Orders of snow sports products declined by 3 percent in value for the Rossignol Group in the first nine months of its financial year, ended Dec. 31, with a slight increase in the overall price mix. They fell by 4 percent in North America, but they went up in Japan. The group's management feels that it gained market share everywhere, in spite of the poor weather conditions of the last few months, thanks to strong demand for its products.
Snow conditions across the Alps have been quite bad through Jan. 15, resulting in a loss of sales, although the ski resorts were full of people who had already booked their holidays. The next few weeks will be critical for the company's business, and the heavy snow falls of the past few days augur well for the balance of the winter season. In any case, the management is confident that its operating earnings before amortization (Ebitda) through March will register a further increase. In the past financial year, Rossignol booked Ebitda of around €20 million on 8 percent higher sales of €241 million.
Meanwhile, Rossignol is going ahead with its diversification. Its new line of sports-inspired apparel for the autumn/winter 2016/17 season has received a lot of attention from the buyers of the fashion boutiques and department stores who have seen it so far, particularly in Europe. The line is being presented at the men's and women's Fashion Weeks in Milan but it will not been shown at the Ispo Munich fair at the end of this week, except for a Sport Chic portion that is addressing sporting goods retailers. A company in Montreal, Endorphin, has agreed to distribute the Rossignol apparel line in the sports retail circuit in North America.
Rossignol is competing with the likes of Moncler and Woolrich in the higher, high-margin segment of the sports lifestyle market, but is trying to cover all the price points. The brand is now accompanying its big push into the fashion and lifestyle apparel market with the launch of a new line of sunglasses that will be available in stores from the month of April. More technical sunglasses for snow sports will come out in September, but they will still have a fashion bent, and they will be followed by prescription frames.
The new lines of Rossignol eyewear will be developed and distributed by Logo Eyewear under a new global licensing agreement, complementing Rossignol's existing line of snow goggles. Logo is a French company that worked with Salomon until two and a half years ago.
The planned acquisition of a majority stake in Time International, the French company specializing in bike accessories, is following its course and should be completed next month, as scheduled. Aside from this diversification outside the winter sports business, Bruno Cercley, the chief executive of Rossignol, says he is taking an “opportunistic” attitude toward the group's further development in other sectors. Its Spanish ski factory at Artes has started a test for the manufacture of kite-surfing gear, but the company has not yet made a final decision as to whether it should enter this segment.
