Latest news with #Filton
Telegraph
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Palestine Action: We're spreading ‘intifada' in prisons
Jailed Palestine Action activists are radicalising other prisoners in pursuit of their cause, the movement has boasted. The group – which will be proscribed as a terrorist organisation within days – said the 'resistance lives on the streets, in cities, in towns and in prisons' in a meeting accessed by The Telegraph. On a call with potential recruits, the host of the meeting said members of the organisation are 'spreading intifada', an Arabic word for uprising. This week, The Telegraph revealed that Palestine Action was plotting to target RAF bases across the country in a wave of attacks. At a direct action 'workshop' for people wanting to join the organisation, at which the RAF plans were discussed, a member of the group quoted the words of an anonymous former prisoner. The former prisoner said: 'In locking me up, the British state made a miscalculation. They thought that by imprisoning me, they would halt the British resistance to Israel's genocide. But while you can imprison a revolutionary, you cannot imprison a revolution. 'The resistance lives on the streets, in our cities and our towns, and in our prisons too. I brought the intifada with me to the prison and I remain steadfast and determined now I am free – just as Palestine, too, will be.' In total, the group says it currently has around 19 members imprisoned in the UK. The majority of those are the 'Filton 18' who are currently remanded in custody awaiting trial in April next year. Members of the group allegedly drove a modified prison van into the Israeli arms company Elbit's research, development, and manufacturing hub in Filton, Bristol. Two responding police officers and a security guard were allegedly injured in the incident. Further arrests were made at a protest in Trafalgar Square this week during a demonstration against Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's plans to proscribe the organisation. On Thursday, the Telegraph exposed a list of Palestine Action's next targets. Tactics discussed included breaking into factories and hitting 'everything you can find with a sledgehammer', as well as setting up autonomous cells able to target military bases without detection. A slide in the call identified three RAF bases most suitable for attack – RAF Cranwell and RAF Barkston Heath, both in Lincolnshire, and RAF Valley, in Anglesey, North Wales. It also recommended action against defence companies believed to be supplying arms to Israel, including a drone factory in Leicester. There have been growing fears of radicalisation in prisons more generally over the past decade, partly because of the presence of a large number of Islamist gangs. Hashem Abedi, one of the terrorists behind the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing, attacked three prison officers with makeshift weapons and hot cooking oil at HMP Frankland in County Durham in April. Two officers were left with life-threatening injuries. The incident came just days after reports that Frankland, the high-security prison where Abedi is serving life, has become 'overrun' with Islamist gangs threatening to attack or kill other prisoners if they did not join up. After a surge of law enforcement activity in the UK in the early 2000s following the 9/11 attacks in the US and the July 7 bombings in London, the number of Islamist extremists in custody for terror-related offences increased sharply. The increase in Islamist terrorist prisoners came at the same time as a rise in the overall number of Muslims in jails across England and Wales – 99 per cent of whom are being held for non-terror offences. The number has nearly trebled, from 5,500 in 2002 to almost 16,000 in 2024, and now represents 18 per cent of the prison population, compared with 8 per cent two decades ago. In 2022, a report by Jonathan Hall KC, the reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, found that faith-based self-segregation by prisoners had provided a 'fertile base for violent Islamist activity'. It said attacks on non-Muslim inmates, staff and the public were 'encouraged'. The report said charismatic or violent prisoners acted as 'self-styled emirs' to radicalise the wider Muslim prison population, exerting control through a network of 'enforcers' over access to prayer meetings, the prison kitchens and showers.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
5 Must-Read Analyst Questions From Universal Health Services's Q1 Earnings Call
Universal Health Services delivered first quarter results that missed Wall Street's revenue expectations but exceeded profit forecasts, with management attributing the mixed outcome to strong expense controls and stable demand across its hospital segments. CFO Steve Filton noted that acute care revenues benefited from effective operating cost management and positive contributions from new facilities like West Henderson Hospital. However, same-facility behavioral health patient days were flat, as winter weather and the leap year impacted volumes early in the quarter. Management acknowledged that cash flow was impacted by delayed Medicaid supplemental payments, but emphasized that these timing issues do not reflect underlying business health. Is now the time to buy UHS? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $4.1 billion vs analyst estimates of $4.15 billion (6.7% year-on-year growth, 1.2% miss) Adjusted EBITDA: $603.2 million vs analyst estimates of $569 million (14.7% margin, 6% beat) Operating Margin: 11.1%, in line with the same quarter last year Same-Store Sales rose 2.4% year on year (4.5% in the same quarter last year) Market Capitalization: $11.06 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Justin Lake (Wolfe Research) asked about the cadence of behavioral health volume recovery after winter disruptions. CFO Steve Filton replied that March showed improvement and full-year targets remain achievable if trends continue. Sarah James (Cantor Fitzgerald) inquired about the timing and scale of Nevada's Medicaid payments. Filton clarified that the Q1 payment was for the first quarter only, and future receipts will depend on regulatory approvals. Andrew Mok (Barclays) questioned the impact of potential tariffs on supply chain costs. Filton explained that most purchases are insulated from tariffs and the company is monitoring vendor practices but has not seen material pressure yet. Matthew Gillmor (KeyBanc Capital Markets) sought detail on expense management, especially labor costs. Filton reported premium labor costs have stabilized, and expense controls should remain sustainable barring unforeseen external pressures. Pito Chickering (Deutsche Bank) asked about improvements in supply cost leverage and whether Q1 results were due to patient mix or better management. Filton attributed results to both a higher mix of medical cases and ongoing supply chain optimization. In upcoming quarters, the StockStory team will watch (1) the pace of behavioral health volume recovery as weather and seasonal factors dissipate, (2) the approval and cash flow timing of Medicaid supplemental payment programs in key states like Tennessee and D.C., and (3) the impact of ongoing cost control initiatives on margins. Developments in healthcare policy and reimbursement rates will also be important to monitor. Universal Health Services currently trades at $171.70, in line with $173.18 just before the earnings. At this price, is it a buy or sell? The answer lies in our full research report (it's free). The market surged in 2024 and reached record highs after Donald Trump's presidential victory in November, but questions about new economic policies are adding much uncertainty for 2025. While the crowd speculates what might happen next, we're homing in on the companies that can succeed regardless of the political or macroeconomic environment. Put yourself in the driver's seat and build a durable portfolio by checking out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. 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
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Universal Health Services Stock Sinks as CFO Says Post-Covid Care Recovery Has Slowed
Universal Health Services shares declined on Monday after the hospital company's CFO said the volume of care people are seeking has declined. After surging coming out of the pandemic, voluntary and surgical procedure volume is down, CFO Steve Filton said. The company expects its acute care business to return to its pre-COVID profit margins in the next 18 to 24 Health Services (UHS) shares sank after the hospital operator's CFO made comments at an industry conference about the company's outlook for volume of care it provides. Shares of UHS were down nearly 6% in Monday-afternoon trading. CFO Steve Filton said at a conference that the company and other healthcare competitors have seen "somewhat softer procedural or surgical volumes" in recent quarters, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. Coming out of the pandemic, companies like UHS saw a boom in voluntary procedures as Americans got caught up on care they may have put off, Filton said. Now, however, that volume of care has slowed, with Filton saying it has been "slower to recover back to historical levels than than we might have imagined and expected." Revenue has stayed stable for UHS because they have raised prices to offset the lower volume of care people are seeking, but Filton said the company thinks the variables of price and procedural volume will get closer to historical averages over time. The CFO said the company expects margins in its acute care business to return to pre-pandemic levels over the next 18 to 24 months. Read the original article on Investopedia Sign in to access your portfolio
