Scan The Market For The Pandemic Survivors

Some companies barely survived the pandemic whilst others have bounced back stronger. Take note of this when you are looking for new investment.

- Simon Brown

The last year has changed everything as we lived through the first major pandemic in more than a century. For many, it meant a very tough year as incomes and lives were lost. This is our reality as a society and even as vaccines are rolled out, the effect of the 2020 pandemic will impact individuals and communities for a long time.

In the business space we have also seen devastation as companies went into business rescue; some, such as Comair, managed to survive with new shareholders. Others have had to make do with little, or in some cases, zero revenue for protracted periods of time, putting a massive strain on cash flows and balance sheets; not to mention debt commitments.

Some sectors will likely never return to how things were, most notably the office rental space. We will see staff returning to offices, in some cases on flexible schedules, while others will in time get back to full-time office work.

I want to focus this column on two issues.