CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 1 October 2021 By NAOS Asset Management

“We are a nation of chicken eaters now” Jack Cowin, CEO, Hungry Jacks

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.  

Food & Beverage

“We are a nation of chicken eaters now” Jack Cowin, CEO, Hungry Jacks

“Put simply the world wants what we've got, sustainably produced, high quality nutritious milk. This comes at a time when we see milk supply in New Zealand likely to decline or flat at least” Miles Hurrell, CEO, Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd

Consumer Spending & Behaviour

“We see big pent-up demand coming. I think you will see a lot of spending” Jack Cowin, CEO, Hungry Jacks

“Consumers’ shift to digital that might have taken five years will now only take two” John Donahoe, CEO, Nike Inc

“We know from last time. People want to get back into the community. I think we are going to see a pop [in taxi usage]” Andrew Skelton, CEO, A2B Ltd [Cabcharge, Silver Service, 13Cabs]

Travel & Leisure

“The current environment, while choppy, has improved dramatically since last summer, and it should improve even further by next summer if the current trend of vaccine rollout and advancements in therapies continues” Arnold Donald, CEO, Carnival Corporation & plc [the largest leisure cruise company in the world]

“International airlines are currently sitting on a very large number of empty seats that they will not have the confidence or ability to sell…because they don’t know what the arrangements are” Barry Abrams, CEO, Board of Airline Representatives of Australia

Workplace

“The phenomena that I see happening globally is not as many employees are coming back into their offices globally as any CEO expected and you're really starting to see some very low attendance numbers in offices because employees are so productive at home” Marc Benihoff, CEO, Salesforce Inc

Healthcare & Fitness

“I think during the pandemic, we've proved to the world what we can do if we work differently ourselves but also if the interactions with regulators is different and has a higher sense of urgency. So then if you could do that for COVID, why not for cancer? Why not for rare diseases? Why not for inflammation, cardiovascular disease?” Albert Bourla, CEO, Pfizer Inc

“Part of the tailwind we’re seeing is sport is becoming part of everyone’s everyday life. And that’s a powerful tailwind for us” John Donahoe, CEO, Nike Inc

Education

“It’s evident that while we won’t reach pre-pandemic levels in the near-term, book fairs are on the rise and educators are eager to refresh their classroom libraries” Peter Warwick, CEO, Scholastic Corporation

Housing & Furniture

“The sector is enjoying positive growth, which we start believing can become structural” Antonio Achille, CEO, Natuzzi S.p.A [Italy’s largest furniture company]

“In terms of macroeconomic factors, we're not anticipating an improvement to the unprecedented global supply chain conditions that exists today” Gustavo Arnal, CFO, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc

Industrials

“As we told you in May, there were bright spots in the commercial market in areas like data centres and distribution, but we're also now experiencing increased activity in areas such as healthcare and education” Kevin Murphy, CEO, Ferguson plc [world’s largest distributor of plumbing/heating products]

“Looking ahead, innovation will continue to fuel multi-year growth opportunities, including an outsized percentage of our new product pipeline focused on electronics, electric vehicles, building and energy efficiency, and more sustainable packaging and hygiene products” Jim Owens, CEO, HB Fuller Company [leading global adhesives manufacturer]

Technology

“We are also seeing an acceleration in our consumer IoT business, driven by rapid growth in devices such as VR headsets, smart exercise equipment, and smart speakers” Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron Technology Inc [one of the world’s biggest computer chip makers]

“We’re all chasing each other in this massive musical chairs being played across the industry, where we get [staff] from the banks and the banks get from us, and then the energy companies do the same, and then we go and steal the mining company’s cloud people; so it’s just a mess” Nikos Katinakis, CEO Networks & IT, Telstra Group Ltd

“There is a technology revolution going on. There is compliance and getting operational resilience things right but we also have to keep up with the world of technology, which is changing so quickly” Dominic Stevens, CEO, ASX Ltd

Corporate Activity

“We predict that we are set for a multi-year M&A boom. We can’t recall another market where we’ve been firing on so many cylinders and when the borders open up, there will be another leg to this market” Kam Jamshidi, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills

“Equities trading remains robust given ongoing uncertainty generated by COVID and the pipeline for new listings is healthy” Market Statement, ASX 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.