Moderate Islamists claim win in Tunisias Arab Spring vote
(Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, raises his ink-stained finger after casting his vote at a polling station in Tunis October 23, 2011/Jamal Saidi)
news blog from Gwendolyn
RSSUPDATE 2-Einhorn loses his taste for Green Mountain Coffee
* Stock price falls 11 percentBy Svea Herbst-BaylissNEW YORK, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager David
Einhorn is betting that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
will lose its buzz, pushing the company’s share price down 11
percent on Monday.Green Mountain’s stock has performed well, but the
company’s prospects may not be as good as some people think,
Einhorn said at the 7th annual Value Investing Congress.Calling his presentation “GAAP-uccino,” Einhorn said that
using one of Green Mountain’s products which offer single serve
cups “is a very expensive way to drink coffee at home,” while
going through some 110 powerpoint slides.He called on the company to improve its disclosures, and
warned that the market for its products is smaller than people
who like the stock think.Einhorn’s stock picks are closely watched ever since he was
among the first to raise doubts about accounting practices at
now bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers.While Einhorn is worried about Green Mountain’s accounting
and shipping practices, the company has been a favorite with
hedge fund managers such as John Thaler of JAT Capital, in part
because of the rapid growth of its Keurig single-cup coffee
machines. Some people have referred to Green Mountain’s
single-cup brew as the iPod of the coffee industry.”Between the high cost of the machine and high cost of the
coffee, this is a luxury item,” said Einhorn, listing the
arguments on why the share price should be trading closer to
$3.50 — not roughly $9 where it is now.Einhorn said that capital spending is rising quickly but
the company is not detailing exactly where the money is going.He also said that an inquiry by regulators, launched a year
ago, into the company’s relationship with a fulfillment vendor
who helps sell the products to others, has not been closed.Green Mountain shares were down 11 percent at $82.07 on the
New York Stock Exchange.Greenlight Capital, which has about $8 billion under
management, is down a little more than 5 percent for the
year.
UPDATE 1-USA Technologies suspends CEO
* Names COO Stephen Herbert interim CEO* Says Jensen’s actions do not impact past financial resultsOct 12 (Reuters) - USA Technologies Inc said it
suspended Chief Executive George Jensen pending an investigation
into certain posts regarding the company that he made on an
Internet message board.On Oct. 5 the company, which provides point of sale
terminals used for retail transactions, appointed Chief
Operating Officer Stephen Herbert as interim CEO, USA
Technologies said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.Jensen, who has served as CEO for USA Technologies since
January 1992, will resign his positions as chairman, CEO and
board member in the near future, the company said.Jensen’s actions do not impact historical financial results
and audited financial statements of company, USA Technologies
said.USA Technologies shares closed at $1.42 on Wednesday on
Nasdaq.
UPDATE 1-Silvercrest says production from Mexico mine rises
For the quarter ended September, gold production from the
company’s Santa Elena mine, located at the Sonora Desert in
Mexico, rose 61 percent to 8,805 ounces in the third quarter
from 5,476 ounces in the last quarter.Silver production for the same period saw a rise of 43
percent to 106,636 ounces.The Vancouver-based company expects the mine to produce
about 400,000 ounces of silver and 26,000 ounce of gold in 2011.From 2013-2016, the Mexico-focussed company also expects
silver production to average about 921,000 ounces per year and
gold production is expected to average about 29,000 ounces per
year.Shares of the company closed at C$1.38 on Tuesday on the
Toronto Venture Exchange.
UPDATE 1-Bank Austria CFO sees limited read-across from Erste
* Erste warned of 2011 loss after writedowns* UniCredit shares erase losses, gain 1.2 percent
(Adds quotes and background)By Michael ShieldsVIENNA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - UniCredit unit Bank
Austria sees limited parallels with rival Erste Group Bank
, which warned on profit this week after taking big
writedowns in Hungary and Romania, its chief financial officer
said.Bank Austria, emerging Europe’s leading lender, continues to
look at goodwill on its balance sheet, especially for operations
in places like Ukraine and Kazakhstan, CFO Francesco Giordano
told Reuters on Wednesday on the sidelines on a financial
conference.”This is something we continue to evaluate. For the rest (of
countries in the region) I think this should be a specific topic
for them,” he said when asked about potential parallels to
Erste’s writedowns.Erste, the region’s second-biggest lender, said on Monday it
could lose up to 800 million euros ($1.1 billion) this year and
skip its annual dividend after big writedowns in Hungary and
Romania and taking hits on its sovereign debt holdings.”The Hungarian situation which was the other big topic is
something that we already disclosed quite recently what our
exposure is, which — by luck rather than anything else — is a
bit more moderate than others so we expect the impact to be
visible but very much under control,” Giordano said.Hungary is forcing banks to take losses on foreign-currency
loans to consumers who can now repay at below-market rates.
Erste faces a 500 million euro loss in Hungary this year and
plans to inject up to 600 million euros into its unit there.Erste cited a slower-than-expected economic recovery in
Romania for 700 million euros in writedowns in that country.”In Romania our presence is smaller and is very old…I
think in Romania in particular we have much less of a heavy
(presence),” Giordano said.UniCredit shares reversed losses after his comments and were
up 1.2 pecent by 1110 GMT.Austrian peer Raiffeisen Bank International also
plans to inject capital into its Hungarian unit as a result of
the controversial law, its CFO said last week.Raiffeisen said on Monday it still expected a 2011 profit
given scant goodwill in Hungary and low exposure to troubled
euro zone sovereign debt.But RBI needs to add around 100 million euros to provisions
due to the new Hungarian loan law and faces “an additional
significant provisioning need because of the difficult market
environment in Hungary”, it had said.Bank Austria is committed to central and eastern Europe but
would consider offers for businesses in markets it does not see
as essential, regional chief Gianni Franco Papa told a newspaper
in a separate interview.
($1 = 0.733 Euros)
That rich guy…
Americans seethe as banks hit them with new fees
“That I’m supposed to pay (Bank of America) money while they fire people so that they can make more money even though they are already richer that Croesus just offends me,” said Jim Brown, a federal government worker and Bank of America customer, referring to the wealthy king of Greek mythology.
The statement that Croesus was a wealthy king of Greek mythology is wrong.
Croesus was Roman and not mythological. He was a part of the First Triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey.
Please fact check…
Taylor
One might quibble about our description of Croesus, a real figure who became the subject of myths.
However, I think you’re confusing him with Triumvirate member Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was a different man altogether: GBU Editor
Top right: Croesus
Bottom right: Crassus
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