Friday High Five – the news this week
I went shopping this week.
After a white knuckle ride on the markets, I wanted to see for myself how the grand corporate strategies that we write about actually play out in real life.
In the Manchester branch of Size a smart lad called James talked me through the trends in the sports footwear market, where parent company JD has built its business.
The most popular brand, he explained, is still Adidas, with the German giant dominating the racks with some unique and exclusive collaborations.
But where US footwear rival Nike, known for its swoosh, was once neck and neck with the three stripes, it is now vying for customer attention with the likes of New Balance, Asics, and a Swiss brand particularly big in Manchester and Liverpool, called ON.
But that only tells a fraction of the story. We all know the athleisure trend started in the North West, as did JD, but it is a global business now.
This makes it uncomfortably vulnerable to the Trump tariffs as the chip pot bully treats the world economy like a hustle.
While Nike may have waned on the streets of Manchester, it has also taken a hammering on the US markets and is vulnerable to tariff regime that punishes its global supply chain.
As a result of all of this, the markets were expecting grim news from JD ahead of a midday trading update on Wednesday, but instead got what one analyst described as JD having a “spring in its step” again.
A share buyback programme, designed to push up the price that hit rock bottom on Monday, also seemed to lift confidence in the business and its future prospects.
Finally, I’d like to share with you that I’ve been shortlisted for a journalism award. I am chuffed to bits about this. The stories I submitted to the esteemed judges at the Wincott Foundation were a mixture of styles, and included crime, corporate analysis and mental health advocacy. If you follow me then you can probably guess what they were.
Thank you for your consistent support and regular engagement, which makes this job such a joy.
