Apple (AAPL) announced a CFO change on Monday, just ahead of an iPhone 16 launch that could spur a new era of growth for the company. While the C-suite change could feed some investors' worries, many analysts expect a "seamless" transition.

Luca Maestri will step down as CFO at the end of the year with Kevan Parekh, Apple’s vice president of financial planning and analysis, set to take over the role.

Maestri has been Apple's CFO for over a decade. During this time the company's revenue more than doubled and services segment revenue grew more than five times, Apple said in its announcement. He will continue to lead the Corporate Services teams, reporting to CEO Tim Cook.

As CFO, Maestri presided over some big changes to how the tech giant discloses financial information. During Apple's fourth-quarter earnings call in 2018, Maestri announced changes to the way the company reported financials for its services business but more importantly that it was doing away with disclosing how many iPhones and iPads it sold every quarter going forward.

"The number of units sold in any 90-day period is not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business," Maestri said on that call, adding, "furthermore a unit of sale is less relevant for us today than it was in the past given the breadth of our portfolio and the wider sales price dispersion within any given product line."

The company continues to report revenue figures from sales of major device categories.

Maestri said he has "enormous confidence" in his successor. Parekh has been with Apple for 11 years after holding senior leadership roles at Thomson Reuters (TRI) and General Motors (GM).

Citi analysts said Maestri's departure from the CFO role is "a bit negative" for Apple given the company's margin expansion during his tenure. Wedbush and Bank of America analysts said they expect a smooth CFO transition with minimal impact on investors or the company.

Melius Research analysts said the change represents an example of "good succession planning" as they expect the new CEO to maintain the pillars of the investment thesis.

Apple shares were up about 0.5% in recent trading Tuesday. The stock has gained roughly 20% this year.

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Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Environment, has urged Nigerians to fight hunger to foster environmental sustainability.

Mr Salako said this at a workshop for the project preparation phase of the GEF-8 Food Systems Integrated Programme (FSIP) for transformation to sustainable crops, livestock and aquaculture food systems in Nigeria (Kebbi and Niger states). “We must tackle the extensive amount of food waste as a resource management issue and a moral imperative to fight hunger, foster environmental sustainability, and aid in securing food security,” he said.

Mr Salako said managing losses and waste wisely was crucial to reducing the hunger experienced by millions suffering from food scarcity and to the environment’s health. “Our resolve is to ensure that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for today and the future are not compromised and growth is ensured in a milieu of environmental benefits.

Our collective decision and action remain the panacea to forge a positive path for the future of agriculture, ensuring food security, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity for all of us,” the minister reinstated.

Koffy Kouacou, country representative of FAO to Nigeria, assured that the agency would continue to support the government of Nigeria in tackling environmental challenges.

According to Mr Kouacou, the project document development will focus on four main components, which are strengthening food systems governance. “Supporting the introduction and improvement of sustainability standards, financial and risk mitigation products, and incentives for food system transformation. Promoting sustainable and integrated management of landscapes and inclusive value chains enhances the resilience of food systems to climate change and other shocks. FAO remains committed to supporting the government of Nigeria in achieving its climate action goals,” he assured.

Zion and Chinwe (ZINWE) have been evicted from the season 9 ‘No loose Guard’ edition of the Big Brother Naija Show.

They were evicted on Sunday, August 25, 2024, after they were voted out by the public.

ZINWE now become the fifth pair of housemates to be evicted from the show after FLORUISH, STREEZE, NDI NNE, and TAMI.

Analysts believe any impact from a recent E. Coli outbreak to McDonald's (MCD) sales and stock price likely will be short-lived.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that it had linked the outbreak to the chain's Quarter Pounder burgers. The restaurant chain's stock was down 5% Wednesday afternoon.

JPMorgan analysts said following the CDCannouncement that they expect McDonald's supply-chain advantages will allow the fast-food giant to minimize the impact of the suspected contaminated food. The analysts also said that with McDonald's stock lower, they plan to buy shares.

In a statement Tuesday, McDonald's said it believes slivered onions delivered from a single supplier—which provides product to three distribution centers—are likely the issue. It said the company temporarily is removing the Quarter Pounder from menus in four states and parts of eight others "out of an abundance of caution."

Given that the affectedstores represent less than 10% of McDonald's U.S. footprint, Wedbush analysts said the outbreak should have a "relatively insulated impact" without influencing sales across the rest of its global operations.

JPMorgan analysts said the outbreak likely will be much less severe than Chipotle's (CMG) foodborne illness issues that started in 2015 and ultimately sickened more than 1,100 people. Chipotle eventually was fined $25 million by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In the first two quarters following the start of Chipotle's outbreak, same-store sales declined by about 15% and 30%, JPMorgan analysts noted. They said that McDonald's advanced supply chain and improvements in tracing ingredients and diseases should help its sales be less affected.

McDonald's likely will address the outbreak in its earnings report next Tuesday. After today's declines, its shares are up less than 1% on the year.

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