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- The Natural Drinks Co has launched a campaign on Crowdcube for one month, hoping to raise an investment figure of £750,000+ in exchange for a 5.08% equity stake. The business is currently valued at £14m;
- To date the campaign has hit almost 10% of its target with over £70k secured in the first 24 hours;
- With over two years of brand development and refinement, the business is perfectly placed across three distinct sub categories to sidestep the marketplace chaos being seen by established brands as a result of the hotly anticipated sugar tax in April 2018.
“There is a huge opportunity in beverages, with consumers across multiple different audience profiles looking for products that are completely free from sugar, calories and artificial sweeteners” said Ian Minton, CEO of The Natural Drinks Company.“We are seeing leaders in the space reformulate recipes and more soft drinks now contain artificial sweetener like Acesulfame K and Sucralose (49.5%) than contain sugar (42.5%)*, but we don’t believe this is enough. We have developed a robust No sugar, No sweetener range that tastes great and is future proofed beyond meeting immediate tax savings on sugar. This is what type of alternatives consumers want for themselves and for their families”
“We have already seen our founding brand Frutree capitalise on sales from ‘no added sugar’ products and we will be looking to quickly gain strong market share in the mixer category with Skinny Tonics, which is a completely unique offering in this space “
He adds “We intend to shake up the marketplace across multiple touch points both in and out of the home. The investment achieved via Crowdcube will be focussed on targeted media, marketing and a rapid roll-out plan within retail and on-trade”
The portfolio, born out of a simple desire to create delicious, all-natural, sugar-free soft drinks made with nothing but the purest ingredients, now consists of three unique beverage brands including:
Skinny Tonic a no sugar mixer brand, is set to shake up the market as consumers look for a quality, different experience that does not compromise wellness.
A robust Marketing, PR and Social Media plan will also look to clear up ‘consumer confusion’ around terms such as ‘naturally light’, ‘no added sugar’ and what other ‘slimline’ products contain, a topic close to home for Type 1 diabetic founder, Minton.
Agua Tierra a natural, no sugar and no sweetener flavoured spring water brand available in four delicious flavours which will be targeted at young, fun and social consumers for refreshment on the go. Agua Tierra will be supported in the media by the World’s largest girl band who boast a combined social reach of 18m. They will be announced as official brand ambassadors in January 2018.
Frutree a fruit flavoured, zero sugar spring water for children which has already been soft launched and has achieved sales of over 10m bottles via national retail outlets.
Dominic Berger, CEO of the Angel Business Club who has coordinated the first round of investments for the portfolio comments, “as a leading private equity business we work with only one business in each sector and The Natural Drinks Co naturally stood out from the crowd as a young, disruptive business with a game changing business model”.
Jenny Finnegan, Head of Brand, concludes: “We are fundraising now because we believe this is the right time to invest for accelerated growth in a changing marketplace. Frutree was first conceived in early 2015 to fill what was a completely untapped gap in the kids market. We are now ahead of the game to meet customer demand for sugar free, calorie free and artificial sweetener free beverages across all of their beverage needs, delivered from a strong and aspirational brand portfolio.”


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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU) said on Thursday that it will move ahead with a plan to spin off its Magneti Marelli parts subsidiary by early next year.
The move isn't a surprise. FCA has been looking to sell or spin off Magneti Marelli for at least a couple of years now. Here's what we know, and what it might mean for FCA's shareholders.
FCA will spin off Magneti Marelli to shareholders
FCA said in a statement that its board of directors approved a plan to create a new holding company for Magneti Marelli, and to distribute shares of that holding company to existing FCA shareholders "by the end of 2018 or early 2019."
CEO Sergio Marchionne said the move will deliver some value to FCA's shareholders while giving Magneti Marelli more strategic flexibility. It's part of a larger plan to be revealed later this year, he said:
The spin-off will also allow FCA to further focus on its core portfolio while at the same time improving its capital position. A separation of FCA and Magneti Marelli is a key ingredient of the 2018-2022 Business Plan which will be communicated in June. The FCA Board of Directors are confident that this separation is the proper next step, and will be beneficial for Magneti Marelli, FCA and our shareholders.
FCA expects Magneti Marelli's shares to be listed on the Milan stock exchange once the transaction is completed.
The spinoff follows at least one known attempt at a sale
Magneti Marelli is a major, long-established auto-industry supplier. It focuses largely on electronic systems, including in-car entertainment systems, lighting, instrument clusters for dashboards, and -- recently -- components for connected-vehicle systems.
If you think that's a combination that might be appealing to a large electronics company looking for a quick entry into autos, you might be right. FCA apparently explored the possibility of a sale to at least one potential buyer: Bloomberg and other media outlets reported in 2016 that FCA was close to a deal to sell Magneti Marelli to Korean giant Samsung Electronics.
But for whatever reason, the deal never happened. Samsung bought another connected-car supplier, Harman International, a few months later.
This is probably why FCA is spinning off Magneti Marelli now
So why spin it off now? Marchionne's mention of the 2018-2022 business plan is a clue. He's nearing retirement, and that plan is expected to be a road map for the company's future after his departure. And Marchionne wants to hand off FCA with as low a level of debt as he can manage.
FCA had 17.97 billion euros ($21.97 billion) of debt as of the end of 2017, but the critical number is what the company calls "net industrial debt," its automotive-related debt minus the total of its cash and available credit lines. That number stood at 2.39 billion euros ($2.92 billion) as of the end of the year. Marchionne would very much like to erase it entirely before he leaves.
That seems likely to happen in any event. FCA's profit margins have been strong recently. It's very possible that the company could reduce its net industrial debt to zero (or put another way, reduce debt below the level of its total cash and credit lines) without raising funds via a transaction.
The spinoff of Magneti Marelli, which is probably worth something in the neighborhood of 3 billion euros, will add some insurance.
Is FCA setting itself up to be acquired?
The spinoff of Magneti Marelli might also make FCA more appealing to a potential buyer. It's widely believed that FCA's spinoff of Ferrari in 2015 was a move intended to keep Ferrari under Italian control in the event of an FCA sale.
Marchionne has argued for several years that the auto industry needs further consolidation to be healthy over the long term, going so far as to openly pitch General Motors on the idea of a merger. (GM has made it clear that it has zero interest.)
Spinning off Marelli moves FCA closer to being a "pure play" global automaker centered on high-profit SUVs and pickups, with an established small-car brand (Fiat) and luxury brands (Alfa Romeo and Maserati) for balance.
Might a streamlined FCA be of interest to an acquirer, possibly a Chinese automaker looking to go global? It might. That's one possibility for FCA shareholders to ponder as we wait to see the 2018-2022 plan in June.

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The Trump administration has announced new tariffs on $7.5 billion in imports from the European Union (EU). The White House says the tariffs are related to EU subsidies to aircraft manufacturer Airbus.
The levies, which will make some imports more expensive, are likely to add to economic uncertainty and increase concerns about the possibility of a global recession next year.
The U.S. is imposing a 10 percent tariff on EU aircraft imports, which may not have a direct effect on consumers. However, the U.S. is imposing a 25 percent duty on a range of consumer goods that could raise the cost of consumer purchases.
The U.S. has set October 18 as the date to begin collecting tariffs on whiskey, cheese, olives, wool sweaters, aircraft parts, and other items to be named later. The World Trade Organization (WTO) cleared the way for the tariffs when it ruled that the EU violated trade rules with its support of Airbus. The agency says the U.S. is justified in imposing the tariffs.
Bad news for whiskey makers
Forbes reports the tariffs are particularly bad news for Europe’s Scotch whiskey makers since the U.S. is the biggest market for single-malt Scotch whiskey. European distillers exported more than $1.3 billion in Scotch to the U.S. in 2018, with the single-malt variety accounting for $463 million of that.
Even the aircraft tariff could eventually impact consumers. Airlines must make aircraft purchase decisions years in advance, and carriers flying the Airbus must prepare for higher capital expenses. Those costs could get passed on to passengers in the form of higher fare and ancillary fees.
Comes at a bad time
Analysts say the tariffs on the EU come at a bad time since global markets are still trying to digest the impact of the billions of dollars in tariffs imposed by both the U.S. and China on one another. One analyst says both household income and business revenue will probably decline as a result.
It may also add to the uncertainty on Wall Street that has sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average 800 points lower in just the last two sessions. Stocks have fallen from their near record highs this week on growing evidence that the economy is slowing.
The sell-off picked up speed after the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported data which suggests the manufacturing sector of the economy is slowing down.


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The man at the center of the country's largest identity theft ever is a former government informant.
At one time, Albert Gonzalez helped the U.S. Secret Service track down hackers.
Prosecutors now say 28-year-old Gonzalez hacked into retail networks and stole 130 million credit card numbers.
He targeted accounts at stores like 7-Eleven and the Hanaford Brothers Co. supermarket chain.
The Miami man is already awaiting trial for another hacking case. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the new charges.


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Bloomberg reports that the rapper and entrepreneur has partnered with the new cannabis company TPCO, which plans to reach 90 percent of consumers in the state of California by 2022. It was acquired by Subversive Capital Acquisition Corp., which has been acquiring a number of smaller businesses in the growing marijuana industry. It also acquired direct-to-consumer weed brand Caliva, and Left Coast Ventures, which manufactures the drug. The brands will be combined as TPCO Holding Corp, with Jay-Z serving as the Chief Visionary Officer.
Subversive said that its goal with combining the brands is "to redefine the industry with a mission to both consolidate the California cannabis market and create an impactful global company." The company is projecting that the revenue from both brands will reach up to $185 million this year, and $334 million in 2021.
"Although we know we can’t fully redeem the injustices created by the ‘war on drugs’, we can help shape a brighter and inclusive future,” Jay-Z said in a statement about the new venture. “The brands we build will pave a new path forward for a legacy rooted in equity, access, and justice. We’re creating something people can trust and we’re investing in our future, our people, and our communities.”
Jay-Z is expected to help guide brand strategy and social equity ventures, a fund that will invest into Black and minority-owned marijuana businesses. Additionally, TPCO will contribute to criminal justice reform initiatives, a cause that Jay has supported extensively over the past few years in particular.


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While content is a little scarce right now, VUDU users can now take advantage of Dolby’s technology on both TVs through a few select new releases and other movies from Warner Bros.
Dolby claims that current TV screen technology doesn’t accurately represent the data recorded by state-of-the-art cameras and believes that its technology can help bridge that gap.
Through a partnership with select TV manufacturers, such as Vizio, Dolby Vision should deliver more nuanced, powerful and distinct imagery according to the company.
Speaking about the partnership Matt McRae, chief technology officer at Vizio, said: “We are proud to be working with technology leaders such as Dolby and VUDU to bring these amazing advancements in picture quality into consumers’ living rooms, pushing the boundaries of brightness, color and contrast for an entirely new entertainment experience.”
The Vizio Reference Series is one of the first-ever High Dynamic Range-enabled 4K TVs, meaning that it was built pixel-by-pixel, which in theory should produce better brightness, colours and contrast when coupled with Dolby Vision technology.
Back at CES 2014 the Vizio Reference Series stole the limelight from the company’s other offerings, although over a year later the company has yet to announce release dates or pricing.
The manufacturer is keen to point out that the series is still set for launch, with most of the specs announced back at CES still intact.
Those specs include a full-array local dimming backlight with 384 zones, capable of reaching a brightness of 800 nits. The TV should also appeal to gamers looking for low latency, with capability to show footage at 120 frames per second.
“By combining 4K resolution, high dynamic range, and a wider color gamut in our 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision titles, we are able to offer a truly impactful home entertainment experience and bring audiences closer to the filmmaker’s vision,” said Jim Wuthrich, President, Americas, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
There are other HDR-capable TVs on the market right now, such as Samsung’s JS9500, although that TV differs in the fact that it’s already on sale and that it’s capable of 1,000 nits.
Samsung’s TV also omits any Dolby Vision support, meaning there could be a format war between Dolby’s standard and Samsung’s.
As for those looking to buy Vizio’s Reference Series, users will be safe in the knowledge that it will be the first to ship with Dolby Vision technology.
As for how many movies will be available to view in this new standard, Vizio, Dolby and VUDU won’t exactly say, although Dolby did confirm that ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, ‘Into the Storm’, ‘The Lego Movie’, ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows are all set to be offered.


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Robotics play a huge role in the manufacturing landscape today. A growing number of businesses use manufacturing robots to automate repetitive tasks, reduce errors, and enable their employees to focus on innovation and efficiency, causing the entire sector’s impressive growth.
According to data presented by AksjeBloggen.com, the global market value of conventional and advanced robotics in the manufacturing industry is expected to continue rising and hit $18.6bn in 2021, a 40% increase in three years.
Market Value Jumped by $5.4B in Three Years
Robots have numerous roles in manufacturing. They are mainly used for high-volume, repetitive processes where their speed and accuracy offer tremendous advantages. Other manufacturing automation solutions include robots used to help people with more complex tasks, like lifting, holding, and moving heavy pieces.
Companies turn to robotics process automation to cut manufacturing costs, solve the shortage of skilled labor and keep their cost advantage in the market.
In 2018, the global market value of conventional and advanced robotics in the manufacturing industry amounted to $13.2bn, revealed the BCG survey. In 2019, this figure rose to $14.8bn and continued growing. Statistics show the market value of manufacturing robots hit $16.6bn in 2020. This figure is expected to jump by $2bn and hit $18.6bn in 2021.
Conventional robots, like giant industrial robots used in the car industry, are set to reach $14.9bn value this year, up from $12bn in 2018.
The market value of advanced manufacturing robots, which have a superior perception, adaptability, and mobility, tripled in the last three years and is expected to hit $3.7bn in 2021. Combined with big data analytics, advanced manufacturing robots allow companies to make intelligent decisions based on real-time data, which leads to lower costs and faster turnaround times.
The BCG survey also showed most manufacturers believe advanced robotic systems will have a massive role in the factory of the future and plan to increase their use. More than 70% of respondents defined robotics as a significant productivity driver in production and logistics.
European and Asian Companies Lead in the Use of Advanced Manufacturing Robots
Analyzed by regions, European and Asian companies lead in the use of advanced robots, while manufacturers from North America lag behind. However, the survey showed 80% of respondents from the US plan to implement advanced robotics in the next few years.
The survey also revealed that manufacturers in emerging markets, especially China and India, are more enthusiastic about using advanced robots than those in industrialized countries. These companies may be looking to automation as a way to overcome a skilled labor shortage and improve their ability to compete in international markets.
Germany had the largest robot density in the manufacturing industry among European countries, with 346 installations per 10,000 employees in 2019. Sweden, Denmark, and Italy followed with 277, 243, and 212 installations per 10,000 employees, respectively.
Statistics also show that companies in the transportation and logistics and technology sector lead in implementing advanced robotics, with 54% and 53% of manufacturers who already use such solutions. The automotive industry and consumer goods sector follow with 49% and 44% share, respectively.
Manufacturers in the engineered products, process, and health care industries lag behind, with 42%, 41%, and 30% of companies that use advanced manufacturing robots. However, around 85% of manufacturers in these sectors plan to start using advanced robotic systems by 2022.


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Irish start-up Parkpnp has raised an additional €500,000 from investors including former Europcar Ireland managing director Colm Menton, to roll out its latest parking management solution across Europe and the United States.
The latest fundraise brings total investment in the company to €4.1 million.
Green investment company BVP, whose portfolio includes Irish companies Urban Volt, Crowley Carbon and Accuflow, also returned as a backer.
Parkpnp allows individuals and companies to let unused car-parking spaces via its mobile platform. Its recently launched ParkOffice application is a software-as-a-service (Saas) product that allows companies to increase the amount of parking available to staff by releasing assigned space when employees are out of the office.
The start-up, which was founded by Garret Flower and Daniel Paul in 2016, said it has already recruited a number of corporate clients for the new solution, including Colliers International and Europcar.
“We’ve become something of a magnet for companies looking toward technology to improve parking issues. We noticed while many companies thought they needed extra space, in fact they just needed a solution to help them ensure their existing spaces are in use all of the time. We’ve been developing ParkOffice for over a year now and are really looking forward to the impact this product will have across the world,” said Mr Flower, Parkpnp’s chief executive.
Parkpnp claims more than 40,000 drivers use its services across Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands. The company, which is looking to conduct its first trial in the US shortly, recently won the sustainability category in the Irish Times Innovation awards.


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By: E&P Staff
The Washington Post publishing an advertisement on the bottom of its Sunday and Monday sports sections this week, and the paper in an article called it “the first time in decades the newspaper has given over part of the front page of a daily news section to advertising.”
There are reportedly no plans yet to sell ads for the Page One of the newspaper.
The Comcast SportsNet ad filled the width of the section’s front page “is another sign of tough times in the newspaper industry, as papers look for new revenue to help offset declining circulation and advertising,” the Post’s Frank Ahrens observed in the article.
“We in the newsroom feel like the space on the front of sections has traditionally been sacred space for us, so it’s with some reluctance that we make it available to advertisers,” said Philip Bennett, the paper’s managing editor. “But we’ve seen what these ads look like and we’re comfortable with them.”
The Post has sold ads on its weekly Real Estate and Health section fronts. It now “plans to accept such ads for its Home, Business, Sports and Travel sections, said Katharine Weymouth, The Post’s vice president for newspaper advertising,” Ahrens wrote on Saturday.
He added: “She would not reveal how much Comcast paid for the ad, but said section-front advertisers pay a premium over standard ad rates.”


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The MCN offers Chinese consumers locally made entertainment content from a roster of 500 creators. It works with the content creators, giving them studio space, funding, marketing and commercial assistance, and VS Media content now registers about 320 million views a month. It has 55 million subs.
Discovery has taken an unspecified minority stake in the business, which was founded in 2013 by Chinese entrepreneur Ivy Wong.
Discovery has bought in soon after Chinese state-backed private equity fund CMC invested in the business.
With investment in hand, VS Media said it is creating a new US$4 million investment fund. It will also have access to content from Discovery Digital Networks, the Discovery division that produces and distributes millennial-skewed content. This content will be localised for the VS Media platform.
Discovery has agreed several China-focused partnerships including a content deal with WASU Digital TV Media Group for WASU’s pay TV channel Qiu Suo, and a mobile docs deal with online distributor Viddsee.
“As Discovery looks to build deeper traction in the Chinese-speaking markets, VS MEDIA’s robust following is incredibly valuable to us. Through their advanced analytics, we can get fully plugged in to the Chinese millennial zeitgeist.”
Ivy Wong added: “This partnership is a significant milestone in our company’s evolution. We believe that everyone can be an influencer as well as a digital entrepreneur. We continue to uncover, nurture and present the next generation of talent, raising the bar and setting industry best practices.”
The VS Media deal is the latest from Discovery Asia under the stewardship of Arthur Bastings, who rejoined the company last year. The division’s South Korea operation has been restructured and a new boss brought in, in India on Bastings’ watch.


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SINGAPORE (Mar 4): Four years ago, mm2 Asia went public to fund its ambition to become a regional media powerhouse. Investors were only too keen to back a scrappy underdog with big dreams. In a few short years, mm2 now has a chain of cinemas, a concert organiser, a visual effects studio and an online video platform. It makes content for East Asia and Southeast Asia, from film to TV and online content. At its peak in June 2017, mm2’s share price was up more than 12-fold from its IPO price of 25 cents.
Naturally, there is pressure to continue to grow. But some investors have lost faith in mm2 ever since the company failed to buy a 50% stake in the local cinema business of Golden Village, the largest cinema chain in Singapore, with a 39% market share. Instead, it acquired the Singapore operations of Cathay Cineplexes, which had a 27% market share, for $230 million, or 13.8 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), more than what it paid for the cinemas in Malaysia and what it wanted to pay for the 50% stake in Golden Village cinemas.
So far this year, mm2 has shed 12.5% of its value, closing at 28 cents on Feb 27. Now, observers are worried about the debt incurred from its latest cinema acquisition, whose lower operating margin is a drag on mm2’s overall Ebitda margin. There are calls for the production house to take a long hard look at its cinema business — spin it off, possibly — and deleverage.


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It’s been two years since Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus debuted noisily, launching the Streaming Wars as we know them. Except there’s still so little clear about where either of them is headed that it becomes difficult to be definitive about what’s next for each.
Apple’s debut featured a handful of shows, led by the pricey and high-profile The Morning Show. But there wasn’t much else in the company’s originals-only approach that eschewed the acquisition or licensing of older shows. To fluff up viewership, Apple handed out millions of free year-long subscriptions to buyers of its iPhones and other hardware (a giveaway that lasted until June of 2021 for some devices).
Going originals-only wasn’t a terrible idea, but the pandemic sure made it look that way. Production of new shows halted while hundreds of millions of bored viewers turned to streaming TV to fill their days.
Apple TV Plus became a quickly exhausted, often overlooked option for viewers seeking streaming succor. Consider it a badly missed opportunity to lock in an important new aspect of Apple’s famously strong customer loyalty.
Contrast that with Disney Plus, which launched 10 days after Apple TV Plus and quickly racked up 116 million subscribers and exultant analyst predictions that it would soon surpass Netflix. The service initially drew rapt fans of Disney or beloved brands such as Marvel and Star Wars, but the pandemic drove many other households filled with stir-crazy kids to Disney’s door.
If any streaming company took full advantage of the pandemic’s potential, it was Disney Plus. Launch series The Mandalorian sent Star Wars fans into orbit, Wandavision proved a unique and compelling take on Marvel superheroes, and direct-to-streaming releases of a handful of Pixar animated originals cemented the service’s appeal to families.
But that was then. Where are we now? It’s a considerably more muddled picture for the two streamers two years in.
Apple’s originals production seems to be hitting a compelling cadence, with half a dozen series and features arriving the past two months. And debuting this week are Dr. Brain, a sci-fi horror series from Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, and Finch, a sci-fi feature starring Tom Hanks.
It’s not Netflix, which seems to release something new practically every day. But Apple TV Plus is finally a Plus, instead of a Promise. It now offers a substantive array of features, series, documentaries (especially on music), specials, talk shows and more, all led by Ted Lasso, whose first season racked up seven Emmys, including Best Comedy Series.
And there’s growing evidence that audiences are watching. Both Parrot Analytics and Whip Media, which each track audience interest in streaming services in different ways, point to significant uptake for at least some shows.
Last week’s Whip Watch Report on streaming original series, for instance, put The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, and Foundation at Nos. 4, 5 and 9 in their Top 10 most watched series. Netflix had the top three, and no other streamer had more than two.
The Information reported this summer that Apple TV Plus had around 40 million subscribers. Unknown is how many are paying customers, but that can be said of many competitors whose services are included as mobile carrier premiums, are bundled with other services, or otherwise folded into company-wide streaming totals.
Disney Plus, after that 116 million subs rocket ship ride, now faces a few asteroids in its stellar traverse. Disney CEO Bob Chapek warned in September that Q3 Disney Plus subscriber adds would only be in the “low single-digit millions,” sending Wall Street into a tizzy. Four analysts downgraded their estimates of how much the service will grow, and cut the broader company’s share price targets and ratings in some cases.
Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar wrote that Disney’s “long-term streaming guidance could be at risk,” as he cut his own estimates, reduced the price target $35 to $175, and dropped his rating to “equal weight.” Others were more gentle, but Wall Street is in more of a wait-and-see about the service heading into next week’s earnings call.
And it’s fair to ask if Disney Plus faces a natural ceiling on its subscriber base. It’s focused so intently on a handful of family-friendly brands in Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, and National Geographic, a strength with many potential subscribers but less so with others. Not everybody’s into princesses and spandex.
More problematic may be the continued slow rollout of compelling new shows. Many are deeply self-referential: meta-documentaries about the Disney universe, behind-the-scenes shows, animated shorts featuring the same well-known characters. That feeds the faithful, but won’t grow the service a whit.
“You have a lot of streaming services who were like, ‘We could not have possibly forecasted how incredibly successful we would be,’ ” Jeff Coon, managing director of investment bank Progress Partners, told Next TV. “Because, frankly, we never could have forecasted the unprecedented free time that consumers would have, and how that would translate into what is probably a once-in-a-lifetime increase in media consumption and gaming.”
So, now comes the hard part—plussing up the content and moving into related areas such as gaming that are deeply engaging especially for the younger audiences of the future, Coon said. Expect Apple and Disney to be in the middle of that as they and other media and tech giants build and expand “content fortresses” around their IP. Further, expect new contenders to create their own streaming and gaming operations.
“I think you're going to see significant investment in original content creation capabilities by a huge and growing number of technology companies,” Coon said. “So what began with Netflix, you're beginning to see a significant increase in the investment in original content from Apple. You're beginning to see original content experimentation by Snapchat with Snap Originals. I think it is not too large a stretch to envision a reality in which TikTok looks at both broader distribution of its content into different channels, as well as experimentation with original content. I think you're gonna see a lot of these technology companies begin to experiment with packaging and distribution of their content in different ways.”
Apple’s ramped-up video production and launch of its Apple Arcade game service are smart responses to this reality. Disney, however, faces a more complicated set of questions.
It still must feed its legacy broadcast and cable operations. It has spread its streaming content ventures across Disney Plus, Hulu, ESPN Plus and now, Star.
Finally, Disney’s huge investment in sports rights for ESPN and ESPN Plus represents a significant chunk of its entire programming spend. Those live games and related programming remain hugely valuable in the moment to audiences and advertisers, but unlike a new movie or scripted series, they’re nearly worthless days later.
And though Disney has profitably licensed its Marvel, Star Wars and other IP to numerous video game companies, it doesn’t currently have a significant internal game division, unlike Apple, Amazon, and Netflix.
“Owned-and-operated original content (that) can lead you to that proprietary content fortress certainly seems to be an overall trend cross-channel right now,” Coon said. “You’re seeing that translate into huge M&A activity around accumulating phenomenal original-content production capabilities, whether that's television or film studios, or gaming studios. You're seeing media companies expand into gaming, you're seeing gaming companies expand into media, to get that cross-channel ability to leverage that original content fortress.”
So, two years in, while just about everyone in streaming would love to be Disney Plus’ position, with all those subscribers, it’s just possible that its prospects are less attractive than we thought. And it’s also possible that Apple TV Plus has only just begun to matter. Two years from now, the winners list in streaming may look very different.
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David Bloom of Words & Deeds Media is a Santa Monica, Calif.-based writer, podcaster, and consultant focused on the transformative collision of technology, media and entertainment. Bloom is a senior contributor to numerous publications, and producer/host of the Bloom in Tech podcast. He has taught digital media at USC School of Cinematic Arts, and guest lectures regularly at numerous other universities. Bloom formerly worked for Variety, Deadline, Red Herring, and the Los Angeles Daily News, among other publications; was VP of corporate communications at MGM; and was associate dean and chief communications officer at the USC Marshall School of Business. Bloom graduated with honors from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.


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NTP Email Patents Patent troll http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
NTP, a patent investment company, has won an appeals court ruling over the validity of it's patents.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ordered the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reconsider findings that invalidated elements of seven NTP patents,
Court did uphold the rejection of an eighth. The seven patents under reconsideration will remain valid and enforceable during the review.
NTP uses these patents to sue Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc. (T), Yahoo! Inc. and T-Mobile USA Inc and other companies in infringement lawsuits.
Patent troll are alive and will kill the innovation.


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More than half of Americans struggling to buy groceries due to COVID-19
Panic-buying is making it especially hard for seniors to buy sanitizers and soap.
With queues around the block at supermarkets around the country, it comes as little surprise that many Americans are struggling to shop for groceries. It’s become so bad that some 56% of American adults — roughly 142.7 million people — report struggling to buy common grocery items this month, according to survey data compiled by Finder.
Items most scarce are hand sanitizer or soap, with roughly 32.48% of American adults (about 82.9 million people) saying they’re unable to source these necessities. Aptly at No. 2 is toilet paper, with 32.17% of American unable to buy their two-ply. Other items Americans are struggling to buy include fresh food at 16.65%, dry food at 15.02% and toiletries at 13.53%
Women find it harder than men to buy essential items
Women are finding it hard to stock up on items for COVID-19, with 60.77% of women saying they’re unable to purchase the above household items versus 49.93% of men. All this amounts to 16.1 million more women than men who are unable to purchase items they need.
The No. 1 item women struggle to buy is hand sanitizer or soap, with 60.48% of women able to track down this essential product — about 47.6 million American women.
Top of the problem products for men is toilet paper, with about 36.6 million American men — some 58.38% of adult men — unable to buy tushy or facial tissues.
Shortages affecting both young and old
Panic-buyers snapping up toilet paper and hand sanitizer across the nation affects both young and old Americans. However, the impact is felt differently across the generations.
For instance, those ages 65 and older struggle to track down hand sanitizer and soap, with 64.60% saying they’re unable to find a source.
At the other end of the age spectrum are those ages 18 to 24 who are finding it particularly difficult to buy the No. 1 bathroom essential, with 68.27% saying they struggle mightily to find toilet rolls.
The South has the least issue with item shortages
It appears that the further south you are, the better you can find life’s necessities. Southern states fare the best when it comes to finding items, with only 52.50% saying they struggled to find grocery essentials. Jump to the West, and a large chunk of its residents are struggling, with 58.01% unable to find household staples.
As far as specific shortages by region, Americans in the Northeast struggle most with sourcing fresh food and hand sanitizer or soap is the hardest to come by in the South. Those in the West strike out when looking for toilet paper, dry food and other toiletries.
For all media inquiries, please contact:
Susannah Binsted, Head of Public Relations United States
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After the fast progress of SB 434, "The Raw Milk Bill," through the state Legislature this spring, it's hit a stumbling block. Governor Jim Doyle, who had initially indicated he was in favor of signing the bill into law, in the last week has begun to express reservations.
Today supporters of the raw milk bill, which will allow the licensing of farmers to sell raw milk directly to interested consumers, rallied on the State Street steps of the State Capitol to urge Governor Doyle to sign the bill into law.
The noon rally got off to a slow start, with raw milk samples being served to anyone who wanted a taste, before the first speakers stepped up to the megaphone about 12:20 p.m., to express their support for legalizing raw milk in Wisconsin. At the height of the rally about 50-60 attendees gathered around.
Advocates believe that the nutrients in raw milk provide health benefits that pasteurization destroys. The argument is also made that raw milk just tastes better -- "This is really yummy, you need to try it," said Family Farm Defenders organizer John Peck, who was manning the raw milk spigot.
Furthermore, the direct-to-consumer sale of raw milk is often cited by supporters of the bill as a way to save or at least aid family farms and help dairy farmers earn a decent price for their milk, an area where they are currently losing ground (and, literally, farms).
The primary sentiment at today's rally, though, was anti-government. Signs like "Yes to choice, yes to liberty!" and "Don't pasteurize it, legalize it" and "Keep the government off our farms" predominated.
"The constitution preserves the rights of the people, not big dairy" said speaker Rosanne Lindsay of the Wisconsin Alliance for Raw Milk. "Our government was founded on the freedom to choose."
Andy Mastrocola, a Weston A. Price Foundation chapter head for Jefferson and Waukesha counties, stepped up to the microphone and announced that he's been drinking raw milk for 12 years without getting sick -- "Twelve years of Russian Roulette," according to the government, Mastrocola underlined. The demand for artisanal raw milk has grown, said Mastrocola, just like the demand for artisanal cheese and beer. "We love our milk as well," he said before asking Governor Doyle to "imagine new dairy farms, imagine thriving local economies."
Raw milk advocate Joe Plasterer, who introduced himself as the consumer representative on the Governor's raw milk advisory board, was perhaps the event's most impassioned speaker. He and his family have been drinking raw milk for seven years and he says it's only recently that he has seen what he called "bullying tactics" from the Wisconsin DATCP making farmers scared to sell raw milk, scared of losing their farms.
As seen in this video of the rally, he encouraged support of raw milk "for health, for entrepreneurship, and for freedom."
"We have choices right now with what we eat," Plasterer continued. "We can eat raw fish, we can eat raw meat, we can smoke, we can ride our motorcycles without our helmets. We have choices and freedoms in Wisconsin. Why can't we buy raw milk?"
Scott Pfaff, a Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association consultant who opposes the bill, was handing out a flier entitled "Please Veto the Sale of Raw Milk."
Pfaff, who said he grew up drinking raw milk on a dairy farm, is opposed to the sale of raw milk because he believes consuming raw milk is dangerous and, he says, if people get sick from drinking it, that will damage the entire Wisconsin dairy industry.
Why would consumption of raw milk have an impact on sales of pasteurized milk, if those who got sick were clearly drinking unpasteurized milk?
Fears of the swine flu brought down sales of pork even though swine flu is not about pork, Pfaff responded. "We need to defend our product."


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Leading Japanese carmaker Toyota on Wednesday denied reports saying that it would temporarily close some of its factories in China amid strained bilateral ties. A spokesman for Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the Toyota Motor Corp, said growing tensions between both countries have dampened sales in China, with some stores receiving fewer customers and subsequently fewer orders.
The spokesman said Toyota factories in China – all established through joint ventures with Chinese partners – are expected to adjust production amid falling demand, although the company will not close any factories or pull out of the Chinese market.
“Because every Toyota factory in China is a joint venture, any decision regarding their operation is the result of negotiations between all partners,” the spokesman said.
Tensions between China and Japan have risen since early September, when Japan announced plans to purchase part of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. Beijing has repeatedly maintained that the Diaoyu Islands are part of China’s inherent territory. Anti-Japanese protests were held in a number of Chinese cities in September.
Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co plan to slashproduction in China by roughly half, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Monday, as a territorialrow between Asia’s two largest economies cuts sales of Japanese cars in the world’s biggestauto market.
Related reading: Toyota’s China sales fall by half
Sales have plunged at Japanese car makers since violent protests and calls for boycotts ofJapanese products broke out across China in mid-September over the Japanese government’s”purchase” of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Nissan will suspend the night shift at its passenger car factories in China and operate onlyduring the day, the business daily said. Nissan has two passenger car factories in China, inHuadu and Zhengzhou, with two lines each. A Nissan spokesman declined to confirm the report.
Toyota and Honda plan to cut China production to about half normal levels by shorteningworking hours and slowing down the speed of production lines, the Nikkei said without citing asource.
China’s new three-child policy highlights risks of aging across emerging Asia
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Ford Motor Co is poised to overtake its Japanese rivals on the top seller's list in China as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co struggle to regain market share following a flare up in anti-Japanese sentiment a year ago.
For much of the past decade, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker has languished some way behind Japanese brands and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. And it has lagged a long way behind General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG in China.
That's mainly because of Ford's late foray into China and the subsequent, conservative approach it has taken in an auto market that became the world's biggest in 2009.
Ford is fighting to change that picture and appears likely to sell more vehicles in China this year than two of its main Japanese rivals - Toyota and Honda. Its China sales are also zooming close to that of Nissan Motor Co.
Ford is likely to sell more than 900,000 vehicles, including passenger cars and commercial vehicles, in China this year thanks to its beefed-up product lineup, said a company official who spoke on condition of anonymity. New in the showroom since last year are a couple of small sport-utility vehicles and the redesigned Focus car.
It has also just launched the redesigned Mondeo car, a China version of the car marketed in North America as the Fusion.
The American automaker sold 551,738 vehicles during the first eight months of the year, up 50 percent. The company is expected to release its September China sales data as early as on Wednesday.
"We should be able to sell more than 900,000 vehicles, possibly close to a million in China this year," the Ford official said.
Toyota is targeting to sell about 900,000 vehicles and Honda about 750,000 in China this year. China-based spokespeople at the two firms said they were on track to meet those objectives.
Nissan is aiming to sell 1.25 million vehicles, but a Nissan company executive speaking on condition of anonymity said last month the company was "stretching to achieve" that goal.
The Japanese carmakers have, however, recorded a sharp rise in year-on-year sales last month partly due to the low base from last September, when Japan's decision to nationalize disputed islands in the East China Sea sparked anti-Japan sentiment among Chinese consumers.


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News and Articles About Food Businesses
A British court ruled that Chobani can't call their product 'Greek yogurt' because it is made in the U.S.
A McDonald's employee in Pittsburgh was arrested for selling heroin to customers at the drive-thru.
A Q&A with Miguel Di Costanzo on what happened when his hard work caught the eye of his 'Undercover Boss.'
As a snowstorm turned Georgia and Alabama into a scene out of a zombie movie, businesses lent a helping hand.
Darden Restaurants continues to struggle, cutting employees and dealing with investors who are challenging the company's decisions.
The burrito chain is releasing a four-part comedy series on Hulu next month that offers a satirical take on industrial farming.
With the biggest weekend for wings consumption looming, the chicken industry and restaurants are ready.
The key to your staff's heart (and productivity) might be through their stomachs. Check out the innovative ways these companies are getting work done while keeping bellies full and spirits high.
Denny's stands out in social media by breaking the rules-- and posting photos of pugs in seas of ranch dressing.
A multi-year agreement between a 3-D printing tech company and a global leader in chocolate could bring sweet results.
Domino's and Pizza Hut are attempting to compete with fast-casual rookies by upping quality and revamping design.
Considering franchising your business? Start with these tips from four franchise founders.
For the first time ever, Pizza Hut is selling pizza by the slice in new stores, as well as rolling out digital menu boards and deck ovens.
The International Franchising Association predicts that franchise growth and job creation will outpace the wider economy in 2014.
After disappointing sales, Chuck E. Cheese's parent company is reportedly exploring a potential sale.
As McDonald's promises to buy 'verified sustainable' beef by 2016, the question remains -- what exactly is sustainable beef?
The drive-in chain is continuing its expansion with franchised restaurants in California and New York.
Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, has found it easier to set up shop in countries like Brazil and China rather than contend with U.S. government regulations.
While you watch your calories this New Year, vending businesses could have their profits eaten into.
Applebee's customers are usually seeking deals for dinner. This New Year's, however, one franchisee is charging big bucks for an open bar and buffet.
According to the ADP National Franchise Report, the U.S. added 13,070 new franchise jobs in the last month, with 12,970 of them in the restaurant sector.
The casual dining chain has taken the rare step of rolling out delivery services, mirroring sister-company Magianno's focus on large parties.
Entrepreneur caught up with College Entrepreneur of 2012 Bryan Silverman and talked about the upcoming year and his plans after graduation.
Coca-Cola Co. announced yesterday that it is splitting its operations to expedite refranchising of its bottling system.
Pumpkin spice latte with bubbles? Starbucks is now allowing customers in select stores to carbonate coffee and tea beverages.


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Will the Xbox Find VR Support?Published by forahobby on Thursday, March 18, 2021
Tagged: Gaming, Xbox One,
As the newest offerings from both Sony and Microsoft continue to carve their own path forward and capture their own portion of the market, questions around which will push either forward continue to be asked – one of the big features is certainly for contention here, with the PS5 pushing forward with its own PSVR2 platform, many fans are asking whether or not the Xbox will be primed for VR support which it is currently missing, or if a continued delay will be had until big features become available.
For some, the answer is already seemingly a not just yet – the Xbox lead has stated a number of times through interviews that whilst Microsoft is invested in exploring the virtual reality space, at its current there seems little reason to invest in developing options on the console as adoption rates amongst console users as a whole are quite low, and it’s hard to disagree – the number of games releases on different platforms in the VR space isn’t all that high, and whilst there are some that have been able to capture a great experience through the introduction, particularly amongst the simpler genres looking to replicate an offline experience like the big jackpot sites as users benefit from a jackpot joy code, but for something more complex like an FPS or MOBA that are leading the gaming industry currently, there’s still quite the gap.
The other issue certainly comes in at cost, too, as whilst VR as a whole has become much cheaper over the past few years there’s still quite a large price tag attached to the bigger names. Efforts have certainly been made to bring the overall cost of consoles down, but the cost of games has gone up a little, and it may be much harder to justify a price tag of a few hundred dollars extra on top for a VR system that has little game offering.Whilst it may be enough to sway the decision of some, there will certainly remain the staunch defenders of either platform with or without big new features like VR, and with the consoles only recently releasing this past holiday period and the longer life cycles they typically go through there’s still plenty of time for change – the Xbox could certainly find VR support a little further down the line if things move forward quickly, or it could turn out all of the investment from Sony falls short as VR continues to stumble and finds difficulty taking off at all.
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It has been estimated that around one fifth of businesses are losing out on huge sums of money in unclaimed VAT due to a complex and time-consuming European rebate system.
According to the report, as much as $20 billion (almost £15 billion) in cross-border VAT could be lying unrecovered in more than 30 countries worldwide. This is mainly because each country has different regulations and deadlines, and businesses can often face language barriers.
Meanwhile, a separate study from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has revealed that more than 20 per cent of businesses are unable to recover any of the foreign VAT they incur on business expenditure, mainly because of the policies of the foreign tax authorities involved.
At the same time as having to face these complex procedures and collate the relevant receipts and expense forms from cross-border travel, most businesses are trying to cut back on the number of hours spent on paperwork, so it is little wonder that so much of this tax remains unclaimed.
However, with such a large sum owed to businesses of all sizes, something must be done to get business owners to reclaim the VAT they are owed.
Given the need to recover this cash, business owners who are owed a substantial amount of money in unclaimed VAT could consider engaging a VAT reclaim company that could take care of the complex negotiations on their behalf.
These third-party organisations are used to dealing with the bureaucracy and administration involved in reclaiming VAT. They also have the legal and technical knowledge required for dealing with the wide range of tax authorities globally.


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New research from TWC shows that there is a high awareness of the Amazon Fresh concept, at 55% nationally, rising to 68% in London. Just over 1 in 10 shoppers surveyed said they have shopped at an Amazon Fresh store, renowned for its lack of checkouts and automated payment process.
Amazon now operates 19 of the ‘just walk out’ grocery stores in the UK, all in London, except its latest opening in Sevenoaks, Kent. Reports last year said the online giant wants to have over 260 of the hi-tech sites operating in the UK before the end of 2024 to challenge the established players in the sector.
Meanwhile, the latest TWC Trends figures suggest that total online grocery penetration is plateauing following rapid growth through the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The research was conducted in June and showed that whilst 14% of shoppers claim to have used the online channel more in the last six months, a higher proportion (16%) have used it less – and the majority are using it the same amount.
The research also suggests there is little loyalty in online grocery, with only 18% of consumers saying they always use the same retailer and just 13% saying they use an online delivery subscription such as Tesco Delivery Saver or Ocado Smart Pass.
Sarah Coleman, Communications Director at TWC commented: “Amazon appears to be powering ahead with its bold ambitions for the UK grocery sector. Two recent initiatives come to mind – offering 25% discount to Prime members shopping in its Fresh stores on the run-up to Prime Day and price matching Tesco (including Clubcard deals) on online grocery orders, presumably both with the intention of driving trial of its services.
“The low level of loyalty in the online grocery channel means it’s all to play for, and given the current cost-of-living crisis, any play on price is likely to be well received by consumers and may just encourage them to switch their shopping habits.”
However, the research did also highlight a not insignificant group of Amazon ‘rejectors’, who actively avoid the retailer. Accounting for 1 in 5 consumers nationally, these ‘rejectors’ are similar in demographic profile to Amazon’s core shoppers – they are younger, more likely to have children in the household and over-index in London. This suggests Amazon has something of ‘marmite’ appeal amongst this core group.


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Jeff Bezos isn't coming to Long Island City anymore, but the future of small-batch coffee roasting may already be taking root there.
About a mile north of the site that Amazon.com Inc. abandoned for its proposed New York City campus, a tiny coffee roasting co-op is welcoming anyone from cafe owners to hip consumers wanting to prepare their own green beans. Regalia's model, which lets customers rent time at its roasting machines, is attracting a wave of trendy Americans looking to ditch the traditional brands that have long dominated the coffee scene in favor of specialty beans and a more artisan cup of joe.
"The visions and the goals of the coffee roasters and the visions and goals of a cafe or bakery owner didn't always align," said Paolo Maliksi, one of the owners of Regalia. "We are here to make sure that anyone can come in and roast for whatever reason."
Maliksi and other small-batch roasters are at the forefront of a trend that has spilled over from the beer industry. Much like the boom in U.S. craft breweries, more and more coffee shops are now roasting their own beans from New York to Chicago to Seattle. The shift away from mass-produced coffee lets discerning cafe owners tell caffeinated customers exactly where their beans came from — something sustainability-minded clientele increasingly care about.


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LIKE the sartorially inclined masses across the world, Perth fashion lovers are missing being in the thick of fashion week right now.
It has been a fashion month like no other, with COVID-19 upending the traditional runway format in New York, with London, Milan and Paris following suit.
Luckily for us here in WA, the Prive Fashion Platform runway is back for its fourth year as part of the Ascot Racing Carnival, which is fresh from unveiling Chadwick model-turned-TV presenter Grady Wulff as this year’s ambassador.
The fashion show on October 2 will see the latest collections from WA designers including Jonte Designs, Reign the Label, Ilka, Morrison and Suit Vault, jewellery from Keiko Uno and Tania Claire Australia, and head wear from Atelier Eight and Holly Barker Millinery saunter down the 41m runway.
“We 100 per cent use local — the fashion and accessories designers, models and creative team are all WA-based,” Prive producer and stylist Juvelle Behrendorff said.
“We’ve always been really big on supporting local talent and this event is about giving them a platform where they can be showcased.
“A lot of designers work a lot harder than people realise, especially at the moment because retail has been hit really hard with COVID, so it’s a place to give them a voice to be seen and heard, bring them new customers and celebrate that we have great fashion here in Perth.”
Our city’s finest student designers will also get an opportunity to showcase their creations in an avant garde section, with one student from each WA fashion course selected by a panel of WA fashion industry experts to be a part of the showcase.
“With a month to go, Prive has seen an overwhelming response with the public now joining a waiting list for any last-minute tickets,” Perth Racing’s Chantelle O’Sullivan advised as we went to print.
“We’d encourage anyone who has missed out to check out the great array of spring fashion and racing events at perthracing.com.au.”


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Playstation CEO Jim Ryan said people don’t widely appreciate how they “organically” grown their studios, rather than via “massive spending sprees.”
In an interview, Jim Ryan iterated how valuable it is to grow your first-party studios’ capability significantly.
He says so in stark contrast to Microsoft, who recently acquired Zenimax Media. The complete Zenimax portfolio included eight studios right out of the gate.
Playstation took time to grow its studios
Playstation’s strategy of creating exclusives started in the early years of the Playstation 3. As the then-fledgling Xbox was beginning to outpace Sony, the company had to do something. Their answer to it was first-party exclusives.
Since then, Sony acquired as many as 14 studios under their belt so far. Their latest acquisition was Insomniac Games, who developed Ratchet and Clank and Spider-Man.
“It’s probably not widely appreciated or understood, to what extent that we have grown our own game development capability organically over the course of this generation,” he said to GamesIndustry.biz. “Obviously, it’s been helped by the acquisition of Insomniac, and it’s wonderful to have them as part of the family.”
“I would just invite anybody to look at the launch window line-up of the PS4 generation, or PS3 generation, and compare it to what we are going to bring in the equivalent phase of PS5. There’s just no comparison.”
So far, the exclusives that Playstation 5 will have are decent, to say the least. These include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Spider-Man Remastered, and Demon’s Souls.
Ryan proud of their “steadily, carefully planned organic growth”
Jim Ryan is quick to deride Microsoft’s method of acquiring studios. While it is essential to have a good line of first-party studios, it matters more than the studios are mature. Beyond being home-grown, they need to have a reliable portfolio.
Even then, Ryan believes that “massive spending sprees” don’t have the same value as careful, organic growth.
“That is the fruit of not massive spending sprees, but of very, very steadily, carefully planned organic growth,” noted Ryan. “Probably the best example I give… I could obviously talk about Naughty Dog, but they’ve always been making great games. But let’s talk about Ghost of Tsushima, which has been a critical delight and certainly a commercial delight to an extent that we didn’t think it would be. That speaks volumes to the work that Sucker Punch has done to build on their previous canon of work.”
Microsoft pushed for aggressive growth in their first-party studios, shocking the entire gaming industry.
The past three years were nothing but growth for them, but the fans are yet to see if Jim Ryan is right.
Featured image courtesy of Playstation/YouTube Screenshot


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Black Country borough is one of UK's worst areas for low food hygiene scores
A new study has revealed that one Black Country borough is among the nation's worst-performing areas for food hygiene.
Dudley has been ranked in the 'bottom 10' areas of the UK when it comes to the proportion of food businesses having low food hygiene ratings.
Figures analysed by food labelling specialist The Barcode Warehouse found that Dudley ranked sixth in the ratings, with 5.74 per cent of restaurants in the area having a hygiene rating of either two stars or below.
In the list, the bottom five positions belong to Birmingham, with 7.15 per cent, Islington with 6.79 per cent, Birkenhead with 6.71 per cent and Wigan with 6.65 per cent of businesses having a hygiene rating of two or below.
Meanwhile Ipswich and Nottingham were singled out for praise with 86.52 per cent and 78.58 per cent respectively of food businesses getting top hygiene marks of five stars.
Joanna Jagiello, marketing director at The Barcode Warehouse, said: "With locations like Ipswich and Nottingham having such a high percentage of restaurants with the top rating for food hygiene, it is evident that there are several locations where diners can have peace of mind that eateries are adhering to the highest level of food hygiene standards.
"That said, with cities like Birmingham, it’s clear that restaurants must do more to ensure the highest food hygiene standards are being met."
The ratings, organised by The Barcode Warehouse, judged data from the Food Standards Agency for more than 150,000 businesses around the UK, excluding Scotland.
Ms Jagiello continued: "The key to ensuring hospitality venues can meet the required food hygiene standards is implementing an effective food labelling system.
"That way restaurants and cafés can display accurate information about the composition of their food and serve to customers in full confidence."
The ratings included restaurants of all types, including vegetarian, gluten-free and halal diets.
A full breakdown of the research can be read on The Barcode Warehouse website thebarcodewarehouse.co.uk.


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Citrus officials hope data show worry over fungicide is abating.
LAKELAND | Just as it's darkest before the dawn, Florida citrus officials said they hope the most recent orange juice sales figures indicate the carbendazim scare earlier this year has abated and U.S. sales are beginning to pull out of a decade-long funk.
OJ sales drew closer to positive territory than they have since March 2011, falling 5.4 percent for the four-week period ending July 7 compared with the same time a year earlier, according to the most recent Florida Department of Citrus report.
That's a big improvement from the first four months of the year, when OJ sales plummeted between 11.2 percent and 15.5 percent per month.
Retail OJ price increases also have moderated, averaging just 5 percent in the July 7 period but still hitting a record of $6.38 per gallon, the report showed. The average retail OJ price rose between 6 percent and 8 percent for the first seven months of the 2011-12 season beginning in October.
"I would say that sales are starting to recover from the lows seen in February," said Bob Norberg, deputy executive director at the Florida Department of Citrus in Bartow, referring to that month's 15.5 percent sales decline. "Even though prices continue to rise, which is good for Florida growers, consumers seem to be less price sensitive than they have been in recent past."
Strong retail prices are good for growers because they support high farm prices.
Marty McKenna, a Lake Wales-based grower and chairman of the Florida Citrus Commission, the Citrus Department's governing body, said he was reluctant to declare a trend reversal in domestic OJ sales, which have declined in nine of the previous 10 citrus seasons.
"I'm hoping this is the beginning of a trend," McKenna said. "It's a sign we've been looking for. We've got to bottom out before we move up. It's the first time we've had hopeful numbers."
Even better news from the July 7 period is that the OJ market appears to have returned to its historical pattern: U.S. sales fall 1 percent for each 1 percent increase in the average price.
For the first five months of this year, the sales decline was 4 to 5 percentage points larger than the average price increase. That normally indicates other factors are affecting U.S. consumers' purchasing decisions.
Many citrus industry people thought that other factor was carbendazim, an illegal fungicide in this country.
On Jan. 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it would test all OJ imports into the U.S. after the country's top orange juice brands, Tropicana and Minute Maid, announced they discovered the fungicide in some of their products containing Brazilian juice. The FDA barred entry of OJ imports with any detectable trace of carbendazim.
Growers in Brazil, the world's largest orange and OJ producer, had allowed carbendazim until the FDA decision. In past years, Brazil accounted for half of all OJ imported to the U.S.
The FDA announced in May it had stopped mandatory carbendazim testing for all OJ imports but would test on a selective basis. OJ imports to the U.S. from January through May declined by 30 percent compared with the same period in 2011, according to another Citrus Department report.
McKenna and Norberg declined to comment on the carbendazim impact.
The good news on retail prices came after the end of the 2011-12 Florida citrus harvest, one of the best seasons for farm prices in the state's history.
Preliminary figures from Lakeland-based Florida Citrus Mutual showed the state's orange growers averaged $1.93 per pound solids for early and mid-season varieties picked from October to March and $2.075 on Valencia oranges picked from March to June. Juice processors, who buy 95 percent of Florida oranges, pay growers based on pound solids, a standard measure of the amount of juice squeezed from fruit.
[ Kevin Bouffard can be reached at email@example.com or at 863-422-6800. Read more on Florida citrus on his Facebook page, Florida Citrus Witness, http://bit.ly/baxWuU. ]


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Wii U Archive
If you like games like and or strategic platforms like , you’ll probably take a liking to , the side-scrolling survival game.
There’s a 14 minute video of for the Wii U featuring the game’s tutorial mode that introduces players to the basic control
is the Wii U’s upcoming racing extravaganza from Shin’en Multimedia and it’s been demoed at game shows and conventions leading up to
Due out on August 27th for $14.99, is a zany indie-platforming racing game from 13AM Games. The title sees players taking on
The puzzle game that’s heavily based on M. C. Escher’s geometric shapes and designs The Bridge, will be available across almost all major platforms
, originally having launched for the Wii back in 2011, has made its way to the Wii U on the Nintendo eShop.
Set to release on August 25th for the PC, PS3, PS Vita and PS4, with an August 28th date for the Xbox
A new action-oriented strategy game from Blowfish Studios called is set for release on the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One and Windows
Nintendo has gone and done it: the Nintendo TVii button has finally been removed from the menu for Wii U units in
Indie devs PolyKid brings us a nice N64-like platformer called Poi. It offers that decisive judgment of predicting where to jump and


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View Here : Hyundai Spy Shots
Hyundai's newest Elantra GT has a sporty fastback variant sold overseas, and it's about to get the N performance treatment. The standard version of the car is called the i30 Fastback. Our latest spy shots show a prototype for what's shaping up to be a new i30 N Fastback. We know this is the N ...
An electric version of Hyundai's popular compact sedan, the Elantra, has been spotted testing in the extreme cold of a northern Sweden winter. The prototype sports the same low-drag wheels and tires of Hyundai's Ioniq Electric, and parts of the grille appear to be sealed off too.
Latest news about the 2018 Hyundai Veloster coupe, including the official release date, engine specs, colors and styling changes. Plus, dealer arrival info.
Hyundai news blog provides latest automobile reviews, car spy shots, sales figures, dealership deals and other things related to the 2017 / 2018 auto industry.
Rendering & Spy Shots. Hyundai seems to be on a roll. The marque seems to be working on its bread and butter models that include the Genesis luxury brand, the Elantra GT, and now the 2019 Hyundai Sonata.
See spy photos of future car prototypes testing in the wild. Get an early glimpse of the hottest new models before they’re released to the public.
Spy shots and preview pictures of all the latest models from the experts at Auto Express.
Although it faces a stiff rivalry in its class, the new 2018 Hyundai Genesis Coupe is still an attractive choice for anyone looking for a sport coupe. Highlights for 2018 include good value for the money, a spirited performance, and a responsive handling.
At first, specially looking at the front under camouflage, you can think this is another set of spy pictures of the next-generation Hyundai Santa Fe, but if you take a look to the side picture, this opinion will change. The new Santa Fe will debut on February 2018 in South Korea and aparently looks ...
New Spy Shots of the 2018 Wrangler JL Rubicon Reveal Hard and Soft Top Options


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Q2 Subscriptions Exceed Expectations For Sirius XM
August 4, 2010 at 4:15 AM (PT)
Good news for SIRIUS XM RADIO, as the satcaster released Q2 subscriber figures that far exceeded WALL STREET's expectations, "leading it to raise its forecast for the full year," reports THE NEW YORK POST. The struggling satellite radio broadcaster said it expanded its subscriber base by 6% to a record 19.5 million in the second quarter.
Auto sales were largely responsible for the increase.
SIRIUS XM raised its 2010 forecast for subscriber growth by nearly 50%, and that news sent its shares to close 6% higher. SIRIUS XM is up 67% this year. "Last year, SIRIUS XM was struggling as auto sales, which generate the bulk of its business, continued to be anemic and was in danger of being delisted after its share price fell below the $1 minimum," wrote THE POST.
BARRINGTON RESEARCH analyst JAMES GOSS told the paper that this year's subscription growth will make it easier for SIRIUS XM to generate profits in the future, as customer-acquisition costs will be lower. "This will help position them better for next year and beyond," GOSS said.
HOWARD STERN remains a pending issue for CEO MEL KARMAZIN, with the star's contract expiring at the end of this year. GOSS said it's possible CEO KARMAZIN will "extend the King of All Media's five-year, $500 million contract in a downsized form, resulting in less work and less money for STERN."


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Tour de Data: Atlanta
W Hotel Atlanta-Buckhead
Tour de Data, hosted by STR Analytics and the STR family of companies, is making its next stop in Atlanta to take an in-depth look at the city’s hotel market and profitability.
Tour de Data events give attendees a look at the latest hotel industry trends and data as well as innovative ways to use it. The event will feature market-specific data, Atlanta-specific profitability data, transaction data, national industry overviews, innovative ways to benchmark and comp set statistics.
Hosted at the W Hotel Atlanta in Buckhead, the event will be held Thursday, November 15 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. EST. Tour de Data Atlanta will consist of presentations, an Atlanta expert panel discussion moderated by Patrick Mayock, editor in chief at HotelNewsNow.com, one-on-one conversations with the STR Analytics team and a cocktail networking event.
STR Analytics will give attendees a comprehensive look at the Atlanta market, presenting statistics such as:
- Atlanta has seen the strongest year-to-date average-daily-rate growth and actual demand since 2007.
- During the past 12 months, Atlanta has seen a net loss of 400 rooms across the market due to room conversions and hotel closures.
- There are 5,682 rooms in Atlanta’s active pipeline including 1,705 Upscale rooms, which will boost the scale’s overall supply by 12.5 percent.
- Atlanta continues to perform below the total U.S. in terms of demand percent change and actual occupancy, ADR and revenue per available room.
Both the live events and webinars are free of charge. For more information on Tour de Data visit www.tourdedata.com
Tour de Data


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Ex-Head of Vnukovo Airport customs disappears after being accused of smuggling 7 million rubles
The General Yuri Shebunyaev is one of the organizers of the so-called green route for the illegal importation of goods from Turkey to Russia.
The former Head of the customs at the Vnukovo Airport, the General Yuri Shebunyaev, who stands accused of smuggling goods from Turkey to Russia, is currently hiding from the investigation. A representative of the Moscow Investigation Department of Transport under ICR Tatyana Morozova told Interfax that Shebunyaev would be on the international wanted list.
The official claims that Shebunyaev fled in an unknown direction back in July 2016, and later sent a letter of resignation to the customs service. In August, he was charged in absentia with Abuse of Official Powers (Art. 286 of the Criminal Code) and put on the federal wanted list. Now, however, the investigation plans to put him on the international wanted list.
Shebunyaev is likely hiding in the Netherlands, sources of Life report.
Previously, the CrimeRussia informed that a few officials had been detained in Moscow this April on suspicions of abuse of office. They were acting deputy head of Vnukovo customs and head of the Vnukovo customs post Roman Kurzenkov, the Acting Head of the department of special customs procedures № 4 Mikhail Fast, the Deputy Head of the special customs procedures № 3 Alexey Plitin, and the Chief State Customs Inspector Igor Kudryashov.
According to the investigation, Kurzenkov and other employees of Vnukovo customs organized the smuggling channel for commercial quantities of goods through the green corridor of the airport customs. The expertise established that a total of 800 kg of illegal goods worth about 7 million rubles had been imported to Russia over the period from January 7 to March 3, 2016.
Three staff members (Fast, Plitin, and Kudryashov) were arrested by the Meshchansky Court of Moscow and placed under house arrest, while Kurzenkov absconded and was put on the wanted list. Later, the court arrested the Deputy Chief of customs Vyacheslav Latskikh. At present, all four of the accused are giving the testimony, with only Plitin denying his guilt completely. Kudryashov made a deal with the investigation and signed a pre-trial agreement.
According to a source of RIA Novosti, the investigation plans to initiate several cases against direct carriers of goods for Evasion of Customs Duties (Art. 194 of the Criminal Code) and combine the whole case under the Organized Crime Group article (Art. 210 of the Criminal Code). Shortly before this case was initiated, law enforcers had arrested the police chief of Vnukovo Igor Kukushkin. He stands accused of taking a bribe worth several thousand dollars for the illegal importation of goods into Russia through the airport. However, lawyers for each of the cases have denied any connections between them.
Last week, the entire world has celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Internet. In the meantime, the Russian legislators have adopted new laws restricting the development of the Russian-speaking segment of the world wide web. The 'fake news' and 'internet insults' laws adopted under the pretext of protecting the society from manipulations and threat, including external ones, violate the Constitution and some federal laws in relation to the right to search for, obtain, and use information. Furthermore, the bill on ‘sovereign Internet’ passed in the first reading by the State Duma leads us directly to self-isolation.


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At a spring review of Joe Fresh, Joseph Mimran, the brand’s founder, was talking trends: bold graphics, white and black, see-through mesh and perforated fabrics, fake leather and the innovative and very light synthetic “air” fabric. The spring array, on a runway at Dream Downtown’s South Center Gallery in New York, is just a sampling of Joe Fresh’s head-to-toe collection of contemporary styles that bridges generations and serves up moderate prices.
But the biggest trend is square footage and how quickly Joe Fresh is ramping it up. The 14,000-square-foot U.S. flagship, opened in March at 510 Fifth Avenue in New York, has been the spark, Mimran said. It impressed J.C. Penney Co. Inc. chief executive officer Ron Johnson, who contacted Mimran by e-mail to strike a distribution deal, and also caught the eye of other potential partners who could take the brand beyond North America. “There’s no question that when you get on Fifth Avenue with a big flagship, people take notice,” Mimran said.
In the metro New York area, there are six Joe Fresh stores and more to come. “We don’t want to just parachute in and not be real. We are looking for other flagship opportunities in New York. We want to have a real presence,” with stores and design facilities, he said.
Mimran has been citing the possibility of opening overseas for awhile, but there is nothing specific to report. So first things first. In March, Joe Fresh rolls out inside 683 J.C. Penney stores with shops-in-shop from 1,000 to 2,500 square feet each, giving Joe Fresh a huge U.S. footprint practically overnight. “It’s all going to happen in about a week,” Mimran said.
Peter Kim's Los Angeles-based premium denim line has always had its finger on the pulse of youth. This season, novelty is back in a way reminiscent of early Aughts, with studs, lace-ups, racing waxed denim and more. For more highlights if some of the key brands at the Vegas trade shows, go to WWD.com. #wwdfashion (📷: Patrick Gray; Styles by @thealexbadia; Story by @karihamanaka and @marcy_wwd)
"I was driving back on Saturday afternoon from the beach, and I just saw this sign saying 'Skydiving for $95.' And I was like, I can't not sky dive for $95," says Tom Bateman about a moment in Hawaii while shooting "Snatched." #wwdeye (📷: @vsteves; Interview by @ktauer; Styled by @thealexbadia)


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June 2, 2015: Â According to theÂ Restaurant operator KFC,Â it has Â filed a lawsuit against three companies in China on Monday whose social media accounts spread false statement about its food, including that its chickens have eight legs.Â
KFC said Â it filed case against those companies fore spreading fake news on social media. The spread-ed rumor was that the chicken used by KFC hasÂ six wings and eight legs and they are genetically modified. According to the Chinese KFC website they rumor spreaded is fake.
According to KFC they are demandingÂ 1.5 million yuan ($242,000) to each company for apology. In a statement byÂ KFC’s China CEO Qu Cuirong ” it is hard for them to protect their brand against those rumor’s and its getting difficult for them to collect the evidences.
Shanxi Weilukuang Technology Company Ltd., Taiyuan Zero Point Technology Company and Yingchenanzhi Success and Culture Communication Ltd. in Shenzhen city sued against KFC. When calling to the number of those companies it says invalid or goes unanswered.
The campaign was launched two years ago to clean up the rumors spreaded online. KFC has 4600 restaurants in China.


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Vizio, in an effort to cut costs, recently removed over-the-air TV turners from their TVs. Vizio had changed the name of their TVs to Home Theater Displays to differentiate themselves from typical TVs with a tuner.
Now Vizio has announced that their new line of TVs will once again include the TV tuner. It seems Vizio has decided with the growth of cord cutting a TV tuner will help them sell TVs. Now these TVs will be the current ATSC 1.0 standard. It seems Vizio is holding off on ATSC 3.0 tuners until more testing is done.
The return of tuners lines up with a recent report that says HDTV antenna sales will grow by 20 to 45% per year over the next few years.
Also with ATSC 3.0 being right around the corner both the TV industry and TV manufacturers are excited for new growth in over-the-air TV.
Would the return of tuners built in to Vizio TVs make you more likely to buy a Vizio TV? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
Did you know we now have a FREE app for iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire? Click HERE to download our app.


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|OTA battle hots up as Kathleen Tan takes over at AirAsia Expedia.|
Tuesday, 8th January 2013
Source : Yeoh Siew Hoon
As tweeted recently, AirAsia Expedia (AAE), the joint venture between AirAsia and the Expedia group, has appointed Kathleen Tan, AirAsia’s group commercial head, as chief executive officer.
Tan (right) replaces Dan Lynn, who was moved in from Expedia to head up the joint venture when it was signed on March 29, 2011 and heralded a game-changer at the time. Her appointment signals yet another shot in the battle of the OTA space that will heat up in Asia in 2013.
Talk that a top-level change was imminent at the joint venture had been doing the rounds for the last couple of months amid speculation that both AirAsia and Expedia were considering the next steps on how to push the business along amid the increasingly intense competition in the OTA space in the region.
While Lynn’s forte has been in “getting stuff” done – something he professed a passion for in talks at a Web In Travel event – it is clear the two brands now want to take the joint venture to a level where it can compete with global competitor, Priceline Group, and regional brands such as MakeMyTrip (which bought Hoteltravel.com), Webjet (which bought ZUJI) and Wotif which has also brought in new ammunition in the form of new CEO Scott Blume.
Under Lynn’s watch, the joint venture has launched sites in various markets including Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. He also saw the launch of Backick, touted as the world’s first hotel booking site where friends help pay for each other’s travel. The team also moved into brand new offices in Singapore, distinguished by its bright yellow Expedia colours.
The move to put AirAsia’s marketing powerhouse Kathleen Tan at the helm of AirAsia Expedia shows serious intent by the two companies to put more muscle and weight behind the joint venture and perhaps a recognition that you need someone with deep Asian experience to execute such a challenging enterprise – this at a time when the AirAsia Group itself is rapidly expanding and Tan was instrumental in building up the airline’s brand and sales as commercial head.
Effective immediately, Tan will oversee the Expedia brand, AirAsiaGo, and Backick online travel agency (OTA) businesses in South-east Asia, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
In a press statement, Dara Khosrowshahi, Expedia group president and chief executive officer said, “We are thrilled to have a business leader of Kathleen’s caliber join the AirAsia Expedia joint venture. She has an impressive track record in building AirAsia into Asia’s biggest low-cost carrier over the past eight years, and we are delighted to have those skills brought to the AirAsia Expedia joint venture. Furthermore, her substantial knowledge of Asia’s travel landscape and proven business acumen will be immensely valuable in taking AAE to future heights.”
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer said, “Kathleen came to Malaysia not knowing anything about aviation, but her determination has led her to overcome every challenge and today she holds the pulse of Asia’s travel market. As AirAsia progress towards the second decade of success, we feel comfortable in letting Kathleen move to AirAsia Expedia.
“Our focus for the next five years is ancillary and adjacent business. The potential of AirAsia Expedia is enormous. Having Kathleen driving the business gives me huge encouragement and I am sure AAE and the OTA industry will escalate tremendously when Kathleen gets to work her unique style of brand-building, sales and profits growth” he added.


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The 20% stake sale values Piramal’s pharma business at Carlyle’s offer would value the business at around Rs 20,000 crore ($2.6 billion). The market capitalisation of the Piramal Enterprises is Rs 30,280.78 crore. The stock has appreciated 48% in last 1 month in anticipation of this transaction even as Piramal Enterprises posted a net loss in the March quarter. Inclusive of debt, the business is valued at $2.7billion with an upside component of up to US$360 million depending on the company’s FY21 performance, Piramal said in a statement on Saturday.
ET was the first to report on this impending deal on June 12th.
This will be the second pharma transaction for the US private equity group in as many months, having bought SeQuent Scientific, India’s largest pure-play animal healthcare company in May, underscoring its appetite to buy or partner with top flight pharma and healthcare companies in the country. It has in the past backed Medanta Medicity Hospital, a leading hospital chain and Metropolis Healthcare, which operates a chain of diagnostic centres and laboratories in India.
Globally, Carlyle has strong experience in the pharmaceutical services sector, having invested in Albany Molecular Research (AMRI), a global contract research, development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), PPD, a leading global contract research organization (CRO), and Ambio, a global pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturer.
“Given global pharma industry trends, we see attractive opportunities for organic as well as inorganic growth in each of these businesses,” said Neeraj Bharadwaj, Managing Director, Carlyle Asia Partners. “We will leverage our global network, extensive knowledge of the healthcare sector, and operating experience to seek to expand its platform, develop strategic opportunities and facilitate broader market access.”
Listed Piramal Enterprises Limited (PEL) is a diversified company with a presence in pharma, financial services and healthcare information management business. The promoters own 46.6 per cent in the company, as on March 2020. But the group’s financial services businesses have been under pressure, like most of its peers in the sector. In the last 1 year, the PEL shares have lost 51 per cent versus a 16% decline in the Sensex.
Piramal has been looking at unlocking value in the pharma vertical of flagship Piramal Enterprises by selling a stake to a financial partner ahead of a proposed demerger. It had appointed investment bank Rothschild for the divestment late last year. The plan is to subsidiarise the pharma business and eventually list it separately, in India or overseas.
“This is an affirmation of the strength of our ability to build new, attractive and scalable businesses with a significant runway for continued organic growth and opportunities for consolidation. This infusion of funds will further strengthen our balance sheet and provide us with a war chest for the next phase of our strategy,” said Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Enterprises.
“This fresh growth investment into our pharma business will be used as growth capital for the pharma businesses to expand capacity across our sites as well as to tap attractive acquisition opportunities within and outside India. In the interim, the proceeds from this capital raise may also enable us to further strengthen our balance sheet through deleveraging in the near term,” added Nandini Piramal, executive director, Piramal Enterprises.
The Piramal Group’s balance sheet has been impacted by concerns of exposure to weakened corporate lenders and developers who borrowed from its nonbanking financial company (NBFC) arm.
PEL posted a loss of Rs 1,703 crore in the March quarter, after provisioning more than Rs 1,500 crore for potential coronavirus-related losses in its lending business, even as the company reduced its net debt by almost a quarter in the past year to Rs 37,283 crore.
Even after selling its domestic formulations business to Abbott for a record Rs 17,000 crore ($3.7 billion) in 2010, Piramals have built a near billion dollar business in pharma spanning continents and segments. But even then, it currently contributes only 41% of the group’s overall revenues, a sharp drop from 60% just two years ago. The real estate and financial services businesses have in turn become far more dominant in comparisons.
The group is present in the entire pharma value chain, from development and commercial manufacturing to off-patent supplies of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and formulations. In the critical-care segment, it has a portfolio of niche branded generic hospital products, and is also among the top global players in inhalation anaesthetic products.
The pharma vertical has been growing at 15% CAGR over the last 9 years to end fiscal 2020 with sales of Rs 5419 crore. With 26% margin, it clocked around Rs 1436 crore EBITDA in the same fiscal.
Within the pharma vertical, Piramal Pharma Solutions is a contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) has emerged as the mainstay contributing 58% of revenues. Piramal Critical Care is a hospital generics company with a presence in 100 countries generating 34% of pharma division's topline, including the US and Europe. The Consumer Products Division, 5th largest in the country, deals in over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, skin care (Lacto Calamine), vitamins and nutrition, antacids like Polycrol, analgesics (Saridon), gastro-intestinal and baby-care (Little’s) . The phytomedicines business is involved in the development of healthcare solutions from natural sources and phytopharmaceuticals.
Over the last one year, the Piramal group has seen several divestments across its businesses as well as investments to strengthen its balance sheet. Piramal sold 10% in Shriram Transport Finance for Rs 2,300 crore that offered liquidity to the lending business as part of a “broader strategy” to leverage opportunities for growth in its financial services vertical. But its plans to exit Shriram Capital have not yet fructified.
Subsequently, Canadian pension fund CDPQ also deployed Rs 1750 crore ($300 million) through a preferential allotment as part of a larger fund raising initiative including a Rs 3650 crore rights issue. Earlier, in January, Piramal Enterprises also agreed to sell its health care data analytics business Decision Resources Group to the U.S.’s Clarivate Analytics for $950 million. The cash-and-stock deal closed in February, the company said.
“The pharma segment grew led by steady demand in complex products and healthy order-book in services. The segment includes complex products such as inhalation anaesthesia, injectable anaesthesia, pain-management products, and intrathecal spasticity products. The services segment benefits from ramp-up of recently expanded capacities in high-potent bulk drugs and anti-bodies,” Crisil observed in a ratings analysis of PEL in January but added, “The global pharma, OTC, and healthcare analytics businesses have been grown largely through acquisitions. While revenue has been ramped up, these acquisitions are yet to contribute materially to profitability.”
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and Covington & Burling LLP served as legal advisors to PEL on this transaction. J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor and AZB & Partners and White & Case served as legal advisors to Carlyle.
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