We can not escape the financial crisis as well, but I'm absolutely convinced that our industry is by far not as affected as some other industry like the car industry, etc.
Why?
I do believe that there is a big desire in the community for people that they wanna be fit, they wanna stay in shape and they wanna do sport. This is a point No. 1. Point No.2, our products are not that expensive, so we are talking about 50 to 100 Euro, and these products are affordable to a wide variety of people.
In terms of sponsorship, are you getting the returns now that you expected when you signed up for these deals years ago?
Definitely. Because when you look to the last 10 years and the development and the performance of our company, then you'll have seen that we have permanently grown our business. And we went from one record year to the other, and this is because we are investing in the future of our business. And an investment into a World Cup is not just for one year whether there is a financial crisis or not. This is a long-term investment in the brand building, and into the performance of our future. And therefore, I'm absolutely convinced I would write this cheque again.
Could you write that cheque in the current economic climate?
Definitely. I mean we are a very healthy company as you well know. We have a very healthy balance sheet, we are producing a lot of cash, we are very profitable. So, yeah, we are definitely in the position to write this cheque again.