If you ever watched a western movie, in the town there is a saloon, jail, a church and a dry goods store and other services. At the dry goods store, the customer tells the owner what they want and it is given to them and then then they pay.

Whwn you go to a grocery store, you pick your own goods. The process took over 50 years and change was made as customers accepted the new processes.

if you consider buying a car, you go to a dealership, but is that the only way? In an article by Paul Stenquist if the New York Times News Service, Tesla says there is another option.

Tesla sells most of their vehicles online with a limited number of stores and service centers. How will the car makers who sell by the dealership react?

Over the years, auto dealers belong to the state auto dealership association and they lobbied to have laws that require new cars to be sold through dealerships. For example, Texas offers a $2,500 rebate to people who buy electric, but buyers of Tesla are not eligible because those cars are not sold by franchised dealerships.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, sometimes but not always dividend paying companies have the advantage of the existing laws. The law allows for some change, but managed change fir the existing companies. In this manner, the companies can be for competition, but at the edges. If you own the company shares, that is one of the methods you benefit.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

All public companies have shareholders who for the most part are passive in the sense if you like the company, they hold onto the shares, if they do not like it, they can sell. At the Annual General Meeting of the company, most shareholders vote for management, but some do not. Those ones tend to very active in trying to have the shares move up or have a view of the company to do more in one area or another, often times the company could but they are not moving fast enough. Some of the active shareholders will look at a company and think if it was split up, would there be more value? Sometimes the market rewards conglomerates, sometimes the market does not; sometimes the market rewards debt free companies, sometimes the market rewards high debt companies.

In an article by Paveen Paramasivam and Deborah Mary Sophia of Reuters, the snack and cereal giant Kellogg, best known for the cereal it started in 1894, Corn Flakes is spitting the company into 3 companies. The 3 companies will be Breakfast cereals, snacks and plant based business. The snacks division includes brands such as Pringles, Cheez-it, and Pop-tarts brought in $11.4 billion in 2021, accounting for 80% of its total revenue.

Americans used to eat breakfast cereals, but over the past number of years, consumption for breakfast is down. More Americans rely on fast food chains and they are eating cereal for snacks. It is the reason why there is more sugary cereals – for snacks not breakfast.

CEO Steve Cahillane noted the 3 companies have significant stand-alone potential and an enhanced focus will enable them to better direct their resources toward their distinct strategic priorities.

The 3 companies are expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, as companies get bigger and there is value in that, others will see more value in breaking up the conglomerate. All companies go through the balancing act to enhance shareholder returns.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

We all know in all markets prices go up and down or they fluctuate. Ideally there is more up than down and over the long term if you invest in the profitable companies the total return of capital gains and dividends will be higher. However, when you need your money the market may give to your or take away from you. We also know markets never go up straight up, there are hills and mountains, but you do not know which is which until after the fact. This is one of the reasons why even in a bear market, you need to have some money in the market, because when the market turns the easy gains will be made.

There are many people who have been around the markets for years and write about it, one person is Gordon Pape, the Editor and Publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder. His recommendations are:

Protect core assets – banks, utilities and telcoms should be the bedrock of any well-constructed portfolio.

Keep quality losers – Many prices have gone down, but some companies are expected to bounce back faster than others, for example big technology – Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet

Use rising rates to your advantage – if you have cash in your portfolio, take advantage of rising rates by locking some of the money in a certificate of deposit, but less that a year maturity because rates are expected to go over the next few months.

Do not try to time the market – no one knows when the bear market will be over, until after it is over. But what you can do is wait until the S&P 500 has gone up 10 to 20%. The market is around 3,900 or 10% is 390 points or when it is over 4,200 plus. Pick a number.

Decide what you want to buy – make a list of what you what to buy and begin to follow the stocks. Many brokerage sites allow you to make a list to follow, use it. Use the research capabilities of your brokerage company. When you decide to buy, there will be good reasons besides to make money.

Keep your cool and take your time – there has been bear markets before, there has been bull markets before they will come again. Remember if you are investing for the long term, there should be limited rush to pick what to invest in, the hard part is choosing.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, we all want to make money on the stock market, however prices go up and down. One wonderful method to protect and earn money is to buy profitable stocks that pay dividends. In this fashion, no matter the capital gain (which is wonderful), every month or every quarter money comes into your account. Then you have choices on what to do with it.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions

When you examine the economy of Russia, its economy is dominated by the oil and gas sector and after Russia invaded the Ukraine, Europe and America imposed sanctions including cutting back on oil and gas imports. It is slightly easier to cut imports in the summer, for oil and gas to be used, the infrastructure of pipelines and refineries must exist. Both cost billions of dollars and are long term projects or it is difficult to turn on a dime and use another countries oil and gas. The supplier or Russia has other options.

In an article by Austin Ramzy of the New York Times News Service, Russia went knocking on the door of China and President Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, China’s leader said there was no limits to their nations’ friendship. There are some limits but not when it counts to improving the economy.

Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s largest source of petroleum. in data released by China’s General Administration of Customs in May, China imported 8.4 million metric tons of crude oil from Russia versus 7.8 metric tons from Saudi Arabia. The reason Russia received less money as China paid Saudi $6.3 billion and paid Russia $5.7 billion.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all profitable companies tend to be diversified although they will depended on one area or sector more than others. It is a function of where the company is based but if the area where it is based faces a downturn, the company can reach out to its other areas and try to sell more. In the example above Russia is based in Europe and then reached out to China, as long as revenues come in to be profitable and pay dividends, economically that is a good thing. Do you know where your company investments have their greatest dependence in and how flexible they were in past downturns?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Sometimes it must be hard to be an environmentalist, over the last decade the warning over climate change was made and continues to be made with very good reasons. Institutions tend to move slowly but in general, the political parties tried to make inroads to fight climate change. One of the methods to do this in Germany was even though Germany still has many coal fields, to close down the coal fields and use a cleaner alternative – natural gas. Natural gas was plentiful and just north of Germany lies Russia where great amounts of natural gas are found and there is a pipeline system to bring the gas to Germany and the rest of Europe.

In an article by Melissa Eddy of the New York Times News Service, the Economy Minister of Germany, Robert Habeck said Germany will reopen its coal fields to supply electricity and use less natural gas coming from Russia.

At the same time, Gazprom, the Russian supplier of natural gas reduced flows through the Nord Stream Pipeline (the Nord Stream Pipeline 2 is scheduled to go into operations in the coming months). Gazprom noted it was routine maintenance, but with the war in the Ukraine and Russia going on and Europe imposing sanctions on Russia, who knows if maintenance is the real reason.

Last year Russia accounted for 55% of the natural gas imports to Germany, other large suppliers include Norway, the US and United Arab Emirates for 20%.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, every company in the world is always under pressure to do more for the environment and many try. Given there are costs not necessary seen by the consumer for example continuing to meet government regulations, companies try to move forward. Consumers often times expect profitable companies to do more, because they can but profitable companies are profitable for a wide variety of reasons and keeping costs under control is one of them. All companies work within the government framework and sometimes the priority of the government changes which means the company has to change. Change is a constant.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Most of us live in a bit of a bubble and how you try to stay in or out of the bubble defines your reactions to the news of the world and for your investments business news. In our bubbles we hear or know it about some companies because they were in many advertisements.

In an article by Praveen Paramasivam, Maria Ponnezhath, and Dietrich Knauth of Reuters, if you look through a fashion magazine you likely seen ads for nail polish and lipstick by Revlon. You may or may not have the brands in your household, but given Revlon filed for bankruptcy it is likely other brands.

Revlon was founded in 1931 by Charles and Joseph Revlon and was sold in 1985 to its present owner MacAndrews & Forbes whose Chair is Ron Perelman. Mr. Perleman’s daughter Debra is the present chief executive officer.

According to Tomai Serdari, a marketing professor at New York University, in the fashion industry there is a constant need to offer the hype of the consumer and its brands are a little older and not offering the hype for young consumers.

In the global supply issue, Revlon has been hit hard as the shelf space were empty. This has resulted in the compeitition including Covergirl owner Coty gaining market share.

The last acquisition Revlon made was buying Elizabeth Arden in 2016 whose brands include fragrances by Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.

Revlon has long term debt of $3.31 billion. Two years ago, Citibank accidentally sent near $900 million of tis own money to Revlon’s lenders. Revlon is in court trying to get back the money.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, there are many companies and some in the fashion business operate on why is cool and hype for this season. There are profitable companies in the space, but it is easier to make money buying a business in which is boring and generates cash to make profits to raise dividends over the years. If you buy an investment which depends on hype, ensure you are connected to the target group, else it is easier to find boring but profitable businesses.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you ever watched James Bond movies – there is a movie staring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond called Tomorrow Never Dies. In the opening scene James Bond jumps in a fighter jet and shoots up armaments before a missile reaches the site to do more damage as James leaves just in time. The opening is exciting and since the armaments are for countries fighting against the G7 as audience member you cheer for James Bond. However in the world of arms manufacturers, they have arms to sell and there was recently a conference in Europe.

In an article by John Irish and Lucien Libert of Reuters every year in Europe there is the Eurosatory arms bazaar where western governments go shopping. This year the bazaar was held in France and over 60 countries representing 1,700 exhibitors were represented. This year because of the war in Ukraine and Russia, the world’s second largest arms exporter or Russia decided not to come or were asked not to attend.

Arms manufacturers serve a need and where there is a need, demand follows which means the Ukraine – Russia war is good for business for the arms manufacturers. Several manufacturers told Reuters there is a shortage in capacity, notably in Europe what has depended on imports from the US. The shortage in capacity means the manufacturers are looking at backlogs until 2024-25.

The reason for the backlog is Ukraine’s armed forces are now using more ammunition in a day that Europe’s arms industry could produce in a month. From a supply point of view, the European defense industry is unfit for the warfare we see in the Ukraine. according to Elie Tenenbaum, director of the Security Studies Center at the Paris based Institute of International Relations.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all of us have companies or industries we would prefer not to be a shareholder in for all types of reasons. However one of the analysis of any investment is to ask is the demand for the goods and services more than the supply. If the demand is high, every year prices can be raised and margins sustained which keeps the company profitable and can pay dividends. All companies do some good, but investing is individual decision and over time you will determine which companies you will invest in and which ones you will not even though there are profitable companies in all segments of the market.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Companies spend billions of dollars on branding and it works to some degree, how much is anyone’s guess but we all remember some ads. It is certain that even if the brand has more or less disappeared from the marketplace somebody remembers the slogan and sometimes the company behind it.

In an article from Reuters, some 30 years ago McDonald’s open its first franchise in Russia to long line ups and the world seemed a more peaceful place. Before the war before Ukraine and Russia there were over 850 McDonald’s in Russia and similar to the US they did good business. Then the war happened and similar to many companies McDonald’s decided to close down operations in Russia, although they have a 15 year option to come back to the country.

In the meantime, one of the hallmarks of McDonald’s is they choose very good locations to set up in business, the new owner has changed the store’s name to Vkusno & tochka – the phrase translates to tasty and that’s it. The slogan is “the name changes, love stays”

Siberian businessman Alexander Govor is the new owner of the business and although the store is similar by using the same equipment and food sources, the new company does not have the right to some of the colors of McDonald’s, can not use the golden arches, can not use any mention of McDonald’s, but it is similar and people were coming to the restaurants. The owner said most of the chain’s ingredients are sourced in Russia. Part of the deal with McDonald’s was those who wanted to work at the restaurant could be rehired. McDonald’s took a $1.4 billion write down from the sale.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all of us believe the company we work for is special because we work for them. The reality is companies adapt with or without us, as an investor that is what you expect for a company to remain profitable for a long period of time. How the company adapts in crisis, is a good thing to know when you invest.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

China is an interesting country, on one hand the government allows and encourages companies to do their own thing, but every once in a while the government decides the owner or the company is getting too big or too uppity or too something and then cracks down. The companies have to grin and bear it, while the situation sorts itself out. In the case of Alibaba (similar to Amazon in China), the government decided it was getting too out of control, its Chairman Jack Ma was speaking out and the government sent the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on its tail.

In an article by Julie Zhu of Reuters, Alibaba owns an bank called Ant Financial and it was giving loans that state banks could not so they cried foul and the government cracked down on Alibaba. One of the elements was to stop an IPO of Ant Financial in November of 2020. The IPO at the time was to be valued at $315 billion and $37 billion in shares were to be sold. The new IPO will be at less money.

Since the crackdown, Mr. Ma has kept a low profile, Alibaba and Ant have waited for the Chinese government and its agencies to do their regulatory work. Also similar to countries around the world, the slowdown in economic growth has affected China, which means China wants growth in the economy and needs the help of Alibaba.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, all companies in the stock market need to consider the host government positions. Most of the time, the government and the company will be able to easily work together, but once in a while the government needs a poster child to say it is not beholden to companies. One or more companies will be in the crosshairs of the government for a time and then it will abate. Ideally, the company tries to do what it does best sell its goods and services at a profit and pay dividends and wait till the government find another issue of importance to the taxpayer.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.