Apr 28, 2023   SOURCE: BusinessWire

The Rossignol Group passes the milestone of €400 million in revenue with 28% growth and continues its all-season diversification and its commitment to a more responsible economic model

After a strong rebound in the 2021-2022 financial year (€313 million in revenue), the Rossignol Group recorded very strong growth in its activities for the 2022-2023 financial year, up 28%, with €401 million in revenue (as of March 31st, 2023). Founded 116 years ago in the French Alps, and now a global reference in winter and mountain sports, the Group is driven by its product expertise, competitive success, the successful diversification of its offer and its commitment to sustainable development. By 2026, Rossignol plans to generate close to 30% of its business through its clothing and footwear offerings, by continuing to develop products for year-round, multi-sport activities. The Group also aims to develop one-third of its ski ranges within a circular economy approach by 2028.

Record year: The Rossignol Group reveals very good results for 2022-2023

The strong market recovery observed during the winter of 2021-2022 continued in the 2022–2023 season. Despite sometimes variable snow conditions throughout different periods and geographic areas, the Rossignol Group took full advantage of the high traffic in ski resorts and the increasing appeal of the mountains and their benefits.

Consequently, 2022-2023 is a record year. The Rossignol Group is growing strongly across all markets (+ 36% in France, +39% in Europe, +16 % in North America and +10% in Asia) and distribution channels, and developing well in winter sports equipment and the apparel/footwear category.

This market dynamic comes within the promising context of an outstanding Racing season, with a total of 146 podiums and 40 victories in the World Cup across all disciplines, and an excellent World Championships (Alpine and Nordic) with 21 medals, including 9 gold medals.

While Racing and innovation remain at the heart of the Rossignol Group’s DNA, sustainable development now plays a central role, with a comprehensive approach to managing the life cycle of its products, from eco-design to new recycling solutions. This winter, the Rossignol Group unveiled two major innovations with the Rossignol Essential ski, delivering extremely high recyclability potential (at 77%, 10 times that of a traditional ski), and the Dynastar Hybrid Core 2.0, a new manufacturing process resulting in a significant decrease in all environmental indicators measured as part of a product life-cycle analysis.

Ascension 2026: a push towards a more responsible economic model

In November 2022, the Rossignol Group announced its intention to achieve €500 million in revenue in 2026, while deploying its environmental and social commitments through its Ascension 2026 strategic plan. The main thrust of this plan is to reconcile qualitative growth, industrial performance and a more sustainable approach.

To support this new ambition, the Group has announced a global investment envelope of €50 million by 2026, including €27 million of industrial investments, €15 million of which is linked to its RESPECT environmental progress program (40% of these investments have already been initiated: for example, to install solar panels in the Artés plant in Spain, to optimize industrial processes to reduce waste production, and for energy transition investments on the Sallanches manufacturing site from 2024).

In Fall 2022, the Rossignol Group announced its wish to accelerate its production commitment to a circular economy that is more responsible for the company and its environment, and to support the transformation of its manufacturing base. The key focuses include reinforcing the Group’s French industrial roots by investing in the Sallanches site in Haute-Savoie, with the aim of making this plant the world’s leading factory for eco-designed and recyclable skis and a center of expertise for repair and second life.

The Rossignol Group has also recently taken another major step in its sustainable development policy by investing in its own poplar plantation in Spain in 2023. The Group’s objective is to put in place a full cycle, in a short-circuit, circular approach, from planting to production and up to the stage of recovering materials at product end-of-life and recycling. This plantation will therefore directly supply the two ski factories, in Artés (Spain) and Sallanches (France), with the ultimate goal of covering 50% of its annual requirement for wood. This operation is part of a 15-year cycle to plant a forest of more than 50,000 trees on a currently treeless site, and to capture a total of 14,000 tonnes of CO2.

Rossignol has also collaborated with Fairly Made to improve the traceability of its textile products, and to better understand their footprint: transparency as to their sourcing, manufacturing and environmental impacts, and to find areas for improvement for our future products. Rossignol’s Spring-Summer 2023 collection will feature a QR Code on labels that consumers can scan to find this information.

The Rossignol Group is therefore continuing its efforts to achieve its objectives in the coming years: from reducing its waste (-40% by 2025) to reducing its carbon footprint (-30% by 2030), and including a more responsible ski offer, an enhanced four-season Clothing & Footwear offer, and the deployment of its omnichannel strategy. All the indicators are positive for the Group’s accelerated transition and its foothold in the mountains all year round.

Vincent Wauters, CEO of the Rossignol Group, says: “I am extremely proud of our teams’ outstanding work over the past two years, which has led to a solid financial and commercial strengthening of the Rossignol Group. Thanks to their collective talent and their unwavering commitment, we have achieved a record year and a spectacular rebound in only 24 months. We have therefore passed the milestone of €400 million in revenue, in advance of our Ascension 2026 Strategic Plan. With a strong increase in revenue and margin since 2021. This will therefore be a record year, far exceeding our best performances pre-Covid. We are building on these collective performances and the return to a positive net result to pursue our deployment and our investments for the future with confidence and peace of mind.”

About the Rossignol Group

The Rossignol Group, led by Vincent Wauters, designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of items and equipment for winter and summer mountain sports. The Group and its brands offer their customers a unique experience and support them in every moment of sport and enjoyment, whether they are high-level sportspeople or amateurs, in the mountains or in the city, all year round. The headquarters is located near Grenoble, in the heart of the French Alps. The Group has five industrial sites in Western Europe, three of them in France (Sallanches - skis, Nevers - ski bindings, Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoirs – logistics hub), one in Artès in Spain (skis) and one in Montebelluna, Italy (ski boots), as well as an American headquarters in Park City, Utah. The Rossignol Group has a portfolio of strong and complementary brands with Rossignol - an iconic winter sports, mountain sports and lifestyle brand through its equipment offerings for alpine and nordic skiing and for snowboarding, and bikes along with its Clothing and Footwear offerings; Dynastar - the ski specialist; Lange - specializing in high-end ski boots; Look - a historical manufacturer of bindings; Risport - the reference in ice skating; and Kerma - specializing in ski poles. The Group’s various brands have built their own identity while drawing inspiration from the world of the mountains. Rossignol has been majority-owned by the Scandinavian investment fund Altor since 2013.