Latest news with #DavidHanna
Agriland
23-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
‘Exempt all farming businesses' from UK inheritance tax
Farming families with a long-term commitment to their businesses can be easily made exempt from the UK expanded inheritance tax measures. This was the clear views expressed by Co. Down-based financial planning specialist, David Hanna, who spoke at the official launch of Newry Show 2025. Hanna said: 'It's obvious that the current Westminster government does not understand farming.' According to Hanna, the expanded inheritance tax changes, referenced by the chancellor last October, are 'the most talked-about Revenue-related measures to have had an impact on farming over the past 40 years'. 'All agricultural businesses are asset-rich and cash-poor. As a consequence, many farming families are worried about their ability to actually pay the tax should they ever be faced with the need to so. 'And there is a ripple effect to be considered within all of this. Many farm businesses will not have the confidence to invest in the future of their businesses. 'We may also see a change in the way that banks deal with their farming clients.' The Newry-based financial consultant believes there is a very clear and concise way for the UK government to amend the new tax measures. 'There is an obvious option for the chancellor to exempt all faming businesses with a clear commitment to maintain the fabric of their businesses for the benefit of future businesses,' Hanna said. 'By taking this approach, she can focus her attention on those individuals and companies that view an investment in land as simply that: an opportunity to dodge the payment of inheritance tax.' Hanna is amongst a growing number of accountants and financial planning specialists who believe that the chancellor still has time to amend the agri-focussed tax changes she specified last autumn Meanwhile, a report by the UK government's Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee is calling on the UK government to delay announcing its final agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) reforms until October 2026, with the measures to come into effect in April 2027. MPs are saying that a pause in the implementation of the reforms would allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming. Such a development would also protect vulnerable farmers who, according to the report, would have more time to seek appropriate professional advice.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Q1 2025 Sadot Group Inc Earnings Call
Jennifer Black; Chief Financial Officer; Sadot Group Inc Operator Welcome to Sadot Group Inc. 1 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mood. If anyone requires operator assistance during the conference, please press 0 on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Amy Infante, Chief Marketing Officer. You may begin. Thanks, operator. Before we get started, we would like to state that this call may include forward-looking statements pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. To the extent that the information presented on this call discusses financial projections, information, or expectations about the business plans, results of operations, products or markets, or otherwise make statements about future events, such statements may be forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as should, may, intends, anticipates, believes, estimates, projects, forecasts, expects, plans, and proposes. Although management believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider any cautionary statements and other disclosures, including the statements made under the heading Risk factors in Sadot Group Inc's most recently filed Form 10K and elsewhere in documents that Sadot Group Inc files from time to time with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the document on which they are contained, and Sadot Group Inc., does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements except as may be required by law. For this call, all numbers disclosed have been rounded to the closest 100,000, and percentages have been rounded to the closest 0.1% unless otherwise noted. All numbers disclosed in this report are the amounts attributable to Sadot Group Inc and exclude the portion related to the non-controlling interest. On this call we will refer to Sadot Group Inc. As Sadot Group or the company. With me on the call today are Sadot Group's Chief Financial Officer, Jennifer Black, and interim Chief Executive Officer David Hanna. Throughout this presentation, we will be referring to David Hanna as CEO, which his appointment begins June 2, 2025. Jennifer will be presenting prepared remarks related to Sadot Group's financials filed on May 14, 2025, and those documents may be found on the company's website, Newswire feeds, and on the SEC's, website linked from the Sadot Group's website at under the investor tab. At this point, I would like to turn it over to Sadot Group's CFO, Jennifer Black. Jennifer Black Thank you, Amy. Before I begin, please note that our financial results for the quarter ending March 30th, 2025, on Form 10Q were filed with the SEC yesterday, May 14, 2025, along with the press release on that same day. Our Sadot Agri-foods revenue was USD132.2 million in Q1. The company completed 76 transactions in Q1 across 17 different countries. Revenue increased by USD25.7 million. As compared to Q1 2024, an increase of 24.1% over 2024. Net income attributable to Sadot Group improved to USD0.9 million in Q1 2025 compared to a USD0.3 million net loss in Q1 of 2024. This is an improvement of USD1.2 million over Q1 of 2024. EBITDA rose to USD2.5 million compared to USD0.1 million in the prior period. Both basic and diluted of earnings per share, as attributable to Sadot Group was USD0.18 per share compared to a negative USD0.06 per share in the prior year. SG&A expenses were USD3.1 million this quarter, an increase of over USD1.7 million compared to last year. The increase in SG&A was mostly attributable to reclassifying some expenses from cost of goods sold to an SG&A, which better reflects the actual cost of goods sold, shifting wages for administrative personnel, insurance, and other items into the general SG&A account. Looking at our balance sheet, the company had a cash balance of USD1.9 million and working capital surplus of USD21.9 million. It is important to note that as a part of our ongoing strategy, we continue to reinvest our cash into Agri-food commodity trading business to drive revenue, growth, and acquire strategic assets. We are proud to report Q1 was our 4th consecutive profitable quarter and an improvement versus Q1 of 2024, which was our last negative quarter we reported. We believe positive changes are occurring across our business. With that, I would like to turn the call over to David to introduce himself. Thank you, Jennifer. As has been previously announced, I'm assuming the interim CEO position effective June 2, 2025. I'd like to spend a few minutes introducing myself to everyone. I joined Sadot in June of 2024, and I'm currently the executive Vice President and head of Sadot Canada. I will also be performing the dual role of interim CEO for Sadot Group. There are many moving parts of Sadot. We are a rapidly growing company. What's unique is this expansion is happening on a global basis, making it even more complex than a typical emerging company where we handle the complexities of international rules, customs, time zones, translations, etc. However, through our vast network of employees and consultants, we have been able to manage this growth to date. With this growth, it is natural for companies to experience inefficiencies between new divisions, countries, etc. So that is no different. Sadot is at a point where we need to take a hard look at how we improve our balance sheet and income statements within a controlled growth plan. I believe my background and skill set will be key in attacking these challenges head on. I have been involved in rapid growth companies in the past and fully understand the challenges. I even founded my own business focused on pulses, especially crops, distribution and trading of ingredients for the plant-based protein sector. I grew this business to over USD80 million in containers, truckloads, and rail cars to over 35 countries around the world. We developed a plant-based pet food ingredient division with sales into leading pet food manufacturers across North America, while also becoming the leading Canadian exporter of specialized peas for the pea protein extraction industry. I bring a unique skill set to the CEO role for Sadot. Not only will I bring global Agri-foods and commodity trading experience from building Agri-food businesses in excess of USD500 million annually. I will also be combining this experience directly with extensive financial experience in M&A, public and private equity and debt financing, where I was involved in transactions totaling more than USD1 billion. I believe I am a leader who can bring all the components of the top business together, both the international commodity trading business and Agri-food operations, plus the financial acumen and experience to drive shareholder value through various mechanisms, including trade finance, M&A, debt financing, operational efficiencies, and cost cutting. On a different note, if you are interested in receiving press releases and other company information automatically, please visit our website at Go under investor relations and then investor alerts and sign up for these announcements, which will be sent to your email. It's a great way to keep informed of all announcements. I'd like to turn the call back over to Jennifer to review a few questions that we have recently been asked by various parties. Jennifer Black Thanks, David. The company receives questions or comments from the investor community during the quarter, and we like to summarize and address these questions during our calls. Jennifer Black The first one we have is can you comment with an update on the general tariff environment and how it affects Sadot's business, David? There has certainly been a lot of movement on tariffs globally over the past few months. While the US tariffs cover a wide range of products, industries, and countries, we can say confidently that we do not believe tariffs will have a significant material impact on Sadot. Sadot is a global company. We have conducted Agri-commodity trades with 33 countries. The large majority of our revenue is generated outside of the United States, between other countries of origin or destination having no impact from the new tariffs. For the full year 2024, only a marginal portion of Sadot Group's global trade revenue was directly related to trades originating from or delivering into the United States. Our revenue is mostly generated by Agri-commodity trades between countries all over the world. For example, we recently announced a trade to our new South Korea subsidiary between Australia, Kenya, and other countries. Because this trade was not originating from or delivering into the United States, it was not subject to the new US tariffs. In addition, our commodity trading business model and products, which represents over 99% of total company-wide revenue, are not considered consumer discretionary items. Everyone has to eat and tariffs if they apply are costs that are usually passed through 100%. What tariffs can impact or what countries become more competitive as origins. We believe the company can manage in almost any environment due to the nature of the food related products we trade, as well as the global sourcing and distribution of our operating network. The dog group remains vigilant in monitoring the situation. And we'll provide updates should any significant material changes arise. For now, the tariffs should be considered a non-material event concerning Sadot's global business. Jennifer Black All right, thanks, David. The second question we have is kind of a continuation on the tariff subject. How have the tariffs between US and China impacted the business directly? Again, we have a flexible trading model where we can source products from different countries to satisfy demand. What we've seen is that China's demand for major products like soybeans has shifted from US origin product to other markets such as Brazil. We're studying this trade flow to capitalize on new opportunities created by the change in market dynamics, particularly where we can leverage our inland origination capabilities. Jennifer Black Thanks, David. The third question we have. The company's gross margins have been less than 1%. How are you going to improve those margins? We're looking at a number of areas where higher margins are more achievable, specifically containerized specialty crops like pulses such as lentils and beans and sesame seeds. These are lower volume products, so this strategy won't drive sales growth, but will contribute to higher gross margins as we develop those business lines. Both the Canadian and Brazilian teams are focusing primarily on these product lines. We also signed a management services agreement for a pet food ingredients processing business in Canada. While relatively small, this is a fee-based contract that has no related cost of goods sold and contributes fully to gross margin. We're continuing to look for more opportunities like this as part of our development as a company. Jennifer Black All right, the last question we have, please provide an update on the sale of the restaurant process. While the sales of restaurants are taking longer than anticipated, we are making progress, and we have multiple parties interested in acquiring the Pokemoto and MMG chains. We're finalizing a new LOI with a qualified buyer. The Pokemoto chain continues to open new locations with recent openings in California, Alabama, Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. We also have new locations opening over the next few months in Claremont and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Kingstown, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico. We currently have 41 open locations and another roughly 60 franchise agreements that have been sold but not open to date. We continue to expand Pokemoto. The restaurant division in Q1 reported positive USD107,000 net income. While we want to complete the sales as quickly as possible, we're also trying to get the maximum value throughout the sale process. We thank all of our investors, stakeholders, and team members for your time and continued support from Sadot Group. Operator Thank you. This concludes today's conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
RNZ News
16-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Social service providers support Auditor-General's report into Oranga Tamariki
money politics 25 minutes ago The country's highest watchdog has issued a scathing assessment of Oranga Tamariki's procurement and contracting practices last year. Wesley Community Action Wellington director David Hanna spoke to Charlotte Cook.
RNZ News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Social services react to damning report into Oranga Tamariki
Oranga Tamariki abruptly axed contracts for social services helping vulnerable children. Photo: RNZ Social service providers feel "vindicated", "relieved" and "ready to move on", after a report into Oranga Tamariki's contracting practices last year. One also said it was "shocking" decisions were made without knowing the impact cuts would have on children. The chief government watchdog issued a scathing assessment of the way Oranga Tamariki abruptly axed contracts for social services helping vulnerable children. In his report released on Wednesday, Auditor-General John Ryan said it wasn't known what impact the cuts may have had on children and their families, which was "unacceptable", given the core role of the child protection agency. In January, RNZ reported the cuts to early intervention services in the community had advocates worried more children would end up in care . Last year, Oranga Tamariki cut 60 percent of Wesley Community Action's services supporting mothers and fathers of young children and babies who were experiencing stress. Speaking to RNZ again, David Hanna, the director at the social service in Wellington, said reading the report was significant. "I and many other providers like us felt validated, relieved and, to some extent, motivated to move forward." Hanna said the period of uncertainty was "so disorientating, it was almost like - are we going crazy? "We haven't known about our funding. It's been unclear what the contract levels were. "We couldn't understand why the funding was being reduced. We couldn't get rationale or any logic for it." He said all parts of a system already feeling pressure were further stressed. "There was a sense of relief that the office of the Auditor General has acknowledged what we were feeling was actually the reality that they saw as well." Hanna said it was "shocking for us as a nation" the decisions were made without knowing the impact it would have on children. "The most vulnerable children and young people, and us making decisions about not knowing the impact - that's tragic. "I hope we learn from it, because we are all committed to do the best we can." Hanna thought the direction from the Minister to find 6.5 percent cost savings played a role in the decisions and acknowledged the officials "had a hard job". "That's a challenge to find in a system that's already under stress." Barnados chief executive Matt Reid said he wasn't surprised by the report and considered it "very fair" from his perspective. He was "really keen to move forward". "The report's come out and Oranga Tamariki have owned it, which is great. They've acknowledged the areas that need to be improved." Reid said he had "confidence in the leadership" that they will improve. "I really look forward to moving forward alongside Oranga Tamariki and also alongside the sector." Barnados had clearly told Oranga Tamariki the impact this would have on children and families, Reid said, "and they listened". He said Barnados hadn't landed in a position it wanted to be, but acknowledged Oranga Tamariki had "an incredibly tough job". "There's clearly limited money. They're juggling really important care and protection jobs, and so I understand." Reid said he'd expressed concerns about the impact on children "the whole way through", but was looking forward to moving forward. "Whilst this conversation is about contracting, procurement and commissioning providers, what really matters most is what we're doing for children and whānau, particularly those in Oranga Tamariki's attention." He said reports had shown things weren't improving, and he wanted a more meaningful dialogue with Oranga Tamariki about the change needed to achieve better outcomes for young people in care and their families. Reid was really encouraged by the messaging from the Oranga Tamariki leadership. Labour spokesperson for children Willow-Jean Prime Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Labour spokesperson for children Willow-Jean Prime also felt vindicated, saying she was pleased the inquiry found "serious issues" with the way Oranga Tamariki had done its contracting. "I feel like providers, myself and others should feel vindicated by the findings in this report." Not knowing what impact the cuts may have on children and their families was at the heart of the issue, she said. "That's what community providers were so worried about right from the beginning, that they could see the impact that these decisions, funding cuts and slashes of funding would have on the whānau and tamariki they work with." She said the providers were concerned by the "lack of response" from Oranga Tamariki and the "attacks" from the Minister for Children Karen Chourr, when they could see the harm this would do to children and vulnerable families. "It is really concerning that they were right and that the minister was wrong, had not listened to them, did not respond to that, continued to ignore them and this report shows that those concerns they had were, in fact, valid." Prime said it was "absolutely" down to the Minister's direction to the agency to find 6.5 percent in savings, "they did that through cutting contracts to community providers for services for intervention and early prevention, as well as other things like the restructuring of Oranga Tamariki". "Those decisions by the government and directed by the Minister, meant that Oranga Tamariki had to respond to those rash decisions. "What the report shows is that they had poor processes in place to be able to give effect to that direction, and that led to all of the issues that we have seen in the process and the concerns that were raised, and the impact that it has on vulnerable children and families." Prime said Chourr needed to "stop blaming and attacking providers, to listen and to fix the situation urgently". Children's Minister Karen Chourr Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The Minister for Children said she appreciated the feedback and thoughts of the Auditor-General, and that his message was clear - "the way Oranga Tamariki has historically overseen, communicated and managed contracts was poor". "I acknowledge this. It is something I have heard directly from providers across the country, both as Minister and in Opposition." Chourr said progress had been made since the period covered by the report. She outlined her challenge to Oranga Tamariki, when she became Minister, to ensure it was "putting the care and protection of young people above all else when it spent money entrusted to it by taxpayers". She said the assessment of the $500 million contracting process took months to undertake and some of the findings were still being implemented. "What this process made clear was Oranga Tamariki had been funding a number of well-intentioned services that were not primarily focussed on the care and protection of vulnerable young people. "It also raised concerns around how they have engaged with providers, especially around contracts and decision-making processes." Chourr said good contracting of services was not just "handing out cheques and hoping for the best", it was about "thoughtfully, intentionally funding the right services where they are most needed". "While I greatly appreciate the work of all providers, especially their frontline staff trying to make a tangible difference in these children's lives, not everything Oranga Tamariki has historically funded was clearly directed or made a tangible difference to young people." Thanks to the review, Chourr said funding could be transferred to more urgent and impactful frontline services. Oranga Tamariki said it accepted the findings of the Office of the Auditor-General's (OAG) inquiry into their procurement and contract management processes. Its acting chief executive Andrew Bridgman said: "We have already made significant changes to address the issues the Auditor-General now outlines. "These shifts include new governance and leadership, stronger programme management, improved contract management and a refreshed commissioning framework." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
