CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 11 April 2025

Live Entertainment & Movies

“Nearly every live thing has come back screaming [post-COVID]...Broadway’s breaking records right now, sporting events, concerts, all those things that we couldn’t do during COVID are all back and bigger than ever. The theatrical box office is down 40 to 50% from pre-COVID, and this year is down 8% already, so the trend is not reversing. You’ve gotta look at that and say, ‘What is the consumer trying to tell you?’” Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO, Netflix Inc

Retail & Sportswear

“The new US tariffs are another headwind in an already challenging consumer environment in the US. We are evaluating all strategic options, including pricing, cost mitigation and inventory investment, to safeguard the long-term value of our brands and protect our stakeholders.” Brent Scrimshaw, CEO, KMD Brands Ltd

“If I go to the challenge, the first and most important one - we have seen a slower growth of the sportswear market across the world.” Regis Schultz, CEO, JD Sports Plc.

Shopping Centres

“We continue to see strong demand from businesses to partner with us in our destinations.” Elliott Rusanow, CEO, Scentre Group Ltd [owner/manager of Westfield shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand]

Tariff Inflation

"Of course, it [US tariffs] can create inflationary pressure in our supply, especially in food." Sophie Bellon, CEO, Sodexo Group [one of the world's largest food service companies]

“We anticipate that raw material inflation, which was previously assumed to be in the low single digits, will now be increasing in the mid-single digits as a result of the impact of recently announced tariffs and duties. Areas include resins, slack, solvents and in particular, packaging and metal packaging, which impacts our consumer segment the most.” Frank Sullivan, CEO, RPM International Inc [a top 5 global paint company]

“As a precaution, we've taken steps to build inventory in certain markets to mitigate potential tariff impacts in the short term. Beyond FY 25, we do expect to see higher inflation like most businesses, and we will likely need to modestly adjust prices in certain markets to offset that impact.” Steven Brass, CEO, WD-40 Company

Food

"Global network sales increased, demonstrating guest demand for clean, fresh food, supported by solid operational execution." Market Statement, Guzman Y Gomez Ltd

Tech Sector

“From a taxation perspective, we need to make it attractive for them and to leave a highly paid USD based salary to come to Australia. So like, it's a holistic ecosystem, and if we can make it attractive for senior staff to come over there [here to Australia], they're the ones that are going to teach the next generation of Australian founders, and the more successful we can breed here, the better." Cliff Obrecht, COO/Co-Founder, Canva

“Think of us as a 25 million person state in America. Where would we rank for technology companies created on a world scale and export – whatever ranking you want to pick: billion dollar business, billion dollars in revenue…I think we’d rank pretty high of the 50 states in America. We’re pretty damn competitive.” Mike Cannon-Brooks, CEO, Atlassian Inc‍

Iron Ore/Steel

“I still hear conversations taking place about residential construction markets tanking in China. But the equal and opposite conversation that gets missed is that machinery has gone from single digits to over 30 per cent of steel demand. EV production has gone up. Anything to do with decarbonisation has gone up…The Chinese market is much more resilient and agile than people recognise.” Rag Udd, Chief Commercial Officer, BHP Group Ltd

Water

“50% of the [global] population now is on lacking water, but it's increasing very much with a 50% increase expected of water usage by 2050. And those aren't just statistics, they are alarm bells. There are economies at stake. So why is that so? Because everything needs water. Of course, without waters, no cities can grow. You cannot have agriculture, and you even cannot have industry…So all together, this is a challenge of the century, and that's why desalination has a big stake here.” Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO, Veolia Group

“Just to give you an idea, we have a second birth or second wave of desalination [plants being built] in Australia as we speak” Estelle Brachlianoff, CEO, Veolia Group

US Economy

“We also hear probably the same things as you are hearing in this respect that consumer sentiment in the U.S., maybe in particular, has weakened.” Kristian Teär, CEO, Bang & Olufsen

“In the last six weeks, we’ve seen a corresponding reduction in broad consumer confidence and corporate confidence.” Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Airlines Inc

Chocolate

“We’re seeing a bit of a flight to quality over quantity and people still wanting to experience beautiful chocolate, enjoy those moments, treat themselves…Cocoa prices are the headline, and the ability to pass that on or absorb it has always been a big challenge.” Rory Gration, CEO, Koko Black Chocolates

Road Safety & Deliveries

“In fact, today, 99.99% of all our rides and deliveries are incident free. But even one incident is way too many…Large language models can now analyse in real time audio and sentiment like the cry for help. When incidents happen, even if rare, we study each and every one…We then use those insights to train our AI models to detect trouble in a car such as a heated argument or tires screeching or any sounds of distress. With the help of AI, we are pushing the boundaries of safety innovation even further.” Anthony Tan, CEO, Grab Holdings Ltd [the ‘Uber’ of Southeast Asia]‍