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Author: Marie Jones

  • Showa Denko Announces 2021 First Quarter Financial Results

    TOKYO, May 13, 2021 – (JCN Newswire) – Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; TSE:4004) today announced its 2021 first quarter financial results.

    – 2021 First Quarter Consolidated Financial Statements and Summary
    https://www.sdk.co.jp/assets/files/english/ir/library/fss2021-1q.pdf

    About Showa Denko K.K.

    Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; TSE:4004, ADR:SHWDY) is a major manufacturer of chemical products serving from heavy industry to computers and electronics. The Petrochemicals Sector provides cracker products such as ethylene and propylene, the Chemicals Sector provides industrial, high-performance and high-purity gases and chemicals for semicon and other industries, the Inorganics Sector provides ceramic products, such as alumina, abrasives, refractory/graphite electrodes and fine carbon products. The Aluminum Sector provides aluminum materials and high-value-added fabricated aluminum, the Electronics Sector provides HD media, compound semiconductors such as ultra high bright LEDs, and rare earth magnetic alloys, and the Advanced Battery Materials Department (ABM) provides lithium-ion battery components. For more information, please visit www.sdk.co.jp/english/.

    Media contact:
    Showa Denko K.K., CSR & Corporate Communication Office, Tel: +81-3-5470-3235

  • CITIC Telecom CPC wins Accolade in AI Challenge Competition

    CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (HKG:1883) today announced the winning of the Overall 1st Runner-up at the latest “AI Challenge Computer Vision – Identifying Surgical Instrument” (AI Challenge) competition. The award is a recognition of the company’s AI expertise, and reaffirm its long-term commitment to place innovation at the center of its strategy – Innovation Never Stops.

    “THE AWARD IS A TESTAMENT TO CITIC TELECOM CPC’S TEAM AND OUR PASSION FOR EXPLORING IDEAS AND CREATING UNIQUE SOLUTIONS FOR ENTERPRISES,” SAID ESMOND LI, CEO OF CITIC TELECOM CPC.

    Innovation and Intelligence – Transform the Future

    To realize our motto “Innovation Never Stops”, CITIC Telecom CPC has recently embarked on an innovative and intelligence transformation journey to cater to the changing needs of the future. At the heart of this transformation is the Intelligence and Communications Transformation MiiND (ICT-MiiND) Strategy. This strategy is guiding the company to transform from being a successful ICT solution provider into an intelligent technology-driven digitalization enabler. ICT-MiiND is also the powerhouse of the recent award-winning AI capabilities.

    Integrating the latest technologies with innovative ideas, ICT-MiiND is the brain that leads enterprises to successful digital transformation. Building intelligence through advanced container technology; together with network, information security, and cloud computing solutions experience; fused years of practical experiences in digital transformation and resources from global technical partners, ICT-MiiND has developed the company’s latest AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) platform, in which integrated with latest technologies like big data, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), internet of things (IoTs) and blockchain. Unlike other AIOps, ICT-MiiND provides different innovative and intelligent modules that integrated tailor-made and customized industry service scenarios to bring enterprises a smarter IT service management platform.

    ICT-MiiND – Embracing Intelligent Innovation

    Empowered by innovation and intelligence with smart learning and infrastructure, ICT-MiiND integrates a full stack of services data to the ICT service platform. It performs a periodic cycle of data collection, experience learning and correlation, as well as algorithmic analysis and modeling. This builds a foundation for developing perception for dynamic business scenarios through understanding time, scenarios and industry applications. By integrating this cognitive capability with the company’s practical experiences and collective knowledge, ICT-MiiND can perform deep and self-learning to develop a self-evolving power that drives dynamic and continuous advancement.

    Simply put, through cognitive thinking, digital tools and algorithms to correlate different business scenarios, ICT-MiiND develops automated, multi-dimensional analysis and assessment. ICT-MiiND can also continuously enhance its computational intelligence with machine learning and deep learning, in order to offer relevant responses that solve different business challenges and IT incidents with proactive solutions.

    • Strong AI capabilities: Riding on different innovative tools and algorithms, ICT-MiiND is developed to provide analysis in multiple layers to study existing data, review its integrity and detect missing data. Its machine learning capabilities can also identify regular IT operation patterns, align that with changing business priorities to detect different levels of business impact from any IT anomalies.
    • Simplicity and Precision: Deliver precise and comprehensive IT operation analysis through capturing a massive volume of data from different incidents to develop AI and algorithmic modules and drive intelligent operation and maintenance capabilities. Analysis in dynamic perspectives – including factors like timing, correlations, cause and effect – enables inductive analysis to identify patterns and predictive analysis to forecast progression. A combination of these capabilities enables ICT-MiiND to actively detect anomalies and analyze root cause. It also provides a comprehensive macro view of the entire operations by reducing multiple and duplicating alerts.
    • Active and comprehensive monitoring: Aiming to turn passive monitoring into proactive enhancement, ICT-MiiND combines macro monitoring of the entire operations together with intelligent analysis that deepens IT resource planning. This combination can transform ICT services provisioning from simply meeting SLAs to proactively identifying areas to improve IT performance and user experiences.
    • Integrate business scenarios and human knowledge: Leverage the experience of managing different networks and IT challenges, as well as the understanding of individual customer’s business processes, application architecture, infrastructure and security policies to develop business-driven AIOps algorithm. It demonstrates CITIC Telecom CPC’s differentiating AI capabilities to develop AIOps tools that are unique from others in the market.

    Innovation is part of our DNA

    ICT-MiiND is an intelligent-driven strategy for the future. It rides on CITIC Telecom CPC’s practical IT operations experiences, in-depth business knowledge and expertise in network, security and cloud into building different AIOps modules to provide exceptional IT services through intelligence.

    Embracing years of practical experience, deep industry know-how with intelligent analysis and algorithmic capability, CITIC Telecom CPC is also deepening its innovation with the latest technologies like AR, IOTs and Blockchain, to form an intelligent IT service management platform and applications, a true proactive digital business enabler.

    Series of innovative offerings under the ICT-MiiND Strategy:

    • AR-driven service platform: Leverage wearable AR technology, the company offers remote operation and maintenance service – DataHOUSE(TM) AR Remote Hand. It transforms field engineers’ operations, maintenance and troubleshooting processes, driving a future-ready field service era.
    • Blockchain-enabled business workflow tracking system manages application development and APIs to enable service governance. Some applications, including electronic leave applications and electronic overseas travel application systems, are already supported by blockchain, while Sales management and CRM systems will be next.
    • Integrates facial recognition technology into thermal detection systems, CITIC Telecom CPC creates groundbreaking AI thermal detection systems to monitor temperature and identify individual employees or visitors to enable a higher level of public health and safety.
    • AI + SD-WAN is a network service that integrates AI, big data analytics and SD-WAN technologies. It achieves the integration between algorithmic analysis, WAN operations and linkages as well as application processing and business services delivery. Through intelligent analysis and smart machine learning of data across the network, it creates scenario planning through algorithmic and correlation analysis to design and develop dynamic routing to optimize network performance. It empowers enterprise customers to handle surging network traffic with optimized network architecture.

    “Supported by our global experiences, years of business know-how and dedicated R&D capabilities for different industries, ICT-MiiND Strategy is not only a platform for intelligent IT service management, but the brain to empower digital success,” said Daniel Kwong, Chief Information and Innovation Officer from CITIC Telecom CPC.

    To know more about ICT-MiiND Strategy, please visit: https://www.citictel-cpc.com/EN/HK/Pages/ICT-MiiND

    Demonstrating Precision in Computer Vision

    Organized by Hong Kong Science and Technology Park and Hospital Authority, the AI Challenge is a competition that challenged contestants to build machine learning models to identify the surgical instruments. The competition aims to explore the role of AI to assist humans in performing surgical instrument counting at the hospital operating theatre – a task that takes place over a hundred thousand times per year!

    “Our dedicated Data Science and Innovation team has been building machine learning models since 2019 to digitize our internal operations. Through this competition, we’d like to benchmark our AI capabilities against others into solving other practical business problems,” said Kwong.

    “The award recognizes our expertise in AI to facilitate business operations, as well as our ability to extend these skills into different industries to provide enhanced services for our enterprise customers,” added Kwong.

    ICT-MiiND Roadmap

    The introduction of ICT-MiiND marks only the first step of a three-stage development plan. In the second stage, ICT-MiiND is expected to integrate the newly acquired insight with an advanced algorithm to offer predictive insights and response recommendations. Moving forward, ICT-MiiND is also expected to realize human-machine interactions and proactively support customers by providing recommendations and analysis using natural language processing (NLP) technologies and knowledge graphs.

    “ICT-MiiND demonstrates our commitment to deepen technology expertise towards endless innovation for our customers. It is the core for our transformation from an ICT solution provider into a technology-driven digitalization enabler,” said Kwong.

    About CITIC Telecom CPC

    We are CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited (CITIC Telecom CPC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited (HKG:1883), serving multinational enterprises the world over by addressing their ICT requirements with integrated digitalization solutions built upon our flagship technology suites, comprising TrueCONNECT(TM) private network solutions, TrustCSI(TM) information security solutions, DataHOUSE(TM) cloud data center solutions, and SmartCLOUD(TM) cloud computing solutions.

    With the motto “Innovation Never Stops”, we leverage innovative technologies, embracing AI, AR, Big Data, IoT, and other cutting-edge emerging technologies to transform technical potential into business value for our customers. As enterprises’ digital transformation partner, we strive to help our customers achieving industry-leading position, high agility and cost-efficiency through digitalization.

    Bringing with our Global-Local capabilities, we are committed to providing our customers with one-stop-shop ICT solutions with superior quality. Having worldwide footprint across 160 countries, including Asia, Europe and America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, our global network resources connect over 160 points of presence (POPs), 18 Cloud service centers, 30+ data centers, and two dedicated 24×7 Security Operations Centers (SOCs). As one of the first managed service providers in Hong Kong to achieve multiple ICT-related certifications, including ISO 9001, 14001, 20000, 27001, and 27017, we have been offering professional local services, superior delivery capabilities as well as exceptional customer experience and best practices through our global presence and extensive industry knowhow, becoming a leading integrated intelligent ICT service provider to enterprise customers.

    For more information please visit www.citictel-cpc.com

    Media Contact:

    Rowena Leung
    CITIC Telecom International CPC Limited
    (852) 2170 7536
    E: rowena.leung@citictel-cpc.com

  • FSD Management and Board Suffers Multiple Court Losses as Shareholder Meeting Approaches

    On Monday, May 10, 2021, at the request of Messrs. Anthony Durkacz and Zeeshan Saeed, founding shareholders and members of the group of concerned shareholders (the Concerned Shareholders) of FSD Pharma Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGE) (CSE: HUGE) (FSE: 0K9A) (the Company or FSD), the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) (the Court) issued an order appointing Ms. Carol Hansell as independent chair of the Company’s shareholders’ meeting to be held on May 14, 2021 (the Meeting) and dismissed FSD’s application challenging the Concerned Shareholders’ information circular.

    This defeat is only the most recent in a series of Court orders against FSD management and directors obtained by the Concerned Shareholders that the Company has concealed, despite their importance.

    “These consistent losses are clear evidence of Dr. Raza Bokhari’s [the Company’s Chief Executive Officer] poor grasp of fundamental corporate governance principles and his repeated breaches of court orders provide insight into his moral compass,” said Anthony Durkacz.

    “It is regrettable that Dr. Bokhari’s latest misconduct implicated Senator Rick Santorum and resulted in a further waste of Company money. A simple respect for the law would have avoided this embarrassment for all of us.” The most recent Court decision noted that Senator Santorum was compromised by a conflict of interest and was not to serve as the Meeting chair. The Court rejected his appointment and instead appointed Ms. Carol Hansell, a well-respected corporate governance expert, independent of all parties, to chair the Meeting.

    It has previously been disclosed to shareholders that, on March 5, 2021, the Court ordered (the “March 5 Court Order”) the Company to hold the Meeting on May 14, 2021 and to appoint an independent chair agreed to by both parties to ensure that someone other than Dr. Raza Bokhari acted as chair of the Meeting. The Original Order also prohibited Dr. Raza Bokhari and his collaborating directors from voting shares at the Meeting that they had recently issued to themselves.

    What the Company failed to disclose is that, just a few weeks later, on April 9, 2021, the Court issued an injunction (the “April 9 Court Order”) that restrained FSD from closing a transaction that Dr. Raza Bokhari and his collaborating directors had attempted to rush through in advance of the Meeting. As a director of FSD, Mr. Durkacz objected to the proposed transaction on the basis that it was not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. To preserve the status quo pending the Meeting, the April 9 Court Order prohibits the Company from undertaking any transaction other than in the ordinary course of business prior to the Meeting.

    Management of FSD asked the Court to reconsider its decision, but on April 16, 2021, the Court refused to alter any of the April 9 Court Order’s terms.

    To make matters worse, Dr. Raza Bokhari has repeatedly breached these Court orders. The appointment of Senator Santorum by Dr. Raza Bokhari was a breach of the March 5 Court Order. Dr. Raza Bokhari subsequently breached the April 9 Court Order when he paid Senator Santorum a non-refundable fee of US$75,000. “This was, quite simply, an inappropriate action and a waste of FSD’s money by Dr. Raza Bokhari and his supporters. Unfortunately, due to Dr. Raza Bokhari’s actions contrary to Court orders, Senator Santorum was implicated. It was never appropriate or, outside of their fantasy world, realistic that Senator Santorum should act as independent chair of this meeting,” said Anthony Durkacz.

    A further breach of the March 5 Court Order arose from the Company’s failure to include a resolution to reduce the size of its board of directors from seven to five directors in the matters to be considered at the Meeting. To avoid more expensive legal action, rather than object to this breach, the Concerned Shareholders chose instead to recommend that shareholders vote for the two director nominees who were not currently serving on the Company’s board – Donal Carroll and Frank Lavelle. The Concerned Shareholders regarded these individuals as apparently well-qualified and hoped that they would evidence the independent judgment that Dr. Raza Bokhari’s collaborators on the current board so clearly lack.

    However, these hopes were undone with respect to Mr. Lavelle when he intervened in the Company’s failed court action against the Concerned Shareholders. Mr. Lavelle’s goal was to require that the Concerned Shareholders clarify that his allegiance lies firmly with Dr. Raza Bokhari and the other members of the current board. While Mr. Lavelle’s specious action failed, the Concerned Shareholders do acknowledge that Mr. Lavelle has declared he is firmly allied with Dr. Raza Bokhari and his collaborators, notwithstanding their now substantial track record of failure in governing FSD.

    By contrast, Mr. Carroll, who was the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, resisted pressure from Dr. Raza Bokhari to take actions that he was concerned were contrary to the April 9 Court Order. For his efforts, Mr. Carroll was removed from the list of management’s director nominees on May 3, 2021 and, on May 5, 2021, Mr. Carroll’s employment was terminated by Dr. Raza Bokhari.

    Many shareholders have submitted votes for the election of Mr. Carroll at the Meeting. The Concerned Shareholders want to honor shareholders’ wishes and are seeking to cast these votes at the Meeting for the election of Mr. Carroll. The Concerned Shareholders anticipate that Dr. Raza Bokhari will object to this and are seeking a ruling from the Meeting chair that Mr. Carroll remains eligible for election as a director.

    The Concerned Shareholders thank FSD shareholders for helping to rebuild FSD by voting Gold proxies to replace Dr. Raza Bokhari and his collaborators at the Meeting. “Shareholders deserve better,” said Mr. Durkacz, “and we hope to give them a better board of directors at the meeting on May 14, 2021.”

    Further details regarding the Concerned Shareholders’ nominees and the reasons that the Concerned Shareholders want to reconstitute FSD’s board are contained in the information circular available on the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and at the website established by the Concerned Shareholders: www.RestoreFSD.com. Stay up-to-date by following us at: www.RestoreFSD.com; Facebook: RestoreFSD; and Twitter: @RestoreFSD.

    For additional information, please contact:
    Carson Proxy
    North American Toll Free Phone: 1-800-530-5189
    Local (Collect outside North America): 416-751-2066
    Email: info@carsonproxy.com

    Forward-Looking Information
    Certain statement contained herein are “forward-looking statements”. Often, but not always, forward-looking statement can be identified by the use of words such as “plans”, “expects”, “expected”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases, or states that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include statements regarding the Meeting, the business to be conducted at the Meeting and the Concerned Shareholders’ plans and anticipation regarding the election of Mr. Carroll at the Meeting. The Concerned Shareholders cannot give any assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document.

    To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83807

  • NutryFarm Ventures Into Singapore’s Durian Market with Established Singapore E-Commerce Company, Ebuy

    NutryFarm Ventures Into Singapore’s Durian Market with Established Singapore E-Commerce Company, Ebuy

    The Board of Directors (the “Board”) of NutryFarm International Limited (the “Company’, and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) wishes to announce that Global Agricapital Holdings Pte. Ltd. (“Global Agricapital”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, had on 11 May 2021 entered into a memorandum of understanding with EBuy Pte Ltd (“Ebuy”) to expand its durian business activities in Singapore (the “MOU”).

    Under the MOU, Ebuy will import and distribute pre-packaged durians into Singapore from Malaysia and Thailand on behalf of Global Agricapital, and from the suppliers of Global Agricapital. Global Agricapital will ensure the consistent supply, quality and authenticity of the pre-packaged durians from its suppliers.

    The parties expect to start the first shipment by 1 June 2021.

    Established as an e-commerce company in Singapore since 2013, Ebuy is a leading distributor of fresh produce in Singapore, including daily fresh vegetables and fruits, to food service providers, retailers, restaurants and hotels. Ebuy has 13 refrigerated warehouses in 3 locations with 16 trucks.

    Since December 2020, Nutryfarm has announced various agreements to sell a total of 1,480 containers of fresh durians from Thailand to major Chinese fruit importers. The total contract value of these agreements is estimated at approximately RMB 962.0 million as announced on 13 February 2021.

    The Company would like to refer to the announcements on 28 December 2020 and 8, 18 and 29 January 2021, and 5 February 2021 (“Previous Announcements”), in respect of the wholesale trading of fruits through Global Agricapital. The affected risks involved under this MOU are substantially less than that of the contracts disclosed under the Previous Announcements, and are not anticipated to be significant.

    The Company is intending to seek shareholders’ approval for a proposed diversification of the Group’s core business in view of the Group’s intention to build these capabilities. The Company has submitted the circular for SGX approval on 16 February 2021 and is intending to convene a general meeting to seek shareholders’ approval as soon as practicable.

  • Duet Protocol closes first-round funding at US$3 million

    Duet Protocol closes first-round funding at US$3 million

    On 9th May 2021, Duet Protocol announced the closure of US$3 million in the first round of investment.

    Duet identifies itself as the world’s first multi-chain synthetic asset protocol with a hybrid mechanism of over-collateralization and algorithm stabilization.

    The first-round investment was led by OmniLAB, DraperDragon, Everest Ventures Group, One Block Capital, Moonwhale Ventures, Dutch Crypto Investors, LD Capital, Zonff Partners, Cabin VC, ArkStream Capital, individual investors include cofounder of BIT Digital Inc (NASDAQ: BTBT) and the partners of A&T Capital.

    OmniLAB is the investment fund that backed the world’s first stablecoin (on OmniLayer) circulation specification for Lightning Network. DraperDragon Innovation Fund is a core member of Draper Venture Network and mainly focuses on investing in US-China cross-border startups.

    The second round of investment and regional partners around the globe will be announced by Duet in the coming days.

    Synthetic assets paradigm path selection

    The Crypto market is a high-speed self-evolving dynamic ecosystem in which DeFi is pioneering massive adoption and mechanism innovation. “Duet is bridging the gap between real-world assets and crypto markets and we are convinced that synthetic assets are the optimal approach to connect these two worlds,” J.Bach, one of the core founding members of Duet protocol quoted.

    Duet synthetic assets are targeting the stock market. Compared with the current alternatives, Duet claims to deliver a unique design to optimize minting and trading.

    1. Openness and user-friendly: Compared to Binance or FTX CM equity methods, on-chain synthetic assets minting on Duet are easier and friendly for investors, having no entry barriers, procedures cost, or single spot risk.
    2. Multiple collateral positions: Synthetix and Linear protocols adopt the single asset deposit with sharing debt method. Whereas, Duet chooses multiple collaterals with separated CDPs, which reduce minters’ risk and raises scalability.
    3. Assets diversity and compatibility: Compared with MakerDAO’s DAI and Mirror’s UST, Duet accepts various types of synthetic assets and embraces wider ecosystems, and supports Ethereum, BSC, and other EVM compatible blockchains.
    4. Compatibility: Duet provides transferable dAssets which could be leveraged in other DeFi protocols, compared with a perpetual-ish protocol which only supports long or short positions.

    Establishing a financial world governed by DAO

    The vision of Duet Protocol is to build an on-chain parallel space, with global partners and contributors, governed by DAO that enables the on-off ramp of Flat Assets (Traditional Assets) and Sharp Assets (Crypto Assets).

    According to J.Bach, “Duet’s innovative dual synthesis model can greatly improve the capital efficiency of user’s funds. With Duet, the global investors would be able to create and allocate capital to any assets with only one digital wallet in a frictionless and user-friendly manner”.

    Get the latest from Duet on Twitter @duetprotocol

    Media Contact:
    Nitesh, Duet Protocol
    E : contact@duet.finance
    W: https://duet.finance
    T : https://twitter.com/duetprotocol

  • Finance, Technology and Off-taker Deployment Themes of Solar & Storage Finance Asia

    Finance, Technology and Off-taker Deployment Themes of Solar & Storage Finance Asia

    The 7th edition of the Solar & Storage Finance Asia, hosted by Solar Media is designed to propel energy projects, innovation and investment in South East Asia. Under the three themes “finance, technology and off-taker deployment“, Solar & Storage Finance Asia will be held from 6-8 July virtually, to help you engage with proven investors, technology providers and business partners.

    Some Key Speakers

    • Isabel Chatterton, Director & Regional Head of Industry, Asia Pacific, Infrastructure, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
    • Vikram Raju, Head of EM & Climate Impact – AIP Private Markets, Morgan Stanley
    • Adhi Laksmanaputra, VP Commercial, Xurya Daya Indonesia
    • Prabaljit Sarkar, Director Business Development, InfraCo Asia
    • Jen Tan, Head of Integrated Solutions, Sembcorp Singapore & SEA
    • Ruth Briones, Chairman/President, Greenergy Solutions

    View All Speakers

    Some key sessions to catch:

    Pushing The ESG agenda – How C&I Is Leading The Way With Solar – View full agenda.

    With investors increasingly applying the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) standards as part of their analysis process when identifying material risks and growth opportunities, an ever-increasing number of organisations are looking to deploy solar as a way to achieve these standards and goals, especially when it comes to their manufacturing.

    In this session, we will hear from some of these larger organisations, who are pushing for an increase of solar deployment, and gather their views on investing in green energy.

    Key topics include:

    • Potential, forecasts and drivers for deployment
    • Feasibility and planning stages
    • Singapore’s offshore floating solar – lessons learnt

    Register here and join us and the other 300+ solar and storage professionals at the conference with 20% off! Use our code ACN20

  • Trintech Releases 2021 Global Financial Close Benchmark Report

    Trintech Releases 2021 Global Financial Close Benchmark Report

    88% of respondents identified a lack of automation and manual work and errors as the reasons preventing them from having an efficient financial close process

    Trintech, a leading provider of financial software solutions, today announced the release of its 2021 Global Financial Close Benchmark Report.

    Trintech surveyed over 480 financial professionals across the globe in Q1 of 2021 to evaluate which parts of the financial close process have been automated, which are in the process of being automated and where finance and accounting (F&A) organizations are looking to adopt automation in the future.

    2020 was a defining year for the CFO as they broke out of the compliance box and returned to their role as an essential strategic leader of the organization – one relied upon to shape critical business decisions when COVID-19 impacted businesses of all sizes. As companies transitioned to remote operations, organizations that relied heavily on manual processes found it difficult to continue to do their jobs at the same level – let alone deliver on the new expectations required of them to provide timely, critical business insights. What is certain is that these expectations are now essential for businesses moving forward, however, the ad hoc processes many organizations were forced to adopt in the short-term to meet those expectations are not sustainable long-term.

    Now is the time for organizations to institutionalize technology to standardize and automate key financial processes to be able to continue to support these growing expectations.

    Key findings from the survey include:
    — The top 3 challenges the Office of Finance experienced within the financial close process in 2020 were all influenced or accelerated by the pandemic
    — A lack of automation is identified as the largest contributing factor to an inefficient financial close
    — Process standardization and automation are the key areas of improvement for 2021
    — Completing quality work on time, while simultaneously balancing workforce issues (i.e. attracting talent and managing employee burnout) will be the biggest challenges for finance professionals over the next five years

    “Our research found that 78% of companies at early stages of their digital transformation journeys faced enormous challenges – challenges their peers further along in their adoption of automation did not,” said David King, Chief Marketing Officer at Trintech.

    “These organizations must institutionalize technology to automate their financial close to be more efficient, while increasing transparency and ensuring data integrity to be successful long-term. While COVID-19 may have identified these challenges, the benefits of solving them are now fundamental and there is no going back to maintaining inefficient manual processes.”

    To dive into the results of this report further, Trintech and an advisor from a leading analyst firm will be hosting a joint webinar, How COVID-19 Accelerated the Path Towards Financial Close Automation, on Tuesday, May 11th (https://pr.report/KIMkJS4y), to give companies insight into topics such as:

    — The biggest challenges organizations are currently facing in the financial close process
    — The maturity of automation in the Office of Finance
    — Key areas to improve in your financial close process over the next 12 months and where to start

    Read the full Financial Close Benchmark Report at https://pr.report/ujSclCBA.

    About Trintech
    Trintech Inc., a pioneer of Financial Corporate Performance Management (FCPM) software, combines unmatched technical and financial expertise to create innovative, cloud-based software solutions that deliver world-class financial operations and insights. From high volume transaction matching and streamlining daily operational reconciliations to automating and managing balance sheet reconciliations, intercompany accounting, journal entries, disclosure reporting and bank fee analysis, to governance, risk and compliance – Trintech’s portfolio of financial solutions, including Cadency(R) Platform, Adra(R) Suite, and targeted tools, ReconNET(TM), T-Recs(R), and UPCS(R), help manage all aspects of the financial close process. Over 3,500 clients worldwide – including the majority of the Fortune 100 – rely on the company’s cloud-based software to continuously improve the efficiency, reliability, and strategic insights of their financial operations.

    Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Trintech has offices located across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and the Nordics, as well as strategic partners in South Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific. To learn more about Trintech, visit www.trintech.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

    Media Contact:
    Kristina Pereira Tully
    Vested
    +1-650-464-0080
    trintech@fullyvested.com

    SOURCE: Trintech, Inc.

  • Showa Denko Revises Forecast of Consolidated Performance and to Record Extraordinary Loss

    TOKYO, May 10, 2021 – (JCN Newswire) – Showa Denko (SDK; TSE:4004) announces that it revises its forecast of consolidated business results for the first half of the year ending on December 31, 2021, which was announced on February 17, 2021, taking the latest economic conditions into consideration. Following this revision, SDK also revises its full-year forecast of consolidated business results for the year ending on December 31, 2021. Regarding the latter forecast, we revised the full-year forecast to reflect only the changes in the performance forecast for the first half of 2021.

    SDK also announces that it will record an extraordinary losses in its 2021 consolidated financial statements.

    1. Revision of forecast of consolidated business results for January 1 – June 30, 2021

    (1) Revised forecast of consolidated business results for January 1 – June 30, 2021
    * See www.sdk.co.jp/assets/files/english/news/2021/20210510_sdknewsrelease_e.pdf

    (2) Reasons for the revision

    Regarding net sales, although the Others segment’s sales is expected to decrease due to unconsolidation of Shoko Co., Ltd. resulting from the sale of SDK’s shares in Shoko aiming to tender them into a tender offer, sales in all the other segments are expected to increase from those in the previous forecast. In the Showa Denko Materials’ segment, sales of semiconductor related products have been exceeding previous forecast due to tighter supply-demand situation. In the Inorganics segment, sales volumes of graphite electrodes have been exceeding the previous forecast due to an improvement in supply-demand situation. In the Petrochemicals segment, market prices of products have been exceeding the level in the previous forecast due to a rise in raw naphtha prices and strong demand in Asia.

    Operating income is expected to increase in all segments excepting the Others segment. In the Showa Denko Materials segment, operating income is expected to increase due to an increase in sales of electronic materials and circuit board materials resulting from market growth in the semiconductor industry and the data center industry. In addition, operating income from sales of mobility materials has been exceeding the previous forecast due to the recovery of production in the car industry which is stronger than expected. In the Inorganics segment, operating income has been increasing due to an increase in sales volumes of graphite electrodes which exceeds the previous forecast. In the Petrochemicals segment, operating income has been increasing because market prices of products continue exceeding the level in the previous forecast due to strong demand in Asia, a cold wave in the United States in the last winter, and a rise in raw naphtha prices.

    On the basis of the situation above, we also expect improvements in ordinary income and net income attributable of owners of the parent from those in the previous forecast.

    2. Revision of forecast of consolidated business results for January 1 – December 31, 2021

    (1) Revised forecast of consolidated business results for January 1 – December 31, 2021
    * See www.sdk.co.jp/assets/files/english/news/2021/20210510_sdknewsrelease_e.pdf

    (2) Reasons for the revision

    Regarding consolidated performance forecast for full-year 2021, we revised the forecast to reflect only the changes in the performance forecast for the first half of 2021.

    Regarding the dividend, we do not revise our forecast that the Company will pay 65 yen per share as year-end dividend.

    3. Recording of extraordinary losses

    At Kitakata Plant, which is located in Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, SDK currently manufactures aluminum specialty components. Recently, at the Plant, we found groundwater contamination by fluorine and other chemicals exceeding environmental standard, which was caused by a business operated in the past. Therefore, SDK has decided to conduct construction work to establish environmental measures as countermeasures against the groundwater contamination in order to conform to the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act. To cover the expense for the construction work, we have decided to record an extraordinary loss of about 9 billion yen in the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the first quarter of 2021. In addition, we also have decided to record an extraordinary loss of about 2.7 billion yen in the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the same period, in order to reflect the special early retirement allowance incurred due to the structural reform in the Showa Denko Materials segment.

    [Reference] Segment-wise breakdown of net sales and operating income (consolidated) for the first-half of the year ending on December 31, 2021
    * See www.sdk.co.jp/assets/files/english/news/2021/20210510_sdknewsrelease_e.pdf

    About Showa Denko K.K.

    Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; TSE: 4004, ADR: SHWDY) is a major manufacturer of chemical products serving heavy industry to computers and electronics. Our Petrochemicals segment provides cracker products such as ethylene and propylene; Chemicals provides high-performance gases and chemicals to semicon and other industries; Inorganics provides ceramic products: alumina, abrasives, refractory/graphite electrodes and fine carbons. Aluminum provides aluminum materials and high-value-added fabricated aluminum; Electronics provides HD media, compound semiconductors such as ultra high-bright LEDs and rare earth magnetic alloys; Advanced Battery Materials (ABM) provides lithium-ion battery components. Please visit us at www.sdk.co.jp/english/.

    For further information, contact:
    Showa Denko K.K., IR Office, Finance & Accounting Department, Tel: 81-3-5470-3323

  • Joy Spreader’s First Quarterly Results: Video E-commerce Business Soars 143.58%

    On May 10, 2021, Joy Spreader (6988.HK), a MarTech company listed in Hong Kong, released the business update of the first quarter of 2021.

    According to the announcement, in the first quarter, Joy Spreader achieved revenue of HK$ 248 million, representing an increase of 33.26% over the same period last year, gross profit of HK$77.4 million, representing an increase of 64.16% over the same period last year, and gross profit margin of 31.16%, representing an increase of 5.87 percentages points as compared with the same period last year.

    In terms of specific business, the revenue of Joy Spreader’s interactive entertainment and other digital products marketing business in the first quarter was HK$220 million, representing an increase of 26.31% over the same period last year, while the revenue from e-commerce products marketing business was HK$28.45 million, representing an increase of 143.58% over the same period last year.

    With the emerging short video e-commerce, video e-commerce business is becoming the largest increment of results of Joy Spreader. In the first quarter, the gross profit of the Joy Spreader’s interactive entertainment and other digital product marketing business reached HK$54.65 million, representing an increase of 44.96% over the same period last year, while the gross profit of e-commerce products marketing business reached HK$22.76 million, representing an increase of 143.68% over the same period last year, accounting for an increasing proportion of the overall gross profit.

    At the same time, marketing SaaS service, another core business of Joy Spreader, is growing rapidly. Currently, Joy Spreader uses its own marketing SaaS platform to access content publishers in order to help their traffic to realize commercial value.

    The announcement showed that as of the end of the first quarter, Joy Spreader’s marketing SaaS service customers comprised a total of 55,616 WeChat official accounts, representing an increase of 36.01% compared to the end of 2020. A total of 29,828 Douyin accounts in terms of short video, representing an increase of 37.01% compared to the end of 2020. Also, the Company had access to 11,567 clients of WeChat video channels. On the whole, Joy Spreader’s mobile new media realizable access points reached 638,950, representing an increase of 35.96% compared to the end of 2020, further consolidating the basis of business growth.

  • Wintermar Offshore (WINS:JK) Reports 1Q2021 Results

    Wintermar Offshore Marine (WINS:JK) has announced results for 1Q2021. Wintermar is back in the black with net profit before tax of US$0.2 million, after three quarters of net losses.

    Business conditions have improved in 1Q2021 since the worst of the pandemic in 2020. Utilization still remains below the level achieved in 1Q2020, but the trend is positive. Total revenue of US$10.2 million recorded in 1Q2021 is still 21% below the level of US$12.9 million achieved in 1Q2020. Despite this, the Company was able attain a positive contribution at the gross profit, operating profit and also at the comprehensive net profit level for 1Q2021 due to cost control measures taken in 2020.

    –Owned Vessel Division
    Owned Vessel Revenue for 1Q2021 was 16% YOY lower at US$8.35 million as utilization remains at 61% compared to 69% in 1Q2020. There was a delay in the commencement of operations for a large project in Indonesia due to repairs needed on the rig which caused some committed vessels to be idle. However, due to a 29% YOY reduction in direct costs, the Owned Vessel division showed a YOY jump of 170% in Gross Profit of US$1.8 million compared to US$0.7 million in 1Q2020.

    Maintenance costs fell significantly by 39% YOY to US$0.5 million, as there was less work compared to 1Q2020 when several vessels were being prepared for work. Crew and operating costs both reduced by 16% YOY as a result of fewer vessels after the sale of 5 vessels in 2020. Depreciation was also significantly lower as a result of a smaller fleet, asset impairment of US$4.5 million taken in 2020 and an adjustment in useful life of assets. Fuel bunker however, rose by 74% YOY to US$0.2 million due to a new wet contract in 2021.

    –Chartering and Other Services
    Chartering revenues of US$1.5 million for 1Q2021 recorded a 36% YOY decline while Revenues from Other Services fell by 45% YOY to US$0.4 million as these segments which were badly affected by the pandemic have not yet recovered. Both business segments continued to contribute gross profit of US$0.36 million in total for 1Q2021 compared to US$0.62 million in 1Q2020.

    –Indirect Expenses and Operating Loss
    The cost efficiency measures involving sale of vessels and a reduction in shore employees, plus the voluntary salary reductions taken by senior staff led to a 21% YOY fall in Indirect Expenses to US$1.2 million in 1Q2021 from US$1.5 million. Although the hiring freeze was lifted and the Company took on new employees in 2021, total salary costs were still 26% YOY lower at US$0.08 million. Administration, utility and travel costs were also 35%, 26% and 72% lower respectively on a YOY basis, as employees continued to work from home for most of the first quarter in line with higher COVID-19 precautions in Jakarta. Marketing costs in 1Q2021 rose by 159% compared to the previous year due to bid bond costs as the Company participated in several tenders. These increased costs reflect the more positive mood in the industry as more tenders are being issued in 2021 as compared to the negative environment a year ago.

    For 1Q2021, the Company recorded an Operating Profit of US$0.95 million compared to an Operating Loss of US$0.23 million in the same period last year.

    –Other Income, Expenses and Net Attributable profit
    Interest expenses continued to reduce by 23% to US$0.7 million as debt levels decline. Associated companies reversed losses to turn in a small profit compared to losses the previous year. There were no vessel sales in the period under review whereas in the previous year the Company booked a profit of US$1 million from vessel sales. Total other expenses amounted to US$0.7 million for 1Q2021, compared to income of US$0.4 million a year before.

    The Company recorded US$0.2 million in Net Income Before Tax for 1Q2021, nearly the same as the previous year. After tax expenses and minority interests, there was a Net Loss Attributable to Shareholders of US$0.3 million whereas the Company made a small profit in the same period last year.

    EBITDA for 1Q2021 US$4.3 million, 16% lower compared to 1Q2020, but higher than the each of the preceding three quarters.

    –Oil & Gas Industry
    2021 has brought fresh optimism around the world as most major countries have been actively vaccinating their populations, resulting in more traffic and the opening up of some sectors of the economy. The new variants and alarming escalation of infections in India demonstrate that the recovery will not be smooth, but economic data around the world has turned more positive.

    –Offshore Vessels
    Similarly, there has been a turnaround of sentiment in the oil and gas industry, with most predictions showing a bottom in 2020-2021 and anticipating higher investment along with a stabilizing oil price above US$50/barrel. This has also been reflected in the Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV) market which has seen increased transactions of second hand vessels since the start of the year.

    There are more tenders in 2021 compared to last year, although charter rates in the region have not yet risen as much as in the North Sea. The highest tendering activity has been in Malaysia and Brunei, while Indonesia has lagged.

    –Strategy and Outlook
    There is now more optimism in the OSV industry. Apart from participating in more tenders, the stronger balance sheet with the successful rescheduling of debt to longer maturities gives the Company room to consider new investments.

    2021 marks the 50th year of operations of the Wintermar Group and the start of a leaner fleet, the achievement of the Company’s professed target since its public listing 10 years ago. The push towards more efficiency is continuing, as the Company has embarked on a project to use technology to improve crew management and reporting.

    The pandemic has accelerated the Company’s use of technology and one positive impact is the stepping up of crew and staff training via video, while zoom meetings have actually increased the number of management interactions with vessel crew which in the past was limited to on physical visits on board. Crew development and training will continue to be a big area of emphasis as one of the Company’s sustainability strategies.

    The debt equity ratio of the group is now 33% and there will be room to invest in the coming months should there be attractive opportunities.

    Contracts on hand as at end March 2021 amount to US$64.8 million.

    About Wintermar Offshore Marine Group
    Wintermar Offshore Marine Group (WINS.JK), developed over nearly 50 years with a track record of quality that is both a source of pride and responsibility that we are dedicated to upholding, and sails a fleet of more than 48 Offshore Support Vessels ready for long term as well as spot charters. All vessels are operated by an experienced Indonesian crew, tracked by satellite systems and monitored in real-time by shore-based Vessel Teams.

    Wintermar is the first shipping company in Indonesia to be certified with an Integrated Management System by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, and is currently certified with ISO 9001:2015 (Quality), ISO14001:2015 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001:2007 (Occupational Health and Safety). For more information, please visit www.wintermar.com.

    Ms. Pek Swan Layanto, CFA
    Investor Relations
    PT Wintermar Offshore Marine Tbk
    Tel +62-21 530 5201 Ext 401
    Email: investor_relations@wintermar.com