International

GIVISIEZ, Switzerland (BRAIN) — Reto Aeschbacher, who has led Scott Sports' marketing for nearly 30 years, is leaving the company to become CEO of Bergbahnen Lenzerheide, the company that operates the cable cars and ski lifts in the Lenzerheide ski resort area in Switzerland.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Giant Group's sales to America — under its own brand and to its original equipment customers — have declined steeply since the pandemic even as sales in Asia, China in particular, have grown significantly.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Ideal Bike and Merida Industries, two Taiwan-based bike manufacturers, have filed their first-quarter earnings reports with the Taipei stock exchange.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Giant Group says a “significant rebound in OEM orders” fueled a 4.9% increase in group revenues in the first quarter compared to the same quarter last year.
MONTREAL (BRAIN) — Four Quebec-based entrepreneurs have acquired the Rocky Mountain bike brand assets, following the brand's court-supervised re-organization that began last year.

(BRAIN) — The Pierer Mobility Group will withdraw from the bicycle and e-bike business in its 2025 fiscal year, the company announced in a preliminary 2024 fiscal report this week. The company said it will sell off its remaining inventory of Husqvarna and GasGas bikes.
(BRAIN) — The Austrian bicycle trade association is calling on the government to renew an e-bike subsidy program as it reports that e-bikes accounted for 57% of bike unit sales last year, up 5% from the year before.

OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN) — Shimano is sticking to its original guidance for net sales and operating income for the rest of the year after reporting a 15.6% year-over-year increase in revenue in its bike division for the first quarter.
SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico (BRAIN) — Mercurio Sports Group, a bike manufacturer and distributor in Mexico, opened a $25 million, 1.4 million square-foot facility-square-foot factory here in 2019, with plans to assemble bikes for the U.S. and the domestic market, and to eventually add frame manufacturing.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Taipei Cycle show begins Wednesday with an estimated 980 exhibitors from 35 countries participating at the Nangang Exhibition Center.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Taiwanese manufacturer Merida Industry Co., which owns 35% of Specialized Bicycle Company, recorded a non-operating loss of over $100 million related to that investment in 2024, as the U.S. bike brand took a deferred tax loss and write-downs on its retail operations.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Giant Group reports that its operating profits declined 60% last year as it wrote down NT$1.9 billion ($57.6 million) in inventory provision losses, recognizing the decline in inventory value due to discounting.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (BRAIN) — One of Vietnam's largest importers for the domestic market would welcome reciprocal tariffs with the U.S., if they led to a new trade deal and reduced Vietnam's current high import duties on U.S. products.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN) — China’s Zhonglu Co, through one of its subsidiaries, has acquired a 21% share in Factor Bikes while a private equity firm that includes Factor CEO Rob Gitelis also has made an investment. Together the two entities have acquired a majority share in Factor from exiting non-management shareholders, the company told BRAIN.

TOKYO (BRAIN) — Shimano’s sales last year amounted to 451 billion yen ($2.94 billion), down 4.9% from the year before. Operating income and ordinary income also were down while net income was up 25%.

GRIMSBY, United Kingdom (BRAIN) — LeMond Carbon UK is planning a facility here to make carbon fiber wind turbine blades and pressure vessels for hydrogen storage.

KORTRIJK, Belgium (BRAIN) — Pablo Carrasco and Ignacio Estelles, the co-founders of the Rotor Bike Components, launched a new component brand called QO at the Velofollies bike show in Belgium last week.

MURRIETA, Calif. (BRAIN) — Pierer New Mobility GmbH — the e-bike business unit of Pierer Mobility AG — says it will consolidate its functions to headquarters in Munderfing, Austria, and Murrieta, California, and phase out its operations in South Africa, Germany, and the United Kingdom.