NEW YORK/LONDON/HONG KONG/ZURICH (Reuters Breakingviews) – Corona Capital is a column updated throughout the day by Breakingviews columnists around the world with short, sharp pandemic-related insights.
The logo for Procter & Gamble Co. is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 27, 2018.
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– Procter & Gamble
– UBS
GAMBLE AND PROSPER. It pays to be skeptical when analysts kick off their questions on a company earnings call with words like congratulations, terrific and awesome. That said, Procter & Gamble is, as they might put it, crushing the pandemic. The $350 billion consumer-goods behemoth reported net sales up a whopping 9% year-on-year in the quarter to Sept. 30. The companys home care business basically cleaning products saw organic sales increase more than 30%.
More than a tenth of the boost to P&Gs top line came from the mix, meaning a shift toward more expensive brands from cheaper and private-label alternatives. This was particularly notable in the fabric and home care segment. Further along the supply chain at U.S. grocer Albertsons, the mix similarly shifted, improving the companys gross margin in the last quarter. When people are fighting a deadly virus, only the best will do. (By Richard Beales)
COUCH BONUS. UBS, the $45 billion Swiss bank which caters to the global elite, is an unlikely advocate of workplace egalitarianism. Yet Sergio Ermotti, the outgoing chief executive, has given rank-and-file employees a parting gift. UBS announced alongside third-quarter results on Tuesday that staff at less senior ranks would receive a one-off cash payment equivalent to a weeks salary as a sign of appreciation for their contribution during a challenging year.
The $30 million cost is puny compared with the $4.9 billion of earnings UBS generated in the first nine months of 2020. But it is recognition that staff may be owed some of the savings that companies will make as home working becomes more popular, including lower rent and office-maintenance costs. UBSs move is only a start, but the banks workers have at least registered a small early win in the looming tussle over sharing those savings. (By Liam Proud)
MIRACLE CURE. Chinese biotechnology firm Sinovacs experimental coronavirus vaccine is gaining traction. On Oct. 20, preliminary results from a clinical trial in Brazil proved that its CoronaVac injection was safe for 9,000 volunteers. At home, the companys chief executive told Reuters that 90% of all employees and their families have been inoculated, while the city of Jiaxing has begun administering doses to its medical professionals.
Assuming the vaccine works, it will be a feather in the cap of the countrys biotechnology industry, particularly as competing candidates from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson have halted trials due to safety issues. It will also be a carrot for Chinese diplomats to offer, or deny, foreign governments. For Sinovac, a global lead in the vaccine race might lead to a windfall profit, but unfortunately investors cant trade it. The companys Nasdaq-listed shares have been frozen since February 2019 following a messy legal battle for control. Making money from the public good can be tricky business. (By Pete Sweeney)
PENETRATING INSIGHT. That the pandemics need-for-clean would fuel sales of disinfectant products like Reckitt Benckisers Lysol was never in doubt. But who knew all those lockdowns would dampen sexual activity? Thats one takeaway from the consumer-goods groups latest set of results. Having slid in the first half, sales of Reckitts Durex condoms and sexual wellbeing products stiffened in the third quarter amid relaxations of social-distancing regulations and in markets where infection rates materially declined, such as China, where it also launched its new, thinnest condom.
The result: like-for-like sales in Reckitts health business, representing 35% of revenue, rose nearly 13% to 1.2 billion pounds. But with Covid-19 cases again rising, the surge may be temporary. Contraception notwithstanding, there is also evidence that birth rates will be further lowered in coming quarters as a result of behaviour changes related to the pandemic, Reckitt notes. So much for animal spirits. (By Rob Cox)
BUTTON BASHING. Video-game kit and snazzy webcams are apparently the pandemic equivalents of shovels in a goldrush. Just ask Logitech Chief Executive Bracken Darrell, who on Tuesday raised his revenue growth forecast to 35%-40% from 10%-13% for the current financial year. Sales rose by 50% in the six months to Sept. 30, led by the Swiss-American groups video collaboration division. Logitechs shares rose 20% on Tuesday, giving it a $16.4 billion market value.
That seems excessive. The company now trades at 39 times the earnings analysts expect it to generate over the next 12 months, using Refinitiv data, compared with a two-year average multiple of 21. The risk is that sales slump next year, once gamers and home workers have all the headsets and keyboards they need. Rather than a goldrush, the computer-gadget boom could be a blip. Logitechs ebullient investors may want to think about hitting Escape. (By Liam Proud)
GARDEN HEDGE. Move over Amazon.com and Apple gardening is blossoming as the new growth sector. Swedens Husqvarna, a $6.7 billion maker of lawn mowers and hedge trimmers, more than doubled operating profit in the quarter ending September to $113 million as office workers spent more time at home, and less on the daily commute. Holidaying in the back garden rather than on a foreign beach also played its part.
With the northern hemisphere winter looming, Husqvarnas next quarterly sales harvest may look a bit weather-beaten. But thats unlikely to cut back the stocks nearly 40% year-to-date gains. If predictions of an exodus from big cities like London and New York prove correct, new homeowners will be snapping up lawn mowers next year. Gardenings recession-proof status should lend further support, as indeed might climate change: less rain means more irrigation systems. For investors, that makes for a rare triple-thick hedge. (By Ed Cropley)
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