By Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
The Guardian blamed Remington Outdoor Company’s Feb. 12 announcement that it planned to file for reorganization and debt restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings on “The Trump slump” saying “America’s gun manufacturers are in trouble after a golden era under Barack Obama.”
The company, which is controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, will shed some $700 million in debt in the prepackaged reorganization that will be filed soon with federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, DE. The move comes amid declining sales linked, at least partly, to reduced fears among gun owners that the US government will impose more regulations on buying firearms. Last year, President Trump called himself a “true friend” of the gun industry. In the first three quarters of 2017, Remington’s sales fell 27.5% to $466.7 million, pushing it into the red, The Guardian reported.
Fortune magazine summed up the deal by describing it as a “plan to lower its debt and turn around its slumping business,” saying, “The company will have to contend with the prospect of lower sales for some time. According to the FBI, the number of background checks of prospective firearms buyers, a proxy for gun sales, fell again in January compared to a year earlier, continuing a trend of declines for nearly every month in 2017. For the full year in 2017, background checks fell 8.4% to 25.3 million.”
Remington Outdoor Company announced on Feb. 12 that it had reached a Restructuring Support Agreement with creditors holding a majority of the FGI Operating Company, LLC Term Loans due in 2019 and 7.875% Senior Secured Notes due in 2020, known collectively as the gun firms creditors.
The RSA, subject to certain conditions, represents the commitment of the company and consenting creditors to support a comprehensive restructuring of Remington’s existing funded indebtedness. The balance sheet restructuring will be effectuated through a pre-packaged joint plan of reorganization.
Remington’s business operations will continue to operate in the normal course and will not be disrupted by the restructuring process. Payments to trade partners, employee wages and other benefits, support for customers, and an ongoing high level of service to consumers will continue without interruption.
Executive Chairman of Remington, Jim Geisler, commented, “Since its founding over 200 years ago, Remington has been a uniquely American company and brand. Our longevity is owed to generations of loyal customers and hard-working employees who met challenges and delivered results. Difficult industry conditions make today’s agreement prudent. I am confident this regrouping ensures that Remington will continue as both a strong company and an indelible part of our national heritage.”
Anthony Acitelli, Remington’s Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Importantly, the fundamentals of our core business remain strong. We have an outstanding collection of brands and products, the unqualified support of a vibrant community across the industry, and a deep and powerful culture. We will emerge from this process with a deleveraged balance sheet and ample liquidity, positioning Remington to compete more aggressively and to seize future growth opportunities. We look forward to serving our customers, our partners throughout the industry, and our many fine employees, now and long into the future.”
AirForce Airguns expands
The AirForce group of companies, which includes AirForce International and BKL Technologies, announced at the SHOT Show the addition of the Rapid Air Weapons and Theoben brands to the lineup.
Rapid Air Weapons (RAW) has established itself as the premier manufacturer of high performance airguns in the US. The company is well known to airgun shooters demanding world ranked performance in field target and benchrest competitions. Hunters looking for refinement, reliability, and extreme accuracy are lining up to add a RAW air rifle to their collection.
After finding it difficult to keep up with increasing production demands, RAW’s owner, Martin Rutterford, decided to seek an alliance with a company that could offer increased production capacity while still maintaining the level of quality RAW is known for. After vetting the available options Rutterford approached AirForce Airguns with the idea of combining resources. He said, “I was impressed by AirForce’s reputation for reliability, performance, and great customer service. After looking at other companies, it became quickly apparent AirForce would be the first choice.”
AirForce President John McCaslin said, “After extensive negotiations we finalized agreement just days prior to the SHOT Show. I can’t say enough about how excited I am to expand the availability of this world class US made airguns.”
Future plans include bringing back the legendary Theoben line of airguns. Theoben started building airguns in England over 30 years ago and quickly developed a reputation for quality. After ceasing operations 5 years ago during a severe economic downturn, there has been a relentless cry to bring the line back into production. “We intend to bring this classic line of airguns back into production as we ramp up the availability of RAW products,” said McCaslin “There are very few airgun companies that actually make their guns in the US with US-made components, and utilizing US workers. This was one of the main reasons Rutterford approached us at the beginning of the talks. We will continue in that direction as we focus on US-made quality and performance while our competitors focus their businesses around imported components and assemblies.”
AirForce Airguns has been innovating, designing and producing precision pre-charged air guns at their Fort Worth, TX, headquarters for over 15 years. In 2016, AirForce opened a new state of the art factory in Texas to keep up with the growing demand and integrate the newest manufacturing techniques.
For more information on AirForce Airguns, visit the website www.airforceairguns.com or write to AirForce Airguns, P.O. Box 2478, Fort Worth, Texas 76113
Kent’s New COO
Kent Cartridge has announced the appointment of Alan Corzine to the position of president and COO of North American Operations.
Corzine assumes the responsibilities of former CEO of Kent-Gamebore, Robert Cove, who retired effective Jan. 1 after over 20 years of service to the company. Cove will remain on the board of directors and provide assistance as a consultant.
Corzine comes to Kent Cartridge with an engineering background and over 30 years of worldwide experience in the small caliber ammunition industry. He will be responsible for both US and Canadian operations, and will also serve on the board of directors for Kent-Gamebore Corporation.
Founded in 1997, Kent Cartridge produces a line of high-quality shotshells for hunters and competitive shooters, including Bismuth, Fasteel, Silversteel, Tealsteel, Tungsten Matrix, Fast Lead, Upland Fasteel, Velocity Game & Target and Diamond Shot, Ultimate Diamond Shot Turkey Loads, Five Star Deer Slugs and Gamebore Regal Game Loads.
Retay-Briley Alliance
Retay Arms Ltd, STI of Konya, Turkey, recently announced that it has partnered with world class manufacturer, customizer and gunsmith, Briley Manufacturing in Houston, TX, in a move that offers world class support for its customers.
The newly established Retay USA Service Center at Briley Manufacturing will be capable of servicing, maintaining and repairing all aspects of the Retay Masai Mara line of shotguns and will be the US headquarters for all the factory related service needs of Retay customers in the US market.
The Retay Warranty Center at Briley Manufacturing will maintain an onsite inventory of over 2000 replacement parts for the Masai Mara shotgun allowing trained Briley technicians to complete service requests quickly and reliably without the lag time that customers may experience when parts must be imported from abroad.
Retay said it believes that their innovative use of modular major components like the push button Retay Removable Trigger ™ group, two part receiver and Removable Ejector ™ will revolutionize the way warranty and service is handled.
Golden Bullseye Awards
The publicly traded Sturm, Ruger Company has reported that the Mark IV™ and Ruger American Pistol® each received a “Golden Bullseye Award” from the National Rifle Association’s American Rifleman magazine. These pistols were named 2018 American Rifleman “Handgun of the Year” and “Women’s Innovation Product of the Year,” respectively.
The Golden Bullseye Awards recognize recently introduced products that are available to consumers prior to the selection. Products considered for recognition are tested by American Rifleman staff or regular contributors.
The Mark IV is Ruger’s latest development in the Mark Series line of pistols, beginning with the Standard Pistol that launched the company in 1949. Originally introduced in December 2015, the feature-rich Ruger American Pistol was designed with the latest US Military standards in mind and was tested in the harshest environments to ensure the rugged reliability consumers have come to expect from Ruger.
