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Join IRM UK for the Innovation, Business Change and Technology Forum Europe 2017
Feb 06, 2017 14:56 GMT
Europe's only forum on Innovation, Business Change and Technology
Smart technology and the changing face of home
Feb 03, 2017 15:16 GMT
This remarkable surge in smart technology has completely changed how we all live our li...
How to build your 5S audit template
Feb 03, 2017 15:03 GMT
One useful way to keep up the high level is through 5S auditing.
Creating the perfect IoT storm
Feb 03, 2017 14:55 GMT
Organisations are looking at IoT to assess opportunities to improve efficiency and enha...
Operational Excellence and Business Process Standards Earns Zalaris ISMS an ISO 27001 Certification
Feb 01, 2017 07:56 GMT
Delivering the highest quality service and value to customers continue to define Zalari...
Seven of the worst power outages in the UK
Jan 31, 2017 16:09 GMT
Here are some of the worst power outage events in the UK over the last 40 years.
Fish4tech.com now stock the Nuwco PLASTAB SYNC 32
Jan 31, 2017 08:05 GMT
Online technology supplier, www.fish4tech.com now stocks the Nuwco PLASTAB SYNC 32 char...
Fish4tech.com offers a large range of School Laptop Trolleys
Jan 27, 2017 20:30 GMT
Online technology supplier, www.fish4tech.com has a great range of school laptop trolle...
Nexus invests heavily in its certificate authority (CA) platform for its 20th anniversary
Jan 26, 2017 12:20 GMT
“The digitalization of society increases the demand for trusted identities for people a...
Epic Games and Wellcome Launch Developing Beyond, a $500,000 Games Development Challenge
Jan 25, 2017 10:00 GMT
Epic Games and Wellcome are inviting games developers based in Europe to participate in...


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RI’s cigarette sales boost HMSP’s market share
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta-listed cigarette maker PT HM Sampoerna (HMSP) enjoyed a higher market share last year on the back of growing domestic consumption, its parent company Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) said.
In an announcement of its 2012 reports, PMI said that its market share increased by 2.8 percent to 35.6 percent year on year, particularly on the back of growing sales of premium segment cig...
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- Jakarta Police chief visits Santa Clara Church construction site
- More Cipinang inmates transferred to Nusakambangan
- The trouble with pedophiles in Indonesia
- Govt goes extra mile to accelerate land distribution
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text: WeChat, China’s largest social platform with around 1 billion users, will expand fees for users who pay their credit card bills via the “card repay” service within WeChat Wallet, bringing the era of free-of-charge services for mobile payments closer to an end. WeChat, which is operated by Chinese internet giant Tencent, will begin charging a fee of 0.1 per cent on credit card repayment amounts from August 1. However, the service will remain free-of-charge for customers with platinum and gold credit cards and those who save a monthly fixed amount above 500 yuan (US$75) in the “Love Investment Plan”, a finance product offered by Tencent. Tencent first began charging users in China for the use of the “card repay” service that is featured in the built-in digital wallet service of WeChat in December 2017, but only if the monthly repayment amount exceeded 5,000 yuan. “In line with international practice, there are no free financial services. WeChat previously paid the credit card repayment fee for users, going forward the new fee chargeable to customers will support sustainable development [of the service],” said a Tencent spokesman in response to a request for comment. WeChat, known as Weixin in China, has around 1 billion monthly active users and serves as an all-in-one platform for social networking, mobile payments, ride hailing, food delivery and more. About 13.6 per cent of users are signed up for the credit card repayment service, according to data from Penguin Intelligence, a data and analytics firm, which focuses on internet industry trends. Although not the biggest revenue-earner, financial services is a growing business for Tencent, which is also the world's top grossing games publisher. Tencent eyes Greater Bay Area electronic pass plan linked to WeChat WeChat Pay is one of the two leading payment tools in China's mobile payment sector, the other one being Alipay, which is the third-party payment service backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, the parent company of the South China Morning Post.


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With industry-wide uncertainty, organizations are forced to quickly and cost-effectively expand their capacity to adapt to seasonal, promotional, or economic variances. But what are the best techniques in which to do so?
In the Logistics Management research brief, “Adapt and React: Leveraging Flexible Labor Strategies to Manage Volatile Demand,” discover firsthand how:
- Roughly 75% of organizations surveyed struggle to identify and train qualified workers
- 60% of logistics providers want more visibility into idle or nonproductive time
- 100% can find ways to improve on these problems with the right labor management system
Subscribe to Logistics Management magazine
The NRF is calling for 2015 holiday sales to see a 3.7 percent annual gain to $630.5 billion, which comfortably outpaces the ten-year average of 2.5 percent.
On the heels of announcing it plans to acquire freight transportation and logistics services provider Con-way Inc. for $3 billion, XPO Logistics may be considering selling off Con-way Truckload, the company’s truckload arm.
The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has called on world leaders meeting at the United Nations this week to work together to find solutions to the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe
More than 20 U.S. port authority officials and their key staff, representing seaports from all four U.S. coasts, will gather on October 8 to meet with Congressional leadership to discuss the upcoming surface transportation bill and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ navigation budget.
Companies used to compete on price and service. The future of supply chain, according to Steve Melnyk, is culture. In fact, innovators like Apple, Google, and Unilever are already leading because of their cultures. Your company can too.


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India’s exports fell 4.16 percent year-on-year to $25.68 billion in May, while imports fell 7.36 percent year-on-year to $41.9 billion, government data showed on Monday.
May’s trade deficit was $16.3 billion, while oil imports rose 14.02 percent year-on-year to $14.99 billion, data showed.
Exports from April to May were at $50.14 billion.
Indian exports increased by more than 20 percent to $303.7 billion in the last fiscal year. But a slowdown in major export destinations hit by financial turbulence especially in Europe has slashed demand for Indian goods, officials say.
Head Research Department


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Accenture (ACN) reported their Q3 earnings yesterday, and they don’t seem to be finding current economic conditions a challenge.
Revenues of $6.1 billion exceeded analysts’ expectations of $5.9 billion and were up 20% over the year. Both the Consulting and Outsourcing segments grew by 20% over the year to contribute $3.7 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively, to revenues. Revenues from America grew 17%, from EMEA 23% and from Asia Pacific 19%.
EPS of $0.76, substantially higher than market expectations of $0.69, was 40% higher over last year.
During the quarter Accenture repurchased 13.1 million shares for $484 million at an average price of $37.05.
Accenture’s Q4 revenue outlook is $5.9-$6.1 billion, and they raised their full-year EPS outlook to $2.63-$2.65.
Accenture is no longer a traditional outsourcing company and has developed solutions to fight the increasing cost structure inefficiencies in India. As the American economy faces challenges and labor arbitrage loses its sheen, Accenture has started investing in technology initiatives as a way to reduce costs.
In Systems Integration, they have invested in building a global team that can use industry-leading SAP and Oracle skills to meet the demand for ERP implementations. Their technology labs are developing offerings that use next generation communication and collaboration software tools.
Accenture is also growing through tactical acquisitions. In Japan, they acquired Sopia Corp, an IT solutions company specializing in Oracle systems integration. They strengthened their logistics offerings by acquiring California-based AddVal Technology, a provider of end-to-end services to shipment, freight and cargo companies. They also announced the acquisition of Belo Horizonte, a Brazilian company that provides IT and automation solutions. SaaS, however, remains an avenue they need to explore.
To reduce dependence on the struggling American economy, they have expanded in other geographies. Their Korean operations are growing at 30% and the Chinese operations at 40%. Accenture clearly realizes the importance of establishing a strong presence in emerging markets.
The stock rose 2.1 percent to $39.68 in after-hours trading and dropped to close at $38.85.


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As per the expert reports, the autonomous vehicle market is expected to rapidly grow in a significant manner in China by 2030. The key predictions are:-
- The Chinese Autonomous Vehicle Market is expected to $98.89 billion by 2030, CAGR of 58.9% during 2021-2030.
- In China, the total size of automotive value is expected to double by 2030, speculating the market size to be more than USD 4.5 trillion.
- The self-driving car market in China is expected to reach 62.4 million units by 2030 with a CAGR of 13.3% during 2021-2030.
- As per KPMG research, China is expected to launch autonomous vehicles in major cities.
- Over the next decade, China is expected to see a mass number of autonomous vehicles and lead a shift toward a service-oriented passenger vehicle market focused on mobility services.
- China wants to deploy intelligent connected vehicles for 50% of new car sales by 2025.
- The Chinese government is also supporting regulations and policies to implement to encourage the development and adoption of autonomous vehicles.
- Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are the big tech giants in China to invest heavily in autonomous driving. WeRide and Pony.ai are the startups aiming high at the China market.
Even though the AV market in China is also affected by its disadvantages such as cybercrimes or other problematic concerns, it is hoped the issues of urban life, traffic congestion, and other facts of the streets to have a smooth way of driving can be demonstrated and may subside the challenges of AVs with protected software against any malware.
It shows that China is well aware of the future tech and the trend of becoming a hub for emerging technology. The automotive industry is one of the major industries that has seen major shifts in the way we commute. China’s emerging as a leader and growing hub shows its capability of completing a major journey.


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Inflation is rising fast, but the Government and the supermarkets would have us believe that prices are not soaring above earnings. Experts tell us we are mistaken when we think our weekly shop is more expensive.
Today we are told that prices in the newly configured inflation basket have increased by 2.3% year on year. That is according to the official consumer price index invented a few years ago and according to the new CPIH index that includes the economists’ take on the cost of owning a home unveiled today was also exactly the same as the CPI, which does not include the cost of owning a home. Now how did that happen?
New index will understate real rate of inflation
And why are the costs of owning a home calculated using a fictional cost of renting your own home? It is a bit like Business Rates and we all know how well that maths went. It luckily coincides with one survey suggesting that rents are falling in the UK.
Much more seriously while gin and smart phones may now be part of the CPI basket the true measure of the cost of living devised a century ago in the First World War, the retail prices index, is hidden from view. It is running at 3.2% – far ahead of wage rises.
RPI is ignored by Government unless we are paying
More serious is the way RPI is used by Government agencies to fuel inflation. The Chancellor increased alcohol prices in the Budget in line with the RPI. Rail fares are increased using RPI in the formula. Council tax increases are in line with RPI. Student loan interest is RPI. Mobile phone contracts use RPI.
Work pensions are increasingly being uprated in line with CPI as are other payments made by the government to us, if they are not actually frozen. CPI ignores mortgage payments, council tax, buildings insurance and estate agents’ costs.
So we should all feel ok when the inflation figures are published every month until we get to the check out or get our gas or electricity bill that is.


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We’ve always heard that calcium is the core nutrient that improves our bone health. However recent studies show that foods rich in magnesium like spinach and sesame seeds are actually important for strong bones.
Studies about Calcium
Some studies have claimed that calcium and calcium supplements put people at a risk of heart attack. More in case of women. Calcium supplements are not good substitutes of calcium in foods, as per NOF. Too much calcium even results in stones in kidneys as well as other health issues. Most calcium supplements have calcium carbonate which our body cannot absorb easily if there isn’t citric acid as a chelating agent. A study from 2007 says that in postmenopausal women, calcium found in food and not calcium found in supplements is better for bone health.
Studies about Magnesium
A research at the Baylor College of Medicine studied the absorption and consumption of magnesium in children and they made some interesting discoveries. Abrams headed the study. They saw that calcium consumption and its absorption was not related to bone density or mineral content in bones.
However, they were indeed linked to magnesium consumption. According to the study, magnesium is crucial for bone mineral accretion in children. Abrams further explained that while several minerals and nutrients are important for bone health in children, magnesium seems to have a lot more benefits than calcium.
Researchers felt that most people are probably unaware of the importance of magnesium in a diet for healthy, strong bones as it is not really famous. So, they have made it known widely that parents must pay attention to their children’s diet and make sure they consume the appropriate amount of magnesium.
They also want the general public to know the benefits of magnesium in developing bone health. Kathryn M. Ride and her colleagues from Memphis University claim that magnesium is as important for adults as it is for growing children. People are at a high risk of fractures should consume more magnesium.
1:1 or even 2:1 seems to be the perfect ratio of calcium and magnesium. However, these days, diets have rates like 10:1 which shows that people consume 10 times more calcium than magnesium.
You can find magnesium in foods like cocoa, seeds, nuts, green vegetables. You can also use Epsom salt in your bath. It has magnesium sulfate in it that your skin can absorb.
Although it is preferable to consume magnesium naturally people with deficiencies can also try supplements. The preferred dosage of magnesium is 350-400 milligrams.
Most capsules are 200-5– milligrams that you can consume when hungry or with meals. Very little magnesium goes into the blood and when it drops, the body uses magnesium stored in bones and tissues.


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New game from Untitled Goose Game team to be published by Panic
House House has promised something 'totally different' for its next adventure.
ACMI, NFSA and The Powerhouse team up to preserve video game history
Untitled Goose Game is set to be preserved by ACMI, NFSA, and The Powerhouse in a joint initiative.
Australian video game composers celebrated at Sound Byte
Sinister Creative's Sound Byte event highlights the industry's talented local video game composers.
Untitled Goose Game Live will bring orchestral chaos to ACMI
A live orchestra will score a playthrough of Untitled Goose Game at ACMI in July 2022.
Social games to play while you wait for multiplayer 'Untitled Goose Game'
Here are some fun and silly Australian multiplayer games to tide you over until Untitled Goose Game's multiplayer update on…


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Carnival is a cruise operator with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe and Australia. In 2003 the company combined with P&O Princess Cruises to form one of the largest leisure travel companies in the world. The group now encompasses brands such as Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises.
Carnival books $139 mln Q1 loss on charges
Carnival (NYSE:CUK) fell to a first quarter loss on Friday, as the company was hit with a series of charges, mainly stemming from writedowns in its Ibero Cruises subsidiary, and expenses related to the tragic grounding of the Costa Concordia earlier this year.
For the three months that ended February 29, the cruise ship operator posted a net loss of $139 million, or $0.18 loss per share, compared to earnings of $152 million, or $0.19 per share, a year ago.
The latest quarter saw the cruise ship operator hit with a series of charges, including $173 million related to the writedown of goodwill and trademark assets for its Ibero Cruises business, and $29 million in expenses related to the Costa Concordia disaster.
The quarter's results also include a $21 million unrealized gain on fuel derivatives, and a $515 million insurance recoverable.
Adjusted for these items, earnings were $13 million, or $0.02 per share.
Total revenues rose five percent to $3.6 billion, from $3.4 billion in the same period last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a $0.08 loss per share, on $3.57 billion in revenues for the quarter.
"All of us at Carnival Corporation & plc are deeply saddened by the Costa Concordia tragedy. Our hearts go out to everyone affected, particularly the families of the deceased and missing," said CEO Micky Arison.
"Immediately following the Costa Concordia accident we ordered a thorough review, with the help of industry-leading experts, to understand what happened as well as to conduct an extensive audit of all safety and emergency response procedures across all of our cruise lines.
"We will work tirelessly to understand what went wrong, and make sure it never happens again."
Net cruise costs, excluding fuel, increased 10 percent to $1.7 billion during the quarter.
The company, which had predicted a 3.5 to 4.5 percent rise in expenses in December, said the spike was due to $34 million in charges related to the Costa Allegra, which was left stranded in pirate-infested waters in the Indian Ocean after a power failure last week.
Fuel prices increased a whopping 30 percent, to $707 per metric ton.
Carnival carried a total of 2.26 million customers in the first quarter, up four percent from a year ago.
The company said that while booking volumes are lower than they were a year ago, they are showing improvement. However, Carnival has suspended virtually all marketing programs following the Costa Concordia disaster.
Carnival said it expects revenues to decline between 2.5 and 3.5 percent in the second quarter, including the impact of the Costa Concordia incident. Earnings, on an adjusted basis, are expected between $0.05 and $0.09 per share.
For the full year fiscal 2012, the company said it expects adjusted earnings between $1.40 and $1.70 per share. In December, the cruise ship operator had forecast fiscal 2012 earnings between $2.55 and $2.85 per share.
Analysts are expecting $0.21 per share in earnings for the second quarter, and $1.85 per share in earnings for the full year.
In New York, shares of the Miami, Florida-based company edged up 0.2 percent to $30.59, as of 10:39 am EDT.


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After Taylor Swift’s Folklore swept in last summer to dominate 2020, and ended picking up the Grammy for Album Of The Year at the ceremony a few months ago, it seemed like her stranglehold on the industry might finally be rescinding, leaving room for her acolytes like Olivia Rodrigo to shine when it comes to record-breaking pop. But they’d be wrong — and forgetting about one little thing. Folklore wasn’t even the only album Taylor released while the rest of us were just barely keeping afloat during quarantine. Her second 2020 record, Evermore, came out right before Christmas, and it seems like that timing might have something to do with that album’s latest record-breaking feat.
.@taylorswift13's 'evermore' is on pace to break the record for biggest vinyl sales week for any album in Nielsen history (80-100K).
— chart data (@chartdata) May 29, 2021
According to the Twitter account for industry monitor, Chart Data, Evermore is on pace to break the all-time record for most vinyl sold in a week, with between 80,000-100,000. Is that fans who are just now getting the album in the mail? Buying extra copies for their friends to stream all summer? Is it Olivia fans realizing they need to check back in on the woman who inspired their fav? No, truthfully this is the first weekend where the album has been available on vinyl in stores, and perhaps the pre-orders are counted in that whopping number, too. Given this impressive introduction, Evermore just became the next album on the docket to rack up accolades for Tay. Odds are, this album’s story has only just begun.


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Interested in Amazon?Add Amazon as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Amazon news, video, and analysis from ABC News.
On Thursday, Bezos posted a video on his Twitter account, showing him smashing a bottle of champagne on the top of a 300-foot-high wind turbine to officially open Amazon's newest and biggest wind farm.
According to a statement released by the company yesterday, the Amazon Wind Farm Texas in Scurry County in northwest Texas consists of more than a hundred 300-foot-tall turbines.
The wind farm, which Amazon built with Lincoln Clean Energy, will generate 1 million megawatt hours of energy a year for the electric grid, according to the company, which it claims is enough to power close to 90,000 homes.
With its opening, the mega retailer now has 18 wind and solar projects in operation and 35 more that it plans to build.
Amazon aims for its business to be powered completely by renewable energy, and the opening of the wind farm should move the company closer to about 50 percent of its power being renewable-energy based, the company said.


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Shutdown raises the risk of recession
The partial federal government shutdown could be the kind of shock to consumer and business confidence that helps nudge the economy toward the next recession, according to a leading economist who served under former President Barack Obama.
“Ben Bernanke recently said that expansions don’t die of old age, they get murdered,” Betsey Stevenson, a former economic adviser to Obama now at the University of Michigan, said on the latest episode of the POLITICO Money podcast. “There’s some kind of shock. There is something that goes wrong. Maybe it’s bad policy like shutting the government down for a long period of time.”
Historically, government shutdowns have had limited impact on the overall economy. But the duration and severity of the current impasse, now more than three weeks old, has led some economists to suggest it could cause deeper damage.
Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote this week that if the shutdown lasted the entire first quarter, the impact on government workers’ paychecks and government contracts could essentially wipe out growth in the first three months of the year. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon cited that report on the bank’s earnings call today.
Beyond the direct impact of missed paychecks and dormant government contractors, the shutdown could give both businesses and consumers the impression that Washington is fundamentally broken, shaking their confidence in the future.
“One thing that we worry about is what is going to break consumer confidence, what is going to shake consumers and shake business confidence, what is going to make people worried enough that maybe they pull back a little bit,” Stevenson said. “And that’s why a lot of people are a bit worried that the government shutdown could have long-lasting negative effects if it goes on long enough that it shakes both consumer and business confidence.”


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Adobe Tops Street Views
Adobe reported financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 ended Nov. 30, 2018. In Q4, Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $2.46 billion, which represents 23 percent year-over-year growth. In fiscal year 2018, Adobe achieved record annual revenue of $9.03 billion, which represents 24 percent year-over-year growth.
Adobe earned an adjusted $1.83 a share on sales of $2.46 billion in Q4. Not counting its acquisition of Marketo on Oct. 31, Adobe earned $1.90 a share on sales of $2.44 billion. Wall street expected Adobe to report earnings of $1.88 a share on revenue of $2.43 billion.
For Q1, Adobe is looking to earn an adjusted $1.60 a share on revenue of $2.54 billion. But, investors were expecting earnings per share of $1.88 on sales of $2.52 billion.
"Adobe achieved record revenue of
greater than $9 billion and delivered outstanding earnings performance
in fiscal 2018," said Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO, Adobe. "In
2018 we made significant investments across our product portfolio,
entered new markets, and made strategic acquisitions which we believe
will fuel continued top and bottom-line performance.”


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|05-16-13, 05:31 PM||#1|
Join Date: Jun 2009
Citrix Synergy Advisory: Cloudy With a 100% Chance of Meaty Graphics
Citrix's annual user conference, Citrix Synergy, is all about the cloud, virtualization and mobility. And we'll be getting more than a little graphic at the event.
As a first-time conference sponsor, we have a booth just inside the doors of the Anaheim Convention Center that you can't ' and won't want to ' miss. The focus will be a video wall demo that shows what the state of the art in virtualization in the enterprise looks like. The best news? The future isn't far off.
NVIDIA GRID technology lets businesses enjoy the benefits of virtualization ' flexibility, manageability and security ' while delivering a full PC experience that doesn't skimp on graphics performance. That's why the world's leading server manufacturers have embraced it.
Cisco, Dell, HP and IBM will all be using their booths to show off their latest servers with NVIDIA GRID technology.
Running in Citrix booth 100, the biggest on the show floor, Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp and XenServer will demonstrate how NVIDIA GRID software unlocks the virtualization and remoting capabilities of NVIDIA GRID GPUs.
Citrix Synergy kicks off Tuesday, May 21st and runs through the 24th. Sign up now for sessions on GPU-accelerated virtual desktops and applications, including:
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Thoughts from console owners on NVIDIA's GEFORCE GRID||MikeC||Console World||11||05-27-12 08:43 AM|


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The American company Apple actually left without the Chinese market — the court forbade her to sell the old iPhone model in China. We are talking about models 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 and X Plus, the new model, which Apple introduced in September 2018, the prohibition will not apply, said the Financial Times.
The reason for the ban was the trial with another U.S. company Qualcomm, which manufactures chips. A Chinese court, which was the proceedings of two companies from the United States, sided with Qualcomm, and ruled that Apple violated two patents of chip maker.
One patent is associated with the possibilities of the smartphone to edit photos, the second with the applications using the touch screen. New models do not fall under the ban due to the fact that at the time of filing a claim they didn’t even exist in principle, however, is not the only lawsuit against Apple, Qualcomm, proceedings will continue.
At the same time, Apple argued that the ban on the sale applies to old models with the old operating system, then there is a simple OS update to iOS 12 actually should overturn the injunction on the import and sale of the stated models in China. Apple also promised to use all legal means to reverse this decision.
Apple and Qualcomm in recent years, regularly suing in different jurisdictions. In the beginning of 2018 Apple won against Qualcomm court in Europe — the European Commission demanded the chipmaker to pay $ 1.2 billion penalty for market dominance and the imposition of its services. Qualcomm is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of components for mobile devices, chips and processors are in smartphones and tablets Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Asus and so on.
Read more •••


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News Corp completes Intermix takeover
News Corporation, which is trying to build up its internet business, said it completed its $US580 million ($A760 million) takeover of Intermix Media, an operator of websites.
Holders of Intermix common stock would receive $US12 a share in cash, New York-based News Corp said.
Los Angeles-based Intermix owns MySpace.com, which caters to teens and young adults with email, web logs, known as blogs, and chat rooms. The acquisition is part of chairman Rupert Murdoch's plan to boost News Corp's internet sales to as much as $US1 billion over the next five years.
Mr Murdoch said at an investment conference on September 21 that MySpace.com was key to the plan because it was aimed at the same young consumers as News Corp's Fox movies, TV shows and sports channels.
Internet revenue at News Corp totals more than $US100 million. The company has spent about $US1.3 billion, including the price for Intermix, to buy web properties in recent months.
The media company has budgeted about $US2 billion to acquire websites and technology to generate online advertising sales and promote its entertainment products.
The Intermix board last week rejected a counter-offer from an investor group led by former chief executive Brad Greenspan as inadequate and instead backed News Corp.


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ALBERTSON'S BUYOUT SUPERVALU, CVS TO EXPAND IN DEAL.
Monday's $9.7 billion buyout of Albertson's Inc. by smaller rival Supervalu Inc. will shake up the local grocery scene and propel a minor player in the Los Angeles drugstore market to the top of the category by the end of the year.
Supervalu Inc. will more than double in size and become the nation's second-largest traditional grocery store chain after claiming the lion's share of Albertson's. Now it needs to avoid a bellyache from swallowing its larger rival.
``This is a huge step for Supervalu, and we would not rule out some upfront indigestion, especially if the macro environment is not accommodating,'' Goldman Sachs & Co. analyst John Heinbockel wrote in a research note.
Minneapolis-based Supervalu and the drugstore chain CVS Corp. led an investment group that said Monday it will buy Albertson's for $9.7 billion in cash and stock. The group made a similar attempt to buy Albertson's about a month ago, but the deal collapsed.
Albertson's stockholders will get about $26.29 in cash and Supervalu stock for each Albertson's share. The buyers are also assuming about $7.7 billion in debt.
Only Kroger Co., parent of Southern California Ralphs markets, will be larger once Supervalu takes over 1,124 stores under the Albertson's, Acme Markets, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco and Shaw's Supermarkets banners. The expanded Supervalu will have 2,656 stores nationwide.
Though Albertson's had been on the block for some time, the sale still left much of the industry and its observers curious about the future of the 67-year-old chain. After the bruising strike and lockout that idled nearly 60,000 workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers in 2003, the chain struggled to regain its footing in the highly competitive Southern California market.
``The biggest problem Albertson's had in Southern California was labor, so there's some hope that Supervalu will have a better relationship with the unions,'' said Tom Burnett, director of Wall Street Access, a New York-based brokerage. ``Consumers are not going to notice any changes, though Supervalu has some wholesaler relationships that could drive down prices.''
Indeed, UFCW Local 770, which represents more than 3,000 workers at Albertson's and Sav-on in Los Angeles, cheered news of the sale. Though the bitter strike damaged years of relatively amicable relations between the employer and its labor force, Rick Icaza, the local's president, invited renewed cooperation.
``Supervalu has a reputation of being more worker-friendly than the previous Albertson's ownership,'' Icaza said in a statement. ``The members of UFCW Local 770 welcome Supervalu to Southern California and look forward to working with the new ownership in upcoming negotiations. We also look forward to working with CVS ... We are optimistic that the relationship will be positive, given the experiences of our brothers and sisters who work with them on the East Coast.''
That assumes the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu will want to keep Albertson's whole. Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., theorized it would more likely chop up the chain, allowing smaller companies and independent operators to fight their way into a region currently dominated by Ralphs and Vons.
``They're probably worth more dead than alive,'' Kyser said. ``Do they want to go in with Supervalu or take interesting offers on the real estate. I think they'd probably sell off the grocery operations in pieces, since you've got Wal-mart and the specialty stores lurking on the horizon.''
He speculated Colton-based Stater Bros. would be the most likely local purchaser, following the way it penetrated the county when Albertson's had to divest stores after it bought the Lucky chain. With an already-established presence in the region and good relations with the UFCW, Stater Bros. would have an easier shot than other chains, should Supervalu decide to split up its proposed purchase.
Stater Bros. president Jack Brown was traveling Monday and unavailable for comment. Albertson's shares rose $1.31, or 5.4 percent, to close at $25.42 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Supervalu shares rose $2.13, or 6.7 percent, to finish at $33.98 and CVS shares fell 11 cents to $26.96.
Supervalu will pay about $6.3 billion in stock and cash and assume about $6.1 billion in Albertson's debt for the 1,124 stores and in-store pharmacies under the Osco and Sav-on brands.
CVS of Woonsocket, R.I., is purchasing about 700 stand-alone Sav-on and Osco Drugstores and a distribution center in La Habra, Calif., for $2.93 billion in cash. It will also acquire real estate interests in the drug stores for $1 billion.
For CVS, which re-entered the Los Angeles market two years ago, the deal would suddenly make it a gigantic player in a crucial market. The chain pulled out of the region in the 1990s, but slowly added presence to build 19 stores in Southern California. After lagging behind Rite-Aid, Walgreens and Longs Drugs, it suddenly adds 350 stores, making it number one in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets.
With approval from shareholders and regulators, CVS will convert the stand-alone Sav-on stores by the year's end and absorb the majority of its more than 13,000 Southern California employees.
``We're going to focus on being the easiest pharmacy for our customers to use,'' said Eileen Howard Dunn, vice president of corporate communications for CVS. ``We'll communicate to the customers that the quality they've come to expect from Sav-on will continue. This is a premium asset we're glad to have and a great opportunity for us longer term.''
The other purchasers, led by Cerberus Capital Management, will acquire 655 stores in Dallas/Fort Worth, California, Florida, the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest. The group plans to operate the stores under the Albertson's name.
Larry Johnston, chairman, CEO and president of Albertson's, said the sale ``increases shareholder value by capturing strong value for the ongoing business enterprise, monetizing valuable real estate assets, and affording shareholders the opportunity to benefit from a substantial continuing ownership interest in a powerful, growing, and vibrant new company.''
Following the transaction, approximately 65 percent of the new Supervalu will be held by existing Supervalu stockholders, and approximately 35 percent will be held by Albertson's stockholders.
The purchase has been approved by the boards of all the companies involved. If shareholders and regulators also approve, Supervalu sales will expand from $19.5 billion in 2005 to a projected $44 billion for fiscal 2006.
That growth will be manageable because Supervalu only bought into markets where Albertson's was number one or two in market share, said Jeff Noddle, Supervalu chairman and CEO. ``That growth infrastructure is in place,'' he said.
Supervalu's new stores will retain their old brand names and will be managed regionally. ``We believe that local people know their local customers,'' Noddle said. ``People in Chicago are going to make the decisions for the people in Chicago.''
He said the company's predictions indicate the combined operations will generate enough cash flow to steadily pay down the new debt, although he expected Supervalu's credit rating to be downgraded in the short term.
``We are going to do the same things going forward that we did in the last five years to de-leverage the company,'' he said. ``We enter this very confident, and I think we have a fairly good reputation for managing these things.''
Supervalu spokeswoman Yolanda Scharton said the purchase will expand the company beyond its current base in the East, Southeast and Midwest. ``With all this, it's all states, coast-to-coast and border-to-border,'' she said.
The company currently employs about 57,000 people. The Albertson's properties in the deal have about 144,000 workers. She said it was too soon to say how many of them would remain with the combined companies, but added, ``we believe the vast majority of these employees will remain with us.''
Due to a recently-adopted ordinance in Los Angeles, workers will stay on a guaranteed 90 days after the sale concludes. Aimed at protecting higher-paying union jobs, the Los Angeles City Council passed the ordinance in January, forcing supermarkets to retain employees with more than six months of service for at least three months, then re-evaluate them to determine whether they'd continue to work for the new owner.
Already the largest drug store chain in the nation, CVS said it will operate 6,100 stores across 42 states and the District of Columbia after the deal closes, which is expected this summer.
Dave Rickard, chief financial officer of CVS, said about 350 of those stores were in prime locations in California, which would have taken decades to acquire piecemeal. As it stands, the company will have access to an area that is growing fast, aging and relatively wealthy and at what it considered a good price. ``It's just a terrific demographic for us,'' he said.
Rickard said the company will gain about 27,000 employees on top of its existing 180,000. Rickard said he expected CVS would retain most of them.
(color) Albertson's has agreed to a $9.7 million buyout by an investment group led by Supervalu and the drugstore chain CVS.
Ric Francis/Associated Press
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|Publication:||Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)|
|Date:||Jan 24, 2006|
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Seed has raised more than 8 million dollars for development of the unique MMO, while Niantic has acquired another game studio. Fortnite is still making more money than anyone could ever count, but a massive mobile game from China has turned into a huge disappointment for Tencent. Plus, we have more lootbox news, which includes some very interesting statistics that show most players don’t care about them at all.
Klang Raises $8.75 million for space MMO Seed
Space colony MMO Seed has an extra $8.75 million to work with for the development of the game thanks to recent fundraising efforts. This brings the total the studio has raised for the game up to $13.95 million, thanks to a previous funding round in March. Speaking about the latest funding Klang’s CEO Mundi Vondi said: “We’re truly humbled to have secured the Series A for the development of Seed, a project that we believe will play an integral role in the next generation of social simulations. We are honored to share our vision with Northzone, and are more excited than ever to tackle this very ambitious project.”
Fornite Earned $1 Billion From In-Game Purchases Alone
Yes, Fortnite has become one those topics we’re covering every week and starting next week we’re going to lump all the Fortnite news into one section. This week thankfully we only have one thing to talk about, and that is that Fortnite has earned 1 billion dollars just from in-game purchases. Monthly revenue for the game has done nothing but climb since October as shown by the graph above. In May viewers watched almost 700 million hours of battle royale content, 83% of that was Fortnite. More on Fortnite coming soon…
“Coming Soon” No Longer Allowed in German Preorders
A recent court ruling in Germany may have a ripple effect around the world as it was declared that using vague terms like “coming soon” in preorders isn’t allowed. Part of the ruling said: “in the view of the judges, this information was too vague to comply with the statutory information obligation of the providers. According to this, potential customers should know before the end of the ordering process how long the delivery time will be at the maximum.” Exactly what this means for the future of gaming isn’t clear yet but it could possibly put an end to vague release dates, Kickstarter claims, and much more.
Video Game Kickstarters Equal Almost $10 million So Far in 2018
ICO Partners have put out their regular report on Kickstarter campaigns for video games which shows that video game Kickstarters have brought in $9.82 million so far this year. That’s up just $400,000 from the same period last year. This was in fact done with fewer Kickstarter campaigns than in previous years, just 723, the lowest first half of the year since 2012. Kickstarter is generally seeing a bit of a slowdown when it comes to video games, as people are learning how difficult it is to put a successful campaign together.
Niantic Acquires Seismic Games
Just last week we were talking about Pokemon Go creators Niantic acquiring a company and now here we are with another, their fourth acquisition in recent months. This time they have acquired Seismic Games, the makers of Marvel Strikeforce and VR experience Blade Runner: Revelations. John Hanke, the CEO said this in a statement: “We recently gave a peek under the hood of the Niantic Real World Platform, and we see the addition of Seismic Games as a significant accelerant for realising our vision of an operating system that bridges the digital and the physical worlds. At Niantic, we’re committed to our mission of motivating people to exercise, be social, and discover new places. We’re confident that Seismic Games will help us deliver on that mission – faster, and better.” All of these acquisitions are putting Niantic in position for a lot of awesome in the future which makes you wonder, what are they coming up with next?
Mobile Game Spending Up in the First Half of 2018
Mobile game revenue is up 19% in the first half of 2018 in the App Store and Google Play. App Store spending was about $6 billion higher than Google Play. Combined, the estimate is that global spending on the two platforms was at $26.6 billion. That’s a 19.1% increase year on year. One thing that may have an impact on Google Play’s revenue is that it isn’t available in China, at all. Also, many Android apps are available in third-party stores which isn’t the case for iOS. The top grossing games across both stores were Honor of Kings, Monster Strike, and Fate/Grand Order. But, PUBG mobile was the most downloaded. All of this just goes to show that mobile gaming is here to stay and there’s a lot of money to be had.
Arena of Valor Revenue Passes $3 million in 7 Months
Its only been 7 months since Arena of Valor launched in the west and in that time they’ve brought in $3 million. For any other game that would be fantastic, but Arena of Valor is Tencent’s Honor of Kings, one of the most successful mobile games at the moment. The Chinese version of the game has 200 million players and in 2017 brought in $1.9 billion in revenue. The founder of Sensor Tower, the intelligence firm who released this information spoke about the launch of the game and why they think it’s underperforming. “Arena of Valor launched in the US just as the battle royale craze was beginning to heat up, with Fortnite hitting mobile three months later-and subsequently dominating the time and wallets of the very users Tencent’s MOBA is gunning for. Undeterred, the publisher has continued to build out the game in the West, adding new modes, content, and characters, most recently the eagerly anticipated debut of Batman as a playable hero.” All fair points…also, Batman will be playable? Where do I sign up?
A patch was introduced to CS:GO for Dutch and Belgian players that locks containers, making it so you can’t open lootboxes in those countries. In June, Valve disabled item trading in the Netherlands in response to the threat of prosecution from the Dutch Gaming Authority. At the time they also said they hoped to fight it, now it seems that item trading is back but lootboxes may be gone for good.
A survey of gamers from the UK, France, Germany, and Spain has revealed that the majority of gamers are either unaware of lootboxes or largely indifferent to them. According to the survey, only 27% of gamers in these countries are aware of lootboxes. When it comes to general consumers that number drops to 17%. When asked if lootboxes are a positive influence on the games industry, 29% had no opinion while only 25% thought they don’t. In question after question, the respondents showed they had very little opinion on lootboxes at all. It would seem that those talking about them and thinking about them often are in the vocal minority.


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The Australian Open is one of the most popular annual tennis tournaments held at Melbourne Park since 1905. As the tournament grows in popularity, the organizers have looked for ways to engage more with their massive audience. In recent years, they have turned to NFT and Web3 tech to create innovative ways of enhancing fan engagement.
The latest event, held between January 16 and January 29, was graced by tennis veteran Novak Djokovic, who won his 10th Australian Open title, equaling Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles. While this was a momentous occasion for Djokovic, it was not the only thing that made this year’s tournament special.
For the first time, the Australian Open introduced NFTs linked to every final ball bounce of every match that took place during the tournament. To ensure accuracy, the tournament utilized high-tech cameras to map out the court, marking every piece within it as a plot. Each plot on the court linked to an NFT, and fans who hold an NFT representing the plot where the final ball bounces stand to witness their digital collectibles shoot up in value as it guarantees them additional perks.
For example, during the men’s final, Djokovic’s winning match point saw the ball land on Plot #1174, which was linked to an “Artball” NFT of ball #7407, and the holder of that NFT won tickets to next year’s tournament.
This NFT innovation is part of the Australian Open’s broader Web3 indulgence. The tournament has a presence in Decentraland, a virtual world where users can participate using blockchain technology. Collaborating with Run it Wild, an NFT development studio, the Australian Open developed the Australian Open in Decentraland, which was the highest-attended destination in the virtual world in 2022, attracting over 175,000 visits.
The tournament’s embrace of NFTs and Web3 technology marks a significant development in the sports industry’s digital transformation. By leveraging the power of blockchain technology, the Australian Open has found a new way of engaging with their massive audience while promoting their brand.
The Australian Open has joined a growing list of events that are embracing NFTs and Web3 technology. The Metaverse, a virtual world where users can participate using blockchain technology, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Several events are building virtual experiences in the Metaverse, creating unique opportunities for users.
As events continue to embrace NFTs and Web3 technologies, we can expect more innovative ideas that will enhance fan engagement while promoting brands. The use of NFTs in sports is just one of the many examples of how blockchain technology is transforming the sports industry.
In conclusion, the Australian Open’s integration of NFTs and Web3 technology into the tournament has marked a significant development in sports history. As other events and tournaments begin to take note of NFTs and the Metaverse’s potential, we can expect even more innovative ideas in the sports industry. Whether it is by creating new ways of engaging with fans or promoting brands, blockchain technology is transforming the way we experience sports.


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Construction & Engineering trends
CSI & Sustainability trends
Energy & Mining trends
HR & Recruitment trends
Logistics & Transport trends
Marketing & Media trends
LYON, FRANCE: Euronews takes flight: 575 planes and a potential annual audience of 80 million passengers.
6 Aug 2014
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Onavo, a Tel-Aviv-based firm that makes applications for users to manage mobile data costs, particularly when travelling abroad, has been bought by Facebook for between US$100m and US$200m. The final price was not disclosed.
15 Oct 2013
NEW YORK, US: Global online consumer confidence fell for the seventh consecutive quarter as confidence in 31 of 56 global markets measured declined, according to from Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy.
9 Nov 2011
NEW YORK, US: Consumer confidence fell in 25 out of 52 countries in Q4 2010 as hope for a global economic recovery evaporated at the end of last year, according to the latest edition of the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence Index, which tracks consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions among online consumers.
27 Jan 2011


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Something small: Corning is expanding its Gorilla Glass portfolio with the introduction of its latest cover glass for mobile devices. Gorilla Glass Victus 2 features a new glass composition that Corning claims improves drop performance on rough surfaces like concrete while maintaining the scratch resistance of the original Gorilla Glass Victus Glass.
In laboratory tests, Corning He said Victus 2 survived drops of up to 1 meter onto a concrete refining surface. Corning noted that competing aluminosilicate glass from other manufacturers usually fails when dropped from half a meter or less. The Victus 2 is also said to have survived drops of up to two meters onto a softer surface replicating asphalt.
The cover glass isn’t as big a selling point for mobile devices as it used to be but it’s still an important part of the overall package. Corning cited research showing that across the three largest smartphone markets (the United States, China, and India), durability was the most buying consideration for 84 percent of consumers and second only to brand choice.
Today’s smartphones are about 15 percent heavier than devices shipped just four years ago, which increases the potential for damage from falls. The screens are also about 10 percent larger on average. More screen real estate means more room to scratch.
Corning is almost certainly the world’s largest producer of portable cover glass. The glass was chemically toughened originally advanced in the 1960s, but did not find strong commercial use until the mid-2000s when Apple used them on their first iPhone. Gorilla Glass has been used on more than 8 billion devices by more than 45 major brands.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is already being sampled by many customers. The first products featuring the new cover glass are expected to hit the market in the next few months. With CES 2023 just over a month away and the Mobile World Congress lined up for late February, you can bet we’ll see Corning’s latest flagship shown off in the not too distant future.


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In celebration of its monumental 50th anniversary this year, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman declared today, Thursday, Sept. 18 as “Tower of Jewels Day” in Las Vegas.
Pictured: Jack Weinstein, owner of Tower of Jewels, Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman and Polly Weinstein, director of marketing and founder of The Jeweler’s Daughter – Photo Credit: Quillin Advertising, Public Relations & Social Media.
Led by the vision of Jack Weinstein, Nevada’s largest family-owned manufacturing jeweler, Tower of Jewels, has secured an iconic place in Las Vegas with values based on customer service, community involvement and excellence in manufacturing, since its inception in 1964.
The celebration included live music, guest book signing, complimentary food, refreshments and a celebratory toast.
Opening the doors to the first location in 1964 on Fremont Street, Tower of Jewels has become Nevada’s largest manufacturing jeweler and direct diamond importer and cutter. Tower of Jewels manufactures its own pieces, passing savings to its customers, ultimately creating exquisite jewelry pieces without sacrificing quality and service.
Today, the 20,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art manufacturing and design center is largest structure of its kind in the United States, serving as headquarters for the company and employs an experienced team of jewelers, goldsmiths, designers and diamond cutters all under one roof.


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Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares will give a keynote address and reveal two concept vehicles at the CES technology show in Las Vegas on Jan. 5.
The Inception concept “will give a taste of the next generation of models,” Peugeot has said. The brand’s future models will be headlined by the next-generation 3008 compact SUV, which will be revealed next year.
Peugeot has not shown any images of the Inception. It said the concept would show how Peugeot is “taking advantage of ‘BEV-by-design’ next-generation electric platforms.” Those platforms include STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame, with the first vehicles on the architecture expected to debut in early 2024.
Peugeot will become a full-electric only brand in Europe by 2030.


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GORGUTS Returns! Death Metal Legends Finalize Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2023 Lineup!
December 8, 2022 Decibel Magazine
Death metal legends Gorguts will perform for the first time in nearly six years at Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly on April 14, 2023 with a special Obscura + Considered Dead set!
ON SALE NOW: All Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2023 Ticket Options!
October 21, 2022 Decibel Magazine
All ticket options for Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest at the Fillmore Philly on April 14-15, 2023 are officially on sale. Don’t wait!
Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2023 Initial Band Lineup & Breweries REVEALED!
October 17, 2022 Decibel Magazine
Suicidal Tendencies celebrate the 40th anniversary of their self-titled debut, while The Black Dahlia Murder make their triumphant return as a Metal & Beer Fest Philly headliner. And WAY more!
ON SALE NOW: All Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Denver 2022 Ticket Options!
July 22, 2022 Decibel Magazine
The time to swill is now! Get your Metal & Beer Fest tickets to see Cannibal Corpse, Pig Destroyer, Dark Funeral and more at the Summit in Denver, Co on December 2-3, 2022
First-Annual Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Denver to Take Place December 2-3, 2022!
July 18, 2022 Decibel Magazine
Cannibal Corpse, Pig Destroyer, Dark Funeral and more join forces with a dozen of the most metal breweries in North America at the Summit. Tickets on sale Friday, July 22 at 10am MT.
A Decade of Hails and Ales: The TRVE Brewing Team Discusses Their History and Future As The Foremost Heavy Metal Brewery
March 7, 2022 Cody Davis
TRVE founders Nick Nunns and Zach Coleman talk 10 years of America’s flagship metal brewery and their anniversary show with Khemmis, Panopticon, Hulder, Vastum & Dreadnought.


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Yikes! DineEquity, the parent company of both Applebee’s and IHOP, plan to close 160 locations.
USA Today is reporting that 105 to 135 Applebee’s locations and an estimated 20 to 25 IHOP locations will be closed.
At the same time, DineEquity plans to open 125 locations of the two restaurant chains globally in new locations.
“Applebee’s “remains out-of-favor with casual-dining consumers….Sister concept IHOP may be feeling the effects of DineEquity’s struggles as well,” said Instinet analyst Mark Kalinowski via USA Today.
“We are investing in the empowerment of our brands by improving overall franchisee financial health, closing underperforming restaurants and enhancing the supply chain,” interim CEO Richard Dahl added in a statement, via USA Today.
What do you think of Applebee’s and IHOP? Let us know in the comments below.


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Auto stocks have been underperforming the markets for many months. Even as the major market indexes pushed to four-year highs recently, many stocks in the auto sector were trading closer to their 52-week lows. Auto sales in North America have been strong, but concerns about a slowing economy in China and the debt crisis in Europe are really weighing on the sector. There is a strong chance things in China and Europe will get worse before they get better, so it might be time for investors to just accept that lower prices are not only possible, but even likely for stocks like Ford (F) and General Motors (GM).
It has become clear that despite solid earnings, price-to-earnings ratios that are well below the market average, and numerous analyst buy ratings with price targets that indicate major upside, nothing seems capable of stopping these stocks from trending lower. Since these common sense points have not seemed to be helpful in finding a bottom for these stocks, it makes sense to consider looking at where these names have found support and bottomed out in the past, as well as where important psychological support levels might be. Here is a closer look at these top auto stocks and an attempt to evaluate where these shares might bottom out, giving investors a potential buying opportunity.
Ford has become an impressive turnaround story thanks to excellent management from CEO Alan Mulally. Even though the company has made considerable progress since Mulally joined Ford in 2006, the share price has not fully reflected it. The company has improved its balance sheet, initiated a new dividend, and recently received a credit rating upgrade, but the stock still trades near its 52-week low. Ford has been reporting solid profits and is about to launch two important new models: the Ford Fusion and the Ford Escape, both of which are important and likely to be popular due to affordability and fuel-efficiency.
Clearly all these positives don't seem to matter as much now as does the European debt crisis. That means this stock might only find support at the psychologically important $10 level. Also, going back to January 2010, Ford shares have found significant support at about $10 per share multiple times: The stock bottomed out around $10 in February, in July 2010, and then again in September and November 2011. Between the psychological support level of $10 per share and the fact that this stock has historically found support at that level, $10 per share is probably the time to buy this stock as the market corrects.
Key Data Points For Ford:
- Current price: $10.67
- 52-Week Range: $9.05 to $15.35
- Dividend: 20 cents per share, which yields 1.9%
- 2012 Earnings Estimate: $1.49 per share
- 2013 Earnings Estimate: $1.72 per share
- P/E Ratio: about 6 times earnings
General Motors is a leading automaker in the U.S. that also has significant exposure to China, as well as to Europe through its Opel division. Europe has historically been a money loser for General Motors, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon given the economic woes in many European countries. General Motors sales have been strong in China where the Buick brand is popular, and North American sales have been impressive as well. The company will soon launch a newly designed Chevrolet Malibu with a 2013 model year. The Malibu has historically been a top-selling vehicle, and the new Malibu will get up to 37 miles per gallon.
The U.S. government still owns a major stake in General Motors due to the bailouts it received and this will probably be a drag on the stock until it is sold. This stock traded for nearly $40 per share in January 2011, but now trades for close to half that level. The stock has found support at about $20 per share in September, November, and December 2011. The $20 range appears to be a strong level of support for both psychological and historical reasons, so investors might want to patiently wait $20 before buying or adding as the market corrects.
Key Data Points For General Motors:
- Current price: $22.36
- 52-Week Range: $19 to $32.08
- Dividend: none
- 2012 Earnings Estimate: $3.52 per share
- 2013 Earnings Estimate: $4.59 per share
- P/E Ratio: about 6 times earnings
Data is sourced from Yahoo Finance.
Disclaimer: No guarantees or representations are made. Please consult a financial advisor before making investments.


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The head of Next, a UK fashion supplier, talks a lot of sense
In Marketing Week he is reported as saying: “I don’t think mobile will be the key to getting consumers to spend. I think its overall impact will probably be marginal. It is important we get it right as consumers are shopping in a new way and we are getting it right by upgrading various elements of our user interface and digital marketing. But I don’t think any of these steps will be game-changing, they are all just small improvements."
To me it seems like common sense. You have to have been living under a stone not to realise that mobile transactions are important but so are another 20-30 touchpoints in the customer journey.
I am concerned, as I think is the guy from Next, that marketers see mobile as a panacea, just as social media was (and still is) as was having an app as was, at the beginning of the digital age, having a web site.
The trick is getting all of the touchpoints to work to an acceptable, preferably outstanding, level.
Certainly, if you consider how many older people use smartphones to make a purchase then it puts the touchpoint into some sort of context. The number is very low.
It is probably more important to get the quality of the way the digital channel resolves on a tablet right since so many older people are moving to tablets as their sole source of Internet connection. Dick Stroud


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After months of sizzling gains, marijuana stocks cooled off in a big way in May. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, the first tradable cannabis ETF that holds more than four dozen pot stocks of various weightings, fell by more than 13% in May after having tripled the S&P 500’s return through the first four months of the year.
For some investors, this decline could be the perfect opportunity to go shopping. After all, the global pot industry is expected to see sales grow fourfold to sixfold between 2018 and 2029/2030, according to various Wall Street estimates. However, this doesn’t mean the entire gamut of pot stocks is worth buying.
After perusing the nearly five dozen marijuana stocks I follow on a regular basis, I believe three should be avoided like the plague in the month of June…
Repeat after me: “Production isn’t everything.” Once more for those people in the back, “Production isn’t everything!”
There’s no denying that Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) looks to be the clear cannabis production leader in Canada. It’s already on pace for more than 150,000 kilograms on an annual run-rate basis, and projects for at least 625,000 kilos of yearly run-rate output by the midpoint of 2020, assuming its Aurora Sun, Exeter, and Aurora Nordic 2 grow farms receive cultivation licenses.
It’s also a company that’s done a bang-up job of pushing into foreign markets, with a production and/or distribution presence in 24 countries worldwide, including Canada. These external sales channels will really begin to come into play a few years from now when dried flower oversupply becomes a problem in Canada, as it’s done in so many of the recreationally legal U.S. states.
But what Aurora Cannabis hasn’t done is demonstrate that it can develop its own cannabis brands without acquiring them, or develop a line of derivative products without a brand-name partner. Aurora Cannabis has made 15 acquisitions since August 2016, and many of these buyouts have made it into the perceived-to-be dominant pot stock it is today. But these buyouts are mostly shortcuts that mask the fact that we’ve yet to see the company do much organically. Acquisitive growth, just like cost-cutting, can only take a company so far.
To boot, Aurora has yet to demonstrate that it’s going to be profitable on a recurring basis anytime soon. Yes, management expects recurring EBITDA to become positive in the fiscal fourth quarter (April-June 2019), but positive EBITDA doesn’t mean profitability. In fact, what had looked like healthy profits of around 100 million Canadian dollars (CA$0.10 per share) in fiscal 2020 have evaporated, with the consensus Wall Street estimate now calling for nil (CA$0.00) in fiscal 2020.
And, as always, there’s the incessant share-based dilution. This dilution has caused Aurora’s market cap to nearly triple since the beginning of 2018, but shareholders actually lost money over this time period. It’s unclear when Aurora is going to put its shareholders first, which is all the more reason to keep your distance from Canada’s top producer in June…
Continue reading at THE MOTLEY FOOL


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The beauty of my public high school, if there was any, was that it was largely all-inclusive. If you couldn’t afford a calculator, there was a way to borrow one. You could print from the school’s library at no cost. If you lived too far from school, the district provided a bus service or a public transit subsidy. Textbooks were provided, even if they were a little torn at the edges, and you only had to pay if you misplaced the book at the end of the year. When I came to McGill this year and found myself gawking at the prices in the bookstore, I felt like I had been living in a bubble – how could textbook costs be so high? Textbook prices have become a disproportionate part of the student budget, and McGill has done little to mitigate this problem.
According to the American Enterprise Institute, the average U.S. student will spend over $1,000 on textbooks in 2015 – that’s an 812 per cent increase since our parents went to school, and almost half of the cost of tuition for a Quebec resident. This problem is compounded for students at Canadian universities, thanks to regulations under the Copyright Act, under which Canadian publishers (including Canadian branches of foreign-owned multinational brands) have exclusive rights to import and distribute titles published abroad. This means they are allowed to charge a 10 per cent premium for American titles and a 15 per cent premium for titles from outside North America, usually from the UK, making a $100 book cost $110, and your five $100 books cost $550 – not to mention the profits bookstores make on top of this, the burden of which is then passed on to us students, in addition to our four- or five-figure tuitions.
Even more disturbing is that according to the National Association of College Stores, 77 cents on every dollar spent in the U.S. on textbooks go straight to publishers (which helps to explain the phenomenon of professors assigning textbooks they wrote, since authors only get about 12 cents on the dollar on average). However, while these professors may be getting ripped off by publishers, professors can also be part of the problem for students. A study by the University of Iowa found that the constant revisions to textbooks, one of the main drivers for increasing prices, are largely unnecessary despite the fact that many professors insist on assigning the most recent versions of a text.
Our University is failing to uphold its own principles by not doing its part to make basic academic materials financially accessible.
Students attempt to mitigate the high cost of textbooks in various ways, though a solution isn’t always easy to find. Some point to rental books as an option, but this isn’t available for all textbooks. For example, my Arabic textbooks, which I won’t need once I move to upper levels, would be great texts to rent and return at the end of the semester, but instead I was directed to the Paragraphe bookstore to purchase new copies. Further, rentals are only slightly less expensive than buying the new version – I suspect the steep rental fee is really just a monopoly issue.
There are coursepacks, which, to be fair, release us from some of the monopoly held by the five major textbook publishers in the world. Some coursepacks are available online, which are also available at a cheaper price, but this doesn’t help students who learn best from using paper materials and taking handwritten notes. This also doesn’t allow for students to resell the online coursepack to a student taking the class in the future – which is also hard with paper coursepacks when there are different professors for a class each year.
Online versions of textbooks in general can’t always be the answer, either. In my Russian literature class, for example, there are certain books that really can’t be easily found online, particularly as specific translations are required due to the nature of the course. So I understand, in this case, why these editions were chosen.
Textbooks are also available on reserve in the library, but if everyone relied on that service, there would have to be at least 500 copies of every book for every course taught in Leacock 132. There are interlibrary loans, but this can take time, and again, there are not enough copies to go around for everyone. The viability of these loans also relies on the idea that a book you need will be less in-demand at another university; and for courses with the most expensive books, like biology and psychology, what are the chances that Concordia and UQAM will have extra copies lying around? For students who learn best through active reading (writing and taking notes directly on what they are reading), library loans seriously restrict the quality of learning. Due to the unreliability of many of the above options, many student turn to illegal downloading for popular books, and I don’t blame them.
I know I’m lucky to be from a background that makes these prices an inconvenience rather than a total roadblock. But there are students at McGill and other universities across Canada, as well as other countries with huge price tags on education (I’m looking at you, America), for whom textbooks are the one extra cost that makes education inaccessible, if it wasn’t already. When professors assign specific editions of books, this restricts students from buying used copies. When online textbooks or coursepacks are your only affordable option, you can’t always resell them or buy them used from other students. This can lead to students struggling through courses for which they cannot afford the materials, or avoiding those altogether.
There needs to be an open dialogue between students, professors, and the University about what causes high textbook prices, and what can be done to mitigate them. Professors do have control over what they assign – if specific editions are truly necessary, then assign them, but when they aren’t (and please, professors, be realistic here), recommend multiple books or editions instead of just one. Professors should also try to take advantage of public domains and publicly accessible texts. The University should also prioritize the availability of shared resources in libraries on campus. Textbooks and coursepacks should be available on reserve when classes start, not several weeks later, and having more than a few copies would make the process easier for students and professors alike.
McGill states in its mission statement that it aims to advance learning by “offering the best possible education […] and by providing service to society.” McGill also lists its principles as responsibility, equity, and inclusiveness. As such, our University is failing to uphold its own principles by not doing its part to make basic academic materials financially accessible. If McGill really cares about equitable access to its supposedly prestigious educational experience, it must prioritize guidelines for professors who assign course materials and initiatives to lower the hurdle of exorbitant textbook prices for students.
Geneva Gleason is a U0 Arts student. To contact her, email email@example.com.


text: Worn down by a brutally competitive local market dominated by cheaper handsets from both domestic and larger foreign manufacturers, Kyocera's throwing in the towel and leaving the Chinese market behind. President Makoto Kawamura revealed that its Chinese phone business, a joint venture with a local manufacturing firm, has lost between ¥700 and ¥800 million (about $6.55 to $7.49 million) every year since its inception in 2001, so it's giving up to concentrate on the Japanese and North American markets along with its shiny new acquisition from Sanyo. Pulling out ain't cheap, though: the company is ceding 45 percent of its 70 percent joint venture stake back to the manufacturer, the remainder to a Hong Kong-based company, and writing off about ¥850 million ($7.96 million) in debt. Maybe they'd have fared better making fake Touches? We're just throwing out ideas here.


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Morgan Stanley sits down with Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom to learn more about how he’s led the company through one of the most disruptive periods in the industry, and how the once state-owned enterprise became one of the world’s most valuable brands.
The Covid-19 pandemic underscored how integral digital connectivity is in our daily lives.
In the latest episode of Exceptional Leaders/Exceptional Ideas, our Head of European Telecoms Research, Emmet Kelly, travels to Bonn, Germany to meet with Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. Since taking the helm in 2014, Höttges has led the once state-owned enterprise through one of the most disruptive and dynamic periods in the history of the industry.
Watch this candid conversation about how Deutsche Telekom turned customers into fans, created one of the world’s most valuable brands and made the decision to keep its stake in T-Mobile.


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Apple announces its Employee Challenge annually during the month of February and it has become somewhat of a tradition now but this year’s challenge was postponed due to the spread of COVID19 spread as the pandemic forced the entire planet into lockdown.
Some employees made an attempt to launch this challenge during the earlier part of this year in the application but they soon realised that their code for the challenge did not work properly. The reason of this was soon made clear by an internal email which was sent to the employees.
“The Close Your Rings Challenge is one of those rare opportunities to bring team members and colleagues from around the world together with a common purpose to close our rings, earn some points, and have fun. With a number of our offices and stores closed in China right now and some of our team members unable to participate, we’ve decided to postpone the 2020 Close Your Rings Challenge. At this time, our Challenge will be removed from the Challenges app.” the email read. “We’ll update everyone as soon as we have a new date when we can all focus together in closing our rings!” it continued.
This Email was sent back in February of 2020 when China was affected by COVID19 on a large scale and the pandemic was starting to spread across the globe. Apple has been suffered a lot due to this pandemic as huge chunk of its supply chain is based in China. Situation is slowly and steading returning back to normal. Apple had to shut down a lot of its stores as well while many of the production facilities also suffered from the lockdown. All these steps had to be taken to make sure that we could prevent putting any human life at any unnecessary risks or danger.


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The new, more open Microsoft has been implementing support for a lot of popular cross platform and open source technologies previously held at a distance by Redmond. Recently we’ve heard of support for open source projects like Node.js and SSH.
But last November, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would work with a new technology called AllJoyn and this led Time magazine to speculate that it could be the biggest secret Windows 10 feature.
AllJoyn is a protocol or common language that allows for devices to talk with each other and encourages interoperability between different manufactures. Developed originally by Qualcomm, the code became open sourced and has been promoted by the AllSeen Alliance as the potential new standard for interoperability for the Internet of Things (IoT).
As noted in Time’s article, the AllSeen Alliance has grown to include more than 150 companies, including everyone from Sony, LG, Sharp, Panasonic, Sears, Electorlux, Cisco, HTC, and more.
By incorporating AllJoyn in Windows 10, this could give any Windows 10 device the potential to be a smart home control that seamlessly works with any device you have, from light bulbs, to TV’s and large appliances. John Patrick Pullen of Time notes:
“AllJoyn integration could be huge not just for Windows users, but for the millions of people who can’t wrap their heads around setting up smart home products. In essence, any Windows 10 device — smartphones, tablets, or PCs — could become a smart home controller… AllJoyn has no hardware at the heart of it, and as soon as Windows 10 becomes available, the turnkey solution would go from having 10 million devices included to more than a billion.”
As Philip DesAutels, Senior Director of IoT at the Linux Foundation, is speaking with Pullen, he says:
“You have two pages of apps on your iPad or tablet. I don’t want an app for my smart plug, an app for my lightbulb, an app for my crock pot, an app for this and an app for that — that’s just not viable. What I want is an app that automates my house, life and safety . . . and I ‘d like it to put it up on the TV, so I don’t have to get my iPad to think about it.”
This positions Windows 10 devices, with AllJoyn interoperability built in, to become the single conductor and point of access for your smart home and IoT connected devices. And as more and more manufactures are putting processors and connectivity into everything they make, this could be a very powerful combination.
Pullen also notes that while this is similar to Apple’s HomeKit, Windows 10 and AllJoyn doesn’t require manufacturers to have a special chip in their product like Apple’s solution does.
This could make Windows 10 and AllJoyn the most cost effective and least cumbersome path to making the IoT and smart homes live up to all the hype. And Microsoft’s recent trend of embracing open source projects and supporting cross platform interoperability could pay off big for Windows 10’s rate of adoption by consumers as well as interest from developers.


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Those of us who defend the right to outsource are frequently criticized for lacking compassion and for being concerned only with the bottom line. I’ll admit that profitability concerns generally motivate decisions to outsource (and most other business decisions), but I won’t concede that outsourcing imposes a net harm on the economically disadvantaged. If we’re really concerned with alleviating the worst instances of poverty and are not focused only on protecting our own kind, we should support the right to outsource.
John Tierney makes this point in today’s NYT. Echoing comments of Michael Strong, the head of “a nonprofit group promoting entrepreneurship abroad,” Tierney observes that the evilest outsourcer of them all — Wal-Mart — can rightly claim to have done more than just about anyone else to alleviate the suffering of the poor:
Making toys or shoes for Wal-Mart in a Chinese or Latin American factory may sound like hell to American college students â€” and some factories should treat their workers much better, as Strong readily concedes. But there are good reasons that villagers will move hundreds of miles for a job.
Most â€œsweatshopâ€? jobs â€” even ones paying just $2 per day â€” provide enough to lift a worker above the poverty level, and often far above it, according to a study of 10 Asian and Latin American countries by Benjamin Powell and David Skarbek. In Honduras, the economists note, the average apparel worker makes $13 a day, while nearly half the population makes less than $2 a day.
[NOTE: Powell and Skarbek discuss their study here.]
This is not to say, of course, that there are no “victims” of outsourcing. Some Americans lose their jobs. Others find they can’t command as much for their services because of cheap foreign labor.
Yet, that cheap foreign labor produces benefits at home — lower prices. Moreover, Wal-Mart’s job offerings are routinely oversubscribed (there are typically around ten applicants per open position — sometimes many more), suggesting that lots of workers think the jobs aren’t that bad.
This is not enough for many Wal-Mart critics, who maintain that consumer savings donâ€™t justify the economic dislocation caused by Wal-Martâ€™s cost-cutting and, as Tierney explains, would “rather see Wal-Mart and other retailers paying higher wages to their employees, and selling more products made by Americans instead of foreigners.”
That position, though, is ethically suspect. In Tierney’s words:
[T]his argument makes moral sense only if your overriding concern is saving the jobs and protecting the salaries of American workers who are already far better off than most of the planetâ€™s population. If youâ€™re committed to Bonoâ€™s vision of â€œmaking poverty history,â€? shouldnâ€™t you take a less parochial view? Shouldnâ€™t you be more worried about villagers overseas subsisting on a dollar a day?


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The Facebook Messenger payment system has been expanded to cover all of the United States, however the app is still limited to the use of debit cards.
In order for users to be able to make payments using the messenger app, they have to connect a debit card to their personal Facebook account, then using the “$” icon embedded in the message screen they can type the amount of money they want to send to the person they are talking to.
The app was available in certain regions since earlier this year, and residents from cities like New York and Austin already had access to it.
The company has stated earlier this year that the app is not intended for “commercial purposes” although many users expect this to change. In any case the system by with bussinesses do not have access to the Facebook messenger payment system can be bypassed.
For example company employees who have Facebook accounts could potentially receive payment instead of the company, but this will off course work only for micro-businesses and small companies.
Facebook product manager Steve Davis explained earlier this year that “We are not building a payments business. Payments in Messenger is focused on providing utility. People talk about money all the time in Messenger but end up going somewhere else to do the transaction.”
Facebook does indeed seem to want to keep the app available only for non-commercial use although some web specialist claim this could just be the test phase of a much larger project.
In the meanwhile, the new Facebook messenger payment service could possibly connect like’s and shares with revenue.
Soon Individuals and NGOs which have non-profit objectives could receive donations through the messenger app only seconds after posting informational content about their projects on Facebook finally putting a stop to the “1 like 1 cent” jokes.
The Facebook messenger payment service is free to use, and has no taxes or fees applicable to the amounts sent.
The payment receiver has to accept the payment in order for the process to begin but unfortunately the money transfer can take days before it is completed depending on the day it is sent and the banks that have to transfer and receive the money.
Image Source: hypable.com


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People first heard name Omar Yunes when this business man from Mexico decided to build his future and became a franchisee of Sushi Itto. It is a Japanese restaurant and food network, but at the time it wasn’t very well known in Mexico.
Afterward, he worked for a subsidiary of the same company. They are from Mexico City, but now Sushi Itto has opened new locations outside the city. All 13 new spots hold themselves to the highest standards in food and customer service. More than 400 people call Sushi Itto their employer and second home.
First Sushi Itto was named the best Franchise in Mexico, and for a Japanese food chain in a country with an incredible local cuisine, it is a high achievement. They won and then won again against the rest of the world. That is also an achievement Omar Yunes can put on his resume.
He is not afraid to try out new products and take risks in business and food. His team uses modern technology to help the company grow and evolve.
Omar Yunes is not the only famous family member. His father became famous because of his work in politics. However, he didn’t want to ride the same wave and made his fortune. Over the years he has gathered business experience he uses every day supervising his restaurants and looking into creating more.
The digital revolution sweeping across the globe has revolutionized the business world. An increasing number of clients are opting for online transactions including order placement and communication with business entities. When the products are as unique as those sold by Honey Birdette, geographical distance rarely pose a challenge for any business entity to break and expand into new markets. The Australian lingerie specialist is increasing its brand presence in the American market by opening a new website dedicated to e-commerce. The move comes on the backdrop of exponential growth in sales in the U.S market. Within 12 months, the company’s sales in the region grew by a staggering 374%. To further cement its presence in the U.S lingerie market, Honey Birdette aims at enhancing customer experience by improving deliveries and expanding its product range through the newly launched website. Plans for retail shops in the U.S are also underway.
The move is part of the company’s efforts to expand its operations overseas. By the 2018, the company plans to expand its current number of retail shops in the United Kingdom from three to 40. This will mark a rapid expansion considering Honey Birdette only unveiled its brand in the United Kingdom with a single retail shop. The company targets new areas such as Liverpool and Newcastle, among others. The new expansion initiatives will add to the 55 stores in Australia while new projects are also lined up for the rest of Europe.
Founded in 2006 by Eloise Monaghan, who also acts as the company’s creative director, Honey Birdette is a boutique that specializes in exquisite, sensual and luxurious bedroom accessories for ladies. They stock a wide range of products including lingerie, scented candles, potent perfumes, kickers and other assorted exquisite bedroom toys. They also manage several boutiques where their clients can step in for a blissfully time. Their products are aimed empowering and entertaining women.
Established in 2007 Avaaz encourages global activism through petitions, demonstrations and helping independent press in war-torn countries around the world. Focusing on issues such as climate change, animal and human rights, poverty, corruption and conflict, Avaaz is a civic organization based in the United States. Avaaz was co-founded by Res Publica and MoveOn.org and is currently being managed by president and executive director Ricken Patel.
The civic organization of Avaaz unites practical idealists around the world through supporting progressive causes. In 2011 Avaaz supported the no-fly zone over Libya resulting in military intervention being brought into the country. Avaaz supported protests efforts in Iran during the presidential election of 2009 by setting up internet proxy servers giving protesters the ability to upload videos to public websites. Since November 2016, Avaaz has actively campaigned for no-fly zones over Syria and especially Aleppo, a site of civil unrest.
According to The Guardian Avaaz does not receive donations from foundations or corporations. Although Avaaz doesn’t accept donations over $5,000, the civic organization has raised over $20 million. To promote global activism Avaaz manages teams of campaigners in 194 countries. Team campaign members communicate primarily by email where campaign suggestions are submitted by Avaaz members. If a campaign suggestion has an opportunity to be successful, the campaign idea is polled by 10,000 Avaaz members. Once the polled campaign suggestion generates adequate response, the campaign idea is emailed to all Avaaz members around the world. The Avaaz staff poll and test campaign ideas weekly to promote awareness and progressive change.
For further information on Avaaz follow them on Twitter.


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UTi Worldwide said it has made several key executive changes to the logistics company’s organization, following a reported drop in its second-quarter profit.
UTi said Tuesday it appointed Edward Feitzinger executive vice president, global operations. Feitzinger, who was in charge of global contract logistics and distribution, has been with UTi since 2010.
The company also said that Ronald Berger was promoted to senior vice president, global operating processes and chief information officer.
UTi said earlier this month its fiscal second-quarter net income dropped to $18.9 million, or 18 cents a share, from $22.9 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier.
Revenue fell 10.9% to $1.15 billion for the quarter ended July 31, the air and freight forwarder said.
UTi blamed a weak air cargo market for lower revenue totals. Air freight revenue fell to $370.4 million from $465.7 million a year earlier.
UTi Worldwide is ranked No. 22 on the Transport Topics Logistics 50 listing of U.S. and Canadian logistics companies.


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Synlait Milk lowered its forecast milk payout for the season just ending and was conservative going forward as dairy prices drop and the Covid-19 outbreak threatens to bite into demand.
The milk processor expects to pay $7.05 per kilogram of milk solids for the season just ending, down from a prior forecast of $7.25/kgMS. The final number will be confirmed when Synlait releases its annual result in September.
"The decision to reduce our forecast base milk price for the 2019/2020 season is because, in line with other commodities, dairy prices have eased significantly this year and as a result are lower than we were anticipating when the forecast was set in January," chief executive Leon Clement said.
Dairy prices have fallen around 14 per cent since the first Global Dairy Trade auction this year.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Meanwhile, Synlait's opening forecast for the upcoming season is $6/kgMS.
"We don't yet have a clear view of Covid-19's economic impact, but we do know it will impact demand, resulting in our decision to release a conservative opening forecast for the 2020/2021 season," Clement said.
The move follows Fonterra Cooperative Group, which last week said it expects to pay $7.10-to-$7.30/kgMS for the season ending May 31. It also adopted a wide forecast of $5.40-to-$6.90/kgMS for the upcoming season.
Fonterra chairman John Monaghan said it narrowed the range for the current season in response to softer demand relative to supply pushing down prices.
Looking out to next season, a global recession would reduce consumers' purchasing power, he said.