Head sales increase thanks to tennis kit demand

SPORTS equipment maker Head, which sponsors Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, has served up an increase in sales for the first half of the year.

Head sponsors Wimbledon champion Andy Murray. Picture: Getty

The firm said overall sales for the six months to 30 June edged up 1.2 per cent to €134.2 million (£115.6m) as increased demand for tennis equipment helped to offset a drop in sportswear sales.

Along with Murray, who lost in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal last night, Head supplies tennis stars such as Wimbledon runner-up Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova, who crashed out of this year’s tournament in the second round.

Sales at its racquet sports division grew by 2.7 per cent to €81.4m, driven by “higher tennis ball volumes” in North America, but it blamed a 4 per cent decline at its sportswear business on lower sales of bags in the UK.

The Dutch group, which is listed on the Vienna stock exchange, also makes ski equipment and said it expects to see a continued recovery in demand following the “very mild winter”.