NEWS News briefs . . .
Macintosh buys Jones Bootmaker Macintosh Retail Group, the Dutch parent company of
Hogenbosch that has acquired Brantano and Scapino in the last few years, has now reached an agreement to purchase the entire share capital of Jones Bootmaker, one of the oldest and most respected shoe retail chains in the UK. The takeover will raise the group’s total footwear sales in the UK to an annual level of more £210 million, placing it in third position with an estimated market share of around 4% through two distinctly positioned chains – Jones Bootmaker and Brantano. Macintosh says the acquisition is expected to make a positive
contribution to its earnings per share as of this year, even taking acquisition costs into account and without including the effect of future synergies. The transaction is believed to value the UK shoe retailer £40 million and is scheduled to be completed at the beginning of April. Macintosh will finance the deal with existing credit facilities. Deichmann reports a 12.5% sales increase The Deichmann Group recorded a significant growth in sales of
12.5% in 2010, in comparison to the previous year. It was the highest rate of increase in sales over 20 years. Group sales rose from E3.4 billion E3.93 billion. The volume of pairs rose at a smaller rate of 10% and reached 152 million pairs last year, indicating a small increase in the average selling prices. The company sells its products now in 19 European countries
and in the USA. At the end of 2010, the group managed a total of 2,939 stores and had about 30,000 employees. Following major foreign expansion of the last few years, over 55% of the group’s total sales were made outside Germany. FitFlop names a CEO. Suzie de Rohan Willner, who was most recently director of global
merchandising retail for Puma and head of its office in London, has assumed the new position of chief executive at FitFlop, stationed at its head office in the same city. She brings extensive knowledge of merchandise management, retail, wholesale and branding to the company thanks also to her previous jobs at Timberland, Dockers and Levi Strauss. Marcia Kilgore, founder and creative director of FitFlop will
concentrate on product development, marketing and PR for her brand. David Goulding, FitFlop’s vice president of global sales has left the company. Without provided specific numbers for the past year, company officials say the brand has continued to grow by double digits. More than 8 million pairs of shoes have been sold in 48 territories since its launch in 2007. An e-commerce site launch last August in the UK, has been performing very well and will be rolled out internationally in the future. Geox will provide footwear to the drivers and mechanics of the
Red Bull Formula 1 racing team. From March, the company will also sell a collection of Geox-Red Bull shoes for men, women and children in its mono-branded stores. In the meantime, Pzero will launch a collection of men’s and women’s shoes inspired by Formula 1 racing after its parent company, Pirelli, became the official tyre provider for the competition. Pzero is scheduled to open its first flagship stores in April in Milan.
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On page 44 of the February 2011 issue, Footwear Today printed in error that “The Florida Group has taken over Filippa Scott Ltd”. This is not the case, The Florida Group has in fact acquired a licence to sell the Filippa Scott brand and has in fact no association with Filippa Scott Ltd. Furthermore we would like to note that this information was not provided by nor should be credited as coming from Graydon Credit Management Services also featured on the page. We would like to apologise for any confusion caused.
Security of supply is just as important as pricing for European buyers
The European Commission is withholding any public statement about the
actual phase-out on March 31 of its anti-dumping duties on leather shoes from China, Macao and Vietnam, leaving major importers in a state of perplexity regarding the prices that they should charge for their fall/winter 2011/12 collections. Technically, the duties expire if no interested party filed before last Dec 31 a formal request for an “expiry review” that could justify their extension pending a new investigation. Technically also, the Commission is not supposed to declare publicly whether this has happened or not, but knowledgeable industry officials to whom we have talked have received verbal assurances that the Commission did not get any such complaints. Most importers have the feeling that the lifting of the duties – 16.5% from China and Macao and 10% from Vietnam – is 95% sure. One importer said he was telling his customers that it will discount the
agreed prices for the shoes they have ordered if the lifting of the duties is indeed confirmed and if the euro regains some strength against the US dollar. As we reported in the last issue, the European shoe industry federation
CEC, wanted to file a complaint, but then reluctantly agreed to drop it because of lack of political support from the Italian government and others. The Commission will instead institute a system of surveillance, checking the statistics on imports of leather shoes every week or so.
If it spots a major
surge in imports after 2 or 3 months, it may institute the duties again and launch a new investigation, but this seems unlikely at this stage, especially for China, because of growing capacity constraints. In general, major importers interviewed at the Expo Riva Schuh show and
other recent trade fairs indicated that the likely elimination of the duties will offset only in part the recent increase of nearly 10% in the value of the US dollar, which is still used in negotiations with manufacturers in the Far East, and the rising cost of raw materials, Chinese labour and shipping. The prices already negotiated with European customers for the next
couple of seasons are already higher for some models, especially those in high demand, and retailers are insisting on keeping the same mark-ups as before. If anything, the end of the anti-dumping duties on March 31 has led to
some suppliers to suggest shipping some spring/summer merchandise in April. The trick will allow them to avoid paying duty and, at the same time, to cope with the rising shortages of labour in china that have been delaying deliveries in the past year. In fact, European importers and their clients seem to be more concerned
about their ability to secure production of shoes in China and their timely delivery to the stores. In the non-athletic shoe sector, buyers have been placing firm orders for some fall/winter models – especially the more basic ones – much earlier than usual, in some cases without looking too much as the price. Major importers were seen quoting price increases ranging from 3-15%
or more. Price hikes are affecting also and in particular synthetic and canvas shoes, due to higher wages and the higher cost of raw materials. However, one major buyer felt that its suppliers were demanding higher prices to secure production in China, but were willing to lower their demands in exchange for early firm orders, after a long bargaining session and threats of shifting to their competitors. The supply-demand theory is still working. Some companies have been shifting production of some leather shoes
from China to India and other low-cost countries in recent years because of the anti-dumping duties and increasing labour shortages in the eastern part of China, as well as other reasons. This process is expected to continue, irrespective of the new tariff conditions.
4 • FOOTWEAR TODAY •MARCH 2011
www.footweartoday.co.uk
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