| Mostyn hopeful of investment
CHERRIES chairman Jeff Mostyn last night moved to reassure fans after internet rumours suggested the ailing club may be about to fall into administration. In a statement on the club's official website, Mostyn revealed that the Cherries board could be about to seal an investment deal with a series of unknown parties, but admitted that administration was still an "option" for the club. Mostyn said: "In overall terms, a great deal of progress has been made at the club, but our ability to attract additional investors has, to date, proved to be extremely difficult - especially taking into account our league and cup results. "This has put immense financial pressure on (co-owner) Steve Sly and myself as we continue to fund the club and do our utmost to satisfy the club's financial commitments to its creditors.
Halloween II: Back from the dead
But for investors, trusts for the time being still offer the same old attributes of high income and potential for capital gains. That's why it's premature to write them off as an investment. They'll never again be the force they were prior to last Oct. 31, but some of them are still worth owning. As we know, there were some businesses that didn't belong as trusts and, if the federal government hadn't stepped in, then the marketplace would have fixed it, said Dirk Lever, chief income strategist at RBC Dominion Securities Inc. But there are a whole bunch of businesses that make great trusts. They've done a very good job of delivering returns. A good trust is one based on a growing business, like CML Healthcare Income Fund, which runs a chain of medical labs, or Energy Savings Income Fund, which has increased its monthly cash payouts a staggering 28 times.
Rolling Up the Online Newspaper Coverage
Ironically enough, it was in a data-based article about the future of the newspaper business, which has been turning shareholders into sob sisters for years now without more than vague promise for a reversal. If you can find a single hard fact to support the hope that they'll get out of their roiling cauldron, do let me know. But here's the data on the future of newspapers: Nielsen compiled numbers showing that newspapers saw 6% growth in online readers for 2007 vs. 2006. Alone, this is bad news. If newspaper companies like Gannett (GCI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and New York Times (NYT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) are going to replace enough of their exponentially more profitable print readers with the fly-by-night, cheap-o Internet ones -- well, they gotta' be growing their readership base by more than this or my name ain't Rupert T.
Sallie Mae Announces the Closing of Its Public Offerings of Common ...
RESTON, Va., Dec. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM) , commonly known as Sallie Mae, today announced that it has closed the public offerings of its common stock and mandatory convertible preferred stock, series C, resulting in total net proceeds of approximately $2.9 billion. The company sold 101,781,170 shares of its common stock at a price of $19.65 per share and 1,000,000 shares of its 7.25% mandatory convertible preferred stock, series C. Each share of mandatory convertible preferred stock, series C, has a $1,000 liquidation preference and is subject to mandatory conversion on December 15, 2010, into between 41.7188 and 50.8906 shares of the company's common stock, unless previously converted at the option of the holder. UBS Investment Bank and Citi acted as joint book-running managers for the offerings.
Multimedia Index
Each week, the panel will discuss hot topics in the world of sports and react to e-mail questions from readers and viewers. The columnists also will offer closing thoughts on an issue of their choice. Video by Melissa Tkach • • • Jan. 17, 2008 Video: PG 'NewsNOW,' 1/17/2008 .
ITT Educational confident in 2008 view
CARMEL, Ind. - Post-secondary education provider ITT Educational Services Inc. said Thursday it is "confident" it can achieve 2008 earnings per share of $4.50 to $4.60 despite the reduction in lender subsidies under federal student loan programs and tight credit markets which are pressuring students. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect full-year profit of $4.47 per share, on average. The company said it expects to continue to improve student retention, but believes future increases in the quarterly persistence rate will moderate from 2007 levels. "Recently, there has been a lot of speculation in the market with respect to the ability of our students to obtain the financing needed to pay their education costs," said Chief Executive Kevin Modany in a statement. "This speculation was caused by a recent reduction in lender subsidies under the federal student loan programs and the current credit crunch that arose from the subprime mortgage crisis." ITT said it has arranged for Bank of America, Chase Education Finance and Citibank, The Student Loan Corp.
Charles Rangel
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