Amer Sports said its Winter and Outdoor sales declined 10 percent in the fourth quarter due to the late arrival of winter in key markets and this it expects that to reduce pre-season orders for next fall and winter.

Winter and Outdoor sales reached €375 million ($506 mm) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, down 10 percent from €416.5 million ($567 mm) in the fourth quarter of 2010. On a local currency basis that translated to a 4 percent decline.  Within the segment, Winter Sports Equipment sales declined by 14 percent in local currency, due to a combination of a shift in deliveries from the fourth to the third quarter in 2011 and lower in-season orders in the more recent period.
On the positive side the company reported Fitness revenues jumped 22 percent (30 percent on a local currency basis) to $72.9 million ($98 mm). Ball Sports revenues reached €109 million ($147 mm), up 2 percent, for total revenues of €556.9 million ($751 mm), down 5 percent.
For the full year, Amer Sports reported net sales of €1.88 billion ($2.55 bb), up 8 percent.
“2011 was a record year for Amer Sports,” said Heikki Takala, president and CEO. “The company reached all-time high in sales and EBIT with net sales up by 9% and EBIT by 26%. Almost all of our business units and geographic regions are improving and we can see that the strategy announced in 2010 is proving to work. I continue to be especially pleased by the progress in softgoods, which in 2011 became our largest category, representing nearly 30% of the company sales. Equally, I’m delighted by the strong development in Fitness, up by 17%, in Cycling, up by 14%, and in Team Sports, up by 11%.
In 2011, there was good development in the sporting goods market and outdoor softgoods in particular continued the strong growth. However, the impacts of the uncertainty in the macroeconomic conditions started to be visible in the sporting goods market towards the year end.
“Looking into 2012, we continue to drive our strategy. We do see some new challenges: the Winter Sports Equipment market will be challenging due to the slow start of the season in key markets. Further, the economical environment remains cloudy. Despite these challenges, we will have strong performance and we will continue driving our development programs with focus on profitable growth and synergies.”
 
 Fourth Quarter Ended Dec. 31
Net sales by business segment
Euros (millions)  
  




U.S. Dollars (millions)


Division Sales20112010Chg

20112010Chg
Ball Sports/Wilson€ 109.0 € 107.3 1.6%

$147 $146 0.8%
Winter & OD€ 375.0 € 416.5 -10.0%

$506 $567 -10.7%
Fitness/Precor€ 72.9 € 59.6 22.3%

$98 $81 21.3%
Total€ 556.9 € 583.4 -4.5%

$751 $794 -5.3%










 










Regional Sales20112010Chg

$2,011 $2,010 Chg
Americas€ 205.4 € 184.1 11.6%

$277 $250 10.7%
EMEA€ 273.8 € 325.8 -16.0%

$369 $443 -16.6%
Asia Pacific€ 77.7 € 73.5 5.7%

$105 $100 4.9%
Total€ 556.9 € 583.4 -4.5%

$751 $794 -5.3%

 

Full Year Performance

Winter Sports Equipment


In 2011, Winter Sports Equipment’s net sales totaled&nbs