Cisco reports $9.6 billion sales in first quarter

Cisco has reported net sales of 9.6 billion dollars in the first quarter that ended on October 27. Cisco is world-wide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate.

Similarly net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of YS 2.2 billion dollars or 0.35 dollars per share, and non-GAAP net income of 2.5 billion dollars or 0.40 dollars per share.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said: "We believe these strong results show that Cisco is well-positioned in terms of our vision, differentiated strategy and execution, and our ability to act upon key market transitions."

Cisco has acquired Navini networks, which is a pioneer and leader in mobile WiMax broadband wireless industry. This will result in many more Internet users who can use economically high speed Internet

Textile exporters shifting to Bangladesh

Political unrest and deteriorating law and order situation in the country are compelling most of the textile exporters to shift their business to Bangladesh, the biggest competitor of Pakistan in the region, sources told Business Recorder here on Saturday.

They said that the textile industry was already bearing the pinch of 5.27 percent decline in exports with apprehension that downtrend would exceed 10 percent next month.

Sources said that after imposition of emergency, mainly due to military, European customers of textile products were hesitant to visit Pakistan. Moreover foreign investment is not coming as expected, and the cost of both skilled and unskilled labour has also increased.

According to sources, the months of October, November and December are considered to be peak season for textile export orders from Europe, but these fell to minimum as compared to corresponding period of last year.

Sources said that without properly evaluating the situation, the government abolished R&D subsidy on the pretext that it was being misused by textile exporters.

"Our competition with the neighbouring countries like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is making things difficult for the industry in the international market," sources said, and added that after abolishing R&D subsidy by shifting it to the real research and development, the exporters have to face losses and consequently they are thinking to shift their business to Bangladesh, which is the biggest customer of Pakistan's raw material.

Sources said that once the industrial unit are closed, then it is practically not possible to grab the global market share. They said that during last six months prices of gas have been raised four times by the government whereas the continuous interruptions in power supply is another problem being faced by the textile industry these days.

The frequent disruption in the gas supply has caused closure of approximately 30 textile mills and has badly affected 200 others in the industrial areas. This affects the quality of the fabric and increases cost of production.

Textile mills require in general about 8 pounds pressure for their boilers and generators, but generally the gas is being supplied with 6-7 pounds pressure and at present it is less than 3 pounds, on which the mills can not operate.

"In most of the cases, there is no gas supply while in other its pressure is reduced to one pound due to carbon in the filters", sources added. They said that the frequent interruptions in gas and electricity supply cause delay in meeting supply orders from other countries. Therefore, to overcome the delay the exporters have to send their consignments by air instead of sea which costs Rs 150 more per roll of fabric.

According to sources, there should be free trade agreement with Europe as regards textile exports. "Our output is 40 percent less than Lanka and it is mainly because of the unskilled labour", sources told

Popularity of Web Auctions Helps Fuel Growth in Live Auction Industry

His chanting is rhythmic and rapid, a staccato string of numbers that quickly grows hypnotic as auctioneer Kevin Teets scans the audience, eyes darting between buyers on opposite sides of the room.

Perched in the front row is Dave Kauffman, who has come 220 miles from Marysville, Ohio, in search of vintage, remote-control model airplanes and accessories.

Within hours, Kauffman has so many planes and parts, to be resold at flea markets and online, that it takes five trips to load his hatchback at the Greene County Fairgrounds.

"I can tell from the first sale if it's going to be a good night," he said. "Tonight was a very good night."

Although auctioneers initially considered the Internet a threat, its growth and development of searchable Web sites like AuctionZip have contributed to a boom in the live-auction industry, with one-time rivals forming partnerships that produce bigger audiences for sellers, often by simulcasting live auctions on the Web.

Buyers emboldened by success on eBay and other sites are seeking live sales in search of lower prices -- and the thrill of competing in person.

Sales of goods and services at live auctions totaled $257 billion in 2006, a surge of 7 percent over 2005.

A study for the Kansas-based National Auctioneers Association found residential real estate auctions have grown 39 percent since 2003, agricultural real estate grew 33 percent, and sales of commercial and industrial property surged 27 percent. Car auctions increased by 10.5 percent and charity auctions rose 16.5 percent.

"I don't know where the auction industry would be without the Internet," said Teets, of Fairmont, W.Va. He turned professional three years ago and made the top 12 at the 2007 bid-calling world championships in San Diego.

"The Internet has educated the buyers. It's educated the sellers. It's opened a lot of these small sales up," said Teets, 31, who works for Joe R. Pyle Auctions of Mount Morris, Pa.

Earlier this year, the 6,000-member National Auctioneers Association teamed up with Gemstar-TV Guide International to launch Auction Network, which produces Webcasts of auctions.

"The Internet has been the greatest thing that ever happened to the auction industry," said NAA president Tommy Williams, an Oklahoma real estate auctioneer. "It made us reinvent ourselves."

Auctioneers were slow to embrace the Internet because it was considered competition, said Ina Steiner of Natick, Mass., editor of AuctionBytes, a trade publication for online merchants.

But now, even rural residents often have sufficient Web service to compete and sellers realize that customers have choices far beyond eBay. There are specialty sites like Bid4Assets for real estate and IronPlanet for construction equipment.

"General consumers, they go to sites like eBay," Steiner said. "But they might go to Google. Google's the great equalizer. If an auction site is savvy and has a listing optimized for Google, people can find them."

The intersection of live and virtual auctions promises nearly limitless opportunity, and a few companies have already found niches by pairing traditional auction houses with the online world.

Julian Ellison moved from London to New York in 1999 to launch LiveAuctioneers, a Webcasting project. In 2002, he persuaded San Francisco-based eBay to partner on live Web auctions.

At the time, eBay had 25 million users; today it boasts 275 million. Ellison has ventures with 638 auction houses worldwide and annual sales approaching $100 million.

"A lot of our auction houses that we started doing business with were on their knees," he said. "Some have said to me: 'You guys have absolutely saved our bacon.'

The changing world also creates opportunity for individuals, and the NAA is beginning to see more women and minorities entering the profession. The world champion bid-caller, former real estate investor Denise Shearin of Brandywine, Md., is the first black auctioneer to hold the title.

Shearin, who went pro in March 2006, was initially captivated by the chanting but quickly learned there's more to the business, requiring constant re-education about values, intensive marketing efforts and sophisticated people skills.

"Like so many other businesses, you get out of it what you put into it," she said. "If you really enjoy it, 50, 60 and 70 hours a week really do go by very quickly and fairly easily."

First Figure Roll Out For The Shopping Season

The nation's retailers had a robust start to the holiday shopping season, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that tracks sales at retail outlets across the country.

According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets, total sales rose 8.3 percent to about $10.3 billion on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with $9.5 billion on the same day a year ago. ShopperTrak had expected an increase of no more than 4 percent to 5 percent.

"This is a really strong number. ... You can't have a good season unless it starts well," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, citing strength across all regions. "It's very encouraging. When you look at September and October, shoppers weren't in the stores."

In a separate statement released Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. reported "strong performance across all merchandise categories," including fine jewelry, outerwear, and young men's and children's assortments.

But the department store chain cautioned, "while we are encouraged by our strong start, it is still early in the holiday season, and we are mindful of the headwinds consumers are facing."

J.C. Penney, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other major retailers are expected to report same-store results for November on Dec. 6. Same-store sales are those at stores opened at least a year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer's strength.

The upbeat reports were encouraging since merchants have been struggling with anemic sales in recent months, as shoppers, particularly in the middle and lower-income brackets, were becoming more frugal amid higher gas and food prices and an escalating credit crunch.

In an apparent sign of desperation, the nation's stores ushered in the official start of the holiday shopping season on Friday with expanded hours, including midnight openings, and a blitz of early morning specials that were more generous than a year ago. J.C. Penney and Kohl's Corp. opened at 4 a.m., an hour earlier than a year ago.

The strategy appears to have worked, as shoppers jammed stores in record numbers for early morning deals on Friday. Martin noted that judging by the strong figures on Friday, stores were able to sustain strong sales throughout the day. He said he's counting on strong traffic throughout the weekend as many stores, including Macy's Inc., are continuing with special deals.

While Black Friday -- so named because it was traditionally when the surge of shopping made stores profitable -- starts holiday shopping, it is not considered a bellwether for the season. However, merchants see Black Friday as setting an important tone to the overall season: What consumers see that day influences where they will shop for the rest of the year.

Last year, retailers had a good start during the Thanksgiving weekend, but many stores struggled in December, and a shopping surge just before and after Christmas wasn't enough to make up for lost sales.

This year, the Washington-based National Retail Federation predicted that total holiday sales would be up 4 percent for the combined November and December period, the slowest growth since a 1.3 percent rise in 2002. Holiday sales rose 4.6 percent in 2006 and growth has averaged 4.8 percent over the last decade.

Emergency:Militants Might Gain More Ground

WASHINGTON — President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan , which he said is intended to curb Islamic extremism, could actually aid the growing insurgency by militants allied with al Qaida and the Taliban, U.S. officials and experts warned Monday.
Musharraf's brutal suppression and arrests Monday of thousands of opposition protesters also could endanger U.S. congressional approval of a $750 million plan to help curb the insurgency, they said.
Senior U.S. officials indicated that security aid will continue to flow to Pakistan despite the crackdown, underscoring the Bush administration's fears over the potentially serious consequences of Musharraf's moves for the U.S. war on terror.
"We are reviewing all of our assistance programs (to Pakistan ), although we are mindful not to do anything that would undermine ongoing counterterrorism efforts," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said during a news conference in Beijing .
Musharraf, who is also the army chief of staff, took power in a 1999 coup and became a key ally in fighting terrorism after the 9/11 attacks, sending his army into the tribal areas and arresting several senior al Qaida operatives.
In imposing the state of emergency on Saturday, Musharraf said he intended to crush Islamic militants, who have extended their deadly assaults beyond the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and staged a growing number of suicide bombings in urban centers.
But the insurgency isn't the only crisis Musharraf faces. The others are a loss of political support for his grip on power and court challenges to the legality of his dual role as president and chief of staff. His declaration of emergency rule came ahead of a Pakistan Supreme Court ruling that might have de-legitimized his recent re-election as president.
Musharraf's "focus will be on stabilizing his power base, which means dealing with dissidents, opposition parties and law and order in general," said Seth Jones , an expert on Pakistan with the RAND Corp. , a think tank that advises the U.S. government.
All of that will leave Musharraf little energy or time to conduct counterinsurgency operations against the extremists, who have imposed harsh Islamic rule in parts of the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, bordering Afghanistan . As a result, militants could have more freedom to carry out their operations and recruit.
"It's going to be difficult to see how Musharraf can take new initiatives up in the tribal areas," said a State Department official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
Musharraf also will have to keep close tabs on the army for signs of a mutiny.
The officer corps is angered by hundreds of casualties that the army has sustained in operations against the militants launched under pressure from the United States . It's also upset over the tarnishing of the military's image caused by Musharraf's rule, experts said.
Musharraf has kept the army in its barracks since the crackdown, relying mostly on police and paramilitary units, because many officers and troops would be unwilling to use force against fellow Pakistanis, said several U.S. officials and experts.
The Bush administration has been pressing Musharraf to step up military operations in the FATA, since U.S. intelligence agencies reported earlier this year that a rejuvenated al Qaida has established a sanctuary, complete with training bases, in the region.
The State Department official said that there are concerns that the Democratic-controlled Congress could react to Musharraf's crackdown by withholding approval of a new $750 million plan designed to help Pakistan contain the insurgency.
Sen. Patrick Leahy , D-Vt., the chairman of a Senate subcommittee that oversees aid to Pakistan , appeared to justify those concerns.
"U.S. aid to the Musharraf government should stop until constitutional order, civil liberties and judicial independence are restored, until political prisoners are released, and until free and fair elections are allowed," he said.
The money that would be dispersed under the plan would be used to provide new equipment and training for Pakistani security forces and to create jobs in the destitute tribal region through the construction of roads, hospitals and schools.