NAOS CEO Insights

CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 8 July 2022 By NAOS Asset Management

Written by NAOS Admin | Jul 8, 2022 12:41:29 AM

“So we do believe that we will be significantly impacted again in the supply chain in the coming year. Freight cost is probably where we see some easing” Kristian Tear, CEO, Bang & Olufsen

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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Semiconductors & Technology

“But what we are seeing over the last month is that it's [semiconductor supply] getting a little bit, a little bit more reliable” Alfred Felder, CEO, Zumtobel Group [major multinational lighting company]

“In PC and smartphones, the end demand trends are clearly weak and the sell-through is clearly weak, and there has been a substantial degradation in expectations for this year's TAM [total addressable market] from 6 months ago to now” Sumit Sadana, Chief Business Officer, Micron Technology Inc [top 5 global semiconductor manufacturer]

Capital Markets & Globalisation

“The investment environment is changing, and I think some companies have had far too much money, and it’s created an environment where people haven’t cared about capital enough” Thomas Amos, CEO, Sidekicker [largest online casual/temporary staffing platform in ANZ]

“The era of globalisation, which was to find the lowest price of production and produce it there, is over. This adoption [of nearshoring] will happen over the next two or three years” Urs Wietlisbach, Chairman, Partners Group [top tier global private equity firm]

Building & Construction

“The inflation side, the war side, the whole sort of rhetoric that we have around the world right now. It's very instable, but we have seen in our markets, good underlying demand levels in all of our markets, in all products, in all end markets” Heimo Scheuch, CEO, Wienerberger AG [world's largest producer of bricks]

“We’ve got a very large and clogged up system of claims and this is all in an environment where obtaining skilled trades, materials and supplies is a challenge. There was [already] a backlog in the building sector” Andrew Hall, CEO, Insurance Council of Australia

Households

“There will be many customers... who may have taken out a mortgage just the last couple of years who will be finding this very tough and if they’re already on a variable rate, they’ll be feeling that pain right now, not just next year, or when their fixed rate finishes” Anna Bligh, CEO, Australian Banking Association

“One source of ongoing uncertainty about the economic outlook is the behaviour of household spending. The recentspending data have been positive, although household budgets are under pressure” Philip Lowe, Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia

Australia

“The latest [Census] data reveals that, within a very small margin, numbers of Millennials [25-39 years old] have caught up to Baby Boomers [55-74 years old] as the largest generational group in Australia” Market Statement, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Industrials

“There's very few factories around the world, which have been built specifically for electric vehicle car production” James Rowan, CEO, Volvo Cars AB

Freight, Logistics & Industrial Property

“The biggest challenge really is the port congestion” Niels Stolt-Nielsen, CEO, Stolt-Nielsen Ltd [the world's largest fleet of chemical tankers]

“Although vacancy rates around the globe have also fallen over the past 12 months in particular, Australia now has the lowest national vacancy rate globally” Sass J-Baleh, Head of Industrial & Logistics Research, CBRE Australia

“So we do believe that we will be significantly impacted again in the supply chain in the coming year. Freight cost is probably where we see some easing” Kristian Tear, CEO, Bang & Olufsen

Retail

“[We] are now successfully navigating a difficult operating environment that is especially impacting more discretionary retail” Rosalind Brewer, CEO, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc [world's largest pharmacy groups]

“We haven't seen any signs of cracks” Chip Bergh, CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

Workplace & Employment

“Specifically in technology, for every scale-up or hyper scale-up or even larger fintech business like Volt that loses 100 or 150 people [the recently announced neobank shutting down], there’s another one around the corner that is booming and wants to hire just as many” Michael Solomon, CEO, The MitchelLake Group [global executive recruitment firm]

“Our clients, they ask us to help them to bring the employees back on site…before it was all about prices, now they are ready to pay more, so that their employees really want to come back to the office and have a very nice experience” Sophie Bellon, CEO, Sodexo SA [multinational food services & hospitality services group]

Energy Markets

“We’re budgeting for a 100 percent increase [in electricity prices]. It will have a significant impact. You have to pass those costs on to customers” Lindsay Partridge, CEO, Brickworks Ltd

“As the energy transition gathers more pace, the simple reality is that gas will fast-track the development of renewables, by complementing renewables, not competing” Rob Wheals, CEO APA Group Ltd

Agriculture

“The [our] forecasted lift in milk price reflects an improved outlook for 2022/23 dairy commodity prices, following the recent recovery in pricing, and the current strength of the US dollar” Grant Watson, CEO, Synlait Milk Ltd

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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. 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.