Supply-side limitations in Asia have hit the top and bottom lines at LaCrosse Footwear. For the period ended June 26, the firm today reported a second-quarter net profit of $0.1 million, or 2 cents a share, which is down 94 percent from $1.7 million, or 26 cents, in the same period a year ago. Net sales were down 11 percent to $26.6 million, compared with $30 million in the second quarter of 2009. Both the work and outdoor categories suffered declines in the quarter.

Sales in the work market were $18.6 million, down 15 percent from $21.9 million in the previous corresponding quarter, due primarily to the timing of U.S. government orders.

Sales in the outdoor market were impacted by constraints on the supply of finished goods caused by capacity limitations at the firm’s manufacturing partners in China, said a company statement, and were down 2 percent to $8 million. However, the company continued to strengthen its balance sheet, generating $9.9 million of cash from operations in the first half of 2010. As of June 26, LaCrosse had cash and cash equivalents of $17.3 million, up from $5.1 million as of June 27, 2009.

Thailand’s Gold Traders’ Association has issued a warning to the public to be aware of shady companies persuading people to invest in buying gold on the spot or futures markets overseas.

Jitti Tangsitpakdi, president of the association, said many scam gold trading firms have been established and deceived people to invest in the gold spot market or in the futures market. Many deceived investors have filed complaints with the association and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the two agencies along with police economic investigators have apprehended a number of people working for such firms in the past, Mr Jitti said.

Such people periodically close their fraudulent businesses and then open new firms elsewhere to escape arrest, he said.

Asia needs to increase its ability to share the benefits of growth among the larger population if it is to develop sustainable in the future, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said at the closing session of the 19th World Economic Forum on East Asia yesterday.

He said countries in the continent should also promote multi-lateral co-operation and strengthen their trading capacities. The WTO official noted that within Asia, many bilateral relationships had been doing well but they had also many limitations.

"Many issues in international trade can be solved through multilateral co-operation," he added. He stressed the importance of ensuring every citizen benefited from the economic success of a country.

Frans Muller, member of the Management Board of German retailer Metro and Co-Chair of the forum, said that Asia had managed its economic growth well and "effectively dealt with the global financial crisis."

Labor ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will gather in the capital city of Hanoi on May 24 in an effort to develop regional human resources for economic recovery and development.

Participants in the 21st ASEAN Labor Ministers Meeting (ALMM) will deal with polices on human resource development, employment, social insurance, industrial relation, migrant workers and other issues relating to labor in the region, said Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) Dam Huu Duc at a press briefing in Hanoi yesterday.

Regarding the human resource development, Mr Duc said the ministers will focus their discussions on how to improve skills for workers toward a common labor market in ASEAN, where a worker from a country can secure jobs in another country.

To set up the common labor market, Vietnam, as the chair of the meeting, will lead the delegates to discuss and build a set of skill standards for common professions in ASEAN, he added, elaborating that those workers who meet the standards can be accepted in all ASEAN member countries.

Thailand's prime minister has said he is ready to dissolve parliament in September, paving the way for elections, in a bid to end a crippling political crisis.

Abhisit Vejjajiva announced the time-frame on Thursday after anti-government protesters, or the so-called red shirts, accepted his reconciliation plan which includes holding early elections on November 14.

Earlier, legislators from his ruling Democrat Party held talks in parliament to refine the reconciliation process and discuss the dissolution date.

Abhisit floated his five-point roadmap on Monday, including the offer for fresh elections in November – about a year before his term expires – on condition that all parties accepted it and dropped their demand for immediate polls.

India and the 10-nation South East Asian trading block Asean are expected to widen their trade engagement by signing in October, a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will cover services and investment.

India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed an FTA in goods in August last year and are engaged in intense negotiations to expand this pact to include services and investments.

“We hope to conclude the negotiations on services and investment in the next three to four months and if we are able to conclude it by August, we might be able to sign the agreement in October,” Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry P.K. Dash said here at FICCI function.

The services sector is of key interest to India as it contributes over 55 per cent to its GDP. The services sector has also emerged as an important area for export earnings.

Asia will require “more concerted efforts” to prevent its economies from deteriorating further, finance ministers from 13 nations said in a draft statement.

An outbreak of the swine flu virus adds to “downside” risks posed to Asia by the financial crisis and prospects of increasing protectionism, according to the draft of a statement due to be released later today and seen by news agencies. Finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with their counterparts from Japan, China and South Korea are meeting today in Bali.

Economists are raising their estimates for the region’s growth this year amid expectations of a recovery in China and as indicators show production declines may have bottomed. The region’s governments have pledged to pump more than $950 billion into their economies through increased investment, tax cuts and cash handouts to boost consumer and business spending.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday he is not surprised that the United States has maintained Thailand on its Priority Watch List (PWL) following Thailand's failure to significantly make significant improvement on intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, Thai media reported.

"It's within our earlier expectations," Thai News Agency quoted Abhisit as saying, adding that Washington has concern for Thailand's intellectual property violation, while U.S made the assessment over a relatively short period of time.

This remark came after a U.S. decision on Thursday, which kept Thailand on its special watch list of nations that fail to crack down on copyright and patent violations.

Because of the time constraints, Abhisit said, the U.S. opted to maintain Thailand's trade status as it was. Consequently the Thai government must work harder to persuade Washington to upgrade its status.

Franchising is a business model that has enjoyed a high rate of success in the past decade. Whereas operating your own business may offer just a twenty-percent chance of success, investing in a franchise offers you an eighty-percent chance of being successful because the concept focuses on uniformity in terms of product, quality and service. Most consumers feel comfortable using outlets of well-known franchise chains, taking the view that an established track record of success will offer a guarantee of satisfaction.

Franchising originated in the United States and spread quickly to other parts of the world. It works when an investor buys a franchise and, as franchisee, pays an initial fee and a percentage of revenue from sales, or royalties. This is in exchange for the rights to operate the business in his particular part of the world including the use of the trademark, corporate identity and management and production process presented on a turnkey basis.

Thailand’s baht may slide 5.6 percent by year’s end as the nation’s economy shrinks at the fastest pace in a decade, deterring global funds, UBS AG said.

The currency, which dropped 15 percent last year, the third- worst performance among Asia’s 10 most-active currencies against the U.S. dollar, will extend losses as government pump-priming fails to avert a 3 percent contraction, said Nizam Idris, Singapore-based currency strategist at UBS. Overseas investors sold $154 million more Thai shares than they bought since the start of 2009, according to data.

“We are right in the eye of the storm,” Nizam said in an interview today. “There isn’t much capital flows. Thailand is likely to see the economy slowing sharply this year. The baht will remain quite weak.”

Nizam predicts the baht, which traded at 34.95 per dollar as of 12:54 p.m. in Bangkok, will fall to 36 by the end of June and to 37 by the end of 2009, Nizam said. The median estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News is for a year-end level of 36.