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And that's just one leukaemia drug. India's generic industry has been producing many such life-saving medicines at a fraction of the global price
The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech might be the first to come out with a vaccine for the Zika virus if its efficacy can be proved. If it does succeed, this won't be the first time India has come to the rescue of the world. Indeed, the country's generic medicines are a lifeline for millions not only in low and middle-income countries but also in the developed world.
India's generic industry hit global headlines in 2001 when Cipla offered a three-drug cocktail for AIDS at less than a dollar a day , a fraction of the price charged by multinationals. Today, apart from several HIVAIDS drugs, the industry is producing affordable, high quality medicines for several diseases including hepatitis B and C, cancers, drug-resistant TB and asthma. This has been credited to India's patent law, often held up as a model one in preventing the abuse of patent monopolies, and in balancing public interest and the growth of the pharmaceutical industry .
Last month, generic manufacturer Natco announced that it would be supplying daclatasvir, a Hepatitis C drug, to 112 developing countries. In 2013, a medicine to treat hepatitis C, sofosbuvir, hit international headlines for its price -$1,000 per pill. Gram for gram, it cost 67 times the price of gold. The sofosbuivir and daclatasvir combination used for the disease costs almost $150,000 per patient for the 12-week regimen in the US. But in India, it is priced at just $700 or a little over Rs 46,500 per patient for the same regimen. And prices are expected to fall further.
Typically, the price of many expensive patented drugs in European countries like France, Spain or the UK is half of what these cost in the US. In countries like Brazil or South Africa, these are a third or a fifth of the US price. The Indian price is often 1100th. (See box)Balancing Patient And Patent
So how does the Indian generic industry manage to do it? The patent law in India is stringent on what is innovative enough to get a patent. Plus, the crucial section 3(d) in the law, much criticized by multinationals, has prevented “evergreening“ -the attempt to patent different aspects and improvements of the same drug to extend the period of patent -a lucrative game for the pharmaceutical business.
Indian courts, too, have played a role. In the case of entecavir for hepatitis B and erlotinib for lung cancer, for instance, instead of blindly handing out injunctions or upholding the validity of patents, the courts ruled in favour of public access to a lifesaving drug. This encouraged companies like Cipla, Ranbaxy and Natco to do a `launch at risk', a term that describes a company deciding to challenge a patent by launching a generic version. This forces the patent-holding company to take them to court, thus testing the validity of the patent granted. Patent oppositions filed by patient groups also spurred the rejection of several frivolous patent claims on cancer, hepatitis and HIV medicines, protecting generic competition.
India's patent law also provides for granting of compulsory licences -under which the government can give a licence to a manufacturer other than the patent holder for a royalty fixed by it -for public health reasons. This can be used where drugs are unavailable or unaffordable. The only compulsory licence granted was in 2012 when the patent office allowed the Indian generic company Natco to market sorafenib, a drug patented by Bayer to treat kidney and liver cancer.This move, upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2014 helped bring down the price by 97%, unimaginable through a price negotiation with the company .
“How long will this continue? We are already feeling the adverse impact of monopoly and limited access to important drugs. If India cannot manufacture newer drugs, how can we be the pharmacy of the world?“ asked Dr Yusuf Hamied, of Cipla.Pressure To Toe Line
About half the essential medicines that Unicef distributes and 75% of those distributed by the International Dispensary Association, which procures medicines for 130 countries, come from India. So do about 80% of HIV AIDS medicines for the developing world. But there is immense pressure on India from Europe, the US and their multinational pharma companies to `strengthen patent enforcement'. This could mean that the newer cancer and TB drugs getting patented would be out of reach for millions in India and the developing world with no generic versions to force prices down.
For example, lapatinib for breast cancer and other solid tumours, which costs over Rs 46,000 a month, or dasatanib for a kind of blood cancer, which costs over Rs 70,000 a month, have no cheaper generic versions. Even drugs like delaminid, meant for drugresistant TB, will not be available in India and the developing world despite India having the highest burden of the disease. This is because the Japanese company that holds the patent has not made it available in India. In the pre-2005 patent regime, if a company did not bring the drug to India, generic companies could step in to register it in India and start supply, but not anymore.
India is just 1-2% of the global pharma market. Yet there is intense focus on its patent law. This is “to protect the markets of large pharmaceuticals companies against competition from cheaper generic drugs manufactured in countries like India and Brazil“, explained Dr Amit Sengupta of the People's Health Movement in an article on India's patent law.
Source: Times of India
By Rema Nagarajan


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The leading NFT marketplace, OpenSea, is now subject to a new accusation. Famous political NFT artist Stonetoss has accused the platform and Rarible of delisting their new NFT collection Flurks.
The artist took to Twitter to address both OpenSea and Rarible to get an explanation as to what happened. Stonetoss wrote, “I believe this was likely the result of a mass reporting campaign done in bad faith.”
I am reaching out because I fear your platform is being coopted as a tool for political censorship.
I also sent this message to your support page. My collector community would like a reply.
(Also respectfully tagging opensea founders @dfinzer & @xanderatallah) pic.twitter.com/h8VPDQiBmh
— Stonetoss Comics (@stone_toss) November 22, 2021
Accusations Against Flurks
Flurks, the collection in the center of the controversy performed remarkably well before OpenSea delisted Flurks. The collection with 5k NFTs sold out in 22 minutes with $2 million in fees. In a few hours, it made over 100 ETH in trade volume.
Because of his work in political territories, Stone explained many of the accusations made against him before. Being called a Nazi sympathizer is one of them.
The artist said, “my renown as an artist is precisely because I can operate in this censorious environment”. Stone thinks the reason, OpenSea delisted Flurks, is because it included the confederate flag.
The artist has an answer for this as well, “mind you my collection also included traits such as a Gay pride flag, a Gadsden flag, a Soviet Army ushanka(hat), and a hammer-and-sickle shirt.”
None of these can be a reason for banning an NFT collection because these are on public display in many places.
The fundamental idea behind NFTs or blockchain, in general, is very simple. NFTs are digital art functioning in a decentralized permissionless environment. Or at least that’s what we believe.
Although the platforms are yet to comment, it seems like OpenSea and Rarible disagree.
All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFTevening.com are not recommendations.
This article is educational material.
As always, make your own research prior to making any kind of investment.

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Mobile Phones Guide
Mobile Phones Articles
Sony Ericsson has teamed up with Sony to introduce, for the first time, a Cybershot camera phone with 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, the K800i.
Together with the new Dopod 595, the arrival of the 838 Pro reaffirms Dopod's continuing strive towards product innovation. www.hardwarezone.com was at the launch and we were treated to more than we originally anticipated.
The world's slimmest phone, the SGH-X820 Ultra Edition, is Samsung's latest push for technological leadership which at 6.9mm thick is a phone that is as much a technological marvel as it is practical.
HP is courting the masses with its consumer friendly HP iPAQ rw6828. The rw6828 is packed with features such as a 2-megapixel Camera, Push E-mail as well as a free glitzy skin makeover by HP.
With so many slim slider phones in the market, Samsung attempts to set the SGH-820 apart with a sturdy look and funky features such as TV-out.
Users who want to have music and phone functionality rolled into one will love the Nokia N91 as it provides a pure mobile experience.
For those who want to have a taste of the future today, the Dopod S300 provides users with the latest technology topped with style.
The annual mobile phone frenzy period in the guise of CommunicAsia 2006 is here again. Major brands have converged under one roof to showcase their new and upcoming handsets. If you thought Motorola's SLVR is the slimmest phone yet, you will be in for a big surprise. So read on!
In our second part of the coverage, Samsung showcased more than 11 phones, some of which broke new world records! Find out more about these attention grabbing phones and some of the models we encountered at the show floor.
Paving the way for their appearance at CommunicAsia2006, Nokia stirred their fans and media with a showcase at Suntec City Convention Hall a day prior. Nokia unveiled a renewed category approach towards its customers themed "It's your world. Express It!".


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DUBAI, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro said on Wednesday the cost of exporting Russian sugar remained high due to lack of investments in port logistics.
“Industry and other players are not investing in the logistics in ports mainly, so to export sugar we have to use the same logistics the country is using for wheat and other grains, and in this case it is a situation where demand for export is growing but supply for service is the same,” Rusagro Sugar’s CEO Nikolay Zhirnov told an industry conference in Dubai.
Russia’s sugar output is expected to reach a record high of 7 million tonnes in 2019, the country’s agriculture ministry said in October.
On Wednesday, Zhirnov put output for the 2019 season in the same range.
Total exports would range around 1.1 million tonnes, mostly to the CIS region.
This year is the fourth year Russia has a production surplus in sugar. Zhirnov said the higher crop was helped by increasingly warm weather.
“It is very warm weather this year in Russia, for example this year was only new year without snow in the last ten years.” (Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Nafisa Eltahir, editing by Louise Heavens)


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Doodle Inspirations – September 18
At NDP, we pride ourselves on staying on top of the industry – what’s new, what’s trending, what’s surprised us. Here are a few things that caught our attention and got us talking this past week:
Apple announced their Apple One package service – a new bundle service including TV, music, news, games, cloud and a new fitness service for $30/month. If purchased separately, these subscriptions would run $50 per month. The new fitness service – Fitness Plus – puts Apple in direction competition with the likes of Mirror and Peloton pursuing the home-workout enthusiast. While we appreciate Apple watching out for the “consumers’ wallet,” we are curious about future user experiences and media partnerships as there has not been a lot publicized regarding the business details of these new offerings.
Our beer-drinking brethren are sad to hear that Oktoberfest celebrations are officially cancelled. Despite the celebration’s cancellation, brands are trying to find innovative ways to still engage this would-be audience. Samuel Adams and Auntie Anne’s pretzels are partnering to develop a limited edition “Oktoberfest At Home” kit including DIY pretzel-making supplies, Oktoberfest lager, lederhosen, steins and more for a reasonable $89 per party pack. Bavarian travel companies are opting to change tours from in-person drinking focused to virtual excursions promoting the history of the event and learning traditional beer hall songs. While event cancellations like this can be disruptive, we’re encouraged to see brands pivoting to keep consumer engaged in ways that wouldn’t have existed without the challenge of removing the in-person angle.
Macy’s announced the first major change to their annual Thanksgiving Day Parade since WWII. The normal 2.5-mile parade route will be scrapped opting for the 1-block TV coverage area only. This change is an effort to discourage larger gatherings along the traditional parade route and encourage those interested in viewing to watch on TV instead. The parade will feature giant balloons anchored to specialty vehicles, lack high school marching bands, and no one under the age of 18 will be able to participate in any elements of the parade. We are happy this tentpole of the holiday season will exist at all.
NDP employees were down after these last 2 articles hit the news wire, but we found a few moments of joy when Netflix announced the premier date of Season 11 of The Great British Bake Off” (it’s September 25). This spurred the team to talk about other great “maker” content we’ve been binging on the platform to cheer us up including Chef’s Table: BBQ and Blown Away. While we can’t speak to advertising opportunities or marketing angles to this content, we are thrilled to see new content coming from streaming platforms on a continued basis as traditional network shows have had production delays due to COVID’s impact throwing a wrench in what would normally be “sweeps week” and “premier season” on the traditional television channels.


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Spotify is testing a new feature that lets select influencers share Stories to introduce their playlists with video clips and album art.
Spotify is making its entry in the long list of platforms now offering the Stories format, alongside Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
The new Spotify Stories format lets influencers share Stories alongside their public playlists. The format gives them the opportunity to share short video clips that contain snippets of songs and album art to introduce their playlists to their followers.
The new feature is only being tested with select influencers for the moment and is not available to artists on the platform. Spotify did not openly share the selection criteria for this test, but it seems that the number of followers, how engaged their followers are and how active the influencer is on Spotify.
Summer Mckeen, YouTube makeup and fashion vlogger, is one of the firsts to use the new Stories format. She has just over two million subscribers on both YouTube and Instagram, and 126,455 Spotify followers.
Spotify Stories can only be watched via the iOS and Android apps, not on desktop.
More from Other Platforms
Despite what stated on its website, Zoom does not support end-to-end encryption for video meetings, according to new research from The …
Snapchat added App STories to the Snap Kit toolset for developers to begin incorporating Snapchat Stories into their apps.
As part of its commitment to support SMBs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Google is making $340 million in Google Ads …


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Have kids in sport? Then you may be interested in a competition hosted by Under Armour and Sport Chek. The 2nd annual Team UA NEXT Canada Powered by Sport Check campaign is set to find the NEXT generation of Under Armour Athletes. Canadian athletes between the ages of 7 and 12 years are eligible to compete to become the face of Under Armour’s new campaign across Sport Chek stores across Canada.
There will be two winners, one male, and one female, who will each receive a year’s worth of Under Armour gear, participate in a sports photo shoot and be featured in Sport Chek stores across Canada.
Wonder what it takes to join UA Team Next? Take a peek at last year’s winners, Brenden McLeod of Newmarket and Maya Rajhans of Etobicoke, talk about what it takes. Brenden, a hockey and lacrosse player, and Maya, a basketball and soccer enthusiast, were chosen because they had the right mix of determination, passion, teamwork, and will.
“Last year hundreds of talented young athletes from coast to coast showed us how they hustle, persevere, and compete and we are excited to see who will tryout this year,” said Shana Ferguson, Marketing Director, Under Armour Canada.
For more information on TEAM UA NEXT Canada powered by Sport Chek, or to submit a nomination, visit TeamUAnext.ca. Also, check out @sportchek on Twitter and Instagram using #TAKEYOURSPOT and #UANEXTCANADA.
Hurry! The nomination period is from June 1, 2017, to August 30, 2017! Don’t miss this opportunity.
I am a part of an influencer campaign with Under Armour and Sport Chek and as such received payment for this article. All views are my own.


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Dell has reported another quarter of declining revenue and profits as the company's CEO continues his battle to take the PC maker private.
A TV report into the lives of migrant workers employed at Amazon.com distribution centers in Germany has prompted the government to call for an investigation, and is pushing other companies to change their practices.
Opening its own brick-and-mortar retail stores could help Google sell more of its Chromebooks, Nexus tablets and other hardware, analysts said Friday, reacting to online reports that Google may soon be coming to the local shopping mall.
The growing number of shareholders voicing opposition to Dell's US$24.4 billion plan to go private appears to be putting the company increasingly on the defensive, raising questions about the terms of the deal.
Oracle is firing back hard at a recently released Forrester Research report that suggested most customers aren't interested in moving up to the vendor's next-generation Fusion Applications, which were released about a year-and-a-half ago following a ...
Apple makes more from its iTunes and accessories than its rivals make from selling mobile phones, a new report has revealed.
Cisco Systems posted higher revenue and profit in its fiscal second quarter as Chairman and CEO John Chambers reiterated the company's ambitious goal to become the biggest company in IT.
Web hosting provider and domain name registrar Go Daddy has acquired M.dot, the developer of a mobile app for website creation and management by small businesses.
Groupon has acquired MashLogic, a company based in California that makes a simple tool called Britely to capture and collate bits of information from web pages.
VMware plans to acquire Virsto Software, maker of a "storage hypervisor" that will be added to VMware's popular virtualization lineup and licensed by EMC.
F5 Networks plans to extend the reach of software-defined networking to improve application performance by acquiring software startup LineRate Systems.
A new website has revealed that European Parliamentarians are bowing to pressure from U.S. companies to water down parts of a new data protection law.
The U.K.'s Financial Reporting Council has launched a probe into Autonomy's financial reporting over a period of more than two years prior to its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard.
Dell's decision to go private has led to mixed reaction from the company's customers, who are watching developments closely as they consider the next steps in their product procurement plans.
Solid sales reports from companies as diverse as Akamai, LinkedIn and NCR as well as positive economic data buoyed shares of IT companies Friday as markets closed in on multiyear highs.
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RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is coming to Canada – it’s just a matter of how many carriers will have it available. Rogers is currently the only one who has 100% confirmed they’ll be launching the PlayBook. WIND stated a few months back they are working on getting it, Mobilicity said they want it and TELUS’ CEO said he’s “bullish on the PlayBook“. This really only leaves Bell.
Bell owns 100% of the retail chain The Source and they only advertise Bell, Virgin and Solo devices in their flyers. Taking a look at the most recent flyer states “Coming Soon – the Blackberry PlayBook tablet”… so you can confidently say this will make its way to Bell – it’s just a matter of when and how much.
Via: The Source


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Report: San Francisco supervisors OK tobacco sales ban at pharmacies
SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco’s board of supervisors voted for an expansion of the city’s anti-tobacco law, according to published reports.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that the supervisors gave preliminary approval to a law to expand a law passed in 2008 to ban tobacco sales at drug stores to include all retailers that operate pharmacies, including mass merchandisers and supermarkets.
The original law had attracted opposition from Walgreens and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores on the grounds that it discriminated against drug stores. Supporters of the law asserted that its purpose was to rectify what they saw as the contradictory nature of a healthcare institution, such as a pharmacy selling an unhealthful product.
Asimilar law was enacted in Boston around the same time as the San Francisco law, though the Boston law banned tobacco sales at all retailers that operate pharmacies.
Kaz launches ‘Cold and Flu Central’ Facebook page
SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. Kaz, the maker of Vicks, Honeywell and Braun wellness devices, recently launched a new Facebook fan page named Cold and Flu Central, created to help inform families about some of the best defenses against colds and the flu.
The page includes doctor-approved tips, third-party expert advice and links, product giveaways, drug store availability information, discussions and polls.
Jennifer Trachtenberg, chief pediatric officer for RealAge.com, is the featured pediatrician on the site. In addition, two other experts will be providing tips to fans on how to stay healthy this winter: Jim McDevitt, an instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health and certified as an industrial hygienist by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene; and Ted Myatt, a senior scientist at Environmental Health and Engineering. Myatt also is the biological safety officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Institute of Medicine in Massachusetts.
To help drive interest in the site, Kaz will be giving away one Vicks Cool Mist humidifier, Vicks digital thermometer or Braun ThermoScan ear thermometer each week.
Lobbyists respond to Senate’s delay to review food safety bill
WASHINGTON A coalition of lobbying groups urged the Senate on Monday to review and pass pending food safety legislation before November elections.
The Food Marketing Institute, which backed the bipartisan bill, issued a statement Monday that the organization was "disappointed" that the Senate elected not to review the Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act before the midterm elections. The bill passed in the House of Representatives last year.
"The most important goal of America’s food retailers and wholesalers is to provide nutritious, safe, high-quality and affordable food," said FMI president and CEO Leslie Sarasin. "We all have a responsibility to work together to improve the safety of our food supply. We believe the focus should be on trying to prevent problems before they occur by providing the FDA the necessary resources and authority to help the agency protect our food supply."
Similarly, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said on Capitol Hill Monday that “the [FDA Food Safety Modernization] Act is too important to delay its passage any further,” noting that the bill’s passage would provide the FDA “with the resources and authorities the agency needs to help strengthen our nation’s food safety system by making prevention the focus of our food safety strategies,” said Scott Faber, GMA VP federal affairs.
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act will enhance public health and safety by requiring all food companies to develop a food safety plan, adopting a risk-based approach to inspection and improving the safety of imported food and food ingredients.


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An award-winning aircraft – a large, fixed-wing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – has been designed to carry out long-range surveys and environmental research. It will be powered using miniaturised hydrogen fuel cells that were designed, prototyped and trialled by HySA/Catalysis. It is an excellent example of the centre's mission to help transform South Africa's economy into one that manufactures from its wealth of raw materials, rather than just supplying them for others to exploit.
HySA/Catalysis – co-hosted by UCT and Mintek – is one of three government-funded Centres of Competence, and is tasked with developing South Africa's contribution to global hydrogen and fuel cell technology. The centre collaborated with Prof Arnaud Malan and his team from UCT's Mechanical Engineering Department and FlyH2 Aerospace, the company that will be producing the UAV, which became a licensee of the patented fuel cell technology developed by HySA/Catalysis.
Speaking after the UAV recently won first prize at the Avi awards held by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Pretoria, co-founder of FlyH2 Aerospace Mark van Wyk described the aircraft as the first of its kind to be designed and built in Africa. Better yet, the use of hydrogen fuel cells means that the aircraft will operate with zero emissions. "The system emissions are completely toxicant-free,” Van Wyk explains, “In the future, our company wishes to develop the technology further, to a level where it can also power manned aircraft. Both Boeing and Airbus have done significant research into hydrogen fuel cells. This could be the future of green aviation.”
The UAV, however, is just one application of fuel cell technology. When it comes to HySA/Catalysis, the centre's aims are far broader. Dr Sharon Blair, director of HySA/Catalysis, explains that the centre hopes to assist in transforming South Africa's economy from a resource-based economy – as a supplier of raw materials – to a knowledge-based economy, developing, manufacturing and exporting value-added products.
“Right now, South Africa sells platinum as a raw metal, and exports it,” explains Blair. “Other countries then upgrade that platinum to create products that we buy back – at a much higher price.” Her goal, at HySA/Catalysis, is to make sure South Africa develops the manufacturing capabilities to begin to climb that value chain starting at the platinum refinery.
At this point, she believes, it is critical that South Africa focuses on the early stages of the platinum value chain. “What we are trying to do here is develop the intellectual property in South Africa based on platinum components, so that we have more control over where the materials and components are manufactured, and can build a sustainable industry,” she says.
Dr Sharon Blair believes that South Africa needs to develop the capabilities to upgrade raw materials and develop them into products, rather than simply export them for others to benefit from the added value production brings.
As the UAV demonstrates, fuel cells are a very promising clean power source, with the potential to replace our current 'dirty' internal combustion engines. A key component of these cells is platinum, which is converted into a catalyst – the first step on the platinum fuel cell value chain. The catalyst is a powder, which is then painted onto a membrane – the second step up the value chain to the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The manufacture of these two simple first steps would have significant effects for the country's economy.
According to BCC Research in 2013, at current fuel-cell market growth rates, the catalyst and ink market in 2017 will grow to $265 million, and the MEA market to $1.2 billion. This reflects about 9.5 times the original value of the raw platinum. We have an opportunity to participate in this market, globally thus increasing the value of goods currently exported from South Africa.
As it stands, says Blair, HySA/Catalysis has developed a family of platinum catalysts on a par with international products, and they are just beginning to sell these. The next step will be the membrane electrode assembly, and they are working with their first customers now to meet their needs.
The centre is also developing advanced fuel-cell components based on stainless steel and other materials that can be manufactured in South Africa. The promise of these technologies is starting to attract large global automotive fuel cell companies as partners, but the intellectual property will remain in South Africa.
“So while we know what components we can sell today,” she says, “we are also developing components for 10 years down the line.”
The focus on the early stages of the value chain is just one avenue of HySA/Catalysis' strategy. The centre partners with foreign fuel-cell companies and introduces them to local companies that can participate in delivering components, all the way up through distribution to the end customer. These foreign partners agree to incorporate local technology into their products once it meets their needs. In 2015, Powercell Sweden installed their low-temperature fuel-cell system on a Vodacom mobile tower, using local company Powertech Systems Integrators. Powercell is also one of HySA/Catalysis' potential MEA customers. HySA/Catalysis wants to see benefits for multiple players along the supply chain, and it is already well on its way to doing so.
Story by Natalie Simon and Ambre Nicolson. Image of Alpha supplied by FlyH2. Portrait of Sharon Blair by Michael Hammond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Please view the republishing articles page for more information.


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Featured Whitsunday Times: 04.01.18
Hemingway’s restaurant at Abell Point Marina joined an exclusive club this week when it was awarded its first Chef Hat by the Australian Good Food Guide.
Hemingway’s now joins Walter’s Lounge and qualia as the only restaurants in the Whitsundays to offer a hatted experience.
Marketing and business development manager, Joscelyn O’Keefe said the award, after only seven months in business, was a major achievement. “It’s really good news and everyone is really excited and the announcement was very unexpected too” she said.
Ms O’Keefe noted it was pleasing to see Hemingway’s making culinary waves on a state level and joined only 65 restaurants across Queensland to be awarded Chef Hat’s.
So what is the secret to Hemingway’s success?
“It’s a combination of all factors” Ms O’Keefe said. “Fresh produce and having an innovative team. Head Chef Matt Dixon is a young chef but has lots of great ideas and has a great team behind him. And what they do in the kitchen is reflected in this award.”


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In an interview with CoinDesk, BitPay’s European business development director Moe Levin gave some much-needed perspective on that question. Noting that Europe’s merchant sales cycle is considerably longer than comparable decision-making processes in the U.S., Levin said that the lack of billion-dollar Eurozone companies is mostly due to timing. He said that major BitPay news on the topic was “soon to be announced,” but offered no further clues.
Levin told CoinDesk that bitcoin is also a less-sensational topic in Europe, where modern payment systems like Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) already provide better options than the relatively slow and outdated U.S. banking system. Only 15 years ago, Europe switched from a variety of local currencies to a single currency, the euro, prompting many Europeans to see bitcoin as a worldwide version of the currency they already use. As a result, bitcoin doesn’t have quite the same revolutionary tint as it does in the U.S., but rather a more practical, logistically elegant and lower cost appeal.
“There are not so many big statements from people here, but everyday like clockwork more and more merchants are turning on BitPay’s service, because it isn’t a stretch,” Levin said. “They don’t need to be convinced the same way North Americans do.” Levin said that BitPay is gaining ground, with around 200 new merchants adding their bitcoin payment option every week.


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While market researchers have forecast a brisk summer-travel season, it may be as much a boon to the folding-cot industry as to the hotel business. In a poll by American Consumer Opinion Online, 45 percent of prospective vacationers said they expect to spend at least part of their sojourn with friends or relatives. (Let’s hope the friends and relatives know about this.) Meanwhile, 38 percent of the poll’s respondents expect to stay in hotels and 28 percent in motels at least part of the time. Another 8 percent expect to catch some of their vacation zzz’s at a bed-and-breakfast. Then there’s the great outdoors: 9 percent plan to bed down at a state or national park campground, while the same number anticipate a stay at a private campground or RV camp. As for the 7 percent who haven’t yet made a plan, they may end up sleeping in their cars.
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The Axios “What’s Next” newsletter says the end of the barcode we’ll all so familiar with is near—only to be replaced by a “more robust and muscular successor that offers far more information about the product inside.”
Axios reports that these new 2D barcodes “unlock reams of online extras (for consumers) and revolutionize inventory management (for retailers).” For instance, scanning the code could offer information about “the sustainability practices of the company that made it — or the washing instructions.”
The advantages of a 2D barcode include improving product safety and offering “greater transparency into the origins of the items we buy.”
Other advantages, according to Axios:
- Stores can respond immediately to product recalls and remove faulty products from their shelves.
- Consumers get online access to tons of valuable data—“from ingredients, recipes, and potential allergens to promotional offers and information about how to recycle the product.”
GS1 US is the driving force behind the innovative barcodes. It reports that the industry has set a date “to make the transition to accepting 2D barcodes at point-of-sale—referred to as Sunrise 2027.”
GS1 US offers more resources, including its GS1 US Advanced Data Carriers at Point-of-Sale Getting Started Guide and implementation support for its digital link.
Image courtesy of GS1


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West Palm Beach, FL (PRWEB) November 01, 2013
MaharaniMamas.com, a modern girl’s guide to celebrating Indian Culture, is gearing up for the holidays, the Indian holidays, that is. There are approximately one billion people who celebrate Diwali, and yet there are a lot of people who have never heard of it. For Indians, Diwali is Christmas and New Year’s all in one.
Maharani Mamas founders say, We knew we had to start publishing books on Indian culture, when our kids asked us to read Christmas stories at each Indian holiday and the teachers at their school had not heard of one of the most celebrated holidays in the world.
In Lots of Lights, a brother and sister relate the meaning of Diwali to more common holidays like Christmas and try to understand the meaning of the holiday and then they go through the five days of celebration. The book is available on Amazon and if ordered today, will arrive in time for Diwali.
Kelsey Jackson, MU professor recognized for his cross-cultural work by the American Psychological Association says, In todays global economy, the market is much bigger than the United States.In the future, whites will no longer be the majority and learning to be sensitive to cultural differences will be critically important. When people cooperate, there is more productivity and benefits. The next generation needs to start learning about other cultures to become better global citizens.
About Maharani Mamas (maharanimamas.com)
Maharani Mamas seeks to build a community where women can share their ideas, tips and tricks, and ways to celebrate Indian holidays with a fresh perspective.


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Addictive online games used by food and drinks firms to target children are undermining efforts to counter obesity and should be subject to much tougher rules, local health chiefs say today.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents almost 400 councils in England and Wales, is calling for pop-up health warnings to accompany the “advergames”, which it says plug products containing high levels of sugars, salts and fats to young children.
Swizzels Matlow, Chewits and Weetos are a few of the well known brands to have placed the free games on their websites. According to the LGA, they are increasingly easy to access by children using smartphones and tablet computers.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is currently able to take action against a company if a game “encourages poor nutritional habits, such as excessive consumption or unhealthy lifestyles”. But the LGA says the rules do not go far enough and wants health warnings to flash up before each one begins.
Cllr Katie Hall, Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “It is unacceptable for food giants to be targeting children with these addictive games. Food manufacturers are weaning youngsters onto a diet laden with sugar, fat and salt – creating the next generation of unhealthy children.”
A report commissioned by the Family and Parenting Institute, published in 2012, suggested that children’s brains process advergames in a different way from traditional adverts, on a “subconscious, emotional” level.
“The result of this is that advergames can change children’s behaviour without their conscious awareness,” the authors wrote. “This raises fundamental ethical questions about the technique, particularly in view of the fact that they appear to be widely used for food and drink products high in salt, sugar and fat. There is a serious health concern if children’s food choices are influenced subconsciously.”
Dr Haiming Hang, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Bath and one of the report’s authors, told The Independent that children did not understand the games were adverts and had no “cognitive defence” to the food firms’ marketing.
Swizzles Matlow, which makes sweets including Love Hearts, Refreshers and Drumstick lollies, has several games on its website including “Bubble Burster”, where players fly a remote-control probe through a vat of Refreshers mix popping bubbles.
The Chewits sweets website has a fortune telling game called “Mystic Chewie”, which uses the slogan “I predict you’ll be hooked”, as well as a skill game called The Claw.
Stuart Lane, commercial director for the UK and Ireland at Cloetta, which makes Chewits, said the company was “very sensitive to the debate” around advergames but strived to be a “responsible manufacturer”. He added: “If the ASA decided to change the rules around this, we’d follow them.”
The Weetos cereal website features a game called “Kitchen Assault” in which players guide one of the chocolate-flavoured hoops around an obstacle course.
Weetabix, which makes Weetos, said in a statement: “Weetabix is committed to meeting or exceeding all the guidelines and statutory requirements on advertising to children and strongly believes in responsible marketing.”
The flavoured milk brand Nesquik also has sports games on its website featuring its rabbit mascot. A spokeswoman for manufacturers Nestlé said the games featured on its US website and not the UK version, adding: “As the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company, we have a strict policy on marketing and advertising to children.”
But Dr Hang said British children could easily be playing the games on foreign websites: “When kids play advergames on a website, they don’t say: ‘OK, this is an American website, I’m not going to play it’. They just play games.”
Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s shadow Public Health Minister, said she was “alarmed” by the increasing use of advergames. “Parents are anxious about these unfamiliar techniques in new online media and more must be done to ensure they have the information they need to protect their children from being bombarded by these compelling free games that we know most children don’t even recognise as adverts,” she added.
In a statement, the ASA said: “Advergames by food companies have to stick to strict rules. We’ve banned advergames that promoted overeating and will not hesitate to ban any others that encourage unhealthy diets or lifestyles. We’ve also issued clear guidance to advertisers to help them prepare their advergames responsibly.”
Jeremy Dee, managing director of Swizzels Matlow, said: "The games on our website are light-hearted and engaging and are simply our way of providing something fun for the family to enjoy together. We never target children directly with advertising."
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Boxee closed a $16.5 million round of financing led by new investors Pitango and Softbank, as well as prior investors General Catalyst, Spark Capital, and Union Square Ventures. That's $10.5 million more than Boxee's last round of funding, at which point the Boxee team consisted of 12 employees banging out code to bring the media center's software out of alpha. And now? Boxee's team is 34 members strong, the software is in version 1.0, and the Boxee Box is shipping around the world. Where does Boxee go from here?
"We are more hungry and driven than ever," Boxee's Avner Ronen said in a blog post . "Less naive, but dreaming even more ambitious dreams. We are also recruiting, so if you are a Boxee fan and passionate about what we're doing then maybe you can join us in NY or TLV."
Those interested can check out Boxee's jobs page . The rest of us can sit back and see where the funding takes them, Ronen said the funding will allow Boxee to build new functionality, add more content, and partner with more device makers, including an Iomega Boxee NAS device that's in the works and a ViewSonic brand TV based on Boxee.


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An ambitious new offering from the new US Optics
Posts Tagged: us optics
We test the new SPR style SVS scope from US Optics
US Optics has made a huge effort to update and modernize their scopes. We take a look at the B-17 series to see how well they have done.
We visit the new US Optics manufacturing facility as a part of our Industry Visits tour
We will have several official articles coming…


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McDonald’s (MCD) is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings before market open on Monday, April 30, a little over a year into the company’s new global growth plan.
Since taking over in 2015, CEO Steve Easterbrook had taken the company on a turnaround plan that included refranchising a large number of its corporate-owned stores, restructuring business segments and cutting expenses.
In March 2017, the company unveiled a new growth plan. The new growth plan largely centered around improving digital capabilities and increasing the use of technology in stores, expanding delivery across all of its markets, and modernizing stores to what it calls “experience of the future” restaurants.
When it last reported, MCD said it plans to spend $2.4 billion on investments in 2018, a majority dedicated to upgrading restaurants in the U.S. to its new concepts. Its new restaurants have modernized interiors, self-serve kiosks, tableside service, and other changes that are part of the company’s plans to drive sales growth, attract new customers and retain old ones.
Another part of the company’s growth plans has been to expand delivery. Management said that delivery had continued to gain traction in Q4 and that it has become a meaningful contributor to same-store sales in some of its largest markets. Management also noted that the average check size of delivery orders tends to be 1.5 to 2 times larger than in-store orders.
In Q4, global same-store sales were up 5.5%, the company’s 10th consecutive quarter of growth. For the full year, same-store sales increased 5.3%, MCD’s best growth rate in six years. Analyst opinions vary on whether or not growth can continue at that pace. Most are expecting low to mid-single-digit same-store sales growth in 2018.
For Q1, MCD is expected to report adjusted EPS of $1.67 on revenue of $4.93 billion, according to third-party consensus estimates. In the same quarter last year, MCD earned $1.47 per share on revenue of $5.68 billion. Analysts have said the expected revenue decline is primarily a result of the company’s refranchising initiatives, which has shifted revenue from sales at company-operated restaurants to fees earned from franchises.
MCD’s top and bottom-line have been getting a boost from a weaker U.S. dollar. When it last reported, management said they expected current exchange rates to have a positive impact of $0.07 to $0.09 on earnings in Q1 and $0.23 to $0.25 for all of 2018. The dollar has started to climb the past few weeks, which could diminish that impact if it remains elevated.
McDonald’s Trading Activity
Investors seem to be happy with the changes and progress Easterbrook has been making in the company’s turnaround plans, as the stock was up almost 44% in 2017 and it hit a new all-time high of $178.70 at the end of January. It has since pulled back, but it has bounced a bit off of its recent low of $146.84 it hit on Mar. 2. Since mid-March, MCD has been trading between a range of $155 to $165.
Around Monday’s earnings release, options traders have priced in about a 3.2% stock move in either direction, according to options data from the thinkorswim® platform. Implied volatility was at the 51st percentile as of this morning.
In short-term trading at the May 4 weekly expiration, calls have been active at the 160 and 162.5 strikes, while trading on the put side has been concentrated at the 155 strike.
Further out at the May 18 monthly expiration, trading in calls has been heavier at the 160, 165 and 170 strikes, although the 170-strike call is a ways out of the money. On the put side, trading has been concentrated at the 155 and 160 strikes.
Note: Call options represent the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying security at a predetermined price over a set period of time. Put options represent the right, but not the obligation to sell the underlying security at a predetermined price over a set period of time.
What’s Coming Up
Earnings season slows down a little bit next week, although there are still quite a few major reports on tap:
- Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) both report before the open on Tuesday, May 1
- Apple (AAPL) reports after the close on Tuesday, May 1
- Tesla (TSLA) reports after the close on Wednesday, May 2
- Alibaba (BABA) reports before the open on Friday, May 4
Next week the Fed will also be meeting on May 1-2. There isn’t expected to be a whole lot new coming out of that meeting and there’s a 93% probability the Fed won’t hike rates, according to the CME FedWatch tool. If you have time, check out today’s market update for a look at what else is going on.
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The TD Ameritrade Network is brought to you by TD Ameritrade Media Productions Company. TD Ameritrade Media Productions Company and TD Ameritrade, Inc. are separate but affiliated subsidiaries of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation.


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Street Fighter IV Coming In February To Japan
As it was stated in many reports over the last week, Street Fighter IV will not be spending this holiday season, in Japan, under a tree. In a press event held in Tokyo, Capcom release its plans to reveal Street Fighter IV in Japan in February of ’09 on both on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The direct release date for the game is still waiting to be know in the United States, but still we can’t wait to play the game in the U.S. This news was released to the public in a fighting game press event by Capcom in Tokyo, just for you guys that missed it in my other article.
- July 14, 2008 FFXIII: Japan Version First, Then U.S And 360
- May 17, 2009 Tatsunoko vs Capcom Coming To The US? [Updated]
- January 17, 2009 Capcom vs. SNK 3 Is Very Not Impossible?
- August 25, 2008 New SF IV Characters: Fei Long and Dan Revealed
- July 30, 2008 Yoshinori Ono Thinking Street Fighter V?
- September 11, 2008 Capcom: No More Platform Exclusives
- September 8, 2009 Final Fantasy XIII Coming To The West Spring 2010
- September 29, 2009 Super Street Fighter IV Won’t Have An Arcade Version
- September 28, 2009 Capcom Unveils Super Street Fighter IV, Not Downloadable
- June 18, 2008 Final Fantasy Versus XIII Development On Stand By


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WATCH ABOVE: A preview for 16×9’s “The Sweetest Heist.”
Quebec’s great maple syrup heist of 2012 revealed more than just the inner workings of an alleged sophisticated criminal network; it showed there was an appetite for millions of dollars worth of contraband syrup.
According to police documents, most of the stolen syrup found its way on to the black market. That black market is fueled by producers and buyers who are enraged at how the industry is regulated in Quebec.
The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (FPAQ) is an organization that, by law, strictly controls all maple syrup sold wholesale in Quebec. When a producer sells through the Federation they are paid 75 per cent of the value of that syrup up front, with the remainder coming in installments. That remaining payment is based on how much of the communal provincial crop is sold. Sometimes being paid in full can take years.
The Federation also sets quotas on the amount of maple syrup produced each year. Every producer is given an allotment. The goal is to keep the price and the amount of maple syrup, stable.
However, marketing experts describe the Federation as a legal cartel, that has created the perfect conditions for a thriving black market. Etienne St-Pierre is a maple syrup buyer who lives an hour across the Quebec border in Kedgwick, New Brunswick. He estimates 40 producers from Quebec sell to him in defiance of the Federation’s rules.
The Federation has been pursuing St-Pierre for years. It’s sent undercover agents to try to prove he’s buying Quebec syrup and has tried to bring him in front of its agricultural tribunal. St-Pierre says the Federation is reaching beyond its jurisdiction, “They want to take control of all of Canada for the maple syrup”.
The black market of maple syrup extends into the United States. Colin Christie is an independent maple syrup buyer in Vermont who says it doesn’t make economic sense for producers to turn off their taps once they’ve reached their quota.
WATCH BELOW: An extended interview with Colin Christie
While the Federation claims the black market makes up no more than 8 per cent of the maple syrup industry producers 16×9 spoke with estimate over 90 per cent of producers sell outside their quota.
If it’s any gauge of the friction within the industry, the tribunal which governs agricultural matters in Quebec had more demands for maple syrup investigations last year than all of the other agricultural sectors combined.
16×9’s “The Sweetest Heist” airs this Saturday at 7 p.m.


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Capital One Canada: ‘No Immediate Plans’ for Apple Pay with Costco Mastercard
While Costco Canada warehouses accept Apple Pay at their terminals (for Mastercard and debit), customers who hold the warehouse’s Capital One Platinum Mastercard have long been wondering when support will arrive for the latter.
Well, we do have an update, if you’ve been looking for one. Andrew Clarke, Manager, Corporate Communications for Capital One, told iPhone in Canada via email the company currently has no plans to launch Apple Pay, when we reached out for an update.
According to Clark, he said “we have no immediate plans to launch Apple Pay, and will continue to evaluate it as well as other payment methods.”
The answer appears to fall in line with what Capital One Canada has been informing customers on Twitter, noting “Right now there is no news regarding Apple Pay, but our community will be among the first to know when we have an update.”
While Capital One in the USA supports Apple Pay, Canadian customers of Capital One credit cards may have to keep waiting for iPhone mobile wallet support to arrive here.
Back in the spring of 2016, Costco Canada said the Capital One Mastercard “won’t be supporting this payment method,” when asked about Apple Pay.
Yesterday, Apple Pay expanded in Canada, reaching Vancity Credit Union in the BC Lower Mainland, and Assiniboine Credit Union, Cambrian Credit Union Limited and Steinbach Credit Union in Manitoba.
Are you waiting for Apple Pay support for your Costco Capital One Platinum Mastercard?


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Sundar Pichai is lifting the veil on Alphabet's revenue breakdown, revealing historical YouTube ad revenue and Google Cloud figures for the first time.
In his first financial report since taking the helm Alphabet CEO in December after Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin announced that they were leaving their respective roles, Pichai has finally provided details on Alphabet's divisions. Until now, the parent company had only provided a breakdown of Google revenue, not of its other businesses, to the chagrin of analysts.
Now unaudited figures show that YouTube ad revenue surged 36% between 2018 to 2019, bringing in $15.15 billion in 2019, of which $4.72 billion was generated in the fourth quarter alone. The 2019 figure is up 86% from 2017's $8.15 billion—the earliest it goes back—showing that despite YouTube's many brand safety issues over recent years, advertisers continue to pour in.
It means YouTube's ad revenues made up 11% of Google's $134.8 billion overall advertising revenue in 2019, and 9% of Google's total $160.74 billion revenue in 2019.
During the company's earnings call, chief financial officer Ruth Porat said the company pays out “a majority” of YouTube's advertising revenue to its creators.
Porat also revealed that YouTube’s non-advertising revenue, which includes money generated from its subscription services YouTube Premium and YouTube Music, reached a $3 billion revenue run rate in the fourth quarter. Also in the investor call, Pichai revealed that the subscription services have garnered a combined base of over 20 million subscribers, while YouTube's US over-the-top TV service now has a total of 2 million customers.
In the financial report, YouTube's non-advertising revenue is included in Google's 'other revenues' section, which generated $17.01 billion in the full year 2019.
Google's overall advertising revenue increased by 16% in the full year 2019, from 2018's $116.46 billion. Google's search (and other) revenue was $98.12 billion for the full year 2019, up from $85.3 billion in 2018.
The fresh details were provided in the company's fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 report.
Elsewhere, Alphabet also revealed Google Cloud figures for the first time. The cloud division brought in $8.92 billion in revenue in 2019, $2.6 billion of it from the fourth quarter. This represents a 53% increase from 2018's $5.84 billion, and a more than doubling from 2017's $4.06 billion.
Pichai had previously revealed during the company's Q2 2019 results that the cloud division had reached an $8 billion run rate.
Alphabet's unaudited full-year figures show an 18% revenue hike to $161.86 billion. Net income for the year increased 12% to $34.34 billion.
In the full year 2019, sales and marketing costs increased by 13% to $18.46 billion. The company paid $1.7 billion in European Commission fines, significantly down from the $5.1 billion it shelled out the previous year.
In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Asia-Pacific region had the strongest growth, with revenue up 24% to $7.48 billion year-on-year. However, growth has been slowing: from 26% in Q3 2019 and 29% in Q2 2019, which itself is a slow down from the 36% growth rate in Q2 2018.
All regions were impacted by slower growth rates: US revenue grew 16% to $21.74 billion, down from its 21% growth rate the previous quarter; Other Americas grew 21% to $2.67 billion, down from 25%; and EMEA revenue was up 15% to $14.1 billion, down from 16%.
The company's Q4 results came in lower than Wall Street expectations, leading to a 4% fall in stock price in after-hours trading. In the quarter, Alphabet brought in $46.08 billion in total revenue, while its operating income was $9.27 billion.


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Apple has released an update to its Clips app, adding characters from Disney and Pixar to the social media app.
Apple has released an update to its clips social media/video app, adding Disney and Pixar characters to its bank of stickers.
The app is a new way to edit and modify videos, enabling users to add fun stickers and overlays in a similar way to Snapchat.
Clips is a standalone app, with its own social media timeline, but allows the videos to be exported and uploaded it to other apps like Facebook or Twitter.
The app also live-transcribes audio as the user is editing, a feature unique to the app.


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Sometimes, the only way to keep a financial market alive is to think for yourself, and according to Changpeng Zhao – the CEO of Binance, the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchange – the herd mentality is really doing some heavy damage to the digital asset space.
Changpeng Zhao Thinks People Need to Invest Long Term
To be fair, he comments in a recent interview that this same attitude is seen in the stock market, though crypto appears to be more vulnerable somewhat given how new it still is. He says that there are many people active in the space at the time of writing that do not necessarily think about what they should do or how they should invest. Rather, they are “reactive investors” who likely run away as soon as the price of bitcoin goes down and invest all they have when it goes up. He says that this is not always the best way to handle things, as this ultimately leads to heavier volatility.
The herd followers are less committed. Whenever there is some negative news, they run away. Whenever there is positive news, they try to rush in.
Zhao further states that while there are a handful of people out there who really understand bitcoin and its altcoin cousins and purchase units specifically to hold them long term, many retailers do not take this route, and typically react quickly whenever bitcoin makes a sudden move. He also says that many institutions are to blame, mentioning:
There are also large institutions that do volatility trading. They seek volatility, and they sometimes even want to generate the volatility, so it is not to say that just because there are more institutions trading then there is less volatility.
He says that if institutions want bitcoin to remain in a strong position, they must behave in a way similar with MicroStrategy. The institution made headlines in August of last year when it arguably became the first institution in the history of the digital asset space to publicly support the world’s number one digital currency by market cap and purchase a huge stake in the asset. Since then, it has continued to add to its stash and now holds more than $5 million worth of the cryptocurrency.
MicroStrategy Has Helped Quite a Bit
Zhao states that MicroStrategy has managed to assist in making sure bitcoin’s price reaches a new pinnacle on a permanent basis. He also says the firm has helped reduce its volatility for good, though there are still several companies out there making mistakes. He says:
It is nothing new in crypto. Volatility is everywhere. Um, and actually bitcoin is probably less volatile than a similar-sized asset like an Apple stock or even a Tesla stock.
Binance was founded in the year 2017 and currently boasts more retail clients than institutions.


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Despite economic uncertainty, Canadian SMEs remain confident and poised for success
Written by Christopher Metler
Canadian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are brushing aside any apprehension of economic and political uncertainty. Instead, they are opting to remain assured in their capacity to innovate, generate revenue and grow their businesses—no matter the macro outlook.
American Express, a trusted advisor to businesses ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 multinationals, recently released their 2017 Global SME Pulse, a survey that polled senior executives and decision-makers across SMEs in fifteen countries. The Canadian results were encouraging.
SMEs say they are optimistic about the state of the economy over the next twelve months (42 percent positive versus 12 percent negative when asked about the local economy). Despite some challenges, SMEs feel secure and determined in their ability to grow their businesses. In fact, more than half (55 percent) of the Canadian SMEs surveyed expect to see substantial revenue growth of at least four percent over the next 12 months, with 50 percent of SMEs willing to take big risks to gain big rewards.
Finance also continues to exist as a key enabler for SME growth in Canada, but many still struggle to fund the investments they need for continued development. Almost half of Canadian SMEs (48 percent) say they face difficulty accessing the finances they need to grow their business while 53 percent say inadequate cash flow affects their ability to pay suppliers on time.
For Paul Roman—Vice President and General Manager of Global Commercial Payments at American Express Canada—what particularly jumps out about this year’s findings is the extent to which they indicate how much money still matters.
Revenue growth was positioned at number one for 57 percent of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, with profit margin growth coming second for 51 percent—rendering them by far the most important long-term objectives for SMEs.
“Typically, it's not surprising to see revenue growth and profit margins highly ranked in terms of goals,” Roman makes clear. “But once you peel it back a little bit, you start to see there's a recognition that cash flow is really king, with an even higher percentage of Canadian SMEs - 66 percent – agreeing on its importance to run their business. And cash flow is one of those things that people quite often get a rude reminder of as a small business. So when you see it rank this favourably, it's interesting.”
Canadian SMEs plan to use more unconventional funding sources in 2017, including crowdsourcing (32 percent), flexible access options like credit cards (30 percent), Peer-to-Peer options (30 percent), and supply chain financing (30 percent).
“Businesses looking to unlock working capital often overlook opportunities within their own cash flow,” said Roman. “We’re proactively going to them and saying, 'Here's something that I see coming up in the next quarter that you can leverage in terms of either extending days payable outstanding or accelerating days sales outstanding,’ and fitting that into their overall capital strategy.”
Another area of the survey revealed interesting insights about SMEs and digital technology. Of Canadian SMEs. 63 percent agree that digital technology provides new business opportunities for their companies. Considering an equal number concur that customers are demanding more new or tailored products and services, it’s not difficult to connect the dots here: SMEs are beginning to think in a much more developed way in the small business space.
Not only are tools like digital technology critical for SMEs to get to scale but there's an increasing awareness that they can also be used to finance that growth, and subsequently make administration and support personnel operate in a more systematic fashion.
The mounting realization is one that particularly excites Roman.
“With all of the communication and best practices available in the digital and information world—a lot of it has started to make its way through where you start seeing SMEs actually act in a way you’d expect of a larger, more mature business.”
However, only 18 percent of Canadian SMEs feel confident they were very effective in developing and implementing innovations. It’s that business challenge that 64 percent of SMEs plan to work hardest to address over the next three years. The top three priorities for SMEs when it comes to digital innovation include workforce productivity tools, communications systems and user-friendly and mobile applications.
Despite this, it’s hard to deny the optimism in the responses. Indeed, the future looks bright for Canadian SMEs.


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As far as investing in cryptocurrency is concerned, you will find that individuals can take this decision faster that businesses. But, does that mean that enterprises cannot or should not put their money into cryptos? The truth is individuals can decide on how to invest in cryptocurrency based on their own financial targets and risks. But, companies have to think of their employees; if the investments they make backfire, the entire business could be hit. The good news is that businesses can find many more ways to invest in cryptos than individuals. Businesses do not need to expend human work or time in crypto trading. Trading can be done using a variety of widely available automated applications. The News Spy is one of the most well-known programmes, and it is a trustworthy and highly recommended supplier, in which an algorithm takes over the chores in order to generate significant income. To learn more about the software’s registration and login procedures, go to this page https://aktien-blog.com/news-spy. By creating a demo account and experimenting on your own, you can become familiar with the platform’s functionalities. This software is simple to use and trustworthy. What are some businesses that can invest in cryptocurrency?
- Retail businesses: These can start accepting payments in crypto coins for their goods and services. Retailers have multiple point-of-sale options and ecommerce stores where it is possible to take payments in Bitcoins and other cryptos. Moreover, big retail companies can start paying their employees in cryptos; however, this has not been implemented much because of crypto price volatility. According to surveys, almost 65% of crypto enthusiasts were keen to take crypto payments for services offered by them. But if a business decides to pay cryptos as salaries for its employees, it will need to track the rates of exchange for taxation purposes and this would demand a lot of time, besides being complicated.
- Startups: Already established businesses are thinking of entering the blockchain world. More and more businesses are appreciating the value of the blockchain technology that is the underlying technology for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Many are looking to create startups to boost their existing operations. For instance, banks can finance startups that use blockchain technology for changing the payment infrastructure.
- Banking sector: Both banks and financial sector have been the first to embrace the groundbreaking blockchain technology because of the benefits that it provides in terms of facilitating transactions smoothly, ensuring higher transparency and security. Many banks have become part of consortiums for developing blockchains which they may use for their day-to-day work. For instance, JPMorgan and National Bank of Canada have worked together to test debt issuance transfers on the Quorum blockchain project. Any business belonging to any sector can become a part of a consortium; whether it is in finance, healthcare, supply chain, logistics, delivery services, etc.
- Crypto businesses: Businesses that have funds to spare are actively investing in developing crypto products and services. For instance, Deloitte developed Blockchain Labs, to work with people who are keen to convert blockchain concepts into commercial applications. Deloitte has successfully come out with 30 such blockchain-driven projects, with uses ranging from payments and ID verification to reward and loyalty programs. Birks, a jewelry brand in Canada, partnered with BitPay for accepting Bitcoins in exchange of their products. Finance experts and fund managers have been involved in updating themselves about cryptos to advise their customers on crypto projects.
- ICOs: Businesses are trying to raise capital via ICOs or launch new tokens. This can be looked as an alternative to fund-raising through venture capitalists or crowdfunding. New companies may use ICOs for raising money and established one can use them for developing new markets for investment. An ICO token, just like cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, is exchanged using their names and specific trading pairs. They can be traded using automated trading platform like Bitcoin system app. Refer the bitcoin system test 2021 reviews to understand more. Businesses can even create their currencies for use in buying products and services; Polymath in Toronto helps businesses negotiate regulation-related challenges to launch blockchain-based tokens.


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According to reports, in the background of economic uncertainty, technology giants set off a massive wave of layoffs. But a few days ago, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna made an optimistic statement about the industry.
Arvind Krishna attended an event hosted by the “Economic Club of New York”. He said in his speech that although there is a “catastrophic recession” in the United States, but corporate spending on technology should continue to grow.
Arvind Krishna said he spoke with corporate CEOs and CIOs around the world and found that no company is discussing cutting spending on technology purchases.
But Arvind Krishna also raised a key factor worth noting, that is, whether the Western European region can survive the massive energy crisis this year.
In the U.S. capital markets this year, technology stocks have plunged massively, but IBM stock has been a “safe haven” in the storm. IBM closed Wednesday up 8.1 percent compared to New Year’s Day, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq 100 plunged 28 percent over the same period.
IBM recently released its third-quarter earnings report, which beat Wall Street analysts estimates for operating income, and the company also reaffirmed its outlook for free cash flow metrics this year.
Recently, the U.S. technology giants have been making massive layoffs, including e-commerce giant Amazon and social media giant Meta, among others.
Arvind Krishna said IBM has not frozen hiring like other technology peers and is continuing to recruit new employees, but the pace of workforce growth has slowed slightly compared to last year. Talent recruitment is mainly focused on the ability to bring IBM breakthrough growth in emerging areas.
It is reported that after Arvind Krishna became CEO of IBM, the company began to restructure the business, began to bet on cloud computing business and artificial intelligence, hoping that these emerging areas bring new business growth opportunities. According to statistics, since April 2020, the company has made a total of 25 acquisitions and mergers.
In addition, IBM, headquartered in Armonk, New York, employs 280,000 people worldwide by the end of last year, according to statistics.
On the other hand, as the epidemic eases, many U.S. technology companies are starting to send employees back to work. But Arvind Krishna said that although the number of IBM employees returning to the office is gradually increasing, the company will not issue a mandatory return-to-work order.
Arvind Krishna said that in the United States, IBM employees currently work in the company’s office for about half of all working hours, and he hopes to increase to 60% of level in the future. Also in Europe, IBM employees spend a little more time offline, while in Japan and China, IBM employees spend the vast majority of their time in the office and have returned to normal.
Overall, he said, remote work from home has not affected productivity, but this model can affect the long-term culture of the company.
Arvind Krishna also talked about some of the recent turmoil in the global cryptocurrency market. He said that the sharp drop in cryptocurrency prices and the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency companies, including FTX (a well-known U.S. cryptocurrency exchange), have not affected IBM’s actual business.
Arvind Krishna said that the IBM company, itself is not interested in entering the blockchain or cryptocurrency market, but IBM is also investing in developing other uses related to blockchain technology, such as using blockchain to track and locate products.


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This Beverage news page includes news headlines, summaries, and article citations about beverages from diverse, English-language news sources around the world.
News articles are ordered by publication date, with the newest article listed first and the oldest article listed last.
- Starbucks employee allegedly wrote 'ISIS' on Muslim woman's beverage
Minnesota woman Aishah, 19, says a Starbucks barista wrote 'ISIS' on her beverage
at a St. Paul, Minnesota location on July 1, leaving her horrified and enraged.
Daily Mail. Wednesday, 8 Jul 2020.
- The gut shields the liver from fructose-induced damage
After one consumes food or a beverage
containing fructose, the gastrointestinal system, or gut, helps to shield the liver from damage by breaking down the sugar before it reaches the liver, according to a new multi-center study. ...
Science Daily. Monday, 29 Jun 2020.
- How higher tariffs on European exports could devastate the food and wine industry
Restaurant owners and wine experts explain the impact of newly proposed U.S. tariffs targeting $3.1 billion worth of food and beverage
imports from the U.K. and EU.
ABC News. Friday, 26 Jun 2020.
- Beverage Can Demand Buoys Crown Holdings Amid Coronavirus Woes
Crown Holdings (CCK) will benefit from the rising global beverage-can demand as consumers are favoring cans over other packaging options.
Zacks. Friday, 26 Jun 2020.
- Kombucha Brewers International Creates Opportunities For Growing Beverage Category
Hannah Crum and her husband, Alex LaGory, are creating new initiatives for the kombucha industry.
Forbes. Friday, 26 Jun 2020.
- Here's Why Keurig Dr Pepper Stock is Displaying Strength
Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) benefits from positive trends in the Packaged Beverages
and Coffee Systems segments due to the stay-at-home orders resulting from the pandemic.
Zacks. Thursday, 25 Jun 2020.
- Mother reveals her son, two, suffered horrific burns in freak accident
William James, from West Sussex, had to be taken to hospital after he accidentally pulled the hot beverage
off a kitchen worktop. But his father's first aid skills saved him fro needing skin grafts.
Daily Mail. Wednesday, 24 Jun 2020.
- TABC Suspends Alcohol Permit for Dallas Bar After COVID-19 Protocol Inspection
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission has suspended the permits of five bars, including one in Dallas, after checks to see if the establishments were following protocols to stop the spread of COVID-19. ...
NBC. Saturday, Jun 20 2020.
- Coffee for a Cause: Gary friends give back with Blk & Bold Specialty Beverages
Five percent of the company's profits is donated to supporting at-risk youth both locally and nationally.
ABC News. Saturday, 20 Jun 2020.
- Singapore retailers are not hopeful that 'revenge shopping' after the lockdown can help bring back sales
Singapore further eased "circuit breaker" measures on Friday, allowing more businesses to resume including shopping at physical retail stores, as well as dining in at food and beverage
CNBC. Friday, 19 Jun 2020.
- American Cancer Society Updates Guidelines For Cancer Prevention
New guidelines for cancer prevention include skipping all alcoholic beverages
and increasing exercise time.
Forbes. Tuesday, 9 Jun 2020.
- Three Stocks To Buy As The Cannabis Industry Makes A Comeback
The cannabis industry is one of the fastest-growing business sectors in the western world. CBD, or cannabidiol, is disrupting many traditional industries such as cosmetics, beverages, and even pharmaceuticals.
Yahoo. Tuesday, 9 Jun 2020.
- Maryland County Backtracks Order Banning Communion, Discouraging Singing At Religious Services
'There shall be no consumption of food or beverage
of any kind'
Daily Caller. Thursday, 28 May 2020.
- Entire 18th-century Swedish village listed for sale at $7.3 million
The grounds include a spa and bathhouse, a number of homes, a preschool, a restaurant/hotel and an operational beverage
Fox News. Thursday, 28 May 2020.
- Molson Coors suspends quarterly dividend, furloughs employees
Molson Coors Beverage
said on Friday it had suspended quarterly dividends for fiscal 2020 and furloughed some employees in Europe and North America, as the Miller Lite beer maker looks to save cash amid the coronavirus crisis.
Reuters. Friday, 22 May 2020.
Beverages News Headlines and News Summaries


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Could edible water bubbles replace plastic bottles?
The Ooho water container (Crowdcube / Skipping Rocks Lab)
Published Thursday, April 13, 2017 10:00AM EDT
The world is drowning in plastic water bottles, but a biodegradable, edible water “blob” that’s making big waves in the start-up scene could offer a solution.
Invented by three British industrial design students, the Ooho! water container uses brown algae to create an squishy but strong gel-like container.
The inventors say their blobs are a “sustainable packaging alternative” that can hold any kind of beverage, from water to liquor. The bubbles can be torn open and poured out, or simply eaten whole, they say, and they can be produced cheaper and faster than plastic bottles, the creators say.
After winning several design awards, the Ooho! inventors launched a company, Skipping Rocks Lab, and have been selling the blobs at pop-up shops around the U.K., and offering them as samples at marathons and music festivals.
Earlier this week, they began raising funds to expand operations through the crowdfunding website, Crowdcube.
Within hours, the investment offers began pouring in and now, Skipping Rocks has managed to raise close to 800,000 British pounds in just three days (C$1.3 million)– double their target of 400,000 British pounds (C$660,000).
The company says on their crowdfunding page that they plan to use half the money to develop Skipping Rocks Lab machinery, and the other half to further research the material and “to facilitate a faster path to commerciality.”


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Gap Seeks to Rebrand Itself (Again)
Remember when Gap was in economic crisis several years back, closing over a hundred stores worldwide and firing the company's CEO all amidst a series of labor controversies?
Well flash forward to the present–Gap has successfully expanded its presence in Chinese and South American markets and is currently undergoing a brand identity reboot, reimagining the quintessential American clothing line as something edgier and ideally more appealing to today's 90s-obsessed, social media dependent generation in the process.
The brand's latest campaign (shot by Tyrone Lebon), was unveiled earlier this year, showcasing a series of edgier, high fashion inspired portraits of models, muses and artists. The new "I am Gap" slogan is accompanied by a series of #iamgap hashtags, most likely in an effort to garner free advertising for the brand over social media. Somewhat reminiscent of Calvin Klein's popular #mycalvins advertisements, the new faces fronting Gap's latest campaign exude a certain air of indifference and coolness–an unexpected turn for a brand traditionally known for its basic tees and khakis.
Whether or not Gap's latest reincarnation as the go-to brand for boyfriend jeans and biker jackets will resonate with younger audiences is subject to debate. The company's efforts to compete in an increasingly crowded and competitive retail market through Instagram, Youtube and Twitter targeted campaigns, however, underscores social media and the millennial generation's decisive roles in the continued success and appeal of fashion brands in a contemporary context.
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A set of tables and slides the company published along with its Thursday earnings report showed though that not all of the 28.7 million paying users who can are actually using the service. The footnote in one slide provided this note for HBO Max’s reach: “28.7 million subscribers with access to HBO Max and 8.6 million HBO Max activations.”
The company mentions activations, because consumers can not only get HBO Max directly from WarnerMedia. People who subscribe to HBO via pay TV providers also get HBO Max, but it requires them to download the HBO Max app on their smart TVs or other devices. The same is true for customers on AT&T’s Unlimited wireless and fiber broadband plans. “Activations” count the people who download, or “activate,” the HBO Max app.
Last earnings season, the company had reported that HBO Max had reached 4.1 million subscribers in the service’s first month, including wholesale customers from packages that include HBO Max, as well as customers who were direct retail subscribers.
“The growth and scale of HBO Max continues to show strong momentum, with activations more than doubling since last quarter to 8.6 million, and HBO/HBO Max subscribers up to 38 million, exceeding [the] initial end of year target of 36 million,” the company said on Thursday. “HBO and HBO Max subs top 57 million worldwide. HBO Max investment drove subscriber growth: 28.7 million total HBO Max subscribers.”
It added that an HBO Max advertising-supported service was on track to launch in 2021.
The company has said it hopes to reach 50 million to 55 million HBO Max customers in the U.S. by 2025.
Combined, HBO and HBO Max have 38.0 million U.S. subscribers, compared with a summer update that had mentioned 36.3 million subscribers, and, up from 34.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2019.
HBO Max launched on May 27 with the full HBO catalog plus originals and a library of old movies and TV shows, including the Studio Ghibli collection and Friends. At $15 per month, the service is one of the more expensive streaming products on the market. But because it costs the same as HBO, many preexisting subscribers to the premium cable network were grandfathered into HBO Max at no additional price.
Stankey has said HBO Max has “world-class content” and was making good on its promise to reach a broader demographic than the traditional HBO service. “Customer engagement has exceeded our expectations,” he previously said, citing 70 percent more average weekly viewing hours than HBO Now has attracted.
Wall Street has been discussing the growth outlook for HBO Max, compared with streaming giants like Netflix, as well as Disney+, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and others. Netflix remains the largest streaming service worldwide.
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Photo sharing and storage service Google Photos is rolling out short video collages called "Smiles of 2017" that display smiling pictures of users accompanied by a song in the background.
"With Google Photos, you can even make sure that every one of those happy moments is saved and backed up online. And now you can enjoy looking back at all those happy moments over the last year in a new 'Smiles of 2017' movie," Android Police reported on Tuesday.
The videos has been reportedly rolled out for some users. However, it is not known if the feature will make its way for all users.
Users can open the Google Photos app and tap the "Assistant" icon at the bottom of their screen to check whether the feature is available or not.
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“Startups are a risky business, many of them fail,” said K Ganesh, founder of entrepreneurship platform Growth Story. But “when a crisis hits, it needs to be handled maturely.”
Indian startups requiring thousands of engineers and other skilled workers now compete with large technology companies for talent. But as online social media forums become venting grounds for laid-off employees and draw wide attention, startups face reputation risk that can cause serious damage to future hiring plans, experts warned.
“Decisions about layoffs should be conveyed in a cascading manner,” said Hema Ravichandar, independent human resources adviser and former global HR head at Infosys. “Such decisions at the time of festivities may have a lasting impact on future hiring.”
At TinyOwl, two cofounders were held hostage by employees last week after they sprung a surprise second round of layoffs a week ahead of Diwali — ridding more than 300 personnel in about two months. Zomato in October laid off about 300 employees, many of them in the US, and Housing has sent away about 600 people this year. HelpChat is laying off about 150 employees, and online grocery retailer LocalBanya is also asking people to leave.
“I was asked to submit my access card when I arrived at the office,” said an employee of a Gurgaon-based startup. “The CEO did not even bother to offer an explanation.” Layoffs over emails, town halls or through press releases at short notices before a festival betray immaturity, human resources experts said.
“India’s culture is yet to adapt to the hire-and-fire mentality as there no social security like in the West,” said Ravichandar. “Startups should learn to do more with less.” Experts advised setting expectations at the time of recruitment at a startup.
“Even before you hand over an offer letter… ask if the person is open to such risk,” said Harish Kumar, CEO at human resource consultancy Wenger and Watson that counts Flipkart and Amazon among clients. Startups often also lack the expertise to handle layoffs as do large companies. “In big companies, we have outplacement strategies and experts to blunt the impact of a layoff,” said Ramgopal Rao, president at executive search firm Steinbach & Partner. “They would counsel laid-off employees and help them polish their CVs.”
Even so, not all startups are resorting to knee-jerk downsizing. Struggling food ordering app SpoonJoy, which in October agreed Gurgaonto be bought by hyperlocal delivery startup Grofers, sent daily updates on its crisis, softening the eventual blow to employees.
“From the data-entry guy to the head of engineering, we were very transparent about our situation,” said Manish Jethani, cofounder and CEO. “We also got about 200 of our delivery staff placed in other companies such as Roadrunnr, Shadowfax and other agencies.” Ganesh of Growth Story took a similar approach at an earlier venture, TutorVista.
“When we had to let go of onethird of our staff at Tutorvista (during the global economic crisis) in 2008, I addressed the employees personally. We gave them three months’ notice even though one month was the norm,” said Ganesh. “A few months later when things got better, we actually hired half of the people back.”
(Nirupama Venkatraman in Bengaluru contributed reporting)
Friday, 01 Dec, 2023
- Surprise Boost: Economy Grows 7.6% in Q2, Beating Estimates
India's economy expanded 7.6% in the September quarter from a year earlier, exceeding expectations as manufacturing posted strong growth and investments gathered pace. Private consumption was tepid while a patchy monsoon dented farm growth, according to government data released on Thursday.JSW, SAIC Ink JV to Run MG Motor Operations in India
The Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Group and SAIC Motor announced an India joint venture aimed at expanding the operations of MG Motor, owned by the Chinese company, in the country. JSW will hold a 35% stake in the joint venture, they announced on Thursday.UltraTech to Buy Kesoram’s Cement Unit
Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech will acquire the cement business of the BK Birla Group’s Kesoram Industries in an all-stock deal at an estimated enterprise value of around ₹7,600 crore, which includes debt.


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Equities analysts predict that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will announce earnings of $5.09 per share for the current quarter, according to Zacks Investment Research. Eight analysts have issued estimates for Amazon.com’s earnings, with the highest EPS estimate coming in at $10.27 and the lowest estimate coming in at $1.67. Amazon.com posted earnings per share of $14.09 in the same quarter last year, which indicates a negative year over year growth rate of 63.9%. The company is scheduled to announce its next quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 1st.
On average, analysts expect that Amazon.com will report full-year earnings of $41.78 per share for the current fiscal year, with EPS estimates ranging from $36.15 to $48.77. For the next fiscal year, analysts forecast that the company will post earnings of $52.74 per share, with EPS estimates ranging from $32.15 to $65.00. Zacks’ earnings per share calculations are an average based on a survey of sell-side analysts that cover Amazon.com.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 27th. The e-commerce giant reported $6.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $9.10 by ($2.98). Amazon.com had a net margin of 5.73% and a return on equity of 24.31%. The company had revenue of $110.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $12.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis.
In other Amazon.com news, CEO Andrew R. Jassy sold 492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,676.00, for a total transaction of $1,808,592.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP David Zapolsky sold 139 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,564.72, for a total transaction of $495,496.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 86,498 shares of company stock valued at $293,480,991 over the last quarter. 14.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,727,219 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $112,586,869,000 after buying an additional 112,965 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,173,783 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $55,640,401,000 after buying an additional 338,793 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,963,398 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $54,916,643,000 after buying an additional 89,867 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 0.9% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,446,833 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $53,139,577,000 after buying an additional 135,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Amazon.com by 3.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,997,644 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $22,918,589,000 after buying an additional 248,293 shares during the last quarter. 57.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
AMZN stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $3,580.41. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,432,806. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3,409.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $3,403.96. Amazon.com has a fifty-two week low of $2,881.00 and a fifty-two week high of $3,773.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 70.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 1.11.
Amazon.com Company Profile
Amazon.com, Inc engages in the provision of online retail shopping services. It operates through the following business segments: North America, International, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The North America segment includes retail sales of consumer products and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as www.amazon.com and www.amazon.ca.
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10:12 | 30/08/2016 Trade
Vietnam, the world’s second-largest coffee producer after Brazil, exported 1.5 million tonnes of coffee during the 2015-16 period, with a revenue of US$3 billion, according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (VICOFA).
Illustrative image (Source: Dantri)
Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that in the first eight months of 2016, coffee exports of from 1.27 million tonnes fetched US$2.25 billion, up 39.9% in volume and 20.7% in value. Germany and the US were the two biggest importers of coffee from Vietnam during the first eight months of this year, accounting for 15% and 13%, respectively.
According to VICOFA Deputy Chairman Nguyen Nam Hai, instant coffee factories have sprouted in the country as both domestic and foreign businesses have poured into the sector.
Both domestic coffee suppliers and foreign-funded growers have ceaselessly expanded investment in their instant coffee processing plants and have enhanced the quality of their coffee products to expand their markets, Hai said, adding that these plants consumed large volumes of coffee beans and boosted instant coffee exports.
Many foreign-funded growers are pouring money into instant coffee processing factories and, consequently, domestic enterprises need to renovate technologies in order to compete with foreign businesses, he noted.
During the 2014-15 period, Germany and the US were the two largest markets for Vietnamese coffee, with export volumes reaching nearly 201,000 tonnes and more than 145,000 tonnes, respectively./.