Golf Clothing - Golf clothing and accessories manufacturer Ashworth considers its options for 2009

After a dismal 08, posting a third consecutive loss – Ashworth have announced their intentions to sell, merge or conduct other business to increase shareholder value.

The Californian based golf clothing and golf accessories manufacturer has confirmed that it will retain the services of its capital advisors to analyse its existing and potential financial considerations. Its capital advisors had previously negotiated the sale of Ashworth’s competitor Cutter & Buck in 2007.

For the third quarter in 2008, Ashworth reported a net loss in the region of $9.6m compared to $5.6m for the same period a year ago. Revenue fell to $45.2m in Q3 – a fall of 9%. Ashworth confirmed that its margins had been affected from heavy discounting and lower than anticipated sales in addition to fixed overheads.

Its core domestic business did report a rise in revenue for Q3, other categories include its corporate and retail store sales.

Total U.S. golf channel revenues increased in Q3, 2008 to $18.2m – an increase of 5.5% in the same quarter last year.

Sell-through in its golf channel during Q3 has been below all expectations – Ashworth expects its revenues to decline further for the remaining few months of 2008 – compared to the same period in 2007.

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