Toro

TORONTO — Welcome to a special daily edition of the Envelope at TIFF, a newsletter collecting the latest developments out of Canada’s annual film showcase. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Christina House, our staff photojournalist, continues to kill it with her portraits out of the Toronto International Film Festival. In the last day alone, she’s seen Angelina Jolie, Jacob Elordi and the cast of “Frankenstein,” Jodie Foster and more.

Or maybe you’d rather watch a video interview with Angelina Jolie and the cast and director of the inspiring fashion film “Couture?” Follow us on Instagram for all of our daily posts.

‘Blood will be shed. Possibly even a tear’: Our critic on Rian Johnson’s new ‘Knives Out’ mystery

Josh O’Connor, left, and Daniel Craig in Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”

(Netflix)

Amy Nicholson had fun with “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”

She’s also noticing a fair amount of Canadian pride at her screenings. It’s been an unusually loaded moment for foreign relations with our neighbors to the north.

Amy weighs in on the scene from the first four days, her favorite (and less-than-favorite) movies at TIFF and a few surprises.

The day’s buzziest premieres

‘The Smashing Machine’

Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in the movie “The Smashing Machine.”

(Ken Hirama / A24)

Sunday saw the TIFF schedule loosen up its restrictions regarding films that premiered at other festivals and audiences started to see more major titles from competing fests.

Take for example the Monday night premiere of “The Smashing Machine,” which just won the directing prize at Venice for Benny Safdie.

Making his solo debut apart from brother Josh — their most recent collaboration was “Uncut Gems” — Benny turns in a surprisingly heartfelt sports story based on mixed marital arts fighter Mark Kerr.

Taking the leading role is none other than wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson, in a part seemingly tailor-made to play off his own career arc and give him a prestige boost he has never had before.

Add Emily Blunt to the mix, as Kerr’s supportive partner, along with boutique studio A24 and the film seems like it should land the right combinations. — Mark Olsen

‘Exit 8’

A scene from the movie “Exit 8.”

(TIFF)

Ever fear that you’re racing around but going nowhere — that you’re in such a rush to make your way through the world that you’re barely seeing it?

Japan turned that feeling into a best-selling video game in which commuters are condemned to roam an underground subway station until they learn to pay attention to their surroundings.

Now Genki Kawamura has transformed that game into a movie. In Kawamura’s emboldened adaptation, our main player, the Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya of the pop band Arashi) is an aimless young slacker who is stuck both physically and emotionally.

If he ever wises up and escapes, he’s got to make better choices.

I’ve got a few quibbles with the film’s mechanics, but “Exit 8” is a moving metaphor for the art of giving things a close, appreciative watch. On day five of a film festival, we could all use a reminder to look sharp. — Amy Nicholson

Toro (TTC -1.22%), a global leader in turf, landscape, and irrigation equipment, reported its fiscal 2025 third-quarter earnings on Sept. 4, 2025. The results highlighted a notable divide: the Professional segment posted robust growth and margin expansion, while the Residential unit experienced significant declines. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) reached $1.24, exceeding the analyst estimate of $1.22 (non-GAAP), and improving from $1.18 last year (adjusted, third quarter fiscal 2024). However, net sales were $1.13 billion, down 2% from $1.16 billion in the prior year, and slightly below previous guidance. An $81 million non-cash impairment tied to slower recovery in the Spartan business held reported diluted EPS to $0.54.

Management commented: “Our Professional segment continues to perform well, our innovation pipeline remains robust, and our strong cash generation supports our investments in continued growth as well as returning capital to shareholders. We are navigating today’s environment from a position of strength, supported by our market leadership, operational excellence, and the financial flexibility to create long-term value. This disciplined approach to managing through cycles while investing in our future is how we build enduring value for all stakeholders.”

Results broadly matched the lower end of revised expectations.

Business Overview and Strategic Focus

Toro is best known for its power equipment and irrigation solutions targeting professionals and homeowners. Its product lineup spans mowers, irrigation systems, snow blowers, and construction tools, sold under brands tailored for golf courses, landscapers, sports fields, and everyday consumers.

Recent years have seen Toro prioritize its innovation pipeline, cost efficiency programs, and targeted acquisitions. The company’s growth relies heavily on bringing new products to market, advancing sustainability goals, and expanding its global dealer-distributor network. Success depends on staying ahead in product development, integrating acquisitions like Spartan, and navigating fluctuations in consumer and professional market demand.

Quarter in Detail: Segment Performance and Key Developments

The Professional segment, which includes equipment for golf courses, sports fields, underground construction, and commercial contractors, anchored the quarter’s results. Segment net sales increased 5.7%, while operating margin jumped 2.5 percentage points to 21.3%. This rise was due to higher shipments of underground construction equipment and golf/grounds products, along with gains from Toro’s ongoing AMP (Amplifying Maximum Productivity) cost savings initiative and reduced marketing costs. Management reported that productivity and net price gains in the Professional group offset some of the impact from prior-year asset sales.

Professional segment earnings were $198.5 million, up from $165.7 million in the same period last year. The segment’s growth is important because it accounted for 77.6% of company-wide revenue for fiscal 2024. It now accounts for roughly 82% of company-wide revenue, contributing to overall profitability even as other areas lagged. Demand remained steady for core Professional products, especially those related to infrastructure and turf care.

The Residential segment, focused on products for homeowners like mowers and snow throwers, continues to struggle. Residential segment net sales were $192.8 million, down 27.9% from $267.5 million in the same period last year, and operating margin shrank to just 1.9%. Management cited weak homeowner demand and a slow recovery for channel partners and dealers. Higher input costs, promotions, inventory adjustments, and disappointing battery-powered product adoption rates all contributed to the segment’s margin compression. This softness triggered an $81 million non-cash impairment charge tied to the Spartan trade name, acquired as part of Toro’s purchase of the Intimidator brand lineup.

The company’s gross margin slipped by 1.1 percentage points due to these pressures, but adjusted operating margin held steady at about 13.6%. Free cash flow improved year to date for the first nine months of fiscal 2025, helped by better working capital management. No major acquisitions were made during the period. In line with its shareholder return strategy, Toro paid $113.8 million in dividends in the first nine months of fiscal 2025 and repurchased $290 million in stock in the same period.

Product, Innovation, and Market Trends

Toro continued to focus on product development and innovation across its core segments. Product and process innovation, especially connected and autonomous solutions, remained a strategic theme.

In Residential, the company’s push toward battery-powered lawn mowers and snow throwers saw limited traction, reaching only about 7% penetration versus a 20% internal target. This lag in battery adoption led to excess inventory and pricing pressure, impacting both margins and inventory valuation. The decrease in residential segment earnings was partly due to higher sales promotions and incentives, reflecting tougher channel conditions and efforts to reduce inventory of both gasoline and battery-powered equipment.

Total international net sales fell 8.7% year over year, suggesting that global demand trends were mixed. About half of the company-wide revenue decline is traced to non-core divestitures completed last year, an expected impact as the company backs away from low-priority product lines. Management acknowledged that alternative power products and sustainability priorities remain part of its long-term strategy, yet these did not materially influence current quarter results.

AMP productivity gains are on track, delivering $75 million in annualized cost savings, with a goal of at least $100 million in run rate savings by 2027. Key risks noted by Toro include the uncertain pace of recovery in U.S. residential demand, ongoing input cost inflation, and the need for continued improvements in channel inventory.

Outlook and Investor Watchpoints

Looking forward, Toro maintained its full-year fiscal 2025 outlook at the lower end of previous ranges. Management continues to expect flat to down 3% in net sales for fiscal 2025 compared to fiscal 2024, and adjusted diluted EPS of around $4.15. These forecasts account for continued softness in Residential demand, along with projected cost savings and expected Professional market resilience. Guidance also reflects anticipated tariff headwinds and persistent cost pressures for materials and logistics.

Toro gave no new specifics on revenue growth timing for Residential or on potential recovery in consumer spending. The company’s priorities remain on executing the AMP cost reduction program, monitoring battery-powered product adoption, and improving inventory efficiency. Investors should keep an eye on trends in Professional segment demand and any shifts in the channel as indicators of future performance. The company continued its dividend payments during the period.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Many fled when wildfires devastated Los Angeles earlier this year, but Guillermo del Toro rushed back in, determined to save his lifelong collection of horror memorabilia.

It’s the same loyalty that finds him making another tough decision to protect the items he loves like family: letting some of them go.

Del Toro partnered with Heritage Auctions for a three-part auction to sell a fraction of a collection that is bursting at the seams. Online bidding for the first part on Sept. 26 started Thursday and includes over a hundred items, with more headed to the auction block next year.

“This one hurts. The next one, I’m going to be bleeding,” Del Toro, 60, said of the auction series. “If you love somebody, you have estate planning, you know, and this is me estate planning for a family that has been with me since I was a kid.”

Del Toro is one of the industry’s most respected filmmakers, whose fascination with monsters and visual style will shape generations to come. But at his core, the Mexican-born horror buff is a collector. The Oscar winner has long doubled as the sole caretaker of the “Bleak House” — which stretches across two and a half Santa Monica homes nearly overflowing with thousands of ghoulish creatures, iconic comic drawings and paintings, books and movie props.

The houses function not just as museums, but as libraries and workspaces where his imagination bounces off the oxblood-painted walls.

“I love what I have because I live with it. I actually am a little nuts, because I say hi to some of the life-size figures when I turn on the light,” Del Toro told The Associated Press, sitting in the dining room of one of the houses, now a sanctuary for “Haunted Mansion” memorabilia. “This is curated. This is not a casual collection.”

The auction includes behind-the-scene drawings and one-of-a-kind props from Del Toro’s own classics, as well as iconic works like Bernie Wrightson’s illustrations for “Frankenstein” and Mike Mignola’s pinup artwork for “Hellraiser.”

A race to save horror history

In January, Del Toro had only a couple hours, his car and a few helping hands to save key pieces from the fires. Out of the over 5,000 items in his collection, he managed to move only about 120 objects. It wasn’t the first time, as fires had come dangerously close to Bleak House twice before.

The houses were spared, but fear consumed him. If a fire or earthquake swallowed them, he thought, “What came out of it? You collected insurance? And what happened to that little segment of Richard Corben’s life, or Jack Kirby’s craft, or Bernie Wrightson’s life?”

An auction, Del Toro said, gives him peace of mind, as it ensures the items will land in the hands of another collector who will protect the items as he has. These are not just props or trinkets, he said, but “historical artifacts. They’re pieces of audiovisual history for humanity.” And his life’s mission has been to protect as much of this history as he can.

“Look, this is in reaction to the fires. This is in reaction to loving this thing,” Del Toro told the AP.

The initial auction uncovers who Del Toro is as a collector, he said. Upcoming parts will expose how the filmmaker thinks, which he called a much more personal endeavor. The auction isn’t just a “piece of business,” for him, but rather a love letter to collectors everywhere, and encouragement to think beyond a movie and “learn to read and write film design in a different way. That’s my hope.”

A house full of ‘unruly kids’

Caring for the Bleak House collection feels like being on “a bus with 160 kids that are very unruly, and I’m driving for nine hours,” Del Toro said. “I gotta take a rest.”

The auction will give the filmmaker some breathing room from the collection’s arduous maintenance. The houses must stay at a certain temperature, without direct sunlight — all of which is monitored solely by Del Toro, who often spends most of his day there.

He selects the picture frame for every drawing, dusts all the artifacts and arranges every bookshelf mostly himself, having learned his lesson from the handful of times he allowed outside help. One time, Del Toro said, he found someone “cleaning an oil painting with Windex, and I almost had a heart attack.”

“It’s very hard to have someone come in and know why that trinket is important,” he said. “It’s sort of a very bubbled existence. But you know, that’s what you do with strange animals — you put them in small environments where they can survive. That’s me.”

Each room is organized by theme, with one room dedicated to each of his major works, from “Hellboy” to “Pacific Rim.” Del Toro typically spends his entire work day at one of the houses, which he picks depending on the task at hand. The “Haunted Mansion” dining room, for instance, is an excellent writing space.

“If I could, I would live in the Haunted Mansion,” he said. “So, this is the second best.”

Building a mini Bleak House

In selecting which items to sell, Del Toro said he “wanted somebody to be able to re-create a mini version of Bleak House.”

Auction items include concept sketches and props from Del Toro’s 1992 debut film, “Cronos,” all the way to his more recent works, like 2021’s “Nightmare Alley.”

The starting bids vary, from a couple thousand dollars up to hundreds of thousands. One of Wrightson’s drawings for a 1983 illustrated version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is the highest priced item, starting at $200,000.

The auction also includes art from legends like Richard Corben, Jack Kirby and H.R. Giger, whose work Del Toro wrote in the catalog “represent the pinnacle of comic book art in the last quarter of the twentieth century.”

Other cultural touchstones in illustration that are represented in the auction include rare images from the 1914 short film “Gertie the Dinosaur,” one of the earliest animated films, and original art for Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” by Eyvind Earle and Kay Nielsen.

“As collectors, you are basically keeping pieces of culture for generations to come. They’re not yours,” Del Toro said. “We don’t know which of the pieces you’re holding is going to be culturally significant … 100 years from now, 50 years from now. So that’s part of the weight.”

Luna writes for the Associated Press.

Visma-Lease a Bike rider Yates was visibly frustrated after finishing 24 seconds behind Del Toro in seventh.

“The plan was completely different from what we did today, so I will talk about that with the team,” he told Eurosport.

“I will not say anything more about that.”

However, team director Marc Reef said the day went “exactly as we agreed”, and added Carapaz and Del Toro were “just a bit stronger”.

Although Yates, 32, could still overhaul Carapaz and Del Toro, it looks most likely this year will again add to the heartbreak he has experienced in bids to win the Giro.

He led for 13 days in 2018 but cracked in the final week when Chris Froome launched an astonishing comeback to win the race.

After an underwhelming eighth-placed finish in 2019, Yates had to withdraw from the 2020 edition with Covid-19 and then had to recover from a difficult first two weeks to claim third in 2021.

Yates’ twin brother Adam sat up and dropped out of the top 10 overall in order to save himself to help team-mate Del Toro on Saturday.

Ecuador’s Carapaz, the 2019 Giro champion, tried to drop Del Toro on the final climb, but could not shake the 21-year-old, who is bidding to become the youngest winner of the Giro since 1940.

UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider Del Toro, who won stage 17, showed impressive nous to grab the six bonus seconds for second place, with EF Education-EasyPost’s Carapaz, 32, having to settle for four bonus seconds in third.