Predicting further pressure from foreign currency exchange rates, Performance Sports Group (PSG), the Canadian-based parent of Bauer, Cascade and other brands, plans to implement a price increase of 5 percent across all its products in Canada on Sept. 1 and in all other markets outside North America on March 1, 2016.
We understand that other companies in the sporting goods sector are raising prices because of the renewed strength of the U.S. dollar. For example, Accell Group has announced price increases for its bicycles in the Netherlands, but we could not find out whether it was going to do the same in other countries.
PSG reported a net loss of $16.8 million in the third quarter ended Feb. 28, up from a loss of $10.3 million in the year-ago period, but on an adjusted basis, excluding special items, it improved to a net profit of $6.2 million from a net loss of $4.2 million.
In spite of a foreign currency loss of $13.2 million, the company reported operating earnings before amortization of $9.1 million for the quarter, versus negative Ebitda of $7.3 million. The adjusted Ebitda moved to a positive figure of $14.4 million from a negative result of $3.0 million.
Bolstered by the acquisition of Easton's baseball and softball business, revenues jumped by 121 percent to $137.7 million for the quarter. Hockey sales increased by 16 percent in local currencies, driven by the launch of the Vapor 1X stick, but translated into U.S. dollars, they rose by only 9 percent to a record level of $53.9 million.
