CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 28 August 2026

Lithium, Batteries & Electrification

"Battery costs have fallen by around 90% since 2010, making electrification increasingly competitive on economics rather than incentives alone. In June, more than 1 in 4 vehicles sold globally were electric, with penetration reaching 27%." Dale Henderson, CEO, PLS Group Ltd

Residential Property Downturn

"The total change of the market has been consistent with past downturns, but the speed of the change has been faster than recent downturns. It's been a really rapid shift." Dan White, CEO, Ray White Group

"Demand across our Western Australian and Queensland projects remained particularly strong throughout the year, while Victoria continued to show encouraging signs of improvement contributing to increased sales activity." Brett Fullarton, CEO, Peet Ltd

Retailers

"While we had anticipated second half tailwinds from rate cuts, instead we saw further rate increases and higher fuel prices which resulted in record low consumer confidence in Australia." Phil Ryan, CEO, City Chic Collective Ltd

"I wouldn't say things have got worse, I wouldn't say things have got better. I think it's an opportunity for us as a business to just continue to double down on value." Rob Scott, CEO, Wesfarmers Ltd

Insurance Cycles & Health Insurance

"It's interesting to be able to say to you that we rose 2.3% in GWP [gross written premiums] at a time when the market is the softest that I've seen, I think, in probably 30 years." Robert Kelly, CEO, Steadfast Group Ltd

"However, the industry inflation has shifted from around 5% up to 7.5%. The normal gap to industry that we would see, which is about that 1.5%, has not been present in FY '26…We do not have line of sight as to why the industry gross deficit grew so strongly this year." Nick Freeman, CFO, nib holdings Ltd

Supermarket Prices

“AI tools has meant that customers are using those to compare prices more than they've ever done, particularly in young families and pre-families. So, the younger part of our population. And so ensuring that we are competitive week in, week out for every set of offers that we have, that's really key for us.” Leah Weckert, CEO, Coles Group Ltd

"For three years now, we've been talking about the pressure on household budgets. We've moved beyond a temporary phase into a new reality of entrenched value-seeking. Customers have developed money-saving habits to stretch their weekly shopping as far as possible." Amanda Bardwell, CEO, Woolworths Group Ltd

Shopping Centres

“I think what we're seeing is that there is a reallocation of what people are spending not only their time but their money on. And we do all read about what's happening in house prices and the like. But what we're seeing at the moment and what we've seen in the past is that during these types of periods, our business performs very well because people do like to spend their time outside of their home." Elliott Rusanow, CEO, Scentre Group

Refrigerated Freight

"Evolving customer demand and expectations, including smaller order sizes and just-in-time freight, are reshaping the [freight] task.” Market Statement, Lindsay Australia Ltd

Travel Spending

"Importantly, our corporate customer base remains resilient. Around 80% of responders to our state of the market survey, which was run in July and August, expect to increase or maintain their travel budgets." Graham Turner, CEO, Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd

Rare Earths & China

"I have to say that today when you meet with a car OEM [original equipment manufacturer] or wind turbines or otherwise, everyone is really serious about securing at least part of their sourcing from outside China, not being fully dependent on a single country." Pol Le Roux, Interim CEO, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd

Toys

"Culturally relevant brand experiences continue to drive demand across the globe." Niels Christiansen, CEO, The LEGO Group

Collectables & Wealth

"People are definitely buying them for investment. It's not just Pokemon cards. People are getting heavily into the NBA. Pokemon's obviously the leader, but investors are getting into American sports. Tom Brady's opening up trading card vending machines right through the United States. Lewis Hamilton's doing the same in the United Kingdom." Garry Isaacs, Founder & President, Banter Toys [exclusive distributor of English Pokémon cards in ANZ]

Luxury Brands

"The global luxury market continued to face headwinds throughout FY26, although consistent with recent commentary from other luxury industry participants, we are starting to see early signs of sector stabilisation." Dean Mintz, CEO, Cettire Ltd

AI Transformation

If you talk to most CEOs, they may say they have a project or they have a failed experiment or they were told to build a model, but it didn't work out for them. That is not AI transformation." Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce, Inc.