Coles operates its namesake supermarkets as well as bottle shops Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market, and Vintage Cellars. It also has the Flybuys program that seeks to reward loyal customers with various points redemption options and also makes more money for the company. With the rise of eCommerce, Coles has also begun offering online shopping services.

Yes, Coles may be a supermarket duopoly with Woolworths (ASX: WOW). But the fact is, its trades are barely 60% of the equity value of Woolworths, even though it is growing faster right now. It made 4.9% sales growth in the first 2 months of CY24, while its rival grew just 1.5%.

GrainCorp is one of the world's leading grain traders, accounting for over 50% of export trades. As its name implies, it specialises in grains, collecting, transporting, processing, storing and trading them. People always need food, regardless of the weather or the state of the economy.

GrainCorp has benefited from the Russia-Ukraine war, with those countries making up a third of global wheat exports and other nations looking for alternative sources. It trades at just 18x P/E for FY25.

This is a controversial inclusion, we admit. After all, there's the saying that investors should 'never buy an airline' and Qantas is struggling with fleet shortages and reputational issues. Nonetheless, it made a $1.4bn profit last year, a $1.2bn profit in the first half of this year and is trading at a P/E of 5.5x.

We are optimistic that the forthcoming Project Sunrise flights can benefit its bottom line in the way that its new ultra-long-haul flights (such as Perth to London) have had on its bottom line.

Inghams is a poultry company that is up 18% in the last year but is trading at an FY25 P/E of less than 12x. There is a lot to like about this company. It possesses many positive traits including a market-leading position, a long history and being in a recession-proof industry.

For much of the pandemic and its aftermath, it has battled higher input costs, including feed, packaging and freight, as well as supply chain challenges. And even though Inghams is the largest poultry company, its customers did have alternatives and its competitors had their supply.

But now, those difficult times are over. In August 2023, the company released its FY23 results and it reported a $60.4m profit, up 72% in 12 months. This was despite Poultry Volumes going 0.4% backward because the company was able to pass on cost increases to its customers. It delivered a ROIC of 19%, up from 13.7% the year before.

Valued attractively at 9.8x P/E for FY25, QBE is one of the world's top 20 insurance companies, employing over 14,500 people in 37 countries. It offers both consumer insurance products but also business insurance. We're not just taking insurance for small coffee shops, we're talking insurance for companies like big oil rig operators. In uncertain times, you want any certainty you can get and QBE provides this.

In CY23, it recorded 8.8% growth in its gross written premium and a 10% jump in net insurance revenue. Pleasingly, it can keep its costs under control with its expense ratio only growing from 11.7% to 11.8%, making a profit more than double the year before and almost doubling its Return on Equity from 8.3% to 16%.