The Freedom Group, Inc., which owns the Remington, Marlin, Bushmaster, Dakota and the Mountain Khakis brands, among others, reported total sales for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 slipped 1.3% to $183.3 million from $185.7 million in the year-ago period.


Revenues for Firearms fell 10.1% to $94.0 million from $104.6 million, offsetting 7.5% and 50.0% growth from Ammunition and Other products, respectively. The company recorded a net loss of $11.million compared to a net income of $6.3 million a year-ago.

As a result of annual testing for goodwill impairment, the company recognized $13.1 million of impairment charges in the fourth quarter of 2010.


Gross margins for the quarter were flat at 30.1% of sales due to weaker margins from Ammunition and Other products. The company recorded a fourth quarter operating income of $42.1 million, down $62.4 million from a year ago.


For the full year, sales fell 12.3% to $744.3 million from $848.7 million a year ago on weakness from the firearms segment, which plummeted 23.9% to $386.6 million from $508.1 million on tough comparisons against fiscal 2009. Ammunition and Other products improved 3.2% and 35.3%, respectively, against the year-ago period. The company reported a net loss of $6.7 million compared to a net income of $54.0 million a year ago.


As noted, Firearms net sales for the year were $386.6 million, a decrease of $121.5 million, or 23.9%, as compared to the year ended Dec. 31, 2009. Centerfire rifle sales decreased by $108.1 million, or 30.9%, as compared to the prior-year period, primarily due to reduced sales demand for modern sporting products as the 2009 surge ended and sales returned to more historical levels. Shotgun sales decreased by $6.7 million, or 5.7%, as compared to the prior-year period. Rimfire rifle sales decreased by $5.9 million, or 18.2%, as compared to the prior-year period.


For the Ammunition segment, sales for the year were $332.0 million, an increase of $10.4 million, or 3.2%, as compared to the prior year, primarily due to the acquired Barnes operations. Excluding the acquired Barnes operations, Centerfire ammunition sales increased by $9.9 million, or 5.5%, as compared to the prior-year period. The increase in sales volumes of Centerfire ammunition was attributed mainly to strong market demand for certain handgun ammunition. Sales volumes of shotshell ammunition decreased by $6.5 million, or 7.6%, as compared to the prior-year period. Rimfire ammunition sales decreased by $0.2 million, or 0.6%, as compared to the prior-year period.


For Other products, sales were $25.7 million in all other businesses for the year, an increase of $6.7 million, or 35.3%, as compared to the prior-year period. Management said primary changes within the Other businesses consisted of increased sales of $8.2 million in various accessories businesses, primarily due to the AAC Acquisition; increased sales of $2.4 million in our apparel businesses, primarily due to the Mountain Khakis Acquisition; offset by decreased sales in our powdered metal product business of $2.0 million as well as decreased sales in the company’s targets business of $1.9 million, which ceased operations in and was sold in 2009.