Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Knight/Trimark Group, Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: oilbabe who wrote (1800)	6/24/1999 8:50:00 AM
From: Craig A	Respond to of 10027

INTERVIEW-TD Waterhouse to double ad budget June 23, 1999 06:12 PM By Gilles Castonguay NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - TD Waterhouse Group Inc., the second largest U.S. discount broker, plans to double within a year its tiny advertising budget with the aim of creating a global brand, according to its chief executive. Stephen McDonald told Reuters Wednesday that TD Waterhouse, which sold a part of itself earlier in the day, would likely boost its annual budget to $100 million. "(The company) really hasn't seen itself as a consumer brand," he said in a phone interview, acknowledging the little money it spent promoting itself in the United States. "So, its going through a transition." TD Warehouse, a unit of Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank CA:TD TD , sold 42 million shares or 11.2 percent of itself at $24 a piece in New York Wednesday. Its shares ended $1.63 or 6.8 percent higher at $25.63. The stock offering was part of TD Waterhouse's efforts to revise its image by September, said McDonald, explaining how its Canadian division, Green Line Investor Services, would soon give up its name for that of TD Waterhouse. TD Waterhouse spent just $57 per new account -- a key industry gauge -- in advertising cost in the six months ended April 30, according to its prospectus. By comparison, the industry average is about $200. Rivals such as AmeriTrade Holding Corp. AMTD and ETrade Group Inc. EGRP are among the biggest spenders. AmeriTrade expects to spend up to $200 million in fiscal 2000 and ETrade plans to allocate about as much in its current fiscal year. McDonald also said TD Waterhouse would revise its Web site in coming months to let customers decide where their trades should be processed, or executed. Online traders would be able to choose between Island ECN Inc., an electronic trading system that matches orders, or market marker Knight/Trimark Group Inc. NITE , he said. TD Waterhouse owns 12.5 percent of Island, which operates the second largest electronic communications network (ECN) in the United States, and 9 percent of Knight/Trimark, the largest market maker for the Nasdaq market. TD Waterhouse, which ranks second only to Charles Schwab Corp. SCH among discount brokers, saw daily average trades in May drop by 21 percent from their level in April, which McDonald described as a peak trading month given how it followed an earnings period. Compared with the same period last year, the average rose 100 percent, he added. McDonald said he expected online accounts to grow to 20 million globally from 8 million in three years. As for themselves, "we feel very good about seeing strong double digits over the near term," he said without elaborating. McDonald said TD Waterhouse would likely make acquisitions overseas rather than in the United States as part of its global expansion. TD Waterhouse, which processed 58,000 trades a day in the first quarter, also operates in Australia, Britain, and Hong Kong. ((-- Gilles Castonguay, Financial Services Desk, +1 212 859 1570)) REUTERS