Seminole Red
13 years ago
* Q2 net profit $0.75 vs $0.15 a year ago
* Company raises 2011 EPS outlook to $0.60-$0.75
* Shipments of boats and marine engines strong (Adds details in paragraphs 6-10)
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - Recreational products maker Brunswick Corp's (BC.N) quarterly profit tripled on higher marine wholesale shipments and raised its 2011 profit outlook.
The company, which makes recreational boats and marine engines, billiard tables and fitness equipment, said on Thursday its profit rose to $69.3 million, or 75 cents a share, from $13.7 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.
Profit in 2011 includes a gain of 2 cents a share from special tax items.
Sales in the quarter increased 8 percent to $1.10 billion.
The company, which also owns and operates Brunswick bowling family entertainment centers, forecast 2011 profit of 60 cents to 75 cents a share, up from its prior forecast of 30 to 50 cents a share.
"We continue to believe that the significant decline in overall industry marine retail demand bottomed in 2010," Brunswick Chief Executive Dustan McCoy said in a statement.
In the company's most recent quarter, marine engine sales were up 7 percent while the boat segment was up 10 percent.
Wholesale shipments and retail sales were strong, the company said.
The company also benefited from the closing of plants last year. (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Derek Caney)
Seminole Red
13 years ago
SCHILLER PARK, Ill., July 28, 2011 - Life Fitness, the global leader in fitness equipment manufacturing for both home and commercial products, was honored with FindTheBest.com`s 2011 "Best Of" awards for its T5-0 home treadmill, and X8 and X5 Elliptical Cross-Trainers.
Life Fitness is world renowned for superior product and an industry-leading heritage that it carries through to the consumer market with premium treadmills, exercise bikes, elliptical cross-trainers and strength training equipment.
FindTheBest.com monitors categories of expert rating sources across many different industries to evaluate product and rate each in a way that makes it easy to identify the industry leaders. With almost two million unique monthly visitors, the site has been praised for its wealth of quality data gathered from government and other trusted sources.
"Life Fitness products do extremely well in consumer reviews," said Brent Hutton, vice president for the Life Fitness consumer business unit. "We`re excited to see our products rise to the top of these product ratings, and expect to see more products climb higher in reviews as additional evaluation sites are scored for FindtheBest.com."
The Life Fitness T5-0 treadmill has been popular in the market since its introduction in 2006. Easy controls make a workout simple to navigate, while the machine`s quiet performance makes it perfect for the home environment. Additionally, the patented FlexDeck® shock absorption system reduces impact on joints by nearly 30 percent compared to ordinary treadmills or hard outdoor running surfaces.
Life Fitness` superior biomechanics support comfort and fit with SelectStride(TM) technology on its elliptical cross-trainers. The X5 allows you to adjust the stride length for different-sized users in the household or to target different muscle groups. The X8 features electronic stride adjustment-with just the touch of a button, users can change the stride length on-the-fly to target different leg muscles. The Life Fitness X5 and X8 elliptical cross-trainers incorporate the same shock absorption technology that makes Life Fitness treadmills the best in the world. The FlexPedalTM shock absorption system provides flexible cushioning to increase foot comfort during workouts.
Manufactured Suggested Retail Pricing for the T5-0 is $3,699.
The X8 Elliptical Cross-Trainer is $3,999 MSRP with the Basic Workouts Console and $4,299 with the Advanced Workouts Console.
The X5 Elliptical Cross-Trainer is $3,299 MSRP with the Basic Workouts Console and $3,599 with the Advanced Workouts Console.
For more information on the award-winning products, visit www.lifefitness.com or call 1-800-634-8637 for more information.
About Life Fitness
Life Fitness is the global leader in providing fitness equipment. The company manufactures and sells strength and cardiovascular equipment under the brand names Life Fitness and Hammer Strength and distributes its equipment in more than 120 countries. Headquartered outside Chicago, in Schiller Park, Ill., Life Fitness is a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC).
Life Fitness is a registered trademarks of Brunswick Corporation
Beavis97
14 years ago
Blaming Poor Sales, Sea Ray Lays Off 170 From Palm Coast Plant; Future Uncertain
FlaglerLive | September 17, 2010
Sea Ray, the boat manufacturer and one of Flagler County’s largest and best-paying private employers, laid off 170 workers at its Palm Coast plant on Thursday. That’s at least a third of the plant’s workforce. The lay-offs will have considerable repercussions on a local economy already battered by high unemployment. After falling in summer, local joblessness was on the rise again even before the Sea Ray lay-offs. Figures released Friday put Flagler County’s unemployment rate for August at 16.4 percent, second-worst in the state.
Several local parts manufacturers and lumber yards depend on Sea Ray for big chunks of business. And while Sea Ray is not as large an employer as Palm Coast Data, which has about 1,000 employees, Sea Ray’s median salaries are more than double those at Palm Coast Data, which fall closer to the minimum wage.
One year ago, the Palm Coast plant employed 270. That number rose last spring, when the boat manufacturer geared up for the summer season and was expecting to sell six boats per week from the plant. The boats didn’t sell at that pace, however, and backed up the company’s inventory. At its height in the middle of the last decade, the plant was producing a dozen boats per week.
Sea Ray workers were told of the lay-offs Thursday afternoon in several groups by their building managers from the plant’s fabrication, assembly and lamination buildings. The meetings were only a few minutes long. Those who were laid off were told that the plant will be building four boats per week until at least the end of the year, necessitating the layoffs, and that “when we need you, your supervisor has the option to call you back.”
Supervisors then escorted them back to their work areas where they handed in their identification and company keys (if they had any) and picked up their personal items, then walked out to the parking lot, where they were required to hand in their yellow vehicle window stickers that identify them as employees, so they would opt be able to return. The news was somber but not unexpected: many workers had been in and out of employment at the plant, and many more had been revolving through several jobs over the past few years, trying to hold on to work.
Many of the laid-off workers were not directly employed by Sea Ray, but by Aerotek, the national staffing agency through which Sea Ray has been employing many of its workers. (The arrangement enables companies with seasonal or uncertain employment terms to avoid the bureaucracy that comes along with hiring full-time employees. Aerotek assumes that bureaucracy and actually signs employees’ checks.)
The lay-offs are distinct from the company’s usual furloughs, which take place in July (July 16 to 24 last summer) and December (Dec. 16 to Jan. 3), and from the rotation some workers were on last year—working one week and being off three. The difference this time is that the lay-offs are open-ended. The same day, Sea Ray, which is based in Knoxville but owned by Lake Forest, Ill.-based Brunswick Corp., announced that it was furloughing 600 employees at two plants in Tennessee on Oct. 4, months before the usual winter furloughs.
Locally, Sea Ray has been the beneficiary of generous county and state subsidies. In 2007, the company threatened to leave the county if planned developments were to proceed in its neighborhood. To entice it to stay, the county agreed, among other things, to build a 3,000-foot road extension from Roberts Road to Colbert Lane for the company, at taxpayers’ expense. The $2 million in state and local dollars included $300,000 from Flagler County taxpayers. At the time, the Sea Ray plant employed some 700 people.
At an internal Chairman’s Award ceremony about a month ago, employees were told that Brunswick had considered shuttering the Palm Coast plant and moving the operation to Sykes Creek on Merritt Island, just south of Titusville. Employees were told that because of the very low number of warranty claims against boats manufactured at the Palm Coast plant–a sign of quality manufacturing that saves the company large sums of money–the plan to move the operation was dropped. But it wasn’t the first time, nor is it likely to be the last, that Brunswick has considered shuttering the plant.
Repeated calls to the Brunswick about Thursday’s layoffs office were not returned.
At the end of July, Brunswick’s 16 boat brands reported net sales of $296.6 million for the second quarter of 2010, an increase of 114 percent compared with $138.8 million in the second quarter of 2009, but an operating loss of $23.6 million. That compares with an operating loss of $107.9 million in the second quarter of 2009.
Seminole Red
14 years ago
LAKE FOREST, Ill., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Kids can hit the lanes for free games this summer at all 93 Brunswick Zone and Brunswick Zone XL centers.
Every day, starting June 1, students age 18 and younger can bowl one free game whenever lanes are available. Shoe rental is not included. To claim their games, students just need a Student Ball Pass, available free at any Brunswick center. Passes can also be obtained by joining the Brunswick Bonus Zone at www.bowlbrunswick.com/ballpass. There is no charge for joining.
"We wanted to recognize and reward the efforts students put in during the school year," said Jim Fox, president - Brunswick Bowling Retail. "Summer is a time to have fun. Not only is bowling fun, it's also a great activity for students to do with their family and friends regardless of the weather."
Many students are already prepared to bowl as almost 3 million passes have been distributed this spring through local schools that teamed up with Brunswick to help hand passes out.
The free game a day summer promotion is just one way Brunswick recognizes students. Through its Making the Grade program, Brunswick also offers students a free game for every "A" on their current report cards. And, those with perfect attendance can receive a free Family Funtastic Value Package, including two hours of free bowling for up to six people, shoe rental and a pitcher of pop. Finally, each spring, Brunswick offers more than $45,000 in college scholarships to winners of its All-Star Varsity Bowling Tournaments. Information about all of these initiatives is available at www.bowlbrunswick.com.
Brunswick Bowling & Billiards, a division of Brunswick Corporation, is one of the largest operators of full-service bowling and family recreation centers in the world; is a full-line supplier of bowling equipment, supplies and consumer products, and designs billiards tables and accessories. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC) has been a leader in the recreation business for more than 160 years. For more information, visit our Web site at www.bowlbrunswick.com.
SOURCE Brunswick Bowling & Billiards
/CONTACT: Sharon Honaker of Brunswick, +1-847-735-4512, Sharon.Honaker@brunbowl.com
/Web site: http://www.bowlbrunswick.com
Seminole Red
14 years ago
NEW YORK (AP) -- Moody's Investors Service upgraded boat maker Brunswick Corp.'s rating outlook on Monday to "stable" from "negative" based on a belief that Brunswick's credit will not deteriorate further and might even improve over the near- to midterm.
At the same time, Moody's raised Brunswick's speculative-grade liquidity rating to "SGL1."
"We believe Brunswick's strong liquidity profile, improved cost structure, enhanced health of its dealership network and increased wholesale shipments should enable it to maintain its current credit profile, even if retail demand in 2010 declines more than the 10 percent the company is currently planning for and despite the burgeoning sovereign debt crisis," said Kevin Cassidy, senior credit officer at Moody's in a statement.
Moody's said the liquidity upgrade indicates that Moody's believes Brunswick will maintain its strong liquidity profile for at least 12 months, including cash balances around $550 million, an expectation of positive free cash flow in 2010 even if retail demand falls 20 percent, and access to over $125 million in credit.
Brunswick reported last month that its first-quarter loss was much smaller than a year earlier, surprising Wall Street analysts. And it said its quarterly revenue climbed for the first time in more than two years.
The company lost $13 million, or 15 cents per share, during the quarter that ended April 3. That compares with a loss of $184.2 million, or $2.08 per share, during the same period last year.
Sales climbed 15 percent to $844.4 million -- the first time revenue increased at the suburban Chicago company since the fourth quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, the company posted an operating profit for the first time in two years.
Brunswick, which also makes boat engines and fitness equipment, cut costs and closed factories as the recession ate into its business.
It said sales rose in virtually every category except bowling and billiards. Boat sales rose 19 percent and boat engine sales 30 percent.
Brunswick is based in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Ill. Its brands include Mercury and Mariner engines; Bayliner, Hatteras, SeaRay boats and Life Fitness workout equipment.
After rising more than 9 percent by midday Monday, Brunswick's shares were down 3 cents Monday afternoon, trading at $18.50.
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Seminole Red
14 years ago
LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - 03/15/10) - Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. (OTC.BB:SEWE - News) signed a letter of intent to partner with Life Fitness to outfit the TapouT Training Centers with the most dependable and aesthetically pleasing exercise machines in the world.
By combining Life Fitness' 30 years of experience in the health club environment, along with 15 years in the home setting, with Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd.'s dedication to providing the most dynamic and elite fitness experiences, the partnership will join the leading companies in the fitness and MMA industries.
"Life Fitness offers products that are robust, fit for heavy action and innovative. Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. will outfit its fitness facilities with the company's Elevation Series state-of-the-art treadmills, elliptical cross-trainers and exercise bikes and ground-breaking Hammer Strength machines, precisely the type of high-end, resilient, fitness equipment our members expect from us," said Eddie Wenrick, CEO of Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd.
The equipment features many industry firsts, such as touch-screen technology, iPod connectivity, an on-console Virtual Trainer and Nike+ iPod compatibility, enabling users to make their workout more engaging and matching the extraordinary features of the TapouT Training Center.
"We look forward to developing a relationship with Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. and being part of the growth of the MMA culture," said John Stransky, president of Life Fitness. "The equipment will provide the same innovative qualities that reflect commitment and excellence that Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. offers. It's satisfying to know that this equipment is helping thousands of people achieve healthier lives."
By building an unprecedented portfolio of products and services to the MMA community, Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. looks to dominate within the fastest growing mainstream sport in the United States.
About Life Fitness
Life Fitness is the global leader in providing fitness equipment. The company manufactures and sells strength and cardiovascular equipment under the brand names Life Fitness and Hammer Strength and distributes its equipment in more than 120 countries. Headquartered outside Chicago, in Schiller Park, Ill., Life Fitness is a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC - News).
About Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd.
Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. is the premier logistic marketer of branded concepts and equipment, partnering with the mixed martial arts (MMA) industry leaders. Embedded with the explosive growth MMA sport, the company's current clientele base includes the industry's top brands such as TapouT, UFC, Strikeforce and Gold's Gym. Visit the Truesport Alliances & Entertainment, Ltd. website at http://www.truesportltd.com/.
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