Marketing Information

IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Fraud and Abuse Management System, which provides detection capabilities to help health care payers identify questionable claims and develop cases for investigation, is being enhanced to provide even more efficient and cost-effective ways to tackle health care insurance claim fraud, waste and abuse.

The system, which was developed by IBM researchers and consultants in collaboration with leading health care insurance companies, is now being offered with an automated analysis capability, which can be added onto the client's system to reduce the cycle time for claims investigators, and in an "on-demand" model. Clients using the on-demand version have their analyses run on IBM computers and are charged based on the amount of claims processed and number of medical specialties being analyzed.

According to estimates from the federal government and ...

Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBHI) reported today its third quarter earnings, which for the first time include the contribution of Royal American Corporation ("RAC"). The charges related to the closing of the transaction totaled $0.04 per diluted share, or slightly less than previously estimated. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter totaled $0.24. Core income from continuing operations, which exclude the aforementioned charges totaled $6.9 million or $0.28 per diluted share.

Third Quarter Key Accomplishments

The acquisition of RAC, which was announced in February 2006, closed on July 1, 2006. The system conversions were completed by the end of July. "Tremendous efforts by our conversion teams position us to begin to realize the economic benefits of this transaction in the fourth quarter of this year," said James J. Giancola...

Canfor Pulp Income Fund (TSX: CFX.UN) announced today the third quarter results of Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership (the "Partnership") representing its first report as a public entity. On July 1, 2006, the Fund acquired a 20 per cent ownership in the pulp and paper business previously wholly owned by Canfor. Units of the Fund were distributed to Canfor shareholders as of July 1 and the units commenced trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on July 6, 2006 under the symbol CFX.UN.

The Partnership had net sales of $214.3 million, net income of $41.9 million and EBITDA of $62.5 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2006. These results reflect the current strength of the NBSK pulp market, no scheduled maintenance down time and generally good operations at the mills during the quarter, but are partially offset by one-time costs of $5.9 million related to the Fu...

Independent agents representing Plymouth Rock Assurance Corp. in Connecticut can now use a new online pricing tool to provide a real-time auto insurance quote for customers.

AMS SETWrite, developed by AMS Services of Bothell, Washington, is now directly integrated with Plymouth Rock's online Agent Web portal for easy agent use. AMS SETWrite not only provides accurate real-time rating capability but lets agents upload quotes to Plymouth Rock's Web portal to issue policies quickly and easily, a single-step process that will reduce agency costs and increase efficiency.

"Independent agents are essential to our business, so we're always seeking innovative ways to support their continued success," said Plymouth Rock COO Thomas Cranley. "By adding these powerful, comparative pricing tools, we're helping local agents to save time, save money for their customers and deliver the True Service(SM) that has made Plymouth Rock an industry leader."

Agents can now enter information direc...

Today IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled the newest Express Advantage offerings, which include hardware, software, services and financing offerings specifically developed for mid-sized businesses. The Express Advantage initiative combines these offerings with IBM Business Partner resources available via PartnerWorld Express Advantage and customer experience capabilities to ensure that mid-sized businesses have end-to-end coverage to resolve their business challenges, and help them to innovate and grow.

The newest Express Advantage offerings include IBM Express Asset Recovery Solutions, IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express for Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, IBM System p5 Solution Edition for Oracle E-Business Suite, IBM System p5 Solution Edition Express for mySAP ERP, IBM System i IP Telephony Express, IBM System x3655, x3200, x3250 Express Models, and IBM Infoprint ...