(Filed Under Financial and General Interest News). Columbia Sportswear Company, an activewear manufacturer, reported a net sales decrease in the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008.

Fourth quarter 2008 consolidated net sales decreased by six percent to $354.9 million, compared to fourth quarter 2007 net sales of $376.7 million.

Net sales for the twelve months ended December 31st in 2008 decreased three percent to $1.32 billion compared to last year’s results.

“While we are pleased with our fourth quarter and full year results in the context of the weak economic environment, the accelerated deterioration of the global economy since September has prompted us to recalibrate the pace of our planned investments in retail stores and brand advertising in 2009,” said Tim Boyle, Columbia’s president and chief executive officer. “Although we continue to believe that these investments are strategic imperatives in the long run, we want to allow consumer markets to stabilize before moving forward as aggressively as we originally planned.”

Boyle continued to say “as a result of our full year 2009 sales expectations, we have tabled plans to open branded retail stores in several key metro areas in the U.S. and made adjustments to our 2009 marketing and advertising budgets. We are also implementing additional steps to manage personnel and other overhead expenses across the entire organization. We plan to move forward with our previously announced plan to open a branded store on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue in late 2009 and are also maintaining our plans to open additional outlet stores primarily in the U.S. and Europe, to provide a more profitable channel for inventory liquidation.”

Columbia Sportswear is an apparel manufacturer with multiple products for the marketplace from outerwear to underwear.

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Published 02-03-2009 by Bruna Fernandes