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The Persian Melon, also known as Montreal melon and Montreal market muskmelon or the Montreal nutmeg melon (French: melon de Montréal), is a variety of melon recently rediscovered and cultivated in the Montreal, Canada area. Scientifically, it is a cultivar of Cucumis melo melo.
It was originally widely grown between the St. Lawrence River and Mount Royal, on the Montreal Plain. In its prime from the late 19th century until World War II, it was one of the most popular varieties of melon on the east coast of North America. The fruit was large (larger than any other melon cultivated on the continent at the time), round, netted (like a muskmelon), flattened at the ends, deeply ribbed, with a thin rind. Its flesh was light green, almost melting in the mouth when eaten. Its spicy flavor was reminiscent of nutmeg.
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See our extensive list of Pretoria wedding venues, reception facilities and other exciting wedding locations. Whether you're planning an outdoor wedding for 30 or a formal dinner reception for 300, your venue should provide the right atmosphere for your celebration.
Make it the most memorable honeymoon ever…on board the most lavish train on the planet! The Blue Train has an aura of mystique about it. Kings and presidents have traveled on this magnificent moving five-star hotel. Come see for yourself the romance and luxury aboard. www.bluetrain.co.za
Casa Toscana Lodge has become a jewel in the crown of Tshwane (Pretoria) hospitality. With breathtakingly beautiful function venues for year end functions in Pretoria and of course Weddings, Luxury accommodation and a Continental A la Carte Restaurant, Casa Toscana captures the style and character of Tuscany. www.casatoscana.co.za
Get married beside the Roodeplaat dam, let your guests enjoy the sunset whilst you have your photos taken within 1 hectares of property, dance the night away with your reception party in the beautifully decorated venue. Beautiful in any season, The Blades can accommodate small intimate weddings, as well as large festivals. www.theblades.co.za
Inspired by the fairest Cape, the gracious Kleinkaap Cape Dutch manor house and estate enthuses beauty, romance and elegance. It's statuesque magnificence inspires one to express tender affections to one another and thus makes the perfect private wedding venue for all those eternally in love. www.kleinkaap.co.za
The Royal Elephant Conference Centre provides for a wide variety of functions. The hotel is designed to combine the best of modern living and comforts, with the olde-world charms of warm attentive hospitality and friendliness. www.royalelephant.co.za
Blaauwpoort Venue & Lodge is the perfect destination venue for your special day. Situated in the heart of the bushveld, overlooking the majestic Magalies Mountains, Blaauwpoort provides the perfect truly South-African ambience. Blaauwpoort Venue & Lodge can sleep up to 50 guests on the premises. www.blaauwpoort.co.za
The Conference Centre can cater for up to 250 people and is a great venue for weddings, corporate functions, birthday parties and engagements. The guest house is situated on 3 hectares of land and features beautiful gardens, a pool and koi ponds. www.thethatch.co.za
Our facilities consist of our banquet hall, two smaller conference rooms, stone chapel, tea garden and swimming pool. Weddings, conferences and functions with up to 270 guests can be accommodated with ease. www.olympusstream.co.za
The lovely, thatched, rural venue is like an oasis with fresh green lawn areas surrounded by large, leafy trees and lush plant borders. It is ideal for a garden wedding, but we also have a very stylish, but cosy, reception hall, which is equally charming, capable to accommodate up to 130 guests. www.diamantvallei.co.za
Rose View Hill is situated +/- 20km outside Pretoria in a picturesque bushveld area in Roodeplaat / Kameelfontein area. Privately owned and operated , this 5 hectare wedding location is made available to a limited number of couples each month allowing complete attention to be given to every detail of your long awaited day. www.roseviewhill.co.za

subset: commoncrawl


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The hotel is nice, modern, clean, but it's not a five stars hotel, maybe 3 and a half, maximum 4. The rooms are very simple and basic, almost no furniture, and the beds are very small. The bathroom is nice, but the shower is not closed and there is no bathtub, so the floor gets flooded every time you take... More
- Also Known As:
- Atra Doftana Romania/Tesila
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Atra Doftana is an exclusive resort, located on the shores of Lake Paltinu Doftana, Prahova, in both natural and sophisticated ambiance: cozy rooms are hidden in bank slope, as a low profile allows for unobstructed lake view. Avant-garde design and architecture harmonize with the environment ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com and Priceline so you can book your Atra Doftana reservations with confidence. We help millions of travelers each month to find the perfect hotel for both vacation and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.


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A New York State Designated "Quality Community" |
Home Page
Events Calendar Update: News you can use Demographics History Maps Town Park Virtual Tour Supervisor Town Board Assessor Building Dep't Comptroller Highway Dep't Justice Court Personnel Admin Planning Police Dep't Schools Tax Town Clerk Transfer, Recycle Youth & Recr'n Svcs Zoning Bd of Appeals E-Code (Town laws) Forms OnLine Ambulances Fire Service E-Code (Town laws) Opens in new window AgriBusiness |
Latest Update: 22 May 13
Links to regional services for Schodack residents
The links in the sidebar on the left are links to official, local government services or organizations (such as the Fire Services). Most are hosted here at |
Homeowner Supplies and Services Curtis Lumber, 1657 Columbia Turnpike, Schodack, 477-7503 Cats Eye Pest Control, Rte 9, South Schodack. PO Box 219, East Schodack, 758-9790 Think Spring!, (custom draperies) 1968 Brookview Road, Castleton, 732.4224 RealtyUSA Castleton 1528 Columbia Tpk, Castleton 12033, 477-5500 or, FAX: 477-7857 Rensselaer Appliance, 400 Columbia Tpk, Rensselaer 12144, 477-7123 FAX: 477-4676 Fleetlite Replacement Materials, Inc. (windows), 20 North Main Street, Castleton 12033, 732-2994 Schodack Septic Service, 4176 US Route 20 Castleton 12033, 477-4322 Schodack Landscaping, 4176 US Route 20, Castleton 12033, 477-4368 |
Food & Dining Gem Farms ("buffalo"), Van Hoesen Rd, South Schodack Goold Orchards, 1297 Brookview Station Rd, Castleton 12033 Northeast Coffee, Kidds Lane, Schodack The Country Trunk & Cottage Cafe, 705 Columbia Turnpike, East Greenbush 12061, 479-7282 The Farm at Kristy's Barn, 2385 Brookview Rd. Schodack, NY. 12033, 477-6250 Brookview Station Winery, 1297 Brookview Station Rd, Castleton-on-Hudson, NY 12033, 518-732-7495 Or Toll Free 1-88-TO-UNCORK Living Greens, LLC., 105 Clove Road, Schodack, NY 12033,(518) 732-1040 Hydroponic microgreens & lettuce; Pesticide and herbicide free; Close to home Mark Dausch, Owner. Email: email@example.com Piece of Cake Bakery and Cafe, 1518 Columbia Turnpike, Castleton 12033, 477-5575 Special cakes... and more. We also serve lunches. Louise Lanz, owner Bakery email: email@example.com |
Comfort Inn and Suites (http://www.comfortinnalbany.com), 99 Miller Road, Castleton, NY 12033, 518-479-3217 fax: 518-479-3167 |
Brokerage & Financial Ann St Peter, Broker; 471 Waterbury Road, Schodack, NY 12123; 518.281.4960; email: firstname.lastname@example.com SEFCU Branch and 24-hour ATM at 89 Miller Road in Castleton; Phone 518-452-8183; ; Email (firstname.lastname@example.com) Simply Accounting & Bookkeeping Services, LLC; Bridget M. Chandler Principal/Accountant 580 Columbia Turnpike, Schodack Park, Bldg. 2, Suite 1, Castleton NY 12033. Phone 512-3632 Fax 512-3633 Email Center Square Asset Management, Inc. Deborah L. Lane, CFP™, Vice President; 1651 Columbia Tpk, Castleton, NY 12033; 518-477-5468 or 800-630-1913, Fax: 518-477-2750; Email Securities and Advisory Services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the states of FL, MA, NY, and VT. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside these states due to various state regulations and registration requirements regarding investment products and services. |
Industrial CEJJ (fabricators for waste haulers) Duck Pond Rd, Schodack Piasecki Steel Construction Co., Rt 9, Schodack RM Lill, Rte 9, Schodack Servidone Construction, 1364 Rt 9, Castleton 12033 Saxton Sign Corp., Rt 9, Schodack |
Professional Services Douglas C. Clark, P.E. Clark Engineering & Surveying, PO Box 730, New Lebanon 12125, 794-8613, Fax: 766-5663, email: firstname.lastname@example.com Massage For Health/Schodack Wellness Center, 1542 Columbia Turnpike. Holly Huzar, 479-7601; Margie Celentano, 732-2646. Massage Therapy for pain relief, stress reduction and muscle rehabilitation Audiologic Solutions: Hearing Testing and Treatment Center; 2 Empire Dr.Rensselaer, 283-6111. Doctor of Audiology, Dr. Erin Walborn: Hearing testing, Tinnitus Evaluations, Hearing Aids, Hearing Aid Repairs, Assistive listening devices such as amplified phones and TV listening headsets etc. Brown Integrated Chiropractic,Jason Brown, DC, 1542 Columbia Turnpike, Schodack, NY 12033, (518) 477-4405, email Marra Engineering PLLC, Benjamin Marra, P.E., LEED AP, 1493 Route 9, Suite 101, Castleton, NY 12033, Work: 732-4971. Cell: 461-8761, email |
Recreation & Hobbies Castleton Public Library Stringsmith: Kevin Smith, Stringsmith Instruments, 55 Green Ave., Castleton 12033, 800-801-1341, 518-732-7210 The Truetones offer a variety of music for a variety of settings including the Schodack Town Park, Rensselaer Senior Center, and many other local venues. Mike Nass, 518.426.1299 |
A. Duie Pyle, Rt 9, Schodack Hannaford Brothers (supermarket distribution center), Rt 9 Sunnyside Garage, Rt 9, Schodack, Phone: 518-766-3781: Heavy and Light Towing & Recovery, Auto & Truck Maintenance & Repair |
Florists, Gardening
Bud's Full Service Florist & Greenhouse, 1614 Route 9, Castleton 12033, 732-7563 or 800-437-8527 Bountiful Blooms Florist, 1598 Columbia Turnpike, CASTLETON, NY 12033; Phone: (518)-477-1428 or (Tollfree) (855)-477-1428 |
Clothing & Gifts
The Sweater Venture, 700 Columbia Tpk, East Greenbush 12061, 477-9317 |
Shine Time Car Wash., 1515 Columbia Turnpike, Castleton 12033 Chuck Scott Auto, 3997 US Rt 20, Nassau, NY 12123, 518-477-2880 |
Pet Care
TuckerBrooke Kennels,1288 Simons Road, Castleton, 12033, 518-732-3647 |
Arts & Artisans
Ross & Associate Feng Shui Art Cures 917/439-0332, email: Laura Lee Ross |
To post your business, email to Supervisor Dowds for review and posting. For social and interest groups and churches, see civic.htm


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Note: The 2012, 2013 publications have not been audited.
Jump to: Publications | Grants and Consultancies | HDR completions
S Feng may be from another institution or only recently joined Deakin University.
2007 External
Shao, K.*, Hou, Q.*, Go, M.*, Duan, Wei, Cheung, N.*, Feng, S.*, Wong, K.*, Yoram, A.*, Zhang, W.*, Huang, Z.* and Li, Q.* (2007) Sulfatide-tenascin interaction mediates binding to the extracellular matrix and endocytic uptake of liposomes in glioma cells, Cellular and molecular life sciences, vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 506-515, Birkhaeuser Verlag, Basel, Switzerland [C1]
ERA journal ID: 2192 – Scopus EID: 2-s2.0-33847251041
Citation counts: Scopus - 8, Thomson - 8
DRO entry for this publication
No grants and/or consultancies found or audited – the 2013 HERDC financial return has not been completed or loaded as yet.
No completions found or audited.
DRO to publications collection last synchronised: Tuesday 10th December 2013 10:04pm


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Revision history of "Conditions triggering abnormal penis shapes ( betseylashandra )"
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- 21:00, 7 May 2013 Guaka (Talk | contribs) deleted page Conditions triggering abnormal penis shapes ( betseylashandra ) (content was: "The use of penis extenders Following are a few of the most vital problems or conditions that sooner or later outcome in abnormal peni..." (and the only contributor was "Ctcamillesbshantellex"))


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Restrictions on the freedom to dispose of one's succession by will (reserved portion).
Last update: 10/7/2012
Only the deceased's descendants (children or – if the children are already deceased – their children) are entitled to inherit the reserved portion. This does not mean the spouse or the ascendants.
The reserved portion amounts to half of the value of the legal inheritance of the forced heir concerned. If there are forced heirs, the deceased may in such circumstances dispose freely of only half of the estate (by value).
A beneficiary of the reserved portion may relinquish the reserved portion but only for himself/herself.
Detailed information
Is there a reserved portion set aside for heirs? What percentage of the estate does this reserved portion represent? What is its legal nature?
The reserved portion to which the children of the deceased are entitled corresponds to the worth of half of their legal portion of inheritance. (art. 4:64 CC)
What is the procedure to be followed to assert a right to the reserved portion? What are the time limits?
Heirs must assert their right to the reserved portion within five years after the death of the deceased. (art. 4:85 CC)
Is it possible to renounce the reserved portion?
No, according to art. 4:4 section 1 CC a legal act performed prior to the devolvement of the deceased's estate shall be null and void to the extent that its necessary implication is to restrain a person from exercising any powers conferred to Book 4 of the Dutch Civil Code as regards such a deceased's estate. Agreements which have as their necessary implication the disposal of the deceased's estate which have not yet devolved in their entirety or for a proportionate part shall be null and void (art. 4:4 section 2 CC).


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The Sheldon Museum is introducing the Chilkat Valley Study and Discussion Group. This new...
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Submissions must be approved and may be edited for content before appearing on the website or read on-air. If you would like a confirmation, please email the station at firstname.lastname@example.com. LPs are processed as soon as possible, please allow 3-5 days for process of PSA's . If submitting after 5pm or over the weekend announcements will not be approved until the following weekday.
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The public is invited to Sheldon Museum's Open House this Saturday December 14th from 1 to...
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NPR News
Nelson Mandela: From 'Second-Class Citizen' To World-Revered Leader
When Nelson Mandela died this week at age 95, he left a legacy as one of the most important leaders in modern history. Mandela rose from humble beginnings to lead South Africa out of its apartheid past, and helped to keep the nation from tumbling into civil war. But before becoming South Africa's first black president, he endured decades behind bars.
U.S. Veteran, Held By North Korea, Arrives Safely In Calif.
Newman was deported by North Korea on Friday, days after he appeared on state TV reading an apology for alleged war crimes.
France Increases Its Troops In The Central African Republic
François Hollande said 1,600 troops would be deployed by the end of the day and they would remain in the country until tensions between Muslim and Christian militias cool.
Gene Therapy Keeps 'Bubble Boy' Disease At Bay In 8 Children
Earlier efforts to use gene therapy to treat a rare immune disorder in young children failed when some of the children got leukemia. Scientists say they think they may have figured it out, with eight children now living normal toddler lives.
Another Winter Storm Moves East: More Snow, Ice Expected
The cold killed four people in California and an ice storm turned North Texas into a skating rink. More of the same is expected during a second round of storms this weekend.
When Nelson Met Boris: How Mandela's Grace Transformed A Moment
It was the spring of 1999 in Moscow, and two of the 20th century's great revolutionary leaders, South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Russia's Boris Yeltsin, were having their first face-to-face talks as presidents of their nations. Yeltsin was struggling, but with a few simple gestures, Mandela changed the narrative.
WATCH: Maya Angelou's Poem For Nelson Mandela
The U.S. State Department unveiled a tribute poem written by Dr. Maya Angelou for Mandela "on behalf of the American people."
Fishery Closure Puts New England's Shrimp Season On Ice
After several years of declining shrimp stocks, regulators have imposed a moratorium on shrimping in New England waters. The closure could hurt commercial fisherman and future demand for the Gulf of Maine shrimp, but scientists say the move may be the only way to prevent the population from collapsing.
White House Invites All To 'Gather Around' A Holiday Tradition
Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, almost 100 volunteer decorators show up at the White House. They spend the next five days stringing garlands and hanging ornaments, making the White House sparkle for the holidays. NPR has a related tradition, and it's about to end.
Hagel Arrives In Afghanistan, Has No Plans To Meet With Karzai
The U.S. and Afghanistan have been at odds over a security agreement that allows U.S. troops to remain in the country past 2014. Hagel also met with leaders of Gulf nations to assure them the U.S. is not abandoning those ties in favor of a nuclear deal with Iran.
How Mandela Expanded The Art Of The Possible
To an African-American coming of age in the late 1970s, there seemed two certainties: Nelson Mandela would die in prison in apartheid South Africa and no black person would become U.S. president in his lifetime. So much for youthful predictions.
With The Help Of Smugglers, Syrian Refugees Sneak Into Europe
Many Syrians fled their country and took refuge just across the border, planning to wait out the war. But now, a growing number are working with smugglers to get to northern Europe. The Syrians say they see no end in sight to the civil war and want to start a new life.
North Korea Frees Elderly U.S. Tourist After Weeks In Detention
Merrill Newman, an 85-year-old veteran of the Korean War who was arrested by authorities in Pyongyang after a tour of the North, reportedly issued an apology for his "hostile acts."
Mexican Official Says Six Arrested In Cobalt-60 Heist
The heist of the "extremely dangerous" radioactive material, which was later recovered, occurred earlier this week.
Nosy Driver In The Next SUV? It May Be A Cop Watching You Text
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving, and six others forbid it for new drivers — but that doesn't stop people from doing it. So New York State Police are using unmarked SUVs to try to spot drivers in the act.
Religious Violence Escalates In Central African Republic
France sends troops to its former colony after clashes between Muslims and Christians left nearly 300 dead.
President Obama Lights National Christmas Tree
The ceremony dates back to 1923, when President Calvin Coolidge presided over the first National Christmas Tree lighting.
Driving Pakistan's Badlands In A Vintage British Convertible
The founder of Pakistan's classic car club hops in his 1954 Austin-Healey and drives from one end of the troubled country to the other with his wife and friends. Why? Mostly because it's fun, but also as a statement of defiance to those causing havoc in Pakistan.
The Hills Were Alive With The Sound Of DiGiorno Pizza Last Night
The funny live tweets coming from frozen supermarket pizza giant @DiGiornoPizza were a tasty highlight of the Sound of Music Live broadcast on NBC. Bad puns, silly lyric changes, and just plain clever comments earned the company more than 2,000 new followers in a single night.
Sen. Thad Cochran To Seek Re-Election In Mississippi
The Mississippi senator, who turns 76 Saturday, ended speculation that he would retire and instead set up the prospect of another bruising GOP primary in 2014.


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SSM is an abbreviation for:
Satin Silver Metallic
Find a translation for SSM in other languages:
Select another language:
What does SSM mean?
- SSM(Noun)
- surface-to-surface missile
Use the citation below to add this abbreviation to your bibliography:
"SSM." Abbreviations.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2013. Web. 20 Dec. 2013. <http://www.abbreviations.com/term/198376>.
SSM also stands for:
... and 58 more »
Nearby & related abbreviations:
Alternative search:
- Search Satin Silver Metallic on Amazon.com
- Search Satin Silver Metallic on Google


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Statistics Netherlands, Go to main menu / search field.
Home > Methods > Classifications > Clamour > CLAMOUR (CLAssifications MOdelling and Utilities Research)
The contribution of Statistics Netherlands to the project was first of all a model-wise description of the structure and activities of a business. The description had to be rich enough to enable formation and classification of statistical units on model-based information and also enable production of alternative activity classifications. Next a questionnaire was developed to collect the necessary model information from businesses. Furthermore algorithms were developed to construct and classify statistical units with model information as input. The following activities were carried out from 2000 to 2002:
The project is part of and financed from the Fifth Framework Research Program of the European Commission. The project was carried out in collaboration between five European Union countries: Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and United Kingdom.
The ideas for the project were developed during 1999 and formally accepted by the European Commission in January 2000. Work began shortly after and the project was finished in March 2002.
The work was divided into four areas of research:
Tools and Systems
Visit the CLAMOUR website for more information on the project and the participants. Project results have been published there too.
National statistical institutes (NSI) collect and classify data so that an accurate and up-to-the-minute international economic picture can be produced. Based upon this picture governments and research organisations can inform the wider debate and enterprises can found there policies. Such statistical information is provided as widely as possible.
It is important to establish how information will be used and what form of classification provides the best value from the information released. To gain a better understanding, each NSI participating in the project has interviewed a sample of business statistics users in their country. Questions have been asked how information is currently used and which possible future changes may alter the data to be collected and the way they are presented.
In planning for the future, care must be taken to balance the needs for a consistent measure across time with the need to keep a finger on the economic pulse. Furthermore, the burden to information suppliers – often those in the business community – should not be overlooked.
The foundational work distinguished the fundamental building blocks from which the units and activity classifications can be derived. This work was divided into three work packages:
The outcome of the User Needs study have fed into the Foundational work by informing those responsible of the applicability of NACE (the European classification standard). Results should be a better statistical description of business structures and activities.
To improve the speed and the quality of determining statistical units and their activities given the information of the business the project has developed linguistic methods and tools that are able to recognise the best meaning of descriptions. Existing tools are often deficient in the recognition of text written in free language.
It should be possible to derive the relevant information for the model by the profile signature of the processes, input and output, structure etc. of a business. Within a given language and across the European community there are nuances that imply different meanings. This work has looked at how well these differences can be minimised. This will perhaps lead to interactive systems providing intelligent guidance. The linguistics work covered four work packages:
assisted matching between correlations.
The preceding work has also resulted in information for those involved in developing new statistical products and services.
One identified piece of work is the development of an electronic questionnaire that can be used to assist in the data collection from businesses in a user-friendly way. The electronic questionnaire has been tested extensively in at least Finland, the Netherlands and United Kingdom.


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Rohan Connolly
Rohan Connolly, a senior football writer for The Age and radio broadcaster with sports radio station 1116 SEN, has been covering the game since 1983. A multi-AFL Media Association award-winner known for his passion and love of the game, he analyses the AFL for the newspaper and contributes a blog and weekly video, "Footy Fix", for The Age's football website, Real Footy.
Best of the rest still full of hope ahead of drafts
Rohan Connolly Never have so many disappointed but still hopeful AFL prospects sweated on their futures as the huge pool awaiting Wednesday's pre-season and rookie drafts.
Shocked Buckley says Pies must leave past behind
Rohan Connolly Shocked Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley lamented his side's shoddy disposal.
Need to pull on a boot? Pull the other one
Rohan Connolly Mick Malthouse's fractious relationship with the media is legendary, and the Carlton coach was in a particularly feisty mood last Friday night before the Blues' big game with Hawthorn.
Is Collingwood on the nose?
Rohan Connolly Can a side as proven as the Pies really be dismissed as a flag chance?
Pies, Dons can dig deep
Rohan Connolly Already, 2013 is looking likely to be a premiership won by depth as much as class.
The Connolly Report
Plenty of upside for Pies
Rohan Connolly Andrew Krakouer's return promises to give the Magpies a lift.
Pies start hot, go cold
Rohan Connolly North Melbourne continues its run of form, defeating Collingwood by 30 points.
Maxwell says Pies can rise to challenge
Rohan Connolly INJURIES and the suspension of important midfielder Sharrod Wellingham will leave Collingwood far from its best for next Friday's round-one blockbuster against popular premiership fancy Hawthorn, but...
Rivals locked up in a decider that wasn't
Rohan Connolly WELL, we did say it would be close. Funnily enough, despite that, no one had considered the possibility that, as commentator Mike Williamson used to say so regularly during a succession of...
Collingwood urged to think hard before shunning Davis
Rohan Connolly Calls for Collingwood to drop Leon Davis for grand final replay already loud, and will probably have escalated to a dull roar by the time the Magpies actually sit down to pick their team.
Epic duel deserves encore
Rohan Connolly Well, we did say it would be close. Funnily enough, despite that, no one had considered the possibility of a draw.
Magpies emphatic in victory
Rohan Connolly One could point to several moments as clear indicators that it wasn't going to be St Kilda's afternoon.
It's a triumphant return after two decades in the wilderness
Rohan Connolly Part of the legend that surrounds Collingwood's famous 1990 premiership win involves the chaotic celebrations that followed as much as the victory itself.
Malthouse back in the hot seat for NAB Cup final
Rohan Connolly Collingwood will regain some important senior faces for NAB Cup grand final against Essendon, starting, most critically, in the coach's box.
Magpies' brilliant bursts short-circuit the Power
Rohan Connolly Five minutes into the game, it looked like Port Adelaide was going to be on the wrong end of an absolute belting.
Rohan Connolly
Pies make a meal of the Roos
Rohan Connolly Playing the AFL's hottest team, coming off a scorching hot road trip to Perth, and with one day less to prepare than its opponent, North Melbourne was going to need everything going right to be a...
Geelong is still hungry
Rohan Connolly We like simple answers in this business, which is why Geelong's defiance of the very popular pre-season view that the Cats were on the slide is proving a frustration to some.
Rohan Connolly
Pies not only skilled but the best-drilled
Rohan Connolly We spend a lot of time in football these days talking about pressure, the contest and the game plan.
Old hands hold the key
Rohan Connolly Most encouraging for Collingwood would be the form of its very best against the Dockers.
Playing for more than just points
Rohan Connolly The Cats and Pies will find out plenty tomorrow night.


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Thomas J. Vacchiano, Jr. – President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Mary Chowning – Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Alexander P. Paris, CFA - Barrington Research Associates, Inc.
James Ricchiuti - Needham & Company, LLC
Charles Murphy - Sidoti & Company, LLC
X-Rite, Incorporated (XRIT) Q4 2007 Earnings Call March 4, 2008 11:00 AM ET
Good morning ladies and gentleman. Welcome to the X-Rite, Incorporated Fourth Quarter and year-end 2007 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation.
As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Tom Vacchiano, Chief Executive officer, and Ms. Mary Chowning, Chief Financial Officer of X-Rite, Incorporated.
Thank you Miss Chowning, you may begin.
Mary Chowning
Thank you Anthony. Good morning to all of you and thanks for joining us. Before we begin I'll read our Safe-Harbor statement and get the housekeeping out of the way. I have to caution you that the information we have released and will be discussing may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Security Litigation Reform Act. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, some of which may beyond our control. Factors that could cause such differences include our ability to include operations and realize cost savings, competitive and general economic conditions, our ability to access new markets and other risks described in the company's filings with the FTC. The company undertakes no obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason.
In addition to the results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) X-Rite may provide certain information which is considered non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to both management and its investors in their announced underlying business and operating performance. Management also uses this information for operational planning and decision making purposes. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for any GAAP measure.
Additionally, non-GAAP financial measures as presented by X-Rite may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. A reconciliation of these items can be found on our website at www.XRite.com in the Investor Relations section.
With the housekeeping out of the way, we can move onto the primary topic for our call today. A discussion of our Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2007 results and an update on the progress we've made integrating the Amazys and Pantone acquisitions into the new X-Rite.
Lynn Lyall, who joined X-Rite yesterday as our new CFO, is also on the call today and Tom will briefly introduce him towards the end of the call.
As is our usual practice, we will focus on several topics including a review of X-Rite's Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2007 consolidated results, an update on our progress with the Amazys integration and an update on our acquisition of Pantone. Tom will cover an overview of our company performance for the quarter and total year. Additionally he will review X-Rite's revenue by major market category and geography for Q4 and the full year. I'll cover a review of PNL and balance sheets including operating income, EBITD, net income from continuing operations, EPS and cash EPS, as well as some key balance sheet items.
I'll also review key elements of our Amazys integration.
Together Tom and I will provide you with an update on the Pantone acquisition, review our synergy records for evaluating the progress of the combined company, as well as our general expectations for revenue growth in 2008. Then we'll take your questions.
Before we begin our detailed discussions, however, I need to cover a few line items. As a reminder, we sold our non-core Labsphere subsidiary for approximately $14.3 million in early February of last year. We've accounted for Labsphere as a discontinued operation in accordance with U.S. Staff.
The Fourth Quarter of 2007 represents the second quarter of comparative results since we acquired Amazys on July 5, 2006. We will continue to provide you with performer information for Q1 and Q2 of 2006 to help you with your comparisons on our year-to-date results. As you recall, as a Swiss public company Amazys reported its results using IFRS on a half-year basis. While U.S. Staff information on a quarterly basis is not available, I think it is helpful for you to have an approximation of the U.S. GAAP revenues and total operating expenses for Amazys for Q1 and Q2 of 2006. You can use that for comparative purposes.
For Q1 and Q2, revenue on a U.S. GAAP basis for Amazys on a stand alone basis was $56 million and total operating expenses were $25 million. I'd like to caution you…these are not definitive U.S. GAAP numbers and should be used only as a directional estimate of the results for Amazys.
Using these U.S. GAAP estimates for Amazys and excluding Labsphere the performer revenues for the combined companies were $112 million for Q1 and Q2 of 2006.
With the Pantone acquisition, we will now report our business as we meet the FTC requirements for segment reporting. Pantone will be operated as a stand alone business unit and that is what is driving this segment reporting. Specifically, the core X-Rite business will be reported as color management and the Pantone business will be reported as color standards.
Now to Tom for his portion of the review.
Tom Vacchiano
Thanks Mary. Good morning everyone. For those of you who have been following X-Rite over the past two years, you know it has been an exciting ride. In July 2006 we acquired Amazys, doubling our size, extending our global reach and committing to delivering a combination of significant cost synergy while materially raising the level of new product innovation to support future growth.
2007 was our first full calendar year of combined operations and I'm pleased to report that while the year did not go exactly as we'd planned it did go well. Before highlighting significant areas of focus and related performance for Q4 and for the total year, I should comment about the acquisition of Pantone in October 2007.
While not part of our original 2007 plan, this acquisition represents what we believe to be one time opportunity for a truly unique aspect with very high strategic fit for X-Rite. We now are clearly the leader in color management and color management solutions, a position we expect to leverage well into the future. With just a few months under our belt, our enthusiasm remains high for our Pantone business and we are working very hard to plan and achieve the best opportunities for market, product and cost synergies.
I would now like to turn to important 2007 areas of focus and how we performed.
For the fourth quarter we achieved 9.6% revenue growth over prior year excluding the impact of the Pantone acquisition. The percentage increase is favorably influenced, however, by a soft Q4 close in 2006 when we had some operational issues which pushed about $2 million of shipments into Q1 2007. For the year, we were up 7.6% excluding the Pantone impact and without currency about (inaudible – 3:06) over year.
Our year end order backlog does remain healthy, but Q1 2008 deliverable backlog is down about $1 million compared to the same quarter last year. This unfavorable comparison is primarily the result of the delayed 2006 shipments I referred to in my point earlier.
The worldwide sales and marketing team made very good progress in the second half of 2007 driving and winning important design wins in major accounts that will yield multimillion dollar projects over 2008, 2009 and 2010.
For example, Wal-Mart…we won their digital retail supply chain business. Canon…we won an important new project embedding our technology in their printing copying systems. Sencore…we won an industry leading opportunity to play in the area of digital entertainment services area, so it is an exciting win.
Our engineering and product development teams were very, very hard at work focusing on developing some really exciting new products and services which will be launched in 2008 beginning in spring and potentially rolling out in summer and fall.
Our adjusted gross margin excluding acquisition related items and the impact of Pantone bounced back to more familiar territory in Q4 at about 60.7%. This was helped by our Q4 volume mixed and some of the actions we have underway to improve our operations performance. This yield was a total 2007 adjusted gross margin percent of just under 50% which is flat when compared to performance in 2006.
We realized another 1.6 million of cost synergy in Q4, bringing our cumulative six quarter total to $21.1 million. If we adjust for the currency effect the cumulative total achieved is actually $24.7 million.
Operating expenses, while negatively affected in the quarter by foreign exchange rates, some timing and some one time items, have met our 2007 total year expectations.
2007 non-GAAP EBITD grew by 37% over 2006 excluding the impact of the Pantone acquisition.
Our asset management performance was mixed. We ended the year with higher than planned inventory, but performed very well managing our receivables achieving a year-end day sales outstanding of 57 days.
The finance and IT teams, supported by a broad range of cross-functional employees, completed the necessary work with the Amazys acquisition to achieve our Sarbanes Oxley compliance by year end.
And our new Pantone business group shows strong, double-digit revenue growth and very healthy profit and (audio break) in their first two months as a part of the X-Rite (inaudible).
As you might expect, overall we feel pretty good about the progress we've made but we do understand that we have a lot of work left to do. We are completing the final elements of the Amazys integration and beginning the integration and alignment for Pantone. We have a sound strategy in place for the next two years and are enthusiastic about the potential market opportunities both for our core business and now with the addition of Pantone.
To realize these opportunities and accomplish our goals our leaders and employees will need to continue to execute at a very high level. I personally am quite confident that our people are up to the challenge.
Now let me turn to our Q4 and 2007 revenue performance by major market, category and geography.
As we reported, in total we achieved 9.6% growth excluding the effects of Pantone in the fourth quarter and 7.6% growth overall.
The category information below excludes the Pantone acquisition impact to help you better understand X-Rite's core business. Our imaging and media category led our organization with the highest growth rate. INM grew approximately 10% for the year 2007 over 2006. Key drivers for this growth were a strong OEM sales year as well as a very healthy printing and pressroom market for color control systems.
Our retail and medical category experienced just under 6% year-over-year growth in 2007. Retail Europe continued the high double-digit revenue growth we've experienced over the last three years and medical/dental also contributed favorably to the results as we shipped our new dental product, Shade-X, in the second half of 2007.
Retail paint matching solutions, which have been our bread and butter systems in North America, did experience slowing sales as large accounts for franchise chains are adding fewer new stores or are awaiting our next generation of solutions to be launched later in 2008.
Our industrial category reported revenue growth of approximately 4% in 2007 over 2006. Although not impressive in its own merits we are pleased that it is moving in a positive direction. This was particularly true and driven by Asia and EEMEA (that is Europe, Middle East and Africa regions). We believe that bringing new, innovative solutions to this category will yield materially better growth rates as we look out over the next two to six quarters.
The new Pantone business also started off in a positive way as we enjoyed strong double-digit growth in this business in the last two months of the calendar year as they became a part of our X-Rite enterprise.
Looking at our 2000 revenue growth performance by geography, we saw our Americas revenue marginally decline by about 1% versus 2006. This has been primarily driven first by the ships off shore of important manufacturing segment investments as a part of the globalization of supply chain. Second by the lack of new product innovation required in North American markets and third from the improvements we need to make in our sales coverage model. This includes dealing with things like selling our complete range of products as well as improving our effectiveness in major account selling.
Asia revenue group was up in 2007 by just under 7% over 2006. Its growth rate is less than we expected and was negatively affected by a slow down in our Japan and channel business. We are allocating significant time right now to assess the issues here and how to get back on track.
Our EEMEA region was the start geographic performer in 2007 as we enjoyed 17% year-over-year growth. Even adjusting for the strong Euro, Swiss and British pound currency effect, our European region was able to achieve operational double-digit revenue growth. This was driven really across the board in OEM sales, in large sales like the Heidelberg, as well as our channel business.
2007 then continues to reflect the true global nature of the new X-Rite as we continue to experience faster growth outside America's region in the last four, five and six quarters. The result is that more than 60% of our business is generated in EEMEA and Asia combined. Interestingly, Pantone has also developed a significant international revenue flow in which approximately 50% of their business sits outside the United States.
While an economic slow down in North America would certainly have an impact on our business, we believe our strategic decisions over the last two years and the resulting global diversity of our business really helps position us to withstand slowdowns in the America's region.
Now with that revenue summary completed, I'll pass it back to Mary.
Mary Chowning
Thanks Tom. Let's start off with a review of the PNL for Q4 and fiscal 2007.
Understanding our financial results has further complicated this quarter with the addition of Pantone for approximately two months. In order to provide you with information to assess the core X-Rite and Pantone businesses we'll try to provide separate information wherever practical.
Starting off at the revenue line, Tom gave you a detailed assessment. Our revenues in total, $74.6 million, included approximately $66.1 million for X-Rite and $8.5 million for Pantone. The X-Rite stand-alone revenues, as Tom mentioned, are up 9.6% and foreign currency represented 3.8% of that.
Stand-alones for the fiscal year, we had 7.6% growth with approximate uplift of 2.7% for foreign currency. Pantone's stand-alone revenues for the two month period since the acquisition increased in the double-digit range due to strong textile sales and the launch of key new products in the graphic arts market.
Our gross margins, as you recall in Q3, we experienced a 5-point decline. I'm pleased to report that our gross margins, adjusted for acquisition related items in Q4, have returned to more normalized levels at 60.7% for the stand-alone X-Rite business. This recovery is partly the result of the execution of the targeted corrective actions that we outlined in our Q3 call. Also volume and product mix favorably influenced our margins.
While we continue to have work to do in each of the areas we identified in Q3, we believe our progress is on track and (inaudible) in the next quarter or two.
On a full-year performer basis, our adjusted gross margins remain flat at 59.9% from year to year for the X-Rite stand-alone. The impact of the Q3 items which we outlined lowered the full-year growth margin by approximately 1.2 percentage points. So we would have had 61.1% gross margins had we not had our blip in the third quarter.
The Pantone business typically has gross margins in the 62-65% range so we'll see a small favorable impact as Pantone represents approximately 15% of the overall X-Rite portfolio. Additionally, we expect to see improvement over time in the function of our integration and alignment efforts.
Moving onto operating expenses. We continue to benefit from our synergy focus and cost containment efforts. In Q4, however, we experienced several unusual items that negatively impacted our expenses. These items included unemployment related claims of approximately $700,000. We've appealed (inaudible) selected to fully reserve the claims to be conservative. We had cash, non-cash market declines of about $500,00 related to our Founders Insurance portfolio. These are market losses in the fourth quarter and again they are non-cash.
Our former headquarters is contributing to some operating costs that were unplanned including approximately $500,00 in Q4. This included a special tax assessment that will be recovered upon the closing of the sale of the property.
Other items included professional consulting fees of about $400,000-$500,000 covering tax patterns, some real estate and a foreign pension review, as well as some other items.
On the synergies front, as Tom mentioned, we achieved $1.6 million of incremental synergies in the fourth quarter, bringing our cumulative total of achieved synergies to $21.1 million without the currency effect of $3.7 million. The currencies have resulted primarily from headcount reduction, facility consolidation, the elimination of duplicate expenses, the consolidation of our engineering centers and other restructuring efforts.
Overall, we are pleased with our cost synergies to cost structure, but will continue to look for opportunities to further improve.
Foreign currency unfavorably impacted our operating expenses by approximately $1.3 million in Q4 and $3 million on a year-to-date basis.
Total operating expenses for stand alone X-Rite excluding Amazys and Pantone deal related amortization and integration and restructuring costs were as follows.
In Q4, $29.9 million for 45.2% of sales in 2007, versus $25 million or 41.5% of sales in 2006.
On a full-year basis, our operating expenses were $108.4 million or 45.1% of sales in 2007, versus $112.8 million or 50.5% of sales in 2006. So you are starting to see that leveraging impact of the cost synergies.
Income taxes…our full-year income tax expense of approximately $9.8 million reflects valuation allowances for NOL's and certain deferred tax assets under FASB Statement 109 as well as the non-deductibility of certain equity compensation items and foreign tax credits, charges related to FIN 48 and other acquisition related items.
As the company generates U.S. profits, we will see the reversal of the valuation allowances which will favorably impact our effective tax rate in the future. Future periods as we have income there will be little or no tax associated with it as those valuation items reverse themselves.
Our tax rate continues to fluctuate as we execute our new tax structure and account (inaudible) issues with FASB Statement 109 and our amortization related to the intangibles. This will likely continue for the foreseeable future. Once our new structure is in place we expect our cash-tax income rate to settle into the 28-30% range.
Moving on to acquisition and restructuring related expenses, they total $8.3 million in Q4 and $21.2 million for the full year. We outlined these in our press release but I'll cover them quickly.
They included product line integration related write off's of about $100,000 in the quarter and $200,000 for the full year. An amortization charge for the Pantone inventory write-up where we write the inventory up to fair market value. You'll also see a large increase reflected in our balance sheets. The charges related to that were $2.6 million in both the quarter and for the full year since we acquired Pantone in October.
We have the amortization of the intangibles related to the Amazys acquisition. $2.7 million in the quarter. $10.7 million for the full year.
We also have amortization of Pantone related intangibles now. That totaled $1.6 million in both the quarter and full year given that we acquired them in October.
Finally, we have integration and restructuring costs which totaled $1.3 million and $6.1 million for the quarter and year respectively.
The bulk of our integration and restructuring efforts related to Amazys have been implemented. The open integration activities are primarily in the manufacturing and operations area and are expected to be completed during the first three quarters of 2008.
The Pantone integration work remains in the early stages as the deal closed at the end of October of last year.
In addition we have got two other items of significance that were below the operating income line that I think weren't commented on. These include a currency loss of $600,000 which represents non-cash revaluation of our inner company accounts as the result of the weakening dollar versus the Euro, Pound and Swiss Franc primarily.
Additionally, we have a loss on our extinguishment of our former debt package of $5.5 million. This represents a non-cash charge related to the refinancing that we put in place to acquire Pantone. The write-off included any unamortized costs related to our prior deal package.
Moving on to operating income and EBITD for the fourth quarter of 2007. As you know given the debt that we've taken on to finance our acquisitions we believe that EBITD (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and operating income) are key financial matrix to measure the health and growth of our business.
At the operating income line we reported GAAP operating income of $4.5 million for Q4 which includes $2 million for X-Rite stand alone and $2.5 million for Pantone.
Consolidated adjusted operating income excluding acquisition and restructuring expenses was $12.8 million or 17.1% for the quarter.
On a performer basis, operating income excluding last year for Q4 of 2006 was approximately $11 million or 18.2% of sales.
Year-over-year adjusted operating income grew approximately 15% over the Q4 levels over the prior year.
For the full year 2007 GAAP reported operating income was $16.6 million, which included $14.1 million for X-Rite stand alone and $2.5 million for Pantone.
Consolidated adjusted operating income excluding acquisition and restructuring expenses was $37.8 million or 15.2% of sales.
On a performa adjusted basis, operating income excluding Labsphere for the full year of 2007 was approximately $20.9 million or 9.4%.
Year-over-year adjusted operating income grew approximately 80% over 2006 levels. The significant increase in adjusted operating income versus the prior year performer results were driven primarily by the leverage of our cost synergies, the addition of Pantone results, as well as general revenue growth.
EBITD – moving on. Consolidated EBITD excluding acquisition and restructuring expense was $15.6 million or 20.9% of sales for the quarter and $48.9 million or 19.6% of sales for 2007 full year. EBITD excluding acquisition and restructuring expenses for X-Rite on a stand alone was $13 million or 19.6% of sales versus $14 million or 22% of sales in the quarter.
Performer EBITD for 2006 totaled $33.7 million or 15.1%. Pantone contributed 2.6 or 30.6% of sales for both Q4 and the full year as the acquisition was completed at the end of October.
Year-over-year EBITD growth of 45% was driven by the acquisition of Pantone, realization of cost synergies and general revenue growth.
Cash flow from operations. During the full year the company generated approximately $6 million of cash flow from core X-Rite operations. Cash flow from our business is driven primarily by earnings, less cash restructuring expenses as well as changes in core working capital which includes accounts receivable and inventory.
Management of our inventory is a key priority for 2008 and should provide us with additional key free cash flow as we better manage this asset. We continue to be focused on our operating cash flow and on paying down debt in the upcoming quarters.
Lets move on to net income from continuing operations and cash earnings.
To provide you with additional information we believe will be helpful in understanding our financial results we also provide you with a cash earnings (inaudible) in addition to our reported net income and EPS numbers.
As I mentioned before, we sold Labsphere and those numbers have all been classified as discontinued operations. So we are talking about net income from continuing operations here.
We reported a consolidated net loss from continuing operations of $20.3 million or 70 cents per basic share for Q4 and a net loss from continuing operations of $20.8 million or 72 cents per basic share on a full year basis.
Our Q4 and 2007 cash earnings from continuing operations and EPS exclude the following items: Acquisition, restructuring and integration related expenses; amortization of intangibles related to the Amazys acquisition as well as the Pantone acquisition; inter-company foreign currency expenses; debt extinguishment costs related to our refinancing.
Our cash net loss from continuing operations was $5.8 million or 20 cents per basic share for Q4. Net income from continuing operations of $7.2 million or 25 cents per share for the full year. Both Q4 and the full year were impacted by deferred tax asset valuation reserves under FASB 109 of approximately $13 million, which impacted our tax rate.
Moving on to the balance sheet. Our balance sheet changed considerably as the result of our Pantone acquisition. We currently have approximately $20 million in cash, $380 million of debt related to the transaction and approximately $9 million of debt related to our former headquarters in Grandville.
Our net debt position is approximately $370 million. As such, management of our working capital is a top priority. Our two largest working capital assets are receivables and inventory and our global DSO has remained steady and improved by about 8% versus Q1 levels and is now at 57 days on a global basis. Given that 60% of our revenues are generated outside of the U.S., we are very pleased with that number.
Inventory turns decreased in Q4 and inventory levels for X-Rite on a stand alone basis increased by approximately $3.6 million since Q3. We have made a number of changes in our operations group with the aim to better control inventory levels and will continue to report on that in future calls.
Moving on now to an overview of our synergies that we have achieved to date. As we have discussed in our past calls and investor materials, we initially expected to achieve approximately $25 million of annual cost synergies by mid-2009 related to the Amazys acquisition. This was approximately three years from the closing of the deal. We are making very good progress towards this goal and have achieved $21.1 million in synergies in our first six quarters of combined operations.
Our synergies calculations that we have reported to you have been very conservative and have not included any adjustments for the weakening U.S. dollar and are based on full-year 2005 costs. Had we adjusted for the effect of foreign currency, we would have had $3.7 million of additional cumulative synergies in the 18-month period, putting us potentially at our goal of $25 million in total cumulative cost synergies a full 18 months ahead of schedule. So we have effectively reached our goal assuming that we count the currency in half the time that we originally estimated.
During fiscal 2008 we also expect to realize some additional cost synergies related to Amazys totaling $1-3 million. We did not realize any significant synergies related to the Pantone acquisition as the transaction closed at the end of October.
Total cost synergies for the Pantone acquisition are expected to be approximately $6 million and will be achieved by the end of 2009.
Moving on to our restructuring and integration reserve requirements. Our initial estimate of the total restructuring charges from last quarter related to Amazys have not changed. It is approximately $33 million. $22 million of that is cash and $11 million of that is non-cash.
As you know, under U.S. GAAP, a portion of these costs for the restructuring accrual in the opening balance sheet while the (inaudible section with no audio for 1 minute) $4.5 million. We expect to have approximately $5-6 million of cash restructuring and integration related costs related to Pantone. Specifics of these costs will be outlined in our Q1 call.
Now we'd like to discuss Pantone, our very recent acquisition, and will provide you with our outlook for revenues and synergies through the end of 2007. Tom.
Tom Vacchiano
I am pleased to report that former to the Pantone acquisition we are as excited today as we were on October 24th when the deal closed. The combination of X-Rite and Pantone continues to be compelling from both a strategic and financial perspective. This acquisition will significantly build on X-Rite's position as the leading global color company.
We believe Pantone will enable the company to further leverage its substantial scale, advantages to drive innovation to maximize operating efficiency and to attract the most desirable companies and industries in the world.
Pantone is a very unique asset. The company operates in complementary and adjacent key markets of the color business and we have successfully partnered with them over the past couple of years to develop some very exciting products like the huey.
Further, it brings an iconic brand, a good management team and very strong financial performance which is in line with X-Rite's historical revenue growth rate, margins and overall profitability.
Over the past year, I hope you see that we have demonstrated that we are well-equipped to execute on our integration plan as we have met or exceeded the Amazys milestones. Therefore, we are confident in our ability to manage the integration of the Pantone deal while driving the remaining $1-3 million cost synergies from Amazys that Mary mentioned earlier.
Now Mary will provide a quick overview of the Pantone integrations and synergies.
Mary Chowning
We outlined the core Pantone business in our call announcing the transaction so I'll be brief in going over a quick overview.
Pantone's business, which is headquartered in Carlsbad, New Jersey, is focused in the graphic arts, textile and fashions industry and is the defacto language of color. They are the leader in color standards and communication in color inspiration.
Pantone has a very strong financial base and a proven track record of profitability. Revenues which are $45 million for the trailing 12 months of June 2007 have grown in the 7-9% range over the past three years.
Their geographic mix is fairly complementary to ours with about 50% from the America's, 25% from Europe and 20% from Asia.
Adjusted EBITD has remained in the 27-29% range over the past three years and for fiscal 2007 was $13.5 million.
They have had steady gross margins of approximately 62-65% in that period also. They have very low CapEx maintenance requirements and overall they are a very good fit for the financial model that X-Rite runs with.
In terms of cost synergies, as Tom highlighted earlier, we believe there is significant synergies in the operating costs available to X-Rite through this transaction. On the revenue front, we believe that the levels of revenue attrition for Pantone's business will be minimal. However, I want you to understand that we believe we have the ability to absorb a certain level of revenue attrition while still delivering an (inaudible) outcome.
The identified cost synergies of $6 million by year two are based on an in-depth, bottoms up analysis similar to the one that we prepared for Amazys. The expected synergies will largely come from office consolidation, headcount reduction, operating cost efficiencies in marketing, tradeshows and related costs, and administrative cost reductions including professional and consulting fees, simplified IT systems and other related costs.
We expect planned cash restructuring costs, as I mentioned before, of $5-6 million during the first year primarily related to severances, lease write-off's and other integration related costs.
We believe that the integration challenge and risk associated with this transaction is significantly lower than the Amazys integration. That doesn't mean it won't be hard work, but it is work in areas that we have clearly demonstrated experience in.
Now on to our outlook. There are two areas where we provide you guidance. Timing of our synergies and overall revenue growth expectations. I'll cover the synergies guidance and Tom will discuss our revenue expectations.
In 2008, we anticipate achieving $1-3 million of incremental synergies related to the Amazys acquisition and meeting or exceeding our target of $25 million well ahead of the original forecast date of mid-2009.
We also expect to achieve $1.5-2 million of synergies related to the Pantone acquisition in 2008 with the remaining synergies coming in 2009.
Tom Vacchiano
In terms of the 2008 revenue outlook, we remain cautious about our growth given the various integration dynamics we are dealing with a now an uncertain economic climate. The good news is our business has limited exposure to the financial services and home building industries in North America. However, some of our businesses do have exposure to various consumer end markets and thus we believe it makes sense to remain cautious as we set expectations.
For calendar year 2008, we expect to see revenue growth for the full year in a range of 5-8% on a comparable year-to-year basis.
Candidly we are excited about the new product that we will be launching later this year, but will remain somewhat uncertain about the market conditions.
Further, we expect the first half of 2008 revenue will be off to a slower than expected start, which could include a fairly flat top line expectation for our first fiscal quarter in 2008.
First half expectations are dampened by a few factors including the macroeconomic environment, DRUPA not occurring until the end of 2008, and adoption cycles for our new products which are always difficult to predict.
Further, as we noted earlier, Q1 of 2007 included some delayed shipments and some other significant items that will provide for a difficult comparison.
The second half of 2008 should, however, be stronger as we see the impact of several planned new products, a hopefully strong DRUPA show and the continuation of a healthy printing and pressroom market.
Looking beyond 2008, we believe that the market opportunities can sustain double-digit growth through the internal investment and acquisitions…through both internal investment and acquisitions. Our priority is to achieve this in a timely but sustainable way while balancing an equally important goal of better profitability. This is something we have been talking about now throughout the course of 2007.
Before I wrap up my comments though, I would like to take the opportunity to recognize Mary Chowning's significant contributions to X-Rite's success over the last five years. As you likely know, she will be leaving the company on April 15th. Clearly without her experience, leadership and commitment to X-Rite, we would not be where we are today. I have had the privilege to be her partner and colleague over the last two years and I know you will agree with me that we will miss her and that we all wish her very, very great success in her future.
At the same time, I would like to officially welcome Lynn Lyall to the team. Lynn began with us yesterday, March 3, brings with him a wealth of experience and talent and we have high expectations of how he will help us move forward. I believe that you will enjoy meeting and working with Lynn and to help that get off to a good start Mary, Lynn and I are planning to do some traveling over the course of the next 45 days to spend some time in the financial market and look forward to trying to touch as many as you as practical so that we can get off to a fast start.
To summarize, we continue X-Rite to be focused on five key priorities:
First, achieving our synergies for both Amazys and Pantone.
Retaining and growing our customers and our revenue base.
Investing in renovation for long-term sustainable growth, whether it is in technology or new business models.
Managing our cash effectively.
Of course, continuing to build a high performance team that is passionate about the business of color.
In closing, X-Rite's position as the leading global color company is an important asset that will allow us to penetrate deeper within our existing customer base and move into new markets. Our passion for developing color solutions, success in integrating high value acquisitions such as Amazys, as well as the opportunity of Pantone, really provides us a wonderful and unique opportunity. We continue to believe that we have a wonderful opportunity to build a market leader and a great company while delivering exceptional stakeholder value.
Our job continues to be to execute.
Thanks for your support and now we'll open it up for questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now conduct a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question please press *1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line in the question queue. Press *2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it will be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the * keys. One moment as we poll for questions.
First question comes from Chuck Murphy with Sidoti and Company. Please proceed with your question.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
Good morning guys. Just wondering, as far as the integration issues that you experienced in the third quarter it seems like you feel pretty good that you are back on track here. Could you talk about maybe what would improve, specifically maybe where you still have some work to do?
Tom Vacchiano
Sure. Of course, one of the things that helped a lot was our product mix from Q3 to Q4. You'll remember back in Q3 we talked about the effect, for example, Heidelberg being an extraordinarily high contribution in Q3 and in Q4 we moved back to a more normal contribution. That was one of the more natural fixes.
Also we were able to make progress in our professional services business where in Q3 we really struggled and in Q4 they bounced back and again helped us. So that was a product service mix. So that helped us. And of course volume in Q4 always helps with manufacturing absorption rates and so we always get a nice hit there.
On the flip side we made a little bit of progress, for example, in freight costs and freight recovery. But we did not achieve anywhere near what our goals are for 2008. So, there's a mix of things that helped us, which we thought would help us. There is a mix of things where we're making some progress but there's more to be done.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
Yeah. I think you had mentioned something about something maybe ERP implementation not going as quickly as planned.
Tom Vacchiano
Yes, well we had what we lovingly call the "big bang" which occurred in the third quarter and in the big bang there were a fairly high degree of what we call in (inaudible) and kind of band-aids to keep everything together and to keep our customers having a reasonable experience and those band-aids or experiences where things aren't working as efficiently as you thought do cause incremental or extraordinary kinds of costs. We are making progress there but I'll tell you that we won't be through that big hoop until probably sometime towards summer. There is still work to be done.
Mary Chowning
Additionally, remember what we did is when we made that systems conversion we identified some items that we chose to write off and those were really truly one time. I will also tell you we did a physical inventory in November and we've had very good results from that which indicate that we're making progress on making sure our controls are in place and we won't have any future significant items.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
And could you just maybe kind of dig into a bit more detail of what was going on with the different markets and I think you mentioned imaging media is still strong. I'm just kind of wondering given especially Heidelberg's recent results…you know how you feel like you're maintaining the momentum here.
Tom Vacchiano
Well I think it plays back to our outlook for 2008. We are talking to a lot of major accounts and strategic OEM partners and I will tell you from first hand experience in talking to them, including Heidelberg, there is what I would call cautious optimism. But everybody is kind of pulling back and being careful. So I think everybody is sort of taking a breath and saying, "Now what are we going to expect," and what are the upside and downside risks and people are being more conservative. In the first part of 2008 we are also seeing that the very large accounts, particularly the large OEM's, are sort of stepping back a little bit and being a little bit more conservative and their expectations for 2008, at least for the first half of 2008, are less bullish than what they were in 2007.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
Okay. And one final question and I'll turn it over to somebody else…can you just remind me kind of what the terms of your debt are again, especially curious about let's say covenants.
Mary Chowning
Well actually we will file the agreements with our 10K so you'll be able to read the entire thousand pages of that.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
I'm looking forward to that.
Mary Chowning
We have covenants around EBITD, debt coverage, interest coverage and a minimum EBITD covenant. Those are the three covenants that we maintain in terms of financial covenants. There are also some affirmative covenants that we have to maintain. Those covenants kick in 03/31 and that's basically it. We have a limited number of covenants. They were set off of some projections that have a fair degree of cushion.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
So can you say what like the EBITD…
Mary Chowning
I actually don't have it in front of me. The first one is the debt to EBITD is a maximum liability of six.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
Okay. But you feel very comfortable that won't be a problem kind of thing.
Mary Chowning
Well it's adjusted EBITD. Obviously if the company performs as we would like it to, we should be in compliance.
Chuck Murphy - Sidoti
Okay. I'll turn it over to somebody else. Thanks
Our next question comes from Jim Ricciuti of Needham and Company. Please proceed with your question.
Jim Ricciuti - Needham
Hi. Good morning. Mary I wonder on that last question I wonder if you would be willing to provide any kind of range for adjusted EBITD or range you know given the many moving parts as we've got in operating expenses.
Mary Chowning
No. Jim as you know guidance is a pretty slippery slope and we've committed to giving a revenue guidance and synergy timing guidance. Obviously Lynn and Tom will review that periodically but not right now.
Jim Ricciuti - Needham
Okay. Tom…in the Heidelberg comments from the December quarter it looks like they had pretty good quarter intake in the quarter. If I'm not mistaken I think they said it was stronger than a couple of the other quarters previously in 2007. Are you getting the sense from them that it is more back-end loaded and a softer OEM than the first half of the year?
Tom Vacchiano
Well actually Heidelberg's last quarter did not show very good results. In fact their order rate and backlog rate if I remember correctly was actually flat so they've actually slowed down late in 2007. We have their 2008 forecast of our product. I can't share that in detail, of course, but I can tell you that they are being cautious particularly in the first half because DRUPA this year which is a major print manufacturing show doesn't start until the last week of May, or close to the last week of May, and is usually the case a lot of customers wait to buy to see if there is going to be either something really cool and new or if there is going to be some important promotion. So I think that Heidelberg is kind of holding its breath a little bit at least early in the year and is hopeful that things will bounce back in the second part of the year.
Jim Ricciuti - Needham
Okay. In your businesses that you can tell in recent months, which markets if any have you started to see softening as the result of some of the recent slowing in the economy?
Tom Vacchiano
Well I would say that our very large OEM's are seeing some softness and of course when they are not pulling through out products and their own products we feel that so companies like Heidelberg are an example and there are others, which I won't name, who have come back and said their own demand is softening a little bit and quite frankly it is in a variety of places. The other thing I would say is our retail paint matching solutions, which I talked about earlier, in North America which is our bread and butter retail business and has been now for the last four or five years…in North America we need to regenerate with new innovative solutions for that space and until we do that is going to stay soft as it has been now for I think three or four quarters.
Jim Ricciuti - Needham
Okay. Just looking at the graphic arts business…we've got DRUPA coming up in the end of May…I think initially your thought was that Japan leading up to this show would be pretty strong. Is it the sign of softening within the OEM's that gives you a little bit more pause on the DRUPA effects this year?
Tom Vacchiano
Well it's actually a broader range than that. Let's go back to your point. I would tell you that the pressroom printing market in 2007 was very healthy and it did contribute to our 2007 success. However, the outlook for that space in Q1 and Q2 has materially softened really within the last 75 days in terms of some reforecasts from some of our partners and so on. So I'm not so sure that the health of the printing pressroom market is going to be as strong the first part of the year. Part of that may be a general softening or part of that may be just people waiting for DRUPA to see if there is something cool and new or if there is some promotion coming on. I'm not sure. I do know that our major partners are pulling back a little bit in that space and that's having an effect on us.
Jim Ricciuti - Needham
One last question. You commented on you're seeing this even outside Europe?
Tom Vacchiano
Yeah. It's worldwide.
Our next question comes from Alexander Paris of Barrington Research Associates. Please proceed with your question.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Good afternoon.
Tom Vacchiano
Hey Alex.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Can you on Pantone can you say what they did for the full year in revenues?
Mary Chowning
Approximately $45 million.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
That's what they had at the running rate…was that mid-year?
Mary Chowning
No that was 12/31.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Okay 12/31. So you have…and $8 million of that was recognized in the fourth quarter. Is the fourth quarter a very large quarter like the basic X-Rite business?
Mary Chowning
Not historically for them, no. And remember that's not a full quarter that we had. We had about two months and a few days for that.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
But that's generally not as back-end loaded as X-Rite is.
Mary Chowning
No. It's relatively flat.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Okay. And in your guidance of 5-8% revenue growth, is that exclusive of Pantone?
Mary Chowning
No that's Pantone. That assume apples-to-apples, a full year of Pantone, a full year of X-Rite for 2007. We will grow 5-8% over that.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Well at $45 million that would be less eight to $38 or so million incremental sales from Pantone and if you did $248 million and you took out those incremental sales of $38 million or so assuming no growth don't you have overall revenues be down?
Mary Chowning
No. Remember the performa is to assume Amazys and X-Rite together for 2007 on the stand alone basis for approximately $240 million.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Okay. So it would seem to be that you still have very little quarter growth.
Mary Chowning
No. Alex I would be happy to walk you through this.
Tom Vacchiano
I assure you, Alex, when you do the math with the correct numbers you're seeing reasonable growth in those parts of the business.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Okay good. And in your debt did you mention your average interest costs?
Mary Chowning
Our average…the debt is purchased so that the average rate is about Libor plus 480 on a weighted average basis. And we've entered into some interest rate cross agreements that made our overall interest rate at about 4.5-5% for Libor. For approximately 75-80% of the debt.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
Alright. And the life insurance policy…they're still pledged in the new agreement right?
Mary Chowning
Yes they are. Yes they are.
Alexander Paris - Barrington Research Associates
I guess that's it. Alright. Thank you very much.
Mary Chowning
Thanks Alex. If there are no more questions…Tom do you want to sign off?
Tom Vacchiano
I just want to thank all of you for both your interest and your support of X-Rite. I know that over the course of the last 24 months we have made substantial changes to the original X-Rite model. In fact we're kind of thinking of X-Rite to the power of 3 with the original X-Rite company, the addition of Amazys and now the addition of Pantone. We know that things are a little bit messy and we know that we have some additional risks, but we equally believe that the opportunity far exceeds what we've had before. And hopefully if you'll hang in there with us through perhaps a few more quarters to let this thing unfold we believe that we will create an interesting and exceptional stakeholder value.
So thanks very much. We look forward to coming out and seeing many of you over the course of the next 45 days.
Thank you.
This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect the line at this time. Thank you for your participation.
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Hi everyone,
I am a foster parent and we go a 2 month old baby on Friday evening. She was born 4.5 weeks premature, so she is small like a newborn and she acts like a newborn, too. She was pretty weak when we got her but she is starting to improve some.
I am pretty new to the 80/10/10 and eating raw in general. What is the best option for formula? I'd ask the mom about giving me breastmilk, but to be honest, considering the circumstances, I'm not sure how safe it would be and I'm not allowed to provide my own breastmilk, which would've been my first option.
According to my info, the mother breast fed (sometimes) on demand, but the baby is very small and weak and I have to wake her to feed her. I'm getting her on a schedule of eating every 3 hours and she is adapting well. I'm currently feeding her Similac Neosure (which is what the mother supplemented with).
So, my question is what is the best recommendation for formula?
Thanks so much for your help!
Tags: breastfeeding, formula, foster
Fresh young coconut "water" & fresh young coconut "meat" blended together tastes really good.
I wonder if fresh coconut would be OK for a baby ?
It's really too bad that you aren't allowed to give your foster baby your breast milk. Is there anyway your foster daughter's pediatrician can write a prescription for donor breast milk? It sounds like your foster baby is a great candidate for it. Even though it's pasteurized she will do a lot better on it.
Other than that I don't know what to tell you. I don't think making homemade formulas with banana or coconut water or almonds (or whatever) is a good idea. It's too risky and what if someone found out and reported you? It could jeopardize any child(ren) in your care as well as your biological ones (it's not worth losing your children over).
It's really hard for me to "recommend" formula (I am SUPER pro-breastfeeding--I nursed my son for 3 years and I'm nursing my daughter right now) BUT if you can't get the donor breast milk prescription then this is your only legal option. How is the baby doing on the Neosure?
At least once she's ready for solid foods you can start her on a more optimal diet. In the meantime just do what you have to in order for her to survive.
I wish you the BEST!
Try coconutmilk, its the nearest thing to mothers milk. Do it with fresh coconut or dried coconutflakes, you can sweaten it with little bit dates. But dont try coconutflesh, its nearly indigestable. Also i would add just fresh ripe organic bananas and other creamy ripe organic fruit. Avocado moderatly is good too.
Sometimes you can try adding juice from sweet legumes and tender greens to make sure for all minerals and vitamins.
Dont try to feed low fat!!! Babys need it and mothers milk naturally contains a high amount of it...
These might be ok guidelines for an older infant, but for a 3 month old premature baby, these would be highly problematic. The types of proteins in these foods would be too irritating to an undeveloped digestive tract.
Take care
Adam x
Thanks for your input everyone. It's been a VERY busy weekend. So much for getting the rest and sleep I need, but it comes with the territory.
For those concerned about consulting with my pediatrician, I most definitely will. But I always do research before I go and I want to come prepared and present what I believe to be the best. As mandated by the state, I have to follow her protocols, but she's usually for helpful and understanding. She was my husband's pediatrician, so she's been doing this for quite awhile.
I will ask about a waiver for breastfeeding or a breastmilk bank, but I doubt if that will happen. I found a company that makes formula with all organic ingredients and brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup. They use Non-GMO soybeans, so I've ordered one to see how she adapts to that. I just found out the baby hasn't been to the doctor since released from her initial stay in the hospital! I'll be getting her in this week, hopefully....
Here is the link for the above formula if anyone is interested... http://www.naturesone.com/soy/
Thanks again for all your suggestions and help. I am still researching this and will be looking into some of the links you sent me when I get done. I just finished taxes today (Ugh!), so that is now off my plate, too (except for coming up with the money to pay).
© 2013 Created by TheBananaGirl. Powered by


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Hello, my friend has three (YES-3)1978 Mustang King Cobra's that he would like to sell. Two of them are in great shape in both running condition and appearance, the 3rd can be used for many great hard to find original parts. I don't know anything about cars and he doesn't know anything about computers so I said I could help him put them for sale on the internet, but as for the cars.... I'm in need of some advice. I searched the Internet and this is the first Website I found, so I'm looking for any advice as to where and how would be the best way to advertise these for sale. He is willing to sell them individually or all together. I'm not even sure what forum to post this into...so you may see this same message in several forums, sorry for the duplication. Thank you for your time and consideration, Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! You can email me if you have any questions or want a pic at firstname.lastname@example.com You and God BlessConfused...in Florida
Hi Confused!I sent you an email yesterday, but thought I would reply here, too. Does your friend have these cars still available? If so, would he be interested in selling one of the complete cars? We are looking for a King Cobra and wanted to inquire. You can email me at firstname.lastname@example.com, or call at 205-637-5513. Thank you!!


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CAASNM received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to explore the feasibility of scaling asset building in rural Doña Ana County. After over a year of work from the amazing CAASNM Kellogg Team, the study was submitted to the Foundation on October 31, 2012. CAASNM found several relevant factors during our research.
The target population, Doña Ana County, has a demonstrated need for asset building. The state of New Mexico is considered an economically-depressed area by virtually all national standards. The large number of people on CAASNM's IDA program waiting list and a low 15.7% attrition rate show that its client base wants and can save for asset ownership and will thus support IDA and CDA programs. The feedback gathered from phone interviews and a focus group session among former and new participants confirms that CAASNM's clients built strong saving habits and developed the capacity for long term saving. Approximately 66% of former participants surveyed are still saving on a regular basis and close to 90% keep a monthly budget. Eight-seven (87) percent of respondents have not missed any utility or mortgage payments, 100% of savers who bought a home are still living there and 93% of businesses started under the IDA program are still in business. The tangible social and economic impact of CAASNM's IDA program, strong advocacy for IDAs and the support of the community and partners also attest to this.
From 2007 to 2011 there were 216 participants enrolled in the program. During that time period, 34 of the participants either dropped out of the program or were dropped by CAASNM. Fifty-six of the participants are still enrolled and 126 have cashed out. Of the 126 participants who have cashed out of the program, 50 purchased a new home, 43 either expanded or started a new business and 33 extended their education. CAASNM worked with the Arrowhead Center to conduct an Economic Impact Study. Here are the highlights:
• Home purchases by IDA participants from 2008-2011 generated a total employment of 28.9 jobs, labor income of over $975,000, and value added of more than $1.5 million.
• Educational expenditures by IDA participants generated a total 5 jobs, labor income of over $239,000 and value added of almost $300,000.
• From 2007 to 2011, 43 individuals created IDA's for the purpose of starting a new business or expanding an existing business. The majority of participants were female (54.8%), 87.1% were between the ages of 24 and 54, 46.9% were either single or a single parent, 32.6% had a high school diploma (or GED) or less education, and 57.1% declared their ethnicity as Hispanic.
• Participants used their IDA funds for the expansion of 19 businesses and the creation of 13 new businesses.
We have a new cohort of teen IDA participants ready to go for Fall and, pending funding, will start a pilot program in the very near future for children.
Please help us expand this amazing program to more families in Doña Ana County by clicking the Donate Now button in the left hand navigation.


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After you race through a store and select items, someone must to be available at the check-out counter to ring up your purchases, and stores that do well in being there at the right time and in the right way keep you coming back.
When you phone a company for assistance, do you enjoy spending twenty minutes talking to a robotic voice and pushing buttons to get to the right department? Or does it make a difference when a friendly person answers the phone?
We expect teachers at school to be available to our children when they have questions. We expect the postal service to be there at our mailboxes to deliver letters and packages. We expect the television show we anticipate throughout the week to be there when we turn it on.
Day in and day out, it makes a difference to be there. Woody Allen famously said that "eighty percent of success is showing up." Allen's not my go-to guy for advice, but this quote is pretty good.
When people are not there and we need them - why is our favorite show always the one preempted? - we are understandably disappointed.
I've been talking about reasons why spouses sometimes are not available for sexual intimacy with their spouse. In fact, there are times when the very thought of your beloved touching you makes you cringe. You do not want to engage in sex, foreplay, affection, and possibly even eye contact with this person.
Perhaps you are so tired that you can't prop your eyes open or move your limbs: Don't Touch Me: I'm Exhausted!
Or you're particularly frustrated with your spouse: Don't Touch Me: I'm Angry!
Maybe you have way too much to do to add physical intimacy to the list: Don't Touch Me: I'm Busy!
And some of you don't want to show up sexually because you have to get naked and you don't feel good about your appearance: Don't Touch Me: I'm Ugly!
But if it's important for the barista at the Starbucks Drive-Thru to be there when you need a venti cup of coffee to make it through your day, how much more important is it to be there when our spouse needs a small cup 'o lovin'?
(Okay, c'mon. One of you out there is thinking it! I know, I know: "I'll take my cup o' lovin' with whipped cream, please." Whew. Got that out of the way.)
My prior posts addressed tackling some ongoing, nagging obstacles to being present sexually in our marriage. Of course, there are bigger issues for plenty of couples out there (e.g., sexual history, pornography), but a lot of marriages could improve their sexual health by clearing out the excuse bin and putting sexual intimacy near the top of the to-do pile.
Deal with anger, exhaustion, busyness, and body image issues so that you can turn to your sweetheart tonight or tomorrow night or sometime very soon and say, "Touch me, I'm here."
I'm asking readers to share their own advice below. What daily distractions or issues have you overcome to make sexual intimacy a priority in your marriage? How important has it been to you to have your spouse emotionally and physically available to you? How do you think we can foster that sense of true presence with our spouses and still work our jobs, feed the kids, and do the laundry? What thoughts do you want to add to the Don't Touch Me ideas I've shared?


text:
Essential Information: Peace of Mind
Peace of mind
All our air travel holidays and flights shown are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is ATOL 6596. ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the UK.
All payments made by credit/debit card to DesignaVenture Ltd are held by Barclaycard Merchant Services until after your event, this means in the unlikely event of DesignaVenture Ltd failure your money remains safe.
Any monies paid by cheque or bank transfer, as in accordance with the 1992 Package Holiday & Tours Regulation are secured by being deposited in a trust account until after your break takes place.
Not only do we share our intricate knowledge of your activities and destination, but we also care deeply about your break. We want your break to start and end perfectly, so we'll send you off with an essential travel pack equipped with all the facts to ensure that you are prepared for your break.


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Victoria and Vancouver Island Hotels
- Overview
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- Fodor's Choice
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Abigail's Hotel
At a Glance
- luxurious feel
- atmospheric
- no pool or gym
Check Rates from our Partners
Abigail's Hotel Review
A Tudor-style inn built in 1930, Abigail's is four blocks from the Inner Harbour. The big sunny rooms are attractively and individually furnished in an English country style. Down comforters, whirlpool tubs, and wood-burning fireplaces in many rooms add to the luxurious aura, and the six large rooms in the Coach House building are especially lavish. A three-course breakfast is served at tables for two or on the patio; beer, wine, and complimentary appetizers are served each evening in the library. A spa-treatment room adds to the pampering.
- Address: 906 McClure St., Downtown, Victoria, BC V8V 3E7 | Map It
- Phone: 250/388–5363; 800/561–6565
- Website: www.abigailshotel.com
- Location: Downtown Victoria
Contact Information
- 23 rooms.
- Rate includes breakfast.
- Credit cards accepted.
Hotel Details
Fodor's Trip Planning Ideas
- Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards: Check out the winners of 2013
- Weekend Getaways: Fodor's Recommends the Best Weekend Escapes in the US
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- Best of Europe: Fodor's Picks the Best Places to Visit in Europe
· Forums Trip Reports
Lord Stanley Hotel in Vancouver BC Canada
Lord Stanley Strata Corp Management Company
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1. Breakfast at Granville Island
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Whether its Spicy Alligator Fritters or Broiled Lobster Maine Lobster that you're after, Carnival's new... Read more


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At the last count, I think I've written about 16 conventional short stories* for the Black Library, set within the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000. And I have a 17th coming out this autumn as part of Treacheries of the Space Marines.
Several of my previously published BL short stories are now available for download as eBooks. So to get you in the mood for the forthcoming Liberator, why not check out one of my previous Space Marine stories, or even one of my Warhammer tales?
The Relic
As Ghazghkull Thraka's second invasion engulfs Armageddon, Dreadnought Brother Jarold leads warriors from the Black Templars Chapter in battle against the greenskins in the frozen Dead Lands. Following a distress beacon, they find another Dreadnought in the ice, buried for half a century. When the orks attack en masse, the two Dreadnoughts make a last stand against the bestial invaders.
But Dust in the Wind
Investigating a distress signal from an ice-shrouded mining colony, Space Marines of the Imperial Fists find themselves outnumbered and surrounded by the soulless necrons. Facing impossible odds, the Imperial Fists struggle desperately to find a way to survive.
Sir Dagobert's Last Battle
A small Bretonnian village is menaced by greenskin raiders – only a renowned Grail Knight stands against the horde. Unfortunately, he has been dead for years…
Mark of the Beast
Torben Badenov and his band of warriors hunt a tribe of beastmen who are harrying the Empire. Little do they suspect that treachery awaits them when they find the beasts…
* So not including any of the colour text pieces I wrote for the old Army Books and Codexes.


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Ummm...nobody asked me for permission to use my photo in conjunction with this story. Thanks for NOT...
2 years ago.
Nice for them to do this, but I doubt I'll be going back to them anytime soon after the poor service and...
4 years ago.
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