Well, this year you have a great excuse. You can blame it on the World Cup. And by the way, in doing so you'll be in excellent company. As the following article points out, over 100 publicly traded companies have already cited the World Cup in explaining their results.
The Cup now joins the weather, military conflict and global pandemics in the ranks of unassailable excuses. These are about as failsafe as the latter day students' claim that 'the computer deleted my homework.' The human capacity for offloading responsibility is limitless.
The problem, of course, is that the Cup returns like clock work every four years and the locations are announced approximately a decade in advance (Russia's on deck for 2018) so that may diminish the 'who could have foreseen this coming...' quotient, but still, ya might as well use whatever material life gives you. JL
Vipal Monga and Emily Chasan report in the Wall Street Journal:
More than 100 public companies have already talked about the impact of the monthlong tournament on their businesses during the second quarter.
Cheers of victory and cries of defeat during World Cup soccer games were echoed by scores of executives world-wide as they looked at their financial results.More than 100 public companies have already talked about the impact of the monthlong tournament on their businesses during the second quarter. Game plans were critical, as they were on the fields, and there were some surprising feats and missed opportunities.Las Vegas Sands Corp. said the games hurt gambling revenue, with the VIP segment falling 20% in June from May, while Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said its revenue per available room in Brazil rose 25%.Reuters"It's always good to have the winning team staying in one of your hotels, and from what I heard the victory party at the Sheraton Rio was one for the record books" after Germany beat Argentina in overtime in the final game, said Frits van Paasschen, Starwood's chief executive.As fans gathered around TVs and radios—many hot off store shelves—commerce in many parts of the world slowed and sometimes stood still. Whirlpool Corp. said demand for appliances in Latin America, originally forecast not to grow, could fall as much as 3% this year because people bought items such as video recorders instead of washing machines. Stanley Black & Decker Inc. said it sold fewer power drills and buzz saws in the region because the "World Cup became a huge market distraction."Brazil's economy as a whole didn't see much benefit from the World Cup, said Daniela Ordonez, an economist at trade-related credit-insurance firm Euler Hermès. She estimated the value of goods and services produced in Brazil this year will grow just an extra 0.2%. Worse, the country's inflation rate is expected to rise 0.5 percentage point because of the extra spending."All the activity in consumption and tourism was more or less offset by reduced productivity in other areas like construction and transportation," she said. "From an economic point of view, maybe it was not worth it."Jose Luis Laparte, president and CEO of PriceSmart Inc., which operates shopping warehouse clubs, said TV sales were strong in the first two weeks of June but customers disappeared on game days in countries such as Colombia, Honduras and Costa Rica. "The last Costa Rica game was on a Saturday, so people just didn't go out shopping for sure," he told investors.TV sales skyrocketed, but that may mean fewer Christmas sales. Corning Inc., which makes TV screens, said sales in South America were up 25% in April and 64% in May. "We also know that those people that bought a TV for the World Cup are unlikely to buy one for the Christmas holiday season," said James B. Flaws, the chief financial officer. "It won't change long-term demand."Meanwhile, more than 80 million viewers tuned in to coverage from Univision Communications Inc., another official sponsor, which had 65% more viewers than it had during the 2010 World Cup.Fewer American fans were eating Grand Slam meals at Denny Corp.'s restaurants during key games, but the BJ's chain of restaurants and brewhouses in Maryland and Virginia was busy when the U.S. team played.In Brazil, fans munched General Mills Inc. 's Yoki potato chips and a limited edition of Yoki snacks with flavors inspired by World Cup countries, such as American-bacon peanuts and Japanese soy-sauce and wasabi-flavored popcorn. They also drank Powerade sports drinks from Coca-Cola Co. , one of the official sponsors. Sports-drink sales climbed 6%, fueled in part by Coke's music anthem, which made the top-10 charts in 40 countries, according to CEO Muhtar Kent.American Airlines Group Inc.said fewer business travelers bothered to trek to Latin America, while more people in the region took vacations in Brazil rather than the U.S. Revenue-per-average-seat mile, a common industry metric, fell 2% in Latin America in the second quarter. Delta Air Lines Inc.estimated industry revenue dropped 5% in the region in June.Knowing how much employees and residents wanted to watch the games, African Barrick Gold PLC installed giant TV screens in villages around its mines in places like Tanzania."We were doing innovative things in the community. And the response we got was amazing—very, very positive," said Bradley Gordon, CEO of the London-based firm. "In fact, at North Mara intruder numbers went down to zero for the duration of the World Cup," he said, joking that "maybe we'll talk to FIFA about extending it in the future."And Franklin Covey Co. , which provides leadership training and consulting, held its fiscal third-quarter conference call as the U.S. played a gripping game against Belgium. Executives were thankful just to get analysts and investors to dial in. "We hear cheering in the background, but we appreciate you joining us," said CEO Robert Whitman.
0 comments:
Post a Comment