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CFOs are forecasting a 13% increase in capital spending over the next 12 months. Even though they expect long-term interest rates to rise, they are not worried about the effect on their business.

International travel operator Thomas Cook has selected Globe$ from treasury solutions supplier XRT, in a move to improve its treasury cash and risk management.

The majority of securitization professionals cite operational risk as a leading concern in structured finance transactions, trailing only traditional credit risk as the overriding factor potentially affecting a deal's health, according to the results of Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' recent Structured Finance Market Opinion study.

Private Equity (PE) houses are increasingly turning to asset-backed finance as a way of reducing the burden of expensive senior debt and improving liquidity in the wake of Leveraged Buyouts (LBO), according to research from Demica.

Ronald Burgess has been appointed as CFO of Key Technology, the US automation systems manufacturer. He replaces Phyllis Best who leaves the company in late March to pursue other career opportunities. Burgess was most recently CFO of Roseburg Forest Products, one of the largest privately-held forest products companies in the US. Prior to joining Roseburg in 1998, Burgess spent twenty years working for Harris Corporation in various senior financial management positions. Jim Ritter has resigned as CFO of 99 Cents Stores, the US's oldest on-price retailer, to pursue other opportunities. CEO Eric Schiffer said: "Although we regret Jim Ritter's resignation, we will continue moving forward in building a first class management team and infrastructure to support future growth." The company's board has hired head-hunters SpencerStuart to find a new CFO

Senior executives of large US multinational companies predict revenue growth for the next 12 months will continue to be strong, though slightly lower than in 2004, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Barometer survey.

The credit quality for members of the S&P 500 index has improved since the beginning of 2004, although downgrades continue to outpace upgrades by a decreasing proportion, according to S&Ps, the ratings agency. The downgrade ratio—ratio of downgrades to total rating actions—of S&P 500 index members was 56.8% for the period starting December 31 2003, and ended March 8 2005, marginally ahead of the broader US downgrade ratio of 59.6%.

Companies must improve the speed of reporting if they are to gain competitive advantage and deal with compliance pressures, warns Cartesis, the business performance specialist.

Issuance in the European securitisation market set a record for the sixth straight year in 2004, growing 12.1% to €243.6 billion from €217.1 billion in 2003, according to a report released today by the European Securitisation Forum. Fourth quarter issuance volume rose 42.1% to €75.6 billion from the third quarter, and declined 8.3% from a year ago.

The global speculative-grade default rate edged up to 2.5% in February from 2.3% in January, possibly signalling a turning point in the direction of the default rate, according to a report issued by Moody's Investors Service.

SunGard Treasury Systems has announced that it has acquired UK-based Integrity Treasury Solutions, which has offices in Australia, US, Canada and Europe. Integrity Treasury Solutions offers Integra-T, a web-enabled front, middle and back- office cash and risk management product.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the compliance deadline for small companies – those with less than $75 million in public float - and foreign private issuers to provide their reports on internal control over financial reporting, and related auditor's report, as required under SEC rules implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("Section 404").