Renaud Grout, the Frenchman who has been running Icon Europe since 2006, has been promoted to the position of president of Icon Health & Fitness for Europe and Asia, basically covering all the markets except those in the Americas. He has been with the company since 1997, after leaving Prince. One of his functions will be to set up a full-fledged Chinese sales subsidiary in Shanghai, where Icon already has an office. The European subsidiary, which also handles the Middle East and parts of Africa, has been profitable for the past two years, while recording steady sales increases, and it should continue this performance for the financial year ending next June 30. Icon Europe is about to roll out the ProForm exercycle licensed by the Tour de France, which the company first introduced in the U.S. last year, reaching double the minimum volume written into the royalty agreement. With the help of Google Earth, the system allows the user to experience any stretch of the French bicycle race as if he or she were competing against the real champions.

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