Sherman Williams is the archetypal heavyweight nearly man. There’s excuses. There’s pride. There’s genuine hard luck. Best of all there’s lessons aplenty for the fighters he now guides through the hardest game. By Oliver Fennell
LIKE many former fringe contenders, Sherman Williams has a lot of “what ifs”. What if the scores had been different in certain fights? What if he’d been given more notice for others? What if Evander Holyfield had answered the bell for the fourth round? The Bahamian heavyweight reckons he was robbed several times in his career, but never more so than the night he locked horns with a legend and learned sometimes you just can’t win – even when your opponent verbally surrenders.
Provided by Dow Jones By Stuart Condie SYDNEY Xero Ltd. s annual profit increased almost six-fold after a second-half recovery in the cloud accounting firm s subscriber growth. The New Zealand-based company on Thursday reported a net profit for the 12 months through March of 19.8 million New Zealand dollars (US$14.2 million), compared with NZ$3.3 million a year earlier. Operating revenue rose by 18% to NZ$848.8 million. After a Covid-hit first half, Xero added 288,000 net additions in the six months through March, a half-year record. Xero said the rise came following a progressive increase in sales and marketing spend as business conditions improved. Total subscribers increased by 456,000, or 20%, over the full-year to 2.74 million.
Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy says sunscreens should be regulated. (File photo) On Tuesday, Gabriel Letizia Jr, the owner and executive director of AMA Laboratories, a consumer products testing company in New City, pleaded guilty on May 7 to defrauding customers by reporting laboratory test results for panellist testing that was not fully performed. Four former AMA employees have previously pleaded guilty in connection with the fraud. Duffy said a number of New Zealand-based manufacturers had used AMA Laboratories to justify SPF claims. “For many years, manufacturers sent us test reports from AMA Laboratories when our tests found their sunscreens weren’t up to standard. Manufacturers continued to rely on AMA Laboratories’ results despite our tests showing products failed to meet their label claims,” Duffy said.
Xero s Wellington office.
Photo: Supplied.
The profit for the year ended March increased to $19.8 million from $3.3m the year before.
Revenue was up 18 percent to $848.8m, and the company added 456,000 new subscribers around the world to reach a record 2.74m subscribers.
Xero chief executive Steve Vamos said Covid-19 and associated lockdowns had initially squeezed its business, but the second half of the year had proved to be a catalyst for a record number of small firms to sign up for its online accounting and financial management products. The past year has brought home to many people in small business the need to understand in real-time their financial position and how it may change.