Barrick Profit Trails Estimates, Production May Fa
By Liezel Hill
(Updates with closing share price in seventh paragraph.)
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the metal, reported fourth-quarter profit that trailed analysts’ estimates and said gold production may decline this year.
Net income dropped 0.2 percent to $959 million, or 96 cents a share, from $961 million, or 96 cents, a year earlier, Toronto-based Barrick said today in a statement. Profit excluding impairment charges related to redundant power assets and other one-time items was $1.17 a share, less than the $1.26 average of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales climbed 26 percent to $3.79 billion from $3.01 billion.
The company forecast 2012 gold production of 7.3 million to 7.8 million ounces Sweater Dresses, compared with 7.68 million last year. Copper production will rise to 550 million to 600 million pounds, from 451 million in 2011, Barrick said.
The company’s so-called total cash costs per ounce of gold rose 15 percent to $505 on production of 1.81 million ounces in the quarter. Total costs for copper rose 84 percent to $1.99 per pound on output of 143 million pounds.
“Production was a little shy, realized prices maybe a little lower than we would have expected and the cash costs were a little higher than we would have thought for the copper side,” John Stephenson, who helps manage $2.7 billion of assets at First Asset Investment Management Inc. in Toronto, said today in a telephone interview.
Prices Rise
Gold, which has gained for 11 straight years, averaged $1,687 an ounce in the quarter in New York, 23 percent more than a year earlier. Barrick realized an average sale price of $1,664 an ounce of gold and $3.69 per pound of copper.
Barrick rose 1 percent to close at C$48 in Toronto. The shares have gained 4.2 percent this year.
Barrick is among gold producers facing higher labor, equipment and raw-material costs. The industry’s average cash production cost rose 28 percent to $596 per ounce of gold in the third quarter of 2011 from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.
Barrick said its Pueblo Viejo project in the Dominican Republic is on schedule to start in the middle of this year. The $5 billion Pascua Lama mine, on the border of Chile and Argentina, will begin production in mid-2013, the company said.
Goldcorp Inc., the second-largest producer by market value, said yesterday its fourth-quarter gold costs increased 59 percent to $261 an ounce Sweater Dresses, after accounting for revenue from other metals.
–Editors: Steven Frank, Tina Davis
To contact the reporter on this story: Liezel Hill in Toronto at lhill30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net
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Producer Jack Douglas Talks About Upcoming Aerosmi
Jack Douglas, who worked with Aerosmith on their classic releases, discussed the current progress of the group’s upcoming album.
Over the past few months, Aerosmith has been revealing details about the upcoming album – their first of new material since 2001’s Just Push Play. Old sounds will be revisited on the disc, which Joe Perry described as: “definitely has a feel like some of the early stuff.”
Perry’s general statement aside, producer Jack Douglas, who produced many of Aerosmith’s previous hits, is back and spoke recently about the progress of the album to Ultimate Classic Rock. Although the group started recording on their own, Douglas was brought in to give direction. Describing the overall feel of the release, he said: “It’s about freeing your mind and going wherever that journey takes you. It might take you to some very new, strange places. It may take you back to places you used to know.”
Since Douglas returned to the studio, the group got back in shape by recording a less well-known Yardbirds song and 15 tracks have been put together so far. Rather than be satisfied with a by-the-numbers sound, however, Douglas suggested Stephen King be a lyrical source of inspiration: “They looked at me like I was crazy. I said Replica Tag heuer Watches, ‘No Replica Breitling Watches, I’m serious. If there’s anyone who’s going to inspire him, it’d be Stephen King. Steven [Tyler] doesn’t need melody – he needs someone who’s going to inspire him as a wordsmith. I don’t want a guy who’s just writing hits right now.’”
Back in September, bassist Tom Hamilton provided an update of the recording process and touring plans. At the time, he stated: “We’re finished with the basic tracks. We’ve cut 13 basics and we’re gonna sit with that for the moment. The bass parts are done, subject to some adjustments in the future. The drum tracks are all done, and we’re starting to do guitar overdubs. It’s fun. I enjoy going down to the studio and hanging out with the other guys while Joe [Perry] and Brad [Whitford] do their work. So that’s probably what we’re gonna be doing for the rest of September. And then we’re gonna start rehearsing and getting ready for the tour in South America and Japan, which will take us to the end of December. And then sometime between now and then, Steven’s [Tyler] probably gonna start singing some vocals and then get really intense about it when we get back from Japan. We can see and hear the album in our minds; we can kind of tell what’s going on. And I like to describe it as being crunchy on the outside with a creamy center.”
Presently, the album is tentatively scheduled for a May release.
Written on Feb 07 2012 by Irene Test (Google+ profile), writer at KOvideo. Tags:
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CBS in Talks to Produce New Shows for Netflix, Moo
By Andy Fixmer and Cliff Edwards Watches Replica
(Adds “Orange Is the New Black” in fourth paragraph.)
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — CBS Corp., owner of the broadcast network and the Showtime cable channel, is in talks to produce an original program for Netflix Inc., Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said.
“We are talking to Netflix about a potential deal to produce a show for them,” Moonves said today on a conference call. “Until they are doing 22 hours a week of premium content Watches Replica, we do not look at them as a competitor, but rather another place to put our content.”
Supplying Netflix would give CBS, based in New York, new revenue as online video services order more exclusive shows. Netflix is is adding five original programs by 2013, including “Lilyhammer,” “House of Cards” and “Arrested Development,” said Steve Swasey, a spokesman for Los Gatos, California-based Netflix. He wouldn’t comment on CBS talks.
Netflix, pressing competition with Time Warner Inc.’s HBO, will produce 13 episodes of a new comedy series, “Orange Is the New Black,” a person with knowledge of the situation said yesterday. The series from “Weeds” creator Jenji Kohan is based on the memoir of a communications executive who served time for drug-related crimes.
The fifth series is expected to be Gaumont International Television’s 13 initial episodes of the horror series “Hemlock Grove,” the person said.
Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in December he sees an “arms race” to dominate Web-based TV viewing, one that will be won by companies that offer the most compelling content and easy access.
Separately, Netflix director Charles Giancarlo won’t stand for re-election in May, according to a regulatory filing today. He had served on Netflix’s board since April 2007.
Netflix fell 0.8 percent to $122.06 at the close in New York. CBS declined 0.7 percent to $29.57. The company, which reported fourth-quarter results after markets closed, has added 9 percent this year.
–Editors: Anthony Palazzo, Stephen West
To contact the reporters on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Cliff Edwards in San Francisco at cedwards28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net
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Azeri Gas Flows to Turkey Suspended on Glitch at B
By Zulfugar Agayev
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Azerbaijan suspended natural-gas flows to Turkey after a technical glitch halted output at a BP Plc-run platform in the Caspian Sea yesterday.
The platform at the Shah Deniz field may start working this evening after maintenance is completed, Tamam Bayatli, a BP spokeswoman in Baku Replica Watches, the Azeri capital, said by phone today.
“The automatic power system of Shah Deniz was triggered during planned maintenance at the power supply system of Shah Deniz,” Bayatli said.
Turkish power plants using natural gas switched to diesel and fuel oil to generate electricity, the Anatolia news service reported today, citing Energy Ministry officials. There are no cuts in gas to residential buildings or industrial plants, ministry officials said, the Turkish news service said. Supplies from Iran also dropped, according to the report.
During the first nine months of 2011, the Shah Deniz field produced about 4.53 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.2 million metric tons of condensate.
To contact the reporter on this story: Zulfugar Agayev in Baku at zagayev@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net
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ConocoPhillips to Sell Vietnam Business for $1.29
By Edward Klump Replica Watches
(Updates with asset sales in third paragraph.)
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — ConocoPhillips, the third-largest U.S. oil company, has agreed to sell its Vietnam operations for $1.29 billion to Perenco SA, exiting the country after more than 15 years.
The sale of the Vietnam business unit is part of the Houston-based company’s effort to unload less-profitable businesses, it said in a statement today. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2012.
ConocoPhillips is in the midst of a three-year plan to sell $15 billion to $20 billion of assets by the end of 2012 to fund share repurchases and position itself for future growth. The company completed $10.7 billion in asset sales in 2010 to 2011.
The company plans to spin off its refining business in the second quarter so it can focus on finding and producing oil and natural gas. The new company will be known as Phillips 66.
Closely held Perenco, based in Paris, produces oil and natural gas from basins in Brazil, Peru, Iraq, Australia and North Sea, according to its website.
The sale was announced before the start of regular trading on U.S. markets. ConocoPhillips fell 1 percent to $72.72 at 8:05 a.m. in New York.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are the largest U.S. oil companies.
–Editors: Jessica Resnick-Ault, Tina Davis
To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Klump in Houston at eklump@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net
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Akbank Hires UBS, RBS for Meetings as Part of Bond
By Aydan Eksin
(Updates with shares in the third paragraph.)
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) — Akbank TAS Herve Leger, the Turkish bank part- owned by Citigroup Inc., hired UBS AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to arrange investor meetings in Switzerland after getting regulator approval to sell bonds totaling $1.5 billion.
Akbank got permission from the Capital Markets Board to offer the bonds denominated in dollars and/or other foreign currencies, the bank said in a statement to the Istanbul Stock Exchange today. The regulator’s approval is valid for one year.
Akbank rose 1.1 percent to 7.10 liras at 5:30 p.m. on the Istanbul Stock Exchange today, extending this week’s gains to 4.1 percent. Akbank’s largest shareholder is Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS, Turkey’s second-biggest group of companies.
–Editor: Mark Bentley
To contact the reporter on this story: Aydan Eksin in Istanbul at aeksin@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net
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Fisherman’s body found off Port Stephens
THE body of a boat owner has been found north of Port Stephens near Newcastle in the New South Wales Hunter region. Replica Watches
Police say the 29-year-old man from Anna Bay was last seen around 5pm (AEDT) today sailing from Nelson Bay to Tea Gardens on his seven metre fishing boat.
An hour later, his body was found by a fisherman near Hawks Nest.
He had suffered lacerations to his stomach and legs.
Police are not treating the death as suspicious at this stage.
Taco Bell Sees Market Share Recouped With Chipotle
By Leslie Patton
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) — For Yum! Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell, thinking outside the bun means going gourmet.
The chain that once used a talking chihuahua to sell chalupas is working with Miami chef Lorena Garcia to win back eaters who have become accustomed to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s style of Mexican fare. Menu items will include Chipotle staples such as black beans, cilantro rice and corn salsa, Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s president, said last month.
Taco Bell could use a boost. The chain has shrunk by more than 1,000 stores since 2000 and has been left behind as Yum expanded its KFC and Pizza Hut chains overseas. Chipotle, in the meantime, has been a stock market star, its shares tripling since the end of 2009.
“They have a tough road ahead to really reposition themselves as a direct competitor to Chipotle or Qdoba,” Mike Brumagin, a former Yum Brands senior project manager and Taco Bell store owner, said in an interview. Taco Bell has “always been about value.”
Taco Bell scored the lowest in food quality and atmosphere among limited-service Mexican eateries, including Chipotle and Jack in the Box Inc.’s Qdoba Mexican Grill, according to a September survey from Nation’s Restaurant News and consultant WD Partners.
Slow Growth
Taco Bell is also in a market that is growing slowly. Sales at so-called limited-service restaurants increased 1.9 percent to $195 billion in 2010 and Taco Bell was behind McDonald’s Corp., Subway, Burger King Holdings Inc. and Wendy’s Co. in market share that year, according to Technomic Inc. The Chicago- based researcher hasn’t released 2011 figures.
Almost half a century old, Taco Bell was started by Glen Bell in Downey, California. PepsiCo Inc. bought the taco restaurant in 1978, a year after acquiring Pizza Hut. Pepsi later bought the KFC fried-chicken chain and spun off all three to become Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. in 1997. In 2002, Tricon became Yum Brands, now based in Louisville, Kentucky.
During the past decade, the brand has positioned itself as an affordable option for the young guy who “loves the lower price points,” said Peter Saleh, a restaurant analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York. Taco Bell has touted value meals with its “Why Pay More!” slogan and recently advertised a 12- pack of crunchy tacos for $10.
‘Younger Crowd’
Last year, the chain received negative publicity when Beasley Allen, a Montgomery, Alabama-based law firm, filed a class action lawsuit claiming Taco Bell didn’t use enough real beef in its food to label it as such. Chief Executive Officer David Novak called the claim “absolutely false” and said the restaurant’s seasoned meat is 88 percent real beef. Beasley Allen dropped the suit.
For a chain that made its name peddling cheap eats in the wee hours of the morning, a higher-priced menu may not appeal to the restaurant’s primary customer. The Taco Bell frequenter is an 18- to 24-year-old, value-conscious male, says Jeff Bernstein, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York.
“It’s definitely targeted to a younger crowd,” he said.
Former franchisee Brumagin also is skeptical and says introducing somewhat fancier, higher-priced food could go the way of a healthy menu experiment in the mid-’90s that he called an “abysmal failure.”
Taco Bell is clearly taking cues from its higher-end rival.
“Chipotle is an opportunity because what it’s done has expanded the trial and usage of Mexican food,” Creed said at the investor meeting in New York Dec. 7. “It’s got people to believe they can pay $8 for a bowl or a burrito.”
Taco Bell can make food “every bit as good as Chipotle,” he said, and instead charge less than $5.
Hot Fritos
While Chipotle’s $7 or $8 burritos include ingredients such as naturally raised pork seasoned with thyme and juniper berries, Taco Bell’s menu now features the 99-cent Beefy Crunch Burrito that’s topped with Flamin’ Hot Fritos.
Steve Ells, a classically trained chef opened the first Chipotle in 1993. Since then, the company has grown to more than 1,100 U.S. locations while the menu has stayed relatively simple and consistent. Taco Bell has about 5,600 U.S. stores. While Chipotle’s shares more than tripled from the end of 2009 through last year, Yum gained 69 percent during the same time and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Restaurants Index rose 67 percent.
Yum advanced 2 percent to a record close of $60.92 in New York today. The shares rose 20 percent in 2011.
Other fast-food chains have successfully remade themselves. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s gradually changed into a somewhat more adult and upscale restaurant by introducing McCafe espresso drinks and splashing its stores with earth tones, said John Kokoska, a managing director at BDO Consulting Corporate Advisors LLC in Atlanta who advises restaurants.
KFC Focus
Such an undertaking hasn’t been a priority at Yum, which has been more focused on expanding its KFC and Pizza Hut chains in China.
Since 2005, when Yum began reporting its China division separately, it has more than tripled revenue there while increasing store count more than 80 percent to about 4,200, topping McDonald’s 1 Replica Watches,300 locations in the nation.
“Investors are in the stock as a play on China,” Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis, said in an interview. Instead of a place for a quick, cheap meal, Yum restaurants in China are considered a nicer place for a family to go out for dinner, he said.
Taco Bell, meanwhile, hasn’t expanded much overseas. Yum has said it plans to sell hundreds of its U.S. stores to franchise owners. While the chain has stores in 21 countries, the U.S. accounts for 96 percent of its locations.
“It’s the tale of two cities,” John Gordon, principal at Pacific Management Consulting Group, a restaurant adviser in San Diego, said in an interview. Yum has “lost the capability to be able to run and work U.S. stores.”
Strategy Details
In the coming months Taco Bell will “be announcing further details” about the menu and strategy, Rob Poetsch, a Taco Bell spokesman, said in an interview.
Taco Bell in 2010 generated about $400 million in operating profit, about 60 percent of the company’s U.S. total and 23 percent of its global earnings by that measure.
Yum has sought to sell franchises back to U.S. store owners, in part to minimize its risk from rising raw-ingredient prices, Gordon said. In the quarter ended Sept. 3, U.S. restaurant margin narrowed to 12.1 percent from 14.4 percent last year, Yum said in a filing.
Turning around a fast-food chain with fancy new menu items can be pricey, especially for franchised store owners, said Kokoska, the BDO consultant.
“It might mean kitchen equipment where the franchisee has to cough up the cash,” he said. “It isn’t just a matter of buying better ingredients.”
–Editors: Kevin Orland, Robin Ajello
To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net
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TD, BB&T Said to Be Among Lenders in Talks to Buy
By Zachary R. Mider and Cristina Alesci
(Updates with BankUnited comment in fifth paragraph, shares in last.)
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) — BB&T Corp. and Toronto-Dominion Bank are among companies in talks to buy BankUnited Inc., Florida’s second-biggest lender, people with knowledge of the matter said.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. also has signaled it may bid, according to one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private. BankUnited has asked for offers by today and told potential buyers it’s seeking to finish the sale effort within about two weeks, the people said.
BB&T, TD Bank and Pittsburgh-based PNC have been vying for territory in the U.S. Southeast since the decline of the nation’s housing market caused rivals to collapse or exit the business. PNC outbid BB&T for Royal Bank of Canada’s retail- branch network in the Southeast last year, people with knowledge of that transaction said at the time. Toronto-Dominion and BB&T have struck deals to buy troubled lenders in the region.
BankUnited had a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, based on the close of New York trading on Jan. 13.
Maria Leung, a spokeswoman for Toronto-based TD Bank, Fred Solomon at PNC and Cynthia Williams at BB&T, based in Winston- Salem, North Carolina, declined to comment yesterday. Donna Butler at Miami Lakes, Florida-based BankUnited declined to comment today.
Carlyle, Blackstone
TD Bank bid for BankUnited the last time it was for sale in 2009, when regulators were preparing to seize the failing lender. Instead, a group of private-equity investors including Carlyle Group LP and Blackstone Group LP prevailed and bought the bank’s operations from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The investor group, which included Chief Executive Officer John Kanas, 65, pumped about $900 million into the company and got the FDIC to agree to absorb most losses on some of the bank’s mortgage assets. The investors took BankUnited public last year at $27 a share, almost triple the initial investment. BankUnited surged 5.8 percent to $24.48 on Jan. 13. The shares have dropped 9.3 percent since the initial public offering.
Toronto-Dominion turned to smaller acquisitions to bolster its market share in the Southeast, buying Greenville, South Carolina-based South Financial Group Inc. for about $192 million and absorbing three Florida lenders from the FDIC.
BB&T took over the operations of Montgomery, Alabama-based Colonial BancGroup Inc. after its 2009 collapse Replica Watches, and agreed to buy Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc.’s Florida retail-lending unit in November.
BB&T rose 30 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $27.53 at 9:31 a.m. in New York trading. PNC gained 66 cents to $62.39 and BankUnited increased 62 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $25.10.
–With assistance from Sean Pasternak in Toronto and Laura Marcinek in New York. Editors: Peter Eichenbaum, Jennifer Sondag
To contact the reporters on this story: Zachary Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net; Cristina Alesci in New York at calesci2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jennifer Sondag at jsondag@bloomberg.net
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Toyota Motor Credit Prices A$445 Million of 4-Year
By Taku Kato
Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Credit Corp. will sell A$445 million ($467.4 million) of four-year Replica Watches, 4.41 percent uridashi bonds Replica Watches, according to a filing today with Japan’s finance ministry.
Uridashi bonds are debt issued outside Japan for sale mainly to Japanese individual investors.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Taku Kato at tkato6@bloomberg.net
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