The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed requirements on Euro Exchange Securities UK (EES), the London entity of a payments group, citing concerns linked to potential money laundering.

In a brief statement, the regulator said it has directed EES to stop carrying out any regulated electronic money or payment services.

Following an FCA application, the court has appointed Duncan Perring and James Bennett of Teneo Financial Advisory as interim managers to oversee the firm.

The FCA said the action followed “serious concerns” about how EES operated its business, which indicated significant financial crime risks.

The regulator pointed to “systemic weaknesses” in the firm’s financial crime framework and safeguarding arrangements. It also cited issues connected to ownership and governance.

According to the FCA, the risks “could have had an impact” on consumers and on market integrity.

A court hearing is scheduled for 11 June 2026. After the hearing, the court may lift the current order or place EES into special administration.

The FCA has also applied to have the proceedings recognised in the US, Bloomberg reported, citing filings in a US federal court.

“The FCA has expressed concerns that companies in the company’s network and clients of the company have been linked to money laundering, or the failure to prevent it,” the publication quoted an insolvency official appointed by the watchdog as writing in the US filing.

According to its website, Euro Exchange was founded in 2007 by Luis A. Gasparini. By 2016, the company said it had obtained an API licence from the FCA and that this was upgraded to Electronic Money Institution status in 2018.

Euro Exchange registered with the European Payments Council in 2020 and became a principal member of Mastercard in 2021.

It also said it reached a $1bn turnover milestone in 2022.

"FCA orders Euro Exchange Securities UK to halt payment services" was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand.

 

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Bill Ackman and Warren Buffett are two of the most well-known investors of the past 75 plus years. While Buffett is no longer the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, he built the conglomerate from owning a textile business into an insurance and investment powerhouse. Ackman is trying to accomplish the same.

Ackman Wants the Next Berkshire Hathaway

Speaking at a recent All-In Podcast live event, Ackman highlighted the investment methods used by Buffett to build value for Berkshire Hathaway over time.

Ackman said Buffett was really the first to focus on the asset side more than the liability side of the insurance sector. The investor added that Buffett was able to build a compounding, tax-efficient machine by writing the risks on insurance, taking premiums, and then investing that money up front.

"Buffett started with a crappy textile company," Ackman said

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For Ackman, he's attempting to start with Howard Hughes Holdings, a publicly traded commercial and residential real estate company.

"The market doesn't like this thing."

Ackman said that Wall Street hasn't cared about Howard Hughes stock for a long time and now investors can buy the company at a discount to liquidation value.

"We're going to build this into a compounding machine over the next 50 years. It's something I've always wanted to do."

Ackman highlighted the current assets of Howard Hughes and said the insurance side of the business is minimal, but growing.

"I think we can build a really profitable insurance company."

Ackman said his goal is to build the company into a $1 trillion valued company over time.

Trending: Think you're saving enough for your kids? You might be dangerously off — see why

Investing Alongside Ackman

Ackman warned investors that this is not a get-rich-quick move.

He also said that successful investors would likely avoid trying to accomplish what Buffett did, without a sharp understanding of the insurance business, something he said he's confident in.

Asked about how investors can invest in the future success of Ackman and the building of the next Berkshire Hathaway, the investor said there are three ways:

• Pershing Square: Management company that receives fees and royalties on the investments and entities

• Pershing Square USA: Portfolio of best ideas, trading at an 18% discount to cash

• Howard Hughes: Trying to build into the next Berkshire Hathaway

Ackman has years of success building Pershing Square through passive and activist stakes that saw him push for changes at companies to unlock shareholder value.

Pershing Square has been betting on Magnificent Seven stocks recently, with two of the newest positions owned by the hedge fund being Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp..

Image via Shutterstock

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© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Avocado company Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) will be reporting earnings this Monday after market hours. Here’s what to expect.

Mission Produce beat analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $278.6 million, down 16.6% year on year. It was an incredible quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ gross margin estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Is Mission Produce a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, the market is expecting Mission Produce’s revenue to decline 32.6% year on year, a reversal from the 27.8% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business will stay the course heading into earnings. Mission Produce has a history of exceeding Wall Street’s expectations.

Looking at Mission Produce’s peers in the perishable food segment, some have already reported their Q1 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Freshpet delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 13.1%, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.2%, and Tyson Foods reported revenues up 4.4%, topping estimates by 1%. Freshpet traded down 7.1% following the results while Tyson Foods was up 7.5%.

Read our full analysis of Freshpet’s results here and Tyson Foods’s results here.

AI disruption fears rattled software and crypto through late 2025, but in spring 2026 the focus shifted to geopolitical risk, oil supply, and global stability. While some of the perishable food stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 4.3% on average over the last month. Mission Produce is down 21.8% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $16.25 (compared to the current share price of $10.23).

WHILE YOU’RE HERE: The Next Palantir? One satellite company captures images of every point on Earth. Every single day. The Pentagon wants it. Hedge funds are using it to beat earnings. You’ve probably never heard of it.

This is what the early days of Palantir looked like before it became a $437 billion giant. Same playbook. Different technology. If you missed Palantir, you need to see this. Claim The Stock Ticker for Free HERE.

• In recent days, Royal Caribbean Cruises has drawn heightened attention after Zacks assigned it a Rank #5 (Strong Sell), reflecting downward earnings estimate revisions and concerns about its current valuation relative to peers despite revenue growth and a solid net margin.

• At the same time, the company continues to run nearly 70 ships worldwide, leveraging newer, experience-focused vessels and strong margins to support its longer-term business ambitions even as near-term analyst sentiment weakens.

• Against this backdrop of a Strong Sell rating tied to softer earnings estimates, we’ll explore how this shift in analyst sentiment affects Royal Caribbean’s investment narrative.

The future of work is here. Discover the 33 top robotics and automation stocks leading the charge in AI-driven automation and industrial transformation.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Investment Narrative Recap

To own Royal Caribbean, you need to believe cruising can keep attracting vacation spend and support healthy margins despite a macro backdrop that could pressure discretionary travel. Zacks’ new Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and lower earnings estimates highlight the key near term swing factor: whether demand and pricing can hold up if consumer confidence softens. This sentiment shift does not materially change the biggest risk today, which is a pullback in close in bookings and onboard spending.

The most relevant recent development to set against the Zacks downgrade is Royal Caribbean’s Q1 2026 report, which showed revenue rising to US$4,452 million and net income to US$941 million, with load factors above 100%. Those results support the current catalyst narrative around newer ships and strong margins, but the market’s focus may now tilt more heavily toward whether this pace can be sustained if economic conditions or consumer behavior become less favorable.

Yet investors should be aware that if close in bookings slow or onboard spending weakens, the impact on yield and margins could...

Read the full narrative on Royal Caribbean Cruises (it's free!)

Royal Caribbean Cruises' narrative projects $23.5 billion revenue and $6.1 billion earnings by 2029. This requires 8.6% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $1.6 billion from $4.5 billion today.

Uncover how Royal Caribbean Cruises' forecasts yield a $338.33 fair value, a 21% upside to its current price.

Exploring Other Perspectives

Compared with the cautious tone of Zacks’ Rank #5, the most optimistic analysts were previously assuming revenue could reach about US$24.2 billion and earnings around US$6.9 billion, reflecting a far more upbeat view of cruise demand and cost pressures than the risk of rising regulation and fuel costs might suggest, so it is worth recognizing how differently you might see Royal Caribbean’s potential as fresh data comes in.

Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE:WY) is one of the best land and timber stocks to buy now. The Street expects Weyerhaeuser stock to jump more than 26% from its current level.

Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE:WY) reported its Q1 2026 results on April 30. The company delivered $1.73 billion in net sales and $77 million in adjusted net earnings, translating to adjusted EPS of $0.11. These results exceeded expectations, as revenue had been forecast at $1.72 billion and EPS projected at $0.05.

Weyerhaeuser CEO Devin W. Stockfish said the company faced heightened macroeconomic uncertainty in Q1. But still, the company recorded adjusted EBITDA improvement across its business segments. The Strategic Land Solutions segment delivered strong earnings improvement, the Wood Products segment recorded solid recovery, and the Timberlands business maintained stable performance.

During the quarter, Weyerhaeuser advanced key growth initiatives in its Wood Products segment. Additionally, the company made progress on the actions to optimize its portfolio. These actions include the divestiture of some 108,000 acres of non-core timberlands in Virginia. This transaction was completed in February, and the company received $192 million.

Looking ahead, the management said the focus is on advancing the strategy to accelerate growth and deliver strong long-term value to shareholders.

Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE:WY) is a timberland and wood products company. It owns more than 10 million acres of timberland in the U.S. and manages millions of acres in Canada.

While we acknowledge the potential of WY as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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Quick Read

• Google funds all infrastructure for its 750 MW XEL campus, saving Minnesota ratepayers up to $1.5 billion over 15 years.

• Xcel raised its five-year capital plan 33% to $60 billion, heavily weighted toward transmission and renewables. That focus aligns precisely with what data centers demand.

• If Bob Frenzel replicates this cost model across Xcel's eight-state footprint, the $60 billion capital plan becomes just the floor.

• Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Google didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.

Utility deals rarely make investors lean forward. This one should. Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) just struck an electric service agreement with Google that rewrites who pays for the AI buildout, and it could become the template every hyperscaler and regulated utility copies for the next decade.

The headline: residential and small-business customers in Minnesota are projected to save approximately $1.10 billion over the life of the deal, with savings running up to $1.5 billion over 15 years. Google, not ratepayers, foots the bill for the new generation and transmission needed to power its 750-megawatt Minnesota campus.

The cost model just flipped

In the traditional setup, a giant new industrial customer shows up, the utility builds wires and power plants, and everyone's bill drifts higher to pay for it. CEO Bob Frenzel's Google arrangement inverts that. Google pays all infrastructure costs, full transmission rates without economic development discounts, and funds all new generation including wind, solar, and large-scale batteries. The deal includes a proposed Clean Energy Accelerator Charge covering 1,900 MW of clean energy resources, with Xcel also partnering with privately held Form Energy to build "the largest long-duration energy storage project" as part of the package.

Frenzel framed the partnership this way on the Q1 call: "Our data center agreement in the Upper Midwest with Google in the quarter sets a high bar for ongoing community development and investment for data centers – protecting residential bills, advancing sustainability goals, and preserving precious water resources in the local community."

Xcel grows its rate base aggressively without the political backlash that comes when ratepayers subsidize a hyperscaler. Residential transmission costs actually fall by 1 to 2% over 15 years.

A $60 billion capital plan looking for a thesis

Xcel raised its five-year capital plan by 33% to $60 billion, funded by $30.2 billion from cash from operations, $22.8 billion in new debt, and $7 billion in equity issuances. The allocation skews toward exactly the assets data centers need: $15.4 billion for electric transmission, $13.9 billion for renewables, $13.7 billion for distribution, and $9.5 billion for generation.

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Bitcoin may be having a worse week than Euphoria fans who wanted a Season 4 with more glitter makeup. The cryptocurrency plunged to its lowest level since February, briefly bottoming out below $62,000 Thursday.

The weak week kicked off Monday when Michael Saylor, a bitcoin maximalist known for saying he’d never sell, sold a small part of his massive stockpile for the first time since 2022. Saylor’s bitcoin-holding company, Strategy, parted with 32 bitcoin for about $2.5 million, a few grains of sand off its mountain of more than 800,000 bitcoin worth tens of billions of dollars.

But that little bit of sand seemed to get in investors’ eyes.

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READ ALSO: Rivian Is Gaining Ground on Tesla With New Midsize SUV  and Marvell Joins S&P as Volatility Slams Chip Sector

Tech Stocks Break Up with Bitcoin

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both notched records this week, challenging the narrative that tech stocks and crypto are tightly tied. The reason could be simple: When it comes to speculative trading, crypto simply has less hype around it right now. Investors may be liquidating some crypto to prepare for a burst of splashy IPOs, with SpaceX going first and AI titans OpenAI and Anthropic likely to follow. Saylor pointed to “capital rotation” toward the AI boom as a key reason that bitcoin is resetting.

Crypto’s biggest upcoming event, meanwhile, is TBD: Investors are growing frustrated waiting for passage of the Clarity Act. Bitcoin’s most prominent corporate maximalist, Strategy, showing even a small stutter in its step could hurt confidence at a sensitive time:

• Public companies have piled into crypto during the industry-friendly Trump era, and together they now hold 1.24 million bitcoin. Companies that copied Strategy’s playbook could be backing out of their positions in Saylor’s wake.

• Spot bitcoin ETFs, which have helped drive the crypto’s gains in the past, set a record for consecutive outflows this week as investors liquidated $4.4 billion over 13 days.

Waiting Game: While there are many reasons bitcoin enthusiasm could be waning, bitcoin might also be experiencing normal growing pains that long-term HODLers know all too well. Wolfe Research wrote in a note that bitcoin’s four-year cycle could see the token dip below $40,000 this fall before picking back up.

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