UPS to cut 20,000 jobs amid Amazon shift
UPS will cut 20,000 jobs, or 4% of its workforce, and close more than 70 buildings to offset a planned drop in Amazon packages and murky macroeconomic conditions.
Driving the news: UPS CEO Carol Tomé announced the cuts during a Tuesday investor call that covered the Sandy Springs, Georgia-based global shipping company's thinking on tariffs, automation and more, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Zoom in: The job cuts will be spread throughout the nearly 500,000-employee workforce, UPS CFO Brian Dykes said on the call.
Two-thirds of the building closures would occur in the eastern U.S., he said, though he did not share specifics.
Catch up quick: UPS will reduce the number of Amazon packages it carries by more than 50% by the second half of next year, the company announced in January.
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Associated Press
12 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Unifor members at DHL Express Canada locked out after refusing to accept concessions
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Forbes
28 minutes ago
- Forbes
How To Lock In Yields Up To 17.1% In Historically Cheap Small Caps
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Bain Capital Specialty Finance (BCSF) is a diversified BDC that provides a variety of financing solutions to 175 portfolio companies primarily in North America, but also Europe and Australia (a rarity for many BDCs). The lion's share of Bain Capital's investments are first-lien in nature—in addition to 64% exposure directly through portfolio companies, it also has almost 16% more through its investment vehicles. It also deals in equity and preferred equity interest, as well as second-lien and subordinated debt. Unlike CGBD, Bain Capital hasn't exactly lit the industry on fire, but it has caught its stride over the past couple of years. Other reasons to like it? A low cost of debt, a higher-than-average portfolio yield (made even better by its joint ventures), investment-grade debt and an 11% discount to NAV. However I'm nervous about its dividend situation. Dividend coverage has been a strength for the past couple of years, but that could be changing. In 2024, Bain Capital stopped a short streak of dividend hikes and kept its 42-cent regular dividend in place. It instead began paying 3-cent quarterly special dividends, which it has kept up with ever since. That 45 cents quarterly comes out to $1.80 per share in annual dividends. However, analysts expect net investment income to drop from $2.09 per share in 2024 to $1.84 per share this year and $1.82 per share in 2026. That means dividend ratios in the 98%-99% range, which leaves almost no room for error. If BCSF does run into difficulty over the next couple of years, we could see the special dividends reduced or taken away outright—certainly a better look than having to cut a regular dividend, but the practical end result is still less income, even if temporarily. On the other hand, the base-and-special system gives BCSF room to reward us more if Wall Street's expectations prove overly pessimistic. Let's move to another high-yield corner of the market: mortgage real estate investment trusts (mREITs). For the unfamiliar: The typical REIT deals in physical properties—apartments, strip malls, hospitals, casinos. But mortgage REITs deal in 'paper' real estate. They borrow at low short-term rates, lend that cash out in the form of mortgages based on long-term rates, then pocket the difference. If 'long' rates (like those on the 10-year Treasury) are steady or, better yet, declining, that's great news for mREITs. New loans pay less, so their existing loans become more valuable. That's been a mixed bag for mREITs in 2025, which enjoyed declining rates for the first couple months of the year, but have been suffering from a rebound ever since. First up is Two Harbors Investment (TWO), which deals in mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBSs) and other financial assets. 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Multifamily is king here, at more than 70% of the portfolio, but FBRT is happy to take on just about any type of commercial property—it also holds loans in hospitality, industrial, office, retail and other sectors. Virtually all of its portfolio is senior debt, and nearly 90% of that is floating-rate in nature. Collateralized loan obligations are the bulk of its financing sources at a hair over 80%, but Franklin BSP Realty Trust also has 11% exposure to warehouse lending (credit lines extended by banks to originate mortgages), 5% to repurchase agreements (repo), and sprinklings of unsecured debt and asset-specific financing. FBRT shares are down by double digits year-to-date, but now trade at an attractive 28% discount to book and a P/E of around 7 based on 2026 earnings estimates, which is pretty low among mREITs. And there are reasons for optimism—chiefly, the looming July close on the acquisition of NewPoint Holdings JV LLC. The deal to absorb this privately held commercial real estate finance company could set Franklin apart from other commercial mREITs. Again, though, the dividend situation is perhaps shakier than many of us would want. For one, the payout hasn't budged since the company started trading in 2021. Also problematic—real-estate owned (basically, foreclosures) and short-term non-market financing have been dragging on earnings. On the most recent conference call, CFO Jerome Baglien said, 'While we believe in the long-term earning power of the company to cover the dividend, if REO sales slow or volatile market conditions persist, it could be prudent to revisit our dividend in the short term.' There is a little good news: If earnings expectations stay on track, on the other side of FBRT's short-term drag is a path to more solid dividend coverage longer-term. Brett Owens is Chief Investment Strategist for Contrarian Outlook. For more great income ideas, get your free copy his latest special report: How to Live off Huge Monthly Dividends (up to 8.7%) — Practically Forever. Disclosure: none
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Westinghouse pursues US nuclear expansion after Trump orders, FT says
(Reuters) -Nuclear equipment supplier Westinghouse is in talks with U.S. officials and industry partners about deploying 10 large reactors, in response to presidential executive orders, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing the company's CEO. President Donald Trump's executive orders, which were published on May 23, directed the government to cut down on regulations and fast-track licences for reactors and power plants to shrink a multi-year process to 18 months. Dan Sumner, Westinghouse interim chief executive, told the FT that the company was "uniquely positioned" to deliver the president's agenda because it had an approved reactor design, a viable supply chain and recent experience of building two of its AP1000 reactors in Georgia. "There is active engagement with the administration, including key points of interface with the loan programmes office, recognising the importance of financing to the deployment of the model," he told the FT. Westinghouse did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.
