Fischer; world market leader in cross-country skis, changed its name in October to Fischer Sports. Its former name, Fischer GmbH, will be used for the holding company grouping three companies: Fischer Sports, Löffler (bike, outdoor and cross-country apparel) and FCT (Fischer Composite Technology), an automotive parts supplier.
Fischer Sports had sales of €159.4 million in the fiscal year ended last Feb. 28. The forecast for 2007/08 is €120 million. These figures exclude Löffler and FCT as well as the 47.5 percent stake that Fischer holds in FACC (Fischer Advanced Composite Components AG), a supplier to the aviation industry.
Turnover in the alpine business was €95 million in 2006/07. Due to the good winter of 2005/06, the Nordic business was up by €3 million to €60 million. The small tennis business slipped from €4.8 to €4.4 million. Sales of skis decreased from 1,800,000 to 1,740,000 units.
These figures do not include sales of Fischer GmbH’s other business activities worth some €32 million, which includes €4 million from Fischer’s hockey business, €3.5 million from FCT and approximately €24.5 million from apparel under the Löffler helm.
Fischer’s shares in FACC are for sale, and France’s Zodiac and Italy’s Finmeccanica have been said to be interested. The company continues to own various distribution subsidiaries like the German Fischer + Löffler GmbH, Fischer Skis US LLC, Fischer Moscow in Russia and Schi Kraft Corp. in Tokyo, the Japanese distributor. On top of that, Fischer owns its ski boot development center, Fischer Footwear s.r.l., in Montebelluna, Italy, and its manufacturing facility in Mukachewo in Ukraine.
Fischer’s managing director, Gregor Dietachmayr, who is also spokesman for the Austrian ski industry association, does not see the general hardgoods situation as bad as frequently reported: According to Dietachmayr, Austrian ski suppliers have an overstock of 300,000 or 400,000 units, which is, according to him, about 10 percent of the global market.
