by The Editors on November 19, 2008
Those with a stomach for SEC filings should bump on over to EDGAR and check out Quiksilver’s 8K filing relating to their sale of Rossignol to Chartreuse et Mont Blanc LLC. The most interesting piece of info we stumbled onto was that selling Rossignol is going to cost Quiksilver $14.7 million.
Transaction costs: $ 9.9 million. Employee-related costs: $ 1.8 million. Other costs: $ 3.0 million. Total costs before taxes: $14.7 million.
That kind of eats into the $40 million Chartreuse et Mont Blanc paid. We didn’t know selling something could be so expense. Quik stock closed down today at $1.04.
[Link: Edgar Online]
by The Editors on November 19, 2008
by The Editors on November 19, 2008
Administrators at Denver’s Brighton High School decided that the Grenade Gloves stickers they were seeing on student’s cars were promoting “terrorism and violence” and required that students remove the stickers immediately.
Senior Ryan McKim said he and at least five other students were asked by school assistant principal Michael Stoffler to either remove their Grenade Gloves-brand stickers from their cars, or face disciplinary action if they are to park in the student lot. Students pay $40 per year to park in the lot.
After calling around, the misguided vice-principal reversed the decision after getting the the straight story from the PR professionals at Grenade.
Hillary Hutcheson, spokeswoman for Portland, Ore.-based Grenade snowboarding apparel, said the purpose of the grenade is simply to inspire people to be “explosive at whatever it is they do.”. . .“Our motto is, ‘Make gloves, not war,’” she said. “It’s about just being explosive in life, going for it, and going big.”
She also mentioned that Grenade co-founder Danny Kass had recently completed “a tour of military facilities in Afghanistan.”
Part of the company’s purpose is to connect students with “missions,” such as getting good grades, designing a Grenade logo, and sending in their best snowboard trick, to name a few.
Just last week we watched an entire season of Danny and the Dingo and didn’t once hear anything about any “getting good grade missions.” Though we did learn a valuable lesson about the dangers of passing out drunk on the trunk of a moving car.
Somebody give Hillary a raise.
[Link: The Denver Daily]
by The Editors on November 19, 2008
According to Surfing Magazine story a con artist claiming to be one of nearly a dozen different professional surfers has been calling people in the surf industry and attempting to get them to wire him money “so he can get a flight home.” He apparently tried his scam again last Sunday La Jolla pro Derek Dunfee.
First he called Dunfee’s mom, claiming he was Nathan Fletcher and had just had his car towed and a death in the family and could she MoneyGram him $450 or get him in touch with Derek. Mrs. Dunfee almost coughed up the cash then and there, but luckily the only thing she handed over to the trickster was Derek’s cell number, which proceeded to light up multiple times while he was out surfing, with “Nathan” even foolishly leaving a voicemail message.
Although Surfing Magazine editor Evan Slater and Derek contacted the San Diego Police department and MoneyGram, neither seemed interested in catching the thief and said the best thing to do would be to alert the public to the scam.
What have we been alerted too? Well, it appears that running MoneyGram scams in San Diego is pretty risk free at this point.
[Link: Surfing Magazine]
by The Editors on November 19, 2008
In May, 2008 Walt Disney’s ESPN sued Quiksilver for copyright infringement on the use of the letter “X” in Quik’s Generation X line of clothing.
Then a month later Quiksilver sued ESPN saying they had been using the X since 1994 (two years before ESPN began using the letter for its X Games).
Now a federal judge in New York has ruled that ESPN must face allegations.
The emblem for ESPN’s extreme-sports franchise is “strikingly similar” to the stylized X used by Quiksilver in the Gen X line of clothing, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said in a Friday ruling in New York. . . “Quiksilver thoroughly laid out its long history of many types of X usage,” McMahon said, rejecting ESPN’s bid to dismiss the claims. “Quiksilver has also adequately pled that ESPN’s use of the X mark is likely to cause consumer confusion.”
We kind of hope Quiksilver makes the mouse pay through the nose. They could use some cash right now.
[Link: Los Angeles Times]
by The Editors on November 19, 2008
We keep thinking that the whole Burton Love story finally over, but then some new twist turns up.
For instance: the Burlington, Vermont city council on Monday night voted 12-1 on a resolution requesting that the Burton Corporation meet with local activists regarding the Love and Primo lines of snowboards, according to a story in the Burlington Free Press.
The resolution, a softer version of one originally proposed, doesn’t force Burton to take any action, but rather encourages the Burlington-based company to listen to the concerns of community organizations that say the boards promote self-harm and misogyny.
The rougher resolution apparently called for the company to stop producing the boards.
[Link: Burlington Free Press]
by The Editors on November 18, 2008
Apparently, Shop-Eat-Surf’s Tiffany Montgomery has been holding out on us. She hasn’t been going as deeply into her subjects as she could have. But that all changes today. Because today Tiffany has announced an extra special, super premium, members-only section of her site that will only cost $9.99 a month or $89.99 a year. It’s called the “Shop-Eat-Surf Executive Edition.”
. . . members get access to our new Executive Edition and discounts on upcoming Shop-eat-surf events. Your membership fees also will allow us to expand and enhance our independent business news and information service for action sports executives. . . .The Executive Edition will be full of stories that take a deeper look at industry trends, companies and people. You’ll find analysis, indexes, perspective and professional development advice from industry leaders.
Because there’s nothing action sports executives need more than in-depth coverage of shopping and eating. Click here to send Tiffany some cash.
[Link: Shop-Eat-Surf]
by The Editors on November 18, 2008
Today at 1:30 PM PST Pacific Sunwear’s CEO Sally Frame Kasaks and CFO Michael Henry spent a little over 40 minutes answering analyst’s questions. It sounded a lot like good news for people who like bad news. Here are some highlights from the call:
- Juniors sales up 16 percent in the quarter driven primarily by their house brand Bullhead denim and tops.
- Young men’s sales saw a slight decline in denim and tops
- Branded goods represent 71 percent of total sales.
- The company continues to review fashion brands by their collections and no one is a done deal. “I’m not sure I want to refer to any of our brands as tried and true,” Kasaks said.
- Accessory sales were down 28 percent, but they hope to better manage the category to about 15 percent of sales rolling forward
- Inventory are high and the company will be going very promotional in Q4. Sally Kasaks said the company would “aggressively clear inventory while holiday traffic is available to us.. . . We may have bought too much this year, and I will take full responsiblity for that. On the other hand I think we have done a good job managing the new brands.”
- Approximately 100 of the 940 stores are not profitable, 24 are cashflow negative
- PacSun has said all along that they would be closing 30-40 stores a year as part of normal business. They see no reason to close a larger number of stores this year, mostly because getting out of leases is costly and could take up to two years.
- Footwear down to 4 percent of the business; will be 3 percent by the end of the year
- Capital expenditures for 2009 will be cut by over 50 percent to $30 million total.
- The e-commerce business growth is outpacing the retail store environment so “we will continue to fund that.”
- Michael Henry says they are planning for the market to remain tough for the foreseeable future.
Guess we’ll know tomorrow how the market reacts in the stocks that are listed in the upper right hand corner of the site. It doesn’t sound good. To read a transcript of the entire call click here.
by The Editors on November 18, 2008
Total sales from Pacific Sunwear’s third quarter are down 5 percent vs. 2007, and same-store sales decreased 7 percent according to earnings released today.
The Company recorded a loss from continuing operations of $3.5 million, or $(0.05) per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 compared to income from continuing operations of $17.1 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007.
Click the link for all the details.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on November 18, 2008
Today, a San Diego, California jury convicted Seth Cravens, 22, of second degree murder in the death of professional surfer Emery Kauanui. The Bird Rock Bandit could face 15 years to life in prison.
These verdicts send a strong message to the community that brutality will not be tolerated” although they “will never replace the life that has been taken,” San Diego County prosecutor Sophia Roach said outside court.
Cravens was also convicted on four counts of “assualt with a deadly weapon, one count of misdemeanor battery and one count of making a criminal threat.”
[Link: San Diego Union Tribune and San Francisco Chronicle]
Those with a stomach for SEC filings should bump on over to EDGAR and check out Quiksilver’s 8K filing relating to their sale of Rossignol to Chartreuse et Mont Blanc LLC. The most interesting piece of info we stumbled onto was that selling Rossignol is going to cost Quiksilver $14.7 million.
