Category: Germany

MIL-OSI Global: Trump’s Ukraine mineral deal finally lands as US economy shivers

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Rachael Jolley, International Affairs Editor

Donald Trump promised he could sort out a peace deal for the Ukraine war in 24 hours. It still hasn’t happened. Instead the US administration has taken 100 days just to sign a mineral deal with Ukraine.

This agreement will give the US access to revenue from Ukrainian natural resources, including 100 major deposits of critical minerals. It also has huge symbolism. Ukrainians see it as a sign that the US is committed to staying involved in their country, and also as a warming of the relationship between Ukraine’s president and Trump. It will also be a signal to Russia that what hurts Ukraine could also hurt the US economy.

Of course, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calls the deal “historic” and puts its brilliance down to Trump’s amazing negotiation skills.

However, in the week that Trump celebrated 100 days in office, others would argue that Trump’s deal-making skills are nowhere near as astute as he thinks they are. That he gave Russia way too much room to manoeuvre in the early months of 2025 by leaning so clearly in Putin’s direction, allowing the Russian leader to think he could pretty much do anything he fancied and win as much of Ukraine as he desired.

US and Ukraine sign a mineral deal.

But US national security advisor Michael Waltz, who has announced he is standing down, has signalled that the balance may now be shifting, when he said the minerals deal was “a momentous step” and: “Russia needs to come to the table.”

As Bridget Storrie from UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity has pointed out, this deal was all about what the global super power was going to get as justification for its support in the war, rather than about how it could increase prosperity in a war-torn country.

Read more:
Ukraine minerals deal: the idea that natural resource extraction can build peace has been around for decades

Andrew Gawthorpe, a lecturer in history and international studies at Leiden University, has looked at the details and believes Kyiv is getting more than many expected, and more than was on offer earlier in the year, when Trump fell out so publicly with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at a White House press conference. As part of the deal Ukraine will retain ownership of its natural resources. All profits are to be invested in Ukraine for ten years after the agreement comes into force. It also looks like Washington will contribute new military aid.

Read more:
US-Ukraine minerals deal looks better for Kyiv than expected – but Trump is an unpredictable partner

Presidential power

Trump’s first 100 days have been tumultuous, not just for the US, but for most of the world. His “liberation day” tariffs on international goods have turned existing economic balances and expectations upside down.

Countries that have long seen themselves as confident allies of the US – Canada, Denmark and Germany, for instance – now see the landscape somewhat differently, given the high US tariffs that have landed on their doorsteps. No longer convinced of the strength of their relationship with the world’s superpower, many are rethinking both their economic plans and their alliances.

Meanwhile, China, the main focus of Trump’s tariffs, can see opportunities opening up to forge stronger relationships with, and sales to, other countries also looking for new markets. China has not crumbled yet under the weight of 145% US tariffs. And China’s president, Xi Jinping, is showing no sign of blinking first and heading to Washington to negotiate as Trump was clearly expecting.

Trump now swings daily from claiming he is negotiating with China and that their tariffs can come down, to stating that Beijing will cave. All that sound and fury sounds a good deal like wavering. And with US supermarket bosses warning of empty shelves around the corner, and US ports expecting traffic from China to significantly slow this month, as Nottingham University’s Chee Meng Tan sets out, there is every reason to expect Trump will cave and open negotiations before Xi Jinping does.

Read more:
China has identified how to fight back against Trump’s tariffs, and is not ready to back down

Many nations now see the US as a far less trustworthy partner now than in the past. The most obvious of these is Canada, which just elected the leader of a party that was 20 percentage points behind in the polls in January and expected to be beaten badly not long ago. But when Trump decided that he wanted Canada as the 51st state, normality went out the window over its northern border.

This week, newly elected Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said he would seek meetings with Trump with the “full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States”, promising to strengthen relations with “reliable partners” in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

“We are over the shock of America’s betrayal,” he said. He is ready to write a new foreign policy. He’s not the only one.

Sign up to receive our weekly World Affairs Briefing newsletter from The Conversation UK. Every Thursday we’ll bring you expert analysis of the big stories in international relations.

Two of the US’s firm friends for decades, South Korea and Taiwan, are now not so sure that they see Washington as a dependable ally, according to a report from research organisation the Brookings Institution. It saw a significant jump in the numbers of people who saw the US as untrustworthy from July 2024, to March 2025.

This matters, as Steve Dunne, a political scientist at the University of Warwick points out, because without trust people and nations are likely not to honour their commitments. After the second world war, the western allies decided to create a series of international bodies to avert such a disaster happening again, and to encourage nations to follow a set of rules that would encourage democracy and trust in each other.

In his first 100 days, says Dunne, Trump broke the compact of trust with countries that had a long alliance with the US, and that could have a deep impact on the trust that has existed for decades between western nations.

Read more:
Donald Trump’s first 100 days have badly damaged trust in America both economically and as an ally

Global power reducing?

Declining trust in the US could well reduce other forms of its global power. As well as financially and politically, in the post-war decades the US has influenced the world, by exporting its culture, its films, its television programmes and its ideas, as well as importing tourists to visit its national treasures, from Yosemite national park to New York City.

In the past 100 days, international tourists are reported to be cancelling their bookings, partly worried about the welcome, or the lack of it, they may encounter at the border. Summer airline bookings from Canada (21%), Germany (17%) and the Netherlands (12%) to the US have fallen significantly for this year, although other countries such as UK show only a minor fall.

Admittedly, Trump told voters that he wanted to put “America first”. However, at his inauguration, the president declared he wanted to make America the “most respected nation on earth”. That achievement is looking quite far off at the moment. In fact, in many countries it is going the other way.

That international respect took a significant hit at one of the most remarkable moments of the past 100 days, when Trump proceeded to take Zelensky to task publicly for a range of offences including not being grateful enough for US support and not wearing a suit.

So what has Trump achieved domestically in his first 100 days and how does that match up against the promises he made? Let’s look at some of the plans he set out in his inauguration speech.

Trump said he wanted to increase US wealth. But current economic indicators are more than a bit shaky, with US stock markets falling and rising on a regular basis as they follow Trump’s on-and-off-again announcements on tariff negotiations with various countries. On April 30, the day after Trump’s big 100 days rally, stocks fell after data was released showing a contraction in the GDP of the US in the first quarter.

But Trump has told his supporters that, in the long term, tariffs will work and manufacturing jobs will benefit. So far, Republican voters still believe in Trump’s policies on jobs and the economy, with 82% approving, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll. Only 8% of Democrats and 32% of independent voters do though.

Many of the big decisions we have seen playing out in the first 100 days – including the Elon Musk-led dismantling of some parts of government and Trump’s swing at driving down immigration – were detailed in the Project 2025 document, published the conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation before the election, says Dafydd Townley of the University of Portsmouth. But it also hints at what may come next, including more legislation restricting American women’s access to abortion further.

Read more:
How Project 2025 became the blueprint for Donald Trump’s second term

On January 20 Trump thought that Americans stood “on the verge of the four greatest years in American history”. For many Americans worried about their pensions, savings and the cost of groceries, the future is not looking so great right now. But for those who were sharp focused on cutting immigration, Trump may have made the great start they were hoping for.

– ref. Trump’s Ukraine mineral deal finally lands as US economy shivers – https://theconversation.com/trumps-ukraine-mineral-deal-finally-lands-as-us-economy-shivers-255747

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Is the UK’s energy storage growing fast enough?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Victor Becerra, Professor of Power Systems Engineering, University of Portsmouth

Sommart Sombutwanitkul/Shutterstock

Britain’s booming green energy generation has a costly side-effect: the national electricity system operator has had to compensate wind turbine operators that could have produced more clean electricity than the grid could take.

The cost of paying windfarms to temporarily switch off rose significantly in early 2025, surpassing £250 million in the first two months of the year. This figure not only includes these “constraint payments” to windfarm operators, but also payments to gas power plants to switch on and meet demand in the south of England that could theoretically be met by wind energy.

Wind power is often generated in remote areas like the Scottish Highlands, where there is low electricity demand. To transmit this power over long distances to areas of higher demand (mostly in the south of England) requires power lines, but these have transmission limits and there are not enough of them.

Britain will only make effective use of its energy potential if grid-scale energy storage keeps pace with the expansion of new windfarms and other forms of intermittent renewable energy, such as solar.

Large-scale battery systems, pumped hydro and other storage methods could capture the excess energy injected by windfarms on windy days and release it when needed. But are these energy storage options arriving quickly enough?

Why is storage so important?

Most British consumers will not see a significant change in how they use electricity with the introduction of planned storage installations, other than fewer blips in power quality, such as flickering or dimming lights.

You might spot these new energy storage facilities in rows of what look like shipping containers but are actually batteries. And the national grid (which serves England, Wales and Scotland – Northern Ireland has a separate electricity network) will be more capable of responding quickly to even minor variations in electricity supply and demand, meaning fewer headlines about curtailed windfarms.

A lithium-ion grid battery site.
106882997/Shutterstock

The UK government is aiming to build up to 27 gigawatts of battery storage by 2030 (in 2023, battery capacity was estimated to be around 5 gigawatts). There are applications totalling 59 gigawatts of battery storage in the connections queue for 2030.

Some of these are speculative – introduced to secure connection slots and permissions, with the intention of selling the rights on. These connections will not necessarily be built, yet contribute to long delays in approvals.

As a result, the energy regulator Ofgem has been working with network operators to reform the connections queue. This includes new rules and more coordination between grid operators and project developers, as well as incentives (such as lower connection charges) to encourage battery developers to ensure their output can be adjusted to accommodate network constraints when necessary.

Having substantial grid-scale energy storage could help stabilise electricity prices, which might give households lower and less volatile bills. It would also reduce the need to fire up gas generators during supply lulls, lowering the influence of expensive imported gas on electricity prices.

Options and opportunities

Storing excess renewable energy involves a range of technologies. Short-duration storage options such as batteries can supply energy ranging from seconds to a few hours. Long-duration storage, such as pumped hydro, can supply energy for several hours, days or more.

Pumped hydro is the oldest long-duration storage technology. It involves storing vast amounts of energy by pumping water to a higher reservoir when electricity is plentiful, and releasing it to a lower reservoir through a turbine when needed. Dinorwig in north Wales and Cruachan in western Scotland are capable of storing 9 and 7 gigawatt-hours of energy, respectively.

Major expansions are planned, such as the new pumped hydro storage scheme Coire Glas in Scotland. Expected to be completed around 2030-31, it is designed to store 30 gigawatt-hours, adding vast reserves of energy to the grid.

Britain’s largest grid-scale battery installation, the Minety battery storage project completed in 2022 in Wiltshire, southern England, is capable of absorbing or delivering 150 megawatts – roughly equivalent to the power demand of 450,000 UK households.

While Britain is making progress with its storage infrastructure, other countries are scaling up rapidly. China has built huge pumped hydro stations and the US is deploying very large grid-scale batteries. Germany, meanwhile, is testing hydrogen storage to absorb the power from its onshore windfarms.

New forms of storage

There is a drive by energy companies to develop new forms of long-duration storage. Along with hydrogen, liquid‑air storage is capable of inter-seasonal storage. This would allow solar energy collected during the summer to be available for release during the duller autumn and winter months.

A solar farm in west Sussex, southern England.
PBabic/Shutterstock

In liquid-air plants, excess electricity is used to cool air to a liquid which can then be stored in insulated tanks. When electricity is required, the liquid air is heated and turned back into a gas, which moves a turbine and generates electricity. A 50-megawatt liquid-air plant planned near Manchester is expected to start commercial operation in 2026.

In hydrogen energy storage plants, surplus electricity powers an electrolyser that splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is stored and, when electricity is needed, fed into a fuel cell or turbine to generate the electricity. An example is the proposed Aldbrough facility in east Yorkshire, which is expected to be in operation by 2030 and will have a storage capacity of 320 gigawatt-hours. This facility will use three repurposed salt caverns originally developed to store natural gas.

Energy storage technology has become a serious business opportunity, with companies investing billions of pounds into building new facilities. The variety of projects in the pipeline suggests the UK will be better able to avoid curtailing wind energy in the future, even accounting for growth in wind power capacity. Paying windfarm operators to switch off may soon be a thing of the past.

Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

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Victor Becerra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Is the UK’s energy storage growing fast enough? – https://theconversation.com/is-the-uks-energy-storage-growing-fast-enough-251867

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI United Kingdom: St Albans Mayor to lead VE Day 80 celebrations

Source: St Albans City and District

Publication date: 01 May 2025

St Albans Mayor, Councillor Jamie Day, will lay a wreath at the City’s war memorial to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

He will be joined by Councillors, Honorary Aldermen, senior Council officers and representatives of the Royal British Legion.

Everyone is welcome at the event at the memorial in St Peter’s Street at 9.30am on Thursday 8 May.

It will be an opportunity for the community to come together and pay their respects to the millions of victims of the Second World War.

Beforehand, the Town Crier, Stephen Potter, will join more than 300 criers across the UK and Commonwealth and read the VE Day 80 Proclamation. He will do so at 9am by the Clock Tower.

VE Day occurred on 8 May 1945 when Nazi Germany surrendered to Britain and its allies, bringing an end to the Second World War in Europe.

A veterans’ coffee morning, hosted by the Mayor, will take place at St Albans City and District Council’s main offices from 10.30am after the wreath laying.

Any veteran wishing to attend should email mayoralty@stalbans.gov.uk with family and friends welcome to do so on their behalf.

The Union flag will be flown from St Albans Museum + Gallery where a new display exploring the varied wartime experiences of local people launches in the Assembly Room at 10am.

This display highlights the unique personal stories of eight individuals from across the District with topics ranging from evacuation to life as a Prisoner of War.

Also in the Assembly Room, there will be a free performance of wartime songs by a local choir on Saturday 10 May.

There will be two sessions, at noon and 2pm, when the community group The Monday Choir will sing the hits of Vera Lynn and other 1940s favourites.

The Charter Market on Saturday 3 and Wednesday 7 May will be VE Day-themed with traders encouraged to put up red, white and blue bunting as well as other appropriate decorations.

Cllr Day, the Mayor of St Albans City and District, said:

It is a great honour to lead the District’s celebration of VE Day 80.

I hope many of our residents will join me at the war memorial as a wreath is laid in memory of all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms and way of life.

There are many other events people can attend and I would urge them, for example, to go along to the Museum + Gallery to see the VE Day display and listen to the choir.

I am particularly looking forward to hosting a coffee morning for our veteran servicemen and women.

This will be a chance for me to meet people from our District and thank them for their service to the country.

BEACON LIGHTINGS

Among the other events taking place around the District to mark the historic occasion are beacon lightings at Highfield Park, Harpenden Common and Redbourn.

This is part of a national initiative with more than 1,000 beacons being lit at 9.30pm across the country.

The Highfield Park event, organised by Highfield Park Trust, begins at 8.30pm with the Town Crier reading the proclamation at 9.20pm.

The Harpenden Common event, organised by Harpenden Town Council, takes place from 9.15pm.

At Redbourn, there will be a short service at St Mary’s Church at 8pm followed by the 9.30pm beacon lighting at the village’s war memorial. This is being organised by Redbourn Parish Council.

Following the beacon lightings, people will be encouraged to join in the communal singing of I Vow To Thee My Country and the National Anthem.

WHEATHAMPSTEAD VE DAY EXHIBITION

At Wheathampstead, the Parish Council is organising a free VE Day exhibition at Marford Memorial Hall, 11am to 5pm, on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 May.

Curated by the local history society, it will feature photographs, uniforms and other artefacts to bring to life the wartime stories of residents and evacuees.

There will also be a street café selling 1940s style cakes and other treats.

THE CATHEDRAL

At the Cathedral on Thursday 8 May, there will be a special Choral Evensong at 5pm, sung by the Abbey Singers. Everyone is welcome and the event will include prayers for peace across the world.

At 6.30 pm, the Cathedral along with other churches, including St Peter’s, will join the nationwide Ring Out celebrations with a glorious ringing of the bells.

Contact for the media: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer: 01727-819533; john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.

MIL OSI United Kingdom –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Deporting international students risks making the US a less attractive destination, putting its economic engine at risk

Source: The Conversation – USA – By David L. Di Maria, Vice Provost for Global Engagement, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Boston University students march to demand the school declare itself a sanctuary campus to protect their peers from the federal government regardless of their immigration status, on April 3, 2025. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

In early April 2025, the Trump administration terminated the immigration statuses of thousands of international students listed in a government database, meaning they no longer had legal permission to be in the country. Some students self-deported instead of facing deportation.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently announced that it would reverse the terminations after courts across the country determined they did not have merit.

These moves come as the White House seeks to enhance vetting and screening of all foreign nationals.

The State Department in March announced plans to use artificial intelligence to review international students’ social media accounts.

As an administrator and scholar who specializes in international higher education, I know that international students in the United States have long been subjected to a high level of vetting, screening and monitoring.

Inserting additional bureaucracy into current processes could make the U.S. a less attractive study destination. I believe this would ultimately hamper the Trump administration’s ability to achieve its “America First” priorities related to the economy, science and technology, and national security.

International students in the US

The U.S. has long been the global leader in attracting international students. But competition for these students is increasing as other countries, such as Germany and South Korea, enact strategies for attracting international education.

The U.S. hosts 16% of all students studying outside of their home country, down from 22% in 2014 and 28% in 2001, according to the Institute of International Education. Of the more than 1 million international students who were present in the U.S. during the 2023-2024 academic year, 54% came from just two countries, China and India.

Most international students pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And, according to the National Science Foundation, international students make up a significant portion of enrollment at the master’s and doctoral levels.

How international students are screened

International students in the U.S. are already subjected to intense screening and continuous monitoring. These measures include:

• Vetting the student’s school. Before they can apply for a visa, international students must be admitted to a school authorized by the Department of Homeland Security to enroll people on student visas.

• Vetting at the embassy. As part of the visa application process, international students are subjected to national security reviews carried out by various intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In some cases, such as when a U.S. consular officer in their home country decides that more information is required from external sources to determine visa eligibility, additional screenings occur. That is done through a process known as administrative processing.

• Vetting upon arrival. When they arrive in the U.S., international students are again screened by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. If the officer is unable to verify any information, the student is sent to secondary inspection, a secure interview area where the student waits while officers complete additional assessment. The student is then either admitted to the U.S. or forced to depart the country.

• Ongoing monitoring while in the U.S. If permitted to enter the country, students must enroll full time, earn good grades and notify their school within 10 days of substantive changes to their circumstances.

Examples include a change to their address, academic major or financial sponsor. And school officials are required to report this information to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s National Security Investigations Division.

Students participating in temporary, postgraduation training programs must continue to comply with reporting requirements. And certain STEM graduates, and their employers, are subject to additional requirements. They include certification of training plans, annual evaluations and site visits.

Most international students prefer to study in the U.S., recent research shows. But they are willing to change their preferences as other countries introduce friendlier visa policies, such as more flexible post-study work opportunities and lower visa costs.

Given the current level of screening and monitoring already imposed on international students in the U.S., it is unclear how additional measures would add value.

Boston University police officers speak to each other as students protest outside a dean’s office demanding the school declare itself a sanctuary campus, on April 3, 2025.
Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Critical to an America First agenda

President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda aims to grow the U.S. economy.

It also intends to maintain U.S. leadership in science and technology and enhance national security.

Trump administration officials have underlined the importance of recruiting top global talent. And Trump has said that international students who graduate from U.S. colleges should be awarded a green card with their degree.

During the 2023-2024 academic year, international students contributed US$43.8 billion to the U.S. economy through tuition and living expenses, which supported an estimated 378,175 U.S. jobs.

Their contributions don’t end following graduation, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Many go on to launch successful startups at a rate that is eight to nine times higher than their domestic peers. In fact, 25% of billion-dollar companies in the U.S. were founded by a former international student.

Such companies include Eventbrite, Grammarly, Moderna, OpenAI, Robinhood and SpaceX.

International students also help the U.S. maintain global leadership in STEM.

Consider that 45% of STEM workers in the U.S. holding a doctoral degree were born outside the U.S.

A 2024 report cautions that the U.S. is failing to develop domestic STEM talent at all levels of the education system. Just 3.2% of U.S. high school graduates are estimated to enter the STEM workforce.

Moreover, the country’s ability to attract and retain international STEM talent is decreasing due to immigration restrictions and increased global competition.

Finally, international students are critical to establishing global networks and promoting soft power diplomacy. This is evidenced by the U.S. having graduated more world leaders than any other nation.

Further restricting the ability of international students to study in the U.S. will ultimately redirect talent to other countries, allies and adversaries alike.

David L. Di Maria does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Deporting international students risks making the US a less attractive destination, putting its economic engine at risk – https://theconversation.com/deporting-international-students-risks-making-the-us-a-less-attractive-destination-putting-its-economic-engine-at-risk-249245

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 2, 2025
MIL-OSI USA: Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Story of Survival

Source: US State of Connecticut

Fourteen years ago, Nina Jacobs’s youngest son called to tell her that someone from Israel was looking for her. When she found out the person knew her given birth name, Jacobs knew there was only one person in the world who would know that information: her father’s sole surviving brother.

Jacobs spoke to her uncle on the phone in Yiddish and immediately made plans to visit him in Israel, where she was finally able to connect with her biological father’s side.

“It’s still painful to this day because I would have loved to have seen what my mother and my uncle told me about him and how they described him,” said Jacobs. “And since I don’t resemble my mother, I have to perceive that I look like my father.”

Now in her 80s, Jacobs lived through the Holocaust as a child and spoke about her experiences to UConn students and faculty at the Konover Auditorium in The Dodd Center for Human Rights on April 23.

“There’s limited opportunity to come and talk to a Holocaust survivor in person and be able to hear about what they had gone through as a firsthand experience,” said Yana Tartakovskiy ’25 (BUS), one of the event organizers and founder of the group Jewish on Campus UConn. “This really emphasizes the significance of why learning about the Holocaust is so important in Jewish history but also why it shouldn’t happen again.”

Jacobs was born in 1942 in the Vilna Ghetto in Poland, just three years after Hitler invaded the country.

Before she was born, her newlywed parents, uncle, grandmother, and aunt all lived in the ghetto. One night when her mother and father left the ghetto to get fresh air, they were arrested and placed in separate prisons. The next morning, the women were led out of the prison while the men were taken to be killed.

About a month after Jacobs’s father failed to return to her mother, she found out she was pregnant with her first child.

Her mother feared for her safety as the Nazis had decreed any pregnant woman found in the ghetto would immediately be killed.

Jacobs was born in Poland in 1942, three years after the country was invaded by the Third Reich. (Photo courtesy of Ava Gutterson ’28 (CLAS)

“Whatever will become of us will become of the child, but in the event that that child may survive, they will be an indication in the world that that child once had a young father that didn’t have an opportunity to live,” Jacobs said, quoting her grandmother.

Jacobs spent the first 17 months of her life living in an attic with her mother.

“I never stepped outdoors. I never felt the sun. I never felt the wind. I knew nothing. This was my world, this little room with my mother,” said Jacobs.

After hearing rumors speculating that Nazis were coming to take the remaining children out of the ghetto, Jacobs’s uncle arranged a hand-off with a Polish woman who said she would take the baby. The woman brought Jacobs to the farm where she, her husband, her son, Yanek, and grandson lived.

When Jacobs awoke, she continuously cried for her mother in Yiddish, putting the whole family in danger. If Nazis heard Yiddish, everyone would have been killed. So, they decided to dig a grave and lower the screaming baby into it.

After 10 days, she stopped screaming.

They took her out from under the ground, cleaned her and brought her into this new family. Jacobs attributes this moment to the start of her new life, being raised by Yanek, who became her surrogate father, through and after the war.

Of her family, her mother, grandmother, uncle, and aunt survived the war and were in displaced persons camps.

Every day, her mother and grandmother would come to see her at Yanek’s house. Then one day, they took her to go pick flowers and when she asked to go home to her family, the women told her no.

“We are your family. You have to stay with us now,” Jacobs said her biological family told her.

“I only wanted my father, but it was to be,” said Jacobs. “I was unhappy, and I cried, and I wailed but it didn’t help. I had no choice. My mother wanted me to distance myself from Yanek, so she didn’t allow him to come see me.”

Jacobs’s mother remarried and her new stepfather had an uncle who sponsored them to move to America. They left Poland and lived in Germany for two years before finally making it to the United States in 1949.

Before they departed Poland, Jacobs’s mother agreed that Yanek could come say goodbye to her.

“I wasn’t prepared to see him, but when he walked in, I jumped into his arms, and he put his arms around me, and he was crying, and I was crying. Our tears were commingling,” said Jacobs.

Yanek begged to keep Jacobs in Poland with him until she was 18, but her mother insisted that if she stayed until she was 18, Jacobs would be his daughter and not hers.

Jacobs and her family were processed through Ellis Island and started to navigate their new life in America without speaking English.

Today, Jacobs lives in Hartford and speaks out, sharing her story.

“This year marks 80 years since the Holocaust ended and is a very important year in Holocaust remembrance. So, just in having this, we just want her to be able to use the most amount of time she can,” said Eva Dannison, co-president of Jewish on Campus UConn. “There’s not many Holocaust survivors left, so this was a very once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to get to listen to.”

This event was made possible by a collaboration between The Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, Jewish on Campus UConn, and UConn Hillel.

MIL OSI USA News –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: DDG Hill discusses WTO accessions at Horn of Africa Initiative ministerial meeting

Source: WTO

Headline: DDG Hill discusses WTO accessions at Horn of Africa Initiative ministerial meeting

Four Horn of Africa countries – Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan – are currently negotiating their accession to the WTO. This is half of the total number of African countries seeking to join the WTO and some of the most active in the WTO accession process, DDG Hill noted. Recent progress was made in particular with the accession of Ethiopia, with the 5th Working Party meeting held in March, and the accession of Somalia, with the first Working Party meeting taking place in February.
DDG Hill pointed to Ethiopia’s “Homegrown Economic Reform Programme” launched in 2019, which demonstrates its strong commitment to economic transformation and to building an open and rules-based economy. She said: “WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stressed that Ethiopia’s accession is a strategic priority for the WTO’s 14th Ministerial Conference, which will take place in Cameroon in March 2026. As the largest economy currently outside the WTO and one of the few remaining least-developed countries in the accession pipeline, Ethiopia’s membership would meaningfully advance the WTO’s goal of universality.”
“Somalia has demonstrated strong political commitment and dedicated technical expertise in the process,” she added, noting the complementarity between WTO accession efforts and the country’s ongoing work to integrate into the East African Community.
The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss an action plan aimed at boosting trade across the Horn of Africa, building on prior commitments and technical consultations. DDG Hill noted that this year’s focus on regional trade and trade facilitation issues is very timely. “Strengthening trade links can be a key piece in fostering regional integration and connectivity in the Horn of Africa”, she said.
The 24th Horn of Africa Initiative was co-chaired by Ethiopia’s Finance Minister Ahmed Shide and the World Bank’s Acting Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa Amit Dar. It brought together ministers of finance and high-level officials from the region. Ministers welcomed a new USD 10 billion contribution from development partners, including the African Development Bank, the European Union, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Kingdom and the World Bank.
The meeting closed with Somalia’s Finance Minister, Bihi Iman Egeh, taking over as the new chair of the Initiative for the next two years.
Horn of Africa Initiative
Through the Horn of Africa Initiative, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan are committed to coordinating approaches to exploring regional synergies and addressing regional challenges. They also prioritize regional programmes in infrastructure connectivity, economic integration, resilience building and skills development.
WTO accessions in the Horn of Africa
More information on Ethiopia’s accession is available here.
More information on Somalia’s accession is available here.
Sudan held its 5th Working Party meeting on 26 July 2021. More information on Sudan’s accession is available here.
South Sudan held its first Working Party meeting on 21 March 2019. More information on South Sudan’s accession is available here.

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MIL OSI Economics –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Expansion of TikTok Shop in Europe and the impact on minors – E-001421/2025
Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001421/2025/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 144
Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew), Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová (Renew), Aurore Lalucq (S&D), Pascal Arimont (PPE), Sandro Gozi (Renew), Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (Renew), Miriam Lexmann (PPE), Maria Grapini (S&D), Eero Heinäluoma (S&D), Nathalie Loiseau (Renew), Olivier Chastel (Renew), Grégory Allione (Renew), Christophe Grudler (Renew), Valérie Devaux (Renew), Nikola Minchev (Renew), Fabienne Keller (Renew), Engin Eroglu (Renew), Lucia Yar (Renew)

On 31 March 2025, TikTok expanded its e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop, to users in France, Germany and Italy[1], introducing a new one-click payment feature. Although it streamlines transactions, it raises concerns about its potential impact on minors and impulsive buying behaviour.

TikTok Shop has already been criticised for its strong appeal to young users. This simplified payment system could encourage excessive spending and potential debt among minors. Additionally, by making impulsive purchases even easier, this feature could contribute to increased attentional capture and addiction to digital platforms, especially among minors.

1.Does the Commission consider that these kinds of features should be assessed under the Digital Services Act, particularly regarding transparency and the protection of vulnerable consumers?

2.Does it plan to address such practices in the upcoming digital fairness act to ensure a fair and protective framework for European consumers?

3.Is the Commission planning to engage with TikTok to evaluate the impact of this feature and ensure its compliance with the EU’s digital single market rules?

Submitted: 8.4.2025

[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-shop-steps-up-europe-expansion-with-us-future-unclear-2025-03-27/.
Last updated: 30 April 2025
MIL OSI Europe News –
May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Tariffs on corrugated paper products imposed by Türkiye since 2024 – P-001671/2025

Source: European Parliament

Priority question for written answer P-001671/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Borja Giménez Larraz (PPE), Esther Herranz García (PPE)

In June 2024, the Turkish Government introduced a tariff of USD 85-87 on each tonne of imported corrugated paper. For European companies that operate in Türkiye, this constitutes a 20-25 % increase in costs, making it impossible to compete. Meanwhile, the supply of Turkish paper far outweighs national demand. Local industry has funnelled large investments into new factories – a large part of their production is exported to the EU, where EU companies cannot compete on a level playing field.

According to Eurostat, in 2023 alone, Türkiye exported 71 000 tonnes of corrugated paper to the EU as well as 126 000 tonnes of paper made from recycled fibre, with Germany, Hungary and Poland being the main destination countries. Against a backdrop of increasing global trade tensions, the EU should protect its manufacturers in the face of practices that distort the market and undermine competitiveness.

In view of the above:

What action will the Commission take to ensure that Türkiye reduces or lifts the tariffs that are so damaging to European paper companies?

Submitted: 24.4.2025

Last updated: 30 April 2025

MIL OSI Europe News –

May 1, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Tourism to the US is tanking. Flight Centre is facing a $100m hit as a result

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Manfreda, Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Torrens University Australia

Doubletree Studio/Shutterstock

Flight Centre, one of the world’s largest travel agencies, has warned it could lose more than A$100 million in earnings this year, citing weakening demand for travel to the United States.

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) this week, the company pointed to “volatile trading conditions” linked to changes in US entry policies.

This is the first major indication from an Australian company that travel to the US is becoming a serious concern. It follows growing consumer fears linked to US immigration checks, reports of tourists being detained, and rising costs.

Australian visitor numbers to the US fell by 7% in March compared with the same time last year – the sharpest fall since the COVID pandemic.

Australians are not the only ones staying away. New US data for March show sharp drops in visitors from key markets: Germany (down 28%), Spain (25%), the United Kingdom (18%) and South Korea (15%), to name a few. In total, inbound tourism fell 11.6%.

Even Canadian travellers, traditionally the US’s most reliable market, dropped by more than 900,000 or 17% in March, as growing numbers of Canadians opt to boycott US holidays.

What was once a reliable flow of high-spending international travellers is becoming a much quieter stream.

America’s welcome mat is wearing thin

The US, long marketed as the land of opportunity and adventure, is increasingly perceived as unwelcoming. Tighter border scrutiny, aggressive immigration enforcement, and a sharp shift in political tone have made travellers wary.

The international arrivals terminal at Atlanta airport: Tourists are rethinking their US travel plans.
Shutterstock

While the Flight Centre statement used careful language, its chief executive Graham Turner was clear, saying:

People from Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia really don’t want to go to the States, given what’s happening there. We’re hearing more and more people don’t want to go through passport control.

Reports of tourists being detained, shackled and deported at US airports over minor alleged visa issues or misunderstandings have circulated widely. In some cases, visitors have had their phones and electronic devices searched without clear cause. For many travellers, that is a risk not worth taking.

Governments have started to respond. Several countries, including New Zealand, Germany, France, Denmark and Finland, have updated their official travel advice for the US, urging citizens to exercise caution when visiting. The message filtering through international media is clear: the US is not as easy, safe or welcoming as it once seemed.

But while diplomatic warnings grow louder, the economic costs of America’s hardening stance are only beginning to register.

Tourism: America’s forgotten export

While President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on goods imports from most countries, he has ignored the contribution of services trade to the economy. The US actually runs a surplus in services such as education and tourism. Trump has dismissed the decline in visitors as “not a big deal”.

The trade wars have focused on goods – cars, steel, farm products – but the service sector, which makes up a larger share of the economy, bears the hidden costs.

Tourism is the US’ biggest service export, contributing more than US$2.3 trillion to the economy and one in ten jobs. That’s a bigger contribution than manufacturing jobs, which account for about 8% of total US employment.

As a driver of economic prosperity, tourism isn’t simply about leisure; it sustains local businesses, rural economies and millions of livelihoods.

A double blow to the tourism experience

While the decline in arrivals has been widely reported, the experience for those who still choose to visit is also likely to change.

Tourism relies on global supply chains, from food to hotel amenities to rental car fleets. Trade war tariffs have raised input costs across the board. Hotels, restaurants, airlines and attractions are passing those higher costs onto customers.

Miami Beach, Florida: Tourism accounts for one in ten American jobs.
MDV Edwards/Shutterstock

Labour shortages are intensifying the problem. Nearly 20% of the US hospitality workforce was born overseas. Cuts to seasonal work visas and heightened deportation fears have left many businesses struggling to find staff, compounding existing labour shortages.

The burden is heaviest on small- and medium-sized enterprises, which form the bedrock of the US economy and play a central role in accommodation, dining and local tourism experiences.

A quiet but costly erosion

Tourism is not just a big part of the economy; it’s also a soft power, shaping how the world perceives a nation through its culture, values and hospitality.

Every visitor who feels unwelcome, scrutinised or disappointed is not just a lost sale, but a lost connection.

Research group Tourism Economics forecasts the US could lose up to US$10 billion in international travel spending in 2025 if current trends continue.

And while manufacturing job announcements grab headlines, the slow erosion of America’s tourism brand may leave a longer, deeper scar on its culture, its communities and its place in the world.

The Flight Centre downgrade is not an isolated warning. It is a symptom of a broader shift, one that risks turning visitors away for good.

And for thousands of US businesses, workers and communities – and now Australian ones too – the losses may not be so easily shrugged off.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Tourism to the US is tanking. Flight Centre is facing a $100m hit as a result – https://theconversation.com/tourism-to-the-us-is-tanking-flight-centre-is-facing-a-100m-hit-as-a-result-255498

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI: Sharc Energy Announces 2024 Year End Financial Results
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SHARC International Systems Inc. (CSE: SHRC) (FSE: IWIA) (OTCQB: INTWF) (“SHARC Energy” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has filed financial results for the year ended December 31, 2024. All figures are in Canadian Dollars and in accordance with IFRS unless otherwise stated.

Fourth Quarter and Year-end Financial Highlights:
- Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2024 (“YE 2024”) is $2.17M representing a 36% increase over the $1.59M of revenue reported in the year ended December 31, 2023 (“YE 2023”).
- As of April 30, 2025, the Company has a Sales Pipeline¹ of 16.8 million (M) and Sales Order Backlog²of $3.0M. This represents a $0.5M increase or 20% growth in Sales Order Backlog since November 27, 2024 disclosure. Sales Pipeline saw a marginal decrease of 2% since November 27, 2024 disclosure reflecting the deliberate efforts by the Company to refill the pipeline once projects convert to the order book. The combined pipeline showed an aggregate growth of 1% or $0.1M from the previous disclosure on November 27, 2024. Entering 2025, the $3.0M Sales Order Backlog, which is estimated to be converted to revenue within an average of 12 months from disclosure, represents a 38% improvement compared to YE 2024 revenue of $2.17M. The Company continues to observe the maturity of its Sales Pipeline providing the Company’s revenue more consistency and with reduced volatility, providing a solid platform to scale and grow.
- During the three months ended December 31, 2024 (“Q4 2024”), the Company reported revenues of $(0.18M), a loss of $1.41M and an Adjusted EBITDA³ loss of $0.9M. In the same period in the prior year (“Q4 2023”) the company reported revenues of $(0.14M), a loss of $1.34M and an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.85M.
- During YE 2024, the Company reported revenues of $2.17M, a loss of $3.72M and an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.57M. Revenue increased 36% over revenue comparative in 2023 of $1.59M, the loss decreased 5% over comparative in 2023 of $3.9M and Adjusted EBITDA loss increased 5% over 2023 comparative of $2.45M.
- Gross margins for YE 2024 were 42% compared to 43% in YE 2023. Management remains optimistic that this margin range aligns with our expectations for the coming quarters but the margin percentage varies dependent on sales mix and stage of completion of each project.
Michael Albertson, Chief Executive Officer and President of SHARC Energy, said, “2024 was a strong growth year for the Company with revenues growing by 36% from $1.59M in 2023 to $2.17M in 2024. We enter 2025 poised to continue revenue growth momentum with nearly $3.0M in purchase orders, or Sales Order Backlog, to fulfil which would represent a 38% improvement over 2024 revenue if all realized within the year. This is without consideration of jobs that will purchase order during 2025.”

“SHARC Energy’s pipeline has reached a key maturity milestone as Sales Order Backlog averaged approximately $2.75 million in each disclosure since April 29, 2024 despite recognizing year over year revenue growth. Sales Order Backlog currently contains 9 projects made up of 3 SHARC projects and 6 PIRANHA projects. This compares to 9 projects being included in Sales Order Backlog as of April 29, 2024, consisting of 4 SHARC projects and 5 PIRANHA projects. We see this as a strong indication that the Company’s future revenue is not only growing but diversifying & stabilizing. There are several projects, including larger SHARC supported Thermal Energy Network projects, indicating signs of conversion from Sales Pipeline to Sales Order Backlog which should affirm continued stability and growth of revenue in the near and long term.”

Mr. Albertson continues, “Thermal Energy Networks, commonly referred to as TENs or District Energy Systems, is a growing solution for managing small to large scale thermal energy loads efficiently and cost-effectively. WET supported solutions continue to grow in awareness and acceptance with the Company learning of projects in planning across North America and globally. In the Greater Vancouver, British Columbia region alone, there are several municipal or utility supported TENs ranging in size and scale, similar to the False Creek Neighborhood Energy Utility or leləm̓ projects, in different stages of development that will increase SHARC Energy’s local footprint over the next few years. In the United States, legislation allowing or mandating utilities to develop thermal energy network demonstration projects or pilots have been passed in eight states, including the State of New York and recently added California, where the Company has installations in progress, projects in design and a growing list of leads looking to implement Wastewater Energy Transfer with District Energy Systems and TENs.”

“We are continuing to progress into new sectors for the SHARC and PIRANHA with promising opportunities developing within wastewater treatment facilities, universities, water utilities, correctional facilities and the design & build/energy sectors. These sectors are increasingly receptive to SHARC Energy’s offerings which is promising as these sectors can provide fewer regulatory hurdles, long-term customer relationships, shorter sales cycles, and the potential for larger-scale projects. The Company anticipates the closing of new business in these adjacent sectors as early as this year.”

“Furthermore, SHARC Energy is gearing up to launch new products in its portfolio which will be introduced to the market soon. With the support of original equipment manufacturer relationships SHARC Energy has, we feel there is significant opportunity to better serve more customers and increase our revenue and margin dollars earned going forward. SHARC Energy’s tailwinds are strong and set to propel the Company to profitability in the coming years. We are very excited about our position in the thermal energy market!” stated Mr. Albertson.

Q4 2024 Highlights and Subsequent Events
- Michael Albertson appointed CEO, President and Director. On December 12, 2024, the Company announced the appointment of Michael Albertson as the new Chief Executive Officer, President and Director. Lynn Mueller has led SHARC Energy as CEO, President and Chairman of the Board since 2014 and will stay on as Executive Chairman of SHARC Energy’s Board of Directors.
- Fred Andriano appointed to the Board of Directors. The Company announced the appointment of Fred Andriano to its Board of Directors on November 7, 2024. Mr. Andriano was previously CFO at WaterFurnace International, where his leadership was critical in strategic acquisitions, international joint ventures and impressive growth, with revenues doubling from $65M to $130M culminating in a $364M acquisition by NIBE Group in 2014. He continued as CFO and eventually moving to Vice President of Financial and Administrative Services for NIBE North America. During this time, Mr. Andriano played a pivotal role in securing major acquisitions, such as Enertech and The Climate Control Group, expanding NIBE’s footprint in the renewable energy space.
- Closing of $2 Million 8.0% Debenture financing. The Company closed a non-brokered private placement of debenture units of the Company (“Debenture units”) at a price of $1,000 per Debenture Unit, for gross proceeds of $2,000,000. Each Debenture Unit will be comprised of: (i) a $1,000 principal amount of 8.0% unsecured debenture of the Company (the “Debenture”); and (ii) 5,000 common share purchase warrants of the Company (the “Warrants”). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to acquire one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a “Share”) at an exercise price of $0.20 per Share for a period of 36 months from the date of issuance.
- False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility (“NEU”) Expansion. The Company continued work on the supply and maintenance agreement with the City of Vancouver for the provision and maintenance of five SHARC systems for the False Creek NEU Expansion. During the period, the Company completed and billed milestone 3.5 of 5 of the agreement, where all components have been delivered to site. The remaining milestones were achieved in Q1 and Q2 2025.
- SHARC WET system key in Whitney Young retrofit featured in NYSERDA Empire Building Challenge. The Company shipped a SHARC WET system for the Whitney Young Manor recapitalization project in Yonkers, New York during Q1 2024. The Whitney Young Manor will undergo a $22 million renovation, with nearly $12 million allocated to the project’s decarbonization effort, inclusive of all energy efficiency measures. The retrofit project will highlight how to leverage a recapitalization opportunity to comprehensively retrofit energy systems and modernize an affordable housing complex.
- Insiders, including management and directors, have purchased 5,653,396 common shares of the Company during YE 2024. Insider ownership represents 16% of the current outstanding float.
For complete financial information for the year ended December 31, 2024, please see the Audited Annual Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About SHARC Energy

SHARC International Systems Inc. is a world leader in energy recovery from the wastewater we send down the drain every day. SHARC Energy’s systems recycle thermal energy from wastewater, generating one of the most energy-efficient and economical systems for heating, cooling & hot water production for commercial, residential, and industrial buildings along with thermal energy networks, commonly referred to as “District Energy”.

SHARC Energy is publicly traded in Canada (CSE: SHRC), the United States (OTCQB: INTWF) and Germany (Frankfurt: IWIA) and you can find out more on our SEDAR profile.

Learn more about SHARC Energy: Website | Investor Page | LinkedIn | YouTube | PIRANHA | SHARC

The Canadian Securities Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified using words such as “anticipate”, “plan”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “intend”, “should”, and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. SHARC Energy’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information because of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. SHARC Energy believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company’s expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation.

_______________________________________

¹ Sales Pipeline is a non-IFRS measure. Please see discussion of Alternative Performance Measures and Non-IFRS Measures in the Year End 2024 MD&A.
² Sales Order Backlog is a non-IFRS measure. Please see discussion of Alternative Performance Measures and Non-IFRS Measures in the Year End 2024 MD&A.
³ Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure. Please see discussion of Alternative Performance Measures and Non-IFRS Measures in the Year end 2024 MD&A.

The MIL Network –
May 1, 2025

MIL-OSI: Ansys Announces Q1 Financial Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

/ Q1 2025 Results

Revenue of $504.9 million
GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.59 and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $1.64
GAAP operating profit margin of 11.7% and non-GAAP operating profit margin of 33.5%
Operating cash flows of $398.9 million and unlevered operating cash flows of $407.1 million
Annual contract value (ACV) of $410.1 million
Deferred revenue and backlog of $1,627.7 million on March 31, 2025

PITTSBURGH, April 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ANSYS, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS) today reported first quarter 2025 revenue of $504.9 million, an increase of 8% in reported currency, or 10% in constant currency, when compared to the first quarter of 2024. For the first quarter of 2025, the Company reported diluted earnings per share of $0.59 and $1.64 on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, respectively, compared to $0.40 and $1.39 on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis, respectively, for the first quarter of 2024. Additionally, the Company reported first quarter ACV growth of 1% in reported currency, or 2% in constant currency, when compared to the first quarter of 2024. The results for the first quarter met the Company’s expectations and it continues to expect double-digit FY 2025 ACV growth.

As previously announced, on January 15, 2024, Ansys entered into a definitive agreement with Synopsys, Inc. (“Synopsys”) under which Synopsys will acquire Ansys. Since the Company’s last earnings release, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has formally cleared the transaction in Phase 1 subject to previously announced divestitures. Additionally, Ansys and Synopsys have received clearances from the Turkey Competition Authority, Japan Fair Trade Commission, Korea Fair Trade Commission and Taiwan Fair Trade Commission. We continue to work with the regulators in other relevant jurisdictions to conclude their reviews. The transaction is anticipated to close in the first half of 2025, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. As previously announced, in light of the pending transaction with Synopsys, Ansys has suspended quarterly earnings conference calls and no longer provides quarterly or annual guidance.

The non-GAAP financial results highlighted represent non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these measures to the comparable GAAP measures can be found later in this release.

/ Summary of Financial Results

Ansys’ first quarter 2025 and 2024 financial results are presented below. The 2025 and 2024 non-GAAP results exclude the income statement effects of stock-based compensation, excess payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, expenses related to business combinations and adjustments for the income tax effect of the excluded items.

Our results are as follows:

	GAAP
*(in thousands, except per share data and percentages)*	Q1 2025			Q1 2024			% Change
Revenue	$	504,891		$	466,605		8.2	%
Net income	$	51,865		$	34,778		49.1	%
Diluted earnings per share	$	0.59		$	0.40		47.5	%
Gross margin		85.6	%		85.3	%
Operating profit margin		11.7	%		9.3	%
Effective tax rate		19.6	%		15.1	%

	Non-GAAP
*(in thousands, except per share data and percentages)*	Q1 2025			Q1 2024			% Change
Net income	$	144,149		$	121,996		18.2	%
Diluted earnings per share	$	1.64		$	1.39		18.0	%
Gross margin		91.2	%		90.9	%
Operating profit margin		33.5	%		32.2	%
Effective tax rate		17.5	%		17.5	%

	Other Metrics
*(in thousands, except percentages)*	Q1 2025		Q1 2024		% Change
ACV	$	410,068	$	407,405	0.7	%
Operating cash flows	$	398,935	$	282,817	41.1	%
Unlevered operating cash flows	$	407,128	$	292,667	39.1	%

Supplemental Financial Information

/ Annual Contract Value

*(in thousands, except percentages)*	Q1 2025		Q1 2025 in Constant Currency		Q1 2024		% Change		% Change in Constant Currency
ACV	$	410,068	$	416,640	$	407,405	0.7	%	2.3	%

Recurring ACV includes both subscription lease ACV and all maintenance ACV (including maintenance from perpetual licenses). It excludes perpetual license ACV and service ACV.

/ Revenue

*(in thousands, except percentages)*	Q1 2025		Q1 2025 in Constant Currency		Q1 2024		% Change		% Change in Constant Currency
Revenue	$	504,891	$	512,570	$	466,605	8.2	%	9.9	%

REVENUE BY LICENSE TYPE

*(in thousands, except percentages)*	Q1 2025		% of Total		Q1 2024		% of Total		% Change		% Change in Constant Currency
Subscription Lease	$	96,919	19.2	%	$	94,800	20.3	%	2.2	%	4.0	%
Perpetual		63,036	12.5	%		65,521	14.0	%	(3.8)%		(2.9)%
Maintenance¹		324,392	64.2	%		289,340	62.0	%	12.1	%	13.9	%
Service		20,544	4.1	%		16,944	3.6	%	21.2	%	22.5	%
Total	$	504,891			$	466,605			8.2	%	9.9	%

_{¹Maintenance revenue is inclusive of both maintenance associated with perpetual licenses and the maintenance component of subscription leases.}

REVENUE BY GEOGRAPHY

*(in thousands, except percentages)*	Q1 2025		% of Total		Q1 2024		% of Total		% Change		% Change in Constant Currency
Americas	$	230,377	45.6	%	$	208,697	44.7	%	10.4	%	10.5	%

Germany		35,021	6.9	%		36,198	7.8	%	(3.3)%		(0.4)%
Other EMEA		83,839	16.6	%		82,417	17.7	%	1.7	%	3.9	%
EMEA		118,860	23.5	%		118,615	25.4	%	0.2	%	2.6	%

Japan		43,297	8.6	%		36,532	7.8	%	18.5	%	20.9	%
Other Asia-Pacific		112,357	22.3	%		102,761	22.0	%	9.3	%	12.9	%
Asia-Pacific		155,654	30.8	%		139,293	29.9	%	11.7	%	15.0	%

Total	$	504,891			$	466,605			8.2	%	9.9	%

REVENUE BY CHANNEL

	Q1 2025		Q1 2024
Direct revenue, as a percentage of total revenue	69.1	%	66.5	%
Indirect revenue, as a percentage of total revenue	30.9	%	33.5	%

/ Deferred Revenue and Backlog

*(in thousands)*	March 31, 2025		December 31, 2024		March 31, 2024
Current Deferred Revenue	$	490,318	$	504,527	$	433,167
Current Backlog		511,197		524,617		433,106
Total Current Deferred Revenue and Backlog		1,001,515		1,029,144		866,273

Long-Term Deferred Revenue		30,840		31,778		21,434
Long-Term Backlog		595,388		657,345		481,746
Total Long-Term Deferred Revenue and Backlog		626,228		689,123		503,180

Total Deferred Revenue and Backlog	$	1,627,743	$	1,718,267	$	1,369,453

/ Currency

The first quarter of 2025 revenue, operating income and ACV, as compared to the first quarter of 2024, were impacted by fluctuations in the exchange rates of foreign currencies against the U.S. Dollar. The currency fluctuation impacts on revenue, GAAP and non-GAAP operating income and ACV based on 2024 exchange rates are reflected in the tables below. Deferred revenue and backlog as of March 31, 2025, as compared to the balances at December 31, 2024, were also impacted by fluctuations in the exchange rates of foreign currencies against the U.S. Dollar. Amounts in brackets indicate an adverse impact from currency fluctuations.

*(in thousands)*	Q1 2025
Revenue	$	(7,679	)
GAAP operating income	$	(2,848	)
Non-GAAP operating income	$	(3,044	)
ACV	$	(6,572	)
Deferred revenue and backlog	$	19,166

The most meaningful currency impacts are typically attributable to U.S. Dollar exchange rate changes against the Euro and Japanese Yen. Historical exchange rates are reflected in the charts below.

	Period-End Exchange Rates
As of	EUR/USD	USD/JPY
March 31, 2025	1.08	150
December 31, 2024	1.04	157
March 31, 2024	1.08	151

	Average Exchange Rates
Three Months Ended	EUR/USD	USD/JPY
March 31, 2025	1.05	152
March 31, 2024	1.09	148

/ GAAP Financial Statements

ANSYS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(Unaudited)
*(in thousands)*	March 31, 2025		December 31, 2024
ASSETS:
Cash & short-term investments	$	1,828,559	$	1,497,517
Accounts receivable, net		754,655		1,022,850
Goodwill		3,799,809		3,778,128
Other intangibles, net		694,235		716,244
Other assets		903,755		1,036,692
Total assets	$	7,981,013	$	8,051,431
LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
Current deferred revenue	$	490,318	$	504,527
Long-term debt		754,287		754,208
Other liabilities		556,933		706,256
Stockholders’ equity		6,179,475		6,086,440
Total liabilities & stockholders’ equity	$	7,981,013	$	8,051,431

ANSYS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
(Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended
*(in thousands, except per share data)*	March 31, 2025			March 31, 2024
Revenue:
Software licenses	$	159,955		$	160,321
Maintenance and service		344,936			306,284
Total revenue		504,891			466,605
Cost of sales:
Software licenses		9,370			10,044
Amortization		23,429			22,484
Maintenance and service		39,770			36,139
Total cost of sales		72,569			68,667
Gross profit		432,322			397,938
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative		230,415			219,643
Research and development		137,292			128,811
Amortization		5,722			6,145
Total operating expenses		373,429			354,599
Operating income		58,893			43,339
Interest income		16,743			10,995
Interest expense		(10,177	)		(12,369	)
Other expense, net		(930	)		(1,007	)
Income before income tax provision		64,529			40,958
Income tax provision		12,664			6,180
Net income	$	51,865		$	34,778
Earnings per share – basic:
Earnings per share	$	0.59		$	0.40
Weighted average shares		87,653			87,067
Earnings per share – diluted:
Earnings per share	$	0.59		$	0.40
Weighted average shares		88,127			87,780

/ Glossary of Terms

Annual Contract Value (ACV): ACV is a key performance metric and is useful to investors in assessing the strength and trajectory of our business. ACV is a supplemental metric to help evaluate the annual performance of the business. Over the life of the contract, ACV equals the total value realized from a customer. ACV is not impacted by the timing of license revenue recognition. ACV is used by management in financial and operational decision-making and in setting sales targets used for compensation. ACV is not a replacement for, and should be viewed independently of, GAAP revenue and deferred revenue as ACV is a performance metric and is not intended to be combined with any of these items. There is no GAAP measure comparable to ACV. ACV is composed of the following:

the annualized value of maintenance and subscription lease contracts with start dates or anniversary dates during the period, plus
the value of perpetual license contracts with start dates during the period, plus
the annualized value of fixed-term services contracts with start dates or anniversary dates during the period, plus
the value of work performed during the period on fixed-deliverable services contracts.

When we refer to the anniversary dates in the definition of ACV above, we are referencing the date of the beginning of the next twelve-month period in a contractually committed multi-year contract. If a contract is three years in duration, with a start date of July 1, 2025, the anniversary dates would be July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027. We label these anniversary dates as they are contractually committed. While this contract would be up for renewal on July 1, 2028, our ACV performance metric does not assume any contract renewals.

Example 1: For purposes of calculating ACV, a $100,000 subscription lease contract or a $100,000 maintenance contract with a term of July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026 would each contribute $100,000 to ACV for fiscal year 2025 with no contribution to ACV for fiscal year 2026.

Example 2: For purposes of calculating ACV, a $300,000 subscription lease contract or a $300,000 maintenance contract with a term of July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2028 would each contribute $100,000 to ACV in each of fiscal years 2025, 2026 and 2027. There would be no contribution to ACV for fiscal year 2028 as each period captures the full annual value upon the anniversary date.

Example 3: A perpetual license valued at $200,000 with a contract start date of March 1, 2025 would contribute $200,000 to ACV in fiscal year 2025.

Backlog: Deferred revenue associated with installment billings for periods beyond the current quarterly billing cycle and committed contracts with start dates beyond the end of the current period.

Deferred Revenue: Billings made or payments received in advance of revenue recognition.

Subscription Lease or Time-Based License: A license of a stated product of our software that is granted to a customer for use over a specified time period, which can be months or years in length. In addition to the use of the software, the customer is provided with access to maintenance (unspecified version upgrades and technical support) without additional charge. The revenue related to these contracts is recognized ratably over the contract period for the maintenance portion and up front for the license portion.

Perpetual / Paid-Up License: A license of a stated product and version of our software that is granted to a customer for use in perpetuity. The revenue related to this type of license is recognized up front.

Maintenance: A contract, typically one year in duration, that is purchased by the owner of a perpetual license and that provides access to unspecified version upgrades and technical support during the duration of the contract. The revenue from these contracts is recognized ratably over the contract period.

/ Reconciliations of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures (Unaudited)

Three Months Ended

March 31, 2025

(in thousands, except percentages and per share data)

Gross Profit

% of Revenue

Operating Income

% of Revenue

Net Income

EPS – Diluted¹

Total GAAP

432,322

85.6

58,893

11.7

51,865

0.59

Stock-based compensation expense

3,977

0.8

70,243

14.0

70,243

0.80

Excess payroll taxes related to stock-based awards

354

0.1

6,016

1.2

6,016

0.07

Amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions

23,429

4.6

29,151

5.7

29,151

0.33

Expenses related to business combinations

405

0.1

4,787

0.9

4,787

0.05

Adjustment for income tax effect

—

(17,913

)

(0.20

)

Total non-GAAP

460,487

91.2

169,090

33.5

144,149

1.64

_{¹ Diluted weighted average shares were 88,127.}

	Three Months Ended
	March 31, 2024
*(in thousands, except percentages and per share data)*	Gross Profit		% of Revenue		Operating Income		% of Revenue		Net Income			EPS – Diluted¹
Total GAAP	$	397,938	85.3	%	$	43,339	9.3	%	$	34,778		$	0.40
Stock-based compensation expense		3,343	0.7	%		58,664	12.7	%		58,664			0.66
Excess payroll taxes related to stock-based awards		378	0.1	%		5,362	1.1	%		5,362			0.06
Amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions		22,484	4.8	%		28,629	6.1	%		28,629			0.33
Expenses related to business combinations		—	—	%		14,261	3.0	%		14,261			0.16
Adjustment for income tax effect		—	—	%		—	—	%		(19,698	)		(0.22	)
Total non-GAAP	$	424,143	90.9	%	$	150,255	32.2	%	$	121,996		$	1.39

_{¹ Diluted weighted average shares were 87,780.}

	Three Months Ended
*(in thousands)*	March 31, 2025			March 31, 2024
Net cash provided by operating activities	$	398,935		$	282,817
Cash paid for interest		9,931			11,939
Tax benefit		(1,738	)		(2,089	)
Unlevered operating cash flows	$	407,128		$	292,667

/ Use of Non-GAAP Measures

We provide non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross profit margin, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating profit margin, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share and unlevered operating cash flows as supplemental measures to GAAP regarding our operational performance. These financial measures exclude the impact of certain items and, therefore, have not been calculated in accordance with GAAP. A detailed explanation of each of the adjustments to these financial measures is described below. This press release also contains a reconciliation of each of these non-GAAP financial measures to its most comparable GAAP financial measure, as applicable.

We use non-GAAP financial measures (a) to evaluate our historical and prospective financial performance as well as our performance relative to our competitors, (b) to set internal sales targets and spending budgets, (c) to allocate resources, (d) to measure operational profitability and the accuracy of forecasting, (e) to assess financial discipline over operational expenditures and (f) as an important factor in determining variable compensation for management and employees. In addition, many financial analysts that follow us focus on and publish both historical results and future projections based on non-GAAP financial measures. We believe that it is in the best interest of our investors to provide this information to analysts so that they accurately report the non-GAAP financial information. Moreover, investors have historically requested, and we have historically reported, these non-GAAP financial measures as a means of providing consistent and comparable information with past reports of financial results.

While we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplemental information to investors, there are limitations associated with the use of these non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, are not reported by all our competitors and may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures of our competitors due to potential differences in the exact method of calculation. We compensate for these limitations by using these non-GAAP financial measures as supplements to GAAP financial measures and by reviewing the reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP financial measures.

The adjustments to these non-GAAP financial measures, and the basis for such adjustments, are outlined below:

Amortization of intangible assets from acquisitions. We incur amortization of intangible assets, included in our GAAP presentation of amortization expense, related to various acquisitions we have made. We exclude these expenses for the purpose of calculating non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross profit margin, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating profit margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share when we evaluate our continuing operational performance because these costs are fixed at the time of an acquisition, are then amortized over a period of several years after the acquisition and generally cannot be changed or influenced by us after the acquisition. Accordingly, we do not consider these expenses for purposes of evaluating our performance during the applicable time period after the acquisition, and we exclude such expenses when making decisions to allocate resources. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow investors to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology and information used by us in our financial and operational decision-making, and (b) compare our past reports of financial results as we have historically reported these non-GAAP financial measures.

Stock-based compensation expense. We incur expense related to stock-based compensation included in our GAAP presentation of cost of maintenance and service; research and development expense; and selling, general and administrative expense. We also incur excess payroll tax expense related to stock-based compensation, which is an additional non-GAAP adjustment. Although stock-based compensation is an expense and viewed as a form of compensation, we exclude these expenses for the purpose of calculating non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross profit margin, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating profit margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share when we evaluate our continuing operational performance. Specifically, we exclude stock-based compensation during our annual budgeting process and our quarterly and annual assessments of our performance. The annual budgeting process is the primary mechanism whereby we allocate resources to various initiatives and operational requirements. Additionally, the annual review by our Board of Directors during which it compares our historical business model and profitability to the planned business model and profitability for the forthcoming year excludes the impact of stock-based compensation. In evaluating the performance of our senior management and department managers, charges related to stock-based compensation are excluded from expenditure and profitability results. In fact, we record stock-based compensation expense into a stand-alone cost center for which no single operational manager is responsible or accountable. In this way, we can review, on a period-to-period basis, each manager’s performance and assess financial discipline over operational expenditures without the effect of stock-based compensation. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow investors to (a) evaluate our operating results and the effectiveness of the methodology used by us to review our operating results, and (b) review historical comparability in our financial reporting as well as comparability with competitors’ operating results.

Expenses related to business combinations. We incur expenses for professional services rendered in connection with acquisitions and divestitures, which are included in our GAAP presentation of selling, general and administrative expense. We also incur other expenses directly related to business combinations, including compensation expenses and concurrent restructuring activities, such as employee severances and other exit costs. These costs are included in our GAAP presentation of cost of maintenance and service, selling, general and administrative and research and development expenses. We exclude these acquisition-related expenses for the purpose of calculating non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross profit margin, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating profit margin, non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share when we evaluate our continuing operational performance, as we generally would not have otherwise incurred these expenses in the periods presented as a part of our operations. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow investors to (a) evaluate our operating results and the effectiveness of the methodology used by us to review our operating results, and (b) review historical comparability in our financial reporting as well as comparability with competitors’ operating results.

Non-GAAP tax provision. We utilize a normalized non-GAAP annual effective tax rate (AETR) to calculate non-GAAP measures. This methodology provides better consistency across interim reporting periods by eliminating the effects of non-recurring items and aligning the non-GAAP tax rate with our expected geographic earnings mix. To project this rate, we analyzed our historic and projected non-GAAP earnings mix by geography along with other factors such as our current tax structure, recurring tax credits and incentives, and expected tax positions. On an annual basis we re-evaluate and update this rate for significant items that may materially affect our projections.

Unlevered operating cash flows. We make cash payments for the interest incurred in connection with our debt financing which are included in our GAAP presentation of operating cash flows. We exclude this cash paid for interest, net of the associated tax benefit, for the purpose of calculating unlevered operating cash flows. Unlevered operating cash flow is a supplemental non-GAAP measure that we use to evaluate our core operating business. We believe this measure is useful to investors and management because it provides a measure of our cash generated through operating activities independent of the capital structure of the business.

Non-GAAP financial measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, GAAP. Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read only in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP.
We have provided a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures as listed below:

GAAP Reporting Measure	Non-GAAP Reporting Measure
Gross Profit	Non-GAAP Gross Profit
Gross Profit Margin	Non-GAAP Gross Profit Margin
Operating Income	Non-GAAP Operating Income
Operating Profit Margin	Non-GAAP Operating Profit Margin
Net Income	Non-GAAP Net Income
Diluted Earnings Per Share	Non-GAAP Diluted Earnings Per Share
Operating Cash Flows	Unlevered Operating Cash Flows

Constant currency. In addition to the non-GAAP financial measures detailed above, we use constant currency results for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons by excluding the effects of foreign currency fluctuations on the reported results. To present this information, the 2025 period results for entities whose functional currency is a currency other than the U.S. Dollar were converted to U.S. Dollars at rates that were in effect for the 2024 comparable period, rather than the actual exchange rates in effect for 2025. Constant currency growth rates are calculated by adjusting the 2025 period reported amounts by the 2025 currency fluctuation impacts and comparing the adjusted amounts to the 2024 comparable period reported amounts. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors because they allow investors to (a) evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology and information used by us in our financial and operational decision-making, and (b) compare our reported results to our past reports of financial results without the effects of foreign currency fluctuations.

/ About Ansys

Our Mission: Powering Innovation that Drives Human Advancement™

When visionary companies need to know how their world-changing ideas will perform, they close the gap between design and reality with Ansys simulation. For more than 50 years, Ansys software has enabled innovators across industries to push boundaries by using the predictive power of simulation. From sustainable transportation to advanced semiconductors, from satellite systems to life-saving medical devices, the next great leaps in human advancement will be powered by Ansys.

/ Forward-Looking Information

This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). Forward-looking statements are statements that provide current expectations or forecasts of future events based on certain assumptions. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors relating to our business which could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements use words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “outlook,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target” or other words of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements include those about the proposed transaction with Synopsys, including the expected date of closing and the potential benefits thereof, and other aspects of future operations. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

The risks associated with the following, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements:

our ability to complete the proposed transaction with Synopsys on anticipated terms and timing, including completing the associated divestiture of our PowerArtist RTL business and obtaining regulatory approvals, and other conditions related to the completion of the transaction with Synopsys;
the realization of the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction with Synopsys, including potential disruptions to our and Synopsys’ businesses and commercial relationships with others resulting from the announcement, pendency or completion of the proposed transaction and uncertainty as to the long-term value of Synopsys’ common stock;
restrictions on our operations during the pendency of the proposed transaction with Synopsys that could impact our ability to pursue certain business opportunities or strategic transactions, including tuck-in M&A;
adverse conditions in the macroeconomic environment, including inflation, recessionary conditions and volatility in equity and foreign exchange markets;
political, economic and regulatory uncertainties in the countries and regions in which we operate;
impacts from tariffs, trade sanctions, export controls or other trade barriers, including export control restrictions and licensing requirements for exports to China;
impacts resulting from the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other countries and groups in the Middle East, including impacts from changes to diplomatic relations and trade policy between the United States and other countries resulting from the conflict;
impacts from changes to diplomatic relations and trade policy between the United States and Russia or between the United States and other countries that may support Russia or take similar actions due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine;
constrained credit and liquidity due to disruptions in the global economy and financial markets, which may limit or delay availability of credit under our existing or new credit facilities, or which may limit our ability to obtain credit or financing on acceptable terms or at all;
our ability to timely recruit and retain key personnel in a highly competitive labor market, including potential financial impacts of wage inflation and potential impacts due to the proposed transaction with Synopsys;
our ability to protect our proprietary technology; cybersecurity threats or other security breaches, including in relation to breaches occurring through our products and an increased level of our activity that is occurring from remote global off-site locations; and disclosure or misuse of employee or customer data whether as a result of a cybersecurity incident or otherwise;
volatility in our revenue due to the timing, duration and value of multi-year subscription lease contracts; and our reliance on high renewal rates for annual subscription lease and maintenance contracts;
declines in our customers’ businesses resulting in adverse changes in procurement patterns; disruptions in accounts receivable and cash flow due to customers’ liquidity challenges and commercial deterioration; uncertainties regarding demand for our products and services in the future and our customers’ acceptance of new products; delays or declines in anticipated sales due to reduced or altered sales and marketing interactions with customers; and potential variations in our sales forecast compared to actual sales;
our ability and our channel partners’ ability to comply with laws and regulations in relevant jurisdictions; and the outcome of contingencies, including legal proceedings, government or regulatory investigations and tax audit cases;
uncertainty regarding income tax estimates in the jurisdictions in which we operate; and the effect of changes in tax laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate;
the quality of our products, including the strength of features, functionality and integrated multiphysics capabilities; our ability to develop and market new products to address the industry’s rapidly changing technology, including the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in our products as well as the products of our competitors; failures or errors in our products and services; and increased pricing pressure as a result of the competitive environment in which we operate;
investments in complementary companies, products, services and technologies; our ability to complete and successfully integrate our acquisitions and realize the financial and business benefits of such transactions; and the impact indebtedness incurred in connection with any acquisition could have on our operations;
investments in global sales and marketing organizations and global business infrastructure, and dependence on our channel partners for the distribution of our products;
current and potential future impacts of any global health crisis, natural disaster or catastrophe; the actions taken to address these events by our customers, our suppliers, and regulatory authorities; the resulting effects on our business, the global economy and our consolidated financial statements; and other public health and safety risks and related government actions or mandates;
operational disruptions generally or specifically in connection with transitions to and from remote work environments; and the failure of our technological infrastructure or those of the service providers upon whom we rely including for infrastructure and cloud services;
our intention to repatriate previously taxed earnings and to reinvest all other earnings of our non-U.S. subsidiaries;
plans for future capital spending and the extent of corporate benefits from such spending; and higher than anticipated costs for research and development or a slowdown in our research and development activities;
our ability to execute on our strategies related to environmental, social and governance matters, and meet evolving and varied expectations, including as a result of evolving regulatory and other standards, processes and assumptions, the pace of scientific and technological developments, increased costs and the availability of requisite financing, and changes in carbon markets; and
other risks and uncertainties described in our reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC).

Ansys and any and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries. All other brand, product, service and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Visit https://investors.ansys.com for more information.

ANSS-F

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/555457d0-68c2-4e39-9654-7433c0575e9e

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f9600ece-a84c-4586-bb8a-98965ce32a1c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/131c8a8b-e47c-4724-bdab-f0846535f0df

The MIL Network –

May 1, 2025

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Countdown begins for the maiden edition of WAVES – World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit
Source: Government of India

Countdown begins for the maiden edition of WAVES – World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit

Mumbai is all set to host WAVES 2025

Four days of knowledge exchange, dialogue, and collaboration between Indian and global M & E stakeholders

WAVES to make waves in India’s Creative Economy

Posted On: 30 APR 2025 4:46PM by PIB Mumbai

Mumbai, 30 April 2025

The countdown for the much-anticipated milestone event for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector -WAVES (World Audio-Visual & Entertainment Summit 2025) has begun. This groundbreaking four-day event, starting tomorrow at Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai is designed to propel India’s Media & Entertainment industry to even greater heights.

As Mumbai, the entertainment capital of India, is gearing up to welcome the who’s who of Media & Entertainment sector who shall delve into engaging panel discussions, thought-provoking and inspiring discourses, knowledge-sharing in-conversation and interactive sessions, enriching master-classes by the industry luminaries et al, the multi-dimensional takeaways over the coming four days for the stakeholders look promising for a future-ready M & E sector in the country.

This is because WAVE Summit is meant to amplify India’s Voice as a Global Powerhouse. WAVES, from its debut year, will provide a platform to showcase India’s vibrant creative industry and its immense potential within the global M&E landscape. Adding to the same, WAVES will also promote knowledge exchange, dialogue, and collaboration between Indian and global stakeholders. This pioneering initiative by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India is envisioned for gainfully leveraging India’s rich spiritual legacy for global harmony and propel the Creator’s economy in the right direction.

The Four Pillars of WAVES

The mega-event encompassing the entire gamut of M & E sector has been broadly divided into four pillars.

One: Broadcasting & Infotainment – Encompassing the traditional and evolving landscape of information and entertainment delivery, this focus area aims at prioritizing information, empowering citizens, and going global by adapting to the challenges of the 21^st Century. It includes the following areas of the creative economy:
- Broadcast: Television, Radio, Podcasts, Sports Broadcasting
- Content Creation: Print Media, Music
- Delivery Platforms: Carriage (Cable & Satellite), DTH (Direct-to-Home)
- Advertising & Marketing: Leading professionals shaping brand strategies within the M&E space.
Two: AVGC-XR – This segment explores the cutting-edge world of immersive storytelling and interactive experience powered by a combination of artistry, entertainment and technology. It encompasses the following specific areas:
- Animation
- Visual Effects
- E-Sports
- Comics
- Augmented Reality/ Virtual Reality (AR/ VR)
- Metaverse & Extended Reality (XR)
Three: Digital Media & Innovation: This segment explores the ever-evolving digital landscape and its impact on entertainment consumption. It includes:
- Digital Media & App Economy
- OTT Platforms
- Social Media Platforms
- Generative AI & Emerging Technology
- Influencers & Content Creators
Four: Films: This segment explores the world of filmmaking, production and globalization.
- Films, Documentaries, Shorts, Videos
- Film Technology (Shooting, Post-Production)
- Globalization of Indian Cinema
- Co-Production
- Film Incentives
- Audio-Visual Services
Create in India Challenge and Creatosphere: Launched as part of WAVES, the Create in India Challenge (CIC) Season-1, has achieved a milestone of crossing 85,000 registrations including 1,100 International participants. Over 750 finalists have been selected after a meticulous selection process, from across 32 diverse challenges. These talented creative minds will get a unique opportunity in the Creatosphere to showcase the outcome and output of their individual talent and skills, apart from networking opportunities with business leaders from their respective sector including pitching sessions, and learn from global stalwarts through masterclasses and panel discussions.

The Creatosphere at WAVES will offer immersive experiences with masterclasses, workshops, a gaming arena, and the Grand Finale of the Create in India Challenges, culminating in the WAVES CIC Awards.

Global Media Dialogue, to be held at WAVES on 2^nd May 2025, is yet another segment that aims to bring together global leaders, policymakers, industry stakeholders, media professionals, and artists to engage in a constructive and dynamic dialogue aimed at shaping the future of the audio-visual and entertainment sectors with a focus on international collaboration, technological innovation, and ethical practices.

Thought Leaders Track: Through plenary sessions, conference sessions and breakout sessions, top CEOs and global leaders will provide insights and diverse perspectives, while also undertaking strategic discussions for collaborations.

WaveXcelerator will connect M&E startups with investors and mentors through live pitching sessions to foster innovation and funding. It will act as a catalyst for Indian startups to lead this transformation, ensuring they receive the right exposure, and investment to scale up their businesses.

WAVES Bazaar is a premier global marketplace for the media and entertainment industry that offers filmmakers and industry professionals the opportunity to engage with buyers, sellers, and a wide range of projects and profiles. The Viewing Room is a dedicated physical platform set up at Waves Bazaar, open from May 1^st to 4th, 2025. For the first ever WAVES Bazaar, a total of 100 films from 8 countries namely India, Sri Lanka, USA, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Germany, Mauritius and UAE will be available to watch in the Viewing Room Library.

Bharat Pavilion: Guided by the theme “Kala to Code” the Bharat Pavilion will celebrate India’s spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the world is one family — and showcase how the country’s artistic traditions have long been a beacon of creativity, harmony and cultural diplomacy. At the core of the Bharat Pavilion are four immersive zones that will take visitors through the continuum of India’s storytelling traditions, named Shruti, Kriti, Drishti, and Creator’s Leap.

Exhibition Pavilion: A dynamic showcase of imagination meeting innovation, from cutting-edge tech to future-forward trends, the pavilion exhibits Indian and Global breakthroughs in the Media & Entertainment sector.

National Sammelan on Community Radio will also be held as part of WAVES which will deliberate and focus on issues related to latest trends, policies and programmes for empowering abilities to strengthen engagement with the local community through the powerful platform of community radio.

WAVES Culturals will be showcasing diverse performances and presentations, blending Indian and international talent. The event aims to recognize the transformative power of media and entertainment in fostering cultural exchange and harmony.

Hence, whether you’re an industry professional, investor, creator, or innovator, the first edition of the Summit offers the ultimate global platform to connect, collaborate, innovate and contribute to the M&E landscape.

WAVES is set to magnify India’s creative strength, amplifying its position as a hub for content creation, intellectual property, and technological innovation. Industries and sectors in focus include Broadcasting, Print Media, Television, Radio, Films, Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, Sound and Music, Advertising, Digital Media, Social Media Platforms, Generative AI, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Extended Reality (XR).

For details, visit https://wavesindia.org/

To know about the schedule of the 4-day mega event, click here

Follow PIB to stay updated on WAVES 2025

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Follow us on social media: @PIBMumbai /PIBMumbai /pibmumbai pibmumbai[at]gmail[dot]com /PIBMumbai /pibmumbai

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MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –
May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: Tony Blair opposes phasing out fossil fuels. These academics disagree

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition

Rapidly phasing out fossil fuels and limiting energy consumption to tackle climate change is “a strategy doomed to fail” according to former UK prime minister Tony Blair.

In the foreword of a new report, Blair urges governments to rethink their approach to reaching net zero emissions.

Instead of policies that are seen by people as involving “financial sacrifices”, he says world leaders should deploy carbon capture and storage, including technological and nature-based approaches, to meet the rising demand for fossil fuels.

But speak to many academic experts on climate change and they will tell a very different story: that there is no strategy for addressing climate change that does not involve ending, or at least massively reducing, fossil fuel combustion.

This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage comes from our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed.

A fossil fuel phase-out is ‘essential’

“There is a wealth of scientific evidence demonstrating that a fossil fuel phase-out will be essential for reining in the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change,” says Steve Pye, an associate professor of energy at UCL.

Read more:
COP28 president is wrong – science clearly shows fossil fuels must go (and fast)

“I know because I have published some of it.”

Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, agrees.

“Rapidly reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and not issuing new licenses to extract oil and gas, is the most effective way of minimising future climate-related disruptions,” he says.

Read more:
Science shows the severe climate consequences of new fossil fuel extraction

“The sooner those with the power to shape our future recognise this, the better.”

Fossil fuels are responsible for 90% of the carbon dioxide heating the climate. The amount burned annually is still rising, and so is the rate at which the world is getting hotter. Scientists now fear we are approaching irreversible tipping points in the climate system, hence their support for an urgent replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy.

Read more:
Climate tipping points are nearer than you think – our new report warns of catastrophic risk

Blair is confident that an emergency response on this scale can be avoided by absorbing CO₂ immediately after burning fossil fuels, from the smokestacks where the greenhouse gas is concentrated.

Not all of the emissions responsible for climate change would be prevented. UCL earth system scientist Mark Maslin says that natural gas, which would linger as an energy source thanks to carbon capture, still leaks from pipelines and storage vessels upstream of power plants.

Read more:
The UK’s £22 billion bet on carbon capture will lock in fossil fuels for decades

Commercial applications of the technology also have a poor track record. Just two large-scale coal-fired power plants are operating with CCS worldwide – one in the US and one in Canada.

“Both have experienced consistent underperformance, recurring technical issues and ballooning costs,” Maslin says.

CCS is no alternative to turning off the fossil fuel taps.
Pan Demin/Shutterstock

Blair might baulk at what he perceives to be the expense of ditching fossil fuels. But economic modelling led by Oxford University’s Andrea Bacilieri suggests his concern is misplaced. A rapid phase-out of fossil fuels could save US$30 trillion (US$1 trillion a year) by 2050 she concludes, compared with allowing power plants and factories to keep burning them with CCS.

Developing CCS will be necessary to help manage an orderly transition from fossil fuels according to Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at Oxford University. But it is not a substitute for undergoing that transition, he says.

Read more:
Getting carbon capture right will be hard – but that doesn’t make it optional

“Above all, we need to make sure the availability of CCS does not encourage yet more CO₂ production.”

Keeping the public on board

Is Blair right to fret about a public backlash to lower energy use? Academics suggest multiple reasons to think otherwise if the alternative is prolonging the use of fossil fuels.

Read more:
Should you get a heat pump? Here’s how they compare to a gas boiler

Replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump that runs on electricity, for example, can lower a household’s energy consumption without a deliberate effort. That’s because renewable appliances convert power to heat more efficiently (how much depends on how well insulated the home is).

Read more:
Heat pumps without home insulation could raise bills and energy demand – here’s what the government can do

In fact, it’s dependence on fossil fuel that is preventing many households from making this switch. The high wholesale price of gas determines the cost of electricity for UK consumers.

Read more:
How gas keeps the UK’s electricity bills so high – despite lots of cheap wind power

And surveys repeatedly show that support for net zero policies is broad and deep in the UK – including those that would involve lifestyle changes say Lorraine Whitmarsh (University of Bath), Caroline Verfuerth and Steve Westlake (both Cardiff University), who research public behaviour and climate change.

Read more:
Net zero: direct costs of climate policies aren’t a major barrier to public support, research reveals

“Crucially, the public wants and needs the government to show clear and consistent leadership on climate change,” they say.

Meanwhile, what can corrode public acceptance of sacrifices is the high-consuming behaviour of a minority (think pop stars in rockets, as Westlake recently argued). And, arguably, the statements of powerful people like Blair.

Read more:
Why Katy Perry’s celebrity spaceflight blazed a trail for climate breakdown

New research even suggests the politics that Blair and many others like him favour might also play a role here. Felix Schulz (Lund University) and Christian Bretter (The University of Queensland) are social scientists who study how ideology affects personal views on climate policy.

They identified respondents in six countries (the UK, US, Germany, Brazil, South Africa and China) who shared Blair’s neoliberal worldview, which the pair define as a belief that individuals are primarily responsible for their own fortune, and need to take care of themselves – as well as an abiding faith in the free market.

Read more:
People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research

“We observed a strong link between a neoliberal worldview and lack of support for the climate policies in our study,” they say.

Schulz and Bretter urge us to consider how someone’s ideology ultimately shapes their understanding of the problem and its solutions as well.

– ref. Tony Blair opposes phasing out fossil fuels. These academics disagree – https://theconversation.com/tony-blair-opposes-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-these-academics-disagree-254530

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Microsoft announces new European digital commitments

Source: Microsoft

Headline: Microsoft announces new European digital commitments

Includes datacenter operations in 16 countries and Digital Resilience Commitment.

Forty-two years ago, Microsoft released the very first version of Microsoft Word. It was a major milestone in the company’s journey to enhance people’s productivity through innovation. It also marked the young and growing company’s first big step in Europe with the first Microsoft product localized in multiple European languages, starting with German and French.

Since then, our economic reliance on Europe has always run deep. We recognize that our business is critically dependent on sustaining the trust of customers, countries, and governments across Europe. We respect European values, comply with European laws, and actively defend Europe’s cybersecurity. Our support for Europe has always been–and always will be–steadfast.

In a time of geopolitical volatility, we are committed to providing digital stability. That is why today Microsoft is announcing five digital commitments to Europe. These start with an expansion of our cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe, aimed at enabling every country to fully use these technologies to strengthen their economic competitiveness. And they include a promise to uphold Europe’s digital resilience regardless of geopolitical and trade volatility.

As a multinational company, we believe in trans-Atlantic ties that promote mutual economic growth and prosperity. We were pleased the Trump administration and the European Union recently agreed to suspend further tariff escalation while they seek to negotiate a reciprocal trade agreement. We hope that successful talks can resolve tariff issues and reduce non-tariff barriers, consistent with the recommendations in the recent Draghi report.

We will always be dedicated to creating jobs, promoting economic opportunities, and strengthening cybersecurity on both sides of the Atlantic. The five commitments below, like the very first European version of Microsoft Word, take our support for Europe another step forward.

1. We will help build a broad AI and cloud ecosystem across Europe

We recognize that European nations want and need a world class and broad AI and cloud ecosystem. Today, we are announcing plans to increase our European datacenter capacity by 40% over the next two years. We are expanding datacenter operations in 16 European countries. When combined with our recent construction, the plans we’re announcing today will more than double our European datacenter capacity between 2023 and 2027. It will result in cloud operations in more than 200 datacenters across the continent.

This expansion will play an important role in boosting Europe’s economic growth and competitiveness. We believe that broad AI diffusion will be one of the most important drivers of innovation and productivity growth over the next decade. Like electricity and other general-purpose technologies in the past, AI and cloud datacenters represent the next stage of industrialization. They are creating real-world capabilities to fuel business and manufacturing innovation, run national health systems, enable secure government services, and support digital tools in education—all while keeping data and operations close to home, subject to European laws and regulations.

Public cloud datacenters

Our public cloud datacenters are a foundation for the diversified cloud ecosystem we are committed to supporting across Europe. This includes the Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty, a package of technologies and configurations to help governments and other customers run on Azure in our public cloud datacenters with greater control over data location, encryption, and administrative access.

Sovereign cloud datacenters

A second aspect of our diversified approach involves sovereign cloud datacenters. In France, Microsoft has partnered with Capgemini and Orange, who formed a joint venture named Bleu. Designed as a “cloud de confiance” (trusted cloud) platform, Bleu offers a broad range of Microsoft Azure cloud services and Microsoft 365 productivity tools operated under French control. In Germany, a similar sovereign cloud initiative is underway through a partnership between Microsoft, SAP, and Arvato Systems (a Bertelsmann IT subsidiary). This effort, through SAP’s subsidiary, Delos Cloud GmbH, is creating a sovereign cloud platform for the German public sector, hosted in German datacenters and operated by German personnel.

Support for European cloud providers

A third aspect of our work involves our collaboration with European cloud providers to offer Microsoft applications and services on their local cloud infrastructure. This partnership provides these European providers with the opportunity to run Microsoft applications on more favorable terms than we make available to Amazon and Google. Additionally, we are developing new technology and licensing solutions tailored for these European providers and the markets they serve.

Emerging options

Given recent geopolitical volatility, we recognize that European governments likely will consider additional options. Some of these may involve public financing to support European home-grown offerings. We recognize the importance of a diversified technology ecosystem, and we are committed to collaborating with European participants across the tech ecosystem.

Respect for European laws

Microsoft is investing tens of billions of dollars annually in expanding its datacenters across Europe. These investments aren’t on wheels. They are permanent structures and subject to local laws, regulations, and governments. Like every citizen and company, we don’t always agree with every policy of every government. But even when we’ve lost cases in European courts, Microsoft has long respected and complied with European laws.

We understand that European laws apply to our business practices in Europe, just as local laws apply to local practices in the United States and similar laws apply elsewhere in the world. This includes European competition law and the Digital Markets Act, among others. We’re committed not only to building digital infrastructure for Europe, but to respecting the role that laws across Europe play in regulating our products and services.

2. We will uphold Europe’s digital resilience even when there is geopolitical volatility

By building a European cloud for Europe, Microsoft is committed to helping Europe navigate the uncertain geopolitical and trade environment and better manage risk by strengthening the continent’s digital resilience. We will always strive to be a voice of reason that promotes mutual opportunities and stable ties across the Atlantic. We in fact believe that even amidst current trade and tariff disputes, there is a strong consensus in Washington supporting the sustained flow of digital services from the United States to Europe.

We also are listening closely to the views of European governments and leaders. We recognize that European countries, like nations everywhere, need to have rock-solid confidence in the digital infrastructure on which they rely. To ensure this confidence, we will take the following three steps:

A European cloud for Europe

Microsoft is headquartered in the United States, but we provide cloud services to Europe through corporate entities headquartered in Europe. To further cement the nexus between Microsoft and Europe, going forward our European datacenter operations and their boards will be overseen by a European board of directors that consists exclusively of European nationals and operates under European law.

A Digital Resilience Commitment

In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe, we are committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues available, including by pursuing litigation in court. By including a new European Digital Resilience Commitment in all of our contracts with European national governments and the European Commission, we will make this commitment legally binding on Microsoft Corporation and all its subsidiaries.

Microsoft has a demonstrated history of pursuing litigation when that has been needed to protect the rights of our customers and other stakeholders. This includes four lawsuits we filed against the U.S. Executive Branch during President Obama’s tenure, including to protect the privacy of our customers’ data in the United States and Europe. It also included, during President Trump’s first term, a successful decision before the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the rights of employees who are immigrants. When necessary, we’re prepared to go to court.

We are confident of our legal rights to ensure continuous operation of our datacenters in Europe. And we are prepared to back this confidence with our contractual commitments to European governments.

Business continuity partnerships

Finally, we will designate and rely upon European partners with contingency arrangements for operational continuity in the unlikely event Microsoft were ever required by a court to suspend services. We are already enabling our partners in France and Germany to do this for the Bleu and Delos datacenters, and we will pursue arrangements for our public cloud datacenters in Europe. We will store back-up copies of our code in a secure repository in Switzerland, and we will provide our European partners with the legal rights needed to access and use this code if needed for this purpose.

3. We will continue to protect the privacy of European data

Microsoft has long been at the forefront in designing and implementing technology solutions to protect customer data. We enable customers to control where their data is stored and processed, how it is encrypted and secured, and when Microsoft can access it. We offer customers robust capabilities across the entire cloud stack from infrastructure to platform to software as a service, from Azure to Microsoft 365 to Dynamics 365. We back our technical solutions with strong contractual commitments and, as noted above, a demonstrated history of going to court on behalf of our customers.

The EU data boundary project

Reflecting our continuing commitment to innovation, we recently finished implementing our EU Data Boundary project. This offers European customers the ability to have their data stored and processed in Europe. Since January 2024, our European commercial and public sector customers have been able to store and process their data and personal identifiers for Microsoft core cloud services—including Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Azure services—within the EU and EFTA regions. Three months ago, Microsoft completed the project by extending the EU Data Boundary to include professional services data from technical support interactions. And, critically, we make these solutions available in all our European cloud regions and throughout our tech stack, from IaaS, to PaaS, to SaaS, including M365 Copilot.

Additional security and encryption options

In addition to the EU Data Boundary, we provide European customers with multiple options for securing and encrypting their data. Our Confidential Compute offerings in Azure eliminate the ability of third parties—including Microsoft—to access customer data by ensuring data is processed within a trusted environment the customer alone controls. We enable customers to create a “lockbox” around their data across Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 by giving them the ability to review and approve before Microsoft accesses their data for customer and service support operations. We also enable customers to secure their data with encryption keys that they, not Microsoft, control with Azure Key Vault and Microsoft Purview Customer Key. Our Microsoft Cloud for Sovereignty offers customers a range of other tools to secure data, protect against unauthorized access, and satisfy legal requirements.

A strong legal track record

In addition to technical measures, we will continue our fight to protect the rights of European customers. Microsoft has a strong track record of going to court in the rare instances that we need to protect European data from unauthorized access. We have consistently fought legal demands that conflict with European law and have taken our challenges all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2018, as a direct result of litigation Microsoft brought on behalf of our European customers, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation that guarantees our right to object to U.S. law enforcement demands to access European data that conflict with EU law.

We codified our promise to protect our European customers’ data with our Defending Your Data commitment, in which we agreed to challenge any government demand for EU public sector or enterprise customer data where we have a legal basis for doing so. We have included that commitment in our customer contracts and backed it up with a promise to compensate customers if we disclose their data in violation of EU law.

New opportunities for innovation

Today we commit to further strengthen and expand solutions that allow European customers to control and protect their data. We are embarking on new steps to listen to and consult with European customers to build on what already is the most complete, widest range of privacy, security, and sovereignty solutions that any cloud services provider now offers to customers in Europe. We look forward to sharing in the coming months the conclusions that emerge and the new steps we decide to take.

For more details about Microsoft’s data protection and compliance programs, see the Microsoft Trust Center.

4. We will always help protect and defend Europe’s cybersecurity

As war erupted in 2022, Microsoft immediately helped evacuate Ukraine’s critical data and technology services to our datacenters across Europe. This move ensured Ukraine’s continued digital operation outside the range of cruise missile and air attacks. In many ways, this illustrates the role that a broad network of datacenters plays in supporting not only digital but broader resilience, both for a country and a continent.

Uninterrupted, world-class cybersecurity protection

In addition to safeguarding the country’s data, we immediately helped Ukraine’s officials and citizens defend their nation from Russian cyberattacks. Since the start of the war, Microsoft has provided more than $500 million of free technology and financial assistance to Ukraine and has sustained our substantial support to this day. Without interruption, we have provided cybersecurity support to NATO, Ukraine, and other European governments, including by sharing cybersecurity threat intelligence, protecting elections, and disrupting attacks against European governments, companies, and citizens.

New measures to protect against new threats

More than three years since the start of the war in Ukraine, European governments and countries confront ongoing cyberattacks from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. As these threats grow in number and sophistication, strong cybersecurity protection and coordination are more important than ever, as is the ability to respond rapidly to regional demands. That is why today we are announcing the following cybersecurity steps, which will be followed by additional announcements in the coming weeks.

A new Deputy CISO for Europe

Today, our Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Igor Tsyganskiy announced that we are appointing a new Deputy CISO for Europe as part of the Microsoft Cybersecurity Governance Council. This senior executive will be dedicated to Microsoft’s security responsibilities in Europe. Last year we created this council, consisting of our Global CISO and Deputy Chief Information Security Officers (Deputy CISOs) representing each of our technology services. This Council oversees the company’s cyber risks, defenses, and compliance across regions and domains.

The appointment of a Deputy CISO for Europe reflects the importance and global influence of EU cybersecurity regulations and the company’s commitment to meeting and exceeding those expectations to prioritize cybersecurity across the region. This new position will report directly to Microsoft’s CISO. The Deputy CISO for Europe will be accountable for compliance with current and emerging cybersecurity regulations in Europe, including the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the NIS 2 Directive, and the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). These laws will prove transformative not only in EU markets, but worldwide, and Microsoft is actively engaged in preparing for what lies ahead.

New security steps under the Cyber Resilience Act

We believe the CRA will reshape the regulatory landscape as a new gold standard for cybersecurity, much as the GDPR did for privacy. We will build on the work of our Secure Future Initiative and dedicate additional resources to comply with the CRA. As its deadlines approach, we look forward to continuing our years of engagement with the European Commission, industry partners, and customers on CRA implementation efforts. We are committed to our role as a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Cybersecurity of Products with Digital Elements.

To that end, Microsoft will continue to engage with stakeholders across a range of CRA topics. These will include incident and vulnerability reporting, security by design and default, cybersecurity best practices and improving open-source security and attestation. We will share our innovations that support implementing the CRA essential security requirements to help European economic operators also prepare for CRA compliance.

Security is the foundation of trust. To sustain that trust, we will engage an independent auditor to verify and validate our commitments to Europe. We know that people will only use technology that they trust, which is why we are dedicating resources to accelerate our compliance with the CRA and committing to independent validation.

5. We will help strengthen Europe’s economic competitiveness, including for open source

Our AI Access Principles

We recognize the importance of ensuring open access to our AI and cloud platform and infrastructure across Europe, including for open-source development. That is why we announced last year a set of AI Access Principles and we will introduce new enhancements to these commitments in the coming months.

Open access across Europe

These principles have ensured that our Azure AI platform and infrastructure is open to a variety of business models—both open-source and proprietary. We now host more than 1,800 AI models. Most of these models are open-source models, such as those from European-based AI developers Mistral and Hugging Face. And they are all available via public APIs to facilitate interoperability. This means that customers can choose which models to use and where to build their AI-powered solutions: on Azure, in another public cloud, or in their own datacenter. Finally, we enable customers to export and transfer their data. Last year we eliminated fees for the transfer of data when customers choose to switch to another cloud provider.

A foundation for European competitiveness

Over the past year, we have seen European startups, established businesses, and other organizations take advantage of the open access to models and tools that we provide to innovate, grow, and compete in the new AI economy. This includes technology startups such as Factorial in Spain to build AI-driven automation for HR professionals, iGenius in Italy to develop AI solutions for regulated industries, and Visma in Norway to provide AI solutions for companies in accounting, payroll, invoicing, and beyond. And it includes the Institute Curie in France to research new therapies for cancer, UBS in Switzerland to create the future of banking, and Heineken in The Netherlands to boost employee productivity.

Building European infrastructure for Europe’s future

We recognize that Microsoft must constantly remain focused on earning and sustaining our “license to operate” in each country across Europe. With datacenters and digital technology, this starts with each local community and country and includes officials with continental-wide responsibilities.

Since we first brought the first version of Microsoft Word to Europe 42 years ago, digital technology has changed the ways people work many times over. Yet as we look forward, we believe the second quarter of the 21^st century may bring even bigger changes ahead. Artificial intelligence offers what may become the most powerful tool for people in the history of humanity. And like all tools, there will be some who will seek to turn it into a weapon.

More than ever, it will be critical for us to help Europe harness the power of this new technology to strengthen its competitiveness. We will need to partner with smaller and larger companies alike. We will need to support governments, non-profit organizations, and open-source developers across the continent. And we will need to listen closely to European leaders, respect European values, and adhere to European laws. We are committed to doing all these things well.

As we celebrated Microsoft’s 50^th birthday earlier this month, we recognized that our longstanding presence in Europe has been a lynchpin of our success. Europe has treated us well. Our support for Europe has always been—and always will be—steadfast.

Tags: Digital commitments, Europe

MIL OSI Economics –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Felix Schulz, Research Fellow, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, Lund University

Sambulov Yevgeniy/Shutterstock

Donald Trump won the US election on a campaign that included rolling back environmental laws. In the UK, Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch has called the national net zero target “impossible”. And former prime minister Tony Blair has said the current approach of phasing out fossil fuels is “doomed to fail”.

Meanwhile in Germany, the parties in the most likely incoming coalition government hardly engaged with climate policy during the recent election campaign – and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which openly denies human-made climate change, received 20% of the vote.

With political leaders around the world moving away from progressive climate policy, it’s worth asking: is this what the public wants?

When it comes to the climate, what people think is influenced by where they live and what else they believe in. In recently published research, we sought to find out just how much people’s ideologies affected their views on climate policy.

We surveyed representative samples of the public in six countries about their attitudes towards different types of climate policy. We asked about support for regulation (for example, building and vehicle standards or product bans), taxes (like carbon taxes), subsidies (to promote low-carbon alternatives), and information-based policies (such as emission disclosure requirements). Our survey covered policies in transport, housing, energy and industry.

We also asked respondents about their ideologies: cultural worldviews, personal values, free market beliefs and political trust. Our findings reveal how people’s ideologies shape their support for climate policies.

We included three high-income countries of the global north (the US, UK and Germany) and three upper-middle income countries from the global south (Brazil, South Africa and China). Together, these six countries are responsible for half of global CO₂ emissions.

Our definition of global south, which includes countries such as China, is based on work by UN Trade and Development and the UN G-77 countries. It includes Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, most of Asia (excluding Israel, Japan and South Korea) and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand). These countries generally have lower per capita income and are considered “developing” compared to global north countries.

This comparison is important because, as we will explain, political and economic ideologies that originated in the global north can influence how people view climate policies.

Across all policy types, we found more support for climate policies in the global south countries. In the global north countries, we found only minority support for regulatory policies and climate-related taxes. In Germany, support for regulatory policies and taxes was as little as 18%.

Subsidies for the four sectors – for example, to support renewable energy projects or the production of green steel – received 35% support in Germany and 48% in the US. In contrast, the majority of the public in the three countries of the global south supported subsidies and regulatory climate policies.

As with subsidies, we found strong majority support for information-based policies in the three countries of the global south (74-79%), against only minority support in Germany (36%) and the US (49%). In the UK, 53% supported information-based climate policies.

Personal values play a role in support for the policies. Our findings show people with stronger biospheric values – the importance people place on the environment and the relationship between humans and nature – are more supportive of climate policies. This is true irrespective of the country they live in. People who are more trusting of political institutions and politicians also support these policies more.

But demographics such as age, gender, education or income have a negligible effect on attitudes towards these policies, when accounting for other factors in our analysis.

Neoliberalism and the climate

We observed a strong link between a neoliberal worldview and lack of support for the climate policies in our study. As a political economic project, neoliberalism originated in the global north. But it continues to take root in the global south, particularly in Latin America.

The belief that individuals need to take care of themselves and are responsible for their own fortune and problems was associated with less support for climate policies. And in every country we studied, we found a strong relationship between support for the free market and lack of support for climate policies.

People who believe the free market is best at allocating outcomes efficiently and meeting human needs without government interference, and that it is more important than some local environmental concerns, show less support for the climate policies.

These two sets of beliefs – individualistic worldviews and support for the free market – are the core principles of neoliberal thought.

In the Global North countries, we found only only minority support for regulatory policies and climate-related taxes.
Fotogrin/Shutterstock

The superiority of the market over governments as an efficient and fair allocation machine has been the mantra of neoliberal politicians, thinktanks and institutions for more than half a century.

Neoliberalism opposes government regulation and spending, and supports the free market. It also fosters an individualistic worldview. Instead of seeing themselves as workers, citizens or members of a collective, people are persuaded to internalise market logic – to see themselves as individuals who are out to maximise their personal profit.

The cultural shift from more communitarian and egalitarian ideals towards an ideology based on the self-driven individual and the free market has been quite successful. Empirical evidence from 41 countries shows that individualist practices and values around the world have surged significantly over the past 50 years.

We know from research that what the public thinks (or votes for) does influence what governments do. This is true even when accounting for the influence of powerful interest groups.

So, those creating and campaigning for urgently needed climate policies need to take this into account. Support for climate policies isn’t just about whether someone believes in human-made climate change or cares about the planet – there are deeply-rooted ideological factors at play too.

Felix Schulz receives funding from Formas, a Swedish research council for sustainable development and the Hans-Böckler-Foundation.

Christian Bretter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies – new research – https://theconversation.com/people-with-neoliberal-views-are-less-likely-to-support-climate-friendly-policies-new-research-253478

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI: RCI BANQUE : PLACEMENT OF A 624 MILLION EURO SECURITIZATION BACKED BY GERMAN AUTO LOANS
Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

PRESS RELEASE
 

30 APRIL 2025

 

PLACEMENT OF A 624 MILLION EURO SECURITIZATION BACKED BY GERMAN AUTO LOANS

Mobilize Financial Services Group announces the placement of a securitization backed by auto loans originated by its German branch.

The FCT Cars Alliance Auto Loans Germany v 2025-1 has placed 611m€ of Senior notes and 13m€ of subordinated notes. These notes are rated AAA(sf) / Aaa(sf) and AAA(sf) / Aa1(sf) respectively by DBRS and Moody’s.

The Senior tranche, with a weighted average life of 2.95 years, has a coupon⁽¹⁾of Euribor 1 month + 62bps. The subordinated notes, with a weighted average life of 4.66 years, have a coupon⁽¹⁾ of Euribor 1 month + 90bps.

This transaction confirms the diversified financing sources to which the company has access.

⁽¹⁾ Priced at par

Contact

About Mobilize Financial Services  
Attentive to the needs of all its customers, Mobilize Financial Services, a subsidiary of Renault Group, creates innovative financial services to build sustainable mobility for all. Mobilize Financial Services, which began operations nearly 100 years ago, is the commercial brand of RCI Banque SA, a French bank specializing in automotive financing and services for customers and networks of Renault Group, and also for the brands Nissan and Mitsubishi in several countries.
With operations in 35 countries and nearly 4,000 employees, Mobilize Financial Services financed more than 1,3 million contracts (new and used vehicles) in 2024 and sold 3,7 million services. At the end of December 2024, average earning assets stood at 55,9 billion euros of financing and pre-tax earnings at 1,194 million euros. 
Since 2012, the Group has deployed a deposit-taking business in several countries. At the end of December 2024, net deposits amounted to 30,5 billion euros, or 50 % of the company’s net assets. 
To find out more about Mobilize Financial Services: www.mobilize-fs.com/
Follow us on Twitter: @Mobilize_FS

Attachment
- EN – CP CAALG2025
The MIL Network –
May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Europe: OLAF and Polish authorities uncover major VAT import fraud scheme

Source: European Anti-Fraud Offfice

Press release no. 10/2025
PDF version

This press release is also available in Polish.

Close cooperation between the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and Polish national authorities has led to the uncovering of a sophisticated VAT fraud scheme involving goods imported from China into the European Union. Acting on intelligence and information provided by OLAF, Polish authorities carried out a criminal investigation, resulting in the arrest of four individuals and searches at 50 locations across the country.

Working closely with customs and fiscal authorities in Poland, Germany, Czechia, Lithuania, and Latvia, OLAF identified a complex network exploiting the so-called “customs procedure 42″—a mechanism that allows for deferred VAT payments on goods imported into one Member State and transported to another.

The suspected fraudsters transported goods arriving from China via railway border crossings into Germany under a customs transit procedure, suspending customs duties and VAT. Once in Germany, the goods were declared under procedure 42, only to be transported back to Poland and stored in warehouses near Wólka Kosowska, a major commercial hub.

Operating through transport companies, logistics providers, and dozens of shell companies, the perpetrators falsely documented exports to other EU countries, mainly Lithuania. In reality, the goods remained in Poland or were illicitly distributed across the EU, including to Germany, Spain, France, and Italy—allowing for systematic evasion of VAT and the generation of significant illicit profits.

The fraudulent activities were orchestrated by an organised group, operating behind a network of shell companies registered under the names of Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Russian nationals.

Following OLAF’s referral, the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków launched a criminal investigation. On 8 April 2025, Polish authorities—including officers from the Internal Security Agency (ABW), the National Revenue Administration (KAS), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚP), and the Central Cybercrime Bureau (CBZC)—carried out an extensive enforcement operation.

In addition to the four individuals that were arrested, authorities seized telephones, computers, data carriers, financial and accounting documentation, and almost 300 company stamps. Property was also temporarily seized.

The detainees have been charged with participation in an organised criminal group, money laundering, and falsification of legal documents. At the request of the prosecutor’s office, the District Court for Kraków-Śródmieście ordered their temporary detention for three months.

OLAF Director-General Ville Itälä said: “This case is a clear example of how cross-border cooperation and intelligence-sharing are crucial in protecting the EU’s financial interests. Through close cooperation with national authorities, we can uncover even the most complex fraud schemes. We remain fully committed to supporting Member States in the fight against fraud and ensuring that those who seek to exploit our systems are caught and held fully accountable.”

You can read more in the press release from the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków

_{OLAF mission, mandate and competences:}
_{OLAF’s mission is to detect, investigate and stop fraud with EU funds.}

_{OLAF fulfils its mission by:}
_{•    carrying out independent investigations into fraud and corruption involving EU funds, so as to ensure that all EU taxpayers’ money reaches projects that can create jobs and growth in Europe;}
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_{In its independent investigative function, OLAF can investigate matters relating to fraud, corruption and other offences affecting the EU financial interests concerning:}
_{•    all EU expenditure: the main spending categories are Structural Funds, agricultural policy and rural development funds, direct expenditure and external aid;}
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_{Once OLAF has completed its investigation, it is for the competent EU and national authorities to examine and decide on the follow-up of OLAF’s recommendations. All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a competent national or EU court of law.}

For further details:

Pierluigi CATERINO
Spokesperson
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
Phone: +32(0)2 29-52335
Email: olaf-media ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (olaf-media[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
https://anti-fraud.ec.europa.eu
LinkedIn: European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
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MIL OSI Europe News –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: How a reading group helped young German students defy the Nazis and find their faith

Source: The Conversation – USA – By Peter Nguyen, SJ, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

A copy of the sentences against, left to right, Willi Graf, Kurt Huber, Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst is displayed at the White Rose Memorial in Munich. Johannes Simon/Getty Images

For three weeks in April 2025, my “Theology of Christian Martyrdom” class studied how a group of German students and professors from Munich and Hamburg formed a resistance movement from 1942 to 1943 known as the “White Rose.” These individuals defied Nazi tyranny, they were imprisoned, and many were executed.

At the movement’s center were Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst and Willi Graf, who were all in their 20s, and Professor Kurt Huber. The Scholl siblings, their friends and their professor were beheaded for urging students at the University of Munich to oppose the Nazi regime.

On the surface, the White Rose’s “crime” was the writings, printings and distribution of six anti-Nazi pamphlets urging Germans to resist Adolf Hitler and work to end World War II. However, a closer examination of their pamphlets, along with excerpts from their diaries and letters, reveals that their resistance was rooted in something deeper – a faith anchored in friendship and a humanistic learning. Their time together reading and discussing theological texts deepened their Christian faith.

Teaching this class taught me that teachers can inspire students to improve their country’s social and political landscape through the study of literature, history and theology. Teachers can help students form their consciences and empower them to act against falsehood and injustice.

The White Rose movement

These young people came from a variety of Christian backgrounds, including Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox traditions. Some had been members of the Hitler Youth as teenagers, while others had served as medical assistants in the German army. They formed strong bonds and underwent personal transformations as students at the University of Munich, where they were mentored by a couple of philosophers, especially Kurt Huber, who was a devout Catholic.

The students met regularly and secretly with their professors to study literature, philosophy and theology from the Catholic intellectual tradition, banned by the Nazi regime as part of Hitler’s strategy to first stifle and then strangle the Catholic Church in Germany. Based on the students’ correspondence and diaries, their covert engagement with Catholic thought became a cornerstone of the White Rose’s rejection of Nazi tyranny.

In the works of the fifth-century North African theologian Augustine, the 20th-century novelist and playwright Georges Bernanos, and the 20th-century philosopher Jacques Maritain, these students encountered a Catholic intellectual tradition that was responsive to the urgent questions of their time.

From Augustine they learned the importance of cultivating an interior life grounded in prayer. Bernanos stressed the importance of embracing one’s humanity to confront evil. Maritain emphasized the need to strive for a free democratic society.

Importance of prayer

The White Rose movement was concerned not only with the present state of humanity but also with its future, and not only with the individual but also with the communal. In their clandestine meetings and correspondence, they wrestled with the relationship between faith and reason, goodness in the face of evil, the meaning of tyranny, the nature of a just state, and the foundations of genuine liberty. Addressing these serious issues not only matured their intellects but also deepened their hearts; it taught them the importance of prayer.

Hans Scholl, left, and his sister Sophie in 1940.
Authenticated News/Archive Photos/Getty Image

“Better to suffer intolerable pain than to vegetate insensibly. Better to be parched with thirst, better to pray for pain, pain, and more pain, than to feel empty, and to feel so without truly feeling at all. That I mean to resist,” Sophie wrote in her diary in the early summer of 1942.

The personal writings of the White Rose reflect a religious passion, akin to the prayers of saints.

For example, in his imprisonment, Graf stated: “I know my Redeemer liveth. This faith alone strengthens and sustains me.” The impact of Christianity on the inner lives of these young people is a crucial part of their narrative and resistance.

Their circle of friendship became a haven in a totalitarian state that sought to isolate individuals, instill fear and transform these estranged and fearful people into part of a mass society. “We negated the many, and built on the few, and believed ourselves strong,” Traute Lafrenz, the last surviving member of the White Rose and a member of the Hamburg circle, later stated.

The most significant intellectual influence on the group may have been John Henry Newman, a 19th-century Catholic convert and theologian who emphasized the primacy of a “well-formed” conscience. His writings helped them recognize what Catholics like myself see as a moral truth that transcended Nazi propaganda – that each person bears within them the voice of the living God. This voice could not be silenced by state power.

Newman’s philosophy

Newman insisted that conscience is not merely intuitive but is shaped through learning – from conversations, books and lived experience. With their professors’ guidance, the White Rose students were able to cultivate their conscience.

The annual 2023 Newman lecture while commemmorating the 80th anniversary of the White Rose.

If Newman were addressing college students today, I like to believe he would emphasize the significance of their conversations with friends on campus, the discussions held with classmates and professors in the classroom, the newspapers they read, the retreats they participated in, the novels they savored during the holidays, their road trips across the country, and their studies abroad. All of these experiences contribute to shaping their conscience.

Newman’s defense of broad, active and serious learning offered an appealing counterpoint to Nazi ideology, which sought not only to deprive individuals of their civil rights but also to crush their inner lives and capacity to form meaningful relationships through terror and fear.

The power of a well-formed conscience is perhaps best illustrated by Sophie Scholl, who shared Newman’s sermons with her boyfriend, Fritz Hartnagel, a Wehrmacht officer who fought for Germany during World War II.

In the summer of 1942, horrified by the brutality he witnessed, Hartnagel wrote to Scholl that Newman’s words were like “drops of precious wine.” In another letter, he wrote: “But we know by whom we are created, and that we stand in a relationship of moral obligation to our Creator. Conscience gives us the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.” After the war, Hartnagel became active in the peace movement and supported conscientious objectors. To the members of the White Rose, conscience was a spiritual stronghold – one the state could not breach.

Truth-seeking and challenges today

I believe that while my students today face different challenges – a society shaped by what I regard as the nihilistic presence of technological power and populism, rather than full-blown totalitarianism – they also aspire to act with clarity and conviction. Newman’s view on the formation of conscience resonated with my students as well.

What my students share with those young dissidents from over 80 years ago is a commitment to cultivating an inner life, fostering a community of friends and engaging in a vibrant intellectual tradition.

They are drawn to the writings that animated Hans Scholl, who, drawing inspiration from the Catholic playwright Paul Claudel, wrote the following just two days before his arrest.

“Chasms yawn and darkest night envelops my questing heart, but I press on regardless. As Claudel so splendidly puts it: Life is one great adventure into the light.”

As a teacher, I believe that young people want to engage with an intellectual tradition that helps them discover their vocation and live with integrity, similar to Scholl.

They seek to act with a clear conscience amid the uncertainties of their own times. This approach serves as a powerful contrast to any hollow, anti-intellectual and culturally bankrupt tyranny.

Peter Nguyen, SJ does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How a reading group helped young German students defy the Nazis and find their faith – https://theconversation.com/how-a-reading-group-helped-young-german-students-defy-the-nazis-and-find-their-faith-254774

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI: Disposal of own shares based on performance share plan of Siili Solutions Plc

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

Disposal of own shares based on performance share plan of Siili Solutions Plc

Siili Solutions Plc Stock Exchange Release 30 April 2025 at 15:30 EEST

A total of 27 256 of Siili Solutions Plc’s treasury shares are conveyed without consideration and according to the plan terms to the key employees participating in the Performance Share Plan 2022 – 2024. More details of this Performance Share Plan have been announced in a stock exchange release issued on 17 December 2021.

The directed share issue is based on an authorization given by the Annual General Meeting held on 3 April 2024.

Following the directed share issue, the number of treasury shares now stands at 698 shares.

SIILI SOLUTIONS PLC

Board of Directors

For more information, please contact:

Taru Kovanen, General Counsel
Phone: 040 4176 221
Email: taru.kovanen(at)siili.com

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd
Main media
www.siili.com/fi

Siili Solutions in brief:

Siili Solutions Plc is a forerunner in AI-powered digital development. Siili is the go-to partner for clients seeking growth, efficiency and competitive advantage through digital transformation. Our main markets are Finland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany. Siili Solutions Plc’s shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange. Siili has grown profitably since its founding in 2005. www.siili.com

The MIL Network –

May 1, 2025
MIL-OSI Security: INTERPOL targets stolen vehicle trafficking in West African police operation

Source: Interpol (news and events)

30 April 2025

More than 12,000 vehicles were inspected over two weeks, initiating new investigations and uncovering links with organized crime.

LYON, France: An international police operation targeting vehicle crime in West Africa has led to the detection of approximately 150 stolen vehicles and the seizure of more than 75 vehicles.

Coordinated by INTERPOL and carried out by national law enforcement agencies in 12 West African countries, the operation – codenamed ‘Safe Wheels’ – also initiated 18 new investigations and uncovered the involvement of two organized crime groups.

Most of the stolen vehicles detected through INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicle (SMV) database were trafficked from Canada, while many had also been reported stolen in France, Germany and the Netherlands.

INTERPOL’s SMV database allows police in the Organization’s 196 member countries to run a check against a suspicious vehicle and find out instantly whether it has been reported as stolen.

In 2024, around 270,000 vehicles were identified as stolen globally through the SMV database.

David Caunter, Director of Organized and Emerging Crime at INTERPOL, said:

“Each year, hundreds of thousands of vehicles are stolen around the world, yet the initial theft is often only the beginning of a vehicle’s journey into the global criminal underworld.

“Stolen vehicles are trafficked across the globe, traded for drugs and other illicit commodities, enriching organized crime groups and even terrorists.

“INTERPOL’s SMV database is the strongest tool we have to track stolen vehicles and identify the criminals involved in this global trade.”

Stolen Canadian cars in Nigeria

During the two-week operational phase (17-30 March), law enforcement in participating countries established an average of 46 checkpoints each day to inspect a total of 12,600 vehicles, checking their details against INTERPOL’s SMV database.

Out of the vehicles seized or flagged as stolen, Toyota models were the most represented, followed by Peugeot and Honda.

Both land and sea routes were used to traffic stolen vehicles detected during the operation.

In Lagos, during checks of freight containers purportedly from Canada, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officers discovered six vehicles – Toyota and Lexus models – four of which showed clear signs of break-in.

Checks against INTERPOL’s SMV database confirmed that all six vehicles were reported stolen in Canada in 2024. Investigative collaboration is ongoing between the NCS and Canada’s INTERPOL National Central Bureau.

Nine law enforcement officers and experts from INTERPOL’s SMV Task Force, including an expert examiner from Canada, were also deployed to the region – in Benin, Cabo Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo – to support Operation Safe Wheels.

Operation Safe Wheels took place under the aegis of Project Drive Out – a new partnership between INTERPOL and the Government of Canada to target vehicle theft and the illegal trade of spare parts – and was made possible by Canadian funding.

INTERPOL member countries that participated in the operation were: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Togo.

MIL Security OSI –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Secret documents and precursors of AI: students of the State University of Management visited the Cryptography Museum

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

Students of the Institute of Marketing of the State University of Management visited the Cryptography Museum. The event was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.

Cryptography is a science of information protection methods, the evolution of which the museum tells through the history of communications development. The museum space includes the path from the era of the birth of the idea of written communication between people through alphabetic systems and signs through the industrial era, when radio, telephone, television and telegraph were created, to the modern digital era and computers.

Under the guidance of Olga Vasilyeva, senior lecturer in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, students became acquainted with a unique collection of encryption equipment and archival documents, most of which were declassified specifically for display in the museum.

The unique exhibition dedicated to encryption methods during the Great Patriotic War deserves special attention. The expression “intelligence enters the war first” exhaustively characterizes the role of intelligence agencies of any state in wars. The main task that the Soviet leadership set for foreign intelligence was to identify the military-political plans of Germany and its allies during the war. Another key task was the organization and use of special operational detachments in the enemy’s rear to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage activities, as well as to assist party and Soviet agencies in developing the partisan movement. Various means were used to solve intelligence and counterintelligence tasks, including radio games. In some periods, state security officers played up to seventy radio games with the enemy simultaneously.

Many of the groundbreaking papers in artificial intelligence were written by people who worked in cryptography and cryptanalysis during World War II. Random sequences of numbers are used as encryption keys for one-time pads, an unbreakable encryption system. The names of people whose work involves protecting state secrets often remain classified for years, sometimes decades. Cryptographers, cryptanalysts, and encryption developers are among them.

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/30/2025

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Huawei Releases AI Data Lake Solution, Positioned to Accelerate Industry Intelligence

Source: Huawei

Headline: Huawei Releases AI Data Lake Solution, Positioned to Accelerate Industry Intelligence

[Munich, Germany, April 30, 2025] On April 29, 2025, at the 4th Huawei Innovative Data Infrastructure (IDI) Forum in Munich, Germany, Huawei launched the AI Data Lake Solution, designed to accelerate AI adoption across industries. Peter Zhou, Vice President of Huawei and President of Huawei Data Storage Product Line, introduced the solution in his keynote speech: “Data Awakening, Accelerating Intelligence with AI-Ready Data Infrastructure.”
Peter Zhou, Vice President of Huawei and President of Huawei Data Storage Product Line, delivering his keynote speech

While digital transformation has evolved over decades and brought sweeping change, one thing remains constant: the critical importance of data. This was highlighted in Zhou speech: “To be Al-ready, get data-ready. The continuous deepening of industry digitalization is a process of transforming data into information and knowledge.”
By integrating data storage, data management, resource management, and the AI toolchain, the AI Data Lake Solution delivers a high-quality AI corpus and speeds up model training and inference, empowering enterprises to embrace AI.
In his address, Zhou provided details about the products and technologies that are part of the Data Lake solution:
Data storage: continuous innovation in performance, capacity, and resilience
Accelerated AI model training and inference: The Huawei OceanStor A series high-performance AI storage delivers exceptional performance. It, for instance, enabled the AI technologies developer iFLYTEK, among others, to significantly boost cluster training efficiency. Its advanced inference acceleration technology enhances inference performance, reduces latency, and elevates the application user experience—accelerating the deployment of large-model inference applications in production environments.
Efficient storage of mass AI data: The OceanStor Pacific All-Flash Scale-Out Storage offers a high capacity density of 4 PB/2 U and ultra-low power consumption of 0.25 W/TB. Designed to manage exabyte-scale data with ease, it is well-suited for data-intensive workloads across education, scientific research, medical imaging, and media.
AI corpus and vector database backup: Huawei’s OceanProtect Backup Storage provides 10 times higher backup performance than other mainstream options and boasts 99.99% ransomware attack detection accuracy, safeguarding key data of training corpus and vector databases in fields like oil and gas and MSPs.
Data management: data visibility, manageability, and mobility across regions
Huawei DME is a data management platform that integrates the Omni-Dataverse to help customers eliminate data silos in geographically dispersed data centers. In addition, DME’s ability to retrieve data from over 100 billion files in seconds helps customers efficiently process data and unlock its full potential.
Resource management: pooling of diverse xPUs and intelligent scheduling of AI resources
Powered by virtualization and container technologies, the DCS platform provides efficient xPU resource pooling and intelligent scheduling, boosting resource utilization. In addition, the DataMaster in DME enables all-scenario, AI-powered O&M with AI Copilot, offering a range of AI applications such as intelligent Q&A, O&M assistant, and inspection expert, creating an exceptional O&M experience.

MIL OSI Economics –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: FdCoin and FdBank: BaFin warns consumers about websites and identity fraud

Source: Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – In English

fdcoin.de
fondsdebotbank.de
fonddepobank.de
fondsdepotsbank.de
fondsdepodbank.de
fonddepotbank.eu
fondsdepodbank.de
fondsdepotbank.eu and
fd-bank.de

are offering cryproasset services without the required authorisation. These offers are in no way connected to the Fondsdepot Bank – a brand of FNZ Bank SE, which has its registered office in Aschheim, Germany. This is a case of identity fraud.

BaFin is issuing this information on the basis of section 10 (7) of the German Cryptomarkets Supervision Act (Kryptomärkteaufsichtsgesetz – KMAG).

Please be aware:

BaFin, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt – BKA) and the German state criminal police offices (Landeskriminalämter) recommend that consumers seeking to invest money online should exercise the utmost caution and do the necessary research beforehand in order to identify fraud attempts at an early stage.

MIL OSI Economics –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs meets Director General of Asia and the Pacific, German Foreign Office

Source: ASEAN

Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs, H.E. Nararya Sanggramawijaya Soeprapto, receives Director General of Asia and the Pacific, German Foreign Office, H.E. Frank Hartmann, at the ASEAN Headquarters today. They discussed ASEAN-Germany development cooperation partnership, as well as potential future development cooperation.

MIL OSI Economics –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Russia: Symbol of the Unconquered Spirit: 80 Years Since the Raising of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: State University of Management – Official website of the State –

On April 30, 1945, several banners and flags of various units of the Red Army were installed over the Reichstag building in Berlin. But the Banner of Victory is considered to be a specially made cloth of the 150th Rifle Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree, Idritskaya Division of the 79th Rifle Corps of the 3rd Shock Army of the 1st Belorussian Front. In accordance with Russian law, this banner is a symbol of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and a state relic.

The Reichstag had also long had a more symbolic meaning in 1945. After the National Socialist German Workers’ Party came to power in Germany in 1933 and the building was set on fire, government meetings were no longer held there, and the plenary hall was not even repaired. In 1941, the windows were walled up, the basements became a bomb shelter, and anti-aircraft guns were installed in the corner towers. Nevertheless, for the Germans, the building remained one of the symbols of statehood. And the Soviet troops needed the final goal of their victorious campaign in the form of a real object. With the approval of Joseph Stalin, the Reichstag building was chosen as such a goal.

Given the circumstances, the Reichstag was defended by elite SS units, not only Germans, but also Swedes, Norwegians, and Latvians. And the building was stormed by the most experienced Red Army guards. Due to the ferocity of the battles and the contradictory reports, it is difficult to reliably determine who was the first to raise the flag over the Reichstag. In addition to the nine flags specially made for this purpose, many went into battle with homemade flags. According to various sources, there were from 20 to 40 of them. Recently, it has been accepted that on the afternoon of April 30, the fighters of the 150th Rifle Division, Lieutenant Rakhimzhan Koshkarbayev and Private Grigory Bulatov, were in the lead. Later, two more flags were raised. Noticing this, the Germans began shelling the building and, having broken the glass dome, managed to destroy all three flags.

Late in the evening of April 30 (already May 1 Moscow time), Junior Lieutenant Meliton Kantaria and Private Mikhail Egorov from the same 150th Rifle Division managed to install the banner on the eastern facade of the building, where it could not be reached by enemy artillery. It was this flag that became the Victory Banner. On May 2, after the capitulation of the Berlin garrison, the same soldiers were ordered to move the banner to the dome of the Reichstag. A few days later, for the sake of safety, the banner was removed, and on June 20 it was transported by plane to Moscow, where it was transferred for permanent storage to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces.

Thus, both the actual and symbolic victory over Germany was achieved at the very beginning of May. All that remained was to confirm it legally.

#Scientific regiment

Subscribe to the TG channel “Our GUU” Date of publication: 04/30/2025

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

April 30, 2025

MIL-OSI: Credit Agricole Sa: Results first quarter 2025 – INCREASED REVENUES, STRONG PROFITABILITY DESPITE EXCEPTIONAL HIGH TAX IMPACT

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

INCREASED REVENUES, STRONG PROFITABILITY DESPITE EXCEPTIONAL HIGH TAX IMPACT

	CRÉDIT AGRICOLE S.A.		CRÉDIT AGRICOLE GROUP
	Q1 2025	Var. Q1/Q1	Q1 2025	Var Q1/Q1
Revenues	7,256	+6.6%	10,048	+5.5%
Expenses	-3,991	+8.8%	-5,992	+7.2%
Gross Operating Income	3,266	+4.1%	4,056	+3.0%
Cost of risk	-413	+3.4%	-735	+12.9%
Net pre-tax income	2,900	+4.6%	3,399	+1.6%
Net income group share	1,824	-4.2%	2,165	-9.2%
C/I ratio	55.0%	+1.1 pp	59.6%	+1.0 pp
NET PRE-TAX INCOME UP Record quarterly revenues and strong growth, fuelled by the excellent performance by Asset Gathering and Large Customers High profitability: contained cost/income ratio (increase in expenses of +3.2% Q1/Q1 excluding exceptional elements) and 15.9% return on tangible equity Stable cost of risk Results impacted by additional corporate tax charge EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE IN CIB AND ASSET GATHERING DIVISION High CIB, asset management and insurance business, reflected in the increased level of insurance revenues with contributions from all activities, net inflows (medium-long term) and a record level of assets under management, as well as a new record reached by CIB Loan production in France recovered compared with the low point in early 2024 without confirming the end-of-year momentum and consumer finance down, impacted by decreased activity in automotive financing; international credit activity at a high level. CAPITAL OPERATIONS AND STRATEGIC PROJECTS Creation of the GAC Sofinco Leasing joint venture Partnership created between Amundi and Victory Capital Stake in the capital of Banco BPM increased to 19.8% Planned acquisition of Banque Thaler announced by Indosuez Wealth Management AS EXPECTED, SOLVENCY RATIOS BENEFITING FROM THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF CRR3. Crédit Agricole S.A.’s phased-in CET1 at 12.1% and Group phased-in CET1 at 17.6% CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION Continued withdrawal from fossil energies and reallocation to low-carbon energy sources Support for the transition of households and businesses

Dominique Lefebvre,
Chairman of SAS Rue La Boétie and Chairman of the Crédit Agricole S.A. Board of Directors

“Quarter after quarter, Crédit Agricole continues its action to support the major societal, environmental, agricultural and agri-food transitions, which are solid development levers for the entire Group. I would like to thank each of our employees for their daily commitment to serving our customers.“

Philippe Brassac,
Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole S.A.

“The Group has published high-level results this quarter, driven by strong revenue growth, despite exceptional taxation. Crédit Agricole S.A. posted record revenues this quarter and high profitability.”

This press release comments on the results of Crédit Agricole S.A. and those of Crédit Agricole Group, which comprises the Crédit Agricole S.A. entities and the Crédit Agricole Regional Banks, which own 62.8% of Crédit Agricole S.A.

All financial data are now presented stated for Crédit Agricole Group, Crédit Agricole S.A. and the business lines results, both for the income statement and for the profitability ratios.

Crédit Agricole Group

Group activity

The Group’s commercial activity during the quarter continued at a steady pace across all business lines, with a good level of customer capture. In the first quarter of 2025, the Group recorded +550,000 new customers in retail banking. More specifically, over the year, the Group gained +433,000 new customers for Retail Banking in France and 117,000 new International Retail Banking customers (Italy and Poland).

At 31 March 2025, in retail banking, on-balance sheet deposits totalled €835 billion, up +1.3% year-on-year in France and Italy (+1.6% for Regional Banks and LCL and -2.1% in Italy). Outstanding loans totalled €881 billion, up +1.0% year-on-year in France and Italy (+1.0% for Regional Banks and LCL and +1.6% in Italy). The upturn in home loan production continued in France compared to the low point observed at the beginning of 2024, without confirming the end-of-year momentum, partly explained by the seasonal effect, recording an increase of +37% for the Regional Banks and +46% for LCL compared to the first quarter of 2024, and -4.3% and -34% respectively compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. Home loan production by CA Italia is high and up +19% compared with the first quarter of 2024. The property and casualty insurance equipment rate¹ rose to 44.2% for the Regional Banks (+0.8 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2024), 28.0% for LCL (+0.2 percentage point) and 20.3% for CA Italia (+1.0 percentage point).

In asset management, quarterly inflows remained strong at +€31.1 billion, fuelled by strong medium/long-term assets, excluding JVs (+€37 billion). In insurance, savings/retirement gross inflows rose to a record €10.8 billion over the quarter (+27% year-on-year), with the unit-linked rate in production staying at a high 34.3%. Net inflows were positive at +€4 billion, growing for both euro-denominated and unit-linked contracts. The strong performance in property and casualty insurance was driven by price changes and portfolio growth (16.8 million contracts at end-March 2025, +5% year-on-year). Assets under management totalled €2,878 billion, up +8.7% in the year for all three segments: asset management rose +6.2% over the year to €2,247 billion; life insurance was up +5.2% to €352 billion; and wealth management (Indosuez Wealth Management and LCL Private Banking) increased +41.3% year-on-year to €278 billion, notably with the positive impact of the consolidation of Degroof Petercam (€69 billion in assets under management consolidated in the second quarter of 2024).

Business in the SFS division decreased. At CAPFM, consumer finance outstandings increased to €120.7 billion, up +5.6% compared with the end of March 2024, with car loans representing 54%² of total outstandings, while new loan production decreased slightly, by -6.4% compared with end-March 2024, mainly due to the economic context negatively impacting the automotive market in Europe and China. Regarding Crédit Agricole Leasing & Factoring (CAL&F), production of lease financing outstandings was up +5.7% compared to March 2024 to €20.5 billion, with a particularly strong contribution from property leasing and renewable energy financing in France.

Large Customers again posted record revenues for the quarter in Corporate and Investment Banking. Capital Markets and Investment Banking was driven by all activities, supported by high volatility, while Financing activities reaped the benefits of growth in commercial activities. Asset Servicing recorded a high level of assets under custody of €5,467 billion and assets under administration of €3,575 billion (+9% and +4.7%, respectively, compared with the end of March 2024), with good sales momentum and positive market effects over the year.

Continued support for the energy transition

The Group is continuing the mass roll-out of financing and investment to promote the transition. The Crédit Agricole Group increased its exposure to low-carbon energy financing³ by +141% between the end of 2020 and the end of 2024, with €26.3 billion in financing at 31 December 2024. Investments in low-carbon energy⁴ totalled €6 billion at 31 December 2024.

At the same time, as a universal bank, Crédit Agricole is supporting the transition of all its customers. Thus, outstandings related to the environmental transition⁵ amounted to €111.7 billion at 31 December 2024, including €86.7 billion for energy-efficient buildings and €5.3 billion for clean transport and mobility.

In addition, the Group is continuing its exit path from carbon-based energy financing and disclosed its exposure to hydrocarbon extraction project financing⁶, down to $0.96 billion at the end of 2024, i.e. -30% compared to 2020. The target of a -25% reduction of exposure to oil extraction at the end of 2025 compared to 2020 was greatly exceeded at the end of 2024 and stands at -56%.

Group results

In the first quarter of 2025, Crédit Agricole Group’s net income Group share came to €2,165 million, down

-9.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Credit Agricole Group, Income statement Q1-25 and Q1-2024

€m	Q1-25	Q1-24	∆ Q1/Q1
Revenues	10,048	9,525	+5.5%
Operating expenses	(5,992)	(5,589)	+7.2%
Gross operating income	4,056	3,936	+3.0%
Cost of risk	(735)	(651)	+12.9%
Equity-accounted entities	75	68	+9.5%
Net income on other assets	4	(7)	n.m.
Change in value of goodwill	–	–	n.m.
Income before tax	3,399	3,347	+1.6%
Tax	(1,041)	(755)	+37.9%
Net income from discont’d or held-for-sale ope.	(0)	–	n.m.
Net income	2,358	2,592	(9.0%)
Non controlling interests	(193)	(208)	(7.2%)
Net income Group Share	2,165	2,384	(9.2%)
Cost/Income ratio (%)	59.6%	58.7%	+1.0 pp

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues amounted to €10,048 million, up +5.5% compared to the first quarter of 2024, driven by favourable results from most of the business lines. Revenues were up in French Retail Banking, while the Asset Gathering division benefited from good business momentum and the integration of Degroof Petercam, the Large Customers division enjoyed a high level of revenues across all of its business lines and the Specialised Financial Services division benefited from a positive price effect, compensating slightly down revenues in international retail banking. Operating expenses were up +7.2% in the first quarter of 2025, totalling €5,992 million. Overall, Credit Agricole Group saw its cost/income ratio reach 59.6% in the first quarter of 2025, up by +1.0 percentage point. As a result, the gross operating income stood at €4,056 million, up +3.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

The cost of credit risk stood at -€735 million, a year-on-year increase of +12.9% compared to the first quarter of 2024. This figure comprises an amount of -€47 million to prudential provisions on performing loans (stages 1 and 2) and an amount of -€677 million for the cost of proven risk (stage 3). There was also an addition of -€11 million for other risks. The provisioning levels were determined by taking into account several weighted economic scenarios and by applying some flat-rate adjustments on sensitive portfolios. The weighted economic scenarios for the first quarter are the same used for the previous quarter. The cost of risk/outstandings⁷reached 27 basis points over a four rolling quarter period and 24 basis points on an annualised quarterly basis⁸.

Pre-tax income stood at €3,399 million, a year-on-year increase of +1.6% compared to first quarter 2024. This includes the contribution from equity-accounted entities for €75 million (up +9.5%) and net income on other assets, which came to +€4 million over this quarter. The tax charge was -€1,041 million, up +37.9% over the period, with the tax rate this quarter rising by +8.3 percentage points to 31.3%. This increase is related to the exceptional corporate income tax of €-207 million at the Crédit Agricole Group level, corresponding to an estimation of €-330 million in 2025 (assuming 2025 fiscal result being equal to 2024 fiscal result). Net income before non-controlling interests was down -9.0% to €2,358 million. Non-controlling interests decreased -7.2%.

Regional banks

Gross customer capture stands at +319,000 new customers. The percentage of customers using demand deposits as their main account is stable and those who use digital tools continued to increase. Credit market share (total credits) stood at 22.7% (at the end of December 2024, source Banque de France), up by 0.1 percentage point compared to December 2023. Loan production was up +19.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024, reflecting the +37% rise in home loans and 8% in specialised markets. However, home loan production has slowed compared to the strong activity at the end of the year (-4.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024). The average lending production rate for home loans stood at 3.18%⁹ over January and February 2025, -17 basis points lower than in the fourth quarter of 2024. By contrast, the global loan stock rate showed a gradual improvement (+11 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2024). Outstanding loans totalled €649 billion at the end of March 2025, up by 0.8% year-on-year across all markets and up slightly by +0.2% over the quarter.
Customer assets were up +2.5% year-on-year to reach €915.7 billion at the end of March 2025. This growth was driven both by on-balance sheet deposits, which reached €603.2 billion (+1.3% year-on-year), and off-balance sheet deposits, which reached €312.6 billion (+5% year-on-year) benefiting from strong inflows in life insurance. Over the quarter, demand deposits slightly decreased by -1.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, while term deposits are stable. The market share of on-balance sheet deposits is up compared to last year and stands at 20.1% (Source Banque de France, data at the end of December 2024, i.e. +0.2 percentage points compared to December 2023). The equipment rate for property and casualty insurance¹⁰ was 44.2% at the end of March 2025 and continues to rise (up +0.8 percentage point compared to March 2024). In terms of payment instruments, the number of cards rose by +1.8% year-on-year, as did the percentage of premium cards in the stock, which increased by 1.8 percentage point year-on-year to account for 17% of total cards.
In the first quarter of 2025, the Regional Banks’ consolidated revenues stood at €3,339 million, up +1.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024, notably impacted by a base effect of +€41 million related to the reversal of the Home Purchase Savings Plan provision in the first quarter of 2024¹¹. Excluding this item, revenues were up +2.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024, benefiting from the increase in the intermediation margin and stable fee and commission income, mainly driven by account management and payment instruments (+3.3%). Operating expenses posted a contained increase (+1.8%). Gross operating income was stable year-on-year (+5.2% excluding the base effect¹¹). The cost of risk increased by +28.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024 to -€318 million. The cost of risk/outstandings (over four rolling quarters) remained under control at 21 basis points (a 1 basis point increase compared to fourth quarter 2024).
Thus, the net pre-tax income was down -11.6% and stood at €522 million. The Regional Banks’ consolidated net income was €346 million, down -21.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024, especially impacted by the corporate income tax surcharge (-15.3% excluding the base effect ¹¹).
The Regional Banks’ contribution to net income Group share was €341 million in the first quarter of 2025, up -23% compared to the first quarter of 2024 (-17% excluding base effect¹¹).

Crédit Agricole S.A.

Results

Crédit Agricole S.A.’s Board of Directors, chaired by Dominique Lefebvre, met on 29 April 2025 to examine the financial statements for the first quarter of 2025.

Credit Agricole S.A. – Income statement, Q1-25 and Q1-24

En m€	T1-25	T1-24	∆ T1/T1
Revenues	7,256	6,806	+6.6%
Operating expenses	(3,991)	(3,669)	+8.8%
Gross operating income	3,266	3,137	+4.1%
Cost of risk	(413)	(400)	+3.4%
Equity-accounted entities	47	43	+9.2%
Net income on other assets	1	(6)	n.m.
Change in value of goodwill	–	–	n.m.
Income before tax	2,900	2,773	+4.6%
Tax	(827)	(610)	+35.5%
Net income from discont’d or held-for-sale ope.	0	–	n.m.
Net income	2,073	2,163	(4.1%)
Non controlling interests	(249)	(259)	(3.9%)
Net income Group Share	1,824	1,903	(4.2%)
Earnings per share (€)	0.56	0.50	+11.4%
Cost/Income ratio (%)	55.0%	53.9%	+1.1 pp

In the first quarter of 2025, Crédit Agricole S.A.’s net income Group share amounted to €1,824 million, a decrease of -4.2% from the first quarter of 2024. The results of the first quarter of 2025 are based on high revenues, a cost/income ratio maintained at a low level and a controlled cost of risk, but are impacted by the corporate income tax surcharge. Pre-tax income is high, up +4.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues were at a record level, standing at €7,256 million. They were up sharply (+6.6%) compared to the first quarter of 2024. This growth was driven by growth in the Asset Gathering division (+15%) which in turn was driven by strong activity and the rise in outstandings across all business lines, including the integration of Degroof Petercam¹². Large Customer division revenues (+6.3%) were driven by good results from all business lines with continued revenue growth in corporate and investment banking (with a record revenue level for Crédit Agricole CIB) in the first quarter, in addition to an improvement in the net interest margin and fee and commission income within CACEIS. Specialised Financial Services division revenues (+2.6%) benefited mainly from positive price effects in the Personal Finance and Mobility business line. French Retail Banking growth (+1.0%) was driven by the rise in fee and commission income, and International Retail Banking revenues (-3.0%) were impacted by a base effect related to exceptional foreign exchange activity in Egypt in the first quarter of 2024. Revenues from the Corporate Centre recorded an increase of +€40 million, favourably impacted by the revaluation of the stake in Banco BPM.

Operating expenses totalled -€3,991 million in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of +8.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024, reflecting the support given to business line development. The increase in expenses of -€322 million between the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 is partly made up of a scope effect and integration costs of -€138 million¹³ and IFRIC impact of -€72 million. Other expenses increase by -€113 million (+3.2%).

The cost/income ratio thus stood at 55.0% in the first quarter 2025, increasing by +1.1 percentage point compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Gross operating income in the first quarter of 2025 stood at €3,266 million, an increase of +4.1% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

As at 31 March 2025, risk indicators confirm the high quality of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s assets and risk coverage level. The diversified loan book is mainly geared towards home loans (26% of gross outstandings) and corporates (45% of Crédit Agricole S.A. gross outstandings). The Non Performing Loans ratio showed little change from the previous quarter and remained low at 2.3%. The coverage ratio¹⁴ was high at 74.9%, up +0.8 percentage points over the quarter. Loan loss reserves amounted to €9.4 billion for Crédit Agricole S.A., a -€0.2 billion decline from end-December 2024. Of those loan loss reserves, 36.6% were for performing loans (percentage up +0.8% from the previous quarter).

The cost of risk was a net charge of -€413 million, up +3.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024, and came mainly from a provision for non-performing loans (level 3) of -€411 million (compared to a provision of -€384 million in the first quarter of 2024). Net provisioning on performing loans (levels 1 and 2) was almost zero this quarter, compared to a provision of -€12 million in the first quarter of 2024. Also noteworthy is a provision of -€2 million for other items (legal provisions) versus -€5 million in the first quarter of 2024. By business line, 60% of the net provision for the quarter came from Specialised Financial Services (55% at end-March 2024), 22% from LCL (30% at end-March 2024), 16% from International Retail Banking (20% at end-March 2024), 5% from the Corporate Centre (3% at end-March 2024) and recovered for Large Customers (same as end-March 2024). The provisioning levels were determined by taking into account several weighted economic scenarios and by applying some flat-rate adjustments on sensitive portfolios. The weighted economic scenarios for the first quarter are the same used for the previous quarter. In the first quarter of 2025, the cost of risk/outstandings was 34 basis points over a rolling four-quarter period¹⁵ and 30 basis points on an annualised quarterly basis¹⁶ (a decrease of one basis point, versus the first quarter of 2024).

The contribution from equity-accounted entities amounted to €47 million in the first quarter of 2025, up +9.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024, mainly due to the growth of equity-accounted entities in the Personal finance and mobility business line.

Pre-tax income, discontinued operations and non-controlling interests therefore increased by +4.6% to €2,900 million.

The effective tax rate stood at 29.0%, up +6.6 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2024. The tax charge was -€827 million, up +35.5% in connection with the impact in the first quarter of 2025 of the exceptional corporate tax surcharge of €-123 million, corresponding to an estimation of -€200 million in 2025 (assuming 2025 fiscal result being equal to 2024 fiscal result). Net income before non-controlling interests was down -4.1% to €2,073 million. Non-controlling interests amounted to -€249 million in first quarter 2025, down -3.9%.

Earnings per share in the first quarter of 2025 reached €0.56, increasing by +11.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
RoTE¹⁷, which is calculated on the basis of an annualised Net Income Group Share ¹⁸ and IFRIC charges and additional corporate tax charge linearised over the year, net of annualised Additional Tier 1 coupons (return on equity Group share excluding intangibles) and net of foreign exchange impact on reimbursed AT1, and restated for certain volatile items recognised in equity (including unrealised gains and/or losses), reached 15.9% in the first quarter of 2025, decreasing of 0.1 percentage point compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Analysis of the activity and the results of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s divisions and business lines

Activity of the Asset Gathering division

In the first quarter of 2025, the assets under management of the Asset gathering (AG) division stood at €2,878 billion, up +€11 billion over the quarter (i.e. +0.4%), mainly due to positive net inflows in the three insurance, asset management, and wealth management businesses, offset by an unfavourable market and foreign exchange impact effect over the period. Over the year, assets under management rose by +8.7%.

Insurance activity (Crédit Agricole Assurances) was very strong, with total premium income of €14.8 billion, up +20.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024 and up in all three segments: savings/retirement, property and casualty, and death & disability/creditor/group insurance.

In Savings/Retirement, first quarter 2025 premium income stood at €10.8 billion, up +27% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Activity was driven by the success of euro payment bonus campaigns in France (full effect of commercial events over the quarter), which boosted gross euro inflows. As a result, unit-linked rate in gross inflows is down -4.7 percentage points over the year at 34.3%¹⁹.The quarter’s record net inflows totalled +€4.0 billion (up +€1.5 billion compared to the fourth quarter of 2024), comprised of +€2.0 billion net inflows from unit-linked contracts and +€1.9 billion from euro funds.

Assets under management (savings, retirement and funeral insurance) continued to grow and came to €352.4 billion (up +€17.5 billion year-on-year, or +5.2%). The growth in outstandings was driven by the very high level of quarterly net inflows and favourable market effects. Unit-linked contracts accounted for 30% of outstandings, up +0.5 percentage point compared to the end of March 2024.

In property and casualty insurance, premium income stood at €2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2025, up +8%²⁰ compared to the first quarter of 2024. Growth stemmed from a price effect, with the increase in the average premium benefiting from revised rates and changes in the product mix, and a volume effect, with a portfolio of over €16.8 million²¹ policies at the end of March 2025 (an increase of +5% over the year). Lastly, the combined ratio at the end of March 2025 stood at 93.2%²², an improvement of -0.6 percentage point year-on-year.

In death & disability/creditor insurance/group insurance, premium income for the first quarter of 2025 stood at €1.4 billion, up +4% compared to the first quarter of 2024. The strong year-on-year activity was driven by an excellent quarter in group insurance (+24% compared to the first quarter of 2024) due to the entry into effect of the collective health contract with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty²³. Creditor (+2%) and individual death & disability (+3%) activities were resilient.

In Asset Management (Amundi), assets under management by Amundi increased by +0.3% and +6.2% respectively over the quarter and the year, reaching a new record of 2,247 billion at the end of March 2025, benefiting from a high level of inflows over 12 months (+€70 billion), and despite a significantly negative foreign exchange impact this quarter (-€26 billion). Over the quarter, net inflows in asset management (Amundi) stood at +€31.1 billion, driven by a record quarterly inflow of medium-long term assets²⁴(+€37 billion). This good performance is illustrated in particular by the continued dynamic in the strategic aeras (ETF +€10 billion, Third Party Distribution +€8 billion, Asia +€8 billion). In the institutional segment, net inflows of €22.4 billion over the quarter continued their strong commercial activity, driven by medium-long term assets, mainly the acquisition of a large ESG equity index mandate with The People’s Pension in the United Kingdom (+€21 billion). In return, Corporates recorded a seasonal outflow in treasury products. Finally, JVs posted a net inflow of €2.9 billion over the period, with good inflows in Korea, stabilisation in China and an outflow in India related to the end of the financial year and the local market correction from the fourth quarter of 2024. Furthermore, the finalisation of the partnership with Victory Capital was announced on 1 April 2025.

In Wealth management, total assets under management (CA Indosuez Wealth Management and LCL Private Banking) amounted to €278 billion at the end of March 2025, and were up +41.3% compared to March 2024 and stable compared to December 2024.

For Indosuez Wealth Management, outstandings at the end of March stood at €213 billion²⁵, down -0.7% compared to end-December 2024. Despite activity remaining positive with positive net inflows of €0.8 billion, the market and foreign exchange impact for the quarter was unfavourable by -€2 billion. Compared to the end of March 2024, assets under management were up by +€80 billion (or +60.2%), taking into account a scope effect of €69 billion (integration of Degroof Petercam in June 2024). The announcement on 4 April 2025 of the planned acquisition of Banque Thaler in Switzerland is also noteworthy.

Results of the Asset Gathering division

In the first quarter of 2025, the Asset Gathering division generated €2,058 million in revenues, up +15.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024, driven by all the division’s business lines. Expenses increased +24.1% to -€936 million and gross operating income came to €1,123 million, +8.4% compared to first quarter of 2024. The cost/income ratio for the first quarter of 2025 stood at 45.5%, up +3.3 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. As a result, pre-tax income increased by +8.2% to €1,139 million in the first quarter of 2025. Net income Group share recorded a drop of 5%, taking into account corporate tax additional charge in France.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Asset Gathering division contributed by 35% to the net income Group share of the Crédit Agricole S.A. core businesses and 28% to revenues (excluding the Corporate Centre division).

As at 31 March 2025, equity allocated to the division amounted to €13.4 billion, including €10.8 billion for Insurance, €1.8 billion for Asset Management, and €0.8 billion for Wealth Management. The division’s risk-weighted assets amounted to €51.7 billion, including €24.3 billion for Insurance, €19.2 billion for Asset Management and €8.2 billion for Wealth Management.

Insurance results

In first quarter 2025, insurance revenues stood at €727 million, a slight increase of +0.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024, supported by Savings/Retirement (related to the increase in outstandings) and property and casualty insurance, offsetting a narrowing of technical margins in Creditor insurance combined with methodological effects. Revenues for the quarter included €505 million from savings/retirement and funeral insurance²⁶, €103 million from personal protection²⁷ and €122 million from property and casualty insurance²⁸.

The Contractual Service Margin (CSM) totalled €25.8 billion at the end of March 2025, an increase of +2% compared to the end of December 2024.

Non-attributable expenses for the quarter stood at -€96 million, up +4.7% over the first quarter of 2024. As a result, gross operating income reached €632 million, stable (+0.1%) compared to the same period in 2024. Net pre-tax income was stable, amounting to €631 million. Excluding the effect of replacing Tier 1 debt with Tier 2 debt in September 2024²⁹, it was up by +2%. For the same reason, non-controlling interests amounted to -€3 million compared to -€14 million in the first quarter of 2024, due to the inclusion of accounting items on the redemption of Tier 1 instruments²⁹. Net income Group share stood at €439 million, down -11.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024, taking into account the corporate tax additional charge in France.

Insurance contributed 23% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s business lines (excluding the Corporate Centre division) at end-March 2025 and 10% to their revenues (excluding the Corporate Centre division).

Asset Management results

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues amounted to €892 million, showing double-digit growth of +11.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Net management fee and commission income showed a sustained increase of +7.7% on the first quarter of 2024 in a context of market appreciation. Performance fee and commission income was also up by +30.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Amundi Technology’s revenues continued their sustained growth and increased by +46.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024, thanks to the integration of aixigo, a European leader in Wealth Tech, whose acquisition was finalised in November 2024, amplifying organic growth, which remained strong (+21%). Operating expenses amounted to -€496 million, up +10.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024. They include the scope effects related to Alpha Associates and aixigo, as well as the integration costs related to Victory Capital. Apart from these effects, expenses increased by +6.3% over the period. The cost/income ratio at 55.6%, is down -0.2 percentage points despite Victory Capita^l³⁰ integration costs. Restated from the latter, the cost/income ratio stood at 54.8%. Gross operating income stood at €396 million, an increase of +11.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024. The contribution of equity-accounted entities, including the contribution of Amundi’s Asian joint ventures, amounted to €28 million, down slightly compared to the first quarter of 2024. Consequently, pre-tax income came to €419 million, a +9.3% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024. Net income Group share stood at €183 million, down -7.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024, taking into account the impact of the corporate tax additional charge in France.

Wealth Management results³¹

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues from wealth management amounted to €439 million, up +66.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024, benefiting from the impact of the integration of Degroof Petercam in June 2024³². Apart from this effect, revenues were supported by the strong activity of transactional fee and commission income, and the net interest margin held up well over the period. Expenses for the quarter amounted to -€344 million, up +60.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024, impacted by a Degroof Petercam scope effect³² and -€13 million in integration costs. Restated for these impacts, growth in expenses was stable compared to the first quarter of 2024. The cost/income ratio for the first quarter of 2025 stood at 78.4%, down -2.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. Restated for integration costs, it amounted to 75.5%. Gross operating income reached €95 million, up sharply (+91.3%) compared to the first quarter of 2024. Cost of risk remained moderate at -€6 million. Net income Group share reached €58 million, up sharply (x 2.3) compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Wealth Management contributed 3% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s business lines (excluding the Corporate Centre division) at end-March 2025 and 6% of their revenues (excluding the Corporate Centre division).

At 31 March 2025, equity allocated to Wealth management was €0.8 billion and risk-weighted assets totalled €8.2 billion.

Activity of the Large Customers division

The large customers division posted good activity in the first quarter of 2025, thanks to very good performance from Corporate and Investment banking (CIB) and strong activity in asset servicing.

Corporate and Investment Banking’s first quarter 2025 revenues rose sharply to €1,887 million, an increase of +7.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024, driven by growth in its two business lines. Capital Markets and Investment Banking grew its revenues to €1,017 million, an increase of +10.0% compared with the first quarter of 2024. This was fuelled by new growth in revenues across all Capital Market activities (+5.9% compared to the first quarter of 2024) in a context of high volatility, and by the good level of activity in Investment Banking (+31.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024) thanks to the good dynamics of Structured Equities activities. Financing activity revenues were also up at €870 million, an increase of +4.4% relative to the first quarter of 2024. This was mainly due to the performance of Commercial Banking (+1.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024), driven by the performance of assets financing and project financing, particularly in Green Energy and Aerospace, and by Trade and Export Finance activities. The structured finance activity also recorded an increase in revenues of +9.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Financing activities consolidated its leading position in syndicated loans (#1 in France³³ and #2 in EMEA³³). Crédit Agricole CIB reaffirmed its strong position in bond issues (#2 All bonds in EUR Worldwide³³) and was ranked #1 in Green, Social & Sustainable bonds in EUR³⁴. Average regulatory VaR stood at €10.5 million in the first quarter of 2025, up slightly from €9.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflecting changes in positions and financial markets. It remained at a level that reflected prudent risk management.

For Asset servicing, business growth was supported by strong commercial activity and favourable market effects, which offset the planned exit of ISB customers.

Assets under custody (AuC) rose by +3.3% at end-March 2025 compared to end-December 2024, up +9.0% from end-March 2024, to reach €5,467 billion. Assets under administration also increased by +5.3% this quarter and were up +4.7% year-on-year, totalling €3,575 billion at end-March 2025.

Results of the Large Customers division

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues of the Large Customers division once again reached a record level, with €2,408 million, up +6.3% compared with the first quarter of 2024, buoyed by an excellent performance in the Corporate and Investment Banking and Asset Servicing business lines.

Operating expenses increased by +4.9% due to IT investments and business line development. As a result, the division’s gross operating income was up +8.2% from the first quarter of 2024 to €1,048 million. The business line recorded a net reversal in the cost of risk of +€25 million, compared to a reversal of +33 million in the first quarter of 2024. Pre-tax income amounted to €1,078 million, up +7.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024. The tax charge stood at -€305 million in the first quarter of 2025, taking into account the additional corporate income tax charge. Finally, net income Group share totalled €723 million in the first quarter of 2025, stable (+0.2%) compared to the first quarter of 2024.

The business line contributed 38% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s core businesses (excluding the Corporate Centre division) at end-March 2025 and 33% to revenues excluding the Corporate Centre.

At 31 March 2025, the equity allocated to the division was €13.5 billion and its risk-weighted assets were €141.7 billion.

Corporate and Investment Banking results

In the first quarter of 2025, Corporate and Investment Banking revenues reached a record of €1,887 million, up +7.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024. This was the best quarter recorded for Corporate and Investment Banking.

Operating expenses rose by +7.5% to -€992 million, mainly due to IT investments and the development of business line activities. Gross operating income rose sharply by +7.1% compared to the first quarter 2024, taking it to a high level of +€895 million. The cost/income ratio was stable at 52.6% (+0.1 percentage point over the period). The cost of risk recorded a net reversal of +€24 million, notably related to new synthetic securitisation transactions. Lastly, pre-tax income in the first quarter of 2025 stood at €919 million, up +5.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Finally, net income Group share recorded a decrease of -0.5%, impacted by the additional corporate tax charge, to reach €648 million in the first quarter of 2025.

Asset servicing results

In the first quarter of 2025, the revenues of Asset Servicing were up +2.7% compared to the first quarter of 2024, standing at €522 million. This increase was driven by the favourable evolution of the net interest margin and fee and commission income on flow activities and transactions. Operating expenses were down by -1.6% to
-€368 million, due to the decrease in ISB integration costs compared to the first quarter of 2024³⁵. Apart from this effect, expenses were up slightly pending the acceleration of synergies. As a result, gross operating income was up by +14.7 and stood at €153 million in the first quarter of 2025. The cost/income ratio for the first quarter of 2025 stood at 70.6%, down -3.1 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. Consequently, pre-tax income was up by +19.1% and stood at €160 million in the first quarter of 2025. Net income Group share recorded an increase of +6% taking into account the additional corporate tax charge.

Specialised financial services activity

The commercial production of Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility (CAPFM) totalled €11.0 billion in the first quarter of 2025. It was down by -6.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024, related to the economic context negatively impacting the automotive market in Europe and China. The share of automotive financing³⁶ in quarterly new business production stood at 48.5%. The average customer rate for production was up slightly by +3 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2024. As a result, CAPFM’s assets under management stood at €120.7 billion at end-March 2025, up +5.6% compared to end-March 2024, driven by all scopes: Automotive +8.6%³⁷, LCL and Regional Bank +4.4%, Other Entities +3.0%. Automotive benefited from the consolidation of GAC Leasing this quarter as well as the development of car rental activities. Lastly, consolidated outstandings totalled €68.7 billion at end-March 2025, up 0.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Crédit Agricole Leasing & Factoring (CAL&F) commercial production increased by +3.0% in leasing, compared to the first quarter of 2024. This was driven by property leasing and renewable energy financing in France. Leasing outstandings rose +5.7% year-on-year, both in France (+4.5%) and internationally (+10.6%), to reach €20.5 billion at end-March 2025 (of which €16.1 billion in France and €4.4 billion internationally). Commercial production in factoring was down by -5.1% compared to the first quarter of 2024; International sales were down -31.6% due to a base effect linked to Germany, which recorded significant deals in the first quarter of 2024; France was up +16%, benefiting from significant contracts this quarter. Factoring outstandings at end-March 2025 were up +14.4% compared to end-March 2024, and factored revenues were up by +5.4% compared to the same period in 2024.

Specialised financial services’ results

The revenues of the Specialised Financial Services division were €868 million in the first quarter of 2025, up +2.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Expenses stood at -€474 million, up +4.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024. The cost/income ratio stood at 54.5%, up +0.9 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. Gross operating income thus came to €395 million, up +0.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Cost of risk amounted to -€249 million, up +13.8% compared to the third quarter of 2024. The results of equity-accounted entities amounted to €36 million, up +18.5% compared to the first quarter of 2024; restated for non-recurring items from the first quarter of 2025 for €12 million, it was down -21.0%. Pre-tax income for the division amounted to €182 million, down -10.6% compared to the same period in 2024. Net income Group share includes the corporate tax additional charge in France and amounted to €148 million, up +4.1% compared to the same period in 2024.

The business line contributed 8% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s core businesses (excluding the Corporate Centre division) at end-March 2025 and 12% to revenues excluding the Corporate Centre.

At 31 March 2025, the equity allocated to the division was €7.5 billion and its risk-weighted assets were €79.0 billion.

Personal Finance and Mobility results

CAPFM revenues reached €683 million in the first quarter of 2025, up +2.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024, with a positive price effect thanks in particular to the production margin rate, which improved by +32 basis points in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024 (up +9 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024). Expenses amounted to -€370 million, an increase of +4.3% due to employee expenses and IT expenses and compared to the first quarter of 2024, which was low. Gross operating income therefore stood at €313 million, stable compared to the first quarter of 2024 (-0.5%). The cost/income ratio stood at 54.2%, up +1.2 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. The cost of risk stood at -€225 million, up +13.0% from the first quarter of 2024. The cost of risk/outstandings thus stood at 130 basis points³⁸, a deterioration of +13 basis points compared to the first quarter of 2024, especially in international subsidiaries. The Non-Performing Loans ratio was 4.5% at the end of March 2025, down -0.2 percentage point compared to the end of December 2024, while the coverage ratio reached 73.5%, up +0.3 percentage points compared to the end of December 2024. The contribution from equity-accounted entities rose by +18.1% compared to the same period in 2024. Restated for non-recurring items from the first quarter of 2025 for €12 million, the results for equity-accounted entities dropped by -19.3% in connection with the Chinese market. Pre-tax income amounted to €126 million, down -14.3% compared to the same period in 2024. The net income Group share includes the corporate tax additional charge in France and reached €106 million, up +7.5% compared to the previous year.

Leasing & Factoring results

CAL&F’s revenues totalled €185 million, up +4.8% compared to the first quarter 2024. This increase was driven by equipment leasing and factoring. Expenses stood at -€104 million, up +4.6% in connection with the growth of the system, and the cost/income ratio stood at 56.0%, an improvement of -0.1 percentage point compared to the first quarter of 2024. Gross operating income stood at €82 million, up +5.0% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Cost of risk totalled -€24 million, up +21.5% compared to the same period in 2024. This rise was due to the small business and SME markets. Cost of risk/outstandings stood at 25 basis points³⁸, up +3 basis points compared to first quarter 2024. Pre-tax income amounted to €56 million, stable (-0.7%) compared to the same period in 2024. Net income Group share includes the corporate tax additional charge in France and amounted to €42 million, down -3.7% compared to the previous year.

Crédit Agricole S.A. Retail Banking activity

In retail banking at Crédit Agricole S.A. this quarter, loan production in France continued its upturn compared to the first half of 2024 and the dynamic momentum continues in Italy. The number of customers with insurance is progressing.

Retail banking activity in France

In the first quarter of 2025, activity remained steady, albeit with a slowdown in property loans compared to the previous quarter and a stability in inflows and non-remunerated demand deposits over the quarter. Customer acquisition remained dynamic, with 67,000 new customers this quarter.

The equipment rate for car, multi-risk home, health, legal, all mobile phones or personal accident insurance rose by +0.2 percentage points to stand at 28.0% at end-March 2025.

Loan production totalled €6.7 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of +32%. The first quarter of 2025 recorded a slowdown in the production of property loans(+46% compared to the first quarter of 2024 and -34% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024), partially due to the seasonal effect. The average production rate for home loans came to 3.18%, down -6 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2024 and -102 basis points year on year. The home loan stock rate improved by +5 basis points over the quarter and by +19 basis points year on year. The strong momentum continued in the corporate market (+49% year on year) and the small business market (+6.4% year on year) but slowed for the consumer credit segment (-10.3%), in a challenging economic environment.

Outstanding loans stood at €171 billion at end-March 2025, stable over the quarter and increasing by +1.6% year-on-year (of which +1.7% for home loans, +1.1% for loans to professionals, +2.0% for loans to corporates). Customer assets totalled €256.5 billion at end-March 2025, up +2.2% year on year, driven by interest-earning deposits and off-balance sheet funds. Over the quarter, customer assets were also up by +0.6%, including term deposits by +0.9%, in an environment that remains uncertain. Off-balance sheet deposits benefited from a positive year-on-year (unfavourable in the quarter) market effect across all segments and positive net inflows in life insurance.

Retail banking activity in Italy

In the first quarter of 2025, CA Italia posted gross customer capture of 53,000.

Loan outstandings at CA Italia stood at €61.1 billion at end-March 2025³⁹, up +1.6% compared with end-March 2024, in a stable Italian market⁴⁰, driven by the retail segment, which posted an increase in outstandings of +3.0%, and with a stable corporate segment. The loan stock rate was down -34 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, in line with the evolution in market rates. Loan production, buoyed by the solid momentum in all markets, rose +19.2% compared with the first quarter of 2024.

Customer assets at end-March 2025 totalled €118.2 billion, up +1.7% compared with end-March 2024; on-balance sheet deposits were down -2.1% compared to end-March 2024, while the cost of on-balance sheet deposits decreased. Finally, off-balance sheet deposits increased by +6.5% over the same period and benefited from net flows and a positive market effect.

CA Italia’s equipment rate in car, multi-risk home, health, legal, all mobile phones or personal accident insurance exceeded 20.0%, at 20.3%, up +1.0 percentage point compared with the first quarter of 2024.

International Retail Banking activity excluding Italy

For International Retail Banking excluding Italy, loan outstandings were €7.4 billion, up +5.8% at current exchange rates at end-March 2025 compared with end-March 2024 (+4.7% at constant exchange rates). Customer assets rose by +€12 billion and were up +11.1% over the same period at current exchange rates (+11.5% at constant exchange rates).

In Poland in particular, loan outstandings increased by +3.6% compared to end-March 2024 (+0.7% at constant exchange rates) driven by the retail segment and on-balance sheet deposits of +17.0% (+13.8% at constant exchange rates). Loan production in Poland was stable this quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024 (+3.4% at current exchange rates and +0.3% at constant exchange rates). In addition, gross customer capture in Poland reached 64,000 new customers this quarter.

In Egypt, commercial activity was strong in all markets. Loan outstandings rose +19.7% between end-March 2025 and end-March 2024 (+27.8% at constant exchange rates). Over the same period, on-balance sheet deposits increased by +5.4%% and were up +12.5% at constant exchange rates.

Liquidity is still very strong with a net surplus of deposits over loans in Poland and Egypt amounting to +€2.3 billion at 31 March 2025, and reached €3.9 billion including Ukraine.

French retail banking results

In the first quarter of 2025, LCL revenues amounted to €963 million, up (+1.0%) compared to the first quarter of 2024. The increase in fee and commission income (+3.6% Q1/Q1) was driven by all activities (excluding securities management), but mainly by strong momentum in insurance (life and non-life). NIM is down by -1.7% Q1/Q1 and benefited from the increase in credit yields (stock repricing +19 bp Q1/Q1 and +5 bp Q1/Q4) and the reduction in the cost of resources, making it possible to mitigate the lower contribution of macro-hedging.

Expenses are up by +3.8% and stood at -€625 million linked to the acceleration of investments (IT and employee expenses). The cost/income ratio stood at 64.9%, an increase by 1.8 percentage point compared to first quarter 2024. Gross operating income fell by -3.9% to €338 million.

The cost of risk was down -22.9% compared to the first quarter of 2024 and stood at -€92 million (including a provision of -€95 million on proven risk and a recovery of €3 for contingent liabilities). The cost of risk/outstandings therefore stood at 20 basis points, with its level still high on the professional market. The coverage ratio stood at 63.0% at end-March 2025 (+0.4 percentage points compared to end-December 2024). The Non-Performing Loans ratio reached 2.0% at the end of March 2025, stable compared to the end of December 2024.

In the end, pre-tax income stood at €247 million, up +5.3% compared to the first quarter of 2024, and net income Group share was down -25.6% compared to the first quarter 2024, impacted by the corporate income tax.

In the end, the business line contributed 7% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s core businesses (excluding the Corporate Centre division) in the first quarter of 2025 and 13% to revenues excluding the Corporate Centre division.

At 31 March 2025, the equity allocated to the business line stood at €5.1 billion and risk-weighted assets amounted to €53.9 billion.

International Retail Banking results⁴¹

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues for International Retail Banking totalled €1,025 million, down compared with the fourth quarter of 2024 (-3.0% at current exchange rates, -0.7% at constant exchange rates). Operating expenses were under control at -€515 million, an increase of +1.8% (+2.6% at constant exchange rates). Gross operating income consequently totalled €511 million, down -7.5% (-3.9% at constant exchange rates) for the period. Cost of risk amounted to -€66 million, down -18.9% compared to first quarter 2024 (-19.0% at constant exchange rates).

All in all, net income Group share for CA Italia, CA Egypt, CA Poland and CA Ukraine amounted to €246 million in the first quarter of 2025, down -4.3% (and stable at -0.4% at constant exchange rates).

At 31 March 2025, the capital allocated to International Retail Banking was €4.1 billion and risk-weighted assets totalled €43.4 billion.

Results in Italy

In the first quarter of 2025, Crédit Agricole Italia revenues stood at €777 million, stable (+0.3%) compared to the first quarter of 2024. The decrease in net interest margin (-5.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024) is offset by the increase in fee and commission income (+7.4% compared to the first quarter of 2024), which was driven by fee and commission income on assets under management (+11.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024). Operating expenses were -€384 million, contained and stable at +0.5% over the first quarter of 2024.

Cost of risk amounted to -€56 million in first quarter 2025, down -7.9% compared to first quarter 2024, and corresponded almost entirely to provisions for proven risk. Cost of risk/outstandings⁴² stood at 39 basis points, up 1 basis point compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The NPL ratio stood at 2.8%, improved compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, while the coverage ratio stood at 77.9% (+2.8 percentage points compared to the fourth quarter of 2024). Net income Group share for CA Italia was therefore €178 million, stable (-0.8%) compared to the first quarter of 2024.

International Retail Banking results – excluding Italy

In the first quarter of 2025, revenues for International Retail Banking excluding Italy totalled €248 million, down -12.2% (+3.9% at constant exchange rates) compared to the first quarter of 2024. Revenues in Poland were up +8.6% compared to the first quarter of 2024 (+5.3% at constant exchange rates), with a higher net interest margin. Revenues in Egypt were down -35.7% (-13.2% at constant exchange rates) with a base effect related to the exceptional foreign exchange activity of the first quarter of 2024, but benefited from an increased net interest margin. Operating expenses for International Retail Banking excluding Italy amounted to €131 million, up +5.8% compared to the first quarter of 2024 (+9.4% at constant exchange rates) due to the effect of employee expenses and taxes in Poland as well as employee expenses and inflation in Egypt. Gross operating income amounted to €117 million, down -26.3% (+15.3% at constant exchange rates) compared to the first quarter of 2024. The cost of risk remained contained at -€10 million, versus -€21 million in the first quarter of 2024. Furthermore, at end-March 2025, the coverage ratio for loan outstandings remained high in Poland and Egypt, at 122% and 144% respectively. In Ukraine, the local coverage ratio remains prudent (450%). All in all, the contribution of International Retail Banking excluding Italy to net income Group share was €67 million, down -12.4% compared with the first quarter of 2024 at current exchange rates and stable at constant exchange rates (+0.8%).

At 31 March 2025, the entire Retail Banking business line contributed 19% to the net income Group share of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s core businesses (excluding the Corporate Centre division) and 27% to revenues excluding the Corporate Centre.

At 31 March 2025, the division’s equity amounted to €9.2 billion. Its risk-weighted assets totalled €97.2 billion.

Corporate Centre results

The net income Group share of the Corporate Centre was -€102 million in first quarter 2025, up +€5 million compared with first quarter 2024. The positive contribution of the Corporate Centre division can be analysed by distinguishing between the “structural” contribution (-€55 million) and other items (-€48 million).
The contribution of the “structural” component (-€55 million) was up by +€52 million compared with the first quarter of 2024 and can be broken down into three types of activity:

The activities and functions of the Corporate Centre of the Crédit Agricole S.A. Parent Company. This contribution was -€315 million in the first quarter of 2025, down -€20 million, mainly explained by the accounting of the IFRIC tax in a single payment this quarter, whereas it had been spread over two quarters last year

The business lines that are not part of the core businesses, such as CACIF (private equity), CA Immobilier, CATE and BforBank (equity-accounted). Their contribution, at +€252 million in the first quarter of 2025, was up +€67 million compared to the first quarter of 2024, including a positive impact of the revaluation of Banco BPM shares.
Group support functions. Their contribution amounted to +€9 million this quarter (+€4 million compared with first quarter 2024).

The contribution from “other items” amounted to -€48 million, down -€47 million compared to the first quarter of 2024, mainly explained by a negative variance related to ESTER/BOR volatility.

At 31 March 2025, risk-weighted assets stood at €35.1 billion.

Financial strength

Crédit Agricole Group has the best level of solvency among European Global Systemically Important Banks.

Capital ratios for Crédit Agricole Group are well above regulatory requirements. At 31 March 2025, the phased Common Equity Tier 1 ratio (CET1) for Crédit Agricole Group stood at 17.6%, or a substantial buffer of 780 basis points above regulatory requirements. The change in the CET1 ratio over the quarter is explained by the impacts of (a) +56 basis points linked to CRR3 impact (b) +25 basis points linked to retained earnings, (c) -17 bp related to the organic growth of the business lines and (d) -17 basis points for methodological effects, M&A and other effects, taking into account in the -9 basis points of the latest IFRS 9 phasing and -8 basis points related to the purchase of shares in Crédit Agricole S.A.

Crédit Agricole S.A., in its capacity as the corporate center of the Crédit Agricole Group, fully benefits from the internal legal solidarity mechanism as well as the flexibility of capital circulation within the Crédit Agricole Group. The phased-in CET1 capital ratio stood at 12.1% at 31 March 2025, or a buffer of 350 basis points above regulatory requirements. The change in the CET1 ratio over the quarter is explained by the impacts of (a) +44 basis points linked to CRR3 impact (b) +21 basis points linked to retained earnings, (c) -9 bp related to the organic growth of the business lines and (d) -10 basis points for methodological effects, M&A and other effects, taking into account in the -5 basis points of the latest IFRS 9 phasing. Including M&A transactions completed after March 31, 2025 and the estimated impact from the crossing of the exemption threshold in Q2 2025, the proforma CET1 ratio would be 11.8%.

The breakdown in risk weighted assets for Crédit Agricole S.A. by business line resulted from the combined effects of (a) -€12.9 billion related to the impact of CRR3 and, excluding this effect, (b) -€0.2 billion in the Retail Banking divisions, (c) +€1.4 billion in Asset Gathering, in particular in connection with the increase in the Equity Accounted Value of insurance (d) +€1.9 billion in specialized financial services, (e) -€0.8 billion in Large Customers and (f) +€0.1 billion in Corporate Center.

For the Crédit Agricole Group, the impact of CRR3 was -€18.2 billion and the increase in risk weighted assets at the Retail Banking divisions was +€1.3 billion excluding the CRR3 effect. The evolution of the other businesses follows the same trend as for Crédit Agricole S.A.

Crédit Agricole Group’s financial structure

	Crédit Agricole Group			Crédit Agricole S.A.
	*31/03/25*	*31/12/24*	Requirements 31/03/25	*31/03/25*	*31/12/24*	Requirements 31/03/25
Phased-in CET1 ratio⁴³	17.6%	17.2%	9.8%	12.1%	11.7%	8.6%
Tier1 ratio⁴³	19.0%	18.3%	11.7%	14.3%	13.4%	10.4%
Total capital ratio⁴³	21.8%	20.9%	14.1%	18,4%	17.4%	12.8%
Risk-weighted assets (€bn)	641	653		405	415
Leverage ratio	5.6%	5.5%	3.5%	4.0%	3.9%	3.0%
Leverage exposure (€bn)	2,173	2,186		1,434	1,446
TLAC ratio (% RWA) ⁴³^,⁴⁴	28.5%	26.9%	22,32%
TLAC ratio (% LRE)⁴⁴	8.4%	8.0%	6.75%
Subordinated MREL ratio (% RWA) ⁴³	28.5%	26.9%	22.57%
Subordinated MREL ratio (% LRE)	8.4%	8.0%	6.25%
Total MREL ratio (% RWA) ⁴³	34.0%	32.4%	26.33%
Total MREL ratio (% LRE)	10.0%	9.7%	6.25%
Distance to the distribution restriction trigger (€bn)⁴⁵	46	43		14	12

For Crédit Agricole S.A., the distance to the trigger for distribution restrictions is the distance to the MDA trigger⁴⁵, i.e. 354 basis points, or €14 billion of CET1 capital at 31 March 2025. Crédit Agricole S.A. is not subject to either the L-MDA (distance to leverage ratio buffer requirement) or the M-MDA (distance to MREL requirements).

For Crédit Agricole Group, the distance to the trigger for distribution restrictions is the distance to the L-MDA trigger at 31 March 2025. Crédit Agricole Group posted a buffer of 210 basis points above the L-MDA trigger, i.e. €46 billion in Tier 1 capital.

At 31 March 2025, Crédit Agricole Group’s TLAC and MREL ratios are well above requirements⁴⁴. Crédit Agricole Group posted a buffer of 590 basis points above the M-MDA trigger, i.e. €38 billion in CET1 capital. At this date, the distance to the M-MDA trigger corresponded to the distance between the subordinated MREL ratio and the corresponding requirement. The Crédit Agricole Group’s 2025 target is to maintain a TLAC ratio greater than or equal to 26% of RWA excluding eligible senior preferred debt.

Liquidity and Funding

Liquidity is measured at Crédit Agricole Group level.

As of 31 December 2024, changes have been made to the presentation of the Group’s liquidity position (liquidity reserves and balance sheet, breakdown of long term debt). These changes are described in the 2024 Universal Registration Document.

Diversified and granular customer deposits remain stable compared to December 2024 (€1,148 billion at end-March 2025).

The Group’s liquidity reserves, at market value and after haircuts⁴⁶, amounted to €487 billion at 31 March 2025, up +€14 billion compared to 31 December 2024.

Liquidity reserves covered more than twice the short term debt net of treasury assets.

This increase in liquidity reserves is notably explained by:

The increase in the securities portfolio (HQLA and non-HQLA) for +€6 billion;
The increase in collateral already pledged to Central Banks and unencumbered for +€5 billion, including a €2 billion increase in self-securitisations;
The increase in central bank deposits for €3 billion.

Crédit Agricole Group also continued its efforts to maintain immediately available reserves (after recourse to ECB financing). Central bank eligible non-HQLA assets after haircuts amounted to €144 billion.

Standing at €1,691 billion at 31 March 2025, the Group’s liquidity balance sheet shows a surplus of stable funding resources over stable application of funds of €197 billion, up +€20 billion compared with end-December 2024. This surplus remains well above the Medium-Term Plan target of €110bn-€130bn.

Long term debt was €315 billion at 31 March 2025, up compared with end-December 2024. This included:

Senior secured debt of €89 billion, up +€5 billion;
Senior preferred debt of €162 billion, up +€3 billion due to the increase in entities’ issuances;
Senior non-preferred debt of €40 billion, up +€3 billion due to the MREL/TLAC eligible debt;
And Tier 2 securities of €24 billion, down -€1 billion.

Credit institutions are subject to a threshold for the LCR ratio, set at 100% on 1 January 2018.

At 31 March 2025, the average LCR ratios (calculated on a rolling 12-month basis) were 139% for Crédit Agricole Group (representing a surplus of €92 billion) and 144% for Crédit Agricole S.A. (representing a surplus of €89 billion). They were higher than the Medium-Term Plan target (around 110%).

In addition, the NSFR of Crédit Agricole Group and Crédit Agricole S.A. exceeded 100%, in accordance with the regulatory requirement applicable since 28 June 2021 and above the Medium-Term Plan target (>100%).

The Group continues to follow a prudent policy as regards medium-to-long-term refinancing, with a very diversified access to markets in terms of investor base and products.

At 31 March 2025, the Group’s main issuers raised the equivalent of €15.6 billion⁴⁷in medium-to-long-term debt on the market, 82% of which was issued by Crédit Agricole S.A.

In particular, the following amounts are noted for the Group excluding Crédit Agricole S.A.:

Crédit Agricole Assurances issued €750 million in RT1 Perpetual NC10.75 year;
Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility issued:
- €500 million in EMTN issuances through Crédit Agricole Auto Bank (CAAB);
- €420 million in securitisations through Agos;
Crédit Agricole Italia issued one senior secured debt issuance for a total of €1 billion;
Crédit Agricole next bank (Switzerland) issued two tranches in senior secured format for a total of 200 million Swiss francs, of which 100 million Swiss francs in Green Bond format.

At 31 March 2025, Crédit Agricole S.A. raised the equivalent of €11.2 billion through the market⁴⁸^,⁴⁹.

The bank raised the equivalent of €11.2 billion, of which €4.7 billion in senior non-preferred debt and €1.4 billion in Tier 2 debt, as well as €1.3 billion in senior preferred debt and €3.8 billion in senior secured debt at end-March. The financing comprised a variety of formats and currencies, including:

€1.75 billion⁵⁰^,⁵¹;
3.5 billion US dollars (€3.4 billion equivalent);
0.8 billion pounds sterling (€1 billion equivalent);
94.3 billion Japanese yen (€0.6 billion equivalent);
0.4 billion Singapore dollars (€0.3 billion equivalent);
0.6 billion Australian dollars (€0.4 billion equivalent).

At end-March, Crédit Agricole S.A. had issued 76%⁵²^,⁵³ of its funding plan in currencies other than the euro.

In addition, on 13 February 2025, Crédit Agricole S.A. issued a PerpNC10 AT1 bond for €1.5 billion at an initial rate of 5.875% and announced on 30 April 2025 the regulatory call exercise for the AT1 £ with £103m outstanding (XS1055037920) – ineligible, grandfathered until 28/06/2025 – to be redeemed on 30/06/2025.

The 2025 MLT market funding programme was set at €20 billion, with a balanced distribution between senior preferred or senior secured debt and senior non-preferred or Tier 2 debt.

The programme was 56% completed at 31 March 2025, with:

€3.8 billion in senior secured debt;
€1.3 billion equivalent in senior preferred debt;
€4.7 billion equivalent in senior non-preferred debt;
€1.4 billion equivalent in Tier 2 debt.

Appendix 1 – Credit Agricole Group : income statement by business line

Credit Agricole Group – Results by business line, Q1-25 and Q1-24

	Q1-25
€m	RB	LCL	IRB	AG	SFS	LC	CC	Total

Revenues	3,352	963	1,048	2,049	868	2,408	(640)	10,048
Operating expenses	(2,530)	(625)	(535)	(936)	(474)	(1,360)	468	(5,992)
Gross operating income	822	338	513	1,113	395	1,047	(172)	4,056
Cost of risk	(319)	(92)	(67)	(11)	(249)	25	(22)	(735)
Equity-accounted entities	6	–	–	28	36	6	–	75
Net income on other assets	3	1	(0)	(0)	0	0	0	4
Income before tax	511	247	445	1,130	182	1,078	(194)	3,399
Tax	(170)	(112)	(137)	(351)	(12)	(305)	46	(1,041)
Net income from discont’d or held-for-sale ope.	–	–	0	–	–	–	(0)	(0)
Net income	341	135	308	779	170	773	(148)	2,358
Non controlling interests	0	(0)	(42)	(101)	(21)	(36)	7	(193)
Net income Group Share	341	135	266	679	148	738	(141)	2,165

	Q1-24
€m	RB	LCL	IRB	AG	SFS	LC	CC	Total

Revenues	3,314	954	1,081	1,793	846	2,266	(728)	9,525
Operating expenses	(2,484)	(602)	(524)	(754)	(454)	(1,297)	527	(5,589)
Gross operating income	830	351	556	1,039	392	969	(201)	3,936
Cost of risk	(247)	(119)	(84)	(3)	(219)	33	(13)	(651)
Equity-accounted entities	5	–	–	29	30	4	–	68
Net income on other assets	2	2	(0)	(8)	(0)	0	(2)	(7)
Income before tax	589	234	472	1,056	203	1,006	(216)	3,347
Tax	(147)	(53)	(143)	(220)	(42)	(235)	85	(755)
Net income from discont’d or held-for-sale ope.	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income	442	181	330	837	161	772	(131)	2,592
Non controlling interests	(0)	(0)	(51)	(112)	(19)	(34)	7	(208)
Net income Group Share	442	181	279	725	142	738	(123)	2,384

Appendix 2 – Credit Agricole S.A. : Income statement by business line

Crédit Agricole S.A. – Résults by business line, Q1-25 and Q1-24

	Q1-25
En m€	AG	LC	SFS	FRB (LCL)	IRB	CC	Total

Revenues	2,058	2,408	868	963	1,025	(67)	7,256
Operating expenses	(936)	(1,360)	(474)	(625)	(515)	(81)	(3,991)
Gross operating income	1,123	1,048	395	338	511	(148)	3,266
Cost of risk	(11)	25	(249)	(92)	(66)	(21)	(413)
Equity-accounted entities	28	6	36	–	–	(22)	47
Net income on other assets	(0)	0	0	1	(0)	0	1
Income before tax	1,139	1,078	182	247	444	(191)	2,900
Tax	(352)	(305)	(12)	(112)	(137)	92	(827)
Net income from discontinued or held-for-sale operations	–	–	–	–	0	–	0
Net income	787	774	170	135	308	(99)	2,073
Non controlling interests	(107)	(50)	(21)	(6)	(62)	(3)	(249)
Net income Group Share	680	723	148	129	246	(102)	1,824

	Q1-24
En m€	AG	LC	SFS	FRB (LCL)	IRB	CC	Total

Revenues	1,789	2,266	846	954	1,057	(107)	6,806
Operating expenses	(754)	(1,297)	(454)	(602)	(505)	(56)	(3,669)
Gross operating income	1,035	969	392	351	552	(163)	3,137
Cost of risk	(3)	33	(219)	(119)	(82)	(11)	(400)
Equity-accounted entities	29	4	30	–	–	(20)	43
Net income on other assets	(8)	0	(0)	2	(0)	–	(6)
Income before tax	1,053	1,006	203	234	470	(194)	2,773
Tax	(220)	(235)	(42)	(53)	(142)	82	(610)
Net income from discontinued or held-for-sale operations	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Net income	834	772	161	181	328	(112)	2,163
Non controlling interests	(117)	(50)	(19)	(8)	(71)	5	(259)
Net income Group Share	716	722	142	173	257	(107)	1,903

Appendix 3 – Data per share

Credit Agricole S.A. – Earnings p/share, net book value p/share and RoTE

(€m)

Q1-2025
Q1-2024

Net income Group share

1,824
1,903

– Interests on AT1, including issuance costs, before tax

(129)
(138)

– Foreign exchange impact on reimbursed AT1

–
(247)

NIGS attributable to ordinary shares

[A]
1,695
1,518

Average number shares in issue, excluding treasury shares (m)

[B]
3,025
3,018

Net earnings per share

[A]/[B]
0.56 €
0.50 €

(€m)

31/03/2025
31/03/2024

Shareholder’s equity Group share

77,378
72,429

– AT1 issuances

(8,726)
(7,184)

– Unrealised gains and losses on OCI – Group share

1,222
1,021

– Payout assumption on annual results*

(3,327)
(3,181)

Net book value (NBV), not revaluated, attributable to ordin. sh.

[D]
66,546
63,086

– Goodwill & intangibles** – Group share

(17,764)
(17,280)

Tangible NBV (TNBV), not revaluated attrib. to ordinary sh.

[E]
48,783
45,807

Total shares in issue, excluding treasury shares (period end, m)

[F]
3,025
3,026

NBV per share , after deduction of dividend to pay (€)
+ Dividend to pay (€)

TNBV per share, after deduction of dividend to pay (€)

TNBV per sh., before deduct. of divid. to pay (€)

[D]/[F]
22.0 €
20.9 €

[H]
1.10 €
1.05 €

[G]=[E]/[F]
16.1 €
15.1 €

[G]+[H]
17.2 €
16.2 €

* dividend proposed to the Board meeting to be paid

** including goodwill in the equity-accounted entities

(€m)

Q1-25
Q1-24

Net income Group share

[K]
1,824
1,903

Impairment of intangible assets

[L]
0
0

Additional corporate tax

[LL]
-123
–

IFRIC

[M]
-173
-110

NIGS annualised (1)

[N]
8,111
7,944

Interests on AT1, including issuance costs, before tax, foreign exchange impact, annualised

[O]
-515
-799

Result adjusted

[P] = [N]+[O]
7,596
7,145

Tangible NBV (TNBV), not revaluated attrib. to ord. sh. – avg *** (2)

[J]
47,752
44,671

Stated ROTE adjusted (%)

= [P] / [J]
15.9%
16.0%

*** including assumption of dividend for the current exercice

(1) ROTE calculated on the basis of an annualised net income Group share and linearised IFRIC costs over the year
(2) Average of the NTBV not revalued attributable to ordinary shares, calculated between 31/12/2024 and 21/03/2025 (line [E]), restated with an assumption of dividend for current exercises

Alternative Performance Indicators⁵⁴

NBV Net Book Value (not revalued)
The Net Book Value not revalued corresponds to the shareholders’ equity Group share from which the amount of the AT1 issues, the unrealised gains and/or losses on OCI Group share and the pay-out assumption on annual results have been deducted.

NBV per share Net Book Value per share – NTBV Net Tangible Book Value per share
One of the methods for calculating the value of a share. This represents the Net Book Value divided by the number of shares in issue at end of period, excluding treasury shares.

Net Tangible Book Value per share represents the Net Book Value after deduction of intangible assets and goodwill, divided by the number of shares in issue at end of period, excluding treasury shares.

EPS Earnings per Share
This is the net income Group share, from which the AT1 coupon has been deducted, divided by the average number of shares in issue excluding treasury shares. It indicates the portion of profit attributable to each share (not the portion of earnings paid out to each shareholder, which is the dividend). It may decrease, assuming the net income Group share remains unchanged, if the number of shares increases.

Cost/income ratio
The cost/income ratio is calculated by dividing operating expenses by revenues, indicating the proportion of revenues needed to cover operating expenses.

Cost of risk/outstandings
Calculated by dividing the cost of credit risk (over four quarters on a rolling basis) by outstandings (over an average of the past four quarters, beginning of the period). It can also be calculated by dividing the annualised cost of credit risk for the quarter by outstandings at the beginning of the quarter. Similarly, the cost of risk for the period can be annualised and divided by the average outstandings at the beginning of the period.

Since the first quarter of 2019, the outstandings taken into account are the customer outstandings, before allocations to provisions.

The calculation method for the indicator is specified each time the indicator is used.

Doubtful loan
A doubtful loan is a loan in default. The debtor is considered to be in default when at least one of the following two conditions has been met:

a payment generally more than 90 days past due, unless specific circumstances point to the fact that the delay is due to reasons independent of the debtor’s financial situation.
the entity believes that the debtor is unlikely to settle its credit obligations unless it avails itself of certain measures such as enforcement of collateral security right.

Impaired loan
Loan which has been provisioned due to a risk of non-repayment.

Impaired (or non-performing) loan coverage ratio
This ratio divides the outstanding provisions by the impaired gross customer loans.

Impaired (or non-performing) loan ratio
This ratio divides the impaired gross customer loans on an individual basis, before provisions, by the total gross customer loans.

Net income Group share
Net income/(loss) for the financial year (after corporate income tax). Equal to net income Group share, less the share attributable to non-controlling interests in fully consolidated subsidiaries.

Net income Group share attributable to ordinary shares
The net income Group share attributable to ordinary shares represents the net income Group share from which the AT1 coupon has been deducted, including issuance costs before tax.

RoTE Return on Tangible Equity
The RoTE (Return on Tangible Equity) measures the return on tangible capital by dividing the Net income Group share annualised by the Group’s NBV net of intangibles and goodwill. The annualised Net income Group share corresponds to the annualisation of the Net income Group share (Q1x4; H1x2; 9Mx4/3) excluding impairments of intangible assets and restating each period of the IFRIC impacts in order to linearise them over the year.

Disclaimer

The financial information on Crédit Agricole S.A. and Crédit Agricole Group for first quarter 2025 comprises this presentation and the attached appendices and press release which are available on the website: https://www.credit-agricole.com/finance/publications-financieres.

This presentation may include prospective information on the Group, supplied as information on trends. This data does not represent forecasts within the meaning of EU Delegated Act 2019/980 of 14 March 2019 (Chapter 1, article 1, d).

This information was developed from scenarios based on a number of economic assumptions for a given competitive and regulatory environment. Therefore, these assumptions are by nature subject to random factors that could cause actual results to differ from projections. Likewise, the financial statements are based on estimates, particularly in calculating market value and asset impairment.

Readers must take all these risk factors and uncertainties into consideration before making their own judgement.

Applicable standards and comparability

The figures presented for the three-months period ending 31 March 2025 have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as adopted in the European Union and applicable at that date, and with regulations currently in force. This financial information does not constitute a set of financial statements for an interim period as defined by IAS 34 “Interim Financial Reporting” and has not been audited.

Note: The scopes of consolidation of the Crédit Agricole S.A. and Crédit Agricole groups have not changed materially since the Crédit Agricole S.A. 2024 Universal Registration Document and its A.01 update (including all regulatory information about the Crédit Agricole Group) were filed with the AMF (the French Financial Markets Authority).

The sum of values contained in the tables and analyses may differ slightly from the total reported due to rounding.

Other information

Crédit Agricole S.A.’s Combined General Meeting will take place on 14 May 2025 in Paris.

As announced at the time of the publication of Crédit Agricole S.A.’s 2024 results, the Board of Directors will propose to the General Meeting a cash dividend of €1.10 per share

26 May 2025: ex-dividend date
27 May 2025: Record date
28 May 2025: Dividend payment

Financial Agenda

14 May 2025                General Meeting
31 July 2025                Publication of the 2025 second quarter and the first half-year results
30 October 2025                Publication of the 2025 third quarter and first nine months results

Contacts

CREDIT AGRICOLE PRESS CONTACTS

CRÉDIT AGRICOLE S.A. INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACTS

Institutional investors	+ 33 1 43 23 04 31	investor.relations@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Individual shareholders	+ 33 800 000 777 (freephone number – France only)	relation@actionnaires.credit-agricole.com

Cécile Mouton	+ 33 1 57 72 86 79	cecile.mouton@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Equity investor relations:
Jean-Yann Asseraf Fethi Azzoug	+ 33 1 57 72 23 81 + 33 1 57 72 03 75	jean-yann.asseraf@credit-agricole-sa.fr fethi.azzoug@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Oriane Cante	+ 33 1 43 23 03 07	oriane.cante@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Nicolas Ianna	+ 33 1 43 23 55 51	nicolas.ianna@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Leila Mamou	+ 33 1 57 72 07 93	leila.mamou@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Anna Pigoulevski	+ 33 1 43 23 40 59	anna.pigoulevski@credit-agricole-sa.fr


Debt investor and rating agency relations:
Gwenaëlle Lereste	+ 33 1 57 72 57 84	gwenaelle.lereste@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Florence Quintin de Kercadio	+ 33 1 43 23 25 32	florence.quintindekercadio@credit-agricole-sa.fr
Yury Romanov	+ 33 1 43 23 86 84	yury.romanov@credit-agricole-sa.fr

See all our press releases at: www.credit-agricole.com – www.creditagricole.info

1 Car, home, health, legal, all mobile phones or personal accident insurance.
2 CA Auto Bank, automotive JVs and automotive activities of other entities
3 Low-carbon energy outstandings made up of renewable energy produced by the clients of all Crédit Agricole Group entities, including nuclear energy outstandings for Crédit Agricole CIB.
4CAA outstandings (listed investments managed directly, listed investments managed under mandate and unlisted investments managed directly) and Amundi Transition Energétique.
5 Crédit Agricole Group outstandings, directly or via the EIB, dedicated to the environmental transition according to the Group’s internal sustainable assets framework, as of 31/12/2024. Change of method compared with the outstandings reported at 30/09/2024: with the same method, the outstandings at 31/12/2024 would be €115.5 billion.
6 Direct exposure to project financing of hydrocarbon extraction (gross exposure excl. export credit cover).

7 The cost of risk/outstandings (in basis points) on a four-quarter rolling basis is calculated on the cost of risk of the past four quarters divided by the average outstandings at the start of each of the four quarters
8 The cost of risk/outstandings (in basis points) on an annualised basis is calculated on the cost of risk of the quarter multiplied by four and divided by the outstandings at the start of the quarter
9 Average rate of loans to monthly production for January and February 2025.
10 Equipment rate – Home-Car-Health policies, Legal, All Mobile/Portable or personal accident insurance
11 Home Purchase Savings Plan base effect (reversal of the Home Purchase Savings Plan provision) in Q1-24 totalling +€41m in revenues and +€30m in net income Group share
12 Scope effect of Degroof Petercam revenues: +€164 million in the first quarter of 2025
13 Includes -€115 million in scope effect on Degroof Petercam

14 Provisioning rate calculated with outstandings in Stage 3 as denominator, and the sum of the provisions recorded in Stages 1, 2 and 3 as numerator.
15 The cost of risk/outstandings (in basis points) on a four-quarter rolling basis is calculated on the cost of risk of the past four quarters divided by the average outstandings at the start of each of the four quarters
16 The cost of risk/outstandings (in basis points) on an annualised basis is calculated on the cost of risk of the quarter multiplied by four and divided by the outstandings at the start of the quarter
17 See Appendixes for details on the calculation of the RoTE (return on tangible equity)
18 The annualised net income Group share corresponds to the annualisation of the net income Group share (Q1x4; H1x2; 9Mx4/3) by restating each period for IFRIC impacts and the corporate income tax surcharge to linearise them over the year
19 In local standards
20 Property and casualty insurance premium income includes a scope effect linked to the initial consolidation in Q2-24 of CATU (a property and casualty insurance entity in Poland) with retroactive effect at 1 January 2024: +7.7% Q1/Q1 increase in premium income at constant scope

21 Scope: property and casualty in France and abroad
22 Combined property & casualty ratio in France (Pacifica) including discounting and excluding undiscounting, net of reinsurance: (claims + operating expenses + fee and commission income)/gross premiums earned. Undiscounted ratio: 95.9% (-0.4 pp over the year)
23 The Agrica – Crédit Agricole Assurances – Groupama consortium chosen to ensure the new health care scheme for employees as of 01/01/25
24 Excluding JV
25 Excluding assets under custody for institutional clients
26 Amount of allocation of Contractual Service Margin (CSM), loss component and Risk Adjustment (RA), and operating variances net of reinsurance, in particular
27 Amount of allocation of CSM, loss component and RA, and operating variances net of reinsurance, in particular.
28 Net of reinsurance cost, including financial results
29 The charge on Tier 1 debt is recorded as a non-controlling interest while that of Tier 2 debt is deducted from the revenues.
30 Integration costs of -€7m in Q1-25 vs. -€13m in Q4-24, related to Victory and aixigo
31 Indosuez Wealth Management scope
32 Degroof Petercam data for the quarter included in Wealth Management results: Revenues of €164m and expenses of -€115m (excluding integration costs partly borne by Degroof Petercam)
33 Refinitiv LSEG
34 Bloomberg in EUR
35 ISB integration costs: -€9m in Q1-25 (€20m in Q1-24)
36 CA Auto Bank, automotive JVs and auto activities of other entities
37 CA Auto Bank and automotive JVs
38 Cost of risk for the last four quarters as a proportion of the average outstandings at the beginning of the period for the last four quarters.
39 Net of POCI outstandings
40 Source Abi Monthly Outlook April 2025: stable +0.0% March/March for all loans
41 At 31 March 2025 this scope includes the entities CA Italia, CA Polska, CA Egypt and CA Ukraine.

42 Over a rolling four quarter period.
43 SREP requirement applicable at 31 March 2025, including the combined capital buffer requirement (a) for Crédit Agricole Group a 2.5% capital conservation buffer, a 1% G-SIB buffer (which will increase to 1.5% on 1 January 2026 following the notification received from the ACPR on 27 November 2024), the countercyclical buffer set at 0.75%, as well as the 0.06% systemic risk buffer and (b) for Crédit Agricole S.A., a 2.5% capital conservation buffer, the countercyclical buffer set at 0.58% as well as the 0.09% systemic risk buffer.
44 As part of its annual resolvability assessment, Crédit Agricole Group has chosen to continue waiving the possibility offered by Article 72ter(3) of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) to use senior preferred debt for compliance with its TLAC requirements in 2025.
45 In the event of non-compliance with the combined capital buffer requirement. The distributable elements of Crédit Agricole S.A. amounted to €42.9 billion, including €29.6 billion in distributable reserves and €13.3 billion in share premiums at 31 December 2024.
46From December 2024, securities within liquidity reserves are valued after discounting idiosyncratic stress (previously systemic stress) to better reflect the economic reality of central bank value.
47 Gross amount before buy-backs and amortisations
48 Gross amount before buy-backs and amortisations
49 Excl. AT1 issuances
50 Excl. AT1 issuances
51 Excl. senior secured issuances
52 Excl. AT1 issuances
53 Excl. senior secured issuances
54 APMs are financial indicators not presented in the financial statements or defined in accounting standards but used in the context of financial communications, such as net income Group share or RoTE. They are used to facilitate the understanding of the company’s actual performance. Each APM indicator is matched in its definition to accounting data.

Attachment

EN_CASA_PR_2025_Q1

The MIL Network –

April 30, 2025

MIL-OSI Russia: The NSU History Museum exhibition “The Great Patriotic War in Faces. Novosibirsk State University” opened at NSU

Translation. Region: Russian Federal

Source: Novosibirsk State University – Novosibirsk State University –

The exhibition presents the stories of people who directly participated in military actions or were engaged in scientific activities and made a tangible contribution to the victory of the people of the Soviet Union over fascist Germany. In total, the exhibition contains 126 portraits. Until May 23, the exhibition can be seen in the second-floor passage between the first and third blocks of the NSU Academic Building (1 Pirogova St.).

— Of course, there are academicians here. For example, Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State (Stalin) Prizes. He received some of these awards for his scientific contribution to the people’s victory. He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, Second Class, and five Orders of Lenin. His research and the cumulative shells he developed played a major role and influenced the outcome of the Battle of Kursk in 1943. Among the veterans, those people who made a significant contribution, there are many researchers. For example, Aleksey Andreyevich Lyapunov, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was a very young lieutenant when, during offensive battles in the area of the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly, he made an adjustment for magnetic deviation in the artillery calculation, which ensured the success of the artillery preparation, — said Lidiya Vorobtsova, Director of the NSU History Museum.

Another participant in the war was Samson Semenovich Kutateladze, an academician, founder of one of the leading scientific schools in thermal physics and hydrodynamics. He was at the front from August 1941 to May 1945. The legendary rector of NSU Spartak Timofeevich Belyaev, an academician, professor, has many awards, he went through the entire war and was demobilized with the rank of junior lieutenant.

The exhibition presents stories not only of outstanding scientists and academicians, but also of those people who worked and taught at NSU. For example, Angelina Ivanovna Kuzmina is a linguist and participant in the Great Patriotic War.

— I personally remember her very well. When I was studying at the Humanities Department, in the late 1970s — early 1980s, Angelina Ivanovna taught us German. She went through almost the entire war from the spring of 1942 until its end. She was a telegraph operator, a radio operator, and a communications platoon commander, and also worked as a translator during this period. She was a unique person, a candidate of philological sciences, an associate professor at our university. A very charming and positive-minded woman, — recalls Lidiya Vorobtsova.

Luiza Stefanovna Bocharova is a candidate of economic sciences, a senior lecturer, and later an associate professor of the political economy department of our university. She worked in counterintelligence at the headquarters of the 2nd Air Army of the Southwestern Front, and later the 1st Ukrainian Front.

The exhibition also features a portrait and history of Lev Yakovlevich Savelyev, a professor at the NSU Department of Higher Mathematics and a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Lev Yakovlevich was born in 1929 in Odessa. At the age of 14, he volunteered for the Red Army, and in a short period of time, he received the qualification of “3rd class radio operator-telegraphist” and the military rank of “corporal” at radio operator courses. After demobilization in August 1945, Lev Yakovlevich continued his studies at school, and two years later he became a student at the Mathematics Department of Moscow State University. After graduating from Moscow State University, he came to Novosibirsk, where NSU had just opened. He taught courses in mathematical and functional analysis, probability theory and mathematical statistics, random processes, and many others.

We can literally talk for a very long time about each “hero” of the exhibition, because each one made their own contribution to the Victory.

— I think that students, teachers, and staff will be very pleased to see and read about the people who are presented at the exhibition. In addition, we have two special pages on the website of the NSU History Museum. One is also dedicated to the participants of the Great Patriotic War, and the second page is called “War Participants Remember,” that is, these are memories of the war years. You can always go to the website of our museum and get to know them. The heroes of these stories describe their time and how they, still very young guys, many just after finishing school, went to war. Some left universities, some just graduated from university and went to the front at that time. Recently, we had an exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the oldest professors of the Humanities Institute, then the Humanities Faculty, Varlen Lvovich Soskin. In the exposition, we presented more extensive information about the period when he was at war. Overall, we have war photographs of about half of the war participants, so there is something to look at and appreciate, to be proud of those people who taught and worked at our university, and those thanks to whom we are now celebrating this wonderful holiday, Victory Day, – summed up Lidiya Vorobtsova.

The exhibition materials were collected from several sources. These include materials from the NSU History Museum, personal files from the NSU archive, written memoirs of combatants, and photographs of the “Victory Relay” that took place in 2010. At one time, for the 30th anniversary of the Victory in 1975, a large stand was displayed on the wall near the Maltsevskaya Auditorium, which is located in the main, historical building of NSU, where about 70 war veterans were presented. The NSU History Museum supplemented this information over time. In addition to the materials from the 1970-80s exhibitions, the Museum staff analyzed reference publications for the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, which also mention the stories of Siberian front-line soldiers. The NSU Social Management Department, which works directly with WWII veterans, helped to fill in some personal stories and also display them along with the portraits at the exhibition.

Today’s exhibition presents the most complete information on the majority of those people who are associated with Novosibirsk State University and the Siberian Branch of Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences and who are direct participants in the Great Patriotic War or contributed to the Victory through their scientific work.

In addition to portraits and stories of NSU employees, teachers and scientists, the exhibition features a digital panel with documents from the Novosibirsk Regional Archives, which are dedicated to the heroism of Siberians during the Great Patriotic War. The demonstration was organized by Andrey Vladimirovich Dmitriev, head of the Department of Russian History at the NSU Humanities Institute. The exhibition includes three expositions:

“Breakthrough Division”

The exhibition is dedicated to the combat path of the 133rd Rifle Division, later the 18th Guards Division, formed before 1941 in Novosibirsk and taking part in many battles of the Great Patriotic War. This division fought on the Kalinin Front in the autumn of 1941 and in the winter of 1941-1942 during the Battle of Moscow, participated in battles near Rzhev, in Belarus and the Baltics, and ended its journey on the territory of East Prussia.

“Novosibirsk residents to the front”

The exhibition presents materials related to the history of the 150th Rifle, then 22nd Guards Siberian Volunteer Division, created in Novosibirsk in the summer of 1942. Those people whose names are given to the streets of our city fought and died in its ranks: Mikhail Perevozchikov, Boris Bogatkov, Olga Zhilina.

“Novosibirsk – a city of labor valor”

The exhibition contains systematized data on the contribution of our fellow countrymen who remained in the rear to achieving Victory. Among them, one can highlight the collection of funds and voluntary donations, the production of weapons, the procurement of food and much more. All this data was collected and prepared by Novosibirsk historians and archivists to justify assigning Novosibirsk the title of “City of Labor Valor” in 2020.

The exhibit files contain electronic copies of original archival documents, a number of unique photographs, text explanations and illustrative materials. The Novosibirsk Regional Archives exhibition will continue to work until May 12.

Please note: This information is raw content directly from the source of the information. It is exactly what the source states and does not reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.

MIL OSI Russia News –

April 30, 2025
MIL-Evening Report: Peace in our time? Why NZ should resist Trump’s one-sided plan for Ukraine

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert G. Patman, Professor of International Relations, University of Otago

GettyImages Getty Images

Is it possible to reconcile increased international support for Ukraine with Donald Trump’s plan to end the war? At their recent meeting in London, Christopher Luxon and his British counterpart Keir Starmer seemed to think so.

Starmer thanked New Zealand for its “support” for a “coalition of the willing” that would safeguard the implementation of a potential peace deal concluded by the Trump administration.

But unless something drastically changes in the near future, all the signs point to the US president envisaging a Ukraine peace settlement on Russian president Vladimir Putin’s terms.

According to that view, peace can only be achieved if Ukraine is prepared to accept that territories wholly or partially annexed by Russia now belong to Moscow.

In 2014, Russia seized Crimea on the Black Sea. Following the illegal 2022 invasion, Russia claimed four parts of eastern and southern Ukraine as its own – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and the Zaporizhzhia region.

At the same time, Trump’s peace deal includes a provision that rules out NATO membership for Ukraine. This meets a key Russian demand that seeks to deny Ukraine’s sovereign right to choose its own security arrangements.

According to Trump, Putin’s major concession is the promise that Russia will not annex the rest of Ukraine – something Moscow has been trying to do for the past three years.

To accept this, however, liberal democracies such as New Zealand and Britain would be tacitly signalling they share common values and interests with the Trump administration and its apparent enthusiasm for a geopolitical partnership with Putin’s dictatorship.

And in some ways, Trump’s Ukraine peace initiative is a bigger challenge for New Zealand than it is for Britain.

Keir Starmer and Christopher Luxon speak to the media during a visit to a UK military base training Ukrainian troops, April 22.
Getty Images

Lessons of the past

Like Britain, New Zealand fought in two world wars in the 20th century to advance, among other things, certain key international principles. These included state sovereignty and a prohibition on the use of force to change borders, principles subsequently enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

But unlike Britain, New Zealand is a relatively small state that does not have a veto in the UN Security Council to protect its interests. Consequently, it is even more dependent on an international rules-based order for its security and prosperity.

For New Zealand, Trump’s current Ukraine peace plan is a clear and present danger because it would set such a terrible precedent.

Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons (left over from when it was part of the Soviet Union) in return for assurances from Russia, the US and UK that recognised Ukrainian independence and the inviolability of its existing borders.

The Trump administration’s plan, however, insists Ukraine must accept the illegal and partial dismemberment of its territory to attain peace with Russia.

Rewarding Russian aggression in this way is tantamount to a failure to learn the historical lessons of the 20th century. In particular, it seems to forget the period during the 1930s when Britain tried in vain to appease an expansionist Nazi regime in Germany.

Trump’s peace plan basically endorses the idea that “might is right” and that it is fine for great powers or big countries to steal land from smaller countries.

Adjusting NZ foreign policy

In Trump’s top-down world view, multilateral institutions and international law are regarded as superfluous at best and an enemy at worst.

In such a world, relatively small powers such as New Zealand, with “no cards to play” at the top table, must either submit to the dominance of great powers (including the US) or suffer the consequences.

Moreover, there is a real risk that Trump’s stance toward Putin’s regime will be viewed as weakness by China, Russia’s most important backer. This could embolden Beijing to increasingly assert itself in the Indo-Pacific, including the Pacific Islands region, where New Zealand has core strategic interests.

Trump’s plan for Ukraine brings into sharp focus what has already been evident from other recent trends: a domestic slide toward autocracy in Washington, the unilateral imposition of tariffs, and territorial threats against close allies Canada and Denmark.

As European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put it, “The West as we knew it no longer exists.”

The transactional nature of Trump’s leadership – including that peace in Ukraine can be bought with mineral rights and territorial trade-offs – suggests the US can no longer be relied on to provide a security guarantee for liberal democracies in Europe or elsewhere.

The current New Zealand government needs to find the self-confidence and resolve to admit Trump is backing Putin’s imperial project in Ukraine. And it needs to adjust its foreign policy accordingly.

This does not mean Wellington should weaken its traditional friendship with the US.

On the contrary, many Americans might expect and welcome the prospect of New Zealand clearly and publicly standing against their president’s dangerous alignment with an authoritarian regime at Ukraine’s expense.

Robert G. Patman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Peace in our time? Why NZ should resist Trump’s one-sided plan for Ukraine – https://theconversation.com/peace-in-our-time-why-nz-should-resist-trumps-one-sided-plan-for-ukraine-255495

MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Economics: Shionogi’s cefiderocol shows improved outcomes with early use in treating gram-negative infections, reports GlobalData

Source: GlobalData

Shionogi’s cefiderocol shows improved outcomes with early use in treating gram-negative infections, reports GlobalData

Posted in Pharma

Japan-based Shionogi has shared new real-world evidence showing its antibiotic cefiderocol leads to better outcomes when used early to treat serious gram-negative bacterial infections. Presented at European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global 2025 conference in Vienna, the Retrospective Cefiderocol Chart Review (PROVE) study found that earlier use of cefiderocol, rather than as a last resort, improves cure rates—offering hope in the ongoing fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

AMR and the development of new antimicrobials to help combat AMR were the key themes at the ESCMID Global 2025 conference. There were over 100 presentations on these topics, one of which was the noteworthy results of the PROVE study.

Shionogi’s cefiderocol, a cephalosporin that acts as a penicillin binding protein inhibitor, is marketed in the US, EU, and Japan under the brand names Fetcroja/Fetroja for the treatment of various gram-negative bacterial infections.

The PROVE study analyzed over 560 patients in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, who had serious gram-negative bacterial infections and were treated with cefiderocol for the first time for at least 72 hours.

The PROVE study showed a 65.3% overall clinical cure rate and the 30-day all-cause mortality (ACM) rate was 25.7%. Cure rates peaked in urinary tract infections (90.4%) and Pseudomonas infections (73.1%) and were lowest in respiratory tract infections (59.2%) and Acinetobacter cases (50.6%). Early use, empiric or targeted, yielded better outcomes than salvage therapy.

Stephanie Kurdach, Infectious Disease Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The data presented by Shionogi at ESCMID Global 2025 demonstrates that cefiderocol is associated with better clinical outcomes when used earlier in treatment. This also suggests that cefiderocol has the potential to be a new and effective first-line therapy option, which could be particularly useful given the acceleration of AMR and the lack of effective treatment options for severe infections.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), bacterial pathogens of utmost public health importance to prevent and control AMR include Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterobacterales, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, among others, all of which were analyzed in the PROVE study and are highly susceptible to cefiderocol.

Kurdach concludes: “With rising AMR threats and limited treatment options, Shionogi’s data highlights cefiderocol’s potential as a frontline therapy—underscoring the urgency for global stewardship strategies that prioritize early intervention with effective antimicrobials.”

MIL OSI Economics –

April 30, 2025
MIL-OSI Global: The impact of strategic voting in Canada

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Terri Givens, Professor, Political Science, University of British Columbia

Initially expected to result in a decisive Conservative victory, the Canadian federal election took a dramatic turn as Mark Carney led the Liberals to victory. It also offered an important lesson in the power of strategic voting — driven not just by domestic politics but by external pressures from the United States and a re-energized Liberal campaign.

In December 2024, the Conservative Party was leading the Liberal Party by more than 20 points in the polls. But Justin Trudeau’s resignation, combined with U.S. President Donald Trump’s antagonistic stance towards Canada, triggered a sharp shift in public opinion.

When Carney stepped in as prime minister and party leader, the stage was set for a Liberal comeback. But what had been seen as a referendum on the 10-year rule of the Liberal Party ended up being focused on the existential threat posed by Trump’s tariffs and his calls to turn Canada into the 51st state.

During the campaign, many voters discussed their intention to switch from the Conservatives to the Liberals.

The pushback against the Conservatives, and in particular their leader, Pierre Poilievre, led to him losing in his own riding, although the Conservatives gained more seats overall.

The Liberals benefited from strategic voting, but it was the NDP that appeared to lose the most from this strategy.

The NDP went from winning 25 seats in the previous election to only seven, while their leader Jagmeet Singh also lost in his riding, leading to his resignation as party leader.

Strategic voting on display

My first book, Voting Radical Right in Western Europe (2009), focused on the impact of strategic voting. At the time, I observed that political parties would often try to induce voters to vote strategically for a party or candidate that might not otherwise be their first choice.

This type of strategic voting was clearly on display in the second round of the French presidential election in 2002, when Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far right National Front faced Jacques Chirac in the second round.

Some left-leaning voters went to the polls with clothespins on their noses or latex gloves on to vote for Chirac and keep Le Pen out of the presidency.

This strategy worked again in the July 2024 legislative elections in France, where the left and mainstream right-leaning parties came together to make sure that they didn’t split the vote in districts where it could lead to a win by the far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally). In both cases, voters chose more moderate candidates, reducing the influence of the far right.

Electoral systems are often designed to encourage voters to choose a more moderate candidate. This approach includes putting electoral hurdles in place. For example, parties in Germany have to win at least five per cent of the vote or win three district seats to enter the legislature.

This approach had been successful since the Second World War in keeping far right parties out of the legislature — that is until the recent success of the Alternative for Germany party.

The ability of that party to gain votes in the former East Germany has been the main reason for its success.

Winners and losers in Canada

Canada presents an interesting case for strategic voting. In the lead-up to the federal election, many voters were posting suggestions for strategic voting in districts where the vote was being split between parties, particularly on the left.

For example, there was a close race in a riding in British Columbia between the Green and Conservative candidates. I noticed social media posts in which voters were encouraged to shift their vote from the NDP or Liberal candidates to give the Green candidate a better chance of winning the riding.

As of April 25, Conservatives were expected to win the riding, but on election night, Elizabeth May from the Green Party won with 39 per cent of the vote, with the Conservative candidate falling to third place behind the Liberals.

Given the fact that the Canadian electoral system is winner-take-all in each riding, it’s important that voters understand the broader impact of their vote on the national outcome.

It’s likely that many voters switched their votes from their smaller, preferred party — particularly the NPD — to one of the main parties, depending on the kind of poll projections they might have been seeing in their ridings.

This situation exemplifies the importance of parties providing clear information on potential outcomes to encourage voters to use their vote strategically to get a desired outcome at the national level.

Terri Givens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The impact of strategic voting in Canada – https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-strategic-voting-in-canada-255489

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

April 30, 2025

Category: Germany

Presidential power

Global power reducing?

Why is storage so important?

Options and opportunities

New forms of storage

International students in the US

How international students are screened

Critical to an America First agenda

America’s welcome mat is wearing thin

Tourism: America’s forgotten export

A double blow to the tourism experience

A quiet but costly erosion

Countdown begins for the maiden edition of WAVES – World Audio Visual & Entertainment SummitMumbai is all set to host WAVES 2025

A fossil fuel phase-out is ‘essential’

Keeping the public on board

Includes datacenter operations in 16 countries and Digital Resilience Commitment.

1. We will help build a broad AI and cloud ecosystem across Europe

Public cloud datacenters

Sovereign cloud datacenters

Support for European cloud providers

Emerging options

Respect for European laws

2. We will uphold Europe’s digital resilience even when there is geopolitical volatility

A European cloud for Europe

A Digital Resilience Commitment

Business continuity partnerships

3. We will continue to protect the privacy of European data

The EU data boundary project

Additional security and encryption options

A strong legal track record

New opportunities for innovation

4. We will always help protect and defend Europe’s cybersecurity

Uninterrupted, world-class cybersecurity protection

New measures to protect against new threats

A new Deputy CISO for Europe

New security steps under the Cyber Resilience Act

5. We will help strengthen Europe’s economic competitiveness, including for open source

Our AI Access Principles

Open access across Europe

A foundation for European competitiveness

Building European infrastructure for Europe’s future

Neoliberalism and the climate

The White Rose movement

Importance of prayer

Newman’s philosophy

Truth-seeking and challenges today

Please be aware:

Lessons of the past

Adjusting NZ foreign policy

Strategic voting on display

Winners and losers in Canada

Countdown begins for the maiden edition of WAVES – World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit

Mumbai is all set to host WAVES 2025