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Swiss luxury group Richemont’s sales dipped in the three months to September as the owner of Cartier became the latest luxury group to report slower than expected revenues as China stalls. 

Sales at Richemont fell 1 per cent on a comparable basis to €4.8bn in the three months ending September 30, underperforming Visible Alpha consensus expectations for a 2 per cent rise. Sales in Asia Pacific were down 18 per cent in the period compared with a year earlier, once again a sharper fall than expected by analysts, but offset in part by strong growth in the Americas, Japan and Europe. 

Its jewellery brands, its biggest division housing Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, showed resilience with a 4 per cent increase in the quarter with sales of €3.44bn, still slightly below expectations of a 5 per cent rise. However, the pressure was greater in its watchmaking operation, which fell 19 per cent.

“We saw solid sales growth across most of our regions offsetting continued weakness in Chinese demand, which, I had predicted, will take longer to recover and is especially affecting our specialist watchmakers,” chair Johann Rupert said.

Operating profits for the first six months of the year fell by 17 per cent compared with the previous year to €2.2bn, also missing expectations, which the company said was due to significant impact from negative foreign exchange rate movement.

Jewellery, Richemont’s biggest and most closely watched division, has diverged from its watchmaking division, its second biggest, in recent quarters. Despite industry-wide pressures, largely due to a sharp retrenchment by Chinese shoppers, hard luxury’s higher price point and more timeless appeal tends to attract wealthier clients, buffering performance during downturns.

“Jewellery maisons — responsible for the bulk of group profits — produced a resilient performance . . . but specialist watchmakers ended up materially worse than expected,” said Luca Solca, an analyst at Bernstein. 

Richemont has undergone a sweeping leadership overhaul in recent months as it seeks to streamline succession planning and decision-making at the group controlled by Rupert. 

Nicolas Bos, who has spent his career at the group and previously headed its second-biggest jewellery brand Van Cleef & Arpels, became group chief executive in an expanded version of the role in June. In July, the company announced new chief executives at Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, with Louis Ferla replacing Cyrille Vigneron as chief executive of Cartier after eight years.

“The management change and jewellery resilience are clear positives, but macro remains tricky to navigate in the short term,” analysts at HSBC wrote ahead of the results. Since Bos’s appointment, “investors have stopped asking about succession planning [and] we remain optimistic about the long-term compounding growth nature of Cartier”.

MCDONALD’S is shaking up its menu and launching a festive-themed range including two new items within days.

The chain is unveiling 12 items in total on November 20 and some old favourites including the Big Tasty and Cheese Melt Dippers are back.

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But when I got to visit McDonald’s HQ in London to try the new festive range yesterday, I had the two newbies in my sights.

The duo in question were the new Cheesy McCrispy and Terry’s Chocolate Orange Pie.

Shoppers will be able to get the Cheesy McCrispy from £7.79, while the Chocolate Orange Pie will be on sale for £1.99.

The first comes with a chicken breast fillet in a crispy coating served with lettuce, crispy onions, pink pickled onion chutney, bacon, two slices of cheese and cheese sauce.

The latter combines crispy chocolate pastry with the classic Terry’s Chocolate Orange-flavoured ganache filling – a blend of chocolate and cream.

How did they taste though? Here’s what I thought.

Cheesy McCrispy

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The Cheesy McCrispy is a twist on the classic McCrispy, except it comes with a load more ingredients like crispy onions, cheese slices and pink pickled onion chutney.

I was a big fan of the McCrispy when it was first released because of its simple list of ingredients.

So when I was first handed the Cheesy McCrispy, my first thought was how overloaded it looked.

I tucked in, and while the chicken was crispy and cheesy sauce added a nice gooey texture, I felt there was just too much going on.

And even with all the ingredients packed in, the burger was lacking overall depth in its flavour.

I can see what McDonald’s is trying to do with the burger in giving the McCrispy a gourmet uplift, but it wasn’t for me.

Terry’s Chocolate Orange Pie

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I’m a big fan of Terry’s Chocolate Orange, particularly at Christmas, and was excited to see how this hybrid item would taste.

One concern was that it would be far too sweet, though.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when, after taking a first bite, it was pretty delicious.

The crunch of the chocolate coating and the gloopy, warm Terry’s Chocolate Orange-flavoured ganache spewing out made for a nice textural contrast.

The sauce had just the right amount of orange flavour to it without being too zesty and overpowering.

If I had to choose between this, and the original Terry’s Chocolate Orange, I’d definitely go for the McDonald’s pie.

How did everything else taste on the Christmas menu?

Ten other items are returning back to menus from November 20, but I hadn’t actually tried all of them before so was keen to give them a go.

First, were the Camembert Cheese Melt Dippers, which come in two sizes costing £2.49 and £6.79

They were a definite stand out for me – the salty Camembert cheese wrapped in crunchy coating with smoky Rich Tomato Dip made for the perfect, moreish combination.

They’re ideal if you’re looking for a quick cheap bite as well as the cheapest savoury item on the Christmas menu.

The returning Big Tasty with bacon hit the spot too, with the smoky sauce, fresh tomatoes and beef combining for a tasty burger, but it was hard to keep all the ingredients from spilling out.

McFlurry fans will be keen on the returning Galaxy Caramel McFlurry, which costs up to £2.19.

Two of the returning items that were a big no from me though the Galaxy Caramel latte and Galaxy Caramel Hot Chocolate, both priced at £2.69.

The hot chocolate was rich and velvety but, with the cream on top, just far too sweet and I couldn’t stomach more than two or three sips.

The same went for the Latte, which was just far too sickly to even consider finishing the whole thing off.

In other news, McDonald’s has brought back the McRib after 10 years.

Plus, it recently unveiled the Double Chilli Cheeseburger in restaurants. Customers can get the item for around £2.49.

How do I find my nearest McDonald’s?

If you’re planning on taking a trip to McDonald’s, you’ll want to know where your nearest branch is.

The chain has a restaurant locator tool on its website you can use to find your nearest one – and check what time it opens.

Bear in mind that McDonald’s serves breakfast every day until 11am.

After that, the menu switches to the normal menu serving meals such as burgers, chicken nuggets and more.

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The Supreme Court on Thursday exercised its extraordinary constitutional powers to order the liquidation of the troubled private air carrier, Jet Airways.

Launched in 1992, Jet Airways grew to be one of the biggest carriers in the country, reigning the sector with a 22.6 per cent passenger market share back in 2010. In its heyday, it operated from its primary hub, Mumbai, and secondary hubs in Chennai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Kolkata, with more than 300 flights.

However, when SpiceJet and IndiGo entered the market and the subsequent tumbling of ticket fares in the mid-2010s, it went into deep financial losses. In October 2017, IndiGo overtook it as the market leader. By 2019, it announced bankruptcy, ceasing operations by April of that year.

On November 7, 2024, the SC bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra set aside an order by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that earlier decided the fate of the carrier. 

ALSO READ | Byju’s Drama: Supreme Court strikes down NCLT order, reviving edutech firm’s woes in BCCI-led insolvency proceedings

By ordering the liquidation, the apex court has struck down the NCLAT decision approving the transfer of its ownership to Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC).

The bench criticised the NCLAT decision, much like what happened in the Byju’s insolvency order, and said that Jet Airways’ liquidation was in the interest of creditors, workers and other stakeholders.

The air carrier suffered its first-ever loss in FY2001-2002 but quickly recovered when the central government allowed private operators to fly internationally in certain parts of South Asia. Jet’s first international flight was to Colombo from Chennai in March 2004. 

Jet was also one of the major private players to capitalise on the grounding of Kingfisher Airlines, when it began offering business-class tickets under its Jet Konnect brand in 2012. However, these, along with the 2013 decision by Etihad Airways to buy a stake in the company, could not prepare Jet Airways for what was in store for it.

By late 2013, Jet Airways went into an all-out fare war with IndiGo and SpiceJet. At one point, overall fares even tanked to just Rs 1200 in some sectors. In 2014, Jet realised that it was biting a bit more than it could chew and announced the phase-out of Jet Konnect. With its brand merging into the carrier, Jet Airways became the third full-service airline after Air India and Vistara. 

From there, began a period of dwindling profits to even a negative outlook by 2018. In April 2019, Indian Oil stopped the supply of fuel over non-payment of dues, grounding the airline fleet. By June 2019, lenders approached the NCLT for bankruptcy proceedings after striking down unfavourable offers from Etihad Airways and Hinduja Group.

Fast forward to 2020, Kalrock, the asset management firm under Fritsch Group, along with businessman Murari Lal Jalan (together, the JKC) purchased Jet Airways in a bid to restart operations. But it remained a dream that never took flight. 

GETTING a foot on the property ladder can often feel like a pipe dream for many, but there are many schemes available to make it easier.

A shared ownership scheme can help you to buy a home of your own even if you think you cannot save for a deposit or keep up with mortgage payments.

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Instead, you can buy a share of the property and pay rent to a landlord on the rest.

You can apply if your household income is £90,000 a year or less in London or £80,000 a year or less in the rest of the UK.

More than 103,000 shared ownership homes have been built and sold in the last decade, according to the National Housing Federation.

However, experts have warned that shared ownership comes with several hidden dangers such as high service charges, short leases and even the risk of being evicted.

Here, we explain the positives and negatives of shared ownership so you can decide if it is right for you.

Benefits

Low deposit

One of the big advantages of shared ownership is that you only need a small deposit.

This is because by owning a share of a property rather than the whole thing you can apply for a smaller mortgage.

For example, if you want to buy a property worth £250,000 then you would need a nest egg of £25,000 to put down a 10% deposit.

But if you buy a 45% share in a shared ownership property worth £250,000 then you would only need to save £11,250 for a deposit.

Some shared ownership properties will also let you put down a 5% deposit.

For the same house this would mean saving just £5,625.

Do not need to be able to afford the whole house

Another benefit of shared ownership is that you do not need to be able to afford the full market value of a property you are interested in.

Instead, you buy a share of the total property, which is usually between 25% and 75%.

But you can buy a share worth as little as 10% on some homes.

For example, if you want to buy a 10% share of a property worth £300,000 then you would need to take out a mortgage for just £30,000.

The smaller your mortgage the lower your monthly repayments will be.

Increase the proportion you own over time

You can increase the amount of the property you own up to 100% through a process known as “staircasing”.

You may want to do this if your circumstances change, for example if you get a pay rise or are given some money from a friend or relative.

For example, you could start by buying a house with a 25% share then staircase to 50%, then 75% and finally buy the whole home.

Usually you can buy shares of 10% or more at any time but this will depend on your lease.

Some older leases may only allow you to staircase by 25% or more but newer leases may let you buy shares for as low as 5%.

Every time you staircase the housing association will carry out a property valuation of your home. 

This is to ensure that you buy each share at the current market price, not the price at the time you bought the first share of your home.

If the value of your home has risen this could mean that you pay more for additional shares in your home than you did in the first share.

You will also need to remortgage, which is when you take out another mortgage with a new lender or stay with your existing one.

Meanwhile, you will also have to pay stamp duty on the whole value of the property when the portion you own equals or exceeds 80%.

This could cost you thousands of pounds on top of the cost of buying additional shares.

Mobeen Akram, New Homes Director, Mortgage Advice Bureau, warned: “If you increase your share through staircasing, your rent will decrease but the other fees will likely remain the same.

“You may also need to pay additional costs associated with getting a mortgage when you staircase, such as valuation fees and legal costs.”

Value of the portion of your home you own may increase

House prices constantly go up and down depending on the property market.

Usually house prices grow steadily over time, which could mean that the proportion of the home you own may also increase in value.

If this happens then you have built up equity in a property, which you could use to take the next step on the property ladder.

For example, if you bought a 50% share in a property which is in total worth £300,000 then your share is worth £150,000.

If the value of the property increases by 10% then its new market value will be £330,000.

Your share is still 50% but it is now worth £165,000.

Drawbacks

High ground rent and service charges

When you buy a shared ownership home you usually need to pay a service charge which covers the cost of cleaning and maintenance.

This can be charged monthly, yearly or twice a yearly.

You can ask your landlord for a summary showing how the charge is worked out and what the money is spent on.

The cost of the service charge does not depend on the share of the property you own.

This could mean that even if you own a 25% share you will still pay the same level of service charge as someone with a 75% share.

The initial service charge fee is also not fixed, which could mean that the cost soars after a few years.

Beware of short leases

Shared ownership properties are leasehold, which means that you own the building for a set number of years.

Unlike freehold properties, you also do not own the land that it is on.

When the term of the lease expires, the property will belong to the landowner unless you extend the lease.

Applying for a lease extension from your landlord could cost tens of thousands of pounds.

As the number of years left on the lease gets shorter the property becomes harder and harder to sell.

You could be forced to reduce your asking price to encourage someone to buy the property.

It may not be cheaper than getting a mortgage

High monthly mortgage payments and rent could mean that you do not save any money compared to just getting a mortgage.

Typically, your annual rent is charged at 2.75% of the portion of the property that you do not own.

For example, if you bought a 25% share of your property, your monthly rent would be 2.75% of the remaining 75% share.

If you buy a new-build shared ownership home then the rent limit is 3% of the value of the share the landlord owns.

But for resale homes the starting rent will be set at the same level as the previous shared owner was paying.

The landlord will review the rent at a time set out in your lease, which is usually once a year.

The rent may go up when it is reviewed but it will not go down.

You are still a tenant

As you pay rent on the portion of the property you do not own you are still a tenant of your landlord.

This means that you could be evicted on many grounds, for example if you fail to pay rent, sub-let your home or are a nuisance.

If you are evicted then there is a risk that you could lose the proportion of the home you have already bought as you do not own it fully in the eyes of the law until you have staircased up to 100%.

The housing association is not legally obliged to reimburse you if you are evicted.

Instead, you are only legally entitled to be paid for your share on the sale of the property.

You must make sure that you can afford your mortgage payments and rent before applying for shared ownership.

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London, UK – Film Africa 2024– Film Lab Africa took center stage at this year’s FilmAfrica festival with a groundbreaking panel, “Unleashing the Potential of the African Cinema Value Chain through Development Programs.” This session explored pivotal challenges and transformative opportunities within African cinema, emphasizing sustainable growth and the sector’s impact on Africa’s creative economy. This event, held at the annual Film Africa festival, spotlighted a unique blend of education, mentorship, and creative expression, uniting top African filmmaking talent with influential industry leaders. Through engaging panel discussions moderated by Gbolahan Peter Macjob, screenings, and impactful networking sessions, the event underscored Film Lab Africa’s mission to develop and amplify African voices on a global stage.

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