Latest news with #Franks
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Seeka Forecasts Strong Profit Growth On Back Of Bumper Kiwifruit Harvest
Seeka Limited [NZX:SEK] has released its first earnings guidance for the 2025 financial year, forecasting a profit before tax of between $33.0 million and $37.0 million — an increase from $29.7 million in 2024. The projected uplift in earnings reflects a strong kiwifruit harvest volumes along with continued solid performance across Seeka's New Zealand and Australian operations. In New Zealand, Seeka packed 47.0 million trays of class 1 kiwifruit, a 9.3% uplift from the 43.0 million trays packed the previous year. Improved fruit quality and increased labour availability allowed the business to optimise the harvest period and maximise throughput, despite some recent weather-related delays. In Australia, the company harvested 2.25 million kilograms of kiwifruit — a stable result in line with 2024. Australian-grown kiwifruit continues to perform well in-market, complemented by Seeka's diversified produce range including pears, nashi and jujube. Seeka CEO Michael Franks acknowledged the contribution of the company's people and grower network in achieving a successful harvest. 'This year's result is a testament to the resilience and commitment of our teams. Our operations ran smoothly, we had ample capacity across out 11 sites and the quality of the crop has positioned us well for a solid financial performance,' said Franks. While Seeka acknowledges this is an early forecast, the company is confident in its trajectory and will continue to monitor performance closely. Further updates will be provided if there are any material changes to guidance. Seeka will release its interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2025 on 20 August 2025.
Los Angeles Times
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Everything you wanted to know about ‘The Traitors' castle but were afraid to ask
The grandiose castle on 'The Traitors' is an apt setting for the conniving game show, immersing players in a historic location in the Scottish Highlands. Both the U.S. and U.K. versions of the series use Ardross Castle, a 19th century structure once owned by the grandson of the creator of Worcestershire sauce. It's now owned by the McTaggart family, who graciously allow 'The Traitors' to take over multiple rooms and the vast grounds during filming. 'There's something about coming to a place that's so steeped in history and playing a game there,' says executive producer Rosie Franks. 'The castle has contributed so much to the identity of the show. We'd struggle to make the same show without it. It is a gift of a location because you don't need any TV trickery.' 'If it wasn't for that environment, I don't think the players would get so invested,' adds executive producer Mike Cotton. 'That feeling of being somewhere special in the middle of an isolated place allows us to create this very three-dimensional world they can inhabit.' Here, Cotton and Franks answer all of your burning questions about 'The Traitors' castle. How was Ardross Castle selected? The producers looked at more than 40 castles. Scotland was always a draw, as was something with fantastical flourishes. 'It's like a Disney castle that's got Gothic and dark undertones to it,' Cotton says. 'We wanted something that had that feeling but also had a great hall where we could house the round table. We needed a really big room for that.' Do we see all of the castle on the show? Not even close. When 'The Traitors' first arrived, the team discovered that areas of the building were desolate. 'There's huge parts of that castle that we don't use within our show because they're not renovated or haven't been touched for a long time,' Franks says. 'Plus, to rig an entire 19th century castle with cameras would be a big job.' 'What you see onscreen is a majority of the downstairs of the castle,' Cotton adds. 'The cast can roam free in our space, but obviously we can't have them roaming free over the entire castle because it would be impossible to cover it.' The castle's size has led to new discoveries during the series' run. 'It wasn't until Season 2 that we discovered it had this space that felt like a dungeon,' Cotton recalls. 'When Phaedra asked Kate to become a traitor, she was in this dungeon. It was a discovery we didn't realize was underground. We'd walked over it for a whole year.' How many cameras are in the house? There are about 50 cameras in the castle, most of which are hidden. In the great hall, the cameras are behind wood paneling that was built inside the room to surround the round table. There are also cameras in the pillars throughout the house in addition to actual camera operators. 'A lot of the pillars look like they've been there for 50 or 100 years, but they've actually been built specifically for us,' Cotton says. Not all of the cameras are recording at once. 'We've got a gallery of screens where we can see all of them, and then we choose a certain number that we're recording,' Franks says. 'We're located separately in a production village in the castle's stable block, and we're very hands off with the game.' Does the set change from the U.K. to the U.S. editions? The sets are mostly the same, but the art does change. For the U.S. show, there are pictures of Alan Cumming and Andy Cohen added to the walls. Occasionally, small trinkets will be swapped out. Does the set evolve between seasons? Yes. The producers make 'small alterations,' Franks explains. 'We like to freshen up little bits each time,' she says. 'We did create a little secret room, which has been through different iterations. Last season, it was a wine cellar you access through the bookcase.' 'It feels like it's a real place,' Cotton adds. 'Yes, we fill it with some slightly eccentric decor at times, but we want it to be its own thing. With all these big Scottish castles, they don't redecorate every single year, so we don't either.' What was the inspiration for the round table? The round table is 14 feet in diameter to accommodate all the players. Season 1 production designer Mathieu Weekes looked at the table on the original Dutch show, 'De Verraders,' which featured a compass, and added the phases of the moon. It houses a few cameras and is as hefty as it looks. 'The top is a really big, solid piece of wood that's got some light slightly embedded in it,' Cotton says. Are there Easter eggs in the decor? Of course there are. The producers hide tongue-in-cheek details in the rooms each season. For example, the book that opened the wine cellar in Season 3 was titled 'The Seer,' a nod to the big finale twist. 'The artwork sometimes alludes to the tones of the show or things that are going on in the castle or missions,' Franks says. 'We like to drip-feed viewers throughout so that the whole thing feels like a joined-up experience.' Do the players sleep in the castle during filming? The producers refuse to answer this definitively because it could affect future games. 'The success of 'The Traitors' really does rely on us maintaining the integrity of the game, and that includes us keeping the details of what happens behind the scenes a secret,' Franks says. 'Keeping the traitors' identities secret is the No. 1 thing for us,' Cotton adds. 'For everyone to go to their rooms and go to bed, and then for us to get the traitors back out is a military operation. As soon as we start to talk about exactly where they sleep and how it works, we're really worried that might unpick it all. The players are desperate to find out who the traitors are and they'll go to any means possible to do it.' Does the show film all of the outdoor challenges on the actual castle grounds? Cotton says about 90% of them are filmed on site. The other 10% are done at a nearby loch. But one of the main attractions to Ardross was its 2,000 acres of land. 'It's got a river that runs through it. It's got its own hills, it's got fields, it's got forest, it's got marshland,' Cotton says. 'And we use all of that. Part of the appeal was that it has a huge natural playground around it that we could use for missions.' Are there any restrictions on using real fire when filming? None. 'The Traitors' even has its own fire team to light the medieval-looking torches around the castle. 'We love fire,' Cotton says. 'There's nothing like when you go in somewhere and you can smell a wood fire. We always say that the game plays really psychological because they're immersed. So much of that is down to the castle and the set and the smells.'
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK's Canned Wine Group to seek further funding
UK-based Canned Wine Group is looking to raise more funds by the end of 2025 as it looks to grow headcount and expand the presence of its on-draught keg line. Speaking to Just Drinks at London Wine Fair last week, co-founder and CEO Simon Rollings said the money would be used for "working capital", to build its sales and marketing teams and scale the on-tap line for its Copper Crew brand. Rollings said the single-serve wines business was looking to raise £3m ($4m), mostly from new investors and was in talks with several venture capital firms. It has so far raised £2m to date. Canned Wine Group launched its 20 litre wine kegs in the UK in March and is looking to expand the presence of those in the UK and Ireland, the latter of which it entered last week. Co-founder Ben Franks told Just Drinks the Copper Crew keg line was being well received, especially following the introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility scheme, which came into force in the UK last month. The policy requires producers to report how much packaging they put into the market and pay associated rates per tonnage. "There's... some really interesting restaurant groups and pub groups and so on that see the benefits with EPR coming in and switching to that new format," Franks explained. Rollings also said the move into kegs responded to a significant demand. "Part of that is being driven by EPR, part of it by sustainability," he said. "It's also about service, so rather than having staff refilling fridges, they're serving customers. Because changing your keg over is instant, whereas filling a fridge is time consuming, and you're not doing what you should be doing as a bar[tender], waiter, waitress, which is serving customers and delivering a very great experience." Speaking on future plans, Franks said down the line that the company wanted to increase the number of brands in its portfolio, which it might do through M&A or in-house. "We're looking at where does that fit, what the opportunities are in the market, either through acquisition of creating our own," he said. "So, building on this idea of being a brand house that has multiple brands for different occasions". Canned Wine Group's portfolio includes Canned Wine Co. and Copper Crew, which it acquired in 2023. The UK is Canned Wine Group's main market. It also sells to the Netherlands, France, Greece, Malta and now Ireland. Speaking to Just Drinks in 2023, the business said it had ambitions to bring its products to the US. Last week, Rollings said that interest was still there, but that the market was "not something we're proactively going after at this stage", adding there was plenty of "scope" to build the business in the UK and "nearer markets like Netherlands and Ireland". The group sees the US as an "enormous opportunity" but also a "challenge in terms of scaling to that size", he said. "Obviously, as a business that is focused on sustainability, there's probably different ways in which we can set the business plan to serve the US market. So that's a case of we will do it at some point, and we'll just wait until the time is right and really try to do it well." "UK's Canned Wine Group to seek further funding" was originally created and published by Just Drinks, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
The ‘Shortest' Way to Learn About the History of France
If you are planning a vacation to France, you can take its history with you in your carry-on. In fact, for ladies, you can put it in your purse. Whether or not you are actually planning to visit France or simply wish to learn about its history in a very timely manner, Colin Jones's recent 'The Shortest History of France: From Roman Gaul to Revolution and Cultural Radiance—A Global Story for Our Times' is an ideal work. Around 300 pages, Jones has stuffed approximately 2,000 years of history into a readable, insightful, and entertaining book. Perhaps 'stuffed' is not the correct term, because it is not stuffy, nor do the topics feel squashed together. Amazingly, the historical eras—from the reign of Clovis and the rise of the Franks to the military and ideological struggle between French Christendom and the surge of Islam to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic times to the modern era of the 20th and 21st centuries—flow quite seamlessly from one to the other. The author discusses in his introduction the idea of France as a melting pot of ideas, cultures, and people. He then proceeds to demonstrate how exactly, over the millennia, the country became such. It was not always a clash of arms or the introduction of ideas through its philosophers and kings that caused France to change, but, as Jones indicates early on, the climatic changes and spread of diseases often forced the country to change and adjust. From the Little Ice Ages to the Black Death, Jones provides enough detail to ensure readers can grasp the impact and severity of such moments. Regarding those clashes of arms, though, one can hardly think of France without the institution of war. War and Religion Charlemagne instructing his son, Louis the Pious. Public Domain Jones guides the reader through the stability of the singular reign of Clovis and the resulting instability after his death when his Frankish kingdom was split among his four sons, culminating in Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy, and Aquitaine. It would not be the last time the kingdom would split. Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, split his kingdom among his three surviving sons: Lothair, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald. As aforementioned, religion played a hugely significant role in the birth and growth of France, specifically Christianity. As is necessary for the history of France, Jones weaves the importance of religion throughout the narrative. From the defeat of the Umayyad army at Tours to convincing the Vikings to convert to Christianity to the religious wars between the Catholics and Protestants during the 16th century to the overthrow and restoration of Catholicism in the 19th century, religion rightfully has its place in 'The Shortest History of France.' Related Stories 5/10/2025 9/19/2023 Just like its religious affiliation, France today cannot be understood without understanding the influence of the French Revolution and its, at times, violent push toward republicanism. From 1789 onward, Jones notes the political changing of the guard from monarchy to republic to empire to monarchy to republic to monarchy to finally the Third, Fourth and today's Fifth Republic (with the split Vichy and 'Free' France thrown in during World War II). France is truly an interesting study of national politics and domestic policies, as well as foreign policies, with its colonial and postcolonial eras. Exceptional Writing and Design Jones covers so much, including cultural items, such as the philosophies of the French Enlightenment and the landscape altering artistic creations. Through all of these subjects, the author remains balanced. He does not follow the rather French style of going to extremes. 'The Shortest History of France' presents history as it should be presented, in a dispassionate, though highly entertaining way. Certainly, for the many centuries it covers, one would expect to breeze through the years with each page, but that doesn't always account for a quick and easy read. Jones accomplishes this by making his book consistently fascinating, proving why he, although a Brit, is one of the leading scholars on French history. Additionally, the design team for the book should be commended. The maps and graphics are clear and very helpful, making the read even more impactful. The use of photos throughout was also a nice touch. It is obvious the designers have become well-versed in the organization of such a book, as there are 20 'Shortest' works thus far by The Experiment Publishing. If 'The Shortest History of France' is any indication, then one can only assume they are all worth reading. It certainly appears to be the 'shortest' way to get more knowledgeable about many historical subjects. ' By Colin Jones The Experiment Publishing, April 15, 2025 Paperback: 304 pages What arts and culture topics would you like us to cover? Please email ideas or feedback to
Irish Examiner
16-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Wine with Leslie: It's a myth that red wine has to be room temperature — here's how to chill it
Dare we dream that the sunny weather might last into June? Let's hope so. I presume you had the barbecue out over the bank holiday weekend, I certainly did. Marinated spicy pork chops and ribs were the main course I cooked and they worked well with light red wines served chilled. I served two of the wines featured below, the Ciello Rosso and the Il Casolare, both fine examples of juicy organic wine and both of which I served lightly chilled. Not at fridge temperature of 5 degrees which would be a little too cold and would dull the flavours, but somewhere closer to 9 or 10 degrees. The cooler temperature brought out the dark fruit notes and allowed the wine to cope better with the chilli peppers and paprika in my marinade. I know some people reading this will think surely red wine should always be served at room temperature but this is in fact a myth that dates from a time before central heating. Certainly most fine red wines should be served at somewhere around 16˚C (some prefer closer to 18˚C), but no wine should be served at 23 or 25 degrees, which is the temperature of many of our houses these days. Natural wines made with zero or low sulphur are best served cool or even chilled, and many natural wine bars will offer this option. I know that L'Atitude 51, MacCurtain Wine Cellar and Franks in Dublin generally have at least one red chilled (all of them in the case of Franks). So, my suggestions this week are all relatively affordable and include the two Italians mentioned above and an Austrian red I have not featured before from Judith Beck, one of the women at the forefront of the natural and biodynamic movement in Austria (and thus the world). Cantine Rallo Ciello Rosso, Nero d'Avola, Sicily, €15 Ciello Rosso (and its peachy, zesty sister Ciello Bianco) is some of the best value organic wine in the country. This is from organic Nero d'Avola picked at night to ensure freshness and is perfumed and fruity with dark red berry fruits and touches of liquorice and chocolate. Serve cool. JJ O'Driscolls; L'Atitude 51; Green Man; World Wide Wines; Baggot St. Wines; Redmonds; Il Casolare Rosso Piceno, Fattoria San Lorenzo, Marche, €17 This was served at the MacCurtain St Long Table event last August and I tasted it again recently so felt I should remind you about it. Made from 50-50 Sangiovese-Montepulciano, organic and biodynamic with ripe strawberry fruits mixed with darker plum fruits and lovely purity. Once again, best served a little cool. MacCurtain Wine Cellar; Lettercollum Kitchen; Sheridans Galway and Dublin, Mitchells, Judith Beck INK, Burgenland, Austria, €21 Austrian reds are great for warm weather as they are lower in alcohol and work great served fresh. This is from a biodynamic vineyard and a blend of 80% Zweigelt and 20% St. Laurent; bright juicy and zippy with a supple texture and lots of plum and cooked strawberry fruits mingling with herbal freshness. Beer of the week: DOT Brew Cold IPA 4% ABV, 440ml, €2.49 DOT Brew's Shane Kelly described this as 'the point where lager meets American IPA' and this is a very fair description. Pouring a light gold with a touch of haze, this has floral citrus aromas, a bright crisp palate and lingering lemon and tangerine flavours with some bitter hop notes. Perfect for warm days. Aldi exclusive
