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Strategies & Market Trends : Currents of Currency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ahda who wrote (50)	5/26/2003 4:27:01 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 594

Ever tried Chinese bras??? <vbg> King of bras By Jackie Horne 26 May 2003 How hard must it be handling women's breasts for a living? Top Form Chairman Willie Fung gives thanks for the mammaries. Willie Fung is chairman of Top Form International, the world's largest OEM brassiere manufacturer. One of the strongest outperformers on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year, Top Form has benefited from the China outsourcing story and sound financial management. This was not always the case. Fung came on board in 1995 at the suggestion of his friend and company co-founder Eddie Wong, after Top Form was forced to restructure HK$700 million ($90 million) of debt, much of which came from diversification into the Chinese property and retailing sectors. A sale of non-core assets and the entrance of strategic investment from some of the world's top bra manufacturers ensued, returning the company to its core competency. Here Fung explains the intricacies of dealing with the female form. How big is the bra market? Fung: Actually there isn't that much published information about the size of the global market. A year ago I saw an article in the New York Times, which said that Americans purchase 500 million bras a year. Since we produce 52 million pieces year and 80% of our business is for the American market that means we have an 8% market share. . Is America the largest market worldwide? Yes the average American woman purchases 4.8 bras a year. One of the main reasons is because Americans have a tendency to throw everything in the washing machine so they wear out quicker. It's a very well defined market and extremely stable. Bras aren't sold through specialist shops like Europe, but through mass distribution channels such as Wal-Mart, which is estimated to have a third of the overall market. The US business is much more price driven and bras cost a lot less. The average selling price is only about $10, whereas it's about $20 to $25 in Europe. Even China is more expensive than the US. What about Europe? There's a big difference between the northern and southern countries. Northern countries only average 1.8 bras per year, very low. Is that because they wash them less? No I think it's because these countries are colder and people wear thicker clothes, so they're not so worried about how their underwear looks. In France and Italy, on the other hand, women purchase an average of 3.5 bras a year. These countries are like Mecca for the lingerie business and women place a lot more emphasis on feeling romantic and sexy. They also tend to hand wash their bras, so they last a lot longer. [...] financeasia.com

To: Ahda who wrote (50)	5/26/2003 4:46:30 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 594

Asia, its reserves and the coming dollar crisis By Richard Duncan 21 May 2003 Author of the new book, The Dollar Crisis, Richard Duncan* explains why the dollar is the source of global deflation.* FinanceAsia: Posterity may remember it as a seminal book in the field of 21st century economics. Indeed, rarely has a book offered such a grim yet well argued view of the current economic situation facing the world and Asia. The author - a former Salomon banker, and World Bank staffer - is Richard Duncan and the book is called the Dollar Crisis. In this essay, the American explains why the US dollar is at the root of global deflation, and recent bubbles, and what it will mean for Asia. [...] financeasia.com