Latest news with #board
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival recommends members vote to dissolve the organization
The Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival board is recommending its members vote to dissolve the organization. Kyla Heyming, Wordstock's board chair, said the festival is not financially viable in its current form. "Some of the grants we've received in the past have pulled out," Heyming told CBC's Up North. "We've been getting less money from grants than we usually get and it's just not sustainable anymore." Heyming said the festival has grown in recent years to provide programming year-round, and has depended on grants from both federal and provincial levels of government. But a lot of those grants have dried up. "We're often not getting any feedback back," she said, referring to the different grant agencies. Last year, Heyming said it cost around $100,000 to put on the festival. "We've grown and that's what's been fantastic," she said. But that growth has also come at a cost, with employees needed to run various programs and initiatives. Heyming said the recommendation to dissolve the festival does not come lightly. She said the board even hired someone to help find the festival more sponsorship opportunities, but that didn't work out. "If by, you know, some miracle people really want to volunteer, get involved, if we get a miracle funding or sponsorship that allows us to continue, then we won't have to recommend to dissolve,"Heyming said. But she added that the current financial reality for the festival, without a last-minute "miracle" means it can't be sustained.
Harvard Business Review
7 days ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Delivering Bad News to Your Board
Rose Wong Whether it's a financial setback, the departure of a key leader, a cybersecurity breach or something else, mishandling the delivery of bad news can erode your board's trust in your leadership. But when navigated well, this process can strengthen the relationship and ensure that directors serve as your candid, engaged, and strategic partners.
Harvard Business Review
7 days ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
Building Trust with Your Board
The HBR Executive Playbook on forming strong, long-lasting relationships with your directors. by Beth Goody Strategic alignment between a CEO and their board starts with one crucial element: trust. Without trust, the board is more likely to second-guess leadership and slow down momentum. When trust is strong, CEOs are more likely to speak openly about their challenges, and boards are more likely to provide clarity, perspective, and sound judgment, especially in moments of uncertainty.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Focus: Rio Tinto split with CEO Stausholm over conflicting priorities, sources say
May 28 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto's board and Jakob Stausholm agreed to part ways last week amid mounting concerns the CEO was reluctant to follow board priorities, including focusing on costs, after years of expansions in lithium, copper and iron ore, three sources said. Rio (RIO.L), opens new tab, ( opens new tab, the world's second-largest listed mining company, surprised investors last week by announcing Stausholm would step down later this year when a successor is appointed. No reason for Stausholm's exit was given, and sources said it was not tied to any scandal. The CEO had as recently as two weeks ago given no indication of his departure at a major industry conference in Spain, according to three sources who attended. Reuters spoke with six people who were familiar with board considerations, or who had been briefed on them, or briefed by management. They agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters or private conversations. Rio Tinto declined to comment for this story, while Stausholm did not respond to requests for comment. Stausholm took the helm at Rio in 2021 at a low point in the company's history after his predecessor was sacked. The Dane started his tenure with a listening tour of the company's global portfolio, which stretches across every continent but Antarctica. He led a turnaround in the miner's fortunes by resetting relationships in Guinea and Mongolia to bring its next wave of iron ore and copper projects online. Stausholm also inked three major lithium deals in the past year. As his successes mounted, one source said Stausholm became more likely to push back on board suggestions and too quickly dismissed opportunities the board felt could have been better explored. One of those opportunities included Stausholm's rejection of an approach by Glencore (GLEN.L), opens new tab executives last year seeking a potential merger, according to a person familiar with the matter. Another related to reviewing options around the stake of its largest UK shareholder Chinalco, which came up with investor pressure for the miner to review its dual Anglo-Australian share market listing, said the first source. While the board backed Stausholm's investments and strategic decisions, it held concerns that rising costs had to be dealt with now rather than in a few years' time, two of the sources said. Rio's average headcount has climbed by 22% to around 60,000 people since Stausholm's appointment in 2021, according to its most recent annual report. Meanwhile, revenue has dropped more than $10 billion over that time, with prices of its key profit generator, iron ore, expected to fall further in coming years. The board told Stausholm that he must put more focus on cost cuts and operational excellence, but he was resistant and they decided to part ways, three of the sources said. "Nothing else changes. The board is happy with the growth options, they are happy with lithium, the strategy is the same," one source said. Some investors criticised Rio for overspending on its $6.7 billion buy of lithium miner Arcadium after a plunge in prices for the battery metal. That deal was followed by more than $1 billion more in spending on two projects in Chile earlier this month. With the lithium market in the doldrums, it will take years to know whether Stausholm's bet will have paid off, although demand projections for the metal are strong into the next decade. Rio's lithium joint venture with Codelco "aligned with its growth and value creation strategy," Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab, which has a "buy" recommendation on the stock, said last week. Rio investor Pendal Group has raised concerns about additional staffing costs at both Rio and larger rival BHP ( opens new tab, said Pendal investment analyst Jack Gabb. As recently as February, Stausholm said that costs "hadn't been a focus," Gabb said. Rio's ballooning costs had been flagged internally for some time, including at a recent executive retreat in Australia by CFO Peter Cunningham, a source with direct knowledge said. Despite those warnings, Stausholm saw himself as a strategic leader rather than a cost-cutter, with the board increasingly preferring the latter, the person added. "Rio's got amazing assets, but a bloated bureaucracy, full of people looking for work to do. That's just not sustainable," the person said. Of Rio's internal bench of potential successors, iron ore head Simon Trott, Chief Commercial Officer Bold Baatar, and aluminum division boss Jerome Pecresse are seen as potential replacements, all of the sources said. Pecresse may have an advantage given his management style focused on cost-cutting, one of the sources said. "Rio doesn't need another visionary right now," the source added.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Diploma (LON:DPLM) Has Announced A Dividend Of £0.182
The board of Diploma PLC (LON:DPLM) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 13th of June, with investors receiving £0.182 per share. Even though the dividend went up, the yield is still quite low at only 1.3%. We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for Diploma in our free report. If it is predictable over a long period, even low dividend yields can be attractive. Based on the last payment, Diploma was quite comfortably earning enough to cover the dividend. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth. Over the next year, EPS is forecast to expand by 35.0%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 41%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend. See our latest analysis for Diploma The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2015, the annual payment back then was £0.17, compared to the most recent full-year payment of £0.593. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 13% a year over that time. Diploma has grown distributions at a rapid rate despite cutting the dividend at least once in the past. Companies that cut once often cut again, so we would be cautious about buying this stock solely for the dividend income. With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. Diploma has impressed us by growing EPS at 17% per year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock. In summary, it is always positive to see the dividend being increased, and we are particularly pleased with its overall sustainability. The company is easily earning enough to cover its dividend payments and it is great to see that these earnings are being translated into cash flow. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock. Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 12 analysts we track are forecasting for Diploma for free with public analyst estimates for the company. Is Diploma not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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
