The Quiksilver group prided itself on outperforming its competitors in the second quarter of its fiscal year, until the end of April, with a sales increase of 3 percent to $492.2 million. In constant currencies, this amounted to a rise of 5 percent, with expansion in all regions and for all three of the group’s major brands, Quiksilver, Roxy and DC. However, the company was hit by a sharp decline in its gross margin, which contracted by 5.6 percentage points to 49.2 percent. It suffered a net loss of $4.4 million for the quarter, compared with a loss of $81.6 million at the same time last year, although that included one-off charges of $74.1 million. More in SGI Europe.