CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 16 December 2022 By NAOS Asset Management

“Pre-pandemic, ~1% of all jobs posted on LinkedIn were remote. As of today, that number is ~14%...but that's not the fascinating part. What's fascinating is north of 50% of all job applications on a daily basis on LinkedIn go to that 14% of remote jobs” Ryan Roslanksy, CEO, LinkedIn Corporation

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.  

If you do not already subscribe and wish to receive this weekly publication of “CEO Insights” via email please click here. 

Quick Service Restaurants

“In markets where we started putting kiosks in, we are seeing a rapid shift of consumers to move from front counter to kiosks” Sabir Sami, CEO, K.F.C Group

“They [Generation Z] don't watch TV so much. They're on these [phones]. We all know this. really, it was a learning for us for how do we connect with our core consumer” Mark King, CEO, Taco Bell Group

Workplace & Employment

“Pre-pandemic, ~1% of all jobs posted on LinkedIn were remote. As of today, that number is ~14%...but that's not the fascinating part. What's fascinating is north of 50% of all job applications on a daily basis on LinkedIn go to that 14% of remote jobs” Ryan Roslanksy, CEO, LinkedIn Corporation

“The beginning of the pandemic saw a high level of pay restraint and bonuses cancelled in many companies. Over the past two years we have seen bonus ‘catch-up’ in a number of companies, which is not always aligned to investor outcomes” Louise Davidson, CEO, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors

Domestic Economy

“I can’t over emphasise the impact that cost-of-living pressures are having in the community” Shayne Elliott, CEO, ANZ Banking Group Ltd

Chinese Economy

“Everybody in China wants to get rich quick, and in the past they might have gotten rich quite fast, but there is a role for professionals to stop people acting silly. Taxi drivers in China think they can make a fortune out of equity markets or private equity or derivatives – people don’t understand basic risks” Sharon Wan, CEO China, Hong Long & Taiwan, Auto & General Insurance Company [major global insurance provider]

US Economy

“We see longer term support for housing prices. There's currently 1.5 million to 2 million undersupply of homes, which is expected to persist for some time. And we expect this supply/demand imbalance to continue to support home prices in the medium term” Marvin Ellison, CEO, Lowe's Companies Inc [one of the world’s largest hardware store retailers]

“We still have some ways to go. Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive [monetary] policy stance for some time” Jerome Powell, Chairman, US Federal Reserve

Retail

“The US, from where we see it, is a little bit weaker than it's been the last couple of years. Europe has actually been doing really well and Asia is really picked up” Brian McGee, CFO, GoPro, Inc

Technology

“I think one of the things many companies learned during COVID was those companies that did not get on some sort of a track to get a digital connection with their customers, employees and suppliers that were at a huge disadvantage” Safra Catz, CEO, Oracle Corporation

“[Cybersecurity] is not something that the government can just fix or is even their role to fix. Unless people, individuals, and businesses, take the necessary action and prioritise this, they will be at significant risk” Andy Penn, Former CEO, Telstra Group Ltd

“We have arrived in a world where we have so much [software] code, and we have such a high complexity, that we need another approach, we need a new approach to allow us to go the next step on the ladder” Thomas Dohmke, CEO, GitHub [global software company owned by Microsoft]

Banking & Payments

“We all know today that paying for goods and services is mostly cashless and there is a myriad of ways to pay and get paid... I have been in banking for 30 years and it’s fair to say I have never seen the pace of change and innovation we are experiencing in this area. Essentially, there is a technology arms race in the payments space” Shayne Elliott, CEO, ANZ Banking Group Ltd

Travel & Transport

“Secondly, demand is bigger than supply. It’s at unbelievable levels internationally and domestically because people were locked up for so long and everybody was surprised at how rapidly demand rebounded to be excess of what it was in 2019” Alan Joyce, CEO, Qantas Airways Ltd

Commodities & Agriculture

“The [energy] market is working, and the government’s interfering is actually causing significant disruption and significant uncertainty on both sides of the table” Meg O’Neill, CEO, Woodside Energy Group

“The planting window for the CY23 crop has now closed, and while it has been disrupted by heavy rain falls and flooding activity across the Riverina, the Group is expecting ample Riverina rice supply in CY23” Market Statement, Ricegrowers Ltd

Consumer Behaviour

“We don’t see this as the peak [of pet ownership], we actually see this trend started many years ago, and we expect it to continue for many, many more years” Brad Banducci, CEO, Woolworths Group Ltd

“Australians are trending a little bit down, in terms of their giving, which is a worrying trend” Jodi Kennedy, GM of Philanthropy, Equity Trustees Ltd

For all enquiries please contact enquiries@naos.com.au

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.