June 10, 2020 18:02 ET | Source: Andrew Peller Limited

GRIMSBY, Ontario, June 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Andrew Peller Limited ADW.A/ADW.B (APL or the Company) announced solid operating performance for the three months and year ended March 31, 2020.

FISCAL 2020 HIGHLIGHTS:

We were pleased with our results in fiscal 2020 as the launch of new products and product categories, combined with our emphasis on higher margin sales and operating cost controls, generated another year of increased earnings for our shareholders, commented John Peller, Chief Executive Officer.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting certain of our trade channels, we believe we will see compensating sales through our largest customers, including provincial liquor stores, grocery stores and our retail outlets. Overall, we have the experience and the financial resources to work through this challenging time, added Randy Powell, President.

Solid Operating Performance Sales were $82.1 million and $382.3 million for the three months and year ended March 31, 2020, respectively, up from $79.8 million and $381.8 million in the prior year. The Company experienced solid sales growth through the majority of its well-established bottled wine trade channels due to the introduction of new products and new product categories, and new and innovative sales and marketing programs. This growth was partially offset by reduced sales in the personal winemaking market, increased competition from subsidized lower priced imported wines, and lower duty-free export sales due to trade and political disputes between Canada and China.

Gross margin as a percentage of sales strengthened for the three months and year ended March 31, 2020, rising to 43.5% in the fourth quarter and 43.3% for the year compared to 41.6% and 39.2%, respectively, last year. Gross margin is benefitting from an increased focus on higher margin products and the positive impact of the Companys cost control initiatives. On the acquisition of three wineries in October 2017, the Company recorded an increase of $10.4 million to inventory to represent the fair value of goods acquired from the new wineries. This increase is being expensed over time to the consolidated statement of earnings as finished goods are sold. For the year ended March 31, 2020 the Company recorded a charge of $1.7 million to cost of goods sold as a result of this adjustment compared to $5.5 million in fiscal 2019. Management is continually focused on enhancing production efficiency and productivity and believes gross margin will remain strong for the foreseeable future.

Selling and administrative expenses were lower in fiscal 2020 compared to the prior year. Included in fiscal 2020 is the reduction of lease expenses of $3.2 million due to the accounting treatment for lease obligations in accordance with IFRS 16, adopted on April 1, 2019. Partially offsetting these reductions are expenditures related to the Companys implementation of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, and an increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts due to the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on certain customers. As a percentage of sales, selling and administrative expenses improved to 27.4% in fiscal 2020 compared to 27.8% in the prior year.

Earnings before interest, amortization, net unrealized gains and losses on derivative financial instruments, other (income) expenses, and income taxes (EBITA) were $9.7 million and $61.5 million for the three months and year ended March 31, 2020, respectively, up from $6.6 million and $52.9 million in the prior year. EBITA strengthened due primarily to the improved gross margin and the lower selling and administrative costs in fiscal 2020. Adjusted EBITA, which excludes from EBITA one-time acquisition related charges, was $9.9 million and $63.2 million for three months and year ended March 31, 2020, up from $6.5 million and $58.3 million in the prior year.

Interest and amortization expense increased in fiscal 2020 compared to the prior year due primarily to the lease obligations as mentioned above. Other expenses in fiscal 2020 include $1.7 million in restructuring costs.

The Company recorded a net unrealized non-cash loss in fiscal 2020 of $1.4 million related to mark-to-market adjustments on interest rate swaps and foreign exchange contracts compared to a net unrealized loss of $1.7 million in the prior year.

Net earnings for the year ended March 31, 2020 increased to $23.5 million ($0.55 per Class A Share) from $22.0 million ($0.51 per Class A Share) in the prior year. The Company generated a net loss of $1.0 million ($0.02 per Class A Share) in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 compared to net earnings of $0.8 million ($0.00 per Class A Share) in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. Adjusted earnings, defined as net earnings not including net unrealized gains and losses on derivative financial instruments, other (income) expenses, non-recurring, non-operating (gains) and losses, and the related income tax effect were $1.2 million and $27.6 million for the three months and year ended March 31, 2020, respectively, compared to $1.5 million and $29.4 million, respectively, in the prior year.

COVID-19 Pandemic On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Management continues to closely monitor and assess developments regarding the pandemic, including industry, market and internal factors, as well as regulations enacted by governments across Canada. Businesses selling beer, wine and other alcohol products have been deemed essential services, as well as those businesses that supply them. As a result, all of the Companys production facilities remain open, as do the Companys retail locations and retail estate locations. New protocols related to cleanliness and social distancing have been deployed at all locations. In late March 2020, the Company introduced a temporary wage increase for front line staff to recognize their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Management believes its export, estate property hospitality and personal winemaking sales will be affected by the pandemic. However, consumption of alcohol beverages remain stable in Canada with consumers purchasing products through alternative trade channels available during the pandemic, benefiting the Companys sales through provincial liquor stores and its other retail channels. The Company has enhanced its capabilities to support increased demand for direct-to-home purchases. In response to COVID-19, the Company has implemented working practices to address potential impacts to its operations, employees and customers and will take further measures, if required. These practices have been permanently established to enhance the ability for the Company to respond in the future. The outbreak may also have an effect on the future collectability of certain receivables, recoverability of property plant and equipment, goodwill and intangible assets, as well as the fair value of derivatives. At present, the Company has not identified any material continuity-risks specifically associated with COVID-19. The Company believes it has the management experience and the financial resources and flexibility to meet the liquidity needs presented by the pandemic. The Company continues to review all capital allocations to ensure it remains financially stable and well capitalized going forward.

Maintaining a Strong Financial Position Overall bank debt increased to $165.2 million at March 31, 2020 from $154.8 million at March 31, 2019. The increase is due to cash flows from operations in fiscal 2020 offset by regularly scheduled debt repayments. With the increase in debt, the Companys debt to equity ratio was 0.67:1 at March 31, 2020 compared to 0.66:1 at March 31, 2019. At March 31, 2020, the Company had unutilized debt capacity in the amount of $24.2 million on its operating facility and $112.4 million on its investment facility.

Shareholders equity as at March 31, 2020 was $245.5 million or $5.63 per common share compared to $234.8 million or $5.31 per common share as at March 31, 2019. The increase in shareholders equity was due to the net earnings in fiscal 2020, partially offset by the payment of dividends.

For the year ended March 31, 2020, the Company generated cash from operating activities, after changes in non-cash working capital items, of $31.5 million compared to $49.0 million in the prior year. Investing activities of $23.3 million in fiscal 2020 relate primarily to capital expenditures to improve operations and to implement the new ERP system.

On June 10, 2020, the Companys Board of Directors approved a common share dividend with no increase to preserve capital as a result of COVID-19. The annual dividend on Class A Shares is $0.215 per share and the dividend on Class B Shares is $0.187 will be paid quarterly to shareholders. The Company has consistently paid common share dividends since 1979.

Financial Highlights (Financial Statements and the Companys Management Discussion and Analysis for the period can be obtained on the Companys web site at http://www.andrewpeller.com)

Investor Conference Call An investor conference call hosted by John Peller, Chief Executive Officer, Randy Powell, President, and Steve Attridge, CFO, will be held Thursday, June 11, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. ET. The telephone numbers for the conference call are Local/International: (416) 406-0743, North American Toll Free: (800) 806-5484. The telephone numbers to listen to the call after it is completed (Instant Replay) are local/international (905) 694-9451 or North American toll free (800) 408-3053. The Passcode for the Instant Replay is 3162957#. The Instant Replay will be available until midnight,July 13, 2020. The call will also be archived on the Companys website at http://www.andrewpeller.com.

About Andrew Peller Limited Andrew Peller Limited is one of Canadas leading producers and marketers of quality wines and craft beverage alcohol products. The Companys award-winning premium and ultra-premium VQA brands include Peller Estates, Trius, Thirty Bench, Wayne Gretzky, Sandhill, Red Rooster, Black Hills Estate Winery, Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, Gray Monk Estate Winery, Raven Conspiracy, and Conviction. Complementing these premium brands are a number of popularly priced varietal offerings, wine based liqueurs, craft ciders, beer and craft spirits. The Company owns and operates 101 well-positioned independent retail locations in Ontario under The Wine Shop, Wine Country Vintners, and Wine Country Merchants store names. The Company also operates Andrew Peller Import Agency and The Small Winemakers Collection Inc., importers and marketing agents of premium wines from around the world. With a focus on serving the needs of all wine consumers, the Company produces and markets premium personal winemaking products through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Global Vintners Inc. (GVI), the recognized leader in personal winemaking products. More information about the Company can be found at http://www.andrewpeller.com.

The Company utilizes EBITA (defined as earnings before interest, amortization, net unrealized gains and losses on derivative financial instruments, other (income) expenses, and income taxes) and Adjusted EBITA (defined as EBITA before non-recurring expenses such as acquisition transaction and transition costs) to measure its financial performance. EBITA and Adjusted EBITA are not recognized measures under IFRS. Management believes that EBITA and Adjusted EBITA are useful supplemental measures to net earnings, as these measures provide readers with an indication of earnings available for investment prior to debt service, capital expenditures, and income taxes, as well as provide an indication of recurring earnings compared to prior periods. Readers are cautioned that EBITA and Adjusted EBITA should not be construed as an alternative to net earnings determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of the Companys performance or to cash flows from operating, investing, and financing activities as a measure of liquidity and cash flows. The Company also utilizes gross margin (defined as sales less cost of goods sold, excluding amortization) and adjusted earnings. The Companys method of calculating EBITA, Adjusted EBITA, gross margin, and adjusted earnings may differ from the methods used by other companies and, accordingly, may not be comparable to measures used by other companies.

Andrew Peller Limited common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbols ADW.A and ADW.B).

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws including the safe harbour provisions of the Securities Act (Ontario) with respect to APL and its subsidiaries. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the growth of the business in light of the Companys acquisitions; its launch of new premium wines and craft beverage alcohol products; sales trends in foreign markets; its supply of domestically grown grapes; and current economic conditions. These statements are subject to certain risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements. The words believe, plan, intend, estimate, expect, or anticipate, and similar expressions, as well as future or conditional verbs such as will, should, would, could, and similar verbs often identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions and applied certain factors regarding, among other things: future grape, glass bottle, and wine and spirit prices; its ability to obtain grapes, imported wine, glass, and other raw materials; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; its ability to market products successfully to its anticipated customers; the trade balance within the domestic Canadian and international wine markets; market trends; reliance on key personnel; protection of its intellectual property rights; the economic environment; the regulatory requirements regarding producing, marketing, advertising, and labelling of its products; the regulation of liquor distribution and retailing in Ontario; the application of federal and provincial environmental laws; and the impact of increasing competition.

These forward-looking statements are also subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed in this news release, in the Risks and Uncertainties section and elsewhere in the Companys MD&A and other risks detailed from time to time in the publicly filed disclosure documents of Andrew Peller Limited which are available at http://www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions which could cause actual results to differ materially from those conclusions, forecasts, or projections anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Companys forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this news release, and except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.

For more information, please contact: Mr. Steve Attridge, CFO and Executive Vice-President, IT (905) 643-4131

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Andrew Peller Limited Reports Solid Operating Performance in Fiscal 2020 - GlobeNewswire

By Jamie Samhan. 7 Jun 2020 10:47 PM

BTS took over the Dear Class of 2020 special with their smooth moves.

The K-pop group performed Boy With Luv, Spring Day and Mikrokosmos all from separate, pre-recorded productions.

The group got the most screen time out of any performer or speaker as they also all shared their own graduation memories.

RELATED: Beyonc Gives Moving Commencement Speech, Dont Let The World Make You Feel You Have To Look A Certain Way To Be Brilliant

RM started off: Ten years ago, it snowed really hard on the day of middle school graduation. I remember that day clearly because I took a picture with my friends and kept it as my messenger profile for the rest of my school years. On that day, I was just a boy who had closed just one chapter, ready to pen another. And I remember that feeling: It was really thrilling and breathtaking. It was a moment I felt most like me, myself.

Next was Jungkook: Unlike RM, my graduation was recorded online via YouTube on BANGTAN BOMB. My fellow BTS members were there throughout all of my high school years. I remember them saying When did you grow old enough to graduate? And once the ceremony was over, we went and had Jajangmyeon together.

Jin added, My memory of graduation is a little different. It was before my debut as BTS. I was around 20, just a high school graduate going into university. Back then, the notion of becoming an adult was something quite scary. Anxious about making my way into an unfamiliar world, I was cautious about everything I said or did. Sometimes, Id feel restless, watching my friends go on far ahead of me, and attempting to keep up with their speed would only leave me breathless. I soon realized that their pace was not my own. What held me together during these times was a promise I made with myself to take it slow.

RELATED: BTS Donates $1 Million To Black Lives Matter

These days, I feel as though Ive fallen to the ground during a race, SUGA said. I dust my knees and get up again, only to find that there is nobody around me. Its as though Im deserted on an island. This might not be the grand finale that you had imagined, and a fresh start might seem far away. But I wish to tell you: Please dont be afraid, dont worry yourself. The end and beginning, beginning and end are connected.

Jimin continued, First, congratulations on your graduation. But at the same time, I am worried for everyone. I think about your health and whether youre doing OK, whether you are holding on tight when nothing seems to go as planned, whether your body and mind are all safe and sound. I hope you are all doing well, but if things are not OKeven in the slightestwe send you our most sincere consolation with all our hearts.

Im not much different from all of you, J-Hope said. At times, I feel as though Ive reached a dead end as I perform and make music. Sometimes, my mind is bleached white, and I can hardly take another step forward. Its a regular occurrence as I work. At these times, I think, just this once. Just this once, and I pick myself back up. I decide to trust myself. The next attempt might not be perfect, but the second is better than the first, and the third is even better than the second.

V concluded, I will remember this day. Today may not be my own graduation, but I will try to look back upon this day years from now and remember it as a memory to treasure. And I look forward to the day you will stand and tell us your own story.

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BTS Take Over Dear Class Of 2020 With 3-Song Performance And Personal Sentiments From Each Member - ETCanada.com

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Executive Summary

Significant benefits can accrue from having a demographically diverse boardroom. Among other things, a demographically diverse board is more likely to represent the composition of a companys employees, customers, and suppliers and can therefore provide a board with a better understanding of the companys key constituencies. Thus, a demographically diverse board may help a company identify and respond to market shifts and changes in consumer expectations more effectively than a homogenous board. But this is only true if the board maintains cognitive diversity as well as demographic diversity. In interviews with 18 boards of directors, the author found that cognitively diverse directors were frequently able to share valuable insights with their fellow directors, expanding the boards understanding of the company and the strategic and operating issues it faced. They also found that they were more likely to ask tough questions and challenge the proposals of management and their fellow directors than incumbent directors who were long-tenured or had personal or professional relationships with others in the boardroom.

Influenced by state legislation as well as the efforts of institutional investors and other diversity advocates, companies have been adding more diverse directors to their boards than ever before. In 2019, a record 59 percent of the directors added to the boards of S&P 500 companies were women or were men belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group. Now, as companies seek to navigate numerous issues few have faced before, including a worldwide pandemic, a lingering trade war, changing consumer demands, and widespread protests regarding racial inequality, even more may be seeking to increase their diversity. But what characteristics should boards look for when adding directors to improve gender, racial, and ethnic diversity to ensure that these new directors also enhance diversity in the boardroom from a practical perspective?

While it is commonly assumed that individuals who differ in demographic characteristics will bring new backgrounds, viewpoints, and perspectives to a boardroom, often this is not the case, at least in how many public companies have historically hired demographically diverse candidates. The problem is that too often demographically diverse candidates are chosen because they have backgrounds similar to those of incumbent directors; they fit in well with others on a board.

In our experience, public companies wishing to increase their diversity benefit the most by recruiting candidates who also help improve cognitive diversity in the boardroom. Our views are derived from a study of the effects of cognitive diversity on board performance we conducted involving eight underperforming companies that were subject to past shareholder activism by our firm. At each company, an employee of our firm, an activist hedge fund manager, or one or more other individuals we nominated or approved, was added to the board. We interviewed on a confidential basis 18 directors who served on the boards of these companies both before and after changes were made to its composition. Through these interviews we were able to ascertain whether the directors added helped improve cognitive diversity in the boardroom and, if so, gain insight into the impact that any increase in cognitive diversity had on board performance.

Our research revealed that improving cognitive diversity on a board can significantly enhance its performance, particularly when cognitively diverse directors are added with professional backgrounds, skills, and perspectives in areas pertinent to a companys business or strategic plans who lack ties to the CEO and other directors. Cognitively diverse directors were frequently able to share valuable insights with their fellow directors, expanding the boards understanding of the company and the strategic and operating issues it faced. We also found that they were more likely to ask tough questions and challenge the proposals of management and their fellow directors than incumbent directors who were long-tenured or had personal or professional relationships with others in the boardroom. As one incumbent director we interviewed said, It is hard to vote against the CEO if you are going to see him that weekend at the country club. Over time, however, the presence of engaged, cognitively diverse outsiders in the boardroom made incumbent directors more comfortable asking questions, suggesting alternatives, and expressing dissent. This, in turn, helped boards more effectively oversee management and improved decision-making.

Another director we interviewed said,The new directors [on our board] brought not just a diversity of opinions and perspectives, but a diversity of behavior a willingness to openly challenge management and other directors, which was missing from the boardroom. By having more open debate, it created an environment where others saw it was good and healthy to have frank discussions regarding important decisions. When members of the board began challenging each other and listening to each others viewpoints it led to positive outcomes. Good healthy disagreement led to good decision-making.

To improve both cognitive and demographic diversity in the boardroom, we recommend that boards recruit racially, ethnically, and gender diverse directors who enhance diversity on two additional levels: first, by adding professional backgrounds, skills, and experiences in areas that are needed to meet the companys strategic and operating needs; and second, by introducing new views, perspectives, and approaches to problem solving.

Improving the diversity of professional backgrounds on a board by adding directors with skills and experience that are needed in the boardroom is an efficient way to expand a boards knowledge base as well as improve its ability to advise and oversee management. Identifying directors who can introduce new views, perspectives and approaches to problem solving is a more time-consuming undertaking, given that these qualities typically are not discernable without speaking at length to candidates and their references. Taking the time to do so, however, can significantly improve board decision-making. Directors we interviewed informed us that they observed healthier debate, more robust discussions, and more focused and fact-based decision-making after the boards they served on became more cognitively diverse.

Significant benefits can accrue from having a demographically diverse boardroom. Among other things, a demographically diverse board is more likely to represent the composition of a companys employees, customers, and suppliers and can therefore provide a board with a better understanding of the companys key constituencies. Thus, a demographically diverse board may help a company identify and respond to market shifts and changes in consumer expectations more effectively than a homogenous board. While such insights can be invaluable, demographically diverse directors with strong business backgrounds in areas that are needed on a board may be better able to incorporate their insights into the context of a companys business. It is for this reason that we recommended in 2019 that L Brands which was subject to criticism that the marketing of its Victorias Secret business was no longer aligned with womens evolving views of beauty, diversity, and inclusion add more female directors to its board with experience in areas including merchandising, marketing, and international business development.

Based on the results of our study, we compiled recommendations for boards interested in improving gender, racial, and ethnic diversity to incorporate into their director recruiting process to help them identify demographically diverse directors who also help improve cognitive diversity and board performance. These recommendations include the following:

While labor intensive, diligent director recruiting can help boards identify candidates that maximize the diversity they bring to the boardroom. If a board approaches addressing diversity concerns solely as a check-the-box exercise, we believe it is doing a disservice not just to itself but also to the company and its shareholders.

Finally, our study revealed that the work of a board is not over once it has assembled a demographically and cognitively diverse group of directors. To make sure that a board benefits from enhanced diversity in the boardroom, it must have a culture that values diverse perspectives. Directors with strong professional credentials and unique perspectives are of little benefit if this is not the case. As an experienced female director we interviewed stated, You can have all the diversity in the world, but it wont matter if you dont have the right culture.

We therefore recommend that boards work diligently to establish a culture that embraces diverse insights and ensures that they are shared and incorporated into the decision-making process. A survey of 700 directors conducted by PwC in 2019 revealed that 43 percent of the respondents found it difficult to voice a dissenting view in their boardroom. These findings indicate that many boards may benefit from examining their culture to ensure that diverse perspectives are truly welcomed in the boardroom.

If a board is truly committed to fulfilling its role and responsibilities effectively, improving diversity in the boardroom both demographically and cognitively and fostering a culture that welcomes diverse perspectives must be made a priority. In todays dynamic and competitive global business environment, ensuring that boards are performing to the best of their abilities and are able to help companies innovate and respond to challenges and disruption is a business imperative. The competitiveness of our companies and the long-term success of our economy depend on it.

Read more:
How Diverse Is Your Board, Really? - Harvard Business Review

The employee performance software market research report provides a comprehensive study of market share, size, growth aspects and key players.In addition, the report contains brief information on the regional competitive landscape, market trends and drivers, opportunities and challenges, distributors, sales channels, risks and barriers to entry, as well as the analysis of Porters five forces.In addition, the main objective of this report isto provide a detailed analysis of how aspects of the market can potentially influence the future of the employee performance software market.The report also offers a comprehensive analysis on competitive manufacturers as well as new entrants also studying with their brief research.

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In addition, this report also contains a price, income, market share and the production of the service providers is also mentioned with precise data.In addition, the global report on employee performance software mainly focuses on current developments, new possibilities, advancements and sleeping traps.In addition, the Employee Performance Software Market Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the current situation and opportunities for advancement in the employee performance software market worldwide.This report analyzes important key elements such as production, capacity, revenue, price, gross margin, sales revenue, sales volume, growth rate, consumption, import, export , technological developments, supply and future growth strategies.

In addition, the Employee Performance Software report provides a detailed analysis of the competitive landscape in terms of regions and the main service providers are also highlighted as well as the attributes of the market overview, business strategies, finance, developments employees and the employee performance software market product portfolio.Likewise, this report includes important data on market segmentation by type, application and regional landscape.The employee performance software market report also provides a brief analysis of the market opportunities and challenges faced by key services.This report is specially designed to know the precise information on the market and the state of the market

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The key players covered in this study

Oracle Saba SAP SumTotal Systems ultimate software Cornerstone OnDemand Performly Impraise MAUS BambooHR Namely Zoho Corporation BreatheHR TrakStar ClearCompany Actus Insperity Reviewsnap PeopleGoal Beisen

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Market segment by type, the product can be divided into

On-site cloud based on theWeb

Market segment by application, divided into

Small business Medium business Large business

Market segment by region / country, this report covers

United States Europe China Japan Southeast Asia India Central and South America

The objectives of the study in this report are:

Analyze the global status of employee performance software, future forecasts, growth opportunities, the key market and the main players. Present the development of employee performance software in the United States, Europe and China.

Establish a strategic profile of the main players and analyze in depth their development plan and strategies. Define, describe and forecast the market by product type, market and key regions.

In this study, the years considered to estimate the size of the employee performance software market are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017 Base year: 2017 Estimated year: 2018 Forecast year 2018 to 2025

Main points of the table of contents:

Chapter One: Report Overview Chapter Two: Trends in Global Growth Chapter Three: Market Share of Major Players Chapter Four: Distribution by Type and Application Chapter Five: United States Chapter Six: Europe Chapter Seven: China Chapter Eight: Japan Chapter Nine: Southeast Asia Chapter Ten: India Chapter Eleven: Central and South America Chapter Twelve: Profiles of International Players Chapter Thirteen: Market Forecast 2018-2025 Chapter Fourteen: Analyst Views / Findings Chapter Fifteen: Annex

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Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a one-off help for all your market research needs.We have an extensive database of reports from major publishers and authors around the world.We specialize in delivering personalized reports to our customers requirements.We have complete information about our publishers and are therefore sure of the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization.This helps our customers to map their needs and we produce the perfect market research required for our customers.

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Global Employee Performance Software Market 2020: Classification, Application And Specifications, Industry Overview, Analysis Of The Main Key Regions...

High-Performance Nonwovens Market 2018: Global Industry Insights by Global Players, Regional Segmentation, Growth, Applications, Major Drivers, Value and Foreseen till 2024

The report provides both quantitative and qualitative information of global High-Performance Nonwovens market for period of 2018 to 2025. As per the analysis provided in the report, the global market of High-Performance Nonwovens is estimated to growth at a CAGR of _% during the forecast period 2018 to 2025 and is expected to rise to USD _ million/billion by the end of year 2025. In the year 2016, the global High-Performance Nonwovens market was valued at USD _ million/billion.

This research report based on High-Performance Nonwovens market and available with Market Study Report includes latest and upcoming industry trends in addition to the global spectrum of the High-Performance Nonwovens market that includes numerous regions. Likewise, the report also expands on intricate details pertaining to contributions by key players, demand and supply analysis as well as market share growth of the High-Performance Nonwovens industry.

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High-Performance Nonwovens Market Overview:

The Research projects that the High-Performance Nonwovens market size will grow from in 2018 to by 2024, at an estimated CAGR of XX%. The base year considered for the study is 2018, and the market size is projected from 2018 to 2024.

The report on the High-Performance Nonwovens market provides a birds eye view of the current proceeding within the High-Performance Nonwovens market. Further, the report also takes into account the impact of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on the High-Performance Nonwovens market and offers a clear assessment of the projected market fluctuations during the forecast period. The different factors that are likely to impact the overall dynamics of the High-Performance Nonwovens market over the forecast period (2019-2029) including the current trends, growth opportunities, restraining factors, and more are discussed in detail in the market study.

Leading manufacturers of High-Performance Nonwovens Market:

Market Segment Analysis The research report includes specific segments by Type and by Application. This study provides information about the sales and revenue during the historic and forecasted period of 2015 to 2026. Understanding the segments helps in identifying the importance of different factors that aid the market growth. Segment by Type, the High-Performance Nonwovens market is segmented into Nylon Cupro Filament Polyester Polypropylene

Segment by Application Clothes Sheet Packs Medical Materials Other

Global High-Performance Nonwovens Market: Regional Analysis The High-Performance Nonwovens market is analysed and market size information is provided by regions (countries). The report includes country-wise and region-wise market size for the period 2015-2026. It also includes market size and forecast by Type and by Application segment in terms of sales and revenue for the period 2015-2026. The key regions covered in the High-Performance Nonwovens market report are: North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany France U.K. Italy Russia Asia-Pacific China Japan South Korea India Australia Taiwan Indonesia Thailand Malaysia Philippines Vietnam Latin America Mexico Brazil Argentina Middle East & Africa Turkey Saudi Arabia U.A.E Global High-Performance Nonwovens Market: Competitive Analysis This section of the report identifies various key manufacturers of the market. It helps the reader understand the strategies and collaborations that players are focusing on combat competition in the market. The comprehensive report provides a significant microscopic look at the market. The reader can identify the footprints of the manufacturers by knowing about the global revenue of manufacturers, the global price of manufacturers, and sales by manufacturers during the forecast period of 2015 to 2019. The major players in global High-Performance Nonwovens market include: Ahlstrom DowDuPont Freudenberg Technical Fibre Products (TFP) Kimberly-Clark Polymer Group PGI Industrial Georgia Pacific Asahi Kasei Advance Corporation Bonar

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Potential impact of coronavirus outbreak on High-Performance Nonwovens Market 2020: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Trends, Growth and Forecast...

Sometimes, to get the proper perspective, you have to take the long view. And other times, you need the extremely long view. It is with this in mind that we ponder the nature of the IT sector, the impact that the coronavirus pandemic is having on it, and prior crises that are of a similar magnitude even if caused by a different set of circumstances.

The analysts at IDC have just put out their figures for the server market for the first quarter of 2020. Given that the coronavirus pandemic was not in full swing in the three-month period ended in March, depending on how this all goes, server spending could drop more or collapse quite a bit. Or not. No one really knows. And that is why perspective really matters at times like these. As we are fond of pointing out, an economy never goes to zero, and what is quite awful often feels a lot worse than it could be if economies really did come to a screeching halt for an extended period of time. Saying this does nothing to minimize the pain that companies and their employees are feeling right now. All we can tell you is that we have gotten through bad situations before, and bad situations are always different in their own way.

We have always believed that our appetite for compute is a kind of economic indicator. It is not the normal kind of leading or lagging indicator, but more of a measure of our hopes and aspirations mixed with our need to get the normal work done. And without question, that normal has been changing and expanding over the years as the lines between personal and business use of computing have blurred. Even as Moores Law has made systems incredibly more capacious and incredibly less costly per unit of compute, storage, and networking, we continue to need more than Moore. And so the market grows. Even if you inflation adjust the spending data, which has the effect of ballooning spending more the further you go back in the past, it grows. (More on that in a moment.)

Before we get into the massive trend analysis we have done spanning back to 1999, which is the height of the dot-com bubble 21 years ago and which was a massive undertaking digging through the Google search engine finding ancient quarterly reports from IDC, lets talk about what was happening right here in the first quarter of 2020.

On the face of it, the numbers didnt look too bad, but this was against a relatively easy compare, since the first quarter of 2019 was not as good as it might have been thanks to the choppy spending by the hyperscalers and cloud builders who represent somewhere around a third of server revenues and maybe close to half of the server shipments in any given quarter. Server revenues in Q1 2020 were off 6 percent to $18.61 billion, and shipments were down only two-tenths of a point to 2.58 million units. Considering what was going on in China and spreading into Europe and the United States at the time, this was not terrible. This is surprising, really. And a testament to just how dependent we all are, in one way or another, on the datacenters of the world.

If you look at the trend since the Great Recession, as we have traditionally done here at The Next Platform, you can see that there is perhaps more drama than these numbers show. You always need to look at the sequential as well as the year-on-year data to get a better feel for what is going on. Here is what that IDC server data looks like over time:

As we have been talking about for a few years now, something different happened in 2017, and part of that was that main memory and flash memory prices went through the roof at the same time that companies started loading up some of their servers with GPUs to accelerate various workloads. CPUs got a lot more expensive too, even if they did offer a lot of throughput. Prices for memory, flash, and CPU cores have come down in the past two years, and that is reflected in the aggregated server revenues, establishing a new baseline that is somewhere around $22 billion per quarter, about twice the baseline between 2010 and 2016. Server shipments are trending upwards, gently, and also took a bit of a hook up and to the right starting in 2017.

As you might expect, the so-called volume server segment, which is for machines that cost under $25,000, was off only 2.1 percent, to $15.1 billion, according to IDC, while high-end iron costing more than $250,000 had a 9.1 percent decline to just under $1 billion. Most of that was for IBM mainframes and high-end Power Systems, by the way.

Just so you have it handy, here is the play by play in server sales by vendor for the past nine quarters by vendor:

And here it is represented graphically since the Great Recession:

The original design manufacturers, or ODMs, who make custom gear for the hyperscalers, cloud builders, and other service providers continue their rise, but this is only a portion of the machinery these top tier companies buy. Remember, traditional original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, who make machinery for the datacenter masses such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell, Inspur, Lenovo, and Sugon all have businesses that sell semi-custom machinery to some of the Super 8 and a few of the smaller hyperscalers and cloud builders, too. So you look at the ODM figures in the table and chart above for a sense of the growth in spending by these big companies, but not as an absolute measure in spending. Be careful not to conflate the two.

As you can see, the first quarter was a big drop for the ODMs that IDC tracks as a group from the third and fourth quarters of 2019, and the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first and second quarters of 2019 were also disappointing compared to their prior quarters. This business is inherently spikey, it looks like, just as IBMs own business has been, as you can see in the chart above. The mainframe cycle is literally Big Blues heartbeat. Dell had a difficult Q1 2020 and HPE had a worse one, and there is no way to sugar coat that and it is, in both cases, largely a reflection of enterprises large and small and in between cutting their server spending when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

While we find these first quarter numbers interesting, we took the time to cast the IDC data all the way back to the first quarter of 1999 to set us up for a proper comparison if the Great Infection recession of 2020 to perhaps 2021 turns out to be on the same order of magnitude of the Dot-Com Bubble Burst and the 9/11 Recession of 2000-2001 or the Great Recession of 2008-2009. And just to be clear, creating this data set from the publicly available IDC data was a tremendous pain in the ass. We do it because we love you, and we love the truth. Our only regret is that we didnt do this starting back in 1990. . .

So lets get to it. Here is the server revenue and shipment data from Q1 1999 through Q1 2020, inclusive. Our apologies for the data labels being so small on the X axis. Take a look:

If you just take this data as it is over time, it looks like the current Hyperscale and Cloud Boom is the biggest and baddest revenue generating event in datacenter history, and that the investment is so much larger than it was during the dot-com boom. It also looks like the decline from Q4 2019 to Q1 2020 is almost as bad as the one over several quarters in 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst.

There are a few things to consider there. First, the buildup in spending in 1999 was not just for the buildout of the corporate Internet, but also because of the need to buy systems to adapt applications for the Y2K date bug. Enterprises bought a lot of capacity in 1998 and 1999 for this purpose, and they were not even close to burning it off until 2002 in a lot of cases. And by then, the existing recession had been in full swing for a while and was accelerated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

High-end server spending cycles and normal Q4 budgeting cycles drive that regularly spiking line from 2001 through 2006, which trends up and to the right slightly over that time. Shipments trend up a lot faster, and that is because X86 machinery is eating the datacenter at this time, with market share that rose from about 80 percent of machinery at the beginning of this chart in 1999 to something around 99 percent two decades later. At the peak of the dot-com bubble, Sun Microsystems and Oracle were the default configuration of server, operating system, and database for every new company, and every established company wanted to be like a startup. It got a little harder after 2001 for Sun and Oracle, but they kept growing in the enterprise. Here is a vendor chart that goes all the way back to 1999:

Just to make things consistent, revenues for Compaq and Hewlett Packard are combined in the chart above even though that deal was not announced until September 2001, a week before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as it turns out. The combination of HP and Compaq was supposed to create a rival to IBM, and it sort of did, but most of the parts that made the new HP like IBM have been sold off and it is basically back down to the core Compaq server business these days. Sun Microsystems peaked and frankly disappeared from the public IDC data as others rose in prominence in the server business in the wake of the Oracle acquisition of Sun in a decade ago. The rise of steady rise of Dell is worth noting, and it has moved aggressively to rival the latest incarnation of HP, called Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

It is the Others category, dominated by other OEMs, ODMs, and weird hybrids that are now shaping the market. Individually, Dell and HPE are the biggest server vendors. But collectively the ODMs and OEMs like Lenovo, Inspur, and Sugon are getting huge swaths of business. It is a different world, and one that is difficult to adapt to.

We stared at these images above for a long time, and then realized something important. Over such long periods of time, you really need to adjust the old data for inflation. Between 1999 and 2020, the US dollar has appreciated by a factor of 53.9 percent, which is a lot. A dollar in 1999 bought that much more than a dollar does today. So we went through the quarterly data and applied the inflation rate versus a constant 2020 dollar to the IDC data for total server spending. And you can see how bad the dot-com bubble bursting really was for the server business when you do that adjustment:

Now you begin to see the proper magnitude of the dot-com bubble bursting, the doldrums after that, the repeatedly W-shaped declines of the Great Recession and its aftermath, and the rise of the hyperscalers and cloud builders. And also the very large drop, by comparison, that just happened in Q1 2020. It is about half as bad as the drop at the end of the dot-com boom, but it is happening over one quarter, not three. And, more importantly, we dont know what the next data point is going to be.

We will know soon enough, because June is coming to a close in a few weeks.

Just for fun, and to get a better gauge of revenue over time, we did the same inflation adjustment for the major OEMs from two decades ago IBM, HP, Dell, and Sun against all others. Take a look at that:

This, we think, is a better measure of the relative strength of vendors over time. It still is not a good situation for the OEMs, mind you. And they are having a tough time generating profits even when they can generate revenue.

As part of this exercise, we also took our aggregate server capacity and server price/performance index and cast it all the way back to 1999. As a reminder, this takes the number of servers shipped, the average number of sockets across the market, the average number of cores per socket, and the relatively performance of a core to come up with an aggregate performance sold each quarter. (This is important: This is a sold by quarter metric, not an aggregate installed base metric.) We then dived that into the revenue generated by that capacity to come up with a relative value of server capacity metric. Here are those two curves, plotted out with inflation adjustment on the server revenues all the way back to 1999:

Those are two of the prettiest exponential curves you ever will see. This illustrates a bunch of things, but foremost, it has been harder to get the price/performance of capacity to improve than it has been to sell more capacity as time has gone by. By our math, the performance sold each has increased by a factor of 323X comparing Q1 1999 to Q1 2020 the number would have been slightly higher if Q4 2019 figures were used because unit shipments were down by quite a bit, but were compensated for somewhat by having more cores in systems, we think. (This chart is largely educated conjecture. We understand that.) And after inflation adjusting the revenues each quarter, the relative price/performance has improved by a factor of 368X. This is another way of saying that spending on servers is, relatively speaking, pretty constant at the endpoints of all of these lines. But in the middle of these curves, it waned as gauged by inflation adjusted currency.

What is interesting to us is that just as we were getting back to a server market with the strength of the dot-com boom, COVID-19 might com along and pop this bubble. We shall see. With the world being ever so much more dependent on computing, we think any server recovery, should there be a decline, will happen much faster than for other kinds of capital equipment.

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Server Spending Measures Aspiration As Much As Oomph - The Next Platform

By now, theres little chance you havent heard or seen the name BTS, the undisputed kings of K-pop. And should the worlds course not have been changed by the current pandemic, BTS rappers RM, J-hopeand Suga, and vocalists Jin, V, Jimin and Jungkook would currently be on their 37-date world tour to support their fourth Korean album, Map of the Soul: 7.

On 18 and 19 April (the dates they were due to play Seoul Olympic Stadium), their label Big Hit Entertainment aired Bang Bang Con, a free two-day live stream of archival footage from previous concerts and tours. More than two million fans (known as Army) watched simultaneously, with the total views toppling 50 million.

This weekend, on 14 June at 10am BST, BTS will perform a 90-minute pay-to-watch online concert Bang Bang Con: The Live thats bound to pull an audience of record-breaking numbers. The social engagement is consistently unsurpassed; earlier this year, Jungkook broke his own record by amassing over two million likes on five different tweets, breaking the previous record set by Barack Obama. He is also the most searched for K-pop Idol on Google and YouTube while in 2019, BTS were the most Googled boy band in the world.

Photography Monica Kim

As theyve grown to become multimillion-selling, stadium-filling superstars, there has never been a singular answer as to how and why a non-English language pop group managed to break into the upper echelons of the western record industry. Multiple factors have been woven together to form an irresistible and, more importantly, unduplicatable recipe thats seen BTS achieve four US number-one records in under two years and cumulatively sell over 20 million albums.

Whether its your first time with BTS or your thousandth, Vogue looks at how they became one of the greatest pop groups of all time.

Prolific in that they release new material every year, BTS have given their extensive catalogue a narrative by creating album trilogies or series to fully explore their subject, rather than race wildly from concept to concept. From criticising socio-political systems on tracks such as No More Dream (on which J-hopesays to Rebel against this hell-like society, give your dream a special pardon) to expressing their fear of no longer being able to perform on Black Swan, their depth of thought, constant creative exploration and lyrical candidness is a source of inspiration and comfort to their millions of fans.

Where they endeavour to stand out amongst their pop peers is through a propensity to integrate so-called high culture with popular culture. Take, for example, 2016s Blood Sweat & Tears; the song combines trap, moombahton and tropical house while the video takes lavish inspiration from Hermann Hesses 1919 coming-of-age novel Demian, whose Jungian psychology would also form the basis of their 2019/2020 Map of the Soul series.

BTS refuse to be confined by genre, shifting from epic ballads (Spring Day) and moody emo anthems (Fake Love) to crowd-shaking bangers (Fire) and turbo pop like Boy With Luv (featuring Halsey) and DNA. The latter is a major milestone for BTS its their first video to reach one billion YouTube views, their first entry on the US and UK singles charts, their second US gold single, and marks their US TV debut with a much-lauded performance at the American Music Awards.

Known as the golden maknae (the youngest member who is good at everything he does), Jeon Jung-kook is the most Googled idol of 2019 and, with his cover of Lauvs Never Not last month, set a world record for the most commented-upon tweet and fastest Twitter video to reach a million views (it took just 10 minutes!). Jungkook is one of the least active members on social media, making his appearances something of an event, but his bandmates arent far behind, regularly racking up a staggering two million likes per post. Over the years, BTS have constantly updated Army with their passing thoughts, holiday snaps, jokes and selfies using their Twitter account just as a close friend would, becoming part of their fans lives in much the same way.

In the face of a western industry unwilling to make room for a foreign-language boy band, BTSs global growth was never through traditional means, such as radio play. Instead, their social media nous and content strategies via video platforms including YouTube and V Live became their springboard, helped exponentially by hundreds of fan translators who tirelessly translated lyrics, social posts and much of the groups video content, allowing for non-Korean speakers to fully connect with the members.

V and Jimin try a shooting game, while Jungkook and Jin play DDR.

Photography Monica Kim

Since 2017, US television has become a powerful friend in pushing them deeper into the general publics consciousness. Whether morning news or late-night talk shows, BTSs camaraderie turns even the most sedate interview into beguiling, entertaining chaos. Despite having only one fluent English-speaking member, BTS are adept at hooking in viewers, smoothing out cultural and language barriers with an instinctive charm and earthy humour, comfortably taking a spot in millions of western households where previously Asian artists had rarely been seen.

The Late Late Shows James Corden was the first host to give the band the spotlight. Im constantly impressed by their work ethic, Corden tells us via email. Theyre always so full of respect, not only for the environment theyre working in at that moment in time but also, and most importantly, for each other. Watching them grow from their first appearance on our show to where they are now has been jaw-dropping. As a group, they remain so dignified, so full of joy, that it drips down to everyone around them. Particularly their fans, who are the most incredible collection of young people. Its clear that they are only about doing something good, being good people, keeping the whole thing in this bubble of positivity. And that in itself is the rarest of experiences in todays day and age.

Much has been written about South Koreas male pop stars love of flamboyant costuming and elaborate makeup. BTS, in particular, are seen as major figures in positively changing western attitudes towards Asian men as sex symbols and steering masculinity away from toxic norms.

Yet, like so many male artists, BTS had to reach this point through learning and did so by first acknowledging the sexism and objectification in some of their early lyrics and videos. Their growth over the years can be seen in their lyrics, which now focus more on self-realisation and shared experiences, the embracing of powerful female collaborators (Halsey, Sia, Nicki Minaj, and South Korean pop queens IU and Suran), their openness when dealing with emotional issues both personal and within the group, and their wearing of pink, pastels, sequins, frills, skirts, purses, chokers or corsets without reservation.

This appreciation for the power of clothes and their unrivalled influence has endeared them to the fashion world. BTS, however, have very few official fashion endorsements, preferring to buy only what appeals to them. So when they decide to wear a particular item, not only does it promptly sell out globally, it makes headlines for doing so, cannily furthering their name beyond the fandom.

One rare partnership was with Dior, who created the stage outfits for last years Love Yourself: Speak Yourself tour. Diors creative director, Kim Jones, said at the time: I love BTS because they are really great guys and also super into fashion. They all have their personal taste and style and it works so well together. Everyone I know is kind of crazy about them!

There were many who hadnt taken BTS seriously as new cultural icons, but that changed in 2018 when the group were invited to speak at the UN, where BTSs message of self-love was heard loud and clear in an eloquent, moving speech for Unicefs Generation Unlimited campaign. Like most people, I made many mistakes in my life, RM said. I have many faults and I have many fears, but I am going to embrace myself as hard as I can, and Im starting to love myself, little by little. What is your name? Speak Yourself!

This wasnt the first time theyd used their huge platform to raise awareness. For years, the members have individually donated to varying causes including animal welfare, scholarship funds, cancer charities and food drives. Their partnership with Unicef was created, says Gmin Seo, of Unicef Koreas corporate partnership and philanthropy team, from a shared ambition for a world where children and young people are free from violence and bullying. [BTS has] raised awareness of Unicefs #ENDviolence campaign [] all over the world. Both in person and through their music and social media channels, [BTS] have helped young people open up about their own experiences of violence, bullying, encouraged love and kindness.

J-Hope, RM, and Suga shoot hoops.

Photography Monica Kim

Their work is global. The group recently contributed $1 million (806,000) to Black Lives Matter, which was immediately matched by Army, frequent fundraisers themselves, who rallied around the #MatchAMillion campaign set up by One in an Army, raising $1,026,531 within 24 hours.

BTS also spoke to those graduating in isolation or lockdown as part of Dear Class of 2020, alongside Barack Obama, Beyonc and Lady Gaga. If any of you feel lost in the face of doubt or uncertainty, or the pressure of starting anew, dont rush, said Jin, his words poignant amid the worlds current social changes. Allow yourself to take it easy. Take it one step at a time.

A major factor in BTSs success is in their relatability and emotional transparency, which has remained steadfast even while occupying the superstar bubble. Its been captured from the get-go, through vlogging from their tiny studio space in the early years, lighthearted variety shows such as Run BTS!, and behind-the-scenes clips, known as Bangtan Bombs. A more polished version of the latter became the 2018 YouTube docuseries Burn the Stage, followed by a movie adaptation that eventually broke the US box office event-cinema record previously held by One Direction.

A second docuseries, Break the Silence, which began in May this year, once more let us into their lives on the road, peeling back the curtain on their dazzling live show but also the members uncertainties and the head-spinning enormity of their fame. Here, they question who they are, how theyve changed as people and what the future may hold. As fans, what we expect from artists has changed rather than mystery and eccentricity, we ask for authenticity and accountability, demanding it even when their celebrity and wealth has cut them off from the everyperson.

Even as the accolades pour in, BTS use their fanbase and the constant documentation as sounding boards and grounding mediums. In Break the Silence, RM, ushered into an upscale restaurant and agog at a towering wall of expensive wine, admits incredulously, Even when I go to the Grammys, I still think, What am I doing here?! Its hard not to warm to the biggest pop group on Earth when theyre laughing at, rather than being sucked into, the absurdity and surrealness of fame.

More from British Vogue:

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How BTS Became The Undisputed Kings Of K-Pop - British Vogue