The Eneos Arrow oil tanker arrives at an open-sea berth of the Shirashima National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on Friday, March 27, 2026. Japan began releasing 8.5 million kiloliters, about a month's consumption worth of crude oil, from its national reserves starting on March 26 to ease a supply crunch as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively blocked. Ph...
The Eneos Arrow oil tanker arrives at an open-sea berth of the Shirashima National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on Friday, March 27, 2026. Japan began releasing 8.5 million kiloliters, about a month's consumption worth of crude oil, from its national reserves starting on March 26 to ease a supply crunch as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively blocked. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
MSC Industrial Direct press release ( MSM ): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.82 misses by $0.02 . Revenue of $917.8M (+2.9% Y/Y) misses by $13.67M . Full-Year Fiscal 2026 Outlook for Certain Financial Metrics Maintained Depreciation and amortization expense of ~$95M-$100M Interest and other expense of ~$35M Capital expenditures of ~$100M-$110M Free cash flow conversion1 of ~90% Tax rate of ~24.5%-25.5% Thir...
MSC Industrial Direct press release ( MSM ): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $0.82 misses by $0.02 . Revenue of $917.8M (+2.9% Y/Y) misses by $13.67M . Full-Year Fiscal 2026 Outlook for Certain Financial Metrics Maintained Depreciation and amortization expense of ~$95M-$100M Interest and other expense of ~$35M Capital expenditures of ~$100M-$110M Free cash flow conversion1 of ~90% Tax rate of ~24.5%-25.5% Third Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Outlook ADS Growth (YoY) 5.0% - 7.0% Adjusted Operating Margin1 9.7% - 10.3% Click to enlarge More on MSC Industrial Direct MSC Industrial: A New Upcycle Appears To Be Forming MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. (MSM) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. 2026 Q1 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation MSC Industrial Direct Q2 2026 Earnings Preview MSC Industrial expects 20% incremental operating margins for FY26 as productivity and pricing drive outlook
OpenAI’s huge funding round could reignite AI excitement, Apple turns 50, NASA is about to send four astronauts on trip around the moon, and more news to start your day.
OpenAI’s huge funding round could reignite AI excitement, Apple turns 50, NASA is about to send four astronauts on trip around the moon, and more news to start your day.
Sandhu Ponnachan appears in court on charges of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm A 36-year-old man has been remanded into custody after appearing in court accused of dangerous driving after seven people were injured when a car hit pedestrians in Derby on Saturday night. Sandhu Ponnachan, from the Alvaston area of the city, appeared at Southern Derbyshire magistrates court on Wedn...
Sandhu Ponnachan appears in court on charges of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm A 36-year-old man has been remanded into custody after appearing in court accused of dangerous driving after seven people were injured when a car hit pedestrians in Derby on Saturday night. Sandhu Ponnachan, from the Alvaston area of the city, appeared at Southern Derbyshire magistrates court on Wednesday having also been charged with six counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of attempted grievous bodily harm, and one count of possession of a bladed article. Continue reading...
Philipp Berezhnoy/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Today Nike Inc. ( NKE ) is a classic story of a "fallen angel". Shares of one of the world leaders of sports equipment are trading near five-year lows, at the level of $52, having lost almost 21% of value just for the last year. The capitalization of the company shrunk to $77 billion. The market mercilessly discounts the shares, reacting to a ser...
Philipp Berezhnoy/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Today Nike Inc. ( NKE ) is a classic story of a "fallen angel". Shares of one of the world leaders of sports equipment are trading near five-year lows, at the level of $52, having lost almost 21% of value just for the last year. The capitalization of the company shrunk to $77 billion. The market mercilessly discounts the shares, reacting to a series of weak quarterly reports and the loss of market share. At the same time, behind the current pessimism of Wall Street hides a fundamental turnaround in the strategy of the company. In my view, the deep crisis of Nike is not a result of a sudden loss of the power of the brand or irreversible macroeconomic factors. This is a direct consequence of one, but monumental strategic mistake of management: an attempt to pull an IT-model of sales onto traditional fashion-retail. The realization of this mistake and the aggressive return to the classic model of distribution under the leadership of the new CEO creates a rare point of entry for long-term investors. The profile of the company and the essence of the problem: The illusion of direct margin Historically the empire of Nike was built on a total, aggressive presence everywhere — from premium boutiques to local multi-brand sports networks. The brand was everywhere. But there is a catch: the past leadership, headed by a tech sector veteran John Donahoe (ex-eBay, ServiceNow), decided to rewrite the rules of the game, having made a radical bet on the model Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) — direct sales to the consumer. On paper, in presentations for investors, the mathematics of this strategy seemed flawless and seductive. Why give away sneakers to a wholesaler for $50, losing control over the client experience, if one can sell them through one's own mobile application SNKRS or branded site directly to the final buyer for $100? In the chase for a multiple increase of gross margin Nike began to methodically and purposefully tear ten-year...
Africa’s biggest fund manager is seeking a buyer for Daybreak Foods (Pty) Ltd. , its wholly owned chicken business in South Africa that has been plagued by scandals and a business-rescue process. The Public Investment Corp. , which manages 3.7 trillion rand ($220 billion) in South African state-worker pension funds, plans to sell “more then 60%” of the company, Chairman David Masondo said in reply...
Africa’s biggest fund manager is seeking a buyer for Daybreak Foods (Pty) Ltd. , its wholly owned chicken business in South Africa that has been plagued by scandals and a business-rescue process. The Public Investment Corp. , which manages 3.7 trillion rand ($220 billion) in South African state-worker pension funds, plans to sell “more then 60%” of the company, Chairman David Masondo said in reply to questions. “We’ve got to exit it because we became a 100% shareholder by default,” he said earlier on Bloomberg Television. “We need to get an operational, strategic equity partner that will invest in the asset.” The PIC has invested 1.7 billion rand over the past decade and placed it in a business-rescue process in June last year. Allegations of mismanagement, financial distress, regulatory issues and incidences of animal cruelty have dogged the company, with Masondo saying the company has seen operational and financial improvements during the business-rescue process. Read more: Chicken Producer Owned by Top Africa Fund Manager Seeks New Debt Daybreak still supplies about 6% of the chicken market in South Africa, with the continent’s biggest economy producing close to 1.7 million tons of protein a year. The country is home to some of the largest chicken-producing companies in the region including Astral Foods Ltd. , of which the PIC also owns 24%, and Rainbow Chicken , majority-owned by South African billionaire Johann Rupert ’s Remgro Ltd. Daybreak forms part of the PIC’s unlisted portfolio business worth about 127 billion rand. “There are distressed assets, and we will have to get some specialists to work with with the PIC in order to turn around those assets,” said Masondo. Sign up here for the daily Next Africa newsletter, and subscribe to the Next Africa podcast on Apple , Spotify or anywhere you listen .
Getty Images Hope springs eternal on Wall Street. Despite the US and world economies being hit by an unusually serious oil, natural gas, and food price shock, over the past month, the S&P 500 index has declined by only 7.5 percent from its all-time high. That leaves equity valuations more than 50 percent above their long-term average. It also leaves the overall valuation of the stock market at clo...
Getty Images Hope springs eternal on Wall Street. Despite the US and world economies being hit by an unusually serious oil, natural gas, and food price shock, over the past month, the S&P 500 index has declined by only 7.5 percent from its all-time high. That leaves equity valuations more than 50 percent above their long-term average. It also leaves the overall valuation of the stock market at close to 200 percent of GDP, which is historically around double its post-Second World War average. One reason for surprise at the stock market’s complacency is that we are currently experiencing the largest oil and natural gas supply disruption on record. The closure of the Straits of Hormuz is currently depriving the world of around 20 million barrels of oil a day, or some 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. The supply of natural gas and refined petroleum products, like diesel and jet fuel, is being hit even harder by the closure of the Straits. No one knows how long the Straits of Hormuz will remain closed and how much further damage the Iranians will inflict on their Gulf neighbors’ oil and natural gas installations. However, we do know that the Gulf countries have been forced to curtail production for want of storage space, and that it will take several months for the Gulf countries to get their oil and gas fields restarted once the Straits are reopened. We also know that Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has had some 17 percent of its production damaged in a way that will take between three and five years to restore. Another reason that the stock market seems to be overly complacent about the energy price shock is that it appears to be overlooking the context in which that shock is occurring. Even before that shock, strains were emerging in both the $2 trillion private credit market and the $3 trillion real commercial real estate loan markets. The energy price shock, coupled with a lack of fertilizer-induced food price shock, is certain to k...