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Hackers breach Andrew Tate’s online ‘university’ website, steal user names and chat logsA lecturer in the Department of Crop and Environmental Protection at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Oyo State, Dr. Adeola Odewole, has highlighted the benefits Nigerian farmers could derive from exploring plant extracts as insecticides. Odewole, on Monday, told newsmen in Ilorin that plant extracts have shown significant promise as alternatives to synthetic insecticides. “Plant extracts have shown significant promise as alternatives to synthetic insecticides,” she said, justifying that “these extracts are environmentally sustainable, biodegradable, and leave no harmful residues in soil, water, or food.” She explained that plants such as ginger, sunflower, fish bean, African black pepper, cloves, and citrus possess potent pesticidal properties, which are readily available and cost-effective for smallholder farmers. She noted that proper formulation of these extracts ensures their efficacy against pests while preserving beneficial organisms and the overall ecological balance. The expert lamented that farmers often use chemical insecticides without adequate knowledge of their consequences. According to her, chemical insecticides are used on vegetables consumed daily, such as cucumber, okra, cabbage, and amaranths. “Some farmers rely on chemical insecticides because they do not have an alternative to insect pest infestation control. “This indiscriminate usage has resulted in environmental pollution, food contamination, health risks for farmers and consumers, and the emergence of pesticide-resistant pests,” she said. Odewole, who is also a postdoctoral researcher in the Management and Conservation of Natural and Agrarian Resources at the Federal University of Vicosa, Brazil, observed that the adverse effects are profound and multifaceted. She said, “Both farmers and consumers are exposed to chemical residues. “This residue usually leads to health challenges such as skin disorders, respiratory illnesses, and long-term health complications. “It also degrades ecosystems and harms beneficial organisms, including pollinators essential for crop production.” Odewole warned that prolonged use of chemical insecticides could lead to resistance in pest populations, adding that this could force farmers to increase dosages, perpetuating the cycle of dependence. According to her, an experiment conducted on harvested cucumber fruits from different markets in the five local government areas of Ogbomoso showed high chemical residues in some areas compared with the European Union Maximum Residue Limits (EU MRLs) standard. “The values indicate that the public is exposed to the health risks of pesticide residues through cucumber consumption in parts of the study area,” she warned. The agric expert noted that after petroleum, agriculture is the cornerstone of Nigeria’s economy, with vegetable farming serving as a critical source of livelihood for countless local farmers. She, however, pointed out that unregulated and excessive use of chemical insecticides poses significant risks to the sector’s sustainability. She, therefore, called on policymakers to establish regulations that limit the overuse of chemical pesticides and incentivize sustainable methods. Odewole also urged extension officers and agricultural organizations to provide farmers with training, resources, and technical support. “Scientists must continue to research and validate innovative solutions and empower farmers with knowledge and tools for transforming pest control practices and achieving long-term agricultural sustainability. “By adopting safer and more innovative pest management practices, we can protect human health, preserve the environment, and secure food safety,” she said.SEOUL: South Korea’s opposition said Thursday it filed an impeachment motion against acting president Han Duck-soo, in an escalating row over the composition of the Constitutional Court which would decide whether to remove his predecessor from office. South Korea fell in a political crisis when President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently suspended, declared martial law on December 3. Yoon was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14 over the dramatic declaration, but a constitutional court ruling upholding the decision by lawmakers is necessary to complete the impeachment process. The court is however currently short of three judges. While it can go ahead with its six members on the bench, a single dissenting vote would reinstate Yoon. The opposition wants Han to approve three more nominees to fill the 9-member bench, something that he has so far refused to do, essentially leaving both sides in a deadlock. The opposition Democratic Party therefore says the acting president should be impeached too. “We have filed the motion... and will report it to the plenary session today,” MP Park Sung-joon told reporters at the National Assembly of the action against Han. “We will put it to a vote tomorrow.” Han’s refusal to formally appoint the three judges proves that he “does not have the will or qualification to uphold the constitution,” the Democratic Party’s floor leader Park Chan-dae told reporters. Han has said that he would certify the judges’ appointments only if his ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the opposition reach a compromise on the nominees. “The consistent principle embedded in our constitution and laws is to refrain from exercising significant exclusive presidential powers, including the appointment of constitutional institutions,” Han argued. “A consensus between the ruling and opposition parties in the National Assembly, representing the people, must first be reached,” added the 75-year-old career bureaucrat. If the opposition passes the impeachment motion against Han in Friday’s vote, it would mark the first time democratic South Korea has impeached an acting president. In Han’s place, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would step in as acting president. In the impeachment motion, the opposition accuses Han of violating his duty as acting president, citing his refusal to formally appoint the judges and promulgate two special probe bills to investigate Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law and graft allegations involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee. Earlier this week, Han rejected the opposition’s demand for the special bills that would establish two independent investigative bodies to probe the first couple, prompting warnings of impeachment from the Democratic Party. Han is “intentionally avoiding the special investigation to probe those involved in the insurrection and has clearly stated his intention to reject the appointments of three Constitutional Court judges,” the motion reads. Such actions, it adds, are “in violation of a public official’s duty to uphold the law... and serve the public.” If the opposition succeeds in their bid on Friday, South Korea will see its second impeachment of a head of state in less than two weeks, further destabilizing its vibrant political scene. Separately, Yoon faces criminal charges of insurrection over his martial law declaration, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty. Yoon was ordered a third time on Thursday to appear for questioning on the morning of the 29th, days after he refused a summons to do so on Christmas day. — AFP
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WASHINGTON — American Airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide Tuesday because of a technical problem just as the Christmas travel season kicked into overdrive and winter weather threatened more potential problems for those planning to fly or drive. Government regulators cleared American flights to get airborne about an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a national ground stop for the airline. The order, which prevented planes from taking off, was issued at the airline's request. The airline said in an email that the problem was caused by trouble with vendor technology that maintains its flight operating system. An American Airlines employee wearing looks toward quiet check-in counters Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, a union representing American Airlines pilots, said the airline told pilots at 7 a.m. Eastern that there was an outage affecting the system known as FOS. It handles different types of airline operations, including dispatch, flight planning, passenger boarding, as well as an airplane's weight and balance data, he said. Some components of FOS have gone down in the past, but a systemwide outage is rare, Tajer said. Flights were delayed across American's major hubs, with only 37% leaving on time, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. Out of the 3,901 domestic and international American Airlines flights scheduled for Tuesday, 19 were canceled. Cirium noted that the vast majority of flights departed within two hours of their scheduled departure time. A similar percentage — 36% — arrived at their destinations as scheduled. Meanwhile, the flight-tracking site FlightAware reported that 4,058 flights entering or leaving the U.S., or serving domestic destinations, were delayed, with 76 flights canceled. The site had not posted any American Airlines flights on Tuesday morning, but showed in the afternoon that 961 American flights were delayed. Cirium said Dallas-Fort Worth, New York's Kennedy Airport and Charlotte, North Carolina, saw the greatest number of delays. Washington, Chicago and Miami experienced considerably fewer delays. Travelers wait in line for security checks Tuesday at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles. Jae C. Hong, Associated Press Amid the travel problems, significant rain and snow were expected in the Pacific Northwest at least into Christmas Day. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the South. Freezing rain was reported in the Mid-Atlantic region near Baltimore and Washington, and snow fell in New York. Because the holiday travel period lasts weeks, airports and airlines typically have smaller peak days than they do during the rush around Thanksgiving, but the grind of one hectic day followed by another takes a toll on flight crews. Any hiccups — a winter storm or a computer outage — can snowball into massive disruptions. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts That is how Southwest Airlines stranded 2 million travelers in December 2022, and Delta Air Lines suffered a smaller but significant meltdown after a worldwide technology outage in July caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations even more disruptive than during slower periods. That is especially true for smaller budget airlines that have fewer flights and fewer options for rebooking passengers. Only the largest airlines, including American, Delta and United, have "interline agreements" that let them put stranded customers on another carrier's flights. An American Airlines employee wearing a Santa Claus hat walks through the American terminal Tuesday at Miami International Airport in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press This will be the first holiday season since a Transportation Department rule took effect that requires airlines to give customers an automatic cash refund for a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Most air travelers were already eligible for refunds, but they often had to request them. Passengers still can ask to get rebooked, which is often a better option than a refund during peak travel periods. Finding a last-minute flight on another airline tends to be expensive. An American spokesperson said Tuesday was not a peak travel day for the airline — with about 2,000 fewer flights than the busiest days — so the airline had somewhat of a buffer to manage the delays. The groundings happened as millions of travelers were expected to fly over the next 10 days. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 40 million passengers through Jan. 2. Airlines expect to have their busiest days on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. American Airlines employees check in travelers Tuesday in the American terminal at Miami International Airport in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press Many flights during the holidays are sold out, which makes cancellations more disruptive than during slower periods. Even with just a brief outage, the cancellations have a cascading effect that can take days to clear up. About 90% of Americans traveling far from home over the holidays will be in cars, according to AAA. "Airline travel is just really high right now, but most people do drive to their destinations, and that is true for every holiday," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz said. Gasoline prices are similar to last year. The nationwide average Thursday was $3.04 a gallon, down from $3.13 a year ago, according to AAA. Charging an electric vehicle averages just under 35 cents per per kilowatt hour, but varies by state. Transportation-data firm INRIX says travel times on the nation's highways could be up to 30% longer than normal over the holidays, with Sunday expected to see the heaviest traffic. "It's not the destination, it's the journey," said American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ralph clearly was not among the travellers on one of more than 350 cancelled or 1,400 delayed flights after a worldwide tech outage caused by an update to Crowdstrike's "Falcon Sensor" software in July of 2023. U.S. airlines carried nearly 863 million travellers in 2023, with Canadian carriers accounting for another 150 million, many of whom experienced lost luggage, flight delays, cancellations, or were bumped off their flights. It's unclear how many of them were compensated for these inconveniences. Suffice it to say, posting a crabby rant on social media might temporarily soothe anger, but it won't put wasted money back in pockets. Money.ca shares what to know in order to be compensated for the three most common air travel headaches. Lost Luggage Bags elected to go on a vacay without you? Check off the following: Alert the airline, both in person and in writing, of any missing bags. Remember, the clock starts ticking immediately. After 21 days, the baggage is considered lost and the airline is liable for it and its contents. Contact the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) or Canadian Transportation Agency , who will query the airline on your behalf and give them a 30-day deadline to respond. Usually, the airline will resolve the issue, but if it doesn't, or if you're unsatisfied with the offer, the next level is mediation. Beyond that, the case could move to adjudication, a court-like process with a panel deciding on the outcome. On international flights, you have up to two years to file litigation. If you expect a large payout, think again. Tariffs (air carrier contracts) limit the compensation amounts for "loss of, damage to, or the delay in delivery of baggage or other personal property." In the case of Air Canada, the maximum payout is $1,500 per passenger in the currency of the country where the baggage was processed. To raise that limit, purchase a Declaration of Higher Value for each leg of the trip. The charge is $0.50 for each $100, in which case the payout limit is $2,500. For Delta Air Lines, passengers are entitled to up to $3,800 in baggage compensation, though how much you'll receive depends on your flight. Delta will pay up to $2,080 for delayed, lost, and damaged baggage for international travellers, almost half of what U.S. domestic passengers can claim. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Delayed/Cancelled Flights Different air carriers and jurisdictions have their own compensation policies when flights are delayed or cancelled. For example, under European Union rules, passengers may receive up to 600 Euros, even when travelling on a non-EU carrier. Similarly, the DOT states that travellers are entitled to a refund "if the airline cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the consumer chooses not to travel." However, US rules regarding delays are complicated. Some air carriers, such as Air Canada, do not guarantee their flight schedules. They're also not liable for cancellations or changes due to "force majeure" such as weather conditions or labour disruptions. If the delay is overnight, only out-of-town passengers will be offered hotel accommodation. Nevertheless, many airlines do offer some compensation for the inconvenience. If your flight is marked delayed for more than 30 minutes, approach the gate agent and politely request food and hotel vouchers to be used within the airport or nearby. Flight Compensation in the U.S. In terms of cash compensation, what you'll get can differ significantly based on things like departure location, time, carrier, and ticket class. The DOT offers a helpful delay and cancellations dashboard designed to keep travellers informed about their compensation rights. The dashboard is particularly helpful because, as the DOT states on its website, "whether you are entitled to a refund depends on a lot of factors—such as the length of the delay, the length of the flight, and your particular circumstances." Flight Compensation in Canada The Canadian Transportation Agency is proposing air passenger protection regulations that guarantee financial compensation to travellers experiencing flight delays and cancellations, with the level of compensation varying depending on the situation and how much control the air carrier had. The proposed regulations include the following: A plane must return to its gate after three hours on the tarmac. Minimum requirements will be set for procuring food, drink, lavatories, ventilation, and access to electronic communications during the delay. For larger airlines, payouts will range from $400 for a 3-6 hour delay, to $700 for 6-9 hours, and $1,000 for more than nine hours. For smaller carriers, the compensation would be $125, $250, and $500, respectively. Here's the loophole: If the delay is related to the air carrier's maintenance problems, no compensation is required. The airline is obligated to complete the passenger's itinerary. If the new ticket is for a lower class of service, the air carrier would have to refund the cost difference; if the booking is in a higher class of service, passengers cannot be charged extra. If the passenger declines the ticket, the airline must give a full refund, in addition to the prescribed compensation. For overnight delays, the air carrier needs to provide hotel accommodation and transportation free-of-charge. Again, if you are unsatisfied, the Canadian Transportation Agency or Department of Transportation may advocate on your behalf. Bumped Off the Flight Passengers get bumped because airlines overbook. When this happens, the air carrier must compensate you. For international flights in the US, the rate is 200% of your one-way fare to your final destination, with a $675 maximum. If the airline does not make travel arrangements for you, the payout is 400% of your one-way fare to a maximum of $1,350. To qualify, you must check-in by the stated deadline, which on international flights can be up to 3 hours ahead. Keep in mind that if you accept the cash, you are no longer entitled to any further compensation, nor are you guaranteed to be rebooked on a direct flight or similar type of seat. Don't be too quick to give up your boarding pass. Negotiate for the best compensation deal that would include cash, food and hotel vouchers, flight upgrade, lounge passes, as well as mileage points. But avoid being too greedy—if the gate attendant is requesting volunteers and you wait too long, you'll miss the offer. According to Air Canada's tariff, if a passenger is involuntarily bumped, they'll receive $200, in cash or bank draft, for up to a two-hour delay; $400 for a 2-6 hours delay; and $800 if the delay is over six hours. (Air Canada was forced to raise its payouts in 2013 due to passenger complaints.) The new rules would raise the payout significantly: $900 for up to six hours; $1,800 for 6-9; and $2,400 for more than nine hours, all to be paid within 48 hours. Statistically speaking, Delta Airlines is the carrier most likely to bump. A few years ago, Delta raised its payout maximum to $9,950, while United Airlines tops out at $10,000. This story was produced by Money.ca and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. Gorodenkoff // ShutterstockAfter Trump’s win, Black women are rethinking their role as America’s reliable political organizers
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SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy took part in some light throwing on Monday after missing his first career game because of an injury and the 49ers are hoping he can return this week. Purdy hurt his throwing shoulder during a loss to Seattle on Nov. 17. Purdy underwent two MRIs last week that showed no structural damage. But Purdy he felt discomfort after making a few throws at practice on Thursday and was shut down for the game at Green Bay on Sunday that San Francisco lost 38-10 . Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that Purdy made it through the session without pain and will rest on Tuesday and hopefully be able to return to practice on Wednesday as the Niners prepare to play at Buffalo this coming week. “We rested it throughout the weekend hoping that would help,” Shanahan said. “He threw lighter today to see if that rest helps and the rest did help him. So we’ll see again, going through the same things we did last week. We’re going to let him rest all the way up to Wednesday. We’ll see how it feels on Wednesday and then we’ll take the exact same course throughout the week. Hopefully it responds better this week than it did last week with the rest.” Brandon Allen went 17 for 29 for 199 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble in his first start since the 2021 season. Allen would play once again if Purdy is unable to go on Sunday at Buffalo. Purdy wasn't the only star player missing for the 49ers on Sunday with defensive end Nick Bosa missing the game with injuries to his left hip and oblique and left tackle Trent Williams out with an ankle injury. “Just waiting to see how they respond,” Shanahan said. “They didn’t respond great last week. That’s why they weren’t able to go. Nick and Trent are both in the same boat. ... We’ll evaluate as this week progresses and hopefully it turns a better corner than it did last week.” In other injury news, linebacker Dre Greenlaw will return to practice this week for the first time since tearing his Achilles tendon in the Super Bowl last season. Greenlaw will likely need at least a couple of weeks of practice before being able to return to play. Offensive lineman Jon Feliciano will be shut down for the rest of the season after his knee injury didn't fully heal. Feliciano's three-week practice window ended Monday and the Niners decided to keep him on injured reserve instead of activating him. Left guard Aaron Banks, defensive tackle Jordan Elliott and receiver Jacob Cowing all remain in concussion protocol to start this week and their status is unknown. Right guard Dominick Puni (shoulder) and cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (knee) underwent MRIs on Monday and the team is waiting for results. Cornerback Renardo Green (neck) and linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) are day to day. Defensive tackle Kevin Givens is expected to return to practice this week after missing the past four games with a groin injury. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflINOVIO Announces Proposed Public OfferingFIBRA Prologis announces successful settlement of its Tender Offer for Terrafina (TERRA 13)
In this podcast, Motley Fool analysts Matt Argersinger and Anthony Schiavone join host Mary Long to discuss: How a company enters into their "Dividend Seven." If Home Depot can still be a growth stock. The metrics that dividend investors need to understand. Companies that have raised their dividend for decades. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center . To get started investing, check out our beginner's guide to investing in stocks . A full transcript follows the video. This video was recorded on Dec. 08, 2024. Matt Argersinger: If you think about that, how many recessions, business cycles, wars, calamities happen over a 50 year period? And yet, here's a company that's raised its dividend every year. Ricky Mulvey: I'm Ricky Mulvey and that's Motley Fool senior analyst Matthew Argersinger. Look, dominant tech companies have their own category, the Magnificent Seven. You probably already know it. But on today's show, Matthew Argersinger and Anthony Schiavone unveil their own group of seven the Dividend Seven, powerful companies that pay investors income. They joined Mary Long to discuss a big retailer that's insulated itself from Amazon , a dominant financial company with $10.7 trillion in assets under management, and what it takes for a company to enter the Dividend Seven. Mary Long: Matt and most listeners are likely already familiar with the Magnificent Seven, this basket of tech stocks that have dominated the market recently. But you two have come up with a different set of stocks. You've called it the Dividend Seven. What exactly is the criteria for making it into this group? How did you land on these requirements? There are seven of them. I'm correct. Matt Argersinger: That's right. Well, thank you, Mary. This was a fun exercise for us. We've seen, of course, the Magnificent Seven. Be this, I don't know, this major force in the market that investors have just been magnetized to. We thought, well, we talk a lot about dividends. We do a dividend show here at the Motley Fool every other week, and we thought, a fun topic would be, could we we do our own version of the Magnificent Seven and layer in dividends and come up with this Dividend Seven or DIV seven group. The Magnificent Seven was our inspiration. And so I think that's feeds into the seven criteria we use to select the stocks. We'll start with the first one, which is just dominance. If we think about the Magnificent Seven, these are some of the most dominant companies, if not the most dominant companies in the world, if you think about, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla . We thought, OK, let's start with that. Let's only pick companies that we think are dominant. Of course, sizable. They have tremendous scale, and they have leadership in the markets that they serve and in most cases, they're the leading number one market share company within that space. But then of course, since this is a Dividend Seven and not just a Magnificent Seven, we had to have some dividend criteria. The next three are dividend criteria. We have dividend growth, we wanted each of the companies to have grown their dividend by at least 100% over the last 10 years, so a doubling of their dividend. We wanted companies that were committed to a dividend. This is our third criteria, which is they had a sizable payout ratio. They were prioritizing the dividend in the way they allocate capital for the business. Then our fourth criteria was dividend yield. This is something, of course, investors are always looking for when they're looking for dividend stocks. What is the stock yield? Well, we wanted yields that were at least 50% higher. Then the current yield on the S&P 500 , which right now is around 1.2%. It's near a historic low. We were looking for a dividend yield of about 2% minimum for each of the companies that we were looking for. Then the fifth criteria we just wanted growth. In other words, we call it business growth, but we wanted confidence that this wasn't a business that was stagnating. This was a business where revenue, earnings cash flow, we can see all that moving higher in the future. In other words, the business has tailwinds to it. The sixth criteria is financial strength, so strong balance sheet, cash flows that are robust that can withstand business cycles, a company that's built to withstand unexpected circumstances or macroeconomic issues, things like that. Then the seventh and final criteria I've drone here bit was we're looking for special. Is there something with this company or the set of companies that make them unique, make them stand out, make them visible in the minds of investors, consumers, beyond just them being a corporation in the US. Those were the seven criteria we used. Mary Long: We got seven companies here today. We're going to take a moment to spotlight each of them briefly. But before we get there, thinking about this group as a whole. There's a push pull in dividend investing between yield and growth, a lot of times. Both are factors that you considered, obviously, when pulling this particular group together, as a whole, do you find that it favors growth over yield or vice versa? What's the thinking behind that here? Matt Argersinger: Yes, that's I wouldn't call it dilemma, but it is something that dividend investors in particular struggle with is do I buy companies that have big yields, yields of 3, 4, 5%? Or do I buy companies that are paying a dividend but might have a smaller yield, but are capable of growing their earnings and therefore, their dividend at a faster rate over time? The good news is with the seven companies we picked, it actually is quite balanced. The average dividend yield for the group is about 2.5%. Now, some investors might consider that low, but remember, the yield on the S&P 500 right now is 1.2%. It's a historic low. This group on average is double that yield. I think that's important. But at the same time, remember, because we were looking at companies that were growing their dividend or doubling their dividend over the last 10 years, you're still getting a lot of growth here as well. I love the list because I think each of the companies, again, on average, has a pretty nice balance between yield and growth. Mary Long: We're going to spotlight each of these companies. There's quite a varied group. We've got a REIT, a bank, a consumer goods company, a retailer, a fast food chain, drug developer, an asset manager. First up is that REIT that I mentioned. This one likely will not be a shocker to anybody who follows the dividend show or listens to a lot of Fool content pretty closely. We got Prologis . It's the world's largest REIT and a global leader in logistics, real estate, in particular. It's got more than $200 billion in assets under management. It's grown its dividend and returned over 190% in the last 10 years. Guys, the CEO and the co-founder, co-founder of Prologis' predecessor company, he's described this Prologis as "Basically the toll taker in the world of global commerce." What does he mean by that? Matt Argersinger: We're big fans of Hamid Moghadam who's the CEO and co-founder of Prologis. Well, if you think about Prologis, its size and scale. We're talking 5,600 buildings spanning 1.2 billion square feet on four continents. It really is the real estate backbone of global commerce. So much transaction, so much inventory flows through Pelagius facilities every year. The company estimates that 2.5% of global GDP, which I don't know the number off the top of my head, but that's a big, big number. 2.5% of global GDP flows through Pelagius' real estate every year. If you think about the importance of supply chain management, of inventory management, among companies today, especially companies who are doing business in omni channel ways. They might have a brick and mortars presence. They might have these days, have an e-commerce presence. The need to have physical infrastructure to support that is more critical than ever. Especially if you think about since COVID, the effect that the pandemic had on supply chains and the need for companies to have more control over their inventory and their sourcing was so huge. That's why I just think there's so many tailwinds to Prologis' business, and, of course, it's been a wonderful dividend company and one of the best REITs, if not the best REIT that Ant and I come across all the time. We had to have Prologis in our DIV seven, at least our inaugural DIV Seven. Mary Long: Matt, you mentioned these tailwinds, and I buy everything that you're saying, but you look at the stock price of Prologis, and it's down about 14% year to date. Why do you think that is? Matt Argersinger: Ant, do you want to take a crack at that? Anthony Schiavone: Yeah. Let's go back to 2017 for a minute. The Fed was raising interest rates, and on a conference call, an analyst asked Hamid Moghadam, what's the impact of higher interest rates on your business? And Hamid responded, the short term impact of higher interest rates on our business will be a 10-15% drop in our stock price. Then he continued saying, interest rates are going up because the economy is hot. It will translate into rents and growth and activity. In six months, the impact of higher interest rates on our business will be exactly zero. If we fast forward to today, the 10 year treasury rate was around 3.6% in September, and now it's around 4.2% today. Over that time period, you've seen a roughly 14, 15% decline in Prologis' share price. So that's essentially exactly what Hamid Moghadam said seven years ago. As a Prologis shareholder myself, I'm not too worried about Prologis' recent share price underperformance. You're still collecting a 3.5% dividend yield, and the payout is growing at a double digit rate. As a shareholder, I'm fine with that. Mary Long: It sounds like if you were to add smart management as an eighth checkbox for the Dividend Seven, Prologis would check that box as well, for sure. Anthony Schiavone: Good point. Mary Long: One more question here before we move on to the next in this group. Funds from Operations or FFO is a key number for REIT investors. For folks listening who are less familiar with rates or kind of newer to this space. What does FFO measure exactly? And how does Prologis stack up on that front? Matt Argersinger: REITs are a little bit of a different entity in the stock market. They're publicly traded just like stocks, but they have some special rules, which we don't have time to really get into. But the best way to measure the cash flow of REITs is not through earnings. It's really through this term funds from operations, FFO. What FFO does, it does a number of things, but the two big things it does is it excludes depreciation. If you think about the biggest cost for a real estate company is depreciation. Real estate gets depreciated over time. No matter what it is, residential real estate, commercial real estate, it depreciates over time, and that's a non cash expense that FFO adds back to earnings. Then also gains losses on property sales. REITs if you are buying and selling properties all the time, and it'd be strange if you're trying to measure the operational prowess of a company to include those because that can be volatile. A company might decide to sell a bunch of properties one quarter, buy a bunch of properties in another quarter and so smoothing that out and taking that away gets you a better idea of what the operational cash flow of the business is, and that's what FFO is. Mary Long: Up next in our DIV Seven basket, we've got JPMorgan . This is the world's largest bank by market cap, probably a very familiar name to most everybody. It is a massive company, steady dividend growth, a commitment to that dividend, dividend yield of more than 2%, which is higher than a lot of other banks. Over 200% dividend growth in the past 10 years. There's a lot of good here. And again, it seems even if you strip the numbers away, the name JP Morgan has such power? [laughs] Matt Argersinger: Yeah, that's right. Mary Long: It's like I hear all this stuff, and I'm like, OK, what is the bear case against JP Morgan is it ever going away? Why might someone not want to invest in this company? Matt Argersinger: This was a natural fit for our DIV Seven. And you mentioned, Mary, the 200% dividend growth last 10 years. That was a big draw for why we wanted to have it in the list. But, yeah, if I had to take the bear case for JP Morgan, I would say, banks have benefited finally from the higher interest rates that we've gotten over the last few years. That's done wonders for the net interest margin. Banks have still been able to pay really ultra low rates to depositors on checking accounts and savings accounts, but then turn around and lend those borrowings or that capital at much higher rates for the first time in really 15 years. That's been a huge benefit to banks. If we do get lower interest rates and the Fed has already embarked on an easing cycle, that could hurt the net interest margin for a bank like JP Morgan. You also you're talking about a bank, and for some reason, in the US, we just have thousands of banks, whereas you go to most other countries, including Canada, just up north, they have like five banks. We somehow have thousands of banks in the US. There's always competition. I think JP Morgan, of course, is the most dominant, but even JP Morgan has competition from Bank of America , Citibank , Goldman Sachs , and investment banks as well. Then there also has been a very strict regulatory environment for banks since the global financial crisis. That's really limited. The capital allocation flexibility of banks. Even JP Morgan every year has to ask permission from federal regulators to raise its dividend, to do buybacks and things like that. That's been a bit of a bit of a cloud. Who knows? This is not my area of expertise, but we do have, you've seen the rise of Bitcoin . Now over $100,000 a coin, I can't believe it. But the whole rise of decentralized finance coming out of the whole market crypto ecosphere. Also at the same time, you've had this rise of private credit, non bank lenders. That's competition for JP Morgan, so that would be my bare case, but gosh, talk about a dominant company and one that we had to have in the DIV Seven. Mary Long: Such a dominant company that we're going to just do a quick spotlight there and now move on to the next because we've got a number of companies to still get through today. The third company in the DIV Seven is another one that really needs no introduction PepsiCo . This is, again, unsurprisingly yet another steady dividend grower. One of the things that stuck out to me, it's got a payout ratio of 70%, pretty high. For the listener who again, might be newer to dividend investing, what does that number mean exactly? Anthony Schiavone: So the dividend payout ratio is one of the most important metrics for did investors. A couple of different ways you can calculate it, but one simple approach is to take the annualized quarterly dividend rate and divide it by the expected earnings per share for that year. Let's just say Pepsi is expected. I'm making this up, but let's say they pay out 70 cents in dividends this year, and management expects to generate $1 in earnings. The payout ratio will be 70%. In other words, earnings would have to fall more than 30% for the dividend payout to become unsustainable. For a company like Pepsi that has very stable recurring revenue like model, they can afford to have a relatively high payout ratio at around 70% because they have a strong balance sheet, they have predictable revenue. Earnings growth is going to occur pretty much every year, and they also have a strong track record of dividend growth. For another sector like oil and gas stocks, for example, they tend to be a lot more cyclical. You'd want to have a payout ratio that lower than 70%, preferably less than 50% because their earnings are more volatile. Generally speaking, a payout ratio less than 50% tends to be pretty safe, but companies like Pepsi can certainly pay out more than that, and a high payout ratio for a quality company like Pepsi can even signal higher earnings growth in the future. Mary Long: There's certainly a lot of quality and steadiness that you get when you invest in Pepsi. But if you zoom out and look at total returns over the past 10 years, Pepsi does beat out Coke , but it falls pretty far below the S&P 500. What's the case for investing in Pepsi specifically rather than putting your money in the S&P or an index fund? Anthony Schiavone: What's interesting is over the last 10 years, Pepsi was roughly tracking the market's return all the way up until early 2023. That's when we had the mini-banking crisis, if you want to call it that. Then we had the explosion in AI. That's when the market really started to outperform Pepsi. Pepsi is not necessarily doing anything wrong. The market is just assigning a lower earnings multiple to Pepsi and a higher earnings multiple to the S&P 500. I think as an investor, the investing case for Pepsi it's 3.4% dividend yield. Is roughly almost three times larger than the S&P's yield of 1.2%, like Matt mentioned earlier. Then it trades at a discount valuation compared to the market. Then third, Pepsi's provides a diversification away from a tech-heavy S&P 500. There's something wrong with investing in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. But if there's an argument for investing in Pepsi, I think that's the one to make. Mary Long: The fourth stock that we're looking at today is Home Depot. Just in preparation for this episode, guys, I checked, and Home Depot is at an all-time high. Maybe this goes back to our earlier conversation about growth and yield, but this stock has been on a tear recently. It's pretty fair to say. Again, I thought this was supposed to be a dividend play. Is Home Depot one of those ones that is a growth stock, too? Matt Argersinger: I think so, Mary. It's definitely got both attributes. It's a company that has prioritized the dividend, pays has steadily grown that dividend, and the dividend has always taken up a pretty good chunk of Home Depot's earnings, so there's been a decent payout ratio. But no doubt, Home Depot's stock has been on absolute tear recently, and it's actually surprising to me because if you look at the business and how the business has performed, it's been a rough couple of years for Home Depot. Really, almost since the day the Fed started raising rates back in early 2022, Home Depot's business has struggled, and that's because the housing market, which of course is in the short term, so correlated with mortgage rates has been really stagnant. With less housing turnover, Home Depot's business has struggled. Like you mentioned, Home Depot is almost at an all-time high. I'm wondering if it's because the market is anticipating with the Fed lowering rates. Is there going to be a stronger housing market in 2025 and beyond? They're going to see a big pickup in home renovations. Maybe that's the reason, so the market is already looking ahead here, but it certainly seems a little bit stretched, in my view. Mary Long: Home Depot has grown its dividend over 280% in the past 10 years. I think that's the highest out of all of these companies that we're looking at today. Matt Argersinger: I think you're right. Mary Long: Has management's philosophy about returning cash to shareholders, has that changed at all in that time or perhaps prior to this 10-year horizon? Or has it remained pretty consistent and they were just really good at what they do? Matt Argersinger: That approach to the dividend has remained consistent. Certainly, with CEO Ted Decker, it's probably even gone more into the philosophy of what the company does. The dividend has always been a priority, and I think the steadiness of Home Depot's business, the fact that the company generates so much cash flow has such a stable revenue picture. It's so well diversified in terms of products. With a lot of retailers don't have, which is that protection against e-commerce. By the way, it is one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the country, but it has that anti, but protection from Amazon and other mass online market places because of just the nature of the products it sells, and I think that's insulated it from a lot of competition as well. It always has good visibility to its cash flow and therefore has always made the dividend a priority. Mary Long: Quick sidebar here. With the exception of Prologis, almost all of the companies that we've talked about today and more that we'll continue to talk about in just a moment. Are really big brands? Like with Home Depot, everybody knows Home Depot. You see the orange apron, you associate that with Home Depot. Pepsico. I would bet that most people have Pepsi products in their kitchen. JPMorgan. That's a name that a lot of people know. Do you make anything of that? Is there some relationship between really strong brand building and dividend payers, or is it just a product of, hey, these companies have been around for a really long time, and they represent quality? Matt Argersinger: All of the above. It's like that, Mary. Answer on this as well, but I think this you see it throughout history. How do the most dominant companies become so dominant? It's because they have such a brand presence and imprint on the minds of consumers, investors, other businesses. Home Depot as one example, nplogis in particular, serves mostly businesses, not necessarily consumers. I think that goes hand in hand with having a major company. That was part of the reason, at least maybe indirectly as to why these companies are showing up in the Div 7 because they're so recognizable, at least most of them, and made them natural fits. Anthony Schiavone: I would just echo what I said earlier about financial strength is a lot of these businesses are so big because they've been able to survive for so long. Most of these companies we're talking about today have increased their dividend for more than 25 consecutive years, 40 consecutive years, even 50 consecutive years. You have to have a strong balance sheet to be able to survive that long to get that known brand that many of these companies have. Financial strength, very important. Mary Long: Next on the list, I'll admit I was a little surprised to see just because I don't typically think of drug developers as falling into this category. The stock that I'm talking about is Abbvie. Again, it's a drug developer. Fifty-two consecutive years of dividend raises. Like Pepsi, actually, this is a dividend king. What's that distinction mean, guys? Matt Argersinger: Well, a Dividend King is a real rare distinction that a company can get if it raises its dividend for 50 or more consecutive years. If you think about that, how many recessions, business cycles, wars, calamities happen over a 50-year period and yet here's a company that's raised its dividend every year. Even through the global financial crisis or even through the COVID that we recently had. Every year, this company has raised its dividend and AV, which is, by the way, a spinout from Abbott Labs , which maybe some investors might be more familiar with, but it was able to maintain its dividend history when it was part of Abbott Labs going back, 52 years. Mary Long: When you two talked about this company on the dividend show, one of the things that you pointed out is that it has a capex ratio of less than 5%. I can hear a lot of people, and I caught myself initially doing it, too, thinking, wait hold on. This is a drug development company. They've got to spend a ton of money on research and development. But important to note, there's a distinction between capex and research and development. What is that difference, and why does that distinction between the two matter? Matt Argersinger: Well, R&D is an operating expense and it's being expensed as you're paying to conduct tests or you're paying lab technicians to do certain things. That money is spent, it's an operating expense, it goes out the door. With capex, think about things that are long term investments in the business. Building facilities, labs, acquiring other businesses, intellectual property, those things. Those are long-term investments that get expensed over time. The nice thing is, even though there's still cash going out the window, it doesn't affect your expenses in terms of your operational income. The fact that AV has such a low capex ratio means that it doesn't have to spend a lot on big capital expenses, and therefore, its free cash flow is generally a lot higher, which I think is important for a company like AV, which is in the drug development business. We know how volatile that can be. You can have successes with certain drugs or failures with certain drugs. It can be a little bit up and down. But as long as AV is generating cash flow, the business can be somewhat more stable. Mary Long: Moving on to the next stock in this group, we've got McDonald's . Like Home Depot, this is another company with a healthy focus on dividend that also seems to just keep growing. McDonald's, again, has grown its dividend for 48 years in a row, so almost at that Dividend King status, but not quite yet. Has a payout ratio of about 60%, a yield of over 2%. Again, on the growth point, they're speeding up new store openings, are growing their digital channels. They've also got a franchise model. How does that set up this franchise model come into play for a company like McDonald's? Anthony Schiavone: McDonald's has more than 41,000 stores across 100 countries. They've served hundreds of billions of burgers over the years, hundreds of billions of burgers. But somehow, like you said, they still find a way to continue to open up new stores and continue to grow. To your point, it's that franchise model? McDonald's essentially purchases the land. They purchase the building for a new store, and then they collect rent and royalties from the franchise. By franchising most of their stores, McDonald's can expand more quickly because the capital investment isn't as large compared to opening a company-owned store where they're paying for everything, and their capex will be larger. I think that franchise model is one reason why after all these years, McDonald's is still growing and opening more stores than they ever have before. Mary Long: As we continue to think about this growth piece of the equation, GLP-1 drugs have been a big story throughout the year. Surely, they'll continue to be in 25 and beyond. How do you think that might affect McDonald's growth story? Also Pepsi, I would say falls into this category of a company that could potentially be affected by if they haven't already been affected by the rise of weight loss drugs. Does that play at all into how you think about McDonald's moving forward? Anthony Schiavone: It definitely does. That is $1 million question. How do these drugs affect a lot of these food-related companies? To be honest, I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows the full impact that these drugs will have on eating habits over the long term. I have a suspicion that the drugs might not impact the food companies too much, maybe on the margin, but they won't have a devastating impact. Hypothetically speaking, let's say they do have a massive impact on eating habits. What did the second order effects on that? What happens to Pepsi's pricing power? What happens to its weaker competition? Those are all questions that need to be answered, too. There's a lot of unanswered questions right now, but one thing is true. If you look at McDonald's stock price right now, it's near an all-time high, so the market doesn't seem to be too worried about GLP-1 drugs. We'll see. I really don't know, but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Matt Argersinger: If I could just add also, we took a look at Hershey and considered putting Hershey on our Top 7 list as well, because Hershey is a company that has such a great history, dividend track record, etc. But we thought, well, McDonald's, Pepsi and Hershey. We're being a little bit contrarian when it comes to the whole GLP-1 story if we actually Hershey, as well, but for now, McDonald's. Mary Long: Again, you're trying to diversify a lot, and you've got a bunch of different companies within this group that play in a lot of different sectors in industry. Last but not least rounding us out, we've got the world's largest asset manager that is BlackRock . In the Dividend Show guys, you called out the iShares franchise in particular as being what makes BlackRock tick the seventh qualifier to putting it in the Dividend Seven. It's special sauce what makes it unique. What is it about the iShares brand that stands out so much? Matt Argersinger: BlackRock has always been a massive asset manager in the world. But the iShares brand is really what set the rocket fuel for this business more than a decade ago. Again, this is one of those companies where it's going to be more familiar to investors and businesses and pension funds than it is to maybe your average consumer. But BlackRock has $10.7 trillion in assets under management, which just a massive number. The GDP of the United States, I think is around 20 trillion, maybe a little more than that now. Just to put that in context, it's a massive number. ETF brand is probably by far the most recognizable ETF, I'd say, brand in the marketplace. It's where so many assets go. Many money managers around the world funds, pension funds, as I mentioned, know the iShares brand are comfortable with the iShares brand and tend to use the iShares for various strategies or for their fund management. It's just got these tentacles everywhere. If you look at, for example, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF that they just launched recently, it's already become, the largest or the second largest Bitcoin ETF. That owes itself to the BlackRock brand, the iShares brand. It's all of a sudden investors saying, well, if I want to invest in Bitcoin, how do I want to do it? I'm going to use iShares because I know they're cheap, I know they're big, I know they're backed by BlackRock, which is one of the largest and most stable asset managers in the world. That just feeds on itself. BlackRock seems to me like this monster dominant of a company that is just going to get more and more dominant as time goes on. Mary Long: To close us out today, guys, we used the Mag 7 as a jumping-off point for this conversation. That's what inspired you to pull together this Dividend Seven group in the first place. All of those are growthy tech companies. When we think about valuation, some investors might use a PEG ratio to value some of those companies. That's maybe not the case with some of these that we've talked about today. How do you two value the companies that we've talked about today? Any stick-out is a little too pricey for your taste or on the flip side as being priced pretty attractively right now. Anthony Schiavone: I tend to just use a simple price-earnings multiple as a starting point for a lot of these companies. They're very well-established companies. They tend to have very predictable earnings, predictable revenue growth, predictable dividend growth, as well. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a valuation metric, but yield is definitely important, and it's something that Matt and I look at. Like we said, we want to look at companies that at least have a dividend yield 50% higher than the market. Preferably even higher than that is even better because as we know over the long run, I think the dividends account for. What is it Matt? Roughly 50% of the market's return over the last 100 or so years. Dividend yield is also very important. Matt Argersinger: We mentioned Prologis and had that great look back at what the CEO said a bunch of years ago. That to me seems to stand out as one particularly compelling opportunity. We did talk about Home Depot. That one feels a little stretched to me, just given where we are, where its valuation is, and the uncertainties around interest rates in the housing market. But I would say, in general, if you look at these seven companies, I would not call any of them cheap. In other words, because they're so dominant, because they are so recognizable and so they're included in so many, of course, investor portfolios and institutional portfolios. Just like the Mag 7 and however that group changes over time, I expect this Div Seven is generally going to include companies that are pretty pricey but deserve so because they deserve a premium because they aren't premium businesses. Mary Long: Matt, and always a pleasure talking to both of you. Thanks so much for the time today for walking us through the first iteration. Hopefully, the first of many different iterations of the Dividend Seven. Thanks so much, guys. Matt Argersinger: Thank you, Mary. Anthony Schiavone: Thanks. Ricky Mulvey: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and are not approved by advertisers. The Motley Fool only picks products that it would personally recommend to friends like you. I'm Ricky Mulvey. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has presented N1.5trillion 2025 budget to the House of Assembly. The budget tagged, “Budget of Hope for Sustainability and Food Security” was presented by the Governor at the flow of the State Assembly complex in Minna, on Thursday, 12th December 2024. The 2025 budget is higher than the 2024 appropriation, with 48.3%. Highlights of the budget indicated that over N196 billion was projected as the 2025 recurrent expenditure while above N1.3 trillion representing 87% of the total size of the budget was for capital expenditure. Accordingly, the 2025 budget was based on the Economic and Fiscal Update (EFU), Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), and Budget Statement (BPS) 2025 – 2027 as passed by the State Assembly. The governor noted that the budget revenue would be derived from Statutory Allocation, Value Added Tax, Other FAAC Receipts, IGR, other IGR, and Capital receipts. He also stressed that based on the sectorial breakdown of the 2025 budget, the Infrastructure, Housing, and Urban Renewal sector, got the highest allocation to the tune of over N437 billion, while Law and Justice got the lowest estimate which stood at over N3.5 billion. Presenting the 2025 budget, the governor explained that the 2025 estimate aimed at solidifying agriculture as a cornerstone of the state’s economy would also strengthen the foundation laid by his administration for rapid socio-economic development of the State. He said the emphasis on sustainability reflects a collective commitment to the Green Initiative and agricultural drive of his administration, pointing out that the budget preparation followed a participatory, people-centered approach. “The emphasis on sustainability indicates our collective commitment to the Niger State Green Initiative and our drive for agriculture that promotes long-term environmental health and food systems that are resilient and capable of creating sustainable prosperity,” he said. “This will focus on the key economic sectors: security of lives and properties, Agriculture and Food Security, Health, Education, Water and Sanitation, Infrastructure Development, Social Security, and Environmental Sustainability.” He said the quest for a New Niger calls for support, cooperation, and understanding of all and sundry. The governor noted that the approved 2024 budget recorded tremendous success with 68.88% budget performance. Bago expressed confidence that the 2025 budget would receive all the needed support so that the desired objective would be achieved. “Together, we can build a New Niger of our desire with equal opportunities for all to strive. Once more, I wish to reiterate that I am indebted to you all and appreciate the steadfast support accorded to all our initiatives. Also, I want to thank all Nigerlites for their unwavering support and understanding,” he said. In his keynote address, the Speaker, the Niger State House of Assembly, AbdulMalik Sarkin Daji, lauded the governor for judicial and strategic stewardship of the State resources which he said has resulted in a substantial and transformative impact on the lives of the citizens. Daji observed that the harmonious working relationship between the Executive and Legislative arms of government has led to efficient decision-making, alignment on developmental priorities, and a shared commitment to the welfare of the people, adding that the Assembly is resolute in its readiness to forge a dynamic partnership in pursuit of a prosperous and enduring legacy.
Even after dropping to 7-5 following Sunday's 34-26 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Washington Commanders are still in position to make the NFC playoffs. However, the margin is razor thin. Washington now sits only half a game ahead of the Arizona Cardinals for the final Wild Card spot, and 1.5 games ahead of three formidable challengers in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. With the 9-2 Minnesota Vikings and 8-3 Green Bay Packers all but locked into the first two Wild Card spots, it's going to come down to those five teams (along with the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons, should they lose their respective division leads) for the last one. That means the Commanders can't afford to take any more losses like they had on Sunday. Their defeat at the hands of the 4-7 Cowboys was their first truly bad loss this season, and it needs to end up being their only one. Next week, the Commanders get another home matchup against a three-win team in the Tennessee Titans prior to their Week 14 bye. The Titans are riding some momentum after their own upset road win on Sunday, a 32-27 victory over the Houston Texans. That, combined with the Commanders' loss to Dallas, needs to be a wakeup call that no opponent can be taken lightly. Sunday is a must-win for Washington, and following their week off, they may need to go at least 3-1 against the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons and Cowboys again to secure a playoff spot. It's very doable, but after Sunday, the Commanders are out of mulligans.Putin’s regime may be closer to a Soviet collapse than we think
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