HELSINKI, Finland (BRAIN) — Amer Sports has updated its 2020 growth target. Instead of aiming for sales of 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in that year, the company is now setting a target for "annual mid-single-digit organic, currency-neutral growth."
Amer, which owns Mavic and Enve as well as a variety of other sports brands, said the change is due to a challenging wholesale market in the U.S. The company's board has also adjusted its employee performance share plan to be in line with the new strategy.
The new projections do not change targets for profit growth, cash flow or net debt. Its outlook for 2017 also is unchanged.
Amer Sports president and CEO Heikki Takala said, "The U.S. wholesale market continues to be challenged, and whilst demand for our brands continues to be strong and we largely outperform the market, it causes a gap versus our growth target. Our building blocks are robust and the majority of our strategic programs are delivering well, most notably footwear and apparel, business to consumer, and China, and we continue to drive our consumer-led transformation with confidence. In the U.S. wholesale context, we rebalance our growth versus profit, prioritizing profitability and cash to deliver strong shareholder returns."
The adjusted performance plan now comprises a three-year performance period for 2018 to 2020, instead of one-year performance periods. The performance targets will be net sales growth and EBIT margin for the earning period 2018 to 2020. The potential share reward payable based on the plan will be paid in spring 2021, provided that the performance targets for the plan are achieved. The plan applies to 340 key employees.
