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Consumers continue to read books and magazines in traditional formats, and several segments of those categories are showing growth in supermarkets.
“There are challenges in the category, but there is also plenty of opportunity,” says Jerry Lynch, president of the International Periodical Distributors Association (IPDA). “A recent study from Mequoda group showed that nearly 70 percent of adults read 2.9 magazines in the last 30 days.”
“E-mags have taken away some of our thunder, but they are never going to replace magazines,” asserts John Cowley, president of Jefferson City, Mo.-based Cowley Distributing, a book and magazine distributor covering eight states and nearly 4,000 stores. According to Cowley, research shows that sales of e-readers are down and consumers are returning to traditional books.
A 2014 study by Barrington, Ill.-based Willard Bishop revealed that the magazine category continues to be highly profitable for grocery retailers. The study compared the category with 38 other general merchandise categories and found that magazines rank fourth in true profit, 13th in weekly sales, and 23rd in category movement per facing. “Magazines deliver an adjusted gross margin of 34 percent, and true profit margin or bottom-line profit of 22 percent,” notes Jackie Gray, director at Willard Bishop. “On average, magazines in center store generate $439 in weekly true profit, more than two times that of the next most profitable front end category, meat snacks.”
The front end is also crucial to books and magazines, since 70 percent of magazine sales are generated at checkout. “At the front end — where retailers are, of course, focused on maximizing profit on every inch of impulse space — magazines deliver the highest per-unit profit when compared to candy, single-serve carbonated beverages, and salty and meat snacks,” says Gray.
“Retailers need to get the checkout right, since that space generates the highest percentage of magazine sales,” advises William Romollino, VP of shopper insights at New York-based Time Inc. Retail. According to Romollino, retailers frequently block primary end cap displays with secondary displays, a practice that detracts significantly from sales.
“Magazines deliver 16.5 percent of the checkout sales through 18.4 percent of the space,” adds Romollino. “That said, retailers are all trying to reduce the clutter at checkouts, and we’re working on new concepts that will frame the checkout area.” He notes that a tapered arrowhead end cap design allowing consumers to shop both sides of the checkout has seen success, and that the industry is experimenting with features such as compartmentalized sections, signage and text that help to present a unified, sleek checkout area.
While there’s been growth in demand for celebrity and beauty titles at checkout, retailers are also differentiating themselves by adding more specialty titles, puzzles and, in some cases, even hardcover books to the front end. “Retailers are keeping some pockets unsold to make room for different titles and to take advantage of titles that are hot,” says Jay Addis, a consultant in the publishing industry.
For example, Fred Meyer, a Pacific Northwest division of Cincinnati-based Kroger, devotes one checkout end cap to discounted best-selling hardcover books in some of its stores. In a nod to independent bookstores and Barnes & Noble, the Portland, Ore.-based chain also features a section of books it recommends. Bestsellers at the chain are discounted 25 percent.
Penny Publications has had success with its checkout program. “Puzzles can be an impulse as well as a destination item,” observes Bruce Sherbow, SVP of the Norwalk, Conn.-based publisher. Puzzles are an important part of the assortment; research from the company shows that 73 percent of customers surveyed said they would go to another store to purchase a PennyDell puzzle magazine if they couldn’t find their favorite titles in the store.
At the same time that retailers are experimenting with how best to merchandise books and magazines at checkout, many chains have faced pressure on their mainline general merchandise sections. “One retailer had to downsize books, so we created a 16-foot section near the pharmacy and created a seating area in the back of the section where people could wait,” says Cowley. Creating a reading center near an in-store Starbucks can create a busy boutique area.
Niche and special-interest titles, including those with regional interest, have continued to flourish, according to Cowley. “Regional magazines have really taken off,” he affirms. “We’ve seen growth in titles such as The Backwoodsman, Auta Buy and Wheeler Dealer, Off the Grid, and Mother Earth News.”
Taking advantage of seasonality in the front end or in thoughtful outpostings can provide new opportunities for the category. “Merchandising football titles and bookazines near beer or snacks, or near the checkouts during football season, can be a good opportunity,” advises Addis.
“Reasor’s Foods, an upscale Tulsa, Okla.-based chain, is doing some innovative things with outpostings in a number of departments, including a sidekick with cooking titles near the meat department, and a sidekick with Rodale health titles near HBC,” notes Cowley. “Supermarkets are evolving as an industry by micromarketing, and the magazine industry has to do the same. When the main section gets downsized, it’s a chance to capture impulse sales in other areas of the store, where the likelihood for purchase might be far greater. One retailer has seen a big uptick in titles like Cat Fancy and Dog Fancy when those magazines are displayed in the pet food aisle.”
Kid Stuff, and More
Recently, Cowley helped one Hy-Vee location create a 4-foot children’s book section. “When toy and diaper sales are down, it’s hard to justify a 24-foot diaper section,” he explains. “We created a section of books [ranging] from 99-cent board books to $9.99 Dr. Seuss titles.”
Kiddie lit, according to Cowley, has been a bright spot in the category. “Children’s book sales are up 80 percent for us, with titles from Little Golden Book popularly priced at $3.99 to $4.99 doing phenomenally well,” he pointed out. Cowley has also had much success with a 10-for-$10 program from Ashland, Ohio-based Bendon Publishing that includes licensed characters from such hot properties as “Minions” and “Frozen,” many with movie tie-ins. “We did a great cross-docking program with Schnucks, where we brought in pallet stackers of Bendon coloring books,” says Cowley.
“Printed kids’ books have had double-digit gains in the last two years, with licensed products particularly popular,” affirms Addis. “Grocers had actually been growing the overall book category a few years ago, and we’re seeing an uptick again as sales of e-readers flatten.”
Hybrid bookazines continue to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the category. “Bookazines, particularly those retailing for between $10 and $15, have seen very strong growth for the magazine industry,” says Romollino. “There’s still growth because the category is relatively new,” notes IPDA’s Lynch. “With retail prices as high as $15, the success of the category indicates that consumers still value printed content and are willing to pay for it.”
Another emerging trend is the sales explosion of adult coloring books. “These books have intricate design patterns, and are being used as a method of relaxation for individuals, and sometimes even as part of social gatherings,” explains Tom Cox, VP of mass and distributor sales at New York-based Penguin Random House. “Sales in this category have skyrocketed across many retail segments, with prices ranging from $6 to $18 per book.”
According to Cox, young-adult titles that have crossover appeal to adults, and books connected to films, such as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and “Gone Girl,” have propelled the book category.
“The good news for book sales is that movies provide an enormous marketing moment to connect with a whole fresh group of readers,” he notes. “Often, a more casual reader will discover and purchase a book once the marketing and trailers for the film begin to circulate. ‘The Martian,’ ‘In the Heart of the Sea,’ ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ and ‘The Danish Girl’ are all highly anticipated films with great track records as books.”
“At the front end, magazines deliver the highest per-unit profit when compared to candy, single-serve carbonated beverages, and salty and meat snacks.”
—Jackie Gray, Willard Bishop
“The good news for book sales is that movies provide an enormous marketing moment to connect with a whole fresh group of readers.”
—Tom Cox, Penguin Random House


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Travel giant Booking Holdings (BKNG) reported a 7% increase in third-quarter earnings on a revenue of $4.85 billion, up 9.5 %. Analysts had expected the company to post earnings of $38.37 per share on a revenue of $4.8 billion.
On a reported basis, the company posted earnings of $1.77 billion, or $37.02 per share, up from $1.2 billion, or $34.43 per share. Excluding one-off items, the travel company reported earnings of $37.78 per share, below street consensus.
Shares were up 8% during after-market trading.
Gross travel bookings grew 12% to $24.3 billion. The results were primarily driven by a 53% growth in Merchant revenues during the quarter. Meanwhile, agency revenues were almost flat at $3.5 billion.
CEO Glenn Fogel said, “Globally, our accommodation business reported a new milestone of more than 200 million room nights booked in a single quarter, which is up 13% over the same period last year.”
“As we look to the fourth quarter and beyond, we will continue to focus on making the right investments across our brands – in people, systems, and marketing – to continue to grow our business for the long term,” he added.
During the fourth quarter, Booking expects revenue to grow 13% to 16%. Adjusted net income is now expected between $18.90 and $19.40 per share.
The company also guided a 9% to 12% increase in Room nights booked during this period. Total gross travel bookings are anticipated to improve 6% to 9%.
Last week, rival Expedia’s (EXPE) shares jumped 8% after posting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. The company reported earnings of $3.65 per share versus $3.12 expected by analysts.
Video game retailer GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), which has become the talk of the town after the unprecedented stock rally in recent weeks, reported a narrower loss for the first
The steel industry managed to shrug off the pandemic blues earlier than expected as the recovery in industrial activity pushed up demand. With the vaccination drive and the government’s aggressive
Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) reported third-quarter 2021 earnings results today. Net sales decreased 11% year-over-year to $1.98 billion, as a result of lapping the demand surge at the onset


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Ducati confirms plans for an electric motorcycle
It's a logical step for a company dabbling in two-wheel EVs.
Harley-Davidson's first electric motorcycle arrives in August for $30K
The LiveWire is fast and highly connected, but range might be an issue.
Curtiss is ready to mass-produce its 'Zeus' e-motorbikes
They're heading for production in 2020.
Zero motorcycles’ modular battery is one pricey upgrade
It’s probably better just to wait for the battery to recharge.
Honda will use electric bikes to test swappable batteries
It's putting its Mobile Power Packs to the test in Indonesia.
BMW hopes AI-managed electric bike roads will ease traffic
Cities could change now that e-bikes are becoming more popular.
BMW's latest motorcycle concept links futuristic style and tech
The electric bike kind of looks like a fancy moped, but we still want one.
Six amazing all-electric motorcycles
Our list includes the first 3D-printed motorcycle and another bike that can reach 100mph.
ICYMI: Screaming down a magnetic levitation tube
Shuttling the wealthy, Hyperloop-style, in the United Arab Emirates.


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From this hotel near the Olympic Village, people are preparing food such as the popular Korean dish, bulgogi.
It's for the athletes and is cooked without using any ingredients from Fukushima.
Starting at 4 AM every day, workers spend the entire day at the hotel making packed meals.
"There's no time to feel frustrated. I'm buried in work."
More than 400 meals are prepared every day.
Some ingredients have been brought from Korea like red pepper paste but fresh vegetables can be picked up from the local markets.
The cooks are not using any farm goods from eight regions in Japan including Fukushima, but measures are in place to make sure the produce is safe.
"We are using a machine to check radiation levels to see if the fruit and vegetables are safe."
South Korea is not only the country to bring its ingredients from home as the U.S. has done as well.
And while Japan says that it is offended by Korea, for not using ingredients from Fukushima, South Korea has actually been preparing meals for its athletes since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Jang Tae-hyun, Arirang News.


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Sometime around 6:30PM ET on May 6th, popular iOS apps from major companies like DoorDash, Spotify, TikTok, and Venmo suddenly starting crashing. The culprit didn’t remain a mystery for long.
Developers on Twitter and GitHub quickly discovered the cause to be an issue with the software development kit (SDK) from Facebook, which is interwoven into the operation of countless mobile apps from companies large and small. The problem, while resolved rather quickly by Facebook, illustrates the scope of the social network’s platform and how even minor issues can have major ripple effects throughout the mobile software industry.
“Earlier today, a new release of Facebook included a change that triggered crashes for some users in some apps using the Facebook iOS SDK,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Verge yesterday in a statement. “We identified the issue quickly and resolved it. We apologize for any inconvenience.” The Facebook SDK is a bundle of software tools for developers that helps power features like signing in with a Facebook account and providing share to Facebook buttons. So the issue was not unique to iOS; it could have happened to the Android SDK and, in this case, simply affected Apple’s platform.


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Huawei has filed a complaint in a US federal court that challenges the constitutionality of Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA).
The multinational ICT firm issued a statement explaining that it is seeking a declaratory judgment "that the restrictions targeting Huawei are unconstitutional, and a permanent injunction against these restrictions."
Guo Ping, Huawei Rotating Chairman said: "The US Congress has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support its restrictions on Huawei products. We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort. This ban not only is unlawful, but also restricts Huawei from engaging in fair competition, ultimately harming US consumers. We look forward to the court's verdict, and trust that it will benefit both Huawei and the American people."
The lawsuit was filed in a US District Court in Plano, Texas. According to the complaint, Section 889 of the 2019 NDAA not only bars all US Government agencies from buying Huawei equipment and services, but also bars them from contracting with or awarding grants or loans to third parties who buy Huawei equipment or services, without any executive or judicial process.
ITWeb reported that in August 2018, US president Donald Trump banned the US government use of equipment made by the Chinese company and that the US is pushing allies to follow suit and keep Huawei out of planned 5G networks.
According to Huawei this violates the Bill of Attainder Clause and the Due Process Clause, as well as the Separation-of-Powers principles enshrined in the US Constitution, because Congress is both making the law, and attempting to adjudicate and execute it.
Song Liuping, Huawei's Chief Legal Officer, stressed, "Section 889 is based on numerous false, unproven, and untested propositions. Contrary to the statute's premise, Huawei is not owned, controlled, or influenced by the Chinese government. Moreover, Huawei has an excellent security record and program. No contrary evidence has been offered."
John Suffolk, Huawei's Global Cyber Security & Privacy Officer, added: "At Huawei we are proud that we are the most open, transparent, and scrutinised company in the world...Huawei's approach to security by design development and deployment sets a high standards bar that few can match."
From Huawei's perspective, the NDAA restrictions prevent the company from providing more advanced 5G technologies to US consumers, which will delay the commercial application of 5G, in turn, impeding efforts to improve the performance of 5G networks in the US.
"Beyond this, network users in rural and remote regions of the US will be forced to choose between government funding and high-quality, cost-effective products. This will impede the network upgrade process, thus widening the digital divide. Even worse, the restrictions on Huawei will stifle competition, leaving US consumers paying higher prices for inferior products," the company added.
Huawei quotes industry sources as estimating that by allowing the company to compete would reduce the cost of wireless infrastructure by between 15% and 40%.
"This would save North America at least US$20-billion over the next four years," it added.
Lifting NDAA ban
Ping said, "If this law is set aside, as it should be, Huawei can bring more advanced technologies to the United States and help it build the best 5G networks. Huawei is willing to address the US Government's security concerns. Lifting the NDAA ban will give the US Government the flexibility it needs to work with Huawei and solve real security issues."
In early February 2019 ITWeb reported that Huawei may be losing favour in the west but it still has some friends out there - with Turkcell coming out in support of the Chinese company.
Turkcell CEO Kaan Terzioglu said in a statement that "Huawei has been a reliable business partner and the partnership is set to continue".
According to the report global scrutiny has been growing against the Chinese equipment-maker due to security worries linked to Huawei's close ties to the Chinese government, and allegations its equipment could hold backdoors to enable spying, which has not been definitively proved and which Huawei denies.
Terzioglu, however, said security vulnerability claims against Huawei cannot be evaluated in isolation from current developments in the market.


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Argentinians are leaders to produce dangerous copies leading to irreversible complications and even deaths .
Unfortunately killing people in south america,especially in argentina is not taken seriously as in USA or western european countries .
Even specialists like local plastic surgeons or dermatologists loose their ethics to buy cheap products as they think complications will happen only to their colleagues and not for them !
Mixing in quantity ingredients without any chemistry background and absence of basic knowledge of manufacturing process can be only dangerous .
Some physicians working in Spain ask their pharmacy ( especially in Valencia) to produce such ,,copies,, and some disasters have been noticed and reported as dermatopathies,big edema,big pain and of course absence of results .
Necrosis have been reported too but are hidden by those spanish MD using copies as their pharmacies.
It is too well known that cuban MD working in Alicante and Madrid are even selling argentinian copies to their colleagues of Latin America letting them do disasters, earning money without ethics .
There are actually 2 turkish copies in Turkey bought not only by Turkish but too by Libyan MD and/or even by cosmetologists !
Take a look at the irreversible disasters created by such copies .


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China’s Exports Buoy Growth as IPhone Inflates ImportsBloomberg News
China’s slowing economy received a shot in the arm from faster export growth in September, with external demand spilling over to boost imports for processing and re-shipment of goods such as the iPhone 6.
Exports increased 15.3 percent from a year earlier, the biggest increase since February 2013 and beating the 12 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Imports rose 7 percent, against projections for a 2 percent decline, leaving a trade surplus of about $31 billion, data from the Beijing-based customs administration today showed.
Stronger exports will help China weather a property slump even as the global outlook becomes more clouded, with Federal Reserve officials highlighting concern about the improving U.S. economy’s ability to withstand foreign weakness. A surge in imports for processing and re-export suggested domestic demand remains subdued, while a 34 percent increase in shipments to Hong Kong reignited speculation that figures are inflated.
“Import growth in September is heavily driven by external demand and the processing trade industry, instead of domestic demand,” said Le Xia, Chief Asia Economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA in Hong Kong, with iPhone production one component of that. “China’s economy at the current stage is still kind of externally demand-driven.”
Chinese stocks maintained declines after the data. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 percent at the close while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 0.2 percent.
The iPhone 6 has “positive impacts on processing trade,” Zheng Yuesheng, a spokesman for the customs agency, said after a press briefing in Beijing today. The customs department of Zhengzhou, where the iPhone factory is located, reported 6.22 million exports of new iPhone models by Sept. 21, according to a report by China News Service, a state news agency.
The increase in exports follows a previously reported 9.4 percent jump in August and compares with analysts’ estimates for gains ranging from 7.7 percent to 16.6 percent. The surge was boosted by weakness in the year-earlier period, when shipments fell 0.3 percent, according to previously reported data.
Apple Inc.’s new version of the iPhone may boost China’s exports by about 1 percent a month for the rest of 2014, Bank of America Corp. economists led by Lu Ting in Hong Kong said in a note last month.
The increase in exports to Hong Kong helped the territory overtaking the U.S. in the month to be the top destination for Chinese shipments. That coincided with renewed appreciation of China’s currency, triggering “concerns that speculative trade flows to ride on RMB appreciation could have reemerged,” economists led by Liu Li-Gang at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. wrote.
“The trade development between Hong Kong and Mainland China needs to be closely monitored,” ANZ’s economists said.
The customs administration didn’t immediately respond to faxed questions on speculation of distorted figures.
A discrepancy between Hong Kong data for imports from China and Chinese figures for exports to the city in early 2013 highlighted the practice of over-invoicing that inflated China’s export data. Inflated invoices had been used to disguise capital inflows to bet on China’s rising currency.
Analysts forecast China’s expansion this year will moderate to 7.3 percent, the slowest since 1990, and to 7 percent in 2015.
Central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said over the weekend that the economy “will continue to expand at a steady pace.” While expediting spending, boosting infrastructure building and relaxing property curbs, Premier Li Keqiang has refrained from broad-based stimulus, saying China prefers reform to boost the economy.
“Today’s data is less good news than it appears,” Louis Kuijs, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s chief Greater China economist in Hong Kong, said in a note. “It suggests that China’s export growth is holding up. However, the important caveat coming from the breakdown of the import data suggests that demand growth in China’s own economy remains weak.”
— With assistance by Xiaoqing Pi, and Xin Zhou


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SAN ANTONIO, June 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Move It Self Storage Crestway, located at 7345 Crestway Dr, recently added U-Haul products and services to its business.
Opening up a new business can be a daunting task. Many small business owners work long hours to provide their customers with the service they deserve. However, branching out and creating an effective partnership with another company can make that transition a little easier.
So when Move it Self Storage decided to partner with U-Haul, it was truly a win-win proposition. Katie Cowen, spokesperson for Move It Self Storage, knows the perks that come from partnering with such a reputable company. "We wanted the brand recognition and increased visibility U-Haul gives you." Cowen says the partnership has been great, but the customers have appreciated it even more. "The customers have appreciated the increased convenience that the U-Haul equipment provides. The customers have also appreciated the lower prices now that we have become a dealership. U-Haul provides the cheapest moving boxes in the business and we can turn around and sell them for a cheaper price."
For more information, or to rent your moving equipment today, call (210) 787-5321 or visit Move It Self Storage Crestway online at uhaul.com. Business hours of operation are: Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday: Closed.
- Professional Services
- Consumer Discretionary


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Cucumbers recalled for salmonella risk
(FOX 11) - Cucumbers imported from Mexico and produced by a company that distributes product to Whole Foods and other area stores have been recalled for possible salmonella contamination, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said.
The distributer, Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce of San Diego, issued a voluntary recall of the "Limited Edition" brand pole grown cucumbers.
The labeling on the cases indicates the product was grown and packed by Rancho Don Juanito in Mexico. The cucumbers were distributed between August 1 and September 3, 2015.
CDPH is currently aware of 285 individuals in 27 states infected with Salmonella serotype Poona, with 51 of these case-patients being reported from 17 California counties, including one death.
Domestically grown cucumbers were not believed to be involved in the outbreak, CDPH said.
To see a full list of distribution locations, tap here.
Copyright 2015 FOX 11 Los Angeles: Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.


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Keeley Hawes is the voice of Lara Croft
British actress Keeley Hawes has been announced as the voice of Lara Croft.
Hawes is voicing the legendary Tomb Raider heroine in her latest outing, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Eidos' Keir Edmonds admitted Hawes' role on the official Tomb Raider forums, and Hawes has been the voice of Ms. Croft since Tomb Raider: Legend appeared back in 2006.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be Lara's first download-only outing and features a new isometric viewpoint along with new co-op elements and is due to arrive later this summer.
- Valve's Chet Faliszek has been confirmed as the first developer session for EGX Rezzed 2015
- One area from Zelda Wii U is as big as the entirety of Skyward Sword
- Telltale's new collaboration is with Mojang, on a Minecraft story game
- Franklin voice actor indicates GTA V story DLC is on the way
- Red Dead Redemption, LA Noire and Bully sequels will come when the time is right says Rockstar
- Telltale teases another collaboration with another game developer
- New Company Of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault trailer recognizes the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge
- New Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare trailer focuses on character customization
- Splash Damage's free-to-play shooter Dirty Bomb coming to Steam in the new year


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When Congress passed the bankruptcy reform bill last year, they included Section 1229, which asked the Federal Reserve Board to conduct a study to determine whether the “indiscriminate” extension of credit to consumers had contributed to the increase in bankruptcy filings.
The report is a treasure trove of fascinating little tidbits of information. Here are a few examples:
1. In 2004, 71% of American families held general-purpose credit card accounts, up from 16% in 1970.
2. 56% of families carry a balance on bank-type credit cards, and 24% hardly ever pay balances in full.
3. As of 2004, outstanding debt on credit cards was $645 billion.
4. An average of 8.9% of families were late at least 60 days on a debt in 2004.
5. Profitability of credit card banks is nearly double that of commercial banks.
6. More than 5.2 billion credit card solicitations were mailed in 2004, up from 2.7 billion in 1995.
7. The response rate on credit card solicitations has dropped from 1.4% in 1995 to 0.4% in 2004.
There’s a lot more in the report, but the above gives the flavor of the type of data published by the Fed about the credit card industry.
Predictably, the report produced by the Fed concludes that the credit card banking industry is not to blame for the increase in bankruptcy filings. Specifically, “…this review finds that as a matter of industry practice, market discipline, and banking agency supervision and enforcement, credit card issuers do not solicit customers or extend credit to them indiscriminately or without assessing their ability to repay debt.”
Did we expect anything different from the Federal Reserve? Not really. Frankly, the study was simply not deep enough to penetrate the real issues at hand. If the banks are so good at determining repayment ability, then why do I keep talking to people who have far more credit than annual income? Why do the credit card banks make more than 30% of their profit from the delinquent status of their customers (late fees or penalties)? Since the only income data they gather is what’s on the application, how on earth do the banks determine ability to repay in the first place?
To be sure, the report does state that “…certain specific industry practices of late have been deemed by regulators to potentially extend borrowers’ repayment periods beyond reasonable time frames and have been the subject of extensive supervisory attention and guidance.”
Translation: It takes 20 or 30 years (if not longer) to pay off balances via minimum payments, which results in a situation most of us would simply call “highway robbery.” So the Office of the Comptroller of Currency has forced the banks to increase their minimum payment levels and bring down the repayment period.
Where the Fed report gets really interesting though is the conclusions regarding the bankruptcy trend. After citing several economic studies, some of which contradict each other, the report states that “…the longer-run trend in bankruptcy filings is historically related to a number of factors, including an increase in revolving consumer credit use and, perhaps, a decline in the stigma associated with bankruptcy. It also appears that the decision to declare bankruptcy is typically triggered by unforseen adverse events such as job losses or uninsured illnesses.”
Oh, so THAT’s why all those people file bankruptcy every year? I never knew it was because they have more debt, they lose their jobs, or they get injured. How could we have known?
Seriously though, the Federal Reserve report clearly shows a correlation between consumer bankruptcy filings and the inflation-adjusted amount of revolving credit per household. At the same time, it concludes that the credit card banks have nothing to do with this. So if I have this correctly, the Fed is saying that increasing consumer debt has contributed to the increase in BK filings, but the banks do a good job of managing credit risk so the increase in debt which led to the increase in bankruptcies is not their fault. Am I missing something here?


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The third-generation iPad mini and second-generation iPad Air will have Touch ID, there’s no doubt. Just like Siri — a feature that debuted in an ‘S’ year for the iPhone — took a year to creep to the iPad, TouchID will have a year’s exclusivity before it comes to Apple’s line-up of tablets.
Don’t hold your breath, though. We’re almost a year away from Touch ID coming to the iPad mini. So you should take this picture of a ‘leaked’ iPad mini 3 with Touch ID with super pessimism.
The above image was attained by Steve over at Nowherelse.fr from a tipster. Steve has a fairly decent record with leaks, but he admits he doesn’t know this source, so he’s skeptical.
As he should be. I would be very surprised to learn that there were functional third-generation iPad mini prototypes with Touch ID just rattling around Asia, which is what is being claimed here. Far more likely to me is that this is a standard iPad mini with a Touch ID button glued in. But theorize and specualet at your own discretion, dear reader!


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When Officer Michael Kotsonis last month tracked down the woman who stole groceries from a local discount store, he didn’t arrest her. Instead, he apprehended the stolen items, returned to the store, paid for them out of pocket, and brought them back to her.
The culprit told him she’d taken the cake mix, Crisco and frosting from the store to bake her child a homemade birthday cake. Without the means to pay for them, she swiped the ingredients from the Ocean State Job Lots, a New England-based retail chain.
When Kotsonis, a 19-year Portsmouth, New Hampshire police officer, heard the reason for her petty crime, he didn’t want to ruin a child’s birthday.
A store clerk, moved by the officer’s act of kindness, anonymously tipped the local newspaper to the story, hoping he’d get some recognition for a good deed. Kotsonis, who did not return calls for comment, said he’d rather it have stayed private.
“I didn’t do it for the attention,” he told the Portsmouth Herald. “What you do when no one is looking, that’s the character of someone.”
He said he didn’t condone the woman stealing, but said “the kid shouldn’t have to pay.”
His charitable act has spread quickly online since it was first reported earlier this week. His fellow officers lavished praise on him, saying this was Kotsonis’s character. His colleagues posted this shout-out on the department’s social media:
Local Portsmouth readers in the comment section also bestowed thanks for Kotsonis’s goodwill.
“It does my heart good to see small acts of kindness still happen,” one commenter wrote. “You Sir, give us all hope. Thank you and Merry Christmas.”
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Fields and farmland free from Glyphosate
8th of February 2018
Present discussions concerning „glyphosate“, a broad-spectrum herbicide, were now an occasion to implement this current topic to the regulations of milk deliveries between us and our approximate 50 milk delivering partners. Specifically, it has been noted that on fields and farmland used for grazing and animal feed, no glyphosate may be used. Responsibility towards our customers is our top priority, so this decision was a logical step forward for both sides and corresponds absolutely to our self-image. “We are “glyphosate free” pioneers in the sheep- and goat´s sector.
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In a bid to drum up business, jewellery store Pop’s Gems has announced a ‘help me stay open sale’, offering his hand-made jewellery for half price just to stay afloat.
On the store’s Facebook page, it pleads: ‘Customers needed. Fifty per cent off all jewellery in store for the next two weeks’.
Store owner John O’Bryan said it was difficult to get people to know the Bridge Tower Village Centre shops existed.
‘To get shoppers here is hard ” people always come in and say ‘Wow, we didn’t even know you were here’,’ he said.
‘I’ve tried putting signs out at the roadside or at the roundabout on Pinaster Parade but the signs are taken away by the City of Swan.’
‘My intention was to run this store as a hobby, not to make money, but if I could cover the rent that would be nice.’
A few doors down from Pop’s Gems is the Trader’s Koffee Pot Cafe, whose current owners are the third in about 18 months.
Co-owner Candice Kovacs said the cafe had struggled with the council signage issue.
‘We wanted a blue street sign off Pinaster Parade that indicate there are actually shops down here, but it was declined,’ she said.
According to Mr O’Bryan, the bridge tower could also be a drawcard for visitors but it remains permanently locked due to frequent vandalism.
City of Swan chief executive Mike Foley said poor placement of signs posed a safety risk to motorists and pedestrians.
‘The City of Swan has met on multiple occasions with The Bridge Tower Village Centre owners and also one of the business owners to discuss directional signage to the village and will continue to work with them to assist, where possible,’ he said.
‘The City will also be working on a project in the 2014-15 financial year to consider the viability of installing way finding signage in business areas within Ellenbrook.’


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Jumia Nigeria, a leading Nigeria Online retailer, has announced that it will be offering a lot of deals for the 2015 edition of the yearly Black Friday Sales coming up on November 27, 2015.For the 2015 Jumia black Friday sales, Jumia Nigeria will be be teaming with MTN, Binatone, Mediatek, Infinix and Innjoo to give you the biggest shopping event Nigeria has ever witnessed.
Visit Jumia Black Friday store Now
The 2015 edition of the Jumia Nigeria Black friday sales will feature flash sales, exclusive fashion deals, blockbuster discounts and more at up to 90% off for everyone. 1000 products with the best prices guaranteed in Nigeria will be available for Black Friday. Customers will be buried under a 24-hour long avalanche of deals and Flash Sales! All the big electronics and fashion brands have RSVPed“YES!” to the event.
Like previous years, Jumia 2015 Black Friday deals promises huge discounts of up to 90% on items across all categories ranging from Mobile phones and Electronics to Fashion and Beauty products with free delivery to all parts of Nigeria.Lastly and more importantly,some lucky Black Friday shoppers will stand the chance to win extra vouchers if they shop on Jumia during Black Friday.
Link ===See all Jumia Black Friday Deals .
What is your experience with previous versions of the Jumia Black Friday deals?Let us know what you think using the comment section below.


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It’s the latest dessert trend. Co-Owner of California Cookie Dough Amy Truong joined us live to tell us all about her edible cookie dough shop in Fountain Valley. Edible Cookie Dough is very big in New York and has finally made its way to the west coast. California Cookie Dough is located at 18854 Brookhurst St. in Fountain Valley. For more information, you can go to their website or follow them on social media.
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.


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Despite cycling peak COVID-related demand a year ago, HelloFresh Group posted a 66.5% increase in global revenues in its fiscal second quarter on a constant currency basis, the Berlin-based meal-kit company said.
The sales growth came due to capacity increases, newly acquired businesses including ready-to-eat services such as Factor in the U.S., a market launch in Norway, and through assortment expansion, including a newly available pantry offering in the U.S.
In the U.S., HelloFresh said quarterly revenue increased by 61% to 846.9 million euros (about $992 million) or by 66.5% on a constant currency basis. Customer counts increased by 92.9% to 3.8 million.
And though order frequency and order value were down from a year ago in the U.S., those metrics were up on a two-year basis, indicating the company made progress through the pandemic, officials said.
“The second quarter of 2021 has been a strong success for HelloFresh. We delivered very meaningful growth across both segments, despite a tough benchmark, given that Q2 2020 was probably the peak lock-down quarter,”Dominik Richter, CEO of HelloFresh, said in a statement. “During Q2 2021 we have made further strong progress in ramping up our production capacity and infrastructure globally, while launching Norway as a new market, bringing Green Chef as an additional brand to the U.K. market and extending our HelloFresh Markets offering of high-quality curated add-ons to the U.S. We are laying the foundations for reaching our mid-term revenue target of €10 billion revenue and charging towards becoming the leading global food solutions group.”
In a conference call with analysts discussing results, Richter said the company would be careful about passing along product price increases to customers, saying the company was buying better, and adjusting formulations where necessary. “We can cope well with a certain level of ingredient price inflation,” he said, according to a Sentieo transcript.
“We haven't done any large-scale price increases and will most likely not do them,” he added. “I think we've always seen that if we can have very competitive pricing, both vs. competition but also vs. supermarkets, that really helps us with the order rates of our existing customers, [and] acquiring new customers. … We think price competitiveness is a key variable for consumers to buy meal kits. And if we can keep prices stable and optimize around the margin, that will make all products in relation to overall supermarket prices, which see inflation, as well as that of competition.”


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Fashion retailer DV8, which has a network of over forty stores across Ireland, has announced it is to open an outlet at Tipperary Town Shopping Centre.
The 4000 square feet store will open for business in November, creating up to 15 new jobs, after a €1million investment from DV8.
DV8 sells over forty top fashion clothing brands as well as footwear and accessories in its stores and online.
David Scott from DV8 said; “We are delighted to be opening a new store in Tipperary and confident it will complement the existing retail offering in the town, with DV8’s unique range of male and female clothing and footwear.
He continued; “We think local shoppers will enjoy the DV8 experience, including the top fashion brands and excellent customer service.”


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|Bid||43.60 x 0|
|Ask||43.80 x 0|
|Day's Range||43.80 - 43.80|
|52 Week Range||34.80 - 46.20|
|Beta (5Y Monthly)||0.83|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||30.61|
|Forward Dividend & Yield||N/A (N/A)|
|Ex-Dividend Date||Mar 03, 2020|
|1y Target Est||N/A|
Olive Garden parent's results still surpassed expectations, while shares rose on solid outlook Continue reading...
(Bloomberg) -- Yum China Holding Inc. has filed confidentially for a Hong Kong listing that could raise about $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, joining other U.S.-traded Chinese companies seeking share sales in the financial hub.The restaurant operator running outlets of U.S. brands including KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in China submitted a stock listing application to the Hong Kong exchange in recent weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is not public. The New York-listed company has been working with China International Capital Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on preparations for the share sale, Bloomberg News reported in January.The listing would be the latest in a growing number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies turning to the Hong Kong market for fresh funds, as tensions between the two countries and fallout from the Luckin Coffee Inc. accounting scandal threaten to limit Chinese firms’ access to U.S. capital markets. Chinese online retailer JD.com raised $3.9 billion in its Hong Kong listing Thursday, while gaming company NetEase Inc. raised $2.7 billion for its Hong Kong share sale on June 11.China Inc. Leaving U.S. Market at Fastest Pace Since 2015Details of the proposed share sale are not final and the company could decide not to pursue the listing, the people said. A representative for Yum China declined to comment.Yum China operates 9,295 restaurants in over 1,400 cities in the country, according to its website. China’s biggest fast-food chain operator reported a 24% year over year decline in first quarter revenue, and said it expects an extended recovery period from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on its business.The company pivoted in February by introducing so-called “contactless” delivery and business lines such as catering and delivering raw food for home-cooking. By late March, it said 95% of its stores in China were either partially or fully open.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Yum China Holdings is moving ahead with its plans for a potential US$2 billion stock offering in Hong Kong, as the operator of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the mainland seeks to become the latest US-listed Chinese firm to pursue a secondary listing in the city, according to people familiar with the matter.Yum China has been working with investment banks Goldman Sachs and China International Capital Corporation on its Hong Kong listing plans since the beginning of the year, but it is adding additional brokers and support staff as it nears the finish line on the deal.The firm is hosting auditions for roles on the bumper offering on Friday, the people familar said, requesting anonymity as the information was not public. Yum China spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment.The Yum China's move comes hot on the heels of successful Hong Kong debuts by NetEase, the world's second-largest mobile games publisher, and JD.com, one of China's largest e-commerce sites.Shares of JD.com rose 4.2 per cent to HK$235.60 in mid-morning trading in Hong Kong on Thursday after raising US$3.88 billion. NetEase jumped 6 per cent on its first trading day in the city after raising US$2.7 billion.Similar to its peers, Yum China is seeking to diversify its shareholder base and believes investors in Asia will be more familiar with consumer trends in its home market. Management is also alive to mounting political risk as relations fray between the US and China. It sees a listing in Hong Kong as going some way towards mitigating this risk, said one of the people familiar.A spokesman for Yum China said the firm does not comment on rumors or market speculation in response for a request for comment.Yum China would be the fourth high-profile listing by a major Chinese company with American depositary receipts (ADRs) in the past eight months since Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding's US$12.9 billion secondary listing in November. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.The US Senate recently approved a bill requiring Chinese firms with ADRs to submit their audits to reviews by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and analysts expect US-China relations to worsen ahead of the 2002 US presidential election in November.As a result, there are expectations of additional "homecomings" by other Chinese companies seeking secondary listings closer to home in Hong Kong.More than 200 Chinese companies trade on US stock exchanges worth over US$1.2 trillion, Bloomberg data showed, of which 26, including Yum China, would potentially qualify for secondary listings in Hong Kong this year, according to research by China Renaissance and the Post."With more ADRs returning home, we expect the Hong Kong market to provide investors a diversified and higher growth investment universe going forward," said Mike Shiao, chief investment officer, Asia excluding Japan, at investment manager Invesco.The Hong Kong listing comes almost four years since Yum China was spun off from Yum! Brands and listed in New York in November 2016. The company operates more than 9,200 restaurants in 1,400 cities and towns in the mainland.Yum China said its revenue declined 24 per cent to US$1.75 billion in the first quarter and profit fell 72 per cent to US$62 million. The coronavirus pandemic forced the firm to close as many as 35 per cent of its stores across the mainland.The company said in April that the pace of recovery was "uneven" and sales and foot traffic remained below pre-outbreak levels as customers continued to avoid going out and practising social distancing. As of April 28, same-store sales were down 10 per cent in the month.Yum China said it would suspend share buy-backs and dividends in the second and third quarter until it had a better read on how the pandemic would affect the broader economy and consumer behaviour.The company said at the time the coronavirus, which causes the disease Covid-19, is likely to have a "materially and extended adverse impact" on its financial results for the year.Despite management's conservative outlook, its shares are trading near all-time highs. On Wednesday, Yum China's shares rose 7.2 per cent to close at US$50.68 in New York.Stock research analysts have zoomed in on Yum China's early adoption of a digital platform which they believe has positioned the company to benefit from evolving consumer demand for digital ordering and takeaways. Yum China's delivery sales grew 40 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter.Digital orders, including delivery, mobile orders and kiosk orders, accounted for 84 per cent of sales at KFC and 65 per cent of sales at Pizza Hut in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 29 and 36 percentage points, respectively, year over year.Stores openings have gradually resumed since March and its coffee offering has expanded, analysts also noted.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
The financial regulations require hedge funds and wealthy investors that exceeded the $100 million equity holdings threshold to file a report that shows their positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn't the intention, these filings to a certain extent level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F […]
Dave & Buster's (PLAY) first-quarter fiscal 2020 results reflect poor comparable restaurant sales and reduced traffic due to the closure of dining rooms.
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Bankers hoping for a bonanza from Hong Kong share sales by U.S.-listed Chinese companies should contain their excitement. Low fees and the hangover of the Luckin Coffee Inc. scandal are likely to put a damper on the rewards.Hong Kong’s market for stock offerings is booming. Online retailer JD.com Inc. is raising as much as $4.1 billion in the world’s second-biggest share sale this year, days after internet gaming company NetEase Inc.’s $2.7 billion listing. There’s a line of candidates for Hong Kong flotations, driven by the prospect that the U.S. will delist companies that can’t commit to proving they are free from foreign government control.That’s a boon for the city and its stock-exchange operator, after China’s plans to impose a national security law raised questions over Hong Kong’s future as an international financial center. The NetEase and JD.com offerings were both heavily oversubscribed by retail and institutional investors, showing the strength of demand for U.S.-traded Chinese tech companies. These and upcoming deals may not deliver the windfall to investment bankers that such a pipeline would usually promise, though.For one thing, secondary listings earn a lot less in fees than initial public offerings. NetEase is paying the banks that worked on its Hong Kong flotation just 0.25% of the proceeds, compared with a standard rate for IPOs of 2% to 3%, as my colleague Julia Fioretti notes. Such deals earn less because the companies are already listed, meaning less work is required from banks to introduce their businesses to investors.Secondly, not all companies eligible to sell shares in Hong Kong can be expected do so. There are 42 Chinese companies in the U.S. that qualify for Hong Kong secondary listings, according to analysts at UBS Group AG. Should they issue 5% of their stock over the next 12 months, that would mean $27 billion in funds raised. The actual amount may come in far short of that. Blame the fall of Luckin, the Starbucks competitor that faces delisting from Nasdaq after acknowledging that it fabricated sales. The episode has damaged the reputation of Chinese companies overseas and is having a cautionary impact on investors, banks and potential listing candidates.Unlike Hong Kong, the U.S. market has a disclosure-based system that makes listing — and delisting — easier. Investors subject to corporate fraud can seek redress through class-action lawsuits (Luckin and its IPO arranger, Credit Suisse Group AG, have both been sued). Lacking such legal safeguards, Hong Kong has a gatekeeper for its market, with regulators vetting listing candidates. Companies and their sponsoring banks need to factor in this added scrutiny.As for investors, they may feel they’ve already had the pick of the U.S.-listed Chinese contingent. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the first to sell shares in November, JD.com and NetEase are three of the four biggest by market capitalization (the other is Pinduoduo Inc.). They are all well known and with track records as listed companies stretching back years. As the list goes down to encompass smaller and lesser-known enterprises, investor enthusiasm may wane.Not all businesses can match the excitement of the tech trio. Will investors flock to Yum China Holdings Inc., operator of KFC outlets in the country, for example? American investors have taken to Yum, which has the highest percentage of U.S. institutional ownership among the group. This investor base may be unwilling to switch to Hong Kong shares, a factor that may affect demand and post-listing liquidity.Then there’s online travel agency Trip.com Group Ltd., also on the roster of upcoming secondary listings. It has the technology sheen, but will investors be able to overlook the hammering that the world’s tourism companies have taken from the coronavirus pandemic?The reality is that while secondary listings are good business, “there are bigger opportunities in other products for investment banks in the region,” according to Amrit Shahani, London-based research director at analytics company Coalition Development Ltd. First-quarter IPO fees for the top 12 investment banks that Coalition follows in the region, from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Citigroup Inc., were around $150 million, Shahani said; they made a combined $1.5 billion from foreign-exchange trading during the period.So things are looking up after all. Just not in the place you might expect. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Nisha Gopalan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering deals and banking. She previously worked for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones as an editor and a reporter.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Beyond Meat surged past a buy point after the fake meat maker inked a new distribution deal in China.
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Yum China (NYSE: YUMC) are two of the largest fast food chains the world. McDonald's operates and franchises over 36,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries worldwide. Yum China, which was spun off from Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) in 2016, operates over 9,200 locations of Yum's Pizza Hut, KFC, and other restaurants across China.
Beyond is partnering with Chinese food distributor Sinodis, which according to its website, is part of the French dairy maker and distributor Savencia.
Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC) is looking like an interesting pick from a technical perspective, as the company is seeing favorable trends on the moving average crossover front.
Beyond Meat's (NASDAQ: BYND) Beyond Burger is making its debut in mainland China. Yum China (NYSE: YUMC) -- the country's largest restaurant operator and sole licensee of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell from former parent company Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) -- said it will debut the Beyond Burger in some of its stores starting June 3.
Beyond Burgers will be introduced as a limited-time offering at select KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations in mainland China, Yum China said in a statement. KFC will offer the burger as a three-day limited offer at five locations across the cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shanghai, Yum China said.
Highflying alternative protein startup (BYND) is apparently expanding in China, and investors seem to be happy with the move. Beyond (ticker: BYND) products might be on KFC menus in China as early as June, according to on a post from KFC on Chinese social media. KFC in China is controlled by (YUMC) (YUMC).


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The release of Vijay's upcoming movie Master is likely to be delayed further. The film, originally scheduled to hit the screens in April for Tamil New Year, was expected to be out for Diwali festival. It now looks like the Lokesh Kanagaraj-directorial will not see the light of the day in 2020.
The latest rumours in the film industry say that the makers of Master have now decided not to release for Diwali. Although the festival is three months away from now, there are no signs of the reopening of cinema halls.
Even if the theatres open, trader trackers are not sure whether the audience will turn up like before. Further, the social media distancing norms might not help the distributors/exhibitors to recover their investments.
Considering these factors, the makers of Vijay's aster have postponed the film's release for Pongal 2021, say reports.
It is a crime-thriller in which Vijay Sethupathi plays the baddie and Malavika Mohanan plays the female lead.
Soorarai Pottru opt for OTT Release
On the other hand, the makers of Suriya's Soorarai Pottru has decided to skip the theatrical release for the same reasons and will be released on Amazon Prime on 30 October. In a press release, he said, "The current situation does not allow for the theatrical release of my film even though I want to watch it with my fans. My production house has so far produced 8 films and 10 films are being produced at the moment. In these difficult times I think it is important to take decision as a producer more than an actor. We have decided to release Soorarai Pottru on OTT platform,"
He requested fans to understand his situation. The Tamil actor has announced that he is donating Rs 5 crore, which was meant for the film's promotions, for the frontline workers of Covid-19.
The Sudha Kongara-directorial has Aparna Balamurali in the female lead. It is based on the events of Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath.


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SHANGHAI, Oct. 20 (SMM) – The SHFE 1411 lead contract tracked LME lead down around 2.4% to a record low of RMB 14,340/mt last week. Lead for December delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange became the most active contract on last Friday. The most active SHFE 1412 lead contract is still on a downward trajectory, but will stabilize around RMB 13,500/mt this week should LME lead stop falling.
Traded prices on China’s physical lead markets ranged between RMB 13,550-13,650/mt last week. Physical lead was in short supply since smelters in Henan and Yunnan refrained from selling while smelters in Hunan and Jiangxi had little in finished goods inventories. Traders were reluctant to sell due to low inventories and difficulties in replenishing them. At the same time, lead-acid battery producers were reluctant to buy after lead prices fell sharply last week.Spot lead prices are expected to hold steady at RMB 13,600-13,700/mt this week as supply and demand is reaching equilibrium. Lead smelters will be forced to sustain sales in light volumes to ensure sufficient cash flows even though they will suffer losses at current prices. Downstream producers are likely to buy only to need given uncertain macroeconomic conditions. Traders will sell in small quantities against low stocks. Lead supply in Shanghai will remain tight this week since deliverable goods should flock mostly to the Guangdong market.


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The world’s largest confectionary company Cadbury Schweppes said today (7 June) that although it does not expect to report margin growth within its goal range for 2006 it does expect to deliver revenue growth at the upper end of its goal range.
“We expect to deliver good revenue growth in 2006, towards the upper end of our goal range. The majority of our businesses have performed well so far this year with our active innovation programme driving increased momentum across the group in the second quarter. We expect further growth in margins this year, although with continuing rises in oil prices it is unlikely that we will deliver margin growth within our goal ranges in 2006,”CEO Todd Stitzer said.
The company said that its year-to-date performance had shown healthy growth across key areas, with trade in Europe the Middle East and Africa picking up in the second quarter after a slow first quarter.
In the Americas, gum innovations increased Cadbury’s share of the gum market with the Trident brand benefiting from new products and new packaging formats. Trident also drove improved gum sales in Spain, the company said, boosted by the launch of Trident Splash.
In the UK, Green and Black’s strong growth helped to offset the poor performance of Cadbury Trebor Bassett. After a challenging start to the year, “the UK market is now modestly ahead and our performance is improving with share gains driven by Easter and a number of new product launches in the second quarter,” the company said. Easter also saw increased sales Ireland.
Cadbury’s performance in France, along with the emerging markets of Russia and South Africa, was disappointing. However, Cadbury reported good sales in the Asia Pacific region, driven by strong growth in the emerging markets of India, Thailand and Malaysia.
“For the year as a whole, we expect to deliver underlying business revenue growth towards the upper end of our goal range. Growth will be weighted towards the second half given the timing of new product activity,” Cadbury said in a statement. The company had previously set the target of 3% to 5% revenue growth for FY2006.
The company said that growth investments will be higher than last year, with projects including the opening of new science and technology centres in the US and Singapore and the strengthening route to market capabilities in the US, Mexico, India and Australia.
Despite pricing and cost reduction initiatives, Cadbury said that it is unlikely that it will deliver margin growth within its goal range of between 50 and 75 basis points, citing increasing commodity, oil and discount costs.


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Share the action you’ll be taking in the next 7 days as a comment at the end of this post or over on my Facebook page.
Warmth and Competence
Apple, Facebook add coverage for egg-freezing to benefit plans, report says http://t.co/8oBw8NhXSW Apple, Facebook add coverage for egg-freezing to benefit plans, report says http://t.co/8oBw8NhXSW
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 14, 2014
Let’s see, women find it difficult to get ahead in their careers at our companies so what should […]
Both men and women rank sharing household chores as the third most important ingredient in our recipe for a successful marriage, right behind faithfulness and good sex. Yet the latest data tells us that in dual-earner couples, mom is still doing more housework and more childcare than dad does. Surprisingly, when […]
What’s stunning about the reaction to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All” and the news that new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is pregnant is the size and scope of the reaction itself.
And I can explain that reaction with a screen shot.
Those two tweets.
Young women and couples watch as friends have children, and see new mothers and fathers completely stressed out juggling work and family, marriages […]
Why do women themselves say that women “Can’t Have it All?” We say it because, as one mother told me, the phrase resonates as being “Shockingly, earthshakingly true.” We use you “Can’t Have it All” because it reflects a reality, our frustration with the impossible goal of trying to be both June Cleaver […]
- Why Is Silicon Valley So Awful to Women? https://t.co/3C5e6IcoOY about 19 hours ago from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Go Tim! U.S. Rep. Tim Walz running for governor https://t.co/bxYM9thZOP #MN #2018 about 22 hours ago from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- @united Wow you really don't get what kind of trouble you're in do you? You're completely missing the point about 1 day ago from Twitter for iPhone in reply to united ReplyRetweetFavorite
- RT @girlsreallyrule: Rules for dress that disproportionately affect girls and women are outdated and need to be changed immediately, @Unite… about 1 day ago from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- @united Then it is time to change your "dress code" policy. Shaming young girls abt their clothes is reprehensible! about 1 day ago from Twitter for iPhone in reply to united ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Whatever you do, don’t say yes when this chatbot asks, 'Can you hear me?' @Davidlaz @latimes https://t.co/KOdd2Tn9zG about 3 days ago from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Gorsuch, Abortion and the Concept of Personhood, via @nytimes https://t.co/MdOx2eMA7P about 6 days ago from Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
Remodeling Motherhood offers fresh perspective on mothers, fathers, money, marriage and work paired with tools to remodel and improve the lives of parents and families.


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Naples tourism chief Cesare Foa, suggesting visitors resort to wearing cheap plastic alternatives to avoid theft, reeks of defeat. Would he ask billionaires to shift to a paddle boat if their superyachts are pillaged? The president of the tour operators’ association, Aidit, expressed hotels could provide guests who come sauntering in with lovely luxury timepieces on their wrists with some cheap plastic alternative. In this manner, the guests can stay carefree, knowing their actual watches (that they have spent thousands or even millions on and enjoy wearing) can remain secured in some safe. At the same time, they parade an ugly $11 plastic piece all over town and, in all likelihood, on social media. As per CNN, Italian news agency ANSA reported last week that the French actor Daniel Auteuil recently had his luxury watch stolen in the area.
Auteuil’s $41,250 Patek Philippe watch was stolen from his wrist by two people riding scooters while traveling in a taxi with the window open. Foa told CNN, “It’s important that tourists in Naples can enjoy tranquility and peace in the city, so hotels and the council could help to ensure that these guests feel safe and relaxed by giving them a plastic watch.” He should’ve stopped there, but the man continued, “The watches could be decorated; they could carry a symbol of Campania (the region in Italy of which Naples is the capital) on them and could be given as a gift to family members and friends.”
The ridiculous plastic watch suggestion was joined by another ignorant comment wherein Foa mentioned Naples had no theft problem and is no different from any other city in Italy. It is certainly no different and shares the same theft problem as a fan who robbed Formula 1 championship leader Charles Leclerc’s bespoke $320,000 Richard Mille watch while giving autographs in the Tuscan city of Viareggio a few weeks ago. A super-rich tourist from Azerbaijan suffered a similar fate in Ibiza when a pickpocket managed to steal a Richard Mille RM 50-03 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph Ultralight McLaren F1 worth $1.3 million. The list goes on, a Japanese businessman lost his $800,000 Richard Mille Tourbillon Diamond Twister when it was nicked from his wrist outside a five-star hotel in Paris.


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Sponsoring a bat can cost a company anywhere between Rs 50 lakh for a rookie to around Rs 6-8 crore for a toplevel cricketer such as Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
“Arvind is making investments on technology backbone to allow seamless experiences.”
8 million products were wishlisted, with premium international brands dominating the share, followed by sports and footwear.
One of the most popular football clubs in the world, Real Madrid is 33-time winner of La Liga. It is the most popular football club in India, with over 6.1million fans on Facebook.
The company has submitted its proposal to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).
A company statement said that for India, the bikes are being locally designed.
The campaign seeks to leverage and showcase Myntra’s sports brand portfolio to reach out to the growing fashion segments in India.
Eventually, we will expand to sporting equipment and accessories that would enable a sporting culture,” Vishal Lunia, Co-founder and CEO – Sportido said.
This is the fifth in the series on what startup founders do after hours
Spread across 4.5 lakh sq feet, the e-commerce company has 4,500 of its 10,000 employees working there.
We have been very active in the season and there’s been heightened activity which has been spilling beyond what used to be the IPL window.
She said that there was tremendous potential for wool in India, particularly in sports wear in cricket and also yoga, which of late was getting international recognition.
As per the latest Monster Salary Index, by online career and recruitment solutions provider Monster India, in the IT services sector the median gross hourly salary was the highest at Rs 337.3.
Entrepreneurs -many of them former amateur sportspeople -are setting up new businesses ranging from etailing sports apparel to providing analytics to improve performance.
Nike with sales of around Rs 804 crore in FY15, has piled up accumulated losses of around Rs 541 crore, up from around Rs 439 crore in FY14, according to the US firm's latest filing with the Registrar of Companies.
The startup was born when Bhupathi’s personal experiences and Javeri’s inclination to build a home-grown brand sprouted
The apparel-cum-outdoor gear brand is unveiling a whole new set of technology-based products like adventure watches and fitness bands.
Editor's Picks ›
Flipkart’s head of fashion Rishi Vasudev quits / Walmart opens 28th store in India / Walmart, Flipkart invest in Ninjacart; says move will help farmers / Landmark Group introduces Cash-and-Carry furniture to spur growth / FableStreet raises Series A funding from Fireside Ventures / Walmart to train 50,000 Indian MSMEs in 5 years: Judith McKenna, President & CEO, Walmart International / White Owl Brewery launches country's first strong craft beer Spike / Samsung launches LED displays for high-end retail biz, UHNIs for up to Rs 12 cr; eyes significant revenue / Ecommerce to contribute 5% or $4 billion to FMCG sales by 2022 - Nielsen / United Breweries enters craft beer segment with Kingfisher Ultra Witbier


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Maruti Suzuki is likely to introduce its in-house developed 1.5-litre diesel engine to the Vitara Brezza and Ertiga in the second half of CY2021.
Maruti Suzuki, the largest carmaker of India is mulling the idea to re-enter diesel engine segment in 2021, as this space continues to draw a lot of customers, especially in the SUV and MPV segment. In that case, the high-selling Vitara Brezza compact SUV and Ertiga MPV would be the models to get diesel engines, in Maruti Suzuki’s bid to re-enter the segment.
The carmaker has reportedly initiated the process to upgrade its Manesar-based powertrain plant to start rolling out BS-VI diesel engines starting from mid-2021 or next festive season. The Manesar facility used to produce its in-house developed 1,500cc BS-IV diesel engines.
On 26th April 2019; Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava had announced that the company will phase out all diesel cars from its portfolio with effect from 1st April 2020. Following the announcement auto major discontinued diesel engine from its portfolio as the country’s auto sector entered the stricter BS-VI emission norms from April 2020.
As Bhargava said, the smaller cars with diesel engines are not viable in the new emission era, as the upgradation costs for diesel motors are much higher as compared to petrol engines, leading to a higher price for the vehicles.
However, he added that if there is a demand for BS-VI diesel cars the company might go ahead and cater to that demand. “Depending on how customers react to BS-VI diesel cars if we find there is a market of BS-VI diesel cars we will develop such a car within a reasonable period of time,” said Bhargava.
In July 2020, Maruti Suzuki’s Executive Director, Sales and Marketing, Shashank Srivastava too hinted that the carmaker may look at having a bigger BS-VI diesel engine at a later stage if there were enough customers for diesel-powered big SUVs and sedans, who do not care about economics for running the car.
Maruti Suzuki’s diesel engines
Before discontinuing the diesel engines across its portfolio, Maruti Suzuki has used the indigenously built 1.5-litre diesel motor briefly in Ciaz and Ertiga. Apart from that, the other models like Swift, DZire, Vitara Brezza, Baleno, S-Cross used to come with Fiat-sourced 1,300cc diesel engine, which was one of the most popular and widely used diesel powertrains in the country by several automakers including Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki. However, Fiat decided to pull the plug on this diesel engine due to the new emission norms.
Presently, Maruti Suzuki’s entire portfolio comes powered by 3 different petrol engine options. These are 1.0-litre, 1.2-litre and 1.5-litre petrol motors. Besides that, the carmaker also sells factory-fitted CNG variants of some of its cars.
Prior to discontinuation, diesel cars used to contribute around 23% of Maruti Suzuki’s total sales in the domestic market. While the carmaker decided to discontinue diesel cars from its portfolio, its closest rival and India’s second-largest carmaker Hyundai continued with the diesel models with 1.2L, 1.5L and 2.0L engine options. Hence, a certain chunk of diesel loyal customers went to Hyundai, leaving Maruti Suzuki, resulting in the latter losing a certain amount of its business.
Hyundai continues to witness around 60% of its customers opting for diesel-powered Creta SUV. Also, around 33% of customers still opt for the diesel variant of Venue, while Verna sedan sees 33% of customers opt for diesel trims. Interestingly, Hyundai’s sibling brand Kia too has been witnessing robust demand for its two SUVs Seltos and Sonet, with diesel versions grabbing a large chunk.
Diesel engines and other carmakers
Not only Maruti Suzuki, but several other car manufacturers also decided to phase out diesel engines from their portfolio, especially the smaller capacity engines. This was because they thought the small diesel cars would become much more expensive with BS-VI technology for the entry-level customers, as compared to their BS-IV variants.
Tata Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motor discontinued their smaller diesel cars but continued with bigger diesel models.


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Xiaomi’s about to release their new flagship, the Mi 8. Skipping the Mi 7 all together. As expected from Xiaomi, it seems like the Mi 8 would be no short of a beast.
Images of the Xiaomi Mi 8 have appeared online in some stealthy box work that seems to be screaming what Xiaomi’s about to drop in the upcoming few weeks. As we expected, leaked specs sheets pulled from the Mi 8’s back reveals a Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6GB of RAM and 64GB of RAM being crammed into the sandwich. To keep up with the trends, the Xiaomi Mi 8 would also support 3D infrared face recognition. This means that this face recognition technology should be as complex as Apple’s Face ID rather than using a mere camera to unlock a phone as most manufacturers are touting about nowadays.
Now what really new about the Mi 8 seems to be its Dual-GPS system, among the first of its kind leaks suggested. Now, as we expected as well, there would be an absence of a headphone jack since the box clearly mentions that consumers would find a USB Type-C to Audio cable to listen to their music. Further digging into the leaks also revealed that the Mi 8 would also feature a notch at its top to imitate the iPhone X, a trend I have been hating lately. On top of that, there would be a few intriguing colors at launch as well. So far, we’ve found a blue Mi 8 but we’re expecting a few standard colors to land as well when it launches.
Regarding pricing, I think that the Mi 8 would retail for under US $449 given Xiaomi’s history of launching affordable flagships. If that’s the case, I think Xiaomi should have another excellent device up their sleeves for the budget market.


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Clearly The Maggi Row Wasn’t Enough
As the entire country stirs in the Nestle Maggi soup, the two heroes behind all the action seem to be cooking a broth of their own, fighting over the title of ‘The Man Behind The Maggi Controversy’. Petty as it might seem to us – what with our favorite snack being snatched away from us on one hand – the issue is a handful, the likes of which have not been unheard of before. Here’s what went down when it was time to take the credits for “check mating” the instant noodles.
“Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) officer VK Pandey was the man to expose Maggi’s unhealthy practise of adding monosodium glutamate (MSG) more than the permissible limit,” says a popular news daily.
“Who brought Maggi down? “I did,” said Sanjay Singh, a 1998 batch food inspector, on Friday, stirring a fresh controversy in the already boiling noodles row,” reads another newspaper.
So who really blew Nestle’s cover here?
Singh’s senior, Pandey, the designated officer at Barabanki’s food safety department, acknowledged Singh’s contribution to the investigation. But it didn’t come without a stipulation. “Every individual has been given a specific task in the administrative hierarchy. Sanjay collected the sample and sent it to the laboratory. However, it was I who took action after the reports mentioned presence of high level of chemicals in Maggi,” he said.
Not to be outdone, Singh said he had followed the case for more than a year. “Had the department not backed me in my investigation of adulteration in the popular brand, the world would not have known the truth about how multi-national food companies compromise with our health, especially children’s’.” According to Singh, he picked up Maggi samples from a Barabanki tehsil on March 10, 2014. “We sent them to a Gorakhpur lab for investigation. The tests showed presence of lead and high levels of monosodium glutamate.”
On being asked, why the official (whichever one) specifically chose Maggi, he said that Maggi was part of a group of food items that had been sent for a routinely test. Although, now that the matter is in the open, we have also sent samples of other brands like Yippie of ITC, Knorr of Hindustan Lever and Foodles of Smithkline to the labs.
The Real Issue At Hand
Singh said he wanted to be doubly sure before he took on such a major company. So, he collected the samples again and sent them for a separate test. The results of which have probably been etched into every Maggi lover’s heart by now – almost eight times higher than permissible presence of lead and taste enhancer MSG. “I notified Nestle about the irregularities. The firm challenged the tests and demanded a fresh test at the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata. Even there, the results were the same and I stood correct,” stated Singh. In Kolkata’s state-run laboratory, they found a lead concentration of 17.2 parts per million (ppm), nearly eight times the permissible limit. The acceptable limit of lead ranges between 0.01 ppm and 2.5 ppm. The scientists also found high levels of added MSG, a taste enhancer, in the noodles.
Even though leading news channels and broadcasts boast of VK Pandey being the real “hero”, there are snippets that credit Sanjay Singh for taking up this issue at the grass root level. The officials are clearly going to have a row of their own real soon. But in the meantime, can’t we just eat our lead in peace?


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Plastic, paper bags could disappear from stores before May 4 in New Jersey
The New Jersey law that will eventually ban single-use plastic and paper bags at retailers and food service establishments was signed in November 2020, but many shops — including major chains — are still figuring out exactly how they'll handle the shift on May 4.
There's one thing you can definitely count on, though: you are going to be bombarded by messaging about the change, starting in the next week or so.
This article is part 4 in a week-long New Jersey 101.5 series about the upcoming New Jersey ban on plastic bags, paper bags, and Styrofoam products.
"You'll start to see messaging on cart corrals, there will be videos playing at point of sale," said Linda Doherty, president and CEO of the New Jersey Food Council. "It's been an 18-month ramp-up and we anticipate seeing a huge outreach program coming from the supermarket industry."
Shops of all sizes will be blocked from handing out or selling single-use plastic bags at checkout. Supermarkets larger than 2,500 square feet will also be blocked from distributing or selling paper bags.
Doherty said she doesn't anticipate chaos at the front end of stores when the big day comes — there will be plenty of customers who forget their reusable bags, but that's already happening now.
"I think before the launch ... you'll see bag giveaways from grocers, you'll see discounted reusable bags for sale," Doherty added.
To make the transition easier for shoppers, unique platforms that already exist in other states are making their way to New Jersey in time for the ban. For example, GOATOTE, a reuse system that lets shoppers "check out" reusable bags and then return them for a cleaning when they're finished, will hit 10 New Jersey locations by May 4.
ShopRite plans to have a large and sufficient quantity of reusable bags available for customers ready to go for May 4, just in case there's a last-minute rush for the product, according to spokesperson Karen Meletta.
At some ShopRite locations, you could end up seeing single-use bags disappear before May 4, Meletta added. They're trying now to get through their supply of paper and plastic.
In the meantime, the supermarket chain is working on the specifics about how it plans to handle online orders for pickup or delivery (e-commerce orders are included in the bag ban). The service from ShopRite already comes with a fee.
In an emailed statement to New Jersey 101.5, Walmart said it is working to roll out bag-free pickup options nationwide.
"To help our New Jersey customers adjust to the state’s rule that will ban distribution of single-use bags beginning May 4, we’ll initiate an in-store communication program beginning in April. Our associates will be keenly focused on assisting customers in navigating this transition," said Felicia McCranie, director of corporate affairs.
Paper bags will continue to be permitted at convenience stores and other small shops. Sal Risalvato, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline, Convenience Store and Automotive Association, said he expects his members to have paper bags available for customers who request them, rather than scrap bags altogether.
"Simply not providing bags will be difficult as the nature of the goods purchased in convenience stores will be difficult to carry without some sort of bag," he said. "I also expect that they will offer for sale reusable bags that will comply with the law."
"Realistically, these habits are not going to change overnight," said JoAnn Gemenden, executive director of the New Jersey Clean Communities Council.
The Council is one of the groups charged with raising awareness about the bag ban.
According to Gemenden, the biggest challenge with changing habits is getting you to bring reusable bags along every time you shop — many folks have been shopping one way for so long.
"Once you get into the habit, it's just second nature," Gemenden said.
She advises shoppers to add "reusable bags" to the top of every shopping list so they're not forgotten for the trip.
"Keep reusable bags where you won't forget them, next to your pocketbook, your keys, by your front door or garage door," she said. "Generally, you need just one in your peripheral vision as a reminder."
The final part of this series will focus on the ban's potential impact on lower-income residents and the groups that serve them.


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Last week saw the release of Aftershock Comics, Pestilence #1. Pestilence sold out at the distributor on day of release, copies of the book have been selling for double to triple cover price – Copies of the standard cover is currently selling for around $8.
While the 1:10 variant cover is selling for $20 to $30 – both retailer variants – The Comic Mint and Eh! Variant seem to be selling like gangbusters on the secondary market.
Another Aftershock title that has been seeing a lot of attention is Baby Teeth. Baby teeth features art by Garry Brown and is written by Donny Cates. This book has had a lot of buzz based on the success of Donny Cates previous projects God Country and Redneck. Baby teeth is due for release on June 7 and will have the largest print run of any Aftershock title, its also set to have 5+ retailer variant covers. So why is this important? If retailer order and prerelease buzz are any indication, Baby Teeth is going to be big and when its released people are going to start trying to hunt down the first appearance of the title and its characters. The first appearance of Baby Teeth is the C2E2 Diamond Summit ashcan, distributed to retailers at the 2017 Diamond Summit in Chicago.
Rick and Morty is a cartoon network show with a cult following, created by Dan Harmon (Community). Rick and Morty’s comic book from Oni Press has been a sell-out success, being released on April 1, 2015 both issue #1 and #2 have sold out at Diamond and these two books seem to be trending upwards.
In the past ten days Rick and Morty #1 First print has been selling anywhere from $6 to $20!
In the past few days Rick and Morty #2 has been selling for upwards of $20!
The Rick and Morty #1 variants are also doing crazy things – with the Emerald City Comic Con Variant being the clear winner – with an average sale price of $25.
THESE are two books you should be looking for and holding onto!
The ECCC Variant can still be purchased from the ONI Press website for $10! Follow this link!
Do you have a tip you’d like to share? Comment below! Or hit us up on Facebook!


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The second automobile insurance persistency initiative put to Californians in the last two years was defeated.
California’s Proposition 33, the 2012 Automobile Insurance Discount Act, was defeated with 54.6 percent voting against it, while it got 45.4 “yes” votes.
Proposition 17, a similar portable persistency discount initiative in 2010, lost by 2 percent.
Both propositions were backed largely by Mercury Insurance Chairman George Joseph, who said portable persistency would be good for consumers and create healthy competition among auto insurers. Joseph personally sunk more than $16 million into Prop. 33, and Prop. 17.
Both propositions were also opposed by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Consumer Watchdog, which waged a dogged war with Prop. 33 backers, brining discrimination, allegations of dishonesty and even international politics into the campaign.
Consumer Watchdog’s argument on Prop. 33 was it would unfairly punish drivers without prior insurance and would undermine existing consumer protections in California law, specifically Proposition 103, which Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield authored.
The Prop. 33 campaign’s argument was the initiative would promote competition among insurers, enable consumers to use their loyalty discount to shop for the best prices and it will protect members of the military serving overseas and those who lost their jobs due to the economy from losing their discount.
Many newspaper editorials came out against Prop. 33, but backers of the initiative successfully won over the support of myriad business and veterans groups.
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By Adriano Marchese
Toronto-listed stocks showed continued resilience during mid-trading on Thursday, with market participants keeping a close eye on the recent 25 basis-point rate hike by the Bank of Canada. Analysts speculate that more hikes could be on the horizon in the coming months. At midday, most sectors were performing well, particularly tech services, tech, and commercial services. Unfortunately, health-tech, consumer durables, and consumer services were the only sectors that experienced losses.
Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.78% to reach 20228.23, while the blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 increased by 0.91% to reach 1214.39.
Corus Entertainment Makes Strategic Sale
Shares in Corus Entertainment surged by 18%, reaching 1.61 Canadian dollars ($1.22), following the announcement of the company’s decision to sell its animation software business, Toon Boom Animation, to Integrated Media Company for C$147.5 million.
Noteworthy Market Movers
WELL Health Technologies witnessed an 8% rise in shares, reaching C$4.64. The digital health company is optimistic about higher revenue growth in 2023 thanks to its recent acquisition of anesthesia service provider CarePlus Management.
Mandalay Resources revised its guidance for the year due to supply chain issues, personnel vacancies, and lower volumes in its mine. Gold and antimony production experienced a decline compared to the same period last year, resulting in a 6.5% drop in shares, settling at C$1.87.


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Google recently conducted a research which found that parents of children attending school online were more concerned about online safety than ones whose children attended school in-person
Google recently conducted a research which found that parents of children attending school online were more concerned about online safety than ones whose children attended school in-person.
The research was conducted alongside Google’s Trust Research team in Asia-Pacific (Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam) and Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico)
In order to instil some confidence in parents of children attending school online, Lucian Teo, Online Safety Education Lead at Google revealed a few tips to ensure better safety online.
Protect their digital identities.
Among the surveyed parents, the privacy and security of their children’s information was the top concern. Parents cited concerns around scams or hacking of their child’s accounts.
Here are some simple ways to safeguard kids’ information:
Teach your children how to choose strong passwords that cannot be easily guessed. Avoid simple passwords that use names, birthdates, or even favourite cartoon characters. And don’t forget to check your own passwords. It is also useful to stick to platforms that have a strong reputation for user safety.
It is important for parents to be aware that online social platforms can also be used by ill-intentioned strangers to reach out to children. Just as in real life, it is important to be aware of who children talk to online.
In order to help the children, it is important for the parents to talk to the kids about the games they play or the videos they watch, and also the people they play with online.
According to the survey, in India, 74% of parents with children attending school online during the Covid-19 pandemic expressed increased concern about online safety. But interestingly, 34% or more than a third of parents interviewed have never spoken to their children about online safety.
When assessing if a game is suitable for your child, it is important to check not only the content of the game, but also whether the app allows online communications with others. Some multiplayer games allow only a few options for social interaction, like a thumbs up rather than a text chat. This reduces risks of unwanted social interactions by quite a lot.
Offer appropriate content at the appropriate age
The fear of children encountering inappropriate content has long been among the top concerns of parents in surveys. There are family safety features that parents can use to help guard their children from content that may not be suitable for their age. In India, Google’s survey showed that 71% of parents are currently using online family safety features.
Here are some features that you can start using today:
Turning on SafeSearch on Google helps filter out explicit content in Google’s search results for all searches, including images, videos and websites. SafeSearch is designed to help block explicit results like pornography from Google search results.
Manage your child’s device by creating a Google account for your child and using Family Link. This allows you to add filters on Google Search, block websites or only give access to the ones you allow or track the location of your child if they have their own device.
Many parental controls are available on YouTube Kids. You are able to limit screen time, only show videos that you approve or select suitable content based on the age of your child.
Some other time-tested tips include allowing children to use the internet only in common areas in the home such as the living room.
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The BBC recently aired a film of theirs called The Gamechangers. This ‘factual drama’ aimed to tell the story about Grand Theft Auto and the controversy surrounding the series around the release of San Andreas. Daniel Radcliffe starred as one of the game’s creators, Sam Houser, and Bill Paxton played the infamous Jack Thompson, the lawyer hellbent on suing Rockstar and destroying the game.
We were cautiously optimistic, but alarm bells started to ring months ago when RockStar sued the BBC for using the GTA brand without permission. It turns out that the BBC’s ‘facts’ were gathered via third-party interviews rather than direct from Rockstar or the Housers. Not long after it aired, Rockstar were quick to jump on Twitter and ask the BBC, “What exactly is this random, made up bollocks?” Continue reading Fancy a laugh? The BBC’s ‘factual drama’ about GTA is online now


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SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) — Exports of South Korean bigger companies declined 7.3 percent last year from a year earlier amid the pandemic, led by a fall in shipments of petrochemicals, data showed Tuesday.
Overseas shipments by the country’s conglomerates were valued at US$322.5 billion last year, compared with $347.7 billion the previous year, according to Statistics Korea and the Korea Customs Service.
The decline was led by the manufacturing sector, the backbone of the country’s economy, the data showed. Exports of large petrochemical firms declined 23.2 percent on-year and those of transporting companies shed 10.8 percent.
Exports of mid-sized firms inched down 0.3 percent on-year to $93.3 billion and those of smaller companies fell 4.4 percent to $95.5 billon.
For all of 2020, the country’s exports fell 5.5 percent on-year to $512.5 billion.
The number of exporting companies came to 97,012 last year, down 0.4 percent from the previous year. It marked the first time that the number of exporters has fallen since 2010, when the statistics agency began compiling related data.
The number of importing firms rose 3.2 percent on-year to 198,890 in 2020.
South Korea’s exports, which account for half of the economy, were dented by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. But on a monthly basis, the pace of export slumps has eased since June last year as major economies resumed business activities following months of border lockdowns.
Asia’s fourth-largest economy is on a recovery track on the back of robust shipments of chips and autos.