“You like me and I like you”
Trump promises to “load up” the US military
With Valentine’s Day next week, it seems fitting that President Trump has made public his love affair with the US military. He opened his first speech to service personnel on Monday with the words “you like me and I like you”, referencing the support he received from military voters during the election. He then promised to “load them up with beautiful new planes and beautiful new equipment.” Words which sent US defence stocks soaring. So is this really music to the defence industry’s ears?
Read more...Uber in the sky
Could flight sharing apps rejuvenate the ailing bizjet market?
I recently read an interview with Embraer’s CEO where he discussed the ‘Uberization of business jets’. As an uber devotee, I started to investigate what this actually means and discovered that we may be on the brink of a structural change in the bizjet industry.
Read more...2017…the year of the rooster, Trump and flying cars
What does the year have in store for Aerospace & Defence stocks?
The Aerospace & Defence sector has two distinct sides to it, with civil aerospace and defence often proffering very different investment narratives. Historically, terrorism and political instability have tended to cause the two sides of the sector to diverge, with defence valuations surging and civil valuations falling. This happened most notably after 9/11 in 2001. At the end of 2016 though, a year defined by terror attacks and political turmoil, the situation was quite different. Defence stocks were the stand out performers during last year, driven initially by the fact global defence spending is now growing, having been in decline from 2011 – 2015, and more latterly by Donald Trump’s US election victory. However, civil stocks have also performed well. Although there have been a high number of terror attacks during 2016, improved airport security measures have forced terrorists to seek new targets and so aerospace stocks have been largely unaffected, and in fact have continued to benefit from the structural growth of passengers numbers which continues to drive output growth. So what does 2017 have in store for aerospace and defence?
Read more...SFO shows its metal with £497m fine for Rolls-Royce
Black cloud over engine manufacturer should now start to lift
The Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) five year investigation of Rolls-Royce has finally come to a conclusion, with a verdict that shows the SFO is getting tough on corruption, but one which should hopefully allow the dark cloud over Rolls-Royce to start lifting.
Read more...Airbus does it again
Record breaking 2016 for Airbus as it exceeds delivery target
At yesterday’s annual New Year press conference, Fabrice Bregier (Airbus Commercial CEO) triumphantly announced that Airbus delivered 688 aircraft last year, exceeding its target of 670.
Read more...Cyber wars
Will Russia’s attempt to influence the US election change global cybersecurity policy?
The news this week that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the US election is likely to have elevated cybersecurity up Mr Trump’s ‘to do’ list for when he takes office next week. The report from the Intelligence Agencies stated that “Russia’s effort the influence the election represented a significant escalation in directness, level of activity and scope of effort compare to previous operations.” Cyber is not a new topic, and has been a buzz word in the defence industry over the past five years as companies sought exposure to what has been seen as a growth market. However, cyber is still a very small percentage of revenues for the defence primes and the market has been very fragmented. In today’s blog, I ponder what impact Russia’s meddling in the election will have on cybersecurity.
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