:03 AM PST Article tools
Scott Reeves Automotive parts retailers have been hitting on all cylinders during the recession as new-car sales lag and many owners buy replacement parts to get more miles out of their faithful clunker.Overall, the aftermarket auto-parts industry grew in 2009, and the long-term outlook remains strong because national retailers grab only about 20% of the highly fragmented market. But Advance Auto Parts (AAP), operator of about 3,400 stores in 39 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, has hit a bump in the road. FBR Capital Markets on Monday downgraded the company's stock to "underperform" from "market perform" on lower earnings outlook. Analysts Stephen Chick and Anne E. McCormick say they expect the company to earn $0.44 a share in the fourth quarter, or $0.02 below the consensus estimate. For 2010, the analysts expect the company to earn $2.97 a share. The consensus estimate is $3.27. The stock closed Friday at $40.92 a share. FBR Capital Markets set a $36 price target. In mid-day trading Monday, Advance Auto Shares changed hands at $40.76 each, down $0.16, or 0.39%. CEO Darren Jackson, who took over the company in January 2008, has spent heavily to boost commercial sales, but FBR Capital Markets says the initiatives probably won't meet the company's stated goal. "We debate the payoff and linearity of management's investments," Chick and McCormick say in a research note. Advance Auto Parts has added about 2,330 employees to handle commercial sales, a 50% increase in 2009, but commercial sales still lag behind the competition and are unlikely to achieve the goal of $20,000 a week per store. The analysts estimate commercial sales now total about half the company's goal and trail O'Reilly Automotive's (ORLY) commercial sales of about $11,900 per week per store and Genuine Parts Company's (GPC) commercial sales of $10,800 per week at each store. AutoZone (AZO), the retail leader, generates an estimated $6,300 per week in commercial sales for each store. The analysts expect Advance Auto's same-store sales to decline 1.1% next year. Last month, Advance Auto said sales at stores opened at least a year increased 4.7% in the company's third quarter. But David Schick, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, looked for a 5.6% increase in sales, especially in view of the company's efforts to increase commercial sales. Analysts say Advance Auto Parts could easily boost sales per square foot, a basic measure of retail efficiency, but didn't show significant improvement. Worse, many analysts expect sales of replacement parts to the do-it-yourself market to slow if the economy rebounds and new-car sales recover. Morningstar says AutoZone is the most efficient retailer, averaging sales of $239 per square foot compared with $211 for Advance Auto and $201 for O'Reilly Automotive. Retail sales provide the bulk of revenue in the sector, but the companies have moved into the commercial market and sell to repair shops and garages. Genuine Parts Company, majority owner of the National Auto Parts Association (better known as NAPA) has long supplied parts to auto-repair shops. Size matters in the retail auto-parts business: AutoZone is the sector leader with about 4,200 stores in the US, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. O'Reilly Automotive operates about 3,415 stores in the US. Companies such as Pep Boys (PBY) -- with about 560 stores in 35 states -- likely will face increasing difficulty in competing with their larger rivals. ©2008 Minyanville Publishing and Multimedia, LLC. All Rights Reserved. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Windsor's Anne Jarvis: Neighbourhood reborn in the shadow of the ... - Windsor Star Posted: 07 Dec 2009 10:06 AM PST When Canadians drive off the Ambassador Bridge into the U.S. and turn east into the neighbourhood called Hubbard-Richard in Southwest Detroit, they're genuinely shocked. "What's this?" they want to know. This isn't what they think of when they think of Detroit. Indeed, this oasis is hard to fathom. The bold rebuilding of hijacked Hubbard-Richard, in the shadow of the giant and insatiable bridge, has been stunning. "It was quite wonderful," said Father Leo Reilly, assistant pastor of historic Ste. Anne Church, the rock of the community. The parishioner who led the revitalization called it a miracle. "It has become a neighbourhood again in the true sense of the word, where people care about each other, look out for each other, talk to each other," said resident Jim Garrison. "It's a nice place." What can Windsor do about the bridge's blight on the city's west side? This is what Windsor can do. A little over 10 years ago, Hubbard-Richard was a wasteland of decrepit buildings, overgrown vacant lots and barbed wire fences. Whole blocks were lost. There were drugs and crime. If you drove on nearby Vernor Avenue, you took your life in your hands. The deterioration started in the 1970s and '80s. Then, say residents and activists, the bridge came, and the devastation began again. It did there what it's doing here, now. It wanted land. It bought people out. Others fled. Those who remained began to let their homes go. Said Vito Valdez, who grew up there: "It was bleak." Now, 93 houses have been built or renovated. The Star's Dave Battagello took me on a tour last week. There are small storey-and-a-half houses with big dormer windows and porches and tall, narrow two-storey homes with high ceilings. They have pastel siding, some green, some yellow, some blue or beige, with white trim and big windows. Many are subsidized. There is a handsome red and beige brick 65-unit apartment building for seniors. It has a courtyard with a garden and a pavilion. Many of the residents walk to Ste. Anne. There are 64 smart red brick townhouses for single professionals who work downtown. We peered inside a window (from the street). They're beautiful inside, with wooden staircases, art on the walls. Parked outside one was a Mercedes. There are garages at the back. The yards are neatly landscaped. There are sidewalks, stylish streetlights and a small park with a garden, new trees and a modest but elegant sign announcing Ste. Anne's Gate. It's like the suburbs. All within blocks of the bridge. Most of what has been built is occupied. There were no For Sale signs. A charter school has opened for at-risk kids, drawing students from across the city. The neighbourhood grocery store, The Honey Bee Market, once the size of a corner store, expanded three years ago, quadrupling in size. It's another attractive red brick and stone building with large, ornate lamps, decorated for the season with green garland and red bows. It's one of the best grocery stores in Southwest Detroit. Vernor west of the bridge, where many in Hubbard-Richard work and shop, is thriving now. There are popular chain stores, restaurants, hair salons, dentists, financial consultants, auto repair shops, bakeries, banks and pharmacies. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Reviews Summary for SteppIr BigIr Vertical - eHam.net Posted: 07 Dec 2009 08:40 AM PST I have had my BigIR installed for two years now. I purchase it slightly used from a local ham. It is the early model 1 version. I upgraded the controller to add the rig interface for my Icom 746Pro. My installation is roof mounted on a single story bungalow with asphalt shingles and a slight sloping roof. The base is approximately 6m (20 feet) above ground level. Our backyard is bordered on one side by a 3m (10ft) metal chain link fence.The yard is also small and installing a proper radial field would be impossible. The first summer I spent considerable time on the roof with the antenna analyzer cutting and trimming resonant elevated radials, 4 per band (40/20/17/10/6). The biggest headach was minimizing the interaction between radials. When it was done, it worked well, the XYL wasn't impressed with the apparent spider web of wires on the roof. (I did use a grey coloured insulation that matched the roof very well, but I guess her eyes are btter than mine) I should mentioned that the antenna was guyed at the reccommended location using 3 guys, spaced 120 degrees apart. VSWR was 1:1 on all bands and could be easily tuned as I qsy'ed across bands. The problems started in November when the first big storm of the year came through. Strong winds of 80-90 kmph had the telescoping section above the guys swaying badly. Finally it snapped at the junction between the 3 and 4th telecoping section. I ordered a replacemnt telescoping section and had the parts within 2 weeks. On a warm december day(-10C) i installed the new section and added a set of 4 guys at the joint between the top and second telescoping sections. The wind kept playing havoc with the radials. rattling against the roof and snapping several of them through the year. In the second summer, I replaced the radials with the butternut stub tuned radials. This was a cleaner installation and worked great for 40/20/15/10m. No change in performance at all noticed over the mess of other radials. I added radials for 17m and 6m. During the second winter, I started to notice a degradation in performance and the inability to get the VSWR below 1.6:1 on some bands. It turned out that the 1m )3feet) of snow and ice on the roof had encased the radials and detuned their resonant frequencies. When the warm weather arrived, all returned to normal. Just recently I noticed the top section leaning and upon inspection, I have found the fiberglass tube between the 4 and 5 section has splintered. It will have to be replaced ..again. I have found this antenna to be very high maintenance and relatively expensive to repair and maintain. Customer service has been excellent however. Performannce....well it is a vertical and works as well as a 1/4 wave vertical will work. On 40m it has been very good for me. On the higher bands, it works but my 130'doublet outperforms it consistently to Europe by 1-2 S units. For NA contacts, it depends on the time of day and propagation. Sometimes the wire wins, sometimes the vertical wins. Never a big difference. I do have to give the wire the edge in noise performance as it was consistently 2-3 S units quieter than the vertical. That would be my location and I suspect every vertical would be the same.
Bottom line, good antenna for a vertical, don't expect miracles, expensive, may require frequent maintenance in windy, harsh climates, No problems with the motors. No lossy coils or traps. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
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