CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 25 July 2025

Movies & Ads

“If it was up to us, we would have as little advertising as possible. That’s up to the exhibitor. Too much [advertising] detracts from the experience.” Richard Gelfond, CEO, IMAX Corp

Domestic vs Southeast Asian Tourism

“It’s much harder for a domestic tourism product to really invest in the same quality of product that you can get at a lower price point in some of those Southeast Asian countries… Capital and capital flows are international, so if there’s a better return to be had in Southeast Asia in those developments, then that’s where the money is going to flow.” Dean Long, CEO, Australian Travel Industry Association

Cash

“Whilst people are using cash less and less, it will continue to play an important role in our economy.” Market Statement, Australian Banking Association

Retirement & Financial Advice

“We look at the population of Australia and we can see that by 2061, 33% will be in that retirement phase. Secondly, we're all living longer…$750 billion of assets will move into the retirement phase over the next 6 years.” Alexis George, CEO, AMP Ltd

“We know not everyone can go to advisers. We know there’s not enough capacity in the professional advice market to serve those customers.” Alexis George, CEO, AMP Ltd

Indian Infrastructure

“Fundamentally, even if you see the demand model or the growth model in any country, the first trigger is infrastructure growth actually. And once the infrastructure growth happens, then housing, social infrastructure [and migration happen]…We are very clear that the country has a huge potential for the overall economy to grow, and cement is a basic building block.” Kailash Jhanwar, CEO, UltraTech Cement [India’s largest cement company]

Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning [HVAC]

“We see a very strong demand in the Americas and in Asia Pacific and also some early signs of a European recovery… And then across all regions, we see a high growth in the data centre business, and that is positioning a significant support of our business, mainly there from the liquid cooling and there from the cold plate technology.” Markus Schürch, CFO, BELIMO Holding AG [major multinational HVAC systems manufacturer]

Global Economy

“All metrics reflect a global economy that remains sluggish and moving laterally, not materially improving or worsening.” William Brown, CEO, 3M Company Inc.

Fertilisers & Crop Protection

“Looking to the farming fundamentals, we have seen unusually few issues in crop production globally, softening the supply-demand balances for the year. In addition, Chinese grain imports are down from 60 million to 30 million tonnes, contributing to softer global prices.” Svein-Tore Holsether, CEO, Yara International [global leader in crop nutrition]‍

Manufacturing

"We saw the rise of Japan in Australia. We saw the rise of Korea as an automotive manufacturing power. But I think what’s different with China is the scale and the absolute speed with which they are bringing products to market." James Voortman, CEO, Australian Automotive Dealer Association

Mining & Geopolitics

"What I do see is that due to the geopolitical situation in the world, more and more countries are looking into their own assets and I think U.S. is an example of that… But it's the same discussion ongoing in many parts of the world. I think that has maybe increased, I would say, the focus on the need to actually explore greenfields [new mines] and to push expansion projects in many parts of the world." Helena Hedblom, CEO, Epiroc AB [major mining/industrial equipment manufacturer]

Private Credit

"The surge in private markets investment products, whether new or newly introduced to the Australian retail market, was a key factor underpinning this [our FY25] growth." Lorraine Robinson, CEO, Lonsec Research & Ratings

Underwear & Toys

“Customer purchasing behaviour has become increasingly reliant on sale events and promotions, which has impacted overall trading momentum and led us to adopt a cautious approach to marketing investment." Greg Taylor, CEO, Step One Clothing Ltd

“On the consumer products and more general merchandise and toy side, I would say we share a similar sentiment with our retailers, which is cautious optimism. Optimism in that consumer sentiment seems to be bouncing back from April lows. The consumer tends to be continuing to buy. And we don't see much evidence of pull forward buying, anticipating inflation or tariffs. That said though, the tariffs are going to have an impact. We do expect pricing [increases] to happen across the industry.” Chris Cocks, CEO, Hasbro Inc.

Elevators & Escalators

“Modernisation [of lifts] momentum continues…New Equipment orders decreased by 1% due to continued economic challenges in China, while orders in the rest of the world increased 11% versus the prior year.” Judith Marks, CEO, Otis Worldwide Corp.

Bureaucracy

“AI is far too important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage.” Market Statement, USA AI Action Plan

Green Hydrogen

“Technology is improving at rapid speed. The cost will come down, and the market will come, but we must also be realistic and disciplined… A shift in policy priorities away from green energy has changed the situation in the US. The lack of certainty and a step back in green ambition has stopped the emerging green energy markets, making it hard for previously feasible projects to proceed.” Gus Pichot, CEO, Fortescue Energy