Apparently, right now is a good time to take a walk or drive around that new house you’ve bought. Well, maybe not you or I, but a lot of Americans seem to be doing that according to the data. CNBC compiled into a short post five charts that tell a fascinating story about our behaviours […]
Chemical Connections
Remote-working growth yields food for thought for supply chain
What opportunities and challenges does sustained growth in remote working present to FMCGs and retailers? With economies in the throes of various stages of reopening, debate has begun surrounding when businesses dominated by white-collar workers bring their employees back into an office setting. Even in states such as Texas where I am located, many companies […]
ICIS Chemical Investor: What does the calming of chemical price volatility mean for M&A practitioners?
2019 was a slow year for chemicals M&A deals, although this was largely the result of intense activity in the preceding three years. Furthermore, against a backdrop of chemical price erosion and continued capacity expansions, buyer/seller assessments of earnings and thus earnings multiples differed more than usual. According to White and Case, the total number […]
Amid information madness, it’s the methods that matter
It’s getting harder to know what to believe. That statement doesn’t come as a revelation to many reading this blog, as the constant inundation of information makes distillation into beliefs, assertions and forecasts extremely challenging. Just as you’re trying to wrap your head around a set of data, another comes out that contradicts it or […]
Automobile demand woes taking polypropylene for ride
There are a few time-tested principles you take for granted when dealing with chemical data: Crude oil price movements will be a direct or indirect indicator of chemical price deltas. Upstream price rises, compared with upstream price falls, are more likely to cause downstream prices to change (in other words, suppliers tend to pass on […]
Disrupted marketplace requires active, informed negotiating stance
Five months into 2020, here’s where we are: Companies literally and figuratively have ripped up their plans and guidance on 2020 business expectations, as the coronavirus pandemic has made conditions unsettling in the near term and uncertain in the long term. The global economy’s descent continues, with the only question now being whether the bottom […]
Opportunity lies in recognising the next renaissance
Here’s a blasphemous statement: There really is no “new normal.” The only “new normal” is the “new normal” of calling current conditions the “new normal,” and today’s “new normal” is just replacing conditions that we had been calling the “new normal” since the US shale wave disrupted energy and chemical markets. Normalcy evolves with societal […]
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