LONDON --�Management can make all the difference to a company's success and thus its share price.
The best companies are those run by talented and experienced leaders with strong vested interests in the success of the business, held in check by a board with sound financial and business acumen. Some of the worst investments to hold are those run by executives collecting fat rewards as the underlying business goes to pot.
In this series, I'm assessing the boardrooms of companies within the FTSE 100 (UKX). I hope to separate the management teams that are worth following from those that are not. Today, I am looking at�InterContinental Hotels� (LSE: IHG ) (NYSE: IHG ) , the world's largest listed hotels group.
Here are the key directors:
Director Position Patrick Cescau (non-exec) Chairman Richard Solomons Chief Executive Tom Singer Finance Director Kirk Kinsell President, Americas Tracy Robbins EVP, Human ResourcesPatrick Cescau became chairman at the beginning of this year. A lifelong�Unilever�employee, he was its CEO from 2005 to 2008, and also served as its chairman and its finance director. His FTSE 100 directorships include�International Airlines Group�(which must have some interesting spin-offs),�Tesco,�and, previously,�Pearson.
Top 5 Prefered Stocks To Buy For 2015: Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. (LVB)
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes musical instruments in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Pianos and Band & Orchestral Instruments. The Pianos segment offers pianos under Steinway & Sons, Boston, and Essex brands; and engages in online music retailing business. This segment sells its products to professional artists and amateur pianists, and institutions through independent dealers primarily in the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It operates six retail showrooms in the United States and five retail showrooms in Europe. The Band & Orchestral Instruments segment manufactures and sells piccolos, flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, French horns, tubas, and trombones, as well as intermediate and professional level woodwind and brass instruments under Bach, Selmer, Selmer Paris, C.G. Conn, Leblanc, King, Armstrong, Holton, Yanagisawa, Vito, Emerson, Avanti, Noblet, Artley, and Benge brands; distributes saxophones and clarinets; manufactures and distributes acoustical and tuned percussion instruments, including outfit drums, marching drums, concert drums, marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, orchestra bells, and chimes; distributes violins, violas, cellos, and basses under Glaesel, Scherl & Roth, and William Lewis & Son brands; and manufactures mouthpieces and distributes accessories, such as music stands, batons, mallets, straps, mutes, reeds, pads, chin rests, strings, bows, cases, and instrument care products. This segment sells its products to students, amateur and professional musicians, and institutions through independent musical instrument dealers and distributors primarily in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The company, formerly known as Selmer Industries, Inc., was founded in 1993 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
Steinway Musical Instruments (NYSE: LVB ) has ceased to be the owner of its iconic Steinway Hall in New York City. The company formally closed a deal to sell the building to a partnership headed by real estate concern JDS Development Group. Steinway received $46.3 million in the acquisition, and will recognize a taxable gain of roughly $22 million.
Top 5 International Companies To Buy For 2014: Silver Wheaton Corp(SLW)
Silver Wheaton Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a silver streaming company worldwide. The company has 14 long-term silver purchase agreements and 2 long-term precious metal purchase agreements whereby it acquires silver and gold production from the counterparties located in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Greece, Sweden, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Portugal. Silver Wheaton Corp. is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Ehrman]
How to play gold
Owning shares of GLD is a solid way to gain exposure to gold and avoid some of the stock-specific risks associated with owning stocks such as Goldcorp. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) holds the appeal of being the largest gold miner on the planet, but it carries the same risks as Goldcorp. Despite the company's promise to tighten its belt, it faces the same pressures -- rising production costs and environmental concerns. If gold runs, silver is likely to follow suit. Thus, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEMKT: SLV ) will probably move as well. The industrial nature of silver may make it more appealing in the near term while you wait for Fed policy to change. Likewise, Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) is a great way to get exposure to precious metals. The silver streaming company buys the output of other miners at a set cost, meaning it, too, is insulated from production cost concerns. The company has thus been able to simultaneously achieve an operating margin above 70% and still boast the largest silver reserve on Earth, at more than 1 billion ounces. - [By Brian Pacampara]
Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, silver royalty holding company Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) has earned a respected four-star ranking.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
During the past decade, Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) has taken advantage of soaring silver prices using its unique silver streaming business model. But in the following video, Fool contributor Dan Caplinger says there will be difficult times ahead for Silver Wheaton to navigate. One of the most obvious challenges is the recent decline in silver prices.
Top 5 International Companies To Buy For 2014: FAB Universal Corp (FU)
FAB Universal Corp.(FAB), formerly Wizzard Software Corporation, incorporated on July 1, 1998, operates in two segments: Software and Media Services. The Software segment engages primarily in the development, sale, and service of custom and packaged computer software products. The Media Services provides podcast hosting, content management tools and advertising services. The Company�� software segment attributes revenues from the development, sale, and service of custom and packaged computer software products at the time the product is shipped and collections are likely and from digital media publishing services at the time the service is provided. Its media segment attributes revenue from digital media publishing service at the time the service is provided and collection is likely. As of September 30, 2012, the Company does not have any inter-segment revenues. On October 12, 2012, it opened a 20,000 square foot Flagship superstore in the Beijing shopping district of SoShow. On September 26, 2012, the Company completed the acquisition of Digital Entertainment International Ltd. (DEI). As of September 30,2012, the Company discontinued its Future Healthcare of America (FHA).
The Company specializes in the distribution of entertainment and audio visual products through its two flagship stores in Beijing as well as its online stores. DEI, through its wholly owned subsidiary and its VIE, is engaged in marketing and distributing various officially licensed digital entertainment products under the FAB brand, including products such as digital music files, Compact Discs(CD), Video Compact Discs (VCD) and Digital Video Disks (DVD) as well as books, magazines, mobile phone accessories and cameras. DEI�� products and services are primarily distributed through its flagship stores, wholesale services, FAB kiosks, and online virtual stores. FAB kiosks, located in high-traffic areas of office buildings, shopping malls, retail stores and airports, are self-service terminals that provide a range of en! tertainment and consumer applications. Its Media is primarily engaged in operating and providing multimedia kiosks for music downloads information exchange and advertising.
MEDIA
The Company distributes over 150,000 media based products including copyrighted DVD��, Blu-ray Discs, music CD��, video games and downloadable digital content through three distribution channels: wholesale and retail, licensing and kiosks. It conducts their retail business through their flagship stores. Each store has over 20,000 square feet in size and carries the selection of copyrighted audio and video products in China, including CDs, VCDs, DVDs, blu-rays, books, magazines and portable electronic devices. It markets their products to individual consumers and audio-video retailers. The flagship stores are recognized by many Chinese consumers as the right place to buy copyright protected products. Celebrity signing events are the driver to FAB�� retail stores which have been used as a venue for Chinese music and movie stars to meet their fans. Its SoShow flagship provides Beijing shoppers with its audio-video hypermarket. As a preferred venue for product announcements, publishing parties, studio releases, author readings, movie showings, live promotional performances and concerts, its SoShow outlet is one of China�� ultra-modern entertainment destination for music lovers, film buffs, game enthusiasts, and early electronic adopters.
The Company's wholesale distribution provides audio-video products such as compact discs, video compact discs and digital video discs as well as books and magazines to audio-video products retailers. It distributes these media products to over 80 customers including Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU), Dangdang (NYSE: Dang) and Century Outstanding Information Technology Company, a subsidiary of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Its wholesale business caters to three types of customers: retail stores, FAB license stores and small wholesale/resellers. Customers place orders by! telephon! e, through the Internet or in-person and fulfillment is handled by its vehicle fleet or through direct warehouse access. As of September 30, 2012, the Company has over 100 suppliers and 80 wholesale customers, including the Government.
Its Intelligent Media Kiosks are based on 61 national intellectual property rights, are automated teller machine (ATM) style terminals where consumers can download copyrighted music, video games, ringtones, digital books and movies directly to their cell phones, memory sticks or other mobile storage devices. Its Media Kiosks can also run video ads on the high-tech liquid crystal display (LCD) screens and accept payments for utility bills, metro cards, and credit card bills. It is a self-service vending kiosk designed and launched by the Company. The kiosks target the millions of mobile and portable device users combing interactive touch screen and LED display with a selection of copyrighted content such as music, movies and games. There are thousands of licensed digital entertainment content items in each kiosk, such as music, movie and TV episodes, which allows the customer to play or download to their portable device or memory card with payment by cash, its membership card or ATM card. It has deployed over 11,000 kiosks through their licensing program. The kiosks are located in high-traffic areas, such as office buildings, shopping malls, and retail stores. It generates revenues from its Intelligent Media Kiosk business through the sale of licenses and then through ongoing media content download, media membership card sales and kiosk-based advertising.
SPEECH TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES GROUP
Its legacy Speech Technology & Services Group sells and licenses speech programming tools, related speech products and services, and distributable speech engines in over 13 languages worldwide. It receives the majority of its sales leads through arrangements with AT&T, as well as through its own Internet marketing efforts through Google, Yahoo and! other In! ternet search engines. The Speech Technology and Services Group's immediate focus is to increase revenue and be a preferred supplier for speech technologies to businesses worldwide, emphasize great technologies, competitive prices, and support to the speech development community and offer non-technical hosted speech conversion services to companies.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jayson Derrick]
Shares of FAB Universal (NYSE: FU) have been halted premarket, and remained as such throughout the duration of the trading day. There is no indication when shares would resume trading.
- [By Sally Jones]
Here’s a look at three application software companies currently on a 52-week low and still held by a few billionaires. The9 Ltd. (NCTY), Merge Healthcare Inc. (MRGE) and FAB Universal Corp. (FU) are more than 52% off a 52-week high.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
If history is any indication, than roughly half of you are about to hate me for what I'm about to say regarding Fab Universal Corp. (NYSEMKT:FU), while the other half of anyone reading this will likely love me for it - there is no in between. Here goes... FU is poised to make a fairly significant pullback following last week's heroic rally.
Top 5 International Companies To Buy For 2014: Independent Film Development Corp (IFLM)
Independent Film Development Corporation (IFDC), incorporated on September 14, 2007, is in the development stage. The Company focuses on acquiring and developing independent films for production, sales and distribution, with a goal towards partnerships with mini-major and the major film studios, such as Lionsgate and Sony. IFDC�� focus of operations has three main components of film production and finance; Co-financing, acquiring product in the development stage, and its own film production. Co-financing is where a company such as IFDC goes out looking for films that are already financed at 50% or more. The Company licenses partially or fully completed films made by independent filmmakers to entertainment distributions companies.
The Company produces film on behalf of a studio. The Company identifies, produces, and secures distribution of a film. The Company owns the film in perpetuity and directly participates in all revenue generated by the film. The Company identifies films through its network of independent filmmakers as well as industry festivals and trade shows including Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, and Toronto. The company will acquire the rights to license (as sales agent) films for a period of 7-25 years in return for a commission ranging from 10-30% of the licensing fees paid by the distributors.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Bryan Murphy]
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) needs to look over its shoulder. For that matter, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:LGF) may want to do the same. There's a little company called Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS:IFLM) that could become a big threat to both of those major players soon, now� that a nagging monkey is officially off its back.
- [By John Udovich]
Financial results and news about lawsuits dominates the latest headlines for theme park stocks SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE: SEAS), Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE: SIX), Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) and small cap�Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS: IFLM). Moreover, all of these theme park stocks are looking pretty good either because of their news or recent performance:
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