The FTSE-100 is up 3% today at the time of writing and the FTSE-250 up over 6%. That follows a rise of 7% in the S&P 500 in the USA yesterday. This is driven by some expectation that the virus spread is declining in some countries, or has ceased altogether in China. But I suggest this is pure excess optimism as the lock-downs in many sectors have yet to hit the results of companies.
A good indication of how bad it could be was the announcement this morning from 4imprint (FOUR) a supplier of promotional products to companies, mainly in the USA. The share price of this company fell to a low of 1320p on the 19th March after it reported sales were had fallen to 40% of previous levels. It has since bounced back up to 1830p as of last night.
This morning they gave even more bad news. Sales are now running at 20% of last year’s figures and their main distribution centre in Oshkosh has been closed. The message is quite obvious to see. Companies are axing their promotional budgets and aggressively reducing their marketing expenditure. When times get tough, marketing expenditure is a discretionary item that can be easily chopped. You will see how this can ripple through the whole economy and affect any company in the marketing sector.
4imprint may survive but this year’s results are likely to look quite awful even if there is a rapid return to work. But there is no sign of that and it could be months before business returns to normal, or to anywhere near last year’s levels. The last widely published profit forecasts suggest a fall of 10% from previous forecasts made at the start of the year, but still more than last year’s actuals.
Hopelessly optimistic in my view, even if I am still holding some shares in the company.
This seems to be a common feature of the market at present with investors piling into or buying back shares they previously sold. Far be it for me to ignore the wisdom of crowds so I have been buying some shares but only on a selective basis. But excess enthusiasm for some shares such as 4imprint seems rather too common.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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