AFP Courts is hastening to complete a project that – to the exclusion of raw-materials procurement – will focus its entire operation at a single site, according to CMDsport. Situated in Barcelona, the facility encompasses 10,500 square meters, with 3,500 going towards the factory and the remaining 7,000 towards a warehouse, workshops for painting and packaging, corporate and technical offices, and a showroom.
Co-CEO José Manuel Delgado declares that the facility will give AFP total control of production, “from design to shipment,” and full traceability of its product. It should also enable AFP to serve up any standardized court within 2 hours of order placement. The immediate objective is to be up and running by Sept. 1.
Demand has increased since July, Delgado says, although not to the “crazy” degree as in FY 2021 and Q1 2022, which saw increases “beyond the control of any firm.” Sustainable growth returned in mid-2022, he continues. There was uncertainty during the first quarter of 2023 when certain investors postponed their plans for pádel courts, but things turned around in the second.
One of the reasons is a settling down in the price of raw materials. Another is the emergence of new manufacturers – in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands – that are “very centered on price” and engaged in “a kind of manufacturing that doesn’t meet technical criteria.” Delgado expects this to end when the Spanish Standards Association (UNE) publishes the court standards that the International Padel Cluster (CIP) has been promoting.
By July 31 AFP had installed some 500 courts worldwide. Its objective for FY 2023 is to increase revenues year-on-year by about 15 percent – so from €17.7 million to something in the neighborhood of €20.4 million. That said, “to close 2023 with the same figures as 2022 would be a positive accomplishment; to grow by 10 percent would be very positive; to reach 15 percent would be a genuine success.”
A chunk of this year’s revenues should come from South Africa, an emerging market for pádel, where AFP has of late signed a deal to supply 100 courts to a fitness chain. AFP has also received orders this year from Mexico, where it had installed 75 courts as of July 31.
Business has been slower than expected in the U.S. AFP has been shipping courts there “more regularly,” says Delgado, but has had to modify its designs to meet the regulatory standards of various U.S. states. It installed 45 U.S. courts in the first seven months of 2023.
In Europe, still the chief market for pádel, AFP is pursuing a dual strategy. In its established European foreign markets – the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy – it will strive for continued growth. Elsewhere – in the U.K., Germany and France – it will work through partnerships. According to Delgado, 80 percent of the world’s pádel courts are to be found in seven countries: Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Finland.
AFP Courts is a division of All for Padel (AFP) Group, which for the past 12 years has held the Adidas license in all things pádel (racquets, balls, bags, accessories). As we reported in June, AFP has obtained Adidas’ blessing to launch its own separate pádel brand.
