Latest news with #Alain
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chanel might hold off dividend payment for 2024 as profits tumble by 30%
Chanel is the latest luxury company to succumb to a sector-wide downturn that has weakened several of its larger French competitors, including LVMH and Kering. The London-headquartered tweed suit maker saw revenues and operating profits fall 4.3% and 30%, respectively, in 2024—a sharp drop for a company that had weathered the initial shock of the luxury slowdown. Meanwhile, its capital expenditure jumped 43% to $1.8 billion as Chanel expanded its stores and targeted new markets and creative endeavors. As Chanel navigates a tricky year, its dividend for 2024 may take a backseat. The luxury giant hasn't disclosed or proposed a final dividend yet, according to a filing reported by Bloomberg. But a spokesperson told Fortune that the board will decide any payments in the coming months. Last year, the Wertheimer family behind Chanel received a $5.7 billion dividend, marking the largest payout in six years following strong 2023 results. Brothers Alain and Gerard, the owners of privately held Chanel, made a whopping $12.4 billion over the last three financial years thanks to a luxury spending splurge. The Wertheimers' family investment office, Mousse Partners, is overseen by their half-brother, Charles Heilbronn. It invests in various companies in the clothing and personal products industry and was also among the companies that took the Franco-British investment bank Rothschild private in 2023. Chanel's earnings were dragged down by a slower appetite from high-end shoppers due to macroeconomic challenges and the company's aggressive price increases. Bernstein SG analysts, led by Luca Solca, noted that the brand had increased prices by 59%—the highest compared to other luxury players—between 2020 and 2023. But its price rises are slowing now, as Chanel plans to make increases in line with inflation going forward, CFO Philippe Blondiaux told Reuters. 'Chanel's management may blame the macroeconomic context for their performance — we aren't buying it — but their decision to hold off on price increases in 2025 and potentially even absorb U.S. tariffs suggests they know better,' Solca wrote in the note. Other luxury companies have also been dealing with headwinds similar to Chanel's. LVMH, for instance, reported a 2% drop in revenues in 2024 compared to a year earlier, higher than analyst expectations but still reflecting muted demand for luxury goods. Tariffs and their impact could result in further uncertainty for luxury labels, which might have to increase prices, move some production, or find alternate ways to cope with how the additional levies impact consumer confidence worldwide. 'As a 100-year brand, we expect ebbs and flows. Our philosophy has always been to act with a long-term view, propelled by the singularity of the Chanel brand,' CEO Leena Nair said in a statement when reporting annual results on Tuesday. This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
National Geographic
10-05-2025
- National Geographic
Try the Skeena, a budget alternative to Canada's famous Rocky Mountaineer
This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). 'Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be making an unscheduled stop here to pick up another passenger,' announces train manager Alain Vermette. 'In fact, we need to back up. We just missed his stop.' Brakes squeal and gears grind as Via Rail Line 6 — better known as 'the Skeena' — slows, shifts into reverse and trundles back down the track. A minute later, a burly man in a baseball cap, hunting boots and jeans emerges from the forest, rucksack slung over his shoulder, a cheroot poking out from his grizzled grey beard. 'Afternoon, Alain,' he says, waving a greeting up to the conductor, who's leaning out of the train window. 'Running a little late today, ain'tcha?' The train pulls to a stop — but since there's no platform, Alain has to hop down onto the track and put down a set of portable steps. I follow him down, and together we help the man haul himself up through the train's side door. Soon the engine chugs into life and we're off again, hurtling onwards into an endless sea of pines. The Skeena stops to pick up hitchhikers in the backcountry. Photograph by Oliver Berry On Canada's railways, freight takes priority, so passenger trains must wait for them to pass. 'There's a joke that 'Via Rail' actually stands for 'Very Irregular Arrival',' quips train attendant Dany Clarissa. Photograph by Oliver Berry On the Skeena, request stops have always been part of the service. Completed in 1914 as the western end of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the train travels through some of British Columbia's wildest backcountry, including the 24,700sq mile Great Bear Rainforest, the largest temperate forest on Earth. It's one of Canada's great wildernesses, a haven for wildlife including moose, elk, eagles and, as its name suggests, black and grizzly bears. The route begins on the Pacific coast in Prince Rupert, BC, and ends 720 miles further east high in the Rocky Mountains in Jasper, Alberta. Since it's often the only way to get from one backwoods town to the next, locals use it like a bus service, flagging the train down as it passes three times a week. It's been classed as an essential service since 1990, but if it was judged on purely economic terms, it would probably have been closed long ago. 'The Skeena is a lifeline for so many people,' Alain explains as we chat inside the train's compact cafe car, watching stereotypically Canadian vistas blur beyond the window: sprawling forests, turquoise lakes, snow-topped peaks. Originally from Quebec, with a Francophone lilt to his accent, he's dressed in his Via Rail uniform: short-sleeved shirt, navy waistcoat and trousers, a shiny pin badge of the Canadian flag tacked to his lapel. 'We call the people who live way out in the bush 'flaggers', and we keep an eye out as we pass their stop,' Alain continues. 'Usually they signal with a flagpole or a high-vis jacket hanging beside the track. But we stop for hikers, too; forest workers, hunters, people like that. Recently we picked up a family who'd got lost. It was lucky we found them, actually.' I'm riding the Skeena eastbound on a two-day, 21-hour journey from the Pacific to the Rockies, with an overnight stop in Prince George en route. The timetable is more guide than gospel — on Canada's railways, freight takes priority, so passenger trains must wait for them to pass. Delays are inevitable. 'There's a joke that 'Via Rail' actually stands for 'Very Irregular Arrival',' quips train attendant Dany Clarissa, on secondment from her regular gig on Via Rail's flagship route, The Canadian — 2,775-miles, linking Toronto and Vancouver. Sure enough, a minute later we pull into a siding to allow a gigantic goods train to rumble past, its steel boxcars daubed with graffiti. 'This one's only a small one, but they can be three miles long,' Dany says. Thankfully, the Skeena is one train where you're almost glad about the hold ups. The train has a retro elegance reminiscent of the 1950s. The carriages are made from functional brushed steel, with curved lines and stamped rivets that remind me of an Airstream trailer. Each passenger gets their own deep-padded seat in brown leather, with windows running along each side. At the train's rear is the cafe and lounge car, where a metal staircase climbs up to a viewing deck with bubble windows offering widescreen views of the Canadian wilderness as it zips by. Catch some of Canada's great wilderness while passing through the Great Bear Rainforest. It's a haven for wildlife including moose, elk, eagles and, as its name suggests, black grizzly bears. Photograph by Getty Images; Kenneth Canning And when it comes to scenery, there are surely few trains on the planet that can compare to the Skeena. One minute we're thrashing along the banks of a wild river, thundering with whitewater; the next we're rattling over a box bridge, teetering along the rim of a high-walled canyon or skirting the slopes of a glacier-studded mountain. Images from Canada's past flicker by like a film reel: rickety sawmills, abandoned salmon canneries, gold mines, ghost towns. Occasionally, we pass Indigenous communities, where First Nations peoples, including the Gitxsan, Kitselas and Tsimshian, have lived for thousands of years. Wildlife guest stars, too: I watch bald eagles circling over the treetops, elk grazing along the sidings, and a distant black bear ambling through a meadow, its fur freckled with dandelion blossom. As dusk falls, we trundle into the outskirts of Prince George — a former logging and fur-trading outpost that's now sometimes called BC's 'northern capital' — in search of our overnight accommodation. The next morning, the train departs at 8.15am sharp. Alain serves coffee and pastries as we run westwards along the Fraser River, watching the sunrise turn the water copper. Logging was once the prime industry in this part of BC, but most of the mills have long since been abandoned, leaving the forest to slowly regenerate. We trundle through little towns like Penny, Crescent Spur, McBride and Dunster — mostly just a few clapboard houses and a single-pump petrol station — slowly threading our way between two mountain ranges: the Cariboos, to the south; the Rockies to the north. Flurries of snow speckle the peaks like icing sugar. In a few months, the drifts will stand 10ft high or more, but the Skeena will run on regardless; the train's cowcatcher frame acts as a snow plough, Alain explains. For now, though, it's the perfect autumn day for sitting on a train. Blue skies shine overhead. The forest blazes with colour: golds, scarlets, chestnuts, tangerines. The hulking outline of Mount Robson, Canada's highest mountain, rises like a pyramid as we cross over the Alberta border and change time zones, from Pacific to Mountain time. We climb on, over the Continental Divide, and finally into the cradle of mountains around our terminus, Jasper, still scarred by the wildfire that swept through town in August 2024. As I step off the train onto the platform, breathing in pine-scented mountain air, I check the station clock. We're only 53 minutes late. By Skeena standards, that's pretty much right on time. The Skeena travels in each direction on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tickets cost from £160 per person. Published in the May 2025 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK) To subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Hunt for unknown man begins after student, 18, plunges three storeys from balcony to her death
College freshman Liz Hamel died in February after falling three storeys from a balcony on campus, and her distraught father has shared images of the mystery man she was last seen with as he seeks answers for his daughter's death. The 18-year-old was last seen alive on Valentine's Day after she went for a celebratory dinner with her University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) colleagues. Hamel left the restaurant with a stranger her friends had never met before, according to KIRO 7, and the man's also not been seen since. Less than 30 minutes after leaving, Hamel plunged several feet from a three-storey breezeway on the UCSB campus. When a student called 911, first responders found Hamel in cardiac arrest. She died six days later. Hamel's father Alain Hamel held a press conference this week to release the images of the mystery man with his daughter, something the police never actually did, he told KIRO. Alain told the outlet: 'He is the last person that we know of that had contact with Liz. 'And just if he has information with respect to her last moments, that could be useful.' There's no suggestion the man whose images were shared was with Hamel when she died, or that he did anything wrong. Alain's requested help from the Santa Barbara and UC community to find further information as to what led to his daughter's balcony fall. Hamel reportedly spent 'a large part' of the evening of her death with the mystery man and left the restaurant with him sometime after 10pm. She was found unconscious on campus just 21 minutes later. The stranger's described as white, 'approximately 6ft tall' with 'dark blond hair'. He was wearing light blue Carhartt jeans, a gray Patagonia sweater, and 'a carabiner with keys on his right hip'. Alain slammed authorities for not releasing the images to the public as part of their probe into the case. UCSB's student paper Daily Nexus reported that Alain said: 'I shouldn't be standing here. I should be at home, grieving my daughter and trusting in the institutions that are responsible for this investigation.' The Hamel family has said they've never met the man before. Attorney Tyrone Maho, who was with Alain at the press conference, emphasized they are not 'accusing anyone of wrongdoing'. Maho said: 'If you are this young man, or you know who he is, we are pleading with you to come forward. If you have any information about that evening, we are pleading with you to come forward. 'If you were on campus that night, or in Isla Vista, or you heard someone talk about this who may know something, please come forward. You may hold important information that can help bring peace to a family that is suffering greatly.'
Times
01-05-2025
- Times
Beautiful French homeware: one couple and seven Provençal homes
The architect Alain Meylan and his wife, Liliana, an interior designer, didn't mean to move to Provence, let alone renovate a series of houses. In fact, Alain's style — modern and minimalist, with plenty of cantilevering and glass — would seem at odds with the Provençal vernacular. But they were seduced by the possibilities of restoring dilapidated, centuries-old buildings and turning them into their own light-filled iterations of the traditional 'mas' country house, then filling them with art and pieces by local artisans. It was their passion for riding that brought the couple to the Alpilles. Alain first bought a holiday home with stables near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. When a large neighbouring property and then a mill that was falling down came up for sale, they made an offer on each and to their surprise wound up buying both. 'Suddenly, instead of a weekend hobby we were looking at a life-changing project,' says Liliana, who for a while ran an interiors boutique. 'But it was too special to miss: the opportunity to work together on these ancient places, to give back their life and restore their souls. It was a dream.' They moved into their holiday home full time, and then opened the first property, Le Mas de Chabran, just before Covid, offering guests anything from B&B to complete hotel service. Today they have six properties, ranging from five to eight bedrooms, with two more coming in the next year. The latest, Le Mas de Castillone, is a 400-year-old former school turned into a ravishing seven-bedroom house in the village of Paradou, which has a picture-perfect boulangerie, a fromagerie and a bistro frequented by Hugh Grant as well as many well-heeled Parisian weekenders (the Avignon TGV station is 35 minutes away). The two-storey stone villa is reached through hand-wrought iron gates via a garden of lemons, figs and pomegranates with a towering plane tree in the centre. 'It takes ten people to link arms around the trunk,' Alain says. 'When we saw the tree we were sold.' The exterior of the house feels untouched, although the appearance is deceiving. 'We knocked down walls and we raised the ceilings,' Liliana says. Alain's Atelier K Geneva practice is now run by his son, who specialises in high-end contemporary spaces. He is unusual, his father says, 'in that he works from the inside out: rather than create a dramatic shell, he really thinks of what a house will be like to live in'; both 'want to avoid the limitations of the old [small windows, low ceilings, no air-con] without erasing the past'. The result here is at once dramatic and warm and inviting, characterised by original oak beams, wide stretches of glass, walls textured with clay plaster mixed with raw earth, and statement art. In the double-height living room — once a low, dirt-floor barn — are two striking paintings by the local artist Jules Milhau, both on the theme of 'Black Sarah', the patron saint of the Roma people, who lived in the nearby Camargue region. 'The pieces need to feel like part of a story,' Liliana says. 'It isn't just copy and paste.' The couple used antique doorways from India not merely because the new spaces needed really big doors; in the 16th century, this region of France traded cotton with India, Liliana explains, and the Indian patterns in the wood became common Provençal motifs. Plates on the wall, designed by the ceramicist Florence Bamberger, depict the great copper sculpture in the garden: a piece by Jean-Louis Toutain called Joy of Life that she found at a brocante in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. 'All the items are things I really love, so I find they all work together,' Liliana says. • Vive la renovation: how I transformed a French farmhouse The duo, who have designed 30 other houses for private clients in the region, also arrange studio visits to their featured artists, many of whom moved to the region during the pandemic. Guests can make their own ceramics with Florence Lucchini, who created the candleholders throughout the house. 'Part of our passion,' Liliana says, 'is bringing them to a wider stage.' She will also take guests to shop at her favourite brocantes, where they often leave with a suitcase full of finds. Although some purchase significantly more than that — three have bought fully furnished houses, which the couple rent out together with their own properties. As well as the houses, for those inclined towards wellness, there's a tennis court and a 19m infinity pool and, from May, a gym, sauna and steam room. There is also access to a private trainer, a marvellous facial masseur and a coach to help you conquer the vicious cycling tour up Mont Ventoux (with a backup van, just in case). For some of the guests, including Glastonbury headliners, the couple even fix helicopter day trips to St Tropez. But when you can go and have lunch in Eygalières — another town that looks like a film set, with a shuttered patisserie and an old man puttering past in a red open-top tractor — or have a private tour of the nearby Bamford-owned Château Léoube vineyards, why bother? • How a Provençal farmhouse became a local hotspot 'Often people make a lot of plans before they come, and then as soon as they get here they cancel them,' Liliana says. Lying in the hand-hammered copper roll-top bath while downstairs the private chef prepares a fireside dinner of sea bass carpaccio, to be served with champagne, I can see their point. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Details Le Mas de Castillone costs from €28,000 a week for 14 guests,
Zawya
09-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Key issues for investors in Gabon's presidential election
Nairobi: Voters in Gabon will go to the polls on Saturday in a presidential election as the country's junta leader seeks democratic legitimacy after taking power in a 2023 coup. WHO IS RUNNING IN THE ELECTION? Brice Oligui Nguema faces seven other candidates, including Alain Claude Bilie By Nze, former prime minister in the ousted government, who is his main challenger. Nguema, a 50-year-old general, had initially promised to hand back power to civilians after a transition period, but later secured constitutional amendments in a November referendum allowing him to run. He is tipped to win due to the advantages of incumbency and his popularity as the mastermind of the end to Ali Bongo's unpopular rule. While the military ended more than half a century of rule by the Bongo family, the move was condemned by the African Union, France and the United States. WHAT IS THE MAIN CONCERN FOR INVESTORS? Investors are watching to see if the central African oil producer, which has $3 billion outstanding on international bonds, will re-establish its democratic credentials by holding a credible election. Political uncertainty and concerns about governance partially curtailed economic growth to 2.4% in 2023, from 3% in the previous year, the International Monetary Fund said. It also worsened fiscal imbalances, leading to debt arrears and an increase in the ratio of debt to economic output. Gabon does not currently have a lending programme with the IMF and investors have said securing a programme would help the government to anchor its economic recovery strategy. Gabon was also suspended from a preferential trade agreement with the United States (AGOA) after the coup - though the pact's future is in question more widely following U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff announcements. WHAT ECONOMIC CHALLENGES WILL THE WINNER FACE? The main risk facing Gabon's economy is an acute squeeze in liquidity. The World Bank suspended disbursements in January due to arrears of $27 million. Gabon has relied increasingly on regional capital markets to meet its financing needs. The government offered to buy back a $605 million dollar bond maturing this June, financing the transaction through a combination of local currency debt sold on the regional market and the private placement of a $570 million dollar bond. The manoeuvre was meant to assure markets of Gabon's ability to manage its liabilities, but was not enough to spare the central African nation from a ratings downgrade. Fitch cut Gabon's foreign debt rating deeper into the lowest junk ratings, to "CCC" from "CCC+", citing a shortage of liquidity to tap in the regional debt market, a slowdown in credit flows from bilateral lenders and growing external debt maturities. Like other frontier issuers, Gabon's bonds have been pounded as investors ditched risky assets in response to trade turmoil. With some trading at double-digit yields, this signals Gabon would struggle to access international capital markets. The government has turned its eye to new sources of cash. It said in January it would seek a $157 million loan from Cargill Financial Services, and it is also in talks with the Cairo-based Afreximbank for another loan of $210 million. WHAT OTHER FACTORS ARE IN PLAY? Gabon became the first country in Africa to complete a debt-for-nature swap in 2023, when it bought back some of its dollar debt through the issuance of a $500 million blue bond. Gabon's abundant rainforests, beaches and coastal waters that host endangered turtle species enabled it to complete the debt-for-nature swap, where the savings usually go to fund conservation. But the winner of the April 12 election will be confronted by a changed world, with a new U.S. administration that does not consider climate change a priority, cutting the appetite for such deals. Like other developing countries, Gabon also faces other challenges arising from the wider geopolitical shifts, including President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on trade. Prices of crude oil have dipped after the new tariffs were announced, which could curb Gabon's revenue from oil exports. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Karin Strohecker and Alex Richardson)
