SBWire

AuthenWare Corporation today announced that it has been selected to present its natural strong authentication at SVForum’s Launch: Silicon Valley 2013 (launchsiliconvalley.org), Silicon Valley’s high visibility platform for emerging technology companies to springboard their products and services into the market. The event, to be held June 4 at Microsoft’s Mountain View, CA Campus, is designed to uncover and showcase products and services from the most exciting of the newest startups in information technology, mobility, digital media, next generation internet, life sciences and clean technology.

BMI View: Latest government data shows that significant progress has yet to be made on completing the reconstruction projects that arose following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Although the release of a JPY13.1trn (US$147bn) stimulus package could provide some impetus in spurring reconstruction and infrastructure activity in Japan, we doubt that it would have as much of an impact on construction activity as the government expects, due to factors such as cumbersome government planning and the shortage of labour and buildings materials. Therefore, we believe that the new stimulus package would have a material impact on construction activity, but over a longer period of time than expected by the Japanese government.

As a direct consequence of the increase in the use of contact lenses, longer hours spent working at the computer, plus more air conditioning equipment installed and used in offices and households, the incidence of dry eye syndrome and the use of artificial tears continued to steadily grow in Uruguay.

We have downgraded our US real GDP growth forecast for 2013 to 2.1% from 2.3%, due mainly to base effects from late 2012 and the decision to maintain the 'sequester' cuts to federal spending.

The Germany Real Estate report examines the commercial office, retail, industrial and construction segments throughout the country, in the context of Germany's central role in managing the ongoing eurozone debt crisis.

The Czech Republic telecoms market contains a number of major international players such as Telefonica O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone in mobile, and Telefonica and UPC in wireline. The market has been under many of the same pressures as markets throughout the region with market saturation, regulatory factors such as cuts to mobile termination rates and the impact of the eurozone crisis on macroeconomic performance acting as drags on performance. However, while subscription growth may have slowed, significant opportunities remain, not least in the booming wireless data market and VAS opportunities arising from the rapid proliferation of smartphone ownership.

Despite strong growth over the review period, the credit market in Russia is expected to feel the effects of a less certain economic outlook. The Russian economy entered 2013 on a positive note with high consumer confidence; however, activity then began to slow down. This was strongly influenced by waning demand from Europe for commodities, slowing growth in China and sluggish economic activity globally. In this climate, both the government and banks had increasing concerns about the stability...

BMI's Thailand Defence & Security Report for Q2 2013 examines the country's strategic position in South East Asia and the wider world. It provides an overview of the contemporary geopolitical challenges facing the country, and the challenges it may face in the future.

South Africa registered a 1.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in new vehicle sales, to 53,220 units, in February - the slowest rise since September 2012, according to figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) in March. Sales increased 14.1% y-o-y in January. In February, sales of passenger cars rose by 0.8% y-o-y to 36,666 units and sales of light commercial vehicles increased 4.7% y-o-y. However, sales of medium commercial trucks slipped 7.6% y-oy to 868 units in February.

Total volume sales of hot drinks continued to increase in 2012. Growth was driven by the coffee category as both other hot drinks and tea saw falling volume sales. Growth was particularly strong in the foodservice channel and due to the continued popularity of specialist coffee shops. Retail sales continued to be influenced by technological developments in coffee machines. Fully automatic coffee machines boosted sales of fresh coffee beans and pod systems continued to increase in popularity at...

The announcement of a merger of several of the most important political parties may pose an eventual challenge to the dominance of the PDP, but the strength of the unity has yet to be tested.

Greater urbanisation has created crowded cities with long traffic jams, which is why consumers prefer to travel shorter distances. Historically, independent small grocers have had the advantage of being closer to customers, but lately modern grocery retailers, such as discounters and smaller formats of supermarkets, are extending their store networks in the more populated areas of the largest cities like Guayaquil and Quito. Also, as smaller cities become more urban and experience larger...

BMI maintains its cautiously positive outlook on the US freight sector. In light of the fiscal agreement reached at the beginning of 2013, we have revised up our US real GDP growth forecast to 2.3% from 2.1% for the year. However, our general outlook for a slow and erratic growth path for the US economy remains in place. The biggest near-term economic issue - the tax hikes that were set to kick in on January 1 2013 as part of the fiscal cliff - has been resolved, though there will continue to be uncertainty ahead of the debt ceiling negotiations and the sequester spending cuts due to come into effect in March.

Lithuania's new government remains highly popular and will have a unique opportunity to raise its international profile when it assumes the EU presidency in the second half of the year. This combined with recent improvements in the country's public finances will enable Lithuania to more closely align itself with the euro area's creditor countries.

Snack bars is expected to register high retail value growth of 12% during 2012. Within energy/nutrition bars, protein bars sales still remain relatively small as Taiwanese in general are not active in gym workouts or body building as compared to other countries. Most Taiwanese who sought for protein intake would take protein powder. Demand became prominent for energy/nutrition bars in Taiwan only after the launch of Japanese product Soy Joy in 2008 which is considered other energy/nutrition...

More elderly consumers and low birth rates have had an impact on tissue and hygiene sales in Poland. Negative sales growth is likely for the forecast period in nappies/diapers/pants, unless the birth rate rises. On the other hand, incontinence products, which are mainly used by elderly people, should register positive sales growth. Higher product awareness is also set to increase the demand for incontinence products. In general, the young generation is anticipated to be more open to Western...

Compared with the review period, the market in 2012 grew slightly higher in value, although it was lower compared to the previous year's sales performance. Slightly faster growth in 2012 compared to the review period's growth rate was achieved due to the increasing demand for expensive products; while in previous years, the double-digit growth rate was attributable mostly to the average unit price increase and general inflation rate in the country.

Premium and indulgence positioning helped to drive growth within chocolate-based flavoured powder drinks in 2012, with the category emerging as the star performer within other hot drinks during the year. While malt-based hot drinks and non-chocolate-based flavoured powder drinks both saw declines in off-trade value and volume, chocolate-based flavoured powder drinks recorded 2% growth for both, with value slightly outpacing volume growth. In addition, chocolate-based flavoured powder drinks...

Manufacturers started offering breakfast cereals in small sachets available at just Rs10 in 2011 and 2012. This improved the affordability and widened the consumer base. This also helped the manufacturers move beyond urban areas to make breakfast cereals affordable to price-sensitive consumers in small towns. There was an increasing drive to introduce products that appeal more to Indian tastes. Such localised flavours will help companies reach out to those consumers who are not willing to...

Consumers and several organisations in Bulgaria have voiced their concerns regarding the quality of Bulgarian packaged food products over the review period. Due to consumer complaints about the quality of many products, the government proposed and introduced several quality standards for the production of meat and products made from meat, cheese, yoghurt and vegetable spreads. When these standards were first introduced in 2010, they were not immediately accepted by manufacturers, but by 2012...

Sales of meal replacement in Thailand are expected to post a positive performance, with the current value growth of 8% to reach Bt4.5 million in 2012. Meal replacement slimming is estimated to constitute the majority of sales of total meal replacement with 81% value share and with expected current value growth of 9% in 2012, given the wide selections of weight control products available in the marketplace. Many Thai women are concerned over their body shape but lack adequate time to exercise...

Euromonitor International's Industrial reports provide a 360 degree view of an industry. The Industrial market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the Cargo Handling, Warehousing and Travel Agencies market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change.

While Red Bull remains the world leader in energy drinks, it is facing growing competition from other players. TCCC in particular, with Monster in the US and Burn in Brazil, is also posing an increasing threat. These two markets are emerging as energy drinks battlegrounds and the implications are considerable for Red Bull's ability to remain the number one ranked player.

Euromonitor International's Industrial reports provide a 360 degree view of an industry. The Industrial market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the Filmmaking market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change.