Latest Headlines – Page 315
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Billabong raises more equity
Unconfirmed reports in the U.S. and Australia have carried speculation that Nike and other interests may be planning to make a bid for Billabong International, the struggling Australian-based group. Nike officials declined to make any comments, but we feel that it is unlikely to make such a move because it ...
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VF seeks 13% annual growth from Vans
Vans' annual sales have more than tripled to around $1.0 billion since the brand was taken over by VF Corporation in 2004. The group wants Vans to reach a turnover of $2.2 billion by 2016, or $1.0 billion more than in the past year, implying compound annual average growth of ...
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American Golf gets new chief
American Golf, the British golf retailer, has appointed Kevin Styles as new chief executive officer. Style succeeds Nick Wood, who had left American Golf to take up the same job at Pets at Home, in March.The 40-year old Styles was most recently group chief executive of Habitat, the furniture retailer. ...
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New Balance puts out a Responsible Leadership report
For the first time in its 106-year history, New Balance has published a Responsible Leadership report detailing the company's culture, values and sustainability efforts. The report focuses on three core areas: providing a safe, healthy and respectful work environment; enhancing environmental sustainability; and supporting the communities where it operates.New Balance ...
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Peak Performance reaorganizes its distribution
Peak Performance, the Swedish sports and lifestyle brand, has inked a deal with Basic Group to sell its products in Italy from the start of next year. Peak Performance currently runs its own business in the country. Part of Basic's assignment is to open Peak Performance stores, which are taking ...
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Scarpa looks for partnerships and acquisitions
Reporting sharply improved financial results, Scarpa says it is planning to take over the distribution of its products in some foreign markets in the course of this year. With corporate assets worth €24.6 million and virtually no debt, the Italian company, which specializes in the development and production of boots ...
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Active Brands gets Prince Americas license
Active Brands has inked a deal to acquire the operating assets and exclusive licensing rights for the Prince, Ektelon and Viking brands in the Americas. The company is holding discussions to take up the same rights for Europe, but that has yet to be agreed.Active Brands apparently trumped an offer ...
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Good growth for sports footwear in Europe
The consumption of sports shoes rose at a healthy rate of 3.2 percent in volume in the five major European countries in 2011, according to the NPD Group's online consumer panel, reaching a level of 206.2 million pairs. The biggest increase was recorded in France, up by 5.6 percent. Sales ...
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Nike begins to pull out of Umbro
Confirming speculation reported in our last issue, it was announced a few days ago that Umbro International will no longer hold the distribution of its products in Spain, Portugal and Andorra. At the same time, an unconfirmed rumor indicated that Mike Ashley's Sports Direct International may want to buy the ...
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Sondico goes upmarket
Sondico is a football brand best known for its training and match equipment including footballs, goalkeeper gloves and protective equipment. It has been supplying good entry-level and medium-priced goalkeeper gloves under the ownership of a subsidiary of Sports Direct International, which took over the brand a few years ago. DBX ...
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Black Diamond buys Poc Sweden
Black Diamond Inc. has sealed an agreement to take over Poc Sweden, a company that has grown rapidly in the last years with its distinctive ski helmets and other protective gear, ahead of a more recent diversification of its well-designed product line. Poc said that it would retain much of ...
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Rip Curl slims down in Europe
With its European sales expected to decline by about 25 percent for the financial year ending next June 30, Rip Curl is streamlining its European operations in terms of staff, stores and product offerings. The Australian surf brand, which is performing well elsewhere, has decided to concentrate on its more ...
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Quiksilver outperforms the European market
The Quilsilver group claimed that it outperformed its rivals in the second quarter of its fiscal year ended in April, with a sales increase of 3 percent to $492.2 million. The group's managers said the performance had been praiseworthy in Europe, where Quiksilver managed to lift its sales in constant ...
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Squeezed margins for Quiksilver group
Beyond Europe, the Quiksilver group lifted its sales in all regions, with contributions from all three of its largest brands for the quarter in constant currencies. Wholesale sales declined by 1 percent but they crawled up by 2 percent in constant currencies, while comparable sales in the company's retail stores ...
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Oxbow remains the black sheep in an improving Lafuma Group
The Lafuma Group has cut the number of items in Oxbow's spring/summer 2013 collection by 15 percent and has started negotiations for special key account agreements with Karstadt and other large multi-sport retail chains in Europe. The brand, which is sold in Go Sport and Intersport stores in France, will ...
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Schoeller buys Eschler plant
Schoeller Textil of Switzerland has agreed to take over the German production plant of Eschler Textil in Balingen and its Swiss-based sales organization for sports products, as part of a deal that will reinforce the long-standing partnership between the two Swiss family-owned companies. The tie-up will enable Schoeller to offer ...
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Li Ning renegotiates its agreement with Lotto
Before issuing a profit warning, Li Ning Company announced last Monday that it is entering into a new supplemental agreement that will amend, with immediate effect, the terms of its existing licensing agreement with Lotto Sport. The Italian company had no immediate comment.The amendments include revised minimum sales targets and ...
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Xidelong expects a sales decline
While releasing generally positive results for the first quarter of 2012, Exceed Corporation, the Chinese company that markets the Xidelong brand of affordable sports shoes and clothing, revised its sales forecast for the balance of the year. It predicted a sales decline of between 30 and 35 percent for the ...
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VF sees big chances in Asia, South America
Addressing financial analysts at the Piper Jaffray conference in the U.S., the management of VF Corporation said it plans to move ahead next year with growth opportunities in South America, a region that is expected to generate overall annual revenues of $300 million in five years' time.The company is also ...
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Mustad’s new management pares down costs
The new management of Mustad, the world's largest supplier of fishing hooks, has decided to reduce its Norwegian staff once again, taking it down by 30 people to a total of about 50 employees to help bring the company back to a profit. It will continue to manufacture hooks for ...
