THE government is set to announce huge plans to create “pension megafunds” in a bid to boost both savers’ retirement pots and investment in the UK.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will outline the plans to move around £800billion of pension savings into larger so-called “megafunds” in her first annual “Mansion House” speech this evening.

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Local government pension schemes, which manage around £400billion of that cash, will be forced to split into eight megafunds.

Eventually, the plan is to then group all other defined contribution (DC) schemes – what most workers save into – into a number of other big funds.

DC schemes are where you and your employer both put money into a scheme and the cash is invested to grow your pot over time.

The plan is to set a minimum amount these funds can have in them – currently touted as somewhere between £25billion and £50billion.

The government is also consulting on allowing fund managers – who manage where all this cash is invested – to move savers from schemes which are under-performing into schemes that will deliver them better value.

The megafund set-up is similar to the pension systems in other countries like Australia and Canada, where pension cash is pooled into huge so-called “superfunds” and invested on behalf of larger groups of savers.

Ms Reeves said the reforms are the biggest change to the pensions market “in decades” that will “boost people’s savings in retirement” and “drive economic growth”.

The government added: “Consolidating the assets into a handful of megafunds run by professional fund managers will allow them to invest more in assets like infrastructure, supporting economic growth and local investment.”

What do the changes mean for your money?

Currently, most workers in the UK are automatically enrolled into their workplace pension scheme.

These are usually DC schemes. The other type of pensions in the UK are “defined benefit” schemes, where workers receive a guaranteed income in retirement based on their years of service.

But “megafunds” will pool a number of workplace pension schemes together to create giant pots of money to invest.

The aim is that by having much larger amounts to invest, the cash returns on those investments will be far higher than having lots of smaller pots.

For example, if you returned 5% on £1,000 in a year, you would earn £50, but if you returned 5% on £100,000 over a year, you would earn £5,000, and so on.

This should mean savers should end up with much larger pots of money by the time they retire.

Having more cash also means investment managers can take more risk with their investments with the aim of achieving higher returns.

Looking at the bigger picture, the government is hoping that these larger pension funds can be used to invest in infrastructure projects, which will ultimately benefit everyone.

Currently, most DC pensions in the UK are too small to invest in any meaningful capacity in infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways or building developments.

But government analysis has found pension funds worth between £25billion and £50billion can achieve much greater “productive investment levels”.

For example, it found Canada’s pension schemes invest around four times more in infrastructure than the UK currently does, while Australia’s pension schemes invest around three times more.

By combining UK schemes, the government estimates it could unlock a whopping £80billion to invest in the country’s infrastructure.

Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at wealth manager Quilter, said that by pooling resources into larger funds, savers will access “high-yield investments that smaller schemes often miss”.

“Drawing inspiration from successful models in Australia and Canada, this approach has the potential to deliver stable returns while supporting meaningful long-term projects,” he added.

However, some pensions industry experts have expressed concern that the government’s main focus is on investing in the UK rather than achieving returns for savers.

Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, warned: “Conflating a government goal of driving investment in the UK and people’s retirement outcomes brings a danger because the risks are all taken with members’ money. 

“If it goes well, everyone can celebrate – but it’s clearly possible that it will go the other way, so there needs to be some caution in this push to use other people’s money to drive economic growth.”

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The company has created no-sugar products to meet changing customer demand, and it has also expanded via acquisitions. Coca-Cola may not be the growth machine it once was, but it’s still a reliable business to invest in. It has generated $10.4 billion in profit over the past four quarters on sales of $46.4 billion, for a profit margin of 22%.

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(Bloomberg) — ASML Holding NV (ASML), the Dutch maker of advanced chip-making machines that are critical to global supply chains, reaffirmed its long-term revenue outlook as it bets on an artificial intelligence-driven boom in semiconductor demand.

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The Dutch firm projected that sales in 2030 will range from €44 billion ($46 billion) to €60 billion, in line with its previous forecast, according to a statement issued as part of the company’s investor day on Thursday.

The outlook is meant to reassure investors after the company’s order intake significantly missed analysts’ estimates in the third quarter, sparking a selloff in its shares and those of other chip-related businesses. Chipmakers such as Nvidia Corp. have enjoyed a boom in demand for their AI chips. But sales to other key buyers, including automakers and mobile phone and PC manufacturers, have remained mired in a prolonged slump.

“A few weeks ago, we had a bit of a conservative view for 2025,” Chief Executive Officer Christophe Fouquet said at the investor day. “In many ways, this is related to the change of the market. But when it comes to 2030, we are still very, very bullish.”

ASML expects growing AI demand will help boost global chip sales to over $1 trillion by 2030, which it said represents an annual growth rate in the semiconductor market of about 9%.

ASML is the only company in the world that makes the kind of lithography machines that help semiconductor companies in turn produce the advanced chips powering everything from Apple Inc.’s smartphones to Nvidia’s AI accelerators. As such, it is often viewed as a bellwether for the broader industry and an early indicator of global semiconductor demand.

Manufacturing more cutting-edge AI chips will mean more of ASML’s advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography machines will be needed by semiconductor makers. The company foresees double-digit growth in EUV spending annually through 2030 for both advanced logic and DRAM.

The company forecast a gross margin of between approximately 56% and 60%​ in 2030.

ASML shares rose as much as 5.9% in Amsterdam on Thursday, the biggest intraday gain since July 31. They were up 5% to €659.10 at 1:18 p.m.

While ASML in October cut its sales outlook for next year, it said on Thursday it will maintain its spending priorities. ASML currently has an ongoing €12 billion buyback through 2025 of which only 14% has been repurchased.

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Disney (DIS) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings per share and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates as its direct-to-consumer business built on recent momentum and swung to a profit.

The company reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.14 per share, above the $1.10 analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected and higher than the $0.82 Disney reported in the prior-year period.

Revenue came in at $22.57 billion, exceeding consensus expectations for $22.47 billion and higher than the $21.24 billion reported in the year-ago period.

The stock rose over 5% in premarket trading immediately following the results.

Disney’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business, which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, posted operating income of $321 million for the three months ending Sept. 28, compared to a loss of $387 million in the prior-year period.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected DTC operating income to come in around $203 million after the company reached its first quarter of streaming profitability in its Q3 results.

Achieving consistent profits in streaming is critical for Disney and other media giants as more consumers shift to DTC services over traditional pay-TV packages.

In mid-October, the company hiked the price of its various subscription plans, highlighting a trend that has gained traction over the past year as media companies attempt to boost margins on direct-to-consumer (DTC) offerings in the face of greater linear television declines.

Disney said Thursday that it expects DTC operating income of approximately $875 million in fiscal 2025.

The entertainment giant’s results come as it searches for a successor to current CEO Bob Iger to help it navigate a changing industry. A recent report from the Wall Street Journal said the pool of candidates is expanding as the executive is set to leave Disney for a second time by the end of 2026.

Last month, Disney said it plans to announce its next CEO in early 2026, with current Disney board member and former Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO James Gorman leading the charge. He will serve as the company’s new chairman of the board, effective Jan. 2, 2025.

Among the investor concerns Iger’s successor will inherit is a potential slowdown in Disney’s theme parks business.

Revenue for the parks division came in slightly ahead of estimates, rising 1% year over year to reach $8.24 billion.

Operating income, however, fell short of expectations of $2.31 billion to hit $1.66 billion in the quarter, a 6% drop compared to the prior year.

This was primarily driven by weak results overseas with international operating income plummeting 32% year over year. The company cited a decline in attendance and a decrease in guest spending amid the Paris Olympics and a typhoon in Shanghai.

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In one bright spot, domestic operating income rose 5% compared to the prior-year period, reversing the declines seen in the third quarter. The company estimated that Hurricanes Helene and Milton will register a hit of about $130 million for the current quarter, while the Disney cruise line pre-launches will tack on an additional $90 million.

Disney said it expects “high single-digit” adjusted EPS growth in 2025, beating estimates of a 4% uptick, and that earnings growth should reach double digits in 2026 and continue through 2027.

In 2025, the company is also targeting $3 billion in stock repurchases and “dividend growth that tracks our earnings growth.”

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.

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