BasicNet takes control of distributor Sport Finance to boost growth of sportswear label Kappa

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jan 29, 2019

Italian sportswear label Kappa is reorganising its European business. Kappa’s Italian owner BasicNet (the group which also owns K-Way, Superga and Sebago), is boosting the label's resources and announced the acquisition, via its subsidiary BasicItalia, of a 61% stake in French company Sport Finance, led by François-Xavier Chupin. Sport Finance is Kappa’s distributor for France, the UK and Spain.

“The goal is to combine the two organisations and create the world’s largest licensee for the Kappa brand,” said Marco Boglione, founder and president of BasicNet.

“Europe is our domestic market, the one where we have the strongest growth potential in the medium term, and where our presence and influence are most significant."

Sport Finance has been Kappa’s licensed distribution partner in France since 2005. It gradually took charge of the brand’s business in six different markets, including Spain and the UK, and generates a revenue of €60 million with Kappa. The latter is Sport Finance’s main source of business. The French company, which reported a total revenue of €70 million, employs 130 people and, besides Kappa, it also distributes Canterbury, Les voiles de Saint-Tropez and MLB.

The CEO of BasicItalia, Alessandro Boglione, will oversee the newly created company, with the operational help of Chupin and Olivier Tanneau.

“This partnership will enable us to go even further, working on various key factors of success,” said Chupin. “The first is sustaining and strengthening the trust between licensor and licensee, which is crucial to grow on our markets. The second will be boosting the business by benefiting from economies of scale in the production process. By optimising our fixed costs, we will be able to invest in even more ambitious sponsorship and communication programmes designed to attract new talent, whether emerging or well-established. The key will be to find an ideal balance between BasicNet’s global strategy and the local specificities of each of the markets we operate on."

In 2017, BasicNet reported a revenue of approximately €360 million for Kappa, its leading brand. Kappa is tapping the renowned interest in 1990s sportswear labels, and is forecasting double-digit growth with its lifestyle lines.

Kappa Europe will still be based close to the French city of Nantes, and its creation is expected to enable the brand to double the revenue in like-for-like terms in five years.