Outdoor financials: Amer Sports sales hit by weak U.S. dollar

Amer Sports sales hit by weak U.S. dollar

The weakening U.S. dollar slammed Amer Sports Group’s net sales for the second quarter and six-month period, while its winter and outdoor business segment reported sales increases and narrowed losses for the same periods. Amer Sports is the parent company of Salomon, Arc’Teryx, Atomic and Suunto, among others.

Amer Sports’ net sales decreased 6 percent to EUR 648.1 million (USD $1.005 billion), compared to last year’s EUR 692.1 million (USD $1.073 billion), for the six-month period. In local currencies, net sales increased 1 percent.



Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) improved to a loss of EUR 7.8 million (USD $12.1 million) from 2007’s loss of EUR 20.6 million (USD $31.9 million), including a capital gain of EUR 13 million (USD $20.1 million) from selling the company’s corporate headquarters building.



Its earnings before taxes loss narrowed to EUR 22.1 million (USD $34.2 million) compared to a loss of EUR 28.4 million (USD $44.0 million) the year before. Its earnings per share loss came in at EUR 0.23 (USD $0.35) versus a loss of EUR 0.30 (USD $0.46) last year.



For the second quarter, Amer Sports’ net sales dropped 8 percent to EUR 285.1 million (USD $442.3 million) versus EUR 310.3 million (USD $481.4 million). Net sales in local currency terms were at last year’s level. The group’s EBIT amounted to a loss of EUR 7.8 million (USD $12.1 million) versus last year’s loss of EUR 12.8 million (USD $19.8 million).

The company’s second-quarter earnings before taxes posted a wider loss of EUR 15.2 million (USD $23.5 million) compared to last year’s loss of EUR 13.9 million (USD $21.5 million). Earnings per share came in at loss of EUR 0.16 (USD $0.24) versus last year’s second-quarter loss of EUR 0.15 (USD $0.23).

For the company’s winter and outdoor business segment, six-month net sales were up 9 percent to EUR 266.6 million (USD $413.6 million) compared to EUR 244.6 million (USD $379.4 million) last year. In local currencies, it was up 12 percent. Its EBIT loss narrowed to EUR 41.3 million (USD $64.0 million) versus EUR 63.2 million (USD $98.0 million) the year before.

For the second quarter, the segment’s sales were EUR 104.6 million (USD $162.2 million), up 4 percent from last year’s EUR 100.2 million (USD $155.4 million). In local currencies, it was up 8 percent. EBIT was lower — a loss of EUR 26.7 million (USD $41.4 million) versus a loss of EUR 28.8 million (USD $44.6 million) last year.

“The winter sports equipment pre-order season is completed. Pre-orders are up 3% compared to last year, with solid recovery in key Central European alpine markets and Japan but unsatisfactory development in North America,” CEO Roger Talermo said in a statement. “The Nordic countries continued to suffer from weakness in the cross-country ski market. The restructuring of the winter sports equipment business area was concluded as planned and our savings target of EUR 20 million for 2009 remains intact.

“Apparel and footwear continued its solid performance in Europe. Footwear marketing investments in the U.S. are generating promising results,” he added.

Of the company overall, Talermo said, “As a consequence of the more difficult macro-economic environment, we believe that our full-year earnings growth will be slower than we anticipated at the start of the year.”

For the year, the company now estimates that its EBIT, excluding the capital gain of EUR 13 million (USD $20.1 million), will amount to EUR 90 million (USD $139.6 million) to EUR 105 million (USD $162.9 million). Previous guidance was EUR 100 million (USD $155.1 million) to EUR 130 million (USD $201.6 million).

(Conversion of Euros into U.S. dollars is for information only, is not necessarily relative to earnings, and is based on the currency rate as of Aug. 6.)

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