Monday, June 23, 2014

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. Completes $43 Million Recipe Purchase and Extends Supply Agreement



ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. today announced the purchase from Diversified Foods and Seasonings, L.L.C., ("DFS") of the recipes the Company uses in the preparation of many of its core menu items. DFS is the supply company owned by the estate of Al Copeland, Popeyes founder. Popeyes also extended its exclusive supply agreement with DFS that covers the manufacturing and supply of proprietary spices and other Popeyes products provided by DFS.

Cheryl Bachelder, Chief Executive Officer stated, "With the cooperation of the Copeland family, this transaction now brings important intellectual property - Popeyes' core recipes - under brand ownership for the first time in our Company's history. The purchase eliminates the $3.1 million annual royalty that was previously scheduled to be paid by the Company until 2029. The supply terms beyond 2029 were uncertain. Popeyes now owns its recipes in perpetuity for use worldwide and has clarity of supply and pricing terms through the balance of the supply agreement. We thank the Copeland family for reuniting these treasured recipes with the brand Al Copeland, Sr. created."

The purchase of the recipes for $43 million was funded by drawing down on the Company's revolving credit facility, bringing total outstanding debt to approximately $110 million subsequent to the transaction. Total remaining availability under the Company's revolving line of credit is approximately $140 million.

"Going forward, we will convert the $3.1 million we were previously paying as a royalty into hard-working invested dollars to materially improve the Popeyes employee and guest experience. Including this reinvestment, our overall general and administrative expenses will remain among the lowest in the industry, at approximately 3% of system-wide sales," Cheryl Bachelder added. "We believe the best performing restaurant chains view their human capital as a competitive advantage. To that end, we are actively building best-in-class human resource capabilities, the goals of which will be superior service for our guests, and industry-leading financial performance over time. Popeyes is already known for the best food in the industry. With this strategy, we intend to develop an employee experience and a guest experience that is as distinctive as our food."

Corporate Profile

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. is the franchisor and operator of Popeyes® restaurants, the world's second-largest quick-service chicken concept based on number of units. As of April 20, 2014, Popeyes had 2,248 operating restaurants in the United States, three territories, and 27 foreign countries. The Company's primary objective is to deliver sales and profits by offering excellent investment opportunities in its Popeyes brand and providing exceptional franchisee support systems and services to its owners.

To see the original article along with any other pictures or online video, visit the link abovePopeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. can be found at www.popeyes.com.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140616006363/en/Popeyes-Louisiana-Kitchen-Completes-43-Million-Recipe

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Forensic Accounting Careers

"It sounds extraordinary, but it is a undeniable fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading. I obtained a double Associate's degree in Information Technology for Business and Accounting from Commonwealth Business College situated in Merrillville Indiana. However, he failed to invent the accounting system, but he codified it within the way accounts are performed today.

Accounting is one of one of the most crucial areas of any organization as the entire condition of the business, its profit or loss depends upon the accounts that it maintains. We have team of experts who profit the student in their accounting homework. Organizations generally undertake audits at three levels- Internal audits, audits by and external auditor, plus an audit with a public auditor.

Find out how many hours per week each course is expected to use, and ensure you never overload yourself, especially at first! Pick probably the most introductory courses first, if possible, and plan your whole schedule before you choose to first register to produce sure that the courses you'll need will be offered once you plan to consider them. Many of them run their farms year to year by taking loans to plant the crops. Different websites are helping them out.

Financial Accounting. Firstly you can find errors of principles which occur if the fundamental accounting principles are not followed. She showed up for her exam without studying at all. Every year an incredible number of vacancies open up inside the private sector for acquiring talent to strengthen their backbone. They not only pay heed for their national tax laws but also towards the international tax laws of countries they are working in.

Tax saving is a huge a part of accounting. While I feel blessed with being employed inside the field that I obtained my degree in, I also feel it is essential for folks to find employment in areas where they possess a passion. Being that I like to write generally speaking and about sports as well, I sometimes believe that it may well not have been a bad idea to pursue instruction in journalism. You may also learn accounting through e-learning that is much better than the traditional form in more than one way. How to Create an Effective Performance Appraisal System, Qualities of an Effective Leader, Understanding the Concept of Opportunity Cost, Basics of How to Counsel an Employee for Improper Behavior, Understanding the Importance of Organizational Behavior, Understanding the Use of Financial Ratios in Management of Working Capital.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Protect Yourself With A Critical Illness Policy.



There are many different critical illness insurance policies available so how are you meant to find the right one for you? Finding the right policy does not need to be as difficult as you think. It is important that you make not of any illnesses which you would like to be protected against and rate them in order of importance. You may not be able to find a policy which features all of the illness you want protecting against and so your list will come in useful in helping you to choose the right one for you. If someone in your family has had a critical illness then it is advised that you do get protected against it because if you chose not to you would be very annoyed with yourself if you were to be diagnosed with it.

When you are looking for a critical illness policy it is important not to rush the process and to take a look at each of the policies offered to you. Not all companies cover the same critical illnesses and if there are ones you want to be covered for then you cant just simply choose the cheapest or the most expensive policy as they are not guaranteed to cover them. You will find that some policies cover as few as 26 illnesses while others will cover over 125, there are no illnesses which policies must cover and this is why there is such a variation in the amount of illnesses covered and the illnesses covered from policy to policy and provider to provider.

Taking out a critical illness insurance policy will help to give you peace of mind about what would happen if you were to be diagnosed with a critical illness.

To see the original post together with other additional pictures or videos, navigate to the link previously mentionedBeing out of work means a decrease in income which then means that you cant afford to make your everyday payments on your home, however if you were able to claim on a critical illness policy you would receive a payout which could help you make your payments.

When you take out your policy you choose how much of a payout you would like to receive if you were diagnosed with a critical illness and your payout can be used however you wish. Many people choose to take out a policy with a payout which will cover their mortgage along with a little extra for anything else that they may need. People will use the payout from their policy to pay for any specialist care they may need, adjustments for their home or to pay for their care within a residential home. A payout can give you the help that you need to keep your home afloat while you are recovering from your illness.

It is important that you choose the right policy for you and take the time to speak to someone who knows about the different policies and who can help you choose the one which is best for you. Looking for a policy and purchasing it online is all well and good for saving time but if you purchase one which doesnt cover an illness you want it to then you cant claim on your policy or if you dont understand the information it wants you to give and dont give the correct information then you could find that when you go to claim on your policy that it actually is void.

Take the time to look for a critical illness policy which will suit you and your needs as well as your budget.

About the Author:

Critical Illness is a well established company who can help you find the right critical illness policy for you covering the illnesses you require and suiting your budget.

http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Protect-Yourself-With-A-Critical-Illness-Policy-/4088608

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Survival post-surgery linked to hospital differences



By Andrew M. Seaman

NEW YORK Thu Mar 13, 2014 5:14pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Disparities between rich and poor in who survives major cancer surgeries may have more to do with the hospitals where they're treated than with individuals' wealth or lack of it, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that even the wealthiest patients at hospitals treating primarily poor communities tended to fare worse after major cancer surgeries than the poorest patients at hospitals treating primarily wealthy communities.

"We know people in the lower socioeconomic status have worse outcomes, but it's always harder to get at the underlying mechanism for those worse outcomes," Dr. Amir Ghaferi told Reuters Health.

Ghaferi is the study's senior author from the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Several studies have found that a person's risk of death after major cancer surgery is linked to economic status, Ghaferi and his colleagues write in JAMA Surgery.

Poor people who have part of their stomach removed because of cancer, for example, are 55 percent more likely to die than their richer counterparts, the researchers note.

Economic status is often an indicator of other factors, however. Those include a person's general health or the quality of the healthcare available in their community.

While a hospital's quality is often measured by how many of its patients experience complications during their stays or after operations, the authors of the new study used a measure known as failure to rescue or FTR.

FTR identifies patients who die after major complications following surgery, because the hospitals were unable to "rescue" them.

"If you do develop a complication, it's very important how that complication is recognized and ultimately treated," Ghaferi said.

For the study, he and his colleagues used data spanning the years 2003 to 2007 from Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

They identified 596,222 people who were 65 years old or older and had a major surgery for cancer during that time. Those people were then matched with U.S. Census data to estimate their socioeconomic status.

As in other studies, the researchers found that the poorest patients were more likely to die and experience complications after their surgeries, compared to the richest patients.

They also found that about 27 percent of the poorest patients were recorded as FTR, compared to about 23 percent of the richest patients.

Overall, the poorest patients were about 20 percent more likely to be FTR, compared to the richest patients.

The disparity held after researchers took into account patient characteristics like employment, education and other health conditions.

But after taking into account the hospitals where the procedures were performed, researchers found that most of the increased FTR risk among the poorest patients disappeared.

The likelihood of FTR among patients of any economic status was higher at hospitals that serve mostly poor communities, compared to hospitals that serve mostly wealthy communities.

The new study can't say which aspect of care at the hospitals may be most closely linked to FTR rates, but Ghaferi said a number of factors could be involved.

"When it comes down to it, your surgical care doesn't happen within a silo," he said. "It happens within the greater system of a large or small hospital."

He added that he believes much of the increased risk of FTR may come from the attitude a hospital and its staff have toward patient safety.

"I have for a long time been worrying that part of the disparity is that poor folks tend to get their healthcare in poor health systems," Dr. Otis Brawley told Reuters Health.

Brawley, who was not involved in the new study, is chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.

"If you have the opportunity to pick the hospital you can go to, you should go to a hospital that has a high volume of doing the operation you need," he said.

He added, however, that poor people living in urban areas may have few options.

SOURCE: bit.ly/1cXioxH JAMA Surgery, online March 12, 2014.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/13/us-survival-post-surgery-idUSBREA2C26C20140313

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Cancer - Early View - Wiley Online Library

Determinants of alpha-fetoprotein levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: Implications for its clinical use

Edoardo G.

For the original article along with other other images or online video, navigate to the link previously mentionedGiannini, Giorgio Sammito, Fabio Farinati, Francesca Ciccarese, Anna Pecorelli, Gian Lodovico Rapaccini, Mariella Di Marco, Eugenio Caturelli, Marco Zoli, Franco Borzio, Giuseppe Cabibbo, Martina Felder, Antonio Gasbarrini, Rodolfo Sacco, Francesco Giuseppe Foschi, Gabriele Missale, Filomena Morisco, Gianluca Svegliati Baroni, Roberto Virdone, Franco Trevisani and for the Italian Liver Cancer (ITA.LI.CA) Group

Article first published online: 10 APR 2014 | DOI: 10.1002/cncr.28706

In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, serum levels of ?-fetoprotein are influenced by sex, characteristics of chronic liver disease, and features of tumor aggressiveness. These findings confirm the limits of using ?-fetoprotein as a clinical aid in patients with known or suspected hepatocellular carcinoma.

http://link.reuters.com/kaq66n