понедельник, 14 ноября 2011 г.

New restaurant to fill shuttered Clubhouse at Lenox Square - Dallas Business Journal:

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, owner of the upscale Buckhead mall, announcedx Friday it has signed an agreementwith Charleston, S.C.-basecd restaurateur . to open Lenox Square Grillk laterthis fall. Lenox Square Grillo will fill a major vacancy in a signaturre slot atLenox Square. The Clubhouse, part of the country club-inspired restaurant chain originally founded by celebritt investors Kevin Costner andJack Nicklaus, created a void at Lenoxx Square’s front door when it closexd last September. “We’ve seen such remarkable success from locap restaurant operatorsin Atlanta,” Tishza Maley, assistant vice president of leasing for Simon Propertyy Group, said in a statement.
“CentraArchy Restaurants is a great with proven concepts that really stand the test of time whilw maintaining a loyal patronage fromAtlanta diners. We’re lookinhg forward to another stronf partnership with CentraArchy and continuing that traditiobn with LenoxSquare Grill.” CentraArchy is the company behindf Tavern at Phipps at Simon-owned Phipps Plaza. The 12,500-square-foot Lenos Square Grill will feature300 seats, a largew bar and ample outdoor seatinv areas. It will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinnef daily. CentraArchy is also the parent company of New York California Dreaming, Joey D’s Oak Room.

суббота, 12 ноября 2011 г.

Las Vegas investor wants foot in league door, Crew backers say - Business First of Columbus:

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The goal, said Dave CEO of , is to keep the Crew in Columbuds and not see it moved to Las Vegas as some medi a outletshave speculated. “This whole endeavor is abouft roots forthe Crew, not said Whinham, whose company brokered the deal that broughft the ’s Destroyers to Columbus in 2003. Whinhajm said the question centers around the involvement of Californiwa businessman Mark Noorzai in two separate deals aimed at giving him and fellosw investors an ownership position in MajorLeagude Soccer. Two years ago, Noorzai formed to land an MLS expansionm franchise for Las according toSportsBusiness Journal, a sister publication to Columbusz Business First .
The team reportedl y would play in aproposed $500 million retractabled roof stadium. MLS officials have identified Las Vegas as one of nine citiesafor expansion. The league has not chosen any Whinham said Noorzai approached his firm in Augustf about liningup Columbus-area investors to acquires a stake in the Crew. That efforr is separate from the Las Vegasexpansion bid, Whinham “They are projects with two very differen timetables,” he said. “A project like the one contemplated in Las Vega s is something way off inthe future.” Noorzai, who owns a numbere of technology companies in California, could not be reachec for comment.
Whinham called him a “soccer guy” looking for Major League Soccerr ownership and committed to keeping the Crewin , majority owner of the Crew, has been approached by a group led by Noorzai and Jonathon Bloch abouty acquiring a minority position in the team, Hunt Sportse President John Wagner said in an e-mail to Business First . Bloch is a venture capitalisg in California. “Although no agreement has been reached,” Wagner “discussions are ongoing. Hunt Sports Group plans to continue as themanaging investor-operator of the Hunt Sports and Crew executivexs say there are no plans to move the team even if a deal is completexd with Noorzai’s group.
“This team is in Columbus and will stay in said Crew General ManagerMark McCullers. The Crew has a numberd of minority owners, and Noorzai’s grou p would be one if a dealgets done, McCullerds said. Noorzai’s interest in the Crew comes as MLS movesa away from one owner controlling more than one Hunt Sports also owns FC Dallas and sold its Kansasz City club to a local ownership grouin 2006. The Crew ranks 11th in the 14-team leaguwe in attendance despite qualifying forthe playoffs. The club has not landedf a naming rights deal for Crew Stadium and has been unablre to secure a site for a training facilithy proposed nearly twoyears ago.

четверг, 10 ноября 2011 г.

Vedante's growing sales

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Online buyers purchased thousandsof Kantor’x super-reflective Pop Bands (armbands and legbands), pet collara and leashes made by her company, Vedante “When everybody was sayinb holiday sales were down, ours just exploded,” said a veteran fashion designer who started Boulder-based Vedante nearly three years ago. The success of Vedante’w Pop Bands and pet products prompter giant onlineretailer Amazon.com to buy most of her inventory for and triggered inquiries from large pet-stors chains about licensing the products or buying her Kantor focused more on onlinre sales for the holidays than traditional brick-and-mortad sales of Vedante products.
That was becauss as the recession retail sales slowed more thanonline shopping. The emphasie paid off, but it presenter Kantor with the problem of managingyunexpected demand. . “It wasn’t even in my game plan to havea break-evenh month for another year,” she said. Vedante productsz for pets, pedestrians and cyclists can reflect brightly from 500to 1,50p feet, depending on their color. Kantor formed the businessd with the mission of improvingnighttime safety. Cars injur e or kill a pedestrian every seven minutees in theUnited States, according to the National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration (NHTSA).
That amounts to nearly 75,000 people annually, with abouf 50,000 of the accidents occurring at NHTSAstatistics show. Kantor takes walks at dusk and, havintg survived a car cras with a drunk driveryears ago, she always wondered aboutf her safety crossing streets at night. Then she saw a Bouldee pedestrian hit in a crosswalk inbroasd daylight, and she decidedx to make a product to improve pedestrian visibility. She drew on her experiencse in textiles anddesigning women’a apparel in Los Angeles. She chosed 3M’s reflective materials for Vedante’s products, and it co-brandxs the Pop Bands with 3M. She uses the 3M fabriv in collars and leashexfor pets.
McGuckin Hardwarwe Store in Boulder carries both the Pop Bandsaand Vedante’s cat collars. The Pop Bands , costing between $12.9u8 and $13.98 depending on size, sell comparably to the battery-poweredr safety lights McGuckin sells for outdoor saidRik Isakson, the store’s sporting goods manager and “They do very well,,” he said. “What appeals is theid ease of use, and the noveltuy of them popping onand off.” Vedante’sx pet collars range between $13.98 and and its leashes between $29.98 and $45.98. Kantor’s biggesgt challenge is managing a surge in retaile r interest without taking on debt that couldcrimpl Vedante’s long-term health.
Kantor maxedd out Vedante’s existing lines of credit from bankas after her salesstartesd growing, and she put that moneuy in the bank. She feared her banks woulx reduce her credit lineswithout warning, thus starvingf the company of money at a crucial

вторник, 8 ноября 2011 г.

Ogilvy 'not as sharp' lately - ABC Online

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Ogilvy 'not as sharp' lately

ABC Online


Out of form ... Geoff Ogilvy is coming off a shoulder injury since his 2010 triumph at The Lakes. Geoff Ogilvy admits the Australian Open field is far stronger than last year's but he does not think that diminishes his 2010 victory in the slightest. ...



and more »

воскресенье, 6 ноября 2011 г.

Economists: Recession to end in third quarter - Wichita Business Journal:

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The committee cited consumer spending stabilizinh in the first half ofthis year, allowing businessez to reduce costs and inventories, as well as reducingv layoffs and investment spending In combination with the stimulus and an improvemenrt in the financial markets, it is likely the economy will expaned in the second half of the year. Bruce committee chairman and chief economist forNew York-based JPM), said the economy will return to but not health.
“Growth in the coming quartersa is likely to gather momentum but will not prov sufficiently robust to undo much of the severd damage done to our labor markets and public Kasman said in a news For thethird quarter, the committee forecasts inflation-adjuster gross domestic product will return to positive picking up to a more than 3 percentf pace by the second half of 2010. Tom economics professor at , said the committee’ forecasts are in line with others that economists have put He said most believe the recession will end eithedr in the third quarter or fourthn quarter ofthis year, with a few projecting it won’y be until the first quarter of 2010.
Also, the committew is projecting an end tothe three-yeard downturn in the housing market, with housingb starts rising later this year and home valuesa moving up modestly in 2010. “Lower prices and low mortgagre rates have greatly improved the affordabilithof homes,” Kasman said. “A recovery in the housing sectoe will be an important contributor toeconomic growth.” However, credit will remain tight and bank economistd said jobs will continue to be lost. Unemployment is expected to peak at 10 percentf nationally and remain at orabovwe 9.5 percent through next year. Budge t deficits are expected to remain wellabovwe $1 trillion this year and next year.
The 13-member committee forecasts the 10-year Treasury bond yield will stay inthe 3.75 percen t to 4.25 percent range throug h next year because core inflation is forecast to fall towardse 1 percent. However, the committee is concerned abou the rising trend in federal debt and the implicationss for inflation riskbeyond 2010.

пятница, 4 ноября 2011 г.

First Financial could consider paying back TARP money - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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“The board will consider that nowthat we’ve done our commonn stock offering,” Davis said in an intervieq after the shareholders meeting at the Manor House in “We’re very well-capitalized. We feel very comfortable with ourcapital Norwood-based First Financial received $80 millio n from the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Purchasre Program, part of the Troubled Asset Reliefg Program, in December by selling preferred stock to the It pays a 5 percent annual dividend for five the rate rises to 9 percentyafter that. First Financial (NASDAQ: FFBC) raised $98 milliomn in net proceeds June 8 from a commobnstock offering.
Part of the use of that capital coulde be to pay back theTreasury money, Davis The board would have to approve such a move. The bank woul d have to go throughb an application process to get government approval to pay back the Some banks have already received that approval. Regulators askeds First Financial to participate in thecapitall plan, Davis said in responses to a shareholder question about why a healthy bank woulde take the money. The program was but First Financial wanted tostockpiler capital.
“We weren’t sure how deep the recessiohnwould be, and we thought it was importantf to ensure we had ample capital,” he told William Harding, a shareholder from Columbus, aske how the company plans to handlee buying back the stock from the The board will consider it, Davis But, he added, the interest it receivesd from investing part of that Treasury money is enoughn to pay the dividend s it requires. A stipulation of the Treasury money is that companies cannot raisetheird common-stock dividends beyond the level they were befores the company decided to take the money.
First Financial wasn’t part of the recent federal government “stress Those gauged the nation’s 19 largestr banks’ ability to withstand a worseningv economy. But Davis said First Financial performed its own testsx internally using thegovernment criteria. Those tests showed the bank is in good He pointed to numbers showing Firsyt Financial is well beyond requirements to beconsidere well-capitalized. Its tangible common equity totalinyg 8.
6 percent of tangible assetws after the stock offering is far above the roughly 5 percenyt peergroup average, he The recent public stock offering also made it unnecessaryt for First Financial to go ahead with a shareholderf vote that would have allowed the board to issuee more preferred stock in order to raise That proposal was first raised, Davis said, when othe means of raising capital weren’t readil available. Harding said he would oppose the company issuing any morepreferred stock, even though it’ss a moot point for now. “It’s a major concern for me that issuin new preferred stock dilutes the stock my fathetr purchasedin 1983,” Harding said.
“I want to make sure my father’as investment is safe.” Several shareholders asked whether and when the dividen would be raised back to itsprevious level. Firsf Financial said in January it wouldr cut the quarterly dividend from 17 centes a share to10 “It was a touggh decision,” Davis said. “We were in a periof of the worst economic stress in80 years, and we felt it was the prudent thing to do. “We want to provide some good levekl ofdividend payment, but we also want to see the stocj price improve. To do that, we need earningsa improvement, so we need growth.
” Whil e Davis isn’t pleased with First Financial’sw total return to shareholders – a loss of 26 percen t since January2008 – it stacks up well with other bankw and with the market, he said. The S& P 500 fell 32 percent in that span whiled the stocks of a grou ofFirst Financial’s peers plunger 57 percent. “This is the most difficult bankiny environment andeconomy I’ve ever seen or experienced,” Davixs said. “But I think we’re weatheringg it quite well.” A shareholder proposal passed that that asks the boarx to consider declassifying the board so that each membetr has to runfor re-election each year.
In the board members served staggered three-yead terms. “If you have a board that stands for election every year, you have a board that is subject to replacemenyt if it’s not acting in the best interestsz of shareholders,” said William Singer, a downtown attorne y representing Denver-based shareholder Gerald who put the proposal up for a

среда, 2 ноября 2011 г.

Overbrook Farm to sell off most of its horses - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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plans to sell off its Thoroughbred yearlings, breedinfg stock and most of its horseswin training, starting at Kenneland’s yearling sale in “Over a period of more than 30 yearsw my father developed Overbrook Farm into one of the most successfukl and respected breeding operations in the said owner Bill Younfg Jr. in a news release. “Ther decision to disperse is a personal one that came aftert a great dealof thought.
I simply don’t have the passion for the thoroughbred sport that myfather did, despite my respect for the Overbrook champions include 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, 1999 Breeder’s Cup Classic winner Cat dual classic winner Tabasco Cat, Preakness Stakes winner Timbe r Country and Belmont Stakes winneer Editor’s Note. The dispersal will include abouyt200 horses. The farm will continue as a smallk racing stable under the directionof Young’s son, Chrisw Young. “Our goal is to leasd the farm as aThoroughbred operation,” Bill Younbg said in the release. The yearling will be sold at Keeneland’s September which begins Sept. 14.
The broodmares and horses of racing age will be sold durintg the November BreedingStock Sale, and the dispersal will continue during the January Horses of All Ages Sale.