Partners Daniela Smith and Lee Fisher will share the role having succeeded Eve Piffaretti

Law firm Blake Morgan has appointed co-heads of its Cardiff head office marking the first time the role has been shared in the firm’s history.

Partners Daniela Smith and Lee Fisher have taken up joint leadership bringing a combined total of more than 50 years’ experience at the firm between them. They succeed Eve Piffaretti who was head of office for more than seven years.

Ms Smith is a partner in the real estate team, with extensive experience across all aspects of commercial property work for both the public and private sectors. She has been involved in many of the firm’s highest-value and most high-profile transactions, including acting on the £250m regeneration of 40 acres at Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay.

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Mr Fisher started his legal career as a trainee solicitor with Morgan Bruce (one of Blake Morgan’s legacy practices) in 1995 and is now recognised as one of the leading commercial litigation and intellectual property lawyers in Wales. His practice concentrates on high-value commercial disputes and on leading the brand protection and intellectual property practice nationally. He is also a fully accredited mediator for commercial and IP matters.

Ms Smith said: “It’s a privilege to step into this role alongside Lee at such an exciting time for the office and for Wales. I’ve spent my entire career here, and my commitment to the firm has only deepened over time. I’m looking forward to building on everything Eve has created and to making sure this office continues to be somewhere people are proud to work.”

Mr Fisher said: “Daniela and I have complementary practices and a shared set of values, so I’m genuinely excited about what we can do together. Eve leaves a remarkable legacy, not just through her hard work but in the culture she’s built, of which Blake Morgan is understandably proud. Our job is to honour that and keep pushing it forward. Wales has a fantastic business community, and I want Blake Morgan to continue to be right at the heart of it.”

Ms Piffaretti said: “It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to support and champion this office, its people, clients, and communities for more than seven years. I’m delighted to hand over to Daniela and Lee, given their genuine, long-standing contribution and commitment to the firm’s success in Wales. I have no doubt they will take the office from strength to strength in the years ahead. I look forward to supporting them and know that they will excel in the role

Blake Morgan also has offices in London, Manchester, Oxford, Reading and Southampton. It employs more than 500 of which 90 are partners.

Operator

Welcome to the First Quarter 2026 Harmonic Earnings Conference Call. My name is Lisa, and I will be your operator for today’s call. [Operator Instructions] Also please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the call over to David Hanover, Investor Relations. David, you may begin.

David Hanover
Investor Relation Officer

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Harmonic’s First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. With me today are Nimrod Ben-Natan, President and CEO; and Walter Jankovic, Chief Financial Officer.

Before we begin, I’d like to point out that in addition to the audio portion of the webcast, we’ve also provided slides for this webcast, which you may view by going to our webcast on our Investor Relations website. Now turning to Slide 2. During this call, we will provide projections and other forward-looking statements regarding future events or future financial performance of the company.

Such statements are only current expectations, and actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to the documents Harmonic filed with the SEC, including our most recent 10-Q and 10-K reports and the forward-looking statements section of today’s preliminary results press release.

These documents identify important risk factors, which can cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking

But it reiterated its full-year guidance as it announced its first-half results

Tobacco giant Imperial Brands has warned a protracted conflict in the Middle East could impact input costs and consumer demand, including duty free, but has reiterated its full-year guidance.

Announcing its half-year results on Tuesday, the Bristol-headquartered Golden Virginia maker said tobacco pricing “more than offset” cigarette volume declines and was expected to have more of a benefit in the second half.

Underlying revenue was up 1.8 per cent to £3.7bn, while first-half adjusted operating profit was £1.64bn pounds – up just 0.6 per cent on a constant currency basis – for the six months to the end of March, driven by strong demand in Europe and emerging markets.

Imperial confirmed it had completed a £809m share buyback in the period – as part of a wider £1.45bn scheme – and had increased its interim dividend by four per cent.

It also said its transformation strategy was “on track” to deliver £320m of cost savings a year by 2030.

Lukas Paravicini, chief executive, said: “In combustibles, robust pricing momentum has continued to deliver low single-digit growth, at constant currency, in both net revenue and adjusted operating profit.

“In next generation products we continue to grow market share in all three categories. We have seen particularly strong growth in heated tobacco, following the rollout of our Pulze 3.0 device.

“Our modern oral portfolio has grown strongly in European markets, while in the US we have grown volume share in a competitive market.”

Looking ahead to the second half, Imperial said it would “continue to monitor” the situation in the Middle East, which had created a “more uncertain” macroeconomic environment.

“While tensions in the Middle East have led to a more uncertain macroeconomic environment, we continue to be confident of delivering a step-up in adjusted operating profit growth, in line with our full year guidance,” Mr Paravicini added.

Imperial said it expected to generate free cash flow of at least £2.2bn in the 2026 financial year after 2030 Strategy costs and the first instalment of the Delaware settlement – a payout of $251.5m to rival cigarette maker Reynolds American by its US subsidiary ITG Brands.

“Looking beyond the current fiscal year, we remain committed to the plans and medium-term guidance we provided in our 2030 Strategy in March 2025 to generate another five years of sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value through a progressive dividend and an evergreen share buyback,” the company added.