JAC Products Awarded Toyota Tacoma Roof Rack Business

JAC PRODUCTS PRESS RELEASE
Leading designer, engineer and manufacturer of OEM roof racks for cars and trucks worldwide, JAC announced it has been chosen to design and manufacture an innovative new truck roof rack for the Toyota Tacoma 4-Door pickup truck. The multi-year contract takes effect in model year 2005.

The unique Tacoma swing-in-place roof rack is designed to store its cross bars within the side rails, so they're always ready for use. When cross bars are needed, each bar swings out at a 90-degree angle from its respective siderail, then locks into the opposite side rail. Cargo gear such as bike, ski, snowboard, canoe and kayak carriers, can then be secured to the truck rack. When not in use, the cross bars swing back into the siderails, for a significant potential reduction in wind noise.

According to JAC Racks Vice President of Marketing & Sales Don Munoz, "The swing- in-place roof rack for the Toyota Tacoma 4-Door pick-up truck is a unique life-style feature that adds real functionality and buyer appeal. It reflects the level of value-adding innovation that JAC provides for its customers."

About JAC Products
Founded in 1967, JAC Products, Inc. supplies the majority of original equipment truck and car roof racks on North American vehicles, including Audi, BMW, VW, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Land Rover, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota, and accounts for over half of category market share worldwide. Owned by Citicorp Venture Capital, Ltd., JAC Products manufactures products in Germany, the U.S., Portugal, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, JAC owns and operates Mont Blanc® (Sweden) and Paddy Hopkirk (England), which manufacture bicycle carriers and ski racks, plus component supplier Franklin Aluminum (Franklin, Georgia).

Saris Bike Racks Raises $20,000 for Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin

More than $20,000 for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin was raised at a fundraiser organized by Saris Bike Racks and held at the Saris Madison, Wisconsin plant.

More than 300 people attended the event. Attendees were able to take self-guided tours of the Saris facility, where the bicycle carriers are assembled,while simultaneously browsing a silent auction of items from the bike industry and local companies including Planet Bike, Pacific Cycles and Trek Bicycles.

Highlighting the evening was professional cyclist Floyd Landis who answered questions and signed autographs. Landis also drew the name of the evening's raffle grand prize winner who scored a Trek Travel trip for two. "Our goal was to raise $10,000 for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin to help them lobby for the voice of the cyclist in Wisconsin," said Chris Fortune, Saris' president. "It truly speaks to the support of cycling in Wisconsin that we were able to double our expectations."

JH Partners LLC, Acquires Sport Racks Maker Bell Automotive

JH Partners LLC, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, announced it partnered with management to acquire Bell Automotive Products, Inc. from Brentwood Associates, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, for approximately $60 million. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Bell Automotive is a leading supplier of automotive accessories, including after-market sport racks for cars and other auto accessories.

"As a branded consumer products company with superior growth in a highly fragmented industry, Bell Automotive is a natural fit for JH Partners," said Hansen. "We're very pleased to partner with Terry Lee and Mary George, under whose leadership the Company's growth continues to outpace that of the industry."

The company will continue to be headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona with a distribution center in Des Moines, Iowa. The senior debt financing was underwritten by Harris Trust and Savings Bank and Harris' mezzanine fund, Harris Nesbitt Capital, led the subordinated debt financing for the transaction.

JH Partners has been instrumental in aiding the growth of powerful consumer brands, including Peet's Coffee & Tea, Bare Escentuals, Performance Bicycle Stores, Bell Helmets and Design Within Reach, among others.

UK Roof Boxes Retailer Halfords Reports Jump in Profits

United Kingdom car roof box retailer Halfords has reported an 18 percent jump in first-half underlying profit and set an interim dividend of 3.7 pence per share in its first set of results since it floated in June.

Operating profits before goodwill and exceptional items at the group which sells, in addition to roof cargo boxes, alloy wheels, and child car seats jumped 18.3 percent to 46 million pounds.

After interest payments, pretax profit nearly trebled to 26.5 million pounds. Last year the firm was paying more interest as it was carrying much higher levels of debt before its flotation.

"This represents good growth," said Nick Bubb, analyst at Evolution Securities, who rates the stock an "add".

Analysts have said Halfords has a strong position in a growing market within the luggage-cargo roof box retail sector where competition is not as fierce.

Budget Rent A Car Launches Free Ski Rack Program

BUDGET RENT A CAR PRESS RELEASE
Budget Rent A Car System, Inc. announced the launch of the Budget Ski Rack promotion, in response to a recent survey that indicates sixty two percent of people are planning a ski trip this winter. Now through April 30, 2005, in addition to normal unlimited mileage, customers can choose from one of the following offers:

* $50 off the weekly rental of a sport utility vehicle, plus a free ski rack.
* $25 off a compact through full-size weekly rental, with a free ski rack and a free upgrade.
* Up to $20 off a weekend rental of a sport utility vehicle, plus a free ski rack.
* Up to $20 off a compact through full-size weekend rental, with a free ski rack and a free upgrade.

This promotion is valid at participating Budget Ski locations in California, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon and Washington and participating locations in Canada.

Don Banducci Speaks on the State of Yakima Racks

The Times-Standard
http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2551221,00.html

BAYSIDE -- In a palatial cabin-style, custom-built home nestled among pine trees, Don Banducci seems to be doing well.

With long and graying hair, a healthy family and a pack of hound dogs running around on hardwood floors, he is the perfect example of where capitalism, and sound business sense, can get a man.
And he got it in Humboldt County through Yakima, a company he and partners built around Humboldt County and its creative and isolated way of life. When Yakima Racks parent company Watermark cited the area's infrastructural limitations as a reason for its decision to relocate to Portland, Ore., Banducci wasn't buying it. The airport's limitations and an inability to attract talent to this area were high on the list of the company's reasons to move.

In 1979, Banducci and his business partner at the time, Steve Cole, bought a small manufacturing company out of Yakima, Wash. Over the course of the next 25 years, they fashioned a business that took Humboldt County's quirky quality of life, Arcata's artistic character and their own love of the outdoors and made it into a $25 million dollar a year business.

Yakima Racks featured a culture that was unique and relaxed in the business world. Upon entering their headquarters in Arcata, one was immediately knew this was no ordinary atmosphere. According to Banducci, their decisions weren't entirely based on the bottom line, but on making a good product and making a go of it in Arcata.

Yakima, by Humboldt County standards, was enormously successful, and they did it despite the infrastructural limitations of the area. They created good-paying jobs and brought a measure of wealth to a number of community causes they supported, all while staying true to their original vision.

"We wanted to give the product personality, give the company personality, create a culture," Banducci said. "It was live in Arcata, make a quality product, take what you do very seriously and try to take yourself less so."

Ultimately, though, in 1994, he and his partners sold the business to another company, Kransco.
"This house was in the middle of being built," Banducci said. "I thought I was going to be president for life, and entertaining people from all over the world as Mr. Yakima. Then all of a sudden, here we are garnering the company to sell. It was kind of a shock."

A shock because Kransco met an asking price that at the time seemed too good to pass up. That decision to sell, however, was followed by a measure of guilt. "I was seduced by the very thing I always believed wasn't important," he said. "So there's remorse there." Kransco has a penchant for making big money, and they turned Yakima from a decent-sized local company into a well-oiled roof rack-making machine that had doubled its profits and was ripe for purchase.

Kransco shopped Yakima around to many premier companies who made offers that approached and sometimes surpassed $70 million. Finally, Watermark came in late in the bidding process and paid what many close to the situation felt was way too much -- $91 million.

In seven years, Kransco had almost quadrupled its money by lowering costs and moving the company's manufacturing to Mexico, then selling it to Watermark. Since then, Watermark has struggled and not because of infrastructural issues, Banducci said.

Those can be a hurdle to business in Humboldt County, but they are not prohibitive, he said.
Recruitment issues for Watermark, Banducci said, stem from knowledge in the industry that the company isn't doing well, and from the way the company treats the people it means to hire.

"There's a stink on the company," he said.

There's large gaps in the leadership structure, and what remains essentially a strong brand in Yakima has been buried under the numerous other brands that have since been attached. There are dozens of examples of big businesses doing well in rural areas, like Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in Vermont, Yakima until the late 1990s, Sun Valley Floral Farms and others. These companies made a commitment to stay in a place that was conducive to their culture and did so, Banducci said. "The major reason why Yakima as a brand was so successful was because of its culture," Banducci said. It appears now that Watermark is throwing that culture in the trash, he said.

"Yakima was this amazing confluence of people and energy and market timing, and I don't think anyone realized just how good we had it," Banducci said. "In our day it was a spiritual quest to make roof racks. We were going to make the world a better place through the manufacture and marketing and use of multi-sport bike racks, ski racks, canoe racks and kayak racks and everybody kind of believed in that. ... As soon as the guys at the top say that doesn't count for anything, you're cutting the legs out from under people and the only reason they're there is to collect a paycheck."

Thule Racks Turns to IBM for On Demand Services

Thule Car Racks and IBM today announced that IBM has been selected to provide on demand services for The Thule Racks Group, the world's leading manufacturer of car rack carriers for cars.

As part of the agreement, to help ensure system availability and the safety of data, IBM will provide Thule Racks with a security-enhanced hosting solution, which includes collocation of Thule's hardware plus backup and restore services to help prevent loss of data and system outages. IBM will host IT infrastructure that runs Thule's Web site, a valuable asset to the company's business which features detailed product information, allows customers to purchase replacement parts and is an important marketing tool for the company.

"Thule Rack's Web site is a key sales channel for us and is the face of our company to much of the world," said Steve Doviak, marketing manager, The Thule Rack Group. "We are pleased to be working with IBM -- being with a reliable and stable hosting provider is critical to our company."

A growing number of customers are taking care of business without hiring IT staff or purchasing IT infrastructure, instead fulfilling their IT needs via on demand services. IBM on demand services help customers obtain IT management expertise and computing resources on a flexible and cost-efficient basis. IBM on demand services include security capabilities, computing capacity on demand, software as a service and desktop management. Most services are sold on a usage basis, reducing the upfront capital investment and freeing up financial resources for strategic growth initiatives.

"By selecting IBM's on demand services, Thule Car Racks is taking advantage of a reliable infrastructure so the company can focus on its core business," said Mark Morin, general manager, IBM Global Services. "IBM's experience in providing hosting services -- be it traditional collocation or computing capacity on demand -- provides customers with efficient and security-enhanced solutions to help them compete in the marketplace."

The Thule Rack Group is the world's leading manufacturer of load carriers for cars: rooftop boxes, roof racks, bike racks, kayak racks, canoe racks, ski racks and snowboard racks as well as snow chains and trailers. The Group's best-known brands are Thule Car Racks, Brenderup, König and Thule Rental. Thule has 1,600 employees at approx 20 production and sales units on all major automotive markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

JAC Roof Racks Relocates to Larger Facility

JAC ROOF RACKS PRESS RELEASE
JAC Products Relocates Expanded Engineering, Sales and Marketing Operation to Larger Facility.

JAC Products, a leading designer and manufacturer of original-equipment roof racks for vehicles worldwide, announces the relocation of their engineering/design, sales/marketing, and Program Management functions. Currently located in Madison Heights, Michigan, the operation will move to a larger structure in Pontiac, Michigan. The 40,000 square-foot facility, just off Opdyke Road near South Boulevard, will be named JAC Products World Technical Center.

The new Technical Center will be home to the JAC Products Idea Team -- engineers, designers, and sales and marketing personnel whose task is conceptualizing and prototyping innovative functional exterior trim products that enhance their customers' vehicles. The facility will feature expanded engineering and service areas, with additional CAD capabilities for advanced product modeling. A new presentation/demonstration showroom will offer customers an attractive, comfortable setting in which to view and interact with new concepts of products, evaluating them for styling and functionality. JAC's new facility will also provide additional space to evaluate pre- production pilot assembles, prior to their introduction into JAC Products' assembly locations. The move is expected to be complete around the first of December.

According to JAC Products President George Hofman, "We simply outgrew our Madison Heights location. Our increasing business volume has meant expanding our capacity to meet product development demands of our locations around the globe. At the same time, Our World Technical Center increases our range and depth of service to our customers."

Owned by Citicorp Venture Capital, Ltd., JAC Products manufactures products in the U.S., Germany, Portugal, Argentina, and the U.K. Additionally, JAC owns and operates Mont Blanc® (Sweden) and Paddy Hopkirk (England), which manufacture bicycle and ski racks, plus component supplier Franklin Aluminum (Franklin, Georgia).

Thule Racks to Sponsor Celestial Seasoning's Safari of Flavor Experience

Thule Racks has partnered up with Celestial Seasoning's Traveling Hospitality Center that will be showing up at several Southern California Road Races. Along with several other sponsors, Thule Racks will be offering products including kayak, canoe, ski and bike racks for free give-a-ways.

Events announced so far include:

Dana Point Turkey Trot -- Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25th in Dana Point

Venice-Marina Christmas Run -- Saturday, Dec. 11th in Santa Monica

Shoreline Marathon, Half-Marathon and 5K -- Sunday, Feb. 6th in Huntington Beach

Pardee Torrey Pines 5K -- Sunday, Feb. 27th in Del Mar

Consumer Reports Issues Advice on Ski Racks & Fuel Efficiency

Consumer Reports states, "At highway speeds, more than 50 percent of engine power goes to overcoming aerodynamic drag. Try not to add to the drag by carrying things on top of your vehicle. A loaded roof rack can decrease a car's fuel efficiency by 5 percent. Even driving with empty ski racks wastes gas."

Yakima Racks Hires Third Party to Oversee Online Pricing Policy

Yakima Racks has contracted a third party service to police their retailer pricing policy. Sources have revealed that the car rack manufacturer intends to require Yakima dealers to sell their products at the manufacturer's set retail prices.

Only during certain sale periods will retailers be allowed to sell Yakima racks and accessories at discount prices. Specifically, sources revealed, there will be only three two week sale periods every six months that each retailer will have the opportunity to sell at a discount of a maximum of 20%.

Reactions to the mandate have been mixed. Several retailers have expressed their concern that the policy has not been properly enforced. In an attempt to overcome this problem, Yakima has hired an overseer to act as a watchdog, hoping to ensure all dealers comply with the new policy.

Of the retailers questioned about the policy, the general consensus in the industy is the effort has proven to be ineffective. Of the retailers questioned, most have indicated that the same dealers that were not complying with the Yakima Racks pricing policy are continuing to do business as usual and offering on-going deep discounts without any consequences.

One source suggested, "Either the watchdogs are not doing their job to effectively point out to Yakima who the cheaters are or Yakima just plain isn't interested in making this a policy that all retailers must adhere to, and that, to me, just seems both unfair and possibly illegal."

Another dealer was quoted as saying, "Even if Yakima were to succeed in enforcing the policy, consumers are by now savvy enough to find the Yakima dealers that are currently in their 20% off sale period, thereby allowing consumers to find Yakima car racks at 20% off 365 days of the year. The real culprits are the online websites like eBay and other auction sites. That is where Yakima should be focusing their brand battles, not legitimate dealers that offer great customer service and are currently just struggling to survive."

Nashville's Metro Transit Authority Adds Bike Racks to Buses

Nashville Tennessee's Metro Transit Authority has added bike racks to its fleet of buses in an effort to attract more commuters and to specifically offer more incentives to those choosing bicycles as their primary mode of transportation.