Want More Women on Boards? This Stat Help

Gillian Tan is a Bloomberg Gadfly columnist covering deals and private equity. She previously was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She is a qualified chartered accountant.)

(Updated )

A global effort to bolster the number of women on corporate boards is taking longer than it should. But the recent performance of companies that lead their peers on this measure may accelerate change.

An MSCI study published this month shows just seven companies in its key global index, comprised of more than 2,500 members, have boards that are dominated by women. But of these seven, more than half have outperformed their industry peers. The list is led by luxury retailer Kering FP, which has seven women on its 11-person board. The Gucci owner has outperformed the entire index as well as the more-specific consumer discretionary index not only on a year-to-date measure, but also since the company added two more female directors in April 2016 to put women in the majority.

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Market pork, poultry test 100% positive for E.coli in Vietnam

E. coli is found in animals’ guts and lower intestines and can be the cause of serious food poisoning

By Tuoi Tre News

December 11, 2017, 12:14 GMT+7

Market pork, poultry test 100% positive for E.coli in Vietnam
Chickens are sold on the street in Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A recent test by research institute the Pasteur Institute on poultry and pork samples taken from local markets revealed that 100 percent of the meat was contaminated with E. coli because of unhygienic conditions at marketplaces and slaughterhouses.

Sixty-four percent of seafood samples also tested positive for the bacteria.

E. coli, short for Escherichia coli, is a type of bacteria that normally lives in human intestines and is also found in the gut of some animals. Tiếp tục đọc “Market pork, poultry test 100% positive for E.coli in Vietnam”

Facebook livestreaming a new medium for celebrity ads in Vietnam

Local tax and advertising authorities are not really happy with the new trend

By Tuoi Tre News

December 11, 2017, 15:00 GMT+7

Facebook livestreaming a new medium for celebrity ads in Vietnam
Two women watch a celeb promoting a product via Facebook Live in this photo taken in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Brands in Vietnam are hiring celebrities or ‘social media influencers’ to promote their products via the Facebook Live feature, a new form of commercials allowing them to defy both the advertising and tax rules.

Facebook Live, launched in August 2015, is a live video streaming service allowing users of the world’s largest social network to broadcast themselves live and communicate with their audience in real time. Tiếp tục đọc “Facebook livestreaming a new medium for celebrity ads in Vietnam”

Top tech university gains Vietnam’s first AUN-QA accreditation

HCMUT is only the third university in the ASEAN region to be accredited at institutional levelBy Tuoi Tre News

December 4, 2017, 16:00 GMT+7

Top tech university gains Vietnam’s first AUN-QA accreditation
Students conduct lab experiments at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), Vietnam’s leading polytechnic university, has become the country’s first university accredited at institutional level by the ASEAN University Network – Quality Assurance (AUN-QA). Tiếp tục đọc “Top tech university gains Vietnam’s first AUN-QA accreditation”

​Saigon old signage: proof of the city’s subtle charm

The southern metropolis is laced with charming subtleties in its antique signage

By Tuoi Tre News

December 10, 2017, 17:04 GMT+7

​Saigon old signage: proof of the city’s subtle charm
A hairdresser’s sign hanging in a coffee shop. Photo: NGHIA COCO

Roaming the street web of Saigon, the nostalgic name many call Ho Chi Minh City, one can easily spot shop front signs and direction signposts that convey the city’s grace.

Alongside the glamorous modernity the city boasts, its graceful touch prevails, predominantly manifest in its age-old signs. Tiếp tục đọc “​Saigon old signage: proof of the city’s subtle charm”

54% of EU coal power is loss-making

carbontracker.org

Coal phase-out by 2030 could cut utility losses by €22 billion

More than half of all coal plants in the EU are loss-making, rising to 97% by 2030, finds a Carbon Tracker report launched today. It warns investors that utilities currently only plan to close 27% of capacity by then and that a complete phase-out of coal by 2030 could stem utility losses by €22 billion ($26bn).

Forthcoming air quality standards and carbon prices are pushing up coal operating costs while clean technology costs continue to fall. The report finds that building new onshore wind and solar PV projects will be cheaper than operating existing coal plants by 2024 and 2027 respectively.

“The changing economics of renewables, as well as air pollution policy and rising carbon prices, has put EU coal power in a death spiral. Utilities can’t do much to stop this other than drop coal or lobby governments and hope they will bail them out.”

Matt Gray, Carbon Tracker analyst and co-author of the report

Carbon Tracker analysed the profitability of every coal unit in the EU to look at the financial implications of a coal phase-out in Europe consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement.

German utilities RWE and Uniper could avoid losses of €5.3bn and €1.7bn respectively by closing plants by 2030. This strategy would cut losses for all of Europe’s 15 largest coal plant operators, except Italy’s Enel and Romania’s CE Oltenia. Tiếp tục đọc “54% of EU coal power is loss-making”