Quiksilver, on Tuesday announced a friendly takeover bid for Skis Rossignol in a deal to create a sports equipment and apparel group with revenue of almost $2.64 billion.
Quiksilver, which makes equipment and clothes for skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing, said it was offering €19 for each share of Rossignol, valuing the French family-owned ski maker at €236.5 million, or $311.5 million.
VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding stock of Reef Holdings Corporation ("Reef") from an investor group led by majority shareholder Swander Pace Capital. Terms were not disclosed.
Based in San Diego, California, Reef is a leader in the growing action sports lifestyle market. The company is the global market leader in premium surf-inspired footwear and in 2004 launched an authentic surf apparel line. Reef had sales of $75 million in 2004 excluding royalties, and is looking forward to another year of double-digit growth in 2005. Reef is expected to contribute about $45 million to sales, be neutral to earnings per share in 2005 and accretive in 2006.
Reef will remain headquartered in San Diego, California and will become part of VF's expanding Outdoor coalition, headed by Eric Wiseman, vice president and chairman of VF's Outdoor and Sportswear Coalitions. Outdoor coalition sales exceeded the $1 billion mark in 2004, and have grown nearly seven-fold over the past 5 years.
Split, Inc. announced today that Carter Gibbs has been hired as the company's marketing director. The Irvine-based action sports apparel company, which has been a leader in the boardsport industry since its inception in 1988, produces apparel in both young mens and juniors. Carter's involvement in action sports as well as the music industry spans over 20 years, and is part of what made him so attractive to Split senior management.
EMU Australia the global leader in authentic, Australian lifestyle footwear is proud to announce the addition of Ryan Heilig as operations manager for EMU Australia North America. In his new role, Heilig will work directly with the company Ceo and president and will be charged with overseeing all facets of operations and staff for the EMU’s San Clemente California-based North American headquarters.
Nikita Clothing is proud to announce partnership with Southern California rep extraordinaire, Dawnielle Hodgman. As Nikita’s newest rep, Dawnielle will be responsible for Orange County, Riverside, Palm Springs, and Mammoth Mountain.
Primoz Plestenjak is replacing former American Division Manager Brian Brand who left the company shortly after ISPO to assume a US-based managing position. Due to his long term working experience with and detailed knowledge of the Elan snowboard brand, 32-year old Plestenjak is the perfect choice to fill Brand’s boots.
T&C Surf is pleased to announce the addition of two new licensees. Both licensees have strong backgrounds in the design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of surf/lifestyle apparel and related accessories.
First, Austin Group Limited has signed a multi-year license deal for the territory of Australia and New Zealand. In addition T&C Surf Designs has secured Tent Beach, the largest surf/lifestyle retailer in South America, to design, manufacture, and distribute its branded products.
Octagon announced the acquisition of leading action sports agency IMS Sports to its Olympics & Action Sports division. The move completes the company’s niche in the highly sought-after Gen-Y demographic and underscores its understanding of the action sports convergence into the Olympic space.
In a continued effort to be at the forefront of the action sports movement, Octagon has solidified its stronghold on the industry with the addition of veteran agent Circe Wallace. Widely recognized as a leader in the action category, Wallace will serve as Octagon’s Manager of Summer Action Sports and will be joined by longtime associate Linnea Gibson who will continue her role as a Client Manager.
Thule, the world leading manufacturer of sport racks and car carrying solutions, announces the hiring of Ben "Benny" Cruickshank as the new Western Technical Representative. As part of the Thule Envoy program, Cruickshank will be responsible for attending and assisting in-store training sessions, retailer sales events, and outdoor related consumer events. Cruickshank will be based from his home in Boulder, Colorado.
"We are excited to have Benny behind the wheel of the Thule Envoy van," said Steve Doviak, Thule Inc. Marketing Manager. "His experience at retail and in the rack industry with Rocky Mounts will be a great asset to us and a great resource for our dealers and consumers."
A. Mordo & Son Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of Trevor H. O’Neill as the new Creative Director for its Snow Division.
Trevor comes to AMS from his most recent position as Creative Director of the Board Sports Division of Huffy Corp. His primary focus was on Lamar Snowboards where he has been the creative influence behind the brand for over 6 years.
Quiksilver, the world’s largest surf company, today announced a sponsorship worth US$1,000,000 over three years to the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, the prestigious annual event that decides all-important world champions in boys U/18, U/16 and girls U/18 divisions, as well as deciding the National Team World Surfing Champion in the junior division.
SCOTT announces Jeff Burkley as its head Colorado sales representative. Jeff will be responsible for all Scott product lines; goggles, gloves, apparel, helmets and protective gear. Jeff officially joined Scott on January 1, 2005.
“Jeff has been a staple in the Colorado wintersport industry for more than 10 years. His knowledge of the market and industry contacts will be invaluable for the Scott brand,” said Larry Morton, vice president of Scott’s wintersport division.
Sole Technology today announced the company’s realignment to facilitate continued growth through expanding the brand focus to better serve its core markets. The expansion has created Brand Marketing Managers for etnies, etnies Girl, Emerica, éS and ThirtyTwo, as well as a larger, more focused etnies marketing team.
The Brand Marketing Managers will lead in maintaining a narrow focus on meeting the core consumers’ needs. The new Sole Technology Brand Marketing Managers include:
· etnies – Eladio Correa
· etnies Girl – Patrice Fernandez
· Emerica – Justin Regan
· éS – Craig Metzger
· ThirtyTwo – Brian Cook
As Sole Technology’s largest brand, etnies will undergo the majority of the changes with an expansion of its marketing department. The addition of the following industry experts to the etnies team will allow the company to continue its commitment to the action sports industry:
· Art Director – Jason Heffron
· East Coast Promotions – Alex Corporan
· Public Relations Specialist – Ashton Maxfield
· Web Content Manager – Robert Brink
DC Shoes, Inc. has announced the appointment of Michelle Nelson as Girls’ Sales Director for DC. Michelle will be responsible for managing and developing a dedicated sales team, solely focused on growing and selling the product line for the Girls’ Division of DC. She will work closely with Amy Botts, Girls’ Marketing Manager and Stacy Dye, Girls’ Product Manager in bringing a comprehensive product line to market each season. Michelle will also work closely with DC’s key accounts in bringing the Girls’ Division of DC to life at retail.
Top winter sports athletes and major winter sports companies have joined forces with conservationists and ski areas to fight global warming with new public service announcements running across the country for the “Keep Winter Cool” campaign. The spots, featuring Olympic gold medalist Picabo Street and top snowboarders Dave Downing, Jeremy Jones and Romain De Marchi, ask people to help reduce warming pollution.
Leading skiing and snowboarding companies like Burton and Rossignol are getting involved as well, supporting their athletes’ involvement and helping to raise awareness of the need for action on global warming.
Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP), manufacturer of high-performance Ski-Doo® snowmobiles and apparel, signed a partnership with snowboard manufacturer Burton Snowboards, located in Burlington, VT. The recent agreement is part of a company initiative to expand their product line to appeal to the snowboarding community.
“Through the development of snowboard-specific products such as the Summit snowboard rack, we hope that snowboarders around the world will identify Ski-Doo as the premier snowmobile brand,” said François Tremblay, Marketing Director, Ski-Doo Snowmobiles.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ski-Doo will supply Burton with two 2005 Summit-REV 800 H.O. 151 inch track snowmobiles for use by Burton team riders at team houses and during backcountry trips. Ski-Doo will also award two 2005 Summit Adrenaline 600 H.O. snowmobiles as prizes to the top overall men and women at the US Open Snowboarding Championships at Stratton Mountain, VT., March 18-20, 2005.