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On the ball from the kick
UMBRO has scored with a successful stock market launch at a time when several other potential newcomers have been pulled because of volatile market conditions,Air Max 2003 Hommes.
Shares in the Cheshire based football replica kit group were allocated to institutional investors at 100p late last week. In conditional dealings they quickly moved up to 110p.
It is far better for the company to have a successful launch at a lower price than a flop that will leave the share price wilting for months and its paper unusable in takeover bids,Nike Blazers Mid Femmes.
Initially it had been hoped that the shares would command a price in the region of 150p to 190p based on Euro2004 fever. But that was seen by some as a cynical attempt to cash in on current enthusiasm.
So the analysts then started to pick holes in the positive enthusiasm about future prospects being shown by Umbro's chief executive, Peter McGuigan.
The first point the critics made was that next year's prospective football calendar was not likely to produce the same booming UK sales that is unless Chelsea, one of the teams with which Umbro has a 10 year contract, wins everything in sight.
To the argument that Umbro would be looking ahead to the potential demand for the World Cup finals in 2006, the analysts argued that by then bigger rivals such as Nike and Adidas would be stepping up their efforts in the kit market.
Similarly Umbro's pitch that "future growth areas" would be found in branded footwear, the US and sports kit for women came in for some torrid comment.
As one said: "What kid is going to tell his mum that he can't face his chums without a new pair of the latest style in Umbros?"
The final point the analysts fastened on was that although Umbro has signed Michael Owen to be its frontman for 15 years under a 15m contract the logo on the Liverpool shirts is Reebok, and not Umbro.
To be fair it is the job of analysts to pick holes like this in the case made by any stock market newcomer. And most agreed that when the offer price was slashed by a third, bringing the price/earnings ratio down to single figures, the shares started to look like a steal.
Umbro's future strategy is to build on the close relationships which it already has with 150 leading clubs worldwide, and to further develop the potential of its network of 47 overseas licensees who both source and distribute its products to local retailers.
This already gives it sales with a global wholesale equivalent value of 310m, a figure which, when viewed in relation to the 160m value the stock market now puts on the Umbro business, adds to the attractions of the current share price.
Venture capital group Doughty Hanson still holds on to 57.4 per cent of the shares (against a previous 83 per cent) and its eventual hopes of reducing this stake will act as a brake on the shares for a time.
But the truth is that all now depends on how well Mr McGuigan and his colleagues succeed in providing the fans with exactly what they want when they want it.
Umbro is a British company fighting in the toughest global brand market of them all, one where the team managements with which it forges alliances are not noted for long term loyalty to those whose performance falters.
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Mark Thomas was appointed editor of the Liverpool Post in 2007, and is also editor of the Liverpool Post Business Daily. A former Press Association regional correspondent, Mark has worked as a reporter, deputy news editor, investigations editor,Hommes Nike Free Run 3.0, assistant editor and deputy editor in our business. Liverpool born, he lives in Wirral with his partner Penny and their two dogs.
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