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Porsche says it will soon build flying taxis

GENEVA — Porsche is studying flying passenger vehicles but expects it could take up to a decade to finalize technology before they can launch in real traffic, its head of development said on Tuesday.

Volkswagen’s sports-car division is in the early stages of drawing up a blueprint of a flying taxi as it ponders new mobility solutions for congested urban areas, Porsche R&D chief Michael Steiner said at the Geneva auto show.

The maker of the 911 sports car would join a raft of companies working on designs for flying cars in anticipation of a shift in the transport market towards self-driving vehicles and on-demand digital mobility services.

“We are looking into how individual mobility can take place in congested areas where today and in future it is unlikely that everyone can drive the way he wants,” Steiner said in an interview.

VW’s auto designer Italdesign and Airbus exhibited an evolved version of the two-seater flying car called Pop.Up Next at the Geneva show. It is designed to avoid gridlock on city roads and premiered at the annual industry gathering a year ago.

Separately, Porsche expects the cross-utility variant of its all-electric Mission E sports car to attract at least 20,000 buyers if it gets approved for production, Steiner said.

Porsche will decide later this year whether to build the Mission E Cross Turismo concept which surges to 100 kilometers per hour in less than 3.5 seconds, he said. — Reuters

Boozy lunches no more: 8 int’l executives reveal how they woo clients

ENTERTAINING clients has always been part of the world of finance. But it’s no longer just about wining and dining. In an era of healthier lifestyles and tighter industry budgets, the boundaries of where to go and what to do have shifted. The legend of the boozy dinner sealed-with-a-deal may live on, but the reality is often quite different.

Bloomberg asked bankers, fund managers and executives from Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Mumbai, and Tokyo to reveal their go-to places for client meetings. If you’re on a business trip in Asia these days, don’t expect a traditional dinner. You might find yourself relaxing over a healthy breakfast, bonding over a cookery class or blind-tasting wine. Here’s what our interviewees said:

ANYONE FOR TENNIS?
Who? Sean Taylor, chief investment officer for Asia Pacific at Deutsche Asset Management, Hong Kong

Where? I like variety. Sometimes I take them to Hong Kong Yacht Club — something different to see more of Hong Kong. If they’re outside clients I like to take them to the south side, places like Limewood in Repulse Bay. It’s by the beach, you see a different area of Hong Kong, it’s good light food, very informal, very relaxed. That’s the nice thing about Hong Kong. When we have clients visiting from abroad we want to give the best overview we can of the region. They love it.

What’s changed? The difference over the last few years? The entertainment budgets are a lot lower because of MiFID and because of how the markets have been doing. But I also think people want a different type of entertainment. It’s not so formal, they want more casual. In the old days, there was a lot of culture that you have to entertain. I think now people just want ideas, they really want to learn.

Extracurricular? I like playing tennis with clients. If you’re playing sport, that’s the best way to really get to know them.

COOKING UP A DEAL
Who? Xen Gladstone, head of sales, trading and execution at CLSA, Hong Kong

Where? If you’re lucky enough to have access to some of the private members’ clubs in Hong Kong, they tend to be much more affordable than a lot of the expensive restaurants for a similar quality of food. Hong Kong Club and China Club are still popular venues. Clients often like to try something new, so when there’s a new restaurant open, they’re keen to check it out. But they’re increasingly mindful of what’s spent.

What’s changed? The days of excess seem a long time ago. I’m not sure whether it’s either a younger demographic of clients coming through or the fact that we’re all aging together and people are more health conscious. At our forum for the last couple of years we’ve had a bus-load or two of people coming out to run Bowen Road or trail run in the morning.

One of the costs we can most easily tackle is looking to try to reduce our travel and entertainment budget. So people are being more prudent, more targeted with dollars, and just generally aiming at a sensible and acceptable portion of the wine list.

Extracurricular? We try to do stuff that’s interesting for our clients, so we have a premium product called CLSA University with interesting speakers. There are events on parenting, cooking, diamonds, etcetera.

Getting together and going to do some cooking lessons or wine-tasting or something like that, it’s not necessarily related to finance but it improves relationships and communication skills and builds trust. And trust is sacrosanct in our business.

LOCAL CUISINE
Who? Corrine Png, CEO at Crucial Perspective, Singapore

Where? Clients and corporates prefer to eat at restaurants which have a upscale, sophisticated yet understated and quiet setting so they can concentrate on the content of the discussions and not be distracted by loud music. As we usually meet over lunch and everyone has a busy schedule, meeting at or near the financial district is also important so we can all rush back to work.

Chinese, Japanese and European cuisine tend to be the more popular choices. These include China Club on top of Capital Tower, Jade at The Fullerton Hotel, Jaan at Swissotel, Keyaki at Pan Pacific Hotel, and the Tower Club at Republic Plaza.

Some overseas-based clients and corporates who visit Singapore are also curious about our local cuisine and I would host them at the National Kitchen at the National Gallery and True Blue beside the Peranakan Museum, which serve fantastic Peranakan food. For overseas clients who are more adventurous, I have even brought them to the famous Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh at Rangoon Road.

What’s changed? The range of wine-and-dine places in Singapore has expanded significantly and we are spoiled for choice in terms of the type of cuisine and ambience. However, entertainment budgets have also shrunk due to challenges in the financial industry as margins are squeezed and due to tighter regulations.

GETTING OLDER
Who? Mark Matthews, Managing Director and Head of Asia Research at Bank Julius Baer & Co., Singapore

Where? The Singapore Cricket Club is lovely because the food’s not expensive and you have a nice view over the Padang. People enjoy going there because it does feel like a little bit of a step back in time. It’s a good place to take people from out of town. They’ve got lots of local dishes like laksa, Indian food, very good roti. Favorite food is mutton dry and ikan bilis (dried anchovies).

What’s changed? Generally there’s been more consciousness toward costs. There used to be a lot of drinking, not just dinners. Asia finance, until recently, was very youthful. Because it was young, there was a lot more excess but now, as the industry matures, people in it are maturing too so they don’t want to go out partying until 5 a.m. Twenty years ago most people in the business would have been young westerners. Now it’s become local.

OFFICE PARTY
Who? Vasu Menon, vice-president for Wealth Management Research at OCBC Bank, Singapore

Where? The buffet at Ritz-Carlton in Singapore, that’s pretty good. That’s where a lot of conferences and business meetings are held. The other is Regent Hotel’s Italian restaurant Basilico. That’s also very popular.

What’s changed? You don’t get as many people inviting you as did as few years ago because everyone’s watching costs. It used to be lunches and dinners. Now you’re starting to see more and more breakfast meetings because they’re cheaper. You’re also seeing business partners who used to host us in restaurants now starting to host client events in their offices. They’re inviting us there and bringing food in. So people are clearly getting more cost-conscious.

MOST IMPORTANT MEAL
Who? Jesper Koll, Head of Japan at WisdomTree, Tokyo

Where? For breakfast, Crisscross, particularly in spring and in autumn when you can sit outside. For dinner Takazawa in Akasaka. They have one of the best restaurants in the world, which only seats seven people so it’s extremely difficult to get in. For drinks, Radio in Aoyama. It’s like time travel, like going back to a speakeasy.

What’s changed? In Japan the place to be was always the Orchid Room in Hotel Okura. That was the who’s who of finance in Japan. It was a wonderful place, to be seen and to be part of the scene. You knew exactly who was in town and whom they were meeting with. That is now closed.

Breakfast in Japan was always very difficult. But now, over the last couple of years, private breakfast places have sprung up, so that’s where I like to take people. I like breakfast meetings because they always have a defined end. Because everybody has a 9 o’clock meeting they don’t drag on. Americans are always very efficient so they love breakfast meetings. The European clients like a more leisurely breakfast.

GRAB A COFFEE
Who? Nader Naeimi, Head of Dynamic Markets at AMP Capital Investors, Sydney

Where? In Australia we like multinational food — good steaks, Thai, Chinese, etc. Mr Wong’s my favorite. They do really nice dumplings. Japanese restaurants are preferable for quick client lunch meetings.

What’s changed? Spending habits are very different from what they used to be. There are some restaurants that we don’t even try. It’s not like it was in the past when budgets were quite loose — there’s a lot more governance. If we have multiple clients we tend to use in-house catering. It’s easier to manage.

Nowadays a lot more meetings are done not even over lunch, we do it over a coffee. But for the ones we do for lunch, we tend to go for places that offer an environment where we can actually talk — not too loud, not too busy.

WINE MASTER
Who? Andrew Holland, CEO at Avendus Capital Alternate Strategies, Mumbai

Where? India over the years has witnessed an increased awareness and consumption of wine. Fortunately for me, my wife is India’s first and only Master Of Wine and among only 400 in the world. This has given me the opportunity to entertain at home more often and in interesting ways.

What’s changed? We still use five-star hotel restaurants to entertain clients but again with a slightly different twist. My wife will curate different wines to go along with the food to make the experience truly enjoyable. If the guests are people we know well, we may also do some blind tasting along with the food and try and guess where the wines are from and which one is the most expensive.

Outside of the five-star hotels we also entertain at the Breach Candy Club or Willingdon Club for a more relaxed evening. — Kana Nishizawa and Justina Lee, Bloomberg

Manila Water expands footprint in Indonesia

MANILA WATER Co., Inc. is expanding its footprint in Indonesia, as a subsidiary acquires a 20% stake in a bulk water company that serves part of Central Java province.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, the Ayala-led company said its subsidiary PT Manila Water Indonesia (PT MWI) signed the share purchase agreement with PT. Triguna Rapindo Mandiri to acquire 4,478 shares of PT. Sarana Tirta Ungaran (STU).

The move will allow PT MWI to own 20% of the outstanding capital stock of STU, it said.

Metro Manila’s east zone water concessionaire described STU as a bulk water supply company serving PDAM Kabupaten Semarang and industrial customers in Bawen, located in Ungaran area of Semarang Regency, Central Java Province, with a capacity of 21.5 million liters per day.

“[T]his acquisition expands our footprint in Indonesia, after the successful completion of our showcase leakage reduction project in Bandung in 2017. This clearly demonstrates our continued interest in the Indonesian market and provides an opportunity to further strengthen our growth platform and harness the vast potential for synergies within the ASEAN region,” said Virgilio C. Rivera, president of   Manila Water Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., in a statement.

The unit holds Manila Water’s investments in various project companies in the region.

Manila Water will use internally generated funds to finance the transaction.

The deal comes less than a month after Manila Water signed a share purchase agreement to acquire an 18.72% stake in a publicly listed water supply and distribution company in Thailand.

The company said the stake in Eastern Water Resources Development and Management Public Co. Ltd. is its first point of entry in Thailand as part of the its expansion in Southeast Asia.

Manila Water’s entry in Thailand and Indonesia comes after its foray into bulk water and concession projects in Vietnam, where it has become largest direct foreign investor in that country’s water sector supplying half of the bulk water requirements of Ho Chi Minh City.

Shares in Manila Water rose 55 centavos or 2.12% to P26.55 each. — Victor V. Saulon

Yields on BSP’s term deposits increase

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez
Senior Reporter

BANKS SCRAMBLED to place more funds under the central bank’s term deposit facility (TDF) following lower reserves which took effect on Friday, even as yields climbed from the previous week.

Demand for term deposits surged to P146.856 billion yesterday, jumping from the P117.127- billion tenders received the previous week and well above the P110 billion offered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), with over half of the bids swarming the seven-day tenor.

The week-long instruments received P80.026 billion in total bids, nearly double the P43.751 billion in offers a week ago and settling beyond the P50 billion dangled by the central bank.

Despite the oversubscription, the average yield picked up to 3.1767% from 3.0685%.

On the other hand, bids for the 14-day term deposits slipped to P43.31 billion from P44.497 billion previously, although still higher than the P40 billion dangled by the BSP.

Players sought for returns ranging from 3-3.3% to average 3.1674%, up from 3.0984% the previous week.

Demand for the 28-day tenor also declined to P23.52 billion from P28.879 billion a week ago, although still settling above the BSP’s P20-billion offering. Lenders asked for yields averaging 3.2627%, higher than the 3.1665% they sought a week prior.

The TDF stands as the central bank’s main tool in mopping up excess funds in the financial system. The facility allows banks to park idle cash under the BSP in exchange for a small return.

The BSP expects to use auction-based monetary operations to have a better handle on market loan rates, after it introduced a one percentage point cut in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) imposed on universal and commercial banks.

The adjustment, which took effect March 2, is said to be operational as it seeks to reduce market distortions created by the “ultra-high” RRR.

“TDF auction results confirm success and effectiveness of our operational adjustment,” BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said in a text message to reporters, pointing out “strong participation” among market players.

“Resulting yields trace a pattern consistent with healthy price discovery in line with macroeconomic fundamentals,” the central bank chief added.

The reserve cut will unlock around P90 billion into the financial system, which the BSP expects to capture through the TDF and other policy tools.

Any excess cash which have not been deployed for loans, foreign exchange and debt payments can be parked under the central bank window in order to make small gains, which in turn is expected to bring market rates closer to the 3% benchmark set by the BSP.

For next week, Mr. Espenilla said latest liquidity forecasts “suggest no change in offer volumes.”

This means that the BSP will likely keep the total auction amount at P110 billion, split into P50 billion under the seven-day term, P40 billion for the two-week tenor, and P20 billion for month-long maturities.

UK video game sector, home of Lara Croft, fights gender imbalance

LONDON — Giving life to a black elf in a fantasy video game, softly spoken schoolgirl Hannah leans into the microphone to deliver an ominous warning: “This world, and everything in it, will burn!”

With seven other schoolgirls, the 13-year-old is learning the tricks of the gamer trade as part of an initiative to encourage more girls to enter the industry.

For the past three years Creative Assembly, one of Britain’s largest video game developers, has hosted girl-only workshops at its offices in Horsham, South London.

“We encounter a lot of feedback from school students and parents,” said Jodie Azhar, lead technical artist on Total War: Warhammer, the studio’s flagship series.

“We want to address these misconceptions such as ‘it’s easier for men to find jobs than it is for women in this industry’ and ‘my mom tells me to get a real job.’”

With her rectangular glasses and red highlights, Azhar knows as a young female that she is an exception in Britain’s video game industry.

According to a 2016 study, women fill only 19%of jobs, despite the fact that women make up half of British gamers.

“In that 19%, how many of those women are actually making games?” asked Marie Claire Isaaman, president of the Women in Games group, which seeks to increase female representation.

“If I look to a range of other data, most women aren’t making games,” she added. “So you have all male team(s) developing female characters. That can be a big problem.”

GAMERGATE AND LARA CROFT
For Azhar, this shortage is primarily linked to education.

“I think the biggest issue with women getting in the industry comes from a school age,” she told AFP.

“Although I loved playing video games, I didn’t realize that making them could be a professional career. At school, I never got told about theses jobs.”

Much of the disparity can be traced back to a supply shortage, with fewer girls choosing to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, according to Richard Wilson, head of the Independent Video Game Developers’ Association in the UK.

Studios “can actively go out and try to encourage more women to get a career in the video games industry,” he suggested.

Part of the imbalance has also been ascribed to negative attitudes within the video game world, claims that boiled over in 2014 with the so-called “Gamergate” incident.

The row centred on accusations that journalists were artificially boosting games created by female developers, but soon took a dark turn with death and rape threats leveled against independent developer Zoe Quinn.

On the flip side, studios now appear less hesitant to cast women as main characters, such as in recent releases Horizon: Zero Dawn and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

In recent years, more and more women have also joined development teams.

And the sector is booming: the UK has more than 2,000 studios, employing around 13,000 people, and the industry grew by 7%in 2017.

The country boasts some of the industry’s most prestigious names, such as the Rockstar North studio in Scotland, creator of the Grand Theft Auto series, and London’s Rocksteady.

“Things are going in the right direction,” said Isaaman, who hopes that 40%of the industry will be female by 2025.

Not surprisingly, Britain is seeking to be at the forefront of the global debate.

After all, it was near Derby in central England in 1996 that now-defunct studio Core Design gave birth to Lara Croft, one of the most iconic gamer characters of all time. — AFP

Cebu Air forms ground-handling services company

CEBU AIR, Inc., listed operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, is venturing into ground-handling services at the airport.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, Cebu Air said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the incorporation of its subsidiary 1Aviation Groundhandling Services Corporation.

Cebu Pacific had previously tapped MIASCOR Ground Handling Corp. for services at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

However, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) in January said it will not renew the contract of MIASCOR after several reports of luggage theft involving the latter’s employees.

MIASCOR entered into a lease and concession agreement with MIAA in July 2014. The deal expired in March 2017, but has been renewed monthly.

MIAA had previously said its contract with MIASCOR will be finally terminated on April 21.

Aside from Cebu Pacific, MIASCOR provides services to several carriers such as Malaysia Airlines, Asiana Airlines, United Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Qantas at NAIA.

Cebu Air reported a net income of P4.376 billion during the first nine months of 2017, 38% lower than the P7.098 billion earned in the same period last year. Nine-month revenues were up 8% to P50.33 billion, but expenses likewise jumped 16% to P43.08 billion due to the hike in fuel prices and weakening of the Philippine peso against the US dollar.

Zagat on the menu for restaurant review site Infatuation

SAN FRANCISCO — Restaurant review new-comer The Infatuation announced Monday a deal to buy veteran Zagat from Google for an undisclosed amount.

Since Google bought Zagat a little more than six years ago for a reported $151 million, the long-established service for evaluating dining experiences has seen appetites turn to Internet age services such as Yelp.

“Zagat has helped us provide useful and relevant dining results for users across our various products,” Google vice-president of product Jen Fitzpatrick said in a joint statement.

“The Infatuation is an innovative company that will be a terrific home for the Zagat brand.”

The Infatuation planned to cook the Zagat brand into its Web site and mobile application as part of a stated mission to become an influential global restaurant discovery platform.

“Iconic brands don’t become available very often, and Zagat is about as iconic as it gets,” Infatuation cofounder and chief executive Chris Stang said.

Zagat will remain a separate platform, working in tandem with The Information, according to the company.

Zagat was founded in 1979 by Tim and Nina Zagat, serving restaurant ratings in printing guides and online. The team of reviewers grew, as did the types of industries covered in guides.

The Infatuation launched in 2009, particularly targeting smartphone-generation restaurant seekers, and boasts reaching more than three million people monthly in an array of cities around world.

“Tim and I are very excited for Zagat’s next chapter with The Infatuation,” Nina Zagat said. — AFP

Gross international reserves slip in Feb.

DOLLAR RESERVES slipped anew in February due to lower gold valuations, and as the central bank used the funds to intervene during the daily foreign exchange trading.

Gross international reserves (GIR) totalled $80.618 billion last month, down for the second straight month coming from $81.224 billion in January, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

The figure also declined from $81.436 billion worth of reserves in February 2017, and is the lowest since November’s $80.31 billion level.

In a statement, the central bank said the decline in reserves came were mainly due to their foreign exchange operations, as well as payments made by the national government for its foreign debts.

The central bank sometimes uses the reserve fund to influence daily peso-dollar trading by buying or selling more units in line with the BSP’s “tactical intervention,” in order to temper sharp swings in the exchange rate.

The BSP’s foreign exchange holdings jumped to $6.203 billion from $5.752 billion a month prior. Central bank officials previously said that a weaker peso actually meant trading gains for the central bank, as the regulator remains long on dollars.

The peso averaged P51.7856 versus the greenback in February as it touched 12-year-lows, coming from a P50.5087 average in January.

Lower gold valuations in the international market also led to the GIR decline, with the value of the BSP’s gold holdings down to $8.308 billion from $8.501 billion in January.

Income from the central bank’s foreign investments likewise dropped to $64.442 billion, coming from $65.304 billion in January and the $68.203 billion a year ago, data showed.

The BSP said higher foreign currency deposits helped offset declines in several reserve components. In particular, $1 billion new money raised from the Philippines’ global bond offer in January boosted net funding.

Reserves kept with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) inched lower to $428.6 million from $431.5 million. On the other hand, special drawing rights — or the amount which the Philippines can tap under the IMF’s reserve currency basket — steadied at $1.236 billion.

February’s GIR stash compares to the $80-billion level expected by the BSP by end-2018, which would be lower than the $81.57 billion posted in December 2017.

Despite the decline, the GIR can still cover up to 8.2 months’ worth of import payments, well above the three-month global standard. It can also pay up to 5.9 times the country’s short-term external debt on original terms, and up to 4.2 times when computed on residual maturity.

International reserves are composed of gold, the BSP’s assets expressed in foreign currencies, country quotas with the IMF, and foreign currency deposits held by government and state-run firms. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez

BSP unlikely to hike rates despite pickup in inflation

ING BANK N.V. and Capital Economics said the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is unlikely to hike interest rates even as inflation continued to pick up in February.

In a report posted on Wednesday, ING Bank Manila branch senior economist Jose Mario I. Cuyegkeng said they are expecting the BSP to keep policy settings unchanged at this month’s review.

“With BSP’s conviction and reiteration, we now expect a steady monetary policy decision at the March 22 policy rate meeting,” Mr. Cuyegkeng said.

This comes despite the upward trend in inflation. On Tuesday, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that prices of widely used goods rose 4.5% in February, calculated using the older model based on 2006 prices. This picked up from 4% in January as well as 4.2% consensus among economists in a BusinessWorld poll.

Inflation also rose to 3.9% in February when calculated using 2012 as the new base year, faster than 3.4% booked the previous month and 3.1% in February last year.

WATCH: HOW LONG CAN THE BSP PUT OFF A RATE HIKE?

Mr. Cuyegkeng attributed the quicker inflation print last month to the “[t]ax reform related impact together with higher oil prices, power rates and food prices,” adding that the price pressure will keep inflation elevated in the next six months.

But despite the recent trend of rising prices of goods and services, global economic research firm Capital Economics shared the sentiment of the BSP that higher inflation is only transitory.

“[T]he jump in inflation since the start of the year has been mainly down to temporary factors, most notably an increase in indirect taxes on high-sugar drinks, tobacco and alcohol,” Capital Economics said. “Although the year-on-year rate of inflation will remain elevated throughout 2018, it should drop back at the start of next year.”

“We continue to believe that interest rates in the Philippines will remain on hold at least until the end of the year,” Capital Economics said in a report.

BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. said this week that the continued pickup of inflation will not necessarily prompt the central bank to tighten its monetary policy setting in their next meeting.

“The elevated February inflation figure is in line with our updates forecast for a temporarily higher inflation than target range in 2018 due to transitory factors,” Mr. Espenilla said in a text message to reporters on Tuesday.

“That’s why we don’t necessary react to February 2018, but must look much further ahead and rely on forecasts.” — K.A.N. Vidal

Lego CEO wants to combine apps with blocks

THE MAN running Lego A/S wants to merge the toy maker’s iconic building blocks with digital gadgets to help revive a slump in sales.

“We see this as a way of keeping children interested for a longer time, also for later age groups,” Chief Executive Officer Niels B. Christiansen said in an interview. “We are doing a lot in this area and we want to do more.”

Christiansen, who became CEO in October, is trying to keep Lego relevant to a generation of children whose obsession with screens has left physical toys less popular. Lego has so far had mixed results with its digital forays. While the 2014 The Lego Movie and some of the company’s video games were successful, its big 2010 bet on an online multiplayer computer game, Lego Universe, was a flop.

Christiansen says the basic building block will still be the focus as Lego designs new products. He pointed to “Lego Boost” (allows children to build their own toys and then program them to move using a smartphone app) as an example of what he wants to see more of.

“We need to get Lego focused on the right things,” he said. “We must have strong and innovative products.”

Christiansen took over just as Europe’s biggest toy maker hit a wall, ending a decade-long streak of surging revenue and profits. From 2010 to 2015 alone, sales more than doubled as then-CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp returned record profits to the owners, the billionaire Kirk Kristiansen family.

But growth took place at what the Danish company has called a “supernatural” pace and the organization simply got too big. In 2017, sales and profit slumped as Lego had to reduce inventories that were based on excessively optimistic forecasts. It cut 1,400 jobs, about 8% of its work force.

Christiansen says the cleanup is now over, with sales expected to start growing again next year.

“Right now we’re focusing on a few priorities and using our new organizational structure to move more decisions out closer to consumers and to the market,” the CEO said. “It’s obvious that we win in the long run by being the most creative.” — Bloomberg

PAL adds more flights to Australia

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES (PAL) is adding more flights between Manila and Melbourne in June, after seeing strong passenger traffic on the route.

In a statement, the flag carrier said it will operate five weekly Manila-Melbourne frequencies beginning June 1, from the current thrice weekly service.

“Passenger loads between Melbourne and Manila have been consistently in the high 80s, while Sydney-Manila has been in the high 80s to 90s since we utilized the A330 tri-class for the equally popular route,” PAL Vice-President for Sales Ryan T. Uy was quoted as saying in a statement.

PR207 leaves Manila every Wednesday and Friday at 4:45 p.m. and arrives in Melbourne at 3 a.m. local time the following day. The return flight PR208 departs Melbourne every Thursday and Saturday at 5:40 a.m. local time and arrives in Manila at 10:55 a.m. on the same day.

PR209 departs Manila at 9:10 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and lands in Melbourne at 8:30 a.m. local time the following day. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, PR210 leaves Melbourne at 10:15 a.m. local time and touches down in Manila at 3:30 p.m. on the same day.

PAL, which recently received a four-star certification from air transport rating organization Skytrax, is also shifting to a thrice weekly non-stop service between Manila and Brisbane starting March 28.

PR221 will leave Manila at 11:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and will land in Brisbane at 9:20 a.m. local time the following day. PR222 will depart Brisbane every Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. local time and arrive in Manila at 5 p.m. on the same day.

Sweet-toothed fashionistas delight in chocolate clothes

BRUSSELS — In a dream mix for sweet-toothed fashionistas, models strutted the catwalk in Brussels draped in fanciful clothes made with chocolate.

The fashion show, which teams designers with chocolatiers and pastry chefs from more than 15 countries, kicked off the annual three-day Salon du Chocolat chocolate fair in Belgium’s capital on Thursday evening.

Chocolate was moulded into whimsical designs from evening gowns to cocktail dresses to hats.

The international fair, where visitors can sample sweets from more than 130 participants, plays to Belgium’s reputation as a leading chocolate maker.

“Once again, it’s a dream that becomes reality and we are salivating already,” Brussels City Mayor Philippe Close said in a statement. — Reuters

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