Sport Today

Source:
http://SportToday.org/

Golfsmith seeks $115M IPO
Austin Business Journal - March 14, 2006
Golfsmith International Holdings Inc. filed Tuesday for an initial
public offering of its common stock.

The Austin company hopes to raise $115 million through its IPO on the
NASDAQ National Market, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. The proposed ticker symbol is "GOLF."

Golfsmith didn't specify the number of shares to be sold or estimate a
price per share.

The company plans to use proceeds from the stock offering to pay off
some of its debt, including about $93 million of its senior notes; pay
off a credit line of $5.8 million; and pay a $3 million fee to cancel
its management consulting agreement with First Atlantic Capital Ltd.

In 2005, Golfsmith posted revenue of $324 million and operating income
of $14.7 million. As of December, the retailer operated 52 stores, with
plans for 10 to 12 more locations in 2006 and 14 to 16 in 2007.

Founded in 1967, Golfsmith is a retailer of golf equipment, apparel and
accessories. Atlantic Equity Partners III LP, a fund operated by New
York private equity firm First Atlantic Capital, is the majority owner
of Golfsmith.

Merrill *** & Co., JPMorgan Securities Inc., Lazard Capital Markets
LLC and Fenner & Smith Inc. are underwriters of the IPO.

Recently, Golfsmith has undertaken several initiatives to expand its
market share, including the addition of tennis products and the launch
of a catalog called Drive targeting female golfers.

Golfsmith's IPO filing comes after its chief rival, Golf Galaxy Inc.
(NASDAQ: GGXY) of Eden Prairie, Minn., went public last July.

Bob
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Heh, heh.  Heh, heh, heh.

Bob
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

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No. IMO Golfsmith is the one losing their Darkside credentials, I think
  they have gone seriously downhill as a component company. The
departure of Tom Wishon and the acquisition of the Don Sherwood Golf &
Tennis World stores split their focus 3 or even 4 ways. Whereas they had
been primarily an on-line component golf equipment company, they are now
an on-line and B&M sporting goods retailer who happens to sell some golf
club components. They have become a big retailer of OEM equipment and
are now also into tennis. If you walk into a Golfsmith store here in
California you'll see that the OEM golf equipment and tennis sections of
the store are much bigger than the component golf section and the
component section seems to keep getting smaller.  Frankly, the golf side
of the business is starting to look a lot like Nevada Bob's.

--
Dan Driscoll
RSG FAQ: http://ttsoft.com/thor/rsggolf.html

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --Benjamin Franklin

I was shocked at how little clubmaking stock they had at the store.  Two
very short aisles of some tools, epoxy, grip tape, and the like.  I
thought I'd be able to look at display after display of heads, shafts,
grips, and so on.

But they had tons of OEM stuff, and some of their own stuff made up.
Very disappointing.

I won't be back.  I still order stuff from their online site from time
to time, but I agree, Dan:  They've really redirected their approach.

Mike

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Mike Dalecki     GCA Accredited Clubmaker    http://clubdoctor.com
RSG-Wisconsin 2006:  June 23-25    Info:  http://dalecki.net/rsgwis2006/
RSG-Wisconsin 2005 Pics:  http://dalecki.net/rsgwis2005/pics/
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