Amer Sports reported net sales reached €501.5 million in the quarter ended March 30, an increase of 6 percent in local currency, or currency-neutral, terms.
The owner of Acr'teryx, Salomon, Suunto and other outdoor sporting goods brands, said gross margins edged up 10 basis points to 44.3 percent. Earnings before income taxes reached €20.6 million, down from €26.4 million due to the negative impact of currency exchange rates. Earnings per share fell to .07 euros from .13 euros.
KEY FIGURES
EUR million 1-3/2014 1-3/2013 2013 Net sales 501.5 493.0 2,136.5 Gross profit 222.3 217.7 932.2 Gross profit % 44.3 44.2 43.6 EBIT excluding non-recurring items 20.6 26.4 154.9 EBIT % excluding non-recurring items 4.1 5.4 7.3 Non-recurring items*) - - - EBIT total 20.6 26.4 154.9 EBIT % 4.1 5.4 7.3 Financing income and expenses -9.2 -6.7 -28.6 Earnings before taxes 11.4 19.7 126.3 Net result 8.2 14.8 90.3 Earnings per share, EUR 0.07 0.13 0.77 Net cash flow after investing activities 44.2 67.9 42.5 Equity ratio, % at period end 40.5 40.5 37.5 Gearing, % at period end 58 56 57 Personnel at period end 7,370 7,236 7,330 Average rates used, EUR/USD 1.37 1.32 1.33
*) Non-recurring items are exceptional transactions that are not related to normal business operations. The most common non-recurring items are capital gains, exceptional write-downs, provisions for planned restructuring and penalties. Non-recurring items are normally specified individually if they have a material impact on EBIT.
"We delivered a good start for the year with a solid 6% growth and slightly improved gross margin, driven by broad-based double-digit growth in several of our strategic growth areas," said Amer Sports President and CEO Heikki Takala. "During the quarter we also faced quite some challenges, including a mild winter which impacted adversely especially cross-country skiing, however the Winter Sports Equipment business showed remarkable resilience and even good growth in parts of the portfolio. In tennis we declined as intended, largely due to cleaning up some unprofitable sales with the objective to ignite more profitable growth in Wilson. In Russia, we faced challenges due to declining consumer demand and devaluation of the currency which caused a decline in our EBIT." Amer Sports brands portfolio includes Salomon, Wilson, Atomic, Arc'teryx, Mavic, Suunto and Precor.
The Finnish company expects global trading conditions to remain challenging, with some regional improvements. The company still expects net sales and EBIT growth to meet its five-year targets of five percent in in local currency terms. The company will continue to focus on softgoods growth, consumer-driven product and marketing innovation, commercial expansion and operational excellence.
"The trading conditions have been more unfavorable than expected; nevertheless I'm pleased with the progress in our own actions," Takala continued. "Our long-term strategies are working and we continue to execute with appropriate agility, looking forward to another year of growth and improvement."
