Author: Arabian Media staff

Bacardi has brushed off the threat of moderating alcohol consumption and signalled that it has no plans to pursue asset disposals, despite the gloom that pervades the spirits sector. Ignacio “Nacho” del Valle, Bacardi’s head of Europe and Latin America and the member of the Bacardi dynasty with the most senior executive role at the business, said he did not believe the alcohol industry was in structural decline. “Consumer trends do change but [the] data that is out there does not validate that we are adjusting [to anything] other than a cycle,” del Valle said, referencing analyst research linking the…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The unusual thing about last week’s New York Democratic mayoral primary wasn’t who voters chose, but how they did it. The party employs a ranked choice system: select five candidates in order, and if your first pick comes last, it’s the second choice that counts. This favours consensus. The outcome is less likely to be someone that most people dislike. There’s a corporate counterpart to this, at least in some corners of the American market: cumulative voting. It works thusly. Imagine a…

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As Asia’s manufacturing powerhouses try to stave off punishing US tariffs ahead of Donald Trump’s July 9 deadline, exporters across the region are rushing out orders, cutting prices, looking for new customers and rethinking their relationship with the world’s biggest economy.Trump’s blanket 10 per cent tariff has already hurt countries reliant on exports to the US for growth, jobs and foreign exchange — and the higher rates the US president has vowed to impose unless they negotiate new trade deals could be devastating. Financial Times reporters spoke to textile producers, electronics manufacturers and car suppliers trying to make sense of…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.South Korea’s stock market has been supercharged by an investor frenzy over won-based digital money this month, following newly elected President Lee Jae-myung’s pledge to allow crypto assets backed by the national currency.Stocks that have been involved in the Bank of Korea’s digital currency project, including Kakao Pay and LG CNS, have been on a wild ride. Kakao Pay shares more than doubled this month and LG CNS rose almost 70 per cent, before paring some gains this week on profit-taking.On the…

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe world’s poorest countries are being hit by a “double whammy” of Donald Trump’s tariffs and deep cuts to international aid budgets, undermining global efforts to eradicate poverty and tackle climate change, senior trade experts have warned. The toxic combination of “a trade war and an aid war” is squeezing smaller developing countries that are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and the rising costs of servicing international debt.“This is a perfect storm because when aid has been cut in the…

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Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Cryptocurrencies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.London-listed companies are turning to bitcoin to boost their share prices, drawing Europe’s largest equity market into a growing global trend in which businesses are transforming themselves into proxies for the cryptocurrency.At least nine companies, from a web design business to a gold miner, have in the past week announced that they have either bought bitcoin to add to their corporate treasuries or plan to do so.They are following the likes of Japan’s Metaplanet and Germany’s Bitcoin Group in seeking to emulate billionaire…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The head of one of the world’s largest fertiliser companies has warned that heightened tensions in the Middle East could trigger a fresh food price shock by straining global supply chains for crop nutrients and energy.Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Norwegian group Yara, said fertiliser groups and customers were “monitoring closely” the risks around the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 per cent of the world’s urea and 20 per cent of global LNG flows, warning that any disruption could ripple…

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Nvidia insiders have sold more than $1bn of the company’s stock over the past 12 months including a recent surge in trading as executives cash in on investors’ enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. More than $500mn of the share sales took place this month as the California-based chips designer’s share price climbed to a record high. Investors have piled back into the stock, making it the world’s most valuable company as they bet on huge demand for chips to power AI applications. The…

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldThe world’s leading economies have agreed a deal to spare the US’s largest companies from paying more corporate tax overseas, throwing into doubt the status of the biggest global tax deal in over a century.The agreement between Washington and other members of the G7 group of leading countries could fundamentally alter a landmark 2021 accord to set up a global minimum tax to crack down on avoidance by multinationals. The G7 said on Saturday it had agreed to a “side-by-side…

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