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| Breaking Headlines |  |
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| News shorts...3/8/04
MARCH 08, 2004 -- Global Brand Marketing, Inc., promoted Andrew Rate to SVP/global sourcing and manufacturing. In his new position, Rate will oversee all aspects of sourcing, production, and quality control of footwear, apparel, and accessories in China, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, India, Italy, Spain and in any other countries that GBMI decides to manufacture in the future. US Ski Team member Jeremy Bloom signed two endorsement contracts. Bloom will appear in commercials for Under Armour and do print spots for Bolle. The contracts run through 2006. Bloom is suing the NCAA in order to play football at the University of Colorado and earn money at skiing. Umbro is shifting its seven-figure advertising spend from ads to the Internet for at least a year. It relaunched Umbro.com, a web portal that will act as a global brand platform for the soccer brand. Until July 2002, the website had been operating under license as an e-commerce site, but closed due to poor sales. The revamped Umbro.com will be "more than just a football site." It is intended to reflect soccer as a lifestyle. Umbro plans to use its Internet presence to establish itself as the "number one global football brand," the company said. Umbro.com will also be used as the launch platform for the England football team's away kit, which was unveiled last week and goes on sale from March 31. The sportswear company is planning a coordinated online marketing campaign to direct traffic to the portal. As a result of the above, Umbro has dropped its advertising agency, Fallon London. Bass Pro Shops plans to build a branch on a 200-acre development at Interstate 10 and US 90 in Spanish Fort, AL. Developers in Mobile, across the bay, had been trying to land a Bass Pro door, but the chain reached an agreement with Cypress Equities to serve as the major anchor for The Market at Spanish Fort. The store is scheduled to open in spring 2006 and is expected to employ 300 full- and part-time workers. Galyans will open, a 65,000-square-foot branch in Middleton, WI. This fall two Dick's Sporting Goods stores will open as well in the greater Madison market, which is already served by The Sports Authority, Dunham's, REI and Gander Mountain. This classified ad appeared in the March issue of Sporting Goods Dealer: "Inventory Liquidation Sale by Secured Creditor. FLEET CAPITAL CORP., as secured creditor, is soliciting bids for the sale of certain inventory of REDA SPORTS, INC., DBA Reda Sports Group and Reda Sports Express, which will be sold in predetermined lots only. This inventory includes an extensive selection of apparel, footwear and hard goods in baseball, softball, soccer, basketball and other sports. For information and bid packages, please contact via e-mail [email protected] or by fax to Fleet Bids at (908) 709-6352. Deadline for bid submission will be 5pm on March 26, 2004." Brunswick signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Crestliner, Lowe and Lund aluminum boat brands from Genmar Industries for approximately $191 million in cash. "These brands are an ideal complement to Brunswick's line of fiberglass runabouts, cruisers and yachts, as well as our line of aluminum boats in the Princecraft brand," said Brunswick COB/CEO George Buckley. "This acquisition will expand our offerings to include a broader array of products in the important aluminum boat segments, in which we have little presence." The agreement covers the purchase of Crestliner, based in Little Falls, MN; Lowe Boats, based in Lebanon, MO.; Lund Boats, New York Mills, MN, and Genmar Boats Canada (which produces the Lund brand in Canada), Steinbach, Manitoba. Each of these companies produces numerous models of aluminum fishing, pontoon, deck and utility boats ranging from 10 to 25 feet. Combined, these entities had sales of approximately $311 million in the year ended June 30, 2003. J.M. Dutto raised Rocky Shoes & Boots to a buy. Dutton noted that the company finished 2003 with significant sales and earnings momentum and “surprised us by the extent of the out-performance in reported EPS. It reported $0.44 EPS in Q4, up from $0.34 a year ago, and certainly compared favorably with our $.34 Q4 estimate. For the year, Rocky reported EPS of $1.32 fully diluted, virtually double the $0.62 reported a year ago and $0.09 above our estimate of $1.23. Rocky’s results are benefiting from (a) sales momentum in new product lines; (b) the benefit of cold winter weather in the heartland, which drives demand of Rocky’s traditional rugged outdoor boots; (c) the acquisition of Gates, which was not included in the fourth quarter a year ago; and (d) relatively easy comparisons. For this company our projected three-year growth rates for sales and EPS are 12% and 15%, respectively.” |
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