Latest Headlines – Page 431
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Foot Locker Looks To Europe For Growth After A Bad Quarter
Foot Locker is again caressing a long-term goal of building up a network of 1,000 stores in Europe, where its margins remain high and are improving. It confirms a plan to open 30 new stores in Europe in 2008, compared with only 12 in 2007. The company also confirms the ...
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New Manager For Athleticum
André Afentoulidis is going to replace Alfred Landolt as general manager of Athleticum, the large Swiss sporting goods retail chain owned by Manor Group. Afentoulidis is currently sales director of Jumbo, a Swiss chain of hardware stores. Landolt, who established Athleticum from scratch in 1995, has been promoted as general ...
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Adidas Cleans Up Reebok’S Distribution In The Uk And The Usa
Managers of Reebok faced tough questions at an investors’ day last week, after it emerged that they were not expecting any sales increases until 2009 either in the USA or in the UK. Company executives justified the expected downturn with ongoing efforts to clean up the distribution in these two ...
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Adidas Will Continue To Be Associated With The Dfb And With T-mobile
Adidas has reached an agreement with the German Football Federation (DFB) to continue outfitting the German national squad with three-striped apparel until the end of 2018. Much to the dismay of some German clubs, the value of the new deal is much lower than a supposed knock-out offer tabled by ...
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Nike Appoints An Irish Country Manager
Nigel Cowman is appointed to the new position of general manager of Nike Ireland as part of a renewed focus on the growing Irish market, where the company wants to increase its apparent lead over Adidas. His appointment was announced at the same time as the opening of Nike’s first ...
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New Equity Investors For Prince
Nautic Partners, a private equity firm based in Rhode Island, USA, has joined forces with Prince’s management team in acquiring Prince Sports from its existing controlling shareholders for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 1986, Nautic manages over $2.3 billion in assets and a portfolio of 32 companies. While it owns ...
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Zebco Buys Some Of Shakespeare’S Assets
While Jarden Corporation completes the purchase of K2 for approximately $1.2 billion, including the assumption or repayment of indebtedness, Zebco W.C. Brandley, a rod and reel company, has signed a deal to purchase the Cajun Red, Omniflex, Supreme and Outcast fishing line brands from Shakespeare for an undisclosed amount. ...
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Adenauer Will Run O’Neill
Andreas Adenauer, a high-profile fashion executive, has been recruited as chief executive officer of the newly-formed O’Neill Group, a new position created for him to supervise the global business of the American action sports brand. The O’Neill Group was issued earlier this year from the merger of O’Neill Europe, the ...
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Billabong Breaks The Us$1 Billion Barrier, Growing Strongly In Europe
For the year ended June 30, Billabong International’s total revenues grew by 19.2 percent to 1.23 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to US$1.01 billion, with a 24 percent rise on a currency-neutral basis. Net profit was up by 14.6 percent to A$167.2 million (€100.8m-$137.7m), and the management says it is open ...
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Amer Veteran Runs Fiskars
Kari Kauniskangas, executive board member in charge of sales and distribution at Amer Sports, will leave the Finnish-based group at the end of the year to head up Fiskars, another leading Finnish company. From the beginning of September until the end of the year Kauniskangas will lead Amer’s newly-formed Winter ...
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Martin Nordin Heads Up Fenix Outdoor
Martin Nordin has become the managing director of Fenix Outdoor, the Swedish group that owns the Naturkompaniet chain of outdoor shops and a score of outdoor brands including Fjällräven, Tierra, Primus and Hanwag. Son of Ake Nordin, who founded Fjällräven, he replaces Johan Vikman, who is quitting the group for ...
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Fjällräven’S Outdoor Pants Are A Success
Fjällräven, the Swedish outdoor brand owned by Fenix Outdoor, has begun to roll out special presentation corners for its trousers. The new display units, which yielded whopping results at a try-out in Sweden last year, generated sales of more than €40,000 per square meter at Naturkompaniet, the outdoor chain belonging ...
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Jack Wolfskin Expands Abroad
Owing mainly to its continued rapid expansion in Germany, Jack Wolfskin saw its sales jump by 33 percent to €129.6 million in 2006. The company had already achieved nearly the same growth rate in 2005 and it aims to continue at a similar pace this year by heading resolutely eastwards. ...
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Deuter Benefits From A Mild Winter Season
Germany’s market leader in backpacks, Deuter Sport, continues to be in good shape. While many suppliers still have to lick their wounds after a difficult 06/07 winter season, Deuter managed to get around the snow problem with its all-seasons offer and an early start of the Spring/Summer season. Schwanhäußer ...
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Elan Sees A Rise In Alpine Ski Production
In spite of the rough situation in the international ski market, Elan has budgeted a small increase of 3.5 percent in alpine ski production to 640,000 pairs in 2007. This is almost entirely attributed to higher OEM orders by Rossignol, which is shutting down one of its French production plants, ...
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Elan Launches The Artec Brand Of Snowboards
Artec Snowboards, previously a sub-brand of Elan, has become a stand-alone brand. Elan Snowboards launched its so-called Artec Project in 2004, based on the idea of blending technology with art. Addressing core freestyle snowboarders, the Artec Project has been marketing-oriented and focused on branding. It has involved the close collaboration ...
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Blaise Rosenthal, a former professional snowboarder, has been named Artec’s...
Blaise Rosenthal, a former professional snowboarder, has been named Artec’s creative director. He will be supported by a dedicated team of professional freestyle riders to ensure high media exposure. The Artec pro team includes Gabe Taylor, Nima Jalali, Laura Hadar, Jake Devine, Gus Engle and Johnny Miller. Before joining the ...
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Shimano Performs Better Than Expected
Shimano’s net income increased by 57.2 percent to ¥10.11 billion (€64.4m-$83.7m) for the first six months ended June 30, with a jump of 93 percent in the 2nd quarter. First-half sales were up by 24.0 percent to ¥99.79 billion (€636.2m-$826.1m), with bicycles recording the biggest growth. Second-quarter sales and operating ...
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Hi-tec Enters New Partnerships For Wider Distribution
As part of its ongoing effort to streamline European operations, Hi-Tec is closing down more subsidiaries to replace them with distribution agreements. While Hi-Tec’s Italian subsidiary was already shuttered last year, the Benelux and German operations followed suit this year, and the closure of the company’s Danish trading subsidiary is ...
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Faiplast Gets A European Nba License
The leading Italian manufacturer of plastic basketball backboards and sports toys has signed a licensing deal with NBA Europe for a line of children’s backboards named after six major NBA players. The line will be distributed as a sports game in sporting goods and toy stores, but the territory covered ...
