Wednesday, November 4, 2009

“7-Eleven to start selling wine - Mercury” plus 4 more

“7-Eleven to start selling wine - Mercury” plus 4 more

7-Eleven to start selling wine - Mercury

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 07:03 AM PST

By Michelle Locke, Associated Press Writer

What goes well with Slim Jims and Slurpees? 7-Eleven wine, naturally.

The convenience store chain announced Tuesday it is getting into the value wine business, releasing two low-priced proprietary wines in the United States and Japan.

Sold under the Yosemite Road label, the California wines, a chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon, will retail for about $3.99, a price-point that has been doing well despite — or perhaps because of — the economic doldrums.

"The consumer is really pinched as far as discretionary income. We're seeing a lot of success in products that really resonate on a value basis," said Kevin Elliott, senior vice president of merchandising and logistics of Dallas-based 7-Eleven, Inc.

Private label products were strong sellers for many food retailers even before the economic crisis hit. Last year, 7-Eleven launched the 7-Select line of staples including cookies, candies, chips and beef jerky.

Adding wine ties into two economy driven trends — a demand for affordability coupled with more people eating at home, said Thom Blischok, president, global innovation and shopper marketing, at Chicago-based IRI, a market research company.

"They're changing the game at convenience store retailing. They're really trying to take this back to neighborhood stores. They fulfill your most basic needs," he said.

Bargain wines have been booming as budgets shrank. Some brands, such as Two Buck Chuck (formally Charles Shaw but renamed in honor of the $1.99 price in California), have even attracted near cult following.

Yosemite Road is 7-Eleven's first value-priced wines — the company earlier introduced Sonoma Crest and Thousand Oaks, which retail for about $10 — and it's the company's first global product launch.

The wines will be released in 15,000 outlets, including 7-Eleven stores in the U.S. and Japan, as well as other subsidiaries of parent company Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd., an $87.9 billion Tokyo-based corporation.

The wines are being made by The Wine Group in California, which is the world's third-largest wine producer and has a number of inexpensive brands including Corbett Canyon and Glen Ellen. The chardonnay is described as zesty with notes of apricot, peach and honey, and the cab as full-bodied with "juicy plum overtones."

7-Eleven: http://www.7-Eleven.com.

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Nissan returns to quarterly profit on China sales - WTOP Radio

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:54 AM PST

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA
Associated Press Writer

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. climbed into the black last quarter and forecast a smaller yearly loss as surging sales in China helped offset sluggish demand in the West.

The country's No. 3 car company posted net income of 25.5 billion yen ($270 million) in the July-September period after three straight quarters in the red. The result was 65 percent lower compared with last year but far better than Nissan's 16.5 billion yen loss in the April-June quarter.

Revenue, meanwhile, totaled 1.87 trillion yen ($19.57 billion).

The automaker sold 901,000 vehicles in the quarter, down 6.8 percent from the previous year.

"Our performance in the first half of fiscal 2009 is encouraging, demonstrating that Nissan's recovery plan is on track," President and CEO Carlos Ghosn said in a statement. "Our outlook will remain cautious until we see evidence that economic recovery can be sustained in world markets."

With its results better than originally expected, Nissan became the latest Japanese car company to boost its outlook for the year as automakers benefit from robust Chinese demand, aggressive cost cutting, and cash-for-clunkers programs around the world.

Nissan now expects a narrower net loss of 40 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2010 compared with its previous estimate of a 170 billion yen loss. Revenues were pegged at 7 trillion yen.

The company also raised its global sales forecast to 3.3 million vehicles from 3.08 million. In the U.S., Nissan expected to sell 765,000 vehicles as opposed to its previous prediction of 750,000.

Rivals Honda Motor Co., Suzuki Motor Corp. and Subaru-maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. have also upgraded their outlooks in recent days. Toyota Motor Corp, the world's top automaker, reports earnings Thursday.

The results underscored the growing importance of emerging markets like China, where massive government stimulus measures have buoyed demand at a time when more developed markets are slumping.

Nissan's sales in China surged 48 percent to 396,826 units in the six months through September compared to the year-ago period, whereas the company suffered declines in Japan, the U.S. and Europe.

"In term of units sold, China has become a major contribution to Nissan," said Philippe Barrier, an analyst at Societe Generale. "It's been a big success in China."

Executive Vice President Hiroto Saikawa credited the Yokohama-based company's performance in China to successful product launches and strong distribution channels among smaller inland cities.

"We believe that we will be able to raise our presence in this main market," Saikawa told analysts at an earnings briefing.

A new report Tuesday showed that the U.S. auto market may be brightening as well. Total U.S. sales of cars and light trucks rose 12 percent from a dismal September 2009, though were little changed compared to a year ago, according to Autodata Corp.

Nissan was one of the biggest winners of the month, posting a 5.6 percent gain in auto sales. Demand for Nissan models offset falling sales of its Infiniti model, the carmaker said.

In the longer term, Nissan is banking on electric vehicles to propel future growth. Its zero-emission vehicle, the Leaf, will go into mass-production globally in 2012.

The company has predicted such vehicles would account for 10 percent of the global auto market by 2020.

For the April-September half, Nissan booked net profit of 9 billion yen and revenue of 3.38 trillion yen.

It sold 1.69 million vehicles during the six-month period, down 10.5 percent from the previous year.

Shares of Nissan rose 1.7 percent to 661 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Earnings were released after market close.


(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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Indian Outsourcing Companies Aim for Target's Business - BusinessWeek

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 06:35 AM PST

Discussions are underway to acquire Target's outsourcing center in Bangalore, the Economic Times reports

By Pankaj Mishra and P P Thimmaya

India's top tech firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and several others are pursuing Target's captive technology centre for a potential acquisition, in what could be a transaction bundled with a long-term outsourcing contract worth $300-400 million. America's second-biggest discount retailer Target has around 1,500 staff employed at its Bangalore centre, currently doing software development and maintenance work.

"We have been in discussions with them for the past few months and the dialogue is still open," a senior executive at one of the tech firms exploring this transaction told ET on conditions of anonymity. "There is no conclusion yet about how this transaction can be structured, and it's very early days," he added. Both TCS and Wipro count Target as one of their top retail customers.

Some of the world's top retailers, including UK's Tesco and America's speciality retailer Home Depot, have been outsourcing projects to Indian third-party service providers, including TCS and Infosys, apart from their own captive centres in order to support their existing IT systems and also develop newer applications. Tesco, for instance, saves over $100 million every year by outsourcing its IT projects to India, and primarily drives projects from its own captive in Bangalore.

"Target's India centre could be doing at least $100 million worth of projects (revenues) every year," another person familiar with the retailer's India operations told ET on conditions of anonymity. Officials at Target did not reply to an email query sent by ET. TCS, Infosys and Wipro also declined to comment. Few years ago, many retailers started with an Indian captive operation as there were not many service providers who could understand their core operations better. Target entered India in 2004 through a JV with ANSRSource, a Texas-based BPO outsourcing company.

"There is a certain equity in building up the operations (captive) initially, but over the course of time, there is the objective of monetising the operations," said Avinash Vashistha, CEO, Tholons, an offshore advisory firm.

"Once a particular process becomes commoditised, then any adding of additional resources is not justified as it adds up to the costs."

TCS, one of Target's Indian suppliers, supports the retailer's operations from its delivery centres in Uruguay and Chile, apart from India. Target, which competes with Walmart Stores, reported quarterly revenues of $14.6 billion for the second quarter ended August this year.

Over the past few months, many companies have sold their technology captives in India. Divesting non-core captive operations is a strategy adopted by banks such as Citigroup and UBS for focusing better on their core operations, and also gain better outsourcing rates by bundling such transactions with a multi-year contract. An upfront payment also helps them unlock value from non-core assets. Citibank sold its Indian back-office business to TCS for around $505 million in October last year, and Citi Technology Services for around $127 million to Wipro in December last year. Both these transactions came with assured outsourcing business of around $3 billion together for these vendors.

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Magazine ranks NC business climate No 1 - WAVY News 10

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:54 AM PST

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Site Selection magazine has ranked North Carolina No. 1 in the country for its business climate.

The magazine cites new high-tech development and North Carolina's technology-focused academic centers as strengths for business growth.

Texas ranked No. 2, Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee.

The annual rankings are determined by the number of new and expanded business facility projects in each state and other factors including transportation infrastructure, existing work force skills and state and local taxes.

Site Selection magazine is an economic development publication.
 

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The morning after: Business reacts to Christie's victory - NJBIZ

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 04:19 AM PST

It was a hard-fought, long, intense, often muddy campaign, but New Jersey voters on Tuesday night elected Republican Chris Christie to a four-year term in the governor's chair.

Leading up to the election, business leaders voiced their skepticism of both major-party candidates, so NJBIZ lined up some of the state's most prominent business figures to break down what a Christie administration will mean for the Garden State.

Here are their responses.

Robert Briant Jr., CEO, Utility and Transportation Contractors Association: "The goal should be to try to create jobs, create an atmosphere where there is an environment for businesses to get back on their feet and prosper, and bring in line some of the taxes and fees. The new governor has to look at the (Department of Environmental Protection). It has been stifling for business; it's a stranglehold on anybody trying to expand their businesses in the state. Unless we take off our rose glasses and look at that, we cannot prosper.

"However, the DEP did a very good job with the stimulus program, and the business community should acknowledge it. They got all the permits out in time, and did all that on top of the furloughs they had to deal with. But the department needs to take a look at its administrative process — it's very expensive to get an answer on a permit, and it takes far too long."

Laurie Ehlbeck, state director, National Federation of Independent Business' New Jersey chapter: "After four years of job losses, higher taxes, tolls, fees and mandates, our members and small-business owners across New Jersey were ready for change. We were so excited, we stayed up and watched the results to the end. ... Our new governor faces some tough challenges. He told us he will take a long, deliberate look at the issues, and understands there are no easy answers to the state's problems."

Bob Franks, president, HealthCare Institute of New Jersey: "As a candidate, Chris Christie put a premium on the need to develop a more business-friendly environment in New Jersey. Our industry looks forward to working with him and the new legislative leadership to bring about reforms that will encourage investment and innovation in New Jersey. He has an enormous task in front of him. It will require the goodwill of all stakeholders to allow us to put petty politics aside and work in the interest of all New Jerseyans.

"The life sciences community, as well as the business community at large, wants stability brought to the state's financial picture. Moving from one enormous budget deficit to another creates an unacceptable level of uncertainty for business. We need a more predictable fiscal environment. Secondly, we need to develop a much more effective partnership between the higher education community in New Jersey, the life sciences industry and the state government."

Michael McGuinness, CEO, New Jersey chapter of NAIOP: "He needs to use every trick in the book to reduce cost of running government at every level. … We don't expect much in the way of new construction for some time now, which basically to me suggests that the guy in charge can't rely on new revenue streams to solve the budget woes. It's going to have to come from cutting expenses, and that's not an easy thing to do."

"We certainly want to recognize the good things that Governor Corzine has done. He's passed a number of significant pieces of legislation to help stimulate the economy, and I hope that's something that Governor-elect Christie will continue. I hope he'll continue to keep that momentum going so that New Jersey can be relentless in demonstrating its commitment to economic development."

Gil Medina, executive managing director, Cushman & Wakefield's New Jersey operations: "The first crisis that he is going to be facing is the fiscal crisis. We're going to have an $8 billion current budget deficit. The biggest challenge for this administration is how do we fix the fiscal imbalance in the state of New Jersey? … It's going to involve a combination of changing how we tax and changing how we spend. The focus should not only be only the revenue side. We have to do something about the cost side. We have to contain the cost of expenditures in government. There's only so much we can do on the revenue side."

"My recommendation is that he create a cabinet-level task force chaired by the lieutenant governor. The goal of that task force should be to come up with ways of reducing the regulatory burden for businesses in New Jersey, to reduce obstacles that businesses encounter in the state and making state more business-user friendly."

Cory Morowitz, chairman and managing director, Morowitz Gaming Advisors, LLC: "The new governor should certainly — number one — put an end to any thoughts of investing in gaming outside Atlantic City and make that a destination. Gaming in the Meadowlands or other tracks should be a no-no. ... We need a coordinated effort from Trenton, the city government and the business community to reinvent Atlantic City and make it a destination beyond traditional gaming. Any help we can get from the governor's office would be fantastic."

Joel Naroff, president, Naroff Economic Advisors: "It will be interesting to see what Christie's state budget details are, and how the broad economy and New Jersey's deficits will affect his plans to cut spending and taxes. Christie, like every other governor, is bound to face intense opposition from anyone affected by programs that he proposes to cut. New Jersey residents like to tighten the fiscal belt — as long as it's someone else's belt."

John Sarno, president, Employers Association of New Jersey: "Christie has an opportunity to refocus on job training. His new (Labor commissioner) should look at how job training money is being spent. ... And Christie has to have a dialog with Washington. The U.S. Department of Labor has a big fund for worker retraining. So there cannot be an adversarial relationship — there has to be a very close relationship and dialog."

Deborah Smarth, associate state director, New Jersey Small Business Development Centers: "Reversing the state's ranking of 50th in terms of business environment and tax climate can only be achieved incrementally, but, new public policies of less taxes and less regulation on the business community will go a long way toward helping the state economy to recover."

Jeff Tittel, director, New Jersey Sierra Club: "We've always felt that if New Jersey just enforced its laws in a proper manner, the environment would work fine, and if we didn't have politicians and corrupt people getting special advantages in government, that things would work a lot better, and we would save a lot of money."

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