Thought of the Day:
“Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.”
Wilson Mizner
Did you know?
The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
India:
International:
“Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.”
Wilson Mizner
Did you know?
The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
India:
- DLF sells Aman resorts to its founder: Real estate major DLF has completed the sale of its entire stake in Amanresorts — excluding the Aman New Delhi Property, which was earlier known as Lodhi Hotel — to its original founder promoter Adrian Zecha for an enterprise value of $358 million (Rs 2,200 crore). A statement from DLF said that its 100% subsidiary DLF Global Hospitality (DGHL) completed the sale of its entire equity stake in Silverlink Resorts (SRL), the owner of Amanresorts, to Aman Resorts Group (ARGL) — a joint venture between Peak Hotels & Resorts Group (PHRL) and Adrian Zecha. In December 2012, DLF and Adrian Zecha had entered into an understanding wherein DLF planned to sell its entire stake in Amanresorts, barring its Delhi property, to Adrian Zecha for $300 million. To be originally completed by February 2013, the deal ran into trouble and did not materialize. Now, it has been completed for $358 million. DGHL had purchased 100% equity in Amanresorts in 2007 from founder chairman Adrian Zecha for $400 million, including the iconic Lodhi Hotel. Amanresorts had acquired Lodhi Hotel for Rs 73 crore in 2002-03 in the government’s disinvestment programme and rechristened it as Aman Hotel. DLF, after acquiring Amanresorts, hived off Lodhi Hotel into a separate company. Market sources said that the present value of the Aman New Delhi property is much more than the price at which Amanresorts acquired it in the disinvestment programme. According to one expert, the present value should not be less than $120 million (nearly Rs 750 crore). Commenting on the development, Saurabh Chawla, executive director of DLF, said the sale of this business is another major milestone in DLF’s strategy to focus on its core business of real estate and divest non-core businesses and assets. At the same time, Adrian Zecha said, “I am delighted to partner with Peak as they share my vision for Aman’s future growth and are committed to sustain our company’s reputation for many decades to come.” At present Amanresorts has grown to 26 properties in 18 countries. According to a DLF official, the proceeds of the deal will be used to repay a part of the debt of the company. With the divestment of its stake in Amanresorts, DLF has almost completed its restructuring programme to exit non-core businesses like hotels to focus on its main business of real estate development.
- India's e-commerce industry may reach $70 bn by 2020: There is a common saying about the Indian retail consumers'"can't touch, won't buy" mentality. However, this is gradually changingwith the rising trend of online shopping. India's e-commerce business jumped by more than 80 percent in 2013 and the momentum is likely to continue for at least the next five-six years, the founders of the country's largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart, say. Flipkart co-founder and chief executive officer Sachin Bansal said the e-commerce business in India is expected to reach around $50-70 billion by 2020 on the back of a fast growing internet-connected population and improvement in related infrastructure like payment and delivery systems. The size of India's e-commerce market in 2013 was around $13 billion, according to a joint report of KPMG and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The online travel segment contributed over 70 percent of the total consumer e-commerce transactions last year. Bansal said online retail, also known as "e-tail", will lead the industry's growth in the coming years. "Consumer mentality and shopping patterns are changing very fast. Online shopping is going to become mainstream in the coming five-six years," Bansal told IANS in an interview. He said smartphones would be the biggest online shopping driver in the coming years. "Over half a billion Indians will switch to smartphones in the next five-six years. That's going to be a big driver of e-commerce in India," Bansal added. According to Bansal, online shopping is becoming increasingly popular in smaller cities. "Tier-II and Tier-III cities are opening up very rapidly. By 2020, you will have e-commerce penetrated everywhere, whether it is smaller cities or rural areas," said Bansal. Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, Sachin and Binny Bansal co-founded Flipkart in 2007. They claim the company now controls nearly one-third of India's online retail business and has over 1 crore (10 million) registered users. "By 2020, our target is to be a $20 billion company. We are thinking really big. We are investing a lot on technologies, especially on mobiles and the supply chain," said Binny Bansal.
- PC Jeweller Q3 net up by 19% at Rs 79.98 crore: PC Jeweller today posted 19 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 79.98 crore for the third quarter ended on December 31, on account of higher sales. It had clocked a net profit of Rs 66.90 crore in the same period last year, the company said in a BSE filing. Net sales of the company during the October-December period increased to Rs 1,297.95 crore from Rs 1,018.33 crore in the same epriod in 2012-13. The company got listed in December, 2012 after launching an initial public offer of about Rs 600 crore. PC Jeweller has five jewellery manufacturing plants in Dehradun and Noida, had 30 retail stores till last fiscal. Shares of the company were today down by 1.93 per cent at Rs 76.20 apiece on BSE today.
- Gold tumbles on profit-selling, lack of demand: Gold prices tumbled by Rs340 to Rs30,200 per ten grams in Delhi on emergence of profit-selling by stockists at existing higher levels. Silver also fell by Rs180 to Rs44,620 per kg on lack of buying support from industrial units and coin makers. Traders said emergence of profit-selling by stockists at prevailing higher levels mainly kept pressure on gold prices to surrendered moderate ground. They said local demand dried up at current levels and appreciation of rupee against the US dollar also influenced gold. On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity dropped by Rs340 each to Rs30,200 and Rs30,000 per ten grams, respectively. It shed Rs80 in last two trading sessions. Sovereign declined by Rs50 at Rs25,250 per piece of eight grams. In line with a general weak trend, silver ready moved down by Rs180 to Rs44,620 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs30 to Rs44,370 per kg. The white metal had lost Rs300 on Friday. Silver coins plunged by Rs1,000 to Rs86,000 for buying and Rs87,000 for selling of 100 pieces.
- Can a cigar called Rocky Patel tap into India's ultra premium luxury market?: An invite for a cigar tasting is not very common, even for the creme-de-la-creme in India. But even more rare is an evening when Indian cigar lovers get to taste a range of cigars that go by the name of Rocky Patel. And that's probably why Patel, who runs a cigar empire Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company from Florida, US, manufacturing over 20 million premium cigars every year and with a sales turnover of over $45 million, decided to make the experience a very exclusive one recently for aficionados in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. He flew in factory manager Maricza Alvarenga from the Honduras factory where some of the world's most exclusive tobacco is grown and blended, to mingle with the guests and talk about the flavours. "We wanted to create a unique evening where cigar lovers could experience the famous Rocky Patel line of cigars in the right ambience," says Hemanth S, whose Bangalore-based Cigar Conexion is the official importer of Rocky Patel cigars in India. The company has launched cigars in the range of Rs750-2,000 a cigar.
- Tier-III cities drive retail realty market: Jones Lang LaSalle: Tier-III cities are emerging as attractive destinations for retail real estate primarily due to development of infrastructure and increasing purchasing power of consumers in these markets, according to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Cities like Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Surat, Amritsar, Vadodara, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Raipur are emerging as high potential markets for retail development. "High immigration, excellent infrastructure, increasing per capita income and propensity to consume are key drivers for high market potential in the Tier III cities. Besides, growing office market is another important factor for retail development in such markets," the report said. According to JLL, while Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Surat have already emerged as high potential markets, cities such as Kanpur and Raipur are slowly moving up in their market potential and retail maturity index. "While leading cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore have the highest level of market potential and retail maturity; rising income, consumption and infrastructure scenario in other cities make Tier III cities high potential markets for retailers and developers in future," JLL Managing Director - Retail Services Shubhranshu Pani said. Cities like Mumbai and Delhi have witnessed an influx of big-box, fast-fashion and high-end retailers, it said. Other leading cities such as Bangalore, Pune and Chennai have seen reasonably good absorption of retail spaces on the back of high consumerism supported by strengthening IT-ITeS sector and the strong auto, manufacturing and biotech sectors.
- NABARD plans e-commerce portal for artisans' products: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has plans to develop an online e-commerce portal with an aim to provide sustainable marketing platform for products made by rural artisans. "With a view to provide sustainable marketing platform for products or artifacts produced by the rural artisans, NABARD is planning to develop an online e-commerce portal" said NABARD Chairman H K Bhanwala today during his visit to Surajkund International Crafts Mela in Faridabad district. He further said NABARD has come out with a new concept of 'End to End solution' whereby financial support be provided for capacity building. "Based on our learnings and experience that mere training / skill development in isolation of other necessary linkages do not lead to the desired impact, we have now brought out the new concept of 'End to End solution' which means providing financial support in the shape of grant for capacity building as well as loan for setting up of units by Channel Partners," he said. "This will facilitate easy access to credit by the Channel Partners to bring the artisans closer and promote rural non farm sector in a sustainable manner thus leading to creation of more and more employment opportunities or income generation in the rural areas.
International:
- Australia's Billabong says may sell e-commerce businesses: Billabong International Inc said on Thursday it is considering a sale of its two e-commerce businesses as the Australian surf wear company looks to refocus on its core brand. The embattled maker of board shorts and wet suits, which was saved last year by a refinancing deal from U.S. private equity firms Centerbridge Partners LP and Oaktree Capital Management, is looking at strategic options for its SurfStitch and Swell site. It has appointed investment bank Guggenheim Securities to help with the review. Billabong owns all of North American-based Swell and 51 percent of Australia and Europe-focused SurfStitch. The company named Neil Fiske, the former president of Eddie Bauer Holdings and Bath and Body Works, as its CEO last year in an effort to revive the brand. Companies that operate in the so-called surf and skate category have struggled recently. Zumiez Inc reported on Wednesday that January comparable store sales had fallen 7.6 percent. Quiksilver Inc, meanwhile, has been selling assets, including snowboard manufacturer Mervin Manufacturing, in an effort to slim down.
- Nestle Said to Explore Ways to Reduce $30 Billion L’Oreal Stake: Nestle SA is exploring ways to reduce its $30 billion stake in L’Oreal SA and has signaled its intentions to the world’s largest cosmetics maker’s management, people with knowledge of the matter said. Nestle has raised the issue to L’Oreal at the highest levels and both sides have discussed the matter with banks, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Any move to gradually reduce the 29 percent stake could take years, several of the people said, citing the size of the holding and the close, complex nature of the relationship between the companies and the Bettencourt family behind L’Oreal. The two consumer companies would have to agree on the timing, as would the Bettencourt family, which owns 31 percent of L’Oreal. While talks have been on and off again for some time, preparations have picked up ahead of April’s expiry of restrictions on Nestle’s stake imposed by a shareholder agreement with the Bettencourts, some of the people said. The Swiss firm is focusing on paring its investment because cosmetics don’t fit its long-term nutrition and health strategy, the investment ties up capital and has already generated sizable returns, said one of the people. Nestle could decide to retain its holding if the Vevey, Switzerland-based company doesn’t agree on a plan with the maker of Maybelline cosmetics and the family. Nestle, already sitting on more than $6 billion in cash and short-term investments, doesn’t have an immediate plan to redeploy proceeds from a sale, two of the people said. The key for Nestle is selling shares at the right price, one of the people said. No decision has been made about when a sale could start, several of the people said.
- General Merchandise Stores Lead Retail Job Growth: General merchandise stores posted the biggest gain in retail-sector employment growth in January, as the overall pace of jobs growth slowed and the unemployment rate dipped, the U.S. Department of Labor’s monthly employment report showed Friday. General merchandise stores, a category that includes department stores and discounters, added a seasonally adjusted 7,000 jobs to employ 3.1 million last month, while department stores increased employment by 1,800 jobs to employ 1.35 million. Apparel and accessories stores trimmed 1,900 jobs from payrolls to employ 1.4 million, coming off two months of strong jobs gains. In the overall economy, employers added 113,000 jobs in January, which fell below last year’s average monthly gain of 194,000 jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent from 6.7 percent in December. Economists largely blamed the modest growth in employment on severe weather that impacted a large swath of the country in January. Retail employment overall fell 12,900 to 15.2 million. But some categories within retail didn’t feel Mother Nature’s fury as much as others. “It doesn’t look like [general merchandise stores] were impacted by weather at all,” said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Analytics. Hoyt noted that employment at general merchandise stores was up 81,500 compared with a year ago, while department store employment was down 5,300 over the same time period. Hoyt said the decline was an improvement over last year, when employment in the category was down 200,000 compared with the previous year. “This is a dramatic improvement over early last year,” he said. “General merchandise stores had a big turnaround from a year ago as well.” Apparel and accessories store employment was down 12,200 compared with January 2012.
- Dita Von Teese Teams With Bloomingdale's: Bloomingdale’s and Dita Von Teese are tying the lingerie knot. The raven-haired seductress — a former fetish-model-turned-burlesque-queen in Europe and the U.S. — will bring her brand of sexiness to the Bloomingdale’s flagship March 15 with a signature collection of intimate apparel. This will mark Von Teese’s first premium lingerie label for the U.S. market. In addition to the 59th Street flagship, the collection will also be launched exclusively on Bloomingdales.com as well as at five top doors: the trendy SoHo unit in Manhattan; Aventura, Fla.; White Plains, N.Y., and two stores in California — San Francisco and Century City in Los Angeles. “It’s so very exciting to be doing this with Bloomingdale’s, because I have a fascination with lingerie and my first job was in a lingerie store. I later created sexy-looking pinups and began collecting vintage lingerie. That’s what sparked my career,” said Von Teese, who will host an in-store appearance at the flagship March 20. Von Teese made a point of saying she believes women should wear lingerie for themselves, not others. “I don’t put lingerie on for someone else. I put it on because it makes me feel good and ladylike. Even as a little girl it made me feel like a lady…. I’m trying to change women’s lives and their point of view about lingerie because the lines of what’s sexy and what’s not sexy have been blurred…. Why would a woman wait for a special occasion to wear her nicest things? I want to give women accessible glamour with my lingerie collection,” Von Teese said. She added that she will oversee a social-media campaign to market the launch.
- Asian Incubator New to NYFW: Tokyo’s design school Vantan is introducing Asia Fashion Collection New York, an incubator project in partnership with Japanese department store retailer Parco. Shunji Nagasawa, chief executive officer of Vantan, said, “We are pleased to offer our top design students the exciting opportunity to travel to the United States and show their collections on an international stage.” The Asia Fashion event shows tonight at 8 p.m. in The Salon at Lincoln Center, and marks the first runway show for six emerging designers at New York Fashion Week. The designers — three rising stars and three of Vantan’s design students — are: Yumiko Sei, Akiko Kishimoto and Suzuki Maaku from Vantan; Won Ji Yuen from South Korea; Tzu-Yun Wu from Taiwan and Mim Mak from Hong Kong. Gaku Mizoguchi, executive officer for New Business Planning Group at Parco, said, “The initiative is particularly exciting to our company because it creates a global showcase as well [as] promotes commerce, which will ultimately help the Asian market flourish.” Asia Fashion Collection was founded as an incubator project to evolve the fashion industry across Asia. Supported by Vantan and Parco, the initiative has the cooperation of Asian industry organizations such as the Korean Fashion Association, Taiwan Textile Federation and Hong Kong Trade Development. The program enables selected designers to participate in New York and Tokyo fashion weeks, as well as exhibitions and promotional events throughout Asia. In recent years, there’s been a greater presence of international designers showing at New York fashion week.
Currency:
· 1 USD= ₹ 62.183
· 1 EUR= ₹ 84.738
· 1 GBP= ₹ 102.075
· 1 AUD= ₹ 55.644
Glitter Meter: India
Gold (INR/10g) | Silver (INR/kg) | |||
City | Current | Change | Current | Change |
Chennai | 30100.00 | 0 | 44820.00 | -335 |
Mumbai | 29630.00 | 0 | 44820.00 | -335 |
Delhi | 29390.00 | 0 | 44820.00 | -335 |
Kolkata | 29510.00 | 0 | 44820.00 | -335 |
World Indices:
Exchange | Last | Change |
DJIA | 15794.08 | +165.55 |
FTSE 100 | 6571.68 | +13.40 |
CAC 40 | 4228.18 | +40.08 |
DAX | 9301.92 | +45.34 |
Nikkei | 14626.79 | +164.38 |
Hang Seng | 21605.65 | -31.20 |
Sensex | 20376.56 | +65.82 |
NASDAQ | 4125.86 | +68.741 |
*Disclaimer:
World One Consulting Pvt Ltd will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this newsletter including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals.
World One Consulting Pvt Ltd will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information contained within this newsletter including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals.