Sinking: beer sales, beer stocks

Price cutting seems to be one approach to maintaining or building share. Unfortunately, the domestic price war is adversely impacting margins and profits - especially now that fuel, utility and commodity costs are on the rise. SABMiller recently cited the combination of higher costs and aggressive pricing as reasons for its disappointing first quarter.

SABMiller has launched a new ad campaign for Miller Genuine Draft in an attempt to appeal to a more sophisticated customer. Busch is also forging ahead with its own campaign designed to get consumers to switch from wine and spirits back to beer. Not to be left behind, executives at Molson Coors Brewing (TAP, news, msgs) recently noted that brand building was an essential part of revitalizing sales growth. The company is focusing on new packaging and labels.

That costs money. So in addition to rising fuel, utility and commodity costs, you can probably add increased marketing expenses.

Read on to see what they're doing to try to win back market share and boost growth.

Yes, it's sth we learned about.

Happy June holidays!

World Fair Trade Day

Each year, on the second Saturday of May, World Fair Trade Day is celebrated. The main organizer of events is the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT), in which 256 fair trade organizations from 60 countries all across the world participate. These are mainly (65%) in the particularly disadvantaged countries of the southern hemisphere. The organization's mission is to promote the trade "based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity." The participants, as they state on their website, strive for the following things:

-Creating opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers
-transparency and accountability
-Capacity building
-Payment of a fair price
-Gender equity
-Improved Working conditions
-The environment

World Fair Trade Day was first celebrated in 2005. It developed from the European Worldshop Day that began in 1996 and is still organized.

The year 2005 (May 14th) chosen theme Fair Trade is Peace reminds us of the role that development and the equity trade can play in the peace efforts. The attention is centered on a wide range of Fair Trade products, like coffee, tea, jewelery, clothes and handicrafts.

In 2006, World Fair Trade Day is on May 13, and the year's theme will focus on the unique role of Fair Trade Organisations.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Fair_Trade_Day

Visit http://www.wftday.org/ for more information. =)

Jean

The Hidden Risks of Cash

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P149139.asp?GT1=8007

Cash has its place in your portfolio, particularly for short-run diversification. But over time, it's not a safe haven and it's no match for bonds.

Excerpt:
But whether or not an investment suffers a loss from one year to the next isn’t the only measure of risk. There’s the risk of shortfall, volatility and inflation. And some of these risks don’t stay constant. Their severity changes depending on how long an investor plans to hold an investment.

McDonald's wants a digital-age makeover

All-things-plastic interiors will be replaced with comfy chairs and an iPod-like look, but Ronald McDonald and the golden arches get to stick around.

Excerpts:

'Think iPod'
The dining area will be separated into three sections with distinct personalities. The "linger" zone will offer comfortable armchairs, sofas, and Wi-Fi connections. "The focus is on young adults who want to socialize, hang out, and linger," says Dixon. Brand consultant Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a brand consulting firm, says that Starbucks has raised the bar: "A level has been set by Starbucks, which offers the experience of relaxed chairs and a clean environment where people feel comfortable hanging out even if it's just over a cup of coffee."

The "grab and go" zone will feature tall counters with bar stools for customers who eat alone; plasma TVs will offer them news and weather reports. And in the "flexible" zone, families will have booths featuring fabric cushions with colorful patterns and flexible seating. The new design allows different music to be targeted to each zone.

A 21st-century look is expensive
McDonald's won't confirm the cost of a redesign. Richard Adams, a former franchisee and consultant to current owners, estimates they will have to pay $300,000 to $400,000 to renovate an existing outlet -- an amount roughly equal to a restaurant's annual profit. Tearing down a store and rebuilding from scratch could cost $1 million, Adams says. The franchisees will have to pay for the renovations themselves, which has some of them seething. "Many franchisees are dead set against this change, especially because they already spent millions remodeling their restaurants in the past four years," says Adams.

In a recent letter to management at the company's headquarters in Oak Brook, about 160 franchisees from North Carolina spelled out why they oppose the new plan. They say the roof change erases 40 years of brand building and that "there has been no business case presented which justifies the change." Says Frederick Huebner, who owns 11 McDonald's in North Carolina: "We don't want to lose the iconic look of what we've got." If franchisees balk, McDonald's can refuse to renew their contract.

Right now, only 20 recently opened restaurants in the U.S. sport the makeover in its entirety. Another 20, primarily in Tulsa, Okla., and Columbus, Ohio, have been completely remodeled. All brand-new restaurants will have to hew to the redesign blueprints, and by the end of 2006, more than half of the 13,720 U.S. restaurants will feature some element of the design. Says Gensler's Bricker: "It's something that McDonald's has to do if it wants to be part of the 21st century."

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P150732.asp?GT1=8180

Profit from the Shrinking Dollar

The dollar's got big problems. But investors can get ahead by buying into U.S. companies that profit abroad and foreign stocks that pay dividends. Here are some of the best bets.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P150385.asp?GT1=8180

Branding and the Pope

Does the Pope Wear Prada?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114591920439834611-OtBN7F_qbGxt2YstGeEXX1WoMzQ_20060524.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Excerpt:
A senior Vatican official who asked not to be named says that when it comes to worldly goods, Benedict XVI's choice of personal accessories is "completely arbitrary."

The official adds: "He's aware of the buzz, but mostly he laughs about it, because it's so absurd. What does he really have to choose? He doesn't wear a tie or coat. The glasses he wears are the same glasses he wore as a cardinal, as is the pen he writes with."

But because the pope is so lightly accessorized, brands like to be associated with him all the more.

Bodman sees up to three years of fuel pain

Gasoline prices have soared an average of 60 cents a gallon in less than a month because suppliers are unable to keep up with demand, a situation that could persist up to three more years, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Sunday.

Bodman said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the shortfall was a sign of a stronger economy under President Bush, but he acknowledged that, at least for now, “the suppliers have lost control of the market.”

“The oil has gone up because the suppliers are unable to make the flows equal to the demand,” he said. “... Clearly, it’s going to be a number of years, maybe two to three years, before suppliers are going to be able to keep up with those demands.”

Continue reading at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12531620/. Very valuable info! e.g.
Taxes on oil companies?

Where did my paperboy go?

WASHINGTON - A young teen riding his bike at dawn reaches into his shoulder bag, grabs a tightly folded newspaper and deftly throws it to the front steps.

It’s an image as American as apple pie, but the paperboy has gone the way of the milkman.

Today’s papers usually arrive by anonymous drive-and-toss. For reasons including the demise of afternoon papers, a shift to centralised distribution and earlier delivery deadlines, adults in cars now make up 81 percent of the country’s newspaper carriers.
...
As recently as 1994, more than half of newspaper carriers — 57 percent — were under 18, often neighborhood kids, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

As the job moved into the hands of grown-up independent contractors, who don’t come to the door for payment anymore, many bemoan the lost sense of community in which the paperboy played a unique role. Also lost is an opportunity that gave children as young as 10 business skills.
...
President Truman, actors John Wayne and Bob Hope, and baseball star Willie Mays all had paper routes when they were young. So did TV journalist Tom Brokaw, cartoon great Walt Disney and investment whiz Warren Buffett.

Teens and tweens really started delivering America’s papers in the postwar era, NAA Vice President John Murray said. Boys had hawked newspapers on city street corners, and as customers moved to the suburbs, it was a natural fit.

“They were appealing, tenacious and would work in a small window of time,” Murray said. In return, delivering papers rewarded kids “relatively speaking, handsomely.”

...
Yet this return to youth carriers is an alternative not open to many morning papers. In Bloomington, Ill., The Pantagraph employs about 200 young people in its carrier force of 480. Circulation director Bill Hertter says it’s tough these days to find teens willing to deliver the morning paper by 6 a.m. every day.

“Money is too available,” he said. “Why would they want another five, 10 bucks when they have everything?”

Read more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12485231/page/2/