Photo: Nat Young by ASP/Kirstin

Rip Curl has surprised pretty much everyone by turning a profit. They have powered through a restructure and ridden a resurgent retail sector, which seems to be eluding most other brands, going from a little over $4 million loss in 2012 to a $14 million profit in 2013. Europe is still struggling but Australia, North America, Indonesia and South Africa performed as expected. The company has just shy of $100 million in debt but assets of $250 million. All in all, a pretty good story. Check more this over here.