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Hey Vols., is the anticipation of the upcoming P&Ls killing you? I can’t wait to see with all the expenses how we came out. I know they said it might come early but they said that the last time too. I just hope they don’t decide and take the whole 60 days as stated in the pinks and by them on town hall. (They didn’t say they are going to take 60 days they were stating what time line the pinks were giving)
Still a timely bit of info:
Town Hall 05.31.07
There are a lot of negotiations taking place. There are literally new developments every week. Any one of a number of deals that might close could significantly affect our revenue projections. Additionally, many of the potential contracts are related to new services and innovations that will improve current business processes. There will be cases where we literally do not know ‘how high is up’. We will only be able to get more accurate numbers when these contracts become operational and we have some in-market experience.
We believe in the old adage; under promise and over deliver! In other words, we are trying to be as cautious as possible. We are proud of the fact that we have consistently delivered what we have said we would. We intend to continue on that basis.
Hey check this out, I hope we’re apart of this! Do these banks look familiar?
Jiefang Daily reports the local government met with officials from 16 banks to discuss how to cut waiting times on Friday afternoon.
At the Friday meeting, eight banks promised to appoint more staff to serve personal banking customers and install additional self-service banking machines to shorten the queues. They also pledged to redesign their operations and computer systems to make their processes more efficient.
The eight banks that promised to take action are the Industrial and Commercial Bank, Agricultural Bank, Construction Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Bank of Communications, Merchant Bank, Minsheng Bank and Bank of China.
The Bank of Shanghai also proposed to move some branches to areas that currently lack banking services. It said it would allocate separate windows to deal with cash and non-cash transactions, and promote the use of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) among the elderly.
The Bank of China said it is considering launching a text message service to inform clients of waiting times in their branches and help them better manage their time.
China Merchant Bank called for an increase to the limits that currently apply to ATM transactions, so people can use them to withdraw and deposit larger sums of money. The current maximum is 5000 yuan, or about 647 US dollars.
http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/olympiccities/shanghai/n214064776.shtml
Found this on a post by garde last nite.
I am very comfortable with my position. I got you an answer and you, MR. U., May go and ask again if you wish. The fact is, in any business things change and must change. EFGO has work hard and visited a lot of places and I believe they have several deals in the works and hopefully one, two, or all may come through. As for me I'm committed for at least a year and then I'll re-evaluate, I'm stubborn that way. And to answer your next question, I know it's coming. 50m @ .00074. Long & Strong
Town Hall:
06.27.07Isn’t it time to reduce the A/S?
QUESTION:
Are there plans to reduce the authorized shares to something like 7 billion? This would greatly increase investor confidence without costing the company any money but would leave open the opportunity to raise substantial additional monies should the company need it (over half a million dollars, propbably a good deal more as the share price would undoubtedly rise in response to such an action).
RESPONSE:
There are no plans for a reverse split of the stock. We do not feel it is in our shareholders best interests at this time. There is sufficient additional authorized stock to accommodate mergers and acquisitions if required.Please note that our acquisitions are very select, and our track record is that we do not make investments lightly. Our acquisition objectives are to ensure that we acquire companies only when they fit with our strategic objectives, and normally ensure that we buy at a discount to a fair evaluation. We are careful to ensure that our decisions will add value to our entire shareholder base, and not have any dilutive effect.
Now let's think about it from a numbers side. If the a/s is approx. 8bl and our avg. trading volume is aprox. 55-60ml a day. That's only .75%.
Ford o/s 1.81bl avg. day’s trading volume 51ml. That’s an avg. 2.82% of total o/s shares.
So our percent of total is much lower, meaning there are a lot of investors holding and not wavering.
With trading not even a % of a/s means that the major investors are holding and have enough faith in Garr and his team and that’s good enough for me.
Date......Volume
8/8/07 75,550,878
8/7/07 66,186,214
8/6/07 57,617,279
8/3/07 58,253,632
8/2/07 87,615,359
8/1/07 27,025,000
7/31/07 52,341,100
Thanks I remember reading that, but couldn't remember who posted it.
After doing some more checking you are correct, and the 866 is a Law Office and the other #s are also other companies if dial as show. In ferther checking, it also appears many of the web sites are old or in the progress of be updated, so some or all of the information is not up to date.
That's an improvement, It use to be 2003 or 2004. Very exciting.
Good morning, don't see any news yet. Hopefully when we get news, it is as big as EFGO has hinted it to be. If so the PPs may jump. If we can jump to a penny, will get looks from a different set of investors. If the 2nd qtr. is good and new investor this thing could be what dreams are made of. But I still believe were 8-12 mo.s away from realizing the true potential.
And at 5% interest is $110,000 a year, Every year as long as you don't touch the 2ml
10am Beijing Time!!!!!
Hopefully this news is as big as EFGO has hinted it to be. If so the PPs may jump. If we can jump to a penny, will get looks from a different set of investors. If the 2nd qtr. is good and new investor this thing could be what dreams are made of. But I still believe were 8-12 mo.s away from realizing the true potential.
Is that your final answer?
Hey Vol, Brian, just got home ,I see more of the same Quiet. Well, I think things are brewing it just too quiet for them not to be.
That's not a web site, it's a search page.
Here is where you're sending me.
http://www.moneycheck.com/
Paste and copied as you posted and I don't see Cash Now, please supply link.
Link please
Just my opinion, but I think once the China banks sign we will get Wachovia Bank. That may be a condition of them coming on board. Aren’t they the one that is used to deposit your money for forex?
I don't thing JC, is going to hurt them at all. they are still proceding in China and that was done with out JC.
LAS VEGAS, July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Esprit Financial Group Inc. (ESPRIT) (EFGO.PK)
Esprit management has had very productive meetings over the last week with Money Check, a Hong Kong based vendor of ATMs. The parties have agreed to proceed to detailed negotiations in order to develop a joint venture to deploy ATMs within mainland China.
More on partner potential...Posted by: firerat
In reply to: None Date:8/4/2007 5:42:52 PM
Post #58199 of 58230
These guys aren't exactly bottom feeders either.
Thesis 07-16-2007 by Jaime Peters, CFA, CPA
After buying AmSouth, Regions joined the leagues of the super-regional banks operating in the southeast United States. Never as profitable as its peers, Regions ranks below other opportunities we see out in big bank land.
Even though it was Regions that acquired AmSouth, the former management team of AmSouth is calling the postmerger shots. Besides the head of Morgan Keegan, Regions' investment broker subsidiary, the top brass is almost exclusively from AmSouth. We admire the talents and strategies of CEO Dowd Ritter, who led AmSouth to 18% returns on equity throughout his tenure. As AmSouth was by far the better managed of these two Birmingham-based banks, we think Ritter's leadership gives shareholders the best possible shot at postmerger success.
However, we believe the task of whipping Regions into shape while integrating this large merger might be too much even for a man with Ritter's vision and abilities. Regions has produced a mediocre 12% average return on equity over the past five years, far below its super-regional peers. We expect profitability will be depressed further over the next few years as a result of integration expenses. In order for Regions to have any hope of improving, it must retain the customers and key employees of both firms, a difficult task during an integration of this scope. Regions' competition has been very aggressive about luring commercial bankers and their customers away. While we expect some modest customer and employee attrition, anything more than 5% of the combined firm's deposits and loans would make the bargain price paid for AmSouth start to look expensive.
The most promising part of the merger is the strengthened position Regions will have in Florida. AmSouth's 246 branches has been added to Regions' 153 branches, and the combined entity now has a footprint that covers the entire state. With an average of 1,000 people moving to Florida every day, the demand for deposits and loans is growing faster than elsewhere in the country. Regions' size and breadth of product offerings allows it to compete with top banks like SunTrust and Wachovia. And even with nearly 400 branches in the Sunshine state, Regions is looking to build more.
One highlight from the legacy Regions business is its investment broker business, Morgan Keegan, which made up 50% of the company's non-interest income in 2006. Since Morgan Keegan's results are tied to the capital market, its returns tend to be somewhat volatile. Still, Morgan Keegan adds a complete brokerage product line to Regions' regular bank products, distinguishing it from its community bank competition and putting it on par with national peers. The AmSouth acquisition gives Morgan Keegan access to a new set of customers and gives AmSouth a wider range of products to help tie the customer more firmly to the company.
Valuation
We are maintaining our $40 fair value estimate for Regions. Because of the integration of AmSouth, we expect that 2007 will be a tough year for the bank. We expect that assets will decline by 4% and that loans will decline by 2% as a result of the sale of more than $2 billion of loans that was required to meet regulatory hurdles and customer attrition. However, we expect the company to rebound, increasing assets and loans at an annual 6% and 6.5%, respectively, by 2009. We anticipate similar pain of the deposit side, with total deposits down 5% in 2007 before growing at an average annual rate of 5% beginning in 2008. Regions hits another bump with the unfriendly interest-rate environment, which we believe will compress its net interest margin to 3.31% in 2007 from 3.45% in 2006. We continue to expect Regions to achieve its $400 million in annual cost savings from the AmSouth merger. Expenses will be elevated in 2007 because of integration costs, but should decline to 54% by 2010.
Risk
Regions has just completed a long and difficult integration with Union Planters and is now jumping into another with AmSouth. Regions started the Union Planters integration with some major bumps, losing deposits and customers in Union Planters' home state of Tennessee. Regions has since regained the customers, but if history repeats itself with the AmSouth integration, Regions could be hurt.
See Previous Analyst Reports
Close Competitors TTM Sales $Mil Market Cap $Mil
Regions Financial Corporation 6,088 20,479
* Bank of America 73,439 208,606
* Wachovia 32,419 85,483
* SunTrust Banks 8,142 26,882
* AmSouth Bancorporation 2,495 10,212
* Compass Bancshares 1,858 9,021
* Morningstar Analyst Report Available | Compare These Stocks
Data as of 03-31-07
Strategy
Regions' footprint covers 16 states. The company subdivides its operation into regions, each with its own management. This allows it to tailor the branches to the needs of the local customers better than it could with a centralized model. Regions operates its investment broker as a separate business with access to the bank's customers.
Management & Stewardship
Given its acquisition history, Regions has seen top management turn over fairly rapidly. Chairman Jackson Moore was previously CEO of Regions and before that, CEO of Union Planters. He gave up the Regions CEO position in the AmSouth acquisition. Former AmSouth CEO C. Dowd Ritter became the CEO of Regions. With Ritter at the helm, we expect turnover to stop for a while. Ritter did an excellent job at AmSouth, and we anticipate that Regions will benefit from his guidance. The total board is now a cumbersome 18 people, after three of Regions' directors retired. Additional retirements will help whittle the board down to 15 members over the next few years. We are disappointed that Regions' board opposed a shareholder proposal for annual elections of directors, instead of the current three-year staggered structure, in the 2006 proxy. The top management and board of directors combined own 2.5% of the shares outstanding, with no one person owning more than 1% of the company. Many of the directors have in excess of $5 million invested in the company, including options. This significant stake should keep their skin in the game and help align their interests with those of shareholders.
Profile
Regions Bancorp is based in Birmingham, Ala. The bank, which has $138 billion in assets, operates retail and commercial banking businesses and owns investment brokerage house Morgan Keegan, which made up 18% of the firm's 2006 revenue. With about 2,000 offices, Regions operates in 16 states and is the 11th-largest bank in the U.S.
Growth
Regions' 30% annual asset growth rate over the past five years is mostly a result of acquisitions. The company has acquired more than 100 banks in its history and continued this trend with the recent AmSouth deal.
Profitability
Regions' return on average equity of 12% is below average as a result of its acquisitive history. An average bank of its size would typically have a return near 15%.
Financial Health
Regions has benefited from excellent industrywide credit quality. Net charge-offs are nearly 40% below a normalized level for the company. Regions has maintained its conservative reserve levels during this temporarily low-loss period.
Love to them as a partner Posted by: firerat
In reply to: None Date:8/4/2007 5:25:44 PM
Post #58198 of 58229
Be nice to be associated with these guys!!!
Analyst Note 07-20-2007 by Jaime Peters, CFA, CPA
Wachovia WB posted second-quarter results on July 20 that were in line with our expectations. We are maintaining our fair value estimate. Wachovia's strong fee income generation helped increase earnings per share by 4% from the second quarter of last year to $1.22. Proprietary trading was the largest contributor to fee income growth, up by 58% to $298 million. Larger than normal fluctuations in interest rates were behind the higher proprietary trading revenues. We do not expect this level to be sustainable. Another major source of fee income, Wachovia's brokerage business, had another excellent quarter. Wachovia is actively hiring new brokers and keeping attrition to a minimum, which we believe is key to long-term success in the brokerage business. The anticipated acquisition of AG Edwards remains on track and should close in the fourth quarter as expected. Finally, we want to mention Wachovia's continued excellent credit quality. When Wachovia bought California-based thrift Golden West, we were astounded by the price, but knew the bank was buying a gem. With so many headlines about California housing, it is easy to worry about the mortgages Wachovia bought. We admit there has been an increase in poor-performing mortgages in the Bay area, but overall credit quality remains excellent. Loan losses were only 0.14% of total loans, down from 0.15% in the first quarter. We expect over the next year that loan losses will start trending upward as the national credit environment returns to a more-normal level of losses.
Thesis 02-16-2007
With a focus on customer service, Wachovia has become the dominant player in the attractive southeastern U.S. market. We like this bank's prospects. Its new California footprint and capital market businesses are creating new opportunities for this jewel.
Retail banking in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states is the bread-and-butter of this financial-services giant, making up over half of Wachovia's earnings. Excellent execution of its high-touch customer service propels the bank's bottom line. An intense focus on the customer experience and wide product offerings allowed Wachovia to add 1.3 new customers for every customer it loses. Active online customers increased 25% in 2006; these services tie clients more closely to the bank and create a barrier to customer switching. We believe Wachovia excels at attracting and retaining its customers.
Wachovia's three capital market businesses give this giant a growing source of fee-based revenues. In a joint venture with Prudential, Wachovia Securities has offices in 49 states and $276 billion of assets under management, making it the nation's third-largest retail brokerage. Adding the company's investment bank and wealth management arms, more than 30% of Wachovia's earnings are dependent on the capital markets. While more cyclical than retail banking, over the long run, these businesses should grow faster than the bank and produce excellent returns.
Wachovia is a serial acquirer. As soon as the bank finishes integrating one acquisition, it trains its sights on another target. With $707 billion in assets, it takes a large acquisition to move the performance needle. Therefore, its experienced acquisition team is one of Wachovia's greatest assets.
Wachovia's latest acquisition, California-based thrift Golden West, is a bit out of line with its previous acquisitions. Historically, Wachovia has purchased banks with similar operating models inside or adjacent to its footprint, where it can add economies of scale and still be in a demographically attractive market. While California certainly meets the last criterion, which we believe was the motivation behind this acquisition, Golden West's consumer mortgage concentration is out of sync with Wachovia's business model. Wachovia plans to introduce commercial banking into its newly acquired branches, a major undertaking. It will likely take years to get Golden West's branches up to speed with the rest of the franchise. While this gives Wachovia a great outlet for growth, the high price paid suggests it will take some time for shareholders to realize any benefits. Given Wachovia's track record we are willing to be patient.
Valuation
We estimate Wachovia's fair value to be $61 per share. We anticipate the net interest margin will continue to struggle in 2007, ending the year close to 2006's 3.12%. As the difference between long-term and short-term rates returns to normal, we expect Wachovia's net interest margin to expand to 3.30%. Wachovia should be able to grow loans and total assets about 7% annually without acquisitions. We estimate total internal revenue growth to average 9% driven by noninterest income growth from Wachovia's capital market businesses. With recent signs of weakening credit quality, we believe Wachovia will need to rebuild loan loss reserves, which ended 2006 at 0.80% of total loans. As a result, we expect loan loss provisions to exceed net charge-offs through the next three years, lowering earnings per share in the short run. Finally, we believe Wachovia's focus on cost control will benefit the bottom line, lowering the efficiency ratio to 55% by 2010 from 58% in 2006.
Risk
In addition to the constant threat that one of Wachovia's large-scale acquisitions will blow up, we worry about Wachovia's lack of loss reserves. Wachovia's allowance for loan losses to total loans was just 0.80%, compared with an average of 1.16% at the 10 largest U.S. banks. We expect credit losses will begin to increase, and Wachovia will be forced to rebuild its allowance ratio. Assuming an increase to a still historically low 1% of loans, the bank would need to take $840 million of additional provisions for loan losses, or approximately $0.29 per share aftertax in 2007.
See Previous Analyst Reports
Close Competitors TTM Sales $Mil Market Cap $Mil
Wachovia Corporation 32,419 85,483
* SunTrust Banks 8,142 26,882
* Bank of America 73,439 208,606
* FleetBoston Financial 14,240 47,262
* J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. 65,230 149,113
* Morningstar Analyst Report Available | Compare These Stocks
Data as of 03-31-07
Strategy
While Wachovia is busy growing its top line through acquisition, the bank is also concentrating on expense controls. With three high-service, high-cost capital market businesses, Wachovia will never have the low efficiency ratio of a mono-line bank, but we believe its goal of 55% is achievable. The company is nearing completion of its $1 billion efficiency campaign.
Management & Stewardship
CEO and chairman Ken Thompson has run Wachovia since it formed in 2001 upon the merger of First Union and the old Wachovia. We are impressed with Thompson's ability to gather effective leaders around him. A bank the size of Wachovia cannot be run alone, and we believe Thompson has formed a deep bench of capable managers. Wachovia is one of our most shareholder-friendly banks. In 2006, shareholders successfully pushed through a proposal to require shareholder approval for golden parachutes. Wachovia was one of the first banks to begin expensing stock options. Management announced plans to recommend annual elections for its board of directors at its next shareholder meeting in April 2007. In addition, we love that management is required to hold 75% of stock grants until retirement. The only two blemishes for Wachovia's corporate governance is the presence of a poison pill and the fact that Thompson holds both the CEO and chairman positions.
Profile
Wachovia is the fourth-largest bank by assets in the United States. The bank operates in 21 states and has a dominant market position in the fast-growing southeastern United States and the wealthy Mid-Atlantic. In addition, recent acquisitions have given Wachovia a presence in California. Wachovia also runs an investment bank and wealth management business. Wachovia Securities, a joint venture with Prudential, is the third-largest retail brokerage business in the U.S.
Growth
Built through a series of acquisitions, we believe Wachovia will continue to make large acquisitions for its bank. Internally, the bank should be able to increase revenues 8%. We expect the capital market businesses to grow faster, around 10%.
Profitability
Wachovia's return on equity is dragged down by the large amount of goodwill derived from its acquisition strategy. But with its focus on expenses, Wachovia's return on tangible equity was a healthy 26%.
Financial Health
Wachovia is well capitalized. Set on returning 40%-50% of earnings to shareholders through dividends, the company also has a large share repurchase program in place.
Just my Thoughts, We know that our o/s is around 8 billion. Many pinks have a much lower o/s or at least that is what is listed for people to see. Now say, a company has a 2 billion o/s and has one revenue stream as most do, some feel that is a better investment. 8 billion seems high but looking at 4 maybe 5 revenue streams it about the same potential revenue to o/s ratio or better.
I’ve made a commitment to go with this stock because of the wow potential and the long shot. This is why I’m here. Not everything any new company does is going to work out but at least I’d say they’re out there and we know most of what is going on. There are very few companies that would give you half the info we’ve gotten so far. (Unless you go with a pump/dump). I know it been said over and over wait, wait wait. I say it’s your money, do what you want! It’s still going to take time if you’re waiting on the so call big prize. (Rocketing PPS). Then again, lots of other stocks have jump for no apparent reason. I believe this company is moving in the right direction and only time will tell.
Story time, I had a stock similar to this a few years back and got fed up with it and sold it. Don’t remember exactly how much it was, $1-$2 something like that. What was it, VIP. Man am I sorry today.
This will not happen with this stock, long, strong and a little paranoid.
Good Morning, Let's hope for a repeat of last week with a pr nite!!!
Think your right, we seem solid at this level, Would like to be solid at say, .01
Someone mention Garr, My opinion is that he wants to build an empire and if your not ready or not commited, then look out! because that's what he wants. I think he want to show himself that he can succede and not just work for someone else.
How High IS UP? As with any stock, only buy what you can afford.(to lose) Can you double your money? Triple? No one knows for sure, but it seems like they have a lot going on. We just need to hit a couple and will go up. Me, holding long, in to next year. Well unless, we hit $1-$2 over nite LOL
Just got home, Didn't know they were amended, If I find out anything, I'll get back with you.
Articles of Incorportation, has been file on pinks.
http://www.pinksheets.com/otciq/ajax/showFinancialReportById?id=11389
WE are, If you google all divisions at the same time, it's us. So, we should be the one stop shop in china. :>}
Closed at 5
They never did ,it was just talk, by some one in IR that did not no what he was talking about.
Edit: or what Kermit said, who knows...
So it was some one in IR.
If memory serve me, I think all of that or most of that was so called emails from the company or answer from IR to some questions long ago. I don't remember Garr ever saying there would be a buy back. But I could be Wrong
In follow-up meetings with the two sister companies since returning from China, Esprit and Check 21 China have finalized terms of the acquisition, and expect to close the transaction within a week. WebCheck will be acquired in a stock and cash transaction. The stock issued will be placed in an escrow account, and delivered in stages as the business achieves a number of business milestones. This will see the issued share capital rise from 6.1 billion to nearly 8 billion shares. It is important to note that because this investment is in restricted stock, there will be no immediate impact on the current public float of Esprit stock, and will allow the Esprit to to preserve liquid assets to commit to expanding the sales and marketing efforts as well as operational capabilities of the AEFM ( Advanced Electronic Funds Management) and other divisions of the Company. The total commitment of restricted stock is based on anticipated development costs that will be incurred as the new subsidiary scales up operations on its way to becoming cash flow positive.
http://www.pinksheets.com/pink/quote/quote.jsp?symbol=efgo#openNews10600
It's a great idea, I'll pass this along to Brian.
It will be interesting today to see what the new symbols do to the stocks.
You know it is still all relative, depending on whether you’re long or short, there is still money to be make if played right.
Hope this link works.
http://www.pinksheets.com/pink/otcguide/categories.jsp