Baker in Havana, Cuba, in 1950
— EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/
PARIS — Josephine Baker, the famed Black French-American singer and dancer, will be buried in Paris’ Pantheon mausoleum — one of France’s highest honors — said government minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher on Sunday.“This is a great lady, who loved France, who will enter the Pantheon. Thank you to @EmmanuelMacron for this tribute,” wrote Pannier-Runacher on Twitter, confirming earlier media reports. Ms. Baker was born in Missouri in 1906 but went on to find much of her fame after arriving in Paris in the 1920s, as many Black Americans stayed on in the French capital after World War I and brought over with them American jazz culture. Ms. Baker also served in the French Resistance during World War II. She died in 1975 and is currently buried in Monaco. Her remains will be re-buried at the Pantheon on Nov. 30, meaning Ms. Baker will lie alongside other French national icons in the mausoleum such as authors Emile Zola and Victor Hugo, the philosopher Voltaire and politician Simone Veil. — Reuters
PREMIERE Horizon Alliance Corp. (PHA) reported on Monday a second-quarter net loss of P31.03 million, more than three times higher than its P8.99-million loss incurred in the same period last year.
In a regulatory filing, it said its topline declined by 29% to P81.4 million from P115.4 million, with mining-related activities contributing more than the company’s real estate business.
Revenues from mining services contributed P73.75 million, but lower by nearly 13% from P84.61 million last year. Meanwhile, real estate sales dipped by 75% to P7.65 million from P30.79 million.
For the first half of the year, the company trimmed its net loss by 10% to P43.41 million from P48.39 million year on year. Revenues inched up by 4.5% to P184.23 million from P176.34 million.
“In June 2020, mining services revenue accounted for 72% of the revenue with more than P120 million. This year, mining services [contributed] only 43% at P83 million due to limited operations because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) restrictions in Dinagat Island,” Premiere Horizon told the stock exchange.
While some of its mining projects are delayed because of lockdown restrictions, the company said it is confident that subsidiary Premiere Georesources and Development, Inc. will continue normal mining operations by the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, real estate sales in the six-month period doubled to P100.77 million from last year’s P49.79 million, “signaling an improvement in the real estate sector.”
The company said its North Luzon-based property unit Goshen Land Capital, Inc. will be launching a vertical project within Baguio City’s commercial business district this month, while its tourism development subsidiary West Palawan Premiere will begin working on a residential beachside development in Puerto Princesa City.
“It is important to note that PHA’s financial position has greatly improved in the first half of 2021 despite the losses with the equity infusion from the new investor group,” the company said.
Premiere Horizon’s total equity stood at P1.48 billion as of end-June, 22% higher than its end-December figure at P1.21 billion. Its debt-to-equity ratio improved to 1.54x from 2.21x in December last year, as current ratio also improved to 0.83 from 0.76.
The company anticipates its financial position to further pick up in the coming quarters with a P378.7-million debt-to-equity conversion, the fold-in of SquidPay Technology, Inc., and the equity infusion from the put option agreement with LDA Capital Ltd.
Premiere Horizon shares at the stock market closed unchanged on Monday at P1.10 apiece. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
DON Everly, whose close-harmony singing with his brother, Phil, generated dreamy, chart-topping hits about teen romance in the late 1950s and early ’60s and influenced groups from The Beatles to Simon and Garfunkel, has died, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday. He was 84. Mr. Everly, whose hits with his brother included “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Bye Bye Love,” died on Saturday at his home in Nashville, Tennessee, a family spokesperson told the newspaper. His brother died in 2014 at age 74. The New York Times once described the brothers’ voices as “dipped in country sugar,” and it was said that “if they sing country in heaven, then there’s a good chance the angels sound like the Everly Brothers.” “Perhaps even more powerfully than Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers melded country with the emerging sound of Fifties rock & roll,” said Rolling Stone magazine in putting the brothers at No. 33 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists.” The Everlys’ success faded in the 1960s amid the advent of guitar-driven rock, tension between the brothers and drug problems. They split up for 10 years but their harmonies proved timeless. — Reuters
HYBRID work schemes are likely to continue amid the prolonged pandemic. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN
THE HYBRID office strategy will be the best model for most organizations that have seen the effectiveness of a work-from-home strategy, experts said.
“We think that probably for most organizations, the best way to go is this kind of hybrid strategy, which is where you empower employees with choice and then give them good choices,” Herman Miller Insight Programmer Manager Oliver Baxter said at the “Heading Hybrid: Developing the Future of Work & Place Playbook” event hosted by Colliers International Philippines last week.
This means that offices won’t completely be gone after the pandemic, but under the hybrid office model — employees should have the chance to decide where they can best accomplish their tasks.
“Try to figure out who works best where. For a small organization, it’s a little bit easier. But I think any organization that’s trying to do this at scale knows that it’s virtually possible to figure out where thousands of employees work best where,” Mr. Baxter said.
A pulse survey done in America, France, the UK, Germany, and some regions in Asia conducted by the Future Forum — a consortium that includes Herman Miller, the Boston Consulting Group, Slack, and Fortune Magazine — showed 76% of the respondents want flexibility in where they work.
Office spaces have been dubbed as the “great equalizer” as not everyone has a dedicated working space from home. The Future Forum survey also showed that 59% of the 20,000 respondents said that they have difficulty focusing on work when they are at home.
“No matter where we come from, when we reach the office, we are all equal. And that has been eradicated, that has been the greatest impact for me,” Vida Candida Santos-Arciaga, Center for Research, Education, Solutionsand Training (CREST), Inc. president and chief executive officer, said.
The Future Forum survey also showed that 93% of workers want the flexibility to determine when or how much time they spend on work.
“I think that probably has more power in association with people’s performance, their engagement with work is the when,” Mr. Baxter said, citing reports that some companies have also adopted a four-day workweek.
Herman Miller said the hybrid office strategy led to the company remodeling its office spaces so that it is “part of the continuum of different places that people can choose from.” This includes specific spaces for community socialization, team collaboration, and individual focus areas employees may book.
Companies were encouraged to keep reviewing practices, policies, and strategies to take care of employees to ensure business continuity, especially with quarantine restrictions changing every so often.
“Check how people are managing the change and help them also build that resiliency that is critical for managing that change,” Ms. Santos-Arciaga said.
She said some of the companies she handles have updated their competency matrix, both at the team level and at the individual level.
Organizations are still expected to continue supporting their employees through accommodative human resources policies.
“The keyword here is flexibility and the need to be able to listen to each of our employees to understand what their needs are because a lot of our employees will have very unique situations,” M Moser Associates Director Donn Tan said.
While the hybrid-office strategy is not new, M Moser Associates Regional Director Stephen Lyon said the pandemic has shown that working remotely can work with the right technology and the right management policies.
Companies that fail to impose these new strategies will fall behind the competition in getting or retaining outstanding employees.
“The big risk is that if you don’t adopt a hybrid model, the other sectors that do will actually start to poach and retain some of your top talents,” Mr. Lyon said.
“If you want the best people to work for you, you got to give them the best set of conditions,” he added. “We adapt or we die to a certain extent.” — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte
LEPANTO Consolidated Mining Co. trimmed its second-quarter net loss attributable to parent company equity holders to P100.08 million on the back of higher revenues.
The mining company said in a stock exchange disclosure on Monday that its attributable net loss for the April-to-June period is lower than the P242.55-million loss it incurred a year ago.
Revenues for the quarter rose 42.2% to P389.53 million against the P273.85 million it recorded in 2020.
Sale of metals accounted for P382.28 million of Lepanto’s total revenues, while the remaining P7.25 million came from service fees and other operating income.
Dore production during the quarter reached 4,146 ounces of gold and 11,016 ounces of silver, up 28.4% and 17.5% from 3,228 ounces and 9,375 ounces, respectively.
Lepanto also disclosed that the average gold price for the quarter rose 4.5% to $1,815.5 per ounce while the average silver price climbed 52.8% to $26.54 per ounce.
“Tonnage milled increased by 15,810 tons to 113,572 tons as last year’s production was affected by the prolonged lockdown. Milling cost went down from P83.3 million to P81.9 million; depletion and depreciation increased by a total of P5.0 million to P102.8 million on account of the higher production and the acquisition of additional equipment, respectively,” Lepanto said.
For the first half, the company reported a P163.19-million attributable net loss, lower than the P456.9-million attributable net loss it had in 2020.
Revenues for the January-to-June period climbed 9.9% to P797.08 million from P725.6 million a year ago.
Of the total revenues, sale of metals accounted for P788.22 million while service fees and other operating income contributed P8.87 million.
According to Lepanto, first-half dore production consisted of 8,649 ounces of gold and 34,100 ounces of silver.
“Last year’s metal production included gold copper concentrates (suspended in March 2020) and totaled 7,861 ounces of gold; 20,733 ounces of silver; and 618,442 pounds of copper,” Lepanto said.
The company disclosed that the average gold price for the period rose 10.2% to $1,796.56 per ounce while the average silver price similarly went up 51.1% to $26.30 per ounce.
Moving forward, Lepanto said it is focusing on the gold dore production of its Victoria and Teresa deposits in Mankayan, Benguet, adding that exploration drilling is concentrated on targeting extensions of the said deposits.
“Meantime, the mill plant and carbon-in-pulp (CIP) are undergoing rehabilitation to improve gold and silver recoveries and increase throughput,” Lepanto said.
“There are no plans for any significant changes in the number of employees or purchase of significant equipment. Raising of capital may be resorted to support operations, further exploration including copper areas, and development,” it added.
On Monday, shares of Lepanto “A” at the stock exchange rose 1.45% or two centavos to finish at P0.140 apiece while Lepanto “B” shares fell 2.08% or three centavos to end at P0.141 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas in No Time to Die (2021) — IMDB.COM
LOS ANGELES —The new James Bond movie No Time To Die on Friday set a world premiere date for late September, despite speculation in the entertainment industry that the film’s release might be delayed for a fourth time because of the coronavirus epidemic. A posting on the official @007 Bond Twitter account said the red carpet world premiere for the Universal Pictures and MGM film would take place in London on Sept. 28, ahead of the planned Sept. 30 release date in UK movie theaters. It is due to be released in the United States on Oct. 8. The date for No Time to Die has been moved three times from its original April 2020 slot since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 as movie theaters around the world closed their doors and restrictions were placed on audience capacity. James Bond movies are among the most valuable film franchises in Hollywood, with 2015’s Spectre raking in $880 million at the box office worldwide, while Skyfall in 2012 grossed more than $1 billion globally. The film, which cost an estimated $200 million to produce, marks Daniel Craig’s last outing as the British secret agent and is among the most anticipated potential blockbusters this fall. However the Delta variant of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) has led to a rise in infections in the United States and elsewhere, raising concern about whether audiences will feel safe sitting in cinemas. — Reuters
A WOMAN walks by a clothing sales sign along Madison Avenue in New York City, New York, US, Aug. 18, 2020. — REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON
SHOPPERS ARE scanning Manhattan’s brick-and-mortar stores again, in search of wardrobe upgrades for the return to offices and in-person gatherings. Madison Avenue is one retail hub getting left out of the rebound.
Foot traffic on the stretch of Madison from 57th to 72nd streets was at just 71% of 2019 levels the week of Aug. 8, according to estimates by Orbital Insight. That’s lagging behind Upper Fifth Avenue just a block away, and Soho, which is seeing more shoppers than before the pandemic.
Historically, all three districts have beckoned consumers with a taste for luxury, their designer boutiques and flagship stores attracting New Yorkers and global travelers alike. While nearly every retail strip has suffered from the rise of e-commerce over the years, Madison has been especially decimated. COVID-19 restrictions only accelerated the slide, forcing ever more stores to shutter for good.
The avenue where now-shuttered Barneys New York was a swanky mainstay for decades now has Manhattan’s highest rate of available retail space, giving shoppers less motivation to stroll by.
One reason the area has struggled is that it has little appeal for young people, who “want to be where it’s hip,” according to Ruth Colp-Haber, who runs Wharton Property Advisors, Inc.
“You’re more likely to meet your friend down in Soho to go to brunch on the weekend than you are to go to a museum on Madison Avenue,” she said. “They don’t want to go uptown — that’s where their parents and grandparents are living.”
FOOTFALL FALTERS While streets across the city may be quieter than usual these days, some areas are bouncing back stronger than Madison. On similarly posh Upper Fifth Avenue, from 49th to 60th streets, shopper traffic has recovered to 92% of 2019 levels, according to Orbital, which tracks pedestrian activity through mobile phone data and satellites. (Orbital has received funding in the past from Bloomberg Beta, a venture-capital unit of Bloomberg LP.)
Downtown in Soho, foot traffic has been hovering around 110% of 2019 levels since early July. On a recent Saturday, shoppers swarmed Lululemon, the Apple Store and Uniqlo, and cashier lines at fast-fashion chain Zara’s Broadway store stretched almost to the door. Storefronts in the arty neighborhood have been filling up, thanks in part to large rent discounts.
On Madison, meanwhile, the availability rate for retail space was 39% in the second quarter, the highest in Manhattan, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
All along the avenue, storefronts are advertising closings or relocations. On one stretch, between 66th and 67th streets, nearly every other address is empty. “We’ve loved being part of your community and bringing a smile to Madison Avenue,” reads one sign at Anya Hindmarch, a luxury handbag retailer. “It’s time to move on.”
Other luxury brands have come along to fill some of the vacancies. Fendi, for one, moved into the old Coach flagship at the corner of 57th Street. Hermes, Giorgio Armani and Brunello Cucinelli are among those building out new stores or expanding current ones on Madison.
Rents on the avenue haven’t declined as much as they have in Soho, which may account for difficulty in hanging onto tenants and filling empty storefronts.
“The reality is that landlords need to recognize that brick-and-mortar retailers were already in trouble before COVID,” said Hoai Ngo, a retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Retailers are renegotiating the leases, but I think landlords need to be more realistic about what they can get.”
For Alan Sandler, who walks along a stretch of Madison every day on his commute home, the neighborhood is the quietest it’s been in the 40 years he’s lived there.
One of the things that bothers him the most: all the smaller, mid-range retailers “that are closed now,” said Sandler, 78. That’s led to small inconveniences, like a lack of affordable places to buy luggage.
He gestured to his satchel: “It took me forever to find the one that’s on my shoulder.” — Bloomberg
THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered on Monday as rates continued to move sideways on ample demand.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P15 billion as planned via the T-bills it auctioned off on Monday as total tenders hit P50.867 billion, making the offer more than thrice oversubscribed. However, Monday’s demand went down from the P53.276 billion logged in the previous week’s auction.
Broken down, the BTr raised the programmed P5 billion via the 91-day debt papers from P14.61 billion in bids. The average rate of the tenor inched up to 1.077% from the 1.066% seen in a week ago.
The government also raised P5 billion as planned via the 182-day T-bills it offered on Monday as the tenor attracted tenders worth P19.021 billion. The six-month debt was quoted at an average rate of 1.408%, up by 0.1 basis point (bp) from the previous week’s level of 1.407%
Lastly, the Treasury made a full P5-billion award of the 364-day papers it auctioned off on Monday from P17.24 billion in bids. The average rate of the one-year securities edged down by 0.5 bp to 1.612% from 1.617% last week.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said healthy demand for short-term papers caused T-bill rates to stay low at Monday’s auction.
Ms. De Leon said they are also seeing increased appetite for long-dated bonds as investors are looking for higher returns.
Meanwhile, a bond trader said: “T-bill rates are just moving sideways amid sustained demand in short-term securities.”
“Investors are on wait-and-see mode while waiting for government’s next move on how to help the economy rebound given the resurgence in COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) infections,” the trader said via Viber.
Demand for safe assets like government securities has remained strong amid lingering concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, keeping rates low.
The Health department reported 16,066 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, bringing the tally of active cases in the country to 125,900.
Lockdown measures in Metro Manila have been eased slightly for the rest of the month after the government placed the capital region and several parts of the country under the strictest form of lockdown due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday, the BTr will auction off P35 billion in reissued 20-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) with a remaining life of 11 years and seven months.
The Treasury is looking to raise P200 billion from the local market this month: P60 billion via weekly offers of T-bills and P140 billion from weekly auctions of T-bonds. The BTr is expected to release its borrowing plan for September in the coming days.
The government wants to borrow P3 trillion from domestic and external sources this year to help fund a budget deficit seen to hit 9.3% of gross domestic product. — Beatrice M. Laforga
AGRINURTURE, Inc. (ANI) has lowered the number of shares to be offered in its stock rights offering.
The listed company said in a regulatory filing on Monday that its board of directors, on Aug. 19, reduced the number of shares to be offered to 288,000,027, down from 307,309,635 previously.
“The change is due to the re-computation of the number of shares which are eligible to participate in the stock rights offering,” ANI said.
The company also disclosed that its board “confirmed the authority to conduct a stock rights offering of common shares to all eligible shareholders of the company at [an] offer price of P1 per share.”
An existing shareholder owning 2.5 shares will be entitled to one stock rights share.
ANI said the rights issue “is intended to provide additional working capital to support the growth and strategic initiatives of the corporation’s core businesses.” The company’s management will finalize the specific allocation of the proceeds for review and approval of the board, it said.
For the first half of the year, ANI’s net profit declined to P122.07 million from P356.99 million it had in 2020. In contrast, the company’s net revenue increased 29% to P2.31 billion.
Based on its website, ANI is an agro-commercial firm that has business interests in the export and trading of organic products such as vegetables, fruits, and grains.
On Monday, shares of ANI at the stock exchange dropped 0.33% or two centavos to close at P6.03 per share. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
NOW Corp. saw its attributable net income for the second quarter of the year drop 40% to P2.7 million as expenses increased, the company’s quarterly report showed.
Second-quarter total revenues grew 24.6% to P51.2 million from P41.1 million in the same period last year.
However, the company’s expenses for the quarter climbed to P47.2 million from P32.1 million in the previous year.
For the first half of the year, the company’s attributable net income fell 43.1% to P4.1 million from P7.2 million previously.
First-half revenues reached P102.3 million, up 15% from P89 million in the previous year.
Expenses for the period increased 29.1% to P95.9 million from P74.3 million previously.
“This was brought about by an increase in cost of sales and services of P11.9 million or 26.3% from P45.3 million in 2020 to P57.3 million in 2021, whereas, operating expenses also increased by P9.6 million or 33.2%,” NOW Corp. said.
“The increase in operating expenses were due to salaries and other benefits, professional fees, taxes and licenses, advertising and promotion, and communication and subscriptions,” it added.
NOW Corp. shares closed 1.94% lower at P2.02 apiece on Monday. — Arjay L. Balinbin
NEW YORK — A former tour manager for R. Kelly told jurors at the R&B singer’s sex abuse trial on Friday that Mr. Kelly paid a $500 bribe in order to obtain a license to marry the singer Aaliyah when she was just 15 after fearing he had gotten her pregnant. Jurors also heard testimony from a former Kelly aide who said that working for his former boss was almost like being in a “twilight zone.” The testimony came on the third day of Mr. Kelly’s trial, where the 54-year-old known for the Grammy-winning song “I Believe I Can Fly” is accused of running a two-decade racketeering scheme in which he demanded absolute control over his alleged victims. Mr. Kelly’s nine-count indictment describes his alleged abuse of six women and girls, four underage. Mr. Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty and has denied wrongdoing, could face life in prison if convicted in the Brooklyn trial. He also faces sex-related criminal charges in Illinois and Minnesota. Mr. Kelly’s lawyers have said his accusers targeted him after the rise of the #MeToo social movement against sexual abuse and harassment, seeking to profit or extract revenge after their relationships did not work out. Demetrius Smith, 65, the former tour manager, said the bribe to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah so she could marry Mr. Kelly, then 27, in August 1994 was arranged after Mr. Kelly told him while flying back to Chicago from a concert that Aaliyah was pregnant. Mr. Smith also said Mr. Kelly’s accountant began making arrangements for the marriage, and told Mr. Kelly “to protect himself, protect Aaliyah.” Asked by a prosecutor what Mr. Kelly needed protection from, Mr. Smith said: “I guess jail.” Jurors were also shown the marriage license for Mr. Kelly and Aaliyah, and heard testimony that Aaliyah’s parents should have attended the ceremony because of her age. Mr. Smith said they did not. The marriage was annulled after six months. Aaliyah died in a 2001 plane crash. — Reuters
DMCI HOMES is on track to complete the first building of its three-tower Pasig City development by April 2022 as it continues construction work amid the pandemic.
The Consunji-led property developer said that the Astra building of its Prisma Residences will be done by next year and is set to welcome the first batch of residents in the second quarter of 2022.
“Construction work has also been progressing well on the two other buildings, Celeste and Kiran, which are targeted for turnover starting April 2023 and April 2024 respectively,” the company said in a press release on Sunday.
Prisma Residences was made available to the market starting in 2017. By July 2021, the residential development still has “a few” more units available for pre-selling starting at P4.125 million.
The two-hectare development along Pasig Boulevard targets young professionals and families, and offers a basketball court, function hall, pool deck, and an open lounge.
The condominium has between one to three-bedroom residential units in 41 to 45-storey buildings.
