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European and British companies deposit the cost of the American trade war, the leaders describing the stroke of consumer confidence, the threats of providing chains and the destabilizing effect of prolonged uncertainty on the level of prices.
Nestlé, the largest global food company, Mercedes-Benz and the British consumer goods group Unilever are among a wave of companies to have put investors, namely how commercial conditions have changed since Donald Trump announced a blitz of price Against American trade partners last month.
In the first series of quarterly results since the event of the “Liberation Day” of the American President, companies have set out multi-ordeal challenges, including a slowdown in the United States, a major market and the discoloration of the hopes of a solid economic rebound in the euro area.
Jesper Brodin, head of Ingka, who exploits the vast majority of IKEA stores, said that one of the largest dilemmas was how to respond to the speed at which the White House announced policies with potentially large implications for supply chains and price strategies.
“I remember the days when politicians were slow and that companies were rapid, and there is no way that Ikea could adapt its footprint, the strategy on this type of temporal horizon,” said Brodin to the Financial Times, adding that the group generally takes at least one view of 10 years to decide the location of a factory.
The commercial policy of the administration, which, according to Trump, will bring investments, factories and jobs in America, dominated the quarterly results of European and British companies.
In April, the prices were mentioned 223 times on calls by companies on the Stoxx Europe 600 reference index, which includes many listed in London, according to Factst Data, against 115 in March.
The sharp increase reflects the impact of the “release day” event on April 2 when Trump imposed a reference rate of 10% on trade partners and higher reciprocal prices on dozens of countries. The White House later delayed the imposition of 90 -day upper tasks to allow interviews on trade agreements.
With the basic prices that did not enter into force until April 5, the number of companies quantifying the cost of tasks has been limited.
But many leaders have argued that prolonged uncertainty on the final rate of so-called reciprocal rates and that the ultimate form of trade agreements was itself harmful, hampering their ability to plan and to make financial forecasts.
“I think that the uncertainties created by economic policies, trade wars and the evolution of the financial markets have increased concerns and created more uncertainty,” said Nestlé Director of Nestlé, Laurent Freixe.
The talks between the EU and the United States have made little progress, with Brussels which should impose reprisal rates on July 8 in the absence of a trade agreement. The United Kingdom and the United States are under discussion on an agreement.
Faced with the lack of clarity, Stelllantis, owner of the Fiat and Chrysler brands, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo cars are among the companies to have canceled their forecasts.
“You are starting to see companies making declarations on low visibility and reluctance to make long -term plans,” said Fabiana Fedeli, portfolio manager at M&G Investments.
Investors have not yet heard many companies of 517 Stoxx 600 companies which declare quarterly results, but have already been informed of the frightening effect that prices have had on consumer confidence and the creation of transactions.
Reckitt, the British manufacturer of strepsiles and Dettol, said that the volatility of the market that has followed the launch of the prices could affect the sale of several billion dollars of his cleaning products.
Freixe de Nestlé told analysts that the year had started with consumers who were “not optimistic, to say the least”, and that the prices had aggravated the image.
Unilever, one of the largest companies in the FTSE 100, underlined the potential impact of significant foreign currency fluctuations since the prices, with the interim financial director Srinivas Phatak describing the abrupt fall of the dollar against the euro in a few weeks as “unprecedented”.
Global actions have rallied in last week on the signs that the United States and China could start to seek in their dead end, which led to Washington and Beijing imposing punitive rates.
Managers have used profit calls to warn that the real clarity of commercial policy was necessary for companies to resume major decisions.
The British clothing retailer Primark, who plans to double his number of American stores at 60 by next year, could potentially move a certain manufacture of China, according to George Weston, managing director of Associated British Foods, the parent company of Primark.
But he added: “We will only adapt the supply chains when we have a little more certainty about the long-term position of the various supply markets vis-à-vis the American market.”
Additional Kana Inagaki and Emily Herbert report in London
