Heat pump installer Richard Wilkins from Lotus Energy, screws in pipes to a Vaillant aroTHERM plus heat pump, that is being installed in a residential property in Farnham, Surrey, southwest of London, on June 2, 2025. Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images The U.K. government on Tuesday introduced new rules requiring developers to install heat pumps and solar panels in all new homes across England, in...
Heat pump installer Richard Wilkins from Lotus Energy, screws in pipes to a Vaillant aroTHERM plus heat pump, that is being installed in a residential property in Farnham, Surrey, southwest of London, on June 2, 2025. Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images The U.K. government on Tuesday introduced new rules requiring developers to install heat pumps and solar panels in all new homes across England, in policymakers' latest response to the economic fallout of the Iran conflict. U.K. ministers say the Iran war and the largest supply disruption in the history of the oil market reinforces the need to leverage clean power as an energy security tool. The Future Homes Standard — a set of new-build regulations for England from 2028 — will establish requirements to ensure homes are built with on-site renewable electricity generation, the majority of which is expected to be provided by solar power. The rules will also see homes built with low-carbon heating, such as heat pumps and heat networks. The government added that plug-in solar panels, which homeowners can install on balconies, would be available within shops over the coming months. "The Iran War has once again shown our drive for clean power is essential for our energy security so we can escape the grip of fossil fuel markets we don't control," Britain's Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement. "Whether through solar panels fitted as standard on new homes or making it possible for people to purchase plug-in solar in shops, we are determined to roll out clean power so we can give our country energy sovereignty," he added. Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband arrives in Downing Street to attend a meeting of Cabinet ahead of the Spring Statement announcement in London, United Kingdom on March 03, 2026. Wiktor Szymanowicz | Future Publishing | Getty Images The guidance was broadly welcomed by energy industry players, while some campaigners called on the U.K. government to go further to reduc...
Our cartoonist on the master beating the apprentice as Manchester City got one over Arsenal at Wembley Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025 And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...
Our cartoonist on the master beating the apprentice as Manchester City got one over Arsenal at Wembley Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025 And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now Continue reading...
A KKR logo displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 23, 2018. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Moody's Ratings on Monday downgraded a private credit fund run by KKR and Future Standard to junk amid rising bad loans and a string of weak earnings. The ratings firm lowered the debt ratings of FS KKR Capital Corp by one notch to Ba1 from Baa3 — pushing it into "junk" territory — saying ...
A KKR logo displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 23, 2018. Brendan McDermid | Reuters Moody's Ratings on Monday downgraded a private credit fund run by KKR and Future Standard to junk amid rising bad loans and a string of weak earnings. The ratings firm lowered the debt ratings of FS KKR Capital Corp by one notch to Ba1 from Baa3 — pushing it into "junk" territory — saying that the fund's underlying asset quality had worsened more than its peers. Non-accrual loans, meaning borrowers who have stopped making payments, rose to 5.5% of total investments at the end of 2025, one of the highest rates among rated BDCs, according to the report. "The downgrade reflects FSK's continued asset quality challenges, which have resulted in weaker profitability and greater net asset value erosion over time relative to business development company (BDC) peers," Moody's said. The move by Moody's is the latest sign of distress in the private credit world. Retail investors have been rushing to withdraw funds, running into gates amid concerns about upcoming credit losses, especially related to software loans. Funds like FS KKR issue debt to help juice returns, so the Moody's downgrade could increase its borrowing costs and, therefore, lower future returns. Moody's also flagged other aspects of the fund that could expose it to greater losses over time, including higher leverage, a higher proportion of payment-in-kind loans, and a lower percentage of first-lien loans than peers. FS KKR posted a net loss of $114 million in the fourth quarter alone and earned just $11 million in net income for all of 2025, according to Moody's. The fund didn't immediately return a request for comment. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
patpitchaya/iStock via Getty Images Market Environment The bond market delivered a solid total return with low volatility in the fourth quarter, closing out a generally positive year for the asset class. Fixed-income assets remained supported by a backdrop of slow but positive economic growth, an annualized inflation rate that largely held below 3%, and accommodative US Federal Reserve (Fed) polic...
patpitchaya/iStock via Getty Images Market Environment The bond market delivered a solid total return with low volatility in the fourth quarter, closing out a generally positive year for the asset class. Fixed-income assets remained supported by a backdrop of slow but positive economic growth, an annualized inflation rate that largely held below 3%, and accommodative US Federal Reserve (Fed) policy. The Fed enacted two-quarter point interest rate cuts and announced the end of its multi-year effort to reduce the size of its balance sheet. Additionally, investors appeared to anticipate that the Fed was likely to continue easing in 2026. These developments, in combination, fueled positive returns across all major segments of the market. Performance Review The Fund underperformed its benchmark during the quarter, 1.06% (IS share class) vs. 1.16%. An overweight allocation to High Yield Corporates was additive to performance, as was Investment Grade Corporates. A US Treasury underweight was a drag on performance for the quarter. Overall, strategy risks for the Fund declined during the quarter. Corporate bond risk declined slightly and remains near 50% of risk budget. While spreads widened during the quarter they remain narrow and the investment grade risk premium is also at the low end of the range. Lack of bottom-up opportunities heading into year-end provided the team room to reduce risk. Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) risk continues to be allocated in the lower half of our risk budget. Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) risk remained steady, using about one-third of risk budget. Contributors Security name Period return Portfolio impact BREX 2024-1 A1 144A 6.05 USD 07/15/2027 +1.20% +1.0 bps CAIXABANK SA 144A W/O RTS 4.634 USD 07/03/2029 +1.45% +1.0 bps CARNIVAL CORP USD 144A W/O RTS 5.75 USD 03/15/2030 +2.20% +1.0 bps FHMS K531 AS 4.53858 USD 09/25/2029 +1.24% +1.0 bps GSMS 2012-BWTR A 144A 2.954 USD 11/05/2034 +3.36% +1.0 bps Click to enlarge Country/Sector P...
G. Willi-Food press release ( WILC ): FY GAAP EPS of $2.04. Revenue of $191.41M (+6.0% Y/Y). Cash and cash equivalents balance of NIS 124.2 million (US$ 38.9 million) as of December 31, 2025. More on G. Willi-Food Financial information for G. Willi-Food
G. Willi-Food press release ( WILC ): FY GAAP EPS of $2.04. Revenue of $191.41M (+6.0% Y/Y). Cash and cash equivalents balance of NIS 124.2 million (US$ 38.9 million) as of December 31, 2025. More on G. Willi-Food Financial information for G. Willi-Food
Good morning . Fighting in the Middle East continued unabated. US investigators are examining the black box from the LaGuardia crash. And why Red Lobster’s recovery plan may be faltering. Listen to the day’s top stories . — Marcus Wright Market Snapshot S&P 500 Futures 6,629.00 -0.1% Nasdaq 100 Futures 24,402.25 -0.0% Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index 1,207.65 +0.2% Market data as of 07:15 AM ET. Data i...
Good morning . Fighting in the Middle East continued unabated. US investigators are examining the black box from the LaGuardia crash. And why Red Lobster’s recovery plan may be faltering. Listen to the day’s top stories . — Marcus Wright Market Snapshot S&P 500 Futures 6,629.00 -0.1% Nasdaq 100 Futures 24,402.25 -0.0% Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index 1,207.65 +0.2% Market data as of 07:15 AM ET. Data is subject to provider delays. Fighting between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance continued unabated , a day after Donald Trump claimed talks are under way to end the conflict. Saudi Arabia has indicated it’s closer to joining the attacks on Iran , the Wall Street Journal reported. Stocks struggled for direction and oil rose, as traders grappled with a wide range of possible outcomes . US investigators are decoding the black box from the Air Canada Express plane that collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia to determine what caused the first deadly accident at the airport in more than 30 years. And read our account of how panic set in as air-traffic controllers helped the fire truck navigate a rain-slicked tarmac in the moments before the crash. Bessent’s Longshot Deficit Goal Undercut by War and Tariff News Read more More signs of stress in the world of private credit. Apollo capped withdrawals from one of its largest non-traded funds for retail investors. And a fund run by Future Standard and KKR was cut to junk by Moody’s, a rare occurrence in the $1.8 trillion market. Senators from both parties signaled optimism about a deal to fund the DHS and end the five-week partial shutdown, which has increasingly snarled air travel across the country. Separately, the Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Markwayne Mullin as DHS secretary, putting the Oklahoma senator and former mixed martial arts fighter in charge of Trump’s immigration crackdown . Nintendo is cutting Switch 2 production after demand for the $450 gaming console trailed expectations , particularly in the US. And if you were s...
6381380/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment thesis ProFrac ( ACDC ) is among the largest U.S. completions players. It offers hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services, supplies proppant/sand, and owns a controlling stake in Flotek ( FTK ), a listed company with a focus on production chemicals. As a measure of ProFrac's competitive position, DrillSource sizes the U.S. frac market at $16 bil...
6381380/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Investment thesis ProFrac ( ACDC ) is among the largest U.S. completions players. It offers hydraulic fracturing (fracking) services, supplies proppant/sand, and owns a controlling stake in Flotek ( FTK ), a listed company with a focus on production chemicals. As a measure of ProFrac's competitive position, DrillSource sizes the U.S. frac market at $16 billion annually. ProFrac's frac revenue of $1.5 billion is almost 10% of it. For the last 20 days or so, the only energy news you would see has been the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Make no mistake - this is an unprecedented event that, by some estimates, already resulted in 10 million bbl/d of forced production shut-ins. Oil markets are notoriously inelastic in the short term, so taking offline 10% of global supply is already causing extremely high prices. These events aren't bullish for oilfield services names (or OFS) with exposure to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region. Saudi Aramco is reported to have suspended much of its drilling activity, and this is negative for companies like Nabors ( NBR ) or Weatherford ( WFRD ). Conversely, OFS players with a U.S. focus, such as ACDC or Patterson-UTI ( PTEN ), moved up, likely on hopes that U.S. exploration and production (E&P) companies will ramp up investment. Data by YCharts The market's assessment isn't incorrect. While I don't expect public E&Ps to ramp up by much, one-third of U.S. production is still run by private companies that are more responsive to oil price changes. However - and that is important for the durability of the investment thesis - the U.S. completions market had already bottomed before the escalation with Iran, likely somewhere between Q3/Q4 of last year. This was confirmed by ProFrac's Q4 report and is due to longer-term factors that are discussed below. U.S. completions activity has bottomed Completions fleets (or frac spreads) have been on a steady downtrend for a few years now, but the metric...
Getty Images I last covered leading Mexican discount airline Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. ( VLRS ), more commonly known as Volaris, back in December. At the time, I downgraded shares to a sell, arguing that the market was not sufficiently accounting for macroeconomic headwinds . That turned out to be inopportune timing. Just days after I published that article, Volaris a...
Getty Images I last covered leading Mexican discount airline Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. ( VLRS ), more commonly known as Volaris, back in December. At the time, I downgraded shares to a sell, arguing that the market was not sufficiently accounting for macroeconomic headwinds . That turned out to be inopportune timing. Just days after I published that article, Volaris announced that it was planning to merge with VivaAerobus, Mexico's third-largest airline. This sent shares up from $8 to as high as $10.80 per share in the coming weeks, and understandably so, given that this merger could dramatically improve Volaris's profitability picture. However, the merger-related bump has now ended; Volaris shares have dropped 30% in recent weeks: Data by YCharts This leaves the stock in an interesting place. Had I known about the pending merger news, I wouldn't have taken a bearish view on Volaris. That said, macroeconomic headwinds are certainly asserting themselves. In addition to the concerns I had about Mexico's economic outlook for 2026, we now have the war in Iran and the ensuing surge in jet fuel prices. So, where does that leave things today? Recent Earnings Weren't Great Volaris reported its Q4 earnings on February 24th. These were fairly uninspiring. EPS of 4 cents fell from 40 cents in the year prior and missed expectations by 23 cents. Revenues of $882 million grew 5.6% year-over-year but missed the consensus estimate by $34 million. The company's EBITDAR was flat, but margins fell as the company's revenue growth didn't translate into increased profitability. I don't think Q4 was a huge driver for the stock price, despite the soft results. That's because analysts had already been expecting a challenging 2026 for Volaris, and the recent rebound in the share price was more tied to long-term market dynamics than any immediate factors. When we look at the EPS forecasts going forward, analysts are quite cautious, forecasting outright losses in ...
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock via Getty Images M&A activity is now heating up again in the REIT sector ( VNQ ). Public Storage ( PSA ) just announced that it would acquire its smaller peer, National Storage Affiliates Trust ( NSA ), in a multibillion-dollar transaction, paying a 34% premium in the process. Data by YCharts Earlier this year, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. ( BAM ) also acquired Peakston...
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock via Getty Images M&A activity is now heating up again in the REIT sector ( VNQ ). Public Storage ( PSA ) just announced that it would acquire its smaller peer, National Storage Affiliates Trust ( NSA ), in a multibillion-dollar transaction, paying a 34% premium in the process. Data by YCharts Earlier this year, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. ( BAM ) also acquired Peakstone Realty Trust ( PKST ), paying a steep 34% premium, as well as National Storage REIT ( NTSGF ), again with a nice 26% premium for its shareholders: Data by YCharts Brookfield And these are not isolated cases. Blackstone also attempted to acquire Big Yellow Group Plc ( BYLOF ) in late 2025, after already acquiring Retail Opportunity Investment (ROIC) earlier that year. It also acquired tens of billions of dollars worth of REITs in earlier years, including American Campus Communities (ACC), Tricon REIT (TCN), and Apartment Income REIT (AIRC), always paying steep premiums in the process. Blackstone The reason why all these M&A deals are happening is simply that REITs are today trading at steep discounts relative to their net asset values. They have suffered a multi-year bear market, and it is not uncommon to find REITs trading at a 20%, 30%, or even 40% discount relative to the fair market value of their assets: Principal As such, these sophisticated private equity players see an opportunity in REITs to acquire high-quality real estate at a discount. Even after paying a 20-30% premium, they still think that they are getting a good deal. And given that valuations remain low, I would expect many more deals later this year. These three REITs could be next in line: Shurgard Self Storage Ltd ( SSSAF ) Shurgard is the leading self-storage REIT in Europe (SHUR.BR). I think that a buyout is likely because the REIT trades at a steep discount relative to American self-storage peers, despite enjoying faster long-term growth prospects. Shurgard Moreover, Public Storage, the biggest self-...
Alithya (TSX: ALYA) is pleased to announce the expansion of its collaboration with Shamrock Technologies, a global leader in specialty additives manufacturing. Following the successful deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management within the company's U.S. operations, Alithya will now lead the implementation at the company's European headquarters in Belgium.
Alithya (TSX: ALYA) is pleased to announce the expansion of its collaboration with Shamrock Technologies, a global leader in specialty additives manufacturing. Following the successful deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management within the company's U.S. operations, Alithya will now lead the implementation at the company's European headquarters in Belgium.