K Swiss

Westlake Village athletic brand K-Swiss Inc. is being bought by South Korean retail giant E. Land World for about $170 million. E. Land will pay $4.75 per share, or about a 49% premium, over Wednesday's closing price, K-Swiss said in a statement. Known for its white stripes on white leather tennis shoes, K-Swiss' fortunes have fallen in recent years as its simpler designs fell out of favor with shoppers. Its sales have dropped by about 50% since 2005. Steven Nichols, chairman of K-Swiss, lauded the purchase as being "in the best interests of K-Swiss and our stockholders.

Westlake Village athletic brand K-Swiss Inc. is being bought by South Korean retail giant E. Land World for about $170 million. E. Land will pay $4.75 per share, or about a 49% premium, over Wednesday's closing price, K-Swiss said in a statement. Known for its white stripes on white leather tennis shoes, K-Swiss' fortunes have fallen in recent years as its simpler designs fell out of favor with shoppers. Its sales have dropped by about 50% since 2005. Steven Nichols, chairman of K-Swiss, lauded the purchase as being "in the best interests of K-Swiss and our stockholders.

Shoe retailer K-Swiss Inc. of Westlake Village posted a second-quarter profit of $26.4 million, or 75 cents a share, including a gain of 52 cents a share from a legal settlement. It earned $7.7 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. In June the company said it received $30 million from rival Payless Shoesource as part of a lawsuit settlement. K-Swiss reported a 17% decline in revenue to $85.2 million.

Puma and K-Swiss Inc. are tied up in a growing dispute over shoelace-holding methods that could land the footwear companies in a Los Angeles courtroom. K-Swiss, based in Westlake Village, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles last week against Puma, asking a judge to rule that K-Swiss' trademarked system of lacing a shoe was valid.

Athletic-shoe maker K-Swiss Inc. posted a 94% drop in quarterly profit and forecast that U.S. revenue would significantly decline in the first quarter and 2008. For the fourth quarter, the Westlake Village-based company said it earned $596,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with $10.7 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. Revenue decreased 17% to $78.2 million, mainly because of a 35% drop in U.S. revenue. International revenue rose more than 6% to $43.9 million. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 4 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $77.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

The board of directors of Westlake Village-based K-Swiss Inc. has declared a quarterly dividend of 2 cents per share payable Jan. 15 to stockholders of record Dec. 31, announced Steven Nichols, board chairman and president. In February 1994, K-Swiss initiated a cash divided program for the first time, payable at an annual rate of 8 cents per common share. K-Swiss designs, develops and markets a wide range of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories for high performance sports and fitness activities.

Payless ShoeSource, which last year changed its name to Collective Brands Inc., agreed to pay $30 million to rival K-Swiss Inc. to settle allegations that it violated the Westlake Village company's trademark by selling shoes with five-stripe designs. Under the deal, Payless agreed not to sell "confusingly similar" footwear, K-Swiss said in a regulatory filing. Payless, based in Topeka, Kan., will be allowed to sell its inventory of disputed shoes through the end of the year. A trial was scheduled to begin July 8 in federal court in Los Angeles.

Shoe retailer K-Swiss Inc. posted a sharply lower first-quarter profit as a slight rise in international sales couldn't offset a drop in domestic sales and rising costs. Net income declined 60% to $7.1 million, or 20 cents a share, from $18 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 16% to $102.9 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 20 cents a share and sales of $101 million. Domestic revenue declined 33.6% to $41.4 million while international sales rose 2.1% to $61.5 million.

K-Swiss isn't exactly L.A. Gear. Pacoima Gear, maybe. From an industrial park on Montague Street on the east end of Pacoima, the sports shoe manufacturer is trying to emerge from a pack of perhaps two dozen also-rans in the sneaker business to challenge the industry's elite giants--Reebok, Nike and L.A. Gear. In recent years, success in sneakers has come through selling thousands of styles of brightly colored shoes promoted with big advertising budgets and endorsements from sports superstars.

K-Swiss, whose prime customers are over 35, is serving up its tennis shoes to the MTV generation with its first television campaign in five years. Whether the Chatsworth-based company can make a match of it is another matter. For one thing, K-Swiss is spending only $4 million on its campaign, an amount dwarfed by the leading seller of tennis shoes, Nike Inc. Its top endorsers aren't Andre or Pete or Steffi, but, uh, Mark and Todd.

Shoe retailer K-Swiss Inc. of Westlake Village posted a second-quarter profit of $26.4 million, or 75 cents a share, including a gain of 52 cents a share from a legal settlement. It earned $7.7 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. In June the company said it received $30 million from rival Payless Shoesource as part of a lawsuit settlement. K-Swiss reported a 17% decline in revenue to $85.2 million.

Payless ShoeSource, which last year changed its name to Collective Brands Inc., agreed to pay $30 million to rival K-Swiss Inc. to settle allegations that it violated the Westlake Village company's trademark by selling shoes with five-stripe designs. Under the deal, Payless agreed not to sell "confusingly similar" footwear, K-Swiss said in a regulatory filing. Payless, based in Topeka, Kan., will be allowed to sell its inventory of disputed shoes through the end of the year. A trial was scheduled to begin July 8 in federal court in Los Angeles.

Shoe retailer K-Swiss Inc. posted a sharply lower first-quarter profit as a slight rise in international sales couldn't offset a drop in domestic sales and rising costs. Net income declined 60% to $7.1 million, or 20 cents a share, from $18 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 16% to $102.9 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 20 cents a share and sales of $101 million. Domestic revenue declined 33.6% to $41.4 million while international sales rose 2.1% to $61.5 million.

Athletic-shoe maker K-Swiss Inc. posted a 94% drop in quarterly profit and forecast that U.S. revenue would significantly decline in the first quarter and 2008. For the fourth quarter, the Westlake Village-based company said it earned $596,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with $10.7 million, or 30 cents, a year earlier. Revenue decreased 17% to $78.2 million, mainly because of a 35% drop in U.S. revenue. International revenue rose more than 6% to $43.9 million. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 4 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $77.1 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Westlake Village-based shoemaker K-Swiss Inc. said third-quarter earnings fell 39% and the company lowered its 2007 guidance. Net income fell to $12.8 million, or 36 cents a share, from $21 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier. Results included a 12-cent benefit related to overseas payroll withholding. Revenue fell 19% to $107.2 million. Excluding one-time items, analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted a profit of 34 cents on revenue of $117.6 million.

K-Swiss Inc., an athletic and fashion footwear maker, said second-quarter profit rose 21% as the company tightened expenses to offset soft domestic sales. Earnings rose to $20.3 million, or 58 cents a share, from $16.8 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier. But revenue fell almost 2% to $124.2 million. The per-share profit beat Wall Street's estimate of 46 cents, but the company missed revenue expectation of $130.5 million, according to a Thomson Financial poll of analysts.

Athletic footwear maker K-Swiss Inc. said Thursday that fourth-quarter net income fell 26% because of higher income tax expenses. The Westlake Village-based company, which has made classic leather tennis shoes for 40 years, said net income declined to $11.6 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $15.6 million, or 43 cents, in the year-earlier quarter, when the company had a tax benefit on overseas profit. Revenue rose 4.5% to $92.3 million, K-Swiss said.

The board of directors for K-Swiss Inc. in Westlake Village has declared a quarterly dividend of 2 cents per share payable Jan. 15 to stockholders of record Dec. 31. K-Swiss designs athletic footwear, apparel and accessories for high-performance sports and fitness activities.

Athletic footwear maker K-Swiss Inc. said Thursday that fourth-quarter net income fell 26% because of higher income tax expenses. The Westlake Village-based company, which has made classic leather tennis shoes for 40 years, said net income declined to $11.6 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $15.6 million, or 43 cents, in the year-earlier quarter, when the company had a tax benefit on overseas profit. Revenue rose 4.5% to $92.3 million, K-Swiss said.

K-Swiss Inc., a Westlake Village-based athletic shoe maker, said third-quarter profit rose 2%, but a fourth-quarter forecast that came in below analysts' targets sent its shares falling $2.53, or 8%, to $29.53. K-Swiss said fourth-quarter profit would range from 22 cents to 26 cents a share; analysts were expecting 28 cents. In the third quarter, K-Swiss reported net income of $21.1 million, or 59 cents a share, compared with $20.7 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier.