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Business Wire, Oct 30, 2009
GAAP Earnings of $0.48 per Diluted Share; Adjusted Earnings of $0.66
per Diluted Share
BETHESDA, Md. — Coventry Health Care, Inc. (NYSE:CVH) today reported consolidated
operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. Operating
revenues totaled $3.4 billion for the quarter with GAAP net earnings of
$70.6 million, or $0.48 earnings per diluted share (EPS). Excluding the
impact of the First Health Services Corporation (FHSC) divestiture in
the third quarter, which resulted in a net charge of $26.7 million, or
$0.18 per diluted share, adjusted net earnings were $97.3 million, or
$0.66 per diluted share.(1)
Excluding the impact of the FHSC divestiture, the Company is increasing
its full year 2009 adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $2.01 to $2.03,
an increase of $0.12 from the midpoint of the prior EPS range of $1.85
to $1.95. GAAP EPS for the full year is now expected to be in a range of
$1.45 to $1.47 as the Company has recorded a largely non-cash full year
charge of $0.56 per diluted share as a result of the FHSC divestiture,
as outlined on page two.
I continue to be pleased with the Companys financial and operational
results for 2009 including todays increase to full year EPS guidance,
said Allen F. Wise, chairman and chief executive officer of Coventry.
In the face of a challenging environment, we feel confident that
focusing on our seven core businesses and driving a low cost structure
will best position Coventry for the future.
Third Quarter Consolidated Highlights
Medicare Coordinated Care Product (CCP) membership growth of 38%
from the prior year quarter
Medicare Part D membership growth of 81,000 from the prior quarter
Approximately $570 million of deployable free cash at the parent
at quarter-end
Debt repayment of $98 million during the quarter
1) Adjusted earnings of $0.66 per diluted share include earnings from
continuing operations of $0.68 per diluted share and a loss of $0.02 per
diluted share from FHSC operations during the quarter. The Company
believes that adjusting earnings to exclude the unfavorable impact of
the non-recurring FHSC divestiture-related charges provides a more
meaningful measure of its operating results in comparison to prior and
future periods (and to previously announced guidance). See page two for
further details.
Selected Third Quarter Highlights
Journal of Advanced Transportation, Winter, 2009 by Kyoung Seok Shin, Jun Hyuk Kim, Yeo Keun Kim
We consider a hub and spoke location problem (HSLP) with multiple scenarios. The HSLP consists of four sub-problems: hub location, spoke location, spoke allocation, and customer allocation. Under multiple scenarios, we aim to provide a set of well-distributed solutions, close to the true Pareto optimal solutions, for decision makers. We present a novel multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm to solve the HSLP under multiple scenarios. The algorithm is modeled as a two-leveled structure, which we call the two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm (TMSEA). In TMSEA, two main processes imitating symbiotic evolution and endosymbiotic evolution are introduced to promote the diversity and convergence of solutions. The evolutionary components suitable for each sub-problem are defined. TMSEA is tested on a variety of test-bed problems and compared with existing multi-objective evolutionary algorithms. The experimental results show that TMSEA is promising in solution convergence and diabetes management diversity.
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0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 29, 2009 | by Wendy Leonard Deseret News
Utah students are doing such a good job paying back their loans that the state has been able to slash its default rate in half since 2005, according to a recent federal report.
In fact, Utah’s default rate is the lowest in the country.
The average Utah borrower owes $13,000 in student loans, but due to a new program that lets them pay loans back in smaller payments or defer paying at all until a more reasonable time, many are chipping away at their debt, resulting in a 2.1 percent default rate for the state.
“No one likes to incur debt, but the fact that Utahns have the lowest student-loan default rate in the country tells us their loans were a worthwhile investment of time and money,” Gov. Gary Herbert said. “Student-loan debt, like mortgage debt, can be an investment in a brighter future.”
The most recent numbers come from the U.S. Department of Education report on default rates, released in September. Of the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority’s 170,000 borrowers, 24,118 began repayment in 2006, and of those, only 507 defaulted. Nationally, an average of 6.7 percent of student-loan borrowers have defaulted, resulting in loss of federal assistance eligibility or sanctions for the schools with the highest default rates.
BYU, which consistently has low default rates among student borrowers, boasts the state’s highest rate of students actively repaying loans. Of 3,500 borrowers, only 0.4 percent default
Business Wire, Oct 29, 2009
WEST DES cheap life insurance MOINES, Iowa — FBL Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: FFG) today announced an
agreement with EMC National Life Company (EMCNL), whereby EMCNL will
recapture a block of annuities and life insurance policies with reserves
totaling $250 million. The effective date for this transaction is
October 1, 2009 with a planned closing by October 30, 2009.
As a result of this recapture transaction, FBL Financial Group
subsidiary EquiTrust Life Insurance Company expects to record an
after-tax gain of $9 million on a generally accepted accounting
principles basis and an after-tax gain of $20 million on a statutory
basis. The forgone after-tax GAAP earnings from this block of business,
after reinvestment of proceeds, are approximately $0.7 million per
quarter.
This business includes annuities, universal life and permanent life
insurance originally written by National Travelers Life Company (a
company which merged with Employers Modern Life Company in 2003 to
create EMCNL)
Flex, Nov, nature photography 2009 by Josh Brown
TAKE ONE LOOK AT ELAINE GOODLAD and you’d never think that, hiding behind the natural beauty and grace of a top IFBB Pro League figure athlete, was a girl who once used food as an escape. Or one who, as a fresh face in a start-up sport, could barely keep her knees from wobbling the first time she took to the competitive stage. “It was the most horrifying experience of my life,” Goodlad says. “But forcing myself to do it got me past the afraid-of-everything stage.”
That it did. It was only a matter of time before Goodlad’s exotic beauty and hardcore attitude made her one of the most recognizable faces in the industry, and one of the top competitors in the sport. Now 45 years old, Goodlad shows no signs of slowing down and proves that being hardcore is something you never have to give up. “If you believe you can do something, you can do it if you work hard enough,” Goodlad says. “The minute you stop believing in yourself, it’s over.”
Age: 45
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 130 pounds (contest); 138 pounds (offseason)
Birthplace: Saskatchewan, Canada
Current residence: Las Vegas, Nevada
Occupation: IFBB professional figure competitor; makeup artist
Most recent contest: 2007 Kentucky Muscle Pro Figure, tied for 11th
Career highlights: 2004 California Pro Figure winner; 2004 Pittsburgh Pro Figure, 3rd; 2002 NPC Emerald Cup Championships, medium-class and overall winner
ELAINE'S
TRAINING SPLIT
AM PM
DAY 1 Cardio Legs, glutes
DAY 2 Stairs Chest, triceps
DAY 3 Stairs, hills with plyometrics,
walking lunges
DAY 4 Cardio Shoulders
DAY 5 Stairs or hills Back
DAY 6 Cardio
DAY 7 Rest
“In the gym, my mentality is to get it done. It’s a do-or-die situation where failure is not an option.”
“Biceps are something that I will never lose. I had them even before I started lifting weights. I used to be all arms as a kid.”
“Working out is my job. It might seem like I’m a mean person in the gym, but that’s just because I’m focused
0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Oct 29, 2009
Byline: Richard Kay, EDITED BY HELEN MINSKY
WHEN they announced their separation in 2006, twicemarried Olympics minister Tessa Jowell (left) and her tax lawyer husband David Mills declared they hoped to ‘restore their relationship over time’. Sadly, it now seems unlikely.
This week, Mills failed in his latest appeal to avoid the magic of making up a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for taking a [pounds sterling]376,000 bribe from Silvio Berlusconi and, meanwhile, there is little sign of the pair getting back together.
Their split was regarded with scepticism at the time, with some suggesting the estrangement was merely a ploy to distance Tessa’s political career from her husband’s problems.
But Labour colleagues now privately tell me they expect them to divorce after next year’s general election.
0 Comments | Daily Mail (London, England), The, Oct 29, 2009
Byline: SPECIAL REPORT by Charlotte Metcalf
DETECTIVE Inspector Tony Smith looks as if he is trying not to cry. We are sitting in the boardroom of the Child Protection Unit for West London, housed in a drab, faceless building on Earls Court Road. The room is devoid of colour apart from the dozen or so synthetic blue chairs and the pile of lurid photographs that lies on the big table between us. The photographs are of Amber.
The first shows that she is a beautiful, dark-skinned child, not quite four years old. Her closed eyes are long-lashed under a high forehead. Were it not for the plastic tube up her nose, held in place with a strip of sticking plaster, she would look serene and cherubic. The second photograph is of the back of Amber’s head. There are two big, bloody, scabby and suppurating patches where the rest of her black, curly hair once was.
Tony explains that Amber’s father swung her around the room by her pigtails. Then he ripped her pigtails out with such force that he scalped her. I have never known what a ‘scalping’ looks like until now. Tony says Amber’s hair will never grow back. There are about a dozen more photographs of Amber. Two are of her hands, reduced to pink, skinless messes by severe scalding or burning. One photograph shows the ugly deep cut on her knee that someone has tried to hide with a big plaster. Others detail the swelling and bruising all over her body from constant kicking by an adult.
Most of Amber’s injuries were inflicted by her father, though it is not clear who was responsible for burning her hands. Tony thinks her mother may have been involved.
The photographs were taken during a police examination, which was carried out under general anaesthetic because Amber was in so much pain.
‘Without a shadow of a doubt they’d have killed her if we hadn’t got her out. Her little body simply couldn’t have gone on taking that level of abuse,’ says Tony, closing Amber’s file. ‘Amber’s was the worst case I have ever come across. I’ve never seen anything as bad.
‘I’m welling up now,’ he suddenly adds, and this time I am in no doubt that he is close to crying.
Originally from Lincolnshire, Tony has a kind face framed by feathery, white hair that makes him look older than his 40 years
Business Wire, Oct 27, 2009
MOSCOW — Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), a proud and long-standing worldwide sponsor of the
Olympic Games, today announced that it will extend its Olympic Games
sponsorship for a period of eight years.
In renewing its sponsorship, Visa will retain the rights it has enjoyed
since 1986 and remain the exclusive payment services sponsor and the
only card accepted at the four Olympic Games that follow London 2012
Olympic Games, including the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia,
the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the 2018 Olympic
Winter Games and the 2020 Olympic Summer Games.
The renewal announcement was made during a formal contract signing
ceremony by Visa Inc. Group President, Rupert Keeley, and International
Olympic Committee President, Jacques Rogge, in Moscow, Russia.
Over the past twelve Olympic Games, Visa has utilized its sponsorship to
increase its global brand leadership, grow Visa transaction volume,
expand acceptance in new and emerging markets and enhance preference for
its products and services.
The new contract will enable Visa to deliver additional benefits to
clients and their cardholders with expanded point-of-sale presence,
exclusive acceptance programs for Olympic-related transactions and
increased access to unique experiences for Visa clients to offer to
their customers through Visa marketing programs.
The Olympic Games deliver tremendous global exposure and access to
virtually every demographic group, said Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing
online credit card service Officer of Visa Inc. The Olympic Games also deliver tangible and proven
business building benefits to Visa, its clients and partners. Client
activation around the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which involved more
than 573 clients in 41 countries, illustrates the universal appeal of
this marquee property.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said: Our partnership with Visa
demonstrates a shared commitment to the future of youth and sport, to
the future of the Olympic Games and to the strengthening of the Olympic
ideals and values we respect
Business Wire, Oct 27, 2009
xbox 360 3 red lights Players Travel to Exotic Locales to Compete in Global Cheer
Competitions on Wii
AGOURA HILLS, Calif. — THQ
Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that All
Star Cheer Squad2 is now available at retail outlets throughout
North America exclusively for Wii. The game will bring high-flying
moves to the franchise for the first time, with choreography once again
being provided by Tony G, renowned choreographer from the Bring It On movies.
All
Star Cheer Squad 2 is rated E for everyone and is available for
the suggested retail price of $29.99.
In All
Star Cheer Squad 2, 14 exotic locations from around the world
will serve as the backdrop for global cheer competitions