thenewgirl
开8啦------超雄
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2006-04-12 23:17:00
凑热闹。。有没有学finance的美女阿？我想找某个公司text version of 10-Q 4th quarter filing找了半天居然sec上也没有。 公司本身网站上只有pdf版
China Seeks to Cut State-Run Firms
Finish Line Steps Up to Wealthy Women
Than Athletic Shoes and Apparel, for a Price
April 13, 2006
Athletic footwear retailer Finish Line Inc. is making a play for fashionistas with a new store chain opening tomorrow that features sports-inspired footwear and clothing aimed at affluent women.
The new chain, dubbed Paiva, will start out with five stores, but Finish Line says it plans to open 10 more over the next year. Paiva, which Finish Line has designed to feel more like a boutique than a sporting-goods store, will carry fashion and luxury merchandise alongside more conventional athletic gear such as sports bras and running shorts.
The mix reflects the new fashion consciousness that is sweeping the women's athletic-wear market and has given rise to collections from Stella McCartney and Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto for Germany's Adidas-Salomon AG.
Paiva's offerings include such items as a pinstriped fedora from Nike Inc.'s fitness dance collection and $410 Gucci sunglasses. Prices range from $16 for a private-label tank top to $625 for a chiffon tennis dress from Biella, Fila's pricey apparel and footwear line.
Finish Line, which had net income of $60.5 million on revenue of $1.3 billion in the year ended Feb. 25, predicts the average transaction at Paiva will be about $100, more than double the average at its flagship Finish Line chain. The first five Paiva stores will located in Austin, Texas; Seattle; Natick, Mass.; Annapolis, Md., and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.
The Paiva concept is Finish Line's effort to harness the spending power of women. The Finish Line chain specializes in selling basketball and running shoes to mostly male teenagers. Women make up just 20% of its customer base.
Finish Line is counting on its Paiva stores to draw in affluent 25- to 45-year-old women who are looking for a wardrobe that works in and outside the gym. "I don't think anyone's doing a good job creating a good environment" for this kind of shopper, says Finish Line Chief Executive Alan Cohen.
"They're targeting a consumer that really needs to be appealed to today," says Sharon Polonia, senior vice president of asset management at General Growth Properties in Chicago, which owns and manages shopping malls across the country. "She is fashion conscious, she's educated, she believes that fitness is part of her lifestyle, and she is willing to spend money on that type of ready to wear."
One such consumer is Ann-Marie Lewis of Santa Monica, Calif., who runs, spins and does yoga about three times a week and says it is hard to find everything she needs for those activities in one store. "I spend $200 on my denim, so I guess I could pay for something I work out in, if I like it enough."
Finish Line isn't the only one gunning for consumers like Ms. Lewis. Sports Authority Inc. and Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. are devoting more floor space to women's merchandise, while smaller shops like lululemon athletica, and catalog companies like Title 9, focus heavily on women's gear. But Patrick McNulty, co-founder of upscale casual-shoe maker Tsubo, calls Paiva "a total deviation from ... what anyone is doing in the marketplace." Initially, executives at Tsubo -- which sells its shoes at tony outlets like Barneys New York and Fred Segal -- declined Finish Line's invitation to sell at Paiva, but they changed their minds after seeing a mockup Paiva outlet at Finish Line's headquarters in Indianapolis.
The prototype store is a well-lit space, with almost no signs on the cream-colored, fabric-covered walls. Instead, sepia-tinged images of women -- one stretching before a run, another in a yoga pose -- hang over specific areas in the shop. Soft dance music plays in the background.
Part of Paiva's strategy is to stock the stores with upscale niche brands like prAna and OMgirl that are typically unavailable at malls. It also plans to compete with existing retailers by offering deeper selections from giants like Adidas and Nike, and corralling footwear, apparel and accessories together to showcase a "collection," in contrast to department stores, which have separate areas for athletic apparel and footwear.
But it is unclear if Finish Line will be able to succeed in the women's market, where it faces higher rents for locations in better malls, as well as the vagaries of fashion. It wouldn't be the first casualty. In 2003, Dick's Sporting Goods opened a few women's concept stores that folded quietly just six months later.
Write to Stephanie Kang at [email protected]
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| Book review: Washington should try to woo Hu By Edward Luce Published: April 12 2006 20:21 | Last updated: April 12 2006 20:21 Institute for International Economics and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Public Affairs New York, $25
If America’s angst about globalisation could be reduced to one word it would be “China”. Walk around a Wal-Mart superstore and every other product is made in China. Ask why Americans are so jittery about their job security – despite having near full employment – and most give the same answer. The data bear out many of these fears. China’s $202bn (£115bn) trade surplus with the US accounted for 27 per cent of America’s current account deficit in the past year, up from 18 per cent in 2000. China’s heavy intervention in the currency markets to stem the rise of the renminbi against the dollar is almost as widely cited on Main Street as Wall Street. When China’s reserves hit a trillion dollars ($1,000bn) later this year, late night talk shows will probably cite that number in their jokes. So it is unsurprising that Capitol Hill, which faces mid-term elections in November, is threatening retaliatory measures against Chinese exports unless Beijing acts to reduce its growing trade surplus. The rising climate of Chinaphobia also promises interesting moments for Hu Jintao, China’s president, when he visits the US next week. But the steps under consideration by Congress, which include a punitive 27.5 per cent tariff on Chinese imports unless it sharply revalues its currency, would probably not achieve their intended results. As pointed out in China: The Balance Sheet – a timely book published this week by two leading Washington think-tanks – most of China’s exports to the US originate from other low-cost economies. China is the final point of assembly. Almost two-thirds of China’s exports to the US have an import component. If Mr Hu were to accede to Washington’s demands, China’s revaluation would simply divert America’s deficit to other Asian exporters. To stand any chance of denting the deficit and preserving China’s competitiveness, there should be a broad-based currency realignment incorporating Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Even then, a 20 per cent co-ordinated appreciation would only reduce America’s deficit by about 10 per cent, according to the authors. The more closely the problem is dissected, the more distant a practical solution becomes. At its root is the fact that America’s net domestic savings rate is hovering at just above 1 per cent of gross domestic product while China’s is above 40 per cent. In short, America consumes more than it produces and China produces more than it consumes. In the absence of counter-balancing Chinese measures, any action by the US to raise its domestic savings – by cutting its budget deficit, for example – would risk a US recession. Meanwhile, embarking on mutually balancing steps, in which China imported more US goods to ease the corresponding reduction in US demand, would only work if it were sustained and far-reaching. Leaving aside the irony that a Republican administration is urging higher welfare payments on a communist government, China, in any case, would need to create a social safety net to assuage growing inequality. But it is one thing to recommend that China boost domestic demand by raising social spending. It is quite another to expect China will easily be persuaded to take the huge dollar losses that would result from a sharp revaluation of the renminbi. Likewise, Washington has legitimate concerns that an abrupt dollar depreciation could pop the US housing bubble. Rising home prices have underpinned America’s robust levels of domestic consumption, which in turn have sustained economic growth. Against this, the authors have some reassuring insights. They dispute, for example, the widespread view that US interest rates would shoot upwards if China sold off a large chunk of its Treasury bonds. They estimate the net impact of Chinese dollar purchases on US long-bond yields at only 25 basis points. They also remind us what happened the last time America got steamed up about unfair competition during the phase of “Japanic” in the late 1980s. Since 1994, Japan’s share of world manufacturing has fallen from 24 to 21 per cent while that of the US has stayed constant at 24 per cent. That US protectionists cried wolf before does not mean they are wrong about China on all points. But as this book persuasively argues, it is in America’s interests to coax rather than confront China. The two share a strong interest in reducing global imbalances together in an orderly and calm fashion. Meanwhile, American job insecurity can more squarely be blamed on the country’s underperforming high schools. But Mr Hu cannot be expected to have an opinion on everything. The writer is the FT’s Washington commentator |
Three Chinese Airlines
Might Forge Tighter Links
April 12, 2006; Page A8
HONG KONG -- Major shareholders are negotiating a "realignment" of their stakes in Cathay Pacific Airways, Chinese flag carrier Air China and regional airline Dragonair in talks that could lead to tighter links among the three competing airlines.
The exact nature of the discussions, announced Monday night, remains unclear. Some analysts say the talks could result in Cathay's long-anticipated acquisition of a controlling interest in Dragonair, whose extensive route network in mainland China would fill a hole in Cathay's global network. Cathay offers only limited flights to three Chinese cities and has watched from the sidelines as international rivals leapfrog it into China's booming aviation market.
As a quid pro quo, Air China might take a stake in Cathay, analysts said. Cathay bought 10% of Air China in 2004 and is helping to train its cabin crew, engineers and other staff. Cathay, Air China and Dragonair declined to comment on the talks.
The shareholdings among the three carriers can be dizzying. Simplifying this Byzantine structure is one goal of the talks under way, said analyst Michael Wu of Fitch Ratings.
Cathay is 46.3%-owned by Swire Pacific Ltd., part of the London-based Swire Group; 25.4%-owned by Chinese conglomerate Citic Pacific Ltd.; 1.6%-owned by Beijing-based China National Aviation Corp. (Group) Ltd.; and 26.7%-owned by individual and institutional shareholders.
Cathay, in turn, has a 17.8% stake in Dragonair, which is also owned 43.3% by Hong Kong-listed China National Aviation Co., or CNAC; 28.5% by Citic Pacific; 7.7% by Swire Pacific; and 2.7% by minority shareholders.
Air China's main shareholder is China's state-run China National Aviation Holding Co., or CNAHC, with 51%, followed by China National Aviation Corp. (Group) Ltd., with 15%; Cathay Pacific with 10%; and individual and institutional shareholders with the remaining 24%.
Citic Pacific has said in recent weeks that it wants to reduce its noncore holdings. Monday's statement -- issued jointly by Cathay, Air China, CNAC, Swire Pacific and Citic Pacific -- said Citic "may reduce" its stake in Cathay but that it would remain "a significant shareholder" in the long term.
The joint statement, released at the request of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after reports of such activity appeared in local news, said that Swire Pacific intends to remain Cathay's "principal shareholder" and that Air China "understands" that CNAHC aims to remain Air China's controlling shareholder.
Cathay and Dragonair have a tempestuous history. Cathay bought control of the smaller Hong Kong-based carrier in 1991 and took over Dragonair's routes in China. In a decision it later regretted, Cathay divided up their combined networks and let Dragonair operate the flights into China for both airlines while it took over Dragonair's routes everywhere else.
Cathay has been frustrated ever since by its inability to make serious inroads back into the mainland. While Dragonair has 56 flights a week from Hong Kong to Beijing, Cathay offers just 14 a week.
Damien Horth of UBS AG said he sees Cathay's boosting its stake in Dragonair as the most probable outcome of any shareholding realignment. In exchange, he would expect Air China to take over part of Citic Pacific's share in Cathay, either directly or through one of its Chinese affiliates.
Sara Sze, a representative of CNAC, said, "I have not heard" that the company plans to buy a stake in Cathay.
The notion of some kind of cooperative union between Cathay, Air China and Dragonair isn't new. It first emerged a year ago in a local newspaper report that said the airlines were nearing a decision on a three-way merger. Cathay and Swire Pacific quashed the talk.
"Basically these issues have been thrashed around for over a year. I'm not sure that there's any golden ingredient that's going to crystallize a deal now," says Peter Hilton, an analyst with Credit Suisse.
Politics & Economics: Rise in China's Yuan Turns Up Policy Focus; Currency's Climb Prompts Speculation on Beijing's Readiness to Allow More Strengthening
More likely, traders say, would be a series of small, daily price changes pointing to a trend of faster appreciation.
That is what happened in the first two weeks of this month. The yuan gained upward momentum that, had it continued at a similar pace for the year, would have carried it more than 4% higher against the dollar for 2006. The shift came after the yuan rose less than 0.8% against the dollar since July's revaluation.
But the rally has since stalled. During the past several days, the yuan has weakened very slightly against the dollar.
Trading trends so far in February suggest an appreciation of about 3% for the whole year if the pace were to continue. That happens to be the consensus forecast among Shanghai currency traders, who explain the recent rally mainly as the result of normal post-Lunar New Year demand for the Chinese currency.
So far, there is little reason to believe Beijing has strayed from its repeatedly stated policy of keeping its exchange rate "basically stable" while making its trading system more flexible. But some economists say the situation could change as the year unfolds.
Goldman Sachs predicts the yuan will rise 9% against the dollar this year; J.P. Morgan expects appreciation of more than 10%. However, those who see a stronger yuan generally believe a revaluation will come about because of fundamental economic reasons, not U.S. pressure.An overreliance on exports prevents China from making a shift toward consumption-led growth, which Chinese policy makers say is necessary if the country is to sustain healthy economic development. A continuing wave of export earnings also would threaten to spark faster inflation by flooding the economy with cash. A stronger yuan would curb Chinese exports by making them more expensive in dollar terms.
Beijing authorities, meanwhile, express exasperation over Washington's increasing pushiness on currency while they are working to build a modern trading system.
The yuan's opening price is established in an auction by 13 market makers -- eight Chinese and five foreign banks that post rates at which they guarantee to buy or sell currencies. Even though a government cap restricts intraday prices from rising or falling more than 0.3% from the opening price, it is now technically possible for prices to move quite sharply from one day to the next as a result of the auction system. At the same time, China has introduced foreign- exchange-derivative contracts used by companies to hedge against the risk of currency movements.
For its part, Washington is frustrated that greater flexibility in currency trading hasn't hastened the yuan's appreciation. One reason for this, traders say, is that despite more commercially driven trading, the Chinese central bank still exerts considerable influence.
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