Daily Mail and General : DMGT Weekly, 11-15 January

15-01-2016

DMGT is announcing that Martin Morgan, Chief Executive, has informed the Board that he plans to retire from the Group at the end of calendar year 2016, Hobsons is announcing the acquisition of the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework and The Daily Mail is announcing it will be further aligning its Australian operation with its global one in being 100% owned by DMGT.

DMGT

DMGT is announcing that Martin Morgan, Chief Executive, has informed the Board that he plans to retire from the Group at the end of calendar year 2016. The notice given ensures that there is sufficient time to allow a thorough search process to take place. The Board will consider both internal and external candidates. Martin, 65, has been CEO for just over seven years, eight by the time of his retirement. Martin says: 'I am looking forward to my final year as Chief Executive - executing on the clear priorities set for 2016 and shaping the Group for growth for the next decade.'

Read the full text on investis.com

RMS

Speaking to Carrier Management Editor Mark Hollmer, RMS CEO Hemant Shah talks about the company's plans to launch its first cyber risk models in February, in what he describes as a 'pretty significant opportunity for the industry.' The global insurance industry, Shah estimates, generates as much as $2bn in cyber risk premiums. Launch seminars are planned for London and New York, and risk models have been built for five classes of cyber-risk perils, including 'leakomania.'

Watch the video on insurancejournal.tv

DMG INFORMATION

EDR Insight's Dianne Crocker, in an article published in Commercial Real Estate Direct's Year-End 2015 edition, is discussing the prospects for the environmental site assessment market and the broader commercial real estate market, both of which are continuing on the road to recovery. EDR Insight's own internal research and its broad-based Commercial Property Due Diligence Fall Benchmark Survey point to a positive outlook for 2016, though there will be some notable changes taking place. The commercial real estate market in the USA is not without its challenges, Dianne notes, with lenders, buyers and investors all increasingly active in a crowded and highly competitive marketplace.

Read the full article on edrnet.com

Landmark Information Group is announcing the launch of a new 'Pay as You Go' web portal - POI On Demand - which provides secure, immediate access to the full Point-X GB Points of Interest dataset, which has over 4m active features. The service will provide highly accurate location-based data that can be used for a wide range of projects, such as urban planning, retail or property development, or other projects that require the very latest information regarding local points of interest. Richmond Crowhurst, Senior Public Sector Manager of Landmark Solutions, explains that 'as a Pay as you Go service users can immediately access the data whenever they need it, on a case by case basis.'

Read the full story on landmark.co.uk

CRE Finance Council and Trepp are releasing the preliminary results from their Portfolio Lender Survey of commercial mortgage investment performance within the insurance company sector for the first-half of 2015. Twenty-three insurance companies with $189bn in combined commercial mortgage assets contributed data for the survey, with companies reporting strong performance and stable allocations to commercial mortgages for the first half of 2015. The full results of the survey are being presented during the CREFC Industry Leaders Conference currently taking place in Miami.

Read the full story on cmbs.informz.net

Genscape, founded in Louisville, is changing the game for financial traders and others in the commodity and energy business who have traditionally had to make quick decisions without a lot of information to hand. Founded in 1999 by two power traders, Sean O'Leary and Sterling Lapinski, who had grown frustrated at the lack of transparency in the markets, Genscape became the nation's first supplier of real-time power plant output and transmission information to support decision-making by stakeholders in the energy sector. The company now operates the world's largest private network of in-the-field monitors, including satellite reconnaissance, artificial intelligence, and maritime freight tracking.

Read the full article on insiderlouisville.com

Brian Busch, Director of Oil Markets and Business Development at Genscape, is speaking to CNBC about crude oil storage levels at Cushing, Oklahoma, and about the pipeline shut-down in Illinois due to flooding on 5 January, 2016. Busch explains that until the economy picks up, the global over-supply of crude will continue. He also reveals that there are 100m more barrels of crude storage than there were a year ago, and warns that the prospects for supply and demand coming back into balance do not look promising at the moment.

Watch the video on youtube.com

Hobsons is announcing the acquisition of the Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework, a national membership collaborative, which helps colleges, universities, and higher education systems use data to improve retention and postsecondary success. The addition of PAR (which was founded in 2011 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) will enable Hobsons to scale its intelligence and measuring capabilities, ultimately helping millions of students to make more effective choices, while empowering institutions to provide enhanced support. PAR will operate as a new division within Hobsons, under the leadership of PAR Framework CEO Beth Davis.

Read the full story on hobsons.com

The demand for online educational tools including Naviance - and rival platforms like Kuder and Career Cruising - is increasing in the USA, with states passing new laws to encourage career and education planning. Naviance, a division of education company Hobsons, has more than 10,000 clients in the USA and abroad, and in common with its rival services, provides tools which are designed to draw out students' academic and personal interests, guiding them in their career options, and providing structured advice on academic requirements.

Read the full article on edweek.org

DMG MEDIA

The Daily Mail is announcing that it is splitting from its Australian joint venture partner Nine Entertainment, further aligning its Australian operation with its global one in being 100% owned by DMGT. Peter Holder, Managing Director of the Daily Mail's Australian operation, voiced the publication's excitement about the future, saying: 'We've had a great relationship... it's time for us to own our own destiny.' The business is now set to invest in growing both its editorial and commercial offerings, with Holder emphasising that despite the publication having ascended to fifth place in Nielsen's online ratings for Australia, there is still a way to go.

Read the full article on adnews.com.au

Rob Lynam, Head of Trading at MEC, discusses the outlook for news brands in 2016, following a 'brutal' 2015 for national newspaper ad revenues. 'While news brands have continued to extend their reach and influence through the distribution of content via digital, mobile and social channels, revenues from digital advertising have stumbled... [creating] a GBP 120m-sized hole in publishers' print and digital advertising budgets.. Some of the biggest changes are going on at Mail Brands, as it is now known. And, in 2016, we will see the fruition of its long-overdue creation of a unified print and digital sales team.. We are already seeing signs that it is prepared to look at everything differently,' Lynam says.

Read the full article on campaignlive.co.uk

EUROMONEY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS

The full report of the 15th edition of the Sacramento Business Review (a publication which focuses comprehensively on the regional economy) will be released on Tuesday 19 January, during an event at Sacramento State University's Union Ballroom. A speaker from Ned Davis Research - Joe Kalish, the Group's Chief Global Macro Strategist - will also give a talk during the event.

Read the full article on csus.edu

The 21st Euromoney Conferences' Central and Eastern European Forum is taking place in Vienna next week, a pivotal and popular annual event for both the region and the business. 1,000 top level policymakers, issuers, and commentators from the region will join local and international investors to help plan, debate and analyse the economic agenda for the region for the year ahead. Ministers from Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania will open the first day of the conference, and Central Bank Governors representing 11 countries will open day 2. With a spotlight on the region due to the migrant crisis, the situation in Ukraine, and relations with Russia, the event is attracting attention on a pan-European and global scale.

Read the full story on euromoneyconferences.com

In the Sunday Times, Ben Laurance and Michael Sheridan are discussing China's 'clumsy attempts' to control its financial markets, and the lesson the country is learning about capitalism: that the State will intervene when necessary, no matter how brutal or 'cack-handed' that intervention may be. Dhaval Joshi, Chief European Strategist at BCA Research, uses a tree analogy to explain the turmoil in the country: 'In the summer, its leaves are not ready to fall, not even a hurricane can bring down more than a few. But come the autumn, when the entire system has become unstable, the tiniest (or indeed no) puff of breeze can lead to a leaf avalanche.'

Read the full article on thesundaytimes.co.uk (subscription required)

JVS AND ASSOCIATES

Zoopla is appointing Brands2Life to oversee its consumer PR, replacing incumbent agency Instinctif Partners. Brands2Life secured the account following a competitive pitch against Weber Shandwick, and will begin working with Zoopla immediately, reporting to PR manager Stefanie Midmer. Zoopla Property Group's Head of Communications Lawrence Hall commented: 'The competition was strong, but the energy, detailed research and creative ideas Brands2Life brought to the process were excellent.'

Read the full article on prweek.com (Subscription may be required)