Biosensors - BioFreedom Continues To Demonstrate Comparable Long-Term Safety And Efficacy To Conventional DES
01 Nov 2013 17:50
Biosensors International has announced four-year results from the BioFreedom First in Man study, which demonstrated similar clinical outcomes between BioFreedom, a polymer-free drug-coated stent, and Boston Scientific's Taxus Liberté drug-eluting stent, with no evidence of definite and/or probable stent thrombosis. Results were presented by Dr. Ricardo Costa, Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia, São Paulo, Brazil, at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation...
OLAM AUSTRALIA SELLS DIRRANBANDI GIN IN QUEENSLAND TO CUBBIE GROUP FOR A$20M
Brisbane, Australia, 1 November 2013 – Olam Australia, the wholly owned subsidiary of Olam International Limited, has sold its Dirranbandi cotton gin in Queensland to Cubbie Ginnery Pty Ltd for A$20.0 million.
Olam Australia’s Executive Director and Country Head Bob Dall’Alba said the decision to sell the gin was based on ensuring the best strategic and economic outcome for the company. The sale is also in line with Olam International’s strategy to unlock value and redeploy capital in higher growth areas, thereby optimising the overall cotton business for the group.
“As one of the world’s largest cotton companies, ginning is at the core of our business and we are constantly looking at strategic opportunities to expand and serve growers and the market more effectively,” he said.
Olam has confirmed that existing employees would be offered contracts by Cubbie Ginnery as part of the transaction.
“We will redeploy the manager of the gin to our Emerald operation, while five permanent and seven casual staff are being offered contracts by the new owner,” said Mr Dall’Alba.
Mr Dall’Alba said the company was committed to continuing its ongoing relationships with its existing growers through its 10 state-of-the-art gins throughout Queensland and New South Wales.
“We will continue to explore opportunities in new areas and pursue ways to expand our ginning capacity and strengthen our relationships with growers, suppliers and cotton spinners.”
Kemira and Wilmar to form a 50-50 joint venture for the manufacture of Alkyl Ketene Dimer (AKD) wax in China
Helsinki/Singapore, November 1, 2013 - Kemira Oyj and Wilmar International Limited
have, through their subsidiaries, signed a joint venture (JV) agreement for the
manufacture of AKD wax in China in two joint ventures. The JV entities in China will be
owned 50-50 and will integrate the current facilities of Kemira in Yanzhou and the
relevant Wilmar facilities in Lianyungang. Teaming up of the two major players underlines
the long-term interest and determination of both companies to better serve all paper
customers globally. The transaction is subject to fulfillment of certain conditions including
merger clearances. Closing of the transaction is currently expected to take place in the
third quarter of 2014.
Kemira is a global, leading manufacturer of alkyl ketene dimer (AKD). AKD is a sizing
agent, which impacts paper and board hydrophobicity and / or water resistance. Sufficient
hydrophobicity is important for packaging materials and it improves paper and board
runnability in a coating process at the same time. Water resistance also improves
printability and dimension stability of the final product during the converting process.
“Kemira is the leading producer of synthetic sizes for the paper and packaging board
industry. The JV with Wilmar is an important step in the implementation of Kemira's paper
strategy" said Petri Helsky, President of Kemira's Paper segment. "Through the JV, we
will strengthen our position in the sizing market in Asia Pacific and, at the same time,
demonstrate our strategic commitment to the paper industry. The JV will also secure the
supply of key raw materials needed in the manufacturing process in China due to the
backwards integration into the fatty acid chlorination technology”, said Joe Chan,
President, APAC region.
Wilmar is a global leading producer of stearic acid, which is the key raw material for AKD
production. “The JV, which will be an expansion down the oleochemicals value chain for
Wilmar, will capitalize on Wilmar’s advantage in sourcing of raw materials as well as on
cost efficiencies from its integrated manufacturing operations. The JV will also enhance
Wilmar’s footprint in the Asia Pacific region”, said Dave, Cui Xinyu, Head of Wilmar
Oleochemicals, China.
Why NOL could be showing signs of deterioration in Asia-Europe
Spot rates fell by 20%.
According to CIMB, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) performed reasonably well despite 3Q13 Asia-Europe (AE) and
transpacific (TP) spot rates falling 20% yoy.
CIMB noted that NOL expanded its nominal teu ship capacity by 10% between end-2012 and end-3Q13, but volumes carried shrank 3% yoy for 9M13 (AE volumes shrank 12%, TP fell 1%). Headhaul slot utilisation fell 3% pts yoy for 9M13, with AE and TP down 5% pts each.
This suggests that NOL lost market share in the AE trade as its volumes fell by more than the reduction in its sailings, while it also lost market share in the TP trade despite increasing sailings. The global AE trade grew 1% yoy, while the TP trade grew 3.7% yoy for 8M13.
Here's more from CIMB:
NOL’s 3Q13 rates fell 8.8%, but the impact on the bottomline was blunted by 5% lower unit costs, with cost savings of circa US$500m for the full year, on top of the US$500m already saved in 2012.
Hence, the 3Q13 core net loss of US$9m was much better than 3Q11’s US$84m loss, despite lower volumes and rates in 3Q13.
But against 3Q12’s core net profit of US$41m, last quarter’s performance does not look as good, though it should be kept in mind that 2012 was a year of “good” industry behaviour, which sadly descended into an all-out price war this year.
