Foot Locker acquires Runners Point
The U.S. retailer has announced that it is buying Runners Point, the German athletic footwear and apparel chain, for €72 million. The majority of shares in Runners Point are held by Hannover Finanz, a German private equity investor, while the remaining shares are owned by the chain’s senior management led by Otto Hurler and Harald...
ISPO BIKE hosts convention of bicycle engineers and designers
On July 25, Messe München will host the 4th international convention of bicycle developers under the roof of the ISPO BIKE trade show. The convention targets industry professionals to discuss the future of bicycle engineering and has three topics at the top of its agenda: e-bikes, ergonomics & convenience and testing. Ten experts are invited...
STMI adds Spain’s Forum Sport to its European retail network
Sports Trade & Marketing International (STMI), the pan-European buying group of sporting goods retailers, has a new member: Forum Sport. The Spanish chain is a subsidiary of Eroski, one of the country’s leading food retailers. Thanks to its new member, STMI will increase its total volume of turnover at retail prices by €125 million to about...
Bike Belong and REI support U.S. bike lane projects
Bike Belong, the U.S. non-profit organization devoted to the development of safety on bicycles and bike programs for children, has granted a total of $125,000 to five local non-governmental organizations that aim to set up bike lane networks in their respective cities or areas. Donations worth $25,000 each go to NGO’s in Austin, Chicago, Portland,...
German government rewards Uvex for its efforts on gender equality
The German Federal Ministry responsible for families, elder people, women and young people has granted the so-called “Logib-D” award to Uvex, the manufacturer of sports helmets and goggles. The seal of quality is given by the ministry for successful efforts to create gender equality in salaries. Uvex accepted the ministry’s assistance to implement working conditions...
Oakley takes its Surf Shop Challenge to Europe
Oakley is taking its Oakley Surf Shop Challenge for the first time to Europe, starting with France and Spain: The employees of five selected surf shops from southwest France and two from the rest of the country face one another and the team of a selected English store on the waves of Anglet between June 6...
Polar celebrates the 100th Tour de France with a sports watch for collectors
Polar put out this month a limited-edition sports watch with and integrated GPS and various new functions to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France. Featuring a bracelet whose color is inspired by the famous yellow jersey of the race, the RC3 Tour de France provides data on speed, distance and altitude, including...
Sporting goods federations work with customs to combat fakes
Sporting goods companies in Europe, Russia and Brazil are going to collaborate more closely with customs authorities to fight against counterfeiting. They are being encouraged to make greater use of the Interface Public-Members, or IPM, which is the online interface of the World Customs Organization (WCO) between customs and the private sector. They are also...
Margins improve strongly at VFC
The revenues of VF Corporation went up by only 2 percent in the first quarter ended March 31, hitting $2,582 million, due to delayed shipments of spring/summer merchandise and a tough comparison with the strong first quarter of 2012. However, the group’s gross margin rose by 2.4 percentage points to 48.1 percent, setting a new...
Shimano cycled better than it fished
Consolidated sales by Shimano increased by just 1.3 percent to ¥63,278 million (€496.9m-$647.6m) in the first quarter of 2013. The operating income fell by 9.4 percent to ¥9,755 million (€76.6m-$99.8m), while the net income went up by 9.3 percent to ¥7,652 million (€60.1m-$78.3m). The Japanese maufacturer of bike parts, fishing and other sports equipment felt...
