The rise in global inflation has led to the term skyrocketing in companies’ earnings calls. GlobalData’s Company Filing Analytics database finds that mentions of inflation as a keyword rose year-on-year by over 200% in February 2022.

The leading data and analytics company also found that there was an increase of almost 30% in Q4 2021 over Q3 2021, crossing 4,500 mentions. Furthermore, Q1 2022* mentions so far are close to surpassing Q4 2021 levels.

Rinaldo Pereira, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Over 45% of companies mentioned ‘Inflation’ in respective earnings calls in 2022*. Keywords including ‘Pricing’, ‘Price’, ‘Cost’ and ‘Labor’ continue to increase across sectors. That said, companies are trying to price smartly to navigate these inflationary pressures.”

The construction sector had the most mentions of ‘Inflation’ in 2022 earnings calls, with nearly 16% of the overall mentions, followed by the consumer sector with 15%. Additionally, inflation rate projections for China, India, the US, the UK, and Germany have been revised upwards.

Pereira adds: “Firms expect inflationary impacts to persist for longer than expected. Companies have recognized this likelihood on earnings calls and are working towards offsetting its impact in 2022 through pricing, managing supply bases, inventories, driving productivity and running cost reduction programs. However, the Russia-Ukraine crisis makes navigating the situation more complex for companies, as prices continue to surge.”

* Until March 9