Soaring sales of American football helmets under the Riddell brand drove a quarterly sales increase of 6.9 percent to nearly $212.5 million for Easton-Bell Sports, the American supplier of team sports, cycling and other sports products. Riddell's market share continued to increase as its sales of helmets for adults and youth jumped by 29 percent for the three months until the start of October. Team sports sales were up by 13.9 percent for the quarter, while the turnover of the company's action sports unit slipped by 0.5 percent. The dip was attributed to weak sales of snow helmets, owing to abundant inventories at retail level in Europe. This was only partly compensated for by double-digit sales increases for Easton wheels and components, and strong demand for the new range of cycling shoes launched by Giro. Easton-Bell's gross margin improved by 0.6 percentage points to 35.6 percent for the quarter, due to the favorable mix of football and cycling helmets sold in the quarter. After a sharp decline in interest expenses, the company's quarterly net income jumped by 56 percent to just under $4.7 million.

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