Adidas shares crashed the most on record in Europe after outsized World Cup marketing spending weighed on second-quarter operating profit, overshadowing stronger-than-expected tournament-related sales.
Profit totaled 574 million euros for the quarter ending in June, missing the 616 million euro estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg, as an additional 212 million euros in spending offset strong sales growth and disappointed investors seeking better margin expansion.
The German sportswear maker generated 1.5 billion euros in sales, with jersey sales quadrupling and ball sales doubling from the previous World Cup tournament. Adidas raised its full-year currency-neutral sales forecast to growth of 9% to 10%, while maintaining its 2.3 billion operating-profit outlook.
Apparel revenue surged 35%, though footwear was only marginally higher, rising about 1%. European sales increased 6% amid heavy retail discounting.
Deutsche Bank analyst Adam Cochrane wrote in a note that "2Q good but not good enough" ...
Cochrane provided his first take on Adidas' earnings report:
In absolute terms 2Q was a good quarter but against a rising tide of World Cup expectations this is going to disappoint investors. 2Q sales were up 13% to €6,743m (+2% ahead of cons) but EBIT was only up 5% to €574m (-8% below cons). Strong sales and gross profit were more than offset by significantly higher marketing investments. FY26E EBIT guidance has been maintained at c.€2.3bn (cons €2.5bn), with sales guidance upgraded to +9-10% cFX (previously HSD%) although cons is already at +10%.
The bears will point to 1% footwear growth and 6% cFX sales growth in Europe, 6% wholesale growth as well as the implied 6% 2H cFX guide and €1bn in 2H EBIT. The bulls may point to more tariff refunds to come, strong World Cup performance and brand heat as well as the guidance likely being conservative. The change in CFO is unlikely to see any strategic change with the incoming CFO having worked for almost 20 years at adidas previously. We see the shares down MSD-HSD% today on the lack of an earnings upgrade.
Jefferies analysts led by James Grzinic told clients that the earnings miss reflected a sharp rise in costs, which offset any benefits of strong sales and resulted in a "disappointing lack of margin leverage."
RBC Capital Markets analyst Piral Dadhania said, "The miss is due to elevated marketing expenses, which makes for a 'better-quality' result."
The market's verdict on the dismal earnings report was swift: Adidas shares plunged about 17% in Germany, their steepest decline on record.
The selloff erased the stock's pre-World Cup rally, leaving shares down roughly 11% for the year.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 06:55Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A think-tank has warned that British police forces are being hampered by an obsessive focus on diversity, equality and inclusion, with the ideology of "anti-racism" now set against the foundational duty to police without fear or favour.
Policy Exchange's latest analysis, led by its head of crime and justice David Spencer, points to the failures surrounding the Southport atrocity, the Nottingham stabbings and the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak as evidence of what it calls systemic distortion.
The report estimates that forces across England and Wales have spent at least £631 million on DEI measures and the Police Race Action Plan since 2020.
Police being 'hampered by too much focus on diversity, equality and inclusion', powerful think-tank warns, citing Southport, Nottingham and Henry Nowak killers as examples https://t.co/7PzgxJNRwf
— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) July 26, 2026That figure includes roughly £431 million on the manpower costs of training, £177 million on roles with a DEI element, and £23 million on external consultants.
Spencer is clear: "Police forces have sought to entrench the radical ideology of 'anti-racism' into British policing. In doing so some police chiefs have set policing against its own foundational principle - to act 'without fear or favour'."
He continues: "It is a modern-day tragedy that many of our Chief Constables simply cannot be trusted to resolve this alone. It's time to restore the principle of 'equality before the law' in policing. Nothing less than the fundamental legitimacy of British policing is at stake."
The examples cited are not abstract. In Nottingham, mental health teams assessing Valdo Calocane are said to have considered the "over-representation" of young black men in detention before releasing him into the community; he later killed three people.
In Southport, a social worker accused Axel Rudakubana's head teacher of racial stereotyping when concerns about his behaviour were raised - before he murdered three girls at a dance class.
And in Southampton, Vickrum Digwa stabbed Henry Nowak and then falsely claimed he himself was the victim of a racist attack. According to the account, officers handcuffed the dying teenager instead of treating him.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp urged that police "should cancel all this DEI nonsense and spend the time and money catching criminals instead."
He called the expenditure "a shocking waste of taxpayers' money and completely the wrong priority when the public rightly want to see more police on the streets tackling the knife crime, burglary and shoplifting we see every day."
This lands amid a string of cases that critics say expose the same institutional capture.
In June, officers from Hampshire Constabulary said mandatory DEI sessions had left them feeling "controlled and pressured to feel certain ways." Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman relayed their words: "Several serving and former Hampshire Police Officers have told me that 'we had it drummed into us about our white privilege and unconscious bias'. Training was outsourced to a third party company and the trainer 'was deeply hateful of white people and our culture.'"
Those same officers, the piece states, were the ones who arrived to find Henry Nowak bleeding out after being stabbed. Bodycam footage is said to show Nowak repeatedly telling officers he had been stabbed and could not breathe, with one officer replying: "You've been stabbed? I don't think you have, mate." He was handcuffed, lost consciousness, and died.
An inquest has been ordered because earlier investigations were found not to meet the state's obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Coroner Jason Pegg confirmed a full jury inquest will examine whether any act or omission by police officers, including the handcuffing and delays in treatment, caused or contributed to Henry's death. It is currently listed for September 2027.
Hampshire's Chief Constable has publicly denied the existence of two-tier policing, stating: "Do we have a two-tier type policing system? I would refute that. I would say absolutely not!" The report's supporters argue the bodycam evidence, the officers' own admissions about the training, and the pattern of similar incidents tell a different story.
Weeks ago, footage emerged from Birmingham showing a white teenager attacked by three males. A female officer moved to protect the aggressors and then arrested the bloodied victim, shoving him into a police car the wrong way while officers shouted obscenities. The attackers walked away.
Last year, Thames Valley Police and other forces were already putting officers through training that asked them to accept their "white privilege," confront micro-aggressions, and shift from being "non-racist" to "anti-racist." An independent review found the material created deep resentment; former assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson noted strong frustration among white male officers.
Rory Geoghegan, a former government adviser and ex-police officer, put it bluntly: "Police officers and staff deserve far better from their leaders than to be crudely categorised by skin colour and subjected to reductive, divisive ideologies."
Policy Exchange's conclusion is that these are not isolated lapses by individual officers, but the result of policy choices made at the highest levels of British policing.
The pursuit of "equality of outcomes" has replaced equality before the law, the report argues, with the cost measured not only in hundreds of millions of pounds that could have put officers on the street, but in public confidence in policing itself.
British policing was built on the principle of policing by consent and equal treatment under the law. Critics argue that principle has been undermined by an ideology that treats impartiality as a problem to be fixed. The public can see the results, the piece concludes - the only remaining question is how much longer the political class will pretend otherwise.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 06:30Housing affordability has become a defining economic issue across much of the world, but the relationship between home prices and incomes differs more than many people realize.
Using data from the UN Habitat World Cities Report 2026, Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld created this map comparing median home prices with annual household incomes across more than 180 countries, revealing where buying a home is relatively attainable—and where it remains far out of reach.
The World’s Most Affordable Housing MarketsSaudi Arabia and the UAE have the lowest home price-to-income ratios in the dataset at 3.0. The U.S. ranks seventh-lowest at 4.5, below Canada (9.4), Australia (7.5), and the UK (8.3).
The ratio shows how many years of median household income would be needed to match the median home price. A lower figure indicates greater affordability, though the measure does not account for mortgage rates or other homeownership costs.
RankCountryHome Price-to-Income Ratio 1🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia3.0 2🇦🇪 UAE3.0 3🇿🇦 South Africa3.4 4🇰🇵 North Korea3.5 5🇴🇲 Oman3.6 6🇳🇷 Nauru4.0 7🇺🇸 U.S.4.5 8🇹🇻 Tuvalu5.0 9🇳🇦 Namibia5.2 10🇹🇱 Timor-Leste5.2 11🇵🇲 Saint Pierre and Miquelon5.2 12🇶🇦 Qatar5.3 13🇧🇹 Bhutan5.5 14🇧🇿 Belize5.5 15🇸🇧 Solomon Islands5.5 16🇵🇼 Palau5.5 17🇹🇴 Tonga5.5 18🇵🇸 State of Palestine5.6 19🇱🇦 Laos5.7 20🇩🇲 Dominica5.7 21🇳🇮 Nicaragua5.8 22🇻🇺 Vanuatu5.8 23🇬🇩 Grenada5.9 24🇫🇯 Fiji6.0 25🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea6.0 26🇼🇸 Samoa6.0 27🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago6.1 28🇲🇺 Mauritius6.2 29🇷🇪 Réunion6.2 30🇯🇲 Jamaica6.2 31🇱🇨 Saint Lucia6.2 32🇾🇹 Mayotte6.5 33🇸🇭 Saint Helena6.5 34🇧🇪 Belgium6.5 35🇰🇮 Kiribati6.5 36🇸🇨 Seychelles6.6 37🇩🇰 Denmark6.6 38🇵🇾 Paraguay6.7 39🇫🇲 Micronesia6.7 40🇨🇻 Cabo Verde6.8 41🇨🇾 Cyprus6.8 42🇮🇸 Iceland7.0 43🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis7.0 44🇲🇭 Marshall Islands7.0 45🇱🇾 Libya7.2 46🇸🇿 Eswatini7.2 47🇲🇻 Maldives7.2 48🇳🇱 Netherlands7.2 49🇧🇧 Barbados7.2 50🇮🇪 Ireland7.3 51🇱🇸 Lesotho7.4 52🇯🇴 Jordan7.4 53🇦🇺 Australia7.5 54🇰🇲 Comoros7.6 55🇩🇯 Djibouti7.8 56🇫🇮 Finland7.8 57🇪🇸 Spain7.8 58🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire8.0 59🇸🇳 Senegal8.0 60🇲🇲 Myanmar8.0 61🇧🇯 Benin8.1 62🇹🇬 Togo8.1 63🇲🇾 Malaysia8.1 64🇮🇶 Iraq8.1 65🇱🇻 Latvia8.1 66🇳🇴 Norway8.1 67🇷🇼 Rwanda8.2 68🇬🇦 Gabon8.2 69🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe8.2 70🇲🇬 Madagascar8.3 71🇨🇲 Cameroon8.3 72🇨🇬 Congo8.3 73🇬🇲 Gambia8.3 74🇬🇧 UK8.3 75🇿🇲 Zambia8.4 76🇲🇽 Mexico8.4 77🇸🇲 San Marino8.5 78🇪🇭 Western Sahara8.6 79🇧🇫 Burkina Faso8.6 80🇲🇷 Mauritania8.6 81🇧🇭 Bahrain8.6 82🇲🇼 Malawi8.8 83🇲🇱 Mali8.9 84🇧🇸 Bahamas8.9 85🇭🇳 Honduras8.9 86🇸🇱 Sierra Leone9.0 87🇳🇿 New Zealand9.0 88🇪🇷 Eritrea9.1 89🇸🇩 Sudan9.2 90🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau9.2 91🇱🇷 Liberia9.2 92🇮🇳 India9.2 93🇧🇬 Bulgaria9.2 94🇨🇦 Canada9.4 95🇧🇮 Burundi9.5 96🇦🇩 Andorra9.5 97🇱🇮 Liechtenstein9.5 98🇨🇷 Costa Rica9.5 99🇧🇲 Bermuda9.5 100🇸🇸 South Sudan9.6 101🇳🇪 Niger9.6 102🇮🇹 Italy9.7 103🇨🇭 Switzerland9.7 104🇬🇳 Guinea9.8 105🇸🇪 Sweden9.9 106🇸🇴 Somalia10.2 107🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea10.2 108🇵🇦 Panama10.2 109🇯🇵 Japan10.3 110🇦🇹 Austria10.3 111🇹🇩 Chad10.4 112🇧🇴 Bolivia10.5 113🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo10.6 114🇩🇪 Germany10.7 115🇰🇿 Kazakhstan10.9 116🇷🇴 Romania10.9 117🇨🇫 Central African Republic11.1 118🇪🇨 Ecuador11.1 119🇦🇴 Angola11.2 120🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina11.4 121🇰🇼 Kuwait11.5 122🇬🇷 Greece11.5 123🇱🇺 Luxembourg11.5 124🇪🇪 Estonia11.8 125🇫🇷 France11.8 126🇹🇳 Tunisia11.9 127🇬🇹 Guatemala11.9 128🇪🇬 Egypt12.0 129🇲🇩 Moldova12.1 130🇲🇹 Malta12.1 131🇸🇮 Slovenia12.1 132🇺🇦 Ukraine12.2 133🇧🇩 Bangladesh12.6 134🇹🇷 Türkiye12.6 135🇵🇹 Portugal12.6 136🇱🇹 Lithuania12.7 137🇲🇪 Montenegro13.1 138🇸🇰 Slovakia13.2 139🇭🇷 Croatia13.2 140🇬🇪 Georgia13.3 141🇵🇱 Poland13.3 142🇲🇰 North Macedonia13.3 143🇺🇾 Uruguay13.7 144🇧🇾 Belarus13.8 145🇵🇰 Pakistan13.9 146🇦🇫 Afghanistan14.1 147🇮🇱 Israel14.1 148🇲🇦 Morocco14.2 149🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan14.3 150🇦🇿 Azerbaijan14.5 151🇭🇺 Hungary14.6 152🇨🇿 Czechia14.9 153🇺🇿 Uzbekistan15.3 154🇸🇬 Singapore15.5 155🇨🇱 Chile15.6 156🇦🇱 Albania15.7 157🇩🇴 Dominican Republic15.8 158🇷🇸 Serbia15.9 159🇰🇪 Kenya16.0 160🇩🇿 Algeria16.0 161🇦🇲 Armenia17.2 162🇨🇴 Colombia17.5 163🇲🇳 Mongolia17.6 164🇱🇧 Lebanon18.3 165🇧🇷 Brazil18.3 166🇮🇩 Indonesia18.5 167🇻🇪 Venezuela18.9 168🇵🇪 Peru19.0 169🇦🇷 Argentina22.7 170🇻🇳 Vietnam23.5 171🇹🇭 Thailand24.0 172🇲🇨 Monaco25.0 173🇮🇷 Iran25.1 174🇰🇷 South Korea26.0 175🇳🇬 Nigeria28.2 176🇵🇭 Philippines30.1 177🇰🇭 Cambodia32.5 178🇳🇵 Nepal32.8 179🇨🇳 China34.6 180🇱🇰 Sri Lanka40.8 181🇸🇾 Syrian Arab Republic86.7 --🌐 World Average11.2In Gulf countries, relatively high incomes and government-backed housing initiatives help keep homeownership within reach for many citizens.
In the U.S., rising mortgage rates and constrained housing supply have weakened affordability in recent years. Even so, home values remain relatively low compared with household incomes on an international basis.
Around three billion people worldwide remain underserved by the housing market as home prices continue to outpace incomes in many countries.
Where Buying a Home Is Most DifficultAt the other end of the ranking, Syria records the world’s highest home price-to-income ratio at 86.7, followed by Sri Lanka (40.8) and China (34.6). South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines also rank among the world’s least affordable housing markets.
Although China’s housing market has cooled in recent years, home prices remain high relative to household incomes after decades of rapid appreciation fueled by urbanization and investment demand.
Several European countries also post relatively high ratios. Portugal (12.6), France (11.8), Luxembourg (11.5), and Germany (10.7) all rank well above the U.S. (4.5), reflecting affordability pressures across many advanced economies despite generally higher incomes.
Why Housing Affordability Is a Global ChallengeThe data shows that housing affordability depends less on a country’s overall wealth than on how closely home prices track local incomes.
Even wealthy economies can become difficult places to buy a home when prices rise faster than wages, while some emerging markets remain comparatively affordable despite lower incomes.
Learn More on the Voronoi AppTo learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on home price-to-income ratios by state.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 05:45Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,
Britain’s energy regulator, Ofgem, on Wednesday launched a consultation on a proposed commitment fee for data center projects as part of broad reforms to ensure network capacity is used for projects that are ready and able to connect.
The proposal includes a new Data Centre Commitment Fee, which would be paid by large data center developments when accepting a connection offer, Ofgem said in a statement.
The fee would be refunded when the project reaches grid connection status and forfeited if the project exits the grid queue early. The fee would be set within a proposed range of £237,500 to £712,500 per megawatt (MW), equivalent to around 2.5% to 7.5% of average project costs.
“The proposals are aimed at tackling speculative projects from securing scarce network capacity without any firm intention to connect, ensuring the queue enables investment ready, viable projects,” Ofgem said.
Plans for a commitment fee for data centers were drawn up after the UK saw a surge in connection applications in the past two years, driven largely by demand from data center projects.
“Ofgem is concerned that a significant number of projects in the queue may not ultimately proceed, potentially delaying viable developments and creating misleading signals about future network investment needs,” the regulator said.
Last year, Ofgem approved an investment program of $32 billion (£24 billion) to maintain essential gas distribution networks and expand the power grid in a move to boost energy security and allow more renewables to enter the electricity system.
However, demand and applications for connections have soared over the past year, mostly driven by plans for data centers.
“The connections system must work for consumers and for the projects that are ready to invest, build and connect,” said Eleanor Warburton, Ofgem’s Director for Energy System Design and Development.
“Where speculative projects take up space in the queue, they can delay other schemes and create uncertainty about future network needs,” the official added.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/30/2026 - 05:00