CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 1 May 2026

Eggs

“The Company continues to face a challenging environment with pricing pressures due to increased available egg supply and higher costs. These higher costs include the increase in fuel costs, which has and is expected to continue to result in higher transport, packaging, feed and other costs.” Market Statement, Farm Pride Foods Ltd

Global Consumer

“Consumer sentiment hit COVID-level lows, and ongoing inflation continued to impact purchase decisions.” Russell Weiner, CEO, Domino’s Pizza Inc.

Salt & Cyclones

“Historical data does not suggest a correlation between tropical cyclones and WA [Western Australia] salt exports…established salt producers’ export volumes are less sensitive to weather.” Market Statement, BCI Minerals Ltd

Diesel

“So, from our perspective, despite all the ructions, we've actually not had any issues associated with receiving the supplies required.” Paul Flynn, CEO, Whitehaven Coal Ltd

Caravan Rentals

“CHL [the company] has seen an impact of the US/Iran conflict due to customer concerns with fuel security and pricing. As a result, forward bookings have declined by 29%. Customers, in line with industry trends, are booking and travelling much closer to their travel date, resulting in a reduction in forward bookings.” Market Statement, Camplify Holdings Ltd

Energy Grids

“Energy is becoming two-directional, from 1 way to 2 way, which changes fundamentally how you do things, how you balance the grid, how you bill people, to becoming distributed. The amount of energy points grew by 500x (not per cent), 500x in the last 15 years.” Tim Wan, CFO, Kraken Technologies

Crude Oil Ship Building

“Should supply chain diversification by energy-importing countries continue as a follow-on effect of the current situation, demand is expected to rise over the mid to long term, potentially generating additional new building demand. In addition, if sanctions on Iran are eased, the retirement of the ageing…vessels are likely to accelerate, leading to increased replacement demand for new vessels.” Market Statement, Hanwha Ocean Co Ltd. [major South Koran shipbuilder]

Media & Retailers

“The retail landscape is changing, more concentration, but also brand proliferation. Retailers are becoming media platforms and media platforms are becoming retailers.” Andre Schulten, CFO, The Procter & Gamble Co.

Money Movements

“So, less people are vacationing in Dubai, and that has an impact on our Travel Money business. However, the opposite is true, which is in the early times of a conflict like this, many people move money out of the region. And so we've actually seen a moderate acceleration of outbound remittances from the Middle East.” Devin McGranahan, CEO, The Western Union Co.

Luxury Brand Declines

“Luxury brands became way too expensive and way too repetitive…It isn’t that the young generation in China or elsewhere lost interest in luxury. They lost interest in a broken value proposition.” Erwan Rambourg, Global Head of Consumer and Retail, HSBC

Communications & Defence

"In DTC [company’s communications division], strong demand from defence customers for unmanned systems, supported by ongoing geopolitical tensions, continues to drive growth in our software-defined radios [SDRs]." Market Statement, Codan Ltd

Childcare

“Occupancy across the ECEC [early childhood education and care] sector is lower compared to 2024 and 2025 due to families experiencing sustained affordability pressures, falling birth rates, increased long-day care supply and confidence being impacted by serious child safety incidents." Market Statement, G8 Education Ltd

AI Agents

“There's a lot of agents out there, right, that people are building for different things. And there aren't that many that I would want to give to my mother. And I think getting to like that quality bar is something that I care about more than hitting a specific week for launching or something like that.” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta Platforms Inc.

AI vs Cloud Computing

“We've never seen a technology grow as rapidly as AI. Amazon is already a leader, and companies continue to choose AWS [Amazon Web Services] for AI. To put our growth in perspective, 3 years after AWS launched, it had a USD$58 million revenue run rate. In the first 3 years of this AI wave, AWS' AI revenue run rate is over USD$15 billion, nearly 260x larger.” Andrew Jassy, CEO, Amazon.com Inc.

Viva Las Vegas

“The city consistently advances through challenging operating environments by evolving alongside customer demand. Today's consumers are decisively gravitating towards live events and experiential travel in Las Vegas, and MGM is capturing that momentum. Las Vegas's ability to adapt its mix, its pricing and entertainment continues to differentiate the market and reinforce its resilience through economic cycles.” William Hornbuckle, CEO, MGM Resorts International Inc.

Housing Enquiries

“Sales and enquiry activity have softened in recent weeks, reflecting lower consumer confidence, rising interest rates and the conflict in the Middle East, but overall the fundamentals remain strong. A significant, structural shortfall of housing across Australia persists, and this is expected to continue to support sales volumes for the Company, noting it will take many years for the shortfall to be addressed.” Market Statement, Cedar Woods Ltd