Frank Heissat is returning to his native France to run another sponsor of the Tour de France. This passionate triathlete is leaving as vice president and general manager of Oakley for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to become chief executive of Le Coq Sportif, effective July 1. Heissat takes the place of Marc-Henri Beausire, who became CEO of Le Coq shortly after Airesis became its majority shareholder in October 2005. Beausire remains CEO of Airesis, which is based near Montreaux in Switzerland, and chairman of Le Coq, which is based in Paris.
A successor has not been announced yet for Heissat at Oakley Europe, which has its base in Zurich. Heissat knows Airesis well because he acted briefly as interim CEO of its Boards & More subsidiary in 2006, after working for Oxbow as marketing and product manager since 2003. He then moved to Puma to act as global business unit manager for running, training and fitness. He took the helm of Oakley Europe in May 2010. He worked for Nike as marketing manager for France between 1993 and 2003.
Under Airesis, Le Coq has achieved strong growth in turnover, and the brand became profitable as of 2009. Airesis has reported a 21 percent increase in sales for Le Coq in 2012, reaching €118.9 million, but its gross margin fell to 46 percent from 49 percent the year before. Including the licensees' sales, total wholesale-equivalent revenues increased to €217.8 million. The main factors of growth were a 50 percent boost for Le Coq's apparel business, higher sales to distributors and a more direct relationship with Foot Locker Europe.
Le Coq's operating earnings before amortization (Ebitda) remained stable at €6.3 million, in spite of major investments in the opening of six concept stores, but profit after amortization (Ebit) declined by 8 percent to €4,057,000.
At Boards & More, sales increased by 18 percent last year to €45.4 million. Its Ebitda improved by 23 percent to €3.1 million and its Ebit grew by 22 percent to €2,803,000, but its net result declined by 11 percent to €2,762,000. Airesis ended up with a slightly reduced net consolidated profit of €6,375,000 for the year on sales of €198.3 million.
Boards & More manages various action sports brands, but following a clean-up, most of its revenues come now from North Kiteboarding, North Sails Windsurf, Fanatic and ION. Airesis notes that the company has been performing better than others in the sector. The main driver was the kite business, which reached sales of €21.7 million last year. ION, which specializes in wetsuits and harnesses, raised its sales by 29 percent and launched its first bikewear line at the Eurobike fair in Friedrichshafen. Fanatic grew by 28 percent, making progress in the Stand-Up Paddle market in Europe and Australia. North Sails Windsurf managed to remain stable.
