Category: 3. Business

Efforts to modernize bottle bills are still hamstrung by old myths, according to advocates representing the plastics, glass and metal packaging industries. But evolutions within the U.S. policy landscape amid the Trump administration’s emphasis on domestic manufacturing and the launch of state extended producer responsibility programs have helped build momentum in a productive year for these bills, they say.

The myths include that MRFs won’t be able to survive alongside bottle deposit schemes and that these systems burden consumers, said leaders from the Association of Plastic Recyclers, Can Manufacturers Institute and Glass Packaging Institute during a webinar Thursday on deposit return systems. The event was organized by the National Stewardship Action Council.

Today, only 20% of U.S. states have bottle deposit programs, and many of those policies are decades old.

“We are fans of many different policies to improve plastics recycling. Bottle deposits are one of them,” said Kate Bailey, APR’s chief policy officer. “Sixty percent of what we collect for plastic recycling, in terms of PET bottles, comes from the 10 states that have bottle deposits.”

GPI President Scott DeFife noted a similar statistic – 60% of the cullet that can go back into glass bottles comes from the 10 bottle bill states, he said. Conversely, when glass is recovered in a commingled single-stream system, the glass is much more likely to end up as something other than a bottle due to quality issues, he said.

Recycling refunds, a newer moniker for these policies, are “hands down the best policy in terms of getting the consumer to see an economic incentive on their container and recycle it,” said Mike Smaha, CMI’s vice president of government affairs.

One new catalyst for bottle bill discussions this year has been the start of packaging EPR programs, led by Oregon. That’s opened more serious conversations in the beverage space about the role for recycling refunds, rather than just EPR fees, Smaha said. “I think that there is a cost savings for folks who want to utilize a recycling refund program versus an EPR program,” he said.

Bailey highlighted Oregon’s depot model. “We’re also learning so much as EPR is rolling out, that not everything is going to be collected through a curbside recycling program,” and drop-off sites will be needed for hard-to-recycle items, Bailey said. “Many of us are familiar with bringing our electronics to a depot for recycling,” which spurs the realization that “you can scale a depot program that can collect bottles.”

Strengthening circularity in the US

There’s more cheap virgin plastic than ever before, according to Bailey. What’s more, for U.S. companies that are still trying to incorporate recycled plastics, it’s often cheaper to source recycled content from Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Asia than it is from domestic sources. 

“We need to make sure the recycled content that companies are using is actually coming from our North American recycling programs,” Bailey said. This will require stronger policies to ensure recycled materials stay in the U.S. and are subsequently reused in U.S. manufacturing, she said, which would go hand in hand with placing disincentives on the use of imported materials.

Smaha described similar priorities for the can sheet manufacturing industry, which he said has invested heavily in U.S. production.

“The problem is we can’t get enough used beverage cans back to feed those plants,” Smaha said. With the current administration’s discussion of reshoring, “we’ve got all this material – whether it’s glass, it’s plastic, it’s metal – that we are consuming and we’re disposing of here in the U.S.; why are we not capturing it and remaking things from it?”

While glass is largely a regional commodity, domestic bottle businesses are still struggling to get enough recycled material, DeFife said.

“Our biggest competition is the landfill,” DeFife said. “End markets that really shouldn’t have to compete for material like this are ending up competing for material.” But circularity rates in bottle bill states are much higher.

The grounding of MD-11 aircraft after the deadly crash of a UPS plane earlier this month could boost air cargo rates during the peak holiday shipping season, with some capacity out of the market, but analysts aren’t expecting a big impact.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Nov. 8 prohibited flights of MD-11 planes, less than a week after a Honolulu-bound UPS aircraft crashed moments after takeoff from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky, killing the three crew members and 11 people on the ground.

Earlier this week, the TAC Index, which tracks air freight rates around the world, said the Baltic Air Freight Index gained more than 4% in the week ended Nov. 17 and that was it up 2.4% last week compared with the same period last year.

“While it is normal for rates to rise ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US and Christmas in Europe, sources suggested they had been given an added boost after the grounding of all MD-11 freighters following a fatal crash in Louisville earlier this month,” it said in a note.

UPS and FedEx each said they were grounding the aircraft, which make up 9% and 5% of their fleets, respectively, according to a Bank of America note.

FedEx did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UPS said after the crash that it has contingency plans in place to continue providing service.

“We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer,” UPS said on Nov. 7. “Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve.”

In a Friday statement to CNBC, UPS said the company has not instituted any additional peak season surcharges as a result of the grounding of its 26 MD-11s. Instead, the company said it has secured additional aircraft for its fleet, similar to the leased planes that it procures for the peak season, and has consolidated flight routes to maximize air capacity.

“We have reconfigured our ground network, adding additional capacity to move more packages,” a UPS spokesperson told CNBC. “Our contingency plans give us assurance that we’ll continue to effectively move volume and deliver for our customers now and throughout peak season.”

On the company’s most recent earnings call, which occurred before the fatal crash, CEO Carol Tomé said early forecasts from its top 100 customers signaled the peak season would have a “considerable surge in volume.”

Still, because UPS has begun to phase out its work with Amazon, previously its largest customer, Tomé added that the decrease in Amazon volumes means the total peak season average daily volume in the U.S. will be down year-over-year.

Stifel predicted in a note on Wednesday that the operational and financial impact of the grounding would be “minimal.”

“Importantly, aircraft will be back flying once approved individually, rather than the entire MD-11 fleet awaiting a singular ruling, and the FAA can effectively deputize outside parties to effectuate the inspections, which have already begun, according to management,” the Stifel analysts wrote.

Air cargo volumes in October rose 4% year-over-year, with cargo supply growing an average of 3% year-over-year in the past four weeks, Bank of America said in a note Monday. The analysts said any potential disruption from the grounding was not immediately clear, but that, overall, it expected a more muted holiday shipping season compared with the past two years.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the UPS crash, said the left engine of the jet detached from the wing during takeoff before the plane crashed into a series of businesses just outside of the airport.

In its preliminary report it released Thursday, the NTSB said it found evidence of fatigue cracks in the jet, as well as areas of overstress failure.

Though UPS is headquartered in Atlanta, the Louisville airport is home to its largest global package handling facility.

The crash occurred during the country’s longest government shutdown, which promoted disruptions to air travel due to shortages of air traffic controllers. It also limited some cargo flights. Both commercial and dedicated freight companies carry packages and other goods.

During the shutdown, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News that the slowdown in cargo could lead to shortages around the holiday. The shutdown officially ended last week, and air travel disruptions have largely dissipated.

CVC Credit, the fast-growing c.$57 billion (€49 billion) global credit management business of CVC, today announced it has successfully priced Apidos LV (55), a new $550 million Collateralized Loan Obligation (CLO) vehicle. This is CVC Credit’s eighth new issue CLO of 2025 and twenty eighth when including resets and refinancings. 

Apidos LV priced at market tights and has a five-year re-investment and a two-year non-call period. Jefferies served as the lead arranger.

Kevin O’Meara, Partner and Co-Head of CVC Global Liquid Credit and Head of US Liquid Credit at CVC Credit, said: “We are pleased to price our eighth new issue CLO of 2025, which was well received among investors across the debt stack. Apidos LV underscores CVC’s track record through varied credit cycles and market conditions. We look forward to continuing momentum through year end.” 

CVC’s Liquid Credit business manages c.$37 billion (€32 billion) in assets across more than 70 active funds, managed by a team of around 40 investment professionals in both Europe and the US. 

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The UK accounting regulator is weighing whether to formally investigate PwC’s auditing of WHSmith, whose chief executive resigned this week over accounting errors in the retailer’s US business.

WHSmith, which has been audited by PwC since 2015, said on Wednesday that an independent review by Deloitte had found that the company’s revenues had been overstated and that the errors had been made over several years.

After WHSmith first announced in August that it had discovered accounting errors in its US business, PwC flagged the retailer’s statement to the FRC as part of its standard practice, said people familiar with the matter.

The regulator routinely reviews situations where companies reveal problems with their accounts to determine whether to open a formal investigation. While the FRC has not decided whether to open a formal probe into PwC’s work at WHSmith, the situation is the latest to bring scrutiny to the Big Four accounting firm’s audits.

PwC has been in the regulator’s crosshairs for its audits of companies including Sanjeev Gupta’s Wyelands Bank and London Capital & Finance, which a court ruled was a Ponzi scheme. PwC also audited Tesco in the run-up to an accounting scandal that engulfed the supermarket group.

The FRC has the power to fine companies and even ban individual auditors when they fail to meet industry standards but generally gives discounts for co-operation and early engagement.

PwC and the FRC declined to comment.

PwC signed off on WHSmith’s accounts for the three years where the retailer has subsequently disclosed an overstatement of profits through booking US supplier income too early. The errors went undetected until a member of WHSmith’s finance team came forward in mid-August, the Financial Times has previously reported.

WHSmith’s disclosure of accounting errors has wiped nearly £600mn off its market capitalisation. The episode has already claimed the retailer’s group chief executive, Carl Cowling, who stepped down on Wednesday as the London-listed company revealed the top-level findings of an independent review, led by PwC’s rival Deloitte.

This blamed “a backdrop of a target-driven performance culture” in WHSmith’s North America business, which had “a limited level of group oversight of the finance processes” in the division, the retailer told the market.

Heading the US business over the relevant period was Toby Keir, who was promoted in 2021 after 19 years at WHSmith to run its Marshall Retail Group unit. Keir left the company earlier this year for family reasons, the people added.

He ran the US division out of its headquarters in Las Vegas, whereas the rest of the business — including its other global operations — reported to Cowling at WHSmith’s headquarters in Swindon, Wiltshire. Deloitte gave the rest of WHSmith’s business a clean bill of health. The group has about 1,300 stores globally located in airports, train stations and hospitals.

Keir did not respond to requests for comment.

The retailer’s entire US finance team, which has been led by Kevin Gotthard since 2022, is being replaced, a person close to the company said. The group CFO, Max Izzard, only joined the company in late 2024.

WHSmith declined to comment. Gotthard did not respond to a request to comment via LinkedIn.

The accounting issues centred around the way WHSmith recognised payments from suppliers when they ran promotions. Typically such income is recorded gradually over time to align with when the related products are sold. Deloitte found that WHSmith instead recorded the income when deals were agreed.

The move to book supplier income earlier than cash had been received gave a flattering impression that its US profits were higher than they were, and meant senior managers were able to financially benefit by hitting bonus performance targets, according to people familiar with the company.

The errors would result in a larger-than-expected hit to the retailer’s profits, Deloitte concluded. The travel retailer said it expected to have to restate full-year earnings for 2023 and 2024, and it further cut forecasts for trading profit in its US business to £5mn-£15mn for 2025, down from a reduced £25mn guidance set in August.

By Pushkala Aripaka and Nithyashree R B

(Reuters) -ASOS shares fell sharply on Friday after the British fashion retailer’s 2026 profit forecast came in below expectations, even though the company reported a jump in full-year earnings.

The online retailer has been working to revive its fast-fashion appeal among its core shoppers in their 20s, while focusing on strengthening profitability by cutting costs, against a backdrop of increased competition from Chinese rivals.

“We will not take shortcuts, we will not go back to excessive discounts, we will not go back to excessive promotion,” CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte told journalists.

“We know the outcome of that is growth, but not sustainable growth,” he said.

The company forecast adjusted core profit for fiscal 2026 between 150 million pounds and 180 million pounds ($196.22 million and $235.46 million).

At the midpoint of 165 million pounds, the profit outlook is below consensus of 173 million pounds, according to a company-compiled poll.

The group said it was on an “improving trajectory” for gross merchandise value after reporting a 51.5% jump in profit to 131.6 million pounds for the full year to August 31.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan noted ASOS’ “strong progress” on profits, but said evidence of enough consumer re-engagement for sustainable and positive GMV growth was still limited.

ASOS shares fell as much as 11% to a low of 219.5 pence, and were down nearly as much by 1113 GMT at 222 pence.

In Britain, the group’s biggest market, people are delaying non-essential purchases amid sticky inflation, and waiting for Black Friday discounts as well as next week’s budget.

In fiscal 2025, ASOS’ total customer numbers dropped 14% from the previous year. In the new fiscal year so far, ASOS had increased its new customer base in the UK by about 10%.

The group has more than 20 million active customers in over 200 markets.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka and Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Jane Merriman)

_{Workshop participants participating in a collaborative breakout session.} 

The NEA Workshop on Initial Estimation of Backend Costs for Advanced Reactors and Small Modular Reactors brought together more than 120 participants to Paris, France from 18-20 November. Participants from a broad range of stakeholders from both the public sector and the private sector included individuals with experience in reactor design, waste management, decommissioning, finance, investing, cost estimation, regulation, and more.

_{Workshop participants at the end of the first day of the workshop.}  

The goal of the workshop was to help provide preliminary guidance that aids in understanding future backend and decommissioning requirements for new and advanced nuclear technologies. Such guidance would help inform those currently working on designing new reactor technologies. By providing a holistic picture of long-term costs, including those of decommissioning and backend management, the workshop aimed to inform financial and funding stakeholders for new projects. This was done through breakout sessions, high-level panels and dedicated interactive discussions.

The workshop discussed new technologies, with a variety of presentations from small modular reactor (SMR) and advanced reactor developers Aalo Atomics, Blykalla, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP), Orlen Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) and TerraPower. International co-operation for new technologies was highlighted through ongoing efforts such as the work being done by the European Nuclear Cogeneration Industrial Initiative, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nucleareurope and the NEA. One such example showcased was the NEA Small Modular Reactor Dashboard: Third Edition. Discussions further centered on current knowledge and good practices from existing strategies across waste management and decommissioning providing a strong basis for in-depth conversations on new and novel fuels, their selection and the potential impact on existing backend management strategies.

_{A panel session of the workshop.} 

By thinking with the end in mind, the workshop also explored the idea of ‘Decommissioning by Design’. This helped the inter-disciplinary group of attendees unpack not only potential decommissioning activities for new reactors but also consider how concepts of modularity and standardisation may have an impact on cost drivers. Highlighting existing backend cost estimation methodologies, such as the International Structure for Decommissioning Costing (ISDC), the workshop included discussions on the importance of cost-estimation as a means to ensure projects are economically sound – considering full lifecycle costs and holistic analysis – and help provide key stakeholders, such as policymakers and the public, with a pathway for robust long-term strategies that capture the various promises offered by these new technologies.

Building from discussion on cost estimation methods, the workshop also addressed considerations for adequate financial and funding strategies including the need to consider the backend and decommissioning costs as a key component. A large part of this conversation also highlighted the role of collaborative efforts by key stakeholders, including government, industry, regulators and the public.

_{A panel session on the last day of the workshop.}

Participants stressed the beneficial role of international collaboration, particularly for reducing uncertainties associated with new technologies and helping enable the development of new regulatory, legal and technical approaches. Exploring these topics is important not only to foster earlier and more robust collaboration between technology vendors and the backend nuclear energy community, but also to further develop frameworks that can help streamline the licensing processes and facilitate financing.

The lessons learnt and key discussions from the workshop will be developed into preliminary guidelines. These guidelines will compile best practices to aid stakeholders build trust and confidence; guide understanding of critical decommissioning and waste management considerations  and support regulatory and licensing processes.

_{One of the groups working during the breakout session.} 

Spain’s CCOO union is coordinating the planned November 28 protests with unions in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal, set to take place in front of Zara stores in major cities.

Sign up here.

Rosa Galan, representative for CCOO at Inditex, told Reuters that Inditex previously had a profit-sharing scheme, but that it was removed after the pandemic.

“We are once again asking that a company that has huge profits, which are the result of the work of its staff, distribute those profits fairly,” said Galan.

Inditex did not respond to a request for comment. It was not clear how many workers were expected to participate in the protests.

The world’s biggest listed fast-fashion retailer has enjoyed strong sales growth in the years since the coronavirus pandemic ended, and its shares have doubled in value since three years ago.

Black Friday – the last Friday of November – and the weeks around it are a key sales period that retailers use to lure shoppers into stores and clear old stock before bringing in new holiday collections. Retail workers worldwide also use the day to spotlight their demands through strikes and protests.

On the eve of Black Friday in 2022, workers in Spain protested to demand higher pay, and three months later Inditex agreed a 20% increase in average wages for store workers in its home country.

(This story has been refiled to fix a typo in the spelling of ‘coordinating’ in paragraph 2)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

London Business School’s Digital Learning team picked up two prestigious Silver awards at the Learning Technologies 2025 Awards in London, marking a significant milestone in the School’s continued leadership in learning innovation.

The team received Silver in ‘Best Use of AI in Learning for its AI for Storytelling tool and Silver in ‘Best Online Distance Learning Programme’ for the design and development of the LBS Online course Business Analytics in the Age of Generative AI which is part of the school’s online portfolio.

This double recognition enhances LBS’ growing influence in the global learning-technology space and reflects the School’s commitment to delivering high-quality, research-informed digital learning experiences for executives, students and alumni.

Judges praised the AI for Storytelling tool, developed in partnership with Make Real, as an innovative and impactful use of AI, to help leaders master one of the most important capabilities that’s difficult to personalise at scale.

Judges also recognised how LBS’ Online course, developed in partnership with Professor Nicos Savva and Digital Learning team members Michele Asbury and Janaina McLachlan, offers rich interactive experiences that leaders expect. Learning management system Thinqi supports all LBS courses and was an integral partner in helping the School achieve this accolade.

Reflecting on the achievement, Jade Mountain, Director, Strategic Digital Learning Solutions said: “These two silver awards reinforce our commitment to creating world-class, research-informed digital learning. Our AI storytelling tool now recognised for the second time this year, demonstrates how emerging technologies can help leaders build deeply human skills at scale, while retaining authenticity and personalisation.

“Above all, these awards reaffirm our commitment to using AI responsibly, underpinned by strong academic foundations and rigorous pedagogic design. Innovation paired with scholarship ensures our learners receive human-centred experiences powered, not defined by AI.”

With entries spanning the global learning-tech ecosystem from L&D teams to corporate innovators, competition at the Learning Technologies Awards is intense. LBS’s two Silver awards signals a proud moment for the School and industry recognition in its digital-learning vision.