Press Releases

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Except for a brief pause last week for Thanksgiving, the Electronic Components Association's (ECA) monthly report showed a continued climb in orders during November.

ECA's monthly report consolidates order information collected in confidence from leading electronic component manufacturers. The monthly order index that compares this year's orders to those during the same period last year rose between 125 to 130 percent in the first three weeks of November before falling to 87 percent on Thanksgiving week. The 12-month average, comparing this year's results to last year's, continued an ascent that began this summer.

"No surprises," says Bob Willis, ECA president. "Except for the Thanksgiving break, we've seen a steady rise in orders over the past five months. Let's hope the momentum can be carried into 2010."

About ECA

The Electronic Components Association (ECA) represents the electronic components industry and the technologies, materials and supply chain associated with it. ECA offers market research, conferences, standards development under the EIA brand, issue advocacy, technology intelligence, and collaborative efforts that help improve the business and technical expertise of its members. For more information, visit www.ecaus.org.

    Source: The Electronic Components Association

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SIGNARAMA, the world's largest sign franchise, introduces a new, comprehensive web-based design and ordering service called ShopSIGNARAMA.com. Available 24/7 with a few clicks of the mouse, customers can create their own sign design from scratch, or modify any of the thousands of templates available, putting convenience and control in the hands of the customer.

"This groundbreaking online system allows customers to create their own banners, signs, decals, lettering and displays from the convenience of their own computer," says Jim Tatem, president of SIGNARAMA. "Customers can pick up at their local store, have the order shipped to them, or have it sent out of town to trade shows and other events."

SIGNARAMA is the first franchised sign company to offer this online capability. Now customers can benefit from the in-store personal service they've grown to trust for more than 20 years, as well as the convenience of ordering anytime online.

With more than 950 retail locations worldwide, SIGNARAMA uses cutting-edge industry software programs to provide a full range of comprehensive sign and graphic services to both the private and commercial segments of the business community.

To view the online tool, visit www.shopSIGNARAMA.com. For franchising information, please call (800) 465-0362 or visit www.signarama.com.

    Source: SIGNARAMA

OKOTOKS, AB, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - (TSX-MTL) Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group" and/or the "Corporation") is pleased to provide the following information to assist U.S. individual unitholders of Mullen Group Income Fund (the "Fund") in reporting distributions received from Mullen Group during 2009 on their Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") Form 1040, "U.S. Individual Income Tax Return" ("Form 1040"). On May 1, 2009, the holders of trust units of the Fund and the holders of Class B limited partnership units of Mullen Co. Limited Partnership approved a Plan of Arrangement that resulted in the conversion of the Fund from an open-ended income trust to a corporation called Mullen Group Ltd.

This summary is of a general nature only and is not intended to be legal or tax advice to any particular holder of the Fund's trust units. Holders of the Fund's trust units should consult their own legal and tax advisors as to their particular tax consequences of holding the Fund's trust units.

Qualified Dividends

In consultation with its U.S. tax advisors, Mullen Group believes that the Fund's trust units should be properly classified as equity in a corporation, rather than debt, and that dividends paid to individual U.S. unitholders should be "qualified dividends" for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As such, the portion of the distributions made during 2009 that are considered dividends for U.S. federal income tax purposes should qualify for the reduced rate of tax applicable to long-term capital gains. However, the individual taxpayer's situation must be considered before making this determination.

Mullen Group has not received an IRS letter ruling or a tax opinion from its tax advisors on these matters.

Trust Units Held Outside a Qualified Retirement Plan

With respect to cash distributions paid during the year to U.S. individual unitholders, 100% percent should be reported as "qualified dividends" and no amount should be reported as a return of capital.

The portion of the distributions treated as "qualified dividends" should be reported on Line 9b of Form 1040, unless the fact situation of the U.S. individual unitholder determines otherwise. Commentary on page 22 of the Form 1040 Instruction Booklet for 2009 with respect to "qualified dividends" provides examples of individual situations where the dividends would not be "qualified dividends". Where, due to individual situations, the dividends are not "qualified dividends", the amount should be reported on Schedule B - Part II - Ordinary Dividends and Line 9a of Form 1040.

U.S. unitholders are encouraged to utilize the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gain Tax Worksheet of Form 1040 to determine the amount of tax that may be otherwise applicable.

The taxable portion (for Canadian income tax purposes) of the distributions is subject to a minimum 15% Canadian withholding tax that is withheld prior to any payments being distributed to unitholders. Where trust units are held in a cash account, we believe the full amount of the withholding tax should be creditable, subject to numerous limitations, for U.S. tax purposes in the year in which the withholding tax is withheld. Where trust units are held in a qualified retirement account, the same withholding tax applies but the amount is not creditable for U.S. tax purposes.

The amount of Canadian tax withheld should be reported on Form 1116, "Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust)". Information regarding the amount of Canadian tax withheld in 2009 should be determined from your own records and is not available from Mullen Group. Amounts over-withheld, if any, from Canada should be claimed as a refund from the Canada Revenue Agency no later than two years after the calendar year in which the payment was paid, and should not be claimed as a credit against your U.S. federal tax liability.

Investors should report their dividend income in accordance with this information and subject to advice from their tax advisors. U.S. individual unitholders who held their Fund's trust units through a stockbroker or other intermediary should receive tax reporting information from their stockbroker or other intermediary. We expect that the stockbroker or other intermediary will issue a Form 1099-DIV, "Dividends and Distributions" or a substitute form developed by the stockbroker or other intermediary. Mullen Group is not required to furnish such unitholders with Form 1099-DIV. Information on the Forms 1099-DIV issued by the brokers or other intermediaries may not accurately reflect the information in this press release for a variety of reasons. Investors should consult their brokers and tax advisors to ensure that the information presented here is accurately reflected on their tax returns. Brokers and/or intermediaries may or may not be required to issue amended Forms 1099-DIV.

Trust Units Held Within a Qualified Retirement Plan

No amounts are required to be reported on a Form 1040 where the Fund's trust units were held within a qualified retirement plan.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risk factors associated with the oil and natural gas business and the overall economy. Mullen Group believes that the expectations reflected in this press release are reasonable, but results may be affected by a variety of variables. Mullen Group relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements.

Mullen Group is a company that owns a network of independently operated businesses. Today the Mullen Group is recognized as the largest provider of specialized transportation and related services to the oil and natural gas industry in western Canada and as one of the leading suppliers of trucking and logistics services in Canada - two sectors of the economy in which Mullen Group has strong business relationships and industry leadership. Mullen Group provides management and financial expertise, technology and systems support to its independent businesses.

Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com.

SOURCE Mullen Group Ltd.

HARVEY CEDARS, N.J., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A panel of condemnation commissioners appointed by the Ocean County Superior Court yesterday awarded $480,000 to Long Beach Island oceanfront property owners as just compensation for an easement to conduct beach replenishment in the Borough of Harvey Cedars.

Martin Flumenbaum and Ruth Hochberger, owners of a two-story house in the replenishment area on East 83rd Street in Harvey Cedars, stand to lose an 8,500-square-foot swath of their property for construction of a 25-foot sand dune between their home and the Atlantic Ocean. When the owners declined to voluntarily provide a permanent easement for the property, the borough proceeded against them by eminent domain. The commissioners, appointed by Ocean County Assignment Judge Vincent Grasso, were named to assign a value to the taking of the property.

Harvey Cedars' appraiser Donald Molliver valued easements in the replenishment project at $300 each, testifying there was no damage to the remaining property from the easement takings. Appraiser Louis Izenberg of Parsippany testified for the property owners that $480,000 would adequately compensate for the loss of ocean view and damage to the property.

Mr. Flumenbaum said yesterday he was gratified that the commissioners agreed with the estimate of damages.

Mr. Flumenbaum and Ms. Hochberger were represented by William J. Ward and James M. Turteltaub of Carlin & Ward P.C., Florham Park, NJ; the borough was represented by Barry M. Capp of Ansell Zaro Grimm & Aaron, Ocean, NJ.

http://carlinandwardpc.lawoffice.com

SOURCE Carlin & Ward P.C.

TIBURON, Calif--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- So far, the second half of 2009 for the workstation market is proceeding according to the script Jon Peddie Research (JPR) had written several quarters ago. A recovery is surely taking hold, but rather than the fast and furious type, it's shaping up more as the slow and steady variety.

Q3'09 wasn't a gangbuster quarter for the industry, but then it wasn't expected to be. What JPR did predict was that the quarter would affirm two things: one, that the market did indeed bottom during the first half of 2009, and two, that the second quarter's modest uptick wasn't an aberration. And on those counts, the third quarter of 2009 came through, delivering modestly better results than did Q2. All told, the industry shipped 644.6 thousand workstations, resulting in a 7.1% sequential increase over the second quarter (and a more moderate 24.5% year-over-year decline).

Workstation shipments  Q2CY08   Q3CY08   Q4CY08   Q1CY09   Q2CY09   Q3CY09

Total (K units)        867.4    854.2    764.3    576.7    602.1    644.6

(Source: Jon Peddie Research)

Table 1 Total workstation market (worldwide, in K units)

The third quarter's growth was of course welcome, but certainly doesn't signal an imminent return to the robust market levels of 2007 and 2008. Rather than making a dramatic stride forward, it instead marked one small step on what's more likely a prolonged road to recovery. The way it's panning out, the climb back up will take a lot longer than did the fall down.

HP stakes its claim as the top workstation provider

It was just a matter of time. One look at the market share trend lines, and it wasn't a stretch to envision HP some day overtaking Dell as the volume leader in workstation market. In just a few short years, HP had climbed from a distant second in the market into a virtual dead heat with the long-time leader. But in the third quarter, HP jumped to a 40.3% market share, in the process pulling away from Dell (at 37.5%) to mark the first time (in the firm's records) HP has held clear control as the volume leader.

It's been a dramatic reversal of fortunes. Looking back five years, Dell looked poised to dominate the workstation market by a wide margin. But then triggered (in part) by its long-standing strategy to stick exclusively with Intel rather than exploit upstart AMD's surging workstation/server platform, Dell saw its workstation share steadily drop to a low of 37.7%.

When Intel finally bounced back, so did Dell, though without quite the same gusto. Because even though Dell had regained its footing, HP had been pressing its foot firmly on the gas and coming up fast in Dell's rear-view mirror. And finally in the third quarter, HP surged past to claim the position of sole market leader, in the process pushing Dell's share back down to its historical low.

About the JPR Workstation Report

Now in its sixth year, JPR's Workstation Report - Professional Computing Markets and Technologies has established itself as the essential reference guide for hardware and software vendors and suppliers serving the workstation and professional graphics markets.

Subscribers to the JPR Workstation Report receive two in-depth reports per year providing a comprehensive analysis of the vendors and technologies driving the workstation platform. Clients also receive four quarterly reports detailing and analyzing market results for each calendar quarter. For information about purchasing the JPR Workstation Report, please call 415-435-9368 or visit Jon Peddie Research at http://www.jonpeddie.com.

Based in Tiburon, California, JPR provides consulting, research, and other specialized services to technology companies, including graphics development, multimedia for professional applications and consumer electronics, high-end computing, and Internet-access product development.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Excerpts from the JPR Workstation Report and expert interviews are available on request.

    Source: Jon Peddie Research