Business
Galeries Lafayette sets foot in India with Mumbai store – The Times of India
MUMBAI: Parisian luxury department store Galeries Lafayette is tapping India for growth, a market it said lacks luxury retail avenues for high spending consumers who shop for a spate of labels across pricey fashion houses and shopping stores abroad.The retailer’s flagship store in Paris’s Boulevard Haussmann is the second most-visited tourist spot in the French capital after Eiffel Tower and attracts 35 million visitors a year, half of which are foreigners.Galeries Lafayette, which is launching in India through partnership with the Aditya Birla Group, will open its first store in Mumbai early next month, after eight years of studying the local market and consumer nuances.“India is a key and strategic country. It also has great opportunities in terms of growth. Indian consumers are already very interested in buying luxury brands and products. They consume them not only in India but also abroad — Dubai, Singapore, the UK, Paris and especially in Galeries Lafayette. Clearly, there is a lack of offer inside India…there are no (luxury) department stores here,” Galeries Lafayette CEO Arthur Lemoine, told TOI in an interview here.The India foray, announced three years back, comes at a time when US tariff turmoil has clouded global growth prospects, nudging companies to review strategies.Of the 67 Galeries Lafayette stores globally, 58 are in home market France with the rest of the nine outlets spread across Asia including China, Indonesia and Dubai.The luxury brand has stitched a 20-year licensing agreement with the Aditya Birla Group. “Beyond the year which are written in the contract, we are here to build the future together,” said Lemoine. The four-storey department store in south Mumbai will house a broad range of global products — from bags to beauty, apparel and accessories. From a Rs 25-lakh bag to a Rs 3,000 lipstick, the idea is to cater to the luxury consumers but also tapping into the premium cohort who are willing to upgrade to high-end brands.“Luxury in our country today stands at the threshold of transformation,” said Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, adding that “In the span of less than a decade, the market is set to grow over four-fold from $20 billion to almost $90 billion by 2030.”The brand play will be omni-channel to give access to a wider set of affluent consumers, many of whom are sitting in non-metros. “In India, we have pockets of consumption all across the country,” said R Sathyajit, CEO, international brands at Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail adding that the company’s own website will be launched in a couple of months.Delhi will house the next Galeries Lafayette store. Currently, the assortment at the store is global with a tilt towards French and Parisian brands. “Over a period of time, we would also like to be a platform for emerging designers in India as well. The beauty of a department store is that it evolves with time, reflecting changing generations, tastes,” Sathyajit said.
Business
EV maker Lucid suspends production guidance amid incoming CEO’s business review
The Lucid logo is shown at the Los Angeles Auto show on Nov. 20, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
DETROIT — Lucid Group suspended its vehicle production guidance for the year as its incoming CEO evaluates the all-electric vehicle manufacturer’s business operations, including the potential for lower output of EVs.
The company on Tuesday also said it needs to lower its “elevated inventory” of vehicles, which for automakers has historically meant decreasing or idling vehicle production.
A company spokesman told CNBC that there is currently no plan to idle its sole U.S. plant in Arizona, but incoming CEO Silvio Napoli said he is continuing to evaluate Lucid’s business.
“An essential objective over time is to build a more cost-efficient company, one that progresses in funding its own growth. That means being rigorous in delivering our commitments,” Napoli said Tuesday on Lucid’s quarterly results call with investors. “In simple words, this means making clear choices on where to invest and, just as importantly, where not to.”
Napoli said he plans to review the company’s operations over the next several weeks before updating investors on the company’s guidance when Lucid reports its second-quarter results at an unspecified date.
The company’s prior production guidance was between 25,000 to 27,000 units in 2026. Lucid executives said plans for cost-cutting, autonomous vehicles with Uber and Nuro, and the company’s “path to profitability” outlined in an investor day in March remain intact.
Lucid has produced roughly 3,200 more vehicles than it has sold since 2024, according to its annual production and deliveries. That includes a difference of roughly 2,000 units last year and 2,400 vehicles during the first quarter of 2026.
The pulled guidance occurred as the company reported first-quarter results that were in line with preliminary results released by the company a month ago, but that still significantly missed Wall Street’s expectations.
“We ended the quarter with elevated inventory that we expect to convert to revenue and cash as deliveries normalize, while maintaining alignment between production and sales cadence. Our focus is on disciplined execution — driving structural cost improvements, managing capital efficiently, and improving operating leverage as we scale,” Lucid CFO Taoufiq Boussaid said in a statement.
Here’s how the company performed in the first quarter compared with average estimates compiled by LSEG:
- Loss per share: $3.46 vs. a loss of $2.64 expected
- Revenue: $282.5 million vs. $440.4 million expected
The company’s revenue increased roughly 20% year-over-year but was far lower than the 87.4% jump analysts were expecting, according to LSEG.
The all-electric vehicle maker said a seat supplier issue “significantly affected” deliveries of its crucial Lucid Gravity SUV during the quarter that resulted in a stop-sale of the vehicle due to safety concerns.
Boussaid said the seat issue caused a more than $200 million revenue impairment during the first quarter.
Lucid produced 5,500 vehicles and delivered 3,093 vehicles in the first quarter of 2026.
The automaker, which is heavily backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, said it has sufficient liquidity through the second half of 2027. It ended the first quarter with approximately $4.7 billion, including a recent capital raise and delayed draw term loan provided by PIF.
Lucid on Tuesday said production of a new vehicle plant in Saudi Arabia continues despite the ongoing war in nearby Iran. The company said it has not experienced any significant interruptions to the facility other than some delays in shipping.
The company also said it is adjusting its production reporting to count vehicles once they complete the company’s “factory gating process,” which includes vehicles that may not be completely built and are sent to operations elsewhere for completion.
Business
Long-term borrowing costs in UK reach 28-year high amid rising inflation
Britain’s long-term borrowing costs have surged to their highest level since 1998, driven by escalating inflation worries and political uncertainty ahead of this week’s local elections.
On Tuesday afternoon, the yield on 30-year UK government bonds, known as gilts, hit a 28-year peak, climbing 0.14 percentage points to 5.798%.
This increase in yield signifies a drop in bond prices, as the two move inversely. Consequently, the government faces higher expenses when seeking to borrow from financial markets.
The yield on 10-year gilts also rose, lifting by 0.15 percentage points to 5.122%, though this remains below recent highs reported last month.
In contrast, US 10-year treasury notes were flat on Tuesday, despite a steady increase over recent weeks.
Gilt yields have grown amid growing predictions that the conflict in Iran will drive higher inflation due to spiking energy costs, which is then likely to cause the Bank of England to increase interest rates.
City traders currently expect the central bank to vote for at least two interest rate hikes in the coming months, despite the Bank maintaining the current rate of 3.75% last week.
The rise in gilt yields means the Government will face higher debt interest costs, providing more strain on the Chancellor’s spending powers.
It comes amid a backdrop of significant pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the run-up to the UK local elections.
The pound was broadly flat at 1.353 versus the dollar on Tuesday.
Business
Border politics – how similar jobs in the same firm deliver different tax bills
Workers in southern Scotland can find themselves paying more tax than colleagues who live south of the border.
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