Here's what we learned from leading CEOs this week

“It’s a tough market actually, really tough… There is an oversupply, particularly in the apparel sector, from the foreign retail entrants entering the Australian marketplace” Richard Umbers, CEO, Myer

As part of the NAOS investment process, we pay particular attention to the comments made by company CEO’s and business leaders in order to gain a greater understanding of the current investment environment and key trends that may be emerging. Below are quotes from the week which in our view detail some of the most important and prominent industry trends and economic factors impacting their businesses.

Supermarkets
 
“We have to plan on the fact that deflation will continue to be a big factor in our industry”
Ian Morrice, Outgoing CEO, Metcash  
 
Liquor

“Millennials are the second-largest wine drinkers and this is growing. Their importance to the wine category growth and future is crucial”
Angus McPherson, MD, Treasury Wine Estates  
 
“Our expectations in liquor are that the moderate rate of growth will continue [into FY18]”
Ian Morrice, CEO, Metcash
 
“We’ve seen extraordinary growth in the [craft beer] category. It’s been growing over 20 per cent year on year for the past three years. We’re dedicating more and more shelf space to it and configuring our stores specifically to take account of the sales growth and customer demand to experiment when it comes to beer”
Campbell Stott, Director, Dan Murphy’s

“The younger generation doesn’t want to drink what their dads drank. There have been two big shifts in beer in the past few years: a shift into craft beer and shift into mid-strength beer. Both of those shifts are hurting the sale of full-strength beers”
Campbell Stott, Director, Dan Murphy’s