NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Dec. 14, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today its ratings and outlook on apparel company Quiksilver Inc. (BB-/Negative/--) would be unaffected by the company's announcement that it will take a $173 million noncash charge to goodwill related to the acquisition of Rossignol. While the company did close the sale of its Cleveland Golf business and expects to reduce debt with about $100 million in proceeds from this transaction, we expect pro forma leverage to remain on the high side, in the 4.5-4.8 range. We believe that Quiksilver will still face some challenges in the near term as it addresses lower sales volume in its winter equipment business, and that its credit protection measures will
