Earnings/Financial Reports
TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Stock values for Taiwan’s two leading bicycle makers, Giant and Merida, are going up as investors bet that rising oil prices will boost bicycle demand.
TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN)—Taiwan’s bike industry has started the year strong, with total bicycle export numbers up nearly 18 percent through the first quarter to 1.54 million units.
OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN)—Shimano’s first-quarter 2008 revenues jumped almost 16 percent over those from the same period last year, to $532.7 million, and net income was up by nearly the same percentage, to $51.3 million.
VAN NUYS, CA (BRAIN)—Sales in Easton-Bell’s Action Sports segment increased 12 percent in the first quarter of 2008, helping to offset a small decline in the company’s Team Sports category, according to the company’s form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13.
WESTPORT, CT (BRAIN)—Sales at Fox Racing Shox jumped 47.5 percent in the first quarter of 2008, although the company posted an operation loss of $198,000.
PHILDELPHIA, PA (BRAIN)—The Bicycle Product Suppliers Association (BPSA) reports that dollar sales of its members to dealers were down 10 percent compared with the same quarter last year. Unit shipments were down 18 percent over the same period.
MONTREAL, Quebec (BRAIN)—With two months of Cannondale and Sugoi sales on the books, Dorel Industries reported a strong first quarter as revenue in its bicycle division soared 55 percent.
HEERENVEEN, The Netherlands (BRAIN)—Strong sales of bicycles and parts and accessories propelled profits for the Accell Group in the first quarter of 2008.
MILAN, Italy (BRAIN)—Oakley reported a 15-percent jump in sales in the first quarter of 2008 and saw double-digit growth in both its optics and apparel/footwear segments, according to Luxottica's first quarter earnings report released on Thursday.
Luxottica acquired Oakley last November.
PARIS, France (BRAIN)—French bicycle sales were flat last year at 3.53 million units, barely unchanged from a disappointing 2006 and still short of 2005’s 3.7 million, according to the annual report from the French industry association Tous á Velo.
COLOGNE, Germany, and PARIS, France (BRAIN)—Germany’s independent bicycle retailers gained a bit of market share last year, while French independents held what they had.
MONTREAL, Quebec (BRAIN)—Canada’s Dorel Industries will no longer file certain reports with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, but remains a public company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
VAN NUYS, CA (BRAIN)—Last year's merger of Easton Sports and Riddell Bell Holdings has paid off in a big way for the now combined company.