EuroWire January 2019

Transatlantic cable

the Indian conglomerate Tata sold its European long products division for one pound sterling to the investment rm Greybull Capital. Based at the giant Scunthorpe steelworks in northern England, the company – renamed by its new owners in homage to the former titan of UK industry – makes steel for the railway and construction industries, among others, with additional manufacturing sites in France and the Netherlands. Johnstown Wire Technologies was formed from assets of the one-time industry giant Bethlehem Steel. Its annual revenues are estimated at $61.2 million by D&B Hoovers, a business information database referenced by the FT. The company’s products, which extend to screws, fencing and steel wool, are used mainly by the automotive and power distribution industries.

Telecom

Finding the talent to meet the needs of millennials is seen as an ongoing challenge for the US telecom sector According to the 2018 Telecom CEO Outlook from KPMG, chief executives of US telecom companies continue to see mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity and strategic alliances as top strategies for growth. A survey by the Netherlands-based nancial audit, tax and advisory rm found that nearly 75 per cent of respondents rated their appetite for M&A over the next three years as moderate to high, and 41 per cent identi ed it as a top growth strategy. KPMG said that two-thirds of the 82 American CEOs who completed its latest online survey reported that their companies generate $1 billion or more in annual sales. Eighty-four percent of those respondents have been in their current positions for four years or more. (“M&A Remains Key to Growth Strategy: Telecom CEOs,” 7 th November) “For many CEOs, M&A remains a consistent strategy to fostering top-line growth by transforming their business model faster than organic growth and eliminating a direct competitor,” said Sean Sullivan, US national telecommunications sector leader for KPMG. Still, organic growth was one of the top three strategies the telecom CEOs are pursuing, with 39 per cent citing it as a priority. Nearly two-thirds said they are pursuing strategic alliances to drive growth. While the telecom CEOs remain optimistic about revenue and outpacing their competition, the KPMG respondents perceived challenges related to nding talent and operational and cybersecurity risks as hurdles to their growth goals. Connecting to millennial audiences seems to pose a particular challenge to telecoms, according to KPMG, with 44 per cent of the respondent CEOs indicating di culty in adjusting their sales and distribution models to appeal to these customers. (Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are de ned as those who reached young adulthood around the year 2000.) As digital distribution channels multiply, another 44 per cent of the CEOs said their companies are challenged in how to best engage millennials through these media. † Finding talent that understands this customer base is also an issue for many, with nearly half of the CEOs saying they struggle to nd senior leaders who can relate to millennials. Four in ten CEOs said their organisations do not know how millennials’ needs di er from those of older customers, KPMG reported. “Meeting the needs of millennials is clearly an ongoing challenge for the telecom sector,” said Mr Sullivan, who noted that the oldest millennials are in their mid-30s and are expected to comprise the largest and most pro table customer segment for telecom providers for at least the next decade. Dorothy Fabian USA Editor

Technology

Costly and time-consuming tests hinder the discovery of new steel alloys. Micro testing could change that

Currently, trial steel mixes must be made in huge quantities to test small amounts. In steel factories such as Tata’s Port Talbot plant in Wales, the smallest batch of a single alloy it is possible to manufacture is 300 metric tons (mt). Now, Swansea and Warwick Universities, together with Tata Steel, are evaluating a method of performing the same tests on just a few grammes of new steel types. BBC News reported that the $9 million project under way in Wales could speed up the process by 100 times and thus advance the discovery of new alloys. (“Swansea and Warwick Universities’ Bid For Cheaper, Greener Steel,” 25 th September) Noting that the current procedure “makes the [steel] industry very risk-averse,” Dr Cameron Pleydell-Pearce, associate professor of engineering at Swansea, told the BBC that developments in the production of powdered metals permit the re-creation in the laboratory of factory-grade steel in amounts as small as a thimbleful. The expectation is that the ability to test up to 100 new alloys a week, rather than just one or two, will lead to the utilisation of steel in a variety of new ways. Lower-weight but still high-strength steels would contribute importantly to maximising the range of electric vehicles. And thinner steels with more plasticity could replace plastics in food packaging. Professor Pleydell-Pearce also said that the research holds promise for the environment, promoting the use of recycled steel and providing opportunities for the displacement of conventional raw materials by scrap waste streams. Brian Edy, the director of the Steel and Metals Institute at Swansea University, pointed out that increasing the percentage of recycled material in making new steel reduces environmental impact by lowering carbon emissions. In the view of Mr Edy, who is on secondment from Tata Steel, “This new approach to testing and developing alloys shows real promise.”

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January 2019