USA and Canada

Showing no sign of slowing down, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars  has reported record breaking results for the first half of 2014 with a 33% increase in worldwide car sales. 

China broke away from the US for the first time to take the lead for volume, with Europe showing the fastest growth with a 60% increase in sales. Asia has also performed well with 40% gains. With the predicable middle eastern market pushing 30% increases in sales.

Last year we published an in-depth report on the Caribbean's leading O&G company, looking at Petrotrin's business models, vision, people strategy and environmental aspirations. There can be no doubt that this is a company that is pivotal to the development of the nation and indeed the region as a whole.

The 12th Latin American Infrastructure Leadership Form is taking place in Cartagena, Colombia from June 10-12. Ahead of the Forum organiser CG/LA Infrastructure issued its Strategic Top 100 CG-LA List with the aim of doubling Latin America’s infrastructure investment by 2020. The projects on this list will increase the number of high quality, long-term jobs created throughout the region.

The agreement lays out the rules for how the flights from the state of New Mexico will be integrated into US air space.

In a statement, Virgin Galactic said the deal brings it "another step closer" to commercial space flights.

The agreement with US authorities outlines how the FAA's air traffic control centre in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the state's Spaceport Authority, will work with Virgin Galactic to make sure there is safe airspace for Virgin Galactic's space plane, the SpaceShipTwo.

It was a German by the name of Helmut Muller who will always be credited with development of the first environmentally friendly drain plug, patenting the first version of the “pop-up” style, spring-loaded drain plug in 1977. It was then in the mid-1980s that a Dutchman by the name of Poul van Santen would go on to invent an improved version of the aforementioned product.

An approach to production practices that emphasises efficiency through the systematic identification and elimination of waste, the lean approach was derived from the Toyota Production System, developed in 1948. The lean approach seeks to produce the maximum amount of value for the customer from resources expended in production.

Saskatchewan covers a similar area to Texas, the largest of the United States barring Alaska, but while Texas has nearly 26 million people Saskatchewan is home to just 1.1 million. Some might say that would make it much easier to supply power to everyone, but considering the power grid covers the entire province from the 49th to the 60th parallel that is not necessarily so. “We have a significant infrastructure to maintain,” says the CEO of SaskPower Robert Watson, “and I think we do a good job.”

Named after the famed General Sam Houston, former President of the Republic of Texas and the man responsible for commanding and winning the Battle of San Jacinto, the city of Houston was founded back in 1836 and incorporated a year later. Today the city is arguably best recognised as the home of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, itself housing NASA’s Mission Control Center, and with a population of over 2.1 million people is the fourth-largest city in the United States.

Since its founding in 1931, H. J. O’Connell Ltd. (HJOC) has been a leading figure within the heavy civil engineering and construction industry. Originally led by Montrealer Herbert John O’Connell, the company has spent the last 80-plus years growing to become one of the planet’s leading specialists in heavy civil infrastructure construction, mining applications and energy development, and is today a vital supplier to Canada’s vast and lucrative resource industries.

The increase in profits to $126 million compares with a figure of $83.6 million a year earlier, with global net sales growing by 13 percent to reach $1 billion in that time frame. This beat the expectations of most analysts who predicted sales of $953.7 million in the first quarter of the year.

Tiffany chief executive Michael Kowalski said: "This is an excellent and encouraging start to the year."