CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 5 September 2025

Victorian Theft

“We are seeing what other retailers and retail network businesses are seeing right now, the same crime wave…And yes, Victoria is the worst.” Angus McKay, CEO, Bapcor Ltd

Insurance Prices

“The reality is that some select [insurance] lines, cyber is a big example; D&O, of course, you're aware of that, over the last 2 or 3 years, are collapsing, and some parts of the PI market are softening. But in broad terms, it is not a waterfall. It is a moderation and softening of compounding increases that we've seen over the last 4 or 5 years. Eventually, it had to stop.” Robert Kelly, CEO, Steadfast Group Ltd

AI Training Vs AI Inferencing

"Over the past few quarters, apart from that rapid growth in inferencing, we've also observed some new industry trends on the training side, apart from the large fundamental models that continue to be upgraded in the market. There's also a lot of training that is taking place and creating new opportunities. For example, automobile vendors, for example, companies in the education sector, or companies in the multimedia application space. They all have training requirements." Eddie Wu, CEO, Alibaba Group

China

“The vast majority of the leading open-source models are created in China…And open source, is created in one country, but it's used all over the world. The open-source models that have come out of China are really excellent.” Jensen Huang, CEO, NVIDIA Corp.

Rare Earths

“The rare earths market is rapidly evolving and we need to move at pace to maximise value from existing assets and create further value from market opportunities." Amanda Lacaze, CEO, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd

Oil Tankers & Shipping

“Shipping and tankers from our vantage point are still in the eye of the storm in relation to global conflict and trade policies. We have started to grow numb in respect of our industry's ability to regulate the ever-increasing parallel tanker market [grey market outside of mainstream chartering]…But now we are hopefully seeing the contours of change. One being trade policy reflected in the nation's behaviour on crude sourcing and the simple fact that global oil demand growth has surpassed what sanctioned molecules can satisfy.” Lars Barstad, CEO, Frontline plc [one of the world’s largest oil tanker companies]

Queensland Construction

“It’s not unusual in Queensland, on these big sites, to have two and a half days a week of productivity...you’re paying premium wages for part-time productivity.” Ross Du Vernet, CEO, Dexus Ltd

Housing

“If you don’t create the supply, you’re going to have an undersupplied market, and rents and capital values continue to grow. I think as a population, we need to decide, do we want more supply for our kids and grandkids and great grandkids or not.” David Harrison, CEO, Charter Hall Ltd

"Living is not an institutional-grade sector in Australia. It’s a mum-and-dad sector, which is a weakness.” Craig Carracher, Co-CEO, The Living Co‍

Tariffs + Inflation

“But as we replenish inventory at post-tariff price levels, we’ve continued to see our costs increase each week, which we expect will continue into the third and fourth quarters [2HCY25].” Doug McMillon, CEO, Walmart Inc.

Beauty & Luxury

“I think the reality is that in a post-COVID era, I think a lot of like the beauty products have increased dramatically in price around the world.” Stephane de la Faverie, CEO, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.

“I don't think we're necessarily bullish yet on the consumer. I think if you read the news, there seems to be some mixed sentiment. And so perhaps the luxury consumers may be a little more protected, but for the time being, we're still being a little bit cautious.” Neil Bowden, CFO, Canada Goose Holdings Inc.

Water & Agriculture

“The continual uncertainty of water reform is a plague on irrigation communities. Large-scale, rapid buybacks destabilise water markets, drive prices up and erode confidence — impacting everything from planting decisions to long-term investment. This threatens the sustainability of industries like ours.” Laurie Arthur, Chair, SunRice Group

Beverages + Emerging Markets

“What we are seeing as well is very inherent of every [emerging] market that's growing or category that starts to grow, a lot of new entrants want to play. And that's a good thing to grow the industry.”  Henrique Braun, COO, The Coca-Cola Co.

Global Brands

“Importantly, the world-class KFC brand remains in strong health in all markets, supported by menu and service innovation and a continued focus on digital customer engagement.” Xavier Simonet, CEO, Collins Foods Ltd

Cryptocurrency IPOs

“I think that the market was closed to many crypto companies, and they had no ability to get out while we were under the regulatory environment that we were in. So I definitely think many companies see the window open and are racing to run through that open window for fear that that window may not be open for long.”  Alesia Haas, CFO, Coinbase Global Inc.‍