Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
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| News & Know How | News<br />
Equipment Sales<br />
Strong in 2007<br />
If equipment sales are any indication, the fitness<br />
industry enjoyed a very good year last year.<br />
Recently released fourth-quarter and full-year<br />
reports for three major manufacturers were<br />
peppered with superlatives:<br />
The Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC) had 4Q sales<br />
of $1.44 billion, beating analysts’ predictions of<br />
$1.31 billion, with the strong performance attributed,<br />
in part, to the company’s fitness division, which<br />
includes Life Fitness, Hammer Strength, and<br />
Parabody. “Life Fitness capped off a very successful<br />
year with solid growth in both sales and operating<br />
earnings during the fourth quarter of 2007, seasonally<br />
the unit’s strongest quarter of the year,” notes<br />
Dustan E. McCoy, Brunswick’s chairman and CEO.<br />
For the quarter, the division had net sales of<br />
$214.5 million (up 11% over the same period in<br />
2006); operating earnings of $32.4 million (+12%);<br />
and operating margins of 15.1% (up from 15%).<br />
For the year, it had sales of $653.7 million (up<br />
10% over ’06); operating earnings of $59.7 million<br />
(+3%); and operating margins of 9.1% (down<br />
from 9.7%).<br />
Precor, <strong>In</strong>c., the fitness-equipment subsidiary of<br />
the Amer Sports Corp., a Finland-based conglomerate,<br />
reported that it had booked its sixth consecutive<br />
year of record-setting gross revenues, with a 17%<br />
increase in sales, taking it to $411 million in ’07.<br />
That followed a 12% increase in ’06. The company<br />
has produced increases every year since 2000,<br />
resulting in a total increase, between ’00 and ’07,<br />
of 240%. “Successive year-upon-year revenue gains<br />
are an indication that we’re focused on the right<br />
things,” observes Paul Byrne, Precor’s president,<br />
“and reflect the momentum we’re building globally.”<br />
Matrix Fitness Systems, the Cottage Grove,<br />
Wisconsin-based manufacturer, announced dramatic<br />
increases both for its fourth quarter and full<br />
year. For the quarter, it registered a 120% increase<br />
in domestic sales and a 62% increase in worldwide<br />
sales; for the year, domestic sales were up 102%<br />
and worldwide sales, by 58%. —|<br />
Life Fitness’<br />
95T Engage<br />
36 Club Business <strong>In</strong>ternational | MARCH 2008 | www.ihrsa.org<br />
FitLinxx Cofounder Joins GlobalFit<br />
Andy Greenberg, the cofounder of<br />
FitLinxx, was recently appointed to the<br />
position of senior vice president for<br />
sales and marketing at GlobalFit, a leading<br />
U.S. provider of healthy living benefits. One<br />
of two cofounders of FitLinxx, he served the<br />
company for 15 years in a variety of roles—<br />
from engineering, to prototyping, to business<br />
Greenberg<br />
development. During that time, more than<br />
700 facilities adopted FitLinxx’s coaching and<br />
tracking technology to improve their members’ experience.<br />
<strong>In</strong> his new capacity, Greenberg will be a key contributor to the<br />
development of a collaborative initiative involving FitLinxx and GlobalFit:<br />
an innovative new wellness product called Destination: You.<br />
“We’ve been working with Andy for many months, and we’re very<br />
excited to have him contributing to GlobalFit’s continued growth,<br />
particularly as it pertains to our collaboration with FitLinxx,” notes<br />
Frank Napolitano, the president and CEO of GlobalFit.<br />
To create Destination: You, GlobalFit incorporated FitLinxx’s Fitsense<br />
accelerometer technology into its proprietary motivational software,<br />
allowing users to track—and increase—their daily activity rates.<br />
Greenberg describes the new product as “a simple and convenient<br />
program with broad appeal for customers who, traditionally, have been<br />
underserved by our industry.” —|<br />
Alexander Club Chain<br />
Owner <strong>In</strong>dicted<br />
Candy Tang confronts serious charges,<br />
possible consequences<br />
> <strong>In</strong> mid-January, Candy Tang, the chairwoman of the Alexander<br />
Club chain, based in Taiwan, was indicted on charges of fraud and<br />
breach of trust, and the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office has indicated that<br />
she and her sister, Tang Shin-ju, could conceivably receive prison<br />
sentences of more than five years.<br />
The prosecution claims that Tang, the founder and owner of the<br />
30-club chain, ordered a company-wide membership-recruitment<br />
drive last August, even though she was aware that the business<br />
would soon cease operating. The company, which Tang has been<br />
running for more than 20 years, abruptly closed the doors of<br />
all its clubs in early December, without giving prior notice to<br />
members. Prosecutors also allege that the Tangs intended to<br />
pocket the $7.6 million in contract fees produced by the sale of<br />
8,900 new memberships.<br />
During a press conference in January, Tang told reporters that the<br />
Alexander Group had been losing money every month for two years<br />
and that she’d been swindled out of approximately $3 million by a<br />
business associate. Just before closing, the company’s monthly revenues<br />
had plummeted from approximately $7.8 million to $2.5 million.<br />
At press time, no trial date had yet been set. —|