ReleaseWire

The continuing strength of the Swiss franc, despite its being pegged to the euro in September 2011, as well as the economic uncertainty in the EU and the economic turmoil in the US continued to negatively impact inbound tourism and thus the performance of full-service restaurants in 2013. In addition, a strong trend towards home cooking and cocooning in 2013 prevented the category from further growth.

In Uruguay there is not a tradition of smoking cigars and cigarillos and with the exception of some high-income consumers who do smoke cigars regularly, the vast majority of cigars and cigarillos consumers are occasional smokers. The traditionally high prices of Cuban hand-made cigars, which became even more expensive after the tax adjustments of 2007, have put these products out of the reach of even some of the affluent consumers and sales of large cigars have declined sharply.

A number of political and economic difficulties in the second half of 2013, such as the Gezi Park demonstrations, criminal investigations regarding corruption and the depreciation of the Turkish lira, affected consumer foodservice. However, current value growth of 3% was recorded in 2013, thanks to the continued opening of chained stores, especially within fast food, 100% home delivery/takeaway and specialist coffee shops. Chained 100% home delivery/takeaway recorded the most dynamic growth,...

In 2014, growth of store cards continued to slow down in terms of transaction value and volume at 4% and 2% respectively, whilst cards in circulation grew by 1%, suffering the lowest growth rate of the review period. These cards are losing share to co-branded credit cards and pre-paid cards as major retailers, previously active in store cards, struggled to find a compelling value proposition.

The prevalence of smoking in Sweden decreased even further in 2012, positioning the country as having one of the lowest smoking rates in the world. Overall tobacco use has remained fairly stable as a result of the increasing popularity of Snus a Swedish moist oral snuff that Swedes are increasingly using as an alternative nicotine source. As a result, smokeless tobacco, particularly Snus, recorded the highest growth rate in 2012 (8%), whereas overall tobacco industry (4%) in Sweden saw a slower growth.

The Czech Republic Beverage Forecast report published by Canadean provides essential information on the prospective trends of the beverage industry in chosen country.

GlobalData's new report, "EU5 Wound Debridement Devices Market Outlook to 2020", provides key market data on the EU5 Wound Debridement Devices market. The report provides value, in millions of US dollars, volume (in units) and average prices (in US dollars) within market segments - Hydrosurgical Debridement Devices, Low Frequency Ultrasound Devices and Mechanical Debridement Pads.

This report offers detailed analysis of the global Electronic Warfare market over the next ten years, and provides extensive market size forecasts by country and sub sector. It covers the key technological and market trends in the Electronic Warfare market.

Russia's strict anti-alcohol policy severely hit domestic sales of alcoholic drinks. Consumption of alcoholic drinks was impacted notably year-over-year since the crisis of 2008-2009 as a result of a wide range of price and non-price measures implemented by the government. Direct upward pressure on alcohol retail prices was put through progressive excise tax and regulation of minimum prices of strong alcohol. Non-price measures were applied to limit alcohol accessibility for consumers including...

This report provides analysis on competitive benchmarking along with top companies active across the Chile defense industry. It features insights into the recent activity and strategic initiatives of key public sector companies that support the industry. The information is divided into sections such as company overview, products and services and alliances, to give the reader an understanding of the business environment in which the defense industry operates.

GlobalData's clinical trial report, "Hypersensitivity Global Clinical Trials Review, H2, 2014" provides data on the Hypersensitivity clinical trial scenario. This report provides elemental information and data relating to the clinical trials on Hypersensitivity. It includes an overview of the trial numbers and their recruitment status as per the site of trial conduction across the globe. The databook offers a preliminary coverage of disease clinical trials by their phase, trial status, prominence of the sponsors and also provides briefing pertaining to the number of trials for the key drugs for treating Hypersensitivity. This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalData's team of industry experts.

Global Markets Direct's, 'Overactive Bladder - Pipeline Review, H2 2014', provides an overview of the Overactive Bladder's therapeutic pipeline.

Euromonitor International's Industrial reports provide a 360 degree view of an industry. The Industrial market report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the Paints and Varnishes market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be they new product developments, packaging innovations, economic/lifestyle influences, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change.

In 2013, sportswear recorded current value growth of 14%, reaching sales of HK$10 billion. The slight improvement in sportswear?s growth when compared to the 11% rise in 2012 was due to stronger consumer confidence brought by better economic development as well as growing popularity of fitness activities amongst Hong Kong citizens.

Tourism to Rome recorded a strong performance in 2013, driven by a rise of both inbound flows from the traditional markets of the US, UK, Germany and Japan, and from the emerging markets. Growth is expected to stay steady in the 2014-2019 period, benefiting from fast-rising arrivals from China and Russia. As the centre of the Catholic Church, Rome is also favoured by the rising global trend for religious tourism, further strengthened by the popularity of the recently elected Pope Francis.

2013 was another hard year for the Spanish economy, although macroeconomic developments showed some improvement, especially during the last quarter of the year, with unemployment decreasing in December, and the sovereign prime risk easing the pressure from international markets, leading to a path of weak growth at the end of the year. Despite this, the high unemployment in the Spanish economy in 2013 once again hampered the development of footwear, which declined by 2% in current value terms; a slightly better performance than that achieved in 2012.

Global Markets Direct's, 'Burns - Pipeline Review, H2 2014', provides an overview of the Burns's therapeutic pipeline.

Switzerland Cards and Payments: Key Trends & Drivers, Emerging Consumer Attitudes and Credit Card Growth Prospects to 2018" is the result of extensive research into the Financial Services industry covering the credit card market in Switzerland. It provides insights into the market size and growth potentials of Switzerland cards and payment industry for the following categories by number of cards, transaction value and transaction volume:

The Future of the Haircare Market in Poland to 2018 is the result of Canadean's extensive market research. The report presents detailed analysis on the Haircare consumption trends in Poland, historic and forecast Haircare 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 Haircare sales overall and to know which categories and segments are showing growth in the coming years.

With the World Cup now behind, Brazil is likely to focus on completing planned infrastructure projects and preparing for the 2016 Olympic Games. However, key challenges for the tourism industry in 2015 include the recession in Brazil and the likely slowdown in tourist arrivals from Argentina.

We hold a positive view on India's agribusiness sector, as the country will remain an agricultural powerhouse and is likely to maintain high levels of self-sufficiency for major food crops. Production growth of various commodities will be driven by strong government support and robust demand for manufactured foodstuffs. We see significant growth opportunities in sub-sectors such as dairy, coffee and livestock. However, India will be increasingly vulnerable to exceptional weather phenomena owing to climate change effects and serious water shortages. Moreover, the country will remain prone to erratic government intervention, which seriously hampers its reputation as an international provider. As such, we see the partial liberalisation of the sugar industry as a first positive step that will incentivise production growth and investment in the sector.

In May 2013, the Indonesian government decided to significantly increase fuel prices, which has put great pressure on the production and distribution costs of various consumer goods, including home and garden products, in the country. Further, exchange rates for the Rupiah currency against the US dollar also escalated quite significantly in 2013. Therefore, manufacturers and distributors had little choice but to increase the unit prices of various home and garden products in order to maintain...

As the Italian economy showed only mild signs of recovery in 2013, recording a less steep GDP decline than in 2012, Italian consumers maintained a very cautious approach to out-of-home spending. This attitude was reinforced by the soaring rate of unemployment and the increase in the cost of living, linked to the recent VAT increases. As a result, Italians decreased the number of occasions on which they ate out, and it became a special treat for many. This situation affected the performance of...

This report elaborates Finland's power market structure and provides historical and forecast numbers for generation, capacity and consumption up to 2030. Detailed analysis of Finland's power market's regulatory structure, import and export trends, competitive landscape and power projects at various stages of the supply chain is provided. The report also gives a snapshot of the power sector in Finland's on broad parameters of macroeconomics, supply security, generation infrastructure, transmission infrastructure, degree of competition, regulatory scenario and future potential.

Consumers in Finland keeping a close eye on household spending after the country fell back into recession in mid-2013. With near-record levels of household debt consumers have to be careful with their finances and they are shopping around for the best deals. The ageing population has added to the challenges although many of the older demographic are supporting their extended families during hard times.