Thursday, September 10, 2015
General Mills to sell Green Giant to B&G Foods
Posted by RvpAdmin / In Events
MINNEAPOLIS – General Mills announced it has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Green Giant and Le Sueurvegetable businesses to B&G Foods, Inc., (NYSE: BGS) for approximately $765 million in cash, subject to an inventory adjustment at closing.
The resulting sale of Green Giant will lead to a lay-off of 160 workers in the Belvidere plant alone.
General Mills will continue to operate the Green Giant business in Europe and select other export markets under license from B&G Foods.
The sale reinforces General Mills’ strategic priority to shape its portfolio for growth, focusing its resources on the brands, categories, and geographic markets that have the greatest future growth opportunities.
The Green Giant and Le Sueur businesses included in the proposed transaction, comprised of the U.S., Canada, and select other markets, generated annual net sales of approximately $585 million in fiscal 2015.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the calendar year. General Mills expects to use the net proceeds for share repurchases and debt reduction.
The company anticipates the transaction will be dilutive to fiscal 2016 earnings per share in the range of approximately 5 to 7 cents, excluding transaction costs and a one-time gain on the sale.
General Mills will provide additional details about the impact of the transaction when it reports its fiscal 2016 first-quarter results on Sept. 22.
Rothschild acted as financial advisor to General Mills on the transaction.
About General Mills
General Mills is one of the world’s leading food companies, operating in more than 100 countries around the world.
Its brands include Cheerios, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Wanchai Ferry, Yoki and more.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, General Mills had fiscal 2015 worldwide sales of U.S. $18.7 billion, including the company’s U.S. $1.1 billion proportionate share of joint-venture net sales.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the anticipated timing and completion of the transaction, the use of proceeds from the transaction and the impact of the transaction on future earnings per share.
These forward-looking statements are based on facts and circumstances known to us as of the date the statements are made and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from those set forth in such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, obtaining necessary approvals and consents for the transaction, fulfillment of other transaction conditions, economic conditions, and overall business and capital allocation strategy.
See “Risk Factors” in our fiscal 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties applicable to our business. The company assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement.
Committee votes in favor 3-1 for food permit fees for non-profits
Committee votes in favor 3-1 for food permit fees for non-profits
Posted by RVPEditor / In Belvidere Daily Republican, Public Meetings
By Lisa Rodgers
Reporter
BOONE COUNTY: Once again the Boone County Board is being asked to approve food permit fees for nonprofit (NFP) organizations.
The Boone County Board denied a previous request. Originating from Boone County Health Department (BCHD) staff followed by approval by the Boone County Board of Health, the request was forwarded to Boone County Health and Human Services Committee for discussion and vote.
On Sept. 3, the Health and Human Services Committee (HHS) had its monthly meeting and on their agenda was the fee request from the BCHD. Committee members present were Chairman Paul Larson, Sherry Giesecke, Raymond Larson, and Cathy Ward, Ex-Official Bob Walberg, and Vice-Chairman Sherry Branson was absent.
Discussion began and at the onset Cathy Ward stated she had just come from a Keen Age meeting prior to the HHS Committee meeting. Ward brought forth that she had heard the laws were changing and that rhubarb might now be permissible.
Public Health Administrator Cynthia Frank and Director of Environmental Health Bill Hatfield were seated at the table and included in the discussion. Neither Frank nor Hatfield responded either confirming or refuting Ward’s statement.
“Taxpayers are publically subsidizing the NFP’s by not having fees on the food permits. The health department is losing revenue. Based on the NFP applications the health department has lost $18,370 in total fees not collected. This would have been collected without a waiver. It is a total loss of revenue,” Hatfield said.
Further discussion continued and the amount with a resolution of 50 percent of the regular fee was proposed.
Votes as cast: Chairman Paul Larson-Yes; Sherry Giesecke-Yes; Raymond Larson-Yes; Cathy Ward-No; Vice-Chairman Sherry Branson-Absent.
It should be noted there was dissent from the audience stating that Chairman Paul Larson should not have voted. It was stated he should only vote in a tie. Vote stood as cast.
With approval, the request now moves to county board for a vote on Sept. 16. Only the full Boone County Board has the authority to either approve or deny the request of fees.
Cathy Ward who was the only “No” vote had the following comment, “Once again the Boone County Health Department wants to snatch a part of the proceeds from volunteer groups working hard to help our county and community by seeking a fee for each food permit issued for not-for-profit groups. I opposed this a couple years ago when they proposed this and still do.”
When asked how much the fee would be, Boone County official Bill Hatfield replied,
“What is the speed limit in Illinois?’The Health Department receives money every time we pay property taxes. They also receive grants to run their departments.
Hatfield says the health department is a not-for-profit group, too.
Part of the problem here is the public relations disaster this department has created through the years, and now if this passes, it will be harder still to convince the good people (regarding the health department) of our county that ‘We’re from the government. We’re here to help’,” said Cathy Ward Boone County Board Member District 3.
At the same time fees are being requested from the BCHD, Illinois State Legislators introduced and approved legislation effective Jan. 1, 2016 to amend the Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act 410 ILCS 625/ and offer exemption from the law for non-profits in regards to fundraisers. While conducting research on Sept. 3, the following website forrager.com/law/illinois/ provided information:
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=099-0191.
At three separate meetings that included BCHD staff Aug. 31, Sept. 2 and Sept. 3 no information/comments were provided in regards to the new law effective Jan. 2016.
The next Boone County Board meeting will be held Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at 1204 Logan Ave. in Belvidere in the Administrative Building.
Committee votes in favor 3-1 for food permit fees for non-profits
Al Qaeda Mag Urges Attack on Koch Brothers, Buffett, Bloomberg - NBC News
Al Qaeda Mag Urges Attack on Koch Brothers, Buffett, Bloomberg
by Robert Windrem and Tracy Connor
A notorious al Qaeda magazine is encouraging lone-wolf terrorist attacks on U.S. economic leaders, including Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Warren Buffett.
The list in Inspire magazine also included industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch, internet entrepreneur Larry Ellison, and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. A prominent economist was also on the list but asked that his name be withheld. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was named, though not Janet Yellen, who succeeded him.
Also pictured was Jim Walton, one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, although he was misidentified in the caption as his late father, Sam Walton. Several other names on the list were misspelled.
Warren Buffett RICK WILKING / Reuters
The slickly produced magazine article begins with a photo illustration showing blood-spattered pictures of several of the leaders next to a dripping gun. Its stated goal is to derail the "revival of the America Economy."
The article says the "economic personalities" and "wealthy entrepreneurs" can get off the list by withdrawing their money from U.S. banks, investing their wealth outside American soil, and denouncing support for Israel.
Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Intelligence, an NBC News counterterrorism analyst, said that while much of the magazine's content is "somewhat aspirational," it has also played a role in actual plots.
"There is compelling evidence from the Boston Marathon bombings and other various thwarted terror plots that homegrown jihadists have specifically looked to the magazine for guidance on what targets to attack — and have taken that advice quite literally," he said.
Inspire magazine is published online by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was once edited by American-raised jihadi Samir Khan, who was killed in 2011 drone attack along with cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
It's best known for an article titled, "How To Make A Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," which provided a recipe for explosives.
Bill Gates Nati Harnik / AP
This is at least the second time U.S. financial leaders have been named as targets by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Inspire 13, issued in late December 2014, also included Bernanke and Gates as potential targets.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News that the article is an example of al Qaeda's newfound focus on lone-wolf attacks, taking a page from from ISIS' strategy book.
Al Qaeda Mag Urges Attack on Koch Brothers, Buffett, Bloomberg - NBC News
A Nation of Sociopaths? What the Trump Phenomenon Says About America
The Republican Party has a Donald Trump problem—and that has some Democrats thanking Lady Luck for apparently blowing on their dice. The casino mogul, after all, has thrown the GOP into a disarray even greater than that wrought by the Koch brothers and the Tea Party, dashing the hopes of Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, to launch a nominee who could reach out to racial and ethnic minorities, or one who at least would not say terrible things about women.
With his continued antagonism of Spanish-speakers, his incendiary denouncement of the Black Lives Matter movement, and his base comments about actor Rosie O’Donnell and Fox News host Megyn Kelly, as Trump continues to surge in polls of Republican primary voters, he threatens to lay Priebus’s plans to waste.
This is no way to win a general election, the thinking goes. And so in some corners of Democratland, there is happy dancing in the streets.
Trump offers other benefits, as well, to liberals and progressives in the form of the monkey wrench he could throw into the works of Charles and David Koch, who have been positioning their organizational network as the party within the party, replete with resources for candidates who would run on their platform of smashing unions and coddling private capital. Among these resources is a voter data system said to be superior to that of the RNC.
Part of the Koch network of political and policy organizations and entities, the i360 data system is made available to Republican candidates; they in turn use the data collected to construct their campaigns. But then the data stays within the Koch network, allowing the billionaire brothers and their confrères to act as kingmakers within the party at a level beyond the ad-buy and ground-soldier support bestowed by the network’s other entities, such as Americans for Prosperity.
The Trump campaign, through the candidate’s support for socialized medicine and raising taxes on the wealthy, as well as his opposition to comprehensive immigration reform, constitutes a major nose-thumbing at the Kochs. By staying in the race, he denies them the level of control over the 2016 presidential campaign that they surely expected to have.
Beyond the question, though, of whether Trump is good for Democrats lies the question of whether his candidacy is good for America. Some have implied that the response to Trump on the stump—the smoking out of nativists, racists, and misogynists, bringing them to the surface—is indeed a good thing, because it reveals, in no uncertain terms, to whom the Republican Party most appeals. Heck, even avowed white supremacists—not a constituency prone to endorsing candidates of either major party—are professing their love for The Donald.
If I had faith that America would look at those smoked-out varmints in horror, and resolve as a nation to ostracize all who professed such views—and, better yet, enact policies to rectify the vestiges of past oppression and discrimination in our present society—I might be able to buy the “Trump is good for America” argument. But, alas, I am not familiar with an America whose people, as a whole, are willing to do that.
Instead, what Trump is doing, via the media circus of which he has appointed himself ringmaster, is making the articulation of the basest bigotry acceptable in mainstream outlets, amplifying the many oppressive tropes and stereotypes of race and gender that already exist in more than adequate abundance.
For all the ink I’ve just spilled on these two questions, neither is the most important one that should be asked about the Trump candidacy. That would be this one: What is wrong with America that this racist, misogynist, money-cheating clown should be the frontrunner for the presidential nomination of one of its two major parties?
Donald Trump is a rich man despite having driven several businesses into the ground, resurrecting himself through the bankruptcy process—meaning that he essentially cheated his creditors out of what they were owed. According to CNN, “no major U.S. company has filed for Chapter 11 more than Trump's casino empire in the last 30 years.”
In giving Trump, star of The Apprentice—a reality show in which he played an abusive boss whom the audience apparently loves for his frequent utterance of the words, “You’re fired!”—an even greater platform as a potential occupant of the White House, America enables a vicious swindler, holding him up as a figure to emulate.
He’s a boon to the ratings of news programs, both on the networks and on cable channels. It’s not just the wing-nuts who are watching. America just can’t get enough of this guy!
It’s time to put down the mesmerizing kaleidoscope of the Trump media spectacle, and examine the Trump phenomenon through a more penetrating lens. Revealed is America as a deeply troubled, even sociopathic, nation.
But, damn, it’s one heck of a show.
A Nation of Sociopaths? What the Trump Phenomenon Says About America
Chuck Sweeny: What's behind the Rockford airport MRO funding mess with the state of Illinois? - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL
By Chuck Sweeny
Staff writerPosted Sep. 9, 2015 at 7:41 PM
Updated at 8:04 PMThis is the first of two parts.Today and Saturday I'll address why the state of Illinois is balking at paying $15 million it promised in 2014 to Chicago Rockford International Airport for a massive, $40 million project expected to create 500 well-paying jobs, ramping up to 1,000 or more jobs in a few years.These skilled jobs will be in a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility to be run by AAR Corp. of Wood Dale. The facility, known as an MRO, will be large enough to work on some of the biggest jets flying.The state promised $16.3 million in 2014 and made an initial payment of $1.3 million. Everything seemed to be on track, at least to reimburse the airport for $10.3 million it spent on the project in the fiscal year that ended June 30.The old buildings on the site have been demolished, and the foundation for AAR's two 9 1/2-story hangars is nearly ready. The hangars have been ordered from Rubb Building Systems of Sanford, Maine. They are to be delivered in pieces and assembled on the construction site. Target opening date is mid-2016.Now it appears the state is trying to quash further reimbursement by saying the airport didn't send in some paperwork on time, an excuse I find eyebrow-raising at best. Money is tight because the governor and Democrats who control the Legislature can't agree on a new budget.On Aug. 5, I wrote a column addressed as an open letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner. I reminded the governor that the airport needed at least $8 million to $9 million to keep the project moving along. The city of Rockford, Winnebago County, Loves Park, the federal government and airport authority are also funding the building along with the state of Illinois. In conjunction with the AAR project, Rock Valley College has built and is operating an expanded aviation technology program at the airport that will provide graduates for AAR and other aerospace companies in our growing aerospace cluster.After the column appeared, I asked airport Director Mike Dunn if he'd heard from the state. He told me an official of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity had called to reassure him that DCEO remained fully supportive, and that the project had been sent over to the governor's legal department.When I called him again last Friday, Dunn said he had been told that the project was now in the governor's office.With the Labor Day weekend approaching, we had three days of editorial pages to fill, and decided to re-emphasize what I'd said in my column, but in an editorial opinion. I got to work repurposing the letter to the governor into an editorial that represents the Editorial Board's opinion. That editorial ran Tuesday.
Page 2 of 2 - The editorial made the same points as the column, but the state's response was different. Tuesday morning, Catherine Kelly, the governor's spokeswoman, called Wally Haas, the opinion editor, to tell him that the airport had been late with some needed paperwork. This would be out of character for the airport's staff, which I have found to have a reputation for punctuality and professionalism.Kelly told Haas that what she said was "on background," so we weren't going to use it. Later, we were surprised to see a local TV station reporting the exact same information, attributed to Kelly. An "on-background" agreement is nullified when other media report the information.I asked Dunn to respond. Dunn sent this: "The airport has been in communication with the governor’s office since January regarding the AAR project. This is the first time that any question regarding 'completed' paperwork has come up.""There have been state senators, representatives, mayors, county chairman, congressman, and United States senators as well as AAR executives and airport officials who have had multiple conversations with the state and all have been told that this failure is a result of the budget impasse between the governor and the legislature."I find it unfortunate that staff from the governor’s office and DCEO find it necessary to include us as part of their political war. These funds were committed long before this budget year, and the state needs to meet and fulfill that commitment," Dunn said.Saturday: The Springfield blame game is causing real damage to job creation in Rockford.Chuck Sweeny: 815-987-1366; csweeny@rrstar.com; @chucksweeny
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