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A North West-based kettle safety control manufacturer has unveiled plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, raising up to 190m and providing an exit for its current investor group.

Strix has announced its intention to seek admission for 100 per cent of its shares to the AIM growth market. At the anticipated issue price of 100p per share, the group's market capitalisation will be up to 190m.

Strix has operational sites in the Isle of Man, Chester, Hong Kong and mainland China.

It posted revenues of 88.7m and an adjusted EBITDA of 33.3m in the 2016 calendar year.

Gross placing proceeds of up to 190m are expected from the issue of new shares. The entire net proceeds of the placing, in combination with new debt facilities, will provide an exit for its current investor group led by AAC Capital Partners which has held a stake in the business since 2005.

The company expects its shares to be admitted to AIM on 8 August 2017.

Mark Bartlett, chief executive of Strix Group, said: "I am delighted to announce the proposed admission to AIM of Strix, which will position the company for the next stage of its development. In particular, admission to AIM will provide an appropriate structure for the long-term development of the business, raise our international profile and enables us to invest in our new product development capabilities to the benefit of our valued customers.

"Strix has a robust, highly cash-generative business model. We have a growing global market share and in addition to the key OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] in China, we work with a significant number of the best-known brands and retailers worldwide.

"We look forward to becoming a public company and further growth of our business in existing and new markets."

Founded in 1982, Strix grew rapidly under the leadership of ex-Bolton Wanderers owner Eddie Davies. Appointed managing director in 1984, Davies became executive chairman in 1999 before retiring from the role in 2006.

A Manchester team at Zeus Capital, comprising corporate finance directors Nick Cowles and Jamie Peel and corporate finance executive Jordan Warburton, acted as nominated adviser and sole broker to Strix on the transaction.

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Kettle safety control maker to float - Insider Media

After being in the news for all the wrong reasons in the wake of the party's back-to-back electoral setbacks besides the raging intra-party power struggle, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in damage control mode and has decided to avoid the media glare for some time to improve its public image.

Sources told The Statesman that the continuous negative media coverage of AAP has created an adverse impact on the minds of public who had voted in huge numbers in favour of the party in the 2015 assembly election.

Since the day AAP formed the government, some media houses, especially the electronic media under a well-planned strategy have been consistently working to defame the party. And the way these media houses blow things out of proportion after the partys recent electoral losses, the party has decided to disengage itself from such media outlets, sources said.

Sources said AAP has shifted its focus to re-energise the party cadre and work at the grassroots level to reconnect with the people that voted the party to power in 2015.

After AAPs dismal performance in the Goa and Punjab assembly polls as well as the Delhi municipal elections followed by the partys internal rift, Kejriwal is toiling hard to iron out the differences over the functioning of the party and focus on administration work in the national capital.

AAP also went in for a major internal restructuring with top leaders resigning from important party positions.

AAP Delhi convener Dilip Pandey was replaced by Labour minister Gopal Rai. Vice chairman of Delhi Dialogue Commission Ashish Khetan was appointed as a new advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after Ashish Talwar's resignation. Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh also resigned from his post.

Sources said AAP is now focusing on social media to highlight the developmental work carried by its government in the capital.

The strategy is bearing fruit. All AAP leaders have a huge following on Facebook and twitter and people are recognising their work in the government, sources said.

Talking to The Statesman, AAP's chief Delhi spokesperson, Saurabh Bharadwaj said most media houses in the country have lost their credibility when it comes to the ethics of journalism.

Most of the media houses are being run by private investors that have made them biased. There is no neutrality in media these days, he said.

Bharadwaj said even though the party is not avoiding the mainstream media, it prefers to communicate through social media because of its impartiality.

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The Statesman: AAP in damage control mode, shuns media - The Statesman

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures during a news conference to present the outcome of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017.(photo byREUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay)

Author:Semih Idiz Posted July 25, 2017

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan briefly visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar onJuly 23-24 on a tour billed by the Turkish media as a mediation effort aimed at resolving the Qatar crisis. The tour, which came on the heels of ongoing efforts at mediation by Kuwait and the United States, revealed Ankaras limited capacity to make a difference in this crisis.

Turkeys initial desire to act as mediator was dashed when Ankara provided strong backing for Qatar, including sending military forces to that country. Despite insisting that it is neutral, this move ensured that it was not in a position, at least in the eyes of the Saudi-led coalition, to act as mediator.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a key member of this coalition, at one stage even called on the boycott against Qatar to be extended to Turkey, according to reports by The New Arab.

Meanwhile, Kuwaits efforts, with substantial US pressure on the sidelines, have already produced enough results for US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to call for the blockade of Qatar to be lifted.

Remarks by Erdogan, prior to departing for the Gulf, also reflected an awareness that there is limited scope for a Turkish contribution to resolving this crisis. We support the mediation efforts by Kuwaits Emir Sheikh [Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-] Sabah, Erdogan said. Starting with those by the United States, we find the activities of the international community to be useful, he added, expressing hope that these efforts will bear fruit.

Erdogan indicated that the main reason for his visit to the Gulf was the Qatar crisis, but there were undoubtedly other reasons behind Erdogans high-level talks, especially in Riyadh. One principle reason voiced in diplomatic circles is Erdogans need to engage in damage control with regard to Turkeys ties with Saudi Arabia.

Turkey has been receiving very bad press in that country since the Qatar crisis broke out. Given thatthe Saudi government strictly controls the media, the views expressed in the media are believed to also reflect official thinking.

Yasin Aktay, a deputy from Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party, who also advises the government on foreign policy issues, has pointed to what he says is the unfair campaign in the Saudi press against Turkey.

No one can claim that this campaign reflects a reaction by Arabs that came about on its own, Aktay wrote in his column for the pro-government newspaper Yeni Safak.

He claimed that the offensive articles in the Saudi press were manufactured systematically from a center that aims to sow discord and produce hatred of Turkey among Arabs, but he did not clarify his remark.

Erdogan, who relishes blasting the Western media over unfavorable articles, has remained silent in the face of the media attacks on Turkey, not just in Saudi Arabia, but also in other Gulf states.

Prior to departing on his Gulf tour, Erdogan lavished praise on Riyadh and King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. He told reporters his first stop would be Saudi Arabia, which he referred to as the regions big and wise country.

As the big brother in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia has the duty to solve the crisis in the Gulf. As I have said on several of occasions, King Salman heads the list of those who can solve this crisis, Erdogan said.

While Turkey relies on its vast and growing economic ties with Qatar, it cannot afford to undermine its equally important economic and political ties with other Gulf states, especially at a time when its relations with the West continue to deteriorate.

Ankara is also noting with dissatisfaction how Egypt is making diplomatic headway in the region for example, in Syria where it is cooperating now with Russia. Egypt is also deepening its dialogue with the European Union with a view to stabilizing the Middle East.

During Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukrys visit to Brussels this week, the EUs foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini expressed the EUs desire to be in close coordination with Egypt on efforts to resolve the crises in Libya, Syria and the Gulf.

Tillersons recent interventions in the region, which have produced tangible results and defused the crisis to an extent, have also made it easier for Ankara to try to smooth the ground with Riyadh.

For instance, Qatar has agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the United States on monitoring the flow of terrorist financing, prompting Washington to call on Riyadh, its key partner in the Gulf, to lift the blockade on Qatar. Ankara wants the blockade lifted also.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition, clearly under US pressure, has reduced its list of 13 demands for Qatar to six demands. The new list does not include the condition that Turkey close down its military base in Qatar.

This issue was reportedly not discussed in Erdogans talks with Salman or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh.

The increasing US involvement in the Gulf could also provide a niche for Turkey to play the role of facilitator in the region, if not mediator, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry source speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Despite its backing of Qatar, and the strains that followed this, Turkey continues to have ties with all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It had initiated a strategic dialogue with GCC members prior to the Qatar crisis.

Professor Mensur Akgun from Istanbul Kultur University argued that it was wrong to say little had come out of Erdogans Gulf tour that was significant. To start with, Turkey reduced some of the pressure on it that had resulted from being caught between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Akgun told Al-Monitor.

It also showed that Turkish forces will remain in Qatar since the demand by Saudi Arabia and its allies regarding this appears to have been dropped, he added. Erdogans visit also showed that Turkeys ties with Saudi Arabia were not easy to sever, Akgun said.

Retired Ambassador Murat Bilhan agreed. Turkey cant risk its ties with Saudi Arabia, which is the most important state in the Gulf region, Bilhan told Al-Monitor. It is impossible to produce a coherent Gulf policy without having good ties with Saudi Arabia, he said.

Bilhan added,however, that Erdogans visit did not clarify why Turkey had sent forces to Qatar at a sensitive time like this, and what their mission there was.

Like other regions in the Middle East, the Gulf states are bracing for the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, after which the Saudi-Iranian rivalry is expected to peak.

Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer predicted in an article for Project Syndicate on July 21 that the phase after IS will not be marked by peace because of Irans increasing influence in the Middle East.

Ankara clearly needs better ties with its natural Sunni allies in the region, starting with Saudi Arabia, in order to promote its interests during that phase. Erdogans Gulf tour can therefore also be seen as an effort to advance ties with Riyadh.

Points of divergence, most notably Turkeys continuing support for the Muslim Brotherhood, still remain an obstacle. It will probably take more than this visit by Erdogan for the key Gulf states to overcome their suspicions of Turkish motives.

Nevertheless, Erdogans visit and his talks with Gulf leaders showed that they cannot ignore Turkey either.

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/07/turkey-saudi-arabia-erdogan-gulf-tour-advance-ties.html

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Erdogan hopes to woo Saudi Arabia with Gulf damage control tour - Al-Monitor

The reverberations of the killing of black teenagerTrayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012 are still being felt five years later. Martins death and Zimmermans controversial acquittal of second-degree murder sparked a national conversation about racial injustice and, along with numerous other shootings, helped inspire the Black Lives Matter movement.

Zimmermans case was at the center of Monday nights installment of Oxygens four-nightThe Jury Speaksseries, which featured interviews with five jurors from the case: Christine Barry, Maddy Rivera, Lauren Germain, David Ramirez, and Amy Trunalone (Ramirez and Germain were ultimately dismissed before deliberation). They also talked to Zimmermans attorneys Don West and Mark OMara, as well as witness Rachel Jeantel, to get their perspectives.

Heres what we learned.

As with many high-profile cases, the Zimmerman jurors were screened to make sure they werent bringing in any preconceived knowledge or ideas about the case. Germain admitted that she hadnt even heard of Zimmerman until she showed up for jury duty. But that wasnt the only factor in choosing a jury.

There was a clear racial aspect to the jury selection, West said. Rightfully or wrongfully, we were more suspicious, if you will, of African-American jurors because of the way the case was presented in the media.

Floridas legal system eschews a 12-person jury in favor of 10 members, including four blind alternates who are dismissed before the 6-juror deliberation. From a pool of 750 jurors, Wests style of selection ultimately resulted in eight white jurors and two Hispanic jurors, and a parallel ratio of eight women to two men.

You have a young black man whos been shot, but you have eight white jurors and two Hispanics, Ramirez said. That struck me as kind of funny.

Obviously, the goal is to find people who will favor you, West said.

No one from the prosecution team was interviewed for the special, but other players indicate the prosecutions strategy hinged on the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Martins who was the last person he talked to on the phone before he was killed. On the stand, Jeantel recounted Martin telling her he was being followed. Thinking Zimmerman was a rapist, she urged her friend to get away. As a confused young person who recently lost her friend, Jeantel did not exactly give stirring testimony, and the defense fought her hard in cross-examination.

I felt like I wasnt a witness, Jeantel said. Mr. West made me feel like I was a suspect.

As a result, the jurors reception of Jeantels testimony was muddled. Trunalone felt empathy for Jeantels plight, Barry felt the defense was too hard on her, and Germain said Jeantel didnt seem credible because she went back and forth in her answers. In other words, Jeantel was not sufficient, in and of herself, to point the jurors to an easy conclusion.

Since the fatal encounter between Zimmerman and Martin took place at night, there were few reliable eyewitnesses. Even the neighbors who spotted some of the fight from their windows could not provide definitive proof as to whether Martin really was attacking Zimmerman in a life-threatening way. The trial, therefore, focused more on ear witnesses neighbors who had overheard the confrontation from far away, and audio tape of their 911 calls. One of the tapes even included someone screaming for help. Depending on who screamed, it could have mammoth implications for the case.

If a victim, the one who ended up being shot, was screaming for help for a minute and then was still shot, that gives premeditation, OMara said. On the other hand, if it was George who was screaming, then obviously he was screaming out for help, didnt get it, and then had to shoot out of self-defense.

The source of the scream proved impossible to determine. The court summoned both Martins and Zimmermans mothers to see if they recognized the scream. Both of them said it was their son.

Zimmermans lawyers argued that their client only shot Martin in self-defense. Therefore, they had to show that Martin posed a threat to Zimmermans life. Some people nearby claimed to have seen the struggle, with one person on top of the other raining down blows, but accounts differed as to whether Martin or Zimmerman was on top.

One key piece of evidence came from the placement of bullet holes in Martins clothing. He was wearing a hoodie when he died, but the bullet hole in his hoodie was about three inches above the corresponding hole in his shirt. Specialists argued that this meant Zimmerman had shot Martin while the latter was leaning over him.

When you saw where the bullet hole was and you heard from different professionals, logistically that had to be the case, Trunalone said.

They basically said thats the reason why it was self-defense, Rivera added.

By all accounts, the final jury deliberation was passionate. At one point, Rivera threatened to quit, saying she was done and just wanted to get home to her husband and eight kids after three weeks away. But ultimately, the jurors said they dismissed their emotions and focused on the facts they had been presented. Even when Oxygen reunited Barry, Trunalone, and Germain to see if their judgment had changed (years afterZimmerman auctioned off the gun he used to kill Martin,agreed to participate in a celebrity boxing matchthat was ultimately canceled, and made headlines for multiple arrests), they all said not guilty, though they all admitted theirpersonal distaste for Zimmerman.

All I go back to is the law, Trunalone said. That is what we have. Were a democracy, and what weve got is the law. Were to apply it blind to any other thing. At that moment, at that moment, did that person think their life was in jeopardy? Thats the way you have to answer the question.

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The Jury Speaks: George Zimmerman jurors explain controversial ... - EW.com

Credit: Gary W. Green-Pool/Getty Images

It has been five years since neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin, but the conversation surrounding the case continues.

Since the 33-year-olds extremely controversial acquittal for second-degree murder, the topic of racial injustice has been at the forefront of many peoples minds, even inspiring the Black Lives Matter movement.

In a four-night series on Oxygen called The Jury Speaks, five jurors from the case Christine Barry, Maddy Rivera, Lauren Germain, David Ramirez, and Amy Trunalone discuss the case and reveal whether theyd still choose a not-guilty verdict today.

There was a clear racial aspect to the jury selection, said Georges attorney Don West.

Rightfully or wrongfully, we were more suspicious, if you will, of African-American jurors because of the way the case was presented in the media.

Of the six jurors and four alternates, eight were white and two Hispanic, and the ratio of women to men was eight to two.

You have a young black man whos been shot, but you have eight white jurors and two Hispanics. That struck me as kind of funny, said David.

Obviously, the goal is to find people who will favor you, Don continued.

During the trial, the prosecution heavily relied on the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Trayvon's who was the last person he talked to.

Rachel revealed Trayvon thought George was following him, but when she gave her testimony during the trial, she wasnt necessarily convincing.

I felt like I wasnt a witness. Mr. West made me feel like I was a suspect, Rachel said.

The jury also had a difficult time making sense of the ear witnesses, or people who heard George and Trayvon fighting before the killing.

If a victim, the one who ended up being shot, was screaming for help for a minute and then was still shot, that gives premeditation, said Georges other attorney Mark OMara said.

On the other hand, if it was George who was screaming, then obviously he was screaming out for help, didnt get it, and then had to shoot out of self-defense.

Though the jury members are vocal about their distaste for George, they all still agree they would have chosen the same not-guilty verdict.

All I go back to is the law. That is what we have. Were a democracy, and what weve got is the law, said Amy.

Were to apply it blind to any other thing. At that moment, at that moment, did that person think their life was in jeopardy? Thats the way you have to answer the question."

What are your thoughts on the case? Sound off below!

The Jury Speaks airs tonight, Tuesday, July 25 at 9 p.m. on Oxygen.

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George Zimmerman Jurors Open Up About Controversial Verdict on ... - Wetpaint