Category: 3. Business

Boulogne-Billancourt, July 2, 2025 – Held from May 12 to 30, 2025, the fourth edition of Renault Group’s employee shareholding plan enabled employees in 30 countries^[1] to receive 3 free shares, and those in 24 countries to subscribe under preferential conditions. With nearly 95,000 employees taking part, this high level of participation reflects the growing trust in employee shareholding—a key driver of employee engagement and collective success.

“By renewing this initiative, Renault Group reaffirms its commitment to sharing the value created with those who make it possible every day. The strong participation in the employee shareholding plan reflects the trust our people place in the Group’s strategy and their deep connection to the company. For the fourth consecutive year, their engagement confirms the key role employee shareholding plays in shaping our corporate culture. With 6.31% of the company’s capital now held by employees, we are strengthening a model based on shared performance, recognition, and trust — essential levers for building a sustainable future together.” said Bruno Laforge, Chief People and Organization Officer, Renault Group

Employee shareholding: a key driver of collective performance

The contributions provided as part of the 2025 employee shareholding plan (up to 6 free shares per employee^[2]) represent approximately 359,000 shares, or 0.12% of Renault SA’s capital, which will be allocated free to the Group’s employees.

In addition, nearly 48,000 employees—representing 44.3% of eligible employees — participated in the share subscription offer under the plan. Employees’ total investment amounted to over €36.5 million. This corresponds to more than 1,165,000 subscribed shares, or 0.40% of Renault SA’s share capital.

In total, the operation will result in the transfer of approximately 1,524,000 shares to employees—equivalent to 0.52% of Renault SA’s capital—held through an Employee Mutual Fund (FCPE) or, in some countries, directly in a registered securities account.

Following the allocation of shares under the plan, employees will hold approximately 6.31% of Renault SA’s capital.

A fire at a nearby electrical substation that caused a power outage at Heathrow Airport was “most likely” caused by moisture entering an electrical component, a review has found.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) was ordered by the energy secretary to look in to the cause of the fire, which started late on 20 March at the North Hyde substation in west London, which supplies power to the airport.

The fire led to Heathrow deciding to close the following day, leading to thousands of cancelled flights and stranded passengers.

Neso said previously that the the power outage affected 66,919 domestic and commercial customers, including Heathrow Airport. Around 270,000 journeys were affected.

The report said the fire “was most likely caused by moisture entering the bushing causing a short circuit. The electricity likely then “arced” (causing sparks) which combined with air and heat to ignite the oil, resulting in a fire.”

Bushing is a mechanical device used to temper energy between two electrical parts.

The EU may as well “apply to be a province of China” such is its inability to wean itself off that country’s supply of critical raw materials used in everything from electric vehicles to smartphones and wind turbines, a leading German industrialist has said.

As chief executive of AMG Lithium, the EU’s first factory to make the lithium hydroxide used in many car batteries, Stefan Scherer sits at the centre of what has been dubbed a new gold rush.

But the chemist said China will continue to dominate battery technology and undercut EU rivals unless temporary protections on components are put in place, arguing that current Brussels policy and laws are failing to deliver results on the ground.

“Europe has to become independent of China, otherwise it’s just blah blah blah,” said Scherer, speaking at the AMG plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, a town in the former east Germany.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, promised as recently as March that the EU would “will promote domestic production to avoid strategic dependencies, especially for batteries”.

But the reality on the ground, Scherer said, is that many component manufacturers, known as other equipment manufacturers (OEMs), are faced with daily cheaper Chinese alternatives ranging from steel to whole batteries.

Unless the EU addresses this in a meaningful way, this will not change and will imperil the bloc’s climate goals, he said, adding: “It might be better to apply to be a province of China. It’s an interesting thought if you think it through. We are really at a tipping point and it has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, it’s a complete change of global relationships.”

Scherer said the world economy had been “lifted on the backs of people working hard for Europe in China, in India” and the new balance in the global supply chain was the western leaders’ own creation.

Scherer said he was not pleading for special treatment and was confident AMG would succeed in the auto market’s green transition, but was not optimistic that Europe’s dependency on China would change.

AMG Lithium in Bitterfeld-Wolfen in former east Germany opened last year and aims to produce 20,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide a year, enough to supply 500,000 EVs. It produced its first test batch last month and hopes to produce commercial quantities later this year.

Scherer said he has “no doubts that we will be able to sell this [product] within Europe”, but added: “I’m talking more about the long term; about strategic investment in European resources, European refineries, this has to happen now, because it takes you five years if you are lucky to get this far.”

It has taken the company five years and £150m to get to its current position, with no sign of a rival for two or three years. “It is a slow process,” he said.

He was highly critical of the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act 2024 (CRMA), seen as the backbone of the EU’s strategy to reduce its reliance on China, arguing it fails to match US moves to push manufacturers to buy locally.

“Unfortunately, the CRMA doesn’t hold you responsible for anything, for example, in the mining of raw materials there is no incentivisation or penalisation to do mining in Europe,” he said.

“It is completely opposite to the US where they have a local content policy that sticks. There, they have to have a certain percentage of materials they see as critical to be produced on US soil.

“We don’t have that. We have intentions, but nothing tangible. You don’t have to pay if you don’t buy from the EU, so why would you? Instead, you just continue purchasing from China.”

China, by contrast, has a near 20-year start on Europe, having set the strategy to acquire stakes in mines and supply contracts all over the world as part of Xi Xinping’s 2013 belt and road initiative.

It now refines 60% of the world’s supply of lithium on its own soil and controls 60% of the world’s production of battery components, giving it a dominant position across the markets.

The consensus in his industry is that those in the critical raw material sector need protection while they go through the lengthy process of trying to grow to match Chinese state-backed rivals, Scherer said.

“I don’t mean you have to support every investment with public grants,” he said. He suggested Brussels could offer temporary tariffs or tax incentives similar to the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, which incentivises those who buy home-produced lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite – all critical to creating green technologies.

Brussels and Washington are still thrashing out trade negotiations before the 9 July deadline when a threatened 50% tariff could be imposed on all EU imports to the US. European negotiators are seeking to trim a possible 10% baseline levy and win concessions in key areas, including trying to reduce a 25% border tax imposed on cars and a 50% rate on steel and aluminium.

As far as Scherer is concerned, Germany’s struggling auto industry may yet have further to fall before it improves. “You cannot wait for Brussels to make decisions,” he said.

One of his biggest gripes is the price of energy in Germany, which Eurostat puts at 37% higher than the EU average. It is also the bugbear of the German steel industry with ThyssenKrupp warning last night that the sector could be wiped out by a combination of Trump tariffs, high energy costs and cheaper Chinese imports.

Combining temporary tariffs and tax incentives with an invitation to the Chinese to invest in Europe on condition they employ Europeans could be the answer, Scherer said.

“We have to create an environment which enables western companies to safeguard their investments, not for everything, but critical technology especially in the auto industry where you are replacing the internal combustion engine technology with a new one. This is highly strategic and important move.”

In addition, BBVA secured Top 10 rankings across other relevant categories,  such as, Best CEO, Best CFO, Best IR Program, Best Analyst Event, Best Company Board and Best ESG Program, underscoring the team’s strong leadership built on credibility and clear communication.

Building on these achievements, BBVA’s IR team has been awarded Best Buy-Side Management among European companies by IR Impact. This award recognizes the team’s ongoing commitment and efforts to maintain an open, transparent, and close engagement with institutional investors, always striving for excellence and value creation.

Patricia Bueno, BBVA’s Global Head of Shareholder & Investor Relations, stated:  “It is a true privilege to have been acknowledged by the market for our efforts—especially in a year marked by intense activity, where the team demonstrated exceptional professionalism and unwavering dedication. We extend our deepest gratitude to all the investment professionals who participated in these surveys and to our entire team for their dedication and hard work.”

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday.

The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.

The snake turned out to be a harmless 60-centimeter (2-foot) green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold.

“It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me,” Pelley said.

Most of the world’s most venomous snakes are native to Australia.

When Pelley entered the cargo hold, the snake was half hidden behind a panel and could have disappeared deeper into the plane.

Pelley said he told an aircraft engineer and airline staff that they would have to evacuate the aircraft if the snake disappeared inside the plane.

“I said to them if I don’t get this in one shot, it’s going to sneak through the panels and you’re going to have to evacuate the plane because at that stage I did not know what kind of snake it was,” Pelley said.

“But thankfully, I got it on the first try and captured it,” Pelley added. “If I didn’t get it that first time, the engineers and I would be pulling apart a (Boeing) 737 looking for a snake still right now.”

Pelley said he had taken 30 minutes to drive to the airport and was then delayed by security before he could reach the airliner.

An airline official said the flight was delayed around two hours.

Because the snake is native to the Brisbane region, Pelley suspects it came aboard inside a passenger’s luggage and escaped during the two-hour flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.

For quarantine reasons, the snake can’t be returned to the wild.

The snake, which is a protected species, has been given to a Melbourne veterinarian to find a home with a licensed snake keeper.

MANILA, Philippines — Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday following a similar drift overnight on Wall Street as losses for Tesla and other technology shares put a brake on the momentum of recent record highs.

U.S. futures edged higher and oil prices were little changed.

Shares fell in Japan, hit by jitters over a lack of progress in trade talks with the U.S., but they recovered much of their lost ground, trading 0.3% lower at 39,874.33.

Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, pointed to President Donald Trump’s declaration that there will be no extension of his tariff pause, which ends on July 9.

“The message was blunt: if Tokyo won’t yield, it will pay. Tariffs of 30%, 35% or ‘whatever number we determine’ are now openly back on the table,” he said. “The negotiating table just became a pressure cooker.”

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.6% to 24,220.65 and the Shanghai Composite index was down just over 1 point at 3,456.51.

South Korea’s KOSPI fell 1.2% to 3,053.39 as inflation rose in June.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 edged up 0.4% to 8,580.70.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dipped 0.1% to 6,198.01 for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 44,494.94, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.8% to 20,202.89.

Tesla tugged on the market as the relationship between its CEO, Elon Musk, and President Donald Trump soured even further. Once allies, the two have clashed recently, and Trump suggested there’s potentially “BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED” by scrutinizing subsidies, contracts or other government spending going to Musk’s companies.

Tesla fell 5.3%. It has lost just over a quarter of its value so far this year, 25.5%, in large part because of Musk’s and Trump’s feud.

Drops for several darlings of the artificial-intelligence frenzy also weighed on the market. Nvidia’s decline of 3% was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

But more stocks within the index rose than fell, led by several casino companies. They rallied following a report showing better-than-expected growth in overall gaming revenue in Macao, China’s casino hub. Las Vegas Sands gained 8.9%, Wynn Resorts climbed 8.8% and MGM Resorts International rose 7.3%.

Automakers outside of Tesla were also strong, with General Motors up 5.7% and Ford Motor up 4.6%.

The U.S. stock market has made a stunning recovery from its springtime sell-off of roughly 20%. But challenges still lie ahead for Wall Street, with one of the largest being the continued threat of Trump’s tariffs.

Many of Trump’s stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, and they’re scheduled to kick into effect in about a week. Depending on how big they are, they could hurt the economy and worsen inflation.

Washington is also making progress on proposed cuts to tax rates and other measures that could send the U.S. government’s debt spiraling higher, which could raise inflation. That in turn could mean higher interest rates, which would hurt prices for bonds, stocks and other investments.

Despite such challenges, strategists at Barclays say they see signals of euphoria among some investors. The strategists say a measure that tries to show how much “excess optimism” is in the market is not far from the peaks seen during the “meme stock” craze that sent GameStop to market-bending heights or to the dot-com bubble at the turn of the millennium.
In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude gained 1 cent to $65.46 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 5 cents per barrel to $67.16.

The U.S. dollar rose to 143.58 Japanese yen from 143.41 yen. The euro slid to $1.1798 from $1.1808. ___

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed

Gold prices remained broadly unchanged in Philippines on Wednesday, according to data compiled by FXStreet.

The price for Gold stood at 6,050.44 Philippine Pesos (PHP) per gram, broadly stable compared with the PHP 6,045.77 it cost on Tuesday.

The price for Gold was broadly steady at PHP 70,571.20 per tola from PHP 70,516.70 per tola a day earlier.

Unit measure	Gold Price in PHP
1 Gram	6,050.44
10 Grams	60,504.44
Tola	70,571.20
Troy Ounce	188,190.00

FXStreet calculates Gold prices in Philippines by adapting international prices (USD/PHP)
to the local currency and measurement units. Prices are updated daily based on the market rates taken at the time of
publication. Prices are just for reference and local rates could diverge slightly.

(An automation tool was used in creating this post.)

The married couple behind the Prax Lindsey oil refinery awarded themselves at least $15.9m (£11.5m) in pay and dividends in the years leading up to its collapse, it has emerged, as the government urged the company’s boss to “put his hand in his pockets” to help workers.

Winston Soosaipillai, who goes by his middle names Sanjeev Kumar, jointly owned the refinery with his wife, Arani, until it plunged into insolvency on Monday.

The failure of the refinery, which is one of only five left in the UK, has put 625 workers at risk and raised fears about disruption to supplies of customers such as petrol retailers and Heathrow airport.

The sudden demise of the company, which Westminster sources said had assured ministers of its health just weeks ago, prompted the government to order an investigation into “the conduct of the directors”.

Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai is the sole director of both the refinery operation and its parent company, according to the latest available filings from Companies House.

The scale of rewards on offer to Soosaipillai and his wife, who is the group’s human resources director, are revealed in a series of annual reports and Companies House filings.

The group paid a dividend of $5.2m to its shareholders in 2024, on top of a $2.1m payment in 2022, the documents show.

The Soosaipillais own 80% of the group directly and 20% via family trusts, indicating that they have extracted $7.3m in dividends since buying the plant from French oil company Total in 2021.

Pay disclosures also reveal the sums paid to the group’s highest-paid director, understood to be Soosaipillai, given that he is the only director.

The pay deals were worth a combined $8.5m between 2022 and 2024, the only years for which accounts have been filed.

In total, the Soosaipillais appear to have handed themselves £11.5m in pay and dividends since buying the refinery in 2021.

Details of the payouts emerged after Mark Shanks, a junior minister in the energy department, called for Soosaipillai to help fund compensation for some of the 625 workers affected by the collapse.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Shanks said that the government “expect[s] the owners to put their hands in their pockets and provide the support that those workers deserve”.

The division that houses the facility, Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Ltd, has lost £109m over the same period, although this is not uncommon in large oil and gas operations, whose trading divisions often make up the difference.

Accounts also show that Prax was forced to revise the accounting treatment of one proposed dividend payment, after discovering it did not have enough cash to fund the payout.

During 2023, the Prax Group holding company declared and paid a dividend of $4.98m to its shareholders, the Soosaipillais.

These were paid “in good faith”, according to filings at Companies House, but the company later discovered that the payout “exceeded the available level of distributable reserves”.

The sum was reclassified as an amount owed to the group by “related parties”.

After the year end, a new dividend was declared, which accounts said would be satisfied by releasing the parent company from its obligation to repay sums already transferred.

The Guardian approached representatives of Prax, including one who has previously answered questions on behalf of the Soosaipillais, for comment.