Armada sold to a sports giant

This, to me, would go some way to explaining why salomon and atomic cut their freeskiing lines to the bone for next season
 
Not gonna go on like "bruh armada sold out and aren't core anymore" but it does suck a bit that arguably the most famous, OG freeski brand is now gonna be under some degree of corporate control. Having said that, having more cash for R&D and sponsorship is only a good thing for armada and skiing
 
Seems like there has been a lot going on at Armada for the past year. I would be interested to hear what was all going on.
 
13804254:Uncle_Rowdy said:
for some reason, 4.1million doesn't seem like that much to buy a profitable ski company for.
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Yea that seems really low. Especially considering they apparently do 10 million in sales each year.

Maybe there was a ton of debt? Tanner was buying his weed with company funds?
 
13804243:razors-chaz said:
This, to me, would go some way to explaining why salomon and atomic cut their freeskiing lines to the bone for next season
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That's what came to mind when I saw this as well.

As far as the corporate giants go, I think Amer is one of the better ones. Salomon, Atomic, and Arc'teryx are all brands that place a very heavy emphasis on R&D, and allow a bit of trickle-across collaboration (e.g. Procline and S-Lab X-Alp).

I won't speculate about the company's specific financial status, but the rumors had not been very good, so I'm glad to see that they will be carrying on as a brand instead of crashing and burning.
 
13804243:razors-chaz said:
This, to me, would go some way to explaining why salomon and atomic cut their freeskiing lines to the bone for next season
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Purely a coincidence. Each brand makes their own decisions concerning what products to make. Plus, the products that were launched at ISPO/SIA were decided on over a year ago, well before any of this went down.
 
13804255:VinnieF said:
Yea that seems really low. Especially considering they apparently do 10 million in sales each year.

Maybe there was a ton of debt? Tanner was buying his weed with company funds?
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Most likely debt if they own their own manufacturing facilities and don't outsource it.

If this isn't the case, it explains a lot since they don't have much in the way of physical capital.
 
Basically the final nail in the coffin to make Armada fully non-core. Kind of saw this coming tho, it's been kind of in limbo somewhere between core and not core for a while. It sucks, but I doubt this will really change their operations much since they've been cooperating with Amer for a while now, this just puts it into writing with money on the table. Either way, I can't see the industry being shaken up all that much from this, people said Line and K2 getting bought by Jardin/Rubbermaid was going to wreck everything but we still have LTC and most of the good shit from before. If you roll with core you probably weren't riding Armada anyway, and if you didn't then really nothing has changed, just money changing hands between some guys in business suits that have only seen snow from the window of their conference room.
 
13804261:onenerdykid said:
Purely a coincidence. Each brand makes their own decisions concerning what products to make. Plus, the products that were launched at ISPO/SIA were decided on over a year ago, well before any of this went down.
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I assumed this had been on the cards from before the line for the coming year was finalised, my bad. So how quickly has this come about? I don't mind cutting your freeskiing line. It just means more opportunity for the smaller freeski brands.
 
13804262:.MASSHOLE. said:
Most likely debt if they own their own manufacturing facilities and don't outsource it.

If this isn't the case, it explains a lot since they don't have much in the way of physical capital.
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LOL, you think Armada ever manufactured their own skis?
 
13804254:Uncle_Rowdy said:
4.1million doesn't seem like that much to buy a profitable ski company for.
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You're right, which is why they didn't buy a profitable ski company for $4.1 million.
 
13804269:itzki said:
Basically the final nail in the coffin to make Armada fully non-core. Kind of saw this coming tho, it's been kind of in limbo somewhere between core and not core for a while. It sucks, but I doubt this will really change their operations much since they've been cooperating with Amer for a while now, this just puts it into writing with money on the table. Either way, I can't see the industry being shaken up all that much from this, people said Line and K2 getting bought by Jardin/Rubbermaid was going to wreck everything but we still have LTC and most of the good shit from before. If you roll with core you probably weren't riding Armada anyway, and if you didn't then really nothing has changed, just money changing hands between some guys in business suits that have only seen snow from the window of their conference room.
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Try harder you brand-hipster
 
13804279:Session said:
LOL, you think Armada ever manufactured their own skis?
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Honestly, I had zero idea but was leaning towards them outsourcing it.

That explains why it was so cheap, no physical capital, just a brand name that in grand scheme of skiing is rather small. You're not going to find many people who are first timers, casual skiers, or older who ski on Armadas and know who they are.
 
Armada skis have been produced in a variety of Atomic factories for most of the last decade and recently also producing some higher end models in the Blizzard factory.
 
Well its not core anymore, it will become as big as atomic, Wilson, Salomon, etc. So I think its time to stock up on old armada shit and Vishnu to release a new set of wets already.
 
13804326:cobra_commander said:
Armada skis have been produced in a variety of Atomic factories for most of the last decade and recently also producing some higher end models in the Blizzard factory.
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right now i remember that.

doesnt sound like a bad thing, eh?
 
13804331:Deepskier said:
What a disappointment. Wonder what JP would have thought about this...
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Probably would prefer this to the company he helped found going under
 
13804346:cobra_commander said:
What is really funny is how many of you apparently still thought Armada was rider owned over the last few years.
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i thought travis heed and candide owned and ran it as a 403b non-profit
 
13804342:A-cAll said:
Probably would prefer this to the company he helped found going under
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Yeah but its not like armada is on the rocks and it was sell or go under. So he probably would have preferred his company stay rider owned and keep doing what its doing.
 
13804346:cobra_commander said:
What is really funny is how many of you apparently still thought Armada was rider owned over the last few years.
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The rider owned brands are Vishnu, ON3P, Revision, HG, Yoke, NWT3K, Aura Optics, Virtika, jskis, 4FRNT, ski the east, maybe saga, and may more.

When will armada release their first "new" products, this coming season or the following season.
 
13804356:Deepskier said:
Yeah but its not like armada is on the rocks and it was sell or go under. So he probably would have preferred his company stay rider owned and keep doing what its doing.
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Good to know you have armadas profit reports on hand.

The fact that Logan imlach was worried about the future of armada before this started to get finalized tells me not awesome things
 
13804356:Deepskier said:
Yeah but its not like armada is on the rocks and it was sell or go under. So he probably would have preferred his company stay rider owned and keep doing what its doing.
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A company with $10m in annual sales just sold for $4.1m, $2.5 in cash.

Sounds like it was healthy as fuck.
 
Overall its a good thing for the company. They were in serious trouble after (name redacted) bought them and drove them into the ground. Amer should be able to clean up the business and put them on a sustainable path. Amer will probably have to cut out some of the products that don't make any money, but the brand is the core value of what they bought so they'll be careful not to mess with that too much.
 
13804357:lukrom said:
The rider owned brands are Vishnu, ON3P, Revision, HG, Yoke, NWT3K, Aura Optics, Virtika, jskis, 4FRNT, ski the east, maybe saga, and may more.

When will armada release their first "new" products, this coming season or the following season.
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Can we please take Revision off of this list? They might be rider owned, but they aren't a ski company. They don't make skis, and you sure are hell can't buy skis from them.
 
13804269:itzki said:
Basically the final nail in the coffin to make Armada fully non-core. Kind of saw this coming tho, it's been kind of in limbo somewhere between core and not core for a while. If you roll with core you probably weren't riding Armada anyway, and if you didn't then really nothing has changed, just money changing hands between some guys in business suits that have only seen snow from the window of their conference room.
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This could not be further from the truth. I can tell you many of the Amer executives, even the ones who work for their divisions outside of the the ski industry are hardcore skiers. You really think a Finnish sporting goods company is just "some guys in business suits" then you clearly now nothing about the industry.

You can make that statement about Newell/ Rubbermaid but not about Amer.
 
13804483:VinnieF said:
When you have to pay off one credit card with another you know you're in the shitter.
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Ah well that's good to know because I just don't pay the credit card. #notintheshitterjustyetlikearmadawas
 
13804389:A-cAll said:
Good to know you have armadas profit reports on hand.

The fact that Logan imlach was worried about the future of armada before this started to get finalized tells me not awesome things
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Damn you dont have to be salty, I heard nothing from logan previously or anyone for that matter. But I figured they were doing well because they have 10 million in sales annually and every fucking kid has at least 3 full armada suits and or skis around here.
 
13804399:cobra_commander said:
A company with $10m in annual sales just sold for $4.1m, $2.5 in cash.

Sounds like it was healthy as fuck.
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damn sorry that didn't occur to me, I just figured, everyone on here talks about how great they are and I love all my armada shit too probably why every fucking kid has a thousand dollars worth of armada shit in there closet. My thought process makes sense.
 
13804443:TheDoughAbides said:
gonna leave this here
http://www.abladvisor.com/news/10356/siena-lending-group-provides-7mm-credit-facility-to-armada-skis
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13804483:VinnieF said:
Well, that settles it. They have a buttload of debt. When you have to pay off one credit card with another you know you're in the shitter.
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This doesn't mean much. Companies restructure their debt all the time. Also what is that debt relative to assets? 7m could be a lot or a little

TBH I thought it sounded like a lot. Companies like armada don't make much profit, so even if they made 5% revenue as net income the other guys still paid 8x net income for them
 
13804528:waiting4snow said:
This could not be further from the truth. I can tell you many of the Amer executives, even the ones who work for their divisions outside of the the ski industry are hardcore skiers. You really think a Finnish sporting goods company is just "some guys in business suits" then you clearly now nothing about the industry.

You can make that statement about Newell/ Rubbermaid but not about Amer.
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A couple of years ago, I went downhill mountain biking with the Amer CEO, Heikki Takala. He had his own bike & kit and put in 8 runs at a bike park here in the Austrian Alps. That's not exactly a walk in the park. He's also bugging me for a size 29.5 Hawx Ultra XTD 130 because his Backland Carbons just "aren't enough boot" for him. He may wear a suit & tie most of the time, but make no mistake- these guys don't live behind a desk.
 
13804681:onenerdykid said:
A couple of years ago, I went downhill mountain biking with the Amer CEO, Heikki Takala. He had his own bike & kit and put in 8 runs at a bike park here in the Austrian Alps. That's not exactly a walk in the park. He's also bugging me for a size 29.5 Hawx Ultra XTD 130 because his Backland Carbons just "aren't enough boot" for him. He may wear a suit & tie most of the time, but make no mistake- these guys don't live behind a desk.
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Now thats a ( Andy Samberg voice ) Boss
 
13804500:Sharko said:
Can we please take Revision off of this list? They might be rider owned, but they aren't a ski company. They don't make skis, and you sure are hell can't buy skis from them.
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Revision was never "rider owned".
 
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