GOODWILL AND INTANGIBLE ASSETS (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Jul. 28, 2012

Goodwill and Intangible Assets [Abstract]

Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill

Changes in the carrying amount of goodwill for fiscal years 2012, 2011, and 2010 are as follows:

				Fiscal 2011 Changes
	As of			Impairment				As of			As of
	July 31, 2010			Losses		Acquisitions		July 30, 2011			July 28, 2012
	(Dollars in thousands)
Goodwill	$	353,618		$	-	$	16,998	$	370,616		$	370,616
Accumulated impairment losses		(195,767	)		-		-		(195,767	)		(195,767	)
	$	157,851		$	-	$	16,998	$	174,849		$	174,849

Intangible assets

The Company’s intangible assets consist of the following:

	Weighted Average Remaining Useful Lives	July 28, 2012		July 30, 2011
	(Years)	(Dollars in thousands)
Carrying amount:
Customer relationships	9.4	$	89,145	$	89,145
UtiliQuest trade name	--		4,700		4,700
Trade names	8.2		2,860		2,860
Non-compete agreements	3.4		150		150
			96,855		96,855
Accumulated amortization:
Customer relationships			45,852		39,601
Trade names			1,182		957
Non-compete agreements			48		18
Net Intangible Assets		$	49,773	$	56,279

Future Amortization Expense [Table Text Block]

Future estimated amortization expense for amortizing intangibles is as follows (dollars in thousands):

2013	$	6,364
2014	$	6,125
2015	$	6,006
2016	$	5,625
2017	$	4,826
Thereafter	$	16,128

Assumptions used in annual impairment analyses

The table below outlines the key assumptions in each of the Company’s fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010 annual impairment analyses:

	2012	2011	2010
Terminal growth rate range	1.5% - 3.0%	1.5% - 3.0%	1.0% - 3.0%
Discount rate	13.0%	13.5%	15.0%