Jarden Corporation, which owns a wide range of brands, including K2, Volkl, Marmot, Crock-Pot, and Mr. Coffee, held an earnings conference call yesterday to discuss third quarter earnings.
Executives commented a few times on the winter sports business and on outdoor apparel brand Marmot.
Sales in Jarden’s Outdoor Solutions division rose 17% to $707 million during the quarter.
James Lillie, CEO
“Our winter sports businesses, K2 and Volkl, and Marker been benefited from strong early orders to start the season, especially in Europe as retailers look to replenish their record low inventory levels on the back of strong sell through in the 2010, 2011 winter season.”
“Our performance was supported by our impressive new product pipeline, which includes the award winning Volkl RTM old mountain Alpine ski line, the new code Alpine ski line with rafter technology and the Volkl Racetiger line with Psi and speedroll technology.
“Jarden’s technical apparel and team sports businesses both delivered stellar Q3 performances. Marmot’s new flagship store of Union Square in San Francisco is helping to drive our double-digit growth in this brand.”
Regarding Marmot, in another part of the conversation, Lillie said, “Marmot is a brand that we’re looking to double the size of that business over the next few years.”
Martin Franklin, Executive Chairman
Franklin commented on some new product initiatives for K2:
“In honor of K2’s 50th anniversary in 2012, we have collaborated with the Rolling Stones, who are celebrating the same milestone, on our line of commemorative skis and events.
“The K2 Rolling Stones’ limited edition ski collection, the first of many exciting anniversary related products and promotions is currently available at retail.
“I’d recommend that you buy early, as similar to many of our K2 skis and snowboards, we anticipate that demand will outstrip supply.”
Ian Ashken, Chief Financial Officer
Ashken commented on Jarden’s investment in Rossignol in response to a question from an analyst:
“The Rossignol brand is an investment that we have, I think that people know that and we’ve got no current plans to change our current position there. It’s a business that has turned around. It’s making money today.
“And we’re quite happy with that equity investment, Macquarie is the lead holder in that company and we’ll be good partners to them, but they’ll take the lead on what will happen with that investment.”
