“There are around 220 viruses known to scientists around the world that hurts humans, but there are vaccines available only against 18 of these. And if you look at one of the impacts of the pandemic, the fight against infectious disease outside of COVID has actually taken a back step versus what it was in terms of trajectory pre-pandemic” Stephane Bancel, CEO, Moderna Inc
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Chinese-Australian Trade
“No one is expecting that this will return to what it was in the past, but the business environment is becoming a more welcome and slightly more certain environment” David Olsson, President, Australia China Business Council
Inflation
“So, in terms of overall price increases [to offset cost increases], we believe we're through most of the significant price increases” Steven Brass, CEO, WD-40 Inc
“Some commodity prices are starting to come down, but lots are still inflationary. The industry and supply chain have some locked in inflationary pressures through higher energy costs and wage inflation” Ken Murphy, CEO, Tesco Supermarkets Plc
Technology
“Another thing that will change the future of cars is expanding the value of mobility. The cars of the future will become more connected to society as they become more electrified, intelligent, and diversified…Cars connected to society will also be closely connected to various services that support people's daily lives, such as telecommunications and finance” Koji Sato, President, Toyota Motor Corp
“While we have a consumer business that’s $434B in 2022, the vast majority of total market segment share in global retail still resides in physical stores [roughly 80%]. And, it’s a similar story for Global IT spending, where we have AWS [Amazon Web Services] revenue of $80B in 2022, with about 90% of Global IT spending still on-premises and yet to migrate to the cloud” Andy Jassy, CEO, Amazon Inc
Commercial Property
“The impact of higher interest rates on valuations across all sectors and the ongoing structural headwinds from ‘work from home’ for offices and online retail mean the outlook for the asset class, in our view, remains very challenged” Mark Delaney, CIO, AustralianSuper
Hotels & Apartments
“We’re doing numbers we’ve never done before. Year to date we’re averaging $207 a night. Pre-pandemic we averaged $180-$185 a night” David Mansfield, CEO, Quest Apartment Hotels
Healthcare
“There are around 220 viruses known to scientists around the world that hurts humans, but there are vaccines available only against 18 of these. And if you look at one of the impacts of the pandemic, the fight against infectious disease outside of COVID has actually taken a back step versus what it was in terms of trajectory pre-pandemic” Stephane Bancel, CEO, Moderna Inc
Environmental
“[With] climate change, we are seeing a shift in species of animals. We're seeing animal moving closer to humans with deforestations and enhance risk of outbreaks and god forbid pandemics” Stephane Bancel, CEO, Moderna Inc
Media & Entertainment
“Only 15 or so years into its existence, streaming has reached the fun age of adolescents. The industry's last decade has been explosive, headlined by subscriber growth at all cost mentality and a total tsunami of content creation that's streaming literally everywhere…Streaming is a teenager. The result is that consumers are overloaded” Jean-Briac Perrette, CEO, Warner Brothers Discovery Global Streaming & Games
Commodities
“We believe that LNG markets are going to show strong demand growth for decades to come. That's driven by energy security needs. That's driven by the energy transition. And it's also driven by coal to gas switching for electric power generation” Bill Bullock Jr, CFO, ConocoPhillips Corp
Logistics & Trucking
“There is so much activity in the industry at the moment” Les Lange, MD, Schmitz Cargobull Australia [major global semi-trailer & truck body manufacturer]
Banking & Financial Sector
“We’re not over bank failures, but depositors haven’t had a crisis. Banks go bust, but depositors aren’t going to be hurt” Warren Buffett, CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc
“For months the big banks have been fighting tooth and nail for new customers. However, this competitive streak is starting to wane. All four big banks have now walked back some of their new customer discounts as they feel the heat from the rising cost of funding” Sally Tindall, Director, RateCity
Fashion & Clothing
“So that value [focused] consumer is really being squeezed. There's definitely a bifurcation happening where the lower end consumer is making hard choices and either trading down or just not buying denim. And -- but that middle-income consumer amount, which is kind of the sweet spot for the Levi's brand is doing well” Charles Bergh, CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
“Meanwhile, we are also seeing a continued rebound in formalwear, in line with the return to offices” Ermenegildo Zegna, CEO, Ermenegildo Zegna N.V.
“15 years ago, the logo or even the signature of handbags was dead. People were just looking for bags that were unsigned and unlogo. You know what happened afterwards. So needless to say that this is not the trend that we've seen in the following 15 years” Jean-Jacques Guiony, CFO, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton
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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. It does not constitute an offer to purchase any security or financial product or service referred to herein. It does not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular investor. Before making an investment decision, investors should consider obtaining professional investment advice that is tailored to their specific circumstances. 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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