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GBP/AUD Exchange Rate Trade’s Just Shy of One-Year High
The Pound to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate is currently trading at AU$1.8927, just shy of the one-year high of AU$1.8967 struck at the start of this week’s session.
Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates Undermined by Chinese Growth Concerns
The Australian Dollar (AUD) is on the back foot against the majority of its peers this morning as skittish investors shy away from the risk-sensitive currency.
This souring mood comes in the wake of China’s latest PMI figures, as July’s release reported that the country’s factory sector suffered its slowest growth in output since April 2020
Iris Pang Chief Economist, Greater China at ING comments: ‘For the manufacturing PMI, major sub-indices mostly fell. This is worrying, especially as new orders dropped 0.6 points and there was a fall in new export orders too. This combination means demand was not as good as before, and therefore we expect the production sub-index for August to be just above 50.
‘New export orders came in below 50 at 47.7. This could be due to 1) The Delta variant's impact on export market demand and 2) supply chain issues from chip shortages. The chip problem is partly due to the US putting Chinese technology companies on the entity list.
‘An example that illustrates the supply chain issue is overseas automobile manufacturers placing a smaller number of orders on parts produced in China if the automobile manufacturer does not have enough semiconductor chips to produce that many cars.’
As a result, the slowdown in China could disproportionately impact Australia’s economy and is further undermining demand for the ‘Aussie’ this morning.
Pound (GBP) Exchange Rates Steady as PMI Prints in Line with Expectations
At the same time, the Pound (GBP) is trading in a narrow range this morning, following the publication of the UK’s latest manufacturing PMI.
According to data published by IHS Markit, July’s finalised PMI printed at 60.4, down from 63.9 in June and in line with preliminary estimates.
While the UK factory sector continues to expand at a fairly robust pace, July’s PMI further highlights how supply chain issues could threaten to undermine the UK’s economic recovery this year.
Rob Dobson, Director at IHS Markit, said: ‘Although July saw UK manufacturers report a further month of solid growth, scarcities of inputs, transport and labour are stifling many businesses.
‘Amid growing indications that many supply chain disruptions and raw material shortages are unlikely to be fully resolved until 2022, the outlook remains one of constrained growth combined with high inflation for the foreseeable future.’
Another key issue facing the UK’s manufacturing sector is labour as self-isolating and a more difficult recruitment environment sees many firms struggling to maintain adequate staffing levels.
GBP/AUD Exchange Rate Forecast: RBA in the Spotlight
Looking ahead, the primary catalyst in the Pound to Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate on Tuesday will no doubt be the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest policy meeting.
No policy changes are expected from the RBA this month, leaving the focus on the bank’s forward guidance, which could undermine the ‘Aussie’ if it maintains its current dovish stance.
Meanwhile the publication of the UK’s services PMI will be the focus for GBP investors in the first half of this week, with the Pound likely to face some headwinds if July’s finalised figures confirm that growth in the vital services sector slowed in spite of England’s full reopening.
August 21 2021
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Walmart's first general store concept will be available next month for guests at a Getaway Outpost in Texas.
Walmart is working with health and wellness hospitality company Getaway to bring a mini-retail experience to select Getaway Outposts throughout the U.S. The General Store by Walmart will feature curated seasonal items ranging from hiking gear and disposable cameras to cast iron skillets and lip balms.
The first of these stores will open at Getaway Hill Country in Wimberly, Texas, next month, followed by openings in Moodus, Conn.; Running Springs, Calif.; Roscoe, N.Y.; and Osceola, Mo., before the end of the year. The retail locations will also include products from local small businesses.
“At Getaway, our mission is to help people disconnect and spend time in nature,” said Carlos Becil, chief experience officer at New York-based Getaway. “In partnering with Walmart, we are able to amplify our efforts to a larger audience and provide our guests with more free time, helping them prepare for their stays and enjoy the comforts of nature once they arrive.”
Each of Getaway’s Outposts is located within a two-hour drive of major U.S. cities, and the company expects to have 28 sites by the end of 2022. For the next six months, guests will also receive a welcome kit that includes ingredients to make s’mores.
Walmart's partnership with Getaway aims to make simple escapes to nature easier and more accessible for guests.
For Walmart’s part, the curated selection of goods available at the Outpost sites will also be available on Walmart.com through a special landing page. Guests who visit any Getaway Outpost in the next year will also get a free Walmart+ trial.
“Walmart’s partnership with Getaway furthers our mission to help people live better no matter where they are,” said Casey Schlaybaugh, VP, brand marketing for Walmart U.S. “We are going beyond just saving people money by enabling guests to maximize Getaway’s experience and empowering them to spend more quality time with those who matter most.”
Each week, approximately 230 million customers and members visit Walmart’s more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites under 46 banners in 24 countries. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs approximately 2.3 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

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How Much Are Spending On Halloween This Year?
Halloween--one of my favorite holidays. No presents to buy and it's fun had by all. A time to dress up for a day and become someone else. But, with the Halloween season comes the bill for costumes and decorations--well, unless you make homemade costumes and decoration, but even so, you still have to buy the supplies, right? How much are planning on spending this year on Halloween festivities? According to a survey by Savers, Inc., "a family of four expects to spend $300 to costume, decorate and otherwise celebrate the holiday."
If you are planning to dress up this year, 90 percent of us are planning to "create a brand new look" this Halloween. I wonder what can be created that hasn't already been done?
Now, what's a Halloween without scary Halloween decorations? Well, according to the Savers, Inc. survey, 81 percent of the people polled are going to be buying new decorations this year for their homes.
Do you like Halloween? How much do you spend on Halloween festivities? What are you planning to dress up as this year?


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May 25 update: Sony now says that it was an error causing players to be charged more to upgrade their PlayStation Plus subscriptions if they had previously gotten a discount for the service. It says the issue has now been resolved and that anyone impacted will receive a credit.
“Due to a technical error, players in Asia who have previously purchased a PlayStation Plus membership at a discount have been incorrectly charged for their upgrade pricing,” Sony said. “This error has been fixed and impacted players will receive a credit. We thank you for your patience.”
Players overseas in Asia are not very happy with the way Sony is rolling out the new PS+ subscription tiers. According to accounts online, original PS+ subscribers who bought their subscription at a discount now have to essentially pay more in order to upgrade. What this means is that the original discount is voided, and players need to make up the difference between the standard price and the discount–before they can upgrade to Essential or Premium.
To give an example, a player in Hong Kong called PlayStation’s customer service to ask why they had to pay extra. The player said during the recorded call (with translation by GameSpot), “Today you guys released a new subscription membership service. I was already a member of the previous PS Plus. Now I want to upgrade my membership to Tier 2. I realized my subscription still has two years on it, and to upgrade, I need to pay 600 HK.”


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EMDEN, West Germany, May 14—Factories are rare in the flat coastal countryside of East Frisia, and the sight of the big Volkswagen plant in this small North Sea port, flanked by an oil refinery and a shipyard, is a surprise after miles of dikes and cow pastures.
The plant was opened in 1964 with the purpose of bringing 8,000 industrial jobs to the poor farming region and supplying what was then a new and seemingly insatiable United States demand for the small cars.
U.S.‐Bullt Cars Weighed
Ten years later, the plant, with a huge circular VW symbol on its roof, remains about the only factory in the region, drawing commuters from a 60‐mile radius with its hourly wages of 10 marks ($4).
But the United States market it depends on has changed radically. The weak dollar and the rising price of German labor have cut Volkswagen sales and profits in the United States drastically.
A year ago the factory was producing at its capacity of 1,160 Beetles and Rabbit models a day, all of which were shipped from the special Emden dock to the United States. Now production is down to 800 a day, and only 70 per cent of its goes to the United States.Continue reading the main story
Volkswagen executives at company headquarters in Wolfsburg, West Germany, are now weighing plans to build cars in the United States, a step they feel is the only way to save the market. The workers in Emden are dismayed.
“A lot of people don't think there will be a plant here in two years,” one told a visitor the other day.
“The factory only makes economic sense producing for America,” says Karl‐Ernst Schmiedl, chairman of the “Workers Council,” a body of elected worker representatives. “When they open a United States plant it's going to cost jobs here under any circumstances. A lot of the men think the only hope is that the outlook in the United States will be so bad that they won't build a plant at all.”
The Emden plant has already felt the pinch of the current Volkswagen troubles. From a 1971 high of 8,375 workers, the number of employes dropped to 6,800 by early this year. In April a cut of 800 more was ordered as part of a company‐wide plan.
No ‘Guest Workers’
Because of the job scarcity in the region, no Southern European “guest workers” have come to work in the Emden plant, something extremely rare for West Germany. This means, however, that the cutbacks are borne completely by inhabitants who have no other local job possibilities except the summer tourist business and no desire to move elsewhere.
Nevertheless many workers are taking the $2,000 to $5,000 special separation bonuses now because according to one worker. “They want to get out while the getting is good.”
Volkswagen officials have tried to calm fears about further cuts. At a recent news conference, the company's managing director, Toni Schmücker, stressed that the 115,000 Volkswagen jobs remaining in West Germany after the April cuts were safe.
The officials say the recent shift of the Emden production to cover more markets and the fact that starting in June all production in West Europe of the durable Beetle model will be concentrated there are guarantees for the plant's future.
But one argument of company officials—that German plants would still produce the parts for assembly in a United States plant—does not impress German workers here.
“We couldn't supply parts from here for an American assembly plant,” says Mr. Schmiedl, “since were just an assembly plant ourselves.”
Emden is a city of dark red brick houses with a population of 50,000 on the, estuary of the Ems River. Besides car exports and shipyards, the main harbor activity is handling iron ore that is hauled to steel factories to the south by train.
The town, has prospered from the Volkswagen plant but has not grown beyond it and town officials make no secret that a massive cutback or plant closure would be a catastrophe.
The town scored a recent success when the Phi Petroleum Company decided to build a landing station for its North Sea oil and gas in the area. But this could be canceled with a threatened shutdown by the Veda‐Gelsenberg Everby Group of the small Frisia oil refinery next to the Volkswagen plant.
The problems of Emden are a version of the dilemma now facing most of the other Volkswagen towns in West Germany. With a few exceptions, they are isolated cities that had attracted Volkswagen in the first place because, unlike crowded areas they had large labor reserves. To this day, they still offer few other Industrial job alternatives.
An example is Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen home city, where 49,000 of a population of 133,00 work at the giant auto plant.
From a high of 62,000 workers in 1971 employment will drop to 42,800 by the end of next year. Officials of the town, whose tax receipts have fallen drastically, say they must delay plans for a new recreation park and other town facilities.
Thirty miles to the south, Salzgitter has a slightly different problem. In 1969 a modern new Volkswagen plant was built in the town, actually a collection of 17 villages spread over an area the size of Paris, to diversify its economy from the heavy Salzgitter‐Piene steel works complex.
The new plant builds motors and also has an assembly line, but in this April's cuts, Volkswagen officials decided to close the asserhbly line, idling 3,000 workers.
City officials in Salzgitter are not overly worried about the setback since the Federal and the state governments involved have worked out a plan to attract new job‐creating investment to the areas hit by the Volkswagen cuts.
In Southern Germany the two Volkswagen plants that produce the Audi‐NSU cars have also undergone severe cutbacks and local officials are engaged in desperate job hunts.
For the plant at Neckarsulm, in the soft‐wine cottntry north of Stuttgart, Volkswagen has promised assembly of a new sport model.
At Ingolstadt, north of Munich, the situation is not so bad since the town also has a large sewing‐machine factory and a major oil‐refining business.Continue reading the main story


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E-invoicing directive imminent
Companies will be forced to accept electronic emailed invoices when a European directive comes into force on 1 January.
The directive will hit small companies hard, as the majority tend to prefer to stick to more traditional paper-based methods.
A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses told the Financial Times that the body would prefer the EU to force large suppliers pay their bills on time, rather than introduce the rules.
‘A lot of businesses in the UK don’t know whether they will be around for more than three years, so they prefer traditional systems that provide written proof of payment,’ the spokesman said.
‘There is also still a lack of confidence in electronic systems given the fears of hacking, viruses and spam.’
For more information on the directive, read the proposals here.


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SSP Group PLC on Thursday said it has increased its footprint in North America and the Middle East by acquiring ECG Ventures Ltd in Canada and signing a new deal with Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia.
The London-based operator of travel food and beverage outlets said the ECG deal will see it take over the leases of three units at Calgary Airport and two units at Edmonton Airport.
The five new restaurant and bars are ’The Kitchen by Wolfgang Puck’, ’Bistro on the Bow’, two units of ’Belgian Beer Cafe’ and ’The Canadian Brewhouse’, which SSP says will complement its existing business at both airports.
No financial details were disclosed.
SSP said this is the second acquisition that SSP has completed in North America in the past 12 months, following the acquisition of the Midfield Concession business, with the final airport transferring in November.
SSP also said it signed a new contract with Jeddah Airport to operate three food and beverage packages, representing a total of 26 units, for an initial five-to-seven-year period.
It said this will include the Saudi launch of ’Jamie Oliver Kitchen’, ’Pizza Express’ and the London-based gelato chains ’Snowflake’ and ’Crepeaffaire’. This is alongside Jeddah-based ’Social Kitchen’ and ’Social Bakery’, alongside ’Cafe Bateel’ and ’Falafel & Friends’.
SSP’s own travel brands include ’Jaipur’, ’Soul + Grain’, ’Negroni’, ’Ritazza’ and ’Camden food co’, among others.
‘Both the acquisition of ECG in Canada and the significant contract win at Jeddah are excellent examples of our business development strategy in action,’ said SSP Chief Executive Officer Patrick Coveney.
‘We are clear that a combination of investing in organic growth and carrying out selective infill [mergers & acquisitions] will create sustainable long-term value and returns, and North America and the Middle East are important areas of focus for expansion.’
Shares in SSP were up 4.8% to 237.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


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A lot of gamers out there have been on pins and needles wondering when Rayman Legends would be released. Originally slated for release on the Wii U, the title is headed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well.
We now know when it's coming out – and it looks like it'll be sending out Summer with a bang. Ubisoft has confirmed that Rayman Legends will be released on September 3rd for all platforms.
For those of you Wii U owners who are still feeling a little bummed out about the game's non-exclusivity, there's reason for you to perk up. Ubisoft also announced that it's released a downloadable Challenge Mode for Rayman Legends available free of charge on the Wii U eShop. It includes several new levels for you to tackle, including Land of the Livid Dead, the Neverending Pit, the Infinite Tower and Murfy's Dungeon. It's also online compatible, so you can challenge your friend's best scores.
Look for more coverage on Rayman Legends in the months ahead.


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Few days ago, Naomi Osaka who’s a Japanese emerged the winner of the US open Tennis Championship.
Osaka became Japan’s first Grand Slam singles tennis champion by beating Serena Williams in a controversial U.S. Open final.
After her victory, she headed back to her home country for proper celebration.
As the winner, Osaka received $3.8 million (1.38 Billion Naira) for her U.S. Open. Added to that, she was made a brand ambassador for the Japanese Automaker, Nissan.
“This week has been a dream come to life, and I’m so honored to represent Japan and Nissan on the world stage, I was drawn to partner with Nissan because of its strong Japanese DNA and global competitive spirit.
The brand is always challenging expectations, and I look forward to bringing its vision for driving excitement to new audiences around the world.”
As part of the Nissan partnership, Osaka will appear in global promotions and advertising for the car company.
She will join other Nissan global ambassadors. They include soccer players Gareth Bale of Real Madrid and Manchester City’s record goal-scorer Sergio Aguero, who both featured prominently during Nissan’s most recent UEFA Champions League sponsorship campaign.
She announced this endorsement on her official Instagram page.
Also See: Buy and sell cars faster on Carmart NG


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Is Ziff Pricing Itself Out of a Divestment?
With the auction on the company’s enterprise group stalled, and possibly busted, Ziff Davis could be pricing itself out of potential sales on its gaming and consumer/ small business group, sources said this week.
First-round bids on Ziff’s gaming and consumer/small business groups, which are being marketed separately, were due to the company’s advisor, Lehman Brothers on January 19. “I’m not sure how many people bid,” said one source, “but I do know that their price expectations are over the top. They have Internet-like valuation expectations for the gaming group, even though print still encompasses the majority of the operations.”
The source said the company is looking to make 3X-revenue on the gaming group alone, which has annual revenues in the mid-$20 million-range and break-even earnings. “Asking for 3X-revenue on a company that’s breaking even is very, very over-the-top,” said the source.
Ziff Davis’ owners Willis Stein & Partners confirmed last July that the company was for sale, following months of speculation. The enterprise group, which generates more than $50 in annual revenues and is believed to be the most robust of the company’s three publishing segments, was the first to be marketed. In November, it looked as though the company had a deal in place to sell the group, which includes eWeek, Baseline and CIO Insight and their complementary Web sites, to the Quadrangle Group. But Quadrangle has since cooled on its interest. Apprise Media, CMP and MTV’s publishing unit have also been fingered as potential bidders on one or more of the groups.
One source said the auctions on the gaming group, which includes the company’s 1Up network, and consumer/small business group, comprised of PC Magazine and other assets, could be headed the way of the enterprise auction if the company doesn’t rethink its pricing. “I think they need to be careful,” said one M&A source. “Busted auctions occur when your price expectations are unsupported by the business and we’ve seen that happen with Cygnus and other companies.”
Another M&A source believes the complexity of selling the company in three parts could hurt Willis Stein’s chances of making a strong return on its investment. “I think that’s going to be a real challenge,” said the source. “Breaking it up was not a good approach, but in terms of its size, there are very few strategics that would have interested in it.”
Willis Stein paid $780 million for Ziff Davis in April 2000. The company posted revenues of $38.8 million in the third quarter of last year, a decline of $1.4 million compared to the previous year. While the company’s online revenues increased 32 percent for the quarter, print revenues, excluding closed publications, decreased 14 percent.
Consolidated EBITDA increased $4.4 million for the third quarter, compared to $1.5 million for the third quarter of 2005. The increase was primarily due to growth in the company’s online businesses and the absence of losses from closed publications and cost reductions, the company said.


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President Donald Trump has threatened to close the border between the United States and Mexico more than a few times. The most recent came over the weekend, and the threat was subsequently backed by White House officials so this one carries a bit more weight. The president has repeatedly cited illegal immigration as a major threat to the U.S., but several reports suggest closing the Mexico - U.S. border would have a significant and near-instantaneous effect on the U.S. economy – including the auto industry.
A CNN report says the U.S. auto industry would last a week before shutting down if the southern border was closed. The news outlet cites Kristen Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor, and economics from the Center for Automotive Research, who explained that just about every vehicle in America has parts sourced from Mexico. The report goes on to say approximately 16 percent of all auto parts in the U.S. – used both at manufacturing plants and auto parts stores – are imported from Mexico.
Additionally, the report cites a statement from Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), who reportedly said that “any action that stops commerce at the border would be harmful to the U.S. economy, and in particular, the auto industry. Access to Mexico's marketplace and North American integration are critical to operations in the U.S." Motor1.com has reached out to the AAPC for confirmation on that statement.
Trump is often critical of the news coverage from CNN, but other outlets report the same dire consequences a southern border shutdown could have on the U.S. auto industry. NPR also turned to Dziczek for information, who further explained that Mexico accounts for 37 percent of all imported parts in the States and that a border closure could see some manufacturing plants go idle in just a few hours.
According to CNN, several Trump administration members told the news outlet that the president has been warned about the economic consequences of a border shutdown.


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France's Iliad drops plan to buy T-Mobile US
French low-cost telecoms operator Iliad SA (ILD.PA) abandoned its attempt to buy T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.N) on Monday because of resistance from majority owner Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), becoming the third bidder to walk away from the carrier in three years.
While Iliad's approach had been widely perceived as a long shot, its formal withdrawal sent shares of the U.S. carrier to a 10-month low. The move came three months after Sprint Corp (S.N) dropped its own bid to buy T-Mobile.
Now T-Mobile, which had been gaining market share thanks to aggressive marketing tactics, will face new questions about whether it can continue to prosper as an independent entity.
"There haven't been any other viable offers that have emerged since Sprint backed out, and that was not a formal offer to boot. There may be some questions about the price a larger buyer is prepared to pay in turn for a regulatory battle they may have to face," said Bill Menezes, an analyst at Gartner.
T-Mobile shares fell as much as 4.3 percent to $26.41, their lowest level since December 2013. The stock ended 2.5 percent lower at $26.92.
A person familiar with Deutsche Telekom's thinking said on Monday that the group preferred to keep its U.S. business longer since it was unconvinced that Iliad, as a newcomer to the U.S. market, could run the business better than its current management.
T-Mobile US and Deutsche Telekom, which owns 66 percent of the business, declined to comment. Iliad said it would now "continue its profitable growth policy as it has been conducted over the last 15 years."
Iliad had set a mid-October deadline to decide whether to improve its $33 a share bid for 56.6 percent of the fourth-biggest cellphone network operator in the United States, sources told Reuters last month.
The low-cost telecoms operator set up by maverick French tycoon Xavier Niel said it had formed a consortium with two "leading private equity funds" to bid for 67 percent of T-Mobile US at $36 per share including cost savings. Excluding the synergies, the bid was for $33 in cash per share, the same level as Iliad's original offer in late July for 56.6 percent of the company, said a person familiar with the situation.
Deutsche Telekom believes it is better off waiting to see if deals with the likes of Sprint or satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) become possible under a different U.S. administration with a more favorable view on consolidation, the person said.
Another person close to Deutsche Telekom's management said the new offer was not a significant improvement. "It would not have made any sense to leave Deutsche Telekom with still a large stake of equity exposed to a company they have serious doubts about," the person said.
Deutsche Telekom, which makes about a third of its sales and a fifth of core profit in the United States, has tried to sell T-Mobile twice since late 2011 because it sees it as too small to compete with market leaders Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N).
Regulators rejected AT&T's $39 billion bid for T-Mobile US three years ago.
T-Mobile has been searching for a buyer with access to U.S. spectrum licenses and an American customer base, Jefferies analyst Mike McCormack said in an analyst note after meeting with T-Mobile's investor relations team last month.
The note has fueled rumors that Dish, which has been stockpiling billions of dollars' worth of wireless spectrum, may be a potential suitor for the company.
In August, Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said it makes sense for the company to consider making a bid for T-Mobile now that Sprint is out of the picture.


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Advantest Europe GmbH
- Stefan-George-Ring 2
Advantest Europe GmbH Articles
Memory tester keeps pace with high-speed devices
Boasting a 5.4-Gbps operating speed and massive parallelism, the T5835 system is a wide-coverage test solution for current and next-generation DRAM core and high-speed NAND devices from Advantest.
Advantest introduces new T5835 memory tester
Advantest Corporation has announced the newest cost-efficient, high-volume memory tester in its industry-leading T5800 product family. With its 5.4-Gbps operating speed and massive parallelism, the new T5835 system is a wide-coverage test solution for current and next-generation DRAM core and high-speed NAND devices.
Advantest release Semiconductor Test Solutions at SEMICON
November 16th-19th in Munich Advantest corporation release semiconductor test equipment to add to their impressive portfolio.
Advantest launches new channel cards
Advantest Corporation has launched its new Link Scale family of digital channel cards for the V93000 platform, enabling software-based functional testing and USB/PCI Express SCAN testing of advanced semiconductors. The new cards address testing challenges that require these interfaces to run in full protocol mode, adding system-like test capabilities to the V93000.
Advantest has launched Link Scale cards
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest has launched its Link Scale family of digital channel cards for the V93000 platform, enabling software-based functional testing and USB/PCI Express (PCIe) SCAN testing of advanced semiconductors.
Advantest acquires R&D Altanova
Advantest Corporation has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire US based R&D Altanova, Inc.
Advantest acquires R&D Altanova
Semiconductor test equipment supplier, Advantest Corporation has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire US based R&D Altanova.
Advantest opens applications for VOICE 2022
Semiconductor test equipment supplier, Advantest Corporation, has issued an international call for papers for its VOICE 2022 Developer Conference focusing on edge technologies and advanced test trends.
High frequency resolution option for beyond 5G
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest has announced a high frequency resolution option for its TAS7400TS terahertz optical sampling analysis system.
Advantest, PDF Solutions streamline test data flow
Advantest and PDF Solutions have launched their first jointly developed offering since forming a partnership in July 2020.
SoC test system to feature at SEMICON Southeast Asia
Advantest is supporting SEMICON Southeast Asia (SEMICON SEA) on August 23-27 as a silver sponsor and will participate in the event’s virtual exhibition.
Test pilot bridges semiconductor design and production
Advantest is pilot testing a next-generation solution for performing both high-speed scan testing and software-driven functional device testing on its V93000 platform by leveraging the existing high-speed serial I/O interfaces on advanced integrated circuits (ICs).
Virtual VOICE 2021 highlights IC test solutions
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest will host the Virtual VOICE 2021 Developer Conference on June 21-23 to highlight the newest solutions and best practices for testing semiconductor devices.
Advantest rides second half surge to record sales
A second half surge in the semiconductor market driven by demands for equipment to work from home and competition amongst 5G smartphone makers propelled test equipment supplier Advantest to record orders, sales and income in its 2020 financial year.
Advantest wins top spot in VLSI Research customer survey
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest has topped the ratings chart of the 2021 VLSI Research Customer Satisfaction Survey for the second successive year.
IC test solutions centre stage at SEMICON China 2021
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest will feature its newest products and solutions for advanced ICs at SEMICON China (March 17-19) at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC).
Advantest's VOICE 2021 Conference goes virtual
Advantest says it’s VOICE 2021 Developer Conference will be held as a virtual event, citing continuing health and safety concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Power supply test card in demand at processor makers
Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest says that its DC Scale XPS256 Device Power Supply (DPS) card, developed for use with the V93000 EXA Scale SoC test system, is now ramping to production-volume test at leading makers of communications processors.
Advantest lines up raft of new products at SEMICON Japan
More than a dozen of Advantest’s latest test solutions and products will be on show at the first-ever virtual SEMICON Japan (December 14-17) where once again the company will be a gold-level sponsor.
Cloud solutions boost efficiencies for IC designs
Working with its partner PDF Solutions, Advantest has introduced two new innovative cloud-based software solutions: the Advantest V93000 Dynamic Parametric Test (DPT) system powered by PDF Exensio DPT, and an edge high performance compute (HPC) system.


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The real problem is that the travel agent will struggle to replace forfeited revenues because its online platform and product is not fit for purpose.
As early as 2007, more than half of consumers started buying their holidays online. Today, that number stands at 68 per cent, according to Ipsos Mori.
Yet Thomas Cook sells just 25 per cent of its holidays over the internet, a staggeringly low number when one considers the huge structural change that has taken place in the travel industry. Compare that to nearest rival Tui Travel, which sells 40 per cent of its holidays online.
It's not a platform problem alone. Thomas Cook's product – one-size-fits-all package holidays – is hopelessly ill-suited for today's traveller, who wants unique, bespoke holidays.
Closing the shops is only half the answer. Building an internet business – years too late – is the next daunting task.


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Guess what? Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) just smashed its own record for most players on Steam at once. SteamDB says the game hit an all-time high with 1.5 million players. This makes CS:GO the second biggest game on Steam for concurrent players.
1.5 million players, all at once!
CS:GO has been ruling Steam for over 10 years and just set a new record. Last month, the game had 1.32 million players online at once. Last week, it broke another record with 1.4 million players playing together.
On March 25th, CS:GO beat its own record again. Early in the day, the game had 1.507 million players online at once. Valve must be thrilled! By the way, PUBG is in first place with 3.2 million players.
People are talking about Counter-Strike 2 again. Everyone was waiting for a new game. But Valve said they’ll release a CS:GO upgrade with the Source 2 engine this summer instead of a sequel. Valve says this upgrade will be a huge step forward for Counter-Strike. It should bring in new players and keep current ones happy with new features and updates.
Valve’s CS2 registration for a new Counter-Strike game turned out to be true. The new version of Counter-Strike is loved by players all over the world. Some favorite maps are staying, but the graphics are getting a big upgrade.
What is CS:GO?
CS:GO stands for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It’s a popular online first-person shooter (FPS) game developed by Valve Corporation and Hidden Path Entertainment. CS:GO is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series, which started in 1999 as a modification for the game Half-Life.
In CS:GO, players join one of two teams: terrorists or counter-terrorists. The teams compete in various game modes, such as defusing a bomb, rescuing hostages, or eliminating the opposing team. The game emphasizes teamwork, strategy, and quick reflexes. It has a large, dedicated community, and professional eSports competitions are held regularly, with top players earning significant prize money.


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Spending had previously remained sluggish despite China bringing the virus largely under control, with shoppers still cautious owing to global uncertainty -- but economists believe the latest data suggests recovery is on a firmer footing.
The key indicator of consumer sentiment rose 0.5 percent on-year last month. A poll of analysts by Bloomberg News had forecast no growth.
Beijing has ramped up initiatives such as shopping festivals and voucher campaigns to spur consumer spending.
The latest reading is an improvement on the 1.1 percent drop seen in July and much better than the 20.5 percent plunge suffered in January-February when millions of people were put into lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading.
With external demand expected to remain weak as China's major trading partners struggle to contain the disease, China has redoubled efforts to encourage its exporters to target its vast local market instead.
Oxford Economics economist Louis Kuijs said the economic recovery was "on a reasonably firm footing now... with solid investment growth, gradually recovering consumption momentum and resilient exports".
Industrial output, which has recovered more quickly than retail, strengthened further, rising 5.6 percent, which also beat forecasts and improved on July's 4.8 percent increase.
Julian Evans-Pritchard from Capital Economics said that with fiscal spending set to be ramped up and a revival in consumer confidence, China's economy was on track to return to its pre-virus growth rate before the end of the year.
On Tuesday, National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Fu Linghui told reporters that China's economy had a "sustained steady recovery".
But he cautioned that with "mounting uncertainties" internationally and "pronounced domestic structural problems, there remains huge pressure to keep employment and businesses stable, and to safeguard people's livelihood".
The urban unemployment rate, a cause for concern given China's large number of fresh graduates, inched down to 5.6 percent.
Analysts have warned that the real level of unemployment is likely higher than official numbers suggest, with smaller businesses hit hard by the virus fallout.
Despite the stronger data in August, Nomura chief China economist Lu Ting cautioned that rising US-China tensions could hit exports and manufacturing investment.
Although tensions with the US have escalated on various fronts, top negotiators from Washington and Beijing have been pushing ahead with a partial trade deal signed in January, which marked a truce in a long-running and bruising trade war.
And China's customs tariff commission said Tuesday it would extend a year-long exemption of 16 categories of products from US tariffs, ranging from seafood products to anti-cancer drugs.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building on Sunday and said India is leaving behind the “mentality of slavery.” He also called for making India a developed nation by the 100th anniversary of its Independence.Baring EQT Set to Buy Credila for up to $1.5 Billion
Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) EQT is set to acquire Credila Financial Services, the educational loan arm of Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC), for $1.3-1.5 billion (₹10,000 crore-12,000 crore), trumping private equity rivals Carlyle, TA Associates, Blackstone and CVC Capital, among others, said people in the know.Angel Tax on MNCs may Bedevil FDI
US-based multinationals, British companies and leading French industrial groups that have closely held subsidiaries in India will face so-called angel tax scrutiny if they bring in fresh equity capital.
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Much of the change and chaos happening in pet food retailing has hit the pet specialty channel in the U.S. the hardest, particularly independent pet stores that find it difficult to compete with large pet store chains, online platforms and mass market outlets that can offer many of the same pet food brands, or similar ones, for lower prices.
Yet, perhaps independents see some bright spots on the horizon. Besides being able to offer some of the newer, growing pet food formats that are trickier for e-commerce players to carry – think raw frozen and refrigerated products – independent pet retailers may also take heart knowing that they have regained some market share previously captured by the two big-box pet store chains, PetSmart and Petco.
Big-box pet chains losing share to independents
Those two chains’ combined share of U.S. pet specialty sales (all products, not just pet food) fell to 47.2 percent in 2018, down from almost 64 percent in 2012, according to a recent report from IBISWorld, Pet Stores in the U.S. History, and reported by Mark Kalaygian, publishing director and editor-in-chief of Pet Business. As he commented, the stores' individual shares – 27.3 percent for PetSmart and 19.9 percent for Petco – are still strong but not as dominant as they once were.
In fact, Pet Business’ own Top 25 Retailers list showed that of the 2,379 new stores opened in the pet specialty channel over the past six years, the two big chains accounted for 34 percent of them, down from 70 percent of new store openings in the previous five-year period (2007-11), Kalaygian said.
He proposed two reasons why “momentum has shifted toward the independents”: the rise of online purveyors of pet products, which typically compete directly with the big chains on price and convenience (and often do it better, some would say); plus the “ongoing evolution of independent retailers” as they’ve learned to leverage their strengths of personal service and in-depth knowledge of pet products, including pet foods.
E-commerce pet food players a threat to all
Indeed, while 10 to 15 years ago, an independent pet retailer might lament the opening of a PetSmart or Petco store in his or her neighborhood as a possible death knell, the two big chains no longer seem the biggest competitive threat to independents.
In its annual State of the Industry report surveying the U.S. pet specialty channel – comprising all pet product and service retailers but with respondents seemingly more likely to be smaller businesses with “typical” gross annual sales of US$250,000 in 2017 – Pet Product News reported that 74 percent of respondents chose Amazon as the competitor posing the most significant threat, followed by Chewy.com at 70 percent. Big-box specialty stores, by comparison, were named by 57 percent. In addition, 62 percent of the retailers responding said one reason for optimism is that their customers prefer small businesses over big-box stores.
All of this points to a key reason why a pet food company like Champion Petfoods might feel safe making a move into Petco stores without fear of alienating all of its longtime independent pet retail partners.
Meanwhile, Amazon and Chewy do loom not only over independents but the big chains, too. According to Packaged Facts’ latest report, Pet Food in the U.S., 14th edition, e-commerce players accounted for 17 percent of U.S. pet food sales in 2018, up from about 11 percent in 2017. In fact, Amazon alone surpassed US$1 billion in pet food sales in 2018, reported Edge by Ascential.
And globally, internet retailing of the pet care category (all products and services) recorded a 25 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 to 2018, far surpassing that of pet superstores and pet shops, both at less than 5 percent CAGR. That’s according to data from Euromonitor International.
Mass market threatens, but exclusive pet food brands help
Besides online retailers, mass market poses another significant threat as more natural and premium pet food brands expand to that channel. In 2018, mass market chains like Walmart and Target earned a 20 percent share of U.S. pet food sales, said Packaged Facts; and in the Pet Product News survey, 43 percent of pet specialty retailers identified mass market big-box stores as a significant threat, followed by Walmart specifically at 36 percent.
Thus, independent pet retailers enjoyed only a 9 percent share of U.S. pet food sales in 2017, according to Packaged Facts, and overall pet food sales growth was nearly flat, per GfK data. It’s not as though their outlook is all rosy.
Still, independent pet stores have definite strengths – including their exclusive agreements with some pet food brands, in addition to service and expertise. In 2017, GfK reported that brands exclusive to what it called the neighborhood pet (NHP) channel saw sales growth of 75 percent over the previous five years, compared to a 1.7 percent decline for brands in pet specialty overall. The NHP-exclusive brands had a 17.8 percent share of pet specialty’s overall U.S.$8 billion pet food sales, up 6.1 points since 2011, compared to overall pet specialty brands’ decrease of 1.8 points.


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By Nnamdi Odumody
In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 60 percent of farms are powered by humans with less than 20 percent provided by engines, a model which is not sustainable as food demand increases due to population growth, which is averaging 11 million per year.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 35-50 percent post harvest losses for perishable agricultural products are lost annually in the region due to poor planting practices.
Tekedia Mini-MBA (Sep 12 – Dec 3 2022) has started; registration continues. Register here. Cost is N60,000 or $140 for the 12-week program. Beat early bird for free books and other bonuses.
Jehiel Oliver, an African American investment banker, decided to do something about this. He founded Hello Tractor which in 2014 launched a mobile platform to enable farmers access tractor services on demand. Through the use of a mobile app and other technologies, it aggregates tractor service requests, and then pairs them with recommended tractors and operators, while simultaneously tracking how many hours each piece of equipment is on the field and areas serviced.
There are many opportunities in the Nigerian (and indeed African) agriculture sector for entrepreneurs to unlock, starting from the traditional agro-businesses to the evolving agricultural technology (agtech) businesses. We have listed some of the ideas in this piece where we noted that agriculture could be on its way to $1 trillion cumulative revenue in Africa within seven years. Agriculture employs more than 65% of Africa’s working population, making it a very important part of our economy. It presents immense opportunities because the sector is still at infancy, and can only grow looking at the renewed efforts by investors, entrepreneurs, farmers and governments to deepen African competitiveness through agricultural production and processing.
Hello Tractor underwent a strategic redesign after Jehiel discovered that it needed to add additional services which include predictive maintenance, operator and tractor scoring, financing and crop yield forecasting. It collaborated with IBM Research’s Nairobi Lab to develop IoT (internet of things), Blockchain and AI technologies which would run on its Watson Intelligent Cloud.
On 11th December 2018 at the Techcrunch Startup Battlefield Africa which held in Lagos, it unveiled an agriculture digital wallet and decision making tool which provides demand and supply visibility for farmers, tractor fleet providers and banks to give farmers the equipment and technology needed to build a sustainable farm. The new services will be tested in a pilot commencing in the first half of 2019.
For farmers, machine learning will help to predict crop yields, which combined with advanced analytics and blockchain can be mined to develop a credit score for loans. IoT Data from tractors will help smallholder farmers know when to cultivate, the quality of their farm cultivation, what to plant and the right type of fertilizer.
Tractor fleet owners will be able to view and manage fleet utilization, predictive maintenance and forecast future tractor utilizations based on history, real time weather and remote sensing satellite data. Using a five-star rating system, tractor operators will be ranked and utilized based on their training (e.g ploughing, deep ripping, harrow, fertilizing). Owners will also have financing opportunities for maintenance and buying tractors and implements using historical data.
Tractor dealers can benefit from improved tractor repair and servicing, after sales support, spare part inventory planning and credit administration. At the same time, banks and other financial institutions can view and track utilization of tractors to determine a credit portfolio for the farmer, and tractor owner, while also evaluating forecasted utilization to make credit decisions for tractor owners based on verified and trusted data on the blockchain.
Agriculture focused governments in Africa can utilize the data and actionable insights from Hello Tractor for various decision support capabilities such as for structuring incentives, enforcing regulations, prioritizing investments and policy decisions.
The backbone of the agriculture digital wallet is a blockchain-enabled and AI-based decision support platform which enables capturing, tracking and instant sharing of data while creating end-to-end trust and transparency for all parties involved across the value chain.
The next phase will see Hello Tractor utilize machine learning and image recognition to predict the quality of cultivation and also expansion to Kenya, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s intervention in agriculture NIRSAL, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and financial institutions need to support innovations like Hello Tractor which are promoting efficiency in farming operations to create higher value.


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Consumer research from Leichtman Research Group (LRG) finds that 74 per cent of US TV households have at least one Internet-connected TV device, including connected Smart TVs, stand-alone streaming devices (like Roku, Amazon Fire TV stick or set-top box, Chromecast, or Apple TV), connected video game systems, and/or connected Blu-ray players. This is an increase from 65 per cent with at least one connected TV device in 2016, 44 per cent in 2013, and 24 per cent in 2010.
Overall, 29 per cent of adults in US TV households watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 19 per cent in 2016, 6 per cent in 2013, and 1 per cent in 2010. Younger individuals are most likely to use connected TV devices. Among all ages 18-34, 43 per cent watch video on a TV via a connected device daily – compared to 33 per cent of ages 35-54 and 12 per cent of ages 55+.
These findings are based on a survey of 1,202 TV households throughout the US, and are part of a the LRG study, Connected and 4K TVs XV.
Other findings include:
“Connected TVs, along with Netflix and other SV0D services, are among the biggest factors driving change in the video industry over the past few years,” said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for LRG. “In a short period of time, connected devices have allowed an increasing number of consumers to easily watch SVoD and other video options on the same TV screen as traditional pay-TV and broadcast offerings.”


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Renault may move sports car to Lotus
Renault is considering moving future production of its Alpine sports cars from France to the UK’s Lotus.
Luca de Meo, the French carmaker’s chief executive, confirmed the possibility at a news conference but said no decision had been made.
Lotus, owned by China’s Geely, and the French carmaker have an engineering and design partnership looking at a future electric Alpine model.
France’s La Tribune reported before De Meo’s news briefing that Renault wanted to free up production space at its factory in Dieppe to manufacture a new electric SUV.
Renault revived the historic Alpine marque in 2017 with the aim of turning it into the company’s premium high-performance sports car arm. De Meo has rebranded Renault’s Formula One team as Alpine F1.


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Business across Lancashire are being urged to enter Lancashire Business View’s Red Rose Awards before the deadline of Friday 20 August 2021.
The awards will help businesses across the county to stop and review what they have overcome and achieved throughout the pandemic and share their stories of resilience.
Two Zero is sponsoring the Scale-up Award. This award is open to Lancashire businesses that can demonstrate at least a 20 per cent increase in turnover in their latest financial year.
Two Zero’s programme manager, Amin Vepari, said; “There is no doubt that 2020 was a year like no other. The pandemic has brought new challenges, new opportunities, new ways of working.
“Every business has a story to tell. And through this Red Rose Award we want to support, share and celebrate the scale-up success stories from across the county.”
To be considered in this category, the judges are looking for a sense of trajectory; a business that understands how to manage scale-up, whether it’s by acquisition or organic means; and one with a plan for the growth story to continue.
Other new and updated awards include the Resilience Award, Go Green Award, Built Environment Award, Made in Lancashire Award, Marketing Agency Award and Professional Services Award.
Finalists of all the awards will be invited to a masterclass designed to help them get the very most from the opportunity and impress the judges with training sponsor Sales Geek. And winners will benefit from a further Sales Geek session plus access to a suite of expert support on offer from category sponsors to support areas such as legal, financial, recruitment, growth support and training.
Usually taking place in March, due to the pandemic the awards this year will take place on 25 November at Winter Gardens Blackpool.
Richard Slater, publisher of Lancashire Business View, said: “Now, more than ever, businesses across the county need to celebrate their extraordinary resilience and success.
“After a tough 18 months we do hope businesses will grasp this opportunity to shout about how they’ve overcome the challenges of the pandemic as we look to the future.
For more information on entering, judging and the awards ceremony please visit www.redroseawards.co.uk.
The Red Rose Awards are in association with Forbes Solicitors and Barclays. The judging partner is Blackpool and The Fylde College. The awards are also sponsored by Azets, Bigtank Video Productions, Business Health Matters, Campbell & Rowley, Cube Thinking, Eventus Recruitment Group, Ewood Experience, Four Recruitment, Harrison Drury Solicitors, Marketing Lancashire, Matrix 247, Mattioli Woods, Napthens Solicitors, Peter Scott Printers, Pink Link, PM+M, Porsche Centre Bolton, Rowan Group, Sales Geek, Seriun, SparesVault, Sundown Solutions, Two Zero and University of Central Lancashire. The charity partner is Community Foundation for Lancashire.


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Analysts are already predicting that the phone will give a big boost to mobile applications.
The higher data speeds of 3G connections, coupled with the Wi-Fi capability, are likely to bolster certain mobile applications that are poorly used in the US.
"The iPhone could become the mobile video delivery device of choice for many consumers by providing a compelling mobile TV and video proposition before mobile broadcasting networks, such as DVB-H, become widely available," said Mark Heath, an analyst at Analysys Mason.
However, Heath pointed out that Apple's market share is limited by its practice of selling the phone via one telco per country, and warned that this strategy had to change if the company wants mass market take up.
Apple's share of the US smartphone market has fallen steadily over the past quarter from 26.7 per cent to 19.2 per cent, according to figures from analyst house IDC.
By contrast Research in Motion's BlackBerry is more popular than ever, and now accounts for nearly half of the total market, up from barely a third at the end of 2007.
More information is available from the Analysys Mason report: iPhone Shows the Way for Mobile TV
Anticipation mounts for 3G iPhone
By Iain Thomson on Jun 7, 2008 11:42AM


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EU Biofuel Boom Benefiting Aussie Canola Growers
A new industry report predicts that canola prices could continue to climb past their recent record-breaking levels over the next 10 years as emissions policies in the EU and North America shift.
As countries take steps to phase out fossil fuels and increase utilization of biodiesel, demand for canola is rising due to this new value channel. And as drought in Canada, the world’s top exporter, has significantly cut global supply, demand from the EU (which is also phasing out palm oil from its biodiesel production) continues to climb - driving canola prices up by 23.5 percent, approaching $1000 per ton.
This global scenario represents a major opportunity for Australia’s canola growers, who in 2017 came very close to losing the $1 billion EU market when the EU threatened to close its ports to Australian canola unless it was proven to be a low-emission variant. Australia’s CSIRO released a report verifying the suitability of Australia’s canola just in time.
To meet demand, Australia’s canola output increased by 11.3 percent year-over-year, expanding acreage by 600,000 hectares, and increasing exports by 500,000 tons over 2020/2021.
And while global canola production for the 2022/2023 season is expected to rise, Canada’s domestic crushing capacity will also be coming online, further reducing that country’s export volumes.


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With the Chinese New Year coming up in couple of weeks, a vast majority of Chinese migrant workers are going on a battle to return home. With the demand for train tickets and plane tickets significantly increasing before the holiday season, and tickets are now becoming a scarce resource that everyone is fighting for.
As we step into the year of 2019, various regulations and laws in China will come into effect starting from Jan. 1st.
On Dec. 22nd, WeChat launched its IOS 7.0 version on Apple App Store. WeChat is like Facebook, What’sApp, Apple Pay and Uber all in one.
Chinese health authorities are investigating an alleged faulty herbal medicine from Quanjian group that might be related to the death of a 4-year-old child back in 2015. According to South China Morning Post, the investigation was conducted under high priorities and is considered of high importance.
A three-year-old pilot project grabbed public attention earlier this week. A new form of online courses enabled 248 schools in poverty-striken areas to gain access to top-level education provided by Chengdu No. 7 High School.
“Never fight back when you are beaten. Never talk back when you are scolded, and never divorce with your husband.”
Chinese whistle blower Zhang Ligang delivered shocking news during the recent Chinese Enterprise Leader summit. The Chief Executive Officer of the iKang Guobin Healthcare Group, Inc. revealed the chilling fraudulent practices that are prevalent in the Chinese health examination industry.
Recently, scandals and controversies have been hailing over China’s cultural elite: From celebrities arrested for drug offences to domestic violence, Chinese stars have disappointed many of their fans and supporters with their disgraceful behavior, showing lack of self-discipline and poor moral conduct.
There are 113 winners, out of which 112 are female Weibo users. Was it sheer luck? Or is there something fishy about Weibo’s raffle system?
“Don’t bargain with me!” “You deserve this kind of attitude.” These words sound more like a daily argument that you would hear on the streets. But surprisingly, that is how a Zhejiang University student union staff member talks to the student union’s corporate sponsors on Wechat.
A Chinese whistleblower revealed a series of unprofessional practices in more than 100 hotels in China. Hidden cameras captured video footage showing the hotel cleaning staff is not following hygiene protocols, including actions such as using the same towel to wipe both toilets and drinking cups.
No matter how much money some Chinese young professionals earn each month, their desire for luxury goods and lifestyle remains unsatiated.
The mysterious screaming that came out of “Room 13” at the Linyi Mental Hospital has recently become a concerning matter on Chinese social media.
It has been quiet about the Chinese messaging app Bullet Messenger lately, until a recent news report suggested the app had been temporarily removed from app stores due to copyright breaches over some of the pictures used in the app. But with the efforts of the Bullet Messenger engineering team, the application went back on…
Mainland China has 243 million iPhone users. But seriously, how many of those iPhone users could really afford the latest iPhone Xs?


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Funding Societies Inks Deal to Acquire CardUpby Fintech News Singapore June 29, 2022
Funding Societies, a Southeast Asian digital financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), today announced that it is acquiring regional payments solution, CardUp, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals.
Through the move, Funding Societies will acquire CardUp’s payments capabilities such as card payments to non-card accepting recipients (domestic and cross-border), online payments acceptance, invoice automation tools as well as its licenses and integrations with third-party business software.
With presence in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, CardUp has served tens of thousands of businesses including micro-businesses, SMEs, and corporates across a spectrum of B2B and C2B industries.
CardUp’s payment services will complement Funding Societies’ lending products, enabling SMEs to manage and pay expenses, receive payments, and borrow funds on a single digital platform.
Once the acquisition is finalised, Funding Societies will welcome Nicki Ramsay, Founder and CEO of CardUp into its management team to lead its payments business while retaining all of its employees across Asia.
CardUp will continue to operate its consumer and business services and maintain its long-standing relationships with card networks, issuers, and media partners.
The acquisition comes off the back of Funding Societies’ recent Series C+ raise of US$294 million in February 2022, of which US$144 million was raised in equity, and its recent investment into Bank Index in Indonesia, launch of business virtual card Elevate in Singapore and entry into Vietnam, strengthening the company’s suite of financial services for SMEs.
Kelvin Teo, Co-founder and Group CEO of Funding Societies | Modalku said,
“Having known Nicki and CardUp since 2018, we find CardUp has a great cultural and strategic fit.
Acquiring CardUp enables us to leapfrog and accelerate our market leadership in the regional fintech space, integrating payments capabilities, enhanced user experience and local licenses to our digital lending experience across key markets.”
Nicki Ramsay, Founder and CEO of CardUp said,
“This acquisition reflects strong strategic and cultural synergy with both parties aligned on the mission to help SMEs improve the way they operate their business and manage cash flow.
We are confident that CardUp and our employees are in good hands with Kelvin and his team and are excited to work together on this next chapter of growth.”


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Foster City, Calif. – Sony sold more than 525,000 PlayStation3 consoles in the United States during the week of Black Friday, topping previously reported sales of Nintendo’s new Wii U, but short of the 750,000 units that Microsoft’s Xbox 360 sold in the period.
Sony Computer Entertainment reported Thursday its six-year-old gaming console notched a 9 percent sales spike over Black Friday week last year. In contrast, Nintendo’s new Wii U saw sales of more than 400,000 units, but the company’s CEO said the number was smaller only because Nintendo ran out of inventory.
Microsoft reported earlier that it sold more than 750,000 units of its aging Xbox 360 consoles in various configurations during the week.
The playing field is expected to get much more interesting next year, when Sony and Microsoft are supposed to launch next-generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles, but with video game play moving more and more into the smartphone and tablet space, the gaming developers will have more pressure than ever to prove the validity of dedicated gaming stations.