pandemic Archives | AlphaSense

How green building is transforming the real estate industry

Posted on September 10, 2021September 10, 2021 by Erin McShea

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is continuing to gain momentum in every corner of the financial services industry. In real estate, it’s taking the form of investment in green buildings — buildings designed and constructed with the goal of reducing or eliminating negative impacts and increasing positive impacts on the environment.

What do real estate investors think about the trend? How does green building affect returns and profitability? There’s been no shortage of industry discussion and debate around the green building trend and its financial impact, but one thing is clear: it’s here to stay.

Let’s take a deeper look at how green building is transforming real estate.

Ongoing fight against climate change

In the United States alone, buildings account for 39% of total energy use and 38% of carbon emissions. Numbers look similar in developed cities and countries around the world. As organizations and governments increase efforts to combat climate change, it’s natural to look toward real estate as a powerful way to make headway. Thus: green building.

AlphaSense research revealed dozens of examples of green building initiatives by corporations, governments, and partnerships between the two that focus on both new development and revamping existing buildings to eliminate outdated and environmentally detrimental features.

The Canadian Green Building Council (CaCBG) recently awarded BentallGreenOak (BGO) it’s national Green Building Pioneer Award for its delivery of customized climate resilience plans to 413 properties in their North American portfolio encompassing 75 million square feet.
As part of their Strengthened Climate Plan, the Canadian government is investing $1.5 billion over the next five years in building projects that increase energy efficiency and promote social inclusion in underserved communities
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo approved funding for the Career Pathway Training Partnerships Program to train the next generation of contractors in green building methods like high-efficiency ventilation.
Earlier this year, climate-tech startup BlocPower raised $63 million in Series A funding to provide green heating and cooling to aging buildings in U.S. urban cities.
The World Resources Institute (WRI), backed by the UN and World Green Building Council (WGBC) launched the Zero Carbon Building Accelerator with the goal of eliminating carbon emissions from buildings by 2050. The program will be piloted in cities in Colombia and Turkey.
Last month, smart rooms of the future were unveiled at China’s Building Science Conference and Green Intelligent Building Expo. The rooms are designed to collect solar energy and will share surplus electricity with city power grids, yielding both economic and environmental benefits.

The pandemic spurs an interest in “healthy buildings”

The pandemic highlighted urban vulnerability to viral outbreaks. Urban city environments, especially large residential buildings, were specifically resistant to attempts to control the spread of COVID-19, drawing concerns from governments and residents about how to prevent the spread of infectious disease in the future.

Now, attention is turning to how many green building features can also contribute to disease prevention and societal health. People spend 90% of their time indoors, and developers are seeing the growing importance in designing buildings that promote wellbeing. Natural light, ventilation, air quality — these are considerations that will stick around well after the pandemic is in the past.

China, whose densely inhabited cities were hard hit throughout the pandemic, have created a Healthy Assessment System for Residential Building Epidemic Prevention (HASRBEP) to design proactive measures for epidemic prevention and assess how buildings meet health standards.

The WELL Building Institute, an institution focused on setting healthy building standards, has enrolled more than a million square feet of real estate daily since the onset of the pandemic.

Green building certifications gain momentum

Green building certifications are gaining momentum as developers and investors look to build real estate that meets evolving societal and consumer expectations and new standards for qualifying as “green” or environmentally-conscious.

There are more than a dozen certifications buildings can earn with varied areas of focus. For example, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) focuses on energy savings and efficiency while the WELL Building Standard was developed to assess how buildings meet health and wellness standards.

The green building materials market size had an estimated value of $238 billion in 2020 and has is forecasted to continue in the same direction for the next several years.

Image Source

As market growth happens more quickly than expertise is developing across the real estate industry, it’s spurring an entire new sector of green consulting to provide guidance on the design and certification requirements of new properties in development and existing properties being renovated.

Consumer preferences turning green

Green efficiency topped the list of consumer preferences in a survey done by the National Association of Home Builders, indicating they would be willing to pay up to $9292 for more efficient homes that would save in utility costs in the long run.

Image Source

Building firms across the U.S. and global real estate industries have also indicated client demand is the main driver behind green building activity, at 52% and 40% (respectively) listing it above all other drivers.

The green investment market

Research conducted by PwC recently found that 77% of institutional investors intend to cease investments in non-ESG products by 2022. In alignment with this trend, real estate investors are increasingly turning to green building to fill their portfolios with properties that meet the ESG standards set for them by investors, regulators, and industry ethical standards.

Earlier in 2021, sustainable investment leader Invesco launched the first green building-focused ETF (GBLD), which will target property companies that support and specialize in buildings with high energy efficiency, sustainable materials, and healthier indoor environments. The ETF will track MSCI’s Global Green Building index when choosing stocks.

AlphaSense research shows a document trend that aligns with the aforementioned increase in focus on green buildings throughout the pandemic and as we move into the post-pandemic period. The document trend itself shows a clear uptick in mention of “green building” and “investing” year-over-year. The mentions themselves reflect the increased emphasis by firms and funds on ESG and green building in real estate. Here is a snapshot showing the sheer volume of total documents in the AlphaSense platform for “green building” and “investing” over the last 18 months.

Some highlights from industry commentary:

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister of Infrastructure and Communities | Press Release

“Through the new Green and Inclusive Community Building program, we’re investing $1.5 billion in energy efficient retrofits and net-zero new community buildings that will create good local jobs, tackle climate change and save money, and serve disadvantaged Canadians.”

Christina Langrall, VP of Investments, LMC | Press Release

“Sustainability is a priority for [Lennar Multifamily Communities] and collaborations with organizations like ING allows us to expand our current ESG initiatives to lower building emissions and deliver green living experiences to our residents.”

Does green building drive profits?

Societal pressure and increased focus on ESG accountability are drivers behind the real estate’s shift toward green building. But what does it mean financially for developers and investors?

For a long time after its initial emergence, green building was perceived as an approach exclusively for high-end projects, establishing its reputation as expensive and ultimately less profitable.

But recent trends and research show that although building materials and construction costs may indeed cost more, green buildings make their money back in long-term efficiency and market desirability. According to the U.S. Green Building Council, upfront investing in green building can increase asset value by 10% or greater.

Lower long-term costs also balance higher expenses at the start. LEED-certified buildings have maintenance costs 20% lower than traditional commercial buildings; when buildings are retrofitted to green standards, their operational costs decrease by up to 10%.

What’s next?

It’s reasonable to assume that demand for green building investments will continue to rise as investors increasingly require ESG standards be met across their portfolios. Incentivized by post-pandemic societal demand for healthier indoor living and working experiences coupled with continued worldwide focus on combating climate change, even green building laggards will need to jump on board.

As a result, the real estate industry will likely shift from green building as an emerging trend to a green status quo.

Download our most recent white paper, Sustainable Success: The Rise of ESG and How to Prepare for the Future to learn how ESG initiatives can bring an influx of new investments, how to avoid “greenwashing,” and what common ESG questions you should be expecting.

Private equity’s 2021 boom: Why it’s happening & what’s next

Posted on August 25, 2021August 25, 2021 by Erin McShea

Private equity (PE) is booming in 2021.

From healthcare to technology to grocery stores in the UK (yes, you read that right), we’re seeing the dry powder from 2020 invested by the billions as economies around the world begin to recover and markets around the world look to get back on their feet.

Along with the increase in private equity activity is an evolving view of its role in the market and new potential areas for PE growth, including sustainable investing, increasingly a requirement rather than an added benefit for investments of every type.

Let’s take a deeper dive into private equity — where it’s been, the boom it’s experiencing right now, and what the future of PE might look like in a post-pandemic world.

Unused capital boosts 2021 PE activity

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 left private equity investors at a loss about what the future would look like. Minimal investments were made as investors remained conservative, waiting for more certainty before making additional moves with their capital.

Now that the market has bounced back and the world looks to be on the road (albeit a bumpy one) to pandemic recovery, a surplus of unused capital coupled with historically low borrowing rates has created a private equity boom with record amounts of raised capital.

Healthcare PE expands

Not surprising given the nature of the worldwide crisis over the past 18 months, private equity investment in the healthcare sector has exploded.

While overall PE deal volume decreased by 14% last year amidst the onset of the pandemic, the healthcare sector surpassed its 2019 record deal levels by 21%, completing 380 deals globally, according to Bain & Co’s Healthcare Private Equity and M&A report.

The pandemic has forced innovation across the healthcare sector, from telehealth to COVID-19 testing and diagnostics to mobile apps or wearable tech that help people monitor symptoms and general health. This naturally draws the attention of venture capitalists and PE firms, and private equity can be spotted this year across specialized areas including primary care, urology, orthopedics, gynecology, and of course COVID-spawned trends such as vaccine-related technologies.

The UK draws investor attention

The UK has seen an unprecedented burst of attention from PE investors across industries, with recently acquired targets in:

Aerospace (Meggit and Signature Aviation)
Sports (Liverpool Football Club)
Grocery retail (Morrison’s — currently under a full-out bidding war)

The rise in private equity interest in UK targets, mostly from American PE investors, can be attributed to a combination of Brexit fears and bargain valuations during the UK’s accelerated economic recovery post-pandemic, according to Lancaster University Senior Economics Lecturer Robert Read in his recent article for UK’s The Conversation.

While the economic benefits of a thriving PE investment scene are appreciated, Read also points out valid tax, debt, and oversight concerns more prevalent for PE-funded companies than their publicly-traded counterparts, where records are public and thus accountability more inherent.

On the immediate horizon are inflation concerns, or more specifically, fear over how raised interest rates will affect a debt-heavy business economy.

Private equity and sustainable investing

Not to go unmentioned is private equity’s increased alignment with sustainable investing trends as investors, targets, and the general public alike hold increasing concern for how investments make societal and environmental impacts. Private equity funds investing exclusively in renewable energy assets raised a record $52 billion, and AUM in the climate finance sector, which tripled over the last decade, is expected to double by 2025.

Barriers to entry into the ESG investing scene for private equity investors, including data and reporting, are both resolving as industry standards evolve and firms invest in the technology and data required to report effectively on ESG activity.

Increased sustainable investing activity from PE firms is likely to have a continued positive growth impact as every kind of investor from HNWIs to large financial institutions look for sustainable standards in both portfolios and practice.

What’s next for private equity?

There are two ways to look at the future of private equity. First, as it relates to predicting PE trends based on past history, and second, the immediate future as the economy rebounds from unprecedented market conditions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Private equity, like any market, is cyclical and the boom we’re seeing right now is likely to slow down as the market stabilizes and exits its recovery phase to enter the post-pandemic future. Borrowing rates will rise and the debt strategy behind so many PE acquisitions won’t remain as attractive. Surely, other trends will emerge that draw new attention.

But the pandemic has also altered the view of private equity from the perspective of the investor and the general public in ways that will likely stick around.

Private equity’s longer commitment terms, long viewed as one of the biggest risks and potential downsides of PE investment, has proven beneficial during a year of unprecedented volatility and unpredictability. Going forward, it would not be surprising to see investors and institutions look to diversify in that direction.

Perhaps most notably, the view that private equity is not the universal bad-guy — the cutthroat corporate raider set out to tear down corporations for a hefty profit — has quieted. In fact, it’s clear today that private equity has been a main driver for technology innovation by many companies who now play a pivotal role in our societies at large.

To learn more about technology and investment opportunities coming out of the pandemic, check out our exclusive four-part webcast series with HSBC where experts and analysts discuss emerging technologies and trends aiming to make an impact across multiple global sectors. Access each session here.

Businesses tighten pandemic restrictions amidst Delta variant

Posted on August 19, 2021August 25, 2021 by Nico Bryan

The U.S. government may not be able to require that everyone get the vaccination, but dozens of businesses across corporate America are establishing vaccine and mask mandates for some or all of their workers.

Walmart, Google, Tyson Foods, and United Airlines are just a few of the corporate giants leading the charge towards ensuring a fully vaccinated workforce amidst rising Delta cases. With 83% of COVID cases nationwide originating from the Delta variant, big businesses have gone back to the drawing board on their home-to-office plans.

Some are restoring mask requirements for customers, others are delaying plans to bring workers back to the office, and several have even imposed vaccine mandates.

How are the biggest companies in the world approaching the delta variant? We took to the AlphaSense platform to see how some businesses are adapting.

Vaccination mandates

ThinkFoodGroup

Chef José Andrés‘ ThinkFoodGroup announced Wednesday that the restaurant group would begin requiring proof of vaccination for all indoor dining patrons aged 12 and older for their restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area. These restaurants include Jaleo, Zaytinya, China Chilcano, Oyamel, barmini/minibar, according to Washington City Paper.

Tyson Foods, Inc.

Arkansas-based meat packaging company Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN) announced on Tuesday that all employees need to be vaccinated as the Delta variant of coronavirus ravages the country.

“It is abundantly clear that getting vaccinated is the single most effective thing we can do to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities.”

Tyson also added deadlines by which the employees need to get vaccinated. For the leadership, the date is September 24 and for office members, it is October 1, and for the rest of the team, by November 1. New hires will have to be vaccinated before joining.

Mask mandates

Tesla

Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla has told workers at its massive Nevada battery factory that they must wear masks indoors regardless of whether or not they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Kroger

The Kansas-based Kroger Grocery Company (KR) released a statement on August 2 saying, “Based on the CDC’s science-based guidance and our associates’ input, we are updating our mask policy in a way that balances our values of safety and respect. Our current mask guidance requires unvaccinated associates to wear masks and requests that unvaccinated customers wear masks in our stores and facilities. In light of the Delta variant and updated CDC recommendations, we strongly encourage all individuals, including those vaccinated, to wear a mask when in our stores and facilities.”

Kroger is also offering $100 to the employees who will take the jab.

Facebook

Facebook announced Monday that it will require all campus employees to wear masks irrespective of their vaccination status. The move comes after Facebook announced Wednesday that it would require U.S. workers returning to its offices to be vaccinated.

“As our offices reopen, we will be requiring anyone coming to work at any of our US campuses to be vaccinated,” VP of People Lori Goler said in a statement last week.

The latest policy will be implemented on Wednesday and will continue to stay in effect. There is no official date for when the mandate will end.

Ford Motor Co.

Ford Motor Co., which employs about 12,500 between its two Louisville manufacturing plants, requires that all employees wear face masks at the two plants – the Louisville Assembly Plant and the Kentucky Truck Plant – starting last Saturday, according to an internal memo sent to workers.

“Based on the latest state, local and internal data trends, Ford is adjusting our face mask protocol for all Ford facilities in Kentucky,” the memo reads.

The memo said all employees, visitors and vendors must follow the protocol, “regardless of vaccine status.” It also notes “Ford continues to encourage team members to get vaccinated.

Vaccination incentives

Vanguard

Investment management firm Vanguard Group Inc. announced Wednesday that it will pay employees $1,000 each to get vaccinated as cases continue to rise as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads throughout the country.

“Vanguard recognizes that vaccines are the best way to stop the spread of this virus and strongly encourages crew to be vaccinated. We are offering a vaccine incentive for crew who can provide COVID-19 vaccination proof,” said Vanguard spokesperson.

CVS

CVS is offering luxury vacations, cruises, concert tickets, a Super Bowl trip and other prizes to eligible customers who get a coronavirus vaccination at one of its pharmacies, the company announced Thursday.

American Airlines

American Airlines is offering employees who get vaccinated by Aug. 31 an extra day off in 2022 and $50 from American’s employee recognition program. “We certainly encourage it everywhere we can, encourage it for our customers and our employees,” said CEO Doug Parker.

Return-to-office delays

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp. two of the largest employers in downtown Minneapolis, are pushing back their return-to-office plans this fall as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Wells Fargo sent a memo to employees Thursday, saying the company is aiming for a phased return starting Oct. 4, a month later than planned, according to the Star Tribune.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and make further adjustments if required to prioritize the health and safety of our employees and customers,” Scott Powell, the company’s chief operating office, said in the email.

Amazon

Amazon said it would delay the office return for corporate employees until Jan. 3, 2022 as conditions around the pandemic evolve.

The internet retail giant said “we will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our work spaces are optimized for the safety of our teams.”

Looking for tips that you can use for future market-impacting events in order to better prep and plan for the future? Look no further. Download our white paper, Four Ways to Approach Global Market Impacting Events.

How Q2’s increase in US capital good orders will impact business investments

Posted on August 3, 2021August 24, 2021 by Nico Bryan

Despite supply chain constraints impacting production at factories across the United States, businesses producing capital goods experienced (surprisingly) positive growth in June.

Continue reading “How Q2’s increase in US capital good orders will impact business investments”

COVID-19: how vaccine inequality risks a halted recovery

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Nico Bryan

As the pandemic recedes in the United States, with half of the U.S. population having received at least one vaccine dose, and with most states planning for full reopenings, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be growing brighter.

Unfortunately, the success of vaccine distribution has not been universal. With the initial doses being first delivered en masse to countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates, vaccine disparities between wealthier countries and the developing world rage on and are halting global efforts to stop the virus’s spread.

According to the World Health Organization earlier this year, of the 832 million vaccine doses administered, 82 percent had gone to well-off countries, while only 0.2 percent had been sent to their low-income counterparts. So what has been the cause of such profound inequality?

Global vaccination efforts undercut by stockpiling

In most of the developed countries, COVID-19 cases have eased, economies are ramping back up, and people are back in the swing of summer vacationing. In many less developed countries, though, the virus has persisted on, often out of control, with vaccinations lagging behind. The contrast feels jarring.

Through our research in the AlphaSense platform, we found an 83% increase across company docs and research mentioning “vaccine inequality” over the last three months. Vaccine inequality is a relatively new topic but the number of mentions in AlphaSense is quickly accelerating as more news outlets, companies, and analysts focus on the ever-evolving problem.

Throughout the research mentioned above, we found that such profound inequality breaks down into two factors:

Richer nations have been stockpiling vaccines.
Developing nations have faced numerous issues in distributing vaccines.

Starting at the very beginning of the pandemic, wealthier nations purchased vaccines and related materials to give out doses within their borders, leaving many developing governments behind on signing contracts with vaccine-producing firms.

Take the United States for example. Though President Joe Biden recently saluted a historic moment in the fight against COVID-19 by announcing the U.S. would donate 500 million vaccine doses to poorer nations, it is difficult to overlook the 1.3 billion doses purchased as of March 2021, more than three times the adult U.S. population. Many experts would classify this purchasing behavior as “hoarding”.

Meanwhile, from Africa to Latin America, to Asia and beyond, several nations have faced vaccine distribution challenges. Beyond finding enough doses, there have been heavy logistical issues with delivery, problems over infrastructure, and hesitancy towards the vaccine itself. Back in April, we reported on the crisis in India, highlighting the havoc the country was experiencing in the wake of increased coronavirus cases. The horrific situation in India underscores the urgent need to expand investment and coordination of the worldwide vaccine supply chain and the infrastructure for responding to future catastrophic events.

As the delta between the rich and the poor widens, claims of vaccine apartheid grow hotter by the day.

Vaccine nationalism vs. vaccine globalism

With vaccine inequality continuing to dominate the conversation, intense criticism over vaccine nationalism has forced countries with large stockpiles to donate shots where they are needed.

Plans to donate vaccinations have been met with both celebration and hesitation, bringing up questions regarding whether or not the number of doses will even be enough to help poor regions. Some health experts and officials have expressed hope that donation pledges would encourage more donations but the lack of rapidity with which these vaccinations are distributed remains a pressing concern.

COVAX, the global mechanism for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, has proven how difficult it is to meet vaccination promises. Though they have delivered over 70 million doses to 126 countries across the world since February, severe impacts on supply due to the surge of the virus in India created shortfalls in the second quarter of this year – a whole 190 million doses short. Similar to what many countries are pledging, COVAX is emphasizing that they will have larger volumes available later in the year, but that still does not address the concerns over current unvaccinated populations.

The scarcity of COVID-19 vaccines around the globe puts the entire world in peril. As long as large populations around the world remain unvaccinated, virus variants will continue to materialize. The biggest fear governments and companies are concerned about is that a strain with the ability to evade existing vaccines will emerge. Economic models predict that many countries will not be able to achieve widespread immunization until the end of 2022, echoing the fears of many health officials and experts.

Early competitive procurement of vaccines by wealthier nations fed into a widespread assumption that each country would be solely responsible for its own population. It is evident that vaccine nationalism was severely underscored, as now the manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and related supplies have proven to be a daunting global challenge.

How nations are reacting to vaccine inequality and nationalism

In the last 30 days, “vaccine nationalism” has had a 22.98% increase across company documents and research. We came across several broker research documents mentioning the prevalence of vaccine nationalism and the potential negative impact it could have on global economic recovery.

But, how are underdeveloped nations themselves responding to vaccine nationalism and inequality?

Below, we’ve found several key news sources that shine a light on how a number of countries are feeling, given the pandemic’s relentless persistence and a sluggish rollout of vaccinations. Some fear a surge in fake vaccinations, while others are grappling with a halt to post-pandemic recovery.

Niger and Cameroon | defenseWeb

Experts argue that vaccine inequality is particularly dangerous for Africa because of the market it creates for fake jabs. Both Cameroon and Nigeria have reported the circulation of counterfeit vaccines, further raising fears among people about having them.

Honduras | Business News Americas

Unequal access to vaccines is hampering Honduras’ post-pandemic recovery, according to finance minister Marco Midence.

“We regret the inequality globally in terms of vaccine distribution. We have been dealing with direct procurement issues. This is very important,” Midence said at a forum of Latin American finance ministers organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

India | AP news wire, The Independent

That worries health experts, who say vaccine inequality could hamper India’s already difficult fight against a virus that has been killing more than 4,000 people a day in recent weeks.

“Inequitable vaccination risks prolonging the pandemic in India,” said Krishna Udayakumar, founding director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center at Duke University in North Carolina. “Reducing barriers for the most vulnerable populations should be a priority.”

Mexico | Agence France Presse

Mexico will complain at the United Nations Security Council this week about unequal access to coronavirus vaccines, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday.

“The countries that produce them have very high vaccination rates and Latin America and the Caribbean have much lower (rates),” he said.

Brazil | Creators Syndicate

That role has now been filled. In The Washington Post of April 6, Darren Baker, President of the Ford Foundation, writes: “An equitable vaccine rollout must prioritize the most vulnerable around the world.”

“Vast disparities are emerging in vaccine access both within countries and between them,” says Baker, “especially for Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities.

In Brazil, Indigenous populations are 10 times more likely to die of covid-19 than the general population.

Kenya | All Africa Global Media

President Kenyatta said it is unfortunate that some countries have more Covid-19 vaccines than they require while others are struggling to access enough doses.

“Now this kind of vaccine nationalism that we have seen. The kind of bias that we have seen of withholding vaccines, where you have countries that today hold 50 vaccines to every citizen, and yet you have countries that are struggling to give their citizens a single dose,” President Kenyatta observed.

Add “vaccine inequality” and other COVID-19 related Keywords to your My Searches within the AlphaSense platform and never miss a beat. Request a free two-week trial to AlphaSense and access data from over 10,000 content sources. Sign up here.

3 ways to approach major market impacting events

Posted on April 30, 2021April 30, 2021 by Craig Farrell

At AlphaSense, we have the unique opportunity and privilege to work with clients ranging from the largest institutional investors to the smartest management consulting firms to the world’s most innovative corporations. By helping these clients get the most out of AlphaSense during one of the most uncertain times in modern history, we’ve gained a unique perspective on how different clients identify, monitor, and respond to new information making a major market impacting that affects their businesses, and their lives.

This perspective, as well as the lessons learned from working with our clients during this time, can serve a company during any major market event, even if it’s not a crisis as impactful as the pandemic. By holistically understanding how our clients approached their research during such an important time, you can leverage a similar strategy to find the insights you’re looking for.

As we consider the evolution of our collective understanding of COVID-19, much has changed in terms of the amount of information available on the virus, how clients are interpreting that information, and how they are shifting their business priorities and strategies in light of the pandemic and what’s been discovered. The chart below shows how the mention of Covid-19 (including all of its variations referenced in documents) has exploded over the prior 2 years across all content sets.

Thematic landscape analysis

With such a dramatic and world-altering event such as the pandemic, the first step required simply trying to understand COVID-19. What was it? How was it impacting local, national, and global governments? And how were companies and industries being affected? From a document perspective, we saw a rapid increase of pandemic, coronavirus, and COVID-19-related coverage in the News and Broker Research analyst reports.

Clients were grappling with identifying the risk, monitoring the spread of the virus, and beginning to project the potential impact of the outbreak. By the end of Q1 and into Q2 of 2020, we saw COVID-19 enter the corporate discourse, commanding significant attention in earnings calls and being discussed heavily by management teams at conferences. As the world went into lockdown, COVID-19 was the dominant news story and continued to be throughout the next year. Even at the time of this writing, the pandemic continues to fuel endless discussions, conversations, and analysis as we begin to ponder what the world, markets, and industries may look like post-pandemic.

Evaluating the market impact

As the impact of Covid-19 was being measured and quantified across all industry segments and businesses by Wall Street, new broker research reports were coming out daily in an attempt to measure the overall impact of the pandemic, identify the industries that would be hurt most, and find which companies and sectors were most poised for growth. That growth segment included those who were PPE and ventilator suppliers (MMM, LDL, RMD, MDT), facilitators of life in our new normal (NFLX, ZM, DIS), the housing industry (LEN, DHI, HD, LOW), and big retail (AMZN, WMT, TGT, COST).

However, these headlines only told part of the story, and in order to truly understand the implications of the pandemic, more comprehensive research was required to find new insights and opportunities that weren’t immediately obvious. This included:

Understanding the market impact of a remote workforce and what a “return to the office” looks like

Finding insights and trends among the 150+ companies who filed for bankruptcy during the crisis

How impacts from the oil industry may shake up Russia-Saudi Arabia relations

Monitoring new developments

As governments, citizens, and companies rallied against the constraints brought on by the pandemic, it was clear that living in a lockdown was not the permanent goal. Different countries had various strategies and reactions to the change in cases, deaths, and hospitalizations but they all considered that a vaccine was the world’s best bet against the virus.

Enter the US government’s funding of Operation Warp Speed and relying on the promise of science to develop a new vaccine to counteract the disease and to slow the outbreak. Markets and investors turned eyes to the pharma and biotech sectors and their R&D machines. These companies quickly became the new focus, as intense scrutiny was placed on the various clinical assets companies were moving through the clinical trial process. As the chart below displays, the number of new industry-sponsored clinical trials rapidly expanded, led by the names that are dominating the vaccine dialogue even to this day.

Fast forward to today, we are now assisting our clients and helping them track vaccination progress in their markets of interest and ongoing business recovery efforts across their sectors. By leveraging sentiment analysis and looking at QoQ changes, clients are able to identify those competitors who are successfully coming out the other side of this dark era, and the unfortunate ones who are not.

As our clients return to some semblance of normalcy, they are continuing to closely monitor for the penetration of Covid-19 vaccinations across all markets, as well as to track reports of new variants of the disease. The success of each nation’s efforts to vaccinate their citizens and workforce will have repercussions across all markets and industries. It will inform the pace of recovery, including how travel and tourism will return, which impacts air travel, which impacts fuel prices, which impacts economic activity and output, and so on.

This is why we created a Covid Intelligence Tracker that gives you direct access to how companies are discussing the pandemic, in real-time.

For the pandemic and beyond, AlphaSense continues to be a critical information source for managing these unique and challenging times.

To learn more about the AlphaSense platform and its recent upgrades, check out our AlphaSense X webcast. This on-demand video will show you how we’re leveraging AI across the search experience to help you find the relevant information you need, faster.

How markets are responding to India’s sudden COVID-19 spike

Posted on April 28, 2021July 27, 2021 by AlphaSense Staff

While headlines are leaning positive given the vaccine rollout in countries like the US, Israel, and the UK, not every country has had the privilege as the pandemic continues to affect dozens of nations. India, for example, has experienced a sudden spike in coronavirus cases, demonstrating the speed at which a virus can wreak havoc on a country and their medical resources.

The crisis has led to an oxygen shortage– hospitals are at capacity, and they’re strained to treat those with COVID-19 infections. HFDC Bank, in India, recently announced that they have converted three of its training centers into isolation facilities. Even the US, other countries, and the private sector have pledged resources and assistance in hopes of remedying the situation as quickly as possible in a country with a population of over 1.3B people. However, the impact, timing, and how soon we’ll see beneficial results are yet to be determined and there will be global ramifications given how severe the crisis is in India. On AlphaSense, we found over 15K documents over the last 30 days (as of 4/27/21) mentioning India and COVID-19 (search link available here for AlphaSense users), and the volume is increasing. In the previous 15 days, there has been a 35% increase in documents with pharmaceutical, metals & mining, banks, and oil, gas, & consumable fuels being the most discussed industries.

How companies are reacting to India’s rise in coronavirus cases

Below, we’ve found several key transcripts and company documents that shine a light on how companies and industries have started to feel an impact given the pandemic’s relentless comeback.

Freudenberg Group | Press Release – Outlook | Document Link

For 2021, Freudenberg once again expects a generally challenging overall economic environment. Following a significant downturn in the world economy in 2020, especially because of the spread of COVID-19, economic growth is expected to recover in 2021.

Despite the challenges of working in India, German companies are still very convinced of the long-term Indian opportunity, with its young well educated and connected population and its evolution as an IT and R&D powerhouse for global players. “India is the youngest-connect-democracy” in the world and is increasingly being considered a preferred partner in manufacturing across industries with companies realizing that India is more than a consumption market but is also a manufacturing and R&D hub that allows foreign companies to create and export products to other markets in this region.

While Ease of Doing Business, transparency and e-governance has shown considerable improvement, skills development and technical training needs further investment. However, it will probably take a few years to reach the pre-crisis level. The geopolitical and economic uncertainties faced in 2021 are especially severe. One major uncertainty is the further development of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the global economy and on the markets of the Freudenberg Group, especially in the automotive industry.

EBIX | Annual Report | Document Link

Our revenue from our gift card business grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic and may not continue at that level after the lockdowns are lifted as the risks of the pandemic decrease.

During 2020, our revenue from the payment solutions offerings in India (primarily prepaid gift cards), increased by more than $200 million year over year to approximately $256 million, a 590% year-over-year growth. The increased demand for prepaid gift cards in India was primarily due to: (i) COVID-19, which has facilitated increased online and electronic commerce due to restrictive lockdowns in 2020; (ii) changes in regulations by the Reserve Bank of India related to debit cards, which has shifted demand in the market towards prepaid gift cards; and (iii) the Company’s increased marketing efforts around the prepaid gift card business. There can be no assurance that this level of revenue will continue once the lockdowns are lifted and economies begin to open back up from the effects of COVID-19 or if there are new regulations adopted that impact the use of gift cards or debit cards.

RAMCO Systems LTD | Annual Report | Document Link

Estimation of the future impact of COVID-19 on its operations

The lockdown scenario the world over has put tremendous pressure on the global business activities, including ours. Prospects are thinking twice on committing new business, which would have impact on order booking and revenue. Travel restrictions, including international travel, have created hardships by way of inability to meet the prospects for new business, the existing customers for delivery of the projects etc.

In order to mitigate the impact, the company has been taking various cost reduction measures. However, the estimation of the future impact of COVID-19 could not be predicted and quantified at this juncture, as we still continue to bear the brunt of the outbreak.

Opera LTD | Press Release – Q1 Financial Results | Document Link

…In particular, Nanobank’s location in India has seen process impacts of the local COVID-19 resurgence affecting both Nanobank staff and its external audit team, resulting in significant delays in completing all required processes.

United Breweries Ltd | Annual Report | Document Link

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in India had caused significant disturbance and slowdown of economic activities. The business operations of the Company have also been significantly impacted by way of interruption of production, supply chain, etc. Recently, there has been a surge in the spread of COVID-19 in India and various state governments have imposed restrictions ranging from night/weekend curfew including closure of malls, restaurants and other public places to contain the spread of COVID-19.

BIC (Societe) | Interim Report | Document Link

“While we continue to effectively navigate through a challenging trading environment, we remain cautious for the balance of the year due to uncertainties related to the pandemic, particularly in Latin America and India. With our Horizon plan serving as our North Star, I am encouraged by the direction that we are taking and the capabilities we are building throughout our organization that will drive accelerated profitable growth.” – Gonzalve Bich, Chief Executive Officer

The Stationery category continued to be strongly affected by ongoing school and office closures and evolving consumer shopping habits. Latin America, Africa and India, with traditional trade highly impacted by the pandemic remained the hardest hit

Sibelco | Financial Report 2020 | Document Link

We saw a sharp drop in sales to the steel market as the pandemic led to the idling of blast furnaces throughout Europe and to a lesser extent India.

Tile manufacturing was badly hit by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Italy, Spain and India, resulting in us losing the equivalent of one month’s worth of sales in each country. Sales in engineered stone also fell as producers significantly reduced stock from March onward.

How to support

With more than 110 team members in Pune and Mumbai, AlphaSense has also been affected by this tragedy. Our hearts go out to our India team, their families, and the entire community affected by this aggressive resurgence. Given the urgent crisis and its direct impact on our team members in India, AlphaSense has contributed $5,000 to the Oxygen for India program with the intention to help purchase 20 oxygen cylinders. We encourage those who can contribute to do so as well.