Energy & Utilities | Consumer Products & Retail | Automotive | Banking | Insurance
Energy & Utilities
Alevo’s Battery Factory Expansion Plans Now Confronting Reality
Alevo, a battery manufacturing aspirant with mysterious sources of big funding, has made ambitious and as-yet-unmet promises concerning production and employment in North Carolina since its public launch 18 months ago. In February 2015, Alevo said it would financially back 200 megawatts’ worth of energy storage projects as part of its agreement with Customized Energy Solutions to bring its battery systems to U.S. wholesale energy markets. The Europe-based energy storage startup had stated it would eventually hire 2,500 people, matching the headcount of former site owner and employer Philip Morris within three years. The company even said, “The number could ultimately reach 6,000.” The current headcount at the North Carolina facility, however, remains in the neighborhood of 200. The hype coming from Alevo is a consequence of an emerging, highly competitive energy storage market and the aspirational language that comes with VC funding and expectations. Alevo will have to compete against giant lithium-ion battery manufacturers like Panasonic, Mitsubishi, LG Chem, Samsung and Saft, as well as Tesla Motors, which is building a $5 billion Gigafactory in Nevada to churn out both vehicle and grid-scale batteries using Panasonic’s lithium-ion cells.
Japan PV solar: market will boom this year before slowdown
BNEF predicts Japan’s annual PV solar installation to reach 13.2GW-14.3GW in 2016. The total capacity of grid connection limits is 25.6GW, of which 12.8GW was connected at the end of September 2015. The three utilities will account for 62.3% of Japan’s cumulative installed solar capacity by the end of 2017. Japan’s move towards electricity liberalization may help the development of more grid capacity. Many exhibitors are showcasing new complete energy solutions including solar Pv panels and energy storage units for domestic use. The Organization for Cross-Regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO), the regulatory body in charge of grid infrastructure, will finalize a plan in April 2016 that should see grid capacity between the TEPCO and Tohoku grid areas increase from 5GW to 11.2GW.
Scotia Gas Networks selects Orbital gas metering skids
Orbital won a contract with utility, Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) for the provision of large-scale metering skids. Orbital will design, develop and supply two gas metering skids for installation at Tatsfield AGI in England by September 2016, and at Drum AGI in Scotland in early 2017. The installation will include a 24″ gas metering skid and a 16″ gas metering skid respectively. The skids will be utilized to accurately meter gas at points where the two distribution networks import gas from the UK transmission network before distribution to domestic customers. Under the deals, Smart Metering System will provide smart gas and electricity meters to 386,000 metering points collectively owned by RHE, Green Energy, Flow Energy, Spark Energy and Our Power in Britain,
Energy management: SolarCity unveils new solution for Hawaiian residents
The new solution aims to maximize solar generation and self-consumption. The advanced technology integrated portfolio includes solar PV, battery storage, smart electric heaters and the Nest Learning thermostat. SolarCity’s gateway allows coordination of the systems generation, storage and energy usage stages. The solution utilizes the battery, smart electric water heater and the controllable thermostat to remotely modify energy usage based on the amount of solar energy generated to avoid energy from being exported back to the grid. SolarCity said it aims to have the capability to regulate home HVAC systems, pool pumps and other household appliances based on the amount of available solar power.
Consumer Products & Retail
Perry Ellis Deploys Latest Oracle Offering at Breakneck Speed
Perry Ellis International is now able to provide secure payment via tokenization, accept Apple Pay and other next-gen payment options, and enhance the customer experience thanks to the implementation of Oracle Retail Point-of-Service (ORPOS) v14 and Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management (SIM) v14. The deployment was spearheaded by BTM Global. The management consultants brought a unique approach that allowed the project to be completed in an expedited timeframe. As part of a larger Oracle Retail v14 project, BTM Global upgraded ORPOS v14 and SIM v14 from v12 rather than perform a new implementation. As a result, the entire project and rollout was completed in less than nine months, meeting the deadlines for the holiday season. The deployment was the first enterprise upgrade to v14 for Oracle Retail
McKesson to expand in Canada with Rexall Health buy
U.S. drug distributor McKesson Corp said it would buy drugstore chain Rexall Health from Katz Group for C$3 billion ($2.23 billion) to strengthen its position in Canada’s pharmaceutical supply chain. The deal will give McKesson access to about 470 retail pharmacies, and help leverage its existing assets in the country, particularly in Ontario and Western Canada, the companies said. This is the second acquisition announced by San Francisco-based McKesson in recent weeks. Late last month, it announced its plan to buy two privately held cancer care service providers for about $1.2 billion, to add muscle to its specialty health business. The more than 150-year old McKesson, which also distributes drugs to CVS Health Corp (CVS.N), in January said its fiscal 2017 earnings would likely be hit by weak generic drug pricing and narrowed its profit forecast for 2016.
UK shop prices fall for 34th consecutive month
Shop prices fell by 2% year-on-year in February, the 34th successive decline following January’s 1.8% fall. The continued deflation was reported by the British Retail Consortium and Nielsen in their monthly Shop Price Index. Following a 0.1% rise in food prices in January, February reverted to a 0.4% fall. The BRC commented that the results suggest that the rise in food prices at the beginning of 2016 could be viewed as a blip. The decline comes at a time where big four supermarket chains are continually cutting their prices to keep up with one another. Morrisons announced price cuts on 1,000 everyday products in February after Asda committed to investing an additional £500m on price cuts, on top of the £1bn in 2013.
Automotive
Audi to invest £2.3bn in electric car and digital tech after record-breaking sales year
Audi’s turnover in 2015 was £44.7bn, meaning an operating profit of 8.3% – although ‘special items’ reduce the operating profit from £3.9bn and the operating return down from 8.8%.The ‘special items’ include fixing six-cylinder diesel engines affected by the emissions scandal, plus associated “legal risks and sales activities. Audi sold 1,803,246 cars – up 3.6% year on-year. Stadler revealed that Audi planned to invest around £700m to grow US sales by 2020, saying the company “looked to the future with full confidence”.
VW CEO confident to reach agreement on fix in US
Volkswagen is confident it may reach an agreement with US regulators on a technical fix for the affected diesels, vehicle buybacks and fines. In the U.S. we are working intensely with the respective authorities on a sustainable overall solution,” Mueller said at the Geneva Auto Show. “We continue to be in constructive talks,” VW is “progressing well” in its efforts to investigate the circumstances of the manipulations and will draw “the right conclusions” from its findings. Mueller also said in the interview that Europe’s biggest automaker will succeed in winning back customers’ trust after admitting to the cheating which it has said affects 11 million cars globally. “We have started a lot of customer-relation programs, I’m very convinced it will work very well,” he said.
Banking
Forty big banks test blockchain-based bond trading system
Forty of the world’s biggest banks, including HSBC and Citi, have tested a system for trading fixed income using the technology that underpins bitcoin, fintech company R3 CEV said on Thursday. The banks are part of a consortium of 42 major lenders, brought together last year by New York-based R3 CEV to work on ways blockchain technology could be used in financial markets – the first time so many have collaborated on using such systems. A blockchain is a huge, decentralised ledger of transactions that can be used to secure and validate any exchange of data, including real assets, such as commodities or currencies. Bitcoin’s blockchain was the first, but others have since been built that offer additional features and can be programmed. That means the technology can enable so-called smart contracts: agreements that are automatically executed when pre determined conditions are met.
Barclays launches agency banking
BARCLAYS Kenya has launched agency banking, more than two years after majority of its top-tier peers adopted the model. The lender whose parent company has announced plans to divest from Africa has partnered with Postal Corporation of Kenya. The deal signed yesterday will enable Barclays customers conduct transactions such as withdrawals, balance enquiries, bill payments and mini statements from Posta outlets. PCK outlets will act as collection points for money sent through the Barclays Cash Send service. The roll out will be done in phases whereby the bank’s clients will first access these services at only 182 outlets immediately while the remaining 218 outlets will offer agency banking by end of the year.
ANZ Bank hires Google Australia boss as head of digital
Google Australia chief executive Maile Carnegie will move to the ANZ Bank as its new head of digital banking. The move ends three years at the top of Google’s local operations for Carnegie, who joined the search giant from Procter & Gamble. She will work her last day at Google towards the end of March. ANZ Bank announced the appointment on its BlueNotes site today. Carnegie said she took the role after being lured by the bank’s passion to “digitally transform”.“I’m really excited about the vision people like CEO Shayne Elliott have,” she said in a statement.“You can really sense there’s a lot of energy to move the bank forward.” She said while digital strategies from one company can’t be “shoehorned” into another, the group could “absolutely” look at the principles of “how you create an innovation engine”.
Insurance
Some of the biggest insurance firms in Britain are will be investigated for their suspect treatment of long-term life cover customers, the regulator announced. Prudential, Old Mutual, Abbey Life, Scottish Widows, Countrywide and Police Mutual will be investigated over their treatment of people who took out life insurance policies before 2000. The Financial Conduct Authority said it had found that these insurance firms often failed to inform its customers who had requested to exit or transfer their policies that that they would incur a charge for doing so. The investigation by the FCA follows its review into ‘closed-books’ policies – products which are no longer sold to new customers – and how these compare to policies offered to new customers.
Manchester’s Wellbeing Health Insurance acquired by Chase Templeton
Private medical insurance consolidator Chase Templeton has completed its fourth acquisition of 2016 with the purchase of Manchester’s Wellbeing Health Insurance. The deal has seen the Darwen, Lancashire, headquartered business acquire a book worth nearly £880,000 in annual premium income, of which 80 percent is generated by SME clients.
Generali Partners with local insurer to launch in the UAE
Generali Global Health has partnered with Dubai National Insurance and Reinsurance (DNIR) to launch an international private medical insurance (IPMI) product in the UAE. The product called ‘Global Choice’ is designed to cater to the needs of UAE residents who require local as well as global cover. The product is an enhanced health insurance solution suitable for companies looking for global cover and provides online assistance.
Long-term care advisory service launches
A specialist advisory service for long-term care funding is launching soon. Called My Care Consultant (MCC), it aims to help IFAs secure new business and provide expert advice to consumers. Headed up by Jacqueline Berry, founding director of Care Funding Partnership and former key account manager at Partnership, the service will generate leads, undertake the initial consultation and conduct a whole of market review based on the client’s individual needs, including an approximate cost.
Moody’s acquires GGY, significantly enhances insurance risk offerings
Moody’s announced that it has acquired GGY, a leading provider of advanced actuarial software for the global life insurance industry. Combined with Moody’s Analytics’ insurance risk products, the acquisition creates an industry-leading enterprise risk offering for global life insurers and reinsurers. GGY’s AXIS Actuarial System is widely used by leading global life insurers, reinsurers and consultants for pricing, reserving, ALM (asset liability management), financial modeling, capital calculations and hedging.
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