All posts by Peter Jefferson

About Peter Jefferson

Peter Jefferson is a full-time researcher for www.businessdistrict.com, a task he took on in 2011 when the site was launched. He brings to the position a wealth of practical experience in the field of fiscal policy, having consulted with various government bodies on revenue collection, expenditure and economic growth. Contact Peter at peter[at]businessdistrict.com

EnviroStar, An Interesting Business Model

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EnviroStar, Inc. has two separate divisions. One division markets industrial and commercial laundry and dry cleaning equipment, steam systems, and replacement parts. It sells dry cleaning machines, clothing presses, sorting conveyors, washers, dryers, coin operated machines, automatic sheet and towel folders, stackers etc.

EnviroStar’s second division is called Dryclean USA and is a dry-cleaning franchise. Both divisions operate in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. One of the things that I like about this company is that both divisions are closely related and help each other. The dry cleaning franchise division  obviously buys machinery from the equipment supply division. The equipment supply division can gain valuable feedback and ideas about its products from the franchise division.

The company has a very solid balance sheet and income statement. It has a return on assets (ROA) of 5.75% and a Return on equity of 7.71%.

The main managers of this company are: Michael S. Steiner, the CEO; Lloyd Frank, director, and Venerando J. Indelicato, the CFO.

Disclaimer: The information in these articles is general information and should not be the basis for investment decisions. All decisions should be based on a thorough analysis of the specific investment.

Unilever The Giant Continues Onwards And UPwards

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Unilever PLC (ULVR.L) is a consumer goods company that sells foods, personal care products, and home care products. Each product category is marketed under several brand names. The company is active in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Unilever was founded in 1885 and we have all grown up with their products.

Here is some news about the company:

Unilever will be selling its Culver Specially Brands Division to B&G Foods, Inc. The brands include are: Static Guard branded anti-static spray, Mrs. Dash salt-free  seasoning blends, Bakers Joy branded baking spray, Sugar Twin branded sugar substitute, and Molly McButter branded flavored sprinkles.

Unilever has been recognized as the best employer in the Russian fast moving consumer goods section. These surveys were undertaken by the Surveys were carried out by the Changellenge Academy, the Future Today, the Finance University and the Universum which are respected Russian institutions.

By the way, the Unilever stock is going up and is near its 52 week high.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is general information only and does not constitute investment advice. All investment decisions should be made only after a thorough analysis of the stock involved.

 

ConAgra, Food for Investment Thought

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ConAgra Foods, Inc. is a food company with both a Consumer Foods segment and a Commercial Foods segment.  The Consumer Foods segment manufactures, private label, brand name and customized foods. It has 22 brands including Alexia, Wesson, Act II, Van Camps, Blue bonnet, Swiss Mix, Healthy Choice, Snack Pack, Hebrew National, Peter Pan, Slim Jim, Pam, Hunts, etc. The Commercial Food segment supplies food manufacturers, food services and industrial customers. ConAgra is a fortune 500 company which already says a lot.

One of the recent developments in the peanut butter market was due to an unusually poor peanut harvest this year. ConAgra will raise the price of its Peter Pan Peanut butter by 20%. Kraft will be raising the price of its Planters peanut butter by 40%. This may affect sales for better because ConAgra is raising its prices less than other manufacturers.

Some of the moving personalities at ConAgra foods are: Nicole Theophilus, André Hawaux,  John Gehring,  Ryan Scott , Al Bolles, Colleen Batcheler.

Disclaimer: The information in this article is of a general nature. All investment decisions should be based on a thorough analysis of the investment

A Strong Company Becomes Stronger

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Reed Elsevier plc (RUK) is a global leader in providing technical, medical, scientific and business information services and products. Elsevier has published approximately 20,000 books and publishes about 2,000 journals on an ongoing basis. Elsevier has just announced that they have just connected their science articles with SciVerse Science Direct and Datasets in the EarthChem Portal. EarthChem is a portal that facilitates locating a constorium of databases related to earth science. This joining of forces will enable scientists to locate more information and new research in a shorter time and will speed scientific progress.

RUK has a market capitalization of $10.49 billion. The stock is selling at $35.56 which is above both the 200-day moving average of 34.39 and the 50-day moving average of 33.56. Due to market conditions the stock took a dip down to $30 in August and remained down for 2 months until the end of September. In the last month the stock has climbed to the highs where it was 6 months ago around $35.93. In addition to share price the stock also pays a dividend which yields about 3.92%. The stock has a 32% return on Equity. With such an ROE and dividend I can see why this stock is able to hold its own in this troubles market.

Some of the leading managers are: Erik Engstrom; Adrian Hennah;  Marike van Lier Lels; Tom Ogburn; Anthony Habgood; David Reid;  Ben van der Veer; and Mark Armour.

The contents of this article are general information only. It is not comprehensive enough to make investment decisions which should be tailored to the qualifications of each individual investor. All investment decisions require a thorough analysis of each specific investment.

Acco Brands Corporations Moving UP

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Acco Brands Corporation (ABD) announced improved third quarter earnings. Sales rose 6% (yoy) and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 16% and EPS rose by 60% to $0.24. ACCO has repurchased bonds thereby lowering debts by $50 million.

Acco sells office products and computer equipment in the Americas, Europe, Australia and the Asia-Pacific countries. It sells its products under the following brand names: Eastligh; Quartet; Derwent; Rexel, Acco; Swingline; NOBO; and Wilson Jones. Notice that there are eight brand names here for the same company. It gives consumers the choice of many different brands all of which produce profit for Acco.

Acco sells its products to office product retail chains, commercial contract stationers, wholesalers, independent retailers, internet and mail order catalogs, etc. In other words, the company is making the most of their marketing. They are using multiple marketing channels to sell their stationary and computer products.

From May 2011 to October the Acco stock price dropped from $9.89 to $4.46 or approximately 50%. After a good second quarter and an even better third quarter the stock has risen to $7.16 per share and will probably continue to rise.

Some of the management staff are: Richard Nelson; David L. Kaput; Thomas W. Tedford; Thomas H. Shortt; Christopher Franey and Boris Elisman.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information only. All investment decisions should be made only after a thorough analysis of all of the relevant factors.