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Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) rose by 14.7% on Friday after reporting remarkably strong financial performance for the quarter ended on May 3. Even other successful industry players, such as Macy's (NYSE:M) and Dillard's (NYSE:DDS), are finding it hard to increase sales in the notoriously challenging retail environment lately, and this says a lot about Nordstrom and its competitive strengths.
Growing revenues and investing for growth
Nordstrom announced net earnings per share of $0.72 during the quarter ended on May 3. This was above the company's own guidance of between $0.60 and $0.70 for the quarter, and also better than the $0.68 per share forecast, on average, by Wall-Street analysts.
Sales during the quarter were particularly impressive; while most competitors are reporting sluggish top-line growth, Nordstrom announced a sales increase of 6.8% versus the same quarter in the prior year, to $2.8 billion. Comparable-store sales increased by a healthy 3.9% during the quarter.
Nordstrom Rack is becoming a considerable growth driver for the company lately. Sales increased by a whopping 20% year over year on the back of 27 new store openings and a jump of 6.4% in Nordstrom Rack same-store sales. Direct sales were also particularly strong during the quarter, with a 33% annual increase.
Gross margin declined by 124 basis points, to 35.8% of sales, though this was due to increased promotions, accelerated store expansion in the Nordstrom Rack division, and growth in the Nordstrom Rewards loyalty program.
The Nordstrom Rewards program has 3.9 million active members. The company added more than 275,000 accounts during the quarter, an increase of approximately 25% versus the prior year. Sales from members represented 38% of total sales, increasing from 36% in the same period last year.
Management reaffirmed its earnings and sales guidance for the rest of the year, and the company plans to open three full-line stores and 17 Nordstrom Rack stores during the remainder of fiscal 2014.
Online is a key strategic area for Nordstrom when it comes to investments in the years ahead. The company plans to spend $3.9 billion in capital investments during the next five years, and technology will represent approximately $1.2 billion of that money, or 30% of Nordstrom's capital plan.
Even if profit margins are likely to remain under pressure due to new Nordstrom Rack openings and active investments in technology, management is doing the right thing by investing for the future, and positioning the company for growth over the long term.
Nordstrom vs. Macy's and Dillard's
Macy's and Dillard's are among the strongest companies in the business when it comes to performance during the last several years, yet Nordstrom has outgrown them by a considerable margin over time.
Macy's has traditionally been able to sustain relatively strong financial performance in the face of difficult times for the industry. And the last quarter was no exception: Macy's reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter ended on May 3, as diluted earnings per share came in at $0.60, a 9% increase versus the prior year and above the $0.59 per share forecast on average by analysts.
The strong performance on the bottom line was due to higher margins and a reduced share count, though. Sales declined by 1.7% versus the same quarter in the prior year on the back of a 0.8% drop in comparable-store sales, including sales from departments licensed to third parties.
Dillard's was another strong performer on Friday, rising by an explosive 14.9% as investors reacted with optimism to the company's earnings report. Dillard's reported earnings per share of $2.56 during the quarter, better than the $2.41 forecast by Wall Street analysts.
Merchandise sales didn't grow by much, though. The company announced a 1% increase in revenues from its retail business, to $1.54 billion, while comparable-store sales increased by 2% during the quarter. Dillard's is doing relatively well in comparison to most competitors, but the company is no match for Nordstrom when it comes to sales growth during the last quarter.
Even for well-run department stores generating solid profitability, sales growth has been remarkably difficult to achieve during the last quarter. Nordstrom's performance looks particularly encouraging when keeping in mind the notoriously tough environment affecting the industry lately.
Nordstrom is delivering strong performance while positioning itself for growth in the years ahead. In times when even solid players such as Macy's and Dillard's are finding it hard to generate sales growth, Nordstrom stands one step ahead of the competition. This speaks wonders about the company's fundamental strengths and management team quality.
Andrés Cardenal has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Dillard's. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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This coffee shop pays for free therapy, one cup at a time
Hip-hop artist Christopher LeMark started healing from decades of trauma thanks to therapy. He decided to help his fellow Chicago residents.
As LeMark worked through the"marathon" that is healing from trauma, he felt called to help others do the same. He went home and wrote down"coffee,""mental health" and"hip-hop" — three phrases that symbolized healing to him.
"I wrote down 'coffee' because of the mental and emotional breakdown happened inside of a coffee shop," LeMark explained."Hip-hop saved my life from committing suicide. I always had a chance to write. It was my first form of therapy. And 'mental health,' because in my community we're taught to survive and we weren't talking about it, so I wanted to normalize this conversation."
With that, LeMark opened"Coffee, Hip-Hop, and Mental Health," a non-profit organization where every hip-hop inspired drink sold helps fund free therapy sessions for individuals in need. LeMark said that initially, he wanted to sell enough coffee and merchandise to send 250 people to therapy. One woman, public school teacher Faith Overall, was among those first helped by the program. headtopics.com
July 22, 202105:09"If I had to pay out of pocket, chances are I was just going to have to skip out on therapy," Overall said."If we have to choose between what's going to provide a roof over our head and what's going to help us navigate life, we're kind of conditioned to provide the roof over our heads instead. And so having access to free therapy gave me the opportunity to actually get to what I needed to get to."
Overall said that being able to access that care made her a better educator."I think that you can talk to anyone, and they have a story about a teacher that harmed them," Overall said."And chances are, that's because that teacher themself was unhealed. So if I heal myself, I have the opportunity to heal my students."
LeMark said that the nonprofit has helped him recover from his own trauma."You know, I spent a whole lifetime saying 'Why me, why me? Why did Mom abandon me?' And then it all hit," LeMark said."This is why, because I was going to be used to build a platform so people can get some help. And when you think about here in Chicago, it's such a divide when it comes to having the resources, which is why we took a risk to open up this amazing coffee shop so we can say 'We're going to step out and we're going to pay for people to get some help, because healing is a marathon.'"Read more: »
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Tyson Foods workers get paid sick leave; 75% vaccinatedTyson Foods is offering paid sick leave for the first time to its front-line workers, part of an agreement that secured union support for its mandate that all U.S. employees get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. 'Company treating workers like human beings!' I love these stories. I,H,F,D,M,N,O,T key The Australian criminals in making nasty noises without really saying anything. This is why unions are good
The 27 Best Labor Day Sales For Your Kitchen, Campsite, Dining Room and BeyondBreville espresso machines, Dyson vacuums, plus Le Creuset, Instant Pot, and Smeg—all on sale
Kue KejuThese savory Indonesian-style cheese cookies are a fantastic snack with a cup of tea or coffee.
Oklahoma abortion clinic's call volume spikes over 10-fold as Texas law takes holdThe clinic has been forced to limit patient numbers for the first time in its history. Mexico will offer vacation abortions - it will be good for their economy China will start mass producing abortion pills and mailing them over to women of Texas for nice profit Many Texas poor will just buy a pack of coat hangers Republicans need to stick to mask fights

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General Motors Co. is recalling certain Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans from the 2013 model year because of problems with their ignition lock systems that could lead to the vehicles rolling away while unattended.
In a document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the car maker said the possible flaw affects 980 vans. The recall includes Express vans built from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21, 2012; and GMC Savana vehicles built from Nov. 14 through November 20, 2012.
In these vehicles it may be possible to remove the ignition key from its slot while the engine is running or when the transmission is not in the “park” position. The interlocking mechanism between the ignition and transmission, which is a standard safety feature throughout the U.S. auto industry, is supposed to keep the key from being removed unless the vehicle is in park and the engine is off.
Under the recall GM will notify owners about the recall and dealers will replace the ignition lock cylinder and keys, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on Jan. 23, 2013. For more information, GMC owners may call 866-996-9463 and Chevrolet owners may call 800-630-2438.


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ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A regional supermarket chain reported a 3.1% rise in its net sales for the fourth quarter.
Ingles Markets said its net sales rose to $856 million for the quarter ended Sept. 25, from $830.1 million in the same period last year. Basic and diluted earnings per share were 35 cents and 34 cents per share, respectively, compared with 23 cents and 22 cents per share last year.
Similarly, comparable-store sales, excluding gasoline, rose 1.8% in the fourth quarter for fiscal year 2010.
For its gross profit, Ingles Markets realized a $10.1 million increase, compared with the year-ago period.


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Nokia’s new Lumia 800 phone is “condemned to be either anecdotic or go through massive price cuts in the next 6 months,” says Pierre Ferragu, a senior analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in London.
Nokia (NOK) said it filed a complaint against Apple (AAPL) today with the U.S. International Trade Commission alleging that Apple infringes Nokia patents “in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players and computers.”
This is the second patent action Nokia has filed against Apple; in October it filed an infringement case in federal court in Delaware.
Nokia said the complaints covers seven Nokia patents it claims are being used by Apple “to create key features in its products in the area of user interface, as well as camera, antenna and power management technologies.”
In a statement, Paul Melin, general manager for patent licensing at Nokia, says that the company “has been the leading developer of many key technologies in small electronic devices.” He adds that the ITC action “is about protecting the results of such pioneering development.”
He adds that “while our litigation in Delaware is about Apple’s attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple’s practice of building its business on Nokia’s proprietary innovation.”
The New York Times on Sunday takes a close look at the mounting troubles for Nokia (NOK), which has become an effective non-entity in the U.S. smart phone market, and has begun to lose share in its home base in Europe.
The piece takes a fairly even-handed – and familiar – look at the company’s problems, although there some juicy quotes, like this one:
“The whole user experience is a nightmare,” moans Nick Jones, a senior analyst with Gartner, which tracks the technology sector. “It’s just not in any sense a competitive experience with iPhone.”
On an irrelevant but fascinating note, the story also points out that Nokia accounts for 25% of the market cap of the Helsinki Stock Exchange, and one third of the country’s total R&D spending.
Nokia (NOK) today said it will close its two U.S. flagship retail stores in New York and Chicago, in the latest sign the handset giant is struggling in the U.S. market in the face of intense competition from Apple (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM) and others. The company also confirmed a previous report that it will close one of its two stores in London, and said it is looking to relocate its store in Sao Paolo.
The company currently has 12 flagship stores around the globe; the first opened in Moscow in 2005.
Nokia noted that 90% of its U.S. customers buy their phones through carriers.
You know what Nokia (NOK) needs? Some smartphones that create some buzz.
In a research note today, MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen writes that one of his biggest concerns about Nokia’s prospects for the first half of 2010 “is the lack of an effective flagship phone.” And he’s dead on. You think Apple, you think iPhone. Motorola? Droid. Palm? Pre. Nokia? Nokia? Hello? Anyone?
“Our research indicates that the N97 continues fading and the N97 mini sales are soft,” he writes. The 5800 and the 6303 are Top 5 models in many European markets. But the 5800 is now one year old, and the 6303 is among the cheapest of the 6000 series devices. Nokia’s contract phone sales in Europe are now driven by what we regard as two aging discount phones.”
He adds that, after in-depth channel checks, he does not expect any flagship model candidates to debut in the first half of 2010. “This drought is particularly problematic considering the E-series is showing signs of softness and the N-series upgrades and the absence of a low-end rival to best-selling touch-screen cheapies like the Samsung Star and the LG Cookie.”
The bottom line, he writes it that the handset business is hit driven – and that Nokia, despite its large market share in many European markets, has no obvious hit phone on the horizon – and he says the revamped version of the Symbian OS isn’t likely have an impact until late 2010. “We are excited about the major hardware upgrade Nokia is planning for 2011 and believe that the Maemo program holds considerable promise for that year,” he writes. “However the first half of 2010 is looking mighty grim at the moment.”
NOK today is down 16 cents, or 1.3%, to $12.55.
Nokia (NOK) is shutting its retail store on London’s Regent Street “after failing to tempt consumers out of the bustling Apple store across the road with interactive translucent walls and a glitzy lounge area,” the U.K. based Times Online reports.
The Times writes that the closure “is a symbolic defeat for Nokia.”
The story reports that Nokia will maintains seven other outlets in the U.K., and notes that a Nokia spokesperson confirmed that the Regent Street location will close in Q1 2010.
Nokia (NOK) is in a pickle. While still the global leading in handset market share, it is losing considerable ground in the smart phone market in the face of a blizzard of flashier, slicker models from a host of competitors. The company can’t even find U.S. carriers willing to sell its current top-of-the-line phones.
So what’s the company to do?
Brian Blair, a principal with boutique research firm Wedge Partners, has a proposal.
In a research note written as a lengthy open letter to Nokia management, Blair advises that the company will need to act quickly to avoid suffering severe market share losses and remain a meaningful player in the global market.
“I know you see the threat, but I want to let you know that it’s worse than you think because you are being outgunned on all sides,” he writes. “In short, the market has moved past you and you are failing to compete. Your brand recognition has allowed you to stay afloat this year but I believe 2010 will be different because consumer behavior is shifting…this is a problem for you because the smartphone market is not about hardware or manufacturing and distribution strength where you have historically reigned, it is about software, and software is your biggest weakness.”
The core of his thesis is this: Nokia should buy Palm (PALM). And do it ASAP. Here’s his advice:
That makes sense to me. But what matters is whether it flies in Espoo.
NOK today is down 11 cents, or 0.9%, to $12.83.
PALM is up 4 cents, or 0.4%, to $11.58.
The company made the statement in connection with a meeting with analysts today.
Nokia also said it is targeting lower ASP erosion than in recent years, resulting in a slight increase in “value market share.”
The handset maker is targeting operating expenses for 2010 of 5.7 billion Euros, R&D below 10% of sales and devices and services operating margin excluding special items of 12%-14%. The company sees services sales of 2 billion Euros or more.
Nokia said it sees a flat market for mobile and fixed infrastructure in 2010, but with the company and its Nokia Siemens joint venture growing faster than the market.
A couple of other key points:
NOK today is down 39 cents, or 2.9%, to $13.02.
Nokia (NOK) this morning said it is cutting 220 R&D related jobs in Japan, part of its plan to better align research and development operations to a more focused future product portfolio. Just a few days ago, Nokia disclosed plans to cut 330 R&D slots in Finland and Denmark.
So, where will they cut next?
Ciena (CIEN) has reportedly won the bidding for Nortel‘s optical networking and carrier ethernet business for $769 million, beating out an offer from Nokia Siemens Networks (NOK, SIE), according to Reuters, which cites simply “sources.” Ciena’s bid consists of $530 million in cash and $239 million in convertible notes, Reuters says, citing anonymous sources. The notes are to be due June 15, 2017, and pay an inerest rate of 6%, possibly increasing to 8% if Ciena’s stock falls, according to the Reuters report,
In a statement, Nokia Siemens confirmed that the company and a financial partner did not submit the highest bid for the assets. According to previous reports, Nokia Siemens was partnering on the offer with private equity firm One Equity Partners.
Ciena had originally bid $522 million, in an offer that was to consist of $390 million in cash and 10 million Ciena shares.
Reuters notes that Ciena has just over $! billion in cash and about $798 million in debt.
As I noted in a post last week, recent speculation on the Street has been that Ciena would be outbid for the Nortel assets – and, in fact, investors have been rooting for the company to lose. Investors worry about the risks involved in integrating the Nortel assets into Ciena, and are not likely to be happy that the company won the deal by boosting its offer by nearly $250 million. Don’t be surprised to see a lower opening in Ciena shares on Monday.
Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: email@example.com.


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Caterpillar (CAT) was Reiterated by UBS to “Neutral” according to the research note released today. The brokerage firm has raised the Price Target to $ 76 from a previous price target of $61 . UBS advised their investors in a research report released on Apr 25, 2016.
Many Wall Street Analysts have commented on Caterpillar. Goldman Upgraded Caterpillar on Apr 25, 2016 to ” Neutral”, Price Target of the shares are set at $78.Company shares were Reiterated by RBC Capital Mkts on Apr 25, 2016 to “Sector Perform”, Firm has raised the Price Target to $ 70 from a previous price target of $68 .Company shares were Reiterated by Barclays on Apr 13, 2016 to “Equal Weight”, Firm has raised the Price Target to $ 67 from a previous price target of $65 .
On the company’s financial health, Caterpillar reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the analyst consensus estimate by $ -0.01 based on the information available during the earnings call on Apr 22, 2016. Analyst had a consensus of $0.68. The company had revenue of $9461.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9454.87 million. The company’s revenue was down -25.5 % compared to the same quarter last year.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS.
Caterpillar closed down -0.34 points or -0.43% at $78.32 with 1,00,99,567 shares getting traded on Friday. Post opening the session at $78.93, the shares hit an intraday low of $77.2 and an intraday high of $79.18 and the price fluctuated in this range throughout the day.Shares ended Friday session in Red.
In a different news, on Jul 31, 2015, Bradley M Halverson (Group President & CFO) sold 11,867 shares at $77.11 per share price. According to the SEC, on May 12, 2015, Daniel M Dickinson (director) sold 807 shares at $87.10 per share price.
Caterpillar Inc. is a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment diesel and natural gas engines industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The Company principally operates through its three product segments: Resource Industries Construction Industries and Energy & Transportation. The Company also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. It offers its products under the brand names Caterpillar CAT design versions of CAT and Caterpillar Electro-Motive FG Wilson MaK MWM Perkins Progress Rail SEM and Solar Turbines. It operates parts distribution centers at various locations including Morton Illinois; Arvin California; Denver Colorado; Miami Florida; Atlanta Georgia; St. Paul Minnesota and Dubai United Arab Emirates among others. Its subsidiaries include Caterpillar Life Insurance Company Cat Financial and Caterpillar Product Services Corporation (CPSC) among others.


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Beer consumption in Australia has fallen to the lowest level since the end of World War II.
Total consumption of beer dropped to 98.08 litres per person in 2011, from 103.54 litres the year before, the lowest level since 1945-46 when Ben Chifley was prime minister and wartime rationing was still a reality.
"Australia used to be a beer drinking nation," said CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian. "That has changed, just like a whole host of other things."
Beer accounted for only 42 per cent of all alcohol available for consumption in 2011, down from 43 per cent the year before, the ABS said.
Wine consumption, reflecting changing tastes and the growth of the Australian wine industry, remained steady at 37 per cent over the two-year period, the data showed.
In the land where a cold VB is practically synonymous with the ute, the weekend barbecue, the hotted-up hoon doing burnouts on city streets, the decline in consumption is not just with the iconic amber beverage.
Total alcohol consumption has fallen for four years running to 9.99 litres per person in 2011 from 10.27 litres the previous year, a nine-year low.
"Perhaps it’s all about quality not quantity or perhaps Aussies are taking health matters seriously," said Mr Sebastian.
In a 2011 report, Australia ranked 20th internationally in per capita beer consumption, according to the World Health Organisation.


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Travel Retail News - Inside Retail Asia
Shilla Duty Free and Amorepacific have introduced a Beauty Truck concept store, parked next to the Shilla Seoul flagship store.
Tourist spending at Japanese department stores jumped 42.8 per cent last month to ¥19.3 billion (US$173.8 million).
Lotte Duty Free has opened an outlet in central Bangkok, its first foray into Thailand.
City Plus Korea is rolling out new stores in an ambitious expansion plan to boost its market share.
China’s luxury travellers last year devoted RMB220,000 of their travel budget to retail therapy, up 57 per cent.
Shiseido Travel Retail and Colours & Fragrances have launched a Nars Cosmetics boutique at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Lotte Duty Free has opened its first store in Vietnam, at Danang international airport.
Hotel Shilla Hong Kong will invest US$167 million developing its concession at HKIA.
Coach Asia Pacific has opened three travel retail stores, two in airports and one on a cruise ship.
Luxury goods retailer Richemont takes 5 per cent Dufry stake in US$470 million move into duty-free sector.
Galeries Lafayette has opened a Shopping and Welcome Center designed specifically for large Asian tour groups.
Michael Baker takes a tour of the DFS Siem Reap luxury shopping destination in Cambodia.


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The deadline for creditors to file claims against the bankrupt MtGox bitcoin exchange has been extended until July 29, 12:00 JST.
On April 22, 2015, the bankruptcy trustee created a system that enabled MtGox users to file claims against the exchange regarding their lost funds. Currently, the bankruptcy trustee is accepting bankruptcy claims filed by users using the system, an online method which the trustee claims to be temporarily unavailable.
The period for filing bankruptcy claims was set to end on May 29, 2015, but the bankruptcy trustee has been accepting filings of bankruptcy claims after the expiry of the said period. The trustee decided that the deadline for filing bankruptcy claims using the online method would be extended until 12 noon on July 29, 2015 (Japan time).
After July 29, the only things that a user will be able to do through the online method will be to view bankruptcy claims filed by the user and transfer the bankruptcy claims to another person. Close to the time of distribution, the trustee is planning to give users an opportunity to use the system again. They will be able to make changes to the details of their bankruptcy claims other than increasing the amount of the bankruptcy claims that users have filed.
The case is likely to be drawn out further before creditors receive what remains of MtGox’s assets. The exchange collapsed over 15 months ago, taking with it approximately 850,000 bitcoins, 200,000 of which were later rediscovered.
Kraken, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, was selected by Kobayashi to assist with the claims process and the distribution of assets. After the ending period, creditors will be able to view the status of their filed claims and transfer them to another person or change personal details. The bankruptcy trustee will not be able to answer inquiries regarding individual cases until the process is complete. Further details regarding transfers of claims will be announced at a later date.
After 750,000 Bitcoins went missing in early 2014, the MtGox bitcoin exchange went bankrupt. In 2015, the official bankruptcy proceeding began against MtGox’s parent company Tibanne. In April 2015, Kraken got engaged in the procedure for client funds distributions.
If you haven’t made your claim yet, you better hurry; after the revised deadline, new claims will no longer be accepted.
What do you think about the whole MTGox claiming process? Let us know on the comments!


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India is a country where the scooter rules supreme, and there has been nearly a year of anticipation for the arrival of the Vespa LX125, the company’s best selling model in Europe.
The LX125 will be manufactured locally in Baramati and feature a new engine that is twice as fuel efficient as the standard engine on Vespas in Europe. The price for the scooter has been set at around 20% higher than equivalent scooters from Honda and Suzuki, reflecting the premium image that the brand carries. It will be available from 50 dealerships in 35 cities in the next few weeks.
Vespa is the second of three brands that Piaggio will be launching in India. It recently started selling Asprilla RSV4 motorbikes through a handful of dealerships. In the next year or so it plans follow up Vespa scooters with its slightly lower priced Piaggio brand.
The 32 million Euro factory in Baramati is expected to hit its capacity of 150,000 units a year very quickly. Piaggio has already hinted that they are planning to double its capacity by the middle of 2013.
Around 2.5 million scooters are sold a year in India, and that rate is growing at approximately 20% a year.
asian business daily


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Xiaomi's latest Android One smartphones to launch on July 24
Xiaomi's latest Android One smartphones, the Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite, will be launched on July 24 at a global event in Madrid, Spain.
Earlier, Xiaomi had teased the designs of both the smartphones, revealing dual camera setup on both of them and the smaller form factor of Mi A2 Lite.
Here's everything we know.
Xiaomi tweets to confirm the launch of Mi A2 smartphones
Everything we know about the Xiaomi Mi A2
Mi A2 is likely to sport a 5.99-inch full-HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio.
It is expected to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage.
The phone will possibly run Android Oreo 8.1 and pack a 3,010mAh battery.
Moreover, Mi A2 may get 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11a/c, Bluetooth v5.0 and USB Type-C.
Camera specs on the Mi A2
The Mi A2 is likely to get a dual rear camera setup comprising a 12MP f/1.75 primary sensor and a 20MP secondary sensor also with f/1.75 aperture. Up front, the phone would sport a 20MP camera with AI-powered features like Portrait mode.
What to expect from the Mi Lite 2?
The Mi A2 Lite is expected to get a 5.84-inch full-HD+ display with a 19:9 aspect ratio.
The phone is likely to get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset, coupled with 3GB/4GB RAM and up to 64GB of inbuilt storage (expandable via microSD card).
Further, it may come with a 12MP+5MP dual rear camera setup, 5MP selfie camera, 4,000mAh battery and other standard connectivity options.
Pricing of Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite
The Mi A2 Lite was recently spotted on AliExpress - China's biggest e-commerce website. According to the AliExpress listing, Mi A2 Lite will start at $189.99 (approx. Rs. 13,000) while a European listing suggests the Mi A2 will start at CHF 289 (approx. Rs. 20,000).


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Evershed bets on a long shot
SECRET Dealings exposes trading that usually escapes attention. Any trade of more than 3% of a company's value must be declared, but huge amounts of buying and selling went unreported - until now - because dealings were below the threshold.
PATRICK Evershed of investment company New Star is one of the most effective stock pickers in the City with some notable recent successes. His latest purchases of shares in IT hardware company Plasmon suggest it could be another for the long term.
Evershed runs the New Star Select Opportunities fund and boasts Citywire's maximum AAA rating for his first-class risk-adjusted performance. Among his top stock picks are Gresham Computing, on which he has made a 142% gain, and Ideal Shopping, which appeared in this column and has made him 120%.
Evershed's fund holds 200,000 Plasmon shares, or 0.37% of the £70 million company. He bought the stake in May for 98p a share.
Andrew Green, another shrewd professional investor, has also bought Gresham shares through his GAM International Growth and UK Diversified funds. He controls a total of 3.4 million shares.
Green's last move was to take some profits last month. This is understandable given that the share price has risen by nearly 150% since early last year. Evershed, too, has made 31% on his 98p purchase price, but is holding on for more.
Loss-making Plasmon specialises in extremely high-capacity data storage systems. It signed an important agreement with IBM last January that means the computer giant will support Plasmon's existing systems and the superior Ultra Dense Optical technology it is to launch next month. The firm claims a big response from potential customers such as Siemens and has little competition.
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The story of Lockerz — the battered and bruised Seattle upstart that sold earlier this year to a Chinese e-commerce company at a fire sale price — is one of the more unusual ones we’ve encountered in recent years. And it’s a story that many folks would simply soon forget.
Tons of funding from some of the highest-profile investors on the planet. Layoffs and executive departures, following a string of acquisitions that didn’t pan out. Enormous Web traffic tainted with mystery. A name-change and product switch that never really took root. And then there was the high-profile founder of Kathy Savitt, who left the CEO post in August 2012, three years after starting the company, to head up marketing at Yahoo.
By becoming one of Marissa Mayer’s early appointees, Savitt landed in a position of power at the $38 billion Internet company, a position which she has bolstered in recent moths after the departure of Henrique de Castro.
It has been a fascinating journey, and now The Wall Street Journal takes a close look at the rise of the 50-year-old former public relations executive, connecting some interesting dots to her experience at Lockerz. Reporter Doug MacMillan writes that Savitt — who after founding her own PR firm worked as an executive at Amazon.com — has become “a key architect in Ms. Mayer’s plan to turn around the Internet portal.”
What’s more interesting, however, at least for those who tracked the Lockerz saga, is the role that the Seattle company, which at one point was burning through $1 million per month and left many early employees with worthless stock, played in shaping her Yahoo role. MacMillan frames Savitt’s stint at Yahoo as a “second chance to accomplish what she failed to do with Lockerz: Build a cool online brand with youth appeal.”
He writes of Savitt’s hard-charging style, and pointed out how some of the ideas she cultivated at Lockerz became part of the lexicon at Yahoo. Namely the idea of cultivating “daily habits” for consumers, especially the young consumers that Lockerz coveted.
As part of that effort, Lockerz even experimented with an original Web comedy show, an idea that fell flat. But it’s not unlike some of the content experiments now under Savitt’s umbrella — though those, whether tech columnist David Pogue or TV host Katie Couric, certainly have bigger budgets behind them.
As I wrote at the time of the Lockerz sale to LightInTheBox Holdings, the company had always been a bit of an enigma in the Seattle startup scene. Maybe watching Savitt’s steps at Yahoo will show part of the path of where she had hoped to take it.
See the full Wall Street Journal piece — Marketing Chief Kathy Savitt’s Star Rises at Yahoo — here.


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While watching traditional television is still very popular among Canadians, video streaming has been rising in popularity in the last few years. A survey released in May 2023 found that a larger share of Canadian respondents preferred video streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, over live TV broadcasts. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, more viewers than ever pivot towards streaming services as audiences started to look for broader content catalogs. While the share of U.S. and Canadian consumers interested in cutting the cord reached its highest figure in the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of digital video viewers in Canada is expected to further grow to over 30 million by 2026.
With the growing importance of the ad-supported streaming market in Canada, the battle to win and retain video streaming viewers is intensifying. In addition to the most viewed global SVOD players – Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video – as well as Bell Media’s platform Crave, consumers can also choose from several AVOD services. YouTube was the most popular advertising-based platform in the country as of April 2023, followed by Canada’s networks Global News, CTV, and GEM – a ranking that highlights the increasing influence of non-U.S.-based services.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no
liability for the information given being complete or correct.
Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.


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Married couples missing out on tax breaks: Only a third have signed up despite £1.5m campaign
Just a third of couples eligible for the Government's new marriage tax break have signed up — despite a £1.5million promotional campaign.
The perk introduced in April last year allows married couples to transfer one spouse's unused personal allowance to the other.
Currently, if you earn under £11,000 you do not have to pay any income tax.
Just a third of couples eligible for the Government's new marriage tax break have signed up
Under the new rules couples are allowed to transfer up to £1,100 of this allowance to their partner — saving a basic rate taxpayer up to £220 a year.
In a further boost, you were eligible for Marriage Allowance in the 2015 to 2016 tax year, you can backdate your claim to 6 April 2015 and save up to £432.
But according to HM Revenue and Customs, just 1.34 million of the 4 million married couples who were forecast to claim have done so.
This is despite the Government spending £1.5 million of taxpayers' money promoting the scheme in the past 12 months.
Readers have written to Money Mail to complain they are struggling to claim the tax break.
Many were told this was because HMRC experienced difficulties with its computer system when it was first launched.
HM Revenue and Customs says that on Christmas Day, 258 couples applied for the allowance and a further 1,046 did so on New Year's Eve. You can apply here.
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NEW YORK — McGraw-Hill Education, one of the largest publishers of school textbooks, said sales of its digital content and online programs surpassed print sales for the first time last year.
The company has been investing heavily on its digital learning tools used in classrooms. Its online programs let teachers assign work to students, build lesson plans and manage grades. Students can use it to learn, hand in work and communicate with teachers.
McGraw-Hill Education said Friday that new users of its Connect platform, used in colleges, rose 16 percent in 2015 from the previous year. New users of its LearnSmart and SmartBook program, used by college students to read course materials, rose 18 percent. New users of ALEKS, used by grade schools and colleges, had a 14 percent rise.
The company said it will release full financial information for 2015 and the fourth quarter by the end of the month.
McGraw-Hill Education, based in New York, is owned by Apollo Global Management LLC. It is in the midst of becoming a public company, filing plans in September for an initial public offering.


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I never thought I would actually feel good about payingÂ $3.15 per gallon of regular gasoline, but it was only last summer that the price of gas around here was four bucks or more–Â with no promise that it was going to come down any time soon.
Well, with the rapidly falling price of oil, (as of this morning, oil was selling at $83 per barrel) gasoline has suddenly become a little cheaper, too. It’s one of the few pieces of good news to come out of the crappy economy. I paid the $3.15 per gallon at the Gulf station on Palmer Road in Bronxville.
This may be the lowest price of gas inÂ Westchester County right now. The county’s department of consumer protection only has service station figures for the month of September, which is already out of date. According to the survey, Dick’s station on South Broadway in Yonkers is selling the cheapest gas at $3.67 per gallon.


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Goodwood Museum and Gardens is opening a gift shop! We are looking for handcrafted items which reflect our historical property and its gardens to sell at our Christmas market (located in our new gift shop) and beyond. Items such as handmade scarves, jewelry, birdhouses, garden stakes are just a few ideas.
The house will be open free to the public on that date and the Habitat for Humanity Festival of Trees will be occurring that weekend at the Carriage House. The Tallahassee Sketchcrawlers are mounting an exhibit in the Museum room which also kicks off November 19th through mid January.
Please contact Tricia Beall for more information.
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850 877-4202 ext. 232
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GreenBiz reports that since joining the Coca-Cola Company in 1997, Scott Vitters has gone to work most days with one question on his mind:
How do we get to our vision of a 100 percent renewable, 100 percent recyclable bottle?”
It’s a simple question, with anything but a simple answer — getting to a renewable, zero-waste bottle requires technology breakthroughs, favorable economics that will drive recycling, changes in human behavior and supporting policy from governments around the country, if not around the world.
This winter, though, Coca-Cola is taking a meaningful step toward its goal with the introduction of what it calls a PlantBottle — a bottle made of PET plastic, 30 percent of which is sourced from Brazilian sugar cane and molasses.
“It’s incredibly exciting for us to be able to see a route forward to zero waste,” says Vitters, who is head of global sustainable packaging for Coca-Cola.
Photo by Coca-Cola.
Comments are closed.


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Colombo Port expects to handle 7.0 million containers in 2018, up 12.9 percent from the 6.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) handled in 2017 with joint marketing by three terminals, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.
The minister said the Jaya Container Terminal of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), South Asia Gateway Terminal of the John Keells Holdings and Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT) of China’s CM Ports have inked a deal to jointly promote the port.“Although the three terminals compete separately and individually, now they can work on a collaborative mission to operate vessels calling at the Port of Colombo,” Samarasinghe said.
In 2017 Colombo’s container volumes including transshipment and domestic grew 8.3 percent to reach 6.2 million TEUs. Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Parakrama Dissanayake said Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port handled 564,155 containers in January, up 16.4 percent from a year earlier.
Under the collaboration deal, waiting time for all container vessels arriving at the Colombo Port will be minimized by allowing vessel to be accommodated at the earliest available terminal in addition to collaborative promotion of the port.In 2017, the Colombo Port moved up two places to become the 25th busiest container port. Samarasingha said that it was commendable to witness the Colombo Port had achieved great feats through public-private collaboration.


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X-raying all shipping containers
In 2009, a goal was set that by now, all containers used to ship items into the United States would be able to be screened. The goal was to be able to find anything hidden within the containers, such as weapons, bombs, or other destructive materials that could harm America's citizens. Unfortunately, that goal has yet to be realized, and may never be if things keep going the same way they are now.
Why X-raying is So Important
It would be incredibly easy for a terrorist cell to put a few simple pieces of necessary equipment in a couple different shipping containers and get them into the United States over a relatively short period of time, if they really wanted to. Since only 4% of shipping containers are currently x-rayed, the likeliness is that the items would be missed. That means that all these cells would need to do is gather the items once they are within the US borders, and put together whatever type of weapon they planned to use. The same goes with something like a dirty bomb. It would not take a bomb of immense size to take out a major harbor around the United States, and that harbor's destruction would have a ripple effect around the country, and around the world. There would be lives lost in the harbor, the environment in and around the harbor with the water spreading the problem, the leftover radiation, and that's just the initial impact.
The problem is, since a mere 4% of containers are considered suspicious enough to x-ray, it is not only plausible that something could be missed, but also more possible now than ever before. That is why the goal was to be at 100% compliance by now. This would help keep everyone safer, both inside and outside of the United States. However, with a country that is doing everything it can to increase potential jobs and money to stay afloat, the cost of this process could end up as the largest deterrent to its success.
The Problems with X-raying Every Container
The world is under a consistent thread of terrorism, so something that sounds as simple as running each of these containers through an x-ray machine should be plausible, right? Well, not exactly. It would slow down shipping on every front, from nearly every country in the world, and cost a lot more money to implement than most parts of the United States can afford. It would likely delay shipping so much that some countries may have to weigh whether trade with the United States was worth it or not, especially those countries that have not shown any type of terroristic actions. The overall cost of the delays, equipment, and manpower required to do this is well beyond the means of many harbor budgets.
Alternative Options to X-rays
There are a few different alternatives that are being considered, and currently tried, in a few different locations. Some of the ports and harbors around the United States that would be the biggest potential targets are using portable scanners to try and scan more of the containers that have come into the United States. The problem here is that the containers have already reached US soil, but if parts of a larger weapon are enclosed, these would be caught before getting into the wrong hands. Another option is a drive-thru scanner, which has the same basic capability as the portable scanner. Some ports are also using scanners that only look for radiation. This has the potential to stop a dirty bomb from leaving the port, but they are not always successful at detecting items that are covered in layers of lead.
No matter which type of scan is used, the problem remains that not all containers are being scanned in the first place. If the United States wants to minimize any type of impact from shipping containers in the fight against terrorism, they need to figure out the most cost-effective methods to having each and every container scanned. The best way to keep American's safe from this type of attack is to include other countries that trade with the United States; however, this is not always a feasible option for certain countries, and could hinder the efforts that the United States is trying to make


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Suffolk’s grocery shoppers largely flipped to reusable bags after a 5-cent fee on plastic bags began Jan. 1, a new survey showed on Thursday.
This April, 43 percent of the 6,000 people surveyed said they used reusable bags versus 5 percent in November and December of last year, said the Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
Only 30 percent used plastic in April, versus 71 percent last year, Adrienne Esposito, the advocacy group’s executive director, told the county legislature health committee.
“We really feel this is a huge success; the public behavior is changing,” she said.
About 21 percent used no bags in April, little changed, while 5 percent used a combination versus 2 percent last year. Only half a percent used paper in April versus 1 percent last year.
“Wow, what a special Earth Day treat to hear something that substantive,” said Legis. William Spencer (D-Centerport).
He said he believed allowing the stores to keep the revenue — a necessity because Suffolk lacked the authority to collect it — was so unpopular that it spurred shoppers to quit using plastic.
The two surveys are not directly comparable. Last year’s — which will be repeated this December — polled 20,000 shoppers and included 7-Eleven stores.
Esposito said new priorities for her group are regulating plastic straws and utensils. Billions of straws pollute oceans every year and they cannot be recycled; utensils are difficult to recycle.
Spencer said banning straws was “a real possibility” in the future, noting the plastic-bag fee took years.
Environmentalists recommend metal straws.
Also addressing the problem of plastic pollution before the legislators was Rebecca Grella, science research director at Brentwood High School. She stressed the hazards and prevalence of plastic microfibers in fabrics, which enter water systems when fleeces and workout clothes are washed.
One mile of shoreline at Old Field’s Flax Pond has about 400 pounds of the tiny plastics, she said.
Shellfish ingest them, imperiling people who eat the shellfish.
In addition, microfibers “clog” shellfish, Grella said, preventing them from cleansing the waters, producing more fish-killing algae blooms.


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A.L.P. LIGHTING COMPONENTS INC. — The manufacturer of lighting components in Niles, Ill., named Abelardo Martinez regional sales manager for its operation in Monterrey, Mexico.
AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL — The trade group in Washington named Rebecca McPhail vice president of state affairs and political mobilization, succeeding Rudy Underwood who is retiring.
CARBIOS — The green chemistry company using enzyme-based technology to recycle PET plastic in Clermont-Ferrand, France, named Bénédicte Garbil corporate affairs and sustainability vice president.
CHROMATIC 3D MATERIALS — The 3D printing equipment company in North Golden Valley, Minn., named Bob Gafvert vice president of sales.
DELRIN — The acetal resin provider in Wilmington, Del., named Juergen Pongratz CEO and president and Sriram Nadathur senior vice president and general manager.
FATHOM DIGITAL MANUFACTURING CORP. — The on-demand digital manufacturing platform in Hartland, Wis., named Carey Chem CEO.
GEFRAN INC. — The maker of extrusion melt-pressure sensors and control instrumentation in North Andover, Mass., named Karsten Just chief sales officer.
GILMAN BROTHERS CO. — The foam board manufacturer in Gilman, Conn., named Mike Barrett business development leader for central Canada, down to Texas and the Gulf Coast.
GLAZPART LTD. — The injection molder in Banbury, England, named Andy Denness finance director.
GRUPO ANTOLIN-IRAUSA SA — The automotive components supplier in Burgos, Spain, named Cristina Blanco CEO.
I.F. ASSOCIATES INC. — Mark Hammond is now owner and president of the injection molder in Allenwood, N.J.
JADEX INC. — The material science company in Greer, S.C., named Mario D'Ovidio CEO.
KRAUSSMAFFEI TECHNOLOGIES GMBH — The machinery manufacturer in Munich named Jörg Stech head of Injection Molding Machines EMEA.
MACK MOLDING CO. — The injection molder in Arlington, Vt., named Kevin Bradley vice president of procurement.
MR. CHAIN — The plastic chain manufacturer in Copemish, Mich., named Ryan Schultz CEO and president, suceeding Maree Russo Mulvoy, who will remain on the board.
NEXEO PLASTICS — The thermoplastics resin distributor in The Woodlands, Texas, named Sean Andersen vice president and general manager, specialties.
PLASTIC PIPE AND FITTINGS ASSOCIATION — Chad Griffin, senior vice president, plastics division at Charlotte Pipe & Foundry Co. was elected president of the trade group in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
RAUMEDIC AG — The medical and pharmaceutical component manufacturer in Helmbrechts, Germany, named Robert Schilling chief financial officer, succeeding Daniel Seibert.
RJG INC. — Craig Potthast, plastics trainer at Central Community College in Columbus, Neb., was named the 2023 Qualified Trainer of the Year by the training and software supplier in Traverse City, Mich., The award is given to the trainer who teaches the most students each year.
ROBROY INDUSTRIES INC. — The conduit maker in Verona, Pa., named Roger Schroder operations manager of its enclosures division and Jeff Hall plant manger for its Belding , Mich. facility.
STRONGWELL CORP. — The pultruder of fiber-reinforced composites in Bristol, Va., named Bryan Walker vice president of its Virginia operations.
TEKNI-PLEX INC. — The packaging manufacturer in Wayne, Pa., named Rahul Goturi chief information officer.
TORAY PLASTICS (AMERICA) INC. — The film extruder in North Kingstown, R.I., named Michael Delemos vice president, U.S. corporate information systems.


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British Airways goes live with new website
5 months ago Comments Off on British Airways goes live with new website
A brand new British Airways homepage and flight booking process for customers has gone live as part of a beta test to upgrade the airline’s hugely popular website and make it even easier to use. ba.com is viewed by over half a million unique users every day, using it to inspire, plan, and manage their trips around the world.
Breaking Travel News | News: tour-operator


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Creditors turn on Unwins directors
TWO major creditors of Unwins have contacted the failed off-licence chain's administrators to demand an inquiry into the behaviour of directors before last month's collapse.
For the first time, the move formally raises the prospect that Unwins directors, led by flamboyant venture capitalist Phillip Cook, could be held personally liable for the company's failure.
Cook is chief of DM Private Equity, which bought Unwins for £32m last March. French wine firms La Compagnie Des Vins D'Autrefois and Cave De Lugny have written to administrator and KPMG partner Andy Oliver raising concerns about the final months of the company.
The two wine firms agreed payment plans last month for debts accrued by Unwins. They wrote to KPMG last week, warning that if the company had been trading when it was known it could not discharge its debts or it tried to dispose of assets, 'directors of the company might be personally liable to creditors'.
The letter, seen by Financial Mail, also asks the administrators to confirm: 'What action, if any, is being taken with regard to directors' liabilities.' The administrator must prepare a report on directors' behaviour within six months of moving in to run the company.
This report is then sent to the Department of Trade & Industry disqualification unit, but creditors, shareholders and employees have no right to see it.
Drinks suppliers are anxious that they will not be paid for stocks already sold. A source familiar with the situation said: 'The point is that suppliers are largely unsecured creditors.
'While Bank of Scotland stands to gain from sales of property, drinks firms will be at the back of the queue. It is vital that every penny that can be recovered is sought - these venture capitalists must have indemnity insurance.'
A former Unwins employee told Financial Mail that DM Private Equity had taken steps to separate the best branches from the rump of the group even before the collapse.
The worker said: 'They started creating a new line of shops branded Phillips Newman. Two were trading before the collapse and more were being prepared for refurbishment. All were in prime locations.'
The shops were treated separately from other Unwin branches.
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(autoinsidernews) - According to reports, Ford is considering expanding the Mustang brand beyond the coupe and convertible models to include four-door sedan and wagon bodystyles. Autocar, citing unnamed high-ranking sources, said the new models will be added when Ford introduces the next Mustang. Earlier this week, we showed renderings of the next Mustang, which is expected to feature styling cues from the Giugiaro Mustang concept (shown).
Ford is also expected to turn to its Australian arm for a new architecture on which to base the Mustang. Ford Australia is developing a new rear-wheel drive platform for the Australian market Falcon, which could be used for Mustangs and other Fords, including Lincolns, reports Trend.
Lincoln will unveil a rear-wheel drive concept, which is expected to be based on the next-generation Falcon platform, at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show.


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RAPID CITY S.D. (KOTA TV) - "It's not just about the technical side, it is about creating opportunities for South Dakotans,” said Shon Anderson, Vice President of B9 Creations.
B9 Creations may be tucked away on the School of Mines campus, but the company is creating printers of the future. 3-D printing capabilities are no longer out of reach for consumers.
"The key to making our technology more accessible to more people is software,” said Anderson, “Software is the wrapper through which people interact with technology. As we grow faster and our customers are demanding more from us, we needed more firepower to continue to scale."
That’s where Pixel Pines comes in. Pixel Pines is a custom software company started by Rapid City native, Pat Honeycut and native South Dakotan Brian Butterfield.
Butterfield says it was a classic story: Rapid City kid comes home, builds some custom software and it turns into a premier enterprise software development shop.
"The reason why we're doing what we're doing is that we can be part of a growth story in B9 Creations as well as the community that we are building within the tech sector,” said Butterfiled, “There is a strong pull for that."
The relationship between the two companies started as B9 Creations looked at their product from the consumer side. The software used in the machines needs to be user-friendly as well as being capable of telling the machine what to do.
"Most of the people who are interested in 3-D printing want what comes out of the printer, they don't care about the printer itself,” says Anderson.
Anderson says B9 Core printers are built with the end result in mind, making the product more user-friendly.
Another goal both businesses have in common: creating an opportunity for South Dakota students.
"Our goal is to create as much opportunity here as we can by serving customers all over the globe,” said Anderson.
Although a 3-D printer may seem a bit futuristic, Anderson says it is closer than we think.
"The impact of 3-D printing is just beginning to be felt,” said Anderson, “Everyone will understand the impact over the next 3 to 5 years, because the way you buy things, the way things are customized to you, will change."


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Microsoft has been working on several initiatives to do away with passwords. Its latest: FIDO2, which allows users to sign into Windows 10 and Azure AD using a security key.
As you examine your company for security holes, don’t forget your customer service department. The amount of sensitive data it handles is extensive and a breach there can be costly.
There are a ton of coders willing to make malicious software for cash and sell them to “script kiddies.” The Rubella crimeware kit is a product of such supply and […]
A website specializing in providing DDoS as a Service has been shut down and its owners arrested. But there are still many more of these nefarious websites operating.
The health-care sector has been notoriously slow in updating their operating systems. This dangerous practice has bitten them again, courtesy of the Orangeworm hacker group.


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The eight winners of CEAT’s ‘Good Drivers Save Lives’ campaign with CEAT Kelani Holdings Managing Director Ravi Dadlani (fifth from left) and representatives of the company
Top tyre brand CEAT has presented air tickets to eight Sri Lankans who supported its ‘Good Drivers Save Lives’ campaign launched to commemorate the brand’s 25th anniversary in Sri Lanka.
K. A. D. Sampath Chaminda, A. Muditha Tharanga, M. T. A. Ashbal, and Namal Kumaranayake are among the lucky winners to be treated to a trip to Singapore for participating in CEAT’s bumper sticker campaign to promote safe driving and reduce fatalities on Sri Lanka’s roads.
The campaign’s objective was to drive home the message that sensible driving in Sri Lanka is not just a matter of avoiding traffic fines and penalties, but represents a saving of lives, in the context of the country’s alarming statistics on road deaths.
Four other participants, Buddhika Brian and Amila Ambagala from Colombo and W. Liyanage and Dulip Perera from Kandy, drawn from the large numbers of motorists who attended two mobile diagnostic clinics conducted by CEAT to offer free vehicle checks as part of the campaign, also won air tickets to Singapore. Participants in these clinics also received discount vouchers that could be redeemed with their next purchase of CEAT tyres.
“The Good Drivers Save Lives campaign was one of the most successful public interest messaging initiatives conducted in our 25 years in Sri Lanka,” CEAT Kelani Managing Director Ravi Dadlani said. “The mobile vehicle diagnostic clinics were also extremely well received, and many participants and dealers have requested that they be continued.” CEAT partnered with ‘Sitha FM’ to carry out its ‘Good Drivers Save Lives’ campaign which kicked off with sticker distribution activities in Colombo 6, using sandwich board men to grab the attention of motorists. Those who undertook to display the stickers on their vehicles received CEAT branded key chains, caps and umbrellas. Sticker distribution also took place in Borella, Narahenpita, Kiribathgoda, Kadawatha, Gampaha, Negombo, Kurunegala, Kandy and Katugastota.
Each ‘Good Drivers Save Lives’ sticker featured a unique serial number, which when sent to a designated number via SMS or WhatsApp, made the vehicle owner eligible to participate in a draw for the air tickets.
The mobile clinics at which motorists had their vehicles diagnosed free of charge by skilled automobile engineers were hosted by leading CEAT dealers M. J. R. Peiris and Sons, Kandy, and U&H Wheels, Colombo 2.
Promoting road safety has been a key community initiative of CEAT Kelani Holdings for the past 10 years, with an emphasis on schools children, their parents and the drivers of school vans. The Company’s ‘Road Safety for School Children’ community program that comprises a series of presentations on road safety has been conducted in over 150 schools to date. It is coupled with the donation of traffic management kits comprising of traffic cones, safety jackets, traffic signs and other aids to the traffic squads in each of the schools visited.
More than 50,000 students have benefited to date from this series of programs titled ‘Maga Yana Maga’ conducted since 2009 by the company as part of its ‘CEAT Cares’ portfolio of corporate social responsibility initiatives.
CEAT Kelani’s manufacturing operations in Sri Lanka encompass the radial, commercial, motorcycle, three-wheeler and agricultural vehicle segments. The brand accounts for market shares of 33% in the radial segment, 52% in the Truck/Light Truck tyre category, 50% in the Three-Wheeler tyre segment, 26% in the motorcycle tyre segment and 72% in the agricultural vehicle tyre category. The company exports about a third of its production to 16 countries in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.


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VISA DIGITAL PAYMENTS
750m+ media impressions
100% message penetration
Small businesses in the UAE had been slow to transition from a cash-only model, citing the cost of digital acceptance as the main barrier. Leveraging Visa’s merchant data and insights, an external thought leadership campaign targeting merchants and payment industry stakeholders was launched to highlight the benefits of digital acceptance in terms of image, increased footfall and sales. The campaign also highlighted Visa’s partnerships with government and retail heavy hitters such as Amazon, Noon, Facebook, Netflix and Spotify. ASDA’A BCW helped position Visa as a key supporter and enabler of UAE government’s cashless and digital transformation agenda.
The campaign generated widespread media interest, strong merchant engagement, the UAE government’s conversion of Visa data into a white paper, and numerous invitations for Visa to discuss digital acceptance benefits at key industry events.
The campaign increased Visa’s share of voice against key competitors, reinforced government relationships, and fueled significant merchant demand for digital payments.


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Fraud has become endemic in Britain. We face daily texts and scam calls, and the internet is littered with fake websites and advert cons.
The pandemic has helped fraud to flourish, with criminals seizing on the Covid crisis — exploiting the vaccine rollout, Government support packages and the boom in online shopping — and making easy money from our life savings.
So to help protect your hard-earned cash, Money Mail is today launching a cut-out-and-keep fraud survival guide.
In our special series, we will warn you about the most prolific cons, teach you how to recognise the tell-tale signs of a scam, and explain how best to fight for your money back.
We start here by highlighting the top ten tactics deployed by fraudsters to target your savings — from cruel romance scams to sophisticated bank transfer cons in which unwitting victims are convinced to move their money into a criminal’s account.
It comes as the latest figures from…


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- Global oil prices dipped to a seven-month low on Wednesday.
- The prices reached a session low of $91.35, the lowest since February this year.
Global oil prices slipped over US$1 on Wednesday, hitting the lowest levels since before Russia invaded Ukraine. Brent crude futures slumped 1.5% or US$1.35 to $91.48 a barrel. The prices reached a session low of $91.35, the lowest since February this year.
This comes as fears of a global recession and COVID-19 curbs by China, a huge importer of crude, renewed the concerns of lower fuel demand.
However, despite the drop in global oil prices, British motorists are yet to get significant relief in fuel rates as forecourt operators are not passing on the benefits to the customers. According to RAC, drivers are still getting a 'raw deal' at the forecourts.
© 2022 Kalkine Media®
The motoring organisation said it believes that the prices at pumps are way off than they should be in the wake of the present wholesale rates. At the end of August, a litre of unleaded fell to 169.8p, but RAC said it believes the average prices at forecourts should be around 161p.
RAC also found that retailers are charging differently in different areas, adding that the UK seems to be among the least generous countries when it comes to supporting motorists against high fuel prices.
Several surveys have claimed that people drive less due to the soaring fuel prices.
Amid the developments, Kalkine Media® explores some London-listed stocks.
BP Plc (LON: BP.)
BP. is a major oil and gas firm and a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Its stock value has appreciated by almost half in the last 12 months, and the YTD return currently stands at 34.98%. The company enjoys a market cap of £85,129.54 million and an EPS of 0.38. It will pay an interim dividend of US$0.06006 per ordinary share to shareholders on 23 September. Shares of the company were down 1.44% at GBX 446.20 as of 10:04 am GMT+1 on Wednesday.
Tesco PLC (LON: TSCO)
The UK's largest supermarket chain operates fuel forecourts and is a constituent of the benchmark FTSE 100 index. It holds a market cap of £19,076.36 million. The stock price has declined by 1% over the past 12 months, and the year-to-date or YTD return has dropped to -12.18%. The company holds a positive EPS of 0.19. Shares of Tesco were trading at GBX 254.60, down 0.51% as of 9:48 am GMT+1 on Wednesday.
J Sainsbury Plc (LON: SBRY)
Sainsbury's is another supermarket chain and fuel forecourt operator listed on the FTSE 100. The company has announced a £65 million investment this month into its pricing to ease inflationary pressures. With a market cap of £4,921.25 billion, the stock value has depreciated by over 31% in the past 12 months. It was trading 0.57% lower at GBX 208.70 as of 9:56 am GMT+1 on 7 September.
Note: The above content constitutes a very preliminary observation or view based on market trends and is of limited scope without any in-depth fundamental valuation or technical analysis. Any interest in stocks or sectors should be thoroughly evaluated taking into consideration the associated risks.


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In the online world, natural disasters can bring out the worst in people. Whether it's troll comments, scam campaigns or bogus fundraisers, major storms and events often bring no shortage of bad news to report.
But they also bring about some remarkable stories of communities banding together and looking to help those on the other side of the world. One such story has arisen in the aftermath of the deadly Oklahoma tornadoes as one families courage to stand up for their convictions has united thousands of people around the globe.
Rebecca Vitsmun was one of countless people in the Oklahoma City area to see her family's home ravaged by the tornado. Grateful to be alive along with her young child, Vitsmun recounted her story to CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer.
Towards the end of the report, Vitsmun was prodded by the reporter as to whether she “thanked the Lord” for her survival. The woman was quick, but gracious to note that she was an atheist, leaving Blitzer somewhat dumfounded and caught off guard.
While Atheism is gaining acceptance in much of the western world, in the extremely religious Bible Belt region of the south, where Vitsmun lives, such views can be few and far between. That the mother would assert her stance at such an emotional and vulnerable moment touched home with many atheists around the globe.
In response, they kicked off a fundraising campaign to help recoup the family's losses and get them into a new or rebuilt home. Backers include comedian Doug Stanhope, who jokingly offered to send atheist “prayers” on behalf of donors.
The result has been nothing short of stunning. As of the end of the week, a campaign that had orignially set its target at $50,000, had raised more than $100,000 with more than 50 days remaining in the donation window.
In such a time of devastation, it is great to see communities of all religions, beliefs and convictions band together to help those in need.
Feature phones died in the developed world years ago. With telecoms offering smartphones for free on contract, nobody was really buying a smartphone in places like the US and UK.
However, smartphones were not as common in developing nations until recently. In places like China and Brazil feature phones still served a slice of the handset market. In fact, until 2013 feature phones still outsold smartphones globally.
That changed in Q1 of this year. According to the IDC, smartphones outsold feature phones for the first time ever last quarter. The report is another reminder that the world has moved passed just phone calls and the developing world is now a lucrative market.
In some developing countries, smartphones are many people's primary internet access point. The ease of a 3G network connection in your pocket makes it possible for millions of new users to have access to the web.
While in developed countries phone calls are not even the primary use of smartphones. With text and data, the need for mobile voice communication has decreased.
Now with the growth of smartphone use those numbers should continue to rise. Smartphones have continued to become cheaper and cheaper. Gone are the days of only expensive smartphones.
Today, a person can get a clever handset for free on contract or close to it off. The market has moved to build a paradagim full of low, mid, and high range smartphones. With the new paradagim, feature phones have become phased out.
The market for cheap smartphones in the developing world is now a huge industry. It's why Samsung leads the world in sales. It's also the reason why Apple keep's hearing rumors of a lower priced iPhone.
Apple is not in the cheap device industry. The firm lives off of big margins and high quality electronics. That somewhat changed with the release of the iPad Mini. The cheaper tiny iPad was the firm's first mobile foray into cheaper end devices.
It seems likely that Apple will have to continue to push its margins lower. Apple won't do it because they want to, they'll do it because they have to. The smartphone game is changing and the developing world is the new frontier.
The smartphone arena is just as much about software as hardware. Apple makes money from ads and apps featured on iOS. With more users on an iPhone, Apple stands to gain more money through software.
Google has always been about getting Android in as many paws as possible. Now, Apple has a chance to do something similar. If the firm builds its user base in the developing world it can get more people onboard with iOS.
With more users on-board it can gain in software what it might lose in hardware margin profits. The world is changing and Apple's current strategy just doesn't fit with it. Apple will have to offer a larger smartphone portfolio if it wants to keep its crown as a leader in the smartphone world.
Google had a pretty good quarter. The search giant saw decent revenue and continued success with its core products. Yet, investors still want more.
During the company's conference call with investors, many Google stock owners questioned the firm's significant investment in future technologies. Investors wondered why Google dollars were going towards things like self-driving cars and virtual reality glasses.
Analysts didn't understand why Google was putting money into products that only have the potential to make profit down the road, grilling company bosses on how they decide appropriate levels of investment for the blue-sky projects.
Google chief executive Larry Page reported that those types of projects are necessary for its future success. He said his responsibility as chief of Google was to make sure that the firm didn't get lazy and invest in only incremental upgrades.
But at Google they're making sure they don't get blindsided by the future. Page and co-founder Sergey Brin have always been looking to find the cutting edge of technology. From cloud computing to Google Fiber, the search giant has always made crazy bets on crazier technology.
That's why it must be so frustrating for Page to hear investors wonder why Google spends so much money on currently unprofitable technology. Google has made a lot of people a ton of cash. Yet, some still wonder if the powers that be know what they are doing.
It's smart to ask questions, but Page and company clearly have a plan that's been working. Most of the time, you'd complain if a company decided to rest on their laurels. But investors are worried about Google taking measured risks.
Investors absolutely have a right to question what Google is doing. Even the company's supporters must be starting to question its Motorola purchase. However, investors should be more trusting of Google in one category: R&D.
Google knows how to make things and even if those things won't always make money right away they are still good products.
So, maybe, the time has come for Google investors to have a little bit of faith. Googlers know what it takes to make money in the internet age and by investing in the future they'll make sure they make money on whatever comes next.
What would anger you more? A few phone calls that were silent when you answered and then went dead or your medical records being leaked online, or left in a skip, or stored on an unencrypted CD that disappears, never to be recovered?
Fair to say it is probably the latter, the type of incidents that regularly force the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to issue fines of anywhere between £70,000 and £375,000 to NHS Trusts, police forces, councils, and the occasional private sector firms.
On many, many occasions it has been argued that while, obviously, no organisation wants to lose money for data protection lapses, the fines on offer are just not high enough to really act as a strong enough incentive to force the issues to the top of the agenda.
This argument took on further merit when communications regulator Ofcom was able to levy a fine of a staggering £750,000 against telecoms firm TalkTalk for making a few nuisance calls.
Ok, not a few, actually 9,000, but while this is no doubt annoying for those affected, it is clearly ridiculous that bugging a few people with some cold calls should land you with a bigger fine than losing personal, sensitive data entrusted by a customers or patient.
No doubt Christopher Graham, huddled in newspaper and warming his hands over a bin of burning debris, watched on in despair as he learnt the folks at Ofcom, in their glass-fronted waterside offices were issuing such a large fine for, by comparison, such a menial offences.
If businesses are to take data protection seriously they are going to have to fear the wrath of the ICO far more. The ability for higher fines – as set out in the draft Data Protection Directive that’s currently being debated, and watered down, in Europe – is a must.
The road to privatisation was never going to be an easy one. Michael Dell was going to face a slew of investors wanting top dollar for an under ,,performing company, even if he didn't have other bidders.
Dell intended to pay $24bn for the company he's run since day one. That price just got raised by two other investors with deeper pockets. Blackstone and Carl Ichan have the potential to offer better packages for investors by way of a public equity stub, a way to keep them invested while being a private company.
Following the offers, Michael Dell and his investment group will most likely have to up their bid for Dell. They'll also need to offer a stub, which is something they don't want to do.
Nothing quite worked out like it was suppose to. Dell investors were suppose to take their measly $24bn, so Michael Dell could ride off into the sunset and get his company right. That hasn't yet happened.
Instead, the infighting and business politics have won out. Investors want to get paid and don't care about Dell's future strategies. Yet, despite not caring some investors still want a piece of Dell's future.
One theory is that Dell won't be private forever. Once Dell gets its business in order it's possible that the firm will reopen to Wall Street. Current investors know this and they don't want to be left out in the cold when it happens.
They want to hitch their dollars to the private Dell and let things shake out as they may. They could do it with Michael Dell, Carl Ichan, or Blackstone. It doesn't really matter to investors who has the company, just that they have a piece of the action.
It's the type of motivation that Michael Dell was hoping to avoid by going private. Dell had hoped to get his company doing things that were good for the company. He wanted a brief reprieve from quarterly progress reports so he could allow his company to play the long game.
Unfortunately, for Dell that seems unlikely. With the stub that's expected to be included in any deal for the company, a truly private Dell seems out of reach.
Dell was aiming to go private and turn itself into an enterprise solutions powerhouse. The company knows their options in the PC market are inconsequential and it wanted to get prepped for the future by removing quarter-obsessed investors.
Now, instead of a private Dell, the company will have to answer to some sort of investor. Whether a private or public one.
The government appears unmoved by the petition calling for Alan Turing to be included on a future version of the £10 bank note but the petition’s creator believes the campaign was a success.
The petition calling for Turing to be honoured gathered over 27,000 signatures but both the Treasury and Bank of England seemed unsure if anything would actually happen as a result when contacted by V3.
Each said the other was respsonsible for the next stage in any debates around future bank notes featuring Turing, and gave no indication as to whether the petition would in any way form the future decisions on this issue.
However, in spite of this the creator of the petition, programmer Thomas Thurman, said he was pleased with the response and hoped it would make more people aware of Turing’s vital work for the UK in the Second World War.
“I'm delighted with the response. The petition has succeeded in every way but one – whether we get Turing on the tenner still remains to be seen,” he told V3.
“Well before it reached even 20,000 signatures it was debated in Parliament, with members from all three major parties speaking in favour.
“Most importantly, it got the country talking: people are debating the work of Turing and discussing his legacy, and as long as that continues, he cannot be forgotten.”
A spokesperson for the Bletchley Park Trust told V3 it "would be delighted to see Alan Turing celebrated and highlighted in this way".
V3 would certainly be pleased to see this too, and will continue to see if we can generate any more momentum on the issue with the relevant government departments.
Broadband is often touted as the fourth utility and a vital piece of the UK's infrastructure. At present the market is a hive of activity as firms, government and local organisations work to get services live across the UK. Hopefully, in generations to come, people will look back at our work on broadband in the same way we look back with wonder at the rollout of railways and marvel at some of ingenious ways we set about getting broadband rolled out.
Last week we saw how BT was using dormant sea cables to get broadband to the remote islands of the Isles of Scilly (pictured above) - which involves avoiding shipwrecks - and then it announced an increase of its Cornish rollout coverage commitments to 95 percent of the county.
It said it was able to do this, in part, because of the money it has saved using innovative new rollout technologies like fibre from poles into people homes, rather than expensive road digging, as V3 saw during a visit to the region last year.
Clearly, with 21,000 connections now live in the county, the desire is there for these superfast services. Meanwhile BT is also involved in numerous rural rollouts, such as Lincolnshire which was announced on Wednesday, and no doubt those in these regions are keen to get online with faster speeds.
Elsewhere, the likes of Virgin Media has brought internet access to the London Underground and is using small cell technology in areas in Leeds and Bradford as it plays its part in this push to a superfast utopia.
There are also unique projects such as the B4RN carrying out their own rollouts to fill in the areas where the big boys have refused to play ball, proving that people aren't ready to sit around if they want services sooner rather than later.
This work was all neatly capped on Thursday when Ofcom announced average speeds had hit 12Mbit/s for the country.
Now, of course this is hardly the superfast utopia the government wants (of at least 24Mbit/s) but it is a notable improvement in the last few years and proves demand for faster speeds is there and the improvements being made are having a positive impact. What's more, you'd like to think that overtime this figure will rise rapidly, perhaps 24Mbit/s in two years, then maybe 50Mbit/s by 2020 and so forth.
It depends on the real demand people have for these speeds, but the chicken-and-egg race between speeds and applications that need faster connections (HD quality movie streaming services for example) could well force the demand higher.
Hopefully all of this will leave our future relatives with superfast access anywhere and everywhere and they can salute us for our, well, the internet provider's, hard work.
Microsoft is one of the wealthiest company's in the world, with billions in cash reserves. It's made this fortune on the back of software systems used the world over, by everyone from the largest multi-nationals to corner shops and kids in their bedrooms.
Indeed, this helped founder Bill Gates amass a personal fortune of some $67bn. As such, the fine levied by the European Commission today of £485m is probably not going to hurt the firm too much financially, although of course it will hurt its balance sheet.
However, the bigger issue for Microsoft is surely the sheer embarrassment the fine must cause as it was the result of a glaring software update oversight that meant it managed to remove a piece of code required under law after its first run in with the European authorities.
For a company to manage to ship an entire Service Pack update without anyone noticing it was missing a piece that really had to be there almost defies belief. For the firm to even report to the EC it was adhering to its obligations when it wasn't is just unfathomable.
For a firm that prides itself on its software and its chief executive famously proclaimed the company was all about "developers, developers, developers, developers" it's an utter egg-on-face-situation that must have its rivals rolling in the aisles.
It certainly doesn't help when it's trying to convince the world its Windows 8 system is worth a punt, and yet the headlines are dominated by news of massive fines for software failings.


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March 15, 2017
Contract chip potato movement has started to pick up. Plants are running almost exclusively on contract potatoes, though a few companies are running short on contracted raw product. At this point there appears to be a tight balance between contract supplies and industry needs.
All eyes in the chip potato industry are focused on Florida weather. Temperatures in the Hastings District will approach freezing tonight. Potatoes are in bloom – much too large to cover up. A slight shift in temperatures could result in severe damage to this year’s crop. The situation in Live Oak is even more precarious. The crop is not as far advanced as it is in Hastings, but temperatures are forecast to drop below 27º F for two to four hours. That could result in major damage to the 4,500 acres of potatoes that are growing in that part of the state.
US fresh potato shipments for the week ending March 11, 2017 totaled 1.826 million cwt. That is up from 1.726 million cwt shipped cwt during the same period, in 2016. Michigan packers shipped 38,950 cwt of table potatoes during the week ending March 11. That is down from 51,545 cwt a year earlier. This year’s Michigan shipments were 61.2% Russets, 33.9% Round White varieties, 3.9% Yellow potatoes, and 1.0% Red potatoes.
Michigan shippers are selling 10# bags of size A Russet potatoes for mostly $1.70-$1.90 per bag, down from $1.80-$1.90 a week ago. Wisconsin packers are selling size A Russet potatoes in 10# bags for mostly $6.50-$7.00 per 50# bale, unchanged for the week. They are selling Russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $$9.00 per 50# box, up from $8.00-$9.00 at this time last week. The weighted average shipping price for Idaho Norkotahs is $9.62 per cwt, up from $9.27 a week ago.
Maine packers are selling 2-inch minimum Round White potatoes in 5/10# film bags for $8.00-$8.50 per bale, unchanged for the week. Florida packers are selling new-crop 50# cartons of size A Round White potatoes for $24.00-$24.25 per 50# box, unchanged from this time last week.


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David Knopf, 29 years old,represents a new breed of millennial executives who have risen up the ranks at global companies.
Global food company Kraft Heinz has announced that 29-year-old David Knopf, a former partner with American-Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, will become its new CFO.
3G Capital collaborated in recent years with investment firm Berkshire Hathaway to acquire several global food brands, such as Burger King and Tim Hortons. 3G Capital took Heinz private in 2013. It later bought Kraft and merged it with Heinz in 2015. Since then, the leadership of the company has been replaced by senior 3G executives. Alex Behring, 3G managing partner, became the chairman of the merged company, and another 3G partner, Bernardo Hees, became Heinz’s CEO.
Knopf represents a new breed of millennial executives who have risen up the ranks at global companies. He only joined Kraft Heinz in 2015, and his last position was as vice president of Planters, the company’s peanut brand.
The company’s choice of a young corporate leader shouldn’t be underestimated. Corporations around the globe are struggling to execute management succession plans and intergenerational knowledge transfer. According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, millennials now hold approximately 20% of all US management jobs, and this number will rise dramatically in the coming years as baby boomers retire from the workforce.
While effective hiring is critical to offset the wave of retirement among the older generations, misperceptions about millennial executives often influence hiring considerations. But they may have more in common with the prior generation than many think.
A recent Oxford Economics’ report, Workforce 2020, confirms that “41% of millennials say higher compensation would increase their loyalty and engagement with the company.” Thirty-eight percent of non-millennials share similar priorities.
Kraft Heinz’s new leadership will have to confront changing consumer preferences, especially among millennials.
It is closely following other global food companies in creating venture vehicles to invest in growth independent brands and food start-ups, such as Kellogg’s new venture fund, Eighteen94 Capital.


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Updated: Sep 17, 2019
The main driver for self-consumption in Singapore is the fact that the Levelised Cost Of Energy (LCOE) is in many cases lower than the contestable electricity price. According to the study on the profitability of commercial of self-consumption solar installation in Singapore, it showed the results of a detailed market study on the drivers for the future electricity prices in Singapore and found that the electricity prices are forecasted to rise in the medium term, reinforcing the business case for self consumption in Singapore. Since LCOE for solar in Singapore is already cheaper for many sectors than the grid electricity price, the Electricity Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore has decided to introduce a “net-settlement” compensation scheme for excess electricity injected into the grid. Essentially, the system owner will be compensated the fair market value for electricity generated, which in many cases will be equivalent to the current electricity price minus the grid utilization charges. It is nevertheless more attractive for commercial rooftop owners who will be exporting excess electricity to the grid.
Investment decisions by companies
For commerce & trade, manufacturing, and heavy-duty industry, the payback period is between 8-9 years, which is typical for an infrastructure-related investment, but often too long to prompt a company to invest. Executives tend to make investment decisions for a period of 3-5 years. Each business could have a different way to measure the effectiveness of their system. Some companies value an investment that will have higher returns over its lifetime, while others will value a shorter payback period. Some customers highly valued the brand impact. Having solar on the roof promotes a responsible image that resonates well with customers and employees. Many also view rooftop solar as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative that pays back itself and has a large impact on the lives of those around them. Another key investment benefit is the ability to use solar energy to hedge electricity prices for the future. Investing in a solar system will provide reliable power generation at a known cost, below the expected future market electricity price. Innovative financing models for solar are already available in Singapore. An external party can own and operate a solar installation on the tenant’s rooftop and sell the electricity just like an electricity retailer. With such an arrangement, the parties sign a so-called “Power Purchase Agreement” (PPA). The tenant can benefit from immediate savings from their discounted electricity price without the hassle and need for an upfront investment.
Benefits of Solar PV System
The Singapore government has introduced measures to reward building owners who install solar PV rooftop systems. One such example is the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Green Mark Scheme, which acknowledges non-residential building owners for their environmentally conscious practices and rewards them accordingly. Rooftop solar PV system owners receive credits which can contribute to a higher Green Mark tier rating, from certified to Gold, or Gold to Platinum. In some cases, a customer can receive up to 20 Green Mark points by installing rooftop solar PV system. For instance, a rooftop owner in Singapore was seeking a way to increase their Green Mark ranking from Gold to Platinum. They conducted an analysis of their building and found that there was available unused rooftop space for a rooftop solar system. Solar Era worked with the rooftop owner to identify the financial gains and other associated benefits of a rooftop solar system and concluded that it would be the right investment to reach their objective. From a corporate brand perspective, customers are becoming increasingly aware of global warming and environmental issues, and thus look up to companies who are environmentally conscious. Furthermore, the labor force is increasingly conscious of these environmental issues and it is a sense of pride for them to be working for a company contributing towards sustainable practices. Finally, an installation will also contribute to Singapore becoming more energy independent as well as diversifying the national power generation landscape. This is important to mitigate the impact of international shocks in the energy commodities industry which could negatively impact Singapore’s economy, and in return affect local businesses there. In short, apart from the economic returns on investment, the societal gains are very high because it contributes strongly towards a company’s brand, raises the morale of employees, supports the development of self-sustaining and diversified national power generation, reduces electricity costs significantly and provides government-sponsored financial benefits.
The stakeholders in the solar industry, such as solar panel manufacturers, distributors and installers, need to re-position themselves and make the most of the opportunity for self- consumption to succeed in the market. If self-consumption is being used to measure the benefits of solar PV system installations, professional advice, planning, and implementation are necessary in order to align the products with the company‘s electricity requirements. Solutions could also include storage and smart building management solutions, etc. in the future. It will no longer simply be a matter of generating as many kWh as possible and feeding it into the grid to maximize the feed-in tariff. The winners will be those who invest in an intelligent installation. The greater complexity opens up new and exciting development opportunities for innovative companies as well as creating skilled jobs and an exciting new industry for Singapore and beyond.


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ANKARA, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Turkey ordered governors across the country to impose tighter controls and fines on those carrying out steep price hikes due to economic developments, the interior ministry said on Thursday.
Minister Suleyman Soylu sent a notice to governors in all 81 provinces asking for measures to be taken against those “taking advantage” of volatile exchange rates to hike prices, the ministry said.
President Tayyip Erdogan has previously called on Turks to report stores excessively hiking prices, vowing to raid them if necessary. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Berat Albayrak announced a plan to cut prices by 10 percent in an attempt to combat rising consumer prices. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan)