BMW, RYU Apparel, Puma - Attention! Wrap up warm!

The big players within reach

The opportunities are great to quickly achieve critical mass on the World Wide Web through a perfect omnichannel strategy. The urban lifestyle brand RYU Apparel wants to make consistent use of this. After a restructuring and almost complete replacement of the management, the self-imposed benchmark is CAD 100 million in sales by 2025. CEO Cesare Fazari has the vision to build the leading urban apparel brand and wants to be mentioned in the same breath as top brands such as Lululemon, Roots and Canada Goose. RYU is expected to stand at a billion-dollar valuation in 2030. Currently, the stock market value is a slim EUR 13.9 million.

Incredible speed

The statement of the Company's leader sounds highly ambitious, but the opportunities are more than given. Thus, the award-winning urban sports brand was completely turned around after the management change. "Respect Your Universe" wants to create a perfect symbiosis of the three areas of fashion, sports and lifestyle in your collections and thereby occupy a unique selling proposition in a lucrative niche. Last year, the course for a successful 2021 was set at a rapid pace.

In several rounds of financing, a total of around CAD 6 million was raised to fund further growth. As the official outfitter of the Canadian National Skateboarding Team and the NFL Alumni Academy, long-term partnerships were established that will significantly increase brand awareness. In addition, product placements are to be incorporated into the new TV series "The Count" through a partnership with Branded Entertainment. A North American campaign for Generation Active has also been planned with Zoom Media to reach 35 million fitness members across Canada and the United States.

Expansion ahead

With the reopening of company-owned flagship stores, expansion into Europe and the United Kingdom, and supply chain optimization, the agenda's following goals are to accelerate organic growth further. The acquisition of Kosan Travel Apparel also added functional travel apparel to the product range. To maintain the growth pace, a private placement of secured convertible notes bearing interest at 7% per annum is currently underway for total gross proceeds of up to USD 10 million. The growth rate of the Canadians is enormous. By filling its management team with experienced industry leaders, RYU Apparel should be able to scale tremendously over the next few years. A long-term opportunity for a fascinating story in a rapidly growing overall market.

Comeback after weak final quarter

The sporting goods market is forecast to be worth USD 208 billion by 2025, with annual growth rates of between 5% and 10%. The industry is booming. Puma is the fourth-largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world after Nike, Adidas and VF Corporation, with annual sales of EUR 5.2 billion, consolidated net income of EUR 78.9 million and more than 14,000 employees in 2020. After a disappointing final quarter of 2020, analysts expect a much better quarterly result to be announced on April 28. Goldman Sachs expects a solid start to the year for the sporting goods company and expects strong tailwinds from the latest US stimulus program. Earnings expectations were raised and the price target was increased from EUR 95 to EUR 104. UBS issued a buy rating and set the target at EUR 100.20. The DZ Bank experts remain at "sell," although the price target was raised from EUR 73.00 to EUR 80.00. The share is currently trading at just under EUR 92, just below its all-time high.

Historic record

Strong sales figures for the first quarter of 2021 were delivered by the Bavarian automaker BMW. Deliveries of the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands grew by a total of 33.5% year-on-year to 636,606 vehicles in the first quarter of fiscal 2021. In particular, strong demand for electrified cars boosted sales. From a chart perspective, the BMW share seems somewhat overheated by the brilliant rally.