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The past week has seen a number of gigabit Internet deployments, including both DOCSIS 3.1 and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). Operators announcing 1 Gbps (or thereabouts) services include Verizon, Comcast, Mediacom, MaxxSouth and Grande.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ) has launched a near-gigabit FTTH offering dubbed Fios Gigabit Connection. The company says it provides downstream speeds up to 940 Mbps and 880 Mbps upstream, which is similar to AT&T's (NYSE:T) AT&T FIber FTTH service.
Pricing starts at $69.99 a month standalone and $79.99 a month for a triple play bundle when ordered online. Fios Gigabit Connection service bundled with Fios Custom TV and Digital Voice service is available online for $79.99 in year one and $84.99 in year two, with a two-year agreement.
The service is an evolution of the company's Fios Instant Internet service, which launched in January with symmetrical 750 Mbps speeds. Subscribers to Fios Instant Internet will automatically be upgraded to Fios Gigabit Connection and will see their bills lowered.
Fios Gigabit Connection is available to more than 8 million homes in parts of New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington DC.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is launching DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit Internet service to residential customers throughout Utah. The company has also deployed DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit Internet in Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Detroit, and has announced plans for 2017 launches in Oregon, Washington and California.
"What I am most excited about is that Comcast's residential 1 Gig service is available throughout Utah - not just in specific areas of the state. It's important that superior internet speeds are accessible to more people," said Richard Nelson, President, Utah Technology Council. "Comcast continues to play a crucial role in Utah's leadership as a high-tech community."
The everyday price for 1 Gigabit service in Utah is $159.95, without a contract. Two promotional prices will also be tested in different areas with a one-year service agreement, including a $70.00 per month offer in certain areas in Salt Lake City, Provo, and North Ogden, and a $109.99 per month offer across the rest of the state. Additional prices and promotions may be tested in the future.
Mediacom Communications has launched DOCSIS 3.1-based gigabit service in its Georgia service territory, covering 275,000 households in more than 50 southwest Georgia communities.
Mediacom plans to use DOCSIS 3.1 to provide gigabit services to virtually all of the 3 million homes and businesses within its 22-state footprint. To date, Mediacom has launched the service in more than 600 communities, most recently in Minnesota, Alabama, Tennessee and Iowa. As DOCSIS 3.1 cable modems become more readily available, Mediacom plans to announce additional gigabit Internet launches on a market-by-market basis throughout the remainder of the year. In conjunction with each gigabit launch, the company will also introduce a 500 Mbps tier of service.
MaxxSouth Broadband is preparing to deploy DOCSIS 3.1 technology in Oxford, MS. Combined with existing FTTH technology that was launched last year, the company plans to soon offer all Oxford residents access to 1 Gbps Internet speeds. The DOCSIS 3.1 deployment is scheduled to begin early this summer, with all Oxford areas scheduled to have access to the service by the end of July.
The company says most of its customers in Oxford currently have Internet speeds of about 60 Mbps.
Texas-based Grande Communications is expanding its gigabit footprint via DOCSIS 3.1 in its Austin, San Marcos, Dallas, Midland and Odessa markets, with expansion to the rest of the company's markets expected in the near future. Grande has offered FTTH-based gigabit services since 2014.
Residential pricing for the DOCSIS 3.1 service starts at $69.99/month and includes wireless home networking at no extra cost. The service requires no contract and does not have bandwidth usage caps.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New York • Target Corp. is stepping up spending on capital expenditures, primarily in its supply network and technology, as the retailer aims to be more nimble in an era of online shopping.
The Minneapolis-based discounter told analysts Wednesday at its annual meeting it plans to spend $1.8 billion for the current year and ramp that up next year to up to $2.5 billion. In the last fiscal year ended in January, the company spent $1.4 billion in capital expenditures.
The spending comes as Target, like other retailers, grapples with an infrastructure that has been stretched with shoppers buying in different ways. That has left Target struggling to keep basic products like diapers on the shelves.
Target also sees a key revenue measure increasing at a faster clip next year. The retailer believes that revenue at stores opened at least a year will be up at least 3 percent, compared with this year's projected rise of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent. In its last fiscal year, it posted a 2.1 percent increase.
Target is also forecasting 10 percent growth in earnings per share for next year. That's on top of the $5.20 to $5.40 per share it expects for the current fiscal year.
The gathering in New York comes as Target has made solid progress in reinvigorating its business and winning shoppers under CEO Brian Cornell, who took the helm in August 2014.
He wants to regain the retailer's cheap chic status and make Target more nimble after a series of headline-grabbing setbacks, including a major debit and credit card breach that hurt sales and profits for months.
During the Great Recession, the company lost its mojo as a trendsetter when it expanded aggressively into groceries.
Under Cornell, the company closed its Canadian operations last year and shook up its leadership ranks.
It's focusing on key merchandise categories like fashion, baby, home furnishings and wellness products. The company has spruced up its presentation and added mannequins to display its clothing. It has created vignettes to feature its home products.
Target is also overhauling its grocery area to offer healthier, fresher options. The company is also shifting more of its spending from physical stores to online investments and its supply network.
Cornell laid out a multiyear reinvention plan last March to investors that is consistent with his talk Wednesday.
"Our guests are falling back in love with Target...all over again," Cornell told a group of 250. "So are we declaring victory? Not even close. We're proud of this momentum, but we have a lot of work to do."
Target recorded its sixth straight quarter of increases for the key revenue measure in its most recent quarter and posted an uptick in customer traffic for the fifth quarter in a row. But Target had to step up discounting that squeezed profit margins during the holiday quarter.
Target also saw online sales surge 34 percent during the latest quarter, after online sales jumped 30 percent in the third quarter. However, the pace while besting rivals like Wal-Mart was below the 40 percent goal it laid out last year.
Cornell said that he is confident that Target's sales pace will improve as the company keeps pushing out new brands and sees the efforts of its better presentations attract shoppers.
Revenue at stores opened at least a year for its so-called signature categories like fashion grew more than three times faster than the company average during the fourth quarter.
Target announced that its latest limited-time-only partnership will be with Finnish brand Marimekko and hit stores and online April 17.
The collection will feature about 200 items with the average price under $50. Target is having a strong response to its new homegrown children's furnishing collection called Pillowfort.
In addition, Target is launching another brand called Cat + Jack, a children's clothing line that he sees could have the potential for being a multibillion-dollar business and grow twice as fast as the industry average.
But overhauling the supply network is an essential part of Target's reinvention as it can lose sales by not having products that shoppers want. That's because Target, like many retailers, is having to fulfill orders in many different ways as shoppers shop online. John Mulligan, Target's chief operating officer, told analysts Wednesday that the number of Target.com orders that its customers chose to pick up at the store rose 60 percent last year, compared to the year before.
Mulligan said the stores have "become showrooms, fulfillment centers ad pick-up locations...But here's the rub: We can't continue to add this kind of complexity without ensuring the foundation can support it."
The discounter has made some progress, finishing the year with the out-of-stock issues improving by 40 percent year over year. But the company is just getting started in attacking the problem.
As part of the strategy, Target named Amazon heavyweight Arthur Valdez to lead the overhaul of its supply network. The company said Tuesday that he will start March 28.
Target said it is putting more product on the sales floor as it redesigns its shelf presentation. It's also reducing the number of products it carries by merchandise category, focusing on best-selling items. Executives said it would be a surgical approach.
It's also working with suppliers to send case packs that match each product's rate of sale and allotted shelf space. And Target is turning three of its distribution centers into warehouses that house slower-turning, more seasonal products.
Shares of the company closed up 14 cents at $81.10.

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Samsung’s Koh warns employees about leaksKoh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics’ mobile business, cautioned employees against leaking information, presumably related to the Galaxy S8 smartphone, in an email sent to employees on Thursday.
“It was heartbreaking to hear about cases of employees getting caught after they tried to leave with samples related to the company’s core task at hand and making attempts to leak corporate documents,” he said in the message.
“We must not forget that crises occur, not suddenly in one day, but after the accumulation of numerous incidents and signs, just as in Heinrich’s Law,” referring to an empirical finding that suggests for every accident that causes a major injury, there are 29 accidents that cause minor injuries and 300 accidents that cause no injuries.
The core message is that major accidents follow smaller ones that stem from the same problem.
Koh urged employees to be alert on security matters, saying that “multiple cases of carelessness can lead to bigger accidents.” He also mentioned that past leaks in China caused problems for the company and emphasized employees’ responsibility in remaining vigilant. “I need our employees to be attentive and alert on any small incidents,” Koh said.
In September, a senior director at Samsung Electronics was arrested for leaving the company’s factory in Giheung, Gyeonggi, with confidential documents. The papers were allegedly stolen over a period of two months starting from May and contained information on semiconductor technology used in smartphones. Some of the information is protected by the Korean government.
The suspect told police he had intentions of bringing the documents to China.
An industry insider said there was high possibility that the sample of the “core task at hand” mentioned in Koh’s message was related to the design and features of the upcoming Galaxy S8.
“There is no doubt that Samsung is sensitive about the Galaxy S8,” the source said on the condition of anonymity. “The company is giving its all to make it a success and make up for the Note7 crisis.”
For Koh, the Galaxy S8 might be his last chance to recover losses from the Galaxy Note7, which was pulled from production in October after reported cases of the device overheating and exploding. The company is still investigating the cause of the defect.
Many expect the Galaxy S8 to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February.
BY PARK TAE-HEE, SONG KYOUNG-SON [firstname.lastname@example.org]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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Growth of domestic businesses in India and promotion of local products and services have been key focus areas for the Central government. Therefore, the 2021-22 Union Budget made provisions to give a new impetus to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, paying special attention to businesses saddled with heavy loans.
But, how exactly do companies with existing business loans benefit from this Budget? And what does it mean for those who need an infusion of credit to keep their businesses running?
Here’s how the Budget is set to make an impact on such businesses.
The necessity for credit inflow
Noting fears that financial institutions may have problems providing business loans to companies from the MSME sector after the recent economic slowdown, the 2021-22 Budget seeks to furnish a better line of credit for these businesses.
Funding issues have slowed down the growth of MSMEs that require new technology or increased labour inputs to further develop their businesses. Along with improving credit allocation and undertaking duty rationalization to encourage Indian-made products, both private and government funds are expected to be made accessible to MSMEs through plans that encourage their long-term domestic growth and make them strong players in international markets.
Bringing in committees to address stressed debts is a positive step as it will enhance lending for financially viable MSME businesses. Its effects might be witnessed through easier access to a business loan and reduced business loan interest rates.
Credit benefits through fund allocation
Fund allocation to MSMEs has increased from the existing amount of ₹ 7572 crores to ₹ 15,700 crores in the 2021-22 Budget. There is also a proposal to build new technology centres that will directly benefit them.
Raw material prices are likely to drop with a reduction in custom duties on scraps of the steel and ferrous and non-ferrous varieties. Custom duty on steel scraps will be exempted till 31st March, 2022.
These steps are likely to make loans easier to come by for MSME businesses. This is because lenders can see that the government has clear plans to develop this sector in the near future. Small entrepreneurs with quality ideas will get loans more easily.
A lot of MSME entities may have existing business loans that could be creating an additional burden for them. The provisions mentioned above will help in managing such MSME loans and encourage a rise in the number of businesses in the future.
Duty rationalization and other financial relief
Financial relief for those in need of business loans will come through the introduction of Collateral-free Automatic Loans for businesses worth ₹ 3 lakh crores. With the existing financial ecosystem already boasting of services to help secure MSME loansfor businesses, this step should make handling business finance easier.
Another area where the impact of the Budget on MSME may be felt is the expected revision in the customs duty structure. The government has planned to review upwards of 400 existing exceptions.
Customs duty has been rationalized on duty-free items that are essential for garments, leather and handicraft items, steel screws, plastic builder wares, prawn feed, finished gemstones, gold and silver. A uniform custom duty of 7.5% has been proposed to be levied on semis, flats, and long products of non-alloys, alloys and stainless steel.
Financially speaking, better access to raw materials and a bigger market for finished products will help lenders repose trust in the future growth of the MSME sector.
Legal and regulatory relief for removing credit barriers
Legal issues often come in the way of securing an MSME loan, and some of the provisions made in the 2021-22 Budget are likely to help with overcoming that hurdle.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) framework will be strengthened for a more efficient resolution of cases. The implementation of e-courts along with a special framework for MSMEs seeks to help with this process.
Businesses adversely affected by the recent pandemic will also get relief through alternate methods of debt resolution.
Small taxpayers with a taxable income of up to 50 Lakh and disputed income of up to 10 Lakh will benefit from a Faceless Dispute Resolution Committee. New disputes, thus, can find resolutions at the initial stage and existing disputes can be fast-tracked.
Companies that were being held back from obtaining a credit line because of pending court battles can now hope for relief.
MSME businesses have taken a hit during the 2020 lockdown and will need policy aids and low-interest business loans to get back on their feet.
Financial institutions are already providing entrepreneurs with assistance for insurance, business loans and investments.
On the government level, implementation of the schemes mentioned above is likely to be a step in the right direction.


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The Washington Post will expand its editorial staff and budget now that the new owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has taken the helm, Post executive editor Marty Baron told the New York Times in a Wednesday interview.
Baron described the expansion as Bezos’ “first mark on the paper.”
The Post will hire new political reporters, photo editors, data visualization staff and Web designers. The paper will also create a breaking news desk, expand its news staff and add to the Sunday style section and magazine.
The magazine will be “bigger in dimension and in the number of pages, with a new design and a range of new features,” Baron told the Times.
Bezos has not been involved in interviewing new editorial staff members, but has helped with general strategy. He worked with staff to brainstorm new ideas for the media outlet.
The Amazon founder challenged staff “assumptions, cause us to rethink things,” Baron told the Times.
“He’s spent his entire life and his entire career thinking about where the consumer will be in the long run, and where the technology will be in the long run,” Baron said.
According to Baron, Bezos has been focused on growth for the paper.
“[He] was purchasing The Post in order to make more of it, rather than make less of it,” Baron said about Bezos. “His entire business history is oriented around growth.”
Baron said most of the growth at the Post will come on the digital side.


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Comcast's super-fast cable internet will surpass Google Fiber
Comcast announced this week that it has plans to roll out a next-generation cable technology that will opportune it to compete at the same speed that Google Fiber has, which is 1 gigabit per second.
The company is planning to make its 1-gigabit service rollouts to be available later this year and looking forward to extending the service nationwide in about 2-3 years as reported.
Comcast has the plan to upgrade the entire network to the DOCSIS 3.1 standard that would allow gigabit speeds for all Comcast customers, as informed by an executive to the press. An early study for the year 2015 from digital traffic company Akamai ranked average U.S. internet connection speeds (48.8 megabits per second) as 17th "fastest " on global scale, trailing not only high tech strongholds like Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and Israel but also relatively backwards nations such as Romania, Uruguay, and Latvia.
As Comcast tests on the new technology, it will connect people to the web at more than 1 Gigabit per second or even faster, surpassing Google Fiber. That would be at least 50 times faster than the usual broadband connection that most cable companies offer.
Using the right modem and ideal circumstances, the technology is able to supply Internet speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second.
Comcast's new technology will effectuate by making the transfer of data more productive over existing cable networks, and doesn't require installation of fiber optic cables in homes. This is very different from the company's existing super high-speed Internet service Gigabit Pro, which is capable of delivering data at 2 Gigabits per second via an in-home fiber network.
Companies should speed up the delivery of their data to provide faster Internet service and speedy delivery of their data.
According to Google, AT&T and Comcast, Gigabit speeds are important for providing fast service to multiple devices that could be connected to the Internet at the same time.
Join the Conversation


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How Congress stumbled into delivering a buzz
Months after U.S. states scrambled to close a loophole that allowed psychoactive cannabis to be sold in gas stations across the U.S., even where marijuana is illegal, a second loophole is being exploited.
Here it is in a nutshell, according to Jim Higdon, the founder of Cornbread Hemp: The 2018 U.S. farm bill that legalized hemp, introduced by Senator Mitch McConnell, allows hemp-derived CBD to contain up to 0.3% THC by dry weight. Oils and gummies are so dense compared with dry marijuana, however, that you can add enough THC to pack a significant punch without technically violating that rule.
Cornbread Hemp, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is taking advantage of that by shipping gummies with high amounts of THC — the ingredient in marijuana that gets users high — into dozens of U.S. states, including those without medical or recreational programs. It is one of a what seem to be a handful of small companies flouting the gap between federal laws that govern hemp and those that govern marijuana.
Their success shows just how hard it is for U.S. laws to keep up with a little-regulated industry where the science on how to extract and convert psychoactive substances is still evolving.
“Mitch McConnell accidentally legalized weed gummies,” Higdon told me in a phone interview. “It’s not as much a loophole as it is a math issue.”
A Drug Enforcement Agency spokeswoman referred questions to the Food and Drug Administration, saying it has to do with a consumable product, which falls under that agency’s purview. The FDA, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, has in the past declined to regulate CBD, leaving a cloud of uncertainty over the industry. McConnell’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
2 milligrams of THC
Cornbread, which launched in 2019, increased the THC content of its oils last April and its gummies in October. Its gummies now contain 50 milligrams of CBD, a nonpsychoactive component of cannabis promoted in wellness products, and 2 milligrams of THC, Higdon said.
A few other small companies that advertise high-THC gummies online didn’t return messages seeking comment about whether they sell them in states that don’t have marijuana programs.
Larger CBD companies said they stick to roughly the same ratios of THC that naturally occur in the hemp plants from which they derive their products. “Essentially, full spectrum is the hemp plant blended up with minimal processing during the production,” a spokeswoman for CbdMD Inc. said in an email.
Charlotte’s Web Holdings Inc.’s gummies have around 0.4-0.5 milligrams of THC per serving on average, or about 0.01%. “Charlotte’s Web does not support the marketing and sales of high-THC products, under the guise of the hemp name, for any intoxicating value or euphoric effect,” said Cory Pala, the company’s director of investor relations.
Cornbread’s dose pales next to the 9 milligrams of THC seen in gummies in legalized states, but it’s enough to give a buzz, especially if people take more than one. For context, a guide by Leafly, a maker of cannabis goods, says that after 2.5 milligrams of THC, a user can expect euphoria, impaired coordination and altered perceptions.
Packing a wallop
Josh Wurzer, founder of cannabis-testing company SC Labs, said that the 0.3% limit by weight indeed allows some gummies to contain a wallop; a 5-gram gummy, for example, could legally contain 150 milligrams of THC, which is 15 times the amount that California considers a standard dose. However, most of his clients are actually trying to avoid tangling with federal law by having extremely low levels of THC, Wurzer said. “That’s why they do the testing in the first place.”
Cornbread, with just 12 employees, sells in about 150 retailers in a dozen states and brings in about $300,000 a month in online sales. So far it has yet to run into issues with the U.S. postal system or the USDA agency that certifies its products as organic, Higdon said.
Exploitation of the “dry weight” loophole comes after more than a dozen states banned a chemical cousin of THC known as Delta-8. Companies had been using it to circumvent the federal prohibition on regular THC, selling it in gas stations across the U.S. — much of it contaminated with metals.
Cornbread’s products don’t raise concerns about the same contaminants as Delta-8, according to Higdon, because they’re USDA-certified organic. In fact, that’s one benefit of getting THC from hemp, he said: As a federally legal crop, hemp can earn that certification, while federally illegal marijuana can’t.
Despite Cornbread’s cheeky attitude to the math in McConnell’s legislation, Higdon said he actually appreciates what it’s done for consumers. In a recent promotional video, he compared CBD gummies without THC to a table that had been deprived of a perfectly good leg.
“This is not about giving the finger to Mitch McConnell,” Higdon told me of the company’s use of the loophole. “It’s about expressing gratitude that he legalized a small amount of THC.”


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EUGENE, Ore., April 29th, 2016 –Peterson Pacific Corp., Peterson Pacific, a Eugene, Oregon based manufacturer of horizontal grinders, drum and disc chippers, blower trucks, and screens is pleased to announce Komatsu Forest Pty. Ltd., of Australia, as their 2015 Dealer of the Year, this is the second time that Komatsu Forest Pty. Ltd. has won this award.
Peterson President, Larry Cumming commented; “The long-standing partnership between Komatsu Forest Pty. LTD (KF) and Peterson allows us to provide outstanding service and support to our Australian customers who own and operate Peterson machinery. Peterson has a long history of selling machines in Australia, and KF’s support of these products, which are often in remote regions, shows their comment to their customers and our products.”
“Komatsu Forest Pty. Ltd. has achieved this award twice due to their assembly of a world class sales and product support team. Their support after the sale is unsurpassed within our industry and KF’s dedication, focus, and vision to the Peterson product line, and the markets we serve, make them a tremendous partner and raises the bar for dealer performance. Peterson is honored to have Komatsu Forest Pty, Ltd. as a dealer and proud to present the Dealer of the Year award for the second time to recognize their superb performance in 2015” said Brian Gray, Director of Sales of KF’s accomplishment.
Peterson presented Komatsu Forestry Pty. Ltd. this distinguished award at the 2016 Austimber Show in Victoria, Australia.
Photo Caption: Peterson presents their 2015 Dealer of the Year award to Komatsu Forest Pty. Ltd. in Victoria, Australia. From left to right: Mal Windrim- Peterson Area Sales Manager; Brett Jones – Managing Director of Komatsu Forest Pty. Ltd., Larry Cumming; President of Peterson, Paul Harrison- KF Product Support Manager; Brenton Yon- KF National Sales Manager.


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Monday morning means lots of coffee for many overworked American workers. But, coffee takes time to brew and can be expensive and loaded with pesky calories.
Fortunately, science and marketing are on hand to keep the U.S. atop the worker productivity charts beloved by CEOs everywhere.
Inhalable caffeine will hit store shelves early in 2012, according to an article on Time.com.
AeroShot, a $2.99 inhaler that dispenses zero-calorie lime-flavored puffs of powdered caffeine to the tongue, already has “productivity-obsessed technophiles buzzing,” writes Time.
I don’t know who these buzzing people are, but hopefully none are supervisors in my building.
Each shot contains the same amount of caffeine as a large cup of coffee — 100 mg — as well as 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of niacin, and vitamins B6 and B12.
AeroShot creator and Harvard professor David Edwards, who earlier created a no-calorie inhalable chocolate


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Honda equips an FCX Clarity with a mobile power supply system and reveals a new solar-powered hydrogen-fueling station in Japan.
Forget electric cars and stuff hybrids -- fuel cell vehicles are the future. We've just spent some time behind the wheel of a Honda FCX Clarity and we're pretty convinced this is what your kids'll be driving when you go grey.
Last December, James May, co-host of the UK car show 'Top Gear,' flew to LA to test drive the Honda FCX Clarity, which he calls "the most important car since the car was invented."
First Honda FCX Clarity customers receive the ceremonial key to their Honda hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif.
The first production hydrogen fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity, has rolled down Honda's Japanese assembly line. Is it, or something like it, the future of driving?
Historians, take note: Honda's FCX is the first hydrogen-fuel-cell car in production.
Brian Cooley takes a look at the Honda FCX, at the 2007 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Honda unveils its FCX Clarity the four-door sedan
Honda is driving the hydrogen highway forward with the release of its FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle. The four-door sedan features features a compact fuel cell stack and a lithium-ion battery pack, to drive the car with zero emissions. The Clarity will be produced in small numbers and leased to retail customers in 2008
Honda debuts its limited-production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.


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Clinton Group Considers Offer for Wet Seal
Activist hedge fund Clinton Group announced that it is exploring options for a possible takeover of Wet Seal (NASDAQ: WTSL)
“The Reporting Persons [i.e Clinton Group] are exploring financing alternatives to enable the Reporting Persons or one of their affiliates to make an offer to purchase the equity of the Issuer in a “going private” transaction,” according to an amended 13D Filing from Clinton Group that was released on December 18.
Wet Seal is a specialty retailer that sells apparel and accessory items for female customers.
The retailer faced a challenging 2013 which included radical leadership changes after the activist fund agreed to drop its proxy battle with the company in exchange for naming four board seats.
Back in August, the activist fund urged the company to renew its stock plan, saying a return of capital could add to the company's future earnings.
At that time, the activist fund held an approximate 6.5 percent stake in the company.
According to a regulatory filling, the activist fund had increased its ownership stake in the retailer to 7.78 percent as of December 17.
Shares of Wet Seal traded higher by more than 6 percent following the news release but have since retracted and given up most of those gains.
© 2014 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Homesickness around the holiday season led one couple living in northern Alberta to start a Christmas tree lot stocked with special firs from their family farm in Nova Scotia.
Fort McMurray is home to many east coasters, and for most of them, there’s nothing like a Nova Scotian Balsam Fir Christmas tree.
The Lenihan family has grown the Christmas trees for generations, but the economic downturn in 2013 pushed Blake to leave the farm behind with his brother and work in Fort McMurray.
“Blake was heartbroken not to have a piece of home with him, and he really missed his Nova Scotia Balsam Fir Christmas trees,” his wife Ann Kidston told CTV News Edmonton. “He was homesick.”
“Blake and Laird have grown up harvesting and selling Christmas trees and selling firewood.”
In 2014, Kidston set out to have one tree shipped from the family farm more than 5,000 kilometres away until she found out it would cost a small fortune.
“We knew there were other east coasters out here,” she added. “So, why not try to bring a little bit of our home out here with us to Fort McMurray.”
That’s what prompted McMurrays Christmas Trees. The business has grown from sending just a dozen trees in its first year to hundreds.
“We’ve been doing it ever since,” Kidston said. “It’s a labour of love.”
This year, 601 trees were shipped to the northern Alberta town. Half of the trees sold in just 24 hours this weekend.
“It’s sort of like our Christmas when our trees arrive,” Kidston said. “We love to be right there… cause you can just smell the balsam fir.
“Balsam fir has a wonderful fragrance,” she added.
People lined up at the Christmas tree lot in Fort McMurray, Alta., Saturday morning to get their hands on a Balsam Fir tree (Supplied).
In the past, Kidston said the trees would be brought by truck from the farm in Lunenburg County to Halifax then taken by rail to Edmonton. From there, a truck would rush them to Fort McMurray.
With supply challenges due to the pandemic, the family had to enlist the help of a truck hauler to bring them the entire way to northern Alberta in time for Christmas.
Lloyd Benedict, who usually hauls seafood and helps others move between the provinces with Radars Moves, filled his transport truck with the trees.
“That’s definitely a piece of home,” Benedict said. “We figured the east coasters that live out here; it’s a big part of being home.”
View original article here Source


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Asia may hold the key to the world economy right now, at least from a manufacturing standpoint. They say that Asia has been the most stable global region that even if there is crisis, it doesn’t fall nor rise which I think is somehow similar to playing safe. Some companies are already choosing Asia for manufacturing their products for its low labor costs but still it doesn’t beat America and Europe as these countries are the top ones who holds a strong manufacturing industry. But Asia can be the best alternative companies could choose if ever U.S. and Europe fails and their economy fall down. Entrepreneurs are weighing their opportunities in these countries on where to invest safely and with less cost. Can Asia be another best option next to the big countries?
According to the article Everyday Finance, “Manufacturing, however, has since shifted to the developing nations of the world. This has occurred because manufacturers can pay workers substantially lower wages to produce goods in developing countries than they can in places such as the United States, England, and Germany.” Labor wages in Asia like in China is cheaper than the other developed countries and this is the reason why it is chosen to be the place where manufacturing plants are built.
As mentioned in Business Credit, “Asia has the ability to stimulate the global economies fiscally. They can drive the world out of a downturn. They can drive the growth and provide stimulus for the world.” Asia can survive well during recessions and even search for opportunities during these hard times. They can still make money out of economic problems that are occurring even if it doesn’t give back a lot.
Another mentioned in Business Credit, according to Chris Khuel, PhD, “The customers are still in Europe and United States, and without them (buying at normal levels) it’s going to be hard on export-heavy countries like Korea and China and Japan. I don’t think you’re going to see a major decline, but I don’t know if there’s enough strength to pull other countries along with them.” Sometimes you are on top, sometimes you are not. The Manufacturing Industry may seem big and profitable but for some countries, they only prosper in a few years then fall maybe due to the economic problems of the country, high currency values or slowing growth rates.
Therefore, Asia can still be a home for a better and stronger Manufacturing Industry especially that now its economy is rising. Soon more and more companies will move back to Asia and could be in line with the top countries. Entrepreneurs have a lot of opportunities in engaging in manufacturing as it provides work to people and in order to industrialize, a developing country must first establish manufacturing industries to provide the products it needs to build an infrastructure.


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Honda Aircraft Company has been working on the HondaJet for more than 20 years and now has started deliveries of the $4.5 million airplane in both North America and Europe. In April, at the Aero Friedrichshafen general-aviation show in Germany, the first European delivery was made to Rheinland Air Service, a dealer who will promote the airplane to the business-aviation market. Customer deliveries for the United States began from the company’s headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., in December. New pilots are being trained there in a full-motion flight simulator before moving into the jet cockpit. In March, Mexican authorities also certified the jet.
April also saw Honda start construction on a $21-million, 50,000-square-foot facility in Burlington, N.C., that will provide more space for manufacturing the jet’s all-new GE Honda HF120 engines, which the company has been marketing to other light-jet manufacturers. The HondaJet’s unique over-the-wing engine mounts help to keep the cabin quiet while adding to the airplane’s aerodynamic efficiency. The cockpit can be managed by a single pilot and features a customized version of Garmin’s popular G3000 touchscreen avionics. The HondaJet can transport five passengers up to 1,360 miles without refueling, at cruise speeds of up to 483 mph. (hondajet.com)


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"We are pleased that the FAA has taken this action and granted this recognition," says Mark Korin, CEO and President of Alpha Systems AOA.
"We are also proud that, on the same day this month, FAA
told us that our quality system has met the quality standards of 14 CFR 21.9(a)(2)., covering our AS9001-compliant factory in Ramsey, Minnesota."
At Airventure Oshkosh, where Alpha Systems
is displaying its models in Hangar C, Korin
says that its new dichroic-mirror HUD has generated huge interest.


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Google has recently redesigned its Search app on mobile smartphones.
According to its blog post, the tech company has decided to simplify Google Search in smartphones to make the information faster and easier to look at. To do this, Google designer Aileen Cheng focused five things to optimize the mobile version of Google Search.
Among the changes include focusing on the search results by centering content and images against a clean background, putting more focus on the information, using larger and bolder text for the results tab,
The results from Google Search now maximizes the space as it is now seen across the edges of the smartphone display and has minimized shadows on texts. It has also updated its own font which can be seen across Google services such as Gmail and more on Android devices.
In terms of logo, Google now has a more roundish design including the logo, icons, search bar, and images.
The redesigned Google Search will roll out in the coming days for iOS and Android devices.
Source: Google Blog


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British workers' pay growth is barely keeping up with inflation as UK households feel the squeeze from rising prices.
Figures released on Wednesday show that British workers’ pay growth is barely keeping up with inflation.
Earnings rose by an annual 2.3 percent in the three month period to February.
On Tuesday we had learned that consumer price inflation stood at 2.3 percent in the 12 months to March.
For Dec-Feb 2017 wages, after inflation, up 0.2% on a yr inc bonuses and 0.1% exc bonuses, weakest growth since 2014 https://t.co/00HTZzteRH
— ONS (@ONS) April 12, 2017
The stats illustrate how British households are grappling with rising prices in the shops.
After a long period of little inflation in the UK, consumer prices have risen sharply recently.
The situation has been exacerbated by the plunge in the value of the pound against other currencies following the vote to leave the European Union, as well as by rising global oil prices.
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) April 12, 2017
At the same time the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate in the period between December and February held steady at an almost 12-year low of 4.7 percent.
“The big picture remains a labour market with very strong employment plateauing at record highs … combined with a pay disaster,” Torsten Bell, director of the Resolution Foundation think tank, said.
Real pay looks set to have fallen in first quarter of 2017, six months ahead of schedule forecast by OBR pic.twitter.com/FcT44GP2qB
— Torsten Bell (@TorstenBell) April 11, 2017
The number of people in work increased only modestly by 39,000 although the employment rate of 74.6 percent was a joint record high. Job vacancies in the three-month period to the end of March rose by 16,000 to a record high 767,000.
British workers are becoming more reticent about moving jobs as the process of leaving the European Union gets underway, exacerbating long-standing skill shortages, a survey of recruiters showed last week.


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01 Jul 2022
ACE Money Transfer is delighted to be featured in the Top 50 businesses in the UK in FEBE Growth 100 List 2022.
FEBE acknowledges the UK’s fastest-growing business companies that are founder-led and privately owned. Publishing their Growth 100 List 2022, they said,
“There are 4.2m private companies in the UK. Just 1% or 45,000 of these are considered ‘high growth’.
ACE Money Transfer launched its remittance transfer operations with a small setup in Manchester, the UK, in 2002. With a growing customer base reaching 1+ million, we have a worldwide presence with a network of 350K+ payout partner locations across 100+ countries.
Ranking #45 in the top 100 businesses in the UK reflects constant growth, sheer determination, and customer service par excellence. We’ve reached this far with our expanding customers’ trust. We are committed to excelling further in the industry by serving expatriates with the leading remittance solutions they won’t find anywhere else.
We at ACE Money Transfer understand the problems of expatriates that they face while working in a foreign land. They need an efficient, secure, and instant money transfer service after they earn money with extreme struggles staying far away from their families. That’s exactly what we do; our customers can instantly send money to their families from 29 countries to be received in more than 100 countries.
The Fastest, most convenient, and the most secure money transfer with the best exchange rates, the lowest transfer fees, and astounding rewards are our unique service features that have won the trust of millions of expatriates.


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Find out whether it's a good idea to invest in Nike now. ..
Alcoa's alumina production has likely been hit by a four-week strike at its Western Australian operations, the Australian Workers' Union said on Wednesday, raising the pros ..
MINNEAPOLIS/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The CEO of Chinese online retail giant JD.com Inc (JD.O), Richard Liu, was arrested in Minneapolis last week following an allegation of rape, ..
Canon Inc. is finally entering the full-frame mirrorless camera market, joining Sony Corp. and Nikon Corp. in a new battleground for professional-grade camera equipment. Cano ..
Australian office landlord Investa Office Fund (IOF.AX) said it will study a $2.4 billion takeover bid from Canada's Oxford Properties Group, an offer that was criticized by r ..
The move follows a failed attempt by Theranos to sell itself, during which it reached out to more than 80 potential buyers through Jefferies Group, the Journal reported, citin ..
Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling more than a million of its Prius and C-HR compact crossover vehicles globally due to the risk of fire. Of the 1.03 million affected vehicles, ..
Hong Kong stocks headed for their biggest drop in a month amid persistent China-U.S. trade tensions, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. leading losses. ..
Facebook Inc. is suing BlackBerry Ltd. for patent infringement, escalating the legal battle between the two companies over protected technology. ..
Which of these two highfliers should you be putting your money on? ..


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Coca-Cola Reports $125M 1Q Loss
Associated Press Writer
The Coca-Cola Co. reported a $125 million loss for the first quarter because of new accounting standards. Sales were strong but its operating results fell short of Wall Street expectations.
The soft drink giant said Tuesday it lost 5 cents per share in the January-March quarter. It earned $863 million, or 36 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
Excluding accounting changes and one-time items _ and adjusting for a 3-cent charge for South American currency losses _ Coke earned 37 cents a share in the first quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call had expected 38 cents a share.
"We are encouraged by this good, solid quarter of performance in the face of a continuing challenging global economic environment," chief executive Doug Daft said.
The new accounting changes call for goodwill and some intangible assets to be reviewed annually rather than amortized. Another rule change requires companies to classify some selling expenses as revenue deductions.
The change in accounting for selling expenses will mean a $2.5 billion deduction in reported revenues this year. The changes took effect Jan. 1.
One-time items also included a 1-cent gain from Coke's sale of the Brazilian brewer Kaiser and a $157 million charge, or 6 cents a share, from Latin American investments that fared poorly because of Argentina's currency and other economic troubles.
Coke said worldwide case volume rose more than 5 percent for the quarter, powered by 5 percent growth in North America and strong showings in the key markets of Japan, Mexico and Germany.
The company had forecast case volume growth of 4 percent to 5 percent, expecting a boost from its sponsorship of the Winter Olympics, a cross-country torch relay it sponsored and the Super Bowl.
"The fact of the matter is that cola growth has been reasserted in North America," said Jeff Dunn, head of Coke's Americas division. "We see that continuing through the rest of 2002."
Revenue was $4.08 billion, up 3 percent from $3.96 billion in the first quarter of 2001.
The company plans to launch a vanilla-flavored version of its cola nationwide on May 15 and also will redesign the packaging of its Cherry Coke brand.
Coke also said it is comfortable with analysts' estimates for the rest of the year. Analysts are calling for earnings of $1.78 a share for the year.
Coca-Cola shares rose 86 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $53.25 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
On the Net:


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AKRON (Jan. 31, 2014) — Myers Industries Inc. is closing its Myers Tire Supply Canada Ltd. branches in Canada, saying the business there hasn't been profitable.
The decision affects branch locations in Quebec City, Quebec; London, Ontario, and Sherwood Park, Alberta, Myers said, which together employed about 25. Future sales in Canada will be serviced from the U.S. distribution network, the company said.
Akron-based Myers said pre-tax cash costs for the closures will be approximately $1 million. It will record 75 percent of the costs in the first half of 2014.
The firm estimates the closing will result in a sales drop of about $7.5 million.
Todd Smith, vice president and general manager of Myers' Distribution Segment, said the company values "the contributions made by our employees, and the decision to close the branches is not a reflection of their efforts, but rather the need to transition out of a business model that has not been profitable for us."
Myers Tire Supply International continues to have sales offices in Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.
How will the new Labor Department rule on overtime pay affect you?
|I've already had to demote some managers and assistant managers because of it||
|I was hoping to hire some new technicians soon. I can't now because of the new overtime rules||
|It won't affect me much||
|I think it's fair for assistant managers to get compensation for overtime||
|I'm voting a straight GOP ticket this November to see if we can get rid of this||
|Total votes: 82|


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Ranveer Singh gatecrashes wedding in Mumbai, blesses the bride
TV's 'Laverne' and United States director Penny Marshall dies
Meghan Markle's dad asks Queen to end estrangement from daughter
Actress and director Penny Marshall dead at age 75
Fresh Prince Star Sues Fortnite Over Dance
Record-low temperatures set to sock NYC
11 November 2017, 02:13 | Max Haynes
National Weather Service forecast overnight lows on Friday night Saturday morning Nov. 10-11
Forecasters say New York City's Central Park also has a good shot at tying or breaking its November 11 record low of 28 degrees, set in 1933. But things will really chill out Friday night, when temps drop to 24 degrees, with it feeling more like 14 degrees - thanks to the wind.
Wrap up warm this weekend: temperatures in the capital are about to plummet, as a mass of Arctic air moves across the UK.
Besides the coldest high temperature on record that's expected today, the mercury is also expected to plunge as low as 18 degrees before midnight tonight.
Check on elderly neighbors and keep an eye on your pets.
Patrice Evra fined and banned from Uefa Champions League
Marseille have also been fined €25,000 by UEFA for their supporters invading the pitch, setting off fireworks and acts of damage. As one angry fan sprinted towards him, the defender instinctively put out his fist and landed a punch on the aggressor's face.
Veterans Day events scheduled in the area
Matt Shortal, University of IL graduate in accountancy and former Navy Blue Angel pilot, is the keynote speaker. The program was concluded with a special thank you to veterans for their dedication, service, and sacrifice.
United Kingdom industrial output jumps in September
Primary goods output rose 6.6 percent, capital goods production grew 7.4 percent and intermediate goods logged 1.9 percent gain. Construction fell for a second straight quarter, with the 0.9 percent decline exceeding the 0.7 percent initially estimated.
That would set another record for cold. And Philadelphia could get close to its record low of 21 degrees, set in 1961. Saturday night will be another cold one, with a high of just 29 degrees.
Saturday (Veteran's Day): A mix of sun and clouds. A little warmup on Sunday with temperatures back in the upper 40s and a chance for rain showers by Sunday evening.
Buffalo's average high temperature is 50 degrees on Saturday's date and 49 degrees on Sunday.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy and breezy. A light southerly breeze is forecast.
Alibaba's Singles Day sales hit $5B in first 15 minutes
A Chinese white liquor maker wants to lift lonely spirits by offering a lifetime supply of booze for less than $1,700. Last year, Alibaba shipped more than 1 billion packages and is on track to well outpace that this year.
McGregor storms cage, goes made, pushes referee
It is not immediately clear whether McGregor will face any disciplinary action by the UFC or a regulatory body. The UFC's biggest star was in attendance and stormed the cage before putting hands on referee Marc Goddard .
New Star Wars series to lure customers from Netflix and Amazon
A standalone streaming service for ESPN, which will be known as ESPN Plus (ESPN+), is expected to launch in the spring of 2018. The existing shows, however, will stay on Netflix . "A more favorable tourism environment" also helped, McCarthy said .
You Can ACTUALLY Have Breakfast At Tiffany's Now
An iconic brand with a rich and storied heritage, Tiffany is a global manufacturer and retailer of jewelry and luxury accessories. On Friday, Tiffany unveiled its new Blue Box Cafe, offering, yes, coffee and croissants, as well as lunch and tea service.


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We kicked off the new year with “Go Composable or Go Bust” — a blog about the #1 takeaway from Modern Commerce Day 2022. For the third blog in our six-part series, we’re providing highlights from the keynote given by Carrie Tharp, VP of Retail & Consumer at Google Cloud. Carrie’s presentation was filled with insights, advice and predictions for the future. To fully benefit from Carrie’s expertise and learn how Google Cloud is evolving to support retailers as eCommerce evolves, watch the session video.
While years of working at Fossil, Neiman Marcus and Google helped shape Carrie Tharp’s impressive retail expertise, she opened her presentation at Modern Commerce Day 2022 by sharing her first taste of retail — working at her grandparents' grocery store. “I learned a lot about customer service; being hyper-local, personalization, and really just knowing your customer and meeting them where they are.”
Today, as VP of Retail & Consumer at Google Cloud, Carrie immerses herself in learning and understanding the customer mindset to assist retailers and Google in delivering these expectations. She describes her job as “a curator of all the best-of-breed technology out there from a partner ecosystem and Google, to help you [the retailer] accelerate what you are trying to do from a digital perspective.”
It’s more critical than ever for brands to always be ready to meet customers wherever they are.
Vice President, Retail & Consumer, Google Cloud
It’s not news that commerce and consumers have changed dramatically over the past five years, and as Carrie explains, “There’s an ongoing evolution of what it means to shop.” What this means, she says, is that it’s more critical than ever for brands to always be ready to meet customers wherever they are.
From retail media networks and social commerce to marketplaces and ultra-fast delivery services, commerce has become, “this timeless march forward of just — table stakes — what it takes [for retailers] to be relevant in the digital space today.” But, even with everything happening in the retail environment, Carrie stresses you need to remember each opportunity won’t have the same relevance to your brand.
She also points out that you need to recognize that most retailers are operating in what she calls, “the messy middle,” where you can’t necessarily compete with or copy what brands like Shein and Uber are doing. However, you still have to make sure you understand what your customers want today, and keep ahead of what they might want tomorrow. “You should interact in a way that’s appropriate for you, but in that mindset of meeting the customer where they are and organically having that discovery moment — that most likely, won’t be on your site.”
What’s interesting, she pointed out, is that “At the end of the day, the steps in the shopping journey are still the same.” What’s different is how consumers traverse those steps. “It's no longer just about creating data models and constructs and presenting information in an interesting or engaging way and using visuals.”
Carrie’s viewpoint, shared by Google, is that what retailers need to be thinking about now is commerce without boundaries — “It’s frictionless. It’s not necessarily exclusively on your site. It’s meeting your customers where they are and using the best capabilities to make the experience seamless and really delight your customers.”
To gain more modern commerce insights from Carrie as well as benefit from the stories and perspectives of 11 more thought leaders from major brands including Nuts.com, Alcon, Mars Wrigley, and Scentbird, download the full Modern Commerce Day Report 2022
Carrie’s top 5 insights on consumers and retail commerce today
The reality is consumers are now using five or more channels in their shopping journey. What that means is there’s a very complex, multi-touch journey that goes well beyond the boundaries of your eCommerce and your physical store site.
Customers want to know before they go. They want to be able to confirm that you have a product in stock. As a retailer, you have to expose data in ways that you didn’t have to five to 10 years ago.
Peak shopping season for seasonal events used to be about two months out. Today, customers start searching five to seven months ahead. Retailers need to recognize, “your technology has to be ready, reliable and scalable for a much longer period of time.”
Personalized. Local. Relevant. This is what shoppers want today. As an example, Carrie pointed to Google 2021 research which reported an 800% YoY growth in “in stock near me” searches and 60% YoY growth in “buy one get one (BOGOs)." This means there’s a “constant flow of tweaking your experience and your messaging to what is relevant to customers today.”
“It wasn’t too many years ago that Google was talking about the rise of mobile,” Carrie points out. "People didn’t believe consumers would buy certain products online — and certainly not on mobile.” Today, most retailers have 50%+ of their traffic coming from mobile. So, “it’s coming, it’s next,” she says. The same goes for crypto, you don’t have to jump on it now, but Carrie shared a telling statistic, “50% of millennials that are millionaires today have 25% or more of their wealth in crypto.”


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Tesla Inc. and Elon Musk could have added to celebrate for New Year’s Eve on Friday as employees thrust toward document quarterly deliveries in the waning several hours of 2021, capping a amazing year in which the electric powered-car or truck company’s marketplace worth zoomed previous $1 trillion.
Deliveries are a person of the most intently viewed metrics at Tesla: They underpin the company’s fiscal results and are greatly witnessed as a barometer of customer desire for electrical autos amid a world shift absent from the internal combustion engine. Currently being at the forefront of that wave aided make Musk, Tesla’s CEO, the world’s richest individual this calendar year, with a fortune of about $273 billion.
The Austin, Texas, carmaker commonly counts gross sales until finally midnight on the very last working day of a quarter, which in this situation signifies New Year’s Eve. On typical, a dozen analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimate Tesla may report about 265,000 deliveries — and extra-latest updates, such as a 290,000 prediction final week from Dan Levy of Credit Suisse, suggest the variety could skew bigger. Which is up from the report 241,300 established in the 3rd quarter.
Tesla workforce ordinarily go all out in the last times of a quarter, with volunteers from neighborhood homeowners golf equipment dropping by with donuts or volunteering to enable. Musk egged them on in one particular of his a lot of tweets, thanking team past 7 days for performing throughout the holiday seasons and noting “lots of Tesla cars and trucks to deliveries right before 12 months close!’
Tesla helps make the Designs S, X, 3 and Y at a plant in Fremont, Calif. It also provides the Types 3 and Y at a manufacturing unit around Shanghai, which will make cars and trucks for China and Europe. The output from the Asia manufacturing unit will be important to the two the supply determine and the company’s gross margins.
In 2022, Tesla will open up two extra assembly factories — one in Austin and just one in Berlin — enabling it to manufacture autos on a few continents and expand generation capacity.
Joseph Spak, an analyst at RBC Cash Markets, expects Tesla to deliver 285,000 models. If he’s right, that would carry Tesla’s overall deliveries for the 12 months to approximately 913,000.
In 2020, the firm delivered just shy of 50 percent a million automobiles for the year and Tesla has mentioned repeatedly it expects 50 per cent yearly expansion in deliveries more than a multi-yr interval.
A sturdy quarter would demonstrate that Tesla is keeping up very well amid supply-chain turmoil, the very contagious omicron variant and snowstorms that have clobbered a lot of the West Coast.
Musk has stated that shortages of semiconductors are crimping production — likely so far as to contact out two of the world’s largest chip suppliers. But it has fared improved than other car makers owing in component to endeavours by its engineers to rewrite software program to adapt to whatever chips they could discover for other applications.
It could also give a enhance to the company’s stock, which has fallen extra than 12 per cent from its Nov. 4 closing higher as Musk offloaded a massive chunk of his stake in the organization. Tesla shares were down 1.27 per cent when the sector closed Friday.
Soon after a Nov. 6 Twitter poll, in which the CEO asked his followers if he should really provide 10 p.c of his holdings and they voted indeed, Musk has bought close to 15.6 million shares. Which is just about 10 percenet of his stake which includes exercisable choices. Musk stays Tesla’s premier shareholder by much, with a virtually 18 percent stake in the enterprise.
Even with the recent drop, the inventory is continue to up 52 percent in 2021.


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Ted Baker is looking to sell its London headquarters to help boost its balance sheet amid an accounting crisis.
The retailer is close to striking a deal with British Airways’ pension scheme to offload a stake in its Ugly Brown Building in north London.
Ted Baker owns its headquarters outright and a nearby building is already owned by the BA pension scheme.
The move is expected to raise tens of millions of pounds.
An independent review in January found that the retailer had overstated the value of its inventory by £58m – more than double the original estimate of £25m.
Ted Baker swung to a loss before tax of £23m for the 28 weeks to 10 August 2019, compared to a profit of £24.5m in the same period the year before.
Ted Baker HQ, The Ugly Brown Building


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Jan 14 (Reuters) – High demand for groceries combined with soaring freight costs and Omicron-related labor shortages are creating a new round of backlogs at processed food and fresh produce companies, leading to empty supermarket shelves at major retailers across the United States.
Growers of perishable produce across the West Coast are paying nearly triple pre-pandemic trucking rates to ship things like lettuce and berries before they spoil. Shay Myers, CEO of Owyhee Produce, which grows onions, watermelons and asparagus along the border of Idaho and Oregon, said he has been holding off shipping onions to retail distributors until freight costs go down.
Myers said transportation disruptions in the last three weeks, caused by a lack of truck drivers and recent highway-blocking storms, have led to a doubling of freight costs for fruit and vegetable producers, on top of already-elevated pandemic prices. “We typically will ship, East Coast to West Coast – we used to do it for about $7,000,” he said. “Today it’s somewhere between $18,000 and $22,000.”
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Birds Eye frozen vegetables maker Conagra Brands’ (CAG.N) CEO Sean Connolly told investors last week that supplies from its U.S. plants could be constrained for at least the next month due to Omicron-related absences.
Earlier this week, Albertsons (ACI.N) CEO Vivek Sankaran said he expects the supermarket chain to confront more supply chain challenges over the next four to six weeks as Omicron has put a dent in its efforts to plug supply chain gaps.
Shoppers on social media complained of empty pasta and meat aisles at some Walmart (WMT.N) stores; a Meijer store in Indianapolis was swept bare of chicken; a Publix in Palm Beach, Florida was out of bath tissue and home hygiene products while Costco (COST.O) reinstated purchase limits on toilet paper at some stores in Washington state.
The situation is not expected to abate for at least a few more weeks, Katie Denis, vice president of communications and research at the Consumer Brands Association said, blaming the shortages on a scarcity of labor.
The consumer-packaged goods industry is missing around 120,000 workers out of which only 1,500 jobs were added last month, she said, while the National Grocer’s Association said that many of its grocery store members were operating with less than 50% of their workforce capacity.
U.S. retailers are now facing roughly 12% out of stock levels on food, beverages, household cleaning and personal hygiene products compared to 7-10% in regular times.
The problem is more acute with food products where out of stock levels are running at 15%, the Consumer Brands Association said.
SpartanNash, a U.S. grocery distributor, last week said it has become harder to get supplies from food manufacturers, especially processed items like cereal and soup.
Consumers have continued to stock up on groceries as they hunker down at home to curb the spread of the Omicron-variant. Denis said…


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Following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Federal Court ordered Kimberly-Clark to pay a $ 200,000 fine for online use of the ‘Made in Australia’ logo.
Kimberly-Clark Australia used the static website footer mark on its websites for the products and others in the Kleenex Cottonelle range and accepted that its use was false or misleading because the washable wipes were foreign made.
The physical packaging of the product contained the correct information that the products were imported.
“The contraventions occurred as part of a desire to promote KCA’s Australian made Kleenex Cottonelle toilet paper products without considering that the representations would appear in such a way that it would indicate that all products promoted on the Kleenex Cottonelle website were made in Australia,” Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham said on Tuesday.
“I accept that the contraventions occurred by oversight, that the situation was remedied when brought to KCA’s attention and it cooperated with ACCC at an early stage.”
According to 9News, a spokesperson for the company said the claim came as a result of a web publishing error, and not an intentional marketing strategy.
“All Kleenex Flushable Cleansing Cloths packaging and advertising have always accurately stated where the product is made,” a spokesperson for Kimberley-Clark said. “The Made in Australia website logo was intended only for our Kleenex toilet paper products which are made in Millicent, South Australia.”
“This was an unintentional web publishing error displayed in a static footer of the Kleenex Cottonelle brand website between October 2015 and February 2016, and it was removed as soon as it was brought to our attention.”
The trial ended the five-year legal battle between the ACCC and Kimberly-Clark over their washable wipes. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s claim that wipes were not suitable for washing because they caused damage to the sewer was dismissed by the Federal Court in 2019.
A later appeal, claiming that the wipes “represented” a risk of damage, was also rejected.


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The California Legislature recently passed Assembly Bill No. 321, which adds an exemption until January 1, 2024, to existing state sales and use tax laws related to "the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, a new, used, or remanufactured truck with an unladen weight of 6,000 pounds or more that is purchased for use without this state." To claim the exemption, the taxpayer must provide:
The New Hampshire Senate unanimously approved S.B. 242 last week, a bipartisan bill that aims to protect state businesses from the effects of last year's Wayfair decision, which allows states to impose sales and use tax regulations on e-retailers and other out-of-state sellers that do not have a physical presence in the state but that do meet dollar or transaction thresholds that create an economic nexus.
Effective January 1, 2019, under California Labor Code Section 2810.4, customers of certain port trucking companies may be held liable for unpaid wages due to commercial truck drivers, as well as any related assessments. According to the DLSE:
A California real estate professional was recently sentenced to 2 years in prison for filing false income tax returns that failed to report over $1 million in cash earned through marijuana sales made between 2012 and 2014. In addition, he was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and pay $466,707 in restitution to the IRS.
California taxpayers who ceased doing business but continue to get requests for unpaid taxes or unfiled returns from the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) may benefit from a new bill, AB 2503, which goes into effect January 1, 2019, and provides two options for an administrative dissolution of qualified domestic corporations and LLCs. The FTB will be able to administratively dissolve a business that has been suspended for 5 years or longer, or has ceased doing business, and meets other qualifications. Otherwise, taxpayers may request that the FTB abate unpaid, qualified taxes, interest, and penalties for years for which the entity certifies under penalty of perjury that it did not do business and has no remaining assets.
On September 13, 2018, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives "to prohibit States from retroactively imposing a sales tax collection duty on a remote seller," among other purposes. H.R. 6824, also called the Online Sales Simplicity and Small Business Relief Act of 2018, seeks to limit the impact of the recent Wayfair decision, which eliminated the need for a business to be physically present in a state in order to have economic nexus in that state.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced this week that business payments to charities that result in state or local tax credits will be deductible expenses in most cases. This is unlike the manner in which the IRS has said it will treat payments that individuals make to charities (details here). For more information on SALT deductions available to businesses, click here.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that states may now require online retailers to collect sales taxes from consumers, regardless of where the business is located or the product is delivered. In 1992, the same court ruled that a business had to have some kind of "physical presence" or "nexus" in order to be required to collect sales tax in a state. With the increased use of online shopping, however, it turns out not all taxpayers report non-taxed purchases to the states in which they reside. In fact, an estimated $33.9 billion goes uncollected in sales taxes each year, costing states a significant sum. Additionally, internet shopping tax-free has hurt the brick-and-mortar stores that already have higher operational costs due to a physical presence in a state, since they must collect sales tax on taxable transactions.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently launched the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program, which is designed to quickly resolve unintentional minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) without penalty to qualified participants. Workers will benefit by swiftly receiving back wages that are owed, and employers can get into compliance without paying penalties. Employers must act quickly, however, since the pilot program is scheduled to end in about six months.
The Department of Justice recently reminded taxpayers that evading personal or business-related tax obligations can lead to "substantial fines and penalties, and even long prison sentences." Last month, the husband-and-wife owners of a Tennessee staffing company were sentenced to 75 months and one year, respectively, of prison time for failure to pay over $2.8 million in employment-related taxes and withholdings, and for filing false employment tax returns.


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If you can brave the cold weather, you'll find some hot bargains today through Saturday as West Hartford Center merchants host West Hartford Sale Days, a semi-annual event that draws hordes of savvy shoppers.
Highlights include sales at stores along Farmington Avenue and LaSalle Road. (Check with individual stores for specifics because some stores extend sale specials through Sunday.)
At 992 Farmington Ave., Chico's, which features women's chic, casual clothing, takes an extra 20 percent off all redlined markdowns. Sale hours are today and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Information: 860-523-1894.
Plimpton's at 991 Farmington Ave. has Kipling totes, backpacks and waist packs in discontinued colors at 50 percent off, as well as select Vera Bradley bags at 20 percent off. Hours are today, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information: 860-233-2158.
At Rugged Bear, which features children's and petite women's clothing and outerwear, select merchandise throughout the store is discounted 20 percent to 70 percent. The store is open today, 9:30 to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: 860-570-0536.
BK&Co; at 64 LaSalle Road is holding a progressive sale on already reduced merchandise where the more you buy, the more you save. Here's how it works: Purchase one item, get an additional 10 percent off. Buy additional items, and you'll get 10 percent off the first, 20 percent off the second item, 30 percent off the third, and so on. Buy 10 items, get one at 100 percent off -- or free.
The store, which features women's designer and better sportswear, is also holding a Super Bowl Sunday Beat the Clock sale from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with surprise discounts and savings. Store hours are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Information: 860-232-6225.
La Perla Jewelers, 971 Farmington Ave., holds a post-inventory clearance sale with storewide savings of 15 percent to 25 percent. Hours are today, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Information 860-233-4464.
Toy Chest, 975 Farmington Ave., is holding a storewide toy sale with savings of 10 percent to 50 percent off items from Lego, Brio, Playmobil and others. Hours are today, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Information: 860-233-5559.
Bennett's Card & Party Emporium, 987 Farmington Ave., holds an Indoor Sidewalk Sale, with savings on select imprintable party invitations and stationery, as well as 50 percent off Boyd's collectibles and 40 percent off Boyd's stuffed animals.
Hours are today and Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Information, 860-236-2229.
Japanalia Eiko, 990 Farmington Ave., holds a Boutique Sale with select merchandise priced at $35 or less, values up to $175; a collection of coats and jackets at $125 and $145, regularly $325 and $345; acrylic boucle coordinates at $49 each, regularly $125. All marked down items are final sale. Hours are today and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Information, 860-523-7722.
Fleet Feet Sports, 1003 Farmington Ave., holds a Fantastic Sneaker Sale. Men's and women's running shoes, regularly $75 to $100, are now $39.95 to $69.95. In addition, all winter apparel has been reduced 20 percent to 30 percent off original prices. Hours are today and Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Information, 860-233-8077.
At Artichoke, Inc., 20 LaSalle Road, shoppers will find 50 percent to 90 percent off on denim jackets, suedes and leathers, cashmere sweaters, dresses, coats, knits and accessories -- as well as a special "Unloved Rack" featuring items priced at $5.99 to $99, values to $400. Hours are today, 8:30 a.m. to to 5:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Information, 860-232-4961.
Today is the final day of a storewide clearance sale at Designers' Exchange, also in West Hartford, but not in the center. The tiny shop is the final destination of floor samples, discontinued or damaged items from the Hartford Design Center upstairs (which is not open to the public), as well as consignment pieces from local designers.
Merchandise includes furniture, lamps, pillows, accessories, mirrors, pillows, accent pieces, artwork and custom-made window treatments in contemporary and traditional designs. Most items are one-of-a-kind, so if you see something that works with your decor, grab it. If you don't see something you like, stop back, because stock changes constantly and is always priced to move.
The store, at 121 Talcott Road (between South Quaker Lane and New Park Ave.) is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. Information: 860-570-1327.
Are you a savvy shopper? Carry the bag that proves it. Send us information about your favorite bargain finds, special sales or local outlets. If we use your suggestion, we'll send you a free tote bag. (Businesses: Send sale info at least two weeks in advance.) Send suggestions to: Korky Vann, The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford, CT 06115 or Vann@courant.com


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Company executives are fully aware of the impact sales has on their company’s future, but many of them might not be so aware of how close accounts receivable (A/R) relates to the organization’s sustainability and potential for growth. “It’s really important to show them how credit can affect them,” said Susan Archibeque in a recent CMA-sponsored webinar entitled “Credit Leadership.”
Archibeque noted that while sales may have the most obvious tie to a company’s position, it’s important for the business’ decision makers to understand how important credit is to help the company make more sound strategic
decisions and also to increase the profile and clout of the credit department within the organization. Archibeque noted that the relationship between credit and sales should be an equal and mutually-beneficial one. “The only way that we can change perception of credit is to have a positive experience with sales,” she said. “It’s important that sales and credit are on the same committee.” Archibeque even noted that, in some instances, sales should be tied to credit and suffer the consequences when one of their customers fails to pay.
Before any of these options are put into place, however, Archibeque noted that a credit department needs to take stock both of how they’re performing and how they relate to the rest of their company. “We need to look at your company internally,” she said. “Look at the impact A/R is having. You need to know where improvements need to be made… to change the philosophy of credit in [your] organization.” Archibeque also added that it’s important for credit staff to be involved in the company’s future as much as its present situation. “You need to be on the strategic planning committee so you can be in on your company’s growth,” she said. “You need to know where your company’s going in terms of expansion.”


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Nine US industry and trade groups urged the Department of Commerce (DoC) to carefully consider the impact on the nation’s semiconductor industry before restricting exports of some components to China, Reuters reported.
The news agency reported groups including the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), National Foreign Trade Council and SEMI told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross restrictions on shipments to China may result in “significant impacts” to the semiconductor industry.
They cited potential harm to the sector’s supply chains “and the broader technology sector” and called for a public consultation before restrictions are imposed.
Reuters explained the groups were responding to a prior move by US authorities to prevent gear falling into the hands of China’s military.
In early March, research by Boston Consulting Group commissioned by the SIA suggested the US’ position as a leader in semiconductors was being put at risk by broad restrictions on exports of commercial chip technologies to China.
Last week, Ajit Manocha, president of global electronics manufacturers industry association SEMI, warned US President Donald Trump the new export restrictions placed shipments of kit valued at $20 billion a year at risk, Reuters reported.
He added restrictions would also be a disincentive for future investment and innovation in the US.Subscribe to our daily newsletter Back


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Aussies have rallied behind hard-working supermarket staff amid the coronavirus crisis, with sweet messages of support springing up on shop shelves across the country.
Over the past few weeks shoppers have gone into panic-buying mode, clearing supermarkets of stock in a bid to prepare for self-isolation or a potential lockdown. However, with this has come a brunt of abuse and aggression towards staff who are struggling to keep up with demand and maintain full shelves of necessities.
Now, hoping to spread some kindness instead of hate, shoppers have begun to reach out to staff by writing notes of thanks and sticking them to shop shelves or posting them online. Social media has been flooded with photos of messages from both the young and the old who have noticed the strain employees have been put through of late.
Mum Samantha Anderson Launer took to social media recently to post a photo of a picture her daughter had drawn for Woolworths staff. “My 6 year old daughter drew this yesterday to take to our local Woolworths,” she wrote on the Woolworths Facebook page.
The bright coloured drawing featured a beautiful rainbow and a love heart and read: “Thank you Woolies staff. Sorry people have been rude to you”.
Meanwhile, others have gone out of their way to stick their notes to supermarket shelves for staff to read when re-stocking products. One social media user took to Twitter recently to share the short but sweet note that she had placed around supermarkets to show her appreciation for the hard-working staff.
“Dear staff, Thank you for all your hard work! We appreciate you,” the note written by @kenz_diver read.
— Kenzie (@kenz_diver) March 17, 2020
Meanwhile, another note spotted in a supermarket in Toowoomba, Queensland, thanked staff for continuing to work while the rest of the world “goes crazy”.
“Dear staff, thank you for keeping the shelves stocked and coming to work daily, while the world goes insanely crazy with panic buying. We appreciate you!” the message shared on Twitter read.
— Metallikati (@Metallikati) March 21, 2020
The influx of kind gestures comes after one supermarket night filler told of the back-breaking work staff are experiencing during the Covid-19 crisis and urged Aussie shoppers to show some respect. The dedicated supermarket employee gave Aussies some insight into what they’re really going through during this difficult time in an incredibly honest open letter shared online.
The post published on forum site Reddit explained the physical and emotional pain staff are experiencing on a daily basis and how, above all, they’re doing their best.
The staff member ensured people they’re working double to keep shelves stocked with more items coming in each day to keep up with the demand. And to try to keep the peace in supermarkets, they’re working longer hours and even coming in on their days off to help out. But despite their best efforts their feelings and struggles are being brushed to the side by the general public who are determined to ignore government advice and stockpile.
“My back hurts, my fingers are swollen, my knees are in bits,” the anonymous employee wrote on Reddit. “I haven’t had a meal with my family since this whole thing started two weeks ago. Trust me when I say that we’re killing ourselves to make sure there’s stock on the shelf.
“We have to try and do our jobs whilst also getting abused by our customers. People think they’re entitled to take more than the limits. People are sitting in the aisle waiting for stock, blocking us from actually doing our job. They’re also pulling things off cages and pallets making it unsafe for everyone.”


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As many as 1 in 10 Eurozone households may own some sort of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, according to research from the European Central Bank (ECB).
The ECB’s Consumer Expectations Survey polled consumers living in six countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The number of respondents answering that someone in their household owned cryptocurrency was lowest in France, at 6%, but highest in the Netherlands, at over 14%.
The average across all 6 countries was just below 10%. The figures may suggest that crypto uptake has become more widespread than first thought.
Despite this, the amount that consumers own continues to be low. More than one-third (37%) of those who report owning crypto say they have less than €1,000. The next most common amount was between €1,000 and €4,999, with 29% of respondents saying they own crypto in this value range.
Calls for greater crypto regulation
The proportion of crypto owners who claimed to own more than €10,000’s worth of crypto was just 21%.
The six countries surveyed represent some of the richest in the Eurozone, meaning that crypto ownership across the EU more widely is likely to be lower than 10%.
The survey’s authors claim that the figures highlight a need for greater regulation within the crypto market. They say: “Although EU regulation has been proposed to mitigate the risks posed by crypto-assets, agreement on this is yet to be reached. In the EU, the Commission’s proposal for the MiCA Regulation, first published in September 2020, has not yet been agreed by EU co-legislators. This means the Regulation will not be applied before 2024 at the earliest, as it is not expected to be applied until 18 months after it enters into force.
“Given the speed of crypto developments and the increasing risks, it is important to bring crypto-assets into the regulatory perimeter and under supervision as a matter of urgency. In addition, it will be important to review the sectoral regulations to ensure that any financial stability risks posed by crypto-assets, particularly those arising from their interconnectedness with traditional financial institutions, are mitigated.”
Crypto 'unsuitable' for retail investors
The survey’s authors also said that crypto is unsuitable for most retail investors, reiterating concerns about risk related to investor protection and market integrity.
“Crypto-assets are not suitable for most retail investors… who could lose a large amount, or even all, of the money they have invested,” the report continues. “Consumer protection risks include misleading information, the absence of rights and protections such as complaints procedures or recourse mechanisms, product complexity with leverage sometimes embedded, fraud and malicious activities.”
Trade in cryptocurrencies has grown exponentially in recent years, thanks in part to increased ease of access. The number of platforms allowing consumers to buy and sell crypto assets has grown, but critics warn that there is little protection and consumers are allowed to trade in digital assets without fully understanding the risk involved.


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Barista Visas, Instagram-frenzy and a Canadian sortie...
With everything going on in the news at the moment - Local elections, Article 50 negotiations and the French Presidency to name just a few - we thought we'd take a step back and take a look at the last couple of weeks in the coffee world.
'Barista Visa' planned to keep us caffeinated post-Brexit
Whatever your views on Brexit, it's fair to say that questions are being raised about the country's future - and this month it's been claimed our humble high street coffee may be under threat. The overwhelming majority of job applicants in UKs leading coffee chains are non-British, and many businesses are already claiming that they're struggling to find British staff. Help may very well be around the corner, however, thanks to a proposed 'Barista Visa'.
Tim Hortons makes a move on the UK coffee market
A household name back in our CEO Colin Pyle's native Canada (where it claims to pour 8 out 10 cups of all coffee sold), Tim Hortons is making its first sortie into the UK coffee market by opening it's first outlet in Glasgow.
Rushing to take a slice of the UK's £3.4bn retail coffee market, it's aiming to bring a pinch of Canada to our little Island - along with its signature snack named the 'Timbit' (if you imagine the middle of a ring doughnut you won't be far off).
US Coffee Giant unveils the 'Unicorn'
This towering oddity of pink ice, whipped cream and rainbow dust is (somwehat thankfully) only available in the US, but already the entire world can't get enough of it.
With over 12 tsps of sugar in the 'grande' version, public reaction has been, at best, mixed - but regardless of what people are saying, there's no denying the impact this drink has had across the internet and social media.
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Behold for Apple's new iPhone color: No one expected this
Apple has introduced another color for their iPhone 14 series. Here are all the details.
Apple continues to introduce new iPhone colors. While rumors and leaks have been coming out online the tech giant has also officially announced their new iPhone color. The business has yellow versions of the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus available yet no Pro version. The yellow color adds a beautiful option to color range.
Apple's new iPhone color looks stunning
Beginning on March 10 customers in more than 60 nations can place pre-orders for the yellow iPhone 14 family. Until that time you will have to be okay with what we already have. Until now the Silver color has been liked pretty much but yet yellow can stand out as brining new and exciting energy to the series. On March 14, the updated models will be offered alongside new silicone cover hues, among them a canary yellow.
Before vivid yellow version of the iPhone 5c was available, and a paler version of the iPhone 11 was also available. You can now get a new yellow iPhone for yourself to match it with your smartwatch. What do you think of the new iPhone color, are you a fan or do you think this color should have stayed in old times?


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Doubts were raised over the strength of the economic recovery in the eurozone on Monday, after figures showed industrial output fell for the first time in six months in October amid continued weakness in household spending.
Industrial production dropped 0.6 per cent from September and is now down more than 11 per cent year-on-year, according to the European Union’s statistical arm.
The drop is mostly down to flagging demand for consumer goods across the 16-member currency bloc, with significant variations once again appearing between member states.
The bulk of the fall was borne by Germany, where production eased 1.8 per cent, although production in France, Ireland and Portugal also fell. The Netherlands and Italy bucked the trend with modest improvements.
Economists blamed weak household demand for consumer goods for the lacklustre figures, pointing to a 0.5 per cent drop in eurozone employment during the third quarter, according to EU figures also released on Monday.
The number of people employed across the wider EU fell by more than 1m compared with the previous quarter, marking 15 months of contracting employment.
All segments of the economy, bar those related to the public sector, shed jobs, led by continued falls in construction, manufacturing and financial services.
“Overall, today’s figures confirm the previous picture of an economy that is staggering, rather than bounding, back towards health,” said Colin Ellis, economist at Daiwa Securities.
Martin van Vliet at ING called the relapse in industrial production “sobering”, but stressed that the data were volatile and advised “it is premature to conclude that the industrial recovery is seriously losing momentum, let alone that it has run its course”.


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It has been a while, since ARCHOS communicated about their product strategy.
In a financial press document released today, ARCHOS is publishing their financial results for 2012, announcing a new CEO nomination and giving their perspectives for 2013.
Financial resultsAccording to the press release ARCHOS revenue for year 2012 set at 154,9 M€ , a 10% drop compared to 2011. On the whole year in Europe, according to GfK Panel Market  jan12-dec 12 Europe 7, ARCHOS keeps a market share of 8% in volume on the sub-EUR 400 tablet and stays in third position after Apple and Samsung.
The financial publication is available only in French language at the moment, here is a summary of the numbers:
In terms of geographical distribution when we compare 2012 revenues to previous year, there is a small regression in Europe in 2012, while sales in Asia are increasing by more than 40% and declined in the US by about the same percentage.
Profit wise, 2012 financial results show wide difficulties on the income figure, with a reported Net consolidated income of -38,7 M€, compared to year 2011 where ARCHOS was profitable and made 5.7 M€.
A new CEOARCHOS Management in 2012:
According to the press release, actual Deputy CEO Loïc Poirier has been nominated CEO of the company:
Following the recommendation of its Chairman, Henri Crohas, the Board of Directors has named Loïc Poirier to replace Mr Crohas as CEO of the Archos Group taking effect May 1st 2013. Loïc Poirier joined the Archos Group in 2005 as Chief Financial Officer, was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2007 and more recently to Deputy CEO in January 2013.
Henri Crohas, Archos founder, will retain his role as Chairman of the Board and will lead the Strategic Committee alongside the CEO, however he will be concentrating his efforts on the strategic
repositioning of the Group via the restructuring of R&D resources between European and Chinese teams while focusing on three axes: Themed Tablets, Smartphones and Home Automation.
The reorganization that began at the end of 2012, aimed at reducing operating costs, nears its completion, having led to the downsizing of the workforce by one quarter at head office and throughout
the group. The 2012 fiscal year financial accounting incorporates restructuring costs as well as inventory depreciation.
New perspectives for 2013
As explained in the press release, ARCHOS group will focus their 2013 on the following areas:
The launch of Themed Tablets under the Archos brand or under major distributor brands. These devices require a high level of personalization but also generate higher margins. The entry into the Smartphone market. According to GFK, at the end of 2011, 57% of smartphones sold in France via retail channels were subsidized by telcos, however only 34% were subsidized during the 3rd quarter of 2012. This upheaval is favorable to Archos who traditionally sells through retail channels. Furthermore, Smartphones and Tablets are interrelated markets that have quickly crossed over with the arrival of “Phablets” – half-phone, half-tablet devices as well as 3G becoming commonplace. The Investments in Home Automation, or, in the broader sense, connected objects that take advantage of new low energy wireless technologies. Archos has developed a range of miniaturized wireless connected objects and is building services around this connectivity
ARCHOS already started Themed tablets production with the ChildPad, a children oriented tablet (also distributed under Tabeo name), the GamePad, an Android portable game console, the FamilyPad, a tablet with a giant 13.3″ screen and more recently the TV Connect that brings Android to regular HD televisions.
Financial press release at archos.com
 GfK Panel Market jan12-dec 12 Europe 7 (France, Allemagne, UK, Espagne, Italie, Pays Bas, Belgique), tablettes de plus de 5,2 pouces