
Dick’s To Eliminate 20 Percent Of Its Vendor Mix
While reporting fourth-quarter earnings that arrived slightly ahead of targets, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. said it’s implementing a new merchandise and vendor matrix that will reduce up to 20 percent of its brands.

5.11 Tactical Delivers Double-Digit Growth In Q4
Compass Diversified Holdings reported sales at 5.11 Tactical rose 19 percent in its fourth quarter while Liberty Safe’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 7 percent.

Fox Factory’s Q4 Races Past Expectations
The 16.6 percent revenue gain reflected a 27.5 percent and 7.8 percent increase in sales of powered vehicle products and bike products, respectively.

Aisle Talk, Week Of February 27
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week.

American Outdoor Brands Warns Of Firearms Inventory Gluts
“I think a number of retailers did make some bets on a different outcome, the presidential election,” said James Debney, president and CEO. “So they called that wrong. And I think that’s left somewhat of an inventory overhang over there.”

Sequential Brands Lowers Outlook On Department Store Woes
While many of its active brands performed well in the fourth quarter and are poised for a strong year in 2017, Sequential Brands Groups lowered its guidance for 2017 due in large part to weakness in the department store channel.

Backwoods Finds Buyer
Jennifer Mull, previous CEO of Backwoods Retail, Inc. has agreed to a consulting arrangement with the new company.

Finish Line Sells JackRabbit For Nothing
As part of the sale agreement, Finish Line made a payment of $8.3 million into the JackRabbit business as part of pre-closing restructuring and must make an additional $700,000 payment to the buyer, CriticalPoint Capital, on or before September 30, 2017.

Crocs To Shutter A Quarter Of Its Locations
Gregg Ribatt will step down on June 1 and will be replaced by Andrew Rees, who joined Crocs two years ago as president. Ribatt will remain on the company’s board.

Big 5 Boosted By Competitor Exits
“We’re very encouraged that the profit and sales momentum has continued and actually accelerated into the first quarter of fiscal 2017,” CEO Steven Miller said on a conference call with analysts.

Foot Locker Thriving Despite Mall Woes
Driven by a healthy appetite for running lifestyle product and its positioning as the headquarters for sneakerheads, Foot Locker Inc. reported fourth-quarter earnings that handily exceeded Wall Street targets. Foot Locker will wind up becoming one of the few mall operators to report that traffic grew over the holiday season.

Aisle Talk, Week Of February 20
Top headlines from the active lifestyle industry you may have missed this week.

Billabong Finally Seeing Rebound In America
In the Americas region, EBITDA before global allocations surged 152.2 percent to Australian $10.3 million, with the help of gross margins improving 170 basis points and lower costs.

Sturm, Ruger Still Sees Strong Appetite For Firearms
Michael Fifer, CEO, on a conference call with analysts, said, “It appears to me, if you look over multiple years, that there’s wider acceptance of guns, wider availability. There’s more exciting, new products from all the competitors, not just Ruger. There’s more reasons to have guns now than ever before.”

Gildan Activewear Sees Weak Reorders Curbing Q4 Sales Growth
On a conference call with analysts, Rhod Harries, EVP and CFO, said sales were impacted by “weak store traffic trends and a weak holiday period, which drove retailers to limit replenishment and manage down inventory levels during the fourth quarter.”