Investment Week (July 20)
“The US silver economy is worth $7trn alone, making it more valuable than the economies of Britain, Japan, or India. In the past 18 years, companies whose businesses relate to the ageing population have achieved average revenue and earnings growth that has outperformed the global market. This trend is expected to continue gathering momentum.”
Tags: Ageing, Britain, Earnings growth, Global market, India, Japan, Outperformed, Population, Revenue, Silver economy, Trend, U.S.
The Economist (February 16)
“Ageing and robots are more closely related than you might think. Young countries with many children have few robots. Ageing nations have lots.” South Korea, Singapore, Germany and Japan top the list, but there needs to be a shift in focus. “An ageing world needs more resourceful robots” that can help care for seniors “rather than take people’s jobs.”
Financial Times (January 14, 2014)
“One trend that is prompting parts of Japan Inc to shop abroad is the ageing population. Japanese banks and insurers, for example, are increasingly looking to the younger demographics of southeast Asia to build up their next generation of depositors and policy holders.” And while this was part of the rationale behind Suntory’s acquisition of Beam, a new overseas M&A boom is unlikely given the weak yen, especially as many “companies remain unwilling to borrow for expansion after years of cutting costs and hoarding cash.”
Tags: Acquisition, Ageing, Banks, Beam, Cutting costs, Demographics, Depositors, Expansion, Hoarding cash, Insurers, Japan, M&A boom, Overseas, Policy holders, Population, Southeast Asia, Suntory, Yen
Economist (November 18)
“Unless Japan takes dramatic steps to re-energise its shrinking, greying workforce, its economy will suffer.” European countries are also grappling with these issues and soon they will affect China, South Korea and Taiwan. The biggest lesson Japan can “teach the world is about the growth-sapping effects of ageing.” By tackling its demographic problems, Japan “has a chance of being a model of how to deal with ageing, rather than a dreadful warning.”
