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Delphi Posts $226M Loss in November
Friday December 29, 1:27 pm ET
Delphi Posts $226 Million Loss in November, Wider Than $54 Million Reported in October
NEW YORK (AP) -- Bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi Corp. said Friday its loss in November widened to $226 million from $54 million in October.
The Troy, Mich., company made the disclosure as part of an unaudited monthly operating report it is required to file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Delphi had $1.33 billion in revenue in November, with $752 million, or 55 percent, coming from General Motors Corp., the country's largest carmaker that was also Delphi's parent until a 1999 spinoff.
Delphi filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2005 and is trying to cut operating costs as part of a restructuring plan. The company struggled as North American carmakers cut production, burdened by uncompetitive labor costs and high commodity prices.
On Dec. 18, a group of private equity firms led by Appaloosa Management LP and Cerberus Capital Management LP said they would spend as much as $3.4 billion to help the company out of bankruptcy. A competing offer, from Highland Capital Management LP, was entered a few days later, pushing the refinancing offer up to $4.9 billion.
Analysts have said the interest in bailing out Delphi indicates there is hope the company can remain a viable business after it emerges from court protection.
Delphi said its agreement with Appaloosa, which owns about 9 percent of the company's stock, would allow it come out of bankruptcy by the second quarter of 2007 and includes a reorganization framework agreement signed by Delphi, the investors and GM.
Any deal requires approval of the federal bankruptcy judge in New York, where a hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11, according to the filing Friday.
In the year-to-date period through the end of November, Delphi's loss in 2006 totaled $4.66 billion on revenue of $16.06 billion. Expenses reached $20.69 billion, including $2.93 billion for special attrition program charges for U.S. employees. That posting comes from Delphi's offer to pay workers represented by two labor unions to take early retirement.
DPHIQ
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday's session are Delphi Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Sanmina-SCI Corp.
After Friday's closing bell, auto parts maker Delphi (DPHIQ : delphi corp com
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DPHIQ1.68, -0.02, -1.2%) said it has reached a broad employee buyout program that takes the company a step closer to emerging from bankruptcy and reduces the risk of a strike that could cripple former parent and top customer, General Motors Corp. (GM : General Motors Corporation
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GM25.35, +0.52, +2.1%) . The buyouts cover not only retirement-age workers, but also unionized hourly employees represented by the United Auto Workers who have had less time at Delphi. See full story. See After Hours column.
GM revises loss, sees higher Delphi exposure; also will delay annual report
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B5ED180F8%2D7355%2D4D94%2DAAF1%2D1980D625F84....
how you doing trade, where the HELL is everybody????
Car jobs in high demand in Thailand as output grows
By Chawadee Nualkhair and Chang-Ran Kim
BANGKOK/TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Joe Goh, a business
development director at Thai auto parts maker AAPICO Hitech PCL
, is facing challenges many competitors in the West can
only dream of.
"We've got to have more capacity," he said, describing plans
to kick off a new plant in mid-2006 and possibly seek partners
outside Thailand for more opportunities to expand.
"We have to double our people."
Goh's situation -- shared by many of his peers -- is fanning
a boom for auto-sector workers in Thailand, a far cry from the
picture in North America and Europe where thousands face job
losses due to severe overcapacity at weaker car brands.
Behind the healthy labour market is heady growth in domestic
auto demand and Thailand's accommodating business environment
for foreign automakers to manufacture vehicles for export.
That has manufacturers from booming Toyota Motor Corp.
<7203.T> to embattled Mitsubishi Motors Corp. <7211.T> rushing
to add capacity and find the manpower to support growth.
After more than doubling in the three years to 2004, vehicle
production in Thailand is expected to expand by about 8 percent
this year to roughly 1 million. Over the next few years, it will
further balloon to 1.4 million units annually, predicts research
firm Automotive Resources Asia.
"Thai production is certainly booming and in most cases
resulting in a commensurate increase in employment," said Ashvin
Chotai, director of Asian automotive research at Global Insight.
"Automotive jobs are rising and there is a shortage of
skilled workers and professionals. Hence...job mobility is high
and it's fair to say it is a bit of a sellers' market."
No forecast is available for the resulting increase in the
number of jobs, but analysts say a looming shortage of
experienced auto workers looks certain to keep lifting wages.
According to the Bank of Thailand, manufacturing workers
now number 6.1 million, accounting for 17.25 percent of
Thailand's working population -- up from 15.5 percent at the
start of 2001.
Hay Group, a U.S.-based global human resources management
consultancy, estimates manufacturing salaries in Thailand grew
by 6.5 percent this year and would continue to rise at a similar
clip in 2006 on the back of sustained economic growth.
"The Thai economy is currently highly competitive for
employees with three to five years of work experience, and it is
likely to stay this way for some time," Anuchit Veerasiriyanon,
an official at Hay Group Thailand, said in a recent report.
WELCOMING PRODUCTION CENTRE
With a robust indigenous parts industry supporting
assemblers, the impact of booming production runs deep and wide.
"This is a very labour-intensive thing," AAPICO's Goh said,
estimating that each new plant at his company employed about
1,000 people.
Goh estimates the real hourly rate in non-unionised Thailand
is just $10, a fraction of the estimated $76 at bankrupt U.S.
auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. when loaded with
pension, health and other liabilities.
"America and Europe are not a place for manufacturing any
more," he said.
While successful brands such as Toyota are building more
factories in the West to meet demand, U.S. giants General Motors
Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are shuttering multiple
plants and shedding tens of thousands of expensive workers.
In Thailand, by contrast, even Ford is looking to boost
output capacity by 30 percent to 200,000 units over the next few
years at its joint-venture plant with Mazda Motor Corp. <7261.T>
to fulfil export as well as domestic demand. The number of
salaried workers will rise to 4,500 from 4,200.
Research firm Global Insight estimates vehicle sales will
total around 709,000 units this year, up 13 percent. By 2010,
most forecasts put domestic vehicle sales at nearly 1 million
vehicles, while the government is targeting production of 1.8
million vehicles that year.
FOREIGN PLANS
Thailand faces competition from China as the favourite
production centre of global auto assemblers. But as long as the
Communist nation retains its strict operational guidelines,
cumbersome red tape and ambitions to create a formidable
national car-making industry, foreign auto makers will continue
to favour Thailand as the regional export base, experts say.
Thanks to its policy of nurturing the local auto supplies
sector, Thailand is the world's second-largest producer of small
one-tonne pick-up trucks, behind only the United States,
exporting vehicles to 140 nations. Vehicles and auto parts
account for nearly one-tenth of total exports.
Toyota, Thailand's top vehicle producer and supplier,
expects to add 3,500 jobs to its headcount of about 9,000
factory workers by 2007, when output capacity is due to reach
550,000 units a year from 360,000 units now.
Japan's second-largest auto maker Nissan Motor Co. <7201.T>
will more than double its workforce to 4,000 from 1,800 by 2008,
when annual production will quadruple to 200,000 units.
Other players like South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co.
<005380.KS>, which exited Thailand after the Asian currency
crisis in the late 1990s, and India's Tata Motors Ltd.
are also eyeing a manufacturing base in Thailand.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Detroit car job cuts dash blue-collar dreams
By Poornima Gupta
FLINT, Michigan, Dec 23 (Reuters) - For nearly three
decades, Charles Coe has made a good living as a worker for
General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp. in
Flint, Michigan.
Coe, 60, planned to retire comfortably in two years with his
sizable pension, a benefit that is still a cornerstone of
blue-collar workers' compensation in the auto industry.
But that dream is unraveling as Delphi, which filed for
bankruptcy protection in October, is now demanding unprecedented
wage and benefit concessions from the United Auto Workers union.
"I stand to lose everything I have worked a lifetime for,"
Coe said as he arrived for an afternoon shift at Delphi's Flint
East plant.
Delphi wants to cut jobs, slash paychecks in half and free
itself from the pension obligations of tens of thousands of
employees it inherited from GM when it was spun off in 1999.
The mood in Flint, a factory town that has been in economic
malaise since GM closed its Buick City complex six years ago, is
grim. Families are now staring at the prospect of losing their
comfortable middle-class lifestyles.
Delphi's move, combined with the plant closing and layoff
announcements from mighty GM and Ford Motor Co. , may have
far-reaching consequences beyond the industrial city, say local
union officials.
"This is bigger than us," said Steve Grandstaff, chairman of
UAW Local 651, which represents workers at the Delphi-Energy and
Chassis Systems facility in Flint.
"It's almost like there is this wildfire that's going to
take down the middle class," Grandstaff said.
Working-class Americans have long been able to lift
themselves into the middle class through well-paid jobs in the
auto industry. UAW-represented workers have enjoyed benefits
that are the gold standard of industrial America.
Some Detroit auto executives even call them "Cadillac-style"
benefits.
"I think what we are looking at here are exit roads from the
middle class," said Harley Shaiken, a University of
California-Berkeley professor who specializes in labor issues.
EXIT ROADS
"Economic growth in the United States in the 20th century
was based on building entrances to the middle class, from Henry
Ford in 1913 to strong unions in the '50s and '60s," Shaiken
said.
The 21st century is marking a reversal of that logic and
Delphi's showdown with organized labor symbolizes the reversal,
Shaiken added.
"They want us to go back 20-something years (on wages),"
said Russ Reynolds, president of UAW local 651, which represents
Delphi workers. "It's going to devastate everything."
GM and Ford made the United States an industrial force
through much of the 20th century.
Ford founder Henry Ford was credited with a stroke of genius
in creating a whole new group of consumers for his company's
vehicles back in 1914. He doubled the pay of his workers saying
he wanted them to be able to afford the Model Ts they built.
Now, GM and Ford are in a cost-cutting spiral, battling
decades of market share losses. In recent months, the two
Detroit automakers have worked out deals with the UAW to roll
back some of the health care benefits of retired workers.
GM plans to cut 30,000 blue-collar jobs and close 12
facilities. Ford has said it will announce its list of plant
closures and worker layoffs in January. The automaker is already
in the process of cutting 4,000 white-collar jobs and scaling
back some of the salaried benefits.
"Ford and GM are now in a race to shrink," Merrill Lynch
analyst John Casesa said in a recent note, adding that Detroit
is entering an increasingly volatile and difficult environment
as labor and management tensions come to a head.
In a bright spot for workers, Delphi in recent days dropped
its aggressive stance and said it is willing to work with the
union, citing talks with largest customer GM.
Delphi also said it will delay filing motions in bankruptcy
court to reject current labor contracts.
But union officials are still skeptical as the company has
not totally scrapped its steep cost-cutting proposal.
"We hope the company's announcement results in a meaningful
change in its position, but only time will tell if that is the
case," the UAW said.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
GM Stock Falls on Kerkorian Sale of Shares
DETROIT, Dec 22, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- General Motors Corp. shares, which have lost more than half their value since the beginning of the year, fell an additional 4 percent Wednesday as investors fretted about billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's decision to sell part of his stake in the automaker.
GM shares fell 80 cents to $19.05 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. That is their lowest level since 1982, according to Standard and Poor's equity market analyst Howard Silverblatt.
Kerkorian disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that his sale of 12 million GM shares generated a loss that would be used to offset gains elsewhere in his investment company's portfolio for tax purposes. But Robert Barry, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, said he suspects there are other factors at work, since the sales create such a high risk for Kerkorian's remaining 44 million GM shares.
Barry said Kerkorian may have soured on the world's largest automaker after Kerkorian aide Jerome York failed to win a seat on GM's board. Kerkorian also may have been unimpressed with the health care concessions recently granted to GM by the United Auto Workers that will cut GM's annual health care bill by around $1 billion, he said.
"The modest concessions made by the UAW also highlight how little GM can do to address its onerous labor costs," Barry said in a note to investors.
Kerkorian spent about $1.7 billion to build a 9.9 percent stake in GM this year. But he's now about $600 million in the red, counting the almost $110 million loss on the sale of the 12 million shares and the reduced value of his remaining 7.8 percent stake.
Kerkorian's private equity firm, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Tracinda Corp., said the capital loss from the share sale makes it eligible for certain federal and California income tax breaks. The loss will offset gains from other transactions, including Kerkorian's sale of his stake in the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer film studio to Sony Corp. for $2 billion that closed in April.
Tracinda left the door open in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing to rebuilding his GM holdings. But some analysts said that is doubtful since Kerkorian has to be concerned about what GM will get for its profitable finance unit, General Motors Acceptance Corp.
GM is looking to sell a controlling stake in the unit, but several possible bidders - including Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. - have said they're not interested.
S&P said recently that it would consider returning GMAC to an investment-grade rating if the controlling stake goes to a highly rated financial institution, but said it could lower the rating if the sale is delayed. Barry said it's likely the sale will be delayed and that several parties - including labor, GM management and bond holders - could try to block any sale proceeds from going to equity holders.
A Tracinda spokesman said Wednesday the company had no comment beyond what it disclosed in the SEC filing.
GM shares also took a beating this week after Toyota Motor Corp. said it would boost global production by 10 percent in 2006 to more than 9 million vehicles, which could allow it surpass GM in total unit sales for the first time.
GM has been struggling with U.S. market share losses as well as high labor and health care costs, and it might be on the hook for a costly bailout at Delphi Corp., its former parts division, which filed for bankruptcy in October. GM lost $1.6 billion in the third quarter.
Concerns about the automaker's future have also been evident in the credit default swaps market, where investors seeking insurance protection against defaults are paying a higher price.
"It is mostly a slowing in the trading that comes in the credit market at year-end, but some of it is related to news of Kerkorian's sale," said Michiko Whetten, analyst at Nomura Securities International Inc.
Whetten said investors looking to buy insurance for five-year GM corporate debt had to pay 12.49 cents for every dollar of debt they want to protect on Wednesday, slightly less than an all-time high of 12.72 cents on December 6.
---
AP Business Writers Aleksandrs Rozens in New York and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Sunday, 12-18-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on 09-12-2005 for C @ $46.02.
As of Sunday, 12-18-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-08-2005 for GM @ $26.35.
As of Sunday, 12-18-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-10-2005 for RGM @ $15.44.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=r APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Sony Corp; TS:SNE; IG:3700;) (CO:General Motors Acceptance Corp; TS:GOM; IG:3300;) (CO:Citigroup Inc; TS:C; IG:8300;) (CO:Wells Fargo & Co; TS:WFC; IG:8300;) (CO:Toyota Motor Corp; TS:TM; IG:3300;) (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) )
KEYWORD: DETROIT
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
GM Stock Down on Kerkorian Sale of Shares
DETROIT, Dec 21, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- General Motors Corp. shares, which have lost more than half their value since the beginning of the year, fell an additional 4 percent Wednesday as investors fretted about billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's decision to sell part of his stake in the automaker.
GM shares fell 80 cents to $19.05 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. That is their lowest level since 1982, according to Standard and Poor's equity market analyst Howard Silverblatt.
Kerkorian disclosed in a regulatory filing Tuesday that his sale of 12 million GM shares generated a loss that would be used to offset gains elsewhere in his investment company's portfolio for tax purposes. But Robert Barry, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, said he suspects there are other factors at work, since the sales create such a high risk for Kerkorian's remaining 44 million GM shares.
Barry said Kerkorian may have soured on the world's largest automaker after Kerkorian aide Jerome York failed to win a seat on GM's board. Kerkorian also may have been unimpressed with the health care concessions recently granted to GM by the United Auto Workers that will cut GM's annual health care bill by around $1 billion, he said.
"The modest concessions made by the UAW also highlight how little GM can do to address its onerous labor costs," Barry said in a note to investors.
Kerkorian spent about $1.7 billion to build a 9.9 percent stake in GM this year. But he's now about $600 million in the red, counting the almost $110 million loss on the sale of the 12 million shares and the reduced value of his remaining 7.8 percent stake.
Kerkorian's private equity firm, Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Tracinda Corp., said the capital loss from the share sale makes it eligible for certain federal and California income tax breaks. The loss will offset gains from other transactions, including Kerkorian's sale of his stake in the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer film studio to Sony Corp. for $2 billion that closed in April.
Tracinda left the door open in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing to rebuilding his GM holdings. But some analysts said that is doubtful since Kerkorian has to be concerned about what GM will get for its profitable finance unit, General Motors Acceptance Corp.
GM is looking to sell a controlling stake in the unit, but several possible bidders - including Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. - have said they're not interested.
S&P said recently that it would consider returning GMAC to an investment-grade rating if the controlling stake goes to a highly rated financial institution, but said it could lower the rating if the sale is delayed. Barry said it's likely the sale will be delayed and that several parties - including labor, GM management and bond holders - could try to block any sale proceeds from going to equity holders.
A Tracinda spokesman said Wednesday the company had no comment beyond what it disclosed in the SEC filing.
GM shares also took a beating this week after Toyota Motor Corp. said it would boost global production by 10 percent in 2006 to more than 9 million vehicles, which could allow it surpass GM in total unit sales for the first time.
GM has been struggling with U.S. market share losses as well as high labor and health care costs, and it might be on the hook for a costly bailout at Delphi Corp., its former parts division, which filed for bankruptcy in October. GM lost $1.6 billion in the third quarter.
Concerns about the automaker's future have also been evident in the credit default swaps market, where investors seeking insurance protection against defaults are paying a higher price.
"It is mostly a slowing in the trading that comes in the credit market at year-end, but some of it is related to news of Kerkorian's sale," said Michiko Whetten, analyst at Nomura Securities International Inc.
Whetten said investors looking to buy insurance for five-year GM corporate debt had to pay 12.49 cents for every dollar of debt they want to protect on Wednesday, slightly less than an all-time high of 12.72 cents on December 6.
---
AP Business Writers Aleksandrs Rozens in New York and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
---
On the Net:
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 12-17-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on 09-12-2005 for C @ $46.02.
As of Saturday, 12-17-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-08-2005 for GM @ $26.35.
As of Saturday, 12-17-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-10-2005 for RGM @ $15.44.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=u APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Sony Corp; TS:SNE; IG:3700;) (CO:General Motors Acceptance Corp; TS:GOM; IG:3300;) (CO:Citigroup Inc; TS:C; IG:8300;) (CO:Wells Fargo & Co; TS:WFC; IG:8300;) (CO:Toyota Motor Corp; TS:TM; IG:3300;) (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) )
KEYWORD: DETROIT
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
Energy Prices Top Business Story of 2005
Dec 21, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- When drivers line up to pay $3 a gallon for gasoline and offshore oil platforms go missing, it's much more than an energy story. It's the story of the economy.
Energy proved its economic power this year, as soaring prices reshaped the way consumers spend, put the squeeze on airlines and manufacturers, and ratcheted up pressure on already struggling U.S. automakers dependent on sales of SUVs. Then Hurricane Katrina hit.
The consequences and questions prompted by soaring oil and natural gas prices drove many of the year's top business stories, as chosen by the U.S. newspaper and broadcast editors surveyed by The Associated Press.
They named energy as the biggest business story of 2005, with Hurricane Katrina's impact on the economy ranked second.
It marked the second year in a row that energy prices rose to the top of the business headline ranking.
But some other perennial business newsmakers were notably absent from this year's Top 10 list, including the Federal Reserve's continuing campaign of interest rate hikes, competition from China and the fall and rise of Martha Stewart.
Here, according to editors polled by the AP, are the top business stories of 2005.
1. ENERGY PRICES: When oil topped $55 a barrel in 2004, it was big news. But by this fall, those numbers seemed almost quaint. Crude oil prices, already high, soared to $70 a barrel after hurricanes shuttered Gulf refineries and offshore sources of energy. It has eased since, but the still-high prices could crimp consumer spending and contribute to rising inflation into the new year. Energy continues to squeeze a broad range of businesses, and could force others to adjust their offerings.
2. KATRINA'S TOLL: The massive hurricane ravaged Louisiana and Mississippi, inflicting huge losses on insurers and businesses. Katrina, followed less than a month later by sister storm Rita, shut down much of the region's energy infrastructure. But the damage reached far beyond, disrupting shipping traffic, driving up prices for some goods and eliminating more than 600,000 jobs. The economic fallout was largely contained to the region, but on a scale that will take years to resolve.
3. AUTO WOES: The problems facing the domestic auto industry steadily worsened. General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., weighed down with high costs and faced with slowing demand for their vehicles, saw their debt downgraded. Auto parts maker Delphi Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection, and investors speculated whether GM would follow suit. The automakers won concessions from the autoworkers union for cuts in employee retirement and health care costs, but analysts wondered if the deals reached will be enough to allow a turnaround.
4. AIRLINES FALTER: Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. took refuge in bankruptcy, as the nation's established airlines continued their struggles to remake themselves. Both carriers fought through the year to cut their costs. At Northwest, that included replacing striking mechanics whose wages it had sought to cut.
5. PENSIONS RETIRED: Scores of troubled companies defaulted on their pension promises, turning over to the federal government retirement plans covering 235,000 workers and retirees. The problems that began with big steel companies and airlines earlier in the decade could continue if the auto and parts makers seek bankruptcy protection.
6. HOUSING COOLS: The red-hot housing and real estate market finally shows some signs of cooling after a record run. But not by much. Construction of new homes remains near record levels, and prices for existing homes remain sky-high in many markets. Still, rising interest rates have taken some of the edge off demand.
7. FED CHANGEOVER: After 18 years at the helm of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan is readying to step aside. President Bush has nominated replacement Ben Bernanke, currently chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, who has pledged not to veer dramatically off the course set by Greenspan.
8. JAIL TIME: Former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers and onetime Tyco International Ltd. CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, following jury trials on corporate fraud charges.
9. GROWTH CONTINUES: The economy showed surprising resilience, continuing to expand steadily despite soaring energy prices and a series of hurricanes. It grew 4.1 percent in the third quarter, and analysts said they expect that growth has extended - although likely at a slightly slower rate - through the end of the year.
10. RUSH TO COURT: Courts saw a rush of activity, as weary consumers sought bankruptcy protection before October, when a new law took effect tightening filing requirements. The rush pushed the number of bankruptcy petitions over 2 million for the year, well above the previous record of 1.66 million.
The following stories filled out the Top 20 in this year's survey:
11. A group of dissident unions split away from the AFL-CIO, reflecting bitter debate in the labor community over struggles to keep membership from eroding.
12. The Federal Reserve steadily raised bank lending rates, announcing its 13th hike in December.
13. Google Inc.'s profits soared, as shares of the Internet search giant soared above $400.
14. President Bush's efforts to overhaul and privatize Social Security stalled, leaving questions at the heart of the debate unresolved.
15. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched a public relations blitz in an attempt to turn back repeated criticism about its treatment of workers.
16. Telephone companies made a big push into broadband competition, taking on cable television companies.
17. Merck & Co. lost its first defense of Vioxx in a state court but won the second, cut 7,000 jobs and announced plans for plant closings. But after a mistrial in federal court, the drug maker continues its battle in to the New Year.
18. Martha Stewart completed a five-month jail sentence, after her conviction for lying to the government about a stock sale, and her return home put her back in the spotlight.
19. Federated Department Stores, parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, took over rival May Department Stores, owner of the Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field's chains.
20. Procter & Gamble Inc. bought Gillette Co., marrying some of the biggest names in consumer products.
By ADAM GELLER AP Business Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
Delphi: 'Unlikely' Holders to Get Anything
WASHINGTON, Dec 21, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Delphi Corp. said Wednesday in a regulatory filing that a shareholder request to form an equity committee in its bankruptcy case is "premature" and that it's "highly unlikely" that holders of common shares will receive anything in the reorganization.
The Troy, Mich.-based auto parts maker said it believes its shares are worthless.
According to the filing, the request for a committee came from Appaloosa Management L.P., a hedge fund based in Chatham, N.J., and run by David Tepper.
In October, Appaloosa reported owning 9.3 percent of Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy Oct. 8.
Delphi made its response to the committee request in a Dec. 19 letter to the trustee in its Chapter 11 case.
In its response, Delphi said its board of directors could represent all stakeholders in maximizing their recoveries in the company's bankruptcy.
The company asked the trustee to hold off on appointing an equity committee until a meeting of creditors scheduled to be held in February 2006.
Shares of Delphi were at 33.1 cents in early over-the-counter trading Wednesday, down from 34.3 cents in late trading Tuesday.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 12-17-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
GM shares down after Kerkorian's sale
(Repeats to fix headline)
(Adds background, analyst comment, stock activity, byline)
By Jui Chakravorty
DETROIT, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Shares of General Motors Corp.
hit a new low on Wednesday, following the sale of 12
million shares by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's investment arm.
GM stock, already down 50 percent this year, fell to its
lowest in more than 18 years after Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp.
reduced its stake in the company to 7.8 percent from 9.9
percent late Tuesday, citing corporate income tax savings.
The world's largest automaker has lost nearly $4 billion
this year amid high health-care and commodities costs, loss of
U.S. market share to foreign rivals and sinking sales of large
SUVs -- its long-time profit generators.
"Tracinda accumulating a 10-percent GM stake, much via
public tender, bred speculation that value-creating strategic
changes ... was more probable," Goldman Sachs analyst Robert
Barry wrote in a research note on Wednesday.
"Now we expect that sentiment to reverse, at a time when
fundamental pressures are growing, option value from UAW deals
on healthcare and a North American restructuring is gone, and
key restructuring architect, CFO Devine, is leaving."
GM plans to replace Chief Financial Officer John Devine
with Frederick "Fritz" Henderson, chairman of GM Europe, as it
launches a broader restructuring effort that will include the
slashing of 30,000 jobs and closing of 12 facilities in North
America.
Las Vegas investor Kerkorian said in a filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission he sold his stock for $252
million to take advantage of tax savings stemming from his
investment losses.
But Goldman's Barry said other issues likely influenced
Kerkorian's decision, such as difficulty in selling GM's
finance unit. "But simply realizing tax-related benefits seems
less likely to us," he said.
The automaker has said it plans to sell its finance arm --
General Motors Acceptance Corp. -- to restore an
investment-grade rating to the unit.
Barry also cited less upside from negotiations with the
United Auto Workers union on restructuring plans and
health-care concessions, less upside from new products and the
failure to get a representative on the GM board.
Talks for a seat on GM's board for Kerkorian's top aid,
Jerome York, broke down earlier this month.
But GM shares regained some ground after UBS analyst Rob
Hinchcliffe raised his rating on the stock to "neutral 2" from
"reduce 2." He did, however, add that he expects the automaker
to continue losing market share and burning cash in 2006.
Shares were off 2 cents, at $19.83 in mid-day trade, after
falling to $19.44 earlier in the day -- their lowest point in
more than 18 years, after adjusting for the spin-off of Delphi
Corp. in 1999.
Hinchcliffe also said the company's GMT-900 series -- a new
line of redesigned SUVs and trucks to be launched next year
that GM is very optimistic about -- is "not the savior for the
company."
Adding to the pressure is a possible strike at bankrupt
Delphi Corp., GM's main auto parts supplier. Delphi has said it
will ask the court to negate its labor contracts if it cannot
reach a deal with its union.
A strike at Delphi could shut down some plants and force GM
to burn through billions of dollars a week, analysts have
said.
Delphi says too soon to appoint equity committee
NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Bankrupt auto parts maker
Delphi Corp. on Wednesday rejected a shareholder
request to appoint an equity committee to represent Delphi
stockholders.
Delphi said in a regulatory filing it has asked the U.S.
trustee in the bankruptcy case to determine that it is
premature to appoint an equity committee, at least until Delphi
files financial statements in January.
Delphi said it is "highly unlikely" that common
stockholders will receive any value in the bankruptcy case, and
said official equity committees are rare in such cases. It
added that, because 10 of its 12 board members are independent,
shareholder interests are adequately represented.
The request for a committee was filed by Appaloosa
Management LP, a shareholder, the filing said.
Delphi filed for Chapter 11 protection in October, the
biggest bankruptcy in U.S. automotive history. Earlier this
week, it withdrew a proposal to slash employee wages and
benefits as it works toward an agreement with its labor unions
and with General Motors Corp. , its former parent.
Separately, Delphi said it named Brian Thelen as its vice
president of audit, effective Feb 1. Thelen will report to
Chief Financial Officer Robert Dellinger and to the board's
audit committee.
GM shares set to open lower after Kerkorian's sale
DETROIT, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Shares of General Motors Corp. are
expected to fall further in Wednesday trade after hitting an 18-year low
on
Tuesday, following the news of billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's investment arm
selling 12 million GM shares.
GM shares, already down 50 percent this year, fell 2.6 percent in
pre-market
trade on Wednesday after Kerkorian reduced his stake in the company to 7.8
percent from 9.9 percent late Tuesday.
"Tracinda accumulating a 10-percent GM stake, much via public tender,
bred
speculation that value-creating strategic changes ... was more probable,"
Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Barry wrote in a research note on Wednesday.
"Now we expect that sentiment to reverse, at a time when fundamental
pressures are growing, option value from UAW deals on healthcare and a
North
American restructuring is gone, and key restructuring architect, CFO
Devine, is
leaving."
The world's largest automaker earlier this month announced plans to
replace
Chief Financial Officer John Devine with Frederick "Fritz" Henderson,
chairman
of GM Europe.
Las Vegas investor Kerkorian said in a filing with the Securities and
Exchange Commission that he sold his stock for $252 million to take
advantage of
tax savings stemming from his investment losses.
GM's slide in shares reflects more pessimism over its financial outlook
as
it struggles with high health-care and commodities costs, loss of U.S.
market
share to foreign rivals and sinking sales of large SUVs, its long-time
profit
generators.
To make matters worse, a strike at bankrupt Delphi Corp. could
shut down plants and force the automaker to burn through billions of
dollars a
week, analysts say.
GM shares closed at $19.85 in Monday trade on the New York Stock
Exchange.
They fell to $19.63 earlier in the day -- their lowest level since 1987,
after
being adjusted for the spinoff of Delphi Corp. in 1999.
Delphi to Raise Satellite Radio Leadership at CES 2006
Major satellite radio announcement anticipated at media briefing on Jan. 4
NASCAR driver Kyle Busch will attend Delphi CES media open house on Jan. 4
Release Date: December 20, 2005
TROY, Mich. Delphi Corp. anticipates making a major announcement about its satellite radio business during the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Jan. 4-8, 2006.
Delphi's CES media briefing will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 4, from 1 to 1:45 p.m. PT at the Sands Convention Center, Veronese Room #2504.
Delphi is the world's leading provider of satellite radio receivers, producing more than 8.5 million units for OEMs, retailers and consumers since the product's introduction in 2001.
Delphi's CES announcement will outline how the company plans to make the satellite radio experience available to even more people.
"We're proud that more people listen to satellite radio on a Delphi receiver than any other manufacturer in the world," said Joe Damato, director, Delphi consumer electronics. "Consumers who experience satellite radio come to love it. The technology has great potential, and we want to help bring it to as many people as possible. We are committed to help maximize this potential."
Delphi provides factory-installed satellite radios to more than 10 OE customers, including General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Audi, VW, Ford, Porsche, Mercedes, Pana-Pacific, and various commercial vehicle manufacturers.
In the retail market, Delphi has built a strong presence by continuously introducing breakthrough products, including the first consumer model in 2002 (the Delphi XM SKYFi), the first satellite radio boom box in 2002, and most recently, the first personal, portable handheld unit, the Delphi MyFi2Go.
Beyond Satellite Radio Safety, Information and Connectivity
Beyond satellite radio, Delphi will highlight its product portfolio in the areas of information, connectivity and safety. "Our electronics and systems expertise allows us to bring a wide range of technologies to the market that make driving safer and more fun," said Robert Schumacher, Delphi Electronics & Safety general director, advanced product development and business strategy. "We're helping create a cocoon of safety' for the vehicle. We've introduced easy-to-use touch-screen navigation systems. We're advancing the use of Wi-Fi to allow consumers to access hot spots.' When it comes to innovative electronics technologies in a variety of product areas, Delphi is bringing it all together."
DELPHI TECHNOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS AT CES
* Mobile Video. Delphi will feature its OEM overhead entertainment systems.
* Navigation Systems - Delphi will demonstrate its current line of navigation systems that are more intuitive and easier to use. Products will include Delphi's new Integration Navigation Radio that features both voice activation and touch screen, and the first OEM application of real-time traffic services in North America.
* High-Value Telematics Delphi will make an announcement on newly conceived use for its high-value telematics. Delphi will also show its high-value telematics transceiver modems for Stellar Satellite Communications Ltd., for use on the ORBCOMM satellite network.
* Safety Systems - Delphi will be showing how it has developed a portfolio of products that will help provide a "safety cocoon" around the vehicle. Products include active night vision, Forewarn® Smart Cruise Control with Stop & Go, Lane Departure Warning, Side Alert, Dual-Beam Back-Up Aid, Integrated Back-Up Aid with camera, Front Detection, and Workload Management.
* Wi-Fi: The Next-Generation of 802.11 - Delphi will demonstrate Wi-Fi, the latest in 802.11 technology. The established wireless networking standard is designed to eliminate the need for connectors, allowing consumers to wirelessly transfer data between entertainment and information systems in the home or office and the vehicle.
* Satellite Radio The new RoadyXT the smallest, thinnest satellite radio on the market will be on display along with the Delphi MyFi, the industry's first personal, portable XM2Go satellite radio, the Delphi SKYFi2 the only satellite radio with the 30 minute pause record feature and the Delphi XM Signal Repeater the industry's only product that rebroadcasts satellite radio in the home environment.
* Multimedia Radio Delphi will introduce a new multimedia radio receiver that is packed with features including MP3, Secure Digital Card (compatible) voice notes and more.
DELPHI MEDIA CONFERENCE WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4, AT 1 P.M. PT
Delphi's CES media conference will be held at the Sands Convention Center, Veronese Room #2504, on Jan. 4 from 1 to 1:45 p.m. PT.
The news will be presented by Joe Damato, Delphi director, consumer electronics; Bob Schumacher, Delphi Electronics & Safety general director, advanced product development and business strategy; and Beth Schwarting, general director, Delphi Electronics & Safety global sales and marketing. Immediately following the media briefing, the featured speakers and the following executives will be available for media interviews:
* Jeff Owens, president, Delphi Electronics & Safety
* Francisco (Frank) A. Ordonez, president, Delphi Products & Service Solutions
* Ken Erickson, business line executive, Delphi Integrated Media Systems
DELPHI MEDIA OPEN HOUSE WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4, AT 2:30 P.M. PT
Delphi will host a media open house on Wednesday, Jan. 4, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. PT at its exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center (booth 5206).
The reception's highlight: NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, who will be on hand to sign autographs.
Along with Kellogg's, Delphi was a major associate sponsor of the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Busch during the past NASCAR season. Busch won NASCAR's Rookie of the Year by winning two races (California and Phoenix) and adding nine other top-five finishes.
A host of Delphi subject matter experts also will be available for interviews and to demonstrate the new technologies.
For more information on Delphi's CES activities or to arrange a media interview, contact Milton Beach, Laura Joseph or John Shea of Delphi Media Relations (contact info below).
For more information about Delphi and its subsidiaries, visit Delphi's media room at www.delphi.com/media.
This press release as well as other statements made by Delphi may contain forward-looking statements within the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results, express or implied, by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the ability of the Company to operate pursuant to the terms of the DIP facility; the Company's ability to obtain court approval with respect to motions in the chapter 11 proceeding prosecuted by it from time to time; the ability of the Company to develop, prosecute, confirm and consummate one or more plans of reorganization with respect to the chapter 11 cases; risks associated with third parties seeking and obtaining court approval to terminate or shorten the exclusivity period for the Company to propose and confirm one or more plans of reorganization, for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee or to convert the cases to chapter 7 cases; the ability of the Company to obtain and maintain normal terms with vendors and service providers; the Company's ability to maintain contracts that are critical to its operations; the potential adverse impact of the chapter 11 cases on the Company's liquidity or results of operations; the ability of the Company to fund and execute its business plan; the ability of the Company to attract, motivate and/or retain key executives and associates; and the ability of the Company to attract and retain customers. Other risk factors are listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including, but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K Delphi disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Similarly, these and other factors, including the terms of any reorganization plan ultimately confirmed, can affect the value of the Company's various pre-petition liabilities, common stock and/or other equity securities. No assurance can be given as to what values, if any, will be ascribed in the bankruptcy proceedings to each of these constituencies. Accordingly, the Company urges that the appropriate caution be exercised with respect to existing and future investments in any of these liabilities and/or securities.
For more information contact:
Delphi - OEM (Vehicle Electronics)
Milton Beach
Telephone: +1 765.451.0655
Delphi - Aftermarket (Including retail satellite radio)
Laura Joseph
Telephone: +1 248.267.8643
Delphi - Corporate (General information, executive interviews)
John Shea
Telephone: +1 248.813.2485
Delphi Withdraws Wage Proposal for Unions
DETROIT, Dec 19, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Auto supplier Delphi Corp., which filed for bankruptcy two months ago, said Monday it is withdrawing a wage proposal that angered its unions and will delay action to cancel its union contracts in an effort to reach a compromise on its restructuring plan.
The United Auto Workers, which represents the majority of Delphi's 34,000 hourly workers, called the announcement "a step in the right direction." UAW leaders had refused to negotiate with Delphi after the company asked the union to accept wage cuts of more than 60 percent as part of its restructuring.
"We have always believed that it is in everyone's interest for these matters to be settled by the parties through the collective bargaining process," the union said in a statement.
It was the second time Delphi has delayed a filing that would ask the bankruptcy judge to cancel its union contracts. Delphi originally planned to file that request last Friday, but delayed the action until Jan. 20 after restructuring talks with its former parent, General Motors Corp.
Delphi said Monday it will delay the filing until at least Feb. 17, although the company warned it might put its previous wage offer back on the table depending on the outcome of negotiations between GM and its unions.
Delphi would risk a damaging strike if it asks a judge to void its union contracts. GM, its largest customer, could provide financial assistance or offer to hire back workers to ensure that a strike doesn't happen. GM and Delphi haven't revealed the details of their negotiations.
"Delphi is committed to completing its transformation plan as quickly as possible and to that end, does not intend to comment further on discussions with the unions or GM," Delphi said in a statement.
In October, Delphi asked the UAW to lower hourly workers' wages from $27 an hour to $9.50 to $10.50 an hour, which the union rejected. Delphi raised that to $10 to $12.50 an hour in its proposal last month.
Delphi says those wages are competitive with other union and nonunion auto suppliers. But UAW President Ron Gettelfinger called the proposals "ridiculous." Last week, Gettelfinger said the UAW wasn't in negotiations with Delphi, although it has begun talking to GM about the Delphi situation.
"We hope the company's announcement results in a meaningful change in its position, but only time will tell if that is the case," the UAW said in its statement Monday.
GM shares fell 84 cents, or 3.8 percent, to close at $21.05 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
---
On the Net:
Delphi Corp.: http://www.delphi.com
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
United Auto Workers: http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
DELPHI CORP files Form 8-K/A, Amendment to Current Report
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 8-K/A
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of report (Date of earliest event reported) December 7, 2005
Delphi Corporation
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Delaware 1-14787 38-3430473
(State or Other Jurisdiction
of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)
5725 Delphi Drive, Troy, MI 48098
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(248) 813-2000
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions ( see General Instruction A.2. below):
o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXPLANATORY NOTE
ITEM 4.01 CHANGES IN REGISTRANT’S CERTIFYING ACCOUNTANT
ITEM 9.01 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS
SIGNATURE
EXHIBIT INDEX
Letter from Deloitte & Touche LLP
Table of Contents
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Delphi Corporation is filing this Form 8-K/A as Amendment No. 1 to its Current Report on Form 8-K (the “Form 8-K”) that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 13, 2005 solely for the purpose of filing Deloitte & Touche LLP’s letter addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Item 304(a)(3) of Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The entire content of the Form 8-K incorporating Deloitte & Touche LLP’s letter is set forth below.
ITEM 4.01 CHANGES IN REGISTRANT’S CERTIFYING ACCOUNTANT
On December 7, 2005, after reviewing proposals from four accounting firms, including Deloitte & Touche LLP (“Deloitte & Touche”), the Company’s current independent public accountants, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Delphi Corporation (“Delphi” or the “Company”) selected Ernst & Young LLP to serve as independent public accountants, effective January 1, 2006, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006. The Board of Directors concurred with the Audit Committee’s selection. Delphi’s application for an order authorizing the retention of Deloitte & Touche to serve as Delphi’s independent public accountants for the year ending December 31, 2005 is pending before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The change was not the result of any disagreement between Delphi and Deloitte & Touche on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure or any decision by Deloitte & Touche to resign or refuse to stand for re-election.
The independent auditors’ reports of Deloitte & Touche for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 did not contain an adverse or disclaimer of opinion, nor were such reports qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principles; however, the report of Deloitte & Touche on the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, included an emphasis paragraph concerning the restatement of the Company’s financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002. The report of Deloitte & Touche on the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2003, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, included an emphasis paragraph concerning the restatement of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2002 and 2001 to reflect an inventory accounting change required to be applied by retroactive restatement of prior year financial statements.
In connection with the audits of Delphi’s financial statements for each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003 and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, there were no disagreements between Delphi and Deloitte & Touche on any matters of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Deloitte & Touche, would have caused Deloitte & Touche to make reference to the matter in their reports. During the two most recent fiscal years and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, there have been two reportable events, as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that were discussed with the Company’s Audit Committee. In performing the audit of Delphi’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2004 Deloitte & Touche advised Delphi that material weaknesses existed in Delphi’s internal control over financial reporting. The material weaknesses identified are discussed in Item 9A of Delphi’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. Also, in September 2004 Deloitte advised Delphi’s Audit Committee that in view of the commencement of an internal investigation into the accounting for a number of prior year transactions, Deloitte & Touche would be required to extend the scope of its audit and that the completion of the investigation could materially affect Deloitte & Touche’s previously issued independent auditors’ reports on the Company’s financial statements. The results of the investigation and the restatement of the Company’s previously issued financial statements are also discussed in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.
Delphi has requested Deloitte & Touche to furnish Delphi with a letter addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating whether Deloitte & Touche agrees with the above statements. A copy of Deloitte & Touche’s letter is included as Exhibit 99(a) to this Current Report on Form 8-K/A.
During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2003 and 2004 and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, neither Delphi nor anyone acting on its behalf consulted Ernst & Young LLP regarding (1) either the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on Delphi’s consolidated financial statements or (2) any matter that was either the subject of a disagreement with Deloitte & Touche on accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedures, which, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Deloitte & Touche, would have caused Deloitte & Touche to make reference to the matter in their report, or a reportable event as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Delphi provided Ernst & Young LLP with this Form 8-K prior to filing it with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Table of Contents
ITEM 9.01 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS
(c) Exhibits. The following exhibit is being filed as part of this report.
Exhibit
Number Description
99 (a)
Letter from Deloitte & Touche LLP to the Securities and Exchange Commission
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
DELPHI CORPORATION
(Registrant)
Date: December 19, 2005 By: /s/ JOHN D. SHEEHAN
(John D. Sheehan,
Vice President and Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller)
Delphi Corporation
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 38-3430473
(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification Number)
5725 Delphi Drive
Troy, Michigan 48098
(Address of Registrant’s principal executive offices)
ASEC Manufacturing Savings Plan
Delphi Mechatronic Systems Savings-Stock Purchase Program
Delphi Personal Savings Plan for Hourly-Rate Employees in the United States
Delphi Savings-Stock Purchase Program for Salaried Employees in the United States
(Full title of the plan)
Robert Dellinger
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Delphi Corporation
5725 Delphi Drive, Troy, Michigan 48098
(248) 813-2000
(Name, address and telephone number of agent for service)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
PART II
SIGNATURE
Table of Contents
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
This Post-Effective Amendment No. 1 to Registration Statement on Form S-8, Registration No. 333-106221 (the “Registration Statement”), is being filed to deregister certain shares of common stock, par value $.01 per share (the “Shares”), of Delphi Corporation (the “Registrant”) that were registered for issuance pursuant to the ASEC Manufacturing Savings Plan, Delphi Mechatronic Systems Savings-Stock Purchase Program, Delphi Personal Savings Plan for Hourly-Rate Employees in the United States, and the Delphi Savings-Stock Purchase Program for Salaried Employees in the United States (the “Plans”). The Registration Statement registered 75,100,000 Shares issuable pursuant to the Plans, including 300,000 Shares issuable under the ASEC Manufacturing Savings Plan, 300,000 Shares issuable under the Delphi Mechatronic Systems Savings-Stock Purchase Program, 17,500,000 Shares issuable under the Delphi Personal Savings Plan for Hourly-Rate Employees in the United States, and 57,000,000 Shares issuable under the Delphi Savings-Stock Purchase Program for Salaried Employees in the United States, as well as an indeterminate amount of interests offered or sold pursuant to each of the Plans. The Registration Statement is hereby amended to deregister the remaining unissued Shares.
2
Table of Contents
PART II
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Troy, State of Michigan, on December 19, 2005.
DELPHI CORPORATION
(Registrant)
By: /s/ ROBERT S. MILLER
Robert S. Miller, Chairman
of the Board of Directors and
Chief Executive Officer
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed on December 19, 2005 by the following persons in the capacities indicated.
KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints Robert S. Miller and Rodney O’Neal, and each of them, each acting alone, his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person and in his or her name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, in connection with the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, relating to the ASEC Manufacturing Savings Plan, the Delphi Mechatronic Systems Savings-Stock Purchase Program, the Delphi Personal Savings Plan for Hourly-Rate Employees in the United States, and the Delphi Savings-Stock Purchase Program for Salaried Employees in the United States, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, to sign the Registration Statement, including any and all stickers and post-effective amendments to the Registration Statement, and to sign any and all additional registration statements that are filed pursuant to General Instruction E to Form S-8 or Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and any applicable securities exchange or securities self-regulatory body, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, each acting alone, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or their substitutes or substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.
Signature Title
/s/ ROBERT S. MILLER
(Robert S. Miller)
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ RODNEY O’NEAL
(Rodney O’Neal)
Director, President and
Chief Operating Officer
3
Table of Contents
/s/ ROBERT J. DELLINGER
(Robert Dellinger)
Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
/s/ JOHN D. SHEEHAN
Chief Restructuring Officer,
(John D. Sheehan)
Chief Accounting Officer and
Controller
(Principal Accounting Officer)
/s/ JOHN D. OPIE
Director
(John D. Opie)
(Lead Independent Director)
/s/ OSCAR DE PAULA BERNARDES NETO
Director
(Oscar de Paula Bernardes Neto)
/s/ ROBERT H. BRUST
Director
(Robert H. Brust)
/s/ VIRGIS W. COLBERT
Director
(Virgis W. Colbert)
/s/ DAVID N. FARR
Director
(David N. Farr)
/s/ DR. BERND GOTTSCHALK
Director
(Dr. Bernd Gottschalk)
/s/ SHOICHIRO IRIMAJIRI
(Shoichiro Irimajiri)
Director
/s/ RAYMOND MILCHOVICH
Director
(Raymond Milchovich)
/s/ CRAIG G. NAYLOR
Director
(Craig G. Naylor)
/s/ JOHN H. WALKER
Director
(John H. Walker)
4
Table of Contents
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the administrator of each Plan has duly caused the Registration Statement to be signed on behalf of each such Plan by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Troy, State of Michigan as of December 19, 2005.
ASEC MANUFACTURING SAVINGS PLAN
By: /s/ F. THOMAS SPRUNGER
Name: F. Thomas Sprunger
Title: Manager, Human Resources
DELPHI MECHATRONIC SYSTEMS SAVINGS
STOCK PURCHASE PROGRAM
By: /s/ AUGUST LUKASKO
Name: August Lukasko
Title: Director, Human Resources
DELPHI PERSONAL SAVINGS PLAN FOR
HOURLY-RATE EMPLOYEES IN THE UNITED
STATES
By: /s/ JOHN L. DEMARCO
Name: John L. DeMarco
Title: Director, Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans
DELPHI SAVINGS-STOCK PURCHASE
PROGRAM FOR SALARIED EMPLOYEES IN
THE UNITED STATES
By: /s/ JOHN L. DEMARCO
Name: John L. DeMarco
Title: Director, Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans
Delphi Focuses Efforts On Reaching Consensual Agreement
Company exploring workable labor solution and entering 'quiet period' until agreement is reached
TROY, Mich., Dec 19, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Delphi Corp. reaffirmed today its commitment to reaching a consensual agreement with its unions and General Motors on a comprehensive restructuring. The company also announced in light of GM's recent engagement and discussions with the UAW, Delphi is withdrawing its Nov. 15 proposal to its unions which had been based solely on Delphi's financial constraints. Following these discussions, Delphi said it will continue to work toward creating effective solutions acceptable to Delphi and its stakeholders, as well as to the UAW, GM and other unions. The company said that to further facilitate discussions it would defer the filing of Section 1113/1114 motions in the bankruptcy court until at least February 17.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020315/DEF002LOGO )
The company's primary short-term focus is to reach consensual agreements enabling competitiveness for Delphi's core U.S. operations, by modifying current labor agreements and realigning Delphi's global product portfolio and manufacturing footprint to preserve the company's core business. The consensual agreements will help preserve the value of the company, provide viable jobs in the U.S. for employees and better serve customers globally. Delphi is committed to completing its transformation plan as quickly as possible and to that end, does not intend to comment further on discussions with the unions or GM.
The company noted that depending on the outcome of discussions, it may be necessary to return to its Nov. 15 proposal.
Additional information regarding Delphi's filing under the United States Bankruptcy Code, including access to court documents and other general information about the chapter 11 cases, is available online at http://www.delphidocket.com .
This press release as well as other statements made by Delphi may contain forward-looking statements within the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results, express or implied, by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the ability of the Company to operate pursuant to the terms of the DIP facility; the Company's ability to obtain court approval with respect to motions in the chapter 11 proceeding prosecuted by it from time to time; the ability of the Company to develop, prosecute, confirm and consummate one or more plans of reorganization with respect to the chapter 11 cases; risks associated with third parties seeking and obtaining court approval to terminate or shorten the exclusivity period for the Company to propose and confirm one or more plans of reorganization, for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee or to convert the cases to chapter 7 cases; the ability of the Company to obtain and maintain normal terms with vendors and service providers; the Company's ability to maintain contracts that are critical to its operations; the potential adverse impact of the chapter 11 cases on the Company's liquidity or results of operations; the ability of the Company to fund and execute its business plan; the ability of the Company to attract, motivate and/or retain key executives and associates; and the ability of the Company to attract and retain customers. Other risk factors are listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including, but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Delphi disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Similarly, these and other factors, including the terms of any reorganization plan ultimately confirmed, can affect the value of the Company's various pre-petition liabilities, common stock and/or other equity securities. No assurance can be given as to what values, if any, will be ascribed in the bankruptcy proceedings to each of these constituencies. Accordingly, the Company urges that the appropriate caution be exercised with respect to existing and future investments in any of these liabilities and/or securities.
SOURCE Delphi Corporation
CONTACT: Lindsey Williams, +1-248-813-2528, or Claudia Piccinin, +1-248-813-2942, both of
Delphi Corporation
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.delphi.com/media
www.prnewswire.com
Copyright (C) 2005 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
UPDATE 2-GM shares fall to 18-year low on Toyota forecast
(Updates stock activity, adds recalls)
By Jui Chakravorty
DETROIT, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Shares of General Motors Corp.
fell to an 18-year low on Tuesday after Toyota Motor
Corp. <7203.T> unveiled production plans for 2006,
increasing fears that GM will be toppled by its Japanese rival
as the world's largest automaker.
Toyota said it plans to make a record 9.06 million cars in
2006, just shy of the 9.15 million cars and trucks that some
analysts expect GM to build next year.
Shares of GM were down $1.05 cents, or 5 percent, at $20 on
the New York Stock Exchange. The stock fell to $19.63 earlier
in the day -- its lowest point since 1987, after being adjusted
for its spin-off of Delphi Corp. in 1999.
Shares have plunged nearly 50 percent this year.
GM does not provide sales or production forecasts on an
annual basis, but some analysts said the current trend points
to GM's inevitable tumble to second place for the first time in
70 years.
"Toyota will probably be the largest producer in the world
at the end of 2006," said Richard Hilgert, auto analyst at
Fitch Ratings, citing GM's slumping sales of large sport
utility vehicles in the fuel-conscious market.
Burnham Securities analyst David Healy expects GM to
produce 9.15 million vehicles in 2006, and expects Toyota to
surpass GM as the world's largest automaker in 2007.
Toyota's production increase of 10 percent comes at a time
when GM is shrinking capacity by slashing 30,000 jobs and
closing 12 facilities in North America.
The automaker has lost nearly $4 billion this year as it
struggles with high health-care and commodities costs, loss of
U.S. market share to foreign rivals and sinking sales of large
SUVs, its long-time profit generators.
"Investors are reacting to the Toyota figures," Argus
Research analyst Kevin Tynan said. "Although it shouldn't be
any great surprise. ... We've been saying for a while that at
the current pace, Toyota will surpass GM next year."
Tynan said at current gas prices the Japanese automaker
would overtake GM by the end of 2006.
Tynan also said many investors may be cutting losses at the
end of year to offset gains made in 2005.
To make matters worse at GM, a strike at bankrupt Delphi
could shut down plants and force the automaker to burn through
billions of dollars a week, analysts say.
GM is said to be considering offering Delphi workers buyout
packages, which would add to the automaker's obligation of up
to $12 billion to former employees who were sent to Delphi
after the spin-off.
But analysts say they would rather see GM pay for buyouts
instead of facing a strike.
As part of its broader restructuring efforts, GM also
negotiated a deal with its union that would save it $1 billion
a year in health-care costs.
Analysts have said the cost-cutting efforts are not enough
to turn things around at the auto giant until it starts
regaining market share.
GM has also said it plans to sell a controlling stake in
its General Motors Acceptance Corp. finance arm to restore
investment-grade rating to the unit. But analysts have said a
sale is not imminent.
"GMAC is definitely not going to be sold in 2005. So
there's certainly going to be no news headline pop into the
rest of this year. That's another reason investors are
selling."
Separately, GM on Tuesday recalled nearly 426,000 Chevrolet
Express and GMC Savana vehicles, citing belt buckles that would
not latch or unlatch. The recall affects the 2003 to 2006
models, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said.
((Editing by Brian Moss; jui.chakravorty@reuters.com; Reuters
Messaging: jui.chakravorty.reuters.com@reuters.net; +1 313 967
1903))
(C) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
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prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters
sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of
companies around the world.
UPDATE 1-GM shares fall to 18-year low on Toyota forecast
(Adds analyst comment, background, byline)
By Jui Chakravorty
DETROIT, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Shares of General Motors Corp.
fell to an 18-year low on Tuesday after Toyota Motor
Corp. <7203.T> unveiled production plans for 2006,
increasing fears that GM will be toppled by its Japanese rival
as the world's largest automaker.
Toyota said it plans to make a record 9.06 million cars in
2006, just shy of the 9.15 million cars and trucks that some
analysts expect GM to build next year.
Shares of GM were down 76 cents, or 3.6 percent, at $20.29
on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock fell more than 5
percent to $19.63 earlier in the day -- its lowest point since
1987, after being adjusted for its spin-off of Delphi Corp.
in 1999.
Shares have plunged nearly 50 percent this year.
GM does not provide sales or production forecasts on an
annual basis, but some analysts said the current trend points
to GM's inevitable tumble to second place for the first time in
70 years.
"Toyota will probably be the largest producer in the world
at the end of 2006," said Richard Hilgert, auto analyst at
Fitch Ratings, citing GM's slumping sales of large sport
utility vehicles in the fuel-conscious market.
Burnham Securities analyst David Healy expects GM to
produce 9.15 million vehicles in 2006, and expects Toyota to
surpass GM as the world's largest automaker in 2007.
Toyota's production increase of 10 percent comes at a time
when GM is shrinking capacity by slashing 30,000 jobs and
closing 12 facilities in North America.
The automaker has lost nearly $4 billion this year as it
struggles with high health-care and commodities costs, loss of
U.S. market share to foreign rivals and sinking sales of large
SUVs, its long-time profit generators.
"Investors are reacting to the Toyota figures," Argus
Research analyst Kevin Tynan said. "Although it shouldn't be
any great surprise. ... We've been saying for a while that at
the current pace, Toyota will surpass GM next year."
Tynan said at current gas prices the Japanese automaker
would overtake GM by the end of 2006.
Tynan also said many investors may be cutting losses at the
end of year to offset gains made in 2005.
To make matters worse at GM, a strike at bankrupt Delphi
could shut down plants and force the automaker to burn through
billions of dollars a week, analysts say.
GM is said to be considering offering Delphi workers buyout
packages, which would add to the automaker's obligation of up
to $12 billion to former employees who were sent to Delphi
after the spin-off.
But analysts say they would rather see GM pay for buyouts
instead of facing a strike.
As part of its broader restructuring efforts, GM also
negotiated a deal with its union that would save it $1 billion
a year in health-care costs.
Analysts have said the cost-cutting efforts are not enough
to turn things around at the auto giant until it starts
regaining market share.
GM has also said it plans to sell a controlling stake in
its General Motors Acceptance Corp. finance arm to restore
investment-grade rating to the unit. But analysts have said a
sale is not imminent.
"GMAC is definitely not going to be sold in 2005. So
there's certainly going to be no news headline pop into the
rest of this year. That's another reason investors are
selling."
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Michigan governor signs bills to aid manufacturers
CHICAGO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm
sent a holiday gift to the state's ailing manufacturing sector
on Tuesday, signing into law bills that will give them about
$600 million in tax relief over four years.
"This legislation provides needed incentives for Michigan
companies to invest in their facilities, create new jobs and
consolidate operations here," the Democratic governor said in a
statement.
The bill package, which passed the Republican-controlled
legislature last week, creates a 15 percent personal property
tax credit beginning in 2006 and a 100 percent new investment
credit on property directly related to jobs transferred to
Michigan in 2007 and 2008. Michigan-based companies that export
goods will also get a tax advantage with a change in the
state's sales tax apportionment factor.
Auto suppliers Delphi Corp. , and Visteon Corp.
, will have their current tax status maintained, allowing
them to avoid a massive tax hike at the end of this year.
Major Michigan-based manufacturers, including Delphi, which
filed for bankruptcy protection in October, and auto giant
General Motors Corp. have announced job cuts as they
attempt to restructure their operations.
Michigan, meanwhile, has been struggling with eroding tax
revenue and high unemployment rates.
House Speaker Craig DeRoche said Michigan was ready to help
automotive manufacturers retain and create new jobs in the
state. He added in a statement that the bill package was a
strong first step in making Michigan more attractive for job
creation.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Dec 20
Dec 20 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in
The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified
these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* BP and Exxon Mobil were charged by an
Alaska state authority with conspiring to withhold natural gas
from U.S. markets and reinforce control over North Slope
supplies in an effort to drive up prices.
* Dutch bank ABN Amro was fined $80 million by the
Treasury and Fed for violating U.S. money-laundering laws and
sanctions against Iran and Libya.
* U.S. President George W. Bush sought again to regain
political momentum. In a White House news conference, he
occasionally blasted critics of his war on terrorism and said
warrantless spying was an essential tool.
* Cablevision Systems Corp. shelved plans for a
special $3 billion dividend, saying it is in technical
violation of at least one banking agreement.
* U.S. Congress voted to raise federal deposit insurance on
retirement accounts to $250,000 and increase ceilings on
deposit accounts.
* China revised its GDP figures in a report that said
output was 16.8 per cent larger last year than previously
reported, largely the result of a better understanding of the
size of its services sector.
* Delphi Corp. withdrew a contract proposal that
would have cut wages by roughly two-thirds, citing talks
between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors Corp.
.
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Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
UPDATE 1-Shares of GM, Ford down on market-share loss
(Adds background, stock activity, analyst quote, byline)
By Jui Chakravorty
DETROIT, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Shares of General Motors Corp.
fell nearly 4 percent on Monday after a report from J.D. Power
and Associates said the Big Three U.S. automakers continued to
lose retail market share to Japanese rivals in December.
The industry tracking firm's closely watched Power
Information Network said GM's retail market share fell
to 21.7 percent in the first 11 days of December, from 22.4
percent in the same period a year ago.
Ford Motor Co.'s retail market share fell to 15.8
percent compared with 17.9 percent a year earlier, and
DaimlerChrysler AG's share fell to 12.6 percent from
13.3 percent, the study said.
Toyota Motor Corp. <7203.T> and Honda Motor Co. Ltd.
<7267.T> gained market share in the same period.
GM shares fell 84 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $21.05 in
Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
"The loss of market share is a continuation of what we have
been seeing for a long time," Burnham Securities analyst David
Healy said. "And it does not please anyone."
Healy expects December sales of foreign brands to rise 5
percent from a year earlier, while expecting a double-digit
drop in December sales at GM and Ford.
Shares of GM have plunged more than 47 percent this year,
as the world's largest automaker has struggled with not only
loss of market share to foreign rivals, but high health-care
and commodities costs and slumping sales of its large sport
utility vehicles -- its longtime profit generators.
To compound matters, a strike at GM's main auto parts
supplier -- bankrupt Delphi Corp. -- could shut down
plants and cause GM to burn through billions of dollars a week,
analysts have said.
Delphi has said it will ask the court to negate its labor
contracts if it does not reach an agreement with its union.
Ford shares, which have fallen 44 percent this year, fell 6
cents, or 0.7 percent, to $8.24 in Monday trade. Fitch Ratings
on Monday cut its ratings on Ford to junk status, reflecting
ongoing market share losses, slumping sales of SUVs and
competition from foreign rivals.
Toyota's retail market share rose to 17.1 percent from 15.5
percent in the first 11 days of December, while Honda's share
rose to 11.8 percent from 10.5 percent a year earlier. Nissan
Motor Co. Ltd's <7201.T> market share remained flat at 7.4
percent.
Overall, industry new-vehicle sales were down 14 percent
for the first 11 days of December, the J.D. Power report said.
"December 2004 was an exceptionally strong sales month ...
driven by year-end incentive programs," Bob Schnorbus, chief
economist of global forecasting at J.D. Power said. "That makes
any year-over-year comparison hard to make, especially with
regard to the Big Three."
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Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Delphi Withdraws Wage Proposal for Unions
DETROIT, Dec 19, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Auto supplier Delphi Corp., which filed for bankruptcy two months ago, said Monday it is withdrawing a wage proposal that angered its unions and will delay action to cancel its union contracts in an effort to reach a compromise on its restructuring plan.
The United Auto Workers, which represents the majority of Delphi's 34,000 hourly workers, called the announcement "a step in the right direction." UAW leaders had refused to negotiate with Delphi after the company asked the union to accept wage cuts of more than 60 percent as part of its restructuring.
"We have always believed that it is in everyone's interest for these matters to be settled by the parties through the collective bargaining process," the union said in a statement.
It was the second time Delphi has delayed a filing that would ask the bankruptcy judge to cancel its union contracts. Delphi originally planned to file that request last Friday, but delayed the action until Jan. 20 after restructuring talks with its former parent, General Motors Corp.
Delphi said Monday it will delay the filing until at least Feb. 17, although the company warned it might put its previous wage offer back on the table depending on the outcome of negotiations between GM and its unions.
Delphi would risk a damaging strike if it asks a judge to void its union contracts. GM, its largest customer, could provide financial assistance or offer to hire back workers to ensure that a strike doesn't happen. GM and Delphi haven't revealed the details of their negotiations.
"Delphi is committed to completing its transformation plan as quickly as possible and to that end, does not intend to comment further on discussions with the unions or GM," Delphi said in a statement.
GM shares were down 61 cents, or nearly 3 percent, to $21.28 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
---
Delphi Corp., http://www.delphi.com
General Motors Corp., http://www.gm.com
United Auto Workers, http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Delphi Focuses Efforts On Reaching Consensual Agreement
Company exploring workable labor solution and entering 'quiet period' until agreement is reached
TROY, Mich., Dec 19, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Delphi Corp. reaffirmed today its commitment to reaching a consensual agreement with its unions and General Motors on a comprehensive restructuring. The company also announced in light of GM's recent engagement and discussions with the UAW, Delphi is withdrawing its Nov. 15 proposal to its unions which had been based solely on Delphi's financial constraints. Following these discussions, Delphi said it will continue to work toward creating effective solutions acceptable to Delphi and its stakeholders, as well as to the UAW, GM and other unions. The company said that to further facilitate discussions it would defer the filing of Section 1113/1114 motions in the bankruptcy court until at least February 17.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020315/DEF002LOGO )
The company's primary short-term focus is to reach consensual agreements enabling competitiveness for Delphi's core U.S. operations, by modifying current labor agreements and realigning Delphi's global product portfolio and manufacturing footprint to preserve the company's core business. The consensual agreements will help preserve the value of the company, provide viable jobs in the U.S. for employees and better serve customers globally. Delphi is committed to completing its transformation plan as quickly as possible and to that end, does not intend to comment further on discussions with the unions or GM.
The company noted that depending on the outcome of discussions, it may be necessary to return to its Nov. 15 proposal.
Additional information regarding Delphi's filing under the United States Bankruptcy Code, including access to court documents and other general information about the chapter 11 cases, is available online at http://www.delphidocket.com .
This press release as well as other statements made by Delphi may contain forward-looking statements within the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results, express or implied, by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the ability of the Company to operate pursuant to the terms of the DIP facility; the Company's ability to obtain court approval with respect to motions in the chapter 11 proceeding prosecuted by it from time to time; the ability of the Company to develop, prosecute, confirm and consummate one or more plans of reorganization with respect to the chapter 11 cases; risks associated with third parties seeking and obtaining court approval to terminate or shorten the exclusivity period for the Company to propose and confirm one or more plans of reorganization, for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee or to convert the cases to chapter 7 cases; the ability of the Company to obtain and maintain normal terms with vendors and service providers; the Company's ability to maintain contracts that are critical to its operations; the potential adverse impact of the chapter 11 cases on the Company's liquidity or results of operations; the ability of the Company to fund and execute its business plan; the ability of the Company to attract, motivate and/or retain key executives and associates; and the ability of the Company to attract and retain customers. Other risk factors are listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including, but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Delphi disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Similarly, these and other factors, including the terms of any reorganization plan ultimately confirmed, can affect the value of the Company's various pre-petition liabilities, common stock and/or other equity securities. No assurance can be given as to what values, if any, will be ascribed in the bankruptcy proceedings to each of these constituencies. Accordingly, the Company urges that the appropriate caution be exercised with respect to existing and future investments in any of these liabilities and/or securities.
SOURCE Delphi Corporation
CONTACT: Lindsey Williams, +1-248-813-2528, or Claudia Piccinin, +1-248-813-2942, both of
Delphi Corporation
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.delphi.com/media
www.prnewswire.com
Copyright (C) 2005 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
Delphi Seeks More Time on Reorganization
DETROIT, Dec 16, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Auto supplier Delphi Corp. asked a bankruptcy court Friday to give it six more months to file a reorganization plan so it can work out an agreement that doesn't disrupt business.
Delphi filed a 21-page motion seeking the extension in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Judge Robert Drain is scheduled to consider Delphi's request Jan. 5.
Delphi was originally scheduled to file its reorganization plan Feb. 6 and solicit comments on it through April 6. Delphi now wants to file its plan Aug. 5 and solicit comments through Oct. 4.
Under the nation's old bankruptcy law, which governs Delphi's case, companies have the exclusive right to file a reorganization plan up to 120 days after they file for bankruptcy. Courts often grant an extension; for example, Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. has been granted two extensions since it filed for bankruptcy in February.
The new law, which went into effect Oct. 17, limits the exclusive period to 18 months and no longer grants unlimited extensions. Delphi filed for bankruptcy Oct. 8.
Delphi said the complexity of its case warrants the extension. Delphi is the nation's largest auto supplier, with 50,600 employees, 44 manufacturing sites and 13 technical centers in the United States.
Delphi said it also wants to negotiate a reorganization plan that won't disrupt its operations. Delphi's relationship with the United Auto Workers and other unions has been rocky since the company proposed cutting hourly workers' wages by more than 60 percent. The UAW's chief Delphi negotiator, UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker, said earlier this week that the union isn't talking directly to Delphi.
"Based on the current status of the situation, a strike is more likely than not," Shoemaker told The Associated Press. "We hoped it wouldn't end up that way. But it would be dishonest to suggest that was not the situation now."
Delphi said in the court filing that its labor agreements are preventing it from exiting unprofitable operations and it needs more time to negotiate new agreements. Delphi is talking to its former parent, General Motors Corp., which could provide cash for a worker bailout. But Delphi said in the court filing that it also may have to ask court to reject its labor agreements.
Delphi said it also has been delayed by negotiations with its own suppliers to make its own supplies are stable.
---
On the Net:
Delphi Corp.: http://www.delphi.com
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Miller: Delphi Deal May Come in 1Q of 2006
DETROIT, Dec 14, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Delphi Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert S. "Steve" Miller said Wednesday the auto supplier hopes to reach a restructuring agreement with its unions by the first quarter of 2006, but the United Auto Workers expressed doubt that will happen.
"We are committed to holding talks day and night until such time as we can reach an agreement," Miller said in a statement. "Given the complexity of any agreement, this won't happen immediately. We're hopeful we can reach an agreement in the first quarter of 2006."
Delphi, which filed for bankruptcy protection in October, has asked the UAW and other unions to accept wage cuts of more than 60 percent as part of its restructuring. It is in talks with General Motors Corp., its former parent and largest customer, which could play a financial role in a restructuring deal.
But UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said Wednesday Delphi isn't negotiating with the union and he expressed frustration with Miller's comments.
"I tell you, we don't deal with dictatorships very well," Gettelfinger said. "You cannot dictate the terms of the agreement and say, 'This is what it's going to be."'
Gettelfinger said the union is "keeping all of our options open" in terms of calling a strike against Delphi. He said earlier this week that the union is talking to GM about a restructuring agreement with Delphi.
Delphi has said it will ask the bankruptcy court judge to void its union contracts by Jan. 20 if it fails to get an agreement. The company says it is simply trying to bring its wages in line with other union and nonunion suppliers.
The UAW, which represents the bulk of Delphi's 34,000 hourly workers, also has been angered by Delphi's request that the bankruptcy court approve a plan to give stock options and cash bonuses to about 600 executives when the company emerges from bankruptcy. The United Auto Workers estimates Delphi's compensation plan is worth more than $500 million.
A hearing on the compensation plan scheduled for Jan. 5 has been pushed back to Jan. 27 to give the company more time to negotiate with opponents of the plan, according to a statement on Delphi's Web site. Opponents include groups of investors and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal corporation that ensures pension plans.
Delphi says the compensation plan is necessary to keep its executive team in place during the bankruptcy process.
---
Delphi Corp., http://www.delphi.com
United Auto Workers, http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 12-10-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
As of Saturday, 12-10-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-08-2005 for GM @ $26.35.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=u APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) )
KEYWORD: DETROIT
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
Chronology of News Events in 2005
Dec 14, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- JANUARY
Jan. 1
Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln starts distributing tsunami aid on Sumatra island in Indonesia.
Jan. 2
Indonesia's president says Indian Ocean nations will work on tsunami warning system.
Jan. 3
President Bush taps former Presidents Clinton and the elder Bush to raise tsunami relief funds.
Energy Department says average retail gas price is $1.78 a gallon nationwide.
Jan. 6
Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi.
Jan. 9
Palestinians elect Mahmoud Abbas as president and successor to late Yasser Arafat.
Jan. 10
CBS fires three news executives and a producer for rushing to air a discredited report on Bush's National Guard service.
A mudslide in La Conchita, Calif., crushes homes and kills 10 residents.
Jan. 12
Deep Impact spacecraft blasts off, starts 268 million-mile journey to smash into comet.
Jan. 13
Major League Baseball adopts steroid-testing program that will suspend first-time offenders for 10 days and randomly test players year-round.
Jan. 14
Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. is convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and later is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jan. 16
Golden Globes are awarded to "The Aviator" as best drama and "Sideways" as best musical or comedy.
Jan. 18
The world's largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that can carry 800 passengers, is unveiled.
Jan. 19
Cancer passes heart disease as top killer of Americans age 85 and younger.
Jan. 20
President Bush is inaugurated for second term. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, ill with thyroid cancer, delivers oath of office.
Jan. 23
Former "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson dies.
Jan. 26
Helicopter crash in Iraq kills 31 U.S. Marines.
Jan. 30
Iraqis vote in the country's first free election in a half-century.
Jan. 31
Vietnam says 12 people have died of bird flu in last month.
Jury selection begins in Michael Jackson's child molestation trial.
FEBRUARY
Feb. 1
Pope John Paul II is hospitalized for breathing problems and the flu.
Feb. 3
Investigation of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq finds gross mismanagement.
Senate confirms Alberto Gonzales as attorney general.
Feb. 6
New England Patriots win third Super Bowl in four years.
Feb. 10
North Korea boasts publicly for the first time that it has nuclear weapons.
Feb. 11
"Death of a Salesman" playwright Arthur Miller dies.
Feb. 13
Ray Charles' final album, "Genius Loves Company," wins eight Grammys.
Feb. 14
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated and suspicions focus on Syria.
A gas explosion inside a Chinese mine kills 214 people, the worst reported mining disaster since the 1949 communist revolution.
Feb. 16
National Hockey League cancels entire season after prolonged lockout.
Kyoto Protocol environmental treaty takes effect.
Feb. 17
Certified election results show a Shiite alliance won the majority of seats in Iraq's National Assembly.
Feb. 23
The New York medical examiner stops trying to identify victims of the 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center, leaving more than 1,000 victims unidentified.
Feb. 24
Pope John Paul II receives a tracheotomy to help him breathe.
Feb. 25
Municipal employee and church leader Dennis Rader is arrested for the BTK serial killings that terrorized Wichita, Kan. He later pleads guilty and is sentenced to 10 life prison terms.
Feb. 27
Academy Awards go to "Million Dollar Baby," its director Clint Eastwood, star Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.
Feb. 28
Suicide bombing targeted at security recruits kills 125 people in Hillah, Iraq.
MARCH
March 1
Supreme Court strikes down the death penalty for juvenile killers.
March 2
U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 1,500.
Woman who accused NBA star Kobe Bryant of rape settles lawsuit against him, ending case.
March 4
Martha Stewart leaves prison, starts five months of home confinement.
March 7
Bush nominates John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, then bypasses Senate opposition with recess appointment five months later.
March 8
Mount St. Helens releases towering ash plume, its most significant emission in months.
March 9
Dan Rather anchors his final "CBS Evening News."
March 10
Former President Clinton has surgery to remove scar tissue and fluid from his chest.
Michael Jackson, clad in pajamas and walking gingerly, arrives one hour late to trial after the judge threatens to arrest him for tardiness. A back injury is blamed.
March 11
A judge, court reporter and sheriff's deputy are shot and killed at an Atlanta courthouse. The suspect, Brian Nichols, surrenders a day later.
March 15
Former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers is convicted of engineering the largest corporate fraud in U.S. history. Later, he's sentenced to 25 years in prison.
March 16
Actor Robert Blake is cleared in 2001 slaying of his wife. A civil court jury later orders him to pay $30 million to her four children.
March 17
Baseball players tell Congress that steroids are a problem in the sport, and stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testify they haven't used them. Mark McGwire refuses to answer.
Rapper Lil' Kim is convicted for lying to a grand jury about a shootout outside a New York radio station. She starts serving her 366-day sentence just before her fourth album is released in September.
March 18
Feeding tube keeping Terri Schiavo alive is removed after unprecedented fight over the brain-damaged woman's care.
March 20
First lady Laura Bush visits Afghanistan, talks with women in Kabul and urges greater rights.
March 22
A woman claims she found a fingertip while eating Wendy's chili, costing the fast-food chain millions in lost sales before she admitted it was a hoax.
March 23
Explosion at BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, kills 14 people.
March 27
Pope delivers Easter blessing at Vatican but is unable to speak.
March 31
Terri Schiavo dies 13 days after feeding tube was removed.
APRIL
April 1
President Bush authorizes quarantines if needed to prevent spread of particularly deadly flu outbreaks, a worry raised by bird flu cases in Asia.
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger pleads guilty to sneaking classified documents out of the National Archives. Later, he's sentenced to two years of probation.
FBI says explosives materials found in Terry Nichols' former home were related to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and were missed during earlier searches.
April 2
Pope John Paul II dies.
April 5
ABC News says anchor Peter Jennings has lung cancer.
April 6
Monaco's Prince Rainier dies. Son Prince Albert II later ascends to throne.
April 7
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, is named Iraq's interim prime minister. Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani is sworn in as interim president.
The blockbuster painkiller Bextra is taken off the market, and the FDA says all similar prescription drugs should strongly warn about possible risk of heart attacks and strokes.
April 9
Prince Charles marries longtime love Camilla Parker Bowles, who takes the title Duchess of Cornwall.
April 10
Tiger Woods wins his fourth Masters.
April 13
Eric Rudolph pleads guilty to the 1996 Olympics bombing; he is later sentenced to life in prison for that and other bombings.
April 19
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected pope and takes the name Benedict XVI.
April 20
Bush signs legislation making it harder for people to wipe out debts by declaring bankruptcy.
April 22
Zacarias Moussaoui pleads guilty to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
April 26
Last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon, ending 29-year military dominance.
April 29
NASA again delays first space shuttle launch since Columbia disaster, worrying that ice falling off fuel tank could doom Discovery.
Vietnam marks 30th anniversary of war's end.
April 30
Missing Georgia woman Jennifer Wilbanks turns up in New Mexico, claiming to have been abducted but later admitting she was a "runaway bride."
MAY
May 4
Judge throws out Pfc. Lynndie England's guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the Army reservist knew her actions were wrong at the time.
May 5
Tony Blair wins third term as British prime minister.
"Precious Doe," a slain girl mourned but unknown for four years in Kansas City, Mo., is identified as Erica Michelle Marie Green, and her mother and stepfather are charged with murder.
May 7
Giacomo, a 50-1 long shot, wins Kentucky Derby.
May 10
Bankruptcy judge approves United Airlines' plan to terminate its employees' pension plans, clearing the way for the largest corporate-pension default in American history.
May 13
Government troops in Uzbekistan put down an uprising they blame on Islamic militants. Opponents say the troops fired into crowds and killed hundreds of people.
May 15
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes surprise visit to Iraq to support its new government.
May 18
Antonio Villaraigosa is elected first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles in 133 years.
May 19
"Revenge of the Sith" opens, showing Anakin Skywalker's transformation to evil Darth Vader and completing "Star Wars" epic.
May 21
Favorite Afleet Alex wins the Preakness Stakes.
May 25
Country sweetheart Carrie Underwood wins "American Idol."
May 29
French voters soundly reject European Union constitution, which is defeated by the Dutch days later.
May 31
Former FBI official Mark Felt acknowledges he was "Deep Throat," the secret source who helped Washington Post reporters uncover Watergate.
JUNE
June 6
Judge upholds Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire's victory - by 129 votes - in Washington state's 2004 election.
Rejection of planned Manhattan stadium effectively dooms New York City's bid for 2012 Olympics.
Actor Russell Crowe is arrested for throwing a phone that hit a hotel employee in New York. He later pleads guilty to third-degree assault.
June 7
President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair embrace tentative plan to forgive debt of poor African nations.
June 11
First tropical storm of the season, Arlene, sloshes ashore in Florida Panhandle.
Afleet Alex wins the Belmont Stakes by seven lengths.
June 13
Senate apologizes for blocking anti-lynching legislation in early 20th century, when mob violence against blacks was commonplace.
Jury acquits Michael Jackson of molesting a 13-year-old boy.
June 14
U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who crossed into North Korea in 1965, arrives in the United States for his first visit in 40 years.
June 21
Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen is convicted of manslaughter in 1964 civil rights killings.
June 23
San Antonio Spurs win thrilling Game 7 over Detroit Pistons.
June 24
Tests confirm the second case of mad cow disease in the United States.
June 25
Hardline Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins Iran's presidential election.
NAACP selects retired Verizon executive Bruce S. Gordon as its new president.
June 26
Six months after Indian Ocean tsunami, death toll stands at 178,000 in 11 countries with another 50,000 missing and presumed dead.
June 27
Oil prices settle at record high above $60 a barrel.
U.S. Supreme Court rules Ten Commandments displays are acceptable sometimes on government property.
Wal-Mart heir John Walton dies in a plane crash.
June 29
Investigator of Columbia disaster says he's fine with NASA resuming shuttle launches in just two weeks, even though some safety recommendations weren't made.
June 30
Federal Reserve raises key interest rate ninth straight time, noting rising energy prices.
Spain becomes third country to legalize gay marriage.
JULY
July 1
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, says she'll retire.
July 2
Shasta Groene, an 8-year-old girl kidnapped six weeks earlier, is rescued at a restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The man with her is arrested and accused of kidnapping and murder.
Marathon Live 8 concert rocks the globe and the Internet, focusing attention on African poverty.
July 4
Deep Impact probe collides with Tempel 1 comet, leaving a crater and kicking up dust to be studied for clues to the solar system.
July 6
New York Times reporter Judith Miller is jailed after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the leak of an undercover CIA operative's name. She stays in jail 85 days before agreeing to testify.
London is selected as host of the 2012 Olympics.
July 7
Terrorist bombings in three Underground stations and a double-decker bus kill 56 people in the worst attack on London since World War II.
July 8
World leaders at Group of Eight summit unveil $50 billion package to help lift Africa from poverty.
July 9
A panda cub is born at the National Zoo in Washington.
July 10
Hurricane Dennis strikes Florida's Gulf Coast.
July 11
A top al-Qaida lieutenant and three other terror suspects escape a U.S. military jail in Afghanistan. The identity of Omar al-Farouq isn't acknowledged until November.
July 16
Millions of readers start "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," long awaited sixth book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series.
July 19
Bush nominates judge John G. Roberts Jr. to Supreme Court to replace O'Connor.
July 21
A repeat attack on London's transit system fails. Four suspected would-be bombers are detained later.
China stops pegging its currency to the U.S. dollar.
July 22
Labor agreement ends lockout that canceled the last hockey season.
July 24
Lance Armstrong retires after winning his seventh straight Tour de France.
July 25
AFL-CIO splinters in division over how to reverse the unions' declining membership.
July 26
Six nations resume nuclear disarmament talks that North Korea boycotted for 13 months, but little progress is made.
Discovery blasts off on first space shuttle flight in 2 1-2 years.
July 28
Pictures taken by the space station crew show Discovery wasn't damaged by debris during liftoff.
AUGUST
Aug. 1
Baseball star Rafael Palmeiro receives a 10-day suspension for steroid use.
Aug. 3
Fourteen Marines from a Reserve unit in Ohio are killed in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war.
A South Korean cloning pioneer announces the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound named Snuppy.
Aug. 6
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier-son was killed in Iraq, starts a weekslong protest outside Bush's ranch in Texas.
Aug. 8
Iran resumes work at a uranium conversion facility after suspending nuclear work for nine months to avoid U.N. sanctions.
Aug. 9
Discovery lands safely.
Aug. 10
A Tennessee inmate and his wife are captured in Ohio days after she allegedly ambushed two prison guards, killing one of them, to help her husband escape.
Aug. 18
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft apologizes after pleading no contest to ethics violations and insists he won't resign.
Aug. 19
Drugmaker Merck & Co. is ordered to pay millions for death of man who took painkiller Vioxx in first damage award from thousands of pending lawsuits.
Aug. 22
Last Jewish settlers leave the Gaza Strip, soon to be turned over to the Palestinian government.
Aug. 25
Hurricane Katrina hits Florida with 80 mph winds and heads into the Gulf of Mexico.
Aug. 28
Mayor orders everyone in New Orleans to evacuate after Katrina grows to monster storm.
Aug. 29
Category 4 Katrina strikes Louisiana, and the first levee breaks in New Orleans.
Aug. 30
Floods cover 80 percent of New Orleans, and residents are rescued from rooftops.
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 1
New Orleans convention center and Superdome swell with thousands of desperate people stranded by Katrina.
Sept. 2
President Bush tours Gulf Coast, acknowledges failure so far of government relief efforts.
Labor Department says unemployment rate for August was 4.9 percent, a four-year low.
At live-TV benefit concert, rapper Kanye West goes off-script to sharply criticize Bush.
Sept. 3
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist dies.
Sept. 4
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says thousands of people died due to Katrina and its aftermath. Official toll later stands at more than 1,300.
Sept. 5
President Bush nominates John Roberts as chief justice and says he will choose an associate justice in a timely manner.
Jerry Rice ends NFL career that included three Super Bowls and records for most career receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns.
Sept. 6
California Legislature becomes first in nation to approve same-sex marriages, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger later vetoes bill.
Energy Department says retail gas prices skyrocketed to average $3.069, a new record.
Sept. 7
U.S. troops rescue American Roy Hallums, held hostage 10 months in Iraq.
Sept. 12
FEMA Director Michael Brown resigns.
Sept. 14
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines file for bankruptcy.
Coordinated bombings kill at least 160 in Baghdad, the deadliest attack since Iraq's new government took office in April.
Sept. 15
Bush endorses military base closings, including Army's Walter Reed hospital.
Sept. 18
"Everybody Loves Raymond" wins Emmy for best comedy in final season; first-year hit "Lost" is named best drama.
Sept. 19
North Korea pledges to drop its nuclear weapons development and rejoin international arms treaties, but leaders quickly backpedal and disarmament talks stall.
Sept. 23
Bus full of Hurricane Rita evacuees catches fire, killing 23 nursing-home residents.
Sept. 24
Category 3 Rita strikes in eastern Texas and causes more flooding in New Orleans.
Sept. 26
Army Pfc. Lynndie England is convicted of abusing prisoners in Iraq. She's later sentenced to three years in prison.
Sept. 28
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay leaves post after indictment alleges he illegally funneled corporate donations to help Texas legislative campaigns.
Sept. 29
John Roberts takes oath of office as chief justice of the United States.
OCTOBER
Oct. 2
Tour boat capsizes on N.Y.'s Lake George, killing 20 people.
Oct. 3
President Bush nominates White House counsel Harriet Miers to Supreme Court, but she withdraws three weeks later after conservative criticism.
Oct. 5
Heavy rain falls in Central America for fourth straight day. More than 1,600 people are killed, most in Guatemala, where landslides destroyed towns.
Golfer Michelle Wie, six days before she turns 16, says she's turning professional.
Oct. 7
Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to International Atomic Energy Agency and its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei.
Oct. 8
Major earthquake flattens villages on Pakistan-India border, kills estimated 86,000 people and leaves 3.5 million homeless.
Delphi Corp., the largest U.S. auto supplier, files for bankruptcy.
Oct. 11
Engineers finish pumping floodwaters out of New Orleans six weeks after Katrina.
China launches its second manned space flight, with two astronauts orbiting Earth for five days.
Oct. 12
A strain of bird flu that has killed humans in Asia spreads to Europe as a case is confirmed in Turkey.
Apple Computer introduces iPod that can play videos, television shows.
Oct. 14
The 2005 deficit is $319 billion, dropping from previous year but still third highest.
Blond, blue-eyed British actor Daniel Craig is named as new James Bond.
Oct. 15
Iraqis vote to approve a constitution.
Oct. 19
At start of his trial for a 1982 massacre of Shiites, defiant Saddam Hussein insists he is still Iraq's president, quarrels with judges and scuffles with guards.
Oct. 21
Hurricane Wilma strikes Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, then three days later speeds across Florida.
Oct. 24
Civil rights icon Rosa Parks dies.
Bush nominates economic adviser Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman.
Oct. 25
U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 2,000.
Oct. 26
Chicago White Sox sweep Houston Astros to win first World Series since 1917.
Oct. 28
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser, is indicted on charges alleging he lied about disclosing CIA operative's name.
Oct. 31
Bush nominates judge Samuel Alito to Supreme Court.
NOVEMBER
Nov. 1
Federal Reserve increases a key interest rate to the highest level in more than four years.
Nov. 3
European Union says it will investigate reports the CIA set up secret jails in Eastern Europe to interrogate terror suspects.
Drugmaker Merck & Co. wins for first time in court over painkiller Vioxx.
Nov. 5
Pirates attack a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia, but ship changes course and speeds away to escape.
Unrest and arsons that started in France's immigrant suburbs reach Paris. Violence diminishes two weeks later, after curfews and state of emergency are imposed.
Nov. 6
Overnight tornado kills 22 in Indiana.
Nov. 7
President Bush says the United States will aggressively pursue terrorists but "we do not torture."
Nov. 8
Kansas Board of Education approves science standards for public schools that cast doubt on evolution.
Virginia voters elect Democrat Tim Kaine as governor, and Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine wins governor's race in New Jersey. A slate of ballot proposals promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fails in California.
Nov. 9
Oil executives testify to Congress that their huge profits are justified, even as consumers struggle to cope with soaring gasoline and winter heating costs.
Suicide bombers strike three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing 60 people. An Iraqi woman is arrested after her own explosive belt failed.
Nov. 11
Germany's Christian Democrats seal deal with Social Democrats to form coalition government, allowing Angela Merkel to become first female chancellor.
Nov. 13
A plant explosion in Jilin, China, spills toxic chemicals into the Songhua River, the water source for major cities downstream in China and Russia.
Nov. 15
Baseball players, owners agree on tougher steroids-testing policy that increases suspension for first-time violators from 10 games to 50 games and imposes lifetime ban for third offense.
Nov. 17
Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania calls for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, saying troops have done their duty and "It's time to bring them home."
Nov. 21
General Motors says it will close 12 facilities, lay off 30,000 workers in North America.
Nov. 22
U.S. citizen Jose Padilla is charged with supporting terrorism, but indictment does not mention the alleged "dirty bomb" plot that prompted his three-year detention.
Ted Koppel airs final broadcast of ABC News' "Nightline."
Nov. 28
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California pleads guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes.
Nov. 29
Doctors in France perform world's first partial face transplant, attaching a donor's nose, lips and chin to a woman disfigured by a dog bite.
DECEMBER
Dec. 1
Roadside bomb kills 10 U.S. Marines near Fallujah, Iraq.
Dec. 2
N.C. inmate Kenneth Lee Boyd becomes 1,000th person executed since nation resumed capital punishment 28 years ago.
Dec. 5
ABC News names Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff as co-anchors of "World News Tonight," replacing late Peter Jennings.
Dec. 7
Federal air marshals shoot and kill airline passenger at Miami International Airport after he falsely claims to have a bomb.
Dec. 8
Southwest Airlines jet slides off runway and onto busy street during snowstorm in Chicago, killing one boy in a car.
Dec. 10
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, whose antiwar presidential campaign divided Democrats in 1968, dies.
Comedian Richard Pryor dies.
By The Associated Press
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
-0-
APO Priority=r APO Category=1110 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (COUNTRY:Afghanistan; ISOCOUNTRY3:AFG; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:062; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:China; ISOCOUNTRY3:CHN; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:030; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:France; ISOCOUNTRY3:FRA; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:155; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Germany; ISOCOUNTRY3:DEU; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:155; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Guatemala; ISOCOUNTRY3:GTM; UNTOP:419; UN2ND:013; APGROUP:LatinAmerica;) (COUNTRY:India; ISOCOUNTRY3:IND; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:062; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Indonesia; ISOCOUNTRY3:IDN; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:035; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Iran; ISOCOUNTRY3:IRN; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:062; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Iraq; ISOCOUNTRY3:IRQ; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Jordan; ISOCOUNTRY3:JOR; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:North Korea; ISOCOUNTRY3:PRK; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:030; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:South Korea; ISOCOUNTRY3:KOR; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:030; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Lebanon; ISOCOUNTRY3:LBN; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Monaco; ISOCOUNTRY3:MCO; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:155; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Netherlands; ISOCOUNTRY3:NLD; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:155; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Pakistan; ISOCOUNTRY3:PAK; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:062; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:West Bank; ISOCOUNTRY3:PSE; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Russia; ISOCOUNTRY3:RUS; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:151; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Somalia; ISOCOUNTRY3:SOM; UNTOP:002; UN2ND:014; APGROUP:Africa;) (COUNTRY:Spain; ISOCOUNTRY3:ESP; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:039; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Syria; ISOCOUNTRY3:SYR; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Turkey; ISOCOUNTRY3:TUR; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:145; APGROUP:MiddleEast; APGROUP:Europe; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:United Kingdom; ISOCOUNTRY3:GBR; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:154; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) (COUNTRY:Uzbekistan; ISOCOUNTRY3:UZB; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:062; APGROUP:Asia;) (COUNTRY:Vatican City; ISOCOUNTRY3:VAT; UNTOP:150; UN2ND:039; APGROUP:Europe;) (COUNTRY:Vietnam; ISOCOUNTRY3:VNM; UNTOP:142; UN2ND:035; APGROUP:Asia;) )
SUBJECT CODE: 1110
Shoemaker Steps Down After 36 Years at UAW
DETROIT, Dec 14, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- United Auto Workers Vice President Richard Shoemaker grew up in a time when General Motors Corp. claimed about 50 percent of the U.S. auto market and imports were virtually nonexistent. Today, his union is battered by foreign competition and he has watched GM's market share shrink by more than half.
The face of manufacturing has changed, but Shoemaker says the UAW's mission - and his passion for it - has remained the same since he got his first union card nearly 50 years ago.
"That's what the union's all about, about people and their hopes and dreams, their aspirations, about the kind of future that they want for themselves and their children," Shoemaker told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday.
Shoemaker, 66, announced last week he plans to retire in June after 36 years at the UAW, which oversees 950 local unions and has more than 1.2 million active and retired members. Vice presidents Gerald Bantom, who is in charge of negotiations with Ford Motor Co., and Nate Gooden, who is in charge of negotiations with DaimlerChrysler AG, also are stepping down. UAW leaders typically retire after they reach 65.
When Shoemaker leaves the union's headquarters in Detroit, a piece of history goes with him. He is the last person on the UAW staff who was appointed by legendary UAW President Walter Reuther. Reuther appointed Shoemaker to the union's Detroit headquarters in 1969, the year before he died in a plane crash.
Shoemaker remembers Reuther as an inspiring speaker and a progressive who was concerned about issues like the environment, Shoemaker said.
"He was one of those people who saw some of the problems years ago that we're experiencing today," Shoemaker said.
But Reuther might never have imagined today's UAW, which has 1 million fewer active members than it did when he died. Shoemaker says unions are facing unprecedented competition as well as government reluctance to help manufacturers with tougher trade agreements and relief on health care costs.
Shoemaker has been at the center of the UAW's push to retain relatively high wage and benefit levels for U.S. workers in the midst of those global pressures. He has been negotiating almost constantly since he became a vice president in 1995. As soon as Shoemaker negotiated the end of a strike against GM in 1998, for example, he began talks about GM's spinoff of Delphi Corp., its parts operation.
"At the bargaining table, he's thorough, meticulous, determined and effective," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, who has worked with Shoemaker since 1992.
Gary Cowger, GM's group vice president for manufacturing and labor relations, called Shoemaker "a very intelligent and experienced bargainer."
"Although he is hardworking, dedicated and tough at the table, I have always found him to be a fair and thoughtful man," Cowger said in a written statement.
Shoemaker's decisions haven't always been popular. Some union members spoke out against his recent agreement with GM to require hourly workers and retirees to pay more for their health care. Hourly workers approved the proposal last month by a 61 percent vote.
But Oscar Bunch, president of UAW Local 14 in Toledo, Ohio, said workers generally feel Shoemaker is looking out for their interests. Bunch remembers Shoemaker guiding the union expertly through negotiations in 2003 even though most people predicted a strike.
"He has a lot of compassion for people. I've never seen a guy in his capacity worry about the average person in the plant the way he does," Bunch said. "He still associates himself with the guy on the plant floor."
Shoemaker began his career right after high school at the same Deere & Co. plant in East Moline, Ill., where his father worked. Shoemaker got a physical at the plant the day he turned 18 and was working there a month later.
"In those days, you really had a choice whether you wanted to go to school or whether you wanted to spend a career in the plant," Shoemaker said. "You were pretty secure in those days if you hired in at one of the major manufacturing plants."
Shoemaker quickly worked his way up union ranks, becoming UAW Local 865's youngest president ever at the age of 27. The union hall in East Moline was renamed in Shoemaker's honor two years ago.
Despite the pressures of the bargaining table, Shoemaker remains a reserved Midwesterner who rarely loses his temper and speaks in quiet, measured tones.
"I don't change very much from place to place. I try to deal with people the way they deal with me," Shoemaker said. "But I know how to be a forceful advocate for our position."
---
On the Net:
United Auto Workers: http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Saturday, 12-10-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on 11-21-2005 for DCX @ $51.75.
As of Saturday, 12-10-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on 11-02-2005 for DE @ $60.86.
As of Saturday, 12-10-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 08-08-2005 for F @ $10.42.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=u APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Ford Motor Co; TS:F; IG:3300;) (CO:DaimlerChrysler AG; TS:DCX; IG:3300;) (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (CO:Deere & Co; TS:DE; IG:2700;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) )
Delphi delays hearing on executive pay plan again
DETROIT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi
Corp. has put off for a second time a court hearing on
a proposal for a bonus plan to encourage executives to see through
its reorganization, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The proposal, which met objections from unions and others,
calls for distributing about $500 million in cash and equity to
various executives, provided that they stick around through a
successful exit from bankruptcy that may cost them their jobs.
Delphi originally set the hearing for November, but moved it
to Jan. 5 after receiving numerous objections, and has now moved
it to Jan. 27, a week after an informal deadline Delphi has set
for reaching wage and benefit concession deals with its unions.
Delphi wants to allow more time for discussions with the
various parties, spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin said, declining to
provide details on the discussions.
The plan has particularly rankled unions that represent
nearly all of Delphi's 34,750 U.S. hourly workers. Those workers
would see pay and benefits cut by more than half under Delphi's
latest proposal to modify labor contracts.
United Auto Workers leaders have called on Delphi to withdraw
the executive compensation plan, and its latest proposal for wage
and benefit cuts, to show that it is serious about negotiating a
deal with the union.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., stockholders and others
have raised objections to the plan as well.
The proposal calls for incentive payments for executives
during bankruptcy. Upon a successful exit from bankruptcy,
various executives would receive about $87.9 million cash and 10
percent equity in a reorganized Delphi, or about $400 million
based on an equity value of $4 billion.
Delphi Chief Executive Steve Miller would not participate in
the program, but the company's board reserves the right to
compensate Miller at the end of his tenure as CEO.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Delphi, UAW leaders talking little to each other
By David Bailey
DETROIT, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Bankrupt auto parts maker
Delphi Corp. and the United Auto Workers are both
talking to General Motors Corp. -- but apparently very
little to each other -- as they fight over proposed Delphi wage
and benefit cuts.
What that means to the prospects for Delphi avoiding a
strike that could disrupt production at former Delphi parent GM
remains unclear just weeks before Delphi's self-imposed
deadline for reaching deals with the unions that represent
about 34,750 of its U.S. workers.
Delphi Chief Executive Steve Miller said earlier this week
that he hoped to complete a deal by the end of March, while UAW
officials held tightly to previous statements that it appears
more likely that workers will strike at Delphi.
A strike could quickly disrupt production at GM, Delphi's
largest customer and source of about 54 percent of Delphi's
$28.6 billion of revenue in 2004. GM has said its exposure to
Delphi's bankruptcy could range from zero to $12 billion, with
a mid-range estimate most likely.
Delphi, the largest U.S. auto parts maker, has accelerated
talks with GM about its restructuring efforts. A UAW official
said this week that the union had a "preliminary" meeting with
GM in the past two weeks, declining to provide details.
But top officials at Delphi and the UAW have not had formal
negotiations since Delphi in mid November offered a modified
proposal for wage and benefit cuts, both sides said.
"What we said the other day is correct -- that based on the
current situation, the prospects for a strike is more likely
than not," UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker told Reuters in
an interview on Tuesday. "We hope it can be avoided."
Shoemaker, the union's negotiator for the Delphi contract,
said no formal talks have taken place since Delphi submitted a
modified contract proposal to the UAW in mid November.
As for GM, "We have simply had some very preliminary
discussions with GM, not enough to suggest a direction they are
prepared to go," Shoemaker said.
Miller had told reporters in Tokyo this week he was
prepared to negotiate "day and night" with the UAW and GM. He
understands the complexity, and is committed to getting a deal
done, Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin said.
FEW MEETINGS
Delphi has said it must cut wages and benefits for its U.S.
hourly workers by more than half to compete with domestic
rivals, a proposal that has met significant opposition from the
company's unions.
The UAW and IUE-CWA represent most of the U.S. hourly
employees, but six unions formed a coalition to fight Delphi's
proposal which would cut hourly wages to about $12.50 from $27,
reduce benefits, and eliminate a jobs bank for idle employees.
Delphi planned to file motions this week to begin the
bankruptcy court process of rejecting its union contracts. But
it delayed the filing until at least Jan. 20 after GM agreed to
give it some temporary preliminary aid on parts prices.
Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams also said on Wednesday
that Delphi and UAW representatives had been in communication
with each other even if there have been no formal talks between
Miller and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger or Shoemaker.
"We have a proposal on the table and we continue to work
with our unions and with GM in an effort to reach an
agreement," Williams said. "And we need to reach it sooner
rather than later, and we need to reach it in a time frame that
makes sense and is practical for everyone involved."
After an unrelated news conference on Wednesday, Shoemaker
said there are no talks scheduled between the UAW and Delphi.
"There have been no negotiations," Shoemaker said. "There
have been very few meetings."
Some industry observers remain optimistic. David Cole of
the Center for Automotive Research, on Tuesday said he believed
talks three-way UAW, Delphi and GM talks were occurring.
"The probability of a strike is less than what it was a
week ago," Cole said. "I think they will make some progress and
I think you will hear about that in the next few weeks."
(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta)
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Michigan governor to sign business tax cut bills
CHICAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Michigan Legislature
completed passage early Wednesday of a $600 million tax relief
bill package for large manufacturers that Gov. Jennifer
Granholm said she will sign into law.
The legislation, which was designed in part to aid the
state's struggling automotive industry, will provide the relief
over four years.
Under the legislation, the state will create a 15 percent
personal property tax credit beginning in 2006 and a new 100
percent new investment credit on property directly related to
jobs transferred to Michigan in 2007 and 2008. Michigan-based
companies that export goods would also get a tax advantage with
a change in the state's sales tax apportionment factor.
The legislation will also maintain the current tax status
for auto suppliers Delphi Corp. , and Visteon Corp.
, allowing them to avoid a massive tax hike at the end of
this year.
"There is no question we must fight to keep the
manufacturing jobs we have in Michigan," Granholm said in a
statement, adding that the bills send a signal that
manufacturing has a place in Michigan's future.
Major Michigan-based manufacturers, including Delphi, which
filed for bankruptcy protection in October, and auto giant
General Motors Corp. have announced job cuts as they
attempt to restructure their operations.
Michigan, meanwhile, has been struggling with eroding tax
revenue and high unemployment rates.
Leaders of the Republican-controlled legislature offered
the tax relief plan late last month after an agreement over a
previous plan with the Democratic governor fell apart.
The governor's main problem with the previous plan was the
legislature's willingness to let the state's single business
tax expire at the end of 2009 without any identified
replacement. The new bill package does not address the future
of the single business tax, which will likely to be taken up by
lawmakers next year.
Delphi Corp.: http://www.delphi.com
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
United Auto Workers: http://www.uaw.org
DELPHI CORP files Form 8-K, Current Report
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, DC 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
December 7, 2005
Date of report (Date of earliest event reported)
Delphi Corporation
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
Delaware 1-14787 38-3430473
(State or Other Jurisdiction of
Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)
5725 Delphi Drive,
Troy, MI48098
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(248) 813-2000
(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions ( see General Instruction A.2. below):
o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ITEM 4.01 CHANGES IN REGISTRANT’S CERTIFYING ACCOUNTANT
SIGNATURE
Table of Contents
ITEM 4.01 CHANGES IN REGISTRANT’S CERTIFYING ACCOUNTANT
On December 7, 2005, after reviewing proposals from four accounting firms, including Deloitte & Touche LLP (“Deloitte & Touche”), the Company’s current independent public accountants, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Delphi Corporation (“Delphi” or the “Company”) selected Ernst & Young LLP to serve as independent public accountants, effective January 1, 2006, for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006. The Board of Directors concurred with the Audit Committee’s selection. Delphi’s application for an order authorizing the retention of Deloitte & Touche to serve as Delphi’s independent public accountants for the year ending December 31, 2005 is pending before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
The change was not the result of any disagreement between Delphi and Deloitte & Touche on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or auditing scope or procedure or any decision by Deloitte & Touche to resign or refuse to stand for re-election.
The independent auditors’ reports of Deloitte & Touche for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003 did not contain an adverse or disclaimer of opinion, nor were such reports qualified or modified as to uncertainty, audit scope, or accounting principles; however, the report of Deloitte & Touche on the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2004, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, included an emphasis paragraph concerning the restatement of the Company’s financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002. The report of Deloitte & Touche on the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2003, included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, included an emphasis paragraph concerning the restatement of the Company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2002 and 2001 to reflect an inventory accounting change required to be applied by retroactive restatement of prior year financial statements.
In connection with the audits of Delphi’s financial statements for each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003 and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, there were no disagreements between Delphi and Deloitte & Touche on any matters of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedure, which, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Deloitte & Touche, would have caused Deloitte & Touche to make reference to the matter in their reports. During the two most recent fiscal years and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, there have been two reportable events, as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that were discussed with the Company’s Audit Committee. In performing the audit of Delphi’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2004 Deloitte & Touche advised Delphi that material weaknesses existed in Delphi’s internal control over financial reporting. The material weaknesses identified are discussed in Item 9A of Delphi’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. Also, in September 2004 Deloitte advised Delphi’s Audit Committee that in view of the commencement of an internal investigation into the accounting for a number of prior year transactions, Deloitte & Touche would be required to extend the scope of its audit and that the completion of the investigation could materially affect Deloitte & Touche’s previously issued independent auditors’ reports on the Company’s financial statements. The results of the investigation and the restatement of the Company’s previously issued financial statements are also discussed in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,2004.
Delphi has requested Deloitte & Touche to furnish Delphi with a letter addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission stating whether Deloitte & Touche agrees with the above statements. Once the Company has received a copy of Deloitte & Touche’s letter, it will amend this Form 8-K to file it as an exhibit.
During the fiscal years ended December 31, 2003 and 2004 and during the current fiscal year through the date of this Form 8-K, neither Delphi nor anyone acting on its behalf consulted Ernst & Young LLP regarding (1) either the application of accounting principles to a specified transaction, either completed or proposed, or the type of audit opinion that might be rendered on Delphi’s consolidated financial statements or (2) any matter that was either the subject of a disagreement with Deloitte & Touche on accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or procedures, which, if not resolved to the satisfaction of Deloitte & Touche, would have caused Deloitte & Touche to make reference to the matter in their report, or a reportable event as defined in Item 304(a)(1)(v) of Regulation S-K of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Delphi provided Ernst & Young LLP with this Form 8-K prior to filing it with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Table of Contents
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
DELPHI CORPORATION
(Registrant)
Date: December 13, 2005
By: /s/ JOHN D. SHEEHAN
(John D. Sheehan,
Vice President and Chief Restructuring Officer, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller)
End of News Created by: EDGAR Online Pro
COMPANY NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES FROM OTHER SOURCES:
Delphi Names Ernst & Young as Auditor For 2006
TROY, Mich., Dec 13, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Delphi Corp. announced today that the audit committee of its Board of Directors selected Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditors for 2006, effective Jan. 1, 2006.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020315/DEF002LOGO )
The selection followed a competitive bid process, which included proposals by the four largest accounting firms. All bids were competitively priced. The audit committee selected Ernst & Young because of their depth and breadth of experience with Tier 1 automotive suppliers as well as their experience with companies involved in reorganization proceedings.
Delphi filed a motion on the appointment of Deloitte & Touche for 2005 and plans to file one on the appointment of Ernst & Young for 2006, both of which are subject to the bankruptcy court approval.
Additional information regarding Delphi's filing under the United States Bankruptcy Code, including access to court documents and other general information about the chapter 11 cases, is available online at http://www.delphidocket.com and is also set forth in Delphi's Form 8-K being filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission later today.
SOURCE Delphi Corporation
CONTACT: Claudia Piccinin of Delphi Corporation, +1-248-813-2942
URL: http://www.prnewswire.com
http://www.delphi.com/media
www.prnewswire.com
Copyright (C) 2005 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
UAW Says It's Talking to GM on Delphi
DETROIT, Dec 13, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The United Auto Workers union isn't negotiating with auto supplier Delphi Corp. but began talking with General Motors Corp. two weeks ago about a possible deal that could avert a strike at Delphi, the UAW's top GM negotiator said Tuesday.
UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker said Delphi has only talked to the union twice since it filed for bankruptcy in October, when it gave the union two different wage proposals. The UAW rejected both proposals, which would have cut production workers' wages from $27 an hour to $12.50 an hour or lower. Shoemaker said the UAW hasn't offered its own wage proposal.
"Their proposal, the quality of it, is such that it doesn't warrant us making a counterproposal," Shoemaker said in an interview with The Associated Press.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger also told the AP that he plans to meet Wednesday with local union leaders about a proposed agreement to cut Ford Motor Co.'s health care costs. Gettelfinger wouldn't reveal specifics but said the agreement is similar to one reached with GM which makes hourly workers and retirees pay more for their health care.
Gettelfinger said the decision to cut back on benefits was a difficult one. The union also plans to start health care negotiations with DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group.
"We did not want to go down this road. It was not an easy decision to make, but it was the right decision," Gettelfinger said.
Shoemaker told local union officials last week that a strike against Delphi is likely. He repeated that claim Tuesday, although he wouldn't say when a strike might begin. A strike would cripple the supplier as well as GM, its former parent and largest customer.
"Based on the current status of the situation, a strike is more likely than not," Shoemaker said. "We hoped it wouldn't end up that way. But it would be dishonest to suggest that was not the situation now."
Delphi said late last month that it was making progress with GM in restructuring talks. Shoemaker said it's premature to speculate on how GM might help Delphi. GM spokesman Jerry Dubrowski also wouldn't elaborate on the negotiations.
"The discussions we're having with the UAW are on securing an outcome that allows Delphi to remain an important supplier to GM but also is in the best interest of GM and our stockholders," Dubrowski said.
Some analysts have suggested the automaker could decide to provide cash for employee bailouts or hire Delphi workers. GM has said it could be liable for up to $12 billion in costs for Delphi workers.
Shoemaker and Gettelfinger said the UAW had a good relationship with Delphi in the past but that changed when Delphi Chairman and CEO Robert S. "Steve" Miller took the helm this summer.
"In the first meeting we had with Miller, we thought he was sincere in making every attempt to keep the company out of bankruptcy. But now, it's become extremely clear to us that he had but one goal, and that was to take the company into bankruptcy because it's big business," Gettelfinger told the AP. "He was in the checkout line the day he came in. He has no interest in the long-term viability of Delphi and could care less if it operates in this country or not."
Delphi responded that the bankruptcy filing was necessary because Delphi's customers won't continue to pay more for parts.
"Today Delphi is paying double, triple or more for hourly labor compared to what prevails in the marketplace," Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams said. "As Delphi cannot survive under such conditions, we plan to reach a consensual agreement with our unions that allows Delphi to compete with other unionized and non-unionized competitors."
GM shares fell 78 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $22.27 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They have been trading in a 52-week range of $20.60 to $40.82.
---
Delphi Corp.: http://www.delphi.com
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
United Auto Workers: http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on 11-21-2005 for DCX @ $51.75.
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 08-08-2005 for F @ $10.42.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=u APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Ford Motor Co; TS:F; IG:3300;) (CO:DaimlerChrysler AG; TS:DCX; IG:3300;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Ford Motor Co; TS:F; IG:3300;) (CO:DaimlerChrysler AG; TS:DCX; IG:3300;) )
KEYWORD: DETROIT
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
AP Photo MIJM103
UPDATE 1-Delphi hires Ernst & Young as auditor for 2006
(Adds details on change, background, changes dateline.
Previous dateline SAN FRANCISCO)
DETROIT, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Auto parts maker Delphi
Corp., which filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection in
October, on Tuesday said it hired Ernst & Young LLP to serve as
its auditor for 2006, replacing Deloitte & Touche.
Delphi in June restated financial results back several
years after completing a probe into accounting improprieties, a
scandal that drained experience at the top of the company in
the months before it filed for Chapter 11 protection from
creditors.
The parts maker chose Ernst & Young after a bidding process
because of its experience auditing large auto parts suppliers
and reorganizing companies, Delphi said. The selection requires
bankruptcy court approval.
The change was not the result of any disagreement between
Delphi and Deloitte on any matter of accounting principles,
practices, financial statement disclosure, or auditing scope or
procedure, or a decision by Deloitte to resign or refuse to
stand for re-election, Delphi said.
Deloitte's authorization as Delphi's 2005 auditor is
pending before the bankruptcy court, Troy, Michigan-based
Delphi said.
Delphi hires Ernst & Young as auditor for 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Delphi Corp. ,
the auto parts maker that filed for bankruptcy protection in
October, said on Tuesday it hired Ernst & Young LLP as its
auditor for 2006.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
UPDATE 1-India's Sona Koyo eyes 1 bln rupees 06/07 exports
(Adds quotes, share price)
MUMBAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Mid-sized Indian auto components
maker Sona Koyo Steerings Ltd. plans to export 1 billion rupees
($22 million) of components in 2006/07 and expand capacity to
meet increasing demand, Chairman Surinder Kapur said on Tuesday.
"There are lot of possibilities for everybody in this
industry to gain substantial business from international
companies, whether they be a General Motors, a Renault or a
Toyota," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a manufacturing
summit.
With a market share of 45 percent, Sona Koyo is
India's largest steering gears maker. Japan's Koyo Seiko Co. Ltd.
<6473.T> owns 20.47 percent of the company.
"Overseas business has become an important segment of our
industry and therefore we don't have a choice but to scale up our
capacities," Kapur said.
Kapur said Sona Koyo plans to raise manufacturing capacity by
50-100 in next two to three years to meet growing demand.
"We have decided to put capacity ahead of business because
overseas customers do not want us to say that we will put up
capacity if you give us orders, instead they want us to say that
we have already got capacity," he said.
Leading car makers General Motors Corp. , Ford Motor
Co. , DaimlerChrysler AG and Volvo AB ,
heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. and bankrupt auto
parts maker Delphi Corp. and Robert Bosch GmBH
[ROBG.UL] are all clients of Indian auto components makers.
Kapur said that leading private equity funds and financial
institutions were now ready to fund expansion in the industry.
"My feeling is that private equity funds and financial
institutions are now very bullish on automotive components," he
said.
Asked if Sona Koyo would seek funds from institutional or
strategic investors, Kapur said his company was yet to finalise a
clear road map for expansion.
($1 = 46.1 Indian rupees)
((Reporting by Hiral Vora, editing by Braden Reddall; Reuters
Messaging: hiral.vora.reuters.com@reuters.net; +91-22-5636 9244))
.
(C) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters
sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of
companies around the world.
UAW Says It's Talking to GM on Delphi
DETROIT, Dec 13, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The United Auto Workers union isn't negotiating with auto supplier Delphi Corp. but began talking with General Motors Corp. two weeks ago about a possible deal that could soften Delphi's plans to cut jobs and close plants, the UAW's top GM negotiator said Tuesday.
UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker said Delphi has only talked to the union twice since it filed for bankruptcy in October, when it gave the union two different wage proposals. The UAW rejected both proposals, which would have cut production workers' wages from $27 an hour to $12.50 an hour or lower. Shoemaker said the UAW hasn't offered its own wage proposal.
"Their proposal, the quality of it, is such that it doesn't warrant us making a counterproposal," Shoemaker said in an interview with The Associated Press.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said he plans to meet with local leaders Wednesday about a proposed agreement to cut Ford Motor Co.'s health care costs. Gettelfinger wouldn't reveal specifics but said the agreement is similar to one reached with GM although not of the same magnitude because GM has more retirees. GM's agreement makes hourly workers and retirees pay more for their health care.
Delphi said late last month that it was making progress with GM, its former parent, in talks aimed at avoiding a costly strike. Shoemaker said it's premature to speculate on how GM might help Delphi, although the automaker could provide cash for Delphi employee buyouts.
"I'm sure they know at this point the direction they want to go, but they haven't shared that," Shoemaker said.
Shoemaker and Gettelfinger said the UAW had a good relationship with Delphi in the past, but that has changed since Delphi Chairman and CEO Robert S. "Steve" Miller took the helm this summer.
"In the first meeting we had with Miller, we thought he was sincere in making every attempt to keep the company out of bankruptcy. But now, it's become extremely clear to us that he had but one goal, and that was to take the company into bankruptcy because it's big business," Gettelfinger told the AP. "He was in the checkout line the day he came in. He has no interest in the long-term viability of Delphi and could care less if it operates in this country or not."
Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin had no immediate comment Tuesday morning.
Delphi has said it's committed to reaching an agreement with GM and the UAW.
"We agree with recent UAW comments that the most appropriate resolution can be crafted through discussions among GM, Delphi and the UAW," Delphi said in a recent statement.
---
Delphi Corp.: http://www.delphi.com
General Motors Corp.: http://www.gm.com
United Auto Workers: http://www.uaw.org
By DEE-ANN DURBIN AP Auto Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 08-08-2005 for F @ $10.42.
As of Friday, 12-09-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 11-08-2005 for GM @ $26.35.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=u APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (CO:General Motors Corp; TS:GM; IG:3300;) (CO:Ford Motor Co; TS:F; IG:3300;) )
KEYWORD: DETROIT
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
Delphi Medical Systems Expands in the Respiratory Care Market with WearAir Licensing Agreement
Release Date: December 12, 2005
TROY, Mich. Delphi Medical Systems, a subsidiary of Delphi Corp., recently signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Canada-based medical device company WearAir Oxygen, Inc.
WearAir is a small company with a mission to improve respiratory patients' quality of life through an innovative proprietary oxygen concentration technology. The technology licensing agreement includes the patents and patent applications, the rights to manufacture and distribute oxygen concentrators based on this intellectual property, and the ability to use the underlying technology for OEMs and distributors.
Delphi Medical Systems anticipates using these technologies for its OEM customers and distributors for portable oxygen concentrators in the U.S., Canada and in European markets in 2006.
Ideal for use in ambulatory patients for homecare or in alternate site settings, the oxygen concentrators are being designed to be high-performance systems and easy to use for the patient. More information on the specifications will be announced during the first half of 2006.
"We're excited about this agreement and the WearAir technologies, which strengthen Delphi Medical Systems' portfolio in respiratory therapy," said Christophe Sevrain, managing director, Delphi Medical Systems. "We will continue to develop our growth through strategic alliances with OEMS and distributors to try and make Delphi Medical Systems' the leading provider of technologies and products in the respiratory care market segment."
"We welcome this opportunity to work with Delphi Medical Systems," said Guy Gaiser, chairman and CEO, WearAir Oxygen, Inc. "With this licensing agreement, we hope to continue to provide advanced technologies to fill the needs of respiratory patients around the world," said Gaiser. "We look forward to leveraging Delphi's strengths in design, cost, manufacturing and reliability."
"Respiratory care is a rapidly growing segment of the medical community and we are becoming an important supply source of technologies, products, and manufacturing know-how in these markets," said Sevrain.
Along with focus on the respiratory segment, Delphi Medical Systems also specializes in infusion, dialysis, in-vitro diagnostics, power mobility and vital signs monitoring.
For more information on WearAir, please visit its website at: www.WearAir.com.
For more information on Delphi Medical, please visit www.DelphiMedical.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT
This press release as well as other statements made by Delphi may contain forward-looking statements within the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are and will be, as the case may be, subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results, express or implied, by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: the ability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the ability of the Company to operate pursuant to the terms of the debtor-in-possession (DIP) facility; the Company's ability to obtain court approval with respect to motions in the chapter 11 proceeding prosecuted by it from time to time; the ability of the Company to develop, prosecute, confirm and consummate one or more plans of reorganization with respect to the chapter 11 cases; risks associated with third parties seeking and obtaining court approval to terminate or shorten the exclusivity period for the Company to propose and confirm one or more plans of reorganization, for the appointment of a chapter 11 trustee or to convert the cases to chapter 7 cases; the Company's ability to maintain contracts that are critical to its operations; the potential adverse impact of the chapter 11 cases on the Company's liquidity or results of operations; the ability of the Company to fund and execute its business plan; the ability of the Company to attract, motivate and/or retain key executives and associates; and the ability of the Company to attract and retain customers. Other risk factors are listed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including, but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Delphi disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Similarly, these and other factors, including the terms of any reorganization plan ultimately confirmed, can affect the value of the Company's various pre-petition liabilities, common stock and/or other equity securities. No assurance can be given as to what values, if any, will be ascribed in the bankruptcy proceedings to each of these constituencies. Accordingly, the Company urges that the appropriate caution be exercised with respect to existing and future investments in any of these liabilities and/or securities.
For more information contact:
Delphi
Mary McCahon
Telephone: +1 248.813.2618
Delphi eyes Asia for growth, plays down bankruptcy
TOKYO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Bankrupt auto parts maker Delphi
Corp. said on Tuesday the Asia-Pacific region,
particularly business with Japanese auto makers, was key to its
future growth, playing down concerns about the impact of its
Chapter 11 filing in the United States.
"As we view our ability to grow, the Asia-Pacific region is
at the highest of our priorities because we see such tremendous
opportunity here," Chief Operating Officer Rodney O'Neal told
reporters in Tokyo.
The region accounted for $1.1 billion of Delphi's sales out
of a total $28.6 billion last year.
"Japan is at the highest of our list in terms of the ability
to penetrate," he said, noting that Japanese car makers account
for 30 percent of total global vehicle production. Delphi was
interested in growing organically as well as through strategic
partnerships to better serve Japanese auto makers, he said.
O'Neal is in Japan with Chief Executive Robert "Steve"
Miller and other top executives to meet employees and customers
who are worried about Delphi's future after it filed the biggest
bankruptcy in U.S. automotive history in October.
Miller stressed that Delphi's Chapter 11 filing in no way
affected its international operations, which he said would
continue to expand as the company prepares to raise spending on
engineering to $2 billion in 2006.
Delphi, formerly a division of General Motors Corp. ,
said its business with Japanese auto makers such as Toyota Motor
Corp. <7203.T> and Honda Motor Co. <7267.T> was mostly in North
America, with annual sales coming to less than $1 billion so
far.
By 2010, it wants to increase such sales to over $1 billion,
Choon Chon, president of Delphi's Asia-Pacific operations, said.
Regarding Delphi's negotiations with the United Auto Workers
(UAW) union over a modified wage and benefit contract, Miller
said he was prepared to negotiate "day and night" with the union
and GM, which may offer more financial support or other forms of
aid in order to avert a potentially crippling strike.
"I believe we can announce (a conclusion) during the first
quarter of 2006," Miller said.
US Corp Bonds - Market firms on strength in autos
By Karen Brettell
NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. corporate bond prices
opened firm on Monday led by General Motors Corp. as
investors gained confidence the automaker would find a buyer
for its finance unit as the deadline for initial bids loomed.
The deadline for initial bids to purchase a controlling
stake or smaller parts of General Motors Acceptance Corp.
expires on Monday. GM is seeking to sell its controlling stake
in the unit in order to restore GMAC's ratings to investment
grade status.
The market has taken comfort in the bid deadline, "as a
signal that people are working on this transaction," said
Thomas Eggenschwiler, co-head of fixed income research at
Aladdin Capital in Stamford, Connecticut.
"Investors had gotten hesitant over whether someone was
looking at it," he said.
GM's 8.375 percent bond due 2033 rose to 74 cents on the
dollar on Monday, from 73.25 cents on Friday, according to
MarketAxess. GMAC's 8 percent bond due 2031 jumped to 100.25
cents on the dollar. It has risen from 94.75 cents on Thursday,
before reports of the pending deadline broke.
Robert "Steve" Miller, the chief executive of GM's key part
supplier Delphi Corp. , was reported by The Wall
Street Journal on the weekend as saying the company is forming
a new contract proposal to present to the United Auto Workers
union.
GM had weakened on fears that workers at Delphi would
strike, which would halt production at GM and burn through the
automaker's cash reserves.
The market probably takes comfort that Delphi is trying to
find an agreement with the workers, Eggenschwiler said.
Ford Motor Co. corporate bonds also rallied after the
UAW said on Saturday that it had agreed to higher payments for
health care for hourly employees, duplicating an agreement the
union had already forged with GM.
Ford's 7.45 percent bond due 2031 rose to 73.375 cents on
the dollar, from 73.25 cents on Friday. Ford Motor Credit Co.'s
7 percent bond due 2013 rose to 89.375 cents on the dollar from
89.25 cents on Friday.
In the investment grade grade debt market, spreads of
ConocoPhillips bonds widened after The Wall Street
Journal reported on Sunday that the company is in talks to buy
oil and gas producer Burlington Resources Inc. , from
more than $30 billion. The company has a market value of about
$28.7 billon, according to Reuters data.
ConocoPhillips' 6.95 percent bond due 2029 widened to 0.78
percentage point over Treasuries on Monday, from 0.73
percentage point on Friday.
Average investment grade corporate bond spreads ended last
week one basis point wider, at 0.98 percentage point over
Treasuries, according to Merrill Lynch.
In other markets, U.S Treasuries reversed early gains ahead
of a Federal Reserve policy meeting on Tuesday. Benchmark
10-year notes were unchanged to yield 4.54 percent.
(To see upcoming and recent corporate bond sales, click on
[nNEUBD4].
((Reporting by Karen Brettell; editing by Ted d'Afflisio;
Reuters Messaging: karen.brettell.reuters.com@reuters.net;
email: karen.brettell@reuters.com; Tel: 646-223-6274))
For other related fixed-income quotations, stories and
guides to Reuters pages, please double click on the symbol:
U.S. Corporate bond price quotations...
U.S. credit default swap column........[CDV/]
European corporate bond market report..[EUB/]
European corporate bond market report..[EUB/]
Credit default swap guide..............
Fixed income guide.....................
U.S. swap spreads report...............[SWP/]
U.S. Treasury market report............[US/]
U.S. Treasury outlook..................[US/0]
U.S. Municipal bond market report......[MUNI/]
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Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters
sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of
companies around the world.
GM manager shakeup wld slow recovery -CEO in paper
FRANKFURT, Dec 12 (Reuters) - A major management shakeup at
General Motors Corp. could slow the loss-making U.S.
carmaker's efforts to boost performance, GM Chief Executive Rick
Wagoner told industry newspaper Automotive News.
"When you bring in a lot of new people, you bring in a lot
of change and people just sort of sit there and try to figure
out what to do," he said in an interview published on Monday
amid mounting pressure on him to get GM sorted out.
The world's biggest carmaker has lost nearly $4 billion this
year and last week promoted its head of European operations to
the post of chief financial officer.
Wagoner, who has rebuffed calls to step down as CEO, refused
to put a public deadline on his attempts to revive the ailing
carmaker.
"Other people may or may not have timeframes, but it's not
what I'm worried about," he said. "I'm focused on the fact that
we need to fix the business, and that's really what is driving
me."
Wagoner said GM had not been nimble enough to adjust quickly
to slumping sales of high-margin sport-utility vehicles (SUVs)
this year.
"We just couldn't react," he said in an interview conducted
last week. "It really highlighted that the underpinnings of our
business are too fragile. So if we lose mix or volume, we cannot
get costs down as fast as (sales) volume comes down."
He added that sales volume for some of GM's new products,
especially mid-sized cars, had not met expectations.
"They're actually picking up some momentum now, but they
didn't start off strong," he said.
Next year, 30 percent of GM's sales volume will be generated
by vehicles that are less than 18 months old, Wagoner said.
The paper said Wagoner declined to predict whether GM's
North American automotive operations could break even next year
despite a wave of plant shutdowns.
GM plans to slash 30,000 jobs and close 12 facilities in
North America through 2008 as part of a broader restructuring.
He also would not say whether GM will offer buyouts to
workers at supplier Delphi Corp in a bid to avert a
strike that could cripple GM.
Press release
http://delphi.com/news/pressReleases/
Delphi is not going out of business. Our chapter 11 business reorganization is well financed, well planned and well organized. We intend to utilize the chapter 11 process to preserve the value of the company, and complete its transformation plan designed to resolve Delphi's existing legacy issues and the resulting high cost structure of its U.S. operations.
Our customers worldwide can be assured that we will continue to meet their quality scheduling, delivery and production needs in a timely manner. Our customers should expect to receive the same superior engineering for which Delphi is known. We remain committed to developing technology and new products and providing our customers worldwide with our unparalleled customer support.
We encourage you to explore this section and check it regularly for updates on reorganization.
Below are the 42 entities that were included in the filing.
1. Delphi Corporation (Parent) (Delaware)
2. ASEC Manufacturing General Partnership (Delaware)
3. ASEC Sales General Partnership (Delaware)
4. Aspire, Inc. (Michigan)
5. Delco Electronics Overseas Corporation (Delaware)
6. Delphi Automotive Systems (Holding), Inc. (Delaware)
7. Delphi Automotive Systems Global (Holding), Inc. (Delaware)
8. Delphi Automotive Systems Human Resources LLC (Delaware)
9. Delphi Automotive Systems International, Inc. (Delaware)
10. Delphi Automotive Systems Korea, Inc. (Delaware)
11. Delphi Automotive Systems LLC (Delaware)
12. Delphi Automotive Systems Overseas Corporation (Delaware)
13. Delphi Automotive Systems Risk Management Corp. (Delaware)
14. Delphi Automotive Systems Services LLC (Delaware)
15. Delphi Automotive Systems Tennessee, Inc. (Delaware)
16. Delphi Automotive Systems Thailand, Inc. (Delaware)
17. Delphi China LLC (Delaware)
18. Delphi Connection Systems (California)
19. Delphi Diesel Systems Corp. (Delaware)
20. Delphi Electronics (Holding) LLC (Delaware)
21. Delphi Foreign Sales Corporation (Virgin Islands)
22. Delphi Integrated Service Solutions, Inc. (Michigan)
23. Delphi International Holdings Corp. (Delaware)
24. Delphi International Services, Inc. (Delaware)
25. Delphi Liquidation Holding Company (Delaware)
26. Delphi LLC (Delaware)
27. Delphi Mechatronic Systems, Inc. (Delaware)
28. Delphi Medical Systems Colorado Corporation (Colorado)
29. Delphi Medical Systems Corporation (Delaware)
30. Delphi Medical Systems Texas Corporation (Delaware)
31. Delphi NY Holdings Corporation (New York)
32. Delphi Services Holding Corporation (Delaware)
33. Delphi Technologies, Inc. (Delaware)
34. DREAL, Inc. (Delaware)
35. Environmental Catalysts, LLC (Delaware)
36. Exhaust Systems Corporation (Delaware)
37. Packard Hughes Interconnect Company (Delaware)
38. Specialty Electronics, Inc. (South Carolina)
39. Specialty Electronics International Ltd. (Virgin Islands)
40. Delphi Furukawa Wiring Systems LLC
41. MobileAria, Inc.
42. Delphi Receivables LLC
WALKER JOHN H files Form 3, Initial Statement of Beneficial Ownership of DELPHI CORP
http://www.pinksheets.com/quote/news.jsp?url=fis_story.asp%3Ftextpath%3D%5C2005%5C12%5C09%5CEDGARNew...
1,000 Workers Protest Wage Cuts at Delphi
KOKOMO, Ind., Dec 11, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- At least a thousand people rallied in central Indiana against steep wage cuts proposed by bankrupt auto parts manufacturer Delphi Corp.
Workers say the proposed cuts - from $27 an hour to between $10 and $12.50 - are unfair, especially as Delphi has given bonuses to managers and other executives. United Auto Workers officials have said a strike against Delphi appears increasingly likely.
"To the Delphi workers here and everyone else, there are 380,000 union workers in the state of Indiana who will march in this battle with you," said Indiana AFL-CIO President Ken Zeller. "You are not alone."
Workers carried signs that read, "Delphi cooks the books/Workers get BURNED."
Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams declined comment.
One in three jobs in Kokomo is tied to manufacturing, and the Howard County community is poised to take a heavy blow as its two big employers - Delphi and DaimlerChrysler - eye layoffs or pay cuts.
Delphi has been operating under bankruptcy protection since October and is seeking to cut hourly workers' wages by more than 60 percent.
Based in Troy, Mich., Delphi has about 6,000 employees in Indiana, most of whom work at the company's Electronics & Safety Division headquartered in Kokomo.
The company was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from General Motors. With 185,000 workers worldwide, Delphi is the nation's largest auto supplier.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Wednesday, 12-07-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=r APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) )
KEYWORD: KOKOMO, Ind.
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
Workers Rally Against Delphi Wage Cuts
KOKOMO, Ind., Dec 11, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- At least a thousand people rallied in central Indiana against steep wage cuts proposed by auto parts manufacturer Delphi Corp., which has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Workers say the proposed cuts - from $27 an hour to between $10 and $12.50 - are unfair, especially as Delphi has given bonuses to managers and other executives. United Auto Workers officials have said a strike against Delphi appears increasingly likely.
"To the Delphi workers here and everyone else, there are 380,000 union workers in the state of Indiana who will march in this battle with you," said Indiana AFL-CIO President Ken Zeller. "You are not alone."
Workers carried signs that read, "Delphi cooks the books/Workers get BURNED."
Delphi spokesman Lindsey Williams declined comment.
One in three jobs in Kokomo is tied to manufacturing, and the Howard County community is poised to take a heavy blow as its two big employers - Delphi and DaimlerChrysler - eye layoffs or pay cuts.
Delphi has been operating under bankruptcy protection since October and is seeking to cut hourly workers' wages by more than 60 percent.
Based in Troy, Mich., Delphi has about 6,000 employees in Indiana, most of whom work at the company's Electronics & Safety Division headquartered in Kokomo.
The company was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from General Motors. With 185,000 workers worldwide, Delphi is the nation's largest auto supplier.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
**********************************************************************
As of Wednesday, 12-07-2005 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on 09-01-2005 for DPH @ $5.03.
(C) 2005 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
-0-
APO Priority=r APO Category=1310 (PROFILE (CO:Delphi Corp.; TS:DPHIQ; IG:0000;) (COUNTRY:United States; ISOCOUNTRY3:USA; UNTOP:021; APGROUP:NorthAmerica;) )
KEYWORD: KOKOMO, Ind.
SUBJECT CODE: 1310
Delphi revising UAW proposal -WSJ
NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Delphi
Corp. is putting together a new contract proposal to
present to the United Auto Workers union, according to an
interview he gave to The Wall Street Journal.
The bankrupt auto parts maker and the union have had no
formal negotiations since Delphi submitted a modified wage and
benefit cutting plan to the UAW in mid-November.
Delphi's Chairman and CEO Robert "Steve" Miller is also
willing to change a proposed compensation plan that would set
aside $519 million in cash bonuses, severance packages and
future stock for about 600 executives and other key employees,
according to Saturday's edition of the newspaper.
Miller gave no details of any new proposals but told the
Wall Street Journal that he is "starting with a whole-cloth new
deal, a new solution."
A top UAW negotiator said late last week that a strike
appears more likely than not under the current circumstances. A
strike could quickly disrupt U.S. operations at Delphi and
cripple production at General Motors Corp. , the
company's largest customer and former parent.
Delphi failed to reach accords with its unions before
filing the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. automotive history in
October. It has said it must slash wages and benefits of its
U.S. hourly workers and cut some manufacturing operations.
(c) Reuters 2005. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters
and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of
the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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