Björn Borg's net income declined by 35.3 percent to 2.2 million Swedish kronor (€0.24m-$0.31m) in the second quarter ended June 30. The gross margin improved slightly to 52.5 percent but sales fell by 8 percent to SEK 97 million (€10.57m-$13.88m), and they were down by 10 percent in local currencies. For the full first half of the year, sales were up by one percent to SEK 239.8 million (€26.12m-$34.31m), and they were unchanged on a currency-neutral basis, but the operating margin was up to 8.2 percent from 4.2 percent, and the net profit showed an increase to SEK 17.6 million (€1.92m-$2.52m) from SEK 9.4 million in the comparable year-ago period. The company's newly-minted chief executive, Henrik Bunge, blamed the persistence of tough market conditions in the company's larger markets for the weak quarterly results, but noted that e-commerce and the company's operations in Finland and the U.K. continued to perform well. He says he wants to set a clear direction for the brand and increase its focus on consumers. Optimized merchandising and product mixes will be part of the recipe.

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