Clarus Corp. reported modest growth in its Black Diamond segment as gains in its direct-to-consumer and international channels helped offset fewer shipments to its North American wholesale channel due to elevated inventory levels and reduced open-to-buy dollars. Clarus officials also indicated it BD’s inventories would not be rebalanced until the fall.

Sales in the Outdoor segment, which consists of Black Diamond, increased 2 percent to $52.8 million and expanded 5 percent on a currency-neutral basis.

“We believe the long-term trends continue to favor the outdoor industry, even as the market settles to a new normal post-pandemic,” said Aaron Kuehne, COO, on an analyst call.

On the positive side, sales for Black Diamond grew 26 percent year-over-year in Europe and 35 percent with its international distributors, exceeding expectations.

“Demand trends are strong for the brand, and we believe this highlights the strength of our relationship with our vast network of European specialty stores and the desire for the consumer to remain active in the outdoors,” said Kuehne.

In North America, however, Black Diamond sees a “soft wholesale market continue to settle into a new normal post-pandemic as retailers work off the backlog of inventory and consumer spending trends towards the middle of the range between pre-pandemic levels and the sharp demand spike in outdoor categories during the COVID period.”

He added, “For much of the past two years supply and demand have been out of balance, and we expect that it will take another six months before the market approaches a closer state of equilibrium.”

Kuehne said demand for the Black Diamond brand remained “strong,” pointing to strength in the brand’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) business, where e-commerce grew 28 percent during the quarter and comparable store sales lifted 13 percent.

Another area of strength is the BD apparel and lifestyle categories, which grew 50 percent year-over-year as well as global expansion.

Black Diamond’s Priorities For 2023
Looking ahead for the year, Kuehne said Black Diamond’s top priority remains to bring supply and demand into better alignment across regions and channels while reducing inventory levels by 15 percent by the end of this year versus the end of 2022.

Kuehne added, “Also at the top of our priority list is rebuilding our sales and go-to-market approach in North America under the leadership of a new VP of sales for the region. Finally, we must balance our focus on short-term operational performance with strategic investments in areas that will drive long-term growth and market share gains, notably in product innovation, marketing, digital and international.”

Clarus’ Executive Chairman, Warren Kanders, noted that Clarus had realigned its leadership across its three segments as the company has grown “from a single brand Black Diamond to three distinct segments” and Clarus “identified the need to shift to an operating model focused on individual entity growth, accountability and performance.”

The realignment included the hiring in early February of Neil Fiske as president of Black Diamond. Fiske most recently led Marquee Brands, the parent of Dakine, Body Glove and several other outdoor brands, and his previous roles include leading Eddie Bauer, the Gap chain and Billabong.

He said Fiske is working on a long-range plan for Black Diamond that’s expected to be completed in the next 45 days. “We’re enthusiastic about Neil’s energy and vision for Black Diamond and its place as an iconic brand in the broader Outdoor ecosystem.”

Black Diamond also last week Heath Christensen, who formerly led sales at Cotopaxi, as VP of North American sales.

The report marked Clarus’ first quarterly report since John Walbrecht, the company’s president since March 2018, stepped down,on March 31 in a mutual agreement with the company.

Companywide, Clarus’ sales declined 14.0 percent to $97.4 million compared to $113.3 million, exceeding Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $95 million. Domestic sales fell 27.9 percent to $44.9 million while international sales advanced 2.9 percent to $52.5 million.

Precision Sport Segment Sales Slide 18 Percent
Among its two other segments, sales at the Precision Sport segments (Sierra and Barnes) fell 18.1 percent to $27.1 million due to ongoing supply chain challenges limiting ammo sales.

Kuehne said that despite a “strong order book,” Sierra and Barnes faced challenges sourcing shell casings and offsetting heavy inventories at both retailers and distributors, in particular with pistol and revolver calibers and the popular rifle calibers such as 223.

This was offset partly by strength in its OEM vertical due to the programs developed with key partners over the years.

“Despite the headwinds in retail, our Barnes brand continues to be in high demand when it comes to centerfire rifle cartridges as our all-copper solutions continue to demonstrate world-class terminal ballistics required by the super fan hunter,” said Kuehne. “Demand for niche newer, less mainstream cartridges is also still very high, limited only by our availability of the brass cases required to load and deliver this product. The response we are receiving from dealers to new product launches like our Pioneer line of ammo, which is focused on lever guns and revolvers is positive, and combined with the relationships that we have with our key distribution partners, we believe we will continue to steal market share in 2023.”

Looking ahead, the focus on the Precision segment includes working to shore up components sourcing challenges associated with shell cases, refreshing the Sierra ammunition lines later this year, continuing to create more dealer and consumer touch-points for both brands and fostering key relationships with Tier 1 retailers, wholesalers and key accounts.

Kuehne said, “Given the strength of our brands and the diversity of the markets we serve, we feel strongly that 2023 will present various opportunities to build further momentum within our brands.”

Adventure Segment Sales Declined 39 Percent
Sales in the Adventure segment (Rhino-Rack, Maxtrax) were $17.5 million, down 38.8 percent year over year, reflecting lower consumer demand given the challenging market conditions and the difficult macro-environment in both Australia and North America.

Kanders said the first quarter presented a difficult comparison for the Adventure segment, given the record performance of the U.S. business in Q1 of 2022. The segment also continued to face headwinds related to new vehicle supply, lagging demand and imbalanced inventory levels at its larger key distributors and retail partners persisted in Q1

“The North American market continues to be hampered by promotional activity due to excess inventory at wholesale distributors down to retailers,” said Kanders. “While the North American businesses were off nearly 70 percent over the same period last year, we are seeing declines level off and turn to sequential growth.

After a slow January in our Adventure’s home markets of Australia and New Zealand, we saw sales in February and March that we believe represent stabilization.”

He added, “More importantly, the operational improvements we implemented are taking hold as we generated gross margins in excess of 40 percent for the quarter versus 32 percent and 28 percent in Q4 and Q3 of last year, respectively.”

Adjusted Net Earnings Drop 53 Percent
Net income reached $1.6 million, or 4 cents a share, down from $5.3 million, or 13 cents, in the prior year’s first quarter.

Adjusted earnings before non-cash items, which excludes non‐cash items and transaction costs, fell 53.4 percent to $6.9 million, or 18 cents a share, from $14.8 million, or 37 cents, in the same year‐ago quarter. EPS was in line with analyst estimates.

The earnings decline reflects sales deleverage and margin pressures.

Gross margin eroded 210 basis points to 37.0 percent due to changes in channel and product mix and unfavorable foreign currency exchange movement. Easing freight costs positively impacted gross margin by 290 basis points and was offset by a 150-basis point negative impact from foreign currency exchange, negative 130 basis points related to higher inventory reserves, and an unfavorable channel and product mix of 220 basis points. Specifically, the lower open-to-buys from the company’s key North American retail partners in the Outdoor segment further negatively impacted gross margin.

SG&A expenses declined 4.1 percent to $32.8 million due to expense improvements in the Adventure and Precision Sport segments, as well as lower non-cash stock-based compensation expenses for performance awards at corporate. These savings were partially offset by higher investments at Outdoor for employee costs and investments in the direct-to-consumer channel. As a percent of sales, SG&A expenses increased to 33.7 percent from 30.2 percent.

Adjusted EBITDA fell 51.3 percent to $9.6 million from $19.7 million a year ago with margins eroding to 9.9 percent from 17.4 percent. The decline was driven by lower sales volumes in the North American portion of the company’s Outdoor and Adventure segments and a $2.4 million consolidated headwind due to the strength of the U.S. dollar.

Inventories ended the quarter at $145.8 million, down 4.6 percent year over year. At the close of the year, inventories were up 13.7 percent.

2023 Outlook
Clarus reiterated its outlook for the current year that calls for:

  • Sales of approximately $420 million, representing a decline of 6.3 percent from $448.1 million in 2022;
  • Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $60 million, down 4.8 percent against $63.0 million in 2022;
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.3 percent against 1 percent in 2022;
  • Capital expenditures to range between $7 to $8 million compared with $8.2 million in 2022; and
  • Free cash flow to range between $35 to $40 million versus $6.4 million in 2022.

Kanders noted that in addition to hiring Fiske to lead its Outdoor segment as part of its leadership realignment, Matt Hayward, formerly chief marketing and new business development officer at R.M. Williams, has been hired to lead the Adventure segment.

“We recognized an inflection point in our organizational evolution, implementing a strategic plan to decentralize and focus on individual segment performance,” Kanders elaborated on the leadership changes. “As we look forward, we are establishing baselines in each business, upgrading our talent pool and driving towards the critical few metrics that we believe matter to operations and shareholder value, cash flow generation, debt pay-down and margin enhancement at both the gross profit and EBITDA lines.”

Kanders also noted that Clarus is implementing cost-containment programs in the first half of the current year that will reduce expenses by $1 million at the corporate level on an annualized basis over 2022cross segments. Inventories rationalization will also remain a priority with inventories expected to be rebalanced by year end. Kanders said, ”Our budgeting process for 2023 identified the inventory overhang, affecting customer channels across all segments, and we have moderated our inbound purchases accordingly.”

Photo courtesy Black Diamond