This may be a few weeks old by now, but Google recently updated PageRank.  Sorry for the delay, I am Bizee.  But our network has maintained PageRank and some of our Directory sites have increased just a bit.  I was pleasantly surprised.

 We have learned with this last update, that some Directory sites may still be banned or may be slow to get it back to previous PR despite the huge amount of inbound links and efforts of the site owners.  Be patient and wait for the next update, you may be surprised.  Patience….

 Directory sites focusing on niche sites or limited arena will always do better than the general sites as will the sites with unique content in form of articles, blogs.  So hang in there, let your new sites age for a bit, keep it fresh.