Earnings Call Insights: Elite Pharmaceuticals (ELTP) Q4 fiscal 2026
“Total revenues for the year were $149 million” and Elite delivered “operating income was $49 million” while “operating cash flow this year was positive $23.7 million,” CFO Carter Ward (CFO Carter Ward) said, adding that cash was “$29.8 million” and “long-term debt was
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Mercedes’ George Russell took his second win of the season with victory from pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen recovered from a crash in the final part of qualifying to finish second at Red Bull’s home race, with championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third.
Russell’s win moves him back up to second in the drivers’ standings, 40 points behind team-mate Antonelli.
BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your latest questions before this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
I think a pole position under a yellow flag sets a dangerous precedent, because it’s clear that from now on, everyone will continue to push hard after a small slow down, or else their lap will be cancelled. I’d be curious to hear your opinion – Lorenzo
George Russell’s pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix, the foundation for his victory on Sunday, came about in controversial circumstances.
According to the rules, Russell did nothing wrong.
Marshals trackside initially waved a single yellow flag when Max Verstappen crashed at Turn Nine.
Kimi Antonelli mis-read the light board as a double yellow, and backed out of his lap – the correct response for what he thought to be the case. Under a double yellow, drivers have to “slow down and be prepared to stop”.
But under a single yellow, a driver does not have to abandon their lap. They only have to not set a fastest time in the relevant section of the track.
Russell complied with this, but the rest of his lap was fast enough to put him on pole anyway.
The concern here is less the specifics of these rules, but whether the correct flag was shown in the circumstances.
The answer to that has to be no.
Verstappen crashed at the fastest corner on the track, which is taken at close to 140mph.
Turn Nine is notoriously challenging, with its downhill entry, and an exit kerb that’s easy to over-run.
Both Verstappen and Antonelli questioned the decision to show only a single yellow at the time, when Verstappen’s car was in the barrier at this corner as other drivers were seeking to set what would be their fastest laps of the weekend.
Verstappen described it as “quite crazy”.
Antonelli said: “There was a car in the wall in a fast corner. I don’t know why it didn’t go double-yellow straight away, because it’s a super-quick corner, and if you go off at the same time, it can end up very badly. That was a bit confusing.
“For sure it’s something that needs to be reviewed, especially when it happens in a high-speed corner.
“If it’s a slow-speed [corner], single yellow can be OK but fast corners should be double yellow straight away.”
To underline the point, within 20 seconds, race control upgraded the flag to a double yellow, but everyone had completed their laps by then.
Riverside-based radio station, 99.1 KGGI, has lost its last local on-air host.
Longtime radio personalities Evelyn Erives, Nick Nack and Garrison King were all cut from the Inland Empire station last week as part of iHeartMedia’s latest round of national layoffs. In an internal memo, the media giant said it would restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology.
iHeartMedia declined to comment on how many people lost their jobs, but dozens of on-air and other staff positions have reportedly been cut across the country.
The memo — attributed to Chief Programming Officer Tom Poleman and Ann Marie Licata, the chief executive of the company’s multiplatform group — framed the changes as a way to “move faster and operate with greater precision across markets,” and to “position us not just to adapt to the future, but to lead it.”
The cuts are part of a broader push to reduce costs. In May, iHeartMedia launched a new savings program, set to begin in the second half of 2026, aimed at trimming an additional $50 million on top of the $100 million in savings the company had already announced.
iHeartMedia is the nation’s largest radio operator, with more than 850 stations across 160 markets and a sizable presence in Burbank. Its Los Angeles–area stations include KFI-AM 640, KLAC-AM 570, KOST-FM 103.5 and KIIS-FM 102.7.
As the media landscape continues to evolve, the company has leaned harder into podcasting, home to hallmark shows like “Stuff You Should Know,” “Questlove Supreme” and “Las Culturistas.”
Last year, iHeartMedia introduced its “Guaranteed Human” campaign, an ongoing pledge that no iHeartMedia station or podcast will feature an AI-generated personality or AI-generated music.
How that promise squares with the layoffs is unclear. With stations like Riverside’s 99.1 now stripped of their local hosts, the company has said nothing about who — or what — will replace them.
A Komoto official tests the company’s solar-powered smart flow control system in Kazakhstan. Photo by Komoto
SEOUL, June 25 (UPI) — South Korea’s industrial valve maker Komoto said Thursday that it is seeking to expand into the Kazakh market after wrapping up a field demonstration project in the Central Asian country.
The company said that it completed the installation and operational tests of its solar-powered smart flow control and SCADA system at a demonstration site in Kazakhstan.
Short for supervisory control and data acquisition, SCADA is an industrial automation system that enables operators to monitor, control, and collect real-time data from infrastructure remotely.
Following the successful trial, the system received final field performance certification from Kazvodkhoz, Kazakhstan’s state-owned water resources agency, according to Komoto.
The firm noted that the project confirmed the applicability of its technology to remote agricultural waterways and irrigation facilities not only in Kazakhstan but also across Central Asia.
Komoto CEO Ryan MK Ko said that the company plans to expand its presence in overseas water industry markets, particularly in Central Asia.
“Our biggest competitive edge is that our system allows for the stable operation of water management facilities even in remote areas with limited access to commercial power and communication infrastructure, while significantly reducing costs compared with conventional options,” Ko said in a statement.
“Based on the technology and operational data accumulated through pilot projects both at home and abroad, we will further advance our automated control and intelligent water management features,” he added.
Komoto is not publicly listed. It was founded in 1988 with technology and capital support from Motoyama, one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of industrial equipment, including valves.
Published on
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has given the green light to develop a prediction market app, according to the New York Times, as Meta moves to capitalise on one of the fastest-growing sectors in tech and finance.
The app is currently being referred to as Arena internally and would let users earn points for correctly predicting the outcomes of events such as sports results, political developments and stock market moves but without any real money changing hands, at least initially.
It would operate independently of Meta’s existing social platforms, though those could funnel users towards it, according to the reporting.
A prediction market is essentially a financial exchange where people buy and sell contracts or bets tied to the outcome of real-world events.
Each contract is a simple yes-or-no question, such as whether a certain candidate will win an election, a team will come out first in a championship or if a major political figure will pass by a certain date.
On Polymarket and Kalshi, the two most popular prediction market platforms, users buy contracts that pay out $1 if they are right and nothing if they are wrong.
As more people trade those contracts, the price reflects the market’s probability of the event occurring. If a bet is worth 40 cents, there’s a 40% chance of it happening, according to the people who have placed bets.
Fans of prediction markets argue the mechanism produces more accurate forecasts than polls or political analysts because participants have real money on the line.
The two dominant platforms in the space are Polymarket and Kalshi, which together generated around 85–90% of the roughly $44 billion (€40bn) in total trading volume recorded in 2025.
Polymarket, founded in 2020 by New York University dropout Shayne Coplan, operates globally on the blockchain. In October 2025, the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company invested $2 billion (€1.8bn) in the platform, in a major sign that Wall Street was taking the sector seriously.
Kalshi, founded in 2018 by two MIT graduates, spent years winning regulatory approval before launching as the first prediction market sanctioned by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The turning point came in October 2024, when a US court ruled Kalshi could legally offer election contracts 32 days before the presidential election. Monthly trading volume has since surged from less than $5 billion (€4.6bn) in September 2025 to around $24 billion (€21.8bn) in April 2026, overtaking the roughly $14 billion (€12.7bn) wagered monthly through legal or traditional US sportsbooks.
Donald Trump Jr. becoming an investor in Polymarket and a paid adviser to Kalshi, while federal regulators adopted a more permissive stance, also helped fuel the boom.
The boom has not come without controversy and legal cases have mounted, with a former special forces soldier getting arrested over allegations he used insider knowledge of a US operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to place a winning trade on Polymarket worth around $400,000 (€365,000).
Some US states have begun suing the platforms, arguing they are running illegal gambling operations without proper licences. The Trump administration has responded by suing the states that have moved to ban prediction markets, creating a messy legal standoff between federal and state authority.
A New York Times review found that Polymarket published hundreds of false and misleading social media posts, while Politico uncovered a campaign to pay influencers to praise the platform’s supposed accuracy.
Whether Meta’s gamified, cashless version of the concept can avoid those pitfalls or will simply serve as a gateway to them remains unclear.
The clock is running down on the most consequential deadline the crypto sector has faced in Europe.
From the start of July, the transitional window under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) closes for good, and companies that have not secured authorisation must either stop serving European customers or wind down altogether.
MiCA is the EU’s first comprehensive law for the crypto industry, bringing exchanges, brokers and digital wallet providers under the kind of formal oversight that has long applied to banks and other financial firms.
It replaces a fragmented mix of national rules with a single rulebook spanning all 27 member states: a company licensed in one EU country earns a “passport” to operate across the bloc, but in return it must meet standards on how much capital it holds, how it is run, how it safeguards customers’ funds and how it prevents money laundering.
“What emerges is a genuine single market replacing the old patchwork of 27 national regimes,” Yamal Kalaf, co-founder of MiCAR Whitepapers Europe, which advises crypto businesses on MiCA authorisation, told Euronews.
Since the core rules took effect at the end of 2024, existing operators have been allowed to keep operating under older national registrations, but that concession was temporary.
The scale of the looming shake-out is striking.
According to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which confirmed in April that there would be no extension, only around 210 firms had obtained full authorisation by May, out of more than 1,200 that previously held national crypto registrations across the EU.
That points to a conversion rate of well under a fifth, leaving the vast majority of the old market without a licence as the cut-off arrives in a few days.
Speaking to Euronews, Roshan Dharia, CEO of distressed-investment firm Echo Base, explained that “the low conversion rate suggests that a meaningful portion of the market has concluded that obtaining and maintaining a MiCA licence is not economically viable within its current operating model.”
National regulators have warned that firms operating beyond the deadline without the new licence face enforcement action. France’s markets watchdog has also cautioned that continuing without authorisation could expose companies to criminal prosecution.
ESMA has told unlicensed providers to prepare orderly wind-downs, including transferring customer assets to authorised platforms or self-custody wallets, and to notify clients in advance so they can move funds safely.
“What we will see after 1 July is a smaller, more institutional market with real passporting. That is not a market in retreat. That is a market growing up,” Miguel Zapatero, Head Counsel at Crossmint, told Euronews.
Crossmint is a crypto infrastructure provider whose licensed rails let developers build wallets, custody and payment products.
Plenty of familiar names have already cleared the bar.
Coinbase has been authorised in Ireland and Kraken in Ireland and Luxembourg. At the same time, the banking app Revolut secured its licence from Cyprus’s regulator late last year, allowing it to offer crypto services across the EU.
For these firms, the new rules promise a reward as unlicensed rivals retreat, the survivors stand to absorb their departing customers.
“MiCA is a genuine regulatory identity shift, not a registration exercise,” Gal Arad Cohen, partner at law firm S. Horowitz & Co, told Euronews.
The most prominent casualty so far may be Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
According to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter, Binance is set to lose permission to serve EU clients because its licence application to Greece’s market regulator, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, is poised to be rejected.
Without approval in any member state, the exchange would be unable to operate across the bloc from July onwards.
Speaking to Euronews, Patrick Mollard, CEO at Fipto, a blockchain-based payments company for businesses, referred to the Binance case by stating that “scale earns you no shortcut to a licence, and that is precisely the point.”
Binance has pushed back, saying it has worked constructively with regulators for 18 months and believes its application met MiCA’s requirements. The company added that it understood the Greek authority had completed its review and found the filing compliant.
The company has promised a further update before 30 June.
The episode has also reputedly taken on a political dimension.
French crypto publication The Big Whale reported, citing unnamed sources, that ECB President Christine Lagarde had opposed Binance’s bid for a Greek MiCA licence.
Euronews could not independently verify the report, and neither the ECB nor the Greek government has publicly commented on the allegations.
The Big Whale also reported that Binance is exploring a potential MiCA application in France after the setback in Greece, a claim that neither Binance nor French regulators have publicly confirmed.
Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Euronews.
Beyond the biggest names, the deadline is expected to push smaller crypto apps and brokers towards licensed custody providers. Rather than building their own MiCA-compliant systems, many are likely to rely on authorised firms to hold customer assets.
“We will see consolidation and transfer of clients as the deadline will not be met by all currently operating entries,” Floortje Nagelkerke, partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, explained to Euronews.
The result, analysts suggest, will be a smaller, more concentrated European market, with fewer players, higher barriers to entry and a clear advantage for those holding a licence, but stronger consumer protections.
“People who hold crypto in the EU after 1 July will, on balance, hold it on safer rails,” Miguel Zapatero, Head Counsel at Crossmint, concluded.
Published on
SpaceX shares closed at $154.63 on Monday, down around 16% on the day. That leaves them within touching distance of the $150 at which the shares first changed hands when public trading opened, the level set once underwriters finished building the order book, though still some way above the $135 price at which the IPO itself was struck.
The slide has erased more than $600 billion (€524.2bn) in market value over three trading days, dragging the company down from a peak that had lifted it past Amazon and, fleetingly, Microsoft, in terms of market capitalisation.
Its valuation now sits just above $2 trillion (€1.74tn), below Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), making it the seventh most valuable company in the world.
The retreat unwinds a remarkable opening run.
After the open at around $150 on 12 June, shares climbed to almost $226 by 16 June, a gain of roughly two-thirds before the company had published a single set of results as a public firm.
Currently, SpaceX is trading over 30% lower than the intraday high of around $226 and only 3% higher than the opening price.
That rally always rested on a thin pool of freely traded shares and lofty expectations for its AI ambitions, leaving it exposed to a sharp reversal once sentiment turned.
The latest leg down on Monday coincided with SpaceX’s first move into the corporate debt market.
The company announced an inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes, with people familiar with the plans reportedly putting the target at around $20 billion (€17.4bn).
The proceeds are earmarked chiefly to repay a bridge loan taken on during its merger with Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI earlier this year, with the remainder going to general corporate purposes.
The debut bond sale follows the investment-grade credit ratings awarded last Friday by all three major agencies, Moody’s at Baa1, Fitch at BBB+ and S&P Global at BBB, which open the door to cheaper borrowing and a wider pool of institutional lenders.
In documents tied to the offering, SpaceX also disclosed a cash position of roughly $100.8 billion (€88bn) as of 19 June, much of it raised in the IPO, alongside $29.1 billion (€25.4bn) of long-term debt.
That mix of vast cash reserves and fresh borrowing so soon after a record flotation has unsettled some investors, who see the rapid fundraising as a sign of heavy spending ahead as SpaceX scales its AI and data centre plans.
Opting for debt rather than new shares does, however, spare existing shareholders further dilution, preserving their economic stake while the company funds its expansion.
02:23, 19 Jun 2026Updated 07:18, 19 Jun 2026
This beautiful town has so much to offer(Image: CHUNYIP WONG via Getty Images)
Living in London, life can feel rather frenetic at times. I adore city living, but I do make an effort to escape at least a few times each year to properly switch off.
One of my favourite spots I’ve discovered is renowned for its relaxed atmosphere and delightful high street.
Totnes is a market town in Devon, celebrated for its artistic community and flourishing bohemian spirit. It also boasts, in my view, one of the finest high streets in Britain.
If you begin at the lower end of the street, you can cross the bridge spanning the River Dart and really absorb the character of the town from there.
During the summer months, the town is adorned with vibrant bunting, and small vessels glide across the water, reports the Express.
There’s verdant riverside greenery, and the town buzzes with energy. Once you’ve crossed the bridge, pop in for a coffee at The Curator – the first of countless independent shops scattered along the high street.
The coffee is excellent, and they offer a wonderful range of pastries if you fancy settling in for a spot to eat – though don’t overdo it, there’s plenty more to discover.
The high street meanders gently uphill and is flanked by hundreds of independent boutiques, charity shops and tea rooms.
Further up the high street, there’s the Cornish Bakery, which fills the air with the mouthwatering savoury aroma of pasties.
They cater for everyone – even my vegan brother discovered something he adored. As the high street sweeps round to the left, you’ll come across Butterworth’s Vintage Co — a compact yet impressive second-hand shop stocking everything from knitwear to workwear and even vintage magazines.
Once you’ve had a good rummage through the shelves, you might fancy a swift pint or another bite to eat — and you’re in luck.
Just a short stroll from Butterworth’s sits The Bull Inn — a stunning pub boasting an extensive organic food menu, along with nine rooms available should you need somewhere to rest your head.
The highlight for me at The Bull Inn is its delightful garden, where you can unwind in the sunshine and watch the world go past. Tucked just across the carpark, and much like the rest of the town, it’s frequently adorned with gorgeous bunting.
On a sunny day, it really is hard to beat — and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be more than ready to take the weight off your feet after all that retail therapy along the high street.
Benchmark S&P 500 rises 1.7 percent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq jumps 3.1 percent.
Published On 16 Jun 202616 Jun 2026
US stocks have rallied on hopes that the tentative deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran will restore stability to energy supply chains roiled by months of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
The S&P 500 rose 1.7 percent on Monday, taking the benchmark index within touching distance of its all-time high.
list of 4 itemsend of list
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.1 percent, aided by a 19.6 percent gain by SpaceX, which on Friday made the biggest market debut in history and minted the world’s first trillionaire in Elon Musk.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9 percent, closing at a record high.
Brent crude futures, the primary benchmark for global oil prices, fell nearly 5 percent to just above $83 a barrel, the lowest price since the first week of the conflict.
Asian stock markets were largely flat on Monday morning, after surging the previous day on the back of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his deal with Tehran.
As of 01:30 GMT, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was 0.01 percent lower, while South Korea’s Kospi, the best-performing major index this year, was down 0.06 percent.
In Taiwan, the TAIEX was up 0.2 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.07 percent.
Jay Goldberg, a senior analyst for tech-related equities at the Chicago-based Seaport Research Partners, said the announcement of the US-Iran deal had tilted investors’ risk balancing act towards buying into the market.
“To oversimplify, the debate has been: AI spending is strong, but there’s a war going on,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.
“The war is over, it seems, so that side of the argument falls away. Investors are now feeling better about taking on more risk,” Goldberg said.
While Washington and Tehran’s framework has raised hopes for a return to stability in global energy markets, it is expected to take months before energy flows fully return to normal, due to the massive backlog of vessels around the Strait of Hormuz and the need to ensure the waterway is safe from Iranian naval mines.
According to the International Shipping Chamber, about 500 ships are still waiting to pass through the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas.
SpaceX is set for the largest stock market debut ever.
Elon Musk’s rocket company begins trading on the Nasdaq on Friday under the ticker SPCX. The company priced its shares at $135 each, raising $75 billion (€64.5bn) and valuing the business at $1.75 trillion (€1.5trn) in the biggest stock market flotation on record.
The deal would comfortably eclipse Saudi Aramco’s previous record of $29.4bn, set in 2019 and later increased through an overallotment option.
SpaceX made an unusually strong push to attract retail investors, including those in Europe. According to Bloomberg, individual investors placed roughly $100bn (€86.6bn) in orders through trading platforms including Robinhood, Fidelity and SoFi during the IPO process.
That demand alone exceeded the company’s $75bn (€64.5bn) fundraising target, underscoring the level of interest from smaller investors ahead of the stock market debut.
Yet beneath the hype, several warning lights are flashing. Here are five risks investors should weigh before the SpaceX IPO goes live.
At a valuation of $1.75tn (€1.5trn), investors would be valuing SpaceX at roughly 94 times its annual revenue, which was $18.7bn (€16.1bn) in 2025. By comparison, Nvidia — one of the market’s most highly valued technology companies — trades at less than a quarter of that level.
The investment research firm Morningstar, which values the company at $780bn (€675bn), called it “significantly overvalued” while Goldman Sachs data suggests sustaining the share price would require revenues above $100bn (€86.6bn) by 2030, implying a compound annual growth of more than 40%.
History offers a note of caution. Research by University of Florida professor Jay Ritter, often referred to as “Mr IPO”, found that while IPOs between 2012 and 2021 rose an average of 23.6% on their first day of trading, they returned just 10.6% over the following three years.
SpaceX’s expected inclusion in major stock indexes has become a point of controversy. Investment officials from four large US states have urged Nasdaq and FTSE Russell to explain recent rule changes that could accelerate the company’s entry into widely tracked benchmarks.
Critics argue the move could expose passive investors to a highly valued stock sooner than expected, while the index providers say the changes reflect broader market developments.
The debate matters because relatively few SpaceX shares will initially be available for trading. Although SpaceX is valued at $1.75tr (€1.5trn), only around 3% to 4% of its shares will initially be available for public trading.
That means the company’s market value will be determined by trading in a relatively small portion of its equity. Reports suggest more than 75% of the $75bn (€64.5bn) offering has already been allocated to existing investors and insiders, leaving fewer shares available on the open market.
According to Morningstar, the limited float and strong demand for artificial intelligence-related stocks could help support the share price in the early stages of trading, even if the company is valued above what the research firm considers fair value. The firm argues that a clearer picture of investor demand may emerge once lock-up restrictions expire and more shares become available for trading.
Some analysts, however, believe the limited float could continue to support the stock. Estimates suggest between $22 billion (€19bn) and $27 billion (€23.4bn) of passive investment could flow into SpaceX once it joins the Nasdaq 100, creating additional demand from index-tracking funds.
SpaceX’s financial results may also give investors pause.
The prospectus shows that the company is growing rapidly but still losing money.
The company owns the Starlink satellite internet service, which generates most of its revenue and is its only profitable business. It also owns the artificial intelligence company xAI, which merged with SpaceX in February.
According to the filing, SpaceX carried an accumulated deficit of $41.3bn (€35.76bn) as of 31 March and reported a net loss of $4.27bn (€3.7bn) in the first quarter of 2026.
This compares with $528mn (€457mn) in the same period a year earlier.
Much of the recent loss stems from xAI. According to SpaceX’s IPO filing, the AI business recorded an operating loss of about $6.4 billion (€5.5bn) in 2025. The filing also showed xAI spent heavily in the opening months of 2026 as it expanded its AI infrastructure.
Morningstar argues the AI unit “poses a material threat of value destruction”, noting that Grok has yet to win meaningful market share against rival chatbots.
Supporters counter that the losses are a choice, not a structural flaw.
Revenue climbed 33% to $18.7bn (€16.2bn) in 2025, up from $14.1 billion (€12.2bn) a year earlier. The underlying launch and satellite business was profitable as recently as 2024. The deficits largely reflect heavy investment in AI infrastructure, spending that supporters say is already beginning to be offset by new compute contracts.
Supporters argue investors are paying for future growth rather than current profits.
Starlink remains the company’s main source of revenue, while its artificial intelligence business is expected to play a larger role in the years ahead.
Bulls also point to SpaceX’s dominant position in rocket launches and satellite communications, arguing the company is uniquely placed to benefit from growing demand for connectivity, computing power and AI infrastructure.
SpaceX conducts more rocket launches annually than the rest of the world combined and counts over nine million Starlink subscribers, but its newest growth driver is the AI data-centre business acquired through the xAI merger.
Last Friday, Google agreed to pay SpaceX $920 million (€796.6mn) per month for compute capacity at xAI data centres, in a 32-month deal running from October 2026 through June 2029, and covering access to roughly 110,000 Nvidia GPUs.
That followed a May agreement under which Anthropic pays $1.25 billion (€1.08bn) a month to rent the entire output of the Colossus 1 data centre until May 2029, putting combined annualised compute revenue at around $26 billion (€22.5bn).
Bulls argue this contracted income, won in under four months, shows how quickly the company can monetise its infrastructure. Sceptics note that both contracts carry 90-day termination clauses after December 2026, and that Google itself has framed the arrangement as “bridge capacity” rather than a permanent commitment.
SpaceX’s success is closely tied to Elon Musk, whose profile and track record have helped attract investors, customers and business partners. That creates what investors call “key-person risk” — concerns about how the company would fare if he were no longer leading it.
The company’s governance structure reinforces that dependence. Musk’s super-voting Class B shares give him around 85% of voting power, leaving outside shareholders with little influence over major corporate decisions. In practice, that means no one but Musk himself can determine whether he remains chief executive.
Critics also point to SpaceX’s incorporation in Texas, where only investors holding at least 3% of shares can bring derivative lawsuits. The Danish academic pension fund AkademikerPension has blacklisted the stock, describing the governance structure as “catastrophic”.
Supporters argue that dual-class share structures are common among US technology firms, including Meta and Alphabet. They say concentrated voting control allows founders to pursue long-term goals without pressure from short-term investors.
Musk’s prominence also brings political risk. US Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinise the listing, warning that future index inclusion could expose millions of passive investors to the stock without them actively choosing it.
Others note that the SEC completed its review faster than expected, allowing the IPO process to move ahead without delay and suggesting regulators see no immediate obstacle to the listing.
Disclaimer: This information does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it’s right for your specific circumstances. Also remember, we are a journalistic website and aim to provide the best guides, tips and advice from experts. If you rely on the information here, then you do so entirely at your own risk.
Chey Tae-won, chief of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), speaks during a ceremony marking the 53rd Commerce and Industry Day at the headquarters of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, South Korea, 31 March 2026. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
June 11 (Asia Today) — South Korea needs to reform its electricity market to respond to surging power demand from artificial intelligence and the expansion of renewable energy, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Wednesday.
The chamber said the current power market structure is not enough to support private investment or the growth of new energy businesses, including energy storage systems and virtual power plants.
The business group raised the issue during a seminar in Seoul co-hosted with the Korean Resource Economics Association. Participants discussed ways to reform the electricity market and promote new energy businesses as AI adoption and renewable power generation expand.
“As the power industry shifts from a centralized structure to a distributed and digital-based system, various new businesses are emerging,” said Cho Hong-jong, president of the Korean Resource Economics Association and a professor at Dankook University. “To make the energy transition a reality, it is necessary to build a competitive system based on market principles.”
Joo Sung-kwan, a professor at Korea University, said South Korea’s current electricity market has structural limits because wholesale prices are set a day before electricity is supplied, based mainly on fuel costs.
“This creates significant rigidity because real-time supply and demand conditions cannot be flexibly reflected in prices,” Joo said.
Joo said the market needs pricing signals that respond to supply and demand. Prices should rise when electricity supply is tight to encourage lower consumption and fall when supply is sufficient to promote use, he said.
For new energy businesses to secure profitability and increase investment, Joo said South Korea should move from the current day-ahead market to a real-time market. He also called for a price-bidding system in which power generators and electricity retailers submit bid prices.
Panelists also said South Korea needs a market environment and regulatory system that can attract private investment.
Lee Seo-jin, a professor at Hongik University, said tailored compensation systems for new energy businesses and a predictable policy environment are more important than simple market opening.
Huh Yoon-ji, a professor at Dankook University, said wholesale price normalization and retail electricity rate reform must proceed together to secure economic viability. She also called for independent governance to supervise the electricity market.
Industry officials said the pace of reform should accelerate.
Lee Hyo-seop, vice president of Encored, said his company is preparing a virtual power plant business using AI-based forecasting technology, but uncertainty over the schedule for electricity market reform is making business development difficult.
Yeom Sung-oh, Seoul representative of Gurin Energy, said power supply flexibility and sustainability will be crucial in the AI era. He called for preemptive institutional support covering power grids, energy storage systems and data centers.
The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said private-sector energy businesses are essential to address rising electricity demand from AI and the growing variability of renewable energy.
“Companies need a more predictable electricity market so they can invest in high-cost new technologies,” said Kim Min-seok, head of the chamber’s Green Energy Center. “Institutional foundations, including regulatory innovation and a supportive market environment, must be established.”
“To secure competitiveness in power infrastructure in the AI era, discussion on electricity market reform can no longer be delayed,” Kim said.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260611010003798
SIA has been spotted looking totally different after she ditched her signature wig and stepped out makeup-free at an LA farmer’s market.
In photos obtained by The U.S. Sun, Sia was seen out and about with her two-year-old, Somersault Wonder.
The Elastic Heart singer wore a pink baseball cap and an oversized trench coat as she strolled through the market picking out produce on Sunday, June 7.
The singer and songwriter is known for wearing elaborate wigs, which would obscure most of her face, for a large part of her career.
The 50-year-old has been intensely private, so when she filed for divorce from her husband, Daniel Bernard, last year, fans were surprised to learn she had also quietly welcomed her son, Somersault.
The couple tied the knot in December 2023 in Italy and ended the marriage just 26 months later.
The documents cite “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split.
The exes have been caught in a nasty custody battle, with Daniel requesting full custody of Somersault.
According to documents reported by Page Six, Daniel, whose an oncologist, claimed he was the “only safe and reliable parent.”
He also called Sia a “serious and immediate danger” to their child.
“Sia is an unfit and unreliable parent struggling with substance abuse and addiction, rendering her incapable of providing safe or stable care for Summi,” he claimed in the papers.
The judge denied Daniel’s request for full custody and ordered the pair to continue with their previous custody agreement.
Sia has two other sons whom she adopted in 2019 as they were about to age out of the foster care system.
Emergency Lawyers said dozens were also wounded in the strike that came less than 24 hours after similar drone attacks.
Published On 6 Jun 20266 Jun 2026
A drone strike on a market in central Sudan has killed at least 11 people and injured dozens more, according to a local rights group, as escalating aerial attacks further increase the death toll of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The attack on Saturday targeted the main market in Abu Zaeima, a paramilitary-controlled town in North Kordofan state, according to Emergency Lawyers, which has documented abuses since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
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The group said the casualty figures could rise, but did not specify who carried out the attack. Neither side has claimed responsibility.
Emergency Lawyers said the strike came less than 24 hours after similar drone attacks struck nearby villages and a civilian vehicle.
Condemning the attack, it said the repeated targeting of civilians, villages and public transport reflected a blatant disregard for human life and the basic principles of international humanitarian law.
The group added that the continued loss of civilian life should not be treated as routine and called for an end to such attacks, as well as accountability for those responsible.
Two witnesses told the AFP news agency that another drone hit a fuel station later on Saturday in el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, which the RSF has partially encircled for months.
A medical source at a hospital there said four wounded civilians had been brought to the facility.
Nearly 70 people were killed in two separate drone strikes in the West and North Kordofan states over the past week, according to Emergency Lawyers and a local leader.
Drone warfare has become increasingly more common in Sudan’s conflict.
The United Nations said in May that at least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes nationwide between January and April.
Fighting has intensified in Kordofan and Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian border since the RSF captured el-Fasher last October, the military’s last major stronghold in western Darfur.
Since then, more than 300,000 people have fled front-line areas, including el-Fasher and parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile, according to the UN.
Kordofan, rich in oil and arable land, is strategically significant, linking RSF strongholds in the neighbouring Darfur region to the country’s army-controlled east. The region remains largely contested between the army and the RSF.
Now entering its fourth year, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 13 million others, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
Oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz have quietly increased in recent weeks, but traders say the movement reflects a fragmented and opaque energy market rather than a full recovery in global supply flows.
More than four months into the ongoing conflict involving Iran, tanker traffic remains heavily disrupted, with shipping patterns increasingly shaped by risk, secrecy and shifting political arrangements.
Shipping data suggests that only a small number of tankers are currently crossing the Strait of Hormuz compared with pre conflict levels.
Monitoring firms including LSEG and Kpler estimate that an average of just a few vessels per day are now passing through the strait, far below normal volumes.
Despite this, analysis of oil stored on tankers in the Gulf indicates that outflows have gradually increased, suggesting more crude is leaving the region than official shipping visibility shows.
A growing share of tankers are reportedly turning off tracking systems during transit through the strait, a practice known as going dark.
This involves disabling Automatic Identification System signals, making it harder to track vessel movements in real time.
According to shipping analytics firms such as Vortexa, a large majority of outbound tankers recently used this method, reflecting rising caution among operators.
This has made it significantly harder for markets to accurately assess global supply flows and has increased uncertainty in oil pricing.
One key indicator of market movement is the volume of oil stored on ships inside the Gulf, often referred to as oil on water.
Estimates from Kpler suggest that volumes have fallen from a peak of around 184 million barrels in March to roughly 148 million barrels more recently.
This decline indicates that more oil is gradually leaving the region, even if it is not fully visible through standard tracking systems.
Analysts estimate that outflows have increased over recent weeks, suggesting a slow and uneven recovery in shipping activity.
The ongoing conflict involving Iran has significantly disrupted maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil transit routes.
Limited access to the strait has forced producers to reduce output in some cases, while storage constraints have added pressure to supply chains across the Gulf.
Some shipping routes are reportedly being managed through informal arrangements or alternative corridors, while others rely on higher risk transit strategies to avoid detection or confrontation.
Despite signs of increased movement, analysts warn that the situation is far from a return to normal.
A sustained recovery in oil flows would require consistent shipping access, stable security conditions and sufficient tanker availability to support exports.
Many shipowners remain reluctant to operate in the region due to elevated insurance costs and the risk of vessels being stranded or targeted.
Industry observers warn that even if diplomatic progress leads to a formal reopening of the strait, the global oil market may not return to previous conditions.
There is growing discussion that Iran could attempt to impose tolls or control systems on shipping through the waterway, which would fundamentally alter global energy logistics.
Such a scenario could force Gulf producers to seek alternative export routes or invest in new infrastructure to reduce dependence on the strait.
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz highlights a shift from predictable global energy flows to a more fragmented and opaque system.
While oil continues to move out of the Gulf, the lack of transparency in shipping routes is creating uncertainty for traders and pricing benchmarks.
The increased use of stealth navigation and alternative transit arrangements reflects a market adapting to geopolitical risk rather than resolving it.
As long as tensions persist, energy markets are likely to remain volatile, with supply visibility as important as supply itself in determining global prices.
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are slowly increasing, but hidden tanker movements and ongoing conflict mean the global energy market remains deeply uncertain. Without stable political conditions and transparent shipping routes, a full recovery in oil flows is unlikely in the near term, keeping traders cautious and markets volatile.
With information from Reuters.
Benchmark Nikkei 225 tops 68,000 for first time as AI-driven buying frenzy shows no signs of slowing down.
Published On 3 Jun 20263 Jun 2026
Japan’s stock market has hit an all-time high as a global buying frenzy driven by AI shows no signs of slowing down.
The Nikkei 225 rose nearly 3 percent on Wednesday, lifting the benchmark index above 68,000 for the first time.
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The latest surge continues a banner year for Japan’s stock market, which is up nearly 33 percent so far in 2026.
“Investor enthusiasm over the AI boom is helping drive Asian equity markets higher,” Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ, told Al Jazeera.
“While strong demand for high-end chips has seen the top semiconductor companies in Taiwan and South Korea rally strongly, this is also benefiting Japanese markets, which are also getting some tailwind from a weak yen.”
Japanese firms involved in the semiconductor business led the gains.
Tokyo Electron, Japan’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor equipment, soared as much as 14 percent in morning trading.
Advantest, which supplies testing equipment to the semiconductor industry, rose more than 5.5 percent.
Shin-Etsu Chemical, a supplier of silicon wafers used in integrated circuits, gained about 4 percent.
Softbank, which is heavily invested in AI models, chips and data centers, fell about 3 percent, after overtaking auto giant Toyota on Monday to become Japan’s biggest company by market capitalisation.
Ferocious demand for AI chips has been driving record-breaking rallies in stock markets across the globe, taking key indexes in the US, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan to record highs.
During the past month, three memory chip makers – South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, and US-based Micron – entered the elite club of firms with a market capitalistion of at least $1 trillion.
Only 17 companies have hit the milestone, all but five of which are based in the United States.
Despite concerns about the sustainability of the sky-high valuations in the sector among some investors, tech companies are continuing to commit huge sums to AI-related infrastructure.
US tech giants are expected to spend about $800bn on AI-related capital investment in 2026, according to Goldman Sachs.
Google parent company Alphabet on Monday became the latest Silicon Valley giant to outline its AI-related investment plans, announcing that it would sell $80bn worth of shares to help fund expected capital expenditures of $180-190bn in 2026.
DISGRACED reality TV star Stephen Bear has set up a market stall selling £2 smoothies with his pregnant teenage wife.
Bear, 36, was spotted on Sunday flogging fruit juice in Walthamstow, north-east London, with his Brazilian missus Miami, 19.
The former Ex on the Beach cast member was sentenced in March 2023 to 21 months in prison for uploading CCTV footage of himself having sex with ex-girlfriend Georgia Harrison, 31, to his OnlyFans account without consent.
An eyewitness who saw the Walthamstow-born sex offender, who won the 18th series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, said: “I was walking past the market at about 1pm on Sunday and spotted him and recognised him from Ex on the Beach.
“He had set up one of those folding tables and someone stopped and asked him for a selfie.
“By the time I went back that way around an hour later they had gone.
“They were doing different flavours like strawberry and mango, putting the fruit in a nutribullet blender and selling them for just £2 in those plastic cups with the round lid on the top.
“It’s hard to think he’s even making a profit at that price, fruit is so expensive at the moment.”
Bear announced his intention to set up a stall in the market in a social media video posted three weeks ago.
But he said it would likely be after he makes his boxing debut on July 25.
He is due to fight Andy “The Silencer” Lee at York Hall in Bethnal Green, east London.
In the clip posted to his TikTok on May 10, in which he can be seen being driven by his brother Rob, Bear said: “We’ve got some breaking news guys.
“Me and Rob’s decided we’re going to inquire and get a market stall down Walthamstow market.
“We’re thinking you don’t want to travel far to sell your bits and pieces, and if you never need to store anything, the house is, like, five minutes away from Walthamstow market.
“So send me a DM, what you think we should sell on our stall and then we’re going to inquire.
“Probably going to be after my boxing match, July 25, I’m going to get that out of the way first.”
After Rob suggested selling T-shirts or fruit and veg, Bear said: “I think if you’re holding fruit and veg, it’s going to go off, so we’re not going to do that.
“But we’re going sell something out of the ordinary.
“Send us a DM, what you think we should sell on our market stall.”
Bear married then 18-year-old Miami in her native Brazil in July 2025, around 18 months after he was released from HMP Brixton.
The couple – who post X-rated content together – announced in March that they are expecting their first child.
Bear, who served 10 and a half months of his sentence, was ordered to pay his former Love Island and The Only Way is Essex star ex Georgia £207,900 in civil damages.
In March 2024, Georgia later said that she had received “not one penny” of it or the £212,515 she was owed for lawyers’ fees.
Bear was then ordered to pay HM Treasury the £22,305 he made in profits from subscribers after uploading the video and £5,000 in compensation to Georgia.
The Sun asked Bear for comment.
The EU’s new car market maintained steady growth through the first four months of 2026, with nearly 3.8 million vehicles registered, up 4.2% from the same period in 2025. This is according to data published on Wednesday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
The figures show a market increasingly dominated by electric and hybrid vehicles, helped by government incentives in major economies and growing competition from Chinese carmakers.
According to ACEA, between January and April 2026, battery-electric cars accounted for 19.7% of the EU market, up from 15.3% a year earlier. Growth was mainly driven by the bloc’s four largest markets, with Italy (+25.5%), Spain (+19.7%), Germany (+6.6%) and France (+2.3%) all recording gains.
In April alone, sales of battery electric vehicles were up by 37.7% in the EU from the same month last year, lifting their market share to 20.6% for the month.
Hybrid-electric vehicles remained the most popular single powertrain choice in April, up 12%, accounting for roughly 36.9% of the month’s sales.
Plug-in hybrids added 16.4%, capturing roughly a 9.8% share in April registrations.
On the other side of the ledger, petrol car registrations fell 16.3% to fewer than 218,500 units, while diesel dropped 17.1% to around 74,000.
Together, petrol and diesel cars accounted for less than 30% of vehicles sold across the EU in April.
Volkswagen Group retained its position as the bloc’s largest carmaker in the first four months of 2026, accounting for 26.7% of all new registrations, with just over one million units sold, up 2.9% year-on-year.
However, performance varied across the group. Skoda registrations rose 15.5%, and Audi gained 8.6%, while the core Volkswagen brand slipped 3.2%, losing ground across multiple segments.
Stellantis ranked second with a 17.1% market share and over 648,000 units, up a robust 7.8%, driven by a recovery at Fiat of over 32%, and strong gains at Opel and Vauxhall, which together rose 22% in registrations.
Renault Group was the weakest performer in the top three, declining 7.4% to around 384,250 units and accounting for a 10.1% market share, with Dacia registering a particularly sharp fall of more than 15%.
BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz posted gains of 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively, while Toyota and Hyundai Group both recorded modest declines of between 2.5% and 3.1%.
The most significant trend in April’s data was the continued rise of Chinese carmakers.
According to ACEA figures, BYD’s EU registrations more than doubled year-on-year in the first four months of 2026, surging 152.9% to more than 71,850 units.
Chery Automobile, through its Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour brands, grew 267.1% to more than 48,350 units, while Leapmotor, distributing through its joint venture with Stellantis, soared 558.8% to over 28,700 units.
SAIC Motor, owner of the MG brand and the largest Chinese group by EU volume, added a further 10.4% to reach more than 77,000 units.
Combined, Chinese brands accounted for around 6% of EU car registrations between January and April 2026, compared with 3.2% in the same period a year earlier. Across the wider European market, including the UK and EFTA countries, Chinese brands accounted for a combined market share of roughly 7.3% over the same period, up from 3.7% a year earlier.
Inna Dodor/iStock via Getty Images
Ahead of Memorial Day, we want to express appreciation to the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Seeking Alpha wishes all our subscribers a beautiful holiday weekend and let us remember those who courageously gave
Published on
Oura, the Finnish company that created the ring-shaped health tracker worn by millions worldwide, has confidentially submitted draft paperwork to the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed IPO, according to several reports.
While the number of shares and the expected price range remain undisclosed, the company had a recent funding round in the fall of 2025 that valued the business at around $11 billion (€9.5bn), more than double the $5 billion (€4.3bn) valuation it earned in a previous round in 2024.
According to CEO Tom Hale, more than 5.5 million Oura rings had been sold up to the end of last year’s third quarter.
At the time, Hale also projected that the company would reach $2 billion (€1.7bn) in annual revenue in 2026 compared with $500 million (€430mn) just two years ago.
The move towards an IPO puts a European wearable brand on Wall Street’s radar at a time when investor appetite for consumer health technology appears to be returning.
Oura has become a standout name in the fast-growing smart ring category, competing against smartwatch giants such as Apple, Garmin and Samsung, while carving out a niche with a distinct piece of hardware that some consumers find less obtrusive.
Over the past two years, the company has expanded aggressively into software, subscriptions and AI-powered health analysis. Its wearable platform now focuses on long-term health signals including sleep, readiness, heart rate, stress and recovery.
More recently, Oura has pushed further into women’s health and AI-based personal coaching, including tools designed to interpret physiological data and provide tailored wellness recommendations.
Analysts see that transition from device maker to subscripton-based health platform as central to its IPO pitch as the firm is currently on pace to surpass 5 million paid members.
The IPO filing marks a significant moment for one of Europe’s most prominent health tech success stories.
Founded in Finland and developed around research into sleep, recovery and biometric monitoring, Oura has grown from a Nordic hardware start-up into a global player in the wearable market.
However, for Europe’s start-up ecosystem, Oura’s planned listing carries broader significance.
While its roots and design philosophy are deeply tied to Finland, the company recently transitioned to a US-based parent company, named Oura Inc. and headquartered in San Francisco, to access American venture capital while keeping its European operations.
Its decision to prepare for a US listing rather than a European one reflects a wider pattern among high-growth European tech firms seeking deeper capital markets and greater visibility among global investors.
The planned flotation arrives during renewed debate over whether Europe is losing some of its most successful technology companies to US exchanges.
Oura joins a growing list of European-founded businesses choosing Wall Street as their route to public markets, drawn by scale, liquidity and stronger investor familiarity with consumer technology.
The company’s IPO will also be seen as a test of investor sentiment towards wearable technology after a mixed few years for the sector.
Unlike smartwatches, smart rings remain a relatively young category, though interest has accelerated rapidly.
Oura is widely viewed as the segment’s category leader and its public debut could offer a clearer benchmark for how markets value next-generation health hardware combined with software subscriptions and AI services.
An
image made with a drone shows an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center in
Ashburn, Virginia, USA. Photo by JIM LO SCALZO / EPA
May 22 (Asia Today) — LS Electric Chairman Koo Ja-kyun called for stronger quality and delivery competitiveness as the South Korean company seeks to expand in the North American data center power infrastructure market.
Koo recently visited LS Electric’s Cheongju plant, a key production base for power equipment used in North American data centers, the company said Friday.
During the visit, Koo inspected switchgear production lines, the smart factory system and high-voltage circuit breaker lines.
“The U.S.-centered data center market does not allow even the slightest error in next-generation power grid fields such as direct current distribution,” Koo said. “Top-level high-end quality and flawless delivery capability are essential.”
He said the company should go beyond merely meeting customer standards.
“We must secure competitiveness strong enough to overwhelm global partners based on our smart manufacturing capabilities,” Koo said.
Industry officials say the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers has pushed the power infrastructure market into a “power supercycle,” driving demand for high-end power solutions such as high-voltage distribution equipment and circuit breakers.
Koo also called for early investment and technological innovation.
“The global power market is facing a major transition,” he said. “If we remain complacent, we will fall behind. Bold innovation that breaks through limits is necessary.”
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260522010006606
This UK town is a haven for foodies(Image: Jason Roberts / Manchester Evening News)
A picturesque UK town boasts an incredible culinary scene, with Michelin-starred restaurants and the birthplace of a beloved British confection.
When it comes to restaurants celebrated for their culinary excellence by the esteemed Michelin Guide, our thoughts might drift towards those dotted along the streets of Britain’s major cities. However, it seems a foodie paradise lies hidden in plain sight within the unassuming Lancashire market town of Ormskirk.
Nestled in the heart of West Lancashire, under an hour from Liverpool and two hours from Birmingham, sits a destination defined by medieval buildings, walkable streets, and the famous Clock Tower standing proudly at its centre. Once a Viking settlement, it’s celebrated for the Charter Market, among the oldest and most authentic outdoor markets in the UK, yet it’s the dining scene that truly warrants recognition.
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Michelin-starred restaurants
Ormskirk plays host to not one, but three Michelin-starred establishments. Among them is Moor Hall, helmed by chef patron Mark Birchall, who delivers classic British cuisine alongside his brigade of culinary experts. The restaurant, located in the village of Aughton in Ormskirk, remarkably boasts three Michelin Stars, a Michelin Green Star and five AA Rosettes.
As Mark Birchall himself puts it: “We want to bring together the very best – beautiful surroundings, with an unrivalled dining experience that pushes boundaries.”
But there’s more. Moor Hall’s sister restaurant, The Barn, has also scooped a Michelin star for its “varied menu created with the best seasonal ingredients”. Diners can look forward to indulging in “60-day aged grass-fed ex-dairy Jersey beef tartare, Jerusalem artichoke, and nasturtium; Cornish Cod, smoked onion, charred leek, bacon crumb, or Stem ginger panna cotta, blood orange, granola”.
Another establishment adding to the town’s buzzing food scene is sō-lō, delivering an “exceptional” fine-dining experience under the helm of Tim Allen. Also holding a Michelin star, its website reads: “Highlighting modern British cuisine, Tim incorporates culinary influences from around the world. Marrying incredible flavours and textures, he ingeniously crafts dishes of the finest seasonal ingredients, which are both truly memorable and emotive.”
‘Gingerbread Town’
Beyond its celebrated restaurants, Ormskirk boasts a rich history of its own and is fondly dubbed the ‘Gingerbread Town.’ The beloved bake cemented its legacy in the town after three trailblazing women first sold gingerbread to passers-by in the 1770s.
The delectable biscuits soared in popularity and are said to have captured the attention of Edward VII and The Princess Royal. Today, that proud tradition endures, with the town even hosting an annual Gingerbread Festival in its honour, and the cherished sweet treat is sold throughout the town, including at its local market and bakeries.
Historic outdoor market
The renowned Ormskirk Charter Market, which has been running since 1286, fills the town centre around the Clock Tower every Thursday and Saturday, with roughly 100 stalls offering everything from fresh fish, meat, and vegetables to artisan breads, creamy cheeses, and homemade pies. Friendly traders also sell plants, flowers, cards, stationery, clothing, homeware gifts, and pet supplies.
The market truly has something for everyone and is undeniably a cornerstone of the town, consistently bringing the local community together with a warm, village-like feel. On occasion, residents can soak up live music and entertainment while picking up their locally sourced produce, browsing the town’s selection of independent boutiques, or catching up with friends over a coffee at one of the fashionable cafés such as Bloom and Brew and Two Brothers Coffee.
Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
This beautiful market town was named one of the best in the UK(Image: Getty Images)
A picturesque market town boasting a thriving independent scene has been crowned as one of the finest in Britain.
With rolling hills, cobbled streets, honey-hued cottages and picture-perfect towns that resemble something from a storybook, the Cotswolds are undeniably one of England’s most stunning regions. There’s Bibury, home to the iconic Arlington Row cottages hailed as the ‘most beautiful village in England’, Bourton-on-the-Water with its stone bridges earning it the moniker ‘Venice of the Cotswolds’, Broadway celebrated as the ‘Jewel of the Cotswolds’ with its broad high street, and Burford, famously described as the ‘Gateway to the Cotswolds’.
But among these Cotswold gems, Cirencester outshines the rest as it’s been crowned Gloucestershire’s best market town. It was also ranked as one of the top market towns in the UK by Bullock Coaches, thanks to its long-established markets, antique shops, boutiques, and cafés.
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Dubbed the ‘capital of the Cotswolds’, I’ve visited Cirencester on countless occasions, but my most recent trip only reinforced my affection for the bustling town and confirmed its stellar reputation as the best market town.
Home to roughly 19,000 residents, the town’s close-knit community spirit is plain to see after just an afternoon wandering its streets – far from the sleepy charm found elsewhere in the Cotswolds, it boasts a thriving independent scene and celebrated markets. There are even glimpses of its Roman heritage, when it once ranked as the second-largest city after London, which are visible throughout its grand architecture and ancient medieval streets.
I strolled along cobbled high streets flanked by warm, honey-coloured stone buildings, which whisked me away to something straight out of Downton Abbey, while the Parish Church of St John Baptist stands proudly over the market square. This is where I discovered the renowned outdoor Charter Market, one of the oldest in the country, held every Monday and Friday, reports Gloucestershire Live.
The stalls overflow with everything from plants and outdoor furniture to fresh produce and household essentials, and are clearly a major draw for the town as locals peruse the vast array of goods before nipping into a nearby café for a cuppa. I settled on a warming cappuccino in the snug surroundings of Keith’s Coffee Shop, its shelves bursting with tempting treats to take home, from loose-leaf tea to biscuits, jams, chutneys and chocolates – resisting the urge to grab something sweet is no easy feat!
For those in search of a freshly baked treat, KNEAD Cirencester is an independent bakery well worth a visit, offering all the classic pastries — a personal highlight being their pecan and maple danish. The charming Heather’s is another brilliant option for a decent coffee, tucked away down one of the town’s characterful lanes, conveniently close to a handful of delightful independent retailers.
Cirencester’s flourishing independent shopping scene is arguably one of the town’s greatest draws, making it an absolute goldmine for finding unique gifts for family and friends. During a recent day out, a browse through Octavia’s Bookshop turned up a great read, while the gift shop m.a.d.e. and the welcoming Corn Hall Indoor Market also proved well worth exploring.
Open year-round, Sunday to Thursday, the indoor market is packed with warm and friendly traders flogging everything from organic beauty products and jewellery to art, bags, scarves, cards, wood, craft, Persian rugs, and even carpets – a real one-stop shop. Just a stone’s throw away is the Corn Hall Cellars Wine Shop, stocking a fine selection of wines, beers and spirits – ideal for those hosting evenings, along with all the tasty treats needed for a cracking night in with friends.
Beyond the independents, familiar high street names such as White Stuff, Seasalt Cornwall, Barbour, Mountain Warehouse, French Grey and Waterstones are also well represented. While the independent retailers and bustling daily markets were the real standout attractions, Cirencester is undeniably a thriving town in every sense.
Those keen to soak up the delightful character of Cirencester will find it just a 30-minute drive from both Gloucester and Cheltenham, or less than a two-hour train journey from London. Alternatively, you could make it a weekend escape and take in some of the surrounding Cotswolds villages, such as Bibury and Tetbury.
Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
