Companies that have benefitted from lockdown; and how does Britain compare?

“These are the times when the strong get stronger” said the President of Nike.

Nike present themselves as being among those who have gained from the pandemic. Although their worldwide profits have been affected by currency variations, sales have remained strong and online has risen to become one third of their sales. Nike has been a big spender on advertising and sports sponsorship, a cost that has dropped by one third because of the cancellation of sporting events. Nike say that the market for sportswear remains strong, as people have tried to keep fit during lockdown.

Some companies have benefitted from lockdowns in a big way. Video conferencing company Zoom have gained over 2m new users this year, and their share price has increased by a third. Amazon were another big winner, reporting their largest ever quarterly profit. Ocado has also done well, and it’s share price values the company at almost £22bn, overtaking Tesco as Britain’s most valuable retailer.

Malaysia based Top Glove are the world’s biggest disposable glove maker, while supermarkets have generally had a good time through the pandemic, as have the makers of soaps and sanitisers, and video games producers. Nintendo and XBox both seem to have benefitted.

Some of these seem obvious, at least on reflection. I was surprised to see that B&Q, a company that seemed to have had its day and has been closing stores over a five year period, has seen a significant rise in sales as the nation has turned to DIY.

While restaurants have suffered, some takeaways have done good business, including Domino’s Pizza.

And of course companies doing most or all of their business online.

The losers?

 Sadly we’re hearing about job losses all the time, and the list seems to be endless:-

Airlines, Clothing retailers, hospitality, taxi companies and furniture retailers  seem to have taken the worst hit

How does retail in Britain compare with other countries?

UK retail sales are still significantly below pre pandemic levels, down at least 20% compared with this time last year. The USA has fared slightly better, although sales there are still almost 10% down.

Year on year sales have dropped by more than in Britain in Portugal, Hungary, Spain and Italy. But some European countries have seen retail sales that are higher than this time last year – Norway, Ireland, Denmark, France, Serbia, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Germany and Lithuania have all seen year on year retail growth.

UK footfall in shopping areas is down by over one quarter in the UK. In the West End of London it is down by half and in Leicester by more than a half, City centres and shopping centres have seen the biggest falls. A few areas have seen a year on year increase including Cornwall, Blackpool and the Isle of Wight, driven by domestic tourism.

Online shopping seems to have stabilised at about 30% o all sales. Many analysts expect it to fall slightly to around one quarter. We’re not so sure.

Photo: West End shopping centre, Budapest