Moving and Storage Business News

The News Review:

- Latino bands see storage space as room to grow.
- GigaMoves Launches Online Lead-Generation Service for Moving Companies…
- eBay Leverages Rent.com Classifieds Site with New Company
- Centrica feels the heat as record profits prompt fresh fury over bills
- eBay Launches GigaMoves

Latino bands see storage space as room to grow.
Free with registration – Orange County Register – AccessMyLibrary.com – Feb 24, 2006
It looks like any other day at Townsend Self Storage in Santa Ana where two structures holding 300 units in this industrial neighborhood keep each renter’s personal items safe. But for dozens of musicians these walls symbolize more than just space to store their instruments. This is a place of dreaming where these musicos specialize in several types of regional Mexican music one of the most popular Latin genres. They rehearse here to become better so that ultimately they can perform in local nightclubs as a launching pad to someday getting on the radio. Townsend Self Storage _ where bands usually gather after work staying until the gates close at 9 p. _ is a safe place for musicians.

GigaMoves Launches Online Lead-Generation Service for Moving Companies…
RisMedia.com – Feb 24, 2006
Headquartered in Santa Monica Calif. GigaMoves provides online account management of customized campaigns; money savings with pay-per-lead pricing; real-time deliverability and tracking of verified leads; nationwide coverage and a guarantee to work with only licensed moving companies not brokers. Nearly 100 major moving and storage firms across the country are already using GigaMoves? automated referral service including Paul Arpin Van Lines and Wheaton World Wide Moving. The new company also plans to offer its service through online consumer websites often visited by people most likely to need a qualified mover as well as on www. The first implementation of Gigamoves? service can be found in the Moving Center on Rent… According to the American Moving and Storage Association and the U. Census Bureau the moving and storage industry includes 10000 local regional and national moving and storage companies. These firms generate more than $10 billion in combined annual revenue and participate in more than 15 million moves annually. Of these household relocations more than two thirds or more than 10 million moves each year involve renters and rental properties. ?Helping renters homeowners and relocating businesses find the ideal moving company is a natural extension of our business? said Scott Ingraham president of Rent.

eBay Leverages Rent.com Classifieds Site with New Company
Auctionbytes – Feb 24, 2006
GigaMoves provides online account management of customized campaigns; pay-per-lead pricing; real-time delivery and tracking of verified leads; nationwide coverage and a guarantee to work with only licensed moving companies not brokers. Nearly 100 major moving and storage firms across the country are already using GigaMoves’ automated referral service including Paul Arpin Van Lines and Wheaton World Wide Moving. The new company also plans to offer its service through online consumer websites. The first implementation of Gigamoves’ service can be found in the Moving Center on Rent.

Centrica feels the heat as record profits prompt fresh fury over bills
The Independent – Independent – Feb 24, 2006
5bn and a 22 per cent rise in the dividend payment just days after announcing the biggest increase in energy prices in history. The company which supplies about 40 per cent of the UK’s domestic gas and electricity market was unrepentant about the rise in earnings and shareholder returns arguing that last week’s price increases – which by coincidence also came in at 22 per cent – were necessary to reverse heavy losses in its residential energy business. But the consumer body Energywatch called on domestic customers to give British Gas a “bloody nose” by switching to rival suppliers and uSwitch the price comparison service accused Centrica of “placing shareholder value not customer value at the top of its agenda”. Sir Roy Gardner Centrica’s chief executive said had British Gas passed on the increase in wholesale gas prices in full then domestic bills would have gone up by 31 per cent not 22 per cent. He also pointed out that while Centrica’s operating profits had risen by 11 per cent to £1. 51bn this was in part due to the improved contribution from its North American operations and British Gas Services which ranges from three-star boiler cover to plumbing and domestic appliance repairs as well as higher profits from gas production and storage… Sir Roy Gardner Centrica’s chief executive said had British Gas passed on the increase in wholesale gas prices in full then domestic bills would have gone up by 31 per cent not 22 per cent. He also pointed out that while Centrica’s operating profits had risen by 11 per cent to £1. 51bn this was in part due to the improved contribution from its North American operations and British Gas Services which ranges from three-star boiler cover to plumbing and domestic appliance repairs as well as higher profits from gas production and storage. Although profitable for the year as a whole Centrica’s residential energy business lost £75m in the second six months. At the post-tax level Centrica’s profits fell 4 per cent to £661m after a one-third increase in the company’s tax bill to £706m mainly as a result of higher corporation taxes and the increase in taxes that Gordon Brown has imposed on UK oil and gas producers. The sharp increase in the dividend was not enough to prevent Centrica shares slipping 4 per cent as the company warned of a further tough year ahead. Sir Roy said there would be “further turbulence” in the commodity markets and an increase in “customer churn” as consumers deserted British Gas.

eBay Launches GigaMoves
socalTech.com – Feb 24, 2006
The move comes a day after competitor Homestore renamed itself to Move Inc. and said that it will focus in on the same moving lead market. GigaMoves said that it has 100 major moving and storage firms signed up for the company’s services. com said that helping renter homeowners and relocating businesses find movers was a natural extension of its business. posted on Friday February 24 2006.