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 buyout led by Sauro Mambrini five years ago, has signed a deal to take over the chain, which was recently placed under new management.
The new owners have agreed to invest about €20 million into Giacomelli Sport, including the undisclosed sale price and a refinancing package intended to support an ambitious expansion program. As planned, Giacomelli lost about €6-7 million in the financial year ended last Feb. 28 on sales of €63 million, but the management expects it to break even this year on turnover of €75 million and to reach an operating margin before amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) of 8-10 percent on revenues of close to €100 million in three years’ time.
Giacomelli, which became at one point Italy’s largest sporting goods retailer, has only 49 stores - all in Italy - or the same as one year ago, although it has inaugurated a new and more theatrical store format on Piazza Argentina in Milan that gives more prominence to individual brands. The new owners want to add about 20 stores to its network in the next three years, with an emphasis on Southern Italy, where many new shopping centers are being inaugurated, and on Eastern Europe, where Champion Europe had previously decided to expand mostly through corporate and franchised stores. Giacomelli may return to Poland, where it was once the leader in the sector. Other countries under consideration are the Czech Republic, Russia and the Baltic countries, among others.
The program is going to be steered by Massimo Caccialupi, 56, a former executive of Benetton Sportsystem who has returned to the sporting goods sector after gaining experience in the large Marzotto clothing and textiles group, most recently as managing director of Cerruti. He was called in as an advisor to Giacomelli last November, but he has since obtained increasing responsibilities, becoming chief executive in February. Caccialupi is now adding the function of chairman. Giacomelli’s former buying director, Fausto Tarditi, left the company last January, and Caccialupi has taken over his functions pending the appointment of a new dedicated executive.
Stressing that Giacomelli will be run as an independent operation, Champion Europe says it wants the chain to reinforce its partnership with a dozen major brands at the European level, including certain competitors, considering that it carries very little private label merchandise and that it still has an important place in the Italian market with a footfall of 15 million people in 2005.
On the other hand Champion, which has been a major supplier of Giacomelli, expects to have a higher presence in its stores. Another major Italian supplier, Sergio Tacchini, had expressed interest in taking over Giacomelli for similar reasons a few years ago. Champion Europe is still very profitable, but its revenues are expected to be again rather flat at around €180 million for the financial year ending next June 30.
Meanwhile Cisalfa Sport, which buys much more from Champion than Giacomelli as it is the largest sporting goods retailer in Italy, confirms reports of a possible change of ownership soon. The Mancini family, which controls the recently refinanced private retail group, is talking to potential financial investors about the sale of a minority or majority stake in Cisalfa in order to accelerate its growth.
