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Battle of Smartphone Chipmakers: Why Do Users Prefer MediaTek Over Qualcomm?
Qualcomm offers Snapdragon series of chipsets while MediaTek features Helios and Dimensity lineup.
Smartphones rely upon processors – also called the 'brain of a smartphone' – to carry out all tasks. These include, functioning of camera, Wi-Fi, screen, security, graphics, Bluetooth, network connectivity and other operations.
Naturally, phone enthusiasts pick a smartphone with a processor that offers just the right amount of power.
The most preferred processors that flagship phones in the market today use are Qualcomm Inc and MediaTek. Both the companies are dominant players, accounting for over 50 percent of the smartphone application processor market share.
It should be noted that Qualcomm offers Snapdragon a series of chipsets while MediaTek features Helios and Dimensity lineup.
But as per latest research by Counterpoint, a global industry analysis firm, majority of smartphone brands are relying on MediaTek’s chips to power affordable phones.
Let's understand why.
How MediaTek Overtook Qualcomm?
In 2020, MediaTek overtook Qualcomm to be the largest smartphone processor supplier.
After the Huawei ban, and the company’s vision to power 5G devices with the Dimensity 800 series, MediaTek became the most widely used processor especially under mid segment smartphone range.
If you are spending less than Rs 40,000 on a phone these days, chances are that you're buying a MediaTek processor. Be it the Realme X7 Max , the Poco F3 GT , or the OnePlus Nord 2, all powered by MediaTek processors.
Not only flagship devices but a majority of affordable models from Motorola, Realme, Oppo, Vivo and others, have MediaTek processors pre-installed.
Meanwhile, it seems that the global chip shortage has not affected the company. MediaTek is able to match the high requirements to its consumers whereas Qualcomm seems to be on the back foot.
Why Do Users Prefer MediaTek?
The simple answer is 'lower cost'. The company sells its devices to manufacturers at lower costs, which allows smartphone companies to pass the benefits on to their customers.
Mumbai-based smartphone enthusiast Nandu Iyer, 27, told The Quint, "MediaTek's Dimensity chips can balance high levels of performance and still consume less battery power. These chips can easily beat Snapdragon chipsets as well."
Another phone enthusiast Anushka Rajan, 23, called Qualcomm chips 'overpriced' while speaking to The Quint. "Snapdragon processors offers less performance potential than MediTek's Dimensity 1200, yet several devices such as Motorola Edge 20 and Realme GT Max using Snapdragon chip cost more," she said.
Qualcomm's Future in India
Undoubtedly, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 888 is still one of the best processor, in terms of performance and endurance. However, more phone manufactures are adopting MediaTek for their mainstream phones to ensure affordable pricing.
It should be noted that there’s a threat to Qualcomm from phone manufacturers as well. Reports suggest that Google and Samsung will also step into the chip manufacturing business later this year.
Qualcomm can still edge out MediaTek only if it can stay relevant in the affordable phone space.
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BELGIUM: Agriculture ministry names provisional head of AFSCA
A former chief of staff at the agriculture ministry, Xavier De Cuyper, has been named as the provisional head of the food safety agency AFSCA. Belgian Health Minister Magda Aelvoet revealed that the position had been filled just two days after the former chief Luc Beernaert resigned amid a scandal over carcinogenic dioxins entering the food chain through pig feed.
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From real gold to virtual gold, we’re digging our way back to the 17th century.
Drones will revolutionize transportation. Driverless cars are expected to be on the streets by the end of the decade, and as discussed ad infinitum this month, Amazon wants to deliver products to your doorstep using unmanned aerial systems. Now, the British engineering group Rolls Royce wants unmanned, remote-controlled ships to transport freight and goods across the seas. “The idea…
The Windows of New York project is a weekly illustrated fix to graphic designer Jos Guzar’s obsession with the windows and fire escapes of NYC
When the land is all filled up, it’s time to get creative with it, as small countries like Switzerland already know
Larry Summers shocked everyone recently with his speculations on the links between growth and bubbles. some people slightly agree, others do not. For example,


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New Terahertz Wand “Med Bed” Type Technology Assisting People with Back Pain, Soreness, Stiffness and Arthritis
New Terahertz Wand devices are using quantum scaler, quartz crystal, terahertz and FAR infrared technology to assist with a variety of health conditions.
“Terahertz wands are small handheld devices which are bringing “med bed” type technology to the general public. These small hand held devices are being used to address a host of health issues.”— Sean Callahan
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, January 11, 2023/ EINPresswire.com / -- Energy and frequency based technology has a long history in the United States starting with pioneer scientist Nikola Tesla over 100 years ago. As technology continues to improve and move forward so to do the devices being made available to the public including a new device called a ” Terahertz Wand ”. Terahertz wands have been in production for nearly ten years although it is only recently they are starting to make their way to the general public. These “health and wellness” classified devices are using quantum scaler technology, quartz crystal, terahertz frequency and FAR infrared thus putting them into a ” med bed ” type technology.
The Terahertz wand has become very popular in the United States where American’s are using them for all types of health issues including stiffness, soreness, pain, swelling, inflammation and much more. The “THZ” devices as they are also referred to assist the body with improving cellular function, detoxification, better circulation and a host of other benefits that when applied to the body are show promise is assisting with many health related issues.
“Terahertz Wands send energy into the body via Neuropathways and thus give the body and the cells the energy they need to assist with rejuvenation.” said USA Med Bed marketing director Sean Callahan. The wands themselves provide energy the body needs to assist with helping all types of health issues. It is important to note that it is actually the body doing the work to make the necessary changes to help improve health and not the wands”, he said.
Terahertz devices are being used a lot with older generation people who seem to have lingering aches and pains and the word of mouth referrals and advertising is what is greatly promoting these products to others. Many times the purchase of a Terahertz Wand includes it being used by family members and friends which in turn produces more sales and referrals. Although the devices have not reached the mainstream yet they are gaining momentum as more and more people start hearing about them and the results they are getting. This product is now being promoted much through word of mouth while chiropractors, Reiki healers, massage therapists and Integrative health practitioners start adding these to their respective practices. The wands are being classified as “med bed” type technology because of the quantum scaler, FAR infrared and terahertz technologies being applied. The units are the size of a hair dryer and can focus their energy into a very small area and are ideal for knee, ankle, back, wrist and shoulder pain. At a starting cost of just $350 these units are also showing to be quite affordable also. Other reported benefits include reduction in wrinkles, improved skin tone, hair growth, Erectile dysfunction and many other health related issues.
As more energy and frequency based devices continue to come out and make their way to the general public so to are the number of options that people have to address arthritis, hair loss, back pain, Neuropathy and many other health issues. USA Med Bed, LLC is a health and wellness based technology company that is assembling frequency and energy based technology and offering it to the public in this fast growing field.
For more information on Terahertz Wands, plasma based energy products and other “med bed” related technology contact USA Med Bed, LLC directly at
858-652-1259 or visit their website at www.USAmedbed.com.
Terahertz Wand Science Resources


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HA NOI (VNS)— NHP Production Import-Export will list 12.5 million shares coded as NHP on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the exchange was approved but no detailed timing was publicised.
The one-year-old packaging and plastic resin company is managed by senior economist Le Xuan Nghia, former vice president of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, who owns 22.4 per cent of the company's shares. Two other large shareholders are Phu Thanh Garment JSC (16 per cent) and its 25-year-old chief executive Nguyen Thi Mai Huong (6 per cent).
NHP's revenue and profit after taxes reached VND69.1 billion (US$3.2 million) in 2014. It currently has a 25 per cent stake in Phu Vinh Hung Textile Co Ltd and 22.22 per cent in the plastic resin firm, Delex Vietnam. — VNS


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AI has certainly come a long way in recent times. But what about in South Korea? We take a look at the latest hot trend in South Korea – the emergence of the “Korean AI Profile” – and uncover the real implications for technology and society.
It seems like the world is getting smaller and smaller. AI profile trends around the world are interconnected, and Korea has been at the center of the AI movement for quite some time. Here’s a closer look at some of the AI trends in Korea that are worth paying attention to.
- Korean businesses have embraced the use of AI-assisted data collection technology.
- Data collected through the use of AI has enabled businesses to better analyze, segment, and market to customers.
- Data collection has also allowed engineers to more quickly diagnose and fix technical issues.
- Using AI-enhanced edge computing, a process in which data is routed through local servers rather than centralized public servers, device performance is improved.
- This can reduce latency and bandwidth, increasing the speed of development.
- Edge computing also allows for faster response times by using locally stored data, meaning applications can react more quickly to user input.
As AI continues to progress, particularly in Korea, companies of all sizes should be attentive to these developments. Through the use of data collection and edge computing, businesses can better understand their customers, improve their device performance, and ultimately stay ahead of the competition.
As technology continues to revolutionize the way we approach everyday tasks, the Korean AI profile trend may be the newest wave that could have a lasting effect towards how we approach or interact with certain tasks. While the trend may have started in Korea, it has quickly become a worldwide phenomenon that doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Keep an eye on this development and the exciting changes it could bring to other parts of the world.


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Lululemon (NASDAQ: LULU) has been on a tear this year.
Since bottoming on Christmas Eve, shares were up just over 37% by February 13. Since then, however, the stock has cooled down a bit and now sits just under 19% higher year-to-date.
But LULU is rising again today after two bullish analysts have boosted their price targets for the stock.
By mid-day Thursday, shares were up as much as 3.5%. The stock is up nearly 80% in the last year, and both analysts say the price could still head significantly higher over the next twelve months.
In a note to clients this week, Barclays called out Lululemon’s growing share of the athletic apparel market, its unique collaboration efforts with companies like SoulCycle, and its expansion in its men’s merchandise as the driving force behind the momentum for the brand and the fuel behind its growing sales.
“We see substantial runway for growth across categories, channels and geographies,” Barclays analyst Matthew McClintock wrote. “We continue to believe Lululemon’s [total addressable market] is ever-expanding as the company has entered into men’s in a meaningful way, has seen success in office, travel [and] commute offerings and continues to see a significant amount of opportunity in bras and outerwear.”
Earlier this month, Lululemon doubled down on its efforts in the men’s category by signing Eagles quarterback Nick Foles as an ambassador for the company’s men’s line. And Barclays believes the company “will outline an ample revenue opportunity but also margin expansion,” at its investor day next month.
Barclays has an Overweight rating on the stock and has set its price target for LULU at $200, indicating the firm sees 35% upside from here over the next twelve months, with McClintock emphasizing that the company has “a significantly larger [total addressable market] than even the most optimistic estimates likely expect.”
Cowen analyst John Kernan reiterated his Outperform rating on the stock on Thursday, and boosted his twelve-month price target to $190 per share – nearly 29% higher than the stock’s price as of this writing.
Kernan believes the company will continue to grow as its brand expands, and wrote in a note that “Emerging categories, geographies and new guest acquisition should support robust initial guidance for 2019.”
Lululemon is scheduled to report earnings after the bell next Wednesday, March 27, and year-over-year sales are expected to jump 23%, and earnings around 95%, results that could send the stock climbing higher.


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The new Xbox specifications have now been confirmed to dedicate around 80% of its processing power for the Kinect 2. Analysts say this puts the processing power of the main console to be slightly under the Wii U.
“The new Xbox will be very powerful when it comes to the Kinect 2,” says the source for the specifications, “I have experienced the Kinect 2 and I believe all games should be made with it in mind.”
“Power doesn’t mean anything when you’re having so much fun,” the source continues, “Hardcore gamers won’t miss a thing when they wave their hand for the first time and start up the Kinect 2.”
“Honestly, who really needs controllers when you have the Kinect 2?” says the source, “It will actually save people money because they won’t need to buy more controllers for the console to play with friends. It’s really a win-win for everyone.”
Analysts have said that this puts the power of the main console slightly under the Wii U. One analyst says, “Microsoft seems to be really pushing for the Kinect 2 in the new Xbox. It’s almost like they didn’t think about anything else besides the Kinect.”
Similarly, the latest PlayStation “Orbis” specifications dedicates 70% of its processing power for two PlayStation Moves.


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A brief history of Microsoft's CEOs, and the security of their software:
- 2000 - Steve Ballmer takes over as CEO at Microsoft, Bill Gates remains as Chief Software Architect.
- 2001 - After an accelerating stream of serious vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system, and in the IIS Web Server and IE Web Browser components in particular, malware such as Code Red and Nimda cause widespread damage to businesses.
- 2002 - Bill Gates decides security is important, sends an email to all Microsoft employees declaring security should be Microsoft's top priority.
- 2002 - Microsoft CTO Craig Mundie (and three others) publish a white paper on "Trustworthy Computing" aimed at four goals: Security, Privacy, Reliability, and Business Integrity. Over the years, this does spawn major focus on a Secure Development Lifecycle approach at Microsoft, and major improvements in the development and product management groups on more secure software. However, it also seems to spawn an "in order for businesses to trust us, we must sell security products" attitude at Microsoft which will go nowhere over the years.
- 2003 - Slammer and Blaster exploit the latest in the continuing stream of critical vulnerabilities being found in Windows, causing yet another round of enterprise downtime and patching.
- 2003 - Microsoft acquires a small Romanian anti-viral company, GeCAD, "so that Microsoft can provide antivirus solutions for Microsoft products and services." This was the first of many minor security company acquisitions Microsoft would make under Ballmer over the next 5 years.
- 2006 - Bill Gates steps down as Chief Software Architect
- 2007 - Microsoft ships the Vista operating system six years after declaring security to be top priority. While there are definite security improvements, many of them simply cause the user to have to click through many confusing dialog boxes. Overall, Vista is a major flop.
- 2009 - Windows 7 ships, 8 years after Microsoft gets security religion. In general, many major security advances but just in time for most the action to shift towards smartphones and tablets, where Microsoft is well behind Apple and others. Microsoft's mobile operating system does not include on-device encryption, or any sort of App Store construct, both serious lacks.
- 2013 - Ballmer announces he will retire within a year.
So, the reality is that Ballmer was actually Microsoft's CEO for several years before they declared "Security is Job #1" and for over a decade afterward. How'd he do?
Well, the areas where Microsoft made the most meaningful progress (Secure Development Lifecycle, higher security level in their own PC and server software) were probably the least under Ballmer's direct purview, as Bill Gates and Craig Mundie played larger roles there. The security areas that most likely got the most attention from Ballmer (acquisitions and the regular reorganizations and changes of the names at the top of the security business org chart) were largely complete failures. Getting into the antiviral market is the poster child for that.
Back in 2003, as a VP at Gartner, I lead the publication of a research notes titled "Microsoft Must Transform, Not Threaten, the Antivirus Market" basically saying the best thing Microsoft could do for security would be to make the AV market unnecessary, by building operating systems that would resist malware vs. joining in the $1B market for selling security software to make up for security deficiencies in Windows. To me, what Microsoft was doing was analogous to the water company delivering stinky, polluted water and then selling you a subscription service to filter the dirty water it just sold you.
Now, Microsoft now has 26% of the stinky water filtering PC antiviral market, but over the 10 years they wasted chasing that, first Apple, then Google, focused on building operating systems that include many mechanisms (sandboxing, app stores, etc) that raised the bar on malware, vs. trying to sell add on products to fight malware. Now, as the PC market sinks and the tablet and smartphone markets explode, Microsoft is once again way behind the security curve.
There were many, many other examples over the years. I think those security business decisions over Ballmer's reign diverted a lot of Microsoft's attention and focus away from security advances that could have changed the industry and instead focused Microsoft on ways they could compete with security vendors - the wrong approach, and badly executed at that.
Oddly enough, Microsoft has recently begun to try to compete with Google on privacy, since very little of Microsoft's revenue comes advertising sales from watching its users send emails and search the web. Imagine how much more successful Microsoft would be at that if they had been first to market with smartphone encryption or a version of Windows that spared consumers from wasting money on antiviral products.
As a business, security is definitely not Microsoft's number one problem these days - changing their approach to security alone isn't going to turn them around. But I think they do have an opportunity to make some game-changing moves in security as they bring in a new CEO and that CEO does the inevitable house cleaning and direction-setting. In security, that never really happened under Steve Ballmer.


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Samsung Galaxy S8: check out the portrait robot of the future smartphone
Usually, the Korean giant Samsung enjoys the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, end of February, to present to the public its Android smartphones the most prestigious, the Galaxy S. But this year, it would seem that the manufacturer prefers to devote its Samsung Galaxy S8 an event dedicated, to better put it in before.
The launch could take place in New York on the 29th of march next, and the availability seems to be scheduled for 21 April. Dates which could be confirmed at the Mobile World Congress in 2017 which takes place in two small weeks in Spain.
And evidence that the Korean plans to do things in a big way, in a recent article in the the Investor mentioned the possible delivery of the 16 million terminals throughout the world for his exit to be sure to meet the demand (compared to 12 million for the Galaxy S7).
Anyway, a few weeks of the launch alleged, make it a point on all that is already known on this future device, responsible to reconcile the brand with its users after the disaster of the Galaxy Note 7, spot advertising to support it.
Finally, two names and two models
If last year the rumors were state of the output of a single Samsung Galaxy S8, available in two screen sizes, there are whispers now that the two terminals may have a different name. It would be the S8 and the S8+, breaking the tradition of the S and S Edge, whose last representatives still the Galaxy S7 and S7 the Edge. Each would, however, screen size, as a certain iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
A screen with no edge
This is a recurring rumor for a few months already, the Samsung Galaxy S8 could propose a screen that says “no edge” (or almost), with a display surface that would occupy 90% of the front of the device (compared to 80% today). Based on the Super AMOLED technology that offers vivid colors, a stark contrast, and shows a much less energy-intensive, the screen of the first model could suddenly be $ 5.7-inch (14,47 cm). The diagonal of the second reach, she, 6.2 inch, or even a little more (15,74 cm)!
Side definition, the last of the noise speaks of 2K (1440 by 2560 pixels) for the “smaller” of the two S8 and 4K UHD (2160-by-3840 pixels) for the largest, or as much as some televisions show on sale now.
Goodbye Home button, hello sensors
With such a big screen, it’s a safe bet that the “Home” button the physical is relegated to the back of the device, in the form of a sensor, or simply replaced by a virtual button, integrated into the glass of the screen and included in the Android interface. In the first case, the sensor may have several functions such as view notifications with a simple swipe of your finger, or scroll through web pages.
Among the other sensors potentially embedded in the device, the Korea Herald reported, last October, a rumour that a scan of the iris (improved compared to the Note 7) would be of the party, as well as a camera with dual sensor, located at the rear of the smartphone.
High-end Smartphone requires, the race for the power starts again. Especially if the iPhone 8 record-breaking… Samsung should logically bet, for Europe, on its next Exynos processor (8895), of which the manufacturing process would benefit from a graphic chip almost two times more potent than that of its predecessor. The United States, they would retain a terminal that is driven by a Snapdragon cpu, the latest 835.
In this regard, in order to be able to deliver millions of device mentioned above, Samsung would involve a very large number of production lines processor, which could have consequences on the dates of availability of competing devices that have also chosen the Snapdragon 835 for their smartphones cru 2017.
Performance put to use to display Android (7.0 ?) on the high definition of the screen, but, also, games, content, virtual reality, videos and movies in very high definition, all without slowdown.
To support the processor, Samsung may well be granted between 4 and 6 Gb of ram in its next smartphone luxury (8 Gb are mentioned also). Its storage capacity could be between 64 and 256 Gb of storage!
Of course, compatible 4G and Wi-Fi, the Samsung Galaxy S8 could take advantage of the latest generation of Bluetooth, called Bluetooth 5.0. With advantage, an extended range, less energy consumed and less interference with other communications protocols wireless.
Battery side, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated that this would be the subsidiary of Samsung SDI in order to ensure the production. As a reminder, it is SDI which had produced the first battery fire Note 7 and Samsung did not hesitate to put into question.
Samsung Galaxy S8 A new artificial intelligence?
Samsung could replace his personal assistant S Voice by an all-new aide-de-camp, code name Bixby, acquired at the time of the redemption of Viv Labs, the company that was founded by the creators of Apple’s Siri. However, an agreement signed between Samsung and Google to avoid conflicts of patent could prevent the Korean implement Bixby in his smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S8: The jack on the verge of disappearing
Apple started the ball rolling, Samsung Galaxy S8 may well be in the dance. The future prospects of the jack seem to be, in effect, compromised with the arrival of the Galaxy S8. It could then be replaced by a single USB Type-C, is already used on the recent Galaxy A5. Although there is not yet wired headsets exploiting this connection, the Samsung Galaxy S8 could be delivered with an adapter for Type-C/jack. Listening to music while charging the device would then become a problem !
Always at the audio beam, the recent buyout of Harman by Samsung could have a direct and positive impact on the quality of the speakers embedded in the device.


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Four million Bumbo baby seats have been recalled after reports of dozens of injuries, including skull fractures, according to Bumbo International Trust and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
One million Bumbos were originally recalled in 2007 to provide more complete warnings about the risks of using them on raised surfaces. Since that recall, at least 50 incidents have been reported in which babies fell while a Bumbo seat was on an elevated surface. Nineteen of the injuries included skull fractures. Another 34 reports involved infants who fell while the chair was on the floor or on an unspecified surface – two of those injuries were skull fractures.
People have been urged to stop using the seat until they install a repair kit. Bumbos are sold at Babies R Us, Sears, Target Corp, Toys R Us, USA Babies, Wal-Mart and other stores and online sellers.


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SOUTH AFRICA — Increasingly, e-players are striving to take advantage of the Internet’s global reach but many are finding that the reliability, performance and security of international networks aren’t up to scratch, hindering their efforts to deal with buyers and suppliers online.
Players from highly developed nations are finding that expanding e-business into the developing world is frequently hampered by poor Net access services, low security standards and slow performance. As such, varying levels of speed, efficiency and disproportionate service qualities plagues e-businesses that hope to deliver globally consistent levels of service.
“Most international traffic crosses several service providers before it gets to its destination, so it’s difficult for any provider to guarantee end-to-end service levels,” stated Tony Marson, an analyst at Probe Research Inc. “Unless you’re using a service provider that owns its own international network, reliability and round-trip latency will differ widely from region to region.” According to Marson the majority of the world’s countries will have to manifest substantial improvements in connectivity, performance and reliability before international e-business becomes a reality.
Many e-business remain equally skeptical about a dearth of international digital security standards. Additional barriers in the form of language, culture, and support resources further hamper efforts at setting up global e-services.
Despite the difficulties many of the larger e-players are, however, beginning to extend their scope. In the past six months alone multinational companies have built more than 200 data centres around the world to boost performance and backup for global e-commerce in a variety of countries including SA.
Nonetheless some are speculating that it will take at least a decade before global e-business emerges as a pervasive phenomenon. “We estimate that it will take at least seven to 10 years before all the significant differences between services in different countries are smoothed over,” stated Artie Ahrens, senior vice president of computer and network services at MasterCard International Inc.


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JOPLIN, MO.-- Medical professionals say when the weather is nice people are more active outdoors. They say starting good habits while the weather is warm is a good way to develop a long lasting routine. Another good reason to start now is seasonal farmers markets give people more options to buy fresh local fruits and vegetables. Dietitians say it's not only about the availability of fresh foods, but also the taste.
"One thing that people might discover is that the vegetables and fruits may taste better in the summer, local fresh produce just seems to have more flavor than the winter produce typically does," states Heather Boline, Freeman Diabetes Educator.
Professionals also say juice based fruits like watermelon and colder meals like salad are healthy ways to cool down during the summer.


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Ford and Peugeot retailer Busseys will close two of its franchised showrooms as it works to adapt to the “huge changes” impacting the automotive retail sector.
The Ford and Peugeot retail sites on Yaxham Road, Dereham, could be closed as early as next month, with supermarket operator Lidl having already submitted plans to demolish the showroom buildings to make way for a new store.
Speaking to the Eastern Daily Press, Busseys’ managing director Paul Bussey said maintaining the sales operations did not “fit with the future plans” of the two car makers.
The closures will leave Busseys with a Fordstore and Peugeot dealership in Norwich and further Ford showrooms in Fakenham and Attleborough.
The sites will absorb staff displaced by the Dereham closure, it said.
Bussey told the EDP that the rapid transition to electric vehicles (EV) was part of a changing retail environment that had prompted the closures.
"This, together with the changing habits of customers and competitors, is driving huge changes in how new vehicles are sold,” he said.
"Whilst here in Norfolk we have tried to maintain some stability, we are not immune to these changes. We at Busseys simply have to adapt our business to continue serving our highly-respected customers.”
Ford announced in 2020 that it planned to close almost half of its 400 UK franchised car retail sites as part of its ‘Ford 2025 dealer plan’ revealed to its investor partners.
Peugeot, meanwhile, is part of a Stellantis-backed push towards multi-brand dealerships which bring other brands from its stable of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS, Peugeot and Vauxhall into one location.
The strategy had been deployed in its own retail group, the recently rebranded Robins & Day by Stellantis &You, Sales and Services
Busseys turnover dipped 28.9% to £54.9 million as pre-tax profits rose 45.4% to £646,403 in its most recent annual financial results, from a heavily COVID-impacted 2020 trading period.
In its results statement, the group said: “We remain at the forefront of developments within the industry alongside our manufacturer business partners and other key suppliers.
“In terms of our Ford and Peugeot dealerships, we continue to invest in the latest manufacturer standards, including the latest developments in vehicle electrification.”
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The first social networking site, Orkut, which connected people and brought long-lost friends together, began to lost its charm ever since Facebook took social networking by storm. Facebook became everybody's favourite and thus, Google decided to shut Orkut down at the end of this month.
Most people who used Orkut will remember the website fondly. They are the ones who had the first social networking experience and who knew how it felt to see new scraps or stalk one's crush. Those days there were no smartphones and so spending hours in front the computer and exploring Orkut was a fun pass time.
But the popularity of the site went spiralling down when Google introduced other advanced versions of social networking sites. Facebook fever spread in such a tremendous way that Orkut lost its existence and was dying a slow death until the giant search engine decided to shut down Orkut.
On 30 September, Orkut will be phased-out. Here are some goodbye tweets from some of its many users:
Farewell message from Orkut. pic.twitter.com/0sfrPakp4g
— Amit Agarwal (@labnol) July 6, 2014
Just got my farewell note from #Orkut, Felt like a memorial service that's being held a couple of years late
— Anahita Mukherji (@Newspaperwalli) July 5, 2014
I now realise that my ex never wrote a testimonials for me on #orkut back then. The break-up was inevitable.
— Priyanka Rai (@chotu_pinku) July 1, 2014
As the news spread, people logged into the website for one last time. Here is the video that captures people's reaction on logging in to Orkut for the last time.


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The evening saw the brand officially reveal designs of three unique ways to experience the extraordinary JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL whisky, whilst celebrating the brand, honouring true game-changers at the event and offering guests the chance to taste the unique new serves.Each creation was tasted for the first time ever by Christina Hendricks who wore a stunning Mad-Men style black L’Wren Scott dress accessorised with classic, understated vintage jewellery.
The three unique serves were created by three previous winners of Diageo Reserve; internationally revered, talented mixologists: Manabu Ohtake; 2011 World Class Winner, Erik Lorincz; 2010 World Class Winner and Aristotelis Papadopoulos – the 2009 World Class Winner.
Christina said “It was so exciting to have some of the world’s best bartenders create three new JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL serves for me.
Each drink had completely different flavours and they all complimented JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL perfectly.
A lot of people don’t consider women whiskey drinkers and I’m representing a new group of women who are enjoying it very much”.


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Nigeria-headquartered United Bank for Africa has reported a 3.4 percent rise in profit after tax for the half-year ended June 30, 2018 to N43.8 billion from N42.3 billion in 2017. Earnings per share rose marginally to N1.23 from N1.20 in 2017. Gross earnings grew by 16 percent to N258 billion compared to N223 billion recorded in 2017.
While commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director/CEO, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), Kennedy Uzoka, said: “Our performance in the first half the year reflects the resilience of our business model and strategies. Despite declining yields in two core markets, Nigeria and Ghana, we delivered double digit growth in gross earnings. Our performance demonstrates the success of our digital banking initiatives and broader Customer-First strategies”
“Our enhanced asset-liability management strategies improved asset yield and grew interest income by 21 percent despite prevailing yield environment. Our re-engineered sales structure provided the impetus for renewed retail deposit growth. I am particularly pleased by the 24 percent year-to-date growth in retail savings and current account deposits, underpining the increasing penetration of our digital offerings and the Group’s overarching goal of democratizing banking across Africa. We improved net interest margin to 7.4 percent in line with our 2018 target, notwithstanding strong competition for wholesale deposits and the impact of rising global interest rates on our foreign currency funding,” he concluded.
The bank announced an interim dividend of N6.84 billion ($18.9 million) to shareholders at 20 kobo per share.
To download UBA’s Financial Statements for H1 2018, click here.


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The 1990s are making a comeback. And while there are plenty of brands founded after the turn of the millennium that are aping the ’90s look by coming out with bucket hats, chunky sneakers and oversized sweaters, it’s a particularly good time for brands that defined ’90s style at its start.
Brands including Fila, Champion and Patagonia have all made a big resurgence in recent years, thanks in large part to the popularity of ’90s style, especially among the streetwear crowd. The sneaker world has been one of the biggest drivers of the ’90s resurgence, helping to repopularize ’90s sportswear brands and inspire high-fashion brands like Balenciaga to get in on the chunky sneaker trend originally pioneered by Fila. From 2016 to 2018, Fila’s sales increased by more than 200%, and from 2018 to 2019, Champion sales rose from $1 billion to nearly $1.4 billion.
Numerous brands that were founded after the ’90s have introduced ’90s-themed products in the last two years. Opening Ceremony touted the ’90s credentials of its most recent collection, and in 2018, Dolls Kill, a company founded in 2011, purchased the rights to the Delia’s brand to capitalize on the love of all things ’90s.
“Part of it is who creatively is in power now,” said Jian DeLeon, editorial director at Highsnobiety. “A lot of the creative directors of fashion houses are all Gen X-ers, so this was when they were coming up.”
The authentic ’90s brands are approaching this newfound opportunity in different ways. Some, like Foot Locker, for example, have chosen to lean hard into their heritage. For last year’s Air Max Day, the company recreated a store to look and feel exactly like its stores in the ’90s, and at the same time re-released iconic ’90s sneakers with Nike.
“The authenticity of it was important,” said Frank Bracken, vp and gm of Foot Locker North America. “We wanted to include our ’90s roots creatively and aesthetically, and reinterpret that for today’s consumers.”
Other brands have taken a different approach. For example, while K-Swiss is far less popular in the United States than competitors like Fila, it has used the renewed focus on ’90s fashion to launch into an entirely new market: China.
“You have to be moving forward,” said Barney Waters, brand president of K-Swiss, who admitted that the brand had its heyday in the ’90s but wants to grow beyond that. “People respect history and heritage, but it’s short-term thinking to only have that in your approach.”
Fila has aimed to walk the line between leaning on its heritage and what people liked about the brand in the first place and releasing new products and designs that move the brand forward. Louis Colon, Fila’s vp of heritage and trend — a position developed specifically to navigate the two sides of the equation — said that Fila’s position in the pantheon of ’90s brands afforded it the ability to cross over.
“You see too many brands — some of my favorite brands — that are just out of tune right now, because they’re playing in spaces where they don’t organically fit in,” he said on the Glossy Trend Watch podcast earlier this year. “It doesn’t feel natural. I think a strength of ours is that we do have such a variety in sports and fashion. We could play to ’90s culture, a trend we’re seeing right now, but we’re not just a ’90s hip-hop brand.”
But not every ’90s brand has been able to capitalize on the moment. Reebok, which was purchased by Adidas in 2005, made a big push last year to highlight some of its classic shoes from over the years, but sales have struggled and revenue fell by 3% in 2018.
“JNCO is one brand that has tried to make a comeback and hasn’t done well,” DeLeon said. JNCO, known mostly for its gigantic, wide-leg jeans, relaunched with eight styles this month, but failed to make much of a splash. “They didn’t really invent anything. Anyone could make a wide-leg jean. I think the key that a lot of successful ’90s brands have is that they’re not just reproducing their original stuff. It’s more like the idea of the ’90s filtered through a modern lens.”
Capitalizing on a trend is one thing, but turning that momentum into a sustainable long-term growth model is the more important piece. If a brand relies too much on the ephemeral nature of trend, then when fashion inevitably moves on to some other decade for inspiration, those brands will be left behind.
Going forward, the key for these brands will be finding the right balance between capitalizing on the popularity of their heritage products without becoming stagnant.
“There’s a lot of fun stuff from the ’90s: the music, the hip-hop, the oversized color-blocking, the ’90s sneakers,” Bracken said. “But you have to be looking forward, too. There’s a time to pay homage to the past, and there’s a time to step on the gas of innovation.”


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Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is testing unmanned drones to deliver goods to customers. The news has been making headlines everywhere - jokes have been cracked, the innumerable possibilities of science fiction movies discussed and security concerns are now being mulled over by top authorities. City Express asks Bangaloreans about their expectations, if they were to hit Indian shores.
"People will probably go crazy, like they did when the google street view van was here. Children will throw stones at it. But if drones did deliver stuff in India some day, I would order for emergency birthday presents," says Arjun Kutty, a copy writer.
For Prithviraj Surendranath, the news of drones felt like a scene straight out of a movie. "I was pleasantly surprised when they used a similar device in a recent Tamil film plot to get a ransom demand! In India most deliveries follow a 'cash on delivery' model, so I'm not sure how people are going to integrate payment. And owing to the haphazard building set ups and construction, they would need multiple tracking points set up," he says.
Pavan Madhini, a product manager at a game development company, is not very optimistic about the idea. "If these drones came to India, I think a lot of them will start disappearing soon, with all kinds of people trying to steal them. However, I think India still has a long way to go," he says.
Praveen VR, who works at NetApp, feels that the possibilities are endless.
"Using drones for pizza delivery would be so cool. And what if drones can deliver stuff to people on the move? Suppose you are driving to a place and you want McDonald's, and a drone comes and delivers it to your car, while you're driving. That would be great."
The ladies have their own priorities, of course.
"I don't think it will work in India. People don't have respect for public property. If at all it works, I would like food, cigarettes, alcohol and sanitary napkins when I really need them," says Anupama Ravi, a college student.


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Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Mondelez International, Mondelez HQ's, Deerfield, Illinois, USA, December 4th 2015. "Credit : Bob Stefko for The Wall Street Journal" Slug: ROSENFELDBob Stefko
- TitleCEO and Chairman
- AffiliationMondelez International
Rosenfeld hit a speed bump in August when she abandoned her pursuit of Hershey. The acquisition would have been the latest in a long line of moves that have transformed the $29.6 billion consumer packaged foods giant and its predecessor, Kraft, during Rosenfeld’s tenure. With the failed Hershey bid, some think Mondelez could be a takeover target itself. About 75% of sales come from outside North America, but growth in key emerging markets is slowing. Revenues were down 13.5% last year, in large part from unfavorable currency conversions.
Company Financials (2015, or most recently completed fiscal year)
|Market Value as of 8/26/16 ($M)||66981|


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All posts tagged "Kiana Craig"
/ 10 months ago
Brick police detectives arrested three people after discovering a gun, armor-piercing bullets, knives and drugs in a vehicle stopped on Herbertsville...
/ 3 years ago
Two Brick teens are facing charges stemming from the robbery of the township’s Walmart store, with one facing an assault charge...


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Overwatch’s Anniversary Event kicks off on May 19, and players are already taking issue with one of the new skins, blasting the color scheme for Dragoon Mercy.
The skin, which was first unveiled on May 17, features the support hero in dragon-like armor consisting of a helmet made out of the skull of the mythical creature. The big problem that people have with the cosmetic, however, is its color: green.
Across the fandom, fans have complained about the green armor, hoping that it was anything but.
“My imagination ran wild when we first heard about the skin. but seeing the real thing, it’s really good and I know it would look better if it wasn’t green,” user j21543 wrote on Reddit.
“I never thought there’d be an ugly Mercy skin that could compare to Devil/Imp,” fayescarlet sighed.
In less than a day, some fans went out of their way to “fix” the skin by changing up its colors and the result is really neat.
Redditor ZenofyMedia listened to the community’s suggestions and put together an album with all sorts of color variants.
In either blue, black, purple or dark gray, the skin seems to be much more well-received, but the artist noted that getting it right was hard.
“Personally, I wasn’t a fan of Blizzard’s choice, but having tried my hand at it – it’s difficult!” they wrote. “She has exceptional skins particularly ones that are Blue/Purple and I feel like they’re pretty hard to top, I think this is a valiant attempt, but just not quite there all in all.”
While it’s unlikely that Blizzard changes the skin before the event comes out, hopefully they’ll add in some color variants of the Dragoon skin in time for the 2021 Anniversary or even Overwatch 2.


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Tripleplay Develops Tie-In With Mersive’s Wireless Workplace Technology
January 30, 2020 by Dave Haynes
One of the tactics for digital signage companies to find their way into new opportunities is to develop integrations with other technology companies that have already established footprints in specific verticals.
Saying your company has a solution that already works seamlessly with “X” – whatever X may be – tends to be more compelling than a standalone solution that has to be installed, learned and run as its own distinct thing.
Workplace is a hot vertical these days because of a need to communicate, inform and motivate staffers in useful ways. Company e-mails don’t get read. Intranets don’t get visited. But screens are hard to miss.
So it is not surprising, at all, that some savvy CMS providers are working with companies like Zoom and Denver’s Mersive Technologies, which has a wireless collaboration and communications solution for workplaces. Think of it as kinda sorta working like a Chromecast, enabling wireless pushes and controls to meeting room screens. It does more than that, but that’s the core.
UK-based digital signage and IPTV provider Tripleplay says it now has an integration with Mersive’s Solstice technology, which means a meeting room display can also be be a digital signage display.
Mersive’s Solstice wireless collaboration solution boosts productivity by putting content at the center of the meeting experience. Participants are more engaged because Solstice’s intuitive, software-based interface makes it easy for any number of users to share content from any device. Moreover, corporations and universities can securely deploy the solution across locations and centrally manage them from a single console.
“The integration between Tripleplay and Solstice exemplifies how great software is transforming the meeting room experience,” says Rob Balgley, CEO of Mersive. “What once required two proprietary hardware devices now requires just one commodity platform with robust software from two partners that has been seamlessly integrated.
This new integration will allow seamless transitioning between Solstice meeting room content sharing and Tripleplay’s digital signage solution, utilizing screen time throughout organizations to enhance staff communications and engagement. Some of the solution’s key features include:
- Distribution of content to any Solstice-enabled display
- Easy management of displays across the enterprise
- Display of Tripleplay Digital Signage content
- Digital Signage and wireless content sharing on one platform
“Mersive integration is a great new simple innovation for Tripleplay and a feature that has been requested by a number of our corporate clients around the world,” adds Mike Ditum, Head of Software Development at Tripleplay.
The tie-in will be demo’d at ISE in a couple of weeks. A quick run through Mersive’s web site suggests Appspace – which has forever mined tie-ins with business tech companies like Cisco – also has an integration.
I know another UK company has quietly done an integration, as well, with Mersive that will be announced soon, along with a separate one for Airtame’s wireless tech.
Based on PR and what I have been getting lately, wireless content delivery and signal connectivity will be increasingly big topics in the coming months.
One caveat – A ChromeCast is sub $50. A Mersive unit is $1,000+. Again, it does more, but no one should be thinking this is a budget-friendly solution for signage alone.


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Events in the cement sector in the last couple of weeks have been really worrisome.
Ever since BUA Group Chairman, Abdul Samad Rabiu disclosed that his products would be sold at 3,500 per bag, the other players in the industry have been jittery.
First, the media was and is still agog with rhetorics over whether the price reduction was possible and feasible. Obviously, most of these did not come from outsiders in the industry but sponsored by industry leaders who feel threatened. Because these have not worked, stories of BUA Cement unavailability started circulating, also from the same sources.
Meanwhile, investigations revealed that BUA Distributors in EDO, Sokoto and some other parts have been picking their supplies at 3,500 per bag. Indeed one of them,
Mike Igwe, a distributor who spoke with us confirmed that ever since the price was reduced, he has been buying at that price and that those who claim that BUA is yet to effect the price change don’t know what they are saying.
According to him, ‘the other manufacturers have reasons to be afraid. They are definitely going to lose out in the market’. Who will abandon where he’s buying for 3,500 NAIRA per bag and go to Dangote where he will pay over 5,500 Naira? he further asked.
Speaking further the Benin-based cement dealer suggested that road transportation, especially the bad roads occasioned by the rains could have been the reason why other parts of the country did not immediately enjoy what he and many other distributors around had been enjoying. However with the rains already going, other parts of the country, must have started receiving their supplies at the new price. He also figured that BUA must have jerked up production to meet the increased demand as more buyers are switching over.
Other distributors we spoke with revealed that Dangote specifically has come under intense pressure since the price reduction by BUA and has been looking for ways to ensure that he does not lose customers. They confirmed that Dangote has been giving out one free truck for every seven trucks bought by distributors, all in a bid to ensure that he saves his face. But, according to builders we spoke with, this form of tokenism will not trickle to retailers and there is no way the consumers can feel it either. This is because if you give one truck to a distributor who bought seven trucks, he will prefer to sell rather than give away the cement.
There is no doubt that Dangote and Lafarge’s reaction to BUA’s decision to cut the price of cement really betrayed their position vis a vis the current situation in the country. Nigerians need succor from all fronts. They need business leaders who can rise above money making interests and feel for the people.
Both organizations have been jittery and have resorted to arm twisting BUA rather than taking concrete steps to try and maintain their share of the market.
It is also worthy of note that sponsored analysts are springing up to make wild claims that the price cut is neither practicable nor sustainable. This, industry players know is coming from those who feel threatened by the BUA move.
For Dangote, many distributors saw this opportunity as a major step towards moving away from the company’s high handed practices. Those who spoke with us pointed to the fact that they cannot pay cash to him but only credit. According to them, Dangote will always hold on to their cash whenever price changes. He will hardly make refund if there’s increase in price unless you pay the extra money added on top.
This is unlike the practice with BUA where they supply you the goods with the old price even if there’s price increase. And given the volatility of the market presently, with BUA Cement promising to reduce the price further when they hit the 17million Tons per annum target, no one will like to be caught off guard.
Nigerians need to mount pressure on the other major cement manufacturers to join BUA in reducing the price of cement. The pressure created by the BUA move could be seen in the number of times Dangote has come out to deny any form of price increase. Meanwhile, rather than decreasing the price so that the masses can benefit, he has decided to gift distributors one truck each if and when they buy seven trucks. His intransigence and unwillingness will further make the market volatile, unpredictable and consumers may continue with this till first quarter of 2024 when BUA hits the 17million tons per Annum target and force all of them to drop prices to the 3,000 NAIRA per bag which Abdul Samad Rabiu promised Nigerians.
The dilemma the other manufacturers face now is that prices are already coming down and this trend will continue as BUA cement gets supplied at the new price all over the country.
It’s only a matter of time.


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After striving for nearly six years to make Mademoiselle a must-read magazine for smart women in their 20's, Elizabeth Crow suddenly resigned as editor in chief this week, a resignation her employers at Conde Nast announced yesterday after persuading her to keep working until December.
Conde Nast, a unit of Advance Publications, expects to name a new editor for Mademoiselle sometime next week, a company spokeswoman said, and Ms. Crow will work with that person for a four-month transition period.
Ms. Crow intends to pursue her interest in new media, she said, after first taking ''a very long vacation.''
Battling in the competitive women's magazine field, Mademoiselle has experienced a five-year decline in advertising pages, to 582 in the first six months of this year from 960 in the period in 1994, according to estimates by the Publishers Information Bureau. In the last year, the number of ad pages fell 17.2 percent and ad revenue dropped 13.9 percent, a loss of more than $5 million, according to the estimates.
But a special advertising supplement called Currency, added to Conde Nast magazines last year, was not published this year, accounting for some of the decline, said Maurie Perl, the Conde Nast spokeswoman. Ms. Crow said the magazine, which has a circulation of 1.1 million, was profitable. Conde Nast is privately held.Continue reading the main story
This week, the Walt Disney Company announced an agreement to sell Fairchild Publications Inc. to Advance, bringing Jane, a competitor of Mademoiselle, under the same corporate umbrella and leading to some speculation inside Conde Nast that the two titles would be merged.
Asked last week about the speculation, Ms. Crow said that Conde Nast had a number of magazines, like Mademoiselle and Glamour, that competed with one another and that a merger would be unnecessary.
Since she took over in October 1993, when Mademoiselle was losing money and had an uncertain identity, Ms. Crow has tried to appeal to sophisticated and technologically adept young women, adding articles about the Internet to those about fashion, beauty and relationships. As part of a redesign in February, the magazine began putting the address of a Web site, chat room or home page at the end of every article.
Ms. Crow said the magazine's research had found sharp increases in visits to the Internet after the addresses were published.
Correction: August 31, 1999, Tuesday Because of an editing error, an article in Business Day on Friday about the resignation of Elizabeth Crow, editor in chief of Mademoiselle, misstated a comparison in the magazine's advertising pages. According to estimates by the Publishers Information Bureau, advertising pages rose to 582 for the first six months of this year, compared with 438 in that period in 1994. They did not decline; 960 was the figure for all of 1994.Continue reading the main story


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After Tuesday’s Xbox One reveal, reports came forward that Microsoft would block used games, or at least charge those playing used games a fee. Microsoft finally came out with an official statement that didn’t clear much up, but a report out today offers more details.
MCV reports that Microsoft will be taking command of the pre-owned market with a system that gives publishers and itself a cut of every used game sale. In fact, the new system detailed today would give retailers about the same cut as it gets from selling used games.
As you already know, each Xbox One game will tie itself to a single Xbox Live account when installed on the system. In essence, you are buying a license to use that software.
Now, this is where things get interesting. Those who sell their game to a retailer will have that game’s license removed from their system. This will all be done through Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform – the same platform that will power Xbox Live on the new console.
Once the game is in the hands of the retailer, they can sell it for whatever price they like. Unfortunately, that price may be higher than usual thanks to Microsoft and publishers now getting a cut of every pre-owned sale. In fact, unconfirmed reports are saying that retailers will only get to pocket 10 percent of pre-owned sales. The current pre-owned market allows retailers to pocket all of the money from sales.
While this may be good for publishers and Microsoft, I find it hard to believe that retailers would accept these terms. Retailers like GameStop can only survive thanks to the used game market. Taking that revenue away from them makes many, including myself, think that GameStop and others will refuse to sell pre-owned Xbox One titles.
It should be noted that these are unconfirmed reports for now. It wouldn’t surprise me, however, to see Microsoft working with publishers to take back the profits from the pre-owned market. It may be good for them in the short run, but I can only see it blowing up in their faces further down the road.


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Thompson On Cotton: An Economy Reluctant To Change
February 21, 2023
By Jeff Thompson, Autauga Quality Cotton
Last week saw cotton prices suffer their worst decline since October 24, 2022. Giving up four cents to settle Friday at 81.50, May futures is very near falling through its long-standing support. For seventy-one consecutive trading sessions, it has only closed below 80 cents four times the last of which was early December, 2022. Monday’s market holiday is much needed as hopefully cooler heads will prevail when trading resumes.
Even so, today’s market is confronted with a host of negative influences which appear to be strengthening. The strongest of these headwinds and a major factor behind the recent selloff is an economy reluctant to change. The consumer price index, a leading indicator of inflation, retreated in January to 6.4 percent from 6.5 percent the previous month. However, after declining from a 40 year high of 9.1 percent in June this cooling trend seems to be moderating. Adding to this worry, wholesale prices fell in January at a much slower pace while retail sales increased by three percent, the largest monthly gain in two years. Unsatisfied with this pace, the Fed can be expected to continue their hawkish efforts by further tightening the screws. Those of us around in the late 70’s are having horrid flashbacks. Cotton’s worry must be that a strong U.S. dollar and a squeezed consumer will do little to increase demand.
Consequently, last week’s export sales and shipments cast further doubt on the world’s appetite for cotton. Though failing to build on the previous week’s heavy volume, sales of 218,930 bales remain well above what is needed to reach the projected 12 million. However, shipments of only 193,300 bales are only two-thirds the volume needed to meet it.
Other obstacles in the way, include growing China – U.S. political tensions, slower economic recovery in China, and a looming showdown in Congress over the debt limit.
Where to from here? It’s quite apparent, for the moment at least, the market is more concerned with the demand side of the equation rather than the production side. Therefore, it’s very difficult to be bullish. With market participants now repositioned after the March – May roll period trading should stabilize somewhat with their focus shifting to fundamentals and macroeconomic news. There is still a significant amount of cotton in the hands of growers as many took advantage of the cheap spreads to roll unpriced cotton out to May or July. It may take all this time for prices to reach expectations. This week all eyes will be on the 80-cent support level and if it can hold. If broken, sell signals will be triggered sending managed funds short. Once again, there was no CFTC report as computer problems still plague the system. We are being told they will be back online next week. Though we can do little to stop the spec’s movement, it’s helpful to know which direction they’re going and to what extent Turning our attention to new crop futures, Dec 23, be mindful it trades with a longer time horizon in mind. As planters roll, acreage is better known, and the usual hiccups in getting cotton to a stand are experienced better pricing opportunities for new crop should present themselves in the weeks ahead.


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The average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil, popularly known as diesel, paid by consumers increased by 55.90 percent in one year as businesses and households battled to maintain operations.
According to recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), diesel prices rose year-on-year from N312 to N840 per litre in March 2023. On a month-on-month basis, it increased by 0.47 percent from N829 per litre in January.
Nigerian households and businesses are taking a beating as the rising cost of diesel and naira scarcity persist, coupled with a high inflation rate, pushing the cost of living higher.
Businesses have no choice but to increase the cost of their products to maintain their profit margin, while some households that use diesel generators have reverted to petrol generators and also renewable energy to cut their expenses.
Leke Opeyemi, a pump operator working for TINPET in Orile, Lagos, said sales had dropped significantly on the back of the steep rise in diesel prices in the past few weeks.
“The hike in price has affected sales,” said Opeyemi. “The number of people coming in has lessened, and the quantity they are getting has reduced.”
Many pump operators assigned to the diesel section have been having little to no activity, thereby dampening their zeal to resume work.
Even some stations (as of the time of this report), such as Saitaru in Orile and Golden Super in Ijora-Badia, have shut down their diesel pumps, focusing on petrol and kerosene sales.
“The high cost of diesel is eating into our income,” Olufemi Omotayo, a truck driver in Lagos, said.
The issue becomes even more frustrating, according to the young man, when they have to pay several tax collectors (Agberos) on their interstate business travels.
“This is really not funny,” he said. “The government needs to come to our rescue and intervene.”
According to Alimat Adesanya, a printing press operator, it is tough to complete work because the cost of supplies has soared this time of year.
“We have reduced the time of operation of our diesel machine due to this hike,” he said.
Looking at the variations in diesel prices across different states, the NBS said the states with the highest average product price in March 2023 include Bauchi with N910, Abuja with N889 and Adamawa with N880.
On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Bayelsa with N768, followed by Katsina with N779 and Edo with N797.
The Zonal representation of average price of diesel shows that North East has the highest price of N856.42 while South South has the lowest price N816.92 when compared with other zones.


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The colours have been in the spotlight since last year, when the so-called Southampton study identified the behavioural link.
At the end of last year, UK ministers backed a voluntary ban proposed by the FSA to phase out Tartrazine (E102), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow (E110), Carmoisine (E122), Ponceau 4R (E124) and Allura Red (E129) from food products by 2009, in parallel with action at an EU level.
The FSA yesterday published a list of product ranges from manufacturers, caterers and retailers that have informed the agency of reformulation. The agency said it is publicizing the product ranges in order to encourage further action by industry.
Packaged food product lines free from the colours include:
· Worldfoods products from the Asian Asset Group
· Green Bay products from Green Bay
· Heinz, Weight Watchers from Heinz, HP, Lea & Perrins, manufactured by Heinz
· Vimto drinks, Panda drinks, Sunkist drinks from Vimto Soft Drinks
In addition, retailers that have produced own range product lines free from the colours include Asda, Iceland, Marks & Spencer and Tesco.
On the restaurant side, McDonald’s has said it is complying with the voluntary ban.
The swell of resistance to additives puts food manufacturers in the spotlight if they remove the colours from products in some colours but do not take parallel action in others, either because regulations do not require them to or because there is not the same level of consumer pressure.
For instance, Nestle has removed all artificial colours from its Smarties confectionery products in the UK – a move that was not without its challenges as it was some time before spirulina was identified as a suitable source of natural blue. In the meantime, once-blue Smarties were white.
On a European level, the Southampton colours have attracted considerable attention from MEPs, who voted in July for products containing the colours to be labelled "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children".
Some industry commentators have called the labelling, which will be mandatory in 18 months, a de facto ban since no marketer would use such wording on products for children.
In the UK, FSA chief executive Tim Smith sent a letter to stakeholders dated 12 November 2008, saying ministers had agreed on the approach proposed, “on the basis that the FSA a takes proportionate and targeted approach to the issue, including flexibility around the products covered and target dates”.
Ministers also said the FSA should work with food manufacturers and retailers who are unable to meet the deadline of end-2009.
FSA yesterday said food manufacturers wishing to notify the agency that their brands or products are free of these colours should contact it with the details.


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Thainstone’s recent plant, machinery and equipment sale, with 83% of the 3,554 lots sold, attracted more than 2,000 bidders, including a variety of buyers from across the UK and Ireland flocking to the centre at the weekend (16/04/16).
Mark Barrack, head of specialist auctions at ANM Group, said: “The auction continues to grow in popularity amongst buyers and sellers with a steady increase in entries and lots sold on the day. Due to favourable currency exchange rates, our online bidding system, i-bidder, experienced a surge in activity from Europe, as well as an increased number of buyers from Ireland.”
The sale of farm-consigned machinery and implements was notable, said Mr Barrack. A 20ft Herbst cattle trailer sold for £5,300; a Claas Volto tedder realised £5,000; and a Kinbroom flat trailer achieved £3,300.
Alan Hutcheon, auctions operations manager at Aberdeen and Northern Marts, said: “The auction experienced a strong trade with lots selling quickly as buyers benefited from a diverse range of good quality of plant, machinery and equipment available.”
The next plant, machinery and equipment sale, which takes place eight times a year, is scheduled for Saturday 21st May from 9am at Thainstone Centre, Inverurie.
For entries, contact Alan Hutcheon for tractors and implements on 01467 623711 or Mark Barrack for vehicles, 4x4s, plant and machinery on 01467 623754.


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The pan-European solar recycling scheme PV Cycle has announced that it has opened a UK-based branch.
According to PV-Cycle, the new UK PV Cycle branch in Oswerty, Shropshire, will allow the scheme to ‘better serve UK-based PV value chain actors in their new waste treatment obligations and play a pivotal role in contributing to the current WEEE transposition process at a national level.’
The new branch will continue to make use of the association’s existing fixed collection points as well as the direct pick-up service. In addition, the UK office will work to ensure the legal compliance of ‘UK Producers and support distributors, wholesalers, retailers and any other value chain actors that do not fall under the WEEE Producer definition’.
Commenting on the new branch, Jan Clyncke, managing director at PV Cycle said: “We are now building upon our ability to offer attractive WEEE-compliance solutions to our existing members and to UK PV companies and module owners.
“With hundreds of collection points, certified waste transporters and specialised recycling partners, PV CYCLE is today's only fully operational take-back and recycling scheme for all types of PV technologies.”


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A recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between China’s Suzhou City and enterprise-level blockchain Cypherium has set tongues wagging about the prospect of blockchain-powered smart cities.
Suzhou: A Truly Blockchain-Friendly City
The MoU concerns the city’s development of blockchain infrastructure, which builds on recent momentum in the Jiangsu region. Along with Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xiongan, Suzhou is acting as a testing ground for China’s much-discussed Central Bank Digital Currency, the Digital Yuan. With a population of 4.3 million within its city limits, and 10.5 million in its administrative area, the major economic center could represent a template for the smart cities of the future.
As well as piloting the Digital Yuan, Suzhou was previously involved in a blockchain-based notary program that aimed to help citizens access legal and government offices. Cypherium, a smart contract platform known for its hybrid consensus mechanism combining proof-of-work and HotStuff Byzantine fault tolerance, hopes to help the city realize its ambition of becoming a fully-fledged blockchain district.
While efforts are likely to center around currency in the short term, blockchain technology could theoretically be used to drive urban innovation, enable data collection and information exchange, and make cities more resistant to cyberattacks. In Dubai, many blockchain initiatives have already been unveiled including an ecosystem governing the registration and use of electric vehicles and a nationwide KYC data platform.
“Cities in China are saying, ‘Hey listen, let’s utilize blockchain technology all the way from our data processing to our currencies’,” noted Bitcoin miner and crypto investor Mr Kristof via his popular YouTube channel.
“This is really cool stuff. In the next 2-5 years, I guarantee that what we’re seeing in Suzhou is going to be a common narrative, almost maybe on every continent where there’s a major city, it wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing more cities say, ‘Hey, we’re going to adopt this, we’re going to integrate this, we’re going to use this.’”
Finding Interoperability Solutions for CBDCs
In many respects, the MoU between Cypherium and Suzhou is no surprise. After all, the New York-based startup pioneered the world’s first cross-chain interoperability solution for China’s Digital Yuan, and has already sealed partnerships with the likes of Google, Randstad, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM. If any city is looking to beef up their blockchain infrastructure, Cypherium is just the sort of company to have on deck.
Cyphereium boss Sky Guo previously co-founded the OMFIF Digital Monetary Institute, with the goal of building bridges between cryptocurrencies and legacy banking institutions. Guo recently asserted that Central Bank Digital Currencies would be used for cross-border payments in the next couple of years or sooner. The Bank of England is currently preparing a virtual roundtable at OMFIF alongside the Swiss National Bank, ING Group and Cypherium, and other countries considering CBDCs include Japan and Sweden.
The infrastructure of tomorrow’s world is likely to combine blockchain, IoT and AI, and many locales have already launched projects harnessing such technologies, not least Tel Aviv, Milan, Stockholm and Estonia. In the short term, expect the world’s eyes to be on China as their Digital Yuan and associated projects move towards maturity.
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Morning Brief: Meredith begins to offer subscriptions via their tablet editions; Short-selling bank stocks a no-no now in parts of Europe; Republicans kick off crazy season
Before we start this morning, a few updates – to apps, that is. A slew of updates were made this morning to media apps, all of them relatively minor.
One of them is to the B2B app from the American Chemical Society which TNM wrote about yesterday: C&EN Mobile, which is the universal app for Chemical & Engineering News. Like the others for The New Yorker Magazine and IKEA Catalogue, the app description only mentions minor bug fixes. This update doesn’t include the August issues – in fact, I doubt an update will be necessary in order to bring in new issues, that, I sure, can be done on the backend.
Meredith has updated its magazine apps and will now sell subscriptions direction through Apple’s App Store, as well as offer it current print subscribers with free access to the tablet editions.
The move contrasts with the constant drumbeat coming from some media quarters that Apple has been ripping off publishers with its App Store policies, which readers, on the other hand, have been blasting publishers within the store for not offering subscription prices in line with what they are willing of offer outside the store.
The BH&Gs app, for instance, has far more one star reviews than five (four to one negative) with the same complaint, exemplified by this review:
My wife was excited…until: My wife has a years subscription for which she paid 12 dollars. She was excited to find this app until she saw the $4 per issue cost. That would come out to $48 per year. Four times the cost of receiving the actual magazine in the mail. What a rip off!
If a consumer is a magazine reader they are smart enough to know that print subscriptions are discounted, why not digital editions which not only save on production, but distributions costs, as well – far more than the 30 percent Apple is taking, by the way.
Four European nations have banned short-selling on banks and other financial institutions in a move to stabilize their markets. France’s Autorite des Marches Financiers will ban short-selling on 11 bank and insurance stocks for 15 days following a sharp drop in some stocks caused by rumors.
Italy, Spain and Belgium are the other three countries to make the temporary move.
Yesterday stocks in both Europe and the U.S. were sharply higher.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has made it official,
Meanwhile, eight previously declared candidates debated on Fox News. None called for nationalizing the means of production or advocated for free love.
It promises to be another long political season.


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The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) has handed over a multi-faceted bauxite beads production facility to the Abompe community in the Fanteakwa South District in the Eastern Region.
The structure, which will serve as a common-use facility for bauxite beads producers in the community, includes a new workshop that comprises a production floor space, a warehouse and washroom facilities.
A media release issued by the authority said the facility had also been equipped with seven machines to enhance the production process and increase output.
Consequently, members of the Abompe Bauxite Beads Producers Association (ABBPA), the main beneficiary of the facility, have undergone intensive training on the use of the machines to enable them to maximise their output.
Hitherto, bauxite bead makers in the area produced their wares using rudimentary manual tools and worked from their homes and other dilapidated structures at the mercy of extreme weather conditions.
After series of interactions with the leadership of the association, the GEPA decided to support the group with a decent facility they could work from.
At the handing over ceremony at Abompe on July 30, 2020, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEPA, Dr Afua Asabea Asare, recalled that during a working visit to the area in 2019 GEPA executives had remarkable reviews about bauxite beads but were stunned to know they were being produced under a slow manual process by scattered entities.
“Today we are proud to inaugurate this facility that has ample floor space for working, washrooms and a warehouse for storage of their products. Abompe can also boast of its own One district-One factory,” she said.
Dr Asare said the authority, as an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, was mandated to develop and promote Ghana’s non-traditional exports and consequently diversify Ghana’s exports for increased foreign exchange.
Over the years, she said, the GEPA had taken the lead in identifying a wide variety of products in the categories of agribusiness, processed and semi-processed items, handicraft and professional services.
She noted that although the 2018 non-traditional exports report showed a significant growth in the handicraft sector, indicating 23.65 per cent over the previous year, it only contributed 0.46 per cent to the total sector earnings.
Thus, she said the authority introduced a number of initiatives to uplift the handicraft sector and improve output generally to enable Ghana’s art and craft to regain an enviable position on the export market.
“Work has begun in Aburi to construct an ultramodern craft centre that will serve as a tourist shopping centre, as well as an exhibition space. We have similar plans for the art and craft centres in Abrafo in the Central Region, Kpetoe in the Volta Region and the Bolga straw market in the Upper East Region,” she said.
She added that those initiatives were aligned to the industrialisation agenda of the government.
She commended the Abompehene, Nana Barima Kwadwo Addo, for being instrumental in supporting the GEPA acquire the site for the facility.


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Authenteq, the Icelandic startup, was selected by CTIA Innovation Council Investor Advisors as one of the five most forward-thinking, innovative companies worldwide in the category of identity management.
The post Trusted identity verification – Authenteq is here! appeared first on Nordic Startup Bits.
Trusted. Authentic. Identity. These words describe the Icelandic startup Authenteq. Their great vision and innovative technology, that secures interaction between users of the sharing economy and eliminates possible deception, earned them a place as one of the CTIA Startup Lab Finalists 2015.
"We are very proud to be acknowledged as one of the most innovative seed-stage companies in mobile technology and it is a great opportunity for us to connect with the Council’s mobile industry leaders," says Kari Thor Runarsson, CEO and founder of Authenteq.
Authenteq — Automatic Identity Verification
Authenteq is a networked automatic identity verification platform. They want to promote the use of trusted identity online. With an Authenteq ID, marketplaces increase trust and transparency in communications and transactions between users. They point out that it is not always a matter of knowing the person on the other side of the transaction, but trusting them.
"We are pioneering ways to use a trusted identity online to increase the trust and transparency between people when interacting online. We don’t think it’s acceptable that people can do whatever they want when online and hide behind anonymity when it comes to P2P interactions," says Kari Thor Runarsson.
Authenteq works on just about any type of marketplace, website or online community and can be installed either with APIs or by using their plugin. One of the co-founders has experience in developing electronic IDs for governments, and it is that kind of high quality Authenteq wants to provide to regular people and companies. By connecting the online and offline versions of identity verification, Authenteq creates an identity that can be used on many different websites. They ensure that the person that signs up for the ID is actually the person signing up. This is done by adding multiple elements of identity to each person’s Authenteq ID.
Authenteq emphasises that all the data that is provided during the verification process is not saved directly, but encrypted and cannot be reversed engineered. This is done because people don’t like the idea of someone having access to their personal information.
Travel frustrations kick-started the idea
18 months ago Kari was travelling and rented a car. When he wanted to return the car to get his security deposit it was a very long process, because they didn’t believe the photo on his ID was a match to the real person. Kari got the deposit back after a long time. The frustration over the time consuming process and the doubt he was facing, kick-started the idea behind Authenteq.
Challenges occur daily
As a startup you encounter challenges everyday, but it isn’t always product and service development that lead to the most stress. One of the biggest challenges Authenteq faces is funding. They don’t have a product yet, and therefore they need to make the investors believe in their vision. They have 60 seconds to position themselves and convince the investors that their idea is the best. During the past 18 months, Authenteq has received 180,000 dollars in feed money and currently they are looking for a larger feed round.
Who is Authenteq?
Authenteq consists of three men, who are very passionate about the startup world.
Kari Thor Runarsson, CEO and Co-founder, has a Master’s in Marketing. He has always been very tech focused. In 2008, during the financial collapse, he lost his job, which woke up his passion for entrepreneurship. He wanted to become his own boss. Together with a programmer, he started with his own idea. After some time getting to know the startup scene, he and another startup merged together and created CLARA. It became the first startup in Iceland after the financial crisis and gave hope to the Icelandic startup scene.
Runar Karlsson, CSO and Co-funder, has decades of experience in IT security and ID implementation in two countries and makes sure that Authenteq’s products are living up to international standards.
Johann Sigurdsson, CTO and Co-founder, makes all of their hard work become a reality and is right now working on getting Authenteq ready for launch.
Together Kari, Runar and Johann have started Authenteq and with a mutual passion they are working hard to make the company a success.
Las Vegas was a huge honor
Being picked as a part of the CTIA Startup Lab Finalists 2015 gave Authenteq the chance to go to Las Vegas and pitch their idea on stage.
"The companies that were selected in the final in our group, were all further along in the life-cycle then us, some with $13M and $18M in investments. So it was a huge honour for us, such a small startup with a product still in development to be selected. But I think it also shows the potential of what we are building."
After Authenteq pitched their idea they received feedback and got the chance to meet with potential investors. They talked to a number of industry (mobile tech) related people, such as the CEO of Electronic Transactions Association. They also met high-level executives, such as the VP of Innovation at Samsung, Apple, Facebook, AT&T as well as some VC meetings.
The entire trip was a huge honour. Authenteq saw it as an opportunity to create a larger network and opening doors. Kari points out that one thing he noticed was the huge difference between the US and the European Startup Scene. The questions they received were very different than the ones they received in Europe and it opened an entirely new way of thinking to them.
Authenteq is still in development and is only a few weeks away from launch. This Icelandic startup is a new strong competitor to the startup environment.


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NEW YORK (AP) — Companies that provide weight-loss products and services are poised to capitalize on growing concerns over obesity, an analyst said Friday as he initiated coverage of Herbalife Ltd. and Weight Watchers International Inc.
Brian Wang of Barclays Capital said in a client note that about 70 percent of the U.S. population is overweight, while the rest of the world is at 25 percent and climbing. With so many people affected by obesity, weight-loss companies have growing potential markets.
Wang, who started both Herbalife and Weight Watchers with "Overweight" ratings, said that the companies' current stock prices don't reflect their full potential. The rating indicates Barclays expects the stocks to outperform.
Herbalife, a nutrition and weight loss company, has benefited from transitioning from selling bulk products infrequently to selling individual servings for a nominal fee on a daily basis, Wang said.
"This has expanded the number of people who can afford its products, increased distributor retention and engagement and driven very strong financial results for the past several years," the analyst wrote.
Wang added that Herbalife's more than 80 markets don't appear to be fully saturated yet, "so we believe it can achieve strong growth for many more years."
Herbalife's stock climbed $3.18, or almost 5 percent percent, to $70.06 in afternoon trading, approaching its 52-week high of $70.35.
Wang said Weight Watchers should be able to grow its business for at least the next several years through such initiatives as international expansion, building up its online business, advertising to men for the first time, developing new products and remodeling and relocating stores.
Shares of Weight Watchers, which is based in New York, added $1.73, or 2.2 percent to $79.42.


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CHICAGO, July 16 (UPI) -- There is no future in the frozen pork-bellies futures contract market, officials at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange said.
Frozen pork bellies are used to make bacon and at one time were an anchor product of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which announced Friday it was dropping the contracts, the Financial Times reported.
"Because of a prolonged lack of trading volume and after significant discussion with industry participants, CME will be delisting frozen pork bellies futures and options" effective Monday, CME said in a statement to traders.
WLS-TV, Chicago, said frozen pork bellies was the oldest existing CME livestock futures contract. It started trading in 1961, but the market has shifted to fresh pork bellies, reducing the demand for the frozen product.
The Wall Street Journal said the idea behind the frozen pork bellies contract was to help meat packers and food companies manage the price they pay for bacon.
The frozen bellies were stored in winter, then thawed in the summer to supply an increased in demand for bacon as the nation started eating millions of bacon-lettuce-and tomato sandwiches.


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- Inflation fears gasoline Bitcoin demand as buyers shift consideration to exhausting cash.
- Assessing the likelihood of short-term promote stress or sustained upside.
Bitcoin has regained sturdy bullish exercise this week which has pushed it to a brand new 6-month excessive and a brand new YTD excessive. However the motive for this rally is much extra attention-grabbing and should set the tempo for Bitcoin’s efficiency for the remainder of the yr.
Bitcoin largely attributes its newest rally to fears about conventional finance’s collapse. These issues have triggered a lack of confidence within the banking trade particularly after Signature and SVB collapsed.
Issues about conventional finance pressures could have prompted many to maneuver their funds into Bitcoin.
The TradFi concerns have additional been exasperated by inflation issues. Current studies reveal that the Federal Reserve reportedly printed $300 billion this week. The transfer places the FED in a troublesome place and undermines current efforts to fight inflation.
The US Federal Reserve printed $300 BILLION previously week to avoid wasting the banks
Half went to holding corporations for Silicon Valley Financial institution & Signature Financial institution. The Fed did not disclose the opposite half
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 17, 2023
Experiences additionally declare that half of the printed quantity was used to bail out SVB and Signature Financial institution after their current woes. The weekly Bitcoin rally is vital as a result of it confirms a optimistic response to inflation issues.
A choice for exhausting cash is predicted below such situations, therefore extra BTC demand is predicted if the FED continues to print cash.
Evaluating the present Bitcoin demand
The newest surge in Bitcoin demand is extra obvious, particularly amongst retail patrons. The variety of Bitcoin addresses presently holding at the least 0.01 BTC recenty surged to a brand new historic excessive. This confirms that retail patrons have been accumulating.
Earlier ATH of 11,676,567 was noticed on 16 March 2023
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) March 17, 2023
Whales have additionally been accumulating BTC. The variety of addresses holding over 1,000 BTC has been on the rise since 12 February. Nevertheless, whale demand remains to be comparatively low provided that the market remains to be decrease than its weekly excessive.
Can Bitcoin maintain the present rally?
Bitcoin trade flows reveal that each trade inflows and outflows have tanked considerably within the final 24 hours. This means a drop in the buying and selling pressure.
However, trade inflows had been barely increased than outflows at press time, confirming that there was some promoting stress.
Furthermore, there was a surge in demand for BTC derivatives this week. This was evident by the surge in open curiosity to a brand new weekly excessive.
Nevertheless, regardless of this surge, the extent of leverage out there remains to be low, hinting at some degree of uncertainty out there.
The aforementioned uncertainty could counsel that buyers are uncertain as as to whether BTC can sum up sufficient promoting stress. Or, whether or not it could possibly maintain the present rally within the short term.


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Scalpers at Hong Kong Apple Store iPhone 4S Launch [video]
Scalpers invade Hong Kong Apple Store for the newly launched iPhone 4S.
Video: iPhone 4 S Hong Kong Launch Scalpers
The first six local customers who got the iPhone 4S from the Apple store. The guy in the red jacket is the first in line. They have admitted they will resell the new iPhone for profits.
Each customer purchased five iPhone 4S, and every single one was doing the same thing.
Earlier, iPhone 4S pre-order sold out in Hong Kong in 10 minutes. Now the scalpers hit the lines at IFC Hong Kong Apple Store.
Apple allowed purchase of 5 iPhone per customer (all iPhone sold there are carrier unlocked). Apple Store quickly sold out of iPhone 4S by the gang of professional queuers. Sold to gray market merchants who then sell them for a huge mark up.
Scalpers even prepared luggage and couriers to bring the unlocked iPhone 4S to China, India, and the Middle East on the same day.


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- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Victoria’s Secret looks for international lift
- Dan Eaton
Limited Brands Inc.’s steady move toward international growth is beyond crawling and ready to walk, maybe even run, in 2010.
“There’s a paradigm shift that happened sometime in the last 12 months,” CEO Les Wexner said at an October meeting with securities analysts. “We’re taking it very seriously.”
The shift is a focus on international growth beyond what Martin Waters, executive vice president of Limited Brands International, said is a $1 billion annual business without counting initial foreign forays by the company’s Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works stores.
Within the next three years, as shops begin to open worldwide, the $9 billion company expects to double its international take to $2 billion through an approach that includes improving performance at its Canadian La Senza lingerie chain, growing its other chains in Canada and securing additional partners for overseas operations.
The company’s international sales come from four sources:
La Senza’s more than 300 stores in Canada and more than 300 licensed stores outside North America, which combine for more than $750 million in annual sales.
Victoria’s Secret online and catalog sales, at about $100 million a year.
Export sales at airport duty-free stores, also valued at about $100 million.
Bath & Body Works’ initial excursions into Canada also account for $100 million.
“We’ve learned, absolutely learned, that our brands have appeal all over the world,” Waters said. “And we’ve learned how to make money.”
Topping the to-do list is righting La Senza, which has struggled since it was acquired for $609 million in 2007. Sales at La Senza stores open at least a year were down 6 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 31. The company hired Joanne Nemeroff as president of the chain this year and has seen encouraging results from new marketing and store layout tests, Martyn Redgrave, Limited’s chief administrative officer, said in a November conference call with stock analysts.
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The publishing team behind the upcoming mech action game Hawken has raised $18 million in new venture capital funding as it prepares for its official launch later this year.
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Meteor Entertainment has announced that the first closed beta weekend for their upcoming free-to-play mech action game Hawken will be held the weekend of October 26th.
At E3 2012, we got to play a brief multiplayer match in Hawken, the upcoming free-to-play action game from Adhesive Games that's scheduled to be released in December.
A new gameplay trailer has been released showing off more of Hawken, the upcoming free-to-play mech action game from developer Adhesive Games that's due out on December 12th.