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Shares of British conglomerate AB Foods (ABF), owner of clothes retailer Primark, were trading flat in early London trading today after the company released its trading update.
The company owns brands such as Blue Dragon sauces, Twinings tea, and Ovaltine. Primark that accounts for the bulk of its revenues, is known for its low prices in the fashion and clothing segment. However, offline-only operations were a dampener for Primark last year amid intermittent lockdowns. When the lockdowns began in March last year, Primark said that its sales had fallen to almost zero and it only sold a few vouchers during the period.
ABF reports trading update
Today, ABF released its trading update for the sixteen-week period ending 2 January 2021. Total group sales fell 13% year over year to £4.8 billion over the period. In constant currency terms, the company’s revenues tumbled 12% year over year.
In the fiscal year that ended on 12 September 2020, ABF’s Group revenues had fallen 12% year over year to £13.93 billion. It’s adjusted before tax profit fell 31% year over year to £914 million while its adjusted earnings per share fell 40% over the period to 81.1p.
Breakdown of ABF Group’s performance
Looking at the segment breakdown, the total foods sales at ABF rose 7% year over year in the 16-week period ending 2 January. Within the Food category, Agriculture sales rose 10% to £507 million and saw the highest percentage increase in the Food category. Grocery, Sugar, and Ingredient sales respectively rose 7%, 6%, and 3% over the period.
Retail sales drag down performance
Retail sales at Primark, which accounted for over 42% of ABF Group’s total revenues over the period, fell 30% and dragged down the overall performance despite the all other segments reporting a year over year rise in revenues.
Commenting on the retail segment’s performance, ABF said: “The Retail performance was materially impacted by the increased restrictions on the movement of people and trading activity announced and put in place again by the UK and European governments, principally during November and late December, to limit the spread of COVID-19.” ABF estimates the revenue loss from the restrictions during the 16-week period at £520 million.
According to ABF, “Sales were strong in those stores open during the festive season, reflecting the excitement and broad appeal of the Primark offering.”
Primark’s sales slide
According to ABF, 305 of Primark stores are currently closed, accounting for more than three quarters of its total retail selling space. Notably, while almost all other retailers, including Tesco which also released its trading update today, are focusing on online operations, Primark is still focusing on the physical channel.
Recently, there were rumours of Primark launching an online store later in January. However, the company denied the rumours and said, “We don’t have any plans on opening an online shop.”
Meanwhile, ecommerce sales continue to soar globally and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated a shift. Amazon stock soared to a record high last year amid rising sales. British online retailer ASOS (ASC) reported total group revenues of £1.36 billion in the four-month period ending 31 December, which was 24% higher as compared to the corresponding period in 2019 in constant currency terms.
ABF Group sees uncertainty ahead
Pointing to the lockdowns in key markets, ABF said that “the uncertainty about store closure periods in the short term has increased.” It added, “Making the assumption that all of the stores currently closed remain closed until the financial half year, at 27 February 2021, the loss of sales caused by temporary store closures would reach some £1.05 billion.” The assumption is higher than the £650 million that it had announced last month.
Based on these assumptions, ABF Group expects Primark’s adjusted operating profits to reach break-even in the fiscal first half. In comparison, Primark had posted an adjusted operating profit of £441 million in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.
ABF Group on guidance and Brexit
Last year, ABF Group suspended its guidance which remains suspended. However, it said that it expects the operating profits of all of its segments barring Primark to be higher than the last fiscal year. As for Primark, it expects full-year sales as well as operating earnings to be lower than the last year.
While some of the other retailers have pointed to uncertainty from Brexit, ABF Group does not seem too perturbed. “As a result of the free trade agreement with the EU, together with the UK’s negotiation of trade continuity agreements with other countries, we expect to see little impact from changes in tariffs,” said the company in its release. It added, “At this early stage, we have seen no material disruption to our supply chains.”
ABF shares have sagged
ABF shares are down 15.3% over the past year. The stock’s underperformance is not limited to the last year alone and it has fallen 26.6% over the last five years which means a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of -6%.
The shares trade at an NTM (next-12 months) enterprise value to revenue multiple of 1.28x. Looking at the technicals, currently it is trading above both the 50-day SMA (simple moving average) and 200-day SMA. However, after the fall over the last week, ABF shares are now getting near the 50-day SMA that’s currently at 2,126p. The shares might find a strong support near the 50-day SMA. However, if it falls below the 50-day SMA, bears might fancy their chances.
ABF shares were trading almost flat at 2,200p at 11:15 am London time today.


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Coronavirus infections would dive if 80 percent of individuals wore masks, research claims z nation face mask woman
Infections would definitely dive if 80 percent of individuals using masks, research study claims– New York Rouses Factor–.
face mask degrees.
In the air, there are numerous fragments of dirt and also irritants that can cause major injury to the body. Although no one can manage this, they can take precautions to deal with the circumstance. PPE masks can remove greater than 95% of air fragments, vapors, and also odors. It likewise helps fix the trouble of the coronavirus scientifically. Individuals that have signs of the disease will usually cough and sneeze. A face mask to safeguard against infections will certainly protect against the release of breathing goes down into the air or spread to an additional person.
Online face mask sell shop.
Make certain to wear a mask when you remain in a congested place; You need to additionally maintain it while you are there. If you respect an ill enjoyed one, then you ought to likewise protect yourself with a mask. You need to additionally use one if you recognize that you are sick to stop the transmission of the infection to your liked ones.

domain: news


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Will menopausal women get the personalised care they need? Might fitness fans embrace recovery? Could the power of collective responsibility outlast the pandemic? In this part of the 2021 Expert Outlook, we speak to three experts about how individualised care can make people more resilient.
The pandemic has accelerated the number of people exercising from the comfort of their homes, but it is a trend which existed long before the crisis. It's not only about convenience. How is the personalisation and socialisation of fitness tech changing the workout space?
The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly reconfigured the world as we know it – and a mental health crisis could be waiting in its aftermath. Canvas8 spoke to Staci K. Haines, the author of The Politics of Trauma, to understand how the outbreak is set to challenge and change our emotional wellbeing.
The Instagram account @SickSadGirlz was launched with one aim: to give a voice to sick or sad women around the world, often telling the stories of those with invisible illnesses. It's an example of how social media has transformed the way individuals can connect and seek support.
The launch of Nike (M) marks a turning point in the visibility of active women who want to continue exercising while pregnant and during the postpartum period. Historically underserved, Nike is catering to women looking for activewear that suits and supports the needs of their changing body.


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No matter how different the various social media networks may seem, their product rollouts tend to follow a similar path.
As was the case with Facebook and Twitter before them, Snapchat has announced the inevitable ad partnerships with key players to significantly ramp up ad serving and opportunities on the popular mobile social network. What’s new? As we’ve pointed out before, Snapchat really needs to step up its analytics and advertising game to be a huge hit with brands.
Ads API: Most important is the release of an ads API, so buyers can more efficiently and programmatically run campaigns on the platform.
Quality Control: This, of course, will lead to an increase of ads any user sees. But, according to TechCrunch, Snapchat promises to review all ads before they run and manage ad load, so as to not overwhelm users.
Here Come the Agencies: It also announced two types of partners: creative and ads. The latter will be giving access to build tools that better serve advertisers, the former will be highlighted as good partners for brands who want to dip their toes in the Snapchat water. Vayner Media, whose founder Gary Vaynerchuk has been one of the brand’s biggest zealots, is the only agency featured in both.
Data Abounds: Partnership with MOAT and others will give advertisers better ideas of what is working and what is not.


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Every Sunday we will be recapping what happened this week in the world of social media, keeping you up to date!
Airbnb Introduce Travel Stories
Airbnb is the latest company to adopt the Stories feature. According to the accommodation provider’s website, Travel Stories will be “made up of short video sequences, which are accompanied by a caption and a location.” The feature can be accessed via the profile view under the “Travel Stories” option.
The company are encouraging users to focus on the destination (rather than selfies) when capturing images to show other travellers the places they are visiting. Features of the tool include: Adding a video from your camera roll (max 10 seconds), tagging a location and previewing your story before you publish it.
It is currently only available on iPhone, which means Android users may have to wait a little longer to try out the feature!
Image source: Airbnb
Instagram Is Launching A Mute Function
As we mentioned earlier this week, Instagram are releasing a set of new features designed to improve the user experience.
Ever wanted to unfollow someone but don’t want them to notice? Well, now you can with Instagram’s newest feature. The platform is adding a ‘Mute’ option, giving users the chance to remove another user’s post or story from their news feed, without having to actually unfollow them. The muted user will not be informed that they have been muted.
The feature is reportedly rolling out in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled.
GDPR Has Come Into Effect
You’ve probably noticed that your email inbox has been a little fuller than usual. With the new European data protection rules now in full effect since Friday, companies and brands everywhere have been emailing their customers informing them of the changes and asking them to give consent to be kept on their mailing lists.
Although, this may be good news to those want to have clear-out their inboxes, many companies are concerned that the new regulations will affect how they reach existing customers in the future.
Unsure what GDPR is and how it affects you? Find out the details here.
Facebook’s New Strategy To Combat Fake News
Facebook have posted a number of announcements on their blog about their fight against fake news. The platform has released a short film called “Facing Facts” which shows director, Morgan Neville, spending time with members of the Facebook News Feed team and how they are combating the spread of misinformation. The film has been published on Facebook’s Inside Feed.
Video source: Facebook YT
Alongside the film, Facebook is also running a News Literacy Campaign designed to share tips with users on spotting fake news and how they can go about reporting it.
Last month, Facebook announced a new initiative, aimed at exploring “the role of social media in elections”. The platform will work with independent researchers to effectively measure the volume and effects of misinformation on Facebook. In the next few weeks, there will be a request for research proposals, followed by a selection process of scholars who will receive the funding needed to carry out the research.
That’s all for this week.
Check back next Sunday for the latest from social media!


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Thirty-five percent of those not offering a plan said the fees are too expensive, and 23% said they don't know how to manage a 401(k).
The small business owners that do offer a 401(k) said they do so to build retirement savings for themselves and their employees, with just 5% saying they offer it to attract new employees and 6% saying they offer it for tax breaks.
In total, 28% are offering a plan and another 6% plan to add one soon, the Scorecard survey found.
"There needs to be more education for small business owners about the tax benefits and the long-term growth potential of investing in a 401(k) plan," said
The deadline for setting up a Safe Harbor 401(k), which offers small business owners a simplified way to manage a 401(k) plan, is
How do small business owners plan to save for retirement? Find out on the SurePayroll Blog.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-surepayroll-small-business-scorecard-most-still-struggle-to-offer-see-value-in-401ks-300323398.html


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© Submitted graphic
Prince Edward Island Beer Festival will be held Sept. 6-7, 2013.
The Prince Edward Island Beer Festival will take place Sept. 6 - 7.
This revamped event, part of the Fall Flavours Festival, will be focussed on educating visitors and Islanders alike on the art and craft of brewing and tasting beer. The festival will feature over 75 beers, VIP packages, food pairings and late-night entertainment on the Charlottetown waterfront. Tickets are now on sale at www.peibeerfest2013.com, www.boxofficepei.com or at 1-877-569-7767.
The festival kicks off with a tasting session on Friday from 6 - 9 p.m. and will feature two tasting sessions on Saturday. Guests attending the evening tasting sessions will also receive free admission to the late night entertainment, taking place at the Charlottetown Event Grounds. The entertainment lineup will be announced at a later date.
The event is produced by the Prince Edward Island Brewing Company, which will host special programming from 4- 6 p.m. before each evening's tastings sessions for VIP ticket holders. The programming includes a behind-the-scenes tour of the brewery, guided by the company's brewers who will be on hand to answer all of your beer and brewery questions. There will be complimentary food and beer-pairing treats inspired by the Island brews and a merchandise gift pack to take home. Transportation on the P.E.I. Brewing Company shuttle will be provided to the event grounds just in time for the start of the 6 p.m. tasting session.
Jeff Squires, president of the P.E.I. Brewing Company and the P.E.I. Beer Festival says he is thrilled that this festival is coming together.
"Craft beer is becoming a culture to many people and we feel, as a brewery, that we need to expand people's beer knowledge through fun and engaging activities," Squires said. "Similar festivals across the country are becoming events that shouldn't be missed and we are trying to make P.E.I. a destination for beer lovers. Being a part of the Fall Flavours Festival shows that people are starting to understand the craft of brewing and how, much like food preparation, there is so much to be learned and enjoyed."
Breweries confirmed to date include Amsterdam Brewery, Carlsberg Brewery, Garrison Brewing Company, Labatt?s, McAuslan Brewery, McClelland Premium Imports, Mill Street Brewing Company, Molson Coors,
Moosehead Brewery, The P.E.I. Brewing Company and Sleeman's Breweries.
The festival will also feature a Designated Driver Zone, an area to hang out and enjoy Pepsi products while spending time at the festival without alcoholic beverages.
Ticket pricing breakdown:
6-9 p.m. Friday Tasting $40
9 p.m. - 1 a.m. Friday night entertainment only $20
2-5 p.m. Saturday Tasting 1 $30
6-9 p.m. Saturday Tasting 2 $40
9 p.m. - 1 a.m. Saturday Night entertainment only $20
4 p.m. - 1 a.m. Friday VIP $99
4 p.m. - 1 a.m. Saturday VIP $99


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Sainsbury's is to convert its Jacksons and Bells convenience stores to Sainsbury's Locals within a year in a bid to cut costs and boost sales.Lawrence Christensen, Sainsbury's head of convenience, said the shake-up would create a more...
Two big names at Sainsbury have announced their departure from the business this week.
Chief executive of the Sainsbury-owned Bells Stores Steven Bell has moved on to concentrate on other ventures.
Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s marketing director,...
Sainsbury has outlined plans to roll out the Bells and Jacksons names beyond their existing stores, coinciding with the shock announcement that Bells Stores chief executive Steven Bell has left the business.
As revealed previously in The...
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Overall food and drink exports from the UK were down 4.4% to £12.3bn
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There's not much new in the U.S. rice outlook other than another year of record imports, a mixed report on exports and continued uncertainty over production.
According to Nathan Childs, senior rice market analyst with USDA's Economic Research Service, speaking at the USA Rice Outlook Conference in Little Rock, the U.S. crop is up by 3 percent over last year, due to a 6.5 percent increase in area which was somewhat offset by a 3.5 percent reduction in yield. Long grain rice accounts for all of the increase in production. Average yields are down from last year, but are still the second highest on record at 6,959 pounds per acre.
Export bans in key countries were a huge factor for higher U.S. acres in 2008, according to Childs. “From November, 2007 to April and May, 2008, prices spiked to the highest on record in international and U.S. markets. Going into 2008-09, we had an expansion in area driven by very strong prices. At that time, there were export restrictions by both India and Vietnam.”
On the downside, U.S. yields dropped by an average of over 200 pounds per acre this year, “due to late planting in the Delta where the bulk of the U.S. crop was grown. Then two September Gulf Coast hurricanes hit the crop. The Gulf Coast crop was harvested pretty much before the hurricanes hit, but much of the Delta crop lodged, with excessive rain and wind. It was also a very delayed crop.”
California yields “were not as high as our crop condition model was indicating. They had some delayed plantings and there were possibilities of smoke damage from fires.”
So far, the yield declines as reported by USDA “have not been very severe. We'll get another estimate in January.”
Domestic and residual use for rice for 2008-09 is the highest on record, up about 2 percent from a year ago. This indicates some per capita increase, according to Childs.
Childs sees U.S. exports for 2008-09 dropping 1 percent. “We see weaker sales to the Middle East for both medium and long grain rice. We project larger sales to the Pacific Islands, and we still see strong rice sales to Mexico and Central America.”
A bright spot for the U.S. export picture has been South America. “Traditionally, they have not imported much U.S. rice at all. But Venezuela has already purchased well over 100,000 tons and Colombia would like to purchase at least 70,000 tons.”
Childs expects medium-grain exporter Egypt to terminate its ban on exports - which it imposed in March 2008 - sometime this spring. “Egypt's exports dropped by two-thirds in 2008. We now see them coming back. We also expect India's export ban to terminate, and India will reenter the market sometime in the first half of 2009.”
The increase in rice imports is mostly driven by Thai Jasmine and Basmati rice, with Jasmine comprising about 70 percent of the total, according to Childs. “That market grows almost every year to a new record. And it grows faster than the domestic market, which means that the imports are taking up a larger share of the domestic market.
Childs says population growth will drive consumption of U.S. rice higher, “but we think there may be an income effect this year. That's something we've never dealt with before. In other words, people may shift from buying expensive foods to rice. Even at higher prices, it's a very low cost food and stores for a long period of time. So we may get a boost from a slowing economic situation.”
The season average farm price for rice is projected to be the highest on record at about $15 per hundredweight, Childs noted. “The previous record was in 1973-74, when it was projected at $13.80. It's very rare when you get over $10 for a season average price.”
Rough rice prices did not follow the same pattern as milled rice, according to Childs. Milled rice price started picking up rapidly in November at below $7 per hundredweight, and by late April, they were the highest on record. They actually doubled. Rough rice prices did not rise as rapidly. They continued to rise all summer while milled rice prices declined.”
Childs says the spike in prices in 2008 was heavily driven by artificial shortages driven by export bans. “There was enough rice in the market and the amount would not have justified $1,000 per ton rice.”
Childs expects medium grain prices to remain high. “Australia is virtually out of the market. The California crop is smaller and Egypt still has a ban. We can also question size of the 2009 crop in California concerning water availability.”
U.S. ending stocks are expected to drop 14 percent which portends a stocks-to-use ratio of under 11 percent, “which is very powerful for price. Stocks have now come down for three consecutive years. Ending stocks for medium-short grain rice is expected to drop 30 percent, and create the lowest ending stocks in over 25 years.”
For 2009-10, Childs expects a modest area expansion, higher yields, a smaller carryin and another year of record imports. “We see a buildup in stocks and a continued decline in U.S. and global prices.”


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COVID-stymied retail real estate association ICSC got back into the show business in Las Vegas last December with an event that was a success though attendance ebbed at just 10,000. But this week’s show, back in its usual late May dates, is brimming with a closer-to-normal crowd.
“It’s as good as it’s ever been. There are a lot more retailers here this year than we’ve seen in a while,” said CBRE’s senior managing director of retail advisory services Bill Wright in his company’s expansive booth, packed with more than a hundred people. “We’re getting a sense of greater excitement across the industry.”
ICSC reported that attendance was in excess of 22,000—not as high as the heyday totals of 35,000 to 40,000, though few exhibitors seemed to mind.
Similar to Wright, Joe Cosenza, president of Inland Real Estate, which made more than $3 billion in acquisitions in 2021, also felt the rumblings of greater activity in retail real estate.
“There are so many companies filling up new retail space. Athleta, TJX, Crumbl Cookies…we’re seeing Ulta Beauty looking for 6,000-sq.-ft. spaces, which is something we’ve never seen,” Cosenza said.
JLL chief economist Ryan Severino said retail revenue was stimulated by federal stimulus payments to Americans and, while he foresees unpredictable challenges ahead posed by supply-chain issues and Russia’s Ukraine offensive, he believed the U.S. economy would return to normal in time.
“There’s a good chance that, within 12 to 18 months, inflation will spike and then fall way back down. That’s what happened in the Great Recession and it’s likely what will happen now,” Severino said.
Fred Meno, president and CEO of asset services at The Woodmont Company noted that a lot of ifs had to be resolved before the economy settled down.
“I see a potential problem facing us in respect to rising credit card debt,” Meno said. “If there’s a big drop in disposable income, retail is always the first to take the hit.”


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He’s now revised that view, but not positively. Last week, Perlstein joined the list of publicly-listed retailers to be burned by the market following full year results, with investors clearly unimpressed over declining comparable sales at staple brands Katies, Millers, Autograph and Crossroads, as well as a cooling off acquisition prospects from Qatar-based firm Al Alifa Group.
Perlstein calls the state-of-play the “new world order” of Australian retail, a reality where traders are stuck between the rock of discounting, and the hard place of protecting margin, often at the expense of sales volume.
There are a few other characteristics dominating this new state of play, which appears to have embroiled the majority of Australia’s small-cap retailers, from a worsening consumer backdrop to ever-deepening investment in omnichannel as a path back to black for struggling businesses.
Perlstein, who has booked a two per cent decline in group comparable sales, believes SFG’s portfolio of mature brands, which account for the majority of the Group’s business, can be righted on the same base principles that saw Rivers return to black in FY17 – but he’s facing an uphill battle.
The first weeks of FY18 trading leading into the crucial November-December trading period have been less than encouraging for the first-half prospects of many Aussie fashion players.
Billabong International’s CEO Neil Fiske sought to manage expectations about what the Element, Von Zipper and Billabong brand owner could achieve Down Under in FY18, telling Inside Retail that he’s hunkering down to “ride out the storm”, after local sales declined five per cent in FY17.
RCG chief Hilton Brett is slightly more upbeat, telling IRW that the footwear specialist is “better placed than most”, to deal with the Australian market in the coming year, including Amazon’s initial impact.
RCG booked a 2.6 per cent decline in net profit for the year ended 30 June on impairments associated with Hype DC, with a sales slide from own brands and stagnation at The Athlete’s Foot crimping a positive result from Skechers and Platypus.
Brett says that August trading had been aggressive: “[Competitors] have certainly done some quite aggressive discounting over the last week in some of our [categories]…ultimately competitors have to make a decision about whether they’re going to run their business for the long-term benefits of shareholders or short-term.”
The common thread is that while some of the largest retail brands in Australia all recognise the unsustainability of discounting, it continues, and if the testimony of the aforementioned leaders is to be believed, it has worsened after what was considered to be an unprecedented June clearance period.
Should the trend continue, then the upcoming Christmas trading period will place another layer of pressure on already strained businesses, putting first-half trading – the heart of full-year earnings growth in the fashion segment – in jeopardy.
There are thus, perhaps unsurprisingly, lingering questions about whether surfwear specialist Surfstitch will be the only high-profile apparel wipe-out of FY18, with some calling for a proactive approach to brand management.
Shaun Weick, a small cap equity analyst for Macquarie, believes Super Retail Group’s recent decision to merge Amart Sports into Rebel to generate a market offer is indicative of what’s to come.
“Brand consolidation is definitely a factor they were likely to see going forward, particularly as Amazon and the online retail environment in general continues to evolve,” he says.
Perennial value’s director of small cap stocks, Grant Oshry, reckons the brand turnaround story often touted by retail CEOs needs to start materialising, arguing that the likes of SFG should consider cutting the fat.
“If you asked me today what I think the future is for SFG, Rivers [and City Chic] will be around, but Autograph and Crossroads? Not so sure,” he said.
“If you had to bundle the mature brands together, Millers probably has the best lease on life and opportunity… If they try and do all four at the same time, that’s a failed approach. They need to focus their efforts.”
Queensland of University of Technology associate professor Gary Mortimer believes mid-sized private brands such as Roger David are at most risk of succumbing to the current promotional environment, particularly as Retail Apparel Group looks set to reposition itself after being acquired by South African retail giant The Foschini Group, which is also looking to bring its stable of brands Down Under.
Omnichannel moves from buzz to capx
In response to mounting competitive pressures, the likes of SFG, Billabong and RCG all plan to spend FY18 pouring resources into omnichannel initiatives designed to future proof their businesses against Amazon and better generate returns in the new low margin environment.
RCG will launch endless aisles, click-and-collect and click-and-dispatch (which will involve three-hour store fulfilled delivery) through its 430-store network in FY18, part of a medium-term strategy to move online from five per cent of total sales to 15.
SFG has hit double digits, booking online sales at 10.4 per cent of total transactions, with a roll-out of click and collect during FY17 underpinning Perlstein’s ambition to make that figure as high as 20-30 per cent.
Online represents only 1.5 per cent of Billabong International’s total Australian sales currently, but that figure is set to soar in FY18, with omnichannel investment set to ramp up after a $11.7 million impairment on its omnichannel strategy in July.
An additional $10-20 million is set to be invested over the next two years globally, with an aspirational target of 10-15 per cent of total Australian sales coming through digitally.
Euromonitor’s senior industry analyst Bettina Kurnik says the step-up in investment is “encouraging” for established brands, saying that customers will likely remember the enhanced offer after the hype around Amazon dies down.
“Retailers have realised that it’s not a case of upping their game when Amazon arrives. It’s about investing now so that they are absolutely front of mind when it gets here,” she says. “When the hype around Amazon subsides somewhat, [customers are] going to remember those brands.”
Lifting the proportion of online sales will be helped along by store consolidation, as established apparel players begin to “put the foot down” with landlords.
SFG will close more than 45 stores in FY18 across all of its brands, depending on whether landlords will ease on rental terms, with Perlstein already signalling that the group will end the year with less than 1,000 stores.
Fiske will close 10-15 of Billabong International’s Australian locations, while RCG is restricting its portfolio expansion to a few select brands in its portfolio.
Walker says the move is evidence that the canary has well and truly flown from the shopping centre, and that vacancy rates, currently sitting between 95-99 per cent across Vicinity, Scentre, Stockland and GPT centres, will start to increase.
But Colliers International’s director of research Daniel Lees says there are plenty of traders in the wings ready to pick up the slack.
“Despite some of retailers announcing store closures, there’s a good chance that retail landlords will be able to maintain high levels of occupancy given the level of outstanding tenant demand,” he said.
Colliers’ research indicates that there’s currently around one million square metres of unmet retail tenant demand in Australia, primarily targeting super prime regional assets on the eastern seaboard.
The key question mark hanging over Australia’s established players is how well individual players will be able to handle the transition to smaller, leaner and increasingly digital-facing consumer offers? In that sense, FY18 will be a pivotal year for many.


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TOKYO -- Toyota on Tuesday said it has suspended operations at all of its assembly plants in Japan due to a production system malfunction, bringing domestic output to a standstill at the world's biggest-selling automaker.
The glitch is preventing Toyota from ordering components and its cause is under investigation, though it is "likely not due to a cyberattack," a spokesperson said.
Toyota suspended 12 plants in its home market from Tuesday morning and added the final two from the afternoon, the spokesperson said. It was unclear how much output would be lost.
The plants together account for about a third of the automaker's global production, Reuters calculations showed.
Toyota's domestic production had been on the rebound after a series of output cuts it blamed on semiconductor shortages. Output was up 29 percent in January-June, the first such increase in two years.
Its Japan output averaged about 13,500 vehicles daily in the first half, Reuters calculations showed. That excludes vehicles from group automakers Daihatsu and Hino.
Operations were halted for a day last year when a supplier suffered a cyberattack, hampering Toyota's ability to order parts. Toyota resumed operations using a back-up network.
Analysts said Toyota could be tested in making up for output lost during the outage, such as by running extra shifts.
"Output was running at full capacity so there is little additional room for production," said Seiji Sugiura, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.
Toyota was likely able to restart its Miyata plant in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka from 08:00 CET on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The spokesperson said it remained unclear when production at the factory would be restarted.
Tuesday's incident is having a knock-on effect. Group firm Toyota Industries said it has partially suspended operations at two engine plants due to the automaker's glitch.
Toyota is a pioneer of just-in-time inventory management, which keeps down costs but means supply chain snarls put production at risk.
While the cause of the latest malfunction was unclear, corporate Japan has been on alert in recent days as businesses and government offices reported harassing phone calls.
The government said the calls were likely from China and related to Japan's release of treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.


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Apple's big announcement this week is that it struck a deal with the Beatles to offer all 13 albums in digital form via iTunes, but Apple wasn't the only online groupie in the mix. According to reports. both Amazon and Google also tried to strike licensing deals for The Beatles music.
Refusing to get with the times, The Beatles for many years downright refused to let their music be offered in digital form, prompting music lovers to take matters into their own hands and illegally distribute their songs ripped from CDs. Terms of Apple's deal with EMI were not disclosed, but has to wonder if The Beatles catalog will shuffle over to other digital download services as well.
Apple's big announcement today is that...the Beatles are now on iTunes. Well that's a big deal for iTunes, we can't help but feel this should have been announced a long, long time ago. But hey, it's finally here, a13 of the group's remastered studio albums at $12.99 a pop, or double albums for $19.99 (individual songs run $1.29).
"We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago."
For $149, you can snag the special digital "Beatles Box Set" with all 13 albums with itunes LPs and all mini-documentaries. That's great and all, but $130, Amazon sells The Beatles Stereo Box Set, which would look a lot cooler under the Christmas tree than an iTunes card, no?
"Apple is promising a $10,000 gift card to the person who makes the ten billionth iTunes download.
'It’s our way of saying thanks,' says the company, sweetly. You're very welcome, I'm sure.
The competition is open to anyone over the age of 13 who lives in a country with an iTunes store and can think of that much music that they want. There's a limit of 25 entries per person per " source
"World-famous record label Warner Music has announced today plans to stop providing content for free music streaming services such as Spotify and Last.fm. Speaking to BBC News, Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said that "free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed."
Instead, Warner has expressed interest in a subscription-based model. Similar to Spotify's premium service, the model would allow consumers to pay a monthly fee in order to get access to the streaming catalogue. Claiming that there are more potential subscribers than people buying music on iTunes, Bronfman believes that subscriptions could be taken up by "hundreds of millions, if not billions of people."
Spotify has rejected claims that Warner Music may stop providing content for its free music streaming service. According to a post on Spotify's official twitter account Warner Music is not pulling out of Spotify and the company claims it's the media "taking things out of context". " source
"We're receiving word from multiple early-bird readers indicating that they've received the 4.2 update on their Zunes and that, now that they're out of that nasty maintenance window, all is right with the world. That said, our tipsters are not spotting any major differences, and neither are we, certainly nothing as exciting as 4.3 brought to the Zune HD." source
"Everyone remembers that story about how a bunch of people were suing Apple for potential iPod-induced hearing loss, even though they hadn't lost any hearing. It got shot down last year, appealed, and today, killed for good. CRANK IT." source
"Earlier today we covered rumors that Apple was in talks to acquire streaming music service Lala. Now New York Times tech reporter Brad Stone has tweeted that it’s a done deal. He writes, “Apple has acquired digital music startup Lala. Now updating our story”.
This could be bad news for Lala users. It’s unlikely that the innovative deals negotiated by Lala will survive through the acquisition. For over a year, Lala users have been purchasing the rights to stream their music an unlimited number of times for ten cents per song. If the deals with the music labels go up in smoke, Lala may lose the right to stream those songs. In other words, all the money users have been spending on web songs may go down the drain. If the deals are nullified, hopefully Apple will renegotiate them to at least cover existing purchases until it releases its own streaming music service. We’ve reached out to Lala but have yet to hear back.
Likewise, this may well affect the Lala music gifts that have been recently offered by Facebook, and it could also harm the Music OneBox service Google recently launched (though Google can still rely on MySpace/iLike for its song streams)." Source
"On August 1, 1981, a cultural and entertainment juggernaut flickered onto TV screens and rocketed out of obscurity with these six words: "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."
With that, the iconic cable network, MTV, was launched and a popular entertainment category--music videos--was born. Now, 28 years later, MTV has largely abandoned the genre and the record industry is preparing for the debut of a possible successor.
On Tuesday, video start-up Vevo is scheduled to launch. Supported by three of the top four largest record companies (sources say EMI has agreed to provide content to the site) and backed by the technological muscle of YouTube, Vevo is a Web site that will feature videos from many of the world's biggest recording stars, including U2, Cold Play, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Avril Lavigne, Bruce Springsteen, and Pearl Jam, according to the site's backers" Source
"Research conducted by London-based Global Web Index, a collaboration between online market research agency Lightspeed Research and Trendstream, suggests that streaming might in fact be the right antidote against content piracy.
The findings are in line with other researchand conclusions reached earlier this year by The Leading Question, MusicAlly’s consumer research division, which suggested that the number of teenagers who download copyrighted content from illegal sources has fallen dramatically over the past few years in favor of streaming." source


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It’s an eye-opening figure: By 2025 it’s estimated that there will be 1.1 billion post-menopausal women in the world. While everyone with a menstrual cycle will eventually experience “the change” in their lifetime, it’s still somewhat of a taboo subject. However, the current generation of women who are experiencing the often-uncomfortable symptoms of this very natural process happen to be Generation X, an age group that has been known to bring modern issues to the forefront. “Suffering in silence may have been the old motto for menopausal women,” explain Sally Mueller co-founder of the wellness brand Womaness. “However, today, as with many topics formerly considered not suitable for polite company, menopause is no longer considered a stigma, curse or, even worse, the end of a woman’s life.”
“Menopause is being recontextualized, and it’s the women of Generation X leading its rewriting, powered with a new sense of agency to define for themselves what menopause is or can be,” says sexual wellness brand Vella Bioscience cofounder Carolyn Wheeler. “As part of that, we are witnessing a shift to a more expansive understanding that positions it as an experience in a woman’s life that is no longer too sacred to talk about.” Here, experts and wellness brand founders share the ways women today have helped to change the narrative surrounding this unavoidable stage.
Pause Well Aging founder Rochelle Weitzner had her first hot flash in 2017 at 48 years old, and that’s when she learned that the menopause space for Gen X didn’t exist. “I started looking for products for ‘women my age’ but everything seemed rooted in the 1950s, either suggesting beauty ended at 40 or offering little to no information to assure me that what I was experiencing was normal or prepare me for what other changes I might encounter during this life stage. Because I had deep expertise in skin care already, that’s where I started.” Weitzner went on to develop effective solutions that met the unique needs of someone experiencing these sometimes-confusing changes. “I knew I needed to help women like myself find information and products that would empower them to age on their terms, not simply follow how society tells us to age.”
“What’s happening now is that we have women who, frankly, came into being after the women’s liberation movement who are now arriving at this major life event and actually asking the question: why did no one tell me? Isn’t there a better way,” says Catherine Balsam-Schwaber, CEO of Kindra, a menopause care brand that has products for better sleep, hot flashes and vaginal dryness. “We’re here to help her find it, so she doesn’t have to go it alone.”
Hormonal Skin Care
More and more women are also recognizing that as their skin changes during this time, so should their products, prompting more menopause-related brands like Womaness, Pause Well-Aging, Kindra, SweetSpot Labs and Stripes, a new line founded by actress Naomi Watts. “The hope is to build thick, healthy skin and hair before menopause and then maintain what you have from menopause and beyond,” notes Seattle dermatologist Heather D. Rogers, MD.
When natural Greek skin care brand Korres put their focus on developing a line of menopausal skin solutions, their research and development team found that we experience a rapid decline during those menopausal years, much faster than they’d previously realized. “Doing our bibliographic research on menopausal skin we were shocked by the drastic changes that happen,” says co-founder Lena Korres. “In just five years-time, the structural changes in our skin are bigger than in the past 30 years. We see a 30 percent reduction in collagen, 36 percent reduction of cell reproductivity and a 30 percent reduction in the skin’s natural moisturizing function.” It’s as if our skin is in triage during those years and thankfully, the latest menopause solutions can help bring it back to a healthier place. “It was obvious to us that we need to approach menopausal skin care in an innovative and extremely targeted approach,” adds Korres.
“Cosmeceuticals and the aging process was being heavily addressed from an understanding based on the loss of collagen and UV damage,” notes Newport Beach, CA dermatologist Zenovia Gabriel, MD, who developed her Dr. Zenovia skin care line to address hormononal skin. “Various known agents like retinols, peptides, or alpha hydroxy acids were tried and true; but we were missing the hormonal impact and hormonal products on the skin. That is why I began studying hormonal dermatology and created a line that addressed this issue.”
Weitzner also believes that Gen Xers being the first generation to be raised with internet access has helped expand the conversation. “Technology has really changed the in a variety of ways,” she explains. “Gen X women have a lot more access to information and the ability to connect with more women like themselves through platforms like Facebook Groups than previous generations. So even though menopause is still shrouded in a bit of mystery and remains taboo in broader society, Gen X women are finding each other, sharing their experiences in a way that normalizes them, and getting smarter about products and solutions that can help improve their journeys.”
In the past, women mostly accepted what doctors told them, which wasn’t always accurate, says Weymouth, MA OBGYN Julianna Arena, MD. She says there are more women today seeking answers beyond the conventional medical model to find solutions. “Patients now are more discerning” she explains. “I would like to think we are more educated about the physical, mental, and emotional changes that are happening. While we’ve come a long way, we still need more provider education on the latest advances in health and hormone balancing. Providers need to move away from the mentality of ‘what are your symptoms? Here is your diagnosis and a pill.'”
“The medical industry also has to dedicate more resource and training towards understanding this life stage and providing many more solutions than what we have now that include natural, holistic options,” adds Weitzner.
With a new attitude toward “the change,” comes new solutions for sexual wellness, too. New modalities for female pelvic health and increased sexual wellness, like Cliovana, Emsella, and nonsurgical vaginal laser treatments have helped eliminate some of the more often symptoms of the change. While previous generations did not have access to solutions like this, Korres says it’s “very Gen X” to try innovative means to remain youthful for longer. “I think what best describes this generation’s psychology is that they want to be unstoppable in the sense that they want to keep doing the things they were always doing. Going out, having fun, exercising, traveling, being active, flirting.”
“Gen X women are the coolest, smartest, most interesting women we know—women who proudly own their age and stage in life,” shares Womaness cofounder Michelle Jacobs. “Kudos to these women for no longer speaking of menopause in hushed tones. The more they speak up, ask questions, talk to their friends, spouses, and children about the changes they’re experiencing, the more they help destigmatize the conversation about menopause.”


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106
OCTOBER 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLACK MARKET TRAVEL AGENTS
TWO MEN PLEAD GUILTY TO MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD
CONSPIRATORS USED STOLEN IDENTITIES, CREDIT CARDS
TO PURCHASE AIRLINE TICKETS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that two defendants pleaded guilty today, in separate but related cases, to their roles in a conspiracy among black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme to purchase airline tickets for their customers.
Ricardo Clay, 30, and Romeyo Calavarey, also known as “Malawtic Surreal,” 25, both of Atlanta, Ga., pleaded guilty in separate appearances before Chief U.S. District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr.
Clay admitted that, between March 22, 2009, and March 16, 2010, he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the domestic airline industry as well as financial institutions that issued credit and debit cards. Clay operated a black market travel agency that sold airline tickets, at a steep discount, that had been purchased with stolen credit and debit card numbers. Clay purchased the stolen information, which involved more than 250 identity theft victims, from co-conspirators in Bangladesh and elsewhere.
Clay’s use of stolen credit and debit card numbers to purchase airline tickets resulted in a loss of between $1 million and $2.5 million.
Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, the government and Clay agree to request the maximum statutory sentence of five years in federal prison without parole.
Calavarey admitted that he participated in a separate conspiracy from Sept. 3, 2008, to May 12, 2009. Calavarey also purchased stolen credit and debit card and identity information from sources in Bangladesh.
Calavarey sold the stolen credit and debit card information to several black market travel agents, including co-defendant Sean Fleming, also known as”David Bravo” or “Pucci,” 29, of Hialeah, Fla. Calavarey also introduced Clay, Fleming and others to the Bangladesh sources, so they could purchase stolen credit anddebit card information directly.
Calavarey, who obtained stolen credit/debit card information from cardholders in dozens of states, also received at least one flight paid for with stolen credit/debit card information. Calavarey obtained an airline reservation to travel from New York, N.Y., to Atlanta. One of Calavarey’s black market travel agent customers threw him a party at Dave & Busters located in Times Square in New York, which was paid for with stolen credit and debit card information.
The total loss amount from Calavarey’s criminal activity exceeds $400,000.
Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Calavarey agrees not to seek a sentence of less than three years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is five years in federal prison without parole.
Fleming, along with co-defendants Kareem Nelson, 31, of Atlanta, and Alexander Lewis, also known as “Mike Gotti,” 25, of McDonough, Ga., already have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy.
Fleming participated in the conspiracy as a black market travel agent who booked hundreds of fraudulent airline reservations and compromised more than 1,000 credit and debit cards, causing more than $1 million in losses to his victims.
Nelson’s primary role in the conspiracy was to obtain fraudulently purchased airline tickets for both himself and his customers from Fleming and others, whom Nelson knew had used stolen credit and debit card information.
Lewis worked at two hotels in the Atlanta area, and abused his position at the hotels to obtain credit and debit card information that he sold to Fleming and others. Lewis admitted that he stole 20 to 25 sets of credit and debit cards from one hotel, and one set of credit/debit cards from the other hotel.
Sentencing hearings will be scheduled after the completion of presentence investigations by the United States Probation Office.
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John E. Cowles and Matt Hiller. They were investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Overland Park, Kan., Police Department, and the Kansas City Secret Service Task Force, and with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at


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Tobacco company Philip Morris is closing its Dutch factory in Bergen op Zoom with the loss of 1,230 jobs.
The closure will take effect on October 1. Some 140 jobs will remain for marketing and sales. The company has been a major employer in the southern town since 1980 and unions said the closure is a bitter blow.
The Dutch factory produces some 75 billion Marlboro, L&M and Chesterfield cigarettes a year. Most are destined for export.
According to the Financieele Dagblad, most of the production is being shifted to Greece and Portugual and no reason has been given for the closure.
In 2012, the last year for which figures are available, the factory booked sales of €511m and net profit of €145m, an increase of 21% on 2011, the Volkskrant reports.
British American Tobacco closed its Dutch plant in Zevenaar in 2006 with the loss of 570 jobs.
On Wednesday Philip Morris said it was closing its Australian plant and switching production to South Korea. The company said it had been unable to increase exports to make up for the fall in domestic demand. Australia introduced plain packaging for cigarettes in 2012.
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Electronics and IT companies made a strong showing in the Wall Street Journal's third annual list of top venture capital-backed companies, published in September. By dominating the top of the list and taking 28 of the 50 spots, electronics and IT beat out other categories that had gained prominence in recent years, including Internet and healthcare.
The list was compiled by the research firm VentureSource. To qualify, a company had to be based in the United States, receive an equity round of financing in the past three years, and be valued at less than $1 billion. Key criteria in the judging were fundraising success, recent growth in value, and the track record of founders and board members.
Four of the top five companies were wireless networking or chip companies.
- Genband Inc. (ranked No. 1): Genband supplies voice over IP infrastructure and applications to telecommunications companies such as Sprint Nextel and Comcast. The company is neither new (founded in 1999) nor small (1,700 employees). It has grown primarily by acquisitions. Genband was the top fundraiser on the list, having raised more than $500 million from venture capitalists.
- Xirrus Inc. (ranked No. 2): This is the second year Xirrus came in second on the WSJ list. The company provides high-performance wireless networks based on a distributed architecture that uses an array of access points incorporating radios, antennas, and integrated controllers. Its network has higher capacity and better coverage than typical wireless LANs, according to the company, which has raised $100 million in VC funds. The WSJ cites the background of Dirk Gates, the founder of Xirrus. He founded the wireless networking company Xircom, took it public, and sold it to Intel Corp. in 2001.
- Tabula Inc. (ranked No. 3): This fabless semiconductor company is developing three-dimensional programmable logic devices (PLDs) for logic, memory, and signal processing. It says its ABAX devices are cost effective enough to use from design through volume production. Other PLDs often require the design to switch to semi-custom chips once a product reaches a certain volume. Tabula has raised $215 million in funding. The WSJ cites the experience of founder Steve Teig, the former CTO of Cadence Design and the founder of four other technology companies. The executive team includes many former Xilinx employees, including Dennis Segers, who serves as Tabula's CEO.
- SpiderCloud Wireless (ranked No. 5): SpiderCloud Wireless has designed a small-cell managed services platform that improves cellular and WiFi coverage for businesses whose employees are increasingly bringing their own smartphones and tablets to work. It has raised $106 million in funding.
Other companies on the list include Aerohive Networks Inc. (enterprise wireless networking technology), Quantenna Communications Inc. (chipsets for 802.11n WiFi), and Neoconix (new interconnect technology for printed-circuit boards).


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Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Smith Micro Hit By Customer Pullback
Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software, which develops software for the wireless industry, said late Tuesday evening that it is suspending its 2011 annual revenue guidance, and will withdraw from a investment conference this week, after it says orders from a "key customer" will fall below expected levels. The firm said it believes that customer has "sufficient inventory" to support sales of its mobile broadband services for the first quarter. The firm said it now expects first quarter 2011 revenues to be in the range of $15 to $20M, down from earlier estimates.


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2006 was a rough year for French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi released its fourth-quarter financial results this week, and the effects of some of these issues showed. Sales were up just 5%, to $9.7 billion, and gross margins fell 120 basis points to 76.5%. Earnings were down 4.6% to $1.8 billion.
Fools love to follow the cash flow, and Sanofi did successfully bump up its operating cash flow for the year. But 2007 promises to be a rough year, as Sanofi deals with the possibility of generic competition against several of its top five drug franchises. Altogether, these drugs account for nearly a third of Sanofi's total sales.
Despite a poor fourth quarter due to the temporary launch of a generic version of the anticoagulant drug Plavix, Sanofi did grow earnings 7% for the year and brought in adjusted earnings per share of $6.10 (using an exchange rate of $1.25 per euro).
The guidance for 2007 is of earnings growth "on the same order of magnitude" as last year. Investors should note the big caveat attached to this guidance, which is that Sanofi is discounting the very real possibility that it may be facing generic competition this year on its two top drugs, Plavix and Lovenox, depending on the outcome of several patent infringement lawsuits and regulatory decisions.
Shares of Sanofi are cheap based on last year's earnings numbers and fat 5% forward dividend yield. With all the risks it is facing in the courts over Plavix and Lovenox, though, Sanofi's valuation won't look so cheap going forward if generic competition pops up against any of these drugs.
You can check out any of the Fool's newsletters with a 30-day free trial.


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Contact: Amy Hasenberg, (608) 266-2839
MADISON — Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, is investing $10 billion and creating 13,000 good-paying, family-supporting jobs in Wisconsin. This is the largest corporate attraction project in U.S. history as measured by jobs. To separate myth from fact, Governor Scott Walker’s office released the following information today:
Myth vs. Fact: Foxconn’s $10 Billion Investment in the State of Wisconsin
Myth: Foxconn will receive all the state tax credits regardless of the number of jobs it creates or the size of its capital investment. – False.
Fact: All tax credits are “pay-as-you-grow.” The company can only receive the full $2.85 billion in credits after it has created and maintained 13,000 jobs and made the full $10 billion in capital investment. There are strong taxpayer protection provisions in the contract that includes three guarantors who will be responsible for any clawbacks, including a personal guarantee from Foxconn Founder and Chairman Terry Gou.
Myth: Wisconsin’s return on investment will be low compared to the $2.85 billion state incentive package. – False.
Fact: An independent study from the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce found that Foxconn will add $51 billion to Wisconsin’s GDP over 15 years – $18 for every $1 spent by the state on incentives.
Myth: Foxconn’s jobs are low-paying jobs. – False.
Fact: The average annual salary for all jobs is $53,875 plus competitive benefits packages with health insurance, vacation, and retirement contribution benefits. This is in the contract agreement signed by both Foxconn and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Myth: Foxconn will only benefit southeastern Wisconsin. – False.
Fact: The project is already providing economic opportunities for businesses and employees across the state. Construction contractors in Dodge, Jackson, Marathon, Outagamie, Walworth and Wood countieshave already received contracts during the construction phase of the project. They will directly or indirectly employ 800 workers from 60 counties in just the excavation phase of the project, which accounts for $100 million of the $10 billion in construction projects.
Foxconn is committed to putting “Wisconsin First,” and an economic impact report conducted for the company by Ernst and Young found that Foxconn will spend about $1.4 billion annually in goods and services sourced from Wisconsin. For comparison, Oshkosh Corporation is estimated to have $300 million in annual supply chain purchases impacting over 700 companies in 140 communities. Foxconn will have an impact of more than four times that amount.
Myth: Wisconsin offered more in state incentives than any other state. – False.
Fact: It has been publicly reported that Wisconsin was not the highest bidder for the Foxconn project. Foxconn Founder and Chairman Terry Gou stated the primary reasons to invest in Wisconsin were the state’s strong manufacturing legacy and outstanding workforce.
For more information about this historic, record-setting project, visit http://wisconnvalley.wi.gov.


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Update: EA has issued a statement regarding the recent news about the possibility of Ads appearing in their games.
In a statement to VG247, the publisher states that :
Following incorrect reports suggesting that we are looking to introduce ‘TV-style’ commercials into our games, we wanted to clarify that in-game advertising for console games is not something we’re currently looking at, or have signed any agreements to implement.
Creating the best possible player experience remains our priority focus.
So at the moment, we can all breathe a small sigh of relief… but we can’t totally relax just yet.
Original story below!
Yes, you read the title correctly, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. In the US, a company called Simulmedia launched their new platform: playerWON, an advertising platform specifically designed for console and PC games.
Heresy I hear you cry… and you’d be right!
Simulmedia has described the ‘platform’ as ‘ a first of its kind in-game advertising platform’ and has reportedly signed deals with Hi-Rez and everyone’s favourite and definitely not money-grabbing company EA… because of course, EA has signed up, anything to bleed us gamers dry *cough* Lootboxes *cough*.
So how will it work?
If a game has the platform installed, developers can code ads into their games. The player will get an option to view a 15-30 second advert. If for some strange reason you decide to want to watch an advert ON YOUR CONSOLE after the advert has played, you’ll be rewarded, like a seal getting a fish after doing a trick, with either in-game currency or avatar skins… much like a lootbox.
This unfortunately isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this sort of thing happening. Last year there was a huge backlash after ads appeared in UFC 4 and NBA 2K21, yet EA still wants to go ahead with this.
Remember this? Be prepared to see a lot more like it
So why are they doing this?
One reason…. our generation aren’t watching enough TV to justify the cost of adverts. Let’s be real, the way people consume media these days has changed dramatically over the last ten years and the demographic of 18-34 are ‘cord cutters’ meaning we don’t watch TV or anything with adverts in, we have AD Blocks in place on our PC’s, we watch Youtube, Twitch, Netflix etc. all ad-free and this is costing advertisers money (oh boo hoo) as TV adverts are way more expensive than say putting an ad in a video game.
Furthermore thanks to the acceleration of F2P (Free-to-play) games across all platforms, play times and audiences have exploded, but apparently over 90% of us never spend money in-game … I mean they’re LITERALLY called FREE TO PLAY!
But I digress.
Testing for this horrific platform took place inside Smite for a year, and the findings are… horrifying, take a look
Data from one of Simulmedia’s pilot campaigns with Smite, a F2P multiplayer battle arena game from Tencent’s Hi-Rez Studios, shows that players were much more likely (22%) to play a game and spend money within the game (11%), if they watched in-game ads that gave them access to more gaming perks.
A whole 22% think it’s a good idea, what about the other 78%?
That being said if you go to Simulmedia’s website, you’re greeted with this
No we don’t
In any case, Simulmedia says the playerWON platform plans to launch in-game ads in roughly a dozen more games by the end of the year.
Here at ABG, we will keep an eye on this and let you know what games use this horrific money-grabbing platform…Oh and as EA love this idea, you’ll probably see it in Battlefield 2042.
Make sure you stick with Any Button Gaming for the latest gaming news, reviews, and features from around the world.
Fancy being social? We’re on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or if videos and/or podcasts are more your thing, why not subscribe to our YouTube and Twitch channels and track us down on Spotify. And if you wanna show your allegiance to ABG, you’ll be happy to know we have our own merch! All proceeds go to helping fund the site.
Don’t forget to drop us a comment down below and keep gaming!
Literally a giant. Living on the Border, trying to get through my Netflix/Disney+ lists whilst also completing the pile of games I have yet to play


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Like any good bartender, Cecilia.ai likes to joke with the clientele. Her gags are not, objectively, good—“Just like alcohol, I’m only 40 percent sure what you just said,” she deflects, during a moment of miscommunication. Nevertheless, there is something charming about the way she greets customers by name and delivers earnest drink recommendations: “If you’re looking for a winner, take Miami’s favorite, the sour and refreshing filthy black cherry Margarita!”
All this despite the fact that Cecilia.ai is not a person but an avatar, on the screen of an automated cocktail dispensing machine, using voice recognition software to make conversation and take drinks orders.
There are three Cecilia.ai’s operating in the U.S. today, including one in Microsoft’s Seattle headquarters, and one at Florida International University’s beverage-based hospitality program, the Bacardi Center of Excellence, where one of her human operators, lecturer Cristina Moguel, has just taken Cecila.ai up on her filthy black cherry Margarita recommendation. Moguel puts a glass of ice on a drip tray and three liquids pour out of a nozzle to fill it up. Moguel sips it and proclaims it delicious.
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Gimmick or Viable Reality?
Cecilia.ai is one of a burgeoning field of robot bartenders. Generally, these machines fall into two categories: impressive, front-of-house robots, some of which have futuristic robotic arms, and automated machines that feel more like drinks dispensers, increasingly found behind the scenes at casinos and events venues.
Last year, McKinsey Global Institute predicted that 45 million American jobs—27 percent of the workforce—would be disrupted by automation by 2030. The bulk of those workers, McKinsey predicted, would find their jobs dramatically changed, while nine percent of the workforce would have to find new jobs altogether. COVID-19—and the consequent much-reported labor shortages throughout the hospitality industry—is predicted to have accelerated the coming changes.
There are already smoothie-making androids popping up in kiosks in San Francisco and robots with cat-style faces delivering dim sum in New York City, raising the question of whether bartending robots will ever be a viable reality. Moguel believes that “beverage and culinary innovation is just going to be catapulted forward. We still face labor shortages. We still have lingering effects of recruitment plaguing our students and our staff. And so I believe [this technology] is going to be leaps and bounds beyond what it currently is now.”
That’s why Cecilia.ai is such a great teaching tool, she says: students learn how to program her scripts and trigger her decision tree, as well as how to clean out the machine’s tubes and come up with suitable recipes for a machine that can store 12 bottles and make 120 drinks an hour.
In theory, the applications are numerous for such machines, which can serve drinks 24/7 in airports and hotel receptions, and can collect real time data to inform bar managers on inventory needs shifting. And yet many clients who buy theatrical, front-of-house robots seem to do so not for practicalities but for the wow factor.
Front-of-House Robots in Development
This is especially true for bar robots with robotic arms, such as Yanu, a sleek circular unit that can grab a glass, fill it with ice, then select cocktail ingredients from bottles on an overhead rack, serve drinks, and handle payments. It has prototypes circulating at events in Dubai and Europe. Another, the Italian Makr Shakr, can actually—uniquely—shake cocktails, rather than simply mixing them. The company’s first robot was built for a Google conference in 2013, where a senior staffer from Royal Caribbean cruises saw the machine, fell in love, and ordered one for €1 million, which funded the initial part of Makr Shakr’s growth. Now it has 15 models in use, including eight on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, one in a bar in Las Vegas, and another in a new VR gaming space, Sandbox VR, the first robot bartender in London. In January it will be installed in the duty free store of Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Makr Shakr has since developed a business model which, in part, seeks to reassure clients that might be wary of taking delivery of such an unusual and complex machine, the company’s CEO, Emanuele Rossetti, says. The standard contract incorporates a €99,000 charge for the machine, then €0.99 on each cocktail made, which means everyone is similarly motivated to keep the machine up and running.
But in order to actually disrupt the bar industry, says Rossetti, the company would like to increase production capacity and, in the name of visibility, open their own flagship bars in key cities such as Paris and New York, for which external funds would be required, which Rossetti is seeking. Yanu’s CEO, Alan Adojaan, is seeking investment too.
It’s not an easy industry to crack; many robot bartenders have launched with fanfare and fallen by the wayside. René Luchsinger, the CSO of F&P Personal Robotics, for example, is no longer “actively marketing” their robot bartender, Barney, but has decided to focus on the more promising Leo, its assistive robot for the care industry. People are “attracted to Barney,” he says, “but as soon as it comes to the investment, they are reluctant. My personal opinion? It’s a gimmick. It’s an eye catcher. It’s an attraction.”
Back-of-House Automated Drinks Machines
Back-of-house automation, on the other hand, is already making its presence felt in many casinos, where large, decidedly unsexy-looking machines have been making drinks behind the scenes for a couple of years. Some are ordered using touch screens then delivered to tables by humans; Las Vegas-based Smart Bar is a leader in such technology. There is buzz about Tended Bar, too, a company based in Jacksonville, Florida, which recently raised $5 million in investment, largely from venture capital companies, for its vending machine-type kiosks which use facial-recognition technology to check ID and serve drinks at sports and entertainment venues.
Meanwhile, San Diego-based start-up Backbar One recently raised a $3.5 million seed round, led by food and tech specialist Finistere Ventures for an automated cocktail dispenser largely designed to fulfill table service drinks orders in restaurants. Finistere partner Steve Goldberg says he was attracted to the deal in part because he had been monitoring trends in the industry, and was aware that the labor shortage was a real issue. Backbar One felt like a “natural solution,” he says; so many venues “just don’t have the people to fill jobs.”
Of course, there are many things human bartenders can do that robots cannot. Most cannot strain drinks, or apply complex garnishes. Where they have any conversational ability, they are only amusingly ridiculous. Nor can current robot bartenders tell whether a customer is too inebriated to carry on ordering alcohol (in 2019, a coalition of casino servers petitioned the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to investigate automated drinks machines on this issue.) Most robotics companies argued their machines worked best when embedded with humans; though most also argued that fewer humans would be needed, overall, with a robot on board.
Donny Clutterbuck, a bartender with 20 years experience, who is on the board of the United States Bartenders’ Guild, can see potential benefits. In high volume situations, where the human-to-human interaction is transactional and high speed, he says, he is beginning to favor the robot bartender over the human one. Mundane interactions can themselves be dehumanizing, he says. “If I could employ robots to do all the stuff I would rather not be doing, so I could actually look up once in a while, I would,” he says. “At the moment, I’m so busy doing the labor that I can’t even do the parts that I think humans are there for.”
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Hannah Marriott is a New York City-based British journalist who writes about culture and lifestyle for publications including The Guardian, where she was previously fashion editor, The Times, and The Financial Times. Follow her on Instagram @maid_marriott_innit


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It hopes to attract the China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation (COFCO) and several other Chinese agricultural firms to the participate in future Russian-Chinese pork trade.
Maxim Basov, the CEO of RusAgro, revealed that in addition to a major pig production hub in Primorsky Krai, Russia, the company is also considering construction of some pig farms in China.
Currently, he said, RusAgro is choosing the appropriate region for the project, however some investment agreement must be signed with the local authorities and the project will be taken for final revision with the Board of Directors.
Ongoing government talks
Basov has not revealed investment cost or planned capacity for the project. The press-service of RusAgro also provided no further details on request of GlobalMeatNews.
Meanwhile, in early July Russian vice Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev visited China and held some discussions on the Russian-Chinese meat trade with Wang Yang, Deputy Premier of the State Council of China. Following the meeting, Russian Ministry for the Far East Development issued a release, confirming the plans to RusAgro to build pig complex in Russia, which would be focused primarily on export supplies to China.
According to the release, Trutnev said that some Chinese firms could be attracted to provide some “bilateral support to the project”, including the support on the Chinese side.
Investment in poultry, dairy
Speaking earlier this year, the main stakeholder of RusAgro Vadim Moshkovish said that in 2018 it plans to complete the 50% of its pig project for one million heads of pigs in the Russian Far East, so by that time the first pork should hit the grocery shelves in the region. The next phase, he added, is tied to the development of export supplies, as the demand for pork in bordering countries nearly 10 times exceeds the demand in Russian Far East.
Since 2014 the Russian Agricultural Ministry and Ministry for the Far East Development has urged Chinese authorities to open countries market for Russian pork, and during this period Russian officials have claimed several times that a positive decision on the matter is in the pipeline. However, it is believed that those talks were impacted by the veterinary problems in Russia, including African swine fever, which was discovered in Siberia in 2017.
RusAgro also plans to invest additional Rub 20 billion (US$300 million) into construction of the several poultry farms in the Russian Far East with the combined production capacity of 100,000t of chicken meat per year. According official data from the Russian State Statistical Service, all poultry farms in Russian Far East manufactured 62,000t of chicken meat in 2016. Additionally, RusAgro plans to invest US$1 billion into erecting dairy businesses in the same region within the coming years, the company’s executives said recently.


text: The much awaited smartphone, most likely dubbed the Samsung Galaxy S22, is set to debut in the most talked-about virtual world: the Metaverse. On February 9 at 10 a.m. ET, Samsung will unveil its nifty Android gadgets online, on its YouTube channel, on social media accounts, and in a virtual re-creation of its downtown New York City location called 837X. Hosted in Decentraland, Samsung 837X is a virtual place where users may not only watch a 2D Samsung Unpacked event but also explore the flagship New York City experience centre, collect NFTs, and go on quests. The South Korean smartphone manufacturer is likely to unveil three flagship S series models at its first Unpacked event of the year — the Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22 Plus, and Galaxy S22.


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The stereotype of the newly minted millionaire draped in labels persists in Asia. But from Northern China to the tropics, the top tier of high-net-worth individuals is beginning to shun conspicuous consumption for brands that make them appear more tasteful and discerning.
From 2007 to 2011, many luxury goods brands in Chinastill Asia’s most important market for luxury and now the world’s second largest economysaw double-digit annual growth. But in a highly saturated...
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‘Small-town consumers today, but aspiring to grow big tomorrow’
The fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, which is about Rs. 1,42,500 crore today, is expected to increase manifold by 2020 owing to more and more middle India towns behaving like metros — it is about time marketers sat up and took notice.
So, while metros and key cities remain a staple for marketers today, distribution and presence in smaller towns cities will be key to their growth in the future.
“At present, about 40% of the total FMCG turnover comes from small towns and middle India and this is set to grow further,” said Justin Sargent, MD-Consumer, Nielsen India."Increasing a small town footprint will be critical for volumes in the long run as there is a growth opportunity that is vastly under-rated by many marketers today, which could emerge as a key growth engine for the next 10 years," said Sargent.
At present Middle India, a region made up of approximately 400 towns each with a population of 1-10 lakhs, is home to 100 million Indians and constitutes about 20% of the country’s FMCG consumption.
Middle India will grow from an FMCG market worth Rs. 28,700 crore today to over Rs. 400,000 crores in value by 2026.
“Increasingly a number of companies have begun reaching out to smaller towns with customised product offerings. This trend is further finding support with small town customers opting to premiumise. As a result marketers are stepping up efforts to address both needs of the small town consumer,” said Sargent.
“Even as smaller Indian towns are leading the demand surge, modern retail is yet to play catch-up for numerous reasons including lack of consensus in foreign direct investment (FDI),” he said.


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The Russia-Ukraine war has been pushing up commodity prices ever since rumors began about its onset. Moreover, supply chain issues have been disrupting food supplies globally, leading to elevated food prices. Also, the economic recovery after the pandemic has increased the spending capacity of consumers.
Recently, corn and soybean prices increased to record highs and are currently trading around them. This is important because these two grains are key in the cash crop farming scene of the U.S. These catalysts are also boosting agriculture income, providing an incentive for farmers to ramp up their production.
Accompanying the elevated farm activities is the demand for farm equipment, which is also being pulled up along with rising commodity prices. Agricultural equipment like tractors, excavators, and other engines and tools have been seeing strong sales traction this year due to their ability to reduce the overall costs for farms.
Importantly, the use of advanced agriculture technology to improve farming processes and keep up with evolving customer demand is a major catalyst, which is expected to drive long-term growth.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the agricultural machinery market is expected to grow at a 5.4% CAGR from 2022 to 2027.
Also, farm equipment and machinery, being depreciating assets, need to be replaced after a certain period. This means that the equipment industry is blessed with a sustainable demand, which will keep generating sustainable income for companies in this industry.
Riding on these upsides are three agriculture equipment companies whose stock valuations are on a steady uphill track this year.
Agco (NYSE: AGCO)
Agco manufactures and markets advanced farm equipment and replacement parts. The company’s shares have increased about 3% year-to-date.
Increased farm activities, demand for agricultural produce, and demand for replacement equipment have been driving the company’s growth in the past few months. The company’s focused investments in farming technology and solutions, while implementing efficient cost reduction measures, are contributing to margin efficiencies.
In line with its strategy, earlier this month, Agco acquired JCA Industries to gain a firmer footing in the autonomous software development for agricultural machines, implement controls, and electronic system components.
Moreover, another encouraging point is the recent price target increase by Morgan Stanley analyst Courtney Yakavonis to $160 from $158 while maintaining a Buy rating.
Wall Street is fairly optimistic about the stock, with a Strong Buy rating based on five Buys and one Hold. The average AGCO stock price projection of $165.83 indicates 39.4% upside potential from current levels.
Deere (NYSE: DE)
Apart from being the world’s largest manufacturer of agriculture, forestry, and construction equipment, Deere also provides leasing and financial services to organizations. DE stock has rallied 4.45% so far this year.
Deere’s efforts in the precision agriculture space, along with a consistent demand for replacement equipment, are expected to boost growth in the long run. Looking into the near term, the upward trek of agricultural commodity prices is very well suited for the growth of the company.
Recently, Oppenheimer increased its price target to $446 from $432 while reiterating a Buy rating. However, Bank of America analyst Ross Gilardi was a little cautious of the persistent fertilizer shortage-related headwinds. He noted that dealers were upbeat on pricing and inventory, but he “detected a little more caution on order trends due to fertilizer shortages than anticipated.”
Nonetheless, Wall Street is fairly optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy rating based on five Buys and five Hold ratings. The average Deere price target is $442.67, indicating upside potential of 21.4% from Wednesday’s price levels.
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT)
Construction equipment maker Caterpillar has performed better than the overall market in the past three months, fueled by the strong demand for farming equipment and machinery. Moreover, like its aforementioned peers, demand for replacement equipment is also driving its revenues.
The company is known to refurbish and market old equipment. CAT was thrust into the limelight when it took approximately 127 million pounds of old equipment to be reprocessed as part of its efforts to be more environmentally friendly while boosting service revenues. The company believes that the success of its efforts can give it a competitive edge.
Caterpillar is working toward growing its services revenues by about 100% to $28 billion by 2026, which highlights its encouraging prospects.
Recently, Argus analyst John Eade maintained a Buy rating on the CAT stock with a price target of $235. He believes that the recent stock price dip has opened a good investment opportunity. The analyst is encouraged by the comeback of demand for its remanufactured products after witnessing weakness during the coronavirus crisis.
Caterpillar’s strong balance sheet makes it an excellent candidate to pursue growth-driving initiatives like product innovations, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, etc. Notably, the company recently upped its dividend payments by 8%, which is another point to be optimistic about.
Wall Street is also bullish on the prospects of Caterpillar, with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 10 Buys, one Hold, and one Sell. The average Caterpillar price target is $247.42, implying 20.7% upside potential.
The agriculture/farming sector has been an essential industry and will always be. This means that the demand for most of the industries within this sector, including the agricultural equipment industry, is likely to always be blessed with consistent demand despite some hiccups here and there.
However, the present situation of high commodity prices, which is expected to continue for some time now, is likely to benefit Agco, Deere, and Caterpillar more than their peers.
Discover new investment ideas with data you can trust.


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for Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)
VE3D News for Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC)
Sep 28, 2009 at 3:41 AM -
Nvidia Beta Forceware 191.03
Sep 26, 2009 at 4:44 AM -
has released a new beta driver.
New in Version 191.03
- Adds support for OpenGL 3.2 for GeForce 8, 9, 100, and 200-series GPUs and ION GPUs.
- Accelerates performance in several ...
Batman: Arkham Asylum 1.1 Patch Released
Sep 22, 2009 at 6:29 AM -
A PhysX patch for Batman: Arkham Asylum was released
to Games For Windows Live a week ago. Eidos did not appear willing at the time to give out an actual download link to the patch, and ...
Direct2Drive Top 10 Sales
Sep 22, 2009 at 4:26 AM -
This is for the week of September 13th through September 19th. Nice to see Batman hanging in there amidst the MMOs.
Aion Collector's Edition (Preorder)
Batman: Arkham Asylum, 2.5+ Million Units Shipped
Sep 21, 2009 at 10:06 AM -
I smell sequels. Eidos and Warner Bros. have announced that Batman: Arkham Asylum
has shipped in excess of 2.5 million units to retail since launch.
With numerous ‘Game of the Month’ and ...
This Week's UK Charts
Sep 21, 2009 at 5:15 AM -
This is for the week ending September 19, 2009.
- NEED FOR SPEED: SHIFT
- GUITAR HERO 5
- COLIN MCRAE: DIRT 2
- BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM
- WII SPORTS RESORT
Nude Mod For Batman: Arkham Asylum PC? Thankfully Not
Sep 17, 2009 at 7:22 AM -
Enterprising PC modders have found yet another improvement over the console version of Batman: Arkham Asylum
- the ability to create custom skins, which, thankfully, haven't gone down the nude ...
New Batman: Arkham Asylum Screenshots
Sep 15, 2009 at 11:33 AM -
With Batman: Arkham Asylum
hitting store shelves for the PC this week, Eidos has shot out a few screenshots from the PC version of the game... presumably to showcase the NVIDIA PhysX technology a ...


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Liquid Intelligent Technologies Zambia, part of the Liquid Intelligent Technologies group, a pan-African technology company, unveils its new brand identity. This rebrand reflects the organization’s extensive business transformation from being a telecommunications and digital services provider to a full one-stop-shop technology group for local businesses.
Over the last two decades, Liquid has firmly established itself as the leading pan-African digital infrastructure provider. This rebrand to Liquid Intelligent Technologies highlights the organization’s expansion of its Cloud business, Cyber Security services, and other technologies added to its existing telecoms and connectivity capability.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies will expand its Managed Services offerings to drive and ensure successful adoption of tools to re-imagine their customers’ businesses and how they work and connect. Whether they are focused on enabling collaboration or utilizing the most advanced cloud applications.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Liquid Intelligent Technologies is redefining Network, Cloud, and Cyber Security offerings through strategic partnerships with leading global players, bringing innovative business applications, intelligent cloud services, and world-class security to the African continent.
With the future of network security-driven from the cloud, Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ recently launched its Cyber Security business unit, which uniquely delivers security at its core, protecting your business’s data throughout its lifecycle.
In the last 10 years, the Government in Zambia has been working with businesses in the private sector to realize their vision of a Smart Zambia. Core to this vision is digital inclusion where no one in the country is left behind.
Mark Townsend, CEO Liquid Intelligent Technologies Zambia., says that at Liquid Zambia they have been partnering with the government to help them accelerate their digital transformation agenda and the rebrand serves as a reaffirmation to this continuous partnership.
“Our extensive and reliable backbone infrastructure in the country has ensured that our customers in the business and retail sectors identify us as a premier connectivity provider, now we will be layering our existing offering with our digital products and services like cybersecurity and cloud services showcasing our commitment to transforming our great nation into a digitally-led economy.”
Read About: Liquid Intelligent Technologies is now live in Uganda
According to Mr. Odirile Tamajobe, MD Liquid Intelligent Technologies Botswana. “The onset of the Fourth Industrial revolution led to the introduction of numerous digital technologies. Through its Broadband Strategy, the Government of Botswana as well as companies in the Private sector have made substantial investments towards ICT to facilitate a digitally inclusive economy. Liquid has been partnering with stakeholders in the local community as a connectivity provider so far, and now we have the opportunity to partner with them with our digital solutions in the Cloud that will be vital to ensure a digital adoption that bolsters the local economy”.
With the future of network security-driven from the Cloud, Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ recently launched its Cyber Security business unit, which uniquely delivers security at its core, protecting your business’s data throughout its lifecycle.
“Our Southern Africa market can look forward to a refreshed and exciting bouquet of products and services that will ultimately accelerate the digital transformation goals of our existing and potential customers. With our intelligent technology offerings, we now provide more services over and above our usual connectivity, such as managed services, cybersecurity, and Cloud services. We now have more capabilities to assist businesses to increase their productivity through our integrated bespoke ICT solutions,” concludes Mr. Wellington Makamure, Regional Chief Executive Officer – Southern Africa, Liquid Intelligent Technologies.


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Recently, the number of games remastered in Unreal Engine 5 has started to increase. A few days ago, we have seen an awesome video of a fan remake of Silent Hill in Unreal Engine 5. And nowadays, TeaserPlay released a new concept video, imagining Assassin’s Creed Infinity with Unreal Engine 5.
In this concept video, TeaserPlay presented Assassin’s Creed Infinity in feudal Japan, a historical setting requested by fans of the franchise long after but never carried out by Ubisoft. In the video, a nameless man wanders through an extraordinary environment created in Unreal Engine 5.
How Assassin’s Creed Infinity Looks in Unreal Engine 5
Assassin’s Creed: Infinity remake gameplay video shared on YouTube is just over two minutes long. During this time, the video shows various locations, as well as the main character himself. It is worth noting that the action in the video for Assassin’s Creed: Infinity takes place in Japan in 1333.
In the video, you can see houses and buildings corresponding to Japanese culture. At the very end of the new Assassin’s Creed: Infinity trailer, the camera shows the face of the protagonist of the assassin, which is hidden behind a mask. Note that everything shown in the video was created in UE 5.
Assassin’s Creed fan YouTuber said he wanted to show what a new Assassin’s Creed game set in Japan and created in Unreal Engine 5 engine might look like. The YouTuber added that many fans have long been waiting for one of these countries will become part.
Assassin’s Creed: Infinity is currently in development by Ubisoft. However, its release date is still unknown. Insiders say that it will be released no earlier than 2024.
Another game in the series, Assassin’s Creed: Rift, is expected to be released earlier. It is noted that it is not as large as Infinity, and at the same time, it will be based on stealth mechanics. Assassin’s Creed: Rift is expected to show in early 2023.


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What could outright revolutionize the TMT bar industry, Mahalaxmi Vinimay, a Rs 500 crore, TMT bar and Ferro Alloys manufacturers is all set to launch for the first time ever in India, stainless TMT bar in various thickness and sizes in West Bengal and Bihar.No company currently manufacturers stainless steel steel TMT Bars and the housing and construction sector relies entirely on TMT Bars made of iron which is plagued by the problems of rust and breakage.
Says Gopal Agarwall, Managing director of Mahalaxmi Vinimay,”Steel is the future”. I anticipate that in the next five to ten years, TMT bars will no longer be made out of iron. We are pioneering the transition from iron based TMT, S to steel bars fot constructions sector, however Agarwall cautions,” The transitions will not be easy. Acceptance will be slow ,We ,being the pioneer now in stainless steel TMT bar, will have to take the responsibility to communicate to the users about the benefits and advantage of stainless bars for building houses.”
Mahalaxmi plans to keep the stainless bar prices close to the current iron TMT bars .With initials volumes expected to remain low, the company has to subside the product to a large extent. Says Gopal Agarwal.We have to keep the price parity between iron ropads and the new stainless rods to make the products acceptable to the masses at large .For the interim period when the volumes are low ,it will be a huge challenge to meet the manufacturing expenses of the stainless bar and still keep costs low. But eventually as the product acceptance grows and volumes pick up, stainless steel bars even at the cost of iron would be a profitable product for us.
Now there’s an interesting catch in how Mahalaxmi strategies to offset the initial loss. One of the major components of TNT bars consumer pricing freight .The product being exceptionally heavy, freight charges plays an significant role in the daily price fluctuations of TMT bars .According to Gopal Agarwall ,the stainless bars shall be 40% less in weight than the current iron bars and also consumes lesser space thereby directly reducing the freight cost. But even when the stainless bars are low weight it has the same strength of iron bars.
Mahalaxmi products communication will be around theUSP that iron bars manufacturers are misleading the consumers by saying that they are rust proof, hence breakage proof and also earthquake proof. Any iron, will eventually succumb to rust and thus cannot be earthquake resistant.Steel, on the contrast is intrinsically rust proof metal. Steel bars are the best earthquake resistants, once consumers understand the vital difference between iron and steel, the market will switch rapidly towards steel bars, Says Gopal Agarwall.
Mahalaxmi has all set to invest an additional Rs 50 crore to upgrade its facility to manufacture the new generation stainless Bars .The Company shall plough back half the investment from internal reserves and source the rest of the fund from financial institutions.