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Cabot Specialty Fluids received a highly respected international award for its innovative business model, chemical leasing.
Gaia’s customer Cabot Specialty Fluids was awarded a bronze medal for Outstanding Chemical Leasing Performance by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). Cabot’s business model for chemical use is to lease the chemical to the end users instead of selling it. Chemical leasing as a business model promotes sustainability through three key areas:
- Better operational environmental performance through emission, discharge and waste reduction
- More efficient use of raw materials, water and energy
- Minimisation of overall life cycle impacts of chemicals through design of products with excellent environmental performance and cost-efficiency
“Gaia congratulates our customer Cabot Specialty Fluids on the award. It has been a pleasure working with Cabot Specialty Fluids on identifying and quantifying the potential benefits their product has for health, safety and environmental impacts and applying these potentials into a practical cost evaluation model, BrineWise™. The model not only shows that leasing has a large potential to save the chemical user’s money, but actively promotes a more sustainable use of chemicals”, says Ylva Gilbert, HSE & Risk Business Director of Gaia Consulting.
- Juha Vanhanen, Managing Director, +358-50-564 1889, email@example.com
- Pasi Rinne, Chairman, +41-79-472 6909, firstname.lastname@example.org


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It's Hong Kong Disneyland's birthday today. Disney's 11th theme park opened September 12, 2005, but the park's biggest celebration this year won't happen until November.
That's when Hong Kong Disneyland's World of Frozen land opens, on November 20. It's Disney's first-ever theme park land devoted entirely to the popular Frozen franchise, with two rides highlighting the experience.
"Today, on the 18th anniversary of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, we’re thrilled to be sharing more details on World of Frozen," Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Managing Director Michael Moriarty said. "World of Frozen is an integral part of the park’s latest expansion and growth, and with the launch on November 20, we look forward to welcoming even more guests from around the world."
Here's a video update from Walt Disney Imagineering, including a glimpse of the on-ride experience on the land's new roller coaster.
That coaster is Wandering Oaken's Sliding Sleighs, a custom Vekoma junior coaster that takes riders on an adventure around and through one of the mountains above Arendelle.
The land's other attraction will be Frozen Ever After, a new installation of the EPCOT boat ride.
Hong Kong also has released a photo of some of the traditional Nordic cuisine that it will serve in the land's Golden Crocus Inn.
We also have a look at some of the Frozen-themed merchandise that will be on sale in the land's Tick Tock Toys & Collectibles to celebrate "Summer Snow Day."
To help you find your way around Disney's first real-life creation of Arendelle, here is the official map of the World of Frozen land, including the above locations as well as the Playhouse in the Woods character meet area and Northern Delights sweet shop.
To keep up to date with all the big theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
And to help support Theme Park Insider while saving money on discounted theme park tickets, please follow the ticket icon links our Theme Park visitors guides.
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There are now 36 different mobile phones that support NFC payments on the market in France, up from 26 in February 2013, the AFSCM reports, and a total of 3.5m consumers now have a Cityzi compatible NFC phone, up from 2.5m in February. “We see a real acceleration of NFC equipment rate at the national level, making it now possible to deploy large scale services leveraging this technology” says Thibault Dreuille, the association’s CEO.
- German carriers and retailers promote NFC mobile payments in Berlin
- Jawbone adds NFC payments to fitness trackers with AmEx
- Half of digital tickets will be bought on mobile by 2019
- Jawbone to add NFC payments?
- Kairos mechanical smartwatches get NFC payments


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Publish in Special Reports - Wednesday, October 16, 2013
The Limon port in Costa Rica. The Central American country leads Latin America in trade and exports as a percent of its GDP. (Photo: Japdeva)
Brazil is Latin America’s worst in trade and imports as a percent of GDP.
BY JOACHIM BAMRUD
Costa Rica leads Latin America when it comes to trade and exports as a percent of GDP, according to a Latinvex analysis of trade and GDP data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Latin America’s trade accounts for ...
Article Keywords: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela
Table Keywords: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela


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April 20 - 22, 2020
Chicago Marriott Downtown
My B2B Online Story by Coburn Flannery:
I attend B2B online every year because it’s the only event that helps me stay strategic in the industry.
The Granite Group
Coburn’s B2B Story At a Glance
First Year Attended: 2016
How He’s Participated: Attendee
Conference Highlights: The solution providers showcasing their products and services. We’re not looking to switch but it still helps to know what is available should we need to change things.
It all started with the question ‘Do you have an eCommerce platform?’…
The first time I attended the conference was through one of our vendors. And I’ve just made it a point to attend every year since.
The conversation at the conference has changed over the years. When I first attended, it was all about whether you should have an ecommerce platform for your business. Three years later, an ecommerce platform is a given. The question has been replaced with – what are you doing with your ecommerce platform?
I would like to bring my senior leadership to the event!
I’m a strong believer in first hand experience. And I think my senior leadership would really benefit in attending the conference. The topics, the speakers, the solution providers – it’s a one stop shop if you are looking to stay current in the industry! I’m already building a case as to why they need to attend in 2019!
We want to be prepared for any changes in our future…
This year, I attended the conference with my product manager and we were scouting the exhibitors at the event to see what technologies were out there should we needed to change things in the future. And B2B Online came up twice in our strategy meeting a few days ago.
The point is that my colleagues and I are relying more and more on this event to get the pulse of the industry. Over the years, nuggets of ideas gleaned at the event have creeped into our strategy and implementation. It’s the only event that has had such an impact on our business.


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D&H Distributing, a major provider of SMB and consumer technologies to the North American high-tech channel, announces that its first trade event of the year, the “Technology Conference: West Coast” for 2018 will take place on March 22, at the Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry, California. D&H Distributing is proud to announce that its conference program has made a major transition starting with the West Coast conference, migrating from a sales-oriented series of events to an education and customer-engagement focus.
The distributor has revamped its educational training format for the day-long “TC18” event, featuring an all-new, revolving schedule of seminar sessions. The new format provides a more convenient, customizable roster of learning opportunities that will better accommodate the varied schedules of attendees. Sessions will be presented by industry front-runners Microsoft, Intel, HP, Lenovo, and Cisco, with presentations repeating and running concurrently over the course of the day, so customers can structure their attendance as they’d like.
“Our conference events are constantly evolving,” began Mary Campbell, vice president of marketing at D&H Distributing and one of the executives to spearhead the transition of the show schedule. “The one consistent has been our objective to provide a resource that best helps our customers navigate market changes, supplying them with the tools they need to succeed in the marketplace. To this end, we’ve developed a more flexible schedule of seminar sessions.”
Registration starts at 10:30 a.m., and the seminars sessions begin at 11:00 a.m. D&H expects upwards of 400 dealer, retailer, etailer, reseller, and integrator customers at the event, which spotlights more than 60 of the distributor’s vendor partners. Participating vendors include Acer, APC, ASUS, Brother, Cyber Power, Dell, Aruba, Kingston, Micron, Ricoh, StarTech.com, TP-Link, Targus, WD, and more. The distributor welcomes several vendor partners to the West Coast event for the first time including, ANTOP Antenna, Source Authority, Nest Labs, and ioSafe.
Attendees can also visit with the D&H services, support, and sales teams at the conference to learn more about the distributor’s partner enablement and sales resources, such as the Partner Services Marketing program, digital signage solutions, financial services, and refurbished products. The event will also feature a D&H Cloud Solutions booth, spotlighting a roster of the company’s cloud partner vendors such as Webroot, Dropsuite, and Intermedia—three additional vendors that are making their debuts at the West Coast conference.
D&H will continue with the tradition of door prizes at the show, including a Grand Prize of a $500 American Express gift card, and one winner at each seminar session will receive a $50 American Express gift card; plus additional special “Centennial” prizes of $100 American Express gift cards.
“We’ve found in recent years that customers were gaining more benefit from the education elements of the show than they could ever get from simple price discounts or sales opportunities,” Campbell continued. “Therefore, knowledge, training, and customer input has become tantamount to our trade show offering. We’re happy to engage our customers more through these venues, providing the opportunity for two-way feedback and education.”
Registration is at no cost to D&H customers as usual, who can register for the event at www.dandh.com/westcoast or call (800) 340-1007.
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Dealerscope. The views expressed within do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Dealerscope.


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What has happened?
The 2019 Australian Retail Outlook report highlights technology’s transformational effect on retail. New online retail events are changing consumer behaviour and having a pull-forward effect on legacy Christmas sales. Last November’s online mega-sales drove a 12% (Dec YOY) increase in parcel deliveries. So it’s not surprising that retailers have nominated delivery speed and options as the top 2 increasing consumer expectations. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has now taken the lead in the last mile innovation race, their autonomous delivery drones achieving lift-off in Canberra this month. Medicine and food products will be the first to fly, predicting 11,000 daily deliveries in the ACT by 2030.
The Media Store Take
Retailers have been focused on fast tracking the last mile and we’re seeing the 3hr window become a more prevalent option. Alphabet’s Project Wing takes it to the next level by meeting the ever-increasing consumer demand for speed and convenience, with the added benefit of lessening traffic congestion and CO2 emissions. Move over Amazon – as delivery drones take to Australian skies, Google is becoming the tech giant to watch in the retail space


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Dutch EV startup Lightyear has announced raising $110 million (€93 million) in funding in 2021 to date.
The most significant investments were made by insurer Cooperation DELA and private investor Joop van Caldenborgh, both from the Netherlands. The company says that these funds will ensure continued development and production of its One long-range solar EV.
Lightyear will also use part of the money to expand its operations, as it is currently exploring the opening of new office and development locations in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Utrecht), Germany, and the United Kingdom.
“We are at the forefront of a historical market opportunity, by introducing the first cars on the market that charge their battery directly from the sun, completely free. It is great to see the acknowledgement from investors, which is a testament to the confidence that they have in Lightyear. Thanks to the trust and funding received from our investors, we can further grow as a company and bring our Lightyear One exclusive model on the market in 2022.”
Lex Hoefsloot, CEO and cofounder of Lightyear
Gallery: Lightyear One prototype
Mind you, the Lightyear One will be available from 2022 as a low-volume, exclusive first series with a starting price of €150,000 ($176,000), excluding taxes. Only 946 units will be made from summer 2022 by Valmet Automotive in Finland for sale in the EU, Norway, and Switzerland.
As for the mass-market variant, it is planned to go into production in 2024. To make that possible, Lightyear says it is currently exploring several options (both public and private) for further fundraising.
The Lightyear One is an ambitious project that targets a driving range of 725 kilometers (450 miles) WLTP on a single battery charge. It features solar panels that cover a total area of 5 square meters (53.8 sq ft), recharging the battery enough to unlock 12 km (7.5 miles) of additional range every hour.
The EV packs four electric motors that offer all-wheel drive with advanced torque vectoring. However, acceleration is not the One’s main focus—it goes from zero to 100 km/h in less than 10 seconds.


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With Pixel smartphones, Google offers an ideal experience with Android to its customers. Are you a lover of Google software and applications, but the Pixel smartphones aren’t your cup of coffee? The community is usually here to serve you, today, and we’re getting to find out how to put in the Google Phone App in your non-Pixel smartphone.
Many Google apps are available on the PlayStore for different Android phone users. However, the popular Google Phone app wasn’t available on Play Stores for non-Google users, like the Pixel and Android One smartphone. Now, Google Phone Public Beta app is out there on play store, and non-Google users are going to be ready to use the Google Phone app on their devices. The launch of the Google Phone App on Play Store will relieve the users who wont to sideload the app and make their App and phone crash. In addition, not all users will be ready to see the App on play store. Google Phone app is now available on the Play Store for specific smartphone users.
Google Phone App Supported Android Devices:
Google Phone app is the most demanding and lovable App by users. However, no official statements are released officially regarding the supply of the Google Phone app on non-Google Devices. Still, some phone users can download this Google app. Asus ZenFone 6 users were ready to download the Google Phone app on their smartphones. Also, the Google Phone app was available on LG V60 ThinQ and Oppo Find X2 Pro devices. Aside from the mentioned devices, no other Smartphone users were ready to see and download the Google Phone app from Play Store. Since Google has done no official launch, it’s difficult to decode the rationale for the supply of App on some devices.
Samsung and OnePlus Cannot Download Google Phone App:
Surprisingly, Google Phone App isn’t available for Samsung and OnePlus users. However, as per the report from Google, Google Phone App needed “com.google.android.dialer.support” shared library, which is essential for the devices. Also, OnePlus and Samsung’s latest smartphones don’t have a shared library, which is vital for the Google Phone app. However, previously users were ready to use Google Phone App on other Android devices by using workarounds and modified apps. It’s expected that Google will release by officially soon regarding the supply of Google Phone App on non-Google Devices.
Google Phone App:
The App is official and on Play Store. Click the link below and download just how you are doing the other apps.
Google Phone App – Play Store
You can also watch out the video: How to get Google Phone App on any Android Device.
Reach out to us via the comments section if you face any trouble installing the App. Also, comment down the name of your device and let know if Google Phone is supported on your device or not. By the best mobile app development company, you can also craft your mobile apps for your business growth.
Stay connected for related more updates. Also, share this text with all those you think might love this App and find it useful!


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'The tail keeps balance like a pendulum'
Smart care system has already signed up 220,000 elderly clients in 16 cities, half of which are in Shandong, a rapidly aging province in eastern China
A roster of Olympic robots that will do everything from welcoming visitors to transporting javelins has been unveiled
Amazon’s new recruit comes from a medieval walled town in central Italy and can box and seal at least 600 items of different shapes and sizes every hour
At the hotel’s restaurant, taller capsule-shaped robots deliver food that guests have ordered via an app.
ZURICH: Robots will make robots at a new ABB factory in China, which the Swiss engineering group said on Saturday it plans to build for $150 million in Shanghai as it defends its place as the country’s largest maker of industrial robots. The factory, located near ABB’s China robotics campus, is due to be operating by the end of 2020 and will produce robots for China as well as for export elsewhere in Asia. China is ABB’s No. 2 market after the United States. “Shanghai has become a vital center for advanced technology…


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WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Recreational marijuana is legal, and the next step is establishing retail pot shops. But what if a city or town does not want them? These communities do have a say, but the state is trying to clarify the process.
Cities and towns say that the current policy is unclear as to whether retail pot shops can be limited or banned altogether. It is also unclear whether it should be accomplished through a city/town council vote, or a referendum vote by all residents. It is also unclear whether it should be followed by the creation of a bylaw or town ordinance.
West Springfield was one of only seven western Massachusetts communities that voted “no” on Question 4 this past November. 22News spoke with people who say that municipalities should have local control.
“Definitely the residents. They are paying taxes. High taxes here in West Springfield and it just seems like a lot of times our voices are not heard. Whether it’s over new schools or what we allow in our town,” JoAnn Dion of West Springfield said.
The state has come up with the wording for a uniform ballot question that a community that may want to opt-out of retail pot shops can use. A panel of state lawmakers met in West Springfield last week for their listening tour to discuss possibly giving cities and towns more power.


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On Saturday, Nov. 9, Detroit will host the largest doll show in the country, promoting dolls of color to empower children of color.
The doll show will be hosted by the entertainment company, Sandy’s Land L.L.C. Its mission is for their clients to be able to “Party with a Purpose.” The main purpose of the doll show, according to BlackNews.com, is to celebrate the history, culture, diversity, and self-love with the promotion of dolls of color.
According to BlackNews.com, the Detroit Doll Show will include new as well as returning vendors that seek to fully serve every child and adult who has an inner child. The vendors themselves are a diverse and talented set of individuals. These experienced vendors include “children authors, the culture corner, Black memorabilia and Black dolls.”
The program will also include a variety of entertainment from artists such as Motown Mic, who was recently awarded Spoken Word Artist of the Year, and TEDx speaker Mikhaella Norwood who is also doing spoken word. There will also be a Mini Play House workshop sponsored by Power Org Math as well as a photo booth sponsored by the companies, B Elegant & Strike a Pose.
According to BlackNews.com, other events include “the Doll Look-Alike contest, Giant Games, Girl Power Corner, Head Wrap Workshop, Doll Making Workshops, Building Better Men, a presentation by Odis Bellinger who is the founder of the Building Better Men Program, and a screening of the movie, The Sky Princess.
The doll show will be hosted at its new venue, Northwest Activities Center. This center will provide free parking and food to the attendees.


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Basware releases AI-powered AP chatbot
Basware has released an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered virtual assistant for procurement. Basware Assistant, a chatbot, helps users from accountants to business owners find order requests and purchase orders.
Basware Assistant uses natural language processing and AI to create a new and simplified way for people to interact with Basware’s existing e-procurement solution. They can communicate with the Basware Assistant like they would with a person, to search for orders and purchase requests using vendor and item names, as well as identify and document numbers.
“The best user interface is the one that you don’t need to use — it just runs in the background,” stated Bhavin Shah, director of product management for Basware. “This is what Basware is striving to achieve with the Basware Assistant functionality. By predicting what people might search for in real-time, and communicating that to them in the way they’d ordinarily speak, the system becomes naturally easy to use. Going forward, we will continue innovating in this area, building on the foundation we’ve created to add more functionality that contributes to usability.”
The chatbot debuted at the the Spring 2018 AP & P2P Conference & Expo, currently being held in Orlando, Florida. For more information on the Basware Assistant, click here.


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Malibu can thank Fred Segal (the man) for helping to create its stylish shopping scene — and next year, the seaside city can once again enjoy Fred Segal (the brand) when the California-luxe retailer makes its coastal comeback. After relocating its LA flagship from Melrose to Sunset last year, the legendary name is returning to the 'Bu by way of a massive new store at Malibu Village that's slated to open January 2019.
The retailer is moving into recently-closed Malibu Cinemas' 4,000-square-foot space located across from Malibu Country Mart, the development that Segal transformed in the mid-1970s from a '20s-built apartment complex into a thriving commercial district, as LA Times notes.
The cool department store will feature womenswear, jewelry, accessories, and gifts curated by Maris Collective (which also holds space at Fred Segal Sunset) alongside menswear, an exclusive sneaker shop, and beauty department. The brand's own Fred Segal Originals line, a collection of luxe denim, tees, outerwear, and more Cali-cool wardrobe essentials for women and men, will also be on the racks.
Known for opening LA's first-ever denim bar in 1961, the brand was purchased in 2012 by Sandow Media. Now owned by Sandow and Evolution Media Capital, Fred Segal has since expanded to LAX and Tokyo; it's worth noting that the retailer's Melrose location still bears its name but is no longer part of the celebrity-faved chain.
See more renderings of Fred Segal's forthcoming seaside store below and stay tuned for more details.
3835 Cross Creek Rd., Malibu, CA 90265


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Wal-Mart earning up amid concern about fuel costs
(May 13, 2004) - (Bentonville-AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated announced today that its first-quarter earnings climbed 16 percent from a year earlier, beating Wall Street expectations. Its chief executive expressed optimism about the economy but said he is concerned about gasoline prices that continue to rise. Wal-Mart earned two-point-two billion dollars, or 50 cents per share, for the period ending April 30th. That's compared to one-point-eight billion dollars, or 41 cents per share, a year earlier. The results were a penny a share higher than forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.


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Working with the county’s local authorities, national parks, LEPs, many businesses and tourism representatives, Welcome to Yorkshire says it has taken on the challenge of aiding industry recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The body has been working on a plan to preserve our much-loved attractions, locations and businesses whilst keeping interest high in Yorkshire as a visitor destination.
Welcome to Yorkshire and partners believe that enabling organisations to feel confident that they can offer a safe visitor and employee experience is of paramount importance.
For some organisations the reopening process is well underway, where as for other parts of the sector there is still uncertainty - leading to the launch of Welcome to Yorkshire's ‘Reopen, Recover and Rebuild’ initiative.
The key campaigns to support economic growth will be:
- A revised business membership with an entry level service offering free support and resources for anyone to sign up to.
- The launch of a Yorkshire Gift Card to encourage spend within the county.
- A focused regional support service for North, South, East and West Yorkshire.
- A nationwide marketing campaign to Welcome visitors Back to Yorkshire.
- The launch of a personal membership model to tap in to the millions of Yorkshire connections worldwide.
- A recovery task group will be formed to ensure delivery of the recovery plan.
The Yorkshire tourism sector employs almost 225,000 people with many more in supply chain businesses.
Financial losses as a result of Covid-19 are expected to be well into the billions of pounds and Welcome to Yorkshire have written to central Government on behalf of many small businesses such as B&B owners and hospitality providers.
Chief Executive James Mason said: “The team have worked really hard to keep Yorkshire at the forefront of everyone’s minds. We were challenged to make a case for the region’s tourism offer and it was one we took on gladly.
"We are all very passionate about our county that has suffered the effects of flooding in recent years and now this life-changing virus.
"Our recovery document has been created with short-term, midterm and long-term objectives to reflect the ever-changing times we are experiencing. It must be understood that we will continue to take an organic approach to the situation and have held regular webinars offering up to date practical advice. We are working together with public and private sector strategic partners to ensure that the best possible guidance and support is available to the industry.
"We are very much looking forward to gradually welcoming visitors back to Yorkshire’ when the time is right. This has to start with people on our doorsteps, then nationally and eventually internationally.
"We must bang the big drum to make sure people stop and think ‘we have to visit Yorkshire’. We must also strive to support communities within the county to make sure their offer is attractive to new audiences with continual product development to encourage repeat visitors.”
Chair Peter Box added: “I am confident that our recovery plan will be a hugely important step forward in rebuilding a successful visitor experience, attracting tourists back to the county and playing its part in helping Yorkshire’s economy recover.”
Welcome to Yorkshire also announced its website traffic has increased considerably in recent months with 91% of all hits on www.yorkshire.com in May coming from first-time visitors.
In addition, the social media competition the ‘World Cup of Yorkshire’ has seen several million online engagements to keep iconic names and places at the top of visitors ‘must see’ lists.


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Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today went on to say that India is witnessing a major upsurge in job creation, not in the traditional economy but in the new economy and cited the example of cab aggregators Ola and Uber who created lakhs of jobs in the past year.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha was addressing a session titled “Democracy, Demography, Demand: The Mystery of the Missing Jobs” at the India Today Conclave here.
“There is a tremendous upsurge in job creation, not in the traditional economy but in the new economy, in entrepreneurship,” Sinha said.
“For instance, Ola and Uber have given employment to 10 lakh drivers. So, I would say it is not about the missing jobs..it is about the missing data,” the Minister said.


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WORTHINGTON — Sanford Regional Hospital Worthington (SRHW) recently announced that Holly Sieve has become the marketing coordinator for Sanford Clinic Worthington in addition to her current role as marketing coordinator for SRHW and Southwest Minnesota Radiation Center.
WORTHINGTON — After 37 years of teaching first-graders reading skills and quietly working behind the scenes with the Southwest Minnesota Reading Council, Prairie Elementary teacher Yvonne Sieve has received the 2008 Celebrate Literacy Award from the Minnesota Reading Association.
View your ad here! Cost effective targeted advertising. Contextual advertising starting as low as $79/month. This includes targeted ad delivery and search results! Add your business to the Marketplace »


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The number of new rich in India will almost double over the next five years, posting the fastest growth of 47%, a latest study says.
Visa is working with Accenture to develop a connected car which will lay the foundation for machine to machine commerce and enable payments on the go.
For diesel car owners the closing of the gap between diesel and petrol cars means that it will now take them six years to recover the premium they paid of a diesel car as against 2.5 years it would have taken a couple of years.
Global startups like San Francisco-based car hire company Uber and ecommerce players will have to rework their billing systems in India with the Reserve Bank of India insisting on second factor authentication for all ‘card not present’ transactions in the country.
Commercial vehicle (CV) sales, an important indicator of economic growth and revival, finally appear to be shifting gears after being sluggish for almost 24 months.
Recently, an Indian trekker near the Everest base camp got a text message from a multinational insurer offering a one-week medical cover for Rs 5,000 covering emergency air evacuation.
IRDA has drawn plans to free up pricing of motor third-party cover from 2015 even as insurance companies have raised objections to the proposed new rates.
Bought a car but can't service the EMI? Be careful when you ask the finance company to repossess your vehicle and settle the loan amount.


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Target could face class-action lawsuit, other litigation over data breach
- Mike Sunnucks, Phoenix Business Journal
Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) could face costly class-action lawsuits from consumers as well as litigation from banks and state attorneys general after its massive data breach in which hackers gained access to credit- and debit-card data for as many as 40 million customers.
Patrick Fowler, a partner and business liability attorney with the Snell & Wilmer LLP law firm in Phoenix, says the legal costs to Target could easily be in the tens of millions of dollars.
“It is about as bad as it can get in terms of credit- and debit-card information,” Fowler says.
He says hackers may have been able to obtain unencrypted point-of-sale information with consumers’ personal information, account numbers, credit-card expiration dates and security codes.
He cited a 2007 data breach case involving TJX Cos. Inc. (NYSE:TJX), the parent company of T.J.Maxx and Marshalls stores. That hacking case compromised 45 million consumers and ended up costing the retailer $256 million, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Consumers could sue Minneapolis-based Target if hackers rack up charges and impact their credit. Banks and credit-card companies could take the retailer to court over the costs of issuing new cards and dealing with fraudulent purchases.
Target said the breach started Nov. 27 and ran through Dec.15 and could affect U.S. customers who shopped at stores.
“We have determined that the information involved in this incident included customer name, credit or debit card number, and the card’s expiration date and CVV (the three-digit security code),” the company said in a statement.
Fowler notes the Target breach should also be a wake-up call for small and midsize businesses. He said hackers are actually going after smaller companies more because it can be easier and quicker to hack into systems and computers.
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NEWS: Release of Jurassic Park for Xbox360 changes to 2012
The European Xbox360-version of Jurassic Park: The Game has changed. Telltale Games, developer of Jurassic Park: The Game, says on their forum that the game will be for 2012.
The reason for this delay is that Telltale doesn’t have a European office and therefor is looking for a partner to bring out the game in Europe. “The good news is that we will announce more about that soon. Despite the fact that we can’t launch the game before the end of the year, we’re doing everything we can to bring you the game”, says the statement on the forum.
The PC-version is being released in the US and Europe on the 15th of november. Telltale says they will try to release the Playstation3-version on the same date. The difference between PS3/PC and Xbox360 is that the Xbox-version is being released on disc, while the PS3 and PC versions are available as download.


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Love Cheeseburgers? Well, we have lunch sorted.
Following on from the success of its free McFeast and $1 Big Mac promotions, McDonald's has announced that it will be selling one of its most famous burgers at a very low price.
In the video above, former Maccas employee gets a Big Mac tattoo. But was it worth it?
That’s right, for a 'limited time' on Wednesday, September 18, you can pick up a Cheeseburger for just $1.
All you have to do to take advantage of the offer is to use your mymacca’s app.
More on 7NEWS.com.au
- Plastic McDonald's straws selling for more than $2,000 on eBay
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- Even more food news here
From our friends on the Markdown Addicts Australia Facebook page, when you combined it with some current items on the Loose Change Menu, you have a pretty nice meal for next to nothing.
There are a couple of restrictions; only one cheeseburger per customer is allowed and there are only 500,000 $1 cheeseburgers available today.
7NEWS.com.au has not received any monetary benefit from this content.


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Australia's biggest online shopping night (BOSN) is coming to delicious.
Any serious shopper worth their salt will know that when it comes to shopping online, there are bargains to be found.
For the first time delicious. is joining the likes of Vogue Australia, GQ and Kidspot to bring you an online shopping night of epic proportions. On October 26, delicious. shoppers will be invited to take part in an exclusive 12-hour event, from 12pm AEST to midnight, featuring discounts and rewards from more than 20 retailers.
Think you’ve seen it all before? Think again.
Take advantage of exclusive offers from brands like Pure Naturally, Le Creuset and even Formaggi Occello (hello, cheese addicts!) to fill all those empty spaces in your pantry. But it’s not all about grocery shopping. Hotels (Pier One Sydney Harbour) and restaurants (Margan Restaurant and Winery) have also come on board so that weekend escape you’ve been thinking about just got a whole lot more attractive.
With new offers and retailers added every day in the lead up to the big night, be sure to keep updated via our Facebook page, here.
Click through to the BOSN hub to see a sneak preview of the full list of retailers and offers and start planning your shopping strategy now!
Click here to see all the delicious. deals that aren’t to be missed.


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- New Rite Aid group VP pharmacy initiatives and clinical services to oversee Wellness Ambassador program
- Rite Aid posts $71.5 million profit in third quarter 2014
- Rite Aid introduces interactive higi health stations across the chain
- Rite Aid Q4 revenues up 2.2% to $6.6 billion
- All-star lineup of industry leaders gather for annual Industry Issues Summit
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey merchant was arrested on charges related to selling goods stolen from a local Rite Aid store, particularly cigarettes, according to published reports.
The Trenton, N.J., Trentonian reported Tuesday that police arrested Ladislao Martinez and charged him with fencing stolen goods, organized retail theft and receiving stolen property, seizing cigarettes, paperwork and cash from his store, the MR Supermarket.
The newspaper reported that the Mercer County prosecutor and local police had built a case by working with Rite Aid’s loss-prevention specialists. Rite Aid contacted county authorities after a string of thefts from one of its stores on Trenton’s South Broad Street. The report also noted that in most cases such as this, merchants will purchase stolen items for 15% to 25% of their retail value, allowing them to undercut the retailers from which they were stolen.


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Electronics retailing giant Best Buy Co. said Thursday that it was acquiring Southland appliance chain Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath Centers Inc. for $410 million.
Privately held Pacific Sales, with 14 stores in Southern California and $320 million in annual sales, caters to home-remodeling customers and sells pricey Viking and Jenn-Air brand stoves and Sub-Zero refrigerators.
Minneapolis-based Best Buy sells appliances in addition to electronics products, but its growth has come primarily by focusing on products with relatively low profit margins, analysts said.
"Pacific Sales gives them brands they never had access to," said Colin McGranahan, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "They are clearly trying to move out of the commoditized business and go more toward the high end."
Best Buy plans to keep open all of the Pacific Sales stores and eventually will add more, possibly outside Southern California, said Darren Jackson, Best Buy's chief financial officer.
"We see an opportunity to grow," Jackson said. "We think they can teach us a few things about the affluent customer."
Pacific Sales probably will stick with its current business plan, under which its stores are open only Tuesday through Saturday and close at 6 p.m. "You don't fix what isn't broke," Jackson said.
The Los Angeles-based chain was started in 1960 by Jerry Turpanjian. The founder, now 71, wants to retire, Jackson said. The company was put up for sale several months ago.
Turpanjian declined to comment Thursday.
Best Buy is the nation's largest electronics retailer, with more than 930 stores and $27 billion in annual sales. It grew by offering a variety of CDs, DVDs and appliances.
In 2000, Best Buy bought Magnolia Hi-Fi, a high-end electronics retailer in Seattle. Best Buy has set up Magnolia centers inside some of its stores.
Jackson said it was too early to say whether Best Buy would duplicate that strategy with Pacific Sales.
Best Buy warned this month that "unacceptably high" expenses would hurt its earnings in its current quarter.
In the fiscal third quarter ended Nov. 26, its profit rose 10% to $138 million as sales climbed 10% to $7.3 billion.
The Pacific Sales deal is expected to close next month.
Best Buy shares fell 20 cents Thursday to $43.25.


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David LaChapelle, Andy Warhol: Last Sitting, November 22, 1986, chromogenic print.
ASKING WHETHER NYC
Dorris Intermediate School Principal Kevin Stirnaman, left, is joined by state Sen. Rachelle Aud Crowe and her daughter, Brynn, on Dec. 20 when Crowe delivered school supplies to teachers and st
Staff Correspondent (RMG Times) It is not more than 30 years since many of the garment manufacturers troubled to send the goods to the retailers and brands in Europe and America maintaining
During lunch and dinner, passersby strolling along North Main Street in downtown Columbia might catch the enticing aroma of expertly grilled burgers dripping with roquelain cheese, wafting dow
Editor's note: Gallery shows a combination of self-taken photos and official photographs used with the permission of the American Airpower Museum
You will only receive our top st
Here’s a sneak peek at the trends retailers can expect for the coming year.
The houseplant category racks a major profit for most garden centers, and like any business, trends and prefer
The export of plastic products has witnessed an uptrend as its earnings reached $57.06 million in the first five months (July-November) period of the current fiscal year (FY22), which was also 2
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
Bricks made entirely out of oak wood, and some are stackable, too.
The LEGO Group has just lau


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Lou Reed's Musical Equipment To Be Auctioned Off Online
Posted by Joseph Lee on 06.17.2014
Get the details...
According to Lou Reed's official Facebook, his collection of music equipment will be auctioned off online with proceeds going to developing the Lou Reed Archive. You can find more information about the sale here. New items will be posted every day and were used by Reed and his band. Reed passed away at the age of 71 on October 27, 2013.


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Lynd Fruit Farm to hold holiday market
PATASKALA - Lynd Fruit Farm will hold its first ever holiday market this year, beginning on Nov. 19 and running through Christmas.
The market will have a gift shop with a wide selection of edible items and specialty gift items. Products available will include: apples, cheese, jams, local honey, maple syrup, custom gift baskets, snowmen, ornaments, Christmas tins and signs.
The shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends.
The Fruit Farm will be holding special event weekends on Nov. 11 and 12 and on Nov. 18 and 19 with free crafts for children, wagon rides, food trucks and a visit from Santa Claus.
The market will also feature new Evercrisp apples, a newly patented Fuji and Honeycrisp apple cross, and Goldrush Cider.
For more information, visit www.lyndfruitfarm.com or call 740-927-8559.


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A massive three-alarm fire erupted early Friday at a distribution facility in Redlands, California, engulfing the structure in flames. The building belonged to one of Amazon’s distribution partners that handles extra-large shipments.
Redlands Public Information Officer Carl Baker told Gizmodo that the blaze started around 5:30 a.m. local time. Baker said that roughly 100 employees “self-evacuated” the building, adding that to his knowledge none needed medical attention. The cause of the fire is unknown, Baker said, as the city had not yet started its investigation. Reached by email, an Amazon spokesperson said that the company also didn’t know “the root cause of the fire yet,” but said that “an investigation will happen over the next couple days to determine.”
The Amazon spokesperson told Gizmodo by email that all employees on the premises were safely evacuated from the building. The site is operated by logistics company Kuehne and Nagel, which Amazon says handles shipping extra-large items to customers. Amazon is the warehouse’s only client. The spokesperson said no other nearby Amazon sites were impacted. A spokesperson for Kuehne and Nagel confirmed the same details in a statement to Gizmodo.
“We are glad everyone is safe, and thankful for the efforts of the local firefighters and first responders. This site was operated by a third party and we will support them throughout this process,” the Amazon spokesperson said. The company noted it expected “minimal customer impact” as a result of the incident, adding that orders will be filled at other facilities.
A spokesperson for Kuehne and Nagel told Gizmodo that it is “mobilizing support resources for our employees that have been affected.”
“To our knowledge, the cause of the fire is yet unknown,” the spokesperson said. “The warehouse was dedicated to servicing Amazon business; customer orders will be fulfilled from other sites. We are grateful to the Redlands Fire Department for their quick reaction.”
San Bernardino County Fire, which said it was assisting Redlands Fire Department in fighting the blaze, tweeted shortly after 7:30 a.m. local time that it was a three-alarm fire to which five engines, one truck, and two chief officers from County Fire were assigned. In a statement shared to its Facebook page roughly around the same time, the Redlands Fire Department said it was “on scene of a large structure fire at a distribution center on W Lugonia Ave,” adding that the Westbound I-10 was closed.
“Please stay out of the area,” the department said at the time.


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Amsterdam-based investment firm Standard Investment and its Netherlands-based baking business Dutch Bakery have acquired baking peer PB Bake Off for an undisclosed sum.
Rob Verhoef, the CEO of Dutch Bakery, said the acquisition of the Rijen-based PB Bake Off would give his firm “access to significant additional production” including a modern croissant line with a production capacity of 140m croissants annually.
Verhoef said Dutch Bakery would also benefit from PB Bake Off’s “new freezer facility, which will allow us to continue the rapid growth of our company”.
PB Bake Off is a producer of traditional puff pastry products in the Netherlands. Its products will “undoubtedly be of interest to our customers in the Netherlands and abroad,” Verhoef added. In addition, Verhoef said Dutch Bakery’s portfolio would benefit from PB Bake Off’s know-how in the specialist vacuum packing of bread products.
The acquisition follows Dutch Bakery’s purchase last October of Tjendrawasih, a local company manufacturing oriental snacks, from fellow Dutch food group Buitenfood.


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Reports forecast summer gains, but uncertainty surrounds fall
By Danny King
For U.S. hoteliers and online travel agencies, the living may be easy in summertime.
In the fall? Not so much.
That’s the crux of three recent reports
from travel analysts and trade groups that
are forecasting strong year-over-year gains
for U.S. travel spending this summer and,
from one analyst, a prediction of a spending drop-off once the weather cools.
About 64% of U.S. adults, or 154 million
people, are planning at least one leisure trip
during the next six months, up from the 56%
that were planning summer and early fall
trips a year earlier, the U.S. Travel Association
said, citing an April survey of 2,200 people
that it conducted with MMGY Global.
U.S. Travel also said that the number of
business trips during the past 12 months is
at a five-year high and is expected to rise
“slightly” during the next six
Deloitte, in a
separate report, said 31%
to its April survey of 1,000
on traveling on
54% said they
expected to take
a leisure trip
between June 1
and Labor Day.
UPTICK EXPECTED IN SUMMER SEASON TRAVEL
of people traveling on
Memorial Day weekend
% of people taking a
trip between June 1 and
of people planning
to travel in the next six
SOURCE: U.S. Travel Association and MMGY Global
Due to deadline
the Window Seat
exclusively on www
Those numbers are up from 24% and
52% a year ago, according to Deloitte,
which added that 80% of those polled will
spend as least as much on summer travel as
they did last year.
“Room rates are back to levels remi-
niscent of pre-financial crisis peaks,” Tim
Mullaney, financial analyst at PhoCus-
Wright, said in a webinar conducted on
May 16. “People were waiting for the price
of gas to spawn some pullback in consumer
spending, and it didn’t happen.”
(PhoCus Wright is owned by Northstar
Travel Media, which also publishes Travel
Those predictions are consistent with
a report released this month by Smith
Travel Research (STR) that said U.S.
hotel-room revenue will reach summer-record highs this year.
Revenue per available room for June,
July and August will rise 5.7% from a year
earlier to $73.59, beating out the previous
summer record of $73.26 in 2007, according to STR.
But PhoCus Wright’s Mullaney said such
a boom might be short-lived, noting that
the travel industry is in for “one to one-
and-a-half more good quarters.” After that,
he expects consumers and businesses to
pull back on travel spending,
owing to uncertainty over both
the upcoming presidential elec-
tion and what Congress will do
to address national debt issues.


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The biggest night of the year for Santa Claus was kicked off in Spokane, Washington by having the man himself perform a very meaningful gesture.
The people who had to spend their Christmas away from their families, at work at various fast food restaurants were very surprised when they received a surprise visit from Santa, along with some nice gifts. Santa, Mrs. Claus as well as a few volunteers from Big Table got together for the holiday and passed around $20 bills along with candy cames to the fast food employees that had to spend their holiday working in the industry.
After visiting the Arby's in Spokane, Santa said that it was important to appreciate and not ignore the people that work in the fast food industry since they are often overlooked. He said that those people matter too, and more people need to be aware of this, instead of mistreating the people who are handling the food. This Santa isn't someone who gets to see a lot of children open their gifts on Christmas Day. That's why, for the past five years, he's been seeing the big smiles of the employees in the fast food industry that are working with Big Table, which is a non-profit organization in Spokane, that helps the people who work in the service industry.
The organization plans an annual Holiday Blitz where they get Santa, Mrs. Claus along with a few volunteers to visit these fast food locations and surprise the workers who are working during the holiday and don't have the opportunity to spend much time with their families. The organization notes that it's important to bring a bit of joy to the people who don't have that opportunity, instead of just hoarding the happiness for themselves.
Over the course of two days, while the Holiday Blitz lasts, Santa and the rest of the volunteers are going to visit 38 restaurants around Spokane and treat 410 fast food workers with candy canes and $20 bills. In total, that's over $8,000, and the majority of this money is raised by donations from the community. Santa also added that he can see how much this action means to the employees, especially on a holiday like Christmas.


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NAPOLEON --Lefty's Pizza in the city has new owners and they are working to make sure everyone who walks through the door leaves satisfied.
"Our goal is 100 percent customer satisfaction," said Chris VanScoder, co-owner of Lefty's. VanScoder owns the business with Chad Shock. She said the business has a new management style also.
While owners and management have changed, one thing has not.
VanScoder stressed that the food served will be "the same great Lefty's pizza" utilizing high quality products for great tasting food.
The restaurant, which is located on Lagrange Street near the Chief store off of Scott Street, officially reopened Monday.
It offers dine in, carry out, delivery and a drive through. There will be daily pizza specials as well as a lunch buffet Sunday-Friday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The buffet includes soup, salad, pasta and pizza. It costs $5.79.
Lefty's is open Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. On Friday-Saturday the dining room will be open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m., and the drive-up will be open until 11 p.m.
For more information, call 419-591-1444.


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Akon singing Angel to the Angels, Katy Perry belting out Firework and a pink-wigged Nicki Minaj rocking Superbass…with an A-list history of performers this year’s Victoria’s Secret show has an awful lot to live up to! But fear not, we’ve just got the low-down on this year’s show, which excitingly is tomorrow! *squeals*
Amid the nightmare that was Hurricane Sandy, Victoria’s Secret not only loaned their stage-building forklift to the National Guard for disaster relief (see, fashion people have a heart too!) but in order to get the show back on track, and more importantly on-time, the brand also put up all of their talented costume makers, props and stage designers up in hotel rooms so they could continue working on the supermodel-filled lingerie spectacular.
So what can we expect from this year’s show? We’ve got our hands on all the backstage gossip…
1. The Angels
We already brought you news that Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn will be debuting this year, but now we know Miranda Kerr and Adriana Lima have been at Victoria’s Secret HQ for fittings this week.
2. The Location
There will be two VS shows – one at 4pm and another at 8pm held at New York’s 69th Regiment Armory.
3. The Costumes
In the Silver Screen Angels segment, a special costume is being created by Jamie Filippelli and Mary Shaffer to mark the 10th anniversary of Swarovski Elements’ partnership with the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show- a dazzling look which Filippelli described as made to “make it look like the crystals and beads are floating in the air”
4. The Jewellery
Designed by jewellery designer David Mandel we can look forward to seeing a four foot diamond back python mixed with coloured Swarovski crystals and featuring, wait for it, actual snake eyes sourced from a taxidermist. Gross perhaps, but an impressive attention to detail!
5. The Music
Last but by no means least, this year’s show we can look forward to not one but THREE singers – including Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars. This is a girl’s night like no other, and boy oh boy we will be glued to our TV screens for this one!


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News Article | February 18, 2017
Zuppa di Pesce, 28-day matured steaks, asparagus spears, and a £35 bottle of champagne to wash it down. This may not sound like your typical shopping basket from Iceland, but the UK’s homegrown cut-price chain is experiencing a revival in sales after taking a tip from Germany’s Aldi and Lidl by offering luxury foods that broaden its appeal. After about two years “in the wilderness”, in the words of founder Malcolm Walker, during which sales and profits dipped, Iceland is celebrating its 47th year in business with a surprise revival. Iceland has just been named as the UK’s best online supermarket by 7,000 shoppers polled by consumer group Which? for the second year running. They also rated its stores ahead of much larger chains Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda. The chain increased sales by 8.6% in the three months to the end of January, taking its market share to 2.3%, the highest level since 2001, according to market analysts Kantar Worldpanel. Walker says sales at established stores are rising again after investment in better quality products and some smart advertising campaigns, which are finally helping to shrug off Iceland’s links to Kerry Katona and doner kebab pizzas. “Many companies, if they see a drop in profits, cut costs. We did the opposite and spent money,” says Walker. Backing from Brait, the investment vehicle of acquisitive South African entrepreneur Christo Wiese, which upped its stake in Iceland to 57% from about 20% in late 2015, has helped support the revival. Walker says he brought in new management across all areas of the business, including former Morrisons and Waitrose head chef Neil Nugent who he set up as head of product development with a £3m development kitchen. “It was a bit of a Portakabin before,” says Walker. Ideas have also been imported from The Food Warehouse, a sister chain run by Walker’s son Richard, which is also providing another avenue of growth. It currently has 34 stores, which are larger than Iceland shops and sit on retail parks rather than high streets. There are plans for between 25 and 30 more over the next few years. In Iceland, you can still buy shepherds pie, a cheesy bean and sausage stew or McCain oven chips for £1. But there are also frozen scallops, whole Dover Sole and tuna steaks, as well as Slimming World ready meals, Pizza Express ice-cream and pizzas, and frozen berries for juicing. The chain now has 50 luxury food lines compared with a handful a year ago. The change in menu is tempting in more shoppers while existing customers are spending more. What’s more, nearly 19% of the chain’s punters now hail from the middle class AB demographic, according to Kantar Worldpanel, compared with 16.1% in 2015. Shoppers are buying more fresh and chilled foods, as well as frozen fish and ready meals. Bryan Roberts, a retail analyst at TCC Global, says Iceland has found a way to fight back against stiff competition by Aldi, Lidl and the bigger supermarkets, which had all expanded their ranges of frozen foods. “Historically Iceland has failed to communicate its benefits, using uninspiring celebrities. Arguably they were just preaching to the converted. But its recent advertising has been more aspirational and has demonstrated its often unacknowledged breadth of range in fresh and ambient as well as frozen foods,” Roberts says. Walker also admits Iceland’s website was “a bit Fisher-Price”, or basic, when it first launched three years ago, but online sales are now increasing by as much as 50% year on year. That’s partly thanks to low delivery charges, but those polled by Which? also praised the quality of its fresh products and its friendly, helpful drivers. The next stage of Iceland’s development can be found in Clapham, a well-to-do suburb of south London, where Iceland has been experimenting with a hipsterish store designed to attract shoppers from the Little Waitrose next door. There are smart vertical freezers with sloped doors which show off products more effectively, double the amount of fresh fruit and veg moved to the front of the store and a much bigger wine and beer section. With lots of colourful pictures of food on walls and pillars, it feels more like a small supermarket than a typical Iceland, which can often seem bleak and dated. Regular shoppers filling their baskets on Friday morning say they find it much easier to move around and spot what they want. One says she’s not yet been tempted by the octopus or clams but adds: “Ooh, it’s not too posh for me.” Sales have doubled since the Clapham store’s refit in October, while only about 10% of the range is different to a regular Iceland, mostly imported from Food Warehouse. The group is now planning six more makeovers similar to Clapham elsewhere in London, including stores in Fulham, Worcester Park, Streatham and East Finchley, and will be roadtesting most of the elements at a refit of its Chester store, close to Iceland’s head office, from next week. About 50 more of Iceland’s 882 UK stores are already lined up for a makeover within the next year if the first six perform well. Walker says: “The middle classes wouldn’t have been seen dead in [the Clapham store] before but they’ve said ‘this looks quite smart’ and when they go in they’re blown away by the products and prices.”
News Article | November 15, 2016
On a busy day for corporate and economic news, leading shares have turned their attention away - briefly - from the shock Donald Trump victory in the US election. The FTSE 100 is currently up 60.05 points at 6813.23, while the pound is on the slide after weaker than expected UK inflation figures dampened the prospects of a Bank of England rate rise in the near future. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: Supermarkets are in demand after overall grocery sales rose in the 12 weeks to November 6, according to Kantar Worldpanel, although the individual pattern was mixed. Tesco, up 7.35p to 213.2p, saw sales grow at their fastest rate in three years while Morrisons, 8.4p better at 221p, reported a 2.4% fall, which reflected some store closures. Elsewhere pharmaceutical group Hikma is 66p higher at £16.90 after a positive note from Morgan Stanley. The bank put an overweight rating on the business with a £22 price target, saying: Lack of pipeline visibility has been our main concern. Our new deep dive into Hikma’s medium term pipeline and long term opportunities gives us increased confidence. While it doesn’t change the near term trajectory, it points to a pathway for sustained growth and should lead to a multiple re-rating. Our estimate of a $600m generic pipeline brings clarity. We have uncovered what we believe to be 70% of Hikma’s filed pipeline. Clarity on the nature and timing of projects removes a key overhang. Hikma’s acquisition of Roxane was not only for its pipeline, but also its legal and R&D expertise, which helps position Hikma to deliver and enter a higher value add market. We worked our way down from the 800+ drug list of pending generic filings and found that Hikma is well placed to capitalise long term. A third of this list are Central Nervous System drugs, an area the company has expertise in. We estimate a further combined value of $750m comes from scheduled and extended release drugs, two areas Hikma has been explicit in targeting. While we do not know if Hikma is behind these specific filings, these areas represent the generic opportunity set where Hikma is well placed and likely to pursue, providing a healthy LT pipeline. With Hikma trading at 15 times 2017 estimated earnings, a substantial discount to history, we see limited downside near-term. The stock has underperformed by 19% over the past 3 months; we see upside as we view the stock as oversold. Land Securities has been lifted 33p to £10.18 following a lower than expected fall in net asset value, a 4.5% rise in revenue profit - although it fell into a £95m pretax loss after property revaluations - and comments that it was “relatively insulated” against any weakness in the property market following the “uncharted territory” after the Brexit vote. Tobacco group BAT is 26p better £43.07 despite reports that US target Reynolds had rejected its $47bn bid. But mining shares have lost ground after their recent gains, with Antofagasta falling 40.5p to 665.5p and Rio Tinto down 130p at 3015.5p. The sector had been boosted by hopes of increased demand if Trump fulfils his pledge to boost US infrastructure spending. Among the mid-caps, TalkTalk is down 10.8p at 190.3p following its figures, while biotech group BTG has lost 27p to 619p despite a 24% rise in half year revenues. Analysts said foreign exchange movements had hit earnings, with Jefferies saying:
News Article | December 7, 2016
Last month was a "record breaker" for Apple. The tech giant's App Store saw its highest monthly sales ever in November, tweeted Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, on Wednesday. While Schiller didn't give specifics, data from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Apple's iOS software gaining ground in the smartphone market, which could help boost App Store sales. In the US, iOS grew seven percent year over year, grabbing 40.5 percent of smartphone sales for the three months ending October 2016, according to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. App store sales may also see a December boost thanks to the $10 iOS game Super Mario Run, Nintendo's highly anticipated mobile game set to be released December 15. For more Apple insights from Schiller, read CNET's exclusive interview from late October, just before the announcement of the new MacBook Pro models.
News Article | November 9, 2016
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Nov 9, 2016) - The latest smartphone OS sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows a strong 5.2% percentage point US market share increase for iOS during the third quarter of 2016 to 34.2%. Both iOS and Android made gains across most of the EU5 countries. However, Android posted a 3.3 percentage point decline in the US from 66.7 to 63.4%, while iOS share fell in Germany from 17.5% to 15% and in Urban China from 18.7% to 14.2%. "In the US, the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models made an immediate impact, becoming the best-selling smartphones in the month of September at 17.1%," said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "Strong sales of the iPhone 7 and the lower-priced iPhone 6s, the second best-selling device in the US in September, contributed to an overall growth of iOS to 34.2% in the third quarter of 2016. "Despite some sales from the beleaguered Samsung Galaxy Note 7, still technically available through the month of September, Samsung posted a year-on-year decline from 36.9% to 33.8% of US smartphone sales in the third quarter," Guenveur continued. "The holiday sales season may prove to be more challenging than normal for Samsung, who competes head-to-head with Apple during this crucial time of year. Fallout from the Note 7 recall could have an unintended impact on continuing sales of other, similarly-named Samsung devices (chiefly the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge), as consumers may not always understand the difference between the model names. However, deep holiday discounts, as we saw with the Galaxy S6 last year, may counteract any expected negative impact, as the driving reason for choice among US consumers remains finding a good deal on the price of the phone." "In Great Britain, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus were top-sellers during the month of September, accounting for 15.1% of sales," said Dominic Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. "In the third quarter of 2016, iOS accounted for 40.6% of smartphone sales, a 2.4 percentage point increase from the same period a year ago. It's interesting to note the continued success of the iPhone SE in Britain, accounting for 8.5% of sales in the quarter vs. a share of just 3.5% in the US." "Britain is the only market where Samsung made year-on-year gains, totaling 30.4% of smartphone sales," Sunnebo added. "In Italy, Huawei replaced Samsung as the reigning smartphone leader to become the top brand sold at 27.3%, a 15.2 percentage point gain vs. the third quarter 2015. Samsung accounted for 24.7% of smartphone sales in Italy, a decline from 40.6%. In Spain, Huawei and Samsung are now neck-and-neck, with Samsung edging out Huawei 24.2% vs. 23.3%." In Urban China, Android accounted for 85.3% of smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2016, its second highest share ever in this market. "Oppo continues to see significant growth, gaining 8.2 percentage points over the past year to become the 4th largest manufacturer in Urban China with 11.2% of smartphone sales. The Oppo R9 overtook the iPhone 6s as the best-selling device in the third quarter," reported Tamsin Timpson, Strategic Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. "iOS posted yet another year-on-year decline to 14.2% of smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2016. Importantly, this marks a period-on-period return to growth in sales, up from 13.5% in the three months ending in August. With supply constrained on the iPhone 7, and particularly the 7 Plus, this positive turn for Apple is a good sign, suggesting that as supply grows to meet demand, Apple will be able to turn the tide in Urban China." Note: The Kantar Worldpanel ComTech dataviz can be embedded into online articles for a visual representation of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Smartphone OS market share data. Click here to copy the embed code. To view an HTML version of the summary data and an optional PDF file, please visit: http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/-iPhone-7-and-7-Plus-Boost-iOS-Share-in-US Additional insights are available in our blog post: http://www.kantarworldpanel.com/global/News/Smartphones-in-the-USA-A-Two-Year-Retrospective About Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's Smartphone OS Market Share Data Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's smartphone OS market share data provides the media and businesses with access to the most up-to-date sales and market share figures for the major smartphone operating systems. This information is based on research extracted from the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech global consumer panel. ComTech is the largest continuous consumer research mobile phone tracking panel of its kind in the world, conducting over one million interviews per year in Europe alone. ComTech tracks mobile phone behavior -- including phone purchases, bills/airtime, source of purchase, and usage. It also delivers additional data to promote an understanding of the drivers of share changes, and consumer insight market dynamics. All consumer data in this release excludes enterprise sales. About Kantar Worldpanel Kantar Worldpanel is the global expert in shoppers' behaviour. Through continuous monitoring, advanced analytics and tailored solutions, Kantar Worldpanel inspires successful decisions by brand owners, retailers, market analysts and government organisations globally. With over 60 years' experience, a team of 3,500, and services covering 60 countries directly or through partners, Kantar Worldpanel turns purchase behaviour into competitive advantage in markets as diverse as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment, among many others. For further information, please visit us at www.kantarworldpanel.com. Twitter: Google+: LinkedIn: RSS: Newsletter: Kantar is one of the world's leading data, insight and consultancy companies. Working together across the whole spectrum of research and consulting disciplines, its specialist brands, employing 30,000 people, provide inspirational insights and business strategies for clients in 100 countries. Kantar is part of WPP and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com Twitter: Facebook: Google +: LinkedIn
News Article | July 31, 2016
Online spending on films, music and games in the UK has bounced back, thanks to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and consumers buying the back catalogues of David Bowie and Prince. More than a third of shoppers in the physical entertainment market bought a product with the online retailer Amazon in the 12 weeks to 3 June. This helped the company to achieve its highest ever share of spending on DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs and games outside the Christmas period, according to Kantar Worldpanel. Online sales of physical entertainment products stuttered during 2015 as the high street, led by HMV, made a fightback. Consumers, however, have turned back to Amazon and other online sites because of the size of their catalogue as they look for classic songs and albums by Prince and David Bowie, who both died this year. Prince sold more albums during the 12-week period than any artist apart from Adele. Sales of CDs more than six months old grew by 9% year on year, helped by Prince and Bowie. No music titles, however, made it into the top 30 entertainment products for the quarter. Following its box office success, the latest Star Wars movie was the bestselling title in the entertainment market, with 1.8 million shoppers picking up a copy of the DVD or Blu-ray. Tesco was the big winner, taking nearly a third of all spending on the product. Tesco’s overall sales fell 0.5% in the entertainment sector, meaning its market share dropped slightly to 15.2%. On the high street, HMV’s sales rose 2.3% year on year, increasing its market share from 14% to 16.3%. Amazon’s sales rose 0.5%, increasing its share of spending from 22.5% to 23%. Fiona Keenan, Kantar’s strategic insight director, said: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the biggest Blu-ray film title since Avatar over six years ago and there are signs it has helped get people back into the market – encouraging, given the competition Blu-ray and DVDs face from digital streaming services such as Netflix. “Online spend across the industry has bounced back from declines over the past year and now accounts for over a third of spend – the highest it has been since this time in 2015. “Having the availability of a wide back catalogue means online retailers are extremely well placed to cater to changes in consumer demand, as exemplified by the recent surge in sales of Bowie and Prince albums following the death of both iconic artists earlier this year.”
News Article | February 15, 2017
Apple Finishes 2016 as Top Smartphone Brand in the US NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Feb 8, 2017) - In September 2016, as the world awaited the release of iPhone 7, the anticipated absence of a traditional earphone jack was all anyone was talking about, according to a blog post this week by Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The press warned that this could spell trouble for Apple, and theorized that no one would want a phone without a standard audio jack. "As often happens, buyers demonstrated that the pundits were wrong and Apple was right," Guenveur wrote. "Actual sales numbers for Q4 2016 showed iPhone 7 to be the best-selling phone in the US, Great Britain, Urban China, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia. This boosted Apple's market share higher than during the fourth quarter of 2015 when iPhone 6s was the flagship device." "In an attempt to beat iPhone 7/7 Plus to market, Samsung hurriedly released the Note 7, and it was soon plagued by two different battery issues that ultimately led to its complete recall. As it turned out, the Note 7 problems have not hurt Samsung badly at all. Samsung sales in the US stayed nearly the same year-over-year, and the company remained the second largest brand in the US, with 28.5% of smartphone sales in Q4 2016. The Galaxy S7, which was occasionally mistaken for the Note 7 in some FAA airline safety notices, was the third-best selling device on the market." However, Samsung did not come out completely unaffected, Guenveur added. "Loyalty to the brand in the USA in the fourth quarter was 62%, the lowest level since before the launch of the Galaxy S6 in the first quarter of 2015, when it was 58%," she reported. "The announcement of the Samsung S8 and whatever features it comes with it might be enough to bring these numbers back up, as the Note 7's past difficulties fade from the collective memory." Google achieved a 2% share of smartphone sales with its new Pixel and Pixel XL phones in Q4 2016. Pixel is outselling more established brands in the USA, including Alcatel, HTC, Huawei, and Microsoft. "With Apple and Samsung capturing a combined 73% of US sales, Pixel may not be the predicted iPhone or Samsung killer, but it is certainly giving other struggling Android brands a run for their money. With production of the Pixel 2 rumored to have begun, it will be interesting to watch how Google evolves the Pixel, and how they take on the big competitive 2017 releases, such as the Samsung S8, and whatever name Apple gives its next iPhone," Guenveur said. The full text of Lauren Guenveur's recent blog post can be found here: https://goo.gl/kXMUNF Kantar Worldpanel Comtech also reported today that in the fourth quarter of 2016, iOS continued year-on-year growth across all tracked regions except Urban China. Android gained in most markets, except the US, Great Britain, and Australia. In the US, iOS accounted for 44.4% of smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2016, up from 39.1% in the same period of 2015. Android took 54.4% of sales, down 4.7 percentage points from 4Q 2015. "Although Android still has a larger ecosystem, Apple was the top brand in the US and Great Britain for the final quarter of 2016," Lauren Guenveur said. "In EU5, Samsung was first, with Huawei second. In Urban China, Apple was not able to recapture first place, as Huawei continued to hold that spot." iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were the top sellers for the holiday period, netting their highest share since their release in mid-September, and representing 28% of smartphones sold in the fourth quarter. Samsung's decision not to announce the Galaxy S8 at Mobile World Congress 2017 is not expected to have a large impact on sales, as rumors circulate that the launch will be close to the traditional April date that customers have come to anticipate. Smartphone sales were down overall in the last quarter of 2016 compared to the final quarter of 2015, the Kantar report said, adding that as smartphones become commodities, there are fewer compelling reasons to frequently buy a new one even when promotions are plentiful. Note: The Kantar Worldpanel ComTech dataviz can be embedded into online articles for a visual representation of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Smartphone OS market share data. Click here to copy the embed code. To view the complete global OS data and an optional PDF file, please visit: https://goo.gl/q7IyZM Kantar Worldpanel is the global expert in shoppers' behavior. Through continuous monitoring, advanced analytics, and tailored solutions, Kantar Worldpanel inspires successful decisions by brand owners, retailers, market analysts, and government organizations globally. For more information, please visit: www.kantarworldpanel.com For further information, please visit us at www.kantarworldpanel.com. Twitter: Google+: LinkedIn: RSS: Newsletter:
News Article | February 24, 2017
Even Paddington Bear, it seems, is having a hard time saving his beloved marmalade from an inexorable decline. As the spread’s greatest international ambassador, Paddington has long been an important part of marmalade’s branding process. But a survey has revealed that the once popular spread is now mainly the preserve of older generations, with about 60% of sales going to the over-65s and just 1% to those under 28. The overwhelming majority of purchases – 89% – were by empty-nesters and retirees, according to the survey of 30,000 UK households by consumer researchers Kantar Worldpanel. While images of the Peruvian bear, known for keeping an emergency stash of marmalade sandwiches under his red felt hat, feature on leading brand Robertson’s Golden Shred – after his brief defection to savoury spread Marmite – overall sales of the bittersweet citrus spread have fallen by 4.7% since 2013, while chocolate and peanut butter spread each increased by 56%. And yet there may be reason for hope among aficionados. Paddington still has a little impact: the release of his eponymous film in 2014 led to a slight lift, which may be replicated by its sequel, out this year. And while sales may be down, marmalade is enjoying a renaissance among artisan producers and even drinks distillers. The World’s Original Marmalade awards has received record entries and its taste is finding favour with vodka drinkers. If marmalade’s place in the pantheon really is at risk, it would mean the end of a long culinary tradition. Marmalade in Britain dates to at least the Tudors – Henry VIII received a box as a gift, though this was a quince-based hard paste. The name originates from marmelo, Portuguese for quince, while the Romans and Greeks enjoyed a forerunner, preserved quince in honey. The provenance of the chunky orange marmalade complete with peel we know today may originate in Scotland. There is an apocryphal story of a storm-damaged ship carrying Seville oranges seeking refuge in Dundee harbour where local merchant James Keiller bought the oranges cheaply, after which his wife, Janet, made a preserve and established a business. However it came about, the Keillers established the first marmalade plant. “The first jar of marmalade as we know it today, which is the pulp with the peel, was first made in Dundee in 1797 by the Keiller family,” said Martin Grant, managing director at Mackays, which makes original Dundee orange marmalade using traditional copper-bottomed open pans. Bucking the trend, Mackays – the third biggest brand in the UK and largest exported marmalade brand , selling to 93 markets globally – grew by 12% in the UK last year, said Grant. “Provenance and taste are key,” he said, arguing good quality marmalade, like fine wine or cheese, is appreciated best by the older, more sophisticated palate. Marmalade is not for children, despite Paddington, he said. “I think Paddington is a lovely, quizzical character, and he does a great job for marmalade, and we adore him. But I think if you’re too young and you taste marmalade – think how much sugar is eaten by the younger generation – it’s a bit of a shock to the system”. Britain’s love of marmalade began with the Victorians who saw it as a status symbol. Through colonial administrators, who packed it in their travel trunks, it reached all corners of the British empire. In the Victorian dinner party era bringing Seville oranges as a gift was the equivalent of posting Instagram pictures from desirable locations – “saying look how cool I am, I went to Seville and brought back these oranges,” according to James Chase, brand ambassador for Chase Distillery, maker of marmalade vodka. Started and run by his father, William Chase, at the family’s Herefordshire farm, the company’s marmalade vodka was inspired by his grandmother’s homemade marmalade. “We love to shake it up with ice, strain it into a martini glass, garnish it with orange peel – a breakfast martini,” said Chase, whose family company also founded Tyrrells English Crisps. Today it is one of their bestsellers and is found in some of the world’s top bars. “Marmalade has always had these trends,” said Chase. “One day it’s the talk of the fashion industry, like when Victoria Beckham was craving it during her pregnancy. The next it’s a stodgy old jam that’s been forgotten about. “But I think, made well, marmalade is such a British classic that it will always stand the test of time”. Jane Hasell-McCosh, who 12 years ago started the World’s Original Marmalade awards and festival at Dalemain, a Georgian mansion just outside Penrith in Cumbria, said sales and interest in artisan marmalade had increased year on-year. The awards started with 60 jars, “and now we are up to 3,000 this year”. Entrants come from all over the world. “We got a lot from Japan this year and it was fascinating how many different citrus fruits there are in Japan that I’d never heard of,” said McCosh. The awards ceremony is on 18 March. Her favourite category is a marmalade to be eaten with savoury food. “It still had to be dominantly citrus, but it could be eaten with fur, fish or fowl. It has been the most innovative and interesting category,” she said. No vinegar, she stressed, otherwise it’s not marmalade, it’s chutney. Marmalade has woven its way into the fabric of British life. A “marmalade dropper”, for instance, is a term used to describe a newspaper story guaranteed to shock or surprise readers over breakfast. “In the second world war, it is said, Winston Churchill insisted we must keep the marmalade orange boats coming,” said McCosh, “because, culturally, it would keep our morale up”. She believes her awards have helped contribute to a renaissance in artisan marmalade, and that the market for traditional, artisan spreads from small producers is on the up. As for the younger generation: “I’ve always thought marmalade is quite a sophisticated taste. It’s not sweet, it’s quite bitter, and children are very tempted by sweet things.” Having said that, more and more young people are entering the awards. “We have got grannies and granddaughters. People are sharing the making of marmalade between generations. I don’t accept it is dying. We are engulfed in marmalade this year.”
News Article | October 28, 2016
Retailers are already being forced to cut the price of their winter ranges as yet another mild autumn wilts demand on the high street for warmclothing. Department store chains House of Fraser and Debenhams are offering up to 30% off coats, knitwear and boots this weekend, forcing rival John Lewis into a round of price matching due to its Never Knowingly Undersold price promise. Other stores ranging from Hobbs to Phase Eight and Monsoon are also trying to drum up business with selected discounts, while Whistles is offering up to £50 off coats and knitwear. David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, said retailers were trying to kickstart spending as shoppers were holding back on purchases in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, the online shopping bonanza at the end of November. “Last year, Black Friday was bigger than Christmas, with promotions running over four days, so people are holding off spending and that diminishes retailers’ sales in the weeks before and after,” he said. Fashion retailers are struggling to win over shoppers at a time when spending their disposable income on leisure activities such as eating out and holidays has become more popular. Analysts at Kantar Worldpanel said earlier this month that spending on clothes and footwear in the UK had dropped to its lowest level in seven years. Its figures showed that shoppers spent £700m less on clothing, shoes and accessories in the year to 25 September than they had during the previous 12 months. On Tuesday, Debenhams said its clothing business had fared slightly better than the 4% decline seen across the market in the past six months as growth in holiday clothing, including swimwear, and outfits for special occasions rose, while sales of everyday clothing slid. “Maybe gone are the days of just buying. You have got to really want something to buy,” said Suzanne Harlow, the group’s trading director. The weather has not been kind to fashion industry executives in recent years, with mild winters followed by erratic summer temperatures making it difficult to persuade Britons to update their wardrobes at the start of a new season. However, some of the malaise in spending was self-inflicted, said McCorquodale: “Fashion retailers have tried to straddle the seasons, but have not done a particularly good job of it. A lot of the fashion has just not been that inspirational.” The cold snap earlier this month provided clothing chains with a much-needed boost, according to the weekly high street sales tracker produced by advisory firm BDO, which monitors the performance of mid-sized fashion chains. However, its latest data shows sales are once again falling, with like-for-likes down 1.21% in the week to Sunday 23 October. “While some of the upscale and bespoke fashion retailers enjoyed moderate boosts, this was offset by declining sales amongst mid-range fashion retailers and across the peer group,” said BDO. Analysts are keenly watching how clothing market leader Marks & Spencer reacts to the tough trading environment. Its new boss, Steve Rowe, appears to be holding his nerve, with the most notable winter promotion being a chance to buy a wool scarf for £5 when customers spend £40. Rowe is trying to wean the retailer off an over-reliance on discounting after more than 40% of its clothing was sold on promotion last year.
News Article | February 15, 2017
Samsung Maintains US Market Share of 28.5%, Mostly Unscathed by Note 7 Issues LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Feb 8, 2017) - The latest smartphone OS sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that in the fourth quarter of 2016, iOS continued year-on-year growth across all tracked regions except Urban China. Android gained in most markets, except the US, Great Britain, and Australia. "Although Android still has a larger ecosystem, Apple was the top brand in the US and Great Britain for the final quarter of 2016," said Lauren Guenveur, Consumer Insight Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "In EU5, Samsung was first, with Huawei second. In Urban China, Apple was not able to recapture first place, as Huawei continued to hold that spot." In the US, iOS accounted for 44.4% of smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2016, up from 39.1% in the same period of 2015. Android took 54.4% of sales, down 4.7 percentage points from 4Q 2015. "iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were the top sellers for the holiday period, netting their highest share since their release in mid-September, and representing 28% of smartphones sold in the fourth quarter," Guenveur added. "Despite the expected fallout from Samsung's problems with the Galaxy Note 7, the company maintained a share of 28.5%, down only 0.9 percentage points from one year earlier. Samsung's Galaxy S7 flagship device, announced at Mobile World Congress 2016, was the third best-selling phone in the fourth quarter. Samsung's decision to not announce the Galaxy S8 at Mobile World Congress 2017 is not expected to have a large impact on sales, as rumors circulate that the launch will be close to the traditional April date that customers have come to anticipate." Android accounted for 50.6% of smartphone sales in Great Britain in the fourth quarter of 2016 vs. iOS at 47.6%. This marked a slight decline for Android from 51.9% in the same period the previous year, while iOS grew nine percentage points. "Apple achieved its highest loyalty ever in Britain, with 96% of those Apple owners who replaced their phones buying another iPhone," reported Dominic Sunnebo, Business Unit Director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe. "More than 50% of iPhone 7 buyers were upgrading from iPhone 6 as the brand's lifecycle continues to hover around 24 months. Beyond Apple and Samsung's combined 73% share of smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2016, the market remained fragmented. Brands like OnePlus, Alcatel, and Google experienced an increase from the prior year, while big names like Sony, LG, and HTC declined." Android accounted for 80.7% of Q4 smartphone sales in Urban China, an increase of 9.3 percentage points year-over-year. iOS made up 19.1% of smartphone sales, down from 27.1% in the same period a year earlier. "iPhone 7 remained the top-selling model in the Chinese market in the last quarter of 2016 at 6.8%. However, its share was smaller than last year's iPhone 6s, which represented 10.5% of sales in the fourth quarter of 2015," said Tamsin Timpson, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Asia. "Looking at the broader market, there was a shift in popularity. The Top 10 list of smartphone models sold in Urban China in 2015 consisted of just three manufacturers Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi. In 2016, a fourth vendor was added to that list -- Oppo." Smartphone sales were down overall in the last quarter of 2016 compared to the final quarter of 2015, Guenveur pointed out. "Considering iPhone 7's top-seller status, the absence of a round headphone jack was not a big issue for consumers -- and the fallout from the Galaxy Note 7 battery problems was not a significant factor either. As smartphones become commodities, there are fewer compelling reasons to frequently buy a new one, even when holiday discounts are plentiful. Technology continuously moves forward, and while smartphones remain at the center of many new technologies like VR, connected home, and IoT, they are no longer the most exciting devices in the household," she concluded. Note: The Kantar Worldpanel ComTech dataviz can be embedded into online articles for a visual representation of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Smartphone OS market share data. Click here to copy the embed code. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech's smartphone OS market share data provides the media and businesses with access to the most up-to-date sales and market share figures for the major smartphone operating systems. This information is based on research extracted from the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech global consumer panel. ComTech is the largest continuous consumer research mobile phone tracking panel of its kind in the world, conducting over one million interviews per year in Europe alone. ComTech tracks mobile phone behavior -- including phone purchases, bills/airtime, source of purchase, and usage. It also delivers additional data to promote an understanding of the drivers of share changes, and consumer insight market dynamics. All consumer data in this release excludes enterprise sales. About Kantar Worldpanel Kantar Worldpanel is the global expert in shoppers' behaviour. Through continuous monitoring, advanced analytics and tailored solutions, Kantar Worldpanel inspires successful decisions by brand owners, retailers, market analysts and government organisations globally. With over 60 years' experience, a team of 3,500, and services covering 60 countries directly or through partners, Kantar Worldpanel turns purchase behaviour into competitive advantage in markets as diverse as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment, among many others. For further information, please visit us at www.kantarworldpanel.com. Twitter: Google+: LinkedIn: RSS: Newsletter: Kantar is one of the world's leading data, insight and consultancy companies. Working together across the whole spectrum of research and consulting disciplines, its specialist brands, employing 30,000 people, provide inspirational insights and business strategies for clients in 100 countries. Kantar is part of WPP and its services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com Twitter: Facebook: Google +: LinkedIn
News Article | September 29, 2016
Sales at HMV went backwards last year as it retreated from the challenging video games market, and Britons’ move away from physical CD, films and games collections continued. HMV turned over £325m in the year to 2 January compared with £366m in 2015, a figure that was bolstered by the inclusion of an extra week’s trading. Despite the decline, HMV chair, Paul McGowan, described the figures as “encouraging”, pointing to market-share gains made in physical music and film sales. “We are very pleased to be approaching our fourth anniversary since we acquired HMV and these encouraging results mirror the exciting year we have witnessed,” said McGowan. McGowan said overall sales had been “in line with budget”, with the decrease down to a 53-week trading period in 2015 as well as the decision to reduce shelf space devoted to video games. The toughness of the games market has been well documented by specialist Game Digital, which has issued a profit warning every Christmas – which in common with HMV is its most lucrative time of year – since returning to the stock exchange in 2014. HMV was bought out of administration by restructuring firm Hilco in 2013. The entertainment chain, established in 1921, had been felled by the financial squeeze created by high debt levels and falling sales. Hilco’s £50m buyout salvaged just over half the HMV chain which now trades from around 120 stores. McGowan, also chief executive of Hilco, said HMV increased its share of the physical music market from 26.7% in 2014 to 27.7% in 2015. Its share of the DVD market also increased from 20.1% to 21.2%. Vinyl sales at established stores surged more than 50% as Britons rekindle their relationship with their record players, HMV said. More recently Hilco was involved in the BHS store closure programme. According to Kantar Worldpanel, the market for physical music, video and games declined by 8.3% to £2.1bn in 2015. The most recent quarterly figures for the entertainment market show it continuing to contract at a similar rate, down 8.1% in the 12 weeks to 3 July. The accounts filed at Companies House show HMV Retail made a pre-tax loss of £8.8m after expenses that included £10.3m of payments to sister companies. Top line operating operating profits were £11.7m, down from £15.2m in the previous year. Among the biggest related party transactions is a £7m payment to Hilco company Goodmans Capital Investments, comprising a £6m loan repayment as well as £1.1m of interest. HMV relaunched online last June and McGowan said the site was enjoying strong growth, pulling in around 1m visitors per month. It has also started selling products such as speakers and turntables online, with the latter enabling it to cash in on the resurgence of vinyl. According to the most recent figures from Kantar Worldpanel, HMV increased its share of the physical entertainment market by 2.3 percentage points to 16.3% in the three months to 3 July compared with the same period a year ago. However, its share was down on the previous quarter’s high of 16.9% as Britons jumped online to buy Star Wars: The Force Awakens and shop the back catalogues of the late David Bowie and Prince.