In both business and politics, there exist two competing realities: the fundamentals and the froth.
You can understand the fundamentals in the staid terms that make sense in a quarterly earnings report or policy document. But the froth – the showmanship, the narrative, the drama – often takes over.
This week has been one for the froth. Nowhere was that more evident than the Guzman y Gomez IPO, which left many investors scratching their heads and asking questions about leasing agreements and the marginal cost of production on a chicken burrito bowl, concerns that were brushed aside when the stock popped 36% on its first day of trading.
GYG CEO Steven Marks, the boisterous New Yorker who took it upon himself to revolutionise Australia’s relationship with fast casual Mexican dining, is a graduate of the P.T. Barnum school of business leadership – not uncommon in the United States, but less often seen in a market where comparatively buttoned-down bankers, miners, fundies and energy bosses dominate.
