Did you hear?… Nautilus restructuring prior to moving Colorado R&D to Washington

Preparing to shut down the Colorado fitness equipment development center to consolidate at its Vancouver, Wash., headquarters, Nautilus (NYSE: NLS) has announced two current employees taking on new positions.

At the same time, SNEWS® has learned the company has spent time this week at the fitness equipment facility in Louisville, Colo., interviewing current employees and offering positions to virtually everyone, although it doesn’t expect all to make the move.

• Mark Meussner, who has been heading up domestic manufacturing as a vice president and been based in Vancouver since his hire in October 2005, has been promoted to senior vice president of manufacturing, quality and engineering.

• Long-time Schwinn and Nautilus product developer Pat Warner, based until now in Colorado with the recent title of senior vice president, product development, will assume a role called loosely by the company in a press release as one in “business development.” The statement said, “Warner will research new technologies and partnerships to uncover product innovations.” Warner declined to discuss his new role.

“We believe these individuals are uniquely qualified to help us achieve the innovation and quality necessary to continue changing the game in health and fitness,” said Tim Hawkins, president of the fitness equipment segment of Nautilus.

Previous company statements have noted the move from Colorado to consolidate in Washington state would be complete by March. Nautilus’ apparel division, Pearl Izumi, will take over the Louisville building.

In an analyst’s update on the company released at the same time as the employment announcements, Nautilus’ success in 2007 is said to hinge on “continued operational gains.” Mark Rupe, writing for Ryan Beck, said, “We view FY07 for Nautilus as a continuation of FY06, with margin improvement the primary driver of bottom line growth. Our FY07 estimates reflect 18.8 percent EPS growth on 3.4 percent revenue growth. While an improved revenue picture would make us more enthusiastic, on a valuation basis we remain positive on NLS shares.”