Latest Headlines – Page 462
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Blacks Is In A Positive Mode, Too
Blacks Leisure Group has reported satisfactory trading conditions for the year ended Feb. 28, with total sales up by 1.1 percent to £297.2 million (€437m-$559m), although same-store sales dropped by 3.3 percent. The gross margin increased to 56.9 percent from 53.4 percent in the previous year, while the operating margin ...
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Jjb Buys Golf Tv, Mulls Action In Outdoor
JJB Sports, which is still the major player in the British sporting goods retail market, has become the first “retail broadcaster” in the world through the acquisition of Golf TV. Using the Sky TV platform, this UK company says it operates Britain’s and Europe’s only dedicated golf channel, called The ...
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Sports Sales Boom At Gresvig
The leading Norwegian sports buying group improved its pre-tax profit to 42.5 million kroner (€5.5m-$7.0m) in the 1st quarter of this year, as compared to 18.5 million NOK in the year-ago period, in spite of an operating loss of 2.4 million NOK for Voice, the recently acquired Norwegian apparel chain. ...
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Football Offsets Reebok At Adidas
The FIFA World Cup is already whetting such an appetite for related products that Adidas has raised its forecast of football sales to €1.2 billion for the full year, up from the more conservative €1 billion. This would translate into dollar sales of $1.5 billion at current exchange rates, matching ...
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Adidas Takes Over Reebok’S Distribution In Russia And The Cis
Nike, which took over the distribution in Russia from Delta Sport a couple of years ago, has decided to extend it with the same Serbian-based company for the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries, but the duration of the new contract could not be determined. Confirming our previous speculation, the ...
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Puma Performs Better Than Expected
Puma’s chief executive, Jochen Zeitz, has revised his forecasts for the current financial year after a strong first quarter. Consolidated revenues are now predicted to increase by 35 percent rather than by only 30 percent in 2006. The operating profit is budgeted to rise to around €360 million, or 15 ...
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Amer Sports Narrows Its Losses
The company reported a net loss of €2.4 million on a pro forma basis in the 1st quarter, down from a pro forma loss of €5.0 million in the year-ago period, but it must be said that, excluding Salomon, the group had reached a positive net income of €14.2 million ...
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Head Considers A Golf Entry
Head’s net revenues grew by 8.2 percent to €68.1 million in the 1st quarter. Strong sales for the winter and racquet sport categories drove the growth, but were partially offset by a decline in the diving division. The gross margin expanded by 280 basis points to 39.7 percent. The results ...
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Golf Companies See Improved Results
Turnover dropped by 4 percent to $50.1 million in Europe and by 2 percent to $181.3 million in the USA at Callaway Golf in the 1st quarter, but these declines were offset by stronger sales in Asia and the rest of the world. While sales in Japan increased by 5 ...
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Expensive Commodities Worry K2
Rising labor costs have forced K2 to shift its production in China closer to the border of Vietnam. The company has seen a rise in energy costs of 3-5 percent as well, but has been able to absorb these costs thus far. Net income in the 1st quarter jumped by ...
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New Factors Depress Columbia’S Profit
Columbia Sportswear is resigned to taking a $1million hit this year as a result of the European anti-dumping duties against China and Vietnam. It’s projecting a total income decline of 10 percent, in spite of higher orders in hand. While the order backlog grew by 12 percent to ...
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Rottefella Buys Naxo
Rottefella, which is set to become the leader in the market for cross-country ski bindings as a result of its recent agreement with Fischer, is acquiring a 62.5 percent controlling stake in Naxo, a 5-year-old Swiss company that claims a 20 percent share of the fast-growing high-end market for alpine ...
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German Court Challenges Fifa’S Rights
Trademark rights relating to the 2006 FIFA World Cup continue to keep lawyers busy in Germany. The country’s Federal Supreme Court ruled two weeks ago that the designation “Fussball WM 2006” cannot be protected, opening the door for possible damage claims by 15 “global partners” and five “national promoters” of ...
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Champion Europe Buys Giacomelli Sport, And Cisalfa May Change Hands, Too
Camuzzi and Spinnaker, the shipbuilding and banking groups that acquired the remains of the plagued Italian sporting goods retailer from the government-appointed receivers in February 2005, were unwilling to pump in more money into a business segment that they did not know well. Champion Europe, which went through a management ...
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Jjb’S Profits Are Under Pressure In ‘Competitive’ Market
The UK’s biggest sporting goods retailer isn’t waiting for the market to turn around. In response to falling profits and an erosion of market share, JJB Sports has cut margins and is introducing new exclusive brands to fight against the competitive inroads of its arch-rival, Sports World International. The moves ...
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Mike Ashley May Launch An Action Sports Retailing Chain
Mike Ashley, the owner of Sports World International, is making waves again in the British market through the proposed launch of Alive, a new chain of action sports stores. Some of the doors will likely use the premises of stores belonging to Hargreaves and Gilesports, the two British sporting goods ...
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Budget Sport Is On The Starting Block
Kesko, the Finnish shareholder and licensee of Intersport International Corporation (IIC), is going to open the first Budget Sport retail store early next month in Vantaa, a suburb of the Finnish capital. With a net retail surface of 3,200 square meters, it will be the biggest sporting goods store in ...
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Warren Buffett Buys Russell
Offering $597 million in cash, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a battered but improving Russell Corporation. The investment company of Warren Buffet will assume $400 million in debt, putting the total value of the deal at about $1 billion. In 2005, Russell had $1.4 billion in turnover and earnings before interest, taxes, ...
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Gbmi Sells Pony To Its Chinese Producer
Sharp Gain Profits, a member of the Symphony Holdings Group based in Hong Kong, has bought all the shares in Pony from Global Brand Marketing Inc. and two other smaller shareholders, The Firm Shoes and Itochu International, in a deal reported at around $15-20 million. GBMI, which lost a lot ...
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Boekhoorn Is Set To Acquire O’Neill Assets
Marcel Boekhoorn, the wealthy Dutch investor who has already acquired the parent company of Gaastra Sportswear, has apparently signed a letter of intent for the takeover of Joint Services International (JSI), which holds most of the rights to the O’Neill brand in Europe. Though the speculation could not be confirmed, ...
