The Nautilus Group, a US-based marketer and manufacturer of branded health and fitness products, is to extend its agreement with nutritional supplements maker Champion Nutrition.
The Nautilus Group began selling Champion's nutritional supplements through its direct business segment in August 2001.
"We are very pleased with our initial success in up-selling nutritional supplements to our customers through our direct sales channel," said Brian Cook, CEO of The Nautilus Group. "Nutritional supplement sales have proven to be a natural extension of our Bowflex and Nautilus product sales and we view this as a compelling long-term business opportunity."
Under the terms of the extended agreement, The Nautilus Group provided Champion with an interest-bearing loan of approximately $3 million and has an option to buy Champion for $6 million at any time before 24 February 2003.
The Nautilus Group, (formerly Direct Focus) products are sold under brand names including Nautilus, Bowflex, Schwinn and StairMaster. The company headquarters are in Vancouver, Washington.