CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 2 May 2025

Travel

"Second quarter earnings momentum reported at the half year flowed through to early Q3 results before US policy changes began to impact business and consumer confidence and corporate and leisure sales in March. Early April trading results point to ongoing uncertainty, which looks likely to slow FLT’s growth in the heavily weighted May-June period." Market Statement, Flight Centre Travel Group

“People from Europe, the United Kingdom and Australia really don’t want to go to the States, given what’s happening there. We’re hearing more and more people don’t want to go through passport control.” Graham Turner, CEO, Flight Centre Travel Group

“We do have less visibility in that product. But what I think you've seen from the industry and particularly fun and sun itineraries is that those continue to remain strong. We've seen that both in Q4 of last year and more recently Q1, close-to-home cruising is doing well.” Mark Kempa, CFO, Norwegian Cruise Line

Manufacturing

“There should always be a policy that enables, supports and accelerates our ability to onshore manufacturing. With willpower and with the resources of our country, I’m certain we can manufacture on shore.” Jensen Huang, CEO, Nvidia Corp.

Mining

“The number one reason you haven’t had rare earths projects outside China is because you haven’t had fair market pricing.” Darryl Cuzzubbo, CEO, Arafura Resources

“During this period of soft markets, everybody is looking at ways to do more with less and that is putting more people back into the employment pool.” Paul Flynn, Managing Director, Whitehaven Coal

Packaging

"Early signals of Q4 demand are soft due to: 1) Recent escalation of tariff tensions causing order delays or changing customer buying decisions; 2) High cost of living continuing to impact consumer demand and buying patterns; and 3) Supply chain disruption as container availability is less reliable." Market Statement, Pact Group

“In North America, we have seen real weakness on the consumer demand, particularly hitting our North America beverage business, which was down high single digits and therefore, softer than what we have seen in the prior quarter where it was down about mid-single digit.” Peter Konieczny, CEO, Amcor‍

Consumer spending

“We have not seen any discernible impacts on demand from tariff uncertainty. This includes no clear evidence of any pull-forward demand or prebuying, giving us greater confidence in the positive March and April sales trends we are seeing." Marcus Lemonis, CEO, Camping World

"It’s clear financial concerns remain high for Australians who continue to look for value at the checkout....Our most popular and best-performing specials every week will be the ones that are the 40 and 50 percent off." Leah Weckert, CEO, Coles Group

“Tariffs and changes to certain custom requirements in the U.S. have created significant uncertainty for small businesses, while concerns over escalating prices for imported goods have weighed on consumer confidence.” Jamie Iannone, CEO, eBay Inc

“All the divisiveness and nationalistic rhetoric that we saw around the world is prompting customers to pause some spending.” Jon Moeller, CEO, Procter & Gamble

Education

“Let’s call it what it is – astronomical student visa fees are a tax on students entering Australia.” Jake Foster, Chief Commercial Officer, AECC [international student recruitment firm]

Electric Vehicles

‘’Although we have done a great job working with our OEM partners to manage Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) inventory to be more closely aligned with consumer demand, the majority of BEV units still require significant discounting.’’ Richard Shearing, COO, Penske Automotive Group

Trade

“As we think about the trade lanes, U.S. imports in the United States have held up really well and have been fairly strong through the first part of this year. And I think that local macroeconomic conditions in those international markets are softer for sure than in the United States right now.” Charles Baker, CFO, Etsy, Inc

Fast Food

“We have not seen any anti-American sentiment impacting our stores.” David Gibbs, CEO, Yum Brands

Entertainment

“We still do not see any of the consumer softness that investors seemed to be worried about. Our forward bookings still look quite strong. Regionals are still coming in nicely and digital is continuing to post significant growth.” Thomas Reeg, CEO, Caesars Entertainment, Inc‍