In the first nine months of its fiscal year 2009-10, Lafuma Group faced another decline in sales by 6.1 percent to €163.8 million. In constant currencies, the French company’s ongoing operations saw their sales decline by 5.9 percent, but the management is expecting a gradual return to growth, especially in the mountaineering and surf segments.
The Lafuma core brand dropped by 11.2 percent to €63.2 million. Le Chameau, the hunting brand, dropped by 18.2 percent down to €13.1 million while the higher-end mountaineering labels, Millet and Eider, slipped by only 1.4 percent to €45.5 million. Only the surf business around the Oxbow brand increased by 2.2 percent and reached sales of €42 million.
In the third quarter, the domestic business performed better than the international one. Sales in France were up by 2.8 percent and reached €25.8 million. In return, the international sales dropped sharply by 12.5 percent to €17.2 million. Altogether, Lafuma Group suffered a loss in sales of 3.9 percent down to €43 million in the third quarter of 2009-10.
The group took advantage of healthy sales in France, especially in Oxbow’s surf business and thanks to Lafuma’s strength in camping furniture.
Own retailing was good, too, but not in the sector of own factory outlets, which could not benefit from proper clearing of the group’s overstocks. And the management could not smile about the impact of its reorganization in China and Japan as well as a very selective choice of retailer partners in Europe.
