Ralcorp Holdings will restate its full-year 2011 and first quarter 2012 earnings related to an impairment charge from the spin-off of its Post brand cereal business that was understated.
St. Louis-based Ralcorp said today that a previously disclosed $364.8 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the Post spin-off was understated by about $54 million that should have been reflected in its fourth quarter 2011 earnings report. The Post cereal business was spun off as a separate company effective Feb. 3.
Ralcorp said it is delaying the release of its second quarter 2012 earnings, which was set for May 8 payday loans in one hour. The company’s second quarter results will be released instead on May 15, and the company will hold a conference call on May 16 to discuss the results.
Ralcorp’s private label foods include cereal, pasta, crackers, cookies, frozen biscuits and other frozen bread products.
Apply today for no-hassle payday loans and cash advance no faxing. Get the money you need faster than the speed of sound. No credit checks. Fast Approval.
Time Warner Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings fell 11 percent, but adjusted income beat Wall Street’s expectations on the strengths of the company’s television and movie studio businesses.
Time Warner had net income of $583 million in the first three months of the year, compared with $653 million a year earlier. Both translated to 59 cents a share because the company now has fewer shares outstanding.
Excluding one-time factors, including charges related to a decision to shut down a TV network in India, Time Warner had adjusted income of 67 cents a share. That’s better than the 64 cents expected by analysts surveyed by FactSet. The New York-based company’s adjusted income a year ago was 58 cents.
Revenue grew 4 percent to $7 billion, ahead of expectations of $6.82 billion.
Time Warner’s cable TV networks, which include CNN, TBS, TNT and HBO, saw revenue grow 3 percent to $3.6 billion. The company benefited from strong ad rates, better timing of the March Madness basketball games and higher fees collected from U cheap credit report.S. cable and satellite TV distributors to carry the channels. That was offset partly by a decrease in content revenue; last year’s quarter got a boost from licensing HBO’s “Sex and the City” to other cable outlets in the U.S.
At the Warner Bros. movie studio, a stronger slate at the box office contributed to a 7 percent revenue increase to $2.8 billion. Big performers included “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” The division also benefited from higher licensing revenue of TV shows and the video-on-demand availability of a television series, but revenue from DVDs and other home entertainment sales fell.
Revenue at the Time Inc. magazine division fell 3 percent to $773 million. Advertising and subscription revenue both declined. Weak sales at newsstands worldwide were offset partly by higher sales of U.S. subscriptions.
Now you are not supposed to compromising with your needs just lack of few funds as payday loans are available to you.
The U.S. economy expanded less than forecast in the first quarter as a smaller contribution from inventories overshadowed the biggest gain in consumer spending in more than a year.
Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 2.2 percent annual rate after a 3 percent pace, Commerce Department figures showed yesterday in Washington. The median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 2.5 percent gain. Government spending fell for a sixth straight quarter.
Job creation and income gains propelled sales at car dealerships and retailers like Target Corp. (TGT), helping cushion the U.S. economy from weakness overseas. Further gains in consumer spending will depend on progress in reducing a jobless rate that has hovered above 8 percent since early 2009.
Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you can’t be robbed.
Identity thieves steal the personal information of about 2.4 million deceased Americans each year, according to a new report from fraud prevention firm ID Analytics. That amounts to a rate of more than 2,000 thefts per day.
Using these stolen identities, criminals typically apply for credit cards, cell phones and anything else requiring a credit check, the report found.
About 800,000 deceased Americans get their identities stolen intentionally, and another 1.6 million identities are stolen by chance — when an identity thief uses a Social Security number that happens to match that of a deceased individual, for example.
Debt after death: Banks chase down mourners
Lenders are typically the main victims when thieves use identities of deceased people to apply for credit products. But surviving family members should also be careful, said Stephen Coggeshall, chief technology officer at ID Analytics bad credit personal loan lenders.
"Surviving family members can also be the victims of this identity fraud as they are left to manage the estates of their deceased loved ones," he said. "It’s important for people to monitor their deceased family member’s identities for at least one year."
Social Security pays millions to dead people
To determine how many deceased people get their identities stolen each year, ID Analytics collected the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers on 100 million credit applications.
It then calculated how many of these applications used information that was associated with deceased individuals listed in the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File — a government database of deceased Americans.
Let your tax return be a lesson to you.
Next year at tax time, there may be no need to end up the way you did on taxes this year. Many people can improve the outcome with a little advance thought.
You might be able to put more money into your pocket from each paycheck during the year or ensure that you write a smaller check to the IRS, or no check at all, when you sign your tax return at this time next year.
For example, if you receive a big tax refund this year, you probably sent too much each payday to Uncle Sam. You can fix that and have more spending money during the year. Simply go to your benefits office now and change the withholding form.
See the effect on take-home pay by completing the questionnaire at http://www.tinyurl.com/irsquestionaire.
Or if you missed a great tax credit on your tax return this year because your income was too high, you might be able to adjust so you get credits worth thousands on your 2012 tax return. For example, if you are raising a child, there’s a credit worth $1,000. If you are going to college or sending a child to college, there’s another, up to $2,500. If you want to capture the credits for 2012, look for ways to cut your taxable income.
Accountants have many ideas, such as deciding what year a person should receive a big bonus or adjusting what a small-business owner takes out of a business each year. But individuals have a lot of control, even if they simply rely on a basic paycheck. The easiest way to slice income for tax purposes is to contribute more of it to a 401(k)-type retirement plan at work or an IRA outside of work. If you set this up so a little money comes automatically out of each paycheck, it can feel painless.
Anything you save will reduce the income that gets taxed, and the tax reductions help you save more without digging deep into your pocket. Say, for example, you are in the 25 percent tax bracket and contribute $100 a pay period to your 401(k). You won’t really be taking $100 out of your pocket, because the deduction you get on your taxes means your take-home pay goes down just $75.
To see the impact, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/takehomepaycalculator.
Still, cutting income to take advantage of favorite tax credits could end up being futile after the 2012 tax year. Many of the best credits families enjoy, such as the child tax credit or college credit, may be reduced after this year if Congress doesn’t extend the so-called Bush tax credits that were enacted in the early 2000s pay day loans. About $450 billion is at stake.
Given the uncertainty, financial advisers and accountants are having their clients make contingency plans, strategies they will put into action or abort depending on which way the politics takes the tax issue this year.
For the very wealthy, tax advisers are getting clients to get ready to give $5 million to heirs this year because they think a lifetime exemption on gifts might decrease to only $1 million in future years, said Anita Sarafa, a wealth adviser at JPMorgan Private Bank.
Certified public accountant Robert Keebler is suggesting that individuals consider selling before the end of the year stocks or funds that have appreciated significantly since purchased. This will allow taxpayers to take advantage of today’s zero to 15 percent capital gains rates rather than the 20 percent rate, plus a 3.8 percent surtax on high-income earners, for next year. The 3.8 percent Medicare surtax is being challenged. The 20 percent capital gains rate will depend on Congress.
Keebler is encouraging affluent retirees to look ahead at spending needs and possibly pull money out of IRAs for 2013 needs in November or December of 2012, if they see higher taxes coming. That way they can pay federal taxes at today’s 35 percent rate rather than a potential 39.6 percent next year.
With taxable accounts, selling stocks, bonds, real estate or mutual funds at a 15 percent capital gains rate now might make sense if the money will be needed for a big expense such as college tuition in 2013, Keebler said.
Another popular idea is to convert regular IRAs to Roth IRAs so taxpayers won’t have to pay taxes on earnings withdrawn for retirement, and so they can pass Roths tax-free to heirs, Sarafa said.
Even timing charitable contributions becomes tricky, she said. If the highest-income taxpayers will have to pay 43.4 percent next year (personal income tax plus Medicare), waiting until then to make a charitable contribution could provide a more valuable deduction than doing it this year.
Yet, Sarafa notes, “there is talk in Washington to make charitable deductions worth only 28 percent,” so waiting might not make sense.
Wells Fargo Advisors is moving jobs from Minneapolis to St. Louis, though the brokerage arm of Wells Fargo won’t say how many positions would shift to the region.
Wells Fargo Advisors announced to employees in Minneapolis this week that it is closing an office within its Business Services Group there and transitioning those jobs to St. Louis. Employees in Minneapolis can apply for the St. Louis positions.
Raschelle Burton, a Wells Fargo Advisors spokeswoman, confirmed the jobs are moving from Minneapolis but declined to specify how many.
“This is part of a broad and ongoing effort to maximize efficiency,” Burton said.
Wells Fargo Advisors, a subsidiary of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co., is based in downtown St. Louis. The company employs more than 5,000 locally and provides financial services including brokerage, estate planning, and asset management.
In August, Wells Fargo Advisors CEO Danny Ludeman said 200 jobs would be added to the St. Louis headquarters campus within 18 months to improve efficiency following a series of acquisitions. Wachovia acquired St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards in 2007, followed by Wells Fargo’s acquisition of Wachovia in 2008.
Ludeman identified Minneapolis in August as a possible site for jobs that could move to St. Louis, in addition to trader jobs and IT and technical jobs from San Francisco, Seattle and New York.
Japan
The fracking-led oil and natural gas boom that’s received widespread attention in the mainstream press has moved to a new medium: reality TV.
"Bayou Billionaires," a new reality show on Country Music Television, follows the lives of the Dowdens, a Louisiana family that’s struck it rich off natural gas.
"I bought me a new pickup" says Gerald Dowden in the trailer posted on CMT’s website. "And I bought a dually," says his wife Kitten, referring to a pickup with four tires on the rear axle. "I got the special edition Polaris," says Gerald, clearly excited about his all-terrain vehicle. "She put the pool in."
"We got a new hot tub," says Kitten. "Jet skis," says Gerald.
"I have 50 hounds" and one horse, he adds. "But my wife has nine. We’re spending it, that’s what it’s for."
Ohio set to see oil boom thanks to fracking
Billionaires may be stretching it, but the Dowdens sure have come into some serious cash.
Thanks to new drilling technology, a small Texas firm called Exco () was able to put four new natural gas wells on the Dowden’s 80 acres of land outside Shreveport, La. in the last three years.
Each month, the wells generate a royalty check for the Dowdens that can be as high as $40,000. The wells are expected to produce for 16 to 20 years. And their royalty checks could grow considerably.
Exco, has plans to add up to 16 wells on the Dowden’s land over the next few years, Gerald says in an interview with CNNMoney.
Their royalties are also pegged to the price of natural gas, which is currently at a decade-long low. But if natural gas returns to the the highs it hit in 2008 and the other wells are drilled, the Dowdens could potentially see a check for nearly a million dollars a month.
"We’re going to make a lot of money," says Gerald.
Not that the family was poor before. The Dowdens previously had four smaller natural gas wells on their land, which used to generate royalty checks of between $3,000 and $5,000 a month. Plus, they own a small construction business that employs around 20 people.
Striking it rich hasn’t seemed to change their work pattern that much — Kitten is still the bookkeeper at the construction company, and Gerald says he’s yet to officially retire.
But in addition to their new toys the couple has carved out time for three cruises over the past year, one to the Persian Gulf.
Opponents of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for short, fear the process of injecting pressurized water and chemicals into the ground to ease the extraction process is contaminating the water business cards design. Others with gas wells on their property have regretted the decision, saying the compressors are loud and the wells produce nauseating fumes.
But the Dowdens say they aren’t worried. And they say noise or fumes aren’t a problem either.
"They’re a community-oriented company," said Gerald. "They’re really safe."
The reality show, which was filmed over an eight-week period last year, profiles the adventures of not just Gerald and Kitten but their extended family.
Gerald says neither their new wealth nor having a television crew on their land has strained relations with their neighbors, who are out of eyesight anyway.
"They’re excited, they all want to be in it," says Kitten.
Despite claims by the show’s producer and the Dowden family that the program doesn’t aim to celebrate or exploit redneck stereotypes, clips on CMT’s website leave some room for doubt.
"I love my new teeth," says the couple’s daughter Chantal in the episode trailer, which is also filled with lots of ATV riding and yee-haws partially set to a steel guitar soundtrack.
Obama’s energy plan: The winners, and winners
"She really needed ‘em," responds Chantel’s boyfriend in the trailer, which gives his name as Carl, Albert or Jimmy, "depending on what part of the country," he’s in, and where Gerald affectionately calls him the "burnout biker."
Still, show producer Brian Flanagan says the aim was to simply profile a tight- knit family that’s come into some money.
"I wasn’t trying to make a redneck show, I was trying to make a sweet show," says Flanagan, who got the idea from an employee who has family in the area and saw first hand how normal people were getting rich off the energy boom.
Flanagan, whose company is behind other reality shows including the Discovery channel’s "Moonshires" and TLC’s "Long Island Medium," says the Dowdens fit the part perfectly.
"They love their property, they love each other, and they are having a blast together thanks to their newfound fortune," he says.
He notes the show is devoid of some of the more unsavory aspects on reality television.
"I don’t need anyone flipping a table over on this show," he says. "It’s a show for the whole family, not a train wreck."
Bayou Billionaires’ third episode airs Saturday at 9 PM on Viacom’s (, Fortune 500) CMT.
Sri Lanka unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2007 to curb credit growth in the nation and ensure inflation stays low.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka raised the reverse repurchase rate to 9 percent from 8.5 percent and the repurchase rate to 7.5 percent from 7 percent, the Colombo-based bank said in a statement on its website today. All seven economists in a Bloomberg News survey predicted rates would be unchanged.
Central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal
Bakers Footwear Group sold its Wild Pair trademark to Steven Madden Ltd. for $4 million and will continue to offer the brand of footwear in its stores through a licensing agreement.
St. Louis-based Bakers signed the non-exclusive, royalty free license deal Wednesday. Bakers said it will use the proceeds from the deal to reduce its debt.
“The structure of this transaction allows for Bakers to benefit from the future expansion of Wild Pair,” Bakers’ CEO and Chairman Peter Edison said in a statement. Bakers has 233 stores in the U.S.
New York-based Madden, which operates 84 retail stores worldwide, owns 19.9 percent of Bakers’ common stock.
Powered by WordPress -- XHTML 1.0