Tag Archives: BCS

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will HP Win Big Bucks from Oracle?

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

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Struggling tech giant Hewlett-Packard and its new nemesis Oracle are headed back to court next week. The companies have been embroiled in a major lawsuit for nearly two years over Oracle’s support for HP servers running on Intel‘s Itanium chips. Last year, the court found that Oracle had breached its contract with HP by stating that it would end support for Itanium; now a jury will decide how much to award in damages. Any award is virtually certain to be appealed by Oracle, and media sources have reported a wide range of estimates for damages. Nevertheless, any significant award will be great news for HP, which is trying to rebuild its balance sheet after a string of overpriced acquisitions.

The background
Intel’s Itanium architecture (which actually originated at HP) was once hailed as a revolutionary development for the server market. However, sales never lived up to expectations, as most customers have opted for systems based on the common x86 architecture. HP is the only major company that has stuck with Itanium, which it uses in its Business Critical Systems product line. Low sales of Itanium servers eventually led to a loss of developer support. In March, 2011, Oracle announced that it would stop all software development for Itanium. In the press release announcing the decision, Oracle noted that Microsoft and RedHat had already abandoned Itanium as well.

The problem was that HP and Oracle had signed a settlement agreement six months earlier (after former HP CEO Mark Hurd was hired as co-president of Oracle) in which Oracle specifically agreed to continue offering its product suite on HP platforms. While Oracle’s management claimed that the settlement merely implied a cooperative relationship, HP maintained that Oracle was required to develop Itanium versions for new software products. The case went to trial last year, and after the judge found in favor of HP, Oracle was forced to resume full support for the Itanium platform.

The damages
While HP prevailed in court, the damage to its business was done. In the announcement that it was ending development for the Itanium platform, Oracle stated that the platform was reaching the end of its life (something that has been disputed by HP and Intel). The resulting customer uncertainty played a large role in the rapid decline of HP‘s Itanium business. For the first six months of FY11 (through April 30, 2011), Business Critical Systems revenue was up 1% compared to the same period in FY10. BCS revenue then posted a 9% year-over-year drop in Q3 and a 23% year-over-year drop in Q4. BCS revenue then dropped another 23% in FY12.

In total, BCS revenue dropped from $2.3 billion in FY10 (the last full year before the dispute) to $1.6 billion in FY12, and is continuing to decline. These systems bring very high margins, and also generate a continuing stream of support/service revenue. At an evidentiary hearing last month, an economist consulting for HP estimated

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Articles of Interest

Gonzaga No. 1 In Final AP Poll

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

— Gonzaga’s first stint on top of The Associated Press’ college basketball poll lasted through the final Top 25 of the season.

The Bulldogs (31-2), the fourth of the four top seeds in the NCAA tournament, were a runaway No. 1 for a third straight week on Monday, receiving 45 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. They become the first school from a non-BCS conference to finish No. 1 in the final poll since Massachusetts of the Atlantic 10 in 1996.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Cyprus Deposit Seizure Hitting Euro and PIIGS Banks

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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I already have gone on the record that the taxation of deposits in Cyprus is nothing short of theft. Regardless of a bloated banking system that was in shambles, taking depositors’ assets under this method is wrong and it does not just target Russians and offshore depositors evading taxes. It does not even just target the wealthy. This also targets the average person on the ground. The ripples are being felt elsewhere throughout Europe (and here in America) as it poses secondary and tertiary bank and regulatory risks.

Here is how the ADRs of the European banks are being hit in New York trading.

National Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE: NBG) is at a new 52-week low with a drop of more than 7% to $0.92.

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: SAN) is down 4% at $7.47, and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE: BBVA) is down 4% at $9.69.

The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is down almost 3% at $8.75.

The iShares MSCI Italy Capped Index (NYSEMKT: EWI) represents all of Italy and is down 3% at $12.20, as this nation has no government at the moment and is too big to bail out.

Even the major banking stocks are down: Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) is down 4% at $42.80, UBS A.G. (NYSE: UBS) is down 3% at $15.90, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) is down 4.3% at $8.87, Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE: LYG) is down 2% at $2.97, Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) is down 3.6% at $18.53 and Credit Suisse Group A.G. (NYSE: CS) is down 3.5% at $27.42.

Before you stress too much about this, the impact is being overblown by the doomsday crowd and it is being made fun of as inconsequential by some of the financial media. Cyprus is a nation of 800,000 or so inhabitants with an economy of less than 20 billion euros. Its banking system was extremely large compared to the economy and was in shambles. The nation needs its bailout dollars.

This is just not how to fix things.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Active Trader, ADR, Banking & Finance, International Markets, Regulation Tagged: BBVA, BCS, CS, DB, EWI, IRE, LYG, NBG, RBS, SAN, UBS

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

HSBC Could Lay Off Thousands

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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The restructuring of the financial services industry, which has ranged from 30,000 layoffs at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) to cuts at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS), has reached multinational HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC). According to the Financial Times:

Stuart Gulliver, HSBC‘s chief executive, said when he announced annual results last week that he would “fixate on costs” over the coming year and promised to find a further $1 billion of annual savings in 2013.

The job cuts target has still to be fixed but people close to the bank suggested up to 5,000 staff could go as part of the $1 billion savings plan. If HSBC maintained the recent rate of staff cuts to cost savings, the number would be closer to 10,000.

Shares of HSBC are down fractionally in premarket trading, to $54.40 in a 52-week range of $38.56 to $57.37.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Banking & Finance, Jobs Tagged: BAC, BCS, C, HBC

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

What's Important in the Financial World (3/18/2013)

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By 24/7 Wall St.

Tax

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HSBC Job Cuts

The restructuring of the financial services industry, which has ranged from 30,000 layoffs at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) to cuts at Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS), has reached multinational HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: HBC). According to the Financial Times:

Stuart Gulliver, HSBC‘s chief executive, said when he announced annual results last week that he would “fixate on costs” over the coming year and promised to find a further $1 billion of annual savings in 2013.

The job cuts target has still to be fixed but people close to the bank suggested up to 5,000 staff could go as part of the $1 billion savings plan. If HSBC maintained the recent rate of staff cuts to cost savings, the number would be closer to 10,000.

Chinese Home Prices

One of the most substantial concerns about the Chinese economy is that inflation in securities, food prices and real estate could create bubbles. The central government has hoped to keep this under control with mortgage rules. Recent data show that has not worked. Bloomberg reports:

China‘s new home prices posted the broadest advance since December 2011, a test for new Premier Li Keqiang as he seeks to prevent a bubble without damping economic growth.

Prices climbed in 62 cities of the 70 the government tracks in February from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. Beijing prices jumped 5.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest since February 2011, while they advanced 8.1 percent in Guangzhou, the most since January 2011.

Brand new efforts to cool the market go into effect this month. However, they may be no more effective than the slew of such efforts instituted in the past.

Pay-TV Shake Up

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) wants to turn the model for payment to creators of premium content on its head. Its proposal is to pay based on the audience that shows and movies produce. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Verizon Communications Inc. is proposing to shake up the pay-television business based on a simple premise: it wants to tie the fees it pays to carry TV channels to how many people actually watch them.

Verizon, whose FiOS TV is the nation’s sixth-biggest pay-TV provider, with 4.7 million subscribers, has begun talks with several “midtier and smaller” media companies about paying for their channels based on audience size, according to Terry Denson, the phone company’s chief programming negotiator. He declined to identify any of the media companies.

Under existing arrangements, distributors like cable and satellite operators pay a monthly, per-subscriber fee to carry channels based on the number of homes in which they agree to make the channels available, regardless of how many people watch those channels.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Market Open Tagged: BAC, BCS, C, HBC, VZ

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Barclays PLC's Non-Cumulative Callable Dollar Preference Shares, Series 5 Ex-Dividend Reminder

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By DividendChannel.com

On 2/27/13, Barclays PLC’s Non-Cumulative Callable Dollar Preference Shares, Series 5 (NYSE: BCS.PRD) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.5078, payable on 3/15/13. As a percentage of BCS.PRD‘s recent share price of $25.98, this dividend works out to approximately 1.95%, so look for shares of BCS.PRD to trade 1.95% lower ? all else being equal ? when BCS.PRD shares open for trading on 2/27/13. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 7.83%, which compares to an average yield of 5.07% in the “Banking & Savings” preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel.
Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen » …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Barclays PLC's Non-Cumulative Callable Dollar Preference Shares, Series 3 Goes Ex-Dividend Soon

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By DividendChannel.com

On 2/27/13, Barclays PLC’s Non-Cumulative Callable Dollar Preference Shares, Series 3 (NYSE: BCS.PRA) will trade ex-dividend, for its quarterly dividend of $0.4437, payable on 3/15/13. As a percentage of BCS.PRA‘s recent share price of $25.68, this dividend works out to approximately 1.73%, so look for shares of BCS.PRA to trade 1.73% lower ? all else being equal ? when BCS.PRA shares open for trading on 2/27/13. On an annualized basis, the current yield is approximately 6.92%, which compares to an average yield of 5.07% in the “Banking & Savings” preferred stock category, according to Preferred Stock Channel.
Click here to learn which S.A.F.E. dividend stocks also have preferred shares that should be on your radar screen » …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets

News, Politics, Government

What JPM,BAC,C,GS, MS,HSBC,BCS,UBS, Have in Common

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By Robert Lenzner, Forbes Staff Not a week goes by without one of these financial institutions agreeing to pay a huge fine, settle a lawsuit charging fraud, be sued, blued and tattooed by a myriad of private plaintiffs, regulatory organizations concerning a broad sweep of activities that together give a sordid portrait of the global financial system. I find it difficult to absorb the charges these giants sold the public mortgage securities less valuable than portrayed, or laundered money for drug gangs, terrorist groups and nations like Iran that were on an embargoed list, or participated in another allegedly fraudulent practice that hurt their clients on behalf of the search for higher profits. So, I was not surprised that the Justice Department decided to sue the rating agency Standard & Poors for allegedly rating the credit quality of some faulty securities that collapsed in value during the meltdown of 2008. Still, I have a feeling the demand for a fine of $5 billion from the rating agency on transactions where the profit was a modest $33 million alerts me to the possible notion of excess government demands. I reckon these demands– and the swelter of ongoing investigations and lawsuits before the statute of limitations is over– has to do with the public’s anger at being exploited by the denizens of Wall Street. I reckon it has to with finally putting Brandeis’ glorious disinfectant on the wrongs done and making transparent to some greater extent precisely what went on behind the scenes in the financial community. It has also to do with the inability– harsh critics say unwillingness– of Uncle Sam to put a few corner-office culprits in prison. Justice takes time because investigations require careful discovery of who did what to whom as exampled in the email traffic at the core of the S & P case as well as most of the money laundering which involved bankers on foreign shores who may not be subject to the vestiges of American criminal law. For example, we still don’t know whom exactly is responsible for shifting the deposits of Iran from Europe or the UK to our shores. We don’t know — and we may never know who at HSBC decided to do business with Mexican drug cartels and arms of Al Qaeda. Note well; they were European institutions, not American, But, they were European institutions operating here. Be prepared for a further onslaught of lawsuits, many brought by foreign buyers of the damned mortgage-backed securities merchandised willy-nilly by Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual before they were purchased by JP Morgan, Bank of America and others. I am told there are 175 suits against Standard & Poors including several from Arab institutions. There are still investigations from state Attorney-Generals and most likely from the Justice Department. This means reserves for litigation by the banks will be hiked in preparation, which does impair earnings to some extent. It means the staining of reputations and more importantly raises the question about the adherence to statutes, and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

News, Politics, Government

BCS Conference Commissioners Earn Proportionally More Than Many Forbes 100 CEOs

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By Jason Belzer, Contributor College athletics has officially transcended  into the realm of  big business.  As new television contracts begin to infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into teams and conferences,  compensation for those responsible for brokering such mega deals have also increased significantly. New data has shown that BCS commissioners are not only making millions of dollars in salary to lead their respective conferences, but that from an executive compensation standpoint, they are making more than many of the country’s highest paid CEO‘s as a percentage of the net revenue their businesses’ produce.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Articles of Interest

QB's Girlfriend: ESPN's Fawning Not 'Creepy at All'

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By John Johnson If you haven’t heard the name Katherine Webb today, you missed a lesson in instant celebrity-making. Webb, also known as Miss Alabama, is the girlfriend of Crimson Tide quarterback AJ McCarron, whose team won the BCS title last night . But Webb’s celebrity turn began early in the game when ESPN…
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home