James Debney
Analyst · Cowen & Company. Your line is now open
Thank you Liz, good afternoon and thanks everyone for joining us. With me on today's call is Jeff Buchanan our Chief Financial Officer. Later in the call Jeff will provide a recap of our financial performance as well as our guidance for the second quarter and full fiscal 2017. We are very pleased with our first quarter results. In addition to delivering strong financial performance we made significant progress toward achieving our vision which is to become a leader in the large and growing markets for shooting, hunting and rugged outdoor enthusiasts. We did this with two acquisitions that fit perfectly into that strategy. As a result of those acquisitions we're expanding presence in the market for rugged outdoor products. We have made a decision to organize our company into two reporting segments, a Firearm segment which includes the Firearms Division and the Manufacturing Services division, and an Outdoor Products and Accessory segment which includes the Accessories division and our new Electro-Optics Division. With this structure in place and with talented management teams in all divisions we are well positioned to explore new opportunities, both organic and inorganic, in the shooting, hunting and rugged outdoor market. Now let me tell you about these latest acquisitions. First, we announced that we would acquire the assets of Taylor Brands, a long standing licensee of ours that produced and sold Smith & Wesson and M&P branded knives and owner of many of our highly regarded legacy knife brands, including Schrade, Uncle Henry, Old Timer and Imperial. This business will tuck-in to our accessories division and will provide us with the opportunity to deliver future organic growth. As of the date of acquisition Taylor Brands trailing 12 months revenue was approximately $41 million. Second, we announced that we would acquire Crimson Trace, the undisputed leader in laser sighting and tactical lighting systems. The company was founded 22 years ago and has generated a 10 year compound annual growth rate in revenue of more than 10%. Crimson Trace has long been a key supplier to our Company and is highly regarded for creating and delivering an award winning line of firearm accessory products. With its robust new product development capability and its market leadership position, Crimson Trace will serve as an ideal platform for our new Electro-Optics division, providing a solid framework for growth. Although Crimson Trace has been narrowly focused on the laser sighting market, its management team now views the Electro-Optics market in its entirety. This is a broad and sizeable category that includes products such as various sights, aiming and ranging devices, magnifiers and scope for a variety of applications. Therefore, we believe that this division will have ample expansion opportunities both organically and inorganically. For reference, Crimson Trace's trailing 12 month revenue is $44.7 million, including $10.8 million in sales to our firearms division. As we report on these important acquisitions, which will provide growth and diversification of our business in the future, we also recognize that the firearms division generated the vast majority of our revenue in Q1. With that said, let me provide some operational and financial details from the quarter. Total company revenue exceeded the high-end of our guidance range. Higher revenue in our firearms division was driven by strong orders for our hand guns and long guns. The manufacturing service division added production capacity in the quarter and continued to leverage our flexible manufacturing model helping us cash the incremental sales and market share in the firearms division. Importantly the manufacturing services division also established a sales function that will support outside sales to our B2B customers. Our Accessories division revenue declined slightly. Our gross margins improved significantly to 47.3% from 42.3% last year. This improvement is the result of good work by our Accessories team to improve the profitability of the Thompson/Center Accessories business, that was transitioned for them last year. Distributor inventory of our firearms increased as planned by 64,000 units to a total of about a 155,000 units at the end of Q1. The sequential rise from Q4 reflects the seasonal distributor inventory increase that usually occurs each year in preparation for the upcoming full hunting and the busy holiday shopping season. Even with that increase our distributor inventory is lower than last year's levels of 177,000 units. At the close of Q1 our weeks of sales on the channel remains below our eight week threshold. It is also worth noting that distributor inventory unit increase was flat year-over-year at approximately 65,000 units. So it appears there was no concerning build-up of firearms inventory in the channel as we approach the busiest retail period of the year. Adjusted mix background checks during our fiscal quarter grew 19.2% year-over-year reflecting increased consumer demand for our firearms, while our units shipped into the consumer channel for the same period were up 52.8% indicating that we gained market share. In handgun, which make up about 80% of our total annual firearms units shipped, mix checks increased 15.2% while our units shipped into the consumer channel grew by 42%. In long guns which make up about 20% of our total annual firearm shipped, mix checks increased 24.1%. While our units shipped into the consumer channel grew by 118.8%. That is a large increase but please note that it is from a much lower base than handguns. We maintained our focus on product innovation in Q1. In firearms we announced that our market leading M&P SHIELD pistol has a new member of the family. The SHIELD is now available in 45 Auto. In accessories we introduced a Caldwell Ballistic Precision G2 Chronograph, Duramax Self-Healing Target, a Wheeler Armorer's Handgun Sight Tool and several new [indiscernible]. These are busy and exciting times for our Company. We now stand up four divisions operating in two high growth segments with multiple opportunities for organic growth, ample resources and a robust pipeline of potential acquisition targets. We look forward to delivering further progress on achieving our vision in the future. With that, I’ll ask Jeff to provide more detail on our first quarter financial results and provide our updated guidance.