Grand Seiko has continued building out its global partnership with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, framing the collaboration around a shared philosophy the Japanese watchmaker says centers on incremental refinement rather than singular moments of brilliance, according to a feature published this week by Revolution Watch.

Grand Seiko first signed Ohtani as a brand ambassador during his 2018 MLB rookie season with the Los Angeles Angels, an early bet on a player whose full potential had not yet become apparent to the wider sports world. The relationship expanded significantly on March 12, when Grand Seiko announced Ohtani as its new global partner through what the company calls the “Grand Moments Project,” a collaboration the brand said centers on approaching each moment with sincerity and a deep respect for the value of time, with the initiative formally launching April 1.

“To carry forward a part of Grand Seiko’s heritage, shaped through decades of dedication, is something I deeply value,” Ohtani said in Grand Seiko’s official announcement of the partnership. “Feeling that legacy as I wear the watch brings me real joy, and it is my hope that we will continue this journey together.” He added that elevating the quality of each individual moment is important to him, a sentiment the brand has tied closely to its broader marketing message around the partnership.

Grand Seiko’s Revolution Watch feature traces the connection between Ohtani and the brand back to shared geography as much as shared philosophy. Ohtani was born in Oshu, in Iwate Prefecture, a mountainous region in northern Japan, the same prefecture that is home to Grand Seiko Studio Shizukuishi, the workshop dedicated to assembling the brand’s mechanical watches. That studio, designed by architect Kengo Kuma, opened in 2020.

The partnership has produced several notable timepieces tied to specific milestones in Ohtani’s career. In 2021, Grand Seiko marked Ohtani’s American League MVP season by presenting him with the SLGH005, widely known among collectors as the “White Birch” for its dial design inspired by the birch forests surrounding the Shizukuishi studio. That watch went on to win the Men’s Watch Prize at that year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneve, an award frequently described within the watch industry as the equivalent of the Academy Awards for watchmaking. When Ohtani signed his landmark 700 million dollar contract with the Dodgers in 2023, he was photographed wearing an understated Grand Seiko piece rather than a more overtly flashy timepiece, a moment that drew attention from watch enthusiasts at the time.

According to Revolution Watch, the White Birch has since evolved into an updated model, the SLGH031, which preserves its original design while incorporating Grand Seiko’s newer Evolution 9 bracelet and clasp. The brand has also introduced the SLGB003, which showcases its latest generation of Spring Drive technology, a hybrid movement system unique to Grand Seiko that combines mechanical and quartz elements.

The Revolution Watch feature framed the partnership as an example of shared values rather than a simple celebrity endorsement, drawing a parallel to the Japanese concept of kaizen, commonly translated as “continuous improvement,” which holds that lasting success comes through countless small refinements rather than dramatic overnight change. The piece noted that both Ohtani’s development as a two-way player, a feat not widely achieved in modern baseball since Babe Ruth gradually shifted away from pitching to focus on hitting, and Grand Seiko’s decades-long approach to refining its cases, dials and movements reflect that same underlying philosophy.

Ohtani has continued adding endorsement partnerships beyond Grand Seiko in recent months, including a modeling collaboration with the fashion brand Hugo Boss announced earlier this year, which the company said drew inspiration from baseball aesthetics and heritage design. Industry analysts have noted that Ohtani now commands more endorsement income than any other athlete in the world, a status that has coincided with his four unanimous American League and National League MVP awards and back-to-back World Series titles with the Dodgers.

Grand Seiko, founded more than six decades ago, has historically built its reputation primarily through craftsmanship rather than celebrity marketing, distinguishing its approach from Swiss luxury competitors such as Rolex and Omega, which have long relied on prominent athlete ambassadors as a central part of their brand strategy. Analysts covering the partnership, including Gear Patrol, have described Ohtani’s expanded role with Grand Seiko as a notable shift for the historically understated Japanese watchmaker as it seeks greater global visibility outside dedicated watch-collecting circles.

Leong Ling
Vice President of Corporate Development

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Hibiscus Petroleum’s Quarter 4 Financial Year 2026 Results Briefing. Thank you for taking the time to join us this afternoon, especially ahead of the Merdeka long weekend.

I’m Lily Ling, VP of Corporate Development. Joining me today are Dr. Kenneth Pereira, our Managing Director; Yip CY, our CFO; Dr. Pascal Hos, our Country Head for Malaysia and Vietnam; Shaun, our Senior Manager of Corporate Finance; Deepak Thakur, our SVP Economics and Business Planning; and Song, our Country Head Brunei, both joining us online; and from my team, Andrew, [ Jehan ] and Adam. Earlier today, we released our Q4 and full year financial year 2026 results, together with our corporate and business update, press release and dividend declaration.

All the announcements are available on our website, and the presentation deck for today’s briefing is also available here in the Teams chat. As this is our final results briefing for financial year 2026, we’ll take you through the group’s full year performance as well as the latest operational and business updates. With that, let’s begin. CY, over to you.

Chee Yip
Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Lily, and good afternoon to everyone. So FY 2026 is done, and we have got some good numbers, hopefully, to share and we will explain each one of them. Again, thanks for joining us. So I’ll just go straight into this slide.

Mutual fund units can be held either in the traditional Statement of Account (SoA) mode or in a demat account. With SWP and STP facilities now available for demat-held units, a key difference between the two modes has narrowed. A look at how the two modes differ and which is better for investors.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOLDING MUTUAL FUNDS IN SOA AND DEMAT FORM?

In SoA mode, mutual fund units are held with the asset management company (AMC), with the registrar and transfer agent (RTA) maintaining the records and issuing statements to investors. In demat mode, the units are held in the investor’s demat account through depositories such as NSDL and CDSL, alongside securities such as stocks, ETFs and bonds.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF HOLDING MUTUAL FUNDS IN SOA MODE?

SoA is generally simpler for investors whose investments are largely restricted to mutual funds. Investors do not need a demat account merely to hold their MF units and therefore do not incur demat-related account charges. Investors can also transact and service their investments directly through AMCs and RTAs. This can make purchases, redemptions and other service requests relatively straightforward, particularly for investors with no requirement to hold stocks, ETFs or other securities in demat form.

WHAT ARE THE DISADVANTAGES OF HOLDING MUTUAL FUNDS IN DEMAT FORM?

Investors may have to pay demat account maintenance and other charges, making it less attractive for those who do not otherwise use a demat account. Also, since the units are held in demat form, certain transactions and service requests must be routed through the depository participant rather than directly through the AMC or RTA.

CAN INVESTORS SHIFT FROM SOA TO DEMAT AND VICE VERSA?

Yes. Mutual fund units held in SoA form can be converted into demat form by making a dematerialisation request through the depository participant. Units held in demat form can similarly be converted back into SoA form through the rematerialisation process, subject to the prescribed procedure.

Investors therefore do not have to treat their initial choice as permanent.

SO, WHICH IS BETTER — SOA OR DEMAT?

SoA may be simpler for investors who primarily invest in mutual funds, as it avoids demat-related costs and allows them to deal directly with AMCs and RTAs. Demat may suit those who also own stocks, ETFs and bonds and prefer to manage all investments in one place. With SWP and STP now available for demat-held MF units, the convenience gap between the two modes has narrowed.

Reform UK’s tax pledges could cost the Treasury billions of pounds in lost revenue and it remains unclear how they would be paid for, according to audit, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg.

Tom Goddard, an assistant manager at the firm, said Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s shadow chancellor, had pledged to scrap tax on overtime payments, cut national insurance for businesses that “hire British workers”, lower the rate of VAT for self-employed individuals, and give every taxpayer a £30 tax credit if they are kept on the phone to HMRC for more than 30 minutes.

“However, there is little detail on how these measures would work, how much they would cost to be implemented, and how the resulting loss in tax revenue would be offset,” he said. “Although Reform UK has suggested welfare spending cuts could fund these measures in part, detailed fiscal analysis of both costs and savings would be needed to actually assess if this is feasible.”

The overtime pledge builds on a policy Nigel Farage set out in May, when the Reform UK leader promised to lift income tax from overtime pay for workers earning under £75,000 at a stated cost of around £5bn a year.

Goddard said the three headline measures would each strike at one of the UK’s largest sources of revenue. “Scrapping income tax on overtime, lowering national insurance contributions, and decreasing VAT would impact each of the UK’s ‘big three’ tax generators,” he said. “Consecutive governments have ruled out making changes to these three taxes as they constitute too large a portion of the country’s revenue, around 75% for the period from August 2025 to July 2026. Lowering the rates of the big three, even if only under specific circumstances, could cost the country billions in tax revenue which would need to be accounted for elsewhere.”

The proposal to reduce VAT for self-employed workers drew particular criticism. Goddard said it “could also create both fairness and complexity issues”, pointing out that VAT is generally levied on goods and services rather than on an individual’s employment status.

“Creating a separate VAT regime for one category of worker could introduce new administrative burdens, further costs and increase opportunities for tax avoidance through reclassification of employment status,” he said.

The firm was equally sceptical of the plan to compensate taxpayers for long waits on HMRC’s helplines, an issue that has dogged the tax authority for years, with callers reporting waits of up to 70 minutes ahead of filing deadlines.

Goddard said a new tax credit scheme based on call times “could cost the country millions in implementation before the first qualifying call”, because it would require robust mechanisms to verify eligibility, process claims, prevent fraud and administer payments.

He then set out what the credit itself might cost. “By HMRC’s own statistics, there were 24 million calls for the year in 2025, of these, 50% had a waiting time of 10 minutes,” he said. “Taking a conservative approach, 15% of total calls may have had a call time of longer than 30 minutes. This amounts to 3.6 million calls, each of which would be entitled to a £30 tax credit, therefore resulting in further cost to the government of £108m.”

HMRC’s own performance data for the 2025 to 2026 year shows the department had received just over 24 million calls in the year to January, with an average speed of answer of 13 minutes 27 seconds and 51.4% of callers waiting more than 10 minutes.

Goddard also warned that the design of the scheme could backfire. “It could be argued that linking compensation directly to time spent on a call risk encouraging individuals to remain on the line unnecessarily or to repeatedly contact HMRC in pursuit of a credit,” he said. “Even if safeguards could be introduced, doing so would add further complexity to what is intended as a remedy for long wait times.”

The intervention comes as Reform UK courts the business community, with Vodafone, Heathrow and JCB among the companies attending the party’s conference in Birmingham this week, where it is staging its first dedicated business day.

Goddard said the UK’s tax system had “serious problems” that needed to be addressed “in a proactive and comprehensive measure”. He added: “However, adding additional complexities to the system is unlikely to be the answer.”

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ET Intelligence Group: Shares of Milky Mist Dairy Food were locked in upper circuit of 10% after delivering strong growth in the June 2026 quarter, driven by broad-based momentum across its product portfolio. In the first reporting quarter after listing on bourses in August, EBITDA margin expanded on the back of operational efficiencies, higher volume, an improved product mix, and better pricing realization. The company expects to sustain growth momentum through existing capacities, protein-led products and deeper penetration outside South India.

Yogurt and ice cream emerged as the standout categories, posting year-on-year revenue growth of 153% and 60%, respectively, aided by an extended summer season. Cheese revenue increased 38%, while paneer, the company’s largest category, grew 34%. Milky Mist believes that the Perundurai facility still has significant spare capacity and, at current product prices, can potentially support revenue of 3-3.5 times FY26 levels before a new manufacturing facility is required. This provides substantial headroom for growth while supporting operating leverage.

While paneer remains the cornerstone of the business, Milky Mist is increasingly focusing on protein-rich products such as high-protein paneer, high-protein cheese, Greek yogurt and Skyr. It also plans to commission a whey protein concentrate plant over the next 15-18 months, allowing it to extract greater value from the whey generated in its cheese and paneer operations. In addition, it commissioned a 120-tonne-per-day natural cheddar cheese plant during the quarter.

Geographic expansion is another important growth driver. Although South India contributes nearly 69% to revenue, other markets are growing faster and are expected to account for around 40% of the business over time. The company expects to achieve this by strengthening distribution network, expanding cold-chain infrastructure and scaling up milk procurement operations in states such as Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Read more: Indian banks slash FCNR deposit rates by up to 310 basis points

Milk inflation poses as a key near-term risk. However, the company believes its diversified portfolio of value-added dairy products provides adequate pricing power to manage input-cost pressures. It expects margins to benefit from a richer product mix, better capacity utilisation and continued operational efficiencies.
Overall, Milky Mist’s medium-term growth story extends beyond paneer. The focus is increasingly on sweating existing assets, scaling protein products, expanding cheese and yogurt, and increasing penetration outside South India while maintaining profitability growth.