Consumer Products and Services

Reliance channels its name in 40-year bond

6 Jan 2022

It sold the longest tenure paper by an Indian firm as part of a $4 bln deal, on the back of a big successful expansion into consumer businesses. Bagging cheap funding now looks smart. But as China’s tech upheaval shows, four decades is plenty to test India’s reliance on Reliance.

SocGen $6 bln car deal leaves shares in slow lane

6 Jan 2022

The French bank is helping fund the purchase of LeasePlan by its automotive unit ALD. Returns look high and the move helps the pair shift to an electric future. But since investors prefer focused banks, rather than conglomerates, CEO Frédéric Oudéa won’t get much credit.

Finding China’s Moderna is a financial long shot

6 Jan 2022

The U.S. biotech giant’s Covid-19 vaccines have inspired copycats in the People’s Republic, where cities are scrambling to contain fresh outbreaks. With foreign jabs yet to be approved, the $13 bln Walvax looks promising. Feverish valuations leave little margin for error.

Moderna’s boosted valuation has Tesla-like spin

5 Jan 2022

Its Covid-19 vaccine is one of the world’s biggest medical products, yet that doesn't justify even half of Moderna’s $94 bln market value. Like Elon Musk’s $1.2 trln carmaker, the company is now a bet on dominating markets yet to exist. That suggests a volatile future for investors.

Toyota’s U.S. triumph comes with an asterisk

5 Jan 2022

The Japanese automaker sold the most cars in the U.S. in 2021, knocking General Motors off pole position for the first time since 1931. But Toyota’s early advantage of hoarded semiconductors is evaporating. And it’s well behind in the race to transition to electric vehicles.

Capital Calls: Beyond Meat’s faux chicken

5 Jan 2021

Concise views on global finance: The plant-based meat company’s shares jumped 5% on news KFC will offer its product. The extra value assumes benefits beyond selling buckets of substitute fried chicken.

Microsoft and Satya Nadella to be tech standouts

4 Jan 2022

The $2.5 trln software giant has outpaced most Silicon Valley peers over several years. A slowdown might seem inevitable. But the company’s CEO since 2014 is poised to deliver again. That could make him the most successful second-generation tech boss ever in market value terms.

Financial products we’d rather not see in 2022

4 Jan 2022

Breakingviews is readying a new metaverse-based buy-now-pay-later digital-asset trading platform. Here are a few of the shiny new opportunities that could pop up in the coming year, from a melding of SPACs with NFTs to a new crypto-churn account.

Nio’s European road trip will earn bragging rights

4 Jan 2022

The Chinese electric-car maker will win foreign fans with a marketing splurge. While it may take years to grab a big share of the $120 bln global market for battery-powered rides, even modest success abroad can put it ahead of rivals, boosting its sales and stock in 2022.

Breakingviews readers’ top picks for 2021

30 Dec 2021

As a second pandemic year unfolded, subscribers clicked most on views about deals, including AT&T’s spinoff of DirecTV. Refinitiv readers loved Wall Street, from Morgan Stanley to Coinbase's listing. Our eclectic followers also tracked airlines, meme stocks and Chinese markets.

Red-hot startups face a year of down rounds

29 Dec 2021

Venture capitalists invested more than $600 bln in 2021, an all-time high. The flood of money has boosted private-company valuations. Even a small correction would lower prices, alienating employees. Cash-burning upstarts in areas like rapid grocery delivery are most at risk.

India’s tech stock bubble is poised to deflate

28 Dec 2021

Investors will continue to afford banks and consumer firms dizzying valuations but will increasingly give their money-losing digital brethren a shorter leash. Some mix of rampant competition, slowing user growth and rising data charges will crash the party for the startup crew.

The cult of revenue is flying in thin air

23 Dec 2021

Top-line growth is the surest way to create wealth. But Wall Street has taken a good idea too far. The price-to-sales ratio for tech IPOs is at a 20-year high, even as profitability is dangerously distant. The coming year may sort the durable Amazons from the hyped-up WeWorks.

Ingredients will be the M&A flavour of the year

23 Dec 2021

Health and plant-conscious buyers are giving a new boost to additives that give products smell, taste, or extra nutrition. Companies like $39 bln DSM and $20 bln Kerry have reorganised to focus on the trend. Consumer giants demanding a fuller service will drive consolidation.

Tencent sets stage for empire tidy-up

23 Dec 2021

The Chinese giant is sitting on a $185 bln investment portfolio that confuses investors and might bother regulators. Its decision to return most of a $19 bln stake in e-commerce ally JD to shareholders makes strategic sense and is financially savvy. Other sales could follow.

Consumer giants will be in “plastivist” crosshairs

22 Dec 2021

Expected to double by 2030, plastic pollution will create financial risks for companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo as countries introduce more single-use bans and taxes. Emboldened by the defeat of Exxon over reducing its carbon footprint, activists will target consumer giants.

Delivery Hero U-turn shows bleaker times for tech

22 Dec 2021

The $28 bln food delivery group is leaving the German market after less than a year. However embarrassing, the move looks rational given the country’s cutthroat competition. Rising interest rates and more volatile markets mean loss-making companies need to keep investors sweet.

Capital Calls: Hedge fund fine

22 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: Britain’s FCA fines BlueCrest Capital 41 mln pounds, a third of the fund’s U.S. penalty.

Toshiba clears path for big 2022 Japanese buyouts

22 Dec 2021

The $18 bln conglomerate plans to split, but a takeover bid betrayed private equity’s voracious appetite in the country. A few dozen chunky companies suit the LBO financial model, per a Breakingviews analysis. Closer inspection suggests a tempting target among them is Ricoh.

Live now, pay later is fintech’s latest extension

21 Dec 2021

Instalment financing, rebranded as “buy now, pay later,” has been the hot consumer financial innovation powering groups like Klarna and Afterpay. Look for the next iteration to entice consumers beyond shopping and leisure, including doctor’s visits, utilities and even taxes.