Columbia Sportswear's sales were flat on a constant-currency basis in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) during the third quarter ended Sept. 30. In terms of dollars, EMEA sales increased by 1 percent to $78.8 million. The group's revenues were up in dollars by 26 percent in the U.S. and by 34 percent in Canada. They jumped by 72 percent in the Latin America/Asia Pacific (LAAP) region, where incremental sales of $50.7 million from the new Chinese joint venture with Swire contributed to a turnover of $123.5 million.
The acquisition of Prana led to extra sales of $28.2 million in the period. The group's organic sales went up by 14 percent in the quarter, but Prana and the establishment of its Chinese joint venture helped to boost the total turnover by 29 percent to $675.3 million. The gross margin improved by one percentage point to 45.4 percent, and the group ended up with a 20 percent increase in net income to $65.6 million.
A strong order book for next spring and rising retail sales have led the management to improve its forecast for this year, with sales and profits rising by 22 percent and 35 percent, respectively, and to predict another double-digit increase in revenues for 2015.
All the subsidiaries reported higher sales in the third quarter except for Mountain Hardwear, which is expected to resume growth in 2015. The Columbia and Sorel brands had an outstanding performance in North America, and the Columbia brand strengthened its position in the European markets that are directly controlled by the group.
Sales of apparel, accessories and equipment enjoyed a global sales increase of 28 percent to $549.4 million, driven by fleece, rainwear and insulated products including Columbia's much-advertised TurboDown. Columbia's trail running shoes and Sorel's new lightweight products contributed to boost the group's sales of footwear by 33 percent to $125.9 million.
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