All Rapala articles

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    Rapala VMC records sees growth and strategic progress in 2024

    11 April 2025

    The Finnish group strengthens its global market position with a strong North American performance and rising profitability.

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    Rapala VMC makes progress stabilizing business in FY24

    7 March 2025

    As the Finnish group prepares for a CEO transition, it reports mixed FY24 results, citing progress in efficiency and brand positioning.

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    Rapala VMC undergoes management change with new CEO

    18 December 2024

    The global fishing tackle company announces a new CEO to drive growth and stability.

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    Rapala VMC feels market improvement but sees potential troubles ahead

    24 July 2024

    Rapala VMC, despite experiencing favorable market conditions during H1, including improved retail activity, is expressing some worry about the upcoming winter season.

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    Rapala VMC eyes operating profit return in FY24

    8 March 2024

    After a challenging FY23, where sales fell by double-digits in all its key geographic markets, Rapala VMC intends to return a full-year comparable operating profit this year, helped by retail inventory levels that are finally returning to normal levels. Other factors projected to bolster results for the Finnish outdoor group ...

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    Rapala buys remaining shares in DQC International, takes over 13 Fishing

    22 December 2023

    Rapala VMC has acquired James Coble’s remaining 40 percent stake in DQC International, the owner of the 13 Fishing rod and reel brand. The Finnish company, which has been distributing 13 Fishing rods and reels outside the US for almost four years, had increased its stake in DQC to 60 ...

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    Rapala plans to issue securities

    19 November 2023

    Finnish fishing tackle manufacturer Rapala VMC is considering issuing up to €25 million worth of securities to strengthen its balance sheet and create financial flexibility while at the same time seeking to reduce expenses and optimize inventory levels. The company pointed out that this move will open up its financing ...

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    Grundéns appoints Nicolas Cederström Warchalowski as CEO

    15 September 2023

    Fishing apparel and footwear manufacturer Grundéns has hired Nicolas Cederström Warchalowski as its new CEO, effective Sept. 11. Warchalowski most recently served as the CEO of sport fishing company Rapala, a role he held since March 2020. A Swedish national, Warchalowski has more than 25 years of leadership experience in ...

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    Rapala anticipates significant decline in FY23 operating profit

    1 July 2023

    The fishing equipment company, which completed a restructuring of its Helsinki headquarters this month and welcomed back former COO Lars Ollberg as CEO in May, is now forecasting its full-year comparable operating profit to be “significantly below” its FY22 level. Rapala blamed the expected annual profit shortfall on persistent ...

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    Lars Ollberg returning to Rapala as CEO

    5 April 2023

    Fishing equipment maker Rapala VMC Corp. is bringing Lars Ollberg back to its senior management team, hiring the company’s former chief operating officer as its new CEO starting May 1. Additionally, the Finnish company has appointed Cyrille Viellard as Deputy CEO and named Jean-Philippe Nicolle, its current EVP of Southern ...

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    Rapala VMC publishes sustainability report 2022

    3 March 2023

    Finland-based fishing tackle company Rapala VMC, owner of the Rapala, VMC, Sufix, Storm, Blue Fox, Luhr Jensen, Williamson, Dynamite Baits, Mora Ice, StrikeMaster, Marttiini, Peltonen, 13 Fishing and Okuma brands, has released its latest sustainability report. The report sums up the company’s achievements over the last four years. In 2020, ...

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    Rapala’s CFO to leave the company this summer

    22 February 2023

    The chief financial officer of Finland-based fishing tackle company Rapala VMC Corporation, Jan-Elof Cavander, will leave his position on June 21, 2023, to pursue new challenges outside Rapala. The company, led by chairman, president and CEO Louis d’Alançon, has not yet announced a successor. Rapala’s main production facilities are ...

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    Rapala issues profit warning after poor weather hits winter sales

    10 February 2023

    Fishing equipment maker Rapala has issued a profit warning after reporting a fall in 2022 earnings and sales due to poor winter weather in the northern hemisphere and high inventories.

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    Rapala's president and CEO resigns

    16 November 2022

    The Finland-based fishing tackle company Rapala VMC Corporation has announced that the brand’s board of directors and Nicolas Cederström Warchalowski, who has been the company’s president and CEO since March 2020, have mutually agreed that he will resign from his role, effective immediately. The board has appointed Rapala’s chairman Louis ...

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    Rapala to consolidate lure production in Estonia

    9 October 2022

    Rapala plans to move all of its lure bait production team to Pärnu, in southwestern Estonia, by the end of 2023. The move will affect 90 employees. The Finnish-based fishing tackle company currently produces lures at two factories, one in Finland and one in Estonia. The majority of its lures ...

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    Rapala VMC Corp. issues FY22 profit warning

    1 September 2022

    Rapala VMC Corp., citing a short open water fishing season this year and strong de-stocking at retail, is forecasting a significant drop in annual operating profit against the €32.1 million it reported for the financial year 2021. The Finnish-based fishing tackle company also said abnormal weather on all key continents, ...

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    Rapala VMC H1 results sink on market challenges

    15 July 2022

    Rapala VMC suffered a 42 percent decline in comparable first-half operating profit to €15.5 million from €26.5 million as total revenues dipped by 7 percent to €148.4 million from €159.6 million. First-half net profit slid 52 percent to €8.7 million from €18.1 million. Period end inventories were up nearly 60 ...

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    Rapala’s COO Lars Ollberg retires

    11 May 2022

    Rapala VMC will bid farewell to company veteran Lars Ollberg this month after 44 years with the Finnish-based fishing tackle company. Ollberg began his Rapala career in 1978 as a sales representative and subsequently has also worked in marketing and sourcing positions at many of the company’s business units around ...

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    Rapala VMC reels in 2022 outlook

    29 April 2022

    Rapala VMC, the Finnish-based fishing tackle firm, is now forecasting its full-year 2022 comparable operating profit to be below what it was in 2021. The crisis in Ukraine, a cold and late spring in the Northern hemisphere and faster normalization in the U.S. after the Covid-19 pandemic are the drivers ...

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    ​Rapala begins buyback of its own shares

    1 March 2022

    The board of directors of the Finnish tackle company Rapala VMC Corporation has decided to start buying back a maximum of 250,000 of the company’s own shares, representing approximately 0.64 percent of all shares, in accordance with the authorization granted by Rapala’s AGM on March 25, 2021. The maximum number ...