Category: Insights

As the pandemic eases and workers return to their offices, companies that were COVID beneficiaries are facing the double hit of a return to more traditional buying habits and an inflation squeeze on household budgets.

The latest whitepaper from Credit Benchmark illustrates the global credit trends in the first quarter of 2022. With global growth rebounding strongly at the start of 2022, consensus credit trends mirrored this recovery across a broad range of sectors. But as inflation grows and interest rates look likely to jump, will heavily indebted companies drive credit defaults higher?

The Ukraine war has seen countries scrambling to secure energy supplies, boosting the need for renewable sources. But with renewable energy paradoxically dependent on the increasingly volatile climate, diversity in technologies is critical to ensure stable supplies from renewable sources. Credit Consensus Ratings are available for a variety of wind and solar firms, with this report showing some divergences in credit quality.

The Fed is taking an aggressive approach to rising inflation with predictions of imminent rate hikes, and some UK sectors will feel the flow-on impact harder than others. This report shows the historical impact of Fed rates, among other factors, on the credit quality of UK Corporate sectors.

The global construction industry is facing renewed challenges: just as the COVID-driven labour and materials shortages showed signs of easing, the Ukraine war is hitting the industry in two specific areas: steel and glass. But not all firms are affected equally – this report analyses credit improvement in US Construction & Materials companies.

Flexible-office operators providing short-term leases suffered more during the pandemic than traditional office lessors. However, a new hybrid working model is seeing demand for flexible, short-term offices and meeting rooms increase once more. This report analyses the credit performance of US Industrial & Office REITs against global trends.

The “race for space” is driving up land prices while supply chain issues are pushing up the cost of newbuilds. Cities are slowly returning to some form of normality but existing offices are still operating under capacity and new offices are struggling to find tenants. This report analyses the credit profile of global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) against global Financials and Corporates.

The war in Ukraine has already had a dramatic impact on the global food trade with Russian aggression damaging global food supplies, and the fertiliser industry is also due to feel the pinch. EU Food Product firms are taking the hit, with a 4% drop in credit quality in the last month. Consensus data will continue to track the effect of the war on sectors and companies, rated and unrated, across the globe.

In 2011, FTSE350 boards were 91% male – since then, a target of 33% average female representation has been achieved. Corporate diversity has been proven to improve performance, and consensus credit data shows that firms with more women on their board are also a better credit risk. This report analyses credit performance for companies that do and do not meet the 33% target.

Russia is one of the world’s largest gold producers, and sanctions and inflation fears have seen the price of gold and other precious metals spike in the past month. Outside of Russia, many suppliers may have their eureka moment as prices continue to rise. This report compares credit consensus ratings to equity prices for some of the largest global mining companies.