Outdoor financials: Asics to buy Haglofs, plus Big 5
Asics Corp. reported that it is acquiring Swedish outdoor gear company Haglofs Holding AB and Big 5 Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: BGFV) cut its earnings guidance for the second quarter.
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Asics to buy Haglofs
Asics Corp. reported that it is acquiring Swedish outdoor gear company Haglofs Holding AB, a leading outdoor brand in Europe, for $133 million in an effort to expand abroad.
Owned by Swedish venture capital firm Ratos since 2001, Haglofs makes and sells high-quality outdoor equipment, such as backpacks, sleeping bags, clothes and footwear, is represented in 18 countries and employs 120 people.
Reportedly, Haglofs has progressed from being a leading player in the Nordic region to one of the leading outdoor brands in Europe under Ratos. Haglofs’ sales have grown from $26.0 million in 2001 to $78.7 million in 2009. The net exit gain for Ratos is nearly $102.0 million, making up an average annual return of approximately 30 percent.
Asics said in a filing with the Tokyo Stock Exchange that it will buy all of the shares in Haglofs in August, adding that the acquisition will have little impact on earnings for the year ending March 31.
“Now when Haglofs is ready for the next stage in its international expansion, we see it as natural for an industrial player such as Asics to take over as owner. Our assessment is that Asics will be able to provide Haglofs with the best support for its continued growth outside Europe,” Ratos’s CEO Arne Karlsson said in a statement.
Big 5 cuts Q2 guidance
Big 5 Sporting Goods (Nasdaq: BGFV) cut its earnings guidance for the second quarter, saying the slow economic recovery and cold temperatures on the West Coast kept people from buying summer gear.
Big 5 also said second-quarter revenue in stores open at least a year slipped by 0.5 percent.
The company said it now expects to earn $0.20 to $0.23 per share for the three months that ended July 4. In May, Big 5 had predicted earnings of $0.24 to $0.30 per share.
The company said sales over the Fourth of July weekend were encouraging. It added that it will report earnings during the first week of August.
–Compiled by Therese Iknoian and Wendy Geister
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