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RBI has major concerns on cryptocurrencies, flagged it to govt: Governor | Business Standard News
Underlining that both the government and the RBI are “committed to financial stability”, Das said there are no differences between the central bank and the Finance Ministry on the matter, and “we should now await the final decision on the matter” from the Centre.
The comments come in light of what has been termed as confusing signals from the government on the cryptocurrencies. After announcing its intent to completely ban such currencies, which are very volatile in nature without any underlying principle guiding its values, the government had shown some openness to such currencies like Bitcoin.
Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave, Das said he has “reasons to believe” that the government is in agreement with the “major concerns” flagged by the RBI about the cryptocurrencies.
“Central bank digital currency is one thing. The cryptocurrencies which are traded in the market are something else. Both RBI and government are committed to financial stability. We have flagged certain concerns around these cryptocurrencies which are being traded in the market. We have flagged certain major concerns to the government,” Das said.
He said the matter is still under the examination of the government, and a decision on this issue will be taken by it sooner than later.
It can be noted that the RBI had first banned such currencies through an order, which was struck down by the Supreme Court last year. The central bank’s concerns stem from the non-fiat nature of such currencies which are touted as the future in some quarters, and in the volatile price movements in them. The RBI had also come out with an appeal cautioning people not to trade in such currencies in the past.
After the government proposed a complete ban on such currencies in a Bill presented in January, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier this month said that she is all for encouraging experiments in the field, which was termed as a confusing signal in some quarters.
Das on Thursday said the RBI continues its work on a digital version of a fiat currency, and is currently “assessing the financial stability implications of introducing such a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)”.
“As the underlying technology is still developing, we are exploring ways for a clear, safe and legally certain settlement finality, which is most crucial for a secure and efficient payment system,” he said.
Das added that there are not many “practical instances” of operationalisation of a CBDC globally, and this calls for “utmost precaution” before India goes ahead.
Meanwhile, Das said digital is the future across the banking landscape and “we will have a lot of shifts taking place on this front going ahead”.
From a regulatory perspective, fostering effective regulations will be a priority for the RBI, he said, adding it is an endeavour not to constrain innovations but to promote those without compromising on financial sector stability, cybersecurity and customer protection.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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|CryptoCurrency||USD||Change 1h||Change 24h||Change 7d|
|Bitcoin||0.28 %||2.05 %||0.30 %|
|Ethereum||0.23 %||2.56 %||0.74 %|
|Binance Coin||0.44 %||6.68 %||40.84 %|
|XRP||0.34 %||26.08 %||117.85 %|
|Tether||0.07 %||0.24 %||0.10 %|
|Polkadot||0.67 %||0.82 %||0.28 %|
|Cardano||0.23 %||0.84 %||1.96 %|
|Litecoin||0.49 %||10.38 %||15.70 %|
|Uniswap||0.22 %||0.75 %||1.18 %|
|Chainlink||0.19 %||0.14 %||2.46 %|
|Stellar||0.25 %||13.59 %||25.27 %|
|Bitcoin Cash||0.16 %||5.57 %||15.34 %|
|Theta Network||0.69 %||2.69 %||5.93 %|
|Filecoin||2.03 %||0.20 %||1.71 %|
|USD Coin||0.00 %||0.25 %||0.21 %|
|VeChain||1.14 %||14.10 %||53.20 %|
|TRON||2.71 %||6.40 %||35.52 %|
|Wrapped Bitcoin||0.30 %||2.01 %||0.32 %|
|Dogecoin||0.06 %||3.37 %||9.62 %|
|Solana||0.17 %||4.91 %||34.76 %|


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Durante Rentals has redesigned its company website. The newly revamped website offers a mobile-ready, responsive design, that is fully functional across all platforms and devices — including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and PC's. The website address remains the same at www.duranterentals.com.
The new website offers quick and easy access to all its equipment offerings with updated images, videos and manufacturer specs, allowing customers to find information faster and with less clicks.
“Our goal was to create an unmatched user experience with the addition of new content, improved navigation, faster page loads, and a clean, uncluttered design,” said Adam Zunic, director of marketing.
Realizing that today's customer prefers a choice of communication options, the new website offers free quotes via phone, email, live chat, text, and a quick quote form on every equipment page.
The entire website, including the graphics, content, and coding were designed by Durante's in-house marketing department.
“I'm extremely proud of my team for the time and energy they invested in this project as well as the vision to create something exciting that would benefit our customers,” said Zunic.
The new website will continually be updated with fresh and relevant content. Users are encouraged to browse the new site and sign up for updates.
New and Expanded Features
Online equipment guide — Easy access to Durante's quarterly equipment catalog from its homepage.
Store locator — An upgraded and more interactive store locator highlighting the company's nine current locations with addresses, store pictures, business hours and phone numbers.
Expanded used equipment section — A dedicated section for quality used construction equipment with detailed photos and descriptions.
Upgraded gallery —Photos of equipment, staff, events, store locations and more.
Company news section — Users can now keep up to date on new equipment offerings, the latest tradeshows, store openings, and other company news and events.
About Durante Rentals
Founded in 2009 by three entrepreneurs, Durante Rentals has locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Brewster, Carmel, Elmsford, Flushing, Mt. Vernon and West Nyack, N.Y.; Danbury, Conn.; and coming soon to Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. Contractors look to Durante for all their construction equipment needs including telehandlers, scissor lifts, generators, boom lifts, conveyors, track loaders, skid steers, ride-on rollers, forklifts and more.
Durante Rentals services all five boroughs of NYC, Westchester, Rockland County, Putnam County, Connecticut and New Jersey.
For more information, call 800/DURANTE or visit www.duranterentals.com.
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domain: news


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TGA Appointment welcomed by dental industry
Media Release — 2 May 2012
The peak representative body for suppliers of quality dental products, the Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA), has welcomed appointment of Dr John Skerritt as the new National Manager of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). The TGA is responsible for regulating therapeutic goods including most types of dental product.
“ADIA looks forward to working with Dr Skerritt in the important task of reforming the TGA with a view to making it a more effective, efficient regulator for dental products,” said Troy Williams, ADIA Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Williams said that a priority will be to secure reforms that ensure the TGA’s approach to dental product regulation is based on a risk management approach designed to ensure public health and safety, while at the same time freeing industry from an unnecessary regulatory burden.
“The dental industry faces an ever increasing regulatory compliance burden and it falls to Dr Skerritt to ensure that this is necessary to protect the interests of consumers. As a regulator, the TGA needs to be mindful that insofar as regulatory activities affecting dental product are concerned, requirements put in place by the TGA increase the cost of dental care for all Australians,” Mr Williams concluded.
Media Contact —
Troy Williams, Australian Dental Industry Association
t: 1300 943 094 (Int. +61 2 9319 5631)


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Nearly 66% of consumer products and retail (CP&R) organizations say their strategy will change significantly in the next three years, while just 28% of consumer product organizations and 23% of retailers believe that their supply chain is agile enough to support the organization’s evolving business needs, according to a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute.
Over two-thirds of organizations (68%) say they faced difficulties in demand planning due to a lack of accurate and up-to-date information on fluctuating customer demand during the pandemic. That’s why 54% say they will use analytics/artificial intelligence/machine learning for demand forecasting to cope with the impact of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“CP&R organizations recognize that further disruption could be just around the corner, and they need to have the agility and resilience to adapt within their supply chain,” says Lindsey Mazza, principal for the global consumer products and retail at Capgemini. “The pandemic was a learning. Organizations realize that new technologies can enable much-needed agility – from improving demand predictions, to boosting fulfilment to quicker last-mile deliveries. By investing now, organizations put themselves in good stead to support consumers in their time of need – whenever that may be.”
- 75% of consumer product companies faced difficulties when they needed to quickly increase or decrease production capacity due to COVID-19.
- 58% of retailers and 61% of consumer product organizations are planning to increase investments in digitization of supply chains.
- 65% of CP&R companies are also investing in regionalizing and localizing their supplier base, rising to 83% in the UK and 79% in India, while only 42% of CP&R organizations in China are planning to localize in this area.
- If deliveries from dark stores increase by 50%, profit margins could grow by 7% as a result of lower delivery costs and higher delivery throughput compared to stores.


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The luxury market is unique, mainly due to the fact that its products are consumed for social distinction. This has helped companies in the segment to outperform other sector-segments over the past years. Nevertheless, the luxury market is facing important challenges, notably regarding counterfeit products, a risk for companies, and e-commerce, which is disrupting how business is conducted. In addition, the market is not immune to challenging economic conditions. Global economic activity is currently experiencing a slowdown: Coface forecasts a global GDP growth rate of 2.9% in 2019 after 3.2% in 2018, and this will have an impact on some luxury products. Looking ahead, the rise of emerging markets’ middle classes – especially in China – presents great opportunities. Despite global economic slowdown, we are therefore expecting the luxury retail market overall to be resilient, notably benefiting from the rise of Chinese consumers’ appetite for luxury.
Central Asia is both a partner and a trade gateway for China and Europe. It is located on two branches of the New Silk Road. Despite criticism, China is the most involved in the development of Central Asian corridors. This deployment is not obvious given the competition from other routes and poor regional cooperation. While Russian influence remains significant through expatriate remittances, its military bases, and culture, it is being supplanted by China in economic matters.
When Narendra Modi ran for Prime Minister in 2014, he pledged to boost the competitiveness of India’s industrial sector to promote growth. Five years later, the economy is in a better position, but many of the structural fragilities that Modi inherited continue to afflict India today.


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Igel Technology has introduced a family of thin clients, called Universal Desktop, which it claims is the first to have single standard system images across the range.
Stories by Bryan Betts
Infoblox has ported its Nios network services software to run as a virtual appliance on Cisco's ISR branch routers.
This year's Storage Networking World Europe show focused attention on Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE). However, while SAN vendors promoted FCoE as a way to extend Fibre Channel's reach and longevity, skeptics described it as unnecessary -- and perhaps even a Cisco-powered Trojan horse intended to wipe out rival networking supplier Brocade Communications.
Cloud storage startup ParaScale is targeting enterprises, as well as service providers, with new software that it claims can turn a group of heterogeneous servers and storage arrays into a redundant and self-healing private cloud of storage.
If 10Gigabit Ethernet has a problem, it's multiple personalities. 10G over fibre is well established as a network backbone technology, but in past generations it's been Ethernet over copper - and especially telephone-style twisted pair cabling - that has brought the big upsurge in usage and sales.
Network Instruments has developed what it claims is the largest network data recorder available. The GigaStor SAS has a capacity of up to 288 terabytes, and was originally developed for a U.S. military customer which needed to store a month's worth of the traffic on its network, said Douglas Smith, the company's president and co-founder.
Replacing different-capacity WAN accelerators with a standard-sized but software-limited box can cut costs and reduce upgrade woes, Expand Networks has claimed.
Nexsan has introduced a storage subsystem which it said could enable users to consolidate their long-term business-critical data stores into a single consolidated platform.
There is a quiet revolution underway in audio processing - although it's quiet only in that the developments are mainly aimed at eliminating troublesome noise and echos. To find out more, we talked to a few of the companies leading the charge.
Akamai and Citrix are linking up to offer global application optimization, combining Akamai's Internet-based web application acceleration (WAA) service with Citrix NetScaler application optimization gear in customer sites.
Silver Peak has launched what it claimed is the biggest WAN accelerator ever - a box able to optimize, de-duplicate, compress and encrypt 1Gbit/s of WAN traffic.
Just when it seemed as if a truce might be feasible, fighting has flared up again in the battle between the WAN optimisation vendors over just who can - or can't - accelerate the latest AutoCAD format for drawing files.
Riverbed has done deals with several developers of network monitoring software to get them to add support for its Steelhead WAN appliances.
When bespoke men's tailor Gieves and Hawkes moved its 25 UK outlets over to IP telephony, it also converged not two but three services onto a single new MPLS connection.
When the University of Birmingham upgraded its core network a few years ago, it set in course a train of events that would lead to it becoming one of the UK's largest - and yet secure - campus wireless LANs.


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Image Credit: Creative Commons Zero - CC0
On the surface, the arrival of a new decade brought good news for Spotify, the ubiquitous streaming service, with a forecast of a revenue growth of nearly 25 percent from this time last year. But despite the apparently constant rising of its user-base, the business appears to be leaking money : it has been grimly predicted to lose four times as much as it did last year in its first quarter. This raises questions about its ability - and that of other streaming services - to achieve profitability. The streaming services of its two main competitors, Amazon and Apple, are seeing similarly deceptive figures of success, where the numbers bely the real problems of debt and the struggle to create a fully profitable model. But beyond the woes of major corporations, the major issue with the current streaming service model is that the vast majority of musicians cannot make a living wage from streaming service. Under current streaming models, average per-stream payouts from major streaming companies - Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon et.al - are between $0.006 and $0.0084, not nearly enough for less-well known musicians to make a great profit. Perhaps, the most damning indictment to the state of music’s finances came in 2017, with a Citigroup report that showed off the $43 billion generated by the music industry in 2017, only 12% went to recording artists. As it has ever been in the history of recorded music, the money isn’t going to those who play a major part in making it.
Over the past decade, there has been a collapse in the CD market, as streaming slowly rendered buying music, at least for the casual listener, redundant. The steady decline of HMV certainly attests to this, as does the constant decline in world-wide album sales.While the current spike in vinyl and cassette sales is an unexpected positive, it is clear that, even for extremely famous musicians, streaming has affected the ability of musicians to benefit finically from their products.
Streaming has also meant musicians are increasingly alienated from their music due to the domination of the so-called playlist model, This model means that musicians can be included on branded playlists - for example, a Nike sponsored fitness workout playlist - appearing to ‘endorse’ the brand in question. The streaming service can do this without the need for consent or prior knowledge of the artist. And they don’t earn a penny for it. A wider look at the state of the music industry only amplifies the worrying effects of the streaming industry. The muffling of smaller bands and artists by the double blow of narrowing revenue and a self-replicating system that continuously rewards the similar style of music, as companies prioritise inoffensive records in order to keep users streaming, even if their not listening. The figures predicted by Spotify suggested that the current streaming model is broken and the state of the music industry only further suggests a need to start thinking about the creation of a new fairer streaming model.
What this new model could look like has been hotly debated. The most utopian vision is the one suggested by the left-leaning magazine Tribune : a publicly-owned streaming-service, with open access, operating a bit like a library. A model proposed by the music website Pitchfork however is, I think, the most ideal one for musicians that streaming services are mostly likely to be on board with. This is a user-friendly model where each listener’s money is split between the artists they actually listen to rather than mostly towards the site. For example, if you stream 100 songs in a month, twenty of which are by Solange, for instance, then she (and the copyright holders of her work) receives a fifth of your subscription fee, minus whatever costs the service would deduct from that.This would, among other things, provide a significant pay bump for smaller artists who attract a handful of invested and engaged music fans. It’s not ideal - the more you use the service, the smaller amount each stream earns your favourite artists - but it’s still a more direct reward system than the one that exists currently. The reality is that there is no clear solution to this problem, and it is ultimately only sustained pressure from record companies, musicians, and fans, that will bring around any substantial changes. It’s not in any doubt that there will be a future for streaming services, but what we should be concerned with is who will shape it.


text: Youku (YOKU.NYSE) and Tudou (TUDO.Nasdaq), China’s two largest online video companies, announced plans to merge in what will be the internet industry’s biggest deal via a stock-swap agreement, the Financial Times reported. Youku shareholders will own 71.5% of the merged company, which will be valued at US$1.04 billion and have a 35.5% share of China’s online video advertising market, while Tudou shareholders will own the remaining 28.5%. Tudou will retain its brand and separate website. Tudou’s shares more than doubled to US$38.3 in early afternoon trading on Monday, while Youku’s shares jumped 26.7% to US$31.69. The deal comes as both companies struggle with the hefty costs of acquiring content and providing bandwidth. Youku reported a US$7.8 million net loss in the fourth quarter, compared to Tudou’s US$23.5 million loss. Analysts did not expect either company to become profitable until next year at the earliest, but the deal could speed profitability. Victor Koo, the CEO of Youku, said the companies expect to see “significant synergies” in areas such as licensed content and bandwidth management.


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Essentially, Facebook Camera is a tool for Facebook. Sure, so is Instagram, but it doesn't have the "Facebook" name, a name that's now become all but synonymous with social media. And I'm sure Zuckerberg and his minions want to keep it that way, even if it means releasing an inferior app.
NEWS: iPads Could Scan Palms for Passwords
On the flip side of the question, why would Facebook buy Instagram if they were working on a photo app that "launches really fast" and "scrolls like butter"? As Warren mentioned, it all has to do with virility.
"People love, use and evangelize Instagram. It has the brand," she wrote. "It's the same reason Google bought YouTube even though it had Google Video. Instagram became synonymous with 'photo app' and that's not something you can just recreate.
"Moreover, Instagram was a truly mobile-first offering - which only allows users to upload photos from a mobile interface - and that zeroes in at the heart of Facebook's issues with mobile," Warren said.
"You could fairly ask, 'why didn't Facebook fix its mobile apps first?'" my DNews colleague Rob Pegoraro mused. "I don't know why - but, remember, this company took its sweet time to ship an iPad app, and its Android app only got to a position of feature parity with the iOS release relatively recently. I guess those are more complex creations than they seem," he said.


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Even when the economic times are good, one region of the globe typically lags. Perhaps Japan is in recession, or Latin America is racked by turmoil, or Europe is struggling with slow growth. But as the calendar flips to 2018, the view is fine pretty much all around. The arrows are pointing up for every economically important country, and the consulting firm PwC predicts that the global economy overall will expand by almost 4%, the fastest rate since 2011. With just a couple exceptions, outlooks for key chemical markets are equally bright. Yes, economies can turn on a dime, but at the moment, 2018 looks to be a very good year for the global chemical enterprise.
The good times will likely keep on rolling for suppliers of semiconductor materials in 2018, at least in the first half. But the display materials market, prone to rapid boom-bust cycles, appears to be heading downward.
“Since demand for DRAM and NAND memory chips remains strong, the first half of 2018 will be good,” says Keiji Mihayashi, president of Fujifilm Electronic Materials, which supplies both the semiconductor and display industries. Strong demand for the two types of memory chip is linked to cloud computing, he adds.
Memory chips are a major market for firms like Fujifilm, Mihayashi notes. “High demand for the chips will boost the results of memory manufacturers, and sales of materials will correspondingly be good as well.” It’s too early to tell what the second half of 2018 will bring, he says.
Lita Shon-Roy, president of the electronic materials consulting firm Techcet, points to other reasons the semiconductor materials market is buoyant. Newly built semiconductor plants in China are boosting demand for materials. And advanced chips are often made using a materials-intensive manufacturing technique called multiple patterning. Meanwhile, supplies of materials remain tight across the semiconductor industry because “producers don’t expand capacity just because of one or two good years,” Shon-Roy says.
Silicon wafers are in the shortest supply because only a few firms make them. Supplies of high-purity gases and wet chemicals are limited as well. Any unexpected production halt can stress the supply chain, she notes.
The picture isn’t so bright for manufacturers of materials used in TVs and other flat-panel displays. The display market is prone to periods of oversupply when large, new plants come on-line, and this is happening now.
“A supply glut is widely expected, which will lead to a decline in panel prices,” warns Sang-Ho Kang, display technologies global business director at DowDuPont. “Display materials markets will feel growing price pressure from panel makers.”
But newer display technologies will spur both consumer demand and the need for new materials, Kang adds. For instance, the market for organic light-emitting diode displays is small but growing rapidly. And DowDuPont researchers are developing materials for use in foldable displays, which Kang expects to hit the market this year.
The worldwide fight against climate change took a hit in mid-2017 when the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. But the rest of the world—along with 14 states and more than two dozen cities within the U.S.—is moving ahead with policies that put a bull’s-eye on carbon emissions.
In December, China kicked off a cap-and-trade carbon market for its energy industry. The market’s rules have yet to be announced, but China’s need for renewable power will drive a global 20% increase in solar installations this year, the consulting firm IHS Markit predicts.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government is working to impose a carbon tax on provinces that don’t meet its standards for reducing emissions.
In the U.S., the new tax legislation preserved key tax credits for the solar and wind industries, which now produce 7% of the nation’s electricity. As utilities continue to shutter coal-fired power plants, reliance on renewable sources will rise. The growth of renewables has put a new focus on energy storage, including batteries. The storage market will roughly double in size to nearly 600 MW in 2018, according to GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association.
The New York State Energy Research & Development Authority has invested in 50 energy storage technology projects as part of its commitment to supply 50% of the state’s power from renewables by 2030. New York is one of the U.S. states that will uphold the Paris Agreement.
In contrast, the outlook for advanced biofuels has not improved. In the U.S., two of three much-touted cellulosic ethanol facilities—operated separately by DuPont and Abengoa—have been shut down.
A few bright spots persist for the biobased chemicals industry in 2018. Projects to produce jet fuels from waste and from purpose-grown crops have attracted corporate support. Firms such as Enerkem and Fulcrum BioEnergy are successfully producing chemicals and fuels from municipal solid waste.
And some industrial biotechnology companies are reporting strong demand. DuPont’s Sorona fibers, made with biobased propanediol, are now in everything from jeans to high-end fashion, the company says. Its biobased ingredients are increasingly popular with marketers of cleaning and food products.
“We have been accelerating the pace of our new product introductions over the past few years, and in 2018 you will see new products in basically every market space we serve,” says William Feehery, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences.
Petrochemical makers in the U.S. are in the midst of commissioning the largest fleet of new ethylene crackers in more than a generation. However, the new supply shouldn’t sink profitability anytime soon.
With little capacity coming onstream elsewhere in the world, significant construction delays, and new plants for derivatives such as polyethylene already running, the world will need every metric ton of ethylene the new crackers will crank out. It won’t be until the middle of 2018 that they begin to ease a tight market.
The global ethylene market is snug, with effective operating rates—the utilization rate of plants that are running—at 92%, according to Steve Lewandowski, vice president of olefins for IHS Markit. “There is no spare capacity anywhere,” he says.
Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in Texas on Aug. 25, 2017, cut through the heart of the U.S. chemical industry. By Sept. 5, more than half of U.S. ethylene capacity and 36% of ethylene derivative capacity was off-line, according to IHS Markit.
But the region bounced back quickly. Damage to chemical facilities was limited, and all but a few plants were up and running again by the end of the month.
Overall, the industry lost some 750,000 metric tons of ethylene production, nearly a cracker’s worth of output for a year. “That doesn’t sound like much,” Lewandowski says. “But when the whole system is pushing to the maximum operating rate, any disruption is a problem.”
Longer-lasting effects of Harvey are construction delays of about six months for two new crackers, each with 1.5 million metric tons of annual capacity, that ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips Chemical meant to start up by the end of 2017.
These two companies already turned on new polyethylene plants earlier last year. With these and similar additions, Lewandowski says, the U.S. will have much more capacity for derivatives than for ethylene, straining ethylene supplies until the crackers are completed and up to full production around the middle of 2018.
In addition to the ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips crackers, Indorama is set to restart a long-idled cracker in Lake Charles, La., and Formosa Plastics is due to complete a new cracker in Point Comfort, Texas, Lewandowski says. Shin-Etsu Chemical and Sasol will likely complete their ethylene projects in 2019.
Bob Patel, CEO of polymer maker LyondellBasell Industries, argues that the market for polyethylene won’t soften much either. He predicts operating rates for that product may remain above 90%.
Speaking to analysts in October, Patel explained that increases in polyethylene production outstripped demand growth by about 3% in 2017 and will by another 1% in 2018. “If you look across those two years, you end up with perhaps operating rates declining by 3% or 4% coming off very, very high operating rates and what we would consider still to be balanced markets,” he said.
While the global economy heats up, farmers face yet another year of low commodity prices. After four years of recession for U.S. growers, farm incomes are down about 25% from 2014. Adding insult to injury, corn production remains on track for another record-breaking year.
When commodity prices are low, farmers are more sensitive to prices for the inputs they use. Will they make their money back on pricey new biotech seeds and patented pesticides? And with fewer firms competing for their business thanks to an epic wave of corporate consolidation, concerns about affordability will only rise.
Worries over competition have prompted the European Union to delay its deadline for antitrust review of Monsanto and Bayer’s proposed merger until March.
In November, the antitrust activist group Open Markets Institute pointed out that Monsanto-Bayer would be the world’s largest seller of herbicides and seeds for vegetable and cotton crops. It would be the world’s largest owner of intellectual property for herbicide-tolerant seed traits and the largest company researching seeds and traits. Lastly, it would be a huge player in the rise of agricultural data platforms.
But a lot of research and investment is happening outside giant firms like Monsanto, Bayer, and DowDuPont. Start-ups are largely leading innovations in automation and agricultural biotechnology. For example, Cibus used gene editing to develop a nontransgenic canola crop that is tolerant to sulfonylurea herbicides. The website AgFunderNews counts 245 start-ups in plant biotechnology alone.
Highflier Indigo Ag, a four-year-old start-up, raised more than $200 million in a fourth round of funding late last year. Indigo sells seeds coated with specialty microbes that improve row crop yields by helping plants shrug off drought and other stresses. The firm offers a per-bushel premium to farmers willing to adopt the new technology.
Large agriculture firms are also investing in technologies outside their traditional realms of seeds and chemicals. Bayer, for example, recently formed a company with the synthetic biology firm Ginkgo Bioworks to sell microbes that help plant roots fix nitrogen.
Automation may soon begin disrupting markets for traditional crop inputs like herbicides. FarmWise, a new start-up touting internet-connected robots, raised $5.7 million last month to commercialize weed-destroying robots that use computer vision technology to analyze each plant.
Fine chemicals companies finished another strong year, and executives see strength following strength in 2018.
According to the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, a trade group representing fine and specialty chemical firms, sector sales volume increased 4.4% last year. The group expects comparable growth in 2018, thanks to product innovation in markets including pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial fine chemicals. For example, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved 46 drugs in 2017, more than twice as many as in 2016, and many of them are small molecules being manufactured by the fine chemicals industry.
Much of the growth in drug chemicals stems from customer needs for complex or highly potent molecules. The growth is spurring both investment and consolidation, according to producers. Indeed, the sector’s strong performance is attracting diversified companies such as PMC Group, which acquired two pharmaceutical chemical companies late last year.
“I continue to be bullish,” says Aslam Malik, CEO of Ampac Fine Chemicals. “More so this year because of tax reform.” The lowering of the corporate tax rate will encourage drug companies to invest in the U.S. and put U.S. fine chemicals firms in a stronger position to compete with Europe, he predicts.
Steven M. Klosk, CEO of the pharmaceutical chemical maker Cambrex, is also optimistic. “We continue to expect strong demand for CDMO outsourcing services,” he says, referring to contract development and manufacturing organizations. Klosk points to a global pipeline of over 5,000 small-molecule drugs in development.
While the sector appears to have broken from its traditional boom-and-bust cycle, some observers see certain types of bad behavior starting to recur. Consultant James Bruno, president of Chemical & Pharmaceutical Solutions, notes that the move of newcomers into the market is reminiscent of a similar failed rush some 15 years ago.
And the amassing of one-stop shops that combine pharmaceutical chemical and finished dosage manufacturing with other services works against the traditional business model of being small and specialized. “We are very cyclic,” Bruno says. “We do the same thing again and again. We screw up and we fix it. And we screw up again.”
Persistent growth in the U.S., continued economic expansion in Asia, and a renewal of demand in Europe all bode well for specialty chemical output in 2018, according to the American Chemistry Council. The trade association projects a 3.0% global production rise in 2018 after a 2.5% increase in 2017.
Ever optimistic, ACC had expected output to jump 3.3% in 2017. But despite an overall pickup in the global economy, some industries that depend on specialty chemicals, such as oil and gas drilling, were weak, ACC says. Industry observers say the elements are in place for a better 2018.
Ray Will, a director at the consulting firm IHS Markit, discerns a number of trends likely to increase demand for specialty chemicals. Among them are a shift to electric vehicles and a move away from the use of fluorochemical coolants in home refrigerators.
China, Will says, plans to establish a system of quotas that will require electric vehicles to make up at least 10% of automakers’ output beginning in 2019 and increasing annually thereafter. The move is likely to bolster demand for battery materials as well as the electrolyte solutions that shuttle a charge between a battery’s anode and cathode.
Chemical makers could be in for a sweet ride if electric vehicles catch on in the U.S., points out credit rating agency Fitch Ratings. While Fitch sets the value of chemicals in a conventional vehicle at $3,000, it estimates the value of chemicals used in electric vehicles at $10,000, mostly related to batteries.
In the world of refrigeration, manufacturers are seeking coolants with low global warming potential. Rather than shift to hydrofluoroolefin refrigerants, many makers of home refrigerators, especially in Europe and Japan, are shifting to hydrocarbon refrigerants, Will says. The hydrofluoroolefins, developed for use in auto air-conditioning, are significantly more expensive, he notes.
The paints and coatings sector should benefit from an uptick in the economy, especially in the U.S., where tax reform will boost capital spending, predicts Phil Phillips, president of Chemark Consulting Group. New machinery and equipment, he says, require a significant amount of paint. Phillips expects paint production to rise about 3.5% in 2018.
Adhesives will grow at a similar rate, Phillips says, singling out a projected increase in demand for urethane adhesives to assemble and seal automobile body components.
Consumer demand for personal care chemicals continues to rise, according to the consulting firm Kline & Co. Trends in the $1.6 billion-per-year specialty ingredients market include growing demand for blue filters said to protect skin from computer screen emissions and cosmetics formulated to protect skin from air pollutants, says Kunal Mahajan, a chemicals project manager with Kline.
When it comes to investing in new chemical capacity, Canada has long dreamed big and delivered modestly. But that changed last month when Canadian firms green-lighted two large projects.
Canadian natural gas pipeline and processing firm Inter Pipeline approved the investment of $2.7 billion to build propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene plants near Redwater, Alberta, by 2021.
Some 22,000 barrels per day of propane, half from Inter Pipeline’s own processing plant, will enter the facility; 525,000 metric tons per year of polypropylene will leave out the back.
The rationale for the facility is compelling, Inter Pipeline says. Because of a large surplus with no easy outlet to market, propane sells at a substantial discount in Alberta compared with the U.S. Gulf Coast. The company says the facility will be one of North America’s most competitive.
A joint venture between Pembina Pipeline and Petrochemical Industries Co. of Kuwait is set to reach a decision later this year on a similar PDH and polypropylene complex in Alberta.
Meanwhile, Canada’s largest chemical maker, Nova Chemicals, also approved a long-considered project last month. The company will build a 450,000-metric-ton-per-year polyethylene plant in Sarnia, Ontario, by 2021 and expand its cracker there by 50%.
All the projects are getting support from the government. Alberta is pitching in nearly $400 million in royalty credits for the PDH complexes. Ontario is contributing about $75 million toward Nova’s projects.
To Bob Masterson, president of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), such incentives are a must if Canada is to attract investment. U.S. jurisdictions aren’t shy about offering packages to prospective investors, he observes.
“It has taken a lot of work to get everybody rowing their oars in the same direction, but we seem to be getting some results,” Masterson says, noting that projects worth billions more are under consideration.
The investments are coming at a time of growth for the Canadian chemical industry. In 2017, it saw sales increase by 7% to hit $20.8 billion, according to CIAC. Chemical makers surveyed by the group expect another 7% sales increase this year.
Latin America’s economic performance has been sluggish in recent years, with countries such as Brazil even dipping into recession. The past year, however, brought a turnaround for the region, and forecasters expect a return to growth in 2018.
Latin America’s economic performance has been sluggish in recent years, with countries such as Brazil even dipping into recession. The past year, however, brought a turnaround for the region, and forecasters expect a return to growth in 2018.
The positives for Latin America, according to economists at the Spanish bank BBVA, include rising commodity prices, currency devaluation leading to increased competitiveness, and a strong world economy. Last year was an “inflection point,” BBVA says, “after five years of slowdown and two (2015 and 2016) of contraction.”
After two recessionary years, Brazil’s economy, the region’s largest, is projected to post 0.7% growth for 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. IMF analysts expect output to increase 1.5% in 2018. However, they caution that the Brazilian economy is still hampered by political uncertainty due to an upcoming presidential election and weak investment.
Chemical sales are showing signs of recovery. Brazilian giant Braskem reported that its polyethylene volumes increased by 4% in the first nine months of 2017 versus the year before. However, the firm’s sales of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used by the construction sector for pipes and windows, were down by 3%.
Rina Quijada, a senior director and Latin America analyst for the consulting firm IHS Markit, says Brazilian demand for PVC has fallen 25% since 2015. She sees the market turning the corner in 2018 and demand climbing a modest 2%. Polyethylene demand will increase by 3%, she predicts.
Mexico is on track to grow by 1.9% this year, a slight slowdown from the 2.1% projected for 2017, according to IMF.
But the chemical industry there has a problem: raw material supply. Ever since Braskem and Grupo Idesa started up a $5 billion ethylene cracker in Nanchital, Mexico, in 2016, their contractual supplier of the raw material ethane, state oil company Pemex, hasn’t been able to scare up the ethane needed for its own facilities.
Pemex’s ethylene output has plunged 45% since 2015. Output of derivatives such as polyethylene, ethylene oxide, and styrene are also down sharply.
“It has been very difficult for Pemex to produce,” Quijada says. She notes that Pemex is evaluating options such as ethane imports from the U.S.
The engines of the U.S. economy are stoked to hum, if not roar, in 2018. Unemployment is low, consumer and business confidence is up, and corporations can look forward to lower tax rates. But recent years’ economic growth has not triggered a spike in U.S. chemical output, and it’s not clear that will change this year.
In 2017, the U.S. gross domestic product grew by 2.3%, but chemical output rose only 0.8%, much lower than the 3.8% predicted by the American Chemistry Council, the main U.S. chemical trade group. ACC now says 2018 will be the growth year, with output expanding 3.7%.
A recent spate of capacity investment by U.S. industrial companies is good news for the chemical makers that supply them with raw materials. Overall, industrial firms increased capital spending by 8.7% in 2017 and will boost it an additional 2.7% this year, according to the Institute for Supply Management. ACC expects U.S. chemical companies to raise their capital spending 6.9% in 2018.
Another bright spot is home building. The strong jobs market and tight housing inventory caused a key index of builder confidence to jump in December. New construction permits soared by more than 15% compared with the end of 2016, according to Census Bureau data. ACC estimates that each new home requires about $15,000 worth of chemicals.
Auto manufacturing, in contrast, is not expected to add to demand for chemicals overall, though some specialties may see a lift. Sales last year were down from a peak of 17.5 million vehicles in 2016, and they are expected to remain flat.
Other chemical industry customers that ACC expects to grow this year include electronics, appliances, and aircraft parts. The oil and gas sector is expected to improve as oil reaches $55 per barrel. The downside is that chemical firms will see raw material and energy costs increase.
Overall, the global economy will expand by 3.8% in 2018 a bit faster than the expected U.S. rate of 2.6%, according to Deutsche Bank. Rising international demand will benefit U.S. chemical companies, which have a competitive advantage from low-cost shale gas. “With synchronous economic growth around the world, the global appetite for U.S. exports has increased,” says ACC economist T. Kevin Swift.
The capacity additions built to take advantage of the shale boom will continue to come on-line, and ACC expects the largest gains to happen this year and next. “In addition, a second wave of investment is on the way,” Swift says. “Much of the new production will be exported to customers around the world.”
Europe’s chemical industry has regained its confidence after economic recovery in the region, according to the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic), a key chemical industry organization. Chemical output is set to increase 2% in 2018, after growing 3% across the European Union in 2017, Cefic says.
“The momentum is growing,” says Marco Mensink, Cefic’s director general. The growth will help the chemical industry step up investment in R&D and help the region transition to a resource-efficient, low-carbon, and circular economy, Mensink claims.
The cause is robust demand in sectors such as auto manufacturing, construction, metal fabrication, and electronics. Investments in new chemical production capacity are under way, Cefic says. Partly as a result, Europe’s chemical industry is now responsible for 1.1% of the EU’s gross domestic product and 1.2 million jobs, according to the association.
In Germany, the heartbeat of Europe’s chemical industry, the forecast is for chemical sales to rise 3% in 2018 to more than $230 billion. In 2017, Germany’s chemical sales increased more than 5%.
“We are confident that the upward trend will last next year,” said Kurt Bock, head of German chemical maker BASF, at an end-of-the-year press conference. “But where political aspects are concerned, we need to brace ourselves for persistently turbulent times.”
Despite the challenge of Brexit—Britain’s planned 2019 exit from the EU—the outlook for the U.K. chemical industry appears to be in line with the rest of Europe.
“We expect to see growth in 2018 … with a possibility it could be just under 2%,” says Stephen Elliott, CEO of the Chemical Industries Association, a U.K. trade group. The industry saw 3% growth in 2017.
But Elliott and Steve Bates, CEO of the BioIndustry Association, a biotech group, remain concerned about the potential impact of Brexit. They are calling for the U.K. government to put in place measures that will enable their respective sectors to continue trading with the EU.
Even if such measures are established, U.K. chemical companies will likely take a hit, according to Paul Hodges, chairman of the London-based consulting firm International eChem. European customers of British chemical firms, he says, will be asking whether they can find another supplier or producer outside the U.K.
Demand for chemicals is steady in China, Japanese chemical companies are upgrading their profit forecasts, and economic growth is accelerating in India. In sum: The outlook for the Asian chemical industry in 2018 is good.
Predictions of strong economic growth in China, India, and Indonesia translate to “a positive outlook for the Asian chemical industry as a whole,” says Steve Jenkins, vice president of chemicals consulting at market research firm PCI Wood Mackenzie.
In Japan, the economy will not be that strong, but chemical companies will be able to grow their margins by focusing on technologically advanced materials, Jenkins says. The continued weakness of the yen will raise profits in yen terms, he adds.
In China, the world’s largest market for chemicals, consumer demand is buoying chemical production, Jenkins notes. The widespread use of smartphones to order from online retailers, for instance, is stimulating demand for consumer goods in once-stagnant inland provinces.
Meanwhile, strict enforcement of environmental regulations is changing China’s chemical industry, Jenkins notes, in part by leading many firms to upgrade their facilities to stay in business.
Environmental controls are having a wide impact, agrees Peter Huo, vice president for sales and marketing at the Chinese polyurethane chemicals producer Wanhua Chemical.
Even when their operations are compliant, Wanhua and its competitors have had to cut production as a result of China’s crackdown. Wanhua, for example, had to temporarily reduce production at some of its plants because “some of the buyers of our products had to stop theirs,” Huo explains.
But on the whole, Chinese demand for polyurethane materials and other chemicals was steady in 2017, a trend that Huo expects to continue for at least the first half of 2018. The combination of constant demand and lowered supply due to the crackdown is boosting profit margins, he notes.
The main risks facing Asia are financial. A major slowdown of the U.S. stock market could “derail the current buoyant mood,” Jenkins warns. And government officials in China are mentioning more often the need to reduce debt levels in both the private and public sectors, a shift that could dampen the economy as a whole by reducing funds available to invest or expand, Huo says.
With oil prices widely tipped to stay around $60 per barrel or lower for the next few years, the low-cost-energy advantage enjoyed by the Middle East’s chemical sector will continue to evaporate, experts say. As this scenario becomes the new normal, many Middle Eastern chemical companies see 2018 as the year they must shift faster away from basic petrochemicals and toward higher-value specialty products.
“One thing we know for certain: The status quo is not an option,” Yousef Al-Benyan, chairman of the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association and CEO of the big Saudi firm SABIC, told delegates at the GPCA Annual Forum late last year. “The fundamental change required to deliver a quantum leap in performance is transformation; it is not an incremental improvement.”
In addition to the low price of oil, challenges the region faces include lower profit margins, China’s rise to self-sufficiency, and the shale-enabled chemical expansion in the U.S., Al-Benyan said.
—Yousef Al-Benyan, chairman of the Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA)
Using mergers and acquisitions is one way Middle Eastern companies could improve their difficult position, says Mirko Rubeis, a managing director of Boston Consulting Group. He says companies in the Gulf Cooperative Council region—which includes the lion’s share of the Middle East’s chemical industry—should strive to focus their portfolios in areas such as specialty chemicals while reducing costs through economies of scale.
It’s a view echoed by H. E. Khalid A. Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s minister of energy, industry, and mineral resources and chair of Saudi Aramco. Speaking at the GPCA forum, he called on regional players to think globally and on governments to adopt policies that encourage venture capital investment and greater spending on R&D.
Dow Chemical and Saudi Aramco point to their Sadara Chemical Company joint venture as an example of how to integrate the Middle East’s basic chemicals prowess with high-end production of specialty materials.
Last year, Sadara started up a polyurethane raw material plant at its complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It is the last of 26 facilities to be commissioned at the $20 billion site. A raft of downstream facilities—such as a plastics processing plant—are now being built nearby.
Rejecting the downbeat outlook of others producing chemicals in the Middle East, DowDuPont executive chairman Andrew N. Liveris has pledged that he will continue to make specialty chemical investments in the region. For Liveris, at least, the Middle East is still a land of opportunity.


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The Summer 2019 Fancy Food Show just wrapped up in New York City, and as usual, it was a fantastic three days.
Here are a few of my takeaways:
* Seeds seemed to take on more prominence. With nut allergies a real issue, particularly for kids, I saw an increasing number of seed bars, seed butters and seed milks — all a very welcome trend.
* A lack of CBD. In contrast to the recent Expo West show where CBD was all over the place, the same could not be said at Fancy Food. In my view, it was shockingly absent but could be a result of its legal uncertainty in states across the country.
* Cauliflower is as popular than ever, especially as the key ingredient in pizza crusts, but I think this is much more the case in the non-organic food segment. At Fancy Food, I saw several new organic cauliflower snacks, something I had been hoping to see for quite a while.
* Some great innovation with chocolate, especially with nut milk infusions and more 100% cacao bars.
* One of the more interesting things that Fancy Food showcases is its Incubator Alley. This is where food incubators from around the country present their most promising companies. In this section, there were very few certified organic brands, and many of them said it was due to the high price of organic. This is exactly what I wrote about in last year’s Fancy Food recap, and the issue remains a real problem.
Below are the 10 organic products that I found most compelling.
TOMATO PESTO BY FREAK FLAG FOODS
Organic sauces continue to be a big white space with room for plenty of entrants, and Fred Haberman’s Freak Flag Foods is starting to make its mark, particularly as it is set to go into 140 locations of The Fresh Market. The tomato pesto was delicious enough that you could eat it with nothing more than a spoon. This is a brand to watch.
TOASTED SEED CRISPS BY FLACKERS
Known for its flax crackers, Flackers unveiled hemp seed and hatch green chile toasted seed crisps, which are keto-friendly. Thinking they would have the same texture as the flax crackers, I was mistaken. It was much more of a snack. A great and hearty way to consume both hemp and flax seeds.
CAULIFLOWER BITES BY RHYTHM SUPERFOODS
With the kale chip craze slowing down, Rhythm Superfoods may have found its next big hit — cauliflower bites. My favorite was the sea salt.
LAVENDER ALMONDS BY A BORING LIFE
Founded in Boring, Oregon (an unincorporated community in the state), A Boring Life unveiled almonds that contain 25 mg of hemp extract, coconut oil, lavender and salt. Love the innovation, delicious taste.
CHEEZE PLEASE ACTIVATED MCT POPCORN BY LIVING INTENTIONS
Living Intentions has literally cracked the code when it comes to addictive popcorn, and this was one of the best-tasting products at the show. It is dairy-free and contains a cheezy blend of vegetables, sprouted seeds, savory spices and MCT oil.
ALMOND MILK CHOCOLATE BY TAZA
Boston-based Taza Chocolate has knocked it out of the park with this line of almond milk-infused chocolate. It is vegan and dairy-free, and comes in three flavors — quinoa crunch, classic, and cashew crunch.
PLANT-BASED SOUR CREAM BY FORAGER PROJECT
Leave it to Stephen Williamson, the incredibly innovative founder of Forager Project, to come up with a dairy-free, plant-based and cultured sour cream. I cannot recall ever seeing a vegan organic sour cream before. Very cool!
MARSHMALLOW CREME BY TOONIE MOONIE
Organic marshmallow creme. Who knew? Toonie Moonie founder Kim Condon certainly knew and decided to create an organic version of marshmallow creme but with clean ingredients.
CAULIFLOWER TORTILLA CHIPS BY JUST ABOUT FOODS
Mexico-based Just About Foods could soon be a breakout brand, as it had several compelling and unique products at the show. Its baked cauliflower chips, which are gluten-free and contain no added sugar, should see huge demand.
PUMPKIN HEMP SEED BUTTER BY SEEDLY
It is ironic that one of the best-tasting products of the show is so early in its development that it didn’t even have packaging. Sitting alongside its outstanding seed bars, the hemp pumpkin and chia seed butter from Long Island, NY-based Seedly had me at a loss for words. It was rich and creamy but not overly sweet. Very unique texture. Massive home run.
Max Goldberg, Founder
From the world’s first 100% USDA certified organic truffle production company, NYC-based daRosario has unveiled a new organic truffle ketchup. It is made with California tomatoes, white truffle dust, white truffle flavored extra virgin olive oil and a dash of acacia honey.
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In a recent study conducted by Emory University in collaboration with The Organic Center, non-organic milk tested positive for illegal antibiotics, high levels of growth hormones and controversial pesticide contaminants.
Oreo-owner Mondelez is taking a majority stake in Perfect Bar-parent Perfect Snacks, which is doing roughly $70M in sales.
The industry's leading organic baking brand has just come out with its latest innovation -- an organic line of low sugar, ready-to-eat baked goods.
Thrive Market has temporarily halted sales of hemp-derived CBD products after its merchant processor demanded it cease selling them amid uncertainty over their legal status.
Not surprisingly, GE-salmon may first show up in U.S. restaurants or university cafeterias, which are not required to tell diners that their fish is genetically modified.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed new spending legislation with significant wins for organic, including those related to organic dairy and import fraud.
In an investigation by Politico, it was found that the Trump administration has stopped promoting government-funded research into how higher temperatures can damage crops and pose health risks.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her country’s lower house on Wednesday that glyphosate use will eventually die out - a stunning proclamation given that Bayer just purchased this product in its acquisition of Monsanto.
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* John Roulac, founder of Nutiva and RE Botanicals, was named one of the 100 Coolest People in Food and Drink by Business Insider.
* Las Vegas now has its first vegan organic food truck.
* In Miami, a plant-based organic deli has opened called Plantiserrie.
* Long Island, New York organic restaurant chain Organic Krush is set to open three more locations.
* Massachusetts has banned the sale of some hemp products, including CBD-infused foods.
* Azerbaijan held its first Organic Food Festival, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors over three days.
* The New York Times takes a look at the celery juice craze and how it has impacted organic juice bars and produce suppliers.
* In one quick graphic, here are my thoughts on the plant-based meat craze.


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Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) was downgraded by equities researchers at BidaskClub from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, September 11th.
Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Imperial Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Sabre in a report on Wednesday, August 1st. ValuEngine lowered Sabre from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank upped their price target on Sabre from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 6th. Bank of America upgraded Sabre from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 15th. Finally, Cowen set a $30.00 price target on Sabre and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.57.
SABR traded down $0.37 on Tuesday, hitting $24.46. The company had a trading volume of 1,337,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,462,258. Sabre has a 1-year low of $17.79 and a 1-year high of $26.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.67.
Sabre (NASDAQ:SABR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 31st. The information technology services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. Sabre had a return on equity of 47.59% and a net margin of 9.41%. The firm had revenue of $984.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $946.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sabre will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In related news, major shareholder Lake Group L.L.C. Silver sold 6,155,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.72, for a total value of $152,166,827.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Judy C. Odom sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.78, for a total value of $247,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,016,946.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,427,216 shares of company stock valued at $406,162,833 over the last 90 days. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SABR. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Sabre by 29.6% in the first quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 18,117,265 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $388,615,000 after acquiring an additional 4,140,997 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Sabre by 240.3% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,532,334 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $111,676,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200,652 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Sabre by 14.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,591,322 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $556,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842,554 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Sabre by 2,182.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,303,900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $32,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,779 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Sabre by 99.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,445,959 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $60,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,959 shares during the period.
Sabre Company Profile
Sabre Corporation, through its subsidiary, Sabre Holdings Corporation, provides technology solutions to the travel and tourism industry worldwide. It operates through two segments, Travel Network, and Airline and Hospitality Solutions. The Travel Network segment operates as a business-to-business travel marketplace that offers travel content, such as inventory, prices, and availability from a range of travel suppliers, including airlines, hotels, car rental brands, rail carriers, cruise lines, and tour operators with a network of travel buyers comprising online and offline travel agencies, travel management companies, and corporate travel departments.
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When the Xbox 360 was launched two weeks ago amid much brouhaha over its custom-designed IBM PowerPC-based CPU with 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2GHz each, WindowsForDevices.com wondered aloud, “What OS runs inside the Xbox 360?”
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was awarded an honorary knighthood by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II today.
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Synonymous with beauty ingredient, collagen’s popularity requires no explanation. It was once said that its popularity hit its peak, but the status has changed, and its market has been showing signs of resurgence in 2017. According to Gelatin Manufacturers Association of Japan, the latest research report released in 2018 shows that the 2017’s sales volumes of collagen peptide increased by 1,000 tons, reaching a total of 5,800 tons, showing a 20% increase from the previous year, and which was the highest on record since the research started. The domestic sales for food applications occupied most of its sales, reaching 4,772 tons which was a 15% increase from the previous year.
Amongst collagens, fish collagen is most popular. The shortage of raw materials is increasingly becoming serious because the demand for such ingredients, including freshwater fish’s scales and skins, is significantly increasing in Japan. Local ingredient suppliers are finding it very difficult to procure those raw materials. Although they are gathering the dispersed ingredients of the same grades and expanding the fish species in order to face this situation, they could not gather enough ingredients to replenish their stocks and not respond to new deals because of the lack of stock. Furthermore, suppliers have in union increased their prices last year. Thanks to the collagen’s high-recognition and being synonymous with beauty ingredient and reasonable prices, it has enjoyed impregnable popularity, but its price hike was a hard blow to the market, and this situation is expected to continue.
Meanwhile, collagens from different sources such as pig skin collagen and cowhide collagen are now being suggested, as well as high-functional collagen ingredients.
Furthermore, collagen has established a firm and strong position as a beauty ingredient, and now it is also drawing attention as a sports food and food that is good to prevent locomotive syndrome. Especially, in sports, it is reported in magazines for athletes that collagen could prevent injuries and help athletes recover, and that it is recommended to be used positively. Collagen is now expected to explore this new market.
Abstract of The Health Industry News


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The Auto Block eyes new leasing currency
London-based crypto payments player The Auto Block is making plans for a proprietary currency, AutoCoin, to enable blockchain-based lease contracts. Any dealer taking part can opt to convert the currency to sterling. AutoCoin will likely launch in September at $0.25 per coin.
David White, chief operating officer of The Auto Block, told Verdict that crypto fluctuation worries would be addressed by automated monthly sterling payments tied to a 1% transaction fee, soothing volatility swings.
The Auto Block already takes bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum payments.
Car industry reliant on monopolised data?
The Auto Block says it also wants to use blockchain for more accurate car trade data and valuations. “The Blockchain technology used to gather the real-time valuations with the help of live data will result in a rich database of all vehicle specifications which exist throughout the world,” it says.
Auto Block criticises much of the car industry for relying on monopolised data and valuations “that at best are subject to external influences and manipulation on valuations and at worst are unavailable in detail to the public [data]”.
It goes on: “The outdated infrastructure upon which these essential existing industry standard tools are built is actively impeding natural growth, particularly in the field of new vehicle sales in developing markets.”
Harnessing this data, Auto Block believes, may shake up how insurance companies, auctioneers, law enforcement and national car registries control and deploy this information.


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Ed Pratt: 2 months down
Editor’s note: Ed Pratt, a columnist for The Advocate and assistant to the chancellor for media relations at Southern University, is on a journey to lose 40 pounds this year. Let’s check in with two months under his belt — quite literally.
BY EDWARD PRATT
Special to Be Fit BR
Well February was not a great month or not the one I thought it would be. Settling on the right foods to eat was not a major issue. However, finding time to exercise was a hit or miss proposition.
My weight had dropped to 239 down from 253 at the start of the year. However, it has climbed back to 241. A couple of bad fried food days slowed me down.
There were some positives, though.
I am beginning to cook more and more of my own dishes. Those meals mostly involve chunks of chicken or beef sitting in a bed of sauteed bell peppers, mushrooms and onions, along with garlic, olive oil, jalapeno peppers and broccoli.
I did make a major discovery. I found a miniature wok – the last one left on the shelf – at a local store and bought it. This thing is going to pay big dividends.
I also signed up for a study with Pennington Biomedical Research Center. More about that later, when I fully understand what I’m doing.
Overall, the battle to caloric sobriety continues.
I have to remember this is not so much a diet as it is a change in the way I eat and exercise.
It continues to be a struggle.


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reports that three high-level executives have left social game company Zynga in the wake of changes implemented by newly appointed CEO Don Mattrick.
According to unnamed sources, Zynga's chief operating officer David Ko, chief technology officer Cadir Lee, and chief people officer Colleen McCreary "will step down from their positions and leave the company as a result" of the changes.
Following his departure
as Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business on July 1, Mattrick said he was bringing the fledgling social game company "back to basics" in its attempt to recover from sweeping layoffs
and other executive-level departures
Shares of Zynga were trading down 0.69% in after hours to $2.89.


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Umincorp has joined NRK Recycling to join forces with other Dutch recyclers, focusing on speeding up legislation that promotes the application of recyclate in plastic products. Because of our unique way of working, we are involved in virtually the entire recycling chain. As a result, we know the opportunities and challenges of each step in that chain and can thus contribute to a strong Dutch recycling industry.
“At Umincorp Polymers, we are keen to be at the forefront of the global challenge of turning plastic into a circular resource. By using smart technology in the separation and recycling process, we extract a lot of value from a bag of household waste. At the same time, the production of virgin plastic is still increasing, with all its consequences. By joining NRK recycling, we can work together to make the industry more sustainable, pass legislation that encourages recycling, and reduce CO2 emissions to reduce the impact of plastic production on our planet.”Arjen Wittekoek (COO)


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Electronic Arts did not take part in Sony's Playstation 4 event last week but that doesn't mean there's nothing in the works for the next-gen console from the publisher. In fact, chief financial officer Blake Jorgenson commented on "Battlefield 4" and the PS4 during a Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday.
"I'd say between now and E3 you're going to see a lot of stuff from us. We're very excited about Sony's platform. The technical power on the platform is going to allow us to do a substantial amount of things we've never done before," Jorgenson said when asked about EA's stake in the PS4 over the next couple of years.
"I've seen the new 'Battlefield' and it is stunning. It is just amazing what the imagination of the game developers are allowed to do with that much power."
The PS4 will launch in time for holiday 2013 according to Sony. This means a November release date is the most likely period which should put Electronic Arts in an unusual spot with "Battlefield 4". The publisher has taken to releasing its big fall shooter in late October the last couple of years to get a jump on Activision's "Call of Duty" franchise. The launch of new consoles will obviously force some compromise however.
A beta for "Battlefield 4" is planned for this fall with owners of the "Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition" getting exclusive access.


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After four consecutive days of gains, the local bourse paused its bullish streak on Thursday as selloffs of Geregu, triggered a 0.2 per cent decline in the benchmark Index.
Specifically, consumer goods and banking stocks were particularly hard hit, with investors booking profits on tickers such as Unilever Nigeria, PZ, Geregu, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Access Holdings leaving these companies’ share prices lower by 8.28 per cent, 6.11 per cent, 4.78 per cent and 1.35 per cent.
Thus, the All-Share-Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) settled at 52,821.60 basis points.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +0.8 per cent and +3.1 per cent, respectively.
Owing to the bearish trade, equities investors lost N50.70 billion as the market capitalisation closed at N28.76 trillion at the end of the day’s trading activities.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed, as 23 tickers lost relative to 22 gainers. Conoil and Unilever Nigeria topped the losers’ list having depreciated in share value by 9.9 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively, while FTN Cocoa Processor and Tantalizer recorded the most significant gains of the day after their share values appreciated by 8.8 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.
Performance across the remaining sectorial indices tracked closed negative, with the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Industrial indices declining by 0.11 per cent, 0.08 per cent, 0.14 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively.
Analysis of market activities on Thursday showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 17.16 per cent. A total of 377.14 million shares valued at N9.18 billion were exchanged in 5,879 deals.
United Bank for Africa led the volume chart with 86.17 million units traded while Geregu led the value chart in deals worth N3.92 billion.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE


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Mark it on your calendar, folks. Baseball's returning soon.
Metalhead has announced May 13 as the official release date for Super Mega Baseball 3. The long-awaited sequel will release with cross-platform play on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and Steam for $44.99 USD.
Alongside this announcement, Metalhead has also released a new trailer that dives into the on-field experience in SMB3, covering everything from baserunning to tweaked pitching mechanics and improved fielder selection.
In response to community feature requests, Metalhead has also began work on free post-launch updates, including the previously revealed SMB2 Team Import tool and a major online gameplay feature that will be announced prior to launch.
Here's the latest trailer:


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Legacy Buying Group Adds OrderMyGear as Preferred Service Provider
The Legacy Buying Group, West River, MD, announced the addition of OrderMyGear as a preferred service provider of online stores for the group. OrderMyGear's cloud-based technology helps promotional product distributors sell branded merchandise to groups online through custom branded online stores.
"The Legacy Group is pleased to have OrderMyGear join our Legacy vendor network," Jolie Porter, managing director for The Legacy Group said. "OMG's online store platform offers our Legacy distributors a flexible, powerful option in their aim to provide the finest solutions for their clients."


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NEW YORK — The signs of hip-hop’s influence are everywhere — from Pharrell Williams becoming Louis Vuitton’s men’s creative director to billion-dollar brands like Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones and retail mainstays like Diddy’s Sean John and Jay-Z’s Rocawear.
It didn’t start out that way.
The music genre germinated 50 years ago as an escape from the poverty and violence of New York City’s most distressed borough, the Bronx, where few wanted to invest in its businesses or its people. Out of that adversity blossomed an authentic style of expression, one that connected with the city’s underserved Black and Latino teens and young adults, and filtered through to graffiti, dance and fashion.
As hip-hop spread throughout New York, so did a culture.
“Hip-hop goes beyond the music,” said C. Keith Harrison, a professor and founding director for the University of Central Florida’s Business of Hip-Hop Innovation & Creative Industries certificate program. “Hip-hop always knew, as Nipsey Hussle would say, how to get it out of the trunk, and so they’ve always had to have innovative business models.”
That spirit of innovation has helped push hip-hop past big business’ initial resistance to align with the genre to become the most popular music form in the United States since 2017. Hip-hop’s impact on the $16 billion music industry and beyond is now so widespread, experts say it becomes difficult to quantify.
Author Zack O’Malley Greenberg estimates that hip-hop’s five wealthiest artists were worth nearly $4 billion in 2022 by themselves. It was no idle boast when Jay-Z rapped in last year’s DJ Khaled hit “God Did,” “How many billionaires can come from Hov crib? Huh, I count three — me, Ye and Rih, Bron’s a Roc boy, so four, technically.” Jay-Z, also known as Hov, Rihanna and NBA star LeBron James are all on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List for 2023, though Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, dropped off the list after his controversial split with Adidas.
Hip-hop artists have achieved that level of success because they are much more than their music. They are tastemakers and trendsetters in lifestyle-defining products from fashion to high-end champagne.
“Hip-hop knows how to put butts in seats, no matter what context you’re in, and that’s what businesses want,” said Harrison, who is also a professor in the University of Central Florida’s DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program. “Emotion, return on emotion — that’s what hip-hop does differently. They have another level of emotion.”
Because rappers often tell stories fans relate to or aspire to, weaving brand shout-outs into their rhymes and product placements — sometimes paid for, sometimes not — into their videos becomes a powerful marketing tool.
In her forthcoming book “Fashion Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized High Fashion,” pop culture expert Sowmya Krishnamurthy addresses what people get out of “putting somebody else’s name or logo across your chest or across your back.”
“In America, in a capitalist society, how else do you show you’ve made it?” Krishnamurthy said. “One thing I kind of joke about is: People can’t see your mortgage. But they can see a nice chain. They can see the clothes that you have on. That is an immediate signal.”
In hip-hop, that pressure to fit in and show off is heightened.
“You have a genre that historically has a lot of people who grew up with little to nothing,” Krishnamurthy said. “The aspiration is inherent.”
And probably no product has been as successful at connecting with hip-hop as footwear. Consequently, rappers get their own sneaker lines without ever taking part in a sport, said Harlan Friedman, host and creator of the Sole Free podcast on sneakers and street culture.
“A seventh grader can’t afford a $20,000 rope chain and medallion, but maybe he could afford a pair of (Nike) Dunks or a pair of (Air) Jordans or a pair of Adidas,” Friedman said. “That gives him that little bit of clout, that he’s like his favorite artist or athlete, and it kind of gives him that feeling like, ‘Oh, I’m like them.’”
Adidas was the first major company that saw rappers as potential business partners, Friedman said. But they had to be convinced.
Even though the company had seen an unusual spike in sales of its Superstar shoes in the Northeast in 1986, it wasn’t ready to attribute that to rap group Run-D.M.C. and their hit “My Adidas.”
When company execs saw the group ask fans to show off their Adidas and thousands removed their shoes and waved them in the air at a Madison Square Garden performance, they were sold. They signed Run-D.M.C. to a $1 million deal that resulted in their own shoe line in 1988.
Now that hip-hop is a multibillion dollar industry with widespread influence, it’s easy to forget it wasn’t always Courvoisier and Versace for its stars.
Even after Adidas’ success, companies still balked at partnering with hip-hop acts because they felt that “having young Black and brown people wearing their clothing simply wasn’t on brand and, in many ways, it was kind of denigrating their brand,” said Krishnamurthy, whose book will be released Oct. 10.
“But when that kind of money is being spent and people really saw the power that rappers had to change what somebody might wear, … they started taking notice,” she said.
These days, singer-and-sometimes-rapper Rihanna has a deal with Puma. Travis Scott has his line of Nikes with a backward swoosh. And Cardi B has her line of Reeboks.
Companies of all sorts now court rappers and their audiences, hoping to join the ranks of Timberland — which at first resisted associating with the genre it saw as being counter to its working-class base — Hennessy cognac and anything Gucci as hip-hop approved brands.
“They think, ‘We can either work with them and really embrace the culture or we’re going to miss out on being young, cool, and, of course, making money,’” Krishnamurthy said.
Few events in hip-hop culture’s ongoing march into the mainstream can match McDonald’s introduction of Saweetie ‘n Sour sauce for the fast food giant’s Chicken McNuggets in 2021. Packets of the sauce are now available for $20 apiece online.
At the time, the California rapper was far from a household name. But Jennifer Healan, McDonald’s USA’s vice president of brand, content, and culture, said Saweetie was a natural fit for the company’s “Famous Orders” campaign, which has also featured Scott as well as one of hip-hop’s biggest celebrity couples, Cardi B and her husband, Offset, for Valentine’s Day.
“Saweetie is a longtime McDonald’s fan, and she brought a unique twist to our campaign by mixing and matching her favorite menu items — which tapped into our fans’ passion for food hacks and new flavor combinations,” Healan said.
The promotion worked well for both McDonald’s, which Healan said saw a spike in sales for the Big Mac, and Saweetie, who soon had her own Netflix show and was a musical guest on “Saturday Night Live.”
Jake Bjorseth, founder and CEO of ad agency trndsttrs, which focuses on connecting companies with younger audiences, said he has been trying to get longtime client McDonald’s to commission an entire hip-hop album based around part of its jingle, “Ba da ba ba ba.”
The partnership between brands and musicians will only grow tighter in the next 10 years because audio is a more effective way to connect on social media, Bjorseth said. And hip-hop is more versatile at making those connections.
“Hip-hop is literally built from music being repurposed and remixed from previous genres,” he said. “ … I feel personally connected to hip-hop and it is a seamless, authentic connection and how we express ourselves.”


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|Archives - September 2009|
|Thursday, August 20, 2009|
It’s a typical Saturday morning, and outside Pine State Biscuits in Portland the queue is 15 deep. Downtown at the Bijou Cafe, customers who do business over breakfast are eating with their families. Up on Mississippi Avenue, a cluster of customers in front of Gravy wait for up to an hour for a heaping plate of corned beef hash or a bowl of oatmeal brulée. As the restaurant industry continues to suffer, breakfast restaurants are flourishing, and in Portland their popularity seems limitless.
“There’s something about the demographics of this town that makes people really like to eat breakfast,” says Mark Greco, owner of Gravy. “It’s almost like a subculture. I’m barely hip enough to own Gravy because some of the people who come are so cool.”
His business has grown slowly but steadily the last few years. Pine State Biscuits has only been in business for two years, but ever since opening their doors, they’ve made a profit.
The key ingredient to the success of breakfast restaurants is affordability.
“Breakfast is more affordable to the restaurant in terms of food costs and to the customer in terms of the bill they get at the end,” says Joel Pomerantz, Oregon Restaurant Association representative. “In Portland the people that are putting these restaurants together are younger and they’re kind of hip. They’re the same kinds of people who in another context might be putting together specialty cocktails with local ingredients.”
The breakfast restaurant is an old-fashioned American tradition that’s thriving across the state. Pop into one of the Pig ‘N Pancake restaurants along the Coast or order eggs Benedict at the Victorian Cafe in Bend or French toast from the Morning Glory in Ashland to see that Oregonians are still taking the family out to breakfast.
Omer Orian, who is 25, and his 24-year-old brother, David, opened Off the Waffle in Eugene in Februrary and plan to open a 24-hour waffle cart on the University of Oregon campus this month.
“No recession is going to stop people from buying these waffles at three bucks apiece,” says Omer.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Seven tidbits of information from an agency partner and co-founder of Waggener Edstrom in Lake Oswego.
Friday, January 23, 2015
BY DAN COOK | PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN
A real-estate developer and a Lithia Motors executive aim to revamp the city's forlorn downtown.
Friday, January 02, 2015
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
The University of Oregon football team looked unstoppable on the field Jan. 1 — and the university is reaping the benefits of the new postseason format.
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
BY LINDA BAKER | OB EDITOR
The Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit drew more than 1,000 people to the Oregon Convention Center yesterday.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
BY JESSICA RIDGWAY
Lawger upends the typical hourly based fee model by letting clients determine the cost.
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
BY LINDA BAKER
A conversation with attorney Erich Merrill about the latest way to raise money from large groups of people.
Friday, January 09, 2015
BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Industry groups identify top trends for 2015.
Real Time - Oregon Business
Tweets by @OregonBusiness
|Legislative Preview: A Shifting Balance|
|Tackling the CEO-worker pay gap|
|Corner Office: Pam Edstrom|
|Justice for All|
|Corner Office: Timothy Mitchell|
|Corner Office: Sheree Arntson|
|West Coast port talks resume after rallies|
|Consumers pine for better battery life|
|Gates Foundation aims to gradually improve world for the poor|
|European Central Bank announces stimulus measures|
|Netflix reports strong fourth quarter|
|Shazam eclipses $1B valuation mark|
|Elon Musk project, SpaceX, to be backed by Google|
Is your business ready to join us in the call for action? This opening panel includes Oregon businesses who will discuss why they signed the Oregon Climate Declaration, the investments they are making to reduce carbon emissions, and how their actions are affecting their companies.
Get ready for two days of special events produced with the EPA, Portland Timbers and ISOS before and after the GoGreen Conference on October 16.
How sports tourism is driving economic growth and making cities across Oregon a better place to live.
Port of Morrow's business-ready attitude has a surprising global impact.
Through its support of the arts, the Cultural Trust is strengthening the business community.
The official launch will be Jan. 14.
In a switch on the traditional trade show, representatives from UO departments and local and state agencies will host tables to connect with businesses and vendors. The fourth Reverse Vendor Fair will take place Wednesday, Feb. 25, in Eugene.
Featuring Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba along with high-profile Oregon Ag attorney Tim Bernasek whose recent matters include representing the Oregon wheat farmer who discovered unreleased “Roundup Ready” resistant GMO wheat growing in his fields.


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OpenRoomz.com, has made a few changes to its proprietary hotel search and rate comparison engine, to help travelers find the best hotel rates faster and easier.
HotelSweep Extends in Europe, Asia and Australia
HotelSweep uses traditional search engine and innovative information extraction technologies to crawl the web, extracting pricing and amenities data directly from hotel websites.
EuroCheapo Celebrates Deals and More Deals
EuroCheapo, one of the online world’s most popular travel sites, celebrates their 10th anniversary this week. According to the news the European budget hotel finders will also launch new guides for Zurich and San Francisco.


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Unite Austin 2017 is an annual developer conference hosted by Unity, the maker of a 3D graphics engine powering simulations and other interactive 3D, 2D and VR/AR content. Artists, developers, educators, filmmakers, researchers, storytellers — anyone interested in or already creating with Unity — are promised “valuable insight and inspiration” at the event, which will be held Oct. 3-5, 2017 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, TX.
The Opening Keynote is planned for 6 p.m. on Oct. 3, followed by two full days of exhibition and breakout sessions. In addition to Unite Austin’s three days of demos and networking, the event offers advanced hands-on class tutorials, technical sessions, a Made With Unity Showcase, previews of upcoming Unity tech, and more.
To give you an idea of what Unite Austin will be all about, here’s highlights of last year’s European event:
Marxent How to use #AugmentedReality for your business, via @TechDayHQ: https://t.co/GPGHMic1Hr
Marxent #AugmentedReality will bring revenue boost for small businesses, data says: https://t.co/Mt9ungnvSl
Marxent Via @NextRealityNews, @Snapchat sells advertisers on #AugmentedReality with new e-commerce features: https://t.co/gEsCrQO7am


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Rivian was expected to make the first customer deliveries of its electric truck later this year. The company slowed down work at its factory in Normal, Illinois, in mid-March, and then shut down operations there on March 20. The Pantagraph, a local newspaper in the Bloomington-Normal area, now says that Rivian’s first deliveries will slip into 2021.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos told The Pantagraph:
Given the fact that Rivian had to shut down for their workers, I think there’s still construction going on. I can see that this is a setback.
I fully expected this to happen. They were working very furiously hard to get the line going, and to have that come to a stop, I’m sure set them back, so I completely understand that 2021 is probably a more realistic goal.
The Pantagraph‘s headline, “Rivian delays production launch to 2021,” is somewhat misleading. The first deliveries of the Rivian’s R1T electric pickup truck were expected in the final days of 2020, with the R1S electric SUV arriving about three months later. The timing for when production will resume is still uncertain.
The pandemic has already resulted in at least a few weeks of delay. Supply chains could also be affected. However, slippage of the first deliveries from late December into the first weeks of 2021 does not constitute a one-year delay.
The pandemic is very unlikely to affect the delivery date of electric vans to Amazon vans in 2021, or its commitment to have at least 10,000 of those delivery vehicles on the road in 2022.
Rivian did not provide a comment to the Pantagraph. But the company issued this statement to customers on April 1:
The world has changed a lot in these last few weeks. We’ve shut down all Rivian facilities to protect our team and to help slow the spread of COVID-19. While this situation has required us to redefine workflows and rethink the ways we collaborate, it hasn’t stopped us from making progress. From living rooms, kitchen tables, backyards, basements, and newly cleaned out closets, our team is continuing to work hard toward bringing our products to life.
This evolving new reality is not without impact on our program timing. While we expect some level of delay, we are working to minimize the disruption to our launch schedule and as we better understand the extent of the impact, you will be the first to know.
For the past few weeks, the company has operated with only 10 to 12 people out of its roughly 315 employees onsite for construction. The skeletal crew maintains the most basic operations for the 2.6-million-square-feet factory.
The company shared a video of work at the factory before the shutdown.
Rivian told Electrek that it will continue to share news about production as the situation evolves.
Mayor Koos said:
I’m sure that there’s some work that they can do from home, but not much. I think everybody is having to readjust their outlook and their plans as a result of the COVID-19 and Rivian is not alone in that.
Rivian has been remarkable for its ability to make progress with its electric vehicles. It had built considerable momentum with raising funds, securing partnerships, and the timely construction of its factory.
The company has also been exceptionally responsible with its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Rivian continues to pay all employees as the company closed all of its facilities. It has proven itself a good neighbor to the Normal community, where it expects to hire thousands of people over the next decade.
Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak is an unanticipated and unavoidable situation. It has forced Rivian to delay production with some impact on the timing of its first deliveries. However, the company is better positioned to pause some of its pre-production rather than halting assembly lines that were already online. We fully expect the company to resume progress and deliver vehicles as soon as possible. Like the rest of us, the pandemic makes the near future hard to predict.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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William Hill ahead as favourites flop
BOOKIE William Hill is winning again. After a poor run of horseracing results in the first quarter of the year, the company said its gross win for the half year has picked up significantly as the number of losing favourites has increased in recent weeks.
As a result, current win levels are the same as a year ago, when it was cashing in on shock results from the Euro 2004 football championships.
The firm did not include the results from its 624 newly-acquired Stanley Leisure shops, but it is likely they also benefited. That transaction, which took the William Hill estate up to 2237 shops, is still awaiting approval from the Office of Fair Trading, which should make its ruling soon.
The takeover completed on 19 June, so results from the new shops will not show through until the second half of the year.
'Against the tough comparisons last year, this all looks pretty good,' said Investec analyst James Wheatcroft.
The group said it had also kept a lid on overheads, with the increase in operating expenses falling from 7.6% in May to 4.4% now. The shares gained 11p to 551p.
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