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The iGaming industry is continuing to expand, with more and more states beginning to legalize real-money casino games. This trend is being driven by state lawmakers, who are increasingly receptive to the notion that online gambling isn’t a social ill but can help bring in huge sums of money for state coffers. This shift is also being accelerated by the fact that some major brick-and-mortar casinos are developing their own iGaming brands to cater to the demand.
A great example of this is New Jersey, which legalized iGaming back in 2013 and now boasts one of the country’s most regulated iGaming markets. It is partnered with some of the biggest names in the industry, from Caesars to BetMGM.
Pennsylvania is another state that’s now open to iGaming, after the first wave of operators launched their sites in May of 2019. The launch came just one year after the state passed legislation making it legal to play online sports betting.
Connecticut and Michigan are both ready to welcome iGaming operations, with both states poised to launch in 2023. New York has yet to make iGaming legal, but multiple efforts have been made in recent years to change that. If the Empire State does eventually pass iGaming laws, it’ll be a major player in the iGaming market.
Experts believe that the future of gaming is largely online, with more players gravitating towards mobile and tablet-friendly platforms. The convenience of these formats makes them ideal for many users, who are often on the go or prefer to gamble from home. Moreover, developers are ensuring that online casino games replicate the experience of playing in a physical environment. For instance, slot machines take about seven to eight seconds to complete a spin in their physical form, but this is reduced to just a few seconds in the digital world.
In terms of the future of gaming, experts are optimistic that the trend will continue to grow. It’s expected that the number of online slots will increase, along with the availability of live dealer games and virtual reality. This growth will help generate substantial revenue for casino operators. However, it’s important to note that responsible gambling is key for both the industry and players.
The Deseret News spoke with veteran gaming industry consultant Dennis Conrad, who noted that there was a time when big casino companies shunned online gambling. However, he said that since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been a growing trend among brick-and-mortar casino operators to add online offerings to their portfolios.
It’s possible that Maine will join the ranks of states that allow online casino games, but the Pine Tree State is more likely to wait and see how its sports betting launch goes before taking the plunge. Meanwhile, West Virginia has already moved forward with legalizing iGaming and has partnerships with several top operators. The next state to watch for in this regard is Rhode Island, which is mulling over the possibility of legalizing iGaming.


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Nadine Spencer says the federal government’s funding pledged for Black entrepreneurs was needed “yesterday,” but it likely won’t come until well into 2021 — even as Black businesses crumble amid the pandemic.
The announcement of the Black Entrepreneurship Program by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sept. 9 after a summer of anti-racism protests across the globe was a good first step, said Spencer, president of the Toronto-based Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA).
But the months of waiting could be disastrous for many Black businesses.
With December’s busy retail season fast approaching, a weak economy, and a second wave of the pandemic spreading across Canada, Spencer said “Black businesses are dying, literally, and so we need a solution immediately. We really want the process to go faster.”
“Some things just can’t take time,” she said. “It shouldn’t be six months.”
The $221 million Black Entrepreneurship Program includes an ecosystem fund providing capital, mentorship, training and services for Black entrepreneurs to help grow their businesses, a fund allowing for loans of up to $250,000, and a knowledge hub that would help collect data on Black entrepreneurs across the country.
Trudeau said Ottawa would provide $93 million for the project over the next four years in partnership with some of Canada’s largest financial institutions as part of his government’s bid to help combat racism and to help Black businesses recover from the pandemic. The financial institutions have pledged $128 million.
Liberal MP Greg Fergus, who serves as chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus, confirmed during an interview with the Star that the loans and services in the program likely wouldn’t be up and running until the first quarter of 2021.
“They need assistance — it can’t come fast enough,” he said. “So, yes, there is pressure for us to get this program going and I’ll tell ya, I talk about this all the time and I know the minister is seized with this issue.”
That said, Fergus wants to see the government “do it right” so that there aren’t hasty decisions made where trip-ups could spur criticism down the road.
“I do not want this to be an administrative issue that people can make a political issue over the distribution,” he said. “It’s just way too important to the Black community for this to happen.”
But Spencer called the situation “seriously urgent” and said she hopes for a speedier process like when Ottawa quickly shovelled billions out the door when the pandemic first caused widespread lockdowns in March and April.
The holiday season will present challenges too, said Spencer, with many Black businesses in the retail and service space. There is less buying power in the economy and businesses could struggle with smaller inventories due to the financial impacts of the last six months, she said.
“Come January, we will see the results of COVID and all the other factors that have affected the economy this year,” she said.
An Ontario-wide survey carried out by the BBPA looked at the pandemic’s impact on Black-owned businesses and revealed a stark gap between how their members experienced it and the broader business community. In late March and early April, questions were sent out to 120 BBPA members which mirrored questions sent out from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to small businesses at large.
The BBPA found that 80 per cent of its respondents said they couldn’t use the government’s emergency wage subsidy, that 80 per cent didn’t have enough reserve cash to stay afloat, and that four in five Black businesses didn’t think they’d qualify for emergency loans.
The survey found 98 per cent of respondents said they couldn’t take on more debt, 80 per cent said they couldn’t pay their April bills and 85 per cent said they wouldn’t survive another month. For the broader private sector, those numbers were roughly half.
Discrimination does play a role, and so does the fact that many Black-owned businesses are setup informally, she said when the survey was released. Another piece is that there’s a lack of access to networks of people.
“There’s part of what we call the ‘old boys’ club,’” said Spencer. “A lot of Black entrepreneurs are left out of those arenas. Even just when we look at the corporate structure, in terms of Blacks on boards, how many of those individuals are on those boards?”
Youmy Han, a spokesperson for Mary Ng, the minister of small business, export promotion and international trade, said that more information about the program would be rolled out “in the weeks to come” but didn’t specify a timeline for when the program’s services and loans would start being sent out.
“We are working urgently to provide this support to Black businesses and entrepreneurs as soon as possible,” said Han.
“It is critical that we get it right so that it addresses the unique needs of Black business owners and entrepreneurs across the country, as a robust collaboration between government, financial institutions, and Black-led business organizations and the businesses themselves.”

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Major financial services company JPMorgan Chase & Co is increasing diversity across its supply chain through a bespoke programme of initiatives.
The company’s Global Supplier Diversity programme promotes equity and inclusion across its value chain, facilitating the growth and development of businesses it helps.
“Building strong relationships is the cornerstone of our success,” the company says. “We place particular value in our supplier partnerships. It is thanks to the help of a diverse range of suppliers and advisors that we we are able to serve our clients, shareholders, communities and employees more efficiently.”
Read the full article on Supply Chain Digital here.


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Viveat Susan Pinto, Financial Express
August 28, 2023
Coffee Day Global, which operates the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) chain, has been given a temporary relief against bankruptcy proceedings initiated by lender IndusInd Bank last month. The Chennai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLAT) last week halted admission of IndusInd Bank’s plea against Coffee Day Global, a subsidiary of the listed Coffee Day Enterprises (CDEL), by the NCLT Bengaluru, till September 20.
What this means for CCD is that it get some more time at a time when it has swung into the black after struggling for the last few years, since the tragic demise of its founder VG Siddhartha in 2019. Coffee Day Global posted a net profit of Rs 24.57 crore for the June quarter of 2023-24 (FY24) versus a net loss of Rs 11.73 crore reported in the same period last year.
Revenue from operations stood at Rs 223.20 crore in the quarter under review, a growth of nearly 18% versus the year-ago period, CDEL results for Coffee Day Global showed.
More importantly, CCD outlets are down to 467 in the June quarter of FY24 from a peak of 1,752 stores in FY19, indicating that the company is shutting down unprofitable operations as it looks to manage its debt and other expenses. Group debt is down to Rs 1,711 crore, according to its latest annual report for FY23, versus Rs 7,214 crore reported in FY19.
“While the coffee retail market in India is growing, in CCD‘s case the need to downsize has to do with internal issues. Sometimes a smaller footprint just helps to manage operations better especially when you are dealing with larger problems such as a debt overhang,” says Devangshu Dutta, chief executive officer of retail consultancy Third Eyesight.
CCD’s financial health is critical for CDEL, which derives close to 94% of its group turnover from the coffee retail business, according to its FY23 annual report. In FY22, the contribution of the coffee retail business to group turnover was 85%. Losses of Coffee Day Global in FY23 narrowed to Rs 69.62 crore from Rs 112.48 crore in FY22. In FY19, the company had a net profit of Rs 10 crore.
Apart from cafes, CCD also has kiosks and vending machines installed in corporate offices, institutions and business hubs. While the number of kiosks has fallen over the last few years and is at around 265 now from a peak of 537 in FY19, the number of vending machines have been growing after briefly slowing down over the last few years. From a peak of 58,697 crore in FY20, it is now at 50,870 in number, the company’s latest results show.
CCD is also expected to fight the insolvency proceedings against it aggressively, according to industry sources. IndusInd Bank has claimed that Coffee Day Global defaulted on a loan of Rs 94 crore, which occurred on February 28, 2020. The company has disputed this in court.
(Published in Financial Express)
Written By Aditya Kalra & Abhirup Roy
MUMBAI, June 30 (Reuters) – Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) said on Thursday it would open outlets of Pret A Manger in India under a franchise deal with the British sandwich and coffee chain, a first foray by the Indian firm in the country’s growing food and beverage industry.
Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL), a unit of the conglomerate that also runs India’s biggest retail chain, would start by opening branches of Pret, as the brand is known in Britain, in big Indian cities, both companies said.
RBL Chief Executive Darshan Mehta said in joint statement the partnership was “rooted in the strong growth potential” of the Pret brand, known for its organic coffee and upmarket sandwiches, and the Indian food and beverage industry.
The first outlet would open in Mumbai before March 2023 and India was expected to become one of Pret’s top three markets in three years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Pret A Manger, whose name means “ready to eat” in French, first opened in London in 1986. It now has 550 outlets globally, including in the United States and several European states. It is owned by investment group JAB and founder Sinclair Beecham.
In India, the brand will compete with Starbucks (SBUX.O), which has a joint venture with India’s Tata, and Costa Coffee, which is owned by Coca-Cola (KO.N).
Mukesh Ambani, one India’s richest men, runs Reliance, which has more than 2,000 supermarkets and grocery stores in India. Reliance also has partnerships with luxury brands, such as Burberry and Jimmy Choo.
“Reliance wants to look at retail in all its shapes and forms. Over time, they’ve realised partnerships are the way for business formats that may be difficult or slower to crack,” said Devangshu Dutta, head of retail consultancy firm Third Eyesight.
(Published in the Financial Express, 10 May 2016)
In about 20 years, Café Coffee Day (CCD) has grown from one ‘cyber café’ in Bengaluru to the leading chain of cafés in the country by far.
In its early years, it was a conservative, almost sleepy, business. The launch of Barista in the late 1990s and its rapid growth was the wake-up call for CCD — and wake up it did!
CCD then expanded aggressively. It focussed on the young and more affluent customers. Affordability was a keystone in its strategy and it largely remains the most competitively priced among the national chains.
Its outlets ranged widely in size — and while this caused inconsistency in the brand’s image — it left competitors far behind in terms of market coverage. However, the market hasn’t stayed the same over the years and CCD now has tough competition.
CCD competes today with not only domestic cafés such as Barista or imports such as Costa and Starbucks, but also quick-service restaurants (QSRs) such as McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts. In the last couple of years, in large cities, even the positioning of being a ‘hang-out place’ is threatened by a competitor as unlikely as the alcoholic beverage-focussed chain Beer Café.
CCD is certainly way ahead of other cafés in outlet numbers and visibility in over 200 cities. It has an advantage over QSRs with the focus on beverage and meetings, rather than meals. Food in CCD is mostly pre-prepared rather than in-store (unlike McD’s and Dunkin’) resulting in lower capex and training costs, as well as greater control since it’s not depending on store staff to prepare everything. However, rapid expansion stretches product and service delivery and high attrition of front-end staff is a major operational stress point. Upmarket initiatives Lounge and Square, which could improve its average billing, are still a small part of its business.
Delivery (begun in December 2015) and app-orders seem logical to capture busy consumers, and to sweat the assets invested in outlets. However, for now, I’m questioning the incremental value both for the consumer and the company’s ROI once all costs (including management time and effort) are accounted for. The delivery partner is another variable (and risk) in the customer’s experience of the brand. Increasing the density through kiosks and improving the quality of beverage dispensed could possibly do more for the brand across the board.
The biggest advantage for CCD is that India is a nascent market for cafés. The café culture has not even scratched the surface in the smaller markets and in travel-related locations. The challenge for CCD is to act as an aggressive leader in newer locations, while becoming more sophisticated in its positioning in large cities. It certainly needs to allocate capex on both fronts but larger cities need more frequent refreshment of the menu and retraining of staff.
An anonymous Turkish poet wrote: “Not the coffee, nor the coffeehouse is the longing of the soul. A friend is what the soul longs for, coffee is just the excuse.” There are still many millions of friends in India for whom the coffee-house remains unexplored territory, whom CCD could bring together.
Last week, Starbucks unveiled its strategy for profitable global growth, having taken approximately US$ 600 million out of costs in since January 2008.
About 3 years ago in a leaked memo, chairman Howard Schultz had raised concern about how, in the race to scale and to become consistent, Starbucks was losing sight of all critical things that had made it successful in the first place. (“The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience – Soul Searching by Howard Schultz“).
In January 2008, Schultz took on an active role as CEO in a bid to stem the rot (“Leadership Change at Starbucks – The Barista Returns“).
These two years have been eventful. Shortly after Schultz stepped in, Starbucks announced that it would close 600 under-performing stores in the US. That was well before the “financial tsunami”. In 2009, another 200 in the US and 100 globally were identified for closure, and the company also scaled back on its 2009 expansion plan for 200 new stores.
At its shareholders’ meeting last week, Starbucks presented a more confident face, and outlined a return to growth with plans to expand its presence and “accelerate profitable growth in both the U.S. retail business and in key international markets”. (This profitable growth mantra was also recited in last year’s shareholder meeting.)
However, while the business is looking better, it is far from fixed.
The environment is different. Globally, consumer wallets are leaner, competitors are meaner, and Starbucks may yet need to shrink further; the fat ain’t all in the latte.
Yet, there must be much good in the business if, for all its faults, it still gets imitated around the world.
According to Starbucks, it currently has less than 4 percent of the U.S. coffee market with its 6,800 own and 4,400 licensed stores, and less than 1 percent of the global coffee market even with 2,000+ company stores and 3,500 licensed stores. The company sees that as enough headroom to grow.
Schultz has promised to put the tough lessons learned in the last two years to good use. The company currently has approximately 200 fewer stores than it did at the beginning of 2009 even after new store openings during the year. (To put the current number of 16,700+ stores in perspective, the company had a total of “only” 2,600 stores in Q1-2000.)
But there’s something to think about. If the entrepreneur needs to step back in to fix things gone horribly corporate (bland) and wrong, maybe it’s time to acknowledge that there’s a logical limit to the size and scaling-up capability of personalized experience businesses.
Or, as a friend says, scale can be a logical outcome of excellence but excellence is never the logical outcome of scale.
It remains to be seen whether this round of growth will come from the company’s natural strengths or whether Starbucks will return to growth-by-steroids as Schultz eases on the controls.
At the end of 2006, in an article about market segmentation, I’d proposed a customer segment called “Cafe Workers” who look at coffee-shops as inexpensive real-estate to work out of. These include professionals, start-up entrepreneurs, small businesspeople and travellers into a city. (Click here to open the PDF file of the article “Slicing the Market“.)
But now, amidst the recession, apparently it is one positioning that some coffee shops don’t want to buy into. The Wall Street Journal reports that there is a backlash from many coffee shops towards customers who enjoy the use of free wi-fi and spend hours occupying tables that should be turning over more. (No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users). Many of the comments on the article are sympathetic towards the cafe owners, calling such customers “moochers”.
While the dismay of cafe owners over customers who abuse the facilities is understandable, could they be doing themselves harm by actively discouraging laptop use? Wi-fi is just one of the sticky aspects of a ‘hanging-around’ culture that the cafes have encouraged in the first place as part of their business model.
By and large, wi-fi enabled cafes around the world are more expensive than the ones which are not. Wi-fi goes along with the more premium positioning, and they should be able to balance the space premium lost on long-term wi-fi users with the grab-and-go customers who are paying higher prices without using the facilities.
That said, in specific cafes or at specific times of day or days of the week when there is a bottleneck, they should be able to limit the length of the IP-lease.
All it takes is a bit of thought and a tiny application of technology, not total disruption of the business model.


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This founder has a can, a brand, and a plan
Mike Cessario of Liquid Death has built the fastest-growing water brand on the strength of one great joke. But is it really enough?
The brand has made a similar impression on Vann Graves, executive director of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter, a top advertising school. “It has a swagger that the category has never seen before,” he says. “Some would argue that water is water is water, but what Liquid Death is doing with that water is what’s exciting–what’s impactful.” Graves calls the brand “a case study in disruption,” but in the next breath he questions how long it can last.


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Amid growing interest in the health and wellness space, the 24/7 fitness franchise has continued to establish itself as a leader, entering new markets like Arizona, Maryland and New Mexico.
ATLANTA, GA – Workout Anytime, the 24/7 fitness franchise with nearly 200 locations across the world, wrapped up 2023 with nearly 30 franchise units signed and nearly 20 new locations open across the country.
“2023 was a pivotal year for us, despite inflation and interest rates impacting the fitness industry,” said Terri Harof, Director of Global Franchise Development at Workout Anytime. “The resilience of our brand and our franchise model is evident, and we are proud to say that we closed out the year at or near all of the goals we set at the start of the year.”
A significant highlight of last year was the incredible increase in multi-unit growth from existing franchisees. This uptick demonstrates the strong confidence current franchisees have in the brand, and their eagerness to reinvest and expand.
Steven Elliott, the owner of Workout Anytime Florence who joined the system in September 2012, plans to open five gyms over the next five years, for example. Similarly, Charlotte-based franchisee Chris Grove and his partners, who joined the Workout Anytime network in May 2013, are set to open three gyms in 2024, as well as an additional eight more gyms over the next five years. This growth is a testament to the robustness and appeal of the Workout Anytime franchise model.
Among the new openings in 2023, Workout Anytime also successfully expanded its geographical footprint into several states for the first time, including Arizona, Maryland and New Mexico. The Lanham, Maryland location, which was opened by singer, actress and fitness guru Brave Williams, saw record-breaking pre-opening sales during its grand opening in September.
Across the Workout Anytime system, the brand has drawn in another 150,000+ members in 2023 thanks to its recovery suite options, a range of exercise equipment and a supportive, results-based environment. Harof says the growing interest in health and wellness, among both the general public and prospective entrepreneurs, has also fueled this success. Because Workout Anytime is an affordable option that delivers great value, it reliably draws in new members, and prospective franchise owners are noticing this ongoing success.
“More so than ever, people are taking personal responsibility with their health and getting into the gym,” Harof said. “Similarly, people are realizing that life is short — it’s time to make the most out of everyday life. They may be tired of their corporate job, but they don’t want to leave the workforce. They want to get into an industry they are passionate about, and health and wellness is often a great choice.”
Dennis Holcom, Senior Vice President of Franchise Support at Workout Anytime, also emphasized the brand’s strategic positioning in the fitness segment.
“Our right-sized offerings and cost-effective entry points make us a strong choice, even in challenging economic times,” Holcom said. “We cater to hardworking individuals who value fitness, making our demographics ideal for sustained franchise growth. Our three franchise models — hometown for smaller markets, classic for medium markets and XL for larger markets — allows us to enter markets that other brands can’t. That makes us the goldilocks of the fitness space.”
Additionally, Workout Anytime offers franchisees a semi-absentee ownership option, corporate support and training, pre-negotiated real estate and access to proprietary technology.
Despite its impressive year, the team isn’t resting on its laurels — innovation has continued to be a cornerstone of Workout Anytime’s strategy. “We’ve revamped our model to include premium membership suites and additional training areas,” said Holcom. “This enhancement, alongside our efforts to expedite location openings, has contributed significantly to our sales growth.”
And the franchise industry is taking note of this growth. Workout Anytime was recently ranked No. 353 in this year’s Franchise Times “Top 400” list, the most comprehensive ranking of the 400 largest franchise systems in the United States, based on global systemwide sales.
Looking ahead to 2024, the Workout Anytime team hopes to continue its upward trajectory with 50 new units sold and 25 clubs opened by the end of next year.
“We are committed to expanding our footprint and bringing quality fitness options to more communities,” said Harof. “With plans for further expansion and a focus on meeting the evolving needs of its customers, we are confident that the brand is poised for continued success in the coming year and beyond.”
To learn more about franchising with Workout Anytime, visit https://workoutanytimefranchise.com/.
ABOUT WORKOUT ANYTIME:
Atlanta-based Workout Anytime is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week fitness concept with 190 units across the U.S. Founded by fitness veterans John Quattrocchi and Steve Strickland, the company was formed to provide members with first-class fitness facilities at the lowest cost possible while delivering a profitable and affordable business model to franchisees. Built on the founders’ motto of “think big, keep it simple and do it with integrity,” Workout Anytime is preparing for significant expansion into new territories across the U.S. and Central America by providing opportunities to business-minded entrepreneurs. Franchise opportunities are available, and more information can be found on http://workoutanytimefranchise.com/.


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A person walks previous a bitcoin image within the window of an organization that provides blockchain software providers on Dec. 21, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. Bitcoin and different digital currencies rose strongly in worth in 2021.
Sean Gallup | Getty Photos Information | Getty Photos
Monetary advisors have been reluctant to combine cryptocurrency into consumer portfolios. They seemingly will not be capable to ignore the choice asset for for much longer.
Cerulli Associates, in a research, discovered that 45% of advisors say they anticipate to make use of cryptocurrencies sooner or later in response to consumer requests.
In the meantime, simply 7% of advisors say they’re at present utilizing these belongings primarily based on their very own suggestions, and 10% are utilizing it due to consumer requests.
Traders are interested in publicity to those belongings, with 80% of advisors saying purchasers of all ages have requested them about cryptocurrencies, in keeping with Cerulli.
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Compared, a June 2021 survey from the Monetary Planning Affiliation and the Journal of Monetary Planning discovered about 49% of advisors stated purchasers had requested about cryptocurrencies within the previous six months.
One key motive for elevated investor curiosity: The surge in worth cryptocurrencies noticed final 12 months.
Their market capitalization climbed to $3 trillion in 2021, earlier than falling to round $2 trillion this 12 months.
The free float market capitalization, which represents the quantity of cryptocurrencies out there for buying and selling available in the market, is round $1.3 trillion. Bitcoin and ethereum comprise a lot of that.
“If advisors aren’t together with it or at the very least having some form of stance on it, then they’re putting themselves at an obstacle and will doubtlessly lose purchasers over it,” stated Matt Apkarian, senior analyst at Cerulli Associates.
But monetary advisors proceed to be extra bullish on different different belongings.
Personal fairness comprised 20.9% of advisors different asset distributions in 2021, whereas different non-public investments — debt, pure assets, infrastructure and actual property — represented 20.6%. Non-traded actual property funding trusts made up 18.6%.
Cryptocurrency accounted for simply 2.3% of advisors’ different distributions.
For 2023, advisors anticipate to spice up alternate options publicity to infrastructure, with an anticipated 2.5% improve from their present allocation, in addition to different areas like hedge funds and enterprise capital, with a 1.3% improve anticipated for every.
Cryptocurrency publicity, nonetheless, is predicted to extend by simply 0.2%.
ZeroCreatives | Getty Photos
There are explanation why monetary advisors are reluctant to extend how a lot they commit to cryptocurrencies, Cerulli discovered.
Some could draw back from it as a result of they don’t have the time it takes to know the cryptocurrency market, whereas others could fear they may breach their fiduciary responsibility. Furthermore, their platforms could not embody cryptocurrencies as funding choices.
Notably, there’s nonetheless an absence of regulation of those belongings. The approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund should still take just a few years, Apkarian stated.
Unbiased registered funding advisors might be able to combine these belongings first, because of extra flexibility due to their dimension and administration construction.
Nonetheless, giant monetary companies are additionally including to their experience on this house.
Within the meantime, particular person buyers might be able to entry cryptocurrencies exterior of their advisor relationship by means of platforms like Robinhood and Coinbase.
It’s as much as advisors to ensure they’ve a full image of their purchasers’ exposures to cryptocurrencies, even when they do not have management of these belongings, Apkarian stated.
“They’ll at the very least ensure that they’ve an understanding of what their purchasers have in exterior belongings,” Apkarian stated.


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LEADER Steel Holdings Bhd, a leading producer of furniture pipes in the region, sees huge potential in the China market for its new iron ore trading business, Group managing director Goh Cheng Huat told I>StarBiz/I>.
They were said to have had the most number of Approved Permits to import cars. It is now confirmed that Tan Sri Nasimuddin SM Amin, Datuk Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, Datuk Mohd Haniff Abdul Aziz and Datuk Azzuddin Ahmad are the AP kings.
Some of the issues raised by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were neither true nor accurate, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz.


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Fire At Westfield San Francisco Centre Quickly ExtinguishedA small fire in a San Francisco mall was quickly extinguished Monday evening.
Death Of Man At SF Mall Now Considered Suspicious, Not HomicideThe death of a man found in a stairwell at the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall last week is now considered a "suspicious death" rather than a homicide, police said Tuesday.
Man Found Dead Inside San Francisco Westfield Mall IdentifiedOfficials have released the identity of a man who was found dead at a mall in Downtown San Francisco on Wednesday morning.
'Ali' To Return To Theaters To Celebrate The Boxing LegendThe 2001 Muhammad Ali biopic "Ali" will return to theaters, including two locations in the Bay Area this weekend to celebrate the late iconic boxer...
Shopper's Guide To San FranciscoGuide to best neighborhoods for shopping in San Francisco...
Armed Robbers Storm Tiffany's Jewelry Store At Westfield San Francisco CentreArmed robbers stormed a Tiffany & Co. store in downtown San Francisco Wednesday evening, making off with an unknown amount of jewelry.
SF Protest At Twitter HQ To Focus On Corporate Benefits Vs. Public NeedsA group was gathering in downtown San Francisco Monday afternoon to call for city and state officials to shift support from technology companies and other corporations to students, families and public education.


text: On 30 January 2009 it was announced that the Waterford Crystal plant in Kilbarry was to shut down immediately, despite earlier promises to discuss any such move with the unions in advance. The Kilbarry operation featured a tourist centre offering guided tours of the factory, a gift shop, café, and gallery. Many of the employees performed an unofficial sit-in The sit-in made the BBC News, hoping to prevail upon receiver Deloitte to retain those jobs. On 4 February 2009, there were protests across the city at how the workers were being treated. On 27 February 2009, the receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, confirmed US equity firm KPS Capital were to purchase certain overseas assets and businesses of the Waterford Wedgwood Group. The sit in ended in March 2009 after workers agreed to split a payment of €10m. The fight by the workers to keep the factory open is chronicled in a PBS online documentary.


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Integrity Toys is celebrating JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS 35th anniversary with a new Collector Doll series!
Integrity Toys, Inc., under license from Hasbro, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAS), is thrilled to announce that to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the famed 80’s cartoon JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS, a new limited series of high-end adult collectible dolls will be released in 2020! Please click here to read the official release!
Dolls will be made available through Integrity Toys, including via its W Club, and are set to be unveiled starting this Spring and ship later this year. Information on pricing, specific items and more is forthcoming.


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Looking for something to get your dad this Father’s Day? How about high?
With legalization just around the corner, soon you’ll be able to say goodbye to the standard Father’s Day gifts — socks with Looney Tunes characters on them, a coffee mug that suggests he’s won a regional fatherhood competition — and get him something to help him relax for the first time since you were born: a pre-rolled joint, say, or perhaps one of those fancy new USB vaporizers, since you know how much dads loves gadgets.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
But would you get high with your dad? Most Canadians say they would not. According to a new survey from cannabis technology company Lift and Co., just 14 per cent of Canadians said they would get high with their dads once the law permits it.
Men were slightly more amenable to the idea than women, with 17 per cent of men saying they would be willing to partake with dad, compared to just 12 per cent of women. But among the 1,547 randomly selected adults posed that question between June 6 and 7 of this year, most bristled at the idea.


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In Bavaria, can Pollen Allergy-free now with a new App about the current pollen flight location information. So that Affected parties could control is now also taking medication easier, said Bavarian health Minister Melanie Huml (CSU) on Friday.ePIN shows data for the current and past Pollen
The Bavarian pollen information network ePIN was launched a year ago. "Since the 22. May 2019 measures ePIN with the help of eight electronic pollen to monitor pollen loads in Bavaria, location of gates - and pollen-specific," said Huml. Current data on the Pollen count can get Affected via the websites www.epin.bayern.de and www.pollenflug.bayern.de . The data are updated every three hours. Currently, the grasses fly in Bavaria, pollen, in addition, there is still a moderate birch and ash pollen.
So that they are prepared for the Pollen in the coming months, we have compiled for you the Pollen calendar 2020. Here you will learn the time in which they are as Allergy sufferers are particularly susceptible to allergies and hay fever.Pollen calendar 2020 one in Every five adults suffers from allergic inflammation
"In Germany, about one in five adults suffers from a skin to an allergic-induced inflammation of the nasal mucosa," said Huml, who is himself a licensed medical Doctor. "When acute discomfort occurs, should Allergy sufferers take as quickly as possible and antihistamines, which relieve the symptoms of an Allergy. These drugs act in, as a rule, already after ten minutes. Allergy-free should you have an emergency here."
informed How the Ministry will continue to suffer in Bavaria to LGL estimates, more than two million people have an Allergy or hypersensitivity reactions. Nearly half a Million adults, and around 85,000 children and young people affected by bronchial Asthma. Laschet taunts against Söder: "If beer gardens are open, to earn child care" FOCUS Online/Wochit Laschet taunts against Söder: "If beer gardens are open, also deserve informed child care" with these reading recommendations for the weekend
- All the News about the Coronavirus pandemic, you can read the Live Ticker of FOCUS Online.
Other topics to the current situation, you may be interested in:
- Rewe, Edeka, Lidl: Where you at whit
can buy To the Pentecost holidays, the shops are generally closed. There are, however, exceptions, where on holidays food can buy. Where exactly you can find here at FOCUS Online.
- It threaten money camping met: wild in Germany - these are the rules
Just in time for the holiday season campsites can be quickly crowded. The temptation to stay away from the official Parking spaces, is great. FOCUS Online explains how the law on the subject of wild camping with a tent or RV in the States looks like.
- break on the car market: people want to threaten sports cars, motorcycles, and RV's
Germany's key industry a long losing streak, but the interest in the car is greater than ever. Mobile.de CEO Malte Krüger says, how Corona will change our way to buy cars, and what cars are suddenly the most sought-after.strawberry cake: lightning-recipe - after 10 minutes, the deliciousness in the oven for PCP strawberry cake: lightning recipe is - after 10 minutes, the deliciousness is in the oven /dpa Date Of Update: 23 May 2020, 11:27


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The Top-Earning Authors List, which was published in the May issue of Forbes Turkey, is said to be one of the most interesting analyses published this year. The eighth edition of the list deserves attention, as new names and categories emerged last year. A "spiritual" transformation surrounds the list's top ranks. Uğur Koşar ranks first on the list with TL 1.7 million ($662,445) in royalty revenues generated in 2014. Although his books seem religious at first sight, they can also be included in the personal development genre. Describing himself as a "spiritual consultant," Koşar is creator of the "Theatrical Therapy System" and "Nur Terapisi" (Divine Light Therapy). Describing his method, he said: "I do not introduce you to something new, but lead you to discover your own self that you have forgotten." Koşar believes there are no truly unhappy people, but just those who think that they will never be happy. "What makes humans tired is not life itself, but the masks we wear," he said. Koşar's therapy techniques and books center on how it is possible to get rid of these masks.Last year, his three books sold more than 100,000 copies. His 2013 book "Allah de Ötesini Bırak" (Say God and Let Everything Rest) has sold 400,000 copies, 290,000 of which were published in 2014. Koşar's "Bana Allah Yeter" (God is Enough for Me) sold 230,000 copies and "Rabbin için Sabret" (Be Patient for Your God) sold 117,000 copies. His other books have sold a combined 120,000 copies. He was the best-selling Turkish author in 2014 with 757,000 copies sold, also making him the top-earning author with TL 11.3 million in turnover and TL 1.7 million in royalty revenues, according to the list.
This year's list also reveals interesting findings, as the non-literary books of six authors are among the best-selling. Soner Yalçın and Yılmaz Özdil made the list with their political books once again, while İlber Ortaylı made the list with his historical book. Metin Hara, Nevzat Tarhan and Ahmet Güneş break through to readers with their psychological books, making the list for the first time. These findings also demonstrate that Turkish readers are expanding their interest in different book genres.Novelists, who usually rank in the top 10, did well in 2013. Many well-known authors, such as Elif Şafak, Zülfü Livaneli, Ayşe Kulin, Ahmet Ümit, Canan Tan, İskender Pala and Sinan Yağmur, introduced new books that year. Last year, however, Ümit, Livaneli and Şafak did not publish a new book, so Şafak entered the list at the bottom. The reprints of Ümit's and Livaneli's earlier books helped the authors to make the list, however.
Kulin, who broke her ties with Everest Publishing two years ago, was the top-earning novelist on the list with TL 1.5 million generated in royalty revenues. Her two books, each of which sold 150,000 copies this year, were critical to this success.
The books of the 20 top-earning authors in 2014 totaled 4.1 million copies and created TL 74.1 million in turnover in the market, while the total royalty revenue generated by these authors was TL 12.3 million. Last year, that figure was more than TL 14 million. The decrease in revenues is attributed to the lower performance of novelists compared to last year.
It is important to note that the Turkish book market is experiencing a significant transformation, and many bookstores have been structurally changed. It is becoming difficult to find bookstores that sell only books in Beşiktaş, Taksim and Kadıköy, where shop rents are comparatively high. Many bookstores also run a cafe or restaurant, which means the number of books available is less than expected. It also means that is difficult to find old books, often because customers prefer buying books from websites.
Another change being closely followed by publishers is the number of printed copies continues to decrease with technological advancements. To meet publishing expenses, a book must print at least 1,000 copies. However, it is now possible to publish 50,000 copies of a book. There are even small publishing houses that offer services to amateur authors. Such publishing houses generally receive an order via the Internet and for almost TL 2,000 to publish 50 copies of a 200-page book. The system might increase the number of authors, but more importantly, publishing and storage expenses will be reduced. Furthermore, many books whose publishing is not profitable and only have 15 or 20 readers can still be republished.
The ongoing transformation might provide a certain level of financial ease for the publishing market. According to findings by the Turkish Publishers Association, there are more than 700 publishing houses in Turkey. However, this diversity does not affect the Top-Earning Authors List. Only seven publishing houses are represented by the authors on the list. This year, however, Destek Publishing marks its name being represented on the list. The publishing house introduced not only the books of Koşar, but also four other authors that made the list as well. These include Ahmet Batman, Kahraman Tazeoğlu, Metin Hara and Azra Kohen.The findings of the Turkish Publishers Association also show that the Turkish book market expanded last year. The number of books published increased by 7 percent, as more than 50,000 books were released. Moreover, the number of books that were authenticated increased by 4 percent, reaching 344 million. The figure demonstrates that 7.3 books per person were produced last year. The growth potential of the book market amounts to around TL 2.4 million, yet 51 percent of the market consists of educational publications. Cultural publications are around 39 percent and have a share worth TL 935 million. Literary publications have a share of only TL 112 million. In other words, the share of literature among cultural publications is only 12 percent and 4.7 percent overall.


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HTC’s 2014 flagship device won’t get its official reveal until March 25th, but it’s already leaking all over the web. At this point it’s not 100% clear what the final product is to be called, but the handset is known internally as the M8 so let’s go with that for now.
The big news over the weekend was the release of a 12-minute video “review”, removed by the uploader but captured and re-posted by someone who caught it. We’ll get to that shortly — first let’s try to reconstruct exactly what leaked and when.
@evleaks, a consistently credible source for such things on Twitter, trumpets the M8’s specs on November 13th, 2013:
Sounds like the HTC M8 is — and you could probably predict — a 5-inch, 1080p handset powered by KitKat and a Snapdragon 800.
— @evleaks (@evleaks) November 15, 2013
These specs are more or less confirmed by AnTuTu on November 25th when someone runs a benchmarking test using a device with the ROM code htc_m8-userdebug|4.4|KRT16O. You can see the results of that test on AnTuTu’s site.
Some additional specs are posted on LlabTooFer.com:
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.3Ghz
- Screen: 5″ Full HD 1080p
- ROM: 16GB
- RAM: 2GB
- Cameras: 4 UltraPixels/ 2.1MP
- Battery: 2700-3000 mAh?
- Wireless interfaces: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, IR port (HTC TV)
On January 17th Bloomberg runs a story with a tipster leaking details about the M8’s camera:
Twin sensors on the rear of the new handset will provide better focus, depth of field and image quality… An improved version of HTC’s Ultrapixel camera will be featured in the device, the person said.
@LlabTooFer tweets some news about the M8’s front-
Small update regarding M8. Front camera will be 5mp instead of 2.1mp…
— LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) February 5, 2014
On February 4th, the first photo of the M8 is tweeted. Hot on its heels are images of the home screen (February 6th), plus press shots of the device in gold (February 19th) and in silver/dark grey (February 20th).
On March 2nd (yesterday), a YouTuber with the handle “GadgetReviews” uploads a 12-minute video tour of the M8. The video is pulled, but not before Austin Ouellette downloads a copy and re-uploads it to his own YouTube account.
And here is that video:
The original uploader is subsequently identified on Twitter and contacted by HTC:
— WinDroidGuy (@WinDroidGuy) March 3, 2014
Anyway, that’s pretty much all I know about the HTC M8. Did I miss anything?


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Having had to take the annual Christmas Market online in 2020 due to Covid restrictions the Holmes Chapel Partnership were excited to bring the event back the the village in December 2021.
However, the previous location of the Co-op car park was now too small to enable any kind of social distancing during the event.
The decision was made to expand the location by putting 40 stalls along London Road (which was partially closed for the event) and a fairground in the car park behind the Co-op.
In total, there were over 50 charity and commercial stalls, both outdoors and indoors at the Scout Hall – selling all sorts of gifts and novelties, as well as food and drink and raising money for charity.
A bigger and better stage was erected near Barclays Bank with entertainment provided throughout the event by local primary schools, musicians and singers, Dane Sound ... and of course Father Christmas.
The event was so well attended and such a success that this new extended format will be used for years to come.


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Apple has bought another startup that specializes in the world of augmented and virtual reality, as reported by The Financial Times.
Flyby Media will presumably aid Apple's efforts in developing for virtual reality, but its tech also has applications for everything from indoor mapping to driverless cars.
Here's a look at what its technology can do.
Flyby Media's website has been taken down, but a cached version says the startup "was founded with the mission to create powerful new technologies to connect the physical and digital worlds."
"At the core of our company is a spatial perception platform (V-Fusion) that provides mobile devices with a human-scale understanding of real world environments, enabling them to see, understand, and navigate the physical world."
Flyby is best known in the tech world for powering Google's Project Tango, a 3D motion tracking initiative intended to help mobile apps understand their relation to physical space.
Google made a splash with the announcement of Project Tango last summer. At the time, project chief Johnny Lee said in an interview, "We're developing the hardware and software technologies to help everything and everyone understand precisely where they are, anywhere."
It's unclear how or if Flyby's tech will continue to play a role in Project Tango now that it's owned by Apple. (We're going to guess the answer is an almost-definite no.)
Flyby's tech is all about tracking the 3D motion of an object and has been applied to indoor mapping, an area Apple is certainly interested in.
Flyby uses a combination of "cutting-edge computer vision, inertial sensing, and Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology" to know where a device like a smartphone is in physical relation to its surroundings.
It's already worked on implementing that tech to create floor plans for use with Apple Maps, which would help the app's little blue dot tell you where you are more precisely in somewhere like a crowded mall. It could even know when you pass a specific display in a store, like the shoes section, and label it as such.
The core of its tech is called "VFusion" and can track "drone and car-based systems at distances of up to 10 miles."
The Flyby team joins a growing stable of VR and augmented reality experts at Apple who are clearly building something big.


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Business: S.A Offers An Alterative to India for Software Testing
Recent Gauteng Business News
EOH Europe will spearhead the GTS offering at a time when the market seems most likely to respond, Cloete says. He explains that EOH Europe was registered as an entity in April 2008 and started off as an HP Software licence reseller and services company in the UK. Its vision is to extend its software and services capabilities from South Africa to the UK and the company is strongly focused on professional services delivery. As part of this, the division developed GTS.
“The EMEA market size for testing in 2008 was in excess of $4.2 billion with a predicted annual growth of 15 percent. $8 billion is predicted for offshore testing spend. We predict the biggest software testing spend to come from the government and finance sectors with accelerated growth expected within the health and telecommunications sectors.”
EOH says software testing is becoming a critical component of software implementations locally, but there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of customer education: “Ninety percent of the customers we see know they have a problem, but are unable to quantify or address it. The large corporate organisations in particular have very poor testing services in place, if any,” comments Cloete.
He says the maturity of the organisation often determines how advanced the software testing is and that whilst the testing profession has matured in the last decade, it is often still a last minute addition as opposed to being implemented from the initial business requirement and scoping phase.
David Caddick, managing director, EOH Europe, says GTS offers independent software testing services to customers in South Africa and the rest of the world. He says it is irrelevant where you are located, the process is the same. Heading up EOH’s first international office, Caddick already has a testing team in place within the UK and South Africa and has aggressive growth plans in place.
“We already have a significant UK customer on board. As one of the largest SAP users worldwide, this customer has recognised the importance of software testing and is working closely with EOH to ensure the long term success of their software implementations,” says Caddick.
Business News Sector Tags:


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Mayor meets chairman of The Cohen Group
Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong met William Cohen, chairman and CEO of The Cohen Group, on Thursday.
Ying said the bilateral relation between China and the USA is the most important, and the more healthy and stable the relation is, the more beneficial it will be for the people of both countries. Now, China is working hard to promote a new round of opening-up and unfalteringly promote economic globalization and trade liberalization.
As China’s testing field of opening-up and its biggest economic center, Shanghai is striving to build itself into economic, trade, financial, and shipping centers, as well as a technology and innovation center. This November, the city will host China International Import Expo, which is an important step for China to further open up to the outside world. And the city will create a better, safe, law-abiding, business and investment environment for foreign companies, Ying added.
Cohen said the US-China relation is crucial to the two countries’ future and the well-beings of the people. The Cohen Group is willing to use its advantages to further promote the cooperation and exchanges of companies in both countries, and advance the healthy development of bilateral trade and investment.
William Zarit, chairman of American Chamber of Commerce in China, also attended the meeting.


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The combined sales of 69 top publishing companies in South Korea's best-selling books rose 0.9 percent in 2018 from the previous year, but their overall operating profit fell 7.4 percent. Only book sales of the top three online bookstores such as Yes24, Aladdin, and Interpark increased 11.8 percent year-on-year, surpassing 1 trillion won for the first time. Fixed book price contributed greatly to the cause of this wide gap between sales and profits. A fixed book price is a government-mandated system that prohibits bookstores from selling books at a lower price than those set by publishers.
The system was implemented with the aim of allowing bookstores to sell books at prices set by publishers in order to prevent the inflated reduction of book prices. In other words, although it was designed to protect cultural products, it is not only reducing the reading of the Korean books, but also having a negative impact on the publishing and printing industries. Under the Publication and Printing Promotion Act (출판 및 인쇄 진흥법), which went into effect in February 2003, fixed book prices were implemented on February 27 of the same year. Also, it allowed only online bookstores to classify books within one year of publication as a newly published book section and give a 10 percent discount.
In addition, books that had been published for more than a year were allowed to be discounted at the discretion of bookstores. However, the Publication and Culture Industry Promotion Act replacing the existed Publication and Printing Promotion Act, which went into effect on October 20, 2007, set a new book that was published within 18 months of its publication. Also, it allowed 10% discount of new books to be offered in offline bookstores. Otherwise, it was revised in November 2014 to allow a discount of up to 10% of the fixed price. regardless of the type. The revised system, which went into effect on Nov. 21, limited indirect discounts to 10 percent price discounts and discounts of up to 15 percent. It was originally scheduled to be implemented temporarily for three years. However, it will be extended until November 2020 following an agreement by interested parties, including the publishing and bookstore industries.
Before the fixed price system, books 18 months old were sold at a discount of 30 to 80 percent. There were many cases that people who had not been able to buy new books because of high prices waited 18 months when stores were selling them at a big discount. For publishers, it was also profitable in that they could handle the inventory of old books quickly, though at a low price. However, it was mainly applied to online bookstores such as Aladdin and Yes 24. Most offline bookstores did not offer significant discounts, even if they were old books. Therefore, there were many neighborhood bookstores that disappeared because of price competition. In response, lawmakers created a law called the "Fixed book price", which allows discounts of up to 15 percent for both new books and sections, with the aim of saving local bookstores.
However, after the system was put into effect, things got worse. This is because it has led to a decrease in people's reading. As the new book price system was implemented, it led to a rise in book prices. The average book price, which stood at 15,600 won in 2014, rose to 16,000 won in 2017. Publishers' sales also fell to 3.96 trillion won in 2016 from 4.23 trillion won in 2014. As such, the new fixed book price system has reduced the number of people who read books, rather than saving local bookstores and publishers. In addition, the number of regional bookstores also declined from 1,625 in 2013 to 1,536 in 2017. According to the "2018 Annual Report on the Promotion of Reading", published by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism(문화체육관광부), the adult reading rates dropped from 86.8 percent to 59.9 percent in 2017, down from 50-36 reading projects in the past.
The second problem is that as book sales have declined, book prices have increased. Online bookstores saw their sales drop in 2015 when the new book price system was implemented. However, it has been recorded the best sales ever since. The reason is simple that online bookstore is cheaper, and has a variety of books and hold many events. Looking at the current trend, the number of mid- to large size bookstores with less than 100 pyeong increased from 230 in 2005 to 277 in 2017, but the number of small and medium-sized bookstores with less than 100 pyeong continues to decline. In particular, small bookstore in 2005 with less than 20 pyeong in size, 1170 563 reduced by one, from 2017. This new system played a big role to reduce the reading population. Because of high prices, many people hesitate to read books. In addition to this trend, the number of printed copies of first editions of average circulations has devreased significantly from 1979 in 2014 to 1,401 in 2017. As a result, only Internet bookstores benefited.
Also, the publishing industry failed to be revitalized due to the book price system. Wholesalers went bankrupt and many offline bookstores were closed. There was no revitalization of the neighborhood bookstore that the book price system targeted, and they had to rely on voluntary reform and support from local governments. Compared to 48.5% of people who responded to “increased use of online Bookstore” and 18.9% of” increased going to large offline bookstore” since the system was implemented, only 8.3% said “increased use of small offline bookshop.”
As a result, readers will see the biggest damage from the book price system. The tightened pricing system has increased the price burden on consumers. As a result, fewer people read books and fewer people go to bookstores to buy books themselves. Book prices rise further as the finances of bookstores deteriorate and publishers lose print. If the system continues, it will be difficult to break the vicious circle. Public opinion is growing that the government in the past has limited the amount of book discounts, making it difficult for ordinary people to buy books. Therefore, there is also a growing voice that the system itself should be fundamentally reviewed. Kim Soo-min, a member of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said, “It is questionable whether the book price system, which was introduced by the government in the past is really achieving the purpose of the system.” It is also pointed out that there is a lot of public opinion that this system instead makes the entry barrier higher for people to purchase books. In addition, this has had an adverse effect on the book-related industry as well.
With current book price regulations, local bookstores cannot survive. The publishing world faces a problem of sustainability. Since the current book pricing system is not an "absolute" book pricing system, which is the case in France, local bookstores are losing ground in price competitiveness compared to large online bookstores. Moreover, with the aggressive marketing of gifts by large online bookstores, some even say that the neighborhood bookstore has become a so-called "book showroom," where customers only looks at books in advance before ordering them online. There are many opinions that The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, along with a fundamental review of the book price system itself, should come up with measures to improve the book industry as a whole.


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Levain Bakery has announced a brand-new seasonal cookie just in time for summer. Starting Tuesday, June 21, Rocky Road will be available in all Levain bakeries and online through the end of summer.
Rocky Road features dark chocolate cookie dough mixed with rich semisweet chocolate chips, marshmallows and roasted cashews. The flavor will also be available in a new summer cookie assortment in 4, 8 and 12 packs that also feature Oatmeal Raisin, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies.
“We only make cookies we truly love,” says founders Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald. “It is fitting that our first seasonal cookie features chocolate and marshmallow, a classic combination we’ve loved since we were kids. As for the cashews, in our opinion, they simply don’t get as much attention as they deserve! But with a rich depth of flavor, they balance the sweetness of the chocolate and marshmallows.”
In addition to the current ten bakeries in New York, Washington, DC and Boston, Levain Bakery is expanding beyond the east coast to Chicago and Los Angeles this year.


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5 new features in iOS 10 - and why they're important for B2B marketers
Jon Busby, digital director, Twogether, explores the potential benefits and drawbacks of Apple's recent iOS 10 release for B2B marketers
Apple's new phone and tablet operating system, iOS, has got its 10th release to the public. Previewed back at WWDC in June, Apple's annual release of OS software brings new features, functionality and phones to market, marking the beginning a new land grab race for app developers and brands alike to take advantage.
Being first to market using a new technology or ‘API’ as they’re called means a prominent place on the App Store, and hundreds of thousands more installs as new owners show off the features of their shiny device.
Previous years have brought exciting new functionalities, such as Apple Pay and Apple Wallet - a feature we use every time we fly or buy a ticket nowadays, new sharing widgets, allowing third-party apps to post and share content more easily and push notifications.
So, what are the new features in iOS 10 that we should be excited about, and more importantly, which ones can B2B marketers take advantage of right now?
1. Updated mail app
One of the biggest, yet subtlest, changes in iOS 10 is updates to the Mail.app. Some of the updates include “better” threaded conversations (more on why that’s in quote marks in a moment), and better search (this one really is better).
It all sounds wonderful, until you actually use, and find that some email rendering is now broken. For those of us in marketing, this means more time testing your emails before they’re ready to go out.
Continuing on the same, not so good, theme, iOS 10 email also features a new unsubscribe bar, appearing above the subject line on mailing list emails. For us marketers that means we’ll need to optimise our subject lines and email headings to ensure users aren’t tempted to unsubscribe (although more positively, it will mean our lists should be a lot cleaner and receive less complaints).
Finally – on a good note – the video tag is now back to being supported – meaning it’s now possible again to allow users to engage with video directly in an email, instead of via a gif or landing page.
Unfortunately, this is a feature we'll be seeing a lot more of. Some may say the iMessages app has gone the way of bloatware – but as usual, in marketing, there's a silver lining. iOS 10 brings a raft of new features to iMessages, allowing it to compete more effectively with the likes of Facebook's Whatsapp and Kik.
Two of the most notable additions are:
- Links will now automatically contain ‘rich’ media. Post a Youtube video to a friend? It'll now embed the video in their feed. Share an article and it'll create a synopysis and include this in the message thread. This obviously is great for content marketing, and should (with some well placed content tweaks) make your articles easily sharable and more widely-read across Apple devices.
- Emojis are now three-times bigger. This means it'll be easier to create ‘stickers’ (i.e. emojis or animated elements) that can be included in iMessage threads. If you've got some real brand advocates, this is a great way of getting people to use your logo or branding.
Also introduced are ‘bubble’ effects and handwritten elements, but as Apple owns these aspects, it’s unlikely they will be available to the marketing function soon (perhaps in the next iOS release).
Over the past few iOS releases, Apple has been slowly evolving its news experience (starting with the failed Newstand App).
This year, Apple has elected to take on Flipboard by producing a clear, engaging design for news articles. You can now also subscribe to feeds, and publications can even offer paid subscriptions.
What’s more exciting though, is that users can now elect to receive breaking news as push notifications, making your content hub strategy even more exciting.
4. Machine learning
Apple is adding two key machine learning pieces to this release – both of which will be run locally on the iPhone and not involve the cloud. The first addition is Quicktype, which brings Siri intelligence to the keyboard, offering context clues and relevant suggestions when typing.
Not too important for marketers, but if you're big enough to have a verb associated with your brand, it might be possible to start including contextual results in Quicktype as things grow.
Secondly, the photos app will now use ‘deep learning’ to link together photos and videos by person, place and time, automatically creating highlight reels and videos (similar to Facebook’s ‘moments’ feature).
This is really impressive stuff considering it will all be performed locally on the phone, but what’s really exciting is the possibility to sneak your logo into the back-drop at an event, making it recognisable not just by your audience, but perhaps by Siri as well.
5. Siri APIs
Finally, Apple is opening Siri up to third party developers. Since its first introduction on the iPhone 4S, us techies have been attempting to customise Siri's response, and now Apple is opening this to other apps and services.
This will certainly open up the playing field to some interesting applications that can be employed by B2B marketers. Have an upcoming event? Integrate with Siri to talk about the agenda. Want to push sales reporting to your users? Allow them to ask Siri. Expect to see a lot more updates here.
Ultimately, each iOS release includes a set of incremental features that get the market excited. However, those brands that know how to take advantage of these new functionalities will extend their reach and delight their users. I’m looking forward to seeing how the marketplace will evolve with the next iOS release.


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Hyundai has released the first official images of the new, more grown-up i10 ahead of its public debut at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show.
Which of the current Volkswagen R models would get your vote?
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- Counterpoint conducted a survey on smartphone after-sales services
- Oppo emerged as the fastest in after-sales service turnaround
- Nine out of 10 respondents got their phones serviced in two visits
Indians spend Rs. 2,400 on an average for getting their out-of-warranty smartphones serviced, research firm Counterpoint said in a report based on a consumer survey. Counterpoint highlighted that one in every four smartphone owners in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Noida, will visit a service centre within six months of purchasing a new smartphone. It added that Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Samsung have the highest customer satisfaction rate for after-sales service in the country.
Counterpoint said that problems related to charging, software (or ‘hanging’), and display were found to be the most common.
Oppo emerged as the number one brand in customer satisfaction for after-sales service with 93 percent of the respondents rating their experience “excellent” or “very good”, followed by Vivo at 85 percent, Xiaomi at 81 percent, and Samsung at 81 percent.
In addition to customer satisfaction, Oppo was considered the fastest in after-sales service turnaround with 73 percent of the respondents saying that they received their devices on the same day. Realme, which is notably an Oppo spin-off, came second on that front. As many as 72 percent of the respondents claimed to have received their Realme phones on the same day. Vivo came third with 68 percent.
Customer waiting time was also the lowest for Oppo. Counterpoint claimed that about half of the respondents were attended to within 15 minutes of their arrival at an Oppo service centre. Realme, Samsung, and Xiaomi closely followed Oppo.
Oppo also maintained its spare parts better than its competitors, and almost all the respondents among Oppo users received their device after full resolution of the issue, Counterpoint noted.
Xiaomi was rated the highest on “explanation of the problem” as well as solution. It was followed by Vivo and Oppo.
Xiaomi also delayed a physical visit to the service centre by leveraging its large online community to resolve software issues remotely. Vivo and Oppo came second and third on that front, respectively.
Counterpoint’s report also mentioned that nine out of 10 respondents got their smartphones serviced within two visits, with Oppo and Xiaomi users reporting the least number of instances of having visited a service centre twice for the same problem.
Counterpoint Senior Analyst Pavel Naiya said in the report that two-thirds of the respondents received their smartphones within a day. He also mentioned that about half of the respondents said that the parts required for servicing their phones were available at the service centre. In case of parts brought from outside, more than 8 out of 10 respondents said that they received their devices within three days.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many after-sales service processes have been affected in India and abroad,” said Naiya. “Under these circumstances, leading brands have taken initiatives to digitise the service delivery process, reduce wait times and maintain contactless delivery.”
On the part of maintaining contactless submission and collection of smartphones, Samsung is said to have provided the best experience. Usage of hand gloves and face shields was, however, more common at Vivo service centres followed by at Samsung, according to the report.
Counterpoint Research Associate Arushi Chawla said that it became crucial for after-sales service to have enough resilience to provide services during the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey conducted by Counterpoint carried a sample size of about 1,000 respondents who had completed after-sales service by visiting exclusive/authorised service centres in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, and Noida.


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Poor old Apple. How does the company even stay in business, what with each of its business units raking in more revenue and profits than most Fortune 500 companies? Surely the end is near because Android. Or, because Microsoft. Or, because insert-your-daily-doomsday-prediction-here.
A funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century. Apple got rich. Apple has more than a billion customers. Yet, the doom that many predicted upon Apple since way back in the early 1980s has yet to come to pass. And almost doesn’t count (circa 1996).
If you look closely, you can see that Apple competitor Google actually has a longer list of problems that could darken, dampen, and stink up the company’s future. Smartly, and recognizing that the name Google is becoming a stain, executives changed the company name to Alphabet, of which Google is just the ‘g’ or something. Google is still there as the search engine and that’s a good thing because more than 90-percent of the company’s revenue and profits come the old fashioned way. They steal user data and sell it to the highest bidder.
Let’s keep Google synonymous with Alphabet for this comparison, but look closely at the stack of problems the company really has, not to mention the one-trick pony revenue stream of search engine advertising.
By some accounts, Android’s marketshare is four times that of Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Yet, it’s Apple’s App Store which has double the revenue and even more profits than Google’s Play Store. Double. On less than 25-percent of the marketshare.
Why isn’t that a problem for Google.
It gets worse.
Google is something of a monopolist with search and Android and monopolies tend to monopolize to the point of abuse and that’s what someone in The European Union figured out. Google is an abuser. Sure, Google denies it. Microsoft denied being an abuser back in the day but was convicted anyway, but mostly on the facts.
In the end Google will have to change some practices to allow for more competition, and probably pay someone a very stiff fine. But only in Europe.
Wait. There is yet more going on.
All those billions of Android smartphones in the wild? Most of them have security issues but will never get updated the way Apple updates iPhones and iPads to the latest versions because Android. Even Google says about 30-percent of Android devices will not be able to get the latest security patches. But that’s just those the company admits are eligible. The vast majority of Android devices are not even eligible for such security updates.
How many is that?
Let’s see, there are more than 60,000 unique Android models on the market, and 87-percent of Android devices are exposed to at least one critical security issue and will not get upgraded, so how about an even billion devices. Two billion? OK.
Now, a quick comparison. Apple’s revenue comes from a variety of hugely profitable business units. Mac, iPhone, iPad, Watch, Apple Stores, App Stores, iTunes, interest, accessories, and I’m tired of typing now.
Google’s revenue and profits are mostly– in the 90-percent-plus range– from search engine advertising, and a big chunk of that comes from mobile devices, but most of that comes from… insert drum roll here, please… Apple’s iPhone and iPad. Otherwise, Google doesn’t have much of anything else that generates substantial revenue, and almost nothing else that contribute anything substantial to the bottom line.
And you thought Apple had problems.


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March 30, 2023 | 18:39
Through its 25 years of sustainability journey in Asia, Switzerland-headquartered aseptic packaging solutions provider Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) has been making ambitious sustainability commitments. Angela Lu, president and general manager Asia Pacific South at SIGdiscussed with VIR’s Luu Huong how SIG facilitates the consumer’s need for convenience, and how sustainable packaging is becoming a key focus for sustainability.
June 14, 2022 | 08:00
Packaging helps protect food and beverages, ensure product quality and safety, and prevent food waste. However, these essential requirements should not come at the expense of the planet. Khuat Quang Hung, head of Corporate Affairs at Nestlé Vietnam, told VIR’s Tra My how the company is committed to reducing waste from packaging, and taking concrete actions that help build a waste-free future.
April 15, 2022 | 10:36
Suntory PepsiCo has launched the Pepsi 330ml in Vietnam, featuring packaging made entirely of recycled plastic.
October 07, 2021 | 11:42
Tetra Pak has formed a strategic collaboration with Poka to empower its workers with the tools and training needed to accelerate zero waste processes.
October 07, 2021 | 08:00
Foreign companies are still beefing up investment in Vietnam’s packaging industry as they bet on the long-term prospects of the market.
September 21, 2021 | 16:43
SCG Packaging announced that it will inject VND8.13 trillion ($353.48 million) into a new packaging paper complex in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.
September 16, 2021 | 12:08
Tetra Pak reaffirmed its confidence in Vietnam’s economic rebound by investing $5.9 million in its $141.2 million packaging material factory in Binh Duong.
August 31, 2021 | 16:21
Tetra Pak has just released the company’s Sustainability Report 2021, reinforcing ambitions and commitments to protect food, people, and the planet.
July 14, 2021 | 15:18
A leading food processing and packaging solutions company, Tetra Pak has recently been recognised as one of the world’s 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders.
March 17, 2021 | 16:18
In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Hai Duong, SCGP has taken timely action to aid the provincial healthcare workforce.
February 19, 2021 | 10:09
Facing the downturn in the Thai packaging industry, SCG found Vietnam as a backup market, as reflected by its takeover of local plastic maker Duy Tan.
February 04, 2021 | 12:17
The European Union cooperates with the MoNRE and other stakeholders to take steps towards efficient plastic waste management in Vietnam to reduce marine plastic litter.
December 05, 2020 | 10:41
Using environmentally friendly and recycled packaging has become a worldwide trend, forcing packaging manufacturers to adapt.
November 10, 2020 | 18:30
SCG reported its operating results with a 57 per cent on-year growth in profit for the third quarter.
August 05, 2020 | 15:03
SCG has amped up business strategies to triumph in the dragged out COVID-19 battle with agility and solid business continuity management.


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The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Carolina Rossini has a very good editorial explaining what's wrong with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secret trade treaty with punishing copyright provisions that's being negotiated by the USA, repeating the worst sins of ACTA and magnifying them (among other thing, TPP will make implementing the notorious SOPA into a trade obligation for the US).
As Rossini writes, this is no way to make good policy, and undermines the legitimate trade priorities of the US and its partners by entangling them in a dirty, secretive process that has no checks on the excesses of corporate representatives from the entertainment industry.
So, in summary, the USTR has released a public blog post about a secret proposal to expand something – a filtering mechanism on copyright limitations and exceptions – which might have real social, moral, and economic value. And all we know is that the only thing the authors of the proposal really wanted to make public was the fact that no matter what the content was, it was subject to enough international restrictions that it could be effectively gutted. The only thing 21st century about that is they used a blog to tell us about it.
Is the TPP - framed as a "21st century" agreement - the best way to build a 21st century society?
As Oracle desperately tries to reanimate its wretched, failed attempt to destroy everything Sun Microsystems stood for and end computer science as we know it, there’s never been a better time to rock one of these “You Wouldn’t Reimplement an API” tees, which were an underground hit during the earlier trial.
Kyohazard’s Lament Configuration is a terrific piece of fan-art for those of us who loved the Hellraiser movies (the good ones, at least).
This is a pretty amazing vacancy: “You will lead Consumer Reports in our effort to realize a market where consumer safety is protected through strong encryption; consumers’ rights to test, repair, and modify their devices are supported by copyright, security, and consumer protection laws; and consumers are empowered to make informed choices about IoT products […]
The Lytro Illum is our all-time best-selling camera and here’s our best deal yet. Apply the code “Lytro10” to save an extra 10% off on this camera’s mind-blowing functionality in this exclusive one day only sale.
If you’re looking to earn a top salary in the tech industry, there’s no better career than coding. However, sometimes the hardest part of entering this career path is knowing where to begin.We took the Complete Web Developer Course because it took that decision out of our hands. This course teaches beginner-friendly coding languages that will also help land an immediate […]
To be a Pokémon master, you’ll need a phone that won’t constantly die on you. Because nothing is worse than seeing the screen go black right as you’ve finally found the Charizard of your dreams.That’s why we’re so excited about the LinearFlux PokeCharger Portable Battery ($39.99). With its 3.0 Amp HyperCharging technology, this slim battery will […]


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Following Samsung's success with curved-edge smartphones, other phone makers are obviously thinking about similar designs. It turns out that LG has filed for several US trademarks last week, all of which hint at phones with curved edges.
The trademarks include G Edge, Super Edge, Dual Edge, Double Edge and Dual Side Edge. The G Edge seems to be the best name for LG's first curved-edge flexible OLED phone, and will complement the company's LG Flex 2 smartphone which is a vertically-curved flexible OLED smartphone.
In January 2015 during CES, LG Display unveiled a phone prototype that uses a 6" plastic-OLED display that is curved on both edges. LGD called that panel an "Active Bending" panel.
The prototype had a 1280x720 resolution and offered a brightness of 300 nits. These aren't very exciting specs (Samsung's 5.7" flexible OLED in the GS6 edge+, for example, offers a resolution of 2560x1440 and 861 nits) but it's likely that LGD can produce better OLEDs now.


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There are three Korean car brands: Hyundai, Kia and the other one. SsangYong is the other one. It usually makes budget SUVs and a car even uglier than the Pontiac Aztek (really -- Google SsangYong Rodius). So this C200 concept makes a big change for the company in many ways. Its main purpose is to illustrate how a future production model might look. And that perhaps the company has hired a new designer. Americans shouldnt get too excited, chances are such a vehicle will never go on sale here.
More in Autos:
Paris Motor Show: Production Cars
Electric vehicles light up Paris Motor Show
2008 Paris Motor Show news


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Wincanton has chosen supply chain optimisation provider Manhattan Associates to standardise its European logistics infrastructure.
The project will focus initially on the deployment of Manhattan’s Warehouse Management for Open Systems software across 15 sites in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the UK.
Wincanton plans to roll out Manhattan’s Labour Management, Slotting Optimisation and Extended Enterprise Management systems in the future.
Conor Whelan, group IT director at Wincanton, said: “We’re seeing a rapidly changing landscape of customer requirements. Customers are operating in more and more countries and communicating in a growing number of languages, but are increasingly seeking consistency in the way they interact with us.”


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War in the gulf, a deepening national recession and growing fear that the Apocalypse may be at hand have brought a booming trade to Utah's food-storage and hard-currency vendors.
"Business has been up 200 to 300 percent," said Betty Stoll, manager of Perma Pak Food Storage in South Salt Lake. "Some people are talking about it being the end of the world."They wonder if this is it. I don't say whether it is or isn't," she added. "I don't worry too much about it. If you have your stuff and are prepared, there's not much more you can do about it, right?"
Maintaining stockpiles of staples against emergencies is nothing new to Utahns, 70 percent of whom belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since the Great Depression half a century ago, the faith has encouraged members to store a year's worth of food.
"The church's long-standing policy is just being ready for any emergency, and the current situation in the Middle East certainly qualifies," said church spokesman Don LeFevre.
Maintaining emergency foodstuffs is a wise policy for earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, unemployment and unexpected illness, LeFevre said.
"These are things we're all faced with at times in our lives," he said. "The basic philosophy is being self-sufficient."
Along with food supplies, Utahns are showing increasing interest in silver and gold as hedges against economic collapse.
Gaylen Rust of Salt Lake's Rust Coin and Gift Shop said sales of gold and silver are way up due to a combination of war jitters, mistrust of the nation's banks and unusually low precious metal prices.
"My last quarter we saw close to a 20 to 25 percent increase in the bullion-related sales of gold and silver," Rust said. He said much of his new business is from first-time customers motivated by events in the gulf.
"We're seeing more and more new people, coming in and asking questions right off the street," Rust said. "People feel they ought to protect some of their income with hard money."
Hedging against an uncertain future has not, apparently, included a rush by Utahns to buy guns. Gallenson's firearms store, a Salt Lake fixture since 1914, has not seen any dramatic increase in gun or ammunition purchases.
"We've had a few guys come in for reloading supplies, figuring that because of the war there might be a shortage in the future," said Leon Gallenson. Otherwise, "there's been no surge, no big deal."
But if Utahns are not building arsenals, there's no doubt they are stocking their pantries. Survival food outlets report the demand equals, and perhaps exceeds, the buying prompted by a December earthquake scare.
"I think this (the war) has scared a lot of people into doing it," Stoll said. "It's really frightened some people."
Perma Pak usually has one person on during the day but has had to bring in up to three extra workers during peak demand. Employees also are kept busy at night packing the store's specialty - 72-hour dehydrated food survival kits that sell for between $129.95 and $159.95.
Heidi Hill, manager of Safeguard Food Storage in the Salt Lake suburb of Bountiful, said her sales of survival foods have at least doubled. Customers are readily plunking down from $499 to $799 for one-year food supplies.
Also popular are $59.95 grain mills that can be used to prepare 50-pound bags of wheat for cooking, camp stoves and fuel and five-gallon water storage containers.
Some customers "are really shaken up" by the war, Hill said. "A couple people have even come in and asked for gas masks, which we don't carry."


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Late payments cause no end of problems for small businesses. Having to wait 90 days to receive payment after rendering a service can leave SMEs with a colossal hole in their balance sheet, which is why increasing numbers of businesses are decrying lengthy terms and bad payment practices. The government has made no bones about its desire to tackle the culture of late payments and has proposed a new solution to eradicate unfair payment terms for smaller businesses.
Following the groundwork done by the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015, which brought in a reporting requirement for the UK’s largest firms to report on their payment practices, the new proposal will see the creation of a small business commissioner to help companies resolve disputes over late payment and other negative supply chain practices. The commissioner will help small firms gain access to advice, support, mediation and conciliation services, as well as being able to investigate complaints and report on its findings.
“Small businesses are owed £26 billion in late payments and spend millions more chasing down money they have already earned through hard work. This is simply unacceptable,” said small business minister Anna Soubry. “The small business commissioner will tackle the imbalance of bargaining power between small suppliers and large customers, and encourage them to get round the table and sort out disputes at a fraction of the cost of going to court. It will also provide advice, investigate complaints and see where further action is needed to clamp down on unfair practices.”
However, not everyone believes this goes far enough. A new survey of 368 business owners from Sage, the enterprise software company, showed that more than two thirds of UK companies have to wait for 60 days or more for payment, whilst more than half have to wait over 90. It seems big businesses are by far the worst offenders, with 67% of business owners thinking they’re the biggest problem compared to just 15% who think the problem lies with SMEs. Moreover 70% of respondents felt that making big business commit to 30 days payment terms would positively affect their business, with more than a quarter maintaining this impact would be significant.
For this reason, Sage has launched its Late Payments Manifesto and an e-petition that it hopes will encourage businesses big and small to commit to 30 day payment terms. Having itself committed to paying its suppliers within 30 days, it is now encouraging other businesses to follow its lead and commit to fairer payment practices.
“Late payments are the scourge of British business today,” said Brendan Flattery, president of Europe at Sage. “For smaller businesses in particular, it can at best cause cash flow issues, and at worst prove fatal. It is disgraceful how some of the larger firms have historically behaved. We believe all businesses have a right to be paid quickly and on time. That is why we are calling for all businesses – big and small – to commit to 30 day payment terms. It is time to make a stand against late payments and say enough is enough.”
Those of you who also want to make a stand against late payments, why not head over and sign the e-petition?


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The new German government has finally come into place and is now starting its work, this is unlikely to cause the financial markets to shudder right now, but some southern European countries are probably more tense.
The Covid-19 crisis caused a significant drop in income for many households around the world, but at some point, the journey towards the middle class will revert again - probably in even more countries than before.
Last week, nervous investors took an immediate sigh of relief when China Evergrande announced an agreement on one interest payment in the domestic Chinese loan market, but the company's problems will return.
An end to the lockdowns in Western countries was long-awaited by the consumers, and the financial markets have been waiting to see the increased spending turn into rising corporate profits – but consumers are now sending mixed signals…
Some might hope that the world is on its way out of the Covid-19 crisis, though it's still hard to determine, now would be a good time to start the macroeconomic clean-up work, as several tough pills need to be digested before the next crisis.


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India Cements’s net profit tanks 72% to Rs 19 cr for Q1FY21
New Delhi: India Cements Ltd’s consolidated net profit tanked 72 percent to Rs 19 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 68 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.
The consolidated revenue from operations declined 49 percent to Rs 763 crore in first quarter of the current fiscal as compared to Rs 1,496 crore in the corresponding quarter if the previous fiscal.
The cement maker said that the corona virus pandemic has severely dented business domestically and abroad.
The company clocked EBIDTA of Rs 159 crore in the quarter under review and profit before tax of Rs 26 crore.


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BRITAIN SEEKS NEW DEALS WITH 53-MEMBER GROUP AT CHOGM
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May on Monday (16) extolled the benefits of free trade among Commonwealth countries, as Britain looks to finalise divorce terms with its current biggest trading partner, the European Union.
May is looking to win the support of the Commonwealth, a network of mostly former British colonies, for future trade deals at a meeting of its leaders in London, and bolster her argument that the future is bright after Brexit.
The Commonwealth, headed by the Queen, is not a formal trading bloc with a free-trade agreement. In 2015, it accounted for only nine percent of British exports while by contrast the EU, which Britain voted to leave in 2016, accounted for around 44 per cent.
Speaking at the opening of a Commonwealth business forum, May urged the use of common standards across the network of 53 countries, warning that global growth was fragile and that protectionism posed a clear threat to the world economy.
“With its unique scope and global voice, such a Commonwealth can set a powerful example to the world, one that demonstrates and underlines the importance of protecting free trade and the rules-based international order,” she said. “Freer and easier trade means stronger economies, more jobs, more choice and lower prices.”
The week-long Commonwealth meeting is split across landmark locations in London this week.
Britain’s appeal to the grouping comes as Brexit negotiators prepare to begin work on a future trade agreement with the EU, which the government hopes will allow frictionless trade with the bloc to continue. The EU has said Britain cannot enjoy the benefits of its single market after leaving.
May’s ministers have spent much of their time since the 2016 exit vote touring the globe, touting Britain’s ability to negotiate its own trade deals with countries including Commonwealth states such as India, Australia and New Zealand, as one of the main benefits of life outside the EU.
“As the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, we have the opportunity to reinvigorate our Commonwealth partnerships and usher in a new era harnessing the movement of expertise, talent goods and capital between our nations in a way that we have not done for a generation or more,” said trade minister Liam Fox.
London is going for the hard sell, hosting a reception aimed at showcasing British exports, from food and drink to the English Premier League.
Intra-Commonwealth trade is expected to increase by at least 17 per cent to around $700 billion (£490bn) by 2020, according to the 2018 Commonwealth Trade Review. May announced new programmes to free up trade, improve the skills of young people and boost women’s participation in business, including an offer of £7 million in Commonwealth-wide support to boost businesses owned by women in countries where being female is a professional barrier.
She also announced funding for a new Commonwealth Standards Network to establish a common language for goods and services to help boost trade.
Given its diverse membership, if agreements can be struck within the Commonwealth, they can likely achieve wider support.
At the last summit in Malta in November 2015, leaders struck a deal on climate change that helped pave the way for the Paris agreement days afterwards.
This time, the group is hoping to agree an ocean governance charter, a connectivity agenda for trade and investment, and a declaration on tackling cyber crime. (Agencies)