Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube
Home Blog Page 13407

Strong sales boost Pilipinas Shell’s bottom line for July to Sept.

PILIPINAS SHELL Petroleum Corp. grew its net income by 89% in the third quarter, driven by higher retail sales.

In a regulatory filing, Pilipinas Shell said it booked a P2.44-billion net profit during the July to September period, from the P1.29 billion a year ago.

It recorded a 17% rise in net sales to P41.19 billion in the third quarter, while cost of sales increased 15% to P34.43 billion. Income from operations likewise went up 70% to P3.53 billion.

For the nine-month period, Pilipinas Shell said net profit reached P6.63 billion, up 4.2% from P6.36 billion a year ago. Net sales grew 22% to P123.43 billion from P101.14 billion, while income from operations reached P10.17 billion, up 6.6% from P9.54 billion.

The improvement came “notwithstanding two months of planned refinery maintenance shutdown and slightly lower inventory holding gains as earnings were bolstered by retail business growth, high V-Power penetration and robust refinery performance,” Pilipinas Shell said.

“This earnings performance translates to 20% return on average capital employed, demonstrating the company’s ability to effectively utilize capital to generate superior returns,” the company told the stock exchange.

Retail network sales volumes grew by 5% compared to the past year because of the sustained higher uptake of its V-Power fuel product and the expansion of its retail footprint. To date, Pilipinas Shell has 1,014 retail stations around the country.

Its non-fuel retailing business captured the growth in convenience retailing, posting double-digit growth even as the recently opened Select stores are still maturing, the company said.

“We continue to enhance customer experience as we innovate our offering and launch various customer-delight activities. We have opened our latest format of Shell Select in our Magallanes station to include Deli2Go(s) and various food and beverage co-locators. With our initiatives, we hope to make the lives of our customers Go Well every day,” said Cesar G. Romero, Pilipinas Shell president and chief executive officer.

Pilipinas Shell’s lube bay and co-locator segment also expanded as 38 lube bays opened and 30 new co-locators came in this year. Both registered double-digit growth, the company said.

With the planned preventive maintenance work on the refinery completed in the second quarter, the company said it was able to capture strong refining margins in the third quarter.

On Thursday, shares in Pilipinas Shell rose by 0.25% to P61.15 each. — Victor V. Saulon

From Black Eyed Peas star to cancer survivor

MEXICO CITY — Jaime Luis “Jimmy” Gomez, better known as the rapper Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas, had money, fame and a multi-platinum career when a strange back pain brought his world crashing down.

The six-time Grammy winner went to the doctor and got a gut-wrenching diagnosis: he had testicular cancer.

He had more than 100 million record sales to his name and a string of worldwide dance hits like “I Gotta Feeling” and “Where Is the Love?” but it meant nothing in the face of cancer’s cruel reality, he told AFP in an interview.

At first, he was only able to piece the details together slowly.

“They didn’t tell me what type of cancer I had. They didn’t tell me what stage I was in. They just told me, Mr. Gomez, you have cancer,” said Taboo, 42.

“My life flashed before my eyes. I thought about my kids, I thought about my wife. Nothing prepares you for the shock of someone telling you you have that horrible disease.”

That was in 2014. It was only last year that Taboo went public about his struggle with cancer — now in remission after a gruelling series of chemotherapy treatments.

Today, the Los Angeles native is an ambassador for the American Cancer Society and a vocal ally and fund-raiser for cancer survivors everywhere.

He spoke to AFP ahead of the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City, which gathered high-level policy makers Tuesday for an annual exchange on fighting the world’s second-leading cause of death.

It was not an easy journey to get there.

First Taboo went through an agonizing series of chemotherapy treatments: 12 weeks of six-hour daily sessions that he describes as “war, torture and a nightmare” rolled into one.

“That was the feeling,” he said.

“I’ve never been to war, but internally, when they’re destroying your insides to kill everything that’s good to kill that one thing that’s bad, which is the tumor, it scarred me psychologically, emotionally, inside and outside.”

‘WARRIOR INSTINCT’
The idea that dealing with cancer is a “battle” has come in for criticism lately from some who resent the violence of the analogy and the implication that those suffering from the disease just need to “fight harder.”

But Taboo is an unapologetic anti-cancer warrior.

He is intensely defiant when he talks about the disease.

“I’m living, dude. I’m alive. See this face? I can actually smile and say, Look, I beat the f— out of cancer,” he said, mouthing the end of the expletive.

He spoke to AFP decked out in black, his bald head crowned by a wide-brimmed “zoot suit” hat evocative of his Mexican roots, and sporting turquoise-and-silver jewelry in a nod to his Native American heritage on his mother’s side.

He cited his maternal grandmother as his biggest influence.

“She’s a Shoshone Native American woman who had a warrior instinct. And my warrior instinct kicked in” after he was diagnosed, he said.

But you need both love and fight to deal with cancer, he added.

At the American Cancer Society, he wants to be an “ambassador of love,” he said, breaking into the chorus of one of his biggest hits: “Where Is the Love?”

Last year, as a fund-raiser for the Cancer Society, he recorded a song called “The Fight.”

His message today to others is that they can defeat cancer, too.

“I beat it down. And now I’m going to use this gift of life to give people hope and to say, Look, I went down that path too, I was there lying on that bed, you’re not alone. I am one of you and you are one of me. Let’s get charged up for life.”

Maybe the title of his next hit song. — AFP

Alaska on picking Davon Potts up: ‘We won’t pass up a talent like him’

DAVON POTTS has been highly-regarded as among those players to be picked up in the first round, but to everyone’s surprise, the talented Fil-Am guard ended up as 18th overall.

Alaska, which was supposed to pass in the second round, suddenly became interested when the team saw the San Beda point guard still available.

“We don’t want to pass up a talent like him,” Mr. Compton told InterAksyon.com. “We saw that he’s available so we picked him up.”

Mr. Potts is currently playing in the ongoing NCAA Finals series and has played a key role in the Red Lions’ Game 1 win over the erstwhile unbeaten Lyceum Pirates. He has yet to attend to Alaska’s team practice as he’s more focused in San Beda’s title campaign.

“I don’t want to bother him. I’m not texting him and I want him to concentrate on his immediate goal, which is to help San Beda win a championship,” said Mr. Compton. “But as I can see, he looks to be a good fit on the things we want to do at Alaska.”

Aside from Potts, Alaska is also excited to have its other rookie, Jeron Teng, playing for the squad.

Mr. Teng is a first round pick of the Aces and his inclusion will mean the squad will be loaded in the wing spot.

“One thing I can say about Jeron is he’s a good kid and he works hard,” added Mr. Compton. “But Jeron’s addition will certainly tinker our wing position with Calvin (Abueva), JP Mendoza and KRacs (Kevin Racal).” — Rey Joble

Remittance rebound expected in Q4, analysts say

By Melissa Luz T. Lopez,
Senior Reporter

THE DECLINE in cash remittances in September is unlikely to persist, bank analysts said, with inflows likely to recover during the fourth quarter, further fueling consumer spending.

“[W]e see a snap back in Q4 as falls in remittances do not tend to persist,” Nomura Global Research said in a market report published yesterday.

“We continue to believe remittances will be resilient owing to the geographical diversification of workers, which are also increasingly higher-skilled.”

Remittances posted an 8.3% drop in September to $2.186 billion, which the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) attributed to derisking among global banks handling money transfers, as well as the repatriation of undocumented workers from Saudi Arabia.

The amount is the lowest since the $2.083 billion total in April, and posted the steepest fall in over a decade since a 10.9% decline in April 2003. Some 8,467 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) availed of the extended amnesty program offered by the Saudi Arabian government since March, which allowed them to return home without penalty.

Nomura economists Euben Paracuelles and Lavanya Venkateswaran said they continue to expect remittances to grow by 5.5% for the entire year, poised to beat the 4% forecast of the BSP.

Money sent home by OFWs totaled $20.781 billion as of end-September, up by 3.8% from $20.025 billion the previous year, the central bank said. However, the analysts said the value of remittances continues to grow when expressed in peso terms, with real remittances up by 7.6% year on year against the 7.8% growth rate a year earlier.

The peso traded at the P51 level that month, averaging P51.0094 against the dollar. This meant that amounts sent home by OFWs are worth more when converted into pesos.

The sustained strength in real remittances will prop up domestic consumption and ultimately, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which has averaged 6.7% for the first three quarters. The government is targeting a 6.5-7.5% expansion for 2017.

Remittances support household spending, the biggest driver of economic activity.

Domestic consumption growth eased to 4.5% during the quarter, the Philippine Statistics Authority said yesterday, although upbeat government spending pushed demand-side effects for the period.

Still, remittance inflows will continue to temper the impact of a wider trade gap, Nomura said, with the current account balance seen settling at a deficit of 0.2% of GDP.

Jose Mario I. Cuyegkeng, senior economist at ING Bank N.V. Manila, said the derisking trend observed among global correspondent banks may have left Filipinos abroad with fewer channels to remit, but said that they are expected to find new platforms to send money home.

“The derisking by global correspondent banks is in response to anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing regulations… We expect the ingenuity of Filipinos to send vital remittances to their families in the Philippines to overcome the derisking impact,” the bank economist said.

Mr. Cuyegkeng said remittances will likely recover during the last three months of the year to pull up the figure to four to 4.5% higher from 2016’s $26.9 billion.

Remittances usually peak in December as OFWs send more cash to their families to spend for the Christmas season.

Probe result of Iloilo airport runway excursion incident still pending

ILOILO CITY — A month after the runway excursion by a Cebu Pacific aircraft that caused a shutdown of the Iloilo International Airport for three days, there is still no result on the investigation and who should be made accountable for the incident’s economic impact.

Officers of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in Iloilo, who were invited during the regular session of the Iloilo Provincial Board on Nov. 14, said they are still waiting for the final report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) from the CAAP central office.

“Whatever result of the investigation is, is posted by the media board on our Web site. The role of the Iloilo branch is only on the preservation of evidences,” Airport Manager III Ma. Mecine T. Reyes said during the board session.

Ms. Reyes said it really takes time to finish such investigations, depending on the type of incident.

She added that there are cases when it takes up to a year for the result to be released.

CAAP closed the Iloilo airport to all flights on the evening of Oct. 13 after a Cebu Pacific plane from Manila carrying 174 passengers and six crew members swerved to the left and overshot Runway 20.

The airport was closed for an entire weekend and it resumed operations at 2 p.m. the following Monday, Oct. 16, after the airplane was finally extracted.

Iloilo Governor Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. earlier said officials of Cebu Air, Inc. and CAAP owe it to the public to give an explanation as such incidents affect not just passengers due to cancellation of flights, but have an adverse impact on business and tourism.

Apart from Cebu Pacific, other airlines that have several domestic flights to and from Iloilo are Philippine Airlines and AirAsia.

“They need to brief the people of the city and province of Iloilo as to the reason for the incident and why it took them longer time to extract the plane,” Mr. Defensor said.

CAAP Spokesperson Eric B. Apolonio earlier said it took the technical team more than two days to extract the plane due to lack of equipment on site and the rainy weather.

The Iloilo runway incident was the fourth involving a Cebu Pacific aircraft since 2013 in different airports.

Board Member Domingo B. Oso, chair of the committee on transportation and communications, questioned the CAAP representatives as to why it took them almost three days to pull out the aircraft.

Engr. Diego Eric Abecendario, Air Traffic Controller Service for Area Center VI, said they had to wait for the AAIIB representatives to arrive the next day and inspect the area, and later on request for additional air lifting equipment all the way from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Metro Manila.

Mr. Abecendario noted that the lifting equipment is expensive and costs around P80 to P100 million.

Meanwhile, Atty. Francis Shanelle Salinas, CAAP Area VI legal officer, said neither Cebu Pacific nor CAAP could be held accountable for the delay in the extraction of the plane as well as the delay in the investigation of the incident.

Ms. Salinas, however, acknowledged that CAAP has the final say on the extraction proceedings.

Ms. Reyes said they might propose the purchase of additional equipment for Iloilo, but not immediately due to the cost. — Louine Hope U. Conserva

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe resisting pressure to quit

HARARE — President Robert Mugabe is insisting he remains Zimbabwe’s only legitimate ruler, an intelligence source said on Thursday, and is resisting mediation by a Catholic priest to allow the 93-year-old former guerrilla a graceful exit after a military coup.

The priest, Fidelis Mukonori, is acting as a middle-man between Mr. Mugabe and the generals, who seized power on Wednesday in a targeted operation against “criminals” in his entourage, a senior political source told Reuters.

The source could not provide details of the talks, which appear to be aimed at a smooth and bloodless transition after the departure of Mr. Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.

Mr. Mugabe, still seen by many Africans as a liberation hero, is reviled in the West as a despot whose disastrous handling of the economy and willingness to resort to violence to maintain power destroyed one of Africa’s most promising states. — Reuters

Largest Owndays store in the world opens in PHL

By Zsarlene B. Chua

FROM THE outside the newest Owndays store in SM Megamall didn’t look like a typical optical shop with white walls and glass cases everywhere protecting the merchandise — the floor to the fixtures were done in shades of brown while the ceiling is decidedly industrial with hanging lights — but it was hard to miss the rows upon rows of frames for sunglasses and regular eyeglasses.

And making the brand’s flagship and largest store yet not look like the normal optical shops was the whole point — in order to encourage customers, whether they need prescription glasses or want them for fashion, to not be intimidated by both the store and its vaunted all-in pricing system.

“We’re the only optical shop [in the country] who offers ultra-thin, multi-coated lenses right off the bat instead of offering them as extras,” Vohne Yao, Sungears Sales managing director (Owndays’ local partner in the Philippines), told BusinessWorld during the store’s launch on Nov. 8 before adding that the upfront price also includes a one-year limited warranty and lifetime cleaning and mechanical services, the option to choose from 1,500 frame styles, and a waiting period (after payment) of just 20 minutes until the finished pair is released.

A pair can range in price from P1,990 to P6,990.

Spanning 280 square meters, the SM Megamall branch is currently the largest store the Japanese optical brand has ever opened, and while it wasn’t hard to convince the Japanese principals to open the store, one of the challenges they faced was deciding what to actually put inside it because of its size.

“Owndays has never done something this big so one of the challenges we faced was what to put in it… so why not put a special section for the kids and sunglasses so we can encourage parents to get their kids glasses at an early age?,” Mr. Yao said, adding that the dedicated section for kids glasses would lead them to expand the collection.

But whether having a section dedicated to sunglasses and kids’ eyewear would be replicated in succeeding stores remains to be seen as Mr. Yao said it’s “an experiment” — though if it works, they might do this in other stores as well.

And because the retail space is so big, Owndays put in three refraction rooms — with a space for another just in case — to guarantee the fast roll-out of the glasses and chairs for those who’ll wait.

Since opening in 2015, Owndays now operates 21 stores across the country including Cebu and Pampanga. Next year, Mr. Yao said they are planning on opening 15 more.

“We opened 21 stores in less than two years. Next year we’re opening another 15 stores. We really want to bring this to anyone — the price is affordable for everyone and it’s value for money because you get the frames, the lenses, the choices, the service,” he said.

And for those who want to have a collection of frames ranging from the conventional to the decidedly funky, Owndays introduces new styles every three weeks, something fast fashion retailers such as H&M are known to do.

“Sometimes we tell them the frames are too unconventional — we have butterfly frames — but they said it was to show what Owndays can do in terms of design,” he explained.

While he acknowledged there are a lot of other optical store brands whose branches number well into the hundreds, he believes there is much room to grow because “only 10% of Filipinos who need glasses get glasses,” unlike neighboring countries such as Hong Kong and Japan whose numbers are way higher.

“There’s room for us to grow the market. We need to work together to grow the market,” he said.

Trump’s burger

Perhaps reflective of the state of intellectual discourse nowadays that when US President Donald Trump decided to eat a burger in Japan, the social media community went nuts. Or perhaps its just progressives, since they’re in a constant state of nuttiness anyway. For a group claiming to be for individual freedom, they seem hell-bent on dictating whatever it is people should do, including what to eat for lunch and where.

In any event, reading about the Trump burger thing just made me hungry for a burger.

Hamburgers are essentially just ground beef put between slices of buns. The idea of grinding beef was said to come from the Mongols. Or the Russians. Perhaps its original form is what we see now as the steak tartare. James Bond had it upon being proffered by Kerim in Istanbul:

“The second course came, and with it a bottle of Kavaklidere, a rich coarse burgundy like any other Balkan wine. The Kebab was good and tasted of smoked bacon fat and onions. Kerim ate a kind of Steak Tartare — a large flat hamburger of finely minced raw meat laced with peppers and chives and bound together with yolk of egg. He made Bond try a forkful. It was delicious. Bond said so. ‘You ought to eat it every day,’ said Kerim earnestly. ‘It is good for those who wish to make much love.’” (From Russia with Love)

The idea of shaping ground beef into round patties apparently came from the Germans. As Adam Kuban relates, “As global trade picked up, seafarers brought this idea back to the port city of Hamburg, Germany, where the Deutschvolk decided to mold it into a steak shape and add heat to the equation, making something that, outside of Hamburg, was referred to as ‘Hamburg steak.’”

But it was when it came to America (well, naturally) that the hamburger came to be. Again Kuban: “There are currently three major claims staked on the confusing and contradictory map of American hamburger history. Each has its adherents and detractors.” They are: Louis’s Lunch (New Haven, Connecticut), “Hamburger Charlie” (Seymour, Wisconsin), and Menches Brothers (Hamburg, New York). The time frames involved here range from 1885 to 1900.

Somewhere along the way, the hamburger would get a boost.

In the same stroke of genius when someone decided to combine chocolate with milk and sugar (likely in the 1520s in Spain), somebody had the brilliant idea of putting cheese in the hamburger, then partnering it with french fries and soda. And thus: the modern burger.

As for condiments, Bruce Willis (Whole Nine Yards) had this to say: “Every red-blooded American knows that the only condiment that you are ever supposed to put on a hamburger is ketchup! Or maybe some of that special sauce you like so much here in Canada; which I think has a little bit of mayonnaise in it too! But I swear to God when they start slapping that mayonnaise on there I could kill somebody.”

So the burger became big in the US. And with the coming of the Second World War, then the Cold War, the hamburger became the American’s best export (along with chocolate, Hollywood, and rock and roll). But with the globalization of the burger came the inevitable international conflicts:

“Vincent: And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?

Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.

Jules: Then what do they call it?

Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.

Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?

Vincent: Well, a Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.

Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?

Vincent: I dunno, I didn’t go into Burger King. But, you know what they put on French fries in Holland instead of ketchup?

Jules: What?

Vincent: Mayonnaise.

Jules: God damn!” (Pulp Fiction)

But never mind Messieurs Willis and Tarantino, I prefer mayonnaise, Tabasco, and mustard. Without ketchup. My favorite Filipino fast-food version would be Tropical Hut’s cheeseburger. If really hungry, the double double burger. Jollibee’s is fine too but with pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage Justine Trudeau, now I don’t know. Razon’s is great and reminds me of Manila burgers of old.

As for Trump’s Tokyo burger, the Daily Mail reports it was from popular Tokyo chain Munch’s Burger Shack: “a $10 Colby Jack cheeseburger — well done, Trump’s seeming preferred level of doneness, with lettuce and tomato — and fries for the president, which was accompanied by a tall glass of soda and bottles of Heinz ketchup and mustard. Trump deemed the cheeseburger to be ‘very good.’”

And the Japanese, bless them, came in droves to Munch’s Burger Shack a few hours later. So much for the progressive social media backlash.

 

Jemy Gatdula is a Senior Fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.

jemygatdula@yahoo.com

www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com

facebook.com/jemy.gatdula

Twitter @jemygatdula

Luxury, fast fashion sales drive SSI’s Q3 income

HIGHER SALES from its luxury and fast fashion segments helped SSI Group, Inc. deliver a 3.5% growth in earnings during  the July to September period.

In a regulatory filing, the listed specialty store retailer reported its net income attributable to the parent increased to P67.7 million during the third quarter, against the P65.4 million a year ago.

Net sales went up 2.7% to P4.16 billion for the three-month period, which the company attributed to its luxury and bridge, as well as fast fashion categories, as well as strong same-store sales. Among the brands under its portfolio include Gucci, Prada, Lacoste, Zara, Gap, Old Navy and Marks & Spencer.

On a nine-month basis, SSI’s attributable profit grew by 11% to P342 million, despite recording flat revenues for the January to September period at P12.6 billion.

“The year-to-date decrease in net sales of 0.4% is in line with the Group’s store rationalization program, which seeks to improve the overall sales quality and operating efficiency of the Group’s store network. The rationalization program also seeks to strengthen the Group’s dominant position in high productivity, central locations,” the company said.

As of end-September, SSI’s store network stood at 652 stores covering 131,885 square meters, 6.8% lower than the 9.597 sq.m. during the same period last year.

During the third quarter, SSI opened 7 new stores, while closing 20 stores. It also added Estee Lauder to its brand portfolio.

“Improvements in sales productivity and operating margin reflect sustained consumer demand, the increased efficiency of our store network and the strength of our brand portfolio. We enter the Christmas shopping season confident that SSI is in a strong position to capture increasing discretionary spending,” SSI President Anthony T. Huang said in a statement.

The company noted that operating expenses slowed during the nine-month period, lower by 5% to P5.1 billion as the group consolidates its existing stores in order to maximize operations.

Shares in SSI shed seven centavos or 2.05% to close at P3.34 each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday. — Arra B. Francia

NEDA seeking Palace green light for foreign investment negative list liberalization

THE Office of the President has been requested to order executive agencies to fast-track the implementation of the proposed new Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL), which opens more areas of the economy to foreign investment.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said he asked the Office of the President last month to issue a memorandum circular ordering government agencies to effect the speedy implementation of more permissive foreign ownership rules, ahead of the actual approval of the FINL.

“I asked the Executive Secretary to come up with a memorandum,” Mr. Pernia told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference on the third quarter economic growth results yesterday.

“The message there is [for] pertinent government agencies to fast-track what they have to do in terms of liberalizing the items that are proposed for easing, and also for the agencies to be able to determine what can be eased right away versus those that need legislation,” he added.

Mr. Pernia said that the Executive Order on the 11th FINL is still awaiting the President’s approval.

He said that the proposed FINL — a list of industries that are either closed to or restrict foreign ownership — includes “about eight to 10” sectors.

Some sectors under the proposed new list will allow up to 100% foreign ownership, while some will be limited up to 49%, according to Mr. Pernia.

Mr. Pernia said that the industries where foreign ownership rules have been eased include the employment of professors from foreign universities, public utilities including the telecommunication sector, and foreign contractors on government projects.

In earlier interviews, Mr. Pernia said that the list would also feature the lowering of the paid-in capital threshold for foreign retailers to $200,000 from the current $2.5 million.

Some of the sectors can be liberalized with an Executive Order, while some will require Congressional action to amend existing laws, or amend the Constitution in the case of public utilities.

Economic managers had said that they will seek to amend Commonwealth Act No. 146, or the Public Service Act, to redefine public utilities in order to allow foreign ownership.

The 10th FINL signed by President Benigno S.C. Aquino III last year bars foreign involvement in the practice of all licensed professions; retail; cooperatives; private security agencies; small-scale mining; utilization of marine resources; the ownership, operation and management of cockpits; and the manufacture, repair, stockpiling and/or distribution of nuclear weapons.

Foreigners meanwhile can own up to 25% of private recruitment companies for local or overseas employment and firms involved in the construction and repair of works like infrastructure and foreign-assisted projects. The list of areas where foreigners can own up to 30% are: advertising; exploration, development and utilization of natural resources; private land; public utilities; education; rice and corn administration; financing and investment companies; suppliers to state-owned corporations and agencies; defense-related structures; public utility franchises; and private domestic and overseas construction contracts.

The list of industries allowing up to 40% foreign ownership include security; defense; those industries that pose a risk to health and morals, such as gambling, bath houses and massage clinics; and certain small-scale and medium-sized enterprises. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan

Artist royalties jump but group cites obstacles

NEW YORK — Creators’ royalties jumped to a record last year on the back of the growth of music streaming, a global body reported Wednesday, but it said compensation from YouTube remained too low.

Writers of music, TV, film and other content took in €9.2 million ($10.9 million) last year, a jump of 6% from a year earlier, said the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, a Paris-based body known by its French acronym CISAC.

Fueling the growth was music, with digital royalties soaring 52% thanks to the rapid rise in paid subscriptions to streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal.

But within music, royalties from streaming still accounted for a fraction of the proceeds from music’s use in television and film as well as music in live performances.

The creators’ group placed the blame squarely at YouTube, the omnipresent video-sharing site owned by Google, which it accused of not paying back sufficient royalties.

Electronic music legend Jean-Michel Jarre, who is the president of CISAC, said in a statement that platforms such as YouTube “are paying mere crumbs to authors.”

“Collections are nowhere near the level they should be. Large industries that use creative content are driving down the value of our works,” Jarre said.

The music industry has long feuded with YouTube, which argues that it fairly compensates artists in accordance with the law. The United States in particular legally absolves internet companies of much obligation for the content posted by users.

CISAC represents songwriters, screenwriters and others who generally copyright their work with publishers, who distribute back royalties for usage. Performers have a different system of compensation. — AFP

North Korea soldier stable, but riddled with parasites

SEOUL — A North Korean soldier shot multiple times while defecting to the South is in a stable condition but riddled with parasites that could complicate his chances of survival, his doctor said Thursday.

The soldier dashed across the border at the Panmunjom truce village on Monday, as former comrades from the North opened fire on him, hitting him at least four times.

He was pulled to safety by three South Korean soldiers who crawled to reach him, just south of the dividing line.

The young man was rushed to hospital in South Korea by helicopter where he has undergone two rounds of emergency surgery.

“Vital signs including his pulse are returning to stability,” attending doctor Lee Cook-Jong told journalists.

However, he warned, the unnamed soldier could rapidly deteriorate at any moment.

“We’re paying close attention to prevent possible complications,” said Lee, who on Wednesday said “an enormous number of parasites” including roundworms had been found in the small intestine.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years as a physician,” he said, adding the longest worm he removed was 27 centimeters (11 inches).

Parasites, especially roundworms, are widespread in North Korea — as they are in many developing countries — where people eat uncooked vegetables that have been fertilized with human feces, experts say. — AFP

1...13,40613,40713,408...14,238Page 13,407 of 14,238
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin X Youtube