ATK Continues Growth with Focus on Consumer Market

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reports that, less than a decade after entering the ammunition market, Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK) has become the nation’s largest ammo manufacturer. The company said it is on track to deliver 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition in fiscal year 2009. Yep, that’s BILLION with a ‘B’. ATK-made ammunition now generates more revenue than all other commercial ammo brands, including Winchester and Remington. While military sales make up almost 70 percent of revenues for ATK’s $1.6 billion Armament Systems Division, ATK is aggressively working to increase its sales to target shooters and hunters, according to Business Week:

“[ATK] pushed its way into small-caliber ammunition in 2000 with an aggressive bid to run the U.S. Army’s Lake City Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., that made it the military’s biggest ammo supplier. It has since moved swiftly into the civilian sphere, wooing hunters and police officers with creative marketing and bold promises of better performance. Military sales make up almost 70% of revenues for ATK’s $1.6 billion Armament Systems Div., one of ATK’s fastest-growing units. On Aug. 7 the unit reported a 32% increase in sales for the last quarter, to $442 million, while profits jumped 53%, to $44 million.”

ATK’s strategies are paying off, not only in the military sector, but in the civilian sport and hunting markets as well. As a result, ATK’s stock value has more than doubled in the last 5 years, showing robust growth when many companies’ stock prices are being hammered.

ATK Expands Lake City Production Facililty
ATK announced it has received an additional $104.3 million in military small-caliber ammunition orders from the U.S. Army. Work on the contracts will be performed by ATK at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Independence, Missouri. Working in partnership with the Army, ATK has expanded manufacturing capacity at the plant.