International

OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN) — Shimano said a mild economic expansion in Europe, a buoyant labor market in North America, and a moderate recovery in Japan contributed to a 5.1 percent net sales increase in its bicycle division in the opening quarter of 2018, compared to the same period last year.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (BRAIN) — ACT Lab, an independent third-party laboratory that conducts safety and compliance testing for the bike and outdoor industries, has added bike industry veteran Phil Bash to its global sales team.

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (BRAIN)  —Giant Manufacturing, closing its books on 2017, posted revenue for the year of $1.9 billion, a 3.5 percent decline from 2016.

LIVINGSTON, U.K. (BRAIN) — Endura has been acquired by Pentland Brands Limited, the British family-owned business behind global brand names such as Speedo, Mitre, Canterbury and Berghaus.

VALLEJO, Calif. (BRAIN) — Wren Sports has named Yap Bicycle Compania has its distributor and authorized service center for Singapore.

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN) — Organizers of the Eurobike trade show are trying to encourage visitors to use bike to get to the show this year, partly in an effort to reduce traffic and parking challenges.

MASSA MARITTIMA, Italy (BRAIN) — Ten brands and 16 journalists from global media outlets took part in the inaugural edition of Bike Connection Winter, a cycling media event presented by marketing and business development consultancy Bike Connection Agency.

PILA, Poland (BRAIN) — Thule Group has opened a new factory here, in western Poland.

The company said the new plant offers increased production capacity on existing products as well as the possibility of production of newly launched product categories.

The factory is 145,000 square feet.

LONDON (BRAIN) —  Getty Images has acquired TDWsport, a cycling photography business and archive owned by Tim de Waele. De Waele has joined Getty Images as a staff photographer to lead the company's cycling coverage.