Business and Investing

Posted on Wednesday, 25th January 2012 by Jesse Walker

THE world will face a “1930s moment” of the kind that brought on the Great Depression unless money can quickly be found to support nations such as Italy and Spain, the International Monetary Fund says.

Before releasing dramatically downgraded economic forecasts early this morning Australian time the IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, told an audience in Berlin $1 trillion would be needed to support ailing governments and stave off a deeper crisis – half of which would have to come from Fund backers such as Australia.

The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, backed Ms Lagarde, saying without “larger firewalls” to protect embattled European nations the global economy was at risk.

Christine Lagarde … self-control.

But the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, questioned whether such payments were in Australia’s national interest.

The IMF has shaved three quarters of 1 per cent off its previous global growth forecast, issued in September.

Read more…

Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 24th January 2012 by Jesse Walker

SAAs plan to introduce a non-stop flight into Beijing is expected to boost economic and trade links between Africa and China.

China is one of the four largest foreign investors in Africa. Its engagement in Africa has been bashed by critics as a new form of colonialism while pro-China commentators contend that no single economy can do without interacting with China.

The introduction of a non-stop flight from Johannesburg to the Beijing will supplement other African carriers like Ethiopian Airlines and Air Zimbabwe which fly into China with stops in other Asian states like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Tags: Flight
Comments (0)

Posted on Sunday, 22nd January 2012 by James Martin

Weve all seen the news lately and heard of lots of large and small businesses closing down. No doubt, youve also seen the impact on your high street with both large and smaller, independent retailers shutting up shop.

However, its important to realise that despite uncertainty in the economic environment, high levels of competition and increasingly value and price conscious customers, there is demand and opportunity out there for businesses that provide good value products and services combined with great customer service.

This is backed up by research from the Institute of Customer Service which states that:

• Two thirds of retailers consider ‘customer switching’ as a significant threat to their future sales whilst a third consider this customer behaviour as the biggest single threat to their business.
• However, three quarters of the businesses surveyed believe that the delivery of good customer service is an essential differentiator in the current economic environment.
• This is echoed by 83 percent of customers surveyed who said that the quality of service that they receive is very important to them when it comes to retaining their loyalty as a customer.

That doesn’t mean that you have to offer the lowest prices and the best service to succeed. It is

Read more…

Comments (0)

Posted on Wednesday, 4th January 2012 by James Martin

Store employees at the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store at Valley View Mall are telling customers that the store is closing Dec. 26.

Calls and emails to the company’s corporate offices in Ohio haven’t been returned. A store manager said she wasn’t allowed to talk with the media, and mall manager Louise Dudley said she couldn’t comment on the matter.

Abercrombie & Fitch’s third quarter earnings statement said the company would close 55 to 60 stores this year. The company earned $50.9 million in the quarter ended Oct. 29, compared with the $50 million it earned the same quarter last year, according to its earnings statement.

Tags: Closing, Store Employees, Valley View
Comments (0)

Posted on Monday, 2nd January 2012 by Jesse Walker

The clear overall trend of the year has been the falling away of retail sales and the resilience of ecommerce. In what is likely to me my last blog post of the year I thought that I would do a bit of a statistical round up and make some predictions for the New Year.

The first thing to say is that having waited for most of the year for ecommerce to account for more than 10% of retail sales – boof – in one month the figure blasts through the 10% barriers and reaches a dizzy 12.2%. Loyal readers will know that I do have my doubts about the accuracy of the office of National Statistics Retail Sales figures which are subject to a lot of revision, but this is the first time that they have officially broken the magic 10% figure. We can truthfully say that one pound in every eight is now an online pound! <

Read more…

Tags: Year
Comments (0)

Posted on Thursday, 29th December 2011 by Jesse Walker

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, January 4, 2012 Updated Wednesday, January 4, 2012   |    |    |     |   tool goes here

NEW YORK — Yahoo Inc. may name Scott Thompson, president of eBay Inc.’s PayPal division, as its new CEO, according to a published report.

The struggling Internet company has been without a permanent CEO since early September, when it fired Carol Bartz after losing patience with her attempts to turn around the company during her 2 1/2 years on the job. Tim Morse, Yahoo’s chief financial officer, has been interim CEO since Bartz’s ouster.

The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D technology blog said late Tuesday that an announcement of a new CEO could come as early as Wednesday and that Thompson was “the leading candidate” for the job at the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company.

The report said his selection would be somewhat of a surprise, as he had not been named in previous reports about Bartz’s potential successor.

A represe

Read more…

Tags: May Name, Name
Comments (0)

Posted on Friday, 16th December 2011 by Jesse Walker

The association said except the government salvage the situation, it members were directed to shut down all oil and gas exploitation, exploration and production for the period of the strike as from 12 midnight Tuesday.

The oil and gas senior staff association demanded the total implementation of the Minimum Wage law by both the public and private sectors employers, as there is nothing preventing government at all levels from totally implementing the law.

PENGASSAN said the shutting down of all oil and gas installations in the country is necessary to ensure that both the federal and state governments as well as private sector employers implement to law totally.

Speaking on the issue, PENGASSAN President, Comrade Babatunde Ogun, said that unless the law is repealed, there is no alternative to the implementation of the Minimum Wage Act to the letter.

According to Ogun, Government at all levels and the private sector must implement the minimum wage law and pay the wages as provide by the law. Read more…

Tags: Strike
Comments (0)

Posted on Wednesday, 14th December 2011 by James Martin

Consumer and customer behaviour is changing in front of our eyes. As a result, there is a lot of talk about how our marketplaces are changing, the influence of digital channels, the importance of word of mouth, how social media channels are allowing customers to find and share us with their friends and networks and how we as businesses should be adapting.

However, one of the things that I find when I talk to business owners is that they are often confused about what sort of activity they should be getting involved in in online and social channels. As a result, they often get caught up in how they can maximise their number of fans or followers. But, more fans and followers dont necessarily mean greater word of mouth or more sales and greater profitability.

Lets be clear. Sharing is not new. People have been sharing great companies, cool stuff, tips or deals with their friends and family since time began. However, what is new is that its getting a whole lot easier to do so.

Read more…

Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 13th December 2011 by Jesse Walker

Only 10 days before Christmas, electronics and entertainment retailer JB Hi-Fi, once the high-flying market darling for investors, has issued a profit downgrade warning that despite some improvement in sales margins its earnings had worsened.

JB Hi-Fi issued a statement to the ASX after the market closed saying that it now expects earnings before interest and tax for the half year 2012 to be about 5 per cent below its first-half last year, subject to Christmas trading performance being in line with recent months trend.

The company said the EBIT decline would result in earnings per share being roughly 1 per cent below last year.

Shares in JB Hi-Fi are expected to fall sharply tomorrow when the market opens and investors react to another dour warning of poor trading conditions from a leading national retailer.

In its statement to the ASX, JB Hi-Fi chief executive Terry Smart said sales growth for the five months to November 30 for its stores in Australia and New Zealand had hit 7.8 per cent, while like-for-like sales were actually down 1.8 per cent.

This is against like-for-like sales growth of negative 3.5 per cent for the first quarter.

An analyst said the sales were disappointing and said the market was likely to downgrade forecasts for the full year.

“Management is trying to put a brave face on what looks like being a very tough year,” said Peter Esho, chief market analyst at City Index.

Analysts had been expecting a 5 per cent rise in earnings before interest and tax for the year to June 2012, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Read more…

Comments (0)

Posted on Friday, 9th December 2011 by Jesse Walker

Flood insurance denotes the specific insurance coverage against property loss from flooding. The protection offered by most policy covers losses incurred due to some failure at the home itself. However, Flood insurance indemnifies the insured for the loss of property that occurs specifically due to overflowing water bodies or flood. Flood insurance is specifically needed for properties situated in flood-prone areas.

Shubhodeep, a civil engineer by profession, led a very happy life in Orissa, with a beautiful life and two adorable kids. All in all after buying his own house, he thought he had everything that a humble man like himself would want. Unfortunately, nature had other plans for him. A devastating hurricane hit Orissa, flooding the area that he used to live in and Shubhodeep had to evacuate the house. In an instant he had lost his house that he had strove hard for and his beautiful life crumbled around him.

This is a situation that anyone of us who stay in area receiving heavy rainfalls might face.

Read more…

Comments (0)