Major sporting goods business, Amer Sports, which owns brands such as Mavic and Suunto, has released details of its operations in the July to September 2015 period.
Net sales reached €1,750.7 million in the period, versus €1,523.4 million in July-September 2014. In local currencies, net sales increased by 6%. Excluding acquisitions, net sales increased by 5%.
Gross margin was 45.9% in January to September 2015 (versus 44.4% in the equivalent 2014 period).
For the full year 2015, Amer Sports adds that net sales in local currencies are expected to increase and EBIT margin excluding non-recurring items should improve from 2014, despite challenging market conditions. The company will continue to ‘focus on apparel and footwear growth, consumer-driven product and marketing innovation, commercial expansion and operational excellence.’
In May 2015, Amer Sports strengthened its digital engagement capabilities through the acquisition of Sports Tracker, a digital sports application and online service. ‘Sports Tracker will be an integral part of Amer Sports Digital Ecosystem, which consists of connected devices, smart sensors, [the] Preva network, services such as Movescount, and brand websites and e-commerce.’
Heikki Takala, President and CEO said “We continued to grow profitably in the third quarter, driven again by Footwear, Apparel, Business to Consumer and China. Importantly, our quarterly cadence in 2015 is quite different compared to 2014, with Footwear and Apparel deliveries peaking in Q3 in 2015, and Winter Sports Equipment and Sports Instruments peaking in Q4.
“In Fitness we continued to focus on profitability whilst preparing for acceleration in 2016 with important new building blocks, for example Queenax functional training acquisition, and our Spinning licensing deal.”
He continued, “In August we announced a new five-year strategic glidepath toward 2020 with focus on accelerating profitable growth especially in the five prioritized areas: Apparel and Footwear, US, China, Business to Consumer, and digitally connected devices and services. We are already increasing our investment and capability injection to enable the acceleration.
“As examples we have strengthened our Retail opening pipeline, fuelled investment into digital products and services, and recruited critical talent, latest the Group Chief Digital Officer. We see attractive upside potential for the company, and we now put all our effort into realizing the potential, guided by our new strategic glidepath.”
