The Swedish outdoor group reports a 29 percent increase in net profit to 58.4 million Swedish kronor (€6.3m-$8.3m) in 2006 on 13 percent higher net sales of 742.8 million SEK(€80.4m-$105.3m). Operating profit (EBIT) grew by 22 percent to 88.1 million SEK (€9.5m-$12.4m), but it would have risen by 50 percent to 93.8 million SEK (€10.1m-$13.3m) on a constant currency basis.

The main growth drivers were the continued recovery of Fenix Outdoor’s retail operations, especially after their pullout from the Norwegian market, and the continued progress of its wholesale operations in Germany, following the integration of Hanwag. Represented mainly by the group’s Naturkompaniet chain of outdoor shops in Sweden, the retail arm produced a positive operating profit of 14.9 million SEK (€1.6m-$2.1m) for the year, against a loss of 5.4 million SEK the year before, on 14 percent higher sales of 205.8 million SEK (€22.3m-$29.2m).

On a same-store basis, Fenix’ retail network improved sales by 21 percent for the full year and by 17 percent in the 4th quarter, in spite of the extremely warm weather in Sweden. Fenix attributes this excellent score to better and deeper product ranges being offered in the Naturkompaniet stores and to strong marketing.

Fjällräven and the other brands of the group saw their operating profit decline by 6 percent to 73.2 million SEK (€7.9m-$10.4m) last year on 13 percent higher net sales of 537.0 million SEK (€58.1m-$76.1m). However the operating profit would have improved by 16 percent to 78.9 million SEK (€8.5m-$11.2m) without the currency effect, which consisted of a loss of 5.7 million SEK (€0.6m-$0.8m) against a currency gain of 9.8 million SEK in the previous year.

Wholesale revenues grew by 12 percent on a comparable basis. They rose by 24 percent in Germany, which came to represent 34 percent of the total wholesale turnover.