A $98.7 million goodwill impairment charge for its Outdoor Products & Accessories division, whose spin-off should be completed in August, led the newly named Smith & Wesson to book a net loss of $66.1 million for the fourth quarter ended on April 30, compared with net income of $9.8 million in the year-ago period. The company, which was previously called American Outdoor Brands, recorded an overall sales increase of 32.9 percent to $233.6 million for the quarter, mainly due to volume gains of 21 percent for handguns and 43 percent for long guns, as an estimated 2.5 million first-time buyers looked for firearms as protection against the corona pandemic. Sales in the outdoor segment inched up by 2.4 percent to $43.2 million, aided by a 103 percent gain in e-commerce and sales to e-tailers during the recent retail lockdowns. For the full financial year, the group recorded a net loss of $61.2 million on 6.3 percent higher sales of $678.4 million, against net income of $18.4 million in the prior year. No specific sales figure was given for the outdoor segment, but the management noted a doubling in revenues from the increasingly diversified Bubba brand of fishing knives. Similarly, product extensions helped the Bog brand of hunting rests to more than triple its sales.

Topics