SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- American Outdoor Brands Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: AOBC), one of the world's leading providers of firearms and quality products for the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2019, ended April 30, 2019.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2019 Financial Highlights

• Quarterly net sales were $175.7 million compared with $172.0 million for the fourth quarter last year, an increase of 2.2%.
• Gross margin for the quarter was 36.1% compared with 33.4% for the fourth quarter last year. 
• Quarterly GAAP net income was $9.8 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared with $7.7 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the comparable quarter last year.
• Quarterly non-GAAP net income was $14.2 million, or $0.26 per diluted share, compared with $13.3 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the comparable quarter last year. GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments to net income exclude a number of acquisition-related costs and other costs. For a detailed reconciliation, see the schedules that follow in this release.
• Quarterly non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDAS was $31.9 million, or 18.1% of net sales, compared with $33.4 million, or 19.4% of net sales, for the comparable quarter last year.

Full Year Fiscal 2019 Financial Highlights

• Full year net sales were $638.3 million compared with $606.9 million a year ago, an increase of 5.2%.
• Full year gross margin was 35.4% compared with 32.3% last year.
• Full year GAAP net income was $18.4 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared with $20.1 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, last year.
• Full year non-GAAP net income was $45.9 million, or $0.83 per diluted share, compared with $25.1 million, or $0.46 per diluted share last year.
• Full year non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDAS was $111.3 million, or 17.4% of net sales, compared with $89.5 million, or 14.7% of net sales, last year.

James Debney, American Outdoor Brands Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Fiscal 2019 was a year that presented challenges for the firearms industry, including changes in the political environment and reduced consumer demand for firearms and for the accessories that are attached to them, such as lights, lasers, and scopes.  Despite that backdrop, we delivered year over year growth in revenue and gross margin, and we believe we gained market share.  At the same time, we  made significant progress toward our long-term strategy with the construction and ramp up of initial operations at our new Missouri Campus, which will house our Logistics & Customer Services Division and our Outdoor Products & Accessories Division.  This state-of-the-art, 633,000 square foot facility, which has now successfully commenced initial operations, will serve as the centralized logistics, warehousing, and distribution operation for our entire business, enabling growth, enhancing efficiencies, and allowing us to better serve customers across the organization. It will also serve as the office location for our entire Outdoor Products & Accessories business. When fully complete, the Missouri Campus will also have allowed us to eliminate 570,000 square feet of operations, office, warehouse, and third-party space across multiple locations, improving our efficiencies and generating capacity for future growth.  This is an important strategic initiative supporting our objective to be the leading provider of quality products for the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast."

"In our Outdoor Products & Accessories segment, which generated 25% of our total yearly net sales, we delivered year-over-year sales growth of 3.3% and launched over 300 innovative new products, including the Caldwell Hydrosled, the Frankford M-Press, and the BOG DeathGrip Hunting Tripod.  We introduced a new line of sights and scopes from our Crimson Trace brand, which not only broadened our product offering, but also greatly expanded our addressable market for this brand, and we launched an exciting re-branding initiative that expanded our BUBBA brand from a single product focus to an exciting lifestyle brand with a variety of new products that address the broader category of fishing gear and accessories."

"In our Firearms segment, sales grew 6.3% over the prior fiscal year.  While consumer demand remained weak throughout fiscal 2019, as indicated by Adjusted NICS background checks which were down 8.8% year over year, our units shipped into the sporting goods channel increased 4.2%.  We introduced 106 new firearm skus, including 32 meaningful new products and numerous line extensions.  At the end of the year we launched our Performance Center M&P 380 Shield EZ, a high performance version of our original Shield EZ, which has become a favorite for consumers seeking an easy-to-manage, personal protection firearm.  Our Shield family products has become a consumer favorite, and by the end of fiscal 2019 we had shipped over 3 million Shield pistols. We are now approaching the $1 billion-dollar milestone for cumulative sales of the Shield family of handguns.  Lastly, we introduced several bundle promotions, which combine a firearm with accessories from our Outdoor Products & Accessories segment, delivering customers a great value with brand names they know and trust."

Jeff Buchanan, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer, commented, "The strength of our balance sheet in fiscal 2019 supported a number of initiatives throughout the year.  At the end of our fiscal year, our balance sheet remained strong with approximately $41.0 million dollars of cash and $115.4 million dollars of total net borrowings. I would note that we paid down $25 million dollars on our line of credit in the fourth quarter, resulting in no borrowings on the line of credit at the end of the year. We have reduced our net borrowings by nearly $100.0 million dollars in less than two years, while still investing heavily in our business, including small acquisitions and our new Logistics & Customer Services facility. Currently our long-term borrowings consists of $75.0 million dollars in Senior Notes due in 2020, and $81.4 million dollars on our Bank Term Loan A, also due in 2020."

Financial Outlook

Conference Call and Webcast
The company will host a conference call and webcast today, June 19, 2019, to discuss its fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2019 financial and operational results. Speakers on the conference call will include James Debney, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Jeffrey D. Buchanan, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer. The conference call may include forward-looking statements. The conference call and webcast will begin at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time). Those interested in listening to the conference call via telephone may call directly at (844) 309-6568 and reference conference identification number 8680919.  No RSVP is necessary.  The conference call audio webcast can also be accessed live  on the company's website at www.aob.com, under the Investor Relations section.

Reconciliation of U.S. GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In this press release, certain non-GAAP financial measures, including "non-GAAP net income," "Adjusted EBITDAS," and "free cash flow" are presented. From time-to-time, the company considers and uses these supplemental measures of operating performance in order to provide the reader with an improved understanding of underlying performance trends.  The company believes it is useful for itself and the reader to review, as applicable, both (1) GAAP measures that include (i) amortization of acquired intangible assets, (ii) transition costs, (iii) acquisition-related costs, (iv) fair value inventory step-up expense, (v) debt extinguishment costs, (vi) recall related expenses, (vii) the tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments, (viii) net cash provided by operating activities, (ix) net cash used in investing activities, (x) acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired, (xi) receipts from note receivable, (xii) interest expense (xiii) income tax expense, (xiv) depreciation and amortization, (xv) stock-based compensation expenses, (xvi) discontinued operations, (xvii) changes in contingent consideration, (xiii) Tax Reform, and (xix) goodwill impairment; and (2) the non-GAAP measures that exclude such information. The company presents these non-GAAP measures because it considers them an important supplemental measure of its performance. The company's definition of these adjusted financial measures may differ from similarly named measures used by others. The company believes these measures facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period by eliminating potential differences caused by the existence and timing of certain expense items that would not otherwise be apparent on a GAAP basis.  These non-GAAP measures have limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the company's GAAP measures.  The principal limitations of these measures are that they do not reflect the company's actual expenses and may thus have the effect of inflating its financial measures on a GAAP basis.

About American Outdoor Brands Corporation
American Outdoor Brands Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: AOBC) is a provider of quality products for shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiasts in the global consumer and professional markets. The Company reports two segments: Firearms and Outdoor Products & Accessories.  Firearms manufactures handgun, long gun, and suppressor products sold under the iconic Smith & Wesson®, M&P®, Thompson/Center Arms™, and Gemtech® brands, as well as provides forging, machining, and precision plastic injection molding services. AOB Outdoor Products & Accessories is the industry leading provider of shooting, reloading, gunsmithing, gun cleaning supplies, specialty tools and cutlery, and electro-optics products and technology for firearms. This segment produces innovative, top quality products under the brands Caldwell®; Crimson Trace®; Wheeler®; Tipton®; Frankford Arsenal®; Lockdown®; BOG®; Hooyman®; Smith & Wesson® Accessories; M&P® Accessories; Thompson/Center Arms™ Accessories; Performance Center® Accessories; Schrade®; Old Timer®; Uncle Henry®; Imperial®; BUBBA®; UST®; and LaserLyte.  For more information on American Outdoor Brands Corporation, call (844) 363-5386 or log on to www.aob.com.  

Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws, and we intend that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created thereby.  Such forward-looking statements include, among others, our long-term strategy of being the leading provider of quality products for the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast market; our belief that our new Logistics & Customer Services facility in Missouri, which will serve as the centralized logistics, warehousing, and distribution operation for all of our products, will facilitate our growth, enhance our efficiencies, and allow us to better serve customers across our entire organization; our belief that our new Logistics & Customer Services facility is an important strategic initiative that will support our objective of becoming the leading provider of quality products for the shooting, huntiung and rugged outdoor enthusiasist; and our expectations for net sales, GAAP income per diluted share, acquisition-related costs, amortization of acquired intangible assets, fair value inventory step-up and backlog expense, tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments, and non-GAAP income per diluted share for the first quarter of fiscal 2020 and for fiscal 2020.  We caution that these statements are qualified by important risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such forward-looking statements.  Such factors include, among others, economic, social, political, legislative, and regulatory factors; the potential for increased regulation of firearms and firearm-related products; actions of social activists that could have an adverse effect on our business; the impact of lawsuits; the demand for our products; the state of the U.S. economy in general and the firearm industry in particular; general economic conditions and consumer spending patterns; our competitive environment; the supply, availability and costs of raw materials and components; the impact of protectionist tariffs and trade wars; speculation surrounding fears of terrorism and crime; our anticipated growth and growth opportunities; our ability to increase demand for our products in various markets, including consumer, law enforcement, and military channels, domestically and internationally; our penetration rates in new and existing markets; our strategies; our ability to maintain and enhance brand recognition and reputation; risks associated with the establishment of our new 630,000 square foot Logistics & Customer Services facility in Missouri; our ability to introduce new products; the success of new products; our ability to expand our markets; our ability to integrate acquired businesses in a successful manner; the general growth of our outdoor products and accessories business; the potential for cancellation of orders from our backlog; and other risks detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2019.

Contact: Liz Sharp, VP Investor Relations
American Outdoor Brands Corporation
(413) 747-6284
lsharp@aob.com 

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