The snow started to fall in the Nordic countries and on the Alps a few days ago, just in time for the Christmas holiday season, but the unseasonably mild weather of the autumn has seriously affected sporting goods and fashion retailers. The belated snowfall has caused particularly strong damage to sports retailers in the Nordic and alpine regions of the continent. In Switzerland, Intersport's master licensee, Intersport PSC is already expecting lower sales and profits for its current financial year, which will end on Sept. 30, 2015, due to the poor sales results of its affiliated retailers so far in the season, which will lead them to reduce their orders for the next one
However, Intersport PSC, which recently came under new management, has reported a 63.8 percent jump in consolidated net profit to 1,461,000 Swiss francs (€1.2m-$1.5m) for the financial year ended Sept. 30, in spite of a 0.9 percent drop in revenues to CH 199.2 million (€165.6m-$202.8m). Thanks to appropriate cost reductions, the operating margin (Ebit) improved to 0.6 percent from 0.4 percent.
Centralized settlements declined by 0.3 percent to CH 173.8 million (€144.7m-$177.1m) due to the unfavorable weather conditions during the winter 2013/14 season and the loss of some franchised members. Private label merchandise took a higher share of the turnover. The management estimates that the retailers affiliated with Intersport PSC generated sales of CH 432 million (€359.7m-$440.3m) in the year, compared with CH 436 million in the previous year, giving them a national market share of more than 23 percent.
