The acquisition of K2 and other companies turned Jarden Corporation into the world’s largest supplier of sports equipment last year. With wholesale sales of $2.48 billion in the segment, it overtook Amer Sports, which had previously surpassed Adidas in the leading spot through its takeover of Salomon.
Like Head or Rossignol, Amer suffered, but to a lesser extent, from disastrous winter conditions that affected their snow sports operations and that may lead to further consolidation in the sector. Quiksilver is now expected to decide on the sale of Rossignol before its own financial year ends next Oct. 31. Tecnica Group has denied any interest in Quik or any of its components. Head would not confirm speculation that it may be one of the candidates to the takeover.
The top 25 companies on our annual sports equipment chart raised their collective share of the world equipment market slightly to just over 37 percent last year, up from 36.3 percent in 2006. The major golf companies, including Nike Golf, raised their market shares in a relatively flat market. The strongest performers were cycling companies like Accell Group and Shimano, which have a large business denominated in euros.
In dollar terms, the global sports equipment market grew by 3.8 percent to $59.8 billion last year, according to SGI, but there was hardly any growth in euros. Dollar sales outside the USA increased by 4.6 percent to $33.9 billion, indicating that there was a decline in local currencies. U.S. sales rose by only 3.3 percent;
SGI’s annual study of the global sports equipment market is mostly based on publicly available figures, and to a smaller extent on industry estimates and on sales breakdowns offered by managers. Sales of softgoods have been eliminated from the overall count.
