Monthly Archives: August 2017

LONDON--Bookmaker William Hill PLC (WMH.LN) Wednesday recorded a 2% rise in first-half adjusted pretax profit and said it expects to make good progress in 2017 and beyond.

The company, which operates betting shops and a website in the U.K. as well as operations in the U.S. and Australia, said adjusted pretax profit--which excludes exceptional items--rose to 111.2 million pounds ($143.2 million) during the 26 weeks ended June 27, compared with GBP109.3 million a year earlier. Pretax profit was down 7% to GBP93.5 million in the first half from GBP100.7 million a year earlier

The company's net revenue rose 3% to GBP837 million compared with GBP814.4 million a year earlier.

"The first half of 2017 has seen good progress against our three strategic priorities and wagering growth across all four divisions. Our product improvements combined with improved marketing have seen both existing customers respond positively and the number of new customers start growing again during the period," Chief Executive Philip Bowcock said.

The company added it is on track to deliver GBP40 million of annualized savings by the year-end and is confident about delivering a good outturn in 2017 and beyond.

-Write to Razak Musah Baba at razak.baba@wsj.com; Twitter: @Raztweet

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William Hill profit rises; sees progress in 2017 - MarketWatch

Pre-construction has begun. A tentative timeline has been set.

Morristown Utility Systems general manager, Jody Wigington, said the construction and implementation of a new sewer line running from Exit 8 of Interstate 81 to the Lowland wastewater treatment plant just south of Exit 12 could be complete in as little as a year if no unforeseen challenges arise.

The project includes placing the new line, which will replace an old line nearing its capacity, and updating the treatment plant itself.

Both are a part of a consent order from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. With the order in place, Wigington said the projects have to be seen through to completion. However, because the work was needed and MUS consented, he said fewer penalty payments were required.

He said it was not only the only option but was the best option as the construction will benefit the city long-term.

Weve been a little limited with knowing we cant recruit certain types of wet business that uses a lot of water and waste water (to this area) with the existing line, Wigington said. This will open the door to welcome any type of customer the city might want to recruit. The only effect on our existing customers are the rate increases.

In addition to providing development opportunities for Exit 8, Wigington said this will allow for Exit 12 development.

Other rate increases may be coming down the pike for MUS electricity customers as a result of increases from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the supplier for MUS and other companies around the Lakeway Area and state.

In a presentation at the most recent MUS board of directors meeting, a TVA representative reported the organization has cut operating costs by reducing its footprint and has conserved fuel costs by using what is economical to produce the greatest amounts of power for its customers.

Despite this, the TVA has been unable to pay down its debt of nearly $26 billion as revenue continues to decrease.

In order to reduce the debt, TVA will be recommending a 1.5 percent rate adjustment per year at the retail level.

I think they do a good job. They have a balanced portfolio of plants and are able to pick the fuel that is most efficient to run, Wigington said. Meanwhile, TVA, for the first time in its history, is predicting negative load growth. We are barely moving, and if our industry hadnt done so many expansions in the last three or four years, we would be negative, too.

Wigington said load growth is the amount of electricity used by customers. It decreases with conservation.

We are seeing conservation across the board, he continued. The sewer rates are high, so people are conserving water use to keep the sewer bill down. With electricity, its primarily been lighting. LED lighting uses about 10 to 15 percent of the power incandescent lighting uses. At the same time, we have to have revenue.

I mean, were the company that wants to help people save and cut their bills, he said. Were sitting with flat sales here, and TVA has declining sales and declining revenue. Theyre not being about to reduce their debt, so theyre having to increase the rates to make up the difference.

During the board meeting, the TVA representative said the increases will most likely take place the next two years. After, TVA will revisit the long-term financial plan and make a decision to increase rates further or stabilize them.

Read more from the original source:

Progress made on pipeline to connect Exit 8 to Lowland - Citizentribune

A major progressive think tank wants Democrats to stop being shy about accusing the Trump campaign of colluding with Russia.

The Center for American Progress has written a nearly 50-page report for Democrats in Congress, making the case for collusion between President Donald Trumps campaign and Russia. The report, a draft of which was reviewed by BuzzFeed News ahead of its release Wednesday, makes the bold claim that it is now clear there was collusion and this is the biggest political scandal in American history.

CAPs report, which includes several appendices linking to news reports and quotes from the Trump administration, does not include any new information, but it does represent a push for a dramatic change of tone for Democrats in Congress.

We're ... trying to convey that its time to stop beating around the bush on Trumps collusion with Russia. There is a mountain of evidence that Trump and his associates colluded with Russia and its time to start saying so, Adam Jentleson, senior strategic adviser and former deputy chief of staff for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, told BuzzFeed News in an email.

We think its time to be a lot more forward-leading because the evidence is overwhelming.

This is a drastic departure from what most Democrats in Congress have been saying since Trump entered the White House in January. At least in public, most congressional Democrats have yielded on the side of caution, calling for further investigation before alleging actual collusion while at the same time emphasizing stories like the recent revelation that Donald Trump Jr. and others from the campaign spoke with a Russian lawyer last summer, in a meeting pitched to the presidents son with the promise of damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

I think the reason why were putting this report out is that we need to sort of face the facts of whats staring us in the face here, Max Bergmann, a senior fellow at CAP and author of the report, told BuzzFeed News. When you piece it all together and you lay out the facts, all the information that we know the picture becomes very clear. And what is clear is that the presidents campaign was willing to collude with Russians and did.

The Justice Department under special counsel Robert Mueller, the House and Senate intelligence committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee are all still conducting investigations on Russia interference in the US election and any involvement by the Trump campaign.

The draft of CAPs report lays out everything the public knows about how the Trump campaign and Russia interacted during the campaign based on information gathered from press reports and congressional testimony. According to CAP, the evidence should be enough for Democrats to argue the campaign colluded with Russia.

CAPs plan is to deliver the report to key offices on the Hill with the hope of giving Democrats the confidence to make a collusion argument. Jentleson said Democratic leadership, as well as members of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees in the House and Senate, will be receiving the report.

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The Center For American Progress Is Releasing A Nearly 50-Page Report Claiming TrumpRussia Collusion - BuzzFeed News

Fifth Ward Alderwoman Rita Rawson joked that maybe the city forgot to specify the year when it told the Rhythm City Casino Resort to have its barge removed from the Davenport riverfront by March 31.

The lack of movement is no longer a laughing matter for some on the Davenport City Council.

Rhythm City was able to find a taker for the barge in the city of Keokuk, but the City Council learned Tuesday during its management update meeting that the process to remove it willtake a minimum of a two more weeks.

"We're disappointed they are not further along," Alderwoman Kerri Tompkins, 8th Ward, said. "This should have been executed months ago."

Rhythm City was initially given a deadline of March 31 to remove the barge and structure atop it after the City Council elected to pursue land-based development.

The Council had received two proposals from U.S. Inland Marine Inc. and Restoration St. Louis with development ideas for the barge, but the proposal lacked a certain "wow" factor.

After the March 31 deadline passed, Rhythm City was without any concrete offers so it requested and was granted an extension so it could find a city in eastern Iowa to donate the barge.

The city of Clinton passed on the idea after finding the cost to move and operate the structure cost prohibitive, but the Rhythm City was able to reach a deal with Keokuk in May.

The process, however, has seen its fair share of delays since.

High river levels prevented movementbecause the barge would not have navigated past the 54-foot clearance at the Interstate 280 bridge.

The delay is barge traffic then caused the cost to move it to skyrocket, prompting Keokuk to wait until prices subsided.

Finance Director Brandon Wright said he was still awaiting news from Keokuk City Administrator Aaron Burnett, who indicated was expecting proposals for moving the barge to come in.

Wright said that the acceptance of a contract, however, would require approval from the Keokuk City Council, which would draw out the process at least two more weeks.

The new timeline was not what the aldermen wanted to hear.

Alderman Mike Matson, 7th Ward, uttered expletives in complete disbelief.

After City Attorney Tom Warner said the city planned to speak with Keokuk officials, Matson interrupted and said "We've been planning on talking to them for a while."

Matson said the city needed to "put some teeth" into its actions.

"Put a $10,000 fine every day that passes August 15," Matson said. "Seriously, I'm ready to bring that to Council to do something like that. This is ridiculous that this is taking so long."

City Administrator Corri Spiegel said that if the process did not progress quickly enough for the aldermen, she would schedule for Burnett to address the Council on Aug. 15.

"Because there was another government involved, we were trying to be a good partner in allowing them to mobilize at a pace they were comfortable with," Spiegel said.

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Lack of barge progress irks some Davenport aldermen - Quad City Times