England Loss Leads To Umbro Share Warning
Kit manufacturer Umbro has issued a warning to the Stock Exchange following the England team’s failure to reach the Euro 2008 football championships.
In a statement, Umbro said that it expected a ‘substantial reduction’ in sales of England shirts due to their inability to qualify for next summer’s tournament.
As a consequence of the statement, Umbro shares were down 2.6% in early trading in London.
Similarly shares in sports goods retailers Sports Direct and JJB Sports dropped 18.2% and 8.6% with Sports Direct declaring that it was no longer confident in beating last year’s profit levels.
A report from NPD Group predicts that sports retailers will lose close to £100m in potential replica shirt sales as a result of England’s non-qualification.
