Collective Brands is planning to make an announcement at the beginning of next year for the appointment of a new managing director of Collective Brands EMEA, the group’s Dutch-based subsidiary for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. However, his name – Chris Bate – and his new title are already posted on LinkedIn, where he is described as a former executive of Nike in various sales and business roles in Canada, the U.K. and at the EMEA headquarters in the Netherlands.
Bate was most recently footwear business director of Nike EMEA, a position that remains vacant for the moment. He is taking the place of Stephan Krug, who built up Stride Rite Europe and became chief executive of Sioux, the German brand of casual shoes, a few months ago.
Meanwhile, Collective Brands has published results for the quarter ended Oct. 30 that show a 27 percent sales increase to $141.6 million in its Performance and Lifestyle Group. Sperry Top-Sider and Saucony continue to drive the progress of this segment, with Saucony getting additional mileage from its new lightweight running shoes. The sales increase helps raise the segment’s operating income to $7.3 million from $100,000 in the same period a year ago.
Overall, sales rose by 2 percent to $881.8 million for the Collective Brands group during the quarter, despite a 2.7 percent decrease in its sales operations. The group’s operating margin went up by 0.8 percentage points to 7.8 percent. Net earnings increased by 29.0 percent to $47.6 million (more in Shoe Intelligence).
