by The Editors on December 24, 2008
Da Hui and Quiksilver got together December 23, 2008 to bring a little holiday joy to the kids at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women & Children, according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
Top contemporary competitors such as Makua Rothman, Kala Alexander and Myles Padaca (pictured above with Julian Rimm) plus past competitors like Tom Pohaku Stone, Mel Pu’u and Bryan Amona were among the dozen surf industry people from Da Hui and Quiksilver to spread cheer and good wishes . . . Quiksilver and Da Hui brought surf poster, caps, T-shirts and goody bags filled with candy, stickers, key chains and gifts for each child. The surfers autographed posters, took photographs with the children and gave them words of encouragement.
It’s great that Da Hui could time a little time out from regulating duties to spread some holiday happiness.
[Link: Honolulu Advertiser]
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
Bob McKnight, Joe Scirocco, Bruce Thomas, and Marty Samuels covered a lot of ground in last week’s conference call, but there was one topic that they didn’t go over: the rumor that Quiksilver is actively negotiating the sale of DC Shoes.
This rumor has gained momentum lately most likely because the deal seems to make sense. On the conference call DC was repeatedly spoken of as a bright spot in Quiksilver’s brand portfolio. If Quik could unload DC Shoes for somewhere in the $700 million range, that would go a long way toward covering the company’s $1 billion debt. It would also allow Quiksilver to get back to basics with its core business after spending a couple years running the whole expansion thing into the ground. Not to mention it being a relief to many DC employees who believe all their hard work is being blown by bad business decision at the mothership. It probably wouldn’t hurt the company’s stock price, either.
So far no “official word” on the sale.
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
The LA Times continues their surf coverage blitz with this Jerry Crow story on how Surfing Still Shapes The Life of Landlocked Gerry Lopez.
A master at the notorious Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, one of the world’s most dangerous breaks, Lopez says he continues to surf “pretty much any time it looks good,” even though doing so requires making the four-hour drive between his home in Bend and the distant waves off Pacific City.
Seems a great surf icon is always good for a story, and for business.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on December 22, 2008
Mavericks contest organizers finally got their sponsors are all lined up and the waiting period starts on January 1, 2009, according to a Bruce Jenkins column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Sources indicated that details are forthcoming, but the primary sponsors are said to be Jim Beam bourbon and benefactors Moose Guen and Jane Sutherland of MVision Equity Partners. . . . We’re all stoked that the sponsors stepped up and we’re back for another year,” said contest director Jeff Clark, the Half Moon Bay surfer who pioneered Maverick’s in the mid-1970s. “When Maverick’s is on, it’s the most challenging venue in surfing.”
Nice to see the economy isn’t killing everything.
[Link: San Francisco Chronicle]
by The Editors on December 21, 2008
Australia’s Herald Sun is reporting that the Bra Boys are having some trouble as two “bikie clans” have begun moving in on the surfers’ territory in Maroubra Beach. Most recently was a 20 person brawl at the Maroubra Bay Hotel last weekend.
Police are investigating several violent clashes between members of the Bra Boys and the Bandidos in recent weeks at the renowned Maroubra Bay Hotel. . . . Police said they have observed the Bandidos and another bikie clan, the Comancheros, establishing an unwelcome presence in the Bra Boys’ stronghold.
Bra Boys co-founder Sunny Abberton (right) says there is no war going on with “the bikies.”
Mr Abberton also denied any Bra Boys involvement in Saturday night’s brawl. . . . “I didn’t hear or see anything,” he said. “I was in the Maroubra Bay Hotel earlier and it all seemed pretty quiet.”
[Link: Herald Sun]
by The Editors on December 21, 2008
Back in the early 80s Rainbow Sandals were the only flips any self-respecting surfer would wear. And now, almost 40 years later founder Sparky Longley is still living the dream and bringing in $12 million in profits on $37 million in sales. Not bad for a guy who still “depends on word of mouth” and a few ads in The Surfer’s Journal to spread the Rainbow message.
The LA Times rus a whole background check on the company and man and we can’t think of anyone who has done the action sports business thing more smoothly than Sparky. Click the link to check it out.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on December 18, 2008
There were a lot of down days in the waiting period but it looks like Stephanie Gilmore, 20, newly-crowned two-time ASP Women’s World Champion has won her second consecutive Billabong Pro Maui against Melanie Bartels at Ho’okipa Beach Park, earning the young Australian her first Vans Triple Crown of Surfing (an ASP Specialty Series) Title.
Turns out ASP press releases continue to be the best coverage of most events. Follow the jump for that.
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by The Editors on December 18, 2008
Looks like we should have jumped in on the $.80 Quiksilver share prices several weeks ago because Quiksilver is fighting its way through some rough times. In their conference call today with analysts they stated that they doing well, but still have a ways to go.
Consolidated net revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 3% to $606.9 million compared to $587.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007. . . . Consolidated net revenues for the full year of fiscal 2008 increased 11% to $2.26 billion compared to $2.05 billion in fiscal 2007. . . . European net revenues increased 16% during the full year of fiscal 2008 to $933.1 million and were up 4% in local currency.
Bob McKnight says:
I am proud of the efforts of the entire Quiksilver team around the world as we fought through a deteriorating global economy to deliver financial results that were consistent with the outlook we provided 6 months ago. As economic conditions continue to worsen in our key markets in the US and in Europe, we’ve continued our efforts to reduce expenses and capital expenditures, to carefully control inventory and to reconfigure our post-Rossignol capital structure.”
Notes from the conference call:
- Europe has been doing extremely well for the company.
- The DC footwear business has been “quite strong.”
- Sales will be down in the low double digits for the first quarter of 09
- Expecting a revenue decline in the high single to low double digits for 2009
- Every five cent swing in the Euro translates into $30 million in sales.
- Quik will open “very few new stores” in 2009. “Two in the US and maybe 2 or 3 in Asia Pacific and a couple in Europe”
- The company is looking to 25 retail stores. Nine will close in 2009; 21 of the stores are in the US, 12 are full-price stores and 41 percent of those are in California, Arizona, Florida.
- Quiksilver’s top 30 customers worldwide do less than 25 percent of the company’s sales.
- Capital expenditures for the coming year will be cut approximately $34 million from $94 million to $60 million.
- They are looking at every area of expenditure and trying to adjust to a new reality as to the projected 2009 revenue.
- Company debt still in the $1 billion range
- In 2009 there will be $70 million in interest expense
- The company also has a $55 million loan, which CFO Joe Scirocco called “the big one” is due on March 14, 2009
The Street appeared happy with the report as the stock rose 10% in after-hours trading.
For the whole press release, follow the jump, or click here for a transcript, or listen to the whole call right here.
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by The Editors on December 18, 2008
Looks like the Trestles Toll Road got another nail in its coffin as the US Commerce Department agreed with the California Coastal Commission’s rejection of the plan.
Federal officials could only override the state’s decision if the project had no alternatives or was necessary to national security, and the announcement this morning said neither of those criteria was met.
Nice work, Surfrider Foundation. People can change things after all.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on December 17, 2008
Sam Bottoms, the actor who played “California surfer-turned-GI Lance Johnson in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now has died from brain cancer. He was 53,” according to a story in the LA Times.
Bottoms was 20 in 1976 when he was cast to play surfer Lance Johnson in “Apocalypse Now,” in which he was one of the young sailors who accompany Capt. Benjamin Willard ( Martin Sheen) up river in a gunboat for his rendezvous with Marlon Brando’s renegade Col. Walter Kurtz. . . . Bottoms died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles of glioblastoma multiforme, a virulent brain cancer, said his wife, Laura Bickford.
Bottoms helped create some of surfing’s most iconographic moments in serious film. And he will be missed.
[Link: LA Times]
