Johnson Outdoors returned to profit in its fourth fiscal quarter, ended on Sept. 27. The group's net income reached $3.9 million, against a net loss of $4.9 million for the corresponding period in 2018. The management said this was largely due to increased sales and the timing of tariff exclusions granted in the current quarter, which had a positive impact of $1.2 million. Total revenues progressed by 14.1 percent to $104 million, and the gross margin rose by 1.4 percentage points to 44.8 percent. In the latest quarter, the company's revenues from its Fishing segment soared by 22.1 percent to $66.9 million, led by strong sales of Minn Kota and Humminbird products. The operating profit in the division jumped by 44.8 percent to $8.4 million. The Camping division, which includes Jetboil and Eureka, saw sales rocket by 30.0 percent to $10.3 million, led by Jetboil. Here, the operating income reached $0.8 million, against $0.1 million for the year-ago quarter. By contrast, the Diving segment, which the group is trying to strengthen, contracted by 4.3 percent down to $20.4 million. The segment's operating profit declined by 45.7 percent to $0.9 million. Hurt by weakness in the kayak market, sales in the Watercraft recreation segment dropped by 9.8 percent to $6.3 million. The division recorded an operating loss of $1.2 million, compared with 0.9 million for the year-ago quarter. For the full fiscal year, Johnson's sales were up by 3.0 percent to $562.4 million, while the gross margin remained flat at 44.4 percent. Net income rose by 26.4 percent to $51.4 million. The management said that demand for Minn Kota and Humminbird powered a 5 percent increase in fishing sales for the full year. Camping benefited from continued growth in Jetboil and improved performance in military tent sales. However, the positive momentum in the North American diving market was not enough to offset declines in Asian markets and the negative impact of foreign currency. More in SGI Europe.

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