Thule Group CEO and President Magnus Welander comments on the Year-end Report of 2015

A very successful 2015 can be entered into the Thule Group’s 73-year history.
We continued our strategic repositioning with increased focus on sports and
outdoor products through the divestment of the Group’s snow chain operations.
Successful product launches and close collaboration with our retailers resulted
in us increasing both sales and earnings.
During the year, we also implemented a complete revamp of our European
distribution centre set-up which will lead to shorter lead times. This will mean
improved service to our customers as well as a redureduced environmental impact
in 2016.
Strong growth in three of four product categories
During the quarter, sales grew to SEK 980m, up 3.0 percent after currency
adjustment. Sales during the fourth quarter was affected by a continued sales
decrease in the Bags for Electronic Devices product category. The impact is
greater in this quarter as the seasonal variations mean that, as in previous
years, the Bags for Electronic Devices product category accounts for a larger
proportion of sales.For the full-year, sales growth was in line with our long
-term financial targets for organic growth and increased 5.1 percent after
currency adjustment.
Our successful efforts in increasing the number of product launches and close
partnerships at retailer level through our Thule Retail Partner Program have
driven strong growth in three of our four product categories. Currency adjusted
growth in 2015 was as follows: Sport&Cargo Carriers up 6.7 percent; Other
Outdoor&Bags up 20.7 percent and Work Gear up 6.5 percent. However, Bags for
Electronic Devices posted a decline of 11.2 percent.
Even stronger in Sport&Cargo Carriers
Growth in Sport&Cargo Carriers, which accounts for 60 percent of the company’s
sales, was strong in both regions. This confirms that our initiatives to
strengthen our market leading position through more launches of evgreat
products, improved service at retailer level, in-creased efficiency in the
supply chain and enhanced consumer communication are successful.
Our drive for constant improvement will continue in 2016, driven by the breadth
of new products that will be for sale in retail stores in the spring. We will
also implement improvements at the distribution level in Asia and North America,
and be able to fully exploit the advantages achieved through the supply chain
improvements made in Europe in 2015.
New products drive Other Outdoor&Bags
The more than 20-percent growth created from new products in Other Outdoor&Bags
has resulted in the category now accounting for 15 percent of total sales.
Several successful launches in Sport&Travel Bags, with a collection of hiking
backpacks, and a broadening of the Active with Kids category with sport
strollers were two strong contributing factors to the growth. Our RV Products
category, which is focused on Europe, also developed strongly in a growing
recreational vehicle market.
Tough market in the bags category
During the year, Bags for Electronic Devices was exposed to a tough market with
rapidly de-clining sales of cameras and therefore camera cases and a shift
toward cheaper own label products in other categories, including tablet cases.
Despite a number of promising launches in, for example, backpacks for school and
work, sales declined 11 percent during the year. The trend was primarily
negative in the Americas region.
Work Gear continues to develop well
Work Gear continued to develop well in the fourth quarter. For the full-year,
after currency adjustment, sales increased 6.5 percent and the underlying EBIT
was 35 percent. We are continuing to invest in growth in parallel with
conducting the previously announced strategic review of the business.
Ambitions raised with a new margin target
For the full-year, underlying EBIT increased 13.7 percent after currency
adjustment to SEK 850m. This means that we achieved an operating margin of 16.0
percent, well over our previous financial target of 15 percent. Therefore, the
Board has decided to adopt a new target for the operating margin of 17 percent.
An exciting 2016 lies ahead of us
Thanks to the healthy performance in 2015, we have further improved our already
strong position, and I wish to thank everyone in the Thule Group who has helped
make this possible.
We are now focusing on continued rapid growth, with multiple product launches,
the second phase of our supply chain efficiency enhancements and a multitude of
other interesting marketing initiatives.
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Enquiries, please contact:
Fredrik Erlandsson
SVP Communications and Investor Relations
Tel: +46 70 309 00 21
E-mail: fredrik.erlandsson@thule.com
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About Thule Group
Thule Group is a world leader in products that make it easy to bring the things
you care for – easily, securely and in style – when living an active life.
Under the motto Active Life, Simplified. we offer products within two segments:
Outdoor&Bags (e.g. equipment for cycling-, water- and winter sports, roof boxes,
bike trailers, baby joggers, laptop and camera bags, backpacks and cases for
mobile handheld devices) and Specialty (pick-up truck tool boxes). Our products
are sold in 139 markets globally. There are more than 2,000 of us working for
Thule Group at nine production facilities and more than 35 sales locations all
over the world.
Net sales for 2015 amounted to 5.3 billion SEK.
Thule Group is a public company listed at Nasdaq Stockholm.
For more information, please visit www.thulegroup.com