marylandrbrigha-blog

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UPDATE 1-UBM's strong events unit keeps it on track

LONDON Oct 18 (Reuters) - Britain's UBM said strong growth in its events business, particularly in China, was insulating it from a volatile global economy and keeping it on track to meet its full-year expectations.UBM, which staged September's Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, said it continued to be vigilant for signs of an economic slowdown, but to date had seen no material impact across its businesses."Moreover, given that events now comprise a significantly larger part of our business, that 22 percent of our revenues are generated in emerging markets and that we have substantially lower exposure to print, we believe UBM is a stronger, more resilient business than in previous years," Chief Executive David Levin said on Tuesday.The publisher, which has been reducing its print title portfolio, posted a 16.4 percent rise in adjusted operating profit to 127.5 million pounds ($201 million) on revenue 9.8 percent ahead at 706.2 million pounds for the nine months to end-September.It said forward bookings for its top 20 annual events running in the next 12 months were 16 percent higher than a year ago.UBM said in July it expected its revenue for 2011 to grow by about 5.5 to 6.0 percent, broadly in line with 2010.

#UPDATE #1UBMs #strong #events #unit #keeps #it #on #track

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Battling death at the World Trade Center

This is an excerpt from Unmeasured Strength, Lauren Manning’s account of surviving the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center and her struggle to recover from severe burn injuries. The flames were consuming me, and as the first searing pain hit, I thought, This can’t be happening to me. The fire embraced my body tighter than any suitor, touching every inch of my flesh, clawing through my clothes to spread its hands over me, grabbing left and right, rifling over my shoulder blades, down my back, wrapping my legs in agony, gripping my left arm, and taking hold of both my hands. I covered my face, but I could not scream. My voice was powerless. I was in a vacuum, the air depleted of oxygen, and everything was muffled. The screams, the roar of the fire, the shattering sound of breaking glass— all that was very far away. I was suspended in space. Then my captor slammed me forward. I lurched toward the doors in a desperate effort to get away. As I did, something— I have no idea what— hit me in the back of the head. For a moment, I was pushed against the glass; then I was sucked backward again by a monstrous inhalation that pulled me toward its heart. I battled to escape, fighting my way through the outer doors as the fire grew over me, spreading farther down my head, my arms, my back, my legs. Then, abruptly, I was spit from the fire’s mouth out onto the sidewalk, where I had been standing just seconds before. The fire was all around me now, a shroud of flame. I was suffocating with every gasp of charring fumes. I saw nothing but concrete and pavement, but I knew there was a narrow strip of grass on the other side of West Street, in front of the World Financial Center. I knew with absolute certainty that I had to get there, that the patch of grass offered my only chance to put out the flames, and that if I did not push myself toward it with a razor-edged act of will, I would be annihilated, devoured by unbearable pain and terror. I felt myself sliding toward blackness— and then something primal rose up from the deepest part of my being. My mind was flooded with a vision of Tyler, who’d not celebrated his first birthday. I can’t leave my son. I haven’t had him long enough. I can’t abandon him. I can’t go out like this, running across the street in flames to die in a gutter. All my strength was now focused on a single goal. I had to reach that strip of grass. Without breaking stride I was already running toward it. I could think of nothing else. As I came off the curb, one of my ankles turned under me and snapped. I felt a momentary crushing sensation; for a split second, the focus of my pain shifted, and then the fire took over again. I pushed myself over the cement median. The journey seemed to last for hours. Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening. This pain can’t be real. I prayed for death, in that unspeakable way that people who are experiencing unimaginable pain can. As if summoned, Death seemed to be running beside me, dancing and beckoning, smelling of burned cloth and flesh. But I didn’t believe that even Death would deal a final blow to the pain and end my agony. I reached the grass and dropped down. I began to roll. A man came charging across the grass toward me. He ripped off his jacket and used it to help smother the flames, and as he bent over me, he became the focus of all my pain and anger. Shouting, I implored him to get me to a hospital, to please help me find a way out of this hell. I told him my husband Greg’s cell phone number and yelled at him to call Greg. “Tell him to get down here and help me!” At least three or four others had also reached the grass. At first they’d been screaming, but now they were silent and lay motionless on the bank. I saw more people start to pour out of the tower, some stunned, mouths agape in shock, others screaming in horror. My clothes had been incinerated or torn away. I was writhing in pain, but my adversary’s prolonged and intimate assault was only just beginning. The burn enveloped me, squeezing tighter and tighter. Though its flames were extinguished, its boiling venom was spreading, moving deeper and deeper, its pincers tearing through layer after layer of dermis, fat, and muscle. I twisted and turned, trying to escape, but it kept me effortlessly in its grasp, a weightless force with infinite strength to hold on to me. The pain intensified, breaking upon me in pounding waves, each threatening to send me under. The air was filled with noise, but I was in such agony that I heard only vague, distant sounds: the impact of objects slamming into the ground, the sirens of emergency vehicles, the grinding thunder of bending steel and breaking glass. Far above, a dark cloud belched from the punctured sides of Tower One with such velocity that the tower seemed to cut through the blue ocean of sky, trailing a deep, black scar in its wake. It seemed so incongruous that the same force that tore a gash so high up on the building could have created the fire that engulfed me in the lobby so far below. The pain kept burning through every ounce of my being. I prayed to somehow climb out of my body to escape it. I rocked back and forth in a futile effort to break free. Again I felt myself losing hold, as if my fingers were being pried off a ledge one at a time as I dangled over an abyss. I pleaded with God: I can’t leave, I can’t leave my son. I haven’t had enough time with him. I worked so hard to have him. I can’t leave him now. The impulse to let go grew overwhelming, and I knew I had to push beyond the seductive veil of softness that offered to envelop me and usher me deeply into the bowels of death. My eyes closed, and once again I saw my son’s face. Had it all been in vain? The thought that my love for my son might not be enough, that I might fail to return to him and to all those who needed me, was devastating. I knew I had to do everything possible to get back to him. This was it, the moment when I had to fight to hold on with the last full measure of my strength. I decided to live.

#Battling #death #at #the #World #Trade #Center

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UPDATE 1-Walmart to close Marketside stores next week

* Will keep selling Marketside branded goods elsewhere* Analyst not concerned Express will impact Dollar GeneralBy Jessica WohlOct 14 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc will shut its four Marketside stores next week, abandoning the concept after three years as it works on opening other small shops.Marketside marked Wal-Mart's attempt to give U.S. shoppers a quick place to buy prepared food such as roasted chicken and freshly baked bread for last-minute meals without the need for a trip to a larger grocery store or supercenter. The stores also carry produce, wine and other groceries.The world's largest retailer opened its four Marketside stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area in 2008. A year later, it started to sell some Marketside branded food in other Walmart stores, and it will continue to do so.The four Arizona stores -- in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe -- will close on Oct. 21, a spokesman said on Friday.Wal-Mart is not the first U.S. grocer to abandon the concept of a small shop selling prepared food to consumers looking for quick meal solutions. Supervalu Inc shut down a similar upscale concept store in Chicago, Urban Fresh, in 2009 after just over a year.Now, Wal-Mart is banking on another small-store concept, more aligned with its roots, as a potential growth vehicle in rural and urban locations where its larger shops would not work.Wal-Mart's Marketside stores, at roughly 16,000 square feet, are about the same size as the Walmart Express test format the company launched in June.So far, Wal-Mart is pleased with the five Walmart Express stores in Arkansas, North Carolina and Chicago. It plans to have 11 such stores by the end of the year."We continue to believe it will take multiple years for Walmart to perfect this concept, if ever," said Avondale Partners analyst Mark Montagna.The analyst said he does not expect the expansion of Walmart Express to hurt one of its strongest low-priced competitors, Dollar General Corp , which happens to be making some of its small stores a little bigger.Walmart Express, still in its infancy, recently came under new leadership.Anthony Hucker, who had been a Wal-Mart vice president overseeing Walmart Express, left to join Ahold's Giant Landover grocery division in September.Debra Layton, senior vice president for small formats, layouts and space productivity, is now in charge of Walmart Express.SHRINKING STORE SIZESWalmart Express stores, which range from about 10,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet, feel more like traditional Walmart stores than the Marketside shops. Walmart Express stores are stocked with groceries and some housewares. Pharmacies are included in some of the locations.Earlier this week, Wal-Mart said it would ramp up openings of its Neighborhood Market stores, which at about 42,000 square feet are much larger than Marketside or Walmart Express stores but much smaller than Walmart supercenters.The first Neighborhood Market opened in 1998. There are about 185 such stores now. Wal-Mart plans to open 80 to 100 small and medium-format stores in its next fiscal year. Most will be Neighborhood Markets. This year, it plans to open just 25 to 30 small and medium shops.The majority of Wal-Mart's new U.S. stores -- up to 120 this year and up to 135 in fiscal 2013 -- will continue to be supercenters.Even those are getting a bit smaller.New supercenters are set to be roughly 90,000 to 120,000 square feet. Walmart supercenters used to average about 185,000 square feet.

#UPDATE #1Walmart #to #close #Marketside #stores #next #week

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UPDATE 1-Graphic Packaging to close Indiana plant, cut jobs

The Marietta, Georgia-based company makes paperboard packaging for food, beverage and other consumer products.The company said the closure will have little to no impact on current or future orders.Graphic Packaging, whose customers include ConAgra Foods , Pepsi and Kraft , said it will move business from the La Porte plant to other facilities in the United States.Graphic Packaging's shares closed at $3.86 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

#UPDATE #1Graphic #Packaging #to #close #Indiana #plant #cut #jobs

[marylandrbrigha-blog]

UPDATE 1-Graphic Packaging to close Indiana plant, cut jobs

The Marietta, Georgia-based company makes paperboard packaging for food, beverage and other consumer products.The company said the closure will have little to no impact on current or future orders.Graphic Packaging, whose customers include ConAgra Foods , Pepsi and Kraft , said it will move business from the La Porte plant to other facilities in the United States.Graphic Packaging's shares closed at $3.86 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

#UPDATE #1Graphic #Packaging #to #close #Indiana #plant #cut #jobs

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Thai KCE Electronics shuts plant due to flooding

"At this moment, the flood water has not surged into the estate area; however, the Industrial Estate Authority has asked for cooperation from all companies inside the estate to stop production for safety purposes," its statement said.The power for operations had been shut off since this morning, its said.The damage cannot be assessed at the moment but the company said it had full insurance coverage on property damage for flooding and sufficient cover for losses from business interruption.

#Thai #KCE #Electronics #shuts #plant #due #to #flooding

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Chart of the day, Apple price edition

Many thanks to the wonderful Silvio DaSilva for putting this chart together; I think it explains a lot of what happened with Apple over the years. During Steve Jobs’s first stint at Apple, before he was fired in 1985, he was making consumer products which were far out of the reach of most consumers. The Apple II cost $1,298 in 1977, and that was the bare-bones version with 4K of RAM; if you wanted a more powerful version with a whopping 48K of RAM, that would cost you $2,638. Or $9,862 in today’s dollars. The Macintosh, when it came out in 1984, was even more expensive. $2,495 was a lot of money, back then. (And never mind the LaserWriter: that had a list price of $6,995.) When Jobs was fired, then, Apple was trying to sell consumer products to people who simply couldn’t afford them. But when Jobs returned, in 1996, it was a different story. His first big product launch, the iMac, was priced at $1,300 — or just about $1,800 in today’s dollars. Not cheap, but at least somewhere in the ballpark of mass-market. Today, the entry-level MacBook Air — arguably the most gorgeous computer Apple has ever produced — is $999, just 55% of the real price of 1998′s iMac. And you can get a Mac Mini for $600. And the non-Macintosh products are cheaper still. Here’s what you see when you visit the Apple Store online today: This is a range of hugely powerful computers — the iPad 2 has the same computing power as a 1980s Cray supercomputer — at prices which are accessible to hundreds of millions of people around the world. The iPhone 4S — the first computer in the world to be able to have some approximation of a natural-language conversation — starts at just $199. And the iPhone I’m using right now is being given away for free. (With a two-year contract, but still.) Jobs, of course, can’t take credit for the fact that technology becomes steadily cheaper over time. In fact, his technology has always sold at a premium; given the choice between making the entry-level Apple computer cheaper and making it better, Jobs always chose the latter option. But Jobs can take credit for always being a step or two ahead of the technology curve, for seeing where the technology puck was going, and skating to that point before anybody else. Both in terms of what was possible, and in terms of what wasn’t needed any more. He saw, when he returned to Apple in 1996, that technology had improved to the point at which he could basically put his NeXT workstation ($6,500 in 1990, or $11,267 in 2011 dollars) on the desks of millions of people in the US and around the world. There was a basic level of quality he had to have, in any computer. And by the time that he launched OS X in 2001, he had built a company capable of delivering that quality at a price accessible to the broad non-geek middle classes. The rest is history. Update: I forgot the Lisa! $10,000 in 1983. That’s $22,745 in today’s dollars.

#Chart #of #the #day #Apple #price #edition