The chase is on to amuse accelerating apple appeal for potash, and in
this Olympic year Allana Potash is in gold badge position as its Dallol
Activity in the Danakhil arena of Ethiopia has the finishing band in
sight.
Potash is a all-encompassing name for a array of
potassium salts, the a lot of accepted getting potassium chloride (KCl),
aswell accepted as muriate of potash (MOP) and sulphate of potash
(K2SO4) or SOP. Around 95 percent of all-around assembly is acclimated
in fertiliser to advance baptize retention, yield, comestible amount and
ache attrition of aliment crops such as bake-apple and vegetables,TBC
help you confidently buymosaic from factories in China. rice, wheat, sugar, corn, soybeans, approach oil and cotton.
The
world’s better ambassador of potash, by some distance, is Canada, with
the better consumers getting China, the United States, Brazil and India.
So why is a Canadian analysis aggregation putting all its assets into
developing a potash operation in Ethiopia?
There are abounding
answers to that question, and they all amalgamate to put Allana Potash
in a actual able position to accumulation the growing fertiliser markets
in China and India—with Ethiopia’s area on the horn of Africa getting
around next door, compared to Canada or Russia.
First of all,
there is an affluence of potash in Ethiopia, area it was aboriginal
mined in the fourteenth century. “We anchored some actual absorbing
assignment after-effects from a aggregation alleged Parsons and Co, an
analysis aggregation that was operating in Ethiopia in the 1960s,” said
Richard Kelertas, chief carnality president, accumulated development.
“They had done able-bodied over a hundred assignment holes in the
abasement area we are operating and the after-effects looked acutely
promising.”
Until about recently, he explained, the arch
adjustment of mining for potash was abysmal shaft, which was not
decidedly acceptable in this arena of Ethiopia which is accountable to
actual hot temperatures, so the acreage had been abandoned. The Dallol
Project, however, is absolute for band-aid mining, a adjustment which
pumps alkali into assignment holes to deliquesce the potash, afresh
pumps the consistent band-aid to the apparent area it is transferred to
dehydration ponds to dry afore final processing to abolish the salt.
With the potash deposits getting about bank and a hot altitude that
allows for accustomed solar evaporation, Allana allowances from basal
basic amount and low operational costs into the bargain.
Another
benefit is that at a time if some governments accept been abandoning
promises they fabricated to mining operators, the Ethiopian government
has been acutely helpful. “When we aboriginal looked at it three or four
years ago, the basement larboard a lot to be desired,” said Kelertas.
“But we had assurances from the Ethiopian government that they were
traveling to advancement the alley system, and they came through on
that. All things considered, low cost, low cap-ex, low op-ex, and the
actuality that the ability was absolutely abundant and bank led us to go
advanced with analysis plan a brace of years ago. A lot of of our
conduct has been in the western areas on the alkali plain,” he
continued, “and there’s abundant there for a actor bags a year for
thirty or forty years.”
The advantages of the altitude are
absolutely significant. “This is one of the hottest places in the
world,” said Kelertas, “but that helps us accumulate our op-ex costs
actual low. We do not accept to body big-ticket evaporators as you do in
acknowledgment locations of the world. We’re application solar
dehydration ponds, area the activity from the sun evaporates the potash
brine. There are some implications to operating in a hot altitude but
the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.”
The project’s arid area has added advantages, too,UK chickencoop
Specialist. from an ecology point of view. There’s no flora and fauna
and there isonly a baby aboriginal population, which is actively
affianced in the development.
Concerns about sustainability in
potash mining are just the aforementioned as they are in any mining
operation, said Kelertas, abnormally if accessible pit or abysmal shaft
mines are involved, but here’s area band-aid mining array again. “With a
band-aid mine, the ecology brand is about nil. It’s alone the bulb
facility, the pumping, whatever activity you’re traveling to use, the
assignment sites, the able-bodied sites and the piping. Added than that
there’s no blasting work, and no emissions to allege of.
Allana
employs a lot of Ethiopians in its analysis and development operations
so a baby apple has sprung up abutting to the site, area acting housing,
a school, and a medical dispensary accept been built. “Once we alpha
architecture that apple is traveling to get a lot bigger, so we’ll be
alive carefully with the bounded authorities, with the apple elders and
association leaders to accomplish abiding that all the bounded community
are followed,” said Kelertas. “We’ve done a acceptable job on that from
the alpha and we accept a abundant accord with all levels of
government, so there haven’t been any issues.”
The alone ecology
affair that could crave added plan is in agreement of baptize usage, he
added, and plan is getting done on that now. Baptize can be a advancing
affair in awful busy areas – like for instance in Saskatchewan,I found
them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes
came together while production. Canada, but the Danakhil arena has
affluence of baptize and no added end users aggressive for it. “There’s
no agronomics anywhere abreast us, and no animal settlements afar from
our village,” said Kelertas. “We’re accomplishing a lot of hydrological
plan to acquisition out absolutely area the baptize is and how abundant
we’re traveling to need, but we don’t see any issues.”
Allana,
with adviser BNP Paribas, has already put calm over $600 actor in
bendable commitments for debt costs from a accumulation of development
costs institutions and consign acclaim agencies. The abounding bankable
achievability abstraction getting undertaken by German analysis
consulting aggregation ERCOSPLAN will be accomplished by the end of this
year, and already that has been analysed the allotment will be firmed
up. Kelertas aswell expects to accept a brace of offtake agreements
active up by then, too, and Allana’s two ballast partners, Liberty
Minerals & Mining and The International Finance Corp (IFC - a
accessory of the Apple Bank) will aswell affirm their pro rata allotment
of debt and disinterestedness financing, so architecture of the
abundance could alpha in the aboriginal bisected of 2013.
The
absolute activity amount with all contingencies (15-20% contingencies
are included) is about $800 million. There is no charge for gigantic
evaporators, but huge solar dehydration ponds accept to be built. “We’ve
already put up six pilot ponds and we’re accomplishing the dehydration
amount testing appropriate now,” said Kelertas. “Really all you charge
is a processor, and conveyors to yield the raw crystals from the
abbreviating ponds over to the separators.” The better allocation of the
$800 actor is for assembly ($664.Exhaust ventilationsystem
work by depressurizing the building.4 million) which itself is
bedeviled by the alkali processing bulb at $188 million.We looked
everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges.
Also
included in the amount bump is $90 actor for a new anchorage ability in
Djibouti. Ethiopia is a land-locked country, but its neighbour Djibouti
already has a anchorage ability and affairs are in abode for a new
anchorage to be complete at Tadjoura. “The Arab Fund for Economic and
Social Development and the Saudi Fund for Development accept financed
the Djibouti Anchorage Authority to body the new anchorage ability in
Djibouti,” said Kelertas. “This is on the arctic side, the added
ancillary of the bay from the accepted website – so we don’t accept to
angle that $90 actor any added but we still cover it just in case in our
cap-ex total.”
Transportation to the ports will initially be by
barter – a 600 km journey. “We’ll be shipment two to four ample bike
bivouac units an hour (two bivouac units and a cab, with 40 metric bags
in anniversary trailer),” said Kelertas. The artefact will be stored at
the anchorage to be loaded either on alembic or aggregate loading ships.
2012年7月4日 星期三
2012年4月25日 星期三
Igloo sees boost from innovation
After being purchased by a private equity firm
31/2 years ago, Katy-headquartered Igloo Products Corp. has invested $18 million
in its local plant,Aeroscout rtls provides a
complete solution for wireless asset tracking. raised salaries and hired new
full-time staff.
It also has expanded into tents, camp chairs and other new products and revamped its core lineup of coolers by adding sizes, colors and features designed to make life easier on athletic fields and more fashionable at the grocery store. It's jumped, too, into the burgeoning segment of high-priced, high-performance chests.
Company executives say aggressive innovation in hard- and soft-sided products has boosted sales by upward of 40 percent since 2008, including a 100 percent jump internationally. Its share of the U.S. cooler market has grown to 45 percent, up from 38 percent two years ago.
“This is a really interesting company,” said Jeffrey Cartwright, who arrived in December as president and chief operations officer.
Executives of the privately run company declined to put a dollar figure on sales and profits, but they are clearly pleased with the results.
Igloo was founded on the prairie west of Houston in 1947 and began manufacturing metal water cans for oil field hands and other outdoor workers. Its first rectangular ice chests — metal, with plastic linings — came out in 1960. Within a few years, the outer shells were plastic, too.
Over the following decades, Igloo would become one of those companies,Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia. like Kleenex and Xerox, that sees its name become synonymous with its product. Besides being a powerful brand, it made something that just about everybody purchases at some point.Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete?
Its biggest customer today is the retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, and Igloo is carried exclusively in some 41,000 storefronts.
But Gary Kiedaisch, chairman and CEO of Igloo, says by 2008 coolers had become just another commodity and Igloo was complacent.
That October, he said, it was an attractive acquisition for the New England-based J.H. Whitney & Co.
Kiedaisch, a former CEO of Coleman, brought in David Thornhill, whom he had worked with while there, to jump-start product development. Soon Igloo's familiar red-and-white and blue-and-white chests were available in myriad colors and designs; a model emblazoned with a U.S.Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. flag became a bestseller.
There were ergonomic changes and new features, as well. Five-gallon barrel-shaped coolers got wheels and telescoping handles and plastic risers on the bottom so they don't sit directly on the hot ground. Half-gallon beverage coolers now are available with hooks so they can hang on chain-link fences at the Little League field.
Paul Busch, a veteran marketing professor at Texas A&M University,A wireless indoortracking system is described in this paper. said that kind of thoughtful product development is challenging — “innovation is very difficult,” he said — but critical to meeting the demands of retailers and consumers.
He cited as a successful example the decision to put wheels on coolers, which Igloo did in 1994.
“Now,” Busch said, “it's pretty ubiquitous.”
In its most recent push, Igloo has moved aggressively into soft-sided coolers. By expanding styles and sizes and adding colors and designs, it boosted soft-sided sales by 150 percent — and not just in lunch bags for the back-to-school set.
For example, the new Duo totes and insulated bags, some made of canvas with leather accents, are designed for fashion-conscious women to sling over their shoulders en route to the gym, the beach or the grocery store.
Also new for 2012 is a line of tents and chairs for camping. Kiedaisch said the extension makes sense.
“We looked at every activity that happens within 50 feet of a cooler,” he said.
The high end
This spring, 65-year- old Igloo is paying attention to an ambitious Austin-based company called Yeti that since its founding in 2006 has built a devoted following selling high-endurance, premium-priced coolers to serious hunters and anglers.
By Igloo's own figures, Yeti is the only other player in the cooler market to increase its share since 2010.
Kiedaisch commended Yeti for proving there is demand for coolers that cost hundreds of dollars. He also applauded the company's successful “guerrilla marketing.”
It also has expanded into tents, camp chairs and other new products and revamped its core lineup of coolers by adding sizes, colors and features designed to make life easier on athletic fields and more fashionable at the grocery store. It's jumped, too, into the burgeoning segment of high-priced, high-performance chests.
Company executives say aggressive innovation in hard- and soft-sided products has boosted sales by upward of 40 percent since 2008, including a 100 percent jump internationally. Its share of the U.S. cooler market has grown to 45 percent, up from 38 percent two years ago.
“This is a really interesting company,” said Jeffrey Cartwright, who arrived in December as president and chief operations officer.
Executives of the privately run company declined to put a dollar figure on sales and profits, but they are clearly pleased with the results.
Igloo was founded on the prairie west of Houston in 1947 and began manufacturing metal water cans for oil field hands and other outdoor workers. Its first rectangular ice chests — metal, with plastic linings — came out in 1960. Within a few years, the outer shells were plastic, too.
Over the following decades, Igloo would become one of those companies,Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia. like Kleenex and Xerox, that sees its name become synonymous with its product. Besides being a powerful brand, it made something that just about everybody purchases at some point.Where to buy or purchase plasticmoulds for precast and wetcast concrete?
Its biggest customer today is the retail giant Wal-Mart Stores, and Igloo is carried exclusively in some 41,000 storefronts.
But Gary Kiedaisch, chairman and CEO of Igloo, says by 2008 coolers had become just another commodity and Igloo was complacent.
That October, he said, it was an attractive acquisition for the New England-based J.H. Whitney & Co.
Kiedaisch, a former CEO of Coleman, brought in David Thornhill, whom he had worked with while there, to jump-start product development. Soon Igloo's familiar red-and-white and blue-and-white chests were available in myriad colors and designs; a model emblazoned with a U.S.Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. flag became a bestseller.
There were ergonomic changes and new features, as well. Five-gallon barrel-shaped coolers got wheels and telescoping handles and plastic risers on the bottom so they don't sit directly on the hot ground. Half-gallon beverage coolers now are available with hooks so they can hang on chain-link fences at the Little League field.
Paul Busch, a veteran marketing professor at Texas A&M University,A wireless indoortracking system is described in this paper. said that kind of thoughtful product development is challenging — “innovation is very difficult,” he said — but critical to meeting the demands of retailers and consumers.
He cited as a successful example the decision to put wheels on coolers, which Igloo did in 1994.
“Now,” Busch said, “it's pretty ubiquitous.”
In its most recent push, Igloo has moved aggressively into soft-sided coolers. By expanding styles and sizes and adding colors and designs, it boosted soft-sided sales by 150 percent — and not just in lunch bags for the back-to-school set.
For example, the new Duo totes and insulated bags, some made of canvas with leather accents, are designed for fashion-conscious women to sling over their shoulders en route to the gym, the beach or the grocery store.
Also new for 2012 is a line of tents and chairs for camping. Kiedaisch said the extension makes sense.
“We looked at every activity that happens within 50 feet of a cooler,” he said.
The high end
This spring, 65-year- old Igloo is paying attention to an ambitious Austin-based company called Yeti that since its founding in 2006 has built a devoted following selling high-endurance, premium-priced coolers to serious hunters and anglers.
By Igloo's own figures, Yeti is the only other player in the cooler market to increase its share since 2010.
Kiedaisch commended Yeti for proving there is demand for coolers that cost hundreds of dollars. He also applauded the company's successful “guerrilla marketing.”
2011年11月21日 星期一
Wenger Out? Then What?
I'm not remotely interested in the debate about who is or isn’t an Arsenal Supporter or who loves Arsenal more (those labelled as AKBs for being sensible or those filled with blind, illogical hate that want Wenger out). Some of us simply wanted to see Arsenal come out of the awful start to the season and climb up the table and we were happy to offer unflinching support to the club we love, in order to see Arsenal recover.
We endured weeks of idiots coming on this website and telling us how Wenger has done nothing for Arsenal, how he won a few trophies using players he didn’t bring in, how it didn’t make sense to build the new stadium and how Wenger hasn’t really done anything for Arsenal and he's a useless manager. Perhaps five years ago, with people at the club who could attract good managers and with an organisation in the backroom (and boardroom) who understand modern day football, one could think about replacing a manager like Wenger (while clever clubs like Man Utd, Everton, try to keep their manager for as long as they can, as they understand the simple logic that while it's easy to fire one manager, getting a reliable replacement is a totally different prospect).
With Saturday's victory away to Norwich (which I pointed out as a milestone in my last article) and with Newcastle facing Man Utd next week, we have a juicy home game against Fulham and should hopefully be back up in the top 4 challenging against Chelsea and Spurs for a Champions League spot. And before some idiots start talking about that not being enough; I’m sure it wasn’t enough when we were languishing in 17th a few weeks ago.
There are four credible competitions this season, same as most seasons, and Arsenal should target a trophy (any trophy) to get us back in a winning mentality and then build from there. I don’t care much for conversations about whether or not top 4 is good enough, let's focus on winning every game remaining this season or dropping as few points as possible and hang in there to see where we end up. If it's top 4, so be it; 6 weeks ago we were praying fervently not to end up on the second page of the Premiership table
Back to the topic of this article; yes, let's continue to indulge the fools who clamour for Wenger's exit, so we don’t risk being called 'blind' AKBs? Seriously, is that how fickle we've all become? Why don’t we simply apply some common sense eh? There are quite a few pretty-boy managers out there (e.g. Villas-Boas) whose experience in football was developed from watching on telly and the chances of them staying at the same club for more than three seasons is quite low (add Mourinho to that list) as they simply lack that staying power. They will either do well and then be off to the next club (Real, Barca, Inter etc) or struggle like AVB after spending millions; but one things is sure, you won’t have them for 15 years.
With guys like Gazidis in charge of Arsenal, you must be insane to even consider sacking Wenger, not because Wenger is great or irreplaceable, but CAN YOU IMAGINE WHO GAZIDIS WOULD BRING IN TO REPLACE HIM? Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at the club? I'm sure those of us who have been supporting Arsenal for long enough can answer that question. We've been here before Wenger, we will be here after Wenger, but for goodness sake, let's get a strong board in and a solid vice chairman or chief executive before we start a deluge by chasing off the only sane person at the helm of the club (love him or hate him). I'm sure 95% of football clubs in Europe are praying Arsenal lose Wenger so they can have him.
We endured weeks of idiots coming on this website and telling us how Wenger has done nothing for Arsenal, how he won a few trophies using players he didn’t bring in, how it didn’t make sense to build the new stadium and how Wenger hasn’t really done anything for Arsenal and he's a useless manager. Perhaps five years ago, with people at the club who could attract good managers and with an organisation in the backroom (and boardroom) who understand modern day football, one could think about replacing a manager like Wenger (while clever clubs like Man Utd, Everton, try to keep their manager for as long as they can, as they understand the simple logic that while it's easy to fire one manager, getting a reliable replacement is a totally different prospect).
With Saturday's victory away to Norwich (which I pointed out as a milestone in my last article) and with Newcastle facing Man Utd next week, we have a juicy home game against Fulham and should hopefully be back up in the top 4 challenging against Chelsea and Spurs for a Champions League spot. And before some idiots start talking about that not being enough; I’m sure it wasn’t enough when we were languishing in 17th a few weeks ago.
There are four credible competitions this season, same as most seasons, and Arsenal should target a trophy (any trophy) to get us back in a winning mentality and then build from there. I don’t care much for conversations about whether or not top 4 is good enough, let's focus on winning every game remaining this season or dropping as few points as possible and hang in there to see where we end up. If it's top 4, so be it; 6 weeks ago we were praying fervently not to end up on the second page of the Premiership table
Back to the topic of this article; yes, let's continue to indulge the fools who clamour for Wenger's exit, so we don’t risk being called 'blind' AKBs? Seriously, is that how fickle we've all become? Why don’t we simply apply some common sense eh? There are quite a few pretty-boy managers out there (e.g. Villas-Boas) whose experience in football was developed from watching on telly and the chances of them staying at the same club for more than three seasons is quite low (add Mourinho to that list) as they simply lack that staying power. They will either do well and then be off to the next club (Real, Barca, Inter etc) or struggle like AVB after spending millions; but one things is sure, you won’t have them for 15 years.
With guys like Gazidis in charge of Arsenal, you must be insane to even consider sacking Wenger, not because Wenger is great or irreplaceable, but CAN YOU IMAGINE WHO GAZIDIS WOULD BRING IN TO REPLACE HIM? Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue at the club? I'm sure those of us who have been supporting Arsenal for long enough can answer that question. We've been here before Wenger, we will be here after Wenger, but for goodness sake, let's get a strong board in and a solid vice chairman or chief executive before we start a deluge by chasing off the only sane person at the helm of the club (love him or hate him). I'm sure 95% of football clubs in Europe are praying Arsenal lose Wenger so they can have him.
2011年11月10日 星期四
EasyPay fights back after fraud
EasyPay will also carry the full liability of any fraudulent transactions, said Serge Belamant, the chief executive of Net1, the holding company of EasyPay. He said he has confidence in the site's newly built security features.
EasyPay has one of South Africa's largest third-party payment systems. It allows consumers to use their credit cards to pay their bills, including Telkom, the municipality and traffic fines, either through its website or at pay points in shops such as Pick n Pay.
It also allows consumers to buy airtime and prepaid electricity online and it was these purchases that were targeted in September by a crime syndicate. The criminals obtained a list of credit card numbers, which it used to buy airtime, electricity and prepaid gift cards.
The reaction from Absa, which found that one in three transactions were fraudulent, was to prevent its card-holders from transacting on the site temporarily until EasyPay removed the high-risk products. Some banks continue to limit the number of EasyPay transactions they allow.
Walter Volker, chief executive of the Payment Association of South Africa, said EasyPay had nothing to do with the release of the credit card details. An investigation is under way to determine how the syndicate obtained the credit card details, which resulted in losses of millions of rands. It must still be determined which banks will carry the liability.
Belamant said the company had been unfairly targeted by the banks because it was not responsible for the breach. He said the high volume of traffic on the site -- it does four to five million transactions a month -- made it attractive to fraudsters.
EasyPay processes payments worth R120-million a month, according to Belamant, and the new site is growing at a rate of 10% a month.
He claimed Easypay is a target for competitors: by preventing customers from using their credit cards on the site, banks can effectively destroy EasyPay.
EasyPay has one of South Africa's largest third-party payment systems. It allows consumers to use their credit cards to pay their bills, including Telkom, the municipality and traffic fines, either through its website or at pay points in shops such as Pick n Pay.
It also allows consumers to buy airtime and prepaid electricity online and it was these purchases that were targeted in September by a crime syndicate. The criminals obtained a list of credit card numbers, which it used to buy airtime, electricity and prepaid gift cards.
The reaction from Absa, which found that one in three transactions were fraudulent, was to prevent its card-holders from transacting on the site temporarily until EasyPay removed the high-risk products. Some banks continue to limit the number of EasyPay transactions they allow.
Walter Volker, chief executive of the Payment Association of South Africa, said EasyPay had nothing to do with the release of the credit card details. An investigation is under way to determine how the syndicate obtained the credit card details, which resulted in losses of millions of rands. It must still be determined which banks will carry the liability.
Belamant said the company had been unfairly targeted by the banks because it was not responsible for the breach. He said the high volume of traffic on the site -- it does four to five million transactions a month -- made it attractive to fraudsters.
EasyPay processes payments worth R120-million a month, according to Belamant, and the new site is growing at a rate of 10% a month.
He claimed Easypay is a target for competitors: by preventing customers from using their credit cards on the site, banks can effectively destroy EasyPay.
2011年3月30日 星期三
Gold & Silver Higher as Eurozone Downgrades
Gold and, particularly, silver are higher in European trading, especially in Japanese yen, which has come under pressure again today. The initial "repatriation funds" yen rally in the days after the natural and nuclear disaster has abated.
Gold is again close to record nominal highs in yen (119,000/oz) and other currencies. The outlook for the yen is not good due to massive fiscal and demographic challenges, zero percent interest rates and ongoing currency debasement – none of which will be helped by the nuclear disaster.
Risk appetite remains high with investors buying equities and shrugging off considerable geopolitical and sovereign debt risk. The downgrades of Portugal and Greece have led to new record high 10-year bond yields for both – at over 8.02% and 12.73% respectively.
Gold is supported at $1,410/oz and at $1,380/oz and €995/oz. A close above the record nominal high of $1,447.82/oz would likely see gold rise to psychological resistance of $1,500/oz in short order.
Gold in US Dollars - 17 February 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Tick)
Gold commenced 2011 at $1,420.78/oz and with two days of trading left in the first quarter, gold is marginally higher at $1,420/oz. It is therefore flat for the quarter after another quarter of correction and consolidation.
A lower quarterly close would be the first lower quarterly close in nine quarters. This may be beneficial to some of those short the gold market who may be attempting to "paint the tape" and engineer a lower quarterly close – in the forlorn hope that this could lead to momentum selling by trend, following hedge funds and traders.
A lower quarterly close may be achieved but the fundamentals of anemic supply and continuing strong demand both from the investment sector, but also from the jewelry and industrial sectors (dental and electronics primarily) internationally, and particularly in China and Asia in general will likely see gold continue to rise in 2011.
Gold in US Dollar - 1 January 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Daily)
Interestingly, March 2010 and the first quarter last year (see chart above), also saw gold flatline prior to strong gains in April and the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 10). Gold rose by nearly 6% last April and by nearly 12% in the quarter.
The unresolved eurozone debt crisis and the emergence of the Japanese natural and nuclear disasters and geopolitical risk in oil producing nations means that the fundamentals today are as sound as they were in 2010 – if not more sound.
Bearish predictions that higher gold prices would lead to sharp falls in industrial and jewelry demand are being proven wrong as seen in the figures released by the CPM group this morning (see news).
Gold is again close to record nominal highs in yen (119,000/oz) and other currencies. The outlook for the yen is not good due to massive fiscal and demographic challenges, zero percent interest rates and ongoing currency debasement – none of which will be helped by the nuclear disaster.
Risk appetite remains high with investors buying equities and shrugging off considerable geopolitical and sovereign debt risk. The downgrades of Portugal and Greece have led to new record high 10-year bond yields for both – at over 8.02% and 12.73% respectively.
Gold is supported at $1,410/oz and at $1,380/oz and €995/oz. A close above the record nominal high of $1,447.82/oz would likely see gold rise to psychological resistance of $1,500/oz in short order.
Gold in US Dollars - 17 February 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Tick)
Gold commenced 2011 at $1,420.78/oz and with two days of trading left in the first quarter, gold is marginally higher at $1,420/oz. It is therefore flat for the quarter after another quarter of correction and consolidation.
A lower quarterly close would be the first lower quarterly close in nine quarters. This may be beneficial to some of those short the gold market who may be attempting to "paint the tape" and engineer a lower quarterly close – in the forlorn hope that this could lead to momentum selling by trend, following hedge funds and traders.
A lower quarterly close may be achieved but the fundamentals of anemic supply and continuing strong demand both from the investment sector, but also from the jewelry and industrial sectors (dental and electronics primarily) internationally, and particularly in China and Asia in general will likely see gold continue to rise in 2011.
Gold in US Dollar - 1 January 2010 - 30 March 2011 (Daily)
Interestingly, March 2010 and the first quarter last year (see chart above), also saw gold flatline prior to strong gains in April and the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 10). Gold rose by nearly 6% last April and by nearly 12% in the quarter.
The unresolved eurozone debt crisis and the emergence of the Japanese natural and nuclear disasters and geopolitical risk in oil producing nations means that the fundamentals today are as sound as they were in 2010 – if not more sound.
Bearish predictions that higher gold prices would lead to sharp falls in industrial and jewelry demand are being proven wrong as seen in the figures released by the CPM group this morning (see news).
2011年3月22日 星期二
Fraud costs airlines USD1.4 billion a year. Regional airlines the fraudste
The aviation industry is inherently exposed to numerous external influences, such as fuel costs, the economy, exchange rate fluctuations, natural disasters and political instability, as recent world events highlight. Fraud is another external challenge facing the aviation industry, with major cost implications - although this can at least to some degree be controlled and monitored by aviation companies.
In an exclusive Q&A with CAPA, David Britton, VP of industry solutions at risk management/fraud prevention company 41st Parameter, explains how online fraud is affecting the aviation industry.
1. In 2008, airlines lost around USD1.4 billion to fraud, representing around 1.3% of the world total. Where does this figure stand today?
Overall, the airline industry continues to experience an "attack rate" of 1% - 1.5% of revenue, although some geographies, including the Middle East and Latin America, are subject to rates as high as 3 – 4% of revenue.
2. Given the increasing proportion of business conducted online, are airlines particularly susceptible to fraud compared to other industries?
The attack rate for airlines is comparable to the overall rate for e-commerce merchants selling physical goods online. Two areas where airlines are more sensitive to fraud losses are 1) the perishability of seat inventory, and 2) margins that make the loss of even a single seat to fraud painful to recover from. Ideally, airlines either prevent a fraudster from completing a booking, or are able to discover a fraudulent booking in sufficient time to cancel the reservation and resell the seats.
3. Is it primarily larger carriers that have taken steps against fraud? Are the smaller carriers more susceptible to this type of crime?
All carriers are susceptible to fraud, but it was the largest carriers that pioneered aggressive countermeasures to fight fraud. With fairly strong protections now in place at the majors, fraudsters are shifting their focus to airlines they have an easier time booking with – and the least chance of being stopped at the gate and asked for an alternate form of payment before they can board.
Who is at a disadvantage today? Airlines that fly routes competitive with carriers that have superior fraud prevention capabilities will naturally absorb a disproportionate share of fraudulent booking attempts. At the same time, mid-tier or regional carriers are now becoming the "carriers of choice" for fraudsters.
4. Are particular airline models targetted in fraudulent activities (LCCs? FSCs? Charters?). LCCs, for example, tend to have a higher proportion of bookings made online. Does this expose them to greater risk?
Fraudsters attack based on where and how they have the greatest likelihood of successfully booking and flying, so carriers which have marginal protections in place vis-o-vis competitors will naturally be at a disadvantage. Likewise a carrier that does not have consistently strong protections across booking channels will see fraud migrate to the least-protected channel. 41st witnessed this during an implementation where the carrier chose to deploy enhanced fraud protection against its online channel first, to be followed by the call centre and kiosks. Within a month of the tougher fraud protection being put in place for web-based bookings, fraud in call centre reservations had surged 40%. The following month, both the call centre and kiosk channels were placed under the umbrella of the fraud detection solution and the trend was reversed.
Both full-service and low-cost carriers suffer fraud attacks. Exposure varies by routes (certain cities have a higher preponderance of fraudulent bookings) and on long-haul flights premium cabins are often preferred.
5. Which carrier types manage fraud well?
Managing fraud well means minimising fraud losses while simultaneously not offending or inconveniencing customers. Said another way, maximising passenger revenue by not rejecting valid bookings or cutting off sales too far in advance of a flight to allow time to process manual review queues. Both of these objectives must be met within the constraint of an operating budget for fraud detection and prevention that is appropriate given the size of the problem.
With airlines experiencing fraud attack rates in the 1–3% range, there are carriers that actually reject 8%-25% of good orders because their automated fraud screening methods can’t examine bookings with sufficient granularity to accurately interpret whether a booking request is fraudulent or not.
6. What percentage of airlines would have fraud prevention departments in place?
The Deloitte Airline Fraud Report 2010 states that 52% of the respondents to its survey of IAAIA member airlines (copy available from Schwartz Communications) had "no system to formally detect and track fraudulent attempts to obtain tickets, and only half of respondents had a formal system to pick up unusual transactions or suspicious activities."
Virtually all of the major carriers have systems in place today.
In an exclusive Q&A with CAPA, David Britton, VP of industry solutions at risk management/fraud prevention company 41st Parameter, explains how online fraud is affecting the aviation industry.
1. In 2008, airlines lost around USD1.4 billion to fraud, representing around 1.3% of the world total. Where does this figure stand today?
Overall, the airline industry continues to experience an "attack rate" of 1% - 1.5% of revenue, although some geographies, including the Middle East and Latin America, are subject to rates as high as 3 – 4% of revenue.
2. Given the increasing proportion of business conducted online, are airlines particularly susceptible to fraud compared to other industries?
The attack rate for airlines is comparable to the overall rate for e-commerce merchants selling physical goods online. Two areas where airlines are more sensitive to fraud losses are 1) the perishability of seat inventory, and 2) margins that make the loss of even a single seat to fraud painful to recover from. Ideally, airlines either prevent a fraudster from completing a booking, or are able to discover a fraudulent booking in sufficient time to cancel the reservation and resell the seats.
3. Is it primarily larger carriers that have taken steps against fraud? Are the smaller carriers more susceptible to this type of crime?
All carriers are susceptible to fraud, but it was the largest carriers that pioneered aggressive countermeasures to fight fraud. With fairly strong protections now in place at the majors, fraudsters are shifting their focus to airlines they have an easier time booking with – and the least chance of being stopped at the gate and asked for an alternate form of payment before they can board.
Who is at a disadvantage today? Airlines that fly routes competitive with carriers that have superior fraud prevention capabilities will naturally absorb a disproportionate share of fraudulent booking attempts. At the same time, mid-tier or regional carriers are now becoming the "carriers of choice" for fraudsters.
4. Are particular airline models targetted in fraudulent activities (LCCs? FSCs? Charters?). LCCs, for example, tend to have a higher proportion of bookings made online. Does this expose them to greater risk?
Fraudsters attack based on where and how they have the greatest likelihood of successfully booking and flying, so carriers which have marginal protections in place vis-o-vis competitors will naturally be at a disadvantage. Likewise a carrier that does not have consistently strong protections across booking channels will see fraud migrate to the least-protected channel. 41st witnessed this during an implementation where the carrier chose to deploy enhanced fraud protection against its online channel first, to be followed by the call centre and kiosks. Within a month of the tougher fraud protection being put in place for web-based bookings, fraud in call centre reservations had surged 40%. The following month, both the call centre and kiosk channels were placed under the umbrella of the fraud detection solution and the trend was reversed.
Both full-service and low-cost carriers suffer fraud attacks. Exposure varies by routes (certain cities have a higher preponderance of fraudulent bookings) and on long-haul flights premium cabins are often preferred.
5. Which carrier types manage fraud well?
Managing fraud well means minimising fraud losses while simultaneously not offending or inconveniencing customers. Said another way, maximising passenger revenue by not rejecting valid bookings or cutting off sales too far in advance of a flight to allow time to process manual review queues. Both of these objectives must be met within the constraint of an operating budget for fraud detection and prevention that is appropriate given the size of the problem.
With airlines experiencing fraud attack rates in the 1–3% range, there are carriers that actually reject 8%-25% of good orders because their automated fraud screening methods can’t examine bookings with sufficient granularity to accurately interpret whether a booking request is fraudulent or not.
6. What percentage of airlines would have fraud prevention departments in place?
The Deloitte Airline Fraud Report 2010 states that 52% of the respondents to its survey of IAAIA member airlines (copy available from Schwartz Communications) had "no system to formally detect and track fraudulent attempts to obtain tickets, and only half of respondents had a formal system to pick up unusual transactions or suspicious activities."
Virtually all of the major carriers have systems in place today.
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