Asics Europe plans to double its marketing spending, on top of an increase in investment in Spain, which it considers to have the biggest growth potential of Europe’s top five markets. Asics Europe already signed a three-year deal with Eurosport leading up to the 2012 Olympics, and is the new title sponsor of the Stockholm Marathon.
Asics has in fact become the first-ever title sponsor for the Stockholm Marathon, which is considered to be one of the biggest and best running events in northern Europe. It will now be called the Asics Stockholm Marathon, and its first edition is scheduled for next May 28. The long-term contract adds Stockholm to the list of other major cities where Asics sponsors marathons, including New York, Tokyo and Paris. The deal also includes sponsorship of Premiärmilen (the official preparation race before the Stockholm Marathon), the training group Team Stockholm Marathon, Minimaran (Stockholm’s Mini Marathon youth event), and Jubileumsmarathon (the Jubilee Marathon scheduled for July 14, 2012, to celebrate 100 years since Stockholm’s 1912 Olympic Marathon).
Asics Europe has also added some new names in its headquarters. Jorge Jimenez is the new operations director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and he will oversee supply chain management and IT. Orla Canavan is the category manager for lifestyle, and Florence Ainsworth, a former consultant for the company, is the new apparel director for the EMEA region.
For the three-month period from January through March, the period for which regional figures are available, Asics Europe has reported a 14 percent increase in sales, and an impressive 39.6 percent jump in operation income. The growth can be mainly attributed to a triple-digit increase in Russia, and big double-digit growth in the U.K. and Spain.
European sales of running and tennis footwear and performance apparel rose by double digits, and women’s running jumped by almost 50 percent.
For the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year, ended on June 30, Asics Corporation had an 8.3 percent increase in global sales to ¥59.43 billion (€472.4m-$695.2m). In the home market of Japan, there was a drop of 8.8 percent to ¥20.5 billion (€186.9m-$239.8m) as walking shoes and athletic wear performed poorly. However, sales abroad jumped by 20.2 percent to ¥38.9 billion (€354.7m-$455.0m), boosted by strong sales of running shoes in Europe, the Americas and Australia.
The group’s operating income for the three months ended June 30 leapt by 49.7 percent to ¥7.9 billion (€72.0m-$92.4m). Despite negative currency effects, ordinary income was up by 18.5 percent to ¥6.6 billion (€60.2m-$77.2m), and net income skyrocketed by 199.8 percent to ¥3.4 billion (€31.0m-$39.8m). This was largely because the company posted the prior year’s income taxes in the first quarter of the 2010 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, Asics America has announced that it is going to buy Agence Quebec Plus, its Canadian distributor. AQP will be a subsidiary of the company as of Aug. 31. Denis Custeau will stay in place as president and general manager of AQP, and its internal structure will remain intact. Its sales force will keep their status as independent contractors. AQP has annual sales of about $48 million.
