FTSE 100 demotions and promotions: Sports Direct and Aberdeen Asset Management could be demoted in quarterly review
Sports Direct could slip out of Britain's blue chip index at its quarterly review which is due to take place on Wednesday.
Despite a boost to its brand from popular musicians such as UK grime artist Skepta, the company was the biggest casualty of disappointing trading which afflicted a number of its peers over the crucial Christmas period.
"Sports Direct has become the latest victim of the tough trading conditions on the UK high street, exacerbated by the weather," Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
"The group is now unique in the sector for having warned either side of Christmas that trading had worsened further. The latest warning followed the revelation that the European business had been struggling."
Aberdeen Asset Management could also be relegated from the FTSE 100, with investors unimpressed by its exposure to the slowing Asian end emerging market economies.
"Aberdeen's particular problem at the moment is that their broader investment style, of investing in high quality stocks, chosen with a value bias, is out of kilter with current market trends," Khalaf added.
The Aberdeen investment process has worked well, for most of the time since the early nineties when it was first formulated, but for now, funds are lagging their benchmarks and assets are walking out of the door."