Billabong has completed an agreement to acquire the retail operations of Quiet Flight, an East Coast retailer and the operator of 13 stores, including the flagship Billabong and Element retail stores in New York City. Quiet Flight’s retail management team is being retained as part of the transaction. 


Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Billabong expects Quiet Flight to contribute approximately 3% of overall Group sales for the 2008-09 financial year and to be EPS accretive in its first full year within the Group.


“Quiet Flight’s founder, Ed Leasure, opened his first surf shop at Cocoa Beach in Florida in 1972 and he has been doing business with Billabong over several decades,” said CEO Derek O’Neill.

 

“Ed has been a great support to our U.S. East Coast business and we cemented our relationship with him in 2005 when he opened a licensed Billabong store and a neighboring Element store in the middle of Times Square, New York. Through that partnership we have strengthened our business relationship and gained a shared understanding of the value in working together.”


Quiet Flight operates under a number of multi-branded retail banners in Florida, including Quiet Flight stores in Universal Studios, New Smyrna Beach, Tampa and Cocoa Beach, and Surf Warehouse stores in Orlando.