Prepared for now

Global food delivery companies face slowing growth and rising rates. Over the past few years, the food delivery space has grown significantly by becoming habitual to consumers. The sector’s growth has been driven by the advent of appealing, user-friendly apps and tech-enabled driver networks, coupled with changing consumer expectations and further boosted by the COVID pandemic.

Weak earnings and outlooks from the mega-cap technology companies have led to comparisons being made to the dotcom 1.0 bust of March 2000. The mega caps are important, not just for sentiment. The scale of these businesses and their market caps and enterprise values have been mesmerising.

Following the oil and gas sectors, it is now the turn of the cement industry to be under the spotlight. NGOs in particular are calling on companies like Holcim to shoulder their responsibility for the worsening climate situation. The urgent need to decarbonise cement is now widely acknowledged by the big names in the industry. While some efforts have been made, the steps that still need to be taken to make the industry carbon neutral by 2050, according to its own commitments, are on a partwith the impacts caused on the climate and the environment: gigantic.

The wave of C-Suite executives who seem to have decided that the (economic) heat in the (macro) kitchen is too hot and are jumping ship continues to explode higher. On the other hand, Board members are also looking to replace top management with those more skilled in handling downturns. This has several consequences for investors who need to be even more forensic when assessing a company’s management.