Dior: Anderson Designs to Take Two Collections to Drive Sales; Leather Goods Key to Margins. T-glass as a potential AI chip supply chain bottleneck; Nitto Boseki’s near-monopoly is supported by decades of expertise in platinum bushing efficiency and strong supply chain relationships. Pets at Home: Mistakes in pushing too far from stores to digital and ignoring everyday grocery shoppers through premiumisation. Lloyds: Acquisition of the remaining stake in Schroders PersonalWealth to boost revenue through cross-selling. Deutsche Bank: Legacy issues persist after laundering raid; Germanpackage helps, risks remain.
Andrew Palmer

After interviewing a number of executives in the luxury space, Yanmei Tang, analyst at Third Bridge made a series of remarks regarding Dior, informed by insights from industry experts:

Experts we spoke to expect that the new designs from Jonathan Anderson will take at least two collections before they translate into meaningful sales.

However, early reception to his shows has been strong. Recent Milan menswear shows suggest Jonathan Anderson is taking Dior in a very different direction, moving away from a heritage-led approach. This has surprised our experts, who had expected Anderson to strike a careful balance, preserving Dior’s menswear heritage while introducing a more fashion-forward shift in womenswear compared with Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Leather goods are clearly the main margin driver for Dior, particularly the Lady Dior. Jonathan Anderson has proven his ability to create high-quality, fashion-forward bags at Loewe. Our experts say there is now a clear need to re-modernise the Lady Dior bag and introduce new handbag lines to refresh the brand’s leather goods offering.



In the TMT market, Venis Zhu, analyst at Third Bridge, comments on T-glass: A quiet supply-chain bottleneck is surfacing. Apple (AAPL) and Qualcomm (QCOM) are concerned about strained supplies of Japan’s high-end glass cloth fiber. This concern could help explain why T-glass(a low-Dk/low-Df glass fiber critical for high-speed PCB substrates) has moved from the background to centre stage within the AI chip value chain.

As a Third Bridge expert analogised, “Electrons are on the move like a car travelling at high speed: high-speed sports cars cannot drive fast on rough roads; therefore, a smoother runway is needed. This is equivalent to the high-speed movement of electrons on low Dk glass fibre.”

The key supplier behind T-glass is the Japanese manufacturer Nitto Boseki (Nittobo). According to Third Bridge experts, this momentum is seemingly centred around Nittobo’s near-monopoly position in an acutely undersupplied market.

Our analyst’s discussions with experts have uncovered three key drivers of Nittobo’s leading position & industry-wide capacity bottlenecks:

Structural production advantages and economies of scale. Low-Dk fibreglass manufacturing requires platinum bushings, a capital-intensive and operationally sensitive process. Nittobo’s decades of accumulated know-how allow it to utilise platinum bushings more efficiently, lowering unit costs while achieving higher yields and a structurally lower hollow-fibre defect rate versus peers.

Supply-chain control. Nittobo maintains close relationships with key weaving-loom vendors, which is itself a critical bottleneck. Limited access to this upstream equipment materially constrains competitors’ ability to add capacity.

Deep customer entrenchment and trust. Qualification and verification with tier-one customers such



In the UK pet market, Alex Doran, analyst at Third Bridge, writes on Pets at Home. Our experts say Pets at Home has pushed too far in shifting investment away from stores and into digital. Whilst the group’s historic advantage lay in in-store expertise, advice and community engagement, this has started to erode. While a modern online platform matters, it has come at the expense of core business strength.

Our experts also highlight a strategic misstep in ignoring the everyday grocery shopper as the business leaned into premiumisation. During the pandemic, Pets at Home successfully pulled customers away from grocers and discounters, but an overemphasis on higher-end brands and weaker entry-level pricing allowed many of those shoppers to drift back to players such as B&M and Tesco.

Despite these challenges, our experts say the group still holds a powerful asset in its seven-million-strong Pets Club database. There is significant untapped potential to use this data to personalise the pet ownership journey, increase engagement and encourage higher lifetime value. In particular, there is a clear opportunity to convert more retail loyalists into veterinary customers.



In the financial space, Max Harper, analyst at Third Bridge comments on Lloyds which is galloping ahead of expectations, delivering a clear profit beat against consensus and upgrading its guidance through 2026.

The bank’s income diversification strategy looks increasingly promising; specifically, the acquisition of the remaining stake in Schroders Personal Wealth presents a significant opportunity to boost revenue through strategic cross-selling.



On Deutsche Bank’s latest results Max Harper says they underscore a period of momentum, with the firm hitting its 2025 financial targets amid favourable trading conditions. This progress reflects CEO Christian Sewing's strategic direction, though the road ahead remains complex.

Recent legal developments highlight the persistent drag of legacy issues, specifically this week's money laundering raid. While the German fiscal package offers a meaningful tailwind, our experts remain cautious as they balance operational successes against ongoing regulatory risks and legacy headwinds.