Latest news with #AccelerateProgram
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Johnnie Walker, Guinness owner sounds the alarm on higher prices
People have reduced their alcohol consumption, and although liquor companies want you to drink responsibly, they want you to drink often. Alcohol sales have fallen since their peak during the Covid pandemic, the uncertain state of the economy and inflation have led consumers to reduce their spending, and now tariffs have become yet another factor affecting the alcohol industry. 💵💰 💵💰 President Trump implemented new tariffs on products imported into the U.S. from many countries in April, including an additional 10% baseline tariff. A few days later, he announced a 90-day pause on "reciprocal" duties for many countries except the U.S. and China recently agreed to decrease baseline duties to 10% and remove most retaliatory levies for 90 days, giving them time to discuss a more long-term solution. Although the tariffs still threaten the economic future of many companies, those heavily dependent on foreign imports to continue business in the U.S. face the highest risk. Diageo () previously stated that it had taken action over the last few months since Trump's tariff announcement to mitigate the potential impact by readjusting pricing, reanalyzing promotion and inventory management strategies, optimizing the supply chain, and relocating investments. This massive shift caused Diageo to withdraw its mid-term guidance amid the geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty in its key market sectors. Still, the company promised to provide frequent performance updates to keep investors heavily depends on imports. Since all its top brands are shipped from overseas, it has no choice but to face tariffs. Fortunately, its Canadian and Mexican imported products, which include Crown Royal and Don Julio Tequila, comprise around 50% of U.S. sales and remain exempt from tariffs. However, the Johnnie Walker, Guinness, and Bailey brands are all imported from the UK and Europe and are still subject to a 10% tariff. Diageo warned during its latest earnings call that it expects the U.S. import tariffs to have an annual impact of around $150 million on its business. To mitigate the effects, it plans to enact its Accelerate Program, a cost-cutting initiative that will help it save $500 million over the next three years and enable reinvestment in future growth. However, this initiative will only absorb around half of the impact through leveraging inventory management, supply chain optimization, and cost management, some of which the company has already enacted or is working on. More Retail News:The company also said this cost reduction would be supported by "appropriate and selective disposals" over the next few years, but didn't elaborate. This could suggest that more cuts will be announced in the upcoming months or that one of its assets could be sold in the future. However, Diageo has not confirmed the sale of any brand. Although tariffs continue evolving, the company expects to deliver around $3 billion of free cash flow annually from fiscal 2026, which it hopes will increase as performance improves. "Going forward, we would look to mitigate fully the tariffs, and this is where we have a long track record of managing international tariffs, giving us confidence that we can do this successfully," said Diageo CEO Debra 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
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
FleetPartners Group Ltd (ASX:FPR) (Q2 2025) Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Growth and ...
Release Date: May 12, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. FleetPartners Group Ltd (ASX:FPR) successfully completed the Accelerate program, enhancing operational leverage and scalability. The company reported strong cash generation, delivering $116 million of organic cash over the past 12 months. FleetPartners Group Ltd (ASX:FPR) achieved a double-digit increase in EPS, normalized at 13% since FY23. The company has a stable, predictable, and recurring earnings model, with 95% of NOI3 EOL provisions being annuity-like. FleetPartners Group Ltd (ASX:FPR) is positioned to capture growth in underpenetrated markets, such as corporate and small fleets, and novated leasing. The Accelerate system cutover caused temporary disruption, impacting new business writings, which were down 17% on PCP. Net debt was elevated temporarily due to internal cash funding of $41 million of leases awaiting funding. Provisions increased due to high arrears from temporary administrative delays associated with the system change. The company experienced a 3% decrease in NOI compared to the prior corresponding period. End of lease income was down 18% compared to PCP due to a decrease in the number of units sold. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Signs with ASX:FPR. Q: Hi guys, thanks for taking my questions. Just maybe on competition, you've commented pretty positively about the outlook for residual value. It's just what you're seeing coming through on pricing, if at all? A: Hi Tim, thanks for your question. As we look at the used vehicle pricing trends, they have stabilized over the last 6 months. We expect our end of lease results to be stronger for longer. For leases in the back book written at old RVs, they'll continue to generate outsized profits. New leases reflecting current pricing won't mature for 3-4 years, so lease profits should remain stable for the next few years. - Unidentified Respondent Q: And you see anything in the on pricing of new tenders that in terms of the underlying assumptions of what these are? A: It's probably too early in terms of current tenders, but as we run the elevated used car prices through the model, it will gradually impact residual values and lease rentals offered to customers. - Unidentified Respondent Q: Just maybe another question just on yield, can you call anything that's sort of impacting the numbers at the moment in terms of, yeah, management fees like that's rolling over and then sort of the outlook for yields thinking about sort of second half seasonality. A: We've seen margin stability at the group level, with a rolling 12-month basis at 7.38%. COVID impacts have dissipated, but Fleet AU still has elevated extensions generating management fees. This should run off over the next 12-24 months, leading to more stability and organic improvements in margins. - Unidentified Respondent Q: Yeah, discretion on impairments, so are you anticipating a sort of reversal in the second half from the commentary on your sort of FI25 out expectations? A: I wouldn't guide to a reversal in the second half, but we expect provisioning to ease off as arrears return to normal levels. The growth in the balance sheet funded book, particularly the nova portion, was robust, up 30% year on year. - Unidentified Respondent Q: Just a couple of quick questions just to maybe you call that SMEs a growth opportunity. What are you seeing in Australia in terms of growth in that SME book? A: We're happy with our digital platform, which includes an online calculator for quoting. Our focus is on expanding distribution channels to increase market share in the SME space, which is more widely adopted overseas, giving us confidence in growth potential. - Unidentified Respondent For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. 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
Technical.ly
17-04-2025
- Science
- Technical.ly
Meet the founder who wants to solve the plastic waste problem so well, her company goes out of business
This is How I Got Here, a series where we chart the career journeys of technologists. Want to tell your story? Get in touch. As the founder of recycling startup the Reclamation Factory, Georgia Crowther's perfect world would make her company obsolete. While Crowther dreams of a future where plastic trash is completely eliminated, for now, she's working on a way to transform a community's plastic waste into new, useful products by automating, simplifying and downsizing the recycling process. 'It's a self-extinguishing mission,' Crowther told 'If things were to go my way, we wouldn't have plastic trash, and all of our plastic trash would be made into something that's useful, thus ending the Reclamation Factory.' As an engineer, Crowther said she believes the field should be grounded in ethics, not just innovation. 'I feel like engineering is missing some sort of Hippocratic Oath analog,' Crowther said. 'There should be a 'Do No Harm' kind of attitude.' Eliminating plastic waste wasn't always Crowther's dream, though. As a kid, she wanted to be an astronaut, but she always had a real affinity for nature. Her love of fixing things later drew her to robotics, where she's carved out a niche for her environmental interests. Crowther studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University and later moved to Pittsburgh in 2017 to study robotics systems development at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). She's worked a wide range of jobs, from developing bikeshare technology and 3D printing with bioplastics to helping design the wheels for NASA's VIPER rover. Now, the 33-year-old Squirrel Hill resident has had some wins, like a spot on 2025 RealLIST Startups, support from CMU's Robotics Institute Pathways Fellowship, $100,000 from the Robotics Factory's Accelerate Program other local recognition, but she's still fighting an uphill battle to stop plastic pollution. In this edition of the How I Got Here series, Crowther shares how being mission-driven has shaped her career path, the unexpected lessons from launching a sustainability startup and her advice for fellow engineers and founders. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. What motivated you to become a founder? I was in the job market and was looking for something that was going to be not just a decent job but also something that I really wanted to do and would be proud of. I was working at a community shop space called Protohaven, fixing some of their old equipment and setting up a plastics recycling area there, like really small manual equipment. As I was doing that, it was very clear to me that both this process and this equipment are ripe for robotics. It kind of sucks to do manually, but it's perfect for a robot to come in to do mechanically. Building that space and doing more by-hand plastics recycling made me really excited about it, and then I pitched the idea as part of the Ascenders incubator program, and I got in. What's the biggest challenge you've faced in your career, and how did you handle it? The biggest challenges I've faced in my career are very self-imposed. I have said no to multiple job offers that I honestly thought were really cool because there were aspects of it where in order to do one thing, I'm gonna also have to do some oil and gas research or military research, things that I just can't do. In some ways, realistically, that's held back my career. I don't regret it. I think it was the right thing to do for me, but ultimately, I was stepping on my own toes. What has been the most surprising lesson you've learned from founding a startup in the sustainability space? The idea that your trash is here for a while, and that there's a lot of it. The quantities of trash that we produce are really mind-boggling. I think the average person generates five pounds of trash a day. Another thing that has been surprising to me is that right now, the United States actually imports recycled material, because even though we generate a lot of trash, we actually don't have the infrastructure to recycle most of it. If you're a manufacturer that wants to manufacture with recycled materials, sometimes you have to go to China to get those materials. Even though we're generating tons of trash a year, we don't actually recycle enough of it for ourselves, for our own domestic manufacturing. What advice would you give to other engineers or founders? If you're getting a degree in robotics, you're a smart person who's working hard, and you deserve to work on things that you care about. There's a lot of pressure, especially in the robotics job markets in the United States, to work on things that you're not stoked about, but you're a high-demand person. Be brave and work on the things you want to work on. Insist on that. Stand your ground and be proud of the work you do. There isn't a right way to do it. Don't feel weird about that as much as you can, and just feel confident that you're doing it the right way for you. What's next for you and your company? What I would love is a 40-foot shipping container that can just be dropped off at any community. People can put their trash in on one side. What happens in the container? Who cares? It's a black box. And on the other side, more or less, you're getting a park bench for your community, or you're getting supplies to build a playground, like the trash from your community is feeding into rebuilding your community in some way and you're keeping that local. That would be my dream. I think it's really plausible. We have all the hardware that exists, more or less, and what we need is to put it all together, automate it and make it make sense for communities. I don't think it's that far off in the future at all. Where we're at right now is we have a really clear idea of what people's problems are and a really clear idea of how to solve those problems. We know what types of trash are the biggest problems, and I think we're ready to just put on our blinders and focus on solving them. What the rest of 2025 is going to look like is building the things to solve those problems.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WatchGuard Joins AWS ISV Accelerate Program and Announces Availability in AWS Marketplace
SEATTLE, Feb. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WatchGuard® Technologies, a global leader in unified cybersecurity, today announced that it has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program, a co-sell program for AWS Partners that provides software solutions that run on or integrate with AWS. The program helps AWS Partners drive new business by directly connecting participating ISVs with the AWS Sales organization. Technology buyers are increasingly turning to cloud marketplaces to evaluate and purchase technology tools. Though this process offers convenience, self-pacing, low friction, and cost efficiencies, buyers are often overwhelmed by the complexity of purchasing and implementing cybersecurity solutions. Cloud marketplaces offer a valuable channel for managed service providers (MSPs) to reach buyers and feature their managed services as part of the buying process. Being a part of the AWS Partner Network, AWS ISV Accelerate Program, and available in AWS Marketplace helps WatchGuard expand access to its cybersecurity platform offerings to MSPs across the globe. The AWS ISV Accelerate Program provides WatchGuard with co-sell support and benefits to meet customer needs through collaboration with AWS field sellers globally. Co-selling provides better customer outcomes and assures mutual commitment from AWS and its partners. AWS ISV Accelerate Program members are held to the industry's highest standards and must undergo a comprehensive evaluation to gain acceptance into the program. WatchGuard participated in a thorough architectural and security review to ensure the quality and design of our solutions. Proof of customer excellence was also reviewed to validate the successes customers have achieved across industry verticals. WatchGuard also announced that its platform is available in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of software listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy, and deploy software that runs on AWS. This provides AWS customers with the ability to streamline the purchase and management of the WatchGuard platform within their AWS Marketplace account. 'With the increase in end users and cybersecurity buyers heading to cloud marketplaces to search for and buy security tools, availability in AWS Marketplace enables WatchGuard to meet managed service providers where they are at,' said Danny Banks, Cloud Marketplaces Lead at WatchGuard. 'We're delighted to provide them with options and flexibility, and to streamline access to our unified cybersecurity offerings so they can go out and drive more sales.' WatchGuard is now generally available in AWS Marketplace. Contact our sales department at aws-marketplace@ to learn more. About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in unified cybersecurity. Our Unified Security Platform® approach is uniquely designed for managed service providers to deliver world-class security that increases their business scale and velocity while also improving operational efficiency. Trusted by more than 17,000 security resellers and service providers to protect more than 250,000 customers, the company's award-winning products and services span network security and intelligence, advanced endpoint protection, multi-factor authentication, and secure Wi-Fi. Together, they offer five critical elements of a security platform: comprehensive security, shared knowledge, clarity & control, operational alignment, and automation. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on X (@WatchGuard), on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them. Subscribe to The 443 – Security Simplified podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts. CONTACT: Chris Warfield WatchGuard Technologies, Inc in to access your portfolio
