Supply Chain Research

A transcript analysis of conference calls held by firms discussing calendar 4Q earnings shows 24.0% of companies have discussed issues surrounding either Brexit or tariffs more broadly. At the sector level the lowest level of mentions was in healthcare, at 8.1% of companies, rising to 46.2% for the industrials sector. Within the industrials the figure rises to 55.9% of electrical and 60.3% of mechanical engineering firms. Typical of the latter is flow-control device manufacturer Rotork whose Finance Director, Jonathan Davis, has flagged that inventory build ahead of Brexit and U.S. tarif...