The Prince brand has been regaining some ground in the European market in recent months, according to its management, as the brand's latest European licensee has started to restructure retail distribution with a focus on performance products.

The license for the Prince brand for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) was granted in September 2016 to Sports Brands Europe (SBE), a British company run by the brand's former operations director, David Ruthven.

After Prince filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, the brand name was acquired by the Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which then sealed a long-term licensing deal with Waitt Brands. However, as the terms apparently turned out to be overly ambitious, the licensing agreement was ended in 2016. Mike Ballardie, Prince's chief executive, decided to step down in May that year. Ruthven then established SBE in the U.K. along with three partners to take over the EMEA license. 

Under this agreement, Ruthven took 40 percent of the shares in the venture, while another 40 percent went to Bob Murray, a former licensee for Wimbledon championship apparel. The remaining 20 percent were spread equally between John Ballardie, commercial director for SBE in EMEA, and Mickey Sharp, finance director.

The licensee has been steadily rebuilding relationships with specialist key accounts, some of which had ceased to sell Prince, while some others had reduced their business with the brand amid the disruption of the last years.

The strategy picked by Ruthven was to liquidate the existing stock and then aim for a more performance-driven positioning, focusing on the most productive specialist key accounts. The target is to deliver about 50,000 performance racquets in Europe in 2018, which would be an increase of about 30 percent compared with last year, and to turn in a profit. The licensee benefits from continued investments by ABG in innovation for the Prince brand, with input from other licensees. The key price points this year are between €150 and €200 at retail.

Efforts by us to find out more about Prince in the U.S. and the rest of the world have been unsuccessful.

Ruthven has organized to cover the brand's four largest European markets directly, through employees or agents. John Ballardie, commercial director for EMEA, works alongside an agent in the U.K. Prince ceased working with Sport Finance in France to operate with two employed sales representatives, Thomas Guillen in the south and Thomas Benneton in the north of France and Wallonia. Wilko Haus is the brand's agent for the Netherlands and Flanders. Major accounts operating in Germany such as Tennis Point and Tennis Warehouse are covered from the U.K.

Sergio Pérez, the commercial director for Prince in Spain, told CMD Sport that the company wants to position itself as the fourth supplier in the market, as an alternative to Wilson, Babolat and Head, focusing on the specialist retailers. BM Sportech is the distributor for Prince in Spain, where Pérez is projecting a double-digit sales increase this year. BM Sportech sells a raft of other sports and outdoor brands, from Mammut to Kjus, Scott, Kettler, Nordica and several more.

Some other European markets are covered through distribution agreements, the latest being a dual deal started in March for the Italian market: Grand Slam in Tuscany, central and southern Italy, and Eiffel59 Tennis Service in Rome and northern Italy. In some other countries, Prince has exclusive deals, as with Altursport in Russia, but without long-term distribution agreements.

Ruthven has planned investments in grassroots marketing, while ABG will continue to handle sponsorship agreements such as the deal signed with the U.S. player John Isner and the Frenchman Lucas Pouille. The same applies in squash, where Prince has a stronger positioning, aided by an endorsement deal with Ramy Ashour, the three-time world champion.

The situation of Prince's brand rights has apparently changed in other markets as well. Although ABG has yet to respond to queries about the international picture, other sources indicate that Tennis Warehouse has obtained the license for specialty tennis in the U.S. market, while Dicks Sporting Goods has obtained rights for the general sporting goods channel. It was reported last September that Guirenniao, a Chinese sportswear company, was to acquire Prince's trademark rights in China and South Korea. As reported by Reuters, the company said it planned to invest $20 million to buy these trademark rights.