Head Q4 Net Income Plunges 77% Despite 19% Sales Gain

February 24, 2004
SGB Update

Head N.V. reported that net revenues for the fourth quarter increased 19.2% to $161.8 million from $131.8 million in the year-ago period. Net income plunged 76.7% to $1.9 million from $8.4 million in Q4 2002. Net revenues for the year increased 11.3% to $431.2 million and the net loss widened 460% to $14.7 million from $2.6 million in 2002.

Johan Eliasch, Chairman and CEO, commented:
“The fourth quarter has been very busy and successful for Head. We have achieved revenue growth in all of our product categories, with the exception of a small decline in Diving. We are also on schedule with our previously announced restructuring and reorganizing program.

We have largely completed the consolidation of our U.S. warehouses into just one location. We have transferred our ski boot and diving manufacturing from Estonia to a new plant in the Czech Republic in preparation for the closing and ultimately the sale of the Estonian facility. Following successful union negotiations we are in the process of closing our tennis ball production facility in Ireland and transferring these operations to our world-class facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

All these projects will start to have a positive impact on the P&L from 2004.

In January, we also successfully completed the sale of 135 million of 8.5% unsecured senior notes. With the net proceeds the Company has redeemed all of its outstanding 10.75% senior notes and will repay approximately 31.5 million of other debt. The remainder of the funds will be used for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

All in all, I believe we are in very good shape for 2004.”

Winter Sports


For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Winter Sports revenues increased by 30.6%, or $24.9 million, to $106.3 million from $81.4 million in the same period in the prior year. For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, our Winter Sports revenues increased by 30.5%, or $44.1 million, to $188.8 million from $144.7 million in the same period in the prior year.

Revenues increased in all of our product segments due in part to the strengthening of the euro against the US dollar and also due to the positive reaction by the market to our product offering. In the current difficult market conditions we believe that we have both outperformed the market and many of our key competitors and expect to gain market share in a number of our products and geographies.

Gross margins improved in the fourth quarter but were still down for the twelve months of 2003 compared to the same periods of 2002. This was due to a change in the product mix in the division this year and also the negative currency impact of costs in this division that are largely incurred in euro.

Racquet Sports

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Racquet Sports revenues increased by $2.0 million or 5.5%, to $37.6 million from $35.6 million for the three months ended December 31 2002. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Racquet Sports revenues decreased by $2.4 million or 1.4%, to $166.4 million from $168.8 million in the same period in 2002.

The increased revenue and gross margin for the fourth quarter are due to excellent sales of our new Liquidmetal tennis racquets series. Liquidmetal is the most talked about new racquet technology in a decade and has already become the world's best selling new racquet technology.

The revenue and margin decline for the twelve-month period is due to the very tough market conditions particularly in the US tennis racquet and tennis ball markets that affected our first half results. In the fourth quarter we saw some signs of recovery in the market, particularly in racquets, and we expect this to carry over into 2004.

Diving

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Diving revenues decreased by 6.2% or $1.0 million, to $14.9 million from $15.9 million in the comparable 2002 period due to some timing differences. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Diving revenues increased by 1.1% or $0.7 million, to $66.3 million from $65.6 million in the comparable 2002 period. However this is partly due to the effect of reporting our consolidated revenues in US dollars as we actually experienced declines in local currency sales in some markets.

Gross margins have been impacted by declines in certain local currency sales and also by the impact of currency movements on costs. Additionally, margins have been reduced by the sale of some obsolete stock, fewer high margin sales to Japan and an increase in our inventory reserve. We feel this increase in reserve is prudent given the current weak market conditions.

Licensing

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Licensing revenues increased by $0.2 million, to $2.9 million from $2.8 million in the same period in 2002. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Licensing revenues increased by $1.3 million, to $9.7 million from $8.4 million in the comparable 2002 period.

The increases were due to the strengthening of the euro against the US dollar.

Profitability

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, gross profit increased by $11.1 million to $165.2 million from $154.1 million in 2002. Our gross margin decreased to 38.3% in 2003 from 39.8% in 2002 due to lower average prices, the inclusion of costs associated with various reorganization programmes and the strengthening of the euro against the U.S. dollar, which adversely affected our euro denominated costs.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, selling and marketing expense increased by $14.5 million, or 14.1%, to $117.1 million from $102.6 million in 2002. This increase was due to exchange rate effects on these predominantly euro denominated costs and an increase in the bad debt allowance of $1.9 million.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, general and administrative expenses increased by $6.8 million, or 21.1%, to $38.8 million from $32.1 million in 2002. This increase was due to exchange rate effects on these predominantly euro denominated costs.

We also recorded $1.6 million in the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2002 and $0.7 million in the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, as non-cash compensation expense due to the grant of stock options under our stock option plans 1998 and 2001 and the resulting amortization expense.

In 2003, we recorded $8.4 million restructuring costs to implement our cost reduction program in the US, Estonia and Ireland.

As a result of the foregoing factors, including the costs of the restructuring program, operating income for the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, decreased by $17.5 million, or 98.6%, to $0.3 million from $17.8 million in 2002.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003 interest expense increased by $2.3 million or 19.9% to $14.0 million from $11.7 million in 2002. The increase was due to the strength of the euro against the dollar in particular on the euro denominated 10.75% senior notes that will be redeemed in March 2004. The Company's interest expenses are mostly in euro.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003 interest income increased by $0.1 million to $1.1 million from $0.9 million in the comparable 2002 period.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, we recorded a foreign currency exchange loss of $1.1 million, compared to a loss of $7.4 million in 2002. This reduction was primarily due to the reclassification of non-euro denominated intercompany accounts receivable at one of our euro-based subsidiaries to permanently-invested intercompany receivables.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, other income, net decreased by $0.4 million to a net expense of $0.02 million from $0.4 million income in 2002.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, income tax expense decreased by $1.8 million to $0.8 million from $2.6 million in 2002.

As a result of the foregoing factors, for the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, the Company had a net loss of $14.7 million, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million in 2002.

2004 Outlook

Whilst we do not expect conditions in the sporting goods market to improve dramatically during 2004, we believe the signs are that there will be some growth in demand in our product categories.

We intend to continue to launch innovative products to help stimulate market demand and also to grow our market share.

We also expect to largely complete our restructuring and reorganizing program during 2004 and the benefits of this will be felt from 2004 onwards.

In conclusion, we expect reported revenues and operating profits, excluding one-time charges, for 2004 to be ahead of the levels achieved in 2003. 

  For the Three Months Ended 31 December,        For the Years Ended
                                                    31 December, 

                         2002       2003          2002      2003
                      (unaudited)(unaudited)             (unaudited) 

 REVENUES                 
 Total revenues       $ 135,764  $ 161,842     $ 387,487  $ 431,208 
 Cost of sales           83,301     98,184       233,402    266,023 
  Gross profit           52,463     63,658       154,084    165,186 
  Gross margin             38.6%      39.3%         39.8%      38.3% 
 Selling & 
 marketing expense       27,477     34,441       102,619    117,071 
 General & administrative 
 expense (excl. non-cash 
 compensation expense)    8,671     11,057        32,081     38,847 

 Non-cash compensation
 expense                    407        164         1,632        654 
 Restructuring costs         --      7,493            --      8,368 
  Operating income       15,908     10,503        17,753        245 
 Interest expense        (3,007)    (3,759)      (11,677)   (13,999) 
 Interest income            394        319           940      1,050 
 Foreign exchange loss   (2,870)      (938)       (7,387)    (1,103) 
 Other income (expense),
 net                        218         97           387        (18) 
 Income tax expense      (2,282)    (4,273)       (2,630)      (832) 
  Net income (loss)     $ 8,361    $ 1,949      $ (2,615) $ (14,657)

Head Q4 Net Income Plunges 77% Despite 19% Sales Gain

SGB Update

Head N.V. reported that net revenues for the fourth quarter increased 19.2% to $161.8 million from $131.8 million in the year-ago period. Net income plunged 76.7% to $1.9 million from $8.4 million in Q4 2002. Net revenues for the year increased 11.3% to $431.2 million and the net loss widened 460% to $14.7 million from $2.6 million in 2002.

Johan Eliasch, Chairman and CEO, commented:
“The fourth quarter has been very busy and successful for Head. We have achieved revenue growth in all of our product categories, with the exception of a small decline in Diving. We are also on schedule with our previously announced restructuring and reorganizing program.

We have largely completed the consolidation of our U.S. warehouses into just one location. We have transferred our ski boot and diving manufacturing from Estonia to a new plant in the Czech Republic in preparation for the closing and ultimately the sale of the Estonian facility. Following successful union negotiations we are in the process of closing our tennis ball production facility in Ireland and transferring these operations to our world-class facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

All these projects will start to have a positive impact on the P&L from 2004.

In January, we also successfully completed the sale of 135 million of 8.5% unsecured senior notes. With the net proceeds the Company has redeemed all of its outstanding 10.75% senior notes and will repay approximately 31.5 million of other debt. The remainder of the funds will be used for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

All in all, I believe we are in very good shape for 2004.”

Winter Sports


For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Winter Sports revenues increased by 30.6%, or $24.9 million, to $106.3 million from $81.4 million in the same period in the prior year. For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, our Winter Sports revenues increased by 30.5%, or $44.1 million, to $188.8 million from $144.7 million in the same period in the prior year.

Revenues increased in all of our product segments due in part to the strengthening of the euro against the US dollar and also due to the positive reaction by the market to our product offering. In the current difficult market conditions we believe that we have both outperformed the market and many of our key competitors and expect to gain market share in a number of our products and geographies.

Gross margins improved in the fourth quarter but were still down for the twelve months of 2003 compared to the same periods of 2002. This was due to a change in the product mix in the division this year and also the negative currency impact of costs in this division that are largely incurred in euro.

Racquet Sports

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Racquet Sports revenues increased by $2.0 million or 5.5%, to $37.6 million from $35.6 million for the three months ended December 31 2002. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Racquet Sports revenues decreased by $2.4 million or 1.4%, to $166.4 million from $168.8 million in the same period in 2002.

The increased revenue and gross margin for the fourth quarter are due to excellent sales of our new Liquidmetal tennis racquets series. Liquidmetal is the most talked about new racquet technology in a decade and has already become the world's best selling new racquet technology.

The revenue and margin decline for the twelve-month period is due to the very tough market conditions particularly in the US tennis racquet and tennis ball markets that affected our first half results. In the fourth quarter we saw some signs of recovery in the market, particularly in racquets, and we expect this to carry over into 2004.

Diving

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Diving revenues decreased by 6.2% or $1.0 million, to $14.9 million from $15.9 million in the comparable 2002 period due to some timing differences. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Diving revenues increased by 1.1% or $0.7 million, to $66.3 million from $65.6 million in the comparable 2002 period. However this is partly due to the effect of reporting our consolidated revenues in US dollars as we actually experienced declines in local currency sales in some markets.

Gross margins have been impacted by declines in certain local currency sales and also by the impact of currency movements on costs. Additionally, margins have been reduced by the sale of some obsolete stock, fewer high margin sales to Japan and an increase in our inventory reserve. We feel this increase in reserve is prudent given the current weak market conditions.

Licensing

For the three-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Licensing revenues increased by $0.2 million, to $2.9 million from $2.8 million in the same period in 2002. For the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, our Licensing revenues increased by $1.3 million, to $9.7 million from $8.4 million in the comparable 2002 period.

The increases were due to the strengthening of the euro against the US dollar.

Profitability

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, gross profit increased by $11.1 million to $165.2 million from $154.1 million in 2002. Our gross margin decreased to 38.3% in 2003 from 39.8% in 2002 due to lower average prices, the inclusion of costs associated with various reorganization programmes and the strengthening of the euro against the U.S. dollar, which adversely affected our euro denominated costs.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, selling and marketing expense increased by $14.5 million, or 14.1%, to $117.1 million from $102.6 million in 2002. This increase was due to exchange rate effects on these predominantly euro denominated costs and an increase in the bad debt allowance of $1.9 million.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, general and administrative expenses increased by $6.8 million, or 21.1%, to $38.8 million from $32.1 million in 2002. This increase was due to exchange rate effects on these predominantly euro denominated costs.

We also recorded $1.6 million in the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2002 and $0.7 million in the twelve-month period ended 31 December 2003, as non-cash compensation expense due to the grant of stock options under our stock option plans 1998 and 2001 and the resulting amortization expense.

In 2003, we recorded $8.4 million restructuring costs to implement our cost reduction program in the US, Estonia and Ireland.

As a result of the foregoing factors, including the costs of the restructuring program, operating income for the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, decreased by $17.5 million, or 98.6%, to $0.3 million from $17.8 million in 2002.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003 interest expense increased by $2.3 million or 19.9% to $14.0 million from $11.7 million in 2002. The increase was due to the strength of the euro against the dollar in particular on the euro denominated 10.75% senior notes that will be redeemed in March 2004. The Company's interest expenses are mostly in euro.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003 interest income increased by $0.1 million to $1.1 million from $0.9 million in the comparable 2002 period.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, we recorded a foreign currency exchange loss of $1.1 million, compared to a loss of $7.4 million in 2002. This reduction was primarily due to the reclassification of non-euro denominated intercompany accounts receivable at one of our euro-based subsidiaries to permanently-invested intercompany receivables.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, other income, net decreased by $0.4 million to a net expense of $0.02 million from $0.4 million income in 2002.

For the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, income tax expense decreased by $1.8 million to $0.8 million from $2.6 million in 2002.

As a result of the foregoing factors, for the twelve months ended 31 December 2003, the Company had a net loss of $14.7 million, compared to a net loss of $2.6 million in 2002.

2004 Outlook

Whilst we do not expect conditions in the sporting goods market to improve dramatically during 2004, we believe the signs are that there will be some growth in demand in our product categories.

We intend to continue to launch innovative products to help stimulate market demand and also to grow our market share.

We also expect to largely complete our restructuring and reorganizing program during 2004 and the benefits of this will be felt from 2004 onwards.

In conclusion, we expect reported revenues and operating profits, excluding one-time charges, for 2004 to be ahead of the levels achieved in 2003. 

  For the Three Months Ended 31 December,        For the Years Ended
                                                    31 December, 

                         2002       2003          2002      2003
                      (unaudited)(unaudited)             (unaudited) 

 REVENUES                 
 Total revenues       $ 135,764  $ 161,842     $ 387,487  $ 431,208 
 Cost of sales           83,301     98,184       233,402    266,023 
  Gross profit           52,463     63,658       154,084    165,186 
  Gross margin             38.6%      39.3%         39.8%      38.3% 
 Selling & 
 marketing expense       27,477     34,441       102,619    117,071 
 General & administrative 
 expense (excl. non-cash 
 compensation expense)    8,671     11,057        32,081     38,847 

 Non-cash compensation
 expense                    407        164         1,632        654 
 Restructuring costs         --      7,493            --      8,368 
  Operating income       15,908     10,503        17,753        245 
 Interest expense        (3,007)    (3,759)      (11,677)   (13,999) 
 Interest income            394        319           940      1,050 
 Foreign exchange loss   (2,870)      (938)       (7,387)    (1,103) 
 Other income (expense),
 net                        218         97           387        (18) 
 Income tax expense      (2,282)    (4,273)       (2,630)      (832) 
  Net income (loss)     $ 8,361    $ 1,949      $ (2,615) $ (14,657)
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