Dated: 3 March 2004
Financial media concern Today¡¦s Money Limited completed its Masters series features with a ceremony at the Courtleigh Hotel .
Outgoing Jamaica Stock Exchange GM Wain Iton as keynote Speaker made a pitch for a unified regional Stock market, modeled on the recently
formed Euronix bourse (comprising the exchanges of France, the Netherlands and Belgium). Iton, who has been having a very low-key Departure
period since he formally announced the end of his involvement with the national bourse late last year, is not sanguine about such a development
taking place immediately, but he believes sufficient basis exists for exploratory work to begin.
Young Stephen Gooden emerged the winner from the 2003 Group, garnering a 144% growth in his portfolio for a wide margin over his nearest
rivals, but was magnanimous in victory.
The Masters programme involves select investment analysts working with fictional funds to invest as they deem fit. The party whose fund has shown the greatest appreciation over the period is the winner.
The new international accounting standards, formulated in the wake of multi-billion accounting scandals at large U.S. and European corporations (Enron, Parmalat etc.) are already affecting local business enterprises.
Paint giant Berger is reporting it had to re-state its 2002 figures in accordance with the new standards. In a news release, the company stated that tax breaks which accrued to it before the revised standards were the principal elements.
The company reported modest up-ticks in both the overall paint market as well its own market share.
And concurrent with the advent of the new standards, Parliament recently approved an amendment to the Public Accountancy Act, ostensibly to promote higher professional standards for public accountants. Among the areas to be covered by the amendment are the conditions for the registration of public accountants and an expansion of the circumstances under which a practising certificate ceases to be in force.
It began four years ago as a means of presenting the goods and culture of France and the Francophone world, and it has steadily grown since.
This year¸s renewal of the annual Touch of France expo has attracted a record number of sponsors and exhibitors, this despite slight drops in the trade balance between Jamaica and France. (Value of Jamaica France exports - US$66 million; value of French exports to Jamaica US$90 million). Assistant French Trade Commissioner Camille Lemaire attributed the drop to a halt on orders of Airbus Industrie aircraft from national carrier, Air Jamaica.
Launched at the Hilton Kingston, the actual event will run from March 22 through 24, and will feature a mixture of displays, seminars and cultural presentations. Interesting among this year¡¦s new sponsors is French petroleum giant Total, which has reportedly completed the acquisition of local concern National Fuels Limited. Word is the French have already set up a preliminary office in Kingston and that management decisions, including the redeployment of personnel, are being co-ordinated. ÿÿ..
And still on matters French, the French company SAGEM, through its local representatives, Ian K Agencies Limited, is presently in negotiations with the Jamaican Government with an aim to investigate the possibility of bolstering the technological capacities of the Jamaica Constabulary.
Ian K Director Matthew Levy made the announcement during the Touch of France launch ceremony at the Hilton Kingston. He added that previously initiated pilot projects to institute remote electronic meter reading for water and electricity are set to be intensified.
Ian K also supplies Renault Heavy Duty trucks to the Jamaican market, including to the Ministry of Local Government.
Amid what has been a difficult year (albeit capped by the recent isigning of the much-discussed Memorandum of Understanding) for the labour market, The Jamaica Employers Federation is presently gearing up to stage its annual Conference in Ocho Rios, from May 18 through 22, under the theme, “Going Global, Transforming Local”
One issue that¡¦ sure to be near or at the top of the agenda is outsourcing. The practice of “farming out” tasks to non-resident groups is fast becoming an election-year flashpoint in the U.S. where concerns are growing that jobs intended for American workers are increasingly ending up offshore.
With the impending Caribbean Single Market and Economy and the attendant free movement of labour among CARICOM nationals, its sure to be come a more important issue for the region as well.
He¡¦s taken on British Airways ¡V and won; he¡¦s got his own island; he¡¦s tried to circle the world in a balloon; and he¡¦s had his hand in enterprises as wide-ranging as recorded music, cars and mobile telecoms.
Now billionaire Richard Branson, 53, is again getting restless. He plans to launch his own discount airline, Virgin USA, by the start of 2005. The Virgin publicity machine has ¡V so far - been unusually quiet about Branson's latest big bet. But observers say the imminent announcement that Delta Air Lines Inc. President and COO Frederick W. Reid will be named Virgin USA's CEO is testament to the strength of the new company's business plan and the Virgin brand.
The new airline is just one of many projects on Branson's to-do list. His privately owned Virgin Group, which includes 200 companies in businesses ranging from planes and trains to music and mobile phones, is in the midst of an all-out global expansion. He's also revamping his retail music chain, Virgin MegaStores, with a range of new products such as clothing, mobile phones, and consumer electronics aimed at teens. Oh, and he's interested in running a proposed high-speed rail system in Florida that will link Tampa and Orlando by 2009.
Even if the U.S. airline venture flops, Branson has other ways to make money. He is considering taking his profitable British cell-phone company Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd. public. It is Britain's fifth-largest but fastest-growing mobile company, with 3.7 million subscribers. Analysts value the British unit at $2 billion. Not bad considering that Virgin's total investment in the project to date is $75 million.
"We haven't had any dramatic failures," Branson says. There have, however, been some duds. Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, and Virgin Cosmetics have all but disappeared. Branson just sold the loss-making Virgin Cars, a British auto dealership.
Not to worry. Other ventures beckon. A film based on Branson's best-selling autobiography, Losing My Virginity, is set for release in 2005. Not only will Branson get a percentage of the ticket sales but heartthrob Jude Law is being tapped to play the man himself. Maybe you can catch the movie on a Virgin USA flight.
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