Latest Headlines – Page 416

  • Article

    Kelme Gets New Lease On Life

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The Quiles brothers, who founded Kelme in 1977, have given up on the ownership of the popular Spanish sports footwear brand after more than a year of negotiations, ending up in a session of 27 hours in the office of a notary public to draft and sign the final contracts. ...

  • Article

    Tuckland Closes Shop

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The present manufacturing unit for Tuckland’s outdoor footwear in Tefalla, Spain, is to close down, and Tuckland Footwear will cease its activities after the regional investment company that owns it declared that the business is no longer viable. Rather than die out, the Tuckland brand may be bought up by ...

  • Article

    Exel Sells Pole Division To Karhu

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    After considerable losses in the past few years, due to competition and production problems following a shift in manufacturing from Finland to China, Exel Oy has decided to sell its outdoor business to another Finnish company, Karhu Sports. Karhu will take over the company’s pole business, consisting of its cross-country ...

  • Article

    One Way Sport Launches Footwear

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Exel’s main challenger in Nordic Walking poles, One Way Sport of Finland, is launching a new technical line of shoes and boots with a Nordic look for the Spring/Summer 2009 season. The new project will be led by Matthias Faller, a German-based sales and marketing executive who spent the last ...

  • Article

    F2 Goes Into Insolvency

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    F2 International, the Austrian windsurfing and snowboarding brand, has filed for bankruptcy proceedings at a court in Salzburg just one year after it was acquired by Gerald Pascher. The insolvency documents indicate that F2 has accumulated debts of about €5.8 million, while its assets are worth just €791,000. The ...

  • Article

    Dongxiang Buys Phenix

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Dongxiang Group, the Chinese company that bought the rights to the Kappa brand name for China and Macau in May 2006, is acquiring a stake of 91 percent in a new company that will own Phenix Co., the major Japanese skiwear producer and retailer, for a symbolic amount of 2 ...

  • Article

    Decathlon Creates A Footwear Development Hub

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Décathlon, whose parent company is now called Oxylane, loves to invent new names. Two years ago it created the name EssenSole, a contraction of Essential Sole, for special footwear products sold in its stores and for a business unit grouping all the company’s research, product development, design, purchasing and training ...

  • Article

    Sport Schuster Records Big Growth

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Sport Schuster, the old large-scale sports store in the heart of Munich, disclosed a turnover of more than €40 million for 2007, after a major face-lift. This means an increase by 15 percent compared with 2004. The figure cannot be compared with the previous two years as the main store ...

  • Article

    Otto Grows Mainly Outside Germany

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Otto Group, which claims to be the world’s second-largest online retailer and parent company of Sport-Scheck, increased its sales by 2.5 percent to €11,530 million in the fiscal year ended last Feb. 29. In a preliminary statement, the Hamburg-based retail group pointed out that substantial growth outside Germany was the ...

  • Article

    Athleticum And Ochsner Push Online Sales On The Eve Of Euro 2008

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Athleticum and Ochsner, two of the leading sports retail chains in Switzerland, have most recently turned to the internet to sell their products. The almost simultaneous launch of the two sites was not random. Switzerland is in the final countdown to the UEFA Euro 2008 football cup, which it is ...

  • Article

    Currency Valuations Have A Major Impact On Amer Sports

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The falling U.S. dollar and the uncertain American economy have hurt Amer Sports, which reported a 4.9 percent decline in consolidated net sales to €363.0 million in the first quarter; in local currencies, it would have been a 2 percent sales increase. The bottom line improved, ending up in a ...

  • Article

    New Management Changes At Quiksilver And Rossignol

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    No word yet about the possible sale of Rossignol Group or its hardgoods division. Meanwhile, the structure of Rossignol’s management has further evolved, giving a stronger identity to each brand on the marketing side. Bernard Liatti has been promoted as senior vice president, reporting to the company’s recently appointed chief ...

  • Article

    New Wave Creates A Sports Division

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    New Wave Group, a Swedish group that has become a respectable owner, distributor and licensee of various sports brands in the last few years, is gearing up for the launch of a full-fledged sports division at the beginning of July. The combined sales of sports products under this new unit, ...

  • Article

    Outdoor Coalition Leads Vf In Quarter

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    VF Corporation’s revenues for the period ended March 31 climbed by 10.8 percent to $1.85 billion, and net income grew by 11.1 percent to $149 million. Acquisitions contributed revenues of $141 million. The weak dollar boosted the turnover by $56 million and the bottom line by 6.8 percentage points. ...

  • Article

    Columbia Reports A Bad Quarter, Realigns Its Product Range In Europe

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Columbia Sportswear reported that a disappointing drop in net profit of 23.6 percent to $19,931,000 while its sales increased by 2.7 percent to $297.4 million during the first quarter ended March 31. Sales would have actually fallen by more than 2 percent if currency exchange rates had remained the same. ...

  • Article

    Fenix Outdoor Grows Despite Late Deliveries

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The Swedish outdoor group reported a 4 percent increase in net profit to 31 million Swedish kronor (€3.3m-$5.1m) for the first quarter of 2008, on 6 percent higher net sales of 222.8 million SEK (€23.8m-$36.8m). The pre-tax profit remained flat at 29.9 million SEK (€3.2m-$4.9m), but would have risen by ...

  • Article

    Jack Wolfskin´S Sales Soar Again

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Jack Wolfskin, the German brand of outdoor gear, increased its European sales in 2007 by more than 20 percent to €156.3 million. In its German core market, where it claims the leadership, Jack Wolfskin raised its sales by 19 percent. In Austria turnover was up by 78 percent. In ...

  • Article

    Timberland’S Quarterly Results Are Off

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The company is not yet out of the woods. Timberland saw a 1.2 percent increase in reported revenue to $340.4 million for the first quarter, or only $4 million more than in the same period a year ago, but $16 million came from changes in foreign currency exchanges. Growth in ...

  • Article

    Steep Drops For K-swiss, Even Overseas

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The long-term momentum in K-Swiss international development has apparently ended, according to the management, which has reported a 25 percent drop in global orders at the end of the first quarter. While U.S. orders were off by 47 percent at the end of the period, orders from the rest of ...

  • Article

    Under Armour’S Net Income Plunges In Quarter

    2008-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The company blames lowered margins and increased expenses for a 70.7 percent fall in net income in the first quarter of the year to $2.9 million. Marketing costs for the period were 17.8 percent of revenues, an increase over last year’s 11.1 percent, but they are expected to average 12-13 ...