GM Layoff: General motors Layoff: fires 1000: job cuts

Lay offs wreck lives. But unfortunately, the business decisions aim to improve profitability and cut the costs. Lay-offs are just a step towards these.

This time, the ailing automobile company struggling with the trucks business is going for cutting the head count by 900 to 1000 employees.
As per the news on Northumberland, GM will be cutting shifts at four North American manufacturing plants, including Oshawa, to counteract the downturn in truck sales. The company attributed the loss of sales to the economic downturn in the U.S. (the market for about 90 per cent of the trucks made in Oshawa), plus the high Canadian dollar, according to published reports.

"The government has the tools to correct the situation but they aren't using them," CAW president Chris Buckley told Northumberland Publishers early Tuesday.

Related: Home Depot Layoffs, Citibank layoffs,Google DoubleClick layoff,AT&T layoff,Motorola Layoff,AOL lay off,

This is the second shift closure to be announced at the Oshawa GM truck plant. The first took place in January affecting about 1,200 people.

That will leave only one shift of truck manufacturing at Oshawa's GM facilities where they are currently making the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado.

Whatever allegations, attacks and counter-attacks go on, the fact is that the employees are the ones who would suffer. Hope that the 1000 employees who will be laid-off from GM Plant should find alternate means of Jobs.

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Home Depot Lay-off: fires 1300 employees

Lay offs wreck lives. But unfortunately, the business decisions aim to improve profitability and cut the costs. Lay-offs are just a step towards these.


As per the news on BizJounal, The Home Depot Company has decided to lay off around 1,300 employees. Not only that, it will close around 15 stores in the USA, which are said to be underperforming.

It is also learnt that the expansion plans for opening new stores have been kept aside for the moment.

The home-improvement retailer will close stores in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont and Wisconsin. However, the no. of stores being closed represents less than 1 percent of the company's network.

Related: Midwest Airlines Layoffs, Citibank layoffs,Google DoubleClick layoff,AT&T layoff,Motorola Layoff,AOL lay off,

The company says the move will lead to $586 million in charges, $547 million of which will be recognized in its first fiscal quarter that ends in May.
Home Depot which is listed on NYSE with the ticker symbol HD, says the revised expansion plan and store closures should improve free cash flow, provide stronger returns for the company and allow it to invest in existing stores.
For the current fiscal year, Home Depot said it plans to open 55 stores, including 36 in the United States. Starting in its 2009 fiscal year, Home Depot plans to increase square footage by about 1.5 percent per year.
However, the company will no longer open 50 U.S. stores that hade been in its pipeline.

Hope that the 1300 employees who will be laid-off from Home Depot should find alternate means of Jobs.

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Echo Global Logistics IPO Review

One more IPO to hit the US markets very soon. This time, the IPO belongs to the logistics sector.
Echo Global Logistics has filed for the IPO application with the SEC or the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30th, 2008.

What is the expected size of the Echo Global Logistics IPO?
Echo Global Logistics IPO size, as per the filing is around 100 million dollars. This however, is indicative and only for the purpose of filing the IPO application. It may change at the later stage.

Which stock exchange will the Echo Global Logistics IPO be listed on?
Echo Global Logistics IPO shares will be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Which ticker symbol has been taken by Echo Global Logistics IPO?
“ECHO” has been selected as the ticker symbol by the Echo Global Logistics IPO.

Who are the underwriters for the Echo Global Logistics IPO issue?
Underwriters for Echo Global Logistics IPO include Lehman Brothers, Citi, William Blair and Company, Barrington Research, Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, and Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

What is the business valuations of Echo Global Logistics?
As per 247wallst, Echo is a leading business process outsourcing for transportation and logistics. Their technology platform, Evolved Transportation Manager, allows them to efficiently meet shipping needs and assist freight management. Their strategy to minimize shipping costs and maximize efficiency lies in identification and utilization of excess capacity.

What are the financial results of Echo Global Logistics IPO?
Since company began in 2005, their customer base and revenues have grown dramatically. In 2005 they generated revenues of $7.3 million and net income was a loss of $0.5 million. Serving over 4,600 clients in 2007, net income hit $1.7 million.
In 2006, according to Armstrong and Associates, only 17% of logistic expenditures in the United States were outsourced. Echo believes that this number will increase and the market will expand over the next several years, generating additional customers and revenues.

Let’s see how this IPO from Echo Global Logistics performs once it opens up in the market.

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Safety-Kleen IPO Review

Safety-Kleen Holdings Company is planning to come out with its IPO or initial public offering. On May 1, it has submitted IPO filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the SEC.


What is expected size of the Safety-Kleen IPO?
The Safety-Kleen IPO is expected to raise around 300 million dollars, as an indicative figure from the SEC filings. Though this figure may change at a later stage.

Which stock exchange will Safety-Kleen IPO shares be listed?
The Safety-Kleen IPO shares will be listed on NYSE or the New York Stock Exchange.

Which ticker symbol has been selected by Safety-Kleen IPO?
Ticker symbol “SK” will be used by Safety-Kleen IPO shares.

Who are the underwriters for the Safety-Kleen IPO issue?
Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan have been appointed as the underwriters for the Safety-Kleen IPO issue

What is the business valuation of Safety-Kleen IPO?
As per the news on 247wallst, Safety-Kleen is a leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions such as providing used oil collection, re-refining and recycling, and parts cleaning services, containerized waste services, and vacuum services in North America. They have been in business for over 40 years and operate 75% of the re-refining capacity of used oil in North America. They are a market leader in their businesses, have a strong brand name, and recurring revenue stream from a wide, diverse customer base. They served 33,000 customers in 2007, including 420 of the top Fortune 500 companies, generating revenue of $1.1 billion and a net income of $4.5 million.

Let’s see how this IPO from Safety-Kleen performs once it opens up in the market.

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Reliance GlobalCom IPO

Reliance is a company which can never keep calm. Now, they are attempting to venture out into the international markets. Reliance Globalcom, is planning an IPO or Initial Public offering in London a listing that will give it a market valuation of a whooping £6 billion.

As per the news, Anil Ambani, who is the head of ADAG or Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has confirmed the plans.

Where will the Reliance GlobalCom IPO be listed?
Reliance Globalcom is based in London, and hence the listing has been planned for London Stock exchange.

Who are the book running lead managers or underwriters of the Reliance GlobalCom IPO issue?
It is learnt that Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs are going to advise on the Reliance GlobalCom IPO.

What is the business valuations and markets of Reliance GlobalCom IPO?
As per the news on Times, Reliance and its Indian peer Tata have emerged in recent years as the leading independent owners of the infrastructure that puts the world into world wide web - a global system of undersea fibre-optic cables that carry internet traffic and corporate data between continents.
The Indian companies are set to benefit from the global data surge after acquiring key assets at the bottom of the market. Tata bought Tyco Global Network, which has close ties to the US military, for $130 million in 2004. It will invest $2 billion (£1 billion) to augment the network.
Reliance Group, which purchased Flag, a UK-based competitor to Tyco for $207 million in 2004, is also preparing to invest a further $2 billion. It recently reorganised and rebranded its data infrastructure business as Reliance Globalcom.

What is the market valuation for broadband penetration?
According to the head of Reliance Globalcom, surging broadband penetration in emerging markets - particularly China and India - combined with the popularity of sites such as YouTube and mobile data services such as BlackBerry e-mail, are making undersea infrastructure investments viable for the first time in years. “The world has a gigabit system; we are building it a terabit [1,000 times faster] backbone,”

Industry estimates suggest that about 60 per cent of internet traffic travels underwater at some stage. That figure is set to rise as demand from Asia, the world's largest online community, for content hosted in the United States spirals upwards.

How about the international competition for Reliance GlobalCom business?
Google, which pays huge sums to move the data delivered for free by services such as Gmail, Google Earth and YouTube, revealed that it will also invest in what will effectively be its own private transpacific cable by joining the Unity consortium.
Unity plans to spend $300 million building a new link between Los Angeles and Tokyo that will feed further data tributaries to penetrate Asia.

Other happenings from the Reliance Group?
Reliance group recently came out with the Human Resources Services, recently concluded Reliance Power IPO and following Bonus issue. There is also some news about the elder brother’s Reliance Fresh IPO

Let’s see how this IPO from Reliance Globalcom performs in the London markets.

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Pioneer Southwest Energy IPO Review

The Pioneer Southwest Energy IPO has successfully completed its IPO or intial Public offering process and come out with the price which is on the lower price band of the proposed IPO.


The shares of Pioneer Southwest Energy IPO are expected to commence trading on Thursday. The shares have been priced at $19 per share, which is the lower portion of the IPO.

The total size of the Pioneer Southwest Energy IPO comprised of around 8.25 million shares.

The Pioneer Southwest Energy IPO price band was between $19 and $21 per share.
As per the news on Forbes, Pioneer Southwest was formed by Pioneer Natural Resources Co. to own and acquire oil and gas properties in Texas and the southeast region of New Mexico.
Based on the offering price, Pioneer Southwest will receive proceeds of about $156.8 million, before expenses. The company plans to use the proceeds to buy a portion of interests in its operating company from parent Pioneer Natural Resources.

The units being offered to the public represent a 28.7 percent stake in the company, or 31.6 percent if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option in full.
Subsidiaries of Pioneer Natural Resources will own the remaining 71.3 percent of Pioneer Southwest, or 68.4 percent if the underwriters exercise their overallotment option, and serve as its general partner.

Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS acted as the lead managers of the IPO.

Pioneer Southwest has granted the underwriters the option to buy up to 1.2 million additional units to cover any overallotments. The offering is expected to close on or about May 6.

The units will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "PSE." Still few more days to go….Let’s see when this IPO opens up and what price does it lists as.

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Adani Group IPO

Yet another IPO is set to hit the Indian Markets in the recent times. Adani Group, which is in the business of power generation, is planning to come out with its IPO or Initial Public offer.


What is the capital raised by Adani Group IPO?
The Adani Group IPO is planning to raise approximately 5000 Crore Rs. from the primary markets through the IPO.

What is the business of Adani Groupfor which the IPO is being broght to the markets?
Adani Group is in the business of power generation. The IPO is being planned to raise the money so that it can fund the setting up a power generation capacity of close to 10,000 megawatt in next five years. The company is having investments plans for generating 1,320 mw power in Rajasthan and 2,000 mw at Dahej in Gujarat by 2012.

Who are the competitors of Adani Group IPO in the power sector?
Other power companies are going to compete with Adani. Recently concluded Reliance Power IPO has seen its fate. While the government controlled Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) is also planning to come to the capital markets through its IPO in September (Read review of GSPC IPO here).
What is the listing date of Adani Group IPO?
The Adani Group IPO is planning to hit the markets much before the GSPC IPO. Though the exact dates have not been finalized.

What are the financial results and business valuations of Adani Group IPO?
As per the news on BS, Adani's 4,620 mw power project at Mundra is being set up in the vicinity of Tata Power's ultra mega power project (UMPP) of 4000 mw.
The company is already implementing the project through internal fund generation, debt and private placement of equity with London-based 3i Group Plc.
Adani also owns and operates country's one of the largest and highly mechanised state-of-art-ports at Mundra in Gujarat, which is likely to handle close to 30 mmt of cargo during 2007-08.
The power plants of Adani and Tata at Mundra will be based on imported coal. The coal requirements for these plants will be near 26 mmt. This coupled with other commercial coal imports will make Mundra the world's largest coal receiving terminal with capability to handle over 30 mmt of coal.

Will this IPO from Adani be a good investment?
Well, that’s a million dollar question. Nothing can be said about the valuations till the price is decided. We will have to wait to see what the price band is and what is the share valuation of the company. Otherwise, it may also end up like the unfortunate Zero power watt Reliance Power IPO listing.

Still more than a few months to go….Let’s see when this IPO opens up and comes out with the price band and IPO size.

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