Wyeth Limited: A Promise Of Good Health

Wyeth Limited: A Promise Of Good Health

BSE 500095; CMP Rs 495.80

One of the strongest sectoral performance for most of Calendar 2008 has come in from the MNC pharma space. Not only has this sector outperformed the benchmark indices by miles, these concerns run by Indian managers and owned mostly by US based transnationals are solid, cash rich, zero debt and depend upon the Parent organisation's Research pipeline for growth.

 

The Rs 288 crore Wyeth, a part of the $ 18 bn Wyeth USA is a leading example. 2007-2008 after tax profits were a whopping Rs 92 crore (Rs 68 crore) and the corporate has further raised the dividend outgo to Rs 30 per share (Rs 25 per share), with the stock going ex-dividend on August 25th. EPS for the year was Rs 36 which gives the stock a PE of 13, with a near 6 per cent tax free dividend yield. The stock has traded higher in better market conditions and based upon FY11 estimated earnings should ultimately reach a price target of Rs 600.

 

The sectoral representation and market conditions assure a strong performance from Wyeth, even as competitors struggle. Against an Equity of Rs 22.7 crore, Wyeth Reserves stand at Rs 230 crore, and its cash in hand as of close of the previous accounting year was in excess of Rs 200 crore. Considering that the corporate paid virtually no interest, its business is mostly on cash basis with premium category of drugs on offer.

 

The pharmaceutical industry 

 

The Indian pharmaceutical market valued at Rs. 27901.99 crores recorded a growth of 14.3 % during the year ended 31st March, 2007. (Source IMS MAT March, 2007). Alimentary Tract and Metabolism products and Systemic Anti-Infectives constituted a major portion (44.84%) of the total market. Other segments like Cardiovascular System and Respiratory System are growing at a fast rate.

 

Operational performance

 

Wyeth maintains its leadership position in Oral Contraceptives, Hormone Therapy, Folic Acid and Depilatory Cream Segments.

 

Opportunities

 

Introduction of the Product Patent regime is a welcome step taken by the Government. However, the overrestrictive interpretation of the scope of patentability and lack of protection of clinical data continue to be causes for concern. The provision for pre-grant oppositions is also a matter of serious concern. The new Drug Pricing legislation is yet to be announced. Increase in the span of price control would work to the detriment of the pharmaceutical industry. 

 

Globally Wyeth continues to launch new products. These include Enbrel (etanercept), Prevnar, Benefix (Coagulation Factor IX), Refacto (Antihaemophillic facor), Tygacil (tigecycline IV), Torisel (temsirolimus), Pristiq (Desvenlafaxine), Xyntha (Recombinant), Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide), and ProMeris.

 

The Transforming Potential of R&D

 

Wyeth is working on Prevnar 13v, Alzheimer's disease with 10 compounds under development, and Oncology (two new products advanced to phase iii trials, Inotuzumab (CMC 544) and Bosutinib (SKI 606).

 

More importantly the US: Global sales mix is now turning in favour of Emerging markets, with ratio for International Sales to US sales to switch to 52: 48, and Q1 CY08 sales up 19 per cent globally.

 

Wyeth limited may turn out to be a good steady performer over the next two year compared to the high beta explosive growth candidates in Real Estate and Banking which swing viciously either way. This stock is not for traders. 

 

Sources

Less corruption, higher GDP

India can add $20 trillion to its GDP if it becomes less corrupt, Prof
C.K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished Professor at the
University of Michigan, said here on Tuesday. Speaking at a seminar
organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce on “India @ 75: The
Emerging Agenda”, Prof Prahalad said: “If India could graduate from
the current 125th position on the global list of most corrupt nations
to the position of the US, it will add $20 trill ion to its GDP.”
Graduating to the 12th or 13th position will help India achieve this
feat, he said, adding, “It is not even necessary to reach the position
of Finland or Denmark who top the list. We have to believe in a
different India and take corruption as an act of terrorism. Two
million people dying of hunger in India is as much a terrorist act as
100 people dying in a bomb blast.” Pointing out India’s strength in a
global economy, Prof Prahalad said, “India is known for its human
resources with 200 million college graduates and 500 million trained
workforce.” No corrupt country develops its human resources and
therefore ends up accumulating wealth only in selected pockets and
does not achieve inclusive growth, he pointed out.

Source: Business line

'Indian companies way ahead of global peers in stafftraining'

Indian companies can teach the world, particularly the US, a lesson or
two on workforce training and development. The former disciple that
learned best corporate practices from the West has now become the
guru, says a latest study.

The study, titled ‘How the disciple became the guru’, was released by
Kauffman Foundation and conducted by Duke University’s global
engineering & entrepreneurship project team. It is based on
interactions with leading Indian companies across sectors such as IT,
BPO, banking and pharmaceuticals.

“We were absolutely astonished by India’s capabilities in R&D that
were as good as the West, despite a messed-up education system. It’s
not the universities which are training these R&D specialists but the
surrogate education system created by Indian companies,” the study’s
lead author and Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering
executive-in-residence Vivek Wadhwa s aid.

The study notes innovative practices developed by Indian companies to
tap the talent pool from an early stage. Companies are going to
colleges much before they hire to help students become industry-
ready.

For instance, 20 of Satyam’s 80 senior executives serve as mentors on
campuses, and employees are encouraged to serve as guest lecturers.
Infosys is piloting an initiative to hire and train final-year
engineering students to do 3-4 month project.

Genpact is hiring undergraduates to work for it three days a week for
a salary in addition to paying half their tuition fees.

For recruitment, Indian companies are using retail kiosks and stores.
While Genpact has about 22 such stores from where it hires 25% of its
staff, ICICI Bank has recruitment kiosks inside its retail branches
where candidates can submit resumes and appear for interviews.

The study notes that leading Indian firms recruit for general abili ty
and attitude rather than specialised domain and technical skills. They
rely on their own training and development efforts to impart the
skills required. For instance, all IT-BPO companies hire non-
engineering graduates. HCL Technologies’ goal is to have half its
recruits from arts and science colleges.

“Indian companies are doing way beyond the West. They are investing in
their employees to make them more competent. American companies, who
are worried about job loss and immigration loopholes, need to realise
that you can only compete by making your workforce competitive,” Prof
Wadhwa said. Attrition remains the biggest challenge for Indian
companies, but the study notes that their attrition rates are still
lower than most American companies.

“Indian firms have been able to keep attrition rates constant or
reduce them,” Prof Wadhwa added.

Source: Economic Times

You can soon pick your best STD plan

You’ll soon get to choose the cheapest STD and ISD tariffs,
irrespective of your service provider. After recommending that
internet telephony be opened up, telecom regulator TRAI this week will
mandate that telcos offer their subscribers the freedom to choose a
carrier of their choice for making long-distance calls, whether
domestic (STD) or international (ISD).

This will start a new era of competition in long-distance calls,
provided the government acts promptly to amend licence conditions to
enable telcos comply with the TRAI directive.

What TRAI has in mind is not quite implementation of the carrier
access code (CAC) project mooted several years ago. In the face of
resistance by telcos to CAC and the willingness of the Department of
Telecom (DoT) to play along with them, TRAI has come up with a
variation. This is how it will work. Suppose, you are a Bharti
subscriber and you find out BSNL is offering the cheapest long-
distance tariffs.

You then buy a pre-paid long-distance package from BSNL for a specific
duration. You punch in a set of numbers specified in the package to
get on to the BSNL network, and then proceed to make the long-distance
call you wanted to, and talk for as long as your pre-paid package
permits.

The regulator will also mandate that all telcos offer their customers
the facility to purchase pre-paid long-distance packages or virtual
calling cards on the internet. Globally, long-distance tariffs have
fallen between 20% and 53% after customers were allowed to choose
their operator. Even players like PowerGrid, RailTel and Gail, who
have long-distance backbones, can offer this facility along with
telcos that provide customer access.

The TRAI directive is bound to hit the bottomlines of major operators.
Telecom stocks were already down on Tuesday following TRAI’s
recommendations on net telephony.

Net telephony may hit telcos’ bottomlines

Because, if the DoT accepts TRAI’s proposals on net telephony, it will
adversely impact the business models of all telcos. In Tuesday’s
trading, Idea Cellular was down 5.05%, Reliance Communications fell
3.06% while Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices slid 2.1% and 1.8%,
respectively.

ET has learnt that TRAI has decided on this move as the DoT has failed
to implement the much-delayed CAC. The implementation of CAC would
have allowed subscribers to choose the long-distance operator of their
choice to make STD/ISD calls without having to purchase any pre-paid
package.

Telcos have always opposed CAC on the grounds that each player will
have to shell out about Rs 5,000 crore for network upgradation before
they can offer this facility.

“Allowing consumers the freedom to choose their long-distance service
provider over pre-paid packages is our answer to DoT’s failure to
implement CAC. TRAI will no longer push for the implementation of CAC
and the issue will be buried. Under the new system, telcos can no
longer complain about network upgradation costs and stop its
implementation. All telcos have intelligent networks in place to
handle this service,” a top TRAI source told ET.

“This will be a directive to telcos. We will ask the DoT to make the
requisite changes in the licence conditions of telcos so that they can
offer this facility,” the TRAI source added.

TRAI officials also say that in addition to increasing competition
among service providers, offering customers the freedom to choose
their long-distance operator will also open up revenue streams for
other long-distance licence holders. For instance, players such as
PowerGrid, RailTel, Gail, Sify, AT&T, British Telecom and Tulip
Telecom, among others, who have fibre networks in India can now
directly compete to carry calls of ope rators. This implies, Bharti,
Vodafone or Idea customer can now specifically buy a package from Gail
or PowerGrid to carry his STD calls if these companies offer cheaper
tariff rates.

TRAI sources also added that all long-distance carriers would have to
enter into mutual agreements. “In case operators do not agree on
interconnect agreements, we will step in and facilitate timelines and
also stipulate penalties for delay in signing contracts and
implementation,” they added.

This facility will, however, not be extended to local calls. Several
NLD operators have pointed out that due to large volumes of local
calls, customers prefer to work with incumbent operator. Besides,
globally extending this facility for local calls have not yielded
customer preferences and they have continued to use the incumbent
operator.

Source: Economic times

Oil India IPO in November

State-run Oil India Ltd is likely to file papers with market regulator SEBI next month for an initial public offering (IPO) of 2.64 crore shares that may hit the market in first half of November.

"We have fully complied with SEBI regulations on independent directors on the company board and will by next month file a revised Draft Red Herring Prospectus," a company official said. The revised DRHP would contain information updated till June 30, 2008.

The 12-member OIL board now has six independent directors, one government director and five functional directors. The appointment of independent directors on OIL board had been holding up the IPO since early 2008.

"We hope the market conditions will improve in the next couple of months and we are in discussions with our bankers on the exact timing of the IPO. Most likely it will ha ppen in the first half of November," he said.

Government currently holds 98 per cent stake in Oil India, which produces close to four million tons of crude oil a year. Along with the IPO of expanded equity base, government will sell 10 per cent of its holdings in OIL to Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum.

The pricing of this sale would be at the IPO price, the official said, adding the placement would happen around the same time in November. Due to turbulent market conditions, several IPOs were shelved earlier, including those by realty giant Emaar MGF, Wockhardt Hospital and SVEC Constructions.

 

Source: ET

`IPO is one step closer to disinvestment`

The Ministry of Telecommunications’ aim to float a Rs 4,000-crore initial public offering (IPO) of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which will be India’s biggest, has been vehemently opposed by the employee unions.

The BSNL Employees Union, which has the largest number of members among the company’s various unions, is joining the August 20 strike.

The union’s general secretary V A N Namboodiri tells Rajesh S Kurup the IPO is part of the government’s plan to sell the company to the private sector. Excerpts:

Why is your union joining the strike?

We have called for a token strike on Wednesday to protest against the government’s move to make BSNL a listed company. We are protesting against the proposed IPO. We are also highlighting another issue â€" the wage negotiation for group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees.

We believe some unions are not backing the strike.

BSNL has around 12 employee unions and the BSNL Employees Union is the largest with around 150,000 members.

This strike is also backed by the second largest union, the National Federation of Employees Union, and another major union, the DMK-backed Telecom Employees Progressive Union.

The executive-level personnel are not backing this strike as it is also over the salary revision issue. Their salaries were revised earlier. The executive staff, however, will join the strike as we intensify it.

Does that mean you have plans to intensify the strike?

Yes. This is a token strike. The unions have decided to intensify the strike if the government goes ahead with the IPO. This will include direct action like indefinite strike.

But why are you against the IPO?

BSNL does not have to raise money from the markets as it has parked over Rs 35,000 crore in liquid cash with various banks.

This is sufficient for its capital expenditure and expansion. Being a debt-free company, BSNL can also borrow money on its own balance sheet.

Another issue is that there is no guarantee that the amount raised will be ploughed into BSNL. The amount will go to the government and this might not necessarily be used for BSNL’s expansion.

Don’t you think the IPO will be beneficial to BSNL as it will increase accountability?

We don’t think listing will help improve the company’s performance. For example, the listing of telecom PSUs Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and ITI has not done anything good for these companies.

You have also alleged that the IPO is an eyewash.

This IPO is nothing but one step closer to disinvestment, like in the case of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

Disinvestment is a negative word as everyone opposes it and so the government is proposing an IPO, which is likely to be followed by disinvestment. We don’t want BSNL to be sold to private sector groups. We don’t want BSNL to become another VSNL.

Source: Business Standard

M & M is working on electric bigger than Reva

 

 

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is working on an electric car that will be bigger than the Reva brand, said a senior company official.. The four-seater, under development, will hit the market by 2010.

Reva sells at a base price of Rs 3.5 lakh in Bangalore and Rs 2.9 lakh onwards in New Delhi. In the European market, the car sells for 12,000 to 13,000 euros. The M&M electric car would costlier. It will run on lead acid battery initially and on nickel metal hydride later, sources said.

M&M plans to launch the product in India and then take it abroad. This is contrary to the plans of Tata Motors, which is working on an electric car project for Norway and plans to launch the product there by the end of this fiscal and then make it available in other markets.

“We plan to launch the product in the country first and mature in the segment before venturing into foreign markets. We want to be prepared for the market and don’t want to be caught unawares,” said the official.

Once a technology is developed, it can be used across platforms, he said.. Currently, M&M has an electric three-wheeler called Bijlee, and is working on an electric version on its three-wheeler Alfa.

Recently, at the M&M annual general meeting, Keshub Mahindra, group chairman, said that the company has “ushered in the three-wheeler electric vehicles and is currently developing electric options for several other models.”

When quizzed on the same, Pawan Goenka, president, automotive sector, M&M Ltd, had said, “There is better pay-back on three-wheelers.” He, however, did not rule out the possibility of using the technology in other products.

However, in a country with a huge shortage of power, the success of such vehicles is questionable. “Electric cars are not as economical as compared to CNG vehicles, since the latter is readily available at gas stations now. The way out is to develop low-carbon electricity technology, for which the auto companies are looking at tying up with energy companies,” said an analyst from Datamonitor.

Cross-subsidy from various state governments will help in the creation of infrastructure such as charging stations and will generate more interest among buyers, said Reva Electric Car Company chairman, Chetan Kumaar Maini, recently. The company, which has sold around 2,600 units till now, expects to reach its target of 6,000 units this year.

Lithium-ion batteries can make electric vehicles more attractive. These batteries have high specific energy of 80-200 Wh/kg compared to nickel metal hydride and lead acid batteries of 60-120 Wh/kg and 30-50 Wh/kg, respectively, and hence conserve energy better than traditional batteries.

Worldwide, auto majors like General Motors and Toyota have a presence in hybrid electric vehicles. Hyundai has plans to launch hybrid electric vehicles in India.

Vodafone, Tatasky, Sify top most consumer unfriendly list

NEW DELHI: Leading telecom firm Vodafone, DTH major TataSky and internet service provider Sify have topped the list of most consumer unfriendly companies in India.

According to a list of "Brands not Friendly and not Caring for Consumers" by the Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment (CORE), as many as 11 companies have not responded and cared to redress grievances brought to their notice.

The list is topped by Vodafone with 210 complaints against it and no replies and no resolution to any of the complaints. It is followed by TataSky and Sify Broadband & Online Shopping with 45 complaints registered against each and none resolved.

"While replying to our emails most of the companies say that they will respond soon, but they never turn up," Core Centre Manager (complaints) S Yadav said.

The list also inlcudes, Air Deccan with 10 complaints against it, Sahara City Homes (11), Club Mahindra Holidays (17), Discount Premium C lub (6), Omaxe Developers (6), Vian Infrastructure (2), Sterling Resorts (2), and Indigo Airlines (15).

"Air Deccan and Club Mahindra have said they will reply in 10-15 days...in case even after their respective reply if the complainants are unsatisfied, we suggest them to go for consumer court for redressal," he said.

Among the 11 companies, only Air Deccan had replied to five of the complaints lodged against it by consumers, according to the CORE list.

 

Bharti Airtel likely to be number one telecom operator

The country’s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, is soon likely
to become the country’s largest telecom operator (both fixed line and
mobile), beating the state-owned BSNL within a months time.

BSNL has a total subscriber base of 73 million in June, compared to
Bharti’s 71.7 million. Given an average growth of previous months,
Bharti should be well ahead of BSNL by at least a margin of one
million subscribers.

While Bharti is adding well over 2.5 million customers each month,
BSNL’s subscriber base is growing by merely 6,00,000 each month.
Landline connections, which are seeing a positive growth for Bharti,
constitute just a minuscule 3% of its subscribers; for BSNL, the
landline subscribers constitute slightly less than half.

Bharti Airtel, which has a mobile subscriber base of over 69 million
in June, is growing at an average of 3%, while BSNL, which has a
mobile subscriber base of over 37 million is gro wing at less than 1%
and adding around 3 lakh subscribers each month. The state-run company
is also experiencing a decline in its fixed line growth, its landline
subscribers declined by 1,60,000 in June contrary to Bharti Airtel.

BSNL, which was the country’s second largest GSM service provider
before Vodafone, slipped to the third position, owing to delays in its
capacity expansion arising out of the delay in tenders and equipment
orders.

BSNL is now expanding the capacity of mobile network, the company has
already ordered the equipment required for expansion. The company has
ordered 5 million lines each for the north and eEast, while an
additional 5.5 million for south and a 9 million lines for the western
zone.

With this, it is hoping to have an extra capacity of as much as 24.5
million lines. In an interview to FE earlier, BSNL chairman Kuldeep
Goyal had said that CDMA is another important area of expansion forthe company, which is in the process of ordering equipment in CDMA.

Currently, the company has 4.6 million customers in CDMA and is hoping
to add another 3 million customers. It is ordering equipments to add
another 2 million lines.

Source: Financial Express

'3G will come in two flavours in India'

These are both exciting and interesting times for people in the
communications domain. And Oracle Communications, global business unit
senior vice-president and general manager Bhaskar Gorti is having a
good time facilitating the technological change across the media and
communications space. He moved to Oracle after heading Portal Software
as its CEO for four years when Oracle acquired Portal in 2006. At
Oracle, Gorti looks after strategic planning, product development,
sales, service and support for Oracle’s Communications products. In an
interview with Surabhi Agarwal, Gorti outlines the changes, challenges
and commerce that 3G will bring in the country. Excerpts:

The department of telecom has recently released its guidelines for 3G
in India. What potential does 3G unleash for companies like Oracle?

The potential is huge. We have been providing technologies to global
operators to rollout 3G whether it is in Hong Kong, Korea, Japan,
Western Europe or Northern America. These markets have saturated in
terms of new subscribers, so they have to rollout new things. We see a
lot of opportunity as markets open up. In India, 3G is going to come
in two different flavours. Firstly, existing operators with 2G or 2.5G
technology are going to upgrade to 3G. And secondly, many new
operators and some foreign players are also going to enter the market
with 3G. Everybody knows that per minute revenue on voice services
will go down and that from value added services (VAS) will increase.
We designed our billing and rating and revenue management platform for
VAS 5-10 years ago. We had designed these platforms for real-time, IP
and internet. Those days, you couldn’t guess what somebody might use
it for. So, we have built our system with those fundamentals.

How can operators upgrade their tech platform from 2G to 3G?

There are two sides to it. The biggest piece is t heir whole network,
the network and bandwidth that they have to upgrade. For instance, we
announced a relationship with Bharti for their 78,000-km fibre optic
network. As you rollout networks, you need to get the most out of
them. It has to be optimal and offer very high efficiency and
integrity. As different devices connect to the network, you need to
know what they are since security is a major issue. When you have a
network of that huge length, knowing everything that connects to the
network is a very expensive task. We have built technology that helps
you know what’s on your network. All this translates to better
customer service.

How long will it take for 3G to start will be decided by a combination
of networks and the towers that have to be upgraded. You also need a
platform that supports different applications. The third piece you
need is actually the applications.

Everybody talks about 3G for cool music. But a ve ry large chunk of
users, who are actually professionals, use the device for business
applications like checking staffs, inventory, performance news breaks
or announcements. So, we have released a whole set of business
indicators for free on the Apple store.

Out of the total applications that you have, what is the break up
between business and entertainment applications?

We have two categories of applications. First are the applications
that Oracle builds inhouse. These are applications that help customers
manage networks, whether it is DTH or IPTV. So, we build applications
to manage any kind of network, services like voice, content, gaming
etc. We have also set up applications that manage customer touch
points, whether it is consumer business over the network, over the
phone, in the store, etc. Then we have a service delivery platform,
which we build and sell. That helps the applications community out
there to build appli cations on top of it. These are pre-integrated,
open and certified technologies. We not only want to provide our
customers the infrastructure, but also ways to monetise it. The way
you monetise that infrastructure is to bring a whole suite of
applications, that people can use the network for. For instance, you
get a 3G phone, and if you are using it only to make phone calls and
receive SMS, what’s the point? One of the key things that we do is
applications that help you do commerce or financial transactions. The
service delivery market on a global basis is $5 billion and that is
only scratching the surface.

Operators here are getting 10% of their revenue from non-voice
services. That is still dominated by SMS. If you take voice and SMS
out, very little is left. As those revenue start going up, there is
going to be a huge market.

3G is also going to bring many foreign operators to the country and at
a global level, Oracle is providing the technology to most of them.
Are you going to leverage the existing relationship with them?

It’s going to speed things up. Even if a foreign operator forms a tie-
up and brings 3G, they still will have to rollout the network and
focus on services that are important for the country. You can bring
the best practices and processes, but will still have to focus on the
applications that the Indian market needs.

Apart from 3G, what are other growth drivers for Oracle in
communications?

VAS is definitely one. IPTV and DTH are also going to pick up. Oracle
already has players that are providing DTH and newer players like
Reliance and Bharti have stated plans for it. As communications go to
the rural markets, the cost consciousness of people will become more
acute. Therefore, the need to provide high quality service at a more
economic cost will become important. This will create a need for more
standard packa ged applications.

Markets like the US and Europe are slowly reaching a saturation point
in terms of penetration. What does India as a market mean to you?

Most people believe that as those markets are reaching saturation, the
importance of this market has gone up for us. That’s not the case. Our
business today is pretty well balanced on a global basis. Different
markets have different dynamics. In those markets, there may be
subscriber saturation but there is no service saturation. Services
like 3G, WiMax and IPTV are rolling out there. Just because people
have two cellphones there, doesn’t mean that the market is closing for
us. On the other hand, in India, two things are happening
simultaneously. It’s a double growth factor here. In some of those
economies, there was first a subscriber growth and maturity and then a
services growth and maturity. In India, both are happening at a
parallel level, which is an extremely go od thing.

How do you compare the technology platform of telcos?

It’s not necessarily an Apple to Apple comparison. It is more about
how you can increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) by providing
more cost effective applications. Some of those markets have reached a
potential, where ARPUs are flatting or going down so, its more about
being efficient. Ten years ago, telcos used to say how many options do
you have? But, now, every country has so much choice and competition
is driving innovation. Wherever we talk to an operator today, we
always ask themâ€"are you a media company or are you a communications
company? That thing is converging today.

How big are enterprises as a market for Oracle?

It is a very large market. Their requirements are security, different
things at different hierarchies, because different people have
different needs in an organisation. Enterprise customers are a large
market and we call them corporate customers. We sell communication
needs to our corporate customer through our telecommunication
companies. So, if your company is using our voice over IP (VoIP) then
it is going to come from one of your operators here.

Source: Financial Express