Marker International MRKR Ski Bindings,clothing,snowboards Message Board

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Non-Tech : Marker International MRKR Ski Bindings,clothing,snowboards

MRKR 0.865

-1.7%

Nov 7 9:30 AM EST

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To: John R Resseger who wrote (150)	7/29/1998 11:00:00 PM
From: TJG	Read Replies (1) of 360

MRKR past / present/ future... (IMO) Marker's binding technology is unsurpassed in the ski industry..The 1st problem with Marker's $$ problems is that they have never been quite able to re-coop the $$$'s spent for R&D over the last five years from sales to date..Why?, because 80% of the binding market can now be considered a commodity. The "over abundance" of technology is unwarranted, un-necessary and cannibalizes margins. Marker holds approx. 45% of the world wide market share for bindings. Marker sells approx.350k-400k units yearly here in the US.. Problem #2..they currently have in stock (here in the US alone) enough units to satisfy about 40-50% of those sales,with an inventory level in Germany of ?x's that number..To put it bluntly they have a slight inventory GLUT problem. The DNR situation.. and the third step for Marker's $$$$ woes. Instead of leasing corp./ mfg. space to start up their snowboard division Hank T. purchased it.. He did this because he more then probably felt that; #1 the SB industry was going to continue to grow, #2 their step in would gain them instant market share, #3. NIKE, who had given them an initial forecast of approx 12k units for blank decks,turned out to be closer to 1500..#4 Burton OWNS the SB market with a few "other" mfg's pulling out small bits and pieces that they leave behind. The final straw,Marker's banks called in several of their notes which, I believe came due a few months ago.. On to the up side.. Hank T. was resigned by the BOD and Mr. John McMillian(sp) was appointed the new CEO.. It is my understanding that Mr. Mc Millian is one of the smartest men in the ski industry.. He is currently in Germany negotiating with the Euro banks for financial support.. (IMHO) He's going to come back with the T's crossed and the I's dotted..The DNR property,(my understanding) is on the block to be sold, which will garner some substantial $$$'s back to the bottom line. Once the $$$'s are secured, MRKR can again focus on what they do best...Dominating the ski binding market...At these prices this stock is a steal.. Will it go down further? I don't think so. Can it be de-listed? Probably not, unless the price stays below $1 for quite some time??? A year?+/- I'm not sure.. I'd look to see this stock re-enter the $5-$8 range somewhere around Feb/Mar. especially if la nina follows el nino and the country gets COLD weather from coast to coast.. If that happens then their inventory glut will be diminished and they'll be writing strong 1999/2000 pre-season orders.. Would NIKE look to buy Marker, I don't think so, NIKE's got a hell of a lot of problems all to themselves in their core business which they need to iron out well before looking into JV's or acquisitions.. Are there other companies that could look to buy Marker.. Yep..Ask yourself this..which other ski companies are out there that are A).solvent enough to do it,B) are independent mfg's that could gain from bringing a binding company on board.. Hope all this helps..\\ GOOD LUCK TO ALL ... TJG PS One other factor wether it means anything or not.. The 2000 winter games come to the US. They're going to be held in Utah.. Marker's headquarters are in Salt Lake.. Do you think they'll have something planned for that season?? My guess is they already have..

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