Lilly arthritis drug shows durability in study

(Reuters) – A pill for rheumatoid arthritis being developed by Eli Lilly and Co and Incyte Corp maintained its effectiveness in reducing painful symptoms through 24 weeks of treatment in a midstage extension study, according to data presented at a medical meeting on Tuesday.

A sub-study of patients taking part in the trial of the drug, baricitinib, also showed that the two highest doses tested helped to reduce joint damage, based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests.

The companies in June released positive data from the 301-subject Phase II study after 12 weeks of treatment in patients with mild to moderate RA who had an inadequate response to methotrexate. Data from the ongoing extension study, presented Tuesday at the American College of Rheumatology meeting in Washington, measured baricitinib treatment through 24 weeks.

After 24 weeks, 73 percent of patients who received 8 milligrams of the Lilly drug once daily achieved the ACR20 goal, or a 20 percent improvement in rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. That compared with 78 percent who hit ACR20 at 12 weeks.

For the 4 mg dose, 78 percent of patients hit ACR 20 at 24 weeks, up from 75 percent at week 12.

A 2 mg dose that failed to show statistical significance compared with a placebo at 12 weeks, had 63 percent of patients achieve ACR20 by week 24 of treatment, the data showed.

The study also measured ACR50 and ACR70 rates, or 50 percent and 70 percent improvement. All three doses showed improvement at 24 weeks from measurements taken at 12 weeks.

Baricitinib belongs to a hot new class of oral medicines called Jak inhibitors that aim to compete with the multibillion-dollar injected rheumatoid arthritis drugs that currently dominate the market. Pfizer Inc last week became the first company to bring one of the new drugs to market with the U.S. approval of tofacitinib, which will be sold under the brand name Xeljanz.

Jak inhibitors block enzymes believed to be involved in the inflammatory process.

In the sub-study of 154 patients who underwent MRI testing, there was a statistically significant improvement in measures of inflammation and joint damage at the 4 mg and 8 mg doses after 12 weeks compared with placebo, the companies said. The effects persisted through 24 weeks, they said.

In order to compete with the biologic blockbuster injected drugs, such as Abbott Laboratories’ $ 8 billion a year Humira, the Jak inhibitors must show that they can prevent or delay joint deterioration as well as alleviate symptoms.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; editing by Matthew Lewis)

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Action pledge in gas market probe

13 November 2012 Last updated at 09:58 ET

Energy Secretary Ed Davey: “Market abuse is always wrong”

Energy Secretary Ed Davey has promised tough action if allegations that firms manipulated the wholesale gas market turn out to be true.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Ofgem are looking into the claims, which were made by a whistle-blower who was active in the market.

Mr Davey said he was “extremely concerned” and would apply the “full force of the law” if needed.

All of the UK’s big six energy suppliers have denied any involvement.

Mr Davey told MPs: “Market abuse is always wrong, but at a time when people and companies are struggling with high energy bills, the country would expect us to take firm action if these allegations prove true, and we will.”

The body that represents the companies, Energy UK, said its members would co-operate fully to rebuild trust.

Its chief executive, Angela Knight, said: “This is a very serious issue which must be investigated swiftly. The gas market is an international one with many overseas companies trading on it, as well as organisations that are not energy companies.

“Customers need to have confidence in markets and authorities need to have the powers to regulate well and take action if required.”

The wholesale gas market includes everything from the UK’s own North Sea gas supplies, to gas from Norway or elsewhere, or arriving in the UK by ship as LNG, liquefied natural gas.

Widespread

The alleged manipulation is said to have reduced the wholesale price.

The whistle-blower, Seth Freedman, worked at ICIS Heren, a financial information company that publishes energy price reports.

Whistle-blower Seth Freedman: “It would seem that if you are manipulating prices on key dates then certainly millions, if not more, are at stake on each contract”

His concerns are focused on one instance on 28 September this year.

But he told the BBC he thought that price-fixing was widespread: “Having spoken to traders and other market participants, it seems like manipulation is rife in the gas market.”

He said even though the alleged instance may have not added to customers’ bills, it was still damaging: “There’s certainly a link. They [the power companies] are telling you: ‘Look, in order to make our profits and cover our costs and so on, we have to give a price to retail customers which reflects the cost to us.’

“But if you can’t trust the market at a wholesale level, it becomes a crisis of confidence. People at retail level are just thinking, ‘I don’t trust these companies’ – and it needs to be scrutinised.”

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Jonty Bloom Business correspondent, BBC News

---

The allegation claims that dealers make unrealistic bids, at exactly the time when information is being gathered to set the gas price, in an attempt to get a more favourable rate and so make a larger profit.

All the major domestic gas suppliers say that they have not manipulated the market.

But with household energy bills increasing sharply and winter fast approaching, the allegation that the market is vulnerable to manipulation by other unscrupulous dealers is obviously being taken extremely seriously.

‘Less transparent’

Energy companies buy gas at the wholesale price and then sell it on to businesses and domestic users.

The allegation is that the market was rigged in a similar way to the fixing of Libor, the inter-bank lending rate.

It is claimed that on 28 September, dealers made unrealistic bids, at the time when information was being gathered to set the wholesale gas price, to suit their own trading position.

David Hunter, an analyst at M&C Energy Group, said that most wholesale trading is done directly between companies, rather than via an electronic trading system, and that this system is, in theory, easier to manipulate.

He told the BBC: “This sort of trading is less transparent than a fully-fledged market. Hypothetically, someone could seek to artificially lower the price by making small trades below the prevailing market price that may benefit them.”

The cost of wholesale gas makes up the majority of our energy bills – 45% of the average energy bill is made up of the cost of wholesale gas, supply costs and profit margins.

Continue reading the main story

Energy company responses

EDF Energy said it “does not participate in loss-leading trading activity and considers it to be against existing market regulation”.

“We make information likely to impact market price formation publicly available on our website.”

Npower said: “There is an explicit commitment in our code of conduct to comply with all laws and regulations.”

Scottish Power said that it had “never engaged in trying to fix wholesale gas trading markets”, adding: “Our trading division always acts with integrity and follows all rules in all of its engagements with the market.”

SSE said: “We are entirely confident that our energy portfolio management team operate in a fair and legitimate way.”

E.On said: “We are confident that all of our colleagues always act in the correct manner and as a company we fully abide by all appropriate regulations.”

Centrica, which owns British Gas, said it had “very robust governance and compliance policies” which were regularly reviewed. “Centrica’s traders are prohibited from providing price information to price reporting agencies,” it added.

‘Considering evidence’

The Guardian reported that investigations were taking place into “some of the big six” energy providers, but the brief statements released by both the FSA and Ofgem did not identify any companies.

The FSA said: “We can confirm that we have received information in relation to the physical gas market and will be analysing the information.”

Ofgem also said it had “received information” and added that it would “consider carefully any evidence of market abuse that is brought to our attention as well as scope for action under all our other powers”.

The government is currently increasing regulation of the energy market.

Its Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill is intended to improve the competition regime and the protection of consumers and is currently with the House of Lords.

It is also working with Ofgem on the implementation of the EU Remit (Regulation on Wholesale Energy Markets Integrity and Transparency) which may lead to giving Ofgem greater powers to act against market abuse.

‘Unusual’

Labour’s shadow energy secretary, Caroline Flint, said that if the reports proved to be true, they “suggest shocking behaviour in the energy market, that should be dealt with strongly”.

She said that gas and electricity companies should be forced to sell the energy they generate into a pool, in order to open up the market and ensure fairer consumer prices.

ICIS Heren said it had “detected some unusual trading activity on the British wholesale gas market on 28 September 2012, which it reported to energy regulator Ofgem in October”.

It added: “The cause of the trading pattern, which involved a series of deals done below the prevailing market trend, has not yet been established.

“If anyone was to benefit from this, it would have been derivatives traders.”

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Canada seen needing to spell out rules for natural gas projects

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The fate of a handful of liquefied natural gas projects planned for Canada’s Pacific coast may depend on the Canadian government‘s willingness to spell out rules for foreign investment in the country’s energy sector, according to a study released on Thursday.

Apache Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Petronas, BG Group Plc and others are in the planning stages for LNG projects that would take gas from the rich shale fields of northeastern British Columbia and ship it to Asian buyers.

But the federal government’s decision last month to stall the C$ 5.2 billion ($ 5.2 billion) bid by Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas C$ 5.2 billion for Canada‘s Progress Energy Resources Corp could lessen the appetite of Asian buyers for Canadian LNG, energy consultants Wood Mackenzie said.

“Some potential off-takers of Canadian LNG like the idea … because it’s perceived as having low political risk, and another reason is because they see the potential for investment opportunities,” said Noel Tomnay, head of global gas at the consultancy.

“If there are going to be restrictions on how they access those opportunities, if acquisitions are closed to them, then clearly that would restrict the attractiveness of those opportunities. If would-be Asian investors thought that corporate acquisitions were an avenue that was not open to them then Canadian LNG would become less attractive.”

The Canadian government is looking to come up with rules governing corporate acquisitions by state-owned companies and has pushed off a decision on the Petronas bid as it considers whether to approve the $ 15.1 billion offer for Nexen Inc from China’s CNOOC Ltd.

Exporting LNG to Asia is seen as a way to boost returns for natural-gas producers tapping the Montney, Horn River and Liard Basin shale regions of northeastern British Columbia.

Though Wood Mackenzie estimates the fields contain as much as 280 trillion cubic feet of gas, they are far from Canada’s traditional U.S. export market, while growing supplies from American shale regions have cut into Canadian shipments.

Because the region lacks infrastructure, developing the resource will be expensive, requiring new pipelines and multibillion-dollar liquefaction.

Still Wood Mackenzie estimates that the cost of delivery into Asian markets for Canadian LNG would be in the range of $ 10 million to $ 12 per million British thermal units, similar to competing projects in the United States and East Africa.

($ 1 = $ 1.00 Canadian)

(Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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U2′s Bono to urge U.S. politicians not to cut aid programs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Irish rocker and anti-poverty campaigner Bono will appeal to Democrats and Republicans during a visit to Washington this week to spare U.S. development assistance programs from cuts as Congress tries to avert the looming “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending reductions early next year.

The U2 lead singer’s visit comes as the Obama administration and congressional leaders try to forge a deal in coming weeks to avoid the economy hitting the “fiscal cliff” – tax increases and spending cuts worth $ 600 billion starting in January if Congress does not act.

Analysts say the absence of a deal could shock the United States, the world’s biggest economy, back into recession.

Kathy McKiernan, spokeswoman for the ONE Campaign, said Bono will hold talks with congressional lawmakers and senior Obama administration officials during the November 12-14 visit.

During meetings he will stress the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance programs and the need to preserve them to avoid putting at risk progress made in fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, she said.

Bono, a long-time advocate for the poor, will argue that U.S. government-funded schemes that support life-saving treatments for HIV/AIDS sufferers, nutrition programs for malnourished children, and emergency food aid make up just 1 percent of the U.S. government budget but are helping to save tens of millions of lives in impoverished nations.

The One Campaign would not elaborate which lawmakers and senior Obama administration officials Bono will meet.

On Monday, Bono will discuss the power of social movements with students at Georgetown University. He will also meet new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim for a web cast discussion on Wednesday on the challenges of eradicating poverty.

(Editing by W Simon)

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Cost becomes bigger question in treating heart disease

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The cost of treating heart disease has become a key factor in decisions by U.S. cardiologists grappling with the nation’s No. 1 killer.

Record prices for drugs and devices, reduced reimbursement by insurance plans and the looming full implementation of the healthcare reform law are convincing doctors to consider not only novel treatments, but also how to get the most bang for the buck.

The trend was reflected at the annual scientific meeting of the American Heart Association, generally a forum for groundbreaking research on medications and devices to combat heart disease.

The conference for the first time last year featured an entire session on the economics of healthcare, including a study showing that eliminating drug co-payments for heart attack victims significantly reduced the chance that they would suffer another major cardiovascular problem.

The 2012 meeting, held last week in Los Angeles, included several dual presentations with companion studies on the economic impact of a drug or therapy as well as its safety and effectiveness.

“We have an unsustainable economic model in healthcare delivery in the U.S.,” said Dr. Elliott Antman, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the AHA Scientific Sessions Committee. “We all have to be conscious of ways we can be more cost efficient, and that includes understanding what the big breakthroughs mean in terms of cost.”

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, accounting for one of every four deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It also is very expensive. AHA estimates that annual U.S. medical costs of cardiovascular disease will reach $ 800 billion by 2030 – nearly triple the $ 272 billion spent in 2010.

“Rising costs of medical care make it very pertinent for us to assess value,” said Dr. Mark Hlatky, director of the cardiovascular outcomes research center at Stanford University.

President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which has now survived a challenge in the Supreme Court and a presidential election, is structured to reward quality of care, not the traditional fee-for-service model that can result in unnecessary treatment.

But the equation is not always simple.

One study presented at the AHA meeting showed that diabetics with diseased arteries not only fared better if they underwent bypass surgery rather than a less expensive stent procedure, but the surgery was also more cost effective.

Researchers, funded by the National Institutes of Health, found that up-front costs for bypass surgery and hospitalization were about $ 8,600 higher than costs for stent patients. But more stent patients either died or needed repeat artery clearing, while those who had surgery lived longer, higher-quality lives, resulting in lower, long-term healthcare spending for them.

Another study found that angioplasty to clear blocked arteries costs more at hospitals not equipped for emergency heart surgery, due mainly to follow-up costs. Elective angioplasty is becoming increasingly common at hospitals that do not conduct more complicated heart procedures.

“Surprisingly, there was no difference in procedure cost,” said Dr. Eric Eisenstein, lead author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at Duke University Medical School in North Carolina. “We did find a difference in follow-up cost.”

New research paid for by Johnson & Johnson, one of the makers of the new anti-clotting drug Xarelto, showed that the costs of a heart attack, angina, or chest pain go well beyond actual hospital care.

The study, led by Robert Page, a clinical specialist in the division of cardiology at the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy in Aurora, Colorado, found that every short-term disability claim for acute coronary syndrome cost employers nearly $ 8,000, and each long-term claim carried a price tag of more than $ 52,000.

Annual healthcare costs for each worker, including out-of-pocket expenses, totaled nearly $ 8,200 during the four-year period studied.

About half of all patients with acute coronary syndrome – a term used to describe conditions in which the blood supply to the heart is blocked – are working adults under the age of 65, Page said. That means the burden for their care will more likely fall on employers and employee co-payments rather than on the Medicare system.

The AHA estimates the rate of coronary heart disease in the United States will increase by 16 percent between 2010 and 2030.

Xarelto is one of three new blood-thinning medicines that offer potential advantages over older drugs to prevent strokes and other dangerous conditions caused by blood clots. Another is Pradaxa, made by Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim.

“These drugs are expensive. They cost more than warfarin which is relatively cheap to use,” said Dr. Stuart Connolly, director of the cardiology division at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “Cost-effectiveness studies have been favorable. The reason is that even though purchase of the drug is not cheap, there are savings from preventing ischemic strokes.”

Even so, physicians can face significant hurdles to secure insurance coverage for patients they think need to be on a new, more expensive drug.

“It is a cost firewall,” Antman said, explaining that it can take considerable time for him to talk to insurance telephone operators, claims supervisors and, eventually, medical directors to secure coverage for a patient.

(Additional reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Martin Howell and Leslie Adler)

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Probe into alleged gas price fix

12 November 2012 Last updated at 14:25 ET

Allegations of manipulation of UK wholesale gas prices are being investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Ofgem.

The investigations by the FSA, the UK’s financial watchdog, and energy regulator Ofgem follow claims by a whistleblower.

Energy Secretary Edward Davey said he was “extremely concerned about the allegations”.

“The government takes alleged abuse in our markets very seriously,” he added.

Two of the UK’s big six energy suppliers have released statements to deny any involvement.

EDF Energy said it “does not participate in loss-leading trading activity and considers it to be against existing market regulation”.

It added: “We make information likely to impact market price formation publicly available on our website in compliance with the European Union’s regulation on energy market integrity and transparency.”

NPower said: “There is an explicit commitment in our code of conduct to comply with all laws and regulations.”

Mr Davey said he would keep in close contact with the two investigations.

He will make a statement on the issue in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

The whistleblower worked at ICIS Heron, a financial information company that publishes energy price reports.

ICIS Heron said it “detected some unusual trading activity on the British wholesale gas market on 28 September 2012, which it reported to energy regulator Ofgem in October”.

It added: “The cause of the trading pattern, which involved a series of deals done below the prevailing market trend, has not yet been established.”

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BBC must reform or die, says Trust chairman

LONDON (Reuters) – The BBC could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said on Sunday, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician.

Chris Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, said confidence had to be restored if the publicly funded corporation was to withstand pressure from rivals, especially Rupert Murdoch‘s media empire, which would try to take advantage of the turmoil.

“If you’re saying, ‘Does the BBC need a thorough structural radical overhaul?’, then absolutely it does, and that is what we will have to do,” Patten, a one-time senior figure in Prime Minister David Cameron‘s Conservative Party and the last British governor of Hong Kong, told BBC television.

“The basis for the BBC’s position in this country is the trust that people have in it,” Patten said. “If the BBC loses that, it’s over.”

George Entwistle resigned as director general on Saturday, just two months into the job, to take responsibility for the child sex allegation on the flagship news programme Newsnight.

The witness in the report, who says he suffered sexual abuse at a care home in the late 1970s, said on Friday he had misidentified the politician, Alistair McAlpine. Newsnight admitted it had not shown the witness a picture of McAlpine, or approached McAlpine for comment before going to air.

Already under pressure after revelations that a long-time star presenter, the late Jimmy Savile, was a paedophile, Entwistle conceded on the BBC morning news that he had not known – or asked – who the alleged abuser was until the name appeared in social media.

The BBC, celebrating its 90th anniversary, is affectionately known in Britain as “Auntie”, and respected around much of the world.

But with 22,000 staff working at eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive Internet operation, critics say it is hampered by a complex and overly bureaucratic and hierarchical management structure.

THOMPSON’S LEGACY

Journalists said this had become worse under Entwistle’s predecessor Mark Thompson, who took over in the wake of the last major crisis to hit the corporation and is set to become chief executive of the New York Times Co on Monday.

In that instance, both director general and chairman were forced out after the BBC was castigated by a public inquiry over a report alleging government impropriety in the fevered build up to war in Iraq, leading to major organisational changes.

One of the BBC’s most prominent figures, Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman, said since the Iraq report furore, management had become bloated while cash had been cut from programme budgets.

“He (Entwistle) has been brought low by cowards and incompetents,” Paxman said in a statement, echoing a widely-held view that Entwistle was a good man who had been let down by his senior staff.

Prime Minister Cameron appeared ready to give the BBC the benefit of the doubt, believing that “one of the great institutions of this country” could reform and deal with its failings, according to sources in his office.

Patten, who must find a new director general to sort out the mess, agreed that management structures had proved inadequate.

“Apparently decisions about the programme went up through every damned layer of BBC management, bureaucracy, legal checks – and still emerged,” he said.

“One of the jokes I made, and actually it wasn’t all that funny, when I came to the BBC … was that there were more senior leaders in the BBC then there were in the Chinese Communist Party.”

Patten ruled out resigning himself but other senior jobs are expected to be on the line, while BBC supporters fear investigative journalism will be scaled back. He said he expected to name Entwistle’s successor in weeks, not months.

Among the immediate challenges are threats of litigation.

McAlpine, a close ally of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has indicated he will sue for damages.

Claims for compensation are also likely from victims who say Savile, one of the most recognisable personalities on British television in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, sexually abused them as children, sometimes on BBC premises.

INQUIRIES

Two inquiries are already under way, looking at failures at Newsnight and allegations relating to Savile, both of which could make uncomfortable reading for senior figures.

Police have also launched a major inquiry into Savile’s crimes and victims’ allegations of a high-profile paedophile ring. Detectives said they had arrested their third suspect on Sunday, a man in his 70s from Cambridgeshire in central England.

Funded by an annual licence fee levied on all TV viewers, the BBC has long been resented by its commercial rivals, who argue it has an unfair advantage and distorts the market.

Murdoch’s Sun tabloid gleefully reported Entwistle’s departure with the headline “Bye Bye Chump” and Patten said News Corp and others would put the boot in, happy to deflect attention after a phone-hacking scandal put the newspaper industry under intense and painful scrutiny.

He said that “one or two newspapers, Mr. Murdoch’s papers” would love to see the BBC lose its national status, “but I think the great British public doesn’t want to see that happen”.

Murdoch himself was watching from afar.

“BBC getting into deeper mess. After Savile scandal, now prominent news program falsely names senior pol as paedophile,” he wrote on his Twitter website on Saturday.

It is not just the BBC and the likes of Entwistle and Patten who are in the spotlight.

Thompson, whom Entwistle succeeded in mid-September, has also faced questions from staff at the New York Times over whether he is still the right person to take one of the biggest jobs in American newspaper publishing.

Britain’s Murdoch-owned Sunday Times queried how Thompson could have been unaware of claims about Savile during his tenure at the BBC as he had told British lawmakers, saying his lawyers had written to the paper addressing the allegations in early September, while he was still director general.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sophie Hares)

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MTV awards bring pop glitz to Frankfurt

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The MTV Europe Music Awards bring the pop circus to Frankfurt on Sunday, with Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna leading the nominations and the late Whitney Houston to be honored with a Global Icon award.

Houston, who was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11, will be the third artist to be given the award, following Bon Jovi and Queen in 2010 and 2011.

“Whitney Houston may be gone, but her legend lives on,” the organizers said.

MTV said it would transform the inside of the 100-year-old Festhalle venue into a circus arena, and host Heidi Klum said she may swing from a trapeze.

“It will be a magical, visual feast,” the German model and presenter promised ahead of the event.

One of this year’s most eagerly anticipated performances is dance sensation Psy with his record-breaking hit “Gangnam Style“. He will become the first South Korean artist to perform at the annual awards, one of the pop industry’s biggest nights outside the United States.

The song, which is up for the Best Video award, has been viewed more than 670 million times on YouTube and received a record-breaking 4.9 million “likes” on Facebook since being released in mid-July.

Klum, who this year filed for divorce from singer husband Seal, is ready for the horse riding-inspired dance.

“Now I know how to dance Gangnam Style!” she posted on Twitter on Saturday, with a picture of herself and Psy in matching blue tuxedo jackets.

ROCKING THE RED CARPET

Despite being billed as the Europe Music Awards, the majority of nominees are traditionally North American, and 2012 is no exception.

Alongside Psy, acts due to take the stage at the show include country singer Taylor Swift, 14-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys, the Killers, newly reformed No Doubt and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Before the show kicks off, stars taking to the red carpet will include rapper Ludacris, who will debut his new video “Rest of My Life”.

Heading the nominations is party-loving Rihanna, with nods in six categories, including Best Song and Best Video for “We Found Love”.

Following close behind with five nominations is country star Swift, Katy Perry with four, while Lady Gaga, who cleaned up last year with four prizes, is in the running for three awards.

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber, who has reportedly just broken up with girlfriend Selena Gomez, is up for four awards, including Best Male and Best Pop.

Rihanna is favorite for Best Song and Best Female, according to odds offered by British bookmakers William Hill, while Gangnam Style is tipped to win Best Video.

The EMA awards were last held in Frankfurt in 2001. Last year’s awards in Belfast attracted 23 million viewers on all platforms and 158 million votes worldwide.

Following are the main nominations in 2012:

BEST SONG: Carly Rae Jepsen/Call Me Maybe; Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris/We Found Love; Gotye/Somebody That I Used To Know; Pitbull feat. Chris Brown/International Love; fun. feat. Janelle Monáe/We Are Young

BEST NEW: Rita Ora; fun.; One Direction; Lana Del Rey; Carly Rae Jepsen

BEST FEMALE: Rihanna; Katy Perry; P!nk; Taylor Swift; Nicki Minaj

BEST MALE: Justin Bieber; Kanye West; Flo Rida; Pitbull; Jay-Z

BEST POP: Justin Bieber; No Doubt; Katy Perry; Taylor Swift; Rihanna

BEST LIVE: Taylor Swift; Lady Gaga; Jay-Z & Kanye West; Green Day; Muse

BEST HIP HOP: Jay-Z & Kanye West; Nas; Rick Ross; Drake; Nicki Minaj

BEST ROCK: Linkin Park; Green Day; Muse; The Killers; Coldplay

BEST ELECTRONIC: David Guetta; Swedish House Mafia; Avicii; Skrillex; Calvin Harris

BEST ALTERNATIVE: Jack White; The Black Keys; Arctic Monkeys; Florence + The Machine; Lana Del Rey

BEST VIDEO: M.I.A./Bad Girls; Lady Gaga/Marry The Night; Katy Perry/Wide Awake; Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris/We Found Love; PSY/Gangnam Style.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan and Maria Sheahan; editing by Mike Collett-White)

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Obama hails veterans, pledges continued support

ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) – President Barack Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark the Veterans Day holiday on Sunday, declaring that soldiers‘ needs would be met even as the country winds down wars in the Middle East and Asia.

In the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Obama pledged continuing support for veterans as they make the transition to civilian life.

“This is the first Veterans Day in a decade in which there are no American troops fighting and dying in Iraq,” the president said at the cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, where soldiers’ graves are marked with row upon row of simple white stones.

“After a decade of war, our heroes are coming home,” he said. “Over the next few years more than a million service members will transition back to civilian life.”

The president touted the work of first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, for their work in the Joining Forces campaign, which urges businesses to hire veterans. He also reaffirmed his commitment to continuing the post-9/11 GI Bill program, which provides college education funding for those who have served, and said soldiers suffering war-related health problems will get the care they need.

“No one who fights for this country overseas should ever have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they have earned when they come home,” he said.

After the ceremony, Obama visited with people in an area of the cemetery known as Section 60, where many of the solders who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are buried.

The Democratic president won re-election to a second four-year term on Tuesday and now faces tough negotiations with Republican congressional leaders to avoid sharp spending cuts that loom at the end of the year. A big chunk of those reductions would come through a decline in defense spending.

During the campaign, Obama and Biden regularly pledged their commitment to bringing troops home from Afghanistan and taking care of American veterans. Obama criticized his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, for failing to mention the war in Afghanistan during his speech to the Republican National Convention.

(Reporting by Samson Reiny, writing by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Analysis: Hudson’s Bay faces tough sell as it prepares for IPO

TORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) – If Hudson’s Bay Co wants to provide some measure of comfort to investors in its upcoming initial public offering, it might have to throw in some of its signature striped wool blankets.

The retailer, owner of two of the most venerable names in department stores – Hudson’s Bay in Canada and Lord & Taylor in the United States – faces a big challenge in convincing investors it can win the turnaround game, especially with a hip and agile competitor like Target Corp about to arrive in Canada.

As HBC prepares for its C$ 400 million ($ 399 million) initial public offering in Toronto, it is touting a “transformation” that includes rising sales at established stores, a figure investors watch closely.

But both chains face increasing competition, a likely medium- and long-run negative for the stock. The department store sector has grown slowly as shoppers look online or seek out discount stores.

In the United States, Lord & Taylor competes with a resurgent Macy’s Inc , and in Canada, HBC faces competition from Target and other U.S. companies intent on shaking up the retail landscape.

“I think an investor in the Bay would be well-advised to wait until Target has entered the market and they have some insight as to what the business climate will be for the Bay on a real basis, not on a speculative basis,” said Mark Cohen, former chief executive of Sears Canada Inc and now a professor of marketing at Columbia University in New York.

HBC says its transformation is a work in progress, with more upside to come.

“The focus will be the opportunity to close the margin gap, the opportunity to grow same-store sales,” said Walter Stackow, analyst with Manning & Napier, which invests in retail stocks.

HBC has estimated it will sell up to 19 percent of the company in the IPO at between C$ 18.50 and C$ 21.50 per share, giving it a market value of C$ 2.4 billion, according to a fund manager who has reviewed the firm’s sale documents.

The company is braving an otherwise stalled IPO market in Canada. A recent PwC survey counted three issues on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the first nine months of 2012, down from 14 in the same period last year.

HBC says it will use the proceeds to pay down debt, although it will remain heavily indebted – as of July 28, total short- and long-term debt came to C$ 1.37 billion.

Ryan Bushell, a portfolio manager with Leon Frazer & Associates in Toronto who manages the IA Clarington Canadian Conservative Equity Fund, said he was briefed on the IPO but is staying on the sidelines for now.

“We wouldn’t be stepping into more consumer sensitive names right at this moment,” he said. “We’d rather see how the market digests this IPO and see a few quarters of execution as a public company.”

HBC declined to comment for this piece.

CANADIAN SQUEEZE

Founded in 1670, Hudson’s Bay was a fur trading business long before it operated department stores, having been granted control of a significant part of what is now Canada by King Charles II. It went private in 2006, as shoppers fled to specialty retailers and U.S.-based heavyweights like Wal-Mart Stores Inc .

NRDC Equity Partners, controlled by U.S. real estate investor Richard Baker and his family, bought out HBC‘s other investors in 2008, and integrated it with Lord & Taylor, which operates 48 stores across the United States.

A recent study by consultancy Kantar Retail singled out Hudson’s Bay’s 90 outlets as particularly vulnerable to Target. Early HBC investors will have little chance to gauge the impact of Target’s 2013 arrival in Canada before buying in.

“I wouldn’t touch it (the IPO) with a 10-foot pole,” said Barry Schwartz, vice president and portfolio manager at Toronto’s Baskin Financial Services. “I think it’s an opportunistic idea to take advantage of a pretty good market and the fact that Target hasn’t made any impact yet.”

With a presence primarily in the U.S. northeast, Lord & Taylor is small relative to its publicly traded peers. It had sales of C$ 1.4 billion last year, or roughly three weeks of revenue at Macy’s, which sold Lord & Taylor off in 2006. Hudson’s Bay had sales of C$ 2.2 billion.

HBC has focused on its two marquee banners, winding down discount chains Fields and Zellers, and selling many of its Zellers leases to Target in a C$ 1.83 billion deal. Home Outfitters, HBC‘s 69-outlet Canadian housewares chain, is not much mentioned in the prospectus.

Columbia University’s Cohen said the remaining Zellers locations may prove costly to liquidate, and Hudson’s Bay just doesn’t have a strong market position.

High-end Nordstrom Inc , legendary in the United States for its customer service, will start rolling out its namesake department stores and lower-priced Rack outlets in Canada in 2014. Even Canadian luxury retailer Holt Renfrew is launching a new lower-priced banner.

COMPETITION AT LORD & TAYLOR

For its part, Lord & Taylor must take on Macy’s, Nordstrom and Saks Inc , all of which are expanding their outlet chains. Macy’s is spending $ 400 million on its Manhattan flagship, while Kohl’s and Nordstrom are opening new stores.

Last year, Lord & Taylor spent C$ 91 million to improve its stores, including a facelift at its Manhattan flagship. Industry experts say the chain, founded in 1826, let its high-end aura erode over the years, relying too much on discounts.

It has ramped up offerings by U.S. designers like Elie Tahari, and shows the biggest image improvement among shoppers in the last 13 months, according to market research firm YouGov. But it still lags Macy’s and Nordstrom.

“Lord & Taylor has a very loyal customer base,” said retail industry veteran Walter Loeb, who earlier in his career was a senior merchant at Macy’s and analyst at Morgan Stanley. “But they have to build a new customer base.”

Another potential problem for HBC is lagging e-commerce. Last year, it got 2.1 percent of sales online, compared with 8 percent to 15 percent for the publicly traded U.S. department stores.

Selling, general and administrative costs in relation to sales have improved in recent years, thanks in part to efficiencies from combining some of the two chains’ operations.

At 35 percent of sales last year, the costs are lower than those of Sears stores in Canada, with 38 percent, but far above most of HBC‘s peer group. They were 22.6 percent at Kohl’s and 26.7 percent at Nordstrom.

HBC‘s real estate, including historic buildings in major cities like New York and Toronto, could provide some floor to the stock’s value, should its turnaround stumble. The company owns or ground leases more than 11 million square feet of retail space, and has long-term, low-cost leases for another 14 million.

HBC sales rose 6.4 percent from 2009 to 2011, and operating income jumped more than 17-fold as the retailer boosted store productivity and margins, but that growth could falter.

“At the end of the day, the department store category is not a fast growing category,” Manning & Napier’s Stackow said.

($ 1 = $ 1.00 Canadian)

(Additional reporting by Solarina Ho and Euan Rocha in Toronto; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Mary Milliken and Steve Orlofsky)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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