25.09 2010

Harvey Diamond: From high life to low point

In the mid- to late-1980s, Diamond and his wife, Marilyn, had became national talk show celebrities as they promoted their nonfiction book on the finer points of food combining, “Fit for Life.”

Son Beau, a little boy when the book was topping the best-seller charts, even appeared in two segments of the popular Merv Griffin talk show as an example of perfect nutrition.

Two decades later, with Harvey Diamond’s book royalties dwindling and his health failing because of Vietnam War-era exposure to Agent Orange, the future looked less secure.

But the strong bond between father and son was a bright spot in Harvey Diamond’s life.

Beau stayed with his father, helped him in his growing infirmity, and had developed an interest in the arcane world of foreign currency trading.

In his pitch to investors that started in the summer of 2006, Beau Diamond said that he had spent the previous nine years perfecting his safe, highly profitable method of foreign currency trading.

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23.09 2010

NZICT launches Smart Business Competition

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NZICT has today launched a competition to educate small to medium businesses on how they can use technology to smarten up their businesses.

The competition aims to raise awareness around investment in technology for businesses and how fast broadband can enable smarter use of technology for small to medium businesses (SMBs).

NZICT is looking to match the winner’s financial contribution dollar-for-dollar up to a maximum of $10,000 with ICT goods and services. NZICT will also supply a consultant for four days to make sure that the winner gains insight and value from their prize, which is valued at thousands of dollars. <

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22.09 2010

Sarasota wasn’t studio’s only option

But documents about the negotiations show that as late as Aug. 30, Sanborn was still considering sites in California and Michigan and an undisclosed venue in Manatee County.

Despite that late-in-the-game ambivalence, there had been concerns in late May that the state’s film office might “leak” that there were negotiations going on with Sanborn and that Gov.

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22.09 2010

Sale of non-regulated businesses will realise £600m for Warrington-based United Utilities

UNITED Utilities (UU), the Warrington-based water company, expects the sale of its remaining non-regulated businesses to realise £600m which the group will retain.

And it said in a trading update today that changes to corporation tax after the June Budget should net UU more than £200m over five years, with about £50m anticipated during the current financial year.

The boost will benefit the company which had price cuts for its water customers imposed on it by industry watchdog Ofwat over the current five year regulatory pricing review to 2015, together with increased levels of investment to deliver service improvements.

Chief executive Philip Green said today that the business remains on course, but that underlying operating profits in the regulated water division will be lower than last year, due to the new pricing structure.

He said: “The group is on track to deliver results in line with our expectations, reflecting the impact of the recent regulatory price review.

“In line with our strategy of focusing on our core activities, we have now agreed the sale of the vast majority of our non-regulated businesses for a total enterprise value of approximately £600m.”

He added: “We believe that, with the group’s consistent focus on its core activities and the low cost of its debt portfolio, we are well positioned to deliver outperformance over the 2010-2015 regulatory period.”

UU said it should complete the disposal of most of its non-core businesses in the second half of the current financial year.

Chief executive Philip Green declared a strategy on his arrival five years ago of re-focusing on the core regulated business of North West water and waste-water which began with the sale of UU’s outsourcing arm Vertex, followed by the disposal of its electricity division.

At the time the non-regulated business, which included stakes in companies from Australia to the former Eastern Bloc, represented less than 10% of UU’s total revenues.

The strategy is aimed at clearing up the group’s portfolio of businesses, while improving performance levels of its regulated North West water operations.

Today’s update also revealed one-off charges of about £15m this year relating to restructuring costs.

18.09 2010

Spring Clean Your Investments

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Spring is in the air and it is a good time to take a fresh look at your retirement savings plans. There have been many changes in retirement savings in recent times that mean you should review any schemes you signed up for prior to the introduction of KiwiSaver in October, 2007.

At that time, a new type of savings and investment product was introduced, called a Portfolio Investment Entity (or PIE). There are significant tax benefits to be gained from switching from an old-style product to a PIE. Before you pull out of an old-style product, you need to check a couple of things.

Check whether there are any penalties for early withdrawal and whether there is any insurance cover attached to your savings plan.

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18.09 2010

The Tube Dude wave

One would never guess that the hopeful posterboard sentiments hoisted by his Tube Dudes — “Smile,” “Imagine,” “Be Nice,” “Love” — emerged from the ruins of a business collapse. But if Gerber’s Tube Dudes wind up redeeming his 2010 fortunes, their perplexed creator can only marvel at the arbitrary nature of consumerism.

“This isn’t art,” says Gerber, who shuttered his Legend Custom Yachts warehouse this summer when the market for luxury powerboats sank. “I always thought of my boats as art because I put so much care and time into them.

“But when I tell people what I do for a living, it’s like, oh, that’s interesting. Then when they find out about these guys, they go: ‘I can’t believe it. You’re the Tube Dude guy? That’s really cool.’”

Gerber shut down his 67,000-square-foot Legend warehouse in August.

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18.09 2010

Flybe sets sights on European growth

Flybe

Regional airline Flybe today said it will continue its expansion into continental Europe after becoming one of only three major European airlines to report profits throughout the recession.

The privately-owned carrier, which recently signed a codesharing agreement with Air France, said it is looking at potential acquisitions of regional airlines in Europe after weathering the economic storm.

But the airline said it would maintain its regional ethos, with flight times continuing to average less than an hour, on board planes with just 85 seats.

Flybe, which operates daily links between Liverpool John Lennon airport and the Isle of Man, is also going to start to operate up to four flights each weekday and three on Saturdays and Sundays to George Best Belfast City from October 31.

The Exeter-based carrier, which is also in flight share discussions with Scandinavian airline Finnair, said it had put in an order to purchase up to 140 new aircraft, which would replace some of its current 68-strong fleet.

Flybe posted pre-tax profits before exceptionals of £6.8 million in the year to March 31, down from £12.8 million the previous financial year, after a marginal decline in turnover to £570.5 million from £572.4 million.