Latest news with #MVC
Time Business News
5 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring an IT Staff Augmentation
In 2025, choosing the right IT staff augmentation partner defines whether your startup grows or stalls. More founders now adopt this model to access global developers, launch faster, and scale smartly. The model works well, but the wrong partner leads to disaster. You risk delays, bloated costs, and code that fails under load. One bad engagement can stall your roadmap, ruin deadlines, or force a rewrite. A recent study indicates that 74% of employers struggle to find the skilled talent they need, underscoring the importance of choosing a reliable augmentation partner. Startups rush into agreements without understanding the benefits of IT staff augmentation, or they fail to compare options. In this guide, you'll learn: Why do IT staff augmentation services work best when aligned with your business goals? The 7 costly mistakes founders and CTOs make while choosing an augmentation partner What to look for in an ideal staff augmentation model for startups in 2025? How to avoid risk, delays, and poor ROI with smarter vendor evaluation? One of the biggest mistakes when choosing an IT staff augmentation partner is skipping the vetting process. Many providers promise 'vetted talent,' but fail to evaluate real-world coding skills, system architecture thinking, or experience with modern frameworks. Developers ace theoretical interviews but fail during hands-on implementation. Reasons are – Teams lack experience in tools you depend on, like Laravel, Kubernetes, or GitHub Actions. Poor performance in sprint delivery, unit testing, or code review processes. Lack of familiarity with product lifecycle, CI/CD pipelines, or post-deployment maintenance. When technical vetting is missing or shallow, the result is broken sprints, missed deadlines, and unstable product builds. A reliable IT staff augmentation company conducts multiple layers of evaluation: Live coding assessments that test for problem-solving and logic under pressure Architecture review tasks that simulate backend planning, scalability, and service orchestration Laravel-specific challenges for MVC structure, queue jobs, API design, and database logic DevOps case studies that check knowledge of CI/CD, containerization, monitoring, and rollback handling Soft skills and communication checks to ensure smooth integration with your product team This level of depth separates mediocre outsourcing from trusted IT staff augmentation services that deliver. Startups often assume that hiring skilled developers guarantees smooth collaboration. That's a major mistake. Even the best talent will fail your product if communication breaks down. Choosing an IT staff augmentation partner without considering timezone and communication alignment results in missed updates, poor coordination, and frustration for internal teams. Founders focus only on technical skills, ignoring soft skills and cultural fit. Developers respond to messages late or miss key meetings due to timezone gaps. Language barriers slow down feedback cycles, sprint reviews, or dev handoffs. Product managers waste hours trying to explain stories or resolve simple blockers. This leads to slow product cycles, failed QA loops, and delayed launches. A reliable IT staff augmentation company ensures smooth communication and timezone compatibility with: Daily or alternate-day syncs that keep progress transparent and blockers visible English fluency assessments during vetting to ensure seamless collaboration 4+ hours of timezone overlap with your product or engineering team Agile reporting via tools like Slack, Jira, Notion, or Trello Clear escalation paths for blockers or scope shifts For staff augmentation for startups, communication speed is just as important as coding speed. If you plan to hire remote developers for startups in the US or UK, timezone matching becomes a strategic decision, not just a convenience. Startups often prioritize speed and talent, but forget a critical layer security and intellectual property protection. Choosing an IT staff augmentation partner that lacks security standards can put your codebase, customer data, and product IP at serious risk. Developers work in unsecured environments with no VPN or endpoint protection No signed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to protect product concepts or data Git access was shared without proper permission levels No clear boundaries around third-party code usage or version history logging Customer data left exposed in staging or QA environments A report by IBM found that the average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.45 million, the highest ever recorded. This proves that startups must go beyond code quality and prioritize IP control from day one! A trustworthy IT staff augmentation company will: Sign NDAs and IP assignment clauses before project kickoff Provide secure remote development infrastructure Use Git with access control, audit logs, and branch permissions Train developers on data privacy laws like GDPR and HIPAA Provide documentation on internal security practices This level of compliance is essential for staff augmentation for startups, especially in fintech, healthtech, and SaaS sectors. If you plan to augment your software development team, make IP protection a non-negotiable. Every startup watches its budget, but choosing an IT staff augmentation partner based only on price leads to failure. Startups that chase cost over quality end up with missed deadlines, buggy code, and zero accountability. A B2B SaaS startup hired a $12/hour developer to build a Laravel admin dashboard. Within four weeks: APIs failed under test loads Data wasn't sanitized, exposing user records Dev didn't follow MVC conventions No Git usage, no CI/CD, no documentation The founder had to scrap the entire codebase and rehire a vetted Laravel developer. The 'cheap hire' ended up costing 3x more and delaying investor demo day by a month. A smart IT staff augmentation company adds value beyond just writing code. Here's what to look for: Relevant experience in your industry or product stage Turnaround time from onboarding to first commit DevOps support for scalable infrastructure, CI/CD, and deployment Tech match for your stack: Laravel, React, Node, etc. Quality assurance and support coverage If you're using staff augmentation for startups, remember that you're not just paying for hours; you're paying for delivery, velocity, and risk reduction. Founders who hire remote developers for startups should weigh total ROI. Hiring an IT staff augmentation partner without relevant tech or industry experience slows down your build and risks product failure. A Laravel SaaS platform needs different skills than a React MVP or a Python-based AI tool. Yet many founders skip this evaluation and choose based on availability alone. This mismatch affects planning, speed, and even how scalable the foundation becomes. A Laravel developer unfamiliar with SaaS patterns may skip multi-tenant architecture or queue handling A React developer without MVP experience may overengineer a simple prototype AI-focused projects fail when engineers lack domain knowledge in ML frameworks or data ops A strong IT staff augmentation company will match developers by: Framework expertise: Laravel, React, Node, Python, etc. Use case familiarity: SaaS apps, eLearning platforms, fintech tools, etc. Deployment patterns: Single-tenant vs multi-tenant, API-first, headless CMS, and microservices Previous portfolio: Look for examples in your product domain For staff augmentation for startups, the match must go deeper than tech skills. It must align with product vision, tech stack, and industry compliance if applicable. Founders should always ask: 'Have you worked on a project similar to mine before?' Choosing to augment your software development team with the wrong expertise risks time, trust, and technical debt. Even top developers sometimes fail to deliver. But if your IT staff augmentation partner doesn't offer a replacement policy, you're stuck with poor performance or forced to start over. This delay hurts momentum, especially for MVP-stage startups or teams pushing product demos to investors. The developer underdelivers, but you've already paid for 4+ weeks Lack of a process to escalate performance issues No way to rotate developers without renegotiating the agreement You waste sprint cycles while waiting for a fix A quality IT staff augmentation company includes: Free replacement guarantees during the first 2–4 weeks Trial periods to test communication, delivery, and velocity No-penalty exit terms if performance doesn't match the promise Proactive replacements if developer feedback turns negative Mid-project flexibility to scale up or rotate skill sets For staff augmentation for startups, this flexibility keeps projects stable, even when something goes wrong. If you plan to hire remote developers for startups, make the trial clause your first question. Hiring an IT staff augmentation partner without understanding how they manage delivery leads to miscommunication, delays, and lack of control. Transparency equals trust. And for startups, visibility into daily progress is critical, it's not enough for developers to write code. You need clear project flow, sprint alignment, and real-time collaboration. You don't know what's being worked on, when it'll be ready, or who's blocked Features get delivered late or out of scope Git commits lack comments, issues go untracked, and documentation is missing You aren't looped into retrospectives or sprint demos The result? You burn time chasing updates instead of leading product strategy. A modern IT staff augmentation company will use tools that bring you inside the build process: Jira or Trello for task tracking and sprint planning Slack or Teams for async updates and daily standups Git with branch control and pull request reviews Notion or Confluence for documentation and SOPs Weekly sprint reviews and retrospectives to evaluate velocity and adjust plans For staff augmentation for startups, these systems mean faster issue resolution, better product quality, and complete delivery control. If you plan to augment your software development team, ask about tool stack, sprint cadence, and reporting habits! Selecting the right IT staff augmentation partner means going beyond availability. It requires a system to vet capabilities, processes, and reliability. Here's a proven checklist to help you: Ask for real examples: Laravel SaaS, React MVPs, or Bagisto-based eCommerce. Look for Laravel, Statamic, or Bagisto credentials to validate skill alignment. Ask how long it takes to get project-ready. Time-to-first-commit matters. Evaluate screening, shadow sprints, and onboarding documentation. Process matters more than promises. Look at their workflow before trusting delivery timelines. As a vetted IT staff augmentation company, Acquaint offers: Laravel-certified developers with project-ready experience Real case studies in SaaS, fintech, and marketplace apps 48-hour onboarding with milestone-based reporting Slack, Git, Notion, and Jira integration from day one Optional 1-week trial with zero lock-in This is what strategic staff augmentation for startups looks like. Hiring fast helps you launch, but hiring right helps you scale without setbacks. Choosing the right IT staff augmentation partner ensures fewer delays, cleaner code, secure IP, and developers who understand your tech stack and vision. In 2025, strategy wins over speed. When you augment your software development team with a vetted partner like Acquaint Softtech, you get scalable systems, sprint-ready developers, and delivery that matches ambition! TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
MSU Athletics Year-in-Review
SPRINGFIELD–The Bears offense lit up the scoreboard during its school record 8-game winning streak, this past season, but does that put it above the rest of the MSU athletic programs?! What's up Bear Nation?! It's hard to believe, but another year of MO-State sports is officially in the books. So, with that, I thought we'd enjoy an 'MSU Review' of the best moments from the 2024-25 sports year. Up first, it's gotta be the Missouri State soccer programs. Both men's and womens' team not only made the NCAA Tournament, but the men's team defeated Drake, 1-0, to claim the Missouri Valley regular season conference crown. Then, the women's team followed suit but upped the anti but winning the MVC Tournament title, too. Then, we got he Lady Bears basketball team. Beth Cunningham finally captured her first MVC regular season title, and, of course, Lacy Stokes cemented her legacy, as one of the all-time Lady Bears greats. But, so did Paige Rocca, especially after hitting this buzzer beater three pointer to force overtime in MO-State's comeback win against Drake. And, last but not least, how about Joey Hawkins and the Bears baseball team. In Hawkins first year as head coach, the Bears won at least a share of the MVC regular season crown for the first time since 2018, had seven players make the All-Conference team, including player of the year, Nick Rodrigueaz, and knocked off No. 2 Arkansas, Fayeteville. But the best of the bunch goes to the Soccer programs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Wire
08-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Barings BDC, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2025 Results and Announces Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.26 Per Share
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE: BBDC) ('Barings BDC' or the 'Company') today reported its financial and operating results for the first quarter of 2025 and announced that the Company's Board of Directors (the 'Board') declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share. Highlights (1) Based on weighted average shares outstanding during the period of 105,373,382. (2) Based on weighted average shares outstanding during the period of 105,523,884. Expand First Quarter 2025 Results Commenting on the quarter, Eric Lloyd, Chief Executive Officer of Barings BDC, stated, 'We delivered solid portfolio performance in the first quarter, with stable NAV after higher repayments in the prior sequential quarter. BBDC has preserved strong credit quality with total non-accruals coming in at 0.6% of our portfolio on a fair value basis, outpacing industry averages. Subsequent to quarter end, we advanced our goal of rotating into income producing assets by terminating our MVC CSA with Barings in exchange for a payment of $23 million which we intend to deploy into attractive investment opportunities. The willingness of our manager, Barings, to pay this amount in full earlier than required, serves as yet another demonstration of unparalleled alignment. BBDC has over $420 million of investable dry powder and the power of the broader Barings platform providing scale and enabling global insights to drive future portfolio performance. Looking ahead, we believe our team is equipped to navigate the full gamut of economic scenarios we may face, selectively actioning our global pipeline as the operating landscape evolves.' During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company reported total investment income of $64.4 million, net investment income of $26.4 million, or $0.25 per share, and a net increase in net assets resulting from operations of $32.6 million, or $0.31 per share. Net asset value ('NAV') per share as of both March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024 was $11.29. During the three months ended March 31, 2025 the NAV per share activity was primarily attributed to net unrealized appreciation on the Company's investment portfolio, credit support agreements, foreign currency transactions and forward currency contracts of approximately $0.07 per share, partially offset by the Company's payment of a first quarter special dividend of $0.05 per share, the Company's first quarter regular dividend exceeding net investment income by $0.01 per share, and net realized loss on investments, foreign currency transactions and forward currency contracts of $0.01 per share. Recent Portfolio Activity During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company made 14 new investments totaling $128.2 million and made investments in existing portfolio companies totaling $78.7 million. The Company had 10 loans repaid totaling $66.1 million and recognized a net realized loss on these transactions of $10.2 million. The Company also received $33.9 million of portfolio company principal payments and sales proceeds and recognized a net realized loss on these transactions of $0.4 million. The Company received $5.2 million of return of capital from joint ventures, equity, and royalty rights investments. Lastly, the Company received proceeds related to the sales and exits of equity investments totaling $1.1 million and recognized a net realized loss on such sales totaling $7.1 million. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company recorded net unrealized appreciation totaling $7.3 million, consisting of net unrealized appreciation on the Company's current portfolio of $17.0 million, net unrealized appreciation reclassification adjustments of $16.9 million related to the net realized losses on the sales / exits of certain investments, unrealized appreciation of $3.8 million on the MVC credit support agreement with Barings LLC ('Barings'), and unrealized appreciation of $0.6 million on the Sierra credit support agreement with Barings, partially offset by net unrealized depreciation related to forward currency contracts of $22.3 million, net unrealized depreciation related to foreign currency transactions of $7.8 million and deferred taxes of $1.0 million. The net unrealized appreciation on our current portfolio of $17.0 million was driven primarily by the impact of foreign currency exchange rates on investments of $14.8 million and broad market moves for investments of $7.9 million, partially offset by the credit or fundamental performance of investments of $5.7 million. Liquidity and Capitalization As of March 31, 2025, the Company had cash and foreign currencies of $100.6 million (including restricted cash of $7.3 million), $497.3 million of borrowings outstanding under its $825.0 million senior secured credit agreement, $1,025.0 million aggregate principal amount of unsecured notes outstanding and a net payable from unsettled transactions of $46.7 million. Share Repurchase Program On February 20, 2025, the Board authorized a new 12-month share repurchase program. Under the program, the Company may repurchase, during the 12-month period commencing on March 1, 2025, up to $30.0 million in the aggregate of its outstanding common stock in the open market at prices below the then-current NAV per share. The timing, manner, price and amount of any share repurchases will be determined by the Company, in its discretion, based upon the evaluation of economic and market conditions, the Company's stock price, applicable legal, contractual and regulatory requirements and other factors. The program is expected to be in effect until March 1, 2026, unless extended or until the aggregate repurchase amount that has been approved by the Board has been expended. The program does not require the Company to repurchase any specific number of shares, and the Company cannot assure stockholders that any shares will be repurchased under the program. The program may be suspended, extended, modified or discontinued at any time. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company repurchased a total of 150,000 shares of its common stock in the open market under the program at an average price of $9.67 per share, including brokerage commissions. Dividend Information The Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share, which, together with the previously declared special dividend payable during the second quarter of 2025 in the amount of $0.05 per share, is payable as follows: Dividend Reinvestment Plan Barings BDC has adopted a dividend reinvestment plan ('DRIP') that provides for reinvestment of dividends and distributions on behalf of its stockholders, unless a stockholder elects to receive cash. As a result, when the Company declares a cash dividend or distribution, stockholders who have not opted out of the DRIP will have their cash dividends or distributions automatically reinvested in additional shares of the Company's common stock, rather than receiving cash. When the Company declares and pays dividends and distributions, it determines the allocation of the distribution between current income, accumulated income, capital gains and return of capital on the basis of accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ('GAAP'). At each year end, the Company is required for tax purposes to determine the allocation based on tax accounting principles. Due to differences between GAAP and tax accounting principles, the portion of each dividend distribution that is ordinary income, capital gain or return of capital may differ for GAAP and tax purposes. The tax status of the Company's distributions can be found on the Investor Relations page of its website. Subsequent Events Subsequent to March 31, 2025, the Company made approximately $130.3 million of new commitments, of which $106.5 million closed and funded. The $106.5 million of investments consists of $71.2 million of first lien senior secured debt investments, $33.8 million of second lien senior secured debt investments, $1.2 million of subordinated debt investments and $0.3 million of equity investments. The weighted average yield of the debt investments was 10.6%. In addition, the Company funded $12.4 million of previously committed revolvers and delayed draw term loans. On May 8, 2025, the Company entered into the Termination and Cancellation Agreement (the 'Termination Agreement') with Barings to terminate all rights and obligations under the MVC credit support agreement in exchange for Barings' cash payment, on or prior to June 30, 2025, of $23.0 million to the Company, which amount represents Barings' maximum obligation under the MVC credit support agreement. Conference Call to Discuss First Quarter 2025 Results Barings BDC has scheduled a conference call to discuss first quarter 2025 financial and operating results for Friday, May 9, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. ET. To listen to the call, please dial 877-407-8831 or 201-493-6736 approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. A taped replay will be made available approximately two hours after the conclusion of the call and will remain available until May 15, 2025. To access the replay, please dial 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415 and enter conference ID 13750210. This conference call will also be available via a live webcast on the investor relations section of Barings BDC's website at Access the website 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to download and install any necessary audio software. An archived webcast replay will be available on the Company's website until May 15, 2025. Forward-Looking Statements Statements included herein or on the webcast/conference call may constitute 'forward-looking statements,' which relate to future events or Barings BDC's future performance or financial condition. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made, which reflect management's current estimates, projections, expectations or beliefs, and which are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the Company's projected net investment income and earnings, the Company's distribution levels and frequency of distributions, the Company's share repurchase activity and investment activity, and the ability of Barings to manage Barings BDC and identify investment opportunities, all of which are subject to change at any time based upon economic, market or other conditions, and may not be relied upon as investment advice or an indication of Barings BDC's trading intent. More information on the risks and other potential factors that could affect Barings BDC's financial results and future events, including important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from plans, estimates or expectations included herein or discussed on the webcast/conference call, is included in Barings BDC's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the 'Risk Factors' and 'Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations' sections of Barings BDC's most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K, as well as in subsequent filings, including Barings BDC's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. In addition, there is no assurance that Barings BDC or any of its affiliates will purchase additional shares of Barings BDC at any specific discount levels or in any specific amounts. There is no assurance that the market price of Barings BDC's shares, either absolutely or relative to NAV, will increase as a result of any share repurchases, or that any repurchase plan will enhance stockholder value over the long term. Non-GAAP Financial Measures To provide additional information about the Company's results, the Company's management has discussed in this press release the Company's net debt (calculated as (i) total debt less (ii) unrestricted cash and foreign currencies (excluding restricted cash) net of net payables/receivables from unsettled transactions) and its net debt-to-equity ratio (calculated as net debt divided by total net assets), which are not prepared in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP measures are included to supplement the Company's financial information presented in accordance with GAAP and because the Company uses such measures to monitor and evaluate its leverage and financial condition and believes the presentation of these measures enhances investors' ability to analyze trends in the Company's business and to evaluate the Company's leverage and ability to take on additional debt. However, these non-GAAP measures have limitations and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's financial results as reported under GAAP. These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. These measures should only be used to evaluate the Company's results of operations in conjunction with their corresponding GAAP measures. Pursuant to the requirements of Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K, as promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the Company has provided a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures in the last table included in this press release. About Barings BDC Barings BDC, Inc. (NYSE: BBDC) is a publicly traded, externally managed investment company that has elected to be treated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Barings BDC seeks to invest primarily in senior secured loans in middle-market companies that operate across a wide range of industries. Barings BDC's investment activities are managed by its investment adviser, Barings, a leading global asset manager based in Charlotte, NC with $442+ billion* of AUM firm-wide. For more information, visit About Barings LLC Barings is a $442+ billion* global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment. Learn more at *Assets under management as of March 31, 2025 Barings BDC, Inc. Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands, except share and per share data) December 31, 2024 (Unaudited) Assets: Investments at fair value: Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments (cost of $2,115,174 and $2,033,716 as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) $ 2,077,039 $ 1,972,373 Affiliate investments (cost of $396,408 and $382,848 as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) 408,937 397,236 Control investments (cost of $99,093 and $106,132 as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) 85,252 79,663 Total investments at fair value 2,571,228 2,449,272 Cash (restricted cash of $7,261 and $13,493 as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) 87,600 74,381 Foreign currencies (cost of $12,821 and $17,343 as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) 13,016 16,958 Interest and fees receivable 37,822 39,914 Prepaid expenses and other assets 1,541 1,745 Credit support agreements (cost of $58,000 as of both March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024) 67,800 63,450 Derivative assets 3,708 24,816 Deferred financing fees 8,254 8,697 Receivable from unsettled transactions 340 16,427 Total assets $ 2,791,309 $ 2,695,660 Liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 3,409 $ 5,567 Interest payable 15,473 16,245 Administrative fees payable 349 540 Base management fees payable 8,019 7,888 Incentive management fees payable 7,738 7,871 Derivative liabilities 4,894 9,394 Payable from unsettled transactions 47,075 7,380 Borrowings under credit facility 497,268 438,590 Notes payable (net of deferred financing fees) 1,018,281 1,011,831 Total liabilities 1,602,506 1,505,306 Commitments and contingencies Net Assets: Common stock, $0.001 par value per share (150,000,000 shares authorized, 105,258,938 and 105,408,938 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively) 105 105 Additional paid-in capital 1,845,526 1,846,977 Total distributable earnings (loss) (656,828 ) (656,728 ) Total net assets 1,188,803 1,190,354 Total liabilities and net assets $ 2,791,309 $ 2,695,660 Net asset value per share $ 11.29 $ 11.29 Expand Barings BDC, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands, except share and per share data) Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 March 31, 2024 Investment income: Interest income: Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments $ 44,627 $ 53,190 Affiliate investments 873 957 Control investments 120 386 Total interest income 45,620 54,533 Dividend income: Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments 1,144 1,322 Affiliate investments 9,598 7,155 Total dividend income 10,742 8,477 Fee and other income: Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments 3,538 3,388 Affiliate investments 32 69 Control investments 3 17 Total fee and other income 3,573 3,474 Payment-in-kind interest income: Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments 3,748 2,482 Affiliate investments 343 251 Control investments 227 391 Total payment-in-kind interest income 4,318 3,124 Interest income from cash 185 199 Total investment income 64,438 69,807 Operating expenses: Interest and other financing fees 20,196 21,082 Base management fee 8,019 8,279 Incentive management fees 7,738 8,167 General and administrative expenses 1,694 2,676 Total operating expenses 37,647 40,204 Net investment income before taxes 26,791 29,603 Income taxes, including excise tax expense 401 250 Net investment income after taxes $ 26,390 $ 29,353 Expand Barings BDC, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations — (Continued) (in thousands, except share and per share data) Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 March 31, 2024 Realized gains (losses) and unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments, credit support agreements, foreign currency transactions and forward currency contracts: Net realized gains (losses): Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments $ (10,384 ) $ (12,608 ) Control investments (7,347 ) — Net realized gains (losses) on investments (17,731 ) (12,608 ) Foreign currency transactions 1,448 241 Forward currency contracts 15,213 (9,086 ) Net realized gains (losses) (1,070 ) (21,453 ) Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation): Non-Control / Non-Affiliate investments 22,232 8,502 Affiliate investments (1,861 ) 2,795 Control investments 12,629 11,805 Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments 33,000 23,102 Credit support agreements 4,350 (6,350 ) Foreign currency transactions (7,777 ) 3,516 Forward currency contracts (22,317 ) 15,833 Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation) 7,256 36,101 Net realized gains (losses) and unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments, credit support agreements, foreign currency transactions and forward currency contracts 6,186 14,648 Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations $ 32,576 $ 44,001 Net investment income per share — basic and diluted $ 0.25 $ 0.28 Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations per share — basic and diluted $ 0.31 $ 0.41 Dividends / distributions per share: Regular quarterly dividends / distributions $ 0.26 $ 0.26 Special dividends / distributions 0.05 — Total dividends / distributions per share $ 0.31 $ 0.26 Weighted average shares outstanding — basic and diluted 105,373,382 106,038,873 Expand Barings BDC, Inc. Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (in thousands) Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 March 31, 2024 Cash flows from operating activities: Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations $ 32,576 $ 44,001 Adjustments to reconcile net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations to net cash provided by (used in) operating activities: Purchases of portfolio investments (167,244 ) (143,128 ) Repayments received / sales of portfolio investments 122,362 118,008 Loan origination and other fees received 4,161 2,520 Net realized (gain) loss on investments 17,731 12,608 Net realized (gain) loss on foreign currency transactions (1,448 ) (241 ) Net realized (gain) loss on forward currency contracts (15,213 ) 9,086 Net unrealized (appreciation) depreciation on investments (33,000 ) (23,102 ) Net unrealized (appreciation) depreciation of CSAs (4,350 ) 6,350 Net unrealized (appreciation) depreciation on foreign currency transactions 7,777 (3,516 ) Net unrealized (appreciation) depreciation on forward currency contracts 22,317 (15,833 ) Payment-in-kind interest / dividends (6,707 ) (5,800 ) Amortization of deferred financing fees 1,183 1,041 Accretion of loan origination and other fees (2,648 ) (2,419 ) Amortization / accretion of purchased loan premium / discount (718 ) (261 ) Payments for derivative contracts (4,930 ) (11,265 ) Proceeds from derivative contracts 20,143 2,178 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Interest and fees receivable 4,192 10,729 Prepaid expenses and other assets 205 313 Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (3,328 ) (388 ) Interest payable (813 ) 4,010 Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (7,752 ) 4,891 Cash flows from financing activities: Borrowings under credit facility 104,000 24,500 Repayments of credit facility (52,844 ) (300,000 ) Proceeds from notes — 300,000 Financing fees paid — (7,122 ) Purchases of shares in repurchase plan (1,451 ) (1,107 ) Cash dividends / distributions paid (32,676 ) (27,577 ) Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities 17,029 (11,306 ) Net increase (decrease) in cash and foreign currencies 9,277 (6,415 ) Cash and foreign currencies, beginning of period 91,339 70,528 Cash and foreign currencies, end of period $ 100,616 $ 64,113 Supplemental Information: Cash paid for interest $ 17,680 $ 15,580 Excise taxes paid during the period $ 3,665 $ 1,700 Expand Barings BDC, Inc. Unaudited Reconciliation of Debt to Net Debt and Calculation of Net Debt-to-Equity Ratio (in thousands, except ratios) March 31, 2025 December 31, 2024 Total debt (principal) $ 1,522,268 $ 1,463,590 minus: Cash and foreign currencies (excluding restricted cash) (93,355 ) (77,846 ) plus: Payable from unsettled transactions 47,075 7,380 minus: Receivable from unsettled transactions (340 ) (16,427 ) Total net debt (1) $ 1,475,648 $ 1,376,697 Total net assets $ 1,188,803 $ 1,190,354 Total net debt-to-equity ratio (1) 1.24x 1.16x (1) See the 'Non-GAAP Financial Measures' section of this press release. Expand
Business Wire
06-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
IDE Technologies Celebrates Sixty Years of Innovative Water Treatment Solutions
KADIMA, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- IDE Technologies, a leading global provider of water treatment solutions, celebrates 60 years of successful business and water technology innovation that set the bar for the water industry. Founded in 1965, IDE was established with the mission of transforming ocean water into affordable, clean water and since then has built, designed and operated nearly 500 desalination and water treatment plants across 40 countries, bringing this vision to life. Today, the company proudly delivers over 6,000,000 m3 (1600 MGD) of high-quality water per day, serving a multitude of municipal and industrial customers across the globe. 'Since 1965, IDE has been at the forefront of the water industry. We've continually invested in research and development with the consistent goal of delivering reliable, economical and sustainable solutions across sectors,' said Alon Tavor, CEO, IDE Technologies Group. 'Bolstered by the best and brightest talents, our organization of 800-strong worldwide works tirelessly to develop, build and operate innovative desalination and water treatment solutions.' From the development of Mechanical Vapor Compressions (MVC) technologies in the 60s to rolling out the MAXH20 Desalter and Pulse Flow RO (PFRO) in 2019, IDE is continuously moving the needle on water treatment solutions that challenge the industry standard. Today, building on the belief that "you can't manage what you can't measure," IDE has leveraged sixty years of innovation to introduce their Carbon Footprint Calculator. This calculator aims to promote sustainable desalination by measuring a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant's carbon footprint and providing actionable insights for emission reduction. Users can review results in kg CO2eq per m3, or tons, per year and explore IDE's tailored solutions for emission reduction. 'For six decades, IDE has been hyper-focused on solving global water scarcity, while emphasizing a sustainable treatment approach,' said Tomer Efrat, CTO, IDE Technologies. 'IDE is committed to sustainability and strives to inspire the same commitment in others. IDE's Carbon Footprint Calculator empowers leaders to take actionable steps to reduce their emissions, keeping their environmental impact top-of-mind.' To read more about IDE's carbon footprint calculator, visit: To learn about IDE's comprehensive water solutions, sustainable desalination and large-scale infrastructure projects, visit: About IDE Technologies A world leader provider of desalination and water treatment solutions, IDE specializes in the development, engineering, construction, and operation of some of the world's largest and most advanced thermal and membrane desalination facilities and industrial water treatment plants. IDE partners with a wide range of customers, municipal and industrial, on all aspects of water treatment, and delivers quality projects worldwide. For more information, visit
India.com
05-05-2025
- Business
- India.com
From Code to Cloud: Radhakrishnan Pachyappan's Digital Journey
Radhakrishnan Pachyappan traces his engineering journey from a single‑room office in Chennai to the advanced cloud war‑rooms of Plano, Texas, anchoring more than a decade of transformation projects that now stabilize workloads across automotive retail, finance, and insurance. Over twelve years he has learned that scalability is neither a perk nor a late‑stage upgrade; it is the bedrock on which modern digital trust is built. He treats API idempotence the way an accountant respects balanced ledgers, and he embeds observability early so that controllers and engineers share the same vocabulary of metrics. Certifications—AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Microsoft C#, .NET MVC, Azure Fundamentals, and more—underline his range, but the true yardstick remains the serenity with which his platforms absorb seasonal surges that would rattle less intentional systems. Cloud maturity turns theory into practice in his refactor of a corporate‑ and retail‑car‑reservation platform for a leading automotive manufacturer, where he decomposed monoliths into AWS Lambda micro‑services fenced by authorizers and web‑application firewalls. DynamoDB tables negotiate their own write capacity in real time; Step Functions coordinate overnight reconciliations without blocking daytime transactions; and Jenkins pipelines shepherd commits from GitHub through SonarQube quality gates to production in under an hour. The result is velocity without volatility—feature squads deploy weekly, and administrators modify inventory or fee structures with zero downtime. 'My experience of implementing large‑scale reservation platforms has taught me that every service boundary is a promise of independence. Honor that promise, and traffic surges feel perfectly ordinary.' Modular Mastery for Relentless Scale Radhakrishnan Pachyappan sharpened his composable mindset while rescuing Inspire—a deal‑modeling engine a global consulting giant depends on for client pricing—from legacy bottlenecks. Stateless Lambdas fronted by API Gateway replaced brittle servers, S3 events refreshed master data automatically, and Code Pipeline compressed release cycles from days to hours, slicing overall processing time by 60 percent. What had once required overnight batch jobs now completes before a coffee break, proving that serverless is not merely cost‑efficient—it is decisively faster. Modularity extends beyond code to culture. Weekly 'failure rehearsals' throttle staging environments, compelling runbooks to demonstrate their mettle under synthetic stress while SonarQube blocks merges that exceed agreed cyclomatic‑complexity thresholds. Dashboards map every pull request to deployment frequency, tying individual behavior to business cadence in real time. Governance therefore shifts from a periodic inspection to an always‑on feedback loop, turning quality into a shared gamified objective. 'Implementing cloud transformations at a broad scale has shown me that cost savings endure only when latency budgets and compliance rules are welded into sprint zero—retrofitting discipline is the costliest refactor of all.' Industry Velocity Across Domains Radhakrishnan Pachyappan draws on manufacturing floors, trading desks, and underwriting models to guide design reviews that respect each sector's non‑negotiables. Sensors on assembly lines demand millisecond telemetry or risk idle machinery; finance mandates deterministic audit trails for every state change; insurance models rely on unbroken lineage across datasets to ward off risk exposure. When he led fifteen specialists on the automotive fleet initiative, he paired Flutter for mobile and Angular for web, sharing TypeScript logic without sacrificing native idioms. Terraform declared every environment, while Artifactory pinned container images to guarantee reproducibility. Mapping technical debt to unit economics, he shows product owners why a deferred refactor costs multiples downstream. Concurrency ceilings translate into currency terms, lending architecture meetings the same clarity as balance‑sheet reviews. That business fluency secures a budget for resilience features—rate limiters, circuit breakers, blue‑green deploys—that technical teams often struggle to prioritize. Consistent delivery metrics emerge: on‑time launches, uptime north of 99.99 percent, and change‑failure rates beneath industry benchmarks. Stakeholders learn to equate architectural rigor with predictable revenue, anchoring the notion that robust systems are not overhead but strategic advantage. Leadership Mentorship and Culture Radhakrishnan Pachyappan treats mentorship as a multiplier, hosting office hours where engineers defend design trade‑offs in plain language rather than jargon. Pull‑request reviews home in on naming clarity and algorithmic intent with equal vigor, because self‑documenting code accelerates future velocity. Rotating on‑call leadership ensures every team member feels the weight—and therefore the value—of operational excellence. He seeds psychological safety by framing failures as learning artifacts. Post‑incident reviews ask, ' What telemetry would have flagged this sooner?' rather than ' Who missed the signal?' That shift converts war‑room anxiety into design‑backlog prioritization, embedding reliability into the next iteration instead of burying it in a blame ledger. 'In guiding multi‑industry digital initiatives I have learned that culture is architecture's invisible load‑balancer. When teams feel safe to surface risk early, systems remain safe to carry the business later.' Governance, Compliance, and Observability Radhakrishnan Pachyappan insists that observability must be as integral as business logic, embedding distributed traces, structured logs, and real‑time metrics from sprint zero. He treats dashboards as shared contracts: if an SLA matters, there is a gauge; if a threshold can break budget, there is a redline alarm. Automated canaries run after every infrastructure change, capturing latency deltas before users do. Compliance shifts from annual audits to living documentation. Infrastructure‑as‑code doubles as evidence; change histories link git commits to incident tickets; and policy‑as‑code tools assert encryption, data residency, and retention rules at deploy time. Auditors no longer sift through binders—they scroll dashboards with time‑based diffs. When anomalies slip through, sampling pipelines fork suspicious traffic into secure sandboxes for forensic replay. Root‑cause findings feed back into Step Function branches, closing the governance loop so that the next violation is pre‑empted. This virtuous cycle keeps regulators satisfied and keeps operations focused on innovation rather than remediation. AI as the Emerging Design Partner Radhakrishnan Pachyappan is piloting reinforcement agents that tune DynamoDB capacity units and tighten WAF rulesets in near real time, trimming hot‑partition incidents by double digits during holiday spikes . Security payload inspectors now spin up sandbox replicas the moment anomalous fields appear, turning quarterly audits into continuous compliance streams. These AI teammates surface anomalies and propose remedies before alerts reach human operators, nudging architects from reactive firefighting toward proactive mentoring. Development workflows evolve in parallel. Junior developers push code while AI bots annotate concurrency footprints and suggest shard keys, leaving senior engineers to validate domain heuristics rather than syntax minutiae. The resulting feedback loop compresses onboarding curves and produces infrastructure that effectively learns its own limits. Radhakrishnan's next experiment integrates UML‑driven behavior diagrams with generative policy engines, compiling governance rules directly from design artifacts. In that future, architects curate principles, and AI enforces them at runtime—closing the loop between intent and execution. Navigating the Next Horizon Radhakrishnan Pachyappan measures success by the silence of well‑behaved systems: when capacity doubles and dashboards stay green, stewardship trumps spectacle. He charts a five‑year vision blending event streaming, supervised learning, and self‑healing pipelines, each observable from a single pane that even a day‑one hire can navigate. In markets chasing novelty, his compass aims for maintainability, clarity, and intelligence advancing together. Leadership, he believes, is succession planning in disguise. By turning architectural principles into shared muscle memory, he ensures that platforms and people will outlast his own tenure. As organizations stride into AI‑augmented cloud landscapes, the blueprint he offers—disciplined, observable, culture‑forward—remains the surest route to innovation without compromise.
