Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Schedules Meeting of Stockholders

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Nov. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: SWHC), today announced that it will hold a special meeting of stockholders on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time for the purposes of seeking approval to change its corporate name from Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation to American Outdoor Brands Corporation.  The proposed holding corporation name change has been approved by the Company's Board of Directors and reflects the Company's expanding strategic focus on the growing markets for shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiasts. If approved by stockholders, American Outdoor Brands Corporation will serve as the holding corporation for Smith & Wesson Corp., Battenfeld Technologies, Inc., and Crimson Trace Corporation, which represent the company's firearms, manufacturing services, accessories, and electro-optics divisions.

James Debney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Wesson, said, "By executing on our strategy to be a leader in the shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiast markets, we have successfully grown from a single operating division to four operating divisions that serve a large addressable market and represent more than 18 respected consumer brands. We believe the name 'American Outdoor Brands Corporation' will better reflect our family of brands, our broad range of product offerings, and our plan to continue building upon our portfolio of strong American brands.  Looking forward, we intend to aggressively grow organically and through strategic acquisitions, focusing on brands and products that best meet the needs and lifestyle of our target consumers."

If approved by the stockholders, the name change would be effective on or about January 1, 2017.  At the same time, the Company also anticipates it will adopt the symbol "AOBC" for its NASDAQ stock exchange listing.

About Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select: SWHC) is a provider of quality products for shooting, hunting, and rugged outdoor enthusiasts in the global consumer and professional markets. The Company reports two segments: Firearms and Outdoor Products & Accessories.  Firearms manufactures handgun and long gun products sold under the Smith & Wesson®, M&P®, and Thompson/Center Arms™ brands as well as providing forging, machining, and precision plastic injection molding services. Outdoor Products & Accessories provides shooting, hunting, and outdoor accessories, including reloading, gunsmithing, and gun cleaning supplies, tree saws, vault accessories, knives, laser sighting systems, and tactical lighting products. Brands in Outdoor Products & Accessories include Smith & Wesson®, M&P®, Thompson/Center Arms™, Crimson Trace®, Caldwell® Shooting Supplies, Wheeler® Engineering, Tipton® Gun Cleaning Supplies, Frankford Arsenal® Reloading Tools, Lockdown® Vault Accessories, Hooyman® Premium Tree Saws, BOG POD®, and Golden Rod® Moisture Control as well as knives and specialty tools under Schrade®, Old Timer®, Uncle Henry®, and Imperial™.  For more information on Smith & Wesson, call (800) 331-0852 or log on to www.smith-wesson.com. 

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws, and we intend that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created thereby.  Such forward-looking statements include the Company's belief that it has successfully grown from a single operating division to four operating divisions that serve a large addressable market and represent more than 18 respected consumer brands; the Company's belief that the new name will better reflect the Company's family of brands, its broad range of product offerings, and its plan to continue building upon its portfolio of strong American brands; the Company's intent to aggressively grow organically and through strategic acquisitions, focusing on brands and products that best meet the needs and lifestyle of its target customers; the proposed timing of the name change; and the anticipated new symbol for the Company's NASDAQ stock exchange listing.  We caution that these statements are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such forward-looking statements.  Such factors include the demand for our products; the costs and ultimate conclusion of certain legal matters; the state of the U.S. economy in general and the firearm industry in particular; general economic conditions and consumer spending patterns; the potential for increased regulation of firearms and firearm-related products; speculation surrounding fears of terrorism and crime; our growth opportunities; our anticipated growth; our ability to increase demand for our products in various markets, including consumer, law enforcement, and military channels, domestically and internationally; the position of our hunting products in the consumer discretionary marketplace and distribution channel; our penetration rates in new and existing markets; our strategies; our ability to introduce new products; the success of new products; our ability to expand our markets; our ability to integrate acquired businesses in a successful manner; the general growth of our firearm accessories business; the potential for cancellation of orders from our backlog; and other risks detailed from time to time in our reports filed with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2016.

Contact: Liz Sharp, VP Investor Relations
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.
(413) 747-6284
[email protected]

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SOURCE Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation