Discount UK

Discount Service Center, a Springfield, VA based auto dealership, signed up with AutoJini to implement an Online Diagnostic System for its service center clients.

Ames, Iowa (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

AutoJini provides clients in the retail automotive industry a complete suite of website tools, including custom website design, mobile websites, vehicle incentives lease specials data, VIN decoding, integration of Google Analytics, Facebook applications , and search engine optimization services. AutoJini improves automobile dealerships’ performance by managing inventory data from multiple sources, ensuring most accurate and up-to-date inventory on the the websites, and exporting inventory data to leading classified websites (both paid and free). This lowers the cost of online leads, leading to higher per unit profit.

Tony MacFarlane, Digital Marketing Specialist for the Discount Service Center, says, “We have been using AutoJini for our dealership needs for the last several years. AutoJini work create a higher level of web-based solutions, not the cookie cutter sites of other companies. In addition to creating fully functioning dealership websites, AutoJini also implements custom solutions to meet our diverse needs. Any dealership or dealer group which is looking for a reliable company – a company that understands the constantly evolving nature of the retail automotive industry – should use AutoJini.”

Syed Azam, AutoJini’s President, says “being able to provide custom solutions and consulting services to our dealers, whether franchise or pre-owned, is very crucial in ensuring our dealers are highly competitive in the market place. This implementation of configurable Online Diagnostic System for the service center of Discount Service Center is a demonstration of the fact that AutoJini is not a static website provider to the retail auto industry. We are a technology company that has the expertise and flexibility to implement custom solutions for our client dealers on-time and within budget.”

About AutoJini.com:

AutoJini.com is the flagship product of Octadyne Systems. AutoJini is web-based software suite of solutions used by automobile dealers across North America. The AutoJini software suite includes the development and implementation of dealership websites, mobile websites, micro sites, Facebook applications, inventory management solutions, data export to 3rd parties, search engine optimization, social media marketing, and news and blog software.

AutoJini.com has offices in Ames, Iowa, U.S. and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

For more information, please contact Mr. Syed Azam by phone at (515) 232-.2024, or email at syed(at)AutoJini(dot)com Visit http://www.AutoJini.com for more details.

About Discount Service Center:

Discount Service Center is a Springfield, VA based auto dealership. The dealership sells quality pre-owned vehicles and also specializes in providing repair services to its clients.

The dealership is located in the to Arlington, Alexandria, Annandale, Fairfax and Woodbridge areas at the Springfield “Mixing Bowl:”; the intersection of I-395 and the Beltway in Springfield, VA.

For more details, please contact Tony MacFarlane (703) 243-1975 or visit the dealership website at:

http://www.discountservicectr.com

Phone: (703) 451-2381

###

Syed Azam
Octadyne Systems
515-232-2024
Email Information

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/discount-center-signed-autojini-leading-provider-automobile-dealership-080510062.html

MADRID (AP)—Spanish league club Rayo Vallecano is offering discounted tickets
to unemployed fans for Sunday’s game against Real Madrid in a bid to help club
members affected by Spain’s financial crisis.

Rayo says it will make 1,000 tickets available at the price of ?5 ($6.60) to
unemployed supporters for the crosstown derby with the Spanish leader.

Ticket prices for regular members remain between ?20 ($26.50) to ?25 ($33)
as the club hopes to fill its Vallecas Stadium.

Debt-ridden Spain has Europe’s highest unemployment rate at nearly 23
percent, including a jobless rate of 39 percent for those aged between 20 and
29.

Rayo has won three straight games to sit eighth in the standings.

Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-rayovallecano-unemployeddiscount

Google+ Pages have sparked a lot of discussion in B2B marketing circles. The ability to add multiple management functionality, site verification, and easy to integrate Google+ badges have leadership teams asking whether this truly is the next social media platform B2B marketers must focus upon.

However, all of the recent hype and scrambling to start marketing on Google+ should not come at the expense of equally critical B2B search engine marketing responsibilities. Balance short and long-term B2B initiatives carefully.

While we’re certainly jumping into Google+ Pages for Business and building our base of knowledge on this social network, here are five indirectly related but completely separate B2B SEO initiatives to remain in focus with, as 2012 rolls along.

Benchmark Not-Provided Keyword Referral Metrics

In my opinion, the biggest short term impact of Google+ Pages, for B2B marketers, will be the potential for rapidly increasing percentages of blocked keyword data, as encrypted search becomes more prevalent.

Here is a snapshot of the average percentages for “not provided” search traffic in our client base, spread out over the first five weeks of launch, and then the full months of December and January.

This not only impacts web traffic reports, but will make retargeting and marketing automation analysis more complicated (by not providing specific keyword metrics).

B2B marketers need to set appropriate benchmarks now and ongoing, specifically calculating trends in branded, non-branded, and not provided keyword information. Here are some resources and recommendations for establishing these benchmarks.

• Smarter Data Analysis of Google’s https (not provided) change: 5 Steps
• How to Understand Your Google “Not Provided” Traffic
• How to Analyze Google Analytics (not provided) Data

Nurture Your Best Third Party Referral Sources

The best links send traffic, leads, and also have a positive impact on SEO strategy. Evaluate third party referral reports to identify the communities, social networks, and publishers that send traffic and quality visitors.

• Know the people behind your best inbound links

Document referral sources and make attempts to secure contact information from these sources, for further link development and potential business opportunities as well.

Commercial solutions like RavenTools provide a nice interface for documenting contact information from link sources, but spreadsheets can also be a nice, free alternative.

Screenshot of RavenTools Link Contact Information

Quality Content Marketing Works, Regardless of Social Networking Platform

Content development becomes too complicated when marketers focus on how to satisfy requirements for specific, individual platforms.

Instead, focus on creating quality content marketing assets for any user within appropriate target markets and make sure to make these assets as “share friendly” as possible, regardless of platform.

Share-friendly content marketing techniques to consider:

• Social sharing buttons from popular social media platforms
• Multiple widths and downloadable information to fit various site dimensions more easily
• HTML code for embedding images, graphics, and media files
• Shorter, more memorable web addresses

Create More Permanent Communication Strategies With Site Visitors

Even though social networks like Google+ provide new opportunities for communicating to target audiences, don’t forget to attempt to ascertain more in-depth contact information once they get on the company website as well.

Conversion metrics should range from initial lead nurturing efforts to more in-depth sales-ready lead opportunities. At all times, make an attempt to collect email address information, name, and potentially ongoing communication preferences.

• Also, build professional networks, within and outside of Google+ Page management.

The element of social media I find most attractive is the ability to network with other professionals in the industry. While Google+ provides another opportunity to bridge these connections, don’t sacrifice successes already made in other social networks just to jump on a new bandwagon.

Benchmark Your Customers’ Interest in Mobile

As I eluded to in a column at the end of last year, don’t forget mobile. While your customers may not be directly asking for it, the pace of Internet use via mobile device simply cannot be ignored.

My recommendation is to start querying your customer base on mobile device preferences, functionality, and what types of content they would like to see from your organization.

This can be done in “drip format” through newsletters, social media, and traditional surveys. Over time, you will have feedback from your audience to move forward in the right direction with your mobile strategy.

Final Thoughts

We are recommending and helping our clients develop Google+ Pages. While it certainly can be cumbersome juggling multiple profiles, platforms, and responsibilities, there seems to be much stronger likelihood that this social network becomes relevant. Google certainly has the resources and reach to support this social network and drive growth (even if their other social experiments have failed in the past).

But what if Google is making a major business mistake and B2B search marketers are getting taken along for the ride? Worse, what if we’re seeing the slow decline as a result of Google’s inability to adjust business models in time to catch the latest competition?

2012 could be a pivotal year for Google, in terms of audience development and influence. What will be key for B2B search engine marketers is to focus on growing their own organizations audience and networks, regardless of specific social networking platform, in an effort to tackle short and long term business objectives.

Opinions expressed in the article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

Related Topics: B2B Search Marketing

Article source: http://searchengineland.com/5-critical-b2b-seo-initiatives-in-addition-to-developing-a-google-page-for-business-111741

With the iPad 3 (supposedly) launching soon, movie spoilers hitting the internet before a trailer is released, and the general overabundance of news online, it can be difficult to avoid learning things you don’t want (or care) to. Here’s how to set up automatic blocks both globally and on specific websites so you can avoid any type of news you want.

We’re inundated with news and rumors from all sides, and it often feels impossible to initiate your own media lockout on content. Whether you’re annoyed at all the iPad rumors, you’re trying to avoid Batman spoilers, or you simply want to unclog your feeds and get to the content you really enjoy, here’s a few tricks you can use depending on how hardcore you want to make your lockout.

You Don’t Mind a Little News Sneaking in Here and There

Most of us have a limit to the amount of rumors we can handle on any specific topic and if you want to subtly filter web content it’s not too hard. Here’s a few mini tips and tricks to cut down on your exposure.

Use Blog-Specific Filters

A number of blogs have a way to automatically filter content when you visit them so you can avoid a type of news. You need a basic familiarity for how they use tags, but a little trial and error you can usually get it working pretty easily. This makes it so you can enjoy your favorite blogs without being inundated with content you don’t care about or are trying to avoid. Here’s a few for popular blogs:

• Any Gawker site: Across all the Gawker network blogs, you can hide any tags you don’t want to see. Use /not:NAMEOFTHING to filter content. For example, it you wanted to filter iPad news, you would do: http://www.lifehacker.com/not:iPad or http://www.gizmodo.com/not:iPad.
• On Many AOL sites (Joystiq, Engadget, etc): This doesn’t work across the network, but it does come in handy on a handful of sites. Use /exclude/name-of-thing after the URL. For instance, http://www.engadget.com/exclude/apple or http://www.joystiq.com/exclude/mass-effect-3.
• Filter tags on Tumblr: There doesn’t appear to be a URL trick for Tumblr, but there is a userscript. Use TumblrSavior to create a blacklist of tags that won’t show up when you’re browsing your favorite Tumblr blogs.

Block Keywords on Social Networks

Blocking content on social networks is a great way to intentionally keep yourself in the dark on any topic of your choosing. It’s especially handy during sports games you don’t care about, tech launches that mean nothing to you, or on opening weekend for games and movies. Here’s a few ways to block content without unfollowing or defriending everyone.

• Twitter: Some Twitter apps, like Tweetdeck have a text filter hidden away in the options panel. On Tweetdeck, click Settings Global Filter and add the text you want to filter away. If you prefer the web experience, two great ways exist to filter content. One is the Proxlet extension for Chrome that can actually block content on Twitter for iPhone, Twidroyd, Seesmic, and Spaz as well on in Chrome. The other is the DeClutter bookmarklet that works in any browser. Both allow you to set up blacklists for specific words and phrases.
• Facebook: If you have friends that can’t seem to stop talking about iPads, then you might want to set up filters to get that content out of your news feed. FB Purity is an extension for Chrome and Firefox that allows you to set up content filters for status updates. Click the FB Purity button when you’re logged into Facebook. Type in any words you want to block in the Custom Text Filter box.

Automatically Hide Comments on Site’s Known for Spoilers

One of the most annoying ways to spoil a movie, book, or video game is by some commenter who drops a massive spoiler out of nowhere. This is especially the case if you’re just trying to watch a trailer for a movie or a review of a video game. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to block these comments and continue on spoiler-free. Here’s how to do it.

• Block YouTube comments filled with spoilers: YouTube is a treasure trove of spoilers and it’s impossible to avoid them if they’ve been voted up. Blocking them can not only save your sanity, it can also keep spoilers at bay. No YouTube Comments for Chrome and YouTube Comment Snob for Firefox will hide the comments so you don’t have to worry about accidentally learning the end of a movie.
• Block comments on many sites: If you want to go on a full-blown comment lock-down, it’s pretty simple. CommentBlocker for Chrome and Firefox block a wide variety of comments across blogs and can can help ensure you don’t accidentally come across any information you don’t want to.

You Want to Initiate a Complete Block on All Spoilers and Rumors

If you’re going for a more extreme or long-term method, you need to set up your browsing in a way where you can avoid any type of content. This means tailoring and filtering your RSS feed and using extensions to block keywords from any site you visit.

Set Up RSS Filters in Google Reader

Google Reader doesn’t have a built-in way to filter content out of you feeds without completely unsubscribing from news sources. You’ll have to set up your feeds through another source.

• Use an extension: The Google Reader Filter GreaseMonkey script is a simple way to automatically hide away the news you don’t care about. You can set up a list of keywords you want to block and the script does the rest.
• Filter on the RSS level: The other option is to completely rewire your RSS feed using one of two services. One is Yahoo Pipes. We’ve shown you how to set up Yahoo! Pipes before, but it’s a rather complicated process to get everything set up. If you’re looking for a dead simple way to do it, Feed Rinse allows you to drop in your current RSS feed, set up filters, and be on your way to spoiler and rumor free existence in no time.

Use Extensions to Entirely Block Any Mention of the Content

If you really want to get rid of specific news or spoilers, it’s time to block the words from the entire internet. This should only be used in extreme cases, but if you really want to make sure you stay in the dark, it’s the only way to do it.

• Block websites based on keywords: The TinyFilter extension for Chrome and ProCon add-on for Firefox both allow you to set up keyword specific blacklists. This means when you try to visit a site with the keyword (say, iPad 3), your browser will block you. They’re meant to block adult content and profanity, but if you really want to avoid news, it’s the only sure-fire way to do it.
• Treat your keyword like profanity: If you don’t want to entirely block the internet but would prefer to avoid seeing the terms in question, set up a profanity filter like Simple Profanity Filter for Chrome or the Profanity Filter userscript. This won’t block the web, but it will turn every instance of iPad, Batman, or whatever keyword you choose into a series of asterisks, which, if nothing else, is rather amusing.

Short of completely unplugging, you can never get away from rumors and spoilers completely, but it’s possible to at least restrict your web content to a manageable level. Over the coming weeks an abundance of iPad 3 news will be pouring in, so if you’re looking to cut it away, the above tips will help. Do you have ways to avoid annoying rumors or spoilers? Share them in the comments.

Article source: http://lifehacker.com/5887230/how-to-block-annoying-tech-rumors-and-movie-spoilers-on-your-browser

A licence application will be heard to sell alcohol at the former BQ site in Hitchin.

By Laura Burge
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
11:11 AM

A DISCOUNT chain has shown in an interest in opening a new megastore in an out of town location, but there are fears it could encourage street drinking and anti-social behaviour.

The company which owns the 99p Stores and Family Bargains chains, 99p Stores Ltd, has registered its interest in the derelict BQ store in Hitchin.

It has applied to North Herts District Council (NHDC) for a licence at the site to sell alcohol from 8am in the morning until 11pm at night, seven days a week. But concerns have been raised over the implications this could have.

“I think it’s really worrying to be putting yet more low cost alcohol in a focused position in the town like that,” said NHDC Hitchin councillor Judi Billing.

“There does seem to be a resurgence of anti-social behaviour on a Friday and Saturday night, there have been some awful incidents in the last couple of weeks. I would worry about us doing anything to increase the availability of even cheaper alcohol.”

Concerns have also been raised by some residents living in Johnson Place, which overlooks the store.

In a joint letter to NHDC, they say: “We are very concerned about the application.

“Most importantly and worrying is that this is already an anti-social area with litter everywhere and youths causing problems.

“Us residents are entitled to some peace and quiet, particularly after 10pm. We are upset there will be noise and car lights blaring in our windows.”

Hertfordshire Constabulary responded to the application after being consulted by NHDC. Their comments subsequently caused the company to add some conditions to their final application.

These include putting in CCTV where alcohol is on display, having a uniformed security officer on duty on Friday and Saturday nights, and introducing the Challenge 25 ID policy.

The licence application follows a failed attempt by another discount chain, JTF Wholesale Ltd, to secure the premises last summer.

The Family Bargains stores sell similar products to that store, including household goods, gardening products, and food at discount prices.

A spokesman from 99p Stores Limited declined to comment on the application, and wouldn’t be drawn into saying where the company stood with plans for the site.

But the licence application is the only step the company has taken so far in relation to the premises. It has not yet put any planning applications in for the building.

The NHDC licensing and appeals committee will make a decision on the matter next Friday.

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• “[It's] an anti-social area with litter everywhere and youths causing problems.” Only because it is boarded up and fenced off – that car-park makes for a great hang-out out of sight of the prying eyes of passing police (not that we have any police on the streets in the area… we only ever seem to see them zipping past in their cars). It would be an improvement to have a business in the building responsible for maintaining the site. As for alcohol, folk will always get hold of their alcohol one way or another… trying to implement some form of prohibition won’t work.

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  Yvan

  Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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• Maybe have a clause with the age limit and the times of being able to sell alcohol make it age 25 and hours between 12 noon and 6pm It’s a shame that we don’t have a national service where all the lads are called up and shown how to respect and give disaplin….instead of dis respecting and causing problems

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  Cheryl

  Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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Article source: http://www.thecomet.net/news/fears_over_anti_social_behaviour_after_discount_chain_shows_interest_in_hitchin_1_1216590

Select a Channel Below

Article source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11427676/1/strong-growth-for-discount-retailers.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed

CLEARWATER, FL, Feb 21, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) –
Net Savings Link, Inc.


/quotes/zigman/3019797 NSAV
-16.92%



, a company in the business of
providing electronically deliverable sales incentives for the
business market, as well as enhanced web based savings programs for
the mass consumer market of individuals and families, announces a new
partnership with SpyderShare Inc., a leading search engine
optimization company, that will initiate the installation of the
SpyderShare Program on
www.NetSavingsLink.com over the next 3-month
period.

“After researching and speaking with multiple SEO providers, we felt
the crew at SpyderShare was the best fit for our business,” said
David Saltrelli, CEO. “SpyderShare has been instituted on sites
similar to ours and has seen search engine traffic improve 20-30%
month over month. We feel this is first step in the development of a
truly national sales campaign.”

SpyderShare, which was founded through the mergers and acquisitions
of KLB Marketing, Interactive Web Resources and VA4 Business,
operates offices in the United States, India and Malaysia. This
global presence allows SpyderShare to offer scalability and value
unparalleled in the current Search Engine Optimization Industry. With
an impressive mix of employee resources that includes M.I.T. grads
and PhD’s, SpyderShare’s capabilities far exceed a base line tagging
and linking S.E.O. campaign. SpyderShare analyzes your site, design
and coding from start to finish to ensure that proper industry
standards and user scalability are in place for growth including on
page optimization, keyword research, directory submissions, social
bookmarking, web 2.0 properties, keyword rich domain names, as well
as local SEO in targeted key markets. Once the initial analysis is
completed, the SpyderShare program is developed and installed with an
end goal of substantially increasing organic search engine traffic to

www.NetSavingsLink.com .

“The SpyderShare program is one of the most comprehensive S.E.O.
plans we have seen, producing results for some of their recent
clients of over 30% month to month as well as increased Google
rankings. We are excited to have the SpyderShare team on board, and
look forward to the impact of their results on Net Savings Link,”
added Saltrelli.

Statements included in this update that are not historical in nature,
are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, “forward-looking
statements.” Forward-looking statements may be identified by words
including “anticipate,” “believe,” “intends,” “estimates,” “expect,”
and similar expressions. The Company cautions readers that
forward-looking statements including, without limitation, those
relating to the Company’s future business prospects are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking
statements, due to factors such as those relating to economic,
governmental, technological, and other risks and factors identified
from time to time in the Company’s reports filed with the SEC.

        Contact:

        Net Savings Link, Inc.
        David Saltrelli
        CEO
        727-442-2600

www.NetSavingsLink.com            

SOURCE: Net Savings Link, Inc.

http://www.netsavingslink.com/

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

/quotes/zigman/3019797

Add NSAV to portfolio

NSAV

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/net-savings-link-announces-spydershare-inc-contract-for-development-of-search-engine-optimization-seo-program-2012-02-21?reflink=MW_news_stmp

I

If you own a website – large or small – you know that one of the toughest things to do is to organize your content enough and in such a way that pages or products can be found when people are searching for them. On the Internet, despite all the social discovery happening via social media sites, searching happens mainly on, well – search engines. 

A number of companies, like Hubspot, Marin Software (which just raised $30 million this month) and Clickable, have been around for years and have raised mega bucks to help companies get their products found amidst the billions of other products available for the same consumer. But one company, which has remained relatively quiet, has been working on being better than others. In stealth mode for three years, BloomReach officially launched Wednesday and rolled out two new products to boot: Bloom Lift and Bloom Social. 

At the moment, the company has 70 large websites as clients. They mainly include large retailers, like Pottery Barn, Guess and Neiman Marcus. But BloomReach also services Orbitz as well as large listing sites, such as Oodle. 

BloomReach was founded in 2009 and has raised $16 million in venture funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Bain Capital. The team decided to stay stealth for the first three years in order to perfect their service and achieve the kind of results they’re seeing for their customers today. 

Customers are seeing “80% to 90% uplift in natural search,” said Vivien Wang, head of marketing at BloomReach. In other words, customers are getting almost double the traffic from natural search from what they were getting last year before working with BloomReach, she explained. Essentially, BloomReach can understand what customers are demanding an help companies organize their products so they can be found.

For example, if Guess labels jeans “flair jeans” but a user is searching on Google for “cotton flair jeans,” BloomReach can assemble a Web page for Guess so it appears on either organic or paid search so a shopper can be led to the flair jeans on the Guess website.

The service to help companies optimize their pages to be found on organic search is called Bloom Search, which has been out for two years.  But two new products rolling out Wednesday are Bloom Lift and Bloom Social. 

Bloom Lift helps companies found through paid-search advertisments. By dynamically creating landing pages for companies, Bloom Lift can help drive more conversions for their customers, according to De Datta. The problem for companies is that they may have thousands of items but very few landing pages. After all, it’s hard to create a landing page for every random keyword string people use to search for items. And, it’s also a pain to create a landing page for every single item. That’s how BloomReach’s technology helps. It can automatically create a landing page for a client, based on the keywords that are being used. “[Typically] you go and click on an [paid-search] ad and the quality of the landing page isn’t that great,” De Datta explained. “The technology we developed makes the landing pages relevant.” 

Companies have seen 55% bounce rates from their landing pages, said De Datta.

“Our analytics show that before these websites get to BloomReach, only 25% of their pages get any traffic at all from natural saearch. Even fewer get traffic from paid or social,” said Wang. “That number goes up to 75% [when using BloomReach],” Wang added.

Bloom Social is another new product released Wednesday. This one is still in beta tests with wedding favors retailer Beau-coup.com. With Boom Social, Beau-coup customers can create a page of favorite items. Think Pinterest, except you’re only sharing items on Beau-coup and from Beau-coup. Others can follow that page or maybe even add to it or create their own page. “It becomes a social experience,” said De Datta.

All products are sold on a pay-for-performance basis. For BloomReach’s search product, they get paid on the incremental search traffic a customer ends up receiving by using the BloomReach service. For BloomLift, the company gets paid on actual sales. In tests, BloomLift has increased conversion rates by 15% and profitability by 50%, said Wang.    

(Main image source: blog.guestcaye.com)

Article source: http://vator.tv/news/2012-02-22-bloomreach-launches-to-get-content-found-via-search

In November 2009, Discount Investment Corporation surprised investors with a tender offer to buy back 8.3% of the shares in its subsidiary, retail chain Super-Sol, for NIS 423 million. The buyback increased Discount Investment’s stake in Super-Sol, Israel’s biggest supermarket chain, to 46.2% of the company’s share capital and 50.3% of its voting rights.

The tender enabled Discount Investment to consolidate its results with those of Super-Sol. But the main goal was to take advantage of an international accounting standard, IFRS 3R, to generate a gigantic capital gain of NIS 1.29 billion.

How was that accomplished? After the buyback, Discount Investment booked its holding in Super-Sol based on the value at which the buyback had been done. The discrepancy between this value and the value in the books before the buyback ‏(which had been based on Discount Investment’s share of Super-Sol’s shareholders equity‏) was NIS 1.29 billion. That was the capital gain booked in Discount Investment’s first-quarter financial statement for 2010.

Discount Investment did not waste that manna from the heaven of creative accounting arranged by Dr. Eyal Solganik, deputy CEO of IDB Holding Corporation ‏(the company at the top of the whole IDB pyramid; Discount Investment Corporation is one of its subsidiaries‏). Solganik is also the group’s chief financial officer. Discount Investment proceeded to distribute NIS 1.52 billion in dividends.

The thing is, after Discount Investment finished buying back Super-Sol stock, the retail chain’s business environment badly deteriorated. The cost-of-living protests last summer, mounting consumer awareness and, mainly, the constant increase in shelf space as competition ramps up have forced Super-Sol to resort to aggressive discounting.

The upshot is that Super-Sol stock has fallen 30% in the last 12 months, so the value of Discount Investment’s stake in the chain shrank to NIS 1.42 billion. But the value of the stake in Discount Investment’s books is NIS 2.08 billion, which translates into a difference of NIS 633 million.

Discount Investment says that when preparing its financial statements this year, it will consider commissioning a third-party appraisal for the chain and making a provision. This is because Super-Sol’s value in its books has been higher than its value on the market over a long period.

But there’s no certainty that any provision will be necessary, Discount Investment adds, and there’s no saying what its scope will be. Whatever the scope, the provision will deepen the hole in the company’s balance available for dividends.

That negative balance totaled NIS 2 billion at the end of the third quarter, following the aggressive dividend payment and the NIS 2.3 billion loss posted for the first nine months of 2011.

Ostensibly, the assessor will have some room when evaluating Super-Sol. But he will have to prove that his conclusions are consistent with the paper Discount Investment presented with its financial statement for 2010. Based on an external appraisal by Itzhak Swary, Discount Investment concluded that no provision was necessary.

But cut-throat competition in the retail sector and soaring operating costs caused Super-Sol’s operating profit to tumble 44% in the third quarter from the same period in 2010, to just 2.4% of sales.

So it’s doubtful that Swary’s assumptions hold water anymore. It’s also doubtful that another external assessor could change the facts, given the clear and obvious increase in the sector’s risk.

Article source: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/bottom-shekel-the-protesters-depressed-discount-investment-s-creativity-1.414074

Discount Investment Corporation is likely to slash the book value of its Super-Sol holdings in its annual 2011 financial statements, the company said in a warning issued Monday. Shares of the supermarket chain have fallen 30% over the past year as its market value dove from NIS 4.4 billion to NIS 3.1 billion, its lowest in more than two years.

“In preparing Discount Investment’s financial statements for 2011, and taking into account the continuing negative gap between the market value of the Super-Sol investment and its value on Discount Investment’s books, Discount Investment is examining the need, in accordance with accounting principles, to record a write-down on the investment by an independent appraiser,” the statement said.

An outlet of the Super-Sol Deal heavy discount chain.

Photo by: Nir Keidar

Writing down goodwill

Discount Investment, a holding company 73%-owned by Nochi Dankner’s IDB group, has a 46% stake in Super-Sol’s share capital − currently valued on its books at a NIS 4.52 billion company value − while holding just over 50% of the voting rights. Super-Sol is a major holding for Discount Investment and is reported on a fully consolidated basis in its financial statements.

Discount Investment will need to record a NIS 660 million provision on its income statement if the investment is completely written down to market value. Coming at the expense of goodwill attributed to Super-Sol, it would take a bite out of the bottom line and reduce earnings that could be distributed as dividends. But the provision could be lower if the appraisal determines that Super-Sol’s market value doesn’t reflect its true economic value.

Discount Investment began consolidating Super-Sol’s results in its reports in February 2010, when it purchased enough shares on the market to amass a majority of voting rights in the company, listing the investment at fair value. The move spawned intangible assets attributable to Super-Sol’s valuation, NIS 2.85 billion, generating a windfall NIS 1.29 billion in profit.

But the jackpot came with a catch: Recognizing the goodwill also requires that it be re-examined for necessary changes when preparing each subsequent annual financial report. If there’s a continuous decline in the company’s trading value, as in this case, a new appraisal must be performed, and consequently a write-down as well. The value of Super-Sol’s goodwill on Discount Investment’s books is currently NIS 1.18 billion.

Isralom Properties, controlled by Matthew Bronfman and Shalom Fisher − and owner of about 18.5% of Super-Sol’s shares − also announced late Monday that it’s contemplating making an adjustment on the investment’s book value ahead of its year-end results. At the end of the third quarter, the trading value of Isralom’s shares in Super-Sol reached NIS 616 million.

In its third-quarter 2011 statements, Super-Sol reported a 44% drop in operating income from the comparable period and a 60% plunge in net income. The falling shares and profits are mainly blamed on the social protests this summer that sent company management scurrying to lower prices, freeze price hikes and institute large-scale markdown sales at its stores. Lower profits reduce its ability to distribute dividends to the companies above it in the IDB hierarchy.

IDB Development owes NIS 1.4 billion

A write-down of Super-Sol’s value would add one more worry to a range of concerns on Dankner’s mind, such as raising capital to pay off NIS 250 million owed by IDB Holdings, and a NIS 1.4 billion debt in IDB Development. Also on his agenda is the sale of Mashav by Clal Industries and Investments to the Livnat family, his former partner. Mashav is the owner of the Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises monopoly and half-owner of Taavura Holdings.

Meanwhile, Dankner must contend with a slew of other obstacles: a profit warning issued by telecom giant Cellcom, in advance of its annual financial statements; repayment of NIS 1.24 billion in loans for the Plaza Las Vegas project; losses at newspaper publisher Maariv Holdings; and the profound impact that recommendations by the government-appointed economic concentration committee could have on the IDB group. Of course, Dankner will also have to combat the effects of the social protests on business.

Itzhak Swary, who performed the appraisal of Isralom’s stock in Super-Sol at the time it was purchased, valuated the company at NIS 3.75 billion to NIS 3.9 billion. Swary is likely to be chosen to appraise the Super-Sol holdings of Discount Investment this time as well.

Article source: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/discount-investment-results-to-suffer-from-decline-in-super-sol-s-value-in-the-market-1.414075