Category: Market

One of the world’s biggest snack companies, Mondelez International, has been labeled an enemy of Ukraine due to its reluctance to exit Russia, Ukrainian media reported on Thursday.

The Ukrainian National Corruption Prevention Agency (NCPA) has designated the producer of Milka and Alpen Gold chocolate, Oreo and Barni biscuits, Picnic bars and Dirol chewing gum an “international sponsor of war” in an effort to “put pressure on those involved in the war.”

Headquartered in Chicago, Mondelez is among the largest foreign companies still operating in Russia. The US company is the Russian market leader in chocolate, sweets, and biscuits and is also ranked second in the chewing gum and lollipops categories.

In March 2022, Mondelez CEO Dirk Van De Put declared the company would be “scaling back all non-essential activities in Russia while helping maintain continuity of the food supply during the challenging times ahead.”

In 2022 alone, the firm’s Russian subsidiary paid more than $61 million in taxes to the Russian budget, according to the NCPA. Mondelez has three large production facilities in the country employing some 3,200 people.

The Ukrainian agency claimed that the “company continues to promote its products in Russia and import new products to this market” and by doing so is indirectly involved in financing the conflict.

The Oreo manufacturer has been branded an enemy of Ukraine along with Raiffeisen Bank International, Auchan, Metro, Procter and Gamble, Bonduelle, Leroy Merlin, Xiaomi and many other international companies.

Source: Russia Today

In May 2023, economic sentiment in Cyprus deteriorated, as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) decreased by 1.8 points compared with April 2023, according to the Economic Research Centre of the University of Cyprus. The decrease in the ESI-CypERC primarily resulted from weaker business confidence in services.

ERC notes that the decrease in the Services Confidence Indicator was driven by the deterioration in firms’ assessments of past business situation and past demand, despite the upward revisions in demand expectations.

A small increase in the Retail Trade Confidence Indicator was recorded, due to improved views on the current stock levels and upward revisions in sales expectations, the ERC says.

Moreover, the Construction Confidence Indicator increased slightly, as firms’ assessments of the level of order books improved further. However, employment expectations deteriorated.

The Industry Confidence Indicator increased as a result of improvements in all of its components. In May, manufacturing firms assessed their current levels of order books and stocks of finished products more favourably, and revised their production expectations upwards.

Additionally, the Consumer Confidence Indicator declined marginally. In May, consumers’ views on the recent and future financial situation of their households worsened, while consumers’ expectations about the general economic conditions in the country improved.

Overall, according to ERC, in May, economic uncertainty in Cyprus decreased slightly, as a result of the lower uncertainty levels observed in the sectors of services, retail trade and construction. Uncertainty among manufacturing firms and among consumers increased in May.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Activists and rights groups are striking a defiant tone in the face of the UK’s controversial new law to clamp down on protests.

After being passed by parliament and receiving royal assent, parts of the Public Order Act 2023 came into force days ahead of the coronation of King Charles III, giving police the authority to take stronger action against protesters.

Those powers were exercised as dozens of people were arrested around the coronation, most of them on charges of planning to disrupt the royal ceremony.

Among them were members of the environmental NGO Just Stop Oil and anti-Monarchy group Republic, but both organizations have vowed to keep up their fight.

Mel Carrington, spokesperson for Just Stop Oil, said the government ‘has bypassed the democratic process to grant police the power to not only ban every protest they do not agree with, but ban it before it even takes place.’

‘We believe that anything is possible,’ the spokesperson said, referring to the coronation arrests.

Slamming the government for ‘trying to suppress opposition to its genocidal plans,’ the spokesperson said British courts are ‘buckling under the strain of their authoritarian crackdown and the prisons are full.’

According to Ben Clinton, communications officer at Republic, the new law is clearly ‘endangering democracy’ in the UK.

‘The Public Order Act essentially now makes your right to protest contingent on the consent of police officers and governmental officials. The UK is meant to be a liberal democracy,’ he told Anadolu.

He labelled the legislation ‘a farce’ trampling on basic rights and the freedom of speech.

‘You can now be arrested, as in Republic’s situation, for simply carrying some luggage straps, which the police can claim you’re going to use to tie yourself to buildings and railings, even if such a notion is complete and utter nonsense,’ said Clinton, who was among the Republic activists arrested on coronation day.

‘Indefinite campaign of resistance’

Apart from local ones, the law has also drawn criticism from international groups and organizations.

The UN human rights office termed it ‘deeply troubling’ and ‘wholly unnecessary,’ saying it ‘imposes serious and undue restrictions … that are neither necessary nor proportionate.’

Amnesty International pointed out that it gives authorities ‘yet more draconian powers’ to restrict people’s fundamental right to peaceful protest.

The British government contends the law aims to protect the public and businesses from ‘unacceptable actions.’

It said the measures outlined are necessary ‘to bolster the police’s powers to respond more effectively to disruptive and dangerous protests.’

Carrington, the Just Stop Oil spokesperson, asserted that the group will continue its fight ‘for as long as it takes.’

About the group’s daily marches taking place for over a month in London, the spokesperson said they were part of an ‘indefinite campaign of resistance’ that is garnering growing support from people.

‘All the rights that we now have were won through civil resistance – the right to vote, the right to strike, and the right to protest,’ Carrington said, warning that all of them are now under threat.

‘This bill must go’

Republic official Clinton said the manner of their members’ arrest was proof of the unbridled powers granted to authorities.

‘The police arrested us while unloading our placards for simply having some luggage straps,’ he said.

That happened despite the fact the group had over four months of discussions with the police, informing them of their intent to stage a peaceful, non-disruptive protest, according to Clinton.

While all charges were eventually dropped, he said Republic is still looking to pursue legal action.

‘This bill must go. If it stays in place and arrests continue, the UK will simply not be a democracy anymore,’ he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

ISTANBUL: The Turkish benchmark stock index closed the midweek at 8,806.72 points, slightly down 0.01% from the previous close.

The BIST 100 index started the day at 8,834.01 points and lost 0.66 points from Tuesday’s close.

The lowest value of the index for the day was 8,749.00, while its daily high was 8,906.38.

Some 45 indexes rose in value, while 51 were down.

The total transaction volume reached 85 billion Turkish liras ($2.63 billion), while the overall value of the index was 7.5 trillion liras ($233.8 billion).

The USD/TRY exchange rate was 32.2705 as of 6.05 pm local time (1505GMT), the EUR/TRY rate stood at 34.9060, and the GBP/TRY traded at 40.7070.

The price of one ounce of gold was $2,193.50, while the barrel price of Brent oil was around $85.90.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The busy calf rearing period is coming to an end on dairy calf to beef farms around the country. In this article, Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Advisor Tommy Cox looks at how to minimise setbacks when transitioning calves from indoor to outdoor life.

There is no argument that the milk feeding phase is an important period in the rearing cycle to ensure desired levels of live weight gain are achieved. The real skill in calf rearing, however, is transitioning calves from milk to solid feed. This is critical to ensure adequate rumen development so that – once calves are turned out – they able to digest and utilise grazed grass.

When and where to turnout calves?

Only correctly weaned and healthy calves consuming at least 1.5kg/day of concentrates should be turned out to pasture. A well sheltered paddock should be targeted to acclimatise calves to the outdoor setting. Turning calves out in unfavourable weather conditions in extremes of warm, wet or cold should be avoided, as potential upsets could result.

Ideally, to avoid the build up of pathogens and disease, the field in which calves are turned out each year should be alternated. However, this is not always practical. Paddocks that have had high levels of nitrogen applied or have very lush covers should be avoided immediately post turnout to prevent any digestive upsets. Once calves become acclimatised to the outdoors, grass pre-grazing covers of <1,000kg DM/ha should be targeted to encourage intakes. Offering calves straw for 5-6 weeks post turnout can also be beneficial, as it will provide a source of fibre - especially where grass covers are lush - but this is not near as fundamental as concentrate feeding.

Keeping concentrates in the diet

To aid the transition to grass, concentrate supplementation should be maintained post turnout for at least 5-6 weeks. Depending on weather conditions, a feeding rate of 1.5-2.0kg/head/day is recommended. This concentrate should be formulated from high-quality ingredients, be palatable, offered fresh daily and should be made available to calves as soon as they arrive on farm.

Farm case study

Teagasc DairyBeef 500 participants Jarlath and Austin Ruane farm part-time just outside Claremorris Co. Mayo. They operate a calf to steer beef system. The Ruanes are coming close to the end of the calf rearing phase and are in the process of getting calves out to grass.

Approximately 80 calves were reared this year on the farm – a mix of Holstein Friesan, early-maturing and continental male calves – all of which are slaughtered as steers at approximately 24 months of age.

Calves arrived on the farm at approximately three weeks of age. Calves are fed on an automatic milk feeder until they reach their targeted weaning weight of 85-90kg, at generally 55-60 days. From arrival, calves are introduced to a highly-palatable calf nut. From experience, calves can be slow enough to consume any significant levels of concentrates initially. However, once they start, intakes increase rapidly especially when milk volume starts to reduce. Jarlath feels keeping the troughs clean and feed fresh from the start is important to get calves to start consuming reasonable levels.

At weaning, calves generally would be consuming over 2kg of concentrates per day and they are kept on this level until turnout. Straw is used as a fibre source and calves have access to clean fresh water at all times. When calves are let out to grass first, they are put out to stronger covers in a paddock close to the farmyard. Heavier covers are chosen as these are less lush and contain more fibre, which is s preventative to any potential issues with summer scour. Straw is also offered to provide extra fibre and concentrate supplementation is continued for the first 5-6 weeks post turnout. Once calves get calves get accustomed to the diet, concentrates are reduced and the quality of grass that they are grazing is improved.

Source: EMM/ The Agriculture and Food Development Authority

Moscow’s foreign ministry said, for a visit in which he will meet with President Xi Jinping and ink a series of deals on infrastructure and trade.

Mishustin arrived late Monday in Shanghai, the ministry said, where he was greeted at the airport by Moscow’s ambassador to China Igor Morgulov and Beijing’s top diplomat to Russia Zhang Hanhui.

He will take part in a Russian-Chinese Business Forum and visit a petrochemical research institute in Shanghai, the Kremlin said, as well as hold talks with “representatives of Russian business circles”.

That forum has invited a number of sanctioned Russian tycoons — including from the key fertiliser, steel and mining sectors — as well as Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who handles energy issues.

China last year became the top energy customer for Russia, whose gas exports had otherwise plummeted after a flurry of Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

Mishustin will then travel to Beijing, where he will meet with Xi and Premier Li Qiang, Russian state media TASS has said.

China and Russia have in recent years ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts, with their strategic partnership having only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

While China says it is a neutral party in that war, it has refused to condemn Russia for the invasion.

In February, Beijing released a paper calling for a “political settlement” to the conflict, which Western countries said could enable Russia to hold much of the territory it has seized in Ukraine.

During a March summit in Moscow, Xi invited President Vladimir Putin to visit Beijing.

Source: Nam News Network (NNN)

The Nasdaq and the S and P 500 lost more than 1% apiece to close in the red Tuesday on Wall Street.

The S and P 500 fell 47 points, or 1.12%, to end the day at 4,145. The Nasdaq dove 160 points, or 1.26%, to close at 12,560.

The Dow Jones was off 231 points, or 0.69%, to finish the day at 33,055.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, jumped 7.7% to 18.53.

The 10-year US Treasury yield, meanwhile, declined 0.4% to 3.700%.

The dollar index was up 0.3% to 103.54, while the euro fell 0.4% to $1.0772 against the greenback.

Precious metals were mixed, with gold rising 0.1% to $1,971 per ounce but silver losing 0.8% to $23.44.

Oil prices rose almost 2% with global benchmark Brent at $77.43 per barrel and the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate sitting at $73.48.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The share of ‘early school leavers’ (young people aged 18-24 leaving early from education and training after having completed at most lower secondary education) has steadily decreased in the EU over the last 10 years, while in Cyprus this share has fallen below the target set on the EU level, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.

According to the same data, in Cyprus this share fell from 11% in 2012 to 8% in 2022. In the EU, the share fell from 13% in 2012 to 10% in 2022, not having reached the target of reducing the rates of early school leavers at the EU level to below 9% by 2030.

Data show that more young men left education and training early than women in 2022, 11% of men vs 8% of women. The share of men decreased from almost 15% in 2012 to 11% in 2022. Regarding young women, the share fell from almost 11% in 2012 to 8% in 2022.

In Cyprus, 9% of men and 7% of women left education early in 2022. The share dropped significantly compared to 2012 among men (from 17%), but didn’t move among women (before rounding up, data shows a small decrease from 7.0% to 6.9%).

Compared with 2012, two-thirds of all EU members reported a smaller share of early leavers in 2022, except for Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and Sweden, which reported small increases (the highest being around +2 pp).

In 2022, the EU members that reported the lowest shares of early leavers from education and training were Croatia (2%), Ireland, Slovenia and Greece (each 4%), Poland and Lithuania (each 5%).

In contrast, the highest shares were recorded in Romania (16%), Spain (14%), Hungary, Germany and Italy (each 12%).

Eighteen EU members have already met the EU-level target for 2030 for this indicator: Belgium, Czechia, Ireland, Greece, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.

In 2022, the share of early leavers from education and training was lower for young women than for young men across all EU members apart from Bulgaria (men 9%, women 12%) and Greece (men 4%, women 5%).

Source: Cyprus News Agency

Cyprus has increased prospects in the Blue Economy sector, taking into account its geographical position and the wealth of its marine resources, said on Saturday President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, adding that in order to strengthen this sector, the creation and support of centers, such as the Limassol Municipality Blue Innovation Centre – Royal Caribbean International, are essential.

In his address at the inauguration of the Centre, in Limassol, President Christodoulides said that Limassol is home to over 200 companies providing maritime services, and there is significant tourism and maritime activity.

“Therefore, this sector, through the city of Limassol, can play an even more significant role in the economic development of our country. That is why the Ministry of Shipping plays a crucial role in achieving these goals,” he said.

The economy of Cyprus, the President remarked, is strengthened through collaboration among academic institutions, public and private entities in our country, to transform innovative ideas into startups.

Christodoulides emphasized the importance of innovation, which, as he said, is the driving force behind a successful and resilient economy. The establishment of the Center will significantly enhance efforts in this direction, as it focuses on the blue economy and seeks to address challenges through the creation of a strategic ecosystem of global partnerships,” he added.

He further highlighted the importance of innovation, which, as he stated, serves as the driving force for a successful and resilient economy. The establishment of the Blue Innovation Centre will significantly enhance efforts in this direction, as it focuses on the blue economy and seeks to address challenges through the creation of a strategic ecosystem of collaborations at a global level, he added.

Source: Cyprus News Agency

TeamSystem, a leading provider of business software solutions to companies and accountants in Italy and Spain, announced today that Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a pound 600 million minority stake in the company from Hellman and Friedman (H and F). H and F will remain the majority shareholder in TeamSystem following close of the transaction.

This strategic investment from Silver Lake marks a significant milestone for the Company as it continues to drive the digital transformation of businesses and their accountants in Italy and Spain. TeamSystem’s innovative software platform – with solutions ranging from core business applications to financial technology and AI tools – has revolutionized business processes, empowering clients to streamline operations, drive efficiency and accelerate growth. Since the time of H and F’s initial investment in TeamSystem in 2016, the number of customers served by the company has grown from 200 thousand to approximately 1.8 million today.

Commenting on the investment, Federico Leproux, CEO of TeamSystem, said: ‘We are pleased to welcome Silver Lake as a strategic partner. We believe this partnership will unlock even greater potential for TeamSystem as the company continues to expand its product offering to help digitise the Italian and Spanish economies – and beyond. We are also delighted to continue our partnership with Hellman and Friedman, which has been our trusted partner for over seven years.’

Christian Lucas, Co-Head of EMEA at Silver Lake, said: ‘We are excited to partner with TeamSystem as it continues to transform the Italian software industry. Management’s strong commitment to technological leadership, customer-centric approach, and drive for best-in-class innovation are qualities we value highly and have invested behind consistently in support of cloud software leaders across Europe, making TeamSystem an ideal fit for Silver Lake. We look forward to working closely with Federico and the full team in partnership with Hellman and Friedman to drive further growth and deliver exceptional value to its customers.’

Blake Kleinman, Partner at Hellman and Friedman, added: ‘We are thrilled to welcome Silver Lake as an investor in TeamSystem as we set our sights on the next phase of growth for the business. We have been impressed by TeamSystem’s performance since our initial investment in 2016. Federico Leproux and his team have done an outstanding job to strengthen TeamSystem’s offering and more than triple the company’s revenues. Our investment in TeamSystem which started over seven years ago is a great example of H and F’s approach to long-term value creation. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Federico and his outstanding management team.’

The transaction is expected to close around end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Evercore acted as financial adviser to H and F and TeamSystem.

About TeamSystem

TeamSystem is an Italian technology company with market-leading digital solutions enabling companies and professionals to run their businesses. The Group – which has a 40-year track record – reported a turnover of approximately pound 700 million in 2022. TeamSystem serves 1.8 million customers through proprietary Cloud platforms. For more information, visit www.teamsystem.com.

About Silver Lake

Silver Lake is a global technology investment firm, with more than $95 billion in combined assets under management and committed capital and a team of professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies collectively generate more than $282 billion of revenue annually and employ approximately 713,000 people globally.

About Hellman and Friedman

Hellman and Friedman is a preeminent global private equity firm with a distinctive investment approach focused on a limited number of large-scale equity investments in high quality growth businesses. H and F seeks to partner with world-class management teams where its deep sector expertise, long-term orientation and collaborative partnership approach enable companies to flourish. H and F targets outstanding businesses in select sectors including software and technology, financial services, healthcare, consumer and retail, and other business services.

Since its founding in 1984, H and F has invested in over 100 companies. The firm is currently investing its tenth fund, with $24.4 billion of committed capital, and has over $85 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2022. Learn more about H and F’s defining investment philosophy and approach to sustainable outcomes at www.hf.com.

Source: Cyprus News Agency