Churchill China reports £76m turnover for 2025, profit in line

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Investing.com -- Churchill China PLC (LON:CHH), a manufacturer of ceramic products for hospitality markets, reported annual...

Investing.com -- Churchill China PLC (LON:CHH), a manufacturer of ceramic products for hospitality markets, reported annual turnover of approximately £76 million for 2025, with profit before tax expected to align with market expectations of £6 million.

The company confirmed that trading in the second half of 2025 met expectations. European trading during the latter half outpaced the previous year, with the region finishing broadly in line with 2024 results. Churchill stated that its sales and marketing initiatives in Europe are yielding positive outcomes.

While maintaining market leadership in the UK, Churchill noted that end users faced challenging macroeconomic conditions throughout the year. The company reported an encouraging pre-Christmas period, with pub groups investing ahead of the holiday season, and the order pipeline at year-end exceeded the previous year’s level.

U.S. operations finished ahead of 2024 despite dollar devaluation during the period. The "Rest of the World" segment showed softer performance as large projects were delayed to future periods.

The materials division performed well despite reduced sector volumes, though the company acknowledged that a key UK customer’s decision to source materials directly will affect future revenue. Churchill expects mitigating actions to limit the impact on profitability.

The company ended the year with a cash position of £10.8 million, higher than its opening balance.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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Top European Midcaps to Watch: Jefferies Highlights Six Standout Stocks

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Investing.com -- European midcap stocks offer compelling investment opportunities going into 2026, Jefferies analysts said, with the brokerage outlining six themes it sees being played out this year, along with six stocks that stand to benefit.

Factory automation stood out as companies invested to offset labor shortages and lift efficiency. A sentiment change theme targeted stocks hit by short-term concerns but offering recovery potential as confidence returned. Data centers and electrification featured on rising AI-driven power demand. German recovery plays reflected fiscal stimulus and stronger domestic investment. Mispriced structural winners captured long-term growth opportunities trading at discounts, while oversold cyclicals offered upside if pent-up demand materialized.

Interroll

Interroll is poised to benefit from improving warehouse automation demand as the sector shows signs of recovery. System integrators are reporting stronger orders from e-commerce players, which typically translates to increased business for suppliers like Interroll in subsequent cycles.

Interroll reported a 1.2% sales increase to CHF 265.1 million and a 10.5% rise in net profit for the first half of 2024. Additionally, UBS upgraded the company’s rating to ’Buy’, noting an improved market outlook.

InPost

InPost is expected to see improved sentiment through continued market share gains in Poland despite competition from Allegro, along with strong expansion in France and the UK. The company’s automated parcel machines offer more convenient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly delivery solutions compared to traditional door delivery.

InPost has entered into a strategic partnership with Vinted to expand its parcel locker network across several European countries, a move expected to increase parcel volumes.

Belimo

Belimo remains a top pick with re-rating potential from what analysts view as initially conservative 2026 guidance. The company delivered strong performance in fiscal 2025, with data center verticals serving as key growth engines. Nvidia’s Blackwell adoption is expected to accelerate liquid cooling penetration, securing orders for 2026/27.

Belimo confirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, anticipating sales growth of 6-9% in local currencies, driven by continued strong demand from the data center sector.

Bechtle

Bechtle is positioned as a preferred beneficiary of Germany’s fiscal stimulus programs due to its strong public sector presence. After a subdued first half, the company’s Q3 results extended positive momentum with 5% year-over-year revenue growth to €1.6 billion and 21% earnings growth compared to Q2.

In a recent development, Bechtle AG announced the acquisition of French IT service provider Prosol to strengthen its market presence in France. Separately, Deutsche Bank reiterated its ’Hold’ rating for the company.

Arcadis

Arcadis is currently trading at a 45% valuation discount to engineering consultant peers, which Jefferies expects to narrow as top-line growth and profitability gradually improve. The discount stems from sluggish 2025 performance, particularly in the UK market, which represents about 23% of revenues.

Arcadis reported a 5.3% increase in net revenue for the first quarter of 2024, with its operating EBITA margin improving to 10.2%, driven by performance in its Resilience and Places business areas.

Sulzer

Despite challenges in 2025 with large-scale project postponements, Sulzer’s Water and Services divisions showed double-digit growth. Analysts expect the order trough in Chemtech to be reached soon, with a more optimistic outlook for 2026 based on easier comparisons, further margin improvements, and attractive valuation.

Sulzer announced that its CEO, Suzanne Thoma, will step down at the end of the year, and the board has begun the process of finding a successor.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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Why UK life insurers’ key profit engine is losing steam

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Investing.com -- Britain’s largest life insurance companies face a sharp slowdown in their most important profit measure as intensifying competition and razor-thin credit spreads squeeze margins in the lucrative pension buyout market.

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The contractual service margin, a crucial metric that represents future profits locked into insurance contracts, is forecast to grow just 1% annually through 2028, down from 5% growth between 2022 and 2024, according to RBC Capital Markets in a recent note.

The CSM serves as a fundamental component of UK life insurers’ valuations but often escapes investor scrutiny.

"The margin outlook for UK PRT remains challenged, driven by new competition, low returning insurer asset strategies, and potential regulatory interventions," the brokerage said

The pension risk transfer market, where insurers take on corporate pension obligations, has become a battleground.

A record 11 insurers competed for deals in 2025, even as total industry volumes fell to roughly £40 billion from £48 billion in 2024, according to figures cited in the report.

Legal & General Group faces the steepest headwinds. RBC forecasts the company’s closing CSM will sit 5% below consensus estimates for 2025, with pension transfers contributing more than half of core operating profit through 2029. The company’s shares trade at 265.10 pence, well below RBC’s 205 pence price target.

Aviva’s CSM projections trail consensus by 2%, while M&G and Phoenix Group have offsetting factors that cushion the blow. Chesnara doesn’t write pension risk transfer business.

Profit margins on new pension buyout deals have deteriorated across the board. RBC expects margins around 2.5% for the current year, compared with historical levels above 3%.

The compression stems partly from what insurance executives described at an industry seminar as historically low liquid investment-grade credit spreads, the premium insurers earn over government bonds.

"With three PRT writers likely under new ownership this year, insurers have stretch capacity to £70bn," the brokerage said, citing consultant LCP. That capacity far exceeds the top-end industry projection of £55 billion in demand.

The Prudential Regulation Authority adds another complication. The UK banking regulator plans to increase capital requirements against offshore reinsurance counterparties, with an update scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. This move particularly affects UK-listed insurance companies.

Despite lower profit margins, capital strain on new deals remained modest in 2025 as companies continued using government bond-based investment strategies rather than riskier assets. Legal & General pioneered these "structured gilt" approaches, significantly reducing upfront capital requirements.

The slowdown carries direct implications for dividend capacity. Phoenix Group’s operating cash generation, the company’s preferred cash metric, is expected to grow 5% to £1.47 billion, supported by recurring management actions worth £548 million.

M&G’s adjusted operating profit is forecast at £802 million, down 4% from the prior year and 4% below consensus.

RBC analysts suggested industry consolidation may emerge given the competitive pressures, though timing remains uncertain as companies report full-year results through late March.

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The Druckenmiller Connection: Meet the Man Behind Bessent and Warsh — Barrons.com

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If President Donald Trump's pick for Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, is confirmed by the Senate, it will put Wall Street investor Stanley Druckenmiller in the unusual position of having mentored two of the most powerful financial leaders in Washington, nay the world, in Warsh and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who also worked for Druckenmiller. It also means that Stan, or "Druck" — he is known by both on the Street — would be in the enviable position of having a direct connection to the heads of both the Fed and Treasury.

Druckenmiller, 72, a highly influential, long-short macro investor with a sterling track record, has been critical of fiscal policy and particularly Fed policy in recent years. When asked about his acolytes, he sounds pleased they could be in a position to implement change.

"To have this kind of competence at the Treasury and this kind of competence in the Fed is something I haven't seen in a pair in decades, maybe [since] Rubin and Greenspan," Druckenmiller told Barron's. "I know they're gonna work together. And they both have market experience. They both have big brains. Kevin is a great communicator. Scott's become a much better communicator. I'm hopeful, and I had no hope before these two were paired together. Even though I was the boss of each of them at one point, they both got IQ points on me."

A blunt-spoken, low-profile sort, Drucknenmiller started and ran hedge fund Duquesne Capital from 1981 to 2010. According to Bloomberg, Duquesne posted an average annual return of 30% and never had a money-losing year. After Druckenmiller closed Duquesne Capital, he opened and has continued to run Duquesne Family Office, which manages his personal multibillion-dollar fortune.

From 1988 to 2000 Druckenmiller also worked for hedge fund manager George Soros (a liberal Democratic nemesis of President Donald Trump's) as lead investor for Soros Fund Management (SFM) and its Quantum fund. Druckenmiller's own politics tend toward middle-of-the-road Republican. He supported Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primary, and later said he would vote for neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Treasury Secretary Bessent, 63, worked with Druckenmiller at SFM from 1991 to 2000, which included a particularly noteworthy period in 1992 when the firm shorted the pound sterling. In what became known as Black Wednesday, Soros and his team famously "broke the Bank of England," reportedly making Quantum a remarkable $1 billion profit.

Bessent would leave Soros to set up his own hedge fund, then return to SFM, then leave again in 2015 to found another hedge fund, Key Square Group, which had mixed results.

"Stan has been a mentor to many, particularly in his approach to managing risk," says Paula Volent, chief investment officer of Rockefeller University. "He also has a great track record in identifying great talent." Volent worked closely with Druckenmiller when she ran Bowdoin College's endowment. ( Druckenmiller graduated from Bowdoin in 1975 and has chaired the college's investment committee.)

As for Warsh, Druckenmiller has had a tight relationship with him in recent years. After serving as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, during which he worked closely with Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to mitigate the 2008-09 financial crisis, Warsh joined the Duquesne Family Office as a partner and advisor, where he's worked closely with Druck. Warsh, 55, and Druckenmiller sit 10 feet apart, according to Druckenmiller, with Warsh serving as a Fed-whisperer sounding board to Druck's macro-trader sensibility.

Warsh runs the firm's private-equity investments, according to Druckenmiller. Warsh and Druckenmiller have also co-authored Wall Street Journal Opinion pieces and both think the Fed should be more forward-looking and rely more on forecasting rather than be backward-looking and data-dependent.

"I was rooting for Kevin because I've been very close to him and a friend, but this ain't good for me," says Druckenmiller about Warsh leaving to become Fed chair. "He's a friend, he's a confidant, and he's like a Swiss Army knife. He's helpful with the economy. So I'm gonna miss him."

Warsh is married to Jane Lauder, the billionaire granddaughter of Estée Lauder, who founded the cosmetics company that bears her name. Warsh's father-in-law is Ron Lauder, a longtime friend of Trump's. As such, Warsh is a known quantity in upper-echelon social, political, and economic circles. "He's an unbelievable networker, and I'm like a zero on a scale of one to 10 on networking," says Druckenmiller.

Warsh has a number of high-profile allies on Wall Street besides Druckenmiller. "Kevin Warsh would make a great chairman," JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said recently. And Wall Street analyst Meredith Whitney recently tweeted: "Congratulations to my friend, the highly intelligent and incredibly competent Kevin Warsh, on his well-deserved nomination to be the next Chair of the Federal Reserve."

But Warsh has his critics as well. Last year the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Bill Dudley, wrote a piece entitled "Warsh Has a Fairy Tale View of Fed Rate Policy." Another high-profile Wall Street investor described Warsh as "a Powell contrarian who reverse-engineers arguments to fit his points." And a person in Warsh's social circle said, "I like Kevin, [but he] has his long history of being wrong, so I am concerned about our country's welfare were he to be Fed chair in a new crisis." A rebuttal to those criticisms might simply be to note Warsh's tenure at Druckenmiller's firm, as Druckenmiller is results-oriented and doesn't suffer fools gladly.

According to Duquesne's most recent 13F filing, Druckenmiller, who likes to take big concentrated bets within specific industries, owns some $4 billion of equities. As of last Sept. 30, his three biggest holdings were healthcare companies Natera, Insmed, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. He also owned sizable positions in Amazon.com, as well as Coupang, the "Amazon of South Korea," and MercadoLibre, the "Amazon of Latin America." (It's worth noting that Warsh serves on the board of Coupang, but will presumably resign if confirmed.) Be advised though, Druckenmiller is historically an active trader who disparages what he calls "lazy longs." "I've never hung on to a security if the reason I bought it has changed," he said in an interview.

Does Druckenmiller have any other protégés out there that we should be paying attention to? "I think they poached the last one," he says. "I don't think there's anybody else here that's about to get poached. Maybe the only one would be me, and I'm not poaching myself because I'm not fit for public office."

Being that guy behind the scenes seems to be role enough for Druckenmiller at this point.

Andrew Bary contributed to this article.

Write to Andy Serwer at andy.serwer@barrons.com and Matt Peterson at matt.peterson@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.02%

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Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Gold, Metals & Mining and Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.02%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Contact Energy Ltd (ASX:CEN), which rose 7.46% or 0.59 points to trade at 8.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX:NEC) added 6.99% or 0.08 points to end at 1.23 and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) was up 3.06% or 0.27 points to 9.10 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC), which fell 13.19% or 0.95 points to trade at 6.25 at the close. Newmont Corporation DRC (ASX:NEM) declined 10.02% or 17.37 points to end at 155.91 and Emerald Resources NL (ASX:EMR) was down 9.13% or 0.68 points to 6.77.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 908 to 347 and 326 ended unchanged.

Shares in Graincorp Ltd (ASX:GNC) fell to 3-years lows; losing 13.19% or 0.95 to 6.25.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.46% to 12.58 a new 1-month high.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.44% or 68.39 to $4,676.71 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 5.17% or 3.37 to hit $61.84 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 5.05% or 3.50 to trade at $65.82 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.53% to 0.69, while AUD/JPY fell 0.44% to 107.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 97.05.

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India’s factory growth edges up in January, but optimism wanes- PMI

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Investing.com -- India’s manufacturing activity improved slightly in January as demand picked up, but the increase wasn’t strong enough to boost business confidence or significantly increase hiring.

The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 55.4 in January from December’s two-year low of 55.0, falling short of the preliminary estimate of 56.8.

The index has remained above the 50.0 mark, which separates growth from contraction, since July 2021.

Factory output strengthened compared to December, when growth had slowed to a 38-month low. New orders, a key measure of demand, also regained some momentum after slowing in the previous month.

Export demand remained weak, with export orders improving only marginally from December. This suggests the overall pickup was driven mainly by domestic demand. Manufacturers reported receiving orders from clients across Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.

Despite the uptick in activity, job growth stayed modest. Hiring rose to a three-month high but remained subdued as companies adjusted staffing levels to meet higher operating needs.

Business confidence fell to its lowest level in three-and-a-half years. Only 15% of surveyed companies expected output to increase over the next year, while most anticipated no change.

Input costs increased moderately but at the fastest pace in four months, with companies citing higher prices for chemicals, copper, iron, steel, and transportation. However, output price inflation dropped to its lowest level in nearly two years, indicating manufacturers still have limited pricing power despite firmer demand.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

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China EV stocks slump on weak January deliveries

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Investing.com-- Chinese electric vehicle stocks fell sharply on Monday after January delivery figures highlighted a soft start to 2026 and renewed concerns about domestic demand.

Hong Kong-listed shares of BYD Co (HK:1211) dropped 8%, hitting their lowest level in a year, after the automaker reported 210,051 vehicle deliveries, down roughly 30% year-on-year.

The decline marked BYD’s fifth consecutive month of falling sales, weighed by weaker plug-in hybrid performance.

Other Chinese EV makers also saw share price declines following mixed delivery results.

Xpeng Inc (HK:9868) delivered 20,011 vehicles, a 34% drop from a year earlier, while Li Auto (HK:2015) posted 27,668 units, down 8% year-on-year.

Xpeng shares plunged 9%, while Li Auto fell 4%.

NIO Inc (HK:9866) dropped over 7%. NIO delivered 27,182 vehicles, nearly double its year-ago figure, but below December levels, reflecting seasonal softness.

Xiaomi (HK:1810) shares fell 3% after the EV unit recorded around 39,000 deliveries, a monthly record for the brand, yet still below December’s pace, showing uneven demand across the sector.

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