Latest news with #profits
The Independent
4 hours ago
- Business
- The Independent
Shell set to report lower earnings after ‘tepid' update to investors
Shell is expected to report lower profits for recent months as the energy giant continues to battle oil price volatility and strives to return cash to its shareholders. The FTSE 100-listed company is predicted to report adjusted earnings of 3.74 billion US dollars (£2.78 billion) for the second quarter, when it publishes its latest figures on Thursday. This would be down sharply on the 6.29 billion dollars (£4.68 billion) made the same time last year. It would mean the company generates earnings of 9.3 billion dollars (£6.9 billion) for the first half of 2025. Russ Mould and Dan Coatsworth, analysts for AJ Bell, said Shell issued a 'tepid' update to investors earlier this month where it 'flagged weaker trading results at the integrated gas division and losses at the chemicals and products arm'. Earnings for its integrated gas division are forecast to come in at 1.8 billion US dollars (£1.3 billion) – down on the 2.7 billion dollars (£2 billion) made this time last year. Analysts are expecting its chemicals and products arm to slip into a 28 million US dollar (£21 million) loss for the quarter, from a 1.1 billion dollar (£820 million) profit the prior year. It comes as oil prices have see-sawed in recent months amid an uncertain geopolitical environment. Prices dropped to four-year lows in April following US president Donald Trump's announcements on tariffs, raising fears over a global trade war. They were then sent higher in June due to worsening conflict in the Middle East which led to worries that supply of the commodity could be disrupted. Brent crude currently stands at around 70 US dollars per barrel. In March, the company revealed a fresh strategy to ramp up cost savings, cut spending and boost investor returns. It said it would look to strip out a cumulative five billion US dollars to seven billion US dollars (£3.7 billion to £5.2 billion) a year by the end of 2028. At the publication of its first quarter results in May, Shell said it was continuing with its shareholder buyback and dividend payments, after raising its dividend by 4% at the end of the last financial year. Investors will be watching closely to see what the latest quarterly dividend will be alongside the results on Thursday.
BreakingNews.ie
4 hours ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
'Golden couple': Profits soar at Brian O'Driscoll and Amy Huberman's companies
Accumulated profits at the main firm owned by Irish rugby legend, Brian O'Driscoll, last year increased to €10.68 million, new accounts show. Abridged accounts filed by O'Driscoll's O.D.M. and Promotions Ltd to the Companies Office show the company recorded post-tax profits of €217,379 in the 12 months to the end of August last. Advertisement The post-tax profits were down 73 per cent on the post-tax profits of €810,463 for 2023. The decrease is partly explained by pay to directors more than doubling from €212,707 to €446,424 due to the firm making pension contributions of €284,225 into the directors' pension pot compared to a zero contribution in 2023. Cash funds at the company last year decreased sharply from €2.14 million to €795,403 and this coincided with the company making additions of €2.47 million to its financial assets rising from €5.9 million to €8.6 million. The rise in value of financial assets takes into account a write-down of €91,486. Advertisement O'Driscoll is one half of one of Ireland's most high profile couples and separate accounts lodged by his wife, Amy Huberman's ASM Entertainment show that accumulated profits increased to €1.43 million in the 12 months to the end of August last. This followed Ms Huberman's entertainment firm recorded post tax profits of €143,075 and this followed post tax profits of €233,628 in 2023. Cash funds at the company plunged from €1.07 million to €502,239 and this coincided with the company adding €700,000 to its financial assets rising from €178,009 to €906,009. Away from her acting and writing career, Ms Huberman - who featured on Amazon Prime Video's Last One Laughing Ireland in the year under review - continues to be a favourite of companies building their brands. Advertisement Ms Huberman's popularity with the Irish public is confirmed with a combined audience of over 926,000 on the Dubliner's X and Instagram accounts and in March of this year the Dublin woman launched her own wine brand, Ah Wines. The profits at O'Driscoll's ODM and Promotions for 2024 show that O'Driscoll - now 46 - continues to retain stellar earning power - 11 years after retiring from the game of professional rugby. The company has investment properties with a book value of €1 million and a note states that the investment properties are rented residences. The firm has consistently recorded strong profits in recent years and the profits of 2024 and 2023 following profits of €641,383 in 2022, €874,120 in 2021 and €899,710 in 2020. Advertisement O'Driscoll - currently in Australia to watch tomorrow's Lions Test match against Australia - works as a pundit for TNT Sports, Off The Ball and is a HSBC Sports Ambassador. The firm employs three and pay to staff at the company, which includes directors, last year increased from €348,754 to €617,800 made up of wages and salaries of €316,522, pension payments of €284,225 and €17,053 in social insurance costs. The firm's financial assets are made up of €6.4 million in listed investments; €679,906 in participating interests and €1.58 million in other investments other than loans. The €679,906 in participating investments relates to a 33.3 per cent investment in White Water LLC, a New York limited liability company. Advertisement O'Driscoll ended his decorated playing career with Ireland and Leinster in 2014 and the ODM & Promotions Ltd's only other director is O'Driscoll's father, Frank. The two signed off on the accounts on July 15th. O'Driscoll, then aged 22, established the ODM firm in 2001 as part of his bid to capitalise on being the most marketable Irish player of the modern rugby era. During an illustrious playing career, O'Driscoll won one Grand Slam with Ireland, three European Heineken Cups with Leinster and was capped 133 times by Ireland scoring 46 tries.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why American Airlines Stock Tumbled Today
Key Points American Airlines beat on sales and earnings this morning. Revenues held steady year over year, but profits declined 10%. American Airlines says it will lose money in Q3, and could lose money for the full year as well. 10 stocks we like better than American Airlines Group › American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) stock sank 7.2% through 10:55 a.m. ET Thursday despite reporting an earnings beat for Q2 this morning. Analysts forecast the airline company would earn $0.77, adjusted for one-time items, on $14.3 billion in Q2 sales. In fact, the airline earned $0.95 on sales of $14.4 billion. American Airlines Q2 earnings What's bad about that? Combing through the numbers, here's what we find: Earnings as calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were lower than the adjusted figure of $0.91. This was down 10% from what AA earned a year ago, despite quarterly revenue remaining roughly flat. So obviously, profit margins declined. But why? Well, fuel costs were lower in Q2 2025 than a year ago, but salaries, wages, and benefits cost 11% more, and landing fees grew 7%. Those were among the biggest changes that stand out. Is American Airlines stock a sell? I doubt these costs are what's upset investors today, however. Looming larger are concerns about "macro weaknesses" in the economy that are affecting company guidance. Although American Airlines management says it doesn't necessarily see a reason to worry right now, it worries anyway -- and after reporting its big Q2 profit, told investors it might lose as much as $0.60 per share in Q3, while full-year results could be as good as a $0.80 per-share profit... or as bad as a $0.20 per-share loss. That's a pretty wide range of potential outcomes for the year, and the only thing AA seems certain of is that it will definitely lose money in the current quarter. With a market cap of only $7.8 billion but more than $28 billion in debt and losses on the horizon, maybe investors should worry about AAL stock, too. Should you buy stock in American Airlines Group right now? Before you buy stock in American Airlines Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and American Airlines Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $634,627!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,046,799!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,037% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why American Airlines Stock Tumbled Today was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
CBC
a day ago
- Automotive
- CBC
Tesla's profits fall again as Musk hopes robotaxis will offset declining sales
The fallout from Elon Musk's plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business as both sales and profits dropped sharply again in the latest quarter. The car company that has faced boycotts for months said Wednesday that revenue dropped 12 per cent and profits slumped 16 per cent in the three months through June as buyers continued to stay away. "The perception of Elon Musk, its chief executive, has rubbed the sheen right out of what once was a darling and soaring automotive brand," wrote Forrester analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee in an email. Tesla is "a toxic brand that is inseparable from its leader." Quarterly profits at the electric vehicle, battery and robotics company fell to $1.17 billion, or 33 cents a share, from $1.4 billion, or 40 cents a share. That was the third quarter in a row that profit dropped. On an adjusted basis, the company said it earned 40 cents a share, matching Wall Street estimates. Revenue also fell from $25.5 billion to $22.5 billion in the April through June period, slightly above Wall Street's forecast. Tesla shares were down six per cent in premarket trading on Thursday. WATCH | Why is Tesla struggling?: Why is Tesla struggling? | About That 1 year ago With no affordable vehicles on the horizon until the last three months of the year and the upcoming elimination of a $7,500 US tax break for EV buyers, Musk acknowledged on Wednesday's earning call that the company could have "a few rough quarters." Musk spent the earnings call talking less about car sales and more about robotaxis, automated driving software and robotics, which he says is the future of the company. But those businesses have yet to take off, and the gap between promise and profit was apparent in the second quarter. The CEO said Tesla is "getting the regulatory permission" to launch robotaxis in several states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. He expects operations to reach "half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year" and to roll out at scale by the end of next year. So far, though, the company is operating only a small fleet in Austin, Texas, that is not available to the general public. And getting regulatory approvals, particularly in California, is likely to prove a bigger hurdle than Musk described on the call. "Tesla cannot afford a misstep with the robotaxi service," said Camelthorn Investments adviser Shawn Campbell, who owns Tesla shares. He added that "the wheels are coming off" its automotive business, with sales declines across "almost every market." Regulatory roadblocks for robotaxis The fall in core auto sales has led to more investor scrutiny of Musk's big robotaxi promises. Products such as the Cybertruck have come later than anticipated, and Musk has promised every year since 2016 that driverless Teslas would arrive no later than the following year. Many questions on Wednesday's call focused on how quickly Tesla would be able to expand robotaxi services and the regulatory hurdles that remain. Musk said he expected the robotaxi business would have a "material impact" on Tesla's business by the end of next year. In April, he said it would become material "around the middle of next year," and predicted "millions of Teslas operating autonomously" by the second half of 2026. The San Francisco Bay Area was first on Musk's list of expansion markets, but California regulators told Reuters on Wednesday that Tesla had not yet applied for permits needed to pick up and charge passengers for rides in fully autonomous vehicles. Companies need a series of permits from both the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in order to test and deploy autonomous vehicles in the state. To date, Tesla only has obtained the first in a series of permits needed to launch a service, and spokespeople for both agencies said the company has not applied for the additional permits needed to test and operate autonomous vehicles. Tesla did not respond immediately to a request for comment. It disclosed in a filing on Thursday that regulators have asked for information on its robotaxi plans. California has no specific time period to grant such permits, but Alphabet's Waymo, which offers autonomous ride-hailing in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, logged more than 13 million testing miles (20.9 million kilometres) and secured seven different regulatory approvals over nine years before receiving approval to charge passengers for rides in driverless robotaxis in 2023. Tesla has logged just 562 testing miles (904 kilometres) in California since 2016, and has not reported any autonomous-driving miles to the state in six years, according to the most recent state records. Paul Miller, principal analyst at market research and consultancy firm Forrester, pointed to Musk's comment about addressing half of the U.S. population "subject to regulatory approvals." "That caveat is an important one, as regulatory approvals take time," he said. Other markets Musk mentioned could move faster. In Arizona, a state Department of Transportation spokesperson said Tesla contacted state officials last month and had applied for permits to test and operate autonomous vehicles with and without a safety driver. The agency said a decision is expected at the end of the month. Some investors are also seeking more specifics about the Austin launch. Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, a Tesla investor, said he was disappointed the EV maker gave no updates on its earnings call on when the Austin service, which is currently available only to a select group of people who've been invited to use it, would be available to the general public or how many vehicles would be on the road. "It seemed like he wanted to kind of steer clear of really putting hard estimates out there for how things play out," Munster said. Protests, lack of a cheaper car also hurdles A big challenge is that potential buyers not just in the U.S. but Europe and elsewhere are still balking at buying Teslas. Musk alienated many in the market for cars in Britain, France, Germany and elsewhere by embracing far-right politicians there. Protest have popped up at Tesla showrooms and on the streets of big cities around the world, including in Canada, following Musk's foray into U.S. politics. Rival electric vehicle makers such as China's BYD and German's Volkswagen have pounced on the weakness, stealing market share. One way for Tesla to boost sales while waiting for that future: A cheaper model. The company is planning to introduce that to the market in the last three months of the year. Tesla had previously said that was going to happen by June. Musk also said he expected regulatory approval to introduce its so-called full self-driving software in some parts of Europe by the end of the year. Musk had previously expected that to happen by March of this year. The feature, which is available in the U.S., is a misnomer because it is only a driver-assistance feature.
Sky News
a day ago
- Business
- Sky News
A profit boost for Lloyds, working mums and a trade deal with India
Darren McCaffrey talks to Allie Renison, director of SEC Newgate, about the new trade deal between the UK and India. Darren is also joined by Lloyds banking boss Charlie Nunn to discuss a rise in the company's profits. And Sophie Maunder, from maternity coaching provider Matri, talks about why some women aren't going back to work after having children.
