Who's On The Up?

This week past witnessed more mixed signals on whether the credit crunch recession is recovering. One thought that struck me for certain though, is that there are definitely firms out there that are categorically not in recession mode. If you can identify one that could do with your services, then you too could share their market-defying good times.

The most obvious example is with anyone involved in government contracts. In the USA, apparently $23trillion, ‘only’ one-third of the earmarked stimulus package, has so far been spent. In the UK, new infrastructure projects are announced almost daily, this week’s largest probably being £1bn for rail electrification (London Paddington to Swansea and the world’s first ever line, Manchester-Liverpool’s 32 mile stretch). On a smaller scale, a friend of mine gets the odd day of contract work on various Ministry of Defence projects and joked to me the other day, “Recession? What recession?”

Glaxo SmithKline are set to make an extra £3bn from orders for 180m doses of swine flu vaccine. A figure set to rise even higher.

And even those derided bankers are back in the money, with American’s Wells Fargo reporting incredulous Q2 profits of $3.17bn.

Elsewhere, both discount retailers and retailers offering special discounts are buzzing. The UK food multiples are growing. Anywhere around 6-12% it seems, and all at a time when the economy has tanked almost 5% the other way. And clothing store chains that stack high, sell cheap are no different, with Primark’s sales up 18%.

So the message is clear. Some firms are doing well. What can you sell to them? How do you identify them on your patch? What can you do to share in their trend-bucking bonanza?