TaylorMade-Adidas Golf has announced that it will be eliminating 170 jobs in the wake of its acquisition of Ashworth. The company plans to make the cuts, which equal about 8 percent of the new combined workforce, through layoffs and attrition in the Ashworth division over the next 12 months. A spokesman said that TMAG thinks it can strengthen Ashworth’s brand, returning it to its former prominence, but it couldn’t do it by keeping the status quo.
TMAG, which had sales of €804 million in 2007, said when it bought Ashworth in November that the acquisition would allow it to expand its product range, strengthen its distribution platform and increase its marketing presence.
No particular changes have been made yet in Ashworth’s European distribution network since the takeover. TMAG officials said it would take several months for a review to be completed and for possible changes to be implemented, but it seems likely that TMAG will want to take over the distribution in countries where the Ashworth brand is under-represented. Changes will be needed anyway because Ashworth’s agents have been also handling its Callaway apparel license, which is being discontinued.
Ashworth made a change last May when it terminated a 14-year-old agency contract for the Portuguese market with Simone Moss, who is now threatening to go to court over the issue. The split occurred after she formed a new company with new partners, called G4all, to represent also Cutter & Buck, Fairway & Greene, Pukka and Calvin Klein Golf, four brands distributed in several European countries by Premium Golf Brands, the new Irish-based company formed last year by Grahame Jenkins, former European general manager of Ashworth.
After the break-up was confirmed, Moss also formed another company, Best Agency, to represent Polo Ralph Lauren Golf, LIJA and soon also Under Armor’s golf collection on the Portuguese market (more in our Southern European golf apparel report, due to come out later this month).
