FBR to Host 11th Annual Investor Conference in New York on November 30th and December 1st

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. today announced that on Tuesday, November 30th, Emanuel J. Friedman, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO will offer welcoming remarks at a breakfast gathering for its 11th Annual Investor Conference in midtown Manhattan. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt New York, located at Park Avenue at Grand Central Station.



FBR to Host 11th Annual Investor Conference in New York on November 30th and December 1st


ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 26 - Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. today announced that on Tuesday, November 30th, Emanuel J. Friedman, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO will offer welcoming remarks at a breakfast gathering for its 11th Annual Investor Conference in midtown Manhattan. The conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt New York, located at Park Avenue at Grand Central Station.


On Wednesday, December 1st, Eric F. Billings, Co-Chairman & Co-CEO, Richard J. Hendrix, President & COO and J. Rock Tonkel, President & Head of Investment Banking will be presenting "Mortgage REIT Review", a discussion of today's Mortgage REIT environment.


Both presentations will be webcast, and can be viewed at FBR's website, http://www.fbr.com . Complete lists of the public and private companies scheduled to make presentations, along with the full conference schedule, are also available at that site.


Attendance at the conference is by invitation only. Investors should contact their FBR representative for more information.


This conference is sponsored by Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc.


Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. provides investment banking*, institutional brokerage*, asset management, and private client services through its operating subsidiaries and invests in mortgage-backed securities and merchant banking opportunities. FBR focuses capital and financial expertise on eight industry sectors: consumer, diversified industrials, energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and technology, media and telecommunications. FBR, headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with offices in Arlington, Va. and Bethesda, Md., also has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Irvine, London, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vienna. For more information, see http://www.fbr.com .

KPMG Survey Finds Atlanta Business Executives Foresee Strong Economic Growth

Atlanta-area business executives remain overwhelmingly optimistic about growth prospects for their companies and the local economy, according to a recent survey by KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.



KPMG Survey Finds Atlanta Business Executives Foresee Strong Economic Growth


ATLANTA, Nov. 26 - Atlanta-area business executives remain overwhelmingly optimistic about growth prospects for their companies and the local economy, according to a recent survey by KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.


The KPMG survey of senior executives at public companies found that Atlanta's business leaders are focused on growing their businesses. Overall, 87 percent expect business improvement in the year ahead, with 31 percent expecting business to be much better and 56 percent believing it will be somewhat better.


"Atlanta executives see the economic engine taking off, and business optimism is riding high," said Tim Bentsen, KPMG LLP's Atlanta office managing partner. "The picture is becoming very clear now - Atlanta is poised for significant growth."


As for the their views on the local economy, 70 percent of Atlanta executives said the Atlanta economy improved over the past year, while 75 percent predict the Atlanta economy would further improve in the year ahead.


When asked what their chief executives were most focused on at this time, 53 percent said business expansion to improve long-term growth, 13 percent said quarter-to-quarter earnings and 11 percent said compliance with Sarbanes- Oxley and other regulations.


Unemployment is the biggest challenge facing the Atlanta-area economy today, according to 41 percent of survey respondents, followed by interest rates at 24 percent, and displaced workforce facing lower paying jobs at 20 percent.


The KPMG survey polled 80 senior executives from companies in the greater Atlanta area of various sizes covering a range of industries, including 10 companies with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion. The respondents comprised 29 C-class executives (CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, president) and 51 senior- management executives (EVP, SVP, VP, senior manager). The survey was conducted between Oct. 18-Nov. 2, 2004.


KPMG LLP is the audit, tax and advisory firm that has maintained a continuous commitment throughout its history to providing leadership, integrity and quality. The Big Four firm with the strongest growth record over the past decade, KPMG turns knowledge into value for the benefit of its clients, people, communities and the capital markets. Its professionals work together to provide clients access to global support, industry insights, and a multidisciplinary range of services. KPMG LLP (http://www.us.kpmg.com ) is the U.S. member firm of KPMG International. KPMG International's member firms have nearly 100,000 professionals, including 6,800 partners, in 148 countries.