MSN (January 23)
“UPS reported sharply lower earnings in the third quarter and said it expects lower revenue and thinner profit margins ahead.” The global shipper cited “a slowing global economy…for its gloomy forecast,” and its concern over “global macroeconomic uncertainty” has broader implications. “UPS is something of an economic bellwether, as its trucks move an estimated 6% of US gross domestic product and 3% of global GDP, the broadest measure of economic activity.”
Tags: Bellwether, Earnings, Economy, Global macroeconomic uncertainty, Gloomy forecast, Lower, Profit margins, Q3, Revenue, U.S., UPS
Wall Street Journal (August 26)
In the “latest retreat by U.S. companies,” IBM is shuttering its R&D operations in China. “Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China have led many multinational companies to reassess their business in China.” IBM once viewed “China as a major growth market,” but its market share has plummeted. Revenue dropped nearly 20% last year when “Beijing pushed Chinese buyers to purchase more from domestic technology suppliers, in a campaign dubbed ‘Delete America.’”
Tags: China, Companies, Geopolitical tensions, Growth, IBM, Market share, Multinational, R&D, Reassess, Retreat, Revenue, Shuttering, Suppliers, Technology, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (November 27)
“So far there are signs that U.S. shoppers are shelling out cash on gifts and other items. More shoppers visited stores and online spending grew on Black Friday this year compared with last year.” For many retailers, however, the rub is that “consumers are shifting away from store credit cards,” which had “been a lucrative source of revenue for retailers…. But the stream is drying up.”
Tags: Black Friday, Cash, Consumers, Gifts, https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/black-friday-spending-was-strong-how-people-pay-for-gifts-is-upending-retailers-e783ba2e?mod=itp_wsj U.S., Lucrative, Online spending, Retailers, Revenue, Shoppers, Store credit cards, Stores
Financial Times (September 15)
Internal combustion engines “are on their way out,” while sales of EVs “are set to increase worldwide from about 10mn in 2022 to about 14mn in 2023, or 18 per cent of all cars sold.” This partly explains legacy carmakers low valuations, but the switch also lowers barriers to entry. “Chinese imports already account for about 15 per cent of EVs sold on the continent,” with Chinese automakers hoping to seize more of “a $130bn revenue opportunity by 2030.”
Tags: $130bn, Barriers to entry, China, EVs, Ice, Imports, Legacy carmakers, Opportunity, Revenue, Sales, Valuations
Reuters (May 2)
“Diversifying abroad looks attractive to many Japanese companies given weak home markets” as demonstrated by Astellas recent $5.9 billion acquisition of Iveric Bio. “For the $28 billion drugmaker, which already earns the bulk of its revenue from overseas, exceptionally low borrowing costs at home may have boosted its offshore appetite even more.”
Tags: Acquisition, Astellas, Attractive, Borrowing costs, Diversifying, Drugmaker, Home markets, Iveric Bio, Japanese, Offshore appetite, Overseas, Revenue, Weak
Investment Week (October 12)
Aside from shipping difficulties and “maritime headwinds” hitting China, “the property crisis, fuelled by debt defaults from property developers, has dented the likelihood of Chinese GDP hitting growth targets as local authority revenue takes a hit from land sale income decline. Sentiment has followed suit and many wonder when and where respite will arise.”
Tags: China, Debt defaults, Decline, GDP, Growth targets, Headwinds, Income, Land sale, Maritime, Property crisis, Property developers, Revenue, Sentiment, Shipping
Wall Street Journal (March 7)
“Oil and gas revenue makes up about half of the Kremlin’s budget and is critical to financing Vladimir Putin’s bloody war on Ukraine.” The trouble is “sanctions on Russian energy could also harm the world economy and especially Europe,” which depends on Russia for a quarter of its oil and 40% of its natural gas. “Unless the West is willing to grasp this nettle, the world will continue to finance the Putin war machine.”
Tags: Budget, Critical, Economy, Energy, Europe, Financing, Kremlin, Natural gas, Oil, Putin, Revenue, Sanctions, Ukraine, War
Bloomberg (June 25)
“The prospect of investing in massive U.S. government projects—say, by leasing an airport and reaping revenue for decades—has tantalized Wall Street” for years. Finally, it seems their “big wish” has been granted by Biden’s Infrastructure Deal. “The size of the potential capital infusion from private investors… wasn’t announced. But the reference to asset recycling and public-private partnerships… is a start.”
Tags: Airport, Asset recycling, Biden, Capital infusion, Government projects, Infrastructure Deal, Investors, Leasing, Public-private partnerships, Revenue, Tantalized, U.S., Wall Street
Washington Post (January 10)
“As spending climbs and revenue falls, the coronavirus” is forcing “a global reckoning.” The resulting “debt tsunami” will threaten “even stable, peaceful middle-income countries.” Costa Rica is just one such country “scrambling to stave off a full-blown debt crisis, imposing emergency cuts and proposing harsher measures that touched off rare violent protests last fall.” The “progressive, eco-friendly nation is weighing desperate solutions — including open-pit gold mining, even oceanic fracking.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Costa Rica, Crisis, Cuts, Debt tsunami, Desperate, Eco-friendly, Global reckoning, Mining, Open-pit, Peaceful, Progressive, Protests, Revenue, Scrambling, Spending, Stable, Threaten, Violent
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.
