Hilton Food Group FY Performance Ahead Of Board’s Expectations – Quick Facts

Hilton Food Group PLC (HFG.L) issued a trading update for the 53 weeks ended 3rd January 2021. The Group stated that it has performed ahead of the Board’s expectations, with a continuation of the strong year-on-year sales and volume growth.

Hilton Food noted that funding is in place to cover the announced expansions and the Group’s financial position remains strong. The Group will continue to explore opportunities to grow the business in both domestic and overseas markets.

Hilton Food Group PLC will publish its preliminary results on 7th April 2021.

Ashmore Group AuM Up 9% – Quick Facts

Ashmore Group (ASHM.L) reported estimated assets under management of $93.0 billion as at 31 December 2020, an increase of 9 percent from actual AuM at 30 September 2020. This increase of $7.5 billion over the period comprised positive investment performance of $8.1 billion and net outflows of $0.6 billion.

Mark Coombs, Chief Executive Officer, Ashmore Group plc, said: “Ashmore continued to deliver strong relative investment performance over the quarter and current equity and fixed income valuations in Emerging Markets suggest there is much further to go in terms of recovery investment returns.”

More Masks Means Fewer Germs, Hitting P&G’s Cold-Medicine Sales

As Americans put social gatherings on hold to avoid contracting the coronavirus, they’re catching fewer common colds, damping sales of the over-the-counter remedies that usually fly off the shelves when the temperature drops.

Sales of cold, flu and cough medicine in the U.S. plummeted 46% in the five weeks ended Dec. 26 from the same period a year prior, according to data from market research firm Nielsen. Procter and Gamble Co., which owns the Vicks and NyQuil medicine brands, said the drop in run-of-the-mill stuffy noses and sore throats partially offset the otherwise strong quarter for its health-care segment.

“Certainly the cough-cold season is not as strong it has been over the last couple years. That’s a good thing on some levels, but it does reduce demand for cough-cold treatment,” Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller said in an interview.

He attributed the weaker cold season to “a reduced amount of social interaction, social distancing when interaction occurs, the use of masks and cleaning hands much more frequently” — meaning consumer health and hygiene priorities related to virus transmission are working.

German Factory Orders Continue To Grow

Germany’s manufacturing orders grew for a seventh straight month in November, defying expectations for a decline, suggesting that manufacturing may have offset the slump in the service sector due to the second lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Factory orders rose 2.3 percent month-on-month in November, figures from the Federal Statistical Office/Destatis showed Thursday. while economists had forecast a 1.2 percent fall.

The growth for October was revised to 3.3 percent from 2.9 percent. Orders have grown every month since May.

Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing rose 1.6 percent from the previous month.

Domestic orders increased 1.6 percent and foreign demand grew 2.9 percent.

Demand for intermediate goods grew 4.9 percent and orders for capital goods rose 1.1 percent. Consumer goods orders increased 0.5 percent.

On a year-on-year basis, factory orders grew 6.3 percent in November after a 2.3 percent increase in the previous month.

The latest increase in orders is “undoubtedly good news” for the German manufacturing sector and for production, Commerzbank said, which expects production to increase in the coming months given the positive trend in orders.

“All this is unlikely to prevent real GDP from shrinking in Q4 due to the new restrictions imposed to contain the corona pandemic,” Commerzbank analyst Marco Wagner said.

“However, the very positive development in manufacturing should keep this decline in check.”

FDA Conditionally Approves First Oral Tablet Laverdia-CA1 To Treat Dogs With Lymphoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has conditionally approved first oral tablet Laverdia-CA1 to treat dogs with lymphoma.

Lymphoma is a type of cancer of the lymph nodes and lymphatic system. Laverdia-CA1 works to prevent certain proteins from leaving the nucleus of cancer cells, thereby allowing these proteins to control the growth and prevent the spread of cancerous cells in dogs.

Laverdia-CA1 is the first conditionally approved oral treatment for dogs with lymphoma.

Laverdia-CA1 is the second treatment for lymphoma in dogs that the FDA has conditionally approved. Tanovea-CA1, which received conditional approval in 2016, is an injectable drug.

“Lymphoma is a devastating cancer in dogs, with few FDA-approved treatments available. This conditional approval provides a much-needed option to treat dogs with lymphoma,” said Steven M. Solomon, D.V.M., M.P.H., director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine. “We are encouraged to see drug companies bring forward applications for products to treat serious diseases, even if they affect relatively small populations.”

Conditional approval allows veterinarians to access needed treatments while the drug company collects additional effectiveness data, such as through trials with client-owned dogs.

A single neighborhood makes 90% of the brass instruments in India — and the pandemic has put it in jeopardy

• Brass instruments play a big part in Indian culture, featuring in weddings, funerals, and religious ceremonies.
• 90% of all the brass instruments in India are made in one neighborhood in the city of Meerut.
• But the pandemic has brought public gatherings almost to a standstill, putting the musical instrument industry in jeopardy.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.