Clarus Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
November 7, 2023

There are 9 speakers on the call.

Operator

Afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Clarus Corporation's Financial Results for the 3rd Quarter Ended September 30, 2023. Joining us today are Clarus Corporation's Executive Chairman, Warren Kanders CFO, Mike Yates and the company's External Director of Investor Relations, Cody Slach. Following the remarks, we'll open the call for your questions. Before we go further, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Slach as he reads the company's Safe Harbor statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that provides important cautions regarding forward looking statements.

Operator

Cody, please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during today's call, we will be making several forward looking statements and we make these statements under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward looking statements reflect our best estimates and assumptions based on our understanding of information known to us today. These forward looking statements are subject to potential risks More information on potential factors that could affect the company's operating and financial results is included from time to time in the company's public reports filed with the SEC. I'd like to remind everyone this call will be available for replay through November 7, 2024, starting at 7 pm Eastern Time tonight.

Speaker 1

A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in today's press release as well as in the company's website at clarus .com. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Clarus' Executive Chairman, Warren Kanders. Warren?

Speaker 2

Thank you, Cody. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining Clarus' earnings call to review our results for the Q3 of 2023. I am joined today by our Chief Financial Officer, Mike Yates. I will start the call by addressing the overall business and corporate strategy. Mike will then provide specific comments on the performance of our 3 segments and a detailed financial review.

Speaker 2

Given the non binding indication of interest I previously submitted to acquire the company's Precision Sports segment and our special committee's ongoing review, I believe it's prudent for Mike to handle today's Q and A session. Now jumping to our performance. Our brands largely experienced another challenging quarter given persistent macroeconomic headwinds that have constrained consumer demand and the continued inventory overhang at retail and distributors. This was especially pronounced in our Precision Sports segment, where customers stockpiling markdown inventory earlier this year impacted sales velocity in the 3rd quarter. This was partially offset by a snapback quarter in our Adventure segment, which I will discuss shortly.

Speaker 2

As an organization, however, we did not stand idle. During the quarter, we made significant strides in the strategic review of our brands, Developing compelling long term growth plans, rebuilding our teams and taking steps to recalibrate each business to operate most efficiently in the post COVID era. We are undoing some of the choices made by prior management teams. So to a certain extent, we needed to press the reset button in order to pursue rebuilding our reputation as a customer centric enterprise. I am confident that the teams in place are fully capable of driving the turnaround.

Speaker 2

Both of our leaders at Outdoor and Adventure have Specific past experiences as operators for private equity backed businesses, where they were responsible for structurally correcting And rightsizing iconic global heritage brands in preparation for their regrowth phase. We see the same characteristics with our brands, but the early steps require patience as the strategic initiatives are in motion. With our pivot away from a corporate cost structure nearly complete, each of the segment leaders now have full P and L ownership and are tasked with driving the success of their respective business units. As we build for the long term, I am pleased with our ability to progress the cash flow initiatives that we can control in this challenging market. We continue to seek opportunities to reduce our inventory levels without eroding overall gross margin.

Speaker 2

This includes improving the age of our inventory at outdoor, while prioritizing the investment in new products underlying potentially compelling new business opportunities. As mentioned, Adventure turned the corner in Q3, reporting 9% sales growth and generating an adjusted EBITDA margin over 13%. From an operational standpoint, we completely reshaped the adventure organization, forming new leadership globally, Engaging strategically with key accounts and developing a clear 3 year product horizon, which was well received. This includes the launch of our new Rhino Rack Pioneer 6 product, our premium tray portfolio leader, which we began delivering in October. This product carries an average gross profit margin that is 1200 basis points superior to the last generation product.

Speaker 2

This was supported with additional launches in our crossbar business with the introduction of both the RX100 And RX 200 for our OEM partnership with Ford and their Everest product. In our recovery products, we Launched the Maxtrax Lightboard through an exclusive 500 door release with a key retail partner in Australia. Furthermore, we are excited about the acquisition of Australia based Tread Outdoors, which we acquired subsequent to quarter end. Tread is a fast growing outdoor adventure brand, best in class, innovative recovery products across off road, 4x4 auto Motive Touring, Camping and Caravans. Tread will continue to operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary and will be part of our Adventure segment.

Speaker 2

The Tread Outdoor brand is designed and built for the seriously adventurous and embodies Clarus' philosophy to identify brands that are passionately supported by customers and consumers who live and breathe the lifestyle. This transaction highlights our continued focus on identifying sought after brands within the Adventure segment that are expected to both Hence our offering to existing retail customers and expand our reach into new and larger channels. In our outdoor segment, revenue trends improved sequentially from the low of Q2 to down only 3% in the 3rd quarter compared to prior year Q3. North America is stabilizing, but remains challenging as retailers continue to manage inventory and keep open to buys tight. Europe was a drag on the overall result as the region felt some of the inventory and macroeconomic challenges that our North American business faced in the Q4 of last year and the first half of this year.

Speaker 2

We expect this softness to persist in Europe in the coming quarters. Gross margins continued to be compressed as we right sized inventory and cleared slower moving products. We also continued to pursue various cost reduction initiatives and operational improvements in the quarter. We drove efficiencies in our R and D, marketing, sales and discretionary areas, while also Strategically investing in key areas to get the brand growing from the core again. As such, we hired a new Vice President of North American Sales and simplified the structure of the team while adding new directors for specialty and key accounts.

Speaker 2

In apparel, An important growth driver for Black Diamond, we hired a new business unit director, strengthened the design team and implemented a more rigorous athlete driven product development process. Importantly, we signed a multi year agreement to be the official outfitter of Rainier Mountaineering, one of America's premier guide services with over 70 guides around the world from Rayonier to Denali to Nakamcongwa and the Himalayas. Under this partnership, Rainier Mountaineering will be a close partner in bringing innovation and extensive field testing to our Alpine Mountaineering apparel and hard goods. We have also bolstered our roster of legendary climbers, skiers and mountain athletes with the addition of Angela Howes, President of the American Mountain Guides Association Adrian Ballanger, high altitude climber and skier and founder of Alco Guo Expeditions and Topo Mina and Carla Perez, Big Mountain Alpinist and Guides based in South America. Given our operational progress in Outdoor this year, we expect to begin 2024 on a much firmer footing as we pursue growth from our core, while seeking to develop new revenue streams in categories, channels and geographies.

Speaker 2

Zooming out on our consolidated brands and setting our sights on the Q4 and beyond, our priorities remain firmly set on the stabilization of sales and margins, Additional organizational reshaping and cost reductions and resetting our brands to a new baseline as we enter 2024. We are confident in our belief that this strategy is grounded in the maximization of shareholder value creation. But before the call before passing the call over to Mike, I'd like to update shareholders on a couple of matters. First, we are planning to host an Investor Day in late January. We will have myself, Mike and our segment leaders, Neil and Matt available to share their strategies and growth plans.

Speaker 2

And finally, although we do not make a practice of commenting on pending litigation, We are pleased with the progress of the lawsuit against Hap Trading LLC and its principle for disgorgement of short swing profits under Section 16B of the securities laws. Fact Discovery has for the most part concluded and expert reports are due to be exchanged shortly in late November with rebuttal reports due by late December. The depositions of the experts will be taken by mid January 2024 and the parties will submit a joint status letter to the court by late January 2024. At that point, the court will issue a schedule for summary judgment, And if the motion is denied, set a trial date. With that, thank you for being with us today, and I will turn the call over to Mike.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Warren, and good afternoon, everyone. Jumping right into the performance in the Q3, total sales were 100 $100,000 compared to $115,700,000 in the prior year quarter. On a reported and constant currency basis, total sales were down 14% 13%, respectively. By segment, Adventure reported sales increased 9% to $20,200,000 in the 3rd quarter and on a constant currency basis sales were up 12% compared to $18,600,000 in the Q3 of last year due to the strong sales in Rhino Rack's home market of Australia and the stabilization of sales in the North American market. In Australia, new car sale records have been broken for the 3rd month running with the Australian carb market posting its best ever September.

Speaker 3

As such, we experienced sales in Australia surpassing the AUD20 million level for the quarter, which is a level not seen since the Q1 of 2022. This was driven by strong OEM sales with the introduction of a new vehicle and product line and strong sell into a new box retail partner. The team did a tremendous job engaging with key accounts like these to promote our vision and product horizon was well received. In the U. S, adventure revenue surpassed our internal expectations.

Speaker 3

While demand for overlanding gear remains sluggish, We experienced success with select new customers through targeted marketing, promotion and training. We continue to focus on expanding our go to market strategy and increasing attention to our e commerce channel. On boarding of large new customers in North American market that will start to ship in the Q4 of 2023 has completed with a specific product portfolio being tailored for their large national customer base. But overall, customers domestically in the U. S.

Speaker 3

Have been and continue to control their open to buy dollars and are selective on their replenishment. As an example of tighter purse strings, many participants pulled out of the Overland Expo And manufacturers are not displaying at SEMA this year in order to reduce cost. In our MAXTRAX brand, Sales in Q3 rebounded compared to Q2. A few key accounts are back online after softness in the second quarter, and we expect strong revenue in the Q4, in part due to the introduction of our MAXTRAX Lite new product. We currently believe the worst is behind us for our Adventure Brands in this segment and we're quite constructive about the opportunities we have to drive strong sales growth and better than 13% adjusted EBITDA margins in our Adventure segment over the long term.

Speaker 3

And as Warren mentioned, After the quarter ended on October 9, 2023, we purchased Tread Outdoors to complement our other brands in this segment. We are excited by the prospects for growth in this recovery brand and currently expect Tread to contribute roughly $1,500,000 to 2,000,000 dollars in sales in the Q4 of 2023. Moving to Outdoor, Sales were down 3% on a reported basis to $61,100,000 versus $62,900,000 in the year ago quarter. While sales have improved from Q2, the overall market continues to be soft due to excess inventory in the channel And a constrained consumer given the macroeconomic headwinds. As Warren mentioned, the regional dynamics are shifting from what we earlier in the year and in Q4 of last year with our North American business stabilizing and the rest of the world getting tougher.

Speaker 3

We entered the Q4 with a strong order book. However, headwinds have continued to increase in our European market given mild early winter conditions as well as impact from macroeconomic headwinds and geopolitical issues. Our international global Distributor business remains resilient, but we do anticipate some softness relative to strength this region showed in the prior year. Partially offsetting this 3% decline at Outdoor was continued strong execution in our direct to consumer business at Black Diamond, which was up 22% in the quarter. We see our direct to consumer business as one of the best indicators of the strength of the brand since it is the fullest expression of our assortment and has less of the inventory hangover effect that has dragged on the wholesale market.

Speaker 3

We have executed well on an initial set of immediate cost reduction and operational alignment priorities. Our results at Outdoor in 2023 from a margin standpoint reflected difficult market conditions and our effort to right size not just the dollar value, but also the quality and aging of the inventory is all in an attempt to reset the business to a new baseline for 2024. Precision Sports sales were $18,800,000 in the 3rd quarter Drained by heightened inventory levels at both retail and key distributors, but also some wallet tightening by the consumer. As one partner told me, not only is there too much inventory at retail and in the distribution channel, but there is also too much inventory in the hands of the consumer. We believe the consumer took advantage of the promotional pricing environment earlier in the year to Stockpile inventory and frankly bought inventory when it was available, but now has ample supply to get them through this fall hunting season.

Speaker 3

Fall 2023 hunting season has been very tough. We did not move the expected ammo that we were Planning to sell, especially at Barnes. We have been working through this rough patch and need to find an equilibrium of supply and demand for our precision sports business. We specifically did not take any action to be promotional in our pricing to move our premium inventory. We are comfortable with our Barnes Center filed rifle hunting ammo and did not want to liquidate these premium products hastily as we expect that demand will recover in the coming quarters.

Speaker 3

Moreover, given the 2 geopolitical conflicts our world is facing, we are seeing a modest uptick on some of our bullet calibers in October geared towards the military and the defense sector. While this could be a catalyst for growth in 2024, it is still too early to tell, but we are shifting production capacity to these new opportunities. Moving on to consolidated gross margins. In the second quarter, gross margin This increase was primarily driven by easing freight costs positively impacting gross margins by 90 basis points along with positive channel and product mix of 80 basis points. This was somewhat offset by 30 basis point unfavorable impact from foreign exchange.

Speaker 3

From a segment perspective, gross margin at Venture increased significantly to 40.7% in the quarter compared to 27.6% in the prior year quarter due to lower freight cost, the benefit from prior year cost out actions being realized in the current period and higher volume. Gross margin at outdoor was 31.2% in the quarter compared to 33.6% in the prior year quarter, reflecting the continuing rightsizing of our inventory via promotional pricing and higher sales of discontinued merchandise. The quality of our outdoor inventory is improving, but it's not yet fully aligned with demand. We also continue to work on organizational to reduce cost and expect the actions we are taking to drive improvements in both gross and operating margins in 2024 at the Outdoor Business. Gross margin at Precision Sports increased 5.40 basis points to 44% in the 3rd quarter compared to 38.6 percent in the prior year quarter due to favorable cost variances being realized along with better product mix, specifically less ammo sales and more bullet sales, which are at a higher margin.

Speaker 3

Selling, general and administrative Expenses in the Q3 decreased 2 percent to $31,800,000 compared to $32,700,000 in the same year ago quarter. The decline was driven by lower sales commissions, lower intangible amortization expense and lower non cash stock based compensation expenses for performance awards at corporate, partially offset by investments in e commerce initiatives at the outdoor segment and approximately $400,000 of higher legal costs in the Q3 of 2023 related to the pending litigation against HAP Trading. Net loss in the Q3 was $1,300,000 or a negative $0.03 per diluted share. This compares to net income of $2,800,000 or $0.07 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Net loss in the Q3 included $1,100,000 restructuring charge on a pre tax basis relating to our efforts to take costs out across our portfolio.

Speaker 3

The net loss also included approximately $800,000 for transaction costs on a pre tax basis. These transaction costs related to the Tread Outdoor acquisition and costs related to the ongoing process undertaken by the special committee of the Board of Directors relating to its evaluation of potential sale of the Precision Sports Business. Adjusted EBITDA in the 3rd quarter was $9,900,000 or an adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.9 percent compared to 15.1 Adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.0 percent in the same quarter a year ago. The decline in adjusted EBITDA was driven by lower sales volumes, partially offset by improvements in SG and A in the quarter. By segment, adjusted EBITDA was $3,500,000 or 5.8 percent at outdoor, dollars 6,900,000 or 36.6 percent at Precision Sports and $2,700,000 or 13.3 percent at Adventure for the quarter.

Speaker 3

The consolidated adjusted EBITDA cludes $3,200,000 in corporate costs, which was higher than the $2,800,000 in the prior year due to higher legal costs associated with the short swing profit litigation. Now let me shift over to our liquidity. At September 30, cash and cash equivalents were $8,000,000 compared to $12,100,000 at December 31, 2022. Free cash flow defined as net cash provided by operating Activities less capital expenditures for the 3rd quarter was a negative 1,100,000 This compares to a negative $13,600,000 of free cash flow in the same year ago quarter. The improvement in free cash flow was due to our efforts to reduce inventory.

Speaker 3

We paid down roughly $5,000,000 of debt and ended the quarter with Total debt of $122,600,000 This put us in a net debt position of $114,600,000 resulting in a net debt leverage ratio of 3.3 times on a trailing 12 month adjusted EBITDA basis. Under our $300,000,000 revolving credit facility, We have approximately $10,400,000 outstanding and further borrowing capacity of approximately 17,300,000 At September 30, 2023. Our inventories were lower sequentially by 8,500,000 To $140,000,000 at September 30. This compares this $8,500,000 decrease compared to the June 30 balance. As Warren discussed, we did a good job of clearing slow moving inventory and investing behind products with good growth prospects.

Speaker 3

By segment, Outdoor has approximately $70,000,000 of inventory and was behind our internal targeted inventory balance due to Softer market conditions and a mismatch between available inventory and demand opportunities. However, the aging of inventory is significantly improved in 2023 and the team is focused on prioritizing faster moving products. Precision Sports inventory was higher than expected. Precision Sports had $45,000,000 of inventory at the end of the quarter due to the market slowing and fall hunt season weakness resulting in much higher finished goods ammunition, especially at Barnes. Adventure is trending as planned, ending the quarter with approximately $25,000,000 of inventory.

Speaker 3

This includes our investment in new inventory for the new commercial opportunity I mentioned in North American market with our new partner. From a tax perspective, we have over $18,000,000 of NOLs remaining and we expect these NOLs to offset any federal cash taxes $364,000,000 to $368,000,000 for the full year 2023 and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $33,000,000 to 35,000,000 or an adjusted EBITDA margin of 9.3 percent assuming the midpoint of sales and adjusted EBITDA guidance. We also now expect full year capital expenditures to be approximately $6,000,000 and free cash flow is now expected to range between $20,000,000 $22,000,000 for the full year 2023. We expect to end the year with approximately $120,000,000 in debt and this is inclusive of the approximate $6,000,000 of debt we borrowed in October to fund the Tread Outdoor acquisition. For the 4th quarter, This outlook implies sales in the range of $83,000,000 to $87,000,000 and adjusted EBITDA to range between $6,000,000 $8,000,000 The Q4 and full year guidance includes $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 of revenue related to Tread that I mentioned earlier.

Speaker 3

Lastly, during the quarter, Clarus confirmed the receipt of a non binding indication of interest from Warren Candors to acquire our Precision Sports segment. In response, our Board of Directors formed a special committee and retained Houlihan Lokey as a financial advisor to evaluate the proposal and assist in the solicitation of parties that have expressed an interest in and other parties that might be interested in acquiring Precision agreement will result from this process or that any transaction will be consummated whether with Mr. Candor's or any other party. I will pause here, hand the call back to the operator as we are now ready for your Q for the Q and A.

Operator

Thank you, sir. Please press star 1 1 again. Please standby while we compile the Q and A roster. And your first question comes from the line of Anna Blaschkin with B. Riley.

Speaker 4

Thanks. I guess first I'd like to dig a little bit into the implied 4th quarter guidance. It seems to imply a sequential deceleration in the trend, is that would you say that's mostly due to the dynamics you described of North America stabilizing, Europe seeming to get a little bit worse. And then any color by segment given that Precision Sports was a little bit of an outlier with the declines in 3Q. Should that get better in 4Q?

Speaker 4

Just any help there would be great.

Speaker 3

Yes. Sure. Based on the guidance for the quarter, obviously, the midpoint for the Q3 is $85,000,000 That is really being driven by slower Europe as we mentioned in outdoor, Continued substantial inventory in the market here in North America for outdoor. And then also the decline at Precision Sports, right? The business does slow down in December for its annual Maintenance, right.

Speaker 3

We closed the factory for a couple of weeks at the end of the year. So normally if you look back, you can see lower Volumes at Precision Sports, but let me be clear, the business at Precision Sports has slowed, right? The market is weaker And that's part of the change as well compared to earlier in the year, right? So overall, the decline is The Q4 is really about equal between Precision and Outdoor.

Operator

Okay. Thanks.

Speaker 3

Compared to our prior guidance, just to be clear.

Speaker 4

Okay. But from a year over year perspective, should we expect Kind of a similar decline as in 3Q in Precision Sports?

Speaker 3

Yes.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thanks. And then turning back to some of the commentary in the prepared remarks. You alluded to Warren alluded to, I'm doing some of the choices made by prior management teams. Can you elaborate on kind of what changes have been made over the past year to set you guys up for 2024 and beyond?

Speaker 3

I don't want to get into specific details of what We're unwinding, but that's I don't think that's necessary to discuss at this point in time. But Both Matt at Adventure and Neil at Outdoor Are specifically focused on new products, new channels, new customer opportunities, right, to grow the business, Right. And that's we'll go into a lot more detail of that with both those gentlemen in late January at the Analyst Day that we talked about.

Speaker 4

Okay. Thanks, Mike. That's it for me.

Speaker 3

Thanks.

Operator

One moment for your next question. Your next question comes from the line of Matthew Koranda with Roth MKM. Your line is now open.

Speaker 3

Hello, Matt.

Speaker 5

Hi, Mike. So just wanted to drill down on BD and outdoor. I'm just curious, can you Highlight for us why profitability is so challenged there. It sounds like you alluded to DTC growing, so I would assume there'd be a mix benefit there. Obviously, international wholesale sounds weak.

Speaker 5

And then obviously, I think everybody well understands the North America sort of wholesale challenges With reticence to take inventory. But I would think that a DTC mix would help you from a margin standpoint. Are there Particular headwinds that you're facing in terms of margins there. Just help us understand why they're weak, why they're continuing Remain weak in the Q4 and then what the

Speaker 2

path is to get back to that

Speaker 5

kind of 10% bogey that you guys have put out there before?

Speaker 3

So your assumption is right that DTC is a positive product mix and helps the profitability. D2C was up 22% in the quarter, but D2C is still a relatively small piece of the overall Black Diamond Business. We did a little over just around $9,000,000 in revenue D2C this quarter, just to put it in perspective. So The weakness continues around kind of rightsizing inventory. And I think in the prepared remarks, I mentioned that we sold more inventory, more discontinued merchandise inventory, more promotional pricing.

Speaker 3

So to continue to move inventory and turn that into cash, pricing is very aggressive in the marketplace. And We did reduce inventory at Black Diamond by over $10,000,000 In order to do that, We needed to be very aggressive on pricing, specifically in the wholesale market here in North America.

Speaker 5

Okay. And then in the 4th quarter implied guide, it just sounds like you're assuming deterioration in profitability relative The Q3, at least on an overall basis. Did your guide build in the assumption that promotions at BD get worse in the 4th quarter? Is that how we should Think about the

Speaker 3

No, I don't think No, I think it stays about the same. Our guide assumes about a 35% gross margin in the 4th quarters, which is not too dissimilar to what we Experienced here 35.5% here in the Q3.

Speaker 5

Okay. But the EBITDA, sort of the implied EBITDA Margin in the Q4 does sequentially get worse. So if gross margin isn't the culprit, are we leaning into SG and A? Is there some sort of uptick in Help us understand that sequential decline because I think it goes down by north of 100 bps

Speaker 3

I think the bigger impact you're going to see is on the gross margins and the EBITDA At Precision Sports in the Q4. Okay.

Speaker 5

So Precision, all right. Can we just I want to touch on that for just a second and then I'll turn it over to others. But Should we just assume that, that 3rd quarter run rate in terms of revenue contribution from Precision Sustained into the Q4. I'm just trying to get the right way to think about sort of revenue contribution from Precision in the 4th quarter At these kind of lower levels.

Speaker 3

It's probably even a little less because of the shutdown I mentioned in December.

Speaker 5

Okay, got it. So sequentially lower than the Q3 on revs and then probably in terms of margin, we should Probably some headwinds to margin as well in the Q4 just given the shift.

Speaker 3

Yes. Correct. Correct.

Speaker 5

Okay. And then any benefit you mentioned and we picked up in the data Kind of mid October with the geopolitical disruption and whatnot, there was definitely an uptick in demand for at least a period How much to what extent have you built in the benefit of that in the Q4? And how sustainable do you think that is? Because It feels like maybe it's just a couple of weeks of benefit and then that dies down. But have you guys seen any sort of decline in demand There's an uptick in October.

Speaker 3

Yes. Good question, Matt. There's 2 things going on. I mentioned both in October, we saw an uptick both from a military In a defense standpoint, I think the defense, home defense or uptick in that market here in the U. S.

Speaker 3

With some of the Geopolitical things going on across the world. That was there was an uptick late October related to that. But we don't think that has a lot of legs. That was a couple a week, 10 days worth of uptick that we've heard from our Distributors and Retail Partners. From a military standpoint, we have seen that uptick, right?

Speaker 3

But for a certain caliber bullet, right? And we are shifting capacity to that opportunity. We'd already had capacity designated to that. We're just adding more capacity to that opportunity for The geopolitical challenges over in Europe and the Middle East. So Long way to say, yes.

Speaker 3

I think the military has some legs, but the market here at home was a blip. Okay.

Speaker 5

All right. Helpful, Mike. Thank you for the detail. And then, one more if I could just sneak one in. Just

Speaker 3

On the

Speaker 5

sale of Precision, I mean, I know you said there's no updates there. But what I'm curious about is just sort of how long is that Process supposed to take, I guess, at the outset of the indication from Cander's. The assumption, I think, at least broadly among investors was that it was probably going to be about a 40, 45 day process. We're kind of outside that window now. What is there anything you can highlight as to like why we need more time?

Speaker 5

Just anything around the mechanics. I know you can't really probably Share a lot around the specifics, but I'll provide an update of thinking around that.

Speaker 3

Sure. I don't have a specific update on the timing. I will say there's Several interested parties in the process and we're going to run the process to its conclusion and if that extends beyond the 45 days, which we probably passed that here last week. We're going to run this process to conclusion to Under the guidance of the special committee of the Board to make sure that they evaluate all opportunities to create the most Shareholder value possible.

Speaker 5

Okay, helpful. I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Okay.

Operator

One moment for the next question. And your next question comes from the line of Jim Duffy with Stifel. Your line is now open.

Speaker 6

Thank you. Hi, Mike. Hey, Jim. Mike, I've got three lines of questioning. I'll keep it direct and quick.

Speaker 6

First on The precision sports business, I'm curious the extent to which the pressure you're experiencing on that revenue run rate is reflective of your exposure to certain calibers or your allocation of capital Or excuse me, capacity to certain calibers versus just the general environment. Like is there a tactical approach that could have yielded better results for you?

Speaker 3

I don't believe so. I think it's the general market. We I mentioned we built inventory, especially at Barnes and Finished Goods. That inventory consists of what we've referred to as 7 or 8 critical center fire rifle hunting ammos that we would have expected to sell here For the fall hunt season. Like I mentioned, they just there's too much inventory At all levels.

Speaker 3

So none of that's moving at this point. And we elected not to be promotional and discount to give that away because it's a premium The solution that we opted to hold on to and we'll sell in coming quarters once the markets kind of Hit some type of equilibrium.

Speaker 6

Understood. And on the adventure segment, Positive there, I'm particularly enthused about the progress that you've made with gross margins. Is that gross margin rate sustainable on a go forward basis? And Are there approaches to improving the gross margin in the Inventor segment that can be applied to your other division?

Speaker 3

No, I think it's sustainable. There may be blips up and down, But I think in Warren's comment, he mentioned P6, Pioneer 6 platform has a 1200 basis point better margin. There's other products we're looking at to take cost out of. So over the Coming quarters, I think that definitely is an opportunity to continue to maintain or even expand that level of margin at Adventure At the gross margin level.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then lastly, I just wanted to ask looking around the quarter into 2024, 2023 has been A reset year in many respects. What are the objectives for the business in 2024? And how do you think about that in the context of The uncertain environment. I'm just trying to get a view into kind of the philosophy of your strategic planning for the business into 2024.

Speaker 3

Right. Without getting into any financial metrics about 24 because we'll talk about that in the coming weeks. But From a strategic standpoint, it's about getting the right leadership in place, building the teams out, introducing new products across The portfolio, developing new relations with new partners, whether it's distributors or wholesale or retail partners. It's about rightsizing inventory. And one of the things we've said is to make sure we're just easy to do business with, right?

Speaker 3

And all those things are of the focus of Neil's team at Outdoor, Matt's team at Adventure and the same with the team at Precision Sports under my leadership.

Speaker 6

Very good. Thank you, Mike.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thanks, Jim.

Operator

One moment for the next question. And your next question comes from the line of Mark Smith with Lake Street. Your line is now open.

Speaker 7

Hi, guys. First question for me, as we look at the uptick in direct to consumer, how much of that maybe was due to Promotions and did that hurt kind of the profitability of that business?

Speaker 3

Well, like I mentioned earlier, Mark, For the quarter, we did just a little under $9,000,000 in our D2C business at Outdoor. Ecom, our true D2C business, it was up $1,200,000 Margin kind of held up though. There were some promotion, But we did have a sale around Labor Day, but the business held up. Our bigger profit challenges have been Moving older inventory, moving discontinued merchandise, right? And we've made good progress on that.

Speaker 3

And especially as we missed some opportunity because we didn't have the right inventory where the demand existed. And I think we referred to that as a mismatch And inventory compared to demand. That's where revenue could have even been better. But On a D2C basis, revenue was up and we looked at to that to really kind of look at the health of the brand.

Speaker 7

Okay. And then you talked at length about inventory issues continuing throughout the channel within the Precision segment. Can you talk about within outdoor and maybe a bit within adventure, what you're seeing from your retail partners, distributors, from Inventory, is there continue to be issues or did you see it improve at all during Q3?

Speaker 3

I mean, there still continues to be issues and there's pockets of some improvement, but At the whole level, it's still challenging, right? And it's a mixed bag. When we look at Some of our key and national accounts, how we do get some weekly sell through data. Some are up low 20%, some are down 20% week to week. So, it's still pretty volatile out there with some of our key accounts.

Speaker 7

Okay. And as we look at some continued channel inventory issues, how are you viewing promotional environment here In Q4, I assume this is fully built into your guidance, but do you think that we'll see improvement in inventory Throughout the channel in Q4 or is this something that potentially bleeds further into 2024?

Speaker 3

Yes. No. So I told in the prepared remarks, I mentioned that inventory at outdoor is around $70,000,000 I think that should be in the 60s, come the end of the quarter. We are focused on continuing to right size our inventory, improve the aging, lean into more of what we're calling A products. And so we have so we can meet the demand, right, for the A products, the stuff that the demand is out there for, and we'll continue to focus on that.

Speaker 3

In the Q4, We're targeting to move $3,000,000 or $4,000,000 of older inventory still at Outdoor. So that will have an impact or that will continue to put pressure But all in the goal, all in the objective to kind of reset the business for 2024, specifically from an outdoor perspective.

Speaker 7

From outdoor. Are you seeing some of these same issues in the Adventure segment?

Speaker 3

No, not so much. No, we're introducing new products. You saw the margins holding up. I mean, I feel good about What we have going on there, Adventure saw the pressure first, right? That Outdoor followed And now Precision Sports has kind of seen the pressure from too much inventory in the channel.

Speaker 3

And in adventures just is the first one to come out of that and We're starting to I don't see it the same. I do see inventory being pressure at Precision, but We feel confident in being able to hold that finished good ammo because it is like I mentioned to Jim, it's in our premium centerfire rifle calibers. We're not going to Be super promotional around moving that inventory just to generate cash. That's not necessary at this point in time.

Speaker 5

Okay, great.

Speaker 7

Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Joe Aleville with Raymond James. Your line is now open.

Speaker 8

Good afternoon. This is actually Martin on for Joe. Just a quick question. I found that the destocking and heightened promotional environment That's been pretty aggressive as of late and it sounds like we might expect something similar in 4Q. But just beyond that, how confident are you that this is going to start dissipating?

Speaker 8

And which segment might have the most pressure just kind of starting into the early part of next year?

Speaker 3

Well, This destocking of inventory has been going on for a while. So level of confidence is obviously Low because it has been going on for a while. But like I just mentioned with Mark, I think We're starting to see adventure turn the corner, Black Diamond stabilize. I'd say the one I'm most worried about is the precision sports business As it's just starting to see the excess inventory in the channels here over the last couple of months.

Speaker 8

Got it. Thank you. And just looking at the holiday season, do you think that's going to be kind of And any opportunity for you to move any inventory?

Speaker 3

Nothing out of the ordinary. Outdoor We'll have its Black Friday specials like it has every year, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Speaker 8

Got it. Thank you, Mike. Sure.

Operator

At this time, This concludes our question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Yates for closing remarks.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Bella. I want to thank everyone for attending the call this afternoon and your continued support and interest in Clarus, And we look forward to speaking with you next time we get together. Thanks again for joining. Take care.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's Coppell Teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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Earnings Conference Call
Clarus Q3 2023
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