I think the last analysis I wrote on Deckers may have had the same title. Which is okay because though Deckers also owns UGG, Teva and other brands, we’re mostly interested in Sanuk which spring from the surf industry and was acquired by Deckers. I’ll give you a brief overview of Decker’s March 31 results, and then tell you what we know about Sanuk. Decker’s sales rose 7.1% to $264 million from More…
Decker’s Quarter: What’s Up with Sanuk?
May 23rd, 2013Skullcandy’s Quarter: I Think I Recognize This Strategy
May 22nd, 2013New President and CEO Hoby Darling has been at Skull north of two months now, and the company has released its first 10Q and had its first conference call with him at the helm. The outlines of his strategy are starting to become clear. Interestingly, you’ll note some similarities with the strategy of certain VF brands as I described it yesterday and with what I’ve been generally recommending for a while now. Let’s More…
VF’s First Quarter: Outdoor and Action Sports Continue to Shine
May 21st, 2013VF’s March 31 10Q reported an overall 2.15% increase in revenues from $2.556 billion to $2.612 billion from the same quarter last year (Would have been 1% more, but they sold the John Varvatos brand). But outdoor and action sports revenue was up 9.7% from $1.264 billion to $1.384 billion, representing 53% of total revenue for the quarter. Here’s the link to the 10Q. Just to remind you, the brands More…
PacSun’s Strategic Positioning and Results for the Year
April 12th, 2013There are two things I really like about PacSun’s 10K annual report (read it here) which was filed last Friday. The first is that they are more or less through closing stores. From a peak of 950 stores in 2008, they ended their February 3rd fiscal year with 644 stores. They closed 38 stores in fiscal 2008, 40 in 2009, 44 in fiscal 2010, 119 in 2011 and 92 in 2012. This fiscal year, More…
Naude/Sycamore Bid $0.60 for Billabong, but Deal Not Done Yet
April 9th, 2013Paul Naude and Sycamore Partners (“NS”) have made a non-binding bid of AUD $0.60 for each share of Billabong yesterday, down from their preliminary bid of $1.10. Billabong has given them an exclusive period of ten business days to complete their investigation and finalize the bid. You can read Billabong’s press release here. It’s the “proposal update” under “Recent News.” And before we get into the details, you might also want to read More…
SPY’s Sales Up, Loss Reduced; But There’s Still That Pesky Balance Sheet
March 26th, 2013It’s been years since we’ve had an annual or quarterly report from SPY so focused on growing the brand and with so little mention of managing past problems. Remember, though, that all I know and write about is what I hear in the conference call or read in the public documents. Speaking of which, here’s the link to the 10K. Strategy and Market Positioning SPY’s presentation is about new, innovative product, More…
Zumiez Annual Results and its Evolution as a Brand
March 22nd, 2013I’ve talked before about brands becoming retailers and retailers becoming brands. There’s a lot of uncertainty as to what that would mean and how it would cause the market to evolve. I’ve also said that the best retailers make the brands they carry credible- not the other way around. That’s true, but I don’t think I completely understood the implications. I’m sure I still don’t- completely. But Zumiez, with its annual report More…
Skull Candy’s Results and Management Change; Rick Alden Rides Again!
March 16th, 2013I have been writing recently about organizational dynamics, changing CEOs, and the situational authority you have when you walk into a turnaround. My own experience is that when things suck and you walk in as the new guy, it’s really liberating because you can try anything. About five weeks ago, Skull’s founder Rick Alden returned as interim CEO in the wake of Jeremy Andrus’s departure. You may recall that Rick was replaced More…
Quiksilver’s Quarter and the Impact of New Management
March 12th, 2013Using Quik’s recent changes as an excuse, I wrote a week or so ago about the dynamics of organizational change in companies experiencing new business environments. You can see that article here. Now, Quik has come out with their 10Q for the quarter ended January 31, 2013 and held a conference call. A lot of what they said in the call resonates with the article I wrote and is worth exploring. First, though, let’s More…
Interesting Comments From Deckers; What Will They Do With Sanuk?
March 8th, 2013Deckers, the owner of UGG and Teva as well as Sanuk, filed their 10K annual report with the SEC and I’ve been through it. As you may remember, Deckers bought Sanuk on July 1, 2011 so the year ended December 31, 2012 is the first complete year with Sanuk included. For the year, revenue rose 2.8% to $1.41 billion, but net income fell 36% from $202 million to $129 million. The biggest More…
