Consumer Products and Services

Oatly’s best turnaround recipe is dollops of cash

25 Nov 2022

Shares in the $950 mln faux-milk maker are down 80% this year, and revenue growth is slowing. CEO Toni Petersson will struggle to stop burning cash, and has ruled out selling the company. That means a looming capital hike may have to be much bigger than he currently thinks.

Bloated Thanksgiving will dispirit Xmas shoppers

23 Nov 2022

Thursday’s turkey and cranberry feast is set to cost 20% more than last year’s. Supermarket sticker shock may leave consumers thriftier when seeking stocking stuffers. And even if retail spending hits a record $960 bln, the season will be less merry once adjusted for inflation.

Baby EVs’ existential crises bad news for giants

22 Nov 2022

Electric-car maker Faraday warned it may go out of business. A shrinking order book is the latest sign of flagging demand. Established rivals like Tesla or GM can better weather a downturn. But fewer smaller rivals doesn’t help, and dwindling interest is a bad sign for everyone.

Coinbase’s problems more than contagion

21 Nov 2022

The crypto exchange’s boss Brian Armstrong wants to reassure investors that digital currencies are safe. That makes sense: Bitcoin and other coins are its lifeblood. But the industry collapse is only one problem. Coinbase took on debt before its business model had been proven.

Disney offers an Iger solution to an Iger problem

21 Nov 2022

The media giant tapped its former boss to, among other things, find a successor. Shareholders seem relieved. But Iger failed to cultivate a replacement in his 15-year tenure, and left the $180 bln firm laden with debt. His legacy hinges on a refreshed board, boss, and company.

Big Tech layoffs are dystopian job-market fiction

18 Nov 2022

Twitter, Amazon and Meta Platforms are driving the largest wave of U.S. layoffs since early 2020. Yet tech firms were also quick to hire; other industries are still playing catch-up. With inflation cooling off, the chances of widespread job losses are dwindling fast.

Investors ignore China Covid spike at their peril

18 Nov 2022

Shares have rallied on signs President Xi Jinping is embracing pragmatism and easing up on crackdowns in real estate and tech. Shaking hands with U.S. President Joe Biden helped, too. However, Beijing might also be losing control of the virus. Policy relaxations may be moot.

Burberry revival rests on more leather power

17 Nov 2022

New CEO Jonathan Akeroyd wants to grow sales by 40% in coming years at the stagnating fashion house. Success hinges on star designer Daniel Lee’s ability to create alluring high-margin bags and shoes. But the move will take time and may hurt demand for items currently in store.

Feedback loops power Elon Musk’s SpaceX

16 Nov 2022

Even as tech valuations fall, including that of Tesla, the rocket maker’s may rise 20%, to $150 bln. Its growing Starlink service is more appealing than lunar expeditions. The bigger the satellite business gets, the worse the economics become for rivals such as Amazon.

Estée Lauder plus Tom Ford is tricky defensive act

16 Nov 2022

The beauty giant will buy the fashion house for $2.8 bln. It allows the $81 bln group to cling on to the designer’s fast-growing fragrances, which it licenses. But outsourcing the eyewear and clothes units risks being a distraction, especially if Ford himself leaves after a year.

Tencent’s investor giveaway buys welcome respite

16 Nov 2022

The Chinese web giant is handing a $20 bln stake in food delivery firm Meituan to shareholders. The second such move in a year comes on top of increased share buybacks. The focus on boosting returns goes a long way to make up for slowing growth in Tencent’s video-game business.

Musk needs a third of America to pay for Twitter

15 Nov 2022

As the social media firm’s new boss says, it's losing $4 mln a day - before accounting for big drops in ad revenue. Even with cutting costs, sky-high interest means Twitter has to grow into its debt, which could require as many as over 110 million people to pay for the platform.

Walmart turns inflation into a land grab

15 Nov 2022

The $375 bln retailer is attracting higher earners with its lower prices, gaining market share in the third quarter. That’s leading to revenue growth despite the uptick in prices. But the makers of the soaps and snacks that Walmart sells are seeing their pricing power slip away.

Zombie firms shuffle away from reckoning

14 Nov 2022

Carvana, Peloton and others assumed capital would always be plentiful. It’s not, and they continue to burn cash with business models that need work. Yet these larger firms, on average, have two years of money left. With cost cutting, many may survive, if not thrive.

Capital Calls: Roche’s risky big drug bets

14 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Shares in the Swiss drugmaker fell 4% after a treatment for dementia produced disappointing results in a late-stage trial, reminding investors of the downsides of pursuing potential blockbusters.

Inflation has gig economy perk: more side hustlers

11 Nov 2022

Uber is seeing more drivers. Airbnb has had strong growth in hosts. As wallets are pinched, people are looking to pick up odd jobs. For those who profit off the shared economy, that should help their businesses. And at least for now, demand is holding up, too.

Fine art world gets a taste of the Walmart effect

10 Nov 2022

The record $1.5 bln paid for the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection might not seem a classic recessionary trade. But when asset prices wobble, investors fly to the familiar. Cezanne and Klimt are to plutocrats what defensive consumer stocks are to gun-shy investors.

Adland veterans play tortoise to Big Tech’s hare

10 Nov 2022

Once deemed ex-growth, WPP and peers collectively grew revenue faster than Snap and Meta last quarter. New services like building apps and crunching client data helped. But if big adland clients like Nestlé keep spending while small businesses drop out, it may be no one-off.

U.S. cannabis movement can learn from Canada

9 Nov 2022

Maryland and Missouri voters look set to expand the country's legalized recreational weed usage. Up north, too much hype contributed to a costly glut. As the business keeps getting bigger in the United States, it would do well to learn from its neighbor's growing pains.

Carlyle plays an ever-tougher game of catch-up

8 Nov 2022

The buyout shop raised only $6 bln in the third quarter, a 72% drop from 2021. It’s also managing less money, about $370 bln, as peers accumulate more. And misgivings have spilled into public markets. Whoever replaces abruptly departed boss Kewsong Lee faces a long to-do list.