Hope for retailers lie in a few grey hairs
During these tough times you can’t beat a bit of experience and judging by the share price increase of JJB Sports over the past two trading days the City places a very high value on managers who have gained a few grey hairs from trading through difficult times.
By Glynn Davis
JJB Sports shares have rocketed by over 120 per cent since Friday when Sir David Jones was appointed executive chairman of the group, which will see him take over the running of the group from chief executive Chris Ronnie. He is to be aided by another well known retail face Peter Williams who ran Selfridges for a time.
Both have been integral to resurrecting their respective businesses in the past when they were in dark places. Jones did a miraculous job of turning around Next when it was pretty much on the floor. And Williams was integral to the renaissance of Selfridges when Vittorio Radice was brought in to return the department store business to its former glory.
The fact that the value of JJB Sports has more than doubled on the announcement of the appointments highlights the belief the market has in the abilities of these two proven industry figures. If only there were more such individuals around then the rating of the retail sector might not be as far in the doghouse as it is.
These experienced players might not be able to work miracles but they certainly give hope to investors and in this post-Christmas market hope is about all that they have to cling on to.
