World Cup 2010: business winners and losers

THE GUARDIAN BUSINESS BLOG

Nightclub operator Luminar is a loser in the World Cup stakes, but other companies - especially those selling flat-screen TVs - saw the tournament boost their business

The World Cup 2010 has been a mixed blessing for retailers. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Struggling nightclub operator Luminar has warned that the World Cup kept punters out of its venues, becoming the latest British business to be affected by the tournament in South Africa. But while the football proved more of a lure than dancing - with Luminar's sales down almost a fifth - other companies, from pets stores and supermarkets to pizza delivery firms, have been winners in the World Cup lottery. In a trading update, Luminar said same outlet sales across its 76 clubs were down 19.9% in the 19 weeks to 8 July , with admissions revenue down 26%. Already suffering the effects of rising unemployment in its key youth market, Luminar said the World Cup knocked an additional 6% off its sales. In the run-up to the tournament, retailers reported strong demand for items such as flat-screen TVs as football fans got ready for a summer of sport. The Office for National Statistics said sales of households goods and electrical equipment in particular were behind a sharper than expected 0.6% rise in retail sales in May.

In June, the CBI's monthly survey of retailers showed buoyant sales of food, drinks and television sets. But there was reduced demand for footwear, leather goods, hardware and china. DIY retailers also reported reduced sales as homeowners downed tools and switched on the box. World Cup winners and losers So who has followed Spain to become a winner from the four week tournament and whose performance was as woeful as the one put on by England? DSG, the retail group behind Dixons and Currys, saw TV sales jump as a result of the World Cup. DSG said TV sales were up 40% in May as fans upgraded their existing sets. Large screen sets were especially big sellers, with 50-inch screens, priced at 800, raking in most cash some weeks. Tesco saw a similar pick-up in TV sales, with shoppers lured in-store by its World Cup marketing campaign. Sales of some televisions more than doubled. Once slumped in front of their sets, armchair fans clearly do not like taking their eyes of the ball by venturing into the kitchen which helped Domino's Pizza increase its sales. On Monday, the company reported a 13.7% rise in like for like sales in the six months to the end of June on the back of the World Cup and its sponsorship of Britain's Got Talent. Some fans did, however, manage to escape the sofa and watched the games down their local pub. Punch Taverns, Britain's biggest pubs group wth over 7,100 outlets, said trading during the World Cup was good. While still in the group stages, supermarket Sainsbury's said its World Cup ranges - including England branded vuvuzelas - were selling very well, although overall sales growth in the three months to 12 June was an anaemic 1.1%, its lowest level since the end of 2004. The retailer which picked up on the horns after last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa had sold 40,000 England-branded vuvuzelas at 2 each by June 12. In the hours ahead of England's opening match against the USA, the supermarket was shifting a vuvuzela every two seconds. The build-up to the tournament was good for JD Sports Fashion, which created themed footwear and clothing ranges for the event, with sales at British and Irish shops open for at least a year rising 4.1% in the 18 weeks to 5 June. That compared with a 2% rise reported after the first 10 weeks of the period.

 Also cashing in on tournament tie-ins was Marks & Spencer. Announcing a 4.4% rise in first quarter sales on July 7, the retailer said it had sold 5,000 replicas of the suits worn by the England football squad, despite the team's disappointingly early exit from the tournament. The World Cup also saw M&S launch a promotion for branded beers which had a surprising knock-on effect on its own-brand beer one of many recently introduced lines for the retailer. Sales of M&S beer doubled during the promotion of branded beers. For some England fans, their devotion to the squad is obviously so allencompassing that it touches every part of their lives, even their pets. Pets At Home, the 256-store pet supplies chain, sold 20,000 England T-shirts for dogs before the team's dejected return home. But for other retailers, the World Cup was a distraction that kept consumers out of their stores. Unveiling its annual results last month, HMV admitted that its new financial year had been disrupted by the tournament. Despite strong sales of TVs in other electronics retailers, Argos did not see the World Cup boost its performance. "There has been nothing like the same demand we saw ahead of the 2006 competition," admitted Terry Duddy, chief executive of Home Retail Group, which owns Argos. Like-for-like sales at Argos, the biggest seller of TVs in the UK, plunged 8.1% in the 13 weeks to 29 May. Profit margins were also affected because it cut prices to win custom while juggling higher freight costs and a weak pound. Argos's fortunes contrasted strongly with those of Middle England's favourite store, John Lewis, which reported a strong run in its technology aisles. Over at ITV, the World Cup did not exactly produce the ratings windfall that bosses would have hoped. The BBC outshone the UK's largest commercial broadcaster with an average of 15.1 million viewers choosing to watch the Beeb's advertising-free coverage, compared with 3.3 million for ITV.