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Spy’s June 30 Quarter. Brand Sales Up, But Gross Margin Falls. What to do About the Balance Sheet?

In the conference call discussion of their results Michael Marckx, Spy’s President and CEO, emphasized two things. The first was the total focus on the Spy brand. The second was that they had a solid and complete management team that was in agreement on the company’s strategy and direction. Those are good things. In spite of the sales […]

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VF’s Quarterly Results and Strategy: They Do Love Outdoor and Action Sports

VF’s reported revenues rising 16.4% in the quarter ended June 30 compared to the same quarter last year. Net income was up 20% from $129.4 million to $155.3 million. As you look at those headline numbers, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.   First, the Timberland acquisition closed on September 13, 2011 so

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Speculation on Billabong

Walking around a really good Agenda show last week, the question I kept getting asked was, “What’s going to happen to Billabong?”  As I told everyone who asked, I only had access to the same public information they had. Given that information, my best guess is that Billabong will be sold.  Here’s my reasoning.  As you

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News From Billabong

I just listened to a Billabong conference call where new CEO Launa Inman announced they were raising more capital, downgrading earnings expectations, and undertaking a top to bottom review of all Billabong operations with the goals of reducing expenses, identifying efficiencies and improving the competitive positioning of Billabong and its brands. They want to raise

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Tilly’s First Quarterly Report

As you know, Tilly’s went public recently. They’ve just released their first quarterly 10Q report and held their first conference call as a public company. The report is for the quarter ended April 28. Their public offering was May 4, so the balance sheet doesn’t reflect the results of that offering yet, and I don’t have access to

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Zumiez Buys Blue Tomato

Well, this one caught me by surprise, though I guess it was supposed to. No, not that Zumiez bought Blue Tomato, though that caught me by surprise too. What surprised me is that Zumiez has a “…strategic plan to build the leading global action sports retail business.” And, according to the press release, this acquisition is the “next

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