Iconix Brand Group told financial analysts a few days ago that it has signed new licensing agreements for Umbro in the U.K., Germany, Italy and the U.S. The company also revealed that it got $10 million from Descente to extend its ownership of the rights to the Umbro brand from Japan to South Korea, coupled with a marketing fee.
According to an official of Umbro, the brand has formed a great partnership with GLD Group that will cover the U.K. as well as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries. Much of this territory was previously covered by Unlimited Sports Group of the Netherlands, which had expressed interest in taking over the brand internationally. GLD has been a licensee of Basicnet for the brands Kappa, Robe di Kappa, K-Way and Superga.
The Italian licensee is Prisco, an Italian producer of socks and hosiery in Brescia. A member of the family who owns the company, Michele Prisco is a fan of the Brescia football team; which sponsored by Umbro. He has created a separate company for Umbro in Italy, Pressing, which is headed by Mauro Radaelli, a former general manager of Reebok Italia who has been working lately as sales and marketing manager of Colmar.
The acquisition of Umbro from Nike helped Iconix to boost its revenues, which come mainly from licensing fees, by 23.6 percent to $105.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, but its net profit was flat at $26.1 million.
