Prince Comes Out of Gate Strong in Q1
May 21, 2007
Bordentown, NJ — Prince Sports, Inc. is reporting an exciting and successful start to 2007, according to recent first-quarter sales numbers and industry audits. In light of recent sales figures, the company is looking to break $100 million in sales by the end of its fiscal year – the first time in ten years.
“The first quarter of 2007 was extremely positive for Prince, not only compared to our competitors, but also in the Company’s recent history,” said George Napier, CEO of Prince Sports, Inc. “We have come out of the gates strong and are heading in the direction of a banner year with our sights clearly focused on breaking the $100 million sales mark. Without question, our extended team of dedicated retail partners, suppliers, coaches, and athletes, all of whom bleed green and are doing so much to support us, deserve the biggest “thank you” for the company achieving these results.”
Global sales for Prince were up 12 percent in Q1, led by the company’s European region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) which surged forward racking up sales growth of 52 percent versus the same period last year. The U.S was also strong registering 11 percent growth.
The global growth was led by a solid performance in the company’s racquet category, due in large part to the extension of its award-winning line of O3 products. In January, Prince launched its new O3 Speedport racquets – a build on its already successful Original O3 technology which transformed racquet design and performance and has quickly become a “must have” technology for players on tennis courts around the world. In addition, Prince’s footwear division contributed as its new M Series line expanded its distribution base. And a successful introduction of a new Synthetic Gut Multifilament string fueled additional growth and complemented the industry’s #1 selling string.
In fact, in only two years since the company has launched the O-tech platform, close to 100 touring pros, the world’s elite players, have made the switch to O3 technology – an incredible number for very particular professional athletes.
To compliment tennis’ #1 string, Prince recently launched two new Synthetic Gut strings to round out its Syn Gut line of products. The introduction of Synthetic Gut Multifilament and Synthetic Gut Poly Blend provides players Syn Gut options depending on their play style and string preferences. These new strings were released earlier in the quarter with the latter already making its debut on the current SMS/TIA audit.