Panasonic reports first annual profit in three years

Panasonic reports first annual profit in three years

Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic has reported its first full-year profit for three years, with the weaker yen helping to boost sales. The maker of the Lumix camera posted profits of 120.4bn yen ($1.2bn; £710m) for the year to March, compared with a 754bn yen loss a year earlier. The company also said cost cutting had boosted its profitability.

Panasonic is forecasting a 16% jump in net profit to 140bn yen for the current financial year. This increase is based on the economic recovery in the US and Europe. Panasonic has more than 600 business units within the organisation, with interests ranging from home appliances to housing equipment such as ventilation systems, as well as industrial products in the automotive and robotics sectors.

Sales in its appliances division rose by 10% from one year ago, which was mainly driven by a surge in consumer spending in Japan ahead of the rise in the country's consumption tax. Japan increased the consumption tax rate to 8% from 5% on 1 April.

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UK economy grows by 0.8% in first quarter

UK economy grows by 0.8% in first quarter

The UK economy grew by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2014, according to the latest figures.

It marks the fifth consecutive period of GDP growth - the longest positive run since the financial crisis. Gross domestic product is a measure of a country's economic activity, including all the goods and services produced in a given period. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said the economy is now 0.6% smaller than its 2008 peak. Chancellor George Osborne said Tuesday's figure showed that "Britain is coming back", but that the recovery could not be taken for granted.

"The impact of the Great Recession is still being felt, but the foundations for a broad based recovery are now in place," he added. "The biggest risk to economic security would be abandoning the plan that is laying those foundations." Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said that despite the positive growth figure, "millions of hardworking people are still feeling no recovery at all". "Now that growth has finally returned, the question is whether ordinary working people will properly feel the benefit and we have a balanced recovery that's built to last," he added. The ONS's first growth estimate for the quarter is a slight increase on the 0.7% recorded for the final quarter of 2013, and a rise of 3.1% on the same period a year ago.

Solid not spectacular

But many had been expecting it to be even higher, at 0.9%. "While this figure has missed estimates, slightly, the overall feeling is still one of strength in the UK," said Jeremy Cook, chief economist at currency brokers World First. "In fact, this is the kind of news the economy needs - solid but not spectacular." UK manufacturing was one of the strongest performers in the latest figures, with output growing by 1.3%, the ONS said, its strongest quarter for nearly four years. And the service sector, which includes everything from hotels and leisure to accountants, grew by 0.9%.

UK GDP growth, quarter on previous quarter

  

Construction output, which grew by 0.3%, was affected by the storms and high rainfall in January and February, the ONS said. But it added that the bad weather did not have a significant impact on overall GDP growth. Agriculture was the only one of the four main industrial sectors to register a fall in output, dropping by 0.7%.

Wage growth

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it expected the UK to be the best-performing of the world's largest economies in 2014, with growth of 2.9% for the year. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts 2.7%, and in February the Bank of England (BoE) raised its 2014 growth forecast to 3.4%. The positive news on economic growth also follows recent data from the ONS that showed weekly earnings had finally caught up with inflation, after six years of falling behind.

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What is the Result of the Bees Decline?

In fact, ecosystems represent a complex of interconnected lifeforms, both animal and plant, which greatly depend upon each other. Ecosystems exist in comfortable balance and reasonable harmony. That’s how it operates: in case only one component of that ecosystem is out of synchronization, the whole system is overthrown. Bees are part and parcel of a beneficial ecosystem, as we count on bees’ pollination for a variety of food.

Collapse of Bee Colonies

The western honey bee or European honey bee so-called Apis Mellifera is considered native to Europe, Africa and Western Asia. Today it is disappearing around the world. There is also a noticed decline of the eastern honey bee called Apis Cerana.

This is no marginal species loss. Domestic and wild honey bees perform round about 80 % of all pollination worldwide. Each day one bee colony can pollinate about 300 million flowers. As we know, grains are mostly pollinated by the wind; however the best food, including nuts, vegetables and fruits are pollinated by bees. Moreover, 70 out of the top 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees.

According to Tonio Borg, a member of the European Commission responsible for Health and Consumer Policy, bees contribute over $30 billion US dollars to European agriculture annually. In fact, bees pollinate food valued at over $350 billion US dollars worldwide.

The bee collapse is a significant challenge to humankind on an equal basis with global warming, nuclear war and ocean acidification .

Bee Products

Human health is considerably improved by the existence of bee products. The following important products, which bees offer, can benefit humans:

Honey is a powerhouse of health benefits. Honey is not just a sweetener. It includes plenty of vitamin, such as iron, phosphorous, vitamins A/B-complex/C/D/E/K. It soothes coughs, boosts memory, treats wounds, provides nutrients, potentially prevents low white blood cell count, relieves seasonal allergies, kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria, helps metabolize alcohol, makes great workout fuel, resolves scalp problems and dandruff and much more.

•          Beeswax is used as a natural product to make crayons, lip balm, candles, cosmetics, moisturizers, etc.

•          Royal jelly has a variety of minerals, vitamins and fatty acids.

•          Propolis, created from tree resins, contains a lot of vitamins/amino acids and has a strong antibiotic effect.

•          Venom is widely used in the antivenin development to treat stings. Moreover, it also functions as arthritis pain reliever.

So you see that the bee can be called an integral part of the ecosystem.

Importance of Bees

Worker bees so-called female (eusocial) bees live several months. New eusocial bees are produced by colonies during the spring and summer period. During the winter period reproduction slows down. As a rule, a bee colony declines by 5-10 % over the winter and then replaces the lost bees in the spring.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that the worker bees pollinate 80% of the flowering crops that constitute 1/3 of everything people eat.  Losing them can significantly affect not only such main products as broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers, apples, blueberries, strawberries and nuts, but even may  negatively affect our beef  in case alfalfa is not available for feed.

According to One Cornell University, “honeybees annually pollinate $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States. In fact, if honeybees disappear, they could take most of our insect pollinated plants with them, potentially reducing mankind to little more than a water diet.”

 Bees are of extremely high value as cross-pollination agents. The majority of plants are completely dependent on specific types of bees for the reproduction, including red clover that is pollinated only by the bumblebee.

What is pollination?

Pollination is transfer of pollen from the male part of the flower (the anther) to the female part of the flower (the stigma). Some plants are self-pollinating. In such a case the pollen passes from the anther to the stigma inside the same flower. Other plants require pollen to be transferred between different individuals of the plant or different flowers. This is called cross-pollination. 

Why the Decline in Bees?

Scientists are not sure about the real reason why bees are dying out. Under ordinary conditions 10% of bee hive are lost in the winter time; however official data shows bee-colonies losses of about 32% in 2007, 36% in 2008 and 29% in 2009. Extensive use of pesticides on crops, increasing monculture and destruction of habitat are contributing factors to the bee decline.

Solution Exists

Common sense actions could restore and protect the world’s bees. Experienced apiculturists, farmers and bee keepers outline the following problem-solutions:

•          Ban the 7 most dangerous pesticides

•          Try to restore ecological agriculture

•          Protect pollinator health by preserving wild habitat

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Aging – Chances for Longevity

Aging – Chances for Longevity

Today, there are a lot of gerontology researches that attempt to discover the “Fountain of Youth” in order to find eternal life. Unfortunately, this mythical spring has not been found, but anyway, there are several factors that may increase longevity.

Insights into Gerontology

First of all, let’s understand what gerontology is and how this discipline can improve our lives. The term “gerontology” comes from the Greek geron, “old man”, and logy, “study of”. In other words, this is the study of psychological, social and biological aspects of aging. Gerontology is a multidisciplinary science that incorporates various fields and subfields that study people as they age.

Gerontology scientists study aging according to four processes: biological aging, chronological aging, social aging, and psychological aging. Biological process of aging refers to the physical changes in organ systems. Chronological aging is defined as the process of aging based on the years lived from birth. Social aging refers to the changing roles of an individual in relationships with family, friends, colleagues, etc. Psychological aging refers to the changes in cognitive abilities, sensory and perceptual processes, adaptive abilities, and personality.

As we can see, gerontology encompasses almost each aspect of our life. As a result, this science is able to help us lead a longer and better life. Gerontologists carry out a huge amount of researches every day in order to find the keys to long and happy life and they succeed little by little.

Longevity Genes

Even if scientists still cannot predict how long we a going to live, today they have come to this issue closer than ever. They have discovered a suite of 150 long life variants in 70 genes that allowed them to guess if an individual can live to be a hundred.

The newly discovered gene variants may hold down genes associated with diseases related to aging, including heart illnesses and dementia. A biostatistician at the Boston University School of Public Health states that it is just a genetic susceptibility; it doesn’t mean that we are going to live into our 90s or even longer, because there are a lot of things in life that can happen to us.

The environment, our lifestyle, and even luck, play a crucial role in determining human longevity – as 23% of centenarian subjects who have been tested lack the telltale gene variants. Probably this minority lived a longer life because they avoided risk factors, such as smoking, abuse of red meat, etc.

Six Factors of Longevity

The gerontologist Peter Martin at Iowa State University has determined six important behavioral factors that may increase human longevity:

1. Social Support

It is impossible to live long by yourself. You should have a family, health facilities, community, etc. Also, you need financial resources to be able to survive.

2. Personal Characteristics

This factor deals with things such as gender, where women are more likely to live longer than men. Ethic groups differences, where life expectancy is higher for whites and lower for African-Americans.

3. Behavioral Capabilities

This has to do with the things we do every day, i.e. being active, having good cognitive functioning, etc. which play an important role in promoting a longer life.

4. Stay Healthy

Here we should point out the things we are able to do in order to be physically healthy. Obviously, there is a biological part in all these things, but anyway, it has to do a lot with our responsibility.

5. Proper Nutrition and Strong Health

It is well known that what we eat and the way we stay fit influence the quality of our life. That is why it is very important to practice proper nutrition and improve our physical health.

6. Mental Health

The more optimistic you are the greater the chances for a long life. Hence, it is important to avoid stress and things that may lead to depressions.

In the future, scientists believe to discover functional variants of longevity genes that would give us the opportunity to live to be a hundred. Obviously, people’s lifespan does not depend entirely on genetics, but however, scientists say that more than 15% of controls in their studies had genetic signatures that led to exceptional longevity.

Anyway, we should do our best to bear in mind the factors that can help us live to 100, until science identifies new methods to influence the probability of extreme longevity. 

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Apple announces reacquisition of shares

Apple announces reacquisition of shares

Apple has recently announced its profits of $10.2 billion as a result of selling 43.7 million iPhones during three months ending March, 29. It has also reported that they have plans to repurchase $30 billion of its stock from shareholders and lift its quarterly dividend by 8%.

Another important piece of news the technology giant brought is that for the first time in nine years it is going to split its stock. These changes are oriented towards appeasing investors because the company declares slowing income growth.

Post-Christmas Sales

The massive sale of iPhones surprised analysts, who forecasted a significant decline in the post-holiday period. Sales of iPhones – the company’s most popular product that contributes to more than a half of the firm’s income – fell by 14% because users are waiting for new models. Anyway, they increased by 17% if compared with the same period earlier.

Tim Cook, chief executive, stated that they are proud of the results, especially their high iPhone sales and huge income from services. As far as earnings are concerned, Mr. Cook said that it was the biggest non-holiday quarter ever. Apple faced fierce competition from Samsung that sells smartphones at lower prices that run Android operating system.

Mr. Cook and the new financial director Lucas Maestri tried to reassure investors about iPad sales that decreased 16% and was the sharpest decline ever for this particular device. They also discussed upon the way sales were calculated and emphasized that the iPad has been sold faster than any other product in Apple’s history, with over 210 million units sold since 2010.

As far as the iPod music player is concerned, it continues to drop steeply, falling to only 2.8 million units during the second quarter, which is a 54% decline if compared to previous three months.

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The Functions of Money

The monetary economy is a significant improvement over the barter system, in which goods were exchanged directly for other goods.

To understand some of fundamental principles of macroeconomics, it's extremely important to have an unambiguous definition of what money is. Generally people use the word "money" as a direct synonym for "wealth", however economists maintain that these two terms are not synonymous. Money presents a good, which functions as a medium of exchange in transactions.

In the majority of economies, this currency is presented in metal coins and paper bills, which were especially created by the government. Classically money functions as a medium of exchange, unit of account and a store of value. 

Money's most obvious function is as a medium of exchange. For an item to be generally accepted as money, it must be broadly used as payment for services and goods. Consequently money creates efficiency because it gives certainty about the widely accepted item of payment for various businesses.

Money's second function is as a unit of account. For an item to be generally accepted as money, it has to be the common base of comparison that people can use to present prices and record debts. When a new visitor walks into a cafe, the menu tells him that a Greek salad costs $6 and a Grilled Chicken and Avocado Sandwich costs $13. He knows what this means and he is able to compare the prices. Having a constant unit of account undoubtedly creates efficiency. Otherwise, it would be pretty confusing to have the price of bread quoted as a number of oranges, the price of an orange quoted in terms of apples, and so on.

Money's third important function is as a store of value. For an item be generally accepted as money, it must hold its purchasing power over a protracted period. Money has to able to be reliably stored, saved and retrieved. This money feature adds to efficiency as well since it gives flexibility in the timing of sales and purchases to consumers and producers, while eliminating the necessity to immediately trade one's income for services and goods.

To conclude, money was introduced to societies as a tool for conducting economic transactions more efficient and simpler.

Interesting to know..

History of money

Metals objects introduced as money dates back to 5000 B.C. There are a lot of myths about the origins of money. By 700 BC, in the Western world the Lydians became the first who started making coins. All countries started minting their own coins of different types of values. In fact, metal was used as a material for money because it was easily available, tractable and recyclable. Since coins have got a certain value, it became much easier to compare the cost of items that people needed.

Some of the earliest paper money was introduced in China about AD 960.

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Some Facts About Stock Exchange

There is much noise around the concept of stock exchange when it comes to its origin. Famous scholars who carried out various researches did not arrive to a consensus. Some believe that the founding of Dutch East India Company in 1602 is the key event, while others emphasize earlier developments. At the same time the other ones argue that a share market existed in ancient Rome.

A stock exchange is a form of exchange providing services for traders and brokers to trade stocks, securities and bonds. It usually functions as a continuous auction market where buyers and sellers consummate deals at a central location. But, obviously, stock exchanges were not always this way; there were a lot of changes until we have come to the current exchange system.

A Piece of History

The most important periods during the development of stock exchanges include the existence of organizations of traders in the Roman Republic who performed temple-building and various other services for the government; later commercial innovation moved to Europe with mercantile cities such as Antwerp and Bruges where counting houses operated to facilitate trade.  By 1500s, English merchants formed joint-stock companies that operated on a regular basis. The next major step was the foundation of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 which was based in six locations and had readily tradable shares; the stock market had begun then. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company was founded that brought a new issuer to the bursting forth security market.

The Tulpenmanie

The tulip mania is a term used to refer to the period in the Dutch Golden Age when the prices for bulbs of newly brought tulip reached unbelievable high levels and suddenly fell afterwards. The extraordinary about this mania was that in 1637 single tulip bulbs were sold for more than ten times the income of a craftsman.

The tulip was something of a novelty in Europe at that time with petal color that no other flower had. The introduction of this plant was the beginning of the country’s Golden Age. The merchants from Amsterdam were in the middle of the East Indies trade. The great success of merchants was showed by building vast estates surrounded by flower gardens featuring sensational tulips as a status symbol.

In such as way tulips became luxury items and people were feverishly paying high prices which led to considerable price rise. By 1636 tulip bulbs were the fourth leading export product of the Netherlands. Tulip mania reached its peak in winter 1636-1637 during which some bulbs were changing hands over ten times in a day. Unfortunately, in February 1637 the tulip mania collapsed. It began in Haarlem when buyers refused to show up at a bulb auction probably because of the bubonic plague that struck Haarlem at that time.

Tulip mania is considered to be the first recorded economic bubble and nowadays this term is sometimes used to refer to a huge economic bubble.

The British East India Company 

The British East India Company is known for having one of the most significant advantages in financial history – a legal monopoly.

In 1600 the company acquired a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth becoming one of the oldest among similar European East India Companies. The company’s shares belonged to rich merchants and aristocrats. The government had only indirect control over those shares. Eventually, the company started to rule vast areas of India with private armies.

The East India Company was formed to carry on trade with East and Southeast Asia and India. Additionally, its activities in China gave an impetus to the expansion of British influence there and beginning with the 19^th century, the Company financed the tea trade with prohibited opium exports to China. As a result, the Opium War started (1839–42) which ended in a Chinese defeat and the expansion of British trading authority.

The political monopoly of the Company was broken in 1813 and in 1874, the Company ceased to exist as a legal entity.  

Stock Exchange Today

It is remarkable how much has changed since the first forms of trade emerged in the past.  The systems have been improved, new rules have been introduced, and everything continues to develop day by day. The introduction of electronic exchange that facilitated trades can serve as a good example of the evolution of stock exchange system.

There are several powerful stock exchanges today located in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.; but the NYSE is still one of the most influential and largest stock exchanges in the world. Obviously there are many stock exchanges that have grown stronger through the development of their economies; however it is still almost impossible for them to fly at a higher pitch than the NYSE.    

          

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