Search Results for: japan

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has drafted a plan ensuring cash-strapped international nuclear fusion project ITER would have funding of Euro EUR2.573 billion from 2014 to 2018. European Union (EU) ministers in December approved emergency spending for ITER to see the France-based research project through 2012 and 2013, and now the Commission is looking ahead for four more years’ money.…

BY MARK ROWE

FOR the past decade, innovative paints and coatings manufacturers have been creating a buzz around sustainable, ‘smart’ coatings that self-clean, do not chip, and are more aerodynamic. Many of the claims for such materials were made while the inventions were still in the laboratory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WINNERS

VF

In one of 2011’s biggest deals, US-based VF announced its plans to buy major footwear brand Timberland in a US$2bn takeover. As well as boosting earnings by US$700m a year, the purchase would leverage VF platforms in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and boost e-commerce operations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RETAIL – WINNERS AND LOSERS

WINNERS

MARKS & SPENCER

Times may still be tough in its home British market, but M&S showed forward-thinking foresight in 2011- on sourcing transparency and the environment: potential key issues for future consumers.…

BY MARK GODFREY

THERE is no end to the number of ambitious companies eyeing a slice of the estimated USD10 billion-a-year demand for nuclear power construction and maintenance in China. And in a country known for its favouritism towards local firms in public procurement contracts, one would assume that mainland Chinese companies would get the maximum share of the spoils.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LEADING powers of the automotive industry worldwide have agreed to attempt forging common technical standards for the still evolving electric car sector. An agreement struck today (Thursday) in Geneva, Switzerland, will see the United States working with the European Union (EU) and Japan within two working parties: their goal is to write a formal global technical regulation (or regulations) on electric cars by 2014 and debate informal standardization.…

BY WANG FANGQING

WHILE soybean oil still remains the main cooking oil of choice used in China, the country’s manufacturers have recently been experiencing a shift – with a growing demand for diversity in terms of cooking products in large and small cities.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE SERIOUS Fraud Office in the UK has confirmed to Fraud Intelligence it is opening an inquiry into Japanese photographic and electronics group Olympus, which is already being probed by the US Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI). A number of Olympus executives have been questioned by US authorities over alleged accounting malpractices at the company following the sacking of the British chief executive Michael Woodford in October.…

BY GEORGE STONE

MOZAMBIQUE expects to start exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2018 after major gas finds by Milan-based Eni and American firm Anadarko Petroleum in the waters of the Rovuma basin in the north of the country. The finds mean Mozambique is on course to be a leading LNG supplier to Asia, particularly Japan and rival the region’s leading gas exporters Nigeria and Angola.…

BY SHEENA ROSSITER

BRAZIL is set to extend its global leadership in can recycling with millions being pumped into the recycling process. Novelis, one of the world’s largest producers of rolled aluminium products and a global leader in aluminium beverage can recycling, has the leading hand in investment with back-to-back investment of USD360 million having been injected into the aluminium recycling industry over the past two years and in the year to come.…