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(Reuters) -Crypto heavyweight Kraken said on Thursday it has acquired futures exchange Small Exchange from IG Group for $100 million, paving the way to launch a fully U.S.-based derivatives suite. Small Exchange is a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission-licensed designated contract market, giving Kraken a regulated venue to offer futures and options to both retail and institutional clients. "Under CFTC oversight, Kraken can now integrate clearing, risk and matching into one environment that meets the same standards as the largest exchanges in the world," Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken said in a statement. Once the preserve of banks and brokers, the derivatives market is drawing digital asset firms looking for liquidity and risk management. The trillion-dollar crypto market has moved beyond spot trading, with exchanges and investors seeking institutional-grade tools such as futures, options and tokenized assets. Crypto-linked futures and options have been among the fastest-growing segments as investors seek to manage risk. "By securing the necessary licensing and infrastructure today, Kraken is laying the groundwork for institutional-grade markets as crypto matures," the company said. The deal comes as a more crypto-friendly regulatory tone under U.S. President Donald Trump encourages digital asset firms to expand in the United States with promises of clearer rules. Earlier this year, Kraken agreed to buy retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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By Alexander Marrow AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Nestle will cut 16,000 jobs, new CEO Philipp Navratil said on Thursday, as the world's largest packaged food company seeks to cut costs and win back investor confidence. The jobs being cut represent 5.8% of Nestle's around 277,000 employees. Navratil said Nestle had raised its cost savings target to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.77 billion) from 2.5 billion francs by the end of 2027. U.S. import tariffs are a headwind for Nestle, despite the bulk of the company's U.S. sales being manufactured locally, while food producers across the board are grappling with fragile consumer confidence and changing habits as people seek to eat more healthily. "The world is changing, and Nestle needs to change faster," Navratil said. UNPRECEDENTED MANAGEMENT TURMOIL Nestle, whose shares leapt by around 8% in early trading, has experienced an unprecedented period of managerial turmoil, with Navratil replacing Laurent Freixe, who was fired in September as chief executive over an undisclosed relationship with a direct report. Chairman Paul Bulcke then stepped down early to make way for former Inditex chief Pablo Isla two weeks later. Navratil said the 12,000 white-collar job cuts over the next two years, in addition to a further 4,000 headcount reduction as part of ongoing initiatives in manufacturing and the supply chain, were part of an efficiency push. 'FUEL TO THE TURNAROUND FIRE' The Swiss maker of KitKat chocolate bars, Nespresso coffee and Maggi seasoning has been fighting to reverse stalling sales growth and arrest a share price slide as it battles U.S. import tariffs, while costs have risen and debt levels have climbed, increasing pressure from investors. Nestle's quarterly results "add fuel to the turnaround fire," Bernstein analysts wrote in a note, naming the headcount reduction as a "significant surprise". A 1.5% rise in real internal growth – a measure of sales volumes – in the third quarter, well above analysts' expectations of a 0.3% rise, may offer Navratil breathing space as he looks to make his mark following his sudden promotion. Navratil said driving RIG-led growth was Nestle's highest priority. "We are fostering a culture that embraces a performance mindset, that does not accept losing market share, and where winning is rewarded," Navratil said. Strategic reviews of Nestle's waters and premium beverages business and low-growth, low-margin vitamins and supplements brands are ongoing, the company said. NESTLE LEAVES 2025 GUIDANCE UNCHANGED The Swiss company maintained its 2025 outlook. It said organic sales growth should improve compared to 2024 and predicted the underlying trading operating profit margin, which excludes certain non-recurrent expenses, at, or above, 16%. For the medium-term, the forecast is at least 17%.  The margin forecasts include the higher U.S. import tariffs on Swiss goods of 39%, that came into effect in August, Nestle said.  The bulk of the 3 billion Swiss francs in cost savings is due to come in 2026-27, Nestle said, with 700 million Swiss francs in savings expected in 2025 as a whole.  Organic sales, which exclude the impact of currency movement and acquisitions, rose 4.3% in the quarter, Nestle said, above analysts' estimates for 3.7% growth. Quarterly sales growth was driven by pricing-led upticks in coffee and confectionery, but Greater China was a drag. CFO Anna Manz said Nestle had been too focused on driving distribution across China and not enough on building consumer demand. "So what you see in China is us correcting that and actually to consolidate our distribution and make it more efficient, while we build this consumer demand." ($1 = 0.7955 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Alexander MarrowEditing by Dave Graham, Lisa Jucca and Barbara Lewis)

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MILAN (Reuters) -Giorgio Armani's deputy managing director, Giuseppe Marsocci, is set to be appointed chief executive of the Italian fashion house, a source said on Thursday, confirming a local media report. The appointment will be approved by a board meeting to be held later on Thursday, the source added. Marsocci, who also serves as Global Chief Commercial Officer according to LinkedIn, will step into the role previously held by the company's founder Giorgio Armani, who died in September. As CEO, Marsocci will be tasked with steering the group through a period of major change, including the sale of a 15% stake, with priority given to luxury conglomerate LVMH, beauty heavyweight L'Oreal , eyewear leader EssilorLuxottica or another group of "equal standing", as outlined in Armani’s will. Giorgio Armani group declined to comment. (Reporting by Elisa Anzolin, editing by Giulia Segreti and Louise Heavens)

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By Dominique Vidalon and Emma Rumney PARIS (Reuters) -French spirits maker Pernod Ricard endured steep declines in all but one of its key markets in the first quarter, it said on Thursday, as global tariffs and weak economies further pressure the embattled spirits sector. Pernod, the world's second-biggest Western spirits group behind Diageo, said it still expected sales to improve in the current fiscal year to June 30, 2026, while reporting a slightly worse-than-expected 7.6% fall in first-quarter sales, blaming weak consumer demand and destocking in China and the United States. Pernod said it continued to expect sales trends to improve primarily in the second half of the year, boosted by higher sales of cognac in duty-free stores and an easier base of comparison against a year ago.  It also expects less pronounced declines in the U.S. and China, where sales fell 27% and 16%, respectively, CEO Alexandre Ricard told Reuters in an interview.  "You should see that minus 27% improve, albeit remain negative," he said of China. "And I would say basically almost the same thing for the U.S." Shares in the company, which had already braced the market for a tough quarter, were up 1.2% at 0911 GMT.  Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling said that the market was likely relieved that underlying demand from consumers in China and the U.S. was "not quite as grim as the headline numbers are".  All spirits companies have suffered as a sales boom seen after the COVID-19 pandemic went into reverse, more recently exacerbated by tariffs on cognac imports in China and on EU goods entering the United States.  Some investors believe a societal shift towards lower alcohol consumption could drive long-term declines, but spirits executives say tough economic conditions rather than fundamental changes in how much people drink are behind current trends. Pernod said it was catching up with rivals in the U.S., while in China, sales around the Mid-Autumn Festival, albeit soft, did indicate a better underlying performance than in the July-September quarter, Chief Financial Officer Helene De Tissot told investors. Pernod also counts on India, its No.2 market, to boost performance later in the year as the impact of July's steep rise in excise tax in the second-most populous state of Maharashtra is digested.  The company has launched a restructuring plan to cut costs. It said in February it hopes to save approximately 1 billion euros in efficiencies between its 2026 and 2029 financial years.  ($1 = 0.8579 euros) (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Tomasz Janowski)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson is facing the first lawsuits in Britain over allegations that its talc products cause cancer, as it fights tens of thousands of similar claims in the United States. The lawsuit was filed at the English High Court on Tuesday against J&J and Kenvue UK Limited, a subsidiary of Kenvue, J&J's former consumer health unit which was spun off in 2023. KP Law said it filed the case on behalf of more than 3,000 people who allege their ovarian cancer, mesothelioma or other diseases were caused by use of J&J's baby powder between 1965 and 2023.  The firm says J&J's talc products contained carcinogenic fibres, including asbestos, which has been linked to deadly mesothelioma. J&J has long maintained that its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos. J&J referred queries to Kenvue, which it said "retained the responsibility and any purported liability for talc-related litigation outside of the United States and Canada". Kenvue said in a statement that J&J baby powder "did not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer". LATEST LAWSUITS OVER TALC J&J is separately facing tens of thousands of lawsuits in the U.S., where claimants allege they were diagnosed with cancer after using baby powder and other company talc products. J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. It did the same in the United Kingdom in 2023. The company has sought to resolve the litigation through bankruptcy, a strategy that has been rejected three times by federal courts. Last week, J&J was ordered to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma, one of the largest awarded against the company that could be reduced on appeal. Damages awarded by courts in England are generally limited to compensation for losses caused by a defendant's actions, whereas $950 million of last week's award in the U.S. was for punitive damages. In England, courts can award so-called exemplary damages where, for example, a defendant has wilfully wronged a claimant, though sums are typically far smaller than in the U.S. KP Law said it had estimated the value of the lawsuit at around 1 billion pounds ($1.34 billion). Significantly, these lawsuits – like virtually all civil suits in England – will be determined by a judge, rather than a jury. Kenvue said in its statement that it believed a judge will conclude its talc-based baby powder does not cause cancer. ($1 = 0.7472 pounds) (Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)

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BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese state media on Thursday issued a seven-point rebuttal to U.S. calls for Beijing to wind back its rare earth controls, as both sides struggle to move beyond a volley of barbs and accusations of blindsiding the other.  U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Wednesday called China's new rare earth export restrictions "a global supply-chain power grab," and suggested Beijing could stave off President Donald Trump's threat to reimpose triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods by shelving the measures set to take effect on November 8.  Beijing maintains it not only notified Washington before announcing the new licensing regime, but that the controls are also consistent with measures long in place in other major economies.  The U.S. and China have been embroiled in a war of words since a September telephone call between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with each accusing the other of stoking tensions weeks ahead of an expected meeting between the two men.  Beijing attributes the ramped-up rhetoric to the U.S. Commerce Department's surprise expansion of its "Entity List" in late September to include companies in China and elsewhere that use subsidiaries to bypass export restrictions on chipmaking equipment and other high-tech goods.  Washington pins the start to China's critical minerals move, which Trump described as "shocking." "The United States has long overstated national security concerns and abused controls, adopting discriminatory practices against China," read one of seven infographics published by People's Daily, the official newspaper of the governing Communist Party. The poster added that Washington maintains a control list over 3,000 items long, compared to the 900 on Beijing's catalogue. "Implementing such export controls is consistent with international practice," the first poster said, reiterating Beijing's stance on the measures since their announcement. Washington has had similar rules since the 1950s, and has been using them in recent years to stop foreign semiconductor companies selling chips to China if they are made using U.S. technology. "Washington should not be surprised by China's 'tit-for-tat'," read an editorial in the Global Times, a People's Daily-owned tabloid, which has often been first to report on China's next steps in trade disagreements. "The sudden shift in the trade atmosphere caught many by surprise, yet that's not surprising," the editorial continued. "The direct trigger for this round of tension was Washington's breach of promises – an all-too familiar pattern." (Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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