Elan, the Slovenian ski and marine company,, is preparing to hang out a “for sale” sign. Most of its shares are indirectly held by the Slovenian state, investment funds and an insurance company. While speculation about Elan's sale has been rife for several years, the company has obtained the go-ahead to appoint a consultant who will be seeking buyers in the next months.
The shareholders' permission comes after the solution of a long-standing property issue and a return to profits for Elan's winter sports division on a turnover of about €60 million last year, a small increase compared with 2009.
Elan's sales of skis with its own brand grew significantly in 2010; posting an increase of about 18 percent in volume to 265,000 pairs. Elan estimates that this amounts to a global market share of about 8 percent for the brand. Due to a small rise in average prices, its turnover for Elan-branded skis jumped by 20 percent for the year. Separately, Elan cranked out about 205,000 pairs of skis for other brands last year, which was an increase of about 5 percent.
The rise in the turnover of the winter sports division was driven by Germany, the Czech Republic and several other Eastern European markets. Sales jumped by a whopping 42 percent in pairs in Germany and by 21 percent in Austria – buoyed by the weather and structural changes implemented last year, when the company formed Elan Central Europe to supervise sales in the two countries. With deliveries of 37,400 pairs in Germany and 21,300 pairs in Austria, it probably got market shares in volume of about 10 and 6 percent in these two countries, respectively. Revenues from skis and snowboards jumped by 26.5 percent in these two countries.
Furthermore, Elan reaped a sales increase of 20 percent in theU.S. market, where it put an end to its partnership with Dalbello last year and switched to the distributor of Alpina,. Another change came about in Canada, where the company's long-time general manager, Herman Pokljukar, retired and was replaced by Primoz Plestenjak, formerly in charge of development.
The brand's shift toward higher-end skis was confirmed this year with the launch of its new Amphibio range at the Ispo fair, including two models developed with Porsche Design. Elan describes itself as the only brand that uses both camber and rocker technology,, implying that the left and the right skis are not the same. Its partnership with Porsche Design continues with the development of ski bindings.
Adding its marine and sports infrastructure units, Elan achieved total sales of €84 million last year, according to preliminary data. This was just below the level of the previous year, but the comparison is skewed by the divestment of two units – handling the production of motor boats and boat rentals - but revenues from continuing operations did go up. Elan as a whole still suffered a small loss in 2010, but this was entirely blamed on the marine unit. The winter sports unit enjoyed an operating profit of about €1.8 million, compared with €0.8 million in 2009, and the company is confident that its marine unit will return to profits this year as well.
Elan has come up with a five-year plan through 2016 that calls for further focus on skis with added value. Its target is to reach a global market share of 10 percent for the Elan brand.
The brand's strategy calls for Elan's ski division to continue investing in Germany and Austria, and to provide further support to the meager but fast-growing sales of its distributor in France. Elan will focus strongly on the rental market, offering distinct concepts for rental stores. It will further invest in the freestyle category and place more emphasis on packaging, by offering skis along with helmets and poles bought from other suppliers but bearing the Elan name.
Furthermore, the plan advocates diversification into other activities to more thoroughly use the capacity of Elan's production facilities in Begunje, in northern Slovenia. In partnership with Siemens, the company is working on a renewable energy project, to produce parts of wind mills. On the marine side, Elan started moving into the category of smaller boats, with electrical engines, that may be packed on a trailer to sail on lakes. Here as well, the target is to reach a market share of about 10 percent in the performance cruising boat category.
