March 2, 2009

*** Limited Brand (Victoria's Secret) posts loss
*** General Growth Properties has $1.2B in overdue debt

Limited Brands says weak sales during the holiday season caused its fourth-quarter profits to fall to $16.1 million from $389 million a year ago. The retailer says profit for the three months ended Jan. 31 was 5 cents per share. Its adjusted profit was 68 cents per share, being a 64-cent per-share consensus estimate from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
[Taken from USA Today, Friday, February 27, 2009]

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General Growth Properties (second largest owners of mall rental space in America)

General Growth Properties Inc., owner of Carolina Place mall in Pineville, reports $1.18 billion in past-due debt and $4.09 billion in debt that creditors could call due if the company doesn’t meet certain requirements.

The Chicago-based owner and manager of more than 200 malls and other developments also has $1.44 billion in consolidated mortgage debt and $595 million in unsecured bonds that will mature this year.

But “the refinancing market remains at a standstill,” the company says in a news release.

General Growth (NYSE:GGP) says it is “considering all strategic alternatives” and is talking with its lenders.

“In the event that we are unable to extend or refinance our near- and intermediate-term loan maturities, we may be required to seek legal protection from our creditors,” the company says.

General Growth is trying to cut costs. It says it has suspended its cash dividend, halted or slowed nearly all of its development and redevelopment projects, cut its work force by more than 20 percent and sold non-mall assets.
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2009/02/23/daily45.html
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Lastly, last Thursday our email referred to a pornographic connection of Southwest Airlines with SI Swimsuit. The article stated, Southwest Airlines, aligned with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, plastered a giant photo of a seductively-posed bikini model on the side of one of their 737 jets.

A concerned citizen out of Detroit told us that she called Southwest expressing her concern and was told that the company had actually received fewer phone calls than expected.

We urge you to re-read the article and express your concern to Southwest Airlines today.

Southwest’s Public Relations office:
Ginger Hardage - Senior Vice President of Communications at 214-792-
6924

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Bill Johnson, President
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