RYU Apparel, Nike, Abercrombie - Black Week Online is booming!

RYU Apparel - A newcomer in online styling

RYU Apparel, or "Respect Your Universe", is a trendy urban sportswear and accessories brand created for the fitness, performance and lifestyle of athletes. From the very beginning, RYU has been designed to meet the highest standards of fit, comfort and durability to meet the highest demands of human motion performance.

After two capital increases with strong participation of the new management, Cesara Fazari (CEO), a successful relaunch of the Company and brand has been carried out since mid-September. According to current plans, the Company would like to triple its turnover in just a few months, and corresponding Internet leads are already showing a high attractiveness factor among young consumers. RYU currently generates around 4/5 of its turnover online, and the number of partnerships in the store sector is continually growing.

RYU recently entered into a cooperation with Zoom Media and Francois de Gaspe Beaubien to launch a North American campaign for "Generation Active", a community of people who lead active lifestyles and exemplify motivation and positive attitudes to life. By using Zoom Media's powerful platforms, including GymTV in 5,150 health clubs, mobile, email and social media, RYU will be able to connect with three million members of Generation Active. A virtue that currently has to be ranked at the top due to contact restrictions of the COVID 19 pandemic. People are looking for support and connection in these times - RYU stands for a community and dynamic trend towards physiological fulfilment that also promotes the positive Mindset, which will become for RYU the complete brand message.

The RYU share is currently quoted at CAD 0.13 and is still on hold. When the Black Week figures become known, investors will only then really become aware of this new Style share. The current market capitalization of around CAD 22 million is still very manageable.

Nike - The top dog sprints away

Whoever speaks of sport and fitness, says NIKE. The Company started in the US state of Oregon as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 and changed its name to today's Nike Inc. in 1971. Since 1989, Nike has been the world's leading sports goods supplier, with a clear lead over Adidas and VF Corporation (Eastpak, JanSport and Vans). The Company's business activities focus on the design, development and distribution of high-quality sports equipment; this includes shoes, clothing, sports equipment and aids as well as accessories.

Nike Inc. reported mixed figures for the last quarter. Despite massive annualized growth of 82% in digital sales, sales increased "only" 10% year-on-year. The online division now accounts for 30% of sales, although the high-revenue stores had to be closed for some time. At the beginning of 2020, the Pandemic mainly affected business in China, but sales there have nevertheless grown by 6% on an annualized basis. The largest market for Nike remains North America, with a share of around 50% of sales.

With a market capitalization of USD 209 billion, Nike is one of the 100 largest companies in the world, and brand awareness is at a high 94%. Just yesterday the share price reached an all-time high again, in 2020 the value has already risen 35%.

Abercrombie - Phoenix from the ashes

Another design retailer of the early 2000s is Abercrombie & Fitch. The Style, Hollister, also belongs to the group. In 2013, the trendy brand got into a public KO discussion. The social mission statement was no longer in line with the slimming ideals of A&F, and an unprecedented negative campaign followed this. The management had to distance itself from its maxims publicly. The main reason for this was the absence of oversize for girls, because "she only wants to be worn by successful and beautiful people". Employees also conformed to these pseudo-ideals, and "non-compliant" job applicants were rejected. The net community came out for a massive counter-attack.

Within a few quarters, the A&F stores lost about 80% of their market share, the statement "we only make clothes for cool and slim kids" became the Company's undoing. With share prices below USD 10 and a capitalization of only USD 400 million, the Company had to cope with a mountain of debt of USD 2 billion. The experiment and the relaunch of the brand only really succeeded in 2020 when the share was available below USD 8.

Since August, the share has tripled in value. It is likely to make a small profit again on a net basis in 2021. However, sales in the third quarter amounted to USD 819.7 million, a small minus of 5%. While revenues in the over-the-counter stores continued to suffer from the effects of the Corona crisis, they rose significantly in online retailing. There, the Company recorded an increase of 43% to USD 382 million. The Company was able to increase its earnings very strongly, with operating profit rising from USD 14.5 million to USD 58.6 million. A&F, including Hollister, is back!

Many sympathizers of the then trendy brand have jumped on the bandwagon. The old times seem to have been forgotten. Let's see where the stylish group can still develop, like a phoenix from the ashes it has already made an impressive return. The market capitalization has again reached USD 1.5 billion, and the debts have been halved.