HELSINKI, January 8, 2015

The researchers studying the power of compassion have received a seven-figure sum in research funding from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation.

The University of Helsinki project asks what compassion means in the everyday life of an organisation and in its interactions with partners, how is it generated, maintained and strengthened, and how can it improve profitability.

The CoPassion project is being launched at the beginning of January. Its goal is to help companies and communities recognise the potential in immaterial value creation which can be made into a competitive asset.

Anne Birgitta Pessi, professor of church and society, who runs the Revolutionary Power of Compassion program at the University of Helsinki emphasizes the power of the immaterial asset – the power of compassion.

The researcher are studying the impact of compassion exercises on different communities, in relation to innovations and creativity, employee engagement, workplace wellbeing, sales, customer experience as well as an atmosphere and culture of compassion and motivation.

The three-year project involves researchers and steering group members from the University of Helsinki, the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Aalto University and the University of Jyväskylä. Other partners include an insurance company, art museum and television channel.

Source: www. unversity.helsinki.fi

HELSINKI, January 8, 2015

Finnish nuclear consortium Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said Thursday it’s planning to cut up to 110 jobs, around 13% of its work force, to lower annual costs by 15 million euros ($17.7 million).

The company said the cuts are needed to compensate for the negative impact caused by low electricity prices in the Nordics and by delays in the construction of TVO’s third nuclear reactor at its production site in Olkiluoto on Finland’s west coast.

“Electricity market price has dropped and there are no signs of improvement in the coming foreseeable future,” TVO’s Chief Executive Jarmo Tanhua said in a statement.

The planned job and cost cuts come even though TVO reported earlier this month that Olkiluoto power plant produced more electricity during 2014 than in any other year in its 35-year-long history. The two-unit plant achieved a combined load factor of 96.0%.

Mr. Tanhua said that costs related to nuclear power production have increased while delays in construction of TVO’s third reactor, dubbed Olkiluoto 3, have caused “remarkable additional costs.”

Olkiluoto 3 was originally slated to start operations in 2009, but it is now expected to come online in late 2018. The reactor is being jointly built by the French nuclear giant Areva SA and the German engineering group Siemens AG.

TVO, Areva and Siemens are now in the midst of an arbitration proceeding over the financial losses caused by the delays at Olkiluoto 3.

According to the latest updated figures disclosed by TVO in November 2014, TVO is seeking EUR2.3 billion in financial compensation from Areva-Siemens, while Areva-Siemens’s claim against TVO now stands at EUR 3.4 billion.

TVO currently employs 840 people. The company said that operational personnel at its power plants and personnel authorized by the Finnish nuclear safety authority STUK are excluded from the planned lay-offs.

Finnish power utility Fortum Oyj owns 26.6% of TVO, and the Finnish paper and pulp maker UPM-Kymmene Oyj holds a major shareholding in TVO via another power utility called Pohjolan Voima Oy.

Source: Dow Jones News

Helsinki, January 5, 2015

Russia grants 150 billion roubles from its National Wealth Fund to gas company Novatek’s Yamal LNG project.

Among his last government decisions in 2014, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved Novatek’s application for state support to Yamal LNG developments. They were allocated 150 billion roubles (€ 2.1 billion) from the National Wealth Fund to the project.

The support will enable Novatek to continue its development of the Yamal LNG, a grand energy and infrastructure project on Russia’s Arctic Yamal Peninsula. Once on full awing, the Yamal LNG plant will have the capacity to produce around 16.5 million tons of LNG per year, all go it extracted at the nearby South Tambley field. The project also includes the development of the Sabetta port, a major infrastructure hub on eastern shore of the peninsula.

The 150 billion roubles are to be invested in the construction of LNG plant, as well as auxiliary production, processing and unloading facilities.

The Russian government has from before invested heavily in Yamal project. More than 47 billion roubles has been invested in the Sabetta port and auxiliary infrastructure.

The Sabetta harbor will be able to handle more than 30 million tons of goods per year and should operate all-year-round, despite the highly complex ice conditions of the Ob Bay.

There are other companies applying for state support as well. One of them is Rosneft. The bids for state support emerged as companies face major hardship following western sanctions and limited possibilities to get foreign credits.

The National Wealth Fund is one of the two state investment funds, both of them established in 2008. The National Welfare Fund was initially given $87.97 billion. The fund is controlled by the Minitry of finance and one of its main responsibilities is to support the Russian pension system.

Novatek is the Russia’s biggest independent gas producer, partly controlled by structures associated with businessmen Gennady Timchenko and Leonid Mikhelson, two businessmen with good relations with Kremlin.

NOVATEK started in August 1994, when AOOT FIK Novafininvest was established (the name was changed to OAO NOVATEK later). The new Company focused on oil and gas assets development from the very beginning.Novatek acquired the exploration and production licenses in the YNAO (East-Tarkosalinskoye, Khancheyskoye and Yurkharovskoye fields) and made significant investments in the fields development and surface facilities construction. The trial operation of the East-Tarkosalinskoye oil field commenced in 1996 and commercial production of natural gas started in 1998. Gas marketing development commenced in 2002 with first natural gas sales to end-customers.

The company completed the consolidation of NOVATEK’s main assets in 2004 and disposed the non-core businesses – in 2005 in order to focus on its core assets.

The Purosky Condensate Processing Plant was commissioned the same year becoming the most important element of the vertically integrated production chain of the Company and the Company’s IPO was conducted on the London stock exchange and Russia’s MICEX stock exchange.

With over 25 bcm production per annum NOVATEK was the largest independent producer in Russia as earlier as 2005 and retained its market position afterwards. The Company’s production volumes and asset portfolio grew rapidly in the subsequent years. NOVATEK acquired stakes in SeverEnergia, Nortgas and Yamal LNG, as well as new licenses including prospective areas in the Gydan Peninsula and the Gulf of Ob.NOVATEK launched a large-scale project on LNG plant construction (Yamal LNG) which will enable the Company to enter the international gas market.

Source:

http://government.ru/dep_news/16397/

http://www.novatek.ru/en/

Edinburgh, January 5, 2014

The luxury shoe company Mandarina aimed to hit £ 1 million sales mark in 2015 as Harris Tweed styles prove great success with customers

Mandarina,  the internet shoe shop is based in  Scotland rural Angus. The small local company is reporting a year-on-year sales boost of 11 percent in the pre-Christmas period. Based on “steady 10 percent growth over each of the last two years”, it is aiming to breach £1 million in sales in 2015.

Mandarina is the online-only fashion brand, which has pioneered the use of Harris Tweed in ladies’ shoes and boots, benefits from Christmas marketing tie-up with men’s shoes specialist Shipton & Heneage.

The young, Scottish-based company was founded in 2004 by Caroline Townsend, a St Andrew University graduate, while working as a magazine editor in the Far East. Townsend was based in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam for 20 years before returning to the run the business from a converted bothy near Forfar.

What makes Mandarina a sustainable company is the engagement in local tradition and boosting the use of local materials. It works together  with UK designers including Peony & Sage, Emily Bond and Inchyra Liners. This attributes the international success of its products alongside the good matching of price and high quality standards.  The combination of quality of the manufacturing and the daring use of high-impact materials, with Scottish tweed lines is proving bestsellers in the industry sector.

Mandarina shoes are handmade in a small family-owned factory in the Duc, near Ho Chi Minh City.  Avoiding the mechanized methods of making shoes Mandarina is able to manufacture shoes of  high quality with fine detail.

Source: www.heraldscotland.com, www.mandarinashoes.co.uk

MANDARINA SHOES LTD

Zurich, October 30, 2014

With the fall of oil prices (-25% since June), the sovereign funds related to oil and gas (Gulf countries, Russia Norway) are obviously less money available for investment. Currently their stand remains intact. They have a combined total of 4,200 billion dollars to manage, and yet remain immune to the lack of liquidity. In the circumstances against an oil shock, they should show more caution and a more conservative investment strategy. A chance for sustainable investments.

Source: www.lesechos.fr

Berlin, October 29, 2014

The newest OECD and G20 standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today in Berlin by all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. The status report in committed and not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.

The jurisdictions expressed their commitments into action by a convincing signing of a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement that will activate automatic exchange of information, based on the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Earlier adopter states who signed the agreement have pledged to work towards launching their first information exchanges by September 2017.

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters was recently presented by OECD to the G20 Finance Ministers during a meeting in Cairns last September. It provides for exchange of all financial information on automaticaly annual basis. Most members have committed to implementing this Standard on reciprocal basis with all interested jurisdictions.

The Global Forum will establish a peer review process to ensure effective implementation of automatic exchange. Governments also agreed to raise the bar on the standard of exchange of information upon request, by including a requirement that beneficial ownership of all legal entities be available to tax authorities and exchanged with treaty partners.

The Global Forum invited developing countries to join the move towards  automatic exchange of information, and a series of pilot projects will offer technical assistance  to facilitate the move. Ministers and other representatives of African countries agreed to launch a new “African Initiative” to increase awareness of the merits of transparency in Africa. The project will be led by African members of the Global Forum and the Chair, in collaboration with the African Tax Administration Forum, the OECD, the World Bank Group, the Centre de Rencontres et d’Etudes des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscales (CREDAF).

The Global Forum is the world’s largest network for international cooperation in the field of taxation and financial information exchange,gathering together 123 countries and jurisdictions on an equal footing. Peru and Croatia  joined the Forum at the Berlin meeting.

For further information on the Global Forum meeting in Berlin, including a Statement of Outcomes, go to: www.oecd.org/tax/transparency.

For further information on the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, today’s signing ceremony and the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, go to: www.oecd.org/ctp/exchange-of-tax-information/automaticexchange.htm.

Source: www.oecd.org

Helsinki, October 7, 2014

The Finnish Cabin Crew Union (SLSY) announced on Monday, October 6th, that it has voted in favour of a settlement proposal in the prolonged row over wages with Finnair. 

 The settlement will enable the struggling airline to all but meet its original savings target of 18 million euros, when the savings arising from its earlier decision to outsource cabin crew services on certain long-haul routes are also take into account, highlighted Anu Hietala of SLSY.

Although the settlement will not affect the base pay of flight attendants, it includes cuts in additional incentives that translate to a seven per cent reduction in overall wages. In addition, the flight attendants have agreed to work an additional 15 hours a month without separate compensation. 

“Now our wages, duty schedule and other obstacles that have prevented this company from ascending no longer exist,” Thelma Åkers, the chairperson of SLSY, snorted outside her home in Paloheinä, Helsinki, on Monday evening. 

“Under such circumstances, you must be satisfied that [an agreement] was reached.”

According to Åkers, it was of utmost importance to the flight attendants that they were granted a four-year protection against outsourcing and two-year protection against unilateral dismissal.
/RLU

Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi