
IMF Says Saudi Arabia Has Cut Spending Enough Even If Oil Slides
The kingdom said in late 2024 it would trim 2025 expenditure to 1.285 trillion riyals ($342 billion) after previously overshooting on its targets in a bid to drive progress on its plans to diversify the economy.
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Frontier Group forecasts bigger-than-expected Q3 loss on soft domestic demand
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BP tears up ‘reset' plan after just six months
BP is tearing up its own 'fundamental reset' plan after just six months as the struggling oil giant faces intense pressure to improve financial performance. Murray Auchincloss, the company's chief executive, said on Tuesday that he and incoming chairman Albert Manifold had agreed to 'conduct a thorough review of our portfolio of businesses'. He added that BP would be 'initiating a further cost review'. It paves the way for more asset sales and cost cuts. In a statement, Mr Auchincloss said: 'This is all in service of accelerating the delivery of our strategy. BP can and will do better for its investors.' The announcement comes just months after Mr Auchincloss unveiled what he said was a 'fundamental reset' of the business, amid intense pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to deliver better returns. Mr Auchincloss junked BP's green energy policies in February and announced plans to sell $20bn of assets by 2027. However, the proposals – which were designed to boost BP's share price – were met with a lukewarm response from investors. Last month Elliott, which has built a 5pc stake in BP, made clear it was still unhappy as it accused the company of 'chronic underperformance' and called for 'decisive and effective leadership'. On Tuesday, Mr Auchincloss said: 'We are two quarters into a 12-quarter plan and are laser-focused on delivery of our key targets – and while we should be encouraged by our early progress, we know there's much more to do.' BP has been under pressure to boost profits, cut costs and strengthen its board. It has found itself under the gun after a disastrous pivot to renewable energy in 2020. Earlier this year, Shell was forced to deny it was planning to take over its weakened rival. Half-year results announced on Tuesday showed BP's profits tumbled by nearly a third, albeit largely due to weaker oil prices. It reported a 32pc fall in underlying replacement cost profits – the group's preferred measure of profitability – to $3.7bn (£2.81bn) for the six months to June 30. That compares with $5.5bn (£4.1bn) in the same period last year. The company is refocusing on oil and gas in an effort to appease investors. BP has said it wants to increase fossil fuel output from 2.3m barrels of oil a day now to 2.5m barrels a day by 2030, increasing further after that. BP has had a recent run of oil and gas discoveries, including its biggest find in 25 years announced earlier this week. Shares rose 2pc in early trading on Tuesday and are now up 24pc from their 2025 low in April. Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot, said: 'There has been huge speculation of late on the fate of BP and whether or not a rival will look to take them out with a merger. If positive results like this continue to be delivered, that speculation may just end up being a blip in BP's long and storied history.' However, Ashley Kelty of investment bank Panmure Liberum, said 'there is little here to show that a recovery is on the cards'. He added: 'Mr Manifold has his work cut out, and with activist investor Elliott turning up the pressure on costs and strategy, he's likely to have a very short honeymoon period on which to deliver. BP remains a laggard vs peers.' Mr Manifold, the former chief executive of building materials group CRH, was a surprise appointment when he was confirmed as BP's new chairman last month. He will replace Helge Lund, whose imminent departure follows his support for BP's disastrous 2020 decision to cut fossil fuel production 40pc by 2030 and become an 'integrated energy company' focused on low-carbon energy. Tuesday's statements make clear that Mr Lund has already been sidelined ahead of Mr Manifold's official appointment as chairman in October. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Here's Why Baron Global Advantage Fund's Estimate of MercadoLibre's (MELI) Intrinsic Value Has Risen
Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its 'Baron Global Advantage Fund' investor letter for the second quarter of 2025. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the second quarter, the fund returned 22.7% (Institutional Shares), compared to the MSCI ACWI Index's (the Index) 11.5% gain and the MSCI ACWI Growth Index's 17.3% gain. The Fund is up 11.2%, year-to-date, compared to gains of 10.1% and 9.3% for the benchmarks, respectively. In addition, please check the fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025. In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Global Advantage Fund highlighted stocks such as MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI). MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is an online commerce platform that operates Mercado Libre Marketplace and Mercado Pago FinTech platforms. The one-month return of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) was -3.26%, and its shares gained 32.34% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 4, 2025, MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) stock closed at $2,395.83 per share, with a market capitalization of $121.462 billion. Baron Global Advantage Fund stated the following regarding MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter: "MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) had a maximum drawdown of 21%, likely driven by a decision to reduce its minimum threshold for free shipping (as well as the general market weakness). We liked the initiative, which we think could drive up purchase frequency, since MELI customers on average buy 9 to 10 times per year, versus almost 50 times for Amazon. The rapid improvement in Argentina's economy is beneficial to MELI, by far the largest e-commerce player in the country with around 65% market share (next player is less than 10%) and the country has a significant runway for e-commerce penetration which is still only in the mid-teens. In fintech, MELI has seen strong, broad-based growth with 43% year-on-year growth in total payments volume (TPV), 75% growth in the credit portfolio, and 111% growth in credit cards, while also increasingly becoming the main bank for customers as it attracts deposits. Our estimate of MELI's intrinsic value has risen considerably over time. A customer using their phone to access an online commerce platform. MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 108 hedge fund portfolios held MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) at the end of the first quarter which was 96 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. In another article, we covered MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI) and shared the list of best growth stocks to buy for the next 10 years. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.