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Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

Lumino Industries IPO: All you need to know before investing

Market lot: Investors can bid for a minimum of 182 Equity Shares and in multiples of 182 Equity Shares thereafter. Quota: Not more than 50% of the net offer will be available for allocation to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), not less than 15% to non-institutional bidders (NIIs), and not less than 35% to retail individual bidders (RIIs). Utility of funds: The proceeds from its fresh issuance worth Rs 337 crore will be utilised for prepayment or re-payment, in full or in part, of certain outstanding borrowings availed by the company, Rs 15 crore for capital expenditure by the company for purchase of equipment and machinery, civil works and interior development of an existing manufacturing facility, and general corporate purposes. Offer size: The offer, with a face value of Rs 5 per equity share, comprises a fresh up to Rs 500 crore and an offer-for-sale up to Rs 200 crore by promoters – Devendra Goel and Jay Goel. Anchor investors: The company informed the bourses that it allocated 25,243,901 equity shares at Rs 82 per share to anchor investors and garnered Rs 206.99 crore . Some of the marquee institutions that participated in the anchor include Citigroup Global Markets Mauritius Private Limited, SBI General Insurance Company Limited, Bajaj Life Insurance Limited, Silver Stride India Global Fund and 3PIM India Equity (IFSC) Fund, amongst others. Amongst equity-oriented schemes, the company has allocated shares to HDFC Large and Mid Cap Fund, Motilal Oswal Large Cap Fund and Kotak Mahindra Trustee Co Ltd A/C Kotak Manufacture In India Fund, amongst others. About the company: The Company is a product-driven integrated engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) player in India, with strong focus on manufacturing and supplying conductors, power cables and electrical wires and other specialised products and components to the growing power transmission and distribution industry in India. It also manufactures high-temperature low-sag conductors used in distribution and transmission lines in India. Registrar/BLRMs: Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors, JM Financial and Monarch Networth Capital are the book running lead manager to the issue, and Bigshare Services Private Limited is the registrar of the offer. Sushil Finance recommends SUBSCRIBE. The Company’s integrated manufacturing-plus-EPC model with 23.08% of FY26 project inputs manufactured in-house provides a genuine structural advantage over pure-EPC peers by insulating it from third-party supply and pricing risk, while still capturing project-execution margins. The Offer itself is sensibly structured, with the largest share of proceeds (Rs.337 crore) going toward debt repayment, which should further support margin and RoNW trends by easing the finance-cost burden. At listed peer diluted P/E of 20x–109x (composite ~49x) against Lumino’s FY26 diluted EPS of Rs.6.57, there is reasonable valuation room even at a meaningful discount to peers. According to Anand Rathi, the company has demonstrated consistent financial performance with revenue and profitability growth, supported by healthy operating margins and return ratios. The ongoing capacity expansion, increasing focus on high-margin EHV substation projects, growing exports and strong execution capabilities are expected to support future growth. At the upper end of the price band, the company is valued at a P/E of 15.5x FY26 earnings and an EV/EBITDA of 9.6x FY26, implying a post-issue market capitalisation of ₹24,973 million. Considering its integrated business model, strong order book, robust return profile and favourable industry tailwinds, we recommend a “Subscribe - Long Term” rating to the issue

Lumino Industries IPO: All you need to know before investing
Europe
The Guardian

‘Starve the beast’? The $40tn cost of Republicans’ false promises to cut spending

An electronic display shows the national debt in Washington DC on Wednesday. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenAn electronic display shows the national debt in Washington DC on Wednesday. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesUS economyAnalysis‘Starve the beast’? The $40tn cost of Republicans’ false promises to cut spendingEduardo PorterThe enormous US debt under Trump will hobble the next Democratic administration – just as the GOP planned You could pin the US’s staggering $40tn in government debt to Donald Trump’s Keystone Cops-style governance. Tariffs he sold as a new source of revenue were struck down by the supreme court, forcing the government to return tens of billions of dollars to importers. Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge), ostensibly created to stop wasteful government spending, decimated federal programs and probably killed millions of children, but did nothing to close the budget deficit. The burst of inflation following Trump’s misguided adventure in Iran sharply raised the cost of serving the government’s obligations. Yet as the federal debt hits an all-time high, up from about $35tn when Trump took office less than two years ago, it is worth noting that the US’s gargantuan indebtedness is in fact the product of a longstanding Republican strategy that took shape well before Trump could even dream about gold-plating the White House. It was called “starve the beast”. One might recall Ronald Reagan’s address to the nation on 5 February 1981, just two weeks after he had taken office, when he delivered the sad news that “we’re in the worst economic mess since the Great Depression”. Government spending was out of control, he said. The budget deficit the year before had hit 2.6% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Federal debt added up to a mind-boggling trillion dollars, a third of gross domestic product (GDP) – the broadest measure of the national economy. To end the government’s profligacy, Reagan argued, required depriving it of revenue. “There were always those who told us that taxes couldn’t be cut until spending was reduced,” Reagan said. “Well, you know, we can lecture our children about extravagance until we run out of voice and breath. Or we can cure their extravagance by simply reducing their allowance.” And starving the government beast of tax revenue became the goal of Republican economic policy. The staggering budget deficit left behind by Reagan forced his successor, George H. W. Bush, to raise taxes, which cost him re-election. Every Republican administration since that speech has taken a machete to the tax schedule, slashing income tax rates for businesses and individuals, cutting estate taxes, and carving out broad tax deductions for preferred constituencies. What remained unsaid, over nearly half a century worth of tax cuts, was that the ultimate goal of the plan was not really to cure the “extravagance” and fix the government’s finances. It was, instead, to cement the Republicans’ hold on power. Despite Republicans’ sloganeering, their tax cuts never “paid for themselves” by generating a burst of economic growth. Instead, they borrowed the money to keep up spending. That invariably left Democrats in a budgetary mess to clean up every time they came into office. Bruce Bartlett, a former Republican policy adviser who worked on a precursor to Reagan’s 1981 tax cut plan, explained the strategy thus: “It’s all part of Republican plan going on for quite a long time to tie the hands of Democratic presidents.” The huge tax cuts in Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will “make sure the next Democratic president is a complete and total failure”. History may come to see Trump’s “beautiful bill” as an unprecedented attack on the nation’s public finances. The federal deficit (the annual shortfall when the government spends more money than it takes in) is now running at about 6% of GDP. The federal debt (the total owed) is running at about 123% of GDP, higher than during its peak in the second world war. Last year, paying interest on that debt cost 3.2% of GDP, about a trillion dollars, more than was spent on national defense or Medicare. Destructive though it appears, the OBBBA was just one big step along a path set 45 years ago. Federal government revenues declined as a share of GDP in every Republican administration since Reagan’s. Budget deficits widened every time. The precedent bodes ill for the Democratic administration that seems likely to succeed Trump’s unhinged four years in power. Bill Clinton’s administration offers the starkest example. Boxed in by a budget deficit equal to 4.5% of GDP that he inherited from George HW Bush, Clinton was forced to focus on deficit reduction. “Clinton comes with all these plans and ideas but they all get stomped on,” Bartlett recalled.

‘Starve the beast’? The $40tn cost of Republicans’ false promises to cut spending
North America
Yahoo Finance

Dow Futures Slip, S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Climb Ahead Of Key Retail Earnings, Fed Minutes: NLST, AVGO, LUNR, MRK Stocks In Focus

U.S. stock futures were trading mixed in the overnight session late Sunday ahead of quarterly reports from key retailers including Walmart Inc. (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), and Home Depot, Inc. (HD), among others. Dow futures were down 0.09%, while the S&P 500 futures climbed 0.09% and the Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.25% at 9:33 PM EDT. On Friday, all three benchmark indexes closed lower, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the decline, down 0.28% at close. The Dow and S&P 500 also closed down 0.20% and 0.17%, respectively. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are coming off three consecutive weeks of gains, with the former notching fresh record highs in the recent sessions. Meanwhile, the Dow snapped two weeks of gains to end about 0.56% lower last week. A Stocktwits poll that sought to gauge how investors expect the S&P 500 to move next week found that nearly half of those who voted expect the index to climb more than 1%. About 20% of those who voted expect it to move between flat to 1%. The rest expect the index to decline. U.S. markets were closely watching inflation data last week. July’s PPI came in flat, falling short of expectations for a 0.2% increase, following a subdued CPI report that showed consumer prices rising 0.1% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year. This eased concerns of a near-term rate hike from the Federal Reserve in its upcoming September session. According to data from the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of a Fed rate hike in September is down to 33.1% from 44.4% a week earlier. Markets will now be watching the Fed’s July meeting minutes, expected on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the last leg of the earnings season will bring quarterly updates from major retailers this week. Home Depot is expected to post results on Tuesday, while Target’s print is expected on Wednesday and Walmart will report its latest earnings on Thursday. Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOWE) and TJX Companies (TJX) are also reporting their latest results this week. Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, noted in a post on X, “Looking ahead, and even with the release of the Fed minutes, don't expect this week’s economic data to resolve the dissonance among rallying equities, rising bond yields, lower expectations for Fed rate hikes, and softening consumer data—all within an ecosystem undergoing secular and structural transformations.” On the geopolitical front, tensions between Iran and the U.S. continue into the week. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday at a rally in New York that after the U.S. finishes defeating Iran, he will be claiming “the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”

Dow Futures Slip, S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Climb Ahead Of Key Retail Earnings, Fed Minutes: NLST, AVGO, LUNR, MRK Stocks In Focus
Europe
The Guardian

US gas prices reach highest ever recorded for August amid stalled talks with Iran

Gas and diesel prices are displayed at a Chevron gas station on 14 August in Fort Stockton, Texas. Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenGas and diesel prices are displayed at a Chevron gas station on 14 August in Fort Stockton, Texas. Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesUS newsUS gas prices reach highest ever recorded for August amid stalled talks with IranEnergy prices have been high since the US-Israel war with Iran began and the strait of Hormuz was blocked US gas prices this month are so far the highest ever recorded for August as peace talks between the US and Iran have stalled and Donald Trump launched fresh threats against Oman. The national average price of gas was $4.06 per gallon on Monday, according to data from AAA, $0.05 higher than last week and $1 more expensive than a year ago. In California and Hawaii, averages hit about $5.50 a gallon. Energy prices have been high since the US-Israel war with Iran began at the end of February and the strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the oil passes, was blocked. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, reached $112 a barrel in March, a high not seen since 2022. While prices have since come down closer to $85 a barrel, they are still about 30% higher than a year ago. Gas prices dipped over the last few months after the US and Iran reached brief peace deals, but have started to climb back upwards as peace talks falter. On Monday, the US and Iran missed their 60-day diplomatic deadline to end the war, as both countries failed to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Trump on Monday threatened to bomb Oman, a key strategic partner for the US that has historically served as a backchannel between the two countries, if it “gets in the way”. Trump also indicated he was not pressing for the war to end without Iran meeting his demands: “I have no time schedule. I’m not in a hurry,” he told Fox News on Monday. Over the past sixth months of war, Americans have shelled out an excess of $56.4bn in elevated gas prices – or $477 more per household – the congressional Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan panel that sourced data from AAA, reported in July. Though overall inflation came down in July, driven by a cooling of energy prices, consumer prices are still up compared with last year. Half of Americans surveyed by Harris Poll in May reported struggling with the cost of groceries and gas, and an overwhelming majority said they believed that the US was in an affordability crisis. Meanwhile, oil companies have amassed windfall profits amid the war. Eight of the biggest oil companies – Aramco, BP, Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Eni, Chevron and ExxonMobil – amassed $90bn (£67bn) in profits in the three-month period March and June, the first full financial quarter since the war began. That’s about $700,000 of profit every minute over the spring quarter.

US gas prices reach highest ever recorded for August amid stalled talks with Iran
Europe
BBC Business

Danone €1bn takeover of Huel approved by watchdog

Danone's takeover of the British meal supplement maker Huel has been cleared by the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given the €1bn (£864m) deal the green light following a review. Huel, based in Hertfordshire, was founded by Julian Hearn in 2015 to provide nutritionally complete food products, aimed at reducing meal times and providing essential nutrients. The French food and drink firm said the acquisition will help it grow in the nutrition sector, while for Huel it will help the brand's growth ambitions and drive its international expansion. The company owns a portfolio of products in the UK, including baby milk brands Aptamil and Cow & Gate, yoghurt brands Activia and Actimel, and water brands Evian and Volvic. The Huel brand has seen rapid growth over the years, expanding its range to include ready meals, nutrition bars, and health drinks, all of which are plant-based. Dragons' Den star and podcaster Steven Bartlett was previously a director of the nutrition brand. The company has previously got into hot water with the UK advertising watchdog, which has banned some of its adverts for making "misleading" claims. One such advert made misleading claims about the cost savings associated with replacing a normal diet with meal replacement shakes, the watchdog said. The CMA gave interested parties the opportunity to comment on the deal over potential concerns about whether it could lessen competition in the market. The regulator's decision to clear the merger means it is satisfied it can go ahead in its current form. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external.

Danone €1bn takeover of Huel approved by watchdog
Europe
The Guardian

From McDonald’s to Congress: can a former fry cook flip a key district for Democrats?

Manny Rutinel applauds during the last day of the legislative session at the Colorado capitol in Denver in May. Photograph: Aaron Ontiveroz/Denver Post/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenManny Rutinel applauds during the last day of the legislative session at the Colorado capitol in Denver in May. Photograph: Aaron Ontiveroz/Denver Post/Getty ImagesUS midterm elections 2026From McDonald’s to Congress: can a former fry cook flip a key district for Democrats?Manny Rutinel hopes price-tag politics can win key voters in Colorado House race During his presidential campaign in October 2024, Donald Trump staged a photo op at a McDonald’s franchise in Pennsylvania, where he was briefly taught how to work the fryer and drive-thru window at the closed restaurant, while making several unsubstantiated claims about Kamala Harris’s past summer job at McDonald’s. The posturing around McDonald’s garnered significant publicity, as Trump and Republicans capitalized on an affordability crisis triggered by high inflation that occurred globally due to the Covid pandemic. Now, as Trump’s promises to “end inflation” and bring down prices have fallen flat, a real former fry cook is hoping affordability will help him flip Colorado’s eighth congressional district, a swing district narrowly won by the Republican Gabe Evans in 2024. The district is rated a toss-up by the Cook Partisan Index, and affordability is front and center in Democratic nominee Manny Rutinel’s congressional campaign. Rutinel was raised by a single mother, an immigrant, and his family was one of millions who lost their homes to foreclosure in the 2008 economic recession. When Rutinel graduated high school, he was also finishing his second year working at McDonald’s. He worked multiple jobs through college, taking community college courses, having to sell his own blood plasma so frequently it has left a scar on his arm. “I’m the son of a single mom who came to America in search of that American dream, and we worked hard every single day for this country, but we still struggled,” Rutinel told the Guardian. “I remember being 10 years old the first time I started filling out food stamp and Medicaid forms, and those are the same programs that Donald Trump and my congressman Gabe Evans are destroying right now to get tax breaks to their billionaire buddies.” He worked through his associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree, then worked as an economist for the US army corps of engineers and obtained a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University before attending Yale Law School. He currently serves as a representative in Colorado’s state legislature, where he has “co-sponsored over 400 laws to fight for an affordable economy, make sure that folks have good-paying jobs”. Those bills include expanding the earned income tax credit, and establishing a family affordability tax credit and child tax credit in Colorado, which collectively reduced child poverty in Colorado by nearly 40%, making Colorado the state with the lowest childhood poverty rate in the US. “I think that’s the kind of leadership that we need right now in Congress, folks that understand the struggles of working people deep in their bones,” added Rutinel. “Sometimes you hear politicians talk about the affordability crisis, like they just read it in a memo somewhere. But for me, it’s deeply personal.”

From McDonald’s to Congress: can a former fry cook flip a key district for Democrats?
Europe
BBC Business

How landscape gardening is being electrified

Part of the soundtrack to a day in southern California is the drone of petrol-powered gardening equipment. Noise is one of the main reasons that cities around the US, external are banning petrol landscaping tools or encouraging electric alternatives. These alternatives have the additional benefits of reducing carbon emissions, vibrations and the exposure of landscapers to pollution. In addition they can mean longer working hours, as they can be used at times when residents demand quiet. Today, I'm taking part in training run by the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), an organisation supporting the transition towards electric landscaping equipment. To my surprise, the electric backpack leaf blower I strap on is not much heavier than my normal rucksack. Using the blower to herd balls around the park feels fairly intuitive, though naturally I'm much clumsier and slower than the pro landscapers. As for noise, there's still a buzz, but the sound is higher-pitched and not quite so loud as the familiar petrol-powered machines. The move to electric power is attracting new companies to the market for gardening kit. US aerospace start-up Whisper Aero is one of those firms. Its main business is electric propulsion systems for aircraft. But in 2022, after the Covid-19 pandemic made many people more sensitive to noise, and following a couple of years of research and development, the company realised that its aerospace-grade fans would work well in leaf blowers. "Our technology is cleaner, quieter and more efficient than other air-moving technologies that exist today," according to Andrew Terajewicz, Whisper Aero's director of air management. "And the leaf blower is the perfect mix of this." The company has had to scale up its manufacturing volume in its expansion to consumer technology.

How landscape gardening is being electrified
Europe
The Guardian

Fashion tech founder sentenced to prison for $300m fraud scheme

Christine Hunsicker, founder and former chief executive officer of CaaStle Inc, leaving federal court in New York City on Thursday. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenChristine Hunsicker, founder and former chief executive officer of CaaStle Inc, leaving federal court in New York City on Thursday. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty ImagesBusinessFashion tech founder sentenced to prison for $300m fraud schemeChristine Hunsicker, former CEO of CaaStle, gave investors falsified documents that overstated profit and cash reserves A fashion tech founder was sentenced to five years in federal prison for her involvement in a $300m “fraud scheme” spanning from 2019 to 2025, the Manhattan US attorney’s office announced on Thursday. Christine Hunsicker, 49, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. Hunsicker, the founder and ex-CEO of CaaStle Inc, had pleaded guilty this March to one count of securities fraud in relation to a scheme that “defrauded hundreds of investors”, authorities said. Her attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hunsicker, a “well-known entrepreneur and businessperson in the fashion-tech industry”, touted CaaStle as a fast-growing business with a valuation of more than $1.4bn, the southern district of New York prosecutor’s office said. But Hunsicker knew that the company was reeling “in financial distress with dwindling cash and significant expenses”. Hunsicker gave investors a slew of phoney documents to raise money for CaaStle, such as “falsified income statements, fake audited financial statements, fictitious bank records, and sham corporate documents” that dramatically exaggerated the company’s profits and cash reserves. Although Hunsicker told investors that their money would be directed toward buying discounted shares from then-shareholders, prosecutors said she “fabricated the existence of these shareholders”. Then, prosecutors said, Hunsicker used this money as new capital for the company while hiding CaaStle’s financial situation. Federal authorities allege that Hunsicker continued engaging in fraudulent behavior “even after law enforcement agents seized her electronic devices in March 2025”. CaaStle went bankrupt after the company revealed in spring 2025 that Hunsicker had significantly exaggerated the company’s finances, according to the New York Times. The company reportedly began as a web-based clothing rental company for plus-sized women and ultimately started selling its platform to outside fashion companies.

Fashion tech founder sentenced to prison for $300m fraud scheme
Europe
BBC Business

Chinese robotics giant Unitree soars in stock market debut

The world's biggest humanoid robot maker Unitree Robotics made its stock market debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, with its shares soaring by more than 600% in early trading. In the highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), the Chinese firm's shares opened at 1,100 yuan (£120.60; $163.12), before giving up some of the gains to trade at around 900 yuan. The listing on the technology-focused Star Market - which is widely known as China's Nasdaq - marks a milestone for Beijing's ambitious plans for the country's robotics industry. It comes as the US and China are battling to dominate the global market for robots and artificial intelligence (AI) models that power them. While Unitree is not the first Chinese humanoid robot maker to list on the stock market, its debut marks the first in mainland China. Robots like automated industrial equipment and smart vacuum cleaners are already widely used in factories, warehouses and homes. Now, the humanoid robotics industry is attracting huge amounts of investment as major companies - including Tesla, BYD and Amazon - are developing two-legged machines capable of performing tasks usually carried out by people. Unitree, officially known as Yushu Technology Co Ltd, was founded in 2016 and now plays a key role in Beijing's ambitions to develop advanced technology. It has become a robotics industry leader, selling devices from sensors and automated arms to four-legged and human-like machines. The firm shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year as demand for the technology grows. Unitree is one of the few companies in the sector to make money, delivering a net profit of 278 million yuan in 2025. It is a fierce rival to developers in the US as it produces robots with similar features but at lower prices.

Chinese robotics giant Unitree soars in stock market debut