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BMW Canada November Sales up 11 per cent

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/CNW/ – BMW Group Canada (BMW and MINI Brands combined) reported November sales of 2,429 vehicles, an increase of 11 per cent compared to November 2008. Year-to-date sales for BMW Group Canada are 26,830 units, up 3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

BMW Brand: November Sales up 14%.

The BMW brand retailed 2,083 units, an increase of 14 per cent over November 2008. Year-to-date, 22,876 BMWs have been retailed, an increase in sales of 6 per cent from last years same period.

The success of the BMW X3 and X5 models, as we head into the winter months, are piloting the sales increase. BMW X3 sales showed an increase of 58 per cent and BMW X5 sales increased by 46% compared to the month of November in the previous year.

Another notable performer this year is the 7 Series. With the introduction of the new generation year-to-date sales are boosted a dramatic 51 per cent compared to the same period in 2008.

BMW Pre-Owned: Best November on record.

The BMW Pre-Owned division experienced the best November sales on record. There were 783 units retailed in November, up 3.3 per cent over November 2008. With 9,868 units sold year-to-date, total pre-owned sales are up 15.8 percent over the same period last year.

BMW Motorrad: Year-to-date motorcycle sales up 7.2 per cent.

BMW Motorrad Canada sold 37 units in November, down 38.3 per cent over November 2008. Year-to-date results are encouraging as Motorrad retail figures hit 1,764 a 7.2 per cent increase over the same period last year.

MINI Brand.

November sales indicate 346 units sold this past month, down 12 units from November 2008 sales, a decrease in sales of 3 per cent. MINI year-to-date sales were 3,954 a 14 per cent decline from sales numbers from the same period in 2008.

MINI NEXT: Best November on record.

A strong performance by MINI NEXT Certified Pre-Owned brings vehicle sales up by 16.4 per cent over November 2008. Total year-to-date MINI NEXT pre-owned sales totaled 715 units, a 17 per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2008.

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

The BMW Group achieved a global sales volume of more than 1.43 million automobiles and over 101,000 motorcycles for the 2008 financial year. Revenues for 2008 totalled EUR 53.2 billion, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of EUR 921 million. The company employed a global workforce of approximately 98,000 associates on 30 September 2009.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last five years.

BMW Group Canada, based in Whitby, Ontario, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW AG and is responsible for the distribution of BMW luxury performance automobiles, Sports Activity Vehicles, Motorcycles, and MINI. BMW Group Financial Services Canada is a division of BMW Group Canada and offers retail financing and leasing programs and protection products on new and pre-owned BMW and MINI automobiles, as well as retail financing for new and pre-owned BMW Motorcycles. A total network of 40 BMW automobile retail centres, 19 BMW motorcycle retailers, and 25 MINI retailers represents the BMW Group across the country.

TCS engg services business sees growth, begins hiring

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Tata Consultancy Services, Indias largest information technology services provider, is witnessing positive movement in its engineering and industrial services (EIS), which was impacted by the economic slowdown.

It maintains that if the current uptick continues, the units contribution to the revenue of the company could touch 10 per cent for financial year 2010-11 from the current 6-6.5 per cent.

In the third quarter, we have seen some sporadic positive signs from customers. Customers are talking about opening up their production design and product additions have started showing a positive trend, which was impacted due to the slowdown. Because of this, we have started to hire as well, Regu Ayyaswamy, Vice-President, Engineering and Industrial Services, told Business Standard.

Close to 30-40 per cent of the existing client base have shown positive signs of ramp-ups. TCS has close to 250 customers under its EIS division. Because of these positive signs, the unit would be hiring around 100-200 people by the end of December. The total headcount of the unit is 6,500.

Ayyaswamy said the positive news is coming from clients in sectors like electronics, semiconductors, telecom and auto. Whereas, heavy industry still continues to be under pressure.

In terms of growth, Ayyaswamy said healthcare and utilities have been the most promising. The healthcare segment actually continued to grow even during the downturn. We saw a volume growth of two to three per cent during the slowdown. We do close to $30-35 million business annually; there is opportunity to take this to $100 million in a years time, he added.

The other reason for the uptick has been a shift within these companies to look at India as a market, which needs these products to be tweaked according to the local factors. This is a huge opportunity for companies like TCS. The other area that has seen a positive movement is the utility sector. Ayyaswamy is of the opinion that this could see a volume growth of 2-3 per cent in the next quarter.

More children living in persistent poverty in Northern Ireland than Great Britain

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What can we do to tackle child poverty in Northern Ireland by Goretti Horgan from the University of Ulster and Marina Monteith from Save the Children ( Northern Ireland ) explores the challenges faced by the Northern Ireland Assembly in meeting its target of eradicating child poverty. It found that persistent poverty in Northern Ireland ( 21% before housing costs ) is more than double that in Great Britain ( 9% before housing costs ).

The report points to four main reasons for higher persistent poverty in Northern Ireland:

High levels of worklessness: 31 per cent of the working-age population is not in paid work, higher than any GB region and 6 per cent higher than the GB average.
High rates of disability and limiting long-term illness, especially mental ill-health.
Low wages: the median wage for men working full-time is 85 per cent of that for British men.
Poor-quality part-time jobs and obstacles to mothers working.
The authors acknowledge that although there are some areas which need to be tackled that are beyond the Assemblys control, there are issues over which the devolved administration has some influence. They recommend that the Assembly works on six key areas:

Increasing the supply of well-paid, good quality jobs
Supporting those already in work to increase their qualification levels
Alleviating the worst impacts of poverty on children
Addressing the lack of quality affordable childcare
Increasing educational attainment
Providing access to leisure and social activities for poorer young people
Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of the JRF, said:

The Assembly has already shown that it is possible to intervene to alleviate some of the worst aspects of poverty. Just as it provided the one-off fuel payment of £150 to families on benefit in winter 2008/09, it could make it easier for people to take mini-jobs, allowing those living on benefits to provide a little extra for their families. School budgets need to provide for all the costs of education including books, school trips and after-school activities. It must also address ways of giving poorer young people access to positive social and leisure activities.

Source: Media Newswire

EU on track to meet or over-achieve Kyoto emissions target

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The latest projections indicate that the EU-15 countries will meet their 8 per cent reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. Out of the 12 remaining EU member states, 10 have also individual commitments under the protocol. It is projected that they will reduce their emissions to 6 or 8 per cent below base year levels. This will be achieved through a combination of policies and measures already taken, the purchase of emission credits from projects in third countries, the acquisition of allowances and credits by participants in the EU Emissions Trading System ( EU ETS ), and forestry activities that absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: These projections further cement the EUs leadership in delivering on our international commitments to combat climate change. They show the EU-15 is well on track to meet its Kyoto target for 2008-2012. And with the EU climate and energy package adopted earlier this year we have already put in place the key measures to reduce our emissions much further to at least 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. No other region of the world has yet done this.

But a 20 per cent cut is not enough to prevent dangerous climate change, and that is why the EU has pledged to scale up our reduction to 30 per cent, provided other major emitters contribute their fair share to an ambitious global climate agreement in December in Copenhagen. It is crucial that our partners in the industrialised world and the big emerging economies live up to their responsibilities.

Kyotocommitments

There is no collective target for EU-27 emissions. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the 15 countries which were EU member states when the Protocol was agreed ( the EU-15 ) are committed to reducing their collective greenhouse gas emissions in the period 2008-2012 to 8 per cent below levels in a chosen base year ( 1990 in most cases ). This collective commitment has been translated into differentiated national emission targets for each EU-15 member state, which are binding under EU law.

Ten of the twelve member states which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 have individual commitments under the Protocol to reduce their emissions to 6 per cent or 8 per cent below base year levels by 2008-2012. Only Cyprus and Malta have no emission target.

Projections for EU-15 and EU-27

As announced in May ( see IP/09/851 ), EU-15 greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 – the latest year for which full data is available – were 5.0 per cent lower than base year levels. This contrasted with economic growth of around 44 per cent over the same period. For the EU-27 as a whole, emissions fell by 12.5 per cent between the base year and 2007.

Additionally, the European Environment Agency estimates that in 2008 emissions from the EU-15 member states fell further, to 6.2 per cent below their levels in the base year. EU-27 emissions are now estimated to be 13.6 per cent lower than the base year level.

The Commissions progress report ( Progress towards achieving the Kyoto objectives. Communication from the Commission, COM( 2009 ) 630 ) shows that existing policies and measures – those already implemented – are expected to reduce EU-15 emissions to 6.9 per cent below base year levels in the commitment period 2008-2012. The report is based on the latest projections by member states, as compiled by the European Environment Agency.

The plans by 10 of the EU-15 member states to buy credits from emission-saving projects carried out in third countries under Kyoto’s three market-based mechanisms – international emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and the Joint Implementation instrument – would result in a further emission reduction of 2.2 per cent. This would take the overall reduction to around 9.0 per cent ( rounded value ) and thus over-deliver on the EUs Kyoto commitment. Acquisition of allowances and credits by EU ETS operators is expected to deliver a further 1.4 per cent reduction.

Planned afforestation and reforestation activities, which create biological sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, would contribute an additional cut of 1.0 per cent. Additional policies and measures under discussion would, if fully implemented, bring further cuts of up to 1.6 per cent. This would take the overall reduction to around 13.1 per cent, giving a broad safety margin for achieving the 8 per cent reduction target.

All of the ten EU-12 member states that have a Kyoto target are projected to meet or over-achieve their Kyoto commitments.

Current uncertainty over the duration and severity of the economic recession, and thus its impact on emissions, could lead to the revision of projections in future once the outlook becomes clearer. Additionally, the projections of some member states may understate future emission reductions, as they do not yet take account of the EU climate and energy package adopted earlier this year ( see IP/09/628 ).

Furthermore, the methodology used to estimate the EU ETS effect needs further improvement. Robust and consistent methodologies and assumptions are needed in order to more accurately project the EU ETS effect.

Greenhouse gas emission projections need to be considered in the perspective of the effective reductions already achieved, which amounted to -9 per cent for the EU-27 and -4 per cent for the EU-15 between 1990 and 2007. Therefore, reduction efforts will need to accelerate substantially across the EU in the future if it is to meet its -20 per cent or -30 per cent target by 2020.

Further information:

The progress report is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/gge_progress.htm

DG Environment climate change homepage:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/home_en.htm

European Environment Agency press release:

http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/newsreleases

For more information, please contact the London press office on 020 7973 1971.

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Please see attached for the European Commissions latest Copenhagen Express, a weekly newsletter on progress towards Copenhagen.

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Media advisory:

Tomorrow Friday 13 November: What price biodiversity? Launch of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity ( TEEB ) Report

The news:

An EU-supported study The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity ( TEEB ), a key biodiversity report for policy makers, will be launched in Brussels tomorrow.

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity is a major international initiative to draw attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity, to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy.

The TEEB Report for Policy Makers outlines how decision makers can take the value of the natural world into account. The report underlines the urgency for action and states that failing to account for the value of ecosystems and biodiversity will lead to the wrong choices being made in responding to global challenges.

The event:

Press conference with EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas and the TEEB study leader, Pavan Sukhdev, who will present the results of the report. You can watch the recorded press conference online via Europe by Satellite ( EbS ) at 5pm UK time here.

The background:

Biodiversity is under threat all over the globe, with potentially disastrous consequences, and little is being done to prevent it. Nature provides us with clean air, water, food, materials and medicines, regulates our climate and protects us from disaster, but we often take this for granted. It is extremely difficult to put a price on these benefits, but The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity ( TEEB ) study is working to develop a framework to help calculate the true value of these ecosystem services.

Following an interim report in May 2008, and a short Climate Issues Paper in September 2009, the Report for Policy Makers is one of the main deliverables of TEEB and the first of four reports that will be published consecutively between autumn 2009 and autumn 2010. The final results of TEEB will be presented at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010.

The TEEB study was launched by Germany and the European Commission in response to a proposal by the G8+5 Environment Ministers ( Potsdam, Germany 2007 ) to develop a global study on the economics of biodiversity loss. Pavan Sukhdev, a senior banker at Deutsche Bank, and a Founder-Director of the Green Accounting for Indian States Project, was appointed as the independent study leader. Several other partners are now supporting TEEB.

The sources:

The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversitys website ( TEEB ):

http://www.teebweb.org/

European Commissions website:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/economics/index_en.htm

• VNR: I-051194Halting the loss of Europes biodiversity by 2010

• VNR/ I-051244NATURA 2000: Safeguarding Europes biodiversity

• Video stockshots: I-044901Environment: nature and biodiversity – 2004

Source: Media Newswire

Food shortages incapacitate and kill millions of children each year – UN report

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An astonishing 200 million children under the age of five, almost all in Africa and Asia, suffer from the debilitating impact of stunted growth resulting from a lack of food and the right nutrients, a new United Nations report warned today.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report, Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition, also stressed that undernutrition contributes to a third of deaths of all children under five each year, which in 2006 stood at almost 10 million globally.

“Undernutrition steals a child’s strength and makes illnesses that the body might otherwise fight off far more dangerous,” said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman.

“More than one-third of children who die from pneumonia, diarrhoea and other illnesses could have survived had they not been undernourished,” she added.

The report underscored the critical importance for a child’s development of the 1,000 days from conception until the second birthday, when nutritional deficiencies can reduce the ability to fight and survive disease, and damage social and mental aptitude.

“Those who survive undernutrition often suffer poorer physical health throughout their lives, and damaged cognitive abilities that limit their capacity to learn and to earn a decent income,” said Ms. Veneman. “They become trapped in an intergenerational cycle of ill-health and poverty.”

The UNICEF report noted that a stunted child is likely to experience a lifetime of poor health and underachievement, pointing to prevention as the only effective strategy to tackle the problem.

It highlighted the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for the child’s initial six months which significantly improves the chances of survival and reduces the likelihood of stunting, as well as potentially slashing child mortality rates by 19 per cent in developing countries.

While 90 per cent of children who are stunted live in Asia and Africa, the report noted that progress has been made on both continents. In Asia the prevalence of stunting dropped from about 44 per cent in 1990 to an estimated 30 per cent in 2008, while in Africa it fell from around 38 per cent to 34 per cent over the same period.

“Global commitments on food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are part of a wider agenda that will help address the critical issues raised in this report,” said Ms. Veneman. “Unless attention is paid to addressing the causes of child and maternal undernutrition today, the costs will be considerably higher tomorrow.”

Tata Chem hikes stake in Rallis India to 50%

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MUMBAI: Tata Group firm Tata Chemicals has raised its stake in another group firm Rallis India to 50.06 per cent after buying shares worth Rs 89.03 crore on preferential basis.

Tata Chemicals has been allotted 9.8 lakh shares, representing 4.09 per cent stake in the agro-chemical firm, at Rs 908.51 a piece, aggregating to Rs 89.03 crore, Rallis India said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

With the acquisition, Tata Chemicals stake in Rallis India increased to 50.06 per cent from 45.97 per cent. Consequently, Rallis India has now become the subsidiary of the company.

Tata Chemicals held 45.97 per cent stake as on Sep 30 while total promoter holding in Rallis India stood at 46.10 per cent, according to shareholding pattern available on the stock exchanges. The rest 0.13 per cent stake is being held by Tata Investment Corporation (0.08 per cent), and Ewart Investments (0.04 per cent). – PTI

NPA’s Up By 26% In 2nd Q Of Fy `10, Car Hikes By 1.6% : ASSOCHAM

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If Non-performing Assets (NPAs) and Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) reported by commercial banks are an indication of their financial strength, the second quarter results of Indian banking sector portray a mixed picture.

This is because the net non-performing assets have risen by an average 26 per cent while capital adequacy ratio improved by 1.60 percentage points in Q2 of current fiscal as compared to the corresponding period of previous year.

Improvement in CAR reflects better financial health of banks and government recent move to recapitalize weak PSUs bank is a right move while increase in NPAs is a matter of concern as it directly affects the solvency and profitability of banks.

According to ASSOCHAM, the increase in NPA of the compared period should inspire government to quickly move towards banks consolidation as it will bring down their risks and expand banks balance sheet size to global standard to take on emerging challenges in the financial sector, said ASSOCHAM President, Dr. Swati Piramal.

Solvency Analysis of Indian Banking Sector as carried out by ASSOCHAM reveals that on an average 26 per cent rise in net non performing assets (NPAs) have been registered by 21public sector and commercial banks during the second quarter of the FY’10 as against Q2-FY’09.

However, the average capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the banks improved to 13.68 per cent in Q2-FY ‘10 from 12.08 per cent in the previous year, added Dr. Piramal.

The analysis of the Indian banking sector was based on the quarterly results posted by 21 Indian banks For a macro analysis, the total 21 banks included an aggregation of 19 public sector banks (PSBs) and 2 major private sector banks.

It is also based on two broad parameters including net non performing assets and capital adequacy ratio and also the new enhanced provisioning coverage ratio and additional provisioning on commercial real estate standard assets.

“Although the Indian banking sector has remained insulated from the global financial crisis, the emerging trends show mixed signals”, said Dr. Piramal.

As per the analysis, the aggregate net non-performing assets (NPA) of 21banks increased by 26 per cent to Rs 25137 crore in second quarter of 20010 from Rs 19920 crore in the same period of FY’09.

In terms of capital adequacy ratio, out of the 21 banks posting their results for the quarter ending September 2009-10 it was found that 4 banks witnessed a fall in their CAR from the previous fiscal, but they still managed to remain above the prescribed limit of nine per cent posed by the Basel II accord.

The latest move by RBI asking banks to increase their provisioning coverage ratio to a minimum of 70% by the end of Sept., 10 is going to impact the profits of large number of banks. As against the PCR of 56% as on Sept., 2009, the additional burden on this count , by one estimate ,will be around Rs 13000 crores.

More so the RBI has increased general provisioning on Commercial real estate from 0.4% to 1.0 % on standard assets will drive the borrowing cost as well as additional provisioning. The slow credit growth is further likely to impact the bottom lines of banks. Therefore the banking sector is likely to see rough weather until the credit expansion takes a fast track.

Examining Workplace Styles of the Sexes

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Businesses Urged to Harness the Power of Difference for More Effective Team Management.
LONDON. – A new survey looking at the working styles of men and women reveals that 45 per cent of working women agreed with the statement that ’women have to be better than men to succeed in the workplace’. In contrast, only 26 per cent of the men questioned believe this to be true. The survey also found that more than half of the men (53 per cent) view ability as more important than personality in the workplace, while only 39 per cent of women rate ability in the workplace higher than personality.
The ’Style of the Sexes’ survey, jointly commissioned by Cisco and Gender IQ, addresses issues such as how conflict is dealt with in the workplace, which factors men and women consider important in a job, whether job concerns are shared with co-workers, and whether employees prefer to work in teams of mostly men or mostly women. While the findings indicate that real differences exist in how men and women deal with aspects of their work, organizations that seek to better understand and respect differences in the workplace get the best out of their employees and teams.
Highlights / Key Facts:
On the Makeup of Teams
* The majority of both men and women (88 per cent) prefer to work in roughly equally mixed teams.
* However, both men and women preferred working in mostly male teams (21.6 per cent) rather than mainly female teams (8.1 per cent).
On What’s Important
* Generally speaking, women are more demanding than men about what is important in a job, with 79 per cent saying getting training is important, compared with 73 per cent of men, and 75 per cent seeking flexible hours, compared with 69 per cent of the men. The only areas that more men than women find important are chances of promotion and benefits beyond pay.
* Pay ranked first in importance for women, with equipment second. An interesting job role shared third place with flexibility in work location or the ability to work from home. Men rated pay and equipment as most important, followed by an interesting role and flexible work location or the ability to work from home.
* Having a role model was least important for both men and women.
On Dealing with Conflict
* Women are far more likely to have experienced conflict in the workplace: 55 per cent stated they’ve faced conflict compared with 46 per cent of men.
* Women take longer to recover from conflict as well: 41 per cent of those who had experienced conflict said it took more than a month to recover; 25 per cent of the men needed more than a month to recover.
* In a conflict situation, men and women also respond differently: 73 per cent of the men said they would confront the situation face to face, compared with 63 per cent of the women. Women are also more likely to ask for intervention, with 59 per cent likely to talk to their manager and 39 per cent likely to report the situation to HR, compared with 52 per cent and 35 per cent of the men, respectively.
On Sharing Concerns
* More women share work concerns with colleagues: 75 per cent shared concerns versus 67 per cent of the men.
Quotes:
* Tracy Carr, CEO, Gender IQ
The Style of the Sexes survey illustrates what we all instinctively know: that there are differences in how men and women think about and approach issues within the workplace. Unfortunately, however, it is still the male brain that tends to dominate the world of work and the way we do business. The importance of understanding differences is not to say one way is more right than another; it is about widening the acceptable range of leadership styles to create an environment where all men and all women enjoy working together and get better results.
While the perception still may be that women have to work harder to succeed, the good news is that the study also showed that both men and women prefer to work in mixed teams of equal proportions, so we also instinctively understand the power that both parties bring for team success. This is further illustrated by a report from McKinsey on gender diversity as a corporate performance driver, which showed that those companies that had senior teams of which at least a third were women outperformed those companies with no women on senior teams. This is no longer about gender but about improved company performance
* Nikki Walker, director of Inclusion & Diversity for European Markets, Cisco
Celebrating a culture of inclusion and diversity where difference is respected and recognized as a key contributor to success not only enables an organization to attract and retain the best talent, but also enables an organization to get the best out of their employees. Understanding the difference between the genders will enable organizations to manage mixed teams more effectively and to connect more effectively with customers.
Cisco has long understood the benefits of a diverse, integrated workforce and has worked hard to create a positive working environment that respects diversity. Cisco is executing on our commitment to diversity through best-practice initiatives that include the Global Inclusion and Diversity Council, which integrates inclusion and diversity into business processes and operations at all levels of the organization. We also hold roundtables to build more understanding around specific issues including gender differences, and run a number of employee networks that are designed to help people communicate within their own peer groups as well as with team members and managers to develop better working practices.
We’ve moved this away from being an issue of sexual stereotypes to being a mainstream business imperative where everyone needs to be involved for greater business success

Source: WEBWIRE