Hudson Holdings Ltd finalises the acquisition of Trilogy Limited

Feb 8 2022

Trilogy Limited, a local company representing Calvin Klein, Armani Exchange, Mango, Tommy Hilfiger, and Tommy Jeans in Malta has become a fully owned subsidiary of Hudson Holdings Ltd.

The acquisition process saw Hudson acquire Trilogy Limited through a share-for-share exchange as the latter’s shareholders took up shares in Hudson Holdings Limited, the parent company of Hudson Group. Trilogy Limited will form part of the Hudson Malta plc Group which further strengthens the position of the bond holders of Hudson Malta plc.

Trilogy, a leading retailer in Malta in the premium fashion sector, was instrumental in providing access to premium fashion brands in a first-class retail experience in Malta. Its brands are also sold on trilogy.com.mt. Hudson is the leading fashion and sports retailer in Malta with brands such as NIKE, Ted Baker, River Island, New Look, Intersport, Urban Jungle, Alcott, Urban Bratz and Kiabi. Many of its brands are also sold through hudsonstore.com – Malta’s leading online store. Through this combination has further cemented Hudson’s position as Malta’s largest fashion and sports retailer.

Hudson is also a significant operator in the international field. In Africa, it has a significant client base, responsible for delivering branded sportswear products, including NIKE, to over 30 countries. Hudson also operates retail stores in Algeria, Morocco, and Nigeria through offices in these countries. Hudson will have new opportunities in these markets given the demand for the leading international brands represented by Trilogy and the significant brand management experience of Trilogy’s team.

In 2020, Hudson finalised a significant investment of €3.5M on a new distribution centre in Hal Far. The investment was financed in part by the bond proceeds issued by Hudson Malta plc in 2018. The distribution centre welcomes products from Asia and Europe, intended to be shipped to over 20 countries in Africa – acting as the optimal midpoint between international brands and in-country retailers. The purposely built centre which spans a total area of 5,000 sqm sets the company in a good position to welcome new brands and service more clients within Africa.

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Hudson is also the owner of the Urban Jungle franchise which is present in Malta, Italy, Morocco, Algeria and online through www.urbanjunglestore.com and Blackbox, a more exclusive sneaker destination currently present solely in Italy and online www.blackboxstore.com. Last year it launched Urban Bratz, intended to a younger age group. The Group also expanded to a new country, Cyprus with the Kiabi franchise in late 2021.

This development will integrate Trilogy’s team into Hudson’s structure, strengthening the Group’s overall management and retail operations. These combined resources will offer an improved experience to Hudson’s loyal customer base whilst enabling it to garner a wider audience – presenting more fashion choices for kids, women, and men alike. It will also gear it to service the growing fashion demands in Africa.

Though Hudson Holdings was founded in 2006, the Group’s roots reach as far back as 1987 when the first pair of NIKE shoes was sold in Malta. When talking about this acquisition, Hudson’s Chairman Alfie Borg explained how “Trilogy and Hudson share common values, and this augurs well for the amalgamation of our resources, especially of our stores and human resources. Together we now manage over 56 stores, as well as a staff complement of 700. We are also delighted to expand our brand portfolio to include more premium fashion brands.“

Hudson welcomes Joseph Borg (Trilogy’s former Managing Director) as a member on the Hudson Holdings Board of Directors who has assumed the role of Fashion Brand Director. His business acumen coupled with his personal dedication and professionalism renders him a great asset to the Executive team. He has already proved crucial to the company’s business development by leading new brand openings in Malta and Africa.

Hudson Group CEO Chris Muscat welcomes the finalisation of the acquisition which strengthens the Group’s overall financial position and provides the right springboard for future growth. In 2022, the Group has plans to open 15 stores across 6 countries adding new brands and new countries as well as an exciting innovative concept store in Malta. Mr Muscat concludes by reiterating his gratitude to the company’s employees for their hard work and commitment throughout another difficult COVID year in 2021 and thanks them for defying odds that resulted in an overall result that was better than forecasted despite the hurdles being imposed by Covid.

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E-cigarettes were less effective in stopping addiction than other substitutes

Feb 8 2022

A new study has found that nearly 60% of recent former smokers who were daily e-cigarette users resumed smoking by 2019. The study was published Monday in the journal BMJ which analysed the latest 2017 to 2019 data. The study followed tobacco use among Americans over time, with scientist John P. Pierce saying that this is the first time we found e-cigarettes to be less popular than FDA-approved pharmaceutical aids.

E-cigarettes were also associated with less successful quitting during that time frame, with Pierce even saying that there’s no evidence that the use of e-cigarettes is an effective cessation aid. A three-month randomised trial in the UK published in 2019 found e-cigarettes, along with behavioural interventions, did help smokers quit tobacco cigarettes. In fact, in 2021, UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended smokers use e-cigarettes to help them quit.

However, other studies in the US that study real-world environment smoking did not find that to be true. People analysed in this study who quit smoking tobacco cigarettes between 2013 and 2016 by switching to e-cigs were 8.5% more likely to resume smoking. It was also found that teens were increasingly using the vapes during the same period. By September 2018, then-FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb was calling teen use of e-cigarettes an epidemic. Prior works found e-cigarettes to function as a gateway drug for many teens, with youth ages 12 to 24 who used e-cigarettes were three times as likely to become daily cigarette smokers in the future.

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Four charged for inciting a person to commit suicide in Valletta

Feb 8 2022

Four persons have been charged for the alleged incitement of a person to commit suicide in Valletta last year. This was revealed by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in parliament on Monday, replying to a question put forward by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi.

Footage emerged in November 2021 which showed an individual sitting on the edge of the Hastings Garden bastion in Malta’s capital city. Various onlookers could be seen and heard taunting the person and ridiculing the situation.

Comments which could be heard included ones such as; ‘Hurry up and do it so we can get back to work’ and ‘just get over with it.’ The footage quickly garnered social media attention, with many expressing their concern and dismay at the taunts.

The Richmond Foundation also called on witnesses to pass on confidential information related to the incident, with police identifying the culprits days after the incident. The man himself was also stopped from the suicide attempt through police intervention.

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Photo Source: Byron Camilleri FB

Facebook and Instagram may shut down in Europe over data transfer dispute

Feb 8 2022

Parent company Meta stated that Facebook and Instagram may be shut down across Europe following European data regulations issues. The regulations prevent Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, from transferring, storing and processing Europeans’ data on US-based servers.

In its annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the country’s financial authority, Meta warned last Thursday that if no new framework is adopted and the company could no longer use the current model of agreements it would probably have to ‘walk away from the continent.’The statement said that if Meta aren’t able too transfer data between and among countries and regions in which they operate, or are restricted from sharing data, it could impact their ability to provide services.

This is because data transfer is crucial for business and advert targeting. Without doomsaying any rash actions, Meta has claimed that it could probably reach some sort of agreement this year to navigate the issue. Meta could previously use a data transfer framework called Privacy Shield as the legal basis to carry out transatlantic data transfers. However, in July 2020, the European Court of Justice annulled the treaty du to violations of data protection.

With the European bloc’s highest legal authority arguing that the standard does not adequately protect European citizen’s privacy, US companies were thus restricted in sending European user data to the US and had to rely on standard contractual clauses.

The European Commission said that securing a new arrangement for safe transatlantic dan flows is a priority for both them and the US. Negotiations have intensified in the past months, with Meta expressing no desire or plans to withdraw from Europe.‘But the simple reality is that Meta, and many other businesses, organisations and services, rely on data transfers between the EU and the US in order to operate global services’ said a Meta spokesperson.

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Photo Source: The New York Times