NAOS CEO Insights

CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 31 July 2020 By NAOS Asset Management

July 31, 2020

“We believe this industry will in fact recover, but we currently estimate it will take around three years for travel to return to 2019 levels. And it will be a few years beyond that for the industry to return to long-term growth trends. David Calhoun, CEO, The Boeing Company


As part of the NAOS investment process, we pay particular attention to the comments made by company CEOs and business leaders in order to gain a greater understanding of the current investment environment and key trends that may be emerging. Below are quotes from the week which in our view detail some of the most important and prominent industry trends and economic factors impacting their businesses.  
 
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Travel & Leisure

“I’m less optimistic today than I was 30 days ago” Arne Sorenson, CEO, Marriott International Inc

“We're seeing restaurants come back obviously faster than you see airlines or hotels coming back, but I also think what you're seeing is there is an unbelievable demand for people to travel” Steve Squeri, CEO, The American Express Company

“We're surveying guests every week. And what they're telling us is when they see a flattening of the curve, they want to get out [and travel]” Michael Spanos, CEO, Six Flags Entertainment Corp [world's biggest theme park company]

Consumer & Retail

“We believe that talk of a quick recovery is definitely at the optimistic end of the scale. A deep global recession has already started and consumer habits are changing quite dramatically. We’re seeing a rapid rise in unemployment across markets and even for those with jobs, we know some consumers will choose to save more” Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever

“We are really seeing the strong demand across a number of brands for our business, very strong demand” Brian Goldner, CEO, Hasbro Inc [world’s largest toy & game company]

“This pandemic might change people, might change attitudes, might change customer behaviors, but the desire for beauty and uniqueness will never change” Remo Ruffini, CEO, Moncler SpA [global fashion brand]

Aviation

“I don’t think any of us believe that we’re going to get even close to the old demand until there is a vaccine that’s widely spread” Douglas Parker, CEO, American Airlines Inc

“I mean I thought we might have some customer resistance on face masks. But to date, during July, our customers have been terrific. Our crews have been terrific, and everybody has adjusted remarkably well to the new face mask experience on board” Michael O’Leary, CEO, Ryanair Holdings PLC

“We believe this industry will in fact recover, but we currently estimate it will take around three years for travel to return to 2019 levels. And it will be a few years beyond that for the industry to return to long-term growth trends. David Calhoun, CEO, The Boeing Company

Technology

“Digital technology is no longer viewed as just new project starts, but it's becoming perhaps the most key for business resilience” Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corporation

“Information technology has become so complex that there's no single vendor that can supply all the needed software and hardware” Mary Stojcevski, CFO, Dicker Data Ltd

“We believe digitisation is a catalyst and key change agent for our industry, enhancing customer experience and the safety of our products, transforming our whole value chain, opening up new opportunities to create value for our customers, our users and our employees. All of this is happening faster than ever, changing the way we work” Thomas Oetterli, CEO, Schindler Holding AG [global elevator/escalator maker]

Automotive

“Automotive sales in June and the first part of July are above the prior comparable period and show strong double‐digit demand growth. Recent empirical and anecdotal feedback suggests workshop and end customer demand is coming back strongly” Market Announcement, GUD Holdings Ltd

Transport & Logistics

“The ageing of buildings is slowing on, let's say the appetite or the demand of new technology is increasing. I do not worry about the long-term [demand drivers of our industry]” Thomas Oetterli, CEO, Schindler Holding AG [global elevator/escalator maker]

“On the cargo side, the reduction of belly cargo capacity has led operators to utilize essentially all available freighters. Significant use of passenger aircraft as freighters continue, though yields are starting to return to normal as more belly cargo capacity comes back online. We've also seen improvement in global fleet utilization. Around 65% of the fleet is now back in service with hundreds of aircraft reactivated weekly. Utilization metrics are improving as airlines resume more of their network and schedules” David Calhoun, CEO, The Boeing Company

Health & Fitness

“What we’re hearing back from consumers that the product categories that we’re in are the ones where people will spend their money” Cliff Pemble, CEO, Garmin Ltd

“With cycling computers [watches] and those kinds of products, we are spending more on air freight as we try to get those into place at retailers. Cycling activities have been very popular with customers” Cliff Pemble, CEO, Garmin Ltd

Food & Beverage

“We believe premiumisation will remain an important source of top and bottom line growth in both developed and emerging markets. Beer as a category is still in its early stages of premiumisation, even in developed markets, when compared to other alcohol categories” Carlos Brito, CEO, Anheuser Busch Inbev NV

“We expect that right now, we're still seeing at-home consumption obviously elevated. But as we think about planning and giving guidance for the rest of the year, the best that we felt we could do is take a planning stance that says it will decelerate Steven Cahillane, CEO, The Kellogg Company

Important information: This material has been prepared by NAOS Asset Management Limited (ABN 23 107 624 126, AFSL 273529) (NAOS) for general information purposes only and must not be construed as investment advice. Certain economic, market or company information contained in this material may have been obtained from published sources prepared by third parties. Nothing contained herein should be construed as granting by implication or otherwise, any license or right to use such third party content without the written permission of the owner.
 
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