Latest news with #capitalinvestment
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
John Griffith on Strains Facing the US Water Supply
John Griffith, CEO of American Water, joins Open Interest to talk about the need to invest capital in our water infrastructure. (Source: Bloomberg)
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Follow The Money Or Get Left Behind, Women Are The Future Of Wealth
Follow The Money Or Get Left Behind, Women Are The Future Of Wealth Follow the money. It's a sentence that is often tossed around in boardrooms, investment pitches, and economic forecasts. But here's the twist, if you want to truly follow the money, you need to invest in women. The data shows that women-led businesses are more profitable, generate more revenue per dollar invested, and outperform across multiple key performance indicators (KPIs). But despite the data, women only receive a tiny fraction of global investment capital. The Funding Gap Despite the evidence that supports women outperforming, women receive less than two percent of venture capital funding. Women are underfunded, and it's because the system is skewed. Pitch meetings often reward familiarity and pattern matching over innovation and data, meaning investors invest in who they can relate with and what they know. This leaves qualified women founders shut out of the funding opportunities they need to grow their businesses. Women are launching businesses at record rates yet remain severely undercapitalized. This disconnect between business growth and financial backing isn't just unfair, economically it just doesn't make sense. We're not just holding women back; we are holding back the economy by not investing more in women led businesses. Proving that Women Outperform When They Get Capital A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that startups founded or co-founded by women generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested, compared to just 31 cents for male-founded startups. Although women receive less funding, these women-led startups delivered 10 percent more cumulative revenue over a five-year period. This highlights that women often lead with resilience, operational efficiency, and long-term vision, likely a result of the need to bootstrap and get things done on a shoestring budget. They grow their businesses with fewer resources and more strategy, resulting in stronger margins and higher returns. Why Every Investor Should Care It's not just venture capital firms that need to pay attention; every type of investor should care. From angel investors and crowdfunding platforms to corporate boards and banks, the opportunity to generate outsized returns by backing women-led businesses is available to everyone. Whether you're investing $1,000 or $1 million, where you invest your money matters. Even small shifts in funding can create massive ripple effects. It has been noted that when women have more money, they reinvest that money in their communities, create jobs, and scale more sustainable businesses. This isn't just about profit; it's about building stronger, more inclusive economies at every level, from local neighborhoods to global markets. The under-investment in women isn't just an equity issue; it's a missed financial opportunity. By continuing to overlook women entrepreneurs, investors are ignoring an entire market segment with proven potential to deliver high ROI. The Call to Action Investing in women isn't charity. It's an economic imperative. The data is in, and the results are undeniable: women-led businesses are high-performing, high-return opportunities. It's time to stop treating this as a feel-good initiative and start recognizing it for what it is which is a smart, strategic move for anyone serious about profit. If you're an investor, a fund manager, a board member, or even someone supporting businesses through crowdfunding, now is the time to audit your funding patterns. Are you putting your money where the growth is? Support funds and platforms that actively prioritize women-led ventures. Challenge the outdated biases still shaping financial decisions because building wealth with purpose means investing where the returns are strongest: in women. The bottom line is that diverse teams are more innovative, better at problem-solving, and more in tune with emerging market needs. When you exclude women from funding conversations, you're not playing it safe. You are leaving money on the table. If you want to follow the money, invest in women.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Union Pacific's Smart Capital Use Signals a Strong, Sustainable Dividend
Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) is one of the . The company's capital investment approach focuses on strengthening its existing infrastructure to enhance safety and reliability, while also targeting specific projects to boost efficiency, productivity, and service quality. The strategy includes initiatives aimed at lowering environmental impact and improving the customer experience, all with an eye toward long-term growth. An intermodal container train winding through a rural landscape. Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) maintains an industry-leading operating ratio and return on invested capital, with no changes to its long-term capital allocation framework. For the year, the company has outlined a $3.4 billion capital plan and expects to repurchase between $4.0 billion and $4.5 billion worth of shares. The company reliably generates strong returns from capital projects like siding extensions, new mainlines, and terminal upgrades. This disciplined approach supports Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP)'s well-regarded dividend policy. The company has paid regular dividends for 125 consecutive years and has increased its payouts for 18 straight years, drawing the attention of income-focused investors. Alongside its dividend payments, Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) has aggressively bought back its own shares, reducing its total share count by 31% since 2015. The company currently offers a quarterly dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%, as of June 14. While we acknowledge the potential of UNP as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None.
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Reeves claims she's balancing the books - but sky-high bond yields tell a different story, says ALEX BRUMMER
The Chancellor's spending review is being billed by Labour as a signal moment for a government that is haunted by banana skins of its own making. It paints events as a moment for national renewal after 14 years of Tory chaos. It is nothing of the kind. An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows, despite the hype and hand-outs for favoured constituencies, Rachel Reeves barely moved the dial on capital investment spending. All she did was maintain capital budgets, such as those for science and tech, at the same 'high' level of national income as Jeremy Hunt, the most recent Conservative Chancellor. IFS's director Paul Johnson doesn't pull his punches. He says if anyone was 'baffled' by the Chancellor's speech 'so were we'. He goes on to suggest that it wasn't a serious effort to provide useful information to anybody. It also exposed Reeves's ineptitude in framing arguments. There was no attempt to elevate and explain the spend, with focus on the white heat of technology, in terms of the nuclear, digital, and biotech revolution which will change Britain forever. Instead, there was revived talk of 'securonomics' (buried since Labour has been in office) and misleading crowing about the state of the economy. The boast that the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first quarter of the year was accurate. But as Reuters reported yesterday it was a case of 'pride comes before a fall'. Reeves and her team must have had early sight of the April growth data which showed output shrank by 0.3 per cent. A big factor was Trump's tariff war, which caused car, steel and other exports to stumble. One might have thought someone at the Treasury, or a special adviser, might gently have suggested the G7 comparison was a rhetorical trap which might have been avoided. The April data may be rogue because of Trump tariff uncertainty. The Government hopes the trumpeted trade accord with the US will soon come to fruition and the UK's upmarket car makers – Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, and Rolls-Royce and the more eclectic Mini – will soon be back to normal business. However, it will take time for the logistics and supply chain to be revised. The downturn also was partly the result of policy. The end to concessions on stamp duty predictably produced a lull in home sales, despite the good househunting weather and the easing of the bank rate. Tax does make a difference. It is not wise for a government making a big bet on the housing market to bypass it as a recovery tool by punishing homebuyers, especially younger people seeking the first rung on the ladder. There is one G7 table which Rachel Reeves didn't mention. The Chancellor believes her fiscal rules, which require current spending to be matched by taxation but allow borrowing for investment, have secured the UK's budget after the Liz Truss disorder. Markets don't believe it. The yield on Britain's ten-year bond – or gilt – at 4.5 per cent in latest trading is the highest among the rich Western democracies. Reeves makes the reasonable case that UK yields move in lockstep with those in New York. There is, however, a serious flaw in the thinking. The Chancellor appears to believe that if the current budget is in balance, it is fine to borrow to invest. That may be the case in Japan and Germany, where bond rates are 1.46 per cent and 2.53 per cent respectively, because their governments' overall interest bill is, by UK standards, under control. In Britain's case, every pound that is borrowed for a new roundabout or bypass behind the Red Wall comes with interest at high rates. So the extra borrowing for Labour's £2 trillion or so of capital spend inflates the current budget via borrowing charges. In the autumn, the Treasury estimated the interest bill for 2025-26 at £126billion. If gilts had a similar yield to the German bund there would be an extra £60billion or so for education, health or even an end to the freeze on income tax thresholds which punish hard work and enterprise. Britain's national accounts do not provide a free pass for capital projects.
The Independent
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Police forces face financial struggle as cost of borrowing set to spiral
Police forces are facing 'difficult choices' and some will 'struggle to make the numbers add up' as the cost of borrowing spirals, one of Britain's most senior police officers has warned. Gavin Stephens, chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, said local forces have had no capital investment for 10 years. Some have increasingly relied on borrowing, and the cost of debt is expected to rise by 49% in the next three years. 'Forces' borrowing costs have been going up because for the last decade, local forces have had no capital investment at all. 'The main capital investment has gone to big projects at the centre. 'We know that to invest in the technology that they've needed, they've had to sell buildings, increase their borrowing costs. We see those rising. 'That's not an effective way of dealing with the problem, which is why we strongly encourage more capital investment into policing. 'We think investment in artificial intelligence and new technology will help us be more effective in keeping our communities safe. 'We know that if that doesn't change, then some forces will find it hard to make the numbers add up.' He said forces could need to cut back on tasks they carry out for other organisations, in the same way that they have already cut back on calls related to mental health. 'Policing is going to have to make some difficult choices as a consequence of this spending review. 'Of course, at the top of our list, preventing crime, reducing crime, investigating crime, is always going to be the first thing that we do. 'But over the years, policing has attracted many tasks on behalf of other organisations that we will need to look very closely at, in the same way we've done with our response to mental health in recent years. 'So there are some tough choices ahead for forces.' Details of how much funding each of the 43 forces in England and Wales will get will be decided in December. So far 3,000 of the 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers pledged by the Government have been recruited so far, but police leaders now doubt how the remainder will be paid for. One money-saving idea being put forward is a radical overhaul of the 43-force structure in England and Wales, to create fewer, larger forces. 'The last time we had a deliberate design of policing in England and Wales was in the early 1960s and for some time now, we've been advocating for significant change. 'There are forces that are finding it increasingly difficult to balance the budget, and we would say that more capable forces, bigger forces, are more likely to be financially sustainable in future. 'So we should look at all options to make sure that we can keep our community safe, not just from the threats that they face today, but the threats that we see coming down the track for the future.' Force chiefs want greater say over how they structure their workforces, with the removal of restrictions on ring-fenced funding that was granted by the previous government to replace officers cut during austerity. Mr Stephens said policing needs a variety of workers other than officers, including cyber specialists, crime scene investigators and digital forensic experts, in the same way that 'the health service is much more than just about doctors'. He added: 'We know that the Government had some very difficult choices to make, as a consequence of this, policing is going to have some very difficult choices to make too.'
