Price drop pinches Louisiana shrimpers
DULAC, La. -- After a few years of steady prices, Louisiana shrimpers are watching the prices for their catches plummet this season.
Nicholas Rodrigue, a shrimper from Dulac, told Houma-based The Courier that last year he was getting $2 a pound. This year the price has dropped to 55 cents.
Shrimp season for waters within 3 miles of the coast opened May 18.
Rodrigue, who can haul in about 4,000 to 4,500 pounds of shrimp during a trip, said the low prices offered by local docks have been making it difficult to pay expenses.
"Between high fuel and groceries, you ain't making no money," he said. "And you can't say, well I'm going to tie up the boat because when you tie up the boat you're still not making money."
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, smaller shrimp, comprising 41 to 50 per pound, went for $3.75 per pound a year ago and $3 in 2013.
Rodrigue said locally similar catches sold for $2.30 but have dropped to 75 cents to 80 cents this season.
Inshore shrimpers compete with offshore boats, which have an earlier season, and foreign shrimpers, who have flooded the market with imported shrimp.
-- The Associated Press
Toronto bank buys Nordstrom accounts
Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest lender by assets, agreed to buy Nordstrom Inc.'s Visa Inc. and private label credit-card portfolio in the U.S. as it expands purchases in North American consumer credit.
Nordstrom's holdings include $2.2 billion in receivables, the companies said Tuesday in a statement that didn't disclose terms. Toronto-Dominion also signed an agreement with the Seattle-based retailer to become the exclusive U.S. issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private-label credit cards, the firms said.
This is the second U.S. card deal within three years for the Toronto-based bank, which acquired $5.7 billion of card balances from Minneapolis-based retailer Target Corp. in March 2013. The Nordstrom deal is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, the companies said.
"TD is following a well-worn path in its acquisition of credit-card portfolios and we have little doubt that the Nordstrom acquisition and strategic partnership will bear fruit," John Aiken, a Barclays PLC analyst, said in a note to clients.
Nordstrom operates 304 stores in 38 states and in Canada. Nordstrom will get "a substantial portion" of net revenue from the credit-card accounts, according to the statement. The retailer, which currently issues cards through its own bank, will continue to service accounts.
-- Bloomberg News
EBay to bill only for ads that lead to sale
EBay Inc. is introducing ads that merchants will pay for only if they lead to actual sales, seeking new revenue opportunities for the online marketplace before a planned split from the PayPal payments division.
The service, called Promoted Listings, will let eBay sellers specify what percent of a product's sale price they're willing pay in order to run an advertisement. The higher the percentage, the more prominent the ad will be, although eBay will also consider a product's popularity and the seller's reputation.
The cost-per-sale approach is unusual because websites risk running ads that don't generate revenue. Instead, most companies, such as Google Inc., rely on cost-per-click ads, which charge marketers each time someone clicks on a link. EBay's new ad offering will help smaller merchants, who make up the bulk of the company's 25 million sellers, because they won't have to track the effectiveness of ads or pay before a sale, according to Alex Linde, eBay's vice president of advertising and monetization.
"This way, there's no upfront risk for the seller," Linde said.
While Linde didn't specify any revenue goals for promoted-listing ads, he said eBay's extensive data on consumers and sellers will help it direct ads to the most likely buyers.
-- Bloomberg News
Nielsen rates Neeson as top pitchman
NEW YORK -- Ad executives looking for a celebrity to endorse their product can't do much better than actor Liam Neeson.
That's the conclusion of the Nielsen company, which looked at celebrities who made commercials during the first three months of the year and ranked them with a formula that takes into account likability, public awareness, influence and other factors. Its first "N-Scores" were released Tuesday. Neeson and Pierce Brosnan had identical scores of 94, although Neeson was judged to have a greater influence in getting products sold.
By looking at the effectiveness of celebrity pitchmen, the company best known for television ratings will now compete with Marketing Evaluations Inc., a company that produces the better-known Q Score, a measurement of public attitudes toward well-known figures.
Nielsen said it intends to offer marketers detailed information about the personalities and habits of people who respond well to each celebrity so they can better match pitchmen and products, said Chad Dreas, Nielsen's managing director of media analytics.
-- Bloomberg News
Ireland backs group's Aer Lingus bid
British Airways parent IAG SA received clearance to proceed with its proposed $1.52 billion takeover of Aer Lingus Group PLC after the Irish government agreed to sell its 25 percent stake.
IAG won government support after the group "provided additional information and certain commitments in relation to its proposal," according to a release on Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting. IAG said it agreed with the independent directors of Aer Lingus on the offer.
"We have very carefully considered all of the issues involved and have concluded that supporting IAG's offer is in the best interests of the airline, its employees, the travelling public, job creation and the economy overall," Irish Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe said in the statement.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 05/27/2015