SGB Update Outdoor
Report Sees Older Americans Transforming Fitness Landscape
It languished for about a decade, but now the American fitness phenomenon is coming to life again, resuscitated by the least likely demographics — “older” participants. From 1998 – 2004, the number of frequent fitness participants aged 55+ zoomed by 33%
Nike Releases Names of Factories in New Report
In a move toward greater industry transparency and collaboration, Nike, Inc. on Tuesday voluntarily disclosed, in conjunction with the release of its new corporate responsibility report, the names and locations of the more than 700 active contract factori
ICON Posts Fiscal Q3 Loss as Sales Dip 1.8%
ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. reported net sales dipped 1.8% to $301.3 million for the fiscal third quarter ended February 26, compared to $306.9 million for the three months ended February 28, 2004. ICON reported a $838,000 net loss for the quarter, compa
Hus Joins Titus Cycles as CEO
Pat Hus has been hired as the Chief Executive Officer for Titus Cycles, joining Chris Cocalis as President. Prior to coming to Titus, Hus was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the American Bicycle Group, owners of Litespeed, Quintana Roo, and M
March Retail Gets an Easter Boost, But…
March was a month that both giveth and taketh away this year as the upside benefits expected by many due to the earliest Easter in 16 years were offset by the wicked winter weather in much of the northern tier of the country. While the early holiday, whi
Serial Acquirer Alert: Quiksilver Nabs Aussie Retailer…
Quiksilver has been on quite the acquisition tear recently, expanding both their wholesale division through the Rossignol deal reported last month, and now their retail division through the acquisition of Surfection. Surfection has been operating in Austr
Retail Execs Stay Upbeat in March…
After a nice retail rebound in February, Retail Executives apparently kept their upbeat attitude in March as an early Easter promised to give them a lift versus the year-ago period. Still, the holiday lift for the month only brought the execs’ outlook fl
Quadriga Acquires Jack Wolfskin…
Funds advised by Bain Capital have sold all shares of Jack Wolfskin to private equity firm Quadriga Capital. Jack Wolfskin’s top management will continue to hold a considerable, but minority, part of the shares. No financial details were disclosed, but J
ShopKo Latest in Move to Go Private…
ShopKo Stores, Inc. announced that it signed a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Minneapolis-based private equity investment firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. The acquisition is valued at slightly more than $1 billion,
Annual NSGA Participation Study Sees Little Shift in Top Categories…
The National Sporting Goods Association last week issued some early numbers from its sports participation report for 2004, again pointing to Exercise Walking as the largest participation sport in the U.S. last year. The data, which is part of a broader a
Adams to Get a Bump in First Quarter…
Adams Golf has been fully reimbursed by its insurance company for funds embezzled by a former employee. ADGO in December reported that $970,000 in embezzled funds had been expensed in the years when the activity occurred.
Adams has now indicated that it
Callaway Carefully Managing to a 50% Drop in Earnings for Q1…
Callaway Golf Company said its first quarter revenues will likely fall more than 17.5% for the period, a decline the company said was at least partially expected as they staggered new product launches more evenly this year and carefully managed the amount
Escalade Sports Again a Drag on Q1…
Escalade, Inc. announced that net income nearly doubled for fiscal Q1, increasing 93% to $1.2 million or 9 cents per share, as compared to 5 cents in Q1 last year. The gain was due entirely to the turnaround of the office products operations. Company ne
Puma Looks to Come Out of FIFA Action in One Piece…
News out of Germany last week has the Court there apparently siding with Puma AG in the ongoing dispute over a one-piece kit the company had designed for Cameroon. FIFA had previously fined Cameroon for wearing the uniforms during the African Cup in 200
Obituary — J. Carter Bacot
J. Carter Bacot, a member of the Board of Directors of Foot Locker, Inc. and the lead director, died at home in Montclair, NJ on April 7, 2005. The cause was cited as cardiac arrest in published reports. Mr. Bacot, who had been a FL director since 1993,