Latest Headlines – Page 418
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Fenix Tackles China's Outdoor Market
After a successful visit to ISPO China at the end of February, Fenix Outdoor announced its decision to establish a joint venture with Jin Quan Traveling Goods, a long-time supplier of the Swedish group. Jiangsu Fenix Outdoor, as the new venture will be called, will be based in Guangzhou. The ...
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Erke Grows Fast
Erke, a young and fast-growing Chinese sports brand that exhibited some nice products at the last ISPO shows in Munich, has formally appointed Lars Wiskum as senior adviser to its international team. The Danish consultant, who has already occupied a similar role at Li-Ning, will help develop international sales and ...
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Li Ning's Results Make Athletic Bounds In China
The large Chinese sporting goods company, which manufactures and distributes the Aigle, Z-Do and Li Ning brands in the country, reported a strong 60.6 percent rise in profits to 473.6 million renmimbi (€43.09m-$67.36m) for the 2007 financial year, ended last Dec. 31. Consolidated revenues grew by 36.7 percent ...
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Belle Wants To Grow Further With Mirabell In China
Shares in Mirabell International Holdings rocketed after Belle International, a large competitor in Hong Kong, offered to buy out the Chinese shoe retailer at a 15 percent premium price of HK$1.67 billion (€136.5m-$214.4m). DBS Asia Capital, a subsidiary of Belle, made the offer on behalf of the group and an ...
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Prime Success Wants To Be Less Of An Oem Manufacturer
The Chinese shoe producer has announced new agreements with Nike, H.H. Brown and a Brazilian company, Arezzo, to open a new series of single-brand stores in Mainland China. It has also reported the launch of a new store concept, called Shoeshop, starting in the second quarter of this year. In ...
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An American Backpack Brand, Gregory, Will Be Carried On New Shoulders
Gregory Mountain Products, the American backpack brand, has changed ownership through a management-led buyout. John Simons, the brand’s president for the last two years, has joined forces with two investors, Warren Kanders and Robert Schiller, to found KSS Holdings, Gregory’s new parent company. Gregory was part of the Armor ...
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Timberland Is Folding Mion And Golite Shoes
After trying unsuccessfully to market these two footwear lines, Timberland has decided to close down these two operations in an effort to cut costs, and to concentrate again on its own brand. Spring 2008 will be the last season for the two small brands, whose business has remained marginal. ...
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Wolverine’S Numbers Increase Across The Board
Wolverine World Wide saw a good start to 2008 with revenues of $288.2 million for the first quarter ended March 22. That represents a 2.6 percent increase from the same period last year. The gross margin climbed by 1.6 percentage points to 42.2 percent, and net income also grew, up ...
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Maker Of Spy Optic Reports Loss For 2007
Net sales for Orange 21 grew by 10 percent to $46.5 million in the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, but that didn’t save the company from a net loss of $7,994,000, worse than the $7,185,000 loss booked for 2006. In fact, pre-tax losses declined to $6,542,000 from $7,185,000, but the ...
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Strong Fibo Highlights Fit Fitness Sector
Reed Exhibitions, organizers of FIBO in Essen, Germany, reports an excellent show last week, reinforcing its position as the major annual fitness equipment and clothing fair in Europe. The number of trade visitors from outside Germany increased by more than 6 percent to represent 28 percent of all the trade ...
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New Outdoor & Surf Fair In Italy
The name is Outdoor Days. Hosting about 100 surf and outdoor-related companies and targeting mainly consumers, the new fair will take place on May 23-25 at Riva del Garda, on the northern shore of the big Italian lake by the same name. The organizers hope to attract some 20,000-30,000 visitors ...
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There Will Be No Swisspo Show Next Winter
The winter edition of Switzerland’s trade show Swisspo in Zurich has been put on hold until further notice. In spite of a good winter season in the country, the organizers of the event, the organizations ASMAS for retailers and SPAF for vendors, agreed that a decline in the winter sports ...
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Finland’S Market Grows By 5.8%
The Finnish sporting goods market grew by 5.8 percent in 2007 to reach a level of €963.5 million after VAT, according to an annual survey by Sporttimyyja. Kesko remained the market leader with sales of €274.1 million through its own and affiliated Intersport and Kersport stores. They rose by 6.7 ...
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Npd Launches New Online Panel
The NPD Group, which has been studying the sporting goods market in the major European countries for the past 10 years, has launched a new service that can help conduct consumer surveys on very specific issues. This new online panel has already allowed the researchers to obtain some interesting findings ...
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Decathlon Becomes Oxylane, After Posting 11.7% Growth In 2007
Europe’s largest sporting goods retailer, which is changing its corporate name to Oxylane, had a difficult year in 2006, when its sales fell by about 1 percent in France and rose overall by only 6.9 percent, but it performed much better in 2007 thanks to various factors. The group said ...
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Sport 2000 Germany May Shed Controlling Minority In French Sister
It is an open secret that Sport 2000 France is looking for an investor to secure the financial muscle for the future growth of the company. It has not been communicated yet who the new shareholder could be, but the French buying group is said to be negotiating with a ...
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Another Year Of Double-digit Growth For Globetrotter
Globetrotter Ausrüstung of Hamburg, which claims to be Europe’s largest specialized outdoor retailer, reached sales of €178 million in its fiscal year ended on Feb. 29, or over €20 million more than in the year before. The sales increase exceeded 11 percent. Mail-order retailing accounted for €78.3 million, or ...
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Geox' Net Line Of Sports Shoes Hits The Market, With Modest Ambitions
After rising to second place in the global market for branded lifestyle casual shoes, Geox is entering the sports shoe market as part of the ongoing diversification of its activities, and it is already eyeing the sports apparel segment. Earlier this week, after four years of research and development, the ...
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New Owners Take Over Briko
The Italian brand of sports eyewear, apparel and accessories has been taken over by B Holding, a diversified conglomerate owned by the family of Silvano Boroli, involved in wineries and publishing. The acquisition of other related assets is expected to follow soon. Briko had been the property for many years ...
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Airesis Continues To Lose Money While Le Coq Sportif’S Sales Boom
Airesis, the Swiss holding company that controls Le Coq Sportif and Boards & More, remained heavily loss-making last year as it continued to invest in restructuring measures for both companies. It ended the year with a loss of 18.6 million Swiss francs (€11.77m-$18.38m), only marginally lower than the loss it ...
