Fitness financials: George Foreman gets own Nasdaq symbol, plus The Sports Club, Big 5, Under Armour, Brunswick, Winmark/PIA Sports

George Foreman Enterprises gets new Nasdaq symbol
George Foreman Enterprises, formerly known as MM Companies Inc., said that Nasdaq has, at the company’s request, changed its trading symbol MMCO.OB to GFME.OB.

The company announced on Aug. 17 that it had entered into a series of definitive agreements with former world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman allowing the company exclusive future use of his name, likeness, and personal services through the assignment of his intellectual property. (See SNEWS® story, Aug. 18, 2005, “Lean, mean, grilling machine’s George Foreman as a face of fitness?”) The announcement indicated that the company will exclusively handle all future business developments related to new uses of George Foreman’s intellectual property and prospective licensing agreements.

The company also made significant additions and changes to its corporate structure. The board of directors was expanded to six people, with new board members George Foreman, George Foreman Jr. and Efrem Gerszberg joining existing board members Co-Chairman and CEO Seymour Holtzman and Jesse Choper, and it is expected that an additional board member will be added soon. George Foreman, through an exchangeable equity interest in the company’s new majority-owned subsidiary George Foreman Ventures LLC, has become the company’s largest stockholder on an as-converted basis. He has also been named co-chairman of the company, while Gerszberg continues to be the president of the company with responsibility for day-to-day operations. Also, George Foreman Jr. and George Foreman III have become senior executive vice president and executive vice president, respectively, in the new organization.

Sports Club’s SEC filings delayed
The Sports Club Company (AMEX: SCY) is delaying the reporting of its second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2005, results due to certain issues relating to its leases accounting. As a result, the company has not filed its required financial reports with the SEC.

The company said all of the work required to prepare its consolidated financial statements has been completed, but the complexities associated with accounting for and reporting of landlord incentives under operating leases, assets held for sale and initiation fee revenues have precluded the completion of the final financial statements. It added that the updates will result in several reclassifications of the company’s reported results for the first and second quarters of 2004. The Sports Club Company, based in Los Angeles, Calif., owns and operates sports and fitness complexes nationwide under the brand name “The Sports Club/LA.”

Big 5 gets final SEC extension
Big 5 Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: BGFVE) received one last reprieve from Nasdaq and was granted an extension to file its 2004 annual report and quarterly reports for Q1 and Q2 of 2005, and to continue the listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq National Market pending those filings.

Nasdaq has granted the company an extension until Aug. 31 to file its fiscal 2004 Form 10-K and an extension until Sept. 30 to file its first quarter and second quarter fiscal 2005 Forms 10-Q. These dates are an additional extension from its previous Aug. 12 deadline. Big 5 has not been in compliance with Nasdaq requirements for continued listing as a result of its failure to file these forms with the SEC.

Nasdaq said this is Big 5’s last extension. In the event that the company is unable to file its forms by the due dates, its shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq National Market.

Under Armour applies for IPO
Under Armour has filed a preliminary offering document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell as much as $100 million of Class A common stock in an initial public offering.

Details of the IPO such as the specific amount of shares or an estimated price range for the shares were not announced. The company said it intends to apply for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol “UARM.”

Net revenues in the six months ended June 30 were $107 million compared with $70 million in the same period in 2004, according to the regulatory document. In 2004, its largest customers, which collectively accounted for about 36 percent of net revenues, were The Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and The Sports Authority, the company said.

After the IPO, Under Armour will have two classes of stock. Class A stock will carry one vote per share and each Class B stock share carries 10 votes, it said. All of the Class B shares will be owned by Kevin Plank, the company’s founder and CEO.

It said it plans to use the proceeds to redeem outstanding preferred stock issued to private equity firm Rosewood Capital and its affiliates and repay debt under a credit line. It also plans to use the remainder for general corporate purposes, including working capital and capital spending, and possible acquisitions, the company added. It will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares in the IPO by current stockholders.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. will lead a group of five underwriters to manage the IPO. CIBC World Markets, Wachovia Securities, Piper Jaffray and Thomas Weisel Partners LLC will assist, according to the IPO prospectus.

Brunswick upgraded
Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC), parent of Life Fitness, was upgraded by Citigroup on Aug. 29 from “hold” to “buy.”

Winmark board OKs buyback
The board of directors of Winmark Corp. (Nasdaq: WINA), parent of Play It Again Sports, has authorized a 500,000 share repurchase in addition to the approximately 40,000 shares remaining under an existing board authorization. The new authorization is equal to approximately 8 percent of Winmark’s shares outstanding as of Aug. 4. Since 1995, Winmark said it has repurchased 2.96 million shares at an average price of $11.97 per share.

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