Latest Headlines – Page 498

  • Article

    Deuter Is Sold To Another Bavarian Family Enterprise

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Schwanhäusser Industrie Holding, a family-owned enterprise founded in 1865 in the Nuremberg area, has acquired Germany’s market leader in backpacks, Deuter Sport, which is located not far away in the area of Augsburg. The best known property of Schwanhäusser is its brand of pencils, Schwan-Stabilo. The group’s sales in the ...

  • Article

    Sergio Tacchini Looks For A New Owner

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Denying Italian press reports, Johan Eliasch, chairman and chief executive of Head, says he is not interested in taking over Sergio Tacchini, either on a personal basis or through Head. Indicating that Sergio Tacchini’s advisors have already received at least one unspecified takeover offer or expression of interest for the ...

  • Article

    Airesis Changes Managements And Holds On To Boards & More

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Instead of selling Boards & More, as they had previously tried to do, the company’s shareholders have decided to split it into three business units, each responsible for some of the brand in its portfolio and each one headed up by a chief executive. The idea is to emphasize the ...

  • Article

    Refinanced, Le Coq Steers A New Course

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Placed under new ownership and new management, Le Coq Sportif has overhauled its strategy, moving away from head-on competition with the sporting goods behemoths, concentrating on tennis and rugby and giving the French brand an alternative lifestyle touch. For this year Airesis, the Swiss holding company that took ...

  • Article

    Saucony’S New Owners Make New Investment In Europe

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Stride Rite Corporation has begun building a new European headquarters in Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands, just down the road from the current location of Saucony Sports. The new building, which will begin operating in September 2007 and employ about 28 people, will initially handle the logistics and sales for all of ...

  • Article

    Another Quirky Footwear Company Goes Public In The Usa

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    In the footsteps of Crocs, which continues to make major inroads internationally, Heelys, the American supplier of wheeled footwear created by Roger Adams, has rolled onto the U.S. stock market, filing an IPO on Sept. 1. The company, valued at about $115 million, is now trading on the NASDAQ under ...

  • Article

    Shoe Importers Cry Foul At Brussels Compromise Proposal On Anti-dumping

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    European footwear importers are criticizing strongly a proposal now on the table of the 25 member governments of the European Union to assess anti-dumping duties on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes for only two-three years. Both the European Sporting Goods Industry Federation (FESI) and the Footwear Association of Importers and ...

  • Article

    More Changes In The Ispo Team As It Pursues Its International Development

    2006-10-03T00:00:00Z

    Stefan Reschke, who has done a great job in building up the ISPO China show, is now responsible also for ISPO Russia. The 31-year-old manager, who has worked within the ISPO team since 2001, has been appointed to the newly created position of international exhibition director for ISPO following the ...

  • Article

    Fusion And Other Brands Sustain Nike’S Growth, But The Uk Is Still A Challenge

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    While there are signs of recovery in France, cut-throat competition in the British market continues to depress Nike’s European performance. Excluding the UK, the brand’s revenues in Europe raced ahead at a double-digit pace for the 1st quarter ended on Aug. 31, and sales in Eastern Europe even grew by ...

  • Article

    World Cup Boosted Retail Sales

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Retail sales of football clothing increased by 27 percent to an estimated €422 million in the five major European countries during the first six months of 2006, according to NPD Group, thanks to the World Cup. At 70 percent, the biggest sales increases were recorded in France and Germany. In ...

  • Article

    Two New Country Managers At Decathlon

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Jean-Paul Constant, a French executive known as a tough guy, has been appointed as Décathlon’s new country manager in the UK, a difficult market where its private brands are just now beginning to be appreciated and where the company has stopped losing money on its six stores in the country. ...

  • Article

    Kesko Plans Second Budget Sport Store

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Kesko, Finland’s leading retail group, has decided to open a second Budget Sport store of more than 2,500 square meters in a new shopping center near Tampere, called Idea Park, next April. The investment follows better than expected results at the first Budget Sport store, opened in a shopping center ...

  • Article

    Champion Sports Is Sold For €60 Million

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    The Irish chain of 17 sporting goods stores was sold last week for a about €60 million to PCP One, an Irish investment consortium led by John Quinn. With the new financial backing of PCP, Champion Sports will begin an aggressive expansion plan, adding 10-15 of its large outlets over ...

  • Article

    Ashley Pulls Blacks’ Share Price Up

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Blacks Leisure, the embattled British outdoor retailer, remains at the center of intense speculation after Mike Ashley, the hard-hitting owner of Sports World, apparently amassed a sizeable stake in the company. Man Financial, an investment firm thought to represent Ashley, first reported acquiring a stake of 14.32 percent in Blacks ...

  • Article

    Cavden Group Rescues Hawkshead

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Hawkshead Retail, a British mail order company specializing in outdoor clothing, footwear and accessories, with annual sales of an estimated £25 million (€37.3m-$47.5m), was rescued from administration last month when it was taken over by Branded Logo. This new entity is financed by Cavden Group, a British company which owns ...

  • Article

    Trespass Opens Lots Of Stores

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Trespass, the Scottish-based ski and outdoor company, is snapping up store locations in Britain’s distressed retail landscape to vastly expand its own retail network over the next months. While it already has 23 stores around the country, the tally should increase to 45 outlets by the end of next February. ...

  • Article

    Dutch Sneakers Chain Steers A New Course Under New Ownership

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Sneakers, the Dutch lifestyle footwear retailer, is making an impressive comeback. Under new ownership since last year it has begun to entirely overhaul its formula and to refurbish its stores, lifting comparable sales in the upgraded outlets by close to 20 percent this year. The retailer was sold as ...

  • Article

    Basicnet Nets Profit From Capital Gain

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    BasicNet swung into a net profit of €26.1 million in the 1st half of 2006, against a €5.9 million loss a year earlier, thanks to a €27.1 million capital gain stemming from the €27.3 million sale to Diamond King International of property rights for the Kappa and Robe di Kappa ...

  • Article

    Trespass Opens Lots Of Stores

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Trespass, the Scottish-based ski and outdoor company, is snapping up store locations in Britain’s distressed retail landscape to vastly expand its own retail network over the next months. While it already has 23 stores around the country, the tally should increase to 45 outlets by the end of next February. ...

  • Article

    Volcom Appoints New European Team, Expects Strong Revenue Gains

    2006-09-26T00:00:00Z

    Volcom has nearly completed the recruitment of the new management team that will gradually take over next year the large European business developed under the brand by a licensee, Michel Gamay, with growing annual sales estimated at about $30 million. Volcom Europe, whose head office is being erected in a ...