Netopia to bring in P300M yearly for gaming firm

Date Published: April 12, 2011

THE NETOPIA chain of Internet cafes is expected to more than double the average revenues of listed gaming firm IP E-Game Ventures, Inc. — the new majority stakeholder — based on data disclosed to the local bourse yesterday. 

 

IP E-Game said its recent purchase of a 75% stake in Digital Paradise, Inc., the operator of Netopia, will add over P300 million in annual revenues.

This will increase the P283.97-million average revenue IP E-Game bagged in 2009 and 2008 by more than 100%.

The forecast is based on “available historical information,” IP E-Game said after it bought out a Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. unit’s share in the Netopia operator for P145 million.

“Netopia’s income will also have a positive effect on [IP E-Game’s] bottom line,” the gaming firm added in its disclosure.

Such improvements from the acquisition will be enjoyed starting May 1, IP E-Game Ventures President Jaime Enrique Y. Gonzalez said in a text message yesterday.

As a result of the acquisition, financial matters of Netopia will now be handled by IP E-Game Ventures officials, while “strategic initiatives” will be decided by both IP E-Game Ventures and Netopia officials.

Netopia is a chain of 78 company-owned and 34 franchised Internet cafes, owned and operated by Digital Paradise.

ePLDT, the information and communications technology arm of PLDT, owned three-quarters of Digital Paradise, a company formed nearly a decade ago following the PLDT group’s entry into the Netopia chain in 2001 with a P24-million investment.

IP E-Game’s purchase of e-PLDT’s 97.56 million shares in Digital Paradise closed on March 31.

The payment was made in cash and sourced from debt and equity — proceeds from the recent rights offering of the company concluded last January.

IP E-Game Ventures concluded a P134.18-million rights offering in the last week of January, in which proceeds will be used to fund acquisitions, among others, the firm said in a previous disclosure.

IP E-Game Ventures’ parent firm IPVG reported a P11.28-million net profit in 2010 from a loss of P201.51 million in 2009.

Shares in IP E-Game Ventures, which listed by way of introduction on Feb. 17, 2010, closed at P14.48 apiece yesterday, 9.53% or P1.26 higher from its previous closing of P13.22 on April 7.

Shares in PLDT, on the other hand, closed 0.26% or P6 lower at P2,340 apiece yesterday.

Mediaquest Holdings, Inc., a unit of the Beneficial Trust Fund of PLDT, has a minority stake in BusinessWorld.

- K. A. Martin

PDIC approves BDO-Export Bank deal

abs-cbnNEWS.com

Posted at 04/13/2011 4:33 PM | Updated as of 04/13/2011 4:33 PM

 

MANILA, Philippines - Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO), the country's top lender, has secured the approval of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) to acquire Export and Industry Bank's assets and liabilities.

In separate disclosures to the stock exchange, the firms said PDIC gave the green light to BDO's acquisition plan, which also covers all of EIB's deposit liabilities.

"The transaction is still subject to the execution of definitive agreements and documentation acceptable to the parties and PDIC and the fulfillment of certain closing conditions, which include the final approval of the Monetary Board," BDO said.

EIB president Juan Victor Tanjuatco, for his part, said: ""The transaction with BDO brings to full circle the efforts we started five years ago."

"The resulting synergies from BDO's large scale operations will enhance the position of our depositors, representing about 80,000 deposit accounts," he added.

Tanjuatco said EIB implemented several reforms to improve the bank's financial condition and make it attractive to investors. For one, it underwent capital reorganization in 2006 to get new funds from investors and existing shareholders.

"The capital reorganization and the substantial reforms new management implemented in recent years have enabled Exportbank to emerge as a bank with important value offerings to investors like BDO," he noted.

Aside from the transaction with BDO, PDIC also approved the sale of EIB's thrift banking arm, EIB Savings, to corporate buyers.

EIB has 50 branches. Its chairman Jaime Gonzalez earlier said the bank had liabilities of P19 billion in deposits and P9 billion in financial assistance from PDIC.

ABS-CBN net profit surges 87%

Record-high P3.2B due to political ads

By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:55:00 04/12/2011

MANILA, Philippines—ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. expanded its net profit last year by 87 percent to a record-high P3.2 billion as huge election-related advertising complemented its regular advertising stream and steady consumer sales.

The target for 2011 is to at least match last year’s banner performance even in the absence of political or advocacy advertising, which contributed P3 billion in revenues in 2010 (a presidential election year).

“We’ll have a good shot on it,” ABS-CBN chief finance officer Rolando Valdueza said in a briefing Tuesday. “We can’t totally replace P3 billion but we expect consumer sales to give the boost.”

The multimedia giant has committed P5 billion for capital spending this year against P3.7 billion in actual spending last year. This year’s budget includes P1.4 billion for the broadband expansion of SkyCable and P600 million for the planned rollout of its digital television services that will eventually replace analog systems currently in use.

ABS-CBN’s cash flow last year as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) reached P8.6 billion, up by about a third from a year before. This yielded an Ebitda margin of 27 percent compared with 26 percent the previous year.

Consolidated revenues of P32.2 billion from advertising and consumer sales in 2010 increased by P7.3 billion, or 30 percent year on year, the multimedia giant disclosed Tuesday. A programmed average rate increase of 15 percent that took effect in February 2010 likewise boosted revenue growth.

Negotiations were ongoing for the implementation of the next rate increase, Valdueza said.

Gov’t urged to probe PLDT-Digitel deal

Globe says merger may impede competition

 
By Paolo Montecillo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:30:00 04/12/2011

MANILA, Philippines—Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. has called for a probe of the impending P74.1-billion takeover by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. of competitor Digital Telecommunications Philippines Inc. that could turn the competitive telecommunications industry into a “virtual monopoly.”

Globe, which will end up facing a competitor with a market share twice its size, said the government should assess the potential impact of the takeover on the industry and ensure that the rights of consumers would be protected.

“There has been a lot of discussion on what the impact of the merger is in the long term. That still has to be discussed by the government, by politicians and by the President,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.

“It is always a good idea to have a regulator that can recognize when competition is being impeded,” he told reporters at a briefing following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting.

Once the takeover is completed, PLDT will corner more than two-thirds of industry revenues and have a subscriber base of seven in every 10 mobile users in the Philippines.

Having a single player dominating bulk of the country’s telecom market, allowing it to dictate pricing, would be bad for consumers, Cu said.

Taking steps such as ordering PLDT to let go of some of its frequency allocations—after the takeover is completed—would be “in the effort of preserving long-term competition in the Philippines,” Cu added.

“If you follow the pattern of the merger and look at practices in other more developed countries, there is the possibility of divestiture to keep business competitiveness,” he pointed out.

In other countries like the United States, whenever two telecom providers merge, Cu said regulators usually took back some of the frequencies that have been used by the combined entities.

“There have been discussions about divestiture of frequency, divestiture in some markets and even whole businesses,” he said.

Cu said Globe was prepared to compete with a much bigger market leader after PLDT takes over the Digitel-run Sun Cellular mobile brand.

“In the short term, things won’t change. Globe has always competed with a much bigger incumbent industry leader,” he said, adding that the company was now poised for growth following a decline in profits in 2010.

Last year, the company posted a 22-percent drop in earnings to P9.7 billion.

“Globe will continue to focus on its own strategy,” Cu said, noting that the company would improve the quality of its services to keep fickle subscribers loyal to the network and maintain market share.

Whether or not the PLDT-Digitel deal results in a more “rational” market where unsustainable price pressures push profit margins down, Cu said: “We don’t run our business hoping competition will be friendlier.”

Cojuangco upheld on SMC

SC: Disputed shares belong to Aquino uncle

By Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer Northern Luzon
First Posted 01:14:00 04/13/2011

BAGUIO CITY—Businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., an uncle of President Benigno Aquino III and crony of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is the legitimate owner of a fifth of shares in San Miguel Corp., which government claims he acquired using the controversial coconut levy funds.

SMC is the country’s biggest food and beverage conglomerate, which has diversified into power generation, telecommunications and other businesses.

The Supreme Court, sitting en banc, affirmed a 2007 decision issued by the Sandiganbayan and declared “that the block of shares in SMC in the names of respondents Cojuangco et al. ... is the exclusive property of Cojuangco et al. as registered owners.”

The government had been contesting 20 percent of SMC’s capital stock or 16,276,879 shares that Cojuangco allegedly acquired through the coco levy when he headed the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB). [SMC closed Tuesday at P153 a share in the Philippine Stock Exchange and San Miguel Brewery Inc. at P30.6.]

The government maintains that the coco levy is public in nature, which means that the state owns 20 percent of the SMC stocks in the name of Cojuangco et al.

Cojuangco already has control of a block of 33 million shares through holding firms owned by the oil mills of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund, according to the government complaint.

7 for Cojuangco, 4 against
Seven justices voted in favor of Cojuangco—Chief Justice Renato Corona, and Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Mariano del Castillo, Roberto Abad, Jose Portugal Perez and Martin Villarama Jr.

Four dissented: Associate Justices Arturo Brion and Conchita Carpio-Morales, who wrote dissenting opinions; and Jose Catral Mendoza and Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The other four justices took no part in the deliberations: Associate Justice Antonio Carpio identified himself as one of the petitioners who sought to declare the coco levy funds as public funds; Antonio Eduardo Nachura, who noted that he signed the government pleadings as solicitor general; Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Diosdado Peralta.

The decision begins with the following context: “For over two decades, the issue of whether the sequestered sizable blocks of shares representing 20 percent of the outstanding capital stock of SMC at the time of acquisition belonged to their registered owners or to the coconut farmers has remained unresolved.

“Through this decision, the court aims to finally resolve the issue and terminate the uncertainty that has plagued [these shares].”

The high court also declared as lawful previous decisions that lifted eight writs of sequestration imposed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) against Cojuangco’s assets.

In their ruling, the justices observed that the government failed to offer clear evidence to prove that Cojuangco amassed his wealth illegally.

For example, the court said the nullification of the writs of sequestration against Cojuangco was valid because in some instances, the PCGG had failed to determine prima facie basis for sequestration.

The decision dwelt on “the concept and genesis of ill-gotten wealth in the Philippine setting” in addressing Cojuangco’s situation.

Then President Corazon Aquino’s first official act on Feb. 28, 1986, was to recover all ill-gotten wealth amassed by Marcos, his immediate family, relatives and close associates both here and abroad through the creation of the PCGG.

The court said that by definition, “ill-gotten wealth would not include all properties of President Marcos... but only part that originated from the ‘vast resources of government.’”

The court also ruled that to be “ill-gotten, the assets must have originated from government itself... [or] taken by [Marcos and his associates] by illegal means.”

The tribunal said “identifying other persons who might be the close associates of President Marcos presented an inherent difficulty, because it was not fair and just to include within the term ‘close associates’ everyone who had had any association with President Marcos, his immediate family and relatives.”

In any case, the court said “the Republic did not discharge its burden as the plaintiff to establish by preponderance of evidence that the respondents’ SMC shares were illegally acquired with coconut levy funds.”

The government tried to argue that Cojuangco obtained loans from UCPB to buy the SMC shares through a letter of instruction issued by Marcos. It said this violated rules restricting bank officials from taking advantage of their own deposits and assets.

But the court said government failed to establish any breach of Cojuangco’s “fiduciary duties” as a bank official.

“The thrust of the Republic that the funds were borrowed or lent might even preclude any consequent trust implications,” the court said, because the debtor acquires proprietary control over the loan once it is transferred.

“A debtor can appropriate the thing loaned without any responsibility or duty to his creditor to return the very thing that was loaned or to report how the proceeds were used,” it said.

Cojuangco’s only liability, it said, was to pay the loan and its interest as stipulated by law.

What went before: The disputed shares of SMC

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:45:00 04/13/2011

MANILA, Philippines—President Ferdinand Marcos imposed a levy on coconut farmers between 1972 and 1982 supposedly to develop the coconut industry.

In 1975, Marcos authorized the Philippine Coconut Authority, the agency tasked with developing the coconut industry and whose board included businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, to use the funds to buy a bank “for the benefit of the farmers.”

The bank was First United Bank, later renamed United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB). Cojuangco became its president and chief executive officer.

With the PCA and UCPB in their control, Cojuangco and his associates were able to buy firms and mills placed under the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), a group of 14 holding companies whose assets included 47 percent of San Miguel Corp. (SMC). These assets were held by UCPB, the CIIF administrator.

In 1986, the assets were sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the agency tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and his cronies.

The PCGG filed cases in the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court against Cojuangco, claiming the CIIF and other assets were acquired using the coco levy funds.

During the Joseph Estrada administration, Cojuangco won provisional control of the 20 percent block of shares in SMC, allowing him to return as chair and chief executive officer.

Public funds
In December 2001, the Supreme Court declared the coco levy funds as “prima facie (apparently) public funds,” but left the Sandiganbayan to determine the owner of the assets acquired with the funds.

In May 2004, the Sandiganbayan awarded the 27-percent block of SMC shares to the government, which holds it in trust for the country’s coconut farmers.

Government share diluted
The 27-percent stake was reduced to about 24 percent after it was diluted with the investment of Japanese brewer Kirin in SMC.

In November 2007, the Sandiganbayan junked a civil case seeking to recover the 20 percent block of shares under the names of 44 Cojuangco-owned companies.

The anti-graft court said the PCGG had failed to prove that coco levy funds were used to purchase the block of shares.

Various farmers’ groups asked the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. Cojuangco sought to stop the intervention of the groups, but the Supreme Court denied his petition and ruled in April 2008 that they have the right to take part in the case as taxpayers.

SC lets gov’t sell SMC stake
In June 2009, the Office of the Solicitor General asked the Supreme Court to allow the government to sell its 24-percent stake in SMC to avoid losses as a result of the depreciation of the shares of stocks.

In October 2009, the PCGG approved the conversion of the government’s 24-percent stake in SMC, amounting to 750 million shares, into non-voting preferred shares.

The PCGG said the decision was a result of a careful study and was approved by the Supreme Court and the stakeholders of the coco levy fund.

It added that with the conversion, the shares would not fall prey to “speculation” and its price would be pegged at P75 each.

Former PCGG chair Jovito Salonga and several others filed a motion for reconsideration in the Supreme Court, questioning the conversion which they claimed was “disadvantageous” to the government.

In February 2010, the Supreme Court upheld its ruling, which allowed the conversion. Inquirer Research

Tentay serves quality, safety in every bottle

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:13:00 04/09/2011

 MANILA, Philippines—How can you tell if your patis has the safety and quality you’re looking for? Check the labels and the ingredients.

Tentay Patis, which has been making patis (fish sauce) for more than 60 years, is confident it will make the grade.

Tentay Patis was founded in 1949 by Ruperta Javier, or Aling Tentay, right in her own backyard in Navotas.

Since then, Tentay Patis has become a permanent presence in kitchens and family meals.

“Tentay Patis is guaranteed 100 percent pure and all natural,” says Velia J. Cruz, president of Tentay Food Sauces Inc. and Aling Tentay’s daughter.

She maintains the standards set by her mom and adheres to the same values. “We keep to tradition and make use of mackerel extract and salt only—these are the two ingredients. Nothing else,” she says of the fish essence. The freshest fish and salt are combined thoroughly and fermented for one year.

There are other telltale signs of quality patis. Make sure there are no sediments at the bottom of the bottle, and look for a clear, amber-like color—close to good whiskey or sherry. If the color is too brown or muddy, this could be a low-grade patis that has not been properly fermented. It could also mean that the product has been sitting too long in store shelves.

Tentay Patis believes in using the natural fermentation process to keep the aromatic and full-flavored quality of the condiments consistent. This way, the same clear, amber-colored liquid and savory concoction is in every bottle.

“Quality and safety are always present in the way we do things,” says Cruz.

She shares that the Tentay plant is near the Navotas fish port where Tentay gets the fish.

Tentay Food Sauces Inc. (TFSI) makes use of automated processes under a hygienic work environment to ensure safety.

The freshest catch is always used for the sauce making. The correct temperature during transportation is applied to maintain fish freshness. Containers and plant facilities are cleaned and sanitized prior to use. Most importantly, the fish handlers use the right safety and hygienic equipment when handling the products during the entire process.

Tentay Patis complies with the country’s international food safety standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and with the standards set by export markets such as the US, Canada, Japan, Middle East and Europe.

“Good quality patis requires time and the freshest catch. There are a lot of products in the market now that are not as safe as they claim to be,” warns Cruz.

“When you’re in the food business, you have to ensure the safety of your customers—that is non-negotiable. With Tentay Patis, we don’t try—we make sure that from the start of the fermentation process all the way to bottling, we get the process right,” says Cruz.

Home Depot CEO finds inspiration in the toilet

By Jess David, Arizza Ann Nocum
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 20:14:00 04/09/2011

MANILA, Philippines—This isn’t about toilet humor. But it does involve a dirty toilet.

“In my elementary school, the restrooms were, to say the least, ill-maintained and ill-equipped. Feces were splattered over the cracked tiles, and water barely spewed out of the broken faucets,” says Napoleon Co, owner of Home Depot, a successful home and construction superstore chain.

Co admitted that, in those days, he would hold off answering nature’s call until he got home—an unfortunate habit he found hard to break while studying in provincial schools in Cebu. This led to health problems later in Co’s life.

But the ordeal merely challenged the young Co. Knowing how it was to be deprived of proper hygiene and sanitation, he vowed never to let his children experience the same thing.

Moreover, the reality of poverty struck him hard.

“If you ask me why I got into this business, I would say the toilets jump-started the vision. I was moved, through this painful experience, to help poor people out there who have had it harder than I did,” Co says. “I know how dehumanizing it feels to relieve yourself in the dirtiest of these places.”

A quaint shop
In the family business, Co found the vehicle to transform his vision into reality. The family runs a quaint hardware shop in Cebu, selling tiles, bathroom tools and materials. Through effective management, investment, and lots of determination, the family business bloomed into Home Depot.

With five branches in Metro Manila, Home Depot has provided for virtually every construction need, from ceramic toilets and vinyl tiles to outdoor lighting. Locally, the superstores are frequented by both rich and poor for their one-stop construction products.

When asked what makes Home Depot different from other hardware and retail stores, Co laughed and said, “Home Depot doesn’t just help its customers build houses, we help them build homes.”

He says that somehow, “from the vision of a clean, functioning toilet, I developed the promise of a clean, functioning, and accessible home.”

Staying true to his promise, he has committed Home Depot to charity by regularly offering free construction materials and services to poor families and schools. Close to his heart, and his childhood, is his particular advocacy of building toilets for public schools in Cebu, Payatas and recently in Zamboanga.

Late last year, Home Depot tied up with the A-Book-Saya Group (ABSG) to construct restrooms in ABSG’s Kristiyano-Islam (KRIS) Peace Library in Manicahan, Zamboanga. The barrio is a known Abu Sayyaf lair where kidnapping happens regularly.

ABSG, a peace and literacy group advocating education in war-torn areas in Mindanao, was hard-pressed in soliciting funds to build a restroom at the KRIS Library. This is where Co comes in and his help has been invaluable for the group.

No small thing
“I had read that the kids who visited KRIS either did what they needed to do in the bamboo trees behind the library or—just like me—withheld the need until they got home,” says Co, who met with ABSG and KRIS founder Armand Dean Nocum, a public relations executive and former Inquirer reporter.

The meeting was arranged by Teresita Ang See, founding president of Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran Inc., an organization of Chinese-Filipinos actively promoting the integration of the ethnic Chinese into mainstream Philippine society.

In December, Co sent to Mindanao toilet bowls and construction materials for the building of three restrooms in the KRIS Library after learning that although the two-story library was constructed in 2009, it operated without restrooms.

Nocum welcomed Co’s help, saying that KRIS scholars and poor Muslims and Christian kids who would take free computer lessons and take catch-up reading lessons in the library would no longer need to worry about dirty toilets.

“It’s a small thing—to be able to build a clean toilet for a kid. But it is no insignificant thing to promote the health of a child—and ultimately, his growth and development, and his good future,” Co says.

La Sallites’ extreme idea -on men’s shaving-wins

University students bag top award in beauty competition

It’s not just in UAAP that we get to see top universities compete. It also happens when the country’s brightest from Ateneo, La Salle and the University of the Philippines gather in a Brandstorm, where they try to outdo and out-think each other.

Team Extreme from De La Salle University, composed of Pixie Eraña, Elise Veloso and Austin Uy, rocked the night as they emerged champions and won an all-expense-paid trip to Paris, where they will compete against 41 countries. They were guided by Anlex Basilio.

“We named our group extreme because it is our commitment to push the limits and go beyond what is expected,” Eraña says. Team Extreme also won the award for best communications campaign.

L’Oréal held the L’Oréal Brandstorm competition Philippine National Finals last March 17; it is now on its third season.

L’Oréal invites college students in their final two years to act as marketing brand manager for an existing L’Oréal brand, and create a new product line and overall communications campaign for it.

This year’s chosen brand was L’Oréal Professionel Homme, a range of hair care and styling products designed to meet the specific needs of men’s hair.

Team Extreme’s winning “imagined” product was a salon service called Neoxea, a universal solution for shaving.

Standing out among other products, predominantly hair straighteners, shampoos and hair remedies, Neoxea offers direct solutions for shaving after-effects, such as razor wounds and acne.

The winning product

And since L’Oréal’s Brandstorm theme was to “go beyond” conventional thinking, Team Extreme aimed to make Neoxea into a brand that would go beyond the shaving norm.

Neoxea has three elements, each designed to further utilize the hair removal technology they have created.

The first phase is the epidermal relaxant, where a protective layer is placed on the skin.

Next is the hair removal mask.

And finally, the post-treatment tonic is applied. The tonic also prevents hair from growing back abruptly.

Afterwards, Neoxea offers the “Pentacare effect”—a post-procedure that promises five distinct solutions: no hair, no hair growth, no acne, no wounds, and moisturized skin. The result is a clean-shaven look for men.

Team Extreme also created a symbol—an armadillo. “It will serve as their protection against unwanted hair,” Veloso says.

“When men see the armadillo in the salon, they’ll know that Neoxea is available for them,” Eraña adds.

Brandstorm encourages students to dream, excel and succeed together. It emphasizes the need to work together as a team and to turn wild ideas into products. This competition—now on its 19th edition worldwide—challenges students to go beyond what is impossible.

“This is a culmination of an entire season, a celebration of talent and individualism,” says Michael Mendoza, recruitment manager for L’Oréal Philippines. “We encourage them to go all the way to the top.”

An adventure for students

Tina Ampil, human resource director for L’Oréal, describes this competition as a two-fold adventure for students. “They learn to become an international manager and they have fun at the same time,” she explains. “We’d like to teach them that without teamwork, it’s not gonna work.”

For the L’Oréal team, Brandstorm is a way to infuse new blood into the highly-competitive world of beauty and fashion.

“They have fresh perspectives. We want them to discover another angle to explore another way to be creative,” Ampil adds.

Teams presented their imagined products to a jury presided by L’Oréal Philippines’ managing director Luc-Olivier Marquet, L’Oréal human resource director Tina Ampil, L’Oréal Philippines’ general manager for Professional Products Charisse Hernandez, McCann Erickson Philippines’ managing director Nandy Villar and Hair Asia president and CEO Evelyn Alvaran-Cruz.

It was a closed-door competition last March 16 at Crowne Plaza, Galleria, where all teams presented their innovative campaigns.

“Believe in yourself,” says Team Extreme’s Uy, who is taking up advertising management. He explained that it was the most important lesson he has learned after working intensely for six months on this product.

His teammate, Eraña, is taking up applied economics and advertising management, while Veloso is into marketing management.

Anlex Basilio, who has been teaching at DLSU for seven years, describes the win as “encouraging.”