Hampshire Group CEO provides outlook for 2014

Though our Rio Garment division's sales declined, we remained a vital supplier to our major customers. Recognizing the need to broaden our customer base, we established within Rio Garment a new product-development team that is advancing with new prospective customers, several of which have placed test orders for 2013-2014. Tests with seven major retailers represent the largest new customer opportunity in Rio Garment's history. Sales cycles, including testing, can be lengthy in this business but the level of customer activity is cause for optimism.

We addressed excess office space under our long-term lease. We won major litigation against our landlord for breach of contract, and aggressive marketing should produce new tenants for 2-3 of our 5 floors, representing our excess office space, in 2014.

During the third quarter, the company replaced its long-standing credit facility with a new lender, Salus Capital, providing improved terms for our existing businesses as well as the ability to accommodate acquisitions. We expect to have, on average, $10 million of excess borrowing capacity for most of 2014.

Hampshire Group