TOP 09 VANISHING COMPANIES IN 09 – I
Year 2009 is the year of recession, in these tough times many companies vanishes while only few of them can resist the crises. Here are the lists of companies which will disappear in the year 2009. As per the research made by 24/7 Wall St. on some of the largest & well-known companies & listed down 09 companies which may disappear at the end of next year. These 09 companies are as follows:
1) Chrysler already says it will be out of business by early next year. But, what does that mean. It is unlikely that its largest shareholder, hedge fund Cerberus, is going to throw good money after bad in an economy where US car sales are dropping 30% compared with 2007 figures. But, the Chrysler brand could be around. So could the brand of its Jeep division. Foreign car companies like VW and Honda (HMC) would love to get well-known operations without the baggage of debt, UAW contracts, and dealer networks. Chrysler still has some popular models including it 300 series cars and it created the minivan. Jeep is regarded as the grandfather of four-wheel drive. Watch Chrysler Motors LLC go away and some of its products move into other hands.
2) Sirius XM (SIRI) has traded under $.10 down from a 52-week high of $3.89. Reuters has reported that “Sirius XM faces some $1.1 billion in debt in 2009. Of that, about $300 million comes due in February.” In the current credit environment, that probably won’t happen. There is a theory that falling car sales will undermine the sale of Sirius subscriptions. The company says that it does no better than break-even in the first year it gets a new customer though GM. But, a shrinking subscriber based is not good news for the satellite radio company’s future. Sirius will be out of business, perhaps before mid-year. Who picks up the pieces? The logical choices are a healthy car company like Toyota or a satellite firm like DirecTV.
3) AIG (AIG) may be the biggest mess of all the financial firms that the federal government has bailed out. Uncle Sam has given AIG $153 billion in loans. The theory is that the money gets paid back by the huge insurance company selling assets. Investors don’t seem very sanguine about that. AIG shares trade at $1.60, down from a 52-week high of $60.04. Congress seems less and less enamored of having a lot of money sitting in troubled companies. Watch for the new administration to get frustrated quickly and appoint its own people to auction off AIG divisions. Better to get something back than keep writing AIG checks.
4) Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) is two for one. They are both penny stocks, reflecting the fact that the Treasury has essentially taken them over, putting them into a conservatorship and pledging up to $200 billion to back their assets. With mortgage defaults rising, and home prices falling, that is not the end of the amount of money that the government will have to sink into the firms. Within a few months, the value of the common shares in the firms will be gone. The new administration may even decide that it does not need both companies. They can be replaced with some of their role going to the FDIC and the rest to one consolidated entity controlled by The Treasury Department which is already funding them.
5)
trades at $.35 down from at 52-week high of $4.16. The pharmacy company has over 5,000 stores and Wall St. does not expect it to be profitable in the foreseeable future. The chain is a roll-up of the original company and Brooks and Eckerd stores which it acquired. With a debt load of over $6 billion, the firm is likely to falter. Competitors CVS Caremark (CVS) and Walgreen (WAG) would be happy to pick up the pieces. Rite Aid recently announced poor quarterly numbers and cut forecasts. (…cont)
MARCH 23: NANO DAY FOR INDIA
Finally much awaited TATA’s Nano car is set to launch the Indian version on March 23, 09. The Nano which is the world’s cheapest car will be available in Indian showrooms for the customers. The launch of Rs.1Lac (INR) mini car is 6 months behind from its original schedule. The booking will start from 2nd week of April. The TATA’s will unveil its European version
in next month Geneva Car Show. The success of Nano will depend on the customers as the time passes.
GETTING PAN CARD IS A HERCULEAN TASK
Having PAN card is now becomes necessity. PAN is Permanent Account Number. PAN card is required to mention in Tax returns, investing in share markets, mutual funds, purchasing property etc.
For issuing PAN card Government of India has appointed NSDL & UTI. Although the Income Tax Department has outsourced the issuance process of PAN card but the customers are not happy with the services provided by them. Mr. Umesh Deshmukh working in Nagpur (IND) based Chartered Accountancy firm M/s. Vilas Kulkarni & Associates asserts that ‘getting PAN card through NSDL or from their franchisee is a herculean task’. NSDL has their own set of rules which are different from UTI. The hurdle for PAN starts from the beginning itself, you have to purchase the Form 49A from their office only & not even photocopy or from any other sources (Income Tax website have all forms Free of cost). The front end managers which deals with customers are not trained and do not have proper knowledge. They reject the forms for simple reasons without any logic. M/s Efficient Lifescience & Pharma. Pvt. Ltd. (name changed) had applied for PAN card. In Form 49A there is a separate row in which you have to mention ‘the name you would like on the PAN card’. They wanted their name to be printed as ‘ELP Pvt. Ltd.’ on the PAN. The NSDL franchisee rejected their application on the grounds that they have to mention the company’s full name. The rules published by Income Tax Department of India clearly mentions that the name printed on PAN will be as per your choice. The same PAN form was then submitted in UTI. Their they accepted without any cross questioning. The UTI people accept the photocopy of downloaded PAN form. ‘We have fade with NSDL & their Franchisee. Now we submit all our clients PAN/ TAN application forms in UTI,’ said an audit article working with M/s. A N Bhagat & co.
Its astonishing that the PAN card is issued by Income Tax Department of India, how the Pan/ TAN forms can be accepted or rejected by these PAN issuing companies by applying their own set of rules.
A R REHMAN STRIKES FOR INDIA,BAGS 2 OSCARS
A. R. Rehman strikes for India. A. R. Rehman got 2 Oscars. He was the Ist Indian musician who got the 2 Oscar awards.
