Analysis: Covid-19 has led some companies to better business models

The pandemic has given some firms a greater insight into where they can improve and where they can cut back. Those who use the opportunity to re-evaluate will emerge stronger in a post-Covid world

Nike has delivered good numbers in the latest quarter, with sales around the same level as last year despite a 33 per cent drop in its promotional spending. Photo: Getty

Company chief executives have been finding it difficult to provide guidance and a clear business outlook in 2020 given the uncharted waters, but it has been getting slightly better.

Earlier in the year, during the first-quarter reporting season, almost 70 per cent of US companies which normally guide analysts and the markets on what to expect simply abandoned giving profit forecasts. Naturally enough, this was most evident in consumer-orientated companies.

For the second quarter this ...