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Personal Finance Tech

$1.5 million yacht attracts crowds

A crowd of curious people lined up Saturday to visit the $1.5 million luxury yacht that sits in the middle of Place Bonaventure.

“We could never afford something like that, but it’s good to dream from time to time!” Said Micheline Paré, a passionate fisherman and boater.

The Cruiser Cantius 45 is the most expensive and impressive boat ever presented at the Boat and Watersports Show held this weekend in Montreal.

Measuring 45 feet long and 14 feet high, the yacht almost did not pass through the garage door leading to the showroom.

“There was an inch between the boat and the top of the door. We can not go bigger than that, “said Alain Roy, General Manager of the Quebec Maritime Association (QMA).

“Like an apartment”

With its two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room and spacious cockpit, the Cruiser Cantius 45 is enough to enthuse water sports enthusiasts. The boat is even equipped with a washer, dryer, electric stove, microwave and a flat screen TV.

“He’s completely autonomous in energy, it’s the first time I see that,” said Roy. There is a generator inside, so it can run on electricity, whether for sound, air conditioning, etc. ”

“It’s just like an apartment: you can live in there,” he continued. With a boat like that, you can go to Florida, navigate the Great Lakes … there are no limits! ”

Despite the staggering price of the yacht, several serious potential buyers have already appeared at the show, according to Alain Roy.

Night in the yacht

A Mercier couple in Montérégie, for their part, had the chance to sleep inside the Cruiser Cantius 45 last night, thanks to a competition organized by the Boat Show. Jean Béchard and his wife were able to visit the exhibition at their own pace, just the two of them.

“I love boats since I was young, so it will be special to spend the night in such a luxurious boat,” Béchard said Saturday.

“Right now, I have a 32-foot, but I hope to be able to get a yacht like this one someday. But it will not be tomorrow morning! “Added the 53-year-old with a laugh. The watercraft celebrates 50 years

Twice as fast as it was created, the watercraft has become, over the decades, a machine at the cutting edge of technology.

“There is almost nothing that has stayed the same over time. Now, everything works electronically, while the first PWCs were mechanical, “says Simon Boucher, Product Specialist at BRP.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the watercraft, the Quebec company BRP is presenting this weekend, at the Boat and Watersports Show, the first jet watercraft ever marketed.

Launched in 1968, the yellow and black Sea-Doo watercraft was equipped with a 18 horsepower engine and was designed to reach a speed of about 45 km / h.

“But by that time, sales had not risen, so Bombardier stopped marketing the watercraft a few years later,” says Boucher.

It was only in 1988, 20 years later, that the “modern” watercraft was born, causing a major craze in the world of water sports.

Today, BRP’s fastest watercraft boast 300 horsepower and can reach 105 km / h. Their V-shaped hull makes them much more ergonomic and their four-stroke engines are quieter and more fuel-efficient.

“And of course, we have integrated technology into vehicles,” says Simon Boucher. You can have a fully waterproof Bluetooth sound system and storage for your cell phone with built-in USB charger. “

Categories
Economy

Demers Ambulances acquires American manufacturer Braun Industries

The Quebec ambulance manufacturer Demers Ambulances doubles its size by acquiring the American company Braun Industries, to which it merges. This transaction allows him to become the second North American player in this sector.

Under this deal announced Friday, whose financial details have not been disclosed, Demers, founded in 1960, will generate an estimated annual turnover of $ 200 million.

The merged company will be managed from Belœil by the president and CEO of Demers, Alain Brunelle, but the two manufacturers will retain their respective brands, identities, facilities and employees.

“Our products are complementary,” Brunelle said in a telephone interview. This is an advantage for dealers and customers. Both brands will continue to grow together “.

Braun’s operations in Van Wert, Ohio, will continue to be led by its current president, Kim Braun. The combined entity is expected to have more than 500 employees on both sides of the border.

Strategic plan

The transaction stems from the development plan put in place after the arrival of Clearspring Capital Partners and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) within the shareholding of the Quebec ambulance manufacturer in 2016.

“It’s been four or five years since we ran into Braun as a competitor,” said Brunelle. After the transaction with our partners, the strategic plan was put in place and we started discussing with Braun last year. ”

For her part, Ms. Braun felt that the moment was “right” for her company, which was founded in 1972, to partner with Demers, which shares common values ​​in terms of innovation and customer service. customers, among others.

The CDPQ pointed out that this transaction will allow both companies to continue their growth “on both sides of the border”.

“We are convinced that the complementarity that exists between these two companies will provide important synergies that will benefit everyone,” said its first vice-president, Quebec, Christian Dubé, in a statement.

In January, Demers Ambulances made a breakthrough in the United States by winning an order for 60 vehicles from Texas-based MedStar Mobile Healthcare.

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Economy

The big economies of the world are growing again

A decade after the world fell into a devastating economic crisis, it has finally reached a turning point for a revival. The main economies of the planet are expanding and a wave of growth is creating jobs with which the luck of the people begins to improve and the fears of popular discontent are tempered.

There is not a single generalized explanation about how the world finally escaped the global recession. The momentum in the United States is partly due to increased government spending during the Barack Obama administration and a recent tax cut of $ 1.5 billion. In Europe it seems that the effects of the central bank issuing so much money were finally felt.

In general terms, the improvement is due less to the fact that a new source of wealth has been found than to the simple fact that many of the destructive forces that toppled growth have finally run out of power.

The global recovery is far from having an accelerated pace and geopolitical risks threaten to end it. Many economists are skeptical that the benefits of growth go beyond the educated, wealthy and politically connected class that has captured most of the booty in many countries, while much of the working class and other workers have lagged behind. stagnant wages despite the fact that unemployment rates have plummeted.

Even so, the fact that the economy of the important areas of the globe is expanding is a source of optimism. There is no guarantee that this expansive phase will bring greater economic equality; however, it now feels similar to the start of an evolving growth that will bolster wages and increase the security of middle-class lives.

“Now the world depends less on a few stars,” said Barret Kupelian, senior economist at the London office of global accounting and consulting firm PwC. “If something bad happens in an economy, the fact that global growth has spread gives assurance that this is more sustainable.”

The United States, the world’s largest economy, is in its ninth year of growth; The International Monetary Fund has raised its expectations of expansion to 2.7 percent for this year, when earlier it had forecast 2.3 percent, due to tax cuts.

China has allayed fears that there was an abrupt interruption in its growth trajectory, which has been going on for decades. Europe, until recently dismissed as anemic and affected to a point beyond remedy by political dysfunction, is emerging as one of the leaders of growth. Even Japan, synonymous with decline for a long time, is now expanding.

The rise in oil prices has given encouragement to producers in Russia and the Middle East, while Mexico has so far overcome fears that the trade rhetoric of the Donald Trump government will negatively affect its economy. Brazil, which still suffers the effects of an economic depression, shows signs that it is recovering.

The result is a hopeful recovery, although fragile and vulnerable to the increasingly unpredictable preferences and decisions of world leaders.

The threats of nuclear annihilation exchanged by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have sown fears. The pending departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union may end up happening without an agreement for all the issues under discussion, which would subject Europe to a great uncertainty about the rules of trade, especially in the field of finance. In addition, the confusion generated by Trump’s intermittent promises to end the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA ) while unleashing a trade war with China feeds the risk of derailing growth.

“We used to operate under the idea that Western markets are politically stable and border markets are risky,” said Martin Scheepbouwer, executive director of the OLX Group, which operates online advertising platforms in 41 countries. “Today, with brexit in Europe and the presidency in the United States, there is a new level of instability that hangs over the economy. That is something that worries us. ”

The world economy is expected to grow 3.9 percent this year and next, according to the IMF, compared to 3.7 last year and 3.2 in 2016. This is positive. However, in the years before the crisis, global growth generally exceeded four percent.

The World Economic Forum recently published an assessment of risk factors, based on a survey of a thousand experts, in which 93 percent of respondents observed a greater threat of political or economic confrontations. About 79 percent were concerned about the increased likelihood of a military conflict and 73 percent saw an increase in the risk of erosion of global trade rules.

The report also warned of rising economic inequality, growing threats to cybersecurity and the increased incidence of extreme weather fueled by climate change.

“Many of these risks are becoming increasingly systemic,” said Margareta Drzeniek Hanouz, an economist at the World Economic Forum, adding that they threaten to bring “catastrophic consequences for humanity and the economy.”

Although global companies are cautiously optimistic that good times can last.

In Poland and Brazil, online job listings are increasing, according to OLX, a clear indication of growth. Across Europe, real estate advertising for homes for sale has more than doubled that of rental properties, another sign that people operate with more money. As the recovery has spread, factories in Eastern Europe have been filled with orders. Automotive plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Romania are sending more cars to Germany, France and the Netherlands.

“We are investing heavily in Asia and also in Africa, because the population growth there is stronger,” said DMS executive director Feike Sijbesma, a Dutch multinational company that manufactures food products and has just opened a factory in Rwanda. “Africa, which was always the forgotten continent, is no longer”.

The favorable situation in Europe and the growth of the United States have also led to the Chinese industry having a still frenetic activity to meet the demand for products, from auto parts to tools and clothing. More factory production has raised prices of raw materials and increased the income of copper producers in Chile and Indonesia, gold mines in South Africa and silver operations in Sweden.

The biggest worry comes from Washington, where the Trump administration has often promised to punish Mexico and China for their unbalanced trade balances with the United States.

“You get into a commercial war, that’s the real concern,” said Ben May, a global economist at Oxford Economics in London. “The impacts on global growth would be quite severe.”

Categories
Markets Tech

Yellow Pages Reports Huge Four Quarter Loss

increased its loss to $586.3 million or $22.33 per share in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $431.6 million or $16.35 per share last year.

Net losses in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2016 are mainly attributed to charges of $507 million and $600 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2016, respectively, related to the write-down of intangible assets and goodwill.

Quarterly revenues increased from 202.7 million a year ago to 183.8 million this year.

This 9.4% decline is mainly attributed to lower print revenues in the YP sector. Media revenues and digital solutions totaled $137 million, down 4.3% from the same period last year due to decreases in the YP segment.

Printed revenues decreased 21.6% year-over-year to $46.7 million as a result of a decline in print media customers resulting from the transition of marketing expenses printed to digital marketing.

Total revenue decreased 8.8% year-over-year to $745.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2017, primarily due to lower print revenues .

The net loss was $589.3 million, a diluted loss of $22.32 per share for the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to a net loss of $403.7 million, a diluted loss of 15, $ 23 per share for the corresponding period last year.

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Personal Finance

It’s the end for Sears Canada

Sears stores across the country closed permanently on Sunday night.

The saga of the Sears bankruptcy has been making headlines for over a year now.

For many consumers, this includes the store responsible for the maintenance of their appliances. Their home maintenance service was one of the jewels of the company during its glory years. However, the extended warranties purchased from Sears are no longer valid since October 18.

And for many people, especially those who lived in remote areas of major centers, it was “the catalog store.” In the past, thanks to its remote controls, the Christmas catalog made children dream .

It is perhaps also surprising that a store that had its best years thanks to remote controls could not adapt to the expansion of online business, according to Jean-François Ouellet, professor Associate at HEC Montréal.

It’s a little paradoxical because Sears was the historic champion of remote, phone and catalog orders … It would have been natural for Sears to migrate to online commerce, but it’s a change that she did not do it fast enough.

Jean-François Ouellet, Associate Professor at HEC Montréal

Mr. Ouellet is not the only one to believe that Sears was a victim of online commerce. This is also the opinion of Jean-Claude Poitras , a marketing professor at the New Brunswick Community College in Dieppe (NBCC).

It was not until 2012 that Sears announced it had implemented a strategy to improve its online presence.

Less than two years later, Sears Canada’s parent company announced that more than 1,600 positions were abolished .

Then, in June 2017, Sears Canada was sheltered from its creditors .

Sears employees have been the hardest hit by the closure of stores across the country. In July, some employees claimed that Sears had stopped meeting its commitments to them .

The news that the company’s managers had paid generous bonuses despite the layoff of thousands of employees had also outraged part of the population, leading to a boycott campaign of the company.

In October, a former 100-year-old employee of the company lost her benefits because of the bankruptcy of the retail giant. Lisa Okill, a resident of Moncton, New Brunswick, lost her life insurance and sickness benefit program .

And in the end, even the management of liquidation sales had angered consumers. For example, a mother in Ontario had noticed in October that some of the liquidation prices, posted with stickers, were higher than the original prices found under the stickers.

In total, nearly 12,000 people from coast to coast will have lost their jobs.

Sears stores have been present in Canada since 1953.

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