Sunday, March 14, 1999
TIPSHEET
Dad's WWII letters are smash on Web
Larry Pranger of EnviroMedia is getting some big cybermiles out of letters from dear old Dad.
Mr. Pranger used letters and photos to create “Private Art: WWII Letters to and from Home,” a Web site of memories, letters, photos and song that pays homage to his father, Art, a Covington resident and World War II veteran.
Since the site at www.Private-Art.comwas built last year, it has been praised by ABC News, the Wall Street Journal and, last week, the hot Web magazine Internet World. The site also has attracted letters and comments from veterans throughout the United States and residents of Europe. Even a newspaper in Iceland lauded the effort. Earlier this year, the Web site brought EnviroMedia a distinctive merit award at the 77th Annual Art Directors Club of New York. Out of 12,000 international entries, only 15 new-media entries were honored — one gold, four silver and 10 distinctive merits.
“We decided to do it because we could do it — and it does showcase the capabilities of our company. Our idea was to do a common soldier kind of thing,” Larry Pranger said. “We still don't know how the Wall Street Journal got wind of it.”
Nor that newspaper in Iceland.
— John Eckberg
Grocer Czechs out
What's this — Krogering in Prague? How on earth do you say triple coupon in Czech?
A recent, wayward news story indicated so much, based on reports by the Czech news agency CTK. Problem is, it isn't true, a Kroger spokeswoman said.
The report cited a Kroger export manager, who said the Cincinnati grocery chain wanted to set up a joint venture with an unspecified Prague-based company. A following Bloomberg News report, citing CTK, said Kroger wants to “sell its products through its partner's network of stores.”
“Kroger may establish its own brand name in the Czech Republic if the company is content with sales and the country's food retail industry,” the report said.
When she finished laughing over the report, Kroger spokeswoman Lynn Marmer said the story involved “one international broker who got himself way out on a limb.”
“There was no basis for it,” she said. “We ain't there yet.”
Now, if she can only get the European media to stop calling.
— Lisa Biank Fasig
Rate rises on a peel
In the precarious business of stock-picking, timing is everything.
Consider Timothy Ramey at Deutsche Bank Securities. The food industry analyst recently boosted his longtime negative rating on Chiquita Brands International to “buy” from “hold” amid expectations that the European Union might soon loosen its discriminatory restrictions on banana imports from U.S. providers.
Mr. Ramey had maintained a negative opinion of the Cincinnati-based banana purveyor for almost seven years. Before that, he had been bullish on the stock, which peaked at $50.75 in late 1991.
Mr. Ramey acknowledges that he was slow to react in 1991.
“It peaked at about $50,” he recalled. “I can even tell you the day. It's etched in my memory.
“The analysts who followed Chiquita were in a plane flying over Central America when the stock was peaking. We were having a grand ol' time touring Central America. That was the top.”
Mr. Ramey switched to “sell” from “buy” on Chiquita after the stock dropped to $25. But going negative wasn't the easy call it looks like now in hindsight.
“We didn't understand the situation that was developing in Europe at the time,” he said.
Chiquita's stock plummeted in the 1990s as the European banana quotas ate into the company's profits and once-dominant market share, falling to a low of $7.94 last month.
This time Mr. Ramey is hoping he called the bottom.
“That's supposedly what we're paid to identify,” said Mr. Ramey, who has a $15 price target on Chiquita.
— Ursula Miller
Items for Tipsheet are gathered by Enquirer business reporters and compiled by Lisa Biank Fasig of the business staff.
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