|
Surfing-goods king Quiksilver announced on Tuesday a deal to
buy Rossignol Group, the French winter sports goods company, for
about £166 million.
Faced with a life-saving restructure regardless, the French company,
which is the world's biggest maker of skis, agreed to being bought
in a deal that will create the biggest maker of outdoor clothing
and equipment worldwide.
The move mirrors a wave of consolidation rippling through the consumer-goods
and retail industries
Quiksilver said it had struck an agreement with Rossignol's controlling
Boix-Vives family - which owns 45 per cent of the capital and 63
per cent of the voting rights - to buy a majority stake in Rossignol,
following it up later with a bid for the remaining share capital.
New group to rival Nike and Adidas
Summarising the reasoning behind the deal, Mr Mariette said: "Our
ambition is to represent in outdoor gear what Nike and Adidas represent
for team sports, with brands that kids will fight to get their hands
on."
The combination of Quiksilver's brands, including GNU Snowboards,
Hawk skateboarding gear and Roxy surf-wear with Rossignol's own
Dynastar, Lange and Look brands will create a sporting equipment
group with total annual sales of just under £1.4 billion.
Quiksilver is understood to have pipped sportswear giant Nike for
Rossignol. It has been keen to grow its sports gear offering and
the move on Rossignol will take it into different equipment categories,
including in-line skates, tennis racquets, Lange boots and golf
equipment associated with the Cleveland brand as well as skiing.
Quiksilver profits, Rossignol losses
Quiksilver has recently made a string of small acquisitions, including
DC Shoes, which helped lift revenues 30 per cent to £669m
in the year to October. Net profits rose 39 per cent to £56.5m.
In contrast, Rossignol has been hit by three years of falling revenues.
Sales in the six months to September were flat at £138.2m
and profits fell by around 65 per cent to about £2m.
Separately, Rossignol said it would post a "heavy loss"
when it reveals its 2004 results, hampered by the reorganisation
of its production sites, a lacklustre ski season slowed by a short
winter season in Europe and a strong euro.
The group, which is also labouring under an £82m pile of debt,
said snowboard sales had been slow in the important Japanese market,
while the in-line skate sector was not as strong as before.
Mail
this page to a friend
What do you think? Tell us in the Chat
Room |
