Three outdoor industry companies, Newell Brands, Fenix Outdoor, and Shimano posted sales and profit declines for the most recent earnings period.

The companies cited a variety of reasons for the declines, including macroeconomic factors such as inflation as well as bloated inventory levels at retail.

Newell Down 13%

Newell Brands announced quarterly sales were $2.2 billion, a 13% decline compared to the prior-year period. Newell’s outdoor and recreation segment generated net sales of $333 million, a drop of 20.9% compared to last year’s Q2 results.

“As we look toward the balance of the year, we expect top- and bottom-line pressure to persist as consumers continue to wrestle with elevated levels of core inflation and the resumption of student loan repayments,” said Mark Erceg, chief financial officer for Newell Brands, in a release.

Erceg added that the company is focused on restoring operating cash flow and improving the underlying structural economics of the business.

“Against those two measures, we were very pleased with our second quarter results, with operating cash flow up over $500 million dollars versus last year and normalized operating margin ahead of expectations,” he said.

Gross profit for the quarter was $629 million, down 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Newell’s outdoor division includes brands Marmot, Coleman, Campingaz, Contigo, ExOfficio, Bubba, Stearns, and Aerobed.

Shimano Down 13.3%

For Shimano, the company’s revenue for the first half of 2023 was 263,250 million yen ($1.87 billion), down 13.3% compared to the prior year period. Sales in Shimano’s bike-related business were 204,986 million yen ($1.45 billion) in its first half, which ended June 30.

“Although the strong interest in bicycles cooled down, interest in bicycles continued as a long-term trend. On the other hand, market inventories generally remained high, despite ongoing supply and demand adjustments,” Shimano said in a release.

Retail sales of completed bikes in North America “remained weak and market inventories were at a consistently high level,” the company said. Similar conditions persisted in Europe.

In the Asian, Oceanian, and Central and South American markets, Shimano said despite firm interest in bicycles, sales were “somewhat sluggish due to cooling consumer confidence on account of rising inflation.” China, on the other hand, saw strong sales, particularly for road bikes. Yen depreciation along with high inventory levels hurt sales in Japan.

Gross profit for the first half was 127,951 million yen ($908 million), down 19.1% compared to the same period last year.

Fenix Outdoor Down 6.5%

Fenix Outdoor International AG reported quarterly sales were €154 million ($169.91 million,) down 6.5% from the prior-year period. The company’s brands segment, which includes Royal Robbins, Fjällräven, and Primus, declined 9.2% to €34.61 million ($38.19 million) in Q2. The decrease was driven by a lack of reorders, predominately in Europe.

“The second quarter proved very challenging,” Martin Nordin, executive chairman of Fenix, said in a release. “The retailers faced a situation where many had a very large inventory (position), which limited their ability to refill their inventory as they needed to free up capital. The industry also faced a situation where several retailers were forced to close their doors.”

The inventory problem “put unusual pressure on outdoor retail,” Nordin said. He also pointed out that sales of hardware, tents, sleeping bags, and heavy hiking boots were all struggling.

Operating profits fell to €149,000 ($164,143), or 0.1% of sales in Q2 2023, from €9.6 million ($21.5 million), or 5.9%, in Q2 2022.