Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Resolute Idles Fort Frances Kraft Mill

Resolute announces indefinite idling of Fort Frances kraft mill
Resolute Forest Products recently announced the indefinite idling of the kraft mill and paper machine number 5 (PM5) at its pulp and paper operation in Fort Frances, Ontario. The kraft mill has an annual production capacity of approximately 200,000 metric tons of market pulp, while PM5 has an annual capacity of 105,000 metric tons of groundwood specialty printing papers. "The markets for these products are challenging and are expected to remain so. The kraft mill situation is particularly difficult given Fort Frances' operating configuration and the recent decision by a key customer to stop consuming the pulp supplied by Resolute to its mill," said Resolute's President and Chief Executive Officer, Richard Garneau. "Our kraft mill's drying capacity is limited to about 40 percent of its production capacity, making it impossible to continue operating the mill in a profitable manner." Resolute is exploring alternative product possibilities for its Fort Frances pulp mill, which will be idled in a manner that will protect the equipment. The idling of PM5 is driven by the decrease in consumption as well as the high value of the Canadian dollar." PM5 will also continue to operate until late November. Approximately 239 employees will be impacted by the idling.

DMA-Marketers Bullish On Growth

DMA finds marketers bullish on growth of digital and direct marketing: Seventy-five percent of marketers said they are bullish about growth prospects for digital and direct marketing, according to the Direct Marketing Association's Quarterly Business Review for the third quarter.The figure is up slightly from the second-quarter survey, in which 72% of respondents said they were bullish about growth prospects. When asked to rate their confidence in the growth of digital and direct marketing on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 representing low confidence and 5 representing high confidence), respondents gave an average score of 3.91, up slightly from 3.85 in the second quarter.

Market Outlook For Latin American Companies Mixed

Mixed 2013 market outlook for Latin American companies
Market fundaments for pulp producers are expected to be weak in 2013, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings. According to Joe Bormann, Managing Director and lead author of the report, 'Pulp prices should remain under pressure due to growth of global market pulp capacity by about 8% over a 12 months period, while demand growth should remain around 2%. For pulp producers in Latin America, free cash flow should show improvements vis-a-vis 2012, but remain negative. Capital expenses should begin to taper off after reaching high levels during 2012. Acquisitions should also decline, as companies continue to seek to improve the strength of their balance sheets.'

Finnish Forest Ind-Operating Environment Challenging

Finnish Forest Industry in January-September 2012: Operating Environment Challenging:
The production volumes of the forest-based sector decreased or remained unchanged in January-September.“The competitive ability of the Finnish forest industry is being tested to the extremes by market conditions and the constant rise in costs. Finland must retain a stronger competitive position than our rival countries, as this is the only way to ensure that forest industry operations remain viable in our country,” says Timo Jaatinen, Director General of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation. Finland produced 5.1 million tonnes of pulp in January-September, roughly the same amount as in the corresponding period of 2011. Pulp exports were up 16% to 1.9 million tonnes from the previous year.

Good Housekeeping Mag New logo

http://mrmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/and-the-winner-is-a-new-logo-look-for-good-housekeeping-starting-with-the-January-issue/
After few months of testing, Good Housekeeping magazine has settled on a new logo that it will usher nationwide with its January issue. The magazine has been testing two new logos emphasizing the word GOOD over the word Housekeeping. Last week, in an ad in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping revealed the logo that seems to have won the test.

 

'USA Today' Relaunches iPad App

'USA Today' relaunches iPad app: USA Today has relaunched its iPad app, featuring a new design and several new capabilities. The app, available from the iTunes app store, provides larger images and live video coverage.

Tablet Sales To Overtake Laptops This Season

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/187728/tablet-sales-to-overtake-laptops-this-season.html#axzz2CrkXvVqB
The “post-PC” era may not have an official starting point, but this may have to do for now. According to NPD DisplaySearch, this is the season in which tablet sales will finally outpace laptop sales in the U.S. market. Senior Analyst Richard Shim writes in the company blog this week that in Q4 tablet shipments will hit 21.5 million units -- not only matching but far surpassing the 14.6 million projected for notebook sales. “Starting in 2013 in North America, tablet shipments are expected to exceed notebook shipments on an annual basis for the first time,” he writes. On a global basis, notebooks will still out-ship tablets until 2015.

 

AAM-Ditital-Only Pubs And New Requirements

http://www.adweek.com/news/press/pubs-go-digital-only-face-new-requirements-145329
Newsweek might have been the most high-profile magazine to go digital-only, but it's probably not the last. And so the Alliance for Audited Media—as the Audit Bureau of Circulations has renamed itself—has endorsed new guidelines for print publications that go digital-only.  The new guidelines, adopted at the AAM's Nov. 14-16 board meeting, say that when a publication makes that transition, it must give subscribers the option of receiving the digital subscription; converting to another print publication; or receiving a refund for the remainder of the subscription. The Newsweek announcement was a catalyst for the move.

 

News Corp Eyes Simon & Schuster

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324851704578131420027504306.html
News Corp NWSA 0.40%., owner of HarperCollins Publishers, has expressed interest to CBS Corp. CBS -0.09% about acquiring its Simon & Schuster book business, according to people familiar with the talks.The people described the discussions as preliminary and cautioned that a deal isn't imminent. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal.

 

e-books And The Chinese e-market

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2012-11/20/content_15944008.htm
Markus Dohle, chairman and CEO of Random House, says that to fit into the global trend of digital transformation, the Chinese e-market should not get too used to low-priced content but offer e-books with a premium price that readers will buy. While the US market started with digital content and devices, and then the premium-price segment followed naturally, the Chinese market lacks such premium content.  "The Chinese market is the one with growing importance, but its existing business mode and pattern are different from any other market we're operating in," Dohle says during his first-time visit to China in late October. "Print will always be important - no matter the percentage of profit split," he says, "while digital becomes more and more important."