Atomic purchases Volant ski brand from troubled Huffy Corporation

Atomic purchases Volant ski brand from troubled Huffy Corporation{mosimage}Finnish sports equipment maker Amer said Tuesday its winter sports unit Atomic had bought the Volant ski brand from the Huffy Corporation for an undisclosed sum.

Amer, which also owns the global Wilson sporting goods brand, said it expected sales for Volant skis to be around 4 million euros ($4.81 million) in 2003. Amer had sales of 1.1 billion euros last year.

The announcement came as shares in Huffy tumbled Tuesday, a day after the bicycle and sports equipment maker warned it would post a fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations, not the profit Wall Street expected.

Huffy shares fell as much as 21 percent, making the company the biggest percentage loser on the New York Stock Exchange. The company delivered a forecast late on Monday that “was significantly lower than street consensus,” said Roth Capital Partners analyst Rommel Dionisio, who on Tuesday downgraded Huffy to “sell” from “buy.”

Ohio-based Huffy warned that weak demand for action sports products and in-line skates — added in the September 2002 acquisition of Gen-X Sports, which included the Volant ski business — would result in a loss from continuing operations of 8 to 10 cents a share in the fourth quarter.