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In a very long feature article running in The New York Times Magazine, author Jake Halpern explores the world of debt brokers and buyers through the eyes of two veteran collection professionals.
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Gordon Beck, Chief Operating Officer of Diversified Consultants, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, sat for an interview last week with ABC World News with Diane Sawyer. Beck said ABC set out to investigate TCPA lawsuits where companies – including collection agencies – dialed wrong numbers. ABC producers told Beck that he was the only collection agency official that agreed to be interviewed.
In what is being touted as the largest TCPA settlement ever, Capital One and three collection agencies have agreed to pay $75.5 million into a settlement fund to end litigation in a combined class action. The agreement admits no wrongdoing on the part of the companies for allegedly using autodialers and/or pre-recorded messages in calls to cell phones without the consumers’ express consent.
The issue of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s alleged favoritism in rewarding a debt collection contract boiled over on the weekend as his office released official collection totals for last year and a prominent newspaper published a blistering editorial on the matter.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday upheld a lower court’s ruling that a defendant collection agency was entitled to some $33,000 in attorney’s fees and costs in an FDCPA case found to be brought in bad faith and specifically for the purpose of harassment.
Is that interesting enough? No? Well, it involved an outspoken consumer advocate’s gloating posts on a debtor-focused message board, posts that ultimately led to the awarding of fees.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said Tuesday that it is extending the comment period for its proposal to add consumer narratives to the public complaints database it manages. The proposal would give consumers the chance to explain exactly what lead to a complaint.
A federal class action lawsuit in Seattle alleges that a collection agency used the King County prosecutor’s seals on debt collection letters to consumers, while failing to disclose that the letter was from a collection agency and not a law enforcement office. The plaintiffs say they received seemingly official letters from Missouri-based collection agency Bounceback which included threats of jail time if consumers didn’t pay the amount of the debt and more than $180 in fees. Bounceback was able to use the county prosecutor’s seal on these collection letters because it participates in a “check enforcement program,” where county prosecutors rent out the prosecutor’s seal and letterhead in exchange for a cut of the collection fees.
A business group headed by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has launched a public relations campaign against the CFPB’s open access complaints database. A new proposal from the agency to include consumer narratives appears to be the impetus for the action.
In a bulletin issued Monday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) provided new guidance to banks intended to advise debt portfolio sellers about the OCC’s supervisory expectations for structuring debt-sales arrangements with debt buyers.
Allied Collection Services, Inc. (ACSI), a specialty provider of collections, outsourcing, and litigation solutions based in Las Vegas, announced that it has hired Michael A. Chamberlain as Executive Vice President.
Rudy Knepper, President of Stoneleigh Recovery Associates (SRA), announced today that SRA has added Mark Savoie to their roster as Vice President of Business Development. In this role, Mr. Savoie will use his experience and his extensive professional network to grow SRA into one of the top industry providers of accounts receivable management services.
Capio Partners is pleased to announce that company co-founder and board chairman Jim Richards has been named president-elect of ACA International for the 2014 – 2015 association year.
Two weeks ago, the CFPB announced an aggressive lawsuit against a debt collection law firm accusing the ARM company of being little more than a “lawsuit mill.” The firm vowed to fight the suit. As details emerge, it appears that the defendants have a decent case, backed by prior court rulings on the same issue.
The third-party debt collection industry returned some $45 billion to creditors and other clients in 2013, according to a study released today by ACA International. The report, based on a survey and other statistical analysis by Ernst & Young, is the latest in a series of comprehensive industry studies.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office reached a settlement with one of the largest debt collection firms in New York State to ensure that it does not file legal actions against New Yorkers to collect on payday loans.
The number of debt collection complaints published by the CFPB in the second quarter of 2014 virtually mirrors the number published in the previous quarter. In Q2, the CFPB published 10,265 complaints related to debt collection compared to 10,231 in Q1.
Welcome to the Culture of Unaccountability. There are approximately 318 million people in the United States and 75 to 100 million of them have completely refused to communicate with their original lender or to the entity to which they may owe money.
NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show aired a segment yesterday called “Inside America’s Debt Collection Industry.” Among the four guests, there were no representatives from the debt collection industry. What’s also interesting is that, in fact, most of the discussion was not about third party debt collectors, but creditors, debt buyers, and credit reporting agencies.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act played to packed audiences through two sessions Wednesday at ACA International’s 75th Anniversary Convention & Expo in Chicago. At issues for those in the debt industry are: effective consent language and present capacity.
Last month’s 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that allowed a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim to be made against a bankruptcy proof of claim filed on out-of-statute debt will get a rehearing if a petition filed by LVNV Funding, LLC is granted.
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After granting an FDCPA and TCPA case, at the request of the plaintiff’s attorney, a court in Texas sent the case to the state’s legal governing body for a potential license review of the prolific consumer attorney.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently being urged to provide guidance and make rules more clear in its regulation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Two separate petitions for clarification have received attention lately, including from a group of U.S. Representatives.
The Idaho Department of Finance recently issued guidance to assist licensed collection agencies in complying with the Idaho Collection Agency Act. The department issued the guidance in response to an Idaho Supreme Court decision that impacts the way collection agencies are required to operate under the provisions of the act. The Supreme Court decision specifically addressed a collection agency’s ability to collect fees and other charges related to a consumer’s debt.
Do you ever use or hear a word so much, that you actually forget what it means? I don’t mean the spelling (don’t even get me started on spelling), but what the actual definition of the word is. For me that word is “brand.”
Business analytics and consumer credit score provider FICO announced Thursday that it has recalibrated its popular FICO Score formula to reflect a “more nuanced way to assess consumer collection information.”
Debt buyer Encore Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECPG) late Thursday announced that it has acquired Atlantic Credit & Finance (ACF), a leader in collecting fresh, higher-balance accounts, for approximately $70 million in cash. Encore also said it made additional payments totaling approximately $126 million to retire certain indebtedness and obligations of ACF.
LiveVox Inc., the leading provider of cloud contact center solutions for enterprise operations, announced that its In-House Counsel, Mark Mallah, will join audit consultants to discuss the top questions asked and strategies created by today’s ARM contact center leaders in response to TCPA and CFPB pressures. The webinar takes place Wednesday, September 17th at 2:30pm EDT/ 11:30 am PDT.
LiveVox Inc., the leading provider of cloud contact center solutions for enterprise operations, announced that TMC, a global community of communication technology leaders, awarded LiveVox with the 2014 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for providing comprehensive cloud-enabled compliance capabilities.
Many debt collection companies record calls to ensure quality and compliance in their operations. This practice has proven a double-edged sword, as it makes agencies possibly vulnerable to liability under state statutes regulating call recording. California’s call recording statute may be the most draconian of all, but that might be changing after a recent ruling.


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Italian fashion house Fendi has reopened its newly renovated boutique in Hong Kong as part of a larger Asian expansion plan in the works for the brand.
Designed by Gwenael Nicolas, a French architect based in Tokyo, the newly redone three-story store is located in the Landmark mall in Central. Richly decorated with bronze, stone, travertine, and leather, the store is “the first of its kind in Asia,” according to Women’s Wear Daily.
“Hong Kong is very important for us,” Venturini Fendi said on a visit to the city last week for the store’s reopening. “It’s a city that loves Fendi. There’s a big market here and it’s growing.”
Pietro Beccari, Fendi’s chairman and chief executive officer, spoke more explicitly about the store’s significance.
“To be honest with you, this store is number-one for fur [sales] worldwide,” Beccari said. “You wouldn’t expect it as winter is not very rigid here, but the Hong Kongese travel a lot and they have a very particular refined taste.”
Furthermore, the menswear category has done so well for Fendi that the brand has devoted a separate floor in the store for menswear.
Fendi has its eye on not only Hong Kong, but also on the entire greater China region. Along with the Japanese and Americans, Chinese buyers are one of the top-three worldwide clientele for the brand. The Hong Kong boutique is one of several openings and re-openings of Fendi stores in the next several months. Fendi will open a store next month in Beijing’s Shin Kong Place and the brand will reopen its Shanghai Plaza 66 store the following month.
“We decided to concentrate on getting stronger where we already are, so we are looking at renovation rather than relocation,” explained Beccari.
Beccari is confident that the recent political turbulence in Hong Kong will not affect the store’s long-term performance.
“The movement here is, of course, hitting the business a little, but it’s already picking up quite well after the first heavy week,” he said. “Now we see traffic increasing.”
image credit: fendi, gareth jones photography/wwd

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Autodesk has hopes of kick starting 3D printing in the same way smartphone development was spurred by Google, with a free Operating System.
On Wednesday, it was announced by the company that in this year end, an open software platform would be released by the company for 3D printing through which the makers of 3D printers don’t have to spend much on operational software. Its own 3D software would be sold at least for demonstrating the possibilities of the software.
There has been a disconnect between designing objects and the ability of printing them said CEO of Autodesk, Carl Bass. It was seen that there are forty different types of printer software and this is what holds back. The project was linked to the Android operating system of Google for smartphones which is available free of cost for any phone maker. Android, as a phone operating system has gained a lot of popularity in the world. Thus, Google gets the benefits to encourage customers for using the mobile products.
The price has not yet been disclosed by Autodesk but would usually cost around $5,000. A machine has been used by the company through which objects are made with projection of light on a photosensitive polymer for making architectural models, jewelry and parts for medical equipment. In other kinds of 3D printers, biological materials, plastic and metal are used. It is said that Spark would be used in the 3D printers, thus making them pervasive and cheaper.


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No one likes to have their dinner interrupted by telemarketer's and now there's something you can do about it. The Federal Trade Commission is enforcing a list that will block about eighty percent of those calls so you can get the calls that really count. Lela Scheffield's first thought when she picks up her phone and a telemarketer is on the other end is trying to sell her something. As a business owner she says she's fed up.
"Sometimes I'm trying to make something in the back of the kitchen and my hands have flour all over them and you think it's a customer and you need to go answer the phone." Scheffield said, "I don't want any more credit cards and I don't want anymore phone service if I want something else I will call them."
Consumers can now fight unwanted calls by adding their name to a national do not call list. The Federal Trade Commission launched a web registry Friday and by noon more than seven hundred thirty-five thousand phone numbers were registered. President Bush announced the plan Friday at the White House.
"When Americans are sitting down to dinner or a parent is reading to his or her child the last thing they need is a call from a stranger with a sales pitch," Bush said.
Some people say they receive 3 to 5 telemarketing calls a day. Some homeowners say all the interruptions are taking away the one thing they call their own.
"You get so saturated with advertisements with people trying to sell us stuff," Scott Roulier said, "It would be nice to have one place the privacy of your own home where someone wasn't intruding wanting you to buy something."
Beginning October first it will be illegal for most telemarketers to call numbers from the do not call list, if they do they can be fined up to $11,000 per call. Some sales calls can still get through. The exceptions are charities, political organizations, survey companies and companies you've had previous business relationships with.


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Oil jumped 6% on Thursday after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone, prompting President Donald Trump to blast Tehran on Twitter.Energy Commoditiesread more
The billionaire investor believes the stock market is in a "zone of fair value" at current levels.Marketsread more
However, Slack chief Stewart Butterfield says, "The broader world of email will stick around."CNBC Disruptor 50read more
Apple said in a letter released Thursday that tariffs could hurt its ability to compete globally.Technologyread more
Stocks rose sharply on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted at possible interest rate cuts as soon as next month.US Marketsread more
Trump tweets after an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone in what the U.S. calls an "unprovoked attack."Politicsread more
The Federal Reserve may be on its way to delivering a half-point interest rate cut next month, according to Goldman Sachs economists.Economyread more
Mortgage rates have been falling steadily since the last week of April, and that may be reigniting home price appreciation. The lower the rate, the more purchasing power...Real Estateread more
Crude oil prices jump on news of the attack, which Iran says happened over its territory.World Politicsread more
Apple is considering moving some production from China as it is expected release of its new iPhone line this fall, The Wall Street Journal reported.Technologyread more
Workplace messaging firm Slack is about to go public in a red-hot IPO market, but it's approach to going public--using a "direct listing"--is slightly different than an IPO.Trader Talk with Bob Pisaniread more
Target has finally revealed where it's been investing quietly in reinventing itself — in two key categories: Apparel and home goods. Accordingly, Target will launch four new brands: A New Day, Goodfellow & Co., JoyLab and Project 62, all of which are expected to hit stores later this fall.
The Wall Street Journal first reported this news.
Earlier this year, Target had already made it clear that it planned to roll out 12 additional, private-label brands in the coming months. The first, Cloud Island, launched in May and features home decor, bedding and bath items. Target enthusiasts have been waiting in anticipation ever since to learn on which aisle they might find the next, new brand.
In creating more of its own, exclusive nameplates, Target is hoping to see some of the same success it's had with Cat & Jack children's clothing. In the months after the label's launch, the company said spending on kid's apparel at Target stores increased more than 50 percent.
Now, adult apparel and home furnishings will be the retailer's core area of focus over the next 18 months.
A New Day is a mix-and-match women's brand that will take a female "from weekend to work to dinner date, effortlessly," Target said. Goodfellow & Co. will be a fresher line of men's clothing, accessories and shoes. In the athleisure space, the retailer has already seen success with its C9 Champion activewear, but anticipates Joy Lab will be more edgier and fashion-forward.
Lastly, Project 62 is being tagged by Target as a "modern home brand" that will feature chic options for shoppers' everyday lives.
"We knew we'd need to refresh our offerings — and define new ones," Mark Tritton, Target's chief merchandising officer, said in a statement.
The Jounral also reported that, in combination with the fall roll out, Target's men's and women's Merona apparel line and its men's Mossimo offering will be phased out, "having grown too big and homogenized to garner shoppers' affection," according to executives who spoke to the publication.
Target is also planning to make other changes to its stores, the Journal added.
For example, with the new brands, Target's discounts and promotions will become more of a thing of the past, and displays throughout refurbished stores will have more of a "boutique" feel, the Journal reported.
"One new brand on its own isn't going to change the way guests experience Target, though we definitely believe each of our exclusive brands will leave its mark," Target CMO Tritton added.
"Big picture, it's when you take all these new brands, combined with how we're reimagining stores, continuing to enhance digital and investing in our business … that you start to feel a real difference."
Read the full article from The Wall Street Journal.


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Mecum Auctions’ most recent collector car auction in Kansas City, Mo., topped off a great year with an impressive $11.5 million in sales. The auction added to the incredible yearend total, which knocks at the door of the coveted $300 million mark. With 520 lots sold at the Kansas City Convention Center, a strong sell-through rate of 65 percent was reached.
Kansas City’s crowning achievement and top-sale was a 2012 Chevrolet COPO Camaro (Lot S135.1). This purpose-built, factory drag car hammered at $140,000. The Twister Specials, built exclusively for the Ford Kansas City Sales District dealers, refused to be outdone in their own hometown and the 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Edition 428 CI Super Cobra Jet (Lot S89) also brought in a $140,000 sale, tying for the top spot. In total, the successful auction brought in $11,443,091 for the three-day event.
The Top Ten Sales Results for Kansas City, Mo., Auction
- 2012 Chevrolet COPO Camaro (Lot S135.1) at $140,000
- 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Edition 428 CI (Lot S89) at $140,000
- 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Twister Edition 351 CI (Lot S90) at $130,000
- 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Pro Touring (Lot S74) at $125,000
- 1968 Shelby GT500 Convertible (Lot S68.1) at $120,000
- 1935 Cadillac 355D Convertible (Lot S82) at $117,500
- 1971 Pontiac GTO Judge (Lot S111) at $92,500
- 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Split Window Coupe (Lot S76) at $87,000
- 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge Ram Air IV (Lot S109) at $82,000
- 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 1967 Conversion (Lot S63) at $81,000
Kansas City served as a strong close to the great success of Mecum’s 2012 auction season. With 16 such auctions this year, Mecum has more than doubled the amount of cars offered, as well as yearly sales since 2010. With nearly 12,000 cars offered, bringing in a grand total of $291 million in sales, Mecum Auctions continues to earn its title as the world leader in live auctions of collector car and road art sales.
For more information on Mecum or its past or future auctions, call (262) 275-5050 or visit www.Mecum.com.
About Mecum Auctions
The Mecum Auction Company has been specializing in the sale of collector cars for 25 years, now offering more than 12,000 vehicles per year. Mecum Auctions is the world leader of collector car, exotics, vintage motorcycles and road art sales. Auctions are held throughout the United States and broadcast live on Velocity, Discovery Network. For more information, visit www.Mecum.com or call (262) 275-5050. Like, comment or share on Facebook at facebook.com/mecumauction or join the conversation on Twitter @mecum.


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HOPKINTON, Mass. (April 21, 2016) – Pet Cause Media announced today that is has released its new, free social media marketing tool for veterinary practices. The tool integrates into its core Veterinary Pre-Education Technology™ offering, also 100% free to veterinary practices, and encourages pet owners to promote the practice using their own Twitter or Instagram accounts.
When pet owners take a ‘selfie’ of their pet using a specific hashtag designated by the practice, their photo appears on the TV screen in the waiting room within a minute or two. “We’ve been developing this for some time and are excited to finally make it available to all practices who have our waiting room systems,” said CEO Peter Alberti. “Who doesn’t love seeing their pet on ‘the big screen’? This is part of our ongoing effort to help support the veterinary industry. It’s not enough for a practice to leverage their own social media channels – like any social media marketing campaign – leveraging customer channels is often far more effective.”
COO Mike Sachleben agrees: “When pet owners advocate publicly for their favorite veterinarian, it improves awareness and reputation for the practice.” With a view to the future, the company anticipates expanding the tool to include product/service awareness campaigns as well. “Practices want pet owners to know what products they feel are the best to use,” said Sachleben. “What better way is there to do this than to have customers do it for them?”
Bulger Veterinary Hospital in North Andover, MA has been an early adopter of the new technology. “The selfie program is brilliant,” said Lauren Parece from Bulger’s marketing department. “It turns our waiting area into a digital interactive experience that our clients – and their pets – can take part in. Social media is such a large part of the community and business now, so why not embrace it and join in the fun?”
ABOUT PET CAUSE MEDIA
Headquartered in Central Massachusetts, Pet Cause Media is the national leader in Veterinary Pre-Education Technology ™, a digital out of home marketing system for veterinary offices. Veterinary practices use the system to save time during exams when clients drive the conversation after seeing calls to action on the waiting room screens. Sponsors benefit from the attention of a captive, pure-play audience of pet owners in a pet state of mind. Visit PetCauseMedia.com for more details. Follow Pet Cause Media on Facebook and Twitter.


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TCL Denies It's Pulling Out of U.S., Blames Shortages on Red Hot Demand
Chinese TV-maker TCL Electronics Holdings denied a report that it has withdrawn from the North American market and claimed the absence of its products on store shelves was due to red hot demand, leading it to entreat suppliers to ensure production and shipments of components.
TCL, the world’s third-largest TV supplier by shipments, said in a statement issued on Tuesday “it has no plans to withdraw from North American markets or other markets,” claiming that stronger-than-expected demand in the U.S. had led to some offline retailers temporarily running out of stock.
The statement came after South Korean media outlet Money Today reported last week that TCL-branded TVs had been removed from shelves in major U.S. stores, which was expected to benefit its South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics Inc. TCL said this was “factually wrong and untrue.”
The TV-maker’s sales in the U.S. surged by nearly 25% in the first three quarters last year, making it the nation’s second most popular TV brand, the company said in the statement. The market has been the biggest driver of its sales growth despite the strained relations between China and the U.S., boosting its global sales to 7.24 million sets in the third quarter last year, a rise of 49.7% year-on-year, according to consulting firm Sigmaintell. Its global market share jumped to 11.3% from 8.6% same period the year before.
As the pandemic cripples manufacturing activities worldwide, some analysts have suggested the TV-maker is running low on panel supplies, which has delayed regular shipments. TCL spokesperson Joanne Cai told Caixin that the company is in talks with component-makers, including its sister company TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. Ltd., to shore up supplies.
“We have remained in close communication with upstream panel manufacturers such as TCL China Star, and we always plan to ensure production and shipments are carried out in an orderly manner,” said Cai.
The panel-making unit reported a net profit of 700 million yuan ($104 million) in the third quarter of 2020, representing a year-on-year increase of 151.6%. It attributed the profit growth to stable price hikes for panels of all sizes.
In the overseas market alone, the state-owned electronics company delivered 5.52 million TV sets in the third quarter, a rise of 81.3%, and 12.83 million TVs in the first three quarters, increasing 26.8% year-on-year. The accelerated sales growth has pushed its revenue in the third quarter to HK$8.48 billion ($1.09 billion), which represents growth of 71.5%.
Contact reporter Anniek Bao (firstname.lastname@example.org)
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- Urban Innovation
- Urban Mobility
- Drone Technology
- smart cities
Delivery Drones Are Gearing Up for Prime Time
Historic trials of drone deliveries are happening around the world. Most recently, Transport Canada successfully completed a long-distance, beyond visual line-of-sight drone delivery in late August 2019. Working with InDro Robotics, Canada Post, and London Drugs, prescription medications were transported from a London Drugs store in Duncan, British Columbia to a resident and a local grocery store on Salt Spring Island (about 6 km [3.7 miles] away).
Momentum Is Gaining
The trial in British Columbia is just one of many recent events that suggest drone delivery is likely coming sooner than people expect. Consider the following timeline of events in the delivery drone market:
- In April 2019, Alphabet’s drone company, Wing Aviation, received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approval for drone delivery. This was the first time a US company has been cleared to deliver commercial goods by drones.
- In May 2019, DHL launched an autonomous drone delivery service in Guangzhou, China. The drone’s route is 5 miles long and takes 8 minutes to travel one-way (previously a 40-minute trip by car or truck).
- In June 2019, Amazon unveiled its latest version of the Prime Air drone and announced that it will begin drone deliveries within several months—locations and timelines were not provided. The company’s drone can fly for 15 miles on a single charge and carry parcels of up to 5 pounds (Amazon has stated that 86% of its packages weigh under 5 pounds).
- In June 2019, Amazon became the second company to get FAA approval for drone delivery. The company received a 1-year certificate (eligible for renewal) from the FAA to operate its MK27 unmanned aircraft with the express intention of establishing package delivery operations in the US.
- In July 2019, UPS launched a drone delivery subsidiary called UPS Flight Forward. The company filed for Part 135 Certification with the FAA—if granted, the certification would enable the delivery giant to deploy FAA-approved flights beyond line-of-sight, at night, and over populated areas.
- In August 2019, the first FAA-approved beyond line-of-sight drone was tested by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Regulatory Development and Consumer Acceptance Key to Deployment
While the plethora of delivery drone testing is promising for the industry, regulations will need to catch up to the technology to allow widespread use. For example, the US FAA currently restricts drones from being operated out of the line-of-sight of the drone operator (aside from when companies are granted temporary certificates or permits). However, other jurisdictions are moving more quickly on drone regulations. For example, the European Union is in the process of regulating commercial drone flying corridors of airspace called U-Space.
Delivery drone manufacturers should also focus on addressing potential consumer resistance by making the devices less noisy (significant numbers of residents have complained about the noise associated with pilot delivery drone programs) and include advanced safety features such as rotor redundancy and backup parachutes.
Drivers for Deployment Are Too Strong to Ignore
Sales of delivery drones are expected to ramp up rapidly once the regulatory barriers around line-of-sight are removed and consumer concerns about noise are addressed. The drivers for deployment are too strong to ignore. Delivery drones have the potential to drastically reduce labor costs and greenhouse gas emissions while also delivering high priority goods such as food and medicine faster than ever before. Guidehouse Insights projects annual deployment of delivery drones to grow from about 350 units in 2019 to more than 200,000 by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate of 79.2%. For more information on delivery drones, see Guidehouse Insights’ report, Transport and Logistics Innovations Overview.


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$180.44 Million in Sales Expected for Farfetch Ltd (FTCH) This Quarter
Equities analysts expect Farfetch Ltd (NYSE:FTCH) to announce $180.44 million in sales for the current quarter, Zacks reports. Three analysts have made estimates for Farfetch’s earnings, with the highest sales estimate coming in at $184.10 million and the lowest estimate coming in at $176.78 million. The firm is expected to issue its next quarterly earnings report on Thursday, February 14th.
On average, analysts expect that Farfetch will report full-year sales of $580.13 million for the current financial year, with estimates ranging from $576.47 million to $583.80 million. For the next year, analysts expect that the firm will report sales of $762.13 million, with estimates ranging from $756.00 million to $772.16 million. Zacks Investment Research’s sales averages are a mean average based on a survey of analysts that follow Farfetch.
Farfetch (NYSE:FTCH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 8th. The company reported ($0.30) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $132.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.49 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.12) EPS.
FTCH stock traded up $1.29 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $23.61. The company had a trading volume of 794,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,470,235. Farfetch has a 12-month low of $18.39 and a 12-month high of $32.40.
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Athanor Capital LP bought a new position in Farfetch during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,035,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Farfetch during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,362,000. Point72 Europe London LLP bought a new position in Farfetch during the 3rd quarter valued at about $501,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Farfetch during the 3rd quarter valued at about $826,000. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new position in Farfetch during the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,905,000. Institutional investors own 1.47% of the company’s stock.
Farfetch Ltd. engages in the retail of fashion and luxury goods. It offers womenswear, menswear, kidswear, vintage, fine watches, and fine jewelry. The company was founded by José Manuel Ferreira Neves on May 15, 2018 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
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Gaming Innovation Group has been shortlisted for three awards for this year’s EGR B2B Awards: Full-service platform, Multi-channel supplier of the year and Data & AI Partner.
These nominations perfectly encapsulate GiG’s diverse offering to its partners, specialising in delivering platform, sports betting, media and turnkey solutions, to both digital and land-based operators either moving into the online world for the first time or looking to excel in their current solution.
Richard Brown, CEO at GiG said: “ It makes me very proud to have been shortlisted for three prominent industry awards for our platform solutions and service. Thanks to the continuous hard work and united effort from everyone at GiG, we can proudly say that we have gained industry recognition as one of the leading iGaming Platforms, multi-channel solutions and data platforms within the industry for operators around the world. We look forward to attending the ceremony on 7 July”.
About Gaming Innovation Group (GiG)
Gaming Innovation Group is a leading iGaming technology company, providing solutions, products and services to iGaming Operators. Founded in 2012, Gaming Innovation Group’s vision is ‘To be the industry-leading platform and media provider delivering world-class solutions to our iGaming partners and their customers. GiG’s mission is to drive sustainable growth and profitability of our partners through product innovation, scalable technology and quality of service. Gaming Innovation Group operates out of Malta and is dual-listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GIG and on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker symbol GIGSEK. www.gig.com


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Explosion of streaming
Martyn Whistler, EY Lead Analyst for Global Media & Entertainment, spoke to UK Tech News to discuss the launch of EY’s new consumer research report, Zooming in on household viewing habits. Martyn provided his insights on the increasing adoption of streaming services vs. traditional TV, the evolution in what audiences are willing to pay for and his highlights from the research.
This video was featured on UK Tech News in March 2019. UKTN aims to provide the latest UK technology news, views, information, data and events. It covers developments in UK technology investment, changes in government and policy, and featuring business advice from industry experts.


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Yorkshire’s oldest family bakery chain is getting behind LadBaby’s 2019 Christmas song, I Love Sausage Rolls.
So inspired was the team at Cooplands by this year’s Christmas record, they’ve decided to get on a (sausage) roll with the campaign and help raise funds for The Trussell Trust.
Mark Ian Hoyle, the Nottinghamshire-based blogger behind LadBaby, recorded the track, a take on Joan Jett & The Blackhearts I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, with his wife Roxanne.
When Cooplands staff saw the video and heard about the story behind it, they wanted to help the family’s aims to raise money for The Trussell Trust that works to support food bank centres across the UK, providing emergency food and support to people locked in poverty, while also campaigning for change to end the need for food banks.
Between now and January 3, 2020, Cooplands will be donating 5p from every purchase of its popular “four sausage rolls for £1” deal to The Trussell Trust.
Baked fresh in-store all day, every day, the company’s pork sausage rolls are legendary in the region and with sales of the product line projected to exceed 170,000 packs across Cooplands’ 160 stores and 12 cafes during this time, the company hopes to raise in excess of £8,000 for the charity.
Cooplands CEO Belinda Youngs said: “Christmas holidays should mean fun and enjoying family time together but knowing that some families are going without the food they need is heartbreaking. We loved watching LadBaby’s video and felt we could do something to support their fundraising aims.
“Our sausage rolls are a regional best-seller so it seemed a fitting link and we hope the money we raise will go towards The Trussell Trust’s mission to protect every family’s right to good food all year round.”


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If you were quick to jump on the 4K and HDR television set bandwagon and are now looking for streaming devices like the Apple TV to start offering content to match, your wait may soon be over. New details have surfaced that iTunes could be preparing to make movies available in 4K and HDR, indicating that a new Apple TV model capable of supporting the higher resolution is on the way.
Currently, movies downloaded from iTunes can only come in the standard HD format of 720p or 1080p. However, one MacRumors reader in the UK found that his purchase history listed the movie Passengers with description tags for “4K, HDR.” A US reader found that his rental of the same movie only listed it as “HD,” while MacRumors confirmed that the 4K and HDR tags also appeared on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
It’s highly unlikely Apple would add these tags if it wasn’t planning on offering content in 4K and HDR, and their appearance on recent big-name movies implies that movie studios are ready to provide said content to the iTunes Store. The only thing missing from the equation is a device capable of playing these movies, making a new Apple TV a perfect fit.
A 4K-compatible Apple TV has been rumored for some time now, and rival services like Netflix and Google Play have already begun offering video content in 4K. The fall months are usually when Apple updates hardware like the Apple TV, so now would be the perfect time to prepare for a new model.


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Mazda introduces SKYACTIV Gen2 models as part of next mid-term plan
Goal to raise fuel economy by 50% from 2008 levels through SKYACTIV and electric drives
|All-new Mazda Roadster launched in May 2015
(Photo courtesy of Mazda)
This report focuses on Mazda Motor Corporation's model plan and production capacity plan based on its next mid-term business plan called "Structural Reform Stage 2" that covers fiscal years starting from April 2016 through March 2019. The business plan was announced in April 2015.
Mazda reported net deficits in the fiscal year ended in March 2009 (FY 2009) through FY 2012. In 2012, Mazda introduced the new-generation models which adopted Skyactiv technology and a new design theme dubbed Kodo ("Soul of Motion") design. Since then, the company's performance is improving substantially due in part to the weaker yen as well.
Mazda plans to introduce eight new-generation models by the end of FY 2016 that will raise the ratio of Skyactiv models to more than 85% of its global sales and increase the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) by 30% over the 2008 levels. The company's next mid-term business plan includes the introduction of the second-generation Skyactiv (Skyactiv Gen2) models that feature the Homogeneous-charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion technology. Mazda will strengthen its electric drive technologies starting in FY 2020 and raise its CAFE by 50% in 2020 over the 2008 levels.
Mazda will strengthen overseas production especially in Mexico, Thailand and China to build a system that is least affected by currency exchange fluctuations. During the next mid-term business plan, Mazda will maintain production volumes high at home (reportedly more than 850,000 units in Japan) and meet additional future demands by increasing its capacities in plants overseas.
Mazda's record profits in 2013 due to success of SKYACTIV models (Jul. 2014)
Mazda: Future prospects of advanced ICEs for passenger cars (Jun. 2015)
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Exclusive: Nordstrom Rack eyes Nashville
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Nordstrom Inc. is looking to open one of its discount Nordstrom Rack stores in the Nashville area, according to multiple sources.
The Seattle-based luxury retailer has scouted the area for 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of space for its off-price concept. For comparison, a typical full-line Nordstrom store is 130,000 square feet.
When asked about Nordstrom eying Nashville, Colin Johnson, a Nordstrom spokesman, said, "We are keeping our eyes open for opportunities. ... We always want to look for new ways to better serve customers."
The Nordstrom store at The Mall at Green Hills, the retailer's first and only location in Tennessee, opened in September 2011.
"We often have Racks in close proximity to our full-line stores," Johnson said. "They really complement each other. Having a Rack near a full-line store is a model that has worked well for us. Ultimately, it gives customers more choice."
Nordstrom prefers locating Racks in so-called power centers (Nashville West is an example) rather than shopping malls, Johnson said. Johnson said the company likes to open Rack stores in established shopping destinations, "where we know we have lots of customers."
Nordstrom has been expanding its Rack stores, counting on the concept as an avenue for growth.
Last year, the number of Rack stores (119) surpassed full-line stores (117), after the company opened 15 Racks across the country, Johnson said.
Due to new store openings, sales at Racks climbed 16.3 percent in the company's third quarter, outpacing sales growth at full-line stores, which increased by 11.5 percent.
Nordstrom has announced 15 new Rack stores that are planned to open this year.
Nevin Batiwalla covers real estate/development and regional economic development.
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Impact International / October 15, 1996
By Larry Luxner
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's newfound economic prosperity and South America's continuing trend toward economic integration has been both a blessing and a curse for Brasif, the country's dominant duty-free operator.
Samuel Kauffmann, Brasif's managing director, spoke to Impact International in a lengthy interview at his office in downtown Rio de Janeiro. He said that so far this year, the numbers have not been encouraging.
"We are with a good economy with many more passengers than in the past, but those passengers are poorer than before," he explained. "The problem is that passengers are spending less per-capita."
During the first seven months of 1996, said Kauffmann, four million passengers arrived and departed Brazil through the country's main airports -- a 6.3% increase over the same period last year -- but spending per head dropped 9.4%. In dollar terms, per-capita expenditures so far this year are $41, down from $45 last year. In another disturbing trend, only 23.8% of all passengers even entered duty-free shops, down from 25% in 1995.
Part of the reason, suspects Kauffmann, is the continuing economic downturn in neighboring Argentina, where the economy shrank 2.5% last year and unemployment now hovers around 20% -- the highest in Latin America.
"Four years ago, 50% of the sales in our departure shops came from Argentines," he said. "Today, less than 15% of sales are going to Argentines. This shows the impact changes in the Argentine economy have had on us."
But the declining revenues have more to do with Brazil itself. Thanks to the Real Plan, introduced by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso in July 1994, prices rose only 15.5% in 1995 -- a far cry from the 1,000% recorded the year before, and Brazil's lowest inflation since 1957. The plan dumped the cruzeiro in favor of the real, and set the real on parity, more or less, with the U.S. dollar. Meanwhile, Brazil's GDP growth reached 5.3% in 1994 and 1995, though it's projected to fall to 3.2% by year-end 1996. While unemployment is on the rise, inflation will probably end the year at a low 13-17%.
As a result, Brazil is no longer the travel bargain it once was, and São Paulo has easily become the most expensive city in Latin America, with prices comparable to that of New York. It's now cheaper for a resident of Rio to fly to Miami than to Manaus, a city in the Brazilian Amazon.
"The real stabilization plan helps us because it encourages Brazilians to travel more, but on the other hand they come back with an image that things here are expensive," said Kauffmann. "People are coming to understand the relationship between price and value."
Kauffmann, 58, is descended from Bessarabian Jews who settled in Brazil around the turn of the century. For the past 14 years, he has served as managing director of Brasif, which started life as a steel and construction firm, gradually transforming itself into a duty-free conglomerate.
Last year, the company had sales last year of $250 million and enjoys a whopping 97% share of the Brazilian duty-free market. Yet Kauffmann bristles at the suggestion Brasif is a monopoly.
"This is not a monopoly, it's a circumstance," he said. "We won all the tenders but one. We lost Salvador a year and a half ago to SOS, a supermarket company."
At the moment, Brasif has two outlets (750 square meters each) at São Paulo's Guaralhos International Airport. It also operates a 1,400-sq-meter arrivals shop at Rio de Janeiro's Galeão International Airport, 200-sq-meter shops in Recife and Belo Horizonte, and a 150-sq-meter shop in Porto Alegre, as well as a special duty-free airport shop for diplomats in the national capital, Brasília. "São Paulo is the most profitable, because we have more volume there, and can pay fixed costs more easily," says Kauffmann.
Of Brasif's total duty-free revenues, approximately 35% comes from liquor; 20% from perfume and cosmetics; 18% from watches, cameras and other gift items; 15% from electronics; 10% from food items, and 2% from cigarettes.
By far, the single most important item in Brasif's stores is whisky. Sample prices include Johnnie Walker Red ($15); Johnnie Walker Black ($29); Johnnie Walker Blue ($120); Ballantines' Founders Reserve ($35); Drambuie ($25), and Camus, Courvosier X.O, Imperial, Hennessy X.O and Remy Martin X.O (all $99). The cheapest item is Martini Blanco Vermouth ($7.00), while the most expensive is Ballantine 30-year ($255). Interestingly, neither Pirassununga 51 cachaça nor other local products are sold at Brasif stores -- only international brands.
Interestingly, arrivals account for 70% of Brasif's business, while departures are only 30%. In addition, 90% of Brasif's shoppers are Brazilians. Of the remaining 10%, noted Kauffmann, most come from Europe or elsewhere in Latin America; very few are U.S. tourists. "Americans aren't traveling to Brazil anymore because of all the bad publicity," he says.
That could soon change, however. Earlier this year, Rio de Janeiro kicked off a $15 million media blitz aimed at promoting the city to U.S. tourists and countering negative publicity spawned by the city's reputation for violent crime. A New York ad agency, Jerry & Ketchum, is overseeing the five-year multimedia campaign, which is funded jointly by the Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau, the mayor's office, the state tourism agency and Varig Airlines. Rio's media blitz seeks to boost the number of U.S. visitors from 120,000 in 1995 to half a million in 1998, extend their average stay from four to six nights, and increase average daily tourist expenditures from $155 to $180 over the same period.
In addition, the city is a serious contender for the 2004 Olympic Games -- along with Buenos Aires, Cape Town, San Juan and seven European candidates. The Rio 2004 Olympic Committee, headed by Jorge Pedro Dalledonne, has 50 full-time employees and a budget of $16 million. A final decision won't be made until March 1997, but the entire city is united behind the effort, which is helped by the fact that Rio successfully hosted the Earth Summit in 1992, and by the fact that South America has never had an Olympics.
"Rio used to be the capital of the country until 35 years ago, when it moved to Brasília," said Kauffmann. "The city lost many of its qualities, and now it's recovering. I think Rio has a chance."
Asked if Mercosur -- a customs union comprising Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay -- could follow the lead of the European Union, which plans to abolish duty-free shopping among its 15 members by 1999, Kauffmann said he doubts it.
"The example of the EU is a long way from South America, because the common market in Europe took 30 years to be implemented. Mercosur started four years ago, without time enough to be established," he observed. "You're talking about four or five countries with major differences among them, such as tax rates, culture and standard of living. Put all this together and it'll take a lot of time."
"On the other hand," he added, "people here will be more aggressive in terms of implementation. I think it's something we'll have to look at, but not in the short term."


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Cotton prices rise to seasonal highArchive
KARACHI: Relentless buying from spinners pushed cotton prices on Friday to a seasonal high on growing concern over short crop and expected surge in cotton yarn demand after the imposition of 10 per cent regulatory duty on imports from next month.
Floor brokers said that phutti (seed cotton) prices also soared as supply is fairly slow and growers are demanding higher rates. The reports of ginners holding back cotton stocks till phutti arrivals report due next month was also creating panic buying.
The sustained buying from spinners kept pushing lint prices higher and ultimately touched seasonal high level. Brokers said that if current trend of panic buying continues it could cross Rs6,000 per maund within next couple of days.
However, cotton analyst say that rapidly rising cotton prices in the domestic market is improving import parity which presently stands at around Rs5,400 to Rs5,500 per maund.
The New York cotton market came under selling pressure where all the future contracts closed lower. The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) left its spot rates unchanged.


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NBA-All World launched today (January 24) and tasks players with exploring their surrounding area to recruit current NBA stars or challenge them to one-on-one matches.
Like Pokémon Go, players’ movement is tracked on a Google Maps-style map of their surroundings, and augmented reality (AR) locations like shoe shops will let players collect in-game trainers, jerseys and other gear.
At launch, NBA All-World‘s minigames will include a three-point shootout, Around The World, Beat The Clock, and a first to five point system. While players won’t be able to directly battle other players in the game’s 3D basketball game modes, local basketball courts will have a leaderboard system that allows them to take on other people by challenging an AI-controlled member of their team.
Each character’s stats – offense, defence, fitness, energy and overall level – will influence how they perform when challenged by other players. As for the basketballers that players will be able to recruit, Niantic has confirmed that only players who are currently on an NBA roster will appear, though stopped short of ruling it out from appearing in future updates.
Niantic has also charted over 100,000 basketball courts to feature in NBA All-World, however the studio has confirmed to press that any players who do not have a local court will be able to use many of the locations marked as points of interest in Pokémon Go.
Along with featuring famous basketball players including Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole, NBA All-World will include licensed tracks from the following artists:
NBA All-World is Niantic’s latest augmented reality game, but it won’t be the last. Back in September, the developer announced plans to release a Marvel-themed mobile game later in 2023.


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Digger Specialties, Inc. (DSI) announced it will begin servicing the Tennessee market through distributor partner, Palmer-Donavin.
Currently, Palmer-Donavin distributes DSI building products in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Michigan, and Indiana. With a new facility in Hebron, Ky. Palmer-Donavin is now distributing DSI products in Tennessee.
“Palmer-Donavin is excited to expand into Tennessee with Digger Specialties,” said Josh Thompson, vice president of marking at Palmer-Donavin. “Since our relationship started in 2016, they have been a strategic partner and we have worked together to build a great offering to our dealers in the Midwest.
Columbus, Ohio-based Palmer Donavin expanded in the Nashville market in January after the recent addition of the 200,000-square-foot distribution location in Hebron.


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According to AnnArbor.com, the company still has $250,000 available for interested investors. FlockTag CEO David Lin said that this funding will keep the company operating through the first quarter of 2014.
FlockTag is an NFC-powered loyalty card that has a mobile application to give consumers centralized access for their rewards. When FlockTag first started, they served as a replacement for those inconvenient paper punch cards that you collect from restaurants and coffee shops. FlockTag uses NFC to "check in" to stores and restaurants by tapping the card on a sensor attached to an Android tablet.
There is a lot of value in the data that FlockTag collects from consumers. The data is used for hyper-targeted advertising and personalized deals. For example, if I eat at Big Ten Burrito often, then FlockTag can send me deals about Mexican restaurants in the area.
Many of FlockTag's users tend to be kids in large college cities. The company has seen tremendous growth in cities with Big 10 universities like Ann Arbor, Columbus, and East Lansing. FlockTag has around 100 companies in 7 cities that use the service. Around 100,000 people have used FlockTag more than one million times.
FlockTag generates revenue in several ways ways. They charge stores a subscription fee and there is a product profit sharing agreement that can be set up. The company can also sets up a "flash" deal that is similar to the
Amherst Fund LLC put $500,000 into the company as part of this round. Matt Turner, the CEO and president of Amherst, said he plans to continue to invest in FlockTag. He also participated in FlockTag's seed round of funding. FlockTag previously raised $650,000 in their seed round.
You can download the FlockTag app from the Apple App Store now.
Below is a demo of how the service works.


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Some financial analysts and legal experts believe Cisco’s lawsuit over the iPhone trademark won’t stop Apple from using the name, noting that the case will likely be settled long before the June ship date. At least one analyst, however, believes Apple will change the device’s name to “Apple Phone.”
“We expect an amicable resolution,” Prudential Securities analyst Inder Singh said. “The most likely outcome, in our opinion, is for Cisco to be a net recipient of financial payment from Apple for use of the name.” Apple “has until May to sort this out and then ramp up marketing, so there is time,” said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray.
Citing sources close to the iPhone situation, Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research said he expects Apple to change the name of the iPhone to “Apple Phone” in time for the product’s release in June. Of note, Apple this week renamed its previously codenamed iTV living room device the “Apple TV.”


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Google just announced yet another batch of services it plans to discontinue in the near future. Most of these are relatively obscure products that probably didn’t have a large amount of traction. In this round, Google is shutting down three products, as well as a number of company blogs that had become redundant or just weren’t updated very frequently. The products include Google Apps for Teams, Google Listen and Google Video For Business. This round of shutdowns comes just a few weeks after Google also closed relatively popular services like iGoogle and Google Video.
So Much For Google Apps For Teams, Listen And Video For Business
Google launched Google Apps for teams in 2008 and the tool allowed businesses and schools to use non-email services like Google Docs without having to sign up for a Google email address. This service, Google said today, was not as useful for people as [it] originally anticipated” and starting September 4, Google Apps for Teams accounts will be turned into personal Google Accounts.
Google Listen started as a Google Labs project and was a way for people to find and listen to podcasts. Google Play now offers so many podcast listening apps that the company has decided to shut Listen down on November 1. Current users will be able to listen to their existing podcast subscriptions in Google Reader. Google last updated this service earlier this year, but even then, it was already clear that this service was mostly an afterthought for the company.
As for Google Video for Business, which allowed Google Apps for Business and Google Apps for Education users to host videos for internal use in their organizations, Google has decided to migrate all of these videos to Google Drive where they will be stored free and won’t count against a user’s Google Drive storage quota.
Since last year, Google either donated, merged or shut down 50 products in this “spring cleaning campaign” that started after Larry Page took over as the company’s CEO from Eric Schmidt. The idea here, says Google, is to “focus on the high-impact products that millions of people use, multiple times a day” and not to waste resource on underutilized products so the company can build a “better Google.”
Here is our running list of products that Google closed over the last few months:
Google Bookmarks Lists, Google Friend Connect, iGoogle, Google Video, Google Symbian Search App, Google Talk Chatback, Google Mini, Google Gears, Google Search Timeline, Google Wave, Knol, Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal (RE<C), Aardvark, Desktop, Fast Flip, Google Maps API for Flash, Google Pack, Google Web Security, Image Labeler, Notebook, Sidewiki, Subscribed Links, Google Flu Vaccine Finder, Google Related, Google Sync for BlackBerry, mobile web app for Google Talk, One Pass, Patent Search, Picasa for Linux, Picasa Web Albums Uploader for Mac and Picasa Web Albums Plugin for iPhoto, and all Slide products.


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The expected stamp of approval was given by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents on Friday for a five-year extension to the deal between Husker athletics and adidas.
The Regents passed the measure by a unanimous 7-0 vote.
As reported last week, the deal is worth $15.53 million. Of that number, $8.03 million comes in cash paid by adidas to NU. The other $7.5 million comes in athletic apparel and equipment.
The deal replaces an eight-year agreement that was about to run out in June. Nebraska has been associated with adidas since 1995.
“We are pleased to extend our contract with adidas as we look to continue to grow and extend our Nebraska Athletics brand world-wide,” Husker athletic director Shawn Eichorst said in a statement. “Their products are of excellent quality across all sports and through the years they have also provided superior customer service to our programs. Adidas has been a great partner for us and we look forward to working with them over the next five years.”
The last deal in 2005 gave Nebraska a guaranteed base sum of $22.875 million over eight years, which was thought to be one of the highest dollar figure apparel and footwear contracts at the time.
Other notable programs linked with adidas include Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Indiana, Cincinnati, North Carolina State, Mississippi State and Kansas.
* The regents also approved a request to rename the Haymarket Park Practice Facility to the Alex Gordon Training Complex following a $1 million donation from the former Husker and his wife Jamie Gordon.
* Also, the new volleyball court at the Bob Devaney Sports Center will now be named Terry Pettit Court, in honor of the former Husker volleyball coach.


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SEEDTAG SURGES AHEAD WITH €250 MILLION INVESTMENT.
We are pleased to have partnered with Jorge Poyatos, Albert Nieto, and the Seedtag team from a very early stage. It has been a remarkable journey so far, and we are excited to continue supporting the company in its next phase of growth.
Accelerating US expansion
Since launching in 2014, Seedtag has become the leading contextual solution in Europe and Latin America, with its AI and programs such as Seedtag LAB providing advertisers with a much deeper understanding of user interest without the use of personal data.
The company plans to use the funding to further scale its Contextual AI technology, LIZ©, as well as advancing its worldwide operations with its fast-growing team of more than 300 employees, a more than 40% increase since 2021.
Growth in the United States is a key strategic focus, with co-CEO and co-founder Albert Nieto recently making the move to New York to establish Seedtag’s official US headquarters. The company already has offices in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
A record-breaking year
This investment represents one of the biggest rounds ever for a Spanish startup and a significant step forward for Seedtag, following its many achievements during the past year.
Just ten months ago, Seedtag secured $40 million in a Series B round led by Oakley Capital. In June 2022, Seedtag also acquired the French adtech company KMTX, a leader in developing AI models to optimize and automate performance marketing campaigns.
With the fast-approaching demise of third-party cookies and more restrictions on mobile-device identifiers for ad targeting, brands are seeking new advertising strategies to stay relevant in a dramatically changing landscape. These changes in the advertising industry, coupled with the advancements in AI and contextual targeting, make Seedtag’s privacy-complaint and brand-safe solutions more relevant and valuable than ever.
«We are incredibly proud of Albert, Jorge, and the entire Seedtag team as they’ve rapidly grown the company into a global category leader. We have really enjoyed the journey so far, together with Oakley Capital and All Iron Ventures. Seedtag represents an ideal case of our investment strategy: deep core technology driven by a powerful vision, superior execution capability, and the courage of the founders to take risks at the right time. We are excited about what is still to come.” – NICOLAS GOULET, ADARA MANAGING PARTNER
Since our initial investment in 2016, Seedtag has achieved T2D3 growth by relentlessly deepening its core technology and optimizing its new market entry model. We congratulate the entire Seedtag team on this outstanding achievement, and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
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In 2018, in honor of Candiani Denim’s 80th anniversary, we hosted our first Open Mill Day. This annual event aims to showcase the “realities of everyday production in the textile industry, inspiring questions and showing there is a difference when a company commits to innovation and invests in sustainability”.
Open Mill Day wants to increase the awareness of production processes
The denim industry is one of the most polluting in the fashion industry. It happens because people are unaware of the production processes of the items they buy: where do they come from? Who made them, and how? Our Open Mill Day aims to transfer this knowledge from who produces to who consumes and increase their awareness of production processes.
Open Mill Day 2018: what is behind the denim production process?
We invited about 70 supply chain partners, designers, media, and other industry stakeholders to Open Mill Day 2018. Our purpose was to show them what happens behind the scenes of the denim production process, from spinning to laundry, in our two factories in Robecchetto con Induno, close to Milan, and its hamlet, Malvaglio.
Gianluigi and his son Alberto Candiani, the former and current President of Candiani Denim, and Simon Giuliani, Global Marketing Director of the mill, led our guests through this extraordinary journey.
The tour’s starting point was at Candiani Denim’s cotton warehouse, hosting an exhibition on denim’s evolution from workwear to premium and sustainable fabric. Then, the group was led through the denim-making process in the mill’s spinning, dyeing, weaving, finishing, and laundry departments. A series of panels underlined the sustainable properties of all the production steps, such as the amount of water, energy, and chemicals saved.
Those who attended our Open Mill Day received a bag made from ReGen fabric containing our sustainability report and three meters of ReGen fabric to produce their own pair of sustainable jeans.
“When it comes to denim, no one can really know what is behind unless they see it for real. I wanted to open the doors of my own house; I was literally raised here. Open Mill Day is there to give you tools to understand what we are talking about”, Alberto Candiani said.
Open Mill Day 2019: how can we improve the traceability of products?
Open Mill Day was repeated in 2019. We believe that the knowledge should be brought back to people, improving the traceability of products and letting consumers understand where they are sourced and how they are manufactured.
The awareness around sustainability is increasing globally, but confusion around this topic is simultaneously growing. So, being informed about production processes is necessary to put consumers in the position of making their own evaluations. More and more people are interested and want to know what really is behind their purchases.
“Opening up our doors in total transparency aims to share knowledge about a production process with the people who make and sell jeans. We hope that through their understanding, they will appreciate what is behind a pair of jeans, and they will be able to transfer that knowledge further to their clients to create an educational process which elevates the understanding of a product”, Simon Giuliani explained.


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Digital has helped to alter the automotive sector in a variety of ways, from the emergence of virtual showrooms to the growth of well-informed customers. Our dependence is only expected to grow in the years to come though.
An all-time high for the number of new cars sold across the UK was reached in 2016. According to figures from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), 2.69 million cars were registered — up two per cent on 2015’s performance. Although largely attributed to fleets, private car sales still remain historically high at 1.2 million.
8.2 million used cars were sold throughout the UK during 2016 — an increase of 7.3 per cent when compared to 2015’s figures. The largest proportion of these sales (14.9 per cent) took place in the South East, with 10.4 per cent in the North West and 9.8 per cent in the East.
Another emerging trend is the increased demand for alternatively fuelled vehicles across the UK as well. While petrol- and diesel-powered cars still dominate the market, we witnessed a 41.9 per cent growth in plugin hybrids and a 25.1 per cent uplift in petrol-electric hybrids.
When it comes to consistent growth of both new and used car sales, the aftermath of the recession must be largely credited to the increasing figures. With a wealth of buyers now in the market, brands need to do all they can to capture their interest and secure a sale — and this means embracing digital.
This already appears to be the case, with an Accenture survey of 10,000 respondents finding that 75 per cent would like to complete an entire car-buying process using online means if they had the service available for them to do so. Although manufacturers like BMW and Hyundai offer this service, a fully digital car-buying process is still relatively new. However, buyers still rely on digital when completing a purchase in person.
This is evident when you consider that 97 per cent of new car buyers say that they thoroughly research their buying options and vehicles available before they even make a trip to a car dealership. For 59 per cent of potential buyers, this research takes eight hours, while 39 per cent spend over four months researching.
A typical car buyer will also have 900 digital interactions over three months ahead of them committing to either buying or leasing a vehicle, if data from Luth Research is to be believed. These interactions are categorised as searches, visits, video views and clicks and can be broken down as:
• 139 Google searches
• 14 YouTube videos
• 89 images
• 69 dealer interactions
• 186 manufacturer interactions
It’s clear then that a strong digital presence is required by those in the automotive industry. Download the Mediaworks Automotive Industry Digital Marketing Review White Paper by digital agency Mediaworks to see if your website is performing the best it could and get ideas on creating forward-thinking digital strategies.


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Posted on July 2, 2010 | Category: Politics; Business, Sport
SW Radio Africa News
While farms that were once highly productive lie idle under the new ownership of ZANU-PF officials and cronies, Zimbabwe is in the process of negotiating a deal to import maize from neighboring Zambia. The tragic irony is that the crops being sought after were grown by white farmers who were illegally booted off their land in Zimbabwe. Many wound up in neighboring countries, which are now benefiting from their expertise.
Zambia used to import maize and other food items from Zimbabwe, but with the influx of some of Zimbabwe’s best farmers, they’ve once again produced a surplus maize crop. Zimbabwe on the other hand has recorded a deficit of 500,000 tonnes of the daily food staple this year.
Chiredzi based farmer Gerry Whitehead described the whole situation as “disgusting”. He said: “Approximately 90% of these Zambian crops are coming from ex-Zimbabwean farmers who were forced off their land here.”
Sipula Kabanje, Zambia’s high commissioner to Zimbabwe, confirmed in reports that the negotiations with Zimbabwe were going on through Zambia’s maize agent, the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). He said Zimbabwe also wants to import other food items like wheat, beef and dairy products from Zambia.
Whitehead explained that many farms in Zimbabwe are producing nothing at all. He said: “I have travelled quite a bit in Zimbabwe on business and you can see the land is lying idle. I mean you drive between here and Harare and it’s hundreds of kilometers of idle land, nothing.”
The farmer also told us that there has been no maintenance at the power stations at Hwange and Kariba, leading to a chronic shortage of power. Because of this the few farms that are still producing food are having difficulty pumping water for irrigation.
Whitehead added that many of the new farm owners need agricultural training and financial management advice. Then there are the many who have no intention of being farmers. He said; “They end up buying new cars and more houses in town and that’s it. It is happening here in Chiredzi”. Meanwhile the Minister of Agriculture, Joseph Made, was on Wednesday quoted in local state media as saying Zimbabwe should cut imports from South Africa. He said: “Agricultural imports are threatening local farmers. We should ensure fair trade and it is critical that we support our farmers.”
Made reportedly complained that we should not be importing tomatoes from South Africa when there are many “flooding and rotting at Mbare Musika”, the market in Harare.
Whitehead dismissed Made’s comments, saying: “You can’t cut imports from South Africa, that’s impossible. We will never be able to do that. It is just talk.”
The Zimbabwe government has already limited dairy and meat imports from South Africa to almost nothing and local supermarkets have seen a sharp decline in the availability of chickens, eggs and dairy products. This has created a 6 percent increase in food prices in the last few months.
» Filed Under Politics; Business, Sport


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Sony reveals limited edition Uncharted 4: A Thief's End statue
Extra limited, extra detailed.
Naughty Dog and Sony have come together to reveal a limited edition statue for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, featuring a "meticulously detailed 1:6 scale design" of Nathan Drake "performing his signature leaping takedown on an unsuspecting Shoreline soldier."
The statue has been created to commemorate what has been detailed as Drake's "final" adventure.
Only 1,500 of these statues will be released worldwide. With this 20" statue being so limited, you might be a bit concerned about the price. Well, $350.00, before taxes and shipping - you can decide whether or not that's too much for you!
The statue is estimated to be shipping out at some point in May this year, but there is no confirmed date as of yet. Check it out in the PlayStation Gear store.


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Already known for its considerable presence in the world of indoor home accessories, Calhoun, Ga-based Surya has long been planning a move into the outdoor realm, largely in the accessory category.
With the help of industry veteran Jim Levine, vice president, Surya Outdoor, the company plans to unveil much of its outdoor category at the The International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market, scheduled for Sept 16-19, 2014, at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.
“There is a growing awareness in the home furnishings industry that outdoor products are very salable,” enthuses Levine, who joined Surya in April 2014, the result of a long search for someone with considerable outdoor furnishings experience. “Surya is making a strong push into the outdoor industry. We already have a customer base that is buying rugs, so we’re giving this customer more products with pillows, poufs, lighting, ceramic planters, wall mirrors, and more.”
With the accessories business relatively “fragmented,” Levine believes specialty retailers can now come to Surya for many of their needs. “We ship everything in 48 hours,” he says. “And we’re building a million-square-foot facility in Georgia to house all this inventory…We are going after specialty retailers.”
After the ICFA Show in Chicago, the rollout will continue at the High Point Market, Oct 18-23, in High Point, NC.


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Last Sunday, family, friends and fans publicly said goodbye to the late Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a touching memorial at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. Featuring a heartfelt performance from Beyoncé and tearful speeches from close family, including wife Vanessa Bryant, it was the event of the year for local residents. Tickets to the home of the Lakers was understandably hard to cop and now, a select few of attendees have taken advantage of the merchandise made available at the funeral.
According to reports each ticket holder was handed a series of items including a t-shirt, pins and booklets for free upon entrance. During the week, these items found their way onto the online marketplace with one t-shirt selling for $2,000 USD. Even used tickets were on sale before eBay took swift action by banning such items from being sold.
Every guest at the Kobe memorial will get this bag: a Kobe and Gigi shirt, booklet, ticket, and Kobe pin pic.twitter.com/ogtoba6yzv
— Eric Levenson (@ejleven) February 24, 2020
In an email via TMZ, eBay explained their decision to the resellers. “Please note, due to sudden and tragic passing of Kobe Bryant — eBay has made the decision to prohibit the sale of merchandise, images, and mugs relating to their passing. We do not allow listings that attempt to profit from human tragedy or suffering.”
Preach it, eBay.


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Ukraine decided to address the World Trade Organization on the issue of Kazakhstan limiting exports of Ukrainian pipes.
In late August the Ministry of economic development and trade hosted a meeting with representatives of pipe industry, where obstacles on the way of delivering pipes to world markets, including the Eurasian Economic Union, in particular Belarus and Kazakhstan were discussed.
Ukrainian pipe manufacturers voiced concerns as to the antidumping duty of 18.9-37.8% not allowing them to compete on the external markets. (Ukrainian metal)
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According to the Chinese calendar, 2017 is the year of the rooster.
In Greeley, we think it is the year for food. Restaurant food, to be more precise.
It’s hard not to get excited about some of the food establishments that are starting to call Greeley home. Most recently there has been a trio of new openings: Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, 4365 CenterPlace Ave.; Baskin-Robbins, 2030 35th Ave.; and Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard, 4359 CenterPlace Drive.
Greeley has always had some fine restaurant and food offerings, and we throw a shout-out to many establishments that have been here for years, even decades. We don’t mean to disrespect you. In fact, we can’t go on without tipping our cap to JB’s Drive-In, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.
But we just haven’t had the variety of choices that some of our neighboring communities have. Now, we are catching up. And based on early returns, the new stores are more than happy to be here, which likely will result in even more choices in the next year and beyond.
Fuzzy’s, for example, had major success on opening day, according to manager J Lundgren.
“We had a packed house and lines out the door,” he said. “We are definitely close to breaking the entire corporation’s record (in sales) for a brand new store opening day.”
We’re not sure why we’re suddenly attracting the attention of restaurants, ice cream stores and coffee shops. Perhaps because we passed the 100,000 population milestone? Or maybe it’s part of the national trend – going out to eat is now the “in” thing to do. In 2016, for the first time in our nation’s history, restaurant sales exceeded grocery store sales nationwide, according to retail experts.
Whatever the reason, we’re not complaining.
We hope the trend continues.
– The Tribune Editorial Board


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U.S. spending on streaming video -- to watch movies and other paid services -- has exploded in the past few years and it looks poised to keep on growing.
Americans spent $2.83 billion for the service in 2011, nearly triple the $854 million they spent in 2010, according to a PwC report.
Part of that increase is due to a change in the way that PwC classifies Netflix's subscription revenues. Until 2010, it placed Netflix in its category for stores like Blockbuster -- the "physical rental market." Last year, PwC decided that because streaming video is an increasingly dominant part of Netflix's business model and the company now offers a streaming-only subscription model, half of Netflix's subscription revenue would be counted as "streaming" and half as "physical."
Still, the report might come as a relief and a surprise to those in Hollywood who remain dubious about the idea that people are willing to pay money to watch movies online. Services like Netflix and Hulu Plus already have millions of subscribers and are still growing -- a sort of challenge to the sort of movie industry executives who consider increasing digital distribution as merely "Trading Analog Dollars for Digital Pennies" (a chapter heading in Edward Jay Epstein's recent book "The Hollywood Economist").
And $2.83 billion is hardly pennies. PwC anticipates that Americans will spend more and more on streaming video going forward. If the accounting firm is right, Americans will fork out $6.68 billion on streaming movies by 2016, when the sector will comprise more than one-fifth of overall movie spending in the United States. To put that in perspective, streaming video represented just 1.5 percent of the American movie market as recently as 2008.
A Netflix representative agreed. "We’re convinced that streaming has the future and are bullish about its prospects, both here in the US and abroad," company representative Joris Evers told The Huffington Post in an email.
Evers pointed to an April 23 investor letter, in which Netflix said it had added 1.75 million new streaming-only subscribers to its rolls in the first quarter of 2012.
David Sidebottom, a senior consultant in digital media at Futuresource, told The Huffington Post that the future success of streaming video isn't just contingent on Netflix's role.
"We see an increasing amount of growth coming from new services," said Sidebottom of Futuresource, which provided PwC the data it used to make the forecasts. "It could be even Apple. We see there being alternatives to Netflix moving forward."
But Sidebottom said that anyone who wants to start a new streaming service will have to confront a major obstacle: the movie studios. Most of them have been reluctant to grant streaming services access to their film libraries, especially when it comes to new releases, for fear that doing so could cannibalize lucrative businesses like TV licensing.
As Epstein asked in his book, "Why should HBO pay $15 million for rights to an exclusive window for the latest Harry Potter movie when its viewers can download it from the Internet?"
And with this kind of deal making being the norm in the industry, it can cost a prospective streaming video provider a tremendous amount of money to compete. But until a provider has a tremendous amount of good content, no one's going to want to pay it much for a subscription. That's the great catch-22 of the digital transition.
Even if streaming video revenue does grow as rapidly as PwC says it will, it does not seem to be expanding as fast as the decline in consumer spending for renting or purchasing old-fashioned movie media for home use. Annual revenue from the physical home video market -- which includes DVD, VHS, Blu-Ray rentals -- is expected to be $10 billion smaller in 2016 than it was in 2007, according to PwC projections.


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5 Jul 2018
Wine blog ‘A Wine on Six’ has published an article written by Miquel Hudin, who was one of the judges of wine competition Decanter Awards, where Georgian wines won several top prizes.
In the story Hudin shared past statistics in terms of how wines from Georgia have been both entered as well as scored:
"As you can see, there are two trends here. The first is the amount of wines being entered which jumped 30% from 2017 to 2018–this is definitely not insignificant. Also not insignificant is the sharp jump in medal totals. It’s not that myself and my fellow table mates were being generous but that some seriously good wines were sent in this year”, the blog reads.
"As to why there were no medals in 2013, I think it’s because this was the last year of the Russian Embargo and many wineries were hurting badly financially given their dependence on the market and thus, sending to Decanter just wasn’t an option, or they weren’t even producing in 2012 as hail damage was severe in the east where the bulk of production is”, the blog reads.
Read the full story here.


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By: Hsu Chih-wei and Elizabeth Hsu
Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Apps for live streaming videos have rapidly gained popularity
among young social media users over the past several years, but a child welfare organization has discovered risks to child safety in the way the apps, which are easily accessible on computers and mobile devices, are used.
The Child Welfare League Foundation, a Taipei-based non-profit organization, published the results of a survey on Monday showing that 19.3 percent of the most popular online live-streaming anchors — a total of 29 — are under the age of 18, the youngest of whom is an 11-year-old.
Two-thirds of these young anchors are female, according to the survey conduced July 6-7.
On each of Taiwan’s top three live streaming apps in terms of popularity — Meme, Langlive (浪live) and Live.me — the foundation singled out the 50 most popular anchors of live streaming videos who have made their ages known to their subscribers.


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As the country celebrates the achievements of Black people throughout the month, Disney is celebrating Lanny Smoot for receiving his 100th patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
According to a Disney release, Smoot has spent 24 years at Disney and has a total of 102 patents, the most patents by anyone at the company. Smoot said his love for engineering and inventing was inspired by his father, who he describes as a jack-of-all-trades.
“Growing up, our family did not have a lot of money,” Smoot said in the release. “My dad was a bit of a jack-of-all-trades and taught himself how to make many mechanical gadgets, including several of my early toys. One of my earliest childhood memories was him bringing home an electric bell, a light bulb, some batteries, and wire. He set up the bell to ring and the bulb to light, and that light lit my career!”
Today, as a Disney Research Fellow, Smoot’s role represents the highest level of technical research achievement at Walt Disney. The inventions Smoot and his team have produced at Disney include Madame Leota’s floating head in the Séance Room at the Haunted Mansion attraction; Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, which opened in 2009; and the virtual and interactive koi ponds at the Crystal Lotus Restaurant at Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.
Smoot, who served as a judge for Disney’s innovation challenge for HBCU schools in December 2021, also discussed how important it is to get Black students and students of color involved in STEM programs, engineering, and inventing.
“We need to give young students—especially Black students and people of color—experience in these fields. The Walt Disney Co. is digging deeply into this by making sure that we mentor diverse young people, and I’ve done that many times myself.”
Disney is celebrating Black History Month by opening the first Black-owned business in its Downtown Disney District. The animation giant has also partnered with Roots band members Questlove and Black Thought for the animated series Rise Up, Sing Out.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco (TSCO.L), the world’s third-biggest retailer, reported a drop in underlying first-quarter British sales on Monday, as a recovery plan following its shock profit warning in January struggles to gain traction.
The supermarket group, which accounts for about one in every 10 pounds spent in British shops and makes over 70 percent of its trading profit there, said UK consumers were being careful with their spending as disposable income continued to fall and economic worries persist.
“Confidence isn’t getting any worse but it isn’t getting any better. The great hope would be that fuel prices are going to come down,” Chief Executive Philip Clarke told reporters.
“A (car) tank of petrol is still 70 pounds ($110) now and it was 45 pounds two years ago, an amazing dent in household budgets.”
Once one of the most consistent British companies in terms of earnings growth, Tesco stunned investors in January with its first profit warning in over 20 years, saying it needed to invest heavily to stem a steady decline in UK market share.
In April Clarke, a Tesco career lifer who as a youth stacked shelves in his local store, slashed expansion plans for the British chain and said he would spend over 1 billion pounds on improving stores and online shopping in a bid to reverse a decline in market share.
He said on Monday the momentum of change in the business was accelerating with extra staff put in 700 of its stores, over 145,000 staff given specialist training, more than 100 stores refreshed, own-label ranges updated and an Everyday Value range relaunched.
“Our customers are seeing the evidence of the changes we’re making and they’re telling us they like what they see.”
But he declined to say how long it would take for a significant improvement in like-for-like sales to be seen.
Analysts acknowledged some improvement but expressed concern at revenue slippage at Tesco Bank, a moderation in like-for-like sales growth at the loss-making Fresh & Easy chain in the United States and a slowdown in China.
Tesco shares, which have lagged the STOXX Europe 600 retail index .SXRP by 27 percent this year, were down 0.6 percent at 301 pence at 0600 EDT, underperforming a FTSE 100 index up 1 percent and valuing the group at 24.2 billion pounds.
“We are not yet seeing the concrete signs of improvement that would drive a re-rating of the shares said Espirito Santo Investment Bank analyst Richard Cathcart.
“As the year progresses management will have to show hard evidence that consumers’ perceptions of the Tesco offer are improving.”
Tesco said sales at British stores open over a year, excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, fell 1.5 percent, in the 13 weeks to May 26, its fiscal first quarter, in line with analysts’ expectations.
That was marginally better than a 1.6 percent decline in the fourth quarter of its previous financial year, despite a tough comparative period when sales were boosted by a royal wedding.
Clarke said Tesco’s performance improved relative to the market, with total UK sales growth down 0.3 percentage points to 2.0 percent versus a decline in market growth of 1.3 percentage points, according to Kantar data.
He added the firm saw its biggest ever week for sales outside a Christmas period in the run-up to the four-day Queen’s Diamond Jubilee holiday weekend at the beginning of June, with over 1 billion pounds in sales. That will be included in second-quarter results.
“Had it been in the (first) quarter it would have been substantially better for us in our reporting,” said Clarke, noting the grocer sold nearly 1 million packs of party and picnic food and nearly 2 million sausage rolls.
But he said the UK supermarket sector remained very competitive through the first quarter, with a significant amount of couponing activity.
Sainsbury (SBRY.L), Britain’s No. 3 grocer, will report first quarter sales on Wednesday. Analysts forecast growth of 1.5-2.25 percent, though its period includes the run-up to the Jubilee.
Tesco, with over 6,000 stores in 14 countries, said total first quarter sales rose 2.2 percent including fuel.
The group won market share in 11 of its 12 international markets, with sales at constant exchange rates up 9.1 percent and 6.0 percent in Asia and Europe respectively.
“At this early stage of the year we are performing in line with market expectations for the group. The outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged,” it added.
(Editing by Rhys Jones, Greg Mahlich)
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Britain in fourth paragraph from end


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Warranties, club fees disputed as NCR appeals Lewis’ tribunal ruling
Warranties, club fees disputed
THE National Credit Regulator (NCR) is appealing the judgment by the National Consumer Tribunal, dismissing the NCR’s referral against Lewis Stores.
The referral related to Lewis offering consumers extended warranties that run concurrently with manufacturers’ warranties and the charging of a club fee reflected in consumers’ account statements.
Lewis, which was one of the first South African retailers to expand into neighbouring southern African countries, has 716 stores across all metropolitan areas, with a strong presence in rural South Africa.
Lewis sells furniture on in-store credit, mostly to lower income groups.
In a majority judgment, the tribunal found the referral was distinguishable from the Edcon referral in that the club fee formed part of the credit agreement in the Edcon referral.
It was an integral part of the credit agreement process.
In the Lewis referral, the majority judgment found that there was a separate contract for joining the club and a separate fee charged for club membership.
In the referral, the NCR also challenged the extended warranties offered to consumers in that they ran concurrently with manufacturers’ warranties.
This was because some warranty agreements had no duration dates or their duration dates were the same as those on the credit agreements.
The majority judgment found that these were not a contravention of the National Credit Act. Lewis chief executive Johan Enslin welcomed the ruling earlier this week.
“The National Credit Act does not prevent credit providers from offering the services of a club to its customers, provided the services are not part of the ‘cost of credit’,” he said.
In a minority judgment, the tribunal found the club fees and extended warranties offered by Lewis contravened the act.
The NCR is appealing the judgment.
The NCR does not support the credit retailers’ conduct of charging consumers a club fee on credit agreements or under any supplementary agreements or documents.
It said this fee increased the consumers’ cost of credit.
The NCR also announced last week that it had referred Mr Price Group to the tribunal following an investigation that revealed that Mr Price had charged consumers a club fee on credit agreements.
It said the charging of a club fee on credit agreements was not permitted by the National Credit Act. “The National Credit Act allows consumers to be given a quotation which sets out the cost of credit, before signing credit agreements.
“Consumers should request this quotation from their credit providers so that they can properly check the cost of credit that is being offered,” said Nthupang Magolego, a senior legal adviser at the NCR.
Meanwhile, Lewis, targeting customers in the fast-growing middle to lower-income market, reported a drop in full-year profit last month citing weak economic growth, which it said gnawed at disposable income.
Lewis shares decreased by 5.14 percent on the JSE yesterday to close at R33.20.


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Budapest (MTI) – There are 6,000 businesses in Hungary based entirely or partially on German capital, the prime minister noted at the launch of the new Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake model, the first of which rolled off the production line at Daimler’s plant in Kecskemet, central Hungary, on Tuesday.
These businesses employ more than 300,000 Hungarians and impact over one million Hungarians, Viktor Orban said.
Outstanding performance requires mutual trust, he said, adding that this trust exists in Kecskemet between the plant’s owners, its managers and employees.
It was Mercedes that “gave we Hungarians the chance to put Hungary back on Europe’s economic map” after the economic crisis, the prime minister added.
Markus Schaefer, board member in charge of manufacturing and procurement, noted at a press conference that the model was the second to be made exclusively in Kecskemet.
Daimler launched production of B-Class models at the plant in Hungary in March, 2012. It started making CLA models in January 2013, he said.
Since the start of production in 2012 more than 300,000 Mercedes-Benz cars have rolled out of the Kecskemet plant, he said.