12, Aug 2026
Dubai’s luxury property market shows depth of investor confidence
Strength of demand goes beyond individual high value deals as developers record 244 off plan residential sales averaging AED14 million in July
Dubai, UAE, Aug 12: Dubai’s luxury residential sector is becoming an increasingly important indicator of investor confidence, with a market report today showing that buyers continued to make multi-million-dirham commitments throughout July.
Developers recorded 244 off-plan residential sales above AED5 million last month, with a combined value of AED3.42 billion. The transactions ranged from the AED5-10 million bracket through to the AED50-100 million range, showing that demand extends across a broad spectrum of the luxury market.
An analysis by Dubai luxury developer Keturah reveals there were 151 off-plan apartment sales amounting AED2.3 billion in July, while 93 villa transactions generated AED1.1 billion. The average value across last month’s residential off-plan deals was AED14 million.
While the AED5-10 million bracket accounted for the largest number of apartment transactions, with 81 sales worth AED552.6 million, a significant proportion of the total value came in the higher price brackets.
Data from DXBinteract shows there were 41 sales between AED10 million and AED20 million worth AED593.6 million, while a further 24 transactions between AED20 million and AED50 million generated AED708.5 million.
“Dubai’s luxury market is demonstrating a depth of demand that goes beyond individual high-value transactions,” said Talal M. Al Gaddah, CEO and Founder of the Keturah luxury brand.
“Investors are continuing to commit substantial capital to Dubai residential property because they see that the city’s long-term fundamentals, international appeal and investment proposition remains strong.”
Keturah currently has two luxury communities under development in Dubai: Keturah Reserve, the AED5.7 billion bio-living community in Mohammed Bin Rashid City’s District 7, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences at Keturah Resort on the shores of Dubai Creek, adjacent to the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary.
Off plan apartment sales by developers last month included four transactions in the AED50-100 million bracket at an average value of AED69.9 million, as well as one of AED166 million.
Villa demand showed a similar pattern, with 60 transactions in the AED5-10 million amounting to AED387.4 million, while 22 sales between AED10 million and AED20 million generated AED317.2 million. Ten further villa transactions in the AED20-50 million range were worth AED334.1 million, while another villa sold for AED 72.7M.
The latest figures add to a sustained trend. Over the past three months, Dubai developers have recorded 942 off-plan residential sales above AED5 million with a combined value of AED12.11 billion, at an average of AED12.9 million per property.
The luxury residential segment is also supported by demand for completed homes. In July, Dubai developers recorded a further 43 ready property transactions above AED5 million worth AED552.8 million, at an average value of AED12.9 million.
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- By Neel Achary
12, Aug 2026
Emami Agrotech launches Emami Health & Tasty WeMe, Commits Rs 750Cr; Plans to build into a Rs 1000 Cr snacking brand
Kolkata, Aug 12: Emami Agrotech Limited (EAL), the branded foods business of the Rs. 30,000 crore Emami Group, today announced its strategic entry into India’s rapidly expanding packaged snacking market with the launch of WeMe, a digital-first snacking brand designed for the evolving lifestyles and consumption habits of modern Indian consumers.
The launch marks a significant step in Emami Agrotech’s strategy to diversify beyond edible oils and pantry staples under its Emami Healthy & Tasty portfolio, creating a dedicated platform focused on innovation-led snacking.
India’s snacking landscape is undergoing a structural transformation. While taste and affordability continue to remain fundamental, today’s consumers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, are redefining snacking through the lenses of convenience, indulgence, quality and authenticity. These younger consumer cohorts, are increasingly embracing all-day snacking across work, travel, entertainment and social occasions, while quick commerce is accelerating product discovery and expanding nationwide access.
Introducing WeMe: A New-Age Snacking Platform
Built around the philosophy “Togetherness Always Tastes Better,” WeMe launches with three product categories:
· Choco Hazelnut Spread, including India’s first portable chiplet-format offering.
· Jhuri Aloo Bhaja, bringing a popular Eastern Indian favourite into the organised packaged foods segment.
· Potato Chips in flavours tailored to evolving consumer tastes.
Speaking on the launch, Mr. Aditya Vardhan Agarwal, Director, Emami Group said, ” At Emami Agrotech, we have always believed food is about more than satisfying hunger—it is about earning consumer trust through quality, relevance and innovation. Having built a strong foods portfolio under Healthy & Tasty, WeMe marks our strategic entry into one of India’s most exciting food categories. Backed by a planned investment of nearly Rs 750 crore, we aim to build WeMe into a Rs 1,000 crore brand over the next 5-7 years while generating over 1,000 direct and nearly 3,000 indirect employment opportunities in sales and other support services. This is an important milestone in our vision of building Emami Agrotech into a comprehensive food company.”
Mr. Manish Goenka, Director, Emami Group added, ” As consumers increasingly seek products that combine taste, convenience and innovation, WeMe reflects our confidence in the long-term growth of India’s snacking market. Backed by our trusted food credentials and deep understanding of Indian consumers, we see WeMe as a long-term growth platform of our foods business with a broader pipeline of more products planned across multiple snacking categories in its innovation journey.”
Digital First. National from Day One.
WeMe has been conceived as a digital-first brand, leveraging creator-led content, social media and quick commerce to engage younger consumers. As part of its digital-first rollout, WeMe will be introduced across quick-commerce channels, enabling immediate access for consumers across the nation in major cities like Kolkata, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. While quick commerce will spearhead the initial rollout, WeMe will simultaneously begin its general trade expansion from Kolkata before progressively entering other markets.
“The new generation doesn’t simply buy products—they discover them through conversations, creators and communities. That’s why WeMe has been built as a digital-first brand where content, commerce and consumer engagement come together seamlessly. This distribution strategy will enable us to make WeMe instantly accessible across key cities while allowing us to continuously learn from consumers, innovate faster and respond to emerging trends. We want WeMe to become much more than a snacking brand—we want it to become part of the everyday moments that bring people together,” said Ms. Vidula Agarwal, Director, Emami Group.
The Road Ahead
Emami Agrotech expects WeMe to generate approximately Rs 1,000 crore in revenue within the next 5-7 years, supported by continued investments in product innovation, brand building, digital capabilities and distribution. The Company sees WeMe as its next major growth engine in foods, combining manufacturing strength, consumer insight and digital agility to participate in India’s evolving snacking landscape.
12, Aug 2026
Hawai’i High School Students Take Ideas to Launch at Hawai‘i Pacific University Entrepreneurship Bootcamp
HONOLULU | Aug 12: Nearly 60 Hawaiʻi high schoolers walked into HPU’s Sunset Ballroom at Aloha Tower Marketplace on July 27 with an idea and a laptop. By Friday afternoon, they had honed their “why,” their target market, and solution, walking out with a nascent venture and live websites they had built themselves.
The free HPU x Blue Startups Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, held July 27 to 31 and sponsored by HPU’s John F. Scarpa Entrepreneurial Pathway, brought together rising juniors and seniors from 18 public and private schools across the islands for five days of building. Working solo or in groups of two or three, students launched 40 ventures, each one identifying a business opportunity, designing a brand, building and publishing a live website (with AI tools), producing marketing assets and presenting the result to a panel of founders, mentors, and investors.
“What we saw this week is exactly why the Scarpa Entrepreneurial Pathway exists at HPU,” said HPU College of Business Dean Amy Nguyen-Chyung, Ph.D., lead of the Pathway. “At the start of the week, the students formed an initial idea of their business opportunity and by Friday, they had built real websites identifying the problem and solutions and stood up in front of founders and investors to defend their work. This group went further by envisioning their target customer’s key characteristics with an empathy map and turning those target customers into a virtual business advisor using AI. I am so impressed by their work and presentation skills. Investing in developing youth entrepreneurship and leadership skills is a worthwhile way in which HPU and the Scarpa Pathway can engage with the community.”
The Bootcamp was led by Alexi Drouin, an entrepreneur, HPU adjunct professor and academic director at Blue Startups, Hawaiʻi’s premier tech accelerator and a program ranked among the top 20 in the country by TechCrunch.
Each day carried a theme and ended with something shipped. Monday was Find Your Opportunity, when students landed on an idea and drafted a name, a logo and a one-liner. Tuesday was Design Your Solution, when they pressure-tested those ideas against AI-simulated customers and toured HPU’s waterfront campus and Makerspace. Wednesday was Build Your Website, a full day of production that ended with every student holding a public URL. Thursday was Launch Your Idea, devoted to social posts, short videos and slide decks. Friday was Present Your Business.
Guest speakers came from across the local startup community and, in one case, from the students’ own generation. Coen Cadinha of Keiki Rise and Big Boy Sweets opened the week as a peer-age founder.
Nalukai Foundation Board President Allen Murabayashi presented on Tuesday about the importance of talking to customers. Giovanna (“Gigi”) Scholbi (HPU ’25) of Cheeki Swimwear spoke about writing down goals and going after them while also giving tips about sourcing sustainable materials.
Miki Hardisty of Olelo Intelligence spoke Wednesday about building an AI company in Hawaiʻi and led the students in an exercise of using agentic AI.
ʻIolani School’s Gabriel Yanagihara spoke Thursday to talk about AI in the classroom and online. On multiple days, Nguyen-Chyung introduced additional examples to drive home the importance of problem identification, product market fit and writing down key components of the one’s plan using a simple canvas.
On Friday, presentation day filled the room with students, parents, teachers and HPU staff. HPU entrepreneurial coordinator and small business management instructor Richard Kebo listed the three key requirements needed before making a sale (business registration, bank account and general excise tax number). Individuals and teams took the front of the room in turn, speaking for 60 seconds, showcasing their business websites and presenting the overarching goals of their companies. After every four presentations, the expert panel offered feedback to the groups.
The panel included Blue Startups Program Director David Holt, Liya Safina of Hawaii Angels and Google, Murabayashi, and Nguyen-Chyung. It was not a pitch competition. Nobody won, and that was deliberate.
The companies took direct aim at problems the students’ families live with.
NāUlu, founded by Hanae Kauanoe and Sophia Tung will be a nonprofit that supplies basic phones with prepaid minutes and preloaded apps to unhoused families and people at risk of homelessness, with GPS directions to shelters and food sources and tools for finding work. Their premise is that staying reachable is often what separates crisis from stability.
May Shiraishi’s Ventur aims to connect Hawai’i students with internships and volunteer roles. Her website has now aggregated over a hundred available roles.
Emily Fukui and Kirah Wong built Brain Chain to address Hawaiʻi’s brain drain. Their job board aims to pair Hawaiʻi-born college graduates with local specialized roles that include subsidized housing. The founders said they talked to graduates stuck on the continental U.S. who wanted to come home and could not make the rent math work.
Trevor Chvosta’s Local Produce lets residents order specific crops directly from island farmers after harvest and pick them up at neighborhood drop points on Mondays and Thursdays, with leftover food routed to food banks. Lariah Trevenen-Ferreira built Hoʻihoʻi i ka ʻĀina as a portal connecting people to land and marine restoration projects grounded in Native Hawaiian practice.
A fan of Pokemon-Go, Kiva Ebert founded Malama Go, a real-world interactive game that incentivizes tourists to visit sites and learn about Hawaiian culture, earning points that could be redeemed with local merchants or for cultural figurines.
Aware that teens in hospitals have few options to keep them occupied, Thalia Grace Hoapili aims to stock hospitals with free Mālama Crafteen Kits for patients ages 12 to 19, pre-cut, so teenagers can start creating from a hospital bed.
Others tackled dementia care, teen mental health, permitting for first-time renovators and senior isolation.
Forty-five students who completed the full week, published their deliverables and finished both surveys will earn an HPU x Blue Academy Certificate of Completion, shareable on LinkedIn.
12, Aug 2026
Lufthansa Group Launches Free High-Speed Internet from Starlink
Frankfurt, Aug 12 – It’s the beginning of a new era: Next week, a Lufthansa Group aircraft will take off for the first time equipped with the fastest in-flight internet connection for passengers currently available. A Lufthansa Airbus A320neo will be the first to offer the new product. Guests will experience an internet bandwidth above the clouds that, in many cases, is faster than their internet connection at home or in the office.
The leading provider Starlink is collaborating with the Lufthansa Group to equip a total of 850 aircraft across all of its airlines. The system is supported by low-earth satellite technology and enables watching video content, cloud-based work, and other high-speed applications during the flight. This makes Lufthansa Group the largest airline group in Europe to equip its fleet with this modern high-speed internet product. With its ambitious project timeline, the Lufthansa Group is moving quickly to bring the new technology to guests.
The project is part of the Lufthansa Group’s extensive investments in new aircraft as well as product and service innovations across the entire travel chain. The group-wide rollout of the new high-speed internet service is intended to provide all passengers with a consistently high-quality online experience on board.
“I am excited to announce the launch of the new Lufthansa Group Wi-Fi on board our Group aircraft. With it, we’re making high-speed internet an integral part of the travel experience – across all travel classes and on all Lufthansa Group airlines: That is how we understand premium. By 2029, all of the Group’s approximately 850 aircraft will be equipped with the technology. Our product promise doesn’t end with the seats or the menu – today, connectivity is also an integral part of a truly outstanding onboard experience”, said Dieter Vranckx, Chief Commercial Officer of the Lufthansa Group.
In addition to Lufthansa, the other Group airlines SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines, Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa City Airlines, and Eurowings are currently preparing to roll out the new technology.
The new Wi-Fi that is being installed will allow guests to browse the web and includes terms of use that all passengers must agree to. These were developed based on passenger surveys and thus reflect the wishes of the majority of Lufthansa Group customers. Among other things, passengers are required to always wear headphones when playing audio and video content, to refrain from making voice and video calls, and not to broadcast live streams from aboard the aircraft. The Lufthansa Group Wi-Fi portal is sponsored by Mastercard, which has already been a partner of the previous FlyNet.
The new internet service will be free of charge for all Miles & More customers and Travel ID users – across all travel classes.
Lufthansa’s inaugural flight featuring the new Lufthansa Group Wi-Fi powered by Starlink will take place on August 19.
12, Aug 2026
Elliott Management Sends Letter to Northern Star Resources Ltd Board of Directors
Reiterates Need for Substantial Board Enhancement, Comprehensive Strategic Review and Credible Operational Plan
Introduces Group of Highly Accomplished Independent Director Candidates for Northern Star Board
Full Letter and Materials Available at ElliottLetters.com/NST
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Elliott Investment Management L.P. (“Elliott”), which manages funds that together hold an investment of approximately 5.6% in Northern Star Resources Ltd (“Northern Star” or the “Company”), today sent a letter to the Company’s Board of Directors.
Elliott believes that – after multiple years of execution and governance failures – the Company needs a substantially enhanced Board that is equipped to support the incoming Chief Executive and to oversee an objective, thorough strategic and operational review. In its letter, Elliott introduced a group of highly accomplished independent director candidates for Northern Star’s Board of Directors, each of whom would bring highly relevant and complementary skills and help restore market confidence in the Company:
- Susan Corlett – former Investment Director at mining private equity firm Pacific Road Capital and experienced ASX-listed company director;
- Mark Cutifani – former Chief Executive of Anglo American and CEO of AngloGold Ashanti;
- Paul Graves – former CEO of Arcadium Lithium and then head of Rio Tinto Lithium following 2025 acquisition;
- Mick McMullen – former CEO of Metals Acquisition Corp., Detour Gold and Stillwater Mining;
- Peter Rozenauers – former Managing Partner at Orion Resource Partners, where he oversaw global mining portfolios, and experienced ASX-listed company director;
- Graham Shuttleworth – former CFO of Barrick and CFO of Randgold Resources.
These director candidates would strengthen Northern Star’s Board, bringing experience across operations, finance, governance and technical disciplines. Over the past 15 years, Elliott has worked to add more than 150 directors to company boards, in almost every case by agreement. This is about fortifying Northern Star and its Board for the long term, and helping the Company fulfill the potential of its world-class mining assets and skilled workforce.
Elliott’s full perspectives on Northern Star and its unique value-creation opportunity can be accessed at ElliottLetters.com/NST.
The full text of the letter follows:
August 12, 2026
Board of Directors
Northern Star Resources Ltd
Level 4, 500 Hay Street
Subiaco WA 6008 Australia
Dear Members of the Board:
We write on behalf of Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Elliott” or “we”), one of Northern Star Resources Ltd’s (“Northern Star” or the “Company”) largest investors, with an economic interest representing approximately 5.6% of the Company. The size of our investment reflects our conviction in the quality of Northern Star’s assets and our commitment to realizing their full potential.
We first communicated our views in early June. In its June 10 letter, the Board said it welcomed Elliott’s engagement, agreed with our suggestion to enhance the Board and offered to consider any Elliott-proposed director candidates. Since then, we have met with the Company to discuss the candidates named in this letter and were unable to agree on a path forward. We are writing again now, and publicly, to introduce this highly accomplished group of independent director candidates, so that all shareholders may weigh in. Any directors appointed would represent all of Northern Star’s shareholders, not only Elliott, and we believe their consideration should happen in the open.
From the outset, we have said that Northern Star needs a substantially enhanced Board that is fully equipped to support the incoming Chief Executive and to oversee an objective, thorough review that the market can trust. We have done the work to make that possible, assembling a purpose-built group of independent director candidates whose experience matches the decisions now before the Company. All are ready to help Northern Star realize its full potential.
To be clear, we do not seek to add any Elliott employees to the Board and do not seek control of the Board. Rather, we look forward to further discussing these candidates with the Company and to agreeing on a framework for substantial Board change. We have recruited a broad and complementary pool of candidates because we believe the scale of change required is significant. Each would join as an independent director, discharging their duties in the interests of all shareholders, and each is prepared to meet the Nomination Committee and complete the Company’s normal vetting process.
Northern Star has world-class mines and a skilled workforce operating in two of the top gold-mining jurisdictions. During a period of record gold prices, a company with assets of this caliber should be among its sector’s strongest performers. Yet over the past several years, Northern Star’s total shareholder return has severely lagged that of its peers. This gap is a reflection of execution and governance failures over this period, not the quality of the Company’s assets or the people who mine them. Since June, we have spoken with a number of Australian and international shareholders who share similar concerns and believe significant change is needed at Northern Star.
We Have Recruited a World-Class Pool of Independent Director Candidates
The candidates we have recruited have led Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Arcadium Lithium, Detour Gold and Stillwater Mining, and have served as chief financial officer of Barrick and Randgold Resources. They have operated large-scale gold mines across Australia, Africa and the Americas, and have executed major projects of the kind Northern Star now has before it. Several also bring highly relevant Australian governance experience, having served on the boards of Woodside Energy and multiple ASX-listed miners. Their names and backgrounds follow:
- Susan Corlett – Ms. Corlett sits on the boards of Iluka Resources, Aurelia Metals and Silex Systems, and was an Investment Director at mining private equity firm Pacific Road Capital from 2008 to 2017. She began her career as a geologist and brings particular insights into commercial, technical, strategic and capital allocation matters.
- Mark Cutifani – Mr. Cutifani led Anglo American as Chief Executive from 2013 to 2022 and AngloGold Ashanti as Chief Executive Officer from 2007 to 2013, after earlier senior operating roles at Vale Inco, Inco and Sons of Gwalia. He is currently an independent director of Woodside Energy Group and chairs the Global Tailings Management Institute, and until recently was Chair of Vale Base Metals. Mr. Cutifani has operated assets in Western Australia and played a key role in developing the Super Pit that now anchors Northern Star’s portfolio.
- Paul Graves – Mr. Graves led Livent and its successor, Arcadium Lithium – at the time the world’s third-largest lithium producer – from 2018 to 2025, and then Rio Tinto Lithium until 2026. He was previously Chief Financial Officer of FMC Corporation and a Partner and Global Head of Chemicals at Goldman Sachs, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
- Mick McMullen – Mr. McMullen was Chief Executive Officer of Metals Acquisition Corp. from 2021 to 2025, Detour Gold from 2019 to 2020 and Stillwater Mining from 2013 to 2017. He is currently Executive Chairman of REEcycle and Metals Acquisition Corp. II and has been a non-executive director of OceanaGold and Develop Global Limited.
- Peter Rozenauers – Mr. Rozenauers was most recently Operating Partner at leading investment firm Orion Resource Partners, having previously been a Managing Partner overseeing global mining portfolios. He is currently a non-executive director of NASDAQ-listed Uranium Royalty Corp. and previously served as a non-executive director of the ASX-listed miners Heron Resources, Blackham Resources and MacPhersons Resources and as Chair of Lynx Resources.
- Graham Shuttleworth – Mr. Shuttleworth was Chief Financial Officer of Barrick from 2019 to 2026, having joined through its merger with Randgold Resources, where he had been Chief Financial Officer and a director from 2007 to 2018. He earlier led metals and mining coverage for the Americas at HSBC and qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
These director candidates would strengthen Northern Star’s Board, bringing skills and experience across operations, finance, governance and technical disciplines. We would prefer to reach agreement with the Board on adding a number of these directors, and on the right overall Board size to drive the changes required. We believe Northern Star and its shareholders are better served through collaboration than unilateral action by the Company. Over the past 15 years, Elliott has worked to add more than 150 directors to company boards, in almost every case by agreement. This is about fortifying Northern Star and its Board for the long term, and we hope you will embrace the support we offer.
The Path Forward
We believe that Elliott and the Board should share the same objective: a Northern Star whose share price reflects the quality of its assets. We remain open to constructive engagement with the Board and with Northern Star’s incoming Chair and Chief Executive, and we are committed to this Company’s success, as our sizable investment demonstrates. At the same time, we must ensure that the interests of Northern Star’s shareholders are properly represented.
A stronger Northern Star is better for everyone with an interest in it – for shareholders, for the Company’s workforce and the communities it supports, and for the Australians whose superannuation is invested in the Company. All stand to lose if underperformance is allowed to continue.
The opportunity before Northern Star is significant, and the path to achieving it is clear: a strengthened Board, and a comprehensive operating and strategic review to realize the full value of Northern Star’s assets. We remain open to working with you toward those ends, and to do so promptly.
Sincerely,
John Pike
Partner
Mark Cicirelli
Senior Portfolio Manager
Chris Singh
Portfolio Manager
About Elliott
Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Elliott”) manages approximately $80.3 billion of assets as of June 30, 2026. Founded in 1977, it is one of the oldest funds under continuous management. The Elliott funds’ investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, high net worth individuals and families, and employees of the firm.
Media Contacts:
London
Stijn van de Grampel
Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited
T: +44 20 3009 1061
svdgrampel@elliottadvisors.co.uk
New York
Stephen Spruiell
Elliott Investment Management L.P.
T: +1 (212) 478-2017
sspruiell@elliottmgmt.com
Sydney
Annabel Clunies-Ross
Hanbury Strategy
T: +61 428 295 517
nst@hanburystrategy.com
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12, Aug 2026
SKF India Limited announces financial results for Q1 FY2026-27
Pune, Aug 12: SKF India Limited , India’s technology and solutions provider of bearings and units, condition monitoring, and services, announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026.
During this quarter, SKF India Limited reported revenue from operations of Rs. 9,707.7 million with profit before tax at Rs. 869.2 million, showcasing the company’s steady execution and resilience in a dynamic business environment.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS (Q1 FY 26-27)
|
Particulars (Rs. mn) |
Q1 FY27 |
Q1 FY26 |
YoY % |
Q4 FY26 |
QoQ % |
|
Revenue from Operations |
9,707.7 |
8,206.3 |
18.3% |
9,457.2 |
2.6% |
|
Profit before Tax |
869.2 |
970.9 |
-10.5% |
899.7 |
-3.4% |
|
PBT Margin (%) |
9.0% |
11.8% |
-288 bps |
9.5% |
-56 bps |
|
Profit after Tax |
619.2 |
718.6 |
-13.8% |
1,189.6 |
-47.9% |
|
PAT Margin (%) |
6.4% |
8.8% |
-238 bps |
12.6% |
-620 bps |
Mukund Vasudevan, MD, SKF India (Industrial) Limited and President – India, Southeast Asia and Middle East, said,
“FY 2026-27 begins from a position of strength. In our 3rd quarter as a focused, independent business, SKF India (Industrial) delivered 18.3% year-on-year Sales growth, while maintaining a healthy 9% PBT (in spite of headwinds from currency and demerger-related expenses). Growth was strong across most sectors including Wind, General Machinery and Agriculture (Tractors). We attribute this performance to staying genuinely close to our customers and maintaining a strong operational discipline.
India’s manufacturing and infrastructure sectors are still expanding and our performance is validation of our three-prongedstrategy – customer centricity, localization and innovation. At the core of everything we do is a simple goal: help our customers achieve more, with less friction.”
STRATEGIC OUTLOOK
As India’s industrial and economic landscape evolves, so does the company’s approach, with a growing emphasis on sustainable practices, manufacturing precision, and smarter, digitally-enabled operations. This shift is helping the company stay closely aligned with the needs of industries across India and Southeast Asia as they navigate their own periods of rapid change.
12, Aug 2026
Nexteer’s High Mount Direct Drive Actuator Unlocks Cockpit Design Freedom for Software-Defined Vehicles
Compact high-mount actuator architecture enables greater cockpit design flexibility, premium steering feel and scalable Steer-by-Wire integration for software-defined vehicles.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Nexteer Automotive, a global leader in advanced steering and motion control technologies, has introduced its High Mount Direct Drive Steer-by-Wire Hand-Wheel Actuator (HMDD). This compact actuator architecture helps OEMs rethink steering system packaging and cockpit design for software defined vehicles. By combining a high-mount motor location, direct-drive responsiveness and stationary hub, HMDD enables greater design freedom, premium steering feel and scalable integration across vehicle platforms. As OEMs move toward software-defined, electrified and increasingly flexible vehicle architectures, steering systems have an opportunity to evolve from fixed mechanical layouts to more adaptable, software-enabled motion control solutions.
Lightweight, Flexible and Adaptable Design
HMDD is the latest addition to Nexteer’s Direct Drive Hand-Wheel Actuator portfolio for Steer-by-Wire systems, which translate driver steering input into digital commands to the road wheels while delivering steering feel feedback to the driver. Alongside Nexteer’s low-mount option positioned under the dash, HMDD gives OEMs additional flexibility to select the actuator architecture that best supports their vehicle packaging, cockpit design and driver experience strategies.
By combining a compact high-mount architecture, direct-drive responsiveness and a stationary hub, HMDD creates new opportunities for automakers to reimagine the cockpit, including:
- Greater steering interface design flexibility, including center-hub control and display concepts, stowable or reconfigurable steering interfaces and expanded steering wheel placement options.
- Next-generation airbag integration, enabled by a stationary hub that removes the need for symmetrically designed driver airbags required for rotating systems.
- Mass reduction opportunities of up to 23 percent compared with legacy column-based architectures, depending on vehicle application and packaging requirements.
- Scalable integration across internal combustion, hybrid and electric vehicle platforms, with support for 12V and 48V electrical architectures and left- and right-hand-drive configurations.
Unlocking Motion Control for Software-Defined Vehicles
HMDD strengthens Nexteer’s SbW portfolio, which is part of the company’s broader Motion-by-Wire™ chassis control strategy, spanning steering, braking, rear-wheel steering and software-enabled motion control. When combined, these technologies enable coordinated motion control that advances safety, performance and efficiency beyond what mechanical systems alone can achieve.
“Nexteer’s HMDD gives OEMs a new way to rethink the cockpit and driver experience while enhancing the steering feel, packaging flexibility and safety-critical performance,” said Michael Hales, Executive Director, Research & Development, Nexteer Automotive. “As vehicles become more software-defined, technologies like HMDD help create a more flexible foundation for differentiated steering experiences and future vehicle architectures.”
For drivers, HMDD is designed to deliver a premium steering feel through smooth, direct torque response and adjustable modes that provide realistic road feedback and driver connection. Its direct-drive configuration and flexible software tuning can support future feature evolution through software including potential over-the-air updates as OEM software strategies advance.
For OEMs, Nexteer’s HMDD creates opportunities to standardize and scale SbW hardware while allowing brand differentiation through software-defined steering feel, cockpit experience and user features. This approach can help reduce part complexity, support faster development and create a more flexible foundation for future software-enabled vehicles.
Nexteer’s HMDD was recently named a finalist for the 2026 Automotive News PACE Pilot Award, recognizing its potential as a pre-commercial innovation with strong market relevance.
To learn more about Nexteer’s HMDD, visit Nexteer’s Steer-by-Wire webpage.
About Nexteer Automotive
Nexteer Automotive (HK 1316) is a global leading motion control technology company accelerating mobility to be safe, green and exciting. Our innovative portfolio supports by-wire chassis control, including electric and hydraulic power steering systems, steer-by-wire and rear-wheel steering systems, steering columns and intermediate shafts, driveline systems, software solutions and brake-by-wire. Celebrating 120 years of automotive innovation in 2026, Nexteer builds on a strong legacy of engineering excellence while continuing to shape the future of mobility. The company solves motion control challenges across key industry shifts – including electrification, software/connectivity, ADAS/automated driving and shared mobility – for global and domestic OEMs around the world including BMW, Ford, GM, RNM, Stellantis, Toyota and VW, as well as automakers in India and China including BYD, Xiaomi, ChangAn, Li Auto, Chery, Great Wall, Geely, Xpeng and others. www.nexteer.com
Link to Nexteer Media Center
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12, Aug 2026
Helfie AI Appoints Heavyweight Tech and Governance Leaders to its Board of Directors
Former Apple and Airbnb executive Patrick Gates and ex-Meta executive Sunita Parasuraman join as Non-Executive Directors, strengthening Helfie’s technology and governance.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Helfie AI (“Helfie”), an AI-powered preventative network transforming global healthcare via mobile, today announced the appointment of Patrick Gates and Sunita Parasuraman as Non-Executive Directors.
Patrick Gates brings more than three decades of engineering and technology leadership, including 14 years at Apple, where he helped build iCloud, FaceTime, iMessage, and the iTunes Store. He later served as CTO of AI hardware startup Humane before joining Airbnb as Vice President and Technical Fellow, leading AI-driven product updates.
Sunita Parasuraman has over 25 years of industry experience including at Apple, Genentech, VMware, and Meta, where she spent 12 years, including as Global Head of Treasury, building its global treasury organisation and overseeing the reserve backing Meta’s Libra/Diem stablecoin initiative. She later became Meta’s Head of Investments and New Product Experimentation, and now serves on the boards of IREN Limited, The Baldwin Insurance Group, and BitGo Holdings.
Tony De Fougerolles, Chairman, Helfie AI says: “Patrick and Sunita join Helfie at an exciting time. Patrick has built infrastructure serving hundreds of millions at Apple and led AI transformation at global scale. Sunita has navigated technology, governance, and regulation at the highest levels. Together, they strengthen our Board and our mission to bring accessible preventative healthcare to everyone.”
Patrick Gates, Non-Executive Director, Helfie AI added: “Helfie is building something genuinely important. I’m excited to help the team navigate the infrastructure and scale challenges that come with building a global health network.”
Sunita Parasuraman, Non-Executive Director, Helfie AI said: “Helfie’s accessible, intelligent preventative health tools could improve living standards worldwide. I look forward to bringing my experience in technology governance and responsible scaling to Helfie’s growth.”
ABOUT HELFIE AI
Helfie AI is a global human health platform for early detection, proactive prevention, and optimised wellbeing for 8 billion+ humans. The science-backed, AI-powered platform provides 30+ instant and affordable health checks via smartphone, combined with powerful medical insights, data ownership, and universal access. Helfie AI works with governments and businesses worldwide to make preventative health accessible to everyone.
More details at www.helfie.ai
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12, Aug 2026
InvoiceCloud Appoints Sharon Joy as India HR Head to Drive Talent, Culture, and GCC Growth
Aug 12: InvoiceCloud, a leading provider of digital billing and payment solutions, today announced the appointment of Sharon Joy as Head of Human Resources, India. Based in Hyderabad, Sharon will lead the people mandate for InvoiceCloud‘s Global Capability Centre (GCC), shaping the talent, leadership, culture, and employee experience agenda as the company enters its next phase of expansion in the country.
In her new role, Sharon will partner with Biju Davis, Senior Vice President and India Site Leader, and Jessi Marcoff, Chief People Officer at InvoiceCloud‘s Boston headquarters, to build an HR strategy that supports the company’s expanding innovation mandate. Her appointment comes as InvoiceCloud scales its Hyderabad GCC into a high-impact centre for technology, product development, and operational excellence.
Biju Davis, who has been leading InvoiceCloud‘s India site, sees the appointment as central to the company’s next phase, “Building a high-performing, values-led organisation is at the heart of where we are headed. Sharon brings the strategic maturity, global exposure, and people-first leadership we need, her experience across complex, technology-driven organisations will be invaluable as we strengthen the capabilities that power our innovation.”
Sharon brings over two decades of experience leading people strategy across technology, consulting, financial services, and product-led organisations. She joins InvoiceCloud from Centime Inc., a US-based fintech company, where she served as Senior Director of Human Resources for over six years, overseeing the HR function across India and the United States. Her earlier roles at Cognizant, Optum Global Solutions, Virtusa, DXC Technology, and Tech Mahindra built her expertise across talent strategy, employee lifecycle management, diversity and inclusion, HR operations, leadership development, and organisational transformation, working with cross-functional teams across India, the United States, Ireland, and the Philippines.
Jessi Marcoff, Chief People Officer, InvoiceCloud, said, “India is central to our future, and the people’s experience we build here matters enormously, not just for our teams in Hyderabad but for the company globally. Sharon brings exactly the kind of people-first leadership we need at this stage of our growth. She understands how to build culture intentionally, and that’s what will make the difference as we scale.”
Reflecting on her new role, Sharon said, “I am excited to be part of InvoiceCloud‘s growth journey and to help shape the Hyderabad GCC into a centre of real depth and impact. I look forward to partnering with Biju, Jessi, and the team to build a culture of trust, teamwork, and customer focus.”
Sharon‘s appointment further strengthens InvoiceCloud‘s India leadership team and reinforces its commitment to building a people-first, innovation-led organisation, while supporting continued hiring across product, engineering, AI, and specialised technology roles in India.
12, Aug 2026
Azul Names Kenny Johnston Chief Product Officer
Product leader with deep agentic AI and enterprise platform experience joins to accelerate Azul’s AI-first Java roadmap across performance, security, cost and productivity
SINGAPORE — Aug 12 — Azul, the trusted leader in enterprise Java for today’s AI -first world, today announced the appointment of Kenny Johnston as chief product officer (CPO). Johnston brings deep experience building agentic, AI-powered enterprise DevOps and observability tools and platforms and will lead product strategy for Azul’s AI-first Java platform — engineered to meet the performance, security and cost demands of running enterprise AI workloads at scale.
Most recently, Johnston served as chief product and technology officer at Luciq, an agentic AI observability platform built for enterprise mobile app teams, where he led global product, design, customer success and engineering functions delivering agentic capabilities such as SmartResolve and Agentic Mode. Earlier in his career, Johnston was senior director of product management at GitLab, where he led product management for all operations and infrastructure products including GitLab CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, Package & Release Management as well as Observability and Incident Response. At Rackspace, he served as director of product management for Rackspace Private Cloud, more than tripling annual revenue and earning recognition as HPE’s Global Service Provider Partner of the Year.
As CPO at Azul, Johnston will lead product strategy and execution across Azul’s AI-first Java platform — Azul Prime, Azul Core, Azul Intelligence Cloud, Azul Payara Micro and Azul Payara Server, the latter two added to the Azul platform through Azul’s December 2025 acquisition of Payara. His mandate is to advance the roadmap around the demands AI is placing on every enterprise Java estate: cost, performance, security, modernization and productivity.
“Java is the backbone of the world’s most critical enterprise systems, and AI is amplifying the pressure on all of it,” said Johnston. “The opportunity is to bring an AI-first, DevOps-centric vision to how Java is developed, deployed, secured and monitored in the enterprise. I’ve spent my career helping world-class teams accelerate through transformative moments like this, and I’m excited to build on the strong foundation Azul has already established.”
“Kenny’s track record of scaling enterprise product organizations to build products that address business-critical use cases makes him exactly the right product leader as AI reshapes the performance, security and cost demands of every enterprise Java estate,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO. “Under his leadership, we’re focused on continuing to build out our AI-first Java platform and helping drive Azul into its next phase of growth.”
FAQs
What is an AI-first Java platform?
An AI-first Java platform is a Java runtime and application platform built and optimized to support AI-driven, agentic software development, with the performance, observability and security enterprises need to run AI-driven workloads at scale. Azul’s AI-first Java platform spans Azul Prime, Azul Core, Intelligence Cloud, Payara Micro and Payara Server, added through its December 2025 acquisition of Payara.
Why do enterprises use Java for AI applications?
Java’s maturity, portability and performance make it a common foundation for the enterprise systems that AI capabilities access and integrate with, and modern JVMs can be tuned to meet the low-latency, high-throughput demands of AI workloads. Azul’s AI-first Java platform is designed to deliver that performance, strengthen security and help reduce the cloud costs AI workloads add, giving enterprises a meaningful advantage as they bring agentic AI into mission-critical Java environments.
Why does Java performance matter for AI applications?
The enterprise systems AI depends on are mostly written in Java, and AI is putting new pressure on them. Agentic workflows call Java services at far higher volume, and those services increasingly sit in the critical path of AI interactions. Throughput, garbage collection pauses, warm-up and memory overhead in the JVM turn into slow or inconsistent performance and response times, and the usual fix is to add capacity. Azul Prime is built to attack these bottlenecks in the runtime instead, giving enterprises a faster, more predictable Java runtime for AI-driven workloads.
What will Azul’s product roadmap focus on?
Azul’s product roadmap focuses on alleviating the pressures AI places on enterprise Java: absorbing AI workload demand and optimizing cloud cost (Azul Prime), narrowing the AI-era security and patch-velocity gap (Azul Core), enabling AI-driven modernization (Azul Intelligence Cloud, Azul Payara), and giving AI-modernized workloads the scalability, security and automation they need (all Azul products).
