Corporate Bits | Members of society of operations engineers visit CEM

In a move to promote safe, efficient and environmentally sustainable engineering operation and professional development, Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM) hosted a delegation comprising the Trustee Board members of the Society of Operations Engineers  (SOE) of the United Kingdom and the Committee members of the SOE Hong Kong Regional Group.
Both parties exchanged views on how SOE can support professional training and development for CEM’s engineers.
SOE UK Trustee Board Members Chris Grime and John Eastman gave a presentation outlining the benefits of SOE membership, the registration process for professional engineering, and registration processes for Chartered Environmentalists.
The Chairman of CEM’s Executive Committee Bernie Leong expressed his gratitude towards SOE for its cultivation of engineering expertise through regular seminars and site visits, as well as technical support for training and development.
CEM hopes to collaborate with SOE in the near future, so as to continuously strengthen the exchange of information and expertise between engineers.

h&m sees lower earnings amid cold weather, strong dollar

Low-cost fashion brand Hennes & Mauritz AB yesterday reported a 17 percent drop in its second-quarter net profit and sluggish sales growth, partly due to cold spring weather and the impact of a stronger dollar.
The Swedish fashion retailer said sales grew five percent in the quarter under review, but rose only two percent — to 54.3 billion kronor (USD6.6 billion) — when converted to Swedish currency.
Profit plummeted to 5.3 billion kronor from 6.4 billion a year earlier, with increased markdowns and investments.
Sales of spring clothes were hurt by a cold March and April in many markets, but H&M said May was “significantly better.”
CEO Karl-Johan Persson said that the first half of the year had been difficult, but that he expected future growth for the Stockholm-based company. H&M currently has 4,000 stores in 62 markets and plans to open more than 400 new stores this year.
“It has been a challenging half-year for fashion retail in many markets, but we have great confidence going forward and are continuing to develop our offerings further within all our brands,” Persson said.
“The combination of strong brands, a large body of retail stores in good locations, and a successful e-commerce business puts us in a unique market position for future growth.”
H&M now offers e-commerce services in 32 markets, having launched online sales in nine new markets this year. H&M will launch e-commerce in Canada and South Korea later in 2016, and plans to scale up its online business in 2017.