The tree-hugging sector has found its way back into the spotlight. A new report from the Cleantech Group, in conjunction with Deloitte & Touche, pegs venture capital in the cleantech sector up 29% from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of this year -- and up 83% year over year. In fact, VC action in cleantech set a new record for the number of deals closed (the previous best, 165, was set in the prior quarter). A total of $1.9 billion was invested last quarter in 180 cleantech companies.

According to Sheeraz Haji, president of the Cleantech Group, "The first quarter's bounce back in terms of venture capital investment compared to 2009's early lows bodes well for what we think is in store for the remainder of the year." Haji continues, "North America was particularly dominant this quarter."

Twitter's a pretty lucky company. Few get two bytes at the hype apple in rapid succession, but this social media platform has found a way to make up for its disappointing announcement about its advertising model. According to VentureBeat, Twitter might unveil its long-awaited, heavily-hyped and possibly investor-satisfying corporate accounts. Next month, at its inaugural Chirp developer conference, we could finally see what might just be the foundation of Twitter's business model.

The 2009 equity market recovery has led to an increase in Q ratios for the world's largest retailers. What does this mean? They're using their tangible assets effectively and have demonstrated the strength of intangible factors, such as brand and operational efficiency, to create shareholder value.

"Q" is the ratio of a public company's market capitalization to the market value of its tangible assets. So, a Q ratio of above one means that investors value the company's non-tangible assets -- e.g., brand, differentiation, innovation, customer experience and customer loyalty -- and see these factors as reasons to pay a higher price per share. A company with a Q ratio of below one can't generate a sufficient return on its physical assets. According to Deloitte, this could create an arbitrage opportunity, as it may be ripe for an acquisition.

For retailers that jumped on the social media bandwagon this year, the impact was salient. How could they not be? With many consumers already engaged with tools such as Twitter and Facebook, the sellers didn't have a choice but to engage them in this manner.

Social media has become another way for shoppers to compare deals and find the bargains that turn them on ... especially in a tough economic environment where making your dollar go further makes a profound difference. The rapid growth in these tools, especially this year, has made them a viable alternative for bargain hunters ahead of the holidays.

Company attitudes toward social media sites vary. Some swing the doors wide open, allowing employees to tend to their Facebook farms and update Twitter statuses throughout the day. Others lock 'em down, keeping non-business site access to a minimum.

A recent study found that, in the United States, 77% of employees with Facebook accounts check in with the community from the office. And, the amount of time they're spending in this part of the online world is growing. In the United Kingdom, another study found that 57% log in regularly from work, costing their employers 40 minutes a day.

Philip Wicks, a consultant at Morse PLC, a technology research firm in London, "It isn't just something you can do for half an hour during a lunch break but all through the day and because of that, it has a huge impact because people aren't necessarily concentrating on what they should be doing during the day." He estimates that this translates to lost productivity of $2.25 billion a year.

It seems like the obvious move would be to block the sites, but William Beers of PricewaterhouseCoopers disagrees. "Instead of trying to shut it down, I think we should try to embrace these technologies, put in a nice policy that governs it and explain to users the risks related to it, provide some training and then see what business benefits we can have from it," he said.

Brutal economic conditions unsurprisingly hit global accounting giant Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu this year.

The firm reports that revenue for fiscal 2009 (which ended May 31) fell 4.9% from the year before, settling at $26.1 billion. A decline in deal flow and the economic downturn around the world are cited as the primary reasons for the performance. Only the consulting business posted a gain. At the same time, Deloitte's workforce grew globally by 40,000 to 169,000, but the net increase masks a turbulent year for the employees.

Venture capital investment in clean technology grew 10% from the second quarter to the third this year. According to a report by the Cleantech Group and Deloitte, 134 companies received investments of $1.59 billion – up from $1.2 billion in the second quarter. The sector's upward trajectory continues, with last quarter marking the second in a row of double-digit growth. In the first quarter of 2009, venture capital investment in cleantech companies hit a low of $1 billion.

The strong third quarter has made the cleantech sector the largest in the venture capital business, according to the Cleantech Group, pulling ahead of biotech. Twenty-seven percent of venture capital funds invested in the second quarter of 2009 went to cleantech companies – up from 3% at the beginning of 2004.

Affordable fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) beat profit and margin expectations for the second quarter of 2009, as currency swings are becoming less costly. Gross margins reached 61%, ahead of the 60.2% forecasted by analysts for the world's third largest clothing retailer. Even though some sales figures were under pressure, H&M has turned in a strong quarter and is well-positioned for the rest of the year, particularly in a tight market for consumers.

H&M's pre-tax profits increased 6.4% to $735 million for the second quarter (which ended on May 31, 2009). The mean forecast was $721 million, according to a Reuters poll. May sales were unchanged from May 2008, though a 1.4% gain was expected. Sales in stores open for at least a year dropped 9%, rather than the forecasted 8.5%. Nonetheless, the positive developments more than offset the negative.

Deloitte LLP, which is over 100 years old, has built a wealth of knowledge. In fact, last year the firm posted $9.85 billion in revenues.

Well, Deloitte has put together an interesting series of small pieces – called Straight Talk guides. The goal is to help companies "rely less on guesses."

The guide that caught my attention was "M&A Lies, and Why They're Sometimes True." It's a quick read but has some valuable insights.

Keep in mind that – according to various studies – roughly half of M&A deals fail. That's certainly daunting.

But, this doesn't mean that companies should forgo deals. Rather, many companies have been particularly good at M&A, such as Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO).

Some of the pieces of Deloitte's advice include:

• Don't get caught up in deal fever. After all, investment bankers can push hard (and they are incentivized to do so). Thus, if you detect some serious problems, slow things down – and perhaps even walk from the deal.
• Buying a company is fairly straight forward; integration, on the other hand, can be extremely complex. In other words, as you are putting together the deal, make sure you are also planning for the post-sale activities. Actually, one of the biggest issues is forgetting about customers (one study shows that customer neglect can result in a 50% drop-off in revenues after four years).
• You need to make sure you see good deals. To this end, it's important to cultivate relationships with various players, such as deal attorneys, CPAs and investment bankers.
• Taxes matter. Can you find ways to lower the tax burden?

So, to get the ebook, you can go to the Deloitte site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.