The company raised its guidance for the year, and its shares climbed after hours.

Gap has struggled for years to reclaim its status as a fashion leader, and the results show it is making strides in its effort to get more people to shop in its stores. More than two-thirds of the company’s revenue came from stores in the U.S., while 12 percent was generated online.

“During the quarter, we improved sales, grew earnings per share and continued investing in the business to drive performance,” said CEO Glenn Murphy.

Gap said its net income was $233 million, or 47 cents per share, for the period that ended April 28. That includes a benefit of a penny per share related to reassessing its tax position, Gap said. Analysts on average forecast earnings of 46 cents per share, according to FactSet. Gap’s earnings rose on a per-share basis, even though its net income was flat, because the company had 16 percent fewer shares outstanding.

Gap first announced its quarterly revenue earlier this month. It rose 6 percent to $3.49 billion, topping analysts’ average forecast for $3.46 billion.

Revenue from stores open at least a year, an important gauge of retailers’ health, rose 4 percent instant credit reports. The comparison is considered key because it isn’t skewed by results from stores that open or close during the year.

The measure rose 5 percent at Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America and 4 percent at Old Navy stores in North America. It fell 4 percent at international stores, though total overseas revenue rose 13 percent to $511 million.

Online revenue rose 18 percent to $410 million, the company said.

Gap said its operating expenses were $980 million, up $62 million from a year earlier, and its margin was about 10 percent. Marketing expenses rose $20 million to $139 million in the most recent quarter, including greater investment in marketing the Gap brand.

The company raised its guidance to $1.78 to $1.83 per share from $1.75 to $1.80. Analysts expect $1.97 per share.

After hours, Gap shares rose more than 8 percent at one point. They settled up about 94 cents, or 3.6 percent above their closing price of $26.31. The shares had lost 79 cents during regular trading Thursday. Over the past year, they’ve traded between $15.08 and $29.23.

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Wuebbels, who joined MEMC in 2007, has served most recently as a vice president and a general manager at the O’Fallon, Mo.-based maker of silicon wafers for the solar and semiconductor industries. He replaces CFO Mark Murphy, who resigned to return to Praxair Inc. as president of Praxair Surface Technologies.

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The political uncertainty has alarmed the international creditors who have given Greece billions of euros in bailout loans over the past two years, and has thrown the country’s continued presence in the European Union’s joint currency into serious doubt.

President Karolos Papoulias convened the heads of the parties that came in the top three spots in last Sunday’s inconclusive elections, in an ultimate effort to broker an agreement after a week of talks led to deadlock. The meeting ended without a solution, but the process continues while the president holds individual meetings with the leaders of smaller parties that made it into parliament.

Voters furious at the handling of Greece’s financial crisis and two years of harsh austerity measures taken in return for billions of euros in international bailout loans punished the formerly dominant socialist PASOK and conservative New Democracy parties in the elections. The two saw their support crumble to the lowest point in decades, while Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, made big gains to come in second place after campaigning on an anti-bailout platform.

The PASOK and New Democracy leaders could form a coalition with the smaller Democratic Left party of Fotis Kouvelis _ combined they would have 168 seats in the 300-member parliament. New Democracy won 18.9 percent last Sunday while PASOK garnered just 13.2 percent, compared to nearly 44 percent in the last elections in 2009. Kouvelis’ 6.1 percent put him in a kingmaker position, with 19 seats.

But all three insist any power-sharing deal must include Syriza, led by the 38-year-old Alexis Tsipras, given its strong showing at the ballot box.

Tsipras, however, insists he cannot join or even lend his support to a government that will continue implementing the terms of Greece’s international bailout. In return for euro240 billion in rescue loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, Greece has imposed severe spending cuts, including slashing pensions and salaries in the public sector, and repeated rounds of tax hikes. The measures have left Greece mired in a fifth year of deep recession, with unemployment spiraling above 21 percent.

“The three parties that have agreed on a two-year government in order to apply (the bailout) have 168 seats in parliament,” Tsipras said after the meeting. “Let them go ahead. Their demand that Syriza participate come what may in their own agreement is senseless and unprecedented.”

Tsipras insists the terms of the bailout must be cancelled. PASOK head Evangelos Venizelos, who spent nine months handling the crisis as finance minister, and conservative leader Antonis Samaras, say that position is irresponsible and will force Greece out of the euro. Although Sunday’s meeting convened by the president with the three top party leaders was inconclusive, Venizelos said that “I retain some limited but existing optimism that a government can be formed.”

Samaras appeared more pessimistic.

“I made every effort for the cooperation of all,” he said. “Syriza didn’t listen to the mandate of the Greek people and does not accept not only the formation of a viable government, but not even the tolerance of a government which would in fact undertake to renegotiate the terms of the (bailout) and the loan agreement.”

Tsipras, however, stuck to his position, insisting that supporting a pro-bailout government would be a betrayal of his pre-election platform.

“After today’s meeting it is obvious they are demanding that Syriza become an accessory to a crime,” he said after the discussions with the president. “In the name of democracy, of our patriotic duty, we cannot accept this shared guilt. We call on all Greeks to condemn once and for all the forces of the past and to realize that only one hope remains: unity against blackmail in order to prevent the continuing barbarity.

“Fellow Greeks, we can assure you of one thing: we will not betray you.”

Tsipras will also have his eye on recent opinion polls which show his party would gain strength if Greeks go to the ballot box again next month.

A poll published by To Vima newspaper Sunday indicated Syriza would come first in new elections with 20.5 percent of the vote _ less than the 28 percent an earlier opinion poll published Thursday gave him, but still well ahead of New Democracy. Although it would not be enough to form a government, it would put him in the dominant position to form a coalition with smaller anti-bailout parties.

To Vima’s poll, carried out by Kappa Research, showed New Democracy in second place with 18.1 percent and PASOK losing yet more votes to reach 12.2 percent. The poll was carried out on May 9 and 10, and had a margin of error of 3.09 percentage points.

Papoulias’ mediation to broker a deal could in theory continue until May 17, the scheduled opening date for the new parliament, although they are expected to end sooner. If no agreement is reached, Greece will have to hold new elections next month, most likely on June 10th or 17th.

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The East African nation has secured a $100 million line of credit from Qatar National Bank and will receive a $500-million loan within a month from an unidentified provider, Yol said in an interview in Juba, the capital, on May 8. Loans are also being sought from countries including China.

]]> http://yourhomeadviser.com/south-sudan-hunts-for-loans-as-oil-output-halt-dents-economy-bloomberg/feed/ http://yourhomeadviser.com/enbridge-agm-police-out-in-full-force-at-giant-energy-companys-annual-general-meeting/ http://yourhomeadviser.com/enbridge-agm-police-out-in-full-force-at-giant-energy-companys-annual-general-meeting/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 09:44:26 +0000 Moon http://yourhomeadviser.com/enbridge-agm-police-out-in-full-force-at-giant-energy-companys-annual-general-meeting/ Dozens of police and security guards were out in full force outside the King Edward hotel on Wednesday as protesters were marching toward the venue.

Enbridge is holding its annual general meeting here and anger over its proposed Northern Gateway pipeline threatened to get loud.

With drums pounding, protesters chanted

Oil has fallen every day since May 1. The price of benchmark U.S. crude has dropped by 6.7 percent in that time, while Brent crude has declined 5.4 percent.

On Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude lost $2.31, or 2.3 percent, to $95.63 per barrel in New York. Brent crude lost $2.32, or 2 percent, to $110.84 per barrel in London.

Prices have declined on disappointing jobs numbers in the U personal business card.S. and elections in France and Greece that put Europe’s austerity program in jeopardy. Analysts say benchmark crude could hit $90 by Labor Day.

Meanwhile, the national average for gas is now $3.76, down 17.2 cents per gallon since early April.

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With more than 83 percent of the vote counted, Greece appeared to be heading toward political stalemate. Nobody won enough votes to form a government, and the two parties that backed the bailout _ the conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK _ conceded they need to win over adversaries to form a viable coalition.

“I understand the rage of the people, but our party will not leave Greece ungoverned,” said New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras.

New Democracy was leading with nearly 20 percent of the vote, which would give it 110 seats in the 300-member parliament. PASOK, which has spent 21 years in government since 1981 and stormed to victory with more than 43 percent in 2009, saw its support slashed to about 13.5 percent. It will have just 41 seats, compared to 160 in the last election.

The two parties saw their support plummet to the lowest level since 1974, when Greece emerged from a seven-year dictatorship. The outcome showed widespread public anger at the harsh austerity measures imposed over the past two years in return for rescue loans from other European Union countries and the International Monetary Fund. Without the funds, Greece faced a disastrous default that could have dragged down other financially troubled European countries and seen it leave the euro.

Voters who deserted the two mainstays of Greek politics in droves headed to a cluster of smaller parties on both the left and right, including the extremist Golden Dawn, which rejects the neo-Nazi label and insists it is nationalist patriotic. The movement has been blamed for violent attacks on immigrants and ran on an anti-immigrant platform, vowing to “clean up” Greece and calling for land mines to be planted along the country’s borders. The party looked set to win about 7 percent of the vote, giving it 21 deputies in parliament _ a stunning rise for a group that earned just 0.29 percent of the vote in 2009.

Sunday’s other big winner was Alexis Tsipras, the 38-year-old leader of the Radical Left Coalition, or Syriza, who saw his party poised for an unprecedented second place with 16.4 percent and 51 seats _ the first time in nearly 40 years that any party other than New Democracy or PASOK has held the spot.

Turnout stood at just over 64 percent _ a low figure for the country, where voting is officially compulsory, although no sanctions are applied for not casting a ballot.

Negotiations are expected to begin Monday to form a coalition. As first party, Samaras will get three days to seek partners. If he fails the mandate will go to the second party for a further three days, and then to the third party. If no agreement can be reached, the country heads to new elections guaranteed online personal loans.

Both Samaras and PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, who spent nine months as finance minister, indicated any unity government would have to include more than just their two parties.

But in a note that will likely raise alarm among Greece’s international creditors, Samaras insisted any coalition should renegotiate the terms of the country’s bailout.

“We are ready to take up the responsibility to form a new government of national salvation with two exclusive aims: For Greece to remain in the euro and to amend the terms of the loan agreements so that there is economic growth and relief for Greek society,” he said.

Riding high on his massive gains, Tsipras stuck to his anti-bailout position, saying the agreement should be overturned altogether.

“The people have rewarded a proposal made by us to form a government of the Left that will cancel the loan agreements and overturn the course of our people toward misery,” he said before heading out to meet throngs of jubilant supporters.

More than two years of repeated austerity measures that have included pension and salary cuts and waves of tax hikes have pushed Greece into a deep recession that has seen the jobless rate explode and tens of thousands of businesses close.

Venizelos insisted his party, which was in power from the start of the crisis in late 2009 until a political crisis forced it into an uneasy coalition with New Democracy, had no choice but to impose the spending cuts.

“For us at PASOK, the day is particularly painful,” he said. “We knew that we would pay the price, having taken an emotionally and political unbearable position to take the measures that were necessary.”

He called for a broad coalition of pro-European parties, regardless on their stance on the bailouts.

“A coalition government of the old two-party system would not have sufficient legitimacy or sufficient domestic and international credibility if it would gather a slim majority,” Venizelos said. “A government of national unity with the participation of all the parties that favor a European course, regardless of their positions toward the loan agreements, would have meaning.”

The political leaders, humbled by the drubbing in the polls which saw their combined support drop to about 33 percent, compared to a historical average of 80 percent, will have to work fast to ensure their country doesn’t slide into protracted political instability. Greece’s international creditors are also looking to see whether it will introduce new measures expected in June to ensure the country meets the fiscal targets of its rescue loans.

____

Demetris Nellas and Nebi Qena in Athens and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki contributed.

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