The board of directors of Airesis has authorized the conclusion of convertible loans worth 2.5 million Swiss francs (€2.3m-$2.8m) to sustain the momentum of its major subsidiary, Le Coq Sportif, whose sales went up by 35 percent in the first quarter of 2021, followed by a 82 percent increase in April. The loans are also meant to strengthen the brand’s strategic investments, notably as the official supplier of the French team at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Including the convertible loans, Le Coq Sportif’s equity ratio will move up above 10 percent. Complementing this move, Le Coq’s bankers have granted it additional funds of €7 million. The convertible loans will mature on May 30, 2025, but the lenders may exercise their conversion rights form April 30, 2024. The loans will bear annual interest of 4 percent, payable quarterly.
In 2020, Le Coq saw its sales plunge by 34 percent to €86.9 million due to the Covid pandemic, with a drop in apparel sales of 20 percent to €65 million. Including its licensees’ sales, the company’s wholesale-equivalent revenues fell to €138 million from €238 million in 2019. As a result, the company incurred an operating loss of €9.9 billion, higher than the €2.1 million loss of the previous year, although the gross margin remained stable at 45 percent. The net loss rose to €19.7 million from €10.2 million.
Le Coq’s French production and sales activities were halted for more than two months from mid-March to mid-May, in line with governmental directives. To help maintain a sufficient level of liquidity, the company got a state-guaranteed loan of €23.1 million, however.
Airesis holds stakes of 77 percent in Le Coq and 92 percent in Movement, a Swiss manufacturer of skis, whose sales dropped last year by 15 percent to CHF 8.5 million (€7.7m- $9.5m), as sharp declines in Europe and North America could not offset the company’s double-digit growth in Switzerland. Nevertheless, Movement managed to post a positive operating results of about CHF 400,000 (€360,000-$440,000) for the third year in a row.
The Airesis group’s consolidated revenues fell last year by 35 percent to CHF 101.8 million (€92.7m-$113.2m). The operating loss (Ebitda) more than doubled to 11.0 million (€10.0m-$12.2m), and the company posted a net loss of CHF 18.5 million (€16.8m_$206m) for the year, up from a loss of CHF 11.4 million in 2019.
