Paweł Lewandowski
Flávia Linden
Steve Frous
Ala Konturek
Mikko Puttonen
Today, the PTA market plunged by US$ 40/ton in Asian market. In China, Zhengzhou PTA futures opened low in today's early trading. PTA contract opened around RMB 10500/ton but before closing it went down to RMB 9890-10050/ton.
For decline in the market, experts mainly blamed overnight decline in crude oil and cotton futures.
In recent past, the Chinese central bank also announced raise in interest rates to curb inflation, and the rumours of cut in textile and garment export tax rebate, has also increased business panic, which may also be major reasons for bearish PTA fundamentals.
Fundamentally, the basic needs of the market can still be maintained, but generally it would be difficult for the market environment of price pairs to provide strong support for PTA, and policy efforts to increase power rationing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, high interest rates, moreover poor demand from downstream is difficult to see more growth in the market outlook.
Since, the beginning of the May-2011, Asian PTA price was stable and was assessed in the range of US$ 1325/ton to US$ 1335/ton. In F E Asian region, PTA was quoted at US$ 1335/ton.
In Indian market, PTA stood around US$ 1340/ton. In Chinese market, price of PTA declined in the range of RMB 10500/ton to RMB 10550/ton. Allied raw material of polyester, MEG declined by RMB 200/ton and prices were assessed in the range of RMB 8550/ ton to RMB 8600/ton.
Unifi Inc celebrated the official opening of its REPREVE Recycling Center on Wednesday, May 4th. This $8 million investment will allow the company to expand production capacities of its REPREVE recycled fiber.
REPREVE is a family of first quality recycled polyester and nylon fibers that can be used in a wide range of applications, including apparel, automotive, seating and paneling fabrics. Since its introduction in 2006, REPREVE has grown from a single recycled polyester fiber into an entire brand of sustainable products. In the last two years alone, over 247 million post-consumer PET bottles have been recycled into REPREVE. Unifi estimates to recycle over 400 million bottles into REPREVE in 2012 in its REPREVE Recycling Center.
The 50,000 square foot, state-of-the-art REPREVE Recycling Center enables Unifi to recycle post-industrial and post-consumer polyester waste, and in the future, fabrics and garments. The goal of the facility is to expand production capacities and capabilities, improve fiber color and drive volume growth for improved economics.
"The opening of the REPREVE Recycling Center solidifies Unifi's commitment to be the world's leader in the production of sustainable fibers," said Roger Berrier, president and COO of Unifi. "The REPREVE Recycling Center was built using the latest state-of-the-art recycling technology providing us with flexibility to further expand the REPREVE brand in new and innovative directions."
The event took place at the G. Allen Mebane Industrial Complex in Yadkinville, and featured a ribbon cutting ceremony, tours and a program of speakers including Bill Jasper, chairman and CEO; Roger Berrier; John Mowbray, editor and publisher of EcoTextile News; Gail Strickler, Assistant United States Trade Representative for Textiles; and Kim Glas, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles and Apparel and Chairman, CITA.
The Recycling Center has been constructed to convert waste materials into REPREVE and the building itself was built with environmental benefits in mind. Sustainable features include:
• 67 skylights to take advantage of natural sunlight
• Light fixtures controlled by sensor technology to reduce energy use
• Low flow fixtures and motion sensors anticipated to reduce water use by 34%
• Many building materials were bought regionally and comprised of recycled content
• Energy Recovery Kit that captures and re-utilizes heat in the production of REPREVE chip
"The new REPREVE Recycling Center will grow employment in Yadkin County, adding at least 25 new jobs when fully implemented," added Berrier.
Unifi Inc is a diversified producer and processor of multi-filament polyester and nylon textured yarns and related raw materials. The Company adds value to the supply chain and enhances consumer demand for its products through the development and introduction of branded yarns that provide unique performance, comfort and aestheticadvantages.
In advance of its annual meeting of shareholders to be held May 3, 2011, Sears Holdings Corporation announced domestic comparable store sales for the first fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2011 for its Kmart and Sears stores as follows:
Quarter ended April 30, 2011
Kmart - 1.6%
Sears Domestic - 5.2%
Total - 3.6%
Our domestic comparable store sales decrease was primarily driven by appliances, apparel and consumer electronics. Appliances, which had the most notable decline, benefited in the prior year from the Cash for Appliances rebate programs in the quarter. Apparel experienced slow spring/summer sales due in part to worse weather than the prior year. Sears' home, sporting goods, jewelry and footwear categories continued to generate comparable store sales growth during the quarter.
Beginning with the first quarter of 2011, we now include internet sales from sears.com and kmart.com shipped direct to customers in comparable store sales. This change resulted in a positive benefit of approximately 50 basis points to total domestic comparable store sales for the quarter. We continue to invest in our multi-channel capabilities to take advantage of sales as they convert from traditional sources to the internet. During the quarter, our internet sales on sears.com and kmart.com shipped directly to customers (as opposed to picked-up in store) increased 22.4%.
Sears Canada expects to report a comparable store sales decline of 9.2% for the quarter.
We currently expect a net loss attributable to Holdings' shareholders for the first quarter ended April 30, 2011 of between $145 million and $195 million, or between $1.35 and $1.81 per diluted share. In the first quarter of fiscal 2010, we reported net income attributable to Holdings' shareholders of $16 million, or $0.14 per diluted share.
We currently expect to end the first quarter with approximately $9.8 billion in merchandise inventories (domestic of $8.9 billion and $0.9 billion at Sears Canada).
Adjusted EBITDA
The Company expects to report total Adjusted EBITDA of $25 million to $105 million in the first quarter (domestic of $50 million to $100 million and Sears Canada of $(25) million to $5 million), which is computed as follows:
• expected net loss attributable to Holdings' shareholders of $145 million to $195 million;
• plus income statement line items not included in EBITDA consisting of income attributable to noncontrolling interest, income taxes, other income (loss), interest and investment income, interest expense, depreciation and amortization expense and gains on sales of assets of $149 million to $279 million;
• plus domestic pension expense and closed store / severance costs not included in Adjusted EBITDA of $21 million.
In the first quarter of 2010, we reported Adjusted EBITDA of $304 million (domestic of $257 million and Sears Canada of $47 million). For further discussion of the reconciling items, see the Company's press release on fourth quarter and full year 2010 results issued on February 24, 2011.
During the first quarter, we have repurchased 1.2 million of our common shares at a total cost of $101 million, an average price of $81.61 per share, under our share repurchase program. At April 30, 2011, we had $86 million of remaining authorization under our common share repurchase program.
The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has approved the repurchase of up to an additional $500 million of the Company's common shares. This authorization is in addition to the $86 million worth of shares that remain available for repurchase under the Company's existing repurchase program. The shares are expected to be purchased in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. Timing will be dependent on prevailing market conditions, alternative uses of capital and other factors. The Company has repurchased approximately 56.9 million of the Company's common shares at a total cost of $5.9 billion since the third quarter of fiscal 2005, when Holdings' repurchase plan was first approved.
As previously announced, we expect to release first quarter results on or about May 19, 2011.
Today, the PTA market plunged by US$ 40/ton in Asian market. In China, Zhengzhou PTA futures opened low in today's early trading. PTA contract opened around RMB 10500/ton but before closing it went down to RMB 9890-10050/ton.
For decline in the market, experts mainly blamed overnight decline in crude oil and cotton futures.
In recent past, the Chinese central bank also announced raise in interest rates to curb inflation, and the rumours of cut in textile and garment export tax rebate, has also increased business panic, which may also be major reasons for bearish PTA fundamentals.
Fundamentally, the basic needs of the market can still be maintained, but generally it would be difficult for the market environment of price pairs to provide strong support for PTA, and policy efforts to increase power rationing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, high interest rates, moreover poor demand from downstream is difficult to see more growth in the market outlook.
Since, the beginning of the May-2011, Asian PTA price was stable and was assessed in the range of US$ 1325/ton to US$ 1335/ton. In F E Asian region, PTA was quoted at US$ 1335/ton.
In Indian market, PTA stood around US$ 1340/ton. In Chinese market, price of PTA declined in the range of RMB 10500/ton to RMB 10550/ton. Allied raw material of polyester, MEG declined by RMB 200/ton and prices were assessed in the range of RMB 8550/ ton to RMB 8600/ton.
With three months ahead, worldwide exhibitors are preparing actively for their participation at ShanghaiTex 2011 which will be held on June 14-17, 2011. China is viewed as one of the fastest economic growth regions in the world. The market has huge domestic demand for textile and clothes. Exhibitors take advantage of Shanghaitex's geographical location and its long history in China to expand their market shares, pitch new buyers and maintain customer relationship.
While the Knitting and Hosiery zone is always in the spotlight at ShanghaiTex, Printing, Dyeing and Finishing Machinery will be another most popular product category this year, with Swiss manufacturer Santex being a key exhibitor on top of Benninger, also from Switzerland.
Santex has planned to extend its production projects in Asia with improved technology know-how in textile finishing. Meanwhile, the company has invested into new coating technology after seeing a growing demand for such system.
ATA Journal visited Santex's headquarters in Switzerland and spoke to the company's CEO, Antonio Staffoni. Mr Staffoni said, "We have a two-legged development model. China is located at the heart of Asian market, while in Europe we produce a lot of highly customized machines. Here in Switzerland, we focus on production and design of machines for technical textiles, composites, and textile finishing. We have a plan to improve the production in China for Asia market by strengthening the technology know-how in our factories."
There are two divisions of Santex's products, with one for Textile Finishing Machinery and the other one for Coating & Laminating Machinery. Textile Finishing Machinery is the core of Santex's business in Asia; about 80% of such products are made in China for Asia. Because of this, they are investing in its factory in Shanghai. The location there allows Santex to be faster to the market, more efficient in servicing their customers in the Far East and, in general, more competitive.
With the Coating and Laminating Machinery division, also known as "Cavitec", Santex offers three types of products: nonwovens, technical textiles and pre-impregnation of composites for the aerospace and electronics industry. This will be mainly to be showcased in Europe.
In regard to business performance, Mr Staffoni said, "The market situation this year (2010) has been much better than last year: turnover is higher than 2008 and Santex are going to close books with very good figures, the best result in many years."
Looking back at the recent crisis (between 2008 and 2009), Mr Staffoni told ATA Journal that the team was cautious enough not to be caught off guard. They did not need to downsize at all, having closed the manufacturing facility in Italy the year before the crisis, and keeping engineering and manufacturing ability intact in Switzerland allowed them to take the maximum benefit from the recovery in 2010.
Mr Staffoni supplemented that Santex will focus on customers at ShanghaiTex 2011 for service, sales, business and to keep in touch in general.
In addition to Santex, visitors to ShanghaiTex 2011 can also find Hong Kong's Fong's and Gofront, Germany's Thies, Denmark's Danfoss, Italy's Brazzoli, Korea's IL Sung, etc. in the Printing, Dyeing, Finishing Machinery & Textile Chemicals Zone. Online registration for ShanghaiTex 2011 is now open for visitors. Visitors can also enter a lucky draw for an opportunity to win hotel accommodation during Jun 14-17, 2011.
April 8 at the 2011 Spring Guangdong • China's Liuhua second big show of Fashion Week - 2011 U.S. fashion designer brand conference in Guangzhou, Liuhua Hall 5 staged from the U.S. Nikki Chu, Dom Blu Hollywood, Robb Havassy, J. Steger, Idol Mind brought in five designer full of "atmosphere of California," American casual wear, fresh sense of blowing, impressive.
The first appearance of the brand is Havassy, a surf-themed casual wear brand, brand founder Robb Havassy, fans he was known as "water", he in the international sports brands is a very popular artist. In this conference, his "sunshine, beach, waves, sky and water" as its theme, hand-painted surfboards, colorful swimsuits, sandals, pulley with the ocean waves crashing in the background and a strong music video to express the California way of life. The men's products to surf the elements of creative hand-painted textures to materials, textures applied to T-shirts, shirts, casual shorts, the ease; a variant of the human form also printed pattern of expression, throughout the various products into a flexible, The series makes the product very strong sense.
The second appearance of the brand is Dom Blu Hollywood, a cotton as a carrier, promote environmental protection in the leisure brands. Scarf, hat, long cloak impressive fabric is soft and comfortable and gives the first impression of the brand, the brand for all products LOGO main textures. Brand designer Michael Francesco and Seth Sewis, they all do our utmost commitment to protect the planet, or even products in their suits are a number of organic materials used. Dom Blu Hollywood retro brand of men's suits to the main brand's flagship store in California, they hope to open up China's retail market. They also produce a range of printed T shirt Hollywood elements. This pattern is very unique, I believe the wholesale market in China will have great potential. Currently, they are looking for Chinese manufacturers with opportunities for cooperation.
The third appearance is the Idol Mind, a senior from Los Angeles clothing brand, which uses high-quality worsted fabric washing and creative art materials. Idol Mind advantage of the brand's market mature product design, every product is well thought, fully in line with market demand, who ran the creative design is not eye-catching bright spot, but the product is simple and attention to detail, beyond the traditional clothing . Idol Mind offers exciting products to those consumers demand more sophisticated fashion. Idol Mind is the second mounted the stage of the fashion week in Guangdong, the China, the opportunity for retail stores to open their first goal is to find interested agents for their brand or business partner to open up the domestic market or individual is their second goal.
The fourth appearance of the brand is J. Steger, a break people's understanding of the traditional boundaries of the classical avant-garde haute couture brands. Jason Steger as the brand's chief designer, he thinks we live in a very fashion forward in time, has no factors that can restrict design freedom, and style are subject to change, people are constantly in search of new ideas. His design theory and design with is amazing, he is now focused on the design of each stretch to the limit. The release of the spring and summer products for street style, from jackets to sweaters, jeans, and his enthusiasm and efforts, was demonstrated in the top of each piece, his product is so irresistible, because both the classic and retro are very suitable for the needs of customers.
The fifth appearance of the brand is Nikki Chu, Nikki Chu, founder of the brand is a well-known in Hollywood, celebrity fashion. A lot of movie stars, sports stars, fashion brands and supermodel are her customers; she was President Barack Obama for his daughter, Queen's hand-picked designer decorated rooms. Her own brand "Nikki Chu" currently has two product lines, one is on the clothing, clothing accessories, handbags; another one is the furniture line. Nikki Chu is the senior women's series, the retro body and elegant dress in full collection shows off the beauty of women, while noble filling.
In this fashion week, which held five U.S. brands in addition to the conference on April 10-11 will be in the city of Guangzhou International Fashion Cotton Tree Drive will be held in a static order, with the intention to cooperate in the fabric business, the clothing brand operating companies and other business negotiation.
In the last one week, price decline in polyester value chain is drastic because of, interest rate hike by the Chinese central bank. Earlier it was predicted that Central Bank of China, would go slow on change in the interest rates.
Moreover, the unemployment data of USA turned better. Also tension in the oil-producing regions, and further price hike in crude oil added bearish undertones in the market as downstream buyers stayed aside as they could not pass the price hike to their clients.
In the last few days in fiber market, PTA and MEG spot prices fell and semi-dull polyester chips, large bright polyester chip prices too declined, while CDP chip prices stable, PET bottle chip prices faced minor correction.
For S D PET Chip, the mainstream price was at RMB 13,450/ton, bright PET Chip was at RMB 13400/ton. PET bottle chip markets in general witnessed transaction price of RMB 14100/ton.
PTA spot market imports recorded flat and subdued trading atmosphere, Taiwan cargo was offered at $1,530 / ton, negotiations were $1510-1515 / ton, while sales concluded around $1,520 / ton. Talks for Korean goods stood around $1500-1510 / ton.
The Chinese market underwent a small holiday season and limited power supply added fuel to the sluggish demand. Coupled with bearish upstream PX, PTA prices fell as supply side turned normal. Speculators also held their decision, as market outlook was confused.
The Coimbatore based Jagannath Textile Company Limited, a fast-growing integrated textiles manufacturing company has opened the country's largest Exclusive Brand Outlet (EBO) for men's innerwear under its popular brand name 'Crusoe'.
The 1750 sq.ft store located in Coimbatore will be one of its kind in the premium innerwear category for men. This is Crusoe's first Exclusive Brand Outlet, a concept store, attempting to bring out the character of the brand through a retail environment.
Crusoe's brand imagery of being adventurous was taken as the 'essence' and funneled in the design of retail elements inside the store. The store design revolves around being adventurous.
Fixtures, furniture, ceiling, lighting, shelving, window display etc all are derived from elements of 'adventure sports' and are showcased accordingly. For example Skateboards form shelves for merchandise and kayaks form lighting in ceiling.
All graphics and imagery project the brand attitude and reinforces the brand promise and communication. The store will provide the customer a unique brand experience and an adventurous ambience, true to its brand identity of appealing to an younger audience. Crusoe targets young customers in the age group of 16-35 years.
The company has also drawn up aggressive expansion plans pan-India with the roll-out of such EBOs across cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh etc this financial year.
The Company plans to open 100 EBOs across the country in the next five years. Speaking on the occasion Mr Ramesh Kumar Tibrewal, Managing Director, Jagannath Textile Company Ltd, said "The Men's innerwear market in the country is a burgeoning segment. Customers today have become brand conscious and demand Style, Comfort and unique designs.
"We are fully geared up and poised to utilize this opportunity to grow and have ambitious plans to penetrate markets across the country. Our flagship store being launched in Coimbatore has been done on international lines and international standards.
"This will set Crusoe as an international brand in times to come. With this store design, Crusoe will be able to set benchmark of this category retail in India and perhaps outside India very soon."
The branded men's innerwear market is pegged at Rs. 5500 crores and is growing at a rate of 20% annually. The premium segment is poised to grow by 30% over the next five years. Now there are a good number of players in the market and a few more are entering.
About Jagannath Textiles Ltd -
The Coimbatore based company is a manufacturer of superior quality multi-variety yarns, Fabrics, Home Textiles and Apparels. The company is promoted by Mr Ramesh Kumar Tibrewal, a first generation entrepreneur, who started the company to process cotton waste and has now steered its growth to establish the company as an integrated manufacturer of textiles, within a decade of existence.
The company's brand, Crusoe is a fast growing and a popular name in the men's innerwear segment. The Company has a state of the art fully automated plant located near Coimbatore over a 50 acre area. For the FY 2010-11, the Company has clocked a turnover of Rs 350 crores
After a fantastic Season 3 in February, Fashion Mavericks is back with another dose of fresh talent this September during London Fashion Week from Friday 16th – 21st September 2011 and is located at Somerset House, WC2.
September's edition of Fashion Mavericks will once again host a number designers across two days during London Fashion Week.
Showcasing at Fashion Mavericks allows designers to have a presence during one of the most important dates during the fashion calendar, drive brand awareness, create a buzz around their brand, meet industry specialists, use the event as a platform to launch and a perfect opportunity to enlist and work with a PR firm to take advantage of inviting key guests to their very own solo catwalk show tailored to the designers needs.
Season 4 as always will continue with the aim of providing a platform for new and independent designers.
VLOV Inc, which designs, sources and markets VLOV-brand fashion-forward apparel for men aged 18-45 in the People's Republic of China, announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010.
Qingqing Wu, Chairman and CEO of VLOV, commented, "The strength of our fourth quarter financial results is attributable to our continuing efforts to offer more upscale products, with an emphasis on higher margin goods. Our Spring sales fair, held in December, met with exceptional response from our distributors, resulting in higher than anticipated orders at the end of the fourth quarter. At the same time, we have maintained a sharp focus on controlling costs, which helped drive operating margins of 23.5%."
"In the third quarter of 2010 we began to outsource 100% of our manufacturing, which allows the Company to focus more resources on design, marketing and advertising. As part of this initiative, our distributors continue to be very supportive by closing counter- and concession-type points of sale and opening stand-alone VLOV stores that more effectively showcase our enhanced, premium brand image. We are confident this strategy will enable the Company to generate improved gross profit and gross margin over the long-term. As of December 31, 2010, our distributors operated 526 POS and 36 stand-alone store locations.
Results for the year ended December 31, 2010 vs. the year ended December 31, 2009
Net Sales (amounts in thousands, in U.S. Dollars, except for percentages)
Net sales were $73,834 for the year ended December 31, 2010 compared with $64,343 for 2009, an increase of $9,491 or 14.75%. We generate revenue primarily from the sales of our apparel to our distributors, who retail them throughout northern, central and southern China. These retail locations, also known as points of sales ("POS"), include counters, concessions, stand-alone stores and store-in-stores.
We design and create samples, which are presented to our distributors at our biannual previews for their selection and purchase based on what they believe will sell most effectively in their POS. Additionally, we set guidelines for our distributors as to how our products are to be advertised and displayed.
We believe that our sales are driven by marketing and advertising as well as by creating fashionable designs. We do not own or operate any VLOV retail locations ourselves; the POS are established and owned by our distributors, each of whom operates its network of POS directly or through third-party retail operators. The increase in our sales was primarily attributable to increased sales in the Shandong, Liaoning, Sichuan and Fujian Provinces, as well as increased advertising.
We have continued to upscale our product offerings to our distributors and have been working with our distributors to sell our products primarily via stand-alone stores and store-in-stores and not through counters and concessions as we believe that stand-alone stores and store-in-stores strengthen our brand image with consumers. In this regard, our distributors have collectively closed more than 200 counters and concessions since March 31, 2010 and have opened 36 stand-alone stores as of December 31, 2010 that reflect our upscale brand image.
During the third quarter of 2010 we began to fully outsource our manufacturing to third parties. Our products are manufactured on our behalf, based on orders for our products that we receive from our distributors, which orders are based on the clothing samples we design and create.
Historically, we outsourced to two types of manufacturers: (1) sub-contractors, which require us to provide them with the raw materials for our products, and (2) O.E.M. manufacturers, which supply their own raw materials. Beginning in 2009, we have shifted our outsourcing entirely to O.E.M. manufacturers.
As we shifted away from sub-contract manufacturing and manufacturing product ourselves entirely to O.E.M. manufacturing in 2010, the components of our cost of sales have correspondingly shifted. Raw material costs accounted for 1.50%, of our total net sales in 2010, compared with 4.72% in 2009. With the shift to O.E.M. manufacturing, O.E.M. finished goods cost, representing our purchase of finished products from the O.E.M. manufacturers, correspondingly increased accounting for 57.37% of our total net sales in 2010, compared with 56.89% in 2009.
Labor cost accounted for 0.38% of our total net sales in 2010, compared with 1.82% in 2009. The decrease was primarily attributable to our increase in outsourcing our manufacturing to third parties.
Overhead and other expenses were 0.16% of our total net sales in 2010, compared with 0.42% for 2009. The decrease was primarily attributable to our increase in outsourcing our manufacturing to third parties.
Total cost of sales for 2010 was $43,863, an increase of 6.77% from $41,080 for 2009. As a percentage of total net sales, our cost of sales decreased to 59.41% of total net sales for 2010, down from 63.85% of total net sales for 2009. Consequently, gross margin as a percentage of total net sales increased to 40.59% for 2010 from 36.15% for 2009. Our gross margin increased due to the increased outsourcing of our manufacturing to third parties as well as focusing production and marketing on higher margin items such as suits, down jackets and leather jackets.
