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The Nordic realism of Pernille
The Nordic realism of Pernille

Express Tribune

time2 hours ago

  • Entertainment
  • Express Tribune

The Nordic realism of Pernille

Nordic thrillers are always my cup of tea — a new one on the streamer, and I'm instantly pulled in. This is probably because of the dark-ish stories, intense characters and flawless performances. The Nordic approach is to usually portray characters with depth, allowing older actors to be their age, while still enjoying life and romance. Since for us, there is no celebrity hype around any of the actors because we are not familiar with their stars or their showbiz and entertainment world, it leaves us to absorb their acting neat, making indelible impressions on our minds of the realistic characters they play. Pernille, what an odd name! Apparently, it is a relatively common Nordic name, particularly in Denmark and Norway, and it means rock or stone. The Netflix series Pernille, that has received four awards and nine nominations portrays a working mother, struggling with parenthood, grief, career, and dating. With the lead character Pernille, an mind-bogglingly ordinary woman with looks neither invite attention nor resist it, played warmly and engagingly by Henriette Steenstrup, the series equally explores how an average woman living in Oslo tackles life as a daughter herself, a mother to two daughters, a child welfare worker, and someone with a rocky, often vacant love life. Along with this is heartfelt drama, everyday life, and funny moments that are few and far as in real life, and not added as per a prescribed formula to meet the needs of a TV show. The series has been lauded for its strong performances and poignant screenplay. You can easily recognise Pernille's character and connect to it. Like this, there are many of us out there trying to put together jagged pieces of life in terms of challenges to do with our parents, our kids, our jobs, our love interests/spouses, our inner fears, weaknesses, struggles and secrets. Yet, the show was criticised for too much negativity in Pernille's life, but then this woman in her forties is shown to be resilient and courageous, and she is someone who hardly ever gives up being positive about life and its relentless demands. Dealing with the damage discreetly, she just carries on regardless, treating every day as a new day, and being there for everyone and everything around her with polite tolerance. Steenstrup does this with a tad confused, but reassuring, earnest and sincere smile. Apart from the culture of respecting, accepting and owning the individuals' space, their gender identity and the inherent right to move on and embrace life, instead of sticking to social norms and dogma, and consequently being miserable or bitter about the circumstances, for viewers from our part of the world, some aspects of the show are eye-openers. The aspect that impressed me most was the nuanced portrayal of Norway's child welfare system known as "Barnevernet." The Barnevernet is a huge network of services and authorities designed to protect and support children and families, with the goal to ensure that children's basic needs are met and that they have the opportunity to grow up in safe and secure environments. Within the legal framework, the system is based on the Child Welfare Act of 1992, the Norwegian Constitution, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The laws emphasise the importance of a child's upbringing within their biological family, making the threshold for removing a child from home high, and the threshold for helping them low. The Child Welfare Tribunal, an administrative body decides on care orders and other coercive measures. While parents are primarily responsible for providing care and protection for their children, the municipalities provide help and support to children, adolescents, and parents facing challenges. They may also get involved if a child needs help for other reasons, such as behavioral issues related to drugs or alcohol. The most common type of assistance is to provide support to families within their homes to improve living conditions for children. Other measures may include counselling, therapy, parenting support, and, in more serious cases, temporary placements in foster care or institutions. Children have the right to express their views in matters affecting them, particularly when they are seven years old or older or according to their maturity. The system acknowledges the importance of parents' rights to family life, but the focus remains on protecting children's best interests. The system's authority to remove children from home, even without parental consent, has faced criticism. Some advocacy groups argue that Barnevernet has too much power and that it sometimes uses its power inappropriately. There are many arresting scenes of the day to day routine of people working in this system in their offices, their fieldwork, their challenges, the emotional effects it has on them and how seriously they take their tasks and assignments. Pernille is in and out of various astounding child rescue and welfare situations throughout the series, and ofcourse being a sensitive person, the situations that she encounters on a daily basis impact her emotionally. As depicted in the show, if there is a situation or and irregularity reported to the police and a child is involved, the police immediately notify child welfare and they reach the trouble site for emergency rescue, following it up until the situation has been sorted out. Comedy is not the hallmark of Scandinavian shows, but Pernille has just the right blend of humour. The award-winning series is also much loved in its home country of Norway and rightly so. It is commendable how the production team makes mundane, everyday life warm, witty, insightful and entertaining. Once you start watching, as in all addictive serials, the characters grow on you in an effortless exercise, be it Pernille's outspoken daughters Sigrid (Ebba Jacobsen Oberg) and Hanna (Vivild Falk Berg), her father Ole Ohan (Nils Ole Oftebro) who has come out late in life, her stable and sincere boss Yngvar (Oystein Roger), her besties or her boyfriend Bjornar (Gunnar Eiriksson) who waxes and wanes regularly. The five seasons that may seem a lot at first just whiz by. Through the five seasons, you follow Pernille's journey with her family. Her relationship with her daughters, as they grow up, is central to this. Pernille remains attentive, loving and caring to everyone around her, which includes traumas, tantrums and drama to do with her daughters, how she mostly seems to excel at matured tolerance and sometimes looks as peeved or perplexed as a parent from any part of the world. To us, Pernille's daughters seem a little disrespectful but perhaps European norms are different, and difficult for us to relate to. Her relationship with her gay father is well done and credible. She supports him in every sphere of his life, and in an endearing moment even describes their relationship to be like one with the closest girlfriend. Pernille's divorced husband Finn is perhaps the most irritating character and the couple's interaction is subtle, yet powerful and integral to the story. Is Pernille unlucky in love, or does she make a mess of her personal life because that is an area she pays the least attention to, is for the viewers to decide. Quirky characters interwoven with storylines of hardship, loss and tragedy resonate quite deeply. Apart from subtle nudges by her girlfriends to find someone for herself, there is no societal or family pressure on Pernille to remarry after her divorce, as it would be in our culture and society. No one stigmatises her for her choices in life. I also couldn't stop thinking how badly our country needs child welfare initiatives, policies and plans. Not just those, they need to be materialised as soon as possible. But rescuing them from traumatising situations can only come after education is made mandatory in our country. And that is a pandora's box that contains issues such as children out of school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, schools, colleges, teachers, their salaries, ghost schools and twisted narratives about education of the girl child in non-urban areas in all provinces of the country. Pernille is more than just a Nordic drama with layered characters and thoughtful storytelling — it's a quiet, deeply resonant exploration of what it means to live, love, and persist in the face of life's everyday messiness. The show doesn't offer grand resolutions or sweeping statements. Instead, it celebrates the strength in ordinariness, the beauty in emotional honesty, and the quiet courage it takes to show up each day — as a parent, a worker, a daughter, a friend, or simply, a flawed but determined human being. For those of us watching from afar, Pernille also opens a window into a society that treats its people, particularly its children, with a seriousness and care that feels both admirable and painfully out of reach. It subtly urges us to question our own systems — or lack thereof — and reminds us that behind every policy or welfare law lies a beating heart, a child's future, and an adult who may just need one more chance. As viewers, we walk away not just entertained, but moved — carrying with us the quiet imprint of Pernille's smile, her resilience, and the thought that maybe, just maybe, we could be a little more patient with ourselves and each other.

Why Britons still aren't ready for ‘social nudity'
Why Britons still aren't ready for ‘social nudity'

Telegraph

time21 hours ago

  • Telegraph

Why Britons still aren't ready for ‘social nudity'

As a Briton, I feel I have much in common with my Scandinavian cousins: an endurance of long, cold, grey winters; a love of thrillers; a passion for wild swimming and saunas. In the course of researching two books on sauna culture, I've spent years sweating it out around Estonian lakes, and in hotboxes on windswept Norwegian archipelagos. Generally, when enjoying these activities I've been wearing a swimsuit – and this is where any similarities to our Nordic neighbours end. For in these bathing nations, nudity is a given, and it has been for generations; a deep, clean sweat is a naked one. Why wear an unhygienic swimsuit which prevents your skin from breathing and lessens the sensory experience, when you can go without? Why indeed. I can think of many reasons. Shame, embarrassment, legacy of a Catholic schooling, scar tissue from unwanted sexual advances, the male gaze, unachievable images of female perfection. Through my work, on research trips around Northern European cultures where nude bathing is the norm, I have had to confront my body issues; I have been in situations where being the only swim-suited one feels out of place. I have had to dig deep not to be the stereotypical British prude. I've been told to remove my sarong in a 200-person naked sauna event in the Netherlands, and come a cropper in a smoke sauna in southern Estonia where no-one ever wears clothes. Slowly, I've relaxed a little, shed the layers and come to appreciate that being naked in the company of others – and in a safe setting – can be freeing and healthy. It's just taken me a while to catch up with those enlightened bathers in Scandinavia, Germany, the Baltics and beyond. And I'm not alone. According to an Ipsos poll, 6.75 million Brits people claim to be naturists, up from 3.7 million in 2011. The survey stretches that definition from being naked in a private hot tub to being an all-out naturist, but slowly, it seems we are unbuttoning, unravelling the threads of convention. When it comes to public nudity, the burgeoning numbers of wild swimmers and sauna bathers are driving the trend, which appeals to all ages – and is largely being led by women. In the Outdoor Swimmer 2025 trend report, of 2,500 swimmers surveyed, 59 per cent of women reported wild or cold-water swimming weekly or more, compared with 37 per cent of men. More than half of those aged 25 to 34 started swimming after the pandemic. In these novel settings, we seem more likely to relax long-held social conventions. 'It starts with accidentally forgetting the dry robe, or the underwear,' says one of my wild swimming pals. 'Then there's the faff and fuss of carting all the swim clobber to the water and back. It's so much quicker and easier to travel light, to keep the changing kit to a minimum at the risk of exposing a nipple, or a pale goose-bumped buttock to the elements. Over time, you just don't care any more, and nor does anyone else.' Ella Foote, the editor of The Outdoor Swimmer magazine, offers guided wild swims to groups. 'If I have a same sex group, I'll sometimes suggest a skinny dip at the end. They all look at me with wide eyes, and it only takes one and then they all strip off and go in. Swimming naked is a natural transition to being at one with nature. And because you're submerged, it feels safer; it's a good space to play at nudity. People tell me all the time that their relationship with their body has improved.' Sauna culture is playing into it too, as quirky horseboxes, pop-up tents and cosy barrel saunas provide places to sweat on beaches, lakes and rivers everywhere from Crieff to Cardiff. In the nine months I spent travelling around the country, researching these new hotspots and sharing the bench with athletes and recovering addicts, builders, barristers, mums and teens and pensioners, I came up close to the complex relationship the British have with our own – and other peoples' – bodies. I met bathers who wear wetsuits, leggings and sweatshirts in the sauna – anything rather than nothing – and I've been to 'clothing optional' sessions where everyone is naked. Often these are started by the community and evolve organically. Take Quays Swim in Surrey, a 50-acre swimming lake with two saunas near Mytchett. More than 75 per cent of its visitors are female and the venue hosts two ladies-only naked swims for Breast Cancer Now. After stripping off for these dips, a group of women set up a naked sauna. 'I don't know what it is about clothes, but when you discard them, you're discarding a whole load of other issues as well,' says one participant, who got into cold swimming after the death of her husband. When she first bared all, she found it 'liberating, as though the swimsuit was holding everything in. All that pent-up emotion was set free, and that's what I love.' Beach Box Spa Brighton runs a 'clothing-optional' session hosted by German sauna master Mika Valentini, 34. 'Everyone comes for themselves; they're not looking at others, and it's understood that nudity doesn't mean a certain outcome. They feel relief about exposing their bodies, which builds body confidence.' The event is carefully screened off, and there's always someone supervising. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Beach Box Sauna Spa | Brighton | Aufguss | Pirtis (@beachboxbtn) Valentini grew up in Munich where on a hot summer's day the city's swimming lake is packed with naked bodies.'I have a healthy view of my body as I became accustomed to nudity from a young age and it's not linked to sex,' he says, adding that in Germany there is also an attitude of, 'It's my body. This is my natural self and how I want to be.' Not everybody in Britain is relaxed about the gradual arrival of social nudity to our shores. Cut to Corton Beach in Lowestoft, Suffolk where this spring the parish council came under fire for trying to ban naturists from its famously beautiful sands. It was forced to remove signage banning ' lewd behaviour ' to the dismay of disgruntled locals who had complained of sexual activity in the dunes. Public nudity is not illegal in England and Wales but the laws around it are open to interpretation; under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 unless a naked person has the intention of 'causing alarm and distress' it is not a crime to wander around naked anywhere. But one person's distress is another person's freedom. 'There was a time when the legislation was clear,' says Andrew Welch, the national spokesman for British Naturism (BN), a non-profit group with around 8,500 members which organises naked events around the UK. 'If you were going to strip off, you had to go to a designated beach. Now you can go anywhere.' Earlier this month, nude-fearing locals will have had to endure thousands of bathers taking part in The Great British Skinny Dip, organised by BN. For many, it will have been their first 'dare to bare' experience and more than 60 venues participated. Among them was Whitmore Lakes near Stoke-on-Trent where male and female wild swimmers dipped in a small private lake. That event was led by Whitmore Lakes' operations manager Lauren Pakeman, 31. 'People here are wild swimmers and understand the health benefits and they want to strip back and go to the next level, really feel the elements.' Harry Beardsley, the commercial director of PortaSauna, provides tent saunas to locations across the UK. 'Clothing optional events are definitely more spoken about in public now,' he says. 'People seem to be becoming more accepting of nudity. Many of them are familiar with sauna cultures in other countries where it's weird to be in swimwear. But our society is not really built for it,' he cautions. 'Public naked events need to be handled very sensitively so that both participants and the general public are protected. It will take time and practice. Where's the line? We have to prepare for the worst as we are so behind the times.' Fast forward a week, and Beardsley's cautionary words were in my ears. In the name of research and in what, for me, was an epic act of bravery, I attended a naked swim organised in association with British Naturism at a leisure centre in East London. The group included five women and 23 men of mixed ages and a naturist couple in their 70s. The atmosphere was strange; naturists are not the new wave sauna folk I am used to meeting, and I couldn't orient myself. Was there a sexual undertone? Being so heavily outnumbered by men, I felt squeamish and suspicious. Some attendees said, when I asked them, that they were there that evening because they love swimming naked. Others were clearly enjoying the sociable atmosphere; nudity can break down barriers and almost everyone but me appeared comfortable. But my gut feeling proved a trusted ally when one young man turned to me and said: 'You're the journalist, right? I'm finding all these tits and vaginas overwhelming.' I later spotted him touching himself inappropriately and reported him to the organiser of the evening. I vowed never to return to a naturist event and left, my intuition muttering with a 'told-you-so' righteousness. The next day I received an email from the BN organiser: 'I was absolutely gutted when you told me about the incident which occurred,' it read. 'It was absolutely against the mood, intention and guidelines of our event [..] We don't need this kind of bad apple to lower the tone of our sessions. The night was fantastic, our busiest so far, and I'm pretty angry that his actions have cast a shadow over the event.' The culprit was banned and the code of conduct was made more visible on the event webpage, but what about me? An apology can't undo the impact the incident had on me. I am seasoned in both nudity and crude male commentary, but how would a younger, more sensitive female have felt after such an episode? There are reasons, tested over millennia, why, in almost all sweat bathing nations, men and women bathe separately. But, in this country, won't 'bad apples' always be drawn to public events where people are naked? I quiz Welch at British Naturism. His response is not robust: 'I'm sorry that you've experienced this in practice, but I think it [lewd behaviour] is more of a perceived barrier than a real one. The number of times people have to be told to behave or to leave a place is a lot fewer than you would imagine.' Suspicious of BN's approach to safeguarding, I call Barry Sykes, the artist in residence at the British Sauna Society, who has also had experience with BN events; we have often shared the sauna bench together. We discuss how there can be a naïve, clubby idealism among naturists, something Sykes says he also noticed when he was commissioned to develop an art project at the naturist community Oakwood Sun Club near Romford in Essex. 'As a white middle-aged man, I was in the majority there, so maybe less likely to feel vulnerable, but I often wonder whether the committed naturists have been doing it for so long, and it feels so unquestionably comfortable for them, that they can struggle to empathise with what it's like for newcomers,' he says. 'I always found going to Oakwood a welcoming, cathartic experience that took me outside of normal behaviour. Organised naturism has been a fringe aspect of British culture for nearly 100 years and I find its absurdity fascinating, but it still takes a great deal of thought and care to host people safely and ensure everyone feels relaxed but respectful.' Some of the new generation of sauna owners have similarly idealistic dreams of bringing authentic, naked sauna culture to our shores. But the results so far are mixed. Katie Bracher, 43, is a co-founder of the British Sauna Society and the director of Wild Spa Wowo in Sussex, a cluster of saunas and cold plunges set in woodlands. 'When I launched a weekly naked session, I had hoped to move British bathing culture forward. I'm not a naturist but when you get used to having a naked sauna, it's so much nicer, and I wanted people to experience that, in nature, at ease with their bodies.' It started well, she says, with a relaxed festival vibe, until some nearby campers complained about seeing naked people. Then the split between sexes shifted. 'It evolved from being the same number of men and women, to being mainly men at which point the women started covering themselves. In the end, it became too complex,' says Bracher. Charlie Duckworth, a co-founder of Community Sauna Bath which runs sites all over London, came to a similar realisation. 'I like being naked in the sauna and I started out wanting to create an authentic Finnish experience but after we had a couple incidents, I gave up trying to move the needle on it.' When did it come to this? Why are naked events in this country so fraught with jeopardy? Surely our Stone Age ancestors sweating in communal saunas in Orkney would have been naked? The Romans bathed in the nude too, and the first Victorian Turkish baths offered single sex sessions where most bathers were naked. Malcolm Shifrin, the author of Victorian Turkish Baths, says: 'There were differing views, but overall casual nudity in the Victorian Turkish bath was more or less the norm during the second part of the 19th century.' But beyond the bathhouse, modesty was also the norm. Clothing became tied to morality which blended with shame. Is our Victorian moral code still deeply engrained? Valentini thinks so: 'Brits never want to offend and I think the belief is that the body is private and shouldn't be displayed.' Towards the end of the 20th century, there was a creeping change, not from public bath operators but from bathers of other religions and couples swimming together in costumes. But the real death knell of naked bathing was the take-over of local authority-run Turkish and swimming baths by private enterprises. 'The brief of the local authority was to provide a community service, which private companies could not afford to do,' says Shifrin: 'If new bath operators had led the way by providing happier, healthier facilities, a majority would have followed them, ensuring that some provision was made for those who prefer costumes. Germany, it seems, has it absolutely spot-on.' So too the Scandinavians. In 1432, Venetian nobleman Pietro Querini, shipwrecked near the island of Røst in northern Norway, wrote, 'The inhabitants of these islands are very pure living people [..] their customs are so simple they do not bother to lock up their belongings […] In the same rooms where the men and their wives and daughters slept, we also slept, and in our presence, they undressed naked when going to bed. They used to take a badstue (sauna) every Thursday and they would undress at home and walk a bowshot (around 450 metres) naked to the badstue and bathe together men and women.' Should this sea-faring Venetian have washed up on, say, the Isle of Wight, his observations would have taken a different tone. Given that we need SAS-level training on how to behave together naked (Rule Number One: Look people in the eye, and only in the eye), is it simpler to separate men and women, as they do in Finland, Japan and other evolved bathing nations? I ask the Surrey women, who treasure their weekly naked sauna, if they would ever welcome men? No, they cry emphatically. 'We would not do this with men because you get tension where you feel self-conscious and all of that,' says one. Another adds: 'It's boring, and it just changes everything. If it went mixed, I wouldn't come any more.' Carry-On style spectacles such as the World Naked Bike Ride inevitably attract coverage. (Our ancestors would surely have donned a practical loincloth before jumping onto the saddle of a bike had such a thing existed.) British Naturism get-togethers such as Nudefest – a naked festival in Somerset, and events such as naked pottery classes, dining and pétanque – do little more than provide nudge-nudge entertainment for outsiders. And as I discovered, going to an unclothed event with naturists can be like diving into the deep end before you have learnt to swim. Perhaps this new wave of nudity chimes better with the naturists of the 1920s and 1930s, those doctors, psychoanalysts, avant-gardists and health lovers who advocated nakedness as a non-sexual route to a fit, sun-kissed, healthy body. Eager to ditch stuffy Victorian attitudes, they too looked to Europe for inspiration. Annebella Pollen, the author of Nudism in a Cold Climate and a professor of visual and material culture at the University of Brighton, points out some major evolutions: 'The 1930s naturists believed in a cult of beauty; it was not an inclusive movement. Today, in the age of social media, we make conscious efforts to celebrate bodily imperfections.' TikTok trends such as 'Naked Moms', in which young women talk about how seeing their mothers naked as they were growing up helps with body positivity, and a focus on how our relationship with our bodies negatively affects our mental health have shifted the narrative. 'There are new agreements and understandings especially among the young who are careful about how they're seen and who's looking,' says Pollen. 'The dominance of older men among nudists may be off-putting to younger women.' Can we change and mature? More education and boundaries are surely needed and it won't happen quickly. 'Promoting the benefits is only half the job,' says Sykes. 'People need to know what is expected of them. But we have so much anxiety about our bodies and it can be undone. Exposure changes attitudes.' Perhaps it's a gentle, gradual journey, a series of small reveals, before we can ever come to see that in the end, a body is just a body.

Dear Ash Regan, we are sex workers and we don't want your Nordic Model
Dear Ash Regan, we are sex workers and we don't want your Nordic Model

The Herald Scotland

timea day ago

  • Politics
  • The Herald Scotland

Dear Ash Regan, we are sex workers and we don't want your Nordic Model

Your proposed Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill aims to criminalise the clients of sex workers, which would put sex workers ourselves at higher risk of violence and poverty. This form of legislation, often known as the Nordic model, has endangered sex workers in every country where it has been implemented. You did not consult with any current sex workers before drafting this legislation, which should be unthinkable in our current climate. Policy and laws should centre those who will be most affected by them, as we are the experts on our own lives and on how this law would negatively impact us. Nothing about us, without us. Sex workers don't want this bill, and neither do the Scottish public. When surveyed, 69% of Scots say the Scottish Government should focus on protecting the health and safety of sex workers, and providing support to people who want to leave the industry. This is compared to only 14% who support the government passing new laws to prevent people exchanging sexual services for money. Your bill offers no support to people looking to exit the sex industry. It does not offer any financial backing to struggling organisations which provide services for sex workers, a sector and funding system which the [[Scottish Government]]'s own research has shown is not fit for purpose. The bill does not propose to change policies around benefits or housing to reduce poverty and make sure that fewer people are driven into sex work by financial need. This is despite the fact that 2019 Home Office-commissioned research identified that 'a substantial proportion of individuals … are selling sex to get by financially'. In your bill consultation paper you included a quote which stated that anyone who sells sex is no longer a whole human being, and can never be whole again. This offensive language perpetuates stigma and violence against sex workers, and we reject it. We are whole, we are valuable, and we deserve to be heard. Read more Prostitution is not like Pretty Woman - it harms the most vulnerable | The Herald Regan Nordic Model Bill 'targets demand, protects women' | The Herald 'Becoming a sex worker saved my life - don't take that away from us' | The Herald Often the topic of sex work can be highly emotive and polarising. This is why it's so important to place both evidence, and the voices of current sex workers, at the centre of these discussions. All sex worker-led organisations in the UK support decriminalisation, and oppose the criminalisation of clients. The evidence is clear: the Nordic model, which criminalises the client, puts sex workers in more danger and does not decrease demand. In Northern Ireland, a Ministry of Justice review found that violence against sex workers increased by 225% after similar legislation was passed. According to Ugly Mugs Ireland, crimes against sex workers almost doubled in the two years following the introduction of the law. A Medicins du Monde report found that similar laws in France have led to 42% of workers being more exposed to violence, and 63% experiencing a deterioration of living conditions. An Amnesty International report on the impacts of the Nordic model in Norway found that the police still primarily target sex workers for criminalisation, rather than clients. Clearly, the Nordic model does not work. Public policy should not be based on ideological positions, but on the evidence of what will truly help those in need. This is why Scotland for Decrim calls for further measures to help those in poverty, as we do not want anyone to have to sell sex to survive. We want to see the introduction of rent controls, further support for disabled people and an end to attacks on their rights and income, and the implementation of a Universal Basic Income. We want a reversal of the slashing of services designed to help those escaping abuse, and a complete overhaul of the immigration system to avoid keeping people in dire situations of poverty for long periods of time. These measures are what has been proven to effectively tackle exploitation according to academics at Dundee and Edinburgh Napier universities, not the further criminalisation of an already vulnerable group. Ash Regan (Image: Newsquest) Best evidence demonstrates that full decriminalisation is the most effective measure to ensure sex workers' ability to work in the safest ways possible. In New Zealand where decriminalisation was implemented in 2003, violence against sex workers has decreased, access to healthcare has improved, and relations with the police moved from being combative to collaborative. In Belgium, which decriminalised sex work in 2023, sex workers are now able to form trade unions and have won the right to maternity pay, which will decrease exploitation and child poverty. Bellatrix, a sex worker from Scotland, had this to say to you: 'No matter your personal feelings on sex work, the evidence shows that decriminalisation is the safest for us. Not all issues are made better by involving the criminal justice system. Focus on how to help us avoid poverty, how to not lose our housing, how to find jobs that will actually work around our childcare responsibilities, and our disabilities. Do not criminalise us for existing within the margins.' We call on the Scottish public to join us in the fight against this dangerous bill and for the full decriminalisation of sex work. Visit our website or find us on Instagram at scotland4decrim to find out more.

Danske Bank AS (DNKEY) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges with Strategic Growth
Danske Bank AS (DNKEY) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges with Strategic Growth

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Danske Bank AS (DNKEY) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges with Strategic Growth

Net Profit: DKK11.2 billion for the first half of 2025, down 2% year on year. Return on Shareholders' Equity: 13% for the first half of 2025. Lending Growth: Up 5% compared to last year. Deposit Growth: Increased by 3% in the first half of 2025. Cost-to-Income Ratio: 45.4%, progressing towards 2026 targets. Net Interest Income (NII): Stable year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Fee Income: Down 7% in Q2 compared to Q1, but stable year-on-year. Trading Income: Increased 26% from the same period last year. Operating Expenses: In line with full-year guidance of up to DKK26 billion. Loan Impairment Charges: DKK0.3 billion for the first half, below full-year guidance of DKK1 billion. CET1 Ratio: Increased to 18.7% at the end of Q2 2025. Assets Under Management (AUM): Grew 3% in Q2 relative to the preceding quarter. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with DNKEY. Release Date: July 18, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Danske Bank AS (DNKEY) reported a net profit of DKK11.2 billion, achieving a return on shareholders' equity of 13%, which aligns with their financial targets for 2026. The bank experienced a 5% increase in lending, particularly driven by corporate customers, contributing to an improved market share for corporate lending across all Nordic countries. Deposits grew by 3% in the first half of 2025, with significant contributions from large corporate and retail business sectors. The bank's strategic focus on expanding its cash management business and investing in technology aligns with its FORWARD 28 strategy, supporting long-term growth. Credit quality remained strong, with loan impairment charges well below the cycle, maintaining a positive outlook for the full year. Negative Points Net profit was down 2% year-on-year, primarily due to lower net income from the insurance business and higher loan impairment charges. Fee income was softer than expected, impacted by reduced investment activity and lower refinancing activity in the mortgage sector. Operating expenses remained stable, but there was a slight increase in costs related to financial crime prevention. The macroeconomic environment, despite being generally favorable, still posed challenges with geopolitical uncertainties affecting consumer and business sentiment. The bank's net interest income (NII) faced pressure from rate cuts, although partially mitigated by increased volumes and structural hedging. Q & A Highlights Q: The fee income was relatively soft this quarter. How should we think about the fee income for the coming quarters? Do you see scope for recovery in asset management activity or advisory in the second half of the year? A: Carsten Rasch Egeriis, CEO: The fee income was softer than expected, mainly due to investment side challenges in April and lower lending fees from refinancing activities. However, AUMs ended at a record high, and we see good momentum on the investment side. We expect more activity in capital markets in the second half, with a solid pipeline, especially in advisory and capital market fees. Q: Can you remind us of your latest thoughts on capital allocation, particularly regarding dividends, buybacks, or M&A? A: Carsten Rasch Egeriis, CEO: We continue to generate healthy capital with a strong CET1 ratio of 18.7%. Our focus remains on distributing in-year earnings, and we will update our capital distribution strategy in Q1 next year. Our priority is to grow our business, and we will consider potential capital distribution if growth does not meet expectations. Q: On your guidance, the numbers are the same, but it seems there's a shift towards higher NII and lower fees. Is that fair? A: Carsten Rasch Egeriis, CEO: Yes, we adjusted the guidance wording due to weaker Q2 fees. Despite this, we remain positive about our strategy and fee opportunities. We continue to feel good about the NII trajectory, expecting it to be above DKK35 billion, supported by strong volume growth and structural hedges. Q: Can you explain the increase in NII sensitivity for downward rate movements? A: Cecile Hillary, CFO: The sensitivity increase to minus DKK650 million for a 25 basis points decrease is due to approaching the zero bound, reducing our ability to pass rate changes to deposits. Additionally, minor changes in sensitivity for rate increases and adjustments in our deposit bond hedge contribute to this. Q: What are your views on the competitive dynamics in Denmark, especially with the CRR3 output floors not applying to Danish subsidiaries? A: Carsten Rasch Egeriis, CEO: We have already front-loaded the CRR3 impact, and I don't foresee changes in competitive dynamics. Historically, Denmark's early adoption created some unlevel playing fields, but we've navigated through it. We continue to monitor regulatory developments, especially concerning European competitiveness and simplification. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Getinge AB (GNGBF) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Organic Growth and Margin ...
Getinge AB (GNGBF) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Organic Growth and Margin ...

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Getinge AB (GNGBF) Q2 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Organic Growth and Margin ...

Organic Net Sales Growth: 4.1% in Q2 2025. Order Intake Growth: 4.4% organically. Recurring Revenue: 65% of total sales. High Margin Products: Comprise about 2/3 of sales. Adjusted Gross Profit: SEK4.183 billion. Gross Margin Increase: Up by 0.8 percentage points. Adjusted EBITDA: SEK989 million, margin improved by 0.2 percentage points to 12%. Tariff Costs: Approximately SEK110 million in Q2. Free Cash Flow: SEK0.5 billion in Q2. Net Debt: SEK11.7 billion, leverage at 1.7 times adjusted EBITDA. Cash Position: Approximately SEK1.9 billion at the end of Q2. 2025 Outlook: Organic net sales growth expected to be 2% to 5%. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with GNGBF. Release Date: July 18, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Getinge AB (GNGBF) reported a solid quarter with net sales growing by 4.1% organically, driven by positive development across all business areas and regions. The company achieved a significant increase in sales from recurring revenue, now at 65%, and high-margin products make up about two-thirds of sales. Adjusted gross and EBITDA margins improved due to acquisitions, healthy price increases, and a positive mix, despite tariffs and currency headwinds. The financial position remains strong with financial leverage well below 2.5 times EBITDA, even after the acquisition of Paragonix. Getinge AB (GNGBF) continues to invest in new products and solutions, such as the Servo-c ventilator with neonatal options and the Zen disinfection chemistry portfolio, enhancing its market offerings. Negative Points Tariffs and currency fluctuations negatively impacted the EBITDA margin, with tariffs costing approximately SEK110 million in the second quarter. The Life Science segment experienced softer performance due to high comparative figures from the previous year. There are ongoing elevated costs related to quality improvements, particularly in the balloon pump and cardiopulmonary categories. The company faces challenges in maintaining market share in certain categories, such as intra-aortic balloon pumps, due to restrictions on actively selling and marketing these products. Despite positive trends, the company anticipates more difficult comparisons in the second half of the year, particularly in ventilator sales. Q & A Highlights Q: Can you explain the implications of tariffs and FX on your long-term guidance and whether you've found new mitigation strategies? A: Our long-term guidance is based on the current tariff situation. We haven't found new mitigation strategies but are utilizing existing productivity improvements and regional supply chain strategies. The impact of tariffs and FX is significant, but we are managing it within our existing frameworks. - Mattias Perjos, CEO Q: What are your current assumptions regarding EU tariffs, and how do you expect them to impact your full-year results? A: We currently assume a 10% EU tariff for the full year. If tariffs increase, we would need to recalibrate our calculations. We don't provide specific guidance on future tariffs or FX impacts. - Agneta Palmer, CFO Q: How is the demand for ventilators expected to evolve, and can you disclose the number of ventilators you anticipate selling this year? A: Ventilator demand remains strong, but we expect more challenging comparisons in the second half of the year. We do not disclose specific sales numbers for ventilators. - Mattias Perjos, CEO Q: Could you provide more details on the tariff payments and their regional impact? A: Tariff payments began in the second half of April, primarily affecting EU to US flows. We have taken measures to manage our supply chain in response to these tariffs. - Agneta Palmer, CFO Q: What is driving the positive development of Paragonix, and can you provide any margin details? A: The margin expansion for Paragonix is volume-driven, and it is now accretive to group margins. The growth is supported by a successful product portfolio, including the KidneyVault launch. - Mattias Perjos, CEO For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio

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