netrashetty
Netra Shetty
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) is a tax preparation company in the United States, claiming more than 22 million customers worldwide, with offices in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Kansas City-based company also offers banking, personal finance and business consulting services.
Founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch, Block today operates 12,500 retail tax offices in the United States, plus another 1,400 abroad. Block offers its own consumer tax software called H&R Block at Home (formerly TaxCut), as well as online tax preparation and electronic filing from their website.
Only One-in-Four (26%) Say Their Household is Adequately PreparedOnly One-in-Seven (14%) Say Their Local Municipality is Adequately Prepared
A new Ipsos Reid poll, taken in the week following Japan’s devastating earthquake, shows that few Metro Vancouver residents are confident about our own level of earthquake preparedness.
Only one-quarter (26%) of residents believe their own household is adequately prepared for a significant earthquake and aftershocks. Even fewer residents (14%) believe their local municipality is adequately prepared to respond to a significant earthquake and aftershocks.
Fewer than four-in-ten (36%) Metro Vancouver residents think that governments have done a good job at ensuring that Metro Vancouver infrastructure such as public buildings, schools, hospitals, roads and bridges are prepared for a significant earthquake and aftershocks.
A slight majority (54%) think governments have done a poor job in this regard.
There appears to be at least some public appetite for increased government spending on infrastructure. Seven-in-ten (71%) residents say they would support governments making a substantial spending increase to prepare local infrastructure for a significant earthquake and aftershocks, even if that means cutting funding from other programs or services, or increasing taxes.
Support for this idea will likely depend on the details, as only 14% of residents are strongly in support, while a majority (57%) are only somewhat supportive. One-in-four (25%) residents say they oppose a substantial spending increase to prepare infrastructure.
Ipsos Reid asked survey respondents to indicate whether or not their household has taken some preparedness actions recommended by the Provincial Emergency Program.
The results show that most Metro Vancouver households have a long way to go in terms of their earthquake preparedness. Of note, only one-third (34%) have an exit plan, only half (49%) have a three-day supply of water, and only about six-in-ten (59%) have a comprehensive first aid kit.
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid online poll conducted on behalf of Global BC. The poll was fielded March 17-21, 2011 with a representative sample of 900 adult British Columbia residents. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of ±3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The margin of error will be larger for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual British Columbia population according to 2006 Census data.
The polling was conducted using Ipsos Reid’s “Voice of the West Interactive Forum” – an online panel of more than 6,500 British Columbians who have been recruited to match the overall characteristics of the adult residents of the province.
German & European Aerospace Industry
The German Aerospace industry continued its ascent in 2007. Revenues in the aerospace sector increased by 3.8% to EUR 20.2 billion, up 700 million from 2006. That’s the second all time high in a row. This positive development is also reflected in the increasing number of employees. It grew by 3.2% to 88,200 translating into 2,700 additional jobs in the industry. The German Aerospace Association (BDLI) reported that the export share of its 160 member companies grew once again by 1.7% thereby surpassing the 75% mark for the first time ever. German aerospace leaders agree that further efforts in research and development will be essential to hold the export share at this level. Correspondingly, the investment volume climbed to 16% of the overall revenues in the aerospace sector.
Commercial Aviation
Revenues in the commercial aviation industry grew by 6.3% to 13.03 billion in 2007 from EUR 12.27 billion in the previous year. As the strongest revenue generator of the German aerospace industry, commercial aviation holds a 64.4% share of all revenues. The number of employees grew by 2,400 to 57,400, an increase of 4.4%.
A strong market potential and a high demand for new airplanes support the commercial aviation industry in Germany. Power8, the restructuring program for Airbus, is showing first successful results but there seems to be no alternative to reduce the company’s dependency from the U.S. dollar. Airbus foresees a worldwide demand for almost 20,000 new aircraft of the 100-plus-seat category over the next 12 years.
The German aerospace supply industry is still fragmented and dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises. It has to push for a rigid consolidation course in order to stay competitive with the large international suppliers.
Buyers throughout the industry are looking for U.S. products to benefit from lower prices. German firms can oppose this trend by moving at least a part of their production to the dollar zone. In return, this might open joint venture opportunities for U.S. aerospace suppliers who could offer their production facilities or enter into project partnerships.
Defense & Security
Defense and security accounts for 28.4% of the German aerospace market. Revenues in this segment stagnated at EUR 5.75 billion in 2007. This reflects a limited growth potential of the German defense market. At the same time, the number of employees rose by 4.2% to 20,000, proving a high utilization across all military programs.
The industry claims to offer systems and products that meet customers demands around the globe, for example, the Airbus A400M. Despite the revision of the procurement totals from 212 aircraft in May 2003 to currently 180 aircraft, the first flight is still scheduled for June 2008 and delivery will begin in the first half of 2009. The A400M will be acquired by France (50), Germany (60), Spain (27), the United Kingdom (25), Turkey (10), Belgium (7), Luxembourg (1), South Africa (8) and Malaysia (4). The latest deal with at least some German pre-participation stirred up controversial reactions in the United States. In February 2008, the U.S. Air Force announced that an American-assembled variant of the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, now designated Northrop Grumman KC-45A, had been selected to replace the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. The overall value of the deal is USD 35 billion. Whether it can be upheld despite heavy opposition from competitor Boeing and from high-ranking U.S. politicians remains to be seen.
Space Industry
The space industry saw a slightly positive development in 2007. Revenues increased by 0.5% to EUR 1.46 billion, representing a share of 7.2% share of the German aerospace market. The number of employees also rose by 0.5% to 5,600. These numbers emphasize how the German space industry is strengthened through contributing to projects of the European Space Agency (ESA). Last year was marked by several milestones, such as the successful integration of ESA’s Columbus research and the attachment of Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Jules Vernes, to the International Space Station (ISS) as well as the implementation of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system by the German Federal Armed Forces.
Air Traffic
The latest statistics on the development of air traffic at Germany’s 19 international airports were published by the German Airports Association, ADV, in October 2007. The number of aircraft movements rose by 14% from 2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million in 2006, whereas air passenger traffic grew by 5%. The overall traffic at 102 European airports, which increased by 5.7%, slightly outpaced the German growth figures. Munich Airport recorded an impressive growth of 10.9% and ranked third among the airports that experienced the highest increase in passenger traffic per group, just behind Barcelona (+13.0%), Madrid (+12.9%).
This demonstrates that air traffic in Germany grew in line with the European trend showing healthy signs for a further growth of the commercial aviation sector.
Founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch, Block today operates 12,500 retail tax offices in the United States, plus another 1,400 abroad. Block offers its own consumer tax software called H&R Block at Home (formerly TaxCut), as well as online tax preparation and electronic filing from their website.
Only One-in-Four (26%) Say Their Household is Adequately PreparedOnly One-in-Seven (14%) Say Their Local Municipality is Adequately Prepared
A new Ipsos Reid poll, taken in the week following Japan’s devastating earthquake, shows that few Metro Vancouver residents are confident about our own level of earthquake preparedness.
Only one-quarter (26%) of residents believe their own household is adequately prepared for a significant earthquake and aftershocks. Even fewer residents (14%) believe their local municipality is adequately prepared to respond to a significant earthquake and aftershocks.
Fewer than four-in-ten (36%) Metro Vancouver residents think that governments have done a good job at ensuring that Metro Vancouver infrastructure such as public buildings, schools, hospitals, roads and bridges are prepared for a significant earthquake and aftershocks.
A slight majority (54%) think governments have done a poor job in this regard.
There appears to be at least some public appetite for increased government spending on infrastructure. Seven-in-ten (71%) residents say they would support governments making a substantial spending increase to prepare local infrastructure for a significant earthquake and aftershocks, even if that means cutting funding from other programs or services, or increasing taxes.
Support for this idea will likely depend on the details, as only 14% of residents are strongly in support, while a majority (57%) are only somewhat supportive. One-in-four (25%) residents say they oppose a substantial spending increase to prepare infrastructure.
Ipsos Reid asked survey respondents to indicate whether or not their household has taken some preparedness actions recommended by the Provincial Emergency Program.
The results show that most Metro Vancouver households have a long way to go in terms of their earthquake preparedness. Of note, only one-third (34%) have an exit plan, only half (49%) have a three-day supply of water, and only about six-in-ten (59%) have a comprehensive first aid kit.
These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid online poll conducted on behalf of Global BC. The poll was fielded March 17-21, 2011 with a representative sample of 900 adult British Columbia residents. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100% response rate would have an estimated margin of error of ±3.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
The margin of error will be larger for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual British Columbia population according to 2006 Census data.
The polling was conducted using Ipsos Reid’s “Voice of the West Interactive Forum” – an online panel of more than 6,500 British Columbians who have been recruited to match the overall characteristics of the adult residents of the province.
German & European Aerospace Industry
The German Aerospace industry continued its ascent in 2007. Revenues in the aerospace sector increased by 3.8% to EUR 20.2 billion, up 700 million from 2006. That’s the second all time high in a row. This positive development is also reflected in the increasing number of employees. It grew by 3.2% to 88,200 translating into 2,700 additional jobs in the industry. The German Aerospace Association (BDLI) reported that the export share of its 160 member companies grew once again by 1.7% thereby surpassing the 75% mark for the first time ever. German aerospace leaders agree that further efforts in research and development will be essential to hold the export share at this level. Correspondingly, the investment volume climbed to 16% of the overall revenues in the aerospace sector.
Commercial Aviation
Revenues in the commercial aviation industry grew by 6.3% to 13.03 billion in 2007 from EUR 12.27 billion in the previous year. As the strongest revenue generator of the German aerospace industry, commercial aviation holds a 64.4% share of all revenues. The number of employees grew by 2,400 to 57,400, an increase of 4.4%.
A strong market potential and a high demand for new airplanes support the commercial aviation industry in Germany. Power8, the restructuring program for Airbus, is showing first successful results but there seems to be no alternative to reduce the company’s dependency from the U.S. dollar. Airbus foresees a worldwide demand for almost 20,000 new aircraft of the 100-plus-seat category over the next 12 years.
The German aerospace supply industry is still fragmented and dominated by small- and medium-sized enterprises. It has to push for a rigid consolidation course in order to stay competitive with the large international suppliers.
Buyers throughout the industry are looking for U.S. products to benefit from lower prices. German firms can oppose this trend by moving at least a part of their production to the dollar zone. In return, this might open joint venture opportunities for U.S. aerospace suppliers who could offer their production facilities or enter into project partnerships.
Defense & Security
Defense and security accounts for 28.4% of the German aerospace market. Revenues in this segment stagnated at EUR 5.75 billion in 2007. This reflects a limited growth potential of the German defense market. At the same time, the number of employees rose by 4.2% to 20,000, proving a high utilization across all military programs.
The industry claims to offer systems and products that meet customers demands around the globe, for example, the Airbus A400M. Despite the revision of the procurement totals from 212 aircraft in May 2003 to currently 180 aircraft, the first flight is still scheduled for June 2008 and delivery will begin in the first half of 2009. The A400M will be acquired by France (50), Germany (60), Spain (27), the United Kingdom (25), Turkey (10), Belgium (7), Luxembourg (1), South Africa (8) and Malaysia (4). The latest deal with at least some German pre-participation stirred up controversial reactions in the United States. In February 2008, the U.S. Air Force announced that an American-assembled variant of the Airbus A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft, now designated Northrop Grumman KC-45A, had been selected to replace the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker. The overall value of the deal is USD 35 billion. Whether it can be upheld despite heavy opposition from competitor Boeing and from high-ranking U.S. politicians remains to be seen.
Space Industry
The space industry saw a slightly positive development in 2007. Revenues increased by 0.5% to EUR 1.46 billion, representing a share of 7.2% share of the German aerospace market. The number of employees also rose by 0.5% to 5,600. These numbers emphasize how the German space industry is strengthened through contributing to projects of the European Space Agency (ESA). Last year was marked by several milestones, such as the successful integration of ESA’s Columbus research and the attachment of Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Jules Vernes, to the International Space Station (ISS) as well as the implementation of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) system by the German Federal Armed Forces.
Air Traffic
The latest statistics on the development of air traffic at Germany’s 19 international airports were published by the German Airports Association, ADV, in October 2007. The number of aircraft movements rose by 14% from 2 million in 2005 to 2.3 million in 2006, whereas air passenger traffic grew by 5%. The overall traffic at 102 European airports, which increased by 5.7%, slightly outpaced the German growth figures. Munich Airport recorded an impressive growth of 10.9% and ranked third among the airports that experienced the highest increase in passenger traffic per group, just behind Barcelona (+13.0%), Madrid (+12.9%).
This demonstrates that air traffic in Germany grew in line with the European trend showing healthy signs for a further growth of the commercial aviation sector.