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A hidden immune feature may have spared unvaccinated people from COVID-19 infections | It's an antidote in the immune system.
A team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg has just taken another step toward understanding how the immune system develops resistance against COVID-19.
For six months, the researchers at the University’ s Sahlgrenska Academy investigated 156 employees from five primary care health facilities who were recruited during April and May 2020. None of these employees had been vaccinated against COVID-19, and the majority of them had to work with infected patients on a daily basis during the height of the pandemic.
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They identified IgA ( immunoglobulin A) in the respiratory tracts of several of the personnel who didn't catch COVID-19, which could mean they had an antidote in their immune systems all this time.
These antibodies are found naturally in mucous membrane secretions in the airways and gastrointestinal tract, where they protect the body by binding to viruses and other invading organisms.
COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has claimed the lives of more than 6 million people since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. In fact, some researchers say the true number of lives lost to the COVID-19 by 31 December 2021 was 18.2 million, which is more than three times the official death toll.
The disease appears to affect some people more severely than others, with some experiencing very minor symptoms and others being hospitalized and requiring aid in breathing. The current study aimed to uncover health factors that appeared to offer COVID-19 protection for the unvaccinated.
“ We all have IgA, '' said Christine Wennerås, Professor of Clinical Bacteriology at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and senior physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, who is part of the research team. `` It’ s found on the mucous membranes, and COVID-19 is an infection that spreads via those membranes. We thought it was important to investigate what happened when completely healthy people encountered the coronavirus, before vaccines became available. ''
“ Of the participants in our study, none whom contracted COVID-19 required hospitalization, '' she continued. `` A lot of other research has concerned the most seriously ill patients, who have been hospitalized and in need of intensive care. ”
According to the results of the study published in the European Journal of Immunology, a third of the care workers developed antibodies to COVID-19, and they fell into two distinct groups based on antibody patterns and COVID-19 incidence.
One group that exclusively possessed IgA antibodies never succumbed to COVID-19. Participants in the other group had IgG antibodies as well as T cells and got the sickness.
The participants who did not test positive or were unwell all had IgA antibodies. Other characteristics that seemed to provide protection against infection were being female and having a respiratory allergy.
The data, however, does not support the notion that those who do not have antibodies against COVID-19 have protective T cells, which are a part of the immune system that focuses on specific foreign particles.
It should be noted that the majority of the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against severe illness, hospitalization, and death. In fact, as the Omicron subvariant BA.2 replaces its sister version, BA.1, as the dominant form of COVID-19 in many countries, researchers have discovered that two doses of COVID vaccination still appear to reduce the risk of infection caused by the new subvariant.
The patterns of humoral and cellular responses to SARS-CoV-2 were studied in Swedish primary health care workers ( n = 156) for 6 months during the Covid-19 pandemic. Serum IgA and IgG to SARS-CoV-2, T-cell proliferation and cytokine secretion, demographic and clinical data, PCR-verified infection, and self-reported symptoms were monitored. The multivariate method OPLS-DA was used to identify immune response patterns coupled to protection from Covid-19. Contracting Covid-19 was associated with SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing serum IgG, T cell, IFN-γ, and granzyme B responses to SARS-CoV-2, self-reported typical Covid-19 symptoms, male sex, higher BMI, and hypertension. Not contracting Covid-19 was associated with female sex, IgA-dominated, or no antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2, airborne allergy, and smoking. The IgG-responders had SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses including a cytotoxic CD4+ T-cell population expressing CD25, CD38, CD69, CD194, CD279, CTLA-4, and granzyme B. IgA-responders with no IgG response to SARS-CoV-2 constituted 10% of the study population. The IgA responses were partially neutralizing and only seen in individuals who did not succumb to Covid-19. To conclude, serum IgG-dominated responses correlated with T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 and PCR-confirmed Covid-19, whereas IgA-dominated responses correlated with not contracting the infection.
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Rolls-Royce: Powering Purposeful Sustainable Sourcing | Benn Godfrey’ s day begins with the morning school run. It is one of only two non-negotiable parts of every weekday, the other being the return journey when he picks his children up later that afternoon. For everything else, the rest of his day revolves around negotiation. As Vice President Procurement - Raw Material and Forming, he leads billions of dollars worth of annual contract and sourcing projects - quite often, these days, in the comfort of his living room.
He estimates around 95% of the past two years have been spent working from home, a far cry from the pre-pandemic days of factory visits, in-person supplier meetings, and face-to-face contracting and dispute resolution around the globe. It’ s a very different work-life balance that has taken some getting used to, he says and one he knows he is fortunate to have. Rolls-Royce has swiftly adapted to the demands of the current global situation, embracing digital and the emerging supply chain business imperatives of resilience and sustainability.
“ There’ s a physical mundanity that comes from working from the sofa each day, but actually the work is hugely varied, ” he says. “ We 've just had to be bold, to pivot and think about how to do that in an environment that was thrust upon everybody. ”
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, supply chain planning cycles at Rolls-Royce would culminate in a week-long sourcing event, where suppliers and the firm’ s sourcing teams would meet and negotiate the next turn of contracts for quality, cost and delivery. Today that is all managed through technology, with up to 300 negotiations actors able to be coordinated in one sourcing event, remotely and digitally.
“ We had to change how we did things and move it to a completely digital method of communication, management, and decision-making, ” Godfrey explains. “ We had to completely build out new digital tools, and we are now able to source billions of dollars as a team, effectively, all while sat on our own sofas. ”
The shift may have been prompted by the necessity of the pandemic, but it has resulted in “ some really good, outsized outcomes in terms of quality, cost, delivery from mature supply chains ”, the core pillars of procurement, Godfrey says. Each contract can now be fully analysed and wired into Rolls-Royce’ s processes. “ We’ ve been able to codify that approach to make it repeatable such that we don’ t actually have to do that physical interaction and planning anymore, ” Godfrey adds. “ We're able to be a lot more agile in the way that we approach those sourcing events. ”
A greater focus on digital-first processes has brought added agility to all areas of Rolls-Royce’ s sourcing function. Its physical supplier network is vast and geographically dispersed. It is a complex ecosystem with a similarly intricate digital fingerprint. To effectively manage this network, the firm’ s procurement professionals leverage SAP and Ivalua as their core digital platforms, both bringing scale and a multitude of functionality to the table. This is now enhanced through the introduction of new digital tools.
“ What we 've reflected on is that those platforms alone are not agile and flexible enough for us to go after some of the areas of value that we identify, ” Godfrey says. “ Whether that's understanding our risk profile in a more real-time environment, or allowing us to start a conversation with EcoVadis regarding their services. ”
The new partnership with EcoVadis, a platform that analyses and rates the sustainability credentials of vendors and businesses, has opened up fresh opportunities and value for Godfrey and his team. He admits that Rolls-Royce, a firm globally renowned for engineering excellence, can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking it can build a better solution internally.
“ This EcoVadis conversation is a realisation that there are lots of really smart partners out there, ” he says. “ They can give us access and leverage to the scale of their platform, as well as supporting us in wiring that throughout the business so that it touches everything from processes to policies and contracts, and allows us to fully embrace things like sustainability, for example. ''
Sustainability has risen to the top of Godfrey’ s agenda. “ I personally spend as much time on that topic as I do anything else, ” he says. And for good reason. Sustainability has become a business imperative intertwined with the other demands placed on supply chains, whether it’ s “ a big boat stuck in a big canal ”, geopolitical uncertainty, or the ongoing ripple effects of new viral variants. Godfrey alludes to Blackrock chief Larry Fink’ s famous annual letter, and his recent assertion of the ‘ triple bottom line’: profit, people, planet. “ The point that I want to reiterate is exactly that's the work that I 'm doing, and the work that we're doing at Rolls-Royce, is about those things, ” he says.
Godfrey is a member of the International Aerospace Environmental Group ( IAEG), an industry body founded by Rolls-Royce and some of its closest rivals and customers, such as GE, Safran, Boeing and Airbus.
“ The reason for joining that and forming what's called Working Group 11 is to say, ‘ We have to take sustainability seriously across our supply chain and this again has to be a digitally enabled approach to have the right breadth and impact to be effective, ” he says.
The core purpose of the IAEG is to harmonise and standardise critical aspects of aerospace as an industry, sustainability being just one example.
“ What we shouldn't do is all ask our suppliers to do something different. We can all agree that this is the way we're going to approach this topic, ” Godfrey says. “ We’ ve done it before in aerospace - with safety and quality - but it's the first time I 've seen what could be viewed as a competitive environment actually being truly collaborative. I think this is because we're recognising the power of those third-parties who are not aerospace experts, but are able to bring something to the party. ”
Rolls-Royce’ s sustainability programme includes a broad array of initiatives that further epitomise the procurement function’ s digitally-enabled thinking. One example is managing recycled material to repurpose in Rolls-Royce engines. “ We 've been doing that for a long time, but we 've never talked about that as anything other than as a financial benefit, ” Godfrey says. “ We're now able to talk about that as contributing to our net zero aspirations by not digging large amounts of metal out of the ground for a second time. It also de-risks our supply chain, because, for example, every unit of nickel that you can recycle, you don't have to buy one from the market and be exposed to either shortages in material or speculation in price. ”
In energy, the firm has leveraged internal innovation from Rolls-Royce’ s power system business – something the company is open to sharing with other organisations – to decarbonise two of its largest footprints in the UK.
“ Thinking about our overall energy mix is important and not everybody today can buy green energy nor can they build cleaner, mega power plants at scale, ” Godfrey says. “ Our approach is to take standard technology that exists and package it up to make it modular and smaller. Relatively speaking, it’ s as big as a football stadium, but nonetheless, making it smaller and more accessible is part of the solution. ''
Godfrey also points to Rolls-Royce’ s core products, and the advances it is making in the electrification of flight.
The reality is, for moving large numbers of passengers on long-haul flights we are still going to rely on gas turbine engines for decades to come, but as they become more efficient and more Sustainable Aviation Fuel is introduced into operations, the impact on the environment will be reduced. However, for smaller numbers of people, for shorter distances, the electrification of flight, whilst catching up with the electrification of other modes of transport, is very exciting. For example, our all-electric ‘ Spirit of Innovation’ aircraft is now officially the world’ s fastest all-electric aircraft, having set two new world records – at 15.45 ( GMT) on 16 November 2021, the aircraft reached a top speed of 555.9 km/h ( 345.4 mph) over 3 kilometres, smashing the existing record by 213.04 km/h ( 132mph).
And this is something my procurement role has allowed me to be involved in, buying and securing the rare earth metals that make electrification a reality. ”
Prolonging the life of a product is another way that sustainability meets profit, Godfrey says. “ The very best thing you can do from a cost perspective and from a sustainability perspective is not buy the thing at all – our motto is reduce, reuse and recycle. ”
Digital transformation has empowered Godfrey and his team to extract value far beyond the scope of procurement’ s traditional transactional responsibilities. Smart use of technology and a willingness to evolve mindset and processes as much as software packages and video platforms will come to define where the function is headed next, Godfrey believes. It is a future of increased digital agility, data and the maturity of AI and other emerging technologies.
“ From what I’ m seeing, it's not fully there yet, ” he says. “ But if I think about some of the solutions that are out there for some of the topics that are important to us, in terms of cost and supply chain visibility, and the conversations I 'm having; whether supporting the development journey of small, half-a-dozen-people start-ups to working closely with our own in-house AI team to conversations with the very biggest household names in digital, it’ s close.
“ Couple that with the vast array of competing green technologies out there, which will drive the net zero agenda, and from a technology perspective, I think we're probably closer than many of us may realise to an era-defining change with some really interesting technologies, tools and systems being available to support the buyer to do their job effectively, drive huge value and really make a world of difference. ”
Supply Chain Digital is the digital community for the global supply chain & logistics industry that connects the world's largest supply chain & logistics brands. Supply Chain Digital focuses on procurement and supply chain news, key interviews, supply chain videos, along with an ever-expanding range of focused procurement and supply chain white papers and webinars. | general |
Citigroup to enforce ‘ no-jab, no-job’ policy starting Jan. 14: Source | — Citigroup Inc. will begin enforcing a previously announced “ no-jab, no job ” policy as of Jan. 14, according to a source familiar with the matter, making it the first major Wall Street institution to implement a strict COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The move comes as the financial industry, which has long been keen to get back to business as usual, grapples with how to safely bring workers back to the office amid the spread of the highly infectious omicron coronavirus variant. Other major Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are telling unvaccinated staff to work from home, but have not yet gone as far as terminating their employment. While Citigroup is the first Wall Street bank to enforce a vaccine mandate, a handful of other major U.S. companies have introduced “ no-jab, no-job ” policies, including Google and United Airlines, with varying degrees of stringency. Citigroup said in October it would require U.S. employees to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment but did not say when it would begin enforcing the new policy. The bank said at the time it was complying with the policy of the Biden administration requiring all workers supporting government contracts to be fully vaccinated, as the government remains a “ large and important ” client of Citigroup. Citigroup will assess exemptions on religious or medical grounds, or any other accommodation by state or local law, on a case-by-case basis, the bank said at the time. The source said the bank would begin enforcing that policy as of Jan. 14, but did not provide further details. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday was hearing arguments over requests by Republican state officials and business groups to block a Biden vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers. Bloomberg first reported Citigroup's Jan. 14 deadline on Friday. Citigroup will place workers who do not comply by then on unpaid leave, with their last day of employment at the end of the month, the news outlet reported. More than 90% of Citigroup staff have so far complied with the mandate and that figure is rising rapidly, Bloomberg reported, citing a Citigroup spokeswoman. Many financial companies have pushed back their return-to-office plans and are encouraging staff to get vaccinated and boosted but have so far avoided vaccine mandates for legal reasons. “ This is going to be a challenging and complex policy to implement. The problem here is there are a variety of different laws that weigh in on this, ” said Chase Hattaway, a partner at law firm RumbergerKirk. “ Citi will have to tailor its policy to state legislation, and in many cases, cities and municipalities will have different regulations, as well, that may require even further carve-outs, ” Hattaway said. The Biden administration has used regulations to require businesses with at least 100 employees to require vaccination or weekly testing of employees. An increasing number of U.S. companies have been using vaccine requirements to protect staff and operations from disruptions. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said last month the carrier fired 200 of its 67,000 employees for failure to comply with its mandate. Many hospitals have fired staff for failing to comply with mandates, which have been imposed on the health care industry in more than 20 states. While some companies such as Tyson Foods Inc. have gotten more than 96% of its employees to take a vaccine, those in construction and retail have resisted vaccine mandates over fears of staff resistance amid a very tight labor market.
( Reuters) — Citigroup Inc. will begin enforcing a previously announced “ no-jab, no job ” policy as of Jan. 14, according to a source familiar with the matter, making it the first major Wall Street institution to implement a strict COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The move comes as the financial industry, which has long been keen to get back to business as usual, grapples with how to safely bring workers back to the office amid the spread of the highly infectious omicron coronavirus variant.
Other major Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are telling unvaccinated staff to work from home, but have not yet gone as far as terminating their employment.
While Citigroup is the first Wall Street bank to enforce a vaccine mandate, a handful of other major U.S. companies have introduced “ no-jab, no-job ” policies, including Google and United Airlines, with varying degrees of stringency.
Citigroup said in October it would require U.S. employees to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment but did not say when it would begin enforcing the new policy.
The bank said at the time it was complying with the policy of the Biden administration requiring all workers supporting government contracts to be fully vaccinated, as the government remains a “ large and important ” client of Citigroup.
Citigroup will assess exemptions on religious or medical grounds, or any other accommodation by state or local law, on a case-by-case basis, the bank said at the time.
The source said the bank would begin enforcing that policy as of Jan. 14, but did not provide further details.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday was hearing arguments over requests by Republican state officials and business groups to block a Biden vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers.
Bloomberg first reported Citigroup's Jan. 14 deadline on Friday. Citigroup will place workers who do not comply by then on unpaid leave, with their last day of employment at the end of the month, the news outlet reported.
More than 90% of Citigroup staff have so far complied with the mandate and that figure is rising rapidly, Bloomberg reported, citing a Citigroup spokeswoman.
Many financial companies have pushed back their return-to-office plans and are encouraging staff to get vaccinated and boosted but have so far avoided vaccine mandates for legal reasons.
“ This is going to be a challenging and complex policy to implement. The problem here is there are a variety of different laws that weigh in on this, ” said Chase Hattaway, a partner at law firm RumbergerKirk.
“ Citi will have to tailor its policy to state legislation, and in many cases, cities and municipalities will have different regulations, as well, that may require even further carve-outs, ” Hattaway said.
The Biden administration has used regulations to require businesses with at least 100 employees to require vaccination or weekly testing of employees.
An increasing number of U.S. companies have been using vaccine requirements to protect staff and operations from disruptions.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said last month the carrier fired 200 of its 67,000 employees for failure to comply with its mandate.
Many hospitals have fired staff for failing to comply with mandates, which have been imposed on the health care industry in more than 20 states.
While some companies such as Tyson Foods Inc. have gotten more than 96% of its employees to take a vaccine, those in construction and retail have resisted vaccine mandates over fears of staff resistance amid a very tight labor market. | general |
China stocks fall as hawkish Fed, regulatory concerns weigh | - China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, weighed down by concerns over hawkish comments from top Federal Reserve officials and the listing of Chinese companies in the United States.
The CSI300 index fell 0.9% to 4,211.24 by the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5% to 3,235.04.
The Hang Seng index dropped 1.6% to 21,590.25. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 2% to 7,379.12.
* * The U.S. public company accounting regulator said on Thursday that it continued to engage with Chinese regulators about getting access to their auditors ' records, but it remained unclear if the Chinese government would grant the access required by a new U.S. listing law.
* * China's securities regulator had said earlier this month that it was confident it would reach an agreement with U.S. counterparts on securities supervision, after U.S.-listed Chinese stocks tumbled as the first Chinese firms to be potentially de-listed were named.
* * Tech giants listed in Hong Kong dropped 2.6%, with Meituan and Alibaba Group down 6.1% and 3.7%, respectively.
* * Last week, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would roll out support for the domestic economy and financial market, sending Chinese and Hong Kong stocks higher initially.
* * Following the speech, `` some actions have been taken by different agencies but the market is still waiting for more concrete actions in monetary, ADRs, real estate, big tech, etc., '' Citi analysts said in a note.
* * China reported 1,366 confirmed coronavirus and 3,622 asymptomatic cases for March 24.
* * Mainland market-listed healthcare, new energy, transport, machinery shares went down roughly 2% each.
* * Chicago Fed President said on Thursday the Fed needed to raise interest rates `` in a timely fashion '' this year and in 2023 to curb high inflation before it was embedded in U.S. psychology and became even harder to get rid of. ( Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) | business |
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl promises to come out snarling at E3 Saxo Bank Classic after slow classics start | Get access to more than 30 brands, premium video, exclusive content, events, mapping, and more.
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Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl knows the pressure is on as the classics calendar ramps up. Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images
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Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl promises to come out snarling at E3 Saxo Bank Classic after an uncharacteristic slow start to the 2022 classics season.
The so-called “ Wolfpack ” packs one “ W ” across the opening month of racing of the lumpy and bumpy one-days the Belgian outfit typically dominates, with Fabio Jakobsen bringing home the flowers at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Missing out on more victories so far will only raise the stakes — and the intensity — inside the Quick-Step bus for Friday’ s first big clash at E3 Saxo Bank Classic, and ahead of the major races at Gent-Wevelgem, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“ It’ s annoying we don’ t win, but even the best riders, you lose more than you win, ” said defending E3 champion Kasper Asgreen. “ It’ s difficult that we haven’ t won anything yet and we’ d like to. But that just gives us the motivation to keep on fighting and to try to improve. ”
It’ s not like Quick-Step is wallowing in the results sheet quicksand.
Patrick Lefevere’ s boys in blue have delivered 14 wins so far in 2022, good enough for second in the WorldTour behind the unstoppable UAE Emirates, which boasts 21 victories.
For Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, the string of races across the bergs and pavé of northern Europe are the team’ s Tour de France served out in one-day portions. Perhaps no team in the WorldTour is associated and connected to the classics as the Belgian outfit.
Anything less than victory and racing to win day-in and day-out is tantamount to a national travesty.
Jakobsen won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in the “ opening weekend, ” taking off the pressure early. Since then, things have been a bit rocky.
Media pressure and demands from Lefevere can be unrelenting during the spring classics window for the bunch inside the Quick-Step bus.
The spring classics are where and when the team shines. Everyone is well aware if things are not going well or the team isn’ t delivering, they will hear about it from Lefevere and read about it in the headlines.
Veteran sport director Brian Holm said team boss Lefevere is no stranger at prodding his staffers to keep the pressure on.
“ You know, with our boss, a week without winning, you can have some special messages from Lefevere, ” Holm said. “ No excuses. He doesn’ t make it too complicated. If he’ s not happy, it’ s only three or four words. … We are here for winning. ”
The Belgian team boss was left fuming after a tepid performance from his team in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to open the classics calendar in February. According to Jakobsen, the riders felt the full force of Lefevere’ s feelings at the team hotel that evening.
Florian Sénéchal was the team’ s best-placed rider in Omloop with ninth on the line, hardly in the mix for the victory and far from the podium. Wout van Aert and his Jumbo-Visma teammates dominated the race with Quick-Step often on the back foot and forced to chase.
The Dutch rider effectively rescued Quick-Step’ s pride by winning Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne the next day after quite a desperate chase to set up the sprinter.
“ The opening weekend is important for our team, but also for a sprinter. I am very happy with this win. Also because we had a talk from our boss Patrick Lefevere on Saturday. I won’ t go into too much detail about what was discussed there, but it was not a happy conversation, ” Jakobsen told Wielerflits. “ We were confronted with the fact that we were invisible in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He wanted us to show that we are a team. I don’ t think we were the team we should be on Saturday. He has imprinted that in our heads with his West Flemish words. ”
Quick-Step hasn’ t been firing at full cylinders other races across on the Belgian calendar. Remember, there is no minor race in Belgium, despite its relative UCI ranking. The team missed the podium at two semi-classics earlier this month at Danilith Nokere Koerse and Bredene Koksijde Classic.
For any other team, it wouldn’ t be that big of a deal, but for Quick-Step and its proud classics heritage, anything short of winning — or at least coming close by blowing up the race — is nothing short of crisis.
Illness and crashes have depleted the Quick-Step ranks all spring.
Mikkel Honoré was a late-hour DNS for E3 Saxo Bank Classic on Friday.
Several top riders have come down with COVID-19 at some point during the past six months, and Yves Lampaert and Tim Declercq, two essentials pieces of the Quick-Step classics puzzle, are both sidelined Friday for E3 Harelbeke.
Julian Alaphilippe is also steering clear of the Flemish classics in favor of the Ardennes this season, leaving the team without an explosive climber for the short but sharp bergs at such races as E3, Gent-Wevelgem, and especially at Flanders.
The team will be counting on the likes of veteran Zdenek Stybar, Sénéchal, who seems poised for a breakout win, and some of its younger, up-and-coming riders. All eyes will be on Asgreen to carry team colors over the next few weeks.
“ E3 Harelbeke is usually a good test ahead of next week’ s Ronde van Vlaanderen, ” said sport director Tom Steels. “ Harelbeke is also one of the hardest one-day races out there and we go there with last year’ s winner in our ranks. Kasper has a good team around him, I think Florian proved in Milano-Sanremo he also has the condition he needs for this time of the year. We are curious to see how Zdenek is after his illness and what he is capable of doing. ”
Asgreen, who rode to a morale-boosting third at Strade Bianche, admitted that the team is coming in a bit on the back foot into the most important races on the spring classics calendar.
“ I will have to change my tactics compared to last year, ” Asgreen said. “ Last year, I benefitted a lot from having two teammates chasing behind me, and the guys knew as soon as they closed me down, we had another guy who was going to attack.
“ I hope we have the same as we did last year and I can be up there, and I also hope my teammates will be up there, ” Asgreen said. “ I know I can not go alone with 60-65km when Jumbo can use one of their helpers or co-leaders to close me down, and then [ Wout van Aert ] goes.
“ I have to get them more ‘ mano-a-mano’ like I did in Flanders, ” he said. “ When you’ re one-on-one it’ s a bit easier to manage. That was the trick for me last year. ”
The Wolfpack has always raced with its “ flood offense, ” and played many cards in different scenarios.
The 2022 season is looking very different for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl. The next few weeks will prove decisive, and it all starts with E3, dubbed the “ mini Tour of Flanders. ”
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Obama's former Education secretary is calling on Biden to cancel student debt | It was only after John King left office as Education secretary under then-President Barack Obama that he finished off paying his own student loans.
`` I have spent a lot of my adult life paying it down, '' said King, who studied government at Harvard and law at Yale. He wouldn't reveal how much he owed, but, he said, `` It was quite a bit, many tens of thousands of dollars. ''
King, 47, who's currently running for governor of Maryland as a Democrat, has now become one of the many people calling on President Joe Biden to cancel student debt through executive action. `` We have an opportunity in this moment to lift this burden for people, and I think really help accelerate our economic recovery from Covid, '' King said.
He also had warnings about what will happen if Biden doesn't act. A spokesperson for the White House says the administration continues to consider the options for loan forgiveness.
The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Annie Nova: What was it about your time as Education secretary that makes you now support student loan forgiveness?
JK: During the Obama administration, we were very focused on addressing the burden on students who 'd been taken advantage of by predatory, for-profit colleges. We also put in place income-based repayment programs. Looking back, those plans weren't enough. And in this moment, given the Covid crisis and the economic crisis that came along with the pandemic, we have an opportunity to make this a New Deal moment, where we cancel debt for all.
AN: Do you believe President Biden has the ability to forgive student debt on his own, without Congress?
JK: Yes. We were able to put in place in the Obama administration a process for debt cancellation. And the vast majority of lawyers who 've looked at this question believe there is the executive authority for broad forgiveness.
AN: Have you had any conversations with the current Education secretary, Miguel Cardona, about debt cancellation?
JK: I have talked with him. This decision will come down to the president.
AN: More than 40 million Americans carry student debt. The average burden is more than $ 30,000. A quarter of borrowers are behind on their payments. How did we get here?
JK: This student debt crisis is the product of a 40-year policy mistake. The purchasing power of the Pell Grant has been allowed to diminish. In 1980, Pell Grants accounted for nearly 80% of the cost of a public higher education degree; now it's less than a third. As a country, we 've shifted from seeing higher education as a public good to putting a large share of the burden on students and families.
AN: If student loans get canceled, how do you avoid the debt from just spiraling out of control again?
JK: Solving the problem going forward requires doing the things that are necessary to make public higher education available to all students without debt. And that is achievable. It really comes down to this idea that debt-free college is a public good, and just as we think about K-12 education as serving the public interest, the health of our economy and the health of our democracy, so, too, should we think about higher education.
AN: What do you think will happen if Biden doesn't forgive student debt?
JK: There would be tremendous disillusionment from key constituents who are crucial for the health of the Democratic Party.
More from Personal Finance:7 things to know about the SEC climate ruleHere's the average tax refund so far this yearHow to avoid a 6-figure tax penalty on foreign bank accounts | business |
FTSE 100 to Edge Lower With Retail Sales in Focus | FTSE 100 Poised to Edge Lower After Mixed Asia Trading
0737 GMT - The FTSE 100 looks set to open about eight points lower at 7459, according to IG futures data, after mixed trading in Asia and a higher close on Wall Street. Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong fall more than 1% and 2%, respectively, but stocks in Japan, South Korea and Australia are modestly higher. The Dow closed Thursday 1% ahead. `` Today's focus is set to be on U.K. retail sales for February and the latest German IFO business survey for March, '' CMC Markets says. ( philip.waller @ wsj.com)
J.P. Morgan Sells 60 Million Shares in Airtel Africa for Singapore Telecom at 140 Pence Each
J.P. Morgan Securities PLC said Friday that Singapore Telecom International Pte has sold 60 million ordinary shares in Airtel Africa at a price of 140 pence each.
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Anglo American Sells Remaining Stake in Thungela Resources for $ 115 Mln
Anglo American PLC said Friday that it has sold its remaining shareholding in Thungela Resources Ltd. via a discounted accelerated bookbuild placing aimed at major financial institutions.
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Smiths Group 1H Pretax Profit Rose on Strong Demand; Backs Guidance
Smiths Group PLC said Friday that first-half pretax profit and revenue rose, and that it is confident in meeting guidance for the full year.
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Airtel Africa Closes Tower Sale in Malawi for $ 54.7 Mln
Airtel Africa PLC said Friday that it has reached the first closing of the transaction to sell its telecommunications tower company in Malawi to Helios Towers PLC for $ 54.7 million.
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United Utilities Expects 3% Revenue Rise for FY 2022
United Utilities Group PLC said Friday that it expects a 3% rise in revenue for fiscal 2022, and that its performance was in line with the board's expectations for the year.
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CyanConnode to Raise GBP2 Mln Via Discounted Share Placing, Subscription Offer
CyanConnode Holdings PLC said Friday that it is proposing to raise two million pounds ( $ 2.6 million) via the issue and subscription of shares in the company at a discounted price.
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Everyman Media 2021 Pretax Loss Narrowed as Covid-19 Measures Eased
Everyman Media Group PLC said Friday that its pretax loss for 2021 narrowed while revenue more than doubled as coronavirus pandemic restrictions were relaxed compared from the year before, though not entirely eliminated.
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Petropavlovsk Says It Can't Pay Gazprombank Loan Due to Sanctions
Petropavlovsk PLC said Friday that it is currently prohibited from making a $ 560,000 loan payment due to the inclusion of Gazprombank on the U.K.'s sanctions list in relation to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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Aeorema Communications Swings to 1H Pretax Profit on High Demand
Aeorema Communications PLC said Friday that it swung to a pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2022 on increased revenue after it experienced strong demand.
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Wickes 2021 Pretax Profit Rose on Market Share Gains
Wickes Group PLC on Friday reported an increase in pretax profit for 2021, driven by further market-share gains and its digital strength.
Copper, Aluminum Prices Set for Higher Volatility Over 2022
0637 GMT - Copper and aluminum prices are set for higher levels of volatility for the rest of the year, Goldman Sachs says. Supplies are tight with stockpiles of both metals at around the same level that they started the year at, GS says. At this point in the year, they are also at their lowest level since 2008, despite the first quarter typically being a `` seasonal surplus '' phase. `` Crucially, the first quarter's seasonal surplus traditionally creates the inventory buffer required to accommodate any demand and supply shocks later in the year, '' the investment bank says. `` Without it, prices must do all the work to balance markets. '' Three-month LME copper is 0.1% higher at $ 10,355.0 a ton while aluminum is 1.3% lower at $ 3,578.0 a ton. ( yongchang.chin @ wsj.com)
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Oil Price Volatility Could Persist Amid Energy Export Disruptions
0454 GMT - Oil prices could remain volatile as the market grapples with export disruptions and the possible broadening of Russia sanctions to include oil-and-gas supply, Fitch Solutions says. `` Energy prices [ are ] volatile, as Western sanctions bring oil-and-gas into their crosshairs, '' it says. Export disruptions have exceeded Fitch's initial expectations, reflecting `` self-sanctioning at the company level. '' It now expects Russian oil production for 2022 to contract by an average of 983,000 barrels a day, sharply lower than its previous 692,000 barrels a day growth forecast. Crude prices are flitting between positive and negative. Front-month Brent is last 0.2% higher at $ 119.24/bbl while WTI is flat at 112.38/bbl. ( yongchang.chin @ wsj.com)
Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Dow Jones Newswires; paul.larkins @ wsj.com
( END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-25-22 0405ET | business |
Japan's Nikkei posts longest winning streak in 2-1/2 years | - Japan's Nikkei share average rose for a ninth straight session on Friday, its longest winning streak since September 2019, as investors bought back cheap stocks even as a recent rally partially prompted traders to lock in profits.
The Nikkei share average reversed course to inch 0.14% higher to 28,149.84, with the index gaining 4.93% this week.
The broader Topix ended flat at 1,981.47, but posted a weekly gain of 3.78%.
`` Market uncertainties have been removed and that has prompted investors to buy stocks, '' said Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.
`` Investors have digested the impact of the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, while the U.S. rate hikes have already been factored in. ''
Chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron boosted the Nikkei the most with a 0.63% climb.
Shionogi jumped 4.49% after the drugmaker signed a basic agreement with the Japanese government to supply an oral COVID-19 treatment it is now developing.
Fanuc rose 0.89% after the robot maker announced a share buyback programme.
Technology investor SoftBank Group and phone company KDDI weighed on the Nikkei the most, falling 0.25% and 1.85%, respectively.
Banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group fell 1.83% after executives at its brokerage unit SMBC Nikko Securities were arrested and indicted for alleged market manipulation.
There were 135 advancers on the Nikkei index against 84 decliners. The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 1.19 billion, compared with the average of 1.38 billion in the past 30 days.
( Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips) | business |
Instacart slashes valuation by almost 40% to $ 24 billion | Instacart said it's slashing its valuation by almost 40% to about $ 24 billion, to reflect this year's selloff in technology stocks.
The grocery delivery company was valued at $ 39 billion in March 2021, when it raised $ 265 million. That made Instacart one of the most valuable venture-backed companies in the U.S.
However, with the Nasdaq down 12% from its November high and numerous newly public tech companies down significantly more than that, Instacart is telling its employees and potential recruits that upcoming stock awards will be issued at a much lower price, making equity packages more attractive and in alignment with market conditions.
`` Markets go up and down, but we are focused on Instacart's long term opportunity to power the future of grocery with our partners, '' an Instacart spokesperson said in a statement.
For Instacart, the last few years have been a roller-coaster. Faced with a challenging business model heading into 2020, the company got a major boost during the Covid-19 pandemic as many consumers cut trips to the supermarket and turned to online grocery orders.
In July, shortly after Instacart's big financing round, the company named ex-Facebook executive Fidji Simo as CEO, succeeding founder Apoorva Mehta.
After DoorDash's blockbuster stock market debut in late 2020 and a rally in emerging tech stocks through most of last year, Instacart was viewed as a prime IPO candidate for 2022. Then came the twin concerns of accelerating inflation and projections for higher interest rates, which sent risky assets into a tailspin starting in November.
The selloff gained steam after Russia's attack on Ukraine last month added global instability and a further rise in energy prices into the mix. DoorDash has lost more than half its value since mid-November.
The valuation cut isn't a cure-all for Instacart, which is now under pressure to show it can sustain its business momentum as the pandemic wanes and the labor market tightens. Employees who received stock grants at higher prices need to see a rebound in order to make money on their equity.
Instacart said its business outlook remains strong, adding that it has more than $ 1 billion in cash in the bank. The company is also trying to expand beyond its core marketplace, announcing this week a software suite to sell to supermarkets, along with a fulfillment service called Carrot Warehouses, which is intended to help grocers offer 15-minute delivery.
-- CNBC's Laura Batchelor and Deirdre Bosa contributed to this report.
WATCH: Instacart CEO on expansion into 15-minute delivery | business |
Queen Elizabeth Glows in a Floral Dress While Admiring Fine China | Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.
New photos show the monarch in good spirits while commemorating the 70th anniversary of Halcyon Days.
Queen Elizabeth II was glowing in a floral dress and layered pearl necklace while she commemorated the 70th anniversary of Halcyon Days.
On Wednesday, the monarch, 95, viewed a selection of artifacts from the British luxury goods company to mark the occasion.
Halcyon Days holds all three Royal Warrants to the British royal household as suppliers of objets d'art. It is one of only 14 companies in the world to do so.
The company has an entire collection of china and precious artifacts dedicated to the queen's Platinum Jubilee: mugs and tea sets, musical boxes, presentation plates, and enamel boxes decorated with portraits by renowned portraitist Ralph Heimans of Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip.
`` Halcyon Days is proud to have marked each of Her Majesty The Queen's major Jubilees since 1977 with a range of handcrafted, commemorative pieces designed to be cherished for generations, '' the Halcyon website shares.
In the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, the queen admired a selection of hand-decorated enamelware—from Halcyon Days ' earliest designs from the 1950s to its current collections, which include English fine bone china.
The queen then watched demonstrations of traditional methods of enamel decoration and gilding by hand from master artisans Susan Shakespeare and Susan Jones, per Buckingham Palace.
This is one of the first times since the queen contracted COVID-19 that she has been seen up and about. Though she has been participating in engagements virtually from her home and recently welcomed Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau for an in-person meeting, she has rarely been photographed. But on Wednesday, she seemed to be in great spirits while perusing through fine china. | general |
Health dept turns to tech to control morgues | The Gauteng Department of Health will soon launch an online management system, which will help the province reduce the number of unclaimed and unidentified bodies in government mortuaries.
This follows the department’ s concerns surrounding the number of unclaimed bodies in Gauteng, with it revealing yesterday that morgues in the province recorded nearly 900 unclaimed bodies last year.
“ There was a slight decrease in the number of unclaimed and unidentified bodies in the 2020/2021 financial year, which can be attributed to COVID-19 lockdown, ” it notes.
“ In the 2020/2021 financial year, there were 898 unclaimed and unidentified bodies recorded, which was lower than 1 173 recorded in the 2019/2020 financial year, and 1 117 recorded in the 2018/2019 financial year. ”
The department says it is turning to tech to help it control the problem.
Currently, the province’ s forensic pathology services works with South African Police Services to trace the families of deceased people. This includes the use of fingerprints for identification purposes.
“ The Gauteng Forensic Pathology Information Management System ( FPSIMS) will provide various services that will include recording, tracking and reporting demographic data of the deceased persons, generate autopsy and toxicology reports, among others, ” says the department in a statement.
It adds that the implementation of the FPSIMS system will reduce the number of unclaimed and unidentified bodies in government facilities.
The department says it plans to finalise – by the end of the year – the development of the online system.
The regulations in the National Health Act relating to the management of human remains stipulate a body must be identified within 30 days after death; thereafter, the body becomes government’ s responsibility, as it handles the arrangement of a pauper’ s burial.
Unclaimed bodies are buried in marked graves; however, should a family show up after the burial, the body can be exhumed. | general |
UK Stocks-Factors to watch on March 25 | Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening lower on Friday, with futures down 0.24%.
* HIBERNIA REIT: Ireland's Hibernia REIT said on Friday that its board recommended shareholders accept a 1.09 billion euro ( $ 1.20 billion) takeover bid made by a subsidiary of one of the real estate funds of Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.
* PETROPAVLOVSK: London-listed Petropavlovsk said on Friday it was assessing the impact on its activities after Britain froze assets of Russia's Gazprombank, with which the gold miner has several agreements including for loans and bullion sales.
* BRITISH RETAIL SALES: British retail sales unexpectedly fell in February, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.
* SMITHS GROUP: British industrial technology group Smiths Group reported higher half-year earnings on Friday, underpinned by strong demand for construction, mining and chemical processing products.
* HOMESERVE: Canada's Brookfield Asset Management said on Thursday one of its private infrastructure funds was in the early stages of considering a possible offer for home repair services provider HomeServe Plc.
* ASTRAZENECA: The European Medicines Agency on Thursday recommended the use of AstraZeneca Plc's antibody drug for preventing COVID-19 infections at a time the region faces an increase in cases and stagnation in adult vaccinations.
* BOOSTER DOSE: A booster dose of vaccine against COVID-19 continues to provide robust protection against hospitalisation for older people nearly four months after getting the third dose, new data from the UK's Health Security Agency on Thursday showed.
* FTSE 100: London's FTSE 100 rose to near two-week highs on Wednesday as prospects of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and Chinese stimulus lifted investor sentiment globally, while investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision.
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on:
TODAY 'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines ( Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil and Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru) | business |
If You Have COVID-19 | The guidance on this page is for people who tested positive for COVID-19, and household close contacts of someone with COVID-19 who have symptoms.
If you need help in determining your self-isolation requirements, please call 1-833-951-3859 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily. You can also email covid19info @ gov.nl.ca with any questions you may have. This email is monitored from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
If this applies to you, follow the Guidance for Positive Cases below. In most cases, do not book a PCR test. You should only book a PCR test if you tested positive on a rapid self-test that you completed as part of an asymptomatic workplace rapid self-testing program through Public Health. If this applies to you, complete the Self-Assessment and Test Reporting tool to book your PCR test.
You will need to notify your close contacts that you have COVID-19 as soon as possible.
A close contact is anyone who was near you for at least 15 minutes when public health measures, such as masking and physical distancing, were not in place. You will need to notify anyone you had contact with in the 2 days before your symptoms started or, if no symptoms, 2 days before your positive test date, and anyone you had contact with during your isolation. To help determine who you should contact, review the “ Who is a close contact? ” information sheet in the Close Contacts Flowchart ( page 1).
Send the Close Contacts Flowchart to your close contacts. It will give them instructions on isolation and testing ( see page 2). We recommend texting or emailing the link to make sure they always have the most current version.
Close Contacts Flowchart
Do not visit your family doctor’ s office. Only go to your Emergency Department if it is an emergency.
Health Canada has approved treatments that can help you get better faster. Most people with COVID-19 will recover on their own.
Self-isolation depends on if you have symptoms and your vaccination status.
How to Self-Isolate Cases Flowchart
You may feel overwhelmed and stressed during this time. It is important to remind yourself that this is normal and common. Please visit our Mental Health and Wellness resource page for resources to help you cope.
Mental Health and Wellness
1. Will Public Health call me to let me know when I am able to leave isolation?
Individuals who are isolating because they test positive will no longer be routinely called by Public Health. If you meet the criteria above, you can leave isolation.
2. What do I tell my household and non-household close contacts?
For guidance on isolation and testing requirements, please refer to the Close Contacts Flowchart and Self-Isolation Assessment Tool.
3. How do I get a copy of my positive test result ( for work or travel, etc.)?
You can take a screen shot or print your positive test result from the online test results portal.
4. Once I am recovered from COVID-19, how long should I wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccination?
People who had COVID-19 can get a COVID-19 vaccine, including a first, second or booster dose. Before vaccination, you should be considered recovered, and your symptoms should be completely resolved.
5. Should I get tested for COVID-19 after I am recovered?
For 3 months after you are considered recovered, PCR COVID-19 testing is not recommended as a PCR test can remain positive after the infection has resolved. If you develop symptoms in these 3 months, you must self-isolate until symptoms have improved with no fever for at least 24 hours.
If you are identified as a close contact in these 3 months, your instructions depend on whether you have symptoms:
If you have recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection and you participate in a rapid self-testing program ( e.g., through school, child care, or as a health care worker), COVID-19 antigen testing ( rapid self-testing) is not recommended for 21 days after the day you started having symptoms, or if you did not have symptoms, 21 days after your positive test date.
6. Can I isolate with other members of my household who also have COVID-19? | general |
What to expect after March 14 | On March 14, 2022, business restrictions were lifted. This includes capacity limits, physical distancing, proof of vaccination requirements, and mandatory masks.
However, restrictions being lifted does not mean that COVID-19 will go away. COVID-19 will still be with us for some time to come. What changed on March 14 is how we will live with the virus moving forward.
Life after March 14 may seem uncertain. We have been living with some form of pandemic restrictions for close to two years. As we transition to a new normal and restrictions are lifted, you have the power to make your own decisions and risk assessments based on your situation.
This page outlines what you can expect after restrictions are lifted.
Over the last two years, you reduced your risk of COVID-19 through personal public health measures. Just because restrictions are going away does not mean that you should not continue to practice personal public health measures. These are an important way to protect yourself and will be strongly recommended after March 14.
You may still require some form of isolation and/or testing if you are a close contact of someone with COVID-19, depending on whether you live with the person and your vaccination status. You should always refer to the Close Contacts Flowchart for the latest advice. | general |
My Night Chasing the Miu Miu Girl | Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.
The brand, which is having a moment of virality, hosted a screening and a party for Zola director Janicza Bravo’ s new short film.
On Wednesday night, I went in search of the Miu Miu Girl. She could be a sheer-socked acolyte of la différance; or a Renata Adler obsessive with politicized legs and a kid; or a net-born baby with full control over her silhouette and no control over her love life. Or she could be Janicza Bravo, the mind behind the A24 viral-Twitter-feed-inspired hit Zola, and director of the 23rd installation of Miu Miu’ s short film series Women’ s Tales. On the razor edge of Los Feliz and Hollywood, a tight community of artists and industry assembled to watch and celebrate the short, House Comes With a Bird, starring Natasha Lyonne, Pedro Pascal, Katherine Waterston, and Poorna Jagannathan, and debuting multi-instrumentalist and composer Kelsey Lu in her first acting role.
The short itself is under 15 minutes of gorgeous, rich 16mm shot with minimal coverage and what Bravo describes to me as “ juicy wides. ” Lu stars as a young realtor’ s apprentice, Jean, who plays temporary caretaker to a beautiful house on the market, filled with exotic animals ( a macaw, a tortoise). Pascal, Waterston, and Jagannathan splay their brutal energy through the house, but it hypnotically softens their harshness. Jean remains generous and patient with these self-absorbed interlopers, staying in step with the pace of the animals and the house. The script and direction is sharply funny. The part that sunk into my heart like a bird beak, however, was an overhead shot of Jean peeling a hard boiled egg in the sink of the house in which her boss had told her not to eat. She has pulled it from a small tupperware ( an image familiar to me from my own packed lunches) —a touching, earthly, neat solution for holding tiny pawfuls of snacks. Katherine Waterston’ s character, a potential buyer, walks in moments later and says, loathsomely, “ I smell egg. ”
The challenge of a fashion film, Bravo said in an on-set interview, is that “ narrative can sometimes cannibalize the clothing, ” but “ if it’ s about the clothing, then it ends up being a bit hollow and doesn’ t have the room for a soul. ” Though marketing and advertising via fashion film in the contemporary sense formalized in the first decade of the 2000s—and became a primary mode of runway communication during the pandemic—Miu Miu’ s Women’ s Tales have grown to occupy a rigorously intellectual and dialectical strata in the medium. Perhaps not the chronological “ first, ” but certainly one of the conceptual leaders in the evolution and embrace of the art-house narrative fashion film.
Women’ s Tales is now a decade-long series of cinematic conversations that push beyond clothing and promotion of that clothing, just as Mrs. Prada is always hinting is her true mission. In an interview with Hugo Huerta Marin, she said, “ …fashion was not enough of an instrument… But later, I decided that it was the instrument I had, so I tried to practice what I believed through my company…we try to move, to give more substance, to give more food for thought. For instance, there is Miu Miu’ s Women’ s Tales…I am very interested in the aesthetics of art, architecture, design, or whatever it is, but I am much more interested in ideas. ”
Janicza Bravo is an undisputed master of the short film form, having made at least nine, and has frequently voiced her devotion to the medium, in parallel to her lauded television and feature-length projects.
A fashion figure unto herself, Bravo came to the premiere in a Miu Miu Spring 2022 look: a tan pleated skirt, gray cable knit, and jaunty, exaggerated basket weave straw cap. Her virtuosic personal style bounces from buoyant, silky Bode at the Independent Spirit Awards, to the powerful core of a Chopova Lowena skirt for Zola’ s LA premiere, to her variety of zany Esenchel and assorted hats. “ I feel every day that I get dressed is an opportunity to play some character, ” she tells me. “ And the clothing, much like the characters in my work, speaks for me…or I don’ t have to use the sound of my voice. The clothing is an extension of my voice. ” Among the many directors documented on @ directorfits, she lives out a professional playfulness ( the first in truly countless uses of that adjective in the world of Miu Miu) totally distinctive to her.
“ “ The first big thing I ever bought with my own money were Miu Miu moccasins. I thought they were the coolest thing I’ d ever seen in my life. I must have been 19 or 20 years old. ”
Waterston and Sam Fragoso, a close friend and collaborator of Bravo’ s who contributed voiceover, commented on her exacting, singular, consistent visual style, from her very first short, Eat ( 2011), to her most recent for Miu Miu. After a drawn out Covid relationship with Zola, which premiered in Sundance in early 2020 but did not appear in theaters until more than a year later, this project gave her a chance to “ get back to the naughty, playful, juicy side of myself, ” she tells the audience at the post-screening Q & A. Nearly everyone I spoke with, from Lu to Lyonne, commented on her glorious and specific sense of humor and unparalleled auteurship, which often seeks, as Fragoso puts it, “ to place the abhorrentness of people and their better, warmer sides in such close proximity that you don’ t really know where one begins and one ends. ”
“ Katherine is my favorite aristocrat, ” Bravo joked during the Q & A of the Hollywood scion.
Waterston laughed ruefully, “ She sees things in us and invites us to draw them out, and it is a both chilling and delightful experience. ”
Bravo’ s clever studies of coexisting rot and tenderness are a perfect match for everyone’ s favorite, saucy, leftist Eternal Girl, Miuccia Prada—Mrs. Prada, as she is known. Everything the actors wore in the short were from the Miu Miu Spring 2022 collection, with the exception of Pascal’ s character, in Prada. The pieces were selected by Bravo and Shirley Kurado, the beloved costume designer and stylist. Which is another kinship between Mrs. Prada and Bravo: they both love the conductive power of clothes. For much of Miu Miu’ s existence, it has been a cult obsession, an early and lifelong fascination for fashion insiders with intellectual panache. But more recently, its viral skirt set—a cropped top and low-rise, chopped-off miniskirt from Spring 2022—has put the brand at the center of the spotlight; boutiques in Europe and the United States can hardly keep its miniskirts and accessories in stock.
There is a growing sense, in other words, that the Miu Miu Girl is no longer just that, but also the it-girl ( who is not necessarily young and not necessarily female). And perhaps that is why, when the women of the Q & A were asked “ What is a Miu Miu Girl to you? ”, the answers were cagey and joking. Waterston said “ Oh, God. ” Lyonne said, “ Miuccia Prada. ” Lu said, “ Me! ” The brand claims to embody and dress the “ girl at heart ”; “ the essence of an emancipated and conscious woman ”; “ the most rebellious and seductive core of contemporary femininity. ” And yet I could feel a general resistance to defining Her.
After champagne, the screening, and the Q & A moderated by Alia Shawkat, the square-heel-tipped group black-car-serviced a few blocks to the Cara Hotel for dinner and an after party. I chose to walk the 20 minutes down Sunset with the convivial Italian model Natalia Bonifacci. “ The first big thing I ever bought with my own money were Miu Miu moccasins, ” she told me. “ I thought they were the coolest thing I’ d ever seen in my life. I must have been 19 or 20 years old. ”
In the courtyard of the Cara Hotel, matelassé Miu Miu purses were quickly strewn everywhere. Gonnie Garko the DJ played easy-to-dance-but-still-easy-to-talk beats. It only became more clear as the night went on that this was the Close Friends List of parties. This was a tight knit group who trusted each other. Kiernan Shipka, Rowan Blanchard, Diana Silvers, Hunter Schafer, Daisy Edgar Jones, Ciara Bravo––all in their early twenties, cheek kissed and chattered, some shy, some bold, all coltish. Fifteen-year-old Demi Singleton arrived in a pale periwinkle cady jacket and skirt embellished with crystals all over. Young Hollywood mingled with the industry 30-and-40 somethings, who seemed in similar vibrant spirits, but with a ferocity to their presence, an edge to their humor, and a never-dropped guard that is only earned through time and betrayal. It was also the eager but awkward spirit of a work party after two pandemic years, which was in turn charming and alarming as everyone was still soft-launching their going out skills.
I asked Lyonne how Bravo had and continued to create such safe and fulfilling spaces for work, further demonstrated by the loyalty of the community at the party. “ The joy of the thing is to become a part of someone's vision and to drop into their song, ” she said. “ An actor is like a session musician…I 've been doing this for 37 years and I 've been in probably like a hundred movies, five of which are watchable. Oftentimes you think, ‘ Oh, if I just do enough as an actor, it 'll make it make sense.’ And that's not the full picture. The truth is that [ with ] great filmmakers, you're actually folding into their world and almost disappearing into this third thing, which is the alchemy of that marriage. So that's what it means when all the actors are saying, I would do anything for you…she has such clarity of vision that it [ doesn’ t feel like ] jumping off a cliff. ”
I could see how an artist could feel safe in the small art circle of indie film and queer fashion. Maude Apatow’ s mauvey brown underwear peeking above a low slung skirt with sequin and silk flower appliqués and a raw hem reminded me of a skirt I owned in elementary school and dearly loved to twirl in. The childlike playfulness, agelessly available to you when you put on Miu Miu, is intoxicating. The yanked-forward nostalgia was not only aesthetic, but spiritual and communal.
Meanwhile, on a white divan by the pool, Celia Rowlson-Hall and Mia Lidofsky chatted with Hunter Schafer about cryogenically frozen heads in Las Vegas. Schafer said she had never been to that kingdom of tender rot; Rowlson-Hall said they should all go together.
At a round table full of friends, Bravo reached her arms out to Lyonne and Tara Duncan, the president of Freeform, both wearing navy with white polka dots and Peter Pan collars and mouthed, “ Both of you are my mother. ”
Any of these women could be the Miu Miu Girl.
But perhaps The Girl was one of the only two at the entire party wearing “ The Skirt ”: Miu Miu’ s stylist, Lotta Volkova ( who might move to LA?!), and her assistant, Ashling Massoumi. However, as Massoumi told me, whereas Volkova’ s delicious honey-I-shrunk-the-skirt was pulled directly from the runway, Massoumi had to order one from a commercial run. “ And they are way too long and high up, ” she said. “ I had to order a size up so it could sit low and I had to cut off the bottom myself. ”
Verde Visconti, the Miu Miu VIP Director and Mrs. Prada’ s close associate, with the coloring, cheekbones, and discreet grace reminiscent of a European Martes martes, touched on The Skirt while musing on projects to come. She waved, “ And of course…The Skirt… ” “ Tell me more about The Skirt. ” I said.
She smiled slyly and said, “ The Skirt does what she wants. ”
The Girl is someone who has become so unwieldy and ungovernable and yet remains one of the most relentlessly regulated entities in history. It was a sensitive subject that evening because it was us. ( Yes! Very much in the way of “ Is this play about us? ”). This is the Girl that the people at the Cara Hotel on Wednesday night must grapple with in their work, themselves, each other. No wonder they wanted the night off from defining it. | general |
Global In-vehicle Payment Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report 2022-2030 by NFC, QR Code/RFID, App/e-Wallet, Credit/Debit Card - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` In-vehicle Payment Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Mode Of Payment ( NFC, QR Code/RFID, App/e-Wallet, Credit/Debit Card), by Application, by Region, and Segment Forecasts, 2022-2030 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The global in-vehicle payment services market size is expected to reach USD 14.43 billion by 2030 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 13.2% from 2022 to 2030
The aggressive spending by automakers on enabling drivers to make payments and authenticate transactions from the vehicle itself coupled with the rising levels of disposable income, especially in the developed economies, and the growing preference for contactless payments are expected to drive the growth of the market over the forecast period.
Busy schedules are prompting drivers to look forward to hassle-free experiences as part of an upgraded lifestyle. At this juncture, the ability to shop, order, and pay on the go without performing any cash transactions for swiping credit/debit cards would allow commuters to save time and ensure a convenient commute.
In-vehicle payment services offer drivers and passengers the convenience of making payments through various payment modes from the vehicle itself. The demand for In-vehicle payment services is expected to increase over the forecast period in line with the proliferation of connected cars and the growing preference for advanced infotainment.
Automakers, such as BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz, Ford Motor Co., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., General Motors Co., and Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, have already started integrating in-vehicle payment services and solutions into their vehicle models. Payment service providers, such as MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal, are also striking strategic partnerships and collaborations with automotive OEMs to deliver efficient in-vehicle payment platforms.
The preference for contactless payments is growing in the wake of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the majority of the parking systems, gas stations, and toll collection booths have already incorporated mobile payment technology. The popularity of e-wallets is rising owing to the convenience and ease of payment e-wallets can offer.
Digital wallet and online payment platforms, such as Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay, are also getting immensely popular and their adoption is expected to increase significantly over the forecast period.
However, automotive OEMs are looking forward to designing and developing a payment ecosystem that would allow drivers and passengers to avail and pay for all the desired services, such as filling gasoline or charging electric cars, booking and paying for parking slots, paying tolls at toll booths, and ordering food and coffee, among others, without having to get out of the vehicle. Hence, the market for in-vehicle payment services is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period.
In-vehicle Payment Services Market Report Highlights
Key Topics Covered:
Chapter 1 Methodology and Scope
Chapter 2. Executive Summary
Chapter 3. In-vehicle Payment Services Market Variables, Trends & Scope
Chapter 4. In-vehicle Payment Services Market Mode of Payment Segment Analysis | general |
China stocks fall on hawkish Fed, U.S. regulatory concerns | - China stocks ended lower on Friday, weighed down by concerns over hawkish comments from top Federal Reserve officials, and U.S. delisting risks for Chinese companies.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 1.8%, to 4,174.57, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.2%, to 3,212.24.
* * For the week, the CSI300 Index declined 2.1%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.2%.
* * The U.S. public company accounting regulator said on Thursday that it continued to engage with Chinese regulators about getting access to their auditors ' records, but it remained unclear if the Chinese government would grant the access required by a new U.S. listing law.
* * China's securities regulator had said earlier this month that it was confident it would reach an agreement with U.S. counterparts on securities supervision, after U.S.-listed Chinese stocks tumbled as the first Chinese firms to be potentially de-listed were named.
* * Last week, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said Beijing would roll out support for the domestic economy and financial market, sending Chinese and Hong Kong stocks higher initially.
* * Following the speech, `` some actions have been taken by different agencies but the market is still waiting for more concrete actions in monetary, ADRs, real estate, big tech, etc., '' Citi analysts said in a note.
* * China reported 1,366 confirmed coronavirus and 3,622 asymptomatic cases for March 24.
* * Shares in healthcare, new energy and machinery closed down between 3% and 3.4%.
* * While consumer staples lost 1.7%, tourism stocks dropped 2%, and transport companies fell 2.7%.
* * Chicago Fed President said on Thursday the Fed needed to raise interest rates `` in a timely fashion '' this year and in 2023 to curb high inflation before it was embedded in U.S. psychology and became even harder to get rid of. ( Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) | business |
Analysis-When it comes to oil, the global economy is still hooked | When the Yom Kippur War of 1973 triggered an Arab State oil embargo that convulsed world markets and sent inflation into double-digits, oil made up nearly half the global energy mix - a figure that has since dropped to around one third.
The shift came as rich countries focused more on services, factories became more efficient and electricity generation switched away from using oil to coal and natural gas instead.
A Columbia University study last year found that the same economic growth which half a century ago required one barrel of oil could now be had with less than half a barrel.
Some analysts had in recent years even speculated that the world economy could take future oil shocks in its stride. Others pointed to the COVID-19 lockdowns of the past two years as evidence that the economy could - in an albeit different form - function with dramatically lower oil consumption.
But the roaring back of oil demand in 2021 and the spike in oil prices triggered by the Ukraine conflict has highlighted again the size of the effort that will be needed to wean the global economy from an oil habit ingrained over decades.
Shifting oil demand is difficult in the short term as it requires trillions of dollars to replace legacy infrastructure such as vehicles and equipment, said Alan Gelder, VP refining, chemicals, and oil markets at consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
`` Investment is needed to reduce the linkage of economic activity and oil demand, '' he said.
The latest rally in oil prices - up 50% since the start of the year - has buried the hopes nurtured last year by the world's central banks that the inflation stoked by pandemic-era stimulus packages would be `` transitory ''.
Instead it has made it only too clear just how deeply oil permeates the internal mechanics of the global economy.
PETROL PUMP ANGER
Americans are driving less and airlines are charging higher fares. From the petrochemicals used in plastics or crop fertilizers to the fuel burned simply to ship goods around the world, crude oil derivatives are a big part of the higher prices that consumers are now paying for all kinds of essential goods.
Graphic: Oil and inflation expectations:
In the United States, the Fed estimates that every $ 10 per barrel rise in oil prices cuts GDP growth by 0.1 percentage point and increases inflation by 0.2 percentage point. In the euro zone, as a rule of thumb, every 10% rise in the oil price in euro terms increases euro zone inflation by 0.1 to 0.2 points, according to European Central Bank research.
Inevitably, that most visible impact is at the petrol pump.
Europe's oil-importing nations are racing to offer motorists fuel rebates and other concessions, mindful of how their anger can spill over into wider protest - as it did with the `` yellow vest '' movement in France back in 2018.
Asia, as the region with not only the world's largest demand for oil but also the fastest growth in demand, is also badly hit. Japan and South Korea are among those who are raising fuel subsidies to offset higher prices.
The world's biggest oil producer, the United States, should be better shielded than others. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted on Monday that the country is clearly better able to withstand an oil shock now than in the 1970s.
But that did not stop him from delivering his strongest message to date on his battle with too-high inflation, suggesting the central bank could move `` more aggressively '' to keep an upward price spiral from getting entrenched.
EXPENSIVE HABIT TO KICK
If it took five decades for oil's share in the global energy mix to fall from 45% to 31%, it remains an open question how quickly the world - now with its avowed goal of net-zero carbon economies - can further reduce that share.
Motorists ' switch to electric vehicles is expected to cause a tipping point in global oil demand, sending it into decline. Passenger vehicles are the sector with the largest oil demand use, consuming around one-quarter of the oil used worldwide.
`` Oil intensity will from now on fall much faster, as global oil demand will peak within the next few years, thereafter to decline, while GDP will continue to grow, '' said Sverre Alvik, energy transition programme director at energy adviser DNV, which sees electric vehicles reaching 50% of new passenger vehicle sales in 10 years.
Yet that is only one side of the story.
The rising demand for oil in Asia, plus the fact that key sectors like shipping, aviation, freight and petrochemicals are much further behind the auto sector in switching to alternative fuels, mean large areas of oil demand remain firmly entrenched.
`` Our projections suggest that dependence on oil, particularly imported oil, is unlikely to disappear quickly, '' IEA analysts concluded in a 2019 note entitled `` The world can't afford to relax about oil security ''.
Such outlooks suggest that, even in a best-case scenario, the world's transition from oil and other fossil fuel sources will pose new challenges for consumers and policymakers alike.
European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel this month used the term `` fossil-flation '' for the price to be paid for what she called `` the legacy cost of the dependency on fossil energy sources ''.
For Schnabel, that cost stems partly from how policies like carbon pricing make fossil fuels more expensive but more so because of how energy producers can create artificially tight markets to push prices up at the expense of importers.
Add to that the embargoes imposed on Russian oil by the United States and Britain, and Europe's goal of cutting its Russian gas imports, and she concluded: `` A marked decline of fossil energy prices, as indicated by current futures prices, seems rather unlikely from this perspective. ''
( Reporting by Sarah McFarlane and Mark John; Editing by Susan Fenton)
By Sarah McFarlane and Mark John | business |
Costs of going unvaccinated in America are mounting for workers and companies | Vaccine hesitancy likely already accounts for tens of billions of dollars in preventable U.S. hospitalization costs and up to hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths, say public health experts.
For individuals forgoing vaccination, the risks can include layoffs and ineligibility to collect unemployment, higher insurance premiums, growing out-of-pocket medical costs or loss of academic scholarships.
For employers, vaccine hesitancy can contribute to short-staffed workplaces. For taxpayers, it could mean a financial drain on programs such as Medicare, which provides healthcare for seniors.
Some employers are looking to pass along a risk premium to unvaccinated workers, not unlike how smokers can be required to pay higher health premiums. One airline said it will charge unvaccinated workers $ 200 extra a month in insurance.
`` When the vaccines emerged it seemed like everyone wanted one and the big question was how long it would take to meet the demand, '' said Kosali Simon, a professor of health economics at Indiana University. `` It didn't occur to me that, a year later, we 'd be studying the cost of people not wanting the vaccines. ''
Alicia Royce, a 38-year-old special education teacher in Coachella, California, opted out of getting the COVID vaccine or having her two vaccine-eligible children get it. Royce's parents got the shots, but she has been concerned by issues including reports of adverse reactions.
The decision puts Royce in a delicate spot. Her school, like others in California, began a vaccine mandate for staff last year. For now, Royce has a religious exemption and gets tested for COVID twice a week before entering the classroom. The situation has prompted her family to plan a move to Alabama, where schools have not imposed mandates, after the school year.
`` I 'll get paid less, '' said Royce, who expects to take a $ 40,000-a-year pay cut. `` But I 'm moving for my own personal freedom to choose. ''
PREVENTABLE CARE, BILLIONS IN COSTS
As the pandemic enters its third year, the number of U.S. patients hospitalized with COVID is near a 17-month low. Most Americans are vaccinated, and the country is regaining a semblance of normalcy, even as authorities predict a coming uptick in infections from the BA.2 sub-variant.
Yet as millions return to offices, public transportation and other social settings, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures show nearly 25% of U.S. adults haven't been fully vaccinated, and the latest data suggests many holdouts won't be easily swayed: The number of people seeking a first COVID vaccine in the U.S. has fallen to 14-month lows.
Vaccines have proven to be a powerful tool against the virus. CDC figures from 2021's Delta wave found that unvaccinated Americans had four times greater risk of being infected, and nearly 13 times higher risk of death from COVID. The disparities were even greater for those who received booster shots, who were 53 times less likely to die from COVID. Less than half of the country's vaccinated population has so far received a booster.
In a December study, the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks U.S. health policy and outcomes, estimated that between June and November of 2021, unvaccinated American adults accounted for $ 13.8 billion in `` preventable '' COVID hospitalization costs nationwide.
Kaiser estimated that over that six-month period, which included the Delta wave, vaccinations could have averted 59% of COVID hospitalizations among U.S. adults. Kaiser tallied 690,000 vaccine-preventable hospitalizations, at an average cost of $ 20,000. And it estimated vaccinations could have prevented 163,000 U.S. deaths over the same period.
If vaccine hesitancy accounted for half of the more than 1 million new U.S. COVID hospitalizations since December, the added cost of preventable hospital stays could amount to another $ 10 billion, Reuters found.
One thing is clear: As U.S. insurance providers and hospital networks reckon with vaccine hesitancy, it's likely that patients hospitalized for COVID will end up shouldering a bigger portion of the bill.
`` These hospitalizations are not only devastating for patients and their families but could also put patients on the hook for thousands of dollars, '' Krutika Amin, a Kaiser associate director and one of the December study's co-authors, told Reuters. Unlike earlier in the pandemic, Amin said, most private health insurers have stopped waiving cost-sharing or deductibles for COVID patients who end up hospitalized.
For some insurance plans, the cost to a hospitalized COVID patient can exceed $ 8,000 just for `` in-network '' services, she added. The expenses could balloon for the uninsured and those turning to out-of-network care.
Now that Americans have the choice to protect themselves with vaccines, insurance companies are requiring patients to bear more of these costs, but `` many people do not have enough money to pay, '' Amin said.
More recent data - covering the Omicron wave - underscores the risk for the unvaccinated. During January in New York State, unvaccinated adults were more than 13 times as likely to be hospitalized with COVID than fully vaccinated adults, state health department figues show.
POLITICAL FLASHPOINT
The U.S. has spent billions to get vaccine shots into arms, including more than $ 19.3 billion to help develop vaccines, federal reports show.
Still, the United States has one of the largest COVID vaccine holdout rates among highly developed countries, as some question the need for getting the shots or bristle at government or workplace mandates.
`` The subset of the population that is really anti-COVID vaccine, ready to quit jobs or test in order to go to work, is now pretty hardened, '' said Julie Downs, a social psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
COVID vaccines have become a political flashpoint, and vaccination rates vary widely by region: In Vermont, public health data shows 84% of those 18 and up are fully vaccinated, while the rate is just above 60% in Alabama.
Nearly 76% of people in the United States have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, CDC data shows, but the fully vaccinated figure - across all age-groups - stands at 64%. The Food and Drug Administration hasn't yet approved a COVID vaccine for children under 5.
Perhaps the biggest financial risk vaccine holdouts have faced is getting laid off from their jobs, said Kaiser's Amin.
New York City, which requires city workers to be vaccinated, fired more than 1,400 of them last month who hadn't received a vaccine shot by the city's deadline, while around 9,000 other workers remained in the process of seeking exemptions to the requirement, city figures show. The vast majority of the city's 370,000-person workforce is vaccinated.
A Kaiser Family Foundation nationwide survey in October found that about a quarter of workers said their employer required proof of vaccination. Only 1% of workers surveyed -- and 5% of unvaccinated workers -- reported having left a job due to a workplace vaccine mandate.
A tiny minority of healthcare workers across the country have been fired or placed on work leave because they chose to remain unvaccinated, but the dismissals still amount to thousands of layoffs, according to a report from Fierce Healthcare, which tracks the trend.
NO-VAX TAX
Giant employers including J.P. Morgan and Bank of America have informed their U.S. employees they can expect to pay more - or receive fewer perks through company wellness programs - if they don't provide proof of vaccination.
Other companies have extended an insurance premium surcharge for unvaccinated spouses or family members of employees if they want to be insured as a dependent under an employee's health plan.
And after global life insurance providers were hit with a higher-than-expected $ 5.5 billion in claims during the first nine months of 2021, insurers will be looking to calibrate premiums more closely to COVID mortality risks going forward, Reuters reported.
Vaccination status and other health risks - such as obesity or smoking -- are metrics life insurers can probe when customers seek coverage. Under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, individuals seeking health insurance can't be denied for pre-existing conditions, including COVID, or charged more for not being vaccinated. But companies who cover some of employees ' health insurance costs can pass along higher costs to unvaccinated employees.
Delta Airlines said last year it would charge employees who didn't vaccinate an extra $ 200 a month for health insurance. The airline said the extra charge reflected the higher risk of COVID hospitalization for those employees, and noted that employee hospitalizations for COVID had cost $ 50,000 each so far, on average.
University students also can face financial consequences for opting out. At least 500 U.S. colleges have vaccine mandates, some barring enrollment or in-person schooling for those who don't comply, or requiring them to undergo frequent COVID testing.
Cait Corrigan said she enrolled in a master's program in theology at Boston University this year and was offered an academic scholarship. Corrigan, who has led public-activism efforts against vaccine mandates, said she got a religious exemption to the school's vaccine mandate, but the school required that she take regular nasal swab tests to attend. Corrigan said she declined to submit to nasal tests for `` medical reasons. ''
The university suspended her and withdrew funding, she said. `` It was a big loss. '' Boston University didn't respond to a request for comment.
Now in New York, Corrigan says she is campaigning for a congressional seat as a Republican. Her platform: `` medical freedom. ''
( Reporting by Joshua Schneyer. Editing by Ronnie Greene)
By Joshua Schneyer | business |
UK retail sales fall as online spending drops, fuel prices pinch | Sales volumes were down by 0.3% from January, the Office for National Statistics said.
Economists polled by Reuters had on average forecast a 0.6% monthly rise in retail sales.
Excluding automotive fuel, which rose in price in February as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated, sales fell by a sharper 0.7%.
Retailers fear a tough remainder of the year as inflation accelerates from levels that are already their highest in 30 years. The government's budget watchdog thinks the consumer price index, which hit 6.2% in February, will go close to 9%.
A poll published earlier on Friday showed British consumer confidence in March sank to levels last seen in late 2020 due to worries about inflation, higher interest rates and the war in Ukraine.
The ONS said sales volumes last month were 3.7% above their pre-coronavirus levels of February 2020 but the share of online sales in value terms was its lowest since March 2020 at 27.8%.
The fading of the wave of Omicron coronavirus cases hit spending on food - down 0.2% on the month - as people returned to pubs and restaurants but the increase in socialising and returning to workplaces led to a 13% leap in clothing sales.
Similarly, volumes of fuel bought surpassed their pre-pandemic levels for the first time after the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, the ONS said.
Household goods stores saw a 2.5% drop in sales and some retailers suggested stormy weather last month impacted footfall.
Compared with a year earlier, overall sales volumes were up by 7.0%, short of the 7.8% growth expected in the Reuters poll.
( Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton) | business |
PRIVIA HEALTH GROUP, INC. MANAGEMENT 'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS ( form 10-K) | Overview
GAAP Financial Measures
• Revenue was $ 966.2 million, $ 817.1 million and $ 786.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
• Operating ( loss) income was $ ( 217.4) million, $ 25.4 million and $ 16.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively; and
Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
• Practice Collections was $ 1.63 billion, $ 1.30 billion and $ 1.14 billion for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively;
• Care Margin was $ 238.4 million, $ 187.6 million and $ 163.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019 respectively;
• Platform Contribution was $ 107.6 million, $ 82.6 million and $ 68.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively;
• Adjusted EBITDA was $ 41.4 million, $ 29.4 million and $ 18.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
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Care Margin, income from operations, the most comparable GAAP measure, to Platform Contribution, and net ( loss) income, the most comparable GAAP measure, to Adjusted EBITDA.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stimulus Act ( `` CARES Act '')
FFS Revenue
Other Revenue
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Key Factors Affecting Our Performance
Addition of New Providers
Addition of New Patients
Expansion to New Markets
Provider Satisfaction and Retention
Payer Contracts and Ability to Move Markets to VBC
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continue enhancing our VBC capabilities and executing on initiatives to deliver next generation access, superior quality metrics and lower cost of care.
Components of Revenue
Investments in Growth
Key Metrics and Non-GAAP Financial Measures
1,301.1 $ 1,135.7
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Texas and California markets. Implemented Providers increased 2.7% between 2020 and 2019, due to organic growth in our healthcare delivery business.
Attributed Lives
Practice Collections
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Care Margin
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31,
Platform Contribution Margin
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The following table provides a reconciliation of operating income, the most closely comparable GAAP financial measure, to platform contribution:
82,582 $ 68,472 ( 1) Amount represents stock-based compensation expense included under Cost of Platform.
Adjusted EBITDA Margin
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Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
As noted above under `` Our Revenue, '' revenue is earned in three main categories: FFS revenue, VBC revenue and other revenue.
Operating Expenses
Physician and practice expenses
Sales and marketing
General and administrative
Depreciation and amortization expense
Interest Expense
Interest expense consists primarily of interest payments on our outstanding borrowings under our Term Loan Facility. See `` Liquidity and Capital Resources-General and Note Payable. ''
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Results of Operations
Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.
The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by source:
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Physician and practice expenses
General and administrative
Depreciation and amortization expense
Interest expense
Interest expense was $ 1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, a decrease from $ 1.9 million during the same period in 2020. The decrease was primarily driven by the repayment of a note payable to related parties in 2020.
Benefit from income taxes
Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests
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Comparison of the Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019
The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.
The following table presents our revenues disaggregated by source:
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Physician and practice expenses
Cost of platform
Sales and marketing
Depreciation and amortization expense
Depreciation and amortization expense was $ 1.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, an increase from to $ 1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. This increase was driven primarily by an increase in leasehold improvements related to the office space build out that consolidated our corporate offices.
Interest expense
( Benefit from) provision for income taxes
Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest
Net loss attributable to non-controlling interest remained relatively consistent for the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
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See Note 8 `` Note Payable '' for discussion on our Credit Facilities.
Cash Flows Overview
The following table presents a summary of our consolidated cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the periods indicated.
55,058 $ 38,891 $ 24,358 Net cash used in investing activities
•Offset by a $ 15.6 million increase in the decrease of accounts receivable, net, which was a decrease for the year ended December 31, 2020 of $ 21.8 million compared to a decrease for the year ended December 31, 2019 of $ 6.2 million,
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primarily driven by the increase in implemented providers and an increase in the receivable related to shared savings revenue.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $ 32.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $ 0.4 million during the same period in 2020, primarily due to Privia investing in two new markets during the fourth quarter of 2021.
Net cash used in investing activities was $ 0.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $ 5.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. This decrease was driven primarily by leasehold improvements related to the office space buildout that consolidated our corporate offices during 2019.
Financing Activities
Contractual Obligations, Commitments and Contingencies
Off Balance Sheet Obligations. We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021.
Commitments and Contingencies. See Note 13 `` Commitments and Contingencies '' for further discussion on our commitments and contingencies.
Emerging Growth Company Status
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
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rates, medical claims expense, cost of care expenses, operating expenses, discount rate, contract terms and useful life from acquired assets.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is recognized when a customer obtains control of promised goods or services, in an amount that reflects the consideration which the entity expects to receive in exchange for those goods or services. The Company determines revenue recognition through the following five steps:
i.Identify the contract ( s) with a customer;
ii.Identify the performance obligations in the contract;
iii.Determine the transaction price;
iv.Allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and
v.Recognize revenue as the entity satisfies a performance obligation.
FFS revenue
FFS-patient care
FFS-administrative services
The Company's FFS-administrative services business provides administration and management services pursuant to MSAs with Non-Owned Medical Groups.
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In certain MSAs, the Company is paid a percentage of net collections. The percentage is fixed per the MSAs; however, the net collections can fluctuate during the life of the contract.
VBC revenue
Care Management Fees ( PMPM)
Shared Savings
Other Revenue
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Variable Interest Entities
The Company, however, does meet the criteria for consolidation of the Nominee PCs and the Friendly Medical Groups based on the discussion above.
Goodwill
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Stock-Based Compensation
© Edgar Online, source Glimpses | business |
Fresh challenges ahead for Lloyd's after 1st underwriting profit in years | Lloyd's of London should be able to maintain its performance after posting a full-year underwriting profit for the first time since 2016, but the market still has work to do on cost cutting, tackling inflation and retooling unprofitable syndicates.
Lloyd's underwriters reported a collective combined ratio, which measures nonlife underwriting performance, of 93.5% in 2021. That is a sharp improvement from the 110.3% logged in 2020 when including COVID-19-related claims and the 97% it would have reported had those claims not occurred.
`` That's a big achievement in itself, '' Ali Karakuyu, director and lead analyst of insurance at S & P Global Ratings, said in an interview. In a wider global reinsurance context, the underwriting result `` is at the top end. ''
Large claims and natural disasters added 11.2 percentage points to the 2021 combined ratio, compared with 9.7 percentage points in 2020 when COVID-19 claims were excluded. A key component of the total improvement was a reduction in the attritional loss ratio, which measures the effect of business-as-usual noncatastrophic claims. That figure fell to 48.9% in 2021 from 51.9% in 2020.
The result comes after a four-year underwriting profit drive, which has seen the market jettison about £5 billion of premium and increase rates by 27% on the business it has kept, Lloyd's CEO John Neal told journalists. Those efforts look likely to continue.
`` I don't think they are letting up any pressure on the syndicates, the managing agents in terms of underwriting discipline, '' Carol Pierce, senior director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency, said in an interview. The shift to a principles-based system of managing agent oversight from the current rules-based approach will help managing agents who can maintain underwriting discipline grow and achieve better results, Pierce said.
Lloyd's has made progress cutting its expense ratio, which it said is out of kilter with its peers in the global insurance and reinsurance markets. The ratio fell to 35.5% in 2021 from 37.2% in 2020 and 39.2% in 2018, when the remedial work began.
The market wants to trim a further 4 percentage points from the ratio, CFO Burkhard Keese told journalists. Most of this would come from acquisition costs, which include the commissions and fees underwriters pay brokers for bringing them business, Keese said.
The 3.7 percentage points Lloyd's has shaved from its cost ratio since 2018 is `` quite substantial, '' said Ekaterina Ishchenko, a director covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa insurance at Fitch Ratings. Lloyd's is pinning a lot of its cost-cutting hopes on its modernization program, which is designed to cut central processing costs by 40%, Ishchenko said.
The Fitch analyst does not expect any significant cost reductions in the next couple of years, but the relative success of the digitalization program could change that.
As with other insurers and reinsurers, Lloyd's faces rising claims costs from economic inflation. Keese told journalists that Lloyd's has built explicit inflation assumptions into its reserving and pricing.
The market also must contend with a number of some syndicates that consistently have loss ratios above 100%. The bottom quartile of syndicates have improved their combined ratios by 17 percentage points, Keese said, which is `` quite good, but not quite good enough. ''
Lloyd's tolerance for unprofitable syndicates is `` low, '' according to Ishchencko. Some syndicates will probably decide to exit if they can not deliver on Lloyd's plan, but those departures will be marginal, the Fitch analyst added.
A big unknown facing Lloyd's in 2022 is its exposure to potential claims from the war in Ukraine. Lloyd's said the Russian invasion will result in a `` major claim '' for the market, but that claims would fall within manageable tolerances and not cause solvency problems. Neal told U.K. newspaper The Times that the claims bill for Lloyd's could be in the `` low single-digit billions. ''
The war is `` probably more of an earnings event than a capital event at this point, '' Peter Giacone, senior managing director at Kroll Bond Rating Agency said in an interview. | business |
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Following the unprecedented market and policy momentum behind ESG in 2021, investors, corporate boards, and government leaders have raised expectations for progress on climate pledges in 2022.
With a full scale invasion of Ukraine now under way, stock markets, global trade, energy markets, and commodities markets are all registering the impact of a new geo-political reality.
While much of the world is rebounding from the COVID-19 crisis’ economic downturn, global supply chains are facing continuing pressures from pandemic-prompted changes in consumption patterns, surging demand for goods, shortages of workers, and pre-existing political pressures—leading to high shipping volumes and freight costs. Analysts expect disruptions to persist through 2022.
Start every business day with our analyses of the most pressing developments affecting markets today, alongside a curated selection of our latest and most important insights on the global economy.
In the month since Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, civilians have experienced devastating attacks, uncertainty has roiled global markets, and the international order has dramatically changed —raising questions about how the continuing geopolitical shock will pressure economic, market, and credit conditions ahead.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict and resulting sanctions have spurred a recalibration of global trade relationships; sparked an exodus of businesses from Russia and a massive curtailment of the country’ s financial sector; skyrocketed already-elevated energy prices to unprecedented highs; put pressure on supplies of key commodities like palladium, nickel, and fertilizer; and heightened the risk of food insecurity in emerging markets and other regions, among other outcomes. Governments and corporations’ actions in this evolving period of volatility moving forward may contribute to a redefined world.
“ Russia's military conflict with Ukraine has shocked markets and sent oil and gas, agricultural products, metals, and other commodities prices soaring—just as the global economy was already facing historic inflation and rising interest rates as major central banks signal aggressive monetary policy normalization, ” S & P Global Ratings said in its outlook of the themes that will shape the year ahead. “ These challenges compound fundamental issues that could radically transform credit markets. As the global economy continues to recover from the pandemic under newly uncertain and volatile conditions, it will be reshaped by changed consumer behavior, reshuffled global supply chains and capital flows, resurfacing credit headwinds, renewed urgency to combat climate change, and new and existing geopolitical shocks, as well as accelerated digitalization of markets and the broader economy. ”
The situation has the potential to affect the global economy in the long-term. Prolonged pressures on the supply chain could curb global growth.
Volatility in metals markets has continued apace over the month, with prices reaching a frenzy on March 8 and raising investors’ concerns about the availability of supplies. Tin prices soared to record highs on that day before tumbling again. Nickel prices reached a notable $ 101,365 per metric ton in early trading on March 8, and have been volatile since. Frenzied nickel trading on the London Metals Exchange prompted a two-week suspension starting on that same day that tin reached its price record of $ 48,865 per ton.
Overall, S & P Global Ratings anticipates that countries with high dependence on oil and gas from Russia have the greatest risk of economic decline from rising energy prices. U.S. sanctions on Russian crude have limited direct implications for the U.S. economy, but any possible bans on energy imports from Russia to the E.U. would be complicated for European economies. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is forcing the U.S. and European economies to prioritize their energy security over their energy transitions and seek carbon-intensive sources that were falling out of favor due to climate considerations, according to S & P Global Commodity Insights. European crude refiners are aiming to maximize their runs and are looking for alternative supplies. But as the EU turns to the U.S. for substantial supplies of liquified natural gas as a result of its plans to cut its Russian gas dependencies by two-thirds this year, both allies said today that they will plan to execute the partnership with a commitment to reduce overall gas demand by utilizing clean energy, according to S & P Global Market Intelligence.
Corporations and governments are preparing for a ratcheting up of cyberattacks. In particular, industry and cybersecurity experts told S & P Global Commodity Insights that the U.S. oil, gas, and power sectors are preparing to act if Russia attempts to attack their networks—and have implemented plans to prevent and/or mitigate potential disruptions to their operations.
“ The inflationary effects of the conflict's pressures on energy and food prices are intensifying already-acute pressures from supply-chain interruptions. Accounting for the median change in prices outside of COVID-19-caused disruptions in the past two years, we have seen overall combined prices of technology, precious metals and minerals, forest products, energy, and agriculture already advance by 86% from the end of 2019 to date, ” S & P Global Ratings said in a recent report. “ Now, the Russia-Ukraine conflict is creating the sharpest price shock of the decade. It's clear that the increase in energy costs is structural and will affect companies ' operations and results in the next few years. ”
Today is Friday, March 25, 2022, and here is today’ s essential intelligence.
Tin prices hit record highs March 8 but quickly gave up their gains, mirroring the volatility in the broader commodities market amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Tin, an essential metal for soldering electronics that has applications in solar panels and batteries, had a meteoric rise over the past year that echoed that of other metals key to global decarbonization efforts. Prices rose even further after Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, triggering fears of global supply problems. The three-month price closed at $ 49,500 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange and the cash price for 99.85% tin closed at $ 48,865/t on March 8—a record for both, according to S & P Global Market Intelligence data.
U.S. Insurers Have Little Investment Exposure To Russia
U.S.-based insurance companies do not have much exposure to Russian securities, according to an S & P Global Market Intelligence analysis of regulatory statements. A review of U.S. insurers ' portfolios shows that they held $ 1.46 billion in Russian bonds or stocks as of year-end 2021, with 85.8% of that total invested in Russian sovereign debt. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, S & P Global Ratings has placed the country's sovereign debt into junk status. As issuers ' credit ratings fall, the probability of bondholders not receiving interest or principal payments rises. Insurance companies must account for that risk by carrying additional surplus or capital for those investments. While some U.S. insurers may feel the effect of additional charges and potential investment losses, the overall impact looks to be minimal.
As global oil markets continue to react in real time to the ongoing conflict in Europe, downstream sectors and interconnected industries are also beginning to see marked impacts on trade flows, fundamentals, and most notably spot pricing. Long a key refining and import/export hub for the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. Gulf Coast has seen swift reactions from logistics operations and energy majors as the region deals with a lack of Russian imports amid sanctions. Americas shipping manager Barbara Troner and dirty products manager Patrick Burns speak with clean tanker editor Eugenia Romero and U.S. bunkers editor Phillipe Craig to break down how spot pricing for freight rates and marine fuels has reacted, and what those key segments can expect going forward.
Recycled plastics have been around for years as a premium option for those aiming to reduce their environmental footprint while continuing to use these materials which, due to their remarkable versatility, have become ever more entrenched in daily modern life. But despite steady growth, this segment has always been a relatively niche part of the ever-expanding petrochemicals market. Now, however, the growing urgency of the global drive toward net-zero and the energy transition is encouraging companies to innovate even more in the quest to provide premium sustainable petrochemicals. This in turn is driving rapid growth in demand for the feedstocks to produce them and resulting in an ever-tighter market.
OPEC has told the EU that global energy markets would be destabilized if European countries follow through with a threat to ban imports of Russian oil, sources in the producer group said, with traders warning of massive price spikes beyond the surge already seen. OPEC, which formed an alliance with Russia in late 2016 to manage the oil market, has been intensely lobbied by western countries and major consumers to increase crude output to offset the impact of sanctions imposed for the Ukraine war.
Verizon Communications Inc. has struck deals with satellite operators to clear additional C-band spectrum ahead of schedule. The deal comes after Verizon spent $ 45.45 billion in 2021 to secure licenses in the Federal Communications Commission's auction of spectrum in the 3.7 GHz-3.98 GHz band, a portion of the C-band that is considered essential for 5G networks due to its balance of speed and range. Though Verizon acquired a total 160 MHz of frequencies in the auction, only 60 MHz came from the A-block that satellite companies such as Eutelsat Communications SA, Intelsat SA, SES SA, Star One, and Telesat agreed to clear by December 2021 in exchange for `` accelerated relocation payments '' totaling $ 9.7 billion. | business |
CHIINA DATA: State refiners cut runs to 81% in March amid maintenance | In this week's Market Movers Americas, presented by Jeff Mower: * US Gulf of Mexico offshore output...
China's crude throughput in March is set to be lower than in February as state refiners cut operating rates for scheduled maintenance, while independent refineries further lower throughput due to weak refining margins and sluggish demand amid a domestic COVID-19 resurgence, latest data from S & P Global Commodity Insights showed March 25.
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The country's crude throughput averaged 14.04 million b/d over January-February, according to National Bureau of Statistics data.
The average utilization rate at China's four state-owned refiners has fallen to around 80.9% in March from a three-month high of 82.7% in February, despite being two percentage points higher than the 78.7% utilization rate a year earlier.
Sinopec is the leading contributor to the utilization fall in March, with 564,000 b/d of its refining capacity shut since mid-March for scheduled maintenance. These refineries are Yangzi Petrochemical, Hainan Petrochemical and Tahe Petrochemical.
PetroChina in April will shut its 110,000 b/d Liaohe Petrochemical refinery for maintenance, while the turnaround at its 200,000 b/d Huabei Petrochemical has been postponed to August from the initial plan of April, S & P Global data showed.
However, the outages in March and April are expected to be lower than in the same period last year, when about 800,000 b/d and 1.7 million b/d of capacity respectively was offline for scheduled maintenance.
China's refineries have also flipped their production strategy in recent months to boost oil product output as petrochemical demand slows and profit margins for the latter narrow.
`` We have been cutting petrochemical yields since February as their price hike is much slower than that of oil products, '' a Sinopec refinery source said.
Sources with PetroChina said they had adopted the same strategy.
This will help China to sustain oil product output when both state-owned and independent refineries cut runs.
China raised its oil product output yield in the first two months of the year by 10 percentage points from a year earlier to 76.5% as petrochemical demand slowed, NBS data showed.
S & P Global data covers 48 state-owned refineries in March, compared with 45 in February. It include 26 Sinopec refineries, 20 PetroChina refineries, CNOOC's Huizhou Petrochemical and Sinochem's Quanzhou Petrochemical refinery.
These refineries will process a combined 8.3 million b/d in March, against their combined capacity of 10.26 million b/d.
The combined capacity of the 26 Sinopec refineries polled is 5.6 million b/d, accounting for 92% of the company's total capacity, while the 20 PetroChina's refineries represent a combined capacity of 3.9 million b/d, accounting for 95% of the oil giant's total capacity.
Independent refineries in Shandong province are likely to trim their average utilization rate to 56% in March from 66% in February, according to a local energy information provider JLC.
`` High crude prices and slow demand amid pandemic lockdowns in March are squeezing independent refineries ' margins further, '' a Shandong-based analyst said. Some refiners may even resell their crude cargoes to peers as they trim throughput, the analyst added.
Moreover, the 400,000 b/d Hengli Petrochemical ( Dalian) and 800,000 b/d Zhejiang Petroleum & Chemical refinery complexes are likely to cut their throughput in April due to poor petrochemical margins, despite their runs in March being stable from February.
Hengli Petrochemical is operating at around 102% of its capacity in March, compared with 103% in February. ZPC has slightly lifted its utilization to 89% in March from 88% in February, according to refinery sources.
* * Sinopec's Hainan Petrochemical shut the 9.5 million mt/year refinery March 15 until May 10 for overall scheduled maintenance
* * Sinopec's Yangtz Petrochemical shut the 14.5 million mt/year refinery March 15 until May 28 for scheduled maintenance
* * PetroChina's 5.5 million mt/year Liaohe Petrochemical will shut for maintenance over April-June
* * PetroChina's 3.7 million mt/year Qingyang Petrochemical will shut for maintenance over late May to mid-July
* * PetroChina's 2.5 million mt/year Yumen Petrochemical will shut for maintenance over June to mid-July
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Azerbaijan confirms 50 more COVID-19 cases, 134 recoveries | Azerbaijan has detected 50 new COVID-19 cases, 134 patients have recovered, and three patients have died, Trend reports citing the Operational Headquarters under Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers.
Up until now, 791,654 people have been infected with coronavirus in the country, 781,528 of them have recovered, and 9,675 people have died. Currently, 451 people are under treatment in special hospitals.
To reveal the COVID-19 cases, 2,499 tests have been carried out in Azerbaijan over the past day, and a total of 6,679,287 tests have been conducted so far. | general |
Turkey confirms 16,894 daily COVID-19 cases | Turkey reported 16,894 new COVID-19 cases, according to its health ministry, Trend reports.
The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 77, while 19,553 more people recovered in the last 24 hours.
A total of 298,461 tests were conducted over the past day, it said. | general |
Moderna needs to dispel doubts about its post-Covid strategy | With the pandemic cash flowing Moderna is investing heavily in vaccines for other infectious diseases, but poor tolerability, known to be an issue with its Covid vaccine, could become a broader problem. At an R & D day yesterday new data on its flu project mRNA-1010 showed systemic and local adverse events at double the rates seen with CSL’ s Afluria, which was used as control in a phase 2 trial. Antibody responses were comparable, but the project’ s reactogenicity profile is a commercial and clinical “ non-starter ”, according to Leerink analysts, who believe further development to be a “ poor use of resources ”. This is an issue unlikely to be restricted to flu and Covid. Jacqueline Miller, Moderna’ s head of infectious disease development, said the group's RSV candidate displayed a similar adverse event profile to the rest of the vaccine platform. The next dataset to scrutinise will be cytomegalovirus – data from a 6,900-patient trial are due towards the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the company is also investing heavily in next-gen Covid offerings, but the pandemic windfall will end, and Moderna still needs to prove that it has a technology capable of competing in less urgent circumstances. | general |
Strategic Equity Capital Plc - Half-year Report | Strategic Equity Capital PLC
HALF YEARLY REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SIX MONTH PERIOD ended 31 DECEMBER 2021
The full Half Yearly Report and Financial Statements can be accessed via the Company’ s website at: www.strategicequitycapital.com or by contacting the Company Secretary by telephone on 0131 378 0500.
Copies of the announcement, annual reports, quarterly update presentations and other corporate information can be found on the Company’ s website at: www.strategicequitycapital.com
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
^ Net asset value or NAV, the value of total assets less current liabilities. The net asset value divided by the number of shares in issue produces the net asset value per share.
* FTSE Small Cap ( ex Investment Trusts) index
CHAIRMAN’ S STATEMENT
Introduction
Recent weeks have been dominated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We, of course, hope that a peaceful outcome can be found. The Board continues to monitor any impact the conflict may have on the Company.
While the performance of the smaller companies within the UK stock market has been unexciting over the past half year your Board have been kept busy. I am pleased to say that at the AGM on 10 November 2021 all Resolutions were passed including the Annual Continuation vote and with a minimum vote in favour of all Resolutions above 90% in each case. Then, just before Christmas, we received an unsolicited approach from the Board of Odyssean Investment Trust plc to merge your trust with theirs. After thorough consideration of the proposals with our advisers and detailed discussions with some of our largest shareholders, the Board decided to back a counter-proposal developed in conjunction with our current manager and to continue to support Ken Wotton our lead portfolio manager and the Gresham House Strategic Equity team.
The Company has started to benefit from encouraging performance under Ken’ s oversight; however, the discount to NAV at which our shares trade has remained at an unacceptably high level. On 9 February the Board announced a number of initiatives which are discussed later on in my report and which we intend to have a significant and narrowing effect on the discount over the next two years. Shareholders overwhelmingly supported these proposals at the Company’ s General Meeting held on 23 March 2022.
In addition, the Board has recently approved a joint marketing proposal put forward by its investment manager, stockbroker and PR agent to raise the level of marketing and the awareness of the Company across the investor community. We expect this to generate additional buying of the Company’ s shares and contribute to a narrowing of the discount.
While the discount at which the shares trade has significantly narrowed over the past 18 months, reducing the discount yet further is now our number one priority. We are optimistic that increased and more focused marketing efforts, aided by the strong improvement in performance which we have witnessed during 2022, will enable us to achieve this goal.
Performance
During the six months to 31 December 2021, the Company’ s NAV per share ( on a total return basis) increased by 1.9%. The FTSE Small Cap ( ex Investment Trusts) Total Return Index ( “ FTSE Small Cap Index ”), which we use for comparison purposes only, increased by 2.1%. Over the same period, the share price of the Company increased by 2.5% on a total return basis. Market conditions normalised somewhat during the period; a contrast to the exceptional market rebound, driven largely by more cyclical sectors, experienced over the latter parts of 2020 and early 2021. Performance has remained robust into 2022 with the Company’ s NAV per share ( on a total return basis) down 6.4% in the two months ended 28 February 2022; ahead of the FTSE Small Cap Index which decreased 7.1% over the same period.
Returns have been strong over the medium term, which the Board considers to be a truer measure of performance. Over the three years ending 31 December 2021, the NAV total return was 15.6% on an annualised basis, broadly in line with both the targeted level of return for the strategy ( 15% pa absolute return) and the annualised benchmark return of 16.2% over the same period.
The key driver of NAV performance over the six months to 31 December 2021 was the recommended bid for Clinigen Group from Triton Partners, a European private equity firm. This is a good conclusion to what has been an excellent long-term investment for the Company, generating a high teens IRR over more than seven years. It is also worthwhile mentioning the approach for recent investment River & Mercantile from a combination of Schroders and AssetCo. Both situations are an apt illustration of the latent value that the manager sees in the portfolio. The performance of the Company is discussed more fully in the Investment Manager’ s Report.
Development of the Company
Ken Wotton ( Managing Director, Public Equity at Gresham House) has now been Lead Manager of the Company for 18 months. Working closely with the wider and growing Public Equity Team, Ken’ s strong leadership has already started to produce encouraging results.
Ken’ s appointment has resulted in no fundamental change in strategy, but to maximise engagement opportunities the Company is now focused on investments that have a market capitalisation in the region of £100 million to £300 million at the point of entry. Since Ken’ s appointment, and following a detailed portfolio review, the team has fully exited nine investments and initiated positions in seven new holdings. The manager now considers the process of portfolio evolution to be complete; the weighted average market capitalisation of the Company’ s investments was £393 million at the period end, and £292 million excluding Clinigen – well within the expected range for the stated strategy. The evolution of the portfolio, and the principles behind its construction, are discussed in more detail in the Investment Manager’ s Report.
The Board is pleased with the progress made by Gresham House since their appointment and the investment returns achieved. Further, Gresham House Asset Management, directly and indirectly through its in-house funds, has shown its commitment to the Company by holding 3,400,748 shares in the Company as at the end of December 2021 and has committed to purchase additional shares over the next 15 months.
Discount and Discount Management
The average discount to NAV of the Company’ s shares during the period was 13.7%, compared to the equivalent 20.8% figure from the prior year. The discount range was 8.9% to 16.7%. The share price discount to NAV ended the period at 10.8%.
As reported above, the Board has announced a series of proposals which it believes will address the persistent discount. These include:
• the implementation of a tender offer for up to 10 per cent. of the Company's share capital. The tender offer was approved by shareholders on 23 March 2022 and a total of 6,329,685 shares were repurchased at a cost of 322.8748 pence per share.
• following the completion of the Initial Tender Offer, the implementation of a share buyback programme for up to an additional approximate 9 per cent. of NAV with Shares repurchased during the 2022 calendar year at a discount to NAV of greater than 5 per cent;
• a new buyback policy to return 50 per cent. of proceeds from profitable realisations, at greater than a 5 per cent. discount on an ongoing basis, in each financial year, commencing in the financial year ending 30 June 2023;
• a commitment by Gresham House plc to use £5 million of its cash resources to purchase Shares by June 2023 at greater than a 5 per cent. discount;
• an ongoing commitment by Gresham House Asset Management to reinvest 50 per cent. of its management fee per quarter in shares if the Company’ s shares trade at an average discount of greater than 5 per cent. for the quarter; and
• the deferral of the continuation resolutions that would otherwise be proposed at the Company's annual general meetings in 2022, 2023 and 2024 in favour of the implementation of a 100 per cent. realisation opportunity for Shareholders in 2025, the structure and timing of which will be communicated by the Board in due course.
The Board
As I have previously announced I shall be retiring from the Board at the AGM in November 2022 following nine years as a director of the Company. The Board will go through a rigorous selection process for the new Chairman in due course. In the meantime, I am delighted that Annie Coleman has joined the Board as of 17 February 2022. Annie brings with her an immense amount of experience and understanding of branding, culture and marketing within financial services companies. As these areas are now our centre of focus, her arrival is well timed.
Gearing and Cash Management
The Company has maintained its policy of operating without a banking loan facility. This policy is periodically reviewed by the Board in conjunction with the Investment Manager. The Board, together with the Investment Manager, has a conservative approach to gearing because of the concentrated nature of the portfolio. No gearing has been in place at any point during the period. Cash balances are generally maintained to take advantage of suitable investment opportunities as they arise.
Dividend
The Directors continue to expect that returns for Shareholders will derive primarily from the capital appreciation of the shares rather than from dividends. In line with previous years, the Board does not intend to propose an interim dividend.
Outlook
Has Covid been beaten and what will be the outcome of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? At present these two questions dominate the debate on how stock markets will move in the coming months. The impact of Covid certainly appears to be waning and if we escape another new variant then the world should return to some form of normality over the course of this year. However, it is still uncertain whether inflation, which has become a by-product of Covid, is here to stay or a passing problem. If it starts to trend downwards again then all well and good, but otherwise higher interest rates will be required to tame it and this could induce a global recession and weak stock markets.
Meanwhile the extent of Russia’ s military action in the Ukraine will pose varying degrees of diplomatic problems. If the West brings in even tougher sanctions in retaliation, then Russia could cut off gas supplies to Europe for a while at least, further fuelling inflation.
On the positive side we do seem to be witnessing a strong global economic rebound from the pandemic. In the short term, uncertainty induced by Russia may well determine how stock markets behave, thereafter it will be contingent on whether inflation and interest rates continue to rise.
Judicious stock picking will be the key to success as companies that are not expensive and which can maintain margins even in inflationary periods should be able to produce reasonable returns to shareholders in whatever scenario plays out.
The Board, once again, thanks you for your continued support.
Richard Hills
Chairman
24 March 2022
INvestment Manager’ s report
Investment Strategy
In the following section, we have provided shareholders with a detailed explanation of our strategy and investment process.
Our Strategic Public Equity strategy
The appointment of Gresham House as Manager in May 2020 and the subsequent appointment of Ken Wotton as Lead Fund Manager in September 2020 has not led to a fundamental change of strategy for SEC.
However, while the stated investment strategy, area of focus and core approach are unchanged they are now being more strictly applied. Further, with the additional and experienced resource of the Gresham House platform and its extensive network, the strategy can also be pursued more effectively.
Our investment focus is to invest into high quality, publicly quoted companies which we believe can materially increase their value over the medium to long term through strategic, operational or management change. To select suitable investments and to assist in this process we apply our proprietary Strategic Public Equity ( “ SPE ”) investment strategy. This includes a much higher level of engagement with management than most investment managers adopt and is closer in this respect to a true private equity approach to investing in public markets companies. Our path to achieving this involves constructing a high conviction, concentrated portfolio; focusing on quality business fundamentals; undertaking deep due diligence including engaging our proprietary network of experts; and maintaining active stewardship of our investments. Through constructive, active engagement with the management teams and boards of directors, we seek to ensure alignment with shareholder objectives and to provide support and access to other resource and expertise to augment a company’ s value creation strategy.
We are long-term investors and typically aim to hold companies for three-to-five years to back a thesis that includes an entry and exit strategy and a clearly identified route to value creation. Before investing we undertake an extensive due diligence process, assessing market conditions, management and stakeholders. Our investments are underpinned by valuations, which we derive using private equity-based techniques. These include a focus on cash flows and the potential value of the company to a trade or financial buyer. The outputs of this approach deliver investments with one or more of the following characteristics: mispriced cash flow; underappreciated strategic value; and opportunity for positive strategic change.
Investment focus
We seek to invest in high quality companies in attractive end markets with the potential to deliver superior long term capital growth for shareholders. We have clear parameters for what we will invest in and areas which we will deliberately avoid. We do not invest into turn-around situations or inherently weak companies.
We proactively seek out the following characteristics:
• Portfolio companies should be operating in a sector or niche market that offers opportunities for structural growth or a stable, competitive environment providing the scope to take market share.
• Quality is indicated by management capability and track record; sustainable competitive advantages such as strong, defensible intellectual property, a sustainable and attractive market position, and premium growth rates relative to competitors.
• Companies should have the potential to deliver strategic value, by exhibiting characteristics valued highly by potential trade buyers in their sector.
• Financially, companies should be able to demonstrate a fundamentally profitable business model, strong cash generation, attractive returns on capital and superior operating margins.
• High-quality management is desirable, although we may seek to strengthen this as part of our constructive active engagement process.
• The investment case should not be compromised on ESG grounds. We will actively seek to diligence key ESG risks and opportunities pre investment and monitor and engage to drive improvements and mitigate risks over the life of our investments.
• The shareholder register should be aligned with SEC’ s objectives and we will aim to engage with other investors to seek consensus on strategy and key value drivers. We actively avoid companies with the following characteristics which we believe increase the downside risk and potential volatility of return.
• SEC will not invest in extractive sectors ( oil and gas, mining), nor ‘ balance sheet’ financials ( banks, insurers), as the manager believes that success in these businesses is often driven by macro factors like commodity prices rather than operational aspects under the control of management.
• We do not back early-stage companies with unproven business models or speculative growth projections or those reliant on binary outcomes ( such as biotech/tech companies reliant on the regulatory approval of new products, for example).
• We seek to avoid businesses in financial distress or deep turnaround situations where the spread of risk and reward may be too wide and where the return on fund management resource is highly uncertain.
• We typically avoid companies operating in commoditised industries or those with intrinsically low operating margins or cash conversion.
• We typically avoid companies with controlling shareholders, and those with poor governance and/or weak financial systems and oversight unless we see a clear catalyst for these characteristics to change and unlock value. However, encouraging improvement in aspects of ESG may form part of the investment thesis and is a core focus of our due diligence and ongoing monitoring activity
Smaller company focus
We believe that UK Smaller Companies represent a structurally attractive part of the public markets. Academic research demonstrates that smaller companies in the UK have delivered substantial outperformance over the long term ( see Figure 1 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report). This is partially because there is a large number of under-researched and under-owned businesses that typically trade at a valuation discount to larger companies ( see Figure 2 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report) and relative to their prospects. A highly selective investor with the resources and experience to navigate successfully this part of the market can find exceptional long-term investment opportunities.
The key attractions of smaller companies are:
• Inefficient markets – Smaller companies remain under-researched and below the radar for most investors thus creating an opportunity for those willing to devote time and resource to this area.
• A large universe – Most UK listed companies are in the smaller companies category and are listed on the main market or AIM. Two-thirds of UK listed companies have a market capitalisation below £500m, offering a large opportunity set for smaller company specialists.
• Valuation discounts – Such discounts, arising for whatever reason, present attractive entry points at which the intrinsic worth of a company’ s long-term prospects are undervalued.
• M & A activity – Smaller companies often offer strategic opportunities within their niche markets and can become attractive, bolt-on acquisitions to both trade and private equity buyers. These buyers provide an additional source of liquidity and realisation of value for smaller company investors.
Portfolio construction
We will maintain a concentrated portfolio of 15-25 high conviction holdings with prospects for attractive absolute returns over our investment holding period. The majority of portfolio value is likely to be concentrated in the top 10-15 holdings with other positions representing potential “ springboard ” investments where we are still undertaking due diligence or awaiting a catalyst to increase our stake to an influential, strategic level. At acquisition no holding can represent more than 10% of the portfolio but a successful investment could grow over time to reach 15% of net assets before ongoing trimming or a sale of the holding would occur.
Bottom-up stock picking determines SEC’ s sector weightings which are not explicitly managed relative to a target benchmark weighting. The absence of certain sectors such as Oil & Gas, Mining, Banks and Insurers, as well as limited exposure to overtly cyclical parts of the market, typically result in a portfolio weighted towards, but not exclusively, the Software, Healthcare and Business Services sectors, in addition to higher quality businesses in other areas. The underlying value drivers are typically company specific and exhibit limited correlation even within the same broad sectors. Figure 3 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report sets out the sector exposure of the Company as at 31 December 2021.
Our smaller company focus and specialist expertise leads us to prioritise companies with a market capitalisation between £100m and £300m at the point of investment. The Investment Managers will not make an initial investment into any company with a market capitalisation of less than £100m. This focus, in combination with the size of the Trust and its concentrated portfolio approach, provides the potential to build a strategic and influential stake in the highest conviction holdings. In turn this provides a platform to maximise the chance that our constructive active engagement approach will be effective and ultimately successfully contribute to shareholder value creation.
This point is best demonstrated with numbers. The Manager believes that in order to provide a strong platform for engagement an equity stake of at least 5% and in many cases 10% is desirable, either in isolation or conjunction with other GHAM managed funds. Thus, at the point of initial investment an illustrative portfolio of £200m made up of 20 holdings might include:
• 10 positions representing 75% of the portfolio’ s value ( £150m) and averaging a 7.5% direct equity stake in the underlying investment. At an average position size of £15m, the implied average market capitalisation of these holdings would be £200m.
• 10 positions representing 25% of portfolio value ( £50m) and averaging a 2.5% direct equity stake. At an average position size of £5m, the implied average market capitalisation would be £400m.
Overall, at inception, the weighted average market capitalisation of this illustrative portfolio would therefore be £250m. Given a three-to-five year investment cycle it is reasonable to expect SEC to hold 50% or more of its portfolio in companies with a market capitalisation of £300m or below, at any given time. This is approximately where we are today ( see Figure 4 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report). At a larger aggregate fund size it would be reasonable to expect the average market capitalisation to increase in line with SEC’ s capacity to take influential stakes in larger businesses or retain those stakes as they grow.
Figure 4 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report sets out the market capitalisation range of the Trust as at 31 December 2021. While most new investments for SEC will be in companies with a market capitalisation below £300m at the point of investment we expect the portfolio at any given moment to represent a blend of investments at varying stages of maturity within our long-term investment thesis.
Once purchased there is no upper limit restriction on the market capitalisation of an individual investment. We will run active positions regardless of market capitalisation provided they continue to deliver the expected contribution to overall portfolio returns and subject to exposure limits and portfolio construction considerations.
Based on current market levels and the size of SEC we would expect the average market capitalisation of portfolio companies to be in the range of £250-500m. In Bull markets the average is likely to be higher than in Bear markets. Over the five years since December 2016 the average portfolio market capitalisation has been maintained within this range ( see Figure 5 in the Investment Manager’ s Report in the Company’ s Half Year report).
The weighted average market capitalisation of portfolio holdings decreased to £393m as at 31 December 2021 compared to £405m as at 30 June 2020. This was despite the significant increase in average share prices experienced over this period. This underlying reduction was driven by portfolio rebalancing activity over the period. The Trust has exited some larger holdings such as Ergomed, Equiniti, 4Imprint, Numis, JTC, Strix and Alliance Pharma, where the investment thesis had largely played out and the market capitalisation averaged almost £500m at the point of exit. These were replaced by new holdings such as Inspired, Fintel, Ten Entertainment, LSL Property Services, Idox, Ricardo and Nexus Infrastructure with a lower average market capitalisation of just under £200m at the point of initial investment, in line with the Manager’ s stated strategy.
We set out a description of the Top 10 holdings as at 31 December 2021 in the Investment Manager’ s Report together with a high level summary of the investment case and recent developments for each position.
Constructive Active Engagement Approach
As far as possible, SEC aims to build consensus with other stakeholders. We want to unlock value for shareholders, but also create stronger businesses over the long term. The objective is to develop a dialogue with management so that the GHAM team and its network are seen as trusted advisors.
Operating with a highly-focused portfolio, SEC’ s management team can build and maintain a deep understanding of its portfolio companies and their potential. The team engages with company management teams and boards in a number of areas including:
• Strategy – Working with boards to ensure business strategy and operations are effectively aligned with long term value creation and focused on building strategic value within a company’ s market.
• Corporate activity – Support for acquisition and divestment activity through advice, network introductions and provision of cornerstone capital.
• Capital allocation – Seeking to work with boards to optimise capital allocation by prioritising the highest return and value added projects and areas of focus for investment of both capital and resource.
• Board composition – Ensuring that boards are appropriately balanced between executive and non-executive directors and contain the right balance of skills and experience; we actively use our talent network to introduce high quality candidates to enhance the quality of investee company boards as appropriate.
• Management incentivisation – Ensuring that key management are appropriately retained and incentivised to deliver long term shareholder value with schemes that fit with GHAM’ s principles and are well aligned to our objectives as shareholders.
• ESG – Leveraging the Gresham House sustainable investing framework and central resource to help to identify, understand and monitor key ESG risks and opportunities as well as seeking to drive enhancements to a company’ s approach where there are critical material issues with a particular focus on corporate governance.
• Investor Relations – Helping management teams to hone their equity story, select appropriate advisors and target their investor relations activities in the most effective way to ensure that value creation activity is understood and reflected by the market.
Engagement is undertaken privately, as far as possible. The team will also work to leverage its extensive network to the benefit of portfolio companies. We seek to make introductions to our network in as collaborative way as appropriate where we believe there is an opportunity to support initiatives to create shareholder value. As an example, we recently introduced a high-quality non-executive director to the board of Wilmington to provide insight and expertise in the area of digital remote learning, a key component of the company’ s future growth strategy. We have also engaged with an increasing number of portfolio companies regarding their ESG strategy and remuneration policy; we believe both areas are critical to delivering long term shareholder value in line with our stated strategy.
For the companies, a further benefit is that SEC has historically supported investee companies with capital to strengthen their financial position or to undertake M & A where this is aligned with strategy and long term value creation. Recent examples during the last six months have been: Hyve where the Trust supported the implementation of a long term incentive scheme for management and participated in a placing of new equity to undertake a small but complementary acquisition; Medica where we met with the chairman regarding the future strategy of the company and appropriate incentive schemes to support this; and Clinigen, where we had multiple meetings with board members and advisors, primarily regarding strategy and capital allocation, prior to the bid being received from Triton Partners late in the period.
In summary, we follow a practice of constructive corporate engagement and aim to work with management teams in order to enhance shareholder value. We attempt to build a consensus with other stakeholders and prefer to work collaboratively alongside like-minded co-investors.
Portfolio review for the six months to 31 December 2021
Over the six month period we have made good progress with the transition of the portfolio: purchasing three new holdings which represented 7% of NAV at the end of the period, fully exiting four positions which represented 12% of NAV at the start of the period, and adding to a number of core positions. At the end of the period the number of influential equity stakes where GHAM funds, in aggregate, hold a 5% or more equity stake now stands at nine, and represents 52% of the portfolio by value. A number of enhanced engagement initiatives are now underway with portfolio companies across a number of areas such as board composition, capital allocation, ESG strategy, long term management incentive plans and digital transformation activities.
Market Background
Over the six month period to the end of December, the FTSE Smaller Companies ex-Investment Trust Index ( “ the index ”) rose 2.1% on a total return basis. This headline figure however masked significant intra-period volatility at both a stock and sector level driven by the uncertain and uneven recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the combination of tight labour markets, increasing energy costs and global supply chain disruptions led to a challenging operating environment for many businesses. At a macro-economic level these factors created inflationary pressures that increasingly appear to be less transitory than central bankers would care to admit; in December inflation hit 5.4% in the UK and 7% in the US, 29 and 39 year highs respectively. Late in the period these challenges were compounded by the emergence of the Omicron variant and the associated restrictions which again led to a divergence in the performance between those companies and sectors perceived to be ‘ Covid winners’ and ‘ Covid losers’.
Whilst these factors make for a challenging investment environment, we believe the fundamentals remain encouraging for UK small cap investors that are able to take a long term view and look through potential short term noise. The discounted valuation applied to the UK and to UK smaller companies in particular remains material, whilst business and consumer confidence remains high. In addition, the M & A environment remains very active with significant activity in terms of both IPOs, secondary issuance by listed companies to support acquisitions, and buyouts from private equity and foreign buyers – aptly illustrated by the approaches for portfolio holdings Clinigen, and River & Mercantile during the period.
Performance Review
Despite the challenging market backdrop, net asset value ( “ NAV ”) consolidated the exceptional gains recorded over the prior year with NAV increasing 1.9% on a total return basis over the six months to the end of December, broadly in line with the index, and ending the period at 355.2p, just off the all time high. There was a stark divergence in performance across the portfolio. On the positive side inbound M & A activity drove strong returns in Clinigen and River & Mercantile, whilst companies with resilient ‘ Covid-proof’ business models also performed well. Conversely, businesses that faced further disruption from the emergence of the Omicron variant suffered late in the period as sentiment soured.
Although share price ( and therefore NAV) performance was relatively muted, by and large we were encouraged by the operational and strategic performance of portfolio holdings over the period. Strong end market demand has supported trading, whilst proactive management action has mitigated much of the impact of inflationary pressures and supply chain challenges. We believe this is a function of our focus on higher quality businesses with high economic moats and experienced management teams; as such we are cautiously optimistic for the prospects of the portfolio as we enter 2022.
Top Five Absolute Contributors to Performance
Clinigen, a specialist pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical services provider, saw its shares increase by 49% on the back of the bid from Triton Partners, a European Private Equity firm. Brooks Macdonald, a UK wealth management firm, rerated over the course of the period on the back of an improving trajectory in net flows and margins. River & Mercantile, a specialist asset management and financial advisory firm, increased by 40% as it announced the sale of its Solutions division to Schroders, and entered into a sales process for its remaining Asset Management division. Both XPS, a provider of actuarial and consulting services to UK pension funds, and Tribal, an educational software and services provider, continued to demonstrate robust performance in line with expectations and rerated modestly as a result.
Bottom Five Absolute Contributors to Performance
Hostelworld, a hostel focused travel booking platform, suffered as the emergence of the Omicron variant led to a reinstatement of travel restrictions globally. Similarly, Hyve, a global exhibitions company, was weak as investors feared further disruption to future events as a result of Omicron. Medica, a teleradiology services provider, derated modestly due to concerns Covid-related disruption would reduce scanning activity in the NHS. Tyman, a manufacturer of technical window and door components, saw its shares fall as concerns mounted around its ability to navigate labour shortages and input cost inflation. Inspired, a B2B energy and ESG services provider, suffered some short term disruption to its sales pipeline as a result of the exceptional conditions in the UK energy market during the period.
Portfolio Review
The portfolio remained highly focused with a total of 18 holdings and the top 10 accounting for 71% of the NAV at the end of the period. 7% of the NAV was held in cash at the period end.
Over the period positions in Alliance Pharma, Equiniti, Harworth and Proactis were exited. These investments delivered IRRs of 32%, 8%, 18% and -20% respectively over their respective holding periods. The opportunity was taken to realise profits in Alliance Pharma and Harworth on the back of a prolonged period of strong share price performance; both have been successful long term investments for the Company. Equiniti and Proactis were both subject to private equity bids in the prior period, and as such both positions were realised as these transactions completed. New investments were initiated in Ricardo, a global strategic environmental and engineering consultancy; River & Mercantile, a UK focused financial services firm which provides asset management and advisory solutions to wholesale and institutional clients; and Nexus Infrastructure, a leading UK provider of infrastructure and engineering services to the housebuilding, transport, and commercial sectors.
Changes in sector weightings over the period have seen exposure to Healthcare decrease from 26.2% to 24.2% following the exit from Alliance Pharma. Technology exposure has also decreased from 10.8% to 8.7% due to the exit from Proactis. Similarly the weighting to Real Estate decreased from 6.8% to 5.6% following the exit from Harworth, whilst Travel & Leisure declined slightly as the sector derated late in the period. Industrial Goods & Services has increased from 6.2% to 9.4% due to new positions being taken in Ricardo and Nexus Infrastructure. Exposure to other sectors, including Financial Services, Media, and Construction & Materials has remained broadly constant.
Top 10 Investee Company Review
( as at 31 December 2021)
Medica
Description
Is the leading provider of teleradiology services in the UK, providing outsourced interpretation and reporting of MRI, CT and plain film ( X-ray) images, primarily to the NHS hospital radiology departments. This includes both out-of-hours ( aka ‘ Nighthawk’) and routine reporting. Formerly owned by Close Brothers Private Equity, following a 2013 buyout, the company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2017. The company acquired Irish peer Global Diagnostics Ireland, as well as US based imaging contract research business ( iCRO) RadMD in 2020 and 2021 respectively, diversifying the business both geographically and in terms of the range of services offered.
Thesis
The demand for radiology services in the UK is growing rapidly driven by the increasing sophistication and clinical application of medical imaging, compounded by an ageing population with increasing incidence of chronic conditions and cancer that require on going monitoring. The NHS struggles to meet this demand internally due to a severe ( and long term) shortage of qualified radiologists. Medica’ s technology platform and roster of over 500 consultant radiologists addresses this issue safely and economically, enabling the company to deliver consistently high ( double digit) levels of growth. The company has historically delivered strong financial progress, growing revenues over 60% between 2016 and 2019, and although this has been disrupted in the short term due to the impact of Covid on the healthcare system, we believe the medium term outlook is positive. The addition of Global Diagnostics Ireland and the US iCRO business RadMD further increase the long term strategic value of the company. In our view Medica offers a combination of high growth and high margin with a capital light operating model that is highly valuable and underappreciated by the market.
Developments in the period
Despite ongoing disruption due to the impact of Covid-19 on the healthcare system, Medica has reported a steady recovery in the scanning activity over the course of 2021. In particular we are encouraged that towards the period end, volumes of both Elective scanning and Nighthawk out-of-hours scanning had recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Although the emergence of the Omicron variant in December did have a negative effect, the company reports that this was much less impactful than previous waves with a swift recovery reported post period end. The company has also made significant progress, with the recent additions of Global Diagnostics Ireland and RadMD both performing well and helping to shape Medica into a more diversified and balanced business. Further, the company’ s ‘ FutureTech’ programme continues to progress apace, which is expected to deliver material operating efficiencies as well as enabling integration of AI features into the Medica reporting platform. Looking ahead, the cancer screening backlog in the UK is now reaching critical levels, prompting the government to announce £350m funding for 40 nationwide community diagnostic hubs. This will have increase the capacity and accessibility of diagnostic scans, however will not increase the number nor capacity of trained radiologists to interpret these scans; we envisage Medica playing an essential role in helping to fill this gap, and this contributes to our bullish long term outlook for the company. At the company’ s capital markets day held in September management reiterated their medium term financial targets for the business: 12-14% + organic revenue growth, 45% + gross margins, 20% + operating margins, 80% + cash conversion and 20% + ROCE. We continue to view this profile as highly attractive.
Clinigen
Description
Is a speciality pharmaceutical and services company, its primary activities include: acquiring, licencing and revitalising hospital only critical care medicines; and providing patient access to its own or other pharmaceutical companies’ products, whether to meet unmet medical needs or for use in clinical trials. The company grew rapidly post listing in 2012, both organically and through targeted acquisitions. Over the course of our investment, the company has undertaken investment to deliver an international platform of services across the patient and drug lifecycle and a broad portfolio of medicines across a range of treatment areas, including oncology.
Thesis
Clinigen is a unique business with a platform than can supply medicines globally, on a licensed and unlicensed basis, into care settings and clinical trials. This platform serves areas of long term structural growth driven by increasingly demand for, and complexity of, healthcare treatments combined with a retrenchment of ‘ big pharma’ from secondary markets and non-blockbuster products. It is estimated that 80% of the world’ s population continues to have limited or no access to the right medicines, at a time when physician and patient knowledge and requirement for appropriate medicines is enhancing. Additionally, a profusion of novel treatments are now being developed by small biotech firms, with limited capabilities beyond drug development, that require specialist service from providers like Clinigen to support molecules through clinical trials and to commercialisation. Given the long term potential and strategic value of this services platform, and the highly cash generative nature of the products portfolio, Clinigen is substantially undervalued on a sum of the parts basis.
Developments in the period
It was an eventful period for the company. As we wrote about previously, the company had issued two profit warnings in the preceding 12 months, driven both by product specific and market-wide issues, the latter largely the result of the Covid pandemic disrupting healthcare systems and in particular cancer diagnoses and treatment pathways. This led to the appointment of a new, experienced chairman and NED early in the period, as well as the departure of the CFO. A strategic review of the business was also initiated, with a broad remit to analyse the capital allocation and divisional focus of the company as well as to assess potential routes to realise shareholder value. In our last Annual Report, published in September, we noted: “ …the company remains heavily discounted on both a headline and a sum of the parts basis… Over the medium term, there are multiple routes available to the Board to realise value, including a strategic reset, a divestment of part ( s) of the business, or a sale in whole. There was reported interest from private equity house Advent International in the middle of 2020; this interest is unlikely to have been deterred by the 20% reduction in the share price since that point in time ”. In light of this view we added materially to our position over the period, purchasing almost £5m worth of stock. This proved to be prescient with an offer received from Triton Partners, a European private equity firm, late in the period at 883p. This was subsequently raised to 925p post period end, which represented 48% premium to the prevailing share price prior to the approach. Whilst we have some reservations about the valuation achieved ( c.12x FY23 EV/EBITDA) this represents a good outcome for our shareholders in the short term.
XPS
Description
Is the only listed defined benefit pensions specialist in the UK. The company offers pensions actuarial, administration, compliance and advisory services. Formerly owned by Close Brothers Private Equity, the company listed on the LSE in 2017.
Thesis
Following a large merger with Punter Southall, the company warned on profits mid-way through 2019 and suffered a material de-rating. We initiated our position at this point as we believe the quality and longevity of the cash flows to be very attractive and mispriced at its prevailing valuation. The company has a largely predictable core business with the opportunity to enhance returns through continued market share gains, supportive regulatory tailwinds and accretive bolt-on acquisitions. Consolidation in the market provides further opportunity for XPS to take market share over the medium term, whilst the company’ s National Pension Trust ‘ master trust’ business offers valuable optionality over the long term.
Developments in the period
The company continues to demonstrate the strength of its business model. Following an exceptional 2020 where XPS grew revenues 6% organically despite the disruption of the pandemic, the company built on this to report 10% organic growth in the six months to September 2021. This was broad based with all three divisions growing revenues on the back of both new client wins and additional project work being undertaken for existing clients. Although the pensions industry is relatively mature, we note the demand for advice remains high, supported by the ever increasing regulatory burden in the sector. Additionally we have been encouraged by the ability of XPS to take share in this market on the back of the company’ s increasing reputation for innovation and high quality service; XPS was awarded both 'Pensions Actuarial Consulting Firm of the Year ' and 'Investment Consulting Firm of the Year ' at the UK Pensions Awards. Notably this is leading to an increasingly high quality roster of clients. By way of illustration, in November the company announced that it had been selected by BT Group Plc to support their in-house pensions team and advise on actuarial and investment matters and the ongoing evolution of BT's pensions strategy. BT’ s pension scheme is one of the largest and highest profile in the UK with 280,000 members and assets of over £50bn. In our view this is a strong endorsement of both the quality of the company and our investment thesis. XPS is likely to be a beneficiary of the disruption this process caused. We continue to view the resilience, quality and long term growth potential of the company as completely at odds with the its current valuation of less than 11x EBITDA and over 4.5% dividend yield.
Tribal
Description
Is a global provider of products and services to the international education, training and learning markets. Today, the company focuses its activities on student records and administration systems and quality review inspection services.
Thesis
Tribal is a strategically valuable and high-quality asset, albeit one in a relatively mature market. The company is executing well on a strategy to reduce its overheads and develop its next generation cloud-based software platform, Tribal Edge which will enable the business to capitalise on its leading positions in the UK, Australasian and Asian markets. The benefits from these initiatives are yet to be fully reflected in its financial metrics, and will further increase its potential value to a strategic acquirer. Given the recurring nature of its revenues, its high-quality long-term customer base and market leading position we believe the company should generate higher margins and warrant a substantially higher rating than it does today.
Developments in the period
The company reported strong trading in its interim results with analysts upgrading expectations again as the large contracts won in late 2020 started to translate into revenues. This contract momentum has continued with further contracts signed in the period with Aberystwyth University and the University of the Creative Arts for the Admissions module on the company’ s next generation cloud-based Tribal Edge platform. A further cloud-based contract was signed with University College London late in the period. The long term strategic focus of the company remains the development of Tribal Edge which is a multi-year undertaking, with the full benefits to be realised in the years to come. However it is encouraging to see the initial traction that the company is achieving in the market already with the release of the first modules of Tribal Edge. In the first six months to the year this traction enabled the company to grow its run rate Annualised Recurring Revenues ( ARR) by 14%, which gives some credence to managements’ ambitious strategic objectives to double the ARR over the next 5 years whilst improving EBITDA margins by almost 50%. We are encouraged by the progress made to date and believe significant shareholder value will be created as the company executes on this strategy.
Brooks Macdonald
Description
Is an investment and wealth management services provider. The company provides a range of investment management services and advice to individuals, pension funds, institutions, charities and trusts. It also provides offshore fund management and administration services. The company manages £16.5bn of assets from offices across the UK and the Channel Islands.
Thesis
The company has historically had one of the strongest rates of organic growth in its sector given its relationship with independent financial advisers and its large exposure to self invested personal pension schemes. New management have undertaken ‘ catch-up’ investment to fit the increased size of the group and are now focusing on growing the group margin and matching the performance of the international business to the successful onshore business. The company is highly cash generative and has a healthy net cash balance. More recently, management have successfully demonstrated the potential of the company to undertake highly accretive acquisitions; Brooks stands to benefit from the ongoing consolidation in the industry as either ( or both) an acquirer or a target.
Developments in the period
Brooks Macdonald’ s full year results in September showed funds under management had reached record levels of £16.5bn, up 20% on the previous year, driven by strong investment performance, improving organic flows and selective acquisitions. Further, the operating improvements that the management team have put in place over the last few years are now starting to be translated into improving profitability with underlying margins reaching 25.9%, up 4.7% pts year on year. With the operational foundations now in place the business is focused on driving growth; pleasingly this has continued to be delivered with quarter on quarter improvements in net flows being reported over the six months to the end of December; evidencing both the increasing traction of their strategy as well as the supportive backdrop for the wealth management space. With over over £50m net cash on its balance sheet, and with the integration of recent acquisitions now complete, the company is well placed to accelerate its strategy through further acquisitions which we note has been highly accretive in the past. There continues to be significant M & A activity in the space ( cf Saunderson House and Charles Stanley) which underpins the strategic value of the company. Neither the improving growth and margin prospects nor the potential for M & A appears to factored into the company’ s modest valuation of approximately 10x EBITDA.
Wilmington
Description
Is a B2Bmedia business that provides business information, training and events products. The company consists of a portfolio of brands that focus on niche sectors including risk ( i.e. insurance), compliance, banking, accounting, legal services, healthcare providers and pharmaceuticals.
Thesis
Wilmington generates high teens EBITA margins, high teens+ ROCE and good cash conversion. More than 80% of revenues in the main publishing and information divisions are delivered digitally, typically on a subscription basis, and with high levels of client retention. Growth has been held back in recent years and we believe the presence of a new chairman, CEO and CFO will improve the company’ s execution and management of the portfolio to drive shareholder value. Given its strong position in attractive markets it is capable of mid-single digit organic growth; delivery of this against very modest current market expectations could support a substantial re-rating of the stock. In the absence of a re-rating, we believe the company has the potential to become a takeover target.
Developments in the period
Wilmington had a strong period with the company’ s full year results ahead of expectations at every level, leading to mid-single digit upgrades from analysts. This was particularly impressive given there was still substantial disruption to face to face training and events due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic. This illustrates the success the company has in shifting its operating model to online and hybrid delivery formats; a shift which we think improves the long term positioning and growth prospects of the company. Strategic progress was also made with the company increasingly focusing on GRC ( Governance, Risk and Compliance) related activities. Late in the period this was reflected in the disposal of the AMT Financial Training division for £23.4m, leaving the company with a net cash position of £11m going into 2022. As face to face events return we see the prospect of further upgrades over the next six months, with the additional prospect of a return to selective M & A having the potential to accelerate the company’ s strategic journey. In our view the company’ s modest valuation does not reflect the substantial strategic and financial progress that Wilmington has made over the last three years, nor the opportunity for organic and acquisitive growth that exists in the GRC space over the medium term.
Inspired ( formerly Inspired Energy)
Description
Is a leading UK B2B corporate energy and ESG services specialist. The company works with their clients, generally large corporates, to procure energy cost effectively, audit and report their usage of it, and help them to optimise their energy efficiency. The company has a strong focus on sustainability with a number of services that help their clients measure, report and improve their ESG performance.
Thesis
Inspired is a leader in the growing, but fragmented, corporate energy services market. The increasing complexity of corporate energy requirements, and increasing regulatory and sustainability imperatives will support continued strong organic growth for the company with a likely ‘ flight to quality’ leading to further increases in market share. The business model of the business is strong with high quality of earnings from long term contracts, high margins ( 40% EBITDA margin) and return on capital and good cash conversion. The fund’ s initial investment was made as part of a placing intended to strengthen the balance sheet and provide firepower for the company to undertake a number of bolt on acquisitions to continue to consolidate its position in the market. Although the company’ s revenues were depressed due to lower corporate energy usage over lockdowns, there is significant opportunity for a rebound in revenues, and in the share price, when there is a return to a more normalised environment. Over the medium term there are strategically attractive opportunities, both organic and inorganic, to gain market share and broaden the range of services offered, particularly in ESG-related areas.
Developments in the period
Full year results, reported post period end, were in line with expectations despite a number of short term headwinds. Firstly, ongoing Covid restrictions over the period continue to weigh on corporate energy usage, which has a knock on effect on the financial performance of the company. Corporate energy consumption has now largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, and as such this drag on performance is likely to unwind into 2022. Secondly, extreme conditions in wholesale energy markets impacted the timing of renewals and new customer wins. Over the medium term however, we believe that conditions only serve to emphasise the value of Inspired’ s proposition, namely helping corporate clients optimise their energy usage, procurement and hedging requirements. Within this market context we view the 7% increase in the order book as being a creditable performance and boding well for the outlook into 2022. Recent acquisitions, Businesswise and GEM, were also successfully integrated in the period, adding to the company’ s market leading position in its core energy assurance services space. At a strategic level, the recently launched ESG consultancy and data measurement services started to gain traction with £1m of revenue delivered over the course of the year. We are encouraged by the operational performance the company to date and look forward to more benign trading conditions, and further strategic progress, in 2022.
LSL Property Services
Description
Is a market leading UK provider of predominantly B2B services to the real estate sector. The company operates across three divisions: in financial services LSL provides compliance services, product access and software to mortgage brokers via its Primus mortgage network; in surveying LSL provides residential property surveys primarily to financial institutions; in estate agency LSL owns and franchises a number of estate agency brands including Marsh and Parsons, Your Move, Reeds Rain and LSLi.
Thesis
The investment thesis is predicated on a strategic shift away from the more cyclical real estate agency segment, which had historically been a focus, to the market leading financial services segment which is an asset light, high quality of earnings, high margin business. This has potential to achieve a step change in organic growth, improve return on capital, and generate significant shareholder value. This strategy, which has been in place since the appointment of David Stewart as CEO in May 2020, is already starting to bear fruit with a number of divestments and strategic deals struck over the course of 2021. Given the quality and growth potential of the financial services division, the company is significantly undervalued on a sum of the parts basis.
Developments in the period
2021 was a landmark year for the company with revenue up 23% and underlying operating profit reaching record levels, driven by both the buoyant property market following the relaxation of Covid restrictions early in the period, as well as a strong performance by the business. Although the property market has cooled somewhat in recent months, the company continues to report trading in line with expectations. To put the cooling market in context, going into 2022 the Estate Agency division has a pipeline that is 7% below the record levels reported a year ago. Offsetting this, the Financial Services division, where we see the most value in the company, grew the number of financial advisors it served by over 10%. Further, and as noted in previous reports, our thesis is based on the long term strategic plan laid out by management rather than any short term gyrations in the property market. As such we view the progress made over the period positively, including the sale of its non-core minority stake in TM Group for £29.3m, and the first acquisition by the company’ s Pivotal Growth JV with Pollen Street Capital. This builds on the acquisitions of Mortgage Gym and Direct Life Quote Holdings, and the strategic agreement with The Property Franchise Group, sealed in the first half of the year. The company enters 2022 with a net cash position of £48.5m which gives it significant financial flexibility to accelerate its strategy through both organic investment and further acquisitions. The company trades at below 6x FY22 EV/EBITDA which in our view is simply too cheap for a growing business with a net cash balance sheet and 15% operating margins that generates a 20% + return on capital employed.
Tyman
Description
Is a leading international supplier of engineered components to the door and window industry in the new build and repair and maintenance ( RMI) markets. Around two-thirds of its profits are from North America.
Thesis
The company has, through organic and inorganic investment, increased its market leadership, strengthened the product proposition and delivered strong historic returns on investment. The company has the potential to replicate its North American manufacturing template to its operations in Europe and the Rest of the World to achieve material efficiencies, and is well placed to benefit from a recovery of U.S. single family housing activity to long term historical levels.
Developments in the period
The period has been one of consolidation for Tyman following an exceptionally strong operational performance over the preceding 12 months. Although positive trading momentum continued into the second half of the year, the company’ s performance was constrained by the widely publicised supply chain challenges. These include global freight disruption and shortages of raw materials and skilled labour. The impact of these has been to drive up the costs of production for Tyman, as well as to limit the ability of the company to capitalise completely on the very strong demand it is seeing from customers. In this context the company’ s performance to date is impressive with like-for-like revenue growth of 19% vs 2020 ( 8% vs 2019) being delivered in the 10 months to October. The company has maintained guidance for the year despite the disruption caused. We believe this illustrates the substantial operational progress that has been made over the last two years, and underlines the quality of the company. We are this period of disruption will provide an opportunity for Tyman to continue to take market share and position itself to capitalise on the buoyant demand that it is seeing in its end markets.
Fintel ( formerly SimplyBiz)
Description
Is a leading provider of essential support services, software and data to professional financial advisers, financial intermediaries and product providers. It serves over 5,600 intermediary firms and more than 350 financial institutions in the UK. Since its inception in 2002 the group has expanded rapidly via a combination of organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions, the most recent of which was the 2019 transformational strategic acquisition of Defaqto.
Thesis
Fintel is a market leader in the structurally growing IFA market. Its services deliver the benefits of scale to the long tail of IFAs that want to remain independent, and to product providers that want to target distribution into this segment. The company has the opportunity to grow earnings materially through adding member firms, cross / upselling technology and data services to enable digitisation of the IFA channel, and enhancing services provision to the product provider segment. The company’ s medium term financial targets are for 5-7% organic revenue growth per year, 35-40% EBITDA margins and recurring revenues of 70-80% of total revenues. Successful execution of this strategy will improve quality of earnings substantially and create a highly valuable strategically asset.
Developments in the period
The company traded strongly over the period, and in line with market expectations. In particular, core revenue growth accelerated in the second half to end the year up 5%, in line with the company’ s target, with Saas and subscription revenues growing across all three operating divisions. This was driven by a number of strategic client wins for Fintel’ s new managed ‘ Distribution as a Service’ solution, including blue chips such as Schroders, Aviva, Tatton Asset Management and Premier Miton. Successful delivery of such solutions, which are based on Fintel’ s proprietary data and technology, and are sold as multi-year subscriptions, is key in delivery of the company’ s medium term strategic and financial ambitions; we are therefore highly encouraged by recent developments. The other key news in the period was the disposal of non-core businesses Zest Technology ( an employee benefits platform) and Verbatim ( a fund management business) which were sold for up to £15.8m, leaving the company with a net cash balance sheet, and substantial financial flexibility, at the period end.
Outlook
Despite strong initial indications of its mild nature from South Africa, many countries responded with a return of restrictions from now well worn public policy Covid playbooks. It is increasingly becoming apparent that these are neither effective nor required and we were encouraged by UK government’ s decision to test this theory by resisting the imposition of strict restrictions to activity or movement. To date this decision appears to have been entirely vindicated. The successful vaccine roll out, infection-acquired immunity and the evolution of the virus to a more mild strain have all combined to thankfully limit the impact of Omicron to well below that of previous waves despite high case numbers. With this experience being mirrored across other countries around the world, we are hopeful that 2022 will see a return to a more normalised environment, although there is some way to go yet before this is fully realised.
Whilst we expect Covid related disruption to wane over the course of 2022, it is beginning increasingly clear that inflationary pressures will continue to persist for some time. Supply side disruption – both in terms of labour and supplies – will continue to create operational challenges across a range of sectors. Having said this, the longer-term outlook remains positive. Business and consumer confidence continue to recover as the world emerges from the pandemic and strong demand-side drivers support robust economic projections into 2022 and beyond. Taken in aggregate we believe this is an attractive environment to invest; whilst on-going uncertainty can be challenging, it also provides the opportunity to unearth good long-term investment at attractive valuations.
At a portfolio level, we have limited exposure to companies that are directly impacted by the issues noted; a direct output of our highly selective, quality-focused investment approach. Second and third order effects – of both the pandemic, and of an inflationary environment – can be difficult to predict. However we believe agile smaller businesses with strong management teams will have the opportunity to take market share and build strong long-term franchises. We continue to believe that our fundamental focused investment style has the potential to outperform over the long term. The Fund will maintain its focus on building a high conviction portfolio of less cyclical, high quality, niche growth businesses which we believe can deliver strong returns through the market cycle regardless of the performance of the wider economy.
Ken Wotton
Gresham House Asset Management
24 March 2022
Portfolio as at 31 December 2021
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities, Going Concern, Principal Risks and Uncertainties
Statement of Directors’ Responsibilities
The Directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge:
( a) DTR 4.2.7 of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements; and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year; and
( b) DTR 4.2.8 of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being related party transactions that have taken place in the first six months of the current financial year and that have materially affected the financial position or performance of the Company during that period; and any changes in the related party transactions described in the last Annual Report that could do so.
This Half-Yearly Report was approved by the Board of Directors on 24 March 2022 and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by Richard Hills, Chairman.
Going Concern
The Directors acknowledge that the situation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic continues to create risks and uncertainties which may impact the Company. Nevertheless, the Directors believe that the Company is well placed to manage its business risks. After making appropriate enquiries and due consideration of the Company’ s cash balances, the liquidity of the Company’ s investment portfolio and the cost base of the Company, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate available financial resources to
continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and accordingly have concluded that it is appropriate to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Half-Yearly Report, consistent with previous periods.
Principal Risks and Uncertainties
For the Company, the overriding risks and uncertainties to an investor relate to the markets on which the Company’ s shares trade, and the shares of the companies in which it invests trade, may move outside the control of the Board.
The principal risks and uncertainties are set out on pages 21 and 22 of the Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2021, which is available at www.strategicequitycapital.com. There remain uncertainties resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic that may impact the Company, including investment risks surrounding the companies within the portfolio. The Board
continues to work with the Investment Manager, Juniper Partners and its other advisers to manage these risks as far as possible in these uncertain times.
The Company’ s principal risks and uncertainties have not changed since the date of the Annual Report and are not expected to change for the remaining six months of the Company’ s financial year.
Statement of Comprehensive Income
for the six month period to 31 December 2021
The total column of this statement represents the Statement of Comprehensive Income. The supplementary revenue and capital columns are both prepared under guidance published by the AIC.
All items in the above Statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the period.
Statement of Changes in Equity
for the six month period to 31 December 2021
The notes form an integral part of these Half-Yearly financial statements.
Balance Sheet
as at 31 December 2021
The notes form an integral part of these Half-Yearly financial statements.
Statement of Cash Flows
for the six month period to 31 December 2021
The notes form an integral part of these Half-Yearly financial statements.
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the six month period to 31 December 2021
1.1 Corporate information
Strategic Equity Capital plc is a public limited company incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom, registered in England and Wales under the Companies Act 2006 whose shares are publicly traded. The Company is an investment company as defined by Section 833 of the Companies Act 2006.
The Company carries on business as an investment trust within the meaning of Sections 1158/1159 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.
1.2 Basis of preparation/statement of compliance
The condensed interim financial statements of the Company have been prepared on a going concern basis and in accordance with International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. They do not include all the information required for a full report and financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the report and financial statements of the Company for the year ended 30 June 2021, which have been prepared in accordance with IFRS. Where presentational guidance set out in the Statement of Recommended Practice ( “ SORP ”) for investment trust companies and venture capital trusts issued by the AIC is consistent with the requirements of IFRS, the Directors have sought to prepare financial statements on a basis compliant with the recommendations of the SORP.
The condensed interim financial statements do not comprise statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements for the six month periods to 31 December 2021 and 31 December 2020 have not been either audited or reviewed by the Company’ s Auditor. Information for the year ended 30 June 2021 has been extracted from the latest published Annual Report and financial statements, which have been filed with the Registrar of Companies. The report of the Auditor on those financial statements was unqualified, did not contain an emphasis of matter paragraph and did not contain any statement under Section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.
Convention
The financial statements are presented in Sterling, being the currency of the Primary Economic Environment in which the Company operates, rounded to the nearest thousand.
Segmental reporting
The Directors are of the opinion that the Company is engaged in a single segment of business, being investment business.
1.3 Accounting policies
The accounting policies, presentation and method of computation used in these condensed financial statements are consistent with those used in the preparation of the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2021.
1.4 New standards and interpretations not applied
Implementation of changes and accounting standards in the financial period, as outlined in the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2021, had no significant effect on the accounting or reporting of the Company.
2. Income
3. Other expenses
4. Dividend
The Company paid a final dividend of 1.60p in respect of the year ended 30 June 2021 ( 30 June 2020: 1.25p) per Ordinary share on 63,296,844 ( 30 June 2020: 63,296,844) shares, amounting to £1,102,750 ( 30 June 2020: £791,211). The dividend was paid on 17 November 2021 to Shareholders on the register at 15 October 2021. In line with previous years, the Board does not intend to propose an interim dividend.
5. Return per Ordinary share
Returns per Ordinary share are calculated based on 63,296,844 ( 30 June 2021: 63,296,844 and 31 December 2019: 63,296,844) being the weighted average number of Ordinary shares, excluding shares held in treasury, in issue throughout the period.
6. Investments
The Company is required to classify its investments using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the subjectivity of the inputs used in measuring the fair value of each asset. The fair value hierarchy has the following levels:
Investments whose values are based on quoted market prices in active markets are classified within level 1 and include active listed equities. The Company does not adjust the quoted price for these instruments.
The definition of level 1 inputs refers to ‘ active market’ which is a market in which transactions take place with sufficient frequency and volume for pricing information to be provided on an ongoing basis. Due to the liquidity levels of the markets in which the Company trades, whether transactions take place with sufficient frequency and volume is a matter of judgement, and depends on the specific facts and circumstances. The Investment Manager has analysed trading volumes and frequency of the Company’ s portfolio and has determined these investments as level 1 of the hierarchy.
Financial instruments that trade in markets that are not considered to be active but are valued based on quoted market prices, dealer quotations or alternative pricing sources supported by observable inputs are classified within level 2. As level 2 investments include positions that are not traded in active markets and/or are subject to transfer restrictions, valuations may be adjusted to reflect illiquidity and/or non-transferability, which are generally based on available market information.
Level 3 instruments include private equity, as observable prices are not available for these securities the Company has used valuation techniques to derive the fair value. In respect of unquoted instruments, or where the market for a financial instrument is not active, fair value is established by using recognised valuation methodologies, in accordance with International Private Equity and Venture Capital ( “ IPEV ”) Valuation Guidelines.
The underlying funds primarily invest in private companies which are recorded at cost or Fair Value derived from private equity valuation models and techniques. The main inputs into the valuation models of the underlying funds include industry performance, company performance, quality of management, the price of the most recent financing round or prospects for the next financing round, exit opportunities which are available, liquidity preference and net present value analysis.
The level in the fair value hierarchy within which the fair value measurement is categorised is determined on the basis of the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value of the investment.
Financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss as at 31 December 2021
A list of the portfolio holdings is given in the Investment Manager’ s report above.
7. Share capital
During the period to 31 December 2021 no Ordinary shares were bought back or issued by the Company.
8. Investment Manager’ s fee
A basic management fee is payable to the Investment Manager at the annual rate of 0.75% of the NAV of the Company. The basic management fee accrues daily and is payable quarterly in arrears.
The Investment Manager is also entitled to a performance fee, details of which are set out below.
9. Performance fee arrangements
The Company’ s performance is measured over rolling three-year periods ending on 30 June each year, by comparing the NAV total return per share over a performance period against the total return performance of the FTSE Small Cap ( ex Investment Companies) Index. A performance fee is payable if the NAV total return per share ( calculated before any accrual for any performance fee to be paid in respect of the relevant performance period) at the end of the relevant performance period exceeds both:
( i) the NAV per share at the beginning of the relevant performance period as adjusted by the aggregate amount of ( a) the total return on the FTSE Small Cap ( ex Investment Companies) Index ( expressed as a percentage) and ( b) 2.0% per annum over the relevant performance period ( “ Benchmark NAV ”); and
( ii) the high watermark ( which is the highest NAV per share by reference to which a performance fee was previously paid).
The Investment Manager is entitled to 10% of any excess of the NAV total return over the higher of the Benchmark NAV per share and the high watermark. The aggregate amount of the Management Fee and the Performance Fee in respect of each financial year of the Company shall not exceed an amount equal to 1.4% per annum of the NAV of the Company as at the end of the relevant financial period.
A performance fee of £nil has been accrued in respect of the six months ended 31 December 2021 ( 30 June 2021: £nil; 31 December 2020: £317,000).
10. Taxation
The tax charge for the half year is £nil ( 30 June 2021: £nil; 31 December 2020: £nil). The estimated effective corporation tax rate for the year ended 30 June 2022 is 0%. This is because investment gains are exempt from tax owing to the Company’ s status as an investment company and there is expected to be an excess of management expenses over taxable income.
11. Related party transactions and transactions with the Investment Manager
The Investment Manager is regarded as a related party of the Company.
The amounts payable to the Investment Manager, in respect of management fees, during the period to 31 December 2021 was £831,000 ( 30 June 2021: £894,000; 31 December 2020: £140,000), of which £413,000 ( 30 June 2021: £403,000; 31 December 2020: £140,000) was outstanding at 31 December 2021. The amount due to the Investment Manager for performance fees at 31 December 2021 was £nil ( 30 June 2021: £nil; 31 December 2020: £327,000).
Directors and Advisors
Directors
Richard Hills ( Chairman)
Richard Locke ( Deputy Chairman)
Annie Coleman
William Barlow
Josephine Dixon
Auditor
KPMG LLP
Saltire Court
20 Castle Terrace
Edinburgh EH1 2EG
Broker
Liberum Capital Limited
Ropemaker Place
25 Ropemaker Street
London EC2Y 9LY
Custodian
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank N.A.
25 Bank Street
Canary Wharf
London E14 5JP
Depositary
J.P. Morgan Europe Limited
25 Bank Street
Canary Wharf
London E14 5JP
Investment Manager
Gresham House Asset Management Limited
80 Cheapside
London EC2V 6EE
Tel: 020 3837 6270
Registrar
Computershare Investor Services plc
The Pavilions
Bridgwater Road
Bristol BS99 6ZY
Tel: 0370 707 1285
Website: www.computershare.com
Solicitor
Stephenson Harwood LLP
1 Finsbury Circus
London EC2M 7SH
Company Secretary and Administrator
Juniper Partners Limited
28 Walker Street
Edinburgh EH3 7HR
Tel: 0131 378 0500
Registered Office
c/o Stephenson Harwood LLP
1 Finsbury Circus
London EC2M 7SH
Shareholder Information
Financial calendar
Company’ s year-end 30 June
Annual results announced October
Annual General Meeting November
Company’ s half-year 31 December
Half-yearly results announced March
Share price
The Company’ s Ordinary shares are premium listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange plc ( the “ London Stock Exchange ”). The share price is quoted daily in the Financial Times under ‘ Investment Companies’.
Share dealing
Shares can be traded through your usual stockbroker.
Share register enquiries
The register for the Ordinary shares is maintained by Computershare Investor Services plc ( “ Registrar ”). In the event of queries regarding your holding, please contact the Registrar, on 0370 707 1285. Changes of name and/or address must be notified in writing to the Registrar, whose address is shown above.
NAV
The Company’ s NAV is announced daily to the London Stock Exchange.
Website
Further information on the Company can be accessed via the Company’ s website: www.strategicequitycapital.com
An investment company as defined under Sections 833 of the Companies Act 2006
REGISTERED IN ENGLAND AND WALES No 5448627
A member of the Association of Investment Companies
The Half Yearly Financial Report will be posted to shareholders shortly. The Report will also be available for download from the following website: www.strategicequitycapital.com or on request from the Company Secretary.
National Storage Mechanism
A copy of the Half Yearly Report will be submitted shortly to the National Storage Mechanism and will be available for inspection at: https: //data.fca.org.uk/ # /nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
Neither the contents of the Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website ( or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of this announcement. | business |
Annual gathering of airline CEOs moved to Qatar | The annual meeting, which had been due to be hosted by China Eastern Airlines, will instead be staged by Qatar Airways, the international airlines group said in its statement.
The decision was not prompted by the crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 plane on Monday, industry sources said. The sources told Reuters weeks ago that a change in location was expected because of China's strict requirement for at least two weeks of hotel quarantine for all visitors to the country.
Qatar Airways also hosted the IATA annual meeting in 2014.
`` This year's AGM will be an important opportunity for aviation's leaders to reflect on the shifting political, economic and technological realities facing air travel as the industry's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic gathers pace, '' IATA Director General Willie Walsh said in a statement.
( Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by David Goodman) | business |
EUROPEAN MIDDAY BRIEFING - Stocks Fall on Ukraine Concerns | MARKET WRAPS
Stocks:
Stocks slipped Friday as investors monitored the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, with energy politics and Europe's reliance on Russian gas driving sentiment.
On the ground, the two countries remain locked in conflict. But this week has seen developments on the diplomatic front with meetings focused on the war from the NATO Western military alliance, G-7 group of countries, and the European Union.
While the EU has failed to ratchet up sanctions on Russian energy, the U.S. has pledged to increase liquified natural gas ( LNG) shipments to the EU by 15 billion cubic meters this year. `` The U.S. finally seems to be getting its act together around supplying Europe with more natural gas, '' said Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at broker OANDA. `` They could do much more still. ''
In the commodity space, oil prices fell back. `` The EU declining to sanction Russian oil has been given as the main reason, but I believe that a possible coordinated [ U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve ] release, and news that the Caspian CPC pipeline is resuming partial production are the more likely reasons for the fall, '' noted Halley.
Russian stocks fell 2.5% a day after the Moscow stock exchange partially reopened after a month-long closure, reversing some of Wednesday's 4.4% jump. Gazprom slid 3.4% and Russia's largest lender Sberbank declined 4.5%.
The ruble appreciated 4% against the dollar, trading at around 98 rubles to $ 1. It has weakened nearly 24% since the start of the year.
Stocks to Watch:
Next remains very well positioned to deliver solid double-digit returns to investors over the next few years despite its downgraded outlook for fiscal 2023, Liberum said.
The clothing retailer's store profitability declines have been halted and its online business has reached material scale, the U.K. brokerage noted, adding that sales so far in fiscal 2023 are growing ahead of expectations in the U.K. Liberum reiterates its buy recommendation on the stock but lowers its target price to 8,400 pence from 8,900. Shares were up 2.4%.
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Heineken's 1Q is expected to show a continued recovery -- consistent with its peers -- as it starts to build a strong growth strategy, Jefferies said.
The U.S. bank forecasts a 4.3% organic increase in beer volumes, driven by a 11% increase in Europe and 4% in the Americas. Revenue could reach near to double digits due to pricing, channel recovery and premiumization, despite inflation volatility, it added.
Jefferies noted the recent business transformation plan would not only boost reinvestment but also enable cost discipline, generating further growth. Shares were up 0.05%.
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Bayer has the potential to increase Ebitda in its agricultural division in 2023 on the back of strong pricing, mix and volumes, Jefferies said. Further upside is also expected for the German pharmaceutical-and-agricultural company from cost savings, Jefferies added.
Still, investors continue to see barriers due to the continuing litigation over glyphosate, according to the U.S. bank. Whether Bayer comes out of the litigation successful or not, it should all be over around year-end, Jefferies said. Bayer traded down 0.2%.
Economic Insight:
The plunge in Germany's corporate sentiment reflected by the Ifo index doesn't necessarily mean that the economy is heading toward a recession, KfW's chief economist Fritzi Koehler-Geib said.
For now, it is clear the war in Ukraine will take a lot of momentum out of the expected recovery, but the effects of it will largely depend on the duration of the war and the escalation of sanctions, she said.
`` After all, with the removal of the majority of Covid-19 restrictions, services have considerable recovery opportunities as a counterweight to the war-related burdens, especially with a view to spring and summer, '' Koehler-Geib said.
However, a precondition for this scenario is that an energy embargo against Russia is avoided, she said.
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The 0.3% on month fall in U.K. retail sales in February is a sign of what is to come in the next few months, when further rises in both inflation and interest rates are likely to hit consumer spending, Capital Economics said.
Households are in for a prolonged period of negative real wage growth, and in this context it seems inevitable that consumers will continue to pare back spending in the coming months, the economic-research firm said.
`` It is hard to see how overall consumer spending growth will make much headway over the remainder of this year, '' CE said.
Market Insight:
Rates markets remain focused on pricing in tighter monetary policy, rather than thinking more clearly of the consequences for the real economy over the medium term, and therefore for medium-to-long term rates, Mizuho's rates strategists said.
Macro data releases are showing more signs that elevated inflation pressures and lingering supply-chain issues are weighing on European sentiment, they added.
The eurozone's economic recovery lost pace in March, dragged by high energy prices and uncertainties related to the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Markets:
Stock futures wavered as investors monitored the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, with energy politics and Europe's reliance on Russian gas driving sentiment.
The S & P 500 has moved more than 1% in either direction every day this week since Tuesday and is currently up 1.3% for the week so far.
The recent rebound in stocks has been driven by investors buying the dip, amplified by the bout of high inflation, said Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Hambros.
`` Every time there's a significant fall, you see cash rushing in and that has continued to a large degree. When you 've got inflation at 8%, cash is being crucified and needs a place to go, '' Mr. Kamal said.
President Biden said the U.S. will respond if Russia uses chemical weapons and called for the country to be expelled from the G-20, spurring fears of further escalation.
`` Markets are trying to price something that is basically impossible to price, as part of what's going on in the world depends on Putin's thinking which nobody knows, '' said Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer at Kleinwort Hambros.
`` The longer the conflict lasts, the higher the upside to inflation, the lower the downside to growth. It's massively, radically uncertain. ''
A survey of consumer confidence in the U.S. for March is set to go out at 11 a.m. ET. The metric has been slipping in recent months as consumers, particularly lower-income households, had more pessimistic outlooks on the economy.
Forex:
The dollar edged down slightly in Europe but is likely to be supported by ongoing geopolitical risks that underpin the safe-haven appeal of the greenback.
Maybank said there are fears of Russia resorting to chemical or nuclear attacks, noting NATO leaders ' pledge to ramp up defenses against the threat of such attacks. Markets appear to be awaiting the next catalyst from Russia-Ukraine developments, Maybank said.
-- -
The euro pared gains against the dollar after a key survey showed German business morale weakened in March as expectations collapsed due to concerns about the potential economic impact of the Ukraine war.
The ifo business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from 98.5 in February, missing the 93.5 reading forecast in a WSJ survey of economists.
`` Expectations dropped to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic as German businesses seem to be realising that the war is more of a game-changer for the German economy than Covid has ever been, '' ING analysts said.
Bonds:
Eurozone government bond yield spreads have held their ground despite a hawkish repricing of rates and the end of the European Central Bank's quantitative easing in sight.
Societe Generale said one supportive factor is the EU's unity in the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict. `` A general sense that the EU stands united in this crisis and a higher tolerance for fiscal profligacy may be behind this. ''
SocGen also pointed to higher demand from investors seeking yield.
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SocGen maintains a positive view on French government bonds in the eurozone space, with France's less pronounced need for energy transition compared to other countries seen as a positive factor.
`` The war in Ukraine boosts support for Macron in the presidential race, and France should be less impacted than other countries by a stepped-up energy transition, '' SocGen said.
Separately, SocGen said the European Central Bank is moving ahead with a faster tapering of asset purchases and countries might need to issue more debt than planned this year. This could put pressure on country spreads.
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The 10-year Italian BTP-German Bund yield spread, which trades at 152 basis points, is now closer to SocGen's target in the downside scenario of 150-170 bps. It finds it difficult for the spread to narrow below 140 bps, given the ECB's intention to move toward tightening monetary policy.
SocGen expects a risk for the 10-year BTP-Bund spread to widen to 190 bps in late 2022.
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European corporate bonds have recovered recently despite lingering uncertainty as Russia's military assault on Ukraine continues, said UniCredit.
`` Despite the upward pressure on risk-free yields and lingering geopolitical uncertainty, European corporate credit markets have shown some sign of improvement in recent days. ''
A recent move lower in euro investment-grade corporate bond spreads has helped companies to return to debt capital markets to raise funds, said UniCredit's research team.
`` Following the recent tightening, credit spreads are not too distant from the levels prevailing before the outbreak of the crisis, '' analysts at the Italian bank said.
This normalization favored a return of activity on the primary market, with investment-grad companies raising about EUR 25bn so far this month, more than twice as high as last month, they said.
Commodities:
( MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
03-25-22 0638ET | business |
Japan's March economy report flags inflation risk from Ukraine war | The world's third-largest economy has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels as COVID-19 outbreaks and curbs hinder a consumption-led recovery, even before the recent surge in prices.
`` As uncertainties around the situation in Ukraine loom, downside risks such as rising raw material prices, fluctuations in financial markets and supply constraints require full attention, '' the government said in its monthly report.
The report kept its main assessment of the economy unchanged from last month, saying its recovery was in progress although some vulnerabilities remained.
One such weakness was the household sector, with the report repeating last month's assessment of private consumption as having stalled, due to prolonged COVID-19 curbs on face-to-face services.
Authorities also said consumer prices in Japan were `` moderately rising '', having described them as `` steady '' over the past seven months ' reports.
`` We changed the description to the one that simply acknowledges recent price hikes, especially among food items, '' a government official told a media briefing before Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet approved the report.
Japan's core inflation hit a two-year-high of 0.6% in February, as more companies started to pass on costs to households.
Analysts and policymakers expect core inflation to approach 2% in April on rising energy costs and the waning effect of previous cellphone fee cuts.
In the context of recent spring wage talks and private-sector price forecasts, the report warned of inflation's potential damage to consumers by squeezing their real income.
`` The price increase is feared to outpace wage growth, and we must carefully monitor its impact on consumption, '' the official said.
Kishida, who has pledged to protect Japan's economy from soaring costs by pushing wages higher, is expected to instruct the cabinet to draft new economic relief measures next week.
In the March report, authorities raised the assessment of corporate profits on robust fourth-quarter earnings data but cut its view on business conditions given a bleak business survey result from late February.
The government made the first upgrade to its imports assessment in 13 months for an improvement seen in electronics shipments from Asian countries, led by China where production recently rebounded, the report showed.
( Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Sam Holmes) | business |
High Court Partially Blocks Navy Vax Mandate Injunction | The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday partially stayed an injunction that prevented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate from being enforced against members of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command, after the Pentagon argued the block interfered with military decision-making.The stay blocks aspects of the injunction that had prevented the U.S. Navy from taking the vaccination status of those in special operations into account when making deployment and other operational decisions. The service members claim the vaccine mandate violates their religious rights as Christians — for example due to what they claim is the use of aborted fetal cell lines in developing the vaccines.... | general |
COVID SCIENCE-Some immune system memory persists year after infection; COVID from Omicron also less severe for pregnant women | The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Immune system memory persists a year after COVID-19
A year after infection with the coronavirus, when antibodies in the blood are barely detectable, the immune system continues to `` remember '' the virus and should respond to some extent upon re-encountering it, a study from China suggests.
Researchers studied 141 people infected with the virus in the first half of 2020 who provided blood samples 12 months later. None of them had been vaccinated in the interim. Most individuals still had low levels of antibodies, and most of those younger than 60 still had some antibodies that could neutralize the virus, according to a report published on Wednesday in The Lancet Microbe https: //bit.ly/3uJpfez. But in everyone - regardless of age or severity of the original infection, and including patients who had lost their neutralizing antibodies - responses by so-called memory B cells and memory T cells were still evident `` and were not disrupted by new variants, '' the researchers said. These defenses do not prevent infection but they do help to prevent severe disease.
`` Current SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are mainly focused on neutralizing antibodies, '' the researchers noted. `` These data underline the importance of broad B-cell and T-cell immunity for future vaccine strategies targeting SARS-CoV-2. ''
COVID while pregnant more common, less severe with Omicron
Women who were pregnant during the recent Omicron surge had more than eight times the rate of COVID-19 diagnoses, but lower odds of severe illness compared with pregnant women diagnosed earlier in the pandemic, according to new research.
Doctors in Texas studied 2,641 women with COVID-19 infections during pregnancy from May 2020 through January 2022. While the weekly numbers of deliveries were similar throughout the study period, the average weekly number of infected women giving birth was 17 early in the pandemic, 14 during the Delta era, and 138 during Omicron, the researchers reported on Thursday in JAMA https: //jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790609.
Fewer than 1% of women infected during the Omicron wave required hospitalization, compared to nearly 12% during Delta, they found. `` We got very lucky '' that Omicron's transmissibility was not matched by its severity, study leader Dr. Emily Adhikari of UT Southwestern said in a statement.
No adverse effect of mRNA shot for pregnant women, newborns
COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy with mRNA shots, such as those from Moderna or Pfizer and BioNTech, does not appear to cause problems for women or their newborns, according to two studies published on Thursday in JAMA.
One study https: //jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790608 of 157,521 pregnancies, conducted in Scandinavia, found no significant links between the vaccines - mostly given during the second or third trimester - and pregnancy problems. The other study https: //jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790607 involved 97,590 women in Canada, including 22,660 who received at least one dose of a vaccine during pregnancy and 44,815 who were vaccinated after pregnancy. Vaccination during pregnancy, compared with after pregnancy and with no vaccination, was not significantly associated with childbirth complications for mothers or babies.
An editorial https: //jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2790610 published with the two reports calls for similar research in countries where other types of COVID-19 vaccines are more commonly used in pregnancy.
Click for a Reuters graphic https: //tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines in development.
( Reporting by Nancy Lapid and Christine Soares; Editing by Bill Berkrot) | business |
War in Ukraine causes German business morale to collapse | The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.
`` The message from Germany's most important economic barometer is clear: the German economy is very likely to slide into recession, '' said Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank Group.
The publication of the purchasing managers ' index on Thursday gave some hope the German economy had so far been able to absorb the economic consequences of the war, but Friday's Ifo index `` teaches us otherwise, '' Gitzel said.
`` The extreme divergence between the situation and expectations is typical. Even if not much has actually happened, uncertainty due to the war is very high, '' said Jens-Oliver Niklasch, senior economist at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Ultimately, the uncertainty goes far beyond the Ukraine war, raising questions about the sustainability of Germany's business model, said Andreas Scheuerle at Decabank, pointing to the one-sided dependence of Europe's largest economy on supplier and customer countries.
According to Commerzbank's Joerg Kraemer, companies are particularly afraid of such risks as a Western boycott of Russian oil, which would lead leave the market considerably undersupplied and catapult the prices upwards.
The index for business expectations also fell to 85.1 from 98.4, the sharpest plunge since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the moment, two-thirds of industrial companies want to raise their prices more than ever before and retailers are also looking to follow suit, Ifo economic expert Klaus Wohlrabe told Reuters.
`` This is a domino effect, '' he said.
The service sector can initially rejoice at the easing of COVID-19 curbs, but trouble is looming on the horizon as filling up the car tank has become a burden and families will have to cut down on leisure activities, Gitzel said.
At the same time, the relief package announced by the German government on Thursday is nowhere near enough to compensate for the increased costs, Gitzel said.
( Reporting by Zuzanna Szymanska, Rene Wagner and Klaus Lauer, editing by Thomas Escritt and Toby Chopra) | business |
Finland suspends its rail link between Russia and the EU | - Finland's national railway operator said on Friday it would suspend services between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg in Russia on Monday, closing the rail link between Russia and the European Union.
VR, the operator, said it had been told by the Finnish state it was no longer appropriate to run the service, known as the Allegro, in light of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
`` So we are suspending traffic for the time being, '' Topi Simola, VR's head of passenger traffic, said in a statement.
Russian Railways said in a short statement they were aware of the Finnish decision due to sanctions.
Trains from Russia to Finland's capital Helsinki have been packed with Russians in recent weeks as some used it to leave the country urgently and mutual airspace closures cut off flight connections between Russia and the EU.
The border between Finland and Russia remains open for crossings by private car.
Russia cancelled its passenger train routes to EU countries in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, including the Leo Tolstoy, a Russian train which used to go from Moscow to Helsinki via Saint Petersburg.
Finland's Allegro train was one of the last rail connections between Russia and the EU.
Russian trains still shuttle back and forth via Lithuania between Moscow and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. But since Feb. 28, they have not allowed Russian passengers to board or alight in Lithuania.
Tytti Tuppurainen, Finland's minister in charge of state holdings, told Reuters that one reason for maintaining the Allegro train service until now had been to allow Finns in Russia to return to home.
`` Now it is evident that the situation has changed for the Allegro and the continuation of Allegro traffic is no longer appropriate from the point of view of the state owner, '' she wrote in an emailed statement.
( Reporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Toby Chopra and Edmund Blair) | business |
Landlords Are Not Going to Jail - The Santa Barbara Independent | Thomas Fire's Rent Cap Expired with Its Emergency Declaration
For those landlords who read the March 18, 2022, op-ed entitled “ Landlords Beware ” and suddenly believed that they would be going to jail, think twice before sending in the measurements for your prison jumpsuit.
The piece, which Rachel Sim authored for the Santa Barbara Tenants Union, was premised on the contention that Santa Barbara County and California have been in an “ uninterrupted state of emergency ” since December 7, 2017, beginning with the Thomas Fire disaster declaration and continuing to this day with the various state and federal COVID-19 disaster declarations. As a result, the writer contends, the criminal price-gouging provisions in California Penal Code Section 396 prevent a landlord from raising rents more than 10 percent from what they were prior to December 7, 2017.
The one thing the piece gets correct is that Penal Code Section 396 in subsection ( e) does prohibit “ Upon the proclamation of a state of emergency declared by the President of the United States or the Governor, or upon the declaration of a local emergency by an official, board, or other governing body vested with authority to make that declaration in any city, county, or city and county, and for a period of 30 days following that proclamation or declaration, or any period the proclamation or declaration is extended by the applicable authority, it is unlawful for any person, business, or other entity, to increase the rental price, as defined in paragraph ( 11) of subdivision ( j), advertised, offered, or charged for housing, to an existing or prospective tenant, by more than 10 percent. ” ( Italics added.) Furthermore, subsection ( e) extends the protections to any new tenant who is offered the rental after an eviction.
There should be no dispute that Santa Barbara County is no longer subject to the disaster declaration for the Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslide from December 2017. Accordingly, pursuant to the Penal Code Section 396, the 10 percent rent cap going back to the December 2017 benchmark expired when “ that ” disaster declaration ( and its extensions by executive order) expired.
There should also be no dispute that Santa Barbara County ( and the rest of California) is still subject to the COVID-19 disaster declaration issued by Governor Newsom on March 4, 2020. As such, Penal Code Section 396 prohibits landlords from raising rents more than 10 percent from what they were prior to the issuance of “ that ” declaration on March 4, 2020.
The writer’ s contention that multiple disaster declarations can be piggybacked together going back to December 2017 is where the analysis falls short. The statute is clear the 10 percent rent increase provision lasts for 30 days after “ that ” disaster declaration expires and the benchmark for prior rent is in comparison to what the rent was “ prior to the proclamation or declaration. ” It does not say “ any ” disaster declaration then in effect. Nothing in the statute indicates that if a new disaster commences while a prior one still exists, that the benchmark rent in place prior to the original disaster carries over as the benchmark to the new disaster after the original disaster ends. Accordingly, the current rent cap applies only to “ the ” proclamation that is currently in effect in Santa Barbara County — the COVID-19 disaster declaration. As such the 10 percent cap is benchmarked against what rents were as of March 4, 2020.
The writer’ s claim that landlords have been prosecuted for violating Penal Code Section 396 is not compelling. As indicated above, it is a crime for a landlord to raise rents more than 10 percent from the rate that was in effect prior to the currently-in-effect disaster proclamation. Landlords have been prosecuted for exactly that — raising rents more than 10 percent since March 4, 2020. These prosecutions were not based on stringing multiple unrelated disaster declarations together to go back in time faster than Doc Brown in his DeLorean to implement a 10 percent rent cap from December 2017. As such, the existence of prosecutions under Penal Code Section 396 do not support the Tenants Union’ s theory in any way.
The moral of the story should be, “ Landlords beware ” when people from Legal Aid and/or the Santa Barbara Tenants Union come bearing gifts of legal advice on how to run your businesses.
Robert B. Farouzandeh is an attorney in Santa Barbara, California. The information provided in this op-ed does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information and content in this op-ed is for general informational purposes only. | general |
S & P upgrades Gard’ s outlook after strong results | Norwegian insurer is the only P & I club to with an A+ rating
S & P Global Ratings has upgraded its outlook for Norwegian marine insurer Gard from A+ negative to A+ stable.
The change comes following an improvement in its underwriting results in the second half of the policy year ending in 20 February 2022.
“ The stable outlook indicates that we expect marine insurer Gard to record at least break-even underwriting results over the next two years and generate earnings of over $ 50m, ” S & P said.
The influential ratings agency said it expects Gard to continue to outperform its rivals in the International Group of P & I Clubs.
Only 18 months ago, S & P downgraded Gard’ s outlook to negative based on its underwriting losses.
A series of high-cost pool claims, which are shared among International Group members, and the impact of Covid-19 related claims pushed all the mutual P & I clubs into an underwriting loss last year.
Gard is by far the largest of the P & I clubs and the only mutual with an A+ rating.
S & P said the improvement in underwriting performance will enable Gard to keep ahead of the competition.
Gard’ s P & I income is also supplemented by income from its hull and machinery insurance business.
“ The stable outlook indicates that we expect the club to retain its pre-eminent position in the P & I and marine sectors over the next two years, ” S & P said. “ It will demonstrate this by outperforming its P & I peers in terms of underwriting performance. ”
The North P & I Club and the Standard Club are now in discussions to merge their business to create a P & I mutual — NorthStandard — of similar size to Gard. | general |
SoftBank is seeking at least $ 60 billion in Arm IPO | SoftBank Group Corp. is seeking a valuation of at least $ 60 billion ( ¥7.3 trillion) for Arm Ltd. when the business goes public, according to people familiar with the matter, aiming for a higher amount than it would have gotten from its failed sale of the chip designer to Nvidia Corp.
SoftBank is poised to appoint Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. to lead a loan transaction for Arm ahead of the planned initial public offering, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the situation is private. The firms handling the loan are likely to also have lead roles on the IPO, but the lineup isn’ t final and more banks could be added, the people said.
Valuing Arm at more than $ 60 billion is a gambit for SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who acquired the business in 2016 for about $ 32 billion. It would mean convincing investors that Arm deserves a higher valuation than its semiconductor peers — and what the business would have fetched in the $ 40 billion Nvidia deal, which collapsed under regulatory pressure.
Arm’ s valuation could still change based on a variety of factors, including market conditions, the people said. Chip stocks enjoyed a big run-up during the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled in part by demand for work-at-home technology, but they’ ve cooled this year. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index is down 11% in 2022.
SoftBank, Arm, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Mizuho declined to comment.
Though Arm is little-known to consumers, its influence in the electronics industry is hard to overstate. The company’ s technology is at the heart of components that run much of the modern economy and its presence is growing. The company licenses fundamental elements of semiconductors and also sells chip designs to many of the world’ s largest companies.
But Arm’ s pervasiveness is due in part to its relatively low fees. While there are billions of chips made each year that use Arm’ s blueprints, it has about $ 2.6 billion in annual sales, a fraction of what companies such as Intel Corp. pull in. Based on an average revenue multiple for chip companies, Arm would be worth less than $ 30 billion.
Integrated circuit microchips designed by Arm Ltd. | BLOOMBERG
SoftBank announced a deal to sell Arm to Nvidia in September 2020, but the transaction almost immediately faced obstacles. Arm’ s customers opposed the takeover, and regulators around the world gave it close scrutiny. The deal began to unravel after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued to block it in December, and Nvidia walked away last month.
That sent SoftBank back to its previous plan to earn a return from Arm: an IPO. In pitching the offering, SoftBank and its bankers will argue that Arm shouldn’ t be valued like a typical chip business. Arm is increasingly focusing on higher-value designs for products such as server chips, which can cost thousands of dollars for just one processor.
SoftBank has said it’ s aiming to conduct the IPO in its current fiscal year, which ends next March. Linking a margin loan to an IPO mandate has become a favorite tactic of Son, a 64-year-old billionaire who founded SoftBank 40 years ago. The approach helps test the risk appetites of the banks that want to underwrite the IPO.
In 2018, SoftBank lined up commitments for a loan of $ 9 billion for its Vision Fund, provided by advisory firms that included arrangers of its Japanese wireless business’ s IPO, Bloomberg reported. Last year, the fund arranged margin loans backed by its stakes in South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. and online food-delivery service DoorDash Inc. | tech |
Brazilian Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE) Market Report 2022: Increase in Prices of Imported Products and Obstacles in International Trade Boost Local Production - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Brazilian Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE) Growth Opportunities '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Brazilian PPE market was valued at $ 1,963.6 million in 2021 and projects it will increase at a compound annual growth rate ( CAGR) of 4.7% from 2021 to 2026.
This research presents an assessment of the current status of and future prospects for the Brazilian personal protective equipment ( PPE) market. Protective clothing, foot protection, and hand protection are the largest product segments, accounting for a combined 79.3% of market revenue.
Demand for PPE will increase in the short term, but the world still faces a supply crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue will likely trigger challenges with products and some raw material offers, but will also spur local production in response to supply shortages.
Gross domestic product ( GDP) recovery from the 2015-2016 Brazilian economic crisis has been slow, affecting all industries, especially manufacturing and construction. A new economic crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the GDP growth rate to negative 4.1% in 2020, affecting all industries and restraining the PPE market.
PPE-related safety regulations in Brazil are stringent, but compliance is not fully controlled. Due to cultural reasons and a high rate of informal employment, the potential use of PPE among workers is higher than the actual use. PPE certification standards are strict, and every locally manufactured and imported product needs a certificate of approval ( CA), provided by the Ministry of Labor and Employment. No foreign CA is accepted, thus imported products must adapt to local standards.
Key Topics Covered:
Strategic Imperatives
Growth Opportunity Analysis - PPE Market | general |
Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Markets Outlook, 2020-2030 with 2021 as the Base Year - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Outlook, 2022 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The study period is from 2020 to 2030, and 2021 is the base year. The deliverable offers power investment predictions for select countries, and it also highlights future growth opportunities and strategic imperatives that market participants can consider to capitalize on growth opportunities.
This outlook offers a comprehensive overview of the top trends in the Asia-Pacific power and energy market in 2022, including the growing role of hydrogen in the shift to clean energy; the diversification of oil and gas companies to the power sector; energy storage growth in South Korea; offshore wind growth in East Asia; rising solar and biomass installations; and power demand growth.
After a challenging 2020, 2021 was a defining year for the energy industry in many ways. The world witnessed rising concerns about climate change and the need for sustainable solutions and processes.
Following the latest COP summit, more than 100 countries pledged their commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050. In Asia-Pacific, Japan, Australia, and South Korea have aggressive targets, while Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia have pledged to limit the global temperature rise to a 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, stakeholders across the energy value chain exhibited resilience by developing innovative business models and sustainable practices to boost sales. This resulted in record growth for the renewables industry in 2021. In 2022, despite supply chain constraints, the installation of renewable energy sources will gain momentum as the demand for clean energy solutions accelerates in Asia-Pacific.
Renewables was the big story of 2021 and, in 2022, the momentum will continue as a growing number of stakeholders pursue sustainability targets. The analyst predicts that more than $ 48 billion will be invested in the renewable energy sector in 2022.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Growth Environment
2. Strategic Imperative
3. Research Scope and Segmentation
4. Key Market Trends
5. Key Power Investment Metrics
6. Outlook for Key Countries | general |
Cintas Corporation annonce ses résultats pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 | CINCINNATI -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cintas Corporation ( Nasdaq: CTAS) a annoncé aujourd’ hui ses résultats pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 clos le 28 février 2022. Les revenus du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 se sont élevés à 1,96 milliard de dollars, par rapport à 1,78 milliard de dollars au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent, soit une hausse de 10,3%. Le taux de croissance des revenus internes du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice financier 2022, qui tient compte de l’ incidence des acquisitions, des cessions et des fluctuations des devises étrangères, a été de 10,0%.
La marge brute du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 s’ est élevée à 898,2 millions de dollars, par rapport à 809,5 millions de dollars au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. La marge brute en pourcentage des revenus a été de 45,8% pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, par rapport à 45,6% pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Les dépenses énergétiques comprenant l’ essence, le gaz naturel et l’ électricité ont augmenté de 45 points de base pendant le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 par rapport au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent.
Le bénéfice d’ exploitation du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 s’ est élevé à 407,6 millions de dollars, par rapport à 326,5 millions de dollars au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Le bénéfice d’ exploitation en pourcentage de revenus a été de 20,8% au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, par rapport à 18,4% au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Le bénéfice d’ exploitation du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 comprenait un gain de 30,2 millions de dollars provenant d’ une transaction de titres mis en équivalence. Le gain a été comptabilisé dans les frais de vente et d’ administration. En excluant ce gain, le bénéfice d’ exploitation en pourcentage de revenus du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 a été de 19,3%, soit une augmentation de 90 points de base par rapport au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent.
Le bénéfice net s’ est élevé à 315,4 millions de dollars pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, par rapport à 258,4 millions de dollars pour le troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Le bénéfice par action ( BPA) dilué du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 a été de 2,97 $, par rapport à 2,37 $ au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Dans le BPA dilué du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, 0,28 $ provenait d’ un gain sur une transaction de titres mis en équivalence comprenant un avantage fiscal connexe de 0,07 $. En excluant ce gain et la répercussion fiscale connexe, le BPA dilué du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 a été de 2,69 $, par rapport à 2,37 $ au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent, soit une augmentation de 13,5% par rapport au BPA dilué du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent.
Le flux net de trésorerie du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 provenant des activités d’ exploitation était de 393,3 millions de dollars, par rapport à 331,9 millions de dollars au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent, soit une augmentation de 18,5%. Au cours du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 et jusqu’ au 22 mars 2022, Cintas a acquis pour 584,2 millions de dollars d’ actions ordinaires dans le cadre de son programme de rachat. Le 15 mars 2022, Cintas a versé aux actionnaires un total de 99,0 millions de dollars en dividende trimestriel.
Todd M. Schneider, président-directeur général de Cintas, a déclaré: « Nous sommes heureux de nos résultats financiers du troisième trimestre, qui ont été marqués par une augmentation des revenus de 10,3%. En excluant le gain mentionné précédemment, le bénéfice d’ exploitation et le BPA dilué ont augmenté de manière significative malgré l’ inflation. Nos résultats financiers reflètent la forte valeur que nous proposons. Accordant la priorité à leur image, à la propreté, à la sécurité et à la conformité et étant confrontées à une pénurie de main-d’ œuvre ainsi qu’ à une augmentation des coûts, les entreprises comptent de plus en plus sur Cintas pour les aider à être Prêtes pour leur journée de travail ( Ready for the WorkdayMD) ».
M. Schneider a conclu: « Nous relevons nos prévisions financières. Nous nous attendons à ce que nos revenus du quatrième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 se situent entre 1,96 et 2,02 milliards de dollars et à ce que notre BPA dilué se situe entre 2,54 $ et 2,74 $. Notre taux d’ imposition effectif pour le quatrième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 devrait être d’ environ 23,2%, par rapport à un taux de 19,4% pour le quatrième trimestre de l’ exercice précédent. Le taux d’ imposition effectif plus élevé prévu devrait faire baisser les prévisions de BPA dilué pour le quatrième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 d’ environ 0,14 $ et de croissance du BPA dilué d’ environ 560 points de base. Nos prévisions financières comprennent le rachat d’ actions jusqu’ au 22 mars 2022, mais elles n’ incluent l’ incidence de tout rachat d’ actions futur.
Cintas
Cintas Corporation aide plus d’ un million d’ entreprises de tous types et de toutes tailles à être PrêtesMD à ouvrir leurs portes avec confiance, chaque jour, en fournissant des produits et des services qui permettent à leurs clients de maintenir la propreté, la sécurité et la qualité de l’ environnement de travail des employés. Grâce à des offres qui comprennent des uniformes, des petits tapis, des vadrouilles, des fournitures pour les toilettes, des produits de premiers soins et de sécurité, des extincteurs et des tests, ainsi que des séances de formation de sécurité, l’ entreprise Cintas aide ses clients à être Prêts pour leur journée de travail ( Ready for the WorkdayMD). L’ entreprise a également élaboré le Programme Propreté TotaleMD, le premier service en son genre à offrir la livraison planifiée des produits de nettoyage essentiels, un service de blanchissage hygiénique, ainsi que des produits et des services de désinfection et d’ assainissement. L’ entreprise Cintas, dont le siège social se trouve à Cincinnati, est une entreprise publique, figurant dans le palmarès Fortune 500, cotée en bourse au Nasdaq Global Select Market, sous le symbole CTAS et elle fait partie des indices Standard & Poor’ s 500 et Nasdaq-100.
Cintas tiendra une émission Web en direct pour examiner les résultats du troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022 aujourd’ hui à 10 h, heure de l’ Est. L’ émission Web sera accessible au public sur le site Web de Cintas à l’ adresse www.Cintas.com. Une rediffusion de l’ émission Web sera disponible environ deux heures après la fin de la conférence en direct et restera disponible pendant deux semaines.
MISE EN MISE EN GARDE CONCERNANT LES ÉNONCÉS PRÉVISIONNELS
La loi Private Securities Litigation Reform Act de 1995 prévoit une sphère de sécurité contre les litiges civils pour les énoncés prévisionnels. Les énoncés prévisionnels peuvent être identifiés par des mots tels que « estimations », « anticipations », « prévisions », « projets », « plans », « attentes », « intentions », « cibles », « prévisions », « croit », « cherche », « pourrait », « devrait », « peut » et « sera » ou les versions négatives de ces mots, termes et expressions similaires et par le contexte dans lequel ils sont utilisés. Ces énoncés sont basés sur les attentes actuelles de Cintas et ne sont valables qu’ à la date où ils sont faits. Vous ne devez pas vous fier indûment aux énoncés prévisionnels. Nous ne pouvons pas garantir que tout énoncé prévisionnel se réalisera. Ces énoncés sont soumis à divers risques et diverses incertitudes et hypothèses potentiellement inexacts et à d’ autres facteurs qui pourraient entraîner une différence entre les résultats réels et ceux indiqués ou sous-entendus dans le présent communiqué de presse. Les facteurs susceptibles de provoquer une telle différence comprennent, sans s’ y limiter, la possibilité de coûts d’ exploitation plus élevés que prévu, y compris les coûts de l’ énergie et du carburant; la baisse des volumes de vente; la perte de clients en raison des tendances à l’ externalisation; les performances et les coûts d’ intégration des acquisitions; les fluctuations des coûts des matériaux et de la main-d’ œuvre, y compris l’ augmentation des coûts médicaux; les coûts et les effets possibles des activités de syndicalisation; le non-respect des réglementations gouvernementales concernant la discrimination dans l’ emploi, les salaires et les avantages sociaux des employés, ainsi que la santé et la sécurité des employés; l’ effet sur les opérations des fluctuations des taux de change, des tarifs et d’ autres risques politiques, économiques et réglementaires; les incertitudes concernant les dépenses et les responsabilités existantes ou nouvellement découvertes liées à la conformité et à l’ assainissement de l’ environnement; le coût, les résultats et l’ évaluation continue des contrôles internes pour les rapports financiers; l’ effet des nouvelles prises de position comptables; les perturbations causées par l’ inaccessibilité des données des systèmes informatiques, y compris les risques liés à la cybersécurité; le déclenchement ou l’ issue de litiges, d’ enquêtes ou d’ autres procédures; l’ augmentation des coûts supposés d’ approvisionnement ou de distribution des produits; l’ interruption des opérations due à des événements catastrophiques ou extraordinaires, y compris les pandémies virales telles que le coronavirus COVID-19; le montant et le moment des rachats de nos actions ordinaires, le cas échéant; les changements dans les lois fiscales et du travail fédérales et étatiques; et les réactions des concurrents en termes de prix et de service. Cintas ne s’ engage pas à publier une révision des énoncés prévisionnels ou à mettre à jour ces énoncés prévisionnels à la suite de nouvelles informations ou pour refléter des événements, des circonstances ou tout autre développement imprévu survenant après la date à laquelle ces énoncés sont faits. Une liste et une description plus détaillées des risques, incertitudes et autres questions figurent dans notre rapport annuel sur le formulaire 10-K pour l’ exercice clos le 31 mai 2021 et dans nos rapports sur les formulaires 10-Q et 8-K. Les risques et incertitudes décrits dans le présent document ne sont pas les seuls auxquels nous pouvons être confrontés. D’ autres risques et incertitudes actuellement inconnus de nous, ou que nous considérons actuellement comme non significatifs, peuvent également nuire à nos activités.
Cintas Corporation
États des résultats consolidés condensés
( non audités)
( En milliers, sauf les données par action)
Trimestre clos le
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
% de variation
Revenus:
Location d’ uniformes et services aux établissements
$
1 553 320
$
1 417 865
9,6
%
Autre
407 222
359 191
13,4
%
Revenus totaux
1 960 542
1 777 056
10,3
%
Coûts et dépenses:
Coût de location d’ uniformes et services aux établissements
834 082
761 850
9,5
%
Coûts des autres activités
228 306
205 690
11,0
%
Frais de vente et d’ administration
490 549
483 048
1,6
%
Bénéfice d’ exploitation
407 605
326 468
24,9
%
Intérêts créditeurs
( 56
)
( 87
)
( 35,6
)%
Intérêts débiteurs
22 030
24 552
( 10,3
)%
Bénéfice avant impôts sur le revenu
385 631
302 003
27,7
%
Impôts sur le revenu
70 183
43 619
60,9
%
Bénéfice net
$
315 448
$
258 384
22,1
%
Bénéfice de base par action
$
3,04
$
2,44
24,6
%
Bénéfice dilué par action
$
2,97
$
2,37
25,3
%
Moyenne pondérée de base d’ actions ordinaires en circulation
103 388
105 264
Moyenne pondérée diluée d’ actions ordinaires en circulation
105 641
107 996
Cintas Corporation
États des résultats consolidés condensés
( non audités)
( En milliers, sauf les données par action)
Période de neuf mois close le
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
% de variation
Revenus:
Location d’ uniformes et services aux établissements
$
4 596 767
$
4 222 764
8,9
%
Autre
1 183 006
1 057 914
11,8
%
Revenus totaux
5 779 773
5 280 678
9,5
%
Coûts et dépenses:
Coût de location d’ uniformes et services aux établissements
2 430 644
2 217 073
9,6
%
Coûts des autres activités
663 078
608 004
9,1
%
Frais de vente et d’ administration
1 503 117
1 426 555
5,4
%
Bénéfice d’ exploitation
1 182 934
1 029 046
15,0
%
Intérêts créditeurs
( 168
)
( 369
)
( 54,5
)%
Intérêts débiteurs
65 786
73 659
( 10,7
)%
Bénéfice avant impôts sur le revenu
1 117 316
955 756
16,9
%
Impôts sur le revenu
176 020
112 510
56,4
%
Bénéfice net
$
941 296
$
843 246
11,6
%
Bénéfice de base par action
$
9,05
$
7,99
13,3
%
Bénéfice dilué par action
$
8,84
$
7,78
13,6
%
Moyenne pondérée de base d’ actions ordinaires en circulation
103 438
104 782
Moyenne pondérée diluée d’ actions ordinaires en circulation
105 896
107 696
DONNÉES SUPPLÉMENTAIRES CINTAS CORPORATION
Résultats de la marge brute et de la marge de bénéfice net
Trimestre clos le
Période de neuf mois close le
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
Marge brute pour la location d’ uniformes et les services aux établissements
46,3
%
46,3
%
47,1
%
47,5
%
Autre marge brute
43,9
%
42,7
%
43,9
%
42,5
%
Marge brute totale
45,8
%
45,6
%
46,5
%
46,5
%
Marge de bénéfice net
16,1
%
14,5
%
16,3
%
16,0
%
Rapprochement des mesures financières non conformes aux PCGR et information sur la réglementation G
Le communiqué de presse contient des mesures financières non conformes aux PCGR au sens de la réglementation G promulguée par la Securities and Exchange Commission. Pour compléter ses états des résultats consolidés condensés présentés conformément aux principes comptables généralement reconnus ( PCGR) des États-Unis, l’ entreprise fournit les mesures financières supplémentaires non conformes aux PCGR que sont le bénéfice d’ exploitation, le bénéfice dilué par action et le flux de trésorerie. L’ entreprise estime que ces mesures financières non conformes aux PCGR sont appropriées pour améliorer la compréhension de son rendement passé et de ses perspectives futures de rendement. Un rapprochement des différences entre ces mesures financières non conformes aux PCGR et la mesure financière la plus directement comparable calculée conformément aux PCGR est présenté dans les tableaux ci-dessous.
Résultats du bénéfice d’ exploitation
Trimestre clos le
( En milliers)
28 février 2022
% des revenus
Bénéfice d’ exploitation
$
407 605
20,8
%
Gain sur la transaction de titres mis en équivalence ( 1)
( 30 151
)
Bénéfice d’ exploitation excluant l’ élément ci-dessus
$
377 454
19,3
%
( 1)
Dans le cadre de l’ acquisition de la participation restante par transaction de titres mis en équivalence au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, l’ entreprise était tenue, par les PCGR aux États-Unis, de mesurer à nouveau sa participation existante dans la transaction de titres mis en équivalence à la juste valeur à la date d’ acquisition et de considérer le gain obtenu dans son bénéfice d’ exploitation.
Résultats du bénéfice par action
Trimestre clos le
28 février 2022
Croissance par rapport à l’ exercice financier 2021
BPA dilué
$
2,97
25,3
%
Gain sur la transaction de titres mis en équivalence ( 1)
( 0,21
)
Avantage fiscal sur la transaction de titres mis en équivalence ( 1)
( 0,07
)
BPA dilué excluant l’ élément ci-dessus
$
2,69
13,5
%
( 1)
Dans le cadre de l’ acquisition de la participation restante par transaction de titres mis en équivalence au troisième trimestre de l’ exercice 2022, l’ entreprise était tenue, par les PCGR aux États-Unis, de mesurer à nouveau sa participation existante dans la transaction de titres mis en équivalence à la juste valeur à la date d’ acquisition et de considérer le gain obtenu dans son bénéfice d’ exploitation. Le gain imposé au taux d’ imposition prévu par la loi a entraîné un bénéfice par action de 0,21 $. Cependant, le taux d’ imposition réel associé à la transaction était beaucoup plus bas que le taux d’ imposition prévu par la loi, ce qui a permis de générer un bénéfice par action supplémentaire de 0,07 $.
Calcul du flux de trésorerie disponible
Période de neuf mois close le
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
Flux de trésorerie net provenant de l’ exploitation
$
987 055
$
904 815
Dépenses d’ immobilisation
( 165 851
)
( 100 410
)
Flux de trésorerie disponible
$
821 204
$
804 405
La direction utilise le flux de trésorerie disponible pour évaluer le rendement financier de l’ entreprise. La direction estime que le flux de trésorerie disponible est utile aux investisseurs, car il établit un lien entre le flux de trésorerie d’ exploitation de l’ entreprise et le capital dépensé pour poursuivre, améliorer et développer les opérations commerciales.
DONNÉES DE SEGMENT SUPPLÉMENTAIRES
Location d’ uniformes et services aux établissements
Premiers soins et services de sécurité
Tout Autre
De l’ entreprise
Total
Pour le trimestre clos le 28 février 2022
Revenus
$
1 553 320
$
212 958
$
194 264
$
—
$
1 960 542
Marge brute
$
719 238
$
94 204
$
84 712
$
—
$
898 154
Frais de vente et d’ administration
$
363 248
$
67 900
$
59 401
$
—
$
490 549
Intérêts créditeurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
( 56
)
$
( 56
)
Intérêts débiteurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
22 030
$
22 030
Bénéfice ( perte) avant impôts sur le revenu
$
355 990
$
26 304
$
25 311
$
( 21 974
)
$
385 631
Pour le trimestre clos le 28 février 2021
Revenus
$
1 417 865
$
198 474
$
160 717
$
—
$
1 777 056
Marge brute
$
656 015
$
86 341
$
67 160
$
—
$
809 516
Frais de vente et d’ administration
$
372 612
$
60 521
$
49 915
$
—
$
483 048
Intérêts créditeurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
( 87
)
$
( 87
)
Intérêts débiteurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
24 552
$
24 552
Bénéfice ( perte) avant impôts sur le revenu
$
283 403
$
25 820
$
17 245
$
( 24 465
)
$
302 003
Pour la période de neuf mois close le 28 février 2022
Revenus
$
4 596 767
$
614 234
$
568 772
$
—
$
5 779 773
Marge brute
$
2 166 123
$
271 513
$
248 415
$
—
$
2 686 051
Frais de vente et d’ administration
$
1 143 136
$
197 404
$
162 577
$
—
$
1 503 117
Intérêts créditeurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
( 168
)
$
( 168
)
Intérêts débiteurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
65 786
$
65 786
Bénéfice ( perte) avant impôts sur le revenu
$
1 022 987
$
74 109
$
85 838
$
( 65 618
)
$
1 117 316
Pour la période de neuf mois close le 28 février 2021
Revenus
$
4 222 764
$
597 373
$
460 541
$
—
$
5 280 678
Marge brute
$
2 005 691
$
252 042
$
197 868
$
—
$
2 455 601
Frais de vente et d’ administration
$
1 091 651
$
186 189
$
148 715
$
—
$
1 426 555
Intérêts créditeurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
( 369
)
$
( 369
)
Intérêts débiteurs
$
—
$
—
$
—
$
73 659
$
73 659
Bénéfice ( perte) avant impôts sur le revenu
$
914 040
$
65 853
$
49 153
$
( 73 290
)
$
955 756
Cintas Corporation
Bilans consolidés condensés
( En milliers, sauf les données par action)
28 février 2022
31 mai 2021
( non audités)
ACTIFS
Actif à court terme:
Espèces et quasi-espèces
$
84 136
$
493 640
Comptes débiteurs, nets
1 004 632
901 710
Inventaires, nets
486 750
481 797
Uniformes et autres articles de location du service
881 734
810 104
Impôts sur le revenu à court terme
66 047
22 282
Frais prépayés et autres actifs à court terme
163 442
133 776
Total des actifs à court terme
2 686 741
2 843 309
Propriété et équipement, net
1 312 176
1 318 438
Investissements
259 930
274 616
Écart d’ acquisition
3 032 738
2 913 069
Contrats de service, nets
402 366
408 445
Actifs liés aux droits d’ utilisation des contrats de location d’ exploitation, nets
167 995
168 532
Autres actifs, nets
306 654
310 414
$
8 168 600
$
8 236 823
PASSIF ET CAPITAUX PROPRES
Passif à court terme:
Comptes fournisseurs
$
235 051
$
230 786
Rémunération accumulée et passifs connexes
212 481
241 469
Passif à payer
622 797
518 910
Passif de location pour l’ exploitation à court terme
44 105
43 850
Dette due à moins d’ un an
1 509 056
899 070
Total du passif à court terme
2 623 490
1 934 085
Passif à long terme:
Dette due après un an
1 343 513
1 642 833
Impôts différés sur le revenu
430 695
386 647
Passif de location pour l’ exploitation
131 224
130 774
Passif à payer
345 778
454 637
Total du passif à long terme
2 251 210
2 614 891
Capitaux propres:
Actions privilégiées, sans valeur nominale:
—
—
100 000 actions autorisées, aucune en circulation
Action ordinaire, sans valeur nominale, et capital versé:
1 729 525
1 516 202
425 000 000 actions autorisées
Exercice financier 2022: 190 693 424 émises et 102 415 971 en circulation
Exercice financier 2021: 189 071 185 émises et 104 061 391 en circulation
Bénéfices non répartis
8 522 327
7 877 015
Actions rachetées:
( 6 970 099
)
( 5 736 258
)
Exercice financier 2022: 88 277 453 actions
Exercice financier 2021: 85 009 794 actions
Cumul des autres éléments du résultat global
12 147
30 888
Total des capitaux propres
3 293 900
3 687 847
$
8 168 600
$
8 236 823
Cintas Corporation
États des flux de trésorerie consolidés condensés
( non audités)
( En milliers)
Période de neuf mois close le
28 février 2022
28 février 2021
Flux de trésorerie des activités d’ exploitation:
Bénéfice net
$
941 296
$
843 246
Ajustements pour rapprocher le bénéfice net et le flux de trésorerie net provenant des activités d’ exploitation:
Dépréciation
184 464
182 132
Amortissement des actifs incorporels et des coûts de contrat capitalisés
112 859
107 689
Rémunération à base d’ actions
83 687
83 421
Gain sur la transaction de titres mis en équivalence
( 30 151
)
—
Gain sur la vente d’ actifs d’ exploitation
( 12 129
)
( 21 861
)
Impôts différés sur le revenu
42 652
( 36 259
)
Variation de l’ actif et du passif à court terme, nette des acquisitions d’ entreprises:
Comptes débiteurs, nets
( 99 223
)
( 63 178
)
Inventaires, nets
2 311
( 123 678
)
Uniformes et autres articles de location du service
( 77 584
)
( 6 269
)
Frais prépayés et autres actifs à court terme et coûts de contrat capitalisés
( 77 450
)
( 76 971
)
Comptes fournisseurs
6 168
5 113
Rémunération accumulée et passifs connexes
( 28 400
)
97 474
Passif à payer et autre
( 17 717
)
( 1 357
)
Impôts sur le revenu à court terme
( 43 728
)
( 84 687
)
Flux de trésorerie net provenant des activités d’ exploitation
987 055
904 815
Flux de trésorerie d’ activités d’ investissement:
Dépenses d’ immobilisation
( 165 851
)
( 100 410
)
Achat d’ investissements
( 6 024
)
( 7 873
)
Produits de la vente d’ actifs d’ exploitation, nets des liquidités cédées
15 347
32 490
Acquisitions d’ entreprises, nettes des liquidités acquises
( 150 844
)
( 7 570
)
Autres, net
( 8 939
)
( 5 301
)
Flux de trésorerie net utilisé dans les activités d’ investissement
( 316 311
)
( 88 664
)
Flux de trésorerie d’ activités de financement:
Émission de billet de trésorerie, nette
559 210
—
Remboursement de dettes
( 250 000
)
—
Produit de l’ exercice des attributions de rémunération à base d’ actions
117 636
120 049
Dividendes payés
( 276 922
)
( 371 818
)
Rachat d’ actions ordinaires
( 1 221 841
)
( 154 490
)
Autres, net
( 6 657
)
( 3 836
)
Flux de trésorerie net utilisé dans les activités de financement
( 1 078 574
)
( 410 095
)
Effet des variations de taux de change sur la trésorerie et les équivalents de trésorerie
( 1 674
)
2 153
Augmentation ( baisse) nette des espèces et quasi-espèces
( 409 504
)
408 209
Espèces et quasi-espèces en début de période
493 640
145 402
Espèces et quasi-espèces en fin de période
$
84 136
$
553 611 | general |
AHF: Moderna Dodges Shareholders with Virtual AGM | On August 31, 2021 in Cambridge, MA, vaccine equity advocates protest Moderna and its billionaire CEO Stéphane Bancel over the company's unwillingness to share its COVID-19 vaccines and technology with resource-poor countries around the globe. ( Photo: Business Wire)
WASHINGTON -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- As much of the vaccinated world returns to a semblance of normalcy, and in a move dripping with irony, Moderna—makers of one of the most successful preventive COVID-19 vaccines—announced via its proxy statement this week that it will host its 2022 Annual General Meeting virtually.
Moderna’ s AGM is set for Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 8:00 am ET. By hosting the meeting virtually, rather than with shareholders and guests present in person, Moderna strikes another blow against transparency and accountability, effectively shutting down any meaningful public shareholder comment with a likely webinar format completely controlled and manipulated by the company.
AHF asserts that Moderna now joins a rogues ' gallery of private companies and government bodies that are too cowardly or manipulative to face their publics publicly as many other businesses, schools, restaurants, nightclubs and other public spaces have moved to relax COVID restrictions. | general |
Global Workplace Stress Management Market Report 2022: A $ 9.26 Billion Market in 2021 - Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast to 2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Workplace Stress Management Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The global workplace stress management market reached a value of US $ 9.26 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the market to reach a value of US $ 15.19 Billion by 2027 exhibiting a CAGR of 8.20% during 2022-2027.
Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.
Workplace stress refers to the adverse physical and emotional response generated due to prolonged conflicts between the employee and job requirements. It is usually developed by excessive occupational pressure and a low level of individual control over the tasks and performance.
Workplace stress management involves the delivery of various tools and services that aid in minimizing and dealing with the stressors. Organizations conduct stress assessment tests, counseling sessions, resiliency trainings and progress tracking programs and offer services of psychologists, personal fitness trainers and meditation specialists. These programs aid in enhancing overall efficiency, minimizing the loss of productivity and fostering physical and mental wellbeing among the employees.
Workplace Stress Management Market Trends:
The increasing prevalence of various mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety and chronic fatigue, among the masses is one of the key factors driving the growth of the market. Moreover, rising awareness regarding employee wellbeing is providing a thrust to the market growth.
Organizations are widely adopting systematic approaches for identifying and assessing situations and triggers that can cause stress in the employees. Workplace stress management programs also aid in improving the attendance levels, management styles and internal communications.
In line with this, the onset of the coronavirus ( Covid-19) pandemic has further enhanced the requirement for effective workplace stress management solutions to address the psychological challenges experienced by the employees working from home. The pandemic has also led to significant financial and personal loss, which has severely impacted the mental health of the individuals.
Additionally, the widespread adoption of digital and online self-assessment tests is creating a positive outlook for the market. Other factors, including rising health consciousness among the masses, along with the implementation of favorable government policies to promote occupational safety and health ( OSH) are anticipated to drive the market toward growth.
Key Questions Answered in This Report:
Competitive Landscape:
The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being
Key Market Segmentation:
Breakup by Service:
Breakup by Delivery Mode: | general |
Ipsen Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for Cabometyx® in Radioactive Iodine-refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer | Disclaimer: Intended for international media and investor audiences only
PARIS -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Regulatory News:
Ipsen ( Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY) today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use ( CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency ( EMA) have recommended approval of Cabometyx as a monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma ( DTC), refractory or not eligible to radioactive iodine who have progressed during or after prior systemic therapy.
Jaume Capdevila, M.D. PhD Medical Oncologist at the Vall d´Hebron University Hospital and Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology ( VHIO), Barcelona, and a trial investigator, said “ Currently, for people living with radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer, there are no standard-of-care treatment options should the cancer progress after first-line therapy. As a practicing physician regularly seeing people living with this uncommon form of cancer, I am encouraged to see the potential Cabometyx may bring for these patients with so few options. ”
The CHMP positive opinion was based on results from the pivotal COSMIC-311 Phase III trial in which, at a planned interim analysis with a median follow-up of 6.2 months, Cabometyx demonstrated a significant reduction in the risk of disease progression or death by 78% versus placebo ( hazard ratio [ HR ]: 0.22; 96% confidence interval [ CI ]: 0.13-0.36; p < 0.0001).1 Another primary endpoint, the objective response rate ( ORR), also favoured Cabometyx with 15% vs. 0% for placebo ( p=0.028) at a median follow-up of 8.9 months, but did not meet the criteria for statistical significance. A further analysis, with a median follow-up of 10.1 months, was presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology ( ESMO) Virtual Congress 2021, whereby Cabometyx continued to demonstrate superior median progression-free survival of 11.0 versus 1.9 months and a maintained reduction in the risk of disease progression or death of 78% versus placebo ( HR: 0.22, 96% confidence interval [ CI ]: 0.15-0.32; p < 0.0001).2 The safety profile identified in the COSMIC-311 trial across the two analyses was consistent with that previously observed for Cabometyx, and adverse events were managed with dose modifications.1,2
Steven Hildemann, M.D. PhD, Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Head of Global Medical Affairs and Global Patient Safety at Ipsen, said “ With the promising interim results from the COSMIC-311 trial further reinforced by the maintained significant progression-free survival benefit demonstrated in the final analysis, we are pleased that the CHMP has concluded that Cabometyx may offer an important treatment option for people affected by this uncommon cancer. Following this positive opinion, we look forward to receiving the final decision from the European Commission, potentially bringing Cabometyx one step closer to reaching a patient population in critical need of new treatment options. ”
This positive CHMP opinion follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’ s approval in September 2021 of Cabometyx for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with locally advanced or metastatic DTC that has progressed following prior vascular endothelial growth factor receptor targeted therapy and who are radioactive iodine-refractory or ineligible.
About radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer ( RAI-R DTC)
In 2020, over 580,000 new cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed worldwide.3 Thyroid cancer is the ninth most commonly occurring cancer globally and incidence is three times higher in women than in men, with the disease representing one in every 20 cancers diagnosed among women.3 While cancerous thyroid tumors include differentiated, medullary and anaplastic forms, differentiated thyroid cancer ( DTC) makes up about 90 to 95% of cases.5,6 These include papillary, follicular and Hürthle cell cancer.5,6 DTC is typically treated with surgery, followed by ablation of the remaining thyroid tissue with radioactive iodine ( RAI), but approximately 5 to 15% of cases are resistant to RAI treatment.7 Patients who develop RAI-R DTC have a poor prognosis with an average estimated survival of three to five years.8
About the COSMIC-311 trial
COSMIC-311 is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial that enrolled 258 patients at 164 sites globally.1,2 Patients were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive either Cabometyx 60 mg or placebo once-daily.1 The primary endpoints were progression-free survival in the intention-to-treat population as well as ORR in the first 100 randomly assigned patients ( objective response rate intention-to-treat [ OITT ] population), both evaluated by a blinded independent radiology committee. Additional endpoints include safety, overall survival and quality of life.1 Exelixis is the sponsor of COSMIC-311, and Ipsen is co-funding the trial. More information about this trial is available at ClinicalTrials.gov.
About Cabometyx ( cabozantinib)
In the U.S., Cabometyx tablets are approved for the treatment of people living with advanced renal cell carcinoma ( RCC); for the treatment of people living with hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC) who have been previously treated with sorafenib; for people living with RAI-R DTC who have been previously treated with VEGFR-targeted therapy; and for patients living with advanced RCC as a first-line treatment in combination with nivolumab. Outside the U.S., Cabometyx is currently approved in 60 countries, including in the European Union, Great Britain, Norway, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Macau, Jordan, Lebanon, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Arabic Emirates ( U.A.E.), Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Israel, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Panama, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Thailand, Malaysia, Colombia and Egypt for the treatment of advanced RCC in adults who have received prior VEGF-targeted therapy; in the European Union, Great Britain, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lebanon, Jordan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Israel, Serbia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Panama, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Thailand, Egypt and Malaysia for previously untreated intermediate- or poor-risk advanced RCC; and in the European Union, Great Britain, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Israel, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Turkey, Lebanon, the U.A.E., Peru, Panama, Guatemala, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Thailand, Brazil, New Zealand, Egypt and Malaysia for HCC in adults who have previously been treated with sorafenib. Cabometyx is also approved in combination with nivolumab as first-line treatment for people living with advanced RCC, in the European Union, Great Britain, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, the U.A.E., Australia, Chile, Israel, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and the Russian Federation.
The detailed recommendations for the use of Cabometyx are described in the Summary of Product Characteristics ( EU SmPC) and in the U.S. Prescribing Information ( USPI).
Ipsen has exclusive rights for the commercialization of Cabometyx outside the U.S. and Japan. Cabometyx is marketed by Exelixis, inc. in the U.S. and by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in Japan. Cabometyx is a registered trademark of Exelixis, inc.
About Ipsen
Ipsen is a global mid-size biopharmaceutical company with a focus on transformative medicines in Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. Ipsen also has a well-established Consumer Healthcare business. With total sales over €2.5 billion in 2020, Ipsen sells more than 20 drugs in over 115 countries, with a direct commercial presence in more than 30 countries. Ipsen’ s R & D is focused on its innovative and differentiated technological platforms located in the heart of the leading biotechnological and life sciences hubs ( Paris-Saclay, France; Oxford, UK; Cambridge, US; Shanghai, China). The Group has about 5,700 employees worldwide. Ipsen is listed in Paris ( Euronext: IPN) and in the United States through a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program ( ADR: IPSEY). For more information on Ipsen, visit www.ipsen.com.
Ipsen’ s Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements, objectives and targets contained herein are based on Ipsen’ s management strategy, current views and assumptions. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. All of the above risks could affect Ipsen’ s future ability to achieve its financial targets, which were set assuming reasonable macroeconomic conditions based on the information available today. Use of the words `` believes '', `` anticipates '' and `` expects '' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including Ipsen’ s expectations regarding future events, including regulatory filings and determinations. Moreover, the targets described in this document were prepared without taking into account external growth assumptions and potential future acquisitions, which may alter these parameters. These objectives are based on data and assumptions regarded as reasonable by Ipsen. These targets depend on conditions or facts likely to happen in the future, and not exclusively on historical data. Actual results may depart significantly from these targets given the occurrence of certain risks and uncertainties, notably the fact that a promising product in early development phase or clinical trial may end up never being launched on the market or reaching its commercial targets, notably for regulatory or competition reasons and also taking into consideration assessment delays of certain clinical trials in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Ipsen must face or might face competition from generic products that might translate into a loss of market share. Furthermore, the Research and Development process involves several stages each of which involves the substantial risk that Ipsen may fail to achieve its objectives and be forced to abandon its efforts with regards to a product in which it has invested significant sums. Therefore, Ipsen can not be certain that favorable results obtained during preclinical trials will be confirmed subsequently during clinical trials, or that the results of clinical trials will be sufficient to demonstrate the safe and effective nature of the product concerned. There can be no guarantees a product will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that the product will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation; global trends toward health care cost containment; technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new product development, including obtaining regulatory approval; Ipsen’ s ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of Ipsen’ s patents and other protections for innovative products; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. Ipsen also depends on third parties to develop and market some of its products which could potentially generate substantial royalties; these partners could behave in such ways which could cause damage to Ipsen’ s activities and financial results. Ipsen can not be certain that its partners will fulfil their obligations. It might be unable to obtain any benefit from those agreements. A default by any of Ipsen’ s partners could generate lower revenues than expected. Such situations could have a negative impact on Ipsen’ s business, financial position or performance. Ipsen expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this press release to reflect any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless so required by applicable law. Ipsen’ s business is subject to the risk factors outlined in its registration documents filed with the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The risks and uncertainties set out are not exhaustive and the reader is advised to refer to the Ipsen’ s 2020 Universal Registration Document, available on ipsen.com.
References
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Adrien Dupin de Saint-Cyr Investor Relations Manager +33 6 64 26 17 49
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Contacts | general |
EY collaborates with Infosys to accelerate digital transformation for organizations | EY announced a new global alliance with Infosys to support organizations in their end-to-end business transformation and growth.
The alliance takes the current successful relationship of teaming and go-to-market efforts between EY and Infosys forward to effectively deliver tech-enabled transformation ( TET) programs.
The EY Transformation Realized Framework is an approach to business change, centered on helping clients realize their business transformation goals through the power of people, technology and innovation.
The EY-Infosys Alliance combines EY functional and industry-specific consulting services with Infosys technology assets and platforms to form a compelling vision to get organizations future-ready. This approach leverages sector-specific platforms and solutions through emerging technologies such as cloud, internet of things ( IoT), blockchain and artificial intelligence ( AI). The Alliance applies to TET programs such as business integration, systems integration and post-implementation guidance and support.
The two organizations will collaborate on helping drive client value by leveraging technology assets and services. The Alliance will focus on building services around Infosys’ sector-specific platforms, co-developing solutions around Infosys’ existing cloud assets and solutions, and co-creating new assets and solutions to address emerging opportunities and challenges that are top-of-mind for boards and the C-suite.
Andy Baldwin, EY Global Managing Partner – Client Service and Executive Sponsor of the EY-Infosys Alliance, says: “ The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organizations to accelerate the pace of their digital transformation to meet changing customer and market demands. They need to leap-frog from their current legacy business to new models enabled by cloud and powered by disruptive technologies.
“ To achieve this, they will need to draw on a diverse set of external skills and expertise from across the vendor ecosystem. The EY-Infosys Alliance is designed and positioned to help businesses explore the impact of digital on their strategy, products, services, customers and employees, and assist to unlock maximum value to gain competitive advantage. Through the Alliance, businesses can rapidly leverage the complementary skills of EY and Infosys to navigate their own digital transformation journey to effectively build a better working world. ”
Mohit Joshi, President, Infosys, says: “ Enterprises globally are investing in becoming ‘ digital-ready’ organizations today to stay relevant and competitive. Digital technology has evolved, and its significant impact can be seen in most industries. There is now an increasing need for organizations to embrace digital technology than ever before, and we are delighted to collaborate with EY on this journey to enhance client value and help clients mitigate challenges that come with legacy transition. ”
I have read and agree to the terms & conditions | tech |
U.S. pending home sales approach two-year low; consumer sentiment slumps | The National Association of Realtors ( NAR) said on Friday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, fell 4.1% last month to 104.9, the lowest level since May 2020. It was the fourth straight monthly decline in the index, which leads sales by a month or two.
Pending home sales declined in the South, Midwest and West, but rose in the Northeast. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts rebounding 1.0%. Pending home sales decreased 5.4% in February on a year-on-year basis.
`` A lack of supply that is showing few signs of easing is boosting prices and impacting affordability, '' said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York. `` Further increases in mortgage rates as the Fed hikes and starts balance sheet reduction will be an additional constraint for sales going forward. ''
Sales of previously owned homes tumbled in February, but remained above their pre-pandemic level. The inventory of used houses is at record lows. Shortages and expensive building materials have made it harder for builders to ramp up construction, leading to double-digit growth in houses prices.
Mortgage rates surged in February and have continued to push higher after the Federal Reserve last week raised its policy interest rate by 25 basis points, the first hike in more than three years. They are likely to continue accelerating as Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Monday said the U.S. central bank must move `` expeditiously '' to raise rates and possibly `` more aggressively '' to keep high inflation from becoming entrenched.
The 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.42% this week, the highest since January 2019, from 4.16% in the prior week, data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac showed on Thursday.
According to the NAR, higher mortgage rates and sustained house price inflation had resulted in a 28% year-over-year jump in mortgage payments as of February.
U.S. stocks were mostly higher. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices fell.
GASOLINE PRICES STABILIZING
Other data on Friday confirmed that consumer sentiment wobbled in March as gasoline prices surged to a record high in the wake of Russia's war against Ukraine, lifting one-year inflation expectations to the highest level since 1981.
The University of Michigan's final consumer sentiment index dropped to 59.4 in March, the lowest reading since August 2011. It was slightly revised down from the preliminary reading of 59.7 earlier in the month. The index was at 62.8 in February and it has now declined for three straight months.
Some economists viewed the modest revision from early this month as a sign that the worst was over and than ebb in sentiment could be coming to an end.
The survey places more emphasis on gasoline prices and the stock market. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index, which puts more weight on the labor market, remains well above its COVID-19 pandemic lows.
Gasoline prices appear to be stabilizing after setting a record high of $ 4.331 per gallon on March 11. Prices averaged $ 4.243 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA.
Economists maintained that the continued slump in the University of Michigan's sentiment index was overdone relative to fundamentals and they expected the economy to continue growing. First-time applications for unemployment benefits are at a 52-1/2-year low and wages are rising at a strong clip.
There were 11.3 million job openings at the end of January. Consumers have accumulated more than $ 2 trillion in excess savings, which should help to cushion the blow from high inflation. The share of consumers planning to buy motor vehicles increased compared to February, while intentions to purchase major household items rose modestly. Home buying plans fell.
`` The continuing weakness in confidence does not warrant any immediate change to our near-term forecast for consumer spending as the relationship between spending and sentiment is loose, '' said Scott Hoyt, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Consumers ' inflation expectations were unchanged from earlier this month. The survey's one-year inflation expectations jumped to 5.4%, the highest since November 1981, from 4.9% in February. Its five-year inflation expectations held steady at 3.0% for a second straight month.
( Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
By Lucia Mutikani | business |
China's Bank of Communications boss warns of tough year ahead | `` This year has been the most complex year in my nearly 30 years in this business, '' bank president Liu Jun told a news conference following BoCom's annual results.
Liu cited challenges including the resurgence of COVID in China, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its impact on supply issues, inflation and other domestic difficulties.
COVID is currently spreading in a number of China's largest cities, such as Shanghai and Shenzhen, leading to partial lockdowns of airports, districts and inter-province travel.
Other difficulties the country is facing include a crackdown on the property sector, which has led to near-defaults by a number of developers.
The bank reported a full-year profit rise of 11.9% on Friday, beating estimates.
China's sixth largest commercial bank by assets reported a full year net profit of 87.6 billion yuan, above an average estimate of 83.1 billion from 18 analysts polled by Refinitiv.
The non-performing loan ratio at BoCom was 1.48% by the year-end, compared to 1.6% three months ago, while the net interest margin ( NIM), a gauge of bank profitability, stood at 1.56%, compared to 1.55% by the end of September, the bank said in an exchange filing.
The bad loan ratio at large commercial banks fell to 1.37% by the end of December, the lowest since the third quarter in 2019, while NIM steadied at 2.04%, data from the banking and insurance regulator showed.
The commercial banks made a total of 2.2 trillion yuan net profits in 2021, a 12.6% increase from 2020, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
BoCom reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 23.2 billion yuan ( $ 3.65 billion), a 9.2% drop from 25.6 billion a year earlier, Reuters calculations showed.
( $ 1 = 6.3633 Chinese yuan renminbi)
( Reporting by Zhang Yan, Engen Tham; editing by Jason Neely an Barbara Lewis)
By Zoey Zhang and Engen Tham | business |
China to spend $ 150 billion to boost chip manufacturing | The Chinese government is dedicatedly supporting the chip industry.
If you're interested in technology and electronics, you 've heard about the ongoing global chip shortage. For several years, it's been influencing several industries — from automakers to consumer electronics. The Covid-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have worsened the situation.
Countries like the U.S. and China are investing considerable sums in producing more semiconductors to overcome this shortage. To close the gap between itself and Europe and the U.S., the Chinese government has been spending over $ 150 billion by 2030 to jumpstart the production of semiconductors.
Producing 36 percent of the world's electronics, China is the world's largest chip manufacturer, demonstrating the country's superiority in the global electronics supply chain. Additionally, it is the second-largest consumption market, after the U.S., for electronic devices that contain semiconductors.
Keeping up with the industry's development requires a sophisticated technology that Mainland China's leading chipmaker develops: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp ( SMIC). But even as the world's fifth-largest chipmaker, SMIC has great difficulty meeting the demand amid the semiconductor shortage.
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Despite China's dominance in manufacturing electronics, its collective chip output is not enough to meet the country's requirements. For now, it has only 7.6 percent of total global semiconductor sales, but the number is increasing due to the government's plan to scale its chip production.
China's semiconductor supply chain falls behind in advanced logic foundry production, EDA tools, semiconductor materials, chip design IP, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. It is presently more limited to older technologies.
Chinese firms made up 16 percent of the global fabless semiconductor market in 2020, putting it third after the U.S. and Taiwan. Chinese chip firms predominantly sell discrete semiconductors, lower-end logic chips, and analog chips. But whatever type of chips are being produced, industry insiders expect the U.S. and Europe to always be dependent on Asia for their materials, primarily due to the global difficulties of providing supplies.
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By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. | tech |
Insurtechs still attracting investors as sector evolves | Funding for technology companies focused on the insurance industry will likely be robust this year and into 2022 as so-called insurtech companies mature, according to a recent report and other industry sources. Although insurtech investments slowed after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, recent examples of successful public capital raising and acquisitions by traditional insurers could encourage more deals, they say. Insurance-related technology startups “ will still be able to secure the large amounts of financing required … given funding trends through the first nine months of 2020, ” S & P Global Inc. said in a report on the sector released last week. “ Funding for private U.S. insurtech companies declined dramatically in April, amid the early stages of the pandemic, but both the value and volume of transactions rebounded in subsequent months, ” the report said. Insurtechs formed about five years ago may be primed for an initial public offering or other transaction, the report said. S & P sees the active funding environment extending into 2022, according to the report’ s author, Thomas Mason, senior research analyst for S & P Global in Charlottesville, Virginia. The stage of the companies’ maturity is more of a factor in their ability to attract resources than the part of the insurance industry in which they participate, he said. “ It seems like the 2015-2016 vintage of companies — if you were formed in these years and grew really quickly, regardless of what type of company you are — those are the IPO and M & A candidates at this point, ” Mr. Mason said. Several technology companies in the insurance sector had successful IPOs over the past years. Duck Creek Technologies Inc. CEO Mike Jackowski said the company’ s successful IPO in August, which raised more than $ 400 million, provided the software as a service provider with greater visibility in the marketplace and allows it to make investments. Duck Creek’ s stock jumped more than 50% from its offering price of $ 27 per share on its first day of trading. Personal lines insurers Lemonade Inc. and Root Inc., which both went public in 2020, are prospering, said Martha Notaras, managing partner at Brewer Lane Management LLC in Los Angeles. “ Those companies are really impressing people with their growth. ” Lemonade reported $ 73.9 million in total revenue in the first nine months of 2020 compared with $ 43.8 million in the same period in 2019, according to its most recent earnings report. Root reported $ 295.9 million in total revenue for the first nine months of 2020, compared with $ 183.7 million in the year-earlier period. Mr. Mason of S & P Global said the current low interest rate environment also encourages insurtech funding. “ Low interest rates are a catalyst for venture capital investments seeking higher yields, ” he said. The acquisition of insurtechs by established insurance industry companies is also fueling sector growth. Most recently, American Family Insurance Mutual Holding Co. last week bought online insurance exchange and technology company Bold Penguin Inc. In November 2020, broker Brown & Brown Inc. acquired CoverHound Inc., a digital insurance marketplace, and its wholly owned subsidiary CyberPolicy. In January 2020, Aon PLC bought CoverWallet, a digital insurance platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
Funding for technology companies focused on the insurance industry will likely be robust this year and into 2022 as so-called insurtech companies mature, according to a recent report and other industry sources.
Although insurtech investments slowed after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, recent examples of successful public capital raising and acquisitions by traditional insurers could encourage more deals, they say.
Insurance-related technology startups “ will still be able to secure the large amounts of financing required … given funding trends through the first nine months of 2020, ” S & P Global Inc. said in a report on the sector released last week.
“ Funding for private U.S. insurtech companies declined dramatically in April, amid the early stages of the pandemic, but both the value and volume of transactions rebounded in subsequent months, ” the report said.
Insurtechs formed about five years ago may be primed for an initial public offering or other transaction, the report said.
S & P sees the active funding environment extending into 2022, according to the report’ s author, Thomas Mason, senior research analyst for S & P Global in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The stage of the companies’ maturity is more of a factor in their ability to attract resources than the part of the insurance industry in which they participate, he said.
“ It seems like the 2015-2016 vintage of companies — if you were formed in these years and grew really quickly, regardless of what type of company you are — those are the IPO and M & A candidates at this point, ” Mr. Mason said.
Several technology companies in the insurance sector had successful IPOs over the past years.
Duck Creek Technologies Inc. CEO Mike Jackowski said the company’ s successful IPO in August, which raised more than $ 400 million, provided the software as a service provider with greater visibility in the marketplace and allows it to make investments. Duck Creek’ s stock jumped more than 50% from its offering price of $ 27 per share on its first day of trading.
Personal lines insurers Lemonade Inc. and Root Inc., which both went public in 2020, are prospering, said Martha Notaras, managing partner at Brewer Lane Management LLC in Los Angeles. “ Those companies are really impressing people with their growth. ”
Lemonade reported $ 73.9 million in total revenue in the first nine months of 2020 compared with $ 43.8 million in the same period in 2019, according to its most recent earnings report.
Root reported $ 295.9 million in total revenue for the first nine months of 2020, compared with $ 183.7 million in the year-earlier period.
Mr. Mason of S & P Global said the current low interest rate environment also encourages insurtech funding. “ Low interest rates are a catalyst for venture capital investments seeking higher yields, ” he said.
The acquisition of insurtechs by established insurance industry companies is also fueling sector growth.
Most recently, American Family Insurance Mutual Holding Co. last week bought online insurance exchange and technology company Bold Penguin Inc.
In November 2020, broker Brown & Brown Inc. acquired CoverHound Inc., a digital insurance marketplace, and its wholly owned subsidiary CyberPolicy. In January 2020, Aon PLC bought CoverWallet, a digital insurance platform for small and medium-sized businesses. | general |
Insights on the Subsea Systems Global Market to 2026 - Emphasis on Migration from Onshore to Offshore Operations to Augment Long-Term Growth Prospects - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Subsea Systems - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Subsea Systems estimated at US $ 11.4 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US $ 14.1 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 3.5% over the analysis period.
SURF, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to record a 3.9% CAGR and reach US $ 4.7 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Subsea Trees segment is readjusted to a revised 2.7% CAGR for the next 7-year period.
The U.S. Market is Estimated at $ 1.7 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $ 962.3 Million by 2026
The Subsea Systems market in the U.S. is estimated at US $ 1.7 Billion in the year 2021. China, the world ` s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US $ 962.3 Million by the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 3.8% over the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 2.9% and 3.1% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 2.3% CAGR.
Subsea Control Systems Segment to Reach $ 1.3 Billion by 2026
In the global Subsea Control Systems segment, USA, Canada, Japan, China and Europe will drive the 2% CAGR estimated for this segment. These regional markets accounting for a combined market size of US $ 633.9 Million in the year 2020 will reach a projected size of US $ 727.6 Million by the close of the analysis period. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Australia, India, and South Korea, the market in Asia-Pacific is forecast to reach US $ 77.2 Million by the year 2026.
Select Competitors ( Total 36 Featured) -
Key Topics Covered:
I. METHODOLOGY
II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. MARKET OVERVIEW
2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS
3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS | general |
COVID-19 tracker: Tokyo confirms 7,289 new cases as downward trend continues | Tokyo confirmed 7,289 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, with the daily count dropping by 536 from the week before.
The seven-day average of new cases in the capital fell to 6,275.4 from 8,067.7 a week earlier.
The number of severely ill COVID-19 patients under the metropolitan government’ s criteria dropped by three from Thursday to 38, while 11 deaths were reported among those infected.
Elsewhere, Aichi Prefecture logged 2,719 cases and five deaths, Hokkaido saw 2,138 cases and four deaths and Hyogo Prefecture marked 2,025 cases and five deaths.
The health ministry said Friday that the number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms nationwide dropped by 158 from Thursday to 733.
On Thursday, 49,930 new cases were confirmed across the country, a decrease of about 3,600 from a week earlier, while 126 new deaths linked to COVID-19 were reported. | tech |
Global Military Embedded Systems Market to 2026 - Soldier Modernization Initiatives Augur Well for Market Growth - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Military Embedded Systems - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Military Embedded Systems estimated at US $ 100.5 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US $ 161.6 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 8.3% over the analysis period.
Hardware, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 7.8% CAGR to reach US $ 111.3 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Software segment is readjusted to a revised 9.1% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 34.7% share of the global Military Embedded Systems market.
The U.S. Market is Estimated at $ 44.3 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $ 21.1 Million by 2026
The Military Embedded Systems market in the U.S. is estimated at US $ 44.3 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 41.65% share in the global market. China, the world second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US $ 21.1 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 10.4% through the analysis period. Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 6.9% and 7.3% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 7.2% CAGR while Rest of European market ( as defined in the study) will reach US $ 23.4 Billion by the close of the analysis period.
Select Competitors ( Total 47 Featured) -
Key Topics Covered:
I. METHODOLOGY
II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. MARKET OVERVIEW
2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS
3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS | general |
Insights on the Bronchitis Treatment Global Market to 2027 - Advances in COPD Therapies Such as Combination Therapies and Small Cell Therapy Presents Opportunities - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Bronchitis Treatment Market Research Report by Type, by Treatment, by Class of Drugs, by End User, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Bronchitis Treatment Market size was estimated at USD 5,574.97 million in 2020, is expected to reach USD 5,921.89 million in 2021, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.58% to reach USD 8,714.13 million by 2027.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Bronchitis Treatment Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Bronchitis Treatment Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market Research Report to 2027 - by Mechanism of Action, Type of Disease, Drug Class and Region - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market Research Report by Mechanism of Action, by Type of Disease, by Drug Class, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market size was estimated at USD 17.19 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 18.12 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 5.83% to reach USD 25.56 billion by 2027.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Hypercholesterolemia Drug Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
The Worldwide Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Industry is Expected to Reach $ 11.9 Billion by 2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market Research Report by Drug Class, by Distribution Channel, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market size was estimated at USD 7,626.65 million in 2020, is expected to reach USD 8,105.84 million in 2021, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.64% to reach USD 11,968.30 million by 2027.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome Treatment Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
CORRECTING and REPLACING Female and Millennial Patients Most Likely to Worry about Provider Perceptions, New Research Finds | Survey commissioned by athenahealth reveals significant COVID-19 impact on these two demographics, including avoiding the healthcare system to prevent exposure
WATERTOWN, Mass. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.
The updated release reads:
FEMALE AND MILLENNIAL PATIENTS MOST LIKELY TO WORRY ABOUT PROVIDER PERCEPTIONS, NEW RESEARCH FINDS
Survey commissioned by athenahealth reveals significant COVID-19 impact on these two demographics, including avoiding the healthcare system to prevent exposure
athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide, today announced survey results that show stark differences in healthcare experiences, perceptions, and actions across gender and age demographics, particularly for women and millennials. The research, commissioned by athenahealth, found that more than half of female respondents of all ages ( 55%) and millennial respondents ( 61%), defined as Americans born between 1981-1996, report they have interacted with a provider who they felt did not take their health concerns seriously. Furthermore, a similar number of women ( 54%) and millennials ( 67%) surveyed say they have had health concerns they did not bring up to their doctor due to fear of appearing anxious, dramatic, or silly. In both cases, these were the highest percentages of all age and gender groups.
In addition, female and millennial respondents are the most likely to report mental and physical effects from the pandemic, according to the survey. More specifically:
Despite having the largest reported increases in mental and physical health concerns, these two populations were most likely ( 58% for women; 65% for millennials) to avoid visiting a healthcare provider to prevent possible exposure to COVID-19. This was the case both when the pandemic started in 2020 and remains true for many respondents two years later. With stress linked to heart problems and heart disease being the leading cause of death in women, skipped healthcare interactions are worrisome. Data from athenahealth’ s network shows that among patients with a pre-pandemic ( 2019) cardiology visit, 61% of male patients had a follow-up visit during the pandemic ( 2020 or 2021), compared to 56% of female patients. Men were also more likely than women to have visits in both 2020 and 2021.
“ This follow-up appointment data is atypical, as men typically go to the doctor less than women and skip more screenings. However, women have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, which has resulted in much of this demographic putting their own health on the backburner, ” said Jessica Sweeney-Platt, vice president of research and editorial strategy at athenahealth. “ This is likely attributed to increased childcare and eldercare responsibilities, further shifting focus away from themselves. ”
Sweeney-Platt added: “ It’ s critical for the healthcare industry to increase intervention with the patient populations most likely to skip care now to avoid a wave of costly healthcare outcomes in the future as a result of late-stage diagnoses and a lack of care management. ”
The survey data surrounding cardiology visits supports athenahealth’ s own network data findings. Among survey respondents, 42% of women with a reported heart condition have skipped some or all of their recommended appointments since their diagnosis, compared to only 36% of their male counterparts. To read more about both the survey and athenahealth network findings, please visit here. | general |
Belgium Construction Industry Report 2021: Industry Rebounded in Q1, 2021 by Registering 5.3% Growth YoY - Trends and Opportunities Forecast to 2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Belgium - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( H2 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Belgian construction industry was impacted in 2020, due to the disruptions caused by the Coronavirus ( COVID-19) outbreak and the subsequent lockdown measures. The industry contracted by 4.8% in real terms last year, following growth of 4.2% in 2019.
However, the industry rebounded in the first quarter of 2021 by registering 5.3% growth year on year ( YoY) in Q1 2021 - following four consecutive quarters of contraction - as the government removed major lockdown restrictions across the country. The stronger-than-expected growth in Q1 2021 was supported by significant investments in the housing sector.
Moreover, construction activity is expected to accelerate in the next few quarters, supported by higher public spending in infrastructure and clean energy projects, while an improving external environment will boost business confidence in the short term.
The publisher expects the country's construction industry to grow by 4.9% in 2021 and record an average growth of 2.4% between 2022 and 2025. The industry's output will be supported by improving investor confidence and investments in transport, renewable energy, residential and commercial infrastructure projects.
In June 2021, the European Commission adopted a positive assessment of Belgium's recovery and resilience plan by disbursing EUR5.9 billion ( US $ 5.9 billion) in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility ( RRF) and EUR2.9 billion ( US $ 3.4 billion) under the Cohesion policy. The industry's output will also be supported by the government measures to contain the impact of the outbreak on the manufacturing sector, as well as support for businesses to cope with the outbreak by providing guarantees on loans.
This report provides detailed market analysis, information, and insights into the Belgian construction industry, including:
Scope
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
Bulgaria Construction Market Trends and Opportunities Report 2021-2025: Bulgaria will Receive $ 11.9 Billion Under the EU's Cohesion Policy 2021-2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Bulgaria - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( H2 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Prior to the Coronavirus ( COVID-19) outbreak, the Bulgarian construction industry expanded by 3.6% in 2019 in real terms, and an annual average of 3.2% over 2017-2019. However, the industry was affected by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent containment measures, particularly in the second half of 2020.
The industry contracted sharply in Q1 2021, with value add falling by 12.6% year on year ( YoY) in the first quarter of 2021, according to the National Statistical Institute ( NSI); this was preceded by year-on-year ( Y-o-Y) growth of 1.7% in Q4, 0.7% in Q3 and a contraction of 7.4% in Q2 2020.
However, despite the weak start in the first quarter of the year, the construction industry is forecasted to recover in 2021, with growth of 1.2%. The government is aiming to increase its spending on the overall infrastructure sector, including in the energy and utilities sector, in order to stimulate the economy.
The government's target to increase the installed capacity for renewable generation in line with the EU's target of 32% by 2030 will facilitate investments in that sector, while the EU's investment on the country's railway infrastructure, during the period 2021-2027, will support the infrastructure sector's output in the coming years.
Over the remainder of the forecast period, the industry is expected to grow at an annual average rate of 4.1% between 2022-2025. The industry's output will be supported by investments in the infrastructure construction sector. In July 2020, the European Union ( EU) announced an economic recovery package worth BGN59 billion ( US $ 33.2 billion) for Bulgaria under the bloc's long-term budget for the period of 2021-2027.
The country will also receive BGN19.7 billion ( US $ 11.9 billion) under the EU's cohesion policy 2021-2027.
the publisher's Construction in Bulgaria - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( H2 2021) report provides detailed market analysis, information, and insights into the Bulgarian construction industry, including:
Scope
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the construction industry in Bulgaria. It provides:
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
DAILY DRIVE PODCAST: March 25, 2022 | Executive Editor Jamie Butters gives you the top headlines and talks about the fallout within Canadian union Unifor following the sudden retirement of former President Jerry Dias, accused of taking money from a COVID test supplier, with Automotive News Canada Toronto Bureau Chief David Kennedy. | general |
Ad Council ‘ It’ s Up To You’ COVID-19 Campaign Successfully Drove Intent To Get Vaccinated Via Programmatic OOH | Vistar Media, the leading global provider of programmatic technology for digital out-of-home ( DOOH), announced that its DOOH activation for the Ad Council “ It’ s Up To You ” COVID-19 vaccination education campaign drove a 6% lift in intent to get vaccinated, and a 22% lift in consideration of seeking out information about COVID-19 vaccines within the next month.
The Ad Council also saw a 64% increase in consumer awareness of the DOOH campaign messaging; significantly, intent to get vaccinated among those with very high vaccine hesitancy rose by 29%. The campaign, which ran via Vistar in late 2021, was placed in target zip codes based on very high, high, and medium vaccine hesitancy across a variety of DOOH venues categories: entertainment ( bars, casual dining, hotels, movie theaters, etc.), outdoor ( billboards and urban panels), retail ( convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, malls, pharmacies, etc.), transit ( taxi tops, train stations, subways and bus shelters) and other ( schools, gyms, salons, offices, apartment buildings, etc.).
“ Given this campaign had such a heavy geotargeting element, being able to extend our reach in key areas using Vistar’ s digital OOH platform was instrumental to the success of this campaign and encouraging people to seek more information about the COVID-19 vaccine. ” Liz DeAngelis VP, Media
“ Out-of-home is a media that is uniquely part of our communities and our daily lives out in the physical world, making it an ideal medium to deliver the critical call for everyone to get vaccinated, ” said Dave Rivera, Head of Channel Partnerships at Vistar Media. “ Coupled with the programmatic capabilities OOH has to offer, the Ad Council was able to focus their campaign on the communities with highest vaccine hesitancy and activate compelling messaging seamlessly across a huge array of venues, effectively influencing towards higher vaccine adoption. ” | tech |
Health emergency preparedness and response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learnt from Mongolia - The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific | The COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries differently depending on the resilience of the healthcare system in each country. The pandemic also revealed a lack of health emergency preparedness caused by inadequate healthcare system capacity in many low- and middle-income countries. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the frailty of the healthcare system in Mongolia.
Mongolia's capacity to detect, respond to and recover from emergency health threats remains underdeveloped, and is faced with a COVID-19 pandemic with no functional emergency response structure. Without a National Health Protection Agency backed by the legal framework to support and enable response to public health emergencies – organisations outside of health sector with distinct functions to respond to incidents of natural disasters and accidents led the pandemic response. Hence, Mongolia's response has been marred with problems of improper coordination between relevant ministries, inefficient resource allocation, poor use of human and other resources and a duplication of functions. Accordingly, the pandemic revealed Mongolia's need for a Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, or National Health Protection Agency. Such agencies are essential for building the foundation towards developing a system for health security and public health emergency management.
Regardless, the COVID-19 pandemic improved the country's supply of medical equipment and infrastructure substantially. As of November 2021, there was a 2 – 4-fold increase in the number of PCR machines, X-ray devices, and oxygen beds nationwide, compared to a year before. Similarly, Mongolia quickly enhanced international cooperation in the wake of the pandemic and received significant support from the World Bank, UNICEF, and Governments of Japan and United States to expand vaccination capacity against COVID-19 in the country. As of Jan 24, 2022, 71·8% of Mongolian population have been double vaccinated while 31% have received a booster dose helping reduce hospitalisations and deaths associated with the pandemic.1Dambadarjaa D. Altankhuyag G.E. Chandaga U. et al.Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Mongolia: a web-based cross-sectional survey.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18: 12903Google Scholar The remarkably high vaccination rate was achieved through extensive vaccination campaigns and community engagement,2Bayasgalan T. Anuurad E. Byambaa E. COVID-19 and public health efforts in Mongolia: a lesson maybe learned?.J Clin Transl Sci. 2020; 5 ( 1–2): e18Google Scholar providing infection updates initially through daily press briefings from the Ministry of Health, and currently, via an online portal with daily updates.3Ministry of Health. COVID-19 situation report. 2021. https: //covid19.mohs.mn/p/cat/post/57/. Accessed 27 January, 2022.Google Scholar A further incentive that gave impetus to the vaccination drive was the government initiative involving cash handout to every citizen who received a full dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.4Ministry of Finance. A decision has been made to reward citizens who receive two doses of the vaccine with 50,000MNT. 2021. https: //ikon.mn/n/27ky. Accessed 27 January, 2021.Google Scholar However, the high vaccination rate did not curb infection spread,5Chimeddorj B. Mandakh U. Le L.V. et al.SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Mongolia: Results from a national population survey.Lancet Reg Health Western Pac. 2021; 17100317Google Scholar and pandemic waves are seen to coincide with major policy shifts, political events and national celebrations ( Figure 1).Figure 1Daily new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mongolia.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
With no operative integrated risk management plan in Mongolia, a combination of poorly structured authoritative bodies; decisions inconsistent with public health science; and community engagement approaches that treated the population as passive recipients rather than active participants of health response efforts increased the rates of burnout among healthcare workers, prompting a lack of public trust in the government's ability to handle the pandemic. While it seems compelling that the primary healthcare service and the National Centre for Communicable Diseases provide support for health surveillance, testing and contact tracing, community outreach and vaccine coverage in response to the pandemic; physicians are overburdened and unable to provide essential healthcare. Consequently, healthcare workers are often victims of social attacks and criticisms as a result of public distrust in the healthcare system. Notwithstanding, healthcare workers are forced to work with inadequate remuneration and uncertain legal protections.6Nyamsuren T.S. Jargalsaikhan T. Bayarmaa V. et al.Public perception and behavioural response during COVID-19 pandemic.Coronavirus Infection Research. 2021;: 49-57Google Scholar Although the government has repeatedly provided one-time benefits, a legislative act indicating a threefold increase in base salary for healthcare workers during a pandemic is not enforced. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and implement a comprehensive legal framework for working conditions of healthcare workers during outbreaks, and make provisions to improve their remuneration and capacity to respond during the current pandemic and in future health emergencies.
The most vital component for health emergency response in Mongolia remains increasing government expenditure on health, and prioritising government spending for maintaining real-time data-driven health emergency management systems. Currently, an electronic health surveillance monitor registers and reports confirmed cases and close contacts as soon as they are identified. However, the health surveillance databases are fragmented, thus precluding their use for urgent decision-making. Besides, creating sufficient contingency fund for health emergencies will prevent funds from being diverted from other government programs. As the healthcare system is underfinanced and unable to fully serve COVID-19 patients, government spending on diagnosis and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic have been covered by the Health Insurance Fund, posing serious risks of disrupting essential health services.
Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic presented the most pressing needs for public health emergencies in the country. A policy shift towards those meaningful initiatives will help Mongolia better prepare the health security system, public health emergency preparedness, and response capacities in the country.
AD conceived of the presented idea; BJ, TB, and BL co-developed the ideas for the paper; AD wrote the first draft in consultation with OB, TB, BJ, and BL; AD, BJ, OB reviewed and edited the draft; all authors read and approved the final draft.
We declare no competing interests.
Authors wrote in their personal capacity; the views expressed in this paper are the authors ' and not those of the Government of Mongolia. The authors received no financial support for the paper. | tech |
SARS-CoV-2 co-infection with influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, or adenoviruses | Measures to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 have also been effective in reducing the transmission of other endemic respiratory viruses.1Olsen SJ Azziz-Baumgartner E Budd AP et al.Decreased influenza activity during the COVID-19 pandemic–United States, Australia, Chile, and South Africa, 2020.Am J Transplant. 2020; 20: 3681-3685Google Scholar, 2Gomez GB Mahé C Chaves SS Uncertain effects of the pandemic on respiratory viruses.Science. 2021; 372: 1043-1044Google Scholar As many countries decrease the use of such measures,2Gomez GB Mahé C Chaves SS Uncertain effects of the pandemic on respiratory viruses.Science. 2021; 372: 1043-1044Google Scholar we expect that SARS-CoV-2 will circulate with other respiratory viruses, increasing the probability of co-infections.1Olsen SJ Azziz-Baumgartner E Budd AP et al.Decreased influenza activity during the COVID-19 pandemic–United States, Australia, Chile, and South Africa, 2020.Am J Transplant. 2020; 20: 3681-3685Google Scholar, 3Kawai S Fukushima K Yomota M et al.Number of patients with influenza and COVID-19 coinfection in a single Japanese hospital during the first wave.Jpn J Infect Dis. 2021; 74: 570-572Google Scholar The clinical outcome of respiratory viral co-infections with SARS-CoV-2 is unknown.
We examined clinical outcomes of co-infection with influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, or adenoviruses in 212 466 adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection who were admitted to hospital in the UK between Feb 6, 2020, and Dec 8, 2021, using the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium–WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol.4Dunning JW Merson L Rohde GGU et al.Open source clinical science for emerging infections.Lancet Infect Dis. 2014; 14: 8-9Google Scholar Details on patient recruitment, inclusion criteria, testing, and statistical analyses are included in the appendix ( pp 2–3). Ethical approval was given by the South Central-Oxford C Research Ethics Committee in England ( 13/SC/0149), the Scotland A Research Ethics Committee ( 20/SS/0028), and the WHO Ethics Review Committee ( RPC571 and RPC572, April, 2013).
Tests for respiratory viral co-infections were recorded for 6965 patients with SARS-CoV-2. Viral co-infection was detected in 583 ( 8·4%) patients: 227 patients had influenza viruses, 220 patients had respiratory syncytial virus, and 136 patients had adenoviruses. Co-infection with influenaza viruses was associated with increased odds of receiving invasive mechanical ventilation compared with SARS-CoV-2 monoinfection ( table). SARS-CoV-2 co-infections with influenza viruses and adenoviruses were each significantly associated with increased odds of death.TableMultivariable model of the effect of co-infection compared with SARS-CoV-2 monoinfectionUnweightedWeightedOR ( 95% CI) p valueOR ( 95% CI) p valueInvasive mechanical ventilationAdenovirus1·22 ( 0·72–1·99) 0·440·64 ( 0·18–1·68) 0·42Influenza virus1·68 ( 1·14–2·45) 0·00734·14 ( 2·00–8·49) 0·0001Respiratory syncytial virus1·05 ( 0·68–1·59) 0·820·78 ( 0·15–2·70) 0·73In-hospital mortalityAdenovirus1·60 ( 1·03–2·44) 0·0331·53 ( 0·67–3·33) 0·29Influenza virus1·49 ( 1·04–2·12) 0·0272·35 ( 1·07–5·12) 0·031Respiratory syncytial virus1·20 ( 0·84–1·72) 0·310·60 ( 0·69–2·10) 0·47Model is adjusted for the following confounders: age, sex, number of comorbidities, treatment with corticosteroids, days since the start of the pandemic, co-infection, and 4C Mortality Score. OR=odds ratio. Open table in a new tab
Model is adjusted for the following confounders: age, sex, number of comorbidities, treatment with corticosteroids, days since the start of the pandemic, co-infection, and 4C Mortality Score. OR=odds ratio.
To extrapolate these results from the tested population to a representative hospitalised population, we accounted for differences between tested and non-tested patients using inverse probability weighting ( table). In this weighted multivariable regression analysis, influenza virus co-infection significantly increased the odds of receiving invasive mechanical ventilation and the odds of in-hospital mortality.
This study had several strengths. First, it is the largest study of people with COVID-19 undergoing additional testing for endemic respiratory viruses, reporting 583 confirmed co-infections and 6382 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 monoinfections. Second, we recruited patients over an 18-month duration. Finally, we report outcome data for most patients.
The study also has a few limitations. A risk of selection bias exists because tested patients differed from untested patients, particularly in severity of illness: being more unwell increased the probability of testing for co-infections ( appendix p 4). After correction for these and other differences with inverse probability weighting analysis, influenza virus co-infection remained associated with receipt of invasive mechanical ventilation, with an odds ratio that was larger than in the unweighted analysis but with wider confidence intervals. As in the unweighted analysis, SARS-CoV-2 co-infection with respiratory syncytial virus or adenoviruses was not significantly associated with receipt of invasive mechanical ventilation. Furthermore, adenoviruses and respiratory syncytial virus co-infections did not have the same effect on the receipt of invasive mechanical ventilation as did influenza virus co-infection, making it unlikely that this association is limited to the tested population rather than the hospital population. A similar result was seen in the weighted multivariable regression analysis with in-hospital mortality as the outcome variable, with a larger odds ratio in the weighted analysis than in the unweighted analysis. The case report form used for data collection did not collect the date of testing for additional viruses, and testing would probably have been done after admission; therefore community versus nosocomial acquisition can not be established. As hospital-acquired viral respiratory infection is rare,5Aitken C Jeffries DJ Nosocomial spread of viral disease.Clin Microbiol Rev. 2001; 14: 528-546Google Scholar we assume that viral co-infection was present at the time of hospital admission in most study patients. Finally, because vaccination data for influenza viruses were not registered in the database, and since most patients were admitted before COVID-19 vaccinations were available, we were unable to establish the effect of influenza viruses or SARS-CoV-2 vaccination on outcome in monoinfected and co-infected patients.
As public health restrictions are lifted, respiratory virus co-infections are more likely to occur during future winters. The marked increase in risk among patients with co-infection has several implications for policy. First, our results provide further support for vaccination against both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Second, they suggest that testing for influenza viruses is important in hospital inpatients with COVID-19 to identify patients at risk and a cohort of patients who might have different responses to immunomodulatory and antiviral therapy.
All authors declare support from the National Institute for Health Research ( NIHR), the Medical Research Council ( MRC), the NIHR Health Protection Unit ( HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at the University of Liverpool, the NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Imperial College London, and the NIHR Clinical Research Network. JKB and ABD report grants from the UK Department of Health and Social Care ( DHSC), during the conduct of the study, and grants from the Wellcome Trust. PJMO reports personal fees from consultancies ( ie, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Bavarian Nordic, Pfizer, and Cepheid) and for the European Respiratory Society; grants from the MRC, MRC Global Challenge Research Fund, EU, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, MRC–GlaxoSmithKline, Wellcome Trust, and NIHR ( HPRU in Respiratory Infection); and is an NIHR senior investigator, unrelated to this Correspondence. PJMO's role as president of the British Society for Immunology was unpaid, but travel and accommodation at some meetings were paid for by the society. JKB reports grants from the MRC. MGS reports grants from the DHSC, NIHR UK, MRC, HPRU in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, and University of Liverpool, during the conduct of the study, and is chair of the scientific advisory board and a minority shareholder at Integrum Scientific, unrelated to this Correspondence. GHG, MGS, and JKB contributed equally. ISARIC4C Investigators are listed in the appendix.
For the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium–WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol see https: //isaric4c.netFor more on 4C Mortality Score see https: //isaric4c.net/risk
For the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium–WHO Clinical Characterisation Protocol see https: //isaric4c.net
For more on 4C Mortality Score see https: //isaric4c.net/risk
Download.pdf (.39 MB) Help with pdf files Supplementary appendix | tech |
Pneumonia surveillance with culture-independent metatranscriptomics in HIV-positive adults in Uganda: a cross-sectional study | BackgroundPneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide and is a major health-care challenge in people living with HIV. Despite this, the causes of pneumonia in this population remain poorly understood. We aimed to assess the feasibility of metatranscriptomics for epidemiological surveillance of pneumonia in patients with HIV in Uganda.MethodsWe performed a retrospective observational study in patients with HIV who were admitted to Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda between Oct 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2011. Inclusion criteria were age 18 years or older, HIV-positivity, and clinically diagnosed pneumonia. Exclusion criteria were contraindication to bronchoscopy or an existing diagnosis of tuberculosis. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was collected within 72 h of admission and a combination of RNA sequencing and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture plus PCR were performed. The primary outcome was detection of an established or possible respiratory pathogen in the total study population.FindingsWe consecutively enrolled 217 patients during the study period. A potential microbial cause for pneumonia was identified in 211 ( 97%) patients. At least one microorganism of established respiratory pathogenicity was identified in 113 ( 52%) patients, and a microbe of possible pathogenicity was identified in an additional 98 ( 45%). M tuberculosis was the most commonly identified established pathogen ( 35 [ 16% ] patients; in whom bacterial or viral co-infections were identified in 13 [ 37% ]). Streptococcus mitis, although not previously reported as a cause of pneumonia in patients with HIV, was the most commonly identified bacterial organism ( 37 [ 17% ] patients). Haemophilus influenzae was the most commonly identified established bacterial pathogen ( 20 [ 9% ] patients). Pneumocystis jirovecii was only identified in patients with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL.InterpretationWe show the feasibility of using metatranscriptomics for epidemiologic surveillance of pneumonia by describing the spectrum of respiratory pathogens in adults with HIV in Uganda. Applying these methods to a contemporary cohort could enable broad assessment of changes in pneumonia aetiology following the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.FundingUS National Institutes of Health, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.
Pneumonia is a leading cause of death worldwide and is a major health-care challenge in people living with HIV. Despite this, the causes of pneumonia in this population remain poorly understood. We aimed to assess the feasibility of metatranscriptomics for epidemiological surveillance of pneumonia in patients with HIV in Uganda.
We performed a retrospective observational study in patients with HIV who were admitted to Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda between Oct 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2011. Inclusion criteria were age 18 years or older, HIV-positivity, and clinically diagnosed pneumonia. Exclusion criteria were contraindication to bronchoscopy or an existing diagnosis of tuberculosis. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was collected within 72 h of admission and a combination of RNA sequencing and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture plus PCR were performed. The primary outcome was detection of an established or possible respiratory pathogen in the total study population.
We consecutively enrolled 217 patients during the study period. A potential microbial cause for pneumonia was identified in 211 ( 97%) patients. At least one microorganism of established respiratory pathogenicity was identified in 113 ( 52%) patients, and a microbe of possible pathogenicity was identified in an additional 98 ( 45%). M tuberculosis was the most commonly identified established pathogen ( 35 [ 16% ] patients; in whom bacterial or viral co-infections were identified in 13 [ 37% ]). Streptococcus mitis, although not previously reported as a cause of pneumonia in patients with HIV, was the most commonly identified bacterial organism ( 37 [ 17% ] patients). Haemophilus influenzae was the most commonly identified established bacterial pathogen ( 20 [ 9% ] patients). Pneumocystis jirovecii was only identified in patients with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL.
We show the feasibility of using metatranscriptomics for epidemiologic surveillance of pneumonia by describing the spectrum of respiratory pathogens in adults with HIV in Uganda. Applying these methods to a contemporary cohort could enable broad assessment of changes in pneumonia aetiology following the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.
US National Institutes of Health, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a disproportionate burden of the global HIV pandemic and, in Uganda alone, an estimated 21 000 people died of HIV-related causes in 2019.1UNUNAIDS country factsheet.https: //www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2020/unaids-dataDate: 2020Date accessed: July 5, 2021Google Scholar People living with HIV have a higher risk of developing pneumonia and experience more severe disease than immunocompetent individuals.2Cohen C Walaza S Moyes J et al.Epidemiology of severe acute respiratory illness ( SARI) among adults and children aged ≥5 years in a high HIV-prevalence setting, 2009–2012.PLoS One. 2015; 10e0117716Google Scholar Lower respiratory tract infections are the leading cause of death among people with HIV in Uganda and other low-resource countries, and bacterial pneumonia is associated with mortality rates of greater than 20%, even with antiretroviral and antibiotic treatments.3Marshall CS Curtis AJ Spelman T et al.Impact of HIV-associated conditions on mortality in people commencing anti-retroviral therapy in resource limited settings.PLoS One. 2013; 8e68445Google Scholar
Understanding the causes of pneumonia across geographical regions is essential for informing empirical treatment guidelines, tracking emerging pathogens, and guiding vaccination efforts in regions with limited clinical diagnostic infrastructure. Pneumonia diagnoses in people living with HIV pose an additional diagnostic challenge as these patients are at risk from a broad array of respiratory pathogens.4Kyeyune R den Boon S Cattamanchi A et al.Causes of early mortality in HIV-infected TB suspects in an east African referral hospital.J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2010; 55: 446-450Google Scholar At present, the causes of pneumonia in adults with HIV residing in Uganda and other African nations remain incompletely understood. This is largely due to the low sensitivity of using conventional microbial culture in patients who have already received empirical antibiotic treatment,5Prina E Ranzani OT Torres A Community-acquired pneumonia.Lancet. 2015; 386: 1097-1108Google Scholar and the intrinsic limitations of PCR assays to detect uncommon or emerging pathogens.6Theodoratou E McAllister DA Reed C et al.Global, regional, and national estimates of pneumonia burden in HIV-infected children in 2010: a meta-analysis and modelling study.Lancet Infect Dis. 2014; 14: 1250-1258Google Scholar, 7Nantanda R Hildenwall H Peterson S Kaddu-Mulindwa D Kalyesubula I Tumwine JK Bacterial aetiology and outcome in children with severe pneumonia in Uganda.Ann Trop Paediatr. 2008; 28: 253-260Google Scholar In a landmark study, traditional diagnostic methodologies were shown to lead to identification of a causative pathogen in only 40% of pneumonia cases.8Jain S Self WH Wunderink RG et al.Community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization among U.S. adults.N Engl J Med. 2015; 373: 415-427Google Scholar
Metatranscriptomic RNA sequencing provides an advantageous and complementary approach to traditional infectious disease surveillance methods and is particularly well suited for regions with limited clinical microbiological testing capacity. By affording culture-independent broad-range assessment of bacterial, viral, mycobacterial, fungal, and parasitic species from a single clinical sample, metatranscriptomic RNA sequencing can reduce the need for multiple types of testing platforms ( eg, culture, serology, or pathogen-specific PCRs).9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar, 10Wilson MR Sample HA Zorn KC et al.Clinical metagenomic sequencing for diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis.N Engl J Med. 2019; 380: 2327-2340Google Scholar, 11Greninger AL Naccache SN Federman S et al.Rapid metagenomic identification of viral pathogens in clinical samples by real-time nanopore sequencing analysis.Genome Med. 2015; 7: 99Google Scholar A previous study has highlighted the utility of metatranscriptomics for the diagnosis of complicated lower respiratory tract infections, and bioinformatics advancements now enable detection of respiratory pathogens among the ubiquitous and complex background of commensal airway microbiota.9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar Open-access cloud-based bioinformatics pipelines have democratised the computationally intense RNA sequencing data analysis, increasing availability and applicability in low-resource settings.12Saha S Ramesh A Kalantar K et al.Unbiased metagenomic sequencing for pediatric meningitis in Bangladesh reveals neuroinvasive chikungunya virus outbreak and other unrealized pathogens.MBio. 2019; 10: e02877-e02919Google Scholar
Research in contextEvidence before this studyWe searched PubMed from database inception to Dec 17, 2021, with no language restrictions for previous pneumonia epidemiological surveillance studies that included people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and incorporated culture-independent metatranscriptomics for pathogen detection. Search terms were “ lower respiratory tract infection ” AND “ pneumonia ” AND “ epidemiology ” AND “ HIV ” AND “ Africa ” AND “ metagenomic ” OR “ metatranscriptomic ”. Two studies were identified that were unrelated to pneumonia epidemiological surveillance.Added value of this studyThis proof-of-concept study shows that an unbiased metatranscriptomic approach can be useful in describing the epidemiology of pneumonia causes in the vulnerable demographic of adults living with HIV. This is one of few such studies in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a disproportionate burden of both HIV and pneumonia. We describe the first use of metatranscriptomics, a culture-independent method for broad-range detection of respiratory pathogens, for epidemiological surveillance of respiratory infections in this demographic. Metatranscriptomics enabled a microbiological diagnosis in 97% of patients, providing a greater understanding on both established and uncommon opportunistic pathogens beyond what has previously been reported. We found that co-infections with viral, bacterial, and fungal or mycobacterial pathogens are common, and occurred in 37% of patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in this study. We identified Streptococcus mitis, a pathobiont not previously appreciated as an opportunistic pathogen in people living with HIV, and found a substantial burden of Haemophilus influenzae. Furthermore, we provide an unbiased examination of relationships between CD4 cell count, lower respiratory microbes, and mortality in this population.Implications of all the available evidenceEpidemiological surveillance studies are essential for informing empirical treatment approaches in regions with limited clinical microbiologic infrastructure, which disproportionately exist in sub-Saharan African nations, such as Uganda. Here, we explore pneumonia causes in people living with HIV, a demographic that both disproportionately suffers from pneumonia and requires frequent admission to hospital due to severe disease. We found a high prevalence of co-infecting bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens in patients with M tuberculosis, emphasising that even with a diagnosis of tuberculosis, investigation and empirical treatment of other pneumonia pathogens should be considered, and vice versa. We identified respiratory viruses and bacterial species not previously associated with low CD4 cell count, expanding our existing understanding of opportunistic pneumonia pathogens.
We searched PubMed from database inception to Dec 17, 2021, with no language restrictions for previous pneumonia epidemiological surveillance studies that included people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and incorporated culture-independent metatranscriptomics for pathogen detection. Search terms were “ lower respiratory tract infection ” AND “ pneumonia ” AND “ epidemiology ” AND “ HIV ” AND “ Africa ” AND “ metagenomic ” OR “ metatranscriptomic ”. Two studies were identified that were unrelated to pneumonia epidemiological surveillance.
This proof-of-concept study shows that an unbiased metatranscriptomic approach can be useful in describing the epidemiology of pneumonia causes in the vulnerable demographic of adults living with HIV. This is one of few such studies in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a disproportionate burden of both HIV and pneumonia. We describe the first use of metatranscriptomics, a culture-independent method for broad-range detection of respiratory pathogens, for epidemiological surveillance of respiratory infections in this demographic. Metatranscriptomics enabled a microbiological diagnosis in 97% of patients, providing a greater understanding on both established and uncommon opportunistic pathogens beyond what has previously been reported. We found that co-infections with viral, bacterial, and fungal or mycobacterial pathogens are common, and occurred in 37% of patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in this study. We identified Streptococcus mitis, a pathobiont not previously appreciated as an opportunistic pathogen in people living with HIV, and found a substantial burden of Haemophilus influenzae. Furthermore, we provide an unbiased examination of relationships between CD4 cell count, lower respiratory microbes, and mortality in this population.
Epidemiological surveillance studies are essential for informing empirical treatment approaches in regions with limited clinical microbiologic infrastructure, which disproportionately exist in sub-Saharan African nations, such as Uganda. Here, we explore pneumonia causes in people living with HIV, a demographic that both disproportionately suffers from pneumonia and requires frequent admission to hospital due to severe disease. We found a high prevalence of co-infecting bacterial and viral respiratory pathogens in patients with M tuberculosis, emphasising that even with a diagnosis of tuberculosis, investigation and empirical treatment of other pneumonia pathogens should be considered, and vice versa. We identified respiratory viruses and bacterial species not previously associated with low CD4 cell count, expanding our existing understanding of opportunistic pneumonia pathogens.
To our knowledge, no studies to date have used metatranscriptomic RNA sequencing for lower respiratory tract infection surveillance in sub-Saharan Africa, and few have examined the causes of pneumonia using this approach in people living with HIV. We aimed to assess the feasibility of metatranscriptomics for epidemiological surveillance of pneumonia in patients with HIV in Uganda.
We performed a retrospective observational study in patients who were admitted to Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda between Oct 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2011. Adults ( age ≥18 years) with HIV-positivity and clinically diagnosed pneumonia, defined as the presence of cough and a chest radiograph consistent with pneumonia, as well as two negative smears for acid-fast bacilli, were enrolled following written informed consent via the prospective Mulago Inpatient Non-invasive Diagnosis ( MIND) -International HIV-associated Opportunistic Pneumonias ( IHOP) cohort study.13Shenoy MK Iwai S Lin DL et al.Immune response and mortality risk relate to distinct lung microbiomes in patients with HIV and pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017; 195: 104-114Google Scholar, 14Iwai S Huang D Fong S et al.The lung microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected pneumonia patients is compositionally and functionally distinct from that of San Franciscan patients.PLoS One. 2014; 9e95726Google Scholar Exclusion criteria were contraindication to bronchoscopy, or an existing diagnosis of tuberculosis or positive acid-fast bacilli smear ( appendix p 2). Mulago Hospital is a tertiary care referral centre. The study was approved by the Mulago Institutional Review Board ( 2006-0174) and the University of California, San Francisco Institutional Review Board ( 10-02633).
Baseline clinical information was collected, including age, sex, CD4 cell count, and background antiretrovirals and antibiotics. Patients provided two sputum samples for acid-fast bacilli smear examination and cultures to diagnose pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Patients with a negative acid-fast bacilli smear had bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage for clinical diagnosis ( appendix p 3). M tuberculosis testing was carried out using acid-fast bacilli culture on expectorated or induced sputum and on bronchoalveolar lavage. In addition, sputum PCR for M tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance, using the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay, was performed in patients for whom the assay was available during their admission. Pneumocystis jirovecii was detected by using a combination of Giemsa staining and RNA sequencing. Data from the cohort in this study have been previously reported in studies that performed analyses of pulmonary bacterial pathogens via 16S rRNA gene sequencing.13Shenoy MK Iwai S Lin DL et al.Immune response and mortality risk relate to distinct lung microbiomes in patients with HIV and pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017; 195: 104-114Google Scholar, 14Iwai S Huang D Fong S et al.The lung microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected pneumonia patients is compositionally and functionally distinct from that of San Franciscan patients.PLoS One. 2014; 9e95726Google Scholar
RNA extraction from bronchoalveolar lavage was done as described in previous studies,13Shenoy MK Iwai S Lin DL et al.Immune response and mortality risk relate to distinct lung microbiomes in patients with HIV and pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017; 195: 104-114Google Scholar, 14Iwai S Huang D Fong S et al.The lung microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected pneumonia patients is compositionally and functionally distinct from that of San Franciscan patients.PLoS One. 2014; 9e95726Google Scholar and was used for library preparation and Illumina sequencing as described in the appendix ( p 3).
The open-source IDseq pipeline was used to detect respiratory microbes from RNA sequencing data ( appendix p 4).15Kalantar KL Carvalho T de Bourcy CFA et al.IDseq-An open source cloud-based pipeline and analysis service for metagenomic pathogen detection and monitoring.Gigascience. 2020; 9giaa111Google Scholar Antimicrobial resistance genes were also screened in the metagenomic dataset ( appendix p 7). To identify established pneumonia pathogens and distinguish them from microbes of possible pathogenicity and commensal microbiota, we used a previously validated rules-based model ( appendix pp 5–6).9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar The rules-based model incorporates previous findings which showed that microbial communities in patients with lower respiratory tract infections are typically characterised by one or more dominant pathogens present in high abundance ( appendix p 10).9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar Specifically, the rules-based model ranks microbes present in a sample by descending abundance ( ie, number of taxonomic alignments) and identifies the greatest difference in abundance between any two sequential taxa. This split point divides the taxa into high abundance and low abundance and defines identification. On the basis of this principle, the rules-based model identifies the subset of bacteria and fungi with the greatest relative abundance in each sample, which consist of single microbes in cases of a dominant pathogen. In cases of co-infections, the rules-based model can identify several microbes present at similar disproportionately high abundance compared with the rest of the lung microbiota. Because viral load varies over the course of lower respiratory tract infection, the rules-based model identifies all viruses with greater than a background threshold of 0·1 viral reads per million sequenced. RNA sequencing data was used as input for the rules-based model to identify organisms, except for M tuberculosis, for which culture and PCR were performed.
If the microbe identified by the rules-based model was present within a reference index of established respiratory pathogens, derived from landmark surveillance studies and clinical guidelines ( appendix pp 5–6, 13–14),8Jain S Self WH Wunderink RG et al.Community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization among U.S. adults.N Engl J Med. 2015; 373: 415-427Google Scholar, 16Magill SS O'Leary E Ray SM et al.Antimicrobial use in US hospitals: comparison of results from emerging infections program prevalence surveys, 2015 and 2011.Clin Infect Dis. 2021; 72: 1784-1792Google Scholar, 17Mandell LA Wunderink RG Anzueto A et al.Infectious Diseases Society of America/American Thoracic Society consensus guidelines on the management of community-acquired pneumonia in adults.Clin Infect Dis. 2007; 44: S27-S72Google Scholar, 18Fishman JA Infection in organ transplantation.Am J Transplant. 2017; 17: 856-879Google Scholar it was selected as an established pathogen by the model. Viral, bacterial, and fungal taxa identified by the rules-based model but not included on the reference list of established respiratory pathogens were considered possible respiratory pathogens. Established pathogens were subdivided into bacteria, viruses, mycobacteria, and fungi, and were further analysed by group.
The primary study outcome was detection of an established or possible respiratory pathogen in the total study population. Secondary outcomes were associations between pathogens and CD4 cell count and 70-day mortality, and associations between trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole use and P jirovecii pneumonia and trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole resistance genes in the total study population.
Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare CD4 cell counts with respect to binary outcomes ( 70-day mortality). ANOVA was used to compare CD4 cell counts across four patient groups defined by pathogen category ( established and possible pathogens, established pathogens only, possible pathogens only, and no pathogen detected). Fisher's exact test was used to test for association of pathogen with the categorical variables of CD4 count ( ≥200 vs < 200 cells per mL) and mortality. Fisher's exact test was also used to assess the relationship between trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis and P jirovecii infection or trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole resistance gene detection. Significance was defined as a p value of less than 0·05. Adjusted p values were calculated with the Benjamini–Hochberg method and are reported in the appendix ( pp 25–26). Analyses were performed with R ( version 4.0.2) and GraphPad Prism ( version 9.2.0).
The funder of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.
We consecutively enrolled 217 patients during the study period ( table, figure 1, appendix p 34), as described previously.13Shenoy MK Iwai S Lin DL et al.Immune response and mortality risk relate to distinct lung microbiomes in patients with HIV and pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2017; 195: 104-114Google Scholar, 14Iwai S Huang D Fong S et al.The lung microbiome of Ugandan HIV-infected pneumonia patients is compositionally and functionally distinct from that of San Franciscan patients.PLoS One. 2014; 9e95726Google Scholar At the time of admission to hospital, 164 ( 76%) of 217 patients had a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL, 48 ( 22%) were taking antiretroviral therapy, and 122 ( 56%) had been receiving P jirovecii pneumonia prophylaxis. 183 ( 84%) of 217 patients were receiving empirical antimicrobial therapy. 147 ( 68%) patients received in-hospital trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole for empirical treatment of P jirovecii pneumonia ( table). Mortality data at 70 days after enrolment were collected for 194 ( 89%) of 217 patients, 47 ( 24%) of whom had died. Sputum PCR was available for and performed in 137 ( 63%) of 217 patients.TableBaseline characteristics and 70-day mortalityPatientsTotal number of patients assessedAge, years36 ( 10) 217CD4 count, cells per mL139 ( 151) 214SexFemale131 ( 60%) 217Male86 ( 40%) 217Receiving antiretroviral therapy48 ( 22%) 217Receiving Pneumocystis jirovecii prophylaxis122 ( 56%) 217Previous Mycobacterium tuberculosis diagnosis16 ( 7%) 217Background antibiotic useAny antibiotic183 ( 84%) 217Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole138 ( 63%) 216Penicillin84 ( 39%) 215Ceftriaxone80 ( 37%) 216Quinolone16 ( 7%) 216Macrolide40 ( 18%) 216In-hospital antibiotic useAny antibiotic185 ( 85%) 217Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole147 ( 68%) 216Penicillin60 ( 28%) 215Ceftriaxone89 ( 41%) 216Quinolone11 ( 5%) 216Macrolide29 ( 13%) 21670-day mortality47 ( 24%) 194Data are n, n (%), or mean ( SD). Open table in a new tab Figure 1Study profileView Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
Data are n, n (%), or mean ( SD).
The combination of RNA sequencing and M tuberculosis clinical diagnostics identified at least one organism of possible pathogenicity for pneumonia in 211 ( 97%) of 217 patients ( appendix p 15). Six patients ( 3%) had no identified pathogen. After filtering the rules-based model predictions using the reference list of pneumonia pathogens, an established lower respiratory pathogen was identified in 113 ( 52%) of 217 patients ( figure 2, appendix p 17). Possible respiratory pathogens, representing microbes with limited literature evidence for respiratory pathogenicity in published case series or scientific reports, were identified in 98 ( 45%) patients ( figure 2, appendix p 19).Figure 2Pneumonia pathogens identified in the study cohortShow full caption ( A) Breakdown by pathogen type in 217 patients; two or more pathogen types are grouped regardless of the pathogens identified ( blue section). Grey section indicates atypical pathogens with possible, but not yet clearly established, lower respiratory tract pathogenicity. ( B) Baseline CD4 cell counts compared between patients with both established and possible pathogens, only established pathogens, only possible pathogens, and no pathogens detected. Each dot represents a single patient, and medians are depicted by horizontal bars. There was no significant difference between groups calculated by ANOVA. ( C) Mortality differences at day 70 after enrolment between patients with both established and possible pathogens, only established pathogens, only possible pathogens, and no pathogens detected. No group had a significant association with mortality calculated by Fisher's exact test. Patients without survival data available were excluded from this analysis.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
( A) Breakdown by pathogen type in 217 patients; two or more pathogen types are grouped regardless of the pathogens identified ( blue section). Grey section indicates atypical pathogens with possible, but not yet clearly established, lower respiratory tract pathogenicity. ( B) Baseline CD4 cell counts compared between patients with both established and possible pathogens, only established pathogens, only possible pathogens, and no pathogens detected. Each dot represents a single patient, and medians are depicted by horizontal bars. There was no significant difference between groups calculated by ANOVA. ( C) Mortality differences at day 70 after enrolment between patients with both established and possible pathogens, only established pathogens, only possible pathogens, and no pathogens detected. No group had a significant association with mortality calculated by Fisher's exact test. Patients without survival data available were excluded from this analysis.
Of 113 patients with established lower respiratory tract pathogens, 28 ( 25%) had pathogens representing more than one group ( bacteria, viruses, mycobacteria, or fungi). Viral pathogens alone were detected in 26 ( 23%) patients, non-mycobacterial bacterial pathogens alone in 30 ( 27%), mycobacterial pathogens alone in 22 ( 19%), and fungal pathogens alone in seven ( 6%; figure 2, appendix p 15). There was no significant difference in 70-day mortality between patients with an established lower respiratory tract pathogen and those without ( p=0·32).
The most commonly identified established pathogens were M tuberculosis, human rhinovirus, Haemophilus influenzae, P jirovecii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, influenza virus, and human metapneumovirus. Of 113 patients with established pathogens, 30 ( 27%) had more than one established pathogen ( appendix pp 11, 15).
Of the established bacterial pathogens, H influenzae was the most commonly identified respiratory bacterial pathogen ( 20 [ 9% ] of 217 patients), followed by P aeruginosa ( 12 [ 6% ]), S pneumoniae ( seven [ 3% ]), and K pneumoniae ( seven [ 3% ]; appendix p 17). Among the established viral pathogens, human rhinoviruses were the most common ( 34 [ 16% ] patients), followed by influenza A virus ( six [ 3% ]) and human metapneumovirus ( four [ 2% ]).
M tuberculosis was identified in 35 ( 16%) of 217 patients by a combination of acid-fast bacilli culture, GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay, and RNA sequencing ( appendix p 16). Among patients with M tuberculosis, 13 ( 37%) of 35 had at least one additional established pathogen identified, the most common of which was human rhinovirus, followed by P aeruginosa and H influenzae ( appendix p 17). With regard to established fungal pathogens, P jirovecii was detected with a combination of RNA sequencing and Giemsa staining in 12 ( 6%) of 217 patients. One ( < 1%) patient was found to have Histoplasma capsulatum ( appendix p 17).
Microbes with incompletely established evidence of respiratory tract pathogenicity ( as defined in previous work) 9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar were identified in 183 ( 84%) of 217 patients. Bacteria included Veillonella spp ( 59 [ 27% ] patients), Streptococcus spp ( excluding S pneumoniae; 47 [ 22% ]), Pseudomonas spp ( excluding P aeruginosa; 28 [ 13% ]), Prevotella spp ( 18 [ 8% ]), and Actinomyces spp ( ten [ 5% ]; appendix pp 11, 19). Among patients with Streptococcus spp ( excluding S pneumoniae), Streptococcus mitis was the most common pathogen ( 36 [ 77% ] of 47 patients) and among those with Pseudomonas spp, Pseudomonas putida was the most common ( 14 [ 50% ] of 28; appendix p 11). Other potential pathogens included Enterobacter kobei, Rhodococcus hoagi, Burkholderia ambifara, Acinetobacter schindleri, and Tropheryma whipplei ( appendix p 19).
With respect to potential viral pneumonia pathogens, rubella virus was detected in one ( < 1%) of 217 patients and many patients were found to have viruses of unclear respiratory pathogenicity. These included HIV-1 ( 151 [ 70% ] patients), human herpes virus 4 ( Epstein-Barr virus; 69 [ 32% ]), Anelloviridae ( including torque teno viruses; 49 [ 23% ]), human herpes virus 5 ( cytomegalovirus; 24 [ 11% ]), human herpes virus 8 ( Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus; 18 [ 8% ]), human alpha herpes virus 1 ( five [ 2% ]), aichivirus ( three [ 1% ]), hepatitis B virus ( three [ 1% ]), pegivirus ( two [ 1% ]), and norovirus ( one [ < 1% ]).
Patients who survived to 70 days after enrolment had significantly higher baseline CD4 cell counts than those who had died by day 70 ( figure 3A). Of the established pathogens, P jirovecii was detected in 12 [ 7% ] of 166 patients with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL versus none of 51 patients with a CD4 count of 200 cells per mL or greater ( Fisher's exact test p=0·073; figure 3B, appendix p 25). With respect to the possible pneumonia pathogens, Anelloviridae were more commonly identified in patients with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL than in patients with a CD4 count of 200 cells per mL or greater ( Fisher's exact test p=0·036; figure 3C).Figure 3Mortality and pathogen detection by CD4 cell countShow full caption ( A) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients who were alive at 70 days after enrolment versus in those who had died ( Mann-Whitney U test, median 103 cells per mL [ 95% CI 71–136 ] vs 34 [ 22–62 ]; p < 0·0001). Patients without survival data available were excluded from this analysis. ( B) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients with the most commonly detected established pathogens. ( C) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients with the most common possible pathogens. Significance was defined as a p value of less than 0·05, calculated by Fisher's exact test. The number of microbes included in each comparison and p values are provided in the appendix ( p 25). Each dot represents a single patient and medians are depicted by horizontal bars.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
( A) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients who were alive at 70 days after enrolment versus in those who had died ( Mann-Whitney U test, median 103 cells per mL [ 95% CI 71–136 ] vs 34 [ 22–62 ]; p < 0·0001). Patients without survival data available were excluded from this analysis. ( B) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients with the most commonly detected established pathogens. ( C) Baseline CD4 cell counts in patients with the most common possible pathogens. Significance was defined as a p value of less than 0·05, calculated by Fisher's exact test. The number of microbes included in each comparison and p values are provided in the appendix ( p 25). Each dot represents a single patient and medians are depicted by horizontal bars.
Human herpes virus 8 was more likely to be found in patients who did not survive to 70 days than in those who were alive at day 70 ( Fisher's exact test p < 0·0001; figure 4, appendix p 26).Figure 4Mortality by pathogen detectedShow full caption ( A) Mortality among patients with each of the nine most frequently detected established pathogens. Red indicates death by 70 days after enrolment; blue indicates survival at 70 days. ( B) Mortality among patients with each of the ten most frequently detected possible pathogens. Significance was defined as a p value of less than 0·05, calculated by Fisher's exact test. Patients without mortality data available were excluded from these analyses. The number of microbes included in each comparison and p values are provided in the appendix ( p 26).View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download ( PPT)
( A) Mortality among patients with each of the nine most frequently detected established pathogens. Red indicates death by 70 days after enrolment; blue indicates survival at 70 days. ( B) Mortality among patients with each of the ten most frequently detected possible pathogens. Significance was defined as a p value of less than 0·05, calculated by Fisher's exact test. Patients without mortality data available were excluded from these analyses. The number of microbes included in each comparison and p values are provided in the appendix ( p 26).
Interrogating the metatranscriptomic data showed sequences aligning to bacterial antimicrobial resistance genes in 75 ( 35%) of 217 patients ( appendix pp 27–31); tetracycline, aminoglycoside, and β-lactam resistance genes were the most prevalent ( appendix p 12). Extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes were identified in 11 ( 5%) patients.
Patients who were receiving prophylactic trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole as outpatients before admission to hospital ( 122 [ 56% ] of 217 patients) were significantly less likely to have P jirovecii than those who were not. P jirovecii was detected in ten ( 11%, 95% CI 6–18) of 95 patients not receiving trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis versus in only two ( 2%, 0–6) of 122 patients receiving trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole ( Fisher's exact test p=0·0058; appendix p 32). 14 ( 11%, 95% CI 7–18) of 122 patients who were receiving trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole prophylaxis had detectable resistance genes, compared with seven ( 7%, 4–14) of 95 who were not receiving prophylaxis ( Fisher's exact test p=0·36; appendix p 33).
By utilising culture-independent metatranscriptomic RNA sequencing, we advance understanding of pneumonia causes in the uniquely vulnerable population of people living with HIV, and provide a proof-of-concept for future surveillance studies incorporating this approach. Furthermore, this is one of few studies to date to analyse pneumonia causes using lower respiratory tract sampling in sub-Saharan Africa. Various bacterial, viral, fungal, and mycobacterial respiratory pathogens were identified, including frequent co-infections.
We identified at least one possible pneumonia pathogen in 211 ( 97%) of 217 patients, and at least one established pneumonia pathogen in 113 ( 52%) patients. Our rate of pathogen detection compares favourably to a multicentre pneumonia surveillance study in the USA that used more traditional pathogen detection methods and identified a microbiological diagnosis in fewer than half of the study patients,8Jain S Self WH Wunderink RG et al.Community-acquired pneumonia requiring hospitalization among U.S. adults.N Engl J Med. 2015; 373: 415-427Google Scholar and a study of community-acquired pneumonia conducted in Malawi between 2013 and 2015 that identified a probable pathogen in 61% of patients with HIV.19Aston SJ Ho A Jary H et al.Etiology and risk factors for mortality in an adult community-acquired pneumonia cohort in Malawi.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019; 200: 359-369Google Scholar
Many of the possible pathogens identified in this study, such as the bacterium T whipplei, are difficult to identify using conventional methods, but have previously been reported as possible pneumonia pathogens in immunocompromised hosts.20Lozupone C Cota-Gomez A Palmer BE et al.Widespread colonization of the lung by Tropheryma whipplei in HIV infection.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013; 187: 1110-1117Google Scholar Further work is needed to study such emerging and non-canonical causes of pneumonia. Six patients did not have any pathogens identified, and it is possible that they did not have pneumonia but instead had a condition that can present similarly, such as heart failure exacerbation or a pulmonary embolus.
M tuberculosis was the most frequently detected established pathogen in this study, even though patients with clearly positive acid-fast bacilli sputum smears before bronchoalveolar lavage were excluded. M tuberculosis was also the most frequently identified pathogen in a 2019 study of Malawian patients with HIV and community-acquired pneumonia.19Aston SJ Ho A Jary H et al.Etiology and risk factors for mortality in an adult community-acquired pneumonia cohort in Malawi.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019; 200: 359-369Google Scholar Surprisingly, the rate of co-infection with other pneumonia pathogens in addition to M tuberculosis was 37%, which is higher than in previous reports19Aston SJ Ho A Jary H et al.Etiology and risk factors for mortality in an adult community-acquired pneumonia cohort in Malawi.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019; 200: 359-369Google Scholar, 21Vray M Germani Y Chan S et al.Clinical features and etiology of pneumonia in acid-fast bacillus sputum smear-negative HIV-infected patients hospitalized in Asia and Africa.AIDS. 2008; 22: 1323-1332Google Scholar and is likely to reflect the unbiased assessment of the microbial landscape afforded by metatranscriptomics as compared with conventional culture or PCR assays.22Schleicher GK Feldman C Dual infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in HIV-seropositive patients with community acquired pneumonia.Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2003; 7: 1207-1208Google Scholar Our findings suggest that even in patients with a diagnosis of M tuberculosis, investigation and empirical treatment of other pneumonia pathogens should be considered. Furthermore, in patients with HIV and pneumonia, negative acid-fast bacilli smears might not definitively rule out M tuberculosis.
Although the established opportunistic pathogen P jirovecii was only found in patients with a CD4 count of less than 200 cells per mL, pathogens responsible for a substantial burden of disease in immunocompetent hosts ( eg, H influenzae, human metapneumovirus) were also frequently identified in this immunocompromised group of patients with HIV. Not surprisingly, mortality was higher in patients with CD4 counts of less than 200 cells per mL and in patients infected with human herpes virus 8, which is associated with the development of Kaposi sarcoma and primary effusion lymphoma in patients with low CD4 cell counts.
We identified S mitis as a potentially clinically important and previously unrecognised pneumonia pathogen in patients with HIV. S mitis was the most commonly detected bacterium in terms of either established or possible pathogens, which suggests that it has a putative role as an opportunistic pathogen. Viridians-group streptococci, and S mitis in particular, are best known as oral commensal bacteria, but studies have suggested that they can also act as invasive pathogens in immunosuppressed hosts, causing bacteraemia, endocarditis, pneumonia, or other infections in patients with cancer.23Shelburne SA Sahasrabhojane P Saldana M et al.Streptococcus mitis strains causing severe clinical disease in cancer patients.Emerg Infect Dis. 2014; 20: 762-771Google Scholar S mitis has frequently been detected in sputum samples from patients with clinical pneumonia, which further suggests that it has a role as a pathobiont ( ie, a microbe that can exist in some contexts as a commensal and in others as a pathogen).24Musher DM Jesudasen SS Barwatt JW Cohen DN Moss BJ Rodriguez-Barradas MC Normal respiratory flora as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia.Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020; 7ofaa307Google Scholar
The prevalence of P aeruginosa in our cohort was surprising given that it has infrequently been identified as a community-acquired pneumonia pathogen in previous studies; 25Gadsby NJ Russell CD McHugh MP et al.Comprehensive molecular testing for respiratory pathogens in community-acquired pneumonia.Clin Infect Dis. 2016; 62: 817-823Google Scholar it merits further attention because antibacterial agents with antipseudomonal activity are rarely used as a first-line pneumonia treatment in Uganda. RNA reads aligning to HIV-1 were detected in 151 ( 70%) of 217 patients, in line with a previous study that described detection in up to 86% of infected individuals.26Koziel H Kim S Reardon C et al.Enhanced in vivo human immunodeficiency virus-1 replication in the lungs of human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1999; 160: 2048-2055Google Scholar Previous work has found that pulmonary infection might enhance HIV replication in the lungs, most notably in cases of P jirovecii or M tuberculosis pneumonia.26Koziel H Kim S Reardon C et al.Enhanced in vivo human immunodeficiency virus-1 replication in the lungs of human immunodeficiency virus-infected persons with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia.Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1999; 160: 2048-2055Google Scholar
Assessing the human antimicrobial resistome provides an opportunity to understand the burden of potential resistance within populations.27Kim DW Cha CJ Antibiotic resistome from the One-Health perspective: understanding and controlling antimicrobial resistance transmission.Exp Mol Med. 2021; 53: 301-309Google Scholar We identified acquired antimicrobial resistance genes in 75 ( 35%) of 217 patients, and tetracycline and aminoglycoside resistance genes were the most prevalent. We did not find an association between prophylactic treatment with trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole and detection of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole resistance genes in the respiratory microbiome. This study, conducted in 2010, can provide a baseline for future antimicrobial resistance surveillance efforts.28WHOAntimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance.https: //apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/112642Date: 2014Date accessed: July 30, 2021Google Scholar
The first clinical laboratory to perform routine RNA sequencing for infectious disease diagnosis was established in 2018 at the University of California, San Francisco ( San Francisco, CA, USA).10Wilson MR Sample HA Zorn KC et al.Clinical metagenomic sequencing for diagnosis of meningitis and encephalitis.N Engl J Med. 2019; 380: 2327-2340Google Scholar With the potential to deliver broad-range pathogen surveillance in less than 24 h, clinical metagenomics has directly impacted patient care and permitted the identification of occult, novel, and diagnostically challenging pathogens, which could otherwise be missed by standard testing modalities.11Greninger AL Naccache SN Federman S et al.Rapid metagenomic identification of viral pathogens in clinical samples by real-time nanopore sequencing analysis.Genome Med. 2015; 7: 99Google Scholar Cost and infrastructure requirements have limited the practicality of deploying metatranscriptomics for routine clinical diagnosis in low-income and middle-income countries. However, given the continued decline in the cost of sequencing and the introduction of open-access bioinformatics pipelines that reduce the cost and time of data analysis, metatranscriptomics is poised to be applied more broadly for infectious disease epidemiological surveillance.
Although not explored in this study, RNA sequencing can also enable phylogenetic analysis for tracking the emergence and evolution of outbreak pathogens. For instance, during the Ebola virus pandemic, RNA sequencing became crucial for tracking viral transmission patterns in west Africa,29Quick J Loman NJ Duraffour S et al.Real-time, portable genome sequencing for Ebola surveillance.Nature. 2016; 530: 228-232Google Scholar and sequencing has proven instrumental for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants that have emerged in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere.30Lamptey J Oyelami FO Owusu M et al.Genomic and epidemiological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa.PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021; 15e0009335Google Scholar
Metatranscriptomics provides an opportunity to understand pneumonia causes in cases where traditional techniques have failed, or in settings where the infrastructure needed to perform comprehensive infectious disease epidemiological surveillance is not available. Instead of necessitating laboratory capacity for culture, serology, and antigen and PCR testing, RNA sequencing enables broad-range assessment of multiple pathogens in a single test from a single bronchoalveolar lavage sample. Furthermore, metatranscriptomics has the potential to generate enhanced population-level data that can inform public health policy, ranging from pandemic preparedness to vaccine deployment or adaptation of clinical empirical treatment guidelines.
Our study has some limitations. Enrolment before the COVID-19 pandemic is a limitation, given that both the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into the population and public health mitigation strategies ( eg, face masks) might have lasting effects on pathogen prevalence. Furthermore, the distribution of pneumonia pathogens might differ due to changes in the landscape of HIV infection in Uganda over the past decade. Because of an increase in access to antiretroviral therapy ( 90% of the population in 2020 vs 20% in 2010), HIV incidence in Uganda has decreased from 94 000 to 38 000 new infections per year, while the prevalence has increased from 1·3 million to 1·4 million people infected.1UNUNAIDS country factsheet.https: //www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2020/unaids-dataDate: 2020Date accessed: July 5, 2021Google Scholar
Distinguishing between pathogens and commensals is a major challenge for lower respiratory tract infection diagnostics. RNA sequencing coupled with our rules-based model provides a framework for making this distinction, but further work is needed to more effectively assess the contribution to disease of the identified microbes. High taxonomic abundance does not necessarily equate to pathogenicity, and some bacteria ( eg, S pneumoniae) can contextually be found as either commensals or pathogens. Furthermore, some pathogens, such as M tuberculosis, can generate infection ( eg, cavitary disease) without being dominant in the airway. Additionally assessing for microbial virulence factors or profiling the host transcriptome in parallel might overcome some of these challenges and improve the ability to distinguish true infection from colonisation.9Langelier C Kalantar KL Moazed F et al.Integrating host response and unbiased microbe detection for lower respiratory tract infection diagnosis in critically ill adults.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2018; 115: e12353-e12362Google Scholar
Most patients in this cohort were receiving background treatment with antibiotics, which was likely to enrich species that are resistant to first-line antibiotics. However, because detection of nucleic acid by RNA sequencing was the primary diagnostic modality used in this study, our results might be less influenced by concurrent antibiotic administration than microbiological culture would be. Finally, due to the cross-sectional study design and limited outcome data, we were not able to thoroughly assess the impact of RNA sequencing on mortality, although one might expect that targeted treatment of otherwise occult pathogens ( eg, Histoplasma spp) could improve outcomes.
This study provides a proof-of-concept for culture-independent metatranscriptomics for respiratory pathogen surveillance in a vulnerable population and a region with a high burden of pneumonia.
LH, WW, SVL, and CRL contributed to study design. AS, PB, JZ, SK, JLD, and IS contributed to patient enrolment and data collection. AS, PB, JZ, SK, JLD, IS, and LH contributed to project administration. AS, PB, JZ, SK, JLD, IS, SC, SI, and MS contributed to sample processing. NS, JDB, SC, KK, MKL, JM, AJ, and CRL did the data analysis. NS, JDB, SC, SVL, KK, RLR, SI, MS, and CRL interpreted the data. WW, JLD, SVL, CRL, and LH supervised the study procedures. NS, JDB, SC, RLR, JLD, SVL, WW, LH, and CRL wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to writing, review, and editing of the manuscript. CRL, LH, AS, PB, JZ, JM, NS, SVL, SI, and WW accessed and verified the underlying data. All authors had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.
Raw sequencing files containing microbial reads from each of the samples analysed in this study are available under the National Center for Biotechnology Information BioProject accession PRJNA699613. Code for the background correction algorithm is available at https: //github.com/czbiohub/idseqr/. Code for the rules-based model and statistical analyses is available at https: //github.com/joshbloomstein/rbm-uganda-statistics.
LH reports grants from the US National Institutes of Health. SI is employed by Second Genome. SVL reports fees from Siolta Therapeutics, outside of the submitted work. All other authors declare no competing interests.
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Opinion: The economy is in much better shape than the headlines would tell you | This is what
my old friend Peter Bennett
used to call, sardonically, “ A Triple-Oymygaad! ”
Inflation is through the roof.
There’ s an oil crisis. A looming food crisis. You name it.
War is raging in Europe.
Russia’ s president is starting to sound unhinged. And headlines are now linking him with chemical weapons and
nuclear weapons
.
Ohmyhgaad- Ohmyhgaad- Ohmyhgaad!
Things are so bad that stories which would normally be front page news—like the waves of Covid cases and deaths, China locking down cities, and North Korea firing off long range missiles—barely rate a mention.
Nuclear weapons?
No wonder stocks have been tanking this year.
U.S. consumer confidence numbers are at lows only seen during the global financial crisis and crises of the 1970s. Indicators like the American Association of Individual Investors’ weekly sentiment survey, and the CNN Fear & Greed Index, show investors are at extreme levels of misery.
If you’ re tempted to cash out the stock funds in your IRAs and 401 ( k) s and hide under your desk, you are not alone.
But before you do…listen to Jim Paulsen.
He’ s the chief investment strategist at Midwestern money management firm Leuthold Group. And he recently gave a presentation to clients that could have been called—
with apologies to the late Ian Dury
— “ reasons to be cheerful. ”
In a nutshell, Paulsen argues: Things are not as bad as you think they are. He thinks the economy is in much better shape than the headlines would tell you. The stock market’ s going to be headed back up, sooner rather than later. Oh, yes, and that there are good profit opportunities available to any individual investor.
Take it or leave it, but Leuthold is not your usual Wall Street bookie. The Midwestern firm is a pretty skeptical, feet-on-the-ground place. It even runs a “ Grizzly Short Fund, ” which bets on stock prices falling. They’ re not usually mindless cheerleaders.
What’ s Paulsen’ s case? Here are his 3 key reasons to look on the bright side.
Everything is reopening
The big news of the moment, largely forgotten in the current panic from Eastern Europe news, is that the pandemic is over. Policy makers, and even the media, have finally come to accept that Covid isn’ t going away but will have to be managed: It will be “ endemic, ” instead of a pandemic. Net result: The world is reopening. Businesses are starting up again. People are going to travel. They are going to shop. They are going to go out to restaurants.
Oh, and critically—the stores are going to have to restock their empty shelves, after two years of supply chain crisis. Inventories are at historic lows compared with gross domestic product, he points out. Business order backlogs are near 30-year highs. Furthermore, he adds, consumers are sitting on about $ 1.5 trillion in extra savings because they have spent less money over the past two years.
While the Atlanta Federal Reserve’ s real-time GDP tracker shows first quarter growth tumbling, Paulsen points out the Citi U.S. Economic Surprise Index is surging upward. And it has a record of leading where GDP follows. Meanwhile, corporate earnings are looking extremely healthy and estimates have been revised upwards since the start of the year.
As for the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, the actual effects on the U.S. economy are likely to be smaller than the headlines would suggest, and temporary, Paulsen argues. And that’ s true whether the war ends soon ( let us hope), or it turns into a protracted stalemate.
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
The U.S. economy created 1.2 million new jobs just in the first two months of this year—a stunning achievement, and one achieved despite the lingering drag of the Omicron Covid outbreak. There is a lot of room still to grow. We’ re still more than 2 million jobs below the pre-Covid peak, and Paulsen notes that after every recession since World War II the jobs market has risen to fresh highs—often much above the previous peak.
U.S. Labor Department numbers suggest the economy could generate another 7 million jobs just to get back in line with the growth trend seen just before the pandemic. Paulsen points out that the unemployment rate has plummeted in the 44 states with the smallest economies, but not yet in the “ Big Six ” that actually contain most of the jobs—namely California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, wages are booming. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’ s proprietary “ wage tracker ” shows annual wage inflation skyrocketing to 5.8% — higher than at any time since at least the 1990s. But as Paulsen points out, most of this wage growth is among the lower-skilled and lower-paid, who are finally getting ( slightly) better wages. So we’ re hiring millions more workers and they have a lot more money to spend—especially those most likely to spend.
Inflation?
This brings us to the 800-pound cliché in the room, namely inflation. This is the current source of panic, and much talk about 1970s style “ stagflation. ” The official inflation rate hit a horrendous 7.9% in February, the highest in decades. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is officially alarmed, and has stopped saying it is “ transitory. ” Paulsen says it’ s probably the biggest risk right now. If the Fed doesn’ t bring down inflation, he says, the recovery will be over pretty quickly.
But…well, as Paulsen puts it, “ inflation hysteria is everywhere—except in the financial markets. ” Despite all the panicky headlines, the bond market isn’ t worried about inflation. Nor is the stock market, or the foreign exchange markets.
In the 1970s, for example, when inflation hit 6% the bond market responded by demanding an 8% yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys, to reflect the risks. Today that yield is not even 2.5%. In the 1970s, surging inflation crashed stocks. This time around, there’ s been a correction but so far it is reasonably modest. Oh, and in the 1970s surging inflation tanked the U.S. dollar on foreign exchange markets. This time the dollar is rising.
The Atlanta Fed says current inflation is mostly in things with highly flexible prices, like cars, fuel, clothes and food. Those prices can go down as fast as they go up. The inflation rate among “ sticky ” items like rent or medical care, where prices tend to stick once they go up, is barely 4% it says. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Fed calculates that most current inflation is due to reopening and supply chain issues following the two-year crisis.
The key inflation measure to watch is the so-called five-year “ break-even rate ” in U.S. bonds, a technical measure that is effectively the bond market’ s own five-year inflation forecast. And it’ s up—it’ s been rising for over a year—but it is still 3.57%, or less than half the current inflation rate. In other words, the bond market is still predicting inflation is going to halve from these levels, and reasonably quickly. If you know something the bond market doesn’ t, go out and make yourself rich.
Reasons to be bullish? Maybe, maybe not. But as sentiment is already near maximum gloom, logic suggests the next move is more likely to be up than down. | business |
Insights on the Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Global Market to 2027 - Featuring AbbVie, Amgen and Bayer Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market Research Report by Type, by Drug, by Treatment, by Diagnosis, by End User, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market size was estimated at USD 7,582.26 million in 2020, is expected to reach USD 8,092.56 million in 2021, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.09% to reach USD 12,252.27 million by 2027.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Acute Coronary Syndrome Therapeutic Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
Crisis in Ukraine: Respond and Reposition | Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
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The war affects every company differently, but a set of consistent principles can help you respond today and reposition for the uncertainty of tomorrow.
By Dunigan O'Keeffe, Karen Harris, Andrew Schwedel, and Thomas Devlin
Brief
As the senseless invasion of Ukraine continues, a horrified world watches the humanitarian crisis deepen by the day. Already more than 2,000 civilians have been killed or injured and more than 3 million refugees have fled the country, where damage to infrastructure and buildings exceeds $ 100 billion.
Business leaders have rightly focused first on this human tragedy, taking immediate actions to ensure the safety and well-being of their people and leaning in to help however they can. Airbnb has offered free temporary housing for 100,000 refugees; companies such as GSK and Roche have donated antibiotics and painkillers; many others are donating millions of dollars in aid. Hundreds of companies, including ours, have suspended operations in Russia or exited the country entirely.
The war also has created a high level of uncertainty in the global business environment, despite the fact that Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine are not major global end markets. With a gross domestic product of $ 1.8 trillion, Russia’ s economy is roughly one-tenth the size of China’ s. Ukraine and Belarus are even smaller, with $ 0.2 trillion and $ 0.1 trillion in GDP, respectively.
However, these countries are critical sources of supply for a variety of global commodities. Russia accounts for 25% of the world’ s natural gas exports. Continental Europe is particularly reliant on this supply. Russia is also a major source of metals such as nickel and palladium and fertilizers such as ammonia and potash. Meanwhile, Ukraine is an essential global supplier of agricultural commodities including sunflower oil, wheat, corn, and barley. Prices for these commodities have soared since the invasion, and concerns are mounting about how long stockpiles will last as new supply dries up.
This disruption is hitting the global economy hard already. Several other commodities have seen significant price hikes. Oil prices have gyrated significantly. Inflation is continuing to rise, and most leading forecasters have lowered their 2022 growth projections for the global economy.
The global economy is highly interdependent, and isolated shocks—particularly when they affect the geopolitical landscape—can set off chain reactions. Understanding the full spectrum of those effects is critical in navigating any crisis. We have developed a set of eight potential vectors of disruption through which the current crisis could impact the global business environment, loosely ordered from the most certain and immediate to the most uncertain and more likely to play out over time ( see interactive below).
The companies that successfully navigate this crisis will be the ones that act immediately while also readying themselves now for continued instability ahead. We describe this posture as “ respond and reposition. ”
The near term demands that companies take decisive actions ( “ respond ”), continuously recalibrated for the evolving situation, with a careful eye to possible second-order effects on their business. Crisis management often happens within functional silos, which is useful in ensuring clear ownership, but in times like these, leadership teams must work together to avoid gaps and ensure swift and coordinated responses. After all, a company is only as resilient as its weakest link.
In the medium to long term, companies need to prepare and strengthen their organizations for growing turbulence ( “ reposition ”). This starts with a focus on the current crisis. We have identified the key areas where companies will need to respond and reposition, and have developed an initial action plan that companies can deploy ( see interactive below).
Of course, every company is unique: The war and its global effects pose widely different challenges for, say, a US-based software company than they do for an energy provider in Europe. There are no one-size-fits-all scenarios. We recommend that each company construct its own integrated scenarios that offer broad coverage across the full spectrum of disruption vectors introduced above.
Those vectors of disruption will differ in intensity and significance by company. Likewise, as we have described previously, each company’ s ability to respond to turbulence will depend on its ability to combine better prediction with greater adaptability and a renewed focus on resilience. In moments of crisis, “ respond ” is the first step in adaptability, while scenarios allow companies to create evolving predictions to help guide them toward greater adaptability and resilience.
In developing and using scenarios, companies should keep the following principles in mind:
It is clear that we have entered a period of greater structural instability in the business environment. Recent years have felt like one crisis rolling into another: trade wars, natural disasters, pandemics, and geopolitical clashes.
Although Covid-19 offered a valuable lesson in agility for leadership teams, many continued to be stuck in a reactive response mode and even now are just keeping their heads above water. This suggests there is much more to be done in terms of anticipating potential crises, building response plans, and triggering these plans in a timely manner.
Some companies were faster to mobilize in response to Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine—perhaps a result of pandemic lessons learned. The war and the pandemic share many similarities for business leaders: an urgent focus on protecting people combined with a need to rapidly resolve supply chain issues. Yet future crises, such as a catastrophic cyberattack, will look very different, as will the capabilities required to respond.
We recommend companies take three steps as they look to ensure they are best positioned to weather this crisis—and those yet to come:
What is happening in Ukraine is a tragedy. For business leaders, the challenge of helping their companies navigate the resulting global shocks demands strong and steady thinking—and a recognition that there will be more crises to come. Responding now while repositioning to absorb future shocks will ensure that their organizations don’ t simply survive each crisis but grow ever more resilient.
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A Chip Shortage Recovery Guide | Bookmark content that interests you and it will be saved here for you to read or share later.
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There is light at the end of the tunnel, but for some it’ s a very long tunnel. Take steps now to emerge stronger.
By Peter Hanbury, Anne Hoecker, and Michael Schallehn
Brief
The computing chip shortage has wreaked havoc on global supply chains for more than two years. Now, its end is finally in sight. But the recovery will be uneven: We project some industries will start to see improvement by the end of this year, while others might not turn the page until 2024 or later.
The automotive and industrial sectors, among the hardest hit by the chip shortage, will be the fastest to recover, according to Bain & Company analysis. We anticipate that supply bottlenecks in these sectors will begin to improve in late 2022 and early 2023 ( see Figure 1). Their products rely most heavily on semiconductors in two categories— “ leading-edge ” 12-inch wafers and “ lagging-edge ” 6-inch and 8-inch wafers—that will see manufacturing capacity meaningfully increase over the next 9 to 12 months, thanks to new fabs coming online. These types of chips make up more than 90% of the semiconductors used by automotive and industrial companies.
Consumer electronics, including smartphones and tablets, will also rebound from the chip shortage over the next year or so. These products depend on the 6-inch, 8-inch, and 12-inch wafers whose supply is increasing, and they also use other types of semiconductors that have been more widely available.
On the other end of the spectrum, we expect shortages to hamper several sectors through 2024, including gaming consoles and computer servers. Why? As demand for these products has jumped during the Covid-19 pandemic, the supply of “ bleeding-edge ” wafers has kept up, but production of the accompanying advanced substrate components has not. These suppliers lack the financial resources to build their substrate factories fast enough to meet rising demand. The bleeding-edge chips reliant on these substrates make up nearly 50% of the semiconductors used in servers and more than half those used in gaming consoles.
Given that the chip shortage will linger for the foreseeable future—and the devastating war in Ukraine and Covid-19 surges could cause further uncertainty and supply disruptions—many companies are moving beyond table-stakes response tactics and building a flexible, forward-looking semiconductor supply strategy. The leading companies are taking a two-pronged approach that makes bold investments to address short-term supply disruptions and set themselves up for long-term resilience. Here are some of the emerging best practices.
Design for availability. When losing sales due to a supply chain shock, leading companies rapidly redesign existing products to minimize or eliminate their exposure to the component shortage. With the chip shortage, this might entail removing nonessential features underpinned by unavailable chips, minimizing product customization, qualifying parts from multiple suppliers, or creating new products that rely on available chips and serve untapped market niches.
The most successful companies start by deploying an agile, cross-functional team with the right skills to quickly and effectively achieve the redesign, and give it a set of clear goals and incentives to deliver on the project. They continue using the agile team in other strategic ways even after the supply shock has passed. That way, these teams continue adding value while remaining ready to spring into action when the next disruption hits.
Shape demand to accommodate supply. Sales and marketing can play a critical role in responding to supply crunches. One of the most effective tactics is actively steering customers toward the company’ s more widely available products, either by raising the price of products hit by the shortage or more heavily promoting the widely available ones. One technology company is working to develop a machine learning algorithm for its online store that recognizes when a shopper demonstrates interest in a low-supply product and instead recommends a related product with more inventory.
Component shortages can also push companies to retire legacy products that rely on components in short supply, thereby accelerating the shift toward a company’ s newer, more advanced products.
Design for flexible resilience. Leading companies constantly refine their products to increase resilience, ideally beginning early in product development and before a supply disruption hits. In our work with clients and analysis of the global landscape, we’ ve found that several specific attributes tend to improve a resilience strategy’ s odds of success. These include reducing a product’ s number of parts, reusing components, using standard design approaches and flexible product architecture wherever possible, and decoupling software from hardware. In a chip shortage, for example, the fewer “ hooks ” the product has into silicon, the better.
Build capabilities to see deeper into the supply chain. Traceability has risen near the top of many companies’ supply chain agendas. It not only supports their sustainability goals but also can play a critical role in increasing efficiency and resilience. Enabled by digital tools, traceability allows companies to follow products as they move along the value chain and quickly glean exact information about the provenance of inputs and supplier sourcing practices. That data enables companies to make better predictions, run scenarios, and dynamically optimize operations. Companies are also getting in front of potential shortages by establishing supply chain visibility systems to consistently gather real-time market intelligence on key pinch points across their components.
Invest in value chain innovations. In this era of increasingly frequent and intense supply disruptions, leading companies recognize that traditional supply chain approaches won’ t cut it. One type of partnership growing in popularity involves the company paying its supplier to subsidize its production capacity and guarantee an agreed-upon volume of product for the buyer. Others are getting more hands on; some automakers, for example, have formed joint ventures with silicon manufacturers to codesign the chips they need. Meanwhile, other companies are taking on more semiconductor design in-house, which requires developing new capabilities.
To pull all of this off, leading companies are revamping their operating model to improve collaboration between engineering, sales and marketing, and procurement, the teams that are most critical to managing through supply disruptions and preparing for the next one. For example, these companies embed procurement staff within the engineering department during product design, to catch potential supply chain issues earlier in the product development process. They also create rapid feedback mechanisms to help the three departments better communicate and more efficiently prioritize the most important customer requests and highest-value product redesign opportunities. Lastly, leading companies emphasize cross-functional collaboration in their training programs to strengthen these operational muscles.
One global industrial company’ s supply chain vulnerabilities came to a head over the past two years, as it got hit by pandemic disruptions and the chip shortage. These headwinds made clear the growing importance of risk management and a well-defined supply chain resilience strategy, and the company’ s leadership team quickly responded with significant investments to bolster those capabilities.
First, the company created a new tool that uses a scoring system to triage risks. As part of this, the company developed and codified hundreds of risk assessments, while identifying thousands of metrics that would enable it to better predict risk and quickly react. Lastly, it designed a comprehensive operating model to support the new supply chain resilience strategy and cement it throughout the company. Although it’ s difficult to project the impact of these investments since every supply chain disruption is different, they could easily save the company hundreds of millions of dollars when the next major supply shock hits.
The eventual end of the chip shortage will undoubtedly bring a sigh of relief, but executives recognize that the supply chain shocks won’ t stop coming. Companies that move quickly to bolster their resilience will put themselves in the best position to respond to whatever comes next.
Semiconductor companies have few quick-fix options at their disposal, making it increasingly likely that the shortage will extend into 2022.
Navigating future disruptions calls for a more holistic and proactive strategy involving closer collaboration between suppliers and customers.
Companies are rethinking product design to ease the current supply chain disruption, and the ones sure to follow.
Bain Partners Anne Hoecker, Peter Hanbury, and Michael Schallehn discuss the obstacles facing companies as the chip shortage continues.
High multiples aren’ t as scary as they seem, but differentiated expertise is critical in this burgeoning sector.
Wie Deutschlands CEOs ihre Unternehmen auf Nachhaltigkeitskurs bringen
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Cameroon Construction Industry Trends and Opportunities Report 2021: Industry's Growth will be Supported by the Strategie Nationale de Developpement 2020-2030, Known as 'SND30 ' - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Cameroon - Key Trends and Opportunities ( H2 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Despite the Coronavirus ( COVID-19) outbreak across the world, the Cameroonian construction industry registered robust growth in 2020, expanding by 7.6% in real terms, as compared to growth of 4.7% in the previous year.
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Cameroon ( NSO), the construction industry's value-add growth accelerated further in the last quarter of 2020, with the industry registering year-on-year ( Y-o-Y) growth of 9.9% in Q4 2020 ( the latest data available at the time of writing), preceded by growths of 8.9%, 6.2% and 5.6% in Q3, Q2 and Q1 2020, respectively.
The publisher expects growth to decelerate to 4.6% in 2021. In the 2021 Budget, the government increased grants for projects by 17.2%, increasing from CFA3.1 trillion ( US $ 5.2 billion) in 2020 Budget to CFA3.6 trillion ( US $ 6 billion) in 2021. Moreover, the oil revenue of the country is increasing on the back of rising global crude oil prices. The total oil production of the country grew by 47.2%, going from nine million barrels in January-April 2020 to 13.3 million barrels in January-April 2021.
Furthermore, the government increased its estimate of oil revenue for 2021, from CFA418 billion ( US $ 701.8 million) earlier to reach CFA561 billion ( US $ 941.9 million). Notably, however, progress on key construction projects in the cities of Yaounde, Douala, Garoua, Bafoussam, Limbe and Buea had slowed down due to the pandemic, which in turn will affect industry growth in 2021.
The Cameroonian construction industry is expected to gain momentum and register healthy growth in the coming years, assuming there is no repeat of strict COVID-19 restrictions on economic activity. The publisher expects Cameroon's construction industry to register annual average growth of 5.8% between 2022-2025.
The industry's growth will be supported by the Strategie Nationale de Developpement 2020-2030 ( National Development Strategy - known as 'SND30 '), unveiled in November 2020, under which the government plans to invest CFA37.5 trillion ( US $ 63 billion) on flagship plans, programs and projects until 2030. It also plans to increase the contribution of the secondary sector to the country's GDP from 28.2% in 2018 to 36.8% in 2030. To achieve this, it will focus on nine sub-sectors, including construction, energy, petrochemicals and hydrocarbons, manufacturing and mining, among others.
In the 2021 Budget, the government announced plans to borrow CFA1.4 trillion ( US $ 2.4 billion) from financial markets, to finance the fiscal deficit in 2021. The government allocated CFA150 billion ( US $ 251.9 million) to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, while CFA197.1 billion ( US $ 330.9 million) is allocated to the Ministry of Public Health. An allocation of CFA1.4 billion ( US $ 2.4 million) has been made for the capital expenditure.
For the development of the education sector, the government allocated CFA232.7 billion ( US $ 390.7 billion) to the ministry of education. The government allocated CFA464.8 billion ( US $ 780.4 million) to the ministry of public work and CFA124.8 billion ( US $ 209.5 billion) allocated to the ministry of housing and urban development.
This report provides detailed market analysis, information and insights into the Cameroonian construction industry, including:
Scope
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1. Construction Outlook
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Latest News and Developments | general |
CBRE Investment Management and Altus Power to Bring Additional Community Solar Projects to Maryland |
NEW YORK & STAMFORD, Conn. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- CBRE Investment Management ( “ CBRE IM ”), a leading real assets investment management firm, and Altus Power, Inc. ( NYSE: AMPS) ( “ Altus Power ”), a leading clean electrification company, today announced plans to build and operate a portfolio of rooftop community solar projects to provide renewable energy to residential customers and CBRE IM logistics tenants in Maryland. These projects are expected to produce savings for approximately 5,700 residential customers in Maryland.
CBRE IM and Altus Power each have a long-standing presence in Maryland and together are proud to bring the benefits of community solar to a broader segment of residential customers within the state. Rooftop-based solar systems of up to approximately 20MW will be located on the logistics facilities that are owned by CBRE IM’ s funds. Power generated from these solar systems is to be provided to both commercial tenants and residential customers. Thirty percent or more of the generated electricity is also to be allocated to low and moderate income residential customers in the state. Energy storage and electric vehicle charging may be added to these facilities in the future.
“ Our collaboration with Altus Power will greatly advance our sustainability goals and support the transition to clean energy, ” said Chuck Leitner, chief executive officer of CBRE IM. “ This initiative is an excellent example of how we use scale to make our portfolio more resilient, profitable and sustainable. ”
“ Altus Power has been serving public and private customers in Maryland with solar-generated electricity since 2011, ” said Lars Norell, Co-CEO of Altus Power. “ We are excited to expand our community solar portfolio in the state and to advance our relationship with our strategic partner, CBRE. ”
About CBRE Investment Management
CBRE Investment Management is a leading global real assets investment management firm with $ 141.9 billion in assets under management * as of December 31, 2021, operating in more than 30 offices and 20 countries around the world. Through its investor-operator culture, the firm seeks to deliver sustainable investment solutions across real assets categories, geographies, risk profiles and execution formats so that its clients, people and communities thrive.
CBRE Investment Management is an independently operated affiliate of CBRE Group, Inc. ( NYSE: CBRE), the world’ s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm ( based on 2021 revenue). CBRE has more than 105,000 employees ( excluding Turner & Townsend employees) serving clients in more than 100 countries. CBRE Investment Management harnesses CBRE’ s data and market insights, investment sourcing and other resources for the benefit of its clients. For more information, please visit www.cbreim.com.
* Assets under management ( AUM) refers to the fair market value of real assets-related investments with respect to which CBRE Investment Management provides, on a global basis, oversight, investment management services and other advice and which generally consist of investments in real assets; equity in funds and joint ventures; securities portfolios; operating companies and real assets-related loans. This AUM is intended principally to reflect the extent of CBRE Investment Management’ s presence in the global real assets market, and its calculation of AUM may differ from the calculations of other asset managers and from its calculation of regulatory assets under management for purposes of certain regulatory filings.
About Altus Power
Altus Power, based in Stamford, Connecticut, is the nation’ s premier clean electrification company. Altus Power serves its commercial, industrial, public sector and community solar customers by developing, owning and operating locally sited solar generation, energy storage, and EV charging infrastructure across 18 states from Vermont to Hawaii. Visit altuspower.com to learn more.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “ anticipate, ” “ believe, ” “ could, ” “ continue, ” “ expect, ” “ estimate, ” “ may, ” “ plan, ” “ outlook, ” “ future ” and “ project ” and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These statements, which involve risks and uncertainties, relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable and may also relate to Altus Power’ s future prospects, developments and business strategies. These statements are based on Altus Power’ s management’ s current expectations and beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside Altus Power’ s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors include, but are not limited to: ( 1) the ability of Altus Power to maintain its listing on the New York Stock Exchange; ( 2) the ability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the recently completed business combination and related transactions ( the “ Transactions ”), which may be affected by, among other things, competition, the ability of Altus Power to grow and manage growth profitably, maintain relationships with customers, business partners, suppliers and agents and retain its management and key employees; ( 3) costs related to the Transactions; ( 4) changes in applicable laws or regulations; ( 5) the possibility that Altus Power may be adversely affected by other economic, business, regulatory and/or competitive factors; ( 6) the impact of COVID-19 on Altus Power’ s business; and ( 7) the failure to realize anticipated pro forma results and underlying assumptions related to the Transactions.
Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in forward-looking statements can be found under the heading “ Risk Factors ” in Altus Power’ s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 24, 2022, as well as the other information we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect us. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made, and Altus Power undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, changes in expectations, future events or otherwise.
This press release is not intended to be all-inclusive or to contain all the information that a person may desire in considering an investment in Altus Power and is not intended to form the basis of an investment decision in Altus Power. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning Altus Power or other matters and attributable to Altus Power or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above. | general |
SOL POWER to Help Farmers Green - Sharing the Sun - Biodynamic™ ( BD) Farming Practices With Solar Irrigation Pumping for Water Use Efficiency | Solar Irrigation Pumping for Water Use Efficiency by Sol Power Energy, Inc. ( Photo: Business Wire)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Following is a statement from Patrick A. Weller, chairman and CEO of Sol Power Energy, Inc., to foster a path to agricultural solvency for the California family-owned and operated farm:
Sol Power Energy, Inc. today announced Phase II of a multijurisdictional solar distributed generation program for Vino Farms, LLC as part of an ongoing plan for VINO FARMS to use holistic, ecological, and ethical practices in wine grape farming.
Over the past three years, VINO FARMS VP and partner Craig Ledbetter has been converting select vineyards to Biodynamic™ ( BD) farming practices, while simultaneously implementing solar photovoltaic systems for irrigation pumping, as a water use efficiency measure.
Air, fire, water, and at times even the abundance of Mother Earth’ s energy seem to oppose California agricultural operators. The Clean Air Act, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act ( SGMA), PG & E’ s 2022 Wildfire Mitigation Plan ( WMP), and most recently PG & E's 2023 General Rate Case ( GRC) all contain compliance requirements that can drastically affect the ability of a California family-owned and operated farm to meet its long-term debts and other financial obligations.
Over the past two years, during Phase I, the parties utilized world-class COVID-19 control and prevention practices to successfully develop nearly 1 megawatt of flood-resistant, elevated solar generation plants supplying enough electricity to meet the needs of 164 U.S. homes.
SOL POWER has been retained to provide a broad range of professional services and duties related to the strategic planning, design, development, delivery, and interconnection of renewable energy projects. The solar generation systems were implemented in the Pacific Gas and Electric Company ( PG & E) and Sacramento Municipal Utility District ( SMUD) service territories within Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.
VINO FARMS, with offices located in Lodi, Healdsburg, Napa, and Paso Robles, is a multi-generational farming operation owned and operated by the Ledbetter family since the 1970s. The company manages or owns nearly 17,000 total acres of vineyards in California including 4,500 acres in the Lodi region. | general |
NMG Provides a Quarterly Update and Releases its Annual Report – Disciplined Execution of the Company’ s Business Plan | + Major deliveries have been completed for NMG’ s Phase-1 coating module; construction is advancing towards the planned commissioning target before the end of H1-2022 for the Company’ s 2,000-tpa-capacity anode material value chain.
+ The integrated 43-101-compliant feasibility study prepared by BBA is progressing for the Phase-2 Bécancour Battery Material Plant and Matawinie Mine, for a comprehensive updated economics structure of NMG’ s business model to be announced before the end of Q2-2022.
+ Preparatory works have resumed at the Phase-2 Matawinie Mine ahead of civil works targeted for the year.
+ Thanks to its Phase-1 production, NMG is currently actively engaged in qualification sampling with selected battery manufacturers, now providing A & B samples. Sustained interest from top-tier potential customers is supported by sample quality checks, site visits and requests for information.
+ NMG is advancing with the structuring and securing of project financing for the construction and development of the Phase-2 Bécancour Battery Material Plant and Matawinie Mine, and has received non-binding letters of interest from two Export Credit Agencies, evidencing a clear expression of the potential support which the ECA may offer.
+ NMG continues to demonstrate the ESG-credentials of its business model through an A2 Robust Sustainability Rating from Moody’ s and release of its Climate Action Plan.
+ Year-end OSHA rate of 2.61 for the Company’ s operations and 0 for its contractors, with no major environmental incident.
+ Year-end cash position of $ 62.3M.
On March 23, 2021, NMG’ s Board of Directors and Executive team rang the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell ( Photo © NYSE).
On March 23, 2021, NMG’ s Board of Directors and Executive team rang the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell ( Photo © NYSE).
Construction of the coating module at NMG’ s facility. ( Photo: Business Wire)
Martine Paradis, VP Environment, Engineering and Matawinie Mine monitors water quality at the experimental test cells. ( Photo: Business Wire)
MONTRÉAL -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. ( “ NMG ”, “ Nouveau Monde ” or the “ Company ”) ( NYSE: NMG, TSXV: NOU) publishes its year-end financial results for the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2021 as it advances towards the final stages of its Phase-1 facilities construction demonstrating the full vertical from mining to battery market while maintaining an active development program on its Phase-2 commercial scale up. With the construction of NMG’ s coating module well underway, the Company is set to have a 2,000-tonnes-per-annum ( “ tpa ”) capacity integrated graphite production line of anode material by mid-year. At the same time, NMG is defining the updated economics model for its Phase 2 and is engaging with potential customers and financial partners to support the delivery of its full commercial-scale facilities.
Arne H Frandsen, Chair of NMG, commented: “ We are making significant progress on our objectives at a time when the market is feeling the pressure of limited supply options, rising prices and complicated logistics. I am confident that the ESG-minded team at NMG can capitalize on our exclusive ecotechnologies and industry-leading practices to position the Company as a Western World’ s trailblazer for competitive, sustainable, and local graphite advanced materials production. ”
Eric Desaulniers, Founder, President, and CEO of NMG, added: “ Upon the completion of our coating module as the final stage of our integrated Phase-1 production, we are set to offer a turnkey solution for the extraction, concentration, value-added transformation and quality assurance of graphite materials manufacturing. Our Phase-1 facilities accelerate our transition to the next phase of our development by providing electric vehicle ( “ EV ”) and battery manufacturers with customized, high-quality, carbon-neutral and low-cost advanced materials, supporting process optimization and value engineering for our Phase 2, as well as providing a unique training platform for our team. ”
Battery Material Plant
NMG is advancing with the deployment of its coated spherical purified graphite production with the construction of its Phase-1 coating line. This last process step will complete the Company’ s graphite-based product range for the EV and renewable energy sectors by having a production capacity of up to 2,000 tpa of anode material. Although some have been delayed due to the worldwide logistics disturbances, deliveries have arrived at the Company’ s demonstration plant over Q4-2021 and Q1-2022. All major deliveries have now been received. Construction is underway, and on budget, for a targeted commissioning before the end of H1-2022.
Construction of the coating module at NMG’ s facility.
NMG is also expecting the delivery of its second commercial-scale shaping module at its facilities in Q2-2022 which would allow it to triple its spherical graphite production capacity. The construction and equipment commissioning is scheduled to be carried out by the end of H1-2022 for a production start and ramp up during Q3-2022. This addition to NMG’ s Phase-1 advanced manufacturing line will enable the Company to provide customers with a broader and more comprehensive range of specs.
NMG’ s Phase-1 purification plant continues the production of battery-grade SPG volumes. Positive results obtained by testing the furnaces’ optimal capacity and the validation of operational parameters have enabled NMG to refine the engineering of the Phase-2 Bécancour Battery Material Plant.
Indeed, the Front-End Loading feasibility engineering analysis ( “ FEL-3 ”) for the Company’ s Phase-2 operations is progressing and on budget, with a 48% completion rate and a scheduled completion by the end of Q2-2022. NMG’ s integrated business model will be reflected in this National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ( “ NI 43-101 ”) -compliant feasibility study for the Phase-2 Bécancour Battery Material Plant to update planning, cost projection, and development framework in a unified structure with the Matawinie Mine. In complement to the engineering efforts, the Company has initiated the permitting planning process and community outreach for the Bécancour Battery Materials Plant.
Matawinie Mine
In December 2021, NMG completed the construction of the nearly 8-km access road connecting the mining site to the local highway. Early works were successfully and safely completed, with no recordable environmental, health or safety incidents. Tree clearing activities are currently being conducted – before the nesting season to limit impacts to avifauna – in order to prepare the site for the next phase of civil works.
The detailed engineering and procurement packages of the Matawinie mine and concentrator continue to progress with SNC-Lavalin, Metso Outotec and NMG’ s owner’ s team. Optimization of facilities, preparation of architectural specifications and plans, mechanical engineering, and equipment selection advance on schedule. The mining plan is also progressing based on the latest drilling campaign. Overall advancement of engineering is estimated at 55%.
NMG has put forward advanced standards for design criteria of tailings management at the Matawinie Mine by prioritizing the desulphurization of tailings, dry-stacking, and the co-disposal of waste rock and tailings. This environmentally sound method involved a recognized approach and has been approved by government officials following a thorough review. An experimental cell was built in 2020 to demonstrate in actual conditions the performance of this proactive environmental method. Field-scale cells were built to calibrate the parameters with respect to the performance of the tailings co-disposal objectives design, including preventing sulfide oxidation and mine water contamination. The field test cells are instrumented and monitored by the Company’ s Environment Team. Results from the test cells are positive, validating the co-disposal technology developed by NMG.
As for its electrification strategy, the Company’ s technical team is highly engaged with Caterpillar for the planning and development of a zero-emission fleet for the Matawinie Mine. At the beginning of Q1-2022, NMG was awarded Mining Magazine's Future Fleets excellence award for the intended electrification of its Matawinie Mine.
Products Development and Market
The Company’ s Phase-1 operations continue to support technical marketing and product qualification efforts in the lithium-ion battery, traditional and niche sectors. Production at the Phase-1 facilities and testing at NMG’ s new state-of-the-art laboratory enable the supply of graphite products in various specifications to meet the manufacturer's individual requirements.
Samples have been and continue to be provided to potential customers as part of sales discussions. NMG has advanced into the qualification process with several battery manufacturers, now providing A & B samples. Sustained interest from top-tier potential customers is supported by quality checks, site visits to the Company’ s Phase-1 operations and requests for information.
In addition, the Company is actively strengthening its quality assurance and quality control with the implementation of an ISO 9001-compliant system.
Electric vehicles outsold diesel cars in Europe for the first time in December 2021. To meet the soaring demand from consumers, the auto industry is on track to invest half a trillion dollars in the next five years to transition its fleet towards electrification ( New York Times, February 2022). This shift is driving major changes in existing supply chains as original equipment manufacturers compete to source the raw materials and electronic components and bring to market enough volume to meet consumers ' enthusiasm.
In fact, the lithium-ion battery market expansion is driving growth in demand for natural graphite with a global anode capacity projection of 8,391,550 tonnes per annum by 2031, a 13.2% month-over-month increase for the beginning Q1-2022 ( Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, February 2022). Moreover, constrained supply due to mine and factory closures in China have lead to an upward price pressure for flake graphite ( Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, January 2022).
These market dynamics create a favorable setting for NMG’ s development of a local turnkey supply of green anode material.
Corporate and ESG
NMG conducted its operations guided by its Zero-Harm Philosophy. The Company reports a year-end Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( “ OSHA ”) Recordable Incident Rate of 2.61 for its facilities and 0 for its contractors. NMG had no major environmental incidents as defined by the Global Reporting Initiative. Through its work protocols, continuous monitoring, and environmental program, it responsibly conducted its operations and worked to diligently address and mitigate any minor incident at its sites.
The Company embedded leading ESG principles in its business model alongside carbon-neutral operations and traceability of its value chain. In an independent assessment of the Company’ s sustainability performance, Moody’ s ESG Solutions provided a Sustainability Rating of A2 ( ‘ Robust’), the second-highest grade on its rating scale, to NMG.
As part of its carbon-neutrality commitment, NMG released its Climate Action Plan detailing efforts around transparent reporting, reduction of the Company’ s embedded emissions, transition to Net Zero, research and development for low-carbon materials and activities, as well as industry leadership. The Company has also purchased verified carbon credits to offset its 2021 carbon balance.
NMG is currently completing a lifecycle analysis for its graphite products portfolio to support its marketing and sustainability efforts.
The Company is advancing with the structuring and securing of project financing for the construction and development of the Phase-2 Bécancour Battery Material Plant and the Matawinie Mine. In this regard, the Company has been in discussions with a number of Export Credit Agencies ( “ ECA ”) to provide credit support for a significant portion of the project financing, and has received non-binding letters of interest from two ECA, evidencing a clear expression of the potential support which the ECA may offer.
In 2021, the Company raised over $ 130M through public offerings, the exercise of warrants, private placements, and financial levers from governments. Capital allocation emphasized the advancement of NMG’ s projects through engineering, procurement of key equipment and construction; R & D for the development of new processes and products, and corporate expenses to support the Company’ s growth.
At December 31, 2021, the Company had $ 63.2M.
About Nouveau Monde
Nouveau Monde is striving to become a key contributor to the sustainable energy revolution. The Company is working towards developing a fully integrated source of carbon-neutral battery anode material in Québec, Canada for the growing lithium-ion and fuel cell markets. With low-cost operations and enviable ESG standards, Nouveau Monde aspires to become a strategic supplier to the world’ s leading battery and automobile manufacturers, providing high-performing and reliable advanced materials while promoting sustainability and supply chain traceability. www.NMG.com
Subscribe to our news feed: https: //NMG.com/investors/ # news
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to those describing the intended results of the Company’ s development plans, the timeline and progress of the initiatives described in this press release, future graphite supply and demand, the benefits of the Company’ s de-risking strategy, the impact of the foregoing on the project economics, the Company’ s intended production capacity of carbon-neutral anode material, the growth of the lithium-ion battery and EV markets, the Company’ s commitments and performance with respect to its ESG initiatives, including the intended electrification of the Matawinie Mine, the interest of potential customers, the ability to structure and obtain sufficient project financing for the construction and development of the Bécancour Battery Material Plant and the Matawinie Mine, potential credit support from ECA, the intended results of the initiatives described above, and those statements which are discussed under the “ About Nouveau Monde ” paragraph and elsewhere in the press release which essentially describe the Company’ s outlook and objectives, constitute “ forward-looking information ” or “ forward-looking statements ” within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities securities laws, and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect. Moreover, these forward-looking statements were based upon various underlying factors and assumptions, including the current technological trends, the business relationship between the Company and its stakeholders, the ability to operate in a safe and effective manner, the timely delivery and installation of the equipment supporting the production, the Company’ s business prospects and opportunities and estimates of the operational performance of the equipment, and are not guarantees of future performance.
Forward-looking information and statements are subject to known or unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking information and statements. Risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among others, delays in the scheduled delivery times of the equipment, the ability of the Company to successfully implement its strategic initiatives and whether such strategic initiatives will yield the expected benefits, the availability of financing or financing on favorable terms for the Company, the dependence on commodity prices, the impact of inflation on costs, the risks of obtaining the necessary permits, the operating performance of the Company’ s assets and businesses, competitive factors in the graphite mining and production industry, changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company’ s businesses, political and social acceptability risk, environmental regulation risk, currency and exchange rate risk, technological developments, the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the governments’ responses thereto, and general economic conditions, as well as earnings, capital expenditure, cash flow and capital structure risks and general business risks. Unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed in this Cautionary Note could also have material adverse effects on forward-looking statements. | general |
Oragenics, Inc. Receives Audit Opinion with Going Concern Explanation | TAMPA, Fla. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Oragenics, Inc. ( NYSE American: OGEN) ( “ Oragenics ” or the “ Company ”) today announced that, as previously disclosed in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed on March 24, 2022 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the audited financial statements contained an unqualified audit opinion from its independent registered public accounting firm that included an explanatory paragraph related to the Company’ s ability to continue as a going concern. See further discussion in footnote 1 to the Company’ s financial statements included in the Company’ s Annual Report on Form 10-K. This announcement is made pursuant to NYSE American LLC Company Guide Section 610 ( b), which requires public announcement of the receipt of an audit opinion containing a going concern paragraph. This announcement does not represent any change or amendment to the Company’ s financial statements or to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.
About Oragenics, Inc.
Oragenics, Inc. is a development-stage company dedicated to fighting infectious diseases including coronaviruses and multidrug-resistant organisms. Its lead product is NT-CoV2-1, an intranasal vaccine candidate to prevent COVID-19 and variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The NT-CoV2-1 program leverages coronavirus spike protein research licensed from the NIH and the NRC with a focus on reducing viral transmission and offering a more patient-friendly intranasal administration. Its lantibiotics program features a novel class of antibiotics against bacteria that have developed resistance to commercial antibiotics. For more information about Oragenics, please visit www.oragenics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains “ forward-looking statements ” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’ s beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. The words `` believe, '' `` expect, '' `` anticipate, '' `` intend, '' `` estimate, '' `` project '' and similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters identify forward-looking statements. Investors should be cautious in relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to those described in our Form 10-K and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information set forth in this press release is as of the date hereof. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included in this press release and not place undue reliance on such statements. We do not assume any obligation to publicly provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by law.
Oragenics Corporate Contact: Michael Sullivan, 813-286-7900 Chief Financial Officer msullivan @ oragenics.com | general |
Global and Taiwanese IT Hardware Industry 2021 and Beyond - Featuring Amazon, ASUS and Microsoft Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Development of the Global and Taiwanese IT Hardware Industry, 2021 and Beyond `` report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The COVID-19 outbreak has had a huge impact on the information industry worldwide as it has successively affected both supply and demand sides.
This has plunged the global economy into recession. Despite the hardest hits on the economy, production value of the global IT hardware industry has been benefited from the increasing stay-at-home demand since 2020 amid the pandemic, except desktop computers. Among them, notebook computers performed the best and desktop computers the worse.
This report provides an overview of the development of the global and Taiwan IT hardware industry and industry sectors, including desktop computing, notebook computer, server, and motherboard; examines highlighted topics and future development trends of the industry.
Companies Mentioned
List of Topics
Key Topics Covered:
1. Product Scope and Definition
2. IT Industry Overview
2.1 Global Industry
2.2 Taiwanese Industry Overview
3. Introduction to the Global IT Hardware Industry
4. Introduction to the Taiwanese IT Hardware Industry
5. Highlighted Topics
5.1 Business Opportunities of AI Identity Recognition Technology amid the Post-COVID-19
5.1.1 The Adoption of a Real-Name Authentication System to Ensure Fair Distribution of Resources
5.1.2 Masked Face Recognition Resolves the Pain Point for the Public and Enterprises
5.2 The New Normal in the Post-Pandemic Era and the Countermeasures
5.2.1 The Pandemic Redefines Social Solidarity and Promotes A Zero-Touch Economy
5.2.2 Prepare Taiwan's Digital Infrastructure and Assist the Service Industry to Enhance Its Digital Power
5.2.3 The Pandemic Strengthens Smart City Governance and Drives Business Opportunities from Resilient Technology Applications
5.2.4 The Governments Take the Lead in Building Resilient Cities and Implementing International Sustainable Development Goals
5.3 The Impact and Changes of the COVID-19 on Production Operations
5.4.1 Comparison of the Strategies Between Cloud Service Providers
5.4.2 Development of cloud service providers | general |
Mexico Construction Industry Trends and Opportunities Report 2021: Market to Grow by 10.2% in 2021, Before Moderating to an Annual Average Growth Rate of 2.5% Over 2022-2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Mexico - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( Q4 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Mexico's construction industry is now forecast to grow by 10.2% in 2021, before it moderates to an annual average growth of 2.5% over the remainder of the forecast period ( 2022-2025).
This compares to the previous forecasts of 8.1% for this year. The revision reflects stronger-than-expected construction growth in the second quarter of 2021, and low base effects arising from the downturn last year.
The Mexican construction industry continued to perform on a positive note in August 2021, as is evident in newly released data showing an increase in construction activity.
This continues the positive trend set in the second quarter value-add data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography ( INEGI); the construction industry posted a high year-on-year ( Y-o-Y) growth rate of 33.8% in Q2 2021, which represents a significant improvement from contractions of 6.8% in Q1 2021 and 10.4% in Q4 2020.
With the domestic economy also continuing to improve following the re-opening of key industries and the pace of vaccination picking up, this augurs well for the performance of the industry over the coming quarters.
In September 2021, the government submitted the 2022 Budget proposal to congress, with the MXN7.3 trillion ( US $ 350 billion) budget proposal for 2022 to promote economic growth, regional development projects, social equality, financial stability and maintain fiscal discipline.
In the 2022 Budget proposal, the government stated that policies will continue to focus on healthcare, social programs and investment, and that it would prioritize ongoing investment projects, such as the Istmo de Tehuantepec inter-oceanic rail project and Mayan train project.
Market Analysis, Information and Insights
Scope
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
Selling a tech company allowed a couple to 'go large ' on their €1.75m south Cork family home: it's now being sold after 20 years by the sea | South Cork, in all its finery. All-inclusive lifestyle property with all the trimmings comes on a choice of six or 22 acres. Agents Patricia Stokes and Michael Pigott guide at €1.75 million
Minane Bridge, South Cork
€1.75 million
Size
580 sq m ( 6,230 sq ft)
Bedrooms
5
Bathrooms
7
BER
B2
A COASTAL Cork home, with the comfort and facilities of an upmarket hotel and spa, has come for sale with a vista spanning lighthouses from Ballycotton Island to the Old Head of Kinsale, and with the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean filling just about every frame, inside and outside.
Dating to 2000, it was built with an evident ‘ no expense spared’ ethos by an entrepreneurial Irish couple, Martin and Nancy Horan, who’ d re-established roots back home in Ireland after many years in Canada.
They funded this build after successfully selling their family business for a multi-million euro sum, and their home ever since has been at Reagrove, near the sea at Minane Bridge/Nohoval, between Kinsale and Carrigaline, a half an hour commute to Cork city and airport. It pretty much has it all for a new family of occupants.
With a few minutes of beaches, coves and cliffs, elevated on good farmland with an option to buy on either six acres or 22 acres, it offers a very large home, over 6,000 sq ft of accommodation.
This includes five bedrooms; an elevated ship’ s bridge-like upper reception room and en suite bedroom, with a sweep of views of sea and shipping; an immaculate swimming pool and leisure centre with all the trimmings; an adaptable stable block with four stalls; immaculate and themed gardens; gazebo; other sit-out sweet spots, a glasshouse and commercial-grade grow tunnel and – piece de resistance – a glass garden room which absolutely came into its own during Covid-19 times.
That room, with fins on the roof which fan open and shut and swivel back, plus with sliding/disappearing glass walls which roll down from top half to bottom half for a fresh air blast or insulated cosying up in five-star resort comfort, is the crowning glory, mixing the best of indoor/outdoor downtime, and enabled extensive family and friends gatherings between the pandemic’ s lockdowns in the utmost safety.
It has also hosted far bigger events and parties for the couple who made Minane Bridge the centre of their lives a quarter of a century ago on their return from Canada, with three sons in tow. It’ s been their dream trade-up home, having had another smaller property over the hill, but they later jumped at the chance to build something quite spectacular, to their own template and tastes.
On a lengthy Sunday afternoon visit to view, and during a time-span when the weather ranged from pure sunshine to hailstones, it showed how with a panorama like this in the purview, you literally can see the weather coming, and its passing.
Meanwhile, a telescope or shipping movement apps track what’ s coming into and out of Cork harbour from the oceans of the world, while one flight path approach to Cork Airport brings aircraft from all over Europe into the briefest of views above Reagrove as they approach over Oysterhaven, Nohoval, Robert’ s Cove or Rocky Bay: this is the south Cork coastline stretch that pumps the heart of any returning Corkonians before landing with a thump on the plateau above Ballygarvan and the city itself.
It seems that just about everything thing, and every creature comfort, has been thought of, and anticipated at this Cork coastal eyrie: it’ s even powered by an elaborate geothermal heating system, with a kilometre of pipes zig-zagging under its front lawns, meaning low running costs for an impressive B2 BER-graded home of this size, with all of its ancillary extras, such as the immaculate 7m by 5m heated swimming pool with counter-current pumps.
Plans have been drawn up for a windmill in a distant field to the west given the abundance of wind by any coast, and this property has its own wells for water, and waste treatment facility, so the simple fitting of solar/PV panels ( it’ s set up for them already) would make this Reagrove property almost entirely self-sufficient, no mean aim given stirring post-pandemic and uncertain European war times.
A rural neighbour, lower down the sloping stretch towards the sea, has a successful domestic windmill already as an example, and there’ s more than enough land with the initial six acres to grow just about every food crop, herb and vegetable, to graze livestock, keep horses and pets, fowl or pigs.
Go the whole hog, and buy here on the full available 22 acres, and you can even grow grain as certain Government ministers are advising farmers given the troubles in Ukraine, Europe’ s bread and cereal basket.
Joint selling agents for this Reagrove, Minane Bridge one-off rural and coastal homestead are Patricia Stokes, in Cork city, with Michael Pigott, who’ s based in Carrigaline and who’ s a Nohoval/Minane Bridge local: he’ s equally charged at finding a new owner. who’ ll be as integrated into the community as the vendors have been....!
They guide at €1.75 million for the mix on six acres and, at this sort of price level, if money isn’ t any obstacle, most viewers/potential bidders will seek to get the additional 16 acres also in whatever way the negotiations progress.
Vendors Martin and Nancy Horan have leased out most of their lands over the years to a local farmer, and it’ s as good for pasture and grazing and sileage as it is for tillage, with both prominent in the wider catchment: the very large Coveney family farm is a hill or two away, by Minane Bridge, and some nearby farms and barns are almost North American scale in size and presentation.
Behind the design and delivery of this almost ranch-like holding are Tipperary-born Martin Horan and Kilkenny native Nancy, who met decades back at a dance in Urlingford. They’ ve reared three sons here, and started and sold several businesses along the way, each to considerable success.
The first good company sale was a couple of decades ago, Irish Superior Safety Systems, based in Ringaskiddy and which serviced Cork’ s and indeed Ireland’ s burgeoning pharma and tech sectors: it was acquired by Chubb over 20 years ago.
The second sale was an even bigger deal, a company called BioTector which pioneered very successful, compact on-site analysers for wastewater, treatment plants, pharma and dairy/agri sector companies. It was acquired by a major international player, Hach, after competitive interest from GE.
BioTector has continued to grow significantly: Nancy still works part-time in its financial management. Their son David wrote a book, Getting the Chemistry Right in 2021, outlining how a family start-up can end up going global, and is already being used as a bit of business primer or guide by the IDA for other companies looking to take that ultimate lucrative scale and the sell-up step, say the couple with quiet pride.
They are now selling, partly to downsize and partly to be close to younger generations and have bought a new home, off-market, near Fermoy where a son, David, and daughter-in-law Susan live ( that couple featured in a Dermot Bannon episode, and again last Sunday night in the ‘ Room to Improve Constructive Criticism’ end of series wrap-up, adding a contemporary wing and swimming pool to a period Fermoy three-store house.)
Joint agents Trish Stokes and Michael Pigott rightly describe this Reagrove, Minane Bridge/Nohoval one-off ( and then some) as a unique offer.
The initial design brief was to Clonakilty-based architect Michael Shanahan, who’ d written the seminal Rural Design Guide for Cork County Council in the 1990s, and also coming on board later was another West Cork architect Patrick O’ Sullivan to oversee delivery, with the Horan family brief being for a low-slung family home of scale.
The low-slung/bungalow design brief also found favour with Co Council planners, given the building’ s setting almost at the top of a rising ridge of ground and its possible impact on views from land and sea, by day or when lit up at night.
A small ( er) home was planned at first but, when Irish Superior Safety Systems was selling so well,
the family ‘ went larger’ given the funds flowing in, and this included the addition of the leisure wing with pool, sauna, gym and linking to a double garage for a real ‘ family compound’ sort of secure set-up.
The pool has child-safety lock-up features; some hotels might be envious of the quality of its backup amenities such as the sauna, while alongside, outdoors, is a very large hot-tub, with a glass screen wall allowing the sea views to be savoured in some shelter from southerly winds.
For the hardier souls, there’ s an ice plunge bath next, to it to alternate hot and cold extremes.
Garden design and initial landscaping was by the noted Brian Cross, and after his death, ongoing design and alterations here were overseen by Peter Dowdall, with distinct garden sections, ranging from sunken gardens to raised ones, some with a Japanese feel, mixing with almost maze-like beech paths in stone and gravel. A double ditch ‘ ha-ha’ of hawthorns and fuchsias bounds the extensive road frontage along a secondary road above Nohoval, giving extensive screening and privacy.
There are numerous seating areas, a gazebo and other features done by Cork landscaper and glasshouse supplier Chris Heffernan; statuary abounds too, there’ s a sunken lavender bed centrepiece in the front lawn, and impressive stonemasonry walls throughout in Liscannor stone, including lining the approach avenue off the road, to a mid-way electric access gate.
There’ s a real embracing, courtyard feel to the house’ s approach, with a U-shaped layout, and the entrance faces to the multi-purpose, quality-built stable block, while a mature olive tree appears to thrive in a raised central bed.
There are two charge points for electric cars ( there’ s even an electric-powered large wheelbarrow for heavy garden duties!), whilst a double garage also acts as a store for cut and corded timber for the stoves plus a water filtration system.
Unsurprisingly, multiple storage options are to hand, inside and outside. There’ s a pristine Victorian-looking glasshouse among raised herb and veg beds in one enclosed garden, whilst the separate, hidden polytunnel is in a discrete, more workmanlike section, immensely strong with curving supports the girth and strength of scaffolding poles.
The energy-efficient/B2 rated extensive house was built via timber frame by Macroom-based company Cygnum, with a well-maintained wrap-around Iroko/teak deck under the overhanging eaves leading to a stone/tile-flagged patio by the all-glass garden room.
As owner Martin Horan had just sold his first start-up company and had a bit of time on his hands, he effectively oversaw the year-long build process in the Millenium Year, to a very high and meticulous standard house with features like geothermal heating with heat recovery ventilation, Marvin windows, central vacuum, pumped and pressurised water system, mood lighting, shadow-gap skirting and architraves, wide plank oak floor and slick chrome sockets and switches.
Unsurprisingly, given Martin’ s background, it’ s got sophisticated safety features, fire detectors, alarm, CCTV and has its own back-up electricity generator, while the geothermal heat pump and HRV has been very recently upgraded and updated.
It’ s a wide property, all-in, with all of the daytime rooms facing due south towards the sea, from the kitchen/dining room through the more formal dining core, and onto the main high-ceilinged living room with bespoke built-in display shelving ( internal joinery and kitchen is by the likes of House of Coolmore and Glenline Kitchens). | general |
Poland Construction Industry Report Q3 2021: Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 - Market to Register a Growth Rate of 3.5% in Real Terms During 2021-2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Poland - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( Q3 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The publisher expects the Polish construction industry to grow by 1.2% in 2021, in a sharp upward revision from the previous forecast, as the country has successfully managed the second wave and reopened business activity in the second quarter of 2021.
The second wave during January-March 2021 disrupted the construction industry severely in the first quarter of 2021. However, in the second quarter of the year, the construction industry recovered, supported by the reopening of the economy. According to Eurostat, the construction industry's value add grew by 3.5% YoY in the second quarter of 2021, preceded by year-on-year ( Y-o-Y) declines of 13% in Q1 2021 and 5.3% in Q4 2020.
The publisher expects the construction industry to continue its recovery in the coming quarters, on the back of declining Coronavirus ( COVID-19) cases and the government's investment on transport infrastructure with an aim to combat COVID-19's economic impact. Moreover, the European Union's Recovery and Resilience Facility ( RRF) is also supporting the industry's growth over the forecast period.
In August 2021, the EU announced a plan to provide PLN783.8 billion ( US $ 201 billion) in funding to the country under the RRF during the period of 2021-2027. Of the total amount, the government decided to spend PLN73.7 billion ( US $ 18.9 billion), particularly on the country's railway infrastructure.
The Kolej Plus programme was launched by the government in early 2020, with a total investment of PLN6.6 billion ( US $ 1.6 billion), under which the country's railway infrastructure will be developed in cities which lack railway transport. Furthermore, in June 2021, Poland's deputy minister for infrastructure, Marcin Horala, signed an agreement with Spanish Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Jose Luis Abalos, towards the development of a Polish high-speed rail system, part of the Solidarity Transport Hub.
Furthermore, the government has pledged an investment of PLN75 billion ( US $ 18 billion) in renewable energy projects, which will help the country in meeting its clean energy goals by 2030. The report expects the construction industry to register an annual average growth of 3.5% in real terms during the period of 2021-2025.
Market Analysis, Information and Insights
Scope
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
China Construction Industry Report 2021-2025: Industry to Register an Average Annual Growth of 4.4%, 2022-2025, Supported by Investments on Fixed-Asset Projects in the Transport and Energy Sectors - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in China - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( Q4 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
This report has revised down the estimated growth for China's construction industry in 2021, with the industry now expected to grow by 4% in real terms this year, compared to an earlier estimate of a 7.2% growth.
This downward revision is attributed to the slowdown in the country's property and construction industries, amid the tightening of regulatory controls to limit borrowing by developers. According to the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS), the construction industry's value add fell by 1.8% year on year ( YoY) in the third quarter of 2021, following Y-o-Y growths of 1.8% in Q2 and 22.8% in Q1 2021.
The industry is expected to register an average annual growth of 4.4% between 2022 and 2025, supported by investments on fixed-asset projects in the transport and energy sectors. In the first three quarters of 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission ( NDRC) approved 66 fixed-asset investment projects worth CNY480.4 billion ( US $ 70.4 billion).
In another positive development, several projects commenced construction in the third quarter of this year, including the CNY48.3 billion ( US $ 7.1 billion) Liquefied Natural Gas ( LNG) pipeline project from Zhongwei in Ningxia to Ji'an in Jiangxi, the CNY32.7 billion ( US $ 4.8 billion) Liuzhou-Wuzhou Railway Line project and the CNY16.2 billion ( US $ 2.4 billion) Zengcheng-Foshan Expressway project.
The industry's output over the forecast period will also be supported by investments on infrastructure projects, as part of the 14th Five Year Plan ( 2021-2025). The plan covers the development of various sectors, including transport, energy, manufacturing, health and education, among others.
Downside risks to the outlook include the restrictions on debt growth among real estate developers and limits on real estate lending at domestic banks, which are both expected to weigh on the growth of residential construction. Efforts to limit growth of local government debt, which include limits on rail construction and building height, pose further downside risks for the industry's growth.
Market Analysis, Information and Insights
Scope
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
5,000 Exoplanets! NASA Confirms a Cosmic Milestone News and Research | Our tally of strange new worlds just reached 5,000.
Astronomers have added the 5,000th alien world to the NASA Exoplanet Archive, officials with the agency’ s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL) in Southern California announced on Monday ( March 21).
The milestone comes amid a surge of recent discoveries and the promise of more insights to come, as NASA’ s $ 10 billion James Webb Space Telescope readies for planet-gazing operations in deep space.
`` The 5,000-plus planets found so far include small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and ‘ hot Jupiters’ in scorchingly close orbits around their stars, '' JPL officials said in Monday’ s statement.
`` There are ‘ super-Earths,’ which are possible rocky worlds bigger than our own, and ‘ mini-Neptunes,’ smaller versions of our system’ s Neptune, '' JPL officials added. `` Add to the mix planets orbiting two stars at once and planets stubbornly orbiting the collapsed remnants of dead stars. ''
The NASA Exoplanet Archive is housed at the California Institute for Technology ( Caltech). To be added to the catalog, planets must be independently confirmed by two different methods, and the work must be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The first exoplanets were found in the early 1990s. While telescopes on the ground and in space have done well to get the count to 5,000 since then, Jessie Christiansen, science lead of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, stated on Caltech’ s website that the worlds found to date are `` mostly in this little bubble around our solar system, where they are easier to find. ''
`` Of the 5,000 exoplanets known, 4,900 are located within a few thousand light-years of us, '' Christiansen added. `` And think about the fact that we’ re 30,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy; if you extrapolate from the little bubble around us, that means there are many more planets in our galaxy we haven’ t found yet, as many as 100 to 200 billion. It’ s mind-blowing. ''
The first confirmed planetary discovery came in 1992, when astronomers Alex Wolszczan and Dale Frail published a paper in the journal Nature. They spotted two worlds orbiting a pulsar ( a rapidly rotating, dense star corpse) by measuring subtle changes in the timing of the pulses as the light reached Earth.
Ground-based telescopes did the heavy lifting in those early years, and it took several more searches to finally uncover the first planet around a sun-like star in 1995. That world was not hospitable to life as we know it; it was a scorching-hot gas giant that whipped around its parent star in only four Earth days.
Astronomers found these worlds by spotting wobbles ( back and forth gravitationally induced motions) of stars as planets tugged upon them. Larger worlds were easier to spot, as they induced bigger wobbles. To find more Earth-sized planets, astronomers said at the time, they would need to try something called the `` transit '' method. That would assess the light of a star and look for tiny fluctuations as a planet passed across the face.
Astronomer William Borucki helped realize that vision as the principal investigator of NASA’ s Kepler space telescope, which launched in 2009 and exceeded its main mission by several years until it finally ran out of fuel in 2018. Kepler has racked up more than 2,700 planet discoveries to date, many of them Earth-sized or smaller worlds, and still has a database generating fresh finds to this day.
Many other instruments have joined the planet hunt since Kepler launched. On the ground, the HARPS spectrograph, which is part of the 11.8-foot ( 3.6-meter) telescope at the European Southern Observatory’ s La Silla Observatory in Chile, is an adept planet-hunter of its own.
By 2011 ( eight years after first light), HARPS had discovered more than 150 exoplanets. While access has been restricted periodically in latter years due to the coronavirus pandemic, HARPS remains operational and continues to seek new worlds with high precision.
In space, numerous observatories also assist with the planet search, among them NASA’ s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ( TESS), the NASA-European Space Agency ( ESA) Hubble Space Telescope, and ESA’ s Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite ( CHEOPS). Several other huge telescopes under construction on the ground, including the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope in Chile, are scheduled to come online later this decade, adding other powerful eyes to the ongoing search.
Webb will help enhance the tally of exoplanets by studying the atmospheres of several relatively nearby worlds in detail. While such work may focus largely on gas giants, scientists say Webb’ s observations will be useful for a future generation of observatories with even more high-powered optics ready to see planets closer in size to Earth.
Copyright 2022 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | science |
Will China Buy Russian Natural Gas and Oil Exports in the Wake of Ukraine? | The liquefied natural gas terminal at the Yangshan Deepwater Port in Shanghai, China, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021.
Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
About the author:
Erica Downs
is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’ s School of International and Public Affairs.
Ever since the U.S. the European Union, and other nations imposed
sanctions
on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, outside observers have wondered whether—and to what extent—
China
will help Russia weather the blows to its economy. Energy features prominently in such discussions for several reasons.
First, Russia is the world’ s
third-largest
oil producer and its second-largest producer of natural gas. Western sanctions have stopped the flow of technology and capital to Russia’ s oil and natural gas industry, and traders are currently shunning barrels of Russian oil.
Second, China is the world’ s
largest importer
of crude oil and natural gas, and Russia was its second-largest oil supplier and its third-largest natural gas supplier in 2021. Moreover, less than three weeks before Russian troops marched into Ukraine, China’ s leader, Xi Jinping, and Russia’ s president, Vladimir Putin, declared that their countries’ friendship had
“ no limits. ”
In addition, Chinese officials have stated that China will not participate in Western sanctions and that normal trade and economic cooperation with Russia will continue.
Will China, perhaps motivated by energy security concerns or the opportunity to secure supplies at attractive prices, purchase more Russian oil and natural gas and, in the process, throw Russia an economic lifeline?
There is precedent. In May 2014, in the wake of the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia for the annexation of Crimea, Putin traveled to China to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. During his visit, Russia’ s state pipeline monopoly, Gazprom, and China National Petroleum Corporation signed an
agreement
for the delivery of 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas over 30 years through the Power of Siberia Pipeline. Two Chinese banks also agreed to provide Russia’ s largest independent natural gas producer, Novatek
,
with $ 12.5 billion in euros and renminbi to develop the first liquified natural gas project in Russia’ s Far North.
Fast forward to March 2022.
In the short term, there are limits to the amount of additional oil and especially natural gas that likely will flow from Russia to China.
First, the number of extra barrels of Russian oil that is absorbed by China is likely to be shaped by a variety of factors. These include how many barrels can be displaced from other suppliers, the availability of refining and storage capacity, prices and the impact of China’ s Covid lockdowns on its oil demand.
Second, Western sanctions appear to be limiting Chinese purchases of Russian oil. For example, China’ s independent refiners, which are concentrated in northeast China and favor Russia’ s ESPO crude, and the Chinese banks that provide them with letters of credit, have been acting with caution due to concerns about running afoul of future U.S. sanctions. There have been reports of some independent refiners putting ESPO crude purchases on pause due to uncertainty over sanctions and others being forced to find alternative payment methods for Russian oil after banks refused to provide letters of credit. Similarly, state-owned refiners seeking to purchase Russia’ s Urals crude, which is trading at a record discount to Brent crude, are reportedly having trouble finding shipping companies willing to transport Russian barrels.
Third, Russia’ s natural gas export pipelines are in the wrong place for it to divert supplies bound for Europe to China. The capacity of Russia’ s eight major pipelines currently delivering natural gas to Europe is 220 bcm, nearly six times that of the one pipeline delivering natural gas to China, the Power of Siberia ( 38 bcm), which is not yet operating at full capacity. Moreover, the natural gas that Russia delivers to Europe and China by pipeline is supplied by different fields that are not connected.
Russia may have more success in diverting some LNG exports to China. LNG is transported from Russia to China by ship instead of a cross-border pipeline. But the volumes available for diversion are small. In 2020,
Russia exported
17.2 bcm of LNG to Europe, and China imported 94 bcm ( including 6.9 bcm from Russia), of which almost 40 bcm were spot purchases ( as opposed to sales under term contracts). These numbers suggest China has the capacity to absorb more Russian LNG.
In the long term, Russia’ s invasion of Ukraine will very likely result in an even more robust China-Russia energy relationship.
The European Union’ s plan to phase out Russian oil, natural gas, and coal is likely to galvanize Putin to accelerate the development of infrastructure to expand natural gas exports to China. The two countries took another step in this direction during Putin’ s visit to Beijing in February, when Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation agreed to build a new 10 bcm pipeline to deliver natural gas from the Russian Far East to China. When complete, this project will expand Russia’ s export pipeline capacity to China by almost 25% to 48 bcm.
Putin, however, is likely to want Beijing to agree to an even bigger pipeline, the Power of Siberia II. This long-discussed project would have the capacity to deliver 50 bcm of natural gas from West Siberia ( some of which is currently exported to Europe) to China via Mongolia. If Russia were to sign a supply contract with China for natural gas to be delivered through the Power of Siberia II, then Gazprom would build an interconnector between its pipelines that flow to the west and the east, which would allow the company to send to China natural gas from fields that currently only supply Europe.
The Power of Siberia II is probably attractive to China because it can deliver a large volume of natural gas—more than one-third of China’ s imports in 2020—overland. Not only would gas shipped via the Power of Siberia II avoid the risks associated with traveling long distances through the sea lines of communication. It would also be dispatched from a country whose capital is highly unlikely to succumb to pressure from Washington to turn off the taps.
That said, one of the hallmarks of China’ s approach to energy security has been the diversification of energy suppliers and import routes to avoid becoming excessing dependent on any single supplier or import routes. Would importing 98 bcm of pipeline gas plus LNG from Russia would make China excessively reliant on its northern neighbor? Beijing now has a decision to make.
Guest commentaries such as this one are written by authors outside the Barron’ s and MarketWatch newsroom. They reflect the perspective and opinions of the authors. Submit commentary proposals and other feedback to
ideas @ barrons.com
. | business |
Global Fruit and Vegetable Ingredients Market to 2026 - Featuring Archer Daniels Midland, DMH Ingredients and Givaudan Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Fruit and Vegetable Ingredients - Global Market Trajectory & Analytics '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Fruit and Vegetable Ingredients estimated at US $ 173.3 Billion in the year 2020, is projected to reach a revised size of US $ 230 Billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% over the analysis period.
Fruits, one of the segments analyzed in the report, is projected to grow at a 5.3% CAGR to reach US $ 145 Billion by the end of the analysis period. After a thorough analysis of the business implications of the pandemic and its induced economic crisis, growth in the Vegetables segment is readjusted to a revised 4.4% CAGR for the next 7-year period. This segment currently accounts for a 41.6% share of the global Fruit and Vegetable Ingredients market.
The U.S. Market is Estimated at $ 56.1 Billion in 2021, While China is Forecast to Reach $ 18.3 Billion by 2026
The Fruit and Vegetable Ingredients market in the U.S. is estimated at US $ 56.1 Billion in the year 2021. The country currently accounts for a 31.37% share in the global market. China, the world second largest economy, is forecast to reach an estimated market size of US $ 18.3 Billion in the year 2026 trailing a CAGR of 7.1% through the analysis period.
Among the other noteworthy geographic markets are Japan and Canada, each forecast to grow at 3.3% and 4.5% respectively over the analysis period. Within Europe, Germany is forecast to grow at approximately 3.9% CAGR while Rest of European market ( as defined in the study) will reach US $ 19.8 Billion by the close of the analysis period.
Select Competitors ( Total 71 Featured) -
Key Topics Covered:
I. METHODOLOGY
II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. MARKET OVERVIEW
2. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS
3. MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS | general |
New Research Findings by Oncologica on Detection of Brain Cancer Biomarkers by Genomic Sequencing Aids Clinical Management for Improved Survival Outcomes | New study of genetic brain cancer biomarkers empowers patients and doctors with DNA blueprints for better targeted therapy decisions. ( Photo: Business Wire)
New study of genetic brain cancer biomarkers empowers patients and doctors with DNA blueprints for better targeted therapy decisions. ( Photo: Business Wire)
CAMBRIDGE, England -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer is commonly treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. However, a newly published study from the research team at Oncologica the world-leading genetic cancer testing laboratory based in Cambridge UK, explains how their genetic sequencing research into predictive glioblastoma biomarkers can empower patients and doctors with DNA blueprints to make better targeted therapy decisions. This could lead to improved treatment outcomes beyond the current survival rate of 7% within five years of diagnosis.
The latest anti-cancer targeted therapies and immunotherapies are directed at the genetic DNA mutations that underlie the development and progression of brain cancer. The latest targeted cancer medicines offer great advantages over standard therapeutic approaches as they directly attack the cancer cells but leave normal cells relatively undisturbed. These new genomic targeted drugs have greater specificity and reduce toxic effects for patients compared to conventional chemotherapy.
The fast implementation of these targeted therapies into routine clinical practice has been constrained by a lack of comprehensive genetic screening for these DNA mutations at diagnosis. Furthermore, the processing of tissue biopsies using formaldehyde and wax embedding for diagnosis, results in fragmentation of the DNA test which makes analysis for mutations a challenge.
In Oncologica’ s newly published study Oncologica shows how semiconductor biomarker sequencing can be used to accurately screen the fragmented DNA and RNA from routine glioblastoma biopsy/resection samples. This enables comprehensive DNA profiling to be undertaken in the routine initial diagnostic workflow to link detected mutations to a broad range of potential genomic targeted therapies and immunotherapies, rather than wait to see if standard treatments fail to control the disease.
“ We are continually researching new ways to improve the genetic test options at initial diagnosis to provide valuable personalised data to aid targeted cancer treatments ” said Dr Marco Loddo, Co-Founder and Scientific Director of Oncologica.
Key findings of the paper are;
“ We hope our data will help inform oncologists about the broad range of potential therapies that are now available and that this will translate into improved clinical outcomes for glioblastoma patients in the future said Professor Gareth Williams, Co-Founder and Medical Director at Oncologica.
Read more at www.oncologica.com/news/Newspage and https: //journals.plos.org/plosone/article? id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245817
About Oncologica
Oncologica is a world leading precision cancer medicine and genomic contract research laboratory based in Cambridge, UK. Our personalised DNA profiling is used to aid identification of the most appropriate targeted therapies for patients with cancer as an alternative to chemotherapy.
Our molecular testing capabilities now cover cancer screening, tumour DNA sequencing, Covid -19 mutation profiling and allergen testing, with over 5 million genetic health tests performed during the last two years. Oncologica’ s comprehensive NGS DNA profiling with linkage to targeted therapies provides detailed genomic blueprints that optimize therapy choices, improve health outcomes and help people avoid treatment unlikely to be of benefit.
Oncologica’ s contract research programmes, clinical trials, and diagnostic test validation platforms focus on novel genomic therapeutic solutions. The personalised genomic data is helping to empower patients and clinicians to improve treatment outcomes and human health.
Oncologica UK Ltd, Suite 2, The Newnham Building, Chesterford Research Park, CAMBRIDGE UK CB10 1XL. www.oncologica.com
Press interviews: Dr Marco Loddo BSc PhD, Co-Founder and Scientific Director Tel Dir: 01223 785316, Email Marco.Loddo @ oncologica.com | general |
CARVYKTI® ( ciltacabtagene autoleucel) Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for the Treatment of Patients with Relapsed and Refractory Multiple Myeloma | Ciltacabtagene autoleucel, if approved by the European Commission ( EC), will be Legend Biotech’ s first EC-approved product
SOMERSET, N.J. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Legend Biotech Corporation ( NASDAQ: LEGN) ( Legend Biotech), a global biotechnology company developing, manufacturing and commercializing novel therapies to treat life-threatening diseases, today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use ( CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency ( EMA) recommended Janssen Pharmaceutica NV’ s marketing authorization of CARVYKTI® ( ciltacabtagene autoleucel; cilta-cel) for the treatment of adults with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior therapies, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and an anti-CD38 antibody and have demonstrated disease progression on the last therapy.
Cilta-cel is a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell ( CAR-T) therapy featuring two B-cell maturation antigen ( BCMA) -targeting single domain antibodies.1 CAR-T therapy is a highly personalized technology where a person’ s own T-cells are engineered to target and kill cancer cells in a single infusion.2
Data from the ongoing pivotal CARTITUDE-1 study supported the positive CHMP opinion. Two-year follow-up results were presented at the American Society of Hematology ( ASH) 2021 Annual Meeting ( Abstract # 549).1
“ The positive CHMP opinion reinforces the potential of cilta-cel for patients with multiple myeloma around the world, ” said Ying Huang, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Legend Biotech. “ We look forward to the EMA to the potential of European Commission approval in the future and continued progress in the development of cilta-cel. ”
Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer affecting a type of white blood cell called plasma cells, which are found in the bone marrow.3 The majority of patients relapse after undergoing initial treatment and face poor prognoses after treatment with three major drug classes, including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.4,5,6
This CHMP Opinion follows the approval of cilta-cel by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) on February 28, 2022.
About Ciltacabtagene autoleucel ( cilta-cel)
Cilta-cel is a BCMA-directed, genetically modified autologous T-cell immunotherapy, which involves reprogramming a patient’ s own T-cells with a transgene encoding a chimeric antigen receptor ( CAR) that identifies and eliminates cells that express BCMA. BCMA is primarily expressed on the surface of malignant multiple myeloma B-lineage cells, as well as late-stage B-cells and plasma cells. The cilta-cel CAR protein features two BCMA-targeting single domain antibodies designed to confer high avidity against human BCMA. Upon binding to BCMA-expressing cells, the CAR promotes T-cell activation, expansion, and elimination of target cells.
In December 2017, Legend Biotech Corporation entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. to develop and commercialize cilta-cel.
In April 2021, Legend announced the submission of a Marketing Authorisation Application to the European Medicines Agency seeking approval of cilta-cel for the treatment of patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma. In addition to U.S. Breakthrough Therapy Designation granted in December 2019, cilta-cel received a Breakthrough Therapy Designation in China in August 2020. Cilta-cel also received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. FDA in February 2019, and from the European Commission in February 2020.
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow and is characterized by an excessive proliferation of plasma cells.3 In Europe, it is estimated that more than 50,900 people were diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2020, and approximately 32,500 multiple myeloma patients died that year.7 While some patients with multiple myeloma have no symptoms at all, most patients are diagnosed due to symptoms that can include bone problems, low blood counts, calcium elevation, kidney problems or infections.8 Although treatment may result in remission, unfortunately, patients will most likely relapse.4 Patients who relapse after treatment with standard therapies, including protease inhibitors, immunomodulatory agents, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, have poor prognoses and few treatment options available.5,6
About Legend Biotech
Legend Biotech is a global biotechnology company dedicated to treating, and one day curing, life-threatening diseases. Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, we are developing advanced cell therapies across a diverse array of technology platforms, including autologous and allogenic chimeric antigen receptor T-cell, T-cell receptor ( TCR-T), and natural killer ( NK) cell-based immunotherapy. From our three R & D sites around the world, we apply these innovative technologies to pursue the discovery of safe, efficacious and cutting-edge therapeutics for patients worldwide.
Learn more at www.legendbiotech.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects, as well as any other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, constitute “ forward-looking statements ” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to Legend Biotech’ s strategies and objectives; statements relating to CARVYKTI™, including Legend Biotech’ s expectations for CARVYKTI™, such as Legend Biotech’ s manufacturing and commercialization expectations for CARVYKTI™ and the potential effect of treatment with CARVYKTI™; statements about submissions for cilta-cel to, and the progress of such submissions with, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA), the European Medicines Agency ( EMA), the Chinese Center for Drug Evaluation of National Medical Products Administration ( CDE) and other regulatory authorities; the anticipated timing of, and ability to progress, clinical trials, including patient enrollment; the submission of Investigational New Drug ( IND) applications to, and maintenance of such applications with, regulatory authorities; the ability to generate, analyze and present data from clinical trials; and the potential benefits of Legend Biotech’ s product candidates. The words “ anticipate, ” “ believe, ” “ continue, ” “ could, ” “ estimate, ” “ expect, ” “ intend, ” “ may, ” “ plan, ” “ potential, ” “ predict, ” “ project, ” “ should, ” “ target, ” “ will, ” “ would ” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors. Legend Biotech’ s expectations could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development of new pharmaceutical products; unexpected clinical trial results, including as a result of additional analysis of existing clinical data or unexpected new clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays, including requests for additional safety and/or efficacy data or analysis of data, or government regulation generally; unexpected delays as a result of actions undertaken, or failures to act, by our third party partners; uncertainties arising from challenges to Legend Biotech’ s patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection, including the uncertainties involved in the U.S. litigation process; competition in general; government, industry, and general public pricing and other political pressures; the duration and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental and regulatory measures implemented in response to the evolving situation; as well as the other factors discussed in the “ Risk Factors ” section of the Legend Biotech’ s Annual Report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2021. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Legend Biotech specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
1 Martin, T. Updated Results From CARTITUDE-1: Phase 1b/2 Study of Ciltacabtagene Autoleucel, a B-cell Maturation Antigen–Directed Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy, in Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma. Abstract # 549 [ Oral ]. Presented at the 2021 American Society of Hematology ( ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition Annual Meeting. 2 NHS. CAR-T Therapy. https: //www.england.nhs.uk/cancer/cdf/car-t-therapy/. Accessed March 2022. 3 American Society of Clinical Oncology. Multiple myeloma: introduction. https: //www.cancer.net/cancer-types/multiple-myeloma/introduction. Accessed February 2022. 4 Rajkumar SV. Multiple myeloma: 2020 update on diagnosis, risk-stratification and management. Am J Hematol. 2020; 95 ( 5),548-567. doi:10.1002/ajh.25791. 5 Kumar SK, Dimopoulos MA, Kastritis E, et al. Natural history of relapsed myeloma, refractory to immunomodulatory drugs and proteasome inhibitors: a multicenter IMWG study. Leukemia. 2017; 31 ( 11):2443-2448. 6 Gandhi UH, Cornell RF, Lakshman A, et al. Outcomes of patients with multiple myeloma refractory to CD38-targeted monoclonal antibody therapy. Leukemia. 2019; 33 ( 9):2266-2275. 7 GLOBOCAN 2020. Cancer Today Population Factsheets: Europe Region. https: //gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/908-europe-fact-sheets.pdf. Accessed March 2022. 8 American Cancer Society. Multiple myeloma: early detection, diagnosis and staging. https: //www.cancer.org/content/dam/CRC/PDF/Public/8740.00.pdf. Accessed February 2022. | general |
'They called me the baby whisperer ': Meet the midwives birthing a generation of mothers | Midwives are not just helping birth babies — they are in a sense birthing a generation of new mothers
Midwives play a central role in a woman’ s life, supporting her through pregnancy and the delivery of her baby. But the remit of their role stretches beyond even that. The word midwife means “ with woman ”, so they are guides, companions, as a woman transitions into motherhood. They are not just helping birth babies — they are in a sense birthing a generation of new mothers.
Ann Leonard who started her midwifery training 30 years ago puts it like this: “ We are birthing the new generations. Whoever I meet today, I can help that mother be as confident as possible leaving the hospital. That way she will enjoy her parenting journey, and if you’ re enjoying something you’ re good at it. What we’ re about is giving the best start to women in their life as a mother. ”
As we celebrate Mother’ s Day this weekend, we pay tribute to midwives for the pivotal part they play in the journey to motherhood.
Here, we talk to four midwives – some at the start of their career and others who’ ve gathered experience over decades. We ask each why she became a midwife, what she finds rewarding and challenging, how the pandemic impacted her work and what changes she’ d like to see in the maternity services.
‘ A midwife inspired me’
“ I decided to become a midwife after having my children. A midwife inspired me with the birth of my second child, Isabel. I’ d had a difficult birth with my first daughter — she has complex medical needs — and I was nervous going into the next birth. This midwife gave me such a wonderful feeling of power and strength. She let me lead the birth and told me I was in charge, I was in control. I felt I could move mountains. I wanted to give that power back to other women because I know it’ s so easily removed.
“ What I find most rewarding is the women. People hear ‘ midwife’ and think boiling water, towels and you’ re just there to catch a baby. Being a midwife is about so much more than the birth. Midwives prepare women for the transition to motherhood. A lot of people assume being a mother starts when you have a baby — it starts when you get pregnant.
“ The challenges are usually staffing issues. As students we spend time with community midwives, so we go to homebirths as well. We see the continuity of care, where midwives get all this time with women. In the hospital, midwives give it their all, but it’ s so hard without enough staff.
“ As students, the pandemic meant we automatically became more involved in the hospital. When women didn’ t have support partners with them, we were the people in the room who got to be that. It was a privilege to be the person standing with the woman, supporting her emotional needs, to be there at such a vulnerable moment, making it less vulnerable and more powerful.
“ I’ d like to see the National Maternity Strategy implemented for more continuity of care. We see the benefit of that when we’ re out with the community midwives — all the trust and the bonding. You can’ t replace that. ”
‘ They need emotional support’
“ I became a midwife because I love babies. I always thought women building up the new generation needed loads of care, especially at this vulnerable time. Though pregnancy isn’ t a disease, they need emotional support.
“ It’ s rewarding for midwives because even though mothers go through so much pain if the pregnancy is successful there’ s a very fruitful ending. The pregnancy loss ward is hard on many midwives. But these mothers and couples need support and care. It doesn’ t matter how many weeks they’ d gone with the pregnancy, they will have had dreams for the baby. When you lose a baby, the whole family is shattered. You can’ t run away from this. Somebody should be there for these mothers and I’ m happy to be that person.
“ Staff shortages is the most challenging, especially during Covid. We wanted our ward to run efficiently and effectively but we were all getting burned out.
“ During the pandemic, the ward I work on became a Covid-19 ward. On top of pregnancy loss and women with gynaecological issues, we had pregnant women with Covid-19, as well as women who’ d delivered their babies who had the virus. This went on for two and a half years. Now the pandemic is under control, we’ re back to caring just for pregnancy loss and gynaecological patients.
“ When I had my babies – I had two C-sections – I could feel each and every thing I had learned. I could now relate to the patient’ s pain and discomfort. I breastfed my babies exclusively and I could understand the difficulty a breastfeeding mother goes through. As a mother in the pregnancy loss ward, I know what a mother would have looked forward to, her dreams for her baby.
“ Midwives are providing excellent care but if we had more of them each mother and baby would get special attention. ”
‘ Biggest challenge is not having enough staff’
“ I went back to midwifery. I love it even more now. I get so much job satisfaction — I never got that buzz in politics.
“ It is rewarding that you can make such a difference to the birth experience, the ante-natal and the post-natal experience in preparation for parenthood. Women are very strong people. They can feel so empowered when they have the knowledge and can decide what birthing journey they want and when they achieve that.
“ Having a baby is a huge change in someone’ s life. Simple things — the bit of empathy, the practical advice, taking the baby for a few minutes to let the mother have a cry, the extra TLC — it’ s not very hi-tech but what midwife means is ‘ being with woman’. If the woman feels I’ ve minded them and I’ ve given 100% and they know my name and feel I was their midwife for that day, if they come back in two years time and say ‘ I remember you’, that makes it worthwhile.
“ The biggest challenge is not having enough staff. It’ s an ongoing problem. More people are training as midwives than ever. Some go into it with an airy-fairy idea but you have to really love it — it’ s hard work, unsociable hours. Lack of staff means very high patient-staff ratios. A midwife could be looking after 12 mothers and babies overnight on the ward I’ m on. We’ ve a huge deficit of middle-ranking midwives — people with five to 10 years’ experience often go off to fertility clinics or GP settings. | general |
Irish Examiner view: TB is still a killer, and we can't let it thrive due to complacency | Then president Sean T O'Kelly visiting a young patient during the official opening of a 50-bed tuberculosis ( TB) unit at St Raphael's, Montenotte, Cork, in September 1948. File picture: Irish Examiner Archive
Covid-19 and its variants grab the headlines, but coming up on our blind side is a worrying increase in tuberculosis — a disease which, like smallpox and malaria, we thought we could control and ultimately defeat.
TB, once known as the ‘ White Plague’, is back with a vengeance, says the WHO, which identifies it as the second biggest infectious killer after Covid, claiming 4,100 lives every day around the world. During the pandemic, rates of infection increased for the first time in more than a decade.
Experts say Ireland needs to appoint a national tuberculosis controller, and that the Russia-Ukraine war, with its mass displacement of people, is likely to further increase the incidence of the disease in the West. | general |
Slightly lower salmon prices for next week | Currency focus in a stable market.
“ It has turned out to be enough fish, even though less are being harvested. We have experienced price pressure, especially on large fish ( airborne to Asia). Actually on the fish to Europe as well, ” says a buyer to SalmonBusiness.
“ It points to an NOK 80-85 ( EUR 8.4-8.9) level, ” he says about the salmon price for the coming week. He adds that he paid NOK 84-88 ( EUR 8.8-9.2) for 3-6 kg salmon last Friday.FactsEvery Friday after lunch, SalmonBusiness report spot prices for salmon. These are fish to be delivered the following week. We contact several links in the value chain, including farmers, exporters and importers, and always have at least five independent sources, although not all sources are necessarily displayed. We vary the sources we use and do not use the same sources each time. “ It is a weakening, ” he continues. “ Too much that stops on planes, both capacity, but also covid that is definitely not finished in the world. ” No major movement “ It seems that it will be down to 80-82 kroner ( EUR 8.4-8.6), ” says an exporter. “ There have been a number of fish left today, which have proved difficult to sell. Some say they have less fish to harvest. It is a motley picture, but not large movements. Prices weaken a little, but not much, ” he adds. However, a fish farmer sees stable prices. “ 85-87 kroner ( EUR 8.9-9.1) for 3-6 kg. 6+ kg has hung after the last week, ” he says, and refers to a price curve that goes sideways. “ Sideways in Norwegian kroner means increased price for the customer in euros, a couple of kroner, because there is a change in currency here, ” he remarks. Pressure Currency is an important key word today. “ A lot of currency-based, ” says a trader, and continues: “ The euro is at 9.50 ( vs NOK), and that is quite a lot actually. If customers say they buy for nine euros ( delivered to the European continent – editor’ s note), it means 81 kroner to the farmer. We buy on that. ” “ It is quite similar price of 3-6 kilos, but price of 6+ is 3-4 kroner ( EUR 0.3-0.4) lower. This means that not many planes fly east. Air freight has become so expensive. Customers are unable to defend their purchases. And China has shut down much of its market because of the corona. So then there will be price pressure westwards, towards the USA. ” “ It is not so long since we locked the currency ( euro vs NOK) at 10.20. Only there it is 5-6 kroner, ” he points out.
“ It is a weakening, ” he continues. “ Too much that stops on planes, both capacity, but also covid that is definitely not finished in the world. ”
No major movement “ It seems that it will be down to 80-82 kroner ( EUR 8.4-8.6), ” says an exporter.
“ There have been a number of fish left today, which have proved difficult to sell. Some say they have less fish to harvest. It is a motley picture, but not large movements. Prices weaken a little, but not much, ” he adds.
However, a fish farmer sees stable prices.
“ 85-87 kroner ( EUR 8.9-9.1) for 3-6 kg. 6+ kg has hung after the last week, ” he says, and refers to a price curve that goes sideways.
“ Sideways in Norwegian kroner means increased price for the customer in euros, a couple of kroner, because there is a change in currency here, ” he remarks.
Pressure Currency is an important key word today.
“ A lot of currency-based, ” says a trader, and continues: “ The euro is at 9.50 ( vs NOK), and that is quite a lot actually. If customers say they buy for nine euros ( delivered to the European continent – editor’ s note), it means 81 kroner to the farmer. We buy on that. ”
“ It is quite similar price of 3-6 kilos, but price of 6+ is 3-4 kroner ( EUR 0.3-0.4) lower. This means that not many planes fly east. Air freight has become so expensive. Customers are unable to defend their purchases. And China has shut down much of its market because of the corona. So then there will be price pressure westwards, towards the USA. ”
“ It is not so long since we locked the currency ( euro vs NOK) at 10.20. Only there it is 5-6 kroner, ” he points out.
post @ salmonbusiness.com | general |
Construction in Colombia - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Construction in Colombia - Key Trends and Opportunities to 2025 ( H2 2021) '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
This report has raised its forecast for Colombia's construction output growth to 13.6% in 2021 from 11.9% previously, after posting an upwardly revised decline of 25.8% in 2020.
Over the remainder of the forecast period ( 2022-2025), growth is expected to moderate to an annual average of 6.5%. The higher forecast for 2021 reflects favorable base effects and the stronger-than-expected construction activity in Q1 2021, despite the second wave of Coronavirus ( COVID-19) infections.
The forecast also assumes additional progress in vaccine rollouts, which will allow hard-hit sectors such as retail, office and leisure and hospitality to recover faster over the next quarters. Improving external conditions amid higher oil prices and strong US growth are also expected to bode well for business investment and growth over the rest of the year, while a looser fiscal position ahead of the presidential election next year will further help drive domestic demand.
Figures from National Administrative Department of Statistics ( DANE) showed that construction output in Colombia rose for the third successive quarter during Q1 2021, rising by 17% quarter-on-quarter ( Q-o-Q) in Q1 2021, from an upwardly revised increase of 0.1% in Q4 2020 ( -0.2% previously). The infrastructure segment posted the biggest increase ( 14.4%), followed by residential and non-residential buildings ( 5.7%) and specialized works ( 4.8%).
The stronger-than-expected quarterly performance in Q1 will probably be followed by a marked slowdown in Q2, as the economy took a hit in May due to nationwide protests over the now withdrawn tax reform which caused roadblocks and shortages of key inputs, and made it difficult for construction workers to reach their job sites. Many construction works throughout the country were, as a result, affected or stopped in recent months.
According to the Colombian Chamber of Construction ( CAMACOL), there were over 1,700 construction projects affected across country due to the road blockades as of May 26th, 2021, and over 1.3 million jobs in the same situation as of June 9th, 2021, as workers have not been able to travel to construction sites.
The government's focus on infrastructure and the continuity of programs that promote the development and financing of housing, such as Viviendas de Interest Social or Social Interest Housing ( VIS) and non-VIS, is nevertheless expected to support the expansion of the industry in the second half of 2021 ( H1 2021).
CAMACOL projects that 232,300 housing units ( 160,980 VIS units and 71,315 non-VIS units) will be sold by the end of this year, in an increase of 13.4% compared to 2020. It also projects that the construction of 166,016 new home units will start. Moreover, ongoing efforts to accelerate the completion of Colombia's fourth generation ( 4G) road infrastructure program and push forward with plans of its fifth generation ( 5G) concessions program should continue to drive the industry's growth in the quarters ahead.
Market Analysis, Information and Insights
Scope
Reasons to Buy
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance
3 Context
3.1 Economic Performance
3.2 Political Environment and Policy
3.3 Demographics
3.4 COVID-19 Status
3.5 Risk Profile
4 Construction Outlook
4.1 All Construction
4.2 Commercial Construction
4.3 Industrial Construction
4.4 Infrastructure Construction
4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction
4.6 Institutional Construction
4.7 Residential Construction
5 Key Industry Participants
5.1 Contractors | general |
Global Cannabidiol Oil Market Research Report to 2026 - by Product, Source, Distribution Channel, Application and Region - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Cannabidiol Oil Market Research Report by Product, by Source, by Distribution Channel, by Application, by Region - Global Forecast to 2026 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Cannabidiol Oil Market size was estimated at USD 690.04 million in 2020, is expected to reach USD 877.66 million in 2021, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 27.29% to reach USD 2,935.91 million by 2026.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Cannabidiol Oil Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Cannabidiol Oil Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
World Liquid Biopsy Market Research Report 2022: Cancer, Usage, Biomarker, Place, & Product with Price and Volume Outlook Including Executive and Consultant Guides - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Liquid Biopsy Markets by Cancer, Usage, Biomarker, Place, & Product With Price and Volume Outlook. Including Executive and Consultant Guides and Customized Forecasting and Analysis '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Screening, Diagnostic, Therapy Selection, Recurrence Monitoring and Screening Market Potential are all explored in this report. What is the impact of the COVID pandemic on the Liquid Biopsy market? We look at Price and Volume Outlooks by type of cancer. This report provides a detailed analysis.
Circulating Tumor Cells? Cell Free DNA? Exosomes? Find out about the technology in readily understood terms that explain the jargon. Find the opportunities and the pitfalls. Understand growth expectations and the ultimate potential market size.
A revolution in cancer diagnostics is occurring using in vitro blood testing to identify cancer DNA. The technology has created the possibility of widespread screening for all types of cancers with a blood test.
GRAIL, a new company with impressive backing, has announced a single blood test to detect all cancers. The company is now working on a 10,000-plus subject study, called the Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas ( CCGA) to help identify cancer early. The technology is moving faster than the market. The new technology that definitively identifies disease conditions from blood samples is poised to replace expensive invasive surgical biopsy procedures. The market is still in its infancy but has just moved out of the development phase and into the growth phase.
The impact on the health care industry is enormous. The report includes five year market forecasts. In addition, the report looks at potential market sizes by country, by cancer and by the four types of usage: screening, diagnosis, therapy selection and recurrence monitoring.
Use independent research that makes you the expert. Get the research team working for you by ordering this comprehensive report. Get an extra player on your team as unlimited assistance and breakout data is included with your purchase.
The report includes detailed breakouts for 15 Countries and 4 Regions along with breakouts for Lung, Breast, Colorectal, Prostate, Cervical, and Other Cancers as well as breakouts by Screening/Early Detection, Diagnostic, Therapy Monitoring and Recurrence Monitoring.
Key Topics Covered:
Liquid Biopsy Recent Developments
Market Trends
Factors Driving Growth
Factors Limiting Growth
Instrumentation and Automation
Diagnostic Technology Development
Market Overview
Players in a Dynamic Market
Using Biopsies
Biopsy Sites
The Situation Today - Biopsy Analysis
Evidence of Cancer - Liquid Biopsy Technology | general |
The Worldwide Heparin Industry is Expected to Reach $ 11.8 Billion by 2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Heparin Market Research Report by Product Type, by Route of Administration, by Application, by End User, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Global Heparin Market size was estimated at USD 5,821.78 million in 2020 and expected to reach USD 6,419.68 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 10.70% to reach USD 11,862.15 million by 2027.
Competitive Strategic Window:
The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.
FPNV Positioning Matrix:
The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Heparin Market based on Business Strategy ( Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction ( Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.
Market Share Analysis:
The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.
The report provides insights on the following pointers:
1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players
2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets
3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments
4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players
5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R & D activities, and breakthrough product developments
The report answers questions such as:
1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Heparin Market?
2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Heparin Market during the forecast period?
3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Heparin Market?
4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Heparin Market?
5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Heparin Market?
6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Heparin Market?
7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Heparin Market?
Market Dynamics
Drivers
Restraints | general |
U.S.-China Economic Decoupling Is Under Way Because of the Russian War | About the author:
George Magnus
is a research associate at Oxford University’ s China Centre and at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He was chief economist of UBS and is the author of
Red Flags: Why Xi’ s China Is in Jeopardy.
The official readouts of the recent
remote meeting
between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping were unsurprisingly different. Biden warned about the “ implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia. ” China’ s somewhat defiant response rejected “ sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions ” as dangerous for the world economy. This diplomatic exchange served to emphasize not only the huge sensitivity of sanctions but also that political and economic decoupling is now moving up through the gears.
Financial markets, predictably, didn’ t seem immediately fazed. But companies are taking note.
China is in an awkward position. Xi craves stability ahead of the important 20th Communist Party conference late this year. The Chinese economy was already facing headwinds from an overhang of debt, a tipping point in the property sector, employment pressures, and stalled productivity. Covid prevalence has surged, at least by Chinese standards. Lockdowns and restrictions could affect provinces accounting for
nearly half
of gross domestic product.
Now, China also faces surging fuel, commodity, and food prices in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, which could take up to 1% off already-anemic growth. The last thing that Xi wants is to become embroiled in a new sanctions row if he is deemed overly complicit in Putin’ s war.
Xi’ s instinct for now is probably to continue to walk the precipitous path between backing Putin just enough and keeping the wrath of the U.S. and European Union at bay. His own political prospects are closely tied to what happens to Putin, and we should assume that he wants a fellow autocrat to prevail against the West. Yet there are limits. Russia is small beer economically compared with the $ 1.3 trillion of bilateral trade China does with the U.S. and EU, and the vast infrastructure of dependence on foreign direct investment, access to global capital markets and the U.S. dollar, and the acquisition of crucial technology, know-how, and research-and-development inputs.
Also Read:
Delisting Chinese Stocks Is Still on the Table
Where to Invest in Asia Now
In other words, China thrives and depends on engagement in the global economy. If these relationships were to fracture further, no one would benefit. A more isolated China would be a diminished force economically.
The beginning of the war marks a period of decisive change for China’ s relationship with the world. China will be determined to “ sanction proof ” its economy and financial system,
if that’ s even possible
. It, along with its liberal adversaries, will strive to rely less on one another’ s products and supply chains in the most sensitive areas associated with broadly defined national security.
Companies in China have gradually, if reluctantly, been drawn into controversial legal and regulatory disputes. While focused on commitments to China’ s large markets and middle class, they have had to manage in an increasingly awkward business environment. China has recalibrated its industrial policy and imposed more-politicized regulation and more-controlling administration systems. The business environment has also deteriorated in the wake of the trade war, development of entity lists, export controls, blacklisting of companies, market access restrictions, and rows over human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Covid restrictions and closed borders have simply made more pressing the need to reconsider the integrity and regionalization of supply chains, to diversify away from sole-source suppliers and ensure that business plans remain functional in the event that even one product or material should be subject to new sanction or regulation.
Competing regulations, laws, systems, and standards have also been driving firms to disengage or decouple in, for example, digital, innovation, and research spaces, as they look at the widening risk of bifurcated systems, standards, and data management.
In areas of high strategic or national security importance, there are already different systems. Firewalls are being erected directly through restrictions on market access, negative lists that restrain foreign investors, and national security measures, and indirectly through the application of party- and state-determined standards and licensing requirements.
We should hope that the kind of macro and financial decoupling that is now in full view in Russia never applies to China, but the gauntlet has been thrown down. Companies will be obliged to pay close attention to contingency plans, diversification strategies, and decoupling of supply chains in some areas, at least as far as China goes. They will also find themselves increasingly subject to competing laws and regulations, for example, over sanctions, monopoly and competition policy, and national security. Companies might be forced to choose whether to follow Chinese laws and antagonize their home governments and shareholders, or to flout them and face an altogether different music.
It is true that the unprecedented interdependence between China and the rest of the world can not be quickly or easily ended. Nonetheless, decoupling has started and is likely to gather momentum in years to come. The consequences of the war in Ukraine, and the threat of secondary sanctions against China over its support for Russia or, perhaps one day, its actions on Taiwan, mean that for companies the prior alignment of corporate and national interests is pretty much over.
Guest commentaries like this one are written by authors outside the Barron’ s and MarketWatch newsroom. They reflect the perspective and opinions of the authors. Submit commentary proposals and other feedback to
ideas @ barrons.com
. | business |
Therapeutic Solutions International Completes Purchase of FDA Phase III JadiCell Stem Cell Investigational New Drug Application from University of Miami | Transfer of Trial Sponsorship Final Major Milestone before Initiation of Lung Failure Pivotal Clinical Trial
OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Therapeutic Solutions International announced today the execution of a purchase agreement covering sponsorship and leadership of the FDA cleared Phase III pivotal trial assessing JadiCell adult stem cells for treatment of COVID-19 associated lung failure.
“ This pivotal trial has significant implications not only to COVID-19 patients with severe lung compromise but also the significant population of patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome ( ARDS), ” said Dr. Thomas Ichim, Director of the Company. “ If the trial is successful, we anticipate FDA registration of JadiCell as the first cell based therapeutic to address ARDS which represents a multibillion-dollar market. ”
The Company previously licensed issued patent # 9,803,176 B2 covering the composition of matter of the JadiCells and has filed nine additional patents on novel uses and combinations as well as one manufacturing patent. The purchase of the Investigational New Drug application allows the Company to run the clinical trial as an “ Industry Sponsored ” investigation as compared to “ Investigator Initiated, ” thus allowing full control of trial conduct.
As part of the trial organization, the Principal Investigator has been changed to Dr. James Veltmeyer and Therapeutic Solutions International, Inc as the Sponsor. | general |
Global Boat Market to 2025 - Analysis By Boat Type, End-user and Region - ResearchAndMarkets.com | DUBLIN -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- The `` Global Boat Market: Analysis By Boat Type ( Motor and Sail), By End User ( Pleasure, Fishing, Military and Commercial), By Region ( NA, Europe and APAC) Size & Trends with Impact of Covid-19 and Forecast up to 2025 '' report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The report provides a detailed analysis of the global boat market with analysis of market size in terms of by value, volume and segments and etc.
The report also includes a detailed regional analysis of the global pleasure boat market of regions such as, Middle East, North America and Europe comprising of its market by value and volume. Under the competitive landscape, the global boat market players have been compared on the basis of revenues and market capitalization.
The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the market has also been forecasted till the period 2025, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.
Company Coverage
Regional Coverage
The global boat market can be split up on the basis of application type and type of propulsion. On the basis of application type, the market can be further bifurcated into pleasure, fishing, commercial and military boats. On the basis of propulsion, the market has been split into motor boats and sail boats.
The global boat market is forecasted to grow at a healthy rate during the coming years. The market is supported by various growth drivers such as taking up of boating more frequently as a recreational activity, increasing number of high net worth individuals ( HNWI), improving customer confidence index and efforts by governments in major countries such as the US and China to generate interest of boating among the masses.
Environmental issues due to the use of certain materials during boat manufacturing and affects of adverse weather conditions on the revenue-generating capacity of boat players are some of the challenges faced by the market.
Rising M & A activity, autonomous boats in pipeline, adoption of IoT technology, initiatives of attracting millennials towards boating, innovative materials used for boat building emergence of beacons and commercialization of hybrid leisure boats are some of the latest trends existing in the market.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
2.1 Boats: An Overview
2.2 Global Boat Market: Supply Chain Analysis
2.3 Global Boat Market Segments
3. Global Market Analysis
3.1 Global Boat Market: An Analysis
3.1.1 Global Boat Market by Value
3.2 Global Boat Market: Propulsion Type Analysis
3.2.1 Global Boat Market Value by Type of Propulsion ( Motorboat and Sailboat)
3.2.2 Global Motorboat/ Powerboat Market by Value
3.2.3 Global Sail Boats Market by Value
3.3 Global Boat Market: Application Type Analysis
3.3.1 Global Boat Market Value by Application Type ( Pleasure Boat and Others)
3.3.2 Global Pleasure Boat Market by Value
3.3.3 Global Pleasure Boat Market Value by Region ( Middle East and Rest of the World)
3.3.4 Global Pleasure Boat Market by Volume
3.3.5 Global Pleasure Boat Market Volume by Region ( North America, Europe and Rest of the World)
4. Regional Analysis
4.1 Middle East Boat Market: An Analysis
4.1.1 Middle East Pleasure Boat Market by Value
4.2 North America Boat Market: An Analysis
4.2.1 North America Pleasure Boat Market by Volume
4.3 Europe Boat Market: An Analysis
4.3.1 Europe Pleasure Boat Market by Volume
5. Market Dynamics
5.1 Growth Drivers
5.1.1 Boating as a Recreational Activity
5.1.2 Increasing High Net Worth Individuals ( HNWI) Population
5.1.3 Improving Consumer Confidence Index
5.1.4 Government Initiatives to Improve Tourism
5.2 Challenges
5.2.1 Environmental Issues
5.2.2 Adverse Weather Conditions
5.3 Market Trends
5.3.1 Rising M & A Activity
5.3.2 Autonomous Boats in Pipeline
5.3.3 Adoption of IoT Technology
5.3.4 Focus on Attracting Millennials towards Boating
5.3.5 Innovative Materials Used in Boat Building
5.3.6 Emergence of Beacons
5.3.7 Hybrid leisure boats
6. Competitive Landscape
6.1 Global Boat Market Players Analysis | general |
Biggest share of Americans since 1940s say their financial health will get worse in year ahead | The numbers:
The final reading of U.S. consumer sentiment in March fell slightly to 59.4 and stayed at a nearly 11-year low because of high inflation and angst about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What’ s more, the greatest share of Americans since the mid-1940s said they expect their financial situation to get worse in the year ahead, according to the survey
The index registered 59.7 earlier in the month after a preliminary survey. The
report is produced by the University of Michigan
.
The index hit a pandemic peak of 97.2 in April 2021 before beginning a long slide that coincided with the surge in inflation.
Big picture:
Americans aren’ t happy about much right now — and the threat of more disruptions in their lives from the war in Ukraine is adding to their anxiety.
The biggest worry is the
worst bout of inflation in 40 years.
The cost of living has jumped almost 8% in the past year, outstripping a rapid increase in worker pay.
“ Inflation has been the primary cause of rising pessimism, with an expected year-ahead inflation rate at 5.4%, the highest since November 1981, ” said Richard Curtin, chief economist of the survey.
Americans are already paying a lot more for cars, homes, rent food, gas and other staples. The Russia-Ukraine conflict could also prices even higher. Both countries are major exporters of oil, wheat and other key commodities.
The saving grace? Americans say it’ s easy to get a job. The U.S. economic recovery is likely to remain intact so long as the labor market is healthy.
Key details:
A gauge that measure what consumers think about their own financial situation and the current health of the economy slid to 67.2 from a preliminary 67.8. That’ s a 13-year low.
Another measure that asks about expectations for the next six months edged down to 54.3 from an initial 54.4. That’ s an 11-year low.
Looking ahead:
“ Confidence that economic policies will resolve the problem is essential. Unfortunately, half of all consumers unfavorably assessed current policies, more than three times the 16% who rated them favorably, ” Curtin said.
“ Making the situation even more difficult, policy makers need to take account of two unusual sources of economic uncertainty. One rather minor, the new covid variant, and a major source of continued economic disruption, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ” he added.
Market reaction:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.15%
and S & P 500
SPX,
+0.19%
were mixed in Friday trades. | business |
Yokogawa Successfully Completes Proof of Concept for Optimization of Operations at US Wastewater Reclamation Facility Producing Potable Water | - Project receives Transformational Innovation award from the WateReuse Association -
Tapia Water Reclamation Facility, California, USA ( Photo credit: Las Virgenes Municipal Water District)
Tapia Water Reclamation Facility, California, USA ( Photo credit: Las Virgenes Municipal Water District)
TOKYO -- ( BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yokogawa Electric Corporation ( TOKYO: 6841) announces that it has successfully completed a proof of concept test of technology that reduces energy consumption and stabilizes the quality of the water discharged by the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District ( LVMWD), located in Los Angeles County, California. This initiative was undertaken as part of the company’ s proposal to improve the performance of existing wastewater reclamation facilities in conjunction with a program sponsored by the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that seeks to examine opportunities for the overseas deployment of high quality energy infrastructure.
Water stress is an increasingly pressing issue worldwide due to the effects of climate change and the rising demand for water driven by population growth. In order to ensure stability in water resources, more and more countries are looking to make proactive use of reclaimed water. In the USA, the state of California is considering changes in regulations * 1 that will allow the direct use of reclaimed water for drinking water by the end of 2023, and this is the subject of serious discussions and cooperation between the public and private sectors.
This proof of concept was conducted as part of the Pure Water Project and led by the LVMWD, whose aim is to produce potable water from highly treated wastewater in compliance with State water quality standards. Doing so required LVMWD to consider alternative technological approaches, as treating water to potable quality consumes enormous amounts of electricity and is more maintenance intensive. Yokogawa has been studying ways to address such challenges by making use of the company’ s extensive process knowledge and experience in monitoring and control of industrial facilities.
Given the large fluctuations in the quality of the wastewater that flows into reclamation facilities, plant operators must take proper care while monitoring the inflow rate to ensure that the mandated water quality standards are met, and rely on their knowledge and technical expertise to make the necessary adjustments. Yokogawa applied its advanced data driven modeling for optimization ( DDMO) software suite to model and then predict setpoints to optimize operations and support operator decision making while maintaining the targeted water quality at water treatment facilities.
As this proof of concept was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, Yokogawa used its Yokogawa Cloud platform to minimize the site activities and move site data to Japan where the DDMO software utilized real-time operational data to derive control setpoints that were sent back to operators at the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility. After conducting a multifaceted evaluation and performing a concrete verification of effectiveness, it was revealed that improvements in operational efficiency had yielded an over 10% reduction in power consumption, while meeting all water quality standards. Impressed with these results, the WateReuse Association presented Yokogawa and its partners with a 2022 Transformational Innovation award * 2.
Tsuyoshi Abe, a Yokogawa Electric vice president and head of the Marketing Headquarters, says, “ Water is a public asset and a finite resource. Goal 6 of the SDGs is to ‘ Ensure access to water and sanitation for all,’ and this is an important area where Yokogawa can contribute. Toward this end, the effective utilization of reclaimed water as a sustainable water source for communities is a groundbreaking approach. The efficient purification and provision of safe and secure drinking water requires the understanding of all stakeholders and a lot of revolutionary technology. In order to build a circular ecosystem for water resources and create new value, we will work to further strengthen our collaboration with partners to drive forward co-innovation, and utilizing our capabilities to measure and connect, we will fulfill our responsibilities for the future of our planet. ” | general |
The U.S. is talking about a second round of COVID-19 booster shots, and it's going to be even more complicated than last year | Health officials are already talking about rolling out a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. although there are still questions about the efficacy, timing, availability, and formulation of the next round of shots.
Some countries like
France
and the
U.K.
have already said certain members of their populations, including the elderly, those living in nursing homes, and the severely immunocompromised, can get a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In Israel, the majority of adults
qualify for a second booster
.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
currently recommends
that people who are severely immunocompromised should get a fourth dose. But that recommendation may soon change, based on the recent flurry of corporate and regulatory activity around COVID-19 boosters.
BioNTech SE
BNTX,
-5.46%
and Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
+0.34%
are seeking authorization for a fourth shot in people who are at least 65 years old, while Moderna Inc.
MRNA,
-7.66%
in mid-March asked the FDA to allow all adults in the U.S. to get another booster.
“ I don’ t see a world where we do not provide an important vaccine booster to the American people in the fall, ” CEO Stéphane Bancel told investors on Thursday.
The Food and Drug Administration
announced
this week that its vaccine advisory committee is set to meet
April 6
to discuss a framework for future COVID-19 vaccines. The regulator said the meeting won’ t focus on Comirnaty or Spikevax or other COVID-19 vaccine applications but is instead intended to more broadly examine the future of COVID-19 vaccines, including variant-specific shots and who should get them.
“ Here in this country, we’ re looking at it and letting the data drive us, ” Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’ s chief medical adviser,
said Wednesday during a press briefing
. “ The FDA will call their [ vaccine committee ] to take a look at the long range of where we might go with new variants and where a fourth shot fits in with that. There’ s also the immediate situation of looking at what we might do over the next few weeks to a month. ”
And this is where the latest COVID-19 booster debate gets complicated. It’ s not just about whether another round of shots is needed. It’ s whether a booster should be based on the original Wuhan strain of the virus ( as our current vaccines are) or on the omicron variant. It also has to do with timing: Are boosters needed right now? Will we need a round of shots in the fall, as suggested by Moderna’ s Bancel?
Then there’ s the very American question of how it’ s all going to get paid for. White House officials say there is only enough COVID-19 funding to allow the immunocompromised and seniors to get a fourth dose unless Congress agrees to provide more pandemic funds. ( The Kaiser Family Foundation said Friday that there are only enough doses for 70% of seniors to get a fourth dose at this time.)
“ Without more funding, we can’ t procure the necessary vaccine supply to support fourth shots for all Americans, ” Jeff Zients, the White House’ s COVID-19 response coordinator until April 5, said at the same briefing. “ Furthermore, if things change and there’ s a need for a new vaccine, a new formulation — for example, a variant-specific vaccine — we won’ t be able to secure doses for the American people. ”
Putting aside the question of federal funding, there are still many unknowns about what the next phase of a pandemic vaccination program could look like in the U.S.
When about 275 health care workers at a medical center in Israel were given a second booster, it only slightly increased their protection against omicron, according to
correspondence
published March 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The workers were immunized with either the Comirnaty or Spikevax booster four months after getting their third shot of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.
“ We observed low vaccine efficacy against infections in health care workers, as well as relatively high viral loads suggesting that those who were infected were infectious, ” the researchers concluded. “ Thus, a fourth vaccination of healthy young health care workers may have only marginal benefits. ”
Research like this can help inform pandemic policy makers. It can also raise additional questions, including: Will the current COVID-19 boosters continue to protect people against the BA.2 subvariant if they get a fourth dose now? Will the omicron-specific or pan-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in development do a better job protecting against the variants that are currently in circulation?
“ The problem is the vaccines were developed against the original Wuhan strain, ” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious-disease physician and executive associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine, told MarketWatch last month. “ As variants have evolved, we’ ve seen a decrease in the efficacy of vaccines. The vaccines stay the same, but the variants are changing. You can start doing a vaccine for specific variants, but then as the virus evolves, there’ ll be more variants. More strategically and more important is to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine. ”
The U.S. Army is in the process of analyzing Phase 1 data for a pan-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which targets the original strain of the virus and all variants of concern. The experimental shot may also be effective against the original SARS from 2002. Moderna is working on three types of boosters: a second dose of its already authorized booster, an omicron-specific vaccine, and a bivalent vaccine that equally targets the original wild-type virus and the omicron strain. BioNTech and Pfizer are also developing an omicron-based vaccine.
This next generation of COVID-19 vaccine candidates aims to go beyond the original strain of the virus, which was first identified in Wuhan, China, back in 2019. Instead, they aim to protect against omicron, now the most dominant strain of the virus worldwide, or target SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. One day there may even be a “ pan-coronavirus ” vaccine for all coronaviruses, including the ones that cause the common cold.
“ If we ever get there, that will take years, ”
Fauci said March 2
. “ But what we’ re focusing on first is a pan-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which means a vaccine that would be highly effective against ancestral strain — alpha, beta, delta, omicron — or any future SARS-CoV-2 that we might experience. I believe that is much, much closer than the pan-coronavirus vaccine. ”
Medical experts still make it a point to mention how well the COVID-19 vaccines have performed, particularly when it comes to preventing the kind of severe disease that leads to hospitalization and death, even against the new variants that emerged in 2021.
The goal now, however, is to develop an even more effective set of vaccines and treatments, in order to prepare for an uncertain future.
“ How can we try and design a vaccine that is able to combat multiple different types of variants? ” asks Dr. Rachael Piltch-Loeb, an associate research scientist at the NYU School of Global Public Health and a preparedness fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “ That effort is certainly worthwhile as we think about the future of the virus, which is, from my perspective, a virus that we will continue to grapple with for years to come. The need or desire for a vaccine for people who are willing to get it will be alive and well for a long period of time. ” | business |
Airport-based study found first U.S. case of BA.2 subvariant of omicron in December | An airport-based COVID-19 surveillance program detected the first known U.S. case of the highly transmissible omicron BA.2 subvariant in December, according to a new study that was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“ We enrolled arriving international air travelers in SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance, using molecular testing of pooled nasal swabs, and sequencing positive samples for viral lineage, ”
wrote the authors of the report,
which has not yet been peer-reviewed. “ Traveler-based genomic surveillance provided early warning variant detection; we reported the first U.S. Omicron BA.2 and first BA.3 in North America, weeks before next reported detection. ”
The study involved more than 16,000 travelers and was carried out by the CDC with partners the XpresSpa Group
XSPA,
-1.87%
,
which pivoted from offering spa services at airports to passengers waiting for flights into a testing site during the pandemic, and biotech Ginkgo Bioworks
DNA,
-2.15%
,
which has a network of laboratories across the U.S.
The results suggest that pooled testing of international travelers may be an effective way to monitor new variants of the virus,
the New York Times reported.
U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline overall, and the country is now averaging 30,387 new cases a day,
according to a New York Times tracker,
down 15% from two weeks ago, but slightly higher than Thursday’ s count.
The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 19,875, down 39% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 830 a day, down 36% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number.
But cases are again rising in 11 states, as well as American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Cases are up 44% in New York, up 35% in Kentucky from two weeks ago, up 23% in Arkansas, up 21% in Colorado, up 18% in Connecticut, up 17% in Texas, up 15% in Massachusetts, up 11% in Rhode Island, up 5% in Washington, D.C., and up 1% in Illinois.
Experts have said that the U.S. would likely see another wave of cases in a week or two, following a renewed wave in Europe, which typically is about three weeks ahead.
Vaccination rates have ground to a halt in the U.S., however,
according to the Washington Post,
which reported Friday that the seven-day average stood at fewer than 182,000 a day on Wednesday. That’ s lower than at any time since they became available.
Booster shots have become more popular than primary shots but are still way below levels seen in many Western European countries, even as those have suffered rising cases in recent weeks.
The omicron variant and its subvariants have caused many breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, but those have mostly been mild or asymptomatic. Public health agencies and experts continue to say that vaccines offer the best protection against severe disease and death and are urging the unvaccinated to get their shots.
Other COVID-19 news you should know about:
• New York City’ s mayor exempted athletes and performers — notably, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and players on the city’ s two major-league baseball teams who have not disclosed their vaccination status — from the city’ s vaccine mandate Thursday as expected, while keeping the rule in place for private and public workers who risk losing their jobs for refusing to get inoculated,
the Associated Press reported.
Several public employees unions whose members were fired for refusing the shots blasted Mayor Eric Adams for apparently lifting the rule only for the wealthy and famous. Adams dismissed the criticism, saying exemptions for athletes and performers were important to the city’ s economic recovery.
• China counted almost 5,000 COVID cases on Friday as the omicron variant continues to spread, creating frustration with the country’ s zero COVID policy,
the Guardian reported.
After the death of a nurse in Shanghai who was denied hospitalization after suffering an asthma attack, many are angry that
China’ s approach
may be causing more deaths than the virus itself. The news echoed cases of people who died during a lockdown in Xi’ an last year because they were denied medical care due to strict rules.
MarketWatch editor in chief Mark DeCambre and Barron's deputy editor Ben Levisohn take a look inside this week's biggest market news. Office Hours, Barron's and MarketWatch journalists take questions from readers.
• Australia and El Salvador have become the latest countries to approve a fourth vaccine shot, or booster dose,
the New York Times reported.
El Salvador’ s president, Nayib Bukele,
announced on Facebook
last week that boosters would be offered to everyone above the age of 12. Australia will offer boosters to vulnerable people starting in April.
Read now:
COVID vaccinations have ground to a halt in Ukraine, WHO warns, and Russia has carried out 64 attacks on healthcare systems and workers
• Novavax
NVAX,
-8.65%
said its experimental COVID-19 booster is being tested in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. This study is evaluating Novavax’ s protein-based booster candidate in people who have already received the primary series of shots developed by BioNTech SE
BNTX,
-5.14%
and Pfizer Inc.
PFE,
+0.21%
,
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
+0.69%
or Moderna Inc.
MRNA,
-8.67%
.
Novavax’ s COVID-19 vaccine has not been authorized in the U.S.; it is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. The study is enrolling 1,130 adults; approximately 180 of them will receive the Novavax shot as a booster.
Don’ t miss:
The U.S. is talking about a second round of COVID-19 booster shots, and it’ s going to be even more complicated than last year
Here’ s what the numbers say
The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 477.7 million on Tuesday, while the death toll rose above 6.11 million,
according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University
.
The U.S. leads the world with 79.9 million cases and 976,073 fatalities.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ s tracker
shows that 217.3 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 65.4% of the population. But just 96.9 million are boosted, equal to 44.6% of the vaccinated population. | business |
Oil rises after reported strike on Saudi oil facility, with global prices up nearly 12% for the week | Oil futures finished higher on Friday, giving up earlier declines and boosting global prices by nearly 12% for the week, after reports of an attack on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia renewed concerns over global crude supplies.
Prices for oil had been trading lower as European Union countries failed to agree on a ban on imports of Russian crude. Ongoing supply concerns, meanwhile, prompted prices to post their first weekly gain in three weeks.
Price action
West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery
CL.1,
+0.24%
CL00,
+0.24%
CLK22,
+0.24%
rose $ 1.56, or 1.4%, to settle at $ 113.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the contract finishing up 10.5% for the week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
May Brent crude
BRN00,
-1.13%
BRNK22,
-1.18%
,
the global benchmark, added $ 1.62, or 1.4%, at $ 120.65 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, with prices up almost 12% for the week.
April natural gas
NGJ22,
+2.70%
rose nearly 3.2% to $ 5.571 per million British thermal units — ending up nearly 15% for the week.
April gasoline
RBJ22,
+1.27%
rose 2.4% to $ 3.47 a gallon, for a 7.1% rise on the week, while April heating oil
HOJ22,
-2.37%
declined 0.9% to $ 4.115 a gallon, with prices up over 14% from the week-ago finish.
Market drivers
Yemen’ s Houthi rebels attacked an oil depot Friday in the Saudi city of Jeddah ahead of a Formula One race,
the Associated Press reported
, adding that the attack targeted the same fuel depot the Houthis attacked in recent days.
“ Reports of a hit on Saudi Aramco are coming at a time were supply risk is higher than it had been in years, ” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group, told MarketWatch. “ This is only going to make the supply demand deficit worse. ”
Several European Union countries have resisted pressure for an embargo on Russian oil due to their heavy reliance on supplies from the country.
The EU can’ t sanction Russian oil completely, but the attack on an oil facility reminds traders that Yemen’ s Houthi rebels have the ability to shut down production in Saudi Arabia, Flynn told MarketWatch.
The U.S. and
U.K. have already moved
to ban imports of crude from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
“ Only the U.S. and U.K. have said they will no longer purchase Russian crude and products, ” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, in a daily note, estimating that total amount of oil involved is around 900,000 barrels a day in aggregate.
Still, “ it’ s tough to be short oil as U.S. inventories continue to dwindle ” and there are bound to be more supply shocks in the future, he said.
Baker Hughes
BKR,
+1.12%
on Friday, however, reported a
weekly rise in the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs
.
“ Oil prices could remain very sticky at current levels and eventually push higher when China eases all COVID restrictions in catch-up mode to the rest of the world, ” Innes said.
Meanwhile, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium said crude loadings have resumed out of its terminal on Russia’ s Black Sea coast, after an interruption earlier this week due to bad weather, noted Warren Patterson, head of commodities at ING, in a note.
President Joe Biden, speaking in Brussels,
announced an agreement
that would see the U.S. boost trans-Atlantic shipments of liquefied natural gas as part of a long-term plan aimed at weaning Europe off its dependence on Russian gas.
Read:
Why Biden’ s landmark natural gas deal won’ t break Europe’ s dependence on Russia — but could transform the market over the long run
Also read:
Why OPEC+ is likely to stick to its oil output plan when it meets next week | business |
Don't panic -- - 3 reasons to be cheerful | This is what
my old friend Peter Bennett
used to call, sardonically, “ A Triple-Oymygaad! ”
Inflation is through the roof.
There’ s an oil crisis. A looming food crisis. You name it.
War is raging in Europe.
Russia’ s dictator is starting to sound unhinged. And headlines are now linking him with chemical weapons and
nuclear weapons
.
Ohmyhgaad- Ohmyhgaad- Ohmyhgaad!
Things are so bad that stories which would normally be front page news—like the waves of Covid cases and deaths, China locking down cities, and North Korea firing off long range missiles—barely rate a mention.
Nuclear weapons?
No wonder stocks have been tanking this year.
U.S. consumer confidence numbers are at lows only seen during the global financial crisis and crises of the 1970s. Indicators like the American Association of Individual Investors’ weekly sentiment survey, and the CNN Fear & Greed Index, show investors are at extreme levels of misery.
If you’ re tempted to cash out the stock funds in your IRAs and 401 ( k) s and hide under your desk, you are not alone.
But before you do…listen to Jim Paulsen.
He’ s the chief investment strategist at Midwestern money management firm Leuthold Group. And he recently gave a presentation to clients that could have been called—
with apologies to the late Ian Dury
— “ reasons to be cheerful. ”
In a nutshell, Paulsen argues: Things are not as bad as you think they are. He thinks the economy is in much better shape than the headlines would tell you. The stock market’ s going to be headed back up, sooner rather than later. Oh, yes, and that there are good profit opportunities available to any individual investor.
Take it or leave it, but Leuthold is not your usual Wall Street bookie. The Midwestern firm is a pretty skeptical, feet-on-the-ground place. It even runs a “ Grizzly Short Fund, ” which bets on stock prices falling. They’ re not usually mindless cheerleaders.
What’ s Paulsen’ s case? Here are his 3 key reasons to look on the bright side.
Everything is reopening
The big news of the moment, largely forgotten in the current panic from Eastern Europe news, is that the pandemic is over. Policy makers, and even the media, have finally come to accept that Covid isn’ t going away but will have to be managed: It will be “ endemic, ” instead of a pandemic. Net result: The world is reopening. Businesses are starting up again. People are going to travel. They are going to shop. They are going to go out to restaurants.
Oh, and critically—the stores are going to have to restock their empty shelves, after two years of supply chain crisis. Inventories are at historic lows compared with gross domestic product, he points out. Business order backlogs are near 30-year highs. Furthermore, he adds, consumers are sitting on about $ 1.5 trillion in extra savings because they have spent less money over the past two years.
While the Atlanta Federal Reserve’ s real-time GDP tracker shows first quarter growth tumbling, Paulsen points out the Citi U.S. Economic Surprise Index is surging upward. And it has a record of leading where GDP follows. Meanwhile, corporate earnings are looking extremely healthy and estimates have been revised upwards since the start of the year.
As for the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, the actual effects on the U.S. economy are likely to be smaller than the headlines would suggest, and temporary, Paulsen argues. And that’ s true whether the war ends soon ( let us hope), or it turns into a protracted stalemate.
Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!
The U.S. economy created 1.2 million new jobs just in the first two months of this year—a stunning achievement, and one achieved despite the lingering drag of the Omicron Covid outbreak. There is a lot of room still to grow. We’ re still more than 2 million jobs below the pre-Covid peak, and Paulsen notes that after every recession since World War II the jobs market has risen to fresh highs—often much above the previous peak.
U.S. Labor Department numbers suggest the economy could generate another 7 million jobs just to get back in line with the growth trend seen just before the pandemic. Paulsen points out that the unemployment rate has plummeted in the 44 states with the smallest economies, but not yet in the “ Big Six ” that actually contain most of the jobs—namely California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, wages are booming. The Atlanta Federal Reserve’ s proprietary “ wage tracker ” shows annual wage inflation skyrocketing to 5.8% — higher than at any time since at least the 1990s. But as Paulsen points out, most of this wage growth is among the lower-skilled and lower-paid, who are finally getting ( slightly) better wages. So we’ re hiring millions more workers and they have a lot more money to spend—especially those most likely to spend.
Inflation?
This brings us to the 800-pound cliché in the room, namely inflation. This is the current source of panic, and much talk about 1970s style “ stagflation. ” The official inflation rate hit a horrendous 7.9% in February, the highest in decades. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is officially alarmed, and has stopped saying it is “ transitory. ” Paulsen says it’ s probably the biggest risk right now. If the Fed doesn’ t bring down inflation, he says, the recovery will be over pretty quickly.
But…well, as Paulsen puts it, “ inflation hysteria is everywhere—except in the financial markets. ” Despite all the panicky headlines, the bond market isn’ t worried about inflation. Nor is the stock market, or the foreign exchange markets.
In the 1970s, for example, when inflation hit 6% the bond market responded by demanding an 8% yield on 10-year U.S. Treasurys, to reflect the risks. Today that yield is not even 2.5%. In the 1970s, surging inflation crashed stocks. This time around, there’ s been a correction but so far it is reasonably modest. Oh, and in the 1970s surging inflation tanked the U.S. dollar on foreign exchange markets. This time the dollar is rising.
The Atlanta Fed says current inflation is mostly in things with highly flexible prices, like cars, fuel, clothes and food. Those prices can go down as fast as they go up. The inflation rate among “ sticky ” items like rent or medical care, where prices tend to stick once they go up, is barely 4% it says. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Fed calculates that most current inflation is due to reopening and supply chain issues following the two-year crisis.
The key inflation measure to watch is the so-called five-year “ break-even rate ” in U.S. bonds, a technical measure that is effectively the bond market’ s own five-year inflation forecast. And it’ s up—it’ s been rising for over a year—but it is still 3.57%, or less than half the current inflation rate. In other words, the bond market is still predicting inflation is going to halve from these levels, and reasonably quickly. If you know something the bond market doesn’ t, go out and make yourself rich.
Reasons to be bullish? Maybe, maybe not. But as sentiment is already near maximum gloom, logic suggests the next move is more likely to be up than down. | business |
Why Housing May Not Get as Hammered as Usual in This Rate Hike Cycle | Recent data suggest that the housing market is cooling quickly as
mortgage rates climb
. But there are reasons to remain upbeat on housing even as economists predict pain.
Sales of existing homes, which make up most of the market, unexpectedly fell 7% in February from a month earlier, as the average 30-year mortgage rate rose to about 4.1% in February from 3.6% in January, according to Bankrate. Economists warn that’ s just the start, as the Federal Reserve begins tightening monetary policy. Housing demand lags behind mortgage rates by two to three months, says Jefferies chief economist Aneta Markowska.
“ Bottom line, this is the most interest-rate-sensitive sector of the economy, and it will probably struggle ” in the first half of the year, says Markowska. Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, points out that mortgage applications have already dropped by more than 10% from their peak; he says that such applications are likely to fall much further in the second quarter. “ The market is turning down; expect a sustained weakening, ” Shepherdson says.
The Economy
More recent columns and coverage by Lisa Beilfuss
Food Prices Keep Going Up. The Impact May Be Felt Far Beyond the Supermarket.
Here’ s Why It’ s Time to Focus on the Inflation Economists Ignore.
Stagflation Is Here. Is Recession Next? Real Wages Hold the Key.
Wall Street’ s warnings are warranted, given the inflation problem that the Fed has only just begun addressing. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell
suggested in a speech
on Monday
that the central bank is prepared to raise interest rates in half-point increments—perhaps as soon as its May meeting and possibly well above the so-called neutral rate that represents a just-right economy. While housing will no doubt soften as interest rates rise, there are a couple of reasons, apart from demographics and the work-from-home trend, to bet that it holds up better this time versus past tightening cycles.
First, consider what Roberto Perli, head of global policy at
Piper Sandler
,
says about Powell’ s “ unmistakably more hawkish ” tone, despite any new economic data at the time he publicly spoke. Voters of all stripes don’ t like inflation, and politicians are probably letting Powell know, Perli says. “ Political winds may shift quickly if Fed tightening slows down the economy, ” he adds. “ We have zero doubt that Powell would respond to that situation, just like he is responding to the opposite now. ” In other words, Powell’ s bark may be worse than his bite.
That isn’ t to suggest that, for housing, a sharp economic slowdown is a good trade-off for lower mortgage rates. It is simply to say that the Fed may opt to protect growth at the expense of bringing consumer price inflation—now running at 7.9% —to within striking distance of its 2% target.
That’ s a bet many are making. Investors keep plowing money into housing, despite growing macro risks, says Rick Palacios, director or research at John Burns Real Estate Consulting. In the most recent quarter, investor purchases surged 42% from a year earlier, and the firm says investors now account for 33% of U.S. home purchases—about five percentage points higher than the average share over the past decade.
While some traditional home buyers surely sped up their purchases before the Fed lifted rates this month, investors often buy homes in cash and aren’ t directly affected by mortgage rates, Palacios says. Large investors are quickly taking share from the mom-and-pop investors that have long made up the vast majority of housing investors, and he estimates that roughly $ 60 billion in institutional money is currently aimed at the space. “ Investor activity was crazy last year. It’ s now even crazier, ” he says.
The mania reflects investors’ elevated inflation expectations. They are buying real estate as hedges, parking cash in a place where they can raise rents as wages and overall prices climb. That is as supply-chain problems fail to improve in the way economists and policy makers have hoped. For home builders, Palacios says supply issues are worsening as China locks down again in response to rising Covid-19 cases and the war in Ukraine takes significant amounts of commodities out of the market.
That is all exacerbating a housing shortage that helped push prices about 20% higher last year. For perspective on how limited supply is helping home values, there were about a million more homes available for sale when mortgage rates last hit 4.5%, Palacios says. His firm recently lifted its 2022 home-price appreciation estimate to 12% from 8%.
Economists say rising prices, especially alongside rising mortgage rates, are a headwind for near-term housing activity. But given that housing makes up about 40% of the consumer price index, and because rent prices follow home prices by roughly 12 to 18 months, investors can expect housing to continue to push up inflation. Inflation should in turn push housing—nearly a fifth of gross domestic product—higher.
One way for stock investors to participate is through real estate investment trusts. Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
,
recently suggested allocating more to the asset class, with a focus on residential. The
iShares Residential & Multisector Real Estate
exchange-traded fund ( ticker: REZ) is one that gives exposure to apartments and single-family homes, among other investments.
Despite reasons to remain positive on housing, investors can’ t dismiss that owner-occupied, and thus more mortgage-rate-sensitive, buyers still make up the majority of the housing market. And, says Palacios, as quickly as investors have driven up home prices, so too can they accelerate a housing downturn should the U.S. fall into recession. But given the number and zeal of housing investors, and given record-low inventory, Palacios says that investors would quickly put a floor beneath prices. “ If anything, they’ re eager to see opportunities come up because the market has been so hot, ” he says.
It is a double-edged sword, as investors buying a bigger share of homes worsens the affordability problem confronting many buyers and translates to higher rents for those not willing or able to buy. For now, though, investors may help protect the housing market, related stocks, and the overall economy from some of the pain that rising rates otherwise make inevitable.
Write to
Lisa Beilfuss at
lisa.beilfuss @ barrons.com | business |
I’ m 60, a school bus driver and bartender with $ 165,000 saved for retirement and a spender mentality – ‘ is there any hope for me?’ | Dear MarketWatch,
I turned 60 in November. I’ ll be the first to admit I spent my money as fast as I made it most of my life. I always felt like everything would just work out in the end. Somehow.
I go through cycles of paying off debt ( mostly credit card) then behaving for a while, then slowly accumulating more debt. My credit score is in the low to mid 700’ s. I don’ t own anything except a 15-year old car. I never bought a home because taxes scared me. I never married so it’ s just me, no pension or spousal Social Security to look forward to. I rent a house from my brother who gives me the ‘ family discount’ and for that I’ m very grateful. My rent money only pays about 3/4 of his property tax.
I was a career bartender from ages 21-51, lots of cash that I spent on a lot of vacations. I am not a saver and have always lived paycheck to paycheck. Fortunately my former boss started a 401 ( k) for us and I have around $ 150,000 in that. I now drive a school bus – which is technically
part time
although I get 30+ hours a week, plus I still bartend on the weekend. I started a 401 ( k) with the bus company about four years ago along with a Roth IRA. Between the two I have around $ 15,000 right now. I’ m pretty sure I’ m going to have to work until I drop, but is there any hope for me?
I get to the point where my credit cards are paid down and I have money to put aside. I have a very small nest egg of around $ 1,000, nowhere near what I should have. I try to add to it but I am currently in the cycle of running my credit cards up again. Partly because being a paycheck to paycheck kind of gal, I got Covid and was off work for 10 days. Having three weeks off at Christmas did not help. I hurt my foot and then my knee, so I have missed a bit of work here and there. It’ s one step forward and three steps back.
I see on here people with $ 1 million or more
set aside
for retirement and they’ re concerned. I don’ t live lavishly by any stretch. I’ m glad I traveled when I did because I can’ t do much now. I just want to be able to pay my bills, take care of my dog. I don’ t need a lot. My brother, who I rent from, is six years older than me and has told me that he has no intention of selling the house so I don’ t have to worry about moving. He also left it to me in his will, but hopefully that’ s something I won’ t have to think about for many years to come. Do you think I will ever be able to retire? I like my job very much, but realistically if my health goes south or I can’ t pass the tests to keep driving then I am in a pickle.
See:
I retired at 50, went back to work at 53, then a medical issue left me jobless: ‘ There’ s no such thing as a safe amount of money’
Dear reader,
First of all, there’ s always hope. You may not feel like you’ re in an ideal situation, and you may wish you could have changed a few of your ways leading up to your 60s, but there’ s still plenty of time for you. Aside from the fact that nobody ever really knows when they’ ll retire – they may have all the plans in the world laid out, but sometimes, the unexpected happens – you have many years ahead and you seem dedicated now to turning things around. That drive makes a huge difference.
I’ d like to start with your
spending habits
. You are clearly aware that you’ re more of a spender than saver, and you can even highlight a few recent examples of where things went wrong, like during the time you were off from work around the holidays. Look carefully at what you’ re spending on. If they’ re necessities, that’ s one thing. You need groceries, toilet paper, light bulbs, so on. But if they’ re impulse buys, such as after perusing Amazon’ s latest deals or your favorite clothing store online, you should try to course correct now. We’ re all guilty of an impulse buy here and there, but if you are aware that you just naturally gravitate towards that kind of behavior, you’ ll have an easier time curbing it.
There are
plenty of tips
out there to try and slow a spending habit. If you get a lot of promotional emails in your inbox boasting of the biggest discounts and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, unsubscribe from those emails ASAP. If you need clothes, or some sort of gadget, you can search for it when you need it and look for the best coupons. If you tend to spend money you don’ t have for items you don’ t actually need – or even necessarily want – prevent it from happening. ( Again, I think we’ ve all been there before!)
Then
analyze your spending
. Given what you’ ve told me, I’ d suggest you get statements from as far back as December for your credit or debit cards, since you mentioned you had that problem around Christmas. Look at every single line item – the store and the amount especially, and ask yourself if you remember what you spent on, if it was really worth it, or if you can maybe cut back. While doing this exercise, you may find you’ re paying for stuff you actually have no use for, like a magazine or streaming service subscription, or you may find that you’ ve been spending so much money on things you don’ t care about that you’ re not able to put money toward the stuff you actually care about, including your
retirement savings
. If after this, you see you have even more money you can play with than you thought, set up another savings fund, such as one for
travel
. Depriving yourself of things you enjoy
will not
make you a better saver.
Check out MarketWatch’ s column
“ Retirement Hacks ”
for actionable pieces of advice for your own retirement savings journey
So those are a few backward-looking tasks to understand where you’ re coming from and why you’ re in this predicament. Now let’ s look ahead.
You need to get a handle on how much money comes in, and how much money goes out. Count up all of your income, and if it’ s variable because of the bartender job, be conservative and pick an average on a regular or slow day ( not one of your best or busiest days). Then write down all the things you actually have to spend on – rent, groceries, utilities, medicine, and so on. See what you have left over and before you go trying to spend it on fun things, earmark a significant portion for your retirement savings. You can stash it in your
IRA
or in an investment account. If you have a lot more excess than you expected, you can ask your company to increase your 401 ( k) contribution, which may be an extra bonus for you as that money would then not show up in your paycheck ( thereby reducing an urge to spend it on something frivolous).
Another bonus? If you’ re low-balling your income, and then find yourself with a bunch of good days at your bartender job, have a plan for how you’ ll spend that extra money you didn’ t intend to receive. Maybe put half toward retirement, a quarter towards another savings goal and the rest toward your next month’ s bills for example. You can break that up however you want, of course.
Also, you said your credit card balance is starting to tick in an
upward trend
again – stop what you’ re doing and see if you can take a break from charging things. Do you have some groceries in the back of your cabinet that are still good but you just haven’ t touched? Instead of going out for dinner with friends, can you plan to hang out at home with each person bringing something delicious to share? Of course, the necessities you can’ t avoid – if you need your medication, or you have important doctor appointments or you have just no food in the house, then do what you have to do, but if you can stretch out the time between now and when you next charge something discretionary on your credit card – even if it’ s just for a week – you’ ll feel empowered.
Also see:
I’ m 66, single with no family, and am afraid of becoming incapacitated with no one to handle my affairs – who should I turn to?
There’ s not much you can do about how much you’ ve saved over the last 40 years, but you can keep on top of that nest egg by making sure it is invested appropriately. You need that money to last you as long as it possibly can, which means it needs some risk to earn returns, and some fixed assets to protect from major downturns. I suggest working with a financial professional, even if it’ s only for a few hours, to do a financial check-up. They’ ll be able to assess how you’ re invested and what you can do to keep that money growing.
Also, you’ re too young to claim Social Security now, but if you want a little more light at the end of the tunnel, make an
online account
with the Social Security Administration’ s website so you can see an estimate of your benefits at various claiming ages. You might want to claim as early as you can to get extra cash flow, which would be 62, or you might find you can afford to hold out a little longer while you’ re working, in which case, you’ d see how much you’ d get later. If you can, try to plan out when you’ d claim Social Security and how you’ d spend that income – if you’ re able to rely mostly on your benefit and just a little extra cash, you can draw down less from your retirement assets, which will give more of your retirement savings an opportunity to continue to grow.
Remember, there’ s no right answer for when to claim – it is completely based on personal preference. But it is important to weigh all of your options, and a financial professional could help with that.
As for right now, do everything in your power to “ behave ” as you said. Changing habits can be very hard, and it takes weeks or more to see any meaningful difference, but you seem very capable of making it happen. During the pandemic, many households altered the way they spent money, and those changes seem to be sticking,
one survey found
.
Keep thinking about what each dollar can do. When you want to splurge on something, or you’ re seeing extra cash after paying your bills, look at each dollar as a chance to increase your retirement savings, which will give you the ability to live comfortably in your old age, maybe eventually leave your job before you “ drop ” and worry less about paying your bills in the future. Good luck!
Readers: Do you have suggestions for this reader? Add them in the comments below.
Have a question about your own retirement savings? Email us at
HelpMeRetire @ marketwatch.com | business |
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