Latest news with #Nathan
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘The Buyer is God': How Unfair Purchasing Practices Occur ‘With Impugnity' in India's Garment Industry
Fashion brands in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union sourcing garments in India are canceling orders, delaying payments, soliciting discounts and failing to account for rising labor and material costs, according to a new survey of nearly 200 suppliers across seven of the South Asian nation's states. The numbers, gleaned from July to December, paint an alarming picture of an industry under duress. Some 44 percent of respondents, for instance, reported brands insisting on discounts after the contracts were agreed upon, while 53 percent said they've received cancellations in the middle of production. Another 52 percent said that buyers don't adjust for increased prices of inputs like fabric, and 81 percent said any uptick in minimum wages was ignored. One-third (33 percent) of those polled said they had their payments held back by three months or more. Half of the suppliers reported brands quoting a large order size before reducing it—and keeping the cost per item unchanged. More from Sourcing Journal Labor Department, Which 'Ridiculed Supporting Worker Rights Abroad,' Responds to ILAB Lawsuit Activists Know How to Stop Sexual Violence in the Garment Supply Chain. Will Brands Buy In? BGMEA Seeks 3-Month Delay for India's Land Port Ban on Garment Exports '[Our contract said] 'payment terms may be subject to change based on internal policies,'' one supplier was quoted as saying. 'What does that even mean? It means that they can delay payment whenever they want. And if we protest, they will say, 'We will reconsider working with you in the future.'' While Dev Nathan, the Institute of Human Development professor who co-authored the study for the British nonprofit Transform Trade, said he's hard to surprise, he admitted he was taken aback by how entrenched these unfair purchasing practices were. They're better—but just barely—than the brand actions at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when 80 percent of the same manufacturers said they experienced canceled orders, 70 percent saw delayed payments by more than three months and 49 percent fielded demands for price reductions on orders placed before the disease reared its head. All of these, he said, can result in significant repercussions for manufacturers who may wind up selling their goods below what it costs to make them. This isn't conjecture: More than half (54 percent) of respondents reported having to undercut the price of their production for one or more of their contracts. A burgeoning number also said they're being increasingly forced to pony up for quality checks by brand-appointed purchase agents, third-party audits and even the hotel and transportation expenses of visiting representatives. 'I have been doing research on global value chains for quite a long while now,' he said. 'I knew these actions existed, but we've never done a large enough study to get an idea of how pervasive they are and with what impunity they are being practiced.' While Nathan didn't interview garment workers directly, since they weren't the focus of the study, suppliers reported bumping up working hours (77 percent), the number of contract workers (64 percent) and production targets (58 percent) to cope with sudden contractual changes. What happens next is that workers—most of them women under the age of 35—are seen as almost disposable units of labor. 'There's this burning out, what we call the 'mining of the body,'' he said. 'And then they get thrown out, and they go into even worse-paid work, like in an unregistered workshop or at home because they still have families to support and children to raise.' Even so, 90 percent of the surveyed manufacturers said they avoid resorting to legal action when their buyers breach their agreements, saying that it would be too expensive or too risky reputationally. The potential loss of business is also why, unlike Transform Trade's previous study of Bangladesh's sourcing landscape, suppliers were hesitant to name and shame the offending brands. The industry in India is smaller, they reasoned, making it easier to suss out potential whistleblowers. 'There is a fear of retaliatory action if the brands come to know who named them,' Nathan said. 'One manufacturer had a sign in his factory that read, 'The Buyer is God.' So, we did not press manufacturers to name brands. As researchers, our interest in any case was to establish the extent of unfair contracting practices by brands, an analysis which does not require naming them.' What's evident, however, is that poor commercial practices persist despite their growing awareness—and efforts by Cascale and other multi-stakeholder organizations to nip them in the bud. That the research took place before the imposition of additional 10 percent tariffs by the Trump administration—with the potential for more—can only be expected to exacerbate these trends. 'The need for governments and international organizations to take action to ensure fair purchasing practices and decent conditions of work could not be more urgent,' said Mark Anner, dean and distinguished professor at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, who has conducted extensive field research of global supply chains, including in India, where he found that the real dollar price paid by U.S. buyers tumbled by nearly 63 percent from 1994 to 2017. He had only one word to describe this extreme contraction: 'predatory.' 'This research indicates that manufacturers continued to be squeezed by brands and retailers,' Anner added. 'They are squeezed on price, squeezed on order size and squeezed through payment delays. And we know from prior research that this squeeze is transferred to workers through increased production targets and working hours [and] reductions in real wages.' Those seeking change in the industry, such as the Sustainable Terms of Trade Initiative, have called for model contract clauses, underpinned by the United Nations Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, that will provide suppliers with some manner of recourse when brands terminate orders. They would also include buyer obligations such as setting reasonable deadlines, paying prices that can sufficiently uphold responsible business conduct and making accurate—and steadfast—forecasts about requirements. But change has been slow. 'I use the term monopsony to describe this,' Nathan said. 'Monopsony is when there are a few buyers and lots of sellers. It's the other side of monopoly, when there are a few sellers and lots of buyers. Competition among garment manufacturing companies and countries has grown over the last few years—Africa, for example, has also gotten into manufacturing garments—so that means that brands have greater bargaining power.' Transform Trade has thrown its support behind calls in Britain for a garment trade adjudicator, similar to what it already has in the groceries sector, to ensure that brands selling to the U.K. market adhere to a statutory code. The EU's directive on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain, it says, can further act as a model for a directive banning unscrupulous buyer behavior in the apparel industry. 'There's a lot of voluntary work around purchasing practices, and we just don't have the regulation that actually keeps [brands] to it,' said Hilary Marsh, garment policy advisor at Transform Trade. 'The way it works with groceries is that it's its own entity, and it does its own investigations based on complaints that can be shared anonymously. So that helps with the issue of suppliers not wanting to speak up and [identifying] who they are.' Having that kind of watchdog mechanism in place is even more critical during a time of economic volatility, she said. It's one thing to voluntarily take the high road when 'things are good,' it's another when tumultuous conditions impinge upon a company's bottom line. Creating regulation with real teeth, on the other hand, could help redress a buyer-supplier power imbalance that has continually stoked exploitation. 'Usually, the first people to be harmed in that are the garment workers, and the risk is put down to the manufacturers,' Marsh said. 'There was a big spark in public recognition and public outcry around what was suddenly very visible during the pandemic of these practices happening. And they're still happening. It is the way of the business.'
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I felt like a puppet': A midnight swim leads to a long-term mystery illness
This story is part of the May 31 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories. On a winter night in London, my girlfriend and I decided to go night swimming. On Hampstead Heath, we shed our clothes at the edge of the pond and waded into the shallows. Stars shimmered on the water and a half-moon bobbed in the inky black. It was so cold we could see our breath. Swimming out to the middle, we fingered mosses and reeds, then began diving under the water and coming up in wild leaps, splashing one another. In the midst of our game, something happened. I was hit with a great force, torn in two, ripped from myself. I swam frantically towards the bank, trying to reach solid ground. Even though my head stayed above water, it was like a great hand was trying to push me down to the bottom of the pond. Bent over in the shallows, I clutched my chest, trying to hold my sense of self together. I was leaving my body. There was nothing I could do. I cried, tears streaming. I couldn't stop. My whole face began to shake, my cheeks going into spasms and my limbs shaking violently. My girlfriend's voice was far away. 'Nathan, Nathan. Can you hear me?' Naked before her, dripping with water, I said nothing in response. I couldn't. I stared at my wet hands. They were ghostlike, not my own. I had disappeared, and what was left of me was only a shell. One part of my elf was empty: a dusty, windswept space. The second part of myself was in a state of confinement. I felt like a puppet, manipulated by something, or someone, outside my body. I turned around to brush away this feeling of being watched, but my second self stayed behind my back. It was looking at me but I couldn't see it. I had no sense of its form or how this second self was moving me around, only that the awareness of 'me' was now gone. 'I am 28 years old,' I said to myself, trying to believe it. 'My name is Nathan Dunne.' Three years passed before I understood what was happening to me: I was experiencing depersonalisation. Its onset provoked a profound loss of identity. Like many with the illness, my response was to say, 'I'm not me', 'I have no self' and 'I am no one'. This was an attempt to describe the feeling of a severe dissociative state, the onset of mental illness, pure terror. My identity had always been intrinsically tied up with my body, fundamental to my self-consciousness. But with depersonalisation, being in its vice meant a terrifying challenge to long-held assumptions about my existence – the notion of 'me'. I struggled to explain my symptoms to doctors. Phrases like 'I feel invisible' and 'I have a dark pain' led to a misdiagnosis of anxiety-related depression. The prescribed blue pills I took caused terrible side-effects – stomach cramps, heartburn, vomiting, a stiff jaw. I sweated uncontrollably, lost my appetite, and became even more exhausted, legs tangled on the lounge. In Australia, it affects 2 per cent of the population – 500,000 people. Yet a correct diagnosis can take years. In my confusion, I searched medical journals for clues and stayed up late pondering rare diseases, compiling a Word document I saved as 'The Possibles'. Rearranging the document was like prodding a wild animal. I'd move one disease into a new column, or onto a new page, and it would immediately lash out, more alive in me than ever. I was constantly rating them. Bipolar disorder would get 8/10, then I'd bump it down to 6/10. Wolfram syndrome would be flying steady at 3/10, only to abruptly climb up to a bewildering 7/10. I'd print the document out, underlining symptoms with fat blue lines and scrawling notes to myself across the top of the pages. Things like: Blood thing probable, but check page 7. Could be muscular and optical combined, see page 14. It was not until I returned to Australia and found Dr C, a man of great clarity and insight, that I came to understand the true nature of my illness. The swim was the catalyst for my acute stress and genetic predisposition. 'Reading your file has convinced me that your accurate diagnosis is a mental illness called depersonalisation.' For the first time, I said the word aloud. How had I never heard of it before? Now that it was on my tongue it seemed so obvious. The person I knew was in confinement. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Centre in Washington DC, the global DSM-5 Research Group and a team of international doctors who specialise in depersonalisation, it is estimated that more than 75 million people worldwide suffer from the illness. In Australia, it affects 2 per cent of the population – about 500,000 people. In the United States – 6.4 million. In Britain, it's 1.3 million. 'It isn't depression, or anxiety,' says psychiatrist Daphne Simeon. 'Often, it emerges with cruel ferocity as a chronic disorder completely unto itself. Its destructive impact on an individual's sense of self is implied in its very name – depersonalisation.' My feeling of having no self meant that I remained outside my body as a detached observer. For me, the vantage point of this detachment felt like being in a specific place, a damp, black box. But for other sufferers, like Amanda, a 43-year-old office assistant, 'It is as if the real me is taken out and put on a shelf or stored somewhere.' Alex, a merchant marine, says: 'It was something like waking up to find that you're in a coffin, buried alive. Only the coffin is your body, your very existence.' Based on National Health Service data from the UK, a diagnosis for depersonalisation typically takes between eight and 12 years: a shocking statistic. The long wait occurs because doctors are trained to be sceptical of potential outlying diseases. When someone presents with a cough, it's usually a cold. Ankle pain? Probably a sprain. There's little incentive to search for obscure explanations when a common one will do. But with an illness like depersonalisation, which is easily mistaken for depression, patients like me are misdiagnosed and wait years, through trial and error, for a correct diagnosis. Although it was first named in the 19th century, depersonalisation has long been misunderstood and dismissed by the medical establishment. Until 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) described it as merely a symptom of dissociation. Only in its most recent edition was it recognised as a disorder in its own right. Yet the DSM is a clinical resource used primarily by doctors, so the delay in identifying the condition contributed to a lack of public awareness and leaving most patients in the dark. Recent research suggests that the rapid growth of virtual reality (VR) has led to an uptick in cases. VR headsets immerse users in an unreal world. Much of digital culture relies on masks: avatars, emojis and filtered selfies. But these headsets are literal masks that plug into an alternative reality. Some behavioural scientists predict that by 2030 we will spend more time in simulated digital environments than in the physical world. With this profound shift in our way of life, depersonalisation cases are expected to increase dramatically. Loading The process of writing When Nothing Feels Real took many years. In June 2022, it felt impossible to keep going, and I suffered a major breakdown. I interpreted this as a warning not to continue, that the cost of my scribbling was too high, that my poor health simply wouldn't allow it. But several people in the community of depersonalisation sufferers assured me of the book's worth, and supported me, day and night, through the worst of the hours. Some literally sharpened my pencils. Their unwavering devotion and belief in my story, and the need for our collective stories to be heard, is what ultimately gave me the strength to finish. My hope is that with greater public awareness, there will be improved treatment options and funding for research. Most importantly, there needs to be a shift in how doctors are trained to identify the illness. We need to change the conversation from one of limited engagement and indifference to one of urgent need. Only then will there be a 'cure'. Since the onset of my illness in London, I've been through numerous stages of relapse. As I sit at my desk today, the best way to describe my current state is that I have partially recovered. Some trace of the illness will likely always remain. One of the hardest things has been accepting this – not just the symptoms, but the inability to go back in time. In therapy, I've sifted through every inch of sand: childhood, work, relationships. Only recently have I been able to reframe my need for answers. These days, I carry a realisation: acceptance is never really acceptance – it's surrender.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘I felt like a puppet': A midnight swim leads to a long-term mystery illness
This story is part of the May 31 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories. On a winter night in London, my girlfriend and I decided to go night swimming. On Hampstead Heath, we shed our clothes at the edge of the pond and waded into the shallows. Stars shimmered on the water and a half-moon bobbed in the inky black. It was so cold we could see our breath. Swimming out to the middle, we fingered mosses and reeds, then began diving under the water and coming up in wild leaps, splashing one another. In the midst of our game, something happened. I was hit with a great force, torn in two, ripped from myself. I swam frantically towards the bank, trying to reach solid ground. Even though my head stayed above water, it was like a great hand was trying to push me down to the bottom of the pond. Bent over in the shallows, I clutched my chest, trying to hold my sense of self together. I was leaving my body. There was nothing I could do. I cried, tears streaming. I couldn't stop. My whole face began to shake, my cheeks going into spasms and my limbs shaking violently. My girlfriend's voice was far away. 'Nathan, Nathan. Can you hear me?' Naked before her, dripping with water, I said nothing in response. I couldn't. I stared at my wet hands. They were ghostlike, not my own. I had disappeared, and what was left of me was only a shell. One part of my elf was empty: a dusty, windswept space. The second part of myself was in a state of confinement. I felt like a puppet, manipulated by something, or someone, outside my body. I turned around to brush away this feeling of being watched, but my second self stayed behind my back. It was looking at me but I couldn't see it. I had no sense of its form or how this second self was moving me around, only that the awareness of 'me' was now gone. 'I am 28 years old,' I said to myself, trying to believe it. 'My name is Nathan Dunne.' Three years passed before I understood what was happening to me: I was experiencing depersonalisation. Its onset provoked a profound loss of identity. Like many with the illness, my response was to say, 'I'm not me', 'I have no self' and 'I am no one'. This was an attempt to describe the feeling of a severe dissociative state, the onset of mental illness, pure terror. My identity had always been intrinsically tied up with my body, fundamental to my self-consciousness. But with depersonalisation, being in its vice meant a terrifying challenge to long-held assumptions about my existence – the notion of 'me'. I struggled to explain my symptoms to doctors. Phrases like 'I feel invisible' and 'I have a dark pain' led to a misdiagnosis of anxiety-related depression. The prescribed blue pills I took caused terrible side-effects – stomach cramps, heartburn, vomiting, a stiff jaw. I sweated uncontrollably, lost my appetite, and became even more exhausted, legs tangled on the lounge. In Australia, it affects 2 per cent of the population – 500,000 people. Yet a correct diagnosis can take years. In my confusion, I searched medical journals for clues and stayed up late pondering rare diseases, compiling a Word document I saved as 'The Possibles'. Rearranging the document was like prodding a wild animal. I'd move one disease into a new column, or onto a new page, and it would immediately lash out, more alive in me than ever. I was constantly rating them. Bipolar disorder would get 8/10, then I'd bump it down to 6/10. Wolfram syndrome would be flying steady at 3/10, only to abruptly climb up to a bewildering 7/10. I'd print the document out, underlining symptoms with fat blue lines and scrawling notes to myself across the top of the pages. Things like: Blood thing probable, but check page 7. Could be muscular and optical combined, see page 14. It was not until I returned to Australia and found Dr C, a man of great clarity and insight, that I came to understand the true nature of my illness. The swim was the catalyst for my acute stress and genetic predisposition. 'Reading your file has convinced me that your accurate diagnosis is a mental illness called depersonalisation.' For the first time, I said the word aloud. How had I never heard of it before? Now that it was on my tongue it seemed so obvious. The person I knew was in confinement. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Centre in Washington DC, the global DSM-5 Research Group and a team of international doctors who specialise in depersonalisation, it is estimated that more than 75 million people worldwide suffer from the illness. In Australia, it affects 2 per cent of the population – about 500,000 people. In the United States – 6.4 million. In Britain, it's 1.3 million. 'It isn't depression, or anxiety,' says psychiatrist Daphne Simeon. 'Often, it emerges with cruel ferocity as a chronic disorder completely unto itself. Its destructive impact on an individual's sense of self is implied in its very name – depersonalisation.' My feeling of having no self meant that I remained outside my body as a detached observer. For me, the vantage point of this detachment felt like being in a specific place, a damp, black box. But for other sufferers, like Amanda, a 43-year-old office assistant, 'It is as if the real me is taken out and put on a shelf or stored somewhere.' Alex, a merchant marine, says: 'It was something like waking up to find that you're in a coffin, buried alive. Only the coffin is your body, your very existence.' Based on National Health Service data from the UK, a diagnosis for depersonalisation typically takes between eight and 12 years: a shocking statistic. The long wait occurs because doctors are trained to be sceptical of potential outlying diseases. When someone presents with a cough, it's usually a cold. Ankle pain? Probably a sprain. There's little incentive to search for obscure explanations when a common one will do. But with an illness like depersonalisation, which is easily mistaken for depression, patients like me are misdiagnosed and wait years, through trial and error, for a correct diagnosis. Although it was first named in the 19th century, depersonalisation has long been misunderstood and dismissed by the medical establishment. Until 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) described it as merely a symptom of dissociation. Only in its most recent edition was it recognised as a disorder in its own right. Yet the DSM is a clinical resource used primarily by doctors, so the delay in identifying the condition contributed to a lack of public awareness and leaving most patients in the dark. Recent research suggests that the rapid growth of virtual reality (VR) has led to an uptick in cases. VR headsets immerse users in an unreal world. Much of digital culture relies on masks: avatars, emojis and filtered selfies. But these headsets are literal masks that plug into an alternative reality. Some behavioural scientists predict that by 2030 we will spend more time in simulated digital environments than in the physical world. With this profound shift in our way of life, depersonalisation cases are expected to increase dramatically. Loading The process of writing When Nothing Feels Real took many years. In June 2022, it felt impossible to keep going, and I suffered a major breakdown. I interpreted this as a warning not to continue, that the cost of my scribbling was too high, that my poor health simply wouldn't allow it. But several people in the community of depersonalisation sufferers assured me of the book's worth, and supported me, day and night, through the worst of the hours. Some literally sharpened my pencils. Their unwavering devotion and belief in my story, and the need for our collective stories to be heard, is what ultimately gave me the strength to finish. My hope is that with greater public awareness, there will be improved treatment options and funding for research. Most importantly, there needs to be a shift in how doctors are trained to identify the illness. We need to change the conversation from one of limited engagement and indifference to one of urgent need. Only then will there be a 'cure'. Since the onset of my illness in London, I've been through numerous stages of relapse. As I sit at my desk today, the best way to describe my current state is that I have partially recovered. Some trace of the illness will likely always remain. One of the hardest things has been accepting this – not just the symptoms, but the inability to go back in time. In therapy, I've sifted through every inch of sand: childhood, work, relationships. Only recently have I been able to reframe my need for answers. These days, I carry a realisation: acceptance is never really acceptance – it's surrender.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Stocks to watch next week: Broadcom, Lululemon, British American Tobacco, Dr Martens and Rémy Cointreau
Tariffs remain in focus as earnings season continues to wind down, but there are still a number of key companies due to report in the coming week. On the back of a strong set of results from chipmaking giant Nvidia (NVDA), attention will now turn to rival Broadcom (AVGO), which is due to report on Thursday. Athletics wear company Lululemon (LULU) is also due to report on Thursday, with focus on its outlook for the current year, after guidance offered at the end of the last financial year failed to impress investors. In London, investors will want to see if British American Tobacco (BATS.L) has continued to generate sales growth from its new categories business, which includes vapes and heated products. Investors will also be keen to see how Dr Martens (DOCS.L) turnaround efforts are progressing when the iconic bootmaker reports its full-year results on Thursday. On the Paris bourse, Rémy Cointreau's ( full-year performance will be in focus, ahead of a new CEO taking the helm at the French spirits company later in June. Here's more on what to look out for: Shares in Nvidia (NVDA) jumped after it reported another blowout quarter on Wednesday, despite the company warning of the impact of export controls that limit its ability to ship products to China. The chipmaker posted revenue of $44.1bn (£32.7bn) for the first quarter, beating expectations of $43.3bn, though earnings per share of $0.81 came in below estimates of $0.93. Derren Nathan, head of equity analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The first key takeaway from Nvidia's (NVDA) Q1 print was that demand for accelerated computing remains extremely strong due to the lightning speed roll out of AI. The second is that Nvidia remains the dominant force in this market." "However, with McKinsey predicting a spend of around $7tn to help data centres keep pace with processing demands out to 2030, the market is big enough to accommodate more than just one player," he added. "Broadcom's (AVGO) custom ASIC chips can help hyperscalers lower their average cost of data processing and as such it looks well set to grow its share of the market." Read more: What's behind the surge in AI-related lawsuits? Nathan said that consensus forecasts for Broadcom's (AVGO) second quarter revenue are broadly in line with the company's guidance of approximately $14.9bn, which works out to growth of around 19%. He highlighted that artificial intelligence (AI) is a "growing share of Broadcom's (AVGO) revenue base but there's still more sales coming from non-AI workloads leaving the company exposed to cyclical ups and downs, which is a risk in today's macroeconomic environment. And with 20% of revenue coming from China, markets will be keen to hear the potential impact of export restrictions and tariffs." Nathan added that estimates for Broadcom's (AVGO) third quarter revenue have been falling slightly over the last month and currently stand at $15.8bn. "But with so many moving parts to the picture the company's steer will be a key metric to focus on," he said. Broadcom (AVGO) shares popped after the company posted first quarter results in March that beat on the top and bottom lines, driven by AI chip sales. Adjusted net revenue came in at $14.92bn, versus expectations of $14.61bn, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.60 were ahead of estimates of $1.50. However, fluctuations in the stock since then have left it up just 4.4% year-to-date. Shares in Lululemon (LULU) sunk after its earnings outlook appeared to underwhelm investors, despite the company posting better-than-expected quarterly profits in March. The athletics wear retailer said it expected earnings per share for this year to be in the range of $14.95 to $15.15, which was below expectations of $15.37. On revenue, the company said it expected this to be in the range of $11.15bn to $11.3bn. In addition, Lululemon (LULU) chief financial officer (CFO) told investors on an earnings call that the company was not expecting store traffic to improve this year versus softness out of the gate in the first quarter. Read more: Stocks that are trending today In a note on 12 May, Barclays analysts – which had an "equal weight" rating on Lululemon (LULU) – said they were "cautious" on the stock. They highlighted that the retailer's "We Made Too Much" online clearance section "showed an increase towards the end of the quarter". "During 1Q25, the WMTM category negatively inflected in the final few weeks of the quarter," they said. They said this suggested "potential for weaker exiting trends and building inventory risk". For the first quarter, Lululemon (LULU) said it expected net revenue to come in between $2.34bn and $2.36bn, which would represent growth of 6% to 7%. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $2.53 to $2.58 for the quarter. On Wednesday, British American Tobacco (BATS.L) announced that it had sold a 2.5% stake in Indian consumer goods company ITC ( which was worth $1.5bn, according to a Reuters report. The company said that the transaction would give it "greater financial flexibility as it delivers on its commitment to invest behind transformation, deleverage and enhance shareholder returns." The tobacco giant also said that the net proceeds from the trade would be used to extend its existing share buyback programme by an additional £200m ($269.5m), taking the total amount it repurchases in 2025 to £1.1bn. That was up on £900m BAT (BATS.L) said it planned to undertake in buybacks this year back in its preliminary results release in February. Shares tumbled after the release of those results, in which the company flagged £6.2bn ($7.7bn) hit, from a proposed settlement of a long-running lawsuit in Canada. With this provision, the company posted reported profit from operations for the year of £2.74bn. Read more: Government 'megafund' pension plans could give £6k boost to savers BAT (BATS.L) posted a 5.2% decline in reported revenue for the year at £25.9bn, driven by the sale of its businesses in Russia and Belarus in September 2023 and transnational foreign exchange headwinds. However, the company saw 8.9% organic growth from revenue in its new categories business at £3.4bn. Nathan, of Hargreaves Lansdown, said that the company "heads into its upcoming [first-half] trading update with investor attention firmly on its ability to navigate persistent industry headwinds". "Regulatory pressures and rising tobacco taxes continue to weigh on the outlook," he said. "As such, this year's guidance for around 1% sales growth and 1.5–2.5% profit growth currently stands below the group's medium-term targets. The upcoming update will be closely watched for signs that 'new categories' can deliver more meaningful growth and help offset the structural decline in traditional tobacco." In addition, Nathan said that investors "will be watching closely to see if US action to crackdown on illegal competition has had any impact and whether the lifting of a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes has helped the outlook". According to consensus forecasts provided by the company on its website, analysts expect full-year total revenue for 2025 to come in at £26.2bn, including £3.88bn from new category business. Shortly after taking over as Dr Martens (DOCS.L) CEO in January, Ije Nwokorie said in a third quarter trading update that the bootmaker had made "good progress" on turning round performance in the US. He said that the team were focused on "returning the business to sustainable and profitable growth". In the third quarter, Dr Martens (DOCS.L) reported 3% growth in group revenue at £267m, with a 4% increase in direct-to-consumer business in the Americas. "Dr Martens (DOCS.L) is expected to deliver more evidence that it is pulling itself up by its bootstraps and the turnaround is lacing together," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. "It's been reducing inventories and debt, preserving cash and stabilising the business overall." Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio "The iconic footwear company has found it hard going stomping new fashion ground overseas, with the US, its biggest market, proving particularly tough," she said. "But in the key autumn/winter season, there were signs that increased investment in marketing was paying off, with new styles winning fans. It's trying to get the heritage models and new innovations in the fashion market." Streeter said that the "performance of the last quarter will be a test" for new CEO Nwokorie. She said that the company's "strategy includes new store roll outs and increasing the direct-to-consumer mix, as well as improving the quality and depth of wholesale distribution. "It's hoped that the Docs will also take a step forward with the appointment of a new chief brand officer, Carla Murphy, a former Adidas ( global executive who also has experience at VF Corporation, the American global apparel and footwear company." In its January trading update, company didn't offer specifics on its guidance for the full year but said its outlook remained unchanged and that it was on track to achieve its objectives. Despite signs of turnaround progress, the stock is still down nearly 19% year-to-date. French cognac maker Rémy Cointreau ( announced on Wednesday that it had appointed Franck Marilly as the company's new CEO, taking over from Eric Vallat, who said last month he would be stepping down. Marilly, who assumes the role on 25 June, has previously worked for Japanese beauty brand Shiseido (4911.T), luxury fashion house Chanel and consumer goods giant Unilever (ULVR.L). The news comes as Rémy Cointreau ( navigates challenges around trade tensions with both the US and China, two of its key markets. In a fourth quarter sales update in April, Rémy Cointreau ( posted an 18% fall in full-year sales at €984.6m (£827.6m). The company flagged a "steep decline" in sales of cognac in China in the fourth quarter, which it said was partly down to "harsh market conditions", among other factors. Read more: UK 'bargain' stocks that have outperformed the market long-term In January, China launched an anti-dumping investigation on brandy imported from the European Union (EU), which was extended in April and included the imposing of temporary duties on imports of brandy. The probe was considered to be in response to EU duties on Chinese electric vehicles. Rémy Cointreau ( said in its April sales update that if the provisional duties were confirmed, the company would "trigger its action plan to mitigate the effects starting in fiscal 2025-26. The impact on fiscal year 2024-25 is marginal." In addition, there is also uncertainty around US tariffs on the EU, with talks between the two ongoing, after president Donald Trump hit pause on his threat to impose 50% duties on the bloc. Investors will be looking at Rémy Cointreau's ( final full-year results on Wednesday for any commentary around the potential impact of these tariff challenges in the year ahead. The company said in April that a €50m (£42m) cost-cutting plan would help protect its operating margin, expecting this to come in between 21% and 22% for the year. It also reiterated its financial targets for 2029-30 of hitting a gross margin of 72% and an operating margin of 33%. Monday 2 June Sirius Real Estate (SRE.L) Campbell's Co (CPB) Tuesday 3 June Chemring (CHG.L) Pennon (PNN.L) Gooch & Housego (GHH.L) Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (CRWD) Ferguson Enterprises Inc (FERG) Dollar General Corp (DG) Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Nio Inc (NIO) Signet Jewelers (SIG) Wednesday 4 June Paragon Banking (PAG.L) B&M European Value Retail (BME.L) DiscoverIE (DSCV.L) Ramsdens (RFX.L) Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) GameStop (GME) Thursday 5 June Mitie (MTO.L) Workspace (WKP.L) Young's & Co Brewery (YNGN.L) Fevertree (FEVR.L) Fastenal (FAST) DocuSign (DOCU) Brown-Forman (BF-B) Ciena (CIEN) Wizz Air Holdings (WIZZ.L) CMC Markets (CMCX.L) Friday 6 June ABM Industries Inc (ABM) Caffyns (CFYN.L) You can read Yahoo Finance's full calendar here. Read more: How getting ahead on your tax return can help cut your tax bill Odds of more Bank of England interest rate cuts fall as food inflation rises Trump tariffs to hit UK economy next year, says IMF
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Fundraising festival organised for missing Luke Price sees huge support
The friends of missing Luke Price have organised a festival to raise money for the National Missing Person's Helpline as the search for the young man continues. Luke Price, aged 27, has been missing from his partner's home in Mountkenneth/O'Curry Street, Limerick city since the evening of Tuesday, January 14, when he last seen at around 9pm. Family and friends of Luke have taken part in a massive search for Luke since he went missing. Luke lives in Portlaoise but spends a lot of time staying in Limerick as his partner and brother live there. Now, an all-day festival is being held in Tullamore this weekend, put on by Luke's friends and family, to raise money for the National Missing Persons Helpline. Oceann McCormack, a close friend of Luke's who plays in a band with Luke's brother, spoke to the Irish Mirror ahead of the festival. 'Myself and Nathan (Luke's brother) would have been best friends when we were children,' Oceann told the Irish Mirror. 'We both were raised in the village of Geashill in the Midlands, just a few miles outside of Tullamore. 'I would have known Luke as a baby, and grew up with Nathan being my best friend, but Luke being like a little brother to me, pretty much my whole life. 'I would have always considered Luke to be family, like myself and Nathan were always closer. But myself and Luke had a great relationship, and a very different relationship to what I do with Nathan.' Oceann says the support from the public in searching for Luke has been immense, with organisations like the National Missing Persons Helpline showing unwavering help. 'The kindness of friends, family and even strangers, it's restored a bit of faith in humanity,' he shared. 'We've had people who never even looked for Luke taking a week off work to help us join because they're friends with us, never even met Luke. 'We've had a huge amount of help from organisations like the National Missing Persons Helpline. 'We had a couple of guides from the Tipperary search and rescue help us out, kind of of their own accord, not on an official basis, but just come and help us out. 'We got a huge amount of traction from the Irish metal scene. I think every band in the country was sharing around Luke's picture, every metal promoter, everything. 'A lot of different communities really had our backs with it. Now, unfortunately, we're still no closer to finding him than today. He went missing. 'But it's really refreshing to have such a system and such a network of support there, and I think we would have lost our minds if we didn't have so many good Samaritans hopping on helping us'. Oceann says they had always planned to run an event to raise money for the helpline, but they did not think it would be because a dear friend had gone missing. 'We always kind of wanted to do something for the National Missing Persons helpline,' he said. 'We didn't realise this was going to be it. 'The bar manager, a long-term friend of ours, was saying, 'Would you consider doing an all day sort of thing?' You could raise a bit of money for Luke, because he would have known Luke well as well." The festival will kick off in Tullamore this Saturday, with a massive line-up of Irish metal bands, playing until late. The event is family friendly, with face painting and a talk from a National Missing Persons Helpline representative. 'We have some of the country's hottest underground rock and metal bands… Each band will be playing a half hour slot with the headliners doing 45 minutes. 'We'll be going till whenever we're all kicked out. Music should be going till about between 12 and 1. 'We have a food truck… And we've a few fun little extra side things. We'll be doing a raffle. We've received loads of donations for the raffle with the key main prize being a one of a kind hoodie for the festival.' 'We're also having face paintings. So it's going to be an all-day, family-friendly event until 7pm. 'We'll have a representative from the National Missing Persons Helpline, to just essentially tell the facts about missing people and their organisation, what they do, how underfunded they are. 'And then we'll be presenting a comically-oversized check to him a few weeks after the festival as well.' Oceann says if anyone wishes to help in the ongoing search for missing Luke, the best thing they can do is to contact Gardaí if they see or hear anything. 'Keep an eye out, if you think that you have seen him, contact Henry Street Garda station,' he said. 'It's something that we've reiterated a billion times since Luke went missing. There's no point getting on to us or the Look for Luke Facebook page that was set up because we cannot file a report on somebody's behalf.' He added: 'If anybody wants to donate to the festival, all profits are going to charity'. The Tullamore Phoenix Festival takes place in John Lee's Bar this Saturday, May 31. A fundraiser has been launched ahead of the festival for the National Missing Persons Helpline, with €1,317 raised out of the €2,500 target. To donate, head here. You can find more out about the festival here.
