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Apple to pay up to $500M to settle lawsuit over slow iPhones

APPLE Inc. has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle litigation accusing it of quietly slowing down older iPhones as it launched new models, to induce owners to buy replacement phones or batteries.

The preliminary proposed class-action settlement was disclosed on Friday night and requires approval by US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California.

It calls for Apple to pay consumers $25 per iPhone, which may be adjusted up or down depending on how many iPhones are eligible, with a minimum total payout of $310 million.

Apple denied wrongdoing and settled the nationwide case to avoid the burdens and costs of litigation, court papers show.

The Cupertino, California-based company did not immediately respond on Monday to requests for comment.

Friday’s settlement covers US owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7Plus or SE that ran the iOS 10.2.1 or later operating system. It also covers US owners of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017.

Consumers contended that their phones’ performance suffered after they installed Apple software updates. They said this misled them into believing their phones were near the end of their life cycles, requiring replacements or new batteries.

Apple attributed the problems mainly to temperature changes, high usage and other issues, and said its engineers worked quickly and successfully to address them. Analysts sometimes refer to the slowing of iPhones as “throttling.”

Lawyers for the consumers described the settlement as “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”

They called payments of $25 per iPhone “considerable by any degree,” saying their damages expert considered $46 per iPhone the maximum possible.

The lawyers plan to seek up to $93 million, equal to 30% of $310 million, in legal fees, plus up to $1.5 million for expenses.

Following an initial outcry over slow iPhones, Apple apologized and lowered the price for replacement batteries to $29 from $79.

The case is In re:Apple Inc. Device Performance Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-md-02827. — Reuters

Fed cuts rates to blunt impact of coronavirus; markets drop

WASHINGTON — The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Tuesday in a bid to shield the world’s largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus, but the emergency move failed to comfort US financial markets roiled by worries about a deeper, lasting slowdown.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his view that the US economy remains strong, but said the spread of the virus had caused a material change in the US central bank’s outlook for growth.

“The virus and the measures that are being taken to contain it will surely weigh on economic activity, both here and abroad, for some time,” Mr. Powell said in a news conference shortly after policy makers unanimously decided to cut rates by a half percentage point to a target range of 1.00% to 1.25%.

Underscoring how grave the central bank views the fast-evolving situation, it was the first rate cut outside of a regularly scheduled policy maker meeting since 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.

“We’ve come to the view now that it is time to act in support of the economy,” he said. “I do know that the US economy is strong and we will get to the other side of this; I fully expect that we will return to solid growth and a solid labor market as well.”

Powell acknowledged the outlook is uncertain and the situation “fluid.”

The pathogen, which originated in China, causes respiratory illness that has been fatal in an estimated 2% of cases, and governments and companies have shut schools and restricted travel and large gatherings in response, crimping factory output in China and disrupting production of goods worldwide.

All three major US stock market indexes closed nearly 3% lower, while the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note dropped below 1% for the first time ever.

President Donald Trump, arriving at the White House as US markets closed, told reporters he had not seen the market’s drop on Tuesday and was focused on the federal coronavirus response.

“I think they should do more. I think they hinted that they’re not going to do much more, and that’s unfortunate. He gave a very bad signal, in my opinion,” he said of Mr. Powell.

Traders believe the Fed is not done. Futures tied to the Fed’s policy rate were pricing in another rate cut by June. Fed policy makers will provide their own rate path expectations, along with forecasts for economic growth, at the end of their March 17-18 meeting.

TURNAROUND
Just over a week ago, most Fed officials said they expected the effects of the virus to be temporary and stuck to their view that after three rate cuts last year, the US economy was well-positioned to weather shocks.

“The questions now become whether, how much, and when the Fed might deliver further monetary policy easing,” Oxford Economics analyst Gregory Daco wrote after Mr. Powell’s news conference. “If Fed officials deem that odds of an impending recession are elevated, they’ll continue to be very aggressive in cutting rates.”

With 90,000 cases worldwide in 77 countries and territories, the virus has upended global supply chains, with companies warning daily of hits to their sales and profits.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank canceled their April meetings in Washington, joining the list of organizations pulling the plug on planned events.

Central bank easing can lubricate credit markets and boost demand by lowering the cost of borrowing. But, Mr. Powell noted, it cannot repair disrupted global supply chains or convince people to fly, attend meetings or even go to school, especially if local governments or companies bar such activities.

“We do recognize that a rate cut will not reduce the rate of infection, it won’t fix a broken supply chain; we get that, we don’t think we have all the answers,” Mr. Powell said. Still, he said, it will help support “overall economic activity.”

Mr. Powell earlier on Tuesday participated in a conference call with the top finance authorities from the world’s seven largest advanced economies, which concluded with a statement that they would take all appropriate measures to support the global economy. At his news conference, he said the Fed was in active discussions with other central banks and said future coordinated action could yet occur.

Already, there has been action by other central banks. Earlier on Tuesday, central banks in Australia and Malaysia cut rates and on Monday the Bank of Japan took steps to provide liquidity to stabilize financial markets there.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin applauded the Fed’s decision, saying it would help the US economy. In a tweet after the Fed move, President Donald Trump kept up what has been constant pressure on the central bank to do even more. “More easing and more cutting,” he said. — Reuters

Cisco says 5G rollout to boost telco revenues

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter

TECHNOLOGY firm Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) said the rollout of fifth-generation (5G) network services in the Philippines could increase the annual revenues of telecommunications companies by as much as $650 million beginning 2025.

Citing the latest study conducted by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Cisco Managing Director for Philippines Karrie C. Ilagan said in a news conference in Taguig City on Wednesday that the 5G penetration in major countries in Southeast Asia is expected to reach 25% to 40% by 2025.

She said the total number of 5G subscriptions in the region, which includes the Philippines, is expected to exceed 200 million in 2025.

In the Philippines, Ms. Ilagan said the rollout of 5G services could boost the annual revenues of Philippine teleco operators such as Globe Telecom, Inc., PLDT, Inc., and new player Dito Telecommunity Corp. “by as much as $650 million starting 2025.”

Cisco said the initial growth of 5G adoption will come from high-value customers and high-value devices.

“Subscriptions will start to scale as devices become more affordable,” it added.

Telco companies in the region, Cisco said, are likely to invest by 2025 about $10 billion in 5G infrastructure.

For his part, Cisco President for ASEAN Naveen Menon said enterprise customers are expected to contribute 18% to 12% of the telco firm’s revenue growth in the region by the same year.

The consumers are seen to contribute 6% to 9%, he added.

Mr. Menon also presented some challenges that telco firms will have to address as they rollout 5G in the region, which include the slow availability of spectrum for 5G services.

He noted that operators are indulged in a price war with 3G and 4G, consumers are excited about 5G and are willing to pay for better quality, and they will also need to bundle enhanced connectivity with solutions and applications.

“Telecom operators need to partner with ICT vendors and application providers to co-create customized use cases,” he added.

Ms. Ilagan noted that Filipinos, who lead in social media usage globally, are spending “billions of dollars” on online shopping.

“The rollout of 5G services will not only give them better experience but also increase the reach of digital connectivity across the country. Together, these trends will play a key role in boosting the Philippines’ economic growth in the coming years,” she explained.

For his part, Cisco Managing Director for ASEAN Dharmesh Malhotra said the company is working with telecom operators in their journey to 5G rollout.

He added that Cisco is “ready to engage with customers in ASEAN on 5G transformation.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Germany’s Ice Wine might become a rarity amid global warming

EVERY AUTUMN, wine makers in Germany’s Mosel valley leave hectares of vines unharvested, hoping that a deep-enough winter freeze will allow them to produce the region’s famous ice wine. Yet the process is becoming a riskier business each passing year.

2019 was the first vintage in which no vintners in the nation were able to produce the sweet dessert beverage, according to the German Wine Institute, which cited a too mild winter. In order to make ice wine, producers in Germany must wait until temperatures drop below -7° Celsius (19.4° Fahrenheit), allowing grapes to freeze while still on the vine and creating a more concentrated juice.

“Global warming is progressing and it’s making it increasingly difficult,” said Thomas Loosen from the Dr. Loosen wine estate, which counts ice wine among one of its key products. “Many smaller vintners aren’t even trying anymore because the financial risk is too high.”

Climate change has come in the way of ice wine creation for several years now, with few producers being able make it amid increasingly warm winters and hotter summers, which can cause grapes to ripen earlier. Dr. Loosen’s last successful vintage was 2016, though the estate attempts to produce it every year.

In 2019 they left about one hectare of grapes for ice wine production, Loosen said. That plot size can translate to a loss of roughly 10,000 bottles if the grapes go unused. The retail price of a bottle of the 2016 vintage is listed at around €40 ($45) on some websites.

“If global warming continues the way it’s currently progressing, I could imagine that ice wine might some day be a thing of the past,” he said.

At the same time, German wine quality has also benefited to some degree from climate change, he added, with hotter summers helping traditionally cooler regions achieve more frequent and reliable harvests.

The volume of German wine exports grew by an annual 3% in 2019, a separate report said Tuesday. 2020 could be more challenging for overseas sales, the German Wine Institute said, as trade tensions, Brexit, and risks related to the coronavirus outbreak could increase competition. — Bloomberg

Huawei makes end-run around US ban by using its own chips

HUAWEI Technologies Co., the Chinese technology giant barred from doing business with US suppliers, is finding a way around the strict limits imposed by the Trump administration.

The Commerce Department, citing national security concerns, has largely forbidden American companies from selling Huawei the computer chips it needs to make a piece of equipment integral to newly introduced high-speed wireless networks. In response, China’s largest technology company ramped up its own capabilities to manufacture the gear, which is known as a base station.

In a sign that the self-reliance is working, Huawei in the fourth quarter sold more than 50,000 of these next-generation base stations that were free of US technology, according to Tim Danks, the US-based Huawei executive responsible for partner relations. That’s only about 8% of the total base stations that Huawei’s sold as of February, but the company is quickly ramping up at its secretive HiSilicon division to make more of these American component-free devices, Danks said.

“It’s still our intention to return to using US technology,” he said. The longer Huawei goes without access to US suppliers, the more unlikely it is to be able to return to using them, Mr. Danks added.

A base station is a typically suitcase-sized piece of machinery that’s used to help connect wireless phones to fixed-line networks carrying internet traffic, and it’s an essential ingredient in the next, or fifth, generation of mobile networks. Popular among telecommunications providers, Huawei’s base stations are widely considered among the most reliable for the price.

US officials accuse Huawei of stealing valuable intellectual property and violating a trade embargo with Iran. The Trump administration blacklisted the company last year, saying there’s a risk Huawei could give Beijing access to sensitive data coursing through telecommunications networks that employ its gear. Huawei has denied the allegations. Critics also said the US government imposed the sanctions to hobble China’s leadership in key aspects of 5G technology.

As of early February, Huawei had shipped about 600,000 5G base stations to mobile phone companies racing to upgrade networks to the new standard, which is designed to deliver data at faster speeds to a broad range of wirelessly connected devices — not just mobile handsets. Most of these base stations were made using stockpiled chips bought before the ban.

While Huawei doesn’t disclose its suppliers, base stations typically rely on a kind of processor called a field programmable gate array that’s made by Intel Corp., a chipmaking colossus based in Santa Clara, California, and Xilinx Inc., in neighboring San Jose. Those chips provide flexibility that makes it easier to update machines as new standards and features are added. Huawei’s chips are application-specific, meaning they’re tailored to particular functions and it takes more time and money to replace them. That’s a disadvantage at a time when new technology, such as 5G, is in its infancy and still subject to big changes.

The US initially clamped down on all shipments of US supplies to Huawei, which had spent more than $10 billion a year on US products, but later began making some exceptions. Xilinx and fellow chipmakers Micron Technology Inc. and Broadcom Inc. have all reported falling earnings on reduced or eliminated sales to Huawei.

TECHNOLOGY GETS POLITICAL
Attempts by the US to persuade European and other allied countries to ban Huawei equipment have fallen short, and chipmakers in Asia and Europe continue to supply it.

For their part, American chipmakers have argued that banning the supply of parts that Huawei can get elsewhere is counterproductive, saying that the lost revenue crimps research and development budgets and the ability to produce the best chips in the future. Huawei’s HiSilicon chip unit designs semiconductors and has them manufactured by industry-leading plants owned by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. But Washington is even now said to be looking into ways to curb the world’s largest contract chipmaker on grounds of national security, and deprive Huawei of its largest semiconductor manufacturing partner.

The Chinese company led the market for base stations with a 28% share last year, according to New Street Research. The investment company predicts demand for that equipment will rise this year with the 5G network buildout. Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB are its two largest competitors in this market. — Bloomberg

China’s central bank keeps borrowing costs steady

CHINA’S CENTRAL BANK kept its short-term rates steady even as the US Federal Reserve eased its stance. — REUTERS

SHANGHAI — China’s central bank kept short-term borrowing costs steady on Wednesday, shrugging off the US Federal Reserve’s emergency policy rate cut overnight.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) skipped open market operations, it said in a statement on the website, leaving reverse repurchase agreements unchanged.

But markets widely believe the authorities will continue to move to lower financing costs for business and roll out powerful measures prop up the economy, which has been hit by a coronavirus outbreak.

The decision by the PBoC on Wednesday comes hours after its US counterpart delivered an emergency 50-basis-point (bp) rate cut to mitigate the widening economic fallout of the coronavirus.

The Federal Reserve’s move, however, failed to calm US financial markets roiled by worries about a deeper, lasting slowdown.

Major economies have kicked off a new round of easing globally to combat disruption to economic growth from the virus epidemic, which was first detected in China, has now spread beyond to some 80 nations and could turn into a pandemic.

Central banks in Australia and Malaysia cut rates on Tuesday and on Monday the Bank of Japan took steps to provide liquidity to stabilize financial markets there.

However, analysts and traders in China said the PBoC’s decision to keep short-term market rates steady largely matched their expectations.

“Pressure from consumer prices remained huge, and Consumer Price Index (CPI) was likely hovering at elevated level in February,” said Yan Se, chief economist at Founder Securities in Beijing, adding chances for the PBoC to follow the US move to lower rates were low in the near term.

Instead, he expects the PBoC to make targeted reduction to reserve requirement ratio (RRR) in the short term to support key sectors.

Zhang Yu, chief macro analyst at Huachuang Securities, who also expected a targeted RRR cut this month, said the Fed’s emergency move overnight could prompt China’s central bank to lower its benchmark deposit rate this month.

Reductions to central bank’s medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate and reverse repo rate were “more of stabilizing short-term market sentiment,” she said.

“If declines in China’s equity market are not huge and the virus situation is not getting worse again, China does not necessarily have to follow the United States,” Mr. Zhang said in a note.

China’s stock markets traded broadly flat on Wednesday morning.

Multiple PBoC officials have recently said China should make timely adjustments to benchmark deposit rates, and should pay more attention to changes in real interest rates.

The PBoC lowered the reverse repo rates by 10 bps in February, as authorities stepped up measures to relieve pressure on the economy.

With no reverse repo maturing on Wednesday, the PBoC did not inject or withdraw any cash from the interbank money market. — Reuters

Bloomberry Resorts net income up 38% to nearly P10B

Bloomberry Resorts Corp. (Bloomberry) posted an attributable net income growth of 38% in 2019, driven by the robust growth of its gaming segment.

In a regulatory filing disclosed to the stock exchange yesterday, the Razon-led operator of Solaire Resort & Casino said its attributable net income last year stood at P9.96 billion, backed by a 21% rise in consolidated revenues to P46.34 billion.

The gaming segment made up P38.47 billion of the revenues to increase 22% from the figure in 2018. Hotel, food and beverage added P4.3 billion for a 14% increase year-on-year, while retail and others contributed P3.56 billion for a growth of 25%.

Breaking down its gaming business, Bloomberry said its total gross gaming revenues at Solaire grew 17% to P59.8 billion, driven by higher hold in VIP and strength in the mass gaming segments.

While VIP volume slipped 5% last year, gross gaming revenues from this segment still managed to rise 20% to P26.2 billion as VIP win rate improved to 3.4% from 2.69% in 2018.

Revenues from mass tables advanced 10% to P16.7 billion, and from electronic gaming machine (EGM) coin-ins by 21% to P16.8 billion, which the company attributed to higher domestic and international discretionary spending.

Solaire Korea’s Jeju Sun Hotel & Casino also contributed P573.1 million in gaming revenues last year, up 18% from a year ago.

For its non-gaming business, Bloomberry posted a 21% growth in revenues to P8.2 billion, where Solaire accounted for P8 billion despite a decline in hotel occupancy to 90.5% from 92.6% in 2018. Jeju Sun in Korea added P129 million, slumping 41% from a year ago due to renovation works at the hotel.

“I am pleased to report another record year of profits for Bloomberry… Despite increasing competitive pressure, Solaire maintained its market-leading position and has again proven itself as the premier integrated resort of the Philippines,” Bloomberry Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Enrique K. Razon, Jr. said in a statement.

But he noted 2020 would be a more challenging year for the company as the global tourism industry is threatened by the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak.

“We are off to a rough start in 2020 as we contend with the tourism impact of an official world health emergency. However, we remain steadfast and aim to demonstrate our resilience by working towards another year of operating excellence,” Mr. Razon said.

“We continue to focus on our next leg of growth as work on Solaire North progresses smoothly. We are on track to complete the project in the second half of 2023,” he added.

Bloomberry is building the 40-storey Solaire North on a 1.5-hectare land within Vertis North, Quezon City. This is seen to cater to markets from north of Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga.

Shares in Bloomberry at the stock exchange fell 37 centavos or 4.63% to P7.63 each on Wednesday. — Denise A. Valdez

Philippine users experienced nearly 28 million internet-based attacks in 2019: Kaspersky data

INTERNET SECURITY firm Kaspersky said the Philippines climbed to fourth place from 11th in its 2019 ranking of countries with the highest number of web threats.

Citing data from the Kaspersky Security Network, the internet security firm said in its report e-mailed to reporters on Monday that nearly 28 million internet-borne attacks against Philippine-based Kaspersky users were monitored and prevented last year.

It said the number accounts for 44.40% of the Philippines’ total number of Kaspersky users who encountered web threats from January to December last year.

The company added that 26.62% of them were “individual users” while 7.58% were “business users.”

Taking the first spot was Nepal with 51.4% of users experiencing web-borne threats, followed by Algeria (51%), and Albania (46.1%).

Ranked fifth after the Philippines was Djibouti (43.3%), followed by Mongolia (43%), Belarus (42.9%), Tunisia (42.7%), Bangladesh (42.5%), and Azerbaijan (42%).

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines led the top three countries with the highest number of web threat detections, followed by Malaysia (41.50%) at 13th and Vietnam (40%) at 17th.

Indonesia (36.10%) was 39th, followed by Thailand (29.10%) at 92nd, and Singapore (14.20%) at 156th.

Browser attacks remained the top method for infecting web users, according to Kaspersky.

Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Kaspersky Southeast Asia, was quoted as saying: “As far as web threats are concerned, among the noticeable changes we’ve seen in the region reflect the same scenario worldwide — strong activity of web-miners in the beginning of the year followed by a dropdown. There was also a growth of online skimmers that we’ve recorded. In the case of local threats, the overall situation in SEA is the same — there’s a drop in the number of cryptocurrency miners and a slight decrease in crypto ransomware.”

“In the Philippines, we believe the stern warnings against the use of cryptocurrencies and the newly enacted law which imposes harsh penalties against bank account fraudsters and credit card skimmers, are among the possible reasons for the changes in numbers. Despite these though, we can’t drop our guards and be complacent. The overall increase in awareness and level of security among individual Internet users and businesses only mean that typical attacks will be more difficult to carry out. And we see that cybercriminals will intensify their efforts towards social engineering tactics more and will veer away from PCs to focus on attacking mobile devices and other internet-connected hardware,” he added. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Wine decline would be enough for France’s grape gurus to see red

“WINE makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized,” the French wine writer, Andre Simon, famously wrote.

He would be appalled at the latest data from France’s national statistics agency Insee, which show people there are consuming less and less of their nation’s trademark tipple — as younger generations prefer beer.

The French still spend slightly more on wine, but what used to be a predilection for reds, whites, and rosés has all but evaporated compared with the heady highs of half a century ago. In 1960, the earliest records Insee has, wine accounted for 44% of drinks spending, while in 2018 it was only 18%.

Between 2010 and 2018, the share of beer in the drinks budget of households rose without interruption to reach a 29-year high of 13%.

Wine consumption is suffering as the French spend less on alcohol in any form. That, according to Insee, can be explained partly by government campaigns in the 1990s to discourage daily drinking, which particularly hurt some cheap wines. Overall, the share of alcoholic beverages in drinks spending declined to 60% in 2018 from 78% in 1960.

A renaissance of alternatives isn’t helping. For an aperitif — a pre-dinner ritual for many French people — beer is now the preferred drink, the statistics agency said.

“Since 2010, beer drinking started to rise again, driven by artisanal and fruit-flavored beers that have created a more diverse supply and changed the image of the product,” Insee said.

The French still drink more alcohol overall than the European average. Citing Eurostat statistics, Insee said the country is eighth in Europe in terms of total quantity of pure alcohol consumed annually. — Bloomberg

Cryptocurrency bourses win case against RBI ban

CRYPTOCURRENCY exchanges scored a victory in India after the nation’s Supreme Court endorsed their stand against curbs put in place by the central bank that effectively outlawed virtual currencies in Asia’s third-largest economy.

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman agreed with petitions by cryptocurrency exchanges, start-ups and industry bodies that had challenged the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) April 2018 decision to ban banks from offering any services to support digital currencies. The court struck down the RBI’s curbs on Wednesday.

The ruling is an opportunity for virtual currency investors and businesses in India to push against stricter rules being planned by a skeptical government, and potentially raises hope for projects such as Facebook, Inc.’s Libra cryptocurrency. The Supreme Court is separately hearing another case, in which it will decide on regulations for digital currencies, and Wednesday’s judgment weakens the case for strict norms.

“Cryptocurrencies are an exciting technology that needs to be carefully studied,” said Vaibhav Kakkar, a partner at law firm L&L Partners. “With this order, there is a likelihood of more mature and balanced regulation of cryptocurrencies and the fintech sector as a whole.”

Meanwhile, the Indian central bank has been exploring the creation of a sovereign-backed digital currency even as it escalated its crackdown on private instruments like bitcoin, citing the potential for money laundering and other illegal activities. The RBI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook’s Libra, which is facing push back from regulators across the world, will be counting on continued explosive growth from emerging markets and especially India to succeed, Jefferies Financial Group, Inc. said last year. The social media giant’s users in India have doubled since 2015 to about 310 million and are forecast to surge to around 440 million by 2023, Jefferies analysts led by Sean Darby said.

Opponents of the Indian central bank’s curbs argued that the central bank wasn’t empowered to issue the ban and its directive hadn’t adequately studied the matter.

Kunal Barchha, co-founder of CoinRecoil.com, said his cryptocurrency exchange will now approach a couple of potential investors who had initially been lined up for funding but backed off after the RBI’s ban.

“Now crypto traders, investors, miners, can proudly speak up about what they do for a living,” Barchha said. “Now they won’t be judged as criminals.” — Bloomberg

Order online or drive? Climate savvy pick ‘clicks and bricks’

CONSUMERS could be forgiven for assuming that shopping online has a lower carbon footprint than buying in-store. For many, the online option saves them a trip in the car, and it stands to reason that logistics companies would be good at generating efficient delivery routes. There’s some evidence to back up the notion. But new research published in Environmental Science and Technology focused on UK shoppers not only suggests the reverse, but concludes that there’s a third, even cleaner option.

Many stores in the markets covered in the study — the UK, the US, China and the Netherlands — let customers buy personal- and home-care products online for home delivery. The hybrid brick-and-mortar-e-commerce method, called “bricks and clicks,” is less polluting than traditional shopping, which itself is usually cleaner than parcel-shipping from an online retailer warehouse, the researchers found. “The more they buy in one go,” says Sadegh Shahmohammadi, an environmental scientist at Radboud University in the Netherlands and the paper’s lead author, “The less carbon footprint they will have per item purchased.”

Prior studies failed to take enough factors into account in producing their estimates, Shahmohammadi and his co-authors write, including how much people buy at a time through each type of vendor. The researchers based their greenhouse gas estimates for shipping in part on data in sustainability reports from major parcel-delivery services, including GLS Group, United Parcel Service Inc., DPDGroup UK Ltd, Hermes Parcelnet Ltd. and PostNL NV.

The authors are also careful to state the assumptions they’re making in their model. For instance, they didn’t include “buy online, pick up in store” or “click and collect” options, which don’t have a footprint much different than traditional shopping. A trip to the store’s a trip to the store.

The research focused in detail on the UK but considered key patterns in other countries. Americans drive to the store 95% of the time, compared with 80% in the U.K., 44% in the Netherlands, and 8% in China. Shopping emissions also vary based on other decisions under the consumer’s control, such as choosing slower delivery and bundling items from the same seller.

“What they found was, appropriately, it depends,” says Costa Samaras, who researches energy and climate change at Carnegie Mellon University and is familiar with the study. “If you’re going to drive to the store to get something, combine that trip with other errands,” he adds. “Better yet, take your bike.” — Bloomberg

Fruitas offers new store concepts

FRUITAS HOLDINGS, Inc. (Fruitas) is expanding its business offers with the introduction of two new store concepts powered by its recent acquisitions.

In a statement Wednesday, the listed food and beverage kiosk operator said it would be venturing into a grilled chicken business and would be launching a fresh store concept under the Babot’s Farm brand.

The grilled chicken business will take the form of either a kiosk network or strategically put-up stores, as Fruitas aims to tap a “wide and fast-growing market segment.”

This venture would make use of the company’s acquisition of grilled food provider Heat Stroke Grill and food store Kuxina Ihaw Na, located in the company’s Le Village food park in Quezon City.

“We are… excited with our impending entry into the chicken business. We are confident that we can enter the market in a cost-effective manner yet come up with a well-loved product,” Fruitas President and Chief Executive Officer Lester C. Yu said in the statement.

For the fresh store concept, Fruitas will be introducing three major verticals of fresh products to be sold under Babot’s Farm: a buko (coconut) beverage line, a new soy line under Soy & Bean and fresh dairy. The soy line will make use of Fruitas’ recent acquisition of The Tofu Store’s operator SoyKingdom Inc..

“Babot’s Farm is a collection of fresh products which Fruitas is excited to serve to Filipino consumers. Our mission is to make fresh products easily accessible to Filipinos, thus bringing the farm closer to them,” Mr. Yu added.

Aside from the new concepts, Fruitas currently operates more than 20 food and beverage brands such as Fruitas Fresh from Babot’s Farm, Buko Loco, De Original Jamaican Pattie, John Lemon, Shou La Mien Hand Pulled Noodles, Sabroso Lechon and more. It had 1,068 stores in its nationwide network at the end of 2019.

Shares in Fruitas at the stock exchange dipped five centavos or 2.96% to P1.64 each on Wednesday. — Denise A. Valdez

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