JD Sports
You’ve got to admire a retailer that’s in a competitive space and doing well despite all the horrendous ness going on around it.
That’s exactly what JD Sports has done as it has defied all the negativity and reported strong sales over the Black Friday and festive period without having to discount too much.
This is in stark contrast to rivals such as Footasylum – which had its third profit warning in 14 months last week – and Sports Direct who said last month that November trading had been “unbelievably bad”.
Its continued focus on the British athleisure market and overseas expansion are clearly paying dividends, so let’s hope this continues.
Car parts giant Continental
The second thing I wanted to talk about today was the gloomy outlook for the car industry, this time coming from the world’s second biggest parts and tyre company Continental.
We’ve recently seen the latest stats showing weakening car sales in China as well as doom and gloom from the likes of Ford and Jaguar Land Rover who are in the midst of cutting employee numbers, so this is just the latest bit of bad news for the sector that confirms all the recent bad news.
The fact that Continental supplies most, if not all, carmakers in some way or other means that it is often seen to be a bellwether across the industry. And it ain’t looking good at the moment.
Falling sales, the prospect of a global economic slowdown denting consumer confidence, tighter emissions regulation and the continued shift away from diesel powered cars are all coming together to form the perfect storm.
