30.05.2011
Celebrating a Decade of Economic and Social Achievement, IC Savings Opens Its Fifth Branch, And Sponsors Concert at Sony Centre to Celebrate Italian U
La Scala Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble of classical musicians selected from Milan’s legendary La Scala Orchestras.It performed in prestigious theatres and concert halls around the world and collaborated with internationally known conductors and soloists.There will also be an invite only VIP reception that precedes the concert that will be held in honour of foundation supporters Luigi and Sergina Gambin, who recently passed away.
Before the big event, IC Savings will also be having its grand opening celebration for the newest branch located at 637 College St. on June 8th, 2011 at 6:30pm, in Toronto’s Little Italy neighbourhood.The opening will include a ribbon cutting ceremony and appearances by local politicians. Visitors have an opportunity to fill in a ballot to win a new limited edition Fiat 500, the iconic Cinquecento, currently on display at the branch.
As an active supporter of community development, IC Savings launched the IC Savings Foundation in 2009, a volunteer based organization that lends support to diverse charitable initiatives. It donates a percentage of its profits to the Foundation, which independently evaluates and underwrites requests for funding.
To date, IC Savings Foundation has funded over $600,000 to charitable initiatives in support of long term care facilities, seniors homes, community living organizations, art and cultural groups, and educational scholarship programs. The Foundation particularly has a special interest in funding special projects. Donated time and money has gone to numerous worthy causes, including the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, Canada’s Immigration Museum Pier 21, COSTI Immigrant Services, Villa Colombo Vaughan, Villa Leonardo Gambin, York University Endowment Fund, University of Toronto, the Abruzzo Earthquake Relief Fund, Opera York, Vita Community Living Services and Mens Sana Families for Mental Health.
For its third season, the IC Savings Foundation brings Festa in Piazza to Toronto.It is an annual fundraising event in support of various causes and will be held on May 27th, 2011 at the Famee Furlane located at 7065 Islington Ave.The event will include food stations, a casual dinner, performances and entertainment.
Celebrating 10 years of economic and social achievement, IC Savings’ success is based on two core values: Better Banking and a strong commitment to the community.The financial institution is entirely built on its relationship with its people and it prides itself on good old fashioned personal service. After a decade in operation, with five branches and a total of 50 employees, the credit union offers a full range of banking services including mortgages, chequing and savings accounts, retirement and investment products. Established in 2000, IC Savings opened its first branch in Woodbridge with a focus on personal service, the hallmark of co-operative banking.
For more information, visit .
Available for interviews:Fausto Gaudio, President and CEO
For media inquiries please contact:Pennant Media GroupKevin Pennantkp(at)pennantmediagroup(dot)com Toronto 416.596.2978Los Angeles 818.748.7517
###
Daniel Schneiderdaniel@pennantmediagroup.com(416) 596-2978Email Information
12:32 Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : louboutin, cerneux, essence, gazeran, 78920
Yemeni government and tribesmen agree truce
The deal included a withdrawal of armed tribesmen from government buildings and moves to normalize life in the Hasaba district of the capital Sanaa, scene of a week-long clashes that killed 115 people, a source close to mediators told Reuters.
A government official told Reuters: "Yes, we have an agreement which takes effect tomorrow (Sunday) morning."
A tribal official confirmed an agreement had been reached.
The fighting had prompted thousands of residents to flee Sanaa and raised the prospect of chaos that could benefit the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda and threaten neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.
The latest violence, pitting Saleh loyalist forces against members of the powerful Hashed tribe led by Sadeq al-Ahmar, was the bloodiest since pro-democracy unrest erupted in January and was sparked by Saleh's refusal to sign a power transfer deal.
Mediators will start taking over the occupied buildings from the al-Ahmar tribesmen on Sunday and hand them over to government forces, the mediators said.
In southern Yemen, three French aid workers went missing and a local security official said they were believed to have been abducted.
Kidnappings of Western tourists or workers by disgruntled tribes seeking ransom or concessions from the government have been frequent in Yemen. Most hostages have been freed unharmed.
A prominent think-tank, the International Crisis Group, said a broad, lasting ceasefire was needed immediately and should be part of a plan that leads to a transition of power.
"To prevent further escalation and loss of life, the most urgent step is for both sides to immediately accept a ceasefire mediated by Yemen's statesmen and tribal leaders," the ICG said in a "conflict risk alert" issued late on Friday.
Foreign states should be involved, it said, "but, given the deeply personal and tribal nature of the feud between the Salehs and al-Ahmars, it cannot be addressed effectively by international mediation or initiatives alone."
Global powers have little sway in Yemen, where tribal allegiances are the most powerful element in a volatile social fabric and the fighting already appears to be playing out along tribal, quasi-feudal lines.
The political crisis has already cost the economy as much as $5 billion and immediate aid is needed to prevent a meltdown in the country with a nominal GDP of $31 billion, the country's trade minister told Reuters.
"The economy should not be held hostage to the political crisis, because the situation is alarming," Hisham Sharaf Abdalla said.
On Friday, Yemeni tribesmen said they had captured a military compound from elite troops loyal to the president 100 km (60 miles) outside Sanaa, widening a conflict hitherto concentrated mainly in the capital near the home of Ahmar.
The fighting has overshadowed a largely peaceful protest movement that started months ago aimed at ending Saleh's 33-year-long autocratic rule and inspired by uprisings that brought down the long-standing leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.
LITTLE LEVERAGE
Mediators have become exasperated with Saleh, saying he had repeatedly imposed new conditions each time a Gulf-led transition agreement was due for signing, most recently demanding a public signing ceremony.
Machinegun fire and explosions rattled Sanaa this week before clashes eased after mediation efforts. Ahmar's fighters evacuated government ministry buildings they had grabbed in return for a ceasefire and troops quitting their area.
There was also an informal truce prevailing in a region northeast of Sanaa where tribes said on Friday said they had seized a military post.
Yemeni air force fighters had strafed those tribal fighters with bombs and broke the sound barrier in flights over Sanaa.
There are worries that impoverished Yemen, where some 40 percent of the country's 23 million people live on less than $2 a day, could become a failed state located on a shipping lane through which 3 million barrels of oil pass daily.
In the south, dozens of armed men believed to be from al Qaeda appeared to have full control of city of Zinjibar in the flashpoint province of Abyan on Saturday, a day after storming the city and chasing out security forces, residents said.
The opposition coalition accused the government in a statement of allowing towns to be taken over by groups "set up and armed by the regime to act as scarecrows to frighten local, regional and international parties."
The United States and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by the Yemen wing of al Qaeda, are concerned any spread of anarchy could embolden the militant group.
With the political strife, the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is likely to have more freedom to use a proven talent for daring bombing plots, analysts said.
"Given how distracted Saleh's government is in its attempts to cling to power, AQAP has much more open space in which to operate at the moment," said Yemen scholar Gregory Johnsen.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Sanaa, Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden, William Maclean in London and Helen Massy-Beresford in Paris; Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Firouz Sedarat in Dubai; Editing by Louise Ireland)
12:22 Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : r4, mad, spiroudome, iran, depannage
Japan's Ricoh to axe 10,000 jobs, promises to get back in shape
Ricoh said on Thursday the restructuring included slashing 10,000 jobs from its global workforce of 109,000, cutting unprofitable products and consolidating factories.
Japan's already weak economy has slipped into recession, hit by the triple blow of the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster on March 11.
"The earthquake has ended any lingering complacency at Japanese companies that have been behind the curve in restructuring and in M&A," said Macquarie strategist Peter Eadon-Clarke.
"It has reminded people of the limited opportunities at home and of the need to build successful global operations."
Last month, Panasonic Corp said it would cut 17,000 jobs and close up to 70 factories globally. Camera and medical equipment producer Olympus has also said it would shed jobs.
The restructuring could help Ricoh, which has long promised but failed to deliver cost cuts, fend off competition from firms such as Xerox and Canon Inc.
Ricoh is targeting operating profit of 210 billion yen in the financial year to March 2014, more than triple the 60 billion yen it posted in the past year, ending in March, when sales fell 4 percent to 1.94 trillion yen.
The company's shares closed up 4.1 percent after surging as much as 7.4 percent on the news of the job cuts.
Over the past 10 years, Ricoh shares have fallen about two-thirds, Canon has gained about 15 percent and Xerox is up about 3 percent during this time. Ricoh is down 26 percent so far this year in a broader market that has lost a smaller 7 percent of its value.
Analysts said the job cuts marked a welcome change in direction for a company that has until now refrained from major restructuring, despite lagging rivals in terms of profitability.
"Ricoh has been dragging its feet on restructuring and has finally started moving. The market has been worried how it would deal with its bloated cost structure after acquisitions," said Kazuyuki Terao, chief investment officer at RCM Japan.
"There are more companies out there that need to carry out restructuring. Some successfully engineered a recovery by restructuring after the Lehman shock. I expect those that did not restructure then will do so this time around."
Ricoh, whose offices span 180 countries, faces an uphill fight as companies in mature economies tighten their belts. Research consultancy Gartner does not expect a full recovery in Japan's corporate IT spending until 2013, with growth sluggish in the United States and western Europe.
On top of that, Moody's Investor Services said Japanese companies could permanently lose global market share because of supply chain disruptions from the March 11 disasters.
Ricoh, whose toner production lines were damaged in the earthquake, said in a statement the job cuts were expected to boost operating profit by 140 billion yen ($1.7 billion) in the year ending March 2014.
"We have become a big company and need to re-engineer our corporate structure throughout to become more muscular," Ricoh President and Chief Executive Shiro Kondo told a news conference. "We have done very little pruning of unprofitable businesses, and we need to pull out of some."
Ricoh bought U.S. office equipment distributor Ikon Office Solutions for $1.6 billion in 2008 in a bid to grab market share from rival Canon, but has yet to clear its network of overlapping operations, Kondo said.
BLOATED WORKFORCE, WEAK MARGINS
While Ricoh's staff grew by 43 percent over five years, its operations stayed in the red in key areas such as fast-growing China, while margins in office copiers slumped on fierce competition and a dearth of new hit products.
"Some of the companies that suffered from the eastern Japan quake may need to go through restructuring," said Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Japan's biggest business lobby Nippon Keidanren.
But some companies said they would still not cut jobs.
"We won't do such a thing. Canon has not cut any employee in its 74-year history. That is a source of pride," Fujio Mitarai, chairman & CEO of Canon, told Reuters.
With an operating profit margin of 3 percent in the past business year, Ricoh is less efficient than its Japanese rivals. Konica Minolta had a margin of 5 percent while Canon managed a profit margin of 10 percent. It now targets a profit margin of 8.8 percent in the year to March 2014.
Ricoh said last month it expects its operating profit to rise 16 percent to 70 billion yen in the business year that started in April on sales of 2.09 trillion yen, up 7.6 percent.
"I know that we have a reputation for not delivering on our midterm targets. This time we will keep our promise," Kondo said. "We need to slim up, become healthy."
(Additional reporting by James Topham and Taiga Uranaka in TOKYO and Maneesha Tiwari in BANGALORE; Editing by Nathan Layne, Anshuman Daga and Dean Yates)
11:52 Lien permanent | Commentaires (0) | Envoyer cette note | Tags : 78120, normandie, sex, malmaison, lost