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, 2021

¨ 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 has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C.7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. x

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, 2021 was approximately $628.2 million based on $25.70 per share, the closing price of the common stock as quoted on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

As of March 2, 2022, there were 37,199,359 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, outstanding.

DOCUMENT INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

‎

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”) is a global leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of best-in-class outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the outdoor and consumer enthusiast markets. Our mission is to identify, acquire and grow outdoor “super fan” brands through our unique “innovate and accelerate” strategy. We define a “super fan” brand as a brand that creates the world’s pre-eminent, performance-defining product that the best-in-class user cannot live without. Each of our brands has a long history of continuous product innovation for core and everyday users alike. The Company’s products are principally sold globally under the Black Diamond®, Sierra®, Barnes®, Rhino-Rack® and MAXTRAX® brand names through outdoor specialty and online retailers, our own websites, distributors and original equipment manufacturers. Our portfolio of iconic brands is well-positioned for sustainable, long-term growth underpinned by powerful industry trends across the outdoor and adventure sport end markets.

One of the key elements of our sustained financial performance is our persistent focus on brand building through product initiatives. Our iconic brands are rooted in performance-defining technologies that enable our customers to have their best days outdoors. We have a long history of technical innovation and product development, backed by an extensive patent portfolio that continues to evolve and advance our markets. We currently employ approximately 120 engineers across the portfolio, focusing on enhancing our customers’ performance in the most critical moments. Our commitment to quality, rigorous safety, and ultimately best-in-class design is evidenced by outstanding industry recognition, as we have received numerous product awards across our portfolio of super fan brands.

Each of our brands represents a unique customer value proposition. Supported by six decades of proven innovation, Black Diamond, is an established global leader in high-performance, activity-based climbing, skiing, and technical mountain sports equipment. The brand is synonymous with premium performance, safety and reliability. Our Sierra and Barnes brands have been leading specialty manufacturers of bullets and ammunition for over 50 years. Since 1947, Sierra has been dedicated to manufacturing the highest-quality, most accurate bullets in the world for hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. Barnes traces its history back to 1932, and since 1989 has manufactured technologically-advanced lead-free bullets and premium ammunition for hunters, range shooters, military and law enforcement professionals. Founded in 1992, our Rhino-Rack brand is a globally-recognized designer and distributor of highly-engineered automotive roof racks and accessories to enhance the outdoor enthusiast’s overlanding experience. Founded in 2005, our MAXTRAX brand offers high-quality overlanding and off-road vehicle recovery and extraction tracks for the overland and off-road market.

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”). On July 1, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Australia-based Rhino-Rack Holdings Pty Ltd (“Rhino-Rack”). On December 1, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Australia-based MaxTrax Australia Pty Ltd (“MAXTRAX”).

Market Overview

Our brands participate in the outdoor-oriented lifestyle that has and is expected to benefit from favorable long-term growth trends. The users of our products are loyal outdoor enthusiasts, including climbers, mountaineers, trail runners, skiers, mountain bikers, backpackers and campers, competitive shooters, hunters, adventure seekers, overlanders 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, positioning us for sustainable growth amidst the acceleration of our market opportunity. Select factors driving this acceleration include:

Increasing Adoption of Outdoor Lifestyles and Focus on Health and Wellness. According to Outdoor Foundation, over the past decade, many outdoor activities have experienced a consistent rise in participation rates. This heightened participation has grown in tandem with increasing consumer focus on health and wellness with many consumers acutely aware of the myriad of physical and mental health benefits associated with outdoor activity. Outdoor participation experienced an uplift following the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growing Demand for SUVs as “Staycations,” Road Trips and Short Breaks Increase in Popularity. As consumers actively search out activities that conform to local social distancing guidelines, there has been a significant increase in more localized vacations, trips

and activities that avoid air and rail travel. In addition, the popularity of pickups and, more recently, their sibling sport utility vehicles (“SUVs”) and crossover utility vehicles (“CUVs”) continues to rise. They are multipurpose vehicles, proving equally functional for daily commutes, heavy jobsite work or recreational and trail activities. Per the 2021 issue of “SEMA Light-Truck Snapshot,” the light-truck segment — which includes pickups, vans, SUVs and CUVs — is forecast to account for 82% of all new passenger vehicle sales by 2025. From 2019-2025, new light truck sales are estimated to rise approximately 14% overall. By contrast, sales of passenger cars are forecast to decline by approximately 34% over the same period. The demand for vehicles geared towards local travel is driving demand for extra luggage space and the automotive rack market which is expected to directly benefit our Rhino-Rack and MAXTRAX brands

Rise of Overlanding. Combining off-road driving with backcountry lifestyle activities, such as camping, hiking, kayaking and mountain biking, we believe that overlanding has driven a new niche in the light truck, SUV and CUV segment for enthusiasts and light truck manufacturers which is expected to directly benefit our Rhino-Rack and MAXTRAX brands. Per SEMA, overlanding, loosely defined, is the practice of exploring the backcountry in a purpose-built vehicle — generally, a high-clearance four-wheel drive — that is equipped to allow its occupants to remain self-sufficient for periods of time ranging from a few days to several weeks. The activity originated in Australia, with popularity in South America and sub-Saharan Africa, but its popularity in North America has grown significantly over the past decade.

Due to its overlap with numerous outdoor lifestyle activities, overlanding’s market growth is difficult to precisely measure, but we believe that the global adventure tourism market — which includes camping, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, rafting and other pursuits that are closely associated with overlanding — reflects this growing trend and is expected to continue to grow in the coming years.

Climbing Verticals Becoming Mainstream. With the release of critically acclaimed free climbing documentary The Dawn Wall as well as the Academy Award-winning rock climbing documentary Free Solo, mainstream consumers are increasingly exposed to the markets that Clarus and, specifically, Black Diamond work to serve. Furthermore, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics marked the first time that sport climbing debuted in an Olympic stadium, bringing the thrills of high-skill rock climbing to the living rooms of people across the globe.

Resurgence in Popularity of Hunting. After several years of falling participation, hunting has experienced a strong resurgence in activity over the past two years, as participants have found comfort in an outdoor activity conforming to social distancing guidelines. Additionally, the sport of hunting has experienced more diversity in participants, specifically women and younger people. The investment in hunting equipment and required training courses is expected to drive sustained activity in the sport.

As the variety of outdoor sports activities continues to proliferate, and existing outdoor sports evolve and become more specialized, we believe there is a need in the marketplace to address the unique technical and performance needs of enthusiasts involved in such activities. We believe we have been able to help address this void in the marketplace by seeking to leverage our intimate knowledge of what the customer needs to perform at the highest level. We continue to seek to improve on our existing product lines by expanding our offerings into new niche categories, 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 new and innovative products, increase consumer and retailer awareness and demand for our products, and build stronger emotional brand connections with consumers over time across an increasing number of geographic markets. Additionally, long-term growth is underpinned by powerful industry trends across the outdoor and consumer enthusiast markets. Our growth initiatives include, but are not limited to the following:

Black Diamond Product Category Expansions. Within our Outdoor segment, we intend to utilize our “innovate and accelerate” strategy to leverage our strong brand name, 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. We intend to focus on the expansion of our apparel and footwear categories, driving further innovation in lights, trekking poles, snow safety, and climbing hard goods, while broadening our appeal in gloves and packs.

Growth in International Markets. We believe there is a significant opportunity to expand the presence and penetration of each of our brands globally. 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. 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. The acquisition of Rhino-Rack adds a leading market position in Australia and New Zealand, with significant whitespace to grow our presence in U.S., currently less than 1% market

share, through key partnerships with brick-and-mortar and online retailers alike, and enhanced brand awareness. Our most recent acquisition of MAXTRAX has a leading market position in Australia as well and we believe it has a significant opportunity to grow in the U.S market.

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 enthusiast markets. To the extent we pursue future acquisitions, we intend to focus on super-fan brands with recurring revenue, sustainable margins and strong cash flow generation. 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 Super Fan 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. Each of our brands is synonymous with the sport it serves, tracing its roots to the modern origins of each sport.

Since 1957, our Black Diamond brand has been a global innovator in activity-based climbing, skiing, and mountain sports equipment.

Our Sierra brand was founded in 1947 and, we believe, represents the most precise and accurate bullets and ammunition available for the hunting and sport shooting enthusiast.

Our Barnes brand was founded in 1932 and produces some of the most technologically advanced lead- free bullets and premium ammunition.

Our Rhino-Rack brand was founded in 1992 and has become well-respected and widely recognized for outdoor enthusiasts.

Our MAXTRAX brand was founded in 2005 and has become the market leader in recovery boards for overlanding enthusiasts.

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.

Outdoor

Black Diamond Equipment: Black Diamond Equipment is a global innovator in climbing, skiing and mountain sports equipment enabling peak performance for outdoor enthusiasts. Employing approximately 65 engineers, 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. Continuously recognized as an industry-leading innovator, Black Diamond has received 418 industry awards over five years, including over 110 product awards in 2021 alone.

Precision Sport

Sierra: Sierra Bullets is 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 is synonymous with precision, providing critical dependability to hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. This performance is born from a proprietary manufacturing, testing and quality assurance 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. 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: Barnes Bullets is an industry leader in all-copper bullet technology and innovation. 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 terminal 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.

Adventure

Rhino-Rack:   Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Rhino-Rack has been a widely recognized, premier aftermarket automotive roof rack and accessories brand since 1992 with a leading market position in Australia. Best known for its “north/south” roof rack design, Rhino-Rack’s product offering includes roof racks, luggage carriers, shade awnings, kayak carriers, bike carriers and load-securing accessories. Employing 16 engineers, Rhino-Rack has a long track record of launching new, innovative products with state-of-the-art engineering serving and enhancing the outdoor enthusiast’s overlanding experience. Rhino-Rack has a clearly defined growth strategy, underpinned by access to Clarus’ go-to-market playbook and key customer relationships. Specifically, we believe there is significant opportunity to capture market share and further enhance brand awareness in North America, and globally, through partner and direct ecommerce growth, expansion of the dealer network and new distribution and brand-building partnerships.

MAXTRAX: Founded in 2005, MAXTRAX is considered the creator of the vehicle recovery board.  MAXTRAX has developed a product lineup consisting of high-quality vehicle recovery and extraction tracks, including its original MAXTRAX MKII recovery track. All MAXTRAX vehicle recovery tracks are manufactured in Australia using its proprietary, Australian-sourced, engineering-grade and fiber-reinforced nylon. MAXTRAX currently sells its products around the world to distributors, retailers, government agencies, third-party e-commerce sites and through its own website.

Product Innovation and Development Capabilities. We have a long history of technical innovation and product development, with over 400 patents and patents pending worldwide. Our employees’ passion and intimacy with our core outdoor activities generates new and boundary-pushing concepts 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 for which our brands are known. We believe that our vertically integrated design and development process and enthusiastic employee base provide us with a competitive advantage to continue to drive future innovation for our Company and the markets we serve. Our innovation pipeline is supported by approximately 120 engineers and additional quality control employees / associates.

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 24.2% of our outstanding common stock as of March 2, 2022, 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 substantially offset our net taxable income through 2022, which is expected to allow us to retain cash flow for future growth.

Operating Segments

We operate our business structure within three segments. These segments are defined based on the internal financial reporting used by our chief operating decision maker to allocate resources and assess performance. The Company’s direct costs included in selling and general and administrative expenses are not allocated to the segments. Each segment is described below:

Our Outdoor segment, formerly known as 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 Outdoor 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 Precision Sport segment, formerly known as 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.

Our Adventure segment, formerly known as our Rhino-Rack segment, includes Rhino-Rack and MAXTRAX brands. The Rhino-Rack brand is a manufacturer of highly-engineered automotive roof racks, trays, mounting systems, luggage boxes, carriers and accessories in Australia and New Zealand and a growing presence in the United States. Our MAXTRAX brand offers high-quality overlanding and off-road vehicle recovery and extraction tracks for the overland and the off-road market.

See Note 17 to our consolidated financial statements for financial information regarding our segments.

Products

Our products span 36 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 manufacture highly-engineered automotive roof racks, trays, mounting systems, luggage boxes, carriers, recovery tracks and accessories. 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 three primary categories:

Outdoor: Our outdoor line consists of apparel, footwear, headlamps, lights, trekking poles, gloves, packs, avalanche airbags, poles, avalanche safety devices, and equipment such as carabiners, harnesses, protection devices, and various other climbing, mountaineering, hiking, and backcountry accessories and products. Our outdoor line represented approximately 50% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Precision Sport: Our precision sport line consists of premium quality high-precision bullets and ammunition used in competitive shooting, hunting and other applications and environments. Our precision sport line represented approximately 25% of our sales on a pro forma basis during the year ended December 31, 2021.

Adventure: Our adventure line consists of highly-engineered automotive roof racks, trays, mounting systems, luggage boxes, carriers, recovery tracks and accessories. Our adventure line represented approximately 25% of our sales on a pro-form basis during the year ended December 31, 2021.

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; Wimberly, Texas; Sydney, Australia; and Brisbane, Australia.

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, 2021, we had 110 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, Australia, 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, PIEPS, Rhino-Rack, and MAXTRAX manufacturing and distribution operations are ISO 9001–2015 certified and are audited annually by an independent certifying agency to ensure quality management systems meet the requirements of ISO 9001–2015, and to ensure that 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 manufacture approximately 25% to 30% of our products, including nearly all protection devices for climbing and all bullets, in our facilities in the United States. The remaining approximately 70% to 75% 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, components, finished goods from a variety of suppliers. Our primary 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.

Outdoor: Our outdoor products and accessories, such as apparel, footwear, trekking poles, headlamps, gloves, backpacks, transceivers, protection, carabiners, helmets, and harnesses, compete with products from companies such as The North Face, Patagonia, La Sportiva, Prana, Hestra, Osprey, Arc’Teryx, Petzl, and Mammut.

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

Adventure: Our highly-engineered automotive roof racks, trays, mounting systems, luggage boxes, carriers, recovery tracks and accessories compete with products from companies such as Thule, Dometic, Yakima, Front Runner, and TRED Outdoors.

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®, PIEPS®, Rhino-Rack®, and Maxtrax® 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 400 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, however, there are not significant seasonal variations in sales and profitability. On a pro forma basis in 2021, approximately 47% of our sales were in the first half of the year while approximately 53% of our sales occurred in the second half of the year.

Working capital requirements vary throughout the year. Working capital generally increases to support peak manufacturing and shipping periods and then decreases as accounts receivable are collected. However, throughout 2021, the Company has leveraged our balance sheet to secure additional inventory across all of our brands to ensure the right inventory is available to meet customer demand.

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.

Regulatory Matters

The manufacture, sale, and purchase of ammunition by our Precision Sport segment are subject to extensive federal, state, local, and foreign governmental laws. Our Precision Sport segment is also subject to the rules and regulations of the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) and various state and international agencies that control the manufacture, export, import, distribution and sale of firearms, explosives, and ammunition. Such regulations may adversely affect demand for the products sold by our Precision Sport segment by imposing limitations that increase the costs or limit the availability of its products.

The failure to comply with applicable rules and regulations may result in the limitation of our growth or business activities and could result in the revocation of licenses necessary for business conducted by the Precision Sport segment. Applicable laws and regulations provide for the following:

require the licensing of all persons manufacturing, exporting, importing, or selling ammunition as a business;

require serialization, labeling, and tracking of the acquisition and disposition of certain types of ammunition;

regulate the interstate sale of certain ammunition

restrict or prohibit the ownership, use, or sale of specified categories of ammunition;

require registries of so-called “ballistic images” of ammunition fired from new guns;

govern the sale, export, and distribution of ammunition; regulate the use and storage of gun powder or other energetic materials;

regulate the employment of personnel with certain criminal convictions;

restrict access to ammunition manufacturing facilities for certain individuals from other countries or with criminal convictions; and

require compliance with International Traffic in Arms Regulations

The handling of our technical data and the international sale of products sold by our Precision Sport segment may also be regulated by the U.S. Department of State and Department of Commerce. These agencies can impose civil and criminal penalties, including denying the export of the products sold by our Precision Sport segment, for failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations.

Bills have been introduced in Congress to establish, and to consider the feasibility of establishing a nationwide database recording so-called “ballistic images” of ammunition fired from new guns. Should such a mandatory database be established, the cost to us, our distributors, and our customers could be significant, depending on the type of firearms and ballistic information included in the database. Bills have been introduced in Congress in the past several years that would affect the manufacture and sale of ammunition, including bills to regulate the manufacture, importation, and sale.

We believe that existing federal, state, and local legislation relating to the regulation of firearms and ammunition have not had a material adverse effect on our sales of these products. However, the regulation of firearms and ammunition may become more restrictive in the future, and any such developments might have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. In addition, regulatory proposals, even if never enacted, may affect firearms or ammunition sales as a result of consumer perceptions.

In addition, our SKINourishment business is subject to substantial government regulation. This government regulation includes regulation in the United States and other countries regarding the research, development, formulation, manufacture and marketing of our SKINourishment skincare products.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2021, we had a total of over 950 employees worldwide. Of these employees, 400 were engaged in manufacturing, 320 in sales, marketing, product management and customer support, 80 in corporate functions (IT, Finance, HR, Legal and Compliance, etc.), 110 in R&D, engineering technicians, manufacturing engineers and project managers, 40 retail store associates and 20 in various executive and administrative functions. None of our employees are represented by a union in collective

bargaining with us. We believe that our employee relations are good. Our human capital objectives center around identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees. We maintain and grow our team utilizing practices that help us identify, hire, incentivize and retain our existing employees and integrate new employees into our Company.

Impact of COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a national emergency by each of the U.S., European, and Australian governments 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., European, Australian and global economies, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in significant transport restrictions and disruption of global financial markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global supply chain, with restrictions and limitations on related activities causing disruption and delay, along with increased raw material, storage, and shipping costs. These disruptions and delays have strained domestic and international supply chains, which have affected and could continue to negatively affect the flow or availability of certain critical raw materials and finished good products that the Company relies upon. Furthermore, significantly increased demand from online sales channels, including our website, has impacted our logistical operations, including our fulfillment and shipping functions, which has resulted in periodic delays in the delivery of our products.

We experienced a decline in retail demand within our Outdoor segment beginning in the second half of March 2020 through December 2020, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability during this period. During 2021, our Outdoor segment continued to be impacted by the pandemic due to disruptions in the global supply chains; however, the Outdoor segment experienced an increase in overall sales as participation in outdoor recreation has increased as certain countries began to ease restrictions. During the third quarter of 2021, the Australian government instituted a mandatory lockdown for its citizens. This caused a decline in retail demand and a disruption in operations within our Adventure segment, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability for the third quarter of 2021 and to a lesser extent during the fourth quarter of 2021. Our Precision Sport segment has experienced higher demand which has positively impacted our sales and profitability since the beginning of the pandemic. We expect a continued impact on the Company’s sales and profitability in future periods due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic. 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.

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 government regulation in the United States and other countries, including, without limitation, 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.

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, Australia 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 such as consolidations, restructurings or store closings or reorganizations, that could decrease the number of stores that carry our products or increase the concentration of ownership within the retail industry. These changes within the retail industry could result in a shift of bargaining power to the retail industry and in fewer outlets for our products which 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 in our Outdoor segment 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.

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.

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 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.

Our operations in international markets, and earnings in those markets, may be affected by changes in global cultural, political, and financial market conditions as well as potential changes in regulations, legislation and government policies.

Approximately 45% of our sales on a pro forma basis for the year ended December 31, 2021 were earned in international markets. As such 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, current or future “trade wars” or other restrictions will be imposed by the United States, Australia, 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.

Some of our operations are conducted or products are sold in countries where economic growth has slowed, or where economies have suffered economic, social and/or political instability or hyperinflation. In addition, global economic uncertainty relating to the effects of fiscal and political crises and political and economic disputes, changes in consumer spending, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, political unrest, natural disasters or other crises, terrorist acts, acts of war and/or military operations, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

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 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;

Disruptions in our manufacturing and supply arrangements;

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; 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.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in ongoing disruptions and delays in manufacturing, shipping and transportation of our products that has had an adverse effect on our business and results of operations, and we expect this adverse impact to continue.

The COVID-19 pandemic also has the potential to significantly impact our supply chain if the factories that manufacture our products, the distribution centers where we manage our inventory, or the operations of our suppliers of raw materials or other finished product components, logistics and other service providers are disrupted, temporarily closed or experience worker shortages. Current vessel, container and other transportation shortages, labor shortages and port congestion globally have delayed and are expected to continue to delay inventory orders and, in turn, deliveries to our customers and availability in our company-operated stores and e-commerce sites. These supply chain and logistics disruptions have impacted our inventory levels and net revenues in 2021 and could impact our sales volumes in future periods. We have also incurred in 2021, higher freight and other distribution costs, including air freight, to mitigate these delays. We are also seeing negative impacts to pricing of certain components of our products as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the event we increase prices of our products, there can be no assurance that consumers will accept such increases, which 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;

disease epidemics and health-related concerns, such as COVID-19 or the coronavirus;

imposition of regulations and quotas relating to imports and our ability to adjust timely to changes in trade regulations;

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.

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 Precision Sport segment and overall financial results.

The manufacture and sale of bullets by our Precision Sport 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 Precision Sport segment would not affect our Black Diamond or Adventure segments, 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. See “Business — Regulatory Matters.”

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

Environmental laws in the United States and in other countries 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.

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.

The effects of climate change and increased focus by governmental and non-governmental organizations, customers, consumers and investors on sustainability issues, including those related to climate change and socially responsible activities, may adversely affect our business and financial results and damage our reputation.

Climate change is occurring around the world and may impact our business in numerous ways. Such change could lead to an increase in raw material and packaging prices, reduced availability, for example, due to water shortages which could adversely impact raw material availability. Increased frequency of extreme weather (storms and floods) could cause increased incidence of disruption to the production and distribution of our products and an adverse impact on consumer demand and spending.

Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, investment funds, other market participants, shareholders, and stakeholders have focused increasingly on the environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) and related sustainability practices of companies. These parties have placed increased importance on the implications of the social cost of their investments. If our ESG practices do not meet investor or other stakeholder expectations and standards, which continue to evolve, our brands, reputation and employee retention may be negatively impacted. It is possible that stakeholders may not be satisfied with our ESG practices or the speed of their adoption. We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report, and comply with various ESG practices. Also, our failure, or perceived failure, to manage reputational threats and meet expectations with respect to socially responsible activities and sustainability commitments could negatively impact our credibility, employee retention, and the willingness of our customers and suppliers to do business with us.

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 24.2% of our outstanding common stock as of March 2, 2022. 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 37,199,359 shares of our common stock as of March 2, 2022. This includes 6,578,587 shares of common stock that are beneficially owned by Mr. Kanders, our Chairman of the Board, of which he has 4,840,971 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, 2021, the Company and its subsidiaries lease or own facilities throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and New Zealand. 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, 2016 and ending on December 31, 2021 (the “Measuring Period”). The graph assumes that the value of the investment in our common stock and the indexes was $100 on December 31, 2016. 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 2, 2022, the last reported sales price for our common stock was $23.06 per share. As of March 2, 2022, there were 72 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 2021, 2020 and 2019, our total Quarterly Cash Dividends were $3,335,000, $1,520,000, and $2,987,000 respectively.  In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000, which combined with our cash dividend in 2020 of $1,520,000, resulted in total dividends in 2020 of $3,053,000.

On February 25, 2022, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the payment on March 18, 2022 of the Quarterly Cash Dividend to the record holders of shares of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on March 7, 2022.

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, 2021.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our equity plans as of December 31, 2021:

(1) Consists of stock options and restricted stock awards issued and issuable under the 2005 Stock Incentive Plan and the 2015 Stock Incentive Plan. There are a total of 1,000,000 restricted stock awards included in column (A) that do not have an exercise price.  Excluding these restricted stock awards, the weighted average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights is $10.27.

‎

ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

‎

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, 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, increased focus on sustainability issues as a result of global climate change, 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; ongoing disruptions and delays in the shipping and transportation of our products due to port congestion, container ship availability and/or other logistical challenges; our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards; changes in tax laws and liabilities, tariffs, legal, regulatory, political and economic risks; the Company’s ability to maintain a quarterly dividend; and any material differences in the actual financial results of the Rhino-Rack acquisition as compared with expectations, including the impact of the acquisition on the Company’s future earnings per share. 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 is a global leading designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of best-in-class outdoor equipment and lifestyle products focused on the outdoor and consumer enthusiast markets. Our mission is to identify, acquire and grow outdoor “super fan” brands through our unique “innovate and accelerate” strategy. We define a “super fan” brand as a brand that creates the world’s pre-eminent, performance-defining product that the best-in-class user cannot live without. Each of our brands has a long history of continuous product innovation for core and everyday users alike. The Company’s products are principally sold globally under the Black Diamond®, Sierra®, Barnes® and Rhino-Rack® and MAXTRAX® brand names through outdoor specialty and online retailers, our own websites, distributors and original equipment manufacturers. Our portfolio of iconic brands is well-positioned for sustainable, long-term growth underpinned by powerful industry trends across the outdoor and adventure sport end markets.

One of the key elements of our sustained financial performance is our persistent focus on brand building through product initiatives. Our iconic brands are rooted in performance-defining technologies that enable our customers to have their best days outdoors. We have a long history of technical innovation and product development, backed by an extensive patent portfolio that continues to evolve and advance our markets. We currently employ approximately 120 engineers across the portfolio, focusing on enhancing our customers’ performance in the most critical moments. Our commitment to quality, rigorous safety, and ultimately best-in-class design is evidenced by outstanding industry recognition, as we have received numerous product awards across our portfolio of super fan brands.

Each of our brands represents a unique customer value proposition. Supported by six decades of proven innovation, Black Diamond, is an established global leader in high-performance, activity-based climbing, skiing, and technical mountain sports equipment. The brand is synonymous with premium performance, safety and reliability. Our Sierra and Barnes brands have been leading specialty manufacturers of bullets and ammunition for over 50 years. Since 1947, Sierra has been dedicated to manufacturing the highest-quality, most accurate bullets in the world for hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts. Barnes traces its history back to 1932, and since 1989 has manufactured technologically-advanced lead-free bullets and premium ammunition for hunters, range shooters, military and law enforcement professionals. Founded in 1992, our Rhino-Rack brand is a globally-recognized designer and distributor of highly-engineered automotive roof racks and accessories to enhance the outdoor enthusiast’s overlanding experience. Founded in 2005, our MAXTRAX brand offers high-quality overlanding and off-road vehicle recovery and extraction tracks for the overland and off-road market.

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”). On July 1, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Australia-based Rhino-Rack Holdings Pty Ltd (“Rhino-Rack”). On December 1, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Australia-based MaxTrax Australia Pty Ltd (“MAXTRAX”).

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”). On October 19, 2020, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the reinstatement of its Quarterly Cash Dividend. In 2021, 2020 and 2019, our total Quarterly Cash Dividends were $3,335,000, $1,520,000 and $2,987,000, respectively. In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000. In 2020, our total Quarterly Stock Dividends were $1,533,000, which combined with our cash dividend in 2020 of $1,520,000, resulted in total dividends in 2020 of $3,053,000. On February 25, 2022, the Company announced that its Board of Directors approved the payment on March 18, 2022 of the Quarterly Cash Dividend to the record holders of shares of the Company’s common stock as of the close of business on March 7, 2022.

Impact of COVID-19

The global outbreak of COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and a national emergency by each of the U.S., European, and Australian governments 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., European, Australian and global economies, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in significant transport restrictions and disruption of global financial markets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the global supply chain, with restrictions and limitations on related activities causing disruption and delay, along with increased raw material, storage, and shipping costs. These disruptions and delays have strained domestic and international supply chains, which have affected and could continue to negatively affect the flow or availability of certain critical raw materials and finished good products that the Company relies upon. Furthermore, significantly increased demand from online sales channels, including our website, has impacted our logistical operations, including our fulfillment and shipping functions, which has resulted in periodic delays in the delivery of our products.

We experienced a decline in retail demand within our Outdoor segment beginning in the second half of March 2020 through December 2020, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability during this period. During 2021, our Outdoor segment continued to be impacted by the pandemic due to disruptions in the global supply chains; however, the Outdoor segment experienced an increase in overall sales as participation in outdoor recreation has increased as certain countries began to ease restrictions. During the third quarter of 2021, the Australian government instituted a mandatory lockdown for its citizens. This caused a decline in retail demand and a disruption in operations within our Adventure segment, which negatively impacted our sales and profitability for the third quarter of 2021 and to a lesser extent during the fourth quarter of 2021. Our Precision Sport segment has experienced higher demand which has positively impacted our sales and profitability since the beginning of the pandemic. We expect a continued impact on the Company’s sales and profitability in future periods due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic. 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.

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, inventory, 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. Business acquisitions may include contingent consideration payments based on various future financial measures, such as sales-based milestones, related to the acquired entity. We estimate the fair value of contingent consideration liabilities based on estimated sales growth rates, discount rates, and other relevant factors.

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. Product 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 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.

No impairment was recorded during the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019. 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.

‎

Results of Operations (In Thousands)

Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to Consolidated Year Ended December 31, 2020

The following presents a discussion of consolidated operations for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared with the consolidated year ended December 31, 2020: