Survey suggests higher forward capex growth despite pandemic pre-buy

The latest UBS Evidence Lab warehouse automation survey (> Access Dataset) suggests higher future capex growth even though it confirms that 2020 growth seemed strongly supported by a pronounced pandemic-related pre-buy effect. Hence, the structural attractiveness of the market seems unabated. Short-term growth is now seen at 5.2%, on average (4.3% last year), and medium-term growth at 3.6% (3.2%). This might still be too cautious, as in the past real market growth rates have outperformed the survey results by a factor of 2-3x. Overall, some 67% of respondents (52% last year) see somewhat (51% vs 35%) or significantly increasing (16% vs 17%) spending currently.