Acushnet, the golf unit of Fortune Brands that includes Cobra, Titleist and FootJoy, saw a 19.1 percent drop in sales to $365.8 million in the second quarter ended June 30. The operating profit fell by 36.0 percent to $43.6 million. The company said that European and American golfers were spending less on golf, but were not trading down from premium brands.
In the first half, Acushnet’s sales dropped by 16 percent to $712.8 million with a 56 percent plunge in operating profit to $52.6 million.
Since the end of the period, the company has broken ground for a new Asian golf ball manufacturing plant, and is looking to certain international markets, such as Korea and Japan, for growth. It will continue working to keep costs down, including its workforce, which in the year to date is 13 percent lower than it was at this time last year.
As a group, Fortune Brands had a 17 percent sales decrease to $1.74 billion.
