VF Corporation has completed its acquisition of Reef Holdings Corporation. The Reef acquisition adds an authentic specialty surf brand to VF's Outdoor Coalition, and extends VF's presence in the action sports lifestyle market.
Reef will join VF's growing outdoor array of brands that includes The North Face®, Vans®, JanSport®, Eastpak®, Napapijri®, and Kipling®. Dave Gatto will continue as president and CEO of Reef, reporting to Mike Egeck, president, VF Outdoor, Inc.
Sales for the Reef® brand in 2004 were $75 million, excluding royalties. As announced previously, the brand is looking forward to another year of double-digit growth in 2005. Reef is expected to contribute about $45 million to VF's sales and be neutral to earnings per share in 2005, and accretive in 2006.
“Our Outdoor coalition continues to grow on a global scale, tapping into attractive new growth segments and product categories,” said Egeck. “We're delighted to welcome the Reef team to VF. We see great opportunities for the brand, both within its core footwear business as well as in underdeveloped categories such as apparel.”
