Mattel posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the first quarter on Tuesday, helped by the Barbie maker's tight leash on costs while demand remains tepid for its toys and games. "We are off to a good start for the year with significant margin expansion and very strong improvement in free cash flow," CEO Ynon Kreiz said in an interview with Reuters. Mattel's gross margin grew 8 percentage points to 48% in the first quarter, also in part due to easing input costs as well as lower inventory management expenses.
Q1 2024 Lufax Holding Ltd Earnings Call
Canada and its Five Eyes Alliance partners are working on put forward a response to tackle the price manipulation of critical metals, Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday. The U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have what is called the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network and the finance ministers from these countries met last Thursday for the spring session of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington. Freeland said that she and her counterparts from the Five Eyes Alliance discussed last week on how these countries could "friendshore" their critical minerals supply chain to fight the dumping of critical minerals in the international market by large producing countries, such as China and Indonesia.