Columbia Sportswear saw its sales increase by 8.1 percent in Europe to $199.2 million in 2006, with a 7.7 percent increase in local currencies. The biggest growth took place in Italy, where orders are also up sharply for 2007, and in Scandinavian countries generally. Denmark, where Columbia switched from a distributorship to an agency disposing of a larger product range, had the biggest growth. Finland and the Baltics did particularly well, overtaking Sweden.
A change of management in the UK had a beneficial effect on sales and orders, particularly with key accounts. France and the Benelux countries performed in line with the European average. On the other hand Columbia had a tough time in Spain, where the brand’s penetration is already high, and in the Germanic countries, which it faces strong competition with one or two strong local brands.
In the 4th quarter ended Dec. 31, Columbia’s sales in Europe grew by 10.7 percent to $55.7 million in dollars, but the growth in local currencies was only about 4 percent. While in Canada they grew by only 4 percent to $27.7 million, sales in other foreign markets jumped by 27.4 percent to $66.0 million, or a 24.3 percent increase before conversion into dollars. While Japan and Korea remain the biggest foreign markets, Columbia reported very healthy growth in China and Russia, but indicated that its Russian distributor, Sportmaster, was experiencing some sell-through problems.
In the USA Columbia’s sales were up by 14.6 percent to $212.4 million. Global sales of the Montrail brand totaled $2.2 million in the quarter, while Sorel fell by 11 percent to $19.2 million, due to negative impact from the mild weather.
In terms of product categories, sales of outerwear recovered, rising by 22 percent to $180.3 million, while sales of sportswear rose by 21 percent to $108.5 million. In other segments, sales of equipment soared by 150 percent to $3.0 million, sales of accessories climbed by 12 percent to $13.6 million but sales of footwear fell by 11 percent to $56.4 million.
A 15.2 percent overall increase was registered by Columbia on a global basis in the quarter, reaching a record of $361.8 million for the period, with the underlying growth in local currencies at 13.3 percent. Net income for the quarter went up by 4.9 percent to $38,387,000, but for the full financial year it was off by 5.9 percent to $123.018 million on an 11.4 percent increase in total revenues to $1.288 billion.
In terms of product categories, outerwear sales increased by 12.8 percent during the year to $496.5 million while sales of sportswear rose by 13.1 percent to $509.1 million. Sales of equipment soared by 117 percent to $19.7 million. Sales of footwear climbed by 4.0 percent to $219.7 million but sales of accessories fell by 5.5 percent to $42.7 million. Sales of Sorel products rose by 4 percent to 445.8 million.
Sales grew by 11 percent in the USA to $752 million. Foreign sales outside Europe and Canada were up by 20 percent to $216.3 million. The company has budgeted capital expenditures of $35 million for 2007and is forecasting consolidated revenue growth of around 11 percent for the year.
