Garters Help Tell H&M’s Other Stories in Inditex Chase

Garters Help Tell H&M’s Other Stories in Inditex Chase

Counting on the old adage that sales of affordable luxuries like lipstick and scarves climb in tough times, Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) is rolling out a new chain called & Other Stories that focuses on upscale accessories.

As it seeks to make up ground lost to rival Inditex SA (ITX) and win a bigger share of the $111 billion market for shoes and accessories in western Europe, H&M is opening seven outlets of the chain across the crisis-ravaged region this spring.

Better known for dresses and ballet flats cheap enough to be almost disposable, H&M promises curated style at & Other Stories. The stores feature a selection of more expensive clothing jockeying for space with wardrobe add-ons such as jewelry, lingerie, and shoes in four basic styles ranging from “Industrial” to “Glamorous.”

“H&M is getting a lot of pressure from low-price retailers on the one hand and from retailers like Inditex, which reacts faster to demand in the fashion world, on the other,” said Soeren Loentoft Hansen, an analyst at Sydbank A/S. (SYDB) With & Other Stories, H&M can “build some bridges to a higher price segment.” Read more of this post

Australia 10% Unemployment for 9.6% Punctures Gillard Prosperity

Australia 10% Unemployment for 9.6% Punctures Gillard Prosperity

Keith Darley, a 34-year-old electrician, hears from the government that Australia is the envy of the developed world. Yet the father of two, who employed 22 people a year ago, now works alone and says he’ll be voting against Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the Sept. 14 election.

The world’s 12th biggest economy boasts the lowest benchmark interest rate in 53 years, unemployment less than half of Europe’s, contained inflation and an economic growth rate double the average of advanced nations. Even with these conditions — the best since Gough Whitlam took office in 1972 — Gillard’s ruling Labor Party is 16 percentage points behind the Tony Abbott-led opposition.

“When we see a story that Gillard claims the government has created 900,000 jobs, we know that doesn’t stack up here; that’s not our experience,” said Darley, who lives in Sydney’s western suburbs, where eight of Labor’s 72 national seats are threatened and the unemployment rate is as high as 14 percent. “The voters here are not going to support Tony Abbott because they think he’s better, they’re going to be voting against the current government because they’re sick of hearing everything’s great when they know it’s not.”

Darley reflects a widening gap among Australia’s regions and industries. While national unemployment was 5.4 percent in December, the rate was 10 percent or higher in 9.6 percent of the nation’s 1,402 regions, according to government data that dates back to 2008. In some parts of Brisbane, where five Labor seats are in play, joblessness exceeds 27 percent — the highest on record for the areas. Read more of this post

Billionaire Mittal in India Legal Spat Adds to Investor Unease

Billionaire Mittal in India Legal Spat Adds to Investor Unease

Billionaire Sunil Mittal and his company Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI) are locked in legal battles in India’s top court that some fund managers say could drive wary investors away from the world’s second-largest wireless market. India’s Supreme Court today ordered a lower court to halt proceedings against Mittal until April 15 when it will next hear his challenge to charges relating to Bharti’s purchase of mobile-airwaves beyond the legal limit. A three-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir asked federal investigators to file a reply to Mittal’s petition. Mittal, 55, faces legal battles even as the Supreme Court in February 2012 canceled 122 licenses tied to India’s largest graft case that led to the exit of Bahrain Telecommunications Co. (BATELCO) and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. Foreign direct investment into India’s telecom industry shrank to $93 million in the first 10 months of the year ended March 31, from $2 billion for the previous 12-month fiscal period, according to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

“When I heard about this case, I thought ’Oh, here we go again’,” Taina Erajuuri, a Helsinki-based fund manager at FIM Asset Management Ltd., said by telephone on April 5, referring to Mittal’s case. “I don’t own telecom stock in India, and that’s for a reason. It’s become too unpredictable, with other places being much safer, without legal or regulatory problems.” Mittal, heralded as one of India’s entrepreneurial leaders who started his business in the 1970s by selling bicycle parts, has been charged with acquiring airwaves in excess of a government limit. India’s Central Bureau of Investigation filed criminal charges in December against Bharti, along with government officials and two other carriers, for revising rules to allocate wireless spectrum, which led to a loss of about 8.5 billion rupees ($155 million) to the exchequer. Read more of this post

The global popularity of sushi, coupled with the yen’s 18 percent decline in the past six months, is proving to be a sweet spot for Suzumo, Japan’s biggest producer of automatic sushi-making machines

Sushi machine maker upbeat about yen’s fall, high overseas demand

BY NAOKO FUJIMURA AND TAKASHI AMANO, BLOOMBERG

Ikuya Oneda, president of Suzumo Machinery Co., poses for a photograph with the company’s automatic sushi chefs in Tokyo.

The global popularity of sushi, coupled with the yen’s 18 percent decline in the past six months, is proving to be a sweet spot for Suzumo Machinery Co., Japan’s biggest producer of automatic sushi-making machines.

The company plans to triple overseas sales to as many as 3,000 units from the last fiscal year and is boosting manufacturing capacity to meet demand in foreign markets, President Ikuya Oneda, 69, said Thursday.

“A weaker yen will make it easier for us to do business” abroad, Oneda said, adding that Suzumo may start taking payments in dollars, if customers request, as the Japanese currency weakens.

The firm’s new production line turning out the automatic chefs, which shape rice into blocks to serve with raw fish or other ingredients, will open around November at its plant in Saitama, according to Oneda. Orders for the machines are pouring in from South America, Europe and Asia, as global consumption of seafood is expected to jump by as much as 17 percent per person over the next two decades. Read more of this post

China: Wenzhou’s financial reform fails to bear expected fruit; Wenzhou’s courts are currently in the processes of handling private debt collections exceeding 50 billion yuan (US$8 billion), while the total of private debt in the city has reached 100 billion yuan (US$16 billion)

Wenzhou’s financial reform fails to bear expected fruit

Staff Reporter, 2013-04-08

On the first anniversary of the State Council’s decision to set up the Wenzhou financial reform zone, an official has admitted that the program has not attracted robust investment as previously expected, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reports. Read more of this post

High inventory plagues China’s Fujian garment capital Jinjiang; Six leading sportswear producers, including Anta, 361 Degrees, Xtep, Peak, Li Ning and Dxsport have been forced to close more than 3,000 outlets across the country since last year, with heavy losses arising from their excess stock worth more than 3.72 billion yuan (US$594 million)

High inventory plagues Fujian garment capital Jinjiang

Staff Reporter, 2013-04-08

The city of Jinjiang in Fujian province is a major center of the Chinese garment and sportswear industry, but many of the businesses there are struggling to stay afloat owing to the heavy burden of excess inventory, reports the Beijing-based China Entrepreneur magazine.

Six leading sportswear producers, including Anta, 361 Degrees, Xtep, Peak, Li Ning and Dxsport have been forced to close more than 3,000 outlets across the country since last year, with heavy losses arising from their excess stock worth more than 3.72 billion yuan (US$594 million), said the magazine. Read more of this post