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Are Long-Term Investors Good For Bitcoin?
Bitcoin’s progress in 2021 seems far from over. With the price of the cryptocurrency nearly doubling in the past 30 days, the coin has successfully entered its most prominent bull run, surpassing even the much-hyped surge of 2017. On March 13, reached a new all-time high of $61,895, marking the fourth breakout of 2021.
Data from a Glassnode report highlights reliance on Bitcoin is developing, with long-term holders (LTH) of Bitcoin not selling their positions for profits. This indicates that cryptocurrency is steadily establishing itself as a viable stronghold for many investors despite price volatility. As stated in the report, price volatility is a circumstance of short-term holders (STH) with wallet activity in the past six months who speculate on price activity to gain profits.
Bitcoin Is Becoming The Norm
As more stories and data emerge about how investors perceive Bitcoin, we can see that the cryptocurrency has overcome institutional scrutiny in some parts of the financial sector and is now looked at from a different perspective. In 2017, Bitcoin received criticisms about its high volatility and increased risk for investors. However, in 2021, institutions have shifted their focus toward Bitcoin and framed it as a currency with high investment potential. Its volatility has decreased in the past year due to an influx of sturdy investors that recognize Bitcoin for its long-term investment value.
The price of Bitcoin has surged in the past three months, but retail investors have had little to do with its steep incline. Retail or short-term holders affect the price of Bitcoin by adding volume; however, with more businesses accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment, the coin’s intrinsic value increases. More significantly, several institutions and multinational companies such as Tesla (NASDAQ:), Microstrategy (NASDAQ:), and even PayPal have staked their claim toward the juggernaut currency and publicly asserted the coin’s utility by investing millions of dollars.
Visa’s CEO claimed, “Bitcoin could become mainstream,” reinforcing the currency’s status as a fundamental store of value for future investors. And his case is relevant, as Bitcoin purchases have skyrocketed in the past three months. According to a Glassnode report, 95% of all Bitcoin purchases have been made in the last three months. While short-term holders judge Bitcoin by its capacity to generate quick profits, long-term traders are still in the process of accumulating more BTC and are reluctant to sell their existing holdings.
Institutional investors, such as Tesla and other multinational companies, do not show signs of selling during the dip. As a report by Glassnode indicates, Bitcoin has convinced investors of its possible long-term profits; they are not selling despite the coin’s dip in price. Thus, investor behavior is shifting in favor of Bitcoin. Large…


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According to a report in Bloomberg, Walmart will join Apple and the wireless carriers in selling the on a pre-order basis. Pre-orders with the retailer will start at 8 am at US stores and the iPhone will be available to pick up in stores on Friday, September 21st.
Walmart is one-upping the competition on price by offering the iPhone 5 for $189.97 with a two-year contract. This is $10 less than the $199 price tag announced by Apple and the wireless carriers including Verizon Wireless,and AT&T. Walmart also reduced the price on the , which will sell for $89, and the ,which will retail for an almost free 97-cents with a two-year contract.
Sell Your Old Cell Phone for Cash
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As wildly popular as they seem to be these days, tattoos definitely get under some people's skin (LOL!).
One anti-ink activist (who knew there was such a thing?!) has taken her stance to the extreme and started a Facebook page, "Tattoo-free (and happy)," to illustrate her distaste for the body markings she believes place people at risk for HIV, ADHD, cancer, scabies, hepatitis, and a multitude of other dire conditions.
Site proprietor Jayne Weschire, who also sells Clean Arm Army shirts and hoodies, writes:
Simple fact is: Tattoos are horrible, tattooed people are criminals and tattooists are disease-spreading degenerates. All inky-stinkys should be jailed.
I'm not a tattoo fan either, but that's crazy harsh, right? Still, the site is gaining ground, racking up more than 22,000 fans, with thousands added just this morning!


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Homer, Alaska, U.S.A.-based online seafood retailer Wild Alaskan Company acquired Home Port Seafoods on Monday, 3 April.
Home Port, based in Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A., was founded in 1992 by Glen “Benny” Bischus and Jeanne Bischus. Their daughter, Christie Benson, has served as the company’s vice president since the late 1990s and has overseen day-to-day operations with the company since the mid-2000s. Post-acquisition, Home Port Seafoods will still operate as a standalone business under the Wild Alaskan Company.
The acquisition will give Wild Alaskan, which enjoyed explosive growth in its frozen seafood home-delivery service during the Covid-19 pandemic, processing capacity and access to Home Port Seafoods’ network of foodservice and retail customers.
“We recognize that catching, processing, and selling fish are distinct endeavors, each with unique challenges and opportunities,” Wild Alaskan Company Founder and CEO Arron Kallenberg said in a press release. “But the reality is that Wild Alaskan has reached a scale where we can no longer afford not to be in the processing business.”
The acquisition of Home Port Seafoods will allow Wild Alaskan Company to better meet the growing demand for its products and to expand its product offerings, Kallenberg said. Kallenberg, a third-generation Alaska fisherman and tech entrepreneur, founded Wild Alaskan in 2017, using logistics software he developed himself to streamline shipping and doorstep delivery. The company is now one of the largest seafood internet retailers in the country and one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer brands.
Currently, the company offers three different types of boxes of wild-caught, frozen seafood domestically sourced from the United States – a whitefish box featuring Pacific cod, halibut, and rockfish; a wild salmon box containing coho and sockeye salmon; and a combo box combining all of the company’s seafood offerings. Boxes are available in two sizes, a 12-pack of six-ounce portions or a 24-pack of six-ounce portions. They are shipped once a month, with users able to skip a shipment or cancel their subscription at any time.
“We’re excited about growing Home Port’s existing production capacity, value-added capabilities, and customer base,” Kallenberg said. “We’ve learned a lot about the American seafood consumer over the years. We look forward to applying those learning to provide Home Port’s customer with more product offerings and turnkey solutions.”
Following the acquisition, Benson will oversee Home Port’s daily operations as the company’s CEO.
Photo courtesy of Wild Alaskan Company


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The private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Silver Lake are in discussions to invest more than $1bn and receive board seats at the online-booking company Expedia, whose shares have been hit as the global coronavirus outbreak puts a pause on travel.
Expedia and the investors are close to finalising the deal, which could be announced later this week, according to people briefed on the discussions. The company, led by Barry Diller, chairman of IAC, is also considering selling debt in addition to the new equity.
Travel companies have rushed to shore up their finances following a sharp drop in revenues due to coronavirus, which has suspended air travel and holiday bookings. The struggling cruise operator Carnival raised $6.3bn in debt and equity from investors this month following high-profile breakouts of the virus on its ships.
Silicon Valley-based Silver Lake has recently been active in several prominent deals, including a combined $2bn debt and equity financing in the travel accommodation group Airbnb and a convertible note investment in social media company Twitter.
Private equity groups are sitting on record amounts of cash, with some raising additional funds to capitalise on companies effected by coronavirus.
Simultaneously, several US-listed companies are seeking financing avenues, given the hit to their revenues, and are increasingly willing to sell discounted stocks to private equity groups.
Listed companies have raised about $17bn this year up until April 8 from so-called private investments in public equity, almost double the amount compared with the same period last year, according to PrivateRaise data.
Shares in Expedia have fallen by more than half since late February as investors brace for hits to its portfolio of businesses, including Hotels.com, Travelocity and Vrbo. The company withdrew 2020 guidance last month, saying the coronavirus outbreak had created uncertainty in the travel business and would have a larger than expected financial impact.
JPMorgan and Moelis are advising on the transaction, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Expedia, Apollo and Silver Lake declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Eric Platt in New York


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|Euro NCAP to drive availability of
AEB systems for safer cars in Europe
Euro NCAP today publishes the results of its survey on the availability of Autonomous Emergency Braking systems in Europe and reveals that the assessment programme will include AEB technologies in its star rating from 2014.
Real world performance data suggests AEB systems can reduce accidents by up to 27%. Although the introduction of these active safety technologies is reducing road deaths and injuries, the availability of AEB in Europe is far from standardized.
A recent survey undertaken by Euro NCAP reveals that AEB is completely unavailable on 79% of the car models on sale in Europe and that 66% of manufacturers do not offer an AEB system on any of their new car models.
Autonomous Emergency Braking systems can help to avoid crashes or to mitigate their severity by warning the driver and supporting his braking response and/or by applying the brakes independently.
The technology generally uses forward-looking radar, lidar and video systems to provide a complete, accurate, real-time image of the road ahead. Since 2010, several car manufacturers have been recognized for the safety benefits of their AEB systems through Euro NCAP Advanced rewards.
Euro NCAP finds that premium brands such as Volvo, Infiniti and Mercedes have the best levels of standard AEB fitment, and are joined by Jaguar, Range Rover, Audi and Lexus when optional fit is also considered.
Cars in the Executive and Large Family categories have the highest level of availability, at least as an option. However, some volume sector manufacturers are showing that AEB can be offered as standard or as an affordable option on mass-market vehicles.
Amongst others, Mazda, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen are selling AEB systems partly as standard or optional on some high-volume cars such as the Mazda CX-5, the Ford Focus, the Honda Civic and the VW up!. It is understood that Fiat will also make AEB a low-cost option on the new Panda in July 2012.
AEB systems are increasingly being made available as cars are replaced by new or facelifted models, such as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, the Ford Fiesta and Ford Kuga.
Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP says ‘A faster penetration of these technologies into new cars will make it more realistic for the European Union to reach its target to cut road deaths by 50% by 2020.
Consequently, Euro NCAP has decided to include AEB assessments as part of the overall star rating from 2014 onwards and hopes that European authorities will soon require AEB as mandatory on all new vehicle types.’
Since Euro NCAP published the first safety rating in 1997, considerable efforts have been made by car manufacturers, technology providers, authorities and road operators to make cars safer.
Despite an important reduction of road deaths the past 15 years, in Europe today, over 30,000 people are still killed on the road and many more are injured every year.
The inclusion of AEB systems in the Euro NCAP star rating will alert and encourage consumers to choose AEB when buying a new car as it will improve their safety, make a real difference and help them avoid or mitigate a crash.


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Interested in purchasing one of Jefferson City's mainstay hotels at a recently reduced price?
The owners of the Truman Hotel and Conference Center have been trying to find a buyer, and they've reduced the asking price from about $1.95 million to $1.775 million. The Cole County Assessor's Office said the 2012 assessed value is $4 million.
The sale includes the 233-room hotel and 24,000 square feet of meeting space in 14 different rooms, as well as the 9-acre lot fronting U.S. 54. It also includes the hotel's restaurant, Bingham's. The sale does not include Truman 4 Theatres, a second-run movie theater beside the hotel.
Kansas-based Leisure Real Estate Advisors, which specializes in selling hotels, has been listing Truman for the past six months. Brent Jaynes, a real estate agent for the company who is listing the property, said he's seen considerable interest, especially since there is potential seller-financing available.
"It's a great piece of dirt," Jaynes said. "It also could work for various hotel uses, probably not as it certainly is configured now, but subdivided into two (hotels) or reduced to one with vacant parcels ... ."
He said the site is attractive because of its central location, which is elevated and offers good visibility, and its close proximity to downtown.
He said the site also could be redeveloped into a big box store with leftover room for restaurants or retail shops.
In part, the listing summary for the property reads: "This iconic Jefferson City hotel has been able to produce a significant income stream over the years, and still holds its own, even with the newer competition. The current business model offers a less expensive alternative to the full service hotels in the area, and the hotel has been able to maintain this niche."
The owners of Truman Hotel are St. Louis attorneys Christian Peper Jr. and Rex Bertram, who didn't return a call for comment. Tom Simon, who was another part-owner, died last year.
Formerly a Ramada Inn, the hotel has a long history in Jefferson City. Bingham's restaurant, known for its steaks and pastas, has a private "Churchill Room" that's ventilated for cigar smokers. The Library Lounge, the hotel's bar, has been a frequent watering hole for locals as well as legislators and lobbyists. For nearly four decades until last year, local pianist Mike Michelson played to the nightly crowds.
In the 1990s, a proposal was made by the owners of the then-Ramada Inn to build a convention center on the site. The city again is in the process of seeking a conference center developer and a site.
City Administrator Nathan Nickolaus said the city has talked about the site before, though none of the three developers who have submitted proposals have specifically identified the site.
"It's possible that one of them is talking to Ramada," Nickolaus said. "It is a big location."
Staff writer Madeleine Leroux contributed to this report.


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The world is changing fast and to keep up you need local knowledge with global context.
Retailer Christo Wiese once had so much wealth it was impossible to imagine how he could spend it all. But, a few miscalculations have seen him wipe fortunes off his balance sheet. The collapse of the Steinhoff share price was a significant blow, pushing him down the ranks of the world’s wealthiest. In 2013 he was among the world’s top 400 richest people, and in 2017 had an estimated worth of about $66bn, according to Forbes. Last year, Wiese dropped off the list of global billionaires. Wiese reckons he’s a victim of the Steinhoff scandal, and put the wheels in motion last year to sue the company he once chaired for about R60bn, believed to be the biggest legal claim in South African history. Wiese has a fresh battle on his hands: At Shoprite, where he has been chairman for almost three decades. An investor is determined to push Wiese out of a position of power at Shoprite, where he has been described as the “brains” behind the supermarket chain’s success. – Jackie Cameron
Shoprite investor seeks to curb Wiese power with director
By Janice Kew
(Bloomberg) – A Shoprite shareholder nominated a veteran retail executive to the board of Africa’s biggest grocer in an attempt to reduce the influence of Chairman Christo Wiese – part of a wider investor pushback against the former billionaire.
Wiese, 78, has been chairman of the Cape Town-based company for almost three decades and has more voting rights than any other shareholder. He is standing for re-election as non-executive director at the supermarket giant’s annual general meeting next week.
All Weather Capital nominated former Pepkor head Jan le Roux, 69, as a director, a move that will be voted on at Shoprite’s annual general meeting on Monday. Wiese is the former owner of Pepkor and developed the company into a pan-African clothing retailer before agreeing to sell to Steinhoff Holdings International NV in 2014.
“We need some forces on the board that will balance Wiese’s influence,” Shane Watkins, chief investment officer at All Weather, said by phone.
Le Roux’s nomination has not followed “usual procedure” and will be raised at the Nov. 4 meeting, Wiese said by phone. “It’s the first time in Shoprite history a nomination has been sprung this way.”
Business Day earlier reported that the proposal may not comply with rules set by Johannesburg’s stock exchange.
Steinhoff’s near collapse eroded Wiese’s standing as one of South Africa’s richest people, and his net worth now stands at $744m, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Shoprite moved to reduce Wiese’s influence earlier this year with the chairman’s support, but was forced to scrap the plan after investors objected to the likely R3.3bn ($219m) cost to the company in compensation. The grocer has also faced shareholder opposition to its levels of executive pay, holding extra meetings to discuss the policy.
The shares have slumped 29% this year, the worst performer on the FTSE/JSE Food & Drug Retailers Index.
Le Roux has also given All Weather a “firm undertaking to champion” black economic empowerment at Shoprite, Watkins said, referring to South Africa’s policy to address inequities stemming from apartheid.
The Public Investment Corp. – a shareholder that has objected to Shoprite’s pay policy – didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. All Weather holds 3.2 million shares, equivalent to about 0.5% of the stock.
Cyril Ramaphosa: The Audio Biography
Listen to the story of Cyril Ramaphosa's rise to presidential power, narrated by our very own Alec Hogg.


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Yu Televentures' Founder, Rahul Sharma announced on October 6 that the company is coming up with the most powerful phone on the planet. Today, the company has teased that the upcoming phone will be sporting an all metal body. Rahul Sharma also took to the Yu forums and besides creating hype about the product, revealed that the final work is in progress.
While specs of the said phone havn’t been revealed by the company, the rumors surrounding the smartphone suggest it will have a flagship like spec-sheet. The phone might feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC and 4GB of RAM. As for storage, at least 32GB of on-board storage is expected. Rumors about the camera module being used on the Yu Yutopia suggest that the phone might have a 21MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing camera. Earlier, it was rumored that the phone might get a 13MP rear snapper. Information about the display and battery size is still disputed at the moment.
Recently, a mystery YU device was found on Geekbench, powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The device which is code-named YU5050 could be the Yu Yutopia which is the phone in question. It scored 1353 points on single core test of Geekbench and a commendable 4622 on the multi-core test. According to the geekbench results, it features 4GB of RAM and is running on Android 5.1.1.
If the rumors about the phone are true, Yu will be competing against other flagship phones in the market. Also, if Yu maintains its low pricing scheme, Yutopia might be going up against the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus 2 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, 13MP rear camera with OIS and laser assisted autofocus. It also sports a fingerprint sensor and now comes with dual-SIM slots. However, if the Yu Yutopia really wants to compete for the top spot, it will have to beat the Samsung Galaxy S6 which is the market leader currently.
|Release Date:||13 Jul 2015|


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Check out the latest handful of gameplay trailers showcasing the playable boss battles in Team Ninja's upcoming 3DS fighter Dead or Alive Dimensions.
I cant wait to play this!!
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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Links in a very weak chain....greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread
Nice article about companies and their supply chains. I particularly enjoy the cases where the company demands suppliers be compliant before they themselves are scheduled for compliance.
Supplying demand As Y2K deadline looms, some businesses press for readiness assurance
By Jim Landers / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON - Deadlines for companies big and small to fix the Year 2000 computer problem are arriving well ahead of New Year's Eve.
It's been well publicized that unless repairs are completed by Jan. 1, millions of date-sensitive computers and microprocessors could fail as their programs interpret two-digit year entries of "00" as 1900 rather than 2000.
But some regulators and corporations want assurances long before Dec. 31 that nothing will go awry.
Big automakers, for example, have given their 125,000 suppliers until the end of March to be Y2K compliant. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. also is requiring more than 10,000 banks to finish repairing and testing their data processing systems by March 31.
While the companies are scurrying to comply, they're afraid to make any guarantee nearly so soon.
"If I responded, I would be committing for the performance of all of my suppliers," said Don Summers, president of Austin Generators Service.
Mr. Summers said Congress should swiftly enact Y2K liability reforms. Until then, instead of answering the letters he's received from his Central Texas customers demanding an accounting of his Y2K readiness, he replies with a form letter. It says, in effect, "we're working on it."
Such vagueness won't cut it with some companies.
Doctors and hospitals won't get paid by Medicare if their billings aren't in order by April 5. Stockbrokers could be forced to shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 15 if they haven't gotten their systems in sync with the turn of the century.
Jeri Bender, vice president and chief information officer of Nestli USA, told a Senate committee last week that her company is confident that it will have all of its systems repaired by the middle of this year. But Nestli has warned its top 50 shippers that they must demonstrate Y2K competence by May 1 or lose its business.
To meet demand for its food products when 2000 arrives, Nestli's imports of cocoa, coffee and other commodities will peak in September and October, Ms. Bender said.
"If they don't demonstrate Y2K compliance by May 1999, we will cease doing business with those shippers," she told the Senate's special Y2K committee.
"Most of our customers have done that to us," she said after the hearing. "We have to demonstrate to them our readiness; we have to show we can do year 2000 orders."
More often, the threat of lost business is implicit. Many big companies nearing completion of their own Y2K repairs are sending letters down the chain of their suppliers demanding detailed information about readiness and dates when compliance will be achieved. The responses are crucial to contingency plans such as building inventories or finding alternate suppliers.
General Motors challenged Texas Instruments to be ready by March 31. But TI, which supplies semiconductors to GM, Ford and other automakers, has given its suppliers until June 30 to finish work on the most important systems.
"The ultimate objective is that there be no significant problems as we [make the] transition between 1999 and 2000," said Joan Kellogg, a member of the Y2K program office at Texas Instruments. "If we asked our suppliers to be ready then [on Jan. 1], it doesn't allow us time to test."
Lack of response
Small companies on the receiving end of these letters often say they don't have the time, money, or, on advice from their lawyers, the inclination to respond.
"I have been getting lots of these letters," Mr. Summers said. "The threat is subtle, not direct. I do not respond by filling out their forms. My attorney says our best response is no response."
To do otherwise, Mr. Summers said, would vouchsafe a reply for more than 100 companies that supply him with everything from electricity to lubricating oil.
Austin Generators Service handles more than 300 customers who have emergency electricity generators. These customers include hospitals, nursing homes and office buildings. All are looking at their generators as contingencies for any power failures.
They want to know that Mr. Summers' staff of 12 will come running to repair the generators if they don't work. They also want to know if his bookkeeping practices are Y2K compliant. Y2K problems in one company's records can feed bad information to another company.
Austin Generators is spending $20,000 to fix its data processing systems, and Mr. Summers expects to be ready for the millennium. But the same vagueness he provides his customers vexes his efforts to find out whether his suppliers will be ready.
"If anything causes panic in this country, it's the inability to get straight answers from anybody," he said. "We get nothing but vague, feel-good responses. ... They treat us like children, like they're explaining the sex act to a 3-year-old."
Mr. Summers is active in the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which is lobbying for sweeping liability caps for business, Y2K-related or otherwise.
Measures are advancing in both the Senate and the House. But the Justice Department and some Democratic senators object, saying the bills are too broad, protect the negligent and remove a major incentive to get Y2K repairs done in time.
Last year, Congress passed a bill that President Clinton signed allowing companies to trade information without risking liability, but many firms say it hasn't done enough to encourage candor.
Enrique Salem, vice president and chief technology officer at Symantec Corp. in Cupertino, Calif., said the need is so great that he is confident that Congress will pass Y2K liability legislation before November. Symantec makes Norton software products.
Deadlines among companies, meanwhile, serve many useful purposes, including waking up those who are tardy, he said.
"All the people today who are procrastinating will wake up when they get a letter saying 'you've got until this date to get it done,' " Mr. Salem said. "Getting a letter from a customer is going to wake them up pretty quickly."
-- ED Doc (Justadoc@home.com), March 16, 1999
It's the Information Age, but getting information on information systems isn't so easy, because it's also the litigation age, the spin age, the competitive age, the apathy age, the cover-up age, and the confused age. Just to mention a few ;-)
Right now there is nothing putting a lid on human foibles and character holes. A romper room gone out-of-control and over-the-boundaries. A comeuppance is coming up ...
xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx
-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (firstname.lastname@example.org), March 16, 1999.
A subject very close to my heart at the moment!As a small business supplying local authorities & institutions we have been asked whether we will be compliant come 2000.Our honest answer is that our internal systems are already compliant but we are dependant on raw material suppliers,power & water,the banking system(international)phone/fax (international)and mail(international). Our own compliance enquiries results:- Raw Material Sources USA & Phillipines...Should be OK Really? Power No problems Really? Water No problems as very few computers in delivery system.If there are shortages businesses will have very low priority.A Maybe? Banking ..National system should be OK but forget about international transactions International telephone/fax.as for banking above. International delivery as for banking above
Running time of business without orders or payment approx 6 weeks. Contingency Plan. 1.Whip in orders in the Autumn with payments to be made before Christmas.2.Stockpile raw materials & finished goods this year. 3.If necessary close down & prepare to hibernate until March/April when hopefully things will be clearer. To anyone who thinks this post is not about personal survival,think again.Like many small family run businesses,if we go down that our income gone period.You bet we are concerned about our supply chain!Anyone else in the same position ???
-- Chris (email@example.com), March 16, 1999.


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The First Mobile App Wizard Brings Simplicity to DIY App Making Tools
Jul 09, 2012The First Mobile App Wizard Brings Simplicity to DIY App Making Tools
Jul 09, 2012 - Current Do-It-Yourself mobile app making tools are either difficult to use or don't offer compelling functionality worthy of a native app. KitApps aims to change that by launching the first mobile app "wizard" offering a fully guided, step-by-step app making process that cuts out any guesswork. KitApps' first app template targets the event industry, giving event planners a quick way to turn their conference guide into a native iPhone and Android app.


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Award-winning jeweller Beaverbrooks has confirmed it will be opening all of its 70 stores on June 15, providing the Government continue to give non-essential retailers the green light to do so.
Life after lockdown will include protective perspex screens at consultation points, designated team members for shoppers, fewer selling zones, and reduced numbers allowed into stores, but the jeweller assures that customers will be permitted to try on jewellery at each boutique.
Family-owned Beaverbrooks has a comprehensive plan in place for reopening its stores safely, which include floor markings and physical boundaries to ensure safe social distancing for customers and colleagues, daily temperature checks for team members, and hand sanitizer stations at the entrance and throughout the store which will be mandatory for shoppers to use before entering.
Each store team will have a customer host to greet shoppers upon arrival and a designated team member to provide personalised service and assistance during their visit.
Aside from the host, colleagues will not be required to wear face masks or PPE, but will have the option to do so if they choose, to prevent the risk of spreading the virus. Masks and gloves will also be available for customers should they choose to wear them, and individual appointments will be permitted for special purchases such as engagement rings, but will be limited to the beginning and end of the day.
Managing director at Beaverbrooks, Anna Blackburn, shares: “As always, the safety of our people and customers is our number one priority, so we have been working hard behind the scenes to put measures in place to protect them when we reopen our doors.
“Over the past few months, we have been developing comprehensive plans for this reopening, which put safety at the top of the list while ensuring we are able to resume the high level of personalised service our customers expect.”
The jeweller has also outlined the measures it has put in place to allow customers to try on jewellery safely, as it believes sentimental items and considered purchases such as gifts should be seen by customers up close and in person, so they can get a feel of the precious metals, gemstones, diamonds and watches.
It has therefore introduced a rigorous hygiene process to enable them to do this, with limited stock rotated on a regular basis and the use of a specialist cleaning solution that will disinfect jewellery between wears, killing germs without damaging valuable diamonds, jewellery or watches.
The retailer is confident in its approach and hopes the new measures will help to give customers the assurance that they can still try on important purchases such as wedding and engagement rings, as well as checking sizing and compatibility.
Blackburn adds: “In addition to taking key steps to ensure customers will be able to shop in a safe environment, it was important to us that people would still be able to try on their jewellery before buying – particularly for sentimental items.
“An engagement ring is one of the most important purchases you’ll ever make and to be able to see the sparkle and brilliance of a diamond for yourself and fall in love with the ring is so important – it’s a special moment and an experience you can only really get by being there in person. The introduction of our jewellery cleaning process and increased hygiene measures will mean customers can do this safely, allowing them to continue to celebrate those special moments that are perhaps more important now than ever before.”
The directors and Blackburn, along with the senior management team, have been actively involved in the reopening plans, from personal visits to stores and the warehouse to help implement the changes to ensure the safety of the company’s people, to developing the plans for reformatting of stores in line with Government guidance.
“It has been a challenging and uncertain time for all of us, but we are feeling optimistic about the future, our 960 colleagues are looking forward to reopening our doors to welcome customers again in just a few short weeks,” concludes Blackburn.
Beaverbrooks was one of the first retailers to take the decision to close its stores and online warehouse operations ahead of the Government’s official announcement in March, in order to protect its colleagues, their families and the wider community.
Following updates to government guidance and significant changes to its warehouse operations, it resumed its online operation on 15 April, and currently has a dedicated team working in the warehouse, with limited personnel and reduced hours, in order to safely process online orders.
Despite its stores currently being closed, the brand has seen a continued demand for jewellery and watches, with customers still wanting to celebrate special moments with loved ones throughout the crisis, with a shift to online purchasing.
Beaverbrooks is planning to reopen its 70 stores from 15 June. English stores will be open seven days a week though opening times may vary.
Stores will be open for all services including returns, repairs, services and click & collection. The only exception will be cleaning of customer jewellery which we cannot be completed safely at this time.
Beaverbrooks is pending further updates from the Scottish Government on when its Scottish stores will be reopening.


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Samsung to Host Technology Road Show in September
RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—Samsung Techwin America has released the September dates for its Samsung Vision 2010 Road Show, which will showcase a suite of complete video surveillance solutions.
The invitation-only, half-day events will focus on specific areas of technology, such as IP cameras, analog cameras and DVRs. On Sept. 1, Samsung will welcome participants to its new headquarters in Ridgefield Park, N.J., for the morning and afternoon sessions.
Aimed at select professional security dealer/installers, the sessions will be conducted across the nation in 22 cities. The sessions provide a hands-on opportunity for installers to explore performance, functionality and advantages of Samsung products and highlight the benefits of becoming a Samsung reseller partner. Additionally, attendees will be eligible to win a Samsung digital camera.
“Our 2010 Road Shows have proven to be tremendously successful to date,” says Samsung Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Frank DeFina. “We are looking forward to welcoming attendees to Ridgefield Park for two dynamic hands-on sessions.”
Here is the September schedule:
- Sept. 1: Hilton Garden Inn, Ridgefield Park, N.J.
- Sept. 14: Hilton Garden Inn/Arundel Mills, Hanover, Md.
- Sept. 16: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Silver Spring, Md.
- Sept. 21: Hilton Charlotte University Place, Charlotte, N.C.
- Sept. 23: Atlanta Marriott Century Center, Atlanta
For more information on the Samsung Vision 2010 Road Shows, click here.
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TOKYO Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has finally succeeded in buying a substantial stake in Hitachi Kokusai Electric, ending a monthslong takeover tussle with Elliott Management. But it may be Elliott that emerges as the ultimate winner, having effectively killed two birds with one stone.
Elliott, which operates on a strategy of buying into companies in the process of mergers and acquisitions, built a stake over the past few months in Hitachi Kokusai, a maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, to just under 8.59%. With that stake, it was able to pressure U.S. investment fund KKR into increasing its offer price, twice.
In the end, however, Elliott curiously agreed to sell its stake in Hitachi Kokusai to KKR at an offer price of 3,132 yen per share, which is lower than the stock's last traded price of 3,155 yen. Such generosity is surprising coming from the activist hedge fund manager.
That's not to say that Elliott did not pocket a 14% profit from the sale, having bought its holdings at an average of 2,742 yen per share. But the real motive behind Elliott's move appeared to be a war with Hitachi Kokusai's parent Hitachi over an Italian company.
Elliott held a meeting with Hitachi the day before the offer deadline of Dec. 8, asking to settle a dispute in Italy, and in return, Elliott would sell its Hitachi Kokusai shares to KKR, according to sources close to the matter.
THE REAL TARGET Hitachi Kokusai is a relatively small company for Elliott to be involved in, being capitalized at 328 billion yen ($2.91 billion).
In 2015, Hitachi purchased a 40% interest in Ansaldo STS, a key maker of railway signaling systems, from Finmeccanica (now Leonardo-Finmeccanica), a leading defense equipment and aerospace company in Italy. Hitachi then subsequently raised its stake to 51% by buying in the market, with the ultimate goal of taking over Ansaldo completely.
But Elliott stepped in and accused Hitachi and Finmeccanica of colluding to artificially depress the purchase price of Ansaldo, claiming they were using the Italian company's loss-making unit AnsaldoBreda as an excuse to lower the valuation. AnsaldoBreda was a rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi bought to boost its operations in Europe. Over time, Elliott built up its own stake in Ansaldo to 22.5%, with an option to buy a further 8.8%.
The Italian Securities Exchange Commission ruled that Hitachi and Finmeccanica had colluded in the deal and ordered Hitachi to raise its purchase price. But Hitachi filed a countersuit to overturn the commission's decision. The case has been brought to the European Court of Justice and a decision is expected to take years.
Elliott apparently agreed to sell its stake in Hitachi Kokusai to KKR in return for Hitachi's cooperation in the Ansaldo STS case. It is unclear what exactly that cooperation will entail, but sources familiar with the case say detailed negotiations are in the works.
This, apparently, was the real reason behind Elliott's relatively subdued response to KKR's offer for Hitachi Kokusai: Its ultimate goal was to win Hitachi over in the Italian case. Well aware of Elliott's track record as an outspoken activist investor, market observers had been expecting something much more dramtic to happen in the Hitachi Kokusai deal, but the U.S. fund manager was for once accommodating.
SUBPAR SUBSIDIARIES With about $34 billion under its management, Elliott has been able to pressure a number of conglomerates into meeting its demands, such as a return of 30 trillion won ($27.5 billion) to shareholders from Samsung Electronics and spinoff of the U.S. oil business from major Anglo-Australian resources company BHP Billiton. At Elliott's behest, the CEO of the American aluminum company Arconic, Klaus Kleinfeld, was ousted.
Paul Singer, Elliott's founder, is known in U.S. media as "the world's most feared investor." Singer bought up Argentine government bonds and famously fought a protracted court battle against the country after it defaulted on its public debt in 2001.
KKR is a private equity fund. It acquires companies, takes them private, improves their corporate value through close engagement in management and then makes a profit by relisting them or divesting them to third parties.
Prompted by market pressure and a government initiative to improve corporate governance, Hitachi has been trying to sell off certain subsidaries while completely buying up others. Having both parents and their units listed can cause various problems, such as an erosion of the independence of subsidiaries and conflicts of interests between the holding companies and minority shareholders.
Moves to end the listing of subsidiaries have gradually begun to take hold in Japan. For example, Panasonic, which delisted four of its subsidiaries in 2002 and more later on, most recently made PanaHome into a wholly owned subsidiary, in September.
Additionally, as the owners of Japanese small and midsize companies age, it becomes expedient for ownership to change hands. Under these circumstances, many investment funds, mainly domestic ones, are actively buying businesses whose owners are having difficulty finding successors.
Still, Japanese companies can be blindsided by global activist investors who work out strategies on a larger scale. In the example of Hitachi, Elliott sacrificed a larger profit in KKR's tender offer in pursuit of a larger goal. Japanese companies would do well to learn from this takeover saga.


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Eugene tries free electric vehicle service
Getting around downtown Eugene is now easier — and better for the environment.
Five-passenger electric vehicles are zipping shoppers and commuters through traffic for free. Yes, free.
RideZero operates the new EmGo service, which is a yearlong pilot project of Lane Transit District, Lane Council of Governments, Lane County and the city of Eugene.
“Pilot” is the key word. People must use the service — and retailers, restaurateurs and other businesses must promote it — if it is to succeed, grow and evolve. LTD and its partners are living up to the transit agency’s commitment to greener forms of transportation, but consumer use will determine the outcomes.
Oregonians love their cars. That means environmentally friendlier alternatives must be perceived as preferable because they cost less, save time or reduce stress. EmGo fills all those niches.
The on-demand service operates during the main workday hours — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, connecting with the more than 70 EmGo stops in and near downtown. People can reserve a ride through the smartphone app, selecting both their pickup point and their destination. They also may hail an EmGo vehicle like a taxi.
With three doors on each side, the small-wheeled vehicles are distinctive, resembling elongated golf carts or tiny buses but with seatbelts and decent headroom. (Register-Guard reporters shot a nifty video on how the system works.)
The vehicles do not have air conditioning, which would draw too much power. They do have large windows that open, and heating for cold days, not to mention being a more pleasant way to traverse downtown than tilting umbrellas against winter rains. And with parking and traffic congestion often being a pain, they certainly provide a more pleasant alternative.
Americans seem unlikely to give up cars, but they are changing how they use cars. There has been a transition toward ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft, traditional taxis or car share programs such as Zipcar.
The benefits include convenience, affordability and accessibility, making timely transportation by car available to people who cannot afford a vehicle, choose not to own one or do not drive. The Columbia Gorge tourist town of Hood River is working toward a car share program with plug-in electric vehicles, a project that targets visitors and low-income residents.
In Eugene, LTD is not giving up its traditional transit service but rather is broadening its offerings in response to customer and community needs.
Like the Hood River project, EmGo may introduce riders to the practicality of electric vehicles. As we noted in an editorial recently, Oregon lags woefully in reaching the statewide goal of having 50,000 EVs on the road by 2020. Oregon also trails California and Washington in the percentage of new cars sold that are EVs, with Washington and several other states making tremendous leaps over the past year.
We can be proud that LTD and its EmGo partners are showing statewide and national leadership. But what matters most is that downtown workers and shoppers can enjoy EmGo on a daily basis, benefiting the environment and the economy. So leave your car at home or at a parking garage and ride EmGo.
Yes, it’s free.


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Shifting towards organic farming will be good for Africa's nutritional needs, the environment, farmers' incomes, African markets and employment, said United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) deputy secretary-general Petko Draganov.
He was speaking at the second African Organic Conference held recently in the Zambian capital Lusaka. According to Allafrica.com, more than 300 participants from 40 countries attended the conference, themed "Mainstreaming organic agriculture into the African development agenda."
UNCTAD, Draganov said, strongly supports the growing use of organic farming practices on the continent. He noted that Africa already has more certified organic farms than any other continent: at least 530,000 farmers in Africa are certified according to organic standards. Uganda and Ethiopia have each more than 100,000 certified organic farms and Tanzania has some 85,000.
The conference emphasised the importance of food security, sustainable agriculture, and a transition towards a 'green' economy, Allafrica.com reports. It had among its objectives the development of an African Organic Action Plan intended to spur expansion of the organic farming sector, streamline certification and "organic equivalency" systems that allow more vigorous trade in organic goods while adding to the continent's organic produce markets.
Read the full article


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The US Central Bank May Raise Interest Rates Again If Inflation Remains High
Washington, DC (AP) —
Bank of America Governor Jerome Powell, testifying before a Senate panel on Tuesday (7/3) said he could increase the size of the rate hike and raise borrowing costs to higher-than-projected levels, if there is continued evidence of strength. economy and high inflation.
“The latest economic data came in stronger than expected, which suggests that interest rates will likely be higher than previously anticipated,” Powell said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee.
“If the overall data indicates a need for more rapid tightening then we will be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” he added.
Powerll’s statement raised the possibility that the Central Bank will raise its main interest rate by half a percentage point in its next meeting March 21-22, after making a quarter-point increase in early February.
The Central Bank had previously raised its benchmark interest rate by half a point in December, and enacted four of the previous three-quarter-point hikes.
Over the past year, the Bank of America has raised key interest rates eight times, affecting many consumer and business loans.
Most economists and investors on Wall Street expect the Central Bank to raise another quarter point at its upcoming meeting. In recent days, however, traders in the futures market have been pricing in a larger half-point gain.
Powell acknowledged inflation “has moderated in recent months,” but added that “the process of bringing inflation down to 2 percent is still a long way off and will likely be bumpy.”
Some Federal Reserve officials last week said they would support a key rate hike above the 5.1% projected last December, if growth and inflation remained high.
When the Central Bank raises its main interest rate, it usually makes mortgages, car loans, credit card and business loans more expensive. This is a trend that could slow spending and inflation, but also risks sending the economy into recession.
Inflation, which is measured year-over-year, has slowed from its June 2022 peak of 9.1%. Now the inflation rate in America is 6.4%.
But this progress stalled in January. The measure of price increases the Central Bank expects rose from December to January, the highest in seven months.
Powell noted that so far most of the slowdown in inflation reflects the breakdown of supply chains that allow more furniture, clothing, semiconductors and other physical goods to reach the American region. In contrast, inflationary pressures remain entrenched in various areas of the economy’s broad service sector. [em/jm]


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The NGO Friends of the Earth Australia (FoEA) has published an overview of nanotechnology-related developments in the food and agricultural sectors in Australia that have occurred since its last report on the topic in 2008. Entitled Way too little: Our Government’s Failure to regulate Nanomaterials in Food and Agriculture, the report opines that ‘since 2008 there has been a growing body of evidence indicating that certain nanomaterials may be harmful’, and yet ‘regulatory intervention remains minimal’ in the country.
FoEA argues that its report ‘reveals that the claim by regulators that no food and agricultural products containing nanomaterials are available in Australia is incorrect’, and suggests that ‘chemical companies are not declaring the nanomaterials they are using’; to highlight this it provides a list of those products it has identified as containing nanomaterials. Furthermore FoEA states that ‘it is essentially impossible to give an accurate count of the number of nano products now available [in the country]’, because of ‘the rapid expansion in the number of products since 2008’ as well as ‘because there is still no labelling or registration requirement’.
In response the NGO makes a number of recommendations, though it says that ‘there are three basic and critical steps that need to occur immediately:
- A moratorium on the production and sale of new products containing nanomaterials until necessary research is conducted and regulations to protect human health and the environment are put in place
- A mandatory and public register of nanomaterials and products containing nanomaterials in Australia
- A labelling requirement for all products containing nanomaterials’
Follow this link to read the full report by FoEA.


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A recent study conducted in Europe states that consumers are changing their focus and now demand better value for money when it comes to skincare.
The report suggests that value for money is one of the “emerging trends” and consumers now want quality healthcare and skincare products by spending less as the industry looks at a near 2.5% growth by the end of 2018.
The research firm noted that the key driver is multi-functionality. As the functionality increases, consumers derive more value by spending less.
But despite the recent trend, the niche is reported to have been underperforming with the chief case believed to be recent crisis in Europe. Analysts spot that rising debts, bailouts, slow growth and downsizing naturally resulted in sluggish demand of skincare products.
According to a research firm, Ceano Cosmetics and other skincare product companies will have to offer more skincare for less monetary value if they are to attract the European masses towards skincare once again.
Reflecting on the trend once more; they say it is not long before the ‘value’ trend spreads like wildfire and engulfs the world of skincare and beauty. They have labelled it as ‘Mixolgiste’ and forecast that the trend in question will change everything. According to them the trend spans across all skincare categories and is increasing at an accelerating pace.
According to an analyst of the firm, the changing trends are influencing the manufacturers to take notes from other niches so they can come up with better products and newer marketing strategies even though they have already been working to create multi-functionality for years.
This trend of multi-functionality has progressed to other areas of skincare. Based on figures of another firm, more than 20% of Spain and United Kingdom residents use natural beauty products like sun screen on daily basis. These numbers according to the figures will continue to rise as new cosmetic and skincare products enter the market.
The wave of multi-functionality has hit Europe’s skincare market. Thanks to recent economical problems, citizens are focusing more on value for money. Big European brands now face an uphill challenge of offering best products without demanding too much from their customers.


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Christmas strike at the SNCF: here is why some customers are still waiting for their 200% compensation
A month after the promise of a generous voucher drawn by the SNCF to extinguish the anger of travelers faced with an unexpected strike by controllers over the Christmas weekend, many users are still waiting and are starting to find the time long.
A broken promise? Christmas weekend had been marked by the strike of the controllers of the SNCF, which had forced the company to announce the reimbursement of some 200,000 travelers whose journey had been canceled. But a month later, still nothing for some users.
However, on December 21, SNCF Voyageurs boss Christophe Fanichet unveiled a shock measure to calm the situation: a voucher equivalent to twice the price of the canceled ticket, in addition to the exchange or refund of said ticket. An offer described as unprecedented by the SNCF.
But faced with the expectation of many dissatisfied users, the boss of the SNCF wants to be reassuring. “This procedure was new, and therefore takes time to be implemented. But all the travelers will have the 200%, “he explained.
A manual procedure
“Of the 200,000 travelers affected by the strike, the problem concerns 50,000 people who had already canceled their tickets before taking the 200% approach,” added the director of TGV-Intercités, Alain Krakovitch.
Thus, when a ticket is cancelled, the file is deleted from the SNCF reservation system, forcing agents “to do manual processing” for these 50,000 customers. But even for travelers who have not canceled their trip, such as those who have managed to exchange their ticket, for example, the SNCF says it has encountered “small technical problems”. It is for these reasons that delays are getting longer, and errors are also increasing.
However, the SNCF continues to insure it: travelers whose train has been canceled have until the end of May to make a complaint. The voucher will then be valid for one year from the date of issue.


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March 30 - Local media reports are suggesting that heavy lift shipping capacity is set to increase in Fiji and the south Pacific following a major expansion of the shipping arm of the Australia-based Carpenters Group.
Newspaper reports suggest the group has plans to launch 12 multipurpose ships.
Carpenters Shipping is an operating division of the Carpenter Group, which is the largest private sector enterprise in the Fiji Islands.
The reports suggest that the group, formed around 150 years ago, is due to receive the first ship in the expansion, a 1,000 to 2,000 teu ship capable of carrying breakbulk and heavy lift cargo in April.
The ships will be used from Australia and New Zealand, into South East Asia, covering the entire Pacific countries right up to China.
On land, the group operates a full range of heavy duty trucks, trailers, vans and other modern container handling equipment capable of handling all types of shipments including containerised, heavy load and over dimensional cargo.


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The tragic of the tainted medication produced by New England Compounding Center, which resulted in at least twenty-five deaths and hundreds sickened, highlights a little-recognized danger inherent in government regulation.
What is that danger? Find out by reading the rest of my Objective Standard blog post Government Regulations Hinder Quality Control and Harm Consumers.
I would add this:
In a free market, there would be no assumption of a government seal of approval. Every patient and doctor, rather than a handful of government bureaucrats, would effectively be his own industry watchdog to whom private ratings companies would be all too ready and willing to provide a wealth of information on products and companies. That's a lot of oversight.
In the NECC case, the company’s deteriorating manufacturing quality went undetected in the market until hundreds were sickened and dozens died. The false sense of security that infects the market, as evidenced by that Maryland doctor, is a prime factor in this tragedy. In an unregulated market, where the principle “buyer beware” rules and buyers know it, incompetent companies like NECC would be quickly exposed, rather than allowed to slip “under the radar.”
This catastrophe is seen as stemming from lack of regulation, rather than from the very nature of the government regulatory apparatus itself. But as the NECC case shows, government regulation hinders rather than enhances product oversight, potentially harming the very patients the FDA is supposed to protect.
"Regulating Business"--the Good and the Bad
What is Objective Law?, by Harry Binswanger


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Toyota has recalled eight of its UK models due to the ongoing problem with faulty accelerator pedals.
The company has confirmed around 1.8 million vehicles will be affected by the recall. Accelerator pedals may mechanically stick open or return slowly to idle, a problem which has already led to more than eight million Toyotas in the US being recalled and sales of certain models being suspended.
Models which Toyota UK has recalled are listed below:
- Aygo (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009)- iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009)- Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009)- Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010)- Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009)- Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010)- Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009)- RAV4 (Nov 2005 – Nov 2009)
In a statement, Toyota said: “Toyota has identified a remedy for this issue, and is currently pursuing a final evaluation and confirmation procedure. As soon as the countermeasure is confirmed, Toyota will communicate to all customers and other concerned parties the details of the corrective action and of the implementation procedure.


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Bank charges rocket
•Withdrawal costs up 570pc
BANKS have taken advantage of the prevailing cash shortages by hiking their transaction costs by as much as 570 percent, leaving the bulk of depositors who are already living on the margins of poverty poorer, the Financial Gazette can report.
This has infuriated long-suffering depositors who strongly, and rightly so, feel that cash should be made available at affordable charges, on demand.
It is now being feared that the punitive bank charges could further diminish confidence in the turbulent financial services sector, which is critical in allocating resources in an economy.
The situation has even led workers who are gainfully employed in the formal sector to start contemplating receiving their salaries through other electronic platforms such as EcoCash, One Wallet and TeleCash whose charges are much lower.
Zimbabwe is presently grappling with an unprecedented shortage of notes, which has forced banks to limit daily cash withdrawals.
Considering that a depositor who used to make a single trip to the bank now has to make multiple withdrawals in a week because of the daily cash withdrawal cap, the punitive charges are translating into jaw-dropping margins for the banks, and significantly huge costs for depositors.
Before the cash crisis, most banks were charging withdrawal fees of about US$3 for withdrawals made in the banking halls and US$2,50 for withdrawals done on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) for cash of up to US$1 000.
But now, a depositor is now parting with US$20 for a withdrawal of US$1 000 made over several days because of the cash limits, implying a hike of between US$17 and US$17,50 or nearly 570 percent.
Some banks are charging slightly less, but overall, all have increased their withdrawal charges by huge margins.
Even international payment charges have gone up because of the high costs of settling international card transactions. For instance, the cash withdrawal fee for international debit cards has gone up from three percent to five percent per transaction, with a minimum charge of US$3,50 per transaction for those using Mastercards.
Bank executives argued this week that the harsh operating environment has increased costs of keeping their units viable, which overheads could only be recouped from the banking public.
For example, most foreign-owned banks are being forced to import cash with the cost of doing so being passed onto the customers.
Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) president, Charity Jinya, yesterday said the workload for the banks has increased, which also follows that the cost of processing transactions has gone up.
She said this was not of the banks’ making.
“It’s a situation none of us want to be in. It’s a sign of the times. (But) things can’t be done for free. Since we are now repeating transactions, just look at the amount of work bankers are now getting to do. Labour wants to be paid for it,” said Jinya.
Economist, Brains Muchemwa, said the on-going cash crisis has plunged banks into a tight corner with regards to funding their nostros and cash importation requirements. Inadvertently, the associated costs are being, to some extent, passed on to consumers so as to share the national burden.
“The resolution entails largely allowing banks higher retention levels on their nostro balances so that they better forecast funding cash requirements,” he said.
A nostro account is a bank account held in a foreign country by a domestic bank, denominated in the currency of that country.
It is used to facilitate settlement of foreign exchange and trade transactions.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe has described the situation confronting depositors as “very distressing”.
The executive director for the consumer watchdog, Rosemary Siyachitema, was this week frantically trying to secure meetings with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and BAZ to highlight the plight of depositors.
“It’s a difficult time for consumers,” Siyachitema told the Financial Gazette on Tuesday.
“They (banks) have been putting too much pressure on consumers to use plastic money, but our capacity for the usage of plastic money is not good. We are ill prepared; schools don’t have facilities for plastic money; the city councils don’t have the capacity. If we are to go the plastic money way, retailers should be automated to welcome many people to use the plastic money. “The facilities should be spread all over the country to enable ease of doing business,” she added, in response to the central bank’s calls on Zimbabweans to start using plastic money.
Indigenous banks seem to be the worst hit by the crisis as the majority of them have switched off their ATMs, with long queues being the order of the day in their banking halls.
The government-owned People’s Own Savings Bank (POSB) and Agribank did not have cash in their banking halls and ATMs, but depended on deposits and were dispensing a maximum of US$100 per day per customer or account.
At one of these institutions, a depositor said he had failed to get a single cent from his account over three days despite queuing daily.
FBC Bank was charging two percent per withdrawal and allowed a daily withdrawal limit of US$200 per day, translating to US$20 for US$1 000 over five days.
CBZ Bank and ZB Bank were charging US$3 for a maximum withdrawal of US$200 per day, implying a charge of US$15 per US$1 000.
Steward Bank was charging US$5 for a withdrawal of US$500, which is the maximum withdrawal limit for the bank. This translates to US$10 per withdrawal of US$1 000.
NMB Bank’s withdrawal limit was pegged at a maximum of US$300 at US$3 per transaction, or US$12 for US$1 000.
The country’s largest building society, CABS appears to be the only foreign-owned institution battling with cash shortages, and faced almost similar circumstances as POSB.
But most of the foreign-owned banks, which get liquidity support from their parent companies abroad, have benefitted in a big way from their ownership, with cash availability unmatched by the other players.
Depositors with Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe and Stanbic Bank Zimbabwe were able to withdraw up to US$9 999 per day, but were forking out 1,5 percent for any withdrawal, which brought the charge for the maximum withdrawal to about US$150 per transaction.
Standard Chartered Bank of Zimbabwe is allowing depositors to withdraw up to US$10 000 a day but charging 1,55 percent for a transaction per day. This means if a depositor withdraws the maximum amount of US$10 000, he or she will be charged about US$155 per transaction.
MBCA was allowing depositors to withdraw up to US$10 000 per day, charging one percent of the withdrawn amount. The withdrawal charge in the banking hall for maximum cash translated to about US$100 per transaction per day.
Ecobank, apparently the only bank that had no cash withdrawal limits for inside-the-bank transactions, was charging one percent of the amount withdrawn. To that end, if a depositor withdraws US$10 000, the pan-African bank charged US$100 per transaction.
BancABC, another pan-African bank that was recently bought by former Barclays Plc chief executive officer, Bob Diamond, had restricted maximum withdrawals at US$500 a day over the counter and not more than US$250 per day from its ATMs. Its bank charges were pegged at US$5 for every withdrawal, implying an aggregate charge of US$20 for a withdrawal of US$1 000.
Foreign-owned banks were allowing withdrawals of between US$500 and US$2 000 from their ATMs, charging a minimum of US$3 per transaction.
But the banks were not feeding the ATMs with cash, forcing depositors to withdraw cash from the banking halls where withdrawal charges were higher.
Analysts warned this week that the situation could undermine efforts to encourage domestic savings and rebuild the shattered economy as the astronomical charges were eating into depositors’ already low incomes, hence leaving them poorer.
Economist John Robertson this week said the scarcity of money was hurting everybody, banks included.
He said the withdrawal limits, payment difficulties, falling incomes and falling business activity, were a result of deeper causes that needed to be dealt with, but have been ignored by the authorities.
“This deeper cause is the loss of productive capacity that used to produce all the food needed by the whole country; used to run factories that produced most of the consumer goods we needed; and used to offer the full range of services, including retail, transport, construction, banking, maintenance, education and health. All of these used to employ tens of thousands of people who were paid regularly and could support the shops as well as the banks in ways that gave the businesses enough business for them to pay their wages and taxes,” said Robertson.
“We have now lost that capacity, so we are importing our food and consumer goods, our transporters are carrying other country’s goods and our employees are fewer in number. Businesses pay less profits tax, less Pay As You Earn and less Value Added Tax to government, so government is also very short of money now. The banks know that many who want to borrow money will have difficulty repaying the loans, so they are lending only to the few safe borrowers still in business. But the banks still need a good income as they have to pay good salaries to retain good employees. That is why transaction charges have been put up: to bring in the income needed to stay in business,” he added.
Robertson said the charges may come down once the policy environment has improved.
“Bank clients need to accept that it is in their interests to keep the banks afloat,” he said.
“When things improve, bank charges will certainly go down because, with much safer borrowers recovering their ability to repay loans, the banks will see their preferred income, their interest income, increasing steadily.”
Follow us on Twitter @FingazLive and on Facebook – The Financial Gazette


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Concert will benefit CARE Food Pantry
CARE Food Pantry will host a special benefit concert featuring Inca Son, the internationally acclaimed Peruvian music and dance troupe, at Clinton High School on Saturday, April 25, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for seniors. Children 12 and under are free.
CARE (Care About Reaching Everyone in Need) Food Pantry officially opened on Feb. 14 in the rectory behind the Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, 1 Cross St. More than 20 volunteers and several Clinton businesses contributed their time and financial resources to build and stock the pantry, which has already been able to help more than a dozen families. The CARE Food Pantry is open every Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. The pantry is committed to treating clients with dignity and respect, while offering a well-rounded array of foods and some basic non-food items such as paper products and personal care products.
Tickets for the concert are available by mailing your request and payment to CARE Food Panty, 1 Cross St., Clinton, MA 01510. Tickets may be reserved by phone by calling (978) 365-2724.


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In the rush to establish a niche in the Internet economy, it seems that a number of dot-com operations have backed themselves into an all-too small space. Now, the question arises as to how a company struggling to do business on the Web can either get out with its shirt still on its back or adapt its model of business to jumpstart growth.
In a survey of 238 Internet startups, merger and acquisition (M&A) facilitator Webmergers.com Inc. found that companies which once barrelled toward an IPO (initial public offering) have had to repress their optimistic visions and instead find new ways simply to stay afloat.
Some dot-coms with interesting technology can manage to find buyers or partners -- even for a floundering site, according to the report. The fate, however, of a fair number of Net startups has been bleak with 41 of the dot-coms in the study going completely out of business since January.
One of the most striking aspects of the survey's findings came from the dramatic increase in mergers and acquisitions year over year. With the planned megamerger of America Online Inc. (AOL) and Time Warner Inc. leading the way, the amount of money spent on buyouts or partnerships in the first half of this year beat 1999 figures by seven-fold, Webmergers said.
Much of the failure of purely Internet-reliant companies stems from them initially adopting the B2C (business-to-consumer) approach to electronic commerce instead of the apparently more successful B2B (business-to-business) approach, Tim Miller, president of Webmergers, said.
Most of the companies that fall into the B2C category attempted to target a specific set of consumers only to discover that the demand for products among such a fixed set of individuals just wasn't there.
At least 83 Internet companies throughout the world have withdrawn initial IPO filings or reconsidered plans to move toward an IPO, according to Webmergers research. Of this number, around 12 startups were acquired by a third-party company.
"I am surprised that some of these companies have been able to find buyers," Miller said. He believes that large brick-and-mortar corporations that might be expected to be leading potential buyers for Net startups often draw back from the somewhat successful dot-coms out of a fear of early commitment. "They have seen some of their competitors get burned by investing upfront," Miller said.
He gives the example of Buy.com's acquisition of Indianapolis, Indiana-based Telstreet.com earlier this year as one case where another dot-com took the initiative to buy a successful startup while telecommunications powerhouses shied away from the acquisition. Telstreet developed some interesting applications and services in the increasingly prominent wireless market and agreed to sell at around $US8 million. Miller feels that this relatively low sum should have inspired larger telecom providers to "jump at the opportunity." He added, however, that large corporations are often slow to move and attack situations of this kind.
For those startups still willing to make a go of it, Miller said that the most popular route for pushing a dot-com toward success is to cut back on expenses and to refocus a company's market strategy. Almost half of the companies in the study have laid off workers over the past year. Additionally, a number of the polled dot-coms have targeted advertising and marketing budgets as the first items on the expense chopping block.
While the majority of restructuring was carried out by California-based dot-coms, Webmergers research showed that these trends extend across the globe.
In particular, the numbers pointed to Western Europe and Asia-Pacific as other dot-com troublespots, with Hong Kong Net startups particularly facing financial issues.
Webmergers.com, in San Francisco California, can be reached at +1-415-564-2500 or http://www.webmergers.com/.


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As we all know the pet industry continues to grow with pet parents spending $69.5 billion on their pets in the U.S. just last year. For many people, their pets are like their children and therefore pet parents now more than ever truly care about what they are feeding their animals. Research shows that 55% of American pet owners are concerned about filler ingredients in pet food, such as grains and meat-by-products which often are not found in alternative pet diets. This concern has made a huge impact on the growth of the alternative pet food market.
Across the country the frenzy of Black Friday has taken over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. As a small business owner it can often be difficult to compete with big box stores and online retail giants on these days. In response to this, small business owners have joined together to claim a day of their own. Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday there is now Small Business Saturday. The movement has grown into a holiday shopping staple aiming to support small businesses just like you.
Gain valuable insight into the behavior of the modern pet consumer and start effectively connecting with your customers.
As the temperatures outside steadily drops and the sun sets earlier in the evening sky it's a sure sign that winter is creeping up on us. Humans are not alone in suffering from the harsh effects of winter; our four-legged friends are also feeling the effects. Make sure your furry friends are safe and warm this winter. From apparel all the way to diet you can find ways to help your customers' pets survive the winter and make your store thrive.
Email marketing gets a bad reputation, some even say the practice is a form of antiquated marketing with little return on investment. Well I am here to tell you this just is not true. In actuality, research supports that people do read most of their emails and don't mind them from companies they do business with as long as they are interesting and relevant. In fact, with the proper strategy any business can succeed with email marketing, even pet retailers.
Let's be honest, the monotony of the same old, same old kibble routine doesn’t provide enough of a variety to meet a dogs’ nutritional needs. Enter, the rotational diet. Rotational feeding involves varying the menu on a periodic basis so dogs can broaden their palates and experience a wider range of nutrients and ingredients, giving them a full and balanced diet.


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Trade group sues New York retailers over olive oil claims
NEW YORK (AP) — Seven olive oil retailers based in New York have been sued by a trade group for allegedly claiming that their product is superior to other olive oils.
WNBC-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2ioOhfS ) the North American Olive Oil Association filed a lawsuit seeking damages and an injunction against the defendants in New York's Eastern District Court on Dec. 19.
The NAOOA alleges that the retailers conspired with California distributor Veronica Foods to spread "false and misleading statements" regarding the quality and health benefits of olive oil.
The trade group represents a collection of marketers, packagers and importers of olive oil. The NAOOA has also similarly sued celebrity TV physician Dr. Oz for "false olive oil attacks."
Veronica Foods says the company "stands by the truth and accuracy of all of the statements."
Information from: WNBC-TV, http://www.nbcnewyork.com


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Richard's Fresh Seafood to open 2nd location in Victoria
1,000 square-foot building will include a seafood market and large deck
After being in business in Covehead, P.E.I., for the past four decades, Richard's Fresh Seafood is branching out to the South Shore with construction now underway in the seaside community of Victoria.
"For about two years now we've been kind of just keeping an eye on Victoria," said Ryan Doucet, who has owned Richard's for the past 10 years. "We've never really looked at too many other spots this was kind of it."
The new location will be right in the heart of the village across from the wharf.
The 1,000 square-foot building will have a takeout, seafood market, a local market with coffee and pastries and a large deck along the front for seating.
The menu will include many popular dishes customers have enjoyed over the years and a few new ones.
The owner thought after 10 years in business, it was time to open a second location to meet the growing demand.
"For many of the tourists coming to the Island that come off the bridge this is one of the first areas that they'll arrive," Doucet said. "It's kind of nice to give it, you know, a little introduction to the Island and to Richard's."
Victoria's mayor expects an already busy village during the peak tourism season will only get busier with the addition of Richard's, adding it's important to find a balance between attracting new business and preserving the community's historic charm.
"This is something that we as a community have to try and manage appropriately," Ian Dennison said. "Anyone who's been to Victoria in recent summers will know that there's a lot of folks walking around, there's a lot of cars."
The takeout and local market will have 15 employees and be open between June and September.
Construction will continue through the winter with the aim to open next spring.
"We love Victoria, it's a beautiful town," Doucet said. "It has a wharf nearby, you already have some well-established restaurants. It's great to be part of the community."


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LG Innotek has announced that it has developed “C-V2X (Cellular-Vehicle To Everything) module” based on LTE cellular communication.
C-V2X stands for “Cellular-Vehicle To Everything,” referring to the system that shares infor-mation such as driving conditions between the car, mobile device, and road infrastructure, using cellular communication technology. ‘C-V2X module’ is a core component of the com-munication function.
C-V2x technology is expected that this would overcome the limitation of self-driving cars that recognize the environment by relying on automotive sensor like camera and radar. It is pos-sible to recognize blind spots or unexpected situations through communication with other vehicles and road infrastructures.
Thanks to LG Innotek’s C-V2X module, automaker and components manufacturers can now speed up their progress in developing the next generation communication platforms. Using LG Innotek’s C-V2X module, which applies the latest communication chip set and interna-tional technical standards, eliminates the need for separately purchasing hundreds of related parts or newly designing complicated communication circuit.
The company used “Qualcomm 9150 C-V2X” for its communication chip set that functions as the brain for the C-V2X module because it is considered the most advanced among the communication chip sets. Even though C-V2X is an unprecedented piece of technology that is difficult to modularize, LG Innotek was able to succeed by utilizing its own circuit design technology and automotive components business knowhow.
Also, LG Innotek has allowed various manufacturers to use this module regardless of the region or type of car by adhering to the international technical standards. The module is in accordance with the LTE-based C-V2X direct communication (PC5) standards set by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) last March.
The company is putting an emphasis on targeting the market for the next generation car communication components such C-V2X. Such focus is based on the judgment that com-munication components will be at the center of determining performance and safety of future generation cars like the self-driving cars.
In fact, LG Innotek is actively engaged in developing V2X communication platforms with nu-merous global companies in Europe, North America, and Asia. According to the market re-search institution Lux Research, the size of the global V2X communication module market is set to reach 6.5 billion dollars by 2020.


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Staffing India: It’s a Matter of Scale
India is today seen as a Significant Staffing market thanks to the growth Staffing Industry in India have seen in the last decade. Additionally, the formalisation surge and the 12 million new workforce entering every year also had an impact. Till about 15 years ago there were hardly any global MNC Staffing companies in India. Today, there are about 20 MNC Staffing firms in India with sizable operations mostly through the M & A route. So, what’s changed in the last decade that has brought India to the top 15 staffing markets in the world?
More than 3 million employees in India work through the Staffing route (as Contractors or Temp Workers). This Tripartite agreement agency market has today reached close to a 6 billion USD value in India. Furthermore, Leading research analysts have estimated that the Indian staffing market will reach 20 billion by 2025. If that happens then India is likely to be in the top 6 countries of the 430 billion dollar global staffing Industry. That is some serious growth to ignore.
It’s not difficult to guess the rapid growth stimulants for the Staffing Industry. Few of them though obvious need mention
- Consistent GDP growth in excess of 6% over the last decade
- Indian IT Outsourcing Industry’s growth into a 170 Billion dollar behemoth has given rise to a high margin IT Staffing market
- Rapid and massive expansion of Large Indian Financial Institutions, Telecom Networks & FMCG Companies to the unpenetrated vast rural markets and not to forget the smartphone ownership reaching almost half a billion people.
- The explosion of consumer internet companies increasing last mile connectivity
- Increased entry of MNCs to India who understand the benefits of Staffing
- The recent push to GST eliminating offline transactions, informal employment, and increasing formal employment
However, the staffing penetration to the organized workforce is less than 1% signifies the growth potential ahead for staffing firms
Staffing Industry Clusters
One has to note that the staffing wave has not swept through India. In spite of a growing reduction in average tenure of senior and mid-level executives, the clamor for so-called permanent jobs is still high. The attrition at entry level jobs is increasing even amongst knowledge workers. On an average, a fresh graduate spends less than 18 months in their first job. In this context, some of the sectors have adopted staffing modes more readily than others.
- Service Technicians: The Telecom Industry has had a huge impact on last mile connecting Resources. The infrastructure and mobile handset sellers today staff thousands of service engineers manage the operations throughout India’s 720 districts. This semi-skilled segment has already seen its peak and would stabilise in the coming years
- Delivery & Warehousing Personnel: The last 5 years have seen the explosion of delivery & warehousing personnel driven by the VC Funded local Internet firms and Amazon. Increased internet and smartphone penetration have resulted in an explosion in online purchase which in turn has given rise to hundreds of thousands of bike borne delivery boys. Even more, the logistics sector also has seen increased funding has adopted Flexi staffing in its warehouses and last mile connectivity.
- Security Guards: The increase urbanisation, growth of large jobs in the large cities, huge infrastructures built across India have also necessitated the large deployment of security personnel. This is a high attrition sector and large local and International Security firms have grown this business via the staffing route
- Field Sales: FMCG Firms were the early adopters to increase their spread to rural India. The last 15 years have seen consumer goods and durable firms adopting either full-time contractors or contract to hire the model. Consequently, many first-time job seekers have come to formal employment and this has helped the jobs spread to the remote parts of India. This will be a growing area of specialisation beyond providing recruitment support. Technology-driven productisation of these services could make it a specialised scaled staffing opportunity.
- Engineers: India’s IT industry’s rapid growth in the previous decade fuelled the talent development in the software space. Even more, the growth and profitability pressure on the services companies in this decade has increased the Industry to rapidly embrace IT Staffing. Firms like IBM, Accenture, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant & Infosys are major consumers of IT Staffing. Skills getting transient also has hastened this space. Over 300,000 Engineers today work as contractors in assignments through staffing firms.
Staffing Skills Segmentation
The Success Stories:
The European and American firms entered India in early 2000 whereas this decade has seen the entry of Large Japanese firms. Many of these firms entered India via the M & A Route. Some of them chose to scale up via acquisitions after their India Entry. Staffing Industry had its aha moment in 2015 when Teamlease had a successful IPO listing which was followed by a blockbuster IPO by Quess Corp. Certainly, these 2 Indian firms have redefined scale in the Indian staffing context and continue to show impressive growth post listing. In the last few years Staffing Industry has organised itself by forming Indian Staffing Federation (ISF). ISF has been the voice of Staffing firms and has been spearheading the Formal employment movement in India.
It’s still a long path ahead for staffing firms in a low margin Industry. But the scale and the strong growth are incentives enough for them to keep at it. As the Industry matures growth, scale and profitability will find their own equilibrium. The balance is rightly tilted towards the staffing firms.
Anil Ethanur |


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SHANGHAI — A strike involving tens of thousands of workers at factories of one of the world’s largest sneaker producers in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan has now spilled over into manufacturing facilities located in another province.
At least 2,000 workers in Jiangxi, a province in north central China, are striking at a factory operated by the Taiwanese-owned Yue Yuen Holdings Ltd., which makes shoes for a number of global brands, including Adidas AG and Nike Inc. Lin Dong, an employee of the Shenzhen-based labor rights nongovernmental organization Spring Breeze, said the workers in Jiangxi decided to protest to “support their colleagues in Dongguan.”
It continues to appear there is no immediate end in sight to the protests, which began in early April at Yue Yuen’s Dongguan factory over employee benefits. The protests, initially small, escalated earlier last week to what some labor rights organizations estimate to be at least some 40,000 workers. Yue Yuen has not responded to repeated interview requests. RELATED STORY: No Resolution Yet in China Protests >>
Adidas said it is continuing to monitor the situation. A Nike spokesman said the company is “continuing to monitor the dialogue between factory management and the workers, as well as production at the factory [in Dongguan].”
Labor rights groups say this is one of the largest worker protests in recent Chinese history.
When reached by phone, some employees declined to speak to foreign reporters out of concern their communication was being monitored by the government. The Hong Kong-based China Labor Bulletin said there continues to be a heavy police presence in Dongguan and that some employees have been detained. Mass protests are illegal in China, while labor unions not sanctioned by the government are also forbidden.
Late on Friday, the government-backed Guangdong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions said on its micro blog account that it has sent staff to Dongguan to engage in the negotiation process between Yue Yuen and employees.
While the scale of the protests in Dongguan, and now in Jiangxi as well, is perhaps unprecedented, they are not a new phenomenon here. Increasingly, blue-collar workers have been showing a willingness to stand up for their rights — whether it be higher wages or safer workplaces. According to China Labor Bulletin, the number of worker protests in China this year is up by a third.
The Yue Yuen employees say the company has been shortchanging them by failing to make adequate payments to their social insurance accounts. According to the state-run CCTV news agency, the strike has exposed loopholes in the country’s social security scheme, as well as the growing pressure on manufacturers to keep up with rising labor costs. CCTV said in a report that Yue Yuen is offering cash rewards to try to lure employees back to work.
Leading luxury brand are shaking things up to keep up with streetwear. Case in point: the arrival of @mrkimjones as artistic director of @diorhomme. Jones, who succeeds @@Kris_Van_Assche, is seen as one of the handful of designers who can actually straddle the luxury and streetwear worlds — which could lead to even more changes at established brands. What could this mean for the rest of the menswear landscape? Head to WWD.com to find out what experts predict #wwdfashion (📷: @franckmura)
“It’s like buying groceries. You’re going to buy the best mango, the best mozzarella, the best things. You have to, or others are going to take it all,” said @gabrielahearst on why she uses only the finest fabrics. Last week, Hearst received her first @cfda nomination for Womenswear Designer of the Year, and earlier this month she opened a permanent showroom in Paris. To read @jessiredale’s interview with the designer and find out why this is shaping up to be a big year for her, head to WWD.com. #wwdfashion (📷: @francoisgoize)
“It’s an interesting thing, playing a younger version of your mother. It’s an interesting concept. I adore my mom and love her in every capacity, but it was just something that had never crossed my mind,” says @anniemstarke on playing a young Joan Castleman in “The Wife.” The same role will be played by her mother Glenn Close. Read more about her growing up in the film industry as the daughter of producer John H. Starke and Close and what she has planned for the future #wwdeye (📷: @nataliamantini)
@asics is launching a new streetwear sneaker inspired by its latest ambassador, @steveaoki. The Hyper-Kenzen x Aoki, which will launch at @footlocker stores exclusively tomorrow, is a slip-on style that incorporates the brand’s proprietary Gel technology through beads integrated into the midsole for comfort and endurance. Read the full story on WWD.com.
@beyonce chose a custom gown by @falgunishanepeacockindia for mother @mstinalawson 's second annual Wearable Art Gala last night. The gown, which took 10 days to make, was inspired by Nubian warrior queen Amanishakheto. Reporting by @hernameislex . #wwdeye 👑 🐝#beyonce
After dressing @justintimberlake for his Super Bowl halftime performance last month, @stellamccartney has designed the star’s "Man of the Woods" tour wardrobe. Timberlake will be wearing a mix of pieces from McCartney’s fall men's collection as well as custom designs and items from his own closet. #wwdfashion


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It's officially Girl Scout cookie season, giving Thin Mint fans the brief opportunity to stock up their freezers for the coming year. The nation's Girl Scouts manage to move nearly $800 million in cookies annually. If the Girl Scouts were a giant, cookie-hawking corporation, how would their sales program stack up against their competitors?
As with so many questions in the business world, the answer depends on how you look at it.
The Girl Scouts sold $786 million in cookies in their 2011-2012 season, according to an organization spokeswoman. Compared to fellow cookie purveyors like Pepperidge Farm and McKee Foods (parent company of Little Debbie), not to mention Oreos, the top brand in the nation, Girl Scouts are competitive but still well behind. Hostess, whose sales slid considerably in recent years before its eventual liquidation at the end of 2012, also managed to remain well ahead of the scouts, with around $2.5 billion in sales in 2011. Here is how Girl Scouts' sales stack up against recent figures from other major baked-goods sellers:
Still, considering that most troops sell cookies for only six to twelve weeks out of every year, one could consider it impressive that they even compete in roughly the same league as these major brands.
"Both of our bakers have told us that, based on their research...for the first quarter of the year, January through March, Thin Mints are the number one cookie in market," says Michelle Tompkins, a spokesperson for the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. Messages left for the bakers themselves, ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers, were not returned.
Still, if Girl Scouts really wanted to compete in the big leagues, they'd need to spend a little less time earning merit badges and more time diversifying their product lines and going international. Compared to some of the largest food corporations, $800 million looks awfully miniscule. Pepsico, the largest food and beverage company in the U.S., had around $65.9 billion dollars in revenues in 2011.
Then again, that the Girl Scouts even register in this chart, pitted against a major multinational corporation, may be seen as impressive. Depending on which view you take, then, it may be time to pat your little Brownie scout on the back (or, alternatively, to tell her to sharpen her sales pitch).


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Painted Bird is taking flight. Since launching on July 1 on its own website, the line of $72 hand-crocheted flats is already fielding offers from retailers who would like to carry it. So far, Camp Mini in Los Angeles and Sup Co. and Laguna Supply, both in Laguna Beach, Calif., are set to carry the line starting in the fall, and more could be on the way.
Bed Stu has designed its first ballet flat — for a cause. The shoe is part of the brand’s Stand Up capsule collection, which benefits Stand Up to Cancer, a nonprofit that raises awareness and research funds to fight the disease. The Bed Stu Tina flat will retail for $99 at such retailers as Nordstrom, Anthropologie and Amazon.com, as well as the brand’s e-commerce site, for fall ’12. The style comes in four metallic colors and includes a special Stand Up to Cancer-branded label and shoebox. The capsule collection kicked off in spring ’12 with six men’s and women’s styles, priced at $75, with $5 from each purchase going to Stand Up to Cancer. “We want to raise as much money and awareness as possible,” said Bed Stu marketing director Nicole Beltrami.
Step2wo is showing a little heart. The London-based children’s footwear brand has teamed up with three celebrity mothers to introduce Heart & Sole, a limited-edition collection to benefit the British Heart Foundation’s Mending Broken Hearts Appeal. Singers Charlotte Church and Rachel Stevens and model and socialite Jasmine Guinness each created a selection of shoes and boots reflecting their individual personalities. The Italian-made collection, priced from $104 to $236 and available in toddler to teen sizes, launched July 4 exclusively at Step2wo’s children’s footwear concessions in Selfridges’ London, Birmingham and Manchester Trafford locations, as well as Selfridges.com. Starting July 18, the collection also will be available at Step2wo’s concessions in Harvey Nichols’ London, Leeds and Edinburgh stores. All profits from the shoes will be donated to the British Heart Foundation.