Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings Inc. has filed paperwork for an initial public offering of its stock on the NASDAQ stock market.


 

The IPO would enable Seidler Equity Partners III, L.P., which first invested in Sportsman’s Warehouse in 2007, to recoup some of the money it invested rebuilding the retailer following its 2008 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. While the filing does not specify the size of the IPO, Seidler would retain control of Midvale, UT-base hook and bullet retailer following the listing, according to the company’s S1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

 

The filing discloses that net sales at Sportsman’s Warehouse increased 46.5 percent to $656.5 million for the 53-week period ended Nov. 2, 2013 compared with $448.2 million in the 52-week period ended October 27, 2012. Income from operations reached $70.4 million for the more recent period, up 92.9 percent from income from operations of $36.5 million in the 52-week period ended October 27, 2012.

 

 

Sportsman's Warehouse says it’s no frills approach to retailing gives it a competitive advantage against competitors in many smaller Western communities, including mass merchants, discount stores and independent specialty stores. Sportsman’s Warehouse stores range from 30,000 to 65,000 square feet and carry an average of 70,000 SKUs.

 

 

“Based on publicly available information, we believe it is less capital-intensive for us to open new stores compared to our principal competitors because our “no frills” store layout requires less initial cash investment to build out and our stores generally require less square footage than the stores of our competitors,” reads the company’s S1 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. “Together, these features enable us to effectively serve markets of multiple sizes, from Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, with populations of less than 75,000 to major metropolitan areas with populations in excess of 1,000,000, while generating consistent four-wall Adjusted EBITDA margins and returns on invested capital across a range of store sales volumes.”

 

 

According to the filing, Sportsman’s Warehouse had:  

 


  • Positive same store sales growth of 13.1 percent and 25.3 percent for fiscal years 2011 and 2012 and 7.2 percent for the 39 weeks ended Nov. 2, 2013, including same store sales growth of 10 percent or more during 13 of the last 15 quarters; 
  • Strong and consistent new store performance, with an average four-wall Adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.8 percent in the first twelve months of operations and an average pre-tax payback period of less than one year excluding initial inventory cost (or an expected average pre-tax payback period of less than 2.5 years including initial inventory cost) for our eight most recently opened stores that have been open for a full twelve months;
  • Strong and consistent new store performance, with an average four-wall Adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.8 percent in the first twelve months of operations and an average pre-tax payback period of less than one year excluding initial inventory cost (or an expected average pre-tax payback period of less than 2.5 years including initial inventory cost) for our eight most recently opened stores that have been open for a full twelve months;