2025-04-29 22:37
MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - Becle (CUERVO.MX) , opens new tab, the world's largest tequila producer, on Tuesday reported a first-quarter profit up 15% from a year earlier, pulling in more pesos due to the currency's weakening despite moving less product in the period. Becle's net profit hit 1.16 billion pesos ($56.69 million), in line with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG. Sign up here. The firm, which makes the bulk of its income from tequilas but also produces a range of spirits such as Creyente mezcal, Stranahan's whiskey, Kraken rum and Boodles gin, attributed the boost to lower input costs and exchange-rate tailwinds given the Mexican peso's depreciation. The currency weakened close to 24% against the U.S. dollar from the end of March last year to the end of March this year. The U.S. and Canada remained Becle's largest market, though volumes slipped 3.6% year-on-year to just over 3 million crates. In Mexico, volumes dropped 13% and in the rest of the world they dropped 14%. Still, revenues ticked up 7% to 9.63 billion pesos, slightly above the LSEG-compiled estimate. "Going into 2025, we are encouraged by our ability to manage the business effectively despite ongoing industry pressures and consumer caution," management said in a statement. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/mexican-tequila-maker-cuervo-pockets-more-profit-weaker-peso-despite-volume-dip-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 22:09
MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - Mexican telecommunications giant America Movil (AMXB.MX) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported a 39% jump in its first-quarter net profit compared to the same period in 2024, citing an increase in operating profit and a decrease in financing costs. The company, which operates across over 20 countries in Europe and Latin America, posted a net profit of 18.70 billion pesos ($914.07 million) in the quarter. Sign up here. Revenues of the company, controlled by the family of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, came in at 232.04 billion pesos for the period, up 14% year on year and just short of an LSEG average forecast of 233.3 billion pesos. America Movil said its core earnings, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), rose 13% in the quarter to 91 billion pesos. The company added 2.4 million net post-paid customers in the quarter, driven by gains in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. There were 1 million disconnections in the pre-paid segment due to declines in Mexico and Brazil, America Movil said. Company executives said in February they were monitoring pre-paid clients in Mexico on concerns of a slowdown in the local economy. ($1 = 20.4604 pesos at end-March) https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/mexican-telecoms-giant-america-movil-posts-39-jump-first-quarter-profit-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 22:09
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding to PBS and NPR stations, sued the White House late Monday after President Donald Trump sought to fire three of its five board members. The nonprofit corporation, which was created by Congress in 1967 and provides funding for more than 1,500 locally managed public radio and TV stations, asked a U.S. district court in Washington to block the firings and sought a temporary restraining order. Sign up here. "Because the president has no authority over the CPB, he has no authority to terminate its board members as he has purported to do here," the lawsuit says. The White House has forced out the heads of other government-created corporations, including U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak. Others, including U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, resigned under heavy White House pressure. Several media outlets have reported the White House plans to ask Congress to rescind $1.1 billion in funding for PBS and NPR stations. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss at a hearing on Tuesday directed the government to file its opposition to the board's request for a temporary restraining order by May 6 and directed the board to respond by May 9 and a hearing is set for May 14. The lawsuit said the White House Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel Trent Morse sent emails to Thomas Rothman, Laura Ross, and Diane Kaplan seeking to fire them. The board said the effort is against the law and against the intent of Congress when it created the board. The suit said Congress sought to ensure the board is free of government control and the law "also prohibits any political litmus test from applying to its employees." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Board members are nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Last month, CPB sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency to lift a freeze on funds meant to support the country's emergency alert system after it said FEMA put $38.3 million previously authorized for the alert service's Next Generation Warning System on hold without explanation. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/corporation-public-broadcasting-sues-block-trump-firing-three-board-members-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 22:06
Q1 net profit dips below LSEG poll forecast Revenue rises 7%, ahead of forecasts Walmex cites difficult quarter, expects more consumption MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) - Walmart's Mexico and Central America unit, known as Walmex, reported a 7% dip in its first-quarter net profit on Tuesday, coming in below analysts' expectations Net profit fell to 12.32 billion pesos ($602.1 million) for the first three months of 2025, short of a 13.10 billion peso forecast from analysts polled by LSEG, even as revenue exceeded forecasts with a 7% jump. Sign up here. Revenue rose to 240.97 billion pesos, above a 238.57 billion pesos forecast. Walmex Chief Executive Officer Ignacio Caride said in a video message the quarter was hit by challenging macroeconomic conditions and negative comparative effects, such as the Semana Santa holiday taking place in the second quarter instead of the first. "Despite the political noise and uncertainty, we are focused on the things we can control," Caride said. "We remain optimistic that we will begin to see a gradual increase in consumption over the rest of the year." The company reported a 1.4% rise in same-store sales in Mexico and 1.9% growth in Central America. It added 17 stores in Mexico and three in Central America. "In the coming quarters we should see an increase in revenues that will also allow us to leverage expenses and improve results," Walmex said in a filing, adding it expects capital spending to rise to 41.8 billion pesos this year, compared to the 34.8 billion it spent in 2024. Expanding its e-commerce capacities would be a key priority for the year, Walmex said, adding that its mobile phone service Bait reached 19.8 million active users and generated some 2.3 billion pesos in revenue during the quarter. Walmex said it was also preparing for a possible change in Mexico's labor laws, as the government contemplates reducing the country's legal working week from 48 hours to 40 hours. Walmex, which operates Walmart and Sam's Club stores as well as low-cost supermarket chain Bodega Aurrera, is one of Mexico's largest private employers. https://www.reuters.com/es/negocio/walmart-mexico-posts-7-dip-q1-net-profit-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 21:49
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. industrial conglomerate Koch's Minerals & Trading unit (KM&T) is exiting the crude and refined products business to focus on more consumer-facing products, a spokesperson for KM&T said on Tuesday. Reuters reported in November that KM&T had parted ways with a number of employees across its global oil trading business, citing sources familiar with the matter. At the time, Koch had told employees it would share more information on the future of KM&T at a later time. Sign up here. "Koch Minerals & Trading is exiting crude and refined products trading to focus on our other, more customer-oriented trading activities," a spokesperson for KM&T said on Tuesday. KM&T trades over 75 different commodities in more than 50 countries and also invests in other businesses, according to Koch's website. Among the other commodities it trades are natural gas and industrial metals. (This story has been corrected to say Koch, not Koch industries, in the headline and paragraph 1) https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/koch-industries-exit-oil-fuel-trade-2025-04-29/
2025-04-29 21:28
April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. pipeline operator ONEOK (OKE.N) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported a marginal fall in first-quarter profit, hurt by higher operating costs and divestments. Shares were down 3.7% at $84.60 in extended trading. Sign up here. Quarterly operating costs jumped about 32% to $752 million from a year earlier, weighed down by higher employee-related expenses. The company has been diversifying its portfolio through acquisitions over the past two years, including a Gulf Coast NGL pipeline system from Easton Energy and the purchases of Medallion Midstream and EnLink Midstream. ONEOK moved into transporting refined products and oil in 2023 following its acquisition of rival Magellan Midstream in an $18.8 billion deal. ONEOK transports natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), refined products and crude oil through its 60,000-mile-long network of pipelines. The company had also divested three natural gas transmission pipelines to peer DT Midstream (DTM.N) , opens new tab for $1.2 billion in cash in 2024. However, quarterly adjusted core profit for all four of its segments rose on the back of higher contributions from its acquisitions of EnLink and Medallion. The company continues to expect current-year net income of between $3.21 billion and $3.69 billion. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company reported net income attributable of $636 million, or $1.04 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with $639 million, or $1.09 per share, a year earlier. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oneok-reports-marginally-lower-first-quarter-profit-higher-operating-costs-2025-04-29/
