Fitch Downgrades Mountaineer Gas IDR and Places Ratings on Rating Watch Negative.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. downgrades the Issuer Default Rating (IDR IDR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Indonesian Rupiah. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. ) for Mountaineer Gas Co (MGC MGC Mammalian Gene Collection MGC Media Gateway Controller MGC Middle Georgia College MGC Museums and Galleries Commission (UK government) MGC Mississippi Gaming Commission MGC Manual Gain Control ) to 'BB+' from 'BBB-' and has placed MGC's ratings on Ratings Watch Negative. The affected ratings are listed below. The Rating Watch Negative reflects Fitch's concern that the company may not meet its projections in the near term. MGC had lower than forecasted cash flow during the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2006 as a result of reduced demand due to warmer weather and conservation, lower transport revenue, and one-time expenses from the development of a new accounting system as well as a new technology department. The weaker than expected results for the first nine months of 2006 precipitated a breach of the interest coverage covenant in MGC's bank facility. The banks have given the company a waiver for the default and are currently negotiating a permanent change to covenant calculations. Events that could lead to affirmation of the current ratings and assignment of a Stable Outlook include reaching an agreement on revised covenants with lenders, successful implementation of new accounting systems, and reaching credit metrics metrics Managed care A popular term for standards by which the quality of a product, service, or outcome of a particular form of Pt management is evaluated. See TQM. commensurate with the ratings category and company forecasts. On the other hand, the lack of an improvement in credit metrics and a resolution of accounting systems and procedure issues in the next three to six months would be likely to result in further negative rating actions. Fitch has downgraded the following rating and placed it on Rating Watch Negative: --IDR from 'BBB-' to 'BB+' Fitch has also placed the following MGC ratings on Rating Watch Negative: --Senior unsecured 'BBB-'; --Short term 'F3'. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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