AMMO, Inc. Chairman & CEO, Fred Wagenhals, Provides Corporate Update in Letter to Shareholders
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 3, 2022 — AMMO, Inc. (Nasdaq: POWW, POWWP) (“AMMO” or the “Company”), owner of GunBroker.com, the largest online marketplace serving the firearms and shooting sports industries, and a leading vertically integrated producer of high-performance ammunition and components, today issued a letter to shareholders from Fred Wagenhals, Chairman & CEO of AMMO Inc.
Dear Fellow AMMO, Inc. Shareholders,
On behalf of AMMO, Inc.’s (“AMMO”) Board of Directors, our senior management team and employees, we are delighted to have you as a shareholder and valued part of the AMMO family. I wanted to take a moment to send you this note to touch on some important “state of the union matters” that we are managing at AMMO.
As many of you know, we acquired GunBroker.com in 2021. Today, we find ourselves even more excited about our future together than we were the day we closed on the acquisition. We believed the two Companies shared common values across a wide range of topics, from our Nation’s ideals, a shared commitment to democracy and, in particular, our collective unwavering support for the Second Amendment.
The Company as now constituted presents the market with an impressive combination of AMMO’s technologically innovative manufacturing capabilities and processes with GunBroker.com’s online auction marketplace sporting a best-in-class secure transactional technology (the “Marketplace”). The combined enterprise has truly transformed AMMO into a unique opportunity where consumers and investors can find all their shooting needs under one roof, driven by a management team laser-focused on enhancing shareholder value through operational excellence and innovation. Your management team will continue to examine further growth opportunities through acquisition or otherwise in ways that are accretive to our family of companies, align with our shared values, and are best positioned to further enhance shareholder value in POWW and POWWP.
As a co-owner in AMMO, you are aware that GunBroker.com has been part of our burgeoning family for more than 10 months and has already significantly contributed to the Company’s growth – a trajectory we all work night and day to continue. We recently reported our quarterly financial results on Form 10-Q for the third quarter of our 2022 fiscal year and boasted record net revenues of $64.7 million, including $17.6 million from the Marketplace alone. We grew new users by an average of 55,000 per month and the auction numbers increased 33.45% from the prior year. The GunBroker.com team is now an integral part of the collective AMMO team, thriving in their new home as valued members of the AMMO family.
We’ve made a few other recent announcements I am certain you have read as they have come across the wire – a couple are worth repeating here. First, based upon your Company’s solid balance sheet and growing revenues, our Board of Directors recently provided management with an additional tool to increase shareholder value – the authorization to repurchase up to $30 million of AMMO shares. Second, we are proud to have announced that we offered to donate 1 million rounds of ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in support of their valiant defense against the unprovoked Russian aggression and threat to Ukraine’s independence. We are committed to living our values.
Within our ammunition and munition components operational unit, the industry remains strong, really constrained only by capacity. Management’s long-term strategic growth plans (which predated the outbreak of COVID and the resulting surge demand) will prove helpful in addressing some of that capacity deficit when we open our new state-of-the-art 160,000 square foot facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Our plan is to continue our 24/7/365 focused efforts with the goal of tripling our ammunition capacity with the well-planned transition into our new plant, estimated to take place in the Summer of 2022. We also see a tremendous opportunity to continue to increase our market share through the GunBroker.com Marketplace and are regularly rolling out initiatives to accomplish that end.
We also recently announced that we are reiterating our guidance for the full 2022 fiscal year (period ending March 31, 2022) of approximately $250 million in revenue, an estimated 288% increase over the prior year period, which is projected to include anticipated Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $80 million.
Although we remain hyper-focused on today, this week and each quarter, we are always undertaking market analysis and looking ahead – and we see serial indications of continued growth for our business across all sectors and within each business unit. Many of you have heard me say that I am not a patient man, and that applies most directly in my drive to see the AMMO family succeed. The definition of “AMMO Family” to me is the individuals I am pleased to work with, and each of you shareholders that have seen fit to own a piece of this exciting organization.
Together we are building an unparalleled business that is serving large and growing markets, has unique and distinctive product offerings, each of which presents compelling competitive advantages. We would like to thank all our shareholders and supporters. We appreciate the confidence you have shown in us to date, and we look forward to earning your continued support.
Very Truly Yours, Fred Wagenhals
Chairman & CEO AMMO, Inc.
About AMMO, Inc.
With its corporate offices headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, AMMO designs and manufactures products for a variety of aptitudes, including law enforcement, military, sport shooting and self-defense. The Company was founded in 2016 with a vision to change, innovate and invigorate the complacent munitions industry. AMMO promotes branded munitions as well as its patented STREAK™ Visual Ammunition, /stelTH/™ subsonic munitions, and armor piercing rounds for military use. For more information, please visit: www.ammo-inc.com.
About GunBroker.com
GunBroker.com is the largest online marketplace dedicated to firearms, hunting, shooting and related products. Aside from merchandise bearing its logo, GunBroker.com currently sells none of the items listed on its website. Third-party sellers list items on the site and Federal and state laws govern the sale of firearms and other restricted items. Ownership policies and regulations are followed using licensed firearms dealers as transfer agents. Launched in 1999, GunBroker.com is an informative, secure and safe way to buy and sell firearms, ammunition, air guns, archery equipment, knives and swords, firearms accessories and hunting/shooting gear online. GunBroker.com promotes responsible ownership of guns and firearms. For more information, please visit: www.gunbroker.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This document contains certain “forward-looking statements”. All statements other than statements of historical fact are “forward-looking statements” for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including, but not limited to, any projections of earnings, revenue or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies, goals and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning proposed new products and services or developments thereof; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing.
Forward looking statements may include the words “may,” “could,” “estimate,” “intend,” “continue,” “believe,” “expect” or “anticipate” or other similar words, or the negative thereof. These forward-looking statements present our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this report. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. We do not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the dates they are made. You should, however, consult further disclosures and risk factors we include in Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Reports filed on Form 8-K.
Investor Contact:
Reed Anderson
ICR
(646) 277-1260
IR@ammo-inc.com