Analytics & News

Wind Point Partners Acquires Vertellus Specialties Inc

13 Dec 2007

CHICAGO, IL -- Wind Point Partners, a private equity investment firm, has announced that it has acquired Vertellus Specialties Inc. ("Vertellus") in partnership with Richard ("Rich") Preziotti. Consistent with Wind Point's investment strategy...

Methods for market volume forecasting

01 Nov 2007

There are four main methods to assess market volume. 1. Forecast on the basis of average growth rates. This method implies origination of mathematical function which describes market growth rates over a period of time. Then the forecast of the fu...

Effective strategy choice

01 Nov 2007

Given current sharp competition and overabundance of players on the market, the effective marketing strategy is a key factor which governs company success on the market and brings it to a new business level. Professional marketing researches may...

FGDs: strengths and limitations

01 Nov 2007

Implementation of FGDs is an iterative process; each focus group discussion builds on the previous one, with a slightly elaborated or better-focused set of themes for discussion. Provided the groups have been well chosen, in terms of composition and...

EU 'blue card' to tempt skilled

23 Oct 2007

The European Commission is set to unveil a Blue Card for skilled immigrants, based on the US Green Card, reported The BBC. The card would allow suitably qualified people and their families to live and work within the EU. The EU says it needs...

Eurotunnel cuts rail freight cost

22 Oct 2007

Eurotunnel is halving the cost of taking rail freight through the Channel Tunnel, as it attempts to win more business from the ferry operators, reported The BBC. The average toll for a train of freight will be £3,000 from the start of next...

JJB Sports acquires 10% in Umbro

20 Oct 2007

JJB Sports has bought a 10.1% stake in sportswear firm Umbro in a move to protect its stake in the market for England football shirts, reported The BBC. Reports a day earlier said an unnamed suitor had targeted Umbro, sending its shares 27.5% hig...

Fight cyberbullies, schools told

21 Sep 2007

Schools are being given guidance urging them to take firm action against pupils who use mobile phones and the internet to bully other children and teachers, reported The BBC. More than a third of 12 to 15-year-olds have faced some kind of cyberbu...

Microsoft Recalls Xbox Racing Wheel After Overheating

23 Aug 2007

Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, will offer customers a free retrofit for the racing wheel of its Xbox 360 game consoles, voluntarily recalling them because some have overheated, reported The Bloomberg. There have been a ``a v...

Immoeast Acquires Shopping Mall in Moscow for EU450 Mill...

16 Aug 2007

Immoeast AG, an Austrian real-estate developer that sold shares in May to fund expansion in eastern Europe and Russia, bought a shopping-mall project in Moscow for about 450 million euros ($604 million), reported The Bloomberg. The ``GoodZone'' s...

Carl Zeiss Meditec Profit Rises on Surgical Buy

14 Aug 2007

Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, a German maker of medical lasers to correct vision defects, said third-quarter profit rose 56 percent after the company consolidated the acquisition of a surgical unit from its parent, reported The Bloomberg. Net income in...

Revlon Net Loss Narrows on U.S. Demand, Reduced Operatin...

08 Aug 2007

Revlon Inc., the cosmetics maker controlled by financier Ronald Perelman, said its second-quarter loss narrowed on lower operating costs and higher U.S. sales, reported The Bloomberg. The net loss shrank to $11.3 million, or 2 cents a share, from...

Microsoft Xbox Repair Costs May Cut Fourth-Quarter Profi...

19 Jul 2007

Microsoft Corp., the world's biggest software maker, may report slower fourth-quarter profit growth today after paying as much as $1.15 billion to fix faulty Xbox video-game consoles, reported The Bloomberg. Net income probably rose to 32 cents a...

Pirelli Re, RREEF Agree to Purchase Baubecon for EU1.7 B...

17 Jul 2007

Pirelli & C. Real Estate SpA and Deutsche Bank AG's property unit RREEF agreed to buy Baubecon GmbH from Cerberus Capital Management for 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) including debt, reported The Bloomberg. RREEF will purchase 60 percent o...

Sanofi Diet-Pill Rejection Shows Management Missteps

17 Jul 2007

Sanofi-Aventis SA, whose weight-loss pill was rejected by U.S. regulators last month, may have mismanaged the drug's development by promising too much and failing to heed safety concerns in patient studies, reported The Bloomberg. The company did...

Danone Raises Its Stake in Wimm-Bill-Dann to 18.4%

29 Jun 2007

Groupe Danone SA, the world's largest yogurt maker, increased its stake in OAO Wimm-Bill-Dann as it boosts its presence in Russia's dairy market, reported The Bloomberg. Danone acquired 4.6 percent of Wimm-Bill-Dann, raising its stake to 18.4 per...

New World China Retail Unit Plans $302 Million IPO

25 Jun 2007

New World Department Store China Ltd., a unit of billionaire Cheng Yu-tung's New World Development Co., may raise as much as HK$2.36 billion ($302 million) in an initial offering to aid expansion, according to a share-sale document, reported The Bloo...

Microsoft to Buy Stake in Chinese TV Maker Changhong

18 Jun 2007

Microsoft Corp., which is losing U.S. users for software that connects televisions to the Internet, agreed to buy a stake in China's second-biggest TV maker as part of plans to develop similar products for the Asian country, reported The Bloomberg....

Volvo to Increase Engine, Gearbox Production Capacity

15 Jun 2007

Volvo AB, the world's second-largest truckmaker, will invest more than $240 million to expand engine and gearbox production as sales boom in eastern Europe and Asia, reported The Bloomberg. Gothenburg, Sweden-based Volvo will invest ``slightly mo...

Fake Lipton Tea, Nescafe Leak Into EU, Hurting Unilever,...

15 Jun 2007

Belgian customs official Chris De Buysscher intercepted a shipment of 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) of fake Lipton tea from China last year. He discovered 800,000 knockoff Oral-B toothbrushes because the accompanying paperwork was vague about thei...

GM, Renault Lead Monthly Drop in European Car Sales

14 Jun 2007

General Motors Corp. and Renault SA led a fourth consecutive monthly decline in European car sales in May after a sales-tax increase in Germany, reported The Bloomberg. New car registrations dropped 1.6 percent to 1.44 million vehicles from 1.47...

China Insurance Regulator Buys 23% of New China Life

30 May 2007

China's insurance regulator said it will buy more than a fifth of New China Life Insurance Co., the nation's fourth-biggest life insurer, after an investigation into the misuse of funds by a former chairman, reported The Bloomberg. The nation's i...

Schools import China's teachers for lessons in 'language...

24 May 2007

All the country's 250 specialist language schools have been told by a government adviser that they should put Mandarin on the curriculum as "the language of tomorrow", reported The Independent. Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Speciali...

Royal & Sun Bids $1.2 Billion for Rest of Codan A/S

24 May 2007

Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group Plc, the U.K.'s second-biggest property and casualty insurer, offered a 15 percent premium to buy shares it doesn't already own in Denmark's Codan A/S for 6.4 billion kroner ($1.2 billion), reported TheBloombe...

BMW to Raise U.S. Production Capacity 43% as Currency He...

15 May 2007

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury cars, plans to increase production capacity 43 percent at its U.S. factory as a hedge against fluctuations of the dollar against the euro, reported the Bloomberg. Capacity at the Sp...

Weak US market hits Adidas sales

08 May 2007

Sportswear giant Adidas has suffered a 13% fall in quarterly profits on the back of weakness in the key US market, reported the BBC. The German firm, which also owns Reebok, saw first quarter profits fall to 191m euros ($260m; £130m) from 2...

China claims major oil field find

04 May 2007

China's biggest oil firm, PetroChina, says it has made the country's largest crude discovery in a decade, reported the BBC. PetroChina said the find off China's north eastern coast had proven reserves of almost three billion barrels. Western...

Prada Profit Rises 63% on Cost Cuts, Miu Miu Sales

27 Apr 2007

Prada SpA, the Italian maker of Car Shoe and Azzedine Alaia fashions, said full-year profit increased 63 percent as costs dropped and shoppers purchased more Miu Miu apparel, reported the Bloomberg. Net income climbed to 76 million euros ($103 mi...

Starwood Profit Surges on Luxury Demand, Accounting Chan...

26 Apr 2007

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which ousted Chief Executive Officer Steven Heyer earlier this month, said first-quarter profit rose on demand for luxury rooms and a year-earlier accounting change, reported the Bloomberg. Net income...

Sony announces PSP price drop for Europe

25 Apr 2007

It must be tough being the PSP. It sells well month after month, there are a number of great games for the system, and homebrew firmware makes Sony's portable one of the best personal media players on the market. This should be a success story, but t...