Fortune Brands’ Acushnet Golf division, which owns the Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra brands, posted double-digit sales gains in the fourth quarter to end 2007 with what it called a golf industry sales record. The company reported that successful innovations helped Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra achieve individual brand records, as Acushnet also attained sales records in every product category and in all major markets for the year.

Fourth quarter revenues increased 12.6% to $245.1 million from $217.6 million in the year-ago quarter. All product categories were said to have posted growth, led by a double-digit increase in sales of golf balls, as well as favorable foreign exchange rates. As is common in the seasonally-smallest quarter of the year, operating income was negative, a loss of $6.7 million, down $1.9 million from the year-ago quarter. The division’s operating income was impacted by closeouts in advance of new product launches, R&D and brand building expenses, modest restructuring costs, and patent defense litigation costs.


For the full fiscal year, Acushnet Golf revenues grew 7.0% to $1.41 billion from $1.31 billion for fiscal 2006. Those sales included record results in all product categories, and records in all major markets, including the U.S., Canada, Europe, Korea, Japan, China and Australia. Golf ball sales increased at a high single-digit rate, as the company benefited from favorable mix shift to the next generation Titleist Pro V1 and NXT families that were launched in 2007. The company said it continues to gain market share in golf balls, adding about one point in units and two points in dollars at on and off-course U.S. golf shops.


Successful innovations, including the Titleist D1 and D2 drivers, the Cobra LV4 drivers and UFI irons, the FootJoy Reel Fit and the new Dry Joy golf shoes further added to results in 2007. Sales for the Cobra brand advanced at a double-digit rate for the year. Operating income for the full year increased 0.2% to $166.3 million from $166.0 million for 2006. Operating income growth trailed sales for the year, largely due to investments in R&D and the company’s “significant” ramp-up of investments in international markets. The company expects operating income before charges in the golf division to be up modestly in 2008.