October 18, 2011   17 notes

TEXT-Fitch places Interstar 2006-2G class A1’s ‘F1+’ rtg on RWN


The rating actions are as listed below.AUD254.6m Class A1 (ISIN: USQ49677AA73) Long-Term rating affirmed at ‘AAAsf’; Outlook Stable; Short-Term rating of ‘F1+’ placed on RWNAUD233.4m Class A2 (ISIN: USQ49677AB56) affirmed at ‘AAAsf’; Outlook StableAUD24.2m Class AB (ISIN: AU0000INBHC6) affirmed at ‘AAAsf’; Outlook StableAUD28.4m Class B (ISIN: AU0000INBHD4) ‘A+sf’; remains on RWNThe RWN on the Short-Term rating of class A1 reflects that of Barclays Bank Plc , which is the conditional purchaser agent for this particular class of notes. Barclays Capital , as re-marketing agent, is obliged to use reasonable efforts to identify third-party purchasers for all of the class A1 notes. In the event that a third-party purchaser cannot be identified, Barclays Bank Plc will under a conditional purchaser agreement purchase the tender notes at a pre agreed margin over the Libor. On 13 October 2011, Barclays’ Issuer Default Ratings and Viability Rating were placed on RWN (see ‘Fitch Lowers UK Support Rating Floors; Downgrades Lloyds, RBS to ‘A’, dated 13 October 2011 and available at www.fitchratings.com).At the same time Fitch has affirmed the ratings of the class A2 and AB notes as there performance has been stable since the last rating action on 8 August 2011. Arrears have remained steady since April 2011. As of end-July 2011, 30+ days and 90+days arrears were recorded at 2.44% and 0.60% respectively (versus 2.42% and 0.64% in April 2011). As at July 2011 the trusts cumulative gross loss on sale of properties amounted to AUD 7,058,563 of which only one loss (AUD 129,049) occurred in 2011. All gross losses on sales have been covered by lenders mortgage insurance.The class B notes were placed on RWN on 16 May 2011, as a result of an exposure draft criteria report published on the same day about the credit given to lenders’ mortgage insurance (LMI) within RMBS. The Class B notes remain on RWN pending a response from the servicer, Mortgage Management Pty Limited (Challenger).

October 17, 2011   35 notes

Crocs cuts Q3 outlook, shares dive


Crocs, known for its colorful clogs, projected revenue of $273.0-$275.0 million, compared with its prior outlook of $280 million.Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 40 cents a share on revenue of $280.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Shares of Niwot, Colorado-based Crocs were down 36 percent at $17.11 on Monday in extended trading. They closed at $26.64 on Nasdaq.

October 13, 2011   99 notes

UK auditor may probe WSJ Europe circulation


ELP sponsored 12,000 daily copies of the WSJ — about 16 percent of its total circulation, the Guardian said. Such sponsorship deals are controversial, but not unusual.The WSJ Europe’s publisher Andrew Langhoff quit on Tuesday, and parent company Dow Jones, a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp , said the reason was ethical issues raised by the paper’s commercial relationship with ELP.The Journal said the Guardian article was “replete with untruths and malign interpretations”.The Guardian has led an investigative campaign into phone-hacking practices at another Murdoch newspaper, Britain’s News of the World, which was shut down earlier this year as a result.ABC UK said it had examined the scheme when it was first set up in 2009 and again when it audited the July-December 2010 circulation figures, and found it to be in order.”More recently we have re-examined the scheme based on some new evidence available. There now appears to be additional new information which may give grounds for further investigation,” ABC UK’s Chief Executive Jerry Wright, who is also president of the International Federation of ABCs, said in an emailed statement.The organisation added that such investigations were confidential until complete, and their results only published in cases where complaints were upheld.ELP issued a statement denying it had been involved in any scheme to artifically boost the Journal’s circulation, or that it had been promised any editorial coverage.”ELP is not pleased that our name appears in this context which seems to be driven by internal dynamics in WSJE and the current investigative climate around News Corp organizations,” the company said.A spokesman for ABC in the United States said there was no additional audit or investigation planned of the circulation practices of the Journal’s U.S. edition.News Corp acquired the Journal, a trophy purchase for Murdoch, as part of Dow Jones in 2007.