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Message: Diamonds in 2008: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
| Diamonds in 2008: Between a Rock and a Hard Place | |
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| By Avi Krawitz | Posted: 01/06/09 04:02 |
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| RAPAPORT... If there was any doubt, 2008 certainly proved we live in interesting times. To borrow from another clichéd Chinese saying, arguably the rationale for the first, "the times have produced their heroes"-- as well as their villains, mind you. It was a year when sportsmen broke boundaries, politicians smashed glass ceilings, and businessmen, well, became mere mortals at best. We won’t forget in a hurry Barack Obama’s “yes we can,” Michael Phelps’ eight-medal splash, Usain Bolt’s 9.69 second 100-meter jog, or Beijing’s Olympic perfection. Vladimir Putin and Robert Mugabe certainly made their presence felt, and amid the angst of Wall Street and Main Street’s panic, Bernard Madoff left his own little $50 billion mark on, or hole in, the world. From a diamond industry perspective there were few superstars in 2008, and as we transition into 2009 one gets the feeling that “more of the same” may be in store. 2008 was, however, a year in which the world caught up with the diamond market, or the other way 'round, as supply-demand principles started to fight their way back into the trade, leaving price speculators in the lurch. As the world’s wealth suddenly plummeted, with major stock market indices dropping 30-to-40 percent in the final quarter, demand for diamonds fell just as dramatically. Prices followed suit, leaving dealers with the stark choice of whether to hold on to stock in the chance of a market upturn, or to sell at a loss. Diamond people, so confident and riding the commodity wave of ever rising prices at the beginning of the year, at the end found themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. So, we start our reflection on the year 2008 with a quick whiz through the diamond pipeline to assess how the economic crisis impacted the industry. Mining companies, which in the first half of 2008 were comfortably in the driving seat enjoying strong demand and rising rough diamond prices, suddenly had difficulty selling their product. Rough prices increased by an average 15-to-25 percent at DTC sights in the first eight months, and probably more on tender. But companies - De Beers in particular - did not drop prices as demand slumped in the final quarter, instead choosing to limit production to satisfy the lower order levels. DTC recorded its smallest sight in history in December, clocking in one-sixth its average sight value, while smaller companies reported a similar lack of movement at their tenders, in some cases noting that they were receiving offers as much as 30-to-50 percent below prices earlier in the year. In fact, the mining fraternity responded by suspending production en-masse, leaving few mines operating from mid-December through mid-January. From the largest companies – De Beers, ALROSA, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto -- to the medium-sized and smaller players -- Harry Winton, Petra, Gem, Rockwell, and Namakwa Diamonds - few have been spared the effects of higher production costs and fewer dollars for their diamonds. The cutting and polishing trade also saw price volatility through the year with large polished stones of 3-carats and up rising on average about 25 percent in the first half, and losing some 10-to-15 percent in the final quarter. The effect on diamantaires and dealers was clear, as uncertainty took hold and sales trickled in, often at a loss. Most significantly, credit tightened and the industry sought to trim its debt levels. Manufacturers cut their rough buying, preferring to concentrate on selling off existing stock, with India putting a complete freeze on rough imports in December. Manufacturing centers – India and Israel in particular – appealed for government assistance in December to help their respective industries gain easier access to credit. Jewelry retailers experienced a lull in sales throughout the year and came to expect a disappointing Christmas. Their expectations were met. Jewelry was, by some counts, among the worst-performing categories during the holiday season, as sales of luxury item plummeted 34 percent and general retail fell 8 percent. Similarly, online holiday retail sales dropped 3 percent while online sales of jewelry and watches declined 24 percent. Promotional items and discounts became more prevalent than ever and drove holiday season sales. Having dealt with the crisis - so to speak - we now come to our picks for the top stories of the year… We Want Generics Now! Synopsis: Even before the economic crisis hit, the diamond establishment spent much of 2008 calling for a promotional body to lead a generic advertising campaign for diamonds. This was the main theme to emerge from the Rough International Conference in Israel in February; the major players then met in St Petersburg (without the political establishment) to further the initiative. The generics issue was again prevalent at the meeting called in Antwerp in November to brainstorm a collective industry strategy to deal with the economic crisis. As the industry gathered in Antwerp, De Beers launched its Christmas campaign aimed at boosting both sales and confidence about diamonds, doubling its holiday advertising-spend in the process. While not, technically speaking, a generic campaign, the promotion was for all intents and purposes a campaign for diamonds in the U.S., and certainly the most extensive of any such campaign carried out to date in the industry. Outlook: While the call for an industry-wide vehicle to promote diamonds certainly has intensified, there remains little indication that real practical steps have been taken to make it a reality. If progress is to be made in 2009, it will most likely come from the major corporations in the industry -- De Beers, ALROSA and the like. Either way, as the industry seeks ways to raise confidence about diamonds, we expect the issue to dominate the conference circuit once again. In the short term, however, it is more likely that any widespread marketing will remain predominantly brand focused. Making its ForeverMark Synopsis: Having all but completed the restructuring and downsizing of its mining portfolio, De Beers turned to its marketing strategy, launching the ForeverMark brand in the Far East. Among other things, this furthered De Beers’ reach along the diamond pipeline as jewelry retailers and non-sightholders could now partner with its brand. De Beers also introduced its ForeverMark grading service. On the production side, De Beers completed its sale of the Cullinan mine and sold its Williamson Diamonds operation to Petra Diamonds, basically completing its 2-year program of divestment from non-profitable assets. The financial crisis also pushed De Beers into pulling out of various exploration projects and joint ventures. Nevertheless, the year was an unprecedented one for the company in that it opened three new mines -- the Snap Lake and Victor mines in Canada, and Voorspoed in South Africa. De Beers’ sales unit, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), cut its customer base from 93 to 79 sightholders, which are spread between London, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Canada. The company got its sights in southern Africa up and running, and established its main sorting facility in Gaborone, marking its continued support for beneficiation of diamonds in Africa. DTC also introduced its ‘Accredited Business Program,’ naming four non-sightholders that comply with De Beers’ Best Practices Principles, and which will thus receive support from DTC. Outlook:De Beers will continue its ForeverMark expansion in 2009 with launches in Asia and southern Africa, and it is inevitable that the brand will become more prominent in the company’s marketing. Production will be restrained in at least the first quarter-to-half of the-year to stay in line with the lull in rough diamond demand, and this will be reflected in smaller DTC sights during the period. Beneficiation Tried & Tested Synopsis: South Africa, Botswana and Namibia implemented their respective beneficiation policies with varying degrees of success. The State Diamond Trader (SDT) in South Africa eventually managed to pen supply deals with the smaller mining companies, but controversies regarding the quality of diamonds being supplied by De Beers dominated concerns. The legislation still allows for mining companies to supply "run of mine" diamonds to the trader, much to the frustration of the cutting industry which maintains that such stones are not "polishable." Representatives of the industry threatened to sue the government for losses incurred due to the new beneficiation structure and claimed the legislation was unconstitutional. Futhi Zikalala, the former deputy director general of the Department of Minerals and Energy, replaced Abbey Chikane as the SDT’s chief executive officer (CEO) and insisted that the trader has access to the funds necessary to acquire 10 percent of the country’s supply for distribution to cutters. In Botswana and Namibia things went more smoothly and the countries' respective 16 and 11 sightholders managed to set up shop and start receiving goods from De Beers. Botswana announced its plans to become a “diamond hub.” Outlook: Manufacturers in Botswana and Namibia will need to adjust to the smaller volumes of production that will be filtered through to them by De Beers, making 2009 a challenging year for these centers and their fledgling cutting and polishing industries. Similarly for South Africa, lower supply to the SDT will affect cutters and polishers in the Johannesburg Jewelry Centre. Additionally, South Africa will have to address the fundamental flaws in its beneficiation legislation to ensure the long-term prospect of the industry. Africa, Conflict and Diamonds Synopsis: African politics again reared its ugly head as violence flared up in diamond-producing countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guinea and Zimbabwe. In the DRC, fighting between government forces and Tutsi rebels erupted in August and intensified in October, leaving 250,000 people displaced and sparking fears that the 1998-2003 war, which ultimately killed 5 million people, could be reignited. Following the death of President Lansana Conté, Guinea’s longtime dictator, a military group seized control of the country, saying it would hold elections at the end of 2010. The turmoil brought concern for an escalation of violence in west Africa and raised questions about the Kimberley Process controls, or lack of them, in Guinea. Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, under the leadership of President Robert Mugabe, all but ignored its loss in an election, and did little to combat rising poverty and the endemic spread of cholera in the country. Mugabe failed to ignore the country’s alluvial diamond riches, however, and cracked down (in the military sense) on the illegal trade that has developed at the Marange diamond fields, thinking his government was being cheated out of a billion dollars a month in diamond revenues; a more realistic count would’ve been tens of thousands of dollars worth of smuggled diamonds each month. Either way, NGOs and diamond organizations eventually cried foul on Zimbabwe but fell short of having it banned from the Kimberley Process. At the same time, neighboring South Africa failed to lead a diplomatic effort to bring stability to Zimbabwe, despite the impact that millions of refugees were having on its economy. South Africa had enough other problems to deal with. The electricity shortage there caused a temporary shut-down of the mining industry and a 10 percent scale-down of operations until generators were deployed to help restore full production and help relieve the country’s overused power grid. Elsewhere, Venezuela volunteered to take a two year leave of absence from the Kimberley Process to get its diamond house in order, and the U.S. banned the import of gems from Myanmar in protest of the ruling junta’s human rights violations. And in The Hague, the highest profile conflict diamonds case to date got under way, as Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia, went on trial for his role in using diamonds to fuel the decade-long conflict in Sierra Leone. Outlook: Zimbabwe is likely to take center stage in Kimberley Process circles as the organization is forced to take a stance on illicit diamonds that may not necessarily be fueling conflict, but are benefiting a corrupt government. This will be particularly interesting as neighboring Namibia takes over the Kimberley Process chairmanship in 2009. Eyes will also turn to South Africa as it elects and swears in a new president. AL-Russian Advances Synopsis: Russia, that other great source of diamond wealth, also saw some political change, so to speak. Vladimir Putin’s presidential term came to an apparent end as he moved to the Prime Minister’s office. Russia showed its military might, declaring war on Georgia after the latter sought to quell separatists in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia provinces. Fueled by the political tensions, Russia’s economy took a greater -than -expected hit from the global recession. The Russian government, meanwhile, acquired a majority stake in ALROSA, while the country’s second-largest bank, VTB, sold its 10 percent share in the mining company. During the year, ALROSA shelved its IPO plans, hinted at an $800 million investment in Africa and said it may introduce a sight type system of select clients. The company also saw the last of its sales to De Beers in 2008. The economic downturn had a marked impact on ALROSA as well, as it acquired 45 percent of KIT Finance Investment Bank in an apparent bailout deal, but then took a $1.6 billion loan from VTB to help pay its creditors. Like De Beers, ALROSA cut production in the final quarter to cope with the lull in sales. Outlook: ALROSA will continue to scale down its production in the first three-to-six months of the year but will probably also engage in some stockpiling as it sells goods to the government. The company will also likely continue to test the sight system waters. Having promised a widespread marketing program of its own and having initiated the St Petersburg Conference, ALROSA may take a leading role in the move toward generic marketing. Other Centers Make Their Moves Synopsis: The year also saw the entrance of some of the smaller centers into the limelight. In particular, Dubai saw the opening of the Almas Towers as the city’s main diamond center, while the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) started hosting rough tenders again and announced it will launch polished tenders in January 2009. Panama inaugurated its diamond-exchange project, the first in South America, and officially joined the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB). The Istanbul and Australian exchanges also became WFDB members, and Thailand expressed its intention to develop into a jewelry hub for the Southeast Asian market. Israel, celebrating the 70th anniversary of its diamond exchange, took a more active political role as Avi Paz, president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE), and Moti Ganz, president of the Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association (IsDMA), were elected to head their respective world bodies. The country then agreed to take on the vice-chairmanship of the Kimberley Process in 2009, and therefore the organization’s chairmanship in 2010. Israel’s diamond industry also looked to strengthen ties with rough producing countries in Africa, as representatives met with President Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone. Some of the more traditional diamond centers also exhibited some interesting trends during the year. Most notably, India saw its polished diamond imports soar -- up 81 percent in the first 11 months of the year -- as the local consumer market continued to grow. Also in the U.S., traditionally an importer of polished diamonds, polished exports grew significantly (up 37 percent in the first 10 months), most likely as the occurrence of returns increased. Outlook: It is certainly our hope that the emerging hubs of Dubai, Panama, Turkey and Thailand make progress in this regard. From a practical point of view, the recession may put the brakes on their ambitions but we continue to watch with particular interest the activities in Dubai and Panama as growing wealth there brings new opportunities for the industry. Big Buys, Great Finds Synopsis: Back to Africa -- the continent certainly had its shining moments in 2008, in a diamond sense at least, continuing to produce the world’s largest and most beautiful diamonds. Among the highlights was a 39.19-carat special blue diamond recovered by Petra Diamonds at its newly acquired Cullinan mine in South Africa, which sold to Alisa Moussaieff for $8.8 million. The headlines, however, belonged to Gem Diamonds’ Letseng mine in Lesotho and to Laurence Graff, who seems to have an insatiable appetite for its diamonds. Letseng again produced among the largest diamonds in history this year, the 478-carat flawless D-color Laseli la Letseng. Gem Diamonds sold the stone to the Graff Diamonds-SAFDICO partnership for $18.4 million. Graff also unveiled the polished version of Letseng’s 603-carat Lesotho Promise, which his company transformed into a 26-piece diamond necklace. Outlook: While global production will be subdued in the first half of 2009, we wait with anticipation to see what will emerge next from Letseng, and what more Petra can find at Cullinan. We probably won’t see record prices, though, unless something really special comes around to entice the Graff's or Moussaieff’s of the world. Auction Action Synopsis: Graff was also pretty active on the auction circuit hammering out an impressive list of deals for his portfolio. These included a 3.73-carat, fancy, vivid blue, pear-shaped diamond he bought for $4.96 million; a fancy, light pink diamond ring of 6.26 carats for $1.59 million; and perhaps most significantly, the Wittelsbach Diamond, a 17th-century cushion-shaped, deep grayish-blue, 35.56-carat, VS2 stone, for which he splashed out $24.31 million. The auction circuit also took a knock in the recession, however, as both Christie’s and Sotheby’s held smaller sessions than usual in the latter half of the year. The events were hardly quiet though and the houses continued to provide the goods, and the buyers, at their jewelry sales around the world, particularly in the colored diamond category. In addition to those mentioned above, some highlights included the Ponahalo Diamond, a 102.11-carat, rectangular cut, LSI1 stone which sold for $4.11 million to Dubai-based dealer Amer Radwan. He also snatched up the second of the Ponahalo diamonds, a 70.87-carat, rectangular-cut, LSI1, for $2.714 million. The two stones were cut from a 316.15-carat rough diamond discovered at the Venetia mine in 2005. In addition, a pair of pear-shaped, D-color, flawless, ForeverMark diamonds of 17.01 and 17.79 carats went for $3.55 million to an unnamed private buyer. Equally telling, however, were some high end-diamonds which failed to sell at auction, including the 71.73-carat emerald-cut Lesotho 1, and a 102.56-carat, fancy vivid yellow diamond necklace, both at Sotheby’s. Outlook: We expect the auction market to stay relatively stable and to remain one of the more attractive outlets for selling high-end polished diamonds and diamond jewelry. Retail Gains & Losses Synopsis: On the wholesale and retail side, things seemed a bit bleaker as a number of household jewelry names went bust. To begin with, former sightholder, LID, auctioned off its assets and closed up shop, while the House of Taylor lost the license to its brand name and acknowledged an $11.2 million debt when it entered into a peaceful possession of collateral with New Stream Secured Capital. Among the retailers, Friedman’s Jewelers, which operated 455 stores in the U.S., went into liquidation. Whitehall bought 78 of the stores, but then filed Chapter11 itself. Fortunoff also filed Chapter 11 but later had its case dismissed after being acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, Lord & Taylor's parent company. The year ended with Christian Bernard Jewelers filing Chapter 7 and closing its shutters. In an effort to save $65 million, Zale restructured by closing 23 stores and cutting staff by 20 percent at its headquarters. Similarly, Finlay said it needed to reduce expenses and was considering closing underperforming locations, while Signet Group closed its rough sourcing business as a cost-saving measure in response to volatility in the rough market. Home shopping network Jewelry Television restructured by cutting more than 200 jobs, and the Jewelry Channel closed its doors just 16 months after launching, laying off 106 workers in the process. Outlook: Jewelry retailers will continue to come under pressure and streamline their operations as consumers adapt their spending habits to the current environment. We expect, for example, that many will seek to partner along the supply chain with niche brands such as the De Beers ForeverMark or the Made in Botswana initiative. Acquisitions, Partnerships& Narrow Escapes Synopsis: A few of those partnerships already began to take shape in 2008. Day’s Jewelers and the Gem Certification and Assurance Lab (GCAL) teamed with sightholder MotiGanz to launch the "Made in Botswana" program in the U.S. in an effort to raise the profile of Botswana’s diamonds there. African Romance stirred much interest with its concept of a “purely African luxury jewelry brand” when it launched operations in South Africa, sourcing its diamonds from Etruscan Resources. Other worthwhile mentions include a partnership that was penned between Tiffany and Swatch. On the acquisition front, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton acquired Geneva-based watchmaker the Hublot group, and New Zealand-based Michael Hill bought 17 Whitehall stores marking its entry into the U.S. India-based Gitanjali Group focused on its U.S. presence following its acquisition Rogers Jewelers in 2007. Among its other expansion moves, Gitanjali also bought the Nakshatra brand from De Beers, the Lucera brand from Renaissance Retail, teamed with the Morellato and Sector Group to distribute the Italian watch maker’s goods in India, and bought the Trinity Watch Company and Hoop Silver Jewellery. Online diamond retailers also made some significant moves last year as Abazias was acquired by OmniReliant, and several of the bigger players focused on international expansion. Bidz.com launched the German, Spanish and Arabic versions of its site, and Blue Nile saying it would start shipping to countries in Europe and across Asia and the Pacific. Novori announced it would merge with Zalemark, but the jeweler later pulled out of the deal. Expansion was also prevalent among brick and mortar jewelers as Leviev opened stores in Moscow and Dubai, and Tiffany & Co. expanded in the UK, Canada, China, Germany, Korea, Japan, Australia and the U.S. De Beers Diamond Jewellery increased its U.S. store count to 11 and opened boutiques in Hong Kong and Tokyo. In mining, Laurence Graff bought 9 percent of Gem Diamonds, while Saudi-based Saad Investment upped its stake in Petra Diamonds to 44 percent. Rockwell Diamonds narrowly avoided a takeover by Pala Investments and the financial crisis ended BHP Billiton’s quest for Rio Tinto. Holding company Pallinghurst Resources bought the Fabergé brand and sought to restore the Fabergé name to its former glory. To further this strategy, Pallinghurst bought a majority stake in colored gemstone producer Gemfields Resources and hinted at a possible marketing partnership with ALROSA. Gemfields later acquired Madagascar-based gemstone producer Oriental Mining, but withdrew its bid for TanzaniteOne. Competition also flared in the diamond grading services world as many laboratories focused on expanding into new international markets. Dubai-based International Diamond Laboratories (IDL) launched services in Italy, Saudi Arabia and Turkey; European Gemological Laboratories (EGL) debuted in Hong Kong; and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) opened offices in South Africa with plans to open in Botswana. The International Gemological Institute (IGI) opened a laboratory in New Delhi, India, and Israel’s World Gemological Institute (WGI) expanded onto the international stage as well. In financing, the Dutch government acquired ABN AMRO Diamond Bank, the largest lender to the industry, as part of its bailout of Fortis Bank Nederland Holding N.V. On a slightly different note, diamond and jewelry industry organizations bandied together to broaden the terminology used to refer to diamonds created in a laboratory to include “synthetic,” “laboratory-grown,” “laboratory-created,” or “man-made,” always to be followed by the word “diamond” or “diamonds.” The term "Cultured" was ruled out. Outlook: While most companies will likely restrain their M&A activity in 2009, those with cash may find some good bargains out there as troubled jewelers seek alternative ways out of their hard times. This may be particularly relevant for international companies looking to enter the U.S. market. Some Didn’t Get Along So Well… Synopsis: Many famous, or rather infamous, law suits also came to fruition this year. Most notably, De Beers agreed to set up a $295 million fund from which individual consumers and diamond trade members could claim restitution, for anti-competitive and monopolistic practices employed by the mining giant in the past. A federal court judge dismissed Tiffany & Co’s claim that eBay should be held accountable for trademark infringement that occurs on the auction site. Tiffany appealed the ruling. And in New York, a jury found that Julius Klein Diamonds was unjustly enriched by the acquisition of 5.56 carat natural, fancy intense pink diamond, without compensating Stafford Jewelers. In this "Pink Diamond Case," Stafford sent the stone for grading, but Julius Klein claims never to have received it. Julius Klein was ordered to pay around $6.9 million in damages to Stafford. Merrill Lynch handed over the reorganization of diamond jewelry retailer Fred Leighton to a court-appointed Chapter 11 trustee after its lawyers found that company owner Ralph Esmerian, "secretly and systematically misappropriated millions of dollars of Merrill Lynch’s cash and non-cash collateral for his own personal benefit." In Belgium, authorities continued the practice of seizing diamond stock in lieu of payments owed the government, reportedly taking in several hundred million dollars worth of diamonds in the past two years. In the largest such occurrence, customs officials raided the offices of Omega Diamonds and seized some EUR 100 million ($128 million) worth of goods. Jacob Arabov, better known as “Jacob the Jeweler,” was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for lying to investigators looking into a multistate drug ring. In an unrelated case, Arabov later sued Wyclef Jean for $319,680 worth of watches and jewelry that Jean had bought from him. Diamond dealers weren’t so clean themselves. In Israel, Moti Weisbrot and Amos Sulimani were arrested for posing as representatives of jewelry companies, among them Bulgari and Chopard, scamming diamantaires out of about $600,000. More outrageously, New York-based Avi Taub was indicted for stealing more than $3 million worth of diamonds consigned to him by some 45 other dealers and falsely claiming he had been robbed of them. Life on the street wasn’t so safe for dealers either as a string of hits on ‘traveling salesmen’ were reported throughout the year. With almost Hollywood style audacity, four armed robbers pulled off one of the biggest jewelry heists in history getting away with EUR 80 million ($102 million) worth of diamonds and valuables from Harry Winston’s famed Paris store. This followed an earlier hit of the same store when EUR 10 million ($14 million) worth of merchandise was stolen. And in actual Hollywood style, an actress who featured in a Szul.com video advertisement sued the jewelry company for $5 million saying its Internet campaign defiled her wholesome image by portraying her in a sexually explicit manner without her consent. Outlook: Diamond and jewelry companies will show greater vigilance in security matters as their businesses become more attractive and vulnerable targets for those seeking a quick, all be it risky, fix in the tough economic times. And Finally, Tragedy Struck All the industry’s woes were put well into perspective as the world watched in horror as terror attacks hit Mumbai in November, not far from the city’s diamond district. The violence claimed the lives of nearly 200 people and brought the bustling city to a halt as gunmen infiltrated the Oberoi and Taj hotels and a Chabad House Jewish center. While many in the industry were in town and staying at the two hotels for a DTC event, thankfully none were killed in the attacks. Memorial services were held at diamond exchanges around the world for the many friends of the trade affected and the incident certainly ranked as one of the diamond industry's, and indeed the world’s, top news events of the year. In Summary Sigh. Sorry to end on such a somber note, but after all, it was a sobering year for the diamond industry. In hindsight, however, 2008 will likely go down as a reference point and a very important year for the sector. One in which, just as some political, sporting and economic norms changed, different standards were set for the diamond industry. Most notably, polished prices started to become more realistic distancing themselves from the rough pricing bubble, credit conditions tightened among banks, which stopped financing inventory purchases, and sellers, who cut their memo terms to 30 days+. Most importantly, cash became king once again. We expect these trends to strengthen in 2009. We also expect DTC's rough prices to drop to, in De Beers’ words, properly "reflect conditions in the polished market." Miners will adopt more modest production and development ambitions, cutters and polishers will scale back their operations as a result, and wholesalers and retailers will be embroiled in a game of survival of the fittest. Indeed, it will probably take all of 2009 to fully appreciate the impact 2008 had on the industry. As a result, we expect to report in these pages a year from now, a fitter, stronger, more streamlined industry. Here’s wishing you all a prosperous New Year... |
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