Virginia Power is committing $4 billion over the next three years to improve and expand its electric service.
Dominion Virginia Power CEO Paul Koonce, in a letter to be included with bills sent to Virginia customers in January, outlines plans for improving service reliability and adding more renewable sources of energy.
Koonce was named chief executive in June.
"Keeping your lights on safely, efficiently and at a reasonable cost are my highest priorities,"Koonce said in the letter.
To keep up with growing demand, the company will add new, gas-fired generating units and a hybrid coal station. It is also making environmental improvements to older stations to reduce emissions.
Dominion says it is committed to meeting Virginia's goal of achieving 15 percent of its electricity sales from renewable sources by 20205, and to reducing the growth in customer demand for electricity by 10 percent over the next 12 years high quality business cards.
"Meeting these goals will be a challenge," Koonce says. "Despite the recession, customers are using more power, lending credence to the forecast that demand will rebound as the economy recovers."
Dominion Virginia Power plans to offer new energy efficiency programs this year for both residential and business customers, and digital meters are now being installed in some of its service areas.
Last summer, Dominion (NYSE: D) applied for $200 million in federal stimulus money to speed up the installation of 2.4 million smart meters.
Thirteen of Arizona’s 21 billion-dollar public companies saw their stock prices move up during the fourth quarter.
Seven of the companies posted double-digit gains, with Clear Channel Outdoor leading the pack at 58 percent, according to the Phoenix Business Journal’s analysis of prices from Sept. 30 through 30 through Dec. 18.
Penny stock Mesa Air Group mirrored that performance with a 58 percent decline to lead the group of eight companies with a drop in price per share over the quarter.
Over the same period the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.4 percent and the Nasdaq Composite moved up 4.2 percent.
The Arizona group did better when price changed is measured over all of 2009, but all but four of the stocks still lag from the end of 2007. Click here for the 2009 wrapup and here for a two-year look at local stocks.
Lee Enterprises Inc., owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said Friday it had stronger advertising sales in November and expects declines in revenue to ease for the company’s fiscal first quarter ending Dec. 27.
"Based on trends through early December, we’re hopeful that the turnaround has begun," Mary Junck, chairman and CEO, said in a news release. "Although it’s premature to guess when year-over-year revenue comparisons will turn positive, we expect our aggressive cost reductions will enable meaningful earnings growth when they do."
Among the cost reductions were increases in premium cost-sharing for some participants in retiree medical plans and elimination of retiree health care coverage for other participants. Lee said these changes will reduce annual retiree medical costs beginning in 2010 and will cut benefit obligation liability by up to $30 million.
Lee said it expects operating revenue for the quarter ending Dec paydayloans. 27 to fall 14 percent to 15 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Revenue declined an average of 20 percent in the last three quarters of fiscal 2009.
The company also said that debt refinancing, adequate liquidity and improving business conditions allowed its accounting firm, KPMG LLP, to drop from this year’s annual report an explanatory paragraph in 2008’s annual report that raised doubt about Lee’s ability to continue as a going concern. Lee filed the 2009 report Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lee, based in Davenport, Iowa, owns 49 newspapers and has a joint interest in four others. It also has online sites and nearly 300 specialty publications in 23 states.
Gulf markets dropped again on Tuesday, taking little comfort from Dubai World’s plan to restructure about $26 billion of debt and despite reassurances on economic resilience from the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Dubai stocks fell a further 5.6 percent and the Abu Dhabi bourse lost 3.6 percent on their second trading day since Dubai last week asked creditors of Dubai World and its property arm Nakheel for a six-month delay on debt repayments. Qatar’s bourse was also more than 8 percent lower.
State-controlled Dubai World, which led the emirate’s transformation into a regional hub for finance, investment and tourism, unveiled details late on Monday of the restructuring and which parts of its empire were affected. The process will focus on $26 billion of debt owed by its main property firms, Nakheel and Limitless.
Dubai World said it had appointed Moelis & Co, the investment bank created by former UBS president Ken Moelis, to advise on the restructuring while Rothschild would continue to be its investment adviser.
Global markets took a pounding when news broke last week that Dubai World was unable to pay its debts, although on Tuesday, Asian and European stocks were up, following the lead from Wall Street overnight as fears of contagion eased.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also the United Arab Emirates’ vice president, prime minister and defense minister, said the global reaction had shown “a lack of understanding.”
“We have the determination and will power to face all challenges, including the ill-intentioned media challenges,” Sheikh Mohammed said, according to a statement from his office.
John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi-Credit Agricole Group in Riyadh, said the Dubai ruler’s remarks “although very broad, should be welcomed by global markets at a time when they are thirsty for clarity, reassurance and information.”
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, said the UAE economy was showing signs of gradual growth in the fourth quarter.
Dubai’s troubles could shift political power in the UAE, a seven-emirate federation celebrating 38 years of unity on Wednesday, toward oil-producing Abu Dhabi and away from its exuberant neighbor.
The Dubai World group, whose total liabilities are estimated at nearly $60 billion, said the restructuring would exclude “financially stable” units such as Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World, which includes DP World, Economic Zones World, P&O Ferries and Jebel Ali Free Zone.
Dubai World would look at options for cutting its debt, including asset sales, it added.
But the group may not be able to keep revenue-generating assets such as port operator DP World and Istithmar’s 2.7 percent stake in Standard Chartered, while selling its battered property firms.
“I don’t think they’re in a position to choose,” Khuram Maqsood, managing director of Emirates Capital and a former director at Istithmar.
“Dubai World desperately needs cash. Everything is for sale. I don’t think anything is sacred in the current environment.”
The U.K. economy shrank less than previously estimated in the third quarter as consumer spending stopped falling and the service industries slump eased, bringing the longest recession on record closer to an end.
Gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent from the previous three months, compared with a prior measurement of a 0.4 percent drop, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The result matched the median prediction of 28 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week called for stimulus to stay in place to avoid “choking off recovery” as an election looms within six months. The Bank of England has expanded its bond-purchase plan three times since March to ensure Britain’s escape from recession and Governor Mervyn King said yesterday the pickup isn’t “particularly strong.”
“Over the coming quarters the economy will accelerate pretty sharply,” said Nick Kounis, chief European economist at Fortis Bank Nederland NV in Amsterdam and a former U.K. Treasury official. “In third quarter the U.K. was one of the sick men of Europe but it’s going to step up a few gears and will be one of the stronger performers in Europe next year.”
The pound rose 0.8 percent against the dollar today and traded at $1.6704 as of 11:04 a.m. in London. The yield on the 2-year gilt fell 6 basis points to 1.16 percent.
Lagging Behind
The U.K.’s recovery has lagged behind that of the U.S. and the euro area, which have both returned to growth. Data yesterday showed Germany’s economic growth accelerated in the third quarter, while the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate, less than the government reported last month.
Brown is trying to revive the U.K. economy in time to defeat Conservative Leader David Cameron at the election, due by June. An Ipsos Mori poll in the Observer on Nov. 22 showed the Conservatives with a six-point lead, the least since December.
Consumer spending was unchanged in the third quarter, the first time it hasn’t dropped in 1 1/2 years. Government spending rose 0.2 percent, while fixed investment fell 0.3 percent, the statistics office said.
J Sainsbury Plc, the U.K.’s third- biggest supermarket owner, on Nov. 11 reported growth in first-half profit that beat analysts’ estimates. John Lewis Partnership Plc, owner of the namesake department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, said Nov fast cash advance loan. 22 that sales gained 15 percent in the week of Nov. 21.
Inventories fell by 4.1 billion pounds ($6.8 billion), the fourth consecutive decline. The slump in inventories is now the biggest on record, the statistics office said.
Services, Manufacturing
Officials revised up the GDP data because the decline in services output was smaller than previously estimated, at 0.1 percent instead of 0.2 percent. Manufacturing dropped 0.1 percent, up from the prior measurement of 0.2 percent.
Compass Group Plc, the world’s largest catering company, today reported full-year profit that beat analyst estimates. Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, gained in London trading yesterday after it announced plans to raise a record 13.5 billion pounds in the country’s biggest rights offering.
The Bank of England forecasts Britain will exit the recession in the fourth quarter. The economy will expand 2.2 percent in 2010 and 4.1 percent in 2011, according to policy makers’ projections published on Nov. 11.
Policy makers have cut the benchmark interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent and pledged to buy 200 billion pounds in bonds to aid the economy. While policy maker Adam Posen told lawmakers that “one hopes that we are coming to the end” of the purchase program, King said he “can’t rule out” buying more assets.
Data ‘Surprise’
Policy maker Andrew Sentance said in a speech on Nov. 16 that the “surprise” gross domestic product estimate may be revised later, and told Bloomberg Television that “the broad balance of evidence is that the U.K. economy has started to grow in the second half of this year.”
Unemployment rose at the slowest pace in 18 months in October, retail sales climbed for a second month and the inflation rate increased more than expected, to 1.5 percent. The bank aims to keep inflation at 2 percent.
Banks are still working to shore up their finances after government-led bailouts of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc during the 2008 financial crisis. Lloyds said yesterday it plans to raise a record 13.4 billion pounds in the country’s biggest rights offering.
The U.S. recession that began in December 2007 cost the top metropolitan areas all of the 2.29 million jobs they had gained in the previous expansion, according to a report released on Wednesday.
“All of the job growth that occurred in the top U.S. metropolitan areas from August 2000 through August 2007 was erased by the subsequent recession,” New York City Comptroller William Thompson said in a quarterly economic report.
The net loss is 7,000 jobs.
The two mature cities with the biggest job losses were Chicago, whose employers cut 257,700 workers, and Detroit, which lost over 467,400 jobs, the report said.
Boston lost 103,500 jobs, followed by Minneapolis-St. Paul, with a loss of 35,500 positions; St Louis, which shed 28,400 jobs, and Philadelphia, where 21,400 positions were lost.
But there were two upbeat notes in this sour trend.
In spite of the financial crisis on Wall Street and thousands of high-paying jobs lost after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008 and other banks merged, New York City emerged as part of a positive trend over the entire nine-year period covered by the city comptroller’s report.
The New York-New Jersey area was one of only two “mature metropolitan areas” that succeeded in increasing jobs from August 2000 to August 2009. The New York-New Jersey area added 95,700 positions over that nine-year period, according to the report from Thompson, a Democrat.
Baltimore was the other bright spot, chalking up a gain of 26,500 jobs in that nine-year period,
But in the last expansion, New York City underperformed Washington, D loans until payday.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia in increasing the number of high-paying professional and business services jobs that tend to face less of a threat from foreign rivals than manufacturing, for example.
FEELING WALL STREET’S PAIN
Although New York City fared better than some of its peers, the city comptroller’s report revealed the widespread devastation caused by Wall Street’s implosion due to the credit crunch and the stock market’s slide after the housing market’s bubble burst. A total of 40,000 financial jobs have been lost since August 2007. And the city’s jobless rate jumped to 10.3 percent in September from 6 percent a year-ago.
New York City’s fortunes rise and fall with Wall Street because banks and brokerages spur hiring in service sectors, from florists to law firms, during profitable years.
General sales-tax collections fell 12 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, while income taxes withheld from paychecks dropped 7.2 percent. Manhattan’s office vacancy rate shot up to 11.1 percent in the third quarter — the highest level since the 2004 third quarter, the report said, citing Cushman & Wakefield data.
How swiftly the city exits the downturn rests partly with Congress. The federal government’s newfound zeal for reining in Wall Street’s risk-taking and compensation could crimp the financial industry’s ability to kickstart the city’s economy.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is expected to reaffirm its intention to keep U.S. interest rates at ultra-low levels for a long time to support the economy, even as signs of recovery accumulate.
The U.S. central bank cut overnight rates close to zero percent last December and it has vowed to keep them there for an “extended period.” While some analysts think the Fed could start to tip-toe away from that pledge, most say it is too soon.
“Once they start removing that, that’s a real sign that they intend, within six months, to start raising rates,” said Deutsche Bank economist Torsten Slok. “But it’s just premature, looking at the economic numbers, to arrive at that conclusion.”
The Fed will issue a statement around 2:15 p.m. EST at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. Analysts expect the Fed to nod to modestly encouraging signs suggesting the economy is gaining strength, but still expect a cautious tone on policy.
Policy makers will need to take into account the economy’s faster-than-expected 3.5 percent annualized growth rate in the third quarter, which effectively signaled the end of the most painful recession since the 1930s. Suggesting further momentum, data on Monday showed manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 3-1/2 years last month.
Improved third-quarter corporate earnings have also fed optimism that the upturn can be sustained next year even after government help has dried up.
In an act underlining rising confidence in the recovery, billionaire investor Warren Buffet on Tuesday said his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, agreed to purchase the nation’s largest rail company, saying it is poised to benefit from the recovery.
Fed officials in recent weeks, however, have sent the message that while the outlook has improved, the recovery is likely to be sluggish and needs continuing support.
Unemployment is expected to climb above 10 percent before the labor market improves, damping the consumer spending that accounts for around 70 percent of U.S. output. The banking system is still under pressure from loan losses, and credit remains tight.
“We have to think about our exit policy and are looking at it very carefully, but at the moment, that’s not our first order concern. At the moment, it’s policy accommodation,” Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, a voter on the Fed’s policy-setting panel, said on October 22.
Other central banks are also wrestling with how best to spur growth and when to withdraw extraordinary measures to support their economies.
The European Central Bank is expected to keep rates on hold at a record-low 1 percent on Thursday, while there is a good chance the Bank of England will expand its large asset purchase program at a meeting the same day.
Most analysts at top U.S. banks expect the Fed to keep interest rates on hold until mid-2010 or later, although interest rate futures markets are pricing in an increase earlier in 2010.
(Editing by Leslie Adler)
U.S. factory workers at Ford Motor Co overwhelmingly rejected proposed concessions it has said it needs to stay competitive, while union workers in Canada on Sunday accepted cuts aimed at retaining jobs.
The Canadian Auto Workers union voted 83 percent in favor of an agreement that freezes wages for some 7,000 workers into September 2012 in exchange for protecting most factory jobs in Canada.
The CAW had announced the tentative pact with Ford on Friday and set a whirlwind weekend vote.
The win for Ford in Canada, which accounts for a little over 10 percent of its North American output, comes as its main union, the United Auto Workers, prepares to announce a stunning defeat for a similar proposal in the automaker’s home market.
A UAW vote in the United States has dragged on for two weeks to steadily building opposition from rank-and-file workers who have objected to giving Ford the same concessions already granted to rivals General Motors Co and Chrysler as part of their government-financed bankruptcies.
An official tally was not yet available on Sunday, but UAW members voted against the concessionary deal at most of Ford’s U.S. assembly plants leaving no doubt about the outcome.
The UAW represents about 41,000 U.S. factory workers at Ford and ratification of the proposed changes required the support of a majority of votes cast.
The UAW plans to release the results formally on Monday and President Ron Gettelfinger told reporters on Friday that he had no plans to seek a revote on the deal or more talks with Ford before 2011 payday advance loan. The current four-year deal expires in 2011.
The margin of defeat was substantial at some of Ford’s biggest assembly plants. Overall, seven of the 10 listed assembly plants voted down the contract, many overwhelmingly.
Workers in Kansas City, Missouri, where Ford builds the F-150 pickup truck and Escape SUV, voted 92 percent against the deal, while those at a truck plant near the automaker’s headquarters voted 93 percent to reject it.
At a local that represents two Kentucky assembly plants the vote was 84 percent against approving the tentative agreement that Ford and the UAW announced in mid October.
The tentative UAW agreement included a “no-strike” provision on wages and benefits for the next negotiations in 2011 that became a lightning rod for opposition.
Workers also objected to a blurring of job classifications for skilled workers that would increase Ford’s flexibility and reduce its costs, and to allowing Ford to increase hiring of entry level workers at $14 per hour for a period.
The UAW and Ford agreed on other cuts earlier in 2009 that the automaker believes will save it $500 million per year.
Ford’s deal with the Canadian union is the second cost-cutting agreement between the two sides in 18 months and includes cuts in benefits, a reduction in vacation and breaktimes and higher healthcare costs for workers.
The United States welcomes the rise in the yuan’s exchange rate in recent years but wants the currency to climb further, visiting Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said on Tuesday.
“We think more progress needs to be made in that area,” Locke told a news conference in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, which accounts for nearly a third of China’s exports.
China has in effect re-pegged the yuan to the dollar since mid-2008 to help its exporters, who were hit hard by a slump in orders as the global financial crisis intensified.
Beijing revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent against the dollar in July 2005 and, over the following three years, gradually let it climb by another 19 percent before calling a halt to its rise.
“We’re pleased with the movement so far, but of course more needs to be done,” Locke said.
The commerce chief will participate on Wednesday and Thursday in high-level trade talks in Hangzhou, along with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan.
Locke said he expected the meetings to pave the way for “significant improvements and progress in the trade relationship between the two countries” when President Barack Obama visits China next month for talks with President Hu Jintao.
Locke did not delve into detail but said that energy co-operation would be a “big topic” between the two presidents, with U.S. firms seeking easier access to the potentially lucrative China market for clean energy, alternative fuels and energy-efficient products.
The yuan’s exchange rate has dropped down the U.S. diplomatic agenda in the past year as Washington has looked to China for help in hauling the world economy out of recession.
The Obama administration said on October 15 that it continued to believe the yuan is undervalued but declined to declare that China was manipulating its currency.
But the Treasury Department, in a semi-annual report to Congress on currency practices of key trade partners, said China was piling up foreign exchange reserves at a rate that threatens progress in reducing global economic imbalances.
It warned that lack of flexibility in the exchange rate for the yuan might be damaging as stimulus is withdrawn and overseas demand for Chinese-made goods returns.
Currency traders in the non-deliverable forwards market were anticipating on Tuesday that the yuan would be worth 2.4 percent more against the dollar in a year’s time.
PATENT PROBLEMS
Locke said a recent spat over Washington’s decision to slap tariffs on imports of cheap Chinese tires would be discussed in Hangzhou, but he played down the issue.
PepsiCo Inc reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday, hurt by falling North American soft drink sales, and cautioned it did not expect a major revival of consumer spending next year.
Shares of the world’s second-largest soft drinks maker slipped 1.5 percent, while larger rival Coca-Cola Co fell 0.7 percent.
“Our consumer research shows that the age of thrift that we’re seeing in consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe will continue in 2010, and that consumers will continue to remain very careful about their spending,” said Chief Executive Indra Nooyi on a conference call.
In emerging markets of Asia and South America, Nooyi said consumer spending should grow, but not at a pace that entirely offsets the slow growth in the West.
The company, which is buying Pepsi Bottling Group Inc and PepsiAmericas Inc for $7.8 billion, also affirmed its 2009 earnings target and set a 2010 earnings target ahead of analysts’ expectations.
Net income in the third quarter rose to $1.72 billion, or $1.09 per share, from $1.58 billion, or 99 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, PepsiCo earned $1.08 per share, topping analysts’ average estimate of $1.03, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The profit surprise was mainly driven by a lower-than-expected tax rate, according to JP Morgan analyst John Faucher.
Revenue fell 1.5 percent to $11.08 billion, missing analysts’ average expectation for $11 online pay day loans.25 billion.
Morningstar analyst Philip Gorham said the lower-than-expected revenue likely prompted investor concern over the company’s ability to grow its sales in the future.
Sales by volume rose 2 percent in PepsiCo’s snacks business, both in the Americas and internationally. In the drinks business, volume was up 0.5 percent, with a decline of 6 percent in the Americas and a rise of 9 percent internationally.
2010 — A YEAR TO INVEST
Buying its two largest bottlers will consolidate 80 percent of PepsiCo’s North American drinks volume, which it has said will speed decision-making and eliminate friction between the companies. Pepsi said it still expects the deal to close in late 2009 or early 2010.
Nooyi said 2010 will be a year to reinvest for the company, whose products range from sodas and Tropicana juices to Frito-Lay snacks and Quaker oatmeal.
Pepsi plans to invest in a few big global brands as well as in research and development to make healthier products, expand its emerging market infrastructure and make tuck-in acquisitions, she said.
The company forecast 2010 earnings-per-share growth of 11 percent to 13 percent on a constant currency basis, including a “modest” gain from the bottler acquisitions.
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