Machine Learning – Page 606

MIL-OSI United Nations: World Food Programme warns that efforts to ramp up food aid to famine-impacted Sudan being impeded

Source: World Food Programme

WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei WFP trucks refuelling before departing Port Sudan for Khartoum in December 2024

As WFP teams work around the clock to reach key locations for first time, fighting and arbitrary obstructions by local authorities hinder consistent flow of vital aid.

ROME/NAIROBI/PORT SUDAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working tirelessly to expand food and nutrition assistance to millions more people across Sudan – aiming to triple the number of people it supports to 7 million. WFP’s top priority is to deliver life-saving assistance to locations facing famine or teetering on its brink.

Today, intensified fighting and the arbitrary obstruction of humanitarian convoys are hindering the fast and consistent movement of desperately needed aid.

Since launching a large-scale surge of food aid in late 2024, WFP has pushed into hard-to-reach areas, including Zamzam Camp in North Darfur, south Khartoum, and Gebaish in West Kordofan. In January, WFP even reached Wad Madani in Gezira State after the city became safe enough to get trucks of food and nutrition supplies through. Over 2.5 million people per month received much-needed food and nutrition assistance in the last quarter of 2024, including many for the first time, since the conflict began.

“We have made significant breakthroughs in getting aid deliveries to hard-to-reach areas in the last three months, but these cannot be one-off events,” said Alex Marianelli, acting Country Director for Sudan. “We urgently need to get a constant flow of aid to families in the hardest hit locations, which have also been the most difficult to reach.”

A convoy headed to areas already in famine, or at-risk of famine, in Darfur, took three times longer to reach its destination due to interferences. After crossing the Adre border in mid-December, local officials from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) held-back some 40 humanitarian trucks for nearly three weeks, requiring new clearances and inspections. As a result, the WFP-led convoy had to be redirected to another famine-risk area in the Darfur region. On arrival, the RSF held the trucks again and made additional demands. Finally, the convoy finally reached its destination earlier this week, a full six weeks after its departure, for a journey that would normally take a maximum of two weeks.

Meanwhile, a national liquidity crisis has led to widespread cash shortages. WFP cash and in-kind food distributions for over 4 million people have been delayed for over one month due to a lack of sufficient bank notes to help pay porters to load trucks. Recent efforts by Sudan’s Central Bank and Ministry of Finance to ease the crisis, and increase cash availability, has meant that WFP’s operations can gradually resume.

WFP calls on all parties on the ground in Sudan to remove all unnecessary barriers and obstacles that are preventing a full-scale humanitarian response to Sudan’s growing hunger crisis. The neutrality and independence of aid workers and humanitarian work must be respected. The safe passage of humanitarian assistance to hard-to-reach, famine-struck areas must be guaranteed.

Sudan continues to face a catastrophic humanitarian situation with approximately 24.6 million people – nearly half of Sudan’s population – facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3+). Twenty-seven locations across Sudan are either in famine or at risk of famine, while more than one-third of children in the hardest hit regions are acutely malnourished, well above the threshold for a famine declaration.

# # #

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media @wfp_sudan

MIL OSI United Nations News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: NANO Nuclear Energy to Work with Thermal Engineering International to Fabricate Primary and Secondary Heat Exchangers for its Portable ODIN Microreactor

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

New York, N.Y., Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) (“NANO Nuclear” or “the Company”), a leading advanced nuclear energy and technology company focused on developing clean energy solutions, today announced that it has contracted with Thermal Engineering International (TEi), a Babcock Power Inc.^® company, to advance the design and fabrication of several heat exchangers for use in NANO Nuclear’s proprietary, portable ODIN nuclear microreactor in development.

TEi is a leading supplier of heat transfer technology to the electric power generation industry, designing and fabricating surface condensers, feedwater heaters, power plant heat exchangers and moisture separator reheaters for the world’s power generation industry continuously for over 100 years.

“We are proud to support innovative SMR developers like NANO Nuclear with their heat exchange needs,” said Ken Murakoshi, President and CEO of Thermal Engineering International Inc. “TEi is excited to contribute to the successful deployment of NANO Nuclear’s ODIN transportable reactor and help advance clean, portable energy solutions for the future.”

Under the terms of the contract, TEi will develop detailed designs for key heat exchanger technology integral to the ODIN microreactor. This includes the eventual fabrication of both primary and secondary heat exchangers. TEi will lead a broad, cross-functional initiative, drawing on its expertise to design practical heat transfer systems in collaboration with NANO Nuclear’s world-class technical team, from procurement to the eventual fabrication of the exchangers.

“We are very pleased to take the next step in the development of the ODIN microreactor in tandem with TEi, who we believe have valuable expertise in this sector,” said James Walker, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Reactor Development of NANO Nuclear Energy. “The design and fabrication of heat exchangers will mark a critical milestone in ODIN’s development roadmap, and TEi is well-equipped to oversee this essential phase. By designing and fabricating these heat transfer technologies, we can advance our testing and demonstration efforts that will support our prototype construction, while equipping our world-class technical teams with data that can be broadly applied to our other reactors in development.”

Figure 1 – NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. to Work with Thermal Engineering International to Design and Fabricate Key Enabling Heat Transfer Technology for Use in its ODIN Microreactor.

“Collaborating with an industry-leading manufacturer on the design of our heat exchangers marks a major stride in advancing the plans for our portable ODIN microreactor,” said Prof. Eugene Shwageraus, Lead of Nuclear Reactor Engineering of NANO Nuclear Energy. “By having such a reputable industry partner for both primary and secondary exchanger designs, we can optimize performance while maintaining the highest safety standards and ensure that the reactor functions at the highest achievable efficiency. We believe this collaboration will help minimize developments risks going forward and ensure we meet performance benchmarks before advancing to full demonstration.”

The heat transfer systems are essential components within NANO Nuclear’s innovative portable ODIN microreactor and their integration marks a significant milestone in advancing NANO Nuclear’s proprietary microreactor toward demonstration, regulatory licensing and eventual market introduction. This agreement builds on the work done by NANO Nuclear’s world-class technical team and follows last year’s external technical audit of the ODIN reactor by the Idaho National Laboratory, during which crucial design solutions and the system components were examined, reassuring the design development strategy.

“Incorporating the heat exchangers into a compact system like ODIN marks a significant milestone in advancing our proprietary microreactor design” said Prof. Ian Farnan, Lead for Nuclear Fuel Cycle, Radiation and Materials at NANO Nuclear Energy. “TEi’s expertise is well known in designing these critical heat transfer solutions. Accelerating this aspect of the compact reactor design is vital for meeting our milestones and ensuring that the microreactor meets our operational requirements.”

About NANO Nuclear Energy, Inc.

NANO Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) is an advanced technology-driven nuclear energy company seeking to become a commercially focused, diversified, and vertically integrated company across five business lines: (i) cutting edge portable and other microreactor technologies, (ii) nuclear fuel fabrication, (iii) nuclear fuel transportation, (iv) nuclear applications for space and (v) nuclear industry consulting services. NANO Nuclear believes it is the first portable nuclear microreactor company to be listed publicly in the U.S.

Led by a world-class nuclear engineering team, NANO Nuclear’s reactor products in development include “ZEUS”, a solid core battery reactor, and “ODIN”, a low-pressure coolant reactor, each representing advanced developments in clean energy solutions that are portable, on-demand capable, advanced nuclear microreactors. NANO Nuclear is also developing patented stationary KRONOS MMR^™ Energy System and space focused, portable LOKI MMR^™.

Advanced Fuel Transportation Inc. (AFT), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is led by former executives from the largest transportation company in the world aiming to build a North American transportation company that will provide commercial quantities of HALEU fuel to small modular reactors, microreactor companies, national laboratories, military, and DOE programs. Through NANO Nuclear, AFT is the exclusive licensee of a patented high-capacity HALEU fuel transportation basket developed by three major U.S. national nuclear laboratories and funded by the Department of Energy. Assuming development and commercialization, AFT is expected to form part of the only vertically integrated nuclear fuel business of its kind in North America.

HALEU Energy Fuel Inc. (HEF), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is focusing on the future development of a domestic source for a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel fabrication pipeline for NANO Nuclear’s own microreactors as well as the broader advanced nuclear reactor industry.

NANO Nuclear Space Inc. (NNS), a NANO Nuclear subsidiary, is exploring the potential commercial applications of NANO Nuclear’s developing micronuclear reactor technology in space. NNS is focusing on applications such as the LOKI MMR^™ system and other power systems for extraterrestrial projects and human sustaining environments, and potentially propulsion technology for long haul space missions. NNS’ initial focus will be on cis-lunar applications, referring to uses in the space region extending from Earth to the area surrounding the Moon’s surface.

For more corporate information please visit: https://NanoNuclearEnergy.com/

For further NANO Nuclear information, please contact:
Email: IR@NANONuclearEnergy.com
Business Tel: (212) 634-9206

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Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This news release and statements of NANO Nuclear’s management in connection with this news release contain or may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this context, forward-looking statements mean statements related to future events, which may impact our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “plans”, “believes”, “potential”, “will”, “should”, “could”, “would” or “may” and other words of similar meaning. These and other forward-looking statements are based on information available to us as of the date of this news release and represent management’s current views and assumptions. In this press release, forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, the anticipated benefits to NANO Nuclear of its relationship with Tei as described herein (including the potential for progressing the development, demonstration, regulatory licensing and commercial deployment of the ODIN microreactor). Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, events or results and involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may be beyond our control. For NANO Nuclear, particular risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the following: (i) risks related to our U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) or related state nuclear fuel licensing submissions, (ii) risks related the development of new or advanced technology and the acquisition of complimentary technology or businesses, including difficulties with design and testing, cost overruns, regulatory delays, integration issues and the development of competitive technology, (iii) our ability to obtain contracts and funding to be able to continue operations, (iv) risks related to uncertainty regarding our ability to technologically develop and commercially deploy a competitive advanced nuclear reactor or other technology in the timelines we anticipate, if ever, (v) risks related to the impact of U.S. and non-U.S. government regulation, policies and licensing requirements, including by the DOE and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, including those associated with the recently enacted ADVANCE Act, and (vi) similar risks and uncertainties associated with the operating an early stage business a highly regulated and rapidly evolving industry. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this news release. These factors may not constitute all factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in any forward-looking statement, and NANO Nuclear therefore encourages investors to review other factors that may affect future results in its filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov and at https://ir.nanonuclearenergy.com/financial-information/sec-filings. Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as a predictor of actual results. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this news release, except as required by law.

Attachment

NANO Nuclear Energy Inc.

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Global: How close are quantum computers to being really useful? Podcast

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Gemma Ware, Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

Audio und verbung/Shutterstock

Quantum computers have the potential to solve big scientific problems that are beyond the reach of today’s most powerful supercomputers, such as discovering new antibiotics or developing new materials.

But to achieve these breakthroughs, quantum computers will need to perform better than today’s best classical computers at solving real-world problems. And they’re not quite there yet. So what is still holding quantum computing back from becoming useful?

In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to quantum computing expert Daniel Lidar at the University of Southern California in the US about what problems scientists are still wrestling with when it comes to scaling up quantum computing, and how close they are to overcoming them.

Quantum computers harness the power of quantum mechanics, the laws that govern subatomic particles. Instead of the classical bits of information used by microchips inside traditional computers, which are either a 0 or a 1, the chips in quantum computers use qubits, which can be both 0 and 1 at the same time or anywhere in between. Daniel Lidar explains:

“Put a lot of these qubits together and all of a sudden you have a computer that can simultaneously represent many, many different possibilities … and that is the starting point for the speed up that we can get from quantum computing.”

Faulty qubits

One of the biggest problems scientist face is how to scale up quantum computing power. Qubits are notoriously prone to errors – which means that they can quickly revert to being either a 0 or a 1, and so lose their advantage over classical computers.

Scientists have focused on trying to solve these errors through the concept of redundancy – linking strings of physical qubits together into what’s called a “logical qubit” to try and maximise the number of steps in a computation. And, little by little, they’re getting there.

In December 2024, Google announced that its new quantum chip, Willow, had demonstrated what’s called “beyond breakeven”, when its logical qubits worked better than the constituent parts and even kept on improving as it scaled up.

Lidar says right now the development of this technology is happening very fast:

“For quantum computing to scale and to take off is going to still take some real science breakthroughs, some real engineering breakthroughs, and probably overcoming some yet unforeseen surprises before we get to the point of true quantum utility. With that caution in mind, I think it’s still very fair to say that we are going to see truly functional, practical quantum computers kicking into gear, helping us solve real-life problems, within the next decade or so.”

Listen to Lidar explain more about how quantum computers and quantum error correction works on The Conversation Weekly podcast.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Gemma Ware with assistance from Katie Flood and Mend Mariwany. Sound design was by Michelle Macklem, and theme music by Neeta Sarl.

Clips in this episode from Google Quantum AI and 10 Hours Channel.

You can find us on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or via e-mail. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily e-mail here.

Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.

Daniel Lidar receives funding from the NSF, DARPA, ARO, and DOE.

– ref. How close are quantum computers to being really useful? Podcast – https://theconversation.com/how-close-are-quantum-computers-to-being-really-useful-podcast-248574

MIL OSI – Global Reports –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: YieldMax™ Launches Option Income Strategy ETF on CARVANA CO. (CVNA)

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

CHICAGO and MILWAUKEE and NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — YieldMax™ announced the launch today of the following ETF:

YieldMax™ CARVANA Option Income Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: CVNY)

CVNY seeks to generate current income by pursuing options-based strategies on CARVANA CO. (CVNA). CVNY is actively managed by Tidal Financial Group. CNVY does not invest directly in CVNA.

CVNY is the newest member of the YieldMax™ ETF family and like all YieldMax™ ETFs, aims to deliver current income to investors. With respect to distributions, CVNY will be a Group C ETF and its first distribution is expected to be announced on March 5, 2025. Please see table below for distribution information for all outstanding YieldMax™ ETFs as of January 29, 2025.

ETF Ticker¹	ETF Name	Reference Asset	Distribution per Share²
TSLY	YieldMax™ TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF	TSLA	$	0.7170
OARK	YieldMax™ Innovation Option Income Strategy ETF	ARKK	$	0.3298
APLY	YieldMax™ AAPL Option Income Strategy ETF	AAPL	$	0.2841
NVDY	YieldMax™ NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF	NVDA	$	0.8294
AMZY	YieldMax™ AMZN Option Income Strategy ETF	AMZN	$	0.4005
FBY	YieldMax™ META Option Income Strategy ETF	META	$	0.6390
GOOY	YieldMax™ GOOGL Option Income Strategy ETF	GOOGL	$	0.3324
NFLY	YieldMax™ NFLX Option Income Strategy ETF	NFLX	$	0.5830
CONY	YieldMax™ COIN Option Income Strategy ETF	COIN	$	0.8339
MSFO	YieldMax™ MSFT Option Income Strategy ETF	MSFT	$	0.3667
DISO	YieldMax™ DIS Option Income Strategy ETF	DIS	$	0.2782
XOMO	YieldMax™ XOM Option Income Strategy ETF	XOM	$	0.3485
JPMO	YieldMax™ JPM Option Income Strategy ETF	JPM	$	0.6929
AMDY	YieldMax™ AMD Option Income Strategy ETF	AMD	$	0.3404
PYPY	YieldMax™ PYPL Option Income Strategy ETF	PYPL	$	0.4264
SQY	YieldMax™ SQ Option Income Strategy ETF	SQ	$	0.6338
MRNY	YieldMax™ MRNA Option Income Strategy ETF	MRNA	$	0.2730
AIYY	YieldMax™ AI Option Income Strategy ETF	AI	$	0.3763
YMAX	YieldMax™ Universe Fund of Option Income ETFs	Multiple	$	0.1469
YMAG	YieldMax™ Magnificent 7 Fund of Option Income ETFs	Multiple	$	0.1898
MSTY	YieldMax™ MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF	MSTR	$	2.2792
ULTY	YieldMax™ Ultra Option Income Strategy ETF	Multiple	$	0.5715
YBIT	YieldMax™ Bitcoin Option Income Strategy ETF	Bitcoin ETP	$	0.7893
CRSH	YieldMax™ Short TSLA Option Income Strategy ETF	TSLA	$	0.2862
GDXY	YieldMax™ Gold Miners Option Income Strategy ETF	GDX®	$	0.5937
SNOY	YieldMax™ SNOW Option Income Strategy ETF	SNOW	$	0.7392
ABNY	YieldMax™ ABNB Option Income Strategy ETF	ABNB	$	0.4220
FIAT	YieldMax™ Short COIN Option Income Strategy ETF	COIN	$	0.6530
DIPS	YieldMax™ Short NVDA Option Income Strategy ETF	NVDA	$	0.5026
BABO	YieldMax™ BABA Option Income Strategy ETF	BABA	$	0.4693
YQQQ	YieldMax™ Short N100 Option Income Strategy ETF	N100	$	0.3873
TSMY	YieldMax™ TSM Option Income Strategy ETF	TSM	$	0.6449
SMCY	YieldMax™ SMCI Option Income Strategy ETF	SMCI	$	1.7215
PLTY	YieldMax™ PLTR Option Income Strategy ETF	PLTR	$	2.9826
BIGY	YieldMax™ Target 12™ Big 50 Option Income ETF	Multiple	$	0.5130
SOXY	YieldMax™ Target 12™ Semiconductor Option Income ETF	Multiple	$	0.5256
MARO	YieldMax™ MARA Option Income Strategy ETF	MARA	$	2.1002
FEAT	YieldMax™ Dorsey Wright Featured 5 Income ETF	Multiple	$	2.1944
FIVY	YieldMax™ Dorsey Wright Hybrid 5 Income ETF	Multiple	$	1.6771
LFGY	YieldMax™ Crypto Industry & Tech Option Income ETF	Multiple	$	0.6294
GPTY*	YieldMax™ AI & Tech Option Income ETF	Multiple		–

Note: DIPS, FIAT, CRSH and YQQQ are hereinafter referred to as the “Short ETFs” and “ADR” stands for American Depositary Receipt.

You are not guaranteed a distribution under the ETFs. Distributions for the ETFs (if any) are variable and may vary significantly from period to period and may be zero.

Investors in the Funds will not have rights to receive dividends or other distributions with respect to the underlying reference asset(s).

*The inception date for GPTY is January 22, 2025.

¹Each ETF’s strategy (except those of the Short ETFs) will cap potential gains if its reference asset’s shares increase in value, yet subjects an investor to all potential losses if the reference asset’s shares decrease in value. Such potential losses may not be offset by income received by the ETF. Each Short ETF’s strategy will cap potential gains if its reference asset decreases in value, yet subjects an investor to all potential losses if the reference asset increases in value. Such potential losses may not be offset by income received by the ETF.

² The Distribution per Share is the most recently declared such amount as of close on January 29, 2025.

Each Fund has a limited operating history and while each Fund’s objective is to provide current income, there is no guarantee the Fund will make a distribution. Distributions are likely to vary greatly in amount.

Important Information

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about each Fund, visit our website at www.YieldMaxETFs.com. Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing.

There is no guarantee that any Fund’s investment strategy will be properly implemented, and an investor may lose some or all of its investment in any such Fund.

Tidal Financial Group is the adviser for all YieldMax™ ETFs.

THE FUND, TRUST, AND ADVISER ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY UNDERLYING REFERENCE ASSET.

Risk Disclosures (applicable to all YieldMax ETFs referenced above, except the Short ETFs)

YMAX, YMAG, FEAT and FIVY generally invest in other YieldMax™ ETFs. As such, these two Funds are subject to the risks listed in this section, which apply to all the YieldMax™ ETFs they may hold from time to time.

Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

Call Writing Strategy Risk. The path dependency (i.e., the continued use) of the Fund’s call writing strategy will impact the extent that the Fund participates in the positive price returns of the underlying reference asset and, in turn, the Fund’s returns, both during the term of the sold call options and over longer time periods.

Counterparty Risk. The Fund is subject to counterparty risk by virtue of its investments in options contracts. Transactions in some types of derivatives, including options, are required to be centrally cleared (“cleared derivatives”). In a transaction involving cleared derivatives, the Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house rather than a bank or broker. Since the Fund is not a member of clearing houses and only members of a clearing house (“clearing members”) can participate directly in the clearing house, the Fund will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members.

Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive value from the underlying reference asset or assets, such as stocks, bonds, or funds (including ETFs), interest rates or indexes. The Fund’s investments in derivatives may pose risks in addition to, and greater than, those associated with directly investing in securities or other ordinary investments, including risk related to the market, imperfect correlation with underlying investments or the Fund’s other portfolio holdings, higher price volatility, lack of availability, counterparty risk, liquidity, valuation and legal restrictions.

Options Contracts. The use of options contracts involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying instrument, including the anticipated volatility, which are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political, changes in the actual or implied volatility or the reference asset, the time remaining until the expiration of the option contract and economic events.

Distribution Risk. As part of the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund seeks to provide current income. There is no assurance that the Fund will make a distribution in any given month. If the Fund does make distributions, the amounts of such distributions will likely vary greatly from one distribution to the next.

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may actively and frequently trade all or a significant portion of the Fund’s holdings. A high portfolio turnover rate increases transaction costs, which may increase the Fund’s expenses.

Liquidity Risk. Some securities held by the Fund, including options contracts, may be difficult to sell or be illiquid, particularly during times of market turmoil.

Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund.

New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.

Price Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of call option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will participate in increases in value experienced by the underlying reference asset over the Call Period.

Single Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause an investment in the Fund to be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment which diversifies risk or the market generally. The value of the Fund, which focuses on an individual security (ARKK, TSLA, AAPL, NVDA, AMZN, META, GOOGL, NFLX, COIN, MSFT, DIS, XOM, JPM, AMD, PYPL, SQ, MRNA, AI, MSTR, Bitcoin ETP, GDX®, SNOW, ABNB, BABA, TSM, SMCI, PLTR, MARA, CVNA), may be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole.

Inflation Risk. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions, if any, may decline.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to GPTY)

Artificial Intelligence Risk. Issuers engaged in artificial intelligence typically have high research and capital expenditures and, as a result, their profitability can vary widely, if they are profitable at all. The space in which they are engaged is highly competitive and issuers’ products and services may become obsolete very quickly. These companies are heavily dependent on intellectual property rights and may be adversely affected by loss or impairment of those rights. The issuers are also subject to legal, regulatory and political changes that may have a large impact on their profitability. A failure in an issuer’s product or even questions about the safety of the product could be devastating to the issuer, especially if it is the marquee product of the issuer. It can be difficult to accurately capture what qualifies as an artificial intelligence company.

Technology Sector Risk. The Fund will invest substantially in companies in the information technology sector, and therefore the performance of the Fund could be negatively impacted by events affecting this sector. Market or economic factors impacting technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technological advances could have a significant effect on the value of the Fund’s investments. The value of stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology is particularly vulnerable to rapid changes in technology product cycles, rapid product obsolescence, government regulation and competition, both domestically and internationally, including competition from foreign competitors with lower production costs. Stocks of information technology companies and companies that rely heavily on technology, especially those of smaller, less-seasoned companies, tend to be more volatile than the overall market. Information technology companies are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights, the loss or impairment of which may adversely affect profitability.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to MARO)

Digital Assets Risk: The Fund does not invest directly in Bitcoin or any other digital assets. The Fund does not invest directly in derivatives that track the performance of Bitcoin or any other digital assets. The Fund does not invest in or seek direct exposure to the current “spot” or cash price of Bitcoin. Investors seeking direct exposure to the price of Bitcoin should consider an investment other than the Fund. Digital assets like Bitcoin, designed as mediums of exchange, are still an emerging asset class. They operate independently of any central authority or government backing and are subject to regulatory changes and extreme price volatility.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to BABO and TSMY)

Currency Risk: Indirect exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Fund to the risk that currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar. Currency rates in foreign countries may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time for a number of reasons, including changes in interest rates and the imposition of currency controls or other political developments in the U.S. or abroad.

Depositary Receipts Risk: Investment in ADRs may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading market.

Foreign Market and Trading Risk: The trading markets for many foreign securities are not as active as U.S. markets and may have less governmental regulation and oversight.

Foreign Securities Risk: Investments in securities of non-U.S. issuers involve certain risks that may not be present with investments in securities of U.S. issuers, such as risk of loss due to foreign currency fluctuations or to political or economic instability, as well as varying regulatory requirements applicable to investments in non-U.S. issuers. There may be less information publicly available about a non-U.S. issuer than a U.S. issuer. Non-U.S. issuers may also be subject to different regulatory, accounting, auditing, financial reporting and investor protection standards than U.S. issuers.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to GDXY)

Risk of Investing in Foreign Securities. The Fund is exposed indirectly to the securities of foreign issuers selected by GDX®’s investment adviser, which subjects the Fund to the risks associated with such companies. Investments in the securities of foreign issuers involve risks beyond those associated with investments in U.S. securities.

Risk of Investing in Gold and Silver Mining Companies. The Fund is exposed indirectly to gold and silver mining companies selected by GDX®’s investment adviser, which subjects the Fund to the risks associated with such companies.

The Fund invests in options contracts based on the value of the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX®), which subjects the Fund to some of the same risks as if it owned GDX®, as well as the risks associated with Canadian, Australian and Emerging Market Issuers, and Small-and Medium-Capitalization companies.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to YBIT)

YBIT does not invest directly in Bitcoin or any other digital assets. YBIT does not invest directly in derivatives that track the performance of Bitcoin or any other digital assets. YBIT does not invest in or seek direct exposure to the current “spot” or cash price of Bitcoin. Investors seeking direct exposure to the price of Bitcoin should consider an investment other than YBIT.

Bitcoin Investment Risk: The Fund’s indirect investment in Bitcoin, through holdings in one or more Underlying ETPs, exposes it to the unique risks of this emerging innovation. Bitcoin’s price is highly volatile, and its market is influenced by the changing Bitcoin network, fluctuating acceptance levels, and unpredictable usage trends.

Digital Assets Risk: Digital assets like Bitcoin, designed as mediums of exchange, are still an emerging asset class. They operate independently of any central authority or government backing and are subject to regulatory changes and extreme price volatility. Potentially No 1940 Act Protections. As of the date of this Prospectus, there is only a single eligible Underlying ETP, and it is an investment company subject to the 1940 Act.

Bitcoin ETP Risk: The Fund invests in options contracts that are based on the value of the Bitcoin ETP. This subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it owned shares of the Bitcoin ETP, even though it does not. Bitcoin ETPs are subject, but not limited, to significant risk and heightened volatility. An investor in a Bitcoin ETP may lose their entire investment. Bitcoin ETPs are not suitable for all investors. In addition, not all Bitcoin ETPs are registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Those Bitcoin ETPs that are not registered under such statute are therefore not subject to the same regulations as exchange traded products that are so registered.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to the Short ETFs)

Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible.

Price Appreciation Risk. As part of the Fund’s synthetic covered put strategy, the Fund purchases and sells call and put option contracts that are based on the value of the underlying reference asset. This strategy subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it shorted the underlying reference asset, even though it does not. By virtue of the Fund’s indirect inverse exposure to changes in the value of the underlying reference asset, the Fund is subject to the risk that the value of the underlying reference asset increases. If the value of the underlying reference asset increases, the Fund will likely lose value and, as a result, the Fund may suffer significant losses.

Put Writing Strategy Risk. The path dependency (i.e., the continued use) of the Fund’s put writing (selling) strategy will impact the extent that the Fund participates in decreases in the value of the underlying reference asset and, in turn, the Fund’s returns, both during the term of the sold put options and over longer time periods.

Purchased OTM Call Options Risk. The Fund’s strategy is subject to potential losses if the underlying reference asset increases in value, which may not be offset by the purchase of out-of-the-money (OTM) call options. The Fund purchases OTM calls to seek to manage (cap) the Fund’s potential losses from the Fund’s short exposure to the underlying reference asset if it appreciates significantly in value. However, the OTM call options will cap the Fund’s losses only to the extent that the value of the underlying reference asset increases to a level that is at or above the strike level of the purchased OTM call options. Any increase in the value of the underlying reference asset to a level that is below the strike level of the purchased OTM call options will result in a corresponding loss for the Fund. For example, if the OTM call options have a strike level that is approximately 100% above the then-current value of the underlying reference asset at the time of the call option purchase, and the value of the underlying reference asset increases by at least 100% during the term of the purchased OTM call options, the Fund will lose all its value. Since the Fund bears the costs of purchasing the OTM calls, such costs will decrease the Fund’s value and/or any income otherwise generated by the Fund’s investment strategy.

Counterparty Risk. The Fund is subject to counterparty risk by virtue of its investments in options contracts. Transactions in some types of derivatives, including options, are required to be centrally cleared (“cleared derivatives”). In a transaction involving cleared derivatives, the Fund’s counterparty is a clearing house rather than a bank or broker. Since the Fund is not a member of clearing houses and only members of a clearing house (“clearing members”) can participate directly in the clearing house, the Fund will hold cleared derivatives through accounts at clearing members.

Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive value from the underlying reference asset or assets, such as stocks, bonds, or funds (including ETFs), interest rates or indexes. The Fund’s investments in derivatives may pose risks in addition to, and greater than, those associated with directly investing in securities or other ordinary investments, including risk related to the market, imperfect correlation with underlying investments or the Fund’s other portfolio holdings, higher price volatility, lack of availability, counterparty risk, liquidity, valuation and legal restrictions.

Options Contracts. The use of options contracts involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying reference asset, including the anticipated volatility, which are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political, changes in the actual or implied volatility or the reference asset, the time remaining until the expiration of the option contract and economic events.

Distribution Risk. As part of the Fund’s investment objective, the Fund seeks to provide current income. There is no assurance that the Fund will make a distribution in any given month. If the Fund does make distributions, the amounts of such distributions will likely vary greatly from one distribution to the next.

High Portfolio Turnover Risk. The Fund may actively and frequently trade all or a significant portion of the Fund’s holdings.

Liquidity Risk. Some securities held by the Fund, including options contracts, may be difficult to sell or be illiquid, particularly during times of market turmoil.

Non-Diversification Risk. Because the Fund is “non-diversified,” it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the securities of a single issuer or a smaller number of issuers than if it was a diversified fund.

New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.

Price Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of put option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will participate in decreases in value experienced by the underlying reference asset over the Put Period.

Single Issuer Risk. Issuer-specific attributes may cause an investment in the Fund to be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment which diversifies risk or the market generally. The value of the Fund, for any Fund that focuses on an individual security (e.g., TSLA, COIN, NVDA), may be more volatile than a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole and may perform differently from the value of a traditional pooled investment or the market as a whole.

Inflation Risk. Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from investments will be less in the future as inflation decreases the value of money. As inflation increases, the present value of the Fund’s assets and distributions, if any, may decline.

Risk Disclosures (applicable only to YQQQ)

Index Overview. The Nasdaq 100 Index is a benchmark index that includes 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, based on market capitalization.

Index Level Appreciation Risk. As part of the Fund’s synthetic covered put strategy, the Fund purchases and sells call and put option contracts that are based on the Index level. This strategy subjects the Fund to certain of the same risks as if it shorted the Index, even though it does not. By virtue of the Fund’s indirect inverse exposure to changes in the Index level, the Fund is subject to the risk that the Index level increases. If the Index level increases, the Fund will likely lose value and, as a result, the Fund may suffer significant losses. The Fund may also be subject to the following risks: innovation and technological advancement; strong market presence of Index constituent companies; adaptability to global market trends; and resilience and recovery potential.

Index Level Participation Risk. The Fund employs an investment strategy that includes the sale of put option contracts, which limits the degree to which the Fund will benefit from decreases in the Index level experienced over the Put Period. This means that if the Index level experiences a decrease in value below the strike level of the sold put options during a Put Period, the Fund will likely not experience that increase to the same extent and any Fund gains may significantly differ from the level of the Index losses over the Put Period. Additionally, because the Fund is limited in the degree to which it will participate in decreases in value experienced by the Index level over each Put Period, but has significant negative exposure to any increases in value experienced by the Index level over the Put Period, the NAV of the Fund may decrease over any given time period. The Fund’s NAV is dependent on the value of each options portfolio, which is based principally upon the inverse of the performance of the Index level. The Fund’s ability to benefit from the Index level decreases will depend on prevailing market conditions, especially market volatility, at the time the Fund enters into the sold put option contracts and will vary from Put Period to Put Period. The value of the options contracts is affected by changes in the value and dividend rates of component companies that comprise the Index, changes in interest rates, changes in the actual or perceived volatility of the Index and the remaining time to the options’ expiration, as well as trading conditions in the options market. As the Index level changes and time moves towards the expiration of each Put Period, the value of the options contracts, and therefore the Fund’s NAV, will change. However, it is not expected for the Fund’s NAV to directly inversely correlate on a day-to-day basis with the returns of the Index level. The amount of time remaining until the options contract’s expiration date affects the impact that the value of the options contracts has on the Fund’s NAV, which may not be in full effect until the expiration date of the Fund’s options contracts. Therefore, while changes in the Index level will result in changes to the Fund’s NAV, the Fund generally anticipates that the rate of change in the Fund’s NAV will be different than the inverse of the changes experienced by the Index level.

Holdings

As of January 29, 2025, the YieldMax™ CARVANA Option Income Strategy ETF did not hold any shares of CARVANA CO. (CVNA). As of such date, the holdings of CVNA in such fund were 0.00%.

YieldMax™ ETFs are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC. Foreside is not affiliated with Tidal Financial Group, YieldMax™ ETFs.

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: Lantronix to Report Fiscal 2025 Second Quarter Results on Feb. 6, 2025

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Lantronix Inc. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: LTRX), a global leader of compute and connectivity for IoT solutions enabling AI Edge Intelligence, today announced it will release financial results from its fiscal 2025 second quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2024, after the close of the market on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.

Management will host an investor conference call and audio webcast at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) on Feb. 6, 2025. To access the live conference call, investors should dial 1-844-802-2442 (US) or 1-412-317-5135 (international) and indicate they are participating in the Lantronix fiscal 2025 second-quarter call. The webcast will be available simultaneously via the investor relations section of the Company’s website.

Investors can access a conference call replay starting at approximately 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Feb. 6, 2025, on the Lantronix website. A telephonic replay will also be available through Feb. 13, 2025, by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (US) or 1-412-317-0088 (international) or Canada Toll-Free 855-669-9658 and entering passcode 3433776.

About Lantronix

Lantronix Inc. is a global leader of compute and connectivity IoT solutions that target high-growth markets, including Smart Cities, Enterprise and Transportation. Lantronix’s products and services empower companies to succeed in the growing IoT markets by delivering customizable solutions that enable AI Edge Intelligence. Lantronix’s advanced solutions include Intelligent Substations infrastructure, Infotainment systems and Video Surveillance, supplemented with advanced Out-of-Band Management (OOB) for Cloud and Edge Computing.

For more information, visit the Lantronix website.

Lantronix Media Contact:
Gail Kathryn Miller
Corporate Marketing &
Communications Manager
media@lantronix.com

Lantronix Analyst and Investor Contact:
investors@lantronix.com

^{© 2024 Lantronix Inc. All rights reserved. Lantronix is a registered trademark, and SLB and SLC are trademarks of Lantronix Inc. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners.}

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: ‘Gujarat Governance Model’ offers several best practices to be replicated elsewhere too, says Dr Jitendra Singh

Source: Government of India (2)

‘Gujarat Governance Model’ offers several best practices to be replicated elsewhere too, says Dr Jitendra Singh

Highlights Modi’s ‘ Maximum governance, minimum government ‘ mantra;

Advocates for Central-State Collaboration to Propel India as a Global Governance Model

Posted On: 30 JAN 2025 4:56PM by PIB Delhi

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, speaking at the National Conference on Good Governance at the capital township of Gandhinagar here, observed that the “Gujarat Governance Model” offers several best practices which can be successfully replicated elsewhere too.

The Minister recalled that many of the governance innovations successfully implemented at the Central level were first introduced in Gujarat under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership as Chief Minister.

Addressing a pan-India audience of policymakers, senior bureaucrats, and governance experts, Dr. Jitendra Singh praised the transformation in governance over the last decade. “This transformation did not happen overnight. Many of the reforms introduced at the national level were first tested and perfected in Gujarat, and today they are being replicated across the country,” he remarked.

Dr. Jitendra Singh underscored the fundamental shift in governance culture under Prime Minister Modi, which has taken policymaking beyond the traditional administrative strongholds of Delhi and into various regions of the country. He cited the Prime Minister’s directive to decentralize governance by ensuring that major policy discussions, conferences and outreach programs are held in different parts of the country and not necessarily in New Delhi. “By moving governance dialogues beyond Delhi, we are ensuring that reforms are more inclusive and reflective of the aspirations of people from all corners of the country,” he said.

Union Minister of State, Dr.Jitendra Singh speaking after inaugurating two-day “National Conference on Good Governance” at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The Minister also referred to the evolution of India’s administrative framework, recalling how Sardar Patel envisioned a robust bureaucracy as the ‘steel frame’ of India, a vision that has been further refined through the Modi government’s approach of ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum Government.’ He pointed to landmark reforms, such as the scrapping of nearly 2,000 obsolete laws, the elimination of the requirement for attested documents and the removal of interviews for junior-level government jobs as measures that have streamlined bureaucracy and enhanced transparency.

One of the standout examples of governance innovation, Dr. Jitendra Singh noted, was Gujarat’s early implementation of the 24-hour rural electrification scheme in the early 2000s. “At a time when electricity supply was erratic across the country, Gujarat pioneered uninterrupted rural electrification, a model that was later scaled up at the national level,” he said. Recounting the scale of transformation, Dr. Jitendra Singh spoke about how electricity shortages used to be commonplace in many parts of India. “There was a time when people clapped when the lights came back on after an outage. Today, power cuts are rare, and uninterrupted electricity is an expectation, not a luxury. This is the scale of governance transformation achieved,” he remarked.

The Minister also outlined India’s progress in digital governance, emphasizing major technological interventions in public administration. Initiatives such as online RTI applications, digital life certificates for pensioners using facial recognition technology, and AI-driven administrative decision-making have positioned India as a leader in governance innovation. He stated that the use of emerging technologies will be central to governance in the coming years, making administration more efficient, transparent, and citizen-friendly.

Dr. Jitendra Singh also spoke about the impressive strides made in grievance redressal mechanisms, particularly the CPGRAMS (Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System), which has now become a model for citizen-centric governance worldwide. He highlighted CPGRAMS 7.0 as a transformative leap in public grievance redressal, showcasing the power of technology and citizen-centric policies in governance. He emphasized that AI-driven reforms, including semantic search and predictive analytics, have made governance more responsive, bridging the gap between the administration and citizens. With over 19 lakh feedbacks collected and a 50% rise in satisfaction levels, CPGRAMS reflects growing public trust. He urged stakeholders to further strengthen the system, positioning it as a global model of innovation, transparency, and efficient grievance redressal.

Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted that between 2019 and 2024, India has witnessed a transformative shift in governance, with e-governance streamlining citizen-government interactions and enhancing transparency. He noted that the widespread adoption of e-Office version 7.0 has enabled paperless administration across Ministries, ensuring efficiency and accountability in governance. The Minister emphasized that India’s commitment to e-governance has been reinforced through platforms like the National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG), which has fostered collaboration between the Centre and States since 1997.

Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted the success of the fourth Sushasan Saptah—Good Governance Week—held from December 19 to 25, 2024, as a significant step toward transformative governance. He emphasized the Prashasan Gaon ki Ore campaign, which aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of next-generation reforms by bringing governance closer to citizens through streamlined procedures and technology-driven service delivery. With over 36,000 camps organized across 700+ districts, resolving nearly 2.89 crore service applications, the campaign demonstrated the government’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and citizen empowerment at every level.

Dr. Jitendra Singh further highlighted the government’s commitment to ensuring that governance is responsive and attuned to the needs of the people. He reiterated that under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, the emphasis remains on making government services more accessible, accountable, and technology-driven. He praised Gujarat for setting a benchmark in administrative efficiency and urged other states to adopt similar governance models to enhance service delivery and public administration.

The National Conference on Good Governance, attended by senior officials and experts, provided a platform to discuss best practices and develop strategies for further strengthening governance mechanisms across India.

While addressing the conference, Secretary, DAR&PG, Shri V. Srinivas described the Gandhinagar Conference as a milestone moment. He emphasized that the conference aligns with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of leveraging Artificial Intelligence to enhance service delivery and explore emerging technologies in governance. Highlighting the transformative role of technology in bridging the gap between the government and citizens, he informed the gathering that the Gandhinagar event marks the 28th conference since 2014, held under the guidance of MoS Dr. Jitendra Singh.

Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed confidence that continued collaboration between the central and state governments would lead to more impactful reforms, ultimately driving India towards becoming a global model of effective governance.

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NKR /PSM

(Release ID: 2097631) Visitor Counter : 60

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Data Informatics and Innovation Division, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Delhi) on 30.01.2025

Source: Government of India

Posted On: 30 JAN 2025 4:31PM by PIB Delhi

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed under the Data Innovation lab initiative between Data Informatics and Innovation Division, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Delhi) on 30.01.2025.

The Ministry has initiated several reforms to modernise the National Statistical System in the last one year. In July 2024, MoSPI embarked on the scheme for Data Innovation (DI) Lab initiative as to infuse innovation, and build an ecosystem for research-driven solutions. The DI Lab is designed to serve as a platform to harness emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Big Data Analytics to enhance data collection, processing, and dissemination.

As part of the Outreach Activities, the Lab has been engaging with premier academic institutions. More than 100 academic institutions have been approached. MoU with several reputed institutions including IITs and IIMs have been signed.

A key objective of this partnership is to leverage academic expertise to tackle real-world challenges in official statistics by creating a link between academia and practitioners.. The statistical landscape is evolving, and new methodologies are needed to address issues like data integration, real-time analytics, and predictive modeling.

In this collective endeavour and collaborative approach towards improving Official Statistics, the partnership was formalised through this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MoSPI and IIIT Delhi. Collaboration with IIIT Delhi is a crucial step in creating an ecosystem for innovation. With the signing of this MoU, MoSPI is reinforcing its commitment to fostering long-term collaboration between Government and Academia and infusing fresh ideas in the system. This is expected to lead to impactful innovations that will significantly enhance the functioning of MoSPI and strengthen the statistical ecosystem of the country.

*****

Samrat/Dheeraj : @pibmospi[at]gmail[dot]com

(Release ID: 2097621) Visitor Counter : 25

MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Use of artificial intelligence and social scoring by Danish social security authority – P-002847/2024(ASW)

Source: European Parliament

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act[1] aims to ensure a high level of fundamental rights protection and gives special consideration to the use of AI in relation to essential public services and benefits, acknowledging the vulnerability of those dependent on such services and benefits[2].

To that end, the AI Act prohibits[3] AI-enabled ‘social scoring’ practices that assess or classify individuals based on their social behaviour or personal characteristics and lead to detrimental or unfavourable outcomes for the affected persons, when the data comes from unrelated social contexts or the punishment is disproportionate to the gravity of the social behaviour.

Moreover, AI used by public authorities to evaluate the eligibility of persons for essential public assistance benefits and services is deemed high-risk under the AI Act[4].

High-risk AI systems need to comply with strict requirements and public authorities who deploy them must conduct a fundamental rights impact assessment.

The AI Act’s prohibitions apply as of 2 February 2025 and the rules for high-risk AI systems as of 2 August 2026. The supervision and enforcement of the prohibitions and rules for high-risk AI systems will be the responsibility of national market surveillance authorities, which Member States are required to designate by 2 August 2025.

It will be the task of the competent Danish market surveillance authority to assess whether the system used by the Danish social security authority complies with the AI Act, once it applies.

To provide guidance on the AI Act’s interpretation and to support its effective and uniform application, the Commission will adopt guidelines, including on the prohibitions and rules for high-risk AI systems.

[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act), OJ L, 2024/1689.
[2] See Recital 58 of the AI Act.
[3] Point (c) of Article 5(1) of the AI Act.
[4] Article 6(2) and point 5(a) of Annex III.

Last updated: 30 January 2025

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Europe: Answer to a written question – Use of discriminatory algorithms in social protection systems in France and the Netherlands – E-002437/2024(ASW)

Source: European Parliament

The Artificial Intelligence Act (‘AI Act’)[1] introduces proportionate rules for AI systems in the EU, following a risk-based approach.

Certain AI practices that pose an unacceptable risk are prohibited[2]. AI systems classified as ‘high-risk’ include, among others, AI systems intended to be used to evaluate the eligibility of natural persons for essential public assistance benefits and services as well as to grant, reduce, revoke, or reclaim such benefits and services[3].

These systems will have to comply with a set of requirements[4] and be assessed for their conformity prior to their placement on the market and use.

In addition, deployers of high-risk AI systems will also have obligations, such as to implement the human oversight, monitor for risks and inform affected persons about the use. Deployers who are public authorities or provide public services must also carry out a fundamental rights impact assessment.

Market surveillance authorities under the AI Act are empowered to investigate AI systems for their compliance with the AI Act, including to request corrective measures and withdrawal of the AI system from the market.

Natural and legal persons can also submit complaints that will enable rapid intervention. In addition, the AI Act strengthens the role of authorities supervising existing EU legislation on fundamental rights, such as equality bodies and data protection authorities, empowering them to effectively investigate and address potential violations, including cases of discrimination.

The Commission will cover social rating systems and discriminatory profiling practices in the guidelines on the application of the AI Act[5].

[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Artificial Intelligence Act) (Text with EEA relevance), PE/24/2024/REV/1, OJ L, 2024/1689, 12.7.2024.
[2] This includes AI practices that produce a social score that leads to detrimental or unfavourable treatment of certain natural persons or groups of persons in social contexts that are unrelated to the contexts in which the data was originally generated or collected or that is unjustified or disproportionate to their social behaviour or its gravity. As per Article 5(8) of the AI Act, this Article shall not affect the prohibitions that apply where an AI practice infringes other EU law.
[3] Annex III point 5(a) of the AI Act.
[4] E.g. risk management system, data governance to ensure data quality and avoid discrimination, transparency, documentation, human oversight, accuracy and robustness.
[5] E.g. for prohibited practices under Article 5 of the AI Act and for high-risk AI systems under Article 6 of the AI Act.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Europe: EIB Group achieves record results in 2024, targets €95 billion in investments for 2025

Source: European Investment Bank

The EIB Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024.
A record of nearly 60% of all EIB Group financing supported the green transition, climate action and environmental sustainability.
There was a sharp increase in higher-risk activities, with a record €8 billion committed for equity and quasi-equity investment.
Financing for security and defence projects doubled to €1 billion in 2024, with a further doubling planned in 2025.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group signed €89 billion in new financing last year. The Group made more investments than ever before to strengthen EU energy security, mobilising over €100 billion for projects in new and upgraded infrastructure such as grids and interconnectors, renewables, net-zero industries, efficiency and storage. Nearly 60% of the total financing supported the green transition, climate action and environmental sustainability.

Our preliminary results once again signal robust profitability. At the same time, higher-risk EIB operations to back Europe’s most innovative companies have sharply increased. A record €8 billion in equity and quasi-equity investment from the EIB and the European Investment Fund (EIF) is expected to mobilise €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers.

Eligible security and defence investment doubled in 2024, and the goal is to double this figure again this year. Furthermore, the EIB Group significantly extended its eligible investments in dual-use projects, which now include border protection, military mobility, de-mining and de-contamination, space, cybersecurity, anti-jamming equipment, seabed and critical infrastructure protection, research and development, and drones.

Looking ahead, the EIB Group plans to increase its overall investments to €95 billion in 2025, with flagship initiatives to support European tech champions and a dedicated TechEU programme, critical raw materials, water management, the energy efficiency of small and medium-sized companies, and a dedicated platform to promote sustainable and affordable housing.

In parallel with increasing its investment capacity and impact, the EIB Group is making significant progress in cutting red tape for clients and has shortened the time to market required to approve and deploy new investments. During 2024, it introduced simplified appraisal procedures covering more than 40% of its operations.

“We have broken records with our financing in 2024. We have made ourselves ready to support EU priorities in this new political mandate. And we will play an even more relevant role in 2025 – building on the excellent performance of the EIB Group to increase our impact, bolstering Europe’s security and competitiveness with strategic and ambitious investments,” said EIB Group President Nadia Calviño as she presented the annual operational results of the EIB Group in Brussels.

Making records

The EIB Group financing committed in 2024 is expected to power almost 15 million households with clean energy, create up to 1.5 million new jobs in Europe over the next few years, advance therapies against cancer, and help secure affordable housing from Croatia to Latvia.

In more detail, highlights from last year include:

Stepped up higher-risk activities, expected to mobilise about €110 billion in new investments. This includes a record €7.2 billion of investments by the EIF in the equity funds ecosystem, and €1 billion in venture debt by the EIB.
More than €14 billion in total investment deployed by the EIF to support Europe’s small businesses and innovators, including in 102 venture capital funds, such as a dedicated fund to back women-owned and gender-balanced startups in space and deep tech.
A record €51 billion – around 60% of last year’s investments – to support the green transition, climate action and environmental sustainability, from the world’s first zero-emissions tyre factory in Romania to support for sustainable mobility in Valencia, keeping the EIB Group well on track to meet its target of supporting €1 trillion in climate and environmental sustainability investment in the critical decade to 2030.
A record €31 billion to back EU energy security, including for efficiency, renewables, storage and electricity grids, which is expected to support over €100 billion in investment. Flagship initiatives include counter-guarantees to bolster European wind manufacturers, electric vehicle battery manufacturing in France and the Princess Elisabeth Island in Belgium. For grids and storage, financing rose to a record €8.5 billion, mobilising 40% of Europe’s total investment in that sector in 2024, including transmission network upgrades and interconnectors in Spain, Czechia and Germany.
Support for eligible security and defence projects doubled to €1 billion, including the deployment of dual-use satellites in Poland, port upgrades to meet the needs of NATO vessels in Denmark and investment by the EIF in dedicated private investment funds. A further doubling of annual investments to €2 billion is expected this year.
A record €38 billion to accelerate social and territorial cohesion, including credit lines for farmers in Romania, innovative startups in Greece and just transition projects in Estonia.
The EIB Group has also provided financial support to boost climate resilience and adaptation from post-landslide reconstruction in Italy to recovery investments in European regions affected by devastating floods.
With more than €2.2 billion disbursed since 2022, EIB Group investments in Ukraine are helping to repair schools, kindergartens and hospitals, upgrade transport and protect energy infrastructure, as well as support the private sector.

Beyond Ukraine, the EIB Group’s operations outside the European Union are supporting stability in the EU neighbourhood and partner countries on their path to EU membership, including with rail upgrades in countries such as Albania and Montenegro.

Supporting EU global priorities and helping strengthen Europe’s voice in the world, EIB Group financing also helps drought-stricken countries like Jordan to manage water supplies. Thanks to reinforced partnerships inside and outside the European Union, EIB investments are helping eliminate diseases like polio and support sustainable infrastructure around the world from Vietnam to India.

Ready for the challenges ahead

Under President Calviño, who took office in January 2024, the EIB Group has updated its internal policies and investment strategy to maximise impact and scale up support for shared European priorities.

Changes include:

A Strategic Roadmap, aligned with EU policies and agreed by the EU 27 Member States (the EIB’s shareholders) to focus resources on impactful investment on eight core priorities.
A revamped framework expanding the EIB Group’s activity in the areas of security and defence, with streamlined internal procedures and new partnerships with external stakeholders, such as the NATO Innovation Fund and the European Defence Agency.
EIB governors approved the increase of the gearing ratio, an outdated limit on EIB Group’s investments.[1] This will enable the EIB Group to make the necessary strategic investments to deliver on EU policy goals while preserving its leverage and capital ratios.
An action plan with building blocks for a deeper capital markets union.
Actions and proposals to cut red tape, improve the usability of EU sustainability reporting rules and optimise the use of EU budget instruments.
A stepped up time to market initiative to simplify internal processes and boost efficiency, enabling much faster approvals for new financing.
An action plan to improve transparency, accountability and well-being in the workplace, including the appointment of an ombudsperson to swiftly address common workplace issues and improve the working environment.

More relevant than ever in 2025

Looking ahead, the EIB Group Operational Plan covers up to €95 billion in new investment in 2025, supported by the Group’s stellar credit rating and strong capital position.

New initiatives aligned with the priorities of the new European Commission expected to be rolled out in 2025 include:

Maintaining a 60% green finance target.
Scaling up support for leading technologies, including clean-tech, artificial intelligence, chips, high-performance and quantum computing, health sciences and medical technologies, and Europe’s cutting-edge industrial capacity.
An exit platform to facilitate the listing of European scale-ups in EU markets or the acquisition of these promising innovators by European companies.
An extension of the highly successful European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) as part of the broader goal to boost equity and venture debt investments to scale up Europe’s innovative startups.
Further doubling of support for Europe’s security and defence industry
A pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing, together with the European Commission and increased financing for the housing sector.
Increasing investment for critical raw materials projects, such as the Keliber lithium production facility in Finland agreed last year.
A dedicated water programme of about €4.5 billion to focus investment on flood resilience, and to address water scarcity amid intensifying droughts.
New support for Europe’s farmers through agricultural insurance and other de-risking schemes, building on a €3 billion facility to improve access to financing for young farmers and women.
A €2.5 billion programme to scale up energy efficiency investments by small and medium-sized companies so they can lower their CO₂ emissions and electricity bills.

EIB Group press conference on annual results

Background information

The EIB Group is the financing institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It supports investment contributing toward EU policy goals, including sustainable growth, social and territorial cohesion, innovation and security. It finances its operations in global capital markets and has been consistently profitable in its operations since its inception. The EIB Group is the pioneer and one of the largest issuers of green bonds, while all of its operations are aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement.

[1] Subject to final approval by the Council of the European Union.

MIL OSI Europe News –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: Bread Financial Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Results

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.^® (NYSE: BFH), a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, flexible payment, lending and saving solutions, today announced its fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results. All earnings-related materials are now available at the company’s investor relations website, here.

Bread Financial President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Andretta and Chief Financial Officer Perry Beberman will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET today to discuss results. A link to the conference call will be available at the company’s investor relations website, and a replay will also be available there following the call.

About Bread Financial^®
Bread Financial ^® (NYSE: BFH) is a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending and saving solutions to millions of U.S. consumers. Our payment solutions, including Bread Financial general purpose credit cards and savings products, empower our customers and their passions for a better life. Additionally, we deliver growth for some of the most recognized brands in travel & entertainment, health & beauty, jewelry and specialty apparel through our private label and co-brand credit cards and pay-over-time products providing choice and value to our shared customers.

To learn more about Bread Financial, our global associates and our sustainability commitments, visit breadfinancial.com or follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Contacts
Brian Vereb — Investor Relations
Brian.Vereb@breadfinancial.com

Susan Haugen — Investor Relations
Susan.Haugen@breadfinancial.com

Rachel Stultz — Media
Rachel.Stultz@breadfinancial.com

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: Radware Delivers AI-Driven DDoS Protection for TelemaxX Telekommunikation’s Scrubbing Center

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

MAHWAH, N.J., Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Radware^® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments, today announced it expanded its relationship with TelemaxX Telekommunikation GmbH. TelemaxX is leveraging Radware’s AI-powered DefensePro^® X DDoS Protection to advance the network and application security services offered to customers through its scrubbing center.

Headquartered in Karlsruhe, Germany, TelemaxX is a leading regional provider of integrated IT solutions, specializing in telecommunications and data centers, as well as cloud and managed services. Today, TelemaxX operates five high-security data centers in Germany’s Karlsruhe Technology Region, one of Europe’s top centers for innovation. To support its business, TelemaxX also uses Radware’s Cyber Controller platform, a security management, orchestration, and automation solution.

“Working with Radware, we’ve found a partner that can grow step-by-step with our business requirements and customers’ needs,” said Heiko Kreisz, head of internet from TelemaxX. “Through this technology expansion, we can scale our services and help our customers stay ahead of emerging threats while maintaining the integrity and availability of their networks.”

This includes protection against Web DDoS Tsunami attacks, a new aggressive form of HTTPS Flood that targets web applications and APIs. According to Radware’s H1 2024 Global Threat Analysis Report, Web DDoS attacks surged globally 265% during the first six months of 2024 compared to the second half of 2023.

“As the number and sophistication of DDoS attacks increase exponentially, the demand for state-of-the-art AI-driven protection has never been greater,” said Michael Giesselbach, Radware’s regional director in Germany. “Working with TelemaxX, we can meet the needs of growing organizations and improve their security posture while they focus on their core business activities.”

Using AI-powered advanced behavioral algorithms, DefensePro X provides automated, adaptive DDoS protection from fast-moving, high-volume, encrypted or zero-day threats. It defends against IoT-based, Burst, DNS and TLS/SSL attacks, ransom DDoS campaigns, IoT botnets, phantom floods, and other types of cyber threats.

Radware has received numerous awards for its DDoS mitigation, application and API protection, web application firewall, and bot detection and management solutions. Industry analysts such as Aite-Novarica Group, Gartner, GigaOm, IDC, KuppingerCole and QKS Group continue to recognize Radware as a market leader in cyber security.

About Radware
Radware^® (NASDAQ: RDWR) is a global leader in application security and delivery solutions for multi-cloud environments. The company’s cloud application, infrastructure, and API security solutions use AI-driven algorithms for precise, hands-free, real-time protection from the most sophisticated web, application, and DDoS attacks, API abuse, and bad bots. Enterprises and carriers worldwide rely on Radware’s solutions to address evolving cybersecurity challenges and protect their brands and business operations while reducing costs. For more information, please visit the Radware website.

Radware encourages you to join our community and follow us on: Facebook, LinkedIn, Radware Blog, X, YouTube, and Radware Mobile for iOS.

©2025 Radware Ltd. All rights reserved. Any Radware products and solutions mentioned in this press release are protected by trademarks, patents, and pending patent applications of Radware in the U.S. and other countries. For more details, please see: https://www.radware.com/LegalNotice/. All other trademarks and names are property of their respective owners.

Radware believes the information in this document is accurate in all material respects as of its publication date. However, the information is provided without any express, statutory, or implied warranties and is subject to change without notice.

The contents of any website or hyperlinks mentioned in this press release are for informational purposes and the contents thereof are not part of this press release.

Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements made herein that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about Radware’s plans, outlook, beliefs, or opinions, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” “plans,” and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would,” “may,” and “could.” For example, when we say in this press release that through this partnership, we can meet the needs of growing organizations and improve their security posture, we are using forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, could differ materially from Radware’s current forecasts and estimates. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of global economic conditions, including as a result of the state of war declared in Israel in October 2023 and instability in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and the tensions between China and Taiwan; our dependence on independent distributors to sell our products; our ability to manage our anticipated growth effectively; a shortage of components or manufacturing capacity could cause a delay in our ability to fulfill orders or increase our manufacturing costs; our business may be affected by sanctions, export controls, and similar measures, targeting Russia and other countries and territories, as well as other responses to Russia’s military conflict in Ukraine, including indefinite suspension of operations in Russia and dealings with Russian entities by many multi-national businesses across a variety of industries; the ability of vendors to provide our hardware platforms and components for the manufacture of our products; our ability to attract, train, and retain highly qualified personnel; intense competition in the market for cyber security and application delivery solutions and in our industry in general, and changes in the competitive landscape; our ability to develop new solutions and enhance existing solutions; the impact to our reputation and business in the event of real or perceived shortcomings, defects, or vulnerabilities in our solutions, if our end-users experience security breaches, if our information technology systems and data, or those of our service providers and other contractors, are compromised by cyber-attackers or other malicious actors or by a critical system failure; outages, interruptions, or delays in hosting services; the risks associated with our global operations, such as difficulties and costs of staffing and managing foreign operations, compliance costs arising from host country laws or regulations, partial or total expropriation, export duties and quotas, local tax exposure, economic or political instability, including as a result of insurrection, war, natural disasters, and major environmental, climate, or public health concerns, such as the COVID-19 pandemic; our net losses in the past two years and possibility we may incur losses in the future; a slowdown in the growth of the cyber security and application delivery solutions market or in the development of the market for our cloud-based solutions; long sales cycles for our solutions; risks and uncertainties relating to acquisitions or other investments; risks associated with doing business in countries with a history of corruption or with foreign governments; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks associated with undetected defects or errors in our products; our ability to protect our proprietary technology; intellectual property infringement claims made by third parties; laws, regulations, and industry standards affecting our business; compliance with open source and third-party licenses; and other factors and risks over which we may have little or no control. This list is intended to identify only certain of the principal factors that could cause actual results to differ. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Radware, refer to Radware’s Annual Report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the other risk factors discussed from time to time by Radware in reports filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and, except as required by applicable law, Radware undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made. Radware’s public filings are available from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained on Radware’s website at www.radware.com.

Media Contact:
Gerri Dyrek
Radware
Gerri.Dyrek@radware.com

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: reAlpha Tech Corp. Appoints Piyush Phadke as CFO

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

DUBLIN, Ohio, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — reAlpha Tech Corp. (Nasdaq: AIRE) (“reAlpha” or the “Company”), a real estate technology company developing and commercializing artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Piyush Phadke as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 30, 2025. Mr. Phadke will succeed Rakesh Prasad, the Company’s Interim Chief Financial Officer, and he will oversee the Company’s financial and accounting operations, reporting directly to the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Mike Logozzo.

With over 20 years of experience in finance, capital raising and strategic leadership, Mr. Phadke brings a wealth of expertise to reAlpha. Prior to joining reAlpha, he served as a Managing Director at BTIG, LLC, where he specialized in providing investment banking services for lower middle-market companies. Mr. Phadke also held senior investment banking positions at Jefferies LLC and Bank of America, where he focused on capital markets transactions for private equity clients.

“We’re excited to welcome Piyush to the team,” said Mike Logozzo, President and Chief Operating Officer of reAlpha. “His extensive background in investment banking and capital markets will be invaluable as we continue to execute on our growth strategy. We believe Piyush’s leadership will strengthen our financial infrastructure and support our mission to be a global leader in the real estate tech space.”

“I am thrilled to join reAlpha at this pivotal moment,” said Mr. Phadke. “reAlpha’s commitment to leverage AI technologies for the real estate industry is inspiring, and I expect to utilize my background in capital raising and investment banking to help reAlpha accelerate its financial and operational objectives.”

As a first order of business, Mr. Phadke will focus on optimizing reAlpha’s capital structure and strengthening its balance sheet.

For more information about Mr. Phadke’s appointment and related compensation arrangement, please refer to the Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

About reAlpha Tech Corp.

reAlpha Tech Corp. (Nasdaq: AIRE) is a real estate technology company developing an end-to-end commission-free homebuying platform. Utilizing the power of AI and an acquisition-led growth strategy, reAlpha’s goal is to offer a more affordable, streamlined experience for those on the journey to homeownership. For more information, visit www.realpha.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes “forward-looking statements”. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the appointment of Mr. Phadke as Chief Financial Officer and the anticipated benefits thereof. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “could”, “might”, “plan”, “possible”, “project”, “strive”, “budget”, “forecast”, “expect”, “intend”, “will”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “predict”, “potential” or “continue”, or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: reAlpha’s limited operating history and that reAlpha has not yet fully developed its AI-based technologies; reAlpha’s ability to commercialize its developing AI-based technologies; whether reAlpha’s technology and products will be accepted and adopted by its customers and intended users; reAlpha’s ability to integrate the business of its acquired companies into its existing business and the anticipated demand for such acquired companies’ services; reAlpha’s ability to successfully enter new geographic markets; reAlpha’s ability to obtain the necessary regulatory and legal approvals to expand into additional U.S. states and maintain, or obtain, brokerage licenses in such states; reAlpha’s ability to generate additional sales or revenue from having access to, or obtaining, additional U.S. states brokerage licenses; reAlpha’s inability to accurately forecast demand for short-term rentals, corporate relocation programs and AI-based real estate focused products; the inability to execute business objectives and growth strategies successfully or sustain reAlpha’s growth; the inability of reAlpha’s customers to pay for reAlpha’s services; changes in applicable laws or regulations, and the impact of the regulatory environment and complexities with compliance related to such environment; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in reAlpha’s SEC filings. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Although reAlpha believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. reAlpha’s future results, level of activity, performance or achievements may differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, and there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking statements. For more information about the factors that could cause such differences, please refer to reAlpha’s filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and reAlpha does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor Relations Contact
investorrelations@realpha.com

Media Contact
Alliance Advisors IR on behalf of reAlpha
Fatema Bhabrawala
FBhabrawala@allianceadvisors.com

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI: FirstCash Reports Record Fourth Quarter and Full-Year Operating Results; Accelerating Pawn Demand Drives Record Revenue & Earnings; Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend

Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

FORT WORTH, Texas, Jan. 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (“FirstCash” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: FCFS), the leading international operator of more than 3,000 retail pawn stores and a leading provider of retail point-of-sale (“POS”) payment solutions, today announced operating results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2024. The Company also announced that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.38 per share, which will be paid on February 28, 2025.

Mr. Rick Wessel, chief executive officer, stated, “FirstCash posted record fourth quarter and full year revenues and earnings primarily fueled by exceptionally strong pawn operating results. Same-store pawn receivables increased 12% in both the U.S. and Latin America (local currency basis) compared to last year. This marked the sixth consecutive quarter of double digit same-store pawn receivable growth in the U.S. The POS payment solutions segment (“AFF”) had solid profitability as well, and posted growth in transaction volumes and door counts for the quarter and year-to-date periods.

“A total of 16 pawn stores were added in the fourth quarter, including an acquisition of 10 stores coupled with six new store openings. For the full year, 99 pawn stores were opened or acquired, boosting the total store base to 3,026 locations. FirstCash’s cash flows and balance sheet remain strong and we believe that we are well positioned to fund further anticipated store growth in 2025 along with dividends and potential share buybacks.”

This release contains adjusted financial measures, which exclude certain non-operating and/or non-cash income and expenses, that are non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the descriptions and reconciliations to GAAP of these and other non-GAAP financial measures at the end of this release.

	Three Months Ended December 31,
	As Reported (GAAP)				Adjusted (Non-GAAP)
In thousands, except per share amounts	2024		2023		2024		2023
Revenue	$	883,811	$	852,134	$	883,811	$	852,134
Net income	$	83,547	$	69,589	$	95,415	$	92,846
Diluted earnings per share	$	1.86	$	1.53	$	2.12	$	2.04
EBITDA (non-GAAP measure)	$	162,636	$	145,493	$	165,685	$	161,704
Weighted-average diluted shares		45,038		45,425		45,038		45,425

	Twelve Months Ended December 31,
	As Reported (GAAP)				Adjusted (Non-GAAP)
In thousands, except per share amounts	2024		2023		2024		2023
Revenue	$	3,388,514	$	3,151,796	$	3,388,514	$	3,151,796
Net income	$	258,815	$	219,301	$	302,680	$	276,874
Diluted earnings per share	$	5.73	$	4.80	$	6.70	$	6.06
EBITDA (non-GAAP measure)	$	551,008	$	493,784	$	558,437	$	511,732
Weighted-average diluted shares		45,168		45,693		45,168		45,693

Consolidated Operating Highlights

Gross revenues totaled a record $3.4 billion in 2024, an increase of 8% on both a GAAP and constant currency basis compared to last year. Revenues totaled $884 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 4% on a GAAP basis and 7% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior-year quarter.
Diluted earnings per share for 2024 increased 19% over last year on a GAAP basis while adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 11% compared to the prior year. For the fourth quarter, diluted earnings per share increased 22% over the prior-year quarter on a GAAP basis while adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 4% compared to the prior-year quarter. These results were even more impressive in light of lower foreign currency exchange rates, which reduced 2024 earnings per share by approximately $0.06 for the fourth quarter and $0.04 for the full year compared to the prior-year periods.
Record net income for 2024 totaled $259 million on a GAAP basis while adjusted net income was a record $303 million, which represented increases of 18% and 9%, respectively, over the prior year.
Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $558 million, an increase of $47 million, or 9%, compared to the prior year.

Store Base and Platform Growth

Pawn Stores – 16 pawn locations were added in Mexico during the fourth quarter, consisting of ten acquired stores and six de novo stores. For the full year, a total of 99 pawn locations were added, including 29 stores in the U.S. and 70 stores in Latin America.
As of December 31, 2024, the Company had 3,026 locations, comprised of 1,200 U.S. locations and 1,826 locations in Latin America.

Retail POS Payment Solutions (AFF) Merchant Partnerships – As of December 31, 2024, there were approximately 13,600 active retail and e-commerce merchant partner locations, representing a 17% increase in the number of active merchant locations compared to a year ago. Excluding certain furniture locations closed due to bankruptcies, the number of active doors increased over 25%.

U.S. Pawn Segment Operating Results

Fourth quarter 2024 segment pre-tax operating income was $112 million, an increase of $13 million, or 14%, compared to the prior-year quarter. The resulting segment pre-tax operating margin remained strong at 26% for the quarter.
Full year 2024 segment pre-tax operating income was $397 million, an increase of $61 million, or 18%, compared to the prior year. The resulting segment pre-tax operating margin was 25% for the full year, which equaled the prior year.
Pawn receivables grew significantly over the course of the fourth quarter, totaling almost $400 million by year end and increasing 15% compared to the prior year. The increase in total pawn receivables was driven by a 5% increase in the year-to-date weighted-average store count coupled with an impressive 12% same-store increase. On a two-year stacked basis, same-store pawn receivables were up 26%.
Pawn loan fees increased 11% for the fourth quarter and 16% for the full year, while on a same-store basis, pawn loan fee revenue increased 9% and 11% compared to both of the respective prior-year periods.
Retail merchandise sales increased 10% in the fourth quarter and 13% for the full year compared to the respective prior-year periods. Same-store retail sales increased 6% for both the quarter and full year compared to the respective prior-year periods, as the Company saw continued retail demand from value-conscious consumers.
Retail sales margins improved to a robust 43% in the fourth quarter compared to 42% in the prior-year quarter. Full year retail margins were 42% in 2024 compared to 43% in 2023.
Annualized inventory turnover was consistent at 2.8 times for both 2024 and 2023. Inventories aged greater than one year at December 31, 2024 remained extremely low at 1% of total inventories.
Operating expenses for the fourth quarter and full year increased 10% and 12%, respectively, as compared to the prior-year periods, primarily due to store additions and increased labor and variable compensation expenses. On a same-store basis, expenses increased 7% for the quarter and 5% for the full year compared to the respective prior-year periods.

Latin America Pawn Segment Operating Results

Note: Certain growth rates below are calculated on a constant currency basis, a non-GAAP financial measure defined at the end of this release. The average Mexican peso to U.S. dollar exchange rate for the fourth quarter of 2024 was 20.1 pesos / dollar, an unfavorable change of 14% versus the comparable prior-year period, and for the twelve-month period ended December 31, 2024 was 18.3 pesos / dollar, an unfavorable change of 3% versus the prior-year period.

While fourth quarter segment pre-tax operating income decreased 4% on a U.S. dollar basis compared to last year, it increased 7% on a constant currency basis. The resulting segment pre-tax operating margin was 20% for both the fourth quarter of 2024 and 2023.
For the full year of 2024, segment pre-tax operating income decreased 4% on a U.S. dollar basis compared to the prior year and decreased 2% on a constant currency basis. The resulting segment pre-tax operating margin was 19%, equaling the prior year.
While pawn receivables at December 31, 2024 decreased 5% on a U.S. dollar basis, they increased 13% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior year. On a same-store basis, pawn receivables decreased 6% on a U.S. dollar basis but increased 12% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior year.
While total and same-store pawn loan fees in the fourth quarter decreased 3% in U.S. dollars, they increased 10% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior-year quarter. For the full year, both total and same-store pawn loan fees increased 4%, or 7% on a constant currency basis, compared to the prior year.
Although retail merchandise sales in the fourth quarter of 2024 decreased 5% compared to the prior-year quarter, they increased 7% on a constant currency basis. Same-store retail merchandise sales in the fourth quarter of 2024 decreased 6% on a U.S. dollar basis while increasing 7% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior-year quarter. For the full year, retail merchandise sales increased 2%, or 4% on a constant currency basis, compared to the prior year, while same-store retail merchandise sales increased 1%, or 4% on a constant currency basis, compared to the prior year.
Retail margins were 34% for the fourth quarter of 2024 and 35% for the full year, both similar to prior-period results. Annualized inventory turnover was 4.2 times in 2024 versus 4.4 times in 2023, while inventories aged greater than one year at December 31, 2024 remained extremely low at 1%.
Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2024 decreased 5% in total but increased 7% on a constant currency basis compared to the prior-year quarter while full year operating expenses increased 7%, or 9% on a constant currency basis compared to last year. The increase in constant currency expenses from all stores reflected increased store counts and higher labor costs (due primarily to further increases in the federal minimum wage and other mandated benefit programs), along with other inflationary impacts.

American First Finance (AFF) – Retail POS Payment Solutions Segment Operating Results

Fourth quarter segment pre-tax operating income totaled $39 million, a decrease of 10% compared to the prior-year quarter. The anticipated decline in earnings was reflective of lower net revenue from its furniture vertical, partially offset by strong growth in non-furniture net revenues.
For the full year, segment pre-tax operating income remained strong at $129 million, a nominal decrease of 3% over the prior year.
Segment revenues for the quarter, comprised of lease-to-own (“LTO”) fees and interest and fees on finance receivables, decreased 1% compared to the prior-year quarter. Revenues for the full year increased 3% compared to the prior year.
Gross transaction volume of lease and loan originations during the fourth quarter increased $12 million, or 4%, compared to last year, driven primarily by the 17% increase in active merchant door counts and continued growth in non-furniture verticals. Excluding furniture, fourth quarter origination volume increased approximately 36%. For the full year, overall gross transaction volume increased 5% over the prior year and was up 27%, excluding furniture.
Combined gross leased merchandise and finance receivables outstanding at December 31, 2024 decreased 1% compared to the December 31, 2023 balances.
The combined lease and loan loss provision as a percentage of the total gross transaction volume originated was 29% for both 2024 and 2023. The resulting allowance on combined leased merchandise and finance receivables at December 31, 2024 was 42% compared to 40% in the prior year.
The average monthly net charge-off (“NCO”) rate for combined leased merchandise and finance receivable products for the full year 2024 was 5.3% compared to the prior-year rate of 5.0%, and was in line with the Company’s targeted range for NCO’s.

Cash Flow and Liquidity

Each of the Company’s three business segments generated significant operating cash flows in 2024. Consolidated operating cash flows for the full year grew 30% and totaled $540 million compared to $416 million in 2023.
Adjusted free cash flows (a non-GAAP measure) increased 24% to $262 million in 2024, compared to $212 million in the prior year.
The operating cash flows helped fund significant growth in earning assets and continued investments in the pawn store platform with a nominal increase in net debt. Key investments made in 2024 included:
- Pawn earning assets (pawn receivables and inventories) increased $69 million.
- A total of 38 pawn stores were acquired for a combined cash purchase price of $76 million.
- 61 new, or de novo, pawn stores were added for a total investment of $19 million in fixed assets and working capital.
- Real estate purchases totaling $86 million as the Company purchased the underlying real estate at 58 of its existing pawn stores, bringing the number of Company-owned properties to 400 locations.
Net debt at December 31, 2024 was $1.6 billion, a modest 5% increase over the prior year. Over $1.5 billion of the Company’s long-term financing remains fixed rate debt with favorable interest rates ranging from 4.625% to 6.875% and maturity dates that do not begin until 2028 and continue into 2032.
The Company’s net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 2.8x at December 31, 2024.

Shareholder Returns

The Board of Directors declared a $0.38 per share first quarter cash dividend, which will be paid on February 28, 2025 to stockholders of record as of February 14, 2025. This represents an annualized dividend of $1.52 per share. Any future dividends are subject to approval by the Company’s Board of Directors.
During 2024, FirstCash repurchased $85 million of its common stock. The Company has $115 million available under the $200 million share repurchase program authorized in July 2023. Future share repurchases are subject to expected liquidity, acquisitions and other investment opportunities, debt covenant restrictions, market conditions and other relevant factors.
Combined shareholder payouts in the form of cash dividends and stock repurchases were over $150 million in 2024 and have totaled almost $800 million over the last five years.
The Company generated a 13% return on equity and a 6% return on assets in 2024. Using adjusted net income for 2024, the adjusted return on equity was 15% while the adjusted return on assets was 7%.

2025 Outlook

The Company’s outlook for 2025 is highly positive given the continued growth in pawn receivables and expectations for further pawn store additions and AFF merchant partner growth. Anticipated conditions and trends for 2025 include the following:

Pawn Operations:

Pawn operations will continue to be the primary earnings driver, as the Company expects the contribution from the combined U.S. and Latin America pawn segments to be approximately 85% of total segment level pre-tax income for 2025.
The Company expects further growth in the pawn store base in 2025 through a combination of new store openings and potential acquisitions. Over the last five years, the Company has added an average of 115 new and acquired stores per year. The guidance presented below does not assume any material acquisition activity.

U.S. Pawn

U.S. Pawn is anticipated to contribute approximately 65% of total segment level pre-tax income for 2025.
Same-store pawn loans began 2025 up 12% compared to a year ago, with January balances to date up similarly. Given the strength of the 2024 same-store results, growth rates are expected to moderate slightly over the course of the year, but still result in strong pawn fee growth that is expected to be in a range of 8% to 11% for the full year.
Similar retail sales growth is projected for 2025, with retail margins expected to be in a normalized range targeted at approximately 42%.
Given the strong revenue momentum coupled with modest expense growth, the Company anticipates solid double-digit segment earnings growth in 2025 from this, its largest segment.

Latin America Pawn

LatAm Pawn is anticipated to contribute approximately 20% of total segment level pre-tax income for 2025.
U.S. dollar-reported results for Latin America in 2025 are expected to be impacted by the lower exchange rate for the Mexican peso, which has most recently been in a range 20 to 21 pesos per U.S. dollar compared to the average exchange rate of 18.3 to 1 in 2024.
Same-store pawn receivables began 2025 down 6% on a U.S. dollar basis but up 12% on a constant currency basis. Full year pawn fee growth is expected to remain in a range of 8% to 11% on a local currency basis while it is projected to be down in a range of 2% to 5% on a U.S. dollar basis, given the current exchange rate.
Retail sales in Latin America are also expected to track similarly to pawn fees in 2025 with consistent retail margins.
While operating expenses are expected to increase by 6% to 9% in Latin America on a local currency basis (given the enacted 10% increase in the Mexico minimum wage for 2025), expenses are anticipated to decline in a range of 3% to 6% on a U.S. dollar basis, which should dampen the overall currency impact on dollar-denominated segment earnings.

Retail POS Payment Solutions (AFF) Operations:

AFF is anticipated to contribute approximately 15% of total segment level pre-tax income for 2025.
As a result of recent merchant partner bankruptcies in the furniture sector (Conn’s HomePlus and American Freight), the Company anticipates first half 2025 origination volume being down to the prior year, given lower expected furniture originations, which are more seasonally weighted to the income tax refund season. Despite this headwind, full year origination volume for 2025 is expected to increase in a low single digit range compared to 2024, given continued growth in door counts and originations from new and other existing merchants. Excluding originations from Conn’s HomePlus and American Freight, origination volumes are expected to increase in a range of 20% to 25% over 2024.
While full year 2025 net revenues are forecast to decline in a range of 10% to 15% compared to the prior year due to lower LTO balances and first half originations, reduced operating expenses related to the changes in product mix and other expense reduction initiatives are expected to offset much of the decrease in net revenue. Resulting full year segment pre-tax income is expected to be flat to down only slightly compared to the prior year.

Tax Rates and Currency:

The full year 2025 effective income tax rate under current tax codes in the U.S. and Latin America is expected to range from 24% to 25%.
Each full point change in the exchange rate of the Mexican peso is projected to have an annual earnings impact of approximately $0.10 per share.

Additional Commentary and Analysis

Mr. Wessel further commented on FirstCash’s 2024 operating results and the outlook for 2025, “Our core pawn segments continue to see exceptional growth in pawn receivables, pawn fees and retail sales. Strong sequential acceleration in same-store pawn receivable growth rates during the fourth quarter resulted in end of year increases in pawn receivables of 15% in the U.S. and 13% (constant currency basis) in Latin America compared to last year. We believe this growth continues to be driven by inflationary impacts and credit tightening for consumers with small, immediate cash needs. Furthermore, we saw excellent retail sales results in the fourth quarter, with same-store sales up 6% in the U.S. and 7% in LatAm (constant currency) compared to the prior-year quarter while maintaining strong gross margins, which we attribute to our deep value retail pricing, attractive interest-free layaway programs and excellent customer service.

“Our industry-leading pawn operations were further expanded in 2024 as we added almost 100 locations through new store openings across all markets, coupled with strategic acquisitions in the U.S. and Mexico. Over the last five years, we have opened or acquired more than 550 pawn locations and we began 2025 with a strong pipeline of new store openings already in process. While most of our new store openings will continue to be in Latin America, we currently have three store openings slated for growth markets in the U.S. Additionally, we continue to see accretive acquisition opportunities in multiple markets which can be funded from available cash and credit facilities.

“While a smaller component of FirstCash’s consolidated operations, AFF posted solid results in 2024 by contributing almost $130 million in segment earnings and generating meaningful cash flow. Although this was a difficult year in the retail furniture industry, given weak sales volumes and store closings at several retailers of size, AFF posted overall origination growth in 2024, driven by successful expansion in other vertical categories and its strong field sales channel.

“We began 2025 in a strong position to again deliver meaningful earnings growth with the current momentum in our core pawn business in both the U.S. and Latin America and opportunities for additional growth through pawnshop acquisitions and de novo store openings. AFF’s prospects remain positive as well, as it continues to grow and diversify its merchant base. On a consolidated basis, our strong cash flows and balance sheet position us well to support this growth, and combined with ongoing cash dividends and potential share repurchases, are expected to drive further shareholder returns,” concluded Mr. Wessel.

About FirstCash

FirstCash is the leading international operator of pawn stores focused on serving cash and credit-constrained consumers. FirstCash’s more than 3,000 pawn stores in the U.S. and Latin America buy and sell a wide variety of jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, musical instruments and other merchandise, and make small non-recourse pawn loans secured by pledged personal property. FirstCash’s pawn segments in the U.S. and Latin America currently account for approximately 80% of segment earnings, with the remainder provided by its wholly owned subsidiary, AFF, which provides lease-to-own and retail finance payment solutions for consumer goods and services.

FirstCash is a component company in both the Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 Index® and the Russell 2000 Index®. FirstCash’s common stock (ticker symbol “FCFS”) is traded on the Nasdaq, the creator of the world’s first electronic stock market. For additional information regarding FirstCash and the services it provides, visit FirstCash’s websites located at http://www.firstcash.com and http://www.americanfirstfinance.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This release contains forward-looking statements about the business, financial condition, outlook and prospects of FirstCash Holdings, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (together, the “Company”), including the Company’s outlook for 2025. Forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook,” “believes,” “projects,” “expects,” “may,” “estimates,” “should,” “plans,” “targets,” “intends,” “could,” “would,” “anticipates,” “potential,” “confident,” “optimistic,” or the negative thereof, or other variations thereon, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, objectives, estimates, guidance, expectations, outlook and future plans. Forward-looking statements can also be identified by the fact that these statements do not relate strictly to historical or current matters. Rather, forward-looking statements relate to anticipated or expected events, activities, trends or results. Because forward-looking statements relate to matters that have not yet occurred, these statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties.

While the Company believes the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurances such expectations will prove to be accurate. Security holders are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Certain factors may cause results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements made in this release. Such factors and risks may include, without limitation, risks related to the extensive regulatory environment in which the Company operates; risks associated with the legal and regulatory proceedings that the Company is a party to or may become a party to in the future, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”) lawsuit filed against the Company; risks related to the Company’s acquisitions, including the failure of the Company’s acquisitions to deliver the estimated value and benefits expected by the Company and the ability of the Company to continue to identify and consummate acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all; potential changes in consumer behavior and shopping patterns which could impact demand for the Company’s pawn loan, retail, lease-to-own (“LTO”) and retail finance products, labor shortages and increased labor costs; a deterioration in the economic conditions in the United States and Latin America, including as a result of inflation, elevated interest rates and higher gas prices, which potentially could have an impact on discretionary consumer spending and demand for the Company’s products; currency fluctuations, primarily involving the Mexican peso; competition the Company faces from other retailers and providers of retail payment solutions; the ability of the Company to successfully execute on its business strategies; contraction in sales activity at merchant partners of the Company’s retail POS payment solutions business; impact of store closures, financial difficulties or even bankruptcies at the merchant partners of the Company’s retail POS payment solutions business; the ability of the Company’s retail POS payment solutions business to continue to grow its base of merchant partners, including those outside of the furniture vertical; and other risks discussed and described in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including the risks described in Part 1, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” thereof, and other reports filed with the SEC. Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the ability of the Company to control, nor can the Company predict, in many cases, all of the risks and uncertainties that could cause its actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of the date of this release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to report any updates or revisions to any such statement to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, except as required by law.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(unaudited, in thousands)

	Three Months Ended						Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,						December 31,
	2024			2023			2024			2023
Revenue:
Retail merchandise sales	$	413,671		$	397,412		$	1,507,096		$	1,381,272
Pawn loan fees		189,984			178,238			737,126			658,536
Leased merchandise income		177,440			190,057			766,241			752,682
Interest and fees on finance receivables		70,507			59,571			245,891			233,818
Wholesale scrap jewelry sales		32,209			26,856			132,160			125,488
Total revenue		883,811			852,134			3,388,514			3,151,796

Cost of revenue:
Cost of retail merchandise sold		249,831			241,402			909,685			832,393
Depreciation of leased merchandise		97,937			103,631			433,306			411,455
Provision for lease losses		33,561			34,184			163,395			175,858
Provision for loan losses		41,736			32,459			143,827			123,030
Cost of wholesale scrap jewelry sold		27,058			22,809			108,769			101,821
Total cost of revenue		450,123			434,485			1,758,982			1,644,557

Net revenue		433,688			417,649			1,629,532			1,507,239

Expenses and other income:
Operating expenses		226,547			216,783			900,978			832,149
Administrative expenses		43,636			51,887			173,199			176,315
Depreciation and amortization		26,434			27,635			104,941			109,161
Interest expense		27,197			26,586			105,226			93,243
Interest income		(528	)		(216	)		(1,935	)		(1,469	)
Loss (gain) on foreign exchange		508			376			2,641			(1,529	)
Merger and acquisition expenses		42			4,252			2,228			7,922
Other expenses (income), net		319			(1,142	)		(522	)		(1,402	)
Total expenses and other income		324,155			326,161			1,286,756			1,214,390

Income before income taxes		109,533			91,488			342,776			292,849

Provision for income taxes		25,986			21,899			83,961			73,548

Net income	$	83,547		$	69,589		$	258,815		$	219,301

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(unaudited, in thousands)

	December 31,
	2024			2023
ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	$	175,095		$	127,018
Accounts receivable, net		73,325			71,922
Pawn loans		517,867			471,846
Finance receivables, net		147,501			113,901
Inventories		334,580			312,089
Leased merchandise, net		128,437			171,191
Prepaid expenses and other current assets		26,943			38,634
Total current assets		1,403,748			1,306,601

Property and equipment, net		717,916			632,724
Operating lease right of use asset		324,646			328,458
Goodwill		1,787,172			1,727,652
Intangible assets, net		228,858			277,724
Other assets		9,934			10,242
Deferred tax assets, net		4,712			6,514
Total assets	$	4,476,986		$	4,289,915

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	$	171,540		$	163,050
Customer deposits and prepayments		72,703			70,580
Lease liability, current		95,161			101,962
Total current liabilities		339,404			335,592

Revolving unsecured credit facilities		198,000			568,000
Senior unsecured notes		1,531,346			1,037,647
Deferred tax liabilities, net		128,574			136,773
Lease liability, non-current		225,498			215,485
Total liabilities		2,422,822			2,293,497

Stockholders’ equity:
Common stock		575			573
Additional paid-in capital		1,767,569			1,741,046
Retained earnings		1,411,083			1,218,029
Accumulated other comprehensive loss		(129,596	)		(43,037	)
Common stock held in treasury, at cost		(995,467	)		(920,193	)
Total stockholders’ equity		2,054,164			1,996,418
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	$	4,476,986		$	4,289,915

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
U.S. PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS
(UNAUDITED)

U.S. Pawn Operating Results and Margins (dollars in thousands)

	Three Months Ended
	December 31,
	2024			2023			Increase
Revenue:
Retail merchandise sales	$	267,251		$	243,697			10	%
Pawn loan fees		133,563			120,083			11	%
Wholesale scrap jewelry sales		23,201			17,463			33	%
Total revenue		424,015			381,243			11	%

Cost of revenue:
Cost of retail merchandise sold		153,641			141,406			9	%
Cost of wholesale scrap jewelry sold		19,755			14,941			32	%
Total cost of revenue		173,396			156,347			11	%

Net revenue		250,619			224,896			11	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		131,439			119,627			10	%
Depreciation and amortization		7,371			6,799			8	%
Total segment expenses		138,810			126,426			10	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	111,809		$	98,470			14	%

Operating metrics:
Retail merchandise sales margin	43		%	42		%
Net revenue margin	59		%	59		%
Segment pre-tax operating margin	26		%	26		%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
U.S. PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

	Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,
	2024			2023			Increase
Revenue:
Retail merchandise sales	$	969,371		$	854,190			13	%
Pawn loan fees		505,262			435,762			16	%
Wholesale scrap jewelry sales		93,923			78,571			20	%
Total revenue		1,568,556			1,368,523			15	%

Cost of revenue:
Cost of retail merchandise sold		560,970			490,544			14	%
Cost of wholesale scrap jewelry sold		77,683			64,545			20	%
Total cost of revenue		638,653			555,089			15	%

Net revenue		929,903			813,434			14	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		503,630			451,543			12	%
Depreciation and amortization		28,980			25,585			13	%
Total segment expenses		532,610			477,128			12	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	397,293		$	336,306			18	%

Operating metrics:
Retail merchandise sales margin	42		%	43		%
Net revenue margin	59		%	59		%
Segment pre-tax operating margin	25		%	25		%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
U.S. PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

U.S. Pawn Earning Assets and Portfolio Metrics (dollars in thousands, except as otherwise noted)

	As of December 31,
	2024			2023			Increase
Earning assets:
Pawn loans	$	396,667		$	344,152			15	%
Inventories		245,492			221,843			11	%
	$	642,159		$	565,995			13	%

Average outstanding pawn loan amount (in ones)	$	283		$	258			10	%

Composition of pawn collateral:
General merchandise	28		%	30		%
Jewelry	72		%	70		%
	100		%	100		%

Composition of inventories:
General merchandise	41		%	43		%
Jewelry	59		%	57		%
	100		%	100		%

Percentage of inventory aged greater than one year	1		%	1		%

Inventory turnover (trailing twelve months cost of merchandise sales divided by average inventories)	2.8 times			2.8 times

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
LATIN AMERICA PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS
(UNAUDITED)

Latin America Pawn Segment Results

Constant currency results are non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude the effects of foreign currency translation and are calculated by translating current-year results at prior-year average exchange rates. See the “Constant Currency Results” section below for additional discussion of constant currency operating results.

Latin America Pawn Operating Results and Margins (dollars in thousands)

											Constant Currency Basis
											Three Months
											Ended
	Three Months Ended										December 31,			Increase /
	December 31,										2024			(Decrease)
	2024			2023			(Decrease)				(Non-GAAP)			(Non-GAAP)
Revenue:
Retail merchandise sales	$	147,412		$	155,310			(5)	%		$	166,927			7	%
Pawn loan fees		56,421			58,155			(3)	%			63,893			10	%
Wholesale scrap jewelry sales		9,008			9,393			(4)	%			9,008			(4)	%
Total revenue		212,841			222,858			(4)	%			239,828			8	%

Cost of revenue:
Cost of retail merchandise sold		96,718			100,870			(4)	%			109,445			9	%
Cost of wholesale scrap jewelry sold		7,303			7,868			(7)	%			8,278			5	%
Total cost of revenue		104,021			108,738			(4)	%			117,723			8	%

Net revenue		108,820			114,120			(5)	%			122,105			7	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		60,918			63,976			(5)	%			68,628			7	%
Depreciation and amortization		5,170			5,466			(5)	%			5,754			5	%
Total segment expenses		66,088			69,442			(5)	%			74,382			7	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	42,732		$	44,678			(4)	%		$	47,723			7	%

Operating metrics:
Retail merchandise sales margin	34		%	35		%				34			%
Net revenue margin	51		%	51		%				51			%
Segment pre-tax operating margin	20		%	20		%				20			%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
LATIN AMERICA PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

										Constant Currency Basis
										Twelve Months
										Ended
	Twelve Months Ended									December 31,			Increase /
	December 31,						Increase /			2024			(Decrease)
	2024			2023			(Decrease)			(Non-GAAP)			(Non-GAAP)
Revenue:
Retail merchandise sales	$	541,787		$	533,612			2	%	$	556,686			4	%
Pawn loan fees		231,864			222,774			4	%		238,305			7	%
Wholesale scrap jewelry sales		38,237			46,917			(19)	%		38,237			(19)	%
Total revenue		811,888			803,303			1	%		833,228			4	%

Cost of revenue:
Cost of retail merchandise sold		350,906			345,309			2	%		360,452			4	%
Cost of wholesale scrap jewelry sold		31,086			37,276			(17)	%		31,977			(14)	%
Total cost of revenue		381,992			382,585			—	%		392,429			3	%

Net revenue		429,896			420,718			2	%		440,799			5	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		259,307			243,146			7	%		266,102			9	%
Depreciation and amortization		20,369			21,350			(5)	%		20,855			(2)	%
Total segment expenses		279,676			264,496			6	%		286,957			8	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	150,220		$	156,222			(4)	%	$	153,842			(2)	%

Operating metrics:
Retail merchandise sales margin	35		%	35		%				35		%
Net revenue margin	53		%	52		%				53		%
Segment pre-tax operating margin	19		%	19		%				18		%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
LATIN AMERICA PAWN SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Latin America Pawn Earning Assets and Portfolio Metrics (dollars in thousands, except as otherwise noted)

										Constant Currency Basis
										As of
										December 31,
	As of December 31,									2024		Increase
	2024			2023			(Decrease)			(Non-GAAP)		(Non-GAAP)
Earning assets:
Pawn loans	$	121,200		$	127,694			(5)	%	$	143,805		13	%
Inventories		89,088			90,246			(1)	%		105,686		17	%
	$	210,288		$	217,940			(4)	%	$	249,491		14	%

Average outstanding pawn loan amount (in ones)	$	87		$	95			(8)	%	$	103		8	%

Composition of pawn collateral:
General merchandise	58		%	63		%
Jewelry	42		%	37		%
	100		%	100		%

Composition of inventories:
General merchandise	65		%	67		%
Jewelry	35		%	33		%
	100		%	100		%

Percentage of inventory aged greater than one year	1		%	1		%

Inventory turnover (trailing twelve months cost of merchandise sales divided by average inventories)	4.2 times			4.4 times

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RETAIL POS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS SEGMENT RESULTS
(UNAUDITED)

Retail POS Payment Solutions Operating Results (dollars in thousands)

	Three Months Ended
	December 31,				Increase /
	2024		2023		(Decrease)
Revenue:
Leased merchandise income	$	177,440	$	190,057		(7)	%
Interest and fees on finance receivables		70,507		59,571		18	%
Total revenue		247,947		249,628		(1)	%

Cost of revenue:
Depreciation of leased merchandise		98,266		104,114		(6)	%
Provision for lease losses		33,665		35,564		(5)	%
Provision for loan losses		41,736		32,459		29	%
Total cost of revenue		173,667		172,137		1	%

Net revenue		74,280		77,491		(4)	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		34,190		33,180		3	%
Depreciation and amortization		705		772		(9)	%
Total segment expenses		34,895		33,952		3	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	39,385	$	43,539		(10)	%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RETAIL POS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

	Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,				Increase /
	2024		2023		(Decrease)
Revenue:
Leased merchandise income	$	766,241	$	752,682		2	%
Interest and fees on finance receivables		245,891		233,818		5	%
Total revenue		1,012,132		986,500		3	%

Cost of revenue:
Depreciation of leased merchandise		434,915		413,546		5	%
Provision for lease losses		163,937		177,418		(8)	%
Provision for loan losses		143,827		123,030		17	%
Total cost of revenue		742,679		713,994		4	%

Net revenue		269,453		272,506		(1)	%

Segment expenses:
Operating expenses		138,041		137,460		—	%
Depreciation and amortization		2,783		3,030		(8)	%
Total segment expenses		140,824		140,490		—	%

Segment pre-tax operating income	$	128,629	$	132,016		(3)	%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RETAIL POS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Retail POS Payment Solutions Gross Transaction Volumes (dollars in thousands)

	Three Months Ended
	December 31,				Increase /
	2024		2023		(Decrease)
Leased merchandise	$	124,590	$	170,278		(27)	%
Finance receivables		159,898		102,279		56	%
Total gross transaction volume	$	284,488	$	272,557		4	%

	Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,				Increase /
	2024		2023		(Decrease)
Leased merchandise	$	568,635	$	623,069		(9)	%
Finance receivables		510,231		405,765		26	%
Total gross transaction volume	$	1,078,866	$	1,028,834		5	%

Retail POS Payment Solutions Earning Assets (dollars in thousands)

	As of December 31,						Increase /
	2024			2023			(Decrease)
Leased merchandise, net:
Leased merchandise, before allowance for lease losses	$	209,333		$	267,458			(22)	%
Less allowance for lease losses		(80,661	)		(95,752	)		(16)	%
Leased merchandise, net	$	128,672		$	171,706			(25)	%

Finance receivables, net:
Finance receivables, before allowance for loan losses	$	264,506		$	210,355			26	%
Less allowance for loan losses		(117,005	)		(96,454	)		21	%
Finance receivables, net	$	147,501		$	113,901			29	%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RETAIL POS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Allowance for Lease and Loan Losses and Other Portfolio Metrics (dollars in thousands)

	Three Months Ended
	December 31,						Increase /
	2024			2023			(Decrease)
Allowance for lease losses:
Balance at beginning of period	$	93,823		$	105,472		(11)	%
Provision for lease losses		33,665			35,564		(5)	%
Charge-offs		(48,607	)		(46,986	)	3	%
Recoveries		1,780			1,702		5	%
Balance at end of period	$	80,661		$	95,752		(16)	%

Leased merchandise portfolio metrics:
Provision rate ⁽¹⁾	27		%	21		%
Average monthly net charge-off rate ⁽²⁾	7.1		%	5.8		%
Delinquency rate ⁽³⁾	24.4		%	21.7		%

Allowance for loan losses:
Balance at beginning of period	$	109,197		$	96,684		13	%
Provision for loan losses		41,736			32,459		29	%
Charge-offs		(35,751	)		(34,680	)	3	%
Recoveries		1,823			1,991		(8)	%
Balance at end of period	$	117,005		$	96,454		21	%

Finance receivables portfolio metrics:
Provision rate ⁽¹⁾	26		%	32		%
Average monthly net charge-off rate ⁽²⁾	4.5		%	5.2		%
Delinquency rate ⁽³⁾	20.0		%	21.8		%

⁽¹⁾ Calculated as provision for lease or loan losses as a percentage of the respective gross transaction volume originated.

⁽²⁾ Calculated as charge-offs, net of recoveries, as a percentage of the respective average earning asset balance before allowance for lease or loan losses.

⁽³⁾ Calculated as the percentage of the respective contractual earning asset balance owed that is 1 to 89 days past due (the Company charges off leases and finance receivables when they are 90 days or more contractually past due).

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RETAIL POS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS SEGMENT RESULTS (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

	Twelve Months Ended
		December 31,						Increase /
		2024			2023			(Decrease)
Allowance for lease losses:
Balance at beginning of period		$	95,752		$	79,576			20	%
Provision for lease losses			163,937			177,418			(8)	%
Charge-offs			(186,123	)		(167,952	)		11	%
Recoveries			7,095			6,710			6	%
Balance at end of period		$	80,661		$	95,752			(16)	%

Leased merchandise portfolio metrics:
Provision rate ⁽¹⁾	29			%	28		%
Average monthly net charge-off rate ⁽²⁾	6.3			%	5.4		%
Delinquency rate ⁽³⁾	24.4			%	21.7		%

Allowance for loan losses:
Balance at beginning of period		$	96,454		$	84,833			14	%
Provision for loan losses			143,827			123,030			17	%
Charge-offs			(130,812	)		(117,961	)		11	%
Recoveries			7,536			6,552			15	%
Balance at end of period		$	117,005		$	96,454			21	%

Finance receivables portfolio metrics:
Provision rate ⁽¹⁾	28			%	30		%
Average monthly net charge-off rate ⁽²⁾	4.3			%	4.7		%
Delinquency rate ⁽³⁾	20.0			%	21.8		%

⁽¹⁾ Calculated as provision for lease or loan losses as a percentage of the respective gross transaction volume originated.

⁽²⁾ Calculated as charge-offs, net of recoveries, as a percentage of the respective average earning asset balance before allowance for lease or loan losses.

⁽³⁾ Calculated as the percentage of the respective contractual earning asset balance owed that is 1 to 89 days past due (the Company charges off leases and finance receivables when they are 90 days or more contractually past due).

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
PAWN STORE LOCATIONS AND MERCHANT PARTNER LOCATIONS

Pawn Operations

As of December 31, 2024, the Company operated 3,026 pawn store locations comprised of 1,200 stores in 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, 1,725 stores in 32 states in Mexico, 72 stores in Guatemala, 17 stores in El Salvador and 12 stores in Colombia.

The following tables detail pawn store count activity for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024:

	Three Months Ended December 31, 2024
	U.S.		Latin America		Total
Total locations, beginning of period	1,201		1,824		3,025
New locations opened	—		6		6
Locations acquired	—		10		10
Consolidation of existing pawn locations ⁽¹⁾	(1	)	(14	)	(15	)
Total locations, end of period	1,200		1,826		3,026


	Twelve Months Ended December 31, 2024
	U.S.		Latin America		Total
Total locations, beginning of period	1,183		1,814		2,997
New locations opened	1		60		61
Locations acquired	28		10		38
Consolidation of existing pawn locations ^{(1) (2)}	(12	)	(58	)	(70	)
Total locations, end of period	1,200		1,826		3,026

⁽¹⁾ Store consolidations were primarily acquired locations which have been combined with overlapping stores and for which the Company expects to maintain a significant portion of the acquired customer base in the consolidated location.

⁽²⁾ Includes 10 pawnshops located in Acapulco, Mexico that were severely damaged by a hurricane in the fall of 2023, which the Company elected to consolidate with other stores in this market. The Company expects to replace certain of these locations in this market over time as the city’s infrastructure recovers.

Retail POS Payment Solutions

As of December 31, 2024, AFF provided LTO and retail POS payment solutions for consumer goods and services through a network of approximately 13,600 active retail merchant partner locations, which is net of the closing of approximately 1,000 Conn’s HomePlus and American Freight locations due to bankruptcy during the fourth quarter of 2024. This compares to the active door count of approximately 11,600 locations at December 31, 2023.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
(UNAUDITED)

The Company uses certain financial calculations such as adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, adjusted free cash flow, adjusted return on equity, adjusted return on assets and constant currency results as factors in the measurement and evaluation of the Company’s operating performance and period-over-period growth. The Company derives these financial calculations on the basis of methodologies other than generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), primarily by excluding from a comparable GAAP measure certain items the Company does not consider to be representative of its actual operating performance. These financial calculations are “non-GAAP financial measures” as defined under the SEC rules. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures in operating its business because management believes they are less susceptible to variances in actual operating performance that can result from the excluded items, other infrequent charges and currency fluctuations. The Company presents these financial measures to investors because management believes they are useful to investors in evaluating the primary factors that drive the Company’s core operating performance and provide greater transparency into the Company’s results of operations. However, items that are excluded and other adjustments and assumptions that are made in calculating these non-GAAP financial measures are significant components in understanding and assessing the Company’s financial performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should be evaluated in conjunction with, and are not a substitute for, the Company’s GAAP financial measures. Further, because these non-GAAP financial measures are not determined in accordance with GAAP, and are thus susceptible to varying calculations, the non-GAAP financial measures, as presented, may not be comparable to other similarly-titled measures of other companies.

While acquisitions are an important part of the Company’s overall strategy, the Company has adjusted the applicable financial calculations to exclude merger and acquisition expenses and amortization of acquired AFF intangible assets. The Company does not consider these items to be related to the organic operations of the acquired businesses or its continuing operations and are generally not relevant to assessing or estimating the long-term performance of the acquired businesses. In addition, excluding these items allows for more accurate comparisons of the financial results to prior periods. Merger and acquisition expenses include incremental costs directly associated with merger and acquisition activities, including professional fees, legal expenses, severance, retention and other employee-related costs, contract breakage costs and costs related to the consolidation of technology systems and corporate facilities, among others.

The Company has certain leases in Mexico which are denominated in U.S. dollars. The lease liability of these U.S. dollar-denominated leases, which is considered a monetary liability, is remeasured into Mexican pesos using current period exchange rates, resulting in the recognition of foreign currency exchange gains or losses. The Company has adjusted the applicable financial measures to exclude these remeasurement gains or losses (1) because they are non-cash, non-operating items that could create volatility in the Company’s consolidated results of operations due to the magnitude of the end of period lease liability being remeasured and (2) to improve comparability of current periods presented with prior periods.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share

Management believes the presentation of adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share provides investors with greater transparency and provides a more complete understanding of the Company’s financial performance and prospects for the future by excluding items that management believes are non-operating in nature and are not representative of the Company’s core operating performance. In addition, management believes the adjustments shown below are useful to investors in order to allow them to compare the Company’s financial results for the current periods presented with the prior periods presented.

The following table provides a reconciliation between net income and diluted earnings per share calculated in accordance with GAAP to adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share, which are shown net of tax (in thousands, except per share amounts):

	Three Months Ended December 31,										Twelve Months Ended December 31,
	2024		2023			2024		2023			2024		2023			2024		2023
	In Thousands		In Thousands			Per Share		Per Share			In Thousands		In Thousands			Per Share		Per Share
Net income and diluted earnings per share, as reported	$	83,547	$	69,589		$	1.86	$	1.53		$	258,815	$	219,301		$	5.73	$	4.80
Adjustments, net of tax:
Merger and acquisition expenses		31		3,271			—		0.07			1,706		6,089			0.04		0.13
Non-cash foreign currency loss (gain) related to lease liability		504		(607	)		0.01		(0.01	)		2,627		(1,778	)		0.06		(0.04	)
AFF purchase accounting and other adjustments		9,572		21,472			0.21		0.47			38,289		54,341			0.85		1.19
Other expenses (income), net		1,761		(879	)		0.04		(0.02	)		1,243		(1,079	)		0.02		(0.02	)
Adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share	$	95,415	$	92,846		$	2.12	$	2.04		$	302,680	$	276,874		$	6.70	$	6.06

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and Adjusted EBITDA

The Company defines EBITDA as net income before income taxes, depreciation and amortization, interest expense and interest income and adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA adjusted for certain items, as listed below, that management considers to be non-operating in nature and not representative of its actual operating performance. The Company believes EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are commonly used by investors to assess a company’s financial performance, and adjusted EBITDA is used as a starting point in the calculation of the consolidated total debt ratio as defined in the Company’s senior unsecured notes. The following table provides a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,						December 31,
	2024			2023			2024			2023
Net income	$	83,547		$	69,589		$	258,815		$	219,301
Income taxes		25,986			21,899			83,961			73,548
Depreciation and amortization		26,434			27,635			104,941			109,161
Interest expense		27,197			26,586			105,226			93,243
Interest income		(528	)		(216	)		(1,935	)		(1,469	)
EBITDA		162,636			145,493			551,008			493,784
Adjustments:
Merger and acquisition expenses		42			4,252			2,228			7,922
Non-cash foreign currency loss (gain) related to lease liability		720			(867	)		3,755			(2,540	)
AFF purchase accounting and other adjustments ⁽¹⁾		—			13,968			—			13,968
Other expenses (income), net		2,287			(1,142	)		1,446			(1,402	)
Adjusted EBITDA	$	165,685		$	161,704		$	558,437		$	511,732

⁽¹⁾ For the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023, amount represents other non-recurring costs included in administrative expenses related to a discontinued finance product.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Free Cash Flow and Adjusted Free Cash Flow

For purposes of its internal liquidity assessments, the Company considers free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow. The Company defines free cash flow as cash flow from operating activities less purchases of furniture, fixtures, equipment and improvements and net fundings/repayments of pawn loan and finance receivables, which are considered to be operating in nature by the Company but are included in cash flow from investing activities. Adjusted free cash flow is defined as free cash flow adjusted for merger and acquisition expenses paid that management considers to be non-operating in nature.

Free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow are commonly used by investors as additional measures of cash, generated by business operations, that may be used to repay scheduled debt maturities and debt service or, following payment of such debt obligations and other non-discretionary items, that may be available to invest in future growth through new business development activities or acquisitions, repurchase stock, pay cash dividends or repay debt obligations prior to their maturities. These metrics can also be used to evaluate the Company’s ability to generate cash flow from business operations and the impact that this cash flow has on the Company’s liquidity. However, free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for cash flow from operating activities or other income statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP. The following table reconciles cash flow from operating activities to free cash flow and adjusted free cash flow (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Twelve Months Ended
	December 31,						December 31,
	2024			2023			2024			2023
Cash flow from operating activities	$	198,149		$	99,105		$	539,958		$	416,142
Cash flow from investing activities:
Pawn loans, net ⁽¹⁾		(2,276	)		24,448			(71,999	)		(34,978	)
Finance receivables, net		(53,128	)		(27,448	)		(139,314	)		(115,442	)
Purchases of furniture, fixtures, equipment and improvements		(12,213	)		(13,425	)		(68,245	)		(60,148	)
Free cash flow		130,532			82,680			260,400			205,574
Merger and acquisition expenses paid, net of tax benefit		31			3,271			1,706			6,089
Adjusted free cash flow	$	130,563		$	85,951		$	262,106		$	211,663

⁽¹⁾ Includes the funding of new loans net of cash repayments and recovery of principal through the sale of inventories acquired from forfeiture of pawn collateral.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Adjusted Return on Equity and Adjusted Return on Assets

Management believes the presentation of adjusted return on equity and adjusted return on assets provides investors with greater transparency and provides a more complete understanding of the Company’s financial performance by excluding items that management believes are non-operating in nature and not representative of the Company’s core operating performance.

Annualized adjusted return on equity and adjusted return on assets is calculated as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Twelve Months Ended
	December 31, 2024
Adjusted net income ⁽¹⁾	$	302,680

Average stockholders’ equity (average of five most recent quarter-end balances)	$	2,014,721
Adjusted return on equity (trailing twelve months adjusted net income divided by average equity)	15		%

Average total assets (average of five most recent quarter-end balances)	$	4,345,922
Adjusted return on assets (trailing twelve months adjusted net income divided by average total assets)	7		%

⁽¹⁾ See detail of adjustments to net income in the “Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share” section above.

Constant Currency Results

The Company’s reporting currency is the U.S. dollar, however, certain performance metrics discussed in this release are presented on a “constant currency” basis, which is considered a non-GAAP financial measure. The Company’s management uses constant currency results to evaluate operating results of business operations in Latin America, which are transacted in local currencies in Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. The Company also has operations in El Salvador, where the reporting and functional currency is the U.S. dollar.

The Company believes constant currency results provide valuable supplemental information regarding the underlying performance of its business operations in Latin America, consistent with how the Company’s management evaluates such performance and operating results. Constant currency results reported herein are calculated by translating certain balance sheet and income statement items denominated in local currencies using the exchange rate from the prior-year comparable period, as opposed to the current comparable period, in order to exclude the effects of foreign currency rate fluctuations for purposes of evaluating period-over-period comparisons. See the Latin America pawn segment tables elsewhere in this release for additional reconciliation of certain constant currency amounts to as reported GAAP amounts.

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
TO GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (CONTINUED)
(UNAUDITED)

Exchange Rates for the Mexican Peso, Guatemalan Quetzal and Colombian Peso

	December 31,		Favorable /
	2024	2023	(Unfavorable)
Mexican peso / U.S. dollar exchange rate:
End-of-period	20.3	16.9		(20)	%
Three months ended	20.1	17.6		(14)	%
Twelve months ended	18.3	17.8		(3)	%

Guatemalan quetzal / U.S. dollar exchange rate:
End-of-period	7.7	7.8		1	%
Three months ended	7.7	7.8		1	%
Twelve months ended	7.8	7.8		—	%

Colombian peso / U.S. dollar exchange rate:
End-of-period	4,409	3,822		(15)	%
Three months ended	4,348	4,070		(7)	%
Twelve months ended	4,071	4,328		6	%

FIRSTCASH HOLDINGS, INC.
INTERSEGMENT TRANSACTIONS
(UNAUDITED)

Intersegment transactions relate to the Company offering AFF’s LTO payment solution in its U.S. pawn stores and are eliminated to arrive at consolidated totals. For the three months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, these intersegment amounts are as follows:

U.S. pawn retail merchandise sales includes $1.0 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment sales, consolidated U.S. retail merchandise sales totaled $266.3 million and $242.1 million, respectively.
U.S. pawn cost of retail merchandise sold includes $0.5 million and $0.9 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment sales, consolidated U.S. cost of retail merchandise sold totaled $153.1 million and $140.5 million, respectively.
Retail POS payment solutions depreciation of leased merchandise includes $0.3 million and $0.5 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment transactions, consolidated depreciation of leased merchandise totaled $97.9 million and $103.6 million, respectively.
Retail POS payment solutions provision for lease losses includes $0.1 million and $1.4 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment transactions, consolidated provision for lease losses totaled $33.6 million and $34.2 million, respectively.

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, these intersegment amounts are as follows:

U.S. pawn retail merchandise sales includes $4.1 million and $6.5 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment sales, consolidated U.S. retail merchandise sales totaled $965.3 million and $847.7 million, respectively.
U.S. pawn cost of retail merchandise sold includes $2.2 million and $3.5 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment sales, consolidated U.S. cost of retail merchandise sold totaled $558.8 million and $487.1 million, respectively.
Retail POS payment solutions depreciation of leased merchandise includes $1.6 million and $2.1 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment transactions, consolidated depreciation of leased merchandise totaled $433.3 million and $411.5 million, respectively.
Retail POS payment solutions provision for lease losses includes $0.5 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment transactions, consolidated provision for lease losses totaled $163.4 million and $175.9 million, respectively.

As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, these intersegment amounts are as follows:

Retail POS payment solutions leased merchandise, net includes $0.2 million and $0.5 million, respectively. Excluding these intersegment transactions, consolidated net leased merchandise totaled $128.4 million and $171.2 million, respectively.

For further information, please contact:
Gar Jackson
Global IR Group
Phone: (817) 886-6998
Email: gar@globalirgroup.com

Doug Orr, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Phone:    (817) 258-2650
Email:     investorrelations@firstcash.com
Website:  investors.firstcash.com

The MIL Network –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Africa: Anti-immigration policies: why harsh new rules put in place by Trump and other rich countries won’t last

Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Alan Hirsch, Research Fellow New South Institute, Emeritus Professor at The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town

Donald Trump, America’s new president, has cut back massively on US commitments to asylum seekers, blocked all asylum processes and started to remove irregular immigrants.

Trump’s new measures are far reaching. They include the suspension of the US refugee admissions programme. Flights booked for refugees to the US have been cancelled. Arrests and deportations have begun.

Strongly anti-immigrant policies were also pursued under the Biden administration, though Trump’s dramatic steps take them much further. Other countries in the global north have also introduced tougher policies. The 2024 EU Pact on Migration and Asylum sets out tougher border controls, quicker assessment of asylum seekers and swifter removal of those who did not qualify. In the UK, Labour prime minister Keir Starmer has promised to bring down the net migration rate and treat people-smugglers like terrorists.

Based on my research into migration over the past 30 years I believe that these measures are unlikely to last. There are two linked trends that make closing the borders of the global north impractical and destined for revision.

The first is that populations in most of the global north are ageing fast (on average) and the fertility rate, or natural population growth rate, has plummeted. There are many more older people as a percentage of the population.

Secondly, with a workforce shrinking and the dependency ratio (the proportion of non-working to working people) rising rapidly, closing borders to potential labourers from other countries, without any other change, would lead to declining living standards in the global north. Economic growth and government revenues would slow or stagnate, undermining infrastructure maintenance and social service provision.

There are several possible strategies that could be alternatives to anti-immigration measures. Some older people could migrate south, robots and AI could do more work, workers in the global south could perform remote work for the north, and arrangements could be made to allow migrants into the north either permanently or as circulating migrants.

All these strategies are already in use, if modestly. Their application would have to expand considerably.

Misplaced panic

The responses of governments in the global north are exaggerated. Governments putting in place tough anti-immigrant measures have done so on the back of a narrative that there’s been a significant rise in the number of migrants worldwide.

This isn’t true. Some countries, such as the US, Germany and Colombia, have seen a spike in refugees and other migrants. But for the rest of the world the picture remains much the same as it has done for decades.

Foreign-born residents (the most widely used definition of migrants) rose as a proportion of residents worldwide from 2.3% in 1970 to 3.6% in 2020. But in 1960 the number was over 3%, and in the late 1800s migrants made up somewhere between 3% and 5% of the global population.

So, 3.6% is nothing new.

As for refugees, in 2023 there were about 38 million, of whom 69% sought refuge in neighbouring countries and 75% in middle- and low-income countries.

In general, therefore, rich countries have not been carrying the greatest burden.

The real reason behind these tougher measures is that living standards have stagnated in many countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The cost and availability of housing have worsened; inequality has grown since the 1980s; the quality and availability of public services have deteriorated since the global financial crisis of 2008 and COVID-19; and the quality of employment has shifted to precarious work and poorly paid service sector occupations.

This has contributed to the rise of populism, including anti-foreigner sentiment and even xenophobia.

Trump’s actions are the most extreme yet. They include an order to block “aliens involved in the invasion” using “appropriate measures” that give the security forces further powers. The prohibition of southern border asylum hearings in the US and the instruction to “remain in Mexico” means that prospective asylum seekers from third countries may not cross the border to make their applications at the port of entry. They must apply remotely.

Trump has also ordered that birthright citizenship must be limited to the children of certain categories of residents, essentially citizens or those with residence rights in the form of a “green card”. This move has been temporarily blocked in some states by judges as unconstitutional.

In addition, the acting head of the Homeland Security Department gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials the power to deport migrants admitted temporarily into the US under several programmes of the Biden administration, targeting refugees from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti, and possibly Afghan and Ukrainian refugees too.

The very first bill to receive final approval from the US Congress under Trump’s second term, the Laken-Riley Act, would require the detention and deportation of migrants who enter the country without authorisation and are charged with certain crimes. This bill was passed with 263 votes and 156 votes against, meaning that 46 House Democrats supported the Republican bill.

In contrast, in the global south, as I have discussed elsewhere, the trend has been in the opposite direction. South American regional communities liberalised migration most extensively in recent decades, but African regional communities have made progress too, as has the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The way forward

Some alternative strategies are leading the way.

In Canada, the Temporary Foreign Worker programme has expanded steadily since 1973, increasingly including long-term circulating migrating lower-skilled workers for key occupations like catering, care, construction and agriculture. Though it is currently under political scrutiny because of the panic in the north over migration, and because of housing shortages in Canada, it is likely to survive and evolve. Similar systems are emerging across the global north.

In the EU, Talent Partnerships are now encouraged. Germany, for example, has talent partnerships with Kenya and Morocco, where they train health workers and IT technicians in those countries to work and live in Germany. Spain has various partnerships in Latin America and Africa. Prime minister Pedro Sanchez has chosen to be upfront on the choices. In October last year he told the Spanish people:

Spain needs to choose between being an open and prosperous country or a closed off poor country.

The current fashion for population protectionism in the global north is increasingly nasty, but it is unlikely to stand the test of time. Several constructive responses to the rising dependency ratio are feasible, but being open to more migration, possibly in new forms and through new channels. is an inevitable part of the solution.

New formal pathways for working migrants and reasonable systems for asylum seekers, along with full enforcement of rules against irregular migrants, could be the combination that works politically and economically.

– Anti-immigration policies: why harsh new rules put in place by Trump and other rich countries won’t last
– https://theconversation.com/anti-immigration-policies-why-harsh-new-rules-put-in-place-by-trump-and-other-rich-countries-wont-last-248359

MIL OSI Africa –

January 31, 2025

MIL-OSI Global: Anti-immigration policies: why harsh new rules put in place by Trump and other rich countries won’t last