Salomon is in the final stage of negotiations of a licensing deal for its inline skates, and it should be concluded before the presentation of a new collection for Spring/Summer 2007. Skating and surfing products were the only segments that failed to record a double-digit sales improvement in the 1st quarter of 2006, which saw Salomon’s overall sales increase by 15 percent over the same period a year ago. The management attributes the good score to strong investments made in the last few years on design and R&D. While the abundant snowfall helped to optimize sales of Salomon’s new ski bindings and of its Nordic ski collection, footwear, clothing and accessories performed very well, too.