TheChek News Flow

WWD : Christie’s Names Bonnie Brennan CEO, Guillaume Cerutti President of the Pi

Christie’s Names Bonnie Brennan CEO, Guillaume Cerutti President of the Pinault Collection

Cerutti, who is currently CEO, will remain chairman of the Christie's board, and take on a wider role overseeing the artistic and cultural activities of the Pinault family’s holding company, Artémis.

LONDON — Bonnie Brennan has been named chief executive officer of Christie’s, succeeding Guillaume Cerutti, who will remain chairman of the board, become president of the Pinault Collection, and take on a wider arts and culture role at the Pinault family’s holding company, Artémis.

Brennan, who joined Christie’s in 2012 after spending 15 years at Sotheby’s, will take up her role on Feb. 1. She is currently president of Christie’s Americas, a role she has held since 2021.

Brennan has overseen record-breaking sales, including the collections of Ann and Gordon Getty, Anne H. Bass and Barney Ebsworth, and has grown the Americas region “materially,” according to Christie’s. The region now accounts for 48 percent of all auction sales.

“The global Christie’s team reflects unmatched passion, talent and dedication to our clients and one another,” Brennan said. “To lead this extraordinary group of people is a privilege that I take very seriously. I look forward to building on our 259-year legacy of connecting exceptional art and objects to passionate audiences.”

Brennan described Cerutti as “an inspirational and effective leader. I have been lucky to work closely with him, and I am grateful that we will continue this relationship as he remains chairman of the board.”

Cerutti, who has served as CEO for eight years, said he was grateful to Christie’s owners François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault “for their ongoing trust and support, and I am excited by the new role they have entrusted to me.”

He added: “I am also proud to pass the baton to Bonnie, with whom I have worked closely for many years. She possesses all the qualities needed to uphold and expand Christie’s market leadership.”

Christie’s said it witnessed “breakthrough pricing for exceptional artworks, the highest grossing collection sales in auction history, geographic and category expansion and business acquisition,” during Cerutti’s tenure.

In those years, the auction house also implemented a new, tech-focused strategy and diversified its offer, “attracting a younger and more diverse audience.”

As with many luxury businesses, the past few years have been challenging for Christie’s. After reaching more than $8.4 billion in 2022, the company’s combined auction and private sales fell to $5.7 billion in 2024, roughly the level of sales in 2019.

Cerutti’s appointment as president of the Pinault Collection is part of a wider role. Going forward, he will implement and oversee a new organization for the artistic and cultural activities of the Pinault family’s holding company, Artémis.

François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault said: “Christie’s is a key asset for us, and we are deeply grateful for the positive changes and many successes the company has achieved under Guillaume’s leadership. We have decided to entrust him with a broader role, overseeing all art-related projects within our entities under our direct authority.”

They added: “With Guillaume as chairman of the board and Bonnie as CEO, we are confident that Christie’s will continue to thrive, benefiting its clients, specialist community, employees and art connoisseurs worldwide.”

>>> Netflix beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs b

Netflix beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; raises FY25 revs guidance; Q4 was the biggest quarter of net adds in co history (869.68 +11.58)

Reports Q4 (Dec) earnings of $4.27 per share, $0.06 better than the FactSet Consensus of $4.21; revenues rose 16.0% year/year to $10.247 bln vs the $10.11 bln FactSet Consensus.
- Q4 global streaming paid net adds were +18.91 mln vs prior guidance of "higher than Q3's +5.07 mln." Co notes Q4 was the biggest quarter of net adds in company history.
- Q4 operating margin came in at 22.2% vs 21.6% prior guidance primarily due to higher-than-forecasted revenue; guides to Q1 operating margin of 28.2%.
- Co says revenue was slightly above forecast despite the strengthening of the US dollar vs. most currencies as membership growth and ad sales outpaced the co's forecast.
- Average paid memberships rose 15% year over year, while ARM was up 1% year over year, or 3% on a F/X neutral basis.
- In Q4, membership growth was driven by broad strength across its content slate, improved product/market fit across all regions and typical Q4 seasonality.
Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $5.58 vs. $5.97 FactSet Consensus; sees Q1 revs of $10.416 bln vs. $10.49 bln FactSet Consensus.
Co issues upside guidance for FY25, sees FY25 revs of $43.50-44.50 bln vs. $43.65 bln FactSet Consensus. This updated guidance reflects improved business fundamentals and the expected carryover benefit of a stronger-than-forecasted Q4 performance, net of headwinds from the strengthening of the US dollar over the past few months.
2025 Perspective: "We enter 2025 with strong momentum, coming off a year with record net additions (41M) and having re-accelerated growth (16% increase in revenue). Moreover, we're in a leadership position in terms of engagement (approximately two hours per paid membership per day), revenue ($39B) and profit ($10B in operating income) in a market that is continuing to expand. We estimate there are now 750M+ broadband households (excluding China and Russia) and $650B+ of entertainment revenue in the 4 markets we operate in, of which we only captured ~6% in 2024. Similarly, we believe we account for less than 10% of TV viewing in every country in which we operate, all of which suggests a long runway for growth as streaming continues to expand around the world."

Netflix +11.7% after hours; peers ticking higher on strong NFLX Q4 report, especially its robust net adds (869.68 +11.58)

Netflix peers: ROKU +1.7%, DIS +0.6%, WBD +0.5%, PARA +0.4%

>>> US Close Dow +1.24% S&P+0.88% Nasdaq +0.64% Russell +1.85%

Closing Stock Market Summary

Today was the first trading day with President Trump officially (back) in office, and it can be written that it was a good start for his administration in term's of the stock market's performance. The latter rallied on the understanding that a barrage of executive orders following yesterday's inauguration did not include any tariff actions against China.

That was deemed a relief by stock market participants who, nonetheless, still had to digest the president's added observation that he is thinking of 25% tariffs for Canada and Mexico starting February 1. It was not lost on stock market participants either that tariff actions against China are likely in the offing, but they seemingly resolved to take things one day at a time and they liked what they didn't hear yesterday on the tariff front.

The Treasury market seemed to as well, which was a big help for stocks today. The inflation-sensitive 10-yr note saw its yield drop another four basis points to 4.57% after hitting 4.80% a week ago.

That calm response paved the way for carryover buying interest that was broad based and also forged on 3M's (MMM 146.94, +5.91, +4.2%) better-than-expected earnings results, a CBS News report indicating President Trump will be announcing a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative today that involves OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle (ORCL 172.59, +11.56, +7.2%), and presumably some fear of missing out on further gains.

The gains were all the more remarkable given that they didn't include Apple (AAPL 222.64, -7.34, -3.2%), Tesla (TSLA 424.07, -2.43, -0.6%), or Microsoft (MSFT 428.50, -0.53, -0.1%). Apple was a real outlier today, feeling the pinch of analyst downgrades at Jefferies and Loop Capital, and a Bloomberg report suggesting its iPhone sales dropped 18% in China during the December quarter.

The S&P 500 energy sector (-0.6%) for its part was also an outlier. It was the only sector to record a loss, which followed President Trump's declaration of a national energy emergency that will allow for increased oil and gas production. WTI crude futures settled 1.7% lower at $75.99 per barrel, pressured by the notion that a "drill, baby, drill" approach could create too much supply.

The other 10 S&P 500 sectors, though, were on board with the rally effort. The industrials sector (+2.0%) topped today's performance rankings along with the real estate (+1.8%), health care (+1.7%), utilities (+1.6%), and materials (+1.3%) sectors in a predominately pro-growth tape.

Accordingly, small-cap and mid-cap stocks outperformed their larger brethren, value stocks as a group outperformed growth stocks, and breadth overwhelmingly favored advancers over decliners at the NYSE and Nasdaq.

The major indices all closed at, or near, their highs for the session on a day that was devoid of notable economic data.

WSJ : Crypto Thought Trump Would Bring It Legitimacy. Then He Launched a Meme Co

Crypto Thought Trump Would Bring It Legitimacy. Then He Launched a Meme Coin.

Industry players worry the success of the president’s meme coin will undermine the credibility they have worked hard to cultivate

The crypto industry eagerly awaited Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, it’s reeling after the president and first lady launched a pair of meme coins.

Dubbed $TRUMP and $MELANIA, the tokens have no economic purpose—their value is largely based on the popularity of internet memes. The market cap of the president’s coin has soared to $8.4 billion since Friday night’s launch, while the first lady’s token is worth about $800 million, according to CoinMarketCap.

By selling coins known for their speculative nature and extreme volatility, the president has undermined the credibility that the industry has worked hard to build in recent years, some crypto executives and investors say.

They also point to the brazen conflict of interest: Trump benefits directly from the sale of the tokens while setting the policy that affects how markets are valued and regulated.

Even the most ardent Trump supporters reached a breaking point when the $MELANIA token launched less than 48 hours after the rollout of her husband’s coin.

Ryan Selkis, the former chief executive of crypto research firm Messari and a vocal supporter of Trump, urged the president to fire the adviser who recommended going forward with the launch of the second coin.

“1. They don’t know what they’re doing. 2. They cost you a lot of $ and goodwill. 3. They don’t have your interests in mind,” said Selkis in a social-media post shortly after the $MELANIA token launch.

The $TRUMP token lost almost half its value after first lady Melania Trump’s coin was unveiled. Traders say demand for the tokens overlapped—$TRUMP token holders had to unload some of their holdings to buy her meme coin. Prices have since regained some ground, but the market value of the $TRUMP coin peaked Sunday at almost $15 billion.

Some crypto enthusiasts questioned if the coins were a scam and if Trump’s social-media accounts where they were promoted had been hacked. The mechanisms of the tokens reminded some of a rug pull, crypto parlance for a project that is launched and quickly abandoned, leaving investors with steep losses.

One point of criticism: 80% of the $TRUMP token’s supply is owned by Fight Fight Fight and CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, according to the website associated with the token. The terms and conditions of both $TRUMP and $MELANIA bar buyers from joining class-action lawsuits against the project and indemnify the project against any claims.

Trump or any other coin issuer benefits twice when meme coins are sold to the public. They get the proceeds of coin sales and they have an ownership stake whose value rises when the price of the coin increases. They can then sell more coins to gain further profits.

Spokespeople for the Trump Organization and the websites associated with the tokens didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After the stunning collapse of the FTX exchange in 2022, the crypto industry made big inroads in rebuilding its brand and reputation. It emerged as one of the biggest spenders of the election cycle by donating $170 million to a trio of super PACs to elect friendly lawmakers.

Bitcoin went mainstream and soared past $100,000 thanks to the roaring launch of the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds offered by big Wall Street asset managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. Trump became the industry’s biggest cheerleader and promised to deliver legislation that would treat digital assets differently than stocks and bonds.

The tokens aren’t the Trump family’s first foray into crypto. Last year the president helped launch a decentralized finance project with his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump known as World Liberty Financial.

Yet the decision to launch the cryptocurrencies caught the crypto community off guard. A crowd of crypto executives and Silicon Valley tycoons who gathered Friday night at an event dubbed the Crypto Ball didn’t learn of the launch until they checked their phones late in the evening. Trump unveiled the coin on social media at 9 p.m. ET.

In launching the tokens, Trump has waded into a longstanding divide in the world of crypto: staid technology enthusiasts who see crypto as a means of financial inclusion and innovation versus speculative investors who see it as a means to monetize brands, memes and ideas.

“I think people will think meme coins are the foundation of the crypto industry,” said billionaire entrepreneur and crypto investor Mark Cuban. “It’s not. There are real applications that add value.”

Cuban, who was vocal in his support of Kamala Harris during the presidential election, said Trump’s token launch looks like “a highly manipulated offering.”

The backlash over the Trump meme coins reached beyond the crypto industry. Michael Gayed, a portfolio manager and market analyst who publishes the Lead-Lag Report, posted criticism of the coin on X that drew support within the crypto community.

Cuban, who was vocal in his support of Kamala Harris during the presidential election, said Trump’s token launch looks like “a highly manipulated offering.”

>>> Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers

Gapping up:

VATE +24.1%, POWW +16.7%, RDW +11.9%, NBTX +8.9%, VALN +8.7%, DHI +6.1%, QSI +5.8%, WKEY +5.8%, BTSG +5%, ARWR +4.8%, XCH +4.5%, MRNA +3.8%, KULR +2.2%, TTEK +2.2%, ARQQ +2%, MMM +2%, FSM +1.9%, GPRK +1.9%, FBK +1.9%, IMOS +1.6%, KEY +1.6%, JXN +1.3%, STE +1.1%, UMC +1.1%, NUKK +1%, LAAC +1%, BMO +0.9%, NVDA +0.9%, SNY +0.8%, TECK +0.8%

Gapping down:

EDU -12.9%, PEBO -6.4%, NVX -6.2%, FOR -5.3%, VZLA -1.6%, INDB -1.4%, NIPG -0.8%, CAAP -0.7%, HIVE -0.6%, ENS -0.5%

WSJ : Jeep Maker Stellantis Brings Back American Classics After CEO Exit

Jeep Maker Stellantis Brings Back American Classics After CEO Exit

Automaker moves to revive Dodge and Chrysler labels after sales plummeted in 2024, leading to the departure of Carlos Tavares

Jeep is reviving its Cherokee-sized SUV. Dodge is bringing back the gas-engine version of its Charger muscle car. And Ram is hitting pause on its all-electric pickup truck.

In the weeks since the departure of former CEO Carlos Tavares, executives at global automaker Stellantis STLA 2.55%increase; green up pointing triangle have been moving swiftly to turn around the U.S. operations, employing a series of changes to jump-start sales again.

At the top of their list is reinvigorating well-known American brands, such as Chrysler and Dodge, whose sales and lineups have withered in recent years.

Stellantis’s brand leaders say they need to get back to basics by offering models at more affordable price points and promotions that can help increase sales. Such moves, they say, could reverse a dismal 2024 that concluded with Tavares’s exit in December.

Since the departure, the automaker has essentially shelved the former CEO’s playbook. Stellantis has delayed the release of two high-profile, electric-vehicle models and rehired some executives who had departed under Tavares, including bringing back a retired company veteran to lead the Ram brand.

Additionally, the company plans to launch new models in popular categories that it had pulled back under the previous leadership. Among them are a replacement for the Jeep Cherokee, a nameplate that accounted for about 17% of Jeep’s annual sales at one point before it was discontinued earlier this decade.

Overall, Stellantis sells seven auto brands in the U.S., including Maserati and Alfa Romeo.

“We need to be sure that in the next 12 months, we see a clear path to go to double-digit [market share],” said Antonio Filosa, who was named Stellantis’s chief operating officer of North America in October. Stellantis’s U.S. market share plummeted in the four years that Tavares led the combined company, dropping from 12.5% to roughly 8% last year.

Formed through a 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group, Stellantis started out strong by recording profits that vastly outpaced rivals, due in part to Tavares’s relentless focus on efficiency.

He also pledged to recharge the company’s weaker brands—Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat—using the global automaker’s engineering heft to quickly redesign models and freshen stale lineups.

While Tavares added some new models, he cut others and was adamant about keeping sticker prices high, despite complaints from dealers that it was hurting sales and leading to a pileup of unsold inventory.

By December, Tavares was out. The company cited “different views” that had emerged between the executive and key stakeholders. The former CEO declined to comment for this article.

December is generally a busy sales period for the industry, and Stellantis had only two of the top 20 models sold in the U.S., according to data from industry research firm Motor Intelligence. Jeep and Ram didn’t even crack the top 10 among brands.

A new CEO is expected to be named in the first half of this year. Meanwhile, Stellantis Chairman John Elkann, the scion of Italy’s famous Agnelli clan, has stepped in to lead an executive committee that will help him run the business. Following the departure of Tavares, Elkann went on a globe-trotting peacekeeping mission with Stellantis’s key stakeholders.

At the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, brand executives were promoting the recent changes and trying to instill confidence that it has a plan to regain lost momentum.

“It’s no secret, the relationships that we have with our dealers, our suppliers, the general people who have been associated with us for the last few years, that needs a lot of love and attention,” said Bob Broderdorf, head of Jeep in North America.

Dealers say the return of a midsize Jeep to replace the Cherokee and a forthcoming gas-powered Dodge Charger has them feeling optimistic about 2025. The lack of an immediate replacement for those two models proved to be a significant challenge to its sales growth, especially for Dodge, which was left with only three models.

Following Tavares’s departure, Filosa reshuffled the executive ranks in North America and said the return of Tim Kuniskis, the former Dodge and Ram chief who retired just months earlier under Tavares, will play a big role in reversing the sales decline.

As head of the company’s highly profitable Ram brand, Kuniskis said his first move was to temporarily shelve plans to sell an all-electric pickup next year and instead introduce a truck that runs on battery power but has a backup gas engine.

“Why aren’t we leading with our best foot?” Kuniskis said at the Detroit Auto Show.

Ram sales fell 19% in 2024, compared with a year prior. Kuniskis said he is also focusing on increasing Ram’s leasing figures in 2025 to customers in regional markets where it isn’t offering competitive deals.

“We’re missing the boat there,” he said.

Bigger questions have loomed over the fate of Chrysler, the iconic American brand that once served as a powerhouse for the company’s U.S. business.

Chrysler currently only sells two models—both minivans. The company stopped making the Chrysler 300 sedan after the 2023 model year, further whittling down its lineup.

Brand Chief Executive Chris Feuell offered little when asked about Chrysler’s future. It plans to sell a refreshed Pacifica in 2026, followed by a new crossover vehicle and then a third model inspired by a futuristic coupe-like concept car that it released in early 2024. A planned EV has been temporarily shelved.

Feuell expects to double sales to about 300,000 a year with the new Pacifica and future models.

“I have no interest in being a niche player,” she said.

Meanwhile, dealers are expecting sales to regain momentum this year because the car company has been providing them with more firepower to offer customers financial sweeteners.

Ralph Mahalak, a Stellantis dealer in Michigan, said he is expecting to sell up to 37% more cars in 2025 compared with last year, prompting him to hire more workers.

During sales calls with staff, Mahalak said he has found himself rattling off a list of new promotions that had been eliminated in recent years.

“Shoot, this almost feels like the old days again,” Mahalak said.

WSJ : The U.S. Government Has a Landlord, and Trump Isn’t a Fan

The U.S. Government Has a Landlord, and Trump Isn’t a Fan

The Trump administration is considering selling two-thirds of the federal government’s office stock

Shortly before he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump took a break from campaigning to attend a ceremony for his new flagship hotel, the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C.

The General Services Administration, the federal agency that owns, manages and leases much of the government’s real estate, had previously awarded Trump the rights to redevelop the government-owned Old Post Office as a luxury hotel. The GSA selected him over Hilton, Marriott International and other big-name operators.

Just before cutting the ribbon on the hotel’s opening day, Trump took a moment to praise the agency.

“The GSA people are amazing professionals,” he said.

Since then, Trump has soured on the GSA. That change of heart could soon accelerate a shake-up already under way in the federal government’s real-estate portfolio.

The GSA manages a massive portfolio of federal buildings, consisting of 370 million square feet nationwide. But many have been poorly maintained due to lack of funding, and are sitting empty or underused, the GSA testified before Congress in 2023.

The Trump administration is considering selling two-thirds of the federal government’s office stock to the private sector, according to people familiar with the transition operations.

About three-quarters of the 70 million square feet of office space the GSA leases from private landlords in D.C. is also likely to be canceled, according to Don Peebles, a longtime Washington, D.C.-based developer. A sharp rise in GSA canceled leases would pressure D.C. landlords, many of which count on the GSA as an anchor tenant.

A GSA spokeswoman said: “GSA continues to work to right-size the federal portfolio, and is committed to optimizing space in federal buildings.” GSA could further accelerate these efforts with funding from Congress, she added.

The GSA has also been working to reduce the real estate it owns as more of its buildings deteriorate from a lack of maintenance. But it is hardly an easy task. Before auctioning off any properties, the GSA must typically make them available free or at a reduced cost to government entities. Ultimately the agency doesn’t keep the profits of the sales.

Much of what it can sell, Peebles said, will likely be at fire-sale prices. That could drag down the worth of other D.C. office buildings, which have already plunged in value in recent years.

“Buildings will sell for 30 cents on the dollar,” Peebles said. “It’s a paradigm shift. There will be a dramatic reset on property values.”

Trump and the GSA have a long, intertwined history.

Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to Post Cereals, owned the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. She turned over the Palm Beach property to the federal government upon her death in 1973. But the GSA found it too expensive to maintain, returning it to the Post Foundation in 1981. Trump acquired it about four years later and it has become a resort and his primary residence in recent years.

Trump crossed paths with the GSA again in 2012, after the agency picked his family company to manage the Old Post Office as a luxury hotel, the jewel in the Trumps’ lodging portfolio. And if the Trumps decide to make a play for it again after selling the lease in 2022, the GSA will have to approve that purchase.

But the relationship began to deteriorate a few years later, after Trump clashed with the GSA over emails it turned over as part of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

And following his 2024 election victory, Trump has mostly kept his distance. He shunned the GSA’s offer to provide temporary office space in Washington, D.C., and other resources during the transition. That makes him the first president-elect who didn’t accept resources as part of the transition since they were offered starting in 1963.

The GSA was founded in 1949 by President Harry S. Truman. Long before Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency—where Elon Musk has vowed that DOGE will slash up to $2 trillion from federal spending—the GSA was the original vehicle for cutting government waste. It consolidated many different agencies after World War II, with a mandate to save taxpayers money.

Over the years, its role evolved into serving primarily as the government’s landlord. It also functions as federal agencies’ one-stop shop for goods and services, including computers, vehicles and catering services.

Lawmakers tried to help the GSA recently, when Congress loosened some selling restrictions for a select group of federal buildings, allowing the agency to market or auction many buildings at once.

But that still won’t make unloading many of these properties easy. Some massive government buildings are empty or uninhabitable, said one former GSA official. Many others were built in the 1970s and have lacked the proper maintenance for decades.

Take the former GSA regional headquarters in L’Enfant Plaza. The nearly 1 million-square-foot office building is the largest property the GSA is looking to shed. It is in a prime Washington, D.C., location. But it has stood empty since 2018, due to its need for extensive renovations that would cost about $184.8 million, per a report put together by the GSA in September of 2021.

“It’s a tough time to own an aging office building,” said Darrell Crate, chief executive of Easterly Government Properties, which owns and manages real estate that it leases back to the federal government. “There is a thicket of bureaucracy that needs to be thinned.”

Many federal office buildings are run with bare-bones services and have been nearly empty since the pandemic accelerated the trend of working from home.

A recent report from Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa who chairs the Senate DOGE caucus, found that not one of the headquarters for any major agency or department in Washington is more than half full. GSA-owned buildings in Washington, D.C., average about a 12% occupancy rate. The government owns more than 7,500 vacant buildings across the country, and more than 2,200 that are partially empty.

“The government is not very good at managing real estate,” Crate said.

Mar-a-Lago is a prime example of a property that the government couldn’t manage well, but that Trump was able to turn around for profit as a resort and private club.

“GSA couldn’t handle it,” said Crate. “But Trump picked it up and turned it around.”

FT : Shares in world’s biggest offshore wind developer tumble as US woes deepen

Shares in world’s biggest offshore wind developer tumble as US woes deepen

Ørsted blames interest rates, supply chains and ‘market uncertainties’ for latest writedown of US business

The world’s largest offshore wind developer has announced fresh writedowns on its US business, sending its shares down sharply as the inauguration of Donald Trump as president clouds the outlook for the renewables sector.

Ørsted announced impairments totalling DKr12.1bn ($1.7bn) on Monday evening, blaming interest rates, supply chain challenges and “market uncertainties” affecting the value of its seabed leases.

Ørsted’s Copenhagen-listed shares fell more than 17 per cent as the market opened on Tuesday morning, adding to their decline over the past year.

Monday evening’s announcement was a blow to the Danish group’s efforts to move on from DKr28.4bn of impairments to its US portfolio in 2023. It had also blamed that writedown on rising interest rates and supply chain challenges.

The fresh writedowns were revealed hours after Trump’s inauguration and his immediate suspension of new offshore wind leasing.

“We’re not going to do the wind thing. Big, ugly wind mills. They ruin your neighbourhood,” he said, according to a Reuters report.

Ørsted’s two offshore US projects in construction, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, already have the required federal permits.

But Trump’s approach is weighing heavily on the sector. Shares in Vestas, a Danish-listed wind turbine maker, fell more than 4 per cent on Tuesday morning.

In a call with analysts on Tuesday morning, Mads Nipper, Ørsted’s chief executive, said the company was reviewing Trump’s suspension order, but declined to comment further.

On Monday Trump signed an executive order initiating the US’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, signed in 2016 as part of a global effort to curb climate change.

Announcing the impairments on Monday, Nipper said they were “very disappointing”, but the company remained “committed to the US market for the long term”.

He added: “We continue to navigate the complexities and uncertainties we face in a nascent offshore industry in the new US market.”

Ørsted entered the US in 2018 as a pioneer in its offshore wind industry, but struggled, along with many of its peers, when interest rates rose and supply chains came under strain following the Covid-19 pandemic.

In November 2023, it said it was abandoning two projects off the coast of New Jersey, spooking shareholders with the DKr28.4bn writedown, which was higher than expected.

In an attempt to turn the business around, the company said last February that it was suspending its dividend, cutting up to 800 jobs, and withdrawing from offshore wind markets in Norway, Spain and Portugal in an attempt to focus on core areas.

In Monday’s announcement, Ørsted said increases in US long-dated interest rates had pushed up its cost of capital, accounting for DKr4.3bn of the DKr12.1bn total impairments.

It booked another DKr3.5bn because of the “market uncertainties” affecting the value of several seabed leases, while the final DKr4.3bn covered delays to its Sunrise Wind offshore wind project off the coast of New York. This project is now due to be up and running in the second half of 2027.

However, Ørsted said it would stick to its full-year operating profit guidance of DKr24.8bn for 2024. Its wind farms, both on land and at sea, had performed in line with expectations, it said. Revenues in 2023 totalled DKr79.3bn.

Before Tuesday’s fall, Ørsted’s shares had dropped almost 20 per cent over the past 12 months, and are roughly 77 per cent below their peak in January 2021 at the height of interest in environmental stocks.

FT : Panama begins audit of Hong Kong company in nod to Donald Trump

Panama begins audit of Hong Kong company in nod to Donald Trump

US president has said he wants waterway back over alleged Chinese influence

Panama’s government on Monday began an audit of a Hong Kong company that operates ports at either end of its canal, after US President Donald Trump warned he wanted to take back the waterway over alleged Chinese influence.

In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump repeated criticisms he made in recent weeks about the Panama Canal, which handles about 3 per cent of global seaborne trade each year.

In response, Panama’s Office of the Comptroller General published a video on social media platform X of about 10 men and women in suits filing off a bus into the local offices of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports to begin an audit, in a move seen as a nod to Trump.

“Today our auditors arrived at [the company] to start an exhaustive audit aimed at guaranteeing efficient and transparent use of public resources,” the comptroller general’s office said on X.

Hutchison Ports, the ports arm of Hong Kong-listed conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, operates 53 ports in 24 countries including in the UK, Germany and Hong Kong.

It first won the concessions to operate two ports, one at each end of the canal, in 1997, the year that Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule by the UK. The concessions were renewed in 2021.

Controlled by the family of Li Ka-shing — one of the richest in Asia — CK Hutchison Holdings also operates a vast global infrastructure portfolio including Northumbrian Water in the UK and the Australian Gas Networks.

China does not control the canal, but some officials in Washington are increasingly concerned about Chinese companies’ presence in the area. Hong Kong’s government has become more closely aligned with China since a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the introduction of tough national security legislation.

CK Hutchison did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Panama’s audit.

The US oversaw the building of the canal, which opened in 1914, but handed full control back to the Central American country in 1999. Trump has called the move a “mistake” and has decried the high fees.

Fees to cross the canal, which uses fresh water to operate its locks, have risen significantly since a major drought in 2023 led to restrictions and later changes in how slots are assigned.

“We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should never have been made,” Trump said. “We didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.”

Panama has long been one of the closest US allies in Central America and has been trying to halt US-bound migration through its notorious Darién Gap. The country cut ties with Taiwan to recognise China during Trump’s first term in 2017.

Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino — a law and order conservative — on Monday published a strongly worded statement “wholly rejecting” Trump’s words and saying the canal would remain Panamanian.

He added that no nation was interfering with the canal’s administration and that dialogue was the best way to resolve the issues Trump raised. He also disagreed with Trump’s characterisation of the US returning the canal to Panama.

“The canal wasn’t given by anyone, it was the result of a generational fight that culminated in 1999,” he wrote on X.

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