Officials break ground on technology center at Research Park

[CajunRage]

We will see. More often than not these types of projects are revenue neutral at best.

Can you provide examples of these?

This is huge for the city of Lafayette and UL. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

[CajunAmos]

We will see. More often than not these types of projects are revenue neutral at best.

I'm sure with respect to construction and getting the business to locate in an area you may be right, but I'm sure the number of high paid employees who pay local and state taxes would be the positive result. Also, in the long term businesses grow and become more involved in the community. I'm sure this will be a big draw to our computer program at the university along with any new Tech business we can get to move here.

[njustice]

We will see. More often than not these types of projects are revenue neutral at best.

Using what criteria? This is a very good thing for Lafayette.

[raoul]

CGI can certainly use some computer help. This was the company that was given 100s of MILLIONS of our dollars to develop a bug-filled shoddy website for us to all sign up for Obamacare.. I think the president of CGI was a classmate of Michelle O----Boomer, check it out and report!

[CajunAmos]

CGI can certainly use some computer help. This was the company that was given 100s of MILLIONS of our dollars to develop a bug-filled shoddy website for us to all sign up for Obamacare.. I think the president of CGI was a classmate of Michelle O----Boomer, check it out and report!

More federal dollars into the area...............even better.

[Boomer]

CGI can certainly use some computer help. This was the company that was given 100s of MILLIONS of our dollars to develop a bug-filled shoddy website for us to all sign up for Obamacare.. I think the president of CGI was a classmate of Michelle O----Boomer, check it out and report!

----Hey remember I didn't take the gig as the executive secretary!!! lol

[Boomer]

Boomer, didn't those plans include the City participating in building an entertainment center around the athletic complex area with apartments, hotels, restaurants, bars, shopping?

----Not sure but I think that the building on the UL property could bring in both commercial and residential rental money----So depending on cost and repayment we would have a steady income flow forever and that is very good!!!

[CajunEXPRESS]

Forever is a long time, especially towards the end.

[BeauCajun]

Not sure but I think that the building on the UL property could bring in both commercial and residential rental money

So depending on cost and repayment we would have a steady income flow forever and that is very good!!!

IIRC the building will be owned by UL. Probably a long term lease.

Oops, yes in article.

[CajunGrad]

Just an FYI, the below Q&A is from the company's latest earnings call today:

"Operator: Thank you. Our following question is from Ralph Garcea from Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Ralph Garcea - Cantor Fitzgerald
Good morning, gentlemen. Just given this is the third quarter in a row now where on the US side your EBITDA margins have been in the mid-14% range - as you open up down the road the Lafayette facility and possibly some other near-shore centers can you get another 50 bps to 100 basis points on the margin side out of the US business as we move forward?

Michael Roach - President & Chief Executive Officer
I think that's certainly doable. I think you rightly call out that we've added a new center in Lafayette that brings with it a very competitive cost model to win more business and also to increase our margins on the business. I think the other thing, Ralph, is that as the commercial business picks up of course our mix changes. So there we have the opportunity to generate better margins where as you know a lot of our government business is actually capped on a cost plus or time and material basis. And then the third lever there would be the continued use of our IP base services and solutions.

So I think if you just took those three levers we can continue to gradually improve the margins in the United States. Now, as we mentioned before and it's probably a question that's coming, if we look at acquisitions of course the United States is a market that we're very interested in. Clearly it would be very helpful to our overall plan to have a larger presence in the commercial space and that still remains a priority for us."

Not that there is a lot of substance there but there is certainly a benefit to the Lafayette name coming up in forums such as these.

EDIT: Full transcript if you are so inclined http://seekingalpha.com/article/2859...all-transcript