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SHANGHAI — Huawei, the embattled Chinese language expertise big, is slashing its gross sales expectations for this yr by round $25 billion because the Trump administration’s clampdown on the agency takes a chew out of its enterprise.
Talking at an occasion on Monday at Huawei’s headquarters within the Chinese language metropolis of Shenzhen, the corporate’s chief govt, Ren Zhengfei, stated he anticipated annual income to come back in at about $100 billion each this yr and subsequent earlier than recovering in 2021.
Final yr, Huawei took in additional than $105 billion in gross sales, helped by its fast-growing smartphone enterprise. Mr. Ren stated in January that he predicted one other bumper yr in 2019, with gross sales leaping to $125 billion.
However that was earlier than america final month reduce Huawei off from the American chips, software program and different components that go into its handsets and telecommunication tools, saying that the agency represented a risk to nationwide safety. American officers have lengthy stated that Huawei’s merchandise may very well be utilized by Beijing to disrupt or sabotage digital communications, prices that the corporate vehemently rejects.
Washington has taken its case in opposition to the Chinese language big to lots of its allies abroad, main governments world wide to rethink whether or not the agency ought to be allowed to construct next-generation 5G telecom infrastructure.
The corporate, one among China’s proudest company champions, has change into a focus within the fierce battle that has engulfed the world’s two largest economies. Washington handed down the restrictions on American corporations’ dealings with Huawei after Chinese language and American negotiators failed in early Could to succeed in an settlement to finish their yearlong tariff battle.
The Trump administration had already infected tensions with China late final yr by arranging the arrest in Canada of Mr. Ren’s daughter and Huawei’s chief monetary officer, Meng Wanzhou, as a part of a felony case in opposition to her and the corporate associated to American allegations of theft of commercial secrets and techniques and violations of sanctions in opposition to Iran. Huawei has denied wrongdoing.
President Trump is predicted to satisfy with China’s prime chief, Xi Jinping, at a Group of 20 assembly in Japan this month, and clemency for Huawei may very well be a part of a broader compromise on tariffs. However lawmakers from each events in Washington have urged the Trump administration to maintain the query of Huawei’s destiny separate from the commerce negotiations. They are saying that easing again on Huawei would lead different governments to consider that American officers should not honest in arguing that the corporate is a safety menace.
On the occasion on Monday, Mr. Ren stated that Huawei had not anticipated america’ actions to undermine the corporate as severely because it had. Different Huawei executives have stated the corporate stockpiled laptop chips and digital parts in anticipation that it might someday be unable to buy them from American suppliers.
“We did make some preparations,” Mr. Ren stated on Monday. “It’s like we’re on a broken airplane. We solely protected the center. We solely protected the gasoline tank. We didn’t shield different, smaller components.”
The corporate has additionally stated it’s growing its personal working system to switch Google’s Android in its handsets. Nevertheless it stays to be seen whether or not shoppers in Europe, as an illustration — the place Huawei has change into an enormous smartphone vendor — will need to use gadgets that run on unfamiliar and probably less-tested software program.
Huawei is anticipating its smartphone gross sales exterior China to crater by two-fifths, Mr. Ren stated on Monday. The corporate isn’t publicly traded, but it surely releases some monetary outcomes and forecasts as a gesture towards openness.


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She may have the fastest selling album in iTunes history, but not everyone is happy with Beyoncé’s success — and it’s not just limited to brick-and-mortar stores either.
Responding to Beyoncé’s iTunes exclusive, Amazon has joined Target in announcing that it will not stock physical copies of the Beyoncé album (although the album is available from Amazon’s online US MP3 store if a customer searches for it).
According to Billboard, iTunes has 41 per cent of the US retail music market, versus a combined 14 per cent for Amazon and Target.
However, while physical albums sales have more than halved since 2007, it is also worth noting that they (surprisingly) still represent $13 billion yearly sales in the US, versus $10 billion for digital sales.
Beyoncé is unlikely to be phased by the reaction to her iTunes triumph, but the reaction from retailers such as Amazon and Target could nonetheless make less established acts think twice about replicating the iTunes exclusive approach to releasing their music.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

domain: news


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the Alibaba group’s director for Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, Rodrigo Cipriani, said he wanted to integrate Viajes El Corte Inglés on the Fliggy travel platform.
Fliggy is a search engine for accommodation and flights developed for Chinese users by Alibaba. It has about 200 million registered.
This agreement would allow Viajes El Corte Inglés to present an offer designed for these tourists, and the number of which continues to grow. In 2018, 150 million Chinese travelled around the world. An increase of 15% over the previous year, according to figures from the Chinese government.
Viajes El Corte Inglés is the group’s second-largest source of revenue after its traditional business activity. In 2018, its turnover reached 2.722 million euros, representing a growth of 5% compared to the previous year. Its gross operating surplus increased by 18%, reaching 64 million euros.
In 2018, the number of users of Alibaba has increased by 100 million, exceeding 600 million. The Chinese group has also acquired Lazada, the largest e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia.


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5 Ways That Entrepreneurs Use C2FO to Grow Their Businesses
25 January 2023 |
The C2FO Team
Getting paid faster can open the door to more rapid growth, bigger orders and more.
It takes money to make money, and that’s why so many small businesses find it difficult to tackle new opportunities when they arise. They don’t always have the funds to ramp up production or service a huge new client.
C2FO was created to solve this problem by putting working capital into business owners’ hands as quickly and conveniently as possible. Payment can be received on the next immediate payment run, which can be in as little as two days.
Even better, it can be done without any hidden fees, without any long-term contracts, without any of the other frustrations that make companies avoid traditional lenders, factors and other providers.
See what it looks like in action. Here are five ways that real businesses are using C2FO to keep growing.
Compete for more business opportunities
MES, an Italian civil and industrial engineering firm, has earned a sterling international reputation for its work on extremely large and complex construction projects, such as ships, hotels and hospitals.
Unfortunately, these projects typically consume large amounts of time, too, and owner Massimo Esposito had trouble invoicing clients in advance. As a result, he sometimes lacked the operational funding to tackle new projects and grow his business.
Then a client told Esposito about C2FO, which lets MES get paid within days in exchange for a small discount. Even better, C2FO doesn’t have the time-consuming documentation requirements that many factors and banks insist on.
“The process is very simple. With two quick clicks on the platform, I can launch a request for payment and have an answer within a day,” Esposito said.
Now that MES has almost on-demand access to capital, Esposito has expanded his team from four people to roughly 160 now, allowing him to pursue even more projects.
“A whole new world opened up,” he said.
Funding new growth and expansion
UK-based ADXBA — provider of digital video displays used in stadiums, airports and other venues — has rapidly scaled its business even as travel and entertainment struggled during the toughest parts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With C2FO’s early payment solution, ADXBA was able to secure the funding it needed to pay for operational costs (like the purchase of hundreds of monitors) even as it made investments in a string of other initiatives, such as entering new markets, and opening a new assembly and production facility.
Even better, using C2FO is faster and less burdensome than working with other partners.
“We can draw down on approved invoices within days and with no ongoing contractual requirement,” said Jim Kerr, ADXBA’s managing director.
Invest in more inventory without relying on a bank
Exceptional Trading B.V. is the leader in private-label lighters for Belgium and the Netherlands, supplying supermarkets and other retailers in each country. Until recently, though, owner Sheila Keijzers had a major problem with inventory.
“We have to finance our stock far in advance,” Keijzers said. ”Sometimes up to six months in advance. Before we were introduced to C2FO, we were dependent on our supplier in Hamburg and on the bank.”
Today, Exceptional Trading can almost instantly increase its cash flow with C2FO’s early payment. The company’s customer will pay its outstanding invoices within days in exchange for a discount negotiated via C2FO’s platform.
As a result, Keijzers and her team have more control and more options when ordering inventory.
“It all works so easily and perfectly that you don’t have to worry about it,” she said. “As an entrepreneur, that is great because you’ve already got enough to do.”
Increase bargaining power when purchasing inventory
C Ajans, a Turkish company specialising in outdoor advertising, says C2FO’s early payment not only has accelerated payments but also has given C Ajans more power when buying inventory. Because it has more money on hand, it can command better pricing.
“We increased our bargaining power with our own money,” manager Salih Akaner said.
Using C2FO has another benefit for C Ajans. When the company needs working capital as soon as possible, it doesn’t have to deal with banks that charge high fees for providing that kind of help.
“When we discovered the C2FO programme, we realised we could actually gain an advantage by quickly incorporating our receivables into the system,” Akaner said. “We decided that capitalising on this advantage would be a valuable strategy for our company.”
Protect margins and improve the cash conversion cycle
Chi-Enterprise, a German company that sells more than 1,000 food supplements, massage devices and other health products for personal use, was facing up to 90 days to receive payment whilst needing to pay nine months in advance for stock and delivery.
Today, the company uses C2FO to request early payment in exchange for a small discount.
“We can receive the money that we are owed earlier in exchange for interest, which enables me to improve my liquidity, which is honestly the be-all and end-all in a business like this,” owner Christopher Schneider said.
By increasing Chi-Enterprise’s cash flow, the company has the ability to fight margin compression by buying on more advantageous terms and shrinking its cash conversion cycle.
The bottom line
Making working capital more accessible to small businesses allows them to take the next step in their evolution, whether that’s funding new and rapid growth, tackling bigger orders or reducing costs by qualifying for discounts.
C2FO is uniquely positioned to help companies get that funding — without hidden fees, without long-term contracts, without requiring collateral or an egregious amount of paperwork. Learn how our on-demand platform can help your business get paid faster.


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Move over, Nicole Miller. Make room, Jerry Garcia. The latest designer name in men's neckties is John Lennon. Yes, that John Lennon.
The pen-and-ink drawings of Lennon are the basis of a new line of ties manufactured by Burma Bibas through a licensing agreement with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono.
Any doubt about demand for the product flew out the doors along with the merchandise when 3,000 of the silk ties, priced from $35, sold in the first 10 days they were available at Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store in New York. Saks CEO Philip Miller gleefully proclaimed the Lennon ties "the hottest-selling tie in the history of Saks Fifth Avenue."
Each tie comes with a sketchbook of Lennon's art, including the drawings that form the basis of the tie patterns such as "Embrace," depicting Lennon and Ono, "Peace, Brother," which shows Lennon walking with his son Sean, and the well-known "Self Portrait" of Lennon.
Celebrities spotted sporting the ties include television sportscaster Pat O'Brien, who wore the "Self Portrait" print while doing sideline interviews during the recent 49ers-Washington football game, and television host Bryant Gumbel, who has been wearing a Lennon tie on the "Today Show."
There are five patterns out right now, and manufacturer Burma Bibas is getting ready to launch new designs in limited editions of 2,500 to 5,000 three times a year. The first set is expected in time for Father's Day.
Besides the ties, in the United States Lennon's artwork is reproduced on T-shirts, posters, greeting cards and eye wear, Clifford says.


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By Adriano Marchese
Shares in Quebecor Inc. rose in early trading Monday after the company said that it has reached an agreement with telecom companies Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. to buy Freedom Mobile Inc., worth an enterprise value of 2.85 billion Canadian dollars (US$2.19 billion).
At 1002 ET, Quebecor shares were trading 8.3% higher at C$29.96, while Rogers shares rose 5.5% to C$62.29. Shares in Shaw also rose, climbing 7.6% to C$37.26.
In a joint statement Friday before midnight, the companies said that Quebecor had agreed to buy Freedom on a cash-free, debt-free basis which would expand the Quebec-focused diversified media and telecom company's wireless operations to a national level.
As part of the sale, Quebecor would get all of Freedom Mobile's branded wireless and internet customers as well as its infrastructure, spectrum and retail locations.
The divestiture comes at a time when the combination of Rogers and Shaw, announced in March of last year, is under scrutiny by Canada's competition watchdog and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.
"Our agreement with Quebecor to divest Freedom is a critical step towards completing our proposed merger with Shaw. We strongly believe the divestiture will meet the Government of Canada's objective of a strong and sustainable fourth wireless services provider," Rogers President and Chief Executive Tony Staffieri said.
The transaction is dependent on a number of conditions, including clearance under the Competition Act and the approval of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, a governmental department.
The deal would close concurrently with the closing of the Rogers-Shaw transaction.
Write to Adriano Marchese at firstname.lastname@example.org
Corrections & Amplifications
This was corrected at 11:00 a.m. ET because the original version incorrectly said the sale of Freedom Mobile was announced late Sunday. It was announced Friday before midnight.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 20, 2022 10:19 ET (14:19 GMT)Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


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With the Google Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5, Google has introduced new smartphones that offer Android in its purest form. Despite great ambitions, however, they are cautious about expectations for sales figures and have therefore only ordered surprisingly small numbers.
As reported by the Japanese business service Nikkei Asia, Google has only placed orders with its contract manufacturers for around 800,000 Pixel 5, which are to be produced there this year. The group is therefore setting a very low rate, which is said to be primarily due to the lack of success of last year’s two flagship smartphones, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL.
Why Small numbers planned for 2020?
Overall, Google only wants to produce around three million copies of its current Pixel smartphones this year. This applies to pixel 4a, pixel 4a 5G and pixel 5 taken together. In addition to the disappointing figures for the Pixel 4 models for the internet company, the background is also the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which is severely weakening purchasing power on an international level. In addition, there is a lot of pressure from the strong Chinese manufacturers. In total, Google had only sold around 1.5 million smartphones in the first half of 2020, which is a significant decrease compared to the same period last year. At that time, thanks to the popular Pixel 3a with 4.1 million units, it was already a respectable success in the smartphone market, mainly because Google’s devices were much less widely available than those of the competition.
For Google, the situation in the smartphone market has deteriorated considerably overall, also because US customers are currently investing primarily in other electronic devices. Instead of buying a new smartphone, most US customers currently prefer to spend their money on cheap notebooks, televisions, or everyday goods, according to the report from market observers from IDC. Internationally, the situation should not necessarily look better.
Digital marketing enthusiast and industry professional in Digital technologies, Technology News, Mobile phones, software, gadgets with vast experience in the tech industry, I have a keen interest in technology, News breaking.


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Global fintech giant Spotcap secures $50 million investment as it looks to expand presence in Australia
Global online lending platform Spotcap has closed a $50 million funding round and will be using some of the capital injection to grow its operations in Australia.
Spotcap’s third funding round was led by international private equity firm Finstar Financial Group and brings the fintech startup’s total funds raised to more than $80 million.
The online lender opened an office in Sydney in May last year, and managing director of Spotcap Australia Lachlan Heussler says the startup has been expanding rapidly in Australia.
“Our growth has exceeded our internal expectations,” Heussler tells StartupSmart.
“The month-on-month growth has been extremely high, to the point that January was a record month for Spotcap Australia and globally.
“That surprised us.”
He says some of the new capital will be used to grow operations in Australia.
“It will be used to grow our existing operations in the countries we operate, improve our product offering and continue to ramp the business up, of which Australia is becoming an increasingly significant part,” Heussler says.
Growth of fintech in Australia
He says this investment lends credibility to online lending and fintechs in Australia.
“This absolutely validates that these products are needed in the market and we are providing services to SMEs that are needed,” Heussler says.
“This validates that we are sitting on top of a potentially very, very large business that will continue to grow over the next 12-18 months.”
Fintech in Australia is starting to find its feet and could be set for big things, he says.
“We’re just scratching the surface and getting started with fintech in Australia,” Heussler says.
“The industry is on the verge of something great and continued investment is needed in order to reach its full potential.”
Leaders pulling ahead
A handful of leaders are emerging in the online lending space in Australia.
“Now there are four or five established players in the market in Australia and hopefully that’s where things will be for the next little while,” Heussler says.
“The barriers to entry are increasing with the amount of capital existing players are now playing with. The online lending industry as a whole has got so much better and we’re only just starting on the journey.”
For Spotcap in Australia, a big part of this journey will be putting their offering on show.
“Now it’s up to us to increase the awareness of these products in the market,” he says.
“There are still hundreds of thousands of small businesses that don’t know we’re out there.
“We have the aim of being the global leader in short-term and business financing.”
Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.


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Bill Hazelton is the Founder and Managing Director of CreditCardAssist.com, which provides tips for small business owners about business credit cards, advice for consumers about cash back rewards programs and the latest credit card industry news.
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Lei Jun, the founder of Chinese consumer electronics maker Xiaomi, once again talked about the company’s vehicle business. On February 9, Lei said on the company’s most recent Investor Day that a quarter of his time was spent on mobile phones, IoT, and high-end involvement, half on cars and a quarter on other things.
Lei mentioned that Xiaomi Auto is striving to enter the top five in the world within the next 15-20 years, adding that Xiaomi‘s 100% ownership of Xiaomi Auto lies in the reuse of company-wide resources. In the past three years, Xiaomi has established 10,000 offline Chinese stores, which are very helpful to the marketing of Xiaomi Auto.
Regarding the time frame, Lei said, “The vehicle is a century-old field. As long as you are optimistic about the automobile industry, it is never too late. The development of Chinese electric vehicle makers is 6-7 years ahead of Xiaomi, but Xiaomi‘s advantage lies in electronic technology and user experience, and the delivery time in 2024 is just right.”
Last year, Xiaomi Auto and other new businesses attracted more than 3 billion yuan ($439 million) of investment, with more than 2,300 R&D personnel. In September last year, the first batch of soft-film vehicles went offline as scheduled, and winter tests started in December, showing that the progress of each team was better than expected.
On August 11, last year, The Paper reported that Xiaomi had invested 3.3 billion yuan in R&D in the field of autonomous driving in the first phase, and had set up an R&D team with a scale of over 500 people. Meanwhile, Xiaomi‘s automatic driving technology has entered its testing stage. In the first phase, 140 test vehicles have been planned, with the goal of entering the auto industry in 2024. This means that in the past six months, Xiaomi‘s R&D team has expanded by nearly 1,800 people.
When talking about the profit expectation of Xiaomi Auto, Lei said that, in the long run, aside from hardware profit, vehicle software profit is more important. “Xiaomi‘s advantage lies in its ability to integrate. Cars can integrate sales, after-sales service and charging piles. In the future, cars can integrate more and more services,” Lei added.
Lei predicted that the macro environment would improve this year, and the consumer electronics market has started to pick up, but risks and challenges still exist. In terms of business strategy, Xiaomi has put profits in an important position, optimized its management structure, improved its efficiency and business model, and will maintain huge cash reserves and invest cautiously.
“We are a company that serves users. We look forward to one day linking mobile phones, cars and smart home appliances.” Lei added, “We do not rule out mergers and acquisitions of some good companies, but we will consider stable operations.”
When talking about ChatGPT, Adam Zeng, president of Xiaomi‘s mobile phone department, introduced that ChatGPT is based on a large AI model, with 100 billion-level parameters, data volume, manual labeling and other technologies. Xiaomi has always invested in large AI models and has extensive applications in the ChatGPT field, such as Xiaoai Tongxue, an intelligent voice assistant, and robots.


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A deli has been denied a licence to sell super-strength Eastern European lager amid concerns over booze-fuelled prostitution and crime in the area.
Convenience store owner Karim Aidross applied to Middlesbrough Council to sell alcohol at European Deli, on Linthorpe Road.
The authority was told the shop would sell convenience goods - including super-strength lagers - aimed at the Eastern European market.
But the council rejected his bid after hearing that popular Eastern European lager brands are typically as strong as 6.5% and the store is in an area blighted by alcohol-related problems.
Central Ward is a cumulative impact zone, meaning there is a special requirement for licensing decisions to prevent crime and protect children.
The committee heard how the premises lost its licence in 2015 after a raid uncovered illegal tobacco .
Mr Aidross said it was unfair to take the history of the premises - formerly known a Multi Culti - into account as it is now under new management.
He said: “I’m the new director and the new owner of the business.
“The old owners have nothing to do with the business, I don’t know who they are and I’ve never associated myself with them.”
However, when asked about his understanding of the cumulative impact policy, Mr Aidross was unable to convince committee members that he had the experience or knowledge to meet its objectives.
“I’ve studied and I’ve worked hard all my life. It’s important for me to do something by myself as a young man. I want to grow and develop myself.”
He added that he would be happy to comply with any condition imposed by the council.
“I’ve said that alcohol of higher strength and percentage will not be sold in the shop. I’ve said I’ll work hand in hand with the local authority,” he said.
But Cleveland Police officer, PC Jason Arbuckle, outlined the seriousness of problems in the area.
“We’ve had reports of vehicle crime at the back, prostitution, drug taking and, to be honest with you, alcohol is pretty much at the heart of all those jobs that get reported from the local businesses,” he said.
Giving his opinion on the applicant, Mr Aidross, PC Arbuckle added: “For me, he certainly hasn’t demonstrated to my satisfaction, that he knows what he’s doing and his roles and responsibilities when it comes to selling alcohol.”
Summing up, Joan Smith, representing Middlesbrough Council, said: “An applicant in this kind of area should come armed with the information and knowledge to show you that they will not impact upon that policy, that they will not undermine the problems already in this area - that they will not undermine the licensing objectives.”
Middlesbrough Council rejected the application. An appeal can be made to Teesside Magistrates' Court within 21 days.


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Largest U.S. transport company encourages more international free trade
The largest trucking logistics company in the U.S. is the United Postal Service (UPS), which operates at thousands of locations throughout the country. Recently, this business announced that its representatives support recent discussions by President Barack Obama and his administration for movement towards international free trade.
UPS handles many mail transactions and freight hauling nationwide, but the company also deals with requests abroad for package transportation and more. With these new free trade agreements between the U.S. and countries such as Panama, South Korea and Colombia, American exports could potentially double within the next few years. This could greatly impact UPS and other logistics companies throughout the country.
"By giving American businesses greater access to the 95 percent of consumers who live outside the U.S., these agreements will increase exports and create jobs at home,” Scott Davis, UPS chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
After completing the necessary compliance training for truck drivers, individuals who wish to enter this industry may consider working for a large and successful business such as UPS, which can offer job security for national and international opportunities.
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
The largest trucking logistics company in the U.S. is the United Postal Service (UPS), which operates at thousands of locations throughout the country.


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Get the Recipe
Last week, a law nicknamed the "anti-kebab law" was passed in the Lombardy region of Italy (which includes Milan), reports the New York Times. While it applies to all fast-food and takeout eateries, including gelaterias, it seems to be targeted at the mostly immigrant entrepreneurs behind the kebab joints.
Under the new legislation, customers can no longer dilly-dally on the adjacent sidewalks outside the joints, and the joints themselves must close by 1 a.m. (prime time for meat on a spit).
Protesters have called this a thinly veiled stab at immigrants, and in response, are rallying on Facebook. With 4,279 members, "No alla legge anti-kebab della Regione Lombardia. Disobbedienza alimentare" has inspired many emphatic wall postings. The center-right majority behind the law argues that it will preserve the "real" Italian cuisine and do away with questionably hygienic street foods.
Hmm, anything anti-street meat rubs me the wrong way.


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KENYA – Del Monte Kenya, one of the leading fruits processor in Kenya, has invested US$5.8 million (Shs580 million) in setting up a new fresh fruit processing facility.
The new state-of-the-art processing facility will enable the firm
The new facility will have an annual processing capacity of 60 tonnes of fresh fruits which will be locally sourced and is expected to create about 200 new jobs.
Del Monte managing director, Stergios Gkaliamoutsas, said that the new facility in Kenol, Central Kenya, is expected to be completed in August this year and will start processing of avocados, mangoes and passion fruits.
“Del Monte Kenya plans to source fruit from local and regional growers in Murang’a and Kiambu counties. We will prepare and package the products from the new Del Monte facility for both local and international markets,” said Mr Gkaliamoutsas.
Currently, the fruit processor has more than 6,500 employees and creates about 28,000 indirect jobs through the production and value addition chain.
The new facility comes at a time when Del Monte Kenya Limited is marking its 70th anniversary.
“Over the past several decades we have turned vacant, unoccupied, unused land into thriving plantations with irrigation and water infrastructure, roads, clinics, and schools that benefit the entire community.
“We’re now looking forward to taking these accomplishments further alongside the Kenyan government and its people,” Gkaliamoutsas emphasized
Del Monte Kenya is also set to supply a range
According to a Business Daily report, Coca-Cola had said that fruits for the processing of the several juice brands of Minute Maid Nutridefenses and Powerade, fruits will be provided by Del Monte from contracted farmers within the country.
The new facility also strengthens the company’s expansion and diversification strategy ahead of its competitors including Kevian Kenya, the producer of Afia and Pick N’ Peel juice brands.
Del Monte, which operates about 10,000 acres of pineapple plantations, started local production of fruit juices in the country in 2010 and supplies its product both to the local and export markets especially to the European market.


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Brokerages expect CUI Global, Inc. (NASDAQ:CUI) to report $19.76 million in sales for the current quarter, Zacks Investment Research reports. Three analysts have made estimates for CUI Global’s earnings, with the lowest sales estimate coming in at $16.97 million and the highest estimate coming in at $21.50 million. CUI Global posted sales of $23.14 million in the same quarter last year, which suggests a negative year over year growth rate of 14.6%. The business is scheduled to report its next earnings report on Monday, August 14th.
On average, analysts expect that CUI Global will report full year sales of $19.76 million for the current fiscal year, with estimates ranging from $84.30 million to $85.30 million. For the next fiscal year, analysts expect that the business will post sales of $119.30 million per share, with estimates ranging from $100.00 million to $154.59 million. Zacks Investment Research’s sales calculations are an average based on a survey of research analysts that that provide coverage for CUI Global.
CUI Global (NASDAQ:CUI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The industrial products company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $17.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.20 million. CUI Global had a negative net margin of 10.10% and a negative return on equity of 15.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share.
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CUI. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of CUI Global from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services began coverage on shares of CUI Global in a research report on Wednesday, May 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of CUI Global in a research report on Monday, March 20th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of CUI Global from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. CUI Global presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.00.
Shares of CUI Global (NASDAQ:CUI) opened at 3.7900 on Wednesday. The firm’s market capitalization is $79.44 million. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.13. CUI Global has a 52-week low of $3.17 and a 52-week high of $7.39.
In other CUI Global news, CEO William J. Clough bought 17,500 shares of CUI Global stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $3.28 per share, with a total value of $57,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,666 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $123,544.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 34,615 shares of company stock worth $118,306 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.67% of the company’s stock.
A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CUI. Marathon Capital Management increased its stake in shares of CUI Global by 9.3% in the first quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 1,570,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,443,000 after buying an additional 133,355 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CUI Global by 2.9% in the first quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 1,183,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,610,000 after buying an additional 32,955 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of CUI Global by 37.0% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 613,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,908,000 after buying an additional 165,789 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CUI Global during the first quarter valued at approximately $840,000. Finally, Croft Leominster Inc. increased its stake in shares of CUI Global by 4.0% in the first quarter. Croft Leominster Inc. now owns 153,330 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 5,930 shares during the period. 63.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About CUI Global
CUI Global, Inc is a platform company. The Company’s segments include Power and Electromechanical, Energy and Other. The Power and Electromechanical segment includes its subsidiaries, CUI, Inc (CUI), CUI Japan and CUI-Canada, Inc, which provide electromechanical components, including power supplies, transformers, converters, connectors and industrial controls for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
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Germany EU move to help Pakistani exporters save $200 million: Experts
Islamabad: Germany on Friday said European Union preferential trade deal can help Pakistani textile industry considerably increase its exports.
EU which imports around Euro 83.7 billion of textile products per annum will welcome increased share of Pakistan in its promising market. Textiles account for over 60 per cent of the total Pakistani exports to the EU.
The energy situation will need to be improved for the textile sector to get maximum benefit of the Pakistan waiver, said Samy Saadi, Trade Counsellor and Head of Economic Section, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Talking to Samina Fazil, founder President, Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI), he said that energy situation has harmed Pakistan exports to Germany and led to decrease in 2011.
German exports to Pakistan stood at $947 million while her imports from Pakistan stood at $1.2 billion, he informed. The total bilateral trade volume has been steadily on the rise and still bears much potential, he added.
Mentioning efforts of the Punjab government to strengthen its agricultural sector, he said that Punjab is among world leaders in many agricultural sectors. Its progress in milk production is encouraging which is presently 3 times lower than many European countries.
Samy Saadi said that uniting and educating people related to agriculture can trigger development as current level of exports of fruits, dairy, and vegetables are relatively low. However, there is a great potential if production is improved, he added.
He said that efforts were underway to introduce Pakistani agricultural products in Germany with the help of Metro.
He said that Germany and the EU imports fish worth euro 15.5 billion euro; we are open to restoring fish imports from Pakistan. He mentioned that concerted efforts were being made to improve the situation and expressed hope that Pakistani exports would be resumed soon.
Samy Saadi informed that Germany is eager to hike investment in Pakistan; “We are engaged in development cooperation focusing on energy, education, vocational training, health and governance and believe in more mutually beneficial commercial activity both ways”.
At the occasion, Samina Fazil stressed the need for enhanced support to Pakistani women entrepreneurs. She demanded frequent exchange of trade, cultural and economic delegations and help in generating clean energy and through Thar Coal.
She tanked Germany for helping EU deal which according to industry experts can help Pakistani textile sector save $200 million in duties alone.
Bangladesh coastline is half the length of Pakistan but their farmed shrimp exports are ten times more to 600 million dollars, she observed.
Pakistan requires up to $25 billion in infrastructure development that is a good opportunity for German investors. The most promising sectors include oil and gas, agro-industry, IT, textile and other machinery, mining, precious and semi-precious stone sector, franchising, consumer goods and environmental technologies, said Samina.
Demanding improved access to the German services market, Samina said that Germany should support Pakistani women entrepreneurs to explore their market to fulfil our economic revival agenda.
For more information, contact:
Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Mobile: +92323 5343199
Tel: +9251 2252256


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Most small business owners around the country do not plan to hire due to the uncertain economic outlook. Parts of the HVAC industry seem to be trending in the opposite direction, however, as many contractors say they are planning to hire over the next 12 months.
The “great recession” has come and gone. But has it left a hangover? Of course. But it isn’t all doom and gloom. The economic downturn has given business owners the unique opportunity of turning the mirror on themselves.
When it comes to small HVAC contractors drawing attention to themselves, they find putting a company name on the back of a jersey, buying ads in a hometown newspaper, and volunteering for a service project becomes a way to draw attention to the company.
Samuel Guy Neese Jr. is 73 years old, and he has been in the HVAC trade for 51 years. He has seen ups and downs during his career, but through it all he continues to return to work every day with unheard-of stamina.


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American Apparel Inc. is the latest retailer to offer customers one-hour online delivery.
Amazon.com is expanding its product range yet again.
Specialty online fashion retailer Rue La La is launching a series of themed online boutiques that tie in with the original digital consumer engagement channel – TV.
Meeting Walmart’s product information requirements is not always easy for its suppliers, but the retailer is providing a new option that may make things a little simpler.
As the national conversation regarding violence in the workplace suggests a heightened awareness stemming from increased media coverage, recent studies suggest there may be statistical evidence supporting this perceived frequency.
Home furnishings retailer Joss & Main is overhauling its shopping experience by focusing on helping shoppers create a beautiful home for less.
As the notion of channel conflict subsides, consumer packaged goods companies who don’t elevate their digital game are playing to lose and a new study from a two industry leaders shows just how much.
The explosive growth of connected devices combined with consumer preference for retailer-brand protection plans creates a growing opportunity for retailers to boost revenue and shopper loyalty.
It’s not drones, but Amazon.com has found a new way to make quicker deliveries via air.
The number of retail industry innovators on the agenda for Shoptalk now exceeds 230 and organizers of the event slated for mid-May aren’t done yet.


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One of internet music fans' least favourite organisations got their comeuppance today - their website was the victim of a surprisingly well-executed, amusing and ironic hack attack this afternoon.
For those of you not aware, the Recording Industry Association of America are the people who, not content with shutting down Napster and Audiogalaxy, threatening lawsuits left right and centre and introducing silly copy protection measures to stop you playing or copying new music CDs on your computer, are now campaigning for the legal right to hack into users' computers in search of illegal mp3s.
Well - having been declared war on by the RIAA, it seems that pissed off geeks and music fans are starting to fight back. For several hours, the website at http://www.riaa.com/ was defaced - not with the usual immature 'w3 0wn3zz0r3d j00!! 5uxx0r5!!' hacker boasts, but with a subtle alteration of many existing pages of the site, including a headline news article entitled 'RIAA willing to try alternative approach to music-sharing services', a collection of pirated mp3s to download from the RIAA server itself, and a mysterious link pointing to information about giant monkeys! an excerpt:
RIAA against music sharing? Not anymore!
RIAA to sue music sharers? Not Anymore!
With the legal file sharing service Kazaa still online, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today announced that it intends to offer the latest albums for download from riaa.org.
We have recently become aware that this approach is yielding only limited results and in some cases may in fact be harming sales and the artists' revenue stream. The RIAA wishes to apologise for the heavy-handed manner in which the popular chinese site Listen4Ever was closed down, and would like to present the following items for free download as a token of its goodwill.
Needless to say, the server has now been taken down as admins assess the damage, and their own stupidity in leaving the IIS/4.0 box insecure. For those of you who want to see a piece of the action, and have a snicker at the expense of a bunch of self-righteous major label sock puppets who'd rather blame internet users for their recent sales decline than the blatant lameness of the American billboard charts, mirrors are currently available of the hacked site here, the front page here and here, or a screenshot here or here. ;-)


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news portal, business, and sugar news in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Hey, I’m shivani. I’m a news portal living in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. I am a fan of business, news, and Industry news. I’m also interested in business news and news and updates. You can visit my company website with a click on the button above.


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While we're in San Francisco at Macworld this week, there's also a Mobile Games Forum going on in London, and one of the discussions over there got a little heated when the talk turned to EA's big Christmas sale on the App Store. Mobile developers have said before that EA's big push down on even ...
Software Updatesmore updates
- Apple Remote Desktop updated with Yosemite support
- OS X Yosemite 10.10.2, iOS 8.1.3 updates now available
- Sports Illustrated 120 SPORTS channel comes to Apple TV
- Logic Pro X update brings AirDrop support, new effects, tools, and more
- Parallels Access 2.5 released, adds file manager, computer-to-computer remote access
- The Google Translate iOS app is about to get a lot smarter


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Joining The Rhode Show with some looks, that men can all achieve, was Jim Fortier from Blueprint 5.
Best Selling Author, Ellie Kay, discuss an initiative she and Walmart are involved with to help military families
Travel and Leisure has named Newport “One of America’s Best Towns for the Holidays.”
You may have visited the Newport mansions in the past, but the Preservation Society is always adding new exhibits.
Brian Cunha of Brian Cunha & Associates helps us understand the ins and outs of homeowner’s insurance.
Original “Star Wars” toys are now selling for thousands of dollars!
Pastry Chef Marisa Walachy from Milk Money joined The Rhode Show to make beignets.
According to multiple reports Tebow and Culpo split up recently due to Tim’s commitment to abstinence.
The holiday season is officially underway and The Rhode Show is kicking it off in the City by the Sea.
Joining us via satellite to tell us how to get the best holiday gift deals on this Cyber Monday was the founder of Thegiftinsider.com, Linds…
Lady Project founder Sierra Barter discusses the ultimate holiday gift guide.
NiRoPe, Nick, Ron and Pete Cardi, along with Sgt. Brandt Weilbacher from the U.S. Marines, joined The Rhode Show Monday to talk more about i…
For some it’s the most wonderful time of the year, but a new consumer reports poll reveals the anxieties that many Americans have when it co…
Go Providence has brought Chef David Firda from CAV restaurant, making Shrimp and Cognac Jus and Jasmine Rice.
Jon Stott of The Children’s Workshop shares tips for navigating your child’s eating habits.
The East Providence High School Marching Band joined The Rhode Show to give a festive performance.
Travelzoo has picked out some of the best deals around for everyone on your Christmas list.
Explore the historical town where the pilgrims first arrived on the Mayflower!
Santa tells everyone about his upcoming appearances at the Roger Williams Park Zoo
Mom blogger, Courtney Caligiuri, shares a few Thanksgiving crafts that the whole family can do together.


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PARAMUS, N.J. -- Have an old TV and want to learn about a new one? Paramus' Samsung Service Center is having a "Trade in & Trade Up" event, to help folks recycle old TVs -- and buy new ones -- on Saturday, June 11.
Consumers can bring in TVs of any brand and receive a 15-percent-off coupon to purchase a Samsung TV online in the following week.
There will also be food trucks and info on new Samsung TV offerings.
The event will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the parking lot next to REI and Red Robin at The Outlets at Bergen Town Center.
Visit the service center or call 888-321-4994 with questions.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


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Since 2014, online fashion retailers such as Pantaloon and Trent have offered unsustainable prices to penetrate the market and put pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers. However, now it seems that investors have lost patience and want to capitalize on the market share by generating profits.
According to a Credit Suisse report, the shift in investor mentality is partially due to slow growth in the Indian ecommerce industry, which has lowered the expectations for the future, and therefore investors now want to see profitability rather than solely growth.
Moreover, the regulatory landscape has changed, which has caused company valuations to plummet, and so, investors want to see that these etailers can produce sustainable results.
This change has been long under way, and so has the realization that Ecommerce firms are not just competing on price. As Rakesh Biyani, MD at Future Group says: "We realize that the customer wants shopping experience and latest assortments of merchandise, not just price-offs."
However, when a firm has been discounting its product for a long time, it is not as straightforward to increase prices. Customers become accustomed to this price, and while the new, higher price may still be fair when compared to competitors' prices, the reckless discounting behavior still causes some undesirable anchor effects, as prices are raised without adding any incremental value.
Learn more about how you best justify a price increase here.


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Support industry dilemma:
06:00 | 14/05/2021 Industry
(VEN) - Support industry enterprises, which are the backbone of the country’s industrial development, are facing major opportunities offered by Vietnam’s unprecedented number of new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) but are constrained by numerous challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Poor financial, tech capacity
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, support industry enterprises account for almost 4.5 percent of all manufacturing and processing businesses in Vietnam. A number of Vietnamese producers are capable of manufacturing molds of all kinds, bicycle and motorbike components, and standard mechanical components, among other parts and components. Increases in the local content in a number of industries are attributed to the support industry’s improved production capability.
|The number of Vietnamese enterprises joining the global supply chain remains small|
However, 99 percent of support industry enterprises in the country are super small, small and medium in size with poor financial and technological capabilities. They still find it difficult to benefit from preferential credit, taxes and land lease rates.
A representative of a support industry enterprise said his company encountered difficulties in accessing capital, attributing the problem to the banks’ and financial institutions’ problematic lending policies. Truong Thi Chi Binh, Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam Association of Supporting Industries (VASI), said it is supremely difficult for enterprises to access preferential credit and it is even hard for them to access credit from credit funds due to hard-to-meet, complicated collateral procedures. In other countries, businesses with a major order from such world leading brands as Samsung and Canon are eligible for preferential credits, Binh said.
Support industry law
Businesses have urged relevant authorities to provide support enterprises with access to market information, credit and other preferences. They also proposed that the government prepare and submit to the National Assembly for approval a support industry law. Some have suggested that the government get foreign corporations in Vietnam to increase their local content by encouraging them to place orders with Vietnamese support industry enterprises.
|Support industry enterprises expect development incentives|
On August 6, 2020, on the advice of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Prime Minister issued Resolution 115/NQ-CP on support industry development that is expected to create a big push for support, processing and manufacturing industries. The resolution sets out a 2025 goal for Vietnamese enterprises to produce highly competitive support industry products, meeting 45 percent of the essential needs for domestic production and consumption; accounting for about 11 percent of industrial production value. The goal calls for some 1,000 enterprises to be capable of directly supplying assembly enterprises and multinational corporations in Vietnam, with domestic enterprises accounting for about 30 percent.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade will amend and supplement regulations on support industry development. The ministry’s Industry Agency will work with regional market authorities and Vietnamese trade offices abroad to strengthen investment promotion and global production chain development, and take advantage of FTAs signed by Vietnam.
|According to various plans and forecasts, by 2030, support industry products will meet 70 percent of the demand for domestic production and consumption; accounting for about 14 percent of industrial production value. There will be about 2,000 enterprises capable of directly supplying assembly businesses and multinational corporations in Vietnam.|


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The slowdown in the global smartphone market is starting to take a toll on Samsung Electronics.
The South Korean company’s net income fell short of analysts’ estimates as the sluggish market hit demand for its Galaxy devices, even as Chinese rivals step up their competition. Net income was 11-trillion won (US$9.8-billion) in the three months ended June, compared to the 11.6-trillion won average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The results reflect Samsung’s troubles in shoring up its mobile business, despite resilient demand for its memory chips. Shipments in the smartphone market are declining after years of rapid growth, while China rivals such as Huawei and Xiaomi are grabbing more market share. Chinese competitors are also threatening the South Korean company’s display business with products ranging from cheaper televisions to state-of-the-art smartphone screens.
“Consumers are losing the belief that the next version of a smartphone is actually smarter,” said Paul Swiercz, a management professor at George Washington University. “Even those wanting to own the latest and greatest are having difficulties paying high-margin prices for performance and features that have topped out.”
Operating profit rose to 14.9-trillion won on sales of 58.5-trillion won, Suwon-based Samsung said, confirming preliminary numbers released earlier this month. The Korean won rose against the euro and several other key currencies, resulting in a negative impact of net 400-billion won on the quarterly operating profit compared to the previous quarter. The company’s tax bill also rose to about 28% of pretax net income, five percentage points higher than a year earlier.
Huawei reported on Tuesday that its revenue rose 15% for the first half of the year, without breaking out results for its smartphone or other divisions.
“They have a very aggressive Huawei to deal with,” said Cliff Maldonado, an analyst at BayStreet Research in San Francisco.
In China, the biggest market for semiconductors, Samsung faces an investigation over allegations of collusion in chip business along with SK Hynix and Micron Technology. The three companies control more than 90% of the market for dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips.
Chips are up
Operating income from the chip unit amounted to 11.6-trillion won, accounting for the lion’s share of profit.
Contract prices for 32GB DRAM server modules climbed 2.8% in the June quarter from the March period, which saw them rise 5.6%. Prices for 128GB MLC NAND flash memory chips fell about 9%, according to inSpectrum Tech.
Samsung shares fell less than 1% after the results. The stock has declined about 9% this year after trading near record highs in 2017 when the world’s biggest chip maker posted record profit on demand for semiconductors used in everything from data servers to smartphones.
Display panels make up another part of revenue for Samsung, which supplies OLED screens to Apple for its iPhone X even as the two sides compete in the premium phone market. Samsung’s operating profit from its display business was 140-billion won, down from 1.7-trillion won a year earlier.
With growing competition from China, Samsung’s smartphone division posted 2.7-trillion won in operating profit, down from 4.1-trillion won a year earlier. After a decade of growth, the global phone market is slowing as consumers wait for the next level of innovation such as bendable-screen phones and devices for 5G wireless networks.
“Chips remain the goose that lays golden eggs for Samsung, but golden days may be over for its smartphones,” said Claire Kim, an analyst at Seoul’s Daishin Securities. — Reported Sam Kim, (c) 2018 Bloomberg LP


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Adidas has recently come to market with several new technological advancements in their Basketball sneaker line. Their newest technology, GCS or Ground Control System, has made its way onto the recently released Adidas Lyte Speed, pictured above. GCS is
“designed for players who use quick directional changes to define their game, the Lyte Speed Ground Control Systemâ„¢ adapts to the playing surface to give you exceptional control and agility at high speeds. Ground Control Systemâ„¢ adapts to the ground for improved handling and stability during high-speed maneuvering”.


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A private jewelry store inside Disneyland, where visitors often buy engagement rings, is scheduled close because of the poor economy.
The Jewel of Orleans has operated inside the theme park in New Orleans Square for about 12 years. But the recession has cut into business so much that the store plans to close as of April 15, said Lucretia Jacobs, whose family owns the shop.
“It’s been a tough year, a couple of years, all around for luxury good retailers, like ourselves,” Jacobs said. “It was primarily an economic decision. It was a tough decision because that store has a lot of sentimental value.”
- Update: 13 killed, 31 injured, in tour bus crash on 10 Freeway near Palm Springs
- Man dies in crash on 405 Freeway in Seal Beach
- Photos: Jimmy Buffett fans have one last party at Irvine Meadows
- 'There's no better setting for this:' Beach-side air show wows thousands of spectators
- Bonsignore: Sticking with Case Keenum - and Jeff Fisher - isn't answer for Rams


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Cloud-based CRM startup Capillary Technologies has raised $14 million in Series B funding led by existing investors Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.
The company will be using this investment to improve its cloud-based integrated marketing platform and grow its partnership ecosystem which includes Blue Label Engage in South Africa and the American Express’s Global Merchants Services group in the United States.
Capillary Technologies co-founder and CEO Aneesh Reddy told LiveMint that they will be using the investment to build products for the Asia region to help retail ventures transition from offline sales to online sales. He also noted that South East Asia and India contribute over 50% of the company’s revenues.
The company has also signed a new partner called Agilysys which develops and markets proprietary enterprise software, services and solutions to the hospitality industry. It operates throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Capillary Technologies mentions that this partnership will enable them to offer solutions to companies in the hospitality industry.
Founded in 2008 by Anish Reddy, Krishna Mehra and Ajay Modani, Capillary currently offers solutions such as InTouch (customer engagement), Customer Intelligence (analytics), Campaign Manager (personalized offers), Social Connect (social rewards), Clienteling (tablet app), Lifecycle Marketing (predictive intelligence) and has 16 offices around the world, out of which three are in India.
The company recently launched its Intelligent Customer Engagement (ICE) software suite that is apparently designed to help retail marketers engage with customers on social networking sites.
Some of its customers include the British retailer Marks and Spencer, French clothing brand Lacoste, the KFC chain of restaurants, South Africa’s clothing manufacturer Keedo and a Southeast Asia electrical, IT and furniture retailer Courts.
Trouble brewing in paradise?
This news comes at a time, when one of the co-founders Krishna Mehra is rumored to be exiting the company, as per a source-based The Times of India report. One of the sources told TOI that Mehra had too many differences with Reddy.
Mehra who shifted to the US about an year ago to manage the company’s business in that region, however told TOI that he is only moving out of his sales role to focus on the development of new products. Sequoia Capital principal Shailesh Lakhani also told the publication that Mehra would now be focusing on the company’s innovative technologies team which is based out of Silicon Valley. He has also apparently helped recruit people who will be taking his place in the company.


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The average value of LCVs sold at auction reached the highest level ever in June, according to BCA.
It said the average value rose by £558 during the month to reach £9,933, which represented a 22.7% increase compared with June 2020.
BCA UK COO Stuart Pearson said: “The continued strength in the LCV market has surprised many, but June was another very robust month, with values rising to record levels and BCA’s LCV sold volumes continuing to increase.
“Over 2,000 different professional buyers competed for commercial vehicles in our online events, underlining the choice and quality of vehicles that BCA delivers from the best vendors in the industry.”
“We’re currently offering more commercial vehicles from more locations than ever before, with the aim of making it as efficient as possible for our customers to interact with BCA. We continue to drive enhancements to our LCV imagery and grading methodology to support their buying needs.”


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THE Federal Trade Commission said last week that it was dropping its investigation of DoubleClick's online advertising practices, ending a closely watched case against the Internet's biggest and perhaps most-maligned advertising network.
Privacy-rights advocates were quick to say that DoubleClick still has fires to put out, in the form of class-action lawsuits and investigations by state attorneys general.
Still, to investors and many business leaders, the F.T.C. announcement was a reminder of how far DoubleClick has come since the days when its name was widely synonymous with privacy invasion. Even as some privacy advocates continue to push the company to change its data-collection policies, others formerly critical of DoubleClick acknowledge that the company has made great strides in helping develop industrywide privacy standards.
Now, analysts and executives say, the chief issue facing DoubleClick and its competitors is how to regain the revenue momentum that vanished along with so many of their dot-com clients. To help do so, analysts predict, DoubleClick will proceed with plans to use offline data in conjunction with data the company has collected about users' online surfing habits -- albeit with a new privacy religion guiding the way.
Of course, the idea of using information about individuals' offline buying behaviors to bolster online surfing data is what detonated the online privacy bomb in the first place. When DoubleClick announced plans in the summer of 1999 to buy Abacus Direct, which tracks the catalog buying behavior of millions of consumers, privacy advocates began scrutinizing the company.
Among other things, the privacy people feared that DoubleClick would know too much about too many consumers who had not received enough notice about DoubleClick's tracking or adequate opportunities to block the surveillance. The defense DoubleClick offered was that it had given consumers adequate notice about how to reject its ''cookies'' -- small files containing identification numbers, which DoubleClick places on users' hard drives when they visit one of DoubleClick's 1,500 affiliates. Unless the user disables it, a cookie tracks the user's online movements.
The answer, analysts said, is not necessarily. ''DoubleClick is developing a way to leverage the Abacus database so they can target banner ads,'' said David Doft, an analyst with ING Barings.


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In recent months the technology and finance industries have been in flux with the activities of new companies finding novel use cases for blockchain technology and the parallel rise in the value of cryptocurrencies. One company is ramping up its plans for a launch of its blockchain lottery platform, which has been a year in the making.
An unprecedented step for Kibo’s token holders
Kibo Lotto is a platform developed by an international team that uses blockchain to make lotteries more convenient and transparent, and in recent days they announced an early Christmas present for their token holders by offering a distribution of $13 mln of their team funds to investors in the platform. Per their blog, the rate of distribution for investors is as follows:
“For example, this means that if you spent $500 to purchase tokens or platform, then, according to the distribution plan, you will be credited with $1000.”
This is essentially a first in the ICO world, meaning that users are making returns on investment even before the platform is launched – as a way for the company to give a “thank you for your support” message to the community. This is feasible since the Kibo team had decided to keep part of the ICO-raised funds in ETH and not convert to fiat. User verification for the distribution is until December 20th, with users being required to process a verification request.
The company discussed the distribution plan they are providing to token holders on the official blog site, saying:
“The distribution plan does not in any way affect the further development of Kibo. As we already mentioned earlier, a large team is working on the project, and in the coming months, we will publish a lot of news. In the same way, this distribution is by no means a purchase of tokens or platforms from their owners. All tokens and platforms in full and without any changes will remain to the current owners.”
In this way, the Kibo team wants to say thank you to everyone who supported them from the beginning. Given that the project is at a high stage of readiness, and today the launch of Kibo is mostly restrained due to unresolved issues of scalability, and this doesn’t depend on the project team in any way. This is really an interesting experience for the entire ICO industry, and it demonstrates the openness and the desire of the team to better consider interests of its partners.
The team is also hoping to release the platform for a limited number of users in the 1st quarter of 2018, while the global launch dependents on potential upgrades to the Ethereum network.
The distribution announcement comes as the platform nears completion, with the Kibo dev team on to the testing and code refactoring stage. The platform allows participants to set up their own lotteries and competition above-board and securely, which will completely decentralize the lottery industry. Until now there were no feasible means for an individual to transparently run such competitions and guarantee trust of their participants.
The Kibo team have been working on the finger details of the platform in recent months, aiming to make it as accessible to users and investors as possible. The largely untested at scale Ethereum protocol has been put under the microscope by the team, aiming to make transactions as cheap as possible for users.


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How much headway has Linux made into the SMB market? While the open source operating system has made some inroads with SMBs, it still has a long way to go to approach the popularity enjoyed by Microsoft.
A LinuxWorld article cites research from two consulting firms, AMI Partners and the 451 Group.
Some three years ago, AMI Partners found that about a fourth of companies with 100 to 249 employees were using Linux. More recently, nearly three-quarters of open source vendors told the 451 Group that SMBs accounted for less than half of their revenues. A third of them felt the SMB market would not contribute significantly to a future increase in their business.
Yet open source offers some clear benefits for SMBs, many of which are detailed in the LinuxWorld article. A product director with Avocent, which sells a Linux server management product geared toward SMBs, says Linux is especially appropriate for SMBs because it scales incrementally without a large upfront investment. Says the exec:
SMBs can tailor their enterprises to better fit their needs with Linux.
With Linux, SMBs can save money by using servers for a variety of functions, such as file servers and Web servers. Though additional hardware may be required as the number of users grows, SMBs incur no additional software costs when adding users with Linux.
Another open source vendor mentions that Linux is typically installed on the kind of commodity hardware that can often be purchased at the local electronics store. Other experts interviewed in the article mention a desire to avoid vendor lock-in and open source's strong record on security as drivers for adopting Linux.
Though the LinuxWorld article glosses over the complexity question (mentioning only that Linux server distributions are now more user-friendly, thanks to the addition of deployment and management functions), IT Business Edge blogger Lora Bentley notes that many SMBs are leery of Linux because of its perceived complexity. Yet open source vendors like Red Hat are working hard to allay those concerns.


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Singapore will prioritize the stockpiling of medical supplies and other important healthcare items in the future, a senior government official announced on Monday (Mar 13).
Gabriel Lim, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, stated on CNA’s Singapore Tonight that the country already has a food stockpile, including rice, and must “carefully consider what other commodities we need to stockpile.”
He emphasized that stockpiling is one component of Singapore’s three-pronged strategy to safeguard critical supply. The remaining two components are broadening its import and export markets and increasing its domestic output.
In a White Paper published last week, the resilience of Singapore’s supply chains during the pandemic was cited as one of the “wins” of Singapore’s COVID-19 response strategy.
Mr. Lim added that Singapore benefited from its “extraordinary connectedness to the rest of the globe” thanks to its infrastructure, which included a world-class marine port and airport.
Mr. Lim attributed the great connectivity to his predecessors, saying that connectivity has helped Singapore “weather some of the localized supply chain difficulties that were occurring in other nations.”
Mr. Lim stated that Singapore takes the concept of trust extremely seriously in fulfilling its role as a global hub throughout the pandemic.
“At no time in history have we ever imposed export restrictions on any vital products. I believe we were one of the few nations in the world to do so,” he remarked. We honored our pledges to both our investors and our overseas clients.
This meant Singapore was able to fill a void when global supply lines were disrupted.
He referenced port operator PSA’s success in promoting Singapore as a catch-up port, where ships from around the world could make up time for delays at other ports when passing through Singapore.
“To improve our performance, I would suggest that we double down on these two areas.” Mr. Lim stated that we should continue to stay engaged, continue to seek out, and create a much denser, interwoven network of trade roots and trade ties.
“At the same time, though, we must also continue to build trust with the business community, our international partners, and, of course, our global friends.”
Mr. Lim stated that Singapore was able to overcome the most severe supply chain interruptions during the epidemic due to the high degree of cooperation and togetherness.
Noting that Singapore has never viewed hoarding as the sole solution for ensuring access to key commodities, Mr. Lim stated that stockpiling remains “our last resort.”
Mr. Lim stated that it is advantageous to physically stock commodities, as Singapore has done with rice.
Yet, he stated, “I believe the first thing we must recognize is that we cannot prepare for every single contingency.”
The epidemic also underlined the need for Singapore to have local production capabilities in order to generate its own commodities and food.
Mr. Lim stated that while Singapore did not manufacture its own rice, local enterprises developed things such as noodles and bread to fill up some of the gaps in supply chains.
He stated that such voids would reappear in the future and that diversity provides Singapore with the flexibility and social resilience to weather unanticipated surprises until the market returns to normal and the commodities are once again available.
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Apple’s new iPhone commercial includes a little interlude that says the new phone will “change the way you read the news.” A little kid looks up as the narrator asks, “wait, do you read the news?”
“Yeah,” the kid replies in the “obviously” tone perfected by his age group.
Apple is not giving up on the news. It’s doubling down.
Apple News is the shiny, new app that publishers are flocking to, but it’s hardly Apple’s first attempt at embracing digital publishing.
In fact, the introduction of Apple News is the death knell for the company’s other media app — Apple Newsstand. Its failure and eventual replacement stands as a stark warning for publishers but especially Apple, which has done from dipping a toe in the media pool to wading neck deep.
The app launched with plenty of fanfare and initial optimism, but as the reality of a middling product and an untenable business model hit, Apple left Newsstand to die.
“They put effort in originally… They said, ‘this is important to us,” said Glenn Fleishman, a columnist for Macworld that previously ran The Magazine, a publication that was created especially for Newsstand. “Then when it didn’t really work, well, they didn’t put a lot of time in to make it right.”
Newsstand is now dead, but its legacy exists as a reminder that even one of the more forward-thinking tech companies once tried to cram old media onto new screens, thinking everyone would buy it. That didn’t work.
A solid beginning
Apple released Newsstand in October 2011 when the company launched iOS 5. The app was included with the update and couldn’t be deleted, giving publishers ample reason to jump on board.
Timing was everything. Apple launched Newsstand to give newspapers and magazines a a place on the homescreen of millions of people. The company took a 30% cut of subscriptions purchased through the app.
In return, publishers wouldn’t have to change anything. Magazines would still weekly or monthly, on whatever schedule they had for decades. Newspapers could still put out yesterday’s news. Most publishers had not yet gotten used to the fast-twitch nature of the web, and on Newsstand, they could still avoid it. Crude but often expensive apps bloomed on there. Publishers could avoid declining ad sales and subscription numbers.
Then Facebook changed the shape of online journalism by pushing tsunamis of traffic to stories that appeared in status updates.
And suddenly, that 30% started to look steep. Fleishman pointed to this as a major issue for publishers, which had trouble giving up that much of their subscription income.
“If you have an existing product, you’re the New York Times, can you afford to give away 30% of your subscription price forever? No,” he said.
Newsstand worked, at least at first. Stories flourished about how the top 100 magazine titles brought in a total of $70,000 per day. Conde Nast subscriptions spiked more than 250% after the app launched, with other publications seeing similar increases. Newsstand looked like it might have figured out how to make the old magazine business model viable in the digital age.
But it didn’t take long for grumbling. Reviews noted that finding magazines was a pain, and that the reading experience was “on par with reading a PDF of the magazine,” wrote Mark Crump on Gigaom.
John Gruber, an influential Apple scribe, said that he had been reading the New York Times less since it was moved into Newsstand.
“For me, Newsstand is a place where apps go to be forgotten,” he wrote.
A quiet fall
When Apple released iOS7 in September 2013, it marked a major shift for the company’s mobile design, particularly the move to flat design.
It also meant that Newsstand was dead in the water.
Fleishman had already read the writing on the wall.
“In iOS6, there really wasn’t much direction after the initial period, and I think they got focused on other things,” Fleishman said. “They probably discovered early on it wasn’t a great direction.”
The nail in the coffin came with the iOS7 update in the form of a change to how readers saw that publications had been updated. The new app icon made it impossible to know when publications had been updated.
The change sparked almost immediate push back.
“The end result is so horrible that it’s hard to avoid thinking it was done maliciously: if someone was tasked with hiding away a set of unwanted apps, they would be likely to come back with a design that was something very much like the iOS 7 Newsstand,” wrote Marko Karppinen, CEO of digital magazine company Richie, not long after the update.
By fall of 2014, three years after its introduction, Newsstand was receiving public criticism from publishers.
The new News
If Newsstand is to serve any higher purpose, it may be to help Apple create a good digital media platform in its News app.
News launches with some of the same joy as Newsstand, having already signed up more than 50 publishing partners. Mashable is among the publication that will have content appear in the service.
But if Apple seemed like it had a big head start with Newsstand, it’s playing from behind with News. Apple will now be competing with a variety of other companies that are featuring and curating news including Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.
There’s reason to be optimistic, Fleishman said. He noted that it seemed Apple had learned from its past mistakes, allowing publishers to keep 100% of the revenue on ads that media companies sell, while taking a 30% cut of ads that publisher feature through Apple’s iAd.
News will also not require media companies to invest in expensive apps, instead offering a simple template that can be further specialized. Putting media on News can be as simple as plugging in an RSS feed.
Despite his frustration with how Newsstand was handled, Fleishman said he does see News as a good opportunity for media companies.
“If I were running a publication right now, I would absolutely want a strategy to get in there,” he said.


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This story appears in the June 2015 issue of Forbes Asia. Subscribe to Forbes Asia
MediaTek began in 1997 by building the components and drawing up the designs for a flurry of consumer electronic goods--CD-ROM drives, DVD players, TVs. Entering the phone world, the Taiwan company became the supplier of choice for cheap, second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) Chinese handsets, earning MediaTek's billionaire chairman and chief executive, Tsai Ming-Kai, the title of "King of the Bandit Phones."
It's no surprise that Tsai is an admirer of Harvard Business School guru Clayton Christensen and his theories of how scrappy upstarts unseat established incumbents. MediaTek has left behind a trail of disrupted rivals, and now, as it looks for a way into the U.S. and Western Europe smartphone markets, it has one giant rival in its sights: U.S. chipmaker
MediaTek's talent lies in getting smartphone makers up and running, fast. It provides reference designs--blueprints that new manufacturers can follow quickly to put together their own phones. "We reduce the whole phone-design, mass-production cycle from one and a half years to six months," says MediaTek's senior vice president, Jeffrey Ju. "People are happy about that."
The company--which ranks at No. 788 on this year's Global 2000 list, up from 1,029 a year ago--also builds the application processors and cellular modem chips behind most of these bargain smartphones. But Qualcomm, which comes in at No. 156, excels at mobile-phone processors and the latest cellular-modem technology--LTE, or Long-Term Evolution. For flagship phone models, top phonemakers have overwhelmingly used Qualcomm's Snapdragon "system on a chip" line. Even a vertically integrated player such as Apple chooses Qualcomm's modems to go into its iPhones. (Qualcomm usually works with big guys such as Samsung, but it started its own reference-design program similar to MediaTek's in 2011.)
While Qualcomm holds the lead in modem technology, MediaTek is spending a lot of money to catch up. In the past year it's opened research-and-development offices in Bangalore, Finland and San Diego, where it's a 15-minute walk from Qualcomm's front door. Ju expects that in a year MediaTek's LTE modems will be competitive with Qualcomm's. In its new line of chips for higher-end phones called Helio, the LTE modems are equipped with "World Mode," which allows the phones to work on most carrier networks in other countries. Right now MediaTek is going through the certification process with telecoms Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile so it can sell its phones on their LTE networks in the U.S.
MediaTek is already the second-largest maker of LTE modems, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Until 2013 Qualcomm controlled 95% of the market. But last year its share was down to 66% of the $22.1 billion market, with MediaTek next at 17%. Next year MediaTek aims to capture more than 40% of the LTE market in China, and analysts at UBS and elsewhere believe that many of China's high-end phonemakers will switch from Qualcomm's Snapdragon series to MediaTek's offerings.
Qualcomm doesn't seem worried. "The chip business has always been ultracompetitive," says its vice president of worldwide marketing, Tim McDonough. "LTE is key for us, because we've invested heavily and maintain a significant advantage."
One of MediaTek's best bets for breaking into the U.S. and Europe is to piggyback on up-and-coming Chinese phonemakers. Over the next several years we'll likely see a consolidation in China's smartphone market, with the winning outfits bringing their products to the U.S. and Western Europe, says UBS analyst Eric Chen. The most likely candidates are Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, Lenovo and Coolpad, and most of these have plans to enter the U.S. market soon, if they're not already there in some limited fashion. "Today, when people talk about global brands, they're talking about Apple and Samsung," says Chen. "Going forward, people will have to look at what China is doing. For MediaTek the priority is quite simple: Just tie up with China. It's the only chance for MediaTek to go global."
Emerging markets such as India and Africa also present opportunities for MediaTek, but the potential profits are less than what the U.S. could produce. "In an emerging market it's a volume story; in developed countries it's about higher-quality products generating better profit margins," says MediaTek's chief financial officer, David Ku. "Both are important to us." India is already MediaTek's second-biggest market. "Qualcomm's chips are better, but at MediaTek's low price they can get wider adoption in emerging markets," says Mark Li, a researcher at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
Being in the smartphone game isn't easy. Chipmakers Broadcom and Texas Instruments got out in recent years. Nvidia said last month it would sell its smartphone-modem business. "It's a horror show," says Bernstein researcher Stacy Rasgon about the phone market. "The guys who are left are very motivated--and some aren't motivated by money." Profit margins for MediaTek and Qualcomm are getting crunched as China works to build its own chip ecosystem with government-backed chipmakers such as Shanghai-based Spreadtrum. Then there's Intel, desperate to find its way into phones after losing out in the first wave of the smartphone boom and not afraid to lose billions in the process. (Intel's mobile unit lost $4.21 billion last year.) Intel has invested $1.5 billion in Spreadtrum-owner Tsinghua Unigroup for a 20% stake.
The growing battle with Qualcomm is charging up the troops at MediaTek's headquarters, south of Taipei in the Hsinchu Science Park. In the cafeteria young engineers in sweatshirts huddle together over hamburger plates and bowls of beef noodle soup. But even as MediaTek looks to move upmarket, its traditional business is having trouble, and a huge jump in R&D spending is cutting profits. Net profits are expected to fall 15% this year, to $1.3 billion, on a 5% increase in revenue, to $7.4 billion. MediaTek's stock is down more than 11% this year.
But Qualcomm may be facing even more severe headwinds. Its biggest customer, Samsung, opted for its own internally developed application processor in its Galaxy S6 phone over Qualcomm's Snapdragon line.
For the next few years the world will be looking to China for the next big thing in smartphones, and MediaTek and Qualcomm will be duking it out. "Qualcomm will do whatever it can to maintain its market share," says MediaTek's Ku, "and we will do whatever we can to gain more market share."


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Today - Tuesday 9 February - marks Safer Internet Day. An international event with New Zealand taking part in a big way and coordinated by InternetNZs partner Netsafe. Safer Internet Day is designed to create awareness about the importance of Internet safety and encourages positive use of technology - with a strong focus on young people.
Chief Executive of InternetNZ, Jordan Carter, says Internet safety is more important than ever as more of our lives and economies move online.
"It is fantastic to see so many organisations and individuals across the world getting involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology.
"New Zealanders need to feel safe online and have access to the right tools in order to have trust in the Internet. Without trust, we won't get close to realising the full potential that technology can deliver," says Carter.
There are lots of ways you can get involved to help promote Internet safety. Check out Netsafe's webpage here: Netsafe's Safer Internet Day 2016


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DEPUTY Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said today (May 8) that the unofficial election of Emmanuel Macron as the new French president eases worries among investors and a stronger European Union will also help expand the global economy, Thai News Agency said.
Where Thailand is concerned, the Deputy Premier said the country will continue rely on the domestic sector especially so because the Asian economy is growing the fastest in the world. In the past Thailand developed itself by focusing on domestic investment, particularly infrastructure, to strengthen the economy and prepare for future growth.
Figures from Commerce Ministry show that the French economy is the 6th largest in the world and the 3rd biggest in Europe after Germany and UK. It is also projected that the French economy will grow by 1.4% in 2017.
In 2016 Thailand exported 1.553.4 billion dollars worth of goods to France, a drop of 3.02%, and in the first three months of this Thai exports to France totaled 389.1 million dollars, a drop of 6.54%.
Most of the exports comprise air-conditioners and their parts, lens, para rubber and rubber products and computers and accessories.
Top: Deputy Premier Somkid said Macron’s victory will help expand global economy. Photo: Thai News Agency


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‘Disruptor’ Mark Cuban Takes Aim At US Industry Barriers
Billionaire Entrepreneur Says Trust And Transparency Will Lift Reputation Of Generics
During a lively discussion at the AAM’s Access! conference in Orlando, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban set out how he plans to use his Cost Plus Drugs company to disrupt the generics sector while also lifting its reputation by increasing trust and transparency among patients.
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Coherus BioSciences had teased a “compelling value proposition” for its Yusimry (adalimumab-aqvh) biosimilar to AbbVie’s Humira blockbuster and it has delivered, with a pair of pricing strategies include one though an alliance with self-labelled “disruptor” Mark Cuban.
Celltrion USA’s chief commercial officer Thomas Nusbickel tells Scrip how he’s shaping the South Korean group’s operations ahead of key launches that include assets in the immunology segment. He also weighs in on whether big pharma will stay in the biosimilars game over the long term.
Looking back over the first quarter of 2023, Generics Bulletin executive editor Dave Wallace picks out highlights from January to March that include the launch of the first US Humira biosimilar, new leadership at the top of some of the industry’s biggest players, annual results and strategy updates, and multiple major industry conferences – as well as the launch of our annual awards.


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The proposed merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot applies an old auto-industry recipe to a new problem: Use size to boost profits amid today’s falling demand and the most expensive technology transition in years.
The tie-up would be the biggest car combination since Daimler and Chrysler two decades ago. Smaller deals followed, some of which have worked, like Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler. But DaimlerChrysler’s messy divorce triggered an industry-wide reevaluation of the merits of big, full-blown mergers.
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NV and Peugeot-owner PSA Group of France are now giving that tarnished strategy another try. If successful, the combination would create the world’s third-largest auto manufacturer by sales and transform the competitive landscape around the world, putting others under pressure to consolidate or take other measures in an industry that sold almost 96 million cars world-wide last year.
General Motors Co.
Ford Motor Co.
and Chrysler, which once ruled the auto world, have been retreating from or struggling in foreign markets for years, usurped by
Toyota Motor Corp.
Uber Technologies Inc.,
coupled with regulatory requirements to limit greenhouse gas emissions, are forcing the old guard to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build electric cars with no certainty that the battery-powered electric vehicle can emerge from its niche to become the new mass-market ride.
All this is happening as demand for cars is cratering in a cyclical swing some experts fear may have a structural dimension. Surveys show millennials and younger consumers are increasingly reluctant to buy cars for financial or environmental reasons.
The global auto industry is losing momentum. New car sales fell slightly last year and are expected to decline around 4% this year. The slump, exacerbated by political tensions from the U.S.-China trade war to Brexit, is likely to last for five years or more,
, a big global auto supplier, said last week.
And a new global giant has emerged: Chinese tycoon
is methodically building his
into a global powerhouse. In 2010, Geely acquired
Cars from Ford for $1.8 billion. Since then, it has also obtained a 10% stake in Germany’s Daimler, becoming its largest single investor, and stakes in Swedish truck-and-bus maker Volvo AB, British sports-car brand Lotus and Malaysia’s Proton Holdings Bhd.
After the DaimlerChrysler debacle, the industry has settled for looser alliances, such as the cooperation between
Nissan Motor Co. and
the legendary Fiat Chrysler chief who died last year, was a persistent advocate for deeper consolidation. He drafted a 25-page manifesto in 2015 imploring the industry to share the costs of developing parts most customers never notice, such as engines in small cars.
“It’s duplicative, does not deliver real value to consumers and is pure economic waste,” the report said.
The current crisis of overcapacity has posthumously buttressed Mr. Marchionne’s argument. As car sales flatline, there isn’t enough demand to keep all the world’s car factories humming.
Volkswagen, for example, has been cutting output in its German factories since the beginning of the year. And other manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz have eliminated some shifts to adjust to weaker sales.
Top auto manufacturing deals on record
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Fiat Chrysler’s factories in Europe ran at about 52% capacity last year, well below the European industry average of 73%, according to LMC Automotive, and before this year’s acceleration of the decline in global auto demand.
the scion of the Agnelli family that controls Fiat Chrysler, bought into Mr. Marchionne’s vision. In the spring, he tried to merge Fiat Chrysler with Renault. But the deal fell apart amid troubles in the Renault-Nissan alliance after the arrest in Japan of its chief,
on allegations of financial misconduct. Mr. Ghosn has denied all charges against him.
The planned merger with Peugeot could lend traction to the late Mr. Marchionne’s vision of a more thorough shakeout of the industry to create fewer but stronger manufacturers with more profits and less waste.
In Europe, Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot would have a combined 22.8% market share, making it the second-largest auto maker by sales after Volkswagen, which has 23.8% of the European Union auto market, according to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers.
After its acquisition of GM’s European business in 2017, Peugeot revamped Opel, the German manufacturer, and Britain’s Vauxhall, more than doubling their European market share, and returning Opel to profit through cost-cutting and sharing technology with Peugeot. Adding Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep brand to its arsenal could help Peugeot chip away further at Volkswagen’s dominance of the European market.


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Australia’s prime logistics market is set for a spike in construction and moderate rental growth in 2013, as demand for premium logistics space heats up.
A shortage of supply will support the domestic market, which is already among the most expensive in the world, and drive an increase in speculative developments.
“The premium end is very robust and access to product is critical.
“Supply is currently sitting well below the 10-year average and has been for a few years," Jones Lang LaSalle head of Australian industrial Michael Fenton said.
According to a survey by global property adviser CBRE, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth are the 6th, 9th and 10th most expensive logistics markets in the world, with decade-low vacancies and extensive pre-commitment bolstering rents.
“Incentives on prime logistics facilities are now back to pre-GFC levels . . . [and] inquiry levels are at 10-year highs. Industrial is a scarcer commodity than you’d think," CBRE industrial and logistics services regional director Joshua Charles said.
“The high Australian dollar has increased the need for local warehousing as importers ramp up buying and, by extension, their need for storage."
The reorganisation of big retailers and logistics companies distribution networks may spark further speculative development as industrial real estate investment trusts (REITs) clamour to secure development sites.
Long-term leases signed in the mid-2000s by the likes of Toll Holdings, Linfox and Coles are coming up for renewal over the next few years and could drive fresh development.
“All of these groups are constantly reviewing their supply chain . . . some of these centres may no longer form part of their logistics requirements or they may require additional sites," Mr Fenton said.
In anticipation of the need for premium 40,000-80,000 square meter distribution hubs, with Coles and K-Mart said to be on the hunt, speculative warehouse construction and competition for development opportunities is expected to intensify.
Mr Charles said that, in this environment, developable land had become highly sought after as industrial REITs look to get first-mover advantage on their competitors.
The emerging transport hubs such as the M4-M7 connection in western Sydney and Richlands in Queensland are in particular focus.
Some of DEXUS Property Group’s speculative developments at Greystanes and Erskine Park in Sydney have commitments prior to completion, suggesting the market is ripe for new activity.
Major players such as Goodman Group, DEXUS, Australand and GPT control the land banks and key sites at the prime logistics end, which has driven support for the secondary industrial market from buyers locked out of the premium end.
“Buyers can’t get the product at the prime end so they’re shifting their focus to play in the secondary space," Mr Fenton said.
While secondary stock is leasing well, demand for C-grade industrial is weak, and older stock needs redevelopment or reduced rents and incentives.
The Australian Financial Review


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Tim Cook talks Beats, Apple TV, iPhone 6 and more with Charlie Rose
Apple's CEO opens up for US television programme
On September 12, Charlie Rose aired the first half of his two-part interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook. The TV host had a wide-ranging conversation with Cook that covered Apple’s current products, the future of the tech company and the loss of the legendary Steve Jobs, "I think about Steve every day," Cook told Rose. "He is deep in Apple's DNA. His spirit will always be the foundation of the company."
The series of short clips also feature the CEO talking about Apple’s acquisition of Beats by Dre, stating that "Jimmy and Dre are off the charts creative geniuses," Cook said while acknowledging Iovine and Dr. Dre's knowledge of the music industry.
Watch the full interview below now: