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Archive for July, 2008

Current Industry News

Posted in News on July 29th, 2008

Starbucks axes 61 coffee shop

International coffee chain Starbucks will close 61 Australian stores within days, shedding 685 jobs as part of a strategy to slash under performing outlets and boost profits.

Twenty-three stores will remain open in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney and surrounding areas after the closures this Sunday, an official statement from the company said.

Starbucks opened its first Australian store in Sydney’s Hyde Park in July 2000.

It currently has 85 outlets nationally, including in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, South Australia and Tasmania.

Today’s announcement follows the decision by Starbucks last month to close 600 company-operated stores in the US, costing up to 12,000 jobs.

The company blamed poor real estate decisions, coupled with the troubled economy, for the US closures.

The company said the 61 locations to be closed in Australia were under performing.

Starbucks’ international boss, Howard Schultz, ruled out closing other stores internationally.

The company operates more than 15,000 coffee shops around the world

"We are well into the implementation phase of transforming Starbucks and we believe that this difficult, yet necessary, decision to close stores in Australia will help support the continued growth of our international business,’’ he said.

"While this decision represents business challenges unique to the Australian market, it in no way reflects the strong state of Starbucks business in countries outside of the United States,’’ he said.

"There are no other international markets that need to be addressed in this manner.

"We appreciate the exceptional service our partners in Australia have consistently delivered.

"We are thankful and proud of the contributions our partners make every day and we are committed to treating all of our partners with respect and dignity.’’

A list of affected stores will be published by July 31, after all the employees are informed.

As part of the restructuring, Starbucks Australia store development manager Jason Ball will become managing director from September 1.

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Current Industry News

Posted in News on July 22nd, 2008

Vodafone gains 70,000 customers

Vodafone Australia added about 70,000 customers in the June quarter for a total of 4.1 million, as users were attracted to the mobile carrier’s cheaper plans.

But Vodafone’s revenue increased 6.3 per cent from the year before despite a reduction in the termination rate to nine cents from 12 cents in fiscal 2008.

The customer base in the three months to June grew by 10.6 per cent compared with the year before, Vodafone said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Vodafone Australia’s business is booming in all states and territories because we’re injecting real value into the market at a time when customers are looking for improved services at reasonable rates," chief executive Russell Hewitt said in the statement.

Vodafone said 50,000 of the new customers were direct, while 20,000 were signed through other providers.

Voice usage on Vodafone’s network increased by 10.9 per cent from a year earlier and the company finished the quarter with 975,000 third generation (3G) devices connected to its network.

"Mobile voice and SMS continues its unabated year-on-year growth, but mobile data services have quickly become our most promising growth engine," Mr Hewitt said.

"Vodafone is playing and winning in the mobile broadband market and the new and emerging range of smart phones will help Vodafone to deliver on the promise of exceptional mobile communications and mobile internet services."

Vodafone’s network upgrade is progressing well and will be completed by December, Mr Hewitt said.

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