Latest Headlines – Page 440
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New Balance Has A New Ceo
Robert T. DeMartini, 45, has been named chief executive of New Balance. He replaces Jim Davis, owner of the company, who has been the CEO for 35 years. Davis will remain chairman of the company. DeMartini was most recently group vice president of Tyson Foods’ consumer products division, which generates ...
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European Lonsdale Licensee Wins A Round In A London Court
Lonsdale Sports, the British company behind the eponymous boxing brand owned by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct group, is preparing to appeal a ruling issued by a London High Court judge last month that awarded substantial damages to a licensee due to an alleged breach of contract. The case was ...
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Adidas Takes Cricket Deal From Admiral
Adidas continues to trail Nike in the overall UK market, as indicated in one of the three volumes of the pioneering market research report that we have just published on Northern Europe. In a high-profile move to diversify its business in the UK, Adidas has obtained a 5-year endorsement deal ...
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Champion Regionalizes Southern Europe
Dimitris Matemtzis, who has done an excellent job as country manager of Champion Europe in Greece, has been appointed to the new position of manager of Southern Europe and the Middle East. He will be in charge of the whole Mediterranean Basin – excluding Italy and France but including Spain ...
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More On Puma And Ppr
The value of Puma’s shares on the Frankfurt stock exchange has eased down to around €336, indicating that investors have given up on the notion that PPR may improve its “firm and definitive” offer at €300 a share. They have also basically discarded the idea that someone else may make ...
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Airesis Loses More Money
Airesis, the Swiss holding company that controls Le Coq Sportif and Boards & More, plunged into losses last year as a result of abundant investments in marketing and human resources for Le Coq as well as restructuring measures at Boards & More. Airesis’ total revenues were ...
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Orange 21 Reports Another, Larger Loss But Sees Stability Ahead
The parent company of Spy Optics had to rid itself of excess inventory in 2006, adding $3 million in costs and causing its gross margin to shrink to 41 percent, as compared to 49 percent in 2005. The net loss for the year was $7.3 million, compared with a loss ...
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Optics-focused Strategy Pays Off For Oakley In 1st Quarter
Oakley’s operating income jumped by 243.2 percent to $9,733,000 in the 1st quarter, ended March 31, while sales climbed by 31.3 percent to $199.2 million. The gross margin grew to 54.3 percent from 53.1 percent in the year-ago period. Net income rose to $5,743,000, compared with $1,907,000. The strong results ...
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Wolverine Slightly Increases Guidance, Promotes New Ceo
The new Patagonia footwear range, licensed by Wolverine World Wide, likely added about $30 million to the American footwear group’s turnover in its 1st quarter ended March 24. The inaugural launch of this footwear collection helped boost turnover for the “Outdoor Group,” which includes the Merrell, Sebago and Patagonia brands, ...
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Executive Reshuffling In The Central European Outdoor Industry
The Central European outdoor industry has been shaken by two more major management changes in the past few days: - Maximilian Hofbauer left The North Face last week after working as its country manager for Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Hofbauer’s successor is Udo Heyder, so far sales manager ...
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Vibram Hires A New Ceo
Adriano Zuccala is new chief executive of the Italian supplier of high-quality soles. The 52-year-old executive, who comes out of the chemistry industry, replaces Ambrogio Merlo who has left after 4 years at the head of the company. Vibram has given no information about the reasons for the split, but ...
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Gucci’S Parent Company Is Making A Friendly Bid For Puma
PPR Group, the large French retail and luxury conglomerate, has confirmed its intention to launch a full bid for Puma valuing the company at about €5.27 billion, after its acquisition of a 27.1 percent stake and blocking minority belonging to Mayfair, a holding company for the German Herz family. The ...
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Mike Ashley Buys A Stake In Adidas
Mike Ashley, who made a fortune by floating his Sports World/Sports Direct business on the stock exchange in February, has bought a 3.14 percent stake in Adidas. His holding in the German company is now worth about €270 million, but Adidas’ share price has gone up by about 19 percent ...
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Decathlon Sees A Sales Decline In France
Confirming a rumor, but without giving any details, Décathlon admitted that it suffered a drop in the domestic French market on a comparable basis in 2006, probably for the first time since the group was founded 30 years earlier. An unusually laconic press release didn’t provide any insight into Décathlon’s ...
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The French Market Is Polarized
The French sporting goods market remained virtually flat last year at a level of €8.9 billion after VAT, according to an annual study by the country’s very active sporting goods retailers’ federation (FPS), which covers also sports bicycles, fishing gear and other products not included in the estimates of some ...
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Intersport Austria Opens Flagships In Prague And Near Budapest
Intersport Austria has just opened the largest sporting goods store in the Czech Republic, consolidating its strong position in the country. Run directly by the buying group, the store is located in Prague and has a surface of 3,700 square meters. Czech and Austrian franchisees own 23 other Intersport stores ...
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New Management For Fila
Gene Yoon, the former chairman of Fila Korea, has completed the acquisition of Fila from Sport Brands International (SBI) for an undisclosed sum, using as an investment vehicle a company called Global Leading Brands House. The company is financially supported by Samsung and by the Kore Exchange Bank of Korea, ...
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Rosenkranz Joins Salewa In Executive Reshuffle
Stefan Rosenkranz, a long-time veteran of Fischer where he served as general manager for the company’s alpine Ski business, has been hired by the Italian outdoor brand Salewa. The 42-year-old manager will have two functions: He will fulfill a newly created position as member Salewa International’s executive board in charge ...
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Octane Fitness Expands In Europe
The leading American supplier of premium elliptical cross trainers has set up a sales subsidiary in the UK. Like many of its operations around the world, it will be run by a former official of Life Fitness, in this case Neil Campbell, who previously worked as key account manager of ...
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Basicnet Improves Earnings
BasicNet improved its results markedly in the last quarter of 2006. For the year ended Dec. 31, the company has reported earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) up to €8.4 million, as compared to €4 million in the prior year. As EBITDA stood at only €4 million for the ...
