Latest news with #fastestgrowing
Times of Oman
01-07-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
India to remain fastest growing economy in 2025 & 2026, while global growth to decline: Morgan Stanley
New Delhi: India is expected to remain the fastest-growing economy among all the countries covered by global investment firm Morgan Stanley, according to the latest report from its Global Investment Committee (GIC). The report forecasts India's real GDP growth at 5.9 per cent on a Q4-over-Q4 basis in 2025 and 6.4 per cent in 2026. It stated, "India remains the fastest growing economy in our coverage, with real GDP growth at 5.9 per cent, Q4/Q4 in 2025 and 6.4 per cent in 2026." The Global Investment Committee is a group of experienced investment professionals from Morgan Stanley & Co. and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. They meet regularly to assess developments in the global economy and financial markets. In its baseline outlook, the committee expects global economic growth to slow down significantly. Global real GDP growth is projected to decline from 3.5 per cent in 2024 to 2.5 per cent in 2025. The report noted that a trade shock is likely to affect multiple economies at the same time, pushing most of them below their potential growth levels. It stated, "We anticipate global growth stepping down by a percentage point in 2025 from 2024, with US trade policy and the uncertainty it engenders serving as the main drivers." In the United States, Morgan Stanley expects real GDP growth to fall from 2.5 per cent in 2024 to just 1.0 per cent in both 2025 and 2026. Similarly, in the eurozone, growth is not expected to rise above 1 per cent annually during the forecast period, due to weaker private consumption and exports. China's economy is also expected to slow down, with tariffs contributing to a reduction of about 0.5 percentage points in real growth in 2025 compared to 2024. The report forecasts China's real GDP growth at 4.0 per cent in 2025 and 4.2 per cent in 2026, with deflation remaining a concern. In Japan, the global trade shock is likely to affect exports, but consumer spending is expected to stay strong, helping nominal GDP continue to grow. Despite global challenges, the report sees some positive momentum across Asia Pacific and emerging markets through mid-2026. It maintains an overweight stance on India, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), driven by ongoing reforms and strong domestic growth trends.
Malay Mail
17-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Malaysia ranks third in Fortune Southeast Asia 500 with 92 firms, NationGate tops region with whopping 723pc revenue growth
Malaysia ranked third in the 2025 Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list with 92 companies, generating US$201.6 billion in combined revenue. NationGate Holdings led regional revenue growth with a 723 per cent increase, joined by four other Malaysian firms among the top 20 fastest-growing companies. Maybank remains Malaysia's top earner and one of the region's most profitable firms, alongside CIMB and Public Bank. KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 – Fortune today revealed its 2025 Southeast Asia 500 rankings, with 92 Malaysian companies making the cut, placing the country third overall behind Indonesia and Thailand. In the annual list which ranks the region's largest companies by revenue for the 2024 fiscal year, Malaysia's entries generated a combined US$201.6 billion (RM856.2 billion) in revenue — with its top 20 companies contributing 64 per cent of that total. 'Among the region's fastest-growing companies by revenue, Malaysia stood out with five in the top 20: NationGate Holdings, Guan Chong, Yinson Holdings, Chin Hin Group, and Gamuda,' the business magazine said in a statement. 'NationGate, a precision manufacturing firm, recorded the highest revenue growth across all 500 companies, with a staggering 723 per cent increase.' Other fast-rising Malaysian firms include Guan Chong, Yinson Holdings, Chin Hin Group, and Gamuda, with Guan Chong and Chin Hin among the top 10 regional performers for growth. Maybank remains the only Malaysian firm in the top 20 by revenue and also ranks among the region's most profitable companies, alongside CIMB Group Holdings and Public Bank, which together posted over US$5.5 billion in net income. Malaysia's largest companies span sectors such as financial services, energy, chemicals, healthcare, and construction, with notable names including Sime Darby, Tenaga Nasional, Petronas Chemicals, YTL, and IHH Healthcare. Regionally, Singapore's Trafigura led the Southeast Asia 500 for a second consecutive year, with US$243 billion in revenue. The top 20 companies on the list accounted for nearly half of the region's total combined revenue of US$1.82 trillion. 'Fortune's interest in the region reflects Southeast Asia's growing importance as an engine of global growth,' Clay Chandler, its executive editor for Asia said in the statement. 'The region has become a crucial manufacturing and export hub, which is drawing significant capital flows. This momentum has been further fuelled by Trump-era tariffs, which have reshaped global trade dynamics and driven a shift towards Southeast Asia.' The list also highlights a rise in female leadership, with 37 women now serving as CEOs of Southeast Asia 500 companies — an increase of 28 per cent from last year.
Forbes
19-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How Touchland Turned Into An $880 Million Hand Sanitizer Brand
Touchland's innovative formats and scents helped the brand become a top-selling brand Church & Dwight announced it is acquiring personal care brand Touchland for $7oo million in cash and restricted stock at closing, and up to $180 million in earn-out depending on net sales for 2025, valuing the brand at $880 million. The brand, founded by Andrea Lisbona, first launched in Spain before expanding to the U.S. in 2018. It is now the fastest-growing hand sanitizer brand in the country and the second largest in the category behind Purell, totalling $130 million of net sales for the past twelve months through March 31, 2025. Turning a mundane product into a pleasant sensory accessory, Touchland is a great example of how any category can be disrupted and reinvented. What small, disruptor brands often achieve very well is that they look outside their core product's category for inspiration, leading to innovative formats, route to market, brand positioning or marketing strategies. Touchland instantly stood out with its unique format: a sleek, thin, square bottle that contrasted heavily with the hand sanitizers consumers are used to. The product uses smart technology and a design that lets consumers know easily when it's time for a refill or a change of batteries. On top of a new type of packaging, founder Andrea Lisbona also sought to innovate on formula, combining both product performance and benefits by blending high-quality, moisturizing natural ingredients along with Denatured Ethyl Alcohol in order to kill germs without leaving hands dry or sticky. The brand bet on scent innovation to differentiate itself, developing a series of scents, from Vanilla Cinnamon to Aloe Vera and Velvet Peach. With sixteen different scents, it clearly invested in providing a sensorial experience that fit an array of consumers' scent preferences, positioning itself as a skincare-forward hand sanitizer brand, earning the credentials of a beauty or skincare brand rather than a monotonous personal care one. 'Personal care usually sells through fear. Our goal is to do the opposite and empower people to live to the fullest and create solutions that people are excited to carry with them,' said Lisbona to Glossy a while back. Indeed, hand sanitizers are typically seen as functional products only, often associated to sterile or clinical environments, especially due to their emphasis on alcohol content and germ-killing claims. Purell and other labels have never done much in terms of branding, marketing or brand activations as they took their products for what they were: hand sanitizers. Touchland's founder had an entirely different mindset and approach to the category. The brand took a dull, ordinary product and turned it into a lifestyle accessory in no time, and this vision is what the brand's innovation is founded upon: 'Touchland was born from a bold vision: to reinvent overlooked daily essentials into extraordinary moments of delight. We believe every aspect of our everyday essentials should be exciting; little bursts of joy that can delight our senses and remind us of the magic in the mundane', reads the brand's website. The concept took off quite quickly, boosted by the timely relevance of Covid in 2020. Priced at $10, the premium hand mists started selling through its direct-to-consumer website as well as at Ulta, Urban Outfitters, Amazon and Revolve. It is now present across 2,500 locations in the U.S., including Sephora and Target, and recorded a +203% YoY sales increase between 2023 and 2022, proving its relevance beyond the pandemic. Inspired to reinvent a category by turning the mundane into fun and enjoyment, Andrea Lisbona also approached her brand's positioning and marketing from a highly different angle compared to its competitors, heavily contributing to gaining considerable market share. To drive appeal and elevate Touchland as a lifestyle brand, she turned to special editions and brand collaborations. From Hello Kitty to Smiley, the brand launched unique hand sanitizers and matching mist cases, which became instantly popular and amassed a 2,000 people waitlist in the case of the Smiley collaboration. In fact, every new product collaboration leads to a waitlist, with the next one being the special edition Disney set, which includes the brand's award-winning Wild Watermelon scent and Mickey Mouse Mist Case. Disney x Touchland brand collab launching on May 19th Another growth driver is the brand's popularity on social media. Since its launch through to its kickstarter campaign, Touchland has managed to build a strong, authentic online community, which continues to grow. Focused mostly on organic growth, the brand has expanded its reach thanks to being featured by celebrities like Kylie Jenner or Blackpink as well as micro influencers, with a following of beauty, skincare and lifestyle fans, who are gifted products and share if they like them, helping relay the brand's authenticity and credibility. Its social media accounts reflect the brand's intent to be a true lifestyle brand embedded into the beauty sphere, positioning its products as everyday accessories. It leverages its Instagram account to elevate the brand and share user-generated content, while its TikTok channel is intended to show behind-the scenes and ways to interact with the products, highlighting the sensorial elements of the brand and leveraging short video formats meant to go viral. Using social media as a core strategic channel is uncommon for brands in the personal care space, but it's what has helped the brand gain so much traction. It probably would not have been able to achieve this without its innovative design and formulas, which fit very well the aesthetic and lifestyle features of both Instagram and Tiktok. Andrea Lisbona and her team have managed to completely reinvent an overlooked category, transforming hand sanitizer into a desirable lifestyle and beauty product. Touchland's success shows how far innovative packaging and sensorial attributes can go in building consumer demand and attractivity, while also demonstrating the impact of challenging conventional approaches to category growth. By blending personal care with skincare attributes (and earny beauty awards along the way), Touchland has redefined how consumers interact with a traditionally functional, mundane product. Focusing on personal care essentials rather than short-lived beauty trends, the brand will continue to focus on cementing its position as a category disruptor while also expanding into new markets, leveraging the scale and expertise of its new owner to further grow its reach.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
One of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. is in Minnesota
Just one Midwestern city sits among the 15 that grew the fastest from July 2023 to July 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's Vintage 2024 estimates, which were released on Thursday. The list of 15, which was limited to cities and towns with populations of 20,000 or more, is almost exclusively southern towns, continuing a recent trend. Yet, nestled into ninth place is the south metro suburb of Rosemount. Rosemount grew 10.6% year-over-year, according to the Census Bureau, rising to a population of 30,581. The home of Leprechaun Days is joined by seven cities from Texas and two each from Florida and North Carolina, as well as representatives from Alabama, Georgia, and Colorado. Here's a look at how that compares to the other fastest-growing cities in the country. Princeton, Texas: 30.6 increase Fulshear, Texas: 26.9% increase Leesburg, Fla.: 18.5% increase Celina, Texas: 18.2% increase Anna, Texas: 14.6% increase Haines City, Fla.: 12.1% increase Foley, Ala.: 12% increase Fate, Texas: 11.4% increase Rosemount, Minn.: 10.6% increase Garner, N.C.: 10.4% increase Melissa, Texas: 10% increase Sugar Hill, Ga.: 9.5% increase Hutto, Texas: 9.4% increase Leland, N.C.: 9.4% increase Erie, Colo.: 9.2% increase The report also shows the 15 cities with the largest numerical increases from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024. There aren't any in Minnesota, but here are the 15 cities with the most growth in the country. New York City: +87,184 Houston: +43,217 Los Angeles: +31,276 San Antonio: +23,945 Fort Worth: +23,442 Charlotte: +23,423 Chicago: +22,164 Phoenix: +16,933 Seattle: +16,813 Jacksonville: +16,365 Miami: +16,337 Washington, D.C.: +14,926 San Jose: +13,634 Columbus: +12,694 Las Vegas: +12,292
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Southern city named as the fastest growing in America - but locals say it's not all good news
A city in North Texas has been named the fastest growing in America after a boom in population in just one year, according to the US Census Bureau. Princeton, around 45 miles north of Dallas, saw a 30 percent increase in population from July 2023 to July 2024, with a now estimated 37,000 residents from 28,000. The number is more than double the city's population in 2020, and has brought many new jobs to the area. Yet, locals say the city has been left scrambling for resources as the huge increase of people strains their water supply and schools and city services are struggling to keep up. Their mayor, Eugene Escobar Jr., said that after living in the area for a decade he has seen the city's major transformation. Escobar remembers Princeton's only two stoplights and having to go to the next town over to shop. Now, with several more stoplights, Princeton also has its own Walmart. He added that the city had to implement a temporary moratorium on new home construction so infrastructure can keep pace, Associated Press reported. According to Escobar, the city's major influx in population is due to Princeton's affordability and small-town feel. 'It's still cheaper to commute and live in Princeton than maybe live closer to work,' he said. The median house prices in the city sit at $325,000, which is still lower than nearby suburbs, AP reported. Princeton added twice as many houses between 2020 and 2023 as it did in the previous decade, according to census data, the Texas Tribune reported. Durrie Lee Caldwell, a resident of the city since 1961 when its population was only 800 people, recalled to WFAA how he has witnessed it transform. 'Princeton is home for me,' Caldwell said. 'We go from nothing to what it is now.' He recalled how the land was nothing but cows, cantaloupes and cotton, with Highway 380 standing as a two-lane partially gravel road. 'I knew it was gonna hit one of these days. And it hit good for me,' he added. 'We're going to get [the growth] one way or another. You might as well like it.' Escobar told WFAA: 'They want infrastructure. They want things for kids to do. What my goal moving forward is to make sure Princeton is a place where families want to live and stay here.' City officials are attempting to find ways to keep up with the booming population, including improving public amenities with a $109 million bond program to reinvigorate the city's parks. 'We have the ability to dictate what future generations are going to enjoy in Princeton and frame that identity today,' City Manager Michael Mashburn told the Texas Tribune. Princeton is one of many Texas cities experiencing a boom in population. Fort Worth surpassed Austin as the fourth-largest city in Texas with now more than 1 million residents, Fox 4 reported. In addition to Princeton, three other cities in Collin County - Celina, Anna and Melissa - were also among the 15 fastest growing cities nationally. The flocks of people to the southern cities has been reported as a result of many major companies moving their headquarters into Texas. Companies such as SpaceX, Chevron and Oracle all moved to Texas in search of its low taxes and limited regulation. Robert Thomson, Chief Executive Officer of News Corp, was equally enthusiastic about the move to Texas. a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, announced it is relocating its headquarters from Santa Clara to Austin in February. 'We are proud to be housed in a state which understands the crucial role played by business in providing opportunities for personal growth, professional success and community achievement,' Thomson said of the announcement. 'Our investment in Austin is a downpayment on The American Dream.' SpaceX owner Elon Musk cited abundance of housing and lower taxes as reasons for moving Tesla's offices from California to Texas. Chevron claimed its own relocation was due to increased environmental and business regulations in the blue state. California has strict fuel-quality rules which were imposed to limit harmful emissions and curb environmental damage. According to oil industry analysts, such regulations make it more expensive to produce oil in California, compared to other states.
