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21 Mar 23

Updated: 21 Mar 23

Steelcase stuck

w lower demand?

Collab specialists pivot to
furnish hybrid workspaces

Steelcase, the ex-leader in collaborative office furnishings, recovery stalled in Q4'23 to 28Feb'23. Disappointingly, CEO Sara Armbruster 
reported a softer order book related to macroeconomic concerns, despite investments in the hybrid work future. What has happened to the former innovative industry leader? Results analysis 1600ET tomorrow

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21 Mar 23

Updated: 21 Mar 23

MillerKnoll's hybrid

work growth stalls

WFH concepts offset soft,
'return to office' demand

MillerKnoll the enlarged #1 furnituremaker maintained its focus on strong WFH demand, with the contract market softly recovering with slowing orders. Retail designs stalled after recent growth. Upbeat ceo Andi Owen is focused on mobile systems innovation and integration of Knoll. Results analysis 1600ET tomorrow

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21 Mar 23

Updated: 21 Mar 23

FlexTech takeover;
joins MTS leaders 

Maryland MPS dealer acq.
drives national expansion

Flex Technology Group (FTG), the US #3 managed technology services provider has made a major MPS acquisition in the Mid-Atlantic region moving it closer to market leaders Marco & Pacific. CEO Frank Gaspari claims group revenues over "$400m with a strong pipeline of dealers looking to join FTG"

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20 Mar 23

Updated: 20 Mar 23

Amazon+Microsoft
jobcuts overhyped

37k layoffs pale in comp/w
770k additions since 2019!

WallStreet's obsession with recession rhetoric particularly highlighted by CNBC knows no bounds. Perspective please! Amazon increased employees by +700k over the past 2yrs to 1.5M. Meanwhile, Microsoft increased employees +50% to 221k. The recent sad 37k cuts (AMZN 27k + MS 10k) were a minor adjustment for 2 strongly growing giants....

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20 Mar 23

Updated: 20 Mar 23

HPE Greenlake
grabs integrator

Enterprising move boosts

MSP cloud client services

HP Enterprise just gave its GreenLake on-premises pay-per-use cloud service an AI-based boost with its acquisition of a specialist integrator. “Customers manage different cloud environments that dramatically increase the cost of digital operations management,” said Fidelma Russo. 
This could be a game changer....

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20 Mar 23

Updated: 20 Mar 23

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16 Mar 23

Updated: 17 Mar 23

FedEx fails from 

faulty leadership 

Losing market share. Cuts
costs and customer service

FedEx ceo Raj Subramaniam opaquely reported again on disappointing & inflated Q3'23 results. Huge price hikes boosted sales, but disguised serious market share losses to UPS & Amazon.The 'market cap gap' between similar sized UPS widened to $109Bn. The future is bleak for arrogant, cost cutting  'new boss, same as the old boss'; who blames the (strong) economy, not incompetent execution. Updated

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16 Mar 23

Updated: 16 Mar 23

Mighty 3M mired in 
mounting mgt mess

Earplug/PFAS legal issues;
& Health Care div. spinoff
distract from core focus

 
3M's cfo Monish Patolawala spoke with JPMorgan's Steve Tusa at its Industrials Conference yesterday. 3M's market cap is down -30% over past year, reflecting legal issues with defective miltary earplugs and PFAS chemicals. Meanwhile, it's spinning off the Health Care (25% mix) division and struggling with volume decline in its main businesses. Analysis here...

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14 Mar 23

Updated: 15 Mar 23

Depot buys back
Vora stake. Why?

Multi-distractions divert
from core incompetence

On 28 Dec'22 activist VC HG Vora Capital took a 12% stake in ODP Corp aka Office Depot plus a board seat. Now as part of its $1Bn buyback plan ODP bought shares at a similar price cutting Vora's stake to 8%. What's going on? Is sinking ship Capt Gerry Smith shifting deck chairs to distract from its core incompetence? 

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14 Mar 23

Updated: 15 Mar 23

Westrock: doing
good, doing well

African bean farms move
from poverty->productivity

Westrock Coffee, the leading custom/private label coffee and tea provider to US restaurants, reported Q4'22 results. We talked with CEO Scott Ford about progress and plans for the "poverty to productivity" purpose driven beans importer from Rwanda through roasting and distribution processes

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