KBR has won two contracts by the Republic of Iraq Ministry of Oil through the South Refineries Co.
KBR will provide licensing and basic engineering services for the construction of fluid catalytic cracking and solvent deasphalting units at the planned grassroots Maissan Refinery in Maissan, Iraq. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Houston-based KBR (NSYE: KBR) plans to license its FCC Technology for an anticipated 47,500 barrels per day FCC unit and its “Rose” technology for a 45,000 barrels per day SDA unit poor credit personal loans.
KBR and ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. have formed a joint marketing alliance to work on the FCC unit.
“These awards mark the first wins for KBR’s technology business in Iraq and provide KBR the opportunity to introduce two of its leading refining technologies into an important, emerging market,” Tim Challand, president of KBR Technology, said in a statement.
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Southwest, American and American Eagle rank in the bottom half of all U.S.-based airlines in the U.S. Department of Transportation's latest monthly report of on-time arrivals.
Southwest (NYSE: LUV) ranked 10th out of 18 carriers after posting an on-time arrival rate of 78.45 percent in June.
American (NYSE: AMR) ranked 14th, with an on-time arrival rate of 73.76 percent. American Eagle ranked 17th with an on-time arrival rate of 67.89 percent. American Eagle’s rate was followed only by Comair, which had an on-time arrival rate of 64.87 percent.
The top three airlines were Hawaiian, Alaska and US Airways, which reported on-time arrival rates of 93 one hour payday loan.62 percent, 88.94 percent and 83.37 percent, respectively.
For the first six months of the year, Southwest ranked seventh with an on-time arrival rate of 80.58 percent. Meanwhile, American and American Eagle ranked 14th and 17th, respectively, with on-time arrival rates of 77.18 and 74.53 percent, respectively.
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For the fourth-straight week, gas price averages remained relatively flat, although different areas saw different price movement, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Weekend Gas Watch.
According to the Auto Club, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.113 per gallon, which is eight-tenths of a cent less than last week, six cents higher than last month, and 24 cents higher than last year.
On the Central Coast, the average price is $3.185, up one-tenth of a cent from last week, six cents higher than a month ago, and 23 cents above last year.
In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $3 payday loan online.096, which is nine-tenths of a cent lower than last week, five cents higher than last month, and 23 cents more than last year.
"While the broader U.S. economic picture remains muddled, the past week showed a large crude oil inventory draw down which some analysts see as a hopeful sign for the economy. We’ll have to see if gas prices are affected in the coming weeks," Auto Club Spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement.
With a new mandate looming that will require business owners to file millions more tax forms, the Internal Revenue Service has begun the daunting process of figuring out how to turn the law’s sweeping demands into actual rules for taxpayers.
The new regulations, which kick in at the start of 2012, require any taxpayer with business income to issue 1099 forms to all vendors from whom they purchased more than $600 of goods and services that year. That promises to launch a fusillade of new paperwork: An estimated 40 million taxpayers will be subject to the requirement, including 26 million who run sole proprietorships, according to a report released this week by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson.
Olson’s office, which operates independently within the IRS, flagged the new reporting requirements as one of its priority issues for the next year. Like many who have delved into the details of the new rules, Olson is concerned about their far-reaching scope and potential unintended consequences.
"The new reporting burden, particularly as it falls on small businesses, may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance," the Taxpayer Advocate Service wrote in a report released this week.
The new rules are aimed at reducing the "tax gap" between what individuals and businesses owe and what they actually pay. The federal government misses out on estimated $300 billion each year from tax underpayment. The expanded reporting requirements, which Congress slipped into the landmark health care reform bill passed in March, are an attempt to create a paper trail of 1099s exposing business-to-business payments that might otherwise stay off the radar.
But the cost of that paper trail could swamp the small companies, sole proprietors freelancers forced to generate it. Pennsylvania business networking organization SMC Business Councils surveyed its members and found that they currently average 10 filings a year of 1099 forms. The new rules would push that average to more than 200 filings per year for a typical small business, the industry group estimates.
The IRS will have broad leeway to interpret the rules — and it’s already showing signs that it will look for ways to staunch the paperwork flood.
In a late May speech before the two payroll industry trade group, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman announced a major exception to the new rules: The IRS plans to exempt transactions made through credit and debit cards. A separate reporting requirement kicks in next year that will cover card transactions and help the IRS spot unreported payments made through those channels, "so there is no need for businesses to report them as well," Shulman said. "Whenever a business uses a credit or debit card, there will be no new burden under the new law."
How much of a sigh of relief you should breathe depends on what kind of purchases your business makes. Some big-ticket consumer items that are typically paid by card — airline tickets or hotel stays, for example — will be 1099-free. But SMC Business Councils President Tom Henschke, a vocal critic of the new law, estimates that exempting credit-card transactions would affect less than 10% of his members’ reporting requirements.
"Most of the small businesses out there that do small business [purchasing] don’t do it by credit card," he said. "One of the reasons is the transaction cost is very high — 2% to 3%."
Henschke thinks the main beneficiaries of the exemption are likely to be credit-card companies, which will gain an added hook to get small businesses to pay their fees pay day loans. Nolan Newman, a Seattle CPA who specializes in small-business needs, says it’s certainly possible that card usage will rise as a result: "If I’m a small business and I use my credit card moderately, would I try to increase my volume with which I pay vendors with it? Maybe."
Henschke foresees another unintended consequence of the new reporting provisions: that in order to cut down on tax forms to be filed, businesses will trim the number of vendors they do business with. "I’ve actually heard businesses talking about consolidating their purchases, going from 150, 200 vendors, down to less than 100," he said. "That will most certainly lead to some small businesses being swept under the door."
The taxpayer advocate’s office shares that concern. "Many large vendors already have computer systems that can track purchases by customer. They are likely to advertise that they will track each customer’s total purchases and send them a report at the end of the year that business customers can use to comply with the Form 1099 filing requirement," the office wrote in its report. "Small businesses that lack the capacity to track customer purchases may lose customers, leaving the economy with more large national vendors and less local competition."
That was just one of seven major pitfalls the Taxpayer Advocate Service foresees in the new rules. It also questions whether they will actually do much to close the tax gap. Because of product returns and other complications, the payments documented by the 1099 trail won’t match up cleanly against the revenue businesses report. "The IRS will face challenges making productive use of this new volume of information reports," Olson’s office concluded.
That could help explain one otherwise puzzling aspect of the new tax law, which is that despite the sweeping reporting requirements, the Joint Committee on Taxation — a nonpartisan Congressional committee that analyzes pending tax legislation — estimated that it would bring in only about $2 billion a year in new tax revenue. Committee staffers wouldn’t comment on the record.
"Judging from the estimate that the committee has made, they didn’t think it was that far-reaching," said Eric Toder of the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank. "Does it close a lot of the tax gap? No."
The IRS did not return repeated calls and e-mails asking for clarification on its timeline for drafting the new regulations.
In his talk to accountants in May, Shulman put off questions about the expanded 1099 reporting, saying that even the idea of exempting credit-card transactions was just "an example of where we are headed, not as a complete implementation plan." The agency is currently seeking public comment on how it should implement the new rules.
The IRS has some leeway in implementing the new law — but only some. "The regulations are supposed to implement the intent of Congress; they’re not supposed to be independent policy-making," Toder said. "But obviously, there’s some discretion there."
Shulman himself hinted that it may take new legislation — not just IRS regs — to fix what Congress has wrought. "We won’t hesitate to consider alternate approaches," he said in his speech, "including working with Congress to address any potential implementation issues that may arise during this process."
Fitch Ratings agency said it will have to downgrade Blockbuster’s ratings to “restricted default” or “default” if the company fails to make a $42.4 million payment to creditors next month.
The payment was originally due July 1, but Blockbuster received an extension from bondholders who hold 70 percent of the outstanding principal on the senior secured notes, which are due in 2014. Blockbuster now has until Aug. 13 to make a payment.
Fitch said Blockbuster’s ratings are okay for now, but will become a problem if they miss another payment when the extended deadline hits.
Fitch said it will downgrade Blockbuster’s issuer default rating to ‘RD’ from ‘C’ if the company ends up defaulting again or receiving another extension on Aug cash advance in one hour. 13. In the alternative, the ratings giant said it will downgrade the company’s issuer default rating from ‘C’ to ‘D’ if the company ends up filing for bankruptcy or entering into a similar procedure on or before Aug. 13.
New York-based ratings agency Standard & Poor’s also reacted to Blockbuster’s rough Thursday. The company lowered its corporate credit rating on Blockbuster to ‘SD’ from ‘CC’, and the company’s ratings on Blockbuster’s $675 million senior secured notes were downgraded to ‘D’ from ‘CC.’
ATHENS, Greece — Moody’s Investors Service slashed Greece’s credit rating to junk status Monday in a new blow to the debt-ridden country that is under international scrutiny after narrowly avoiding default last month.
A Moody’s statement said it was cutting Greece’s government bond ratings by four notches to Ba1 from A3, with a stable outlook for the next 12-18 months. It was the second of the three major agencies to accord Greek bonds junk status. Standard & Poor’s did the same in late April.
The downgrades reflect concern that the country could fail to meet its obligations to cut its deficit and pay down its debt — which the Greek government says is out of the question.
Finance Ministry officials in Athens had no immediate reaction to the rating cut, which came as a delegation from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union started an interim review of the country’s efforts to pull itself out of a major debt crisis.
After amassing a vast public debt and overspending that sent its budget deficit spiraling to 13.6 percent of gross domestic product last year, Greece was saved from defaulting on its loans in May by the first installment of a joint EU and IMF bailout no credit check payday loans. It is to receive the second in September, pending implementation of a major austerity program that has sparked strong union reaction and a series of damaging strikes.
"The Ba1 rating reflects our analysis of the balance of the strengths and risks associated with the Eurozone/IMF support package," said Sarah Carlson, Moody’s lead analyst for Greece.
"The package effectively eliminates any near-term risk of a liquidity-driven default and encourages the implementation of a credible, feasible and incentive-compatible set of structural reforms, which have a high likelihood of stabilizing debt service requirements at manageable levels.
"Nevertheless, the macroeconomic and implementation risks associated with the program are substantial and more consistent with a Ba1 rating."
German business software maker SAP AG has agreed to buy Sybase Inc. in a $5.8 billion deal that ratchets up SAP’s rivalry with database leader Oracle Corp.
The deal intensifies the battle between SAP and Oracle to run more of the programs that corporations use to manage their data.
Oracle is the world’s leading database maker a market where Sybase is a small player and has been on a buying binge in an attempt to take business in other areas from SAP.
Faisal Shahzad lived on the downslope side of affluence in the small Connecticut hamlet of Shelton. On Monday, while Shahzad sits in a jail cell in downtown New York City, a judge is scheduled to foreclose on his home, clipping Shahzad’s last attachment to the American dream.
Like many other homeowners across the U.S., he used his house as a piggy bank. Shahzad, who is accused of trying to detonate a Nissan Pathfinder in the center of Times Square last week, took out a second mortgage on the home just months before he left the country for what prosecutors say was a stretch of bomb-making training in Waziristan, Pakistan.
That second mortgage gave him access to a $65,000 credit line, secured by the tidy three-bedroom suburban house he bought in July 2004 for $273,000. Though the frothy real estate market was flinging around cheap money, Shahzad put down the traditional 20%, financing a mortgage balance of $218,400 at a 4% interest rate.
The 30-year-old had a steady job as a financial analyst at Affinion in Norwalk, Conn. He was trading up from a condo he had recently sold. He seemed like a good risk.
And for years, he was. Sure, he repeatedly tried to sell the house, listing it for the boom-time price of $399,000 just one year after buying it — but who didn’t try to hit the real-estate jackpot? And while others were draining their homes of equity, Shahzad stayed away from extra mortgages and loans for the first few years he owned the house. He married Huma Mian, added her name to the deed in December 2007, and kept mailing off his mortgage checks each month.
So when he approached Wachovia Bank in January 2009 for a $65,000 loan secured by his home, no red flags were raised. They approved the money, and he suddenly had a line of credit. Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, did not return calls requesting comment.
Three months later, Shahzad would become a U.S. citizen. Four months later he would leave his job. Five months later he would stop paying his mortgage and leave for Dubai and, eventually, Pakistan.
The house sat empty after he left. In September 2009, Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) initiated foreclosure proceedings, saying Shahzad owed them $200,673.49. Chase, and its local attorney, declined to comment on the case instant payday loan no telecheck.
Connecticut state marshal Mark Pesiri served the papers on the abandoned home, in accordance with Connecticut procedures.
"I don’t get too many up there," Pesiri said.
It’s true. There’s hardly a For Sale sign or foreclosure notice to be seen along the three-mile stretch of Long Hill Avenue that Shahzad lived on. His 7-year-old, grey-sided house is the noticeable exception. There’s a lockbox on the front door at #119, where the lawn is erratically mowed and trash has accumulated in front of the garage door.
Two days after the foreclosure papers were delivered, Chase hired appraiser Scott Iadarola to inspect the property. He valued it at $245,000, putting Shahzad $20,673.49 under water — meaning Shahzad owed the banks that much more than his property was worth.
Shahzad — listed as Faisal "Zhahzad" in the legal filings — never responded to any of these notices and or court actions. He was in Pakistan, where he has told investigators he was studying bomb making. When he returned in February 2010, without his wife or children, he didn’t make up his missing mortgage payments, or try to execute a short sale, or even return the keys. Instead, he rented an apartment 13 miles away in Bridgeport, Conn.
Two months later, he would allegedly drive a Nissan Pathfinder loaded down with fertilizer, propane tanks, gas cans, fireworks, clocks and wiring, and leave it smoking on a street in Times Square.
Meanwhile, the interest meter on his Shelton home kept ticking. And, as many American homeowners now understand far too well, home prices kept falling. When Shahzad house was reappraised on March 15, 2010, Iadarola declared the property to be worth just $240,000 — 12% less than Shahzad paid for it six years ago.
And so on Monday, when Shahzad’s case is scheduled to appear before a judge in Connecticut Superior Court, he will be just one more of the millions of American homeowners who hasn’t paid his mortgage in more than a year and is sitting on a debt — in this case, $37,870.38 — that outstrips the value of the home buried beneath it.
Electrical Components International Inc., a manufacturer of wire harnesses for appliances, sought bankruptcy protection with a plan to reduce debt by about 50 percent.
The Creve Coeur-based company listed assets of about $363.6 million and debt of about $435.7 million in Chapter 11 documents filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The company is owned by San Francisco-based private-equity firm Francisco Partners LP.
Electrical Components makes wire harnesses, bundles of wires or cables fitted with connectors or plugs that deliver electricity throughout appliances.
David J. Webster, chief executive of Electrical Components, said in court filings that the company had had financial difficulties since late 2007 because of the downturn in the housing market.
The company had taken cost-cutting measures including plant shutdowns and consolidations and layoffs, but "the downturn continued to reduce sales at unprecedented levels and consequently reduce earnings," Webster said.
Under a proposal the company worked out with creditors before bankruptcy, lenders with the highest level of repayment — owed a principal of about $261.4 million — would get 54.7 percent of the new common stock in the reorganized company and a $145 million term loan. Some of the lenders elected to receive $10.4 million in cash rather than stock.
Investors have agreed to buy the remaining 45.3 percent of the new stock.
Lenders with a secondary priority of repayment, owed a principal of $60 million, would share $10 million. Unsecured creditors wouldn’t be affected, and would be paid what they’re owed as it is due.
The company said it was the largest supplier of wire harnesses to the North American white goods market, a term used for large home appliances. The company generated $460 million in sales for the year ended Dec. 31.
Electrical Components International was formed in 2006 when Clayton-based Viasystems Group Inc. sold its wire harness business to Francisco Partners for about $320 million.
The Viasystems wire harness business was renamed Electrical Components International and operated as a stand-alone company under Electrical Components International Holdings, a subsidiary of Francisco Partners.
Robert Kelly of the Post-Dispatch contributed.
A Phoenix restaurant is making waves with its menu in Manhattan. St. Francis, 111 E. Camelback Road, was among a handful of new restaurants nationwide to garner the attention of the James Beard Foundation.
The national nonprofit annually nominates chefs, restaurants and entrepreneurs across a variety of categories as part of its efforts to support and promote the culinary arts around the country. St. Francis was selected among a group of 31 restaurants nationwide as a “Best New Restaurant” nominee for an annual James Beard Award. It was the only restaurant in the state to be nominated in that category, but among a number of Valley properties to be recognized by the organization.
Although the restaurant didn’t make a second round of cuts in the competition — nor did any other Arizona eatery — St. Francis chef and owner Aaron Chamberlin said he’s thrilled that his restaurant has received the accolade.
“It’s really the Oscar award for the restaurant industry. We feel very lucky to be recognized, and it reassures us that we are doing the right thing,” Chamberlin said.
Chamberlin opened the restaurant in partnership with his brother, David, a principal Chamberlin Associates, a property development company, last fall.
After buying the former office of a well-known Valley architect, investing almost $1 million in renovations and creating an indoor-outdoor facility with an authentic wood-fired oven, the pair set out to serve the central Phoenix area. Despite the economy, the restaurant has managed to create a buzz and develop a following all while keeping its neighborhood feel near Brophy College Preparatory and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, restaurant’s namesake.
“We are front and center on Camelback and when you drive by you see us. That helps, but it’s important that we deliver and serve our customers every day,” Chamberlin said.
The restaurant specializes in a range of food and spirits, from an on-tap beer and a sandwich to a glass of red or white wine and dinner entrees including wood-fired pork chops, pot roast and roasted salmon salad. The restaurant also recently added a business lunch, with three courses of the chef’s choice, for $18 with a 30-minute in and out guarantee.
Chamberlin said that since the James Beard nomination was announced in February, it’s been hard to gauge how much business has been driven by the attention pay day loan lenders.
But Chamberlin, whose led food operations at establishments including La Grande Orange, Chelsea’s Kitchen in Phoenix and the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, said it’s important not to be swayed by glitz and glitter.
“My business can win all kinds of awards, but if it’s not making money, I am not in business anymore,” he said.
In addition to St. Francis, a number of other restaurants and culinary personalities initially were selected by the James Beard Foundation, but none were tapped to continue on in the competition.
They include: Kevin Binkley of Binkley’s Restaurant in Cave Creek, Beau MacMillan of elements at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley, and Silvano Salcido Esparza of Phoenix’s Barrio Cafe for Southwest’s Best Chef; Vincent’s on Camelback, Outstanding Restaurant; Tarbell’s, Outstanding Wine Service; Janos Wilder of Tucson’s Janos, Outstanding Chef category; Sam Fox, president and CEO of Scottsdale-based Fox Restaurant Concepts, Outstanding Restaurateur.
Steve Chucri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association, said it’s a tribute to the state’s food culture that so many businesses have garnered attention from New York.
“This is really something that we are especially proud of in the food industry here and to have this kind of critical success given the economy,” Chucri said.
“Restaurants are a very competitive group, but we are also family when it comes to seeing each of us succeed,” Chucri said.
Arizona’s reputation continues to grow. Two Valley chefs have been invited to create meals at the prestigious organization for a hand-picked roster of guests.
On July 7, chef-owner Gregory LaPrad of Quiessence Restaurant at The Farm at South Mountain, will take his interpretation of modern American cooking to New York.
Peter Deruvo, chef at Sassi Restaurant, has been invited to cook at The James Beard House on July 21.
A list of final nominees can be viewed at: www.jamesbeard.org/awards under the “2010 Award Nominees.” Arizona’s nominations during the competition’s first-round can be viewed at “2010 JBF Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists.”
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