Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Zaras Wedding?



Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips, MBE (born 15 May 1981) is going to be marry with her rugby international fiance in Edinburgh in this summer,It is Conformed by Buckingham Palace.The Queen’s granddaughter and Mike Tindall will wed at the Canongate Kirk on July 30 , a venue and date that ceased to be a secret in January after a couple changed their plans to accommodate Zara.The groom’s best man will be fellow player Iain Balshaw, who was part of England’s rugby World Cup-winning squad. Phillips is to marry her rugby international fiance in Edinburgh in the summer, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.The Queen’s granddaughter and Mike Tindall will wed at the Canongate Kirk on July 30 , a venue and date that ceased to be a secret in January after a couple changed their plans to accommodate Zara.
The groom’s best man will be fellow player Iain Balshaw, who was part of England’s rugby World Cup-winning squad.




July 30: Zara Phillips and her fiance Mike Tindall have set a date for their wedding.Tindall, who is captain of the national side, popped the question to Zara, 29, just before Christmas at their home in Cheltenham.
The couple met in a Sydney bar during the 2003 Rugby World Cup after being introduced by Zara’s cousin Prince Harry.Their friendship blossomed into a romance, with Tindall, 32, claiming it was his ‘pure charm’ that won his fiancee’s heart.
Zara is one of Britain’s top equestrians and a former world three-day eventing champion.
Her husband-to-be, who plays for club side Gloucester, has been capped more than 60 times by his country and was part of the England team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Tindall’s choice of best man was revealed by Gloucester winger James Simpson-Daniel, who will be a groomsman at the wedding.
Simpson-Daniel, 28, said he was delighted to be part of the eagerly-awaited wedding of his close friend.
He said 31-year-old Biarritz fullback Balshaw was the perfect choice to deliver a confident, humorous speech in front of royalty. ‘I’m really proud to be a groomsman, I’ll be honoured to park all the flash cars for him,’ Simpson-Daniel said.
Zara’s wedding arrangements were revealed when graphic designer Cherith Harrison and her lifeguard fiance Gregg Walter agreed in January to move their marriage ceremony – planned for July 30 at the Canongate Kirk – to an alternative venue.
Miss Harrison’s father, Robert Harrison, said at the time that the Canongate’s minister, the Rev Neil Gardner, met the family and said the Palace had requested the use of the church on that day. He said: ‘We were more than happy to accommodate them, and the minister promised to help us find a new venue. By the end of the same day Greyfriars Kirk was booked and it was all sorted within 24 hours.’
Holding the wedding in Scotland was also widely expected as the Queen will be at her private Balmoral estate in the country , the traditional venue for her summer break.
Buckingham Palace said the couple will hold their reception at Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse , the official home of Queen in Scotland.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Pandora underwriters weigh in on stock price

Several analysts with brokerages that underwrote the IPO of Pandora Media Inc. on Monday initiated their coverage of the streaming-music company with high marks for its growth opportunities, but one said Pandora’s shares already are at their full valuationRalph Schackart of William Blair, Doug Anmuth from J.P. Morgan and Mark Mahaney of Citigroup all set ratings of either outperform or buy on Pandora’s stock. Anmuth also set a target of $22 a share, while Mahaney’s target is at $25 a share.
RIM to lay off 2,000 workers


Research In Motion will lay off 2,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce. Additionally, some executives will be moving around or leaving the company, Chip Cummins reportsPandora held its initial public offering on June 15, debuting at $16 a share and rising as much as 45% during the first day of trading. The stock rose 22 cents to $18.25 Monday.
The analysts all cited Pandora’s commanding presence in the online-radio market, even as it accounts for just a sliver of the total share of U.S. radio-listening hours, among the reasons for their opinions on the stock.


Anmuth of J.P. Morgan said Pandora has about 60% of the U.S. Internet-radio listening hours, but so far, only about 4% of the countries total market for radio-listening time. One of the keys for Pandora, he added, is growth on mobile devices, in tandem with the development of the mobile-ad market.


“There is significant opportunity for Pandora to improve the monetization of its listener hours,” Anmuth wrote in a research note. “Mobile advertising is at a very early stage of development, Pandora’s monetization of an hour of mobile listening is substantially below the level of monetization is realizes from the Web.”
Citigroup’s Mahaney said he doesn’t expect Pandora to start turning a profit until 2014, but maintains his $25-a-share target is reasonable based on analysis of factors, such as the company’s discounted cash flow and long-term growth rates.


While the majority of brokers believe Pandora’s stock has some room to grow, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan set a neutral rating and pegged his price target at $18 a share.
Rohan said Pandora’s content costs, which make up 57% of revenue, are rising, along with increased usage of Pandora’s services. Investors “appear already to be assuming a ramp
Rex Crum is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.