Remington has filed for federal bankruptcy protection. “The filing allows Remington to stay in business while restructuring its massive debt,” money.cnn.com reports. “The company has been planning to reduce its debt by $700 million through the Chapter 11 process and contribute $145 million to its subsidiaries.” Bottom line . . .
“Remington plans to keep on making guns.”
Which it did last year, just not as many as the year previous. In 2017, Remington suffered a 30 percent slump in annual firearms sales. How much of that was due to a general industry downturn and how much to Remington products’ desirability (or lack thereof) is unknown. Whatever the cause, as of March 25, Remington Outdoors reported negative operating cash flow of $7.4m.
Despite efforts to unload Remington after the Newtown massacre, Big Green is still owned by Cerberus Capital Management. The same company that ushered Chrysler into Chapter 11.
Remington is the largest company in Cerberus’ firearms-related conglomerate, originally called The Freedom Group, now called Remington Outdoor Company. Sub-brands include Bushmaster, Advanced Armament, Marlin Firearms, H & R Firearms, Dakota Arms , Para USA, Parker Gun, Tapco, Barnes Bullets and Mountain Khakis.
It remains to be seen if other bits of the ROC — or even the whole shooting match, involving some 3k employees — will sink into Chapter 11. Or whether Remington Outdoor will begin selling off its subsidiaries to finance Remington’s recovery. Or if steady-as-she-goes will right the floundering firearms farrago.
Watch this space.