The Guardian (November 19)
“The Home Office has announced another set of measures designed to signal ever more ferocious intent to control the nation’s borders.” This is a mistake, apparently to appease “the irate chorus that fulminates against perceived inundation by foreigners.” It overlooks the reality of declining migration and logical outcomes. “With migration patterns simply following the current [downward] trajectory,” undesirable consequences need to be addressed. Who will provide social care when the already “struggling sector” is facing “a mounting recruitment crisis”? Without students from overseas, “many universities… will be pushed over the brink.” On top of it all, the contracting ratio of working-age adults will make growth ”harder to achieve” and decrease “Treasury revenues… with painful fiscal consequences.”
Tags: Borders, Consequences, Control, Ferocious, Foreigners, Home Office, Migration, Overseas, Recruitment crisis, Revenues, Social care, Students, Treasury, Universities, Working-age
New York Times (November 6)
“President Trump’s barrage on global trade appears to have taken a hit” during questioning in front of the Supreme Court. “Concerns are growing that the Supreme Court could scramble the Trump administration’s tariffs strategy. That may be welcome news for free-trade advocates, but it could also unleash more uncertainty for businesses and Wall Street.” Market reaction was rapid as “the yield on 10-year Treasury notes spiked to 4.15 percent,” a sell-off that suggests “bond holders are fretting that an adverse ruling could deprive the government of revenues needed to offset the federal deficit.”
Tags: Barrage, Bond holders, Businesses, Free trade, Fretting, Global trade, Market reaction, Revenues, Scramble, Sell-off, Supreme Court, Tariffs strategy, Treasuries, Trump, Uncertainty, Wall Street, Yield
Financial Times (March 20)
Though Accenture “did not cut its full-year earnings guidance, as some analysts had expected,” the consulting group “has warned that Elon Musk’s efforts to slash US government spending have started to affect its revenues.” It also highlighted “threats from global economic uncertainty.” Government contracts account for approximately 8% of Accenture’s revenue, and the firm’s shares “are now down 15 per cent since Trump’s inauguration in January.”
Tags: Accenture, Analysts, Consulting, Earnings guidance, Economic uncertainty, Expected, Government spending, Musk, Revenues, Shares, Slash, Threats, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (September 18)
For years, digital advertising has been “largely impervious to the business cycle” and “dominated” by Google and Meta. These “verities” may be falling as companies tighten marketing budgets. “Until recently, that would have meant cutting non-digital ads but maintaining, or even raising, online spending. With most ad dollars now going online, that strategy is running out of road. Last quarter Meta reported its first-ever year-on-year decline in revenues. Snap, a smaller rival, is laying off a fifth of its workforce.”
Tags: Business cycle, Decline, Digital advertising, Dominated, Google, Impervious, Marketing budgets, Meta, Non-digital ads, Online spending, Revenues, Rival, Snap, Strategy
Harvard Business Review (February 15)
“A uniform set of standards for measurement and reporting — just as we have for financial performance” is essential for communicating ESG performance. “Imagine a world where each company had to decide for itself how to measure say, revenues, or depreciate its assets…. That is the situation companies have been living in when it comes to ESG — but there is hope on the horizon.” The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has emerged as the “forerunner… to offer a single source of truth of ESG reporting.”
Tags: Assets, Depreciate, ESG, Financial performance, ISSB, Measurement, Reporting, Revenues, Standards, Uniform
Financial Times (December 9)
“The Big Four accounting firms have recorded their strongest financial performance since the collapse of Enron as corporate clients rushed to transform their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.” Revenues soared to over $167 billion, collectively, in spite of “continued criticism of the structure and performance of the firms, especially in audits, including scrutiny of EY’s failure to identify fraud at Wirecard.”
Tags: Accounting firms, Audits, Big Four, Clients, Collapse, Coronavirus, Criticism, Enron, EY, Failure, Financial performance, Fraud, Pandemic, Revenues, Scrutiny, Transform
Financial Times (May 28)
ExxonMobil’s annual general meeting should be “a wake-up call for other executives with a bunker mentality.” Engine No 1, an obscure hedge fund, got shareholders to elect two directors by focusing on economics, not ethics, arguing that “Exxon has been so slow to recognize the need for a transition away from fossil fuel that its revenues will crumble, destroying investor capital.” Today’s activists “are not just trying to save the world; they are also trying to save their own portfolios in a world where regulators are enforcing green standards.”
Tags: Activists, AGM, Bunker mentality, Capital, Directors, Economics, Engine No 1, Ethics, ExxonMobil, Fossil fuel, Hedge-fund, Investor, Portfolios, Revenues, Shareholders, Transition, Wake-up
Forbes (October 29)
“Zoom is now worth more than ExxonMobil.” Reaching a market cap of $139 billion, the conferencing service pulled ahead of ExxonMobil ($138.9 billion). Revenues are an altogether different matter. “While Zoom posted $1.35 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Exxon, by comparison, posted $213.8 billion in revenue during that time period.”
Tags: Conferencing, ExxonMobil, Market-cap, Revenues, Service, Zoom
The Economist (November 23)
Management consulting is being disrupted. “Advice on strategy, which used to be meat and potatoes for firms like McKinsey and its peers, Bain and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), is now a side dish; it accounts for about a tenth of revenues.” These days clients “want consultants to provide and install products, including new technologies, that transform them from top to bottom and keep disrupters at bay.”
Tags: Advice, Bain, BCG, Clients, Disrupted, Management consulting, McKinsey, Revenues, Strategy, Technologies, Transform
Financial Times (May 20)
“Today, Hong Kong’s future as a global financial centre looks uncertain as the rival Shanghai Stock Exchange grows in size and credibility…. On the face of it, conditions at the HKEX look fine.” Revenues, profits and new listings were all up in 2017. “Yet Hong Kong was only third when it came to money raised in IPOs. Shanghai and New York were ahead by value, while Shanghai and Shenzhen surpassed the number of Hong Kong listings.”
Tags: HKEX, Hong Kong, IPOs, Listings, New York, Profits, Revenues, Rival, Shanghai, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen
