LeddarTech appoints Yann Delabrière to Board of Directors

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 -- LeddarTech®, a global leader in Level 1-5 ADAS and AD sensing technology, has announced the appointment of Yann Delabrière to its Board of Directors, which further enhances the Board’s diversity and industry expertise.

According to a statement, Delabrière possesses over 30 years of experience in senior executive positions in the aerospace, identity, security, and automotive industries. 

Currently, he occupies the role of Non-Executive Director of ST Microelectronics and also holds the position of Chairman of the Board of IDEMIA, a global leader in augmented reality, where he previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 

“Yann will be a tremendous asset to the board of LeddarTech; his background in artificial intelligence, foreign trade, automotive, and manufacturing will contribute greatly to the continued growth and success of LeddarTech,” said LeddarTech chairman of the Board, Michel Brûlé.

Meanwhile, LeddarTech CEO, Charles Boulanger said: “The extensive industry expertise that Yann brings to our Board of Directors further augments our growth strategy as a market leader in sensing solutions for ADAS and AD applications.”

Delabrière holds a PhD in Mathematics, having graduated from the École Normale Supérieure and the École Nationale d’Administration.

-- BERNAMA

Hyper Hippo Blasts Through Time With New Idle Game: AdVenture Ages

KELOWNA, British Columbia, Feb 2 (Bernama-GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The makers of AdVenture Capitalist and AdVenture Communist, Hyper Hippo Entertainment today announced the global launch of the latest idle game in its portfolio, AdVenture Ages. The simulation game is now available worldwide on the App Store and Google Play.

Watch the AdVenture Ages trailer here: https://youtu.be/RCyGk8YCg0k

Players will be transported back to past civilizations to collect historical figures and restore history in this quirky new idle adventure.

Set in numerous, exciting chapters of history, AdVenture Ages sees players taking on the role of a decorated time-traveling agent, who after an unfortunate accident must journey back to past civilizations to restore history (and their pristine career) before the future as they know it ceases to exist.

“AdVenture Ages takes the best parts of our Idle games—our engaging systems and quirky art style—and wraps them in an exciting adventure through the Ages that everyone can enjoy,” says Rimmy Spanjer, Managing Director of Games at Hyper Hippo. “We can’t wait for new players and long-time fans to start assembling a team of famous figures throughout history, helping them become the ultimate time-traveling agent.”

Key Features:

• Repair a shattered timeline by guiding the most powerful civilizations throughout history
• Journey through civilizations and collect resources to upgrade your time machine
• Restore the population throughout the Ages—Bronze, Medieval, Renaissance, and more!
• Grow your population, even when you’re offline
• Collect historical heroes to manage your resources
• Boost your time machine’s power
• Climb the ranks from cadet to the greatest agent of all time.

Post launch, the game will be supported with regular updates and live events.

Download the game on your iPhone or iPad at: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/time-tycoon/id1510649539

Download the game on your Android device at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.hyperhippo.adventureages

Players can join the AdVenture Ages community now by following @PlayAdVentureAges on Twitter and @AdVentureAges on Facebook. They can also join the official AdVenture Ages Discord channel and keep a lookout on the game’s Reddit community for regular updates from the player support team.


http://mrem.bernama.com/viewsm.php?idm=39245

Sangfor's Platform as a Service uniquely powers business transformation

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 -- Global leading vendor of IT infrastructure solutions, Sangfor Technologies has announced the newest version of Sangfor HCI & SCP (Sangfor Cloud Platform), version 6.2.0, now with Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities.

According to a statement, Sangfor’s PaaS helps customers manage, develop, and run applications without building or maintaining a more traditional and complex infrastructure.

PaaS provides unique tools designed to easily and quickly test, develop and host applications, giving enterprise administrators the ability to focus on development, and not the complex underlying infrastructure.

It also gives administrators the ability to manage security, operating systems, server software and backups and the functions needed to enable a collaborative work environment, both in person and remotely.

Container technology and Kubernetes have recently made PaaS a vital element of any organisational network structure.

By streamlining PaaS and Sangfor HCI, Sangfor has created a unified platform for both traditional VM-based and cloud-native container-based applications.

Sangfor PaaS is simple to use, and with KubeManagers’ intuitive GUI, enables developers to easily manage hundreds of pods, while operators care for VM management with SCP.

More details at www.sangfor.com.

-- BERNAMA

Ingredion Incorporated's fourth quarter, full-year 2020 results

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 -- Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food and beverage manufacturing industry, has reported results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2020.

The results, reported in accordance with US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for 2020 and 2019, include items that are excluded from the non-GAAP financial measures that the Company presents.

“We delivered outstanding performance in the fourth quarter, with year-over-year three per cent sales growth, with each region contributing to the net sales growth. Three of the four regions saw volume demand recover from COVID-19 impacts, a highly encouraging sign.

“In addition, we had exceptional performance in South America, led by strong pricing gains that enabled us to keep pace with inflation and changing market conditions,” said Ingredion president and chief executive officer, Jim Zallie.

As at Dec 31, 2020, total debt and cash and short-term investments were US$2.2 billion and US$665 million, respectively, versus US$1.8 billion and US$268 million, respectively, at Dec 31, 2019. (US$1 = RM4.047)

Net financing costs were US$22 million, or US$3 million higher in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period. The increase resulted from a higher foreign exchange impact, partially offset by lower net interest expense due to lower interest rates.

In addition, fourth quarter net sales were up from the year-ago period. The increase was driven by strong price mix and higher volumes in South America, inclusion of PureCircle results, and specialty volume growth in all four regions.

For the first quarter of 2021, the Company anticipates total net sales to be slightly up and operating income to be modestly up depending on the impact of COVID-19 resurgence trends, as well as the pace and effectiveness of vaccines.

For the full year, the Company anticipates net sales and region operating income to be modestly up, driven by specialty ingredients growth, other volume recovery and Cost Smart savings.

-- BERNAMA

Vitruvian Partners to acquire Expereo majority shareholding

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 -- Vitruvian Partners, the international growth capital and buyout firm, has reached an agreement with Apax Partners sas, the European private equity firm based in Paris, to acquire a majority shareholding in Expereo.

Apax Partners will remain a minority shareholder alongside Vitruvian Partners and the company's management team, who will continue to lead the business. 

The completion of the transaction is subject to obtaining customary merger control clearances, according to a statement.

“Vitruvian Partners will further bolster our ambitious growth trajectory, enabling us to capitalise even faster on the fundamental changes and opportunities digital transformation brings in the global network and cloud connectivity space,” said Expereo Chief Executive Officer, Irwin Fouwels.

Meanwhile, Vitruvian Partners Senior Partner, David Nahama said: “Together with Apax, we believe we have significant capital and operational capabilities to support Expereo's growth and acquisition aspirations.”

The world's leading provider of Managed Internet, Cloud access and SD-WAN solutions, Expereo has a strong track record of growth, financial performance and value-enhancing acquisitions.

This solidifies its position as a market leader in providing managed Global Internet and network connectivity solutions to its communication service provider partners and an impressive array of multinational corporate customers spanning the globe.

More details at www.expereo.com.

-- BERNAMA

INTERACTIVE BROKERS LIFTS ALL TRADING RESTRICTIONS ON OPTIONS

GREENWICH, Conn., Feb 2 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) -- Interactive Brokers Group (Nasdaq: IBKR), a global brokerage firm, announced today that on Friday it lifted all trading restrictions on options in AMC, BB, EXPR, GME, KOSS and other options that experienced recent market volatility. The options, as well as the underlying stocks, are currently subject to increased margin requirements, which are subject to change depending on market conditions. The firm continues to monitor these volatile markets.

About Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.:

Interactive Brokers Group affiliates provide automated trade execution and custody of securities, commodities, foreign exchange and their derivative products around-the-clock on over 135 markets in numerous countries and currencies, from a single IBKR Integrated Investment Account to clients worldwide. We service individual investors, hedge funds, proprietary trading groups, financial advisors and introducing brokers. Our four decades of focus on technology and automation has enabled us to equip our clients with a uniquely sophisticated platform to manage their investment portfolios. We strive to provide our clients with advantageous execution prices and trading, risk and portfolio management tools, research facilities and investment products, all at low or no cost, positioning them to achieve superior returns on investments. Barron’s ranked Interactive Brokers #1 with 5 out of 5 stars in its February 24, 2020, Best Online Broker Review.

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Nippon Express (Thailand) gets GDP certification for domestic transport services

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 -- Nippon Express (Thailand) Co Ltd (NE Thailand), a local subsidiary of Nippon Express Co Ltd based in Tokyo, has obtained Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certification, effective Dec 22, evidencing its compliance with standards for the proper distribution of pharmaceuticals applicable to domestic transport services in Thailand linked to air cargo forwarding.

With Thailand in recent years having seen its birthrate decline, its society ages and an increasing number of people become afflicted with lifestyle-related illnesses as their lifestyles become more westernised, the Thai public has taken a growing interest in medical care and medicine.

Accordingly, Thailand's pharmaceutical market has achieved annual growth rates of about five per cent over the past few years and imported pharmaceuticals account for around 57 per cent of the pharmaceutical market as a whole.

Having acquired GDP certification for its domestic transport services, NE Thailand will first be intensifying sales of import forwarding and distribution services to Japanese pharmaceutical sales companies and collaborating with Nippon Express Group companies that have already obtained GDP certification to step up sales to non-Japanese companies, as well.

According to a statement, Nippon Express will continue striving to provide high-quality transport services linked up to a global network that gives it an edge over competitors.

For details, visit http://www.nipponexpress.com/

-- BERNAMA