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Constellation Brands also cut its sales growth expectations for its Enterprise, Beer and Wine & Spirits divisions.

Constellation Brands plans to book a loss of up to $2.5 billion related to its wines and spirits business, as prolonged negative trends in the U.S. wine market continue.

The maker of Corona and Modelo beers, and Robert Mondavi and Casa Noble wines, also said it is facing slowing sales across its business as macroeconomic challenges – particularly rising unemployment – hurt demand.

The company on Tuesday said the noncash goodwill impairment charge of between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion would hit results in the second quarter. It cut its full year per-share earnings outlook to between $3.05 and $7.92, down sharply from prior expectations of between $14.63 and $14.93.

Constellation in July raised its profit outlook, after recording a big jump in first-quarter profit helped by rising beer sales and improved margins.

On a comparable basis, the company on Tuesday raised the lower end of its per-share earnings guidance, now expecting between $13.60 and $13.80, from $13.50 and $13.80 previously.

Constellation said the impairment reflects updated expectations for its wine and spirits business, where sales trends in the U.S. wholesale market remain negative. It now expects sales in that division to be down between 6% and 4% this year, whereas it had previously forecasted sales would be roughly flat from the prior year.

The company is adjusting prices and boosting marketing to help some of its wine and spirits brands combat significant sales headwinds.

Other winemakers have reported challenges as well. In June, Duckhorn Portfolio cut its outlook after sales were pressured by the soft wine market.

Constellation’s beer business is experiencing softer-than-expected sales but holding up better than wine and spirits. The company expects beer sales to be up between 6% and 8% this year, down slightly from its prior view.

Chief Executive Bill Newlands said the challenging trends have been most notable in the top five states for its beer business, which account for more than half of its sales volumes. He said the company has seen a slight shift to customers buying value packs or buying at value-oriented channels.

The company’s overall sales growth is expected to be between 4% and 6% this year, down from its prior view of between 6% and 7%.

Crude hits year low on speculation Libyan output will resume

Brent drops 5 per cent on global oversupply concerns

Oil prices fell to their weakest levels this year following a report that Libya may shortly restore full production, adding to fears that weak global demand will create an oversupply on the market.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell as much as 5 per cent to $73.67 on Tuesday, its weakest level since December and the first time it has slipped below $75 since January. The US equivalent, WTI, slid by 4.5 per cent to $70.25.

The drop in prices came after Bloomberg reported that Sadiq al-Kabir, the central bank governor at the centre of a dispute between two rival factions, said there were “strong” indications of a compromise.

Investors fear that Libya, which shut down around 60 per cent of its $1.2mn barrels a day of oil last week, could shortly restore full output, adding to concerns over weak demand from China, the world’s largest importer of oil.

Crude prices have been volatile in recent weeks as investors weigh the impact of the tensions, which was expected to last several months. Libya accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s daily output.

The country’s eastern government, which is not recognised internationally, shut down large parts of the country’s production and exports, which analysts said was part of an escalating power struggle between the factions over the position of al-Kabir. The central bank holds billions of dollars in oil revenue, which is Libya’s only source of income.

Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, prime minister of the Tripoli-based government in the west, has been trying to replace al-Kabir, who is backed by the east-based parliament and Khalifa Haftar, the warlord who controls eastern Libya.

Some traders and analysts speculated that there was enough global supply to make up the shortfall, as demand from China has been weaker than expected. But there has also been speculation that the Opec cartel will delay a plan to increase production during the fourth quarter.

The International Energy Agency last month predicted that growth in demand for crude would soften at the end of the summer US driving season. It said a contraction in China had helped limit growth in demand during the second quarter.

“Notwithstanding that a large share of Libyan oil production is offline, oil prices are capitulating as investors remain laser focused on the demand-side of the equation with apprehensions that China’s economic malaise is worsening,” said Ehsan Khoman, head of commodities at MUFG.

However prices have been supported by speculation that Opec+ producers may delay production increases that are due in the fourth quarter because Saudi Arabia, the cartel leader, needs to finance its ambitious infrastructure projects.

“The market has been divided over whether the producer group is poised to relaunch a battle for market share, or if it will maintain cohesion and continue to exercise caution about supply increases,” Helima Croft, head of commodities research at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note this week. “We still remain in the latter camp.”

Riad Salameh has been the focus of investigations in his home country, the US and at least seven European countries

Lebanon’s veteran former central bank governor was on Tuesday detained in Beirut as part of a long-running probe into corruption allegations, according to a senior judicial source and a person with knowledge of the case.

Riad Salameh, 74, spent three decades in charge of the Banque du Liban before standing down just over a year ago. His final years at the institution were dogged by controversy and allegations that he engaged in financial mismanagement and criminal conduct.

Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh are accused of siphoning off at least $330mn in public funds, laundering those through a maze of international bank accounts and offshore accounts tied to his family and associates.

While Salameh had been previously charged by a Lebanese investigating judge over this scheme, his detention on Tuesday was related to fresh allegations of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud, the sources said. He is expected to remain in pre-trial detention for four days, while investigators continue to question him over the newer allegations.

Salameh has been the focus of years-long judicial investigations in his home country, the US and at least seven European countries probing various allegations of financial crimes tied to the alleged embezzlement of those funds. 

France and Germany issued arrest warrants against him in 2023, the same year he was sanctioned by the US, UK and Canada over allegations that he abused the powers of his office “to engage in a variety of unlawful self-enrichment schemes”.

He is widely blamed by the Lebanese public for his role in helping usher in Lebanon’s ruinous economic and financial collapse in 2019, becoming the public face of Lebanon’s downward spiral. 

The World Bank called the financial crisis a “deliberate depression orchestrated by the country’s elite that has long captured the state and lived off its economic rents”.

Salameh did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Riad and his brother Raja Salameh have repeatedly denied all wrongdoing, with Salameh saying that his wealth was accrued in his years as an investment banker and subsequent wise investments. 

Salameh was summoned on Tuesday as part of the Lebanese judiciary’s sprawling investigation, which has repeatedly stalled amid what critics have described as political interference. He has previously been charged with financial crimes relating to the $330mn scheme in Lebanon, but has so far evaded detention. 

He is expected to remain in pre-trial detention while he continues to be interrogated over his and the BdL’s dealings with Optimum Invest, a Lebanese brokerage firm, the sources said.

Lebanon’s state-owned National News Agency said Salameh was detained after he was questioned in connection with “the Optimum file”.

Specifically, investigators allege that the BdL and Optimum worked together to buy and sell treasury bonds and certificates of deposit with quick turnovers to make major profits through commissions between 2015-2018, the sources said. The allegation against Salameh included embezzlement, money-laundering and fraud.

While similar in nature, the Optimum charges are separate to the case of the $330mn allegedly embezzled in public funds through Forry Associates, a company controlled by Salameh’s brother Raja. 

Optimum did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement posted to its website, the company said that a financial audit in 2023 had found “no evidence of wrongdoing or illegality” in the company’s dealings with the BdL.

Lebanon is currently governed by a caretaker cabinet with limited powers, which did not appoint a new BdL governor. Instead, Salameh’s former vice-governor has been at the helm of the monetary authority.

Caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said his government would not intervene in the case. “Justice has said what it had to say, and we respect this decision,” caretaker justice minister Henri Khoury said.

Review follows UK competition watchdog’s announcement of ‘urgent review’ into Oasis concert tickets fiasco

Ticketmaster’s ability to raise the price of concert tickets based on demand is being investigated by the European Commission, the Guardian has learned, as the UK’s competition watchdog launches an “urgent review” into the Oasis concerts fiasco.

The US-owned ticketing giant has been told it may have breached laws in the UK and Europe for inflating the price of some Oasis tickets from £135 to £350, leaving many fans devastated.

Ticketmaster has compared its use of “dynamic pricing” to airlines and hotels, which increase costs based on demand, and has said the prices are set by artists and their management.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday it was “urgently reviewing” the use of dynamic pricing after Oasis fans criticised the “scandalous” inflation of ticket costs.

A spokesperson for the regulator said: “Consumer protection law requires businesses to be fair and transparent in their dealings with consumers, and businesses must give clear and accurate information about the price people have to pay. Failure to do so may breach the law.”

A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed it was looking into the use of dynamic pricing for concert tickets amid growing concerns among parliamentarians in Brussels.

Lara Wolters, a Dutch MEP, told the Guardian she wanted new laws to protect European consumers against this type of price inflation.

She said: “The only winners in this situation are big ticketing platforms, at the expense of fans who find themselves priced out of gigs. Companies know far more about their customers than vice versa.

“This is not a system that seeks to maximise joy by filling the stadium with an artist’s biggest fans, but to maximise profit from music like any other product.

“As a music fan, I find this soulless and I want to put a stop to it, so I’m pleased to see the UK government is looking into this, and I expect the new European Commission to follow suit so we can finally bring in new rules against unfair ticketing.”

Dynamic pricing for concerts is common in the US but relatively new in the UK and Europe.

A spokesperson for the European Commission confirmed it was examining the practice as part of its “fitness check” of EU consumer laws, due to be published in the coming months.

The review is expected to highlight the problems of dynamic pricing before MEPs consider solutions, including a potential ban and other less extreme options.

The spokesperson said that while the practice itself was not unlawful, the way it was used could breach EU directives – such as if the price of a product was increased after a consumer had placed the ticket in their online basket.

It could also breach EU laws if ticketing websites failed to give fans “necessary material information” about the tickets they offered before they were purchased.

Hundreds of fans have lodged official complaints with the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on the basis that Ticketmaster had not told people in advance that £350 tickets would be on sale.

These tickets provide no additional value than the original £135 standing tickets. Four of the “in-demand” standing tickets cost fans £1,423.55 in total – of which £73.55 was service charges and processing fees.

Fans only discovered that the cost of a standard Oasis ticket had been increased when they reached the checkout after spending several hours in online queues.

The CMA has said greater protections are needed for concertgoers and has previously taken action against major resale websites.

Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has said she wants to end “rip-off resales” and the government has launched a review of the practice.

The Guardian has approached Ticketmaster for comment. Neither Oasis’s management or the Gallagher brothers have commented on the criticism.

Neo Energy has warned it will slow UK investments, blaming ‘fiscal and regulatory uncertainty’

Business lobbyists cry wolf all the time — especially if governments threaten to push up their costs or taxes. The oil and gas industry has been guilty of frequent hyperbole and exaggeration. But when it comes to the UK North Sea, for once their warnings aren’t all bluff.

The normally tight-lipped North Sea oil producer Neo Energy warned this week that it would slow UK investments, blaming “fiscal and regulatory uncertainty”. The development of its Buchan Horst oil project, 115km north-east of the Aberdeenshire coast, will be delayed while it awaits “clarity” on the UK’s tax position in October’s Budget. Neo, owned by Norwegian private equity group HitecVision, had targeted first oil in late 2027 from the £1bn scheme.

There are several issues. First, the new Labour government confirmed in July it would add 3 percentage points to the UK’s energy profits levy. The EPL is an additional tax on the UK industry introduced in 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a surge in energy prices. The latest change will take the cumulative tax rate up to 78 per cent.

More significantly, Sir Keir Starmer’s government is making changes to the investment and capital allowances. Introduced by previous administrations, these were designed to ensure that, even as taxes rose, companies would still invest in production. 

Some of these allowances looked overly generous: from 2022 for every £100 companies invested in new projects they could receive tax relief of about £91. This autumn, the industry expects tax relief to revert to pre-2022 levels of 46 per cent. The difference is that in 2021, profits were taxed at only 40 per cent. Sharp cuts to capex seem a pretty obvious consequence: lobby group Offshore Energies UK estimates nearly £12bn of capital investment is at risk between 2025 and 2029.

Fears that the North Sea is moving into run-off mode has left valuations for oil and gas specialists there in the doldrums. Serica Energy, which has a 30 per cent holding in Buchan Horst, trades at just 3.5 times forward earnings. Another London-listed group EnQuest is at 1.2 times.

The UK is a mature basin. Companies must invest to slow its rate of decline. Production will not drop immediately as groups benefit from recent drilling campaigns. (And awkwardly, the next few years of corporate cash flows may be robust, as investment is reined in.) But redundancies could soon follow in exploration units.

Many companies want to buy outside the UK. Easier said than done. Shareholders last year objected to not one but two potential merger partners proposed by Capricorn Energy. Some may opt to consolidate. Either way, North Sea operators need a fable-like tale to convince investors they can keep the wolf at bay.

The Italian designer took cues from his much-vaunted personal style, which has caught the media's attention recently.

Zara has conscripted designer Stefano Pilati to translate his much-admired personal style into a capsule collection, WWD has learned.

About 50 styles for men and 30 for women, plus shoes and bags, are expected to go on sale in early October, backed by a campaign lensed by Steven Meisel.

Contacted by WWD, Zara confirmed the project and the Meisel shoot, but said other details are still under wraps.

Best known for helming Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and Ermenegildo Zegna in Milan, Pilati has in recent years devoted himself to Random Identities, the gender-fluid menswear line he rebooted last year, with production and distribution handled by Dover Street Market Paris.

The Italian designer has also become, to his apparent puzzlement, an icon for young generations thanks to his inimitable, offhand elegance.

The tall, bearded designer has appeared on the cover of a number of magazines recently, including Ten and the Japanese title Grind. Up next: He’ll be fronting At Large magazine, according to sources.

Pilati caught the attention of fashion insiders by modeling Giorgio Armani, styled by him, for a fashion shoot in in Numéro Berlin in June 2022.

Last year, Pharrell Williams conscripted Pilati to walk the runway for his debut as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of menswear, which had many in the crowd cheering. The high-profile event broadcast his commanding presence to a global audience.

He’s also been a recent front-row fixture at Dior men’s shows, thanks to his friendship with Kim Jones, that French maison’s men’s artistic director. Jones, who moonlights at Fendi for women’s collections, last year tapped Pilati for a fall collection under the Roman fashion house’s new “Friends of Fendi” banner.

Prized for his keen fashion instincts, voluptuous and distinctive tailoring — plus his knack for designing eye-catching shoes and handbags — Pilati also possesses a personal “je ne sais quoi,” which is rare in menswear.

He embraces his age, favors clothes that look good on him over what might be trendy, and carries himself with aplomb.

He headlines a surprisingly brief list of designers who wear mostly clothing of their own design, though his closet is peppered with choice pieces by Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons, Rick Owens and Prada.

Pilati is said to have a vast wardrobe, and is averse to purging, knowing styles he might not fancy today could return to his favor tomorrow.

More than that, he’s a strong believer in dressing well out of respect for others, and fashion itself; in dressing to match the occasion and to feel confident in that context, and being mindful of what clothes project to the world, and how they can boost one’s mood.

It is understood the Zara capsule will mark the first time Pilati has designed collections based largely on what he likes to wear.

While Random Identities is a personal project, unveiled in 2018, the genderless, seasonless and luxurious label draws on gay and club culture in Berlin, where Pilati has based himself since leaving Zegna in 2016 following a three-year stint.

According to sources, he quietly initiated the Zara project at the beginning of 2024, initially focused on menswear but ultimately expanded to womenswear.

He applied his exacting standards to fabric choice and fit, and was said to be impressed by what the Spanish fashion retailer is capable of producing at very approachable prices.

Hardly a stranger to Zara, he has enjoyed a strong rapport and friendship with Marta Ortega Pérez, the non-executive chair of Zara parent company Inditex, and has visited its headquarters in Arteixo, Spain, a few times over the years.

Zara has pursued an eclectic, more niche approach to collaborations that have helped elevate its brand image. It’s done ones with personalities including Meisel and Charlotte Gainsbourg; cultural phenoms Barbie and “Stranger Things”; sustainable textile firms Circ and LanzaTech, plus a range of in-the-know fashion labels such as Good American, Studio Nicholson and Korean streetwear label Ader Error.

Pilati came to international prominence when he succeeded Tom Ford at Yves Saint Laurent, where he served as creative director from 2004 to 2012. Earlier in his career he worked in senior design and fabric development positions for a number of Italian fashion houses, including Miu Miu, Prada and Giorgio Armani.