BRUSSELS – The Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI), which represents more than 1,800 companies including Nike, Adidas, Puma and New Balance, has revealed the findings of what it says is a flagship member survey, highlighting how hard brands of all sizes have been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The results show that 45 per cent of companies have lost turnovers ranging from 50 to 90 per cent since the start of the crisis, and are in urgent need of liquidity and cash flow support.
“The closure of brick and mortar stores all over Europe and internationally, as well as changes of consumers' behaviour lead to serious drop of sales,” said Neil Narriman, FESI president and general counsel of intellectual property at Puma. “Most of our companies are currently struggling to cope with fixed costs [such as rent and employment costs], which create significant liquidity shortages”.
