Latest Headlines – Page 402
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The Big British Golf Market Remains Problematic
Hopes that the U.K. golf market would recover in 2010 were quickly dashed by the very cold weather at the start of the year, paired with continued economic sluggishness. In many parts of the country, snowfalls made it hard to play until the end of March, and retailers could not ...
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Euro Parliament Studies Mandatory Origin Labeling
The committee on international trade of the European Parliament will meet on Sept. 29 to discuss and vote on proposals to impose mandatory origin labeling in the European Union for some products manufactured outside the union. The list of these products should include all kinds of footwear and apparel, including ...
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E-bikes Keep Netherlands Market Afloat
The Dutch bike market had a tough time of it in the first half of 2010, hurt by poor weather in April. Revenues didn’t decline as much as they could have, however, thanks to the higher prices of electric bikes. RAI, the industry association in the country, and Bovag, the ...
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Sports Play Bigger Role In England
A new study out by Sheffield Hallam University, conducted for Sport England, has found that sport has expanded its role in that country’s economy to account for 2.3 percent of all consumer spending and 1.8 percent of employment. This is a bigger role than it has played in the last ...
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Swedish Buying Group To Acquire Sportex
Swedish sports retailing is undergoing yet more changes this month with the acquisition of Sportex, an integrated retailer with two banners, by Team Sportia. This buying group was already the third-largest sports retailer in Sweden with 112 stores and sales of nearly 2.4 billion Swedish kronor (€258.6m-$328.9m) last year, but ...
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Berggruen Has Won The Karstadt Race
In the end, the showdown about Karstadt’s future was a thrilling one between the would-be new owner, Nicolas Berggruen; the receiver, Klaus Hubert Görg; and the creditors of Highstreet, a company that is the landlord of the real estate of the department store retailer. The major dispute was about the ...
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E-commerce Takes New Shapes At Intersport
The Intersport organization in the U.K. has decided to start selling online later this month through one of its retail members, The Hut. In a unique arrangement, The Hut will operate the Intersport.co.uk web shop, holding the inventory and cashing in the revenues, but Intersport U.K. will control the front-end ...
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Retail Provides Growth For Sports Direct
Sports Direct International has announced that for the 13 weeks ending July 25, group total sales rose by 8.8 percent to £408 million (€495.7m-$630.4m). The gross profit margin increased by 3.4 percentage points to 45.3 percent. On the retail side, revenues grew by 11.6 percent to £365 million (€443.5m-$564.0) ...
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The Casual Shoe Market Was Flat In 2009
Sales of branded casual footwear were rather stable in terms of local currencies at the wholesale level in 2009, in spite of the economic crisis, according to an annual survey by Shoe Intelligence and Sporting Goods Intelligence. Translated into U.S. dollars, the international currency that we have been using every ...
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Royer’S Tie-up With New Balance Triggers A Reorganization
As reported in a previous issue, the big and acquisitive Groupe Royer of France has signed a deal to take over the distribution of New Balance in France, Germany and the Benelux countries, where the American athletic footwear brand has been running its own subsidiaries. Most of the 50-odd employees ...
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Golfino Announces Management Changes
After the appointment of Stefan Rönn as managing director of the probable market leader of golf wear in Europe in July, Golfino has more major changes in its staff to announce: Christine Garaïalde has been named new director for Golfino’s wholesale business for all of southern Europe, which is France, ...
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Converse Executive Picked For New Saucony Slot
Saucony has lured Chris Lindner away from his position as vice president for global marketing at Converse to be its senior vice president/chief marketing officer, a newly created post. He will report to Richie Woodworth, Saucony’s president. Lindner started with Converse in 2007 in the new position of ...
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Lacoste Picks New Creative Director And New Eyewear Licensee
Effective Sept. 1, Felipe Oliveira Baptista became the new creative director for the Lacoste brand, taking the place of Christophe Lemaire who has been with Lacoste for ten years and is moving to Hermès International. Oliveira Baptista will oversee an expanded design studio and his first collection will be presented ...
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All Quiksilver Brands Suffer In Europe
Sales dropped by 12 percent to $441.5 million at the Quiksilver group for the third quarter ended July 31. Net income skyrocketed, however, jumping by 534 percent to $8.3 million. This year’s results included $2.6 million in asset impairment and $1.8 million in restructuring charges. The quarterly gross margin rose ...
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Revenues Slump Worldwide For Billabong
The boost expected from its purchase of West 49, which has been finally approved (see following article), is good news to Billabong International as it comes off a financial year, ended last June 30, when its sales fell by 11 percent to 1.48 billion Australian dollars (€1.07bn-$1.36bn). Net income declined ...
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Billabong’S Purchase Of West 49 Is A Go, And New Target Is In Sight
More than 99.9 percent of shareholders in West 49, the Canadian surf and skate retailer, have voted to approve the company’s sale to Aurora, a wholly owned subsidiary of Billabong International. The price was C$1.30 (€0.98-$1.25) per share cash, or an estimated $86 million. A court approved the sale on ...
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Li Ning Expects A Great Second Half
Li Ning, the Chinese athletic company, had a sales increase of 11 percent to 4.5 billion renminbi (€519.9m-$661.1m) for the first half ended June 30. Net income jumped by 23 percent to RMB 581.6 million (€67.2m-$85.4m). The gross margin improved by just 0.1 percentage point to 47.9 percent, and the ...
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China Dongxiang Plans Expansion
Revenues for the first half of the year grew by 15 percent to 2.15 billion renminbi (€248.4m-$315.9m) at the Chinese sports apparel company, and net income rose by 9 percent to RMB 786.0 million (€90.8m-$115.5m). The gross margin ticked up by 0.4 percentage points to 62.6 percent. At the end ...
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Indian Giant Nearly Sextuples Annual Profit
The fourth quarter and full year ended on June 30 for Pantaloon Retail, India’s largest listed retailer, and both saw good growth in sales and profits. For the three-month period, a 50 percent sales increase to 2,493.7 crore (€420.5m-$534.7m) translated to a huge 170 percent gain in net profit to ...
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Bottom Lines Soar At Airesis
The Swiss company has reported financial results, including those for its subsidiaries Le Coq Sportif and Boards & More. For the six-month period through June 30, Le Coq Sportif had a 13 percent increase in total revenues to €40.4 million, and the gross profit margin climbed by 5 percentage points ...
