On Thursday, October 18, Pesel & Carr in collaboration with leading advisor group PPB Advisory and Pointon Partners, lawyers and trademark attorney specialists, held a roundtable discussion on Navigating your way through sustained volatility in today’s economic environment. Guest speaker, Geoff Brunsdon, Chairman of Sims Metal Management, the world’s largest metals and electronics recycler, provided valuable insights from his recent trips to the U.S. and China. Geoff was Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking of Merrill Lynch International (Australia) Limited and is also executive chairman of ICS Advisory.
Geoff shared his perspectives on the current state of these economies and the impact on commodity prices more generally.
The inaugural collaborative roundtable was attended by representatives from the mining and resources sector who sought to gain insights into what the future might hold for their resources.
With demand for resources from China softening and the U.S. economy showing minimal GDP growth, Geoff stated that the outlook is neither bleak nor positive, but rather static.
Next month the congress in China will announce a new party leader and in the U.S. the presidential elections will be hotly contested.
“The market sentiment remains cautious with political changes in the world’s two largest economies. How best to navigate your way through these times is to remain liquid. Cash is king,” said Geoff empathetically.
“There are key parallels between the Great Depression and Great Recession. We won’t see aggregative growth in employment for at least another seven years.”
With global high demand for Australia’s resources cooling off, companies are ensuring they remain positive and communicate constantly to their shareholders and remain transparent.
The roundtable was followed by an evening of drinks and canapés.
A second roundtable is being planned for the first quarter of 2013.