The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 15

o)n (tljfUcsnioincsKftiislrr SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2011 16A DOW 30 INDUSTRIALS U217.56 NASDAQ COMPOSITE 2,605.15 500 1.257.60 BONDS 10-YEAR TREASURIES 1.89 GOLD CRUDE OIL $25.90 $98.83 mm Mediacom Deal Accord retains KCCI for cable viewers Effect on rates for customers remains uncertain siiaAiv I til -ft IF Hi lj Vy UZa STOOCS By DAVID ELBERT delbertdmreg.com The year 2011 was bad for many Iowa companies, with 12 of the state's 20 largest publicly traded companies posting double-digit share losses for the year. Three companies, including recreational vehicle maker Winnebago Industries, lost more than half their market value during the past year. The Iowa results were in sharp contrast with major market indexes, which were basically flat for the year. For the year, the Dow Jones industrials gained 5.5 percent, Nasdaq lost 1.9 percent and the 500 was unchanged. The average loss for Iowa's 20 companies was 14 percent.

Three Iowa companies bucked the trend. Posting gains of nearly 20 percent or more were Casey's General Stores, FBL Financial Group and West Bancorporation. It was the second year in a row of big gains for all three firms, with the shares of West Bank's 'r ent company and West Des Moines insurer FBL dnuhline since mid-2009. Casey shares ended the year at $51.51, not far from the all-time high of $52.07 reached on Dec. 22.

Since the end of 2009, shares of the Ankeny-based convenience store chain are up more than 60 percent. Iowa's two biggest compa-See STOCKS, Page 17A By MARCO SANTANA msantanadmreg.com KCCI fans and viewers can rest easy. A last-second deal struck between New York-based Mediacom Communications and Hearst Television on Thursday means programming on the local CBS affiliate will not end today, a doomsday scenario some viewers had been concerned about as a current deal approached its expiration. Financial terms of the three-year contract were not disclosed. Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters indicated an increase.

"With every new contract, there is a request for more fees," she said. Whether that means higher prices for Mediacom customers in the future was not immediately clear. Mediacom recently increased rates for 2012 by $2 or $3 per month, depending on the package. Peters said many factors create a "very fluid" situation when it comes to pricing. But she added that there were no plans to increase prices in the near future.

When TV networks strike large deals with groups like sports leagues, they pass along the higher prices to cable companies, Peters said. Cable companies must enter into retransmission consent contracts with TV companies. Negotiations on those contracts tend to come down to the final hour, Peters said. As they get closer to the end, some companies air messages warning consumers that their programming could be interrupted. Peters said the company received some phone calls from concerned customers in Des Moines.

"It's not helpful that those messages are out there, but that is the way things generally tend to go," she said. 5 Lee Arts Way Winnebago Principal THE Enterprises Manufacturing Industries Financial Group points -71 -56 -51 -24 THE West Casey's FBL Meta BRIGHT Bancorp. General Stores Financial Financial Group spots 23oo 21o0 1goo 18oo After big ups, downs, stocks end flat 'If you fell asleep January 1 and woke up today, you'd think nothing had a banker says. Associated Press didn't, and in fact generated more than ever. It was a year when the U.S.

lost its prized triple-A credit rating, which should have spooked buyers of its bonds. Instead investors bought more of them and made Treasurys one of the best bets of 2011. It was a year when stocks caught fire, then collapsed to near bear-market lows. Among stocks, there were some surprising winners. Scare-dy-cat investors who bought the most conservative and dullest of stocks utilities gained 15 per-See STOCKS, Page 17A Coming Sunday Top 10 business stories of 2011 Rising farmland values, a failed bank and a new publicly traded company were among the top business stories in Iowa in 2011.

Pick up Sunday's business section to learn what else made our annual list, and compare it with the Associated Press top-10 business story list. Also find out what analysts say about how businesses will use social media in 2012. exactly 0.04 point below where it started the year. "If you fell asleep January 1 and woke up today, you'd think nothing had happened," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of Harris Private Bank. "But it's been up and down all year.

It's been crazy." It was a year when U.S. companies were supposed to run out of ways to make big profits. But they NEW YORK The U.S. stock market ended a tumultuous year right where it started. In the final tally, despite big climbs and falls, unexpected blows and surprising triumphs, all the hullabaloo proved for naught.

On Friday, the Standard Poor's 500 index closed at 1,257.60. That's Iraq war vet's brush with mortality leads to a new career with computers 0 lr I IT By MARCO SANTANA msantana8dmreg.com Warren McKee was convinced he was going to die. After dodging constant mortar shells while serving a tour as a prison guard with the Iowa National Guard in Baghdad, Iraq, he came home in 2008 to find a bleak jobs picture. Unemployed and going through a divorce, McKee was forced to live on a friend's couch. Then things took a turn for the worse.

A year after he returned from Iraq, McKee was diagnosed with throat cancer. "I didn't really know what was going to happen, and I was pretty sure I was going to die," he said. "I thought I probably had a few years left. Who knows? I have no idea about these things. Every time doctors would talk to me, I would zone out and think to myself, 'This is real.

I have Eventually, McKee said, he faced the diagnosis head-on and decided that, if he was indeed in his final years, he would set an example for his two sons, Conner, 5, and Colton, 3. "I could spend it living with my parents or actually do something with my life," he said. McKee set to work establishing his own business and now runs a computer repair shop, Ironclad Systems, out of the West Des Moines business incubator. The center celebrated its one-year anniversary last month. Ironclad pulls in be-See IRONCLAD, Page 17A i CTii r.TH.

Ironclad Systems owner Warren McKee talks about his computer business from his shop in West Des Moines, david purdythe register.