Glasses on the run Newsletter #56
Hi,
I hope you have all had a good summer and will enjoy this short selection.
What was interesting in the business of running
Starting with one of the most anticipated ultra running events of the year - UTMB - which just took place last week. Katie Schide from the US won the women race with a new record of the 175 km (109 miles) course. In her second UTMB victory after 2022, Schide crossed the finish line in 22:09:31 - almost 21 minutes faster than the previous Courtney Dauwalter’s course record (Runner's World). The Frenchman Vincent Bouillard scored a surprising victory in the men's race. Unlike previous winners of the men race, Bouillard is an amateur runner. He is unsponsored and is actually a shoe engineer at Hoka (Runner's World).
Asics reported its second quarter results. Its revenues for the first half of the year grew 18% year-on-year to a total of 342.2 million Yen. Its performance running business line makes up 49.9% of the total with 170.9 million Yen and grew 15.6%. Europe continued to be Asics's largest market with 91.6 million Yen, while Japan generated 79.9 million Yen, and North America generated 67.7 million Yen (Asics report).
Salomon's parent - Arc'Teryx - had a strong second quarter. Arc'Teryx is owned by the Chinese company Amer Sports who recently reported its Q2 results. It generated $994 million in revenues, growing 16% year-on-year. Its DTC channel grew 40% and now makes 45% of the total (SGB Online).
Adidas is changing its supply chain strategy and is "going to be more local". It is going to be sourcing and manufacturing its products closer to the market it plans to sell them on. That seems like a smart move (Supply Chain Dive).
And finally a couple of reviews
- Suunto Race vs Garmin Forerunner 265 (Runner's World)
- Garmin Fenix 8 review (Tom's Guide)
As always, thank you for reading,
Momchil
