US Special: How will consumer-facing companies fare?

US SPECIAL

Euan Sanderson, senior vice president, US equity operations at Standard Life Investments, on the battle to attract price-conscious customers.

One of the most significant challenges confronting consumer-facing businesses in the USA has been their capacity to pass higher raw materials costs on to their cash-strapped customers. Attempts to digest these costs have inevitably hit companies’ profit margins, even if absolute sales volumes have remained relatively robust. Against this backdrop, selected value can be found with domestic staples firms which are gaining market share while also improving profitability. In the soft drinks industry, the biggest two players, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, appear to have signalled an end to indust...