PrefBlog

John Hempton of Bronte Capital is keeping the Universal Travel Group pot boiling:

The only communication I have had from Universal Travel Group was a kind email from the acting Chief Financial Officer saying that I needed to provide proof that I was a shareholder to participate in the conference call that they are having on Wednesday, September 29, 2010, to discuss and answer any questions investors may have regarding the Company’s business and financial statements.

I have some questions and I forwarded them in advance to the company as requested.

The purpose of this post is to put the questions on the record in the hope that they are answered and not to entertain my regular readers.

The Fed’s Shared National Credit Review was positive:

Reasons for improvement included improved borrower operating performance, debt restructurings and bankruptcy resolutions, and improved borrower access to bond and equity markets. Industries contributing to improvement in credit quality included automotive, materials and commodities, and finance and insurance. The volume of poorly underwritten credits originated in 2006 and 2007 continued to adversely affect the overall credit quality of the portfolio. Refinancing risk within the portfolio is significant, with nearly 67 percent of criticized assets maturing between 2012 and 2014

I see that the prostitution laws have been struck down, which is a very good thing (unless, of course, you believe that morality can be legistlated). In an amazingly intelligent remark, the judge said:

Judge Himel also said that pimps who threaten or commit violence against prostitutes can still be prosecuted using other sections of the Criminal Code.

When defenders of the faith law wring their hands about human trafficking (it used to be called white slavery), they never explain why such actions don’t fall under the heading of extortion.

However, Judge Himel gave the Crown a 30-day window in which to make arguments against legalizing bawdy houses on account of a concern that “unlicenced brothels may be operated in a way that may not be in the public interest.”

You want to see a bawdy house? Go peek at any of the downtown hotels.

“Any time you are alone with a john, it is dangerous,” federal Crown Michael Morris told Judge Himel. “There is no safe haven when you are involved in prostitution. There is overwhelming evidence that johns can become violent at any moment.”

However, Mr. Young countered that prohibiting communication renders prostitutes unable to “screen” potential clients, hire security or move behind the relative safety of closed doors.

I supposed that somewhere in Canada there is someone who thought Morris’ argument was the killer line, and whose faith in justice would have been shaken if the lawyers had not dutifully plodded through it and its obvious refutation … but it horrifies me to learn I’m paying for the Crown to spout such nonsense, and for the court reporter to write it down, and for courtroom rental while the argument is made, and for the judge to listen to it and note it in her ruling… That’s what’s wrong with the justice system: its being smothered in trivia. Used to be that a murder trial took two days – now it might take two years and I’m not convinced the justice dispensed is commensuraly more just.

The Canadian preferred share market slid again today, with PerpetualDiscounts losing 17bp and FixedResets down 31bp – the median wieghted average yield to worst on the latter index is back up to 3.09%.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index	Mean Current Yield (at bid)	Median YTW	Median Average Trading Value	Median Mod Dur (YTW)	Issues	Day’s Perf.	Index Value
Ratchet	0.00 %	0.00 %	0	0.00	0	0.1275 %	2,126.3
FixedFloater	0.00 %	0.00 %	0	0.00	0	0.1275 %	3,221.0
Floater	2.87 %	3.30 %	77,354	18.99	3	0.1275 %	2,295.8
OpRet	4.88 %	-2.32 %	75,765	0.17	9	-0.0771 %	2,376.3
SplitShare	5.94 %	-31.40 %	63,847	0.09	2	-0.4284 %	2,369.5
Interest-Bearing	0.00 %	0.00 %	0	0.00	0	-0.0771 %	2,172.9
Perpetual-Premium	5.65 %	5.03 %	141,885	5.33	14	0.0389 %	2,003.8
Perpetual-Discount	5.51 %	5.55 %	205,648	14.54	63	-0.1667 %	1,980.9
FixedReset	5.25 %	3.09 %	324,943	3.28	47	-0.3142 %	2,266.5

Performance Highlights
Issue	Index	Change	Notes
TRP.PR.C	FixedReset	-2.29 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 25.55 Evaluated at bid price : 25.60 Bid-YTW : 3.79 %
BAM.PR.J	OpRet	-1.94 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Soft Maturity Maturity Date : 2018-03-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.28 Bid-YTW : 4.61 %
RY.PR.F	Perpetual-Discount	-1.88 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.37 Evaluated at bid price : 21.37 Bid-YTW : 5.27 %
GWO.PR.I	Perpetual-Discount	-1.70 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 20.20 Evaluated at bid price : 20.20 Bid-YTW : 5.61 %
GWO.PR.J	FixedReset	-1.65 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-01-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.81 Bid-YTW : 3.69 %
BNS.PR.L	Perpetual-Discount	-1.59 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.41 Evaluated at bid price : 21.71 Bid-YTW : 5.25 %
BNS.PR.M	Perpetual-Discount	-1.50 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.40 Evaluated at bid price : 21.71 Bid-YTW : 5.25 %
BNS.PR.K	Perpetual-Discount	-1.34 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 22.60 Evaluated at bid price : 22.80 Bid-YTW : 5.35 %
SLF.PR.E	Perpetual-Discount	-1.23 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 20.00 Evaluated at bid price : 20.00 Bid-YTW : 5.66 %
ELF.PR.G	Perpetual-Discount	-1.11 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 20.47 Evaluated at bid price : 20.47 Bid-YTW : 5.93 %
CM.PR.H	Perpetual-Discount	-1.11 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.89 Evaluated at bid price : 22.26 Bid-YTW : 5.37 %
BMO.PR.M	FixedReset	-1.04 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2013-09-24 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 26.56 Bid-YTW : 2.88 %
SLF.PR.G	FixedReset	1.37 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 23.43 Evaluated at bid price : 25.85 Bid-YTW : 3.38 %
W.PR.J	Perpetual-Discount	1.38 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 24.34 Evaluated at bid price : 24.65 Bid-YTW : 5.68 %
BAM.PR.I	OpRet	1.74 %	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2010-10-28 Maturity Price : 25.50 Evaluated at bid price : 26.25 Bid-YTW : -28.09 %

Volume Highlights
Issue	Index	Shares Traded	Notes
HSB.PR.E	FixedReset	61,151	Desjardins bought 25,000 from anonymous at 28.12, then crossed 25,000 at the same price. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-07-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 28.06 Bid-YTW : 3.22 %
BMO.PR.J	Perpetual-Discount	58,691	RBC crossed 25,000 at 22.00. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.54 Evaluated at bid price : 21.88 Bid-YTW : 5.18 %
TD.PR.K	FixedReset	48,350	RBC crossed 15,000 at 28.20. YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2014-08-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 28.16 Bid-YTW : 3.10 %
BNS.PR.M	Perpetual-Discount	47,030	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.40 Evaluated at bid price : 21.71 Bid-YTW : 5.25 %
CM.PR.H	Perpetual-Discount	31,198	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 21.89 Evaluated at bid price : 22.26 Bid-YTW : 5.37 %
BNS.PR.K	Perpetual-Discount	29,195	YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2040-09-28 Maturity Price : 22.60 Evaluated at bid price : 22.80 Bid-YTW : 5.35 %
There were 60 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Market Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.