--- title: CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 18 February 2022 By NAOS Asset Management description: “The strong trading conditions that we highlighted last year have continued, supported by established global trends such as humanisation of pets and premiumisation of [pet] products” John Cullity, CEO, EBOS Group Ltd image: https://blog.naos.com.au/hubfs/Pets%20Dogs.jpg --- ##### [Subscribe to NAOS NEWS & Insights](https://www.naos.com.au/subscribe) [![](https://assets.website-files.com/5b3d7f5582ecae7f1e026ce2/60be9de099c2716fb2efb4a7_naos.svg) ![](https://assets.website-files.com/5b3d7f5582ecae7f1e026ce2/640666256ede5e8ae8e33da0_B-Corp-Logo-Black-RGB.png)](https://blog.naos.com.au/) [Home](https://www.naos.com.au) About [About NAOS](https://www.naos.com.au/about-our-firm) [Our Team](https://www.naos.com.au/about-our-firm#people) [Why invest with NAOS](https://www.naos.com.au/about-our-firm#why-invest) [Our Investment Beliefs](https://www.naos.com.au/about-our-firm#beliefs) [Our Investment Process](https://www.naos.com.au/about-our-firm#how-we-invest) Listed Investment Companies [NCC: NAOS Emerging Opportunities Company Limited](https://www.naos.com.au/ncc-naos-emerging-opportunities-company-limited) [NSC: NAOS Small Cap Opportunities Company Limited](https://www.naos.com.au/nsc-naos-small-cap-opportunities-company-limited) [NAC: NAOS Ex-50 Opportunities Company Limited](https://www.naos.com.au/nac-naos-ex50-opportunities-company-limited) [Our Listed Investment Companies](https://www.naos.com.au/our-lics-compare-our-lics) [How to Invest](https://www.naos.com.au/our-lics-compare-our-lics#how-to-invest) Private Opportunities [NAOS Private Opportunities Fund](https://www.naos.com.au/npof-naos-private-opportunities-fund) [NAOS Ideas Network](https://www.naos.com.au/naos-ideas-network) E.S.G. 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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.     If you do not already subscribe and wish to receive this weekly publication of “CEO Insights” via email please click **[here](https://www.naos.com.au/subscribe).**    **Retail & Apparel** “Our tenant sales are now approaching pre-pandemic levels globally while traffic levels are evolving positively“ *Jean-Marie Tritant, CEO, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield SE* “Travel retail has experienced a significant rebound but is still far from the pre-pandemic levels” *Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L'Oréal S.A*. “Retail trading conditions were subdued in January due to rising cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant impacting both customer traffic and labour availability, but trading momentum has improved in recent weeks” *Market Announcement, Wesfarmers Limited* **E-Commerce** “We believe that the COVID-triggered acceleration of ecommerce that spilled into the first half of 2021 in the form of lockdowns and government stimulus will be absent from 2022” *Amy Shapero, CFO, Shopify Inc* **Health & Beauty** “Obviously, the beauty market has been transformed by the pandemic. Consumers want more health and safety in their products, more transparency, more sustainability, and more science in an ever more digitalised market” *Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO, L'Oréal S.A.* **Sport & Lifestyle** “I believe that currently, the inventory levels in the channel are probably the healthiest they’ve been \[for the sector\] in the last decade” *Patrik Frisk, CEO, Under Armour Inc* “These structural shifts \[behind golf market growth\] include what we believe are long-term increases in remote and hybrid work, the increased desire to get out into nature, the momentum behind casual lifestyle apparel brands, the growth of new golfers with waiting lists to get into golf courses, and the growth and positive impact of off-course golf” *Chip Brewer, CEO, Callaway Golf Co* **Animals & Pets** “The strong trading conditions that we highlighted last year have continued, supported by established global trends such as humanisation of pets and premiumisation of \[pet\] products” *John Cullity, CEO, EBOS Group Ltd* **Agriculture & Farming** “When things are good, you’ll find that farmers are looking to increase their assets and they’re buying more land and putting their cash into machinery” *Marnie Baker, CEO, Bendigo & Adelaide Bank Ltd* **Defence Spending** “The trend is continuing when it comes to the defence budgets \[globally\], they are increasing all over the place” *Micael Johansson, CEO, Saab AB* **Macroeconomic** “I do think we need to front-load more of our planned removal of accommodation than we would have previously. We’ve been surprised to the upside on inflation. This is a lot of inflation” *James Bullard, Board Member, US Federal Reserve* **Domestic Economy** “We certainly haven’t seen the inflation \[in Australia\] that we’ve seen in North America” *Brian Lowe, CEO, Orora Packaging Ltd* “The impact \[of Omicron\] has moderated in February” *Market Announcement, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd* **Infrastructure & Construction** “New major projects remain slow to move into execution, despite the sizeable infrastructure pipeline” *Zlatko Todorcevski, CEO, Boral Ltd* “We see now that the boost for our sector will expand longer and higher than just a one-for-one compensation of the \[COVID\] dip, because of savings redirected to renovation because of stimulus plans” *Guillaume Texier, CEO, Rexel S.A. \[major multinational electrical supplies distributor\]* “This \[construction demand\] is anecdotally supported by our home builder customers generally now placing orders for their customers 12 to 18 months in advance” *Ross Taylor, CEO, Fletcher Building Ltd* **Labour & Job Market** “Businesses continued to rehire following COVID-related cuts, and in many cases restarted investment. Whilst candidate activity on our sites remained high, application rates were weaker” *Ian Narev, CEO, Seek Ltd* **Metals & Resources** “The global decarbonisation of steel making, and electricity generation industries is driving demand for recycled metal” *Market Statement, Sims Ltd* “Coal supply is very constrained in all jurisdictions across the world and coal demand is very strong. We see this continuing for some time” *Paul Flynn, CEO, Whitehaven Coal Ltd* **Cryptocurrency** “Crypto-asset markets are fast evolving and could reach a point where they represent a threat to global financial stability due to their scale, structural vulnerabilities and increasing interconnectedness with the traditional financial system” *Market Statement, Financial Stability Board \[an international body that monitors/makes recommendations about the global financial system\]* **Telecommunications** “The last two years have shown us the criticality of communications \[and\] the demand for network quality has only increased” *Andy Penn, CEO, Telstra Corporation Ltd* 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.   ###### [CEO Insights](https://blog.naos.com.au/ceo-insights/topic/ceo-insights) [NAOS Insights](https://blog.naos.com.au/ceo-insights/topic/naos-insights) ###### Share this post ### Comments ##### NAOS Asset Management ![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b09df434e359cb73f2f80b5/5b09df434e359c362d2f81c4_location-icon-white.svg) Level 34, 25 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000 ![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b09df434e359cb73f2f80b5/5b09df434e359c121c2f81c8_mail-icon-white.svg) [enquiries@naos.com.au](mailto:enquiries@naos.com.au?subject=NAOS%20Website%20Contact) ![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b09df434e359cb73f2f80b5/5b09df434e359ce0f62f81c9_phone-icon-white.svg) +61 2 9002 1576 ##### Our Listed Investment Companies [ASX: NCC - NAOS Emerging Oportunities Company Limited](http://www.naos.com.au/ncc-naos-emerging-opportunities-company-limited) [ASX: NSC - NAOS Small Cap Opportunities Company Limited](http://www.naos.com.au/nsc-naos-small-cap-opportunities-company-limited) [ASX: NAC - NAOS Ex-50 Opportunities Company Limited](http://www.naos.com.au/nac-naos-ex50-opportunities-company-limited) [NAOS Private Opportunities Fund](https://www.naos.com.au/npof-naos-private-opportunities-fund) [Listed Investment Companies](http://www.naos.com.au/our-lics-compare-our-lics) [Share Registry](https://boardroomlimited.com.au/) [Corporate Governance](http://www.naos.com.au/corporate-governance) ##### More Links [Privacy Policy](http://www.naos.com.au/privacy-policy) [Terms & Conditions](http://www.naos.com.au/terms-conditions) ##### Follow NAOS [![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b3d7f5582ecae7f1e026ce2/5b3d7f5582ecae7e51026d27_twitter-icon-white.svg)](https://twitter.com/naosassetmgmt) [![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b09df434e359cb73f2f80b5/5b09df434e359c11092f818c_facebook-icon-white.svg)](https://www.facebook.com/NAOSAssetManagement) [![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b3d7f5582ecae7f1e026ce2/5b3d7f5582ecae133c026dca_Group%20261.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/naos-asset-management) [![](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5b3d7f5582ecae7f1e026ce2/5bf6115a4ae34255e68089e1_Asset%201Chart4.svg)](https://www.instagram.com/naos_asset_management/) Join our investment community. 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