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Non-Tech : MFN Mercury Finance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Larry J. who wrote (1043)	3/6/1998 1:33:00 PM
From: Susan Saline	Respond to of 1239

David F. Please rub your crystal ball real nice for Larry re: Is this the real deal or another "sucker punch"? <gg> Sue

To: Larry J. who wrote (1043)	3/6/1998 2:03:00 PM
From: Emec	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1239

Just found a story on Bloomberg from yesterday. Actually about Ugly Duckling but discusses MFN. Highlights: Ugly Duckling's CEO expects his used car lot and sub prime auto loan company to earn about 80 cents for 1998 excluding a charge to shut its Champion Financial services unit. Last month, Ugly said it will stop buying high risk loans from other car dealers. "We grew too aggressively" said Garcia. He said it's virtually impossible to make money buying sub prime auto loans from car dealers. "I do not believe it's a viable business" he said. "The dealer is going to do whatever is necessary to put all the risk back on the financial company." Garcia said he was skeptical about the prospects for struggling Mercury Finance Co., which uses a business model similar to Champion's. "I believe the business they continue to write cannot be profitable" he said. "Whatever value that's there is slowly being depreciated. Mercury's Chief Executive William Brandt disagreed. "Profitability will return" he said in an interview. "You have to do it carefully. It's a very tough business" Brandt said Garcia lacks the experience to judge whether buying car dealers' sub prime loans is a good business. "He, like many others was stampeded out of the business", said Brandt. I take Brandts' comments as bullish. Sounds like this Garcia guy has a big MFN short position! LOL.