MIRA
INFORM REPORT
|
Report Date : |
25.04.2012 |
IDENTIFICATION DETAILS
|
Name : |
SKA SRL |
|
|
|
|
Registered Office : |
Via Agosta 3, Sandrigo, 36066 |
|
|
|
|
Country : |
Italy |
|
|
|
|
Financials (as on) : |
31.12.2010 |
|
|
|
|
Date of Incorporation : |
16.12.2008 |
|
|
|
|
Com. Reg. No.: |
03509800243 |
|
|
|
|
Legal Form : |
Private Subsidiary |
|
|
|
|
Line of Business : |
Manufacture of other agricultural and forestry machinery |
|
|
|
|
No. of Employees : |
43 |
RATING & COMMENTS
|
MIRA’s Rating : |
Ba |
|
RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
|
|
41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
|
Status : |
Satisfactory |
|
Payment Behaviour : |
No complaints |
|
Litigation : |
Clear |
NOTES :
Any query related to this report can be made
on e-mail: infodept@mirainform.com
while quoting report number, name and date.
ECGC Country Risk Classification List – September 30, 2011
|
Country Name |
Previous Rating (31.12.2011) |
Current Rating (31.03.2012) |
|
Italy |
A2 |
A2 |
|
Risk Category |
ECGC
Classification |
|
Insignificant |
A1 |
|
Low |
A2 |
|
Moderate |
B1 |
|
High |
B2 |
|
Very High |
C1 |
|
Restricted |
C2 |
|
Off-credit |
D |
Company name and address
|
Ska SRL |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
Employees: |
43 |
|
Company Type:
|
Private Subsidiary |
|
Corporate Family:
|
2 Companies |
|
Ultimate Parent:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Incorporation
Date: |
16-Dec-2008 |
|
Fiscal Year End:
|
31-Dec-2010 |
|
Reporting
Currency: |
Euro |
|
Annual Sales:
|
17.8 |
|
Total Assets:
|
19.0 |
Business Description
|
Ska SRL is primarily engaged in manufacture of mowers
including lawn mowers; manufacture of agricultural self-loading or
self-unloading trailers or semi-trailers; manufacture of agricultural
machinery for soil preparation, planting or fertilising (ploughs, manure
spreaders, seeders, harrows, etc.); manufacture of harvesting or threshing
machinery (harvesters, threshers, sorters, etc.); manufacture of milking
machines; manufacture of spraying machinery for agricultural use; and
manufacture of diverse agricultural machinery (poultry keeping machinery,
bee-keeping machinery, equipment for preparing fodder, etc.; and machines for
cleaning, sorting or grading eggs, fruit, seed, grain, etc.). |
Industry
|
Industry |
Construction and Agriculture
Machinery |
|
ANZSIC 2006: |
2461 - Agricultural Machinery and
Equipment Manufacturing |
|
NACE 2002: |
2932 - Manufacture of other
agricultural and forestry machinery |
|
NAICS 2002: |
33311 - Agricultural Implement
Manufacturing |
|
UK SIC 2003: |
2932 - Manufacture of other
agricultural and forestry machinery |
|
US SIC 1987: |
3523 - Farm Machinery and Equipment
|
Key Executives
|
News
|
Registered No.(ITA)
03509800243
Profit & Loss Item Exchange Rate: USD 1 = EUR 0.7550783
Balance Sheet Item Exchange Rate: USD 1 = EUR 0.7454064
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||
|
Corporate Structure News: |
|
|
|
|
|
Ska SRL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Company Name |
Company Type |
Location |
Country |
Industry |
Sales |
Employees |
|
Parent |
Sandrigo, Vicenza |
Italy |
Business Services |
0.3 |
1 |
|
|
Subsidiary |
Sandrigo, Vicenza |
Italy |
Construction and Agriculture
Machinery |
17.8 |
43 |
|
|
|
7 CLUBS
The essential club-hopping guide to the hottest nights
this week
Sunday Mail (Scotland): 22 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Tuesday
Twisted Tuesday GHQ, Edinburgh DJ JT plays commercial house, electro and chart
tracks, plus giant jenga, twister and more.
Thursday
Madame Belle's Lulu's, Edinburgh Hip hop, R&B, electro, house and
dancefloor anthems with a burlesque twist.
Friday
Karnival The Caves, Edinburgh Forward thinking house night with German
tech-house producer Butch as guest.
Famous
Kushion, Glasgow James Lithgow and DJ Status take it through to 3am with indie,
electro, house and hip hop.
Saturday
Lory D vs Automat La Cheetah, Glasgow Two adopted sons of Glasgow lock horns,
with support from Monox's Currie and The Wasp.
The Egg Wee
Red Bar, Edinburgh Indie, 60s garage, electro, Northern Soul, ska, 70s punk and
new wave at this Edinburgh institution for those in the know, after a quick fix
of decent music and attitude-free clubbing.
The Opal
Experience Opal Lounge, Edinburgh Glamorous vocal house and ice-cool electro
with a hint of R&B.
BEST FUSION
Wales on Sunday (Wales): 22 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Fishbone @
Bogiez, Cardiff (tomorrow) � ECLECTIC and hectic, this outrageous bunch of LA
perennials have spent the last 30 years mixing and mashing up the music scene
with their blend of ska, punk, rock, funk, reggae, thrash and rap.
Their 1988
opus, Truth And Soul, was one of the first and best albums to truly transcend
such genres.
It'll be
interesting to see if time has dulled that fearsome edge and whether singer
Angelo Moore still has a penchant for playing in the near nuddy.
So people
in the front row beware.
�
Details: 029 2039 6590
BRIEF: Madness performs set full of favorites at Coachella festival
Friday
San Bernardino County Sun (CA): 21 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
April
21--INDIO -- Madness' combination of horns, ska rhythms and colorful suits drew
a sizable audience at the Outdoor Theater Friday.
"For
the one who entered the field by accident or prescription medication, we are
Madness," said lead vocalist Chris Foreman, before the Camden Town, London
group went into "NW5," which was released on their 2009 album
"The Liberty of Norton Folgate."
The group
would frequently kick beach balls out in the audience and Foreman would tell
stories and jokes in between the music, which included staples like the early 80's
hit singles "Our House" and "House of Fun."
Audience
members danced and even sang along to what seemed like every song in the set
which also featured 1980 single "Embarrassment," the
Max Romeo
cover "I Chase The Devil A.K.A. Ironshirt" and the Lord Tanamo cover
"Taller Than You Are" (both covers were from the group's 2005 album
"The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1) and a 2010 song "Forever Young."
wes.woods@inlandnewspapers.com
909-483-8549
___
MIDLAND MUSIC IS MILES BETTER
Wonder Stuff singer on a mission to get world
listening to region's rock heroes
Birmingham Evening Mail (UK): 21 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
BE IT
orchestral rock, New Romantic, ska, reggae or pop, Wonder Stuff frontman Miles
Hunt is on a mission to get the rest of the world to take Midlands music more
seriously.
The
chart-topping singer reckons the region's output is treated frivolously by the
music-buying public and wants to change perceptions.
He is
touring record stores today performing some of the region's classics, as his
band prepares to release seven-inch vinyl cover versions of local gems under
the title From The Midlands With Love.
First up
will be a rendition of The Move's 1968 No.1 Blackberry Way, backed with Save It
For Later by ska legends The Beat.
Songs lined
up for future releases include Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf, The Earth
Dies Screaming by UB40, Slade's Far Far Away and There There My Dear by Dexys
Midnight Runners, plus possible Moody Blues and Steel Pulse covers.
Hunt, aged
45, said: "When I grew up, anything with Roy Wood on it was really
important to me.
"When
I was a kid my Uncle Bill was the keyboard player in his band Wizzard.
"There
was a direct connection - I felt more for things like Wizzard and Slade,
whereas things like The Beatles didn't really connect for me.
"But
from The Move, through punk, new wave and the ska thing, although I'm biased,
for me it always seemed the most important songs in any of those movements were
from the Midlands."
Marston
Green-born Hunt, later based in Stourbridge, said the region's self-deprecating
humour sometimes counted against its music being taken seriously.
The tour
will also mark Record Store Day, a fightback by independent music shops against
the threat posed by internet retailers and downloads.
He will be
joined by Wonder Stuff violinist Erika Nockalls for the performances, taking
place at Rise stores in Bristol, Cheltenham and Worcester, plus Cheltenham
indie shop Badlands, ending with a mini-gig at Sword-fish in Temple Street, Birmingham,
at 3.15pm.
"Mike
Caddick and the boys at Swordfish have been there for a long time - let's keep
them there for a bit longer," he said.
MIDLAND MUSIC IS MILES BETTER ; Wonder Stuff singer on a mission to get
world listening to region's rock heroes
Birmingham Mail (UK): 21 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
BE IT
orchestral rock, New Romantic, ska, reggae or pop, Wonder Stuff frontman Miles
Hunt is on a mission to get the rest of the world to take Midlands music more
seriously.
The
chart-topping singer reckons the region's output is treated frivolously by the
music-buying public and wants to change perceptions.
He is
touring record stores today performing some of the region's classics, as his
band prepares to release seven-inch vinyl cover versions of local gems under
the title From The Midlands With Love.
First up
will be a rendition of The Move's 1968 No.1 Blackberry Way, backed with Save It
For Later by ska legends The Beat.
Songs lined
up for future releases include Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf, The Earth
Dies Screaming by UB40, Slade's Far Far Away and There There My Dear by Dexys
Midnight Runners, plus possible Moody Blues and Steel Pulse covers.
Hunt, aged
45, said: "When I grew up, anything with Roy Wood on it was really
important to me.
"When
I was a kid my Uncle Bill was the keyboard player in his band Wizzard.
"There
was a direct connection - I felt more for things like Wizzard and Slade,
whereas things like The Beatles didn't really connect for me.
"But
from The Move, through punk, new wave and the ska thing, although I'm biased,
for me it always seemed the most important songs in any of those movements were
from the Midlands."
Marston
Green-born Hunt, later based in Stourbridge, said the region's self-deprecating
humour sometimes counted against its music being taken seriously.
The tour
will also mark Record Store Day, a fightback by independent music shops against
the threat posed by internet retailers and downloads.
He will be
joined by Wonder Stuff violinist Erika Nockalls for the performances, taking
place at Rise stores in Bristol, Cheltenham and Worcester, plus Cheltenham
indie shop Badlands, ending with a mini-gig at Sword-fish in Temple Street,
Birmingham, at 3.15pm.
"Mike
Caddick and the boys at Swordfish have been there for a long time - let's keep
them there for a bit longer," he said.
BRIEF: The English Beat concert in Bricktown rescheduled for Friday
Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City): 20 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
April
20--Thursday's rained-out performance by the legendary British ska band The
English Beat during the ACM@UCO Rocks Bricktown festival will take place at
9:30 p.m. Friday at the ACM@UCO Performance Lab, 329 E Sheridan.
The English
Beat, led by Dave Wakeling, are best known for songs such as "Save It For
Later," "Mirror in the Bathroom," "I Confess" and
"Twist and Crawl." The group will release a new five-disc boxed set
of their collected works in July.
The show
will include performances by ACM@UCO bands whose sets were affected by the
weather. The concert is free and open to all ages. For more information, go to
acm.uco.edu.
Asia-Pacific Political, Economic Calendar - Month Ahead(2)
Nikkei English News: 20 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Cash Rate
2.5
Cash Rate
(Bps) 0
0800/2300/1900
SKA Q1 Advance GDP
0850/2350/1950
JPN Apr Provisional Trade Statistics for 1st 10 days of
Month
0930/0030/2030
JPN Mar Detailed Import & Export Statistics
1100/0100/2100
AUS Apr DEEWR Vacancy Report
1200/0300/2300
SKA Mar New deposit, loan rates
1330/0430/0030
JPN Feb All Industry Index
1300/0500/0100
SIN Mar Industrial Production Index
On Month
+1.1%
On Year
+12.1%
1430/0530/0130
SKA OECD - OECD Economic Survey of Korea
Friday,
April 27, 2012 Exp Prev
Local/GMT/ET
1045/2245/1845
NZ Mar International Visitor Arrivals
0800/2300/1900
SKA Mar Balance of payments
Current
Account Balance 639M
Current
Account Seas Adj 4.1B
0815/2315/1915
JPN Apr Japan Manufacturing PMI
0830/2330/1930
JPN Mar Household Spending
Wage-Earner
Household Spending
(on year)
+2.9%
All
Household Spending (on
year) +4%
+2.3%
Propensity
to Consume YoY %Pts
Chg +0.7%
Adjusted
Propensity to Consume 72.2
0830/2330/1930
JPN Mar CPI (Nation), CPI ex-food (Nation)
Japan Core
CPI (on year) +0.1%
Japan
Overall CPI (on year) +0.3%
Japan
Overall CPI (on month) +0.2%
0830/2330/1930
JPN Apr CPI (Tokyo), CPI ex-Food (Tokyo)
Tokyo Core
CPI (on year) -0.3%
Tokyo
Overall CPI (on year) -0.1%
Tokyo
Overall CPI (on month) +0.4%
0830/2330/1930
JPN Mar Labour Force Survey
Jobless
Rate 4.5% 4.5%
0850/2350/1950
JPN Mar Preliminary Retail Sales
Overall
Retail Sales (on year) 3.5%
Large-Scale
Retailers' Sales
(on year)
+0.2%
Asia-Pacific Political, Economic Calendar - Month Ahead -4(2)
Nikkei English News: 20 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
Imports
44.93B
Imports Dir
Change +2
1330/0430/0030
JPN Mar Revised Retail Sales
1400/0500/0100
JPN Apr Consumer Confidence Survey
Survey
result 40.3
1300/0500/0100
SIN Mar Retail Sales
On Year
+19%
1600/0800/0400
HK Apr Hong Kong port container throughput monthly
estimates
1630/0830/0430
HK Mar External Merchandise Trade: Volume & Price
Statistics
N/A PHI Mar
Overseas Filipino Workers Remittances figures
Current
Overseas Remittance 1.59B
Current %
Chg on Year +5.8%
Wednesday,
May 16, 2012 Exp Prev
Local/GMT/ET
0800/2300/1900
SKA Apr Economically Active Population Survey, incl
Unemployment
Jobless
rate 3.4%
0850/2350/1950
JPN Mar Orders Received for Machinery
Core
Machinery Orders (on
month)
+4.8%
Core
Machinery Orders (on
year) +8.9%
0850/2350/1950
JPN Mar Tertiary Industry Index
1030/0030/2030
AUS May Westpac - Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment
Survey
MoM % Chg
-1.6%
1130/0130/2130
AUS Q1 Labour Price Index
Wage Price
Index (WPI) QoQ +1%
Wage Price
Index (WPI) YoY +3.6%
1130/0130/2130
AUS Apr International Merchandise Imports
1130/0130/2130
AUS Mar Lending Finance
1200/0400/0000
MAL Q1 Balance of Payments
Current
account (MYR) 22B
1800/1000/0600
MAL Q1 GDP
GDP Yearly
% Chg +5.2%
STATEWIDE WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN GIVE WILDLIFE CHANCE POSTER CONTEST
U.S. Fed News: 20 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
SOCIAL
CIRCLE, Ga., April 20 -- The Georgia Department of Natural Resources issued the
following news release:
Twelve
elementary school children were announced today as statewide winners in the
Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest. More than 1,700 kindergarten through
fifth-grade students from 14 public schools, private schools and home-school
groups participated in the 22nd annual conservation art competition, according
to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and The State Botanical Garden
of Georgia.
Statewide
winners in the four grade divisions included:
KINDERGARTEN
* First
place: Hallie Haggard, Tiftarea Academy, Chula, Ga.
* Second
place: Andrew Edwards, Pike County Primary School, Zebulon, Ga.
* Third
place: Landan Garrett, Mt. Vernon Elementary School, Gainesville, Ga.
FIRST
THROUGH SECOND GRADE
* First
place: Dasia Hollenquest, West Clayton Elementary School, College Park, Ga.
* Second
place: Erik Godbee, South Effingham Elementary School, Guyton, Ga.
* Third
place: Britney Hammonds, Pate's Creek Elementary School, Stockbridge, Ga.
THIRD-FOURTH
GRADE
* First
place: Katelyn Mao, SKA Academy of Art and Design, Duluth, Ga.
*Second
place: Payton Lantrip, Odum Elementary School, Jesup, Ga.
*Third
place: Nathan Duncan, St. Joseph Catholic School, Athens, Ga.
FIFTH GRADE
* First
place: Megan Stephens, Mt. Vernon Elementary School, Gainesville, Ga.
* Second place:
Kalyn Humphries, Hamilton Elementary School, Hartsfield, Ga.
* Third
place: Andra Tudor, SKA Academy of Art and Design, Duluth, Ga.
Participants
entered at the local school-level with drawings depicting their observations of
Georgia's native plants and animals. The theme for the 2012 contest was
"The art of conservation - discovering Georgia's natural heritage through
art." Drawings were judged based on aspects such as theme, originality,
and the quality and impact of the artwork. Top school-level entries proceeded
to the state contest at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia in Athens.
The 12
winners' artwork will be featured in the 2012-2013 Give Wildlife a Chance
Poster Contest school-year calendar and posted on the DNR Wildlife Resources
Division's Flickr site, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildliferesourcesdivision.
Winning
entries will also be displayed on weekends starting today, April 20, through
May 7 at the DNR's Go Fish Education Center in Perry. The Go Fish Education
Center takes visitors on an educational journey through Georgia's watersheds to
learn about the diverse aquatic wildlife, natural habitats and the impacts of
water pollution. Visitors will see live fish exhibits, explore underwater
habitats from mountain streams to black water swamps, test their fishing skills
with interactive fishing and boating simulators, and view aquatic wildlife,
including live alligators! Visit http://www.gofisheducationcenter.com for
directions, fees and operating hours.
The poster
contest is sponsored by the DNR Wildlife Resources Division, The State
Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network Inc., or
TERN, friends group of the Wildlife Resources Division's Nongame Conservation
Section. For more information, visit www.georgiawildlife.com or
http://www.uga.edu/botgarden, or call the Nongame Conservation Section office
in Forsyth, (478) 994-1438.
Georgians
can support important conservation, recreation and education efforts like the
Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest as well as other conservation programs
for Georgia's nongame wildlife by purchasing a nongame wildlife license plate
and donating to the Give Wildlife Chance state income tax checkoff. The
checkoff - line 26 on Form 500 and line 10 on Form 500EZ - and the eagle and
hummingbird license plates are primary sources of funding for the Nongame
Conservation Section.
The agency
receives no state appropriations for its mission to conserve nongame wildlife,
native plants and natural habitats. Details at http://www.georgiawildlife.com/conservation.
For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement,
please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
Super-telescope: Split site now under consideration
Agence France-Presse: 19 April 2012
[What follows is the full text of the news story.]
PARIS,
April 19, 2012 (AFP) -
Plans to
build the world's most powerful radio telescope are looking at whether the site
can be split between rival bidders South Africa and Australia, organisers said
on Thursday.
The two countries
are waiting anxiously on the decision where the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a
$2-billion scheme conceived back in 1991, will be located.
Earlier
this month, the project's parent body, the SKA Organisation, pencilled a
meeting for the end of May to give time to let a working group examine the bids
further.
Speaking to
AFP on Thursday, John Womersley, head of the SKA's board of directors, said the
panel was exploring whether it was feasible to split the telescope between the
two countries.
"We
are seeing if there are ways in which one could instal SKA infrastructure in
both Australia and South Africa that would make sense scientifically,"
Womersley said in an interview from Manchester, England, where the SKA is
headquartered.
"But
it's key that any solution... must not compromise the science or increase the
costs in any unaffordable way."
Scientists
hope the SKA, which will be 50 times more sensitive than today's most powerful
radio telescopes, will shed new light on fundamental questions about the Universe,
including how it began and why it is expanding.
The
telescope, designed to be fully operational in 2024, will comprise a vast,
dispersed forest of about a thousand antennae which suck radio signals out of
the sky.
It will
also need unprecedented computing power -- the equivalent processing ability of
100 million PCs -- to crunch this data to detect signs of ancient stars and
galaxies.
"You
could imagine technically splitting it and installing it in different places,
but that would create significant challenges in terms of bringing all the data
together, in terms of operating such a split facility and in having the
infrastructure and the computing at two locations," Womersley said.
"It's
not straightforward to know if this is a good idea or not and it was felt to be
something that needed to be looked into with a little bit more than the back of
an envelope."
Eight
countries are full members of the SKA consortium, including Australia and South
Africa.
Reflecting
the rising interest of emerging countries in big science projects, China also
is a full member and India is an associate member, Womersley said.
The United
States, which is facing budget constraints, is not a participant.
|
'We won't share SKA with Australians' |
|
|
|
|
|
Cape Times (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] NO sharing. That's the
message from science ministers in SA and Australia to the suggestion the two
countries share the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope. Members of the SKA
Organisation announced last week that the decision on where the SKA should be
located will not be made before next month. It also said that the two
countries may be sharing the R15 billion large telescope. "The members wished
to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised that it is
desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA. "They noted that it
is important to maximise the value of the investments made by both candidate
host regions," said a statement by the members. Australian Science
Minister Chris Evans was reported in The Australian last month as having said
that there was no scope to split the SKA between SA and Australia. "While some people
have suggested that's a way of dealing with the very strong competitive
bidding process, I'm told it doesn't make good scientific or economic sense. "This idea that
somehow like Solomon we'll cut it in half and give half each to South Africa
and Australia - I don't think that makes sense," Evans said. SA Minister of Science
and Technology Naledi Pandor recently said that she agreed with Evans on that
point. "It's one of the few
things we agree on," she said with a laugh at a recent SKA media
briefing. "If the leaked
reports on the recommendation of the SKA Site Advisory Committee are indeed
accurate and there is no 'scientific or economic' basis for a split decision,
then it is logical to expect that the southern African site will be
preferred." Pandor said last week
that she was disappointed at the delay. "I hope the SKA
Organisation will make a decision in the first half of 2012 and that the
decision will reflect the best scientific outcome," she said. michelle.jones@inl.co.za
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
Sharing SKA telescope a bad idea, argue SA and
Australia |
|
|
|
|
|
The Star (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] NO sharing. That's the
response from the science ministers in SA and Australia to the suggestion
that the two countries share the Square Kilometre Array telescope. SKA organisation members
announced last week that the decision on where the telescope should be
located would not be made before next month. They also said the two
countries may be sharing the R15 billion telescope. The SKA is one of the
biggest scientific projects ever attempted. "The members wished
to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised that it is
desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA. They noted that it is
important to maximise the value of the investments made by both candidate
host regions," said a statement by the members. Australian Science
Minister Chris Evans was reported in The Australian last month as saying
there was no scope to split the SKA between SA and Australia. "While some people
have suggested that's a way of dealing with the very strong competitive
bidding process, I'm told it doesn't make good scientific or economic sense. "This idea that
somehow, like Solomon, we'll cut it in half and give half each to South
Africa and Australia - I don't think that makes sense," Evans said. Naledi Pandor, the
Minister of Science and Technology, recently said she agreed with Evans. "If the leaked
reports on the recommendation of the SKA site advisory committee are indeed
accurate and there is no 'scientific or economic' basis for a split decision,
then it is logical to expect that the southern African site will be
preferred." SA, partnered with eight
other African countries, is competing against Australia, paired with New
Zealand, to host the SKA. Features of the SA site
proposal include low construction costs, low population density, its suitable
weather conditions and quiet radio frequency. Australia's bid has
highlighted the country's security, good business environment and fast
broadband network. Paul Brislen, chief
executive of the Telecommunications Users' Association of NZ, wrote in The
National Business Review recently that New Zealand may miss out on hosting
the project because of its high bandwidth costs. Pandor said last week
that she was disappointed at the delay. "I hope the SKA
organisation will make a decision in the first half of 2012 and that the
decision will reflect the best scientific outcome. "We believe we have
an excellent site at which exciting science will be done. "We in Africa are
ready to host the SKA," she said.
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
Jailhouse Ska |
|
|
|
|
|
The Indian Express (New Delhi, India) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] In an age when indie
music is living off alternative gig spaces, the prison too has emerged as a
venue for music performances. After Delhi band Menwhopause got on stage in
Jail Number 7 at the Capital's Tihar Jail last December, it became one of
their most unforgettable gigs. Following the guitar riffs of this band, The
Ska Vengers (in the picture) are also set to perform in Tihar's Jail Number 4
on April 26. Known for mixing dub with Jamaican ska, punk, jazz and hip hop,
this Delhi band's sound is known to have paved way for offbeat genres to
enter the indie music scene. "We wanted to have a New Year's gig at
Tihar jail but that didn't work out," says Stefan Kaye, keyboardist of
The Ska Vengers. Inmates of Jail Number 6
that comprises women prisoners and Jail Number 7 that houses young offenders
aged 18-21 years, apart from those living in Jail Number 4, will form the
audience at this gig. "It will be a very different and discerning
audience and I think far more responsive too. It should be a treat for them
and us," says Kaye. Though their songs are
mostly in English, the band is working on their own version of the popular
Bollywood number Dum maaro dum and are also translating some of their songs
in Hindi. "One doesn't need to know the language to enjoy a performance.
We are also planning to come up with songs on the jail," says Kaye. The
performance will be opened by Delhi-based hip hop and break dance collective,
SlumGods. Copyright 2012 The Indian
Express Online Media Pvt. Ltd., distributed by Contify.com
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
Final SKA decision may be a compromise |
|
|
|
|
|
Cape Times (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] THE decision on where the
Square Kilometre Array (SKA) should be located will not be made before next
month - and we may be sharing the large telescope with Australia. SA, partnered with eight
other African countries, is competing against Australia, paired with New
Zealand, to host SKA, which is expected to answer the unanswered questions of
the universe. But the biggest question
- where the SKA will be located - remains a mystery. Members of the SKA
Organisation met at Schiphol in the Netherlands on Tuesday while the SKA
board met there yesterday. The members noted the
site selection advisory committee's report and the associated commentary that
had been passed to them by the SKA Organisation's board following the board
meeting in Manchester last month, said a statement released late yesterday. "The members wished
to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised that it is
desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA. They noted that it is
important to maximise the value of the investments made by both candidate
host regions." It was speculated by the
media yesterday that this suggested that a compromise might be reached, with
SA and Australia both hosting the telescope. SA had previously been
tipped as the preferred location. Naledi Pandor, Minister
of Science and Technology, said yesterday that she was disappointed at the
delay. "I hope the SKA
Organisation will make a decision in the first half of 2012 and that the
decision will reflect the best scientific outcome. "We believe we have
an excellent site at which exciting science will be done. We in Africa are
ready to host the SKA," she said SKA board chairman John
Womersley tweeted earlier this week that he was on his way to Schiphol
Airport in Amsterdam for yesterday's meeting. "Will discuss site
selection recommendation, board comments and way forward," he tweeted. Womersley had previously
warned that a decision would probably not be made at the two meetings
scheduled for April 3 and 4. michelle.jones@inl.co.za
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
SA may have to do SKA waltzing with Oz |
|
|
|
|
|
The Mercury (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] THE decision on the
location of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio and telescope will not be
made before next month - and we may share it with Australia. SA, partnered with eight
other African countries, is competing against Australia and New Zealand to
host the giant SKA telescope which is expected to answer the big unanswered
questions of the universe. Members of the SKA Organisation and SKA Board have
met at Schipol in the Netherlands. They noted the site
selection advisory committee's report and the associated commentary that had
been passed to them by the SKA Organisation's board, said a statement
released late yesterday. "They noted that it
is important to maximise the value from the investments made by both
candidate host regions." It was speculated in the
media yesterday that this indicated a compromise might be reached, with SA
and Australia both hosting the telescope. The statement said:
"They therefore agreed to set up a small scientific working group to
explore possible implementation options that would achieve this. This working
group will report back to the members at a meeting in mid-May; its report
will provide additional information to facilitate the site decision for
SKA." SA had previously been
tipped as the favourite. Naledi Pandor, Minister
of Science and Technology, said yesterday that she was disappointed about the
delay.
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
SA and Oz could share SKA telescope |
|
|
|
|
|
The Star (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows
is the full text of the article.] THE decision
on where the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) should be located will not be made
before next month - and we may be sharing the large telescope with Australia. SA, partnered
with eight other African countries, is competing against Australia, paired
with New Zealand, to host the SKA, which is expected to answer the big
unanswered questions of the universe. But the
biggest question - where the SKA will be located - remains unanswered. Members of
the SKA Organisation and the board met in the Netherlands this week. "The
members wished to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised
that it is desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA," said a
statement yesterday. "They noted that it is important to maximise the
value from the investments made by both candidate host regions." It was
speculated that this indicated a compromise may be reached, with SA and
Australia both hosting the telescope.
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
SKA would be a boon for Africa, says Pandor |
|
|
|
|
|
The Star (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] SA will be pushing hard
for a decision to be made next week on which countries will host the Square
Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project. That was the word this
week from Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, who said at a media
conference that SA and its eight African nation partners would be "a
brilliant choice". She also hit out at rival
site bidder Australia, saying its lobbying efforts were "insulting"
to Africa, and that it had "attempted to diminish" southern
Africa's scientific superiority in this bid. Also, Australian
politicians had made "not very subtle" attempts to undermine the
rigorous site adjudication process by suggesting that the reported
superiority of SA's bid was "nothing more than a 'sympathy'
decision" for Africa. Pandor was speaking
before meetings by the international telescope project's members and board
yesterday and today in Amsterdam, where they expected to finalise a choice
between the African bid and that of an Australia and New Zealand consortium,
to construct what will be one of the world's biggest science projects. Supposedly strictly
confidential, it appears clear from media leaks in Australia and the UK, and
from the strong reaction in Australia and New Zealand, that an independent
site selection committee's recommendation favours Africa's bid on scientific
and technical grounds. It seems that the agreed
process by which the committee arrived at this decision was endorsed as fair
and scientifically rigorous by a board subcommittee of the SKA organisation,
the international company set up to construct and manage the project. Science and Technology
Director-General Phil Mjwara, who represents SA on both SKA boards and as a
general member, explained that Australia and New Zealand had raised five
areas of concern after the SKA site advisory committee made its
recommendation in February, and after it had been endorsed by the SKA siting
group. Three of these
outstanding issues had been satisfactorily resolved between the board and the
committees, but two had remained on the table and were to be discussed
yesterday. Mjwara said he believed
the members could resolve these issues. "If our optimism is correct[bar]
then the board will probably discuss how to make the announcement (of the
winning site today)." But SKA SA director
Bernie Fanaroff, who is also a SKA organisation board member, said members
had a direct interest in how the telescope would be operated, and that this
involved significantly more than just the site selection. Also, another four
countries had indicated they intended signing up within the next few months,
and had been invited to today's board meeting. "So I suspect that
the discussion will go on a bit (beyond today) about how to make this an
inclusive process." But Pandor added:
"We mustn't give them too long a rope. We as ministers want a decision,
and the South African team will make it clear that we want a decision. "Africa is ready to
host the SKA. That's really the message we would like the world to hear from
us. It's unique, iconic[bar] What a wonderful boon to Africa it would
be," she said. Fanaroff pointed out that
the site advisory committee was an independent body that consisted of some of
the world's leading astronomers and science administrators. "They
considered all the scientific and technical criteria for the two sites." According to the SKA
Organisation's founding articles, it was the members who had to make a
decision on where the telescope would be constructed, while the board had to
make decisions relating to the functioning of the organisation, he added. Fanaroff also said it was
important to understand what the SKA project meant, as it was on the same
scale as the Large Hadron Collider at Cern and the Hubble space telescope, if
not bigger. "It's the world's
largest science project at this time, or if not the largest, one of the top
two or three. And being on the African continent will be a dramatic statement
of what we can do in Africa."
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Pandor pushes for SKA decision |
|
|
|
|
|
Pretoria News (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] SOUTH Africa will be
pushing hard for a decision to be made next week on which countries will host
the massive estimated R15 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio
telescope. That was the word this
week from Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, who said at a media
conference that SA and its eight African nation partners would be "a
brilliant choice". She also hit out at rival
site bidder Australia, saying its lobbying efforts were "insulting"
to Africa, and that it had "attempted to diminish" southern
Africa's scientific superiority in this bid. Also, Australian
politicians had made "not very subtle" attempts to undermine the
rigorous site adjudication process by suggesting that the reported
superiority of SA's bid was "nothing more than a 'sympathy'
decision" for Africa. Pandor was speaking ahead
of meetings by the international telescope project's members and board in
Amsterdam yesterday and today, where they expected to finalise a choice
between the African bid and that of an Australia and New Zealand consortium,
to construct what will be one of the world's biggest science projects. Supposedly strictly
confidential, it appears clear from both media leaks in Australia and the UK,
and from the strong reaction in Australia and New Zealand, that an
independent site selection committee's recommendation favours Africa's bid on
scientific and technical grounds. It seems clear that the
agreed process by which the committee arrived at this decision was endorsed
as fair and scientifically rigorous by a board sub-committee of the SKA organisation,
the international company set up to construct and manage the project. Pandor's
director-general, Dr Phil Mjwara, who represents SA on both SKA boards and as
a general member, explained that Australia and New Zealand had raised five
areas of concern after the SKA site advisory committee made its
recommendation in February, and after it had been endorsed by the SKA siting
group. Three of these
outstanding issues had been satisfactorily resolved between the board and the
committees, but two had remained on the table and were to be discussed by the
SKA organisation's members on Tuesday. Mjwara said he believed
these two outstanding issues could be resolved by the members. "If our
optimism is correct[bar] then the board will probably discuss how to make the
announcement (of the winning site on Wednesday)." But SKA SA director Dr
Bernie Fanaroff, who is also a SKA organisation board member, said members
had a direct interest in how the telescope would be operated, and that this
involved significantly more than just the site selection. Also, another four
countries had indicated they intended signing up within the next few months,
and had been invited to today's board meeting. "So I suspect that
the discussion will go on a bit (beyond Wednesday) about how to make this an
inclusive process." But Pandor added:
"We musn't give them too long a rope. We as ministers want a decision,
and the South African team will make it clear that we want a decision. "Africa is ready to
host the SKA. That's really the message we would like the world to hear from
us. It's unique, iconic[bar] What a wonderful boon to Africa it will
be." Fanaroff pointed out that
the site advisory committee was an independent body that consisted of some of
the world's leading astronomers and science administrators. "They
considered all the scientific and technical criteria for the two sites." According to the SKA
Organisation's founding articles, it was the members who had to make a
decision on where the telescope would be constructed, while the board had to
make decisions relating to the functioning of the organisation, he added. "So it's up to the
members to decide what they will do. We obviously know what's in the
recommendation, but we will continue to respect confidentiality." Fanaroff also said it was
important to understand what the SKA project meant, as it was on the same
scale as the Large Hadron Collider at Cern and the Hubble space telescope, if
not bigger. "It's the world's
largest science project at this time, or if not the largest, one of the top
two or three. And being on the African continent will be a very dramatic
statement of what we can do in Africa."
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Africa 'brilliant choice' to host huge SKA
telescope |
|
|
|
|
|
The Saturday Star (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] SOUTH Africa will be
pushing hard for a decision to be made next week on what countries will host
the massive R15 billion-plus Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope
project. That was the word this
week from Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor, who said SA and its
eight African nation partners would be "a brilliant choice". She also hit out at rival
site bidder Australia, saying its lobbying efforts had been
"insulting" to Africa and that it had "attempted to
diminish" southern Africa's scientific superiority in the bid. Also, Australian
politicians had made "not very subtle" attempts to undermine the
rigorous site adjudication process by suggesting that the reported
superiority of SA's bid was "nothing more than a "sympathy
decision" for Africa. Pandor was speaking ahead
of meetings by the international telescope project's members and board in
Amsterdam on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, where they might finalise a
choice between the African bid and that of a consortium of Australia and New
Zealand, to construct what will be one of the world's biggest science
projects. Supposedly strictly
confidential, it appears clear from both media leaks in Australia and the UK,
and from the strong reaction of Australia and New Zealand, that an
independent site selection committee's recommendation favours Africa's bid on
scientific and technical grounds. It also seems clear that
the agreed process by which this committee arrived at this decision was
endorsed as fair and scientifically rigorous. Pandor's director-general
Dr Phil Mjwara explained that Australia and New Zealand had raised five areas
of concern. Three had been
satisfactorily resolved but two remained on the table and would be discussed
on Tuesday. Pandor said: "We as
ministers want a decision and the South African team will make it clear that
we want a decision... "Africa is ready to
host the SKA. That's really the message we would like the world to hear from
us. It's unique, iconic..." SKA SA director Dr Bernie
Fanaroff said it was important to understand what the SKA project meant, as
it was on the same scale as the Large Hadron Collider at Cern and the Hubble
space telescope. "It's the world's
largest science project at this time[bar] And being on the African continent
will be a very dramatic statement of what we can do."
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
'SA to be site of large SKA telescope' |
|
|
|
|
|
Pretoria News (South Africa) |
|
|
[What follows is the full
text of the article.] WHEN members of the SKA
Organisation meet next week they will have to decide how to address two
issues raised by Australia and New Zealand about where the large telescope
should be located. This could indicate that
Australia and New Zealand are concerned they have lost the bid to SA and is
likely to delay the site decision. Phil Mjwara,
director-general of the Department of Science and Technology, said the two
countries had raised five issues at a previous meeting of the SKA
Organisation and had indicated they would like to get clarity. He was speaking at the
SKA SA offices in Joburg yesterday, at a media briefing video-linked to Cape
Town. "The board felt that
out of the issues they had raised, only two issues could not be addressed by
(either) the SKA Site Advisory Committee (or) the SKA Siting Group." Mjwara said the technical
scientific issues would hopefully be addressed by members at the meeting on
April 3. Science and Technology
Minister Naledi Pandor said the South Africans at the meeting would ask that
a decision be made as soon as possible. "The SA team will
make it clear that we want a decision." She said it had been
expected that there would be a decision on Wednesday (April 4), but this was
likely to be delayed. Pandor said: "I
think it is important to say that we're constrained in responding with
respect to the outcome, because it is confidential. We feel it should be
treated as such and we can only infer from the response from Australia what
the reports say." Mjwara said the completed
SKA SA bid, of about 25 000 pages, had been submitted in September 2011 and
had sought to address three criteria: l Scientific - Is the
site scientifically capable of allowing radio observations by the SKA? l Technical - Can the
infrastructure and operational requirements of the SKA be met? l Other - Do any other
factors exist that could affect the operations and staff of the SKA? "In respect of all
three factors Africa is an excellent potential site for the SKA," Mjwara
said. He said the meeting of
SKA members on Tuesday would review the recommendation and commentary from
the SKA Board of Directors. The next day, the board of directors would meet
to deal with administrative issues relating to the SKA organisation and
consider whether four other countries, one of which was Angola, should join
the organisation. Members from Canada, China, Italy, the Netherlands and
Britain would make the final site decision. SA, Australia and New Zealand
are not allowed to vote. SKA SA project director
Bernie Fanaroff said no comment would be made on the site recommendation. "We obviously know
what is in the recommendation and as the minister says, we have respected the
confidentiality and we will continue to respect the confidentiality. "There have been
leaks to the media. Many of you will have seen the reports in the Sydney
Morning Herald and Nature, which is one the world's leading science journals,
which reported that the southern African site had been recommended by the
international site advisory committee. We can't comment on that." These
leaked reports have indicated that SA is favoured over Australia for the
SKA's location.
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
Annual Profit & Loss
|
|
31-Dec-2010 |
31-Dec-2009 |
|
Period Length |
12 Months |
12 Months |
|
Filed Currency |
EUR |
EUR |
|
Exchange Rate (Period
Average) |
0.755078 |
0.719047 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
Total income |
18.5 |
12.2 |
|
Net sales |
17.8 |
12.2 |
|
Other operating income |
0.5 |
0.4 |
|
Raw materials and consumables employed |
8.0 |
5.1 |
|
Other expenses |
5.1 |
3.0 |
|
Total payroll costs |
2.3 |
1.9 |
|
Fixed asset depreciation and amortisation |
0.7 |
0.5 |
|
Other operating costs |
0.2 |
0.1 |
|
Net operating income |
2.2 |
1.6 |
|
Total financial income |
0.1 |
0.0 |
|
Total expenses |
0.1 |
0.0 |
|
Profit before tax |
2.2 |
1.6 |
|
Extraordinary result |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Profit after extraordinary items and before tax |
2.2 |
1.6 |
|
Total taxation |
0.6 |
0.8 |
|
Net profit |
1.5 |
0.8 |
Annual Balance Sheet
|
|
|
|
|
Financials in:
USD (mil) |
|
|
31-Dec-2010 |
31-Dec-2009 |
|
Filed Currency |
EUR |
EUR |
|
Exchange Rate |
0.745406 |
0.696986 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
Total stockholders equity |
8.5 |
8.0 |
|
Provision for risks |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Provision for pensions |
0.4 |
0.4 |
|
Mortgages and loans |
1.0 |
- |
|
Other long-term liabilities |
0.1 |
0.3 |
|
Trade creditors |
4.2 |
2.4 |
|
Bank loans and overdrafts |
0.5 |
- |
|
Other current liabilities |
4.1 |
2.4 |
|
Accruals and deferred income |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|
Total current liabilities |
8.9 |
4.9 |
|
Total liabilities (including net worth) |
19.0 |
13.6 |
|
Intangibles |
0.0 |
0.1 |
|
Total tangible fixed assets |
4.5 |
3.4 |
|
Total financial assets |
0.0 |
0.0 |
|
Receivables due after 1 year |
0.1 |
0.0 |
|
Total non-current assets |
4.7 |
3.5 |
|
Net stocks and work in progress |
5.1 |
3.4 |
|
Trade debtors |
3.2 |
2.5 |
|
Other receivables |
0.6 |
0.4 |
|
Cash and liquid assets |
5.2 |
3.8 |
|
Accruals |
0.2 |
0.1 |
|
Total current assets |
14.3 |
10.1 |
|
Total assets |
19.0 |
13.6 |
Annual Ratios
|
|
|
|
|
Financials in:
USD (mil) |
|
|
31-Dec-2010 |
31-Dec-2009 |
|
Period Length |
12 Months |
12 Months |
|
Filed Currency |
EUR |
EUR |
|
Exchange Rate |
0.745406 |
0.696986 |
|
Consolidated |
No |
No |
|
|
|
|
|
Current ratio |
1.60 |
2.10 |
|
Quick ratio |
1.00 |
1.40 |
|
Current liabilities to net worth |
0.01% |
0.01% |
|
Sales per employee |
0.31 |
0.12 |
|
Profit per employee |
- |
0.02 |
|
Average wage per employee |
0.04 |
0.02 |
|
Net worth |
8.5 |
8.0 |
|
Number of employees |
- |
72 |
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES
|
Currency |
Unit
|
Indian Rupees |
|
US Dollar |
1 |
Rs.52.79 |
|
|
1 |
Rs.85.17 |
|
Euro |
1 |
Rs.69.53 |
RATING EXPLANATIONS
|
RATING |
STATUS |
PROPOSED CREDIT LINE |
|
|
>86 |
Aaa |
Possesses an extremely sound financial base with the strongest
capability for timely payment of interest and principal sums |
Unlimited |
|
71-85 |
Aa |
Possesses adequate working capital. No caution needed for credit
transaction. It has above average (strong) capability for payment of interest
and principal sums |
Large |
|
56-70 |
A |
Financial & operational base are regarded healthy. General
unfavourable factors will not cause fatal effect. Satisfactory capability for
payment of interest and principal sums |
Fairly Large |
|
41-55 |
Ba |
Overall operation is considered normal. Capable to meet normal
commitments. |
Satisfactory |
|
26-40 |
B |
Capability to overcome financial difficulties seems comparatively
below average. |
Small |
|
11-25 |
Ca |
Adverse factors are apparent. Repayment of interest and principal sums
in default or expected to be in default upon maturity |
Limited with
full security |
|
<10 |
C |
Absolute credit risk exists. Caution needed to be exercised |
Credit not
recommended |
|
-- |
NB |
New Business |
-- |
This score serves as a reference to assess SC’s credit risk
and to set the amount of credit to be extended. It is calculated from a
composite of weighted scores obtained from each of the major sections of this
report. The assessed factors and their relative weights (as indicated through
%) are as follows:
Financial
condition (40%) Ownership
background (20%) Payment
record (10%)
Credit history
(10%) Market trend
(10%) Operational
size (10%)
This report is issued at your request without any
risk and responsibility on the part of MIRA INFORM PRIVATE LIMITED (MIPL)
or its officials.