Fast Food Major McDonald’s Accused of Evading 1 billion Euro Tax in Europe; Labor Union and Charity Urge EU to Investigate

Fast food behemoth McDonald’s is being accused of evading about 1 billion euros in tax. The accusations, made by a charity and labor unions, stated that between 2009 and 2013, the company routed revenues through one of its business units in Luxembourg. The two entities have urged the European Commission to launch an investigation into the matter. In Europe, especially, corporate tax evasion has become rampant and much political debate on the topic has ensued. The European Union executive has recently initiated the scrutiny of tax deals that certain European nations have cut with leading MNCs. This also includes deals signed by Luxembourg with ecommerce giant Amazon and carmaker Fiat. The charity dubbed War on Want and an umbrella labor organization in the US has asked the European Commission to add McDonald’s to that list of investigations.

According to the Service Employees International Union and the European Federation of Public Service Unions, the tactic employed by McDonald’s to save tax was this: It got its restaurants to pay tax-deductible royalties amounting to about 5% of its turnover to one of its subsidiaries in Luxembourg, which enjoyed minimal tax liability.

News agency Reuters reported that when it contacted McDonald’s European office for a comment on the matter, there was no immediate response. In previous instances, the company has maintained that it always followed tax rules across each jurisdiction where it runs restaurants or operates offices.

The company’s tax filings in Luxembourg in 2012 indicate that the company McD Europe Franchising Sarl earned about US$1 billion by way of franchisee fees as well as McDonald’s subsidiaries located across Europe. On profits of over US$288 million in the same year, the company paid a measly 1.4% tax. This is way lower than Luxembourg’s corporate tax rates of 29%.

KFC Finds Innovative Method to Leave Minimal Packaging Footprint – Edible Coffee Cup

Fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is developing a new range of coffee cups that customers needn’t bin once they’ve consumed the beverage. The coffee cups can simply be eaten up. The fully edible cups, which have been made using a biscuit wafer, coated in a layer of sugar paper, and then dipped in white chocolate that’s resistant to heat, has been aptly called the ‘Scoff-ee Cup’. The edible cups are being developed alongside the recent launch of Seattle’s Best Coffee across the company’s restaurants in the UK. These cups, which are still at the final stages of development, haven’t gone on sale just as yet. The company is hopeful of launching the cups in stores in 2015. However, KFC said that it has no plans of bringing the edible cups to the United States just as yet.

A spokeswoman for KFC said that the company, in a bid to appeal to environmentally-conscious consumers (the millennial generation, especially) has been experimenting with different techniques for developing packaging that is entirely edible. For now, the company intends to bring edible packaging to the market on a trial basis. However, as far as this current edible coffee cup goes, the company hasn’t specified the number of calories it will contain given that it’s predominantly made using sugar and chocolate.

Branding experts expect that this move will appeal immensely to Millennials who put their trust in brands that offer packaging and products that leave a minimal footprint. A number of recent studies have proven that there exists a massive market for packaging technologies that can reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of products and packaging.

Australia Moves to Implement New Food Labeling Laws After Tainted Berries from China Cause Spate of Hepatitis A

After frozen berries imported from China were linked directly to a spate of hepatitis A infections in Australia, the latter has decided to further fortify its food labeling laws. The decision was announced by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday.

Frozen raspberries sold under the name brands Creative Gourmet and Nanna’s had to be immediately recalled after these were linked to as many as 19 hepatitis A cases across Australia. Initial investigations suggest that contaminated water at the supplier’s packing factory and poor hygiene standards were the reasons for this health scare.

While Australia has no option but to depend on imported food products to a significant degree, the country is now moving towards strengthening food labeling laws in the face of increasing pressure from various Australian consumer groups. 

According to the new initiatives, Abbott’s industry and agriculture ministry will submit new food labeling proposals to the cabinet next month. These new proposals would largely focus on improving the transparency offered by country-of-origin labeling.

Among other proposals, food labels could feature a graphic that clearly mentions that the product has neem made in Australia and would also display the percentage of ingredients that originate from Australia, according to Ian Macfarlane, the industry minister of Australia. Currently, food labeling on products does not specify the percentage of imported ingredients contained in food products. In the case of the recent recalled berries, for instance, the berries were grown in Chile and China, but were packed in the latter.

The berry food scare in Australia recently intensified with reports of tuna imported from Thailand, which was served in a café in central Sydney, led to four scombroid fish poisoning among four customers who had consumed the fish. The New South Wales food authority is currently investigating the matter.

Sea Snail Teeth Could be the Next Revolutionary High-Strength, Low Weight Material

A team of researchers at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom has found that limpet teeth surpass the strength of any other material known to man, trouncing materials such as titanium, spider silk and Kevlar. Limpets are essentially snails that dwell in the sea. These vegetarian creatures grow to reach about 5cms in diameter, and feature conical shells. The movement of sea limpets is similar to that of garden snails – they usually latch on to a rock and move using a foot beneath their shell.

These snails do not move their bodies when they need to feed themselves – they simply extend an organ called the ‘radula’ that is lined with rows of minute teeth that help scrape food from various surfaces and move the food back to their mouth.

According to the lead researcher of the study, Asa Barber, the fascinating structure of this organism came to the fore after Barber saw its picture in a textbook. A little further research into the subject revealed to her that the teeth are composed of small, extremely closely packed fibers of goethite, a mineral. It then struck Barber that the structure of the limpet’s teeth was almost identical to the structures that are used for aerospace components and parts, except on a much compressed scale.

Barber was aware that such materials exhibit exceptional degrees of strength and lightness of weight, decided to further test the strength of this material against other similar biological materials.

From a tensile strength test that was carried out on limpet teeth, it emerged that about 6.5 gigapascals (GPa) of pressure were required to pull tooth material apart. In comparison, the same figure for spider silk stands at 4.5 GPa whereas for Kevlar it is only 3 to 3.5 GPa.

Now, the team will focus on translating the design principles of limpet teeth to create structures that are not only remarkably strong, but also exceedingly light. This process could take another five to ten years, Barber said.

MIT Researchers Develop New Circuit Design for IoT Sensors That Could Consume Up To 100 Times Less Power

The Internet of Things is a revolution that couldn’t have been possible without the intelligent deployment of sensors of a myriad variety. However, as more and more sensors make their presence felt in the IoT, power consumption spikes. A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been working on this problem – and have possibly found a solution to the same. MIT researchers have found a way that could be implemented to bring down the level of energy consumed by such sensors.

At the heart of this potentially path breaking idea, is a circuit design that could cause sensors to become more power efficient. Recently, a study by Verizon revealed that currently, there are about 1.2 billion IoT devices in globally. These devices transmit or receive data using wireless technology so as to offer alerts and analysis to users. Verizon projects that the number of IoT devices could soar to about 5.4 billion globally by 2020.

The researchers noted during their study that most sensors that are deployed in the IoT stay idle until the time they are prompted to transmit or receive data. In the idle state, sensors tend to experience energy leakage. But with their new circuit design, researchers have found a way in which transmitters could bring down this energy leakage by about 100 times when in the idle state. This could effectively bring down the battery life of sensors by several months.

A number of wireless technologies are now reaching new efficiency milestones. Despite this positive shift, they still continue to be energy guzzlers. The MIT researchers kept this aspect in mind during the study, and ensured that they did not compromise of the quality or speed of wireless connectivity. The new design can generate enough amounts of power to send and receive data via a Bluetooth device or to the 802.15.4 specification.

Midatech Pharma’s Microencapsulation Technology for Autoimmune Uveitis Gives Positive Results, Company’s Shares Spike Marginally

Midatech Pharma, a nanomedicine specialist announced this week that it has obtained affirmative results from a proof-of-concept (PoC) study that it has undertaken in collaboration with OpsiSporin – a treatment that has been indicated for eye inflammation. The study was undertaken to determine how efficient OpsiSporin would be when injected into the eye. These results were compared against three other methods: an oral dosage of Cyclosporin A, an immunosuppressant, untreated controls, and microsphere suspension vehicle injected directly in the eye. 

The study showed that even with the administration of 4.5µg of OpsiSporin, the severity of the disease reduced significantly, as against the microsphere suspension vehicle. Further, the study showed a marked reduction in the severity of the infection even with a single ocular injection of OpsiSporin measuring 4.5µg as compared to daily oral dosage of 6.7 mg/kg every day of CsA.

Midatech said that the results speak volumes about the potential that OpsiSporin holds in providing autoimmune uveitis patients a much more efficient therapeutic alternative o CsA and steroids. Autoimmune uveitis is an inflammatory eye disease (noninfectious). The new alternative would also reduce the chances of adverse effects among patients, Midatech said.

According to Midatech’s chief executive, Dr Jim Philips, the encouraging results from the PoC study will prove to be a significant step ahead in the formulation of a sustained and effective release treatment for autoimmune uveitis.

The results also reflected that OpsiSporin was just as effective at one thousandth of the dose of CsA that were orally administered. This brings to the fore the immense value that Midatech’s microencapsulation technology can bring, taking the efficacy of existing therapeutic molecules to new levels.

The company now intends to launch clinical development by 2016 so as to take the product to the next stage. 

Series of Papers in Leading Medical Journal Point Finger at Food Industry for Spiraling Obesity Epidemic

Findings published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, show that children in the United States today consume 200 calories over what their counterparts did in the 1970s. Healthcare and obesity experts have pinned this down to lack of enough government initiatives to curb the obesity trend and food companies not doing enough to promote healthy food trends.

Alarmingly, the study also states that children in the United States today weight about 5kgs more than they did three decades ago. The study also drills down to the key factor leading to a lackadaisical attitude toward healthy eating initiatives – all the extra food consumption reportedly adds about US$20 billion to the US food industry annually. 

However, the message that is being conveyed through a series of research papers in The Lancet is this: Food companies are largely to be blamed for the increasing incidence of obesity in the United States. The authors of these studies state that the ‘special interest’ of food companies in targeting children can largely be held responsible for the massive scale of the obesity wave. 

The authors claimed that with children repeatedly being exposed to processed foods and sweetened and carbonated drinks from a very young age, strong taste preferences are being built. This also builds brand loyalty, which in turn leads to higher profits, the authors of the study claimed.

Estimates show that in 2015, the global processed foods market is likely to reach US$19 billion as compared to 2007 figures of US$13.7 billion. However, obesity experts rue the fact that very few countries have made a move towards implementing health food regulations to shield children from the obesity epidemic.

Dr Christina Roberto, one of the researchers on the team, states that it is vital to reframe the very understanding of obesity in order to stop and reverse the wave of obesity, using techniques such as ‘smart food policies’ and better coordination between governments and the industry.

After Hepatitis A Scare from China-Imported Berries, Australian Government Awaits Laboratory Tests to Determine Further Actions

A spate of hepatitis A infections being observed in Australia are being linked to batches of imported frozen berries that could possibly have been contaminated. Following this health scare, calls for more stringent food import inspections and labeling have become stronger, forcing the Australian PM Tony Abbot to respond with definite actions.

However, a primary round of studies now states that such loopholes could possibly be a result of non-compliance on the suppliers’ part, and there is not much that government action could have done to prevent the contaminated berries from reaching consumers. 

Currently, detailed scientific results are awaited from laboratory tests. This will help ascertain if the frozen raspberries were contaminated and whether the fault lies with the Chinese supplier of berries. Currently, reports in the media speculate that the fault could lie with failure in protocol pertaining to personal hygiene. These lapses could have potentially occurred at the processing or even harvesting stage.

Experts opine on the matter that government intervention would work best when it comes to matters such as chemical residues and systemic issues pertaining to routine inspections. China on its part, has a number of regulatory mandates to detect food contamination, with a different set of rules for exported food. Chinese export standards are much more stringent than their current standards. Food exports are under the charge of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), which is a ministry-level body. The regulations laid down by this body mandate that exporters have to follow both domestic and export requirements. 

Separately, in Australia, results from ongoing laboratory tests will help ascertain the actual reason for the slip up that led to the Hepatitis scare. It is only then that the government will be able to respond to specific calls about deploying more stringent import regulations.

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Views India as Lucrative Hub for Business Services for Aerospace Materials

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace, a company that works under the aegis of German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, will be making India a critical hub for its business services related to aerospace materials. Though the company has established a presence in the Indian market for about 160 years, it is now going bullish on the aerospace materials and logistics market in the country. The company is optimistic about lucrative opportunities pouring in from both commerce and defense aviation sectors in India. 

Speaking to Indian media, president of ThyssenKrupp Aerospace, Jurgen Funke, said that in India, defense and commercial aviation are poised to boom in the years ahead. While demand in this segment was earlier dominated to a great degree by developed markets, the scenario is changing with many other countries witnessing an amplified demand for commercial aerospace materials, services and logistics.

Globally, the collective manufacturers’ build rate for commercial aircrafts stands at 1,000 units. Funke said that the future of this sector remains bright, and in India like in many other booming markets, it would be critical to create more value at the production stage.

In India, the company aims to focus mainly on the production of parts and components as well as the first-stage processing of materials used in aerospace.

ThyssenKrupp Aerospace has also recently launched its first production facility in Bangalore in a bid to cater to the rising demand from the domestic aerospace industry. The sprawling 3,300 square meter facility will have 30 technicians working on stock materials such as titanium, aluminum, and steel in various forms, informed the MD of ThyssenKrupp Aerospace India, Gopi Hanumanthappa.

From the global standpoint, this marks the company’s 41st materials facility but is its first such facility in India. 

Fujairah in the UAE Bans Cafes and Restaurants from Serving Hot Beverages in Foam Cups

Many health experts have expressed concerns about the ubiquitous polystyrene foam cup being detrimental to health, potentially even causing cancer. But hundreds of millions of cafes and restaurants continue to serve up hot beverages in foam cups, ignoring these health warnings simply because foam cups offer more cost-savings and convenience over other forms of cups. But that’s about to change, at least in Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates.

The emirates’ Higher Committee for Consumer Protection (HCCP), which works under the aegis of the Ministry of Economy has now imposed a ban on the use of styrofoam cups, which are used for serving hot beverages such as tea, coffee and hot chocolate, as well as sour beverages like grape juice and orange juice. This ban comes after the committee took serious note of a number of studies that proved how drinking hot and sour drinks out of styrofoam cups could prove extremely harmful to human health.

The HCCP called upon competent bodies such as the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) and municipalities to impose heavy penalties on violators. As part of these new rules, the committee has said that cafes and restaurants that serve hot beverages will be placed under the scanner and penalties will be imposed on those establishments that flout the rules. According to the new rules, fines of up to Dh 100,000 will be levied on establishments going against the rules, and those that repeat the offence will even face closure.

According to a recent survey by the National Research Centre, which is affiliated to the federal government of the United States, Styrofoam food containers and foam cups contain a carcinogenic substance called Styrene. When heated, this substance could lead to cancer.

After reading about the international study, local bodies in Fujairah undertook similar studies as well to gain a better understanding of the effects of plastic and Styrofoam on human health. Earlier, the committee had also imposed a ban on the use of plastic cups for serving up hot beverages.

New Zealand’s Construction Activity Springing Back in Shape After Damaging Slump: Study

Construction activity in New Zealand is picking up pace after suffering a slump in recent years. According to a property consultancy, work in the private sector has been picking up and is on the path to robust recovery.

Consultancy firm Rider Levett Bucknall stated in its 2015 first quarter report on the construction and property sector that activity in this sector has been so healthy that it has outshined its pre-recession peak levels.

The most resilient sectors during these years in between, according to the report, have been education-related building projects and the construction sector. The report states that the positive growth trends in these sectors have in effect acted as a buffer for the entire industry during the recession period.

Based on the latest construction project consents and approvals, indications about improvements in the construction activity are already being observed, said the report. Going forward, in 2015, there will be a greater level of construction activity in New Zealand’s construction sector. 

The total number of non-residential construction projects has been on a rise, mainly on account of re-building activities that were carried out following an earthquake in the Canterbury area. In other areas such as Auckland, demand for property has been growing consistently and vacant spaces are now being developed for residential or commercial projects, leading to an increased number of construction projects.

In New Zealand, specifically, the demand for industrial spaces is going up, and is leading to robust growth in the industrial property construction segment. There are a number of factors driving the logistics market as well – increased imports in the backdrop of a cut down in domestic manufacturing is the key factor among this.

The report further states that construction activity in the farm building sector might not be as healthy because revenues from dairy activities have been on a downslide, and this has restricted farmers’ ability to expend money.

Public Funding Projected to Take Center Stage in European Construction Sector in 2015: Eurofer Study

The European Steel Association, in its recent report, makes a comprehensive assessment of the construction sector in the European Union. The third quarter of 2014 saw the overall construction output in the EU fall by 1.4% year-on-year. However, in the first half of the year, growth had been positive, offsetting some of the damage done by the negative growth.

The report also studies the construction sector in the EU across sectors, and finds disparate levels of growth through the region. In a number of countries that have been reeling under the Eurozone crisis, construction activity was observed as being weak. On the other hand, in countries such as Sweden and the United Kingdom, growth was seen as being rather buoyant. In Central Europe, output showed an upward trend, however the rate of growth was slower than that in the first half of 2014. This is pinned down to growth in Poland coming to a virtual halt.

Activity stirred up in the two key sectors of infrastructure and residential construction. The report estimates that in the last quarter of 2014, output would prove to be much more stable than a year earlier. On the whole, construction activity is estimated to have seen a 1.3% jump. 

While data from actual activity during the second half of 2014 could not be termed as encouraging, all market indicators pointed toward a marked improvement in confidence during this period. Based on these indicators, market experts opine that the construction sector could be moving toward more broad-based recovery through 2015, especially in the months following the second quarter.

According to the findings of the report, investment in construction will also rise considerably. Public funding will likely take center stage during this time, as it will be more important than before. 

Food Cowboy, a New Start-up, Helps Food Reach People in Need in a Bid to Solve America’s US$165 Billion Food Waste Problem

About 40% of all food in the United States is either rejected or ‘thrown-away’, which means that Americans spend about US$165 billion a year on food products that they do not consume. Dumpsters and landfills in the United States are teeming with food that could be consumed, but isn’t. This is where a start-up, Food Cowboy, is looking to channel rejected food to areas where it can end hunger and, in the bargain, help save food distributors some money. 

The National Resources Defense Council in the United States says that wasted food costs Americans about US$165 billion annually. This is about two times more than what the federal government expends on food stamps. One of the co-founders of the company, Barbara Cohen, described their role as being an ‘air traffic control’ process that takes in food from a donor and passes it out to a charity. 

Brothers Richard and Roger Gordon, the other two founders of the company were also worried about how excessive food waste was a problem that couldn’t easily be plugged. The two tried time and again to put unused food to the right use by donating it, but were turned down by food banks and charities. Richard, who works as a trucker, would often be looking for charities where he could donate food, but with little luck. Roger states that he has had experiences in the past where entire shipments of food were rejected because the carrots were crooked or the eggplants weren’t the right color. But the trucks, which largely offload at night, always had trouble looking for charities that were open at that hour. That’s when they began to wonder if they could create an application that could help food get to people in need. The app essentially works by helping food distributors find a way to connect with not-for-profit organizations to work out a way to donate. So, Food Cowboy has three essential components – food, truckers, and food pantry systems. 

Industrial Gas Provider Air Liquide Signs Agreement to Supply 2.400 Tons of Oxygen Daily to Yuhuang Chemical’s Methanol Manufacturing Facility in U.S.

Air Liquide, a company that offers medical and industrial gases, was recently chosen by Yuhuang Chemical, Inc. (a China-based petrochemical company) to supply oxygen at the latter’s new methanol manufacturing complex coming up in Louisiana. As part of this new deal, Air Liquide will invest about US$ 170 million in leveraging the opportunities that exist in this segment within the chemical industry.

The methanol manufacturing facility by Yuhuang Chemical will reportedly produce about 5,000 tons per day of methanol. This puts Yuhuang Chemical in the league of the largest methanol producing facilities in the United States in capacity terms. The long-term agreement will see Air Liquide supplying about 2,400 tons of oxygen to Yuhuang Chemical per day. To facilitate this massive daily requirement, Air Liquide said in a recent statement that it would now construct a new Air Separation Unit (ASU) for producing gases such as oxygen, argon and nitrogen. The ASU will be connected to the intricate pipeline system that Air Liquide owns in Louisiana. This, the company said, will help ensure reliability of supply. Work on this project is expected to begin shortly and is projected to reach completion by the latter half of 2017.

Besides this project, Air Liquide also said that has signed another contract under which it will license its proprietary process technology - MegaMethanol® - to Yuhuang Chemical. This particular process technology is capable of converting natural gas into methanol.

In a statement released by the company recently, it said that by undertaking this long-term project for the supply of oxygen and process technology to Yuhuang Chemical, the company demonstrates its trusted reputation and position in large-scale methanol production.

Yuhuang Chemical’s CEO, Charlie Yao, said their new agreement with Air Liquide, will go a long in helping the company realize its first global-scale methanol production facility in the United States. This also contributes significantly to Yuhuang Chemical’s ambition of emerging as a truly global company in the petrochemical industry.

Delta-Energy Group, LLC Relocates Materials Reclaim Facility to Natchez, Bringing 91 New Jobs to the Area

The Delta-Energy Group, LLC, is relocating its current operations to a facility formerly owned by the International Paper facility in Natchez, Missouri. The new project will translate into an investment amounting to about US$45 million, and will also create approximately 91 new jobs in the process.

From its new location, Delta-Energy Natchez, LLC – a fully-owned subsidiary – will carry out its proprietary process of reclaiming purchased feedstock from scrap tires. Examples of this feedstock include hydrocarbon liquids as well as carbon solids, with little or no waste. This carbon feedstock will then be sold to manufacturers of rubber compounds, whereas the hydrocarbon liquids will make their way to the chemical industry.

Governor Phil Bryant said that he appreciated the company’s decision to relocate operations to Natchez – a move that will bring new jobs to the area. The CEO of Delta-Energy Paul Lee said that the company was excited about applying their material reclaim technology on the commercial scale. The company has been engaged in these technology developments efforts for over 10 years. Reports in local media stated that the MDA also offered assistance to make the project possible, and to reconstruct a rail spur that would serve the new site.

Brent Christensen, MDA’s executive director, said that the MDA was happy about possessing the required resources to help companies relocate or expand in the state. Delta-Energy Group took root as a small project under the aegis of the RJ Lee Group – a company known for its contribution to the materials science industry. The company employs about 250 specialists that develop new materials science technologies geared toward solving numerous scientific issues.

Delta-Energy has a patented process, known as DEPolymerization™, that makes it possible to efficiently recover D-E Black® carbon solids.

Robots Will Carry Out About 25% of Manufacturing Activity Over the Next Decade: Study

The future of industrial manufacturing clearly belongs to robots, and a strong start in this direction has already rolled off. A new study by the Boston Consulting Group states that industrial robotics are currently at an ‘inflection point’ where the cost of deploying industrial robots is going down and the improved capabilities of these machines are making them suited for use in almost every area of manufacturing. The study predicts that over the coming decade, about 25% of all industrial manufacturing activity will be carried out by robots. This marks a 15% rise from 2015 figures.

While some parts of the world will show a rather brisk pace of adoption of industrial robots, others will be slow to jump on to the robotics and automation bandwagon. The rate of adoption will be higher in regions such as Canada, where the cost of labor is currently very steep and the relevant laws are flexible. Much of Canada’s manufacturing base lies in transportation, making it a sector that will likely switch to robotics at a much faster pace.

As deployment of robots surges, there will be improvements in costs, especially in the United States, finds the report. The tipping point for this industry will not be reached until cost competitiveness is achieved because investments in robotic systems can be a very expensive proposition.

However, trends already show this happening. In the last few years alone, costs have dipped. For instance, Baxter, a new robot, costs less than US$30,000 and can carry out tasks such as packaging bottles. As more industries deploy Baxter, its costs are expected to slide by about 20% whereas performance will increase by about 5% annually over the next decade. 

As robotic labour gets cheaper and human labor becomes more expensive, the manufacturing industry could well be at a tipping point. However, the greatest flipside of this trend will be the potentially massive levels of unemployment – something that industry stakeholders need to balance.

PGI Specialty Materials, Inc. Files for Initial Public Offering; Details on Size of IPO Not Clear Yet

PGI Specialty Materials, Inc – a company under the umbrella of the Blackstone Group – has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with regulators in the United States. The company is currently aiming at a common stock IPO. PGI Specialty Materials, Inc. produces materials that are used in the manufacture of products such as disinfectant wipes, diapers and more. Blackstone currently holds a 98% share in PGI. The former had purchased the latter in a cash deal amounting to US$326.2 million from MatlinPatterson, a private equity firm, five years ago in 2010. 

Besides baby products, the specialty materials produced by PGI are also used for manufacturing feminine hygiene products as well as surgical gowns. Some of the most prominent names in PGI’s client list include Kimberly-Clark Corp, Procter & Gamble Co, and Cardinal Health Inc.

Some of the underwriters for the IPO will be Goldman Sachs & Co, Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Jefferies. These details were reported by the company in its filing with the U.S. SEC this week. Details submitted during the filing indicate that the company has a fundraising target of about US$100 million. However, the company did not provide details about the number of shares it planned to sell, or at what price these shares would be sold.

Usually, registration fees are calculated based on the amount of money a company plans to raise during its first IPO, based on its statement with the regulators. In many cases, the final size of the IPO differs from this amount.

Moreover, details about which exchange the company intends to be listed on were not specified by the company during the filing process. In the nine-month period ending September 27, 2014, the net loss reported by PGI was about three times higher, touching about US$97.05 million. At the same time, the company reported a 2.2% rise in its net sales, reaching US$1.51 billion.

Materials Scientists Find New Technique That Could Help Create the Perfect Light-Absorbing Material

James Rondinelli, from the Northwestern University, makes use of quantum mechanical calculations to work at the atom-level of materials. He uses these calculations to anticipate and design the characteristics of new materials.

Rondinelli and his group have been credited with the discovery of a new way to regulate the electronic band gap in highly sophisticated oxide materials. All this has been achieved without changing the overall composition of the material. This finding could potentially help in the development of more improved electro-optical devices (read lasers) and new materials that could either generate energy or convert it from one form to another. Solar cells with heightened absorbency or photoelectrocatalysis with higher sunlight conversion abilities are an example of such materials.

Rondinelli, said that when it comes to collecting the sun’s light, there are no perfect materials. That’s precisely why materials scientists are constantly trying to engineer such a material from scratch. This entails trying to understand the material’s structure, its arrangement of atoms, and how these traits add to or take away from the functionalities and properties of that material.

In the context of light harvesting, conversion and transmission technologies, the electronic band gap is a foundational parameter. Using band-gap engineering, materials scientists can alter the portion in the material to change exactly that portion within a solar spectrum that can be absorbed by solar cells. These factors require that the chemical make-up or structure of the material be changed.

Rondinelli's method is revolutionary in that it can bring about a 200% change to the band gap without causing any modifications to the material’s chemistry.

This research endeavor – supported by the United States Department of Energy (USDE) and the DARPA – has been described in detail in a paper published in the journal Nature Communications. The paper has been co-authored by Prasanna Balachandran, from the New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Pfizer Wades Deep into Biosimilars Market with US$17 billion Hospira Acquisition

Pharmaceutical major Pfizer made the headlines this week with its decision to acquire Hospira for a whopping US$17 billion, inclusive of debt. The company is obviously not holding back anything because it wants to see this deal come through successfully – and eventually, profitably. With this move, Pfizer is also trying to cash in on a new class of generic drugs that are very sophisticated copies of elite biotech drugs. This obviously makes the new class of generics incredibly costly.

It is evident that Pfizer wouldn’t have gone to such great lengths to acquire Hospira if it wasn’t for the promise that this deal holds. The company is confident that the Hospira acquisition will help it earn lucrative revenue in the future in the biosimilars segment.

A consultant who works at the pharmaceutical division of PricewaterhouseCoopers told media that the emerging biosimilars market is where future growth lies. He termed it as being the “land of opportunity”.

Biosimilars are essentially highly complex copies of biologic drugs that have little or no competition within the market in the United States. Biologic drugs are produced in living cells, which is why they cannot be copied precisely. That’s also the reason why they are called biosimilars, and not generic drugs. Despite being touted as the most promising trend in the pharmaceutical industry, unanswered questions about the durability of biosimilars still exist. In Europe, biosimilars have been on the market for a number of years. But the FDA is yet to approve biosimilars for the U.S. market. This situation is on the brink of change, as an FDA advisory panel recently gave a nod of approval for the launch of a biosimilar of Neupogen by Amgen. The drug is used for cancer treatment.

Thus, Pfizer’s venture in the biosimilars market could just be the beginning of similar deals in the future.

Beer Giant Carlsberg Partners with ecoXpac to Produce Wood-Fiber Bottle with ‘Zero-Waste’ Attributes

For several years now, the beverage packaging industry has earned brownie points by using rigid recyclable containers made from aluminum, PET and glass. But now, a few market leaders are taking their eco-credibility quotient several notches higher with innovative materials. Carlsberg and ecoXpac, a supplier of molded-fiber packaging, have partnered to produce a biodegradable bottle using wood-fiber. The new project has already garnered much interest in the sustainable packaging sector worldwide after the beverage manufacturer announced it at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The project – currently being called the Green Fiber Bottle initiative – will also see participation from the Technical University of Denmark and the Innovation Fund Denmark.

The goal of the project is to produce a beverage bottle that’s 100% biodegradable and uses wood fiber that is sustainably sourced. The partners on this project will make use of both biodegradable and bio-based materials not just in the bottle, but also on components used for closure.

The bottle is being touted as ‘zero waste’ and those close to the project say that it will be compatible for use not just with beer, but with a wide variety of beverages such as carbonated soft drinks and juices. However, it might still be early to understand how the bottle will shape up. Though one thing is clear – it will not be a transparent bottle. However, this attribute of the bottle will make it especially suited for beer. Wood-fiber will block light and keep beer from going off. An opaque material also brings another advantage to the table – blocking UV rays. Other aspects such as taste testing cannot be predicted just as yet, said officials from Carlsberg. However, the aim of the project will obviously remain to ensure that the taste of beverages does not change on account of the container’s material.

New ‘Electronic Nose’ Sniffs Food to Ascertain Whether it is Safe to Consume

Foodstuff that is past its use-by date can be detrimental to one’s health in more ways than one. According to the CDC, about a sixth of all Americans—or 48 million people—suffer from food borne illnesses every year. Because it is sometimes difficult to determine whether food is fresh, food poisoning can be an especially difficult condition to prevent. It is to address this gap that a new product – the Foodsniffer – has been conceptualized and created by Augustas Alesiunas, a Lithuanian inventor.

This handy kitchen gadget helps people determine whether a food item is still edible by simply ‘sniffing’ the food and relaying the results of the sniff test to the user’s smartphone. The makers of this gadget claim that the Foodsniffer is the first electronic nose in the world. It can be used with a variety of food items such as fish, poultry and meat. The device makes use of a set of special sensors to gauge factors such as ammonia, humidity, temperature, and other dangerous organic compounds that are present in food that’s gone off.

Alesiunas stumbled upon the idea of inventing a gadget such as this when he fell severely ill after consuming stale food. He said that while people often try to identify whether food is still fresh by smelling, what they don’t realize is that some poisonous compounds can in fact, be odorless. Considering this aspect, it can be extremely difficult for people to ascertain whether food has gone bad. According to Alesiunas, food spoilage can sometimes take place as a result of contact with other foodstuff stored in the refrigerator or certain types of cookware.

The launch price of the Foodsniffer is US$120, and it will be available in the market starting March 2015. This gadget can help reduce food wastage by helping people ascertain whether food items are safe to consume.

Buoyant Construction Sector in the Philippines Helps Boost Overall Jobs Growth: PSA Report

The Philippines construction sector has been buoyant for some time now, and the positive cascading effect is evident in the fact that the 2014 third quarter saw a growth in jobs in Metro Manila.  These were the findings of a report published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA’s report that deals with employment statistics states that consistent growth in activities related to areas such as business support services and administration, as well as the construction industry, technical activities, and professional scientific activities have helped the market gain more jobs and revenues.

According to the PSA data, the labor turnover as of September 2014 quarter showed an uptick of 2.35%. This figure marks an encouraging rise from the first quarter growth (a mere 0.59%) and the second quarter (0.88%) in 2014. The latest data also shows that the latest growth figures hover close to those of the same period last year (2.38%).

In the third quarter of 2014, construction industry growth was seen to be 11.9% YoY, which was the strongest during this period.  The report shows that for every 1,000 company workers employed in the National Capital Region or the NCR, about 23 new employees were added during the 3 months leading up to September 2014. And, for every thousand employees, about 131 new employees joined the ranks of workers. However, 108 workers were either fired or quit. 

The report also showed that the rate of hiring soared by 13.11%, while the rate of separation remained at about 10.76% during the same period. In addition, the rate of employment in the overall industry showed an improvement of about 2.45% and the services sector also showed an uptick of 2.34%. The agriculture sector, on the other hand, witnessed a drop in jobs by about 0.19%.

Plastic Chemicals Could Hasten Onset of Menopause: Study

A team of researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) have said that chemicals found in cosmetics and plastics could cause women to experience premature menopause. The researchers said that women who were found to have these chemicals in higher percentages in their bodies were more likely to suffer from earlier menopause as a result of weakened ovarian function. Senior author of the study, Amber Cooper, who also teaches gynecology and obstetrics at the (WUSM) said that certain chemicals have been linked to the earlier onset of menopause. 

The medical journal PLOS ONE published the study, which did not clearly prove that being exposed to certain chemicals could cause menopause, but authors of the study said that they have uncovered associations that can provide leads for more in-depth research. The findings of this study were based on a sample of women at the menopausal stage, collected from all over the United States. The average age of this representative sample of women was 61 years, and only those women who were not known to be taking therapies for estrogen replacement were brought on board. The other criterion for the study was that the participants should not have undergone ovary-removal procedures.

Researchers studied urine and blood samples collected from these women to look for as many as 111 chemicals that are either suspected to proven to interfere with the natural distribution and production of hormones in the female body. After studying the samples, scientists found that of the 111 chemicals on their radar, 15 were seen to be associated with the early onset of menopause to a significant degree and also caused the function of ovaries to decline.

These 15 chemicals included nine PCBs, two phthalates, and three pesticides that are seen to be present in cosmetics (nail polish, perfumes, hair spray, makeup, pharmaceuticals, liquid soap, and other products) as well as in common household use products. The researchers have now called for closer examination of these chemicals.

Scotch Whisky Contributes GBP 4.96 Billion to UK Economy Annually: Scotch Whisky Association Report

The Scotch whisky industry contributes a whopping GBP 4.96 billion to Great Britain’s economy every year. In revenue terms, this makes the Scotch whisky sector larger than industries such as textiles, steel, computer industries, and shipbuilding, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has said in its latest report published in January 2015. The SWA report states that Scotch whisky surpasses the food and beverages sector in the UK, in terms of value.

According to the report, 40,300 jobs are created in the UK within the liquor distilling industry. This marks an increase of 15% since 2008, when the total jobs in this industry stood at 35,000. The jobs are created across a myriad of core and ancillary sector such as labeling and glass manufacturing. Of the total number of people that earn a livelihood via the Scotch whisky industry, about 10,900 workers are directly employed in the whisky manufacturing industry in Scotland. The average salary of such workers amounts to GBP 47,000. This places the Scotch whisky industry third among the highest paying professions in the United Kingdom, beating professions such as finance.

The report further states that over 90% of all operating expenditure of the Scotch whisky industry remains within the UK. This industry also continues to remain a cornerstone of the UK’s revenues from exports, accounting for 25% of all exports from the nation.

Scotch whisky can be classified as a traditional homegrown industry that dates back to the late 15th century. Workforce across verticals such as distilling, bottling, labeling, sales and marketing, and advertising, and logistics play a role behind every bottle of scotch produced in the UK. Taking inspiration from the success of this alcoholic drink in Scotland, other countries such as Japan, the United States and Canada have also started facilities that recreate the most famous drink of Scotland.