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Lowe’s sales surged in the third quarter as more people took on projects at home during the epidemic.
Revenue increased to $22.3 billion from $17.4 billion a year ago. That beat the $21.08 billion that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.
Online sales soared 106%, while sales at stores open at least a year climbed 30.1%. Sales at U.S. stores open at least a year rose 30.4%.
A day earlier, rival Home Depot reported a 23% jump in third-quarter sales.
Lowe’s earned $692 million, or 91 cents per share, for the period ended Oct. 30. That included a $1.1 billion pre-tax loss on extinguishment of debt related to its third-quarter $3 billion cash tender offer. A year earlier the company earned $1 billion, or $1.36 per share.
Removing the charge, earnings were $1.98 per share, which was a penny better than Wall Street expectations.
The company said that in the final quarter of the year it expects per-share earnings of between $1.10 and $1.20. With Wall Street already projecting earnings of $1.16 per share, Lowe’s expectations for the fourth quarter leave a lot of room on the downside.
CEO Marvin Ellison told The Associated Press during a Wednesday phone interview that Lowe’s is not reliant on another stimulus package from Congress to maintain strong sales.
A surge in coronavirus infections nationwide and the expiration of a $600 weekly boost to unemployment checks over the summer has slowed spending by Americans. On Wednesday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported the slowest monthly retail sales growth since this spring,
“Stimulus is obviously important for the broader economy, but home improvement is in a unique space where demand is still robust,” he said.
However, Lowe’s is stepping up safety protocols as infections surge, including in its home state of North Carolina where cases of COVID-19 are up 21.6% over the past two weeks, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University.
For example, Lowe’s is again counting the number of people who enter its stores to avert crowded aisles, as are some other national chains.
Lowe’s has said it will outline next month how it plans to expand its market share in the $800 billion home improvement sector, but Ellison declined to discuss details Wednesday, saying only that the company is not targeting a specific competitor or competitors.
Lowe’s also announced Wednesday that it reinstated its share repurchase program. The company bought back 3.6 million shares for $621 million during the quarter.
NEW YORK – Lowe’s third-quarter profit handily topped Wall Street’s view, thanks in part to the strong economy and sales to contractors. The home-improvement company boosted its full-year adjusted earnings outlook.
The retailer, the nation’s second-largest home improvement chain behind Home Depot, also said it plans to reorganize its Canada operations and shut 34 underperforming stores.
The announcement comes a day after disappointing results from rival Home Depot, which reported its third-quarter revenue missed analysts’ estimates and cut its full-year sales forecast. Home Depot said its strategy to meld its online business and its physical stores is taking longer to deliver benefits. Shares of Home Depot took a hit.
The contrasting quarterly performances highlights the increasing competition between Home Depot and Lowe’s, which is in the process of an overhaul under its CEO Marvin Ellison.
Ellison, a one-time Home Depot executive who took the top job at Lowe’s last year, is trying to reshape the culture at Lowe’s, which had been a distant second to Home Depot in the sector for a while. Ellison has been focusing on getting Lowe’s back to the fundamentals of retailing, like making sure the right items are in stock and improving customer service.
One of the big focuses: improving its business with professional customers such as electricians and builders, who represents around 23% of Lowe’s sales. That’s key because they spend around 5.5 times more than the average do-it-yourself-customer, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. As part of that strategy, Lowe’s has been adding permanent staffing to the pro-desks at its stores and setting aside dedicated parking spaces for pros. Lowe’s has been helping professional customers with loading supplies onto their trucks as well.
“We are trying to get to the basic expectations that customers have,” Ellison told The Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday. “In retail, basic things really matter.” He noted that with previous management, Lowe’s got too caught up with gimmicky innovations like 3D printing and robots.
This holiday shopping season, Lowe’s will be focusing on home improvement items like power tools as gifts.
Ellison has thinned executive positions at the Mooresville, North Carolina-based company and begun paring away weaker selling items in its stores. Lowe’s also announced last summer that it was closing the 99 Orchard Supply Hardware stores it owns in California, Florida and Oregon.
Ellison told The Associated Press that its next step is using technology and other initiatives to take market share away from rivals. The company is spending $1.7 billion over the next five years in overhauling its supply chain to speed up deliveries to customers. It’s also working on personalizing its website so that an electrician in Los Angeles gets a more tailored site, for example.
Lowe’s Cos. earned $1.05 billion, or $1.36 per share, for the three months ended Nov. 1, up from $629 million, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier.
Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs, were $1.41 per share. That easily beat the $1.35 per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.
Sales at stores open at least a year rose 2.2%. In the U.S., the figure climbed 3%. This metric is a key gauge of a retailer’s health because it excludes results from stores that recently opened or closed.
During the earnings call with analysts on Wednesday, Ellison said the average ticket above $500 increased more than 4% in the quarter.
“Consumer project demand is strong, and there’s excitement relative to the holiday season,” he added.
Lowe’s now anticipates full-year adjusted earnings in a range of $5.63 to $5.70 per share. Its prior forecast was for earnings of $5.45 to $5.65 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict full-year earnings of $5.67 per share.
“Ellison and his team appear to have a strong grasp of what the business needs and have, so far, been good at executing change,” said Saunders in a report. “The market isn’t falling off a cliff, but growth is slowing, and consumers are becoming more cautious.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Lowe’s has selected Charlotte, North Carolina, to house a 2,000-employee global tech hub. The city hopes the project will cement its reputation as a home for technological talent.
Lowe’s and city officials announced the company would put $153 million toward the project, while the state’s giving a $54 million incentives grant to be paid over 12 years if Lowe’s meets job creation and investment targets.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said they selected Charlotte for its density of young tech professionals and its location near Lowe’s headquarters in Mooresville.
Lowe’s says it will begin hiring for about 1,600 new jobs immediately, with average annual pay at more than $115,000.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said the 23-story tower will open in Charlotte’s South End in 2021.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Lynn Osborne has been remodeling two homes. They are different styles, in different states, with different contractors. But there has been one constant: delays due to a shortage of skilled labor.
The two-year remodel of her primary home in Fort Collins was to update and upgrade the ’90s house, and it included a small extension. It was completed last year, except for the landscaping, which is still underway.
That general contractor relied heavily on subcontractors, she said, and sometimes they wouldn’t show, or would arrive days late, or did shoddy work and were fired.
Her remodel of an old family beach retreat in New England took a Sears kit home down to the studs. The completion date was June 2018, but it’s still not done because the contractor, who has been doing most of the work himself, is stretched and unattentive.
“He’d say, ‘I’ll be out there next week,’ and next week would turn into next month, and next month would be six months,” she said.
Current estimates indicate there are about 300,000 unfilled jobs in the construction industry, and the industry is expected to need an additional 747,000 workers by 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
An August survey of nearly 375 members of the National Kitchen and Bath Association found that almost two-thirds of the respondents said they had difficulties hiring skilled workers in the previous year, and nearly 70% felt the problem had gotten worse since 2016.
“Labor shortages have impacted start dates and completion dates on construction and renovation projects, with NKBA members citing delays on 30% of jobs,” said Bill Darcy, chief executive officer of the trade association.
A look at 15 different trades found shortages in them all, Darcy said in a telephone interview from NKBA headquarters in Hackettstown, New Jersey. And as with previous years, he said, one of the greatest needs was for carpenters, who do rough-in work and framing, and finish carpenters, who hang cabinets, do millwork, flooring and install molding.
Finding a quality finishing carpenter was one of the biggest frustrations in Osborne’s Fort Collins remodel.
“One guy got started on the basement and just left, so to find somebody to pick up where he left off was hard,” she said.
The seeds of the current labor shortage were planted during the Great Recession, when a lack of construction jobs prompted many workers to leave the industry.
“Not enough of them have returned to help us close the gap,” Darcy said.
Compounding the problem is the graying of the remaining workforce, with the median age for a construction worker at 42.5 years, according to January figures from the Labor Bureau. It’s estimated that for every five workers retiring from the industry, only one is entering it, said Silvia Lattoz, Governance and Global Relations Senior Manager at NKBA.
Younger people aren’t interested in construction careers because they think the jobs don’t pay well, are too dirty or physically demanding, or mistakenly think the jobs don’t use much technology, Lattoz said.
“There’s definitely some kind of stigma tied to this,” she said.
Players in the industry are ramping up efforts to address the impending crisis, launching incentives to try to recruit new workers, especially young people, to the trades.
The Home Depot Foundation announced last year it was committing $50 million to skilled trades training, with plans to attract 20,000 people by 2028.
“We want to bring shop class back, from coast to coast,” Shannon Gerber, executive director of the foundation, said in a release. The program focuses on supporting veterans, as well as underserved high schools.
Lowe’s last year started offering employees tuition and other incentives to train for jobs such as carpentry, plumbing, and appliance repair. More than 1,350 associates were enrolled in the Track to the Trades program this spring, Lowe’s spokeswoman Jennifer L. Weber said.
In April, Lowe’s and 60 of its suppliers and partners debuted a new program called Generation T, an online marketplace for jobs, apprenticeships and education programs in construction. It’s also on Twitter and Facebook.
“If we don’t fill the existing skilled trade gap, our businesses, homes and communities will suffer,” Weber said.
The National Association of Home Builders, meanwhile, sponsors student chapters in high schools and colleges. The clubs currently have more than 4,500 members.
The NAHB also supports immigration reform. Foreign-born workers were twice as likely to be employed in construction last year as workers born in the United States, according to the Department of Labor.
Legislation pending in Congress would try to ease the construction worker shortage by establishing a visa system to bring in more foreign laborers. Employers would have to prove they couldn’t find U.S. workers, and would have to pay fair wages based on local rates.
“Filling our workforce needs is a key component to boosting our workforce and our economy,” said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, Republican of Pennsylvania, a sponsor.
For a while at least, homeowners and home builders need to resign themselves to the fact that it will likely be harder to get work done, at least for a while.
Home Depot, for instance, said this year it was eliminating the service it had been offering that hired third-party contractors to install roofing, siding, insulation and gutters.
Projects are also likely to get more expensive, as nearly 60% of respondents in the NKBA survey said the shortage was affecting labor costs.
Osborne’s husband previously worked in the construction industry, but even so, she said, they suffered sticker shock when it came to their renovations.
“It’s that market right now,” she said. “You want something done and they throw out a big number, and I guess it’s a matter of, ‘How badly do you want it done and how soon?”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Lowe’s, which named a new CEO this week, is reporting weak profit and revenue numbers for its first quarter in which harsh winter weather cut into the traditional spring sales season.
The Mooresville, North Carolina, company earned $988 million, or $1.19 per share, for the three months ended May 4. A year earlier the home improvement retailer earned $602 million, or 70 cents per share.
That’s 3 cents shy of Wall Street expectations, according to a survey by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose to $17.36 billion from $16.86 billion, but also missed the mark.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, edged up 0.6 percent. In the U.S., the figure climbed 0.5 percent.
Chairman and CEO Robert Niblock cited the harsh weather, echoing the travails of rival Home Depot, which recently reported a slow start to the year.
Niblock, who previously announced plans to retire, will be succeeded in the CEO post by J.C. Penney Co. CEO Marvin Ellison. Ellison, who is also a former Home Depot Inc. executive, will take over as Lowe’s CEO in early July.
Lowe’s is looking for ways to compete with Home Depot Inc., which has been better able to capitalize on the solid housing market.
For fiscal 2018, Lowe’s now anticipates revenue will increase about 5 percent. Its prior guidance was for a 4-percent rise. It still expects full-year earnings to be $5.40 to $5.50 per share.
NEW YORK (AP) – Lowe’s recorded falling profits in the fourth quarter despite a red-hot housing market.
The Mooresville, North Carolina, company on Wednesday reported a 16.4-percent drop in earnings to $554 million, or 67 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 74 cents per share, which is still 14 cents short of Wall Street expectations.
Revenue fell 1.8 percent to $15.49 billion, which edged out expectations. Same-store sales, usually considered a measure of a retailer’s health, rose 3.7 percent for the U.S. home improvement business.
“Given the favorable dynamics in the market, we would have expected a moderately better performance,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “However, in our view, Lowe’s ability to capitalize on key trends and dynamics is hampered by the shadow Home Depot casts over the sector.”
Last week, Home Depot Inc. reported a 5.6-percent surge in profit and rising revenue.
Both Lowe’s and Home Depot are heading into their busy spring seasons in a healthy housing market, though there is concern of a slowdown.
Mortgage rates have been creeping higher, hitting their highest level in four years during the most recent report a week ago. That, coupled with rising home prices, could hamper what has been a persistently strong housing market.
For the full year, Lowe’s reported profit of $4.09 per share, or $4.39 per share excluding certain costs, on revenue of $68.62 billion.
Looking ahead, the company expects its fiscal 2018 profit to range from $5.40 to $5.50 per share and revenue to rise 4 percent. Same-store sales are forecast to increase 3.5 percent.
Lowe’s Cos. also said Wednesday that it will become the only nationwide retailer to sell Sherwin-Williams paints.
NEW YORK – Lowe’s will launch an app early next month that will use augmented reality to make it easier to envision what a piece of furniture will look like in your home or office.
Users will be able to use smartphones to view digital images of furnishings at scale in whichever room they wish, the company said. The app will include the ability to rotate the images, or duplicate them.
An online catalog produced by The Mine, a Lowe’s company, will feature goods that can be digitally placed in rooms and, if desired, bought.
Lowe’s Cos., which is based in Mooresville, North Carolina, also announced an augmented reality app, available immediately, that could replace the tape measure with an iPhone.
The app lets customers measure walls, sofas or any other object they want with their iPhone. The app, called Measured by Lowe’s, uses the smartphone’s camera to measure items in a room.
Other retailers have also tapped into augmented reality. Online furniture seller Wayfair, for example, added a function in its app last week that lets shoppers see how Wayfair’s sofas, lamps or other items look in their room using an iPhone or iPad.
NEW YORK (AP) – Home-improvement retailer Lowe’s posted a profit Wednesday.
Lowe’s profit fell 32 percent to $602 million, or 70 cents per share, in the quarter that ended May 5. Adjusted earnings came to $1.03 per share, 4 cents shy of per-share projections from industry analysts, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.
Its sales rose nearly 11 percent to $16.86 billion, below Wall Street projections of $17.04 billion. Sales at established stores, a key measure of health for retailers, rose 2 percent, short of analyst expectations of 3.1 percent, according to a survey by the data company FactSet.
One analyst suggested those figures were not as bad as they appeared because of Lowe’s strong established-store performance in the same quarter last year.
But the numbers looked lackluster relative to the numbers Home Depot put up for the quarter. Home Depot, which reported its results last week, topped expectations for profit and revenue and it raised its profit outlook for the year.
Home Depot has the edge with customers undertaking bigger, more challenging home-improvement projects, said Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail.
“To be fair, Lowe’s is not completely deficient in these areas, but it does play second-fiddle to its bigger rival,” he said.
Lowe’s said it was encouraged by sales to professional contractors and more serious home improvement customers and will continue to target those markets, one of Home Depot’s strengths.
Saunders acknowledged the company’s gains in that area, adding that Lowe’s “does need to work harder to become a destination for the semi-professional serious home improver.”
Recent economic data showed that Americans are spending a lot of money at places like hardware stores even as they cut down on budgets for clothing and other items. Home Depot’s sales at stores open at least a year jumped 5.5 percent worldwide, and 6 percent in the U.S in the three months ended April 30.
Despite a comparable number of North American stores – around 2,200 – Lowe’s revenue for 2016 was about $65 billion, while Home Depot’s came in close to $95 billion.
Lowe’s Cos., based in Mooresville, North Carolina, expects full-year earnings to be $4.30 per share, which is actually better than Wall Street expects.
LAS VEGAS – Tomorrow’s retail stores want to take a page from their online rivals by embracing advanced technology – everything from helpful robots to interactive mirrors to shelves embedded with sensors.
The goal: Use these real-world store features to lure shoppers back from the internet, and maybe even nudge them to spend more in the process.
Amazon’s new experimental grocery store in Seattle, opening in early 2017, will let shoppers buy goods without needing to stop at a checkout line. Sensors track items as shoppers put them into baskets or return them to the shelf. The shopper’s Amazon account gets automatically charged.
“Amazon, for good or bad, has been setting the path,” said Robert Hetu, research director at Gartner Research. “Each retailer is going to have to respond in some way. But it’s not one-size-fits-all.”
Kroger, Neiman Marcus and Lowe’s are among the companies already experimenting with futuristic retail stores. Robots, for instance, could help guide shoppers to the right aisle, while augmented reality apps could help you see how a particular shade of paint will look in the living room – or how you might look in a pair of jeans. Many of these technologies will be unveiled or demonstrated at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas, which began Tuesday with media previews.
Plenty of retailers have learned through trial – and error – that technology can’t get too far ahead of shoppers. It has to be easy to use and beneficial to shoppers in some way, whether it’s to save time or money. If retailers get it right, they might succeed in boosting spending at retail stores at a time when consumers increasingly prefer to shop online.
Here are five technologies coming to a store near you.
Web retailers have plenty of data on their customers. Some of these online technologies can even track shoppers from site to site to lure them back with what’s known as retargeting ads – promos targeted to what that shopper has looked at before, but didn’t actually buy. Smart shelves with sensors promise the same kind of in-depth consumer behavior analytics at retail stores.
At a Kroger store in Cold Spring, Ohio, shelves currently show digitized price tags and information about the products. The next step is to tie that to individual shoppers. For example, for a shopper who prefers gluten-free products, the price tags could light up in the aisle where all the gluten-free options are. The company says this will all be done with the customer’s permission.
Perch Interactive, a startup that is working with chains like Sunglass Hut and fragrance maker Jo Malone, uses laser and motion sensors to detect when a product is picked up. Perch monitors the interactions and lets retailers know what people pick up but don’t buy. It also offers recommendations: When a shopper picks up a Jo Malone product, an interactive display pops up to show a complementary fragrance.
Amazon and other retailers have long used robots in warehouses to help package and ship orders. But what about interacting with shoppers?
Home improvement retailer Lowe’s is testing robots in one of its San Jose, California, store, and plans to roll them out to 10 more stores in the state this year. Besides scanning shelves for inventory, the robots can guide customers to specific products in both English and Spanish.
Shoppers will also start seeing robots that interact with them more deeply. Japanese joint venture SoftBank Robotics is testing a 4-foot humanoid robot called Pepper at two Westfield Malls in California. They greet shoppers and can do a little dance, but have the potential to send messages geared to people’s age and gender through facial recognition. SoftBank Robotics says it’s working with clothing retailers to help suggest outfits to shoppers.
High-end clothing stores are testing interactive mirrors in dressing areas, a key place where shoppers decide whether to buy or not.
Neiman Marcus has installed these outside fitting rooms at 20 stores to offer shoppers a 360-degree view of what an outfit looks like. Shoppers can make side-by-side comparisons without having to try them all on. They can also share video with friends for feedback. Variations include capturing a customer’s session at the beauty counter and emailing a video to help the person recreate the look at home.
Rent the Runway, an online retailer that lets people rent high-end clothing, teamed up with Samsung to have digital displays highlight its online inventory for shoppers at a new location in New York. A mirror in the store is planned to recommend items that go with what the customer is wearing.
Virtual and augmented reality
Home improvement retailers have been embracing virtual reality and augmented reality to help shoppers figure out ways to decorate homes or apartments. With such technologies, shoppers wear a headset to picture how something might look in 3-D, in some cases overlaid on top of their real kitchen or living room. Home Depot’s augmented reality app lets customers upload a picture of the room on their phone and thumb through thousands of paint and stain colors until they arrive at one that’s right.
These tools should become more pervasive. At CES, a major clothing chain is expected to announce a tool for shoppers to virtually try on jeans and other items.
Stores have been pushing self-service kiosks for years to lower labor costs and speed up checkout lines.
It hasn’t always been smooth, though. Two years ago, Wal-Mart offered a Scan & Go app for shoppers to scan items as they grabbed them from the shelves. At the checkout counter, the customer merely had to scan a code to complete the transaction. But Wal-Mart scrapped the project after customers found the app difficult to use.
Despite Wal-Mart’s hiccups, plenty of stores believe they can avoid the pitfalls.
Andy Wong, partner at Accenture’s Kurt Salmon Digital, said Wal-Mart had a tougher time because its customers are diverse and less techy overall. By contrast, Amazon is trying out its store in Seattle, a tech center, and has a customer base already comfortable with digital shopping. Wong also said Amazon is smart to focus just on groceries, and he expects other retailers to follow Amazon’s lead and also focus on certain products.
In fact, shortly after Amazon announced its checkout-less store, Panasonic Corp. unveiled an unstaffed bagging system at a Lawson convenience store in Japan. Shoppers place a “smart” basket with their items on a machine at checkout. The system calculates the bill and automatically bags the items. Shoppers now have to scan items they put into the basket, though wireless tags coming in February will eliminate that step. Shoppers still have to manually pay using cash or card.
As retailers consider automated self-checkout and other technologies, they have to look beyond the tech wizardry.
“It all has to go back to the consumer,” Gartner’s Hetu said. “For each environment, you have to assess what the consumer will interpret as value.”
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Lowe’s was beset by hefty charges and meager traffic in its stores for most of the third quarter, and its profit suffered for it.
A day after rival Home Depot posted banner results and boosted its outlook for the year, Lowe’s fell drastically short of Wall Street expectations and cut its annual outlook, again.
For the three months ended Oct. 28, Lowe’s earned $379 million, or 43 cents per share. A year ago the Mooresville, North Carolina, company earned $736 million, or 80 cents per share.
The current quarter’s results included $462 million in charges related to the winding down of its Hydrox joint venture, writing off projects that were canceled and goodwill and impairment charges. Stripping out these charges, earnings were 88 cents per share.
Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected 96 cents per share.
Revenue rose to $15.74 billion from $14.36 billion, but that was also shy of most analysts’ projections.
Historically low mortgage rates have been helping to boost the housing market, along with refinancing that is typically used for home improvements.
Home sales this year have leveled off at a nearly healthy level of 5.5 million. Mortgage News Daily this week reported that 30-year fixed rate mortgages hit 4 percent. That’s up from the 3.57 percent rate that was reported last Thursday by mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
Chairman and CEO Robert Niblock said sales, after beginning slowly, had begun to recover by October.
Sales at stores open at least a year climbed 2.7 percent. This figure is a key indicator of a retailer’s health because it excludes results the volatility from locations recently opened or closed.
For fiscal 2016, Lowe’s Cos. now anticipates earnings of about $3.52 per share. Revenue is expected to rise 9 percent to 10 percent, with sales at stores open at least a year up 3 percent to 4 percent.
Its prior forecast was for earnings of about $4.06 per share, which had been lowered from an earlier projection of $4.11.
Lowe’s had also predicted that revenue would be up approximately 10 percent and same-store sales would climb about 4 percent.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect full-year earnings of $4.00 per share.
Lowe’s had 2,119 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico at the third-quarter’s end.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) – The nation’s two biggest home improvement stores may sell many of the same goods – hammers, paints and patio furniture – yet the benefits of a sustained U.S. housing recovery seems to be streaming mostly toward one of them.
On Wednesday, Lowe’s reported disappointing sales growth at existing stores, its second-quarter profit was short of most expectations and the company cut its profit expectations for the year.
The quarter looked even more lackluster because it came one day after new U.S. data revealed a housing sector in full rebound mode and a quarterly earnings report from rival Home Depot, which posted record second-quarter sales and profits. It raised its profit expectations for the year as well.
Lowe’s said its second-quarter results were hurt by its acquisition of Canadian home improvement retailer Rona earlier this year.
Yet sales at Lowe’s stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, rose by less than half the 4.2 percent that industry analysts had projected, according to FactSet.
Comparable store sales at Home Depot rose 4.7 percent overall, and 5.4 percent in the U.S., a discrepancy noted by Citi analyst Kate McShane, who speculated that Lowe’s same-store sales numbers may have been the result of its weaker presence in the West.
Lowe’s has 25 stores in Oklahoma.
Michael Jones, Lowe’s chief customer officer, noted as much during a conference call Wednesday, saying sales were stronger in the South and West, compared with stores in the North, where a late spring slowed sales of outdoor goods.
While Citi predicted pressure on Lowe’s shares in the near term, McShane said investing in Lowe’s is still a good way to get exposure to a housing recovery that is in full swing.
And that has certainly played out historically since the housing bust that kicked of the U.S. recession. Shares of The Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s have tracked closely for a decade, and both have been rising rapidly for the past five years.
This year, Lowe’s now expects earnings of about $4.06 per share with revenue up approximately 10 percent, including an extra week in the year. Its prior guidance was for earnings of $4.11 per share. Same-store sales are anticipated to climb about 4 percent.
Analysts were looking for full-year earnings of $4.06 per share and expected a same-store sales increase of 4.7 percent, according to FactSet.
CEO Robert Niblock said in the conference call that Lowe’s will benefit from an improving job market, low mortgage rates, and continued recovery in the housing market.
The Mooresville, North Carolina, company earned $1.17 billion, or $1.31 per share, in the three months that ended July 29, compared with $1.13 billion, or $1.20 per share, in the same quarter the year before.
Adjusting those per share earnings to account for 6 cents that were related to currency hedges from the Rona acquisition, it still fell a nickel short of analyst expectations, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue climbed 5 percent to $18.26 billion from $17.35 billion, but that was also short of the $18.72 billion Wall Street was looking for.
NEW YORK (AP) – Lowe’s reported surging first-quarter profits and comparable-store sales boomed in the midst of a strong recovery in the U.S. housing market.
The Mooresville, North Carolina, company boosted its outlook for the year, as did its rival, Home Depot on Tuesday, as home improvement stores continue to distance themselves from a retail sector that can’t seem to get shoppers through the door, or to spend much money when they do.
Lowe’s profit jumped 31.4 percent to $884 million, or 98 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 87 cents per share, which topped Wall Street expectations by 2 cents, according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue rose 7.8 percent to $15.23 billion, also beating analyst expectations easily.
Lowe’s and Home Depot are riding a robust housing construction rebound.
The Commerce Department on Tuesday reported that the construction of new homes climbed 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units.
Ground breakings are running ahead of last year’s pace, largely because of a dramatic increase in the construction of single-family houses, especially in the Midwest and South. Relatively few existing homes are listed for sale, creating an incentive for developers to expand supplies through building during a period of low mortgage rates.
And owners of those existing homes are plowing money into them, which is translating into big-ticket sales for retailers like Lowe’s.
Same-store sales, a key measure of a retailer’s health, rose 7.4 percent in Lowe’s most recent quarter.
Builders and home improvement retailers appear confident that the boom will go on.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released this week held steady for the fourth consecutive month.
On Wednesday, Lowe’s boosted its full-year profit outlook to $4.11 per share from $4.
Lowe’s is about to close on its $2.3 billion buyout of Canadian home improvement retailer Rona, which runs nearly 500 stores. Canadian regulators signed off on that deal last week.
As of April, Lowe’s operated 1,860 home improvement and hardware stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
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VW names new boss to steer sweeping overhaul
Volkswagen has chosen Herbert Diess as its new CEO, ousting predecessor Matthias Müller. “Müller’s replacement with VW brand chief Diess follows slow progress in reorganizing the group’s car brands, a key pillar of “Strategy 2025” to transform Germany’s biggest car company into a leader in cleaner cars and to move on from its diesel emissions scandal of 2015,” writes Andreas Cremer in a Reuters report.
Analysts welcomed the appointment of Diess, a former BMW executive who has more than doubled profitability at the VW brand since taking charge in 2015, as a “man of action,” according to the Reuters article. Peter Schwierz writes on the e-mobility website electrive that Diess gave electrification a big push at VW. The fact that Diess was also put in charge of research and development might indicate he wants to be in control of electrification and digitalisation, according to Schwierz.
Read the Reuters report in English here.
Read the electrive article in German here.
Find plenty of background in the dossier BMW, Daimler, and VW vow to fight in green transport revolution and the factsheet Dieselgate forces VW to embrace green mobility.

domain: news


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The big three auto makers pleaded with law makers Tuesday for an additional $25 billion bailout. If Ford, General Motors and Chrysler aren't given the money, it could have serious consequences for you.
It's been a highly contested issue for weeks... Whether the government should give automakers the emergency fill up they're asking for, or if they should leave them stranded on the roadside. Paul Gore came to Hart Motors in Dalhart on Tuesday to look at a car he's hoping to buy very soon. "My wife has got a desire for a new Cadillac." If he wants to buy it, he'd better act fast... General Motors is one of several companies that are running on empty... And could go under if they don't get help. Chrysler Chair and CEO Robert Nardelli says, "Without an immediate bridge financing support, Chrysler's liquidity could fall below the level necessary to sustain operations."
Hart Motors Treasurer Rhona McMillen says, "If something goes wrong in Detroit, we will feel the affect in Texas." It's estimated one out of every ten Americans will be affected if car companies are forced to close... And not just the ones in the detroit factories. McMillen says, "The US auto industry is the biggest purchaser of rubber, steel, plastic, electronics." Hart Motors owner Tim McMillen says, "You're talking the parts stores, the guy down at the oil and lube place, the guy at Wal-Mart even." If you're like Gore... "We buy a car every year", Your options could become limited.


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As the case between Milo & Gabby, LLC and Amazon moved closer to trial, Amazon filed several motions in limine, including a motion to force the plaintiffs to remove statements from its websites, which Amazon contended were inaccurate and prejudicial. Amazon also contended that the statements on the website could taint potential jurors and contained impermissible argument regarding remedial measures.
The plaintiffs opposed the motion and argued that forcing the removal of the statements would be an unconstitutional prior restraint on speech. The plaintiffs also argued that evidence of subsequent remedial measure is admissible in certain circumstances.
The district court determined that the motion should be denied. The district court explained that the parties would have an opportunity to questions the juror during voir dire and that there was no reason for the district court to expect that the jurors would disregard instructions not to conduct internet research during the trial. “Both parties will have the chance to explore with the jurors during voir dire their familiarity with any of the parties and the issues in this case. Further, the Court has standard instructions for the jurors regarding internet research and exposure to the media, and there is no reason to believe at this time that the jurors will not follow such instructions.”
Accordingly, the district court denied the motion to require the plaintiffs to remove statements from the websites.
Milo & Gabby, LLC v. Amazon, Case No. C13-1932 RSM (W.D. Wash. Oct. 21, 2015)
The authors of www.PatentLawyerBlog.com are patent trial lawyers at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP. For more information about this case, contact Stan Gibson at 310.201.3548 or SGibson@jmbm.com.


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Live event and
marketing trade body Eventia has released a white paper stating that around 80m
people attend 1.5m conference and meetings annually in the UK.
It includes research
from the likes of YouGov, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, business
analysts Forbes Insight, Havard Business Review magazine, Intercontinental
Hotels Group and the findings of a round table debate hosted by business
commentator Mary Jo Jacobi.
“It is vital we get
the message across now. In 2009, numerous events were cancelled or postponed and
it is important that they are put back in the calendar,” says Eventia CEO,
Izania Downie. “The evidence is there to support the need for face-to-face
communication, so it is important for organisations to recognise this and invest
UK event venues also
receive in excess of £7bn from the various business events they
stage, particularly from conferences and
“Next year, Eventia will look to
supply this information directly to corporates to highlight the importance of
face-to-face contact when considering their 2010 budgets,” adds Eventia
marketing services director, Tracy Johnson.
To view the paper click here


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Have you heard the big news?
VERSION 2.0 OF THE APP IS OUT NOW! Some of the major updates include our new screen which allows you to select other ways to use Shodement such as releasing your merchandise, creating the album campaign or just getting your next digital show created will be activated this month.
Get started with Shodement today!
Shodement has so many ways to help an artist career and we thought that we would share with you the latest feature in the App: Shodement Hashtags!
What are the Shodement Hashtags?
The Shodement Hashtags are a set number of hashtags built-in within the app that users can quickly type to request anything they need on demand.
Have a look at the Shodement Hashtags below:
#Strategy – Type this hashtag in the chat to get a plan designed for your latest music and album releases.
#Brands – Type this hashtag in the chat to get the latest paid brand opportunities sent over to you.
#Payment – Type this hashtag in the chat to collect payments from shows and brand deals completed.
#Show – Type this hashtag in the chat to request a new digital show designed.
#Help – Type this hashtag in the chat if you require any assistance or help from the label.
What are you waiting for? Open the Shodement app here and try it out
* You can now read about Shodement on Music Web News, Audiosootra, Newsflash and Musically
Shodement, the London based entertainment platform has launched an AI-powered app to transform the way independent artists can manage their careers from their smartphones. The free app is a game changer for the music industry, giving artists worldwide access to resources of a major label company available on demand.
Since its launch in 2012, Shodement’s talent network has generated a combined 3 million views worldwide and its creative agency arm has delivered campaigns for major brands including Vogue, Adidas, Oxfam, Content Capital and many others. With over 400 completed music projects, the team has the ability to grow the presence of artists from zero to thousands of fans worldwide, irrespective of their background or genre.
Shodement’s focus is on the creation of the future music industry and supporting emerging artists, including talented musicians such as July Jones, Angelica Lopez, Olivia King and Piqued Jacks. The company is also behind the successful Global 12 Festival, London’s very own annual event bringing together new talent from all over the world.
“We believe our digital imprint will create the Russ, AJ Tracey, Jorja Smith and Burna Boy of the future. Independent artists will own their masters, and win independently with full creative control”, explains Jay Lamusica.
The app is currently on BETA, with a line-up of exciting features on the way to help equip independent artists to thrive in the music sector. You can download the free app on Apple Store here.
- Aj Tracey & Mabel – West Ten
- Black Eyed Peas, Ozuna, J. Rey Soul – Mamacita
- Travis Scott ft. Kendrick Lamar – Goosebumps
- Doja Cat ft. Gucci Mane – Like That
- Wallows ft. Clairo – Are You Bored Yet?
As you all know, the challenges and uncertainty of COVID-19 led our team to launch #TheShowGoesOn campaign, where, with the help of our platform, artists around the world live-streamed from their home across the world, leading up towards Global 12 Festival.
Many artists have been involved and the success of the first campaign led to the launch of a new campaign: #TheShowGoesOn PT. 2 Campaign.
You can check the new #TheShowGoesOn PT. 2 campaign projects at the link: https://medium.com/global-sounds
All the donations collected from the campaign will be donated this month to the artists, producers and songwriters affected by the outbreak!
Again, we just want to say a massive thank you for your support and for the help our artists received.
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As Samsung gear up to announce the new Galaxy, Apple slim-down their iMac’s even more, and rumours leak of a new Sony console, it’s undeniable that technology is moving forward faster than ever before.
Our reliance of technology is becoming repeatedly common, with Apple announcing statistics that the average iPhone user unlocks their phone eighty times-a-day. But some worry that we’re becoming over-reliant.
“I do feel that everything we do now revolves around technology” says Naveed Ahmed, owner of Techworld, Nottingham. “It’s a necessary evil. Sometimes you want to get away from it but you can’t. Whether it’s necessary or not, you can’t help it, it’s there. Nobody functions without technology.”
“I can’t make the decision whether its a good thing or a bad thing” continued Ahmed. “Nothing functions without technology. Like anything else, everything in moderation should be good for you. However, when we were younger my parents had trouble getting us indoors, now I have trouble getting my children outdoors.”
Doctor Peter Blanchfield, associate professor of computer science at The University of Nottingham, explained how these advancements have helped him.
“new technology can potentially help those with strokes, or other medical issues… lots of good things can come from technology”
Peter Blanchfield, Associate Professor at The University of Nottingham
“I’ve got a research group who are working on games that treat people with amblyopia [lazy eye]. In the past we worked on games that helped mental illness in children. We also worked on an app to help with the resuscitation of babies.
Blanchfield added; “It used to be the war-machine that would push technology forward, but now gaming is pushing technology forward. I think for me, new technology can potentially help those with strokes, or other medical issues, getting them to reintegrate into society, lots of good things can come from technology.”
Audio: Peter Blanchfield on his amblyopia app…
On a personal level, Blanchfield spoke about how it helped his social life; “I really do think that Skype and Facebook have really helped me connect with my loved ones. When I worked in the Philippines, and my daughter was back in England, email completely changed our lives.”
It’s undeniable that technology has both positives and negatives. The saturation of electronic devices and its affect on the world may come as intimidating to some, but it seems that there are some huge advantages.


text: New safety measure for future Toyota models 12 August 2014 by Parkers All Toyota models will get brake-override system Safety measure comes after worldwide recalls System will cut power to engine to stop the car Japanese car maker Toyota is set to add a safety system to all of its future models after worldwide recalls. The move comes after seven different models were found to have a potentially faulty accelerator pedal while the latest Prius model was recalled for having a brake problem. This new brake-override system will cut the power to the car's engine if the driver presses down the accelerator and brake pedal at the same time. Problems for the manufacturer began when they were forced to issue a mass recall of eight different models - including the popular Aygo and iQ models - due to a problem with the accelerator pedals partially sticking. Although the number of models was later reduced to seven with the RAV4 no longer affected, Toyota was still forced to recall up 2.3 million cars world wide. The problems continued for the company as it then announced that the latest version of the hybrid Prius model would have to be recalled due to a problem with the brakes in the car. Work on the recalls is well under way, with a Toyota spokesperson telling Parker's that in the UK more than 20,000 vehicles had been fixed up to February 17 with all the parts to fix remaining vehicles arriving by February 26. The firm are set to introduce a number of initiatives to help with future quality issues. These include a stronger framework to deal with receiving and monitoring customer feedback, the appointment of chief quality officers worldwide, a new special committee for Global quality and the company taking more active use of its cars on board data recorders for information. Any customers who want to know more or are worried about their car can call Toyota Customer Relations on 0800 1388 744.


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China-based premium EV-maker NIO reported that it delivered 3,533 vehicles in July 2020, representing a robust 322.1% growth year-over-year. The deliveries consisted of 2,610 ES6s, the Company’s 5-seater high-performance premium smart electric SUV, and 923 ES8s, the Company’s 6-seater and 7-seater flagship premium smart electric SUV.
As of 31 July 2020, cumulative deliveries of the ES8 and the ES6 reached 49,615 vehicles, of which 17,702 were delivered in 2020.
On 24 July 2020, NIO announced the pre-subsidy price of the EC6, starting from RMB 368,000 (US$52,700), and began taking production orders for the 5-seater premium smart electric coupe SUV. Its NEDC range of up to 615 kilometers with the 100 kWh battery pack, excellent driving experience, sporty and stylish design present a competitive model for a younger and broader user base. The EC6 deliveries will commence in September 2020.
NIO started the deliveries of the ES8, a 7-seater high-performance premium electric SUV, in China on 28 June 2018. In September 2018, NIO went public on NYSE. NIO officially launched the ES6, a 5-seater high-performance premium electric SUV, in December 2018 and began the first deliveries of the ES6 on 18 June 2019. In December 2019, NIO officially launched the EC6, a smart electric Coupe SUV, and the all-new ES8, a fully elevated smart electric flagship SUV.


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By Bob Curley
Aruba has always been one of the safest and friendliest destinations in the Caribbean, a reputation that’s especially valued given the realities of travel in 2020. COVID-19 cases on the island have remained low and while there have been a handful of coronavirus cases among tourists, Aruba has remained open to international visitors (including Americans) since early July.
And there’s more good news: most of the dozen-plus resorts now open in Aruba are located directly on one of the island’s beautiful beaches, cooled by constant trade winds. (Note that some casinos and other facilities may be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. (Find everything you need to know about Aruba’s travel requirements here).
Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino: This large resort complex on Palm Beach has something for everyone, including the adults-only Tradewinds Club, a 24-hour casino, family and adult pools, a Mandara Spa, and a la carte dining options that include a Ruth’s Chris Steak House.


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Harley-Davidson Motor Company will begin selling motorcycles in India in 2010, said its president and chief operating officer, Matthew Levatich. The company has begun the process of picking dealers and is constructing a subsidiary in Gurgaon, near the country's capital Delhi.
Matthew Levatich said his mission was to lay a strong base in India to help play a long innings in the country. He said India is a vital part of the expansion plan for the company which is seeking a "global reach."
Just like any other auto company, Harley will spend its initial time importing bikes, accessories and other rider gear until it gets a clear picture of its demands here. India's booming economy and rapidly evolving infrastructure has evoked interest in Harley Davidson to set shop here.
The company's initial approach is to import its motorcycles, accessories and riding gear, and it will then evaluate how best to evolve its approach as Harley-Davidson's business grows here.
Although a lot of other things we discussed, frankly it was boring. He explained how Harley's riding experience is magnificent and how unique his motorcycles were and how his motorcycles are going to lead India into its next era of motorcycling.
Not very realistic considering most motorcycles sold in the country are 100cc commuters. In the world of Nanos and Altos, it's like saying the Rolls Royce brand with its CBUs is going to carry India forward into the next era of driving.
The company has begun the process of identifying initial dealers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Punjab State.
Let's see how they price it. It won't be in the mid 60 thousands to take on the Bajaj Avenger. That is for sure.


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Digital TV News: Suddenlink
ViacomCBS and Altice USA renew distribution agreement
Oct 18, 2021 – ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC, VIACA) and Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) have made a deal for the continued distribution of ViacomCBS' broadcast, entertainment, news and sports networks to Altice's Optimum and Suddenlink customers.
News categories: ViacomCBS, Altice USA, Ray Hopkins, Yossi Benchetrit, Cable TV, Digital TV, USA
Altice USA introduces Optimum and Suddenlink 4K streaming device
Jul 19, 2021 – Altice USA has unveiled Optimum Stream and Suddenlink Stream, a 4K streaming device powered by Android TV. The box, available to its broadband-only customers, is free with 1-Gig plans. Otherwise it costs $5 per month.
News categories: Altice USA, Hakim Boubazine, Android TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Set Top Box, USA
Altice USA makes offer for Cogeco to get hold of Atlantic Broadband
Sep 2, 2020 – Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) has presented an offer to acquire Cogeco. Altice USA plans to sell Cogeco's Canadian assets to Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.A and RCI.B, NYSE: RCI) so as to be left with ownership of Atlantic Broadband.
News categories: Altice USA, Cogeco, Rogers Communications, Atlantic Broadband, Dexter Goei, Cable TV, Canada, Digital TV, MandA, USA
HBO Max launched in the U.S.
May 27, 2020 – WarnerMedia’s streaming platform, HBO Max, has officially launched. The launch is the culmination of efforts to bring the best of WarnerMedia together to launch the new offering, following AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner.
News categories: WarnerMedia, HBO Max, Bob Greenblatt, Digital TV, Streaming, USA
WarnerMedia announces further launch partners for HBO Max
May 20, 2020 – WarnerMedia has announced that the latest companies to sign on to distribute HBO Max at launch include Altice USA, Cox Communications, Microsoft, National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), Samsung, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Verizon.
News categories: WarnerMedia, HBO Max, Rich Warren, Apps, Cable TV, Digital TV, Gaming, IPTV, Streaming, USA
Altice One available on Apple TV 4K
Feb 26, 2020 – Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) has launched Altice One on Apple TV, delivering the entertainment experience on the Apple TV 4K. Also, new and existing Altice One customers can receive Apple TV 4K as part of their monthly subscription plan.
News categories: Altice USA, Apple, Hakim Boubazine, Apps, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Streaming, USA
Amazon Prime Video to be made available on Altice One
Sep 16, 2019 – Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have announced plans to launch Amazon Prime Video on the Altice One entertainment and connectivity platform, providing access to the entire Prime Video catalog, for Altice’s Optimum and Suddenlink customers.
News categories: Altice USA, Prime Video, Hakim Boubazine, Andrew Bennett, Apps, Cable TV, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Streaming, USA
Altice USA smart speaker offers hands-free Altice One voice control
Aug 7, 2019 – Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) has unveiled its Altice Amplify home speaker. The device features Devialet's sound technologies and has Amazon Alexa Built-In. Altice Amplify also offers hands-free voice control of the Altice One entertainment and connectivity platform.
News categories: Altice USA, Devialet, Hakim Boubazine, Franck Lebouchard, Cable TV, Digital TV, Set Top Box, Smart Home, USA, UX
Altice USA residential video RGUs down 21k in Q2 2019
Jul 31, 2019 – Altice USA (NYSE: ATUS) has reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019. Altice had 3,276.5 thousand Residential Video RGUs at the end of the quarter. Quarterly net losses of -21k in the period were better than the prior year (-24k in Q2 2018).
News categories: Altice USA, Advertising, Cable TV, Digital TV, Results, Subscribers, USA
- Global IPTV subscriber numbers to overtake cable in 2026
- Sky Glass powered by Amlogic and RDK
- Panther Logistics appointed as delivery partner for Sky Glass
- VumaTV goes global with Red Bee Media
- Pixalate releases report on open programmatic CTV advertising trends
- Foxtel and ViacomCBS agree content distribution and apps deal
- BBC sets out path to Net Zero by 2030
- A quarter of U.S. households subscribe to broadband but not Pay TV
- Wurl offers global FAST channel distribution for content companies
- Accedo and Nreal bring streaming to lightweight AR glasses
- HBO up 1.9 million; Vrio down 178,000 video subs in 3Q 2021
- RTL Group and Amobee to form TechAlliance addressable TV JV
- Claro Box TV streaming in Colombia powered by Harmonic
- Verizon FIOS consumer video subscribers down 68,000 in 3Q 2021
- Vodafone España provides real-time accurate EPG with Alpha Networks and MediaData TV
- Vewd and Mediatek bring entertainment to vehicle rear-seats
- Conviva expands into advertising audience measurement
- C Spire to acquire Troy Cablevision
- Software Freedom Conservancy sues Vizio for GPL violations
- Altibox Android TV service goes live with 3SS and Technicolor


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The Future Supply Chain IPO, which opens on 6 December, will see a total stake dilution of 24.43%, and no new shares will be issued
Mumbai: Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd, the logistics arm of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, on Wednesday said its Rs650 crore initial public offering (IPO) will open on 6 December.
The company has set a price band of Rs660-664 per share for the IPO, which values it at Rs2,644-2,660 crore. The offer will close on 8 December.
Parent Future Enterprises Ltd and special situations fund SSG Capital will collectively sell 9.78 million shares. The offer will see a total stake dilution of 24.43%. No new shares will be issued.
Future Enterprises plans to sell 1.95 million shares, which will fetch the parent company Rs130 crore at the upper end of the price band. Post offer, the shareholding of Future Enterprises will drop by five percentage points to 53%.
Future Supply Chain hopes recent changes under Goods and Services Tax (GST) will help the logistics business.
“As the market evolves with GST, we are quite excited by the opportunity that’s going to get created in this industry in the next 10-20 years," Rakesh Biyani, chairman of Future Supply Chain said in a media briefing.
“But I would say that one has to look at a business in terms of every five years. Future Supply Chain is ready for the market; we understand the art of efficiency and the science of supply chain."
SSG Capital, through its entity Griffin Partners Ltd will sell a total of 7.83 million shares, worth Rs520 crore. Its stake will be reduced to 14.63% from the existing 34.18%.
In November, SSG Capital had sold a 4.9% stake in Future Supply Chain to the Edelweiss Crossover Opportunities Fund.
Edelweiss Crossover Opportunities Fund, which is an alternative investment fund focused on pre-IPO investments, raised approximately Rs1,750 crore, Mint reported in November.
Future Supply Chain depends largely on business from other Future Group entities including Future Retail Ltd and Future Consumer Ltd.
At present, the company makes nearly 63% of its revenues from group companies, although it wants to take the contribution of external clients to 50% going forward, said Future Group chief financial officer Sanjay Jain.
In 2016-17, the company reported a revenue of Rs577 crore, up 9% from the previous fiscal. It reported a net profit of Rs45.75 crore in 2016-17, up 55% from a year earlier.
The majority of revenues come from contract logistics that made up nearly 70% of total revenues in FY17, as per data from the company’s red herring prospectus. It intends to keep the breakup that way.
“We refrain from doing last-mile delivery and in the present form and shape, we are better off serving non last-mile delivery, we are better off that way," Jain said.
“Our business model is slightly different," said Mayur Toshniwal, managing director of Future Supply Chain.
“Today in India, temperature-controlled infrastructure is largely used by commodities, potatoes, apples and others. Our motive of getting into this business is very different. We believe that going forward, as the country crosses the $2,000 (per capita income) mark, the consumption basket changes very rapidly. At that time, the Future Group strategy of supplying to small stores will need a strong supply chain to back it up."
Future Supply Chain has appointed Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd, CLSA India Pvt. Ltd, Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (India) Pvt. Ltd, IDFC Bank Ltd, IIFL Holdings Ltd and YES Securities (India) Ltd to manage the share sale.
The Indian logistics industry comprising segments such as road, rail and coastal freight, warehousing, cold chain and container freight stations and inland container depots, estimated at Rs6.4 trillion in fiscal 2017, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13% to Rs9.2 trillion by fiscal 2020, according to a report by rating agency Crisil Ltd.
Earlier this month, Mahindra Logistics Ltd, the logistics arm of automobile maker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, launched its Rs829.36 crore IPO. The IPO saw a subscription of 7.83 times.
IPO fund raising in 2017 has breached the last record set in 2010, when 64 companies raised Rs37,534.65 crore.
Until October 2017, the Indian primary market has witnessed 30 IPOs with companies raising Rs47,099 crore, according to data from primary market tracker Prime Database. In 2016, 26 companies raised Rs26,493.8 crore through the IPO route.


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With almost six years of body positivity campaigns behind us, Aerie continues to make great strives to be “real” with customers. In 2014, the sub-brand of American Eagle that provides women with comfortable lifestyle and intimate apparel, promised their customers they were going to stop airbrushing models. They also committed to using a variety of models of different ethnic backgrounds and sizes. This movement was a push for their new pledge #AerieREAL.
Two years later, Aerie debuted its first “role model”, Iskra Lawrence, a British model and activist, as the face of the platform. They’ve proceeded over the years to follow through with their platform by creating a new bra shopping experience aimed at spreading more body positivity and woman encouragement in their stores. They’ve continued to add on to the “role model” roster over the years by adding gymnast and advocate Aly Raisman, Paralympian snowboarder Brenna Huckaby, blind Youtuber and motivational speaker Molly Burke, as well as entrepreneur Jenna Kutcher, and they weren’t stopping there.
Late last week, Aerie announced eight new #AerieREAL role models to join the campaign front. Welcoming actor Lana Condor, actor and writer Beanie Feldstein, actor and writer Hari Nef, award winning actor Ali Stroker, sustainability activist Manuela Barón, founder of Smile On Me Dre Thomas, DJ and wellness advocate Tiff McFierce, and scientist Keiana Cavé, Aerie hopes to continue to spread the brand’s mission of self love—”inside and out”.
But what exactly will these women do as #AerieREAL role models?
These thirteen strong, amazing women are given the role to “empower and inspire the Aerie community to be the change they want to see in the world.” Whether that be through leadership, advocacy, or philanthropy, these women are given the responsibility to encourage all women to be game changers, while also doing the same themselves.
“Six years ago, Aerie took the game-changing leap to stop airbrushing its models—which ignited a body positivity movement that has empowered women around the world to let their real selves shine,” Jennifer Foyle, Aerie Global Brand President, released,“We believe everyone has the power to be a changemaker.”
But, Aerie doesn’t stop there either.
Continuing to commit to being a company that creates exceptional merchandise while also encouraging their customers to view themselves and other women in a positive light, #AerieREAL also launched a social media contest to give away $400,000 in grants to 20 women who make positive changes in their local communities.
“Aerie recognizes there is still work to be done and understands the importance of challenging the stereotypical standards of beauty, which helps give its customers a voice,” says the Aerie announcement on the AEO Inc. website.
Where one company struggled, another saw potential. And as we all can see, they are continuing to change the game, positively.


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Share this story!
Last month, researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Tokyo announced that they had developed a safe way to deliver electricity through the air.
The breakthrough can eventually lead to "charging rooms" - wireless charging areas that, for instance, can charge your smartphone without you even noticing it. All you have to do is enter the room; no cables or electrical outlets are needed.
The apparent advantage of charging rooms is that we could say goodbye to the millions of charging cables, adapters, and sockets we use today.
More than a convenient way to charge your phone
However, charging rooms would be more than just a convenient way to charge your phone. They could also pave the way for mobile robots and sensors that work seamlessly without humans having to manipulate them.
Entrepreneurs and researchers are already working on furnishing spaces that can interpret and react to our wishes, such as turning down the thermostat if we think it is too hot or dimming the light if we have a migraine. Continuous charging of sensors can make these personal spaces a reality.
Medical equipment could also benefit from charging rooms. For example, today's heart implants require a wire that runs from the pump through the body to an external power supply. Charging rooms will potentially eliminate the need for cords, which reduces the risk of infection and improves the patient's quality of life.
"I can imagine that this is really useful for spaces with a lot of instruments, expensive things like an operating room. There, you can imagine having different instruments and devices that can be operated without the need for cords", says Alanson Sample, a professor at the University of Michigan and author of the study, to Scientific American.
Works like a wireless charging dock
The charging rooms work similarly to a wireless charging dock: a metal coil in a changing magnetic field produces an electric current.
The researchers built a small room, about nine square meters, made of aluminum panels. Along the middle of the room was a metal pole, and it was furnished with a wireless fan, a lamp, and a smartphone. All devices had a metal coil that could easily be built into almost any electronics. There was also traditional furniture: a chair and a table.
The team was able to produce 50 watts in the small room and charge all wireless devices. To ensure that there were no dead zones, the system generated two separate 3D magnetic fields: one that covered the center of the room and one for the corners.
The next step - without aluminum plate
The team of Japanese and American researchers is now working on testing the system in a building on the University of Michigan's campus. The project is expected to be completed this autumn, but it will probably be years before the technology leaves the lab.
"It is far too laborious to install aluminum sheet metal along the walls, so the advantage is not significant enough yet. But we have just developed a completely new technology. Now we have to find out how to make it work in a practical way", says Alanson Sample to Scientific American.
🤓Do you want to dive deep? Read the full study "Room-scale magnetoquasistatic wireless power transfer using a cavity-based multimode resonator" at Nature Electronics.


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Ford Denies Reports: Not True
In accordance with the ratified Ford-UAW union bargain, production of the current Ford Mustang S650 will terminate in a matter of four years from now, i.e., 2028. As part of the labor agreement, Ford was obligated to provide information regarding its manufacture schemes, including the whereabouts of manufacture for individual automobiles. Unless these public assurances were given, the UAW could not trust that their members’ employments would remain secure in the meantime.
The termination of the V8-energized Mustang is near, and while we must be appreciative for another four years with fuel-burning engines, coming to terms with what’s to come is a challenging notion to come to grip with, particularly since we are all cognizant of what follows.
UPDATE: Despite the report from MC&T, Ford has denied allegations that S650 Mustang production is set to end in 2028. The publicized UAW contract only states that “Mustang will continue” at Flat Rock Assembly and “Pending program approval new product will be added.” Ford released an official statement saying: “The Muscle Cars & Trucks report about Mustang is not accurate. Beyond this, we don’t comment on speculation about future products.”
All the way back in January of 2021, a report suggested the Mustang Coupe would be converted to an all-electric variant by 2028, and the confirmation of the S650’s demise in that same year appears to cement it. There were once expectations of the S650 being outfitted as both a hybrid and with all-wheel drive abilities, yet these ideas were discarded when Ford acknowledged the Mustang Mach-E had granted them enough Corporate Average Fuel Economy credits to carry on selling a regular V8 motor.
Hybrid powertech is capable of creating massive amounts of force, yet such a powertrain would not directly apply to the S750.Might hybrid power be a potential choice for the S750? Probably and maybe not, as reported by Muscle Cars & Trucks. Hybrid powertech has the capability of producing an immense quantity of power, but this type of powertrain would not suit the S750 precisely.
MC&T is reporting that the coming model will be based upon the Ford GE2.2 platform. This same infrastructure was meant for utilization within the second generation Mach-E, a vehicle to be much advanced as it is specifically focused on EVs. However, as policy fluctuates and consumer craving for new vehicles remains unsure, maybe Ford has plans to adapt the platform so it can handle both gas-powered and electric versions.
Saying that, Stellantis has indicated the possibility of a radiant future for combustion engines if synthetic fuel advances are ongoing. Ford has also indicated their investigation into hydrogen as an alternative motor. It appears that electric vehicles remain the most likely choice; however, there remain too many questions with no answers for us to confirm this at present.


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Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and Costco Wholesale have reached an agreement to settle lawsuits over several recalled J&J sunscreen products.
Lawyers for the companies and for plaintiffs suing over the Neutrogena and Aveeno-branded aerosol sunscreen products disclosed the settlement in a court filing in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida federal court on Friday, without revealing its terms.
They said they expected to submit the settlement for court approval by 19 November.
J&J noted that the agreement, which is subject to court approval, was not an admission of liability or wrongdoing. It added that it strongly disputes the merits of these lawsuits and stands behind its position that it marketed our sunscreen products appropriately and responsibly.
J&J voluntarily recalled four Neutrogena aerosol sunscreen products and one from Aveeno on 14 July, after finding small amounts of benzene.
Benzene is classified as a substance that can potentially cause cancer depending on the level and extent of exposure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, J&J said the levels it detected were too low to pose a health risk, but “out of an abundance of caution” pulled all lots of the products and offered refunds.
The US Food and Drug Administration said following the recall it was investigating how benzene had ended up in the sunscreens.
A federal judicial panel earlier this month consolidated lawsuits filed nationwide against J&J and Costco, which sold the products, in the Florida court. The settlement would resolve all of the claims in the consolidated litigation, according to the filing.
Plaintiffs have said in court filings that tens of thousands of consumers could have claims.
Costco and plaintiffs’ lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


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Kenyan musician Samidoh who also doubles up as a police officer became famous following the popularity of his music.
Multi-million car Samidoh bought after becoming wealthy
The car's price ranges between Sh2 million to Sh5 million depending on the year of manufacture and condition.
The rise of his stardom came with lots of opportunities to earn an income from recorded songs, streaming services as well as shows and club appearances.
He was also able to monetize his massive fanbase and now uses social media to not only interact with his fans but promote brands which pay him a good amount of money.
From electronics, hotels and real estate properties, Samidoh has secured the bag despite the lack of music events in the last one year.
With the amount of money he was making, the musician was able to buy a 3rd generation Toyota Harrier SUV whose prices range between Sh2 million to Sh5 million depending on the year of manufacture.
Photos of the car seen by Pulse Live show that the car has a shiny black body sitting on golden rims.
He recently used the car to take comedian Churchill on a drive from Nairobi to Thika in an interview which was shot in the vehicle.
Samidoh’s car is a crossover SUV which means that the car has elements of both a passenger vehicle and a sports utility vehicle.
According to car experts, the vehicle gives its drive a smooth experience even in off-road terrain.
The inside of the car’s cabin is narrowed toward the rear, and the overhang of the shoulder part is remarkable.
The continuous design that flows from the front grille to the headlamp is a trademark of the car.
The car has leather seats that are power-adjustable, as well as power windows, locks, and a sunroof.
Other features include multiple airbags, anti-lock braking, vehicle skid control, multi-information monitor, GPS navigation, rear seat entertainment system, and a rear view camera are only a few of the safety and comfort features available.
The vehicle can comfortably carry the musician's family or team when attending shows across the country.
The Toyota Harrier's fuel economy is remarkably good for a medium-sized crossover SUV, and it can quickly go the extra mile.
Spot the black SUV behind Samidoh
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:


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UK: Arcadia promotes Topman's MD Shepherd to COO
A spokesperson for the company said Shepherd will retain his role as MD of Topman.
Shepherd has been appointed to grow the group's e-commerce and international businesses, the spokesperson confirmed.
He has "already started" his new role, the spokesperson added.
A recent focus by retailers on growing their footprints through e-commerce and new stores has come at the expense of product, J Crew CEO Mickey Drexler and Arcadia Group owner Sir Philip Green said la...
British clothing brand Karen Millen has appointed Becky Bateman as retail director for the UK and Ireland and Pilar LaCave as retail director for Europe....
Fast Retailing plans to enter Australia through its Uniqlo brand by the end of August next year. ...
UK fashion retailer Topshop is teaming up with Facebook so that customers can view, customise and order selected looks from its spring/summer catwalk shows three months ahead of standard industry lead...
Fashion retail giant Arcadia Group has teamed up with Jupi Corp and reality TV stars the Kardashian sisters to launch a clothing collection in the UK under its Dorothy Perkins brand....
UK fashion chain River Island has remained coy on speculation it is looking to open its first store in the US next year....
UK retail group Arcadia Group is to open its first Topshop and Topman store in Johannesburg, South Africa, through a franchise agreement with Edcon and House of Busby....
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J.C. Penney avoids bankruptcy for now by making key interest payment
J.C. Penney made a crucial interest payment Thursday as the department store teeters on the edge of a potential bankruptcy filing.
The retailer disclosed Friday that it paid about $17 million that was due more than a week ago on its senior secured term loan credit facility.
The payment could give the company extra time to negotiate a plan to deal with its financial crisis, which stems from years of declining sales, burdensome debt and temporary store closings due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company has been considering filing for bankruptcy protection for several weeks, according to a person familiar with the deliberations who was not authorized to speak publicly.
J.C. Penney said Friday in the public filing that the terms of its loan provided a five-business-day grace period to make the payment, which had been due May 7.
Otherwise, the company would have been considered in default of the loan, a condition that often triggers a bankruptcy filing.
While the payment provides J.C. Penney with some extra runway, the move does not necessarily mean that the company will avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy or avoid closing stores.
After years of struggling to adapt to the department store industry's contraction, J.C. Penney faces a potentially existential crisis, analysts say.
The retailer has been negotiating a potential deal with its lenders for several weeks.
J.C. Penney declined to comment beyond the details provided in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company had about 845 stores remaining as of the end of 2019, according to real estate tracker CoStar.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.


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As a part of its goal towards a zero-waste campus, the Office of Sustainability is piloting a reusable utensil kit opt-in for the Class of 2023.
The reusable utensil kit consists of a fork, spoon, knife, and chopsticks, all made of bamboo. A total of 350 students have opted in, with 88 percent from Class of 2023 and 12 percent from other class years. They will be handed out at the “Zero-Waste” event on Oct. 25.
Historically, the Office of Sustainability has given away free, reusable water bottles to every first-year student, but it recently realized that this was not the best way to promote reuse. Many students were receiving free, reusable water bottles from their residential college or academic department already. Others did not like the particular design of the water bottle or already owned reusable bottles.
At the Greening Move Out, where students can donate used or unwanted items at the end of the year, the Office of Sustainability was finding more and more reusable bottles from giveaways left on campus.
“It just didn’t seem appropriate anymore,” Lisa Nicolaison, Engagement and Communications Coordinator of the Office of Sustainability, said. “We were causing waste.”
A reusable utensil kit seemed like a better option, especially given the numerous food events on campus that use disposable plastic utensils, which are not recyclable. Nicolaison hopes this kit will encourage habits of reuse and reduce waste both on and off campus.
The Office of Sustainability has already started talking with Outdoor Action and Community Action about ways to get the word about utensil kits out earlier next year so that Class of 2024 students will be able to receive a kit as soon as they arrive on campus.
Ayeda Hamed ’23 found out about the opt-in program through the Office of Sustainability's Instagram post. She was planning on buying utensils because she wanted to cook on campus, but then found out that the Office of Sustainability was giving them away for free.
“I think the opt-in was an extremely smart thing to do, so that there is no waste,” Hamed said. “[The Office of Sustainability] takes care of the little things. Generally, I haven’t seen this back home [in Pakistan] as much, and so I appreciate the effort they are making.”
Hamed said that she received a free, reusable metal straw at the academic expo, but hasn’t used it since. “I think opting in would make me actually think about if I would use it and if I really want it,” she said.
However, she is not sure how often she will remember to bring her utensil kit to the numerous food events on campus. She is usually outside of her room when she hears about a free food event and may not always have her utensils on hand for future events.
“When a free food event is advertised, they could remind us to bring our own utensils if we have them so whenever I see that, I’ll also bring my utensils,” Hamed said.
According to Nicolaison, this pilot program was partially inspired by an op-ed in The Daily Princetonian titled “Stop giving out free t-shirts,” in which columnist Claire Wayner proposed an opt-in program for residential college gear after noticing “piles of Clash of the Colleges t-shirts” at the EcoReps clothing swap last year.
“Students should be sent a registration form which they can fill out only if they want an item,” Wayner wrote. “This will help to limit the number of duplicates that remain by the end of the year.”
This is the first year the Office of Sustainability is trying an opt-in program, but Nicolaison is optimistic about its future.
“We are hopeful that sort of changing the way we refer to a giveaway on campus will really help,” Nicolaison said. “There’s definitely a culture change that we are hoping to inspire.”


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Trion Worlds has released some great data from last week that indicates a strong resurgence of both Defiance and Rift. Many of the gains came as Rift returned to Steam and the company offered substantial in-game rewards to new and returning players.
Trion Worlds had a record-breaking week last week, adding over a quarter of a million new players to their online games, RIFT and Defiance
RIFT experienced the highest single day gain in new users since the game’s launch more than 2 years ago.
Trion Worlds was the #1 highest fundraiser of any games company registered for Extra Life’s charity gaming marathon, raising over $63,000 for children’s hospitals.
Find out more about Rift.


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CALIFORNIA – The American sandwich has never been sexier and California University of Pennsylvania has rolled out a winner that arouses the palate, taking boring college food to new heights via a new food truck.
The truck is offering a delicious pulled pork sandwich dripping in a Memphis sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and topped with a Napa cabbage slaw flavored with a Korean/Thai chili sauce.
This is where street food meets chef Melinda Gibson of AVI Foodsystems, the dining vendor at Cal U.
“Our concept is barbecue,” Gibson said. “It’s going over well.”
Every Americans eats on average one sandwich a day and consumers are demanding “palate tickling” choices made fresh with new and interesting textures and ingredients, according to USFoods. For example Bon Appétit magazine has devoted this month’s cover to one beautiful fried chicken sandwich topped with cole slaw and slathered in a chipotle sauce.
The food truck at Cal U. is responding to this trend by introducing a Southern fusion menu, which also includes pulled chicken or beef laced with the choice of four different tangy slaw dressings.
Gibson said one slaw is flavored with apple cider vinegar and oil and serves as the truck’s version of the Pittsburgh cole slaw that tops sandwiches made famous by the ever-popular Primanti Brothers restaurants.
The sandwich fillings also are available in tacos, which cost $3 for two of them. The truck also has introduced a breakfast menu and will expand to offer other items, including pizza, as it moves around the campus or to sporting events.
It arrived in March in response to what students said they wanted in a survey and to prepare for a disruption of food service while the university’s student union undergoes extensive renovations. Parked outside Azorsky Hall off Third Street, the truck is open to the public.
Follow staff writer Scott Beveridge on Twitter at @S_Beveridge or email him at email@example.com.


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Snowprint Studios and Games Workshop revealed today that they will be making a brand new tactical video game for Warhammer 40,000. According to the brief amount of info released today, this new game will be incorporating the strategy and tactics of Rivengard and Solgard, so both games apparently match well with the long-running tabletop battler. Snowprint is looking to make a "genre-defining" game that works well for gamers while also fitting in with the universe of Warhammer 40,000. If it works out the way it sounds like they want it to, they'll have a game that players will be able to tap into on their terms anytime, anywhere. We have an announcement video below about this latest partnership, but no info beyond the quotes below about the project as it has barely been revealed and doesn't even have a name yet. We're guessing it'll be a few years until we get anything concrete.
Warhammer 40,000 universe. Snowprint's mobile and tactical expertise is perfect for bringing the Warhammer 40,000 world to fans wherever they are and to reach more players than ever before," said Snowprint CEO Alexander Ekvall.
"When first introduced to Warhammer 40,000 in the early 90s I was simply blown away. Throughout the years it's been a huge inspiration for me and for the other hardcore Warhammer fans we have in the studio. Now, 30 years later, it's an incredible experience to get to work with this universe! We're determined to create an amazing game and can't wait to share much more about it over the next weeks and months," said Wilhelm Oesterberg, Game Director.
Owen Rees, Head of Video Game Licensing for Games Workshop said, "We're excited to be working with Snowprint on this game. They're a team of industry veterans with years of experience, making them the perfect partner to bring slick, impressive and high quality Warhammer tactical games into players' hands."


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New West Genetics announces $10,000 donation to the Hemp Feed Coalition to gain FDA-CVM approval by the end of the year and challenges other industry leaders to show their “hemp love” by matching donations!
With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill and legalization of hemp across the United States; the recognition of hemp as food for animals and humans by the FDA is necessary to keep farmers growing and ensure that the market for hemp pet and animal products can continue to flourish. Surprisingly, hemp is not a recognized feed additive for animals leaving it in a strange grey area of illegality even as the Pet industry expects hemp and CBD products to be a billion-dollar industry by 2022.
The Hemp Feed Coalition was formed in 2018 to bring clarity to the status of hemp in animal feed. The Coalition is a multilateral effort involving businesses, regulators and nonprofit organizations from across the United States and Canada working together to get hemp approved as animal feed by the FDA-CVM. In 2018 Friends of Hemp a 501(c)3 and the Colorado Chapter of the Hemp Industries Association formed the coalition. “The HFC is the first concerted effort to engage multiple stakeholders, not just those of us in the hemp industry. Because of these diverse collaborators, it is primed for success.” says Wendy Mosher President & CEO of New West Genetics.
The completion of a Feed Additive Petition requires nutritional analysis, the development of new laboratory protocols for food safety and clinical trials to show that it is safe for animal consumption. This process must be repeated for each ingredient type: hemp seed oil, hemp seed flour, meal and cake AND then must be approved for each species before the FDA-CVM will consider it an approved feed ingredient.
The FDA-CVM has indicated it is enthusiastic to approve the group’s first FAP for hemp seed oil for dogs and cats by the end of the year. A huge win, worthy of celebration. But, the effort to get additional ingredients and species approved will still take years and require collaborative resources – both financial and intellectual. Described by Wendy as a big ask.
“We will not achieve scale in this industry without comprehensive federal approval of use in feed, so that large operations can feel comfortable even dipping their toes in. The benefits of achieving approval are tremendous – advancing sustainable agriculture in the US, the easing of international trade barriers, improving the health of our animals and our food. Numerous families and businesses in the supply chain of our industry will prosper once this is accomplished.”
While the FDA-CVM is supportive of pushing hemp seed oil through the process quickly, it is still technically illegal as a feed ingredient and your favorite pet products could disappear from shelves overnight. We know that animals are benefitting from these products and that there is a market, but there is also a need to go through the process of approval so that the products are safe and nutritional information is validated. The goal of the HFC is to gain this approval so farmers, pet suppliers and pet owners can continue to legally produce and use hemp products to benefit their pet’s wellness. “But if everyone says someone else will do it, nothing will get done. We are proud to support an effort that benefits the whole industry, and we encourage all other stakeholders to step-up and participate with us.” For Wendy it is about “healthier animals, thus healthier food for my kids, and a healthier rotation crop for farmers.”
For information or to donate visit: www.HempFeedCoalition.org.


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Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke has declared that the country’s sugar industry could be successfully sustained, reiterating that the government stood committed to the survival of the industry.
He was speaking at the 12th anniversary launch of the All Island Jamaica Cane Farmer’s Association’s National Cane Cutter’s Competition, 2004, which was held at the offices of Desnoes and Geddes Limited.
“If sugar can be produced efficiently somewhere in the world, it must be able to be produced efficiently here in Jamaica. We have a history and we must be able to do it too,” Mr. Clarke said, pointing out that there had been many occasions on which the industry would have disappeared, had it not been for government intervention. “We divested and at the end of the day, it is back in the lap of the government. The government of Jamaica has a vested interest in the survival of the sugar industry. Sugar is still alive and well,” he emphasized.
The Agriculture Minister said among some of the hurdles that were to be overcome, was to ensure that no raw sugar was imported. Lauding stakeholders for their efforts to make the industry a fruitful one, Mr. Clarke said: “Every cent that the sugar workers get, they deserve it. Working in sugar is not easy. There has to be an understanding between the workers, farmers and the manufacturers that all of us are in it for the long haul”.
Stating that the prospects were good for sugar farming, the Minister said, “Challenges there are, but opportunities also abound, some good things are going to happen in agriculture”. He noted also, that the level of maturity being displayed by the unions representing the sugar industry was such as had never been seen before.
Meanwhile, patron of the competition, Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Howard Cooke told the gathering, “I predict that cane sugar is going to be one of the most important ingredients in nutrition in the world of the future,”
Also, Mr. Clarke said a number of other positive developments were taking place in the agriculture sector with domestic agriculture benefiting from positive developments in the tourism sector due to the high demand for vegetables and other food supplies in that sector.
In addition, Blue Mountain coffee was expected to go up by nearly 50 per cent and some 87 tonnes of ginger was to be produced this year, up from 11 tonnes. He said Jamaica was also self sufficient in egg production with the product being exported to Trinidad and Tobago since November of last year. More pimento is to be produced this year and pig production has also increased.
The Minister also informed that the quality of local goats had been improved and that the animals were now maturing by six months instead of several years. A bottling plant for honey is being worked on to increase export capabilities for that product.
The competition is being staged over three months with the first elimination set to take place at the Frome factory in Westmoreland on February 7, followed by a second elimination on February 21 at the Appleton Estate in St. Elizabeth, and the third elimination on March 6 at the Monymusk factory in Clarendon. A fourth elimination will be staged on March 20 at the St. Thomas sugar factory and a fifth on April 3 at Bernard Lodge, St. Catherine. The last elimination will be on April 17 at the sugar factory in Trelawny, followed by the finals at Frome on the 24th of April. Last year’s competition saw 96 entrants with the male winners emerging from Frome, while the winners in the female category were from Trelawny.


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Despite the drop-off of over 30,000 petitions from DC residents urging the Mayor to sign the Large Retailer Accountability Act (pictured left), and a recent poll showing that a majority of residents support the LRAA, the Mayor used his pen to veto the bill. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, a vocal supporter of the bill, has rallied 8 votes in favor, but will need one more to override the Mayor’s veto. This override vote is scheduled as part of tomorrow’s legislative session, which will take place at the Wilson Building or available live online.
Meanwhile, what about those most affected by the living wage bill? GrassrootsDC’s Noelle Galos brings you this mixtape of DC residents, retail employees and organizers on what the LRAA means to them and how they feel about Wal-Mart’s presence in the District:
Mixed with Head Roc’s 2012 track “Keep DC Walmart Free,” these are the voices of:
Rev. Virginia Williams (native Washingtonian, Ward 7 resident)
Kimberly Mitchell (Macy’s employee, lifelong DC resident)
Tonya C. (former Wal-Mart employee, fired from a Laural, MD location)
Cindy Murray (13 year Wal-Mart associate at Hyattsville, MD store),
Mike Wilson (organizer with RespectDC)
Inocencio Quinones (Ward 7 resident & organizer with OurDC)
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this mixtape, including all the speakers listed above, Head Roc for the musical element, and the organizers that live-streamed a Wal-Mart protest from a Hyattsville, MD location on September 5th, 2013.
Audio download available (.mp3): Living Wage Bill Mixtape. Please share freely!


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Indevus finalizes $637M buyout
- Marc Songini
Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. has closed its acquisition of Lexington-based Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. for a potential $637 million, capping a two-month saga.
The announcement was made this past week by Boston-based law firm, Burns & Levinson LLP, which oversaw the transaction for Indevus. The firm is claiming this is one of the largest deals of the year. According to the deal’s terms, Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. will make an initial cash payment of approximately $370 million. Down the road, it could provide as much as an additional $267 million in cash, depending on the achievement of some regulatory and sales milestones by Indevus.
Endo made the initial offer for Indevus in January, with a deadline for shareholders of February 27. On March 2, Endo extended the deadline for shareholders until March 13. Now the initial tender is closed, stated Burns & Levinson.
Indevus focuses on selling products to treat urologic and endocrine-related problems. For its part, Pennsylvania-based Endo Pharmaceuticals concentrates on researching, developing and selling branded and generic prescription pharmaceuticals to treat and manage pain.
In a statement on behalf of Indevus, Burns & Levinson noted that most of the deals that will occur this year will involve financing. However, this merger involved a significant up-front cash payment and the future contingent cash payments.
Last February, , Indevus concluded a clinical study for its Pro 2000 anti-HIV drug that indicated it lowered infection risk for women by 30 percent, meaning it failed to reach a significant 33 percent.
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