Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ:CLAR) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Matt Koranda: Okay. Fair enough. And then I have got one question for each of the segment leaders, so maybe just outdoor and Neil first. The positive 10% in North America wholesale is definitely an encouraging data point. Just wondering if you could maybe unpack for us the categories that are working, where you are seeing some growth, the types of retailers that are participating in that growth? And then where is there still room for improvement in North America?

Neil Fiske: Yes. Thanks Matt. So, the good news is, I think the places that we are seeing the growth are in our core categories where we have really put the focus on building on our positions of strength where we are number one, two or three in those categories, things like trekking poles, lighting, a number of our clam categories. And I think that’s a combination of marketing programs that we have put in place, importantly, reallocating our inventory dollars to get behind our core categories and our top styles has really led to a big improvement in fill rate year-over-year and kept down a lot on that friction that we have had in the retail channel with our retail partners over the last couple of years. So, I think it’s good to see the fill rates coming up.

It’s good to see the friction going down. I think our retail partners are much happier with our performance in both sell-through and the ability to support that sell-through for service. The other thing I would just say, as sort of an addendum to Mike’s comments around revenue for the outlook for the year. Bear in mind too, that some of the revenue outlook for Black Diamond includes the exit of categories such as ski bindings and other things that we will be getting out of the course of the year. So, bear that in mind as you think about factors that affect year-over-year comparables on the top line, less stores this year than we had last year, etcetera . Does that answer your question?

Matt Koranda: Okay. Yes. That’s helpful. Neil, I appreciate that. Maybe just turning to adventure and that I guess you called out operating margins being a little bit impacted by mix and the OEM business that you are pursuing and winning. Just curious, I guess one, why pursue that business if it isn’t sort of accretive to margins for the segment, just given the margin goals that you have over the next several years? And then I assume that probably means that you see a path to improving those. And maybe just if you could highlight for us what levers you have to kind of improve margins on the OEM side of the business to get them back up to kind of that aftermarket sort of cadence?

Mathew Hayward: Hi Matt. Look, great question. I will start by saying like historically, our OEM business has been very much focused in our backyard of – and again, when I kind of outlined the opportunity that the investment session, it really is about the growth opportunities in the U.S. and outside of home [ph]. So, part of that is establishing a team that’s chasing the growth opportunities that exist in the U.S. and directly with the likes of the [indiscernible] increasing our partnership with Polaris, any offers taking on the U.S. in 2024. So, it’s about finding that opportunity. Now the reason OEM is so important is it does give you access to accelerated aftermarket programs. A good example is we are the global partner from an AMD point of view for the launch of the new land crude, which is returning to the U.S. Now, in Australia, we have back to TRED, and it’s around 4,000 units.

The challenge is when you don’t have that on a global level, the size and scale is a lot bigger in the U.S. And so the investment with the new Global Head of OE based in the U.S. is actually partnered directly with the larger market and one of the driving forces in order. That’s where the growth opportunity lies. And that’s the right sizing of the margins as well, just getting that scale. So, it does give us access and first-in-class kind of our positioning to have new products hit the market at the same time of the new vehicles because the development timelines can range from 2 years to 5 years to 7 years depending on delays in auto production, and then it gives us the readiness for aftermarket programs. Outside of that was margin improvement, and it really is also about bringing online the size and scale outside of AMD, but also making sure we are seeing improvements in DBT.

So, in the second half of this year, we will be launching new platforms across digital, new websites where we haven’t really focused and it has not done direct to consumer. And this is getting done in line with supporting key wholesale that blend to see margin improvements as well. So, it’s a number of different levers, product mix across the board. Adventure sports range has not been a strong part of it. So, looking at lifetime value and really adding on after the sale of a pit, being able to sell our system and accessories, and that’s where the blended margin will actually improve as well when we can get more products and more basket size per sale. So, it’s a mix of levers. And I guess that’s kind of the good things as we go throughout this year, we are adding a lot more firepower across, I guess multiple growth opportunities versus relying on a single aftermarket product or a single OEM partner.

Matt, does that help kind of give you a high level on that?

Matt Koranda: Yes, that’s a great area. I appreciate that, Matt. I will take the rest of mine here offline. I appreciate you guys.

Mathew Hayward: Thanks Matt.

Operator: Thank you. And our next question comes from Mark Smith of Lake Street. Your line is open.

Mark Smith: Hi guys. First, I just want to ask on the PFAS products on kind of where we are, kind of what we got through here in this report in this quarter and kind of how you feel that’s coming along?