The shifting of the industry continues.
[Pelican Seeks Insolvency Protection - Paddling Magazine]
That’s a bad sign. They were probably too aggressive with acquisitions when the industry was on a roll.
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Oru kayaks (Solo stoves) is also hurting. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/solo-stove-maker-plunges-64-on-going-concern-warning-1
Since Pelican owns Wilderness and perceptions, I wonder what that will mean for these brands? Or is this just going to affect them and not the other lines.
A great many companies are in danger with the Trump tarrifs. I would expect that Pelican has its cases made in China and the tarrif could easily increase the cost of goods for products sold in the USA. Trump was handed an economy that was the stronest in the world and in a matter of weeks has taken it into the ground. No one could have predicted the insane actions of the new president.
Pelican cases aren’t made by the Pelican who builds kayaks - different companies.
They took on some debt to purchase Confluence, Advanced Elements, etc, and sales are down significantly over the last several years (this is true for many of the brands who build plastic rec kayaks). Tariffs, which will increase their US pricing, definitely won’t help their sales projections for this year, since the US market is a big part of their picture for the Canadian built boats (the Confluence boats are sold thru different sales channels, and won’t be directly affected by tariffs). Some restructuring is no doubt in order, and some segments will likely have to go away, but they have a good track record of meeting buyers where they are, so long term, they should be fine.
Yeah, we can keep compiling 3 trillion dollars in debt a year on top of the existing 36 trillion dollar debt in perpetuity .