SPRINGFIELD —Smith & Wesson, the historic Springfield-based gunmaker, said its board of directors has approved the long-planned split of the company into two:
Smith & Wesson Brands which will include the firearms business and be headquartered in Springfield and American Outdoor Brands Inc. which will include the outdoor products and accessories business.
The move first announced last year, will be official Aug. 10.
Smith & Wesson has 1,600 employees at its Springfield manufacturing plant and a long history in Springfield.
Smith & Wesson Brands said it will do the spinoff by distributing 100% of the shares of American Outdoor Brands common stock to Smith & Wesson Brands’ stockholders.
Smith & Wesson Brands stockholders will receive one share of American Outdoor Brands common stock for every four shares of Smith & Wesson Brands stock, according to a news release.
After the split, they will be two separate companies. Smith & Wesson Brands will continue to be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “SWBI.” American Outdoor Brands has received approval for the listing of its common stock on NASDAQ under the symbol “AOUT.”
The split is a reversal for 168-year-old Smith & Wesson, which changed its name to American Outdoor Brands in 2016 as part of a diversification push — the opposite corporate strategy from the one announced in November 2019 which led to the split.
At the time, Smith & Wesson said the current political climate of gun control advocates pressuring firearms companies was making it tough for the camping and outdoors gear brands. They were getting barred from some sporting goods stores and were subject to boycotts.
Activists, including Parkland survivor David Hogg, have demonstrated outside the Smith & Wesson factory gates in Springfield. Religious groups, including a national network of Catholic nuns, bought American Outdoor Brands stock in order to influence the company to address gun violence.
The shooter at Parkland used a Smith & Wesson firearm.
This should be a good time to be in the firearms business. There were more than 3.6 million FBI firearm background checks in July, according to government statistics. That’s down from a record 3.9 million checks on the NICS system in June and 3 million in May, 2.9 million in April and 3.7 million in March.
Gun purchases might have spiked in March because of coronavirus and then gained further steam during the demonstrations for greater police accountability following the death of George Floyd.
The industry uses the NICS system as a rough approximation of firearms purchases, although there is no one-background-check to one-purchase ratio.
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