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Sekem managing director to appeal sentence over IMC funding for Sekem companies

CAIRO (NNA) – The managing director of the Egyptian Sekem Group, Helmy Abouleish, has been sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of one year and a fine in connection with charges of illegal funding from the Egyptian Industrial Modernization Center (IMC) for Sekem companies while he was serving on the IMC. Abouleish intends to appeal against his conviction. One of the issues in the case was the question which legal framework should apply to the way that IMC funding was disbursed. An initial legal opinion found that there was no case to answer. Full story >

Weleda Group reports healthy growth despite posting exchange rate loss

BASEL (NNA) – The Weleda Group reported healthy growth last year, despite posting a negative result due to unrealised euro-Swiss franc exchange rate losses stemming from valuation transactions of CHF 8.4 million. The consolidated accounts of the Swiss-based Group are presented in Swiss francs while three quarters of Weleda’s business comes from the euro zone. Weleda AG, Switzerland, with its branch office in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, and 17 fully consolidated majority shareholdings in a range of countries across the world, achieved consolidated Group turnover of CHF 385.3 million. Full story >

Rudolf Steiner schools in England fail to win government funding

LONDON (NNA) – None of the Rudolf Steiner schools in England which have applied to receive funding under a government programme to create so-called free schools have been successful in the first round of applications. Full story >

ELIANT campaign hands over signatures to EU Commission

BRUSSELS (NNA) – The European Alliance of Initiatives for Applied Anthroposophy/ELIANT has handed over more than a million signatures to the European Commission in Brussels as part of its campaign to improve the legal framework for safeguarding the position of anthroposophical services and products. The 1,001,671 signatures from 27 EU member states were presented to the Commissioner for Health and Consumers, John Dalli, on 13 May, who accepted them on behalf of Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the Alliance said in a statement. Full story >

Swiss anthroposophica l pension fund leads on investment returns

ITTIGEN (NNA) – A Swiss anthroposophical pension fund has once again out-performed the competition to achieve the highest returns on its investments over an extended period. While the returns of other pension funds have been fluctuating wildly between negative and positive results in recent years, the comparison table published by the SonntagsZeitung newspaper shows that CoOpera achieved a steady result of between 2.6 percent and 3.4 percent in the last four years. On a ten year comparison, CoOpera achieved an annual return of 3.34 percent. Full story >

E.coli outbreak could be linked to slurry from factory farming

HAMBURG/DRESDE N/KIEL/HANOVER (NNA) – While German health officials say that they have no idea where the deadly E.coli outbreak, which is mainly centred on Germany but has also affected other parts of Europe, originated, animal welfare and environmental organisations in Germany say that they have warned for a long time that the slurry from factory farms used as fertiliser poses a serious threat to human health and the environment. Full story >