Indian companies in the specialty chemicals sector report a robust double-digit gain in earnings YoY due to better realizations and rising sales volumes.

In Q2FY23, according to analysts at ICICI Securities, sales would increase 19.3% year over year (YoY) and decreased 0.6% sequentially, partly because of an increase in pricing brought on by an increase in input costs. Gross product will probably increase by 22.7% YoY and decrease by 1.4% sequentially, primarily because of seasonality, indicating a significant underlying trend Analyst forecasts predict a 16.5% YoY increase in net profits.

The unrest in the European chemical markets has increased the focus on specialty chemical firms. European manufacturers have been impacted by higher…

On Thursday, Liz Truss announced her resignation as the Prime Minister of U.K, making her the shortest-serving PM in British history. In a speech delivered outside 10 Downing Street, Truss said she would be in office until a new successor is chosen.  

Liz's time as prime minister ran just 45 days, and she declared that the conservative party would elect a new leader the following week. In the last six years, Truss is the fourth Conservative prime minister to quit.

Her resignation deepens the unrest that has gripped Britain since it left the European Union and placed the country's government in a precarious position as it tackles problems of cost-of-living problem and fears of recession.

Truss might be remembered for how tenuous her hold…

U.S. industrial production rose by 0.4 percent in September because of higher manufacturing output, especially in the auto industry, and the easing of supply-chain constraints. A report issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve revealed that the utility index decreased by 0.4 percent while the mining index increased by 0.6 percent.

Total industrial production in September increased by 5.3 percent from the same month last year, or 105.2% of its 2017 average. In September, capacity utilization increased by 0.2 percentage points to 80.3 percent, 0.7 percenta.ge points higher than the long-term (1972–2021) average.

According to the Federal Reserve, mining output increased by 0.6% thanks to increased oil and gas extraction. Manufacturing capacity…

DIC Corporation, a significant player in the market, has decided to increase sales prices for epoxy resins and epoxy resin curing agents used in insulating materials for electronics components and coatings, among others. The revised prices were likely to be applied to products delivered on or after July 7, 2022. 

DIC revised its sales prices for epoxy resins and epoxy resin curing agents in January 2022. Nonetheless, raw material prices have risen further because of tight market conditions, resulting in issues with the supply-demand balance for individual materials. Rising utility costs and sharp exchange rate fluctuations have further exacerbated the company’s cost burden. The company has taken these steps to absorb such cost increases…

The first-ever US flagship of the design-driven Australian lifestyle retailer Coco Republic has opened in San Francisco's Union Square. The 40,000-plus square feet store will have more than 2,000 goods, a full design service, and a mocktail bar with Lyres, an Australian company renowned for its premium non-alcoholic beverages. 

Concentrating on creating and growing this distinctive assortment, some of which are influenced by the Californian lifestyle, will benefit the company's growth. The business believed that this was a place that would help their entry into the United States.  

For more than 40 years, Coco Republic has been a respected staple in Australia's luxury lifestyle market. The Coco Republic's design history permeates the…

Uber eats customers will now be able to order some cannabis along with their burgers and fries! Uber Technologies Inc will allow customers in Toronto, Canada, to purchase cannabis using its Uber Eats app. Uber eats has teamed up with the cannabis marketplace Leafly to offer marijuana delivery via the app in Toronto. Leafly is coined “the world's most trusted platform to discover cannabis items and buy them from legal, regulated sellers".

The service will allow customers to select their preferred Cannabis from a digital menu, and employees of CannSell will subsequently fill the orders. CannSell is an Ontario-based marijuana retail education program responsible for verifying the buyer's age and soberness upon delivery.

A year ago, the food…

Elevated inflation and interest rates recently resulted in considerable stagnancy in the building and construction industry across the continents. Though the construction input prices lowered slightly in September, the wholesale price businesses received for building and construction products and materials rose more than expected. A similar factor is anticipated to raise the chances of a hike in interest rates in the battle against inflation in the building and construction industry, including the pre-engineered buildings category.  

Though even a few construction materials have witnessed a slight down in prices, the non-residential construction input prices, including the pre-engineered buildings category, are still up from a year ago…

DaxibotulinumtoxinA (Daxxify), Revance's long-awaited Botox rival, has officially received FDA approval, as the company is now gearing up to establish its brand. Daxxify is an intravenous neuromodulator similar to Botox; its novel peptide exchange technology temporarily eases the moderate to severe glabellar (frown) lines. 

The trials revealed that a single injection had a significant anti-wrinkle impact on durational effects were proven in phase 3 trials with 4,200 treatments and 2,700 patients. The chief differentiator for Daxxify is its endurance; it can last six months and has even proven effective for up to nine months in some individuals, vis-a-vis Botox injections that last only for three months.

Daxxify was initially scheduled to…

Willis Towers Watson (WTW), a British-American MNC insurance advisor, recently conducted the 2023 Global Medical Trends Survey. The London-based company revealed findings of the survey in a media release that the combination of inflation and rising healthcare consumption will cause increases in global healthcare benefit costs to reach their highest level in almost 15 years. The 2023 Global Medical Trends Survey by WTW finds that the healthcare benefit cost trend is forecast to rise sharply to a global average of 10% in 2023 after rising from 8.2% in 2021 to a higher-than-expected 8.8% in 2022.

A portion of the blame for the increase to two other healthcare stakeholders, providers, and beneficiaries, by the 257 top insurers representing 55…

Recently in September 2022, several organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organization for Animal Health have collectively created a Rabies control model under One Health International collaboration program to address and prevent dog and human rabies cases. The aim is to avoid dog-mediated rabies in humans and reach zero deaths from rabies by 2030. This coordinated response against rabies will further open doors to control other zoonotic diseases.

In the last few months, there have been several developments in the animal vaccines market.  A COVID-19 vaccine for animals called Ancovax was launched in India in June…

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, then known as Facebook, made a huge announcement about a year ago. The company entered the Metaverse with a rebranding from Facebook to Meta. As far as we know, the Metaverse is a virtual world that can be accessed using a VR headset, Augmented Reality (AR) on a smartphone, or simply a web browser. Thought to be the next step in the evolution of the internet, things have been bleak for Meta since its significant rebranding last year.

 Meta's "Horizon Worlds," which attempts to provide customers with a whole metaverse experience, has reportedly failed. The World Street Journal reported that after changing its name last year (from Facebook), the Mark Zuckerberg-owned Meta had set an ambitious goal of…

A new cutting-edge thermal waste treatment plant will be built near Gum Springs, Arkansas, by Veolia North America, a pioneer in providing environmental services in water, waste, and energy. The new facility will enable the company in cradle-to-grave management of waste streams by providing the flexibility to deal with PFAS-laden waste. A press release from Veolia shows that the Gum Springs thermal waste treatment facility tends to be the most advanced environmentally efficient facility in the US and aids the company's contribution towards economic growth and environmental innovation. The facility is also expected to open new opportunities for trade contractors and create 100 full-time job opportunities.   

Thermal waste treatment is the…