Despite a slowdown in sporting equipment sales Head NV said that customer loyalty has enabled them to drive growth. Company CEO Head Johan Eliasch said that Head expects to remain on course for a record year in 2006 — in spite of the mild winter.
“Although sales of sporting equipment are suffering — and in some instances significantly — due to the lack of snow, the quality of our products and our customers' loyalty is our greatest strength in this difficult environment and has enabled us to drive growth forward,” said Eliasch.
While further declines are forecast for the ski market as a whole, Head has posted increases in all its product groups. In 2006 Head sold a total of 601,000 pairs of alpine skis (up 5% on 2005), 4% more ski bindings (1,566,000 sets) and 650,000 pairs of ski boots, 11.5% more than in the previous year. Sales for the snowboard group were particularly impressive, with increases of 9% for boards and a healthy 11% for boots. The market for protection products also continued to grow apace. Helmet sales were up 38% worldwide compared with 2005.
Sales growth in 2006 was particularly encouraging in Eastern Europe, German-speaking countries and the USA. “We have established a ski-and-boots package, based on our top-of-the range Supershape ski; with the addition of branded Head ski bindings, the set is now complete. Since January, our updated brand image has given us greater impact and fresh impetus with retailers, and we expect the upwards trend to continue,'' says Klaus Hotter, Executive Vice President Head Ski Division, full of optimism for the coming months. A definitive assessment of Head's performance in 2006 will not be possible until the publication of the annual financial statements at the end of February.
A considerable proportion of the growth of Head's Winter Sport sales has been driven by the notable successes of the Head Racing Team and its stars Bode Miller, Didier Cuche, Marco Buchel, Hans Grugger, Maria Riesch and Sarka Zahrobska. Our objective over the next months is to establish Head as a single source provider for top sports professionals. Bode Miller, Didier Cuche and Sarka Zahrobska are already competing with Head skis, bindings, and now, the new ski boots: their World Cup successes in recent weeks have been achieved with this equipment. The other athletes will be moving over to this equipment as soon as possible.
