Just as enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and China’s stimulus fades, a familiar weakness has come back to haunt equity investors in emerging markets: sinking corporate profits. With 96% of companies in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index done with their quarterly results, the earnings season is almost over. And the picture isn’t pretty — Almost half … Read more
Unilever appointed Nelson Peltz to its board on Tuesday as it engaged in talks about strategy with the American activist investor, who now holds a roughly 1.5% stake in the consumer goods giant. The maker of Dove soap and Magnum ice cream has had a bumpy few years, with shares falling about a quarter from … Read more
If it really wanted to get ahead of the inflation challenge, India’s central bank should have paid more attention to Surf . The price of the laundry detergent went up by 20% in January. While that’s hardly news when most everyday things are becoming dearer everywhere, the interesting part was the retail price before the … Read more
Brokerage houses and analysts have cut earnings and profit margins estimates of consumer product companies, saying these firms will not be able to pass on further cost hikes to consumers as it could trigger a demand slowdown. Increased pressure on household budgets due to rising inflation amid the Ukraine crisis is already impacting demand, they … Read more
Consumer goods giant said it had approached about buying the pharmaceutical group’s consumer goods arm, after a newspaper reported that a 50 billion-pound ($68.4 billion) bid it made had been rebuffed. Unilever, which has been under fire from some investors for the group’s underperforming share price, confirmed the approach about a potential acquisition of the … Read more
Lord Nicholas Stern is IG Patel Chair of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics (LSE). The distinguished economist discusses his visionary insights on sustainable finance with ET Evoke:The term ‘sustainable’ means offering the next generation opportunities which are at least as good as ours. ‘Opportunities’ include human capital or health and education, … Read more