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Source: https://brandsjournal.com/feed/

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<title>Garmin’s Q1 results beat on strong demand for fitness, auto products</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/garmins-q1-results-beat-on-strong-demand-for-fitness-auto-products/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 20:00:27 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[Garmin’s Q1 results beat on strong demand for fitness, auto products (Reuters) -Garmin topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results on Wednesday as the Swiss navigation device maker benefited from…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Garmin’s Q1 results beat on strong demand for fitness, auto products</h1>
(Reuters) -Garmin topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results on Wednesday as the Swiss navigation device maker benefited from new launches and strong demand for its products in fitness and auto segments, sending its shares up 9.6%.
Garmin, which offers GPS devices and technology used for fitness tracking, sports, aviation and marine sectors, has introduced upgrades on its devices and launched new products, which have powered revenue growth.
In the first quarter, it launched Forerunner 165 series, the latest addition to Garmin’s wearable lineup of GPS running smartwatches, fitted with personalized adaptive training plans.
It also increased efforts toward bolstering its Outdoor segment with newly launched products such as eTrex Solar, Garmin’s first solar-charging handheld GPS, and Descent G1 Solar Ocean Edition, a smartwatch made with recycled ocean plastics.
Garmin’s first-quarter revenue surged 20% to $1.38 billion, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $1.25 billion, according to LSEG data.
Revenue at its auto original equipment manufacturers segment jumped 58% to $129 million, thanks to an expansion in its customer base for domain controllers due to higher shipments to BMW.
Revenue at its fitness segment, which offers wearable like smartwatches, surged 40% to $342.9 million. Garmin’s adjusted profit of $1.42 per share exceeded expectations of $1.01, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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<title>Stocks, dollar dip after data with eyes on Fed</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/stocks-dollar-dip-after-data-with-eyes-on-fed/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 19:27:06 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[Stocks, dollar dip after data with eyes on Fed By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gauge of global stocks declined for the first time in three sessions on…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Stocks, dollar dip after data with eyes on Fed</h1>
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A gauge of global stocks declined for the first time in three sessions on Wednesday while the dollar dipped against a basket of peers after a flurry of U.S. economic data and ahead of a policy announcement by the Federal Reserve.
On Wall Street, U.S. stocks were lower for the first trading day of the month, after each of the major indexes closed out April with their first monthly declines since October.
U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in April while data for the prior month was revised higher, the ADP Employment report showed.
A separate report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, showed U.S. job openings fell to a three-year low in March, while the number of people quitting their jobs declined, indications of easing labor market conditions that could potentially aid the Fed in its fight against inflation.
Other data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed U.S. manufacturing contracted in April amid a decline in orders after briefly expanding in the prior month as the sector struggles to regain consistent momentum.
The data comes ahead of the government’s key employment report on Friday.
The Fed is widely expected to hold rates steady at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, with a focus on comments from Chair Jerome Powell that could give a clearer sense of how recent disappointing inflation readings have changed the expectation for interest rate cuts this year.
Markets have dialed back expectations for the timing and amount of rate cuts from the central bank this year, as inflation has proved to be sticky and the labor market remains on solid footing.
“There will be a lot of questions about the timing of this cut, if there’s a hike in play,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta.
“This is a very, very live press conference that could go several directions, I’m certain he has a path he wants to lead the tenor of the press conference.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.28 points, or 0.19%, to 37,889.20, the S&P 500 lost 9.46 points, or 0.19%, to 5,026.23 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 8.07 points, or 0.05%, to 15,649.75.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.91 points, or 0.25%, to 754.70.
Investors were also grappling with a deluge of U.S. corporate earnings, with Amazon up about 3% after its quarterly results to help lift the Dow.
The dollar index fell 0.12% to 106.19 before the Fed statement after earlier reaching 106.49, the highest since April 16, with the euro up 0.14% at $1.068.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.9 basis points to 4.655%, from 4.684% late on Tuesday. The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 3.6 basis points to 5.0102%, from 5.046%
European bond markets were closed for the May 1 holiday as were most stock markets in Europe and those in China, Hong Kong and much of Asia.
Of the stock markets that were trading, Britain’s FTSE lost 0.33%, and Japan’s Nikkei dipped closed down 0.34%.
Oil prices fell for a third day on Wednesday on increasing hopes for a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East and extending declines after the U.S. EIA storage report.
U.S. crude lost 1.48% to $80.72 a barrel and Brent fell to $85.1 per barrel, down 1.42% on the day.
 
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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<title>Apple set for big sales decline as investors await AI in iPhones</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/apple-set-for-big-sales-decline-as-investors-await-ai-in-iphones/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 19:00:47 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[Apple set for big sales decline as investors await AI in iPhones By Yuvraj Malik (Reuters) – Apple’s plan to add generative AI to its iPhones and revive sagging sales…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Apple set for big sales decline as investors await AI in iPhones</h1>
By Yuvraj Malik
(Reuters) – Apple’s plan to add generative AI to its iPhones and revive sagging sales in the crucial Chinese market will be in focus on Thursday, when the tech giant is expected to report its biggest quarterly revenue decline in more than a year.
Long considered a must-own stock on Wall Street, Apple shares have underperformed other Big Tech companies in recent months, falling more than 10% year to date as fears mount about its slow roll out of AI services and as a resurgent Huawei takes market share in China.
Analysts on average see iPhone sales, which account for about half of Apple’s revenue, falling 10.4% in the first three months of 2024, according to LSEG. That drop would be the steepest in more than three years.
Analysts estimate Apple’s total revenue declined 5% in its second quarter, which included January through March. That would be Apple’s biggest revenue decline since the December-quarter of 2022, when revenue fell 5.5%.
Apple earlier this year lost the crown of the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft and its market value now stands at $2.68 trillion after the decline in its share price in 2024.
Weak revenue and falling shares have put pressure on Apple to spruce up its flagship device after years without major upgrades.
The company is in talks with OpenAI and Alphabet-owned Google to add genAI features for the iPhone that could be unveiled at what is expected to be its biggest-ever annual developer conference in June, Bloomberg News has reported.
Analysts believe such an AI integration could drive demand for the next iPhone series, expected to be announced in the fall.
While executives at Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and other major technology firms have talked up their AI strategies on quarterly conference calls in recent months, Apple CEO Tim Cook has discussed his plans for the emerging technology much less.
Adding AI features to iPhones could also help Apple to compete better with Huawei and Samsung Electronics, which reclaimed the title of the world’s top smartphone vendor from Apple earlier this year, driven by demand for the AI features in its Galaxy S24 smartphones.
“Replacement cycle tailwinds and incremental generative AI features set up Apple well for a strong iPhone 16 cycle,” Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said this week, upgrading his rating on the company’s shares to “outperform” from “market-perform”.
“We believe prevailing weakness in China is more cyclical than structural, and note historically Apple’s China business has exhibited much higher volatility than Apple overall, given its very feature-sensitive installed base.”
Thursday’s earnings will also be watched closely for updates on the company’s stock buyback plan and the Vision Pro, Apple’s first major product in years that hit the shelves in February.
After initial enthusiasm, there have been signs that demand slowed for the $3,500 device, with an analyst saying this month that Apple has pulled back its production estimates for the mixed-reality headset.
The rest of the company’s hardware business is also reeling from soft demand, with iPads and Mac sales expected to fall 11.4% and 4.3%, respectively, in the March quarter.
Apple has signaled it is sharpening its focus on the devices, which have also been hobbled by a lack of major upgrades.
The company is hosting an event later this month where a revamped iPad line-up is expected to be unveiled and media reports have said that it plans to update every Mac model with faster, AI-focused M4 processors.
The services business – which includes money earned from App Store and subscription services such as Apple TV – is expected to remain a bright spot with revenue growth of 7.7%.
 
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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<title>Sterling holds steady as markets await Fed decision</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/sterling-holds-steady-as-markets-await-fed-decision/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 18:26:51 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[Sterling holds steady as markets await Fed decision By Harry Robertson LONDON (Reuters) – The pound held steady on Wednesday as traders waited for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Sterling holds steady as markets await Fed decision</h1>
By Harry Robertson
LONDON (Reuters) – The pound held steady on Wednesday as traders waited for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later in the day for hints about when U.S. borrowing costs might start to fall.
Sterling was last effectively unchanged from Tuesday at $1.2488, after falling 0.55% the previous day as the dollar rallied on the back of strong U.S. economic data.
The euro was also roughly flat at 85.46 pence, within the tight range it has traded in since the start of the year.
Global markets were relatively subdued, with traders off for May Day or International Workers’ Day in many countries.
The Fed announces its decision at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) and is widely expected to leave rates at 5.25% to 5.5%. Investors’ focus will be on Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the recent string of stronger-than-expected economic data, which could influence the dollar and global currency markets.
Data on Tuesday showed that growth in U.S. labour costs accelerated in the first quarter of the year, sparking a rise in U.S. bond yields and the dollar that weighed on sterling, the euro and other major currencies.
The pound has fallen 1.9% this year as the dollar has risen, although it has outperformed the euro’s 3.4% drop thanks partly to a stronger economy and price pressures.
Traders on Wednesday pushed back their expectations for the first Bank of England interest rate cut so that they no longer fully expect one by September, in the wake of Tuesday’s U.S. data.
Analysts say other major central banks will find it more difficult to cut interest rates if the Fed is leaving them on hold, not least because it could trigger a sharp drop in their currencies.
“The start of the BoE’s rate-cutting cycle should see GBP weaken,” said Paul Mackel, head of FX research at HSBC, in a note.
“HSBC Economics expects the BoE to begin cutting rates in June, which should start mechanically compressing the nominal yields of the currency versus those that are not rushing to cut.”
Data on Wednesday showed that British house prices fell unexpectedly for a second month running during April, pointing to some moderation in the recent recovery in housing market activity.
Separate data showed British manufacturing fell back into contraction in April, although sterling showed little discernible reaction.
 
(Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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<item>
<title>GSK raises profit outlook on strong vaccine, HIV drug sales</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/gsk-raises-profit-outlook-on-strong-vaccine-hiv-drug-sales/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 18:19:35 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[GSK raises profit outlook on strong vaccine, HIV drug sales By Eva Mathews and Maggie Fick (Reuters) -GSK raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday on strong demand for its…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>GSK raises profit outlook on strong vaccine, HIV drug sales</h1>
By Eva Mathews and Maggie Fick
(Reuters) -GSK raised its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday on strong demand for its common respiratory vaccine and specialty HIV medicines, though it expects sales growth to slow in the second half.
CEO Emma Walmsley’s strategy has focussed on vaccines, cancer and infectious diseases and a shift in the company’s HIV focus to long-acting treatment and prevention therapies. The strategy has paid off as GSK gears up for 12 launches from 2025.
The London-listed drugmaker said it expected a rise of 8% to 10% in annual adjusted earnings per share, up from the 6%-9% growth previously forecast. It expects 2024 sales to grow at the upper end of its 5% to 7% forecast range.
Sales of recently launched products such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Arexvy and bone marrow cancer therapy Ojjaara have been strong since the start of 2024, while asthma drug Trelegy also performed better than expected, GSK said.
Arexvy has dominated the RSV vaccine market in the U.S. since its launch last year, outperforming sales of rival Pfizer’s shot to have two-thirds market share in the first quarter. RSV, which typically causes cold-like symptoms, is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and older adults.
Walmsley told journalists the company hoped to launch the shot for 50-59 year-olds before the start of the next RSV season, which includes about 15 million at-risk Americans.
GSK shares have risen more than 25% since the launch of its RSV vaccine in the U.S. in mid-August 2023. The FTSE 100 group’s shares were up 1.8% to 1,703 pence by 0950 GMT.
The company also attributed its increased forecast to a successful royalty dispute appeal for ovary cancer drug Zejula in the first quarter.
It reported a first-quarter profit of 43.1 pence per share on sales of 7.36 billion pounds ($9.18 billion), beating analysts’ forecasts for 37.3 pence earnings and sales of 7.07 billion pounds, a company-compiled consensus showed.
Sales growth was expected to slow in the second half, GSK said.
“In particular, second half 2024, compared to the same period in the prior year, is expected to be influenced by the 2023 launch dynamics and initial channel inventory build attributable to Arexvy. In addition, we expect the majority of Shingrix sales in China to be in the first half,” it said in a statement.
GSK is also in the midst of a series of lawsuit settlements related to its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac in the United States, alleging the blockbuster medicine also sold by other companies, caused cancer.
“GSK reported growth in all key therapeutic areas, increased R&D spend, and strong consumer uptake for its RSV vaccine, Arexvy. As expected no update on Zantac today, but we expect news in the coming weeks on any settlement,” said Lucy Coutts, investment director at wealth management firm JM Finn, which holds GSK shares.
The company took a provision of 312 million pounds in the first quarter for various legal liabilities, up from 267 million pounds in the Oct-Dec period.
GSK has not disclosed how much it expects to pay out for the thousands of Zantac cases still pending, but analysts have estimated total costs at about $5 billion.
($1 = 0.8020 pounds)
(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru and Maggie Fick in London; Additional reporting by Lucy Raitano; editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Tomasz Janowski, Elaine Hardcastle)
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<item>
<title>AI fuels cloud computing boom for tech giants</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/ai-fuels-cloud-computing-boom-for-tech-giants/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 18:05:35 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[AI fuels cloud computing boom for tech giants By Yuvraj Malik (Reuters) – Three of the Wall Street’s heavyweight technology firms have reported better-than-expected sales at their cloud computing units…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>AI fuels cloud computing boom for tech giants</h1>
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<div class="font-knowledge regular line-height-1-5 color-black f6 pt16 pb20 border-bottom border-gray-22 story-copy" dir="auto" data-qa-component="item-story" data-rc-highlight="story">
By Yuvraj Malik
(Reuters) – Three of the Wall Street’s heavyweight technology firms have reported better-than-expected sales at their cloud computing units in recent days, as interest in artificial intelligence drives a rebound in spending by corporate customers.
Growth in the $270 billion cloud infrastructure market, a cash engine for Amazon.com, Microsoft and Alphabet, gives the clearest sign yet that AI investment is bearing fruit after investors drove those stocks to record highs, thanks to optimism about the emerging technology.
Many big customers have started spending again on cloud computing after pausing last year to cut costs, executives and analysts said.
Amazon, the last of trio to report on Tuesday, said its cloud computing arm AWS grew 17% in the January-to-March period, above Wall Street’s 15% growth estimate, and hit a $100 billion annual run-rate for the first time.
Performance was consistent at Microsoft’s Azure and Google Cloud, which grew above expectations at 31% and 28%, respectively, in the first three months of the year.
“Looking across AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, it is clear that two things are happening simultaneously – AI is contributing to growth, but also the rest of cloud spending is accelerating,” said D.A. Davidson & Co analyst Gil Luria.
For several years cloud infrastructure providers enjoyed growth rates as high as 60% and demand shot up during the COVID-19 pandemic as more businesses moved online. However, firms had to realign expectation last year as customer pulled back spends in an increasingly challenging business environment.
The industry has been at the forefront of adopting AI and customers had begun to buy the new functionality at a rapid pace, executives said.
“The number of Azure AI customers continues to grow and average spend continues to increase,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the company earnings call, adding that more than 65% of the Fortune 500 companies were Azure OpenAI Service customers.
AI services contributed 7 percentage-points in growth to Azure, up from 6 percentage points in the Oct-Dec quarter.
More than 60% of funded generative AI startups and nearly 90% of genAI unicorns were using Google Cloud, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said on his company’s earnings call last week.
“There is an inevitable and continuous migration of workloads to the cloud and consolidation of IT spending going towards large platforms, including the hyperscalers,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria.
Hyperscalers are cloud providers with a large network of data centers and wide range of services, and are often preferred for end-to-end workload support.
 
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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<title>Britain’s Next keeps profit guidance after first-quarter sales rise</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/britains-next-keeps-profit-guidance-after-first-quarter-sales-rise/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 16:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://brandsjournal.com/?p=24707</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Britain’s Next keeps profit guidance after first-quarter sales rise By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) -British clothing retailer Next on Wednesday kept its forecast for annual profit after reporting a 5.7%…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Britain’s Next keeps profit guidance after first-quarter sales rise</h1>
By James Davey
LONDON (Reuters) -British clothing retailer Next on Wednesday kept its forecast for annual profit after reporting a 5.7% rise in first-quarter full price sales, slightly ahead of its guidance.
With more than 800 stores in the UK and Ireland and nearly 8 million online customers, Next is often considered a gauge of how British consumers are faring.
The group reiterated that it expects its sales in the second quarter to be weaker than the first quarter to April 27 because last year it benefited from particularly warm weather from late May to the end of June.
It expected a profit before tax of 960 million pounds ($1.2 billion) in its 2024/25 year, up from 918 million pounds in 2023/24.
It also kept its forecast for full-price sales to increase 2.5% over the year, guiding to a fall of 0.3% in the second quarter and a rise of 2.5% in the third and fourth quarters.
Shares in Next were down 1% in early trading on Wednesday, paring 2024 gains to 10%, reflecting the lack of a profit upgrade for the year.
First-quarter store sales were flat, while online sales were up 8.8%.
Last month, Next said prospects for Britain’s consumers were the brightest since before the pandemic.
It said positives included wages rising faster than prices and zero inflation in the group’s own products. Risk factors were a weakening jobs market and consumers having to renegotiate mortgages at higher rates.
“Next should benefit from improving UK real disposable incomes albeit it may still be affected somewhat by the lagged impact from higher interest rates,” RBC Europe analysts said.
Industry data published on Tuesday showed UK clothing and footwear prices fell in April as retailers offered promotions to encourage consumer spend.
Next has guided for its selling prices on like-for-like goods to be down 2.0% in its first half versus last year, with deflation of 0.5% in the second half.
Last week rival Primark raised its profit outlook despite cautioning the consumer environment “remains soft”.
(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar and Barbara Lewis)
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<item>
<title>US spending on London real estate rebounds to highest in eight years</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/us-spending-on-london-real-estate-rebounds-to-highest-in-eight-years-2/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[jcp]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 15:54:59 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://brandsjournal.com/?p=24702</guid>
<description><![CDATA[US spending on London real estate rebounds to highest in eight years By Iain Withers LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. investors are buying up London commercial property at the fastest rate…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>US spending on London real estate rebounds to highest in eight years</h1>
By Iain Withers
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. investors are buying up London commercial property at the fastest rate in eight years, data compiled by BNP Paribas’s real estate arm showed, lured by signs the market in Britain is recovering faster than the harder-hit United States.
Commercial property values and sales have plunged globally in recent years – including in Britain – as soaring borrowing costs and emptying post-pandemic offices have eroded investments. Vacancy rates have jumped, especially in the U.S.
U.S. investor interest in Britain is growing, helped by more appealing “leasing fundamentals” and a stronger dollar versus the pound, BNP Paribas Real Estate said.
U.S. property markets remained mired in concerns about sticky interest rates, a slower return to the office and political uncertainty before the U.S. election, it added.
U.S.-based investors spent 1.9 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) on London commercial property in January-March – up six-fold on the prior year and the most since the final quarter of 2015, according to the data.
“This positive uplift into this new cycle tells us U.S. capital is firmly back in the market,” said Fergus Keane, BNP Paribas Real Estate’s head of central London capital markets.
High-profile deals included MCR Hotels’ 275 million pound purchase of the BT Tower in central London, with the prominent former telecoms tower to be converted into a luxury hotel, and Elliott Management and Oval Real Estate’s 300 million pound acquisition of a mixed-use portfolio in the capital’s West End.
Across Britain, U.S. investors spent 3.1 billion pounds on property in the quarter, up two-thirds on 2023 and the most since early 2022, BNPP said.
U.S. domestic political tensions were “certainly at play” in the upswing in investment, Keane added.
Britain is poised to be the biggest beneficiary of U.S. investment into real estate overseas, with $13 billion waiting to be deployed, up from $10 billion in 2023, according to separate Knight Frank research covering 19 major markets.
($1 = 0.7957 pounds)
 
(Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Mark Potter)
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<title>Extreme heat shuts schools for millions, widening learning gaps worldwide</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/extreme-heat-shuts-schools-for-millions-widening-learning-gaps-worldwide/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[uma]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 14:02:29 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Extreme heat shuts schools for millions, widening learning gaps worldwide By Gloria Dickie and Ruma Paul (Reuters) -Hena Khan, a grade nine student in Dhaka, has struggled to focus on…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Extreme heat shuts schools for millions, widening learning gaps worldwide</h1>
By Gloria Dickie and Ruma Paul
(Reuters) -Hena Khan, a grade nine student in Dhaka, has struggled to focus on her studies this week as temperatures surpassed 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Bangladesh capital.
“There is no real education in schools in this punishing heat,” she said. “Teachers can’t teach, students can’t concentrate. Rather, our lives are at risk.”
Khan is one of more than 40 million students who have been shut out of classrooms in recent weeks as heatwaves have forced school closures in parts of Asia and North Africa.
As the climate warms due to the burning of fossil fuels, heatwaves are lasting longer and reaching greater peaks.
In turn, government authorities and public health experts across the world are increasingly grappling with whether to keep students learning in hot classrooms, or encourage them to stay home and keep cool.
Either decision has consequences. About 17% of the world’s school-aged children are already out of school, according to United Nations data, but the proportion is much larger in developing countries with nearly a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s children out of school compared to just 3% in North America.
Child test scores in the developing world also lag developed countries.
Heat could exacerbate inequalities, widening learning gaps between developing nations in the tropics and developed countries, experts told Reuters, and even between rich and poor districts in wealthy countries. But sending children to overheated schools could make them ill.
South Sudan already this year closed its schools to some 2.2 million students in late March when temperatures soared to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). Thousands of schools in the Philippines and in India followed suit in late April, closing classrooms to more than 10 million students.
On Wednesday, Cambodia ordered all public schools to slash two hours off the school day due to avoid peak heat at midday.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has wavered between opening and closing schools for some 33 million students amid pressure to prepare pupils for exams — even as temperatures climb to dangerous levels.
Many Bangladeshi schools “don’t have fans, the ventilation is not good, and they might have tin roofing which does not provide good insulation”, said Shumon Sengupta, Bangladesh country director for nonprofit Save the Children.
HOT HEADS
Even if students continue attending classes during heatwaves, their education is likely to suffer.
High temperatures slow down the brain’s cognitive functions, lowering pupils’ ability to retain and process information.
U.S. high schoolers, one 2020 study found, performed worse on standardized tests if they were exposed to higher temperatures in the year leading up to the exam.
The research, published in the American Economic Journal, found that a 0.55C (1F) warmer school year reduced that year’s learning by 1%. Much of that impact disappeared in schools that had air conditioning, said study co-author Josh Goodman, an economist at Boston University.
Between 40% and 60% of U.S. schools are thought to have at least partial air conditioning, according to various surveys.
Schools without it are often found in poorer districts which already trail their wealthier counterparts academically.
Goodman and his colleagues found similar learning outcomes tied to heat when they looked at standardized test data in other countries. “When (students in) these places experience a year with more heat, they appear to have learned less,” he said.
Other research suggests excessive heat in the tropics can also impact a child’s education even before birth.
Children in Southeast Asia exposed to higher-than-average temperatures in utero and early in life obtained fewer years of schooling later in life, a 2019 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found.
All of this is worrying, Goodman said, because as the world warms, already hot countries shifting to an extremely hot climate will suffer more than temperate countries.
“Climate change will widen the learning gaps between hot and cool countries,” Goodman said.
Some developed countries are trying to address the issue.
In March, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it would build 30 heat-resilient schools in Jordan by 2026 “to address the projected increase in extreme heat days in Jordan”, a USAID spokesperson said.
Providing details not previously reported, USAID said it would invest $8.17 million in the schools, using passive cooling systems and air conditioning to help keep schools operating.
The number of days that schools are closed for extreme heat has been ticking up in the U.S., but few countries track such data.
U.S. schools are now cancelling class for an average of six to seven school days each year for heat, compared with about three to four days a decade ago, said Paul Chinowsky, a civil engineer who led a 2021 study on schools and rising temperatures for the firm Resilient Analytics.
In Bangladesh last year, schools were closed for 6-7 days, said Save the Children’s Sengupta. “But this year, they are saying it might be closed for 3 to 4 weeks,” he said, as May is often the hottest month in South Asia.
(Reporting by Gloria Dickie in London; additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka; editing by Josie Kao and Mark Heinrich)
 
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<title>Sensodyne-maker Haleon posts tepid sales as demand for some products cool off</title>
<link>https://brandsjournal.com/sensodyne-maker-haleon-posts-tepid-sales-as-demand-for-some-products-cool-off/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 13:30:10 +0000</pubDate>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">https://brandsjournal.com/?p=24693</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Sensodyne-maker Haleon posts tepid sales as demand for some products cool off (Reuters) -Consumer healthcare company Haleon reported first-quarter revenue slightly below market estimates on Wednesday, as volumes declined due…]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Sensodyne-maker Haleon posts tepid sales as demand for some products cool off</h1>
(Reuters) -Consumer healthcare company Haleon reported first-quarter revenue slightly below market estimates on Wednesday, as volumes declined due to retailer destocking in U.S. and cooling demand for some of its medicines after a surge last year.
The maker of popular household products such as Sensodyne toothpaste and pain-reliever Panadol, had earlier said that the first three months of 2024 would be impacted by a softer cold and flu season and a slowdown in painkiller Advil’s sales in Canada, following a surge in demand last year.
Demand for medicines such as Contac and Fenbid, which benefited from pent-up demand in China last year after lockdown restrictions were lifted, have also cooled, impacting Haleon’s quarterly sales growth.
Revenues stood at 2.92 billion pounds ($3.64 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, slightly missing expectations of 2.93 billion pounds, according to a company-compiled consensus.
On a reported basis, revenue was down 2.2% on last year.
“The miss in volumes more than offsets a (played down) margin beat, outlook no change. We could expect the stock to be an under performer this AM,” Jefferies analysts said.
Shares in the FTSE 100 group fell 1.8% to 333.30 pence, to become one of the top losers on the blue-chip index. The stock has risen about 5% this year as of Tuesday’s close.
Haleon, whose name is inspired by the merging ‘Hale’, which is an old English word that means ‘in good health’, and Leon which is associated with the word ‘strength’.
It comprises assets from GSK and Pfizer and sells non-prescription drugs, vitamins and oral care products. It was spun-off from GSK in 2022.
Demand for its oral health products and multivitamins held steady during the reported quarter, and the company re-affirmed its full-year outlook outlined in February.
Adjusted operating profit grew 2.3% to 707 million pounds in the first quarter.
On Tuesday, the firm disclosed plans to shut its UK production site which makes Sensodyne toothpastes by 2026, saying it was not longer viable to manufacture its products there.
($1 = 0.8021 pounds)
(Reporting by Eva Mathews and Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Michael Perry)
 
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