The advent of the World Wide Web means crafters can buy craft materials and cards and also sell their wares to an international audience. According to research, 64% of the population currently use the Internet and over a third of these regularly shop online. If you're a keen crafter and have been thinking for a while about trying to sell some of your work then there is no better way to reach local and international customers than through the World Wide Web. Whether it's setting up your own website or trading through someone else's, read this invaluable guide to discover how to sell online.
The easiest way to buy and sell cards is through online auctions. With millions of items for sale at any one time and millions of registered users on auction sites; they are a virtual crafter's haven, where you can sell anything, from handmade cards to fabric butterflies. So how do you go about it?
First, you need to register yourself as a seller on the site, giving payment details. There is norammly an initial listing fee on these aution sites, which varies depending on services used. Once registered, you generally need to fill out a form describing your card, including a title, description, auction length, starting bid, postage charges and countries you are willing to ship to. A good tip is to add a photo of your card - you may know what angel hair is, but others may not.
Choose a popular time to finish your auction when you think there will be bidders about, such as evenings. There are two ways of buying and selling at an online auction; either through a proxy bidding system (buyers set their highest bid from the start and the computer will automatically place their bid at one increment above the current highest) or for a fixed duration (the highest bidder at the end of a fixed time wins). Decide whether you want people to bid for your item or have a fixed price option. If you want people to bid, you can ensure your card doesn't get sold at 'bargain basement prices', by either setting a high minimum opening bid or setting a reserve price. Some people believe you should never set high opening bids as it scares off bidders, however, others maintain that many buyers are put off by reserves. Generally, unless you set a ridiculously high starting bid, it won't make much difference.
After the sale, the buyers and sellers contact each other via email and the buyer then pays for the item, via cheques, postal orders, banker's drafts. Alternatively they might use the secure system PayPal, whereby you pay PayPal and they pass the funds to the trader. After receipt of payment, the seller then posts the item to the buyer. Be warned, if you take someone's money and don't send them the goods you are breaking the law and can be prosecuted.
One of people's main concerns about online trading is safety. Most auction sites ensure that information such as passwords and bank account details are protected because payment software always encrypts this data and maintains it on secure servers that cannot be accessed by any merchant or third party. They are also quick to assure that the vast majority of buyers and sellers on auction sites are honest and reliable and millions of transactions take place every day without any problem. Always be friendly and answer any questions a buyer may have via email. Also keep clear, complete records of everything, to protect yourself.
Handmade cards are popular all year round but they will generally sell for higher prices around November and December, as people are looking for Christmas cards.
If you want to sell your cards as a business and are thinking of aiming higher than online auctions then you may want to consider setting up a website. One of the easiest ways is to get a professional web designer to build it for you. If you want a creative look, you will need a bespoke package where the site is built to your specification and can include all kinds of tailor-made extras. Unfortunately though, this can cost anything between £5,000-£10,000.
For a cheaper way of setting one up, you may want to do it yourself. If you are technically-minded or have a friend or relative who is, you may be able to collar them into building one for you. You can buy an 'off the shelf' package, then all you have to do is find a host for your site, which can cost from as little as £30 a year and choose and register your website address. Packages are well worth it if you want to do it yourself. However be aware that you do need to know quite a bit about computers to be able to use this. Alternatively you can pay a web design company to set it up for you, which will probably take around three days.
When set up, a good way to get your site noticed is by interacting with other websites within the craft marketplace. If you get together with other craft sites and both display reciprocal links or banners on your sites, you will be sending traffic (visitors) back and forth between you. Anything which gets you noticed on a site which has more traffic than you will encourage visitors to your site. Or if you could arrange an advertorial, whereby each site mentions the other, for example, 'check out www....' then that will increase visitors to your site. This in turn will then improve your search engine ranking, as the more traffic you get the more this will be picked up on by 'crawlers'.
Despite the apparent ease of doing it yourself, be warned things are never as simple as they seem. Setting up your own site is not necessarily as easy as people may think. Once you have set up your site the work isn't over yet, it will be a full-time job just to maintain it. Unlike a shop, a website is open 24/7, which requires a certain level of commitment. If your site is to crash then volume of business as well as your reputation can be damaged.


text:
Dipping Into Light
Abraham Menashe
About D. I. L.
About A. Menashe
MEDICAL Tear-Sheets
GENERAL Tear-Sheets
GENERAL Stock Categories
MEDICAL Stock Categories
Poems, Intro
Menashe Poems
Quotes & Wisdom
The Healing Image, lecture
Yom Kippur, sermon
Love vs. Fear
Just Joy
Stage, Film, TV
Devotion & Praise
Astronomy & Flight
Psychology & Philosophy
You Are Light
Attit. Healing
Keep Wishing
N.V.C.
Tamela J. Mann (born June 9, 1966) is an American gospel singer, and actress.
Mann is known for her role as Cora and Myrtle in Tyler Perry's plays, including I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion, Madea's Class Reunion, Meet the Browns, and What's Done in the Dark. Mann began her career as a singer with the gospel group Kirk Franklin and the Family. Mann was a featured soloist on several tracks while with Franklin's group, including "Don't Take Your Joy Away", "Now Behold the Lamb", and "Lean on Me", the latter of which also included Mary J. Blige, Crystal Lewis, R. Kelly, and Bono. She released her own album, the Master Plan, in 2009.
Mann has also made appearances in movies such as Kingdom Come and Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Mann recorded some songs on the soundtrack for Diary of a Mad Black Woman, including participating in the song "Father (Can You Hear Me)". Mann is the wife of David Mann, who is known for his role as "Deacon Leroy Brown" in several of Perry's plays.
Filed Under: Devotional Music
© 2021 · Dipping Into Light

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
A Null Mutation in Human APOC3 Confers a Favorable Plasma Lipid Profile and Apparent Cardioprotection
Toni I. Pollin1,*,
Coleen M. Damcott1,
Haiqing Shen1,
Sandra H. Ott1,
John Shelton1,
Richard B. Horenstein1,
Wendy Post2,
John C. McLenithan1,3,
Lawrence F. Bielak4,
Patricia A. Peyser4,
Braxton D. Mitchell1,
Michael Miller1,
Jeffrey R. O'Connell1,
Alan R. Shuldiner1,3
1 Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
2 Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
3 Geriatrics Research and Education Clinical Center, Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
4 Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
↵* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tpollin{at}medicine.umaryland.edu
Science 12 Dec 2008:
Toni I. Pollin
Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Coleen M. Damcott
Haiqing Shen
Sandra H. Ott
John Shelton
Richard B. Horenstein
Wendy Post
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
John C. McLenithan
Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Geriatrics Research and Education Clinical Center, Baltimore Veterans Administration Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Lawrence F. Bielak
Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Patricia A. Peyser
Braxton D. Mitchell
Jeffrey R. O'Connell
Alan R. Shuldiner
This article has a correction. Please see:
Is corrected by - January 30, 2009
Apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III) inhibits triglyceride hydrolysis and has been implicated in coronary artery disease. Through a genome-wide association study, we have found that about 5% of the Lancaster Amish are heterozygous carriers of a null mutation (R19X) in the gene encoding apoC-III (APOC3) and, as a result, express half the amount of apoC-III present in noncarriers. Mutation carriers compared with noncarriers had lower fasting and postprandial serum triglycerides, higher levels of HDL-cholesterol and lower levels of LDL-cholesterol. Subclinical atherosclerosis, as measured by coronary artery calcification, was less common in carriers than noncarriers, which suggests that lifelong deficiency of apoC-III has a cardioprotective effect.
Elevated plasma levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglycerides (TGs) are important contributors to premature coronary heart disease (CHD) (1–3), and genetic variants causing low LDL-C are associated with reduced risk of CHD (4). Recently, nonfasting TG was found to be an independent CHD risk factor (5, 6), showing higher predictive power in one study than fasting TG (FTG), the traditional measure, likely because of the atherogenic remnant lipoproteins generated during absorption and clearance of dietary fat (5).
To identify genetic factors contributing to FTG and the postprandial TG (ppTG) dietary response, we performed a single high-fat feeding intervention and genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 809 Old Order Amish individuals as part of the Heredity and Phenotype Intervention (HAPI) Heart Study (7). Characteristics of these participants are shown in table S1. These individuals were fed a milkshake containing 782 kcal/m2 body surface area, with 77.6% of these calories from fat, and had blood drawn for lipid levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 hours after the intervention. The Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 500K Array Set was used for genotyping leukocyte DNA from these 809 participants. Traits were normalized, and analyses accounting for sex and sex-specific age and age2; body mass index (BMI) and relatedness among participants were performed as described in the Methods section (8).
Results of the GWAS of FTG and ppTG [as estimated by the incremental area under the curve, iAUCTG (8)], transformed by their natural logarithm (ln), are shown in table S2 and fig. S1. The strongest evidence for association with both ln-FTG (P = 3.8 × 10–14) and ln-iAUCTG(P = 2.8 × 10–10) occurred on chromosome 11q23 at single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs10892151, which had a minor allele frequency (MAF) of 0.028 (A allele) (table S2). SNP rs10892151 is located within an intron of the DSCAML1 (Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule like 1) gene and also lies 823 kb away from the apolipoprotein A and C APOA1/C3/A4/A5 region, a cluster of more likely candidate genes, given the established key roles of their products in lipid metabolism (9). SNP rs681524 (MAF = 0.062), 40 kb from the cluster, showed nominal association with ln-FTG (P = 1.1 × 10–5) and ln-iAUCTG (P = 0.004) and was moderately correlated with rs10892151 [standardized linkage disequilibrium coefficient (D′)= 0.85, squared correlation coefficient (r2) = 0.31] (fig. S2).
Rs10892151 A carriers evidenced markedly lower FTGs and ppTGs than noncarriers (table S3), consistent with effects of deleting the APOC3 gene in mice (10), which led to the hypothesis that SNP rs10892151 tagged a loss-of-function mutation in APOC3. Sequencing of the coding region of APOC3 revealed a C → T substitution at the terminal nucleotide of exon 3, the 55th nucleotide from the ATG start codon; this substitution resulted in a premature stop codon for an arginine residue at amino acid position 19 (R19X). This position is located in the signal peptide of the protein, normally cleaved before the secretion of the mature 79–amino acid apoC-III peptide (11). Thus, a complete lack of production of apoC-III from alleles containing this mutation would be predicted. Moreover, the location of the premature stop codon in the mRNA transcript of the mutated gene meets the criteria for nonsense-mediated mRNA, in which certain mRNA transcripts with premature stop codons are degraded, rather than translated into protein (12, 13). Indeed, in a sample of 20 study participants [10 carriers of the 19X allele, RX (CT), and 10 noncarriers, RR (CC)] who made up four two-generation families and one pair of siblings, apoC-III protein levels in R19X carriers were approximately half of that in their noncarrier relatives (39% versus 87% of pooled serum control level, P = 0.0002) (Fig. 1). ApoC-III levels were highly correlated with ln-FTG levels [partial correlation coefficient (r)= 0.71, P = 0.0002] (Fig. 1, nontransformed FTG shown).
Triglyceride levels as a function of apoC-III protein levels stratified by APOC3 R19X genotype in 20 individuals. Filled squares indicate individuals carrying the 19X allele and open squares, noncarriers.
The R19X mutation was in strong linkage disequilibrium with (i.e., highly correlated with) the most highly associated GWAS SNP rs10892151 (D′ = 1, r2 = 0.85) (fig. S2). Pedigree and haplotype analysis were consistent with a single copy of the mutated allele having entered the population before the year 1800 (supporting online text and figs. S3 and S4). Evaluation of the association of this novel R19X mutation with ln-FTG and ln-ppTG in 802 of 809 HAPI Heart GWAS subjects successfully genotyped revealed similar associations to those identified with rs10892151 (Fig. 2 and table S4). R19X heterozygotes had significantly reduced TG levels compared with their RR counterparts at all six time points, with a median FTG (interquartile range) of 31 (25 to 48) versus 57 (42 to 81) mg/dl (P = 4.1 × 10–13) and iAUCTG median of 214 (154 to 338) versus 410 (276 to 608) mg/dl over 6 hours (P = 2.0 × 10–10). Nominal association (P < 0.05) of the mutation with ln-TG at 2, 3, and 4 hours, as well as ln-tAUC, ln-iAUC, natural logarithm of maximum TG, and natural logarithm of incremental maximum TG persisted after controlling for ln-FTG. The segregation of the R19X mutation with hypo-TG and blunted ppTG response in a representative family is shown in fig. S5.
TG levels before and during the high-fat challenge by R19X APOC3 genotype. Shown are covariate-adjusted geometric means with 95% confidence intervals. Filled squares indicate individuals carrying the 19X allele and open squares, noncarriers.
R19X carriers had significantly higher HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (mean ± SD: 67 ± 17 versus 55 ± 14 mg/dl, P = 9.0 × 10–7) and lower total cholesterol (191 ± 35 versus 209 ± 46 mg/dl, P = 0.02) and LDL-C (116 ± 32 versus 140 ± 43 mg/dl, P = 0.001) levels (Table 1) than noncarriers. There were no differences in BMI (P = 0.98) or waist circumference (P = 0.50), and fasting glucose and insulin were similar between R19X carriers and noncarriers (P = 0.53 and 0.72, respectively). R19X carriers had significantly lower levels of non-HDL (P = 0.0005); very low density lipoprotein (VLDL, 1.5 × 10–10); the most-dense VLDL subfraction, VLDL3 (P = 2.8 × 10–10); intermediate density lipoprotein (IDL, P = 8.8 × 10–15); real LDL (P = 0.01); and remnant lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 3.0 × 10–20), as well as higher levels of both HDL2 (P = 7.0 × 10–6) and HDL3 (P = 3.0 × 10–5) cholesterol. On the basis of the mutation's effect on TGs, VLDL-C levels increased significantly less in carriers than in noncarriers at 4 hours after the high-fat challenge (P = 0.0009) (Table 1).
Morphometric and metabolic characteristics and lipid subfractions by APOC3 R19X genotype (all analyses except age adjusted for sex and sex-specific age and age2 and all analyses except age, BMI, and waist adjusted for BMI) in the HAPI Heart Study. Variables analyzed directly are presented as mean ± SD. Variables natural logarithm–transformed for normalization before analysis are presented as median (interquartile range). All values are fasting unless otherwise indicated. SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure.
The hypothesis that a mutation conferring such a favorable lipid profile would be cardioprotective was evaluated in the Amish Family Calcification Study (14), which includes 335 of the HAPI Heart fat-challenge participants along with 698 additional Amish individuals, all of whom underwent electron beam computed tomography to quantify coronary artery calcification (CAC), a subclinical measure of coronary atherosclerosis. A standard lipid panel was also obtained. The effect of the APOC3 R19X mutation on decreased FTGs and increased HDL-C levels replicated in the 698 nonoverlapping AFCS participants (P = 1.9 × 10–22 and P = 1.3 × 10–14, respectively; P = 2.9 × 10–29 and 1.3 × 10–17 in the full AFCS). LDL-C levels tended to be lower in R19X carriers than in noncarriers in the nonoverlapping subset, and the difference reached statistical significance in the full AFCS (P = 0.01) (table S5).
Among AFCS participants, according to evidence-based clinical guidelines set by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) (15), LDL-C levels, the primary CHD prevention target, were more likely to be optimal (<100 mg/dl) in R19X carriers [odds ratio with 95% confidence limits (OR) = 2.24 (95% CI 1.07 to 4.66)] than in noncarriers (Table 2), although the difference did not quite reach statistical significance (P = 0.07). In addition, high HDL-C (≥60 mg/dl), considered by the ATP-III to be cardioprotective enough to cancel out one additional CHD risk factor (15), was much more common in R19X carriers than in noncarriers [OR = 7.0 (95% CI: 3.3 to 14.8), P = 9.1 × 10–6]. Notably, ATP-III–defined low HDL-C (<40 mg/dl) was absent in the carriers but present in 13.5% of noncarriers (Fisher's exact test, P = 4.2 × 10–4). All R19X carriers had FTGs in the normal (<150 mg/dl) range (maximum of 77 mg/dl), whereas only 83.6% of noncarriers had normal FTGs (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.0004). Among AFCS participants in the baseline age range (30 to 74 years) of the Framingham Heart Study, mutation carriers had significantly lower natural logarithm–transformed 10-year Framingham CHD risk (16) than noncarriers [risk ratio = 0.68 (95% CI: 0.58 to 0.79), P = 3.9 × 10–7] (Table 2 and fig. S6).
National Cholesterol Education Program ATP-III protective lipid levels, Framingham 10-year CHD risk, and CAC as a function of APOC3 R19X genotype in the AFCS. Dichotomous traits analyzed by generalized estimating equations (GEE) adjusted for age, sex, and sibship, as described in the methods (8), except triglycerides, which contains a zero cell. Framingham 10-year CHD risk analyzed as a natural log-transformed quantitative trait with variance components (adjusted for sex and sex-specific age and age2) as described in the methods (8). Framingham Heart Study comparisons included only individuals age 30 to 74 years to match baseline ages in that study. MESA comparisons included only individuals age 45 to 84 years to match baseline ages in that study.
Consistent with their protective lipid profile, R19X carriers were significantly less likely than noncarriers to have any detectable CAC [OR = 0.35 (95% CI: 0.21 to 0.60), P = 0.002] or CAC scores greater than 100 Agatston units [OR = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.18 to 0.85), P = 0.01] (fig. S7). CAC scores of 1 to 100 were previously associated with a fourfold and scores greater than 100 with a sevenfold increased risk of major coronary events in comparison with individuals with no detectable calcification in the population-based Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) after adjustment for standard risk factors (17). Among AFCS participants in the age range of the MESA study (45 to 84 years), R19X carriers were significantly less likely to have a score at or above their respective MESA-derived (18) ethnicity-, sex-, and age-specific 75th percentile [OR = 0.38 (95% CI: 0.19 to 0.77), P = 0.003] (Table 2), a level associated in MESA, after adjustment for traditional risk factors, with an eightfold risk of CHD events in comparison with the lowest two quartiles (19). Analysis of the quantitative trait ln(CAC score + 1), which approximated a normal distribution after adjustment for age and sex (fig. S8), yielded a significant negative association between CAC quantity and being a carrier [βR19X = –0.84 ± 0.30, e.g., mean ratio = 0.43 (95% CI: 0.24 to 0.78), P = 0.005] (table S5).
ApoC-III, secreted from the liver and to a lesser extent by the intestines, is a component of both HDL and apoB-containing lipoprotein particles (9, 20), impairs catabolism and hepatic uptake of apoB-containing lipoproteins (21, 22), appears to enhance the catabolism of HDL particles (23), enhances monocyte adhesion to vascular endothelial cells (24), and activates inflammatory signaling pathways (25). Along with the observed association of elevated apoC-III concentration with increased CHD risk (26), the roles of apoC-III in lipoprotein metabolism would predict that apoC-III deficiency would decrease atherothrombotic tendency.
Previous reports of apoC-III deficiency in humans were complicated by the prothrombotic effects of accompanying apoA-I and/or apoA-IV deficiency (27–30), small sample sizes and/or structurally abnormal apoC-III (31, 32). The current report of a favorable lipid profile and reduced subclinical coronary artery atherosclerosis in R19X null mutation carriers provides strong evidence in a relatively large number of individuals that apoC-III deficiency (by ∼50% of normal levels) is indeed cardioprotective.
Indirectly lowered APOC3 expression is one mechanism of the lipid-lowering effect of fibrates (33), and the use of several other lipid-lowering agents, including statins, thiazolidinediones, ezetimibe, niacin, fish oil, and weight loss, has also been associated with decreases in apoC-III levels [reviewed in (20)]. That a naturally occurring null mutation in APOC3 confers a favorable lipid profile and apparent cardioprotection and does not result in any obvious detrimental effect raises the possibility that therapies aimed specifically at down-regulating apoC-III expression will be clinically efficacious and safe in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with CHD.
Supporting Online Material
www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5908/1702/DC1
SOM Text
Figs. S1 to S8
Tables S1 to S5
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We gratefully acknowledge our Amish liaisons, field workers, and clinic staff and the extraordinary cooperation and support of the Amish community, without which these studies would not have been possible. We thank R. Agarwala and A. Schäffer for assistance in pedigree construction and K. Ryan for data management. This work was supported by NIH grants R01 HL088119, R01 AR046838, U01 HL72515, R01 AG18728, and U01 HL084756; General Clinical Research Centers Program, National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), NIH; the University of Maryland General Clinical Research Center, grant M01 RR 16500; University of Maryland Clinical Nutrition Research Unit grant P30 DK072488; the Johns Hopkins University General Clinical Research Center, grant M01 RR 000052; the Baltimore Veterans Administration Geriatric Research and Education Clinical Center (GRECC); and the Paul Beeson Faculty Scholars in Aging Program.
You are going to email the following A Null Mutation in Human APOC3 Confers a Favorable Plasma Lipid Profile and Apparent Cardioprotection
By Toni I. Pollin, Coleen M. Damcott, Haiqing Shen, Sandra H. Ott, John Shelton, Richard B. Horenstein, Wendy Post, John C. McLenithan, Lawrence F. Bielak, Patricia A. Peyser, Braxton D. Mitchell, Michael Miller, Jeffrey R. O'Connell, Alan R. Shuldiner
Science 12 Dec 2008 : 1702-1705
A mutation resulting in a lifelong decrease in the expression of a protein that inhibits triglyceride hydrolysis may protect against cardiovascular disease.


Luxury and prestige brands such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton & Cartier represent the highest form of craftsmanship and command a staunch consumer loyalty that is not affected by brands. These brands create and and set the seasonal trends and are also capable to pulling all of their consumers with them wherever they go. Premium brands are those brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger that aspire to be luxury and prestige brands but their marketing mix strategies are more attuned to a mass market, albeit a luxury mass market. They are also termed as mass-premium brands or mass-luxury brands. Fashion brands on the other hand are those that address the masses.


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12 Record(s) Found in our database
1. Record Number: 11013
Author(s): Cantara, Linda
Title : Holy Eunuchs! Masculinity and Eunuch Saints in Byzantium [In this brief overview, the author concentrates on the tenth century "Life" of Ignatios the Younger, twice patriarch of Constantinople (847-858 and 867-878). Tougher argues that the hagiographer treats Ignatios as a typical holy man with just one mention of his castration. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
Source: Holiness and Masculinity in the Middle Ages. Edited by P. H. Cullum and Katherine J. Lewis . Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages Series. University of Wales Press, 2004. Pages 93 - 108.
2. Record Number: 8878
Author(s): Armstrong, Dorsey.
Title : In or Out? Origins of Court Eunuchs [The author provides a brief overview of eunuchs at royal courts, emphasizing the late Roman Empire and Byzantium. He is interested in particular in the ethnic origins of eunuchs and whether some were castrated in their home countries for sale to royal courts. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
Source: Eunuchs in Antiquity and Beyond. Edited by Shaun Tougher . Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth, 2002. Pages 143 - 159.
Author(s): Sidéris, Georges
Title : Eunuchs of Light: Power, Imperial Ceremonial, and Positive Representations of Eunuchs in Byzantium (4th-12th Centuries A.D.) [The author presents cases in which eunuchs were praised, generally for their piety, beauty, or similarity to angels. The author argues that these favorable views usually were expressed because eunuchs held important roles in the imperial court with direct access to power. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
Title : Theophylact of Ochrid's "In Defence of Eunuchs" [Theophylact, archbishop of Ochrid, wrote the polemical text for his brother, who was a eunuch. It consists of a pair of speeches, the first discussing the bad qualities of eunuchs and the second defending eunuchs at much greater length. A large part of his argument emphasizes the ascetic control that good eunuchs exercise in their pursuit of Christian virtues. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
Author(s): Gaul, Niels
Title : Eunuchs in the Late Byzantine Empire, c. 1250-1400 [The author surveys evidence for eunuchs in thirteenth and fourteenth century Byzantium from a range of literary texts including vernacular romances. He argues that the decline of eunuchs in this period of time was due to the fact that royal family members, both male and female, could now fulfill the more important offices and duties at court that had earlier been held exclusively by eunuchs. The Appendix lists nineteen eunuchs at court and in the Church along with a few more instances of unnamed eunuchs from histories, romances, and land records. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
Author(s): Ringrose, Kathryn M.
Title : Passing the Test of Sanctity: Denial of Sexuality and Involuntary Castration [the author traces the changing status of eunuchs in the spiritual life; in Late Antiquity, eunuchs had a negative image and could not achieve sanctity but by the ninth to the twelfth century eunuchs could achieve sanctity through denial (other than the flesh) and other forms of selflessness].
Source: Desire and Denial in Byzantium: Papers from the Thirty-First Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, March 1997. Edited by Liz James. Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, Publications 6 . Variorum (Ashgate Publishing), 1999. Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies , 11., 2 (Spring 1999): Pages 123 - 137.
Author(s): Schotter, Anne Howland.
Title : Images of Effeminate Men: The case of Byzantine Eunuchs
Source: Masculinity in Medieval Europe. Edited by D.M. Hadley . Women and Men in History Series. Addison Wesley Longman, 1999. Pages 89 - 100.
Author(s): Scheil, Andrew P.
Title : Somatic Ambiguity and Masculine Desire in the Old English Life of Euphrosyne [Euphrosyne lives as a eunuch in a monastery ; the text brings out the erotic aspects of homosociality among the monks].
Source: Exemplaria: A Journal of Theory in Medieval and Renaissance Studies , 11., 2 (Spring 1999): Pages 345 - 361.
Author(s): Kuefler, Mathew S.
Title : Castration and Eunuchism in the Middle Ages
Source: Handbook of Medieval Sexuality. Edited by Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage . Garland Reference Library of the Humanities vol. 1696. Garland Publishing, 1996. Byzantinische Forschungen , 23., ( 1996): Pages 279 - 306.
10. Record Number: 1746
Title : Eunuchs as Cultural Mediators [they mediated between men and women, the bureaucratic elite and the rest of society, even between the earthly and the divine].
Source: Byzantinische Forschungen , 23., ( 1996): Pages 75 - 93. Revised papers that were originally read at the session entitled "Komnenian Culture" at the Twentieth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, on September 21, 1994
Title : Eunuchs as Cultural Mediators in Byzantium
Source: Byzantine Studies Conference. Abstracts of Papers , 21., ( 1995): Pages 57
12. Record Number: 31999
Title : Origen Castrating Himself before a Nun
Source: Byzantine Studies Conference. Abstracts of Papers , 21., ( 1995):


text:
Michael Egan may refer to:

 Michael Egan (Australian politician) (born 1948)
 Michael Egan (author) (born 1941), scholar of literature
 Michael Egan (Irish politician) (1866–1947), Irish trade unionist and Teachta Dála
 Michael Egan (playwright) author of The Dominant Sex (1934)
 Michael Egan (Wisconsin politician), state senator
 Michael Francis Egan (1761–1814), first Catholic bishop of Philadelphia
 Michael J. Egan (1926–2016), American politician

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Michael Ginn Limited is an award winning medium sized chartered architectural practice, located within East London.
MGL specialise in inner city development, which to date includes large and small scale development, split between new build and refurbishment / extension development.
The majority of the work requested by our clients has centered on inner city and brown field development. This has formulated MGL's experience on residential, commercial and mixed use development. Along with these building types, MGL has experience in student accommodation, nursing homes and hotel design and development.
The Chartered Architectural Practice, MGL, was founded in 1978 by Michael Ginn RIBA, who remains within the company as one of the principle directors. The original company started as a practitioner, developed into a partnership and then became a Limited company in 2003. Today the responsibility of running the office is split between Michael Ginn and his son Joel.
The practice has always resided and operated within East London, which has offered significant development potential during the companies lifetime.
The practice has also has considerable experience beyond the east end, with developments throughout Greater London and the home counties, as well as projects in Manchester, Liverpool and France.
The majority of the work has been inner city redevelopment or brownfield development, which has mainly comprised
if residential, commercial and mixed used projects. These projects have been equally split between new build development and refurbishment / conservation development.
The new build work has varied in size from bespoke purpose built and designed houses for owner occupiers, to large scale developments in excess for 250 flats. Whilst the refurbishment / conservation work has ranged from Grade 2 star listing to renovating and converting 1960's office buildings into new residential or mixed use developments.
MGL have established a large network of specialist and consultants, all with experience within the building industry. MGL are happy to advise our clients on the appointment of these consultants in order to achieve the best results.
MGL have maintained a good working relationship with all of our consultants who have aided us in our design process and educated us on any changes within the building industry. These relationships and sharing of knowledge has helped us to serve and educate ourselves, our clients and the local authorities.
Past projects include:
Change of usage
Residential extensions and conversions
One-off private residential
Developments on extremely restricted / tight sites
Small mixed-use developments up to 9 units
Large developments up to 100-150 units
Hotel developments
Renovation of existing warehouses into residential
MGL Architects
Unit 4 Tanners Yard, 1-3 Treadway Street, London E2 6QB
tel. 020 7729 2269 / fax. 020 7702 8311
email. admin@mgl-architects.com
© 2023 mgl architects.


I dropped by the Melbourne Zoo yesterday and visited the new cubs, Tashi and Gobi who are now 9 months old. The are almost as big as mum Meo from a distance. They were play fighting over a huge piece of meat, stalking each other through the grass, peeping around tree trunks and then pounce! Meo was sitting close by watching them intently. I guess she was checking how well her training was going.
A group of students from Mill Park secondary college came by with a sheet of questions about snow leopards from a project they're working on. Fantastic! We had a great time chatting about the cats and conservation – by the end they were hooked!


text:
Investigation Reveals Where Bank Loans Went Bad
Posted on September 1, 2009 by Fortune&Class
A Fortune&Class in-house panel of experts has, after a review of the bad loans accrued to the five banks currently under the Central Bank of Nigeria's direct supervision, submitted that the Federal Government holds largest liability in repayment to the banks. The committee of experts nonetheless observed that the figures made public by the CBN also affirmed that the affected bank officials must have been heavily involved in unethical manipulation of the stock market even as the panel agreed that the banks, indeed, tried to play their economic role of financial intermediation by providing a big chunk of their facility for real sector activities.
The conclusions of the panel's review may put the lies on the generalized opinion prevalent in the public place of the bulk of the five banks financing going into loans for stock market trading and the importation of petroleum products.
The panel reports that 51 per cent of the N747,000,000,000 alleged bad loan, approximated at N375,487,000,000 was given out by the banks to the real sector. The classification of the real sector, in the consideration of the panelists includes activities in construction, manufacturing, imports of raw materials for industries, farming and telecommunications.
Interestingly, the panel reports that a mere 22 per cent of the N747billion bad loan aggregated at N163billion can be attributed to the stock market while N218billion, about 27 per cent of the bad loan has been tracked to have been borrowed by players in the oil and gas sector.
The Case For Union Bank
Taken on individual profiling, Fortune&Class panelists submit that the sanctioning of Union Bank managing director should raise questions because of the five banks under the CBN's thumb, Union Bank's hope of recovering its bad loan is more assured because the bulk of the bad loans atissue are facilities given to entities in the real sector.
Of the total N73.582billion bad loan attributed to Union bank N66billion summed up to be loans to the real sector. The bank's only stock market related bad loan is the N1,291,737,218 granted to GMT Securities.
In the same vein, the bank's only outstanding to the oil gas sector is the N6,251,658,228 taken by Zenon Oil and Gas. Panelists argue that Zenon has a higher likelihood of paying up because of its track record in the oil and gas sector.
It is not, however, a shared optimism, as in the hope of recovery of the bad loan from a company like Femi Otedola's owned Zenon when compared to the N28.5billion Oceanic Bank is expecting Rahmaniyya Global resources, a company in the petroleum products marketing sector, to repay it.
Rahmaniyya's operations are reportedly hampered at the moment.
Crosscheck of operations at the Apapa depot of the company shows that not much activities are going on there. A senior staff of the company confides that operations have been hampered because of the company's huge indebtedness to banks. The official took time to protest that the company's situation became bad because an appreciable percentage of the loans secured at commercial banks were usually given out as kick backs to officials of the banks where the loans originated from.
Where Oceanic Bank May Lose Out
As a stand alone, Oceanic Bank's loans are locked into the real sector, that is about N122billion of a total N278.2billion. The worrisome aspect of the bank's bad loan portfolio, as it were, would be the N56billion exposure to the stock market. This figure aroused much concern because just six companies, as recorded, were found worthy enough to enjoy margin loan from the bank. The panelists reasoned that what the figures suggest is that officials of the bank merely decided to employ the services of this small number of stockbrokers to help it exploit the stock market.
The panelists also submit that the larger percentage of Oceanic Bank's expected repayment from the bad loans tracked to the oil and gas sector of about N100billion hold no prospect of recovery in consideration of the track records of most of the entities that secured the loans.
Intercontinental Bank shares the same fate that may befall the recovery efforts of Oceanic Bank. With N34billion outstanding from just seven stock-broking houses most of which have continued to dispute the figures in the public domain.
Bad Loan Recovery Challenges For Intercontinental Bank
As in the case with Oceanic Bank, all of the brokerage houses involved have protested that the loan accounts were opened jointly with the banks. Some even complained that they never received any cheque book on the account that was in the joint names of the brokerage house and the bank.
In different letters of protest forwarded to the banks, some of these brokerage houses had hinted at being asked to engage in stock market manipulation by the bank. One of such protest letters written and forwarded to Intercontinental bank which Fortune&Class got a copy, reads:
"…Your bank also included clauses in the contract that gives you the sole right to decide which stock can be purchased and when such can be sold. The records presented to us even show that some of the shares purchased with the margin loan included the stock of your bank."
The letter from the lawyer tells of more worrying aspects of the margin loan where it notes that:
"Our client mentioned the fact that they never solicited the loan but rather your bank approached them with the offer of the loan…even as their accounts were debited for the processing and management fees for the transaction before they had even had any opportunity to review or sign the offer letter."
For our panelists, it is issues like these that may stunt efforts to recover the bad loans for Intercontinental Bank. This is besides the crisis of the Federal Government non-payment of petroleum products subsidy differentiation to oil marketers that secured a large part of the N79billion loan that was used in importing petroleum products into the country.
'Afribank played big in the Stock Market…sure to lose big'
Not even the EFCC Chairman can yet fathom how the five companies that Afribank granted about N60billion to trade the stock market, would pay back their exposure in the current lacklustre stock market.
Whose interest was the bank management advancing by farming out the huge sum of N60billion to just five entities? Again, it is believed that the bank played big in the stock market to forward its interest. "That N60billion cannot be recovered in the short term," one of our panelists said.
Finbank Liberal Lending Policy
Of the five embattled banks, Finbank Plc profiles a liberal lending culture. Though we can't say for certain how the loans were collaterised, the fact of farming out its loan to a larger number of borrowing entities compared to other banks in the bad loan quagmire, suggests that recovery of debt may be easier Finbank.
The bank's total non-performing loans as calculated by the CBN is approximated at N42.4billion. Of this, about N15billion was borrowed out to 83 operators in the real sector. This is just as the total sum of N11.1billion bad loan accruing from stock market activities, was granted to nine entities with the highest calculated to still owe about N3billion.
The same liberal lending policy shows in the figure of the loans repayment of N14billion from 17 entities in the oil and gas sector.
The Sector That Is Sure For Repayment
Our panel of experts are of the opinion that bad loans accrued in the real sector may easily be recovered because of the quality of collaterals that would have been provided before approval to draw down. This, however, excludes any insider related dealings.
Compared to loans to the real sector, recovery of bad debts accrued from stock trading activities may be considered hopeless in consideration of the state of the Nigerian stock market, the macro-economic environment and the harsh realities of the global economic meltdown. The collaterisation of loan assets in margin loan is linked to securities purchased, the lender is, however, supposed to dispose of with the securities in the open market when prices go below an agreed threshold. But it turned out that these banks didn't effect the power of cashing the securities by selling off when the prices of the securities slid below the agreed threshold. Thus, the lenders are left with collaterised securities that are way below the worth of the loans.
Same is the extant downside of the oil and gas sector. With consistent sliding petroleum product prices and the unwillingness of the Federal Government the only buyer of petroleum products in Nigeria, to pay up the difference between the landing cost of petroleum products in the country and the price at which the marketers are mandated to sell to retailers, the expectation of bad loan recovery from the entities in these sector may be challenging.
Who Is Paying Up
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said that it had so far recovered a sum of N25.5billion out of the N1.143 trillion of total non-performing loans of the five banks.
The break-down of recovered debt and the banks are as follows; Intercontinental bank N7, 736, 571, 744.19; Finbank.N1, 590, 417, 332.05, AfribankN7, 551, 121, 378.69, Oceanic bankN8, 033, 481, 868.65; Union bank N659, 240, 400.78.
Executive Directors Took N5bn Unsecured Loans Each
More troubling revelations have continued to emerge from the banking industry in the wake of the sack of five bank chiefs and members of their senior management cadre. Some top banking industry staff have started talking of the justification of the action of the Central Bank of Nigeria's Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to sanction the affected bank chiefs and their senior management cadre because of their connivance to fleece the bank.
Specifically, the entire management board of one of the banks is said to being investigated by the CBN to ascertain how each Executive Director got approval of N5billion loan facility.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: afribank, bank loans, Central Bank of Nigeria, experts, finbank, fortune&class, intercontinental bank, investigation, Oceanic Bank, Rahmaniyya Global resources, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, stock market, union bank, zenon oil and gas | 2 Comments »
IBRU FAMILY RECRUITS SENATE LEADERSHIP, PRESIDENT'S WIFE TO SAVE CECILIA
The Ibru family reportedly threw all its influence and moneyed privileges into the battle to mitigate the public embarrassment of Mrs. Cecilia Ibru, sacked Managing Director of Oceanic Bank and wife of the patriarch of the Ibru's clan, Olorogun Michael Ibru.
Details emerging in the wake of the sudden appearance of the erstwhile Managing Director of Oceanic Bank at the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) last Wednesday, indicate that the wife of the Chairman of the Ibru organization was advised to beat a tactical retreat to allow the family deploy its massive goodwill in the nation's political arena to stave off the prospect of an embarrassingly long detention for Mrs. Ibru by the EFCC.
Knowledgeable insiders to the horse trading that led to the eventual emergence of the woman fondly revered as the Nigeria's first lady of banking, confided in Fortune&Class Weekly that the Ibru family pulled all the plugs through the Senate and the Presidency to get certain assurances from the EFCC before Mrs. Ibru was given the green light to submit herself at the EFCC.
"Seriously, we have only heard about the ingenuity of the Ibru family in making money, but I was a witness to another aspect of their lives these past days when I experienced their ability to move around and lobby office holders to intervene in the roiling crisis that had claimed one of their own, Mrs. Ibru. It's not as if you saw any of the Ibrus physically, but there were many people lobbying on her behalf especially at the Senate," the source said.
"You know, the second day after the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido (Sanusi) made those earth shaking pronouncements about sacking five bank chief executives, the President left the country in company with his wife, Turai. The next level of authority, in the real sense of it, at that time, was the Senate. And it was to the Senators that the Ibru lobbyists took their battle to get political pressure to be applied on the EFCC boss to provide lighter treatment and shortened detention for Mrs. Ibru. The fulcrum of the argument of the lobbyists is that the Central Bank of Nigeria was making a mountain out of a mole hill by its decisions to sack the bank managing directors and their arrest by the EFCC.
"The lobbyists pleaded with the leadership of the Senate to prevail on the Chairman of the EFCC, Mrs. Farida Waziri, to make a commitment to making Mrs. Ibru's detention before taking her to the court as short as possible.
"Of course, they got sympathetic ears in the Senate. The Senate leadership made overtures to the Chairman of the EFCC who insisted that Mrs. Ibru must first surrender herself to the anti-grafts agency before she could determine the next step.
"Hajia Binta Turai, wife of President Umar Yar'Adua also played a peripheral role in the Ibru EFCC saga. Two of the first lady's friends were drafted to talk to the EFCC Chairman to provide a soft landing for Mrs. Ibru, the source said.
Mrs. Ibru had, as part of her battle to stop her arrest and detention, dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria and its governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi before a Federal High Court in Abuja over her compulsory removal from office, demanding the sum of N50 billion for "exemplary, punitive and aggravated and general damages."
The EFCC, however, declared Mrs. Ibru and Mr. Erastus Akingbola of Intercontinental Bank wanted on Sunday, 23 August, after failing to honour invitations for interrogation, sequel to their sack on August 14 along with three other bank MDs, Mr. Sebastine Adigwe of Afribank, Okey Nwosu of Finbank and Bartholomew Ebong of Union Bank.
A statement issued by EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, explained that Ibru and Akingbola "are wanted in connection with fraudulent abuse of credit process, insider trading, capital market manipulation and money laundering running into billions of Naira."
A Fortune&Class in-house panel of experts has, after a review of the bad loans accrued to the five banks currently under the Central Bank of Nigeria's direct supervision, submitted that the Federal Government holds largest liability in repayment to the banks. The committee of experts nonetheless observed that the figures made public by the CBN also affirmed that the affected bank officials must have been heavily involved in unethical manipulation of the stock market even as the panel agreed that the banks, indeed, tried to play their economic role of financial intermediation by providing a big chunk of their facility for real sector activities. (read more)
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: afribank, "Hajia Binta Turai, bank loans, Bartholomew Ebong, cecilia ibru, Central Bank of Nigeria, EFCC, erastus akingbola, experts, Femi Babafemi, finbank, fortune&class, intercontinental bank, investigation, mrs. farida waziri, Oceanic Bank, olorogun michael ibru, Rahmaniyya Global resources, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Sebastine Adigwe, stock market, union bank, wife of President Umar Yar'Adua, zenon oil and gas | Leave a comment »
Three Nigerian Banks break into Forbes List of World Biggest Companies
Posted on April 11, 2009 by Fortune&Class
The year 2009 is rather an unlikely year for any Nigerian company… continues here.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: 2008 ranking, 97th-largest comapny, assets, assets 2000, banking sector, bankruptcy, egypt, First Bank, forbes global 2000 rank, forbes list of world biggest companies, forbes magazine, general electric, global 2000, iceland's kaupthing bank, indicators, intercontinental bank, ireland's anglo banks, lehman brothers, liberia, market value, mergers, netherland, nigerian companies, orascom construction industry, outright failure, profit, profit 2000, publicly quoted companies, royal caribbean hotel, royal dutch shell, sales, sales 2000, scott decarlo, south african companies, standard bank group, stock market, toyota motors, uba, united bank for africa, weak financial performance, west africa, world's 2000 biggest companies | Leave a comment »
What Happens to Stock When Company Files Bankruptcy
Posted on March 9, 2009 by Fortune&Class
Bankruptcy Is Not Good News for Stocks and the stock market.
In this write up I will treat bankruptcy in the broad sense and why companies choose this route (if they have a choice). Also, I will be looking at the two main types of corporate bankruptcy and what rights or options investors have […]
Read the rest here.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: advice sellers, bankruptcy, bottom line, contracts, money back, pundits, secured creditors, stock market, stockholders, tunde oladapo-dixon, unsecured creditors, us market | Leave a comment »
75 Per Cent Of Credit To Stock Market Cornered By Operators Affiliated To Banks
Posted on February 28, 2009 by Fortune&Class
Analysts at Proshare Nigeria have said that banks' exposure to loans secured by their affiliates for stock market activities might have triggered a 65 per cent drop in capitalization of Nigerian banks and may, therefore be a fair reflection of the possible loss on the portfolio held by the banks through margin loans.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: proshare nigeria, stock market | 1 Comment »
CAPITAL MARKET CRASH: THE CASE AGAINST THE BANKS
Posted on February 7, 2009 by Fortune&Class
EFCC Boss
When the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission demanded that some banks' chief executives that had become richer than their banks should be questioned, it was the first formal acknowledgement of the abuses some commercial banks chief executives perpetrated in the Nigerian stock market while the gains and benefits in the market were on the upward swing.
Yet in a report filed by Reuters, a news agency, and published in various national newspapers in August 2007, it had become apparent that there were wary signs of obvious manipulations in the market for the benefits of a few, especially, banking chiefs.
"Investors in Nigeria's burgeoning stock market are seeing danger signals that the recent rally is turning into a bubble," the report filed in the third quarter of 2007, had observed .
"Concerns focus on banks, where share price growth has been spectacular since a wave of consolidation in 2005. Most bank stocks have more than doubled in value this year (2007) alone — some have risen by more than 500 per cent — and the majority now trade at more than 20 times their expected 2008 earnings," the report alerted.
Furthering its alarmed reading of the stock market back in 2007 when it seemed everybody was a winner in the stock market, the Reuter report added:
"Investors say these multiples are unsustainable, even for a fast-growing "pioneer" market like Nigeria, where investor confidence has been growing steadily since economic reforms began in 2003. The report quoted Mr. Jonathan Chew of Imara Asset Management UK Limited which had $25 million invested in Nigerian securities back then as saying that:
"All the indicators of a market going out of control are here, when the entire retail sector is talking about stocks and shares, you know it is getting toppy,"
Reuters had observed then that fears of a bubble in the banking sector have mounted on reports that some banks were engaged in highly leveraged share purchase schemes through stockbrokers. The Reuters 2007 report supported this claim with the opinions of notable operators in the market.
"One senior bank executive said he knew of one case where a capital market operator borrowed six billion naira from a bank to invest in that bank's shares." The report asserted while quoting Bismarck Rewane who the report described as a consultant with Financial Derivatives Co. in Lagos who agreed that the practice (highly leveraged share purchase scheme) was widespread.
"Margin trading is the biggest gamble in town right now. It's very dangerous," Rewane was reported to have said.
The Reuters report also quoted Godwin Obaseki, managing director of Afrinvest, who said banks have extended big loans to brokers, perhaps as much as 20 per cent of the whole country's credit."
Obaseki was, however, quoted in that report to have said he did not know of cases where banks insisted on the loans being used to buy their own shares, which according to him, would be illegal.
More than a year after the report was filed, the Nigerian stock market had unraveled, the suspicion and alarming indicators have been more or less confirmed by the outburst of the SEC's DG on banks' high exposure to the stock market, but more than this is the confirmation of the existence of the illegality Obaseki had denied in 2007 about banks granting loans to stock brokers and investors on the condition that they use the facilities to buy their (banks) shares.
Indeed, the practice became a standard in the banking industry especially during the second wave of public offers conducted by listed banks on the Exchange. Industry players talked of how banks provided funds for brokers and other investors to acquire their own shares during public offer. Industry watchers explained that most of the banks resorted to this to make their standing in the capital market look good to the investing public.
Besides, public offers by the implicated banks provided opportunities for bank chief executives and other directors to jostle to take position in the equity of the bank to acquire enough stakes in the bank either to position for influence or to later trade in the equity when price of the stock moved up," an expert revealed.
"Again, banks also engaged in providing funds to brokers and investors to acquire shares of banks considered choice banks, especially the shares of First Bank Plc, this is one of the reasons the public offer of the bank was over-subscribed by more than 600 per cent, the bank merely wanted to raise N100 billion but it ended up with more than N600billion, money mostly funded towards acquisition of its shares from other commercial banks," the stock market expert said.
"The idea is that since public offers provide the opportunity to acquire enough shares without the possibility of price moving as a result of demand for the shares outstripping demand as it would happen in the secondary market, funds are routed into the market to acquire as many shares as possible during the public offer with intent at trading in the shares when they are listed for transaction in the secondary market," the expert further explained.
While the bullish run persisted in the market, the performance of a bank's stock in the stock market was a measure of the buoyancy of the bank, expert said; this, coupled with the desire of bank's management to raise cheap funds from the market made many banks to provide funds to willing stock brokers and selected investors to mop their shares in the secondary market. Prices of such banking stocks naturally moved up because of the pressure of the programmed demand on the stocks.
"I can tell you that at a point in time, it seemed as if the only preoccupation of most banks was manipulating the stock market to wring out the last hope of gains. All these contributed to defacing the market and inevitably led to the crash of the Nigerian stock market," an analyst submitted.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: afrinvest, banking chiefs, bismarck rewane, capital market crash, case against the banks, danger signals, fast-growing poineer, financial derivatives co., first bank plc, godwin obaseki, imara asset management, implicated banks, investors, jonathan chew, national newspapers, news agency, Nigerian stock market, reuters, richer than banks, SEC, stock market, uk, upward swing | 2 Comments »
BankPHB EMBROILED IN N17BILLION FRAUD SCANDAL …EFCC ARRESTS THREE DIRECTORS, IAA VICE-CHAIR
MD, BankPHB
In the past three weeks, a whirlwind had swept through the gilded offices of BankPHB. At the last count, three executive directors had been sacked in tow with an unspecified number of other management staff. At the heart of the sweeping sack in the bank is perhaps, one of Nigeria's most sophisticated white collar fraud, involving a whopping 17 billion naira, and said to have been engineered by Mr. Funmi Ademosun, the Vice-Chairman of Investment and Allied Assurance Company (IAA).
A source at the bank confided that various sums of money totaling 17 billion naira had been parcelled through the accounts of Home Trust Savings and Loans Limited, another company where Ademosun is the chief executive.
"The sums were given out in the form of margin account targeted at shares purchase, particularly for the mopping up of the shares of IAA in the stock market," The BankPHB insider said. "But it turned out that rather than focus on the IAA shares, Ademosun decided to diversify his investment portfolio by playing on other stocks."
While observing that there was nothing patently wrong in the bank lending to customer for margin trading, the source observed that 17 billion naira was given out to Ademosun without appropriate management decision.
"The management of the bank as a body was not in the know of the whole thing; those involved exploited their high offices to approve facilities within the threshold of their approving authorities as executive directors for Ademosun's scheme."
Stock market operators that are now aware of the sums siphoned from the vault of the bank to Ademosun to target the shares of IAA reasoned that Ademosun, by virtue of his official standing in IAA was engaged in criminal manipulation of the share price of the IAA stock with the money availed him by BankPHB.
"Of course, we all suspected that something was not correct with the IAA shares. This is an insurance company with no branch except its head office branch with various analyses pointing to the fact that the whole business and administrative structure of the company were underpinned by financial engineering. Right from its private placement to its listing by introduction its 28billion units of shares on the floor of the exchange it was clear that some undercurrents were pushing the direction of the shares. It was not until we got to hear of the 17 billion naira funding of Ademosun by BankPHB that I personally understand the whole reason for the movement of the shares of IAA. The money was used to simply mop up the shares at a particular point in time and, thereafter, dump the mopped shares when the price is right," a stock broker explained.
Troubles, however, burst on to the scene when the market decidedly headed downward, meaning that the shares of IAA would not respond to any form of manipulative manoeuvres even where billions of naira is involved. The BankPHB source said this limited the capacity of Ademosun to pay back and the scandal broke out. In clearing the mess at the preliminary stage, the management of the bank reported the case to the Securities and Exchange Commission who in turn invited the Economic and financial Crimes Commission into the matter.
"As of this week, Messrs. Solomon Omoregieva, Ahmed Kuru and Emma Abugu, all executive directors, had been quizzed by the EFCC and they had been sacked in company with some other members of the middle cadre management who were said to be involved in the scandal. It is believed that these officials compromised and fell short of their responsibility by collectively exposing the bank to a facility of that magnitude. The general belief in the bank is that these officials must have soiled their hands in the transaction," the source added.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: ahmed kuru, bankphb, billion, broker, cadre management, chief executive, criminal manipulation, diversify, economic and financial crimes commission, EFCC, embroiled, emma abugu, financial engineering, fortune&class magazine, fraud, funmi ademosun, home trust savings and loans limited, iaa vice-chairman, insurance company, investment, investment allied assurance company, management staff, margin account, margin trading, messrs. solomon omoregieva, portfolio, sack, scheme, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission, share price, stock market, stocks, three directors, white collar fraud | 1 Comment »
Heavy Debt Burden: Banks suspend funding for Dangote's cement project
Posted on December 13, 2008 by Fortune&Class
A heavy debt burden and the anticipation of high profile competition for the share of the Nigerian cement supply side from Femi Otedola may have compelled Alhaji Aliko Dangote to call off investments with intent to expand production lines in his many cement manufacturing plants and to build new ones. Sources in the banking industry indicated that some bank's exposure to Dangote have become quite high and more discomfiting for the banks in consideration of hurdles they would have to contend with in the effort to get the debt repaid.
Though Forbes Magazine had listed Dangote as the richest man in Nigeria in 2007, financial sector source said his total debt folio drawn from various Nigerian banks may add up to N622billion. According to the source, about N300billion was secured from a bank by Dangote to play in the stock market between February and March 2008 when prices of stocks were at their peak.
"Prices of stocks started falling soon after the investment in the stock market and the fall in prices have become protracted which has resulted in stock prices sliding to historic lows. This, apparently, has affected the repayment traction of Dangote and this had added to the depressing situation of the banks that gave out the fund," the source explained.
According to the source, Dangote also secured a N75billion loan for Obajana Cement and N240billion for his cement production plant in Ibeshe while also funding his Alheri Engineering, the company that won the 3-G GSM licence and will manage the GSM telephony service provider in the Dangote group.
Dangote's decision to beat a retreat from cement manufacturing besides Nigerian banks refusing to make their money available for his use, is the wholesale opening up of the supply side of cement through the cement importation scheme of the Federal Government.
Dangote had enjoyed near monopoly status on the supply side of cement in Nigeria, and not a few aspiring builders had protested persistent increase in the price of cement which got to a high of N1,800 mid 2008. The Federal Government under Alhaji Umar Musa Yar'Adua removed the protectionist policy of the Olusegun Obasanjo's presidency which banned the importation of cement into the country and closed down some other Nigerian cement producing companies ostensibly to protect the manufacturing essence of Dangote Cement production subsidiaries and the other players in the sector.
"This did not help price at all, because just a few producers can come together to determine the price of a bag of cement," an industry player told FORTUNE&CLASS Weekly.
The Federal Government's bid to beat down the price of cement by flooding the market with imported brands may have started impacting the market as the price of a bag of cement has come down to about N1,500 even as the imported brands are yet to fully land in the country.
Industry buzz, however, suggests that Dangote may also be worried with the licence granted Femi Otedola by the Federal Government to import two million tonnes of cement into the country as part of the effort to crash cement prices.
"The Federal Government had to consciously look out for a Nigerian business that has enough cash to back up the importation. It would not make sense to allow for importation of cement when you don't have high profile business people that can mobilize enough funds to flood the market in the shortest possible time. That is why I think the Federal Government gave Otedola the licence to be involved in the importation of cement and I think he has a commitment to the Federal Government to sell at very cheap rate to Nigerians," a source in the Presidency said.
Filed under: BusinessNEWS | Tagged: 2007, 3-G GSM license, alhaji aliko dangote, alhaji umar musa yar' adua, alheri engineering, banking industry, banks suspend, cement production plant, cement project, dangote, dangote group, debt folio, Federal Government, femi otedola, financial sector source, forbes magazine, fortune&class weekly, gsm telephony, heavy debt burden, historic lows, ibeshe, manufacturing plants, monopoly status, N622billion, nigerian cement, obajana cement, Olusegun obasanjo, protectionist policy, richest man in Nigeria, stock market, stock prices sliding | Leave a comment »
NIGERIAN COMPANIES AND THE HERD MENTALITY
Philip Kotler, in his book, Marketing Management, posited that "all companies must look beyond their present situation and develop a long-term strategy to meet changing conditions in their industry. They must develop a game plan for achieving their long-run objectives." He further opined that there is no one strategy that is optimal for all companies. Each company must determine what makes the most sense in the light of its position in the industry and its objectives, opportunities, and resources".
This principle was applied by some notable companies in the United States and Japan in varying degrees to strengthen their operations as well as markets and hence improved revenue base. Companies like Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Uniroyal and Armstrong Rubber Co. in the US and Toyota in Japan applied this strategy to perfect their operations and products.
In the tire industry where all the major players adopted it, it was so used efficiently that each of the company got something and was, in a way, content retaining its distinct character and having to run to the other for assistance at any given time.
Here in our dear country, Nigeria, any thing and every thing runs on the herd mentality, This is why any strategy employed by company A to shore up its operations is automatically copied by company B irrespective of the differences in objective, resources and opportunities available to the two companies and to some extent, experience in their respective fields?
It is for the same reason that our telecom providers are all in the race to promote one event or the other usually in the entertainment sector that in a way alter and pollute our culture. No thought is given to the education sector by way of empowering the youths through scholarships as the oil companies do nor assisting with social projects that benefit the majority across economic strata.
During the re-capitalization efforts by banks, the stock market became the centre of attraction to all the banks. And they are yet to leave that market till date, not even the crisis in that pot of confusion is discouraging them, no. When it was the turn of the insurance sector to shore up their capital base; they too turned to the capital market for succor. The irony in this as it concerns the insurance companies is that the sector that is supposed to invest more in the capital market and in such other critical areas of our economy because of its potential to raise more money than other financial institutions, is the one begging for money. A direct opposite of what obtains in other climes is what our insurance sector represents here in Nigeria. Too bad.
By some slips arising from misconceptions or miss-application of strategy, our banks are increasingly finding it difficult to match reality with expectations. Rather than attempt a review of business plans and carry out some radical changes, marketing plans are being updated and probably are now made to replace business plans the result of which are the various panic measures being put in place to hunt for deposits even from school children as if that is what will give value and stability to their business.
While all these comedies are playing out, some of the banks are declaring mind boggling figures and mouth watering figures as profits, some as high as 98% over the previous year. And if we are to believe these fantastic performances it then becomes very difficult to reconcile the crazy hunt for deposits that now bothers on desperation. Worst still is the fact that daily, our highly performing banks are being accused of cheating their customers maybe to make up for the big profits declared.
Understandably, and in line with the bandwagon behavior, the new craze has shifted to the micro finance sector with virtually all the major banks falling over themselves to take vantage (?) position in that area. The obvious fact that that sector is also banking at the low level makes no meaning to the extent 'deposit money' will be sourced there.
While commending our banks for their innovation and ingenuity in what is gradually becoming a phenomenon in the way we do business in this country, it is better some good thought is given to carry out a review of operations based on reality. It will be a better strategy for each bank to look inward and turn its distinctive competence into its competitive advantage as IBTC used to be. Cutting an edge for your business will be a better strategy to this uniformity approach. Harassing people on the streets for deposits sends a signal that all is not well with our banks.
Can we be more creative in doing these things? Enough of these pretensions.
Filed under: Strategic Management | Tagged: begging for money, capital market, dear country, deposit money, economic strata, education sector, entertainment sector, finance sector, goodyear tire and rubber co., harrasing people, herd mentality, ibtc, industry, insurance companies, insurance sector, japan, long-term strategy, marketing management, nigeria, nigerian companies, objectives, philip kotler, social projects, stock market, telecom providers, toyota, u.s., uniroyal and armstrong rubber co., United States | 5 Comments »
USING EARNINGS PER SHARE EFFECTIVELY IN A RECUPERATING MARKET
A lot has been said about Earnings Per Share (EPS) but there is still more to be discussed. I have met a number of investors with total misconception of what E.P.S is and what it is not. This write-up is aimed at correcting the "absolute confidence" placed in it by some investors. No doubt, the use of EPS is one of the most reliable methods of picking good stocks but it is definitely not all-self-sufficient as misconstructed by some.
What is EPS?
Earnings Per Share is the net profit declared by a company per unit of its shares. This is calculated by dividing the total net profit by the number of shares in issue. If for instance the net profit of a company is N100, 000,000 and the number of shares in issue is 500,000,000 units, then the EPS is arrived at by saying N100m/500m units of shares which is equal to 0.2 or 20k.
How it is used
How is EPS applied in making investment decisions? As earlier said, EPS is the profit per unit of shares of a company. It shows how much a company has to share as dividend or plough back into the business to yield future returns. Therefore, given two identical stocks {selling at the same market price} whether in the same industry or in different industries, the simplest yardstick to use in checking which one is better is by subjecting them to the litmus test of EPS. A good example: stock "A" is priced at N10 in the stock market and stock "B" is also priced at the same N10 per unit. The EPS of stock "A" is 20k and that of "B" is 45k. Looking at it on the surface, a naïve investor will quickly jump to the conclusion that stock "B" is better. Why? Because it records a higher EPS compared to "A" and by implication it means stock "B" will have more money to pay as dividend and also have money to plough back into the business.
Its limitation
But the question is: Does it always work like that? Have you ever wondered why a stock with a lower EPS commands a higher price compared to the one with higher EPS? Has it ever occurred to you why investors will prefer to pay at premium for a stock which EPS is little or nothing to be compared with a counterpart stock? If your mind has been working as mine, you will realize that EPS in itself is not an all-sufficient factor that should influence your investment decision; hence its limitation.
The following are additional factors an investor must consider to complement his buy decision having spotted a stock with strong EPS:
Investors Confidence
We have seen so many stocks whose EPS are high and yet are selling below those with lower EPS. Yes, some may argue that the market is yet to discover such a stock or such a stock definitely has potential for future growth. These are all possibilities, but more often than not, the fortune of such a stock is determined by the level of confidence placed on it by investors. We have myriads of examples at present in the stock market especially at this recovery juncture. If the market does not have confidence in the stock, definitely it cannot do well in the market.
Easy Entry and Exit
The attractiveness of any stock lies in the fact that there is easy entry and exit in and out of such a stock. Irrespective of how robust the EPS of a company is, if the market perception is that it may be difficult to exit as at when desired, such stock may not do well as expected.
Quality of Management/Ownership structure
The integrity, aptitude and industry knowledge of the management paraded by a company is a very important factor to consider. The ownership structure of a company is also very essential. A friend once called me and said he had just spotted an insurance stock with a very strong EPS. Upon a closer look and some findings, I discovered that it will not be a good buy because the company was being run like a "one-man-show". Of course, he bought the stock but not able to get the desired result because the market did not respond to it.
Consistency/Future prospect
How consistent a company can replicate its past performance is also a very serious issue to consider. A stock could record an exceptional brilliant performance for a season, but that may be short-lived for several reasons. Also, the future prospect of such a company is of great importance.
Source of profit declared
It is not enough to buy a stock based on high EPS which is as a result of huge profit declared. The profit recorded could be from a source outside the regular business of the company e.g. sale of assets like building, machinery e.t.c. when such items are disposed, some organizations capture it as part of income for the accounting year, thereby impacting positively on the profit and by extension the EPS.
The above factors are of course not exhaustive as there are other factors like: Industry regulation, cash Liquidity e.t.c. EPS is a dependable way of identifying and picking a good stock, but it must be supported by other factors to make an informed buy decision.
HOW YOU CAN INVEST NOWAS THE YEAR WINDS DOWN
On the strength of what market performance is now with the influx of third quarter results to the market and stocks are beginning to make significant gains as investors pick up stocks at rock bottom prices which demonstrate that a bullish run appears to be in sight. Therefore the best time to buy is now as the year winds down. Also as a result of the prolonged bearish period in 2008, we have single digit P/E's and price to book ratios below 1. I recommend the following strategy.
– Invest with the medium term in view. This is predicated on market volatility which makes geometric increase in the prices of stocks slim at this period. On few stocks, 20% gain could be achieved but substantially, you get less before a downward movement in the short term. Investing for medium term towards the first quarter of 2009 is recommended.
– Invest in fundamentally strong stocks that had experienced sharp decline in price in recent time. Consider those with strong last quarter earnings, bright/impressive earnings projection, good product mix and good management among others. Using earnings per share as a sure guide on these stocks.
– Invest in stocks with closer dates of release of the next result. Some results that were expected in December that may not come would be released in January. Target these stocks particularly, when the earning per share outlook is bright.
– Consider some stocks whose calendar year ends in December, their full results will hit the market between first and second quarter 2009.
– Investing profitably for the medium term requires good industries. Attractive industries to consider first include Banking, insurance, Petroleum, Healthcare and few stocks in Conglomerate, Chemical and Paints etc.
You may need specific guide and further investment tutelage against the unforeseen volatility, you can me reach for advisory services.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: absolute confidence, banking, capital market, chemical and paints, coglomerate, company per unit of its share, earning per share, earnings, eps, future returns, healthcare, insurance, investors, misconception, nowas, petroleum, quality of management, recuperating, share, stock market, total net profit | Leave a comment »


- Gems of California scenery, no. 359.
Lawrence & Houseworth, Publisher. Russian Hill from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco . , 1866. [Published] Photograph. https://0-www.loc.gov.oasys.lib.oxy.edu/item/2002723079/.
Lawrence & Houseworth, P. (1866) Russian Hill from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco . , 1866. [Published] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://0-www.loc.gov.oasys.lib.oxy.edu/item/2002723079/.
Lawrence & Houseworth, Publisher. Russian Hill from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco . [Published] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2002723079/>.


Don't turn your space into a mess of dark boxes, lift and separate with our light-loving partitions.
Big areas can be a waste of great floorspace, but dividing them up can be boxy and cuts out light and air. Some simple partitions instantly create new fun areas without cutting the sense of space.
Don't hide away meeting areas, stay connected to the main workspace by going glass, not concrete.
Always a bit more welcoming to have a cool glass front door, let everyone know you're in.
Any barrier can create a separation from a main area, even if it's not floor-to-ceiling.
Plain glass is great, but make something extra of a space by changing the light it lets in.
Mini partition screens are great for helping teams congregate and focus.
Walling off corridors can create something more akin or a mouse-maze than a workspace, keep the light and sense of space by making them glass instead.
Whilst the workspace is usually all about collaboration and creativity, sometimes you need to squirrel yourself away for that important call.


Think big, start small and remember better public service needs to be the aim of any smart city, says Bechtel's Jim Denton-Brown.
Many people define a smart city as essentially a collection of clever digital technologies and software that can deliver a wide range of benefits to its inhabitants. New, powerful and inexpensive digital technology can indeed transform essential city services such as energy, water, transport, safety, health and education.
Think big in terms of the vision. The vision must excite people and motivate city departments.
Start with small wins to generate momentum. Smart water meters or smart street lights are easy wins. Collaborate to build trust. Collaboration should be the attitude that underpins the initiative.
Get started. To achieve the vision, the process must begin.
While there is no doubt that the benefits are real, it is also true that to capture these benefits, a city must do much more than simply focus on the technology alone.
What cities sometimes lack is an understanding of the broader process needed to lead them to this attractive technology-driven end state.
At the start, one of the most difficult challenges is defining the vision of a smart city - articulating a coherent direction of where the city should go. The difficulty lies partly in the complexity of the political process itself where competing priorities and needs must be decided.
This challenge can often be overcome by identifying a strong champion to lead the city's efforts, articulate the vision and energise its residents. Often such individuals are comfortable with bold ideas. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is looking for example at the benefits of tunnels following a recent visit to Boston. There he saw how the city was transformed by the replacement of a major elevated artery with an underground route through the heart of the city, leading to new growth, improved transport and expanded green space.
At the next phase, the specifics can be addressed systematically by development of a "road map". The road map starts with a frank assessment of a city's strengths and weaknesses and recognition of its unique issues and characteristics.
It moves on to technology plans, mapping out each element relevant to the implementation of improvements in transport, water and other systems.
It concludes with the identification of milestones to mark progress along the way and key performance metrics to tell you when you have succeeded. This step, of course, is not easy and requires leadership from experts in a city's ICT infrastructure working with each city department. To help navigate the process, the Smart Cities Council has published a roadmap offering a sample framework for cities.
One of the most significant impediments to achieving smart city goals can be the traditional model of city organisation itself. Too often individual city departments in emergency services, water, energy or transport have been organised to operate independently in silos.
As a result, historical operating practices, budgeting, systems and staffing limit the ability to realise the benefits of a shared technology platform that could deliver enormous efficiencies and cost savings city-wide. To overcome this issue, it is necessary for the smart city champion to work directly with city departments at the road map stage to get buy-in and support for organisational changes.
Finding the money for capital projects is a challenge for most cities since they must balance many other spending priorities. Fortunately, several new and innovative financing approaches are becoming more common as avenues for funding.
Some of these include public-private partnerships, performance funding, supplier-provided financing, and non-profit funding in environment, health and education areas. Innovative financing vehicles can be partnered with more traditional funding sources in order to generate a range of revenue possibilities. Financial models taking into account future value uplift now show over time that new development can fund the cost of the infrastructure itself.
In summary, the smart cities of tomorrow are not just looking at how to introduce new technologies that can enhance the city and reduce inefficiencies.
Smart cities are adopting an integrated approach, bringing together experts in government, planning, infrastructure, financing and technology, to understand how to improve the full spectrum of public services.


Boasts 29 Highway MPG and 23 City MPG! This Mitsubishi Outlander Sport boasts a Regular Unleaded I-4 2.0 L/122 engine powering this Variable transmission. Variable Intermittent Wipers, Trip Computer, Transmission: Continuously Variable (CVT) -inc: Sportronic.


The setup program will check your system for the .Net 4.7.1 Framework. You will be prompted to install if required.
Click <Run> on the File Download - Security Warning if prompted.
Click More info on the Windows protected your PC dialog if prompted.
Click <Run anyway> on the Windows protected your PC dialog.
Select the installation folder and click <Next>.
Click <Yes> on the User Account Control window if prompted.
Double-click the RepairWriter 5 icon on the desktop.
Click <Yes> to download & install the update.
Accept the license agreement and click <Okay>.
Enter the Registered To information, product key and click <Validate>.
Select File, Database, Utilities, Open (Alt + F, D, U, O) from the main drop-down menu.
Click the Attach New Databases link.
Select the SQL Server Instance Name & any other parameters and click <Attach>.
Select the 'RW4' database and click the Test Connection link.
Select the RW5 data folder and click the Test Connection link.
Install the program as shown above. Do not import RepairWriter 4.5 data on a Workstation installation.
Select the SQL Server Instance Name, database name & any other parameters and click the Test Connection link.
Select the path where the RepairWriter data resides, the database and click the Test Connection link.


text:
You are here: Home1 / News2 / UK News3 / January new car sales down -6.3 per cent
January new car sales down -6.3 per cent
Date: 12th February 2018 Author: Andrew Bogie Comments: 0
The UK new car market declined in the first month of the year, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). 163,615 cars were driven off forecourts in January, a -6.3 per cent fall compared with the same month in 2017.
Demand fell across the board, with registrations by business, private and fleet buyers down -29.7 per cent, -9.5 per cent and -1.8 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, continuing the trend of recent months, dual purpose cars (SUVs) were the only vehicle segment to see growth, with demand up 6.6 per cent to account for a fifth (20.2 per cent) of all new car registrations. Demand in all other segments fell, with the biggest declines affecting the mini, MPV and executive segments.
Elsewhere in the market, registrations of petrol and alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) rose, up 8.5 per cent and 23.9 per cent respectively. However, this growth failed to offset a significant decline in demand for new diesel cars, which fell -25.6 per cent as confusion over government policy continued to cause buyers to hesitate.
Latest SMMT figures illustrate the importance of diesel cars and engines to the UK economy. Last year, more than two in five of the cars leaving British production lines were diesels, while manufacturers also produced more than 1 million engines – directly supporting some 3,350 jobs and, combined with the UK's petrol engine output, delivering some £8.5 billion to the economy.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: "The ongoing and substantial decline in new diesel car registrations is concerning, particularly since the evidence indicates consumers and businesses are not switching into alternative technologies, but keeping their older cars running. Given fleet renewal is the fastest way to improve air quality and reduce CO2, we need government policy to encourage take up of the latest advanced low emission diesels as, for many drivers, they remain the right choice economically and environmentally."
There was a note of optimism from Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA): "The new car market continues to perform in line with expectations, down -6.3 per cent in January. On the used vehicle side, franchised retailers continue to see a buoyant market, which is worth over £65 billion a year."
Robinson continued, "The sector performed extremely well in last year's first quarter thanks to a number of factors including the new vehicle excise duty which came into force in April which explains this correction in the market.
"The alternative fuel vehicle market continues to grow, up 23.9 per cent in January. The increase in petrol sales indicates that many motorists are switching fuel type from diesel to petrol, although depending on the type of driver Euro 6 modern diesel may still represent the most efficient option.
"Going forward, it is critical that consumers are supported by consistent, clear information to help them make informed purchasing decisions."
Record sales of AFVs in February as overall market dips slightly
New car sales continue to slide in October
Slight fall in August new car sales, but strong showing for electric cars
Decline in car sales continues in October
car sales, Mike Hawes, NFDA, SMMT, Sue Robinson
Petlas completes sorting system investment January motorcycle sales – all sectors show growth


text:
1954 Allard P2 Safari
One of only ten produced and four remaining
77_297_03 copy
Allard produced the P1 and P2 from 1949 to 1954, designed by company founder Sydney Allard as five-seat saloons with two doors. The P1 is underpinned by a box section chassis with an enclosed body very much of its time, being a transition from the traditional style of the pre-war years to the fully rounded forms of the 1950s and 1960s. As such it combines a low, streamlined radiator and contemporary cabin with separate front wings. The front suspension is independent and was developed by racing car designer Leslie Bellamy. Ingeniously it consists of a standard Ford beam axle cut in half and used to form lower arms with the transverse leaf spring acting as the upper arm, movement being controlled by long radius arms. The rear suspension is provided through a conventional Ford live axle with a transverse leaf spring, mounted using a torque tube. Brakes are hydraulically operated and consist of drums all round. The Allard P1 was fitted with the Ford flat head V-8 as standard but the Competition model has the Mercury V-8. The 1953 model year saw the introduction of the Allard P2, which remained current until 1954. It was produced as a 2-door saloon, the "Monte Carlo" and a wood sided shooting brake, the "Safari." The P2 updated the looks with all enveloping bodywork, a more up-to-date radiator inlet and by losing the anachronistic opening windscreen. Under the skin the handling was improved by the adoption of a de Dion rear axle and coil springs all round.
The company built only ten P2 Safari station wagons, with this being one of only four remaining.. Chassis number '4009' was sold by Tom Lush to two elderly sisters in Birmingham whose prime concern was that there should be sufficient room in the back for a sheep or goat. Anecdotally, ownership moved on via a lady near Shrewsbury in 1958 to a Lawrence Keating of Manchester around 1973, from whom the car was acquired in 1988.
The P2 has enjoyed an older 'chassis up' restoration by the Tamar Valley Motoring Centre, the engine and gearbox being rebuilt by Wally Wheatley of Nordian Garages, considered at the time to be an authority on 'flat head' Ford engines, while the woodwork was painstakingly restored by a highly talented retired schoolmaster. The brown Connolly hide was also restored and we understand is in lovely condition, with a most attractive patina. More recently the bodywork has enjoyed a refresh which included the renewal of woodwork where required. New radial tyres have also more recently been fitted, as have rear shock absorbers, both contributing to an immensely improved ride. Since restoration the P2 has taken part in many events such as the 40th Anniversary Sydney Allard Monte Carlo Rally, the Randonnée de Trios Vallées and several other classic events in the UK and abroad. The car has benefitted from an engine rebuild with a reground crank and replacement main and big end bearings.
Supplied with an extensive restoration and maintenance file, original correspondence with Tom Lush, old-style logbook and current V5, this is a truly lovely example of a very special and well known car.
Chassis Number P2 4009
Make Allard
Model P2 Safari


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