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MORE THAN half of small building firms say that rising material prices are squeezing their margins and the same percentage have had to pass these price increases onto consumers, according to the latest research by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).
Small and medium-sized (SME) building firms were asked which materials are in shortest supply and have the longest wait times. The average results were as follows (in order of longest to shortest wait times):
- Bricks were in shortest supply with the longest reported wait time being more than one year;
- Roof tiles were second with the longest reported wait time being up to six months;
- Insulation was third with the longest reported wait time being up to four months;
- Slate was fourth with the longest reported wait time being up to six months;
- Windows were fifth with the longest reported wait time being more than one year;
- Blocks were sixth with the longest reported wait time being up to four months;
- Porcelain products were seventh with the longest reported wait time being more than one year;
- Plasterboard was eighth with the longest reported wait time being up to two months;
- Timber was ninth with the longest reported wait time being up to two months;
- Boilers were tenth, with the longest reported wait time being more than one year.
SME building firms were also asked by what percentage different materials have increased over the past 12 months. On average, the following rises were reported:
- Insulation increased by 16%;
- Bricks increased by 9%;
- Timber increased by 8%;
- Roof tiles increased by 8%;
- Slate increased by 8%;
- Windows increased by 7%;
- Blocks increased by 7%;
- Plasterboard increased by 7%;
- Boilers increased by 7%;
- Porcelain products increased by 6%.
The impact of these material price increases includes:
- More than half of construction SMEs (56%) have had their margins squeezed, this has gone up from one third (32%) reporting this in July 2017;
- Half of firms (49%) have been forced to pass material price increases onto their clients, making building projects more expensive for consumers, this has gone up from less than one quarter (22%) reporting this in July 2017;
- A third of firms (30%) have recommended that clients use alternative materials or products to those originally specified, this has gone up from one in ten reporting this in July 2017;
- Nearly one fifth (17%) of builders report making losses on their building projects due to material price increases, this has gone up from one in ten reporting this in July 2017.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “Material prices have rocketed over the past year. The reason for this could include the impact of the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum still feeding through. High demand due to buoyant international markets could also be contributing to price increases. What’s particularly worrying is that when prices have increased mid-project, almost one fifth of builders have absorbed the increase and therefore made a loss. Also, if material price increases weren’t enough of a headache for building firms, they are also experiencing material shortages with wait times ticking up across a range of materials and products. Worst case scenarios include firms waiting for more than one year for a new order of bricks.”
Berry continued: “The rise in material prices is not just a problem for the country’s construction firms – it is also a problem for home owners. Half of firms have been forced to pass these price increases onto their clients, meaning building projects are becoming more and more expensive. This problem has worsened recently with more than twice as many firms passing material prices on to their clients now compared with nine months ago. What’s more, home owners should be prepared to have to use alternative materials or products to their first choice. One third of firms have recommended that their clients should use alternative materials or products to those originally specified. Now more than ever, it’s important that builders and their clients keep the lines of communication open in order to stay within time and within budget. Specified products or materials may need to be swapped for alternatives or clients will need to accept the additional cost.”
Berry concluded: “We are calling on builders merchants to give their customers as much advance warning of forthcoming material price increases or wait times as possible so that firms can warn their customers and plan ahead. We are also advising builders to price jobs and draft contracts with these material price rises in mind. The FMB’s latest State of Trade Survey shows that almost ninety per cent of building firms are expecting further rises over the next sixth months. This makes quoting for jobs difficult but if builders flag the issue to their client from the outset, and include a note in the contract that prices may be subject to increases, they shouldn’t be left short. What we don’t want is for the number of building firms making losses on projects to increase as this could result in firms going to the wall. A large number of collapsing construction companies will have a terrible knock-on effect in the wider economy.”
New drive supports women entrepreneurs
ECONOMY MINISTER, Ken Skates is calling on the business community to support a new initiative aimed at increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in Wales and providing them with the best possible support.
The Welsh Government’s new Supporting Entrepreneurial Women programme was informed by the work of a panel of experts, convened in 2017 to consider how best to encourage, develop and support female entrepreneurship in Wales.
The panel, chaired by Helen Walbey, considered an array of academic evidence and literature on women in entrepreneurship, spoke to a range of businesswomen, representative groups and partner bodies, and aligned its work with the principles of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme which is championed by Be the Spark in Wales.
The result is a new Framework for Supporting Entrepreneurial Women in Wales and a Good Practice Guide to inform how the Welsh Government and business community works to drive the number of women entrepreneurs in Wales.
The Welsh Government have also responded by publishing the Business Wales Action Plan which identifies 10 specific ways in which the Welsh Government and business community can improve. From providing more gender focussed business support and confidence building, increasing the number of female business advisors and mentors in Wales and promoting the career successes of prominent female entrepreneurs including through business awards, the action plan aims to create the right environment in which female entrepreneurs can prosper.
There is also renewed focus on engagement with women entrepreneurs to understand the barriers they face, improved availability of finance options with no restrictions that unfairly affect women, and a Good Practice Guide that encourages business support organisations to adopt ways of working that support female Entrepreneurship.
The Economy Minister launched the Framework, Good Practice Guide and the Action Plan at a celebratory event in Capital Law. This will be followed by regional events, jointly organised by the Welsh Government and Lloyds Bank, to ensure that business groups right across Wales are aware of the new resources and their role in supporting female entrepreneurship.
The Economy Minister said: “The underrepresentation of women both as business owners and at a senior executive level is well evidenced and there is no doubt the gender gap is hindering women from achieving their full economic and personal potential.
“Our Economic Action Plan focuses on creating the right environment to enable entrepreneurs to prosper and grow and obviously this must apply to women, just as much as men.
“The work undertaken by the panel of experts recognised the progress that we as the Welsh Government and business representative groups have made in recent years in supporting female entrepreneurship – but the message is clear. We must do more, and with Brexit presenting challenges of an unprecedented scale, now more than ever we need our best talent around the table.
“I call on the business community and financial institutions to work with us to adopt a more gender focussed approach to their work. I hope they will use our new Framework and Good Practice Guide to ensure they play their part in building an environment where women entrepreneurs are encouraged and properly supported to reach their full potential.“
Jane Hutt, Deputy Minister and Chief Whip said: “All women should be given equal opportunities and representation at the most senior level. Helping to understand and remove barriers that women face in entrepreneurial opportunities will support the potential growth of women in business. Through this support, we hope women will be more fairly represented and can flourish in the business sector.
“Although, there is still so much more we can do to achieve better gender equality, this initiative will help women to achieve their full potential and to move away from the underrepresentation of women at senior roles.”
Local companies aim for export boost
LOCAL food and drink companies are preparing to attend one of the world’s largest food trade events in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from 17-21 February. Held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Gulfood will attract over 98,000 visitors over the five days, welcoming more than 5,000 exhibitors from 193 countries showcasing products across 8 primary market sectors.
Supported by the Welsh Government, 14 Welsh companies from across the food and drink sector in Wales will be present under the Cymru/Wales banner all looking to promote their products and increase their export markets.
The Welsh companies exhibiting include Llaeth y Llan/Village Dairy, Rachel’s, Dairy Partners Ltd, Daioni Organic, Fayrefield Foods Ltd, Calon Wen Organic Dairy, The Lobster Pot, Ty Nant Spring Water, Euro Foods Group UK, Prima Foods UK Ltd. Alongside these, representatives from Castle Dairies Ltd, Hybu Cig Cymru/Meat Promotions Wales, Dunbia and Village Bakery Ltd will also form part of the Export Visit.
Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, believes that it is vital for the industry to take advantage of such opportunities to continue to develop global markets: “Our food and drink sector is one we can rightly be proud of and we need to ensure that everybody knows about it. It is important that we maintain our visibility and showcase our innovative products at key global trade events.
“We are committed to supporting Welsh businesses having a presence at events such as Gulfood, as it is crucial in giving ourselves a strong platform to sell Welsh produce around the world. With Brexit approaching it is more important than ever that we champion Welsh produce and support food and drink businesses in every way we can. We need to help them build relationships with businesses in their sector so they can learn about new technologies, explore foreign markets and be competitive in their industry.”
A company looking to make an impact and will be introducing their Afternoon Tea range at Gulfood is Llanelli’s Prima Foods.
Their classic British gluten-free afternoon tea range features both mixes and ready to bake goods, to include Scones, Choux Pastry and Belgian Chocolate Brownies.
Massimo Bishop-Scott, Head of Innovation at Prima Foods said: “Afternoon teas have seen a bit of a resurgence and are an incredibly popular menu offering. They attract consumers outside the normal lunchtime/dinner eating occasions which provide incremental revenue for restaurants and hotels.
“We spotted that there was a gap for great tasting gluten-free offerings on the afternoon tea menu and set about making products that tasted just as good as the gluten-containing equivalent. A number of our customers in the UK have been so impressed with the taste and texture of our products that they have replaced their existing gluten containing range with our Chefs Promise range.”
One company looking to build on its existing links with the UAE is leading organic milk producer Daioni Organic from Boncath.
In June 2018, they began working with Truebell, their exclusive distributor to the UAE and have launched into Carrefour and Choithrams with other retailers to follow throughout 2019.
In 2018, Daioni launched a new iced coffee latte which they will be presenting at Gulfood for the first time this year.
Chief Operations Officer at Daioni Organic, Daniel Jones said: “We have seen high growth in the overseas markets in the past couple of years, particularly from the Middle East and Asia. We see this expansion as well as our presence at Gulfood, as a great opportunity to enter growing markets and to invest in our existing relationships.”
Construction output falls
RISING costs and uncertainty relating to Brexit are to blame for the sharp drop in output growth in January 2019, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has said in response to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index data (PMI).
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) Construction Purchasing Manager’s Index incorporates survey results provided by construction firms throughout the country.
A reading above fifty suggests the construction sector is expanding, while a reading below fifty suggests the construction sector is in contraction.
The January 2019 PMI data revealed a fall from 52.8 in December to 50.6 in January, against the neutral reading of 50.0. January data pointed to a loss of momentum for the UK construction sector, with business activity growth grinding to its weakest for ten months.
All three categories of construction output recorded weaker trends than those reported in December.
Residential work was the strongest performing area, although the latest expansion was only modest and the slowest seen since March 2018. Civil engineering activity increased marginally, with the rate of growth much softer than December’s 19-month high.
Commercial work was the weakest performing area of construction output in January. Latest data indicated a decline in work on commercial construction projects for the first time in ten months. Anecdotal evidence suggested that Brexit-related anxiety and associated concerns about the domestic economic outlook continued to weigh on client demand.
New business growth eased to an eight-month low in January.
Construction firms widely commented on softer demand conditions and longer sales conversion times, reflecting a wait-and-see approach to spending by clients. Concerns about the near-term outlook for new projects resulted in more cautious staff hiring policies at the start of 2019. The latest survey pointed to the slowest rise in employment numbers since July 2016.
However, construction firms remain positive about the outlook for business activity in 2019. Around 41% of the survey panel anticipate a rise in output, while only 16% forecast a fall.
Optimism had, however, fallen month on month. Large-scale civil engineering projects were cited as a key source of optimism, while Brexit uncertainty was the most commonly cited concern.
Tim Moore, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey: “UK construction growth shifted down a gear at the start of 2019, with weaker conditions signalled across all three main categories of activity.
“Commercial work declined for the first time in ten months as concerns about the domestic economic outlook continued to hold back activity.
“The latest survey also revealed a loss of momentum for house building and civil engineering, although these areas of the construction sector at least remained on a modest growth path.”
Duncan Brock, Group Director at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply said: “The sector suffered a sharp drop in output growth in January, and the softest rise in purchasing volumes since September 2017, as Brexit continues to hamper progress and dampen client confidence.
“The biggest shock came in the form of job creation which has managed to suffer the slings and arrows of Brexit highs and lows with solid hiring since the referendum result. Employment rose at the slowest rate since July 2016 and with optimism also in short supply, the sector only needs a small nudge to tip it closer to a recession.”
Commenting on the results, Brian Berry Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “The latest PMI data show a slowdown in growth in construction with business activity growth easing to its weakest for ten months. The ongoing political uncertainty is partly to blame for this setback.
“Political uncertainty is the enemy of construction firms that rely on the spending power of homeowners to commission home improvement projects. The UK is set to leave the EU next month, and yet we are still none the wiser about what the future holds. Given these intense headwinds, it should not be surprising that the sector suffered such a sharp decline.”
Mr Berry continued: “Alongside the political uncertainty, the cost of doing business is also rising for construction firms up and down the country. Material prices have been rising steadily since the depreciation of sterling following the EU referendum.
“Looking ahead, material prices are expected to continue to cause a headache for the construction industry with recent research from the FMB showing that 87% of builders believe that material prices will rise in the next six months. What’s more the construction skills crisis means that key trades are extremely difficult to recruit and the upshot of this is rising wages in construction.
“Tradespeople know they can command higher salaries than they did previously as workers are scarce, and this means a squeeze in margins for firms. This will only worsen if the post-Brexit immigration system that the Government has planned goes ahead.
“If the sector isn’t able to draw upon crucial EU workers of all skill levels, who have so far served to mitigate this shortage, the slowdown of growth will continue.”
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The Canadian Parliament’s Approach To the Use of Hand Sanitizer
The emergence of Covid-19 has affected most, if not every country worldwide. It is considered the worst international health calamity of the 21st century and the greatest challenge humans have faced since World War 2.
The virus rapidly spread across the world, posing serious health, social, environmental, and economic concerns in many countries. This prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the novel coronavirus a global pandemic.
A report published by the WHO on the 18th of April 2020 stated that Covid-19 had affected the lives of over 2 million people, killing nearly 150,000 people in more than 200 countries worldwide.
To enact preemptive measures to curb the novel coronavirus during its early stages, countries looked to the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to provide information on how to curb the virus.
The global health governing bodies invested in intense scientific research to find out details about the virus such as its prevalence, how it spreads, and how it affects different people.
Findings from the ongoing research by the two global health governing bodies prompted them to outline certain recommendations to help fight Covid-19. Some of them include staying at home, use of protective face masks when out in public, and maintaining both social distancing and good hand hygiene.
Countries such as Venezuela, Vietnam, and the Czech republic proceeded to implement some of these measures into law such as mandatory face mask use. Canada has also been affected severely by the virus.
Canada experienced an 11% drop in its GDP. As of the 1st of September, the country had experienced about 130,000 cases and over 9,000 fatalities. Let’s take a look at what the Government of Canada has done so far to curb the spread of the virus, including the use of hand sanitizer Canada.
Canada’s Fight Against Covid-19
A lot of Canada’s hospitals were ready for an overwhelming fight against Covid-19. The Government of Canada realized that all levels of the healthcare system in Canada were bound to be involved in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was, therefore, important that all levels of government related to the provision of care both regionally and nationally, worked together to impact an effective response.
Initially, there were concerns about a deficiency in personal protective equipment (PPEs) but the country passed legislation that favored an increase in production. In July, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that companies operating within Canada produced so much PPE in response to the coronavirus such that the country was almost becoming self-sufficient.
Canada’s Stand on Hand Sanitizer
As stated earlier, hand hygiene is one of the measures outlined by the CDC and the WHO in fighting Covid-19. This came about as a result of the discovery that the coronavirus primarily spreads through oral droplets from an infected person that are released when the person is talking, sneezing, or coughing.
These droplets could either land on someone thus infecting them or on a surface that experiences high human traffic. When a non-infected person touches the surface, they run the risk of being infected with the virus.
Therefore, to curb the risk of contamination, Canadians were urged to wash their hands with soap and water whenever possible or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer. As per Statistics Canada, the demand for hand sanitizer in the country rose by over 710% by mid-March 2020 as compared to the previous year.
In response to the unprecedented urgent need for hand sanitizer, Canada proceeded to implement various policies. Some of the policies involved both facilitating fast importation of hand sanitizer as well as the production of hand sanitizers that don’t fully meet regulatory requirements outlined by the Food and Drugs Act, the Hazardous Products Act, and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.
For instance, importers of hand sanitizers were required to use bilingual label copy on their online platforms. They would also provide distributors with a means of informing consumers where the bilingual label copy would be posted. This could be facilitated through a sticker applied directly to the product packaging or take-away pamphlets.
However, in June 2020, Health Canada recalled some hand sanitizer products from the market. Some of them include Sanilabs Hand Sanitizer, Eltraderm Hand Sanitizer, and Walker Emulsions Hand Sanitizer.
These products were said to have been made with an ingredient that could cause skin irritation to the skin hence the recall. Health Canada proceeded to publish a list of hand sanitizer brands that were approved for sale.
Mandatory Use of Hand Sanitizer: Canada’s Approach
When it comes to making hand sanitizer mandatory, the government has not implemented such a measure yet and is looking very unlikely to. The reason for this is that there are no hand sanitizers approved with coronavirus-related claims.
To be fair, no hand sanitizer manufacturer has come out to claim that hand sanitizer can kill viruses such as Covid-19. All the same, they do help reduce the risk of infection and spread of pathogens.
Will Making Hand Sanitizer Mandatory Help Fight Covid-19?
The onset of the Corona virus has affected the world in so many ways. Government administrations across the world have had to implement certain measures in response to the virus.
However, the variations in policy enactment and implementation meant that the severity of the coronavirus also varied a lot between countries. While some governments have been able to restrict its spread, others have not been as successful.
In Canada, millions of people have been affected health wise, financially, emotionally, and mentally. The provinces of Quebec and Ontario have recorded more than 85% of the country’s coronavirus cases.
As far as mandatory hand sanitizer use goes, the Government of Canada has not passed such a law and it’s not looking likely that it will either.
Because hand sanitizer use is not fully proven to kill pathogens, it cannot be concluded that making hand sanitizer use mandatory would be a progressive measure. Even if it was to implement such a law, policing would be difficult.
What they have done instead and have received wide applause for, is making it easier for Canadians to access hand sanitizer by implementing laws that allow for the quick production and sale of hand sanitizer products.

domain: news


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Advertisers often play off events and happens in the world as a chance to reach more consumers. With the Super Bowl coming up, one of the largest advertising events of the year, this article discusses the of staying neutral to the ongoing political issues.
A company that supplies building materials was planning to run an ad that featured a Spanish speaking mother and daughter confronting a wall. The National Football League has the right to approve and ad and this ad was deemed too controversial.
President of 84 Lumber, Maggie Hardy Magerko, commented on the pornographic, immoral, and racist nature of some ads shown today and is unsure why hers was censored.
In the past companies have made Super Bowl ads that don’t get aired because it generates online traffic and therefore more attention, but Magerko said that was not 84 Lumbers intentions.
Magerko also says that when there ad was in motion six weeks ago, they knew it would be a topic but not to the scale that it currently is.
Magerko also released a statement that she voted for Trump, so this ad was most likely not a malicious attack against him or his policies but rather in favor, which wold mean she is showing consistency between her belief and actions in regards to integrity. If she voted for Trump but then ran an ad against Trump and his proposed wall because she believed that would gain more attention and revenue she would be lacking integrity according to McFall.
Continuing on what McFall has to say about integrity, Magerko’s intentions were clearly intentional because no one runs an ad in a $5 million spot without extensive planning, but was she acting for the right reason? Or was it a similar situation mention above? It could be argued that while Magerko voted for Trump it is possible the ad was created for the wrong reasons of gaining attention and money rather than her beliefs. However, that is the purpose of advertisements so money and attention can’t really be classified to not acting for the right reason when that is the primary need to advertise.


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(Crystal City) There are plans for a whiskey and cigar bar coming to Crystal City. The Glass Brick Cigars and Spirits will be coming to Bailey Road in the coming year. Charlie Roberts with Roberts Pest Control along with another partner will be the owners of the business. Roberts says he has become a fan of both cigars and whiskeys and thinks this will be a great addition to the area.
Roberts says they will be doing some extensive work on the building to fit their needs.
You can follow their progress on their Facebook page The Glass Brick. They hope to open for business in the late fall of this year. Their location is 268 Bailey Road in Crystal City.


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Weavable and Highly Efficient Organic Light-Emitting Fibers for Wearable Electronics: A Scalable, Low-Temperature Process
© Douglas Sacha/Getty
A team of scientists from South Korea has developed a new technique for making light-emitting ultrathin fibres, paving the way for wearable electronic displays, according to a study published in the journal Nano Letters.
electronic devices with passive and active components, such as conductors,
sensors and logic circuits, have attracted considerable interest in the textile
and fashion industries as wearable displays in smart clothing. However, the organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs)
used for wearable displays exhibit much lower performance compared to their traditional
counterparts used in circuit boards.
from the Korea Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have now developed a simple
and inexpensive technique for making OLED fibres that can be woven into textiles
or knitted into clothes. The fibres are flexible, durable and washable, and
perform as well as planar devices.
The work opens the door for the commercialization of
fibre-based wearable displays.
- Nano Lett. 18, 347-356 (2018). doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04204
|Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea||1.00|


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A group of seaweed producers is urging the Marcos administration to increase budget support to the industry to boost domestic production and tap into the huge local and global market potential.
Alfredo Pedrosa III, president of the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines, called on the government to reduce annual budget support for the seaweed industry to around 250 million pesos.
Pedrosa lamented that government funding for the local seaweed industry has steadily declined over the past five years, plunging to just 40 million pesos this year.
Pedrosa pointed out that the amount of government aid is “miserable” compared to the annual export revenue that seaweed generates for the country.
Pedrosa pointed out that the country earns about $200 million from seaweed exports, but the government only channels about $781,000 to $3.6 million in financial support. “The seaweed industry in 2012 had 250 million pesos. Today it is around 40 million pesos,” he revealed at the PCAFI-HAN Usapang Pagkain forum on Friday.
“If the budget goes back to 250 million pesos, it would already be a huge help for the industry,” he added.
Pedrosa noted that the government budget for the seaweed industry in 2018 was 138 million pesos, 198 million pesos in 2019, 59.2 million pesos in 2020, 43 million pesos in 2021 and 47 million pesos. for 2022.
Meanwhile, the country’s total seaweed export value in the past five years reached $191.143 million in 2018, $221.316 million in 2019, $175.59 million in 2020 and $209.588 million in 2021, Pedrosa said.
Pedrosa pointed out that seaweed has enormous growth potential due to its versatility as a food additive, pharmaceutical ingredient and laboratory material.
In fact, Pedrosa pointed out that seaweed can even be used as an organic fertilizer and animal feed product, which could help local farmers cope with the rising prices of inorganic planting inputs.
He explained that additional budgetary support from the government is needed to develop seaweed farms as the country has a huge unexploited hectare suitable for seaweed production.
Pedrosa said the country has a total of 102,000 hectares of municipal water that can be used for seaweed production, but only 17,000 hectares are used.
Pedrosa said the 85,000 unused hectares are capable of producing an additional 640,000 metric tons of dried seaweed.
Additionally, Pedrosa said the industry could venture into deep-sea seaweed farming, as the country has an available deep-water area of around 500,000 hectares.
Bad propaganda vs carrageenan
Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food President Danilo V. Fausto supported Pedrosa’s call and argued that the government should also allocate funds to fund the country’s marketing campaign to fight against misinformation and misinformation against carrageenan.
Pedrosa revealed that the country’s carrageenan is facing a massive misinformation and misinformation campaign in major overseas markets, particularly the United States.
This misinformation and misinformation, Pedrosa explained, claims that carrageenan is bad for people’s health and should not be allowed to be used as a food additive.
Pedrosa claimed that “people with special interests” who seek to replace carrageenan as a food and pharmaceutical additive with other alternative products support the bad propaganda against carrageenan.
Carrageenan is one of the country’s flagship products from seaweed. The Philippines ranks second in the global market in terms of carrageenan exports. “We are losing to this widespread misinformation and misinformation. There are even some products that have labels that say: warning with carrageenan,” Pedrosa said.
“What is wrong with carrageenan? To protect this industry, we need to work together, the public sector and the private sector,” he added.
Pedrosa said Philippine carrageenan is experiencing the same smear campaign that the country’s coconut oil suffered in the United States a few years ago.
Picture credits: Picture DOST-S4CP


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The rapid advancement of digital technology is exponentially widening the divide between the digitally advanced and those without any digital skills. This leaves millions of small suppliers at risk of being left behind, frustrating the vision of a transformed, economically empowered and equal society.
Catherine Wijnberg of Fetola, growth specialists in the supplier development sector observes: “The digital divide is real and growing. It needs to be tackled if we are to deliver transformation in the supply chain and enable small suppliers to survive into this new future.”
Evidence from Africa indicates that the dearth of top-level IT skills, fear, lack of access to technology and language barriers are widening, not closing the gap.
Successful South African entrepreneur, Audrey Mothupi, CEO and self-proclaimed Chief Hustler of Systemic Logic, has grown her business rapidly using the power of partnerships, building networks and accessing lasting relationships across the ecosystem. She strongly believes in the power of confidence: “If an entrepreneur is brave enough to start a business, they can be brave enough to transition into the digital economy.”
Closing the gap globally
In South Africa and beyond, large companies acknowledge their long-term responsibilities to work with suppliers to establish policies and provide solutions that close the growing digital gap. Constraints that challenge their efforts with small emerging suppliers include affordability, low literacy, infrastructure and lack of finance.
Lorenzo Bell of Ernst & Young believes: “It really boils down to policy and investment to create a digital transformation in Africa. Corporates will benefit as they build their supply chain, expand and penetrate markets, and build an ecosystem that enables viable businesses and builds communities.”
Creating solutions together through partnership and learning
Africa is the continent with the youngest population in the world and with a population projected to double by 2050, the future of youth and digital cannot be ignored by governments wanting a secure future and corporates chasing this growing market.
Prof Barry Dwolatzky, founder of the Wits University’s Digital Innovation Precinct, is passionate about investing in Africa’s unique personality. The digital precinct links SMEs with corporates, innovators and mentors, providing a platform for youth to collaborate, exchange learning and create partnerships. Initiatives such as this provide a bubble of digital innovation and energy with which to explore solutions to the numerous problems in Africa. There is potential to develop this innovation and unique African skill-set capacity to scale and support to enable these to enter the corporate supply chain.
Supplier Development impact
At a national level, many individual corporate initiatives are doing great work in supporting small supplier success but in the greater scheme of things, these strategies are not touching sides. Unemployment is growing, economic growth is stagnant and social unrest is a looming concern. The question is how do corporates and suppliers work together to achieve greater things?
The starting point is recognising the gap – not only between small suppliers and corporate, but between corporates, the government and the future. Collaborative initiatives such as shared market access platforms that suppliers can access to contribute to the virtual marketplace shorten that gap.
As co-founder of the Business Day Supplier Development Awards, Catherine Wijnberg says: “We are on a shared journey. And if we don’t recognise the challenges across Africa and commit to solving these together, we will all face a challenging future.”
The challenges SMEs face are well known. They include lack of data, limited internet coverage, data costs and devices, language (and digital language) limitations, historical exclusion from meaningful relational partnerships and networks. What is often missed is the gap in understanding between the mechanisms of the corporate world and those in small business, especially in youth that have no working experience.
The solutions available to corporate leaders are those that take them into the future: long-term relationships with suppliers, collaborative strategies within and across industries, provision of meaningful training, as well as support and guidance to enable small suppliers to become trusted partners in their future. Now, more than ever, corporate Africa needs the courage and humility to reach out embrace a shared future.
To join the 2021 Absa Business Day Supplier Development Awards, an initiative of Arena, Cold Press Media and Fetola, and be part of this dynamic network of people changing the future of South Africa visit www.sdawards.co.za or email firstname.lastname@example.org today.
Key learning points
- Smart phones are Africa’s device of choice. Africa has largely skipped the laptop generation
- Mobile phones already provide widespread access to technology, information and game-changing low-tech low-data solutions
- Uniquely African creativity opens the door to digital opportunities such as animation, gaming and innovative digital business solutions
- Partnerships are pivotal. Good partnerships support rapid scale, build capacity, pool knowledge and leapfrog growth challenges
- Speed in the digital world is tantamount. Small suppliers can respond rapidly – paving the way for their larger corporate partners to benefit
- Access to growth finance is critical to company growth. Supplier Development relationships that enable this create a win-win outcome
- Easy access platforms such as marketplace, learning portals, communication and supplier management systems underpin future growth. Good ones are value-adding to SMEs and large suppliers alike
- Digital security and corporate compliance are barriers that need shared vision to be overcome
- Inclusive growth requires a collaborative, symbiotic journey that includes SMEs, corporates and stakeholders. The basis of this is a common language, shared vision and mutual respect


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West Hollywood, CA – 02-23-2022 (PR Distribution™) –
Blockverse founder claims the company has ambitious plans to build the “largest metaverse on blockchain.”
West Hollywood, CA. February 23, 2022—Erik Daniel Garcia, CEO of EG Entertainment, says he’s building the “largest metaverse on blockchain.” While the project flew under the radar until now, Garcia says Blockverse has been in development for years. In 2013, he pitched his metaverse concept to Disney executives.
“No one had even heard of the metaverse,” recalls Garcia. “Remember, people were still warming up to social media back then.” When the iconic blue chip brand passed, Garcia resolved to build his own team.
Garcia describes Blockverse as a “multi-planetary blockchain metaverse.” Initial launch plans include a play-to-earn augmented reality (AR) experience. Expansion into virtual reality will follow.
“Blockverse will include hundreds of branded planets,” said Garcia. “The boundaries will continue to expand—like the universe itself,” he said. Players will travel seamlessly from one planet to another. As they explore the worlds of creators, celebrity brands, and influencers, they can discover and collect stashes of cryptocurrency.
“The ability to find and collect valuable cryptocurrencies will help Blockverse become a preferred destination in the metaverse,” said Garcia. “Imagine getting invited to two parties. At one party, hundred-dollar bills are randomly scattered across the venue, all for the taking. Which would you attend?”
Garcia’s original vision did not include blockchain and cryptocurrency. The technology’s meteoric rise over the last few years grabbed Garcia’s attention. He realized blockchain, crypto, and NFTs were critical components for long-term success. Rather than developing a new token from the ground up, Garcia stuck to his expertise. He developed partnerships to incorporate multiple tokens and the blockchain architecture.
Beyond leading Blockverse, Garcia runs a social video agency, EG Entertainment. He has managed and created social media marketing campaigns for high-profile brands like L’Oréal Paris, Don Julio Tequila, ‘Val’ (documentary), Fuller Brush Co., and several celebrities and professional athletes. In 2015, he created La Chancla, the most downloaded Latino game app in history. Garcia also owns and operates two of the top video platforms in the legal and medical industries, and serves on the board of TBI Med Legal, the largest traumatic brain injury conference in the world for lawyers and doctors. Garcia plans to leverage his social media marketing expertise, along with his business, celebrity, and influencer connections, to grow the Blockverse community.
“I have no illusions that I can build this alone,” said Garcia. “We’ve put together a stunning team of designers, developers, creatives, and blockchain specialists. The team is working every day to build something mind blowing. I believe Blockverse will be the largest metaverse on blockchain.”
“Blockverse landowners and users will be able to earn ongoing passive income, something I’ve always wanted to help people create for themselves,” said Garcia. “We look forward to sharing more details as we get closer to launch.”
Follow @bv_metaverse on Twitter to stay up to date on launch information
Company Name: Blockverse
Full Name: Erik Daniel Garcia
Phone: (310) 499-3915
Email Address: Send Email
For the original news story, please visit https://www.prdistribution.com/news/blockverse-takes-aim-to-create-the-largest-blockchain-based-metaverse-2.html.


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US law puts Indian ports under scanner5 min read . Updated: 31 Oct 2007, 11:57 PM IST
US law puts Indian ports under scanner
US law puts Indian ports under scanner
India will have to spend a few thousand crores of rupees to buy and install equipment that scans cargo containers bound for the US from its ports, to comply with a new US law that will come into force in 2012.
Without such investments and resulting changes, Indian ports risk being in the list of ports that are excluded from shipping containers to the US under the Law on Maritime Cargo Scanning Requirements that was enacted in August.
While it may seem several years away, shipping industry experts note that the changes will take substantial time given the logistical and other issues confronting Indian ports.
India shipped about 145,000 forty-foot equivalent units (FEUs) of cargo containers to the US in the nine months to September, from ports in Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Tuticorin, Kochi, Kandla, Mundra and Pipavav. But none of these containers was scanned at the ports before they were put on ships for transporting to destinations in the US. A twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) is the standard size of a container and is a common measure of capacity in the container business. An FEU is double the size of a TEU.
“Currently, we are scanning only import containers. Export containers are not touched at all," said P.K. Sinha, additional commissioner (imports), customs department, Mumbai.
The responsibility of scanning cargo containers passing through Indian ports is with the customs department and not with port authorities, terminal operators or shipping lines. “Export containers are not being scanned now because of fears that it may delay exports," Sinha added.
Though aware of the new legislation, it would be difficult to comply with the new law as “100% scanning of export containers bound for the US may not be possible. It requires huge investments in infrastructure, will add to the costs, delay exports and leads to congestion," said S.S. Hussain, chairman of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
“It is their (US) legislation. At the cost of other countries, US wants to be safe. It is up to the US whether to accept or reject export containers sent from India," said an official at the Directorate General of Shipping, the country’s maritime regulator, who asked not to be named.
A JNPT official said the cost of a mobile scanning equipment is about Rs14-15 crore at current prices, while a fixed scanner costs around Rs40 crore.
About 15% of the 1.65 million export containers handled at JNPT in fiscal 2007 went to the US. “The balance 85% goes to other countries where there is no such scanning rule. Why should we give an exclusive service for only 15% of the export volumes handled at the port?" the port official asked.
Sinha said a shortage of scanning equipment and space constraints inside ports, particularly JNPT, has prevented the customs department from undertaking full-fledged scanning of cargo containers at ports. “We are currently scanning only 10% of import containers that lands at JN Port and these are chosen randomly by the electronic data interchange system," he said.
JNPT, India’s biggest container port handling some 60% of the country’s container cargo, has two scanners—one mobile scanner operating at the port and the other installed at a container freight station run by the state-owned Central Warehousing Corp. Ltd, some 4km from the port. These two have been installed, and are maintained and operated by the customs department.
“Given the huge volumes of container cargo passing through JNPT, these two scanners are not enough. We need a dedicated area for scanning containers with four-five scanners," said Om Prakash Agarwal, senior vice-president, Bombay Custom House Agents’ Association.
The mobile scanner installed inside JNPT can scan only about 10 containers per hour, Agarwal added.
Sinha said the Directorate of Logistics, functioning under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), was in the process of buying scanning equipment to be installed at all the container ports in the country. CBEC is buying about 10 such scanners at an investment of Rs500-800 crore, said a Union shipping ministry official who did not wish to be named. This equipment is being purchased and installed for the safety and security of Indian ports and is not intended to comply with the US law, the official said.
However, Sinha said when more scanners are installed, the customs department would be able to screen export containers as well. “The additional equipment would take care of scanning export containers also. If we are asked to scan export containers, we will have to do it," said Sinha.
Meanwhile, JNPT, on its own, is in the process of floating a global tender for buying a state-of-the-art fixed scanner with a view to beef up security after the recent theft of four containers from the port and stray incidents of cargo theft from export containers. “The board of trustees of JN Port has cleared the proposal to buy the scanner, which will be installed inside the port and operated by the Central Industrial Security Force," Hussain said.
Agarwal said a failure to screen each and every container going from India to the US from 2012 would result in these containers being sent back. “In such a case, Indian exporters will lose, both on ocean freight and also on orders," he said.
The JNPT official said the US law can be implemented in totality in India, only if all the container freight stations are equipped with scanners.
“For this, a policy decision will have to be taken by the government, making it mandatory for all container freight stations to install scanning equipment to scan containers and charge it to the exporter. This will, however, add to the cost of exports," the JNPT official said.
“In such a case, the shipper (exporter) will have to pay the scanning costs," said Shanat Shetty, head (ocean freight service centre), India at Swiss freight-forwarder Panalpina.
India is in talks with the US to join the Container Security Initiative, which pre-selects, according to risk assessment criteria, containers destined for the US prior to loading on the ship in a foreign port, the shipping ministry official said.
The initiative, launched in 2002 by the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, initially focused on the top 20 ports shipping about two-thirds of the container volume to the US. But smaller ports are being added to the programme and participation is open to any port meeting certain volume, equipment, procedural and information-sharing requirements.


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Vertu Motors has appointed a new head of fleet for its Mercedes-Benz division.
Damien Rigby (pictured) has more than 18 years’ experience working in the fleet industry, with 12 specifically in the leasing market.
Prior to joining the dealer group, Rigby held a number of senior positions across six years at Mercedes-Benz UK and most recently was strategic business manager at Arval.
Damien brings “extensive experience in building strategies and managing budgets that deliver profitable growth from fleet sales to his new position”, Vertu said.
“As head of fleet he is focused on strengthening the divisions fleet team, developing current and new customer relationships and delivering the best customer experience, establishing Vertu as the preferred choice for Mercedes-Benz in the fleet market.”
Vertu Motors recently acquired Hughes Group, which has Mercedes-Benz outlets in Beaconsfield and Aylesbury.


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- The operator of a Texas-based sports activities health supplement company pleaded responsible on Tuesday to selling medications around the US that have not been approved by the Food and drug administration and labeling them as “nutritional supplements.”
- Brett Becker, 32, was the operator of Accelerated Genetix, LLC, a company that developed and offered sports and dietary nutritional supplements through various outlets.
- Selective Androgen Receptor Modules, or SARMs, are a classification of drugs that have identical houses to anabolic steroids. The medicine are prohibited by the US Anti-Doping Company equally in-and-outdoors of opposition and have not been authorized by the Food and drug administration.
- Pay a visit to Business Insider’s homepage for extra tales.
The operator of a Texas sporting activities health supplement business pleaded guilty to advertising unapproved new medication during the US and intentionally misleading the Fda and consumers, in accordance to a release from the Division of Justice on Tuesday.
Officers mentioned Brett David Becker, 32, and his business, Accelerated Genetix, LLC, bought Selective Androgen Receptor Modules (SARMs) such as Ostarine and Ligandrol to customers as a result of retail retailers and on the online, especially in the Western District of Virginia the place the case was litigated. In link with his guilty plea, Becker also agreed to forfeit about $3.5 million, the approximate total of income Accelerated Genetix acquired from its profits of the medications.
According to The Farr Institute, an on line wellness organization that conducted investigation on health care products and solutions, SARMs are a classification of medication that have anabolic, or muscle mass setting up, homes equivalent to steroids.
SARMs have not authorized by the Fda for usage or leisure needs. In 2017 the Food and drug administration despatched a letter of warning to a separate sports supplement service provider relating to the dangers of everyday living-threatening reactions to SARMs drugs which include liver toxicity, heart assaults, and strokes.
“Becker and his enterprise place their customers’ health and fitness at risk by unlawfully distributing prescription drugs without having Fda acceptance,” stated Acting United States Lawyer Bubar. “This circumstance is significantly troubling, specified the FDA’s express and recurring warnings about the dangers of SARMs. Fda laws are integral to safeguarding consumers, and I am happy of our federal workforce that took on this investigation to assure the procedures and the general public are guarded.”
Also, the US Anti-Doping Agency prohibits all of the athletes in its jurisdiction from using SARMs each in-and-exterior of competitors. SARMs could be forbidden from competitiveness, but that has not stopped bodybuilders from attaining fascination in the new drug. In accordance to Google Trends, on the internet queries for the medications have steadily enhanced in the past five a long time.
According to the Maritime Corp Community Providers, SARMs are normally promoted to bodybuilders as an different to steroids, or even as “authorized steroids.” In his guilty plea, Becker admitted to labeling the SARMs prescription drugs at his organization as “dietary health supplements” to sway its prospective buyers into believing the drugs were safe and legal. Becker also admitted to manufacturing a personalized purchase of a product or service that involved SARMs in spite of figuring out it was illegal to promote.
“Medications masquerading as nutritional supplements sidestep the Fda acceptance method and set people at chance,” said Acting Assistant Lawyer Basic Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to work with Fda to be certain a risk-free and effective drug provide.”
In accordance to the DOJ, Becker’s sentencing is now set for March 15, 2021.


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TQL Wins Best in Cargo Security Award from CargoNet
Cincinnati (OH) – Total Quality Logistics (TQL), the nation’s second largest freight brokerage firm, has been awarded the “Best in Cargo Security” Award for 2017 in the Larger Broker/Intermediary Category by CargoNet for its cargo theft prevention efforts. This is TQL’s second time receiving this award.
CargoNet helps prevent cargo theft and improves recovery rates through secure and controlled information sharing among theft victims, their business partners and law enforcement officials. CargoNet uses a national database and information-sharing system managed by crime analysts and subject-matter experts.
“We’re very pleased to recognize TQL’s security efforts by selecting it as a ‘Best in Cargo Security’ winner,” said Ryan Shepherd, general manager, CargoNet. “TQL clearly understands the importance of cargo security and continually applies the appropriate resources to protect its customers’ freight. We are proud to recognize these efforts and grateful for their continued support.”
Factors considered for the award include TQL’s documented security plan for in-transit cargo, it’s process for communicating theft trends and best practices and training, protocols and contingency plans for unexpected delays on the road and high-value cargo, and the extent of TQL’s utilization of the CargoNet program.
“Cargo theft is a serious international problem affecting consumers and businesses. Our internal teams at TQL work tirelessly to identify threats to our customers’ freight and ensure the well-being of all those involved in transporting loads. CargoNet is an important partner in our prevention efforts and we are honored to receive this award,” said TQL President Kerry Byrne.
TQL produces cargo safety blogs based on CargoNet tip-sheets before major holidays and other high-risk times of the year to ensure customers and carriers are aware of current threats. This information is available on the TQL website at https://www.tql.com/about-us/tqldrive-blog.


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On Friday, the government is expected to say non-farm payrolls rose 50,000 in April, against 58,000 in March and marking a third straight gain. Investors are looking for improvement on the job front to raise hopes for growth.
Economic statistics last week showed a resurgent economy, but earnings reports from major industries have been disappointingly thin on evidence that the much-vaunted rebound is actually taking shape.
Procter & Gamble is set to say on Tuesday that it lifted earnings to 83 cents a share, from 75 cents a year ago but it will be the forward-looking statements that grab Wall Street's attention.
Today, personal income and spending are expected to have shown a rise of 0.4% in March as Americans appear to be fighting shy of increasing their debt at the rapid pace they did when times were better.
On Tuesday, the critical consumer confidence gauge for April is expected to show sentiment has dipped to 108.4 from 110.2.Reuse content


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Enterprise blockchain news
Legal and IP
Travel & mobility
Management & legal
Tag - Oil
Oil enterprise blockchain VAKT outlines roadmap to...
Equinor, Saudi Aramco invest in commodity blockchain...
China targets blockchain for commodities and trade...
Oil blockchain VAKT covers 2/3 of North seal crude...
Abu Dhabi Oil reveals IBM blockchain supply chain pilot
VAKT oil post trade blockchain goes live
Oil blockchain VAKT set to launch this year
Find out more.


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After shopping at Alaska’s only Target over our recent Anchorage vacation, I was interested to see this article pop up. Its a pretty bold move, but lets hope that its a first of many.
updated 7:47 a.m. AKT, Tues., Jan. 26, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS – Target Corp., the nation’s second-largest discounter after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Tuesday that it pulled all farmed salmon from its stores as it looks to be more environmentally conscious.
The retailer said it will no longer carry farmed salmon in its fresh, frozen or smoked seafood sections. The move impacts national brands and the chain’s own Archer Farms and Market Pantry brands, which will now use wild-caught Alaskan salmon.


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The SPCA says more than 200 pets are still missing in Christchurch following last month's earthquake.
In the aftermath of the 7.1 quake, 445 pets were registered as missing, 409 of them cats, the association says.
Many found their own way home or were reunited with their owners through the association and other organisations.
SPCA national president Bob Kerridge says it is tough for people who have not been able to find their pets, but owners should not lose hope as many pets will take some time to come home.
Pet store Animates has launched an earthquake fund to raise money for the SPCA and the Cats' Protection League.


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Bangor Daily News
Maine news, sports, politics, election results, and obituaries
CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou’s downtown center is seeing more new businesses, but a scarcity of retail and gathering places sends many locals elsewhere.
Sweden Street was traditionally the hub of Caribou’s downtown. Even after the controversial Downtown Mall brought a more urban feel in the 1970s, the city had an array of stores offering clothing, jewelry, furniture and other household items.
In the 1990s, the closure of Loring Air Force Base and the opening of Presque Isle’s now struggling mall caused most of those shops to leave. Now only a handful of retail stores exist on Sweden Street, forcing many people to travel to Presque Isle. Longtime business owners and residents say more retail and gathering spaces are needed to keep shoppers home.
The tide has started to change. Restaurants are reviving empty spaces on Sweden Street and two new spas moved in last year. Craft stores on nearby Herschel Street have given arts enthusiasts more incentive to check out the downtown.
Debbie Sutherland, owner of home decor and gift shop Brambleberry Market, has seen both the highs and lows of Sweden Street. She was in high school when department stores like J.J. Newberry, L.S. Hall, F.W. Woolworth and J. C. Penney thrived, prior to Loring’s 1994 closure.
“Newberry’s had a lunch counter. My mother and I always stopped in for an ice cream after shopping,” Sutherland said. “This would have been the late 60s and early 70s.”
When Sutherland opened her store in the Downtown Mall in 2010, those businesses were long gone, but Sweden Street had two clothing stores — The Cubby Thriftstore and the popular Buzzell’s.
The pandemic prompted both Buzzell’s and the iconic Reno’s Family Restaurant to close. Since then, many new restaurants have opened or expanded throughout Caribou. Sleeper’s Market, the city’s longest running supermarket, also carries clothing and shoes from its Lyndon Street location.
But most retail stores in Caribou are not on Sweden Street, meaning shoppers no longer think of the downtown as the first place to go.
“It would be nice to have more clothing stores and a dry cleaner,” Sutherland said. “A lot of people end up going to Bangor to drop off their dry cleaning and then back again to pick up their clothes.”
Caribou and Presque Isle have laundromats, but no dry cleaners.
Caribou resident Tracy Babin said she usually buys outdoor clothing at Sleeper’s and checks out The Cubby when looking for clothes or shoes for her children.
There are fewer stores than when she was growing up, Babin said. She admits traveling to Presque Isle for some shopping.
“I still think the downtown is a neat little area, but a general department store to buy things like sneakers or pet supplies would be nice,” Babin said, while shopping at The Cubby last week. “Then we wouldn’t always have to go to Walmart [in Presque Isle].”
One of Sweden Street’s newer businesses — Ruska Coffee Co., located in the former Buzzell’s building — has given the public a place to gather. It has also made people think of similar businesses they’d like to see.
“I would love to see a bakery or bookstore. Somewhere like the coffeeshop where people can gather and foster professional and personal relationships,” said The Cubby co-owner Cindy Johnson.
Jan Grieco of Perham has become a Ruska regular. A writer and retired educator, she often stops in to enjoy a cup of coffee and chat with friends and fellow writers.
Though Perham is a bit closer to Caribou than Presque Isle, Grieco usually visits Presque Isle for longer shopping trips. More places like Ruska, she said, would give her more reasons to frequent Caribou’s downtown.
“There aren’t many gathering places besides bars or restaurants. We need places [like Ruska] that have a more homey feel,” Grieco said.
When Caribou City Manager Penny Thompson visits Sweden Street, she sees a downtown that could be vibrant again.
Thompson is the city’s go-to person for economic development, despite criticism from those who think Caribou needs a full-time economic director. After losing their marketing and events coordinator in 2021 and seeing city budgets tighten, leaders opted to rely more on local marketing consultants.
But Thompson sees an advantage in the knowledge that marketing experts Bethany Zell and Christina Kane-Gibson bring to the table. Both are Caribou natives and small business owners. Kane-Gibson was the city’s most recent marketing and events coordinator
“They come into contact with other small business owners more so than a full-time employee at the city office,” Thompson said. “So they add a different perspective when we talk about small business development.”
So far, the city has not received proposals for new retail or other businesses in the Sweden Street area, Thompson said, adding that much of what happens for business development will depend on which people have the best ideas.
But the city is stepping up efforts to help, Thompson said. Caribou recently updated its “Business Friendly Road Map,” a guide for aspiring entrepreneurs, and has expanded facade improvement grants. Ruska Coffee won one last year.
With more families and young entrepreneurs moving to Caribou, Thompson hopes Sweden Street can grow like other areas of the city have.
“People are recognizing that Caribou has a wonderful quality of life,” Thompson said. “It’s part of our job to remind people of what we have and how they could get started [with their own business].”
Caribou residents say more retail stores needed to grow downtown – Bangor Daily News
Bangor Daily News


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Acrilex Enters World of Social Media
Acrilex, Inc., a leading producer and distributor of highend
custom-colored acrylics, is joining social media via
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Acrilex’s innovative
approach to product development will be highlighted
throughout these social media platforms to generate discussions
on key trends in the industry.
Now everyone from plastic distributors to store fixture
designers have the opportunity to learn, brainstorm and
connect with Acrilex instantaneously.
The company’s Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages
provide instant access to the company’s green initiatives,
design contests, photos, feature articles, as well as
updates on exciting new products. Whether it’s tackling
questions about greener plastic options or how to get the
most stunning colors for a display, “Dr. Dan” is available in
real-time to take on questions and listen to feedback from
customers as well as other industry experts.
Become a fan of Acrilex on Facebook by visiting
http://bit.ly/1IrUxh and follow them on Twitter at
http://bit.ly/2dszAH to learn about the latest breaking
news in the acrylic industry.
For more information, contact Dan Rustin,
Acrilex, Inc., 230 Culver Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07305,
800-222-4680, Fax: 201-333-1237, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org, Web: www.acrilex.com.


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Welcome to our Gear of the Year awards. Kicking us off, we have the year’s best tablets and smartphones as voted by you, our readers.
Has Huawei reached a point where it can compete with the bigger brands with its latest flagship phone? Let’s find out.
A first look at the P8 smartphone and some other hot Huawei products.
Look out for the low-light loving Huawei P8 on shelf this June.
Rumour has it the phone will focus heavily on capturing low light photography.


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Resource Auto Mail.ru has published images of a three-dimensional model of a brand new model Lada B-class, which, according to official data, should be released in the next calendar year.
This three-dimensional model was created based on available information about the car, as well as recently published photos of the naked body of the new car.
As we previously reported, the first pre-production car was assembled in March and presented to Avtovaz president Nicolas Mora. In terms of dimensions, the new car will be between the Lada Granta and Vesta.
Technical characteristics of the new car have not yet been disclosed. According to unofficial information, the new Lada B-class model will be built on the Renault CMF-B LS platform. In 2023 it will be assembled on the same assembly line where Granta is assembled now.
On the front and rear fenders there are small longitudinal notches, smoothly transitioning to the doors. There will be no X-shaped notches on the doors.
Waiting for more details to emerge.


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Tag: Ji Chang-wook
Ji Chang-wook for Elle Japan on March 2
Actor Ji Chang-wook completed the pictorial with perfect visuals. Japanese fashion magazine ELLE JAPAN released a pictorial and interview with Ji Chang-wook on March 2.
Ji Chang-wook poses for Giorgio Armani 22F/W collection
On October 19, the men's fashion magazine "Arena Homme+" released Ji Chang-wook's photos from a photo shoot with Italian fashion brand Giorgio Armani.
Ji Chang-wook shares an "idol-like" selfie
On the afternoon of June 19, actor Ji Chang-wook posted a selfie on Instagram story.
(G)I-DLE Allure An Yu-jin Apink Arena Homme+ BLACKPINK Boys Planet Cosmopolitan Dazed Drama Awards ELLE Esquire GQ Hangout with Yoo Harper's Bazaar Instagram IVE Jisoo Jun Hyun-moo Kep1er Kim Sung-joo Knowing Bros Kyuhyun Lee Hyo-ri Lee Seung-gi LE SSERAFIM Marie Claire Korea Minho MONSTA X Netflix NMIXX Omniscient Interfering View Profile Red Velvet Running Man SBS SEVENTEEN Singles star1 STAYC tvN TWICE Variety show Vogue YG


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15 of 17Image
HP & Autonomy
In addition to the scuttling of the TouchPad and the WebOS/Palm division at HP, Leo Apotheker's very short term as HP Chairman and CEO will be always known for the company's $11.1 billion acquisition of Autonomy, a European maker of unstructured data analytics software.
At the time the purchase occured many industry observers were keen on figuring out what HP would do with the technology after the acquisition, and well over a year later HP has still not effectively communicated how it fits in to its overall enterprise software strategy.
But the real bombshell came in 2012 when the company announced that after an internal investigation, HP had discovered there were severe accounting improprieties at Autonomy during its acquisition and would have to write down almost a $9 billion loss, sending the company's stock into a tailspin.
This alone probably makes the Autonomy purchase by HP the most infamous and wasteful cash spend for a software assset of all time.
Facebook & Instagram
While not anywhere near on the "WTF" scale as Zynga's or HP's acquisition blunders in the last year, the $1B acquisition of the photo sharing service Instagram by Facebook is still somewhat questionable and it remains to be seen if the merger ends up being a successful one.
On the surface it seems that Facebook entering the photo sharing space was a good idea, but whether they needed to spend a billion dollars to do something they probably could have coded in-house for far, far less money and gotten probably instantaneous market share on is another matter entirely.
Ten months after the acquisition, Instagram is still an independent app download from the main Facebook app on both the iOS and Android platform, and the sharing of the photos on user timelines is anything but seamless, so the integration of the company's assets have been questionable.
But code integration isn't the worst of this merger's problems. Facebook has recently cut off the use of Instagram's "cards" API to Twitter, which has enraged many of Instagram's core user base that actively uses both services. Kerfuffles (and about-faces) over Instagram's terms of service and photo usage rights by Facebook haven't helped the company's image either.
Apple & Lala
With most of the company mergers listed in this piece, although many of them turned out horribly, you can at least say that the intentions of the company doing the acquisition had the objective of actually integrating the assets of the company being acquired and making money with it.
I mean, this is usually why you acquire another company, right?
Apple bought music streaming service Lala.com back in December of 2009 for about $80M. If you recall, Lala was doing some innovative things around pricing and service offierings in the music streaming business, and our own Ed Bott picked it as his favorite among iTunes alternatives in his article written in April of 2009.
Well, Lala was being so innovative that it scared the hell out of Apple, so the company simply decided to throw its money at the upstart just to take it off the market and to kill the product and service.
No further development, no integration into iTunes, nada.
While the financial impact of Lala's death is far smaller than any of the mergers and acquisitions listed in this rogue's gallery, it is by far the worst and most malicious case of corporate merger infanticide I have ever seen to date.


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AST Research Inc., a personal computer manufacturer, announced a change in its accounting for acquisition-related expenditures. Costs previously deferred were to be expensed immediately. The change had no direct impact on current or future cash flows. A copy of the The Wall Street Journal article announcing AST’s accounting change follows:
AST Research said it is restating results for its fiscal 1994 fourth quarter as a result of a disagreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over accounting rules.
The restatement will cause AST to report a loss of $8.1 million, or 25 cents a share, for the fourth quarter ended July 2, instead of the previously reported net income of $14.1 million, or 41 cents a share. The dispute arose out of an SEC review of AST’s proxy statement for a $377.5 million investment in the company by Samsung Electronics Company.
The SEC staff concluded that $33.6 million of the expenses related to AST’s 1993 acquisition of the computer manufacturing operations of Tandy Corporation should be charged to sales during the fourth quarter, rather than amortized over future quarters as goodwill.
AST said that the SEC didn’t force it to restate the results, and that AST had agreed to the restatement to avoid delays in approval of the proxy and the Samsung investment. The redesignation of income has no material effect on AST. It’s a noncash loss and will be offset by increases in net income in subsequent quarters, because of the lack of goodwill amortization.
In Nasdaq Stock Market trading yesterday, AST closed at $17.625, up 25 cents.
“They [the SEC] had a different interpretation on a piece of the accounting for the acquisition,” said Bruce Edwards, AST’s chief financial officer. “We decided to do the restatement to move forward on the transaction” with Samsung.
An SEC official acknowledged that the agency’s corporation finance division had been in talks with AST about its fourth- quarter earnings report but wouldn’t say whether the SEC pressured AST to revise the report.
It isn’t unusual for the agency to question a company’s account of its own earnings, the official said. Only in rare cases does such a review spell bigger problems for the company, such as when the SEC thinks executives intentionally misstated earnings to hype a stock price. But there isn’t any indication that AST did that in this case, the official added.
AST also agreed to issue additional shares to Samsung if AST incurs any uninsured losses, in excess of a certain threshold, as a result of being sued by shareholders. AST said it has now received all necessary approvals for Samsung’s investment.
The company scheduled a special meeting of shareholders for June 30 to vote on the transaction.
Source: ‘AST Research,” The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 1995. Copyright © 1995 Dow Jones&Company, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprinted with permission.
Why was the stock market so forgiving in evaluating the accounting method change made by AST Research?


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SURAT: Weavers and textile processors in Surat are looking forward to an increase in consumption of man-made fibre (MMF) in the domestic market at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.2 per cent till 2015-16.
A recent industry research report says that factors like rise in disposable income, growing consumer class, rising urbanization, increasing retail penetration and limited supply of cotton is set to increase the share of MMFs like polyester and viscose in the market in the next four years.
The sector contributes around 40 per cent of the MMF fabric demand in the country. Around 6.5 lakh power loom machines weave about 3 crore metres of MMF fabric per day worth Rs 30,000 crore. Industry sources said that the MMF and cotton based fabric consumption ratio in the domestic market is 40:60. Globally, the share of MMF is about 65 per cent. However, with limited supply of cotton and price advantage, the market for MMFs like polyester, viscose and blended fabrics is gradually rising in the domestic market also.
Statistics point out that various MMF fabrics registered an increase in prices in the range of two to five per cent due to an increase in raw material prices of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) and Mono-Ethylene Glycol (MEG) while cotton prices declined by 14 per cent in 2013. However, the actual production of MMF in India has decreased to 9.34 per cent in 2012-13 compared to the last year. The total production of filament fabrics was 2058 crore square meters in 2011-12 against 1,864 crore square meters in 2012-13.
"Although, the production of cotton fabric has increased from 3057 crore square meters last year to 3410 crore square meters in 2012-13, the production of MMFs has declined this year," said Arun Jariwala, chairman, Federation of Indian Art Silk
Weaving Industry (FIASWI). He added that the ministry of textile had projected 46.41 per cent increase in MMF fabric production during the 11th Five Year Plan but there was a nominal 1.92 per cent increase in the production. Similarly, the growth in cotton fabric was 12.49 per cent against the targeted 72.26 per cent.
Dhiru Shah, managing director of Fairdeal Filaments said, "The prospects of MMF industry are good in the domestic market. The consumption of MMF fabric is increasing among the consumers and this has resulted in the increase in the manufacturing capacities of the weavers and textile processors."


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NEW YORK (
has built a bridge from desktop empire to the mobile search frontier, but phone application developers are trying to detour the traffic.
, the biggest mobile application operator, has issued a challenge to Google for control of the nascent mobile advertising industry.
Last month during an
speech, Apple chief Steve Jobs declared it was open season on search.
"People aren't searching on a mobile device like they do on desktops. What's happening is that they are spending all their time in apps," Jobs said
during his speech
on April 8. "They are using apps to get to data on the Internet rather than a generalized search."
While that may not even be true for Jobs or his company, the point was clear -- mobile search is a new arena and Apple intends to capitalize.
"Apps are very hyper-specialized search engines. It gives you hundreds of little tools versus one big tool," said Danny Sullivan of
a search industry journal.
Pick an interest, and there's probably an app for it. Gardening, nightlife, dining, birding, cooking; fans can download an app and get access to very specific information that can be further filtered to show what is near your location or within your favorite parameters.
In his speech to introduce iAds (ads that will run inside applications), Jobs sharpened his point against Google, adding that using apps like
to find restaurants nearby "is where the opportunity is to deliver advertising."
And there it is, the holy grail of the Net search business: ad sales.
As noted in the chart above, Google controls the traditional search engine market by a wide berth. (comScore doesn't yet track mobile search data.) More than 97% of Google's revenue comes from search ads, and with computing and search going increasingly mobile, Google has been eager to make itself indispensible in the mobile market, also.
Contrary to Job's assertion, for the vast majority of smartphone owners, Google search is by far the leading search service.
Mobile ads will bring in an estimated $500 million in revenue for Google this year, according to Caris and Co. analyst Sandeep Aggarwal. That is "perhaps the fastest growing revenue line" for Google, Aggarwal wrote in a research note Monday.
Aggarwal also adds that there are a couple challenges along the mobile road for Google. For one, Google's dominance of search means that each mobile search is -- cannibalistically-speaking -- one less desktop search. Second, apps on phones bypass Google search.
More on Google Apps
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But Google has hasn't exactly been a coasting on its desktop success. The push into smartphone operating systems with its Android three years ago has been the Trojan horse of Google mobile search. By contrast,
disappearance from mobile hasn't been particularly helpful to the mobile adoption of its Bing. And
has fumbled badly in mobile search.
Google has tried to move beyond the classic browser-based searches in mobile.
For example, many Google Android phones, particularly the
line, have included free Navigation software that combines GPS, Google search and maps for turn-by-turn directions.
More on Android
Best Android Apps
Google has also honed its verbal searches, so users can speak their search terms rather than type them for surprisingly accurate results.
Google's pending $750 million deal for in-application advertising shop
stands to give the search giant a big piece of the
more targeted to display than search. Maybe too big though -- the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the deal.
"Applications are an opportunity for Google," said Sullivan, who points out that Google doesn't have specialized search engines for information on things like restaurants. Outfits like
and Yelp have loads of restaurant data, like menus and reviews, all in one place.
"Applications are a threat, but not a big threat," said Sullivan. "People are always looking for the Google killer. I call applications the Google killerettes. They take a slice at Google in various ways."
--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.


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Knowing exactly what is in your food is critical when attempting to eat healthier. According to University of Michigan researcher Monica Dus, three-quarters of the food in the grocery store contain added sugar, making healthier lifestyle choices even more difficult. But what do the added sugars do to our sense of taste? Dus, in collaboration with other U-M researchers, discovered that a diet of high sugar does lower the ability of the taste buds to detect sweetness.
Join and get a FREE U-M rug or charcuterie board


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Jordan Brand will debut the Air Jordan 1 High Zoom Space Hippie which will be part of Nike’s Space Hippie collection that is inspired by life on mars, where materials are scarce. On the lateral side we have a Zoom label, exposed ankle collar, speckled detailing on the White midsole and Multicolor outsole which is made from Nike Grind and Cheap Jordans 2020. Created from what is being labeled ‘space junk’, or scarps, Space Hippie is the result of sustainable practices meeting radical design. In addition we have Red stitching that wraps the heel and used on the tongue. Utilizing both Grey and Black throughout the upper along with a texture look which is made from recycled materials. This Buy Jordan Soles comes dressed in a Black, Wolf Grey and Flash Crimson color combination.
Expanding on Jordan Brand’s women’s releases is another Mens Jordan 2020 which comes dressed in a Summer 90s theme. Looking closer this pair utilizes White leather across the upper while Black and Volt gradients on the overlays. While a stateside release date has yet to be announced, they are expected to arrive soon at select retailers including 2020 Jordan Sneaker. In addition we have Volt splatter detailing which is reminiscent of the Command Force. Following is White across the midsole while a Black rubber outsole finishes the look. At the time of writing, this Air Jordan Women’s OG has started to release overseas.
adidas Originals teams up with New York City institution Jordan 2020 Release, whose evolving creativity has been central to Global streetwear since 1999. Both colorways have already released at New Nike Air Force 1 while a global release will take place at select retailers on July 17th. Originally released in 1975, the vulcanized canvas shoe is a lasting icon from a time when sporting footwear – and indeed often the sports themselves – were approached in more stripped back, ‘let’s get to it’ fashion. This season sees the Newly Jordans updated in two new colorways, Yellow and Black, with the same ALIFE logo detail. Today, the Nizza Hi is lauded for its minimalist, versatile aesthetic and Alife bring their own character to the shoe while maintaining the 2020 Cheap Ray-Ban Sunglasses qualities that have made the shoe endure for so many years.


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Biotech sector merger and acquisition spending continues to grow, as RHS Limited (ASX: RHS) became the latest ASX-listed biotech company to announce its likely takeover by a US peer.
On this occasion, PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI), a large US-based multinational company worth around $8.5 billion by market capitalisation.
Just last week, Merck and Viralytics announced a proposed deal that will see the US giant acquire the entire company for around A$502 million — a 160% premium to its market value.
Earlier today, RHS announced a comprehensive takeover offer from PerkinElmer at 28c per share, a 100% premium to its last closing price, thereby valuing the bid at around $25 million.
The is just the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that have occurred across the biotech sector in recent months. The frenzied biotech activity has seen US biotech developers spend almost US$30 billion M&A transactions just in January alone.
RHS saw its shares trading at $0.27 in early morning trade on the ASX with RHS’ Board saying that it “unanimously recommends that all RHS shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, subject to an independent expert report concluding that the transaction is in the best interests of all shareholders and no superior proposal being received,” in a shareholder market update.
PerkinElmer has agreed to pay $0.28 per share in an all-cash deal for the entirety of RHS with the deal now going to a vote before RHS shareholders at a general meeting on 22 May 2018.
If accepted by shareholders, the takeover deal should be formally completed in early June 2018.
According to senior RHS figures, the proposed deal offers an attractive premium and is a preferable development path as opposed to pursuing a stand-alone growth strategy.
“The offer provides certainty of RHS’ shareholder value and immediately matures the Company’s share price without further investor risk inherent in pursuing a stand-alone commercial growth strategy,” according to an official statement from RHS.
“The PKI proposal was welcomed by the Board as an opportune time to reward shareholder loyalty and to progress RHS’ capabilities and technologies at an important commercial inflection point. PKI has recognised the future potential of RHS’ products and know-how, and our CEO Michelle Fraser and her team are to be congratulated for creating increased shareholder value. This has been achieved under financial constraints following the repositioning of the Company some time ago, in response to market trends in the fast evolving world of genomics,” said Dr David Brookes, Chairman of RHS.
RHS CEO, Dr Michelle Fraser added that “the offer from PKI reinforces the considerable expertise that the RHS team have integrated into each of our products. Bringing RHS and PKI together provides an opportunity for our products to reach the clinical and applied research markets through a large and highly experienced global team. The achievement of a binding agreement from PKI follows a due diligence period, including an assessment of technical performance of our products and their commercial value.”
With RHS shares trading around 96% higher this morning, Dr Fraser said that “reaching the premium over our current share price is evidence of the value of RHS in the hugely competitive single cell genomics market.”
In order to complete the proposed acquisition at the most beneficial value to shareholders, RHS has entered into a funding agreement with The Very Company, an entity belonging to RHS Alternative Director Colin Matthews.
According to RHS, bridge funding from The Very Company allows RHS to avoid raising more capital and diluting shareholder value prior to PerkinElmer completing the acquisition.
The funding facility carries an interest rate of 9%, a limit of $750,000 and a repayment date of 28 September 2018, with RHS asserting that “the interim funding arrangements are no less favourable to RHS than arm’s length terms,” and thereby do not carry any conflicts of interest, pressure, or duress from any party involved in the transaction.


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Atlus just dropped their Persona 5 Strikers launch trailer.
As you can see in the trailer above, The Phantom Thieves are back in action in Persona 5 Strikers.
All of the Phantom Thieves from the original game will be playable. That means you will get to play as Joker, Morgana, Ryuji, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, and Haru.
The game will also feature a new character named Sophie. Here’s how she’s described on the game’s official website, “A mysterious girl that the thieves meet in the Shibuya Metaverse. She seems to have lost her memories, and the only thing she can recall is her directive to ‘become humanity’s companion.'”
As for her weapon of choice she uses a yo-yo, “Sophie uses a yo-yo to quickly attack a large number of enemies. She uses a blaster for her Gun attacks.”
According to a press release, the game will take “players on an epic road trip with the Phantom Thieves, where they strike back against the corruption overwhelming cities across Japan.”
The press release adds, “A summer vacation with close friends takes a sudden turn as a distorted reality emerges; reveal the truth and redeem the hearts of those imprisoned at the center of the crisis!”
Persona 5 Strikers will take players on a brand new story with the Phantom Thieves you met in the original Persona 5 game.
In this original story, players will visit six different cities across Japan, cook new recipes, help those in need, and of course fight against the Shadows and uncover the corruption in multiple Metaverse dungeons that is affecting the real world.
The full description for the game’s story begins, “Looking for some rest and relaxation, the Phantom Thieves set out to begin their road trip, until a ruthless Kyoto detective enlists their help investigating a series of strange cases occurring across Japan… otherwise, he’ll arrest Joker.”
It continues, “As they dig deeper into the mystery, they discover another realm where innocent people are being jailed and forced to forfeit their hearts’ desires by the whims of its ruler.”
The description concludes, “In typical Phantom Thieves style, they’re going to use everything they’ve got to liberate the imprisoned, return their hearts, and strike back against the corruption in their most explosive fight yet!”
While the game will feature a new story, it also features a wildly different combat mechanic compared to the original Persona 5 game.
Persona 5 Strikes features a “hybrid battle system that fuses explosive action-combat with pause-and-plan sequences to decide your next strategic move.”
However, it will still allow players to “gain an advantage over your enemies by ambushing them, striking their elemental weaknesses to knock them down, and deal the finishing blow with an All-Out-Attack!”
You can see the new combat system in their All-Out Action Trailer from January.
Given the new combat system, each of The Phantom Thieves will have their “own unique suite of wide-ranging, flashy spells and magic to clear out big hordes.” They will also have “character specific skills and summon their Personas for smooth, elegant combat!”
The game is currently available to purchase now and is available on PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
Do you plan on picking up Persona 5 Strikers?


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Since social media is so popular, new social media platforms seem to pop up every couple of months. One of the most recent additions is Clubhouse, which launched about a year ago, but has recently picked up steam. Clubhouse is an invite-only, auditory social media platform. Despite being available only on iOS (Apple) devices, Clubhouse has garnered about 13 million global downloads, with one third of those being in the United States. The purpose of Clubhouse is to encourage open dialogue and communication. There are thousands of rooms dedicated to different topics and industry-focused talks.
Amidst this promise and excitement, you may be wondering if this new platform is right for your company or brand. Let’s take a look!
Clubhouse is Good For:
Thought leaders – Clubhouse can be a great way to elevate your position as a thought leader in your industry. Tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have held their own discussions. The important thing to remember is that you must have something unique to add to the conversation. You don’t want to host a discussion that’s already been hosted.
Networking – Professionals looking to expand their networks might find value with Clubhouse. Although the creators are toying with the idea of implementing a subscriber model and tips feature, the platform itself is not about direct selling or advertising. It’s about connecting with people and forming meaningful conversations. With millions of active users there’s plenty of opportunity to connect.
Limitations of Clubhouse:
Growing pains – One of the biggest challenges Clubhouse faces is live audio moderation. Women have reported incidents of bullying and harassment on the platform. Issues involving anti-Semitism, racism, hate speech and general misinformation have also been reported on the platform. Clubhouse is investigating ways to help monitor and moderate content shared in their space, but it might take a while to get a system in place.
Audience restrictions – The most obvious limitation is the fact that Clubhouse is not currently available to Android users. About 47 percent of Americans are iPhone users. Theoretically, this leaves over 50 percent of the U.S. population unable to participate and hear your message.
Should you Get on Clubhouse?
Not every new platform will be the right fit for your brand. You must think strategically about how to move forward when new social media platforms emerge. It’s important to investigate your target audience, social media goals, overarching branding goals, time and monetary investment available and more. Keep in mind that like most new social media platforms, Clubhouse doesn’t yet have a way to track analytics, monetize content or advertise. Unless this is your absolutely perfect platform, it doesn’t hurt to wait a bit and see how things develop.
Find the Right Fit
The social media landscape is ever-changing. Choosing where your brand and company presence makes the most sense is an important decision. You’ll thank yourself for taking time to step back to look at the whole picture before jumping on Clubhouse or any other new social media platform.
Our Beyond Fifteen social media marketing agency services and pr services can assist you in deciding which platforms are right for you and come up with a strategic plan. If you’re ready to take your social media presence to the next level, our social media marketing services at Beyond Fifteen can help!


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Home sales dropped big time in South Florida in April
Sales also fell compared to March
Residential sales fell across the board in South Florida in April as the region was under a shelter-in-place order. A number of sales were canceled or put on hold, and travel was restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Condo sales in Miami-Dade County were impacted the most with a 48 percent year-over-year drop, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. Overall, condo sales performed worse than single-family home sales, likely in part because buildings shut down showings and slowed or paused move-ins and move-outs.
In a previous interview with The Real Deal, Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty, acknowledged, “April is going to be a month people are not going to like.” But he said he was encouraged by the fact that pending sales rose in the first week of May compared to the first week of April.
Despite the steep decline in sales in South Florida in April, prices continued to rise in each county.
Residential sales decreased 40.1 percent, year-over-year, in April in Miami-Dade to 1,576 closings. That’s also a 32 percent drop when compared to March, when 2,323 residential properties traded hands.
In April, single-family home sales fell by 31.6 percent year-over-year to 865 closings. Condo sales declined by nearly 48 percent to 711.
Single-family home dollar volume dropped by 24.2 percent to $508.6 million. Condo dollar volume decreased 46.8 percent to $296.9 million.
The median price of single-family homes increased 7.3 percent to $382,000, while condo prices increased 6.9 percent to $265,000.
Total home sales fell, year-over-year, by 37.4 percent to 1,965 in April. In the previous month, residential sales totaled 2,835, marking a nearly 31 percent month-over-month decline.
Single-family home sales decreased 36.1 percent, year-over-year, in April to 985, and condo sales declined 38.8 percent to 980.
Sales dollar volume fell for single-family homes to $468.7 million, a 33.8 percent decline. Condo dollar volume decreased 37 percent to $231.2 million.
The median price of single-family homes in April was $382,000, a 6.1 percent annual increase. For condos, it was $183,500, a nearly 8 percent increase.
Residential sales in Palm Beach County decreased 33.8 percent, year-over-year, to 2,052 in April. That’s a 27.6 percent decline from March when sales totaled 2,836.
Single-family home sales declined by 30.5 percent annually to 1,191. Condo deals declined 37.8 percent to 861.
Despite some big ticket sales, single-family home dollar volume decreased 30.2 percent to $690.7 million. Condo dollar volume decreased 34.1 percent to $297.7 million.
The median price for houses grew by 4.3 percent to $365,000, and by 5.4 percent to $195,000 for condos.


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MLB Crypto Baseball
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Baseball and blockchain is proving to be a grand slam
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LA studio is looking for a home run


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Dior has lifted the veil on its latest campaign starring Hollywood's breakthrough starlet Jennifer Lawrence.
The Oscar-nominated actress stuns in the sleek, sophisticated shots for the lauded designer's chain-handled Miss Dior bag.
Lawrence — already a fan of wearing Dior on the red carpet — was announced as the newest face of the French fashion brand in October.
Half of the 22-year-old's debut ads were shot in black-and-white.
She wears pieces from Dior designer Raf Simons' spring collection. The Kentucky-born star's dark hair is slicked back and a veil covers her face in some shots.
The ads debut in Numero magazine later this month, to be followed by several other publications in April.
Lawrence, who netted a best actress nomination for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook," was wearing Dior when her dress "ripped" at the SAG Awards last month.
The actress later explained she didn't rip the dress — it was a shift in fabric that exposed her thighs.