Groupe Rossignol finished the first nine months of its fiscal year with sales on the negative side of flat, with a 0.5% decline to €394.2 million ($498.6 mm) compared to €396.0 million ($456.0 mm) last year. On a currency neutral basis, this translated to a 2.2% increase in sales. Average U.S. dollar to Euro exchange rates fluctuated roughly 7.9% year-on-year.

The majority of Rossignol’s sales shortfall again came from its struggling Asian division. The company recently pulled the plug on it distribution arrangements and launched a wholly owned subsidiary to have more brand control in the region. The subsidiary is clearly still in its transition phase, posting an 18.9% decline in sales for the nine month period to €28.8 million ($35.8 mm) compared to €35.5 million ($40.9 mm) last year.

Apart from its troubles in Asia, Rossignol’s snowboard division pulled down the performance of its Winter Sports group due to poor sales in Europe. Snowboard sales dropped 19.7% during the nine-month YTD period to €24.0 million ($29.8 mm). Winter Sports sales fell 4.2% to €275.0 million ($341.6 mm) compared to €287.2 million ($330.7 mm) last year, with Alpine sales falling 3.3% to €236.9 million ($294.2 mm) and Nordic sales jumping 13.7% to €14.1 million ($17.5 mm).

Geographically, Rossi is clearly more balanced than it once was. Last year Europe was over 50% of total sales and this year, sales are roughly balanced between Europe and North America. Rossignol is making strong headway in international expansion, gaining €10 million in sales in its ‘other countries’ category YTD, jumping 17.3% to €63.0 million ($78.2 mm).

Losing Bode Miller to Atomic may be impacting North American sales, which dropped 5.0% to €146.4 million ($181.8 mm). Rossignol’s Q3 sales slowed further. In U.S. dollar terms, N.A. sales dropped 12.9% in Q3.

>>> Miller’s comments to the press about the performance of his equipment this year versus last can’t be helping things either…