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A report published by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) in July 2013 has highlighted the ’system-wide importance’ of Specialist Contractors in the construction industry as a result of the high levels of trade credit that they supply to main contractors.
Trade Credit in the UK Construction Industry shows that trade credit is the most important and widespread source of finance for operations in the industry with any further growth in output reliant on the provision of additional trade credit.
Specialist Contractors are the principal suppliers of trade credit which puts them at the heart of this system and the report states that the industry would not be able to sustain its output without them.
However, the current situation is placing a great burden upon the balance sheets of Specialist Contractors.
As the majority of them receive only a limited supply of trade credit from their own suppliers, they are forced to obtain additional financing from outside the industry.
The report reveals that 75 per cent of Specialist Contractors had a positive need for working capital and this often translated into long-term debt.
By offering trade credit, they become unsecured creditors which puts them at significant risk because they are fully exposed in the event of any default by main contractors on the outstanding credit.
The risk is not being shared equally by main contractors who have the ability to acquire trade credit from a number of Specialist Contractors resulting in a far lesser need for additional working capital.
This privileged position enjoyed by main contractors means that they have a mean net debtor days of just three whilst Specialist Contractors have a mean net debtor days of 22 – a difference of 19 net debtor days.
The findings in the report give added weight to the view that the industry and main contractors in particular need Specialist Contractors not only for their highly specialist skills but also their balance sheets.
This puts Specialist Contractors in a strong position and they have real clout to demand a better deal from main contractors on issues like payment terms and retention. The full report can be viewed on the BIS website.


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Famous American rapper Kanye West has decided to hold a fashion show featuring homeless people.
The musician closely cooperates with the brand Skid Row Fashion Week. He will hold a fashion show with the brand.
The collection will be presented on February 22. Homeless people who work with the brand will take part in the show.
According to David Sabastian, the founder of the brand with whom Kanye works, all the proceeds from the collaboration with the musician, they will send to help the residents of the poor neighborhood of Los Angeles Skid Row. In this part of the city, homeless people are hired to work.

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Even if you're heading back to the dining room or upstairs for a private party, the grandiose bar at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in downtown D.C. begs you to stop and take it in.
Built in a former banking hall, the 14,000-square-foot restaurant features 30-foot-plus ceilings held up by ionic marble columns. The space, designed by Gensler, is lit with arched floor-to-ceiling windows, with help from custom wrought iron chandeliers. Large, rounded leather booths ring the bar, which seats 100.
The restaurant, one of the largest in the District, is the first eatery in D.C. proper for Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, which owns dozens of restaurants around the U.S.
Lettuce Entertain You has a partnership to open its Joe's modeled after the original Joe's Stone Crab in Miami. D.C. is the third Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in the country, following locations in Las Vegas and Chicago.
"This one has the best bar out of all of them. We were lucky enough to have a great space," co-founder and Chair Rich Melman said during a Friday tour of the space, which is expected to open to the public Jan. 31.
The team knew they wanted to eventually bring Joe's to the East Coast, said Managing Partner Mike Rotolo. The decision came down, naturally, to New York or D.C.
So why D.C.?
"New York was the other choice. But we would find a location but we didn't like the space. Or we would like the space but we didn't like the deal," Melman said. "We looked for probably about two years. But we are not public, we're not under pressure to grow."
The choice for D.C. became clear when Melman saw that Chicago-based John Buck Co., which owns the former American Bar Association headquarters at 750 15th St. NW, had space to lease. Buck owns the building in Chicago where the first LEYE location of Joe's opened 14 years ago, so the two had a history.
The company built a mezzanine level in the restaurant to accommodate four private dining spaces — one that can seat 120, one that can seat about 30 and two smaller board rooms. The dining room behind the bar seats approximately 200 and also has a bar.
Despite its grand appearance, Joe's isn't meant to be another stuffy fine dining restaurant, Melman insists. The food includes hamburgers, fried chicken and eight different types of potato sides — not to mention a dessert list heavy on classic American pies such as Boston creme and key lime.
"We want to be able to give the experience of fine dining in service and food, but with none of the negatives people associate with it," Rotolo chimed in.
Melman expects to do a brisk bar business, in addition to business lunches, dinners and private events.
"There are all these little nooks and crannies. Places for a business lunch, corner booths for a business meeting. If you want to be raucous out in the bar, you can do that," he said. "It looks proper, but it's really kind of wild underneath."


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Last updated on August 28, 2021
The state of Pennsylvania is making $20 million in relief funding available to help hair care and image professionals bounce back from the pandemic.
“Businesses suffered mightily during the course of the pandemic,” State Rep. Lee James, R-Venango/Butler, said in a news release touting the availability of the funds. “Salons and barber shops are significant in the well-being of a functioning local economy.”
According to the Department of Community and Economic Development, businesses that applied for last year’s $225 million grant program but did not receive assistance will be eligible for the funding.
“My colleagues and I take great pride in supporting recovery efforts within Pennsylvania,” James said. “I am happy to see this funding become available to businesses in the hair care industry who desperately need it. If you are a small business in the salon industry, who applied last year for the Small Business Assistance Program, contact your local Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Network to check your status.”
This article was originally posted on Pennsylvania offering another $20 million to aid hair care businesses


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Workforce has been cut down by 90. 2 business heads have exited. Green-lighting Bollywood projects is halted. Urvi Malvania reports on the restructuring expected at Disney India under new MD Mahesh Samat. IMAGE: A scene from the Disney India-backed Dangal. The company feels the best course is to take a step back and re-evaluate its strategy in Bollywood film production. Disney India is likely to spend much of this year restructuring operations. The decision, sources reveal, came ... Rediff.com, 2 months ago
While audiences were eagerly awaiting the release of Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif starrer Jagga Jasoos , they were obviously delighted to get a glimpse of it in the trailer released recently. However, they will have to wait longer to watch the full movie. The ...Bollywood Hungama, 3 weeks ago SCOOP: Ranbir Kapoor - Katrina Kaif starrer Jagga Jasoos postponed again and we know the reason why! Bollywood Hungama, 1 month ago
With only a week left from the worldwide release, Vishal Bhardwaj's upcoming film Rangoon starring Shahid Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan is caught up in a legal trouble. The film production company Wadia Movietone Pvt. Ltd. has filed a legal suit ...Bollywood Hungama, 1 month ago
Nitesh Tiwari’s last release Dangal , which is still running successfully in theatres even after a month of its release, has become the highest grossing film of all time. Though the film continues to run in the theatre, filmmaker Tiwari has decided to move ...Bollywood Hungama, 1 month ago
The 4 week online learning programme is available in English and Hindi, and will soon be offered in some regional languages.Ranju Sarkar reports. How to start-up: Lessons from Naukri founder UpGrad, a start-up which offers online courses that helps professionals upgrade and acquire skills, is offering a free month-long course on entrepreneurship. The course, with Invest India as partner, is part of the government's Start Up India initiative to boost entrepreneurship. Invest India is a joint ...Rediff.com, 2 months ago
Broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) has launched a youth-focused contemporary Hindi music channel - Sony Rox HD. This is the second Hindi music channel from the media firm after launching Sony Mix, a standard definition (SD) channel five years ago.Business Standard, 2 months ago
Aamir Khan who is riding high on the success of Dangal will start shooting for Vijay Krishna Acharyas Thugs of Hindostan from March 2017 produced by YRF. The movie also starring Amitabh Bachchan is set in the pre-historic era and will unfold the thug culture ...catchnews.com, 2 months ago
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Their owners won’t face any punishment, but nearly 74,000 motorcycles, ATVs and three-wheeled trucks from China are operating in the U.S. illegally, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.
After what it called “a lengthy investigation,” the EPA has determined that “certificates of conformity” — showing that the vehicles meet Clean Air Act emissions standards — should never have been issued. Incomplete or falsified information about the vehicles was given the agency from 2006 to 2012, and inaccurate tests may have been performed, according to EPA.
Wednesday’s action affects Wildfire Motors Corporation products sold from 2006 to 2012, the agency said. The company is known for its distinctive three-wheeled trucks, touted as getting up to 70 miles per gallon. The trucks are considered to be “motorcycles” by the federal Department of Transportation.
Wildfire, which also manufactures dirt bikes, did not immediately return calls or emails on Wednesday.
“This action impacts companies that manufactured and imported only. An individual is not responsible for a company’s wrongdoing, and they can continue to use their vehicle,” the EPA said in a statement.
Specifically, certificates of conformity ensure that vehicles “will meet federal emission standards” for pollutants, such as carbon monoxide.
The agency wouldn’t comment further, classifying the incident as an “prospective enforcement matter.” But officials did say that under the Clean Air Act, manufacturers or importers of vehicles not covered by the necessary certificates could face penalties of up to $37,500 per vehicle.
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Takii Europe has recently added Africa and the Middle East to its sales territory. Takii & Company, Ltd. in Japan has transferred these two regions to its European subsidiary. The expansion was officially marked by the opening of a new packaging line.
Takii & Company has operated in Africa and the Middle East for some time. Although the efforts of the Japanese parent company have been very successful in both regions, the focus on these two growth markets will be intensified through the involvement of the European subsidiary. The central location of Takii Europe will allow the breeding company to deal more efficiently with partners in Africa and the Middle East in the area of distribution and sales.
“This market expansion is a milestone in our growth strategy,” says Ton Kuipers, Managing Director of Takii Europe.
“Our objective now is to strengthen Takii’s position in the Middle East and Africa, in both the flower and vegetable sectors.”
Erik Vesseur, Sales Manager Vegetables, adds: “In these regions, too, we will focus on growth in sales of our top crops: onions, water melons, brassicas, tomatoes and cucumbers.”
The addition of two new markets means a significant expansion in capacities within the European organisation, not only in terms of strengthening the team, but also with regard to processes and space.
In order to respond to the specific wishes of customers in Africa and the Middle East, the company has invested in a specially developed packaging line for canning seeds. The addition of this state-of-the-art packaging line to the existing machine stock was the reason why the entire packaging department has moved to a newly equipped unit at the Takii Europe site in De Kwakel.
At the official and festive opening last Saturday, mayor Dagmar Oudshoorn-Tinga was given the first can off the line by a very proud Ton Kuipers. With all the Takii staff, they raised a glass to toast the successful launch of a new chapter for Takii Europe.


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But, will Lickd truly solve the YouTube ‘value gap’ problem plaguing the massive video platform?
Yesterday, start-up company Lickd provided YouTube content creators with some very promising news. The pay-per-license commercial platform recently moved into the open beta phase.
Previously known as hookd, the start-up company promises creators the ability to integrate commercial music into their videos. Lickd will license music that won’t risk a “claim from YouTube’s Content ID.”
The company has also signed a deal with drum n’ bass label, Hospital Records.
So, how does it work?
According to the company’s website, simply head to lickd.co. Then, after choosing your track based on your preferred music style, like dubstep, electronic, or rock, you purchase a license.
Licenses start at £6 ($8). The start-up company will determine the exact cost by the creator’s average YouTube video viewership. Hospital Records has made most of its back catalog and new releases available to users on the pay-per-license platform.
Lickd’s Vouch software integrates with Content ID. So, after purchasing your license, the company claims that your YouTube video will have “a legal license to use a particular track.” Thus, no worries about seeing your video taken down.
CEO and founder Paul Sampson previously worked with CueSongs, a marketplace that also provides users with commercial music licenses. With Lickd, Sampson hopes to provide the music industry with a steady revenue stream.
In a statement, he said,
“It’s an exciting time for us, with a new name and a new opportunity for all YouTube creators to sign-up to Lickd and benefit from better music and more income. At the same time, the music industry gets revenue from an influential part of the YouTube community who currently avoid commercial tracks. It really is win-win.”
In addition, Sampson vows that in the long run, the start-up company will “help the music industry close the ‘value gap,’” a problem that harms content creators and rights holders on the massive video platform.
“The fact that YouTube doubles up as the world’s largest streaming platform means it’s time the music industry made social technology part of the solution, rather than the problem. Lickd is the beginning of that movement.”
Speaking about the deal, Romy Harber, Label Manager at Hospital Records, added,
“YouTube creators are becoming huge stars in their own right and Lickd gives us a great way to access that market. It’s an exciting prospect, and we look forward to working with them – enabling creators to use upfront music from our artists.”
You can check out the platform here.


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Dozens of sites across the Internet went dark yesterday, thanks to a major Amazon.com server crash that has now stretched beyond 24 hours and is still causing trouble for some. Amazon's own storefront is fine, but the company also rents out server space to lots of other major sites, including Foursquare, Reddit, and more. Some crashed entirely, while others experienced severe slowdowns or other disruptions, the AP reports. Reddit, for example, is currently in "emergency read-only mode."
Other Amazon customers, including Netflix and Zynga, emerged unscathed. Lengthy server glitches aren't terribly uncommon, but Amazon's is notable because its cheap, reliable servers are so widely used. These servers are supposed to be broken into independent groups to insulate them from failure, but yesterday's outage somehow took out several groups at once. "This is a really big message to us that we need to revisit our strategy," says a VP of one company affected by the outage. "It's a pretty vulnerable feeling."


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COUNCILS have started to pay out £150 tax rebates this week, with thousands of households receiving the cash.
Families across the country are expecting the one-off freebie to land in their accounts within days.
The rebate is being given to help residents cope with the rising cost of living.
In total, around 80% of households are set to get the cash but the date it's paid depends on which local council area you're in.
People who live in council tax bands A to D are eligible for the grant, which doesn't have to be paid back.
Those who pay by direct debit will get the payment first and other residents will have to apply directly to their council.
Hull Council confirmed on Wednesday that it had begun to process its first batch of payments to 30,000 residents.
The local authority is paying the cash into the bank accounts households use to pay their council tax.
Payments will continue to arrive through April and May.
Families in the West Midlands started to receive their £150 council tax rebates yesterday.
Most read in Money
Around 23,000 residents in Nuneaton and Bedworth have received the cash, according to the Coventry Telegraph.
Those households paid their council tax bill by direct debit on April 1, the council said.
People who paid later will have to wait a bit longer to receive their rebate.
Stockton-on-Tees council said payments will land in bank accounts from today.
It said they will be accompanied by the reference “SBC – COUNCIL TAX”.
Residents in Barnet, North London, should get their rebate soon as the council confirmed today it has started to make payments.
Knowsley Council announced yesterday it had begun processing the rebates.
York Council has confirmed it has started to pay out the £150 grants and that eligible households will get the money by the end of the month.
The Forest of Dean District Council said payments will begin next week.
Check your local council's website and social media pages for the latest updates on when you will get the cash.
If you don't pay by direct debit you will have to apply for the rebate from the council.
Some local authorities have already revealed how families will have to apply.
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Finance Zone offers an array of free financial information including news, stock quotes, company charts and overviews, and performance charts. The zone also features a pay-per-view option for premium research reports.
Today's announcement comes just one day after Yahoo ended its two-year licensing contract for AltaVista's search engine by signing on search technology firm Inktomi. Yahoo attributed the contract's dissolution to a conflict of interest, noting that AltaVista has been stepping up efforts in pursuing a portal strategy, which would compete with Yahoo.
In the past few months, AltaVista has added a handful of content and technology offerings to its search engine. In addition to free email, AltaVista now boasts its own travel site under a partnership with TheTrip.com, a health information resource with InteliHealth, a foreign language translation service, and a feature with technology provider Centraal called RealName that taps into a database of company names and trademarks and takes users directly to the Web site that has information about the product or company they are seeking.
To further its push into the hyper-competitive portal space, AltaVista plans to unveil an array of content offerings in the near future, such as news links, an entertainment section, and a career development resource, an AltaVista spokesman said.
"They still have a lot of acres to go in terms of building out all the function we speak about, such as chat, broader content areas, shopping, and telephony," said Chris Charron, an analyst at Forrester Research. "They're still behind many of the top players, but I think they're going in the right direction."
Charron also noted that the direction of AltaVista's portal efforts rests heavily on the outcome of the Compaq Computer and Digital merger. It is still unclear what Compaq will do with AltaVista once the merger is finalized. Some have speculated that AltaVista is being built up as a Net gateway to be sold following the merger, given the huge value portals are enjoying on Wall Street. Others say Compaq could use AltaVista as a gateway for its users. For now, however, AltaVista's destiny is "up in the air" and "questionable," said Charron.
"Compaq needs to figure out AltaVista's place in its business," he added. "Once that's done, then they can divert the resources to build the portal they want it to be. But they're stunted right now."


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Marquis Lights Up The Macadamia Industry with State-of-the-Art Facility
The benefit of hosting a grand opening two years after Marquis Macadamias Africa officially opened their doors to farmers, is that they have had the opportunity to walk the talk.
With the opening delayed as a result of the Covid-19 safety protocols, the factory had to start operations without a festive opening, in 2020. But last Friday night’s event more than made up as the red carpet was rolled out for farmers and industry stakeholders.
Marquis Macadamias Africa is 100% owned by South African growers. The facility in Alkmaar, which is the largest of its kind to date, has a processing capacity of 15,000 tonnes and is growing to 30,000 tonnes. With a floor area of 18,000 square metres, it has a total bin capacity of 87 tonnes to receive crop. It also has capacity for 1,400 tonnes of drying, 3,600 tonnes of storage, and has the capacity to crack 8-10 tonnes per hour. A Napasol 5-log pasteurisation system has been installed to ensure ultimate food safety.
Adding glitz and glamour to the event, well known personality Minki van der Westhuizen played master of ceremonies for the evening and noted the remarkable achievement that was the state-of-the-art Marquis Macadamias Africa facility. “Marquis Macadamias has taken the industry into a new era. Through cutting edge technology that creates greater efficiencies and consistency in quality, the sustainability of the industry has received a boost.”
She was joined on stage by Phillip Retief, CEO of Van Loveren Family Vineyards, who shared their family’s success story, brought about by clever marketing, solid branding and innovation. “As many business owners know, creating a brand that brings stability to a multi-generational business is easier said than done. Van Loveren is tantamount to what can be done when marketing strategies are well thought through. The Van Loveren brand has stood the test of time, going from strength to strength when many other wineries are struggling to compete in a sea of product,” said van der Westhuizen.
Bringing the message home to macadamia producers, Ivan Guiricich, Marquis Macadamias director, noted that as the macadamia industry’s volumes are increasing we are changing from a niche industry to a more commercial industry. “Marketing now takes centre stage, where it no longer is a reactive function but rather a proactive function.”
Part of Retief’s message also underlined the importance of understanding the customer and growing and changing with the customer. “We as Marquis have a strong focus on designing and creating new innovative and exciting products that satisfy our ever demanding customers. We have a team of marketing experts around the globe focused on spotting and capitalising on trends so that we can change and plan for them,” said Guiricich.
Marquis has just completed their second season, with the third seasons nuts already starting to flow through the factory. “The facility has moved from strength to strength through both seasons as all the different disciplines have been perfecting their skill sets and all the procedures, machines and belts are now settling in. We remain committed to growing and championing the industry at processing and marketing level to bring sustainability to the industry for generations to come,” Guiricich concluded.


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September 4th - October 30th
9 am-1 pm
The popular Tuesday-on-the-Plaza Farmers' Market, which made its debut in June, has been extended through October.
Featuring a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as flowers, cheeses, honey, olive oil, bread, wild fish, pasture-finished meat, and fresh eggs, the market celebrates the agricultural heritage of this ...read more
Categories: Community, Press Release, Non-Profit, Member News


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Pier 1's First-Quarter Sales Jump 14.3 Percent
June 2, 2011,
FORT WORTH, Texas-Pier 1 Imports' first fiscal quarter resulted in a healthy 14.3 percent increase in sales, according to a preliminary statement from the specialty retailer.
That pickup included a 10.2 percent rise in same-store sales. "Our customers responded positively to our spring assortments throughout the quarter, and we continue to see strong merchandise margin trends across all merchandise categories," said Alex Smith, Pier 1's president and CEO. Indeed, the company projected that merchandise margins would finish the quarter (which ended on May 28) at about 59.5 percent of sales, versus 58.6 percent last year.
Other Articles By Author
Patti Carpenter Talks Color and its Importance in the Home
HFN's DIGITAL EDITION
COVER STORY: Sharpening the Focus on Millennials
Find out what makes Millennials tick when it comes to home decorating, shopping and at-home entertaining with HFN's annual consumer study. Turns out, Millennials favor the in-store shopping experience.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Power of the People - Crowdfunding campaigns provide needed capital, feedback for home and housewares product launches.
- Omnichannel Retailing: Visual Search Takes Off - Learn how voice and visual search are revolutionizing product discovery.


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Shares of technology companies faced a challenging day of trading as concerns over rising interest rates weighed heavily on the sector. It marked one of the worst trading days for technology stocks this year.
Market turbulence ensued due to a combination of factors. Fitch's recent downgrade of the U.S. government's debt, coupled with an unexpectedly robust report on private-sector employment by ADP, has heightened the possibility of increased interest rates.
The renowned tech giants, often referred to as the "Magnificent 7" — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Tesla — all experienced declines in their stock prices. Apple, which is set to release its earnings report on Thursday, fared relatively better with a 1.6% dip. However, the other six companies saw drops of 2% or more, with Nvidia witnessing a significant fall of 4.8%.
Profit-taking was observed in the highly sought-after generative AI market, resulting in C3.AI's shares dropping by 10% and Palantir experiencing a 5.1% decline. Additionally, a general sell-off was witnessed in cloud computing and security software stocks.
Despite beating earnings expectations, Advanced Micro Devices witnessed a 7% decrease in its stock price. This led at least one analyst to speculate whether the market had overly optimistic expectations for the company's artificial intelligence initiatives.
After market close, Qualcomm reported a halving of profits compared to the previous year, reflecting declining revenue in the smartphone market's turbulent environment.
Northrop Grumman faces challenges in managing fixed price contracts due to high inflation and budget overruns in the Sentinel program and B-2 bomber. Despite st...
Large cryptocurrencies have mixed results, with Solana declining and Ethereum climbing. Five other currencies show reductions. Read about notable movements in t...
McDonald's plans to open 10,000 new restaurants and attract 250 million users to its loyalty program. The company aims to operate 50,000 stores by 2027.


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News that South Africa’s economy grew by 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2017 was most certainly well received and beat economist expectations. The market expected growth of 2.3 percent while some meaningful analysts had the GDP growth forecast set at no more than 1.4 percent. While this could be the first meaningful sign that SA’s economy is on the mend after spending some time in the doldrums, for many SA citizens there seems, as yet, little to celebrate. Political uncertainty, high unemployment and junk status still remain on the agenda as inhibitors to our growth; while for those in the construction industry there is no good news as this sector continued to contract – albeit at a slower pace.
Trade Credit – the type of credit which companies grant to other companies – is a leading indicator of how the economy is performing in “real” terms. The logic is that when the economy is performing well, companies are more likely to grant credit facilities to each other and vice versa.
We continue to see a decline in the approval ratio of trade credit transactions across almost the entire spectrum of the economy. As a comparative – over the period March to August 2016 – we saw an outright decline ratio of 12.86%. This compares to a decline ratio of 16.5% for the same period in 2017. Trade Credit encompasses short-term credit transactions (usually not outstanding for more than 60 days) and constitutes literally billions of Rands worth of finance which companies grant to each other. Almost every business in our economy finances their clients in this way. The need for trade credit also competes with other forms of credit – such as banking credit, and where banks slow their lending practices, companies have a greater demand to source credit from their suppliers.
Our experience at present is that companies are very nervous to extend facilities, and that this is a summary of their view on all the present risks that pervade in the market. Large corporate failures such as Stuttafords (which was started in the 1850’s) do nothing to bolster this confidence, but the number of business failures is not their only concern. With high inflation and interest rates, the effect of late payments from customers could be disastrous to the profitability of an enterprise, especially in a struggling economy where profit margins are already squeezed. To understand the impact of this – a credit transaction of R 100 000 that remains unpaid for 12 months will cost the credit grantor approximately R 16 000 by adding the cost of inflation (6%) to the cost of lending (10%).
We are also seeing a rise in the number of businesses that are turning to alternative forms of financing to fund late payments from their clients – such as invoice discounting. Sadly this is potentially only a short-term fix, as financiers charge high rates for such loans – again impacting on a company’s profitability.
We are particularly concerned with the effect of declining trade credit on small businesses. Where larger enterprises may have the depth in their balance sheet to withstand the effect of late or non-payment, small businesses are most vulnerable to even one bad debt or late payment. These have a knock-on effect – if you cannot collect money from your debtors on time, you can’t pay your creditors, so you have to fund the difference through loans or extensions, all of which negatively affect cash flow; profitability; employment and ultimately economic expansion.
I believes that it will be some time before the economy can be declared “out of the woods”, but that the latest GDP numbers are at least a green shoot. If we are able to follow this through with political certainty; interest rate reductions; and fixed investment from the private sector, the latest GDP numbers could be the sign that we’re on the right path.


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sip co., at 50 Branchview Drive, Concord, is celebrating its one year anniversary on August 14th, 2021, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sip co. takes your favorite soda and drinks and gives them a twist with delicious flavors, mix-ins, and even a few surprises.
The first 10 customers get a free sip co. hat.
The first 50 customers get a free 16-oz drink.
Please note that it’s the first 10 and 50 customers from start of day, at 10 a.m., not at 3 p.m.!
And then everyone gets 50% off drinks the rest of the day.
The anniversary party features:
- Food trucks
- 20+ local vendors
- Live music
- Free games and crafts
- Face painting
- Balloon animals
- Bounce house
Follow sip co. on Facebook for more announcements and updates.


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Gal Gadot dress stirs controversy
"Wonder Woman" star Gal Gadot's dress has stirred controversy, prompting a designer to delete a photo of it from Instagram. The Israeli actress wore a blue Elie Saab gown to the National Board of Review Awards in New York on Tuesday, looking "flawless." However, the image sparked outrage as Saab is Lebanese, and Gadot's home country of Israel has been at war with Lebanon since 1948. Saab has since removed the image, which you can see above.


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At the 2016 Auto Expo, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles stated that Jeep would finally make an entry into India this year with the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee. However, an OVERDRIVE reader had recently spotted a Jeep Renegade being tested near Pune despite the brand not mentioning anything about its launch here.
Ford has added a special edition to the online configurator called the GT '66 Heritage edition.The Ford GT '66 Heritage edition features a silver-on-black livery whichis instantly recognizable. It's based on the No 2 GT40 MkII driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, which went on to win the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and gave Ford its legendary 1-2-3 finish.
Volkswagen AG may set up its ambitious battery plant in China. The carmaker is reportedly considering China owing to the country's strong emphasis on electric vehicles. What works in China's favour is that Volkswagen has two joint ventures in that country. So Volkswagen will have to fund only half of the required investment.
Mahindra Partners has tied up with Scoot networks, an electric scooter sharing programme based in San Francisco.The Rs 6,110-crore equity branch of Mahindra just closed another round of financing with Scoot Networks, along with other investors like Vision Ridge Capital. Along with the financing deal,500 Mahindra Genzes were added to Scoot's fleet of electric vehicles.


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We Won Craft Producer of the Year!
We are excited to announce our team took home the title of Craft Producer of the Year at the 2023 Icons of Whisky Awards!
The Icons of Whisky Awards, hosted by Whisky Magazine in conjunction with the World Whiskies Awards, recognize the people, places and products of the whisky industry.
Since 2015, we’ve experimented with over 200 different grains and malts, over 40 different yeasts, and over 80 different barrels and finishing casks – resulting in the release of over 100 unique Chattanooga Whiskey expressions. While our passion for innovation is ultimately what drives us, accolades and awards like this prove that our dedication to craft isn’t going unnoticed – and for that, we are extremely honored and grateful.
-The Chattanooga Whiskey Team


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he wants the company's cars to offer custom horns and movement sounds in the future, and suggested that these could include the sounds of goats, speeds and even coconuts. Teslerati notes that this latter suggestion appears to be a reference to King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail whose assistant Patsy uses a few coconut halves to mimic the sound of his absent steed.
Starting in September next year, electric cars sold in the United States will have to emit artificial noise when traveling below 1[ads1]8.6 miles per hour, to compensate for the absence of noisy internal combustion engines. Electrek reported that Tesla started adding this sound to Model 3 last month. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently proposed new rules around the feature that allow drivers to choose their own vehicle sounds.
However, Tesla may find it more difficult to introduce the new sounds in Europe. EU rules, which will come into force in 2021, specify that an electric car's false noise "should sound like the sound of a vehicle in the same category equipped with an internal combustion engine." Sounds like it excludes coconuts then (sorry Arthur).
After his first tweet, Twitter users were quick to suggest other sounds that Teslas could be equipped with. One Tesla owner's club suggested " jungle and rainforest sounds " ("Sure" was Musk's answer), and another user asked if Tesla cars could one day let users upload their own custom sounds ( Musk said he would consider it ).
Regulations on how car horns sound, meanwhile, seem a little more flexible, at least in the United States. Although they vary from state to state, many people say that a horn sound is fine, as long as it is audible from 200 feet away, and cannot be "an unreasonably loud or loud sound or a whistle."
The arrival of the mass to market electric vehicles means that many of our old assumptions about how our cars look and sound quickly become irrelevant. Goat and coconut sounds may be an easily recommended proposition for the future of car driving, but this is the future we may soon face.


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Esprit falls as Ying cuts stake
HONG Kong shares bounded higher on Friday, encouraged by steady US equity prices and optimism that the local economy is on the mend.
But clothing retailer Esprit failed to make it on to the gainers' board, falling a hefty HK$1.40, or 5.6%, to HK$23.80.
The deep drop for what has been one of the hottest blue-chip stocks this year was triggered by news that chairman and controlling shareholder Michael Ying had further reduced his stake.
The company said Ying had placed out 50m shares, equivalent to a 4.2% stake in the fast-growing firm.
The deal, which garnered Ying HK$1.2bn (£93m) before expenses, was done at HK$23.94 a share, a 5% discount to Esprit's close after yesterday's session.
After the sale Ying will retain the corporate reins at Esprit, with a reduced but still significant interest of close to 34% of the total equity, down from 38% beforehand.
This is the second time in the space of five months that Ying has cashed in some of his shares. In May, he off loaded 42.5m shares in a similar transaction and raked in HK$625m.
Esprit, which specialises in low-to-medium-end clothing, has raced up from about HK$13 in January. Thus far it has peaked at HK$26.55, about 10% down on Friday's price.
Investors have been enthused by the company's ability to increase sales and profits, especially in overseas markets. In addition, fans note that Esprit has been one of the indirect beneficiaries of the dollar's recent slide in value.
Esprit reports its earnings in Hong Kong dollars, which in effect are proxy US dollars because of the territory's currency board. But a substantial chunk of earnings comes in the form of ever more valuable euros. Its biggest market is Germany.
Most other Hong Kong blue-chips had a firmer tone amid hopes of an improving macro-economic environment, and no nasty surprises from key US jobs data due when Wall Street opens. Hang Seng Bank rose 25 cents or 0.3% to HK$97.25. It has now climbed close to HK$10 in little more than a month. Its parent, HSBC, rose 50 cents or 0.5% to HK$106.50. The Hang Seng index advanced 34.05 points to 11,580.17, up 0.3%.
Singapore shares were in buoyant mood on the positive story that fundamentals are still improving. Signs that factories were busier for the fourth month running in September helped the Straits Times index to 16-month peak, up 24.42 points or 1.5% at 1668.43.
State-linked Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) rose three cents or 1.8% to S$1.71. It expects a nice paper profit on its holding in Belgian telco Belgacom when it lists next year. SingTel owns 12.2% of the group. With the economy expected to improve, banks firmed. DBS Group was up 40 cents, or 3%, to HK$13.70; United Overseas Bank 20 cents, or 1.5%, to S$13.60; and Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation 20 cents better at S$11.50, up 1.8%.
Japanese shares were still buoyed by the positive Tankan survey, although some profit-taking emerged.
Mizuho Financial, the bank, ran into a wall after a strong upwards run on hopes for better profits. It was level at 298,000 yen. The Nikkei 225 closed 115.76 points up at 10,709.29.
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Lyft Opens its First European Hub to Develop Autonomous Driving Technology
【Summary】San Francisco-based ride hailing company Lyft, Uber’s main rival in the U.S, has announced its first official expansion into Europe. However, Lyft will not to pick up passengers yet, it has opened its office in Munich, Germany to work on autonomous driving technology.
MUNICH — San Francisco-based ride hailing company Lyft, Uber's main rival in the U.S, has announced its first official expansion into Europe. However, Lyft will not to pick up passengers yet, it has opened its office in Munich, Germany to work on autonomous driving technology.
The company said that the hub's main focus will be self-driving vehicles, with a "talented group of new colleagues". Workers there will develop advanced localization and geometric mapping technologies to aid its autonomous driving effort.
"They'll build the layer of software that helps our self-driving cars know precisely where they are and what's around them," Lyft said in a blog post. It didn't say whether it plans to start its ride-hailing service in the city, after it announced an expansion to Toronto, its first outside the U.S., in November.
The technology Lyft is referred to is SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) for level 5 autonomous cars. SLAM works by updating a map of an unknown environment, while simultaneously keeping track of a autonomous car's location within it.
Lyft Backed by General Motors
In 2016, General Motors invested $500 million into Lyft as part of a $1 billion investment, while also revealing its own plans to build self-driving cars. Last summer, Lyft announced its own self-driving car division before unveiling further plans with Ford to get autonomous vehicles onto roads by 2021.
Lyft has been ramping up its partnerships to keep pace with rivals such as Uber in the autonomous vehicle space. Earlier this month at CES, Lyft partnered with self-driving car tech startup Aptiv, and launched a passenger pickup service in Las Vegas using eight BMW 5-Series vehicles.
Lyft is joining BMW in the area. BMW is also headquartered in Munich, and announced a new autonomous driving development center last year.
Munich certainly offers close proximity to a major automotive company that is known to be investing heavily in self-driving cars and which only a few weeks ago displayed a close alliance with Lyft in Las Vegas. Munich also happens to be a major university city, which might make it easier for Lyft to recruit talent.
Lyft has now raised more than $4 billion in funding, including a $1 billion round a few months ago led by Alphabet's investment arm CapitalG. Lyft also announced its first international expansion in November, starting with Toronto, Canada. Lyft also met with London transport officials last year to discuss possible expansion of its service.
Originally from New Jersey, Eric is an automotive and technology reporter specializing in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley. Eric has over fifteen years of automotive experience and a B.A. in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the automotive industry and beyond. He has worked on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology. Outside of work, Eric likes to travel to new places, play guitar, and explore the outdoors.
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NIO Files $1.8 Billion IPO, the Largest of Any Chinese Automaker
Bosch Invests in Autonomous Driving Map Startup DeepMap
- Tesla Shares Sink as CEO Elon Musk Gives Revealing New York Times Interview
- Bosch Teams Up with Forcera to Warn Driverless Cars If Weather Affects Road Conditions
- LiDAR Maker Cepton Technologies Inks Deal With Major Automotive Lighting Supplier
- Tesla CEO Tweets About Taking Tesla Private, Elon Musk’s Cryptic Message to Short Sellers?
- Cities May Use Autonomous Drones to Repair Potholes in the Future
- Avis to Provide Rental Cars to Lyft Drivers
- VW Investing $100 Million in Solid State Battery Maker QuantumScape
- German Automakers Looking to Outside Sources to Meet Demand for EV Batteries
- China’s BYD Wins Big U.S. Contract to Supply Electric Buses to the State of Georgia
- Toyota Looks to Expand Production & Lower Costs of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles


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The lack of chatter on the next version of Windows may be fine for now -- the Vista team talked too soon and some features ended up being removed, and people are just now beginning the shift to Vista -- but sooner or later, somebody's going to have to start talking. And I'm not just saying that because my reporter instincts tell me the more information, the faster it gets to me, the better.
The need for info on Windows is especially pertinent if Microsoft is serious about releasing Windows Seven/Vienna in 2009 as planned. That's two years off. Remember, Vista nee Longhorn chatter already was heavy two years before its release.
Apple can get away with it. It has a relatively tiny portion of the PC marketplace and its vertical integration -- most things on an Apple are still Apple -- means there aren't as many software and hardware vendors relying on specs. Apple can just release the iPhone and iPod as is, and Mac OS X isn't as vital for as many business customers and vendors as Windows. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a massive installed base and a massive partner ecosystem. Hardware and software vendors rely on it to spec out their own products. Beta testing programs seem to be getting larger and more important for Microsoft for solving problems before the first service pack hits.
People want and even need to know what Microsoft is up to, and they're starting to complain about the fact that they can't get their hands on anything about Internet Explorer 8 and Windows Vista SP1. That should be something from which to learn.


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Barbercon, the premier global festival of the barbering community, has announced its annual decent on New York City on June 10 & 11, 2018 at the Knockdown Center in Queens. Launched in 2016 by Lee Resnick as the live networking event for Barbershopconnect, the first social site exclusively for barbers, Barbercon brings together thousands of high-profile and amateur barbers, cosmetologists, and brands from around the world.
Having sold out the last three years with attendees traveling in from across the US and internationally from Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain, Barbercon is doubling in size by expanding to two days and adding many new elements.
“There is a culture surrounding the craft of barbering that has really grown over the past several years,” says Resnick. “Barbershopconnect’s Instagram page has over a million followers now, and while we started Barbercon first and foremost as an educational opportunity for aspiring barbers to learn from the best in the business, we have seen it evolve into a lifestyle event with individuals and brands outside of the barbering space.”
Barbercon will be comprised of three stages for live haircutting tutorials and product demonstrations, education classes, an expanded indoor/outdoor Barbercon Marketplace, the prestigious Barbercon Awards and a barber-themed art gallery. The most exciting addition is the outdoor festival area that will feature artisanal food trucks, drinks, music, games, and an exclusive VIP Lounge with a private bar, comfortable lounge area, activations, gift bags and more.
Tickets to Barbercon 2018 are now available at barbercon.com


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Hello Kitty finds a home in Orange County pumpkin farm
Hello Kitty lovers rejoice! There’s another location to add to your bucket list.
You can find a new Hello Kitty themed pumpkin patch in Orange County and it can be found at the Tanaka Farm in Irvine.
The farm is decorated with designs inspired by Hello Kitty and her friends from Sanrio like KeroKeroppi, Choccocat and Pochacco. Kids will also have fun at the seasonal farm theme because of activities like a petting zoo for the kids who will visit. There’s also a wagon ride for those who want to take a trip around the farm.
For those who want to take home a souvenir, Hello Kitty in farming costumes will also be sold at the farm. The Tanaka Farm has partnered with Sanrio to turn their farm into a themed wonderland for kids and adults alike who want to spice up their annual pumpkin picking event. After the success of the autumn themed pumpkin farm, let’s see how the farm will transform for winter, berry picking season and melon picking season. (ANGEL ONG)


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The worldwide problem of illicit trade is a serious one. The amount of money lost to illicit flows is staggering: More than USD 2 trillion annually, according to the United Nations (2020).
At PMI, as we advance on our journey toward delivering a smoke-free future, we know we must increase our efforts to secure both our supply chain and the products we sell.
KPMG’s annual study on illicit cigarette consumption in the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland.
In France, evidence suggests that adult smokers are turning to counterfeit cigarettes. This is mainly due to the affordability of these illegal products, how easy they are to access, and the lack of consumer awareness around the risks of counterfeits.
The internet has had a profound effect on how people trade. It has enabled countless legitimate businesses to expand their customer base, providing access to markets across the globe.


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Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that looks at the purpose of and the passion for trains, planes and automobiles.
- VFacts Cars sales figures show a slight relapse (1:34)
- Audi have announced their new A4 and A5 (2:36)
- Audi is researching bidirectional charging technology (3:41)
- Nissan accepting electricity as payment for parking (4:40)
- Ventilation in buses help reduce infection – London goes the whole way (5:50)
- Motoring and Marketing expert Paul Murrell discusses whether the new Suzuki Ignis can learn something from the first Minis (6:53)
- And a few of the Overdrive team reflect on the Suzuki Swift especially the looks (16:21)
- And in Quirky news – Brian Smith and I cover the Canadian story of speed cameras the size of a moose being stolen. (24:59)
Car sale figures for July 2020
June sales figures showed some recovery declining by only 6.4%, a figure consistent with a long-term trend not the catastrophic impact of COVID-19.
The Australia market, however, has stumbled again in July with a decline of nearly 13%.
In the top ten brands, third placed Hyundai had a big decline of 34% but on the positive side sixth place Kia and seventh place Volkswagen had actual growth over last year’s July figures.
Cars import here having been made in China are up 52% on last year although they are still only 3% of our total market.
The big segment winners were small and very small SUVs and light commercial vans all showing positive growth.
Hybrids sales are rocketing especially with SUVs. Sales of hybrid SUVs have increased by nearly 280%. That’s more than three and three quarters times the sales from last year.
Audi launches their new sedans
The latest Audi A4 and A5 passenger vehicles have been announced for our market.
Audi is still strongly committed to their sedans and derivatives even though nearly 67% of their sales so far this year are SUVs.
The A4 includes sedan and station wagon variants and there is an All-Road station wagon made to cope with reasonable dirt road experiences.
The A5, a sleeker fastback style of car comes in either a four-door Sportsback, a coupe or a convertible.
Most variants have a four-cylinder petrol engine but the All Road has an extra diesel engine option.
A4s are priced from about $60,000 to $70,000.
The A5 Sportsback and coupe cost $72,000. The cabriolet is an extra $13,500. On road costs are extra.
The infotainment system has ten times the computing power but some features such as adaptive cruise control and lane assist are only options.
Audi researching bidirectional charging technology
Audi is working on making its vehicle fleet CO2-neutral by 2050.
They will be launching around 20 fully electric models by 2025.
In their home country, Germany, this year renewable energies contributed more than 50 percent to the electricity mix for the first time.
Audi is now developing a system, of bi-directional charging so that you can use the car battery for short periods to run your home or even put power back into the grid. Nissan has pioneered this system in their LEAF.
One way to benefit from this technology is for consumers to charge up at night when it is cheap and then run their house from their car in the peak period when electricity is more expensive.
Energy could also be put back into the grid to help overcome times when solar and wind-powered devices are not producing enough power.
Nissan accepting electricity as payment for parking
Nissan is giving customers the ability to pay for parking with electricity. It is only at one location at the moment, the Nissan Pavilion exhibition space in Yokohama.
The 10,000-square-meter, zero-emission Pavilion is outfitted with solar panels and supplied with renewable hydroelectric power.
The Pavilion is also demonstrating other features. Their Chaya Café operates on power supplied by LEAF electric cars and solar energy.
Nissan introduced the world’s first mass-market electric car, The Leaf, in 2010. Since then, the company has partnered with governments and businesses around the world to expand the uses of EVs.
In Japan, Nissan has also entered agreements with local governments to use LEAF cars as mobile batteries that can supply energy during natural disasters. In another partnership, the company is repurposing used EV batteries to power streetlights.
Nissan aims to sell more than 1 million electrified vehicles a year by the end of fiscal 2023.
London’s Covid-Safe Commute Idea: Open-Air Buses
COVID 19 has made many people very weary of travelling on public transport.
One of the measures to make buses and trains less likely to spread disease has been to improve ventilation.
Now a company in the UK is taking the opportunity for ventilation to the limit.
Bus company Snap is currently testing a new service that would ferry Londoners to and from work using some of the city’s 233 roof-less tourist buses. Up till now Snap has just
run a fleet of on demand buses.
The service is still in development. Snap is currently going through a crowdsourcing process, taking details of people interested in the service to calculate which routes might have highest demand.
Prices are expected to run at the same cost as an average tube journey with multiple pick-up and drop off points for passengers but far fewer stops than the average bus.
Originally broadcast 8 August 2020 across Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and Torque Radio affiliated commercial radio channels and has a weekly audience of over 450,000.


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2014 was year of big successes (Frozen), milestones (Hello Kitty’s 40th) and industry-changing innovations (3D printing). Here’s a recap of the news that shaped the year.
Mega Brands America has launched a puzzle line featuring vintage artwork from the Smithsonian Libraries’ seed catalog collection.
Greeting card designer The London Studio is shifting its business toward a licensing model to allow founder Soula Zavacopoulos more time for creative development.
Iron Gut Publishing has partnered with the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity for a collection of artwork featuring the Peter Pan brand.
The Caleb Gray Studio has appointed Ideaologie to rep the artist's portfolio for licensing.
Firefly Brand Management has signed a host of new licensees for Mr. Bubble as the bubble bath brand readies for its 55th anniversary next year.
Kennedy Publishing and Koko Media have extended their agreement to include Deer Little Forest in the U.K. preschool magazines Get Busy and Busy Time.
Bare Tree Media has snagged the global digital licensing rights for design company Wonderville Studios and its brands.
Knockout Licensing has made two new additions to the lifestyle program for the Little House on the Prairie brand, based on the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Pantone has created its first character-inspired color based on the Minions characters from Illumination Entertainment and Universal's Despicable Me franchise.
Warner Bros. Consumer Products has granted 3 Dimensional Art the rights to develop 3D art products for classic Warner Bros. properties and DC Comics Super Heroes.
Finnish stationery and gift licensee Karto Oy has signed on to create a new line for the preschool brand Deer Little Forest, created by illustrator Jo Rose
SmileyWorld has again partnered with Herlitz, now part of the Pelikan Group, for a new range of back-to-school products.
Licensing agency Carmella Johns Unltd. has brokered a new partnership for its client Ragnar with Sin in Linen.
Italian art brand The Gkrs has added two new partners.
HBO and its official licensees have a slew of Game of Thrones exclusive at San Diego Comic-Con this week and weekend.
Candle company PartyLite had unveiled its new designer collection from celebrity stylist Jonathan Adler.
Brentwood Licensing has added Fun Apparel as the newest licensee for the Peace Frogs brand to create a line of boxers and loungewear.
Literary agency Prava i Prevodi has been appointed as sub-agent for Roberto Ricci’s young adult fantasy series, The Red Harlequin, in 19 countries.
Carte Blanche has unveiled a new range of Moshi Monsters 3D cards that bring to live the digital characters with new 3D technology.
P&L Global Network has signed on to represent Colombian illustrator Catalina Estrada for licensing in Latin America.
©2015 ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. All rights reserved.


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Maple sugaring time means tapping trees for sweet sap. Improving credit ratios suggest more card business waiting to be tapped.
In the wake of the credit crisis, improving credit performance is a good thing, of course. But it can also be a flag that there's potential growth waiting to be gone after, in a judicious way.
Recognizing this means remembering that lending is a business of risk-- measured risk, to be sure--but still, a risk. The only 100% safe loan is the one not made.
So, the latest credit card statistics from TransUnion have a two-sided message, according to Steve Chaouki, group vice-president.
Looking at latest numbers
In TransUnion's quarterly credit card report, for the first quarter of 2013, the credit reporting and analysis company found that the national credit card delinquency rate fell to 0.69% in the first quarter. This rate was down about 5.5% from the 2012 first quarter delinquency ratio of 0.73%. And it was down 18.8% from the final quarter of 2012. (TransUnion defines card delinquencies as 90 days past due.)
The shift from yearend quarter to opening quarter reflects, to a significant degree, the tendency for card purchasers to pay off holiday and other debt, frequently with tax refunds, according to TransUnion's analysts. This is also a factor in the fall of average card outstanding balances. Average credit card debt fell 1.7% from the first quarter of 2012 ($4,962) to the first quarter of 2013, but the rate of decrease from the end of 2012 to the first quarter of 2013 came in higher. Average balances fell 4.8% from the final quarter's $5,122.
TransUnion's analysis points out that since the start of the Great Recession, in 2007, the credit card delinquency rate has fallen in the first quarter five out of six times, for an average decrease of 7.2%.
"This all implies to me that there are opportunities to lend," says Chaouki, with ratios hovering around all-time lows. Pointing to other TransUnion research, he notes that subprime lending has been increasing, including in the card area. Chaouki adds that lenders have been prudent in expanding on that front, attempting to grow without over-reaching.
Card originations rising
The quarterly report also looks at new card account originations, which TransUnion reviews one quarter in arrears due to lags in reporting.
This part of the company's analysis reflects the renewed interest in subprime, as well as other factors. Analysts considered the latest numbers in both the long and short terms.
In the fourth quarter 2012, new credit card account originations came in at 7,570,000, down 1.6% from the year earlier quarter. Of the 2012 tally, 28.14% were higher-risk accounts. This was down slightly from the year earlier (28.38%), but TransUnion points out it was higher than yearend 2010's 27.72%.
"The number of new credit cards entering the marketplace is still significantly greater than what we saw just a few years ago," says Ezra Becker, vice-president of research and consulting.


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by Alexis Erkert Depp
If you’re wearing Gap, Calvin Klein or Levi Strauss jeans there’s a chance that I’ve met the worker that made your belt loops or your waistband. If you’ve recently bought Hanes underwear or a Maidenform bra, check the label. Was it made in Haiti? If not, the next pair you buy probably will be.
As part of an effort to help Haiti rebuild its economy after the earthquake, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in May of this year to extend U.S. trade preferences to Haiti through 2020 and nearly triple duty-free quotas for Haitian garment exports to the U.S. Last month the World Bank, Haiti and the U.S. signed an agreement with a South Korean clothing producer, Sae-A to build another free-trade garment assembly factory in Haiti.
Garment assembly plants that employ low-wage laborers in poor countries have been seen as a powerful strategy for economic development for several decades. But who really benefits from these factories?
In August, I visited CODEVI, a free trade zone made up of 6 garment assembly factories in Ounaminthe, in Haiti’s North-East Department on the border with the Dominican Republic. A free trade zone is an area of a country where normal trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements, like minimum wage laws, are lowered in hopes of attracting businesses and foreign investments.
Attracting foreign investment in this way was part of Haiti’s “Poverty Reduction Strategy” plan prior to the earthquake and continues to be a priority now for the Haitian government, the world’s International Financial Institutions, donor countries and, of course, multinational companies looking to capitalize on Haiti’s high unemployment and cheap labor. Note that this list of advocates doesn’t include Haitian factory workers, most of whom work full-time and remain in poverty.
Yannick Etienne is the director of the Haitian workers rights’ organization, Batay Ouvriye and tirelessly advocates for workers’ basic rights. Etienne believes, “It is evident that this model of development with free trade zones as its backbone for creating jobs is a failure. It creates wealth for the foreign investors and local factory owners but more misery for the workers. It’s a model that sacrifices the future of our youth and puts our country in a more dependent framework. That type of international aid won’t bring the change Haitian people envisioned for themselves.”
I spoke to some of the workers from the factories in Ounaminthe during their lunch hour. Thousands of workers were crowded under make-shift tin roofs in the 95 degree heat, eating their main meal of the day, diri Miami (imported rice) and sos pwa (bean sauce).
These workers are barely scraping by. They have a union and have succeeded in demanding a pay raise. They have also succeeded in getting factory owners to hire a Haitian doctor. Nevertheless, they must meet the taxing quota of 4,000 units a week to make 800 gourdes ($20.00 U.S.) a week, which is less than the legal Haitian minimum wage. If they don’t meet weekly quotas, they are paid 600 gourdes ($15.00). They spend more than $10.00 a week just to feed their families.
Higher-paid staff and supervisors are mostly Dominican. The free trade zone employs approximately 6,000 workers, most of whom are younger than 35 years old. 75% of the workforce is women and workers report that sexual harassment is common. Workers are not provided with filtered drinking water and are docked a ¼ of a week’s pay if they miss a single day of work. Workers tell me that they hope for a better future for their children, but that they themselves don’t have any other options.
The economy in and around Ounaminthe is depressed. It is in one of the most fertile agricultural areas of Haiti and yet rice farmers in nearby Ferier cannot sell more than 3,000 tons of rice this year because of Dominican trade barriers on imported rice and an influx of food aid post-earthquake. Meanwhile, factory workers eat “Miami rice” because it’s cheaper.
Support for this kind of economic growth in Haiti is complex. No-one can argue that Haiti doesn’t need more jobs. The production for export factories employ approximately 25,000 Haitians and that number is growing. But, most Haitians would argue that production for export is not a sustainable long-term solution to the country’s lagging economy.
According to Camille Chalmers, Executive director of the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), “Free trade zones are not a good way to advance economic growth in general because working conditions are poor and this kind of activity has almost no connection to the rest of the country’s economy. It is also unreliable [as a long-term source for employment].”
Although these types of garment factories have provided consumers with increasingly cheap clothes and other goods and have enabled multinational companies to post record profits, as a development model it has repeatedly failed in Haiti and the rest of Latin America to improve the living conditions of the majority of people.
This was abundantly clear to me in my visit to Ounaminthe. Young and able-bodied workers there are working full-time for a wage that will never allow them to break out of the cycle of poverty. The Haitian government doesn’t fully benefit from taxes because CODEVI is a free trade zone. Haitian shipping companies don’t benefit because materials are shipped in and out from the Dominican Republic. The local economy is weakened as it becomes increasingly dependent on the whims of an external market. It’s clear that long-term, the true beneficiaries are not Haitians but rather the companies that own the factories and us, as consumers.
If the Haitian economy is increasingly dependent on cheap labor for growth, it is as much because we want to pay less for our jeans as it is because clothing companies are making a profit. If we truly believe that all human beings have equal rights, then we have a responsibility to support local economic development in Haiti that is determined by and for Haitians. Haitians tell me they want jobs that are sustainable and that will provide them with living wages. On our part, support for this kind of development can begin with ethical and informed consumption.
As I watched the thousands of workers crossing the bridge on their way back to work after their lunch break, I wondered whether I would be willing to pay a higher price for my jeans so that others could live a life of dignity and well-being. So, the question is: Who makes your jeans?
Alexis Erkert Depp coordinates MCC Haiti’s advocacy program.
Download Justice in a Land of Plenty, a resource for worship and advocacy on trade justice.
Check out MCC’s trade justice campaign and actions you can take.


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India’s Reliance has ruthless Retail ambitions
Hurrying out of a Reliance grocery store, travel company clerk Pallavi Savand reaches for her mobile phone, running on Reliance’s Jio network. Back at home, she will flip open a laptop bought from Reliance Digital. Soon she might wear Reliance — she is planning her first visit to a cut-price Reliance Trends fashion store.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s oil-to-data conglomerate Reliance Industries, India’s biggest single listed company by market capitalisation, profits most from its refinery, the world’s largest. But Reliance wants to embed itself in India’s towns and cities by dominating the $800bn retail market as well, from partnerships with luxury fashion houses like Balenciaga to acquiring a Coca-Cola copycat.
Despite being India’s biggest retailer by revenues, Reliance’s 16-year-old shopping unit has often been overlooked, as Ambani’s Jio mobile network stole the limelight in transforming India’s data landscape. However, it has come into focus as Ambani plots his succession, saying he wants to spin out Retail and Jio and allot their leadership to his eldest children, twins Isha and Akash.
Akash was made Jio’s chair in June and while Isha has not been elevated to the same level, a person close to the company described her role as “pivotal”, saying she was the overall head for Retail and involved in decision-making throughout the business.
Taking advantage of restrictions that hamper foreign companies’ ability to compete in India’s fragmented retail sector, still largely made up of mom and pop shops, Reliance is expanding its shopping empire at a rate of seven stores a day, using acquisitions to accelerate growth and investing around $3.6bn last financial year. It has 16,000 stores across India, while online purchases contribute 17 per cent of revenues, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Reliance’s “starting premise is that ‘100 per cent of the market should be mine’,” said Arvind Singhal, chair of Gurugram-headquartered business consultancy Technopak Advisors. “I don’t know a single company in the world which actually has this kind of a thought process, that ‘I want everything’”.
Ambani is ploughing ahead as investor enthusiasm for the company has cooled. Its share price has fallen nearly 8 per cent from an April high of about Rs2,820, to around Rs2,600 this week.
Reporting results in late October, Ambani hailed a “record performance” for the group’s retail unit as shoppers returned to stores after coronavirus-related lockdowns ended. This contrasted with a weaker showing by the oil-to-chemicals business.
India’s tycoons have long ventured into consumer businesses, from the Tata family, once best known for steel and now also boasting jewellery stores and a joint venture with Starbucks, to industrialists like Aditya Birla, whose conglomerate includes a large fashion business.
Reliance, however, has aimed to control entire supply chains, all the way from the petrochemicals in the fibres it uses to produce textiles. “The ethos of the group is dominance,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder of Gurgaon-headquartered retail consultancy Third Eyesight. “Unless other businesses step up to the plate, their dominance is a foregone conclusion.”
In its latest potential acquisition, Retail has reportedly bid $500mn for German wholesaler Metro’s Indian business. Indian rules allow foreign companies to own 100 per cent of a cash and carry business, but only if they do not sell directly to consumers. Reliance, by contrast, could unlock value by extending the business to sell direct to shoppers through Metro’s 31 distribution centres, said a person familiar with the company’s thinking.
Reliance has also announced it will launch its own fast-moving consumer goods company by the end of this year. The person close to the company said it would look to acquire brands to build the business, akin to its August deal for Campa, a nostalgic Indian fizzy drink, as well as exploring licensing and joint ventures.
While its ecommerce business JioMart has recently tied up with WhatsApp, owned by Reliance investor Meta, to increase its online reach, Reliance further boosted its physical shop space this year. It swooped to thwart potential foreign competitor Amazon in a battle over failing shopping group Future Retail.
Reliance Retail recorded quarterly revenue of around $8bn for the three months ending September 30, earning a net profit of $283mn, a 36 per cent increase year-on-year.
Those numbers are modest compared with Reliance’s enormous oil-to-chemicals unit, which had revenues of $18bn. But the refiner’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation declined 5.9 per cent year-on-year to $1.5bn, after taking a $493mn hit from a windfall tax. Meanwhile, its joint venture with BP made lower profits because of the government’s cap on retail fuel prices, even as the product’s cost shot up.
Reliance Retail declined to comment for this story.
Back at Reliance’s grocery story in Mumbai, Pallavi, 37, says she visits to buy basics like food and detergents twice a week. It is close enough to her office that she can pop in on breaks and, she added, “the discounts are huge”.
Additional reporting by Andrea Rodrigues in Mumbai


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Xiaomi has just announced that its Mi 3 smartphone, which was launched in India in July 2014 will be on sale again on January 26. This will a one day only sale and according to a post on the company’s official Facebook page it will begin at 5PM.
If you want this device you have to do the following things: share the post with at least 3 of your friends, submit your Flipkart registered email address once the registration link is available here on 12 noon, and then log into flipkart.com at 5 PM, than you just have complete the transaction and you’re done. But remember you have to be really fast!
This device will come with a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset with quad-core 2.3GHz CPU and Adreno 330 GPU and a five-inch, 1920×1080 resolution IPS display, a 13 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, and a 3050mAh battery.


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Registration for the 2018 Auto Finance Summit, the world’s premier auto finance event, opens today.
The 18th annual event will take place October 24 – 26 at The Wynn in Las Vegas. Registration can be submitted here.
This year, Auto Finance News and Royal Media are offering new sessions and activities to connect with peers in the industry and to help participants navigate the current state of the credit cycle.
The event will kick-off with workshops, in which attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the industry’s most pressing trends in an intimate group setting.
That will be followed by the Women in Auto Finance Luncheon, which is designed to support and cultivate female leadership in the industry. The industry is growing in diversity every year and the Auto Finance Summit should be a safe and welcoming gathering place for all minds to collaborate and network on the greatest challenges facing auto finance professionals.
Even more networking opportunities will be available to attendees through the exhibit hall’s more than 100 top-industry vendors — and that’s just on the first day. Expect a full-slate of more than 40 panelists and presenters on days two and three covering everything from new innovative models for car ownership to the latest underwriting challenges facing the subprime space.
The full speaker roster will be posted on the event’s official website and announced here on Auto Finance News as names are made available in the weeks and months to come. Sign up for the AFN email alert for daily updates or subscribe online to get monthly magazines, a weekly newsletter, and special event perks.
For more information on the event, travel, lodging, and to register, please visit the website by clicking here.


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Since 2011, Cision has been the main sponsor of the Spinngalan annual PR awards in Stockholm, Sweden. This makes it the ninth consecutive year where Cision, as a prominent partner, has awarded the most influential PR consultant in digital channels with the Cision PR Influencer Award.
Last year, the award went to Simon Strand thanks to his ability to mobilise and Viktor Frisk was the winner in 2017. This year, we are happy to announce that 28-year-old Daniel Redgert is the current holder of the title.
Redgert is the founder and CEO of Redgert Comms, an agency that despite launching in 2017, has already opened its second office in London, UK. Thanks to his modern approach to working alongside (and sometimes in the midst of) the influencer and ability to match suitable influencers to brands and campaigns, he has proven himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the Swedish PR industry.
Anne Smitt, marketing manager Cision Nordics, comments: "We saw a beginning of a new trend two years ago when Viktor Frisk won this award. In modern comms, PR and influencer marketing is intertwined. If you manage to master both parts, you have a huge advantage and that’s exactly what Daniel Redgert has accomplished.
It’s fascinating to see how this year’s winner has managed to engage his followers in his own channels whilst simultaneously advising other companies and organisations through his comms agency."
Daniel added: "It’s crazy! I've done everything I can in the past three years to be seen but the last year I took a complete turn where I started working on behalf of our clients. Apparently, it has worked!"
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As widely reported in Ad Age and B&C, the Media Rating Council confirmed VAB’s assertion that Nielsen undercounted TV measurement during the COVID time period.
As Nielsen panel data is the standard currency the TV industry uses for buying and selling advertising, these discrepancies in measurement have significant implications for our $70 billion industry, particularly as we enter the ‘21/’22 TV upfront marketplace.
Need a quick catch-up on what happened, what the numbers say and the implications as you plan or negotiate buys for the coming year?
In 5 clear charts, we explain:
- What is the issue? How did Nielsen’s suspension of in-home visits during the COVID period affect the size and composition of their television panel, as well as reported total TV usage?
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- How this might impact your future negotiations - over the last 12 months, the undercounting of TV audiences due to panel maintenance issues may have cost the national TV marketplace up to an estimated 86 billion in P18-49 ad impressions and $2.3 billion in ad spend. Get the MRC-recommended rating adjustment factors.
VAB continues to advocate for transparency and accuracy on behalf of our members, as well as marketers who rely upon fair and accurate reporting to base their buying strategies.
Be informed as you head into your TV buy negotiations.
Nielsen TV Measurement During COVID
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Sure, hybrid cars are cool to environmentalists and auto geeks like us. But to the mainstream, hybrid cars are mostly seen as slow people-movers with drab, uninspired designs. Not all hybrid owners are tree-hugging hippies, though. And for this reason, tuning and body kit companies have found a market for dressed-up hybrid and electric cars.
Take for example this 2010 Toyota Prius and Honda Insight modified by Japanese tuning company Tommy Kaira. They provide carbon-fiber body kits, suspension upgrades and alloy wheels. Tommy Kaira already offers a new exhaust system with quad tailpipes, and the rest of the upgrades are expected to be available this year. I’m not sure about improvements to performance, though. But hey, at least you would look fast!


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The Isuzu 3.5 tonne Grafter is rapidly becoming the ‘go to’ truck being used by companies across the UK to encourage potential new drivers into the transport and logistics industry and the latest company to utilise Grafters for its driver training vehicles is national haulier EFS Global.
Four new Isuzu Grafter N35.125 curtainsided rigids have now joined the EFS Global fleet at their depots in Burnley, Atherton, Tamworth and Motherwell.
“It’s been well documented that the UK is currently experiencing severe driver shortage problems, and, like all hauliers, we are constantly looking to encourage new HGV drivers to join our expanding business. We had also noticed that many other local and national companies were utilising Isuzu Grafters for their long-term driver training. This led us to assessing the Grafter’s potential for our future driver training programme and quickly we decided to add these four new Isuzu Grafters into our fleet. It’s part of our dedicated programme to encourage and develop new drivers by using the Grafters within the transition process for new recruits, with the key objective of them ultimately achieving full Class I driver status,” said Mark Jones, managing director, EFS Global.
Mark continues, “We have added the Grafters into our pallet distribution network fleet as pallet networks in general are seeing more demand for home deliveries. At 3.5 tonnes GVW, the Grafter offers a much greater flexibility and payload for this type of work. Each new driver recruit will get at least two weeks driving experience in them, where we can monitor their individual driving abilities, aptitude and overall performance with a view to offering them a longer-term driving career within our growing business.”
Supplied by local Isuzu dealer JDS Trucks in Salford, the Isuzu Grafters are fitted with curtainsided bodies, built by Truck Craft Bodies, and can carry up to four pallets. Each Grafter has also been specified with a tail lift. EFS Global anticipate that the Grafter trucks will be in their fleet for a minimum of four years covering up to 60,000 miles per annum, handling local repeat journeys close to the depot at which they are based.
Founded in 1996, Burnley based haulier EFS Global is now a £105 million group employing more than 700 staff covering pallet distribution, general haulage and freight forwarding, through 20 depots and offices across the UK. Acquisition hungry, EFS Global has recently added to its fleet with two new depots in Wakefield and the north-east.
“The popularity of the Isuzu Grafter for ongoing HGV driver training continues to grow, with many well-established companies, including EFS Global, using the versatile Grafter to provide new recruits with simulated HGV driving conditions as part of their induction into full time HGV driving as a long-term career. The current driver shortage is impacting on the UK economy as well as many companies, so it’s important that potential new recruits have a pathway into HGV driving careers to address these problems,” said Stuart Beeton, head of sales, product & marketing, Isuzu Truck UK.


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Phodé launches revamped website
Laboratoires Phodé has lauched a totally revamped website, with not only a a new design and a news section, but also a new Partner’s area offering registered users instant access to technical and commercial documents.
This new website supports Phodé sustained growth and worldwide expansion, and reflects its recent developments into three fields of expertise: Animal Care, Human Care and Olfactic. Within these three fields, animal production, human nutrition and environment focused companies will find a showcase of Phodé innovative concepts and solutions to serve their businesses.
Resolutely turned towards international expansion, the new website is available in three languages (English, Spanish and French), to cover the world major markets places. Parts of the website present the company’s international research partnerships and distribution network.
New website: www.phode.com
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Adapting Logistics for the 21st Century – Technological Advancements, Evolving Requirements, COVID-19 Disruptors
The NDTA-USTRANSCOM Fall Meeting took place October 5-8, 2020. The event brought together more than 1,500 attendees from government, military, and industry to learn and collaborate in a virtual setting. The theme for the meeting was Innovative and Disruptive…2020 Vision for the Future.
One roundtable—Adapting Logistics for the 21st Century – Technological Advancements, Evolving Requirements, COVID-19 Disruptors—represented this theme well. Led by USTRANSCOM Deputy Commander VADM Dee Mewbourne, USN, panelists included Dr. Chris Caplice, Executive Director, MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics; Dr. George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Geopolitical Futures; and Tom Shull, Director, and CEO, Army & Air Force Exchange Service (The Exchange).
Throughout history, transportation and logistics have evolved due to technology, changing requirements, and unanticipated disruptors. The panel share their thoughts on how logistics will adapt to meet the warfighter’s requirements and challenges in the future. They also discussed the future impacts of technology on transportation and logistics.
Mewbourne reflected on how logistics has evolved within the enterprise. “It’s really interesting to just think about how we have continued to evolve and challenged ourselves to become better and better as an enterprise because we weren’t afraid to think differently and to be able to have disruptive thoughts and to be able to challenge ourselves to become better.”
Shull shared that many of the tactical lessons learned from addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges over the years had broader implications for strategic lessons for The Exchange, which it is applying.
Caplice called the COVID-19 pandemic a pivot point for the advancement of technology. Companies he spoke to had advanced their digitalization by three to five years what otherwise would have occurred. “[The pandemic’s] a forcing mechanism to change behavior to meet the promise of technology, and that’s kind of the theme that I’m seeing over and over again,” said Caplice. “So, the first big behavioral change is the rapid advancement of digitalization, the acceptance of digitalization, and the idea of pushing paper out of the processes as much as possible. The second thing that I’ve seen—and this might not apply directly to the military because you’re kind of already there—is a tighter mission focus from companies.”
“When we talk about economics in geopolitics, overwhelmingly we talk about logistics. Because the question is not merely the production of things, but the delivery of things, the factory, the movement of those things to the consumer, to the battlefield, to wherever,” said Friedman, providing context for the importance of logistics to the warfighter. “So, we spend an awful lot of time looking at conflicts, for example, in terms of logistics. Wherever we’ve had wars, we’ve had logistics obviously, and logistics frequently determined the outcome of the war.”
Driving home the role of this connection in the future, Friedman added “We will have to find ways to insert our forces far more agilely and probably with far less humans and far more robotics and things. But to be able to shape the behavior of nations that are far away from us is still important, and that’s the key point that I want to make—which is that logistics is at the heart of everything we do militarily, economically, even politically, but it’s changing—it’s changing before our eyes. It makes it easier in many ways, but the transition will be extremely hard.”


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Reliance has entered into a ten-year partnership with Microsoft. Jio will offer Microsoft solutions to small and medium enterprises at just Rs 1,500 per month as a package, including connectivity. Reliance will also set up data centres that would run Microsoft’s Azure platform. As part of the 10-year alliance, Jio will build data centres across India that will be hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders at the company annual shareholders’ meeting on Monday.
For micro, small and medium businesses, a bundle of connectivity, productivity and automation tools is typically priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month, but Reliance and Microsoft would offer these applications along with connectivity for “one-tenth the cost starting at Rs 1,500 per month.
Ambani disrupted India’s telecoms industry in late 2016 when he launched Jio with free voice and cut-price data plans, pushing some rivals out of business and forcing others to match tariffs and consolidate in a crowded sector that once comprised more than 10 carriers.
Reliance’s foray into the cloud services market – essentially selling computer services such as website hosting & data storage – could intensify competition in an Indian market dominated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), say analysts.
Jio would provide free connectivity and cloud infrastructure to start-ups, Ambani said, adding the company would offer a “bundle of connectivity, productivity and automation tools” to micro, small and medium business for as little as 1,500 rupees ($21.05) a month
Rivals such as Amazon Web Services and Google offer similar services at multiple times that price, and technology analysts said Ambani’s move could spark a price war in the Indian cloud market, expected to grow at an average 23% annually over the next five years to touch $5.6 billion.


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February 07, 2016 - 14:23 GMT
Banking sector profitability will be hit by slowdowns in lending, limited earnings growth, and squeeze liquidity.
February 07, 2016 - 14:07 GMT
The on again, off again discussions between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia resume in Khartoum to debate the technical reports from two French firms.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports that the Middle East airlines carried the highest percentage of international travelers in 2015.
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A new Bank of America Merrill Lynch report suggests that OPEC will have to increase production considerably to keep up with lower outputs from non-cartel producers.
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With phone call rates among the highest in the world, Saudis and expats are rejoicing over the lifting of the ban on calls over the internet-based messenging service.
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The new bi-monthly shipping route is part of Iran's grand plan to build a south to north economic corridor from Oman through to Turkmenistan.
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The hybrid taxi fleet was beefed up last year after 147 hybrid taxis were added to the existing cars.
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The Kurdish government has sold approximately 19 million barrels since it began independent oil exports in June.
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The iconic British retailer has launched an online store and home delivery in the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait.
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Two new explosive detectors will be installed at checkpoints on the road to Cairo International Airport.
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A new study has found that the majority of the Kingdom's drinking water bottling plants do not comply with hygiene and environmental protection regulations.
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Barclays announced that it will close its Emaar Square offices in Downtown Dubai and cut jobs as part of a worldwide restructuring.