Academy Sports + Outdoors Files to Go Public
Academy Sports+Outdoors, the third biggest retailer in the USA’s sporting goods space after Dick’s Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops, has filed to go public.
The Texas-based sporting goods and outdoor recreation business operates 259 stores across 16 US states and stocks fishing brands including Lew’s, Daiwa, Abu Garcia, Shimano, 13 Fishing, Penn, Fin-Nor and Quantum.
It has applied for a listing on Nasdaq, but has yet to determine the number of shares it will offer and the expected price. Analysts estimate the deal could raise up to $500 million. The underwriters of the IPO (initial public offering) include Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, KKR and BofA Securities.
The firm is another to cash in on the stunning recovery in outdoor markets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It reported net income of $157.7 million on revenue of $2.74 billion for the six months ending August 1st this year, following net income of $73.8 million on revenue of $2.31 billion in the same period last year.
Academy Sports, which was bought by US private equity firm KKR in 2011, said it expected to benefit further from the current shift to recreational activities. Ken Hicks was appointed Chairman and CEO in 2018 after being credited with stabilising Foot Locker.
Jeremy Mallette is co-founder of International Sportsman. An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he has spent more than a decade in the outdoor industry, from hiking and camping to silencers and hunting. His father taught him to shoot at age six, and he received his first firearm at age eight — a 1942 Colt Commando .38 special revolver. He enjoys yearly trips to Kansas for pheasant hunting, spending time with his children at the deer lease, and collecting unique firearms.
Holsters
