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TWST: Can we start off with a brief introduction to Amer Group (AMEAS.HE; OTC: AGPDY)?

Mr. Talermo: Amer Group was founded back in 1950. The Company used to be a conglomerate, operating in many different fields, mainly in Finland. But for quiet a few years now, specifically since I joined in 1996, the Company has built a very strong focus on sports. Today, we are a truly international company with roughly €1.1 billion in sales and we are one of, if not, the leading sports equipment company in the world. Our brands include Wilson, Atomic, Precore and Suunto.

TWST: Which sports areas are you concentrating on at the moment?

Mr. Talermo: Our basic strategy is to have a portfolio of leading global brands in the different categories of sports. If you look at our net sales last year, 22% of our business was in Rackets Sports where the main sport is tennis, but also includes badminton, squash and some other smaller rackets sports. Golf was 19%. Team sports, 19%. Within Team Sports, of course, you have baseball, basketball, football, soccer, etc. Then we have Winter Sports, which accounts for 18% of our sales. The main category there is alpine skiing, but also includes snowboarding and cross-country skiing. Last year, we bought into the growing Fitness Equipment category with the purchase of Precore, a €200 million company . Finally, 8% of last year’s sales was in Sport instruments, a new category of sports specific minicomputers that you can wear on you wrist.

TWST: Do you have good geographic diversity also?

Mr. Talermo: Yes, global brands and presence is one of our key strategies, 51% of our sales come from North America; about 37% comes from Europe; and then Asia is just under 10%.

TWST: Can you give us an insight into the dynamics of the sporting goods equipment market and why this is an important and productive space to be positioned in?

Mr. Talermo: The sports market is essentially divided it into three different categories; the footwear market; the apparel market; and the equipment market. We have specialized in the equipment market which counts for 36% of the total. Few companies have an equipment business comparable to ours. The competitive landscape consists mainly of small to mid-size companies and this is neither a very consolidated nor global market yet. Certainly, because we are a real global player, we are in a very good position to consolidate. One reason why we are well placed for this consolidation opportunity is because we have a diverse portfolio of sports. We actually have a very interesting and unique setup; we want to be a clear specialist in the different sports and we want to understand the sport so we can develop the best game improvement products for the participants. But, at the same time, we try to utilize economies of scales from the back-office functions, if you like. So we can play a very global game even with a small sport. We can give our partners in trade the high level of sophistication needed in supply chain management, logistics, etc., and act in an international market on a lower cost base. That is very interesting because that enables us to focus on brand building and creating new products through strong R&D.

TWST: Is that consolidation theme and acquisition activity likely to be a key part of your growth strategy within the next 12 months?

Mr. Talermo: I think it will play a key part in the development of the industry, to be honest, and, yes, it will also therefore be a key part of our strategy. We have seen for quite a while already that the market needs consolidation. The growth rate globally in sports has been decent, but not enough. So this is a dynamic environment; there are a lot of moving parts; there are a lot of companies out there in the market; there are a lot of brands out on the market. Now, couple all of that with the overall slowing down of economic development and the rather sluggish environment and the result is a speeding up of this consolidation process. We anticipated that this would happen and made sure we were appropriately geared to make acquisitions if needed. We have already very recently made quite a few and we will continue to do this because we feel that the time to strike is now when the market is tough.