Derby Cycle AG said preliminary figures indicate its sales increased 6.6 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 31 2011, but that costs incurred fighting off an unsolicited offer hurt profits.
The company, which is Germany's largest bicycle manufacturer in terms of revenue, reported sales reached €40.3 million ($54 mm) in the first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, up 6.6 percent from €37.8 million ($51 mm) in the prior-year period. The growth came on a 1.3 percent increase in unit sales, which reached approximately 82,000 bicycles.
The company did not disclose earnings, but said it expected EBIT to come in below year earlier levels due to banking advisory fees the company paid to fend off an apparent hostile takeover by Accell Group of the Netherlands and arrange a friendly merger with another Dutch firm.
That company, Pon Holdings, agreed to retain Derby Cycle’s separate stock listing and grant its management autonomy for at least a year. Pon, which has extensive holdings in the automotive and transportation industries, has since gone on to acquire the Canadian bicycle maker Cervélo. Last week, it disclosed it had hired an executive to run a new unit called Pon Bicycle Business Group. That group will be based in Cloppenburg, Germany, where Derby Cycle is headquartered, and oversee Pon’s growing portfolio of bicycling brands. While Derby Cycle does not currently sell any of its brands in North America, Royal Gazelle is sold in the United States, where Cervélo has an extensive dealer network.
