SGB Executive

Shoe Carnival Inc. wrapped up a strong fourth quarter to mark its 11th consecutive year of comparable-store sales growth. The off-price footwear also stressed it’s financially and operationally prepared to manage any impact from the coronavirus outbreak.

Nike Inc. didn’t escape the fiscal third quarter entirely unscathed, and headwinds remain globally in Q4 and beyond, but the company managed to evade a revenue and earnings plunge thanks to the “playbook” it deployed as the coronavirus spread across China in recent months.

Nike Inc. said a 36 percent hike in global digital growth drove sales and earnings ahead of expectations in the third quarter ended February 28 and helped the brand recapture lost sales due to store closures in China after the coronavirus outbreak. Digital sales grew in excess of 30 percent in all geographies for the Nike Brand as well as for Converse in the quarter.  

Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to rankle the active-lifestyle marketplace. Most retailers have temporarily closed their doors. Sports leagues show no signs of resuming play. And now the Summer Olympics has been postponed until 2021. The ripple effect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is reaching new pockets of the U.S. economy and will linger for months to come.

On a webinar Monday exploring the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the sporting goods industry, Tom Cove, CEO of SFIA, encouragingly said the stimulus bill expected to come out in the coming days is expected to provide relief for small businesses and “pent-up demand” should help the sports industry smartly recover in the back-half of the year. Currently, however, the focus of key industry players to weather the coronavirus is to converse cash.

Mergers and acquisitions are slowing to a crawl due to the coronavirus outbreak, but buyers and sellers can use this time to prepare for the surge of activity that’s sure to occur once business normalcy returns. SGB Executive examines the current M&A landscape and offers tips for navigating either side of the deal.

Gildan Activewear Inc. said it has seen a “significant deterioration” in demand for its products, particularly on the imprintables side where end-users are closely linked to large gathering events. The company is also suspending manufacturing facilities production until mid-April and withdrew its first quarter and full-year 2020 guidance due to uncertainty over the duration of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus has forced many retailers to temporarily close their doors, but Birmingham, AL-based Hibbett Sports Inc. believes its locations are better positioned than big-box competitors and isn’t issuing a companywide shutdown. Hibbett CEO Mike Longo spoke on the fourth-quarter earnings call Friday morning—his first since being named to the top post last December—about the company’s resiliency amid this current crisis.

The Week’s Top Headlines across the Active Lifestyle Industry as reported in SGB Updates during the week of March 16, 2020.

The coronavirus has taken a huge toll on Vail Resorts Inc., which closed its 34 North American resorts (with the chance of reopening three of them). Vail remains in a strong financial position, but such an abrupt end to the ski season quickly turned the company’s fiscal 2020 into a “year to forget.”

Duluth Holdings Inc., the parent of Duluth Trading, plans to reduce new store openings and take other measures that will curtail expenses and capital spending in 2020 to weather the expected fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Said Stephen Schlecht, executive chairman and CEO, “Our plans for fiscal 2020 made just a few weeks ago are already out of date and under review.”

Online sales could get a significant bump as Americans head indoors and avoid stores to help stop the spread of coronavirus but supply chain issues, out-of-stocks and eroding consumer confidence may hold back some gains.

A burgeoning ski category includes three relative newcomers—Dahu Boots, Envy Snow Sports and Mad Jack Snowsports—plus a longtime player, all of whom aim to remove foot pain by making more comfortable boot systems. SGB Executive breaks down their efforts to bring more people to the sport and keep them on the slopes for longer.

The NPD Group believes the postponement of most of the major sports leagues’ seasons due to the coronavirus outbreak will have a minimal impact on athletic footwear sales but may cause some near-term pain for the licensed sports category.

The chaos that coronavirus is causing across the active lifestyle marketplace is unprecedented. And while it’s hard to claim any “winners” when an outbreak such as Covid-19 is wreaking so much havoc on everyday life, a couple of categories in this space stand to benefit—firearms and at-home fitness manufacturers.