Billabong is letting investors know that for the second straight year their first-half earnings-per-share are going to fall according to a story on Bloomberg.com.
Slowing demand in the U.S. “has accelerated throughout November,” Gold Coast-based Billabong said in a statement today. The company cut its forecast for annual EPS growth between 6 percent and 10 percent in the year ending June, down from an October prediction for a rise of as much as 16 percent. . . . The reduced annual EPS forecast comes less than six weeks after Billabong raised earnings expectations citing a slump in the Australian dollar.
It appears the U.S. economy is causing more problems than a slumping Australian dollar can make up for.
The core mall retailer Zumiez came in a little ahead of the street on their November same-store sales numbers according to a story on Forbes.com.
Zumiez Inc. said on Wednesday same-store sales fell 15 percent in November, compared with an increase of more than 5 percent in the year-earlier period. . . . Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected sales to fall 15.3 percent.
Net sales, however, only fell 2 percent to $32.6 million and the stock was up on the day (not that the two things had much to do with each other).
It’s tomorrow night, it kicks off the Tampa Am. It’s the Annual Welcome to Tampa Art Show and Party. This year coming as a shock to no one the art part of the party is about beer. Here’s the word from Creative Loafing.
The exhibit, playfully dubbed 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, is the brainchild of Chad Cardoza, a local artist who’s been a player in some of the year’s most engaging art offerings. . . The collection of approximately 99 bottles — produced by roughly half as many artists — will go on display at the Skatepark’s recently revamped snack bar during the party. Cardoza expects each piece to sell for about $40, though some may be priced higher or lower, making the bottles an affordable entrée to collecting art.
The bottles shown were painted by Jimbo Phillips, Mike Aho, Durke Schmidt, Travis Millard, Ky Baker,Don Pendleton (two red and white abstract bottles), Mike Le Merde and Jennifer Alfonso. It almost makes us want to blow a Southwest free ticket and fly out for the art show and check out the Tampa Am on the side. The Castle is calling.
Thurs., Dec. 4, 8 p.m., Skatepark of Tampa, 4215 E. Columbus Drive, Tampa, (813) 621-6793,
It took a primer from Boil The Ocean to get us headed in the right direction on this one but it seems Bob Denike and the NorCal skate mob has has picked up another brand as Flip becomes part of NHS’s “brand roster.”
Bob Denike, President and CEO of NHS had this to say, “The addition of Flip strengthens our position to be the #1 skateboard supplier in the industry. The NHS strategy is simple; strong brands across all categories, innovative product development and working with the best pro skaters; past, present, and future. The Flip brand together with the global Flip team are a powerful and welcome addition to NHS. And frankly, it’s about f*#king time!”
The Daily Pilot, “serving Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California” has discovered that RVCA is moving into a new space next month (the old Paul Frank space) and they did something we didn’t do last month: they got the low-down straight from founder Pat Tenore.
His determination to stay on the Westside of Costa Mesa — a location that has served as an incubator for several of the biggest surf and skateboard fashion companies in the country — led him to the 70,000-square-foot Paul Frank building less than a mile from his present address. . . . “We want to stay close to where we started and close to the beach,” Tenore said. “And it’s really hard to find a building in this area because a lot of the area is being turned into residential.”
Touchgrind is a new $4.99 skateboarding game for the iPhone. The guys at Gizmodo gave it aa run through and they seem to think it’s pretty cool. We’re not up for paying the $4.99 to do our own test, so we’ll just trust them.
It’s a fun time waster with a seriously high level of polish. Due to the limitations of the iPhone, I’m not sure how exactly to solve the issue of not knowing where the hell you’re going, but if they do come up with a solution you’re looking at one of the best games available for the platform.
To pick up a copy visit the Apple iphone App store and search for it.
Alli’s mission is to facilitate the momentous growth of action sports by showcasing both the competition and lifestyle aspect of these sports. We believe these are the sports of a new generation and Alli will bring together the best properties, athletes, and brands globally for the fans of action sports,” says Wade Martin, President of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports.
With the new breed of über jugend comes the assumption that the parents are responsible for pushing their kids to the top ala Richard Williams, Joeeph Jackson, or Lynne Spears. But most people (and parents) don’t know what it’s like to have extremely gifted kids. Ryan Sheckler’s dad Randy breaks that down pretty straight up in this interview with Examiner.com’sColin Bane.
Ryan was a trip from the day he was born. He had uncanny hand-eye coordination, he was walking at about 6 or 7 months, and we always knew he had a gift. We just didn’t quite know how it was going to play out. Growing up he played T-ball, he played all the traditional grass ball sports, but ultimately none of that ever made sense for him. From the time he was about 2 years old the first thing to come out of the car was always a skateboard, so we supported him and we decided, “We’ll do whatever we can to get behind this.” As he got more into it we found the California Amateur Skateboard League and we just went with it.
Guess sometimes parents just have to be supportive and get out of the way.
In another reminder that skateboarding over death-defying gaps on gut-wrenchingly huge megaramps can be dangerous, Danny Way has reportedly broken two vertebrae during practice last week for an even in Brazil (click here for the video), according to an Adam Sullivan story on Transworld Business.
While he will make a full recovery, doctors say Way will be sidelined for up to 6 months—which could be anywhere from 3-4 months in Danny Way time.
He came up a little short, just barely caught the knuckle, and took one big bounce. The guy is too tough. We wish him a speedy recovery.
