CRH: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
DUBLIN 16, Ireland (AP) — CRH PLC (CRH) on Monday reported a loss of $94 million in its first quarter.
The Dublin 16, Ireland-based company said it had a loss of 15 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 12 cents per share.
The building material company posted revenue of $6.76 billion in the period.
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Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
County residents with high water rates to get new company
CUMBERLAND — Although Allegany County officials recently talked to Maryland Water Service about significantly high rates, they just learned the company has been sold. Thursday, Allegany County Administrator Jason Bennett said his office a few weeks ago met with Maryland Water Service representatives to discuss monthly water and sewer bills that average about $350 and have reached $650 to $900 for some customers in Bel Air, Pinto, Glen Oaks and Highland Estates. 'We ... asked some pretty pointed questions,' Bennett said. County officials received some answers but were 'left with more questions,' he said. Wednesday, the company 'reached out to us and shared ... that system has now been sold,' Bennett said, adding that the county has few details but was told the new owner is American Water Service. 'From what we know it's going through the regulatory process,' Bennett said. 'Which means, back through the (Maryland Public Service Commission) and back through federal agencies as well.' The county does not know 'what it will do to rates,' he said. 'As we learn more, we'll continue to share.' TransactionMaryland Water Service is a Texas-based Nexus Water Group company. A press release on the American Water website Thursday stated the business 'has agreed with Nexus Regulated Utilities LLC, a subsidiary of Nexus Water Group Inc., to purchase multiple water and wastewater systems located in eight states for a total of approximately $315 million, subject to adjustment as provided for in the purchase and sale agreement.' The acquisition 'would add nearly 47,000 customer connections within American Water's existing footprint in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia,' the release stated. 'The completion of the transaction is also subject to the satisfaction or waiver of various conditions, including the receipt of all required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions,' it stated. 'The estimated closing will take place by or before August 2026.' The Cumberland Times-News was unable to confirm Thursday before press time whether the sale includes the Allegany County Maryland Water Service customers. BackgroundIn March, Bel Air resident Larry Smith led a meeting of roughly 100 folks to discuss their inability to access affordable and clean water. Participants came from Bel Air, Pinto, Glen Oaks and Highland Estates, and gathered in a large room above the Cresaptown Volunteer Fire Department. Many discussed extreme conservation measures to reduce costs of their water and sewer bills. The group's water and sewer bills, which come from Maryland Water Service, are among 'the highest in the nation,' Smith said at that time. In April, Allegany County Director of Public Works Adam Patterson said Maryland Water Service buys its water from the county, which purchases the water from Cumberland. 'The cost that we purchase from Cumberland ... we mark up and then that (pays the county's) transmission cost,' he said. 'What I'm seeing is (the water company officials) then mark it up again.' The commissioners at that time agreed to arrange a meeting, requested by the local Maryland Water Service customers, with county, state and federal delegates. ReactionThursday, Smith said he hopes the meeting he and other Maryland Water customers requested earlier this year will still happen. 'There must be a solution beyond private water for these communities,' he said, adding that the current model is economically unsustainable. He talked of hardships the customers face due to their high water bills. Some folks have to share bath water, and others must choose between paying for prescription medications or water, Smith said. Many have poor quality of water that requires significant filtration methods, he said. The water problem will 'continue to mean devaluation of property values,' Smith said. 'Whether it is Maryland Water Service or a new company that bought MSW, we look forward to the commissioners honoring their commitment to the nearly 1,400 people who requested a meeting,' he said. 'We're grateful to the commissioners in advance,' Smith said of the elected officials' pursuit of the meeting.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Black hair industry imports products from China. Here's what tariffs mean for braids and wigs
ATLANTA (AP) — Before the oppressive summer heat descends on Atlanta, therapist Brittanee Sims usually gets her thick, curly hair braided at a salon to preserve her healthy mane. But it's more expensive this year. So she'll only pay for her teenage daughter and son to get their summer hairdos. Not having braided hair 'creates more of a hassle for everything,' said Sims, who counts herself among the tens of millions of women that regularly spend on the Black hair care industry. Now, she said, she has to 'go home and figure out what I'm gonna do to my hair in the morning, after I went to the gym and it's messed up with sweating and frizz.' President Donald Trump's tariffs are driving up prices for products many Black women consider essential, squeezing shoppers and stylists even more as they grapple with inflation and higher rents. Much of the synthetic braiding hair, human hair for extensions, wigs and weaves, styling tools, braiding gel and other products is imported from or has packaging from China, which was subject to a combined 145% tariff in April. Many Black women have hair types and workplace-favored styles that require careful attention, and they can spend hundreds of dollars at salons each month on extensions, weaves, wigs and braids. The Associated Press spoke with several Black hair industry experts, beauty supply store owners, and wholesale companies, as well as nearly two dozen Black stylists and braiders, some of whom may have to raise prices even as business has slowed. On Thursday, a federal appeals court reinstated most of Trump's tariffs on imported goods after they were blocked the day before by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade. Earlier this month, the United States agreed to drop the 145% tax on goods imported from China to 30% while the two economic superpowers negotiate new trade agreements. Imports from most other countries face baseline tariff rates at 10%. Regardless, the next few months 'are already shot' for many items, said Marty Parker, a University of Georgia business professor and supply chain expert who worked in the hair care industry. The costs companies have been facing at ports are making their way down to consumers, supply shortages are getting worse, and it's unclear what will happen if negotiations break down. 'Prices go up very fast and come down very slow,' Parker said. Costs go up for Atlanta stylists Some stylists said they're seeing fewer clients because prices are going up for virtually everything. Atlanta stylists are paying more for hair from China. Atlanta stylist Yana Ellis, who also sells products like wigs, paid an extra $245 in shipping for 52 bundles of hair in March compared to 40 bundles in December. AaNiyah Butler said her shipping costs for human hair more than doubled from February to May. And Dajiah Blackshear found in early May that a beauty supply store raised the cost of the kind of hair she's used for years by $100. The store owner said he may have to stop selling that brand of hair because it went up so much. Similarly, some wholesale hair stores have seen higher costs or are expecting them in the coming weeks. Even the typical $6 to $10 cost of a pack of synthetic hair has crept up. Blackshear doesn't want clients to bring hair because she likes to vet the quality. But if expenses continue to mount, she may have to raise her prices. 'It's going to be extremely difficult,' she said, especially for clients who are "having to make those hard decisions, between 'do I get my hair done or do I pay my bills?'' Janice Lowe, who runs 5 Starr Salon in a lower-income neighborhood southeast of Atlanta, has started asking clients to bring hair and is unable to purchase certain products. 'I'm falling behind on my obligations,' she said. The industry braces for uncertainty Consultants vary on how much prices will rise, when they'll go up and for how long — and the full harm to stylists and consumers could be months away. The global Black hair care industry was worth about $3.2 billion in 2023, according to and Black women spend six times more on hair care than other ethnicities. Stylists often purchase some harder-to-get professional products from door-to-door distributors that buy from wholesale companies or larger distributors that purchase directly from other countries. Lowe has seen some of her distributors vanish altogether, making it harder to get professional lines such as Black-owned leading professional hair care brand Design Essentials, manufactured in Atlanta at McBride Research Laboratories. Design Essentials is trying to delay big price increases until 2026 or 2027, and may turn to layoffs or pause promotions to save money, said president Cornell McBride Jr. Most packaging plastics come from China, but ingredients can come from many places. 'Nobody wants to put it to the consumer but the person who pays is the consumer in the end,' McBride Jr. said. Hawa Keita and her mother usually charge customers between $160 and $250 for braiding at their shop, Eve's African Hair Braiding in College Park southwest of Atlanta. Keita is determined to take losses because their customers 'can't afford the Atlanta prices,' Keita said. The cost of a box of 100 packs of braiding hair from China went up for the first time in two years, from $250 to $300, Keita said. They order weekly, often multiple boxes. Some companies say they'll soon raise prices or run out of stock. Making customers happy is ultimately what will keep the business afloat, Keita said. She smiled as she recounted braiding a young woman's hair for her birthday with a style she suggested. 'When we finished, she gave me the biggest hug, and she was in here screaming and just yelling because she just really loved her hair,' Keita said. Priced-out consumers face unfair beauty standards For many Black Americans, especially women, affording their hair care also means confronting unfavorable beauty standards. Georgia State University law professor Tanya Washington said recent discoveries about dangerous chemicals in synthetic hair and hair straightening products have sparked conversations among Black women looking for hairstyles that don't require as much imported products. But embracing natural hairdos can be daunting for women like the soon-to-be lawyers and clerks Washington advises who face pressure to straighten their hair. 'That puts everyone who does not have organically, naturally derived straight hair at a disadvantage in these spaces,' she said. 'I think that a definition of professionalism that favors one phenotype — European phenotype — over all others, is inappropriate." Longstanding income disparities between Black and white American women can also make higher hair care prices untenable. According to the U.S. Census, as of 2023, the median household income in Atlanta is $131,319 for white households and $47,937 for Black households. It's an inequality issue that professional hairstylists are aware of nationwide. Stylist Mitzi Mitchell, owner of PIC ONE Beauty Services in Pennsylvania, said she has stocked up on certain products and tools for another year in anticipation of price increases. She wants to avoid 'bootleg' products, which are made illegally and often aren't as safe, but became much more prevalent in the marketplace during economic downturns. 'I'm really conscientious about my Black minority clients because we make a heck of a lot less than other nationalities,' said Mitchell, who is Black. 'I try to keep prices low so we can continue to have the same services, but I know I will have to raise it.' ___
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Ajax hires Liverpool assistant John Heitinga as new head coach
FILE - Amsterdam's head coach John Heitinga, center, after the Europa League playoff second leg soccer match between 1. FC Union Berlin and Ajax Amsterdam in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File) AMSTERDAM (AP) — Ajax hired John Heitinga as head coach on Saturday to replace Francesco Farioli nearly two weeks after the Italian resigned following the team's late-season collapse. Heitinga, who had a spell as Ajax's interim manager in 2023, spent the past season as an assistant coach to Arne Slot at Liverpool, which won the Premier League title. Advertisement The 41-year-old former Ajax center-back came through the Dutch club's youth program and made more than 150 appearances for the team. He also played 4 1/2 seasons at Everton. The former Dutch international takes over a team that finished second to PSV Eindhoven after squandering a nine-point lead in the Eredivisie title race. 'I am incredibly excited to start,' said Heitinga, who was an assistant at West Ham two seasons ago. 'The last years in England have done me a lot of good. I've been able to develop further alongside David Moyes and Arne Slot, while also getting a behind-the-scenes look at two major clubs.' ___ AP soccer:
