Swedish Björn Borg goes to the Baltics and Poland
07.09.2010, 13:00Sweden's underwear brand Björn Borg has signed contracts with distributors in the Baltics and Poland, one for each area, writes news2biz.
"We are starting up during Q3-Q4 with our distributors having the opportunity to order what we have in store in Sweden," says Björn Borg's CFO Johan Mark.
"Otherwise it is too late for them to order from our manufacturers in China, but the distributors will start canvassing the markets and visiting customers so that we can scale up in Q1 2011 when the distribution of Björn Borg will take off in the Baltics and Poland," says Mark.
Experienced Baltic partner
The Baltic distributor is Latvian BB1 SIA, a brand distributor where the owners have previous retail experience through 10 Adidas shops.
"We chose the retailer because they have a good portfolio of brands in fast moving consumer goods and they have retail experience in markets with a great demand for retail," says Mark.
"We chose to enter the Baltics because we see that demand is increasing and the economy is stabilising.
There is a good knowledge of our brand in Finland which is important in fashion influences in the Baltics, most of all in Estonia," he adds.
The distributor in Poland is Trade Partners, a wholesaler-retailer that runs 20 sportswear shops.
In H1 2010, Björn Borg turned over SEK 249m, a 5% decrease in absolute figures, but a 1% increase adjusted for exchange rates. Also the profit remained stable at SEK 36.5m against SEK 37.3m in H1 2009.
The sales of Björn Borg products are much higher than the turnover the company indicates, as sales are carried out through distributors and products companies that are either part of the group or independent as well as group-owned and franchised Björn Borg shops.
Thus the sale of Björn Borg products in 2009 stood at app SEK 2bn against a turnover of Björn Borg AB of SEK 520m. Since 2006, Björn Borg is the exclusive owner of the Björn Borg trademark, including the tennis pro's characteristic signature. Björn Borg is listed on NASDAQ