text:
Bill Green - Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Pam Craig - Chief Financial Officer
Steve Rohleder - Chief Operating Officer
Richard Clark - Managing Director of Investor Relations
Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan
Jason Kupferberg - UBS
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs
Moshe Katri - Cowen & Company
Tim Fox - Deutsche Bank
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
David Grossman - Thomas Weisel
Accenture Ltd. (ACN) F1Q09 Earnings Call December 18, 2008 4:30 PM ET
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to Accenture's first quarter and full-year fiscal 2009 earnings conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session (Operator Instructions)
I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Managing Director of Investor Relations, Richard Clark; please go ahead.
Richard Clark
Thank you operator and thanks everyone for joining us today on our first quarter fiscal 2009 earnings announcement. As the operator just mentioned I'm Richard Clark, Managing Director of Investor Relations. With me this afternoon are Bill Green, our Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer; Pamela Craig, our Chief Financial Officer; and Steve Rohleder, our Chief Operating Officer.
We hope you've had an opportunity to review the news release we issued a short time ago. Let me quickly outline the agenda for today's call. Bill will begin with an overview of our results, Pam will take you through the financial details including the income statement and balance sheet, and Steve will add some operational perspective. Pam will then provide our business outlook for the second quarter and full fiscal year 2009 and Bill will close the presentation before we take your questions.
As a reminder, when we discuss revenues during today's call, we're talking about revenues before reimbursements or net revenues. Some of the matters we'll discuss in this call are forward-looking and you should keep in mind that these forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to general economic conditions and those factors set forth in today's news release and discussed under the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings.
During our call today we will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information for investors. You can find reconciliation of those measures to GAAP on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.accenture.com. As always, Accenture assumes no obligation to update the information presented on this conference call.
Now, let me turn the call over to Bill.
Bill Green
Thank you Richard and thanks everyone for joining us today. We had a strong first quarter and are off to a good start for our fiscal year 2009. In the face of a very uncertain market for everyone, we not only delivered strong revenue growth, but we brought it right to the bottom line.
We are seeing changing demand patterns, but overall the market for Accenture services is a very active and we are very positive about the business broadly. From the way we're managing and executing to the game changing opportunities that we are engaged in right now.
Here are some highlights from the quarter. We delivered strong revenues of $6 billion, an increase of 9% in local currency, which is a considerable accomplishment in this market. We grew EPS by 24%. We expanded operating margin by 70 basis points, reflecting our focus on operating discipline and strict cost management. We delivered bookings of $5.8 billion with consulting bookings, a strong $3.6 billion.
In addition throughout the quarter, we continue to invest in our business, skills, assets, and offerings and we continue to attract new clients and gain market share. We have shown the flexibility to respond quickly in this market. Our operating model makes us nimble, so we can focus our resources where they're needed and efficiently manage supply and demand.
We are working with clients across a wide spectrum of assignments; from improvements in quality, cost, suite, and customer service to in that strategic direction; from begin at the core of the transformation of our clients operating models to being at the core of the reinvention of entire industries. We are executing well, we are focused on results, and we're determined to win.
Now, I'll turn the call over to Pam, who will provide more detail on our financials.
Pamela Craig
Thank you, Bill. Happy Holiday's to you all and thanks for listening today. I'm pleased to tell you more about our excellent results in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Despite the challenging macro environment, we produced strong revenues, operating margin, cash flow, and earnings.
Let me take you through some detail behind the numbers in our income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow. Unless I state otherwise, all figures are US GAAP, except the items that are not part of the financial statements or that are calculations.
Net revenues for the first quarter were $6 billion, an increase of 6% in US dollars and 9% in local currency over the period last year. We had solid revenue generation for the quarter coming in at the low end of our previous guided full year range of 9% to 12%. I should note that Q1 net revenues reflected a foreign exchange impact of negative 3%.
Our previously guided range of $6.15 billion to $6.35 billion assumed an FX impact of negative 1% to positive 1%. If we adjust for the actual FX impact, our guided range for the quarter would have been $5.9 billion to $6.2 billion. Our revenues of $6.0 billion were solidly in this range. Consulting revenues were $3.7 billion, an increase of 6% in US dollars and 9% in local currency. Outsourcing revenues were $2.4 billion, an increase of 7% in US dollars and 9% in local currency.
Moving down the income statement, gross margin was 31.4% up from 30.1%, a 130 basis point improvement over last year's first quarter. SG&A cost for the first quarter were $1.1 billion or 17.8% of net revenues, compared with $970 million or 17.1% of net revenues for the first quarter last year. Operating income for the quarter increased 12% to $815 million, reflecting a 13.5% operating margin. That is a 70 basis point improvement over last year's first quarter.
I am very pleased with how we delivered operating margin this quarter compared to last year, so let me provide some detail. First, we droved a 130 basis point expansion in gross margin by improving contract's profitability and at the same time absorbing the annual salary increases we put in place September 1; this was an outstanding result.
Second, sales and marketing costs increased approximately 20 basis points compared to Q1 of last year. We were also pleased with this result as we continued to drive new bookings and qualify new opportunities coming into the pipeline.
Lastly, general and administrative expenses for the quarter were 8.4% of net revenues. Included in G&A costs for this quarter was a provision we made for bad debt of $72 million, a 120 basis point impact. We booked this provision because we felt it was prudent, given the uncertainty in the current environment. Without it, G&A expenses for the quarter would have been 7.2% of net revenues.
Absent to bad debt provision, SG&A would have improved by 50 basis points. G&A would have improved by 70 basis points and operating margins would have improved by 190 basis points over last year's first quarter. This is a clear indication that we are showing discipline in managing our costs in both local currency and US dollars to drive profitability in our business.
Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 26.6%, below our previously guided annual range of 30% to 32%. Final determinations reduced our tax rate in the quarter by approximately 4% and provided a benefit of $0.04 to earning per share. Income before minority interest for the quarter was $593 million, compared with $506 million for the first quarter last year, an increase of 17%. Diluted earning per share was $0.74, an increase of 24% over diluted EPS of $0.60 in the first quarter of last year.
We delivered an increase of $0.20 or 33% growth from strong operating performance, including $0.08 from revenue and operating income growth in local currency; $0.08 from a lower tax rate, including the $0.04 I just mentioned; and $0.04 from a lower share account. This was partially offset by a total of $0.06 comprising $0.04 due to lower non-operating items including lower interest income and $0.02 unfavorable FX impact in our Q1 operating results compared to last year. So, the earnings performance is quite outstanding, given that EPS rose $0.14 or 24% despite the headwinds in non-operating type items.
Now, let's turn to some key parts of our cash flow and balance sheet. Free cash flow for the quarter was very strong, $396 million, resulting from cash generated by operating activities of $468 million, net of property and equipment additions of $72 million. First quarter free cash flow was driven by our strong net income performance and holding the line on DSOs.
Turning to DSOs, our Days services outstanding were 36 days, down one day from the last quarter in fiscal 2008. The bad debt reserve I previously mentioned reduced DSOs by about a day. So, with flat DSOs in this environment, we continue to believe that are DSO levels are strong in the industry leading.
Our total cash balance in November 30 of $2.78 billion versus $3.60 billion at the end of August, reflects a $300 million reduction due to foreign exchange translation on the cash balances we hold around the world. In addition, our strong free cash flow I just mentioned was more than offset this quarter by the cash we returned to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. We continue to invest our cash conservatively in liquid overnight time deposits and US Treasury repurchase agreements.
Total debt at November 30 was $2 million, compared to $8 million at August 31. Our balance sheet metrics remain strong. For the first quarter, our return on invested capital was 84%, our return on equity was 85%, and our return on assets was 21%.
Before I turn things over to Steve, I will comment on our ongoing objective to return cash to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. During the quarter, we repurchased or redeemed $21.8 million shares for $690 million, including $431 million for approximately $14 million share repurchase in the open market.
The average price of shares repurchased and redeemed in the quarter was $31.62 a shares. We increased the level of open market repurchases as there with lower selling demand by our founders and we found the market prices to be attractive. At November 30, we had $1.9 billion of share repurchases authority remaining.
Also in November, we paid our fourth annual cash dividend to Accenture Limited Class A and Accenture SCA Class I common shareholders. The dividend payment of $0.50 per share was $0.08 more than the dividend we paid last year, representing an increase of 19% for a total of $378 million.
Finally, let me comment on the size of our public float. Using what we believe to be the most conservative method of calculation, our public float at the end of quarter was approximately 75%, which excludes all outstanding founder shares. In sum, it was a well-executed quarter, I'm very pleased with the hard work and focus that our people collectively demonstrated in driving such strong results.
Now, Steve will give you some more detail on our operations.
Steve Rohleder
Thanks Pam. Hi everyone and thanks for joining us today. We delivered strong first quarter results reflecting our continued ability to drive demand for our business, as well as strong operating discipline. Let me first take you through some of the highlights for the operating groups in geographic regions, then I'll cover some of the trends we're seeing in our growth platforms and update a few of our operational metrics.
All five operating groups achieved revenue growth in local currency. Resources had the highest overall growth, 16% in US dollar, and 20% in local currency, driven by strong consulting growth across all geographic regions in natural resources, utilities, and energy. We also saw solid outsourcing growth in the Americas in utilities, chemicals, and natural resources.
Our public service operating group grew revenues by 7% in US dollar and 11% in local currency. Last quarter I mentioned that we were focusing on improving profitability in Public Service and I'm pleased to report that we saw sequential up-tick in Q1 with growth in both operating income and improved operating margin. I know there is a continued interest in our financial services business and in Q1 financial services revenues were flat in US dollars, but increased 2% in local currency.
We delivered solid growth in both Insurance and Banking in the Americas and Asia Pacific. While we did experienced slower overall growth in past quarters, we're fortunate that many of our key clients are playing a major role and reshaping the industry. This in turn is driving continued demand for our services around mergers and acquisitions, cost reduction and finance transformation.
Looking at the quarter from a geographic perspective, Q1 revenues in the Americas grew 11% in US dollars and 12% in local currency, with strong growth in the U.S. and Brazil. In EMEA, revenues were flat in US dollars, but grew 4% in local currency. We had strong growth in the Netherlands with growth moderating in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Growth in EMEA was negatively affected by decline in the U.K. We have a number of initiatives in place to improve our U.K. performance, but expect it will take the remainder of the fiscal year to see the full effect of these initiatives. Once again, Asia Pacific turned in outstanding results, with revenue growth of 22% in US dollars and 25% in local currency, led by Japan, Singapore, and China.
Turning to our growth platforms, we're seeing demand in a number of areas, but I'd like to highlight three that are particularly relevant in today's business environment: operational excellence, rapid and sustained cost management, and M&A execution. Let me tell you how these three trends are driving demand in our growth platforms.
In management consulting, we're helping clients develop and execute their strategies in order to drive new sources of growth, optimize processes and balance costs. The broad operational excellence trend is driving demand for finance and performance management and supply chain optimization, as well as for a new process and innovation performance service line.
Clients are turning to outsourcing to meet the demand for rapid cost savings. I'm excited by the increased interest in BPO with an emphasis on back office cost improvement opportunities. In addition, demand for application outsourcing remained strong. In systems integration and technology, we're seeing increased demand around services to improve IT effectiveness, as well as momentum in post merger integration across all operating groups and geographies.
Finally, let me touch on a few operational metrics. We continue to expand the capabilities of our global delivery network, ending the quarter with 83,000 people, up 10% from the first quarter in 2008.
Bookings for the quarter were $5.8 billion and our investment in industry skills, assets, and differentiation continues to payoff as we achieved consulting bookings of $3.6 billion. This made Q1 our eight straight quarters of consulting bookings in excess of $3 billion. Outsourcing bookings were $2.2 billion, as you know our bookings vary from quarter-to-quarter and I'm exited by the increased interest and activity levels in outsourcing, as clients focus on immediate cost and service improvement opportunities.
Now, let me turn to people management. We ended the quarter with more than 187,000 employees, an increase of 7% over Q1 last year. Utilization for the quarter was 83% and attrition was down significantly to 13%.
Finally, I'd like to comment on three of our most important operational priorities. In this uncertain environment, managing supply and demand of our resources remains a top priority and we'll continue to take steps to ensure that we have the proper balance of skills in each market.
Second, we continue our focus on improving SG&A. Prior to Q1 we took a number of steps to ensure that our G&A cost did not out pace our revenue growth. I was extremely pleased that absent the provision for bad debt we saw a 50 basis point improvement in SG&A for the quarter.
Third, we're on a multi-year journey to improve our cost structure, including both labor and non-labor costs. We're optimizing our mix of resources including subcontractors and continuing to consolidate major purchases through our procurement function. These actions will drive profitability regardless of the business environment.
So, just to summarize we are off to a great start in fiscal '09. We delivered strong revenue growth and outstanding bottom line results this quarter in a challenging economic environment. We have our hands on all of the operating levers of our business giving us the flexibility to adjust quickly to changing conditions and we continue to drive demand and see plenty of opportunity in the market.
With that let me turn it back to Pam, for our business outlook.
Pamela Craig
Thank you, Steve. As a reminder, each quarter we provide an outlook for the next quarters revenues and an update on our annual outlook for the full fiscal year and we will continue to do so. For the second quarter, we expect revenues to be in the range of $5.45 to $5.65 billion, which assumes a foreign exchange drag of approximately 8% to 10%.
As you all are well aware, currency movements recently have been quite volatile. This range reflects December's assumed rate of approximately negative 11% and our latest assumption for currency movement given that the US dollar is currently weakening.
Now, turning to the full fiscal year, let me first give you the context of how we are thinking about the impact of FX on our full fiscal year results. When I spoke last quarter, about the impact foreign exchange would have on our fiscal 2009 outlook, we assumed a negative 2% to negative 4% headwind based on exchange rates experienced during the month of September.
At this time, we have reset our annual outlook given the actual Q1 results and our new assumption based on exchange rates experienced during the month of December so far. So, we therefore now assume the FX impact for the remaining three quarters of fiscal year '09 to be in the range of negative 8% to negative 10%, which as I just mentioned is also the range we are assuming for the second quarter. This current foreign exchange assumption has been factored into our outlook for bookings, earnings per share and cash flow.
For some time now, we've communicated that our business can grow at 9% to 12% in local currency. We stated this last quarter and our management team continues to believe this and remains committed to driving the business to this goal. We continue to see strong demand for our services and feel good about the future business we see; however, given the uncertainty, our assessment of what is going on and the 9% local currency growth in the first quarter, we feel it is prudent to modestly adjust our fiscal year 2009 revenue outlook to 6% to 10% in local currency.
Let me next cover operating margin. We now expect a further expansion of operating margin this fiscal year to a range of 13.4% to 13.7%, a 50 to 80 basis point expansion over the last year. We have done based on the strength of our Q1 results and our expectation that we will continue to effectively manage costs and contract profitability. You should expect some fluctuations quarter-to-quarter as we have seen in the past.
So, taking into account the different foreign exchange assumptions and the expected revenue growth for the fiscal year, we now expect new bookings to be in the range of $24 billion to $27 billion; we now expect earnings per share to be in a range of $2.78 to $2.85 and we now expect operating cash flow to be in the range of $2.8 billion to $3.0 billion; property and equipment additions to be $370 million and free cash flow to be in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion. Finally, we now expect our annual effective tax rate to be in a range of 29% to 31%, a decrease of one percentage point from our previously communicated range.
Our first quarter results reflect those of a well-managed business in a highly dynamic environment. Our clients are facing challenges they have never seen before and I believe we are well positioned to help them successfully take on some of those challenges. We continue to focus on profitable growth and positioning for the future across our portfolio of businesses.
So here is Bill to close, before we take your questions.
Bill Green
Thank you Pam and let me recap quickly before we go to your questions. First of all, we're very pleased with our strong performance in the first quarter. We are closely managing the business as we said we would and we are executing well against our plans.
Despite economic in FX headwinds, our consistent operating discipline, and our ability to adjust quickly to the market conditions enabled us to significantly improve operating margin and deliver a 24% increase in EPS. We generated strong cash flow and our balance sheet remains rock solid.
We continue to win new clients and to expand our relationship with existing clients. While we are closely monitoring the current environment, we continue to invest in the business and takes steps to put more distance between ourselves and our competitors.
Our first quarter results clearly demonstrate both, our relative resistances to the economic turmoil and our tremendous operational discipline, which is not only helping us to navigate the downturn, but will also make as even stronger when market conditions improve.
Now, let's go ahead and open it up to your questions.
Question-and-Answer Session
(Operator Instruction) Your first question comes from Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan.
Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan
I guess I'll ask about the new outlook on local currency growth. Can you be a little bit more specific on what drove the decision to moderate that outlook and what might push you to the low end of the new outlook, because the results and the booking don't seem to suggest you're heading down the path to 6%, but I just want to make sure?
Bill Green
Yes, let me start. This is Bill and then I'll have Pam to draft in. We've done a lot of sort of analysis and analytics behind all of this. I think as Pam said in her comments, the 9% in the first quarter was something that just made us want to be thoughtful and cautious. That said, if you stand back and look at it, we are driving our business and our operating groups are driving that business to our original range that we said.
We continue to see a lot of activity in the marketplace although different activity and we've been in a very interesting quarter for us because we call it internally sort of the deer in the headlights quarter, where as the economy started to impact more and more companies, people took a pause and now we're seeing that sort of break free, but we just thought in terms of being prudent and thoughtful that we'll make that adjustment, but we continue to drive our business to actually our original range.
Pamela Craig
Yes, I'll just add a little bit there just, I know you asked about the 6%. As you saw the first quarter came in at 9%. I would say that from what I thought it would be, that was just a little bit short, less than 1% short of what I was expecting and so given that 9%, given the continued uncertainty about the environment, the 6% really reflects that, right; that there's just a little bit more than uncertainty in the medium term even though our visibility now, just like it was in the last quarter is very comparable to what it was last year in terms of before we'd look on our business.
Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan
Okay, good. That seems prudent. Just a couple of quick housekeeping, your new bookings forecast, how much of that was influence by foreign currencies or anything unusual that you might want to expect in the February quarter booking given the recent volatility?
Pamela Craig
The foreign currency drag in the bookings in the first quarter was about 4% versus last year. Is that's your question?
Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan
Right and then also prospectively for this new outlook, I'm assuming that's also reflecting a similar currency impact as you called out on the revenue line?
Pamela Craig
Yes, our bookings in terms of local currency in the 24 to 27 and if you do the 8% to 10% on that and factor in the first quarter, it's roughly flat to 11%.
Tien-Tsin Huang - J.P. Morgan
Last one from me, just again just anything unusual we should consider in the February quarter bookings based on what you've seeing so far? Thank you.
Pamela Craig
No, I mean we've seen good activity in December, but we don't really comment about the next quarter until we get to February.
Your next question comes from Jason Kupferberg - UBS.
Jason Kupferberg - UBS
I wanted to ask a question kind of following up on Tien-Tsin question. You guys tend to do a lot of rigorous bottom up and shaping your outlook by vertical, by geography etc and so the softening of the constant currency outlook, can you attributed to anyone geography of vertical or service line more than other and any color there?
Steve Rohleder
No, Jason this is Steve. No, I wouldn't say we'd attribute to any single vertical or line of business that we have as Pam said. Once we looked at the entire portfolio of businesses we felt like it was prudent to adjust. With that said to what we're seeing, the one area that I'm excited about and you didn't ask about bookings and outsourcing, but I'll tell you anyway. I see a lot of activity in outsourcing and I think we're going to continue to push there, but to answer you question directly, it's not one single area.
Let me just draft in on that, because we spent a lot of time on this and frankly, when you stand back and look at it, for instance one of the things I am most excited about right now is our financial services business. Now if you stand back and look at it, you say that was relatively flat, but the nature of the work we're doing is that the heart and soul of the winning companies and this entire industry is in the middle of the transformation or I guess at the beginning of the transformation.
So, the thing that gets us excited is, there's lots of activity out there, but we're going through a transition from the things that we used to do to the things that companies need to done down and so, we see all these activity and as Pam said, our visibility is the same. Its just the marketplace that you're looking at, continues to jump around a lot, but on balance we feel very good about the business in terms of what we did this quarter and in terms of looking ahead and as I said at the beginning, we continue to drive to our original range in terms of the plans that we put there and the goals we set for our team.
Jason Kupferberg – UBS
Okay and maybe just to follow-up for the team. Really I think you made a comment about, you had that deer-and-headlights feeling among a lot of your clients during Q1 and there was a pause in decision-making and then I think you said something to the effect of, kind of breaking free out of that, can you put some more color around that? Is that more since the month in December began or some of that year end driven clients thinking about doping stuff before '09 kicks off or anything that is incremental and made you feel more comfortable since the analysts meeting perhaps?
Steve Rohleder
No, its not '09 and its very specific to an individual company, because if you track this thing for six months, there was a time when the other guys had the disease and your didn't and then all of a sudden this thing crept into retail and in certain consumer products and other spaces people said, "Wow! This downturn is a lot more serious than we thought it was going to be."
So, then people sit there and they asked us, "How is this going to affect us? Are we doing the right things and should we change course?" and so what that causes is people to rethink the mix of work, they rethink delaying some things, but they also rethink accelerating some things that they'd had on the slow boil if you will, that they need to focus on.
I think Steve mentioned the outsourcing velocity and the activity out there is just one example of this period of time where everyone probably just sat back and said "How is the thing going to effect to me? And what is the things that I need to be do in for my company in order to do the right thing as leadership" and so that's been the thing and I would tell you its sort of a company by company process that everyone has been going through.
Jason Kupferberg – UBS
And just a last question on the margins; it's obviously encouraging to see the outlook there increasing. Can you talk a little more specifically about some of the levers you're pulling at the gross margin and the SG&A line, the visibility on those levers and the stronger dollar on helping out the margins a little bit.
Bill Green
Yes Jason, let me talk about SG&A and just give you some sense there. Back in August, we actually started putting some of these initiatives in place to clamp down on spending, specifically to impact our G&A results and so we've got those in place through Q1, we're going to continue those things, lets one laver. We're continuing to push utilization, that's another lever and frankly in this quarter, we saw a positive impact in terms of our contract profitability and execution on our contracts. So we're going to again focus on continuing that trend; those of three big levers right there.
Pamela Craig
Just to build a little bit more on the contract side which is where we saw the strong left in gross margins, is that we did a very strong job of absorbing salary increases this year and also we have a program to improve our outsourcing profitability and that is really kicking in. So I just wanted to note those things as well.
Your next question comes from George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
I want to follow up on a couple of things and first, Pam just on the operating margin side, you just mentioned gross margin benefit from a particular contract; with that, was there anything one time in that or is that something sustainable I guess that we seeing going forward.
Pamela Craig
No I mean, when I said contract, I meant contract margins across the tens of thousands that we have right. I mean it's really an across the board thing and the outsourcing contract profitability is really across the whole portfolio which is quite large. So, there really isn't anything there expect that I mean I think you maybe heard me in the past say "I'll never give-up on margins" and I think we have a culture here to really drive that overtime, so there's nothing unique or to be called out in these results.
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay and just since you touched on the margin philosophy, we're not going to manage margins too much to offset the currency right, because you don't want to manage the business to currency, right; but we are seeing margins move up. Does that put anything at risk in terms of investment or shifting around your services in the shifting environment, now that we are pushing margin higher?
Pamela Craig
Well, I think there's a nature belt tightening that occurs in this environment. I'm sure you see it in your own company, right. I mean that's just natural and we're obviously being very careful that we still make the kinds of investments that we need to make to decision the business for the future and so that balance is very important, but the programs to improve for example, the outsourcing margins, that's been in place for sometime and its really starting kick in and yield.
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay and one more thing on the cash balance. Can you give us a census of maybe how your cash is disbursed give the $300 million FX impact, so we can maybe have a sense of what to expect going forward on how the cash balance is going to move around?
Pamela Craig
Yes, I mean as you might imagine right, we have a business that's roughly a third in the U.S.; you have quite a large euro business, right; probably almost as big as the U.S., the British pound. Our yen business is not huge, but I mean we have operations all over the world and we have cash where we need it.
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
I mean is it roughly comparable with revenue?
Pamela Craig
Where we held the cash?
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
Pamela Craig
I mean certainly for the big ones, yes. I mean some of the places where we squeeze.
George Price - Stifel Nicolaus
Okay, last question; Steve you mentioned the U.K., you have a plan in place. Obviously the U.K. has been in a lot of macro turmoil, probably worse than most places even here, but you mentioned that it'll take the rest of fiscal '09 to implement. How much worst does the U.K. get from here? What's your sense of how you move through fiscal '09 and how you perform in the U.K. and what is your plan, I guess a little bit more detailed?
Steve Rohleder
Yes, I mean the plan is really a two-prong approach. First of all, to make sure that we can at least tactically and we have balanced supply demand in the current situation. In parallel to that, what we're doing is we've got focused programs in place across all five of our operating units to drive demand generation.
As Bill kind of mentioned, we have to shift our focus from what has been in demand in the past to what is relevant to the current environment and we're in the process right now of going after targeted clients, expanding our relationship at our existing clients, and basically generating demand. That's just going to take some time.
Bill Green
Yes, this is Bill. I would just add, I mean first of all, we don't expect the U.K. to get verse right. It's a big piece of our business. There's thousands of people there, lots of client relationships and so there's a lot of moving parts and I think broadly just to the other questions, we said last quarter and we said a year ago this time that we had our hands on the lavers and we are going to work hard to make sure that we defended our economic results and I think you see the effect of that right now.
So we've been on top of the U.K. for sometime and that's going to yield in an important way and I think the other things you see in terms of our results are just a matter of taking advantage of some of those levers to make sure we delivered respectable results and that's what I think we've done here.
Your next question comes from Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein.
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
So you're lowering the local currency revenue rough guidance by two to three points; it's probably widely expected on that front. I've been trying to breakdown the changes in the growth outlooks into adjustments for issues that are currently already know and also adjustments for unknowable issues that might very well occur going forward and since you've got three quarters left in the year, it's probably worth accounting for the unkowables here.
So I'm wondering if you can break your two to three points of change to guidance into factors that are know versus may be a bucket of factors that are unknowables, where your may be adding a little bit of buffer for the unknowable. Can you break into those two categories for us?
Bill Green
We're sort of pointing at each other, because we've been having some fun with this in the last couple of days and I have people that bet their badges on different amounts of things. I mean I think if you stand back and look at it, to be in the lower end or worse, we were trying to say like what would have to happened and we were using words like natural disaster and so just to be perfectly honest about it right, I mean there's a lot of our business that we can see and that we're operating and then we have a lot of confidence in our ability to use the levers.
It's just that, every week and I think everyone knows this, there's a new surprise and given an environment where every week there is a new surprise, we just thought we ought to have a little room down that end because it just continues to get more baffling as you go and so we kind of have, drive in the business and then we have this thing that's just plain uncertainties that I couldn't list and those are the things that would steer us to the low end of the range.
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Alright. So, that's the intro I was looking for. So what that says is that there is buffer for events like natural disasters and things that are completely unknowable.
Pamela Craig
There's some in there yes.
Bill Green
Yes, exactly right.
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Okay and so there's probably maybe half of it down where guidance is related to the unknowable factors.
Bill Green
I don't do that
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Okay, alright. I'll take what I've got so far, which is helpful. The natural disaster comment defiantly helps. Another specific question in order to help us stage demand; consulting bookings once again a pretty respectable number for the environment, can you comment on what's happened to contract duration in the consulting bookings that you just put up for us. Has duration changed one way or the other in any meaningful way.
Steve Rohleder
No Rod, this is Steve. No, it hasn't, just to answer your question directly. I mean we have seen a bit of a shift to shorter durations on the outsourcing side, but nothing in consulting that's note worthy.
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Okay, great and then I guess the question that is pretty important would help understand how you're putting these bookings up. There's clearly been a lot of decision delays out there and it seems from your results that maybe your competitors are dealing with that more than you are.
Can you talk to how are you able to navigate this environment where a lot of clients are even looking at deal that have a high ROI on them; are still unable to make the decision to move forward. You seem to have weathered that fairly well and are seemingly expecting to continue to whether that well. So how are you weathering that so well; if you can give color to help people understand that, that would be helpful?
Bill Green
Yes, let me start. This is Bill and then Steve can draft in with some things I miss, because we look hard at this all the time. I mean the first thing is I mean I've been to a lot of clients over the last few weeks and if you've got something that will deliver benefits in '09, its game on; you're going to get a chance to do it.
If you look at these comments about operational cost improvements and some of the outsourcing propositions and other things that have '09 benefit, I mean you get a chance to do that. So we look very specifically. We have an agenda that we call See Suite Themes which are what are the things that people that have to see in their titles are thinking about in terms of doing the right things for their business and we fundamentally shifted the offerings and the conversations and the things we are doing to bring to the table, I think that is one.
The second thing is, the whole notion of what is the proposition about and value is an interesting thing. A modest ROI isn't going to put you over the goal line in this environment. It has to be a powerful and impactful and a sustainable one, and we've had clients with many hundred million dollars job that have had leadership changes because of operating challenges and they've stayed the course and moved ahead with propositions we've had on the table for three of four months, because they generated real value for the long-term.
As the client stands back and looks at its two and three year economic profile, they recognize that it takes a lot of work to get the benefits in place and if you can and you can sustain them, it makes the math work.
So the fact that we can operate higher up the food chain, in terms of See Sweet Themes; in terms of things that focus on near-term results, has served us very well and we have had a wholesale transformation of our go-to-market agenda, because at the end of the day, we're solvent to be relevant and relevant today isn't some large global thing with a four or five year payback. It's an impactful thing that delivers a result that they can point at in '09 and that's how we've mobilized the team.
Bill Green
Rod, just to give you some context to add to what Bill said, over 70% of our bookings this quarter came from our foundation in diamond clients. Those relationships that Bill alluded to; almost 50% of our bookings were soul sourced. So you have evidence that basically the relationships and the value propositions that we're putting on the table are sustaining the growth. I mean the clients are telling us they need industrial strength, they need our breath and they need someone that they can count on and we've got the relationships to bring those value propositions forward and the numbers show it.
Pamela Craig
Rod, I would just add one thing as it relates to outsourcing. As you know, the quarter was a little funny in terms of how late Thanksgiving fell and so we did have a few outsourcing deals that pushed into this quarter and all of the major ones have already signed. So I think we say outsourcing is lumpy, but that was something I was focused on just as an indication.
Rod Bourgeois - Bernstein
Great and one final question on the pricing front and there's a lot of different ways to define pricing, but let me just ask. Is pricing a factor that you think will help, hurt, or keep your margins kind of neutral to fiscal '09?
Bill Green
I would say that it will be neutral, at least from where I sit today and I'll snap the line today, it will be neutral. As Pam pointed out in her comments, we were able to recoup the salary increases and we'll continue to drive savings from a labor standpoint throughout the year. That gives us pricing power.
Do we have pricing pressure? Absolutely. Are clients interested in price adjustments? Absolutely; but we're also coming with different value propositions that allow us to expand our food print and deliver more value to those same clients Rod. So, I would at least today just characterize it as neutral.
Your next question comes from Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs.
Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs
Can you go back to the 2001, 2002 timeframe when we did see growths all the way down to zero and compare that to the environment going into this recession this time around. Obviously it feels a little more protracted and could be worse etc, but how is the business different today? I guess Bill or Steve, if you guys could kind of just start on what is different about the business that we understand, the stability of the growth targets that you guys were talking about now?
Bill Green
Let me start. I think we've been trying to articulate the last year to how different the business is from five, six years ago when we went trough that and the things we grow through, we continue to believe deeply.
One is the richness of the long-term relationships is, the fact that we serve the clients in consulting, in technology building and in outsourcing; the fact that we've sort of worked higher up the food chain, the global coverage, the nature of the work we do in terms of the value propositions and how we've woven ourselves into the fabric of the company's.
If you stand back and just look at outsourcing the deep industry skills and all those things, we're just in a dramatically better position, in different position than we were then. Now we set out to get in that position and I think the statistics that Steve described about additional work sold to current clients and sole source work speaks to that.
I mean we had a more fragile business back then than we do now. It's a lot more durable and industrial and I think that's what serves well.
Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs
And then from the cost side, may be if Pam you could talk a little about this. You've kind of given some of the targets as far as the margins are concerned, but with utilization and headcounts plans, things along those lines, can you just kin of walk us through what you're looking at from the cost side as you think about the new margin targets into fiscal year 2009, the expansion that you're talking about. So if pricing is essentially net neutral to down, where are the other levers for the margin expansion going to come from?
Pamela Craig
Well I mean the supply and demand which is Steve's department is very much at the heart of making sure we deliver there and we are all over it. We saw the utilization and we said that low to mid 80's is where we like it to be. So, we're doing that and as you know there is many levers to go into managing that very well.
I think on the other things, we're just driving contract profitability and the thousands of people that run our contracts around the world, they have the levers available to them in terms of the mix of resources, types, levels, sourcing all that jazz that goes into that, that's very important and they're all focused on driving that and then of course there's the non-labor things, what we do with travel and what we do with all of the discretionary non-labor things, those cost, and how we manage them; it just all goes into the mix.
Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs
Finally, just two quick things, so what are the headcount plans then for the rest of fiscal '09. It looks like quarter-to-quarter it was relatively flat, but you guys had a huge fourth quarter last fiscal year. What are you guys thinking about for headcount plans going forward?
Bill Green
Yes, I mean I think there's a lot of factors that go into answering that question and they change on any given day. You saw our attrition was down significantly right, from 17% down to 13%, so that obviously impacts how many people we have to bring in. That said, usually to fall is when we assimilate most of the people that we've made offers to and hired, we've been able to do that. We're going to continue to drive utilization as Pam said and frankly get these people busy.
One other thing that I would point to, that is impacting headcount is our industrialization agenda for both SI&T and outsourcing and the reason that's important is because that drives lower labor cost and non-labor cost on our contracts. It obviously impacts our GDN, it will help our GDN to grow, but you have puts and calls all over the world in different market. So, to try it through our one projection today would be wrong tomorrow, given the moment in attrition and what we're seeing in terms of our industrialization agenda.
Julio Quinteros - Goldman Sachs
One last thing just on the offshore front as the last couple of quarters, the last couple of years has gotten a lot of attention, how relevant is offshore into this or just pure labor arbitress; how relevant is it into this downturn at this point? Because a lot of the things that you guys talked about on the earlier side didn't really have a labor arbitral component and it sounded like it was a very different conversation in terms of what clients are expecting? So, how are you thinking about that part of it, especially as it relates to your GDN towards?
Bill Green
No, it's very relevant, because clients that were not interested in outsourcing now are all of a sudden interested in having that conversion. They want to have it, they want to have it fast and they want to implement results that are going to impact this fiscal year, this quarter. So, obviously one of the tools that we have in the toolbox is to bring the GDN and our offshore capabilities to the table and make that part of the equation. So it's extremely relevant.
Your next question comes from Moshe Katri - Cowen & Company.
Moshe Katri - Cowen & Company
In your guidance for constant currency growth Pam, can you kind of help us understand what sort of embedded growth assumptions do you have for outsourcing versus consulting and then also I think Bill was indicating that the bid and proposal pipeline in outsourcing; I think Steve actually indicated that was pretty active; can we get some more details on that? Thanks.
Pamela Craig
Moshe, just in terms of your first question, I mean we've told you that we expect our revenues to be roughly comparable in terms of what they've been in the recent past consulting to outsourcing. So, that's probably your best guideline for that answer.
Steve Rohleder
On the second part of your question Moshe, the conversations on this dramatic cost reduction are happening across every one of our operating groups. The conversations around back office consolidation and that impacts finance and accounting procurement HR, even industry specific BPO. So, we're having these conversions again with clients who are interested in having dramatic cost savings impact on their operations as quickly as they can and it really expands all of the service lines that we have an outsourcing.
Bill Green
I would just add Moshe if I could. As I mentioned it's been an interesting time this last quarter, but if we stand back from it, there's a lot of folks here and I think if you talk to the outsourcing advising crowd, you'll find that there's been a period of indecision and now it's starting to break lose.
People are going to look for a constant stable of providers. They're going to look for people that they have confidence and they're not going to experiment with it and we think the activity in the outsourcing spaces is just going to pick up in a dramatic, dramatic way and what will be important to us is to make sure that you understand the opportunities that are good economic profitable opportunities for Accenture.
I think there'll be plenty to do. I think the challenge is going to be making sure you pick the business that deliveries profit and builds strength in long-term relationships and that's where we're very focused on.
Moshe Katri - Cowen & Company
So, based on the pipeline that you're seeing on the outsourcing side, obviously going back to the '02,'03 timeframe where consulting was down, I don't know 5%, 6% a year and then we've seen a huge pickup in outsourcing; I think it was up about 40% a year. Obviously, 40% is a pretty big number, but based on what your seeing in your pipeline, should we see a dramatic pickup in outsourcing for the next year or two given the environment and given the relevance of your services?
Bill Green
I think what we're going to see is what is a huge unqualified pipeline move to a very qualified pipeline of solid deals that we believe people are going to do. I think the thing that's different about that time is if you remember that time, there were like three or four marquee deals that the whole world stood around and looked at to see if they were going to be yes or no and it was very binary.
If you look at the pipeline now, it has some very deals in it, but it has a lot of small and mid-size deal. So, the sort of durability of it is a lot better and frankly, these aren't the things where you betting the whole thing on closing one deal. I mean there's just a ton of things that can break your way every month and so we feel dramatically better about the outsourcing pipeline and the activity that we see today than we did back then where there were three to four big things and then a few cats and dogs and you had to sort to play to win the big ones. I mean right now, there's just a lot more, better business out there for Accenture in my opinion.
Your next question comes from Tim Fox - Deutsche Bank.
Tim Fox - Deutsche Bank
The first question is related to Moshe's last question around outsourcing and we've been hearing there's been some fairly competitive pricing going on; at some points getting pretty egregious. I'm just wondering what's your stance right now on the competitive environment around outsourcing in particular and do you think there's enough business out there of high enough quality and margin. We are not going to see a need to sort of go down market on pricing to sustain that growth.
Steve Rohleder
Yes, I guess I'd have two things: one is and we talked about this today. We haven't seen or at least we haven't been participating in deals that have had irrational bids and so that's the first thing that we always look at, right. We just get out there and people are giving the stuff away, because anybody can give the work away.
We haven't seen a lot of that. I mean that we've seen very thoughtful things, but we do believe that there's going to be a lot high quality work that's coming our way and Accenture kind of outsourcing business if will right and I think we're blessed by having two things: one is, that we've shed a lot of the gum on your shoe, right. I mean our portfolio of business and the profitability of our outsourcing portfolio improves almost by the core right. So there's some companies out there that have some real issues that you sort of drag around on your back, we don't have those right now; so I think that's the first thing.
The second thing is we've spent more time focused on operational excellence and the ability to make money at this stuff, than we have piling on new sales for the last 24 months and so now as the sales are coming in there, we have the ability to have the predictable quality out that makes money and the whole industrialization agenda, the things that Carl Heinz and Kevin has talked about is just essential and I think it's payback time in terms of good economic returns for that business for our company.
Tim Fox - Deutsche Bank
And if I may just question about two verticals, the products groups, an amalgamation of many different verticals was quite strong in fiscal '08. I believe the 17% local currency growth, it was 9% this past quarter. If you peal back the cover a little bit on products, is there anything in there that gives you some concern around growth? Any particular verticals that you may see soft than more than others and do they have any impact on your thinking about the lower guidance?
Steve Rohleder
Tim, this is Steve. The two I pointed out are two that you probably guessed yourself, retail and automotive right, have been changed. With that said, I think that the growth was respectable this time and because it was offset by good growth in health and life sciences, and consumer goods and services, and transportation and travel services. So, our leadership kind of runs this as a portfolio; there is always going to be some industries that are down and some industries that are up, but the two that I mention are the two you probably guess were a little soft this quarter anyway.
Tim Fox - Deutsche Bank
Okay and just lastly if I may; obviously resources, on the commodity side things have been in turmoil. You put up another very strong quarter for resources. Is there any concern there that there maybe some softening as those industries start to feel the impact of what's going on globally?
Bill Green
I think we're going see a shift. We've seen strong consulting growth in resources for a while that the guys that lead that organization for us would let you that the conversations in a last six weeks have shifted over to outsourcing in an incredibly quick way. So, I think the demand is still going to be there. We have to obviously go out and shape and capture it, but the conversations have shifted from consulting more to outsourcing.
Your next question comes from Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
Steve, any outsourcing deferrals or cancellations and I guess that question could be for consulting deferrals or cancellations?
Steve Rohleder
Nothing they would point to a trend.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
Okay and then when you guys talk about the uncertainties, its kind of the reason why you've taken a range down. I would think that the bookings have been strong enough that you have pretty good visibility for the next couple of quarters, so what it has to be, cancellations or deferrals that would cause that uncertainty.
Steve Rohleder
Well, the uncertainty stuff means you can almost hardly describe it right, but there's just like a surprise a week going on out there in different industries and for different companies and so you just say to yourself; everyday you just take the paper and look through it and then you'll just say, "Wow!" right and that's what we're saying right. We're standing back from this thing and saying, "Gees."
That said, some of those companies in there are companies where we're launching new work right, that's going to help them in a dramatic way, but the uncertainty stuff is just hard to put your finger on. It just continues to surprise you and sooner or later you say "I'm sure there's something out there that I'm not thinking of," but I just I couldn't tell you what it is right now.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
Okay and Bill when you talk about decisions starting to loosen, I assume you're talking about outsourcing, but is that true with that consulting as well?
Bill Green
Well, I guess I was describing it more in the outsourcing context, but absolutely it is with consulting expect the consulting decisions, a lot of the sort of new work is early stage, right. If you look at a lot of the things that are going on in financial services right, it's envisioned an architect kind of work, right. It's sort of a new platform furnace; a new capability to do that; a new way of how we're going to take these two banks and merge them together and have them operates as one. So, in that sense there is some breakthrough, it just doesn't have the size and the scale of the outsourcing work.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
Okay and then just finally two question for Pam. I guess operating margins are expected to be higher for the year than your guidance just last quarter and I guess it just sounds like you're pulling levers because the FX pressure has been higher. Is that fair to say or is there is something specific that surprised you in the last three months?
Pamela Craig
No, it's not just the FX for sure. I mean I think at the root of it, it wasn't like the drag was so great this quarter and we delivered very strong operating margin. So, I think just the way we're delivering is, there's just been a steady improvement and part of it is you want to make sure that that's going to be sustained and we analyze this quite a bit to make sure that we believe that we will sustain that or we expect we will over the balance of the year to lead to the expansion.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
And then just the other one was on interest income. I know that was $0.04 or so lower; should we still expect interest income to be a lot more or going forward given where rates have gone?
Pamela Craig
I mean that $0.04 was the total of non-operating stuff and actually the interest income was about $0.001, but I mean, I'm not about to go out and introduce a lot more risk to get try to get some interest income some place. I mean there's just not a lot to get.
Bryan Keane - Credit Suisse
And most of the interest income is derived from international?
Pamela Craig
No, I mean we've put most of our cash in treasuries, I would say it's mostly not international.
Your final question comes from David Grossman - Thomas Weisel.
David Grossman - Thomas Weisel
Just very quickly, I know there have been a lot of questions about the margins. You took them up, 400 basis points. Pam, should we look at this a new plateau going forward are really something that reflects strong cost controls in a very difficult period?
Pamela Craig
I would say that it's mostly the former. I mean I think that we are really trying to improve the margins in this business and sustain it and I think we've been on that trajectory. This is probably a little bit of a stepper uplift that we're signaling right now, than we have in the past, but nonetheless I think if you look at our results, what we've done with SG&A over the years and this focus on contract profitability, I mean this is what we're looking to do.
David Grossman - Thomas Weisel
And just one another question is on currency. I think on your last call and I may have understood it; you said 1% change in currency impacts, EPS by $0.001. I guess did I understand that correctly and is that still a good assumption?
Pamela Craig
Well, I mean I think that it's not just currency, but when you kind of take into account everything else that's happening with that kind of a move with currency then that's about what it would be, but I wouldn't take that too literally, I was just trying to give you a feel.
David Grossman - Thomas Weisel
Okay and just finally, what is the measurement date if you will for the currency rates that you're using in your guidance? Is that the current spot rates or was that a rate at the end of the quarter or an average quarter to-date?
Pamela Craig
Well, what I mentioned for December was actually a rate that we use, that gets set at the beginning of the months, the 11% and then what we did for the remaining guidance was to say, "Gee! How have currencies moved during December?" and then if we then factored that into result for the remaining three quarters and compare them to last year, that's the drag that we would see.
Bill Green
Well, let me just say a couple things in closing, if I can. First of all, we've started fiscal 2009 with another strong quarter especially in light of what's happening in the global economy. We are very positive about our business and remain committed to protecting our profitability, strengthening our global franchise and further differentiating Accenture from the competition.
The durability and diversity of our business serves us well. We have a unique business model and we continue to operate it with tremendous discipline and flexibility. Particularly, in these challenging times, we are dedicated to staying close and relevant to our clients and remain keenly focused on helping them achieve high performance and just as important, we remain committed to high performance in our own business, so that we can continue to deliver exceptional value to our shareholders.
In closing, I once again like to thank the 187,000 men and women of Accenture, without whom none of this would be possible. Thank you very much for joining us on the call today. We appreciate your continued support and we wish all of you a Happy Holiday Season and all the best for the New Year.
Ladies and gentlemen, this conference will be available for replay after 7:00 pm today through midnight January 2, 2009. You may access the teleconference replay system at anytime by dialing 1800-475-6701 and entering the access code 970592. International participants dial 320-365-3844. Those numbers again are 1800-475-6701 and 320-365-3844, access code 970592.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive Teleconference. You may now disconnect.
Copyright policy: All transcripts on this site are the copyright of Seeking Alpha. However, we view them as an important resource for bloggers and journalists, and are excited to contribute to the democratization of financial information on the Internet. (Until now investors have had to pay thousands of dollars in subscription fees for transcripts.) So our reproduction policy is as follows: You may quote up to 400 words of any transcript on the condition that you attribute the transcript to Seeking Alpha and either link to the original transcript or to www.SeekingAlpha.com. All other use is prohibited.
If you have any additional questions about our online transcripts, please contact us at: firstname.lastname@example.com. Thank you!


text:
Why You Should Have a Part-Time Job in College
Going to school is arguably a full-time job in of itself sometimes. Depending on your major, your classes, and the amount of semester hours you are taking at a time, college academia can definitely be stressful and time-consuming. However, a high number of students do end up tackling this dual lifestyle of work and school. Last year, it was reported that approximately two-thirds of college students work part-time. In today's economy, this is not surprising. But let's take an overall look at what students end up gaining in the long run from managing a job during the school year. Prioritization: Many st... Read More About Why You Should Have a Part-Time Job in College
How to Prepare for a College Visit
College visits are important; that fact has already been well established. But why are they so important? This is something you must understand before you embark on one of these trips or else it could very possibly end up being a waste of time. Going on a college visit just to follow a tour guide around and then be able to say you were physically there is not why you should be doing this. Choosing the college you will attend is one of the biggest decisions of your life and heading over to the campus for a day or two will be one of the most helpful factors in your decision-making – if you go about it with the right... Read More About How to Prepare for a College Visit
How to Create Your First Resume
Creating a resumé for the first time can be just a little bit daunting. Where to even begin is probably what throws students off the most. There are a lot of things to take into consideration, such as what format to use, what information to include, what order to put that information in, etc. Well, it is actually quite simple. The best way to approach putting together a resumé is by understanding its main purpose – to represent your professional self in the absolute best way possible. This is an extremely detailed elevator speech put on paper meant to convince any employer that you are the top ... Read More About How to Create Your First Resume
How to Prepare for Your First Internship
Your first internship is a crucial stepping-stone in your professional life. For many students, it is the very introduction into their professional life. Internships are truly invaluable experiences that directly show you the difference between a teenage part-time job and a "real" job, so to speak. Many of the elements that make these types of jobs distinct from each other are obvious, but there are also many elements that you can only understand by literally going through it. Landing an internship in the first place is no easy feat, so be sure to pat yourself on the back for accomplishing that step. Also, ... Read More About How to Prepare for Your First Internship
A Guide to the Study Guide
Everyone has their own method of studying, but the classic process of making a study guide is something you see quite often. But how can you make a truly great study material that will actually increase your chances of successfully retaining this information? Well, first off, it is vital that you understand the information rather than just memorizing it – this may be something you heard your middle school teachers preach to you, but it really is good advice. Step #1: Identify all necessary information. Go through your notes, your textbooks, and every powerpoint slide that teacher presented and narrow down what is impor... Read More About A Guide to the Study Guide

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Herman Cain 6P - 9P |
Brought to you by Sunny King Ford
Friday, January 25, 2013
The Etowah County Sheriff's Department says they have arrested a man in connection to a rape investigation. 26-year-old Jonathan Rios Ortiz faces one count of 2nd degree rape, a felony. Rios is accused of raping a 14-year-old victim in August at her Boaz residence. Investigators say the suspect and victim were acquaintances. Ortiz was arrested on Thursday. He is being held in the Etowah County Jail on a $25,000 cash bond.
LISTEN to WDNGNews: The Anniston City Council might soon consider curbside recycling
City leaders consider another attempt at curbside recycling program in Anniston
Suspect captured in February jewelry theft
Two men arrested for weekend theft of utility trailer
Keywords: Etowah County , rape investigation,Jonathan Rios Ortiz ,2nd degree rape,felony, Boaz ,
Visit Local News
There currently are no approved comments for this blog article. To join the discussion click here.


text:
I have read a lot of your post - just wondered how you were doing?
I know how hard it is to struggle with bad skin AFTER going raw, since everyone says it will cure acne:) My skin is getting better - but it is really coming in cycles - so...we are kind of in the same place- I too freak out from time to time, thinking if I'm doing it all wrong *lol*? And reading about that guy whose acne hadn't cleared after ONE YEAR raw kindof made me go "oh...****!" So maybe we can support each other
Well, just wondered how you are doing?
Love alba


text:
(out of 63 customer reviews)
See all reviews for this tire
Set of 4: $536.00
(out of 826 customer reviews)
Set of 4: $680.00
After mail-in rebate: $620.00
(out of 817 customer reviews)
Set of 4: $700.00
Try changing your "Filter By" settings on the left for better results.
- or -
Reset your "Filter By" settings to display all available tires.
Search for tires in a different size:
Search by Vehicle


text:
WeatherBug Alert for Mac
Heshan, China
WeatherBug Alert for Mac helps you plan your day with confidence by putting severe weather alerts and your live temperature on your desktop.
- The most reliable weather information found anywhere.
- Severe weather alerts to help protect you and your family.
- One click access to radar, forecasts and more on WeatherBug.com
Installation Intructions
- Download zip file.
- Copy file to Applications folder.
- Run the app.
System Requirements
- Mac OS X version 10.4 or later
- Internet connection
- For support or to provide feedback on WeatherBug Alert for Mac, please visit the WeatherBug Alert Forum
- Click here for the OS X 10.3.9 Compatible Version
Weather News
Other Top Weather Headlines
More Severe Storms Target Plains, Miss. Valley Today
Even after a busy Saturday of severe weather throughout the Plains, two more rounds of widespread powerful storms are…More >
Texas Tornado Victims Vow To Rebuild
On the limb of a barren tree in the tornado-devastated north Texas community of Rancho Brazos, an American flag flaps in the…More >
Southern China Rains Kill 55, Leave 14 Missing
Chinese authorities say rainstorms that battered southern China this week have killed 55 people and left 14 others missing.…More >
WeatherBug Featured Content
Green Living
You too can help save our planet and put money back in your wallet. Learn how you can take the first steps to reduce your environmental impact, including driving green, easy ways you can conserve water, and energy saving tips. To learn more and discover the benefits of going green, visit WeatherBug's green living section. More >
Featured Cameras
Stay Safe & Informed
Get severe weather alerts and your live local temperature when you're not on the web. Includes one-click access to additional severe weather information on WeatherBug.com. Learn More


text:
HomeLights & LightingTaillights, Brake & Backup LightsTaillights40258GJCW- 988106
Blue WITH CHROME RING PLASTIC BLUE DOTS
Per Set of 2
Ships: 1-2 business days
Unfortunately, we just checked our inventory and this item is now out of stock. Please check back with us in 24-48 hours.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
See other Taillights available.


text: Fire at his back, firefighters cut through bars to save man Share this story email Share this story «Previous 1 of 4 Photos Next » Read the story «Previous Next » « » Gresham Mobile Home Fire Firefighters battle flames bursting from a mobile home Thursday night in Gresham. They rescued a man trapped in a bedroom. (Photo courtesy: Greg Muhr/GFES Photographer)


text:
You may also like...
Caseworks New York Giants Black Frame Cap Case Up
Price: $109.99
Caseworks New York Giants Brown Zenith Mini Helmet Display Case
Price: $82.99
Caseworks New York Giants Snap On Jersey Case - Mahogany Frame
Price: $219.99
Caseworks New York Giants Zenith Football Display Case With Gold Riser
Item no: 3361262 Price: $119.99
AVAILABILITY: Leaves warehouse in 7 - 10 full bus. days. - (Details)
Standard Ground Service Available (normally $10.29) - (Details)
Note: Shipping restrictions may apply.
Remember, no sales tax except in FL, IL, KY, NY, OH, PA and TX.
Product Information
Proudly display your collectible football with this officially licensed NFL® team Zenith display case from Caseworks. The exquisite case boasts a brown-framed, acrylic base with gold-colored risers. The team logo is emblazoned on the case. The football is not included.
Product Features
Features- Zenith display case
- Brown-framed, acrylic base
- Gold-colored risers
- Adorned with team logo
- Football not included
- Measures 12 3/8-in x 9 7/8-in x 9-in
- Officially licensed


text:
*Valid on select styles and colors. Available while supplies last. **Free shipping valid on Economy Shipping only. Must enter code MEMSHIP in cart to redeem free shipping offer. Expires 5/24/13 at 11:59pm EST.
choose color
choose size
this item is out of stock
this item is coming soon! enter your email and we'll notify you when the item is available.
I also want to sign up for regular email promotions and offers.
want to be notified when this item arrives? simply select your color and size and then enter your email.
I also want to sign up for regular email promotions and offers.
Kids' Classic
Item #10006
Comfort and fun connect in the Crocs™ Kids' Classic. This kids' clog has a durable, lightweight foot bed that molds to feet and ventilation for breathability. Plus they can add Jibbitz™ charms to make them their own.
Crocs™ Kids' Classic Details
- Odor-resistant, easy to clean, and quick to dry.
- Contoured, orthotic foot bed for comfort.
- Advanced toe box ventilation keeps feet cool and lets water and debris drain away.
- Lightweight, non-marking sole.
- Water-friendly and buoyant; weighs only ounces.
- Fully-molded Croslite™ material construction for maximum lightweight cushioning and durability.
- Croslite™ material heel strap for a secure fit.
risk-free shopping
simple returns »
Change your mind?
No problem.
No problem.
Crocs guarantee »
We cover any
defects for 90 days.
defects for 90 days.
flat-rate shipping »
Your order ships for as
little as $4.99.
little as $4.99.
product reviews & ratings
Sort by
63 reviews
Runs Narrow
Runs Wide
Runs Small
Runs Large
So cute
This is the 3rd pair of Crocs I've purchased for my 2 year old grandson. He likes them because it's so easy for him to slip on by himself. The colors and fit are great for kids, great for the beach and cute with socks for fall. We love them.
Runs Small
Runs Large
Can't beat 'em for comfort and versatility
My five year old daughter loves these shoes. She can get them wet. She can get them dirty - just wash them off with soap and water. They are super comfortable, even without socks, and the wide toe box is good for her foot. She runs, jumps, climbs in them, and wears them with everything - even dresses. If they didn't look so awful I'd get some for myself!
Great shoe, Great price!
My 2 year old grandson grew out of his "green beans", the first pair I purchased, I was so happy to find this web site and to be able to order the next size up! He and I love his Crocs, I expect he will grow out of these also, but I know where to get his next pair. The shoe is a great fit at a great price, and the web site is very easy to navigate, everything I want in one spot. I love my Crocs too!
Runs Narrow
Runs Wide
Runs Small
Runs Large
I bought four pairs of these for my grandaughters second birthday. She had to sit down and try on all four pairs before she could decide on which pair to wear(the Hello Kitty pair won out). You can't beat these for comfort and durability.
Runs Narrow
Runs Wide
Runs Small
Runs Large


text:
Related links
Also see
Quade Cooper is to be summoned to meet with Reds chief Jim Carmichael after the Queensland boss admitted to being "fed up" with his Twitter posts.
Just days after telling AAP that the Wallabies will continue to lose fans and Bledisloe Cup Tests if they play to a boring, conservative style, he used his social media account to vent about supposed problems behind the scenes with the Wallabies.
Cooper also suggested he wants to join friend and All Black, Sonny Bill Williams, in the NRL.
And that has led to Carmichael telling the Courier Mail that it is time to sit down with his fly-half.
"I'm fed up to be honest. Quade is making silly comments that do damage to our code," he said.


text: Here are the weekly coupon matchups for the week of 5/30 to 6/5. Tom Thumb doubles coupons of value up to $0.50 cents and triples coupons of $0.39 cents or below in value. Tom Thumb allows only one identical type of coupon to be doubled/tripled per transaction. If you have multiple coupons, split your groceries into separate transactions for maximum savings. To use the in-ad Super coupons, you must spend at least $10 on non-Super coupon items. Your total will need to reach $10 AFTER Club Card Savings and BEFORE the manufacturers coupons. A $10 minimum purchase qualifies use of all "Super" coupons.


text:
You must be a member of GaragePunk Hideout to view this page.
Ning networks aren't free! We rely heavily on member donations and banner ad sales to cover the hosting costs of this site. So if you like being a part of it, please donate a few bucks using the link above. Thanks!
© 2013 Created by kopper. Powered by


text:
The Vulkanring-Vogelsberg Loop Trail in central Hessen links a series of natural and cultural features along the ridge of the Hoher Vogelsberg hills, the largest extinct volcano on the European mainland.
Uhuklippen, rocky peaks and other volcanic formations, forest near Grebenhain
The forest near Grebenhain contains striking basalt massifs and traces of past volcanic activity. Basalt formations with names such as Teufelskanzel (devil's pulpit), Nonnenstein (nun's stone) and Uhuklippen (eagle owl rocks) gave rise to many legends. The Uhuklippen natural monument is one of the largest basalt formations in the Vogelsberg hills.
At a glance
Add your favourites here. Save, sort, share and print your selection and plan your entire trip to Germany.
0 favourites selected


text:
289,290 grains of rice is a lot of rice and if Southside Elementary students have their way it will continue to grow.
This year's global humanitarian project has students at the school going to a web site, sponsored by the United Nations World Food Program, and answering educational questions on subjects like English, Grammar, Science and Math. For every question they answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated to countries in need.
Christy McCoy, coordinator for the Student Technology Leadership Programn at Southside, called the efforts of the students "astounding"
"The whole premise is educating children when they're young and then they're less likely to end up in poverty," McCoy said.
The Student Technology and Leadership Program has 24 students in third, fourth and fifth grades and they do community projects, including a recent canned food drive.
"We asked each class to bring a specific food, it was very organized," she said.
Some of the food will be going to the Tug Valley Recover Shelter and some will go to Jacob's Well.
"We're feeding those at home as well as feeding those abroad," McCoy said.
Caden Maynard, a third-grade student at Southside, said he understands it's important to feed those living in poverty "because they're hungry and they have nothing to eat and they're poor."
Many of the other students echoed what he said and almost all said they knew someone in their family who had just lost a job.
A group of four students, Logan Maynard, Gavin Fields, Sierra Lowe and MacKenzie Maynard, will be presenting the group's project "Fight Against Famine" on Nov. 27th at the Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville as part of the Kentucky Department of Education's STLP district contest.
"We meet 3 to 4 times a week and all of the kids in the program have helped in some way or another," McCoy said.


text:
We are showing you the US version of our site: would you prefer a different location?
Located in the heart of Soho on the site formerly occupied by the Regent Palace Hotel, the first permanent Rapha Cycle Club in the UK is the new home for the sport and wider culture of road racing.
Share this:
Please note we are closing early on the following dates for a series of functions:
- May 29: closing at 18:00
- June 4: closing at 16:30
- June 14: closing at 18:00
General Info:
85 Brewer Street, London W1F 9ZN [ map ]
020 7494 9831
Mon to Fri – 7.30am to 9pm
Sat – 8.30am to 7pm
Sunday and Bank Holidays – 10am to 6pm
To note:
Rapha's Thursday evening and Saturday rides from the London Cycle Club have been proved a success, with more and more riders participating each week. We had originally anticipated groups of dozen or so riders but recent rides have seen numbers increase significantly, often to as many as four times that number, particularly on Thursday rides.
The Thursday rides have, to a certain extent, become victims of that success. Leading large groups along Regent's Street during rush hour has become increasingly problematic and last week, a rider suffered a fall and broke his collarbone. With safety our paramount concern, it has become apparent that we cannot continue to lead rides from the Cycle Club on Thursday evenings. Although we strongly encourage riders to meet at the Cycle Club for evening rides, we would advise them to do so in smaller groups.
We will continue to lead the Saturday rides, as these head out of London outside of peak hours and on less busy roads. Keep an eye on @raphacycleclub for upcoming news on rides and events.
What's On?
Please follow @RaphaCycleClub on Twitter with the hashtag #ldncc for news, commentary and group ride info from the London Cycle Club.
Wednesday Women's Rides
The first in a series of women's rides leading up to the
Rapha Women's 100 » will take place on Wednesday 5th June and head into Regents Park. We will start and finish at the London Cycle Club in Brewer Street, with a meeting time of 18:00 and roll-out at 18:30.
The ride will be led by two Rapha women at a conversational pace, however there will the opportunity to add efforts for those wishing to do so. As the group is likely to split during rotations of the park, we will meet at the Royal College of Physicians (on the outer circle) at 20:00 and return together to the Cycle Club for refreshments.
Please bring essentials such as inner tubes, basic tools, lights and money as the ride is unsupported. There will also be the option to leave bags at the Cycle Club whilst riding. To sign-up please click the button below.
Regular Rides and Events
Below you will find information on our weekly rides. Please refer to our twitter feed @raphacycleclub #LDN or email firstname.lastname@example.com or for more information.
Rides are open to all and there is no 'membership' necessary to ride. Please take note of the average speeds of the rides below as a guide of what's right for you. We advise bringing inner tubes and other spares on all our rides as they are not supported and since we're riding in groups, please ensure your road bike or single speed has working brakes. We recommend wearing a helmet.
Don't forget to stamp your ride card before we set off from the Cycle Club. Anyone who purchases a pre-ride coffee earns a complimentary one on their return to the Club.
Saturday morning
Our Saturday rides are a bit more challenging and aim to cover between 100km and 120km. Led by knowledgable Rapha guides at a social pace of around 25kp/h we also aim for a cafe stop around the halfway point. Meeting outside the Rapha Cycle Club on Brewer Street at 08:30 for a 09:00 depart. To sign-up please click the link below.
Routes will vary so please refer to our twitter feed @raphacycleclub #LDN for updates from Wednesday onwards on routes - or email firstname.lastname@example.com for more information.
Share this:
- SF: After a week off to celebrate with @suppenkuche, Stammtisch Ride is back on tonight. Roll @ 6 followed by @BiergartenSF. #stammtischride
- SF: new City Riding Bundles are now available to ensure you're comfortable and stylish on/off the bike :: http://t.co/j7KccEnYf1
- @TenspeedHero if that means you're relocating, you're in. #tenspeedlatteart
- @TajaiMassey Some of our staff members might have trouble getting any work done with all the "mischief" you would cause.
- SF: We are currently looking to fill some barista positions at the Club. Please e-mail resumés to email@example.com.
- @superdomestik The website has stock of sm in green and sm & med in white. It's an extremely limited piece so don't hesitate to buy soon!
- @superdomestik We only have 1 left and it's the white in large.
- LDN: This Saturday we're riding south to Ide Hill. If you'd like to join us, please register at https://t.co/getnWmUk1Y #RegentStreet
- RT @rapha_n_america: There are still a few of these sweet Rapha + Raeburn jackets at the SF @raphacycleclub. http://t.co/C2d98yCRL0
- SF: #AToC coverage starts at 2pm, TV Broadcast begins at 4pm ending around 6. Who will be first to the top of Diablo?


text:
> Latin America > Job Sites in Colombia > 07 Temporary Jobs & Staffing Agencies
07 Temporary Jobs & Staffing Agencies |
About this webpageThis webpage includes a listing of Colombian Temporary Jobs and Staffing Agencies ranked by web popularity. Temp jobs are common these days and a good way of putting your foot on the career ladder. Temporary jobs are in fact an opportunity to add skills and a stepping stone to permanent employment. Temporary contracts are not necessarily regarded as a mere stopgap and many employers and recruiters give importance to such contracts as a means of gaining valuable work experience. |
share | Follow @4icjcom | link | |
© 2000-2013 4 International Careers & Jobs • About us • Link to us • Site map • www.4icj.com |


text:
For bespoke advice, please call CUSTOMER SERVICES: 877-714-7248
The Abs & Arms manual contains over 17 fully illustrated exercises, stretches, cardio prescriptions, and a nutritional meal plan.
Follow David Kirsch~s nutritional guide and his fun animated instructions to achieve fantastic results. David Kirsch~s manuals have been designed specially with his client~s experience of being followed by paparazzi on the beach and having to ensure they look they~re best.
Rollover to zoom


text:
- Text Size:
- ASmall Text
- AMedium Text
- ALarge Text
Those efforts were under way Wednesday in Security Council meetings at U.N. headquarters in New York
"Members of the Security Council condemned this launch," the council said in a statement, calling it "a clear violation" of previous resolutions -- including one in April that demanded North Korea halt any launches using ballistic missile technology.
The council considers the issue urgent, the statement said.
Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the statement one of the swiftest and strongest she had seen the council make about North Korea. "Now we go into the second phase" of discussions, she said: negotiations about what to do.
China and Russia, North Korean allies and two of the council's permanent members, could exercise their veto power.
The United States and other nations may impose unilateral measures, senior administration officials warned. But Pyongyang has ignored such threats before.
New U.N. sanctions are unlikely, but the council might step up pressure on North Korea in other ways, said George Lopez, a professor with the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, who last year served on a U.N. panel of experts monitoring sanctions already in place against North Korea.
The council's sanctions committee could add more North Korean entities to the sanctions list, he said. It could also do more to enforce sanctions already in place, for example by increasing inspections of cargo leaving North Korea to ensure no weapons technology is being shipped out.
What the launch means
Wednesday's success was a breakthrough for the reclusive, nuclear-equipped state.


text:
Milipitas, Calif. — In a return to its roots, palmOne announced today it will purchase the Palm name from PalmSource and will change its
Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA), the buying group for independent, mid-size A/V specialty dealers, continued
The first of a new class of PDA/multipurpose devices was released by palmOne. Called the LifeDrive, the Wi-Fi-ready,
Woodbury, N.Y. – An all-new mainstream Studio series of component speakers launched by JBL has been completely restyled and redesigned
New York — Multimedia music distributor Eagle Rock Entertainment said it will support Sony's Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld game
Albuquerque, N.M. – Despite saying that the company continues to discuss a possible unification of rival high-definition optical disc
Arlington Va.— The average U.S. household owns an average of 25 consumer electronics products and spends $1,250 annually on the category
Chicago — Cobra Electronics created two new positions to boost its distributor sales and marine products sales, said the company.
Mike Wlotzko, former corporate sales director for Panasonic Computer Solutions,
Pine Brook, N.J. — Denon has begun offering receivers with a proprietary DenonLink digital input approved by Sony and Philips to
San Antonio — The Progressive Retailers Organization was at the Westin La Cantera Hill Coun
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. – Ingram Micro Consumer Electronics (IMCE), a division o
The Home Technology Specialists of America Spring Meeting was held April 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency


text:
Rwanda has once again strongly denied the allegations contained in a report compiled by the United Nations' Group of Experts, which claims Kigali was supporting a rebel faction, M23 that is responsible for the worst outbreak of fighting in eastern Congo for several years.
The UN group of experts report accused Rwandan officials of violating a UN arms embargo by supplying weapons, ammunition and fighters to a group called M23, a mainly Tutsi group seeking control of large parts of Eastern Congo.
The war between the Congolese army and M23 has forced thousands to flee their homes in the past two weeks, adding to some 260,000 people already displaced since April.
But in a written response issued at a Press Conference in Dar es Salaam on Friday, Rwanda listed what it called, '10 key disproved factual elements' contained in the report by the Group of Experts—calling the allegations mere propaganda.
Rwanda's move comes amid fresh revelations that the coordinator of the Group of Experts was a sympathiser of Interahamwe militias, who authored various reports a few years ago in support of the Rwandese rebels.
Steve Hege—the coordinator of the UN's Group of Experts, has, for long sympathised and advocated for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).The FDLR, a militia group based in the DRC, comprises elements responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis that left more than one million people dead.(Read a separate story on page 10)
The move by Rwanda also comes at a time when Africa is carefully and thoroughly scrutinizing the report, which has also named other countries like Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania of fuelling the instability in the war-ravaged DRC.
Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam, Rwanda's High Commissioner to Tanzania Dr Ben Rugangazi said the contents of the report, which has been widely reported by the Western media, lacks credibility because most of the evidence cited were fabricated or unreliable.
The High Commissioner said while the group of experts revealed that Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) provided two-week training to the rebels in Kanombe barracks in Kigali, the case was not true as the cited venue was a garrison-type barracks that could not host the training of recruits or any other forces.
"Kanombe comprises a living quarter, a referral military hospital also open to civilian patients, a cemetery and five service support units' headquarters and related facilities. This site, the way it is, cannot support military training," said Commissioner Rugangazi.
According to the High Commissioner, the Rwanda immigration department also refuted allegations claiming that two Congolese businessmen moved to Rwanda to conduct fundraising events to raise money in support of M23, the rebel group operating inside DR Congo.
Commissioner Rugangazi spoke about ammunitions that proved RDF involvement, saying the claims were outright false as RDF did not possess 75mm cannons in their stores and has never purchased such weapons or their ammunitions.
He said remnants of such weapons and ammunitions from the 1990-94 war were disposed off in 2008 and was well documented by the RDF ordinance regiment.
He further noted that Brig. Gen. Ruvusha also denied all allegations that branded him as a key facilitator of M23 movement. He said General Ruvusha was not in Gisenyi at the time when he was named by the group of experts. He was on leave and out of Gisenyi from May3-14, 2012.
He added that the allegation over the facilitation of M23 troops and equipment from Bukavu to Gisenyi were also not valid as it was technically impossible to drive RDF 15 tons trucks along the route as reported by the group of experts as the route is under major construction.
"Also claims of rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda owning a house were entirely false as the house presented was picture of the house taken by the group of experts was owned by a resident called Innocent Ndagano, alias "Cent Kilos" with title C Lease title No. UPI3/03/04/05/217"
About the Hotel Bushokoro at Kinigi, Dr Rugangazi said it is owned at 50 per cent each by Enock Munyajabo and his wife Nyiramana Kesie with certificate of registration of epithetic lease title No. UPI 4/03/07/03/329, he said, refuting reports that the property belongs to Gen. Bosco Ntaganda as reported by GoE.
He said that Jomba Gakumba was not redeployed to Ruhengeri, that since the creation of M23 he was allegedly put in charge of commanding local military operations in support of M23. Col Gakumba states that he was never deployed to Ruhengeri and remains an instructor at Gako military in Busegera, the commissioner noted.
"General Jacques Nziza, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defence is alleged to supervise all military, financial and logistic support as well as mobilization activities related to M23 and deployed to Ruhengeri and Gisenyi to coordinate assistance and recruitment. This is not true," he said.
Gen. Nziza dismissed the allegations as false and provided evidence that he has not been in Ruhengeri or Gisenyi of recent, showing his daily activities as limited to his work as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Defence.
"Claims of radio intercepts were most unsophisticated pieces of fabrication, in the entire report technically impossible, as Gen. James Kabarebe and Gen. Charles Kayonga have played an active role in promoting peace in the region," the commissioner insisted.
The two generals have not been supporting M23, he stated, blaming the western media as the genesis of supplying the false information to people and were affecting Rwanda negatively.
"Some of aid that was to be given to Rwanda has been suspended, like the US suspended military aid of 200million dollars but we believe this will be provided once they see the facts of the matter," the commissioner intoned.
The Rwanda Minister of Foreign Affairs on Monday presented the response to the Group of Experts report to the UN Security Council. The GoE report was drawn up without Rwandese views and administrative involvement, the minister added.


text:
In early 1917, the United States entered the First World War, the War Department leased 7,600 acres of forest land on Buffalo Bayou about five miles west of downtown Houston. This training camp was called Camp Logan and 25,000 soldiers trained at the facility.
About Us
Conservancy History
6501 Memorial Drive Houston, TX 77007-7021 (713) 863.8403


text:
Battery Chargers
Power Inverters
Jump Starters
Keep battery away from fire or other sources of extreme heat. Do not incinerate.
Learn more...
This is a Hi-Capacity Brand AC/DC Adapter for your Compaq ProBook 4430s (XU012UT). The Hi-Capacity AC/DC Adapter meets or exceeds original manufacturer power specifications for Compaq ProBook 4430s (XU012UT) AC/DC Adapters.


text:
Indianapolis — Weaker sales and margins, and higher taxes and costs, led to sharply lower fourth-quarter and full-year profits for hhgregg.
For the
Barrington, Ill. — System integrator Blair Home Technologies joined The Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) last month as the buying group's
St. George, Utah — Wilson Electronics, a maker of cellphone signal boosters, has named Robert Van Buskirk as president/CEO and to its board.
Jim Wilson
Williamsville, N.Y. – Stereo Advantage is moving.
The Buffalo, N.Y.-area specialty A/V dealer and system integrator is relocating its showroom and
Minneapolis – Sony Electronics' three-step line of 4K Ultra High-Definition TVs are rolling out to Best Buy stores this week.
Nearly 750
Edmond, Okla. —Petra Industries recently mailed its 1,200+ page, 2013 spring catalog to more than 75,000 independent retailers, e-tailers and custom
Melville, N.Y. - ADI reports that Troy Leach, product manager at Triphase Technologies in Carmel, Ind., has won two brand new Chevrolet Camaro Coupes in the
Santa Monica, Calif. – Samsung's 85-inch (model N85S9000) Ultra High-Definition TV came to Video & Audio Center, here, Wednesday night and drew a
Bentonville, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores reported slightly higher net sales and income for the first quarter, ended April 30.
Net sales for the first
Pontiac, Mich. — ABC Warehouse will showcase Sony's newest 4K Ultra High-Definition televisions in a special showcase taking place from noon to 4 p.m.
A quick look around the just opened Flatbush, Brooklyn location of
New York — Samsung held its annual star-studded Hope for Children Gala on June11, raising $
San Antonio — The Progressive Retailers Organization was at the Westin La Cantera Hill Coun