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BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Patterdale mountain rescuers warn of looming breaking point
Mountain rescue teams say they could reach breaking point due to a rapid increase in the number of call-outs. Volunteers share their experiences with a hope of making people take safety more seriously. Social media shows the "nice bits" of walking in the Lake District, Matt Neilson says."You don't see the trauma and the bodies that we have to carry off when it goes wrong," he a warm late-spring day and builder Mr Neilson is on the site of his latest property development, a barn conversion just outside of Greystoke in Cumbria. He's his own boss so can decide when he is available to respond to rescues with the other volunteers in the Patterdale team, where he is a deputy a moment's notice, he could be on his way to a call-out, leaving behind his workers, wife or teenage sons to carry on whatever he was doing."You end up prioritising mountain rescue when you know that there are people on the fell that are stuck and other members of the team who need help," he says. The number of calls Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team receives is growing steadily each 2023 there were 61 call-outs, in 2024 that had soared to 110, with the team's patch including the hills around Ullswater, Helvellyn and the notorious Striding Edge that has claimed a number of lives."This year I would expect, if the numbers continue at the rate that they are, we'll probably be pushing 140, 150," team leader Matt Cox says."At some point, as a small team, we're going to start to struggle with that."Does he think the team might be reaching breaking point?"Certainly for the teams in the Lake District, I wouldn't say we were quite at breaking point yet, but we're definitely heading in that direction," he says candidly. Another of the team's volunteers is Dr Dan Jones, a GP specialising in the rehabilitation of older people at Penrith Hospital. He works with nurses and physiotherapists to help those who have undergone treatment in hospital get well enough to go home."I honestly think I have saved more lives in mountain rescue than on a frail and elderly ward," the father-of-three says. "Because when people get cold and wet and stuck, they really need you. And to think you are helping them like that is a good thing."A fell runner in his spare time, he enjoys his work with Patterdale Mountain Rescue."It's the unpredictability of the call-outs that's sometimes more difficult for me," he says. "Balancing a full time job, a family and mountain rescue is tricky. "It's a big commitment and it's more than I probably realised when I joined."Dr Jones says most people who call them out do not realise they are all volunteers."We often get comments saying 'oh this must be a nice job' or 'what do you do when you're not on rescues?', and I think they think we're sitting at a base waiting for calls to come in," he says. Amy Heys is a manager at the Environment Agency in Penrith and decided to join the Patterdale team during the pandemic so she could "give something back".She says her managers are very supportive of her role and if there isn't an incident that needs her urgent attention at work, she can use her flexi-time to leave to help with people think the rescuers are emergency workers like the police or firefighters, she says, but doesn't get frustrated with people who call them out because they usually are in need of help."I've been involved in outdoor activities my whole life and I've got myself in bad situations, so I'm very happy to go out to help anybody who's in a bad situation," Ms Heys says. But she says there are a few questions people can ask themselves before they go out on to the fells that could stop them needing to call for help."Do you know what the weather's going to be like? Have you got the right skills, have you got the right equipment? You know it's sensible to ask yourself that. "I think people bite off more than they can chew." Mr Cox says there is also an unrealistic expectation of what people think the teams can do for them."They call us out and people just expect that a helicopter will appear or someone will appear in 20 minutes," he says. "If you're on the high fells it can take us two hours to get to you, and in those two hours, if you've called us out just because you're not feeling great or its raining and you've got cold, you could have got down yourself."Mountain rescue is a free-for-all service that is there 24/7 and we are happy to go out and we are happy to offer advice, but we are just asking people to be a little bit prepared and if stuff does start to look like it's going wrong, sit down, take a breath - can you deal with this situation yourself? "If you can't that's absolutely fine, give us a call, we'll come out straight away." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Matson (NYSE:MATX) Reports Sales Below Analyst Estimates In Q1 Earnings, Stock Drops
Maritime transportation company Matson (NYSE:MATX) missed Wall Street's revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, but sales rose 8.3% year on year to $782 million. Its GAAP profit of $2.18 per share was 3.8% below analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Matson? Find out in our full research report. Revenue: $782 million vs analyst estimates of $818.1 million (8.3% year-on-year growth, 4.4% miss) EPS (GAAP): $2.18 vs analyst expectations of $2.27 (3.8% miss) Adjusted EBITDA: $131.7 million vs analyst estimates of $136 million (16.8% margin, 3.2% miss) Operating Margin: 10.5%, up from 5.1% in the same quarter last year Free Cash Flow was -$200,000 compared to -$18.7 million in the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $3.72 billion Matt Cox, Matson's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Our first quarter financial performance was as expected with significantly higher year-over-year consolidated operating income. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by our China service, which benefitted from the carryover of elevated freight rates from the fourth quarter of 2024 combined with healthy freight demand following a traditional post-Lunar New Year period. For our domestic tradelanes, we saw higher year-over-year volume in Hawaii and Alaska and lower year-over-year volume in Guam. In Logistics, our operating income was lower year-over-year primarily due to a lower contribution from freight forwarding and transportation brokerage, partially offset by a higher contribution from supply chain management." Founded by a Swedish orphan, Matson (NYSE:MATX) is a provider of ocean transportation and logistics services. Examining a company's long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years. Thankfully, Matson's 9.8% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was solid. Its growth beat the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers. Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. Matson's recent performance marks a sharp pivot from its five-year trend as its revenue has shown annualized declines of 5.3% over the last two years. Matson isn't alone in its struggles as the Marine Transportation industry experienced a cyclical downturn, with many similar businesses observing lower sales at this time. This quarter, Matson's revenue grew by 8.3% year on year to $782 million, missing Wall Street's estimates. Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 3.5% over the next 12 months. Although this projection is better than its two-year trend, it's hard to get excited about a company that is struggling with demand. Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we've identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link. Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after procuring and manufacturing its products, marketing and selling those products, and most importantly, keeping them relevant through research and development. Matson has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for an industrials business, boasting an average operating margin of 21.7%. This result was particularly impressive because of its low gross margin, which is mostly a factor of what it sells and takes huge shifts to move meaningfully. Companies have more control over their operating margins, and it's a show of well-managed operations if they're high when gross margins are low. Looking at the trend in its profitability, Matson's operating margin rose by 2.1 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage. In Q1, Matson generated an operating profit margin of 10.5%, up 5.4 percentage points year on year. The increase was solid, and because its operating margin rose more than its gross margin, we can infer it was more efficient with expenses such as marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead. We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company's growth is profitable. Matson's EPS grew at an astounding 54.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 9.8% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded. Diving into the nuances of Matson's earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Matson's operating margin expanded by 2.1 percentage points over the last five years. On top of that, its share count shrank by 23.3%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth. Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business. For Matson, its two-year annual EPS declines of 11.6% mark a reversal from its (seemingly) healthy five-year trend. We hope Matson can return to earnings growth in the future. In Q1, Matson reported EPS at $2.18, up from $1.04 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print missed analysts' estimates, but we care more about long-term EPS growth than short-term movements. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Matson's full-year EPS of $15.18 to shrink by 34.3%. We struggled to find many positives in these results. Its revenue missed significantly and its EPS fell short of Wall Street's estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 9.1% to $100 immediately after reporting. Matson's earnings report left more to be desired. Let's look forward to see if this quarter has created an opportunity to buy the stock. When making that decision, it's important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it's free.
BBC News
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Year of anniversaries' for breweries at Manx beer festival
A number of anniversaries are being celebrated this year at the Isle of Man's 12th annual beer and cider festival. The event at the Villa Marina in Douglas is visited by thousands of people over three local brewery Okell's celebrates its 175th anniversary, Bushy's Brewery has turned 40, and the Manx branch of Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is marking 50 years. Festival organiser Matt Cox said to mark the milestone Okell's had "produced a smoked porter, which is the beer of the festival". He said: "We're celebrating a lot of anniversaries."Bushy's had produced a "special brew" to mark its 40th year, produced in wooden barrels, Mr Cox explained. Organiser Camra Isle of Man was also celebrating its 50th birthday, he added, from when the group believes it was founded locally in 1975. Mr Cox said there were more than 100 cask ales from all over the UK included in this year's event, and all the local breweries were was also more than 20 craft beers in kegs, more than 50 real ciders and perries, as well as fruit wines and mead. Mead was "very popular last year so we've upped our order", Mr Cox said. Last year the festival attracted about 2,400 people over the three days, a number Mr Cox said they hoped to surpass this year. The Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Venerable Patricia Hillas, poured the first pint of the festival ale at the opening on Thursday evening. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
Associated Press
27-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
MATSON ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF 3 MILLION SHARES TO EXISTING SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM
HONOLULU, Feb. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Matson, Inc. (NYSE: MATX), a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, approved adding three million shares to the existing twelve million share repurchase program and extending the program to December 31, 2027. As of February 26, 2025, the existing share repurchase program had 0.5 million shares remaining. 'We are pleased to announce an additional three million shares to our existing share repurchase program,' said Matt Cox, Matson's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. 'Since we commenced our share repurchase program in August 2021, we have repurchased 11.5 million shares for approximately $1.0 billion. Going forward, we will continue to be both disciplined and opportunistic in our capital allocation, and we remain committed to returning excess cash to shareholders to create additional shareholder value over the long-term.' Shares will be repurchased in the open market from time to time at the Company's discretion, based on ongoing assessments of the capital needs of the business, the market price of its common shares and general market conditions. The Company may enter into Rule 10b5-1 plans to facilitate purchases under the program. The repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time. About the Company Founded in 1882, Matson (NYSE: MATX) is a leading provider of ocean transportation and logistics services. Matson provides a vital lifeline of ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam, and to other island economies in Micronesia. Matson also operates premium, expedited services from China to Long Beach, California, provides service to Okinawa, Japan and various islands in the South Pacific, and operates an international export service from ports in Alaska to Asia. The Company's fleet of owned and chartered vessels includes containerships, combination container and roll-on/roll-off ships and custom-designed barges. Matson Logistics, established in 1987, extends the geographic reach of Matson's transportation network throughout North America and Asia. Its integrated, asset-light logistics services include rail intermodal, highway brokerage, warehousing, freight consolidation, supply chain management, and freight forwarding to Alaska. Additional information about the Company is available at Forward Looking Statements Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are 'forward-looking statements,' within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the relevant forward-looking statement, including but not limited to, statements about capital allocation plans and the timing, manner and volume of repurchases of common shares pursuant to the repurchase program. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. This release should be read in conjunction with our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC through the date of this release, which identify important factors that could affect the forward-looking statements in this release. We do not undertake any obligation to update our forward-looking statements.
