BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
For the three months ended June 29th, 2002, net sales at the Cannondale Corporation were $45,551,000, a $2,770,000, or 6 percent, increase over the $42,781,000 recorded for the same period last year.
This growth in sales came from Cannondale’s motorbikes, with shipments of $7,519,000 during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 compared to $2,136,000 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001.
Bicycle shipments were $38,032,000 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 compared to $40,645,000 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001.
Cannondale attributes this dip to "an increase in unfilled open orders at the end of June over the prior year as a result of orders not shippable due to late delivery of componentry from suppliers for the new 2003 bicycle models."
For fiscal year 2002, net sales were $156,655,000 compared to $146,791,000 for fiscal year 2001, reflecting an increase of $9,864,000, or 7 percent, during fiscal year 2002. Bicycle shipments during fiscal 2002 were $134,633,000 compared to $141,475,000 for fiscal 2001.
The net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 was $5,666,000 compared to the net loss of $2,769,000 recorded during the prior-year quarter. For fiscal year 2002, the net loss was $15,440,000 compared to the net loss of $20,319,000 recorded during the prior fiscal year.
However, Cannondale’s bicycle business continued to be profitable in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 with pre-tax income of $1,903,000 compared to bicycle business pre-tax income of $3,662,000 for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. Bicycle margins increased to 32.0 percent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002 from 30.2 percent in the prior-year quarter as a result of "production efficiencies and more favorable product mix," said a Cannondale statement.
Last month Cannondale secured a new financing facility with Pegasus Capital Advisors, L.P., and amended its existing credit facility with The CIT Group/Business Credit, Inc. Cannondale sold to Pegasus $25.0 million of senior notes and warrants to purchase an aggregate of 2,944,552 shares of Cannondale’s common stock. See link below for full story on the Pegasus rescue package.
Cannondale’s 2003 bikes are already winning praise. In the Nune 29th issue of Cycling Weekly, the new R1000 came out best-of-test in a review of high-performance road bikes. "The Cannondale proved to be the most suited to the racer as the rear end was the most direct we’ve tested, and placed it ahead of the rest," said the magazine’s tester.
In the US, bicycle orders for the first quarter of fiscal 2003 are running in excess of 10 percent ahead of the same period last year.
