More stringent U.S. regulations prohibiting imports from Xinjiang, China, are adding to the strain on Vietnam's textile and footwear manufacturers. Companies are required by the Uyghur Forced Labour Protection Act (UFLPA) to demonstrate that they do not use raw materials or components made using forced labor in Xinjiang. More: - Only 13% of the $15M in apparel and footwear shipments held up for UFLPA checks were allowed into the U.S., with more than 80% coming from Vietnam.
- According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Vietnam is one of the U.S.' primary sources of cotton clothing. Compliance risks could force Vietnam to make more difficult adjustments, hurting American consumers.
- Vietnam's second-largest employer after agriculture, the clothing industry, has lost about 90,000 jobs since October 2022 due to weakened demand.
- About one in three pairs of shoes that Nike and Adidas sell worldwide, as well as 26% and 17% of their apparel, respectively, are made in Vietnam.
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Restaurant Brands International had a successful first quarter, with Burger King and Tim Hortons achieving double-digit same-store sales growth in the U.S. RBI reported a net income of $277M, or 61 cents per share, in the first quarter, up from $270M, or 59 cents per share, YoY. More: - RBI reported $1.59B in revenue for the quarter, exceeding expectations, with same-store sales growing 10.3%, primarily due to solid performance at Burger King and Tim Hortons.
- Burger King and Tim Hortons posted higher-than-expected same-store sales increases, with Burger King up 12.3% and Tim Hortons up 13.8%.
- Popeyes' same-store sales rose 5.6%, while Firehouse Subs, part of Restaurant Brands' portfolio, saw a 6.1% increase in same-store sales.
- "With moderated cost inflation and increased investment in the brand, Burger King is optimistic about its prospects," says RBI CEO Josh Kobza.
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Despite reporting Q1 revenue of $18.28B, a 29% decrease from the previous year, Pfizer outperformed Wall Street projections of $16.59B. Pfizer's Q1 revenue increased by 5% YoY when COVID-19 product sales were excluded, thanks to recent acquisitions and strong sales of other medicines. More: - Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.23 beat expectations of 98 cents, despite a year-over-year decrease in net income from $7.86B to $5.54B.
- Despite a 75% YoY decline of $10B in Pfizer's COVID vaccine sales, Q1 revenue was increased by $7.1B due to COVID-related sales, which included $3B from vaccine sales and $4B from Paxlovid.
- Strong sales of medicines like Sulperazon and Eliquis and acquisitions like Biohaven's Nurtec ODT and Global Blood Therapeutics' Oxbryta contributed $167M and $71M, respectively, propelled the company's revenue.
- Pfizer kept its full-year adjusted earnings projection of $3.25 to $3.45 per share and its 2023 sales target of $67 to $71B.
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The Box is the most recent commercial software company declaring Box AI its own version of generative AI technology. Box AI will serve as a platform for AI tools, and to deliver the initial products, the business is collaborating with OpenAI. More: - Box AI can assist with content creation, but its main strength is in helping with content comprehension by leveraging powerful language models as reasoning engines.
- With the help of its early adopters, Box is enhancing its AI-based tools to query documents, generate content for Box Notes, and automate workflows for upcoming products.
- The company can support not just OpenAI but any substantial language model.
- "Customers have been asking for more details on the company's plans for generative AI, so announcing these products right away," says Box CEO Aaron Levie.
Zoom Out:
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 A message from TRUERA LLM Testing and Monitoring – Join the Hands-On Workshop How can you ensure that your large language model is honest, harmless, and helpful? Join TruEra on May 11th and 18th as their President and Chief Scientist, Anupam Datta, provides a hands-on overview of how to analyze and improve the performance of your LLMs. During the two 60-minute online sessions, he will cover the following: - Quick introduction to LLMs - what are they and their history?
- Risks and challenges of LLMs: is your LLM honest, harmless, and helpful?
- Defining feedback functions to model LLM quality and performance
- How should you test and monitor LLMs?
- Live walk-throughs of how to identify, diagnose, and debug model issues in development and production
- Q&A with Professor Datta
Dates: 2-session series on May 11th and 18th Where: Virtual Event - Join from Anywhere Who should attend: Data scientists, machine learning engineers, MLOps managers, data analysts, statisticians, data and analytics managers Register for Free
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Apax Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board are considering a potential joint bid to take technology consultancy ThoughtWorks Holding Private. They are discussing possible offers with advisers for the ThoughtWorks shares they do not own. More: - The Chicago-based company’s market worth increased to $2.4B after its shares rose by as much as 25% on Tuesday.
- By Monday, the stock had dropped more than 80% from its peak after the IPO in September 2021.
- Siemens AG and GIC Pte are two more significant investors in ThoughtWorks; they both made investments before the IPO.
- With over 12,500 workers and operations in 18 nations, the technology consulting firm serves companies like Paypal Holdings Inc., Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and Bayer AG.
Zoom Out: - After the Nasdaq IPO, Apax had a majority stake in Thoughtworks, which it acquired in 2017.
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Foxconn pulling its $170M investment in Lordstown Motors has put the company at risk of bankruptcy, causing its stock price to fall. Lordstown is looking for alternative funding sources and a settlement to its conflict with Foxconn to continue operating. More: - At market open on Monday in New York, Lordstown shares dropped by 29% to 37 cents per share.
- About six months ago, Foxconn and Lordstown agreed to invest up to $170M and give Foxconn two board seats, providing much-needed capital to Lordstown and giving the Taiwanese multinational technology manufacturer a stronger position in the automotive manufacturing industry.
- In January 2023, due to the high cost of producing the Endurance battery-powered pickup, Lordstown asked Foxconn to suspend production to meet the targeted sale price of $65,000.
- Nasdaq's warning to Lordstown last month that its stock might be delisted if it fell below a minimum $1 per share level for 30 consecutive days sparked Foxconn's action.
Zoom Out: - The market cap of the EV company is around $100M.
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 |  | Shriram is pursuing Master’s in Business with Marketing at Warwick Business School. He worked as a Senior Consultant in Tech and Political Consultancies before his Masters. He is passionate about Tech, Marketing, Strategy, Anthropology and Politics. He is also the Postgraduate Ambassador for Warwick Business School. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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Join us on May 11th and 18th for a hands-on overview of how to analyze and improve the performance of your LLMs. | |
