Haglöfs: Excellent performance by Haglöfs.

At present, the Haglöfs motto “Outstanding Outdoor Equipment” seems to correspond in full with the facts. Never before in the history of the brand have we seen a greater demand., , ”Our products are being moved out at record speed” says Mats Hedblom, CEO. ”and that, of course, is the most important thing. The retailers are now seeing, in a very tangible way, that there is a strong demand for Haglöfs products, which has led to high levels of supplemental sales. The way things are going, sales figures for the spring of 2008 will increase significantly from last year.”, , The massive demand is also evident from the orders for the autumn, where Haglöfs is seeing a strong increase compared to last year's result. Demand is not specific to one individual market either. ”The increase is evenly distributed across Scandinavia and the other European markets, which makes the situation even more appealing”, Mats Hedblom continues., , ”We are also satisfied with the distribution across the different product ranges. Our three business areas; Clothing, Hardware and Footwear have all contributed to the growing interest in the brand.” One product that, without a doubt, is one of the great successes this year is Couloir, a soft-shell jacket designed for the alpine environment. ”If the retailers had been able to anticipate the strong demand for that jacket, we could easily have doubled sales”, Mats Hedblom points out., , The year has also seen a breakthrough for Haglöfs footwear. A conscious and focused investment in this business area over the past three years has led to increased distribution of shoes in the premium segment. In Sweden and Finland, Haglöfs is already a major player and in 2007, we also succeeded in establishing the brand with a number of shoes in the competitive German market. Test sales, well supported by Haglöfs in Germany, generated good results and is seen as recognition for Haglöfs. Haglöfs Germany is in pace with this growth and now employs 13 people in their organisation., MAJOR INVESTMENTS, As a consequence of the international growth, Haglöfs has made some major investments. Over the past two years we have expanded our stocks and market offices, strengthened the organisation and made significant marketing investments in all markets. At the same time, a lot of effort has gone into refining product quality across the product range. ”All this hard work is now paying off”, argues Mats Hedblom. ”Retailers and consumers are simply seeing that the brand, in several ways, represent very high quality.”, FURTHER STRENGTHENING OF THE ORGANISATION, During the spring of 2008, we strengthened the organisation further. The objective is to prepare to meet the new challenges in, for example, environmental policy, and to fully benefit from Haglöfs stronger market position., , The new position as Director of Logistics has been filled by Leif Fontér. The position is a step towards Haglöfs focusing on streamlining the entire distribution with the aim of improving delivery discipline to retailers. After June 1, Lennart Svensson will be acting Director of Sustainability, ensuring that environmental issues and social responsibility is integrated into the daily operations at Haglöfs. Lennart has extensive experience of Haglöfs production in Asia., , From this summer onwards, we will have an entirely new Design team for clothes on site in Kallhäll. The team will consist of three Designers and one Design Assistant., , The Senior Designer will be Roddy Darcy who has extensive design experience from international outdoors brands. Roddy will have the general responsibility for developing our clothing range., , As Designers we’ve hired Stephanie Ahlström and Karin Kinander. Stephanie was recruited from Salomon in France and Karin previously worked as our Design Assistant. Anna Oreman will be taking on the position as our new Design Assistant., , The Clothing business area also includes Material Manager Eva Mullins. Eva has solid training in materials technology and will be responsible for Haglöfs maintaining its leading position in materials development. Eva also has extensive skills in “Sustainability”., , Our new Product Developer for the Footwear business area is Viktor Wramdemark. Viktor is on site since January and is contributing to developing our shoe range, which will launch in Europe in 2009. Viktor is a well known character among our Scandinavian customers and was involved in the launch of Keen., , Haglöfs doing so well has led to our improving the economy and the finance department. Our new Controller is Magnus Axberg who will be in charge of internal inquiries and follow-ups in the finance department., On the whole, Mats Hedblom is looking to the future with confidence. He is saying that the Haglöfs brand, “within three years will have the strength to go beyond Europe.”, , Since 2001, Haglöfs are owned by Ratos, a listed private equity company., CONTACTS, CEO: Mats Hedblom, mats.hedblom@haglofs.se, CFO: Jim Jonsson, jim.jonsson@haglofs.se, Product- and Production Director: Johnny Claus, johnny.claus@haglofs.se, Sales- and Marketing Director: Claes Broqvist, claes.broqvist@haglofs.se, Director of Sustainability: Lennart Svensson, lennart.svensson@haglofs.se, Head of Corporate Communication: Kristin Lundmark, kristin.lundmark@haglofs.se

Read the whole press release at http://www.haglofs.se/news/news.asp?lang=en&type=PRN