New Wave Group reported sales for its sports & leisure segment of 1,030.0 million Swedish kroner (€87.8m) in the third quarter, little changed from the SEK 1,016.4 million seen in the year earlier, as higher sales in the US, Central Europe and the Nordic countries outside of Sweden were largely offset by declines seen in other markets. Total third-quarter sales for the group, which operates in three segments, fell by 1 percent to SEK 2,308.3 million (€199.2m).
Operating profit for sports & leisure amounted to SEK 169.9 million (€14.7m), down from SEK 180.3 million the year earlier, when the profit figure was boosted by SEK 6.5 million due to a one-time gain in connection with the acquisition of Swedish outdoor company Tenson AB.
Sweden-based New Wave, which counts Craft, Cutter & Buck and Ahead among the brands in the sports & leisure segment, saw promotional sales in the segment rise by 7 percent to SEK 289.5 million (€25.0m) while retail sales inched down to SEK 740.5 million (€63.9m) from SEK 746.5 million the year earlier.
On a geographical basis, segment sales in the US rose to SEK 454.6 million (€39.2m) from SEK 433.3 million as sales in Central Europe grew to SEK 142.5 million (€12.3m) from SEK 123.2 million and sales in Nordic countries excluding Sweden climbed to SEK 141.0 million (€12.2m) from SEK 130.6 million. Sales in Sweden slipped to SEK 186.8 million (€16.1m) from SEK 210.6 million while sales to Southern Europe decreased to SEK 35.1 million (€3.0m) from SEK 41.4 million and sales to other countries decreased to SEK 70.0 million (€6.0m) from SEK 77.3 million.
Torsten Jansson, CEO, said New Wave would continue to focus on gaining market share, investing in all countries it is present with an emphasis on the Teamwear product area and Germany and the US. “In the short term, I don’t think we’ll see any turnaround in the market in general,” said Jansson. “I think we will likely see a few more challenging quarters, although of course I hope I’m wrong.”
