Tuesday, February 16, 2010

“Biden to visit Michigan today to discuss Recovery Act - Lansing State Journal” plus 3 more

“Biden to visit Michigan today to discuss Recovery Act - Lansing State Journal” plus 3 more

Biden to visit Michigan today to discuss Recovery Act - Lansing State Journal

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 07:30 AM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

SAGINAW — Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Saginaw today to discuss how Recovery Act investments have impacted Michigan.

The midday event also is to feature U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills. It will take place at Delta College.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Senate panel tosses bill to license bouncers - Wichita Falls Times Record News

Posted: 15 Feb 2010 11:09 PM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A Senate panel has effectively tossed out a bill that would have required bar bouncers to be licensed.

Sen. Mary Easley's bill died Monday in the Senate Business and Labor Committee when it failed to receive a motion for passage.

The Tulsa Democrat says she introduced the bill at the request of a constituent, a woman whose son was killed after an altercation with a bouncer at a Tulsa nightclub.

The measure would have required bouncers to have a security guard license or be a licensed police or peace officer.

Some members of the committee expressed concern about adding new license requirements for a profession that has been unlicensed for decades.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

NY Fed's Empire State index at highest since October - YAHOO!

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 06:33 AM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A regional U.S. manufacturing gauge published Monday hit its highest level since October, but also suggested a rebound in that sector might run out of momentum.

At the same time, U.S. capital flows data underscored analysts' worry that the economic recovery could be stymied by a steep rise in bond yields, making borrowing more expensive for homeowners and companies.

The data showed China sold U.S. Treasuries in December for the fifth straight month, analysts said, underscoring the risk that waning appetite for U.S. debt among major foreign holders could spark a selloff and send yields rising in future.

A gauge of manufacturing in New York state rose in February as inventories jumped, the New York Federal Reserve said in a report on Tuesday.

The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index rose to 24.91 in February, the highest level since October and up from 15.92 in January.

On the surface, the main index appeared to reinforce the impression that industrial companies are continuing to bounce back after the long recession which ended last year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a February figure of 18.

Despite a stronger-than-expected headline reading, however, some analysts said the details of the report were somewhat more bearish.

"A lot of the improvement was driven by a correction of inventories," said Anna Piretti, senior U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York. "It's a temporary factor. What worried me more was a sharp decline in new orders."

The inventories index rose sharply, to zero from negative 17.33, its highest reading in more than a year.

But the new orders index tumbled to 8.78 in February from 20.48 in the previous month -- a warning sign that activity could decelerate in future.

"This clearly indicates that some of the demand that we hoped would sustain the recovery in manufacturing is not there," Piretti said.

However, the report offered some signs of improvement in the job market at factories.

Employment indexes were positive for a second consecutive month, although at relatively low levels, the Fed said.

The expectations index for six months ahead slipped to 52.78 in February from 56.

Over the longer term, borrowing costs may determine how anemic the U.S. economic recovery will prove to be.

Overall, net capital inflows into the United States rose to $60.9 billion in December, from an inflow of $30.9 billion the prior month, but foreigners cut purchases of long-term securities, the Treasury said on Tuesday.

The data also showed that China has now been a net seller of some $45 billion of U.S. Treasuries over the last five months, wrote Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist with RBS Securities Inc., which he added was "a long enough period to hint strongly at a trend."

Much of China's selling has been in short-dated Treasury bills, but China has not indicated that instead it will buy longer maturity U.S. government notes and bonds. "That is the bad news for the U.S. dollar and the Treasury market," Ruskin wrote.

(Additional reporting by Emily Flitter and Steven C. Johnson)

(Reporting by John Parry and Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Geokinetics Goes Deeper Into Seismic Acquisition Business - Seekingalpha.com

Posted: 16 Feb 2010 05:43 AM PST

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

Geokinetics (GOK) has completed the acquisition of Petroleum Geo-Services' Onshore seismic data acquisition and multi-client data library business (PGS Onshore) for ~$210M. The offer is in the form of 2.15 million shares and $184 million cash. The cash comes from a $300 million debt offer and $37 million equity offer in Dec-09.

The gain is a $190 million addition to its pre-acquisition order book of $190 million as of Dec-09 end.

The combined numbers are as given below:

Source: Gridstone Research, Petroleum Geo-Services

While the PGS onshore business seems to have been more profitable in FY08, profitability and revenue stability appears to be better for Geokinetics in FY09.

The seismic business is likely to take its time to come-back as customers (Oil and gas producers) are currently more interested in getting the in-process projects to production stage and could drill based on older seismic data. Only once the cash flows start to get more comfortable (if oil and gas prices or volumes rise) and when existing development stage projects get into production, will getting fresh seismic data become a priority.

The Geokinetics' Management agrees that near-term prospects are not so bright as can be seen from the following statement by Mr. Richard F. Miles, President and Chief Executive Officer:

In the prevailing climate of general economic uncertainty, our customers are being cautious and are taking longer than normal to award projects. We have numerous bids still outstanding, especially in our high value OBC market, that were bid mid to late last year. However, bid activity is increasing and we remain optimistic that as customer confidence returns, we will see significant awards in the coming months. In January, we completed our large OBC project in Angola that we started in the fourth quarter of 2008 and are currently demobilizing that crew while awaiting follow-on work.

Order backlog for Geokinetics on a standalone basis dropped from $259 million to $190 million while that for PGS onshore remained stable($196 million at Sep-09 end).

With offshore and deepwater as the focus area for future drilling, it seems not so wise to have gone deeper into a cyclical business especially considering the additional debt burden of ~$180 and earnings dilution from ~6 million of fresh equity (4 million in December and 2.2 million for this deal on a base of 11 million shares).

A noteworthy point made by the management in the above quote - Equipment and crew getting off current assignments await fresh projects and represent a fixed cost that weighs on profitability.

Geokinetics' shareholders may need to be very patient for returns.

Disclosure: No exposures

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Posted by at

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)