The Swedish-based New Wave Group, which owns or distributes brands such as Craft, Cutter & Buck, Ahead, Orrefors and Speedo, reported record third-quarter profits as sales closed in on pre-pandemic levels, driven by a recovery in the Nordic countries and the U.S.
The group’s Sports & Leisure division saw sales rise by 36 percent to 762.8 million Swedish kronor (€76.8m-$88.6m) for the period, ended Sept. 30, and its operating profit went up to SEK 139.8m (€14.1m-$16.3m) from SEK 90 million, mainly due to the higher sales and an improved gross profit margin. The segment had higher revenues in all regions except Central Europe.
In the group’s Corporate segment, revenues fell by 3 percent to SEK 685.3 million (€69m-$79.7m), but the operating profit rose to SEK 85.4 million (€8.6m-$9.9m) from SEK 72.1 million, mainly due to an improved gross margin.
Across the group, the operating margin for the quarter was up to 15.7 percent compared with 12.0 percent a year ago, as total sales rose by 13 percent to SEK 1.6 billion (€161m-$186m), while the gross margin increased to 48.3 percent from 42.6 percent. Net earnings grew to SEK 196 million (€19.7m-$22.8m) from SEK 119 million.
Group sales increased by 49 percent in the U.S., by 14 percent in Sweden, by 11 percent in Central Europe and by 34 percent in other Nordic countries. In the rest of the world they decreased by 38 percent, mainly due to a decline in the Corporate segment.
Sales in Southern Europe increased by 24 percent thanks to higher sales at the Corporate and Sports & Leisure segments.
New Wave’s CEO, Torsten Jansson, said he was still cautious around the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, lack of freight capacity from Asia and longer lead times for raw materials, but stressed that “the clouds of unrest are still far fewer and smaller than 1.5 years ago.”
Jansson added that, while the pandemic was still present, “society is opening up more and more. Just as we predicted in previous reports, demand is increasing and we are heading for a strong autumn.”
