Net Income Up 22% for Sport Supply Group

Fourth-quarter net sales for the Sport Supply Group dropped 2.2%, to $59.7 million, down from $61.1 million for the same period last year. Net income for the marketer of institutional sports equipment rose 27.7%, to $2.29 million, for the period ended June 30.

The Dallas-based company’s full-year sales dropped slightly, to 250.2 million, from $251.4 million. But its net income shot up 22%, to $11.9 million, from $9.7 million.

Company chairman/CEO Adam Blumenfeld was pleased with the results. "In a year where most industry participants experienced shrinking demand and profitability, Sport Supply's nonretail/nonconsumer-based institutional model proved resilient and produced the most profitable year in corporate history," he said in a release.

Blumenfeld added that in the past 60 days the company has closed three transactions: Webster's Team Sports, Gus Doerner Team Sports, and Har-bell Athletics, each of which "add strategically valuable new sales outlets for the company." And Sport Supply Group is still on the hunt for more acquisitions.

"We continue to review a number of interesting joint venture, business development, internal growth and external expansion opportunities," Blumenfeld said. "Over the last two years we have worked hard to create a scalable and technologically advanced direct sales platform--built for the rapid integration and monetization of new relationships and properties within this highly fragmented industry."