EoW May 2011

Transat lant ic Cable

In brief . . . ❈ Citing “significant and relentless cost increases in raw material feedstocks,” Dow Wire & Cable on 18 th March announced a price increase of $567 per metric ton on its wire and cable compounded products and elastomers in Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. The Horgen, Switzerland-based business unit of Dow Chemical Co (Midland, Michigan) said the increase took effect with 1 st April shipments.

As noted by Zacks Investment Research (24 th March), nearly 55 per cent of the steel produced by minimill operator Nucor Corp (Charlotte, North Carolina) is under long-term price contracts, which should help maintain profitability for the company during even a prolonged economic recovery. Nucor’s Castrip technology, Zacks said, “will structurally lower its cost of production and lead to meaningful long- term savings.” Another firm mentioned by the ratings and advisory service was AK Steel Corp (West Chester, Ohio), which for first- quarter 2011 expected a seven per cent production increase (to 1.45 million tons) as well as an eight per cent increase in its average per-ton selling price. The company, which also posted strong results for the last quarter of 2010, attributed its brightening outlook to a better product mix and anticipated higher contract and spot market prices. ❈ The World Trade Organization on 25 th March agreed to rule on the legality of Chinese dumping and countervailing duties applied in 2009 to more than $200 million of imported American-made flat-rolled electrical steel products. The US had complained to the WTO that China failed to disclose the facts on which its conclusions rely and to explain its method of calculating penalties as high as 25 per cent. GOODWIN MACHINERY LTD Goodwin machinery, based in the UK, specialise in the worldwide sale of second hand machinery for the wire and cable industry. Either single machines or purpose designed lines can be supplied from stock. Complete turnkey projects, from removal, to installation and commissioning using specialised electrical and mechanical staff with many years experience in the cable industry can be provided. Recent new additions to the Goodwin portfolio include for the continued service and repair of all equipment manufactured by the following companies.

Telecom

How the advent of the iPhone helped derail Deutsche Telekom’s American project When AT&T on 20 th March announced that it had agreed to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion, it proposed a deal that will greatly alter the mobile telephone industry in the United States. The merger would combine the nation’s second- and fourth-largest cellular carriers and bring together AT&T’s 95.5 million wireless subscribers with T-Mobile’s 33.7 million customers. Immediately the proposed transaction raised alarms about higher prices for American consumers. Only three major cellular carriers would remain standing: AT&T, Verizon and the much smaller Sprint, which might then be forced to look for a merger partner of its own. The deal characterised by Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s chairman and CEO, as “a major commitment to strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation’s future”must be approved by regulators in Washington. One certainty is that, except for an eight per cent equity stake that it will hold in AT&T, Deutsche Telekom is no longer in the picture, and Kevin O’Brien of the International Herald Tribune has a theory about that. The title of his DealBook blog for 21 st March says it all: “How the iPhone Led to the Sale of T-Mobile USA.” Until Apple introduced its highly popular touchscreen device in 2007, Mr O’Brien wrote, the German company had been generating “decent” sales from its American operation, with growth in some years surpassing that achieved at home. But the iPhone, which famously would go on to become the world’s leading smartphone, was an omen for Deutsche Telekom from the beginning. “After the iPhone became available, sold exclusively at first by AT&T in the United States,” noted Mr O’Brien, “T-Mobile USA began to lose its most lucrative customers.” These were the subscribers on fixed monthly plans who defected to AT&T and later to Verizon Wireless, which began selling the iPhone in February 2011. According to T-Mobile USA’s annual reports, the percentage of the company’s contract customers fell from 85 per cent in 2006 to 78.3 per cent in 2010. In 2010 alone, T-Mobile USA said, it lost 390,000 contract customers to rivals.

B&F Carter Ltd Winget Syncro Hanson and Edwards Babcock Wire Equipment

Goodwin Machinery have also taken on board the gearbox repair and refurbishment service from CMS. This will continue to be carried out using the same skills and commitment as before with the added experience of Goodwin’s own staff.

Please visit our website www.goodwinmachinery.co.uk or contact us directly at sales@goodwinmachinery.co.uk for more information

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EuroWire – May 2011