FEBRUARY 18, 2005 -- Collegiate Pacific To Acquire Salkeld Sports
Collegiate Pacific signed a letter of intent to acquire Salkeld and Sons Inc. (Salkeld Sports) of Bourbonnais, IL. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Salkeld is a team sports distributor in the state of Illinois with particular concentration on the Chicago market. The company employs 14 full-time road sales people and has annual sales in excess of $7,000,000. Closing, subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence and audit, is anticipated in about 90 days.
Michael Blumenfeld, CEO, stated, "Salkeld Sports will represent the ideal extension of our sales force into the Chicago-Land area and throughout this region of the country. Al Messier and Dan Salkeld have built a profitable, growing business that we intend to leverage with Collegiate's marketing expertise and broad line of proprietary equipment. We look forward to the addition of Al and Dan to our seasoned management team. Salkeld is a non-overlapping territorial addition to our Kessler Team Sports presence in the Midwest and will serve as a launching pad for future activities. The seasonality of Salkeld should offer robust contributions in their upcoming July-December selling period.
"The company continues to review a number of opportunities including co-operative marketing agreements; acquisition of distribution, manufacturing and marketing companies. We aim to apply the $43 million in cash on-hand towards accretive properties that will further enhance Collegiate Pacific's dominant presence in the institutional sporting goods market. With interest rates increasing, we believe the acquisition pipeline will remain strong. We will continue to be diligent in our efforts to extract the highest values for our shareholders."
New Golf Course Openings Continue To Decline
The National Golf Foundation reported the number of golf course openings in 2004 declined. The data show that the number of new courses being built has decreased every year since 2000. In 2004, there were 150.5 course openings and 62.5 verified closures (in 18-hole equivalents), for a net gain of 88 courses, representing a net increase of approximately 0.5%. The 2005 forecast is for 150-160 18-hole equivalent course openings. In contrast, nearly 400 18-hole equivalents opened in 2000.
To many golf course owners and operators, the slow-down is a welcome relief because it indicates that golf course development has adjusted to the lack of growth in demand. However, the decrease in new courses does not come as good news for the golf course design and construction business. Including the 2004 openings, the total number of US golf facilities stands at 16,057, thus breaking the 16,000 mark for the first time. Adjusting for 9-hole and 18-hole-plus facilities, there were 14,988 18-hole equivalents at year's end.
Of the new courses, 102.5 are open to the public and 48 are private. Real estate-related courses accounted for 59% of new development in 2004. Real estate has consistently driven 40%-60 of new course development and is expected to continue to do so. However, the overall number of new real estate-related courses is lower than in the 1990s. While many industry observers are expecting the real estate market to cool down due to rising interest rates and extraordinary price increases over the past several years, new real estate developments will continue to be built and some developers will continue to add golf as an amenity.
NGF also tracks the development pipeline of courses that are in planning or under construction. As of December 31, 2004, there were 320 18-hole equivalents under construction; 410 that have begun the in-planning phase; and another 261 that have been proposed (pre-planning stage).
Spiegel's said it plans to file a plan in a New York bankruptcy court that will turn the retailer over to its creditors. That would put the banks in charge of a company whose remaining operation is the Eddie Bauer apparel and home store chain.
Among the finalists in the latest American Idol round is Melinda Lira, a 19-year-old from Hanford, CA. She works for Big 5 Sporting Goods as a sales associate.
