ROSSIGNOL TO MOVE HQ TO PARK CITY
Pretty big news. Anyone wanna throw a welcome party together in hopes of handouts? :)
Quiksilver, Inc. to Establish a New Mountain Center in Park City, Utah as Home for its U.S. Wintersports Businesses
Tuesday September 6, 4:00 pm ET
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 6, 2005--Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE: ZQK - News)
• Rossignol and Dynastar to Relocate and Combine Operations
• Quiksilver, Inc.'s Washington State Snowboard Operations to Relocate
• Roxy Joins Forces with Dynastar to Create New Roxy Ski Business at Mountain Center
Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE: ZQK - News) today announced that it will establish a new, state-of-the-art Mountain Center in Park City, Utah to unify the operations of its wintersports businesses and advance the position of its powerful lifestyle brands. The facility will house the U.S. headquarters for Rossignol and Dynastar, which are currently located in Burlington, Vermont, as well as some operations of Quiksilver's existing snowboard businesses in Washington State.
The new Park City facility will for the first time combine and integrate in one location all U.S. operations of Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange and Look. It will also house U.S. operations for the newly-announced Roxy ski business, a collaboration with Dynastar to make a full line of alpine ski products targeted to young women. In addition, a variety of functions for the Company's Lib Technologies, Gnu and Bent Metal snowboard brands will be based at the Mountain Center. DC Shoes, which has been part of the Quiksilver, Inc. group since 2004, will play an integral role in this initiative, led by its existing Park City-based Mountain Lab and market-leading snowboard boots. The Company will also establish a distribution facility in the nearby Greater Salt Lake City area that will serve the Americas territory for mountain-related products. Many of Rossignol's administrative functions such as treasury, human resources and legal will be consolidated with Quiksilver's existing infrastructure in Huntington Beach. The Company noted that it will retain some presence both in Vermont and Washington State.
Bernard Mariette, Quiksilver's Inc.'s President, commented, "We are very excited to take this important step to integrate Rossignol's U.S. businesses and bring all of these closely related operations together. This move will create a strong base for our mountain-related brands in one of the world's pre-eminent locations for wintersports. Not only do we expect to reap significant operational and financial benefits, but we believe that the corporate cultures will benefit greatly from both the combination and the relocation. We have set our sights on becoming the undisputed global leader in the outdoor sports lifestyle market, and establishing this Mountain Center gives us a dominant footprint in the snow to complement our boardriding base in Southern California."
John Huntsman, Governor of Utah, commented, "We are thrilled to have the Quiksilver-Rossignol team coming to Utah and see this as further illustration that Park City and the surrounding areas of Utah are increasingly viewed as the epicenter for winter sports recreation and lifestyle."
Francois Goulet, President of Rossignol North America, commented, "The benefits to our business should be immediate and highly tangible. We believe that this facility will not only elevate our operational capabilities and make our combined organization much more efficient, but we expect it to serve as a tremendous laboratory to improve our product, our marketing and our presence in the mountain sports lifestyle market. We are pleased to give shape to a new era in the history of our brands with the opening of this facility. At the same time, we are and will remain deeply grateful to the people and state of Vermont, which for over thirty years have played an invaluable role in the growth of Rossignol and Dynastar."
Jean-Francois Gautier, President of Rossignol SA, noted, "Establishing our Mountain Center in Park City -- the heart of U.S.-based mountain sports -- will greatly complement and leverage the tremendous history and equity of Rossignol's deep roots in the French Alps and Europe. This balanced and compelling global approach will create breadth and depth unprecedented in mountain sports."
Quiksilver, Inc. noted that it expects to commence the relocation of the various facilities and personnel connected to the new Mountain Center in the Spring of 2006. The Company anticipates that it will take an estimated $5 million to move Rossignol's and Dynastar's operations from Vermont. It further noted that this cost is a component of Quiksilver's acquisition of Rossignol and, accordingly, will increase the cost of the acquired business but will not be reported as part of the Company's operating results. The Company anticipates that the cost of the move will largely be funded through the sale of the Vermont facilities, which have currently been valued at over $4 million. Additionally, Quiksilver noted that it has received a generous offer of up to $2.5 million in tax incentives from the State of Utah.
