Latest Headlines – Page 356
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Nike’s record year was marred by higher costs and Chinese worries
The quarter capped a fiscal year in which the Nike group chalked up sales of $24,128 million. This was an increase of 16 percent in dollars and 14 percent in constant currencies. The company reiterated its target to reach sales between $28 and $30 billion by the end of the ...
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Widening losses for Cole Haan and Umbro
While discussing its performance for the quarter, Nike provided unprecedented details on Cole Haan and Umbro, the two brands it wants to divest. They jointly reached sales of $797 million for the quarter, which was an increase of 7 percent. However, the two brands jointly suffered a loss of $43 ...
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Nike and Adidas boast record football sales
The triumph of the Three-striped Spanish team against the Puma-clad Italians in the final of the European football championship in Kiev last night marked a victory for Adidas in the marketing battle among the leading football brands, but the eventful tournament enabled all of them to score in one way ...
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Halti gets new major shareholder
Ingman Group, a Finnish family-owned investment company, has taken over a majority stake in Halti, the Finnish ski and outdoor apparel brand. Ingman acquired the shares held since 2004 by another capital investment firm, 3i, which was the largest stake in Halti but still made up just under half of its ...
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XXL expands and opens talks in Finland
XXL, the large-scale Norwegian sports retailer, has started talks with real estate owners in the Finnish market, as it prepares to move into its third Nordic market. Since it launched its megastore format 11 years ago, XXL has shaken up the Norwegian market and caused upheavals in Sweden with five ...
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G-Max guzzles Gresvig capital
The market situation in Norway has put financial strains on Gresvig, the buying group behind the G-Sport and Intersport chains in the country, which ended last year with a pre-tax loss of 207 million Norwegian kroner (€27.5m-$34.3m). The company said it suffered from depressed margins due to the warm winter ...
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Twinner joins European purchasing organization
Twinner International, a buying group for French, Spanish and Belgian sports retailers, has joined the purchasing organization set up in May by Go Sport, a French integrated retail group, and Hervis Sport from Austria. Twinner said that the agreement would enable it to lean on the group, called Sport Trade Marketing International ...
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Zumiez acquires Blue Tomato
Blue Tomato of Austria, the leading web-based retailer for board sports products in Europe, will be taken over by Zumiez, the biggest American action sports retailer, which shares a similar culture and targets a similar type of customer. The only major difference is that e-commerce and snowboards take up a ...
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Billabong raises more equity
Unconfirmed reports in the U.S. and Australia have carried speculation that Nike and other interests may be planning to make a bid for Billabong International, the struggling Australian-based group. Nike officials declined to make any comments, but we feel that it is unlikely to make such a move because it ...
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VF seeks 13% annual growth from Vans
Vans' annual sales have more than tripled to around $1.0 billion since the brand was taken over by VF Corporation in 2004. The group wants Vans to reach a turnover of $2.2 billion by 2016, or $1.0 billion more than in the past year, implying compound annual average growth of ...
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American Golf gets new chief
American Golf, the British golf retailer, has appointed Kevin Styles as new chief executive officer. Style succeeds Nick Wood, who had left American Golf to take up the same job at Pets at Home, in March.The 40-year old Styles was most recently group chief executive of Habitat, the furniture retailer. ...
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New Balance puts out a Responsible Leadership report
For the first time in its 106-year history, New Balance has published a Responsible Leadership report detailing the company's culture, values and sustainability efforts. The report focuses on three core areas: providing a safe, healthy and respectful work environment; enhancing environmental sustainability; and supporting the communities where it operates.New Balance ...
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Peak Performance reaorganizes its distribution
Peak Performance, the Swedish sports and lifestyle brand, has inked a deal with Basic Group to sell its products in Italy from the start of next year. Peak Performance currently runs its own business in the country. Part of Basic's assignment is to open Peak Performance stores, which are taking ...
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Scarpa looks for partnerships and acquisitions
Reporting sharply improved financial results, Scarpa says it is planning to take over the distribution of its products in some foreign markets in the course of this year. With corporate assets worth €24.6 million and virtually no debt, the Italian company, which specializes in the development and production of boots ...
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Active Brands gets Prince Americas license
Active Brands has inked a deal to acquire the operating assets and exclusive licensing rights for the Prince, Ektelon and Viking brands in the Americas. The company is holding discussions to take up the same rights for Europe, but that has yet to be agreed.Active Brands apparently trumped an offer ...
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Analysis: The global athletic shoe market 2011
Despite the collapse of the toning footwear category, global sales of branded athletic footwear jumped by 13.2 percent in terms of dollars to $41,655 million in 2011, driven by significant gains in emerging markets but also aided by robust growth in more developed markets. The growth rate was almost the ...
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Good growth for sports footwear in Europe
The consumption of sports shoes rose at a healthy rate of 3.2 percent in volume in the five major European countries in 2011, according to the NPD Group's online consumer panel, reaching a level of 206.2 million pairs. The biggest increase was recorded in France, up by 5.6 percent. Sales ...
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Nike begins to pull out of Umbro
Confirming speculation reported in our last issue, it was announced a few days ago that Umbro International will no longer hold the distribution of its products in Spain, Portugal and Andorra. At the same time, an unconfirmed rumor indicated that Mike Ashley's Sports Direct International may want to buy the ...
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Sondico goes upmarket
Sondico is a football brand best known for its training and match equipment including footballs, goalkeeper gloves and protective equipment. It has been supplying good entry-level and medium-priced goalkeeper gloves under the ownership of a subsidiary of Sports Direct International, which took over the brand a few years ago. DBX ...
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Black Diamond buys Poc Sweden
Black Diamond Inc. has sealed an agreement to take over Poc Sweden, a company that has grown rapidly in the last years with its distinctive ski helmets and other protective gear, ahead of a more recent diversification of its well-designed product line. Poc said that it would retain much of ...
