The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Andrew Charles Grobler - CrTdit Suisse AG, Research Division - Analyst
: Two for me as well, if I may. Could you just talk us through some of the regional variations in terms of growth rates through the quarter and kind
of on a similar theme, also end markets? Is it still areas like safety that are already driving that additional growth?
Question: Andrew Charles Grobler - CrTdit Suisse AG, Research Division - Analyst
: Can I ask 1 follow-up? At the half year, you have taken a bruise, and I think, for $20 million for potential bad debt in the second half. Given performance
has remained -- or has been so strong to date, is that still likely to be taken? .
Question: Rajesh Kumar - HSBC, Research Division - Analyst
: Sorry. My line was on mute. Two if I may. On the decline in the core business, could you talk us through how your discussions with the suppliers
on the cost price and rebate accrual is progressing? And also, second, could you give us some color on if you've seen any pattern changes in Q3
with respect to core business in terms of geographies effect of -- which sectors have declined more or less since Q2?
Question: Sylvia Pavlova Barker - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: Can I just ask a couple? So on the small orders for COVID product, for the top 8 COVID products, could I just tell -- kind of how much of that is linked
to your horeca clients or your foodservice and retail clients kind of reopening, i.e., as we're seeing markets reopen or close again to some extent,
to what extent is that a double whammy, I guess, on the underlying business and on the small orders?
And then maybe as we think into kind of next year, if we just think about the clients that you have on the COVID side, on the top COVID products,
I think you mentioned previously that initially, you were mainly supplying kind of existing clients, obviously, outside of some of the governments
that were purchasing as well. Have you been adding kind of new clients to that portfolio? Do you think that you will actually have a much wider
client base in that space going into 2021, where maybe if we think about the first quarter at least when you didn't have any PPE help perhaps will
have benefits, which you might not have seen kind of previously just from winning these new clients?
Question: Sylvia Pavlova Barker - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst
: And then just outside of government, have you expanded your client list on the kind of safety, PPE and hygiene sites? Have you been adding a lot
more corporates to your client list just off the back of COVID? .
Question: Katherine Somerville - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst
: So just firstly, on the growth rates in the quarter. Are you able to give any color around the run rate through just the 3 months of the quarter,
whether those growth rates are relatively consistent?
And then also in terms of the COVID orders, have you managed to maintain the margin that you earned in Q2? And is there a difference between
the larger orders and the smaller orders in terms of that margin?
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