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The Spanish economy did not manage to come out of the recession during 2013, closing another year in negative figures with a -1.2% GDP rate. Unemployment remained slightly above 26% of the active population, with more than half of the total unemployed being in that situation for over a year (according to the National Institute of Statistics). In this context, Spanish consumers maintained very austere habits, being forced to place price over health in their purchases. This was, for another...

Nuclear power in BRIC countries is expected to experience moderate growth during the period 2014-2018. The cumulative installed capacity for nuclear power in BRIC countries was 47.8 GW in 2013, Russia being the leading country among BRIC nations, with cumulative installed capacity of 25.2 GW. China is expected to have the maximum capacity additions in the forecast period and will be the leading nation in terms of cumulative installed capacity. Rising power demand is the prime reason behind growth of the nuclear power in BRIC countries. Population growth along with industrial development is amplifying the power consumption. Going forward, nuclear technology has immense potential in the BRIC market due to growing climate change issues, which can be fought with the help of nuclear power generation as it avoids carbon emissions of over two billion tones each year. TechNavio's analysts forecast the Nuclear Power in BRIC Countries market will grow at a CAGR of 13.6 percent to reach 90.7 GW by 2018

Carbonates witnessed healthy 5% total volume and dynamic 9% total value growth in 2013. The category continued to grow due to the strong presence of economy brands from both local leaders, Hamoud Boualem and Ibrahim & Fils, but also international brands, such as Coca-Cola, in particular with its Coca-Cola range. Carbonated drinks remained a common beverage for consumers during meals among all consumer groups.

Air transportation saw changes as a result of the success of low cost carriers, not only from domestic companies like VivaColombia or Easy Fly, but also from foreign companies like JetBlue, Spirit and more recently the Mexican Interjet that began operations in mid-2013. Although low cost carriers transport 13% of total air passengers, these players impacted the category, challenging scheduled carriers in particular those that cover national routes and short-haul routes to other countries. The latter have to be more aggressive in promotions in order to maintain customer satisfaction.

Cardiac POC is a medical test performed near to the site of the patient. The Cardiac POCs are simple medical blood tests that include cholesterol and coagulation testing. Cardiac POC tests include Troponin and brain natriuretic peptide tests, which are used to diagnose cardiovascular conditions such as acute myocardial infarction, coronary syndromes and heart failure. These tests help in the detection of enzymes released during failure of the heart and in critical cardiac conditions such as creating kinase, troponin, lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes and brain natriuretic peptides. The Cardiac POC tests helps to understand and differentiate better between myocardial infarction and angina, which help to diagnose the patient for a specific disease. These tests or assays offer reliable measurement of the markers, released during heart failure, and provide results within one hour of testing. In addition, to save time, a few Cardiac POC tests have been modified to measure enzymes to reduce operational error and simplify performance. Thus, these tests help significantly in reducing the turnaround time from testing to end results by allowing immediate patient response and effective treatment, or the discharge of patients.

AFH incontinence drove growth of away-from-home tissue and hygiene due to New Zealand's ageing population requiring these products within medical care facilities, such as hospitals and aged care homes. Meanwhile, away-from-home tissue remained similar to 2012 growth as the economy remained sluggish and new businesses and premises such as shopping centres and restaurant new builds remained slow, particularly in the first half of 2013. Therefore, away-from-home tissue and hygiene increased in current value terms by 2% in 2013, similar to the review period CAGR, however marginally above value growth of 2012.

GlobalData's new report, "Germany Esophagoscopes & Gastroscopes Market Outlook to 2020", provides key market data on the Germany Esophagoscopes & Gastroscopes market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, volume (in units) and average prices (in US dollars) within market segments - Flexible Video Esophagoscopes, Flexible Non-Video (Fibre) Gastroscopes and Flexible Video Gastroscopes.

In recent years, domestic home furnishings manufacturers have faced a growing challenge from competitively priced imported brands and private label products available from major specialist chains such as Zara Home, H&M Home and Crate & Barrel. In 2013, domestic companies continued to try and strengthen their competitiveness against these threats by working to improve quality standards, reduce prices and adapt their portfolios to keep pace with global design trends. Domestic players also increased their participation in trade shows such as Expo Mueble, the biggest event of its kind in Latin America, and sought to broaden distribution of their home furnishings products via local and international retail chains.

The Future of the Oils & Fats Market in Ireland to 2018 is the result of Canadean's extensive market research. The report presents detailed analysis on the Oils and Fats consumption trends in Ireland, historic and forecast Oils and Fats consumption volumes and values at market and category level, brand share and distribution channel data. This report brings together Canadean Intelligence's research, modeling and analysis expertise in order to develop uniquely detailed market data. This allows domestic and foreign companies to identify the market dynamics to account for Oils and Fats sales overall and to know which categories and segments are showing growth in the coming years.

Bath and shower products are used daily by Czech consumers. However, the category stagnated in current value terms over the review period as the unstable economic situation in the country forced consumers to try and save money wherever they could, for example by sacrificing products with added benefits. This trend continued in 2013 although bath and shower products used for intimate hygiene and easy-application shower gels fuelled positive value growth within the category.

Retail colocation is a setup where enterprises and end-users lease part of a data center facility to meet their computing requirements. The data center facility is hosted by a single vendor and multiple end-users can access the services provided by the vendor. A retail colocation services provider provides a dedicated computing resource that can meet the computing requirements of the enterprises in this sector. The colocation service provider also provides uninterrupted computing support to enterprises, which is a major advantage of colocation services.

Image recognition is a technology used to acquire, analyze and understand images to detect and distinguish images from one another. It is also used to identify and detect an object or a feature in a digital image or video. This technology is used for access control in high-security areas, private and public buildings, and in intelligent buildings where a person's identity and permission rights are compulsory. It is also available as an integrated technology into smartphones applications and used in different application areas such as to make mobile payments, do online shopping and retailing through a high-quality visual environment.

In 2013 there was no significant event or activity in polishes. The major reason is that polishes is regarded as a small category with not much profit. As a consequence, most manufacturers are not really willing to invest in marketing campaigns to promote these kinds of product. In addition, the category has been dominated by Kiwi and Pledge brands from SC Johnson & Son for a long time, which makes it almost impossible for any new brands to penetrate polishes.

All categories witnessed a slump compared to 2012 but the best performance was witnessed in gel air fresheners with a noted 14% growth and this is attributed to the continued modern housing boom that is the dream of every Kenyan citizen. Modern houses and their middle- and upper-income owners use air fresheners on a regular basis.

GlobalData's new report, "Italy Endoscopic Reprocessors Market Outlook to 2020", provides key market data on the Italy Endoscopic Reprocessors market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, volume (in units) and average prices (in US dollars) within market segments - High-End Endoscopic Reprocessors, Mid-Range Endoscopic Reprocessors and Low-End Endoscopic Reprocessors.

Targeted launches were a key generator of value growth in 2013. Most companies have offerings for broad target groups. Lumene Oy's launches in 2013 demonstrated that there was demand for products positioned to a certain consumer group - however, the key factor to increase was not to narrow the group too much. In late 2012, Lumene collaborated with Rovio Entertainment and launched a selection of Angry Birds branded shower gels. Angry Birds shower gels targeted the whole family, rather than just for children and the products draw strongly from their Finnish origin using for example, Finnish berries as the key ingredients in the products. Another Lumene launch was its Lumene Spa products which were targeted at price-conscious consumers looking for everyday luxury. These home spa products were also welcomed by consumers where most of the mass products have no consumer targeting, but are mostly distinguished by different pricing.

In 2013 demand for accommodation led occupancy rates to see an increase of 5% when compared to previous year in all regions and an increase of 14% in average daily rates. Mexico City saw the highest occupancy rate of 65%, which increased from 63% in 2012 and the Yucatan Peninsula had 61% occupancy, which also surpassed the 58% seen in the previous year. Some of the cities with higher occupancy growth rates were: Celaya (Guanajuato) with 30%, Nuevo Vallarta (Nayarit) 23%, Salamanca (Guanajuato) 22%, Aguascalientes 19%, Puebla 18%, Puerto Escondido (Oaxaca) and San Juan del Rio (Queretaro) with 17%. Cities such as Celaya, Salamanca and San Juan del Rio are visited mostly for business travellers and destinations with beaches such as Nuevo Vallarta and Puerto Escondido received leisure tourism. In 2013 the highest average daily rates (ADRs) were observed amongst the hotels located in the Baja California and Yucatan Peninsula, with an ADR of Mx$2,720. These are popular destinations for domestic and international travellers, and offer a wide range of resorts, including all-inclusive and some of the most luxurious outlets available in the country. The lowest ADR in 2013 was observed in the Gulf Coast region, with an ADR of Mx$982.

At time of numerous product innovations and booming of anti-ageing serums and novelty value products, one might assume that standard products such as Nivea Creme by Beiersdorf Oy would have no edge for increasing its sales. However, demand for this simple iconic retro product peaked in 2013. The product that was familiar to the majority of Finns was sold in the standard selection of almost all mass retailers having beauty and personal care products in their selection. In 2013, the Finnish media...

The Global Hot Drinks market comprises coffee, tea, and other hot drinks. The demand for hot tea is highly driven by the aging population owing to its health benefits, whereas, coffee is popular as a social drink across the world. The launch of new flavors and innovative products, coupled with changing lifestyle in the developing nations, will drive the Global Hot Drinks market positively during the forecast period.

In Argentina, home improvement activities of medium to large scale are mainly done through a very fragmented marketplace of small and medium intermediary companies. After the large expansion of specialist retailers seen over the last decade, people have been increasingly doing small and medium repairs by themselves as these retailers offer all raw materials and instructions needed to perform these kinds of home improvements and repairs. However, given the high inflation rate of near 27% in 2013 and contracting purchasing power, DIY continued to increase in the last two years.

Footwear current value sales improved by 2% in 2013 over weaker growth in 2012. Taiwanese consumers continued to wait for discounts to purchase footwear or turning to cheaper alternatives through online channels. The increased tendency to spend less on footwear led to slow current value growth within both men's and women's footwear in 2012, but consumers are beginning to make purchases again to replace older footwear.

In 2013 domestic airlines carried 30.5 million passengers, which represents an increase of 9% when compared to previous year. The main driver for this growth was the low-cost airlines, such as ABC Aerolineas (Interjet) and Vuela Cia de Aviacion (Volaris), which operate some of the routes left open by Mexicana de Aviacion airline since it stopped operations three years ago. Also, those airlines increased the frequency of main flight destinations and opened new routes.

During 2013 tourists were able to find new offices and outlets of the main car rental companies in more cities and airports. Being closer to their customers and target audience allowed car rental companies to improve their results and increase their sales, and car rental sales increased by 7% to reach Mx$4.2 billion.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.

MarketLine's Company Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Partnerships & Alliances and Investments reports offer a comprehensive breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth activity undertaken by an organization to sustain its competitive advantage.