Fitch Ratings Upgrades IDEX to 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable.CHICAGO -- 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. has upgraded the Issuer Default Rating and long-term debt Long-Term Debt Loans and financial obligations lasting over one year. Notes: For example debts obligations such as bonds and notes which have maturities greater than one year would be considered long-term debt. ratings for IDEX IDEX International Development Exchange IDEX Imagery Data Exploitation System IDEX Imagery Digital Exploitation (system) IDEX Identifier of Explorer Corporation as follows: --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. ) to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'; --Senior unsecured bank debt to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'; --Senior unsecured notes to 'BBB+' from 'BBB'. The rating changes affect approximately $200 million of debt. The Rating Outlook is Stable. The upgrade reflects long-term improvement in IDEX's leverage, its solid operating performance, and conservative financial policies. Financial measures remain appropriate for the rating category despite the high level of acquisition spending in 2006. Acquisitions were negligible in 2005, and IDEX has demonstrated a disciplined acquisition strategy, focusing on businesses that offer profitable niche products and which can be integrated quickly. Better margin performance reported in recent periods has been supported by the company's strategy of using acquisitions, along with new product development, to build its presence in attractive markets. The ratings are also supported by the diversification of IDEX's product line and customer base, its leading positions in niche markets, steady free cash flow, and strong customer demand. Rating concerns include the potential for higher leverage and integration risk related to acquisitions as well as cyclicality inherent in IDEX's end-markets. IDEX recently acquired Banjo Corporation for $183 million and has spent in excess of $300 million for acquisitions in 2006. However, the ratings incorporate Fitch's assumption that IDEX will maintain its conservative operating and financial policies and that acquisition spending will be maintained at sustainable levels. The company's discretionary spending is focused primarily on acquisitions, and dividends and share repurchases Share Repurchase A program by which a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This is usually an indication that the company's management thinks the shares are undervalued. have been modest. IDEX maintains ample liquidity even after the Banjo acquisition which was largely funded under IDEX's $600 million bank credit facility that matures in 2009. 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. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion