UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES

EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ____________ to ____________

Commission File Number: 001-34767

CLARUS CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES ¨ NO x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. YES ¨ NO x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). YES x NO ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act) YES ¨ NO x

The aggregate market value of the voting stock and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the Registrant at June 30, 2020 was approximately $266.4 million based on $11.56 per share, the closing price of the common stock as quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

As of March 3, 2021, there were 31,304,181 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, outstanding.

DOCUMENT INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

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INDEX

CLARUS CORPORATION

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Clarus Corporation (which may be referred to as the “Company,” “Clarus,” “we,” “our” or “us”), a company focused on the outdoor and consumer industries, is seeking opportunities to acquire and grow businesses that can generate attractive shareholder returns. The Company has net operating tax loss carryforwards which it is seeking to redeploy to maximize shareholder value. Clarus’ primary business is as a leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the climb, ski, mountain, sport and skincare markets. The Company’s products are principally sold under the Black Diamond®, Sierra®, Barnes®, PIEPS® and SKINourishment® brand names through outdoor specialty and online retailers, distributors and original equipment manufacturers throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Through our Black Diamond, PIEPS, and SKINourishment brands, we offer a broad range of products including: high-performance, activity-based apparel (such as shells, insulation, midlayers, pants and logowear); rock-climbing footwear and equipment (such as carabiners, protection devices, harnesses, belay devices, helmets, and ice-climbing gear); technical backpacks and high-end day packs; trekking poles; headlamps and lanterns; gloves and mittens; and skincare and other sport-enhancing products. We also offer advanced skis, ski poles, ski skins, and snow safety products, including avalanche airbag systems, avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes. Through our Sierra and Barnes brands, we manufacture a wide range of high-performance bullets and ammunition for both rifles and pistols that are used for precision target shooting, hunting and military and law enforcement purposes.

Clarus, incorporated in Delaware in 1991, acquired Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. (“Black Diamond Equipment”) in May 2010 and changed its name to Black Diamond, Inc. in January 2011. In October 2012, we acquired PIEPS Holding GmbH and its subsidiaries (collectively, “PIEPS”).

On August 14, 2017, the Company changed its name from Black Diamond, Inc. to Clarus Corporation and its stock ticker symbol from “BDE” to “CLAR” on the NASDAQ stock exchange. On August 21, 2017, the Company acquired Sierra Bullets, L.L.C. (“Sierra”). On November 6, 2018, the Company acquired the assets of SKINourishment, Inc. (“SKINourishment”).

On October 2, 2020, the Company completed the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities constituting the Barnes business (“Barnes”) for a purchase price of $30,500,000.

On August 6, 2018, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend program of $0.025 per share of the Company’s common stock (the “Quarterly Cash Dividend”) or $0.10 per share on an annualized basis.  The declaration and payment of future dividends is subject to the discretion of and approval of the Company’s Board of Directors. On May 1, 2020, the Company announced that, in light of the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, its Board of Directors temporarily replaced its Quarterly Cash Dividend with a stock dividend (the “Quarterly Stock Dividend”). In 2020, 2019 and 2018, our total Quarterly Cash Dividends were $1,520,000, $2,987,000 and $1,488,000, respectively.  In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000. On January 29, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the payment on February 19, 2021 of the Quarterly Cash Dividend to the record holders of shares of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on February 8, 2021.

Impact of COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a national emergency by the U.S. government in March 2020, with governments world-wide implementing safety measures restricting travel and requiring citizen lockdowns and self-confinements for quarantining purposes. This has negatively affected the U.S. and global economy, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in significant transport restrictions and disruption of financial markets. The impact of this pandemic has created significant uncertainty in the global economy and has affected our business, employees, retail and distribution partners, suppliers, and customers.

We experienced a decline in retail demand within our Black Diamond segment beginning in the second half of March 2020 through December 2020, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability for the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2020. We also expect a continued impact on the Company’s sales and profitability in future periods. The duration of these trends and the magnitude of such impacts cannot be precisely estimated at this time, as they are affected by a number of factors (some of which are outside management’s control), including those presented in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

We have mitigated some of the negative impacts to our operating results by taking significant actions to improve our current operating results and liquidity position, including drawing on the credit facility, suspending share repurchases, temporarily suspending cash dividends, postponing non-essential capital expenditures, reducing operating costs, modulating production in line with demand, and substantially reducing discretionary spending. We will continue to adjust mitigation measures as needed related to health and safety. Those measures have and might continue to include temporarily suspending manufacturing or retail operations, modifying workspaces, continuing social distancing policies, implementing new personal protective equipment or health screening policies at our facilities, or such other industry best practices needed to continue maintain a healthy and safe environment for our employees amidst the pandemic.

These countermeasures partially mitigated the impacts of COVID-19 on our full year 2020 financial results. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and our operations evolves, we will continue to assess the impact on the Company and respond accordingly.

Sustained adverse impacts to the Company, certain of its suppliers, dealers or customers may also affect the Company’s future cash flows, liquidity, and valuation of certain assets and therefore may increase the likelihood of an impairment charge, write-off, or reserve associated with such assets, including goodwill, indefinite and finite-lived intangible assets, property and equipment, inventories, accounts receivable, net deferred tax assets, and other assets.

Market Overview

Our primary target customers are outdoor-oriented consumers who enjoy active, outdoor-focused lifestyles. The users of our products are made up of a wide range of outdoor enthusiasts, including climbers, mountaineers, trail runners, skiers, mountain bikers, backpackers and campers, competitive shooters, hunters and other outdoor-inspired consumers. We believe we have a strong reputation for innovation, style, quality, design, safety, and durability in our core product lines.

As the variety of outdoor sports activities continue to grow and proliferate, and existing outdoor sports evolve and become ever more specialized, we believe other outdoor companies are failing to address the unique technical and performance needs of enthusiasts involved in such specialized activities. We believe we have been able to help address this void in the marketplace by seeking to leverage our user intimacy and improving on our existing product lines by expanding our product offerings into new niche categories and products, and by incorporating innovative industrial design and engineering and performance tolerances into our products. We believe the credibility and authenticity of our brands expands our potential market beyond committed outdoor athletes to those outdoor generalist consumers who desire to lead active, outdoor-focused lifestyles.

Growth Strategies

Our growth strategies are to achieve sustainable, profitable growth organically while seeking to expand our business through targeted, strategic acquisitions. We intend to create innovative new products, increase consumer and retailer awareness and demand for our products, and build stronger emotional brand connections with consumers over time across a growing number of geographic markets.

Continue to Service and Grow Existing Accounts. We continue to seek to develop strong relationships with our key retail, distributor and original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) partners through a mutual respect and admiration for the sports we serve. Through our various corporate initiatives, a focus on being easy to do business with, the extension of our existing product portfolios, and an emphasis on quality, on-time deliveries, brand awareness and marketing, we plan to grow our existing accounts as well as foster new relationships.

Broaden Distribution Footprint. We believe there is a significant opportunity to expand the presence and penetration of each of our brands outside of the U.S. market. The European alpine market is currently significantly larger than the U.S. market and is highly fragmented by country, with no clear leader across Europe. We have been able to gain market share by emphasizing our Black Diamond brand, positioning it as a global brand with American roots and PIEPS as a global brand with European roots. We believe there is also a significant opportunity to expand our Sierra and Barnes brands more extensively outside the U.S. market through additional sales and marketing investments.

New Product Development and Innovation. To drive organic growth within our existing businesses, we intend to leverage our strong brand names, customer relationships, proven capacity to develop new innovative products and product extensions in each of our existing product categories, and to expand into new product categories. Our new technologies are generally inspired by our continuing commitment to maximize the enjoyment and efficacy of the products for the outdoor sports for which we design.

Acquisition of Complementary Businesses. We expect to target acquisitions as a viable opportunity to gain access to new product groups, customer channels, and increase penetration of existing markets. We may also pursue acquisitions that diversify the Company within the outdoor and consumer markets. To the extent we pursue future acquisitions, we intend to focus on “super-fan” businesses with leading brands, recurring revenue, sustainable margins and strong cash flow. We anticipate financing future acquisitions prudently through a combination of cash on hand, operating cash flow, bank financings, private placements and new capital markets offerings.

Competitive Strengths

Authentic Portfolio of Iconic Brands. We believe that our brands are iconic among devoted, active-outdoor enthusiasts with a strong reputation for innovation, style, quality, design, safety and durability. Our Black Diamond brand traces its roots to 1957 and has continuously been synonymous with the sports it serves. Our PIEPS brand traces its history to 1967 and has come to represent premium alpine performance in emergency situations. Our Sierra brand was founded in 1947 and we believe represents the most precise and accurate bullets and ammunition available for the shooting enthusiast. Our Barnes brand was founded in 1932 and produces some of the most technologically advanced lead-free bullets and premium ammunition. Our climbOn® brand included in SKINourishment was founded in 1996, providing fully sustainable, synthetic-free, athlete tested, performance-driven skincare products. Our brands also appeal to everyday customers seeking high-quality products for outdoor or urban and suburban living. Our focus on innovation, safety and style differentiates us from our competitors.

Black Diamond Equipment: Black Diamond Equipment is a global innovator in climbing, trail running, skiing and mountain sports equipment. The brand is synonymous with innovation, performance, safety and durability. Headquartered in Salt Lake City at the base of the Wasatch Mountains, Black Diamond products are created and tested locally on its alpine peaks, slopes, crags and trails. Black Diamond's products are sold in approximately 50 countries around the world.

In 2020, Black Diamond Equipment received over 125 product awards. Black Diamond’s engineering team introduced award-winning products, with the Climb category receiving 21 awards, Mountain category receiving 40 awards, Ski category winning 29 awards and Apparel category winning 37 awards. Across the Climb category, Black Diamond’s Vision MIPS climbing helmet, notably earned a Gear of the Show from Men’s Journal magazine at Outdoor Retailer’s Snow Show. Climbing magazine also recognized the Vision MIPS climbing helmet, Technician approach shoes and Hot Forge Hybrid quickdraw with Editor’s Choice awards. SNEWS recognized Black Diamond as one of the bestselling climbing equipment brands from its 2020 retailer survey. In the Mountain category, Black Diamond’s traction launch earned Best in Show at Outdoor Retailer Snow Show, as well as collecting awards from Women’s Running, Women’s Health and Podium Runner magazines. Black Diamond’s Distance 4 hydration vest won an Editor’s Choice from Runner’s World magazine while its Distance 8 and 15 packs were recognized by Outside and Trail Runner magazines. Black Diamond headlamps and trekking poles collected nearly 20 product awards including media outlets like GearJunkie.com, OutdoorGearLab.com and Backpacker magazine. For Ski, Black Diamond managed to secure Editor’s Choice awards from Backcountry, Freeskier, Powder and SKI magazines. Products included Black Diamond gloves, avalanche transceivers, ski poles, climbing skins and JetForce avalanche airbags. Award winning skis include the Helio Carbon 88, 95, 104, Cirque 84 and Boundary Pro 115. In its Apparel category, Black Diamond earned an ISPO GOLD award for its Dawn Patrol Hybrid Hoody. Backpacker magazine named the Dawn Patrol Hybrid Hoody the “Most Protective Softshell of 2020,” while Popular Mechanics called it one of the coolest products it saw at Outdoor Retailer. In the Spring, Outside magazine named Black Diamond’s HighLine Stretch Shell as Gear of the Year.

PIEPS: Headquartered in Lebring, Steiermark, Austria, PIEPS is widely recognized as an innovator and technology leader in alpine sport and safety equipment, focused on beacon technology (having created the modern avalanche transceiver) and avalanche safety equipment. PIEPS offers a focused range of premium avalanche safety products, including transceivers and probes, avalanche airbags, shovels, related equipment, and packs. PIEPS is the official safety partner of the Association of Austrian Mountain and Ski Guides. PIEPS played a key partnership role with Black Diamond Equipment in development of the new JetForce® avalanche airbag and Bluetooth beacon technology platforms.

SKINourishment: SKINourishment offers organic, 100% food-grade, plant-based skin products that are safe, effective, cruelty-free, non-GMO, vegetarian, and vegan, and some are gluten free. Its synthetic-free skincare products are made with food grade ingredients, are effective for adults, children and animals, and use renewable resources. The most significant brand, climbOn®, has expanded the product line to include lotion bars, lotion crème, lip balm, soap, hand sanitizer, insect repellent, and muscle balm.

Sierra: Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Sedalia, Missouri, Sierra Bullets has been dedicated to manufacturing the highest-quality, most accurate bullets and ammunition in the world. From local and international shooting competitions to sport and hunting, Sierra offers best-in-class accuracy and precision that hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts have come to depend on. This performance is born from a proprietary manufacturing process that enables the achievement of the tightest tolerances in the industry. Sierra’s bullets and ammunition are used for precision target shooting, hunting and defense purposes. In addition to a wide base of retailers, Sierra's customers include distributors, law enforcement and industry OEMs. Sierra's products have cultivated a significant consumer following recognized by its iconic "green box" packaging and include globally recognized bullet brands such as Sierra® MatchKing®, Sierra® GameKing®, and Sierra® BlitzKing® and ammunition brands such as GameChanger®, Prairie Enemy ^TM, Outdoor Master®, and Sport Master®.

Barnes: Headquartered in Mona, Utah, Barnes Bullets has been an industry leader in bullet technology and innovation since 1932. The company manufactures some of the world’s most technologically advanced lead-free bullets and premium hunting, self-defense and tactical ammunition. Barnes has earned its strong reputation through unrivaled performance and results. This reputation is defined by innovative design, advanced manufacturing techniques and a core focus on the end-user. As a result, Barnes has generated a strong consumer following supported by its globally recognized bullet brands such as Barnes® TSX®, X Bullet®, Varmint Grenade®, and Expander® and ammunition brands VOR-TX® and TAC-XPD®. With its products being sold through its online store, a variety of retailers and international distributors, Barnes’s customers include hunters, range shooters, military and law enforcement professionals around the world.

Strong Base of Business. Our outdoor products business benefits from a strong reputation for paradigm-changing, high-quality, innovative products that make us a leader in the outdoor industry with particular strength in product categories such as climbing, trail running, skiing, mountaineering, hunting and competitive shooting. Underlying our innovative product lines is a strong stable of intellectual property, with multiple patents and patent applications, as well as valuable brands and trademarks. In addition, our user intimacy, strong retailer partnerships, operations and execution acumen and leadership as a champion in the access, education, and stewardship issues that affect our customers contribute to the robustness of our business.

Product Innovation and Development Capabilities. We have a long history of technical innovation and product development, with over 100 patents and patents pending worldwide. Our employees’ passion and intimacy with our core outdoor activities fosters new and innovative ideas and products, which we believe provides a significant advantage that will drive our Company to new levels. We seek to design products that enhance our customers’ personal performance as they participate in the activities we serve. We integrate quality assurance and quality control teams throughout the entire design process to maintain the quality and integrity that our brands are known for. We believe that our vertically integrated design, development process and enthusiastic employee base provide us with a unique competitive advantage to continue to drive future innovation for our Company and the markets we serve.

Diversified Portfolio by Product, Geography and Channel. Our business is highly diversified across products, geographies, and channels. We operate a multi-brand business with Black Diamond, PIEPS, Sierra, Barnes and SKINourishment branded products spanning 34 single product categories addressing four primary categories of climbing, skiing, mountain, and sport. Our bullet product category is the only product category that accounts for more than 15% of annual sales on a pro forma basis for the year ended December 31, 2020. This provides seasonal diversification with a balance of sales across both the fall/winter and spring/summer sports seasons. Our brands are truly global with approximately 61% of our sales on a pro forma basis for the year ended December 31, 2020 generated in over 50 countries outside the United States. We believe that our product, geographic, and distribution channel diversity allows us to maximize the reach of our brand portfolio while reducing the risk associated with any single product category or point of distribution.

Experienced and Incentivized Senior Management Team. The members of our Board of Directors and our executive officers, including Mr. Warren Kanders, are substantial stockholders of the Company, and beneficially own approximately 28% of our outstanding common stock as of March 3, 2021, which we believe aligns the interests of our Board of Directors and our executive officers with that of our stockholders.

Growth-oriented Capital Structure. Our capital structure provides us with the capacity to fund future growth and our net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards are expected to offset our net taxable income, which is expected to allow us to retain cash flow for future growth.

Operating Segments

We operate our business structure within two segments. These segments are defined based on the internal financial reporting used by our chief operating decision maker to allocate resources and assess performance. Certain significant selling and general and administrative expenses are not allocated to the segments. Each segment is described below:

Our Black Diamond segment, which includes Black Diamond Equipment, PIEPS, and SKINourishment, is a global leader in designing, manufacturing, and marketing innovative outdoor engineered equipment and apparel for climbing, mountaineering, trail running, backpacking, skiing, and a wide range of other year-round outdoor recreation activities. Our Black Diamond segment offers a broad range of products including: high-performance, activity-based apparel (such as shells, insulation, midlayers, pants and logowear); rock-climbing footwear and equipment (such as carabiners, protection devices, harnesses, belay devices, helmets, and ice-climbing gear); technical backpacks and high-end day packs; trekking poles; headlamps and lanterns; gloves and mittens; and skincare and other sport-enhancing products. We also offer advanced skis, ski poles, ski skins, and snow safety products, including avalanche airbag systems, avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes.

Our Sierra segment, which includes Sierra and Barnes, includes two iconic American manufacturers of a wide range of high-performance bullets and ammunition for both rifles and pistols. These bullets are used for precision target shooting, hunting and military and law enforcement purposes.

See Note 16 to our consolidated and combined financial statements for financial information regarding our segments.

Products

Our products span 34 single product categories and include a wide variety of technical outdoor equipment and lifestyle products for a wide range of outdoor enthusiasts, including climbers, mountaineers, trail runners, skiers, backpackers and campers, competitive shooters, hunters and other outdoor-inspired consumers. We design many of our products for extreme applications, such as high-altitude mountaineering, ice and rock climbing, as well as backcountry skiing and alpine touring. We also manufacturer high-quality bullets and ammunition with the tightest tolerances in the industry that enhance the performance of competitive shooters and hunters. We have also developed skincare products, such as lotions, lip balm, and sunscreen, as well as sport-enhancing supplements, nutrition, and other products using natural, organic or alternative ingredients. Generally, we divide our product offerings into the following four primary categories:

Climb: Our climb line consists of apparel, footwear, and equipment such as belay/rappel devices, bouldering products, carabiners, climbing packs, crampons, harnesses, ice axes, protection devices, a bouldering line of technical apparel, and various other climbing accessories and skincare products. Our climb line represented approximately 26% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Mountain: Our mountain line consists of apparel, gloves, packs, headlamps, lights, tents, trekking poles, and various other hiking and mountaineering accessories. Our mountain line represented approximately 26% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Ski: Our ski line consists of technical apparel, avalanche airbags, packs, bindings, poles, skis, snow gloves, avalanche safety devices, and other skiing accessories. Our ski line represented approximately 19% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Sport: Our sport line consists of premium quality high-precision bullets and ammunition used in competitive shooting, hunting and other applications and environments. Our sport line represented approximately 29% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Product Design and Development

We conduct our product research, evaluation, and design activities at our locations in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sedalia, Missouri, Mona, Utah, Lebring, Austria, and Wimberly, Texas.

We typically bring new products from concept to market in approximately 18 to 36 months depending upon the technology integration and complexity of the product. We work simultaneously on product lines for the four subsequent selling seasons.

We expense research and development costs as incurred in selling, general, and administrative expenses. As of December 31, 2020, we had 80 employees dedicated to research and development.

Customers

We market and distribute our products in over 50 countries, primarily through independent specialty stores and specialty chains, premium sporting goods and outdoor recreation stores, distributors and OEMs in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and South America. Outside of North America and Europe, we sell our products through independent global distributors into specialty retail stores. We also sell our products directly to customers through our various websites.

Our end users include a broad range of consumers, including mountain, rock, ice, and gym climbers, winter-outdoor enthusiasts, trail runners, backpackers, competitive shooters, hunters, and outdoor-inspired consumers. Such consumers demand high-quality, reliable, and high-precision products to enhance their performance and, in some cases, safety in a multitude of outdoor activities. We expect to leverage our user intimacy, engineering prowess, and design ability to expand into related technical product categories that target the same demographic group and distribution channels.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales force is generally deployed by geographic region: Canada, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the United States. Our focus is on providing our products to a broad spectrum of outdoor enthusiasts. Within each of our brands, we strive to create a unique look for our products and to communicate those differences to the consumer. In addition, we are continuously exploring uses for brand and market research. We also regularly utilize various promotions and public relations campaigns.

We have consistently established relationships with professional athletes and influencers to help evaluate, promote and establish product performance and authenticity with customers. Such brand endorsers are one of many elements in our array of marketing materials, including instore displays, catalogs, workbooks, social media, and digital campaigns via our websites.

Manufacturing, Sourcing, Quality Assurance and Distribution

Manufacturing

Our objective is to deliver on-time the highest quality of products in the safest and most cost-efficient manner.  Our culture of continuous improvement and implementation of industry best practices, allows us to continue to increase productivity, reduce costs, and bring new innovative products to the market.

The Black Diamond Equipment and PIEPS manufacturing and distribution operations are ISO 9001–2015 certified and are audited annually by an independent certifying agency to ensure Black Diamond Equipment’s and PIEPS’ quality management systems meet the requirements of ISO 9001–2015, and to ensure that Black Diamond Equipment’s and PIEPS’ certified products meet all necessary performance certification requirements. Sierra and Barnes are members of the Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute and employ best-in-class proprietary manufacturing processes with respect to each one of its products. These processes are performed in-house and includes control of bullet jacket wall concentricity utilizing strict quality control standards overseen by experienced employees, yielding what we believe to be the tightest tolerances in the industry.

We manufactured approximately 30% to 35% of our products, including nearly all protection devices for climbing and all bullets, in our facilities in the United States. The remaining approximately 65% to 70% of our products are also manufactured to our specifications in third-party, independently-owned facilities. We keep employees and agents on-site or via regular visits at these third-party, independently-owned facilities to ensure that our products are manufactured to meet our specifications. While we do not maintain a long-term manufacturing contract with those facilities, we believe that our long-term relationships with them will help to ensure that a sufficient supply of goods built to our specification are available in a timely manner and on satisfactory economic terms in the future.

Sourcing

We source raw materials and components from a variety of suppliers. Our primary raw materials include copper, lead, aluminum, steel, nylon, corrugated cardboard for packaging, metal, plastic and electrical components, and various textiles, foams, and fabrics. The raw materials and components used to manufacture our products are generally available from numerous suppliers in quantities sufficient to meet normal requirements.

We source packaging materials both domestically as well as from sources in Asia and Europe. We believe that all of our purchased products and materials could be readily obtained from alternative sources at comparable costs.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance at the Company has two primary functions:

The first is to ensure that the products that we design and develop are manufactured to meet or exceed the Company’s own standards and international regulatory standards. This involves creating inspection documentation, reviewing manufacturing processes with our various vendor-partners, and inspecting finished product to assure it meets the rigorous standards required by our customers. These activities take place globally, wherever our products are manufactured.

The second function is to provide real and meaningful input to the new product development process. Quality assurance professionals interact closely with the design and engineering teams and bring knowledge and expertise to the design process, ensuring that the products we bring to market truly meet the criteria established when a new product is envisioned.

The engineering prowess of the quality assurance group is a core competency that the Company seeks to leverage across all product lines and brands.

Global Distribution

Our distribution model allows us to ship a broad cross-section of our product line in smaller quantities to our own global distribution centers and to those of our Independent Global Distributors (IGD) more frequently and at lower transportation and logistics costs.

Competition

Because of the diversity of our product offerings, we compete by niche with a variety of companies. Our products must stand up to the high standards set by the end users in each category where quality, durability and performance are paramount. We believe our products compete favorably on the basis of product innovation, product performance, marketing support, and price.

The popularity of various outdoor activities and changing design trends affect the desirability of our products. Therefore, we seek to anticipate and respond to trends and shifts in consumer preferences by adjusting the mix of available product offerings by developing new products with innovative performance features and designs, and by marketing our products in a persuasive and memorable fashion to drive consumer awareness and demand. Failure to anticipate or respond to consumer needs and preferences in a timely and adequate manner could have a material adverse effect on our sales and profitability.

We compete with niche, privately-owned companies as well as a number of brands owned by large, multinational companies, such as those set forth below.

Climb: Our climbing products and accessories, such as apparel, footwear, protection, carabiners, helmets, and harnesses, compete with products from companies such as La Sportiva, Prana, Patagonia, Petzl, CAMP, EDELRID, and Mammut.

Mountain: Our mountaineering products and accessories, such as backpacks, trekking poles, headlamps, and tents, compete with products from companies such as Petzl, Deuter, Leki, Komperdell, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, Hestra, Osprey, Salomon, and The North Face.

Ski: Our skiing products and accessories, such as technical apparel, skis, poles, avalanche airbags and transceivers, compete with products from competitors such as Arc’Teryx, Backcountry Access, Dynafit (Salewa), Atomic, Mammut, Marker, Ortovox, Salomon, Scarpa, Scott, and Volkl.

Sport: We sell both bullets and ammunition to both retailers and distributors for sale to consumers but also supply bullets to OEMs who also sometimes manufacture bullets as well. Such companies include Vista (Federal Ammunition, CCI, and Remington), Nammo, Hornady, Fiocchi, and Olin (Winchester).

In addition, in certain categories we compete with certain of our large wholesale customers who focus on the outdoor market, such as REI, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Decathlon, which manufacture, market and distribute their own climbing, mountaineering, and skiing products under their own private labels.

Intellectual Property

We believe our registered and pending word and icon trademarks worldwide, including the Black Diamond and Diamond “C” logos, Black Diamond®, ATC ®, Camalot®, AvaLung ®, FlickLock®, Ascension™, Time is Life®, Hexentric®, Stopper®, Dawn Patrol®, Bibler®, “Use.Design.Build.Engineer.Repeat”®, Sierra®, Sierra® MatchKing®, Sierra® GameKing®, Sierra® BlitzKing®, Barnes®, TSX®, X Bullet®, VOR-TX® and PIEPS®, create international brand recognition for our products.

Solely for convenience, our trademarks and tradenames referred to in this report may appear without the ® and ™ symbols, but those references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights, or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and tradenames.

We believe our brands have an established reputation for innovation, style, quality, design, safety, and durability, and accordingly, we actively monitor and police our brands against infringement to ensure their viability and enforceability.

In addition to trademarks, we hold over 100 patents and patents pending worldwide for a wide variety of technologies across our product lines.

Our success with our proprietary products is generally derived from our “first mover” advantage in the market as well as our commitment to protecting our current and future proprietary technologies and products, which acts as a deterrent to infringement of our intellectual property rights. While we believe our patent and trademark protection policies are robust and effective, if we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, competitors may manufacture and market products similar to ours. Our principal intellectual property rights include our patents and trademarks but also include products containing proprietary trade secrets and manufacturing know-how.

We cannot be sure that we will receive patents for any of our patent applications or that any existing or future patents that we receive or license will provide competitive advantages for our products. While we actively monitor our competitors to ensure that we do not compromise the intellectual property of others, we cannot be sure that competitors will not challenge, invalidate or void the application of any existing or future patents that we receive or license. In addition, patent rights may not prevent our competitors from developing, using or selling products that are in similar product niches as ours.

Seasonality

The Company’s products are outdoor activity-based, which results in seasonal variations in sales and profitability. On a calendar year basis, we generally experience our greatest sales in the first and second quarters for certain of our products including rock climbing gear, footwear, and harnesses, and in the third and fourth quarters for our ski, glove, ice climbing and snow safety products. Sales of these products may be negatively affected by unfavorable weather conditions and other market trends. During 2020, the fall/winter season represents approximately 61% of our sales on a pro forma basis while spring/summer represents approximately 39% of our sales on a pro forma basis. Sales of other products such as headlamps, lanterns, trekking poles, packs and bullets are generally balanced throughout the year.

Working capital requirements vary throughout the year. Working capital generally increases to support peak shipping periods and then generally decreases during the second quarter of the year as accounts receivable are collected.

Environmental Matters

Our operations are subject to federal, state, and local environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those that impose workplace standards and regulate the discharge of pollutants into the environment and establish standards for the handling, generation, emission, release, discharge, treatment, storage, and disposal of materials and substances including solid and hazardous wastes. We believe that we are in material compliance with such laws and regulations. Further, the cost of maintaining compliance has not, and we believe in the future, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations, and consolidated financial condition. Due to the nature of our operations and the frequently changing nature of environmental compliance standards and technology, we cannot predict with any certainty that future material capital or operating expenditures will not be required in order to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations.

Employees

As of December 31, 2020, we had over 600 employees worldwide. We have not experienced any work stoppages or employee-related slowdowns and believe that our relationship with employees is satisfactory.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

The executive officers of our Company as of December 31, 2020 are as follows:

Warren B. Kanders, 63, our Executive Chairman, has served as one of our directors since June 2002 and as Executive Chairman of our Board of Directors since December 2002. Since 1990, Mr. Kanders has served as the President of Kanders & Company, Inc., a private investment firm principally owned and controlled by Mr. Kanders, which makes investments in and provides consulting services to public and private entities. From January 1996 until its sale to BAE Systems plc on July 31, 2007, Mr. Kanders served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and from April 2003 as the Chief Executive Officer, of Armor Holdings, Inc., formerly a New York Stock Exchange-listed company and a manufacturer and supplier of military vehicles, armored vehicles, and safety and survivability products and systems to the aerospace and defense, public safety, homeland security, and commercial markets. Mr. Kanders received an A.B. degree in Economics from Brown University.

John C. Walbrecht, 53, has served as the President of the Company since October 2017, and President of BDEL since October 2016. Before joining the Company, Mr. Walbrecht served as the President of Mountain Hardwear from March 2016 to October 2016. Prior to Mountain Hardwear, Mr. Walbrecht served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Fenix Outdoors NA from January 2012 until March 2016. Mr. Walbrecht has also served in various senior roles with Brandbase, Spyder, Dr. Martens/Airwair, and Timberland. Mr. Walbrecht holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Brigham Young University, a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the University of Maryland and understudies in International Trade and Finance at Cambridge University - Trinity College.

Aaron J. Kuehne, 42, has served as our Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer, since 2013 and as our Chief Administrative Officer since May 2016. Mr. Kuehne previously served as the Company’s interim Chief Financial Officer, in addition to serving as its Vice President of Finance, principal financial officer and principal accounting officer. Before joining the Company in September 2010, Mr. Kuehne served as the Corporate Controller of Certiport from August 2009 to September 2010. From July 2004 to August 2009, Mr. Kuehne served in various capacities with KPMG LLP, most recently as Audit Manager. Mr. Kuehne received an M.B.A. degree from the University of Utah – David Eccles School of Business in 2004 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from University of Utah – David Eccles School of Business in 2002. He also has been a Certified Public Accountant since 2005.

Available Information

Our Internet address is www.claruscorp.com. We make available free of charge on or through our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, and the proxy statement for our annual meeting of stockholders as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed with respect to our equity securities under Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are also available on our website. All of the foregoing materials are located at the ‘‘SEC Filings’’ tab under the section titled “Investor Relations.” The information found on our website shall not be deemed incorporated by reference by any general statement incorporating by reference this report into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and shall not otherwise be deemed filed under such Acts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. In addition, you may request a copy of any such materials, without charge, by submitting a written request to: Clarus Corporation, c/o the Secretary, 2084 East 3900 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84124. The contents of the websites identified above are not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

In addition to other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the following risk factors should be carefully considered in evaluating our business, because such factors may have a significant impact on our business, operating results, liquidity and financial condition. As a result of the risk factors set forth below, actual results could differ materially from those mentioned in any forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently consider to be immaterial, may also impact our business, operating results, liquidity and financial condition. If any of the following risks occur, our business, operating results, liquidity and financial condition, and the price of our common stock, could be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our Industry

Many of the products we sell are used for inherently risky outdoor pursuits and could give rise to product liability or product warranty claims and other loss contingencies, which could affect our earnings and financial condition.

Many of our products are used in applications and situations that involve high levels of risk of personal injury and death. As a result, we maintain a staff who focus on the appropriate disclaimers and markings and testing and seek to assure the quality and safety of our products. We stay current with the law to seek to provide thorough and protective disclaimers and instructions on all of our products and packaging. Furthermore, our technical climbing and avalanche safety equipment and our related operations meet and are certified to International Personal Protective Equipment (PP) standards set by the EEC or ISO 9001 quality system standards. Failure to use our products for their intended purposes, failure to use or care for them properly, or their malfunction, or, in some limited circumstances, even correct use of our products, could result in serious bodily injury or death.

We remain exposed to product liability claims by the nature of the products we produce. Exposure occurs if one of our products is alleged to have resulted in property damage, bodily injury or other adverse effects. Any such product liability claims may include allegations of defects in manufacturing, defects in design, a failure to warn of dangers inherent in the product or activities associated with the product, negligence, strict liability, and a breach of warranties. Although we maintain product liability insurance in amounts that we believe are reasonable, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain such insurance on acceptable terms, if at all, in the future or that product liability claims will not exceed the amount of insurance coverage. Additionally, we do not maintain product recall insurance. As a result, product recalls or product liability claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

As a manufacturer and distributor of consumer products, we are subject to the Consumer Products Safety Act, which empowers the Consumer Products Safety Commission to exclude from the market products that are found to be unsafe or hazardous. Under certain circumstances, the Consumer Products Safety Commission could require us to repurchase or recall one or more of our products. Additionally, laws regulating certain consumer products exist in some cities and states, as well as in other countries in which we sell our products, and more restrictive laws and regulations may be adopted in the future. Any repurchase or recall of our products could be costly to us and could damage our reputation. If we were required to remove, or we voluntarily removed, our products from the market, our reputation could be tarnished and we might have large quantities of finished products that we could not sell.

We spend substantial resources ensuring compliance with governmental and other applicable standards. However, compliance with these standards does not necessarily prevent individual or class action lawsuits, which can entail significant cost and risk. We do not maintain insurance against many types of claims involving alleged defects in our products that do not involve personal injury or property damage. As a result, these types of claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our product liability insurance program is an occurrence-based program based on our current and historical claims experience and the availability and cost of insurance. We carry both general and umbrella liability policies that insure us for product liability claims. The policy has a small retention, which enables us to manage and control our product liability claims. Historically, product liability awards have not exceeded our individual per occurrence self-insured retention. We cannot assure you, however, that our future product liability experience will be consistent with our past experience.

A substantial portion of our sales and gross profit is derived from a small number of large customers, none of whom are contractually obligated to continue buying our products. The loss of any of these customers could substantially reduce our profits.

Sales are generally on a purchase order basis, and we do not have long-term agreements with any of our customers. A decision by any of our major customers to decrease significantly the number of products purchased from us could substantially reduce sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Moreover, in recent years, the retail industry has experienced consolidation and other ownership changes. In the future, retailers may further consolidate, undergo restructurings or reorganizations, realign their affiliations or reposition their stores’ target market. These developments could result in a reduction in the number of stores that carry our products, increased ownership concentration within the retail industry, increased credit exposure, and increased retailer leverage over their suppliers. These changes could impact our opportunities in the market and increase our reliance on a smaller number of large customers.

We are subject to risks related to our dependence on the strength of retail economies in various parts of the world and our performance may be affected by general economic conditions.

Our business depends on the strength of the retail economies in various parts of the world, primarily in North America, Europe and to a lesser extent, Asia, Central and South America. These retail economies are affected primarily by factors such as consumer demand and the condition of the retail industry, which, in turn, are affected by general economic conditions and specific events such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and political unrest. The impact of these external factors is difficult to predict, and one or more of the factors could adversely impact our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Purchases of many consumer products are discretionary and tend to be highly correlated with the cycles of the levels of disposable income of consumers. As a result, any substantial deterioration in general economic conditions could adversely affect consumer discretionary spending patterns, our sales, and our results of operations. In particular, decreased consumer confidence or a reduction in discretionary income as a result of unfavorable macroeconomic conditions may negatively affect our business. If the macroeconomic environment worsens, consumers may reduce or delay their purchases of our products. Any such reduction in purchases could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Changes in the retail industry and markets for consumer products affecting our customers or retailing practices could negatively impact existing customer relationships and our results of operations.

We sell our products to retailers, including sporting goods and specialty retailers, as well as direct to consumers. A significant deterioration in the financial condition of our major customers could have a material adverse effect on our sales and profitability. We regularly monitor and evaluate the credit status of our customers and attempt to adjust sales terms as appropriate. Despite these efforts, a bankruptcy filing by a key customer could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

In addition, as a result of the desire of retailers to more closely manage inventory levels, there is a growing trend among retailers to make purchases on a “just-in-time” basis. This requires us to shorten our lead time for production in certain cases and more closely anticipate demand, which could in the future require us to carry additional inventories.

We may be negatively affected by changes in the policies of our retailer customers, such as inventory destocking, limitations on access to and time on shelf space, use of private label brands, price demands, payment terms, and other conditions, which could negatively impact our results of operations.

There is a growing trend among retailers in the U.S. and in foreign markets to undergo changes that could decrease the number of stores that carry our products or increase the concentration of ownership within the retail industry, including:

consolidating their operations;

undergoing restructurings or store closings;

undergoing reorganizations; or

realigning their affiliations.

These consolidations could result in a shift of bargaining power to the retail industry and in fewer outlets for our products. Further consolidations could result in price and other competition that could reduce our margins and our net sales.

Seasonality and weather conditions may cause our operating results to vary from quarter to quarter.

Sales of certain of our products are seasonal. Sales of our outdoor recreation products such as carabineers, harnesses, and related climbing equipment products increase during warm weather months and decrease during winter, while sales of our apparel line and winter sports equipment such as our skis and related ski equipment increase during the cold weather months and decrease during summer. Weather conditions may also negatively impact sales. For instance, milder temperatures could prevent the formation of ice, which may negatively affect demand for our ice climbing products, and mild winter weather with less snowfall may negatively impact sales of our winter sports products. These factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Global climate change trends could affect our suppliers and customers and result in increased regulation.

The effects of climate change, such as intensified rainfalls and flooding, prolonged droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels and increasing heat and humidity, can have an adverse effect not only to our operations, but also that of our suppliers and customers, and can lead to increased regulations and changes in consumer preferences, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our results of operations could be materially harmed if we are unable to accurately forecast demand for our products.

We often schedule internal production and place orders for products with independent manufacturers before our customers’ orders are firm. Therefore, if we fail to accurately forecast customer demand, we may experience excess inventory levels or a shortage of product to deliver to our customers. Factors that could affect our ability to accurately forecast demand for our products include:

an increase or decrease in consumer demand for our products or for products of our competitors;

our failure to accurately forecast customer acceptance of new products;

new product introductions by competitors;

unanticipated changes in general market conditions or other factors, which may result in cancellations of orders or a reduction or increase in the rate of reorders placed by retailers;

weak economic conditions or consumer confidence, which could reduce demand for discretionary items such as our products;

disease epidemics and health-related concerns, which could adversely affect consumer spending; and

terrorism or acts of war, or the threat of terrorism or acts of war, which could adversely affect consumer confidence and spending or interrupt production and distribution of product and raw materials.

Inventory levels in excess of customer demand may result in inventory write-downs and the sale of excess inventory at discounted prices, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. On the other hand, if we underestimate demand for our products, our manufacturing facilities or third-party manufacturers may not be able to produce products to meet customer requirements, and this could result in delays in the shipment of products and lost revenues, as well as damage to our reputation and customer relationships. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully manage inventory levels to exactly meet future order and reorder requirements.

Competition in our industries may hinder our ability to execute our business strategy, achieve profitability, or maintain relationships with existing customers.

We operate in a highly competitive industry. In this industry, we compete against numerous other domestic and foreign companies. Competition in the markets in which we operate is based primarily on product quality, product innovation, price, and customer service and support, although the degree and nature of such competition vary by location and product line. Some of our competitors are more established in their industries and have substantially greater revenue or resources than we do. Our competitors may take actions to match new product introductions and other initiatives. Since many of our competitors also source their products from third parties, our ability to obtain a cost advantage through sourcing is reduced. Certain of our competitors may be willing to reduce prices and accept lower profit margins to compete with us. Further, retailers often demand that suppliers reduce their prices on existing products. Competition could cause price reductions, reduced profits or losses or loss of market share, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

To compete effectively in the future in the consumer products industry, among other things, we must:

maintain strict quality standards;

develop new and innovative products that appeal to consumers;

deliver products on a reliable basis at competitive prices;

anticipate and respond to changing consumer trends in a timely manner;

maintain favorable brand recognition; and

provide effective marketing support.

Our inability to do any of these things could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If we fail to expand existing or develop new customer relationships, our ability to grow our business will be impaired.

Our growth depends to a significant degree upon our ability to expand existing relationships with current customers or develop new customer relationships. We cannot guarantee that new customers will be found, that any such new relationships will be successful when we do get them, or that business with current customers will increase. Failure to develop and expand such relationships could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, competitors may manufacture and market products similar to ours, which could adversely affect our market share and results of operations.

Our success with our proprietary products depends, in part, on our ability to protect our current and future technologies and products and to defend our intellectual property rights. If we fail to adequately protect our intellectual property rights, competitors may manufacture and market products similar to ours. Our principal intellectual property rights include our trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.

We hold numerous patents for the invention of new or improved technologies, which are known as utility patents, and pending patent applications covering a wide variety of products. We cannot be sure that we will receive patents for any of our patent applications or that any existing or future patents that we receive or license will provide competitive advantages for our products. We also cannot be sure that competitors will not challenge, invalidate or avoid the application of any existing or future patents that we receive or license. In addition, patent rights may not prevent our competitors from developing, using or selling products that are similar or functionally equivalent to our products.

Third parties may have patents, or may be awarded new patents, that may materially adversely affect our ability to market, distribute and sell our products. Accordingly, our products, including, but not limited to, our technical climbing and backpack products, may become subject to patent infringement claims or litigation, any adverse determination of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Changes in foreign, cultural, political, and financial market conditions could impair our international operations and financial performance.

Some of our operations are conducted or products are sold in countries where economic growth has slowed, such as Japan, or where economies have suffered economic, social and/or political instability or hyperinflation, including, for example, the uncertainty related to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union (commonly known as “Brexit”), which may have an impact on our business, particularly in the United Kingdom and in Europe. Furthermore, events such as Brexit and political uncertainty around the effects of current or future ‘trade wars’ may create global economic uncertainty, which may cause consumers to reduce their spending.

Additionally, some of our operations are conducted or products are sold in countries where the ability to repatriate funds has been delayed or impaired in recent years. Current government economic and fiscal policies, including stimulus measures and currency exchange rates and controls in these economies may not be sustainable and, as a result, our sales or profits related to those countries may decline.

The economies of other foreign countries important to our operations, including other countries in Asia and Europe, could also suffer slower economic growth or economic, social and/or political instability or hyperinflation in the future. International operations, including manufacturing and sourcing operations (and the international operations of our customers), are subject to inherent risks which could adversely affect us, including, among other things:

protectionist policies restricting or impairing the manufacturing, sales or import and export of our products;

new restrictions on access to markets;

lack of developed infrastructure;

inflation or recession;

devaluations or fluctuations in the value of currencies;

changes in and the burdens and costs of compliance with a variety of foreign laws and regulations, including tax laws, accounting standards, environmental laws and occupational health and safety laws;

social, political or economic instability;

acts of war and terrorism;

natural disasters or other crises;

reduced protection of intellectual property rights in some countries;

increases in duties and taxation; and

restrictions on transfer of funds and/or exchange of currencies; expropriation of assets; and other adverse changes in policies, including monetary, tax and/or lending policies, relating to foreign investment or foreign trade by our host countries.

Should any of these risks occur, our ability to sell or export our products or repatriate profits could be impaired and we could experience a loss of sales and profitability from our international operations, which could have a material adverse impact on our business.

If we cannot continue to develop new products in a timely manner, and at favorable margins, we may not be able to compete effectively.

We believe that our future success will depend, in part, upon our ability to continue to introduce innovative design extensions for our existing products and to develop, manufacture, and market new products. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in the introduction, manufacturing, and marketing of any new products or product innovations, or develop and introduce, in a timely manner, innovations to our existing products that satisfy customer needs or achieve market acceptance. Our failure to develop new products and introduce them successfully and in a timely manner, and at favorable margins, would harm our ability to successfully grow our business and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our operating results can be adversely affected by changes in the cost or availability of raw materials.

Pricing and availability of raw materials for use in our businesses can be volatile due to numerous factors beyond our control, including general, domestic, and international economic conditions, labor costs, production levels, competition, consumer demand, import duties, and tariffs and currency exchange rates. This volatility can significantly affect the availability and cost of raw materials for us, and may therefore have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

During periods of rising prices of raw materials, there can be no assurance that we will be able to pass any portion of such increases on to customers. Conversely, when raw material prices decline, customer demands for lower prices could result in lower sale prices and, to the extent we have existing inventory, lower margins. We currently do not hedge against our exposure to changing raw material prices. As a result, fluctuations in raw material prices could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Supply shortages or changes in availability for any particular type of raw material can delay production or cause increases in the cost of manufacturing our products. We may be negatively affected by changes in availability and pricing of raw materials, which could negatively impact our results of operations.

Changes in effective tax rates could adversely affect our results.

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) was enacted. The Tax Act significantly revised United States corporate income tax law by, among other things, reducing the corporate income tax rate to 21%. Prior to the 2020 U.S. election, President Biden proposed an increase in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 21% to 28%, doubling the rate of tax on certain earnings of foreign subsidiaries, the creation of a 10% penalty on certain imports and a 15% minimum tax on worldwide book income. If any or all of these (or similar) proposals are ultimately enacted into law, in whole or in part, they could have a negative impact on our effective tax rate, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our operations in international markets, and earnings in those markets, may be affected by legal, regulatory, political, and economic risks.

Our ability to maintain the current level of operations in our existing international markets and to capitalize on growth in existing and new international markets is subject to risks associated with international operations. These include the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws and regulations, unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, new tariffs or other barriers to some international markets. For example, any future withdrawal or renegotiation of trade agreements, and the prosecution of trade disputes or the imposition of tariffs, duties, taxes and other charges on imports or exports between the United States and countries like China may adversely affect our ability to operate our business and execute our growth strategy. In addition, it may be more difficult for us to enforce agreements, collect receivables, receive dividends and repatriate earnings through foreign legal systems.

We cannot predict whether quotas, duties, taxes, exchange controls or other restrictions will be imposed by the United States, China, or other countries upon the import or export of our products and the commodities and components used to manufacture our products, or what effect any of these actions would have on our business, financial condition or results of operations. We cannot predict whether there might be changes in our ability to repatriate earnings or capital from international jurisdictions. Changes in regulatory and geopolitical policies and other factors may adversely affect our business or may require us to modify our current business practices.

Approximately 39% of our sales on a pro forma basis for the year ended December 31, 2020 were earned in international markets. We are exposed to risks of changes in U.S. policy for companies having business operations outside the United States, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our common stock may be negatively impacted by the effects of a disease outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, or similar widespread public health concern, such as travel restrictions or recommendations or mandates from governmental authorities to avoid large gatherings or to self-quarantine, whether as a result of the COVID-19 or coronavirus global pandemic or otherwise.

These impacts include, but are not limited to:

Significant reductions in demand or significant volatility in demand for one or more of our products, which may be caused by, among other things: the temporary inability of consumers to purchase our products due to illness, quarantine or other travel restrictions, financial hardship or adverse economic conditions, or the closure of retail stores that market our products;

Disruptions in our manufacturing and supply arrangements caused by constrained workforce capacity or the loss or disruption of other essential manufacturing and supply elements such as raw materials or other finished product components, transportation, or other manufacturing and distribution capability;

Failure of third parties on which we rely, including our suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, customers, retailers or other service providers to meet their obligations to the Company;

Significant changes in the political conditions in the markets in which we operate and/or manufacture, sell or distribute our products, including quarantines, import/export restrictions, price controls, or governmental or regulatory actions, closures or travel restrictions; or

Our ability to maintain adequate liquidity and/or meet debt covenants contained in the Company’s credit agreement if the Company is unable to resume normal operations in a timely fashion.

Our failure to effectively manage and remedy these impacts on the Company, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, as well as the trading price of our common stock.

We use foreign suppliers and manufacturing facilities for a significant portion of our raw materials and finished products, and disruptions to international trade, such as disease epidemics or potential ‘trade wars,’ pose a risk to our business operations.

A majority of our products sold were produced by and purchased from independent manufacturers primarily located in Asia and Eastern Europe, with substantially all of the remainder produced by our manufacturing facilities located in Utah and Missouri. Although no single supplier and no one country controls a majority of our production needs, any of the following could materially and adversely affect our ability to produce or deliver our products and, as a result, have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations:

political or labor instability in countries where our facilities, contractors, and suppliers are located;

political or military conflict, which could cause a delay in the transportation of raw materials and products to us and an increase in transportation costs;

heightened terrorism security concerns, which could subject imported or exported goods to additional, more frequent or more lengthy inspections, leading to delays in deliveries or impoundment of goods for extended periods or could result in decreased scrutiny by customs officials for counterfeit goods, leading to lost sales, increased costs for our anti-counterfeiting measures and damage to the reputation of our brands;

disease epidemics and health-related concerns, such as the coronavirus, H1N1 virus, bird flu, SARS, mad cow, and hoof-and-mouth disease outbreaks in recent years, which could result in closed factories, reduced workforces, scarcity of raw materials, and scrutiny or embargo of our goods produced in infected areas;

imposition of regulations and quotas relating to imports and our ability to adjust timely to changes in trade regulations, which, among other things, could limit our ability to produce products in cost-effective countries that have the labor and expertise needed;

imposition of tariffs, duties, taxes and other charges on imports and/or exports; and

imposition or the repeal of laws that affect intellectual property rights.

Our business is subject to foreign, national, state, and local laws and regulations for environmental, employment, safety, and other matters. The costs of compliance with, or the violation of, such laws and regulations by us or by independent suppliers who manufacture products for us could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Numerous governmental agencies in the United States and in other countries in which we have operations, enforce comprehensive national, state, and local laws and regulations on a wide range of environmental, employment, health, safety, and other matters. We could be adversely affected by costs of compliance or violations of those laws and regulations. In addition, the costs of products purchased by us from independent contractors could increase due to the costs of compliance by those contractors. Further, violations of such laws and regulations could affect the availability of inventory, thereby affecting our net sales.

Changes in governmental regulation, legislation or public opinion regarding the manufacture and sale of bullets, or the possession and use of firearms and ammunition, could adversely affect our Sierra segment and overall financial results.

The manufacture and sale of bullets by our Sierra segment, and the possession and use of firearms and ammunition by our customers, is subject to significant governmental regulation. We hold all licenses necessary for the legal manufacture and sale of our bullets.  However, federal, state or local legislatures may enact further legislation regarding the manufacture and sale of bullets, and the possession and use of firearms and ammunition by our customers, such as point-of-sale background checks, age and other restrictions on ammunition purchases or further licensing of ammunition dealers.  Such legislation, if enacted, could materially and adversely affect the sale of bullets that we manufacture.

The manufacture and sale of bullets, and the possession and use of firearms and ammunition, is also the subject of significant public interest and debate. If public opinion should worsen, it may lead to boycotts of certain of our products and decreased demand for the bullets and other products we manufacture by consumers and the other constituencies with which we deal, including suppliers, distributors and retailers, all of which could be a catalyst for potentially adverse reactions from our shareholders.

We cannot assure you that governmental regulation, legislation or public opinion regarding the manufacture and sale of bullets, or the possession and use of firearms and ammunition, will not become more restrictive or worsen in the future. We also cannot assure you that any such negative public opinion relating to our Sierra segment would not affect our Black Diamond segment, nor can we assure you that any such changes in governmental regulation, legislation or public opinion will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Our SKINourishment business is subject to substantial government regulation relating to personal care products that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Government regulation in the United States and other countries is a significant factor affecting the research, development, formulation, manufacture and marketing of our SKINourishment skincare products. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration’s (the “FDA”) has broad authority to regulate the design, manufacture, formulation, marketing and sale of our SKINourishment skincare products.  FDA’s regulation of personal care products includes ingredient, quality, and labeling requirements.  Also in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) has broad authority over all product advertising to ensure statements are truthful and non-misleading. Overseas, these activities are subject to foreign governmental regulation, which is in many respects similar to regulation in the United States but which vary from country to country. United States and foreign regulation continues to evolve, which could result in additional burdens on our SKINourishment business. If we fail to comply with applicable regulations we may be subject to, among other things, fines, suspension or withdrawal of regulatory approvals, product recalls, operating restrictions, and criminal prosecution. Additionally, the cost of maintaining personnel and systems necessary to comply with applicable regulations is substantial and increasing.

If the FDA or FTC disagrees with our characterization of our SKINourishment skincare products or product claims and determines that they are drug products, this could result in a variety of enforcement actions which could require the reformulation or relabeling of any such products, the submission of information in support of the products’ claims or the safety and effectiveness of any such products, or more punitive action, all of which could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may incur significant costs in order to comply with environmental remediation obligations.

Environmental laws also impose obligations on various entities to clean up contaminated properties or to pay for the cost of such remediation, often upon parties that did not actually cause the contamination. Accordingly, we may be liable, either contractually or by operation of law, for remediation costs even if the contaminated property is not presently owned or operated by us, is a landfill or other location where we have disposed wastes, or if the contamination was caused by third parties during or prior to our ownership or operation of the property. Given the nature of the past industrial operations conducted by us and others at these properties, there can be no assurance that all potential instances of soil or groundwater contamination have been identified, even for those properties where an environmental site assessment has been conducted. Future events, such as changes in existing laws or policies or their enforcement, or the discovery of currently unknown contamination, may give rise to additional remediation liabilities that may have a material adverse effect upon our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Risks Related to our Business

There are significant risks associated with acquiring and integrating businesses.

An element of our general growth strategy is the acquisition of or investment in businesses and assets that will diversify our current business, increase size, expand our geographic scope of operations and otherwise offer growth opportunities. We may not be able to successfully identify attractive acquisition or investment opportunities, obtain financing for acquisitions, make acquisitions on satisfactory terms, or successfully acquire and/or integrate identified targets. In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business or assets for a potential acquisition or investment, we expect to encounter intense competition from other entities, including blank check companies, private equity groups, venture capital funds, leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic acquisitions. Many of these entities are well-established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than us which will give them a competitive advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses.

Our ability to implement our acquisition strategy is also subject to other risks and costs, including:

loss of key employees, customers or suppliers of acquired businesses;

diversion of management’s time and attention from our core businesses;

adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;

our ability to secure necessary financing;

our ability to realize operating efficiencies, synergies, or other benefits expected from an acquisition;

risks associated with entering markets in which we have limited or no experience;

risks associated with our ability to execute successful due diligence; and

assumption of contingent or undisclosed liabilities of acquisition targets.

Any of the above risks could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our previously announced growth strategy may negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company announced that it is seeking to invest in high-quality, durable, cash flow-producing assets in order to diversify our business within the outdoor and consumer markets and potentially monetize our substantial net operating losses as part of our previously announced growth strategy. There can be no assurance as to the outcome of the growth strategy, that any particular acquisition or investment opportunities will be consummated, that any transaction will occur, or that our net operating losses will be monetized. In addition, our growth strategy may create perceived uncertainties as to our future direction and may result in the loss of employees, customers or business partners.

Turmoil across various sectors of the financial markets may negatively impact the Company’s business, financial condition, and/or operating results as well as our ability to effectively execute our growth strategy.

Various sectors of the credit markets and the financial services industry have experienced a period of unprecedented turmoil and upheaval characterized by disruption in the credit markets and availability of credit and other financing, the failure, bankruptcy, collapse or sale of various financial institutions and an unprecedented level of intervention from the United States federal government. While the future recurrence of these events cannot be predicted, they may have a material adverse effect on our ability to obtain financing necessary to effectively execute acquisitions, the ability of our customers and suppliers to continue to operate their businesses or the demand for our products, which could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may not be able to adequately manage our growth.

We have expanded, and are seeking to continue to expand, our business. This growth has placed significant demands on our management, administrative, operating, and financial resources as well as our manufacturing capacity capabilities. The continued growth of our customer base, the types of products offered and the geographic markets served can be expected to continue to place a significant strain on our resources. Personnel qualified in the production and marketing of our products are difficult to find and hire, and enhancements of information technology systems to support growth are difficult to implement. Our future performance and profitability will depend in large part on our ability to attract and retain additional management and other key personnel, as well as our ability to increase and maintain our manufacturing capacity capabilities to meet the needs of our current and future customers. Any failure to adequately manage our growth could have a material adverse effect on the market price of our common stock and our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our credit agreement contains financial and restrictive covenants that may limit our ability to operate our business.

The credit agreement that we and certain of our subsidiaries entered into with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. on May 3, 2019 (the “Credit Agreement”) contains, and any of our other future debt agreements may contain, covenant restrictions that limit our ability to operate our business, including, without limitation, restrictions on our and our subsidiaries’ ability to:

incur additional debt or create liens;

engage in mergers, consolidations, certain divisions, liquidations or dissolutions other than in certain permitted instances described in the Credit Agreement;

substantially change the business conducted by us or our subsidiaries; and

pay dividends or make distributions or other restricted payments if certain conditions in the Credit Agreement are not fulfilled.

In addition, the Credit Agreement contains other customary affirmative and negative covenants, including limitations on our and our subsidiaries’ ability to perform the following, subject to certain customary exceptions, qualifications and “baskets”: make certain investments, loans, advances, guarantees and acquisitions other than in certain permitted instances as described in the Credit Agreement; sell assets; prepay other indebtedness; engage in certain transactions with affiliates; enter into agreements that restrict dividends from subsidiaries or the ability of subsidiaries to grant liens upon their assets; amend certain charter documents and material agreements governing subordinated indebtedness; and deviate from certain financial ratios described further in the Credit Agreement.

As a result of these covenants, our ability to respond to changes in business and economic conditions and to obtain additional financing, if needed, may be significantly restricted, and we may be prevented from engaging in transactions or making acquisitions of a business that might otherwise be beneficial to us.

Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.

Our borrowings under our credit facility are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates increase, our debt service obligations on the variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows would decrease.

Currency devaluations or fluctuations may significantly increase our expenses and affect our results of operations as well as the carrying value of international assets on our balance sheet, especially where the currency is subject to intense political and other outside pressures, such as in the case of the Euro, Canadian Dollar and Great British Pound.

While we transact business predominantly in U.S. dollars and most of our revenues are collected in U.S. dollars, a substantial portion of our assets, revenues, costs, and earnings are denominated in other currencies, such as the Euro, Canadian dollar, and Great British pound. Changes in the relation of these and other currencies to the U.S. dollar will affect the carrying value of our international assets as well as our sales and profitability and could result in exchange losses. For example, a devaluation of the Euro would negatively impact the carrying value of our assets in Europe and our results of operations because the earnings and assets in Europe would be reduced when translated into U.S. dollars.

Additionally, as the Company has substantial operations and assets located outside the United States, foreign operations expose us to foreign currency devaluations or fluctuations that could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition based on the movements of the applicable foreign currency exchange rates in relation to the U.S. dollar, both for purposes of actual conversion and financial reporting purposes. The impact of future exchange rate devaluations or fluctuations on our results of operations cannot be accurately predicted. There can be no assurance that the U.S. dollar foreign exchange rates will be stable in the future or that fluctuations in financial or foreign markets will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Compliance with changing laws, regulations and standards of corporate governance and public disclosure may result in additional expenses.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes Oxley Act”), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, new Securities and Exchange Commission regulations and NASDAQ rules, are creating uncertainty for companies such as ours. These new or changed laws, regulations, and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in many cases due to their lack of specificity. As a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided by regulatory and governing bodies, which could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We are committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance and public disclosure. As a result, our efforts to comply with evolving laws, regulations, and standards have resulted in, and are likely to continue to result in, increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities.

We could face particular challenges in maintaining and reporting on our internal control over financial reporting.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal control over financial reporting and requires that we have our internal control over financial reporting audited. If we fail to maintain adequate internal controls, we could be subject to regulatory scrutiny, civil or criminal penalties and/or stockholder litigation. Any inability to provide reliable financial reports could harm our business and the trading price of our common stock. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act also requires that our independent registered public accounting firm report on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. In addition, acquisition targets may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.

If we identify any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, we may need to take costly steps to implement improved controls and may be subject to sanctions for failure to comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Such remedial costs or sanctions could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Further, we would be required to disclose any material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, and we would receive an adverse opinion on our internal control over financial reporting from our independent auditors. These factors could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.

Breaches of our information systems could adversely affect our reputation, disrupt our operations, and result in increased costs and loss of revenue.

There have been an increasing number of recent global cyber security incidents affecting companies, including us. These incidents are expected to be more prevalent as a result of work-from-home policies instituted in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, and could cause operational failures or compromise sensitive or confidential corporate and personal data. Because we are interconnected with and dependent on third-party vendors, we could also be adversely affected if we or any of our vendors are subject to a successful cyber-attack or other information security event. Such cyber security incidents may result in the loss or compromise of customer, financial, or operational data; disruption of billing, collections, or normal operating activities; disruption of electronic monitoring and control of operational systems; and delays in financial reporting and other management functions, and our acquisition activities could increase such risk. There can be no guarantees that such a cyber incident would not result in the unauthorized access to or the disclosure of customer data, our trade secrets or other intellectual property, or personal information of our employees. There can be no guarantee that the disclosure of any of this information would not have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, and results of operations. We continually evaluate our systems and may implement further controls and additional preventative actions to further strengthen our systems against attacks. We cannot assure you that such measures will provide absolute security, that we will be able to react in a timely manner, or that our remediation efforts following past or future attacks will be successful. Possible impacts associated with a cyber security incident may include, among other things, business interruption, ransom payments, the identification of material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, remediation costs related to lost, stolen, or compromised data; repairs to data processing systems; increased cyber security protection costs; reputational damage; and adverse effects on our compliance with privacy and other laws and regulations that are applicable to us. We have insurance coverage to protect us against losses from certain cyber security incidents, including liability for third-party vendors who mishandle our information. However, there can be no guarantee that every potential loss due to cyber-attack or theft of information has been insured against, nor that the limits of the insurance we have acquired will be sufficient to cover all such losses.

Adverse publicity about the Company and/or its brands, including without limitation, through social media or in connection with brand damaging events and/or public perception could negatively impact our business.

Negative claims or publicity involving us, our board of directors, our brands, our products, services and experiences, consumer data, or any of our key employees, endorsers, or suppliers could seriously damage our reputation and the image of our brands, regardless of whether such claims are accurate.

Social media, which accelerates and potentially amplifies the scope of negative publicity, can increase the challenges of responding to negative claims. Adverse publicity could also damage our reputation and the image of our brands, undermine consumer confidence in us and reduce long-term demand for our products, even if such adverse publicity is unfounded or not material to our operations. If the reputation, culture or image of any of our brands is tarnished or if we receive negative publicity, then our sales, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Interruptions in the proper functioning of our information systems or other issues with our enterprise resource planning systems could cause disruption to our operations.

We heavily rely on our information systems to manage our various business operations, including our ordering, pricing, billing, inventory management, supply chain, accounting and other processes. Our systems may be subject to damage or interruption from a variety of sources, including power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, cyber security breaches, vandalism, severe weather conditions, catastrophic events, terrorism, and human error. Although we do maintain disaster recovery measures in place which we believe to be adequate, we cannot assure you that our disaster recovery measures can account for all eventualities. If our systems are damaged, fail to function properly, or otherwise become compromised or unavailable, we may incur substantial costs to repair or replace them, and we may experience loss of critical data and interruptions or delays in our ability to perform critical functions, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our information technology systems require periodic modifications, upgrades, and replacement that subject us to costs and risks, including potential disruption to our internal control structure, substantial capital expenditures, additional administration and operating expenses, retention of sufficiently skilled personnel or outside firms to implement and operate existing or new systems, and other risks and costs of delays or difficulties in transitioning to new or modified systems or of integrating new or modified systems into our current systems. In addition, challenges implementing new or modified technology systems may cause disruptions in our business operations and have an adverse effect on our business operations if not anticipated and appropriately mitigated.

Our Board of Directors and executive officers have significant influence over our affairs.

The members of our Board of Directors and our executive officers, which includes Mr. Warren B. Kanders, beneficially own approximately 28% of our outstanding common stock as of March 3, 2021. As a result, our Board of Directors and executive officer, to the extent they vote their shares in a similar manner, have influence over our affairs and could exercise such influence in a manner that is not in the best interests of our other stockholders, including by attempting to delay, defer or prevent a change of control transaction that might otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders.

We may be unable to realize the benefits of our net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards.

Net operating losses (“NOLs”) may be carried forward to offset federal and state taxable income in future years and eliminate income taxes otherwise payable on such taxable income, subject to certain adjustments. Based on current federal corporate income tax rates, our NOL and other carryforwards could provide a benefit to us, if fully utilized, of significant future tax savings. However, our ability to use these tax benefits in future years will depend upon the amount of our otherwise taxable income. If we do not have sufficient taxable income in future years to use the tax benefits before they expire, we will lose the benefit of these NOL carryforwards permanently.

Additionally, if we underwent an ownership change, the NOL carryforward limitations would impose an annual limit on the amount of the taxable income that may be offset by our NOL generated prior to the ownership change. If an ownership change were to occur, we may be unable to use a significant portion of our NOL to offset taxable income. In general, an ownership change occurs when, as of any testing date, the aggregate of the increase in percentage points of the total amount of a corporation’s stock owned by one or more “5-percent shareholders” within the meaning of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) whose percentage ownership of the stock has increased as of such date over the aggregate of the lowest percentage of the stock owned by such 5-percent shareholder at any time during the three-year period preceding such date is more than 50 percentage points. In general, persons who own 5% or more of a corporation’s stock are 5-percent shareholders, and all stock owned by persons who are not 5-percent shareholders is treated as owned by one 5-percent shareholder. The issuance of a large number of shares of common stock in connection with any acquisitions could result in a limitation of the use of our NOLs.

Further, our certificate of incorporation provides for blank check preferred stock, which allows the Board to issue preferred stock at any time with rights and designations set forth by the Board. Section 382 of the Code generally excludes preferred stock when calculating ownership percentages as they relate to our NOLs if the preferred stock satisfies all of the following criteria: it is not entitled to vote, it is limited and preferred as to dividends and does not participate in corporate growth to any significant extent, it has redemption and liquidation rights which do not exceed the issue price of such stock (except for a reasonable redemption or liquidation premium), and it is not convertible into another class of stock. Our Board may authorize and issue preferred stock that does not meet these criteria, and such preferred stock would count towards determining ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Therefore the issuance of any preferred stock could increase the likelihood of a limitation of the use of our NOLs.

Moreover, if a corporation experiences an ownership change and does not satisfy the continuity of business enterprise, or COBE, requirement (which generally requires that the corporation continue its historic business or use a significant portion of its historic business assets in a business for the two-year period beginning on the date of the ownership change), it cannot, subject to certain exceptions, use any NOL from a pre-change period to offset taxable income in post-change years.

The actual ability to utilize the tax benefit of any existing NOLs will be subject to future facts and circumstances with respect to meeting the above described COBE requirements at the time NOLs are being utilized on a tax return. The realization of NOLs and the recognition of asset and valuation allowances for deferred taxes require management to make estimates and judgments about the Company’s future profitability which are inherently uncertain. Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. If, in the opinion of management, it becomes more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized, deferred tax assets would be reduced by a valuation allowance and any such reduction could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition of the Company.

The amount of NOL and tax credit carryforwards that we have claimed has not been audited or otherwise validated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”). The IRS could challenge our calculation of the amount of our NOL or our determinations as to when a prior change in ownership occurred, and other provisions of the Code may limit our ability to carry forward our NOL to offset taxable income in future years. If the IRS were successful with respect to any such challenge, the potential tax benefit of the NOL carryforwards to us could be substantially reduced.

Certain protective measures implemented by us to preserve our NOL may not be effective or may have some unintended negative effects.

On July 24, 2003, at our Annual Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders approved an amendment (the “Amendment”) to our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to restrict certain acquisitions of our securities in order to help assure the preservation of our NOL. The Amendment generally restricts direct and indirect acquisitions of our equity securities if such acquisition will affect the percentage of the Company’s capital stock that is treated as owned by a “5% stockholder.” Additionally, on February 7, 2008, our Board of Directors approved a rights agreement which is designed to assist in limiting the number of 5% or more owners and thus reduce the risk of a possible “change of ownership” under Section 382 of the Code.

Although the transfer restrictions imposed on our capital stock and the rights agreement are intended to reduce the likelihood of an impermissible ownership change, there is no guarantee that such protective measures would prevent all transfers that would result in an impermissible ownership change. These protective measures also will require any person attempting to acquire a significant interest in us to seek the approval of our Board of Directors. This may have an “anti-takeover” effect because our Board of Directors may be able to prevent any future takeover. Similarly, any limits on the amount of capital stock that a stockholder may own could have the effect of making it more difficult for stockholders to replace current management. Additionally, because protective measures implemented by us to preserve our NOL will have the effect of restricting a stockholder’s ability to acquire our common stock, the liquidity and market value of our common stock might suffer.

The loss of any member of our senior management or certain other key executives could significantly harm our business.

Our ability to maintain our competitive position is dependent to a large degree on the efforts and skills of our senior management team, including Warren B. Kanders. If we were to lose the services of any member of our senior management, our business may be significantly impaired. In addition, many of our senior executives have strong industry reputations, which aid us in identifying acquisition and borrowing opportunities, and having such opportunities brought to us. The loss of the services of these key personnel could materially and adversely affect our operations because of diminished relationships with lenders, existing and prospective tenants, property sellers and industry personnel.

Our Board of Directors may change significant corporate policies without stockholder approval.

Our investment, financing, borrowing and dividend policies and our policies with respect to all other activities, including growth, debt, capitalization and operations, will be determined by our Board of Directors. These policies may be amended or revised at any time and from time to time at the discretion of the Board of Directors without a vote of our stockholders. In addition, the Board of Directors may change our policies with respect to conflicts of interest provided that such changes are consistent with applicable legal requirements. A change in these policies could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, per share trading price of our common stock and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations and to pay dividends to our stockholders.

Compensation awards to our management may not be tied to or correspond with our improved financial results or share price.

The compensation committee of our Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing our compensation and employee benefit plans and practices, including our executive compensation plans and our incentive compensation and equity-based compensation plans. Our compensation committee has significant discretion in structuring compensation packages and may make compensation decisions based on any number of factors. As a result, compensation awards may not be tied to or correspond with improved financial results for the Company or the share price of our common stock.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation authorizes the issuance of shares of preferred stock.

Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation provides that our Board of Directors will be authorized to issue from time to time, without further stockholder approval, up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and to fix or alter the designations, preferences, rights and any qualifications, limitations or restrictions of the shares of each series, including the dividend rights, dividend rates, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption, including sinking fund provisions, redemption price or prices, liquidation preferences and the number of shares constituting any series or designations of any series. Such shares of preferred stock could have preferences over our common stock with respect to dividends and liquidation rights. We may issue additional preferred stock in ways which may delay, defer or prevent a change in control of the Company without further action by our stockholders. Such shares of preferred stock may be issued with voting rights that may adversely affect the voting power of the holders of our common stock by increasing the number of outstanding shares having voting rights, and by the creation of class or series voting rights.

Our payment of future quarterly dividends on our common stock is subject to the discretion and approval of our Board of Directors.

On August 6, 2018, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the initiation of the Quarterly Cash Dividend program of $0.025 per share of the Company’s common stock or $0.10 per share on an annualized basis. We temporarily replaced the Quarterly Cash Dividend with a Quarterly Stock Dividend during portions of the 2020 fiscal year in light of the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  While we intend to pay regular Quarterly Cash Dividends for the foreseeable future, all subsequent dividends will be reviewed quarterly and declared at the discretion and approval of our Board of Directors and will depend upon, among other things, our results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, contractual restrictions under our credit facility on the payment of dividends, legal and regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends, and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant. Therefore, you should not purchase our common stock if you need immediate or future income by way of dividends from your investment. In addition, upon an event of default under our credit facility, we are prohibited from declaring or paying any dividends on our common stock or generally making other distributions to our stockholders.

Shares of our common stock have been, and may continue to be, thinly traded, which may contribute to volatility in our stock price and less liquidity for investors.

The trading volume of our common stock has varied, and at times may be characterized as thinly traded. As a result of this thin trading market or “float” for our common stock, our common stock has been, and may continue to be, less liquid than the common stock of companies with broader public ownership. If our common stock is thinly traded, the trading of a relatively small volume of our common stock may have a greater impact on the trading price of our common stock than would be the case if our float were larger. As a result, the trading prices of our common stock may be more volatile than the common stock of companies with broader public ownership, and an investor to be unable to liquidate an investment in our common stock at attractive prices.

We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade in the future. Variations in financial results, announcements of material events, changes in our dividend policy, technological innovations or new products by us or our competitors, our quarterly operating results, changes in general conditions in the economy or the outdoor and consumer industries, other developments affecting us or our competitors or general price and volume fluctuations in the market are among the many factors that could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially.

The sale of a substantial amount of our common stock in the public market could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock.

We have outstanding an aggregate of 31,304,181 shares of our common stock as of March 3, 2021. This includes 6,361,903 shares of common stock that are beneficially owned by Mr. Kanders, our Chairman of the Board, of which he has 5,340,971 hypothecated and/or pledged as security for loans from financial institutions, which hypothecation has been in place for over ten years, and that may be sold by such financial institutions in the event of a foreclosure of these loans. The sale of a significant amount of shares at any given time, or the perception that such sales could occur, including sales of the shares beneficially owned by Mr. Kanders, could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock.

We may issue a substantial amount of our common stock in the future, which could cause dilution to current investors and otherwise adversely affect our stock price.

We may issue additional shares of common stock as consideration for such acquisition. These issuances could be significant. To the extent that we make acquisitions and issue our shares of common stock as consideration, your equity interest in us will be diluted. Any such issuance will also increase the number of outstanding shares of common stock that will be eligible for sale in the future. Persons receiving shares of our common stock in connection with these acquisitions may be more likely to sell off their common stock, which may influence the price of our common stock. In addition, the potential issuance of additional shares in connection with anticipated acquisitions could lessen demand for our common stock and result in a lower price than might otherwise be obtained. We may issue common stock in the future for other purposes as well, including in connection with financings, for compensation purposes, in connection with strategic transactions or for other purposes. The issuance of a large number of shares of common stock in connection with an acquisition could also have a negative effect on our ability to use our NOLs.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Our corporate headquarters, as well as our primary research, evaluation and design studios, is located in a facility owned by the Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, at December 31, 2020, the Company and its subsidiaries lease or own facilities throughout the U.S. and Europe. In general, our properties are well maintained, considered adequate and being utilized for their intended purposes.

The following table identifies and provides certain information regarding our principal facilities:

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Legal Proceedings

The Company is involved in various legal disputes and other legal proceedings that arise from time to time in the ordinary course of business. Based on currently available information, the Company does not believe that the disposition of any of the legal disputes the Company or its subsidiaries is currently involved in will have a material adverse effect upon the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. It is possible that, as additional information becomes available, the impact on the Company of an adverse determination could have a different effect.

Litigation

The Company is involved in various lawsuits arising from time to time that the Company considers ordinary routine litigation incidental to its business. Amounts accrued for litigation matters represent the anticipated costs (damages and/or settlement amounts) in connection with pending litigation and claims and related anticipated legal fees for defending such actions, which legal fees are expensed as incurred. The costs are accrued when it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. The accruals are based upon the Company’s assessment, after consultation with counsel (if deemed appropriate), of probable loss based on the facts and circumstances of each case, the legal issues involved, the nature of the claim made, the nature of the damages sought and any relevant information about the plaintiffs and other significant factors that vary by case. When it is not possible to estimate a specific expected cost to be incurred, the Company evaluates the range of probable loss and records the minimum end of the range. Based on currently available information, the Company does not believe that it is reasonably possible that the disposition of any of the legal disputes the Company or its subsidiaries is currently involved in will have a material adverse effect upon the Company’s consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. There is a reasonable possibility of loss from contingencies in excess of the amounts accrued by the Company in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets; however, the actual amounts of such possible losses cannot currently be reasonably estimated by the Company at this time. It is possible that, as additional information becomes available, the impact on the Company could have a different effect.

Product Liability

As a consumer goods manufacturer and distributor, the Company faces the risk of product liability and related lawsuits involving claims for substantial money damages, product recall actions and higher than anticipated rates of warranty returns or other returns of goods. The Company is therefore vulnerable to various personal injury and property damage lawsuits relating to its products and incidental to its business.

Based on current information, there are no pending product liability claims and lawsuits of the Company, which the Company believes in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

Not applicable.

‎

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock is listed for trading on NASDAQ Global Select Market under the trading symbol “CLAR”.

Performance Graph

Set forth below is a line graph comparing the yearly percentage change in the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock to the cumulative total return of the NASDAQ Global Select Market Composite and the Russell 2000 Index for the period commencing on December 31, 2015 and ending on December 31, 2020 (the “Measuring Period”). The graph assumes that the value of the investment in our common stock and the indexes was $100 on December 31, 2015. The yearly change in cumulative total return is measured by dividing (1) the sum of (i) the cumulative amount of dividends for the Measuring Period, assuming dividend reinvestment, and (ii) the change in share price between the beginning and end of the Measuring Period, by (2) the share price at the beginning of the Measuring Period.

Historical stock price performance should not be relied on as indicative of future stock price performance.

Total Return Analysis

Stockholders

On March 3, 2021, the last reported sales price for our common stock was $18.06 per share. As of March 3, 2021, there were 76 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

On August 6, 2018, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the initiation of a Quarterly Cash Dividend program of $0.025 per share of the Company’s common stock or $0.10 per share on an annualized basis. On May 1, 2020, the Company announced that, in light of the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, its Board of Directors temporarily replaced its Quarterly Cash Dividend with a Quarterly Stock Dividend. In 2020, 2019 and 2018, our total Quarterly Cash Dividends were $1,520,000, $2,987,000 and $1,488,000, respectively.  In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000.

On January 29, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the payment on February 19, 2021 of the Quarterly Cash Dividend to the record holders of shares of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on February 8, 2021. The payment of any future Quarterly Cash Dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon, among other things, our results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, contractual restrictions on payment of dividends, if any, legal and regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends, and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Recent Purchases of our Registered Equity Securities

On November 9, 2015, the Company announced that its Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program that allows the repurchase of up to $30,000,000 of the Company’s outstanding common stock. No repurchases of shares of the Company’s common stock occurred during the three months ended December 31, 2020.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our equity plans as of December 31, 2020:

(1) Consists of stock options and restricted stock awards issued and issuable under the 2005 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2015 Stock Incentive Plan.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

Our selected financial information set forth below has been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements and should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements, including the notes thereto and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of Item 7 of Part II of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The Company acquired equity of, or certain assets or liabilities relating to, Sierra, SKINourishment and the Barnes brand of bullets on August 21, 2017, November 6, 2018 and October 2, 2020, respectively. See Note 2. Acquisition to the notes to consolidated financial statements.

Gross profit for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, included costs of $1,049 and $2,098, respectively, related to the sale of Sierra inventory that was recorded at fair value, less cost to sell, in purchase accounting. Gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2020, included costs of $360 related to the sale of Barnes inventory that was recorded at fair value, less cost to sell, in purchase accounting.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Forward-Looking Statements

Please note that in this Annual Report on Form 10-K Clarus Corporation (which may be referred to as the “Company,” “Clarus,” “we,” “our” or “us”) may use words such as “appears,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “intends,” “future,” and similar expressions which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are made based on our expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks and uncertainties. We caution that forward-looking statements are not guarantees and that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.

Potential risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results of operations or financial condition of the Company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include, but are not limited to, the overall level of consumer demand on our products; general economic conditions and other factors affecting consumer confidence, preferences, and behavior; disruption and volatility in the global currency, capital and credit markets; the financial strength of the Company’s customers; the Company’s ability to implement its business strategy; the ability of the Company to execute and integrate acquisitions; changes in governmental regulation, legislation or public opinion relating to the manufacture and sale of bullets and ammunition by our Sierra segment, and the possession and use of firearms and ammunition by our customers; the Company’s exposure to product liability or product warranty claims and other loss contingencies; disruptions and other impacts to the Company’s business, as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic and government actions and restrictive measures implemented in response; stability of the Company’s manufacturing facilities and suppliers, as well as consumer demand for our products, in light of disease epidemics and health-related concerns such as the COVID-19 global pandemic; the impact that global climate change trends may have on the Company and its suppliers and customers; the Company's ability to protect patents, trademarks and other intellectual property rights; any breaches of, or interruptions in, our information systems; the ability of our information technology systems or information security systems to operate effectively, including as a result of security breaches, viruses, hackers, malware, natural disasters, vendor business interruptions or other causes; our ability to properly maintain, protect, repair or upgrade our information technology systems or information security systems, or problems with our transitioning to upgraded or replacement systems; the impact of adverse publicity about the Company and/or its brands, including without limitation, through social media or in connection with brand damaging events and/or public perception; fluctuations in the price, availability and quality of raw materials and contracted products as well as foreign currency fluctuations; our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards; changes in tax laws and liabilities, tariffs, legal, regulatory, political and economic risks; and the Company’s ability to maintain a quarterly dividend. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company’s financial results can be found under Item 1A. Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are based upon information available to the Company as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and speak only as the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Overview

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Clarus, a company focused on the outdoor and consumer industries, is seeking opportunities to acquire and grow businesses that can generate attractive shareholder returns. The Company has net operating tax loss carryforwards which it is seeking to redeploy to maximize shareholder value. Clarus’ primary business is as a leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the climb, ski, mountain, sport and skincare markets. The Company’s products are principally sold under the Black Diamond®, Sierra®, Barnes®, PIEPS® and SKINourishment® brand names through outdoor specialty and online retailers, distributors and original equipment manufacturers throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Through our Black Diamond, PIEPS, and SKINourishment brands, we offer a broad range of products including: high-performance, activity-based apparel (such as shells, insulation, midlayers, pants and logowear); rock-climbing footwear and equipment (such as carabiners, protection devices, harnesses, belay devices, helmets, and ice-climbing gear); technical backpacks and high-end day packs; trekking poles; headlamps and lanterns; gloves and mittens; and skincare and other sport-enhancing products. We also offer advanced skis, ski poles, ski skins, and snow safety products, including avalanche airbag systems, avalanche transceivers, shovels, and probes. Through our Sierra and Barnes brands, we manufacture a wide range of high-performance bullets and ammunition for both rifles and pistols that are used for precision target shooting, hunting and military and law enforcement purposes.

Clarus, incorporated in Delaware in 1991, acquired Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd. (“Black Diamond Equipment”) in May 2010 and changed its name to Black Diamond, Inc. in January 2011. In October 2012, we acquired PIEPS Holding GmbH and its subsidiaries (collectively, “PIEPS”).

On August 14, 2017, the Company changed its name from Black Diamond, Inc. to Clarus Corporation and its stock ticker symbol from “BDE” to “CLAR” on the NASDAQ stock exchange. On August 21, 2017, the Company acquired Sierra Bullets, L.L.C. (“Sierra”). On November 6, 2018, the Company acquired the assets of SKINourishment, Inc. (“SKINourishment”).

On October 2, 2020, the Company completed the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities constituting the Barnes business (“Barnes”) for a purchase price of $30,500,000.

On August 6, 2018, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend program of $0.025 per share of the Company’s common stock (the “Quarterly Cash Dividend”) or $0.10 per share on an annualized basis.  The declaration and payment of future Quarterly Cash Dividends is subject to the discretion of and approval of the Company’s Board of Directors. On May 1, 2020, the Company announced that, in light of the operational impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, its Board of Directors temporarily replaced its Quarterly Cash Dividend with a stock dividend (the “Quarterly Stock Dividend”). In 2020, 2019 and 2018, our total Quarterly Cash Dividends were $1,520,000, $2,987,000 and $1,488,000, respectively.  In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000. On January 29, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the payment on February 19, 2021 of the Quarterly Cash Dividend to the record holders of shares of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on February 8, 2021.

Impact of COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a national emergency by the U.S. government in March 2020, with governments world-wide implementing safety measures restricting travel and requiring citizen lockdowns and self-confinements for quarantining purposes. This has negatively affected the U.S. and global economy, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in significant transport restrictions and disruption of financial markets. The impact of this pandemic has created significant uncertainty in the global economy and has affected our business, employees, retail and distribution partners, suppliers, and customers.

We experienced a decline in retail demand within our Black Diamond segment beginning in the second half of March 2020 through December 2020, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability for the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2020. We also expect a continued impact on the Company’s sales and profitability in future periods. The duration of these trends and the magnitude of such impacts cannot be precisely estimated at this time, as they are affected by a number of factors (some of which are outside management’s control), including those presented in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

We have mitigated some of the negative impacts to our operating results by taking significant actions to improve our current operating results and liquidity position, including drawing on the credit facility, suspending share repurchases, temporarily suspending cash dividends, postponing non-essential capital expenditures, reducing operating costs, modulating production in line with demand, and substantially reducing discretionary spending. We will continue to adjust mitigation measures as needed related to health and safety. Those measures have and might continue to include temporarily suspending manufacturing or retail operations, modifying workspaces, continuing social distancing policies, implementing new personal protective equipment or health screening policies at our facilities, or such other industry best practices needed to continue maintain a healthy and safe environment for our employees amidst the pandemic.

These countermeasures partially mitigated the impacts of COVID-19 on our full year 2020 financial results. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and our operations evolves, we will continue to assess the impact on the Company and respond accordingly.

Sustained adverse impacts to the Company, certain of its suppliers, dealers or customers may also affect the Company’s future cash flows, liquidity, and valuation of certain assets and therefore may increase the likelihood of an impairment charge, write-off, or reserve associated with such assets, including goodwill, indefinite and finite-lived intangible assets, property and equipment, inventories, accounts receivable, net deferred tax assets, and other assets.

Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates

Management’s discussion of our financial condition and results of operations is based on the consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). The preparation of the consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements. Estimates also affect the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. We continually evaluate our estimates and assumptions including those related to derivatives, revenue recognition, income taxes and valuation of long-lived assets, goodwill and other intangible assets. We base our estimates on historical experience and other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

We believe the following critical accounting policies include the more significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. Our accounting policies are more fully described in Note 1 of our consolidated financial statements.

Fair value of net assets acquired in business combinations – We allocate the purchase price of acquired companies to the tangible and intangible assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their estimated fair values. The excess of the purchase price over these fair values is recorded as goodwill.  We engage independent third-party valuation specialists to assist us in determining the fair values of certain assets acquired and liabilities assumed. Such valuations require management to make significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets. Different valuations approaches are used to value different types of intangible assets. The income approach is a valuation technique that capitalizes anticipated income associated with the asset being valued. This approach is predicated on developing net income and cash flow projections which are discounted for risk and the time value of money. This approach is generally the principal approach to the valuation of most intangible assets. The market approach involves the compilation and analysis of recent acquisitions of similar assets in the open market. A fair value can be estimated after adjustments are made to reflect comparability differences between the assets sold and those being valued. This method of valuation applies primarily to the valuation of owned land and certain intangible assets. The cost approach estimates the amount that would be required to replace the service capacity of an asset (often referred to as current replacement cost). We typically apply all three approaches to estimate the fair value of our tangible and intangible tangible assets depending on the type of asset acquired.

Significant estimates in valuing certain intangible assets include but are not limited to the projected financial information related to each individual asset, particularly forecasted sales growth rates, cash flows, market-based royalty rates and estimated discount rates. Developed technology and trademarks are valued using the relief-from-royalty method, and customer relationships are valued using the multi-period excess earnings model. The relief-from-royalty method is used to estimate the cost savings that accrue to the owner of an intangible asset who would otherwise have to pay royalties or license fees on revenues earned through the use of the asset. The multi-period excess earnings method supposes that the owner of the intangible asset is able to achieve a return in excess of that received without the intangible asset through enhanced revenues or cost savings. Our discounted cash flow estimates use discount rates that correspond to a weighted-average cost of capital consistent with a market-participant view. The discount rates are consistent with those used for investment decisions and take into account our operating plans and strategies. Management’s estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable. If we do not achieve the results reflected in the assumptions and estimates, our goodwill impairment evaluations could be adversely affected, and we may impair a portion or all of our intangible assets, which would adversely affect our operating results in the period of impairment.

Income taxes – We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method. The asset and liability method provides that deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial reporting and tax bases of assets and liabilities, and for operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. We may make assumptions, judgments and estimates in order to determine the future taxable income available to support the recoverability of deferred tax assets at a more-likely-than-not threshold. The sources of future taxable income include 1) future reversal of existing taxable temporary differences, 2) taxable income in carryback years if carryback is permitted, 3) future taxable income from future operations, and 4) tax planning strategies. The degree and subjectivity and judgment increases as the source of future taxable income becomes more inherently subjective. Our assumptions, judgments and estimates relative to the realizability of a deferred tax asset take into account predictions of the amount and category of expected future taxable income. Actual operating results and the underlying amount and category of income in future years could cause our current assumptions, judgments and estimates of recoverable net deferred taxes to be inaccurate. Changes in any of the assumptions, judgments and estimates mentioned above related to the realizability of deferred tax assets, could materially affect our financial position and results of operations.

Goodwill and intangible assets – We assess the recoverability of our one reporting unit’s carrying value of goodwill by performing a qualitative assessment and/or a quantitative goodwill impairment test.  At a minimum, we perform an annual assessment of possible goodwill impairment as of each December 31. Management may perform an interim goodwill impairment assessment whenever events or circumstances make it more likely than not that an impairment may have occurred, such as a significant adverse change in the business climate or a decision to sell or dispose of the reporting unit. If we begin with a qualitative assessment and are able to support the conclusion that it is not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we are not required to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test.  Otherwise, we are required to perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test which compares the reporting unit’s carrying value including goodwill to its estimated fair value. We estimate the reporting unit’s fair value using either the income approach based upon projected discounted cash flows of the reporting unit or the market approach based upon comparable market acquisition transactions. If the estimated fair value of the reporting entity exceeds the carrying value, the goodwill is not impaired, and no further review is required. However, if the carrying value exceeds the estimated fair value of the reporting unit, an impairment expense should be recognized for the excess of the carrying value over the fair value.

Under the income approach, the estimated discounted cash flows are based on the best information available to us at the time, including supportable assumptions and projections we believe are reasonable. Our discounted cash flow estimates use discount rates that correspond to a weighted-average cost of capital consistent with a market-participant view. The discount rates are consistent with those used for investment decisions and take into account our operating plans and strategies. Certain other key assumptions utilized, including revenue projections, costs of goods sold, operating expenses and effective tax rates, are based on estimates consistent with those utilized in our annual budgeting and planning process that we believe are reasonable. However, if we do not achieve the results reflected in the assumptions and estimates, our goodwill impairment evaluations could be adversely affected, and we may impair a portion or all of our goodwill, which would adversely affect our operating results in the period of impairment.

The market approach identifies the EBITDA multiples of recent industry and competitor acquisitions. The reporting unit’s current EBITDA is multiplied by the median industry and competitor acquisition market multiple to estimate its current estimated fair value. If the market multiples or EBITDA value assumptions are incorrect, our goodwill impairment evaluation could also be adversely affected, and we may impair a portion or all of our goodwill, which would adversely affect our operating results in the period of impairment. As a result of the current wide swings in market multiples resulting from industry acquisitions, management believes that the income approach provides for a more accurate estimate of the reporting unit’s fair value.

No impairment was recorded during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018. During the first quarter of 2019, we early adopted Accounting Standards Update 2017-04, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Simplifying the Test for Goodwill Impairment, which removed the requirement to perform the previous two-step goodwill impairment test.

We also test indefinite-lived intangible assets for impairment at least annually during the fourth quarter, generally on December 31. Management may perform an interim indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment assessment whenever events or circumstances make it more likely than not that an impairment may have occurred, such as a significant adverse change in the business climate or a decision to sell or dispose of the reporting unit. If the carrying value of the indefinite-lived asset is higher than its fair value, then the asset is deemed to be impaired and the impairment charge is estimated as the difference. The Company calculates the fair value of its indefinite-lived intangible assets using the income approach, specifically the relief-from-royalty method. The relief-from-royalty method is used to estimate the cost savings that accrue to the owner of an intangible asset who would otherwise have to pay royalties or license fees on revenues earned through the use of the asset. Internally forecasted revenues, which the Company believes reasonably approximate market participant assumptions, are multiplied by a royalty rate to arrive at the estimated net after tax cost savings. The royalty rate used in the analysis is based on an analysis of empirical, market-derived royalty rates for comparable intangible assets. The net after tax cost savings are discounted using the same weighted-average cost of capital discount rate developed for purposes of the Company's quantitative goodwill impairment test. The key uncertainties in these calculations are the assumptions used in determining the revenue associated with each indefinite-lived intangible asset and the royalty rate. If we do not achieve the results reflected in the assumptions and estimates, our indefinite-lived intangibles impairment evaluations could be adversely affected, and we may impair a portion or all of their carrying values, which would adversely affect our operating results in the period of impairment.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See “Recent Accounting Pronouncements” in Note 1 to the notes to consolidated financial statements.

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Results of Operations (In Thousands)

Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2020 Compared to Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2019

The following presents a discussion of consolidated operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, compared with the consolidated year ended December 31, 2019:

Sales

Consolidated sales decreased $5,430, or 2.4%, to $224,007 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated sales of $229,437 during the year ended December 31, 2019. We believe lower consumer demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic drove a decrease in the quantity of new and existing climb, mountain, and ski products sold during the period. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in the quantity of new and existing sport products sold by Sierra of $16,729 and the inclusion of Barnes, which contributed $6,556. We also experienced an increase in sales of $606 due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies during the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the prior period.

Consolidated domestic sales increased $10,475, or 8.6%, to $132,226 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated domestic sales of $121,751 during the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in sales was attributable to the increase in the quantity of new and existing sport products sold by Sierra of $17,873 and the inclusion of Barnes, which contributed $6,179. We believe this increase was partially offset by a decrease in domestic sales due to lower consumer demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove a decrease in the quantity of new and existing climb, mountain, and ski products sold during the period.

Consolidated international sales decreased $15,905, or 14.8%, to $91,781 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated international sales of $107,686 during the year ended December 31, 2019. We believe the decrease in international sales was attributable to lower consumer demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove a decrease in the quantity of new and existing climb, mountain, and ski products sold during the period. We also experienced a decrease in the quantity of new and existing sport products sold by Sierra of $1,143. These decreases were partially offset by the inclusion of Barnes, which contributed $376. We also experienced an increase in sales of $606 due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies during the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the prior period.

Cost of Goods Sold

Consolidated cost of goods sold decreased $2,934, or 2.0%, to $146,212 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated cost of goods sold of $149,146 during the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease in cost of goods sold was primarily attributable to a decrease in the number of units sold due to lower consumer demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gross Profit

Consolidated gross profit decreased $2,496 or 3.1%, to $77,795 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated gross profit of $80,291 during the year ended December 31, 2019. Consolidated gross margin was 34.7% during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to a consolidated gross margin of 35.0% during the year ended December 31, 2019. Consolidated gross margin during the year ended December 31, 2020, decreased compared to the prior year due to unfavorable impacts on our supply chain and logistic activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gross margin benefited from the inclusion of Barnes; however, this benefit was offset by a decrease in gross margin of 0.2% due to the sale of inventory that was recorded at its preliminary fair value in purchase accounting during the year ended December 31, 2020.

Selling, General and Administrative

Consolidated selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $2,748, or 4.0%, to $71,428 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated selling, general and administrative expenses of $68,680 during the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses is due to the inclusion of Barnes, which contributed $1,698, and an increase of stock compensation of $3,842 during the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the prior year. The increase was partially offset by the cost-saving initiatives implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily related to reductions within sales, marketing, and logistics.

Restructuring Charges

Consolidated restructuring expense decreased to $0 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated restructuring expense of $13 during the year ended December 31, 2019. Restructuring expenses incurred during the year ended December 31, 2019, related to costs associated with the formal closure and liquidation of the Company’s Black Diamond Equipment manufacturing operations in Zhuhai, China.

Transaction Costs

Consolidated transaction expense increased to $2,433 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated transaction costs of $166 during the year ended December 31, 2019, which consisted of expenses related to the Company’s various acquisition efforts and capital-raising activities, including acquiring Barnes and completing a registered direct offering (the “Offering”).

Interest Expense, net

Consolidated interest expense, net during the year ended December 31, 2020 remained relatively consistent with consolidated interest expense, net, during the year ended December 31, 2019.

Other, net

Consolidated other, net, increased $1,005, or 1,080.6%, to income of $912 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to consolidated other, net expense of $93 during the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in other, net, was primarily attributable to an increase in remeasurement gains recognized on the Company’s foreign denominated accounts receivable and accounts payable. This increase was partially offset by losses on mark-to-market adjustments on non-hedged foreign currency contracts.

Income Taxes

Consolidated income tax benefit decreased $7,031, or 78.2%, to $1,960 during the year ended December 31, 2020, compared to a consolidated income tax benefit of $8,991 during the same period in 2019. Our effective income tax rate was a benefit of 54.7% for the year ended December 31, 2020, and differed compared to the statutory tax rates due to a release of a partial valuation allowance of the deferred tax assets and discrete charges recorded during the period. For the year ended December 31, 2019, our effective income tax rate was a benefit of 90.1% and differed compared to the statutory tax rates due to a release of certain valuation allowances and a discrete benefit associated with stock compensation windfall. Factors that could cause our annual effective tax rate to differ materially from our quarterly effective tax rates include changes in the geographic mix of taxable income and discrete events that may occur.
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Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2019 Compared to Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2018

The following presents a discussion of consolidated operations for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared with the consolidated year ended December 31, 2018: