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  • Apple remains the world’s largest company by market capitalisation

    Apple remains the world’s largest company by market capitalisation

    The market capitalisation of the 100 largest listed companies in the world increased by over USD 10 trillion (48%) between April 2020 and March 2021.

    By 31 March 2021, a new record high of USD 31.7 trillion had been reached, according to PwC.

    All sectors represented in the Top 100 list saw substantial increases, ranging from 25% to 75%, in market capitalisation during the year to March 2021.

    Technology continues to be the largest sector in terms of market capitalisation (USD 10.5 trillion). Global Top 100 Technology companies saw a 71% increase from their March 2020 value.

    Industrials and Basic Materials also outperformed other sectors, with increases of 75% and 68%, respectively.

    The worst-performing sectors in the Global Top 100 were Health Care, with 25%, and Energy and Utilities, at 26%.

    United States continues to dominate the Global Top 100. Its 59 companies on the list recorded the highest regional increase in market capitalisation of 57%, compared with China’s 42% and Europe’s 18%.

    Five European companies dropped out of the Global Top 100 in the year to March 2021, including three in the UK and two in France. That was partially offset by two new entrants to the list from Germany – Siemens and Volkswagen.

    The 73 companies on the list from the US and China account for 77% of the total market capitalisation of all Global Top 100 companies.

    Apple is the world’s largest company by market capitalisation

    Apple regained its crown as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation with a March 2021 valuation of 6% and 13% ahead of Saudi Aramco (2nd) and Microsoft (3rd), respectively.

    Apple’s market capitalisation reached an all-time high of USD 2.4 trillion in January 2021.

    Although Amazon’s market capitalisation increased by 61% in the year to March 2021, the company remained in fourth place.

    The top 10 is completed by Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Tencent, Tesla, Alibaba and Berkshire Hathaway.

    China Mobile was the only company in the Global Top 100 that saw a decrease in market capitalisation.

    Tesla recorded the highest increase, of 565%. Food delivery platform Meituan saw the second largest increase in market capitalisation in relative terms (221%).

    Volkswagen returned to the Global Top 100 with a USD 165 billion market capitalisation as at March 2021, with a 165% increase in the year to March 2021, driven by strong investor support and consumer demand for its transition to electric vehicles.

    Given the ongoing regulatory challenges and suppressed demand across the aviation industry due to the pandemic, Boeing made a surprise return to the list with a 77% increase in market capitalisation.

  • The Z generation and Millennials, most affected by the pandemic

    The Z generation and Millennials, most affected by the pandemic

    An staggering 36% of the respondents to a PwC global survey stated that they had experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression during the pandemic.

    The most affected were the Z generation (42%) and Millennials (43%), according to the report on Global Top Health Industry Issues 2021.

    Of the survey respondents, 44% said that they were interested in using virtual care solutions for resolving those issues.

    As a result, the global economy is losing about USD 1 billion a year as a result of declining productivity caused by depression and anxiety.

  • 73% of business leaders say business has been affected by the pandemic

    73% of business leaders say business has been affected by the pandemic

    Almost three quarters (73%) of the business leaders who responded to a survey said that their business had been affected by the health crisis.

    Bbut that the effect had not been quite as severe as they anticipated in March 2020. At that time, 99% of companies expected a negative impact, according to PwC.

    For 20% of global organisations, the crisis has had a positive impact, with their business being in a better place today than it was before the start of the pandemic.

    The effect of the health crisis has varied between countries and industries, but few will emerge unscathed from this period.

    The most affected sectors have been leisure, entertainment and higher education.

    The manufacturing and automotive industries, public and government services, financial services and the energy, utilities and resources sectors also reported negative effects.

    Technology and health companies have fared much better.

    Only 35% of the respondents reported having a crisis response plan that was ”very relevant”, thus indicating that the majority of organisations did not have specific plans in place for a pandemic situation.

    Thus, currently, 95% of business leaders report that their crisis management capabilities need to be improved, with 70% planning to increase their investment in building resilience.

    Over 80% of the business leaders across all sectors and territories agreed that their response to the crisis took into consideration the physical and emotional needs of their employees.

  • Dinu Bumbăcea to take over the leadership of PwC Romania

    Dinu Bumbăcea to take over the leadership of PwC Romania

    Dinu Bumbăcea is to become PwC Romania’s Country Managing Partner as of 1 July 2021. He takes over that role from Ionuț Simion, who has led PwC Romania for six years.

    With over 28 years of experience in professional services, of which 21 years have been spent as a Partner, Dinu Bumbăcea is currently Partner and Advisory Leader of PwC Romania.

    During his career, Mr. Bumbăcea has coordinated a wide range of consulting projects, in Romania and across the Central and Eastern Europe region, in various industries.

    He’s a graduate of the Faculty of Electronics and Telecommunications of the University Politehnica of Bucharest, holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology US.

    Dinu Bumbăcea is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA UK) and of the Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania (CAFR).

    This year marks 30 years of PwC activity on the local market since it became the first large professional services company registered in Romania after 1989.

    The PwC Romania and PwC Moldova teams currently have over 800 professionals coordinated by 21 Partners, with offices in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Constanța and Chișinău.

  • 40% of working women are employed in sectors affected by the pandemic

    40% of working women are employed in sectors affected by the pandemic

    COVID-19 has increased labour market inequalities between women and men, with more women losing or giving up their jobs during the pandemic, according to the PwC Women in Work Index report.

    Progress for women in work could be back at 2017 levels by the end of 2021, with the index estimated to fall 2.1 points between 2019 and 2021.

    The Index will not begin to improve again until 2022, when it should recover by 0.8 points.

    Women were the most affected in 17 out of the 24 OECD countries that reported an overall increase in unemployment in 2020.

    Between 2019 and 2020, the annual OECD unemployment rate increased by 1.7 percentage points for women (from 5.7% in 2019 to 7.4% in 2020)

    Data collected for the PwC report show that globally, 40% of working women (nearly 510 million) are employed in sectors that the International Labour Organisation identifies as being hardest hit by COVID-19, compared to 37% of men working in these sectors.

    The sectors concerned include tourism, entertainment and recreation, trade and food services.

    In order to undo the damage to women in work caused by COVID-19 by 2030, progress towards gender equality needs to be twice as fast as its historical rate.

    Women in Work Index 2021

    As they do every year, PwC experts have prepared a list of OECD countries ranked by the progress of individual labour markets for women.

    The top places in the current edition are held by Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand, with Mexico, South Korea and Chile taking the last three places. 

    Among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Slovenia ranks highest (in 4th). Poland was ranked 11th, Hungary 18th and Estonia in 19th.

    The Czech Republic and Slovakia are only in the lowest third of the list, ranking 22nd and 26th respectively.

  • Family businesses are optimistic about their recovery by 2022

    Family businesses are optimistic about their recovery by 2022

    Family businesses are optimistic about their recovery over the next two years, with 86% anticipating a return to pre-pandemic growth rates by 2022, says PwC.

    The estimates are encouraging as, given the health crisis, only 28% of respondents estimated sales increases for 2020, with 46% estimating decreases.

    The impact of COVID-19 on sales is uneven across sectors

    Of those in hospitality and leisure, 84%, the highest proportion of any sector, expect a contraction, followed by 64% in automotive and 63% in entertainment and media.

    Regarding the measures taken during the pandemic, 80% of family businesses have enabled home working for employees and 25% have repurposed production to meet pandemic-related demand.

    Only a third of family businesses have had to cut dividends and only 20% have needed access to additional capital. 

    Looking to the future, 80% of family businesses plan to diversify or expand into new products or markets.

    Digital transformation has been delayed

    Although 80% of respondents say that initiatives related to digitalisation, innovation and technology are a top priority, progress in those areas has been slow.

    Only 19% say that their digital journey is complete, with 62% believing that they have a long way to go.

    Of businesses that report having digitalised their operations, 41% are in their third or fourth generation of managing the family business.

    Top priorities for the next two years include expanding into new markets / customer segments (55%), improving digital capabilities (52%), launching new products / services (50%), increasing the use of new technologies (49%) and rethinking the business model (39%).

  • European real estate investors target large cities. Berlin tops the list

    European real estate investors target large cities. Berlin tops the list

    Real estate investors in Europe are increasingly targeting large cities and assets minimally disrupted by the health crisis which ensure stable incomes, such as logistics and residential, according to the Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2021 report produced by PwC and the Urban Land Institute.

    Other segments that can benefit from relatively stable demand are data centers, buildings with life sciences facilities (pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies), new energy / infrastructure, industry and communications towers.

    Top real estate assets in 2021

    Given the strong growth in remote working and ongoing uncertainty around how that trend may play out over the longer term and the future role of the workplace, no office sectors feature in the top ten this year.

    For 2021, the ”flight to safety” for many investors involves technology, so three of the top four property types are likely to benefit from the increased pace of digitalisation around the globe, as boosted by responses to COVID-19, including data centers, communication towers and logistics facilities.

    The residential market remains highly favoured by investors, with three sectors in the top ten representing some form of residential real estate.

    Top cities targeted by investors

    The city rankings in this year’s report reflect both the caution and opportunities driving the market, with a focus on cities believed to offer liquidity and stability.

    Berlin tops the list as the overall favourite for prospects in 2021, with investors encouraged by the relatively strong performance in tackling COVID-19 by Germany as a whole. In fact, three German cities appear in the top 10.

    London has climbed two places to second as investors see it as providing good long-term value. Paris remains in the top three.

    Overall rankingCity
    1Berlin
    2London
    3Paris
    4Frankfurt
    5Amsterdam
    6Hamburg
    7Munich
    8Madrid
    9Milan
    10Vienna

    The industry sees the merits of small- and medium-sized cities, provided they are well connected, with transport connectivity overwhelmingly considered the most important factor in assessing cities.

    Other forecasts for the European real estate market in 2021

    Security of income in non-core assets is causing concern, but 55% of investors expect to be net buyers of real estate in 2021.

    The survey shows a marked decline in business confidence for 2021, with almost half the respondents expecting a fall in profits and a quarter anticipating job losses.

    Domestic investors are expected to come to the fore across Europe in 2021. About a third expect European investors to increase their commitments in 2021.

    Real estate executives were cautious about the overall outlook, resulting in a marked decline in business confidence, with 28% foreseeing a decrease in business confidence, compared with 13% in 2019. In addition, 44% anticipated a fall in profitability, compared with 15% in 2019.

  • PwC: The global economy is projected to rebound by early 2022

    PwC: The global economy is projected to rebound by early 2022

    The global economy is projected to grow in 2021 by around 5%, the fastest rate recorded in the 21st century, returning the global economy in aggregate to pre-pandemic levels of output by the end of 2021 or early 2022, according to PwC Global Economic Watch 2021.

    While the global economy is likely to be back to its pre-crisis levels, the rebound will be uneven across different countries, sectors and income levels.

    Growth will be contingent on a successful and speedy deployment of vaccines and continued accommodative fiscal, monetary and financial conditions in each country.

    Growth will return but be uneven

    According to PwC, the Chinese economy is already bigger than its pre-pandemic size, but other advanced economies, particularly heavily service based economies like the UK, France and Spain or those focused on exporting capital goods, such as Germany and Japan, are unlikely to recover to their pre-crisis levels by the end of 2021.

    The predictions caution that the next three-to-six months will continue to be challenging, particularly for the Northern Hemisphere countries going through the winter months as they could be forced to further localised or full economy-wide lockdowns, as recently displayed in the UK and Germany.

    So, these economies could contract in Q1 and growth overall is more likely to pick up in the second half of the year, when it is expected that at least two thirds of their population will be vaccinated.

    In economies such as the UK, France, Spain and Germany, growing but lower levels of output are projected to push up unemployment rates, with most of the jobs affected likely to be those at the bottom end of the earnings distribution, thus exacerbating income inequalities.

    More investments in green infrastructure

    The environment will be an important focus for 2021, significant investment and policy shifts related to the Paris Climate Agreement being expected in the major trading blocks including the US, China and the EU.

    In this context, global green bond issuance is expected to top USD 500 billion for the first time with investor appetite expected to continue to increase in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funds.

    ESG funds will continue to increase and could account for up to 57% of total European mutual funds by 2025. Green bonds, which are used to directly finance environmental projects, currently make up less than 5% of the global fixed income market.

    Other forecasts for 2021

    In the previous edition of the Global Economic Watch, the Netherlands was credited with the best chance of winning the Euro 2020 championship, which due to the pandemic was postponed to 2021.

    Meanwhile, the form of the Dutch team has decreased and France now has the best chance to win.

    Annual average oil price to remain below USD60 per barrel but likely to pick in the second half of the year.

    Italy is expected to re-join the USD 2 trillion GDP club as public debt levels in G7 are projected to exceed USD 57 trillion.

  • Blockchain technologies could boost the global economy USD 1.76 trillion by 2030

    Blockchain technologies could boost the global economy USD 1.76 trillion by 2030

    Blockchain technologies are expected to be adopted at scale across the global economy by 2025 and have the potential to boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by USD 1.76 trillion over the next decade.

    Data was revealed in PwC’s Report ”Time for trust: The trillion-dollar reason to rethink blockchain”.

    The potential for blockchain to be considered as part of organisations’ future strategy is linked to research by PwC with business leaders that showed almost two thirds of CEOs (61%) said they were placing digital transformation of core business operations and processes among their top three priorities, as they rebuild from COVID-19.

    At a sector level, the biggest beneficiaries look set to be the public administration, education and healthcare sectors.

    Meanwhile, there will be broader benefits for business services, communications and media, while wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers and construction services, will benefit from using blockchain to engage consumers and meet demand for provenance and traceability.

    In terms of individual countries, blockchain could have the highest potential net benefit in China (USD 40 billion) and the USA (USD 407 billion). Five other countries – Germany, Japan, the UK, India, and France – are also estimated to have net benefits over USD 50 billion.

    The report identifies five key application areas of blockchain and assesses their potential to generate economic value using economic analysis and industry research:

    • Tracking and tracing of products and services – or provenance – which emerged as a new priority for many companies’ supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, has the largest economic potential (USD 962 billion).
    • Payments and financial services, including use of digital currencies, or supporting financial inclusion through cross border and remittance payments (USD 433 billion).
    • Identity management (USD 224 billion) including personal IDs, professional credentials and certificates to help curb fraud and identity theft.
    • Application of blockchain in contracts and dispute resolution (USD 73 billion), and customer engagement (USD 54 billion) including blockchain’s use in loyalty programmes further extends blockchain’s potential into a much wider range of public and private industry sectors.
  • 80% of companies believe remote work is the new norm on the labour market

    80% of companies believe remote work is the new norm on the labour market

    Most companies (80%) respondents to PwC’s global survey ”The future of remote work” shows that adopting remote work is the new norm on the labour market, and over 53% currently have created and implemented arrangement policies in this respect.

    Of the remainder (47%), more than 50% of companies anticipate that they will refine or implement a remote work arrangement policy by the end of 2020.

    The top three priorities for enabling remote work arrangements are health and safety of employees (70%), enhancing the employee experience (65%) and attracting and retaining key talent (60%).

    What means ”remote working”

    45% of companies define remote work arrangements as employees ”working outside of their home office or work location, without any cross-border movement”. However, this is followed closely by 30% of companies defining remote work arrangements as employees working outside their home office, with both domestic and international cross-border movement anticipated and/or permitted.

    Regarding the salary policy, 80% of companies are not making any salary adjustments during the remote work arrangement period. Over half of the respondents are not providing any allowances, reimbursements, or mobility support for a remote work arrangement.

    The majority of companies are anticipating their remote workers will have access to an office. However, 45% of companies will not require employees to go into the office, and 21% are anticipating a hybrid approach between remote working and office workdays.

    The survey was conducted on more than 300 global companies.

  • European consumers prefer cashless payments

    European consumers prefer cashless payments

    Cash is losing ground in Europe, given that 36% of respondents to the Payments and Open Banking survey, conducted by PwC, say they use cash in 2020, 7 percentage points less than two years ago.

    However, consumers’ reorientation towards cashless payments is not reflected in an increase in their willingness to share personal data with third parties – a condition for the development of “open banking”.

    Thus, only 20% of respondents are willing to provide financial data.

    Banks remain at the top of trust

    According to the survey, European respondents say they trust more traditional banks and card providers for the exchange of personal information (17%).

    Compared to 2018, both banks and card providers lost 4 percentage points of confidence.

    Among other players, payment service providers are trusted by 9% of respondents and retailers by 8%, internet giants by 7%, while banks that operate exclusively online (neobanks) and FinTech would receive data only from to 3% of European consumers.

    Benefits for data exchange

    The most desired benefit for consumers to exchange personal data for services other than banking is the discounts on shopping, while the popularity of other benefits for using “free banking” products or for automatic filing of tax returns are more reduced.

    Cards use is increasing

    Instead of cash, consumers use cards, e-wallets or applications. The use of debit cards is increasing, in 2020, to 31% compared to 27% in 2018, and that of applications and e-wallets to 14% from 11%.

    The reasons why Europeans use cash over other payment methods are as follows: 34% say they use it if no other payment is accepted, 26% for convenience, 13% because they have security concerns, and 20% have more control of expenses / budget.

    The preference for cash varies greatly and has decreased at a different rate, for example in Switzerland it has fallen in the last two years from 60% to 45% and in Italy from 52% to 38%.

    COVID-19 a catalyst for non-cash payments

    The COVID-19 crisis has influenced the behavior of European consumers when shopping in stores. Thus, 44% use physical cards more often and 9% smartphones (for example Apple Pay).

    Respondents believe that these payment behaviors are long-lasting and only one in five expects to return to previous habits.

  • Romania: The gross wages at private companies increased by 6.79%

    Romania: The gross wages at private companies increased by 6.79%

    The gross wages at private companies increased by a year-on-year average of 6.79% in the first six months of 2020, according to PwC Romania’s PayWell Salary and Benefits 2020 Survey.

    The respondents estimated that the reported level of increases would be maintained until the end of the year. For 2021, private companies estimate a year-on-year 4.68% average gross wage increase.

    Of the industries represented in the study, the retail sector recorded the highest average wage growth, of 9.87%, followed by banking with 7.39%. The pharmaceutical sector recorded a below survey-average increase of 4.17%.

    In terms of staff categories, the trend of increasing wages amongst unskilled or low-skilled personnel (workers, operators) continues, as an average of 7.32%, but even that is a reduction from last year’s growth rate in excess of 10%.

    In 2020, operational management position salaries increased by 7%, with top management’s growing by 6.72%. At the other end of the scale, administrative staff, technicians and employees with little experience saw their salaries rise by 6.6%.

    In terms of benefits, meal tickets, additional days off, medical subscriptions, free coffee and refreshments, and special occasion bonuses continue to be in the top of preferences.

    To reduce costs since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, 49% of the companies surveyed implemented work from home policies, 29% worked in shifts, 5% reduced working time and 5% implemented furloughs.