BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS Corp - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C.  20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 29, 2019

or

For the transition period from _____________________ to ______________________

Commission file number: 000-49850

BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (310) 536-0611

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes   ☐    No  ☑

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.  Yes ☐  No ☑

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☑    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☑    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.    ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes   ☐    No  ☑

The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $33,113,225 as of June 30, 2019 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) based upon the closing price of the registrant’s common stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market LLC reported for June 28, 2019.  Shares of common stock held by each executive officer and director and by each person who, as of such date, may be deemed to have beneficially owned more than 5% of the outstanding voting stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates of the registrant under certain circumstances. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination of affiliate status for any other purpose.

The registrant had 21,664,076 shares of common stock outstanding at February 18, 2020.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Part III of this Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s 2020 definitive proxy statement (the “Proxy Statement”) to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission no later than 120 days after the end of the registrant’s fiscal year.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Forward-Looking Statements

This document includes certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, our financial condition, our results of operations, our growth strategy and the business of our company generally.  In some cases, you can identify such statements by terminology such as “may,” “could,” “project,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “intends” or other such terminology.  These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, changes in the consumer spending environment, fluctuations in consumer holiday spending patterns, increased competition from e-commerce retailers, breach of data security or other unauthorized disclosure of sensitive personal or confidential information, the competitive environment in the sporting goods industry in general and in our specific market areas, inflation, product availability and growth opportunities, changes in the current market for (or regulation of) firearm-related products, disruption in product flow, seasonal fluctuations, weather conditions, changes in cost of goods, operating expense fluctuations, increases in labor and benefit-related expense, changes in laws or regulations, including those related to tariffs and duties, public health issues, lower-than-expected profitability of our e-commerce platform or cannibalization of sales from our existing store base which could occur as a result of operating our e-commerce platform, litigation risks, stockholder campaigns and proxy contests, risks related to our leveraged financial condition, changes in interest rates, credit availability, higher expense associated with sources of credit resulting from uncertainty in financial markets and economic conditions in general. Those and other risks and uncertainties are more fully described in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, in this report. We caution that the risk factors set forth in this report are not exclusive. In addition, we conduct our business in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment. Accordingly, new risk factors may arise. It is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors, nor to assess the impact of all such risk factors on our business or the extent to which any individual risk factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. We undertake no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

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PART I

General

Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (“we,” “our,” “us” or the “Company”) is a leading sporting goods retailer in the western United States, operating 434 stores and an e-commerce platform under the “Big 5 Sporting Goods” name as of December 29, 2019. We provide a full-line product offering in a traditional sporting goods store format that averages approximately 11,000 square feet. Our product mix includes athletic shoes, apparel and accessories, as well as a broad selection of outdoor and athletic equipment for team sports, fitness, camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, winter and summer recreation and roller sports. We supplement our traditional sports merchandise mix with an assortment of other products that we purchase through opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock or close-out merchandise.

We believe that over our 65-year history we have developed a reputation with the competitive and recreational sporting goods customer as a convenient neighborhood sporting goods retailer that consistently delivers value on quality merchandise. Our stores carry a wide range of products at competitive prices from well-known brand name manufacturers, including adidas, Coleman, Columbia, Everlast, New Balance, Nike, Rawlings, Skechers, Spalding, Under Armour and Wilson. We also offer brand name merchandise produced exclusively for us, private label merchandise and specials on quality items we purchase through opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock and close-out merchandise. We reinforce our value reputation through weekly print advertising in major and local newspapers, direct mailers and digital marketing programs designed to generate customer traffic, drive net sales and build brand awareness. We also maintain social media sites to enhance distribution capabilities for our promotional offers and to enable communication with our customers.

Robert W. Miller co-founded our company in 1955 with the establishment of five retail locations in California. We sold World War II surplus items until 1963, when we began focusing exclusively on sporting goods and changed our trade name to “Big 5 Sporting Goods.” In 1971, we were acquired by Thrifty Corporation, which was subsequently purchased by Pacific Enterprises.  In 1992, management bought our company in conjunction with Green Equity Investors, L.P., an affiliate of Leonard Green & Partners, L.P.  In 1997, Robert W. Miller, Steven G. Miller and Green Equity Investors, L.P. recapitalized our company so that the majority of our common stock would be owned by our management and employees. In 2002, we completed an initial public offering of our common stock and became a publicly-traded company.

Our accumulated management experience and expertise in sporting goods merchandising, advertising, operations, store development and overall cost management have enabled us to generally produce profitable results. We believe our historical success can be attributed to a value-based and execution-driven operating philosophy, a controlled growth strategy and a proven business model. Additional information regarding our management experience is available in Item 1, Business, under the sub-heading “Management Experience,” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We are a holding company incorporated in Delaware on October 31, 1997.  We conduct our business through Big 5 Corp., a 100%-owned subsidiary incorporated in Delaware on October 27, 1997.  We conduct our gift card operations through Big 5 Services Corp., a 100%-owned subsidiary of Big 5 Corp. incorporated in Virginia on December 19, 2003.

Our corporate headquarters are located at 2525 East El Segundo Boulevard, El Segundo, California 90245. Our Internet address is www.big5sportinggoods.com. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, our Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments, if any, to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act, are available on our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Expansion and Store Development

Throughout our operating history, we have sought to expand our business with the addition of new stores through a disciplined strategy of controlled growth. Our expansion within the western United States has typically been systematic and designed to capitalize on our name recognition, economical store format and economies of scale related to distribution and advertising. Over the past five fiscal years, we have opened 23 stores including relocations, of which 61% were in California. Our store openings over the past five fiscal years reflect our cautious approach toward store expansion in the current retail environment, which included the liquidation and closure of certain major competitors in our markets in fiscal 2016 and greater competitor ecommerce capabilities. The following table reflects our store opening, closing and relocation activity during the periods indicated:

Our store format enables us to have substantial flexibility regarding new store locations. We have successfully operated stores in major metropolitan areas and in areas with as few as 30,000 people. Our 11,000 average square foot store format differentiates us from superstores that typically average over 35,000 square feet, require larger target markets, are more expensive to operate and require higher net sales per store for profitability.

New store openings typically represent attractive investment opportunities due to the relatively low investment required and the relatively short time necessary before our stores typically become profitable.  Our store format normally requires investments of approximately $0.5 million in fixtures, equipment and leasehold improvements, net of landlord allowances, and approximately $0.4 million in net working capital with limited pre-opening and real estate expense related to leased locations that are built to our specifications. We seek to maximize new store performance by staffing new store management with experienced personnel from our existing stores.

Our in-house store development personnel analyze new store locations with the assistance of real estate firms that specialize in retail properties. We seek expansion opportunities to further penetrate our established markets, develop recently entered markets and expand into new, contiguous markets with attractive demographic, competitive and economic profiles.

Management Experience

We believe the experience and tenure of our professional staff in the retail industry gives us a competitive advantage. The table below indicates the tenure of our professional staff in some of our key functional areas as of December 29, 2019:

Merchandising

We target the competitive and recreational sporting goods customer with a full-line product offering at a wide variety of price points.  We offer a product mix that includes athletic shoes, apparel and accessories, as well as a broad selection of outdoor and athletic equipment for team sports, fitness, camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, winter and summer recreation and roller sports. We believe we offer consistent value to consumers by offering a distinctive merchandise mix that includes a combination of well-known brand name merchandise, merchandise produced exclusively for us under a manufacturer’s brand name, private label merchandise and specials on quality items we purchase through opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock and close-out merchandise.

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Through our 65 years of experience across different demographic, competitive and economic markets, we have refined our merchandising strategy in an effort to offer a selection of products that meets customer demand. Specifically, we continue to strategically refine our merchandise and marketing strategies in order to better align our product mix and promotional efforts with today’s consumer.

The following table illustrates our mix of soft goods, which are non-durable items such as shirts and shoes, and hard goods, which are durable items such as exercise equipment and baseball gloves, as a percentage of net sales:

We purchase our popular branded merchandise from an extensive list of major sporting goods equipment, athletic footwear and apparel manufacturers.  Below is a selection of some of the brands we carry:

We believe we enjoy significant advantages in making opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock and close-out merchandise because of our strong vendor relationships, purchasing volume and rapid decision-making process.  Our strong vendor relationships and purchasing volume also enable us to purchase merchandise produced exclusively for us under a manufacturer’s brand name which allows us to differentiate our product selection from competition, obtain volume pricing discounts from vendors and offer unique value to our customers. Our weekly advertising highlights our opportunistic buys together with merchandise produced exclusively for us in order to reinforce our reputation as a retailer that offers attractive values to our customers.

In order to complement our branded product offerings, we offer a variety of private label merchandise, which represents approximately 2% of our net sales. Our sale of private label merchandise enables us to provide our customers with a broader selection of quality merchandise at a wider range of price points and allows us the potential to achieve higher margins than on sales of comparable name brand products. Our private label items include shoes, apparel, camping equipment, fishing supplies and snowsport equipment.

Seasonality influences our buying patterns and we purchase merchandise for seasonal activities in advance of a season and supplement our merchandise assortment as necessary and when possible during the season. We tailor our merchandise selection on a store-by-store basis in an effort to satisfy each region’s specific needs and seasonal buying habits. In the fourth fiscal quarter we normally experience higher inventory purchase volumes in anticipation of the winter and holiday selling season.

Our buyers, who average 17 years of experience with us, work in collaboration with senior management to determine and enhance product selection, promotion and pricing of our merchandise mix. Management utilizes integrated merchandising, business intelligence analytics, distribution, point-of-sale and financial information systems to continuously refine our merchandise mix, pricing strategy, advertising effectiveness and inventory levels to best serve the needs of our customers.

Advertising and Marketing

Through years of targeted advertising, we have solidified our reputation for offering quality products at attractive prices. We drive customer traffic through the effective use of both print media as well as digital communications.

We have advertised through weekly print advertisements since 1955. We typically utilize four-page color advertisements to highlight promotions across our merchandise categories. We also provide our print advertisements and other targeted promotional offers through carrier delivery and direct mail. The consistency and reach of our print advertising programs drive sales and create high customer awareness of the name “Big 5 Sporting Goods.”

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We use our own professional in-house advertising staff to generate our advertisements, including design, layout, production and media management. Our in-house advertising department provides management with the flexibility to react quickly to merchandise trends and to maximize the effectiveness of our weekly inserts and mailers. We are able to effectively target different population zones for our advertising expenditures. We place inserts in over 225 newspapers throughout our markets, supplemented in many areas by mailer distributions to create market saturation.

We also promote our products through digital marketing programs that include sending daily digital communications to our customers (e-mail marketing to our “E-Team”), search engine marketing, social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, mobile programs and other website initiatives.   

Our digital promotional strategy is designed to provide additional opportunities to connect with potential customers and enable us to promote the Big 5 brand. Our e-mail marketing program invites our customers to subscribe to our E-Team for daily special deals, weekly advertisements and product information disseminated on a regular basis. We use search engine marketing methods as a means to reach those customers searching the Internet to gather information about our products. Within our social media program, our customers have the opportunity to engage in conversations with other sports-minded people and receive exclusive information about new products and unique weekly offers. All of these marketing methods are intended to simplify the shopping experience for our customers and further demonstrate our commitment to provide great brands at great values.

Our website features a broad representation of our product assortment and provides visibility of store inventory to our customers, thereby enabling them to determine if items featured on our website are in-stock in one or more of our store locations. Our e-commerce platform delivers an online shopping experience to our customers, and we continue to develop our online capabilities to meet customer expectations of being able to shop at their convenience.

We have developed a strong cause marketing platform through our 20-year support of the March of Dimes annual fundraising campaign and numerous other charities and organizations throughout our marketplace. We also build brand awareness by providing sponsorship support of established, high profile events that benefit our customers’ active lifestyles, such as the “LA Marathon” in Los Angeles, California, and the “Duke City Marathon” in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for which we are the title sponsor.

Vendor Relationships

We have developed strong vendor relationships over the past 65 years. We currently purchase merchandise from over 700 vendors. In fiscal 2019, only one vendor represented greater than 5% of total purchases, at 9.8%. We believe current relationships with our vendors are good. We benefit from the long-term working relationships with vendors that our senior management and our buyers have carefully nurtured throughout our history.

Information Technology Systems

We have fully integrated information technology (“IT”) systems that support critical business functions, such as sales reporting, inventory management and distribution functions and provide pertinent information for financial reporting, as well as robust business intelligence and retail analytics tools. We manage IT solutions for e-commerce, email and networks that connect our employees to appropriate technology solutions and tools. This includes connecting our stores via a managed wide area network (“WAN”) connection for purchasing card (i.e., credit and debit card) encryption, tokenization, authorization and processing, as well as providing access to valuable tools such as collaboration, online training, workforce management, online hiring, Company website functions and corporate communications. Our separate disaster recovery facility and solutions provide redundant networks and applications to be used in the event of an emergency or unplanned outage. We believe our IT systems are effectively supporting our current operations and provide a foundation for future growth and new business initiatives.

Distribution

We operate a distribution center located in Riverside, California, that services all of our stores. The facility has 953,000 square feet of storage and office space, along with an additional 172,000 square-foot distribution space adjacent to our distribution center that enables us to more efficiently fulfill our expanding distribution requirements. The distribution center warehouse management system is fully integrated with our enterprise-level IT systems and provides comprehensive warehousing and distribution capabilities. We generally distribute merchandise from our distribution center to our stores at least once per week, using our fleet of leased tractors, as well as contract carriers.

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We also operate a small distribution hub in Oregon to help mitigate fuel costs. This 12,000 square-foot facility enables us to ship full trailers of product from our Riverside distribution center to the Pacific Northwest, where we separate products for regional delivery. This distribution hub has greatly reduced the number of transportation miles logged to distribute our product to the Pacific Northwest.

Industry and Competition

The retail market for sporting goods is highly competitive.  In general, competition tends to fall into the following six basic categories:

Sporting Goods Superstores. Stores in this category typically are larger than 35,000 square feet and tend to be free-standing locations.  These stores emphasize high volume sales and a large number of stock-keeping units.  Examples include Academy Sports & Outdoors and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Traditional Sporting Goods Stores. This category consists of traditional sporting goods chains, including us.  These stores range in size from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet and are frequently located in regional malls and multi-store shopping centers.  The traditional chains typically carry a varied assortment of merchandise and attempt to position themselves as convenient neighborhood stores. Sporting goods retailers operating stores within this category include Hibbett Sports and Modell’s.

Specialty Sporting Goods Stores. Specialty sporting goods retailers are stores that typically carry a wide assortment of one specific product category or brand, such as athletic shoes, golf, or outdoor equipment. Examples of these retailers include Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Foot Locker, Sportsman’s Warehouse and REI. This category also includes pro shops that often are single-store operations.

Mass Merchandisers. This category includes discount retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kmart and department stores such as JC Penney, Kohl’s and Sears. These stores range in size from 50,000 to 200,000 square feet and are primarily located in regional malls, shopping centers or on free-standing sites.  Sporting goods merchandise and apparel represent a small portion of the total merchandise in these stores and the selection is often more limited than in other sporting goods retailers.

E-commerce Retailers. This category consists of many retailers that sell a broad array of new and used sporting goods products via e-commerce or catalogs, including Amazon.com. The types of retailers mentioned above may also sell their products through e-commerce. E-commerce has been a rapidly growing sales channel, particularly with younger consumers, and an increasing source of competition in the sporting goods retail industry.

Athletic and Sporting Goods Brands. This category consists of athletic and sporting goods brands that engage in direct-to-consumer sales through traditional retail channels, e-commerce or a combination of both.  These brands may also sell their products to us and other competitors. Examples of brands that sell directly to consumers include Nike, adidas and Under Armour.

In competing with the retailers discussed above, we focus on what we believe are the primary factors of competition in the sporting goods retail industry, including breadth, depth, price and quality of merchandise offered; advertising; purchasing and pricing policies; experienced and knowledgeable personnel; customer service; effective sales techniques; direct involvement of senior officers in monitoring store operations; enterprise-level IT systems; and, convenience of store location and format.

Employees

As of December 29, 2019, we had approximately 8,800 active employees, of which approximately 2,500 were full-time. The General Teamsters, Airline, Aerospace and Allied Employees, Warehousemen, Drivers, Construction, Rock and Sand, Local Union No. 986, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (“Local 986”) represents 460 hourly employees in our distribution center and select stores. In December 2017, we negotiated a new five-year contract with Local 986 for the covered distribution center employees, and in January 2018, we negotiated a new five-year contract with Local 986 for the covered store employees. Both contracts are retroactive to September 1, 2017, and expire on August 31, 2022. We have not had a strike or work stoppage in over 30 years, although such a disruption could have a significant negative impact on our business operations and financial results. We believe we provide working conditions and wages that are comparable to those offered by other retailers in the sporting goods industry and that employee relations are good.

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Employee Training

We utilize an automated Learning Management System (“LMS”) and have developed comprehensive training that can be expressly tailored for each store and corporate position. Our LMS allows us to rapidly convey and track the dissemination of important information as it develops, such as product merchandising strategies, policy changes, safety rules, cash handling procedures, systems resolution and utilization, loss prevention updates and inventory control guidelines. All new store employees are assigned introductory LMS learning material as well as provided with a live orientation highlighting basic policies and responsibilities and our expectation that each employee strives to deliver excellence in customer service, product knowledge and salesmanship. New full-time store salespeople, cashiers and manager trainees receive supplementary training and evaluations specific to their job responsibilities and their ongoing development. The versatility of the LMS provides us with the ability to track and monitor many different types of training and the flexibility we need to deliver our message to widely dispersed personnel within the structure of our on-the-go work environment. Our employee training programs include self-directed online courses, live webinars, production of soft and hard copy reference materials, one-on-one training, hands-on training and progressive developmental training. In the stores, manager trainees are expected to complete a progressive series of outlines and evaluations in order to be considered for each successive level of advancement. Experienced store management training includes advanced merchandising, delegation, personnel management, scheduling, payroll control, harassment and discrimination prevention and loss prevention. Our overall training strategy and LMS enable us to efficiently manage, monitor, assign and report employee training results online and in real time.

Description of Service Marks and Trademarks

We use the “Big 5” and “Big 5 Sporting Goods” names as service marks in connection with our business operations and have registered these names as federal service marks.  The renewal dates for these service mark registrations are in 2025 and 2023, respectively. We have also registered the names Golden Bear, Harsh, Pacifica and Rugged Exposure as federal trademarks under which we sell a variety of merchandise.  The renewal dates for these trademark registrations range from 2026 to 2028. We intend to renew these service mark and trademark registrations if we are still using the marks in commerce and they continue to provide value to us at the time of renewal.

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An investment in the Company entails risks and uncertainties including the following. You should carefully consider these risk factors when evaluating any investment in the Company. Any of these risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements set forth herein, and could otherwise have a significant adverse impact on our business, prospects, financial condition or results of operations or on the price of our common stock.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

Disruptions in the overall economy and the financial markets may adversely impact our business and results of operations.

The retail industry can be greatly affected by macroeconomic factors, including changes in national, regional and local economic conditions, as well as consumers’ perceptions of such economic factors. In general, sales represent discretionary spending by our customers. Discretionary spending is affected by many factors, including general business conditions, interest rates, inflation, consumer debt levels, the availability of consumer credit, currency exchange rates, taxation, gasoline prices, income, unemployment trends, home values and other matters that influence consumer confidence and spending. Many of these factors are outside of our control. We have experienced in the past, and may continue to experience, increased inflationary pressure on our product costs. Our customers’ purchases of discretionary items, including our products, generally decline during periods when disposable income is lower, when prices increase in response to rising costs, or in periods of actual or perceived unfavorable economic conditions. Deterioration of the consumer spending environment could be harmful to our financial position and results of operations, could adversely affect our ability to comply with covenants under our credit facility and, as a result, may negatively impact our ability to continue payment of our quarterly dividend, to repurchase our stock and to open additional stores in the manner that we have in the past.

Intense competition in the sporting goods industry could limit our growth and reduce our profitability.

The retail market for sporting goods is highly fragmented and intensely competitive.  We compete directly or indirectly with the following categories of companies, through traditional retail and e-commerce channels:

Some of our competitors have a larger number of stores, greater e-commerce capabilities or greater financial, distribution, marketing and other resources than we have.  If our competitors reduce their prices, it may be difficult for us to retain market share without reducing our prices, which could impact our margins.  As a result of this competition, we may also need to spend more on advertising and promotion than we anticipate. Increased competition in our current markets or the adoption or proliferation by competitors of innovative store formats, aggressive pricing strategies and retail sales methods, such as e-commerce, could cause us to lose market share and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

While e-commerce has been a rapidly growing sales channel and an increasing source of competition in the retail industry, sales from our e-commerce channel are not material to our operations. We began selling products through our e-commerce platform in late fiscal 2014. We have no assurance that our e-commerce efforts will prove profitable, whether due to product preferences of online buyers, ability to compete with other (often more established) online retailers, or for other reasons, such as the cannibalization of sales from our existing store base. If we are unable to compete successfully, our operating results may suffer.

If we fail to anticipate changes in consumer preferences, we may experience lower net sales, higher inventory, higher inventory markdowns and lower margins.

Our products must appeal to a broad range of consumers whose preferences cannot be predicted with certainty. These preferences are also subject to change and can be impacted by various factors, including sports participation levels in our market areas, the performance of sports teams for which we sell licensed products, weather conditions in our market areas and regulatory or political changes. Our success depends upon our ability to anticipate and respond in a timely manner to consumer trends and consumers’ participation in sports and other recreational activities for which we sell products. If we fail to identify and respond in a timely manner to these changes, our net sales and profitability may decline. In addition, because we often make commitments to purchase products from our vendors up to nine months in advance of the proposed delivery, if we misjudge the market for our merchandise or conditions change after we have committed to purchase products, we may overstock unpopular products and be forced to take inventory markdowns that could have a negative impact on profitability.

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Our quarterly net sales and operating results, reported and expected, can fluctuate substantially, which may adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

Our net and same store sales and results of operations, reported and expected, have fluctuated in the past and will vary from quarter to quarter in the future.  These fluctuations may adversely affect our financial condition and the market price of our common stock.  A number of factors, many of which are outside our control, have historically caused and will continue to cause variations in our quarterly net and same store sales and operating results, including changes in consumer demand for our products, competition in our markets, inflation, increases in operating expense, changes in pricing or other actions taken by our competitors, weather conditions in our markets, natural disasters, litigation, political events, government regulation, changes in accounting standards, changes in management’s accounting estimates or assumptions and economic conditions, including those specific to our western United States markets.

Increased costs or declines in the effectiveness of print advertising, or a reduction in publishers of print advertising, could cause our operating results to suffer.

Our business relies heavily on print advertising. We utilize print advertising programs that include newspaper inserts, direct mailers and courier-delivered inserts in order to effectively deliver our message to our targeted markets. Newspaper circulation and readership has been declining, which could limit the number of people who receive or read our advertisements. Additionally, declining newspaper demand is adversely impacting newspaper publishers and could jeopardize their ability to operate, which could restrict our ability to advertise in the manner we have in the past. In an effort to continue to deliver our message to consumers, we have been shifting some of our advertising from print to digital. If these efforts fail or we are unable to develop other effective strategies to reach potential customers within our desired markets, awareness of our stores, products and promotions could decline and our net sales could suffer. In addition, an increase in the cost of print advertising, paper or postal or other delivery fees could increase the cost of our advertising and adversely affect our operating results.

Because our stores are concentrated in the western United States, we are subject to regional risks.

Our stores are located in the western United States. Because of this, we are subject to regional risks, such as the economy, including downturns in the housing market, state financial conditions, unemployment and gas prices. Other regional risks include adverse weather and climate conditions, power outages, earthquakes and other natural disasters specific to the states in which we operate. For example, particularly in California where we have a high concentration of stores, seasonal factors such as unfavorable weather conditions or other localized conditions such as flooding, drought, fires (such as the wildfires of 2018 that destroyed our store located in Paradise, CA), earthquakes or electricity blackouts (such as the rolling blackouts of 2019 that impacted certain California stores) could impact our sales and harm our operations. State and local regulatory compliance, such as with recent minimum wage increases in our market areas, also can impact our financial results. Economic downturns or other adverse regional events could have an adverse impact upon our net sales and profitability and our ability to open additional stores in the manner that we have in the past.

Additionally, California is subject to a property tax law commonly referred to as Proposition 13, which allows properties to be reassessed only at the time of change in ownership or completion of construction, and annual property reassessments are limited to a 2% increase from previously-assessed values thereafter. As a result, Proposition 13 generally results in significant below-market assessed values over time. From time to time, and recently, lawmakers and political coalitions have initiated efforts to repeal or amend Proposition 13 to eliminate its application to commercial and industrial properties. Since we lease all of our store locations, as well as our corporate offices and distribution center facilities in California, and are required under the terms of our leases to pay property taxes thereon, any repeal of Proposition 13 could substantially increase the assessed values and property taxes we pay for our leased properties in California.  

A significant amount of our sales is impacted by seasonal weather conditions in our markets.

Because many of the products we sell are used for seasonal outdoor sporting and recreational activities, our business is significantly impacted by weather and climate conditions in our markets.  For example, our winter sports and apparel sales are dependent on cold winter weather and snowfall in our markets, and can be negatively impacted by unseasonably warm or dry weather in our markets during the winter product selling season. Conversely, sales of our spring products and summer products, such as baseball gear and camping and water sports equipment, can be adversely impacted by unseasonably cold or wet weather in those periods. Accordingly, our sales results and financial condition will typically suffer when weather and climate patterns do not conform to seasonal norms.

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Our business is subject to seasonal fluctuations, and unanticipated changes in our customers’ seasonal buying patterns can impact our business.

We experience seasonal fluctuations in our net sales and operating results. Seasonality influences our buying patterns which directly impacts our merchandise and accounts payable levels and cash flows. We purchase merchandise for seasonal activities in advance of a season and supplement our merchandise assortment as necessary and when possible during the season. Our efforts to replenish products during a season are not always successful.  In the fourth fiscal quarter, which includes the holiday selling season and the start of the winter selling season, we normally experience higher inventory purchase volumes and increased expense for staffing and advertising. If we miscalculate the consumer demand for our products generally or for our product mix in advance of a season, our net sales can decline, which can harm our financial performance. A significant shortfall from expected net sales can negatively impact our annual operating results.

If we lose key management or are unable to attract and retain the talent required for our business, our operating results could suffer.

Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and efforts of Steven G. Miller, our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, and other key personnel with longstanding tenure who are not obligated to stay with us.  The loss of the services of any of these individuals for any reason could harm our business and operations.  In addition, as our business grows, we will need to attract and retain additional qualified personnel in a timely manner and develop, train and manage an increasing number of management-level sales associates and other employees. Competition for qualified employees and increases in the cost of living in our market areas could require us to pay higher wages and benefits to attract a sufficient number of qualified employees, and increases in the minimum wage or other employee benefit costs could increase our operating expense.  If we are unable to attract and retain personnel as needed in the future, our net sales growth and operating results may suffer.

All of our stores rely on a single distribution center. Any disruption or other operational difficulties at this distribution center could reduce our net sales or increase our operating expense.

We rely on a single distribution center facility located in Riverside, California to service our business. Any natural disaster or other serious disruption to the distribution center due to fire, earthquake or any other cause could damage a significant portion of our inventory and could materially impair both our ability to adequately stock our stores and our net sales and profitability. If the security measures used at our distribution center do not prevent inventory theft, our gross profit may significantly decrease. Our distribution center is staffed in part by employees represented by Local 986. We have not had a strike or work stoppage in over 30 years, although such a disruption could have a significant negative impact on our business operations and financial results. Further, in the event that we are unable to grow our net sales sufficiently to allow us to leverage the costs of this distribution center in the manner we anticipate, our financial results could be negatively impacted.

Additionally, because we rely on a single distribution center, our store growth could be limited to the geographic areas to which we can efficiently distribute products from this facility. Our store growth also could be limited if our distribution center reaches full capacity. Such constraints could result in a loss of market share and our inability to execute our business plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

If we are unable to successfully implement our controlled growth strategy or manage our growing business, our future operating results could suffer.

One of our strategies includes opening profitable stores in new and existing markets. Our ability to successfully implement and capitalize on our growth strategy could be negatively affected by various factors including:

In the past five fiscal years, we have slowed our store openings and strategically closed certain stores as we maintained a cautious approach toward store expansion in the current retail environment, which included the liquidation and closure of certain major competitors in our markets.  If we are unable to resume our store expansion efforts for any of the reasons discussed above, our operating results could suffer.

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In addition, our expansion in new and existing markets may present competitive, merchandising, marketing and distribution challenges that differ from our current challenges.  These potential new challenges include competition among our stores, added strain on our distribution center, additional information to be processed by our information technology (“IT”) systems, diversion of management attention from ongoing operations and challenges associated with managing a larger enterprise. We face additional challenges in entering new markets, including consumers’ lack of awareness of us, difficulties in hiring personnel and problems due to our unfamiliarity with local real estate markets and demographics. New markets may also have different competitive conditions, consumer tastes, responsiveness to print advertising and discretionary spending patterns than our existing markets. To the extent that we are not able to meet these new challenges, our net sales could decrease and our operating expense could increase.

Our information technology systems are critical to the functioning of our business and are vulnerable to failure, damage, theft or intrusion that could harm our operations.

Our success, in particular our ability to successfully manage inventory levels and process customer transactions, largely depends upon the efficient operation of our IT systems. We use IT systems to track inventory at the store level and aggregate daily sales information, communicate customer information and process purchasing card transactions, process shipments of goods and report financial information. These systems and our operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

Any failure of our IT systems that causes an interruption in our operations, loss of data, or a decrease in inventory tracking could result in reduced net sales and profitability. Additionally, if any data intrusion, security breach, misappropriation or theft were to occur, we could incur significant costs in responding to such event, including responding to any resulting claims, litigation or investigations, which could harm our operating results.

Breach of data security or other unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential information could harm our business, employees and standing with our customers.

The protection of our customer, employee and business data is critical to us. Our business, like that of most retailers, involves the receipt, storage and transmission of customers’ personal information, consumer preferences and payment card information, as well as confidential information about our employees, our suppliers and our Company. We rely on commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of all such data, including confidential information. Despite the security measures we have in place, our facilities and systems, and those of our third-party service providers, may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, data theft, misplaced or lost data, programming or human errors, or other similar events. Unauthorized parties may attempt to gain access to our systems or information through fraud or other means, including deceiving our employees or third-party service providers. The methods used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems are also constantly changing and evolving, and may be difficult to anticipate or detect for long periods of time. We have implemented and regularly review and update our control systems, processes and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of secured data and to prevent data loss. However, the ever-evolving threats mean we must continually evaluate and adapt our systems and processes, and there is no guarantee that they will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches or misuses of data. Any security breach involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized disclosure of customer payment card or personal information or employee personal or confidential information, whether by us or our vendors, could damage our reputation, expose us to risk of regulatory enforcement, litigation and liability, disrupt our operations, harm our business and have an adverse impact upon our net sales and profitability. In addition, as the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could also result in additional costs.

If our suppliers do not provide sufficient quantities of products, our net sales and profitability could suffer.

We purchase merchandise from over 700 vendors. Although only one vendor represented more than 5.0% of our total purchases during fiscal 2019, our dependence on principal suppliers involves risk. Our 20 largest vendors collectively accounted for 40.5% of our total purchases during fiscal 2019. If there is a disruption in supply from a principal supplier or distributor, we may be unable to obtain merchandise that we desire to sell and that consumers desire to purchase. A vendor could discontinue or restrict selling products to us at any time for reasons that may or may not be within our control. In recent years, athletic and sporting goods brands have been increasingly developing the direct-to-consumer segments of their businesses, and this shift could result in restrictions on the products available for us to purchase and sell. Our net sales and profitability could decline if we are unable to promptly replace a product vendor who is unwilling or unable to satisfy our requirements with a vendor providing equally appealing products. Moreover, many of our suppliers provide us with incentives, such as return privileges, volume purchase allowances and co-operative advertising. A decline or discontinuation of these incentives could reduce our profits.

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Because many of the products that we sell are manufactured abroad, we may face delays, increased cost or quality control deficiencies in the importation of these products, which could reduce our net sales and profitability.

Like many other sporting goods retailers, a significant portion of the products that we purchase for resale, including those purchased from domestic suppliers, is manufactured abroad in China and other countries. In addition, we believe most, if not all, of our private label merchandise is manufactured abroad. Foreign imports subject us to the risks of changes in, or the imposition of new, import tariffs, duties or quotas, new restrictions on imports, loss of “most favored nation” status with the United States for a particular foreign country, antidumping or countervailing duty orders, retaliatory actions in response to illegal trade practices, work stoppages, delays in shipment, freight expense increases, product cost increases due to foreign currency fluctuations or revaluations, public health issues that could lead to temporary closures of facilities or shipping ports, such as the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus respiratory illness identified in Wuhan, China, and other economic uncertainties. If any of these or other factors were to cause a disruption of trade from the countries in which the suppliers of our vendors are located or impose additional costs in connection with the purchase of our products, we may be unable to obtain sufficient quantities of products to satisfy our requirements and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

To the extent that any foreign manufacturers which supply products to us directly or indirectly utilize quality control standards, labor practices or other practices that vary from those legally mandated or commonly accepted in the United States, we could be hurt by any resulting negative publicity or increases in operating costs or, in some cases, face potential liability.

In addition, instability in the political and economic environments of the countries in which our vendors or we obtain our products, or general international instability, could have an adverse effect on our operations. In the event of disruptions or delays in supply due to economic or political conditions in foreign countries, such disruptions or delays could adversely affect our results of operations unless and until alternative supply arrangements could be made. In addition, merchandise purchased from alternative sources may be of lesser quality or more expensive than the merchandise we currently purchase abroad.

Disruptions in transportation, including disruptions at shipping ports through which our products are imported, could prevent us from timely distribution and delivery of inventory, which could reduce our net sales and profitability.

A substantial amount of our inventory is manufactured abroad. From time to time, shipping ports experience capacity constraints, labor strikes, work stoppages or other disruptions that may delay the delivery of imported products. A contract dispute at the ports through which our products travel, particularly the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, could lead to protracted delays in the movement of our products, which could further delay the delivery of products to our stores and impact net sales and profitability. In addition, other conditions outside of our control, such as adverse weather conditions or acts of terrorism, could significantly disrupt operations at shipping ports or otherwise impact transportation of the imported merchandise we sell.

Future disruptions in transportation services or at a shipping port at which our products are received may result in delays in the transportation of such products to our distribution center and may ultimately delay the stocking of our stores with the affected merchandise. As a result, our net sales and profitability could decline.

Our costs may change as a result of currency exchange rate fluctuations or inflation in the purchase cost of merchandise manufactured abroad.

We and our suppliers source goods from various countries, including China, and thus changes in the value of the U.S. dollar compared to other currencies, or foreign labor and raw material cost inflation, may affect the cost of goods that we purchase. If the cost of goods that we purchase increases, we may not be able to similarly increase the retail prices of goods that we charge consumers without impacting our sales and our operating profits may suffer.

Increases in transportation costs due to rising fuel costs, climate change regulation and other factors may negatively impact our operating results.

We rely upon various means of transportation, including ship and truck, to deliver products from vendors to our distribution center and from our distribution center to our stores. Consequently, our results can vary depending upon the price of fuel. The price of oil has fluctuated drastically over the last few years, creating volatility in our fuel costs. In addition, efforts to combat climate change through reduction of greenhouse gases may result in higher fuel costs through taxation or other means. Any such future increases in fuel costs would increase our transportation costs for delivery of product to our distribution center and distribution to our stores, as well as our vendors’ transportation costs, which could decrease our operating profits.

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In addition, labor shortages or other factors in the transportation industry could negatively affect transportation costs and our ability to supply our stores in a timely manner. In particular, our business is highly dependent on the trucking industry to deliver products to our distribution center and our stores. Our operating results may be adversely affected if we or our vendors are unable to secure adequate trucking resources at competitive prices to fulfill our delivery schedules to our distribution center or stores.

Terrorism and the uncertainty of war may harm our operating results.

Terrorist attacks or acts of war may cause damage or disruption to us and our employees, facilities, information systems, vendors and customers, which could significantly impact our net sales, profitability and financial condition. Terrorist attacks could also have a significant impact on ports or international shipping on which we are substantially dependent for the supply of much of the merchandise we sell.  Our corporate headquarters is located near Los Angeles International Airport and the Port of Los Angeles, which have been identified as potential terrorism targets.  The potential for future terrorist attacks, the national and international responses to terrorist attacks and other acts of war or hostility may cause greater uncertainty and cause our business to suffer in ways that we cannot currently predict. Military action taken in response to such attacks could also have a short or long-term negative economic impact upon the financial markets, international shipping and our business in general.

Risks Related to Our Capital Structure

Our future cash flows may not be sufficient to meet our obligations and we might have difficulty obtaining more financing or refinancing our existing indebtedness on favorable terms.

As of December 29, 2019, the amount of our long-term revolving credit borrowings outstanding was $66.6 million. We have historically maintained a leveraged financial position. This means:

If our business declines, our future cash flows might not be sufficient to meet our obligations and commitments.

If we fail to make any required payment under our revolving credit facility, our debt payments may be accelerated under this agreement. In addition, in the event of bankruptcy, insolvency or a material breach of any covenant contained in our revolving credit facility, our debt may be accelerated.  This acceleration could also result in the acceleration of other indebtedness that we may have outstanding at that time.

The level of our indebtedness, and our ability to service our indebtedness, is directly affected by our cash flows from operations. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows from operations to meet our obligations, commitments and covenants of our revolving credit facility, we may be required to refinance or restructure our indebtedness, raise additional debt or equity capital, sell material assets or operations, delay or forego expansion opportunities, or cease or curtail our quarterly dividends or share repurchase plans. These alternative strategies might not be effected on satisfactory terms, if at all.

The terms of our revolving credit facility impose operating and financial restrictions on us, which may impair our ability to respond to changing business and economic conditions.

The terms of our revolving credit facility impose operating and financial restrictions on us, including, among other things, covenants that require us to maintain a fixed-charge coverage ratio of not less than 1.0 to 1.0 in certain circumstances, restrictions on our ability to incur liens, incur additional indebtedness, transfer or dispose of assets, change the nature of the business, guarantee obligations, pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase stock, and make advances, loans or investments. For example, our ability to engage in the foregoing transactions will depend upon, among other things, our level of indebtedness at the time of the proposed transaction and whether we are in default under our revolving credit facility. As a result, our ability to respond to changing business and economic conditions and to secure additional financing, if needed, may be significantly restricted, and we may be prevented from engaging in transactions that might further our growth strategy or otherwise benefit us and our stockholders without obtaining consent from our lenders.  In addition, our revolving credit facility is secured by a perfected security interest in our assets. In the event of our insolvency, liquidation, dissolution or reorganization, the lenders under our revolving credit facility would be entitled to payment in full from our assets before distributions, if any, were made to our stockholders.

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Disruptions in the economy and financial markets may adversely impact our lenders.

Volatility in capital and credit markets can impact the ability of financial institutions to meet their lending obligations. Based on information available to us, all of the lenders under our revolving credit facility are currently able to fulfill their commitments thereunder. However, circumstances could arise that may impact their ability to fund their obligations in the future. Although we believe the commitments from our lenders under the revolving credit facility, together with our cash on hand and anticipated operating cash flows, should be sufficient to meet our near-term borrowing requirements, if Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, our principal lender, or any other lender, is for any reason unable to perform its lending or administrative commitments under the facility, then disruptions to our business could result and may require us to replace this facility with a new facility or to raise capital from alternative sources on less favorable terms, including higher rates of interest.

Uncertainty relating to the LIBOR calculation process and potential phasing out of LIBOR may increase our interest expense and adversely affect our results of operations.

On July 27, 2017, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. It is unclear if at that time LIBOR will cease to exist or if new methods of calculating LIBOR will be established such that it continues to exist after 2021. The U.S. Federal Reserve, in conjunction with the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a steering committee comprised of large U.S. financial institutions, announced replacement of U.S. dollar LIBOR with a new index calculated by short-term repurchase agreements, backed by U.S. Treasury securities called the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). The first publication of SOFR was released in April 2018. Whether or not SOFR attains market traction as a LIBOR replacement tool remains in question and the future of LIBOR at this time is uncertain, which may impact the interest charged under our existing revolving credit facility.  Our credit facility provides that in the event LIBOR rates are no longer available, we and our lenders will negotiate in good faith to adopt a replacement benchmark rate and an applicable margin for borrowings based on such replacement benchmark rate.  We may incur increased interest expense using any such replacement benchmark rate or, if such a rate cannot be agreed upon between us and our lenders, the base rate for all borrowings under our credit facility, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Risks Related to Regulatory, Legislative and Legal Matters

Current and future government regulation may negatively impact demand for our products and increase our cost of conducting business.

The conduct of our business, and the distribution, sale, advertising, labeling, safety, transportation and use of many of our products are subject to various laws and regulations administered by federal, state and local governmental agencies in the United States, as well as regulations administered by various youth sports leagues and organizations. These laws and regulations may change, sometimes dramatically, as a result of political, economic or social events.  Changes in laws, regulations or governmental policy may alter the environment in which we do business and the demand for our products and, therefore, may impact our financial results or increase our liabilities.  Some of these laws and regulations include:   

Changes in these and other laws and regulations or additional regulation could cause the demand for and sales of our products to decrease. Moreover, complying with increased or changed regulations could cause our cost of obtaining products and our operating expense to increase. This could adversely affect our net sales and profitability.

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We may be subject to periodic litigation that may adversely affect our business and financial performance.

From time to time, we may be involved in lawsuits and regulatory actions relating to our business, certain of which may be maintained in jurisdictions with reputations for aggressive application of laws and procedures against corporate defendants. Due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation and regulatory proceedings, we cannot accurately predict the ultimate outcome of any such proceedings. An unfavorable outcome could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, regardless of the outcome of any litigation or regulatory proceedings, these proceedings could result in substantial costs and may require that we devote substantial resources to defend against these claims, which could impact our results of operations.

In particular, we may be involved in lawsuits related to employment, advertising and other matters, including class action lawsuits brought against us for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, state wage and hour laws, state or federal advertising laws and other laws. An unfavorable outcome or settlement in any such proceeding could, in addition to requiring us to pay any settlement or judgment amount, increase our operating expense as a consequence of any resulting changes we might be required to make in employment, advertising or other business practices.

In addition, we sell products manufactured by third parties, some of which may be defective. Many such products are manufactured overseas in countries which may utilize quality control standards that vary from those legally allowed or commonly accepted in the United States, which may increase our risk that such products may be defective. If any products that we sell were to cause physical injury or injury to property, the injured party or parties could bring claims against us as the retailer of the products based upon strict product liability. In addition, our products are subject to the federal Consumer Product Safety Act and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which empower the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect consumers from hazardous products. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has the authority to exclude from the market and recall certain consumer products that are found to be hazardous. Similar laws exist in some states and cities in the United States. If we fail to comply with government and industry safety standards or reporting requirements, we may be subject to claims, lawsuits, product recalls, fines and negative publicity that could harm our results of operations and financial condition.

We also sell firearm-related products, which may be associated with an increased risk of injury and related lawsuits. We may incur losses due to lawsuits relating to our performance of background checks in connection with firearms or ammunition purchases as mandated by state and federal law or the improper use of firearms sold by us, including lawsuits by individuals, municipalities or other organizations attempting to recover damages or costs from firearms manufacturers and retailers relating to the misuse or release of firearms. Commencement of these lawsuits against us could reduce our net sales and decrease our profitability. The sale of firearm-related products also may present reputational risks and negative publicity that could affect consumers’ perception of us or willingness to shop with us, which could harm our results of operations and financial condition.

The insurance coverage under policies that we maintain or that our product vendors maintain and under which we may be insured may not be adequate to cover claims that could be asserted against us. If a successful claim was to be brought against us in excess of our insurance coverage, or for which we have no insurance coverage, it could harm our business. Even unsuccessful claims could result in the expenditure of substantial funds and management time and could have a negative impact on our business. In addition, the cost of maintaining adequate insurance coverage could increase based on claims asserted against us, the type of products that we sell and market conditions generally.

The sale of firearm-related products is subject to strict regulation, which could affect our operating results.

Because we sell firearm-related products, we are required to comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations pertaining to the purchase, storage, transfer and sale of such products. These laws and regulations require us to, among other things, obtain and maintain federal, state or local permits or licenses in order to sell firearms or ammunition, ensure that certain employees obtain licenses to sell firearms or ammunition, ensure that all purchasers of firearms are subjected to a pre-sale background check and other requirements, record the details of each firearm sale on appropriate government-issued forms, record each receipt or transfer of a firearm at our distribution center or any store location on acquisition and disposition records, and maintain these records for a specified period of time. Additionally, in certain jurisdictions we are required to obtain a license to sell ammunition or record the details of each ammunition sale and maintain these records for a specified period of time. We also are required to timely respond to traces of firearms by law enforcement agencies.  Over the past several years, the purchase and sale of firearm-related products has been the subject of increased federal, state and local regulation, such as recently enacted requirements related to performing a safe-handling demonstration of firearms in California, new minimum age restriction laws and ammunition sales laws. These regulatory efforts are likely to continue in our current markets and other markets into which we may expand. If enacted, new laws and regulations could limit the types of firearm-related products that we are permitted to purchase and sell, impose new restrictions and requirements on the manner in which we purchase, sell and store these products, increase regulatory fees charged to the consumer and impact our ability to offer these products in certain retail locations or markets. If we fail to comply with existing or newly enacted laws and regulations relating to the purchase and sale of firearm-related products, our permits or licenses to sell firearm-related products at our stores or maintain inventory of firearm-related products at our distribution center may be suspended or revoked. If this occurs, our net sales and profitability could suffer. Further, complying with increased regulation relating to the sale of firearm-related products could cause our operating expense to increase and this could adversely affect our results of operations.

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Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results.

Accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America and related accounting standards, implementation guidelines and interpretations with regard to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, such as revenue recognition; lease accounting; income taxes; the carrying amount of merchandise inventories, property and equipment, lease assets and lease liabilities; valuation allowances for receivables, sales returns and deferred income tax assets; estimates related to stored-value card breakage and the valuation of share-based compensation awards; and obligations related to litigation, self-insurance liabilities and employee benefits are highly complex and may involve many subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by our management. Changes in these rules or their interpretation or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments by our management could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance.

Risks Related to Investing in Our Common Stock

The declaration of discretionary dividend payments or the repurchase of our common stock pursuant to our share repurchase program may not continue.

We currently pay quarterly dividends subject to capital availability and periodic determinations by our Board of Directors that cash dividends are in the best interest of us and our stockholders. Our dividend policy may be affected by, among other items, business conditions, our financial condition, our views on potential future capital requirements, the terms of our debt instruments, legal risks, changes in federal income tax law and challenges to our business model. Our dividend policy may change from time to time and we may or may not continue to declare discretionary dividend payments. Additionally, although we have a share repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors, we are not obligated to make any purchases under the program and we may reduce the amount of purchases we make under the program or discontinue the program at any time.

Our anti-takeover provisions could prevent or delay a change in control of our Company, even if such change of control would be beneficial to our stockholders.

Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws as well as provisions of Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of our Company, even if such change in control would be beneficial to our stockholders. The provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law that could discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control include:

In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporations Law limits business combination transactions with 15% stockholders that have not been approved by the Board of Directors. These provisions and other similar provisions make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without negotiation. These provisions may apply even if the transaction may be considered beneficial by some stockholders.

Significant stockholders or potential stockholders may attempt to effect changes or acquire control over our Company, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Stockholders may from time to time attempt to effect changes, engage in proxy solicitations or advance stockholder proposals, such as the publicly-disclosed proxy contest that the Company settled in 2015. Responding to proxy contests and other actions by activist stockholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of our Board of Directors and senior management from the pursuit of business strategies. As a result, stockholder campaigns could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

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Our common stock may be delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“NASDAQ”) if we are unable to maintain compliance with NASDAQ’s continued listing standards.

NASDAQ imposes, among other requirements, continued listing standards including minimum bid and public float requirements. If our stock trades at bid prices of less than $1.00 for a period in excess of 30 consecutive business days, NASDAQ could send a deficiency notice to us for not remaining in compliance with the minimum bid listing standards. While our common stock has never traded below $1.00, if we failed to meet this or any other applicable requirement of NASDAQ and are unable to regain compliance, NASDAQ may make a determination to delist our common stock.

Any delisting of our common stock could adversely affect the market liquidity of our common stock and the market price of our common stock could decrease. Furthermore, if our common stock were delisted it could adversely affect our ability to obtain financing for the continuation of our operations and/or result in the loss of confidence by investors, customers, suppliers and employees.

None.

Properties

Our primary corporate headquarters are located at 2525 East El Segundo Boulevard, El Segundo, California 90245, with a satellite office located nearby at 2401 East El Segundo Boulevard, El Segundo, California 90245. We lease 55,000 square feet of office and adjoining retail space related to our primary corporate headquarters, and we lease 11,500 square feet related to our satellite office.  The lease for the primary corporate headquarters is scheduled to expire on February 28, 2021 and provides us with two five-year renewal options, while the lease for the satellite office is scheduled to expire on February 28, 2021 and provides us with one five-year renewal option.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, we completed the purchase of a parcel of land with an existing building adjacent to our corporate headquarters location, including a parking lot we currently use. See Note 3 to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for a further discussion of the purchase.

Our distribution facility is located in Riverside, California and has 953,000 square feet of warehouse and office space. Our lease for the distribution center is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2025 and includes one additional five-year renewal option. We lease 172,000 square feet of additional distribution space adjacent to our distribution center in Riverside, California that enables us to more efficiently fulfill our expanding distribution requirements. Our lease for this additional facility is scheduled to expire on August 31, 2025 and includes three additional five-year renewal options. We have a distribution hub located in Salem, Oregon, utilizing 12,000 square feet of space to separate consolidated truckloads of product for delivery to our regional markets. Our lease for the hub is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2024 and includes three additional five-year renewal options.

We lease all of our retail store sites. Most of our store leases contain multiple fixed-price renewal options having a typical duration of five years per option. As of December 29, 2019, of our total store leases, 42 leases are due to expire in the next five years without renewal options. In most cases, as current leases expire, we believe we will be able to obtain lease renewals for existing store locations or new leases for substantially equivalent locations in the same general area.  

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Our Stores

Throughout our history, we have focused on operating traditional, full-line sporting goods stores. Our stores generally range from 8,000 to 15,000 square feet and average approximately 11,000 square feet. Our typical store is located in either a free-standing street location or a multi-store shopping center. Our numerous convenient locations and accessible store format encourage frequent customer visits, resulting in approximately 25.9 million sales transactions and an average transaction size of approximately $38 in fiscal 2019. The following table details our store locations by state as of December 29, 2019:

Our same store sales per square foot were approximately $200 for fiscal 2019. Our same store sales per square foot combined with our efficient store-level operations and low store maintenance costs have allowed us to historically generate strong store-level returns.

The Company is involved in various claims and legal actions arising in the ordinary course of business.  In the opinion of management, the ultimate disposition of these matters is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or financial condition.

None.

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PART II

Our common stock, par value $0.01 per share, trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC under the symbol “BGFV.”  

As of February 18, 2020, there were 21,664,076 shares of common stock outstanding held by 445 holders of record.

Dividend Policy

Dividends are paid at the discretion of the Board of Directors. In fiscal 2019 and 2018 we paid annual cash dividends of $0.20 and $0.50 per share, respectively, of outstanding common stock. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018, we reduced our quarterly cash dividend rate from $0.15 per share of outstanding common stock to $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock, reflecting our intent to utilize capital to maintain a healthy financial condition. In the first quarter of fiscal 2020, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock, which will be paid on March 20, 2020 to stockholders of record as of March 6, 2020.

The agreement governing our revolving credit facility imposes restrictions on our ability to make dividend payments. For example, our ability to pay cash dividends on our common stock will depend upon, among other things, our compliance with certain availability and fixed charge coverage ratio requirements at the time of the proposed dividend or distribution, and whether we are in default under the agreement. Our future dividend policy will also depend on the requirements of any future credit or other financing agreements to which we may be a party and other factors considered relevant by our Board of Directors, including the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware, which provides that dividends are only payable out of surplus or current net profits.

We became a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act as of our second quarter of fiscal 2018 and are not required to provide the information under this item.

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Throughout this section, the Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (“we,” “our,” “us”) fiscal years ended December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018 are referred to as fiscal 2019 and 2018, respectively. The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal 2019 and 2018 includes information with respect to our plans and strategies for our business and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes, the risk factors and the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Our fiscal year ends on the Sunday nearest December 31. Fiscal 2019 and 2018 each included 52 weeks.

Overview

We are a leading sporting goods retailer in the western United States, operating 434 stores and an e-commerce platform under the name “Big 5 Sporting Goods” as of December 29, 2019.  We provide a full-line product offering in a traditional sporting goods store format that averages approximately 11,000 square feet. Through our e-commerce platform, we also offer selected products online. E-commerce sales for fiscal 2019 and 2018 were not material. Our product mix includes athletic shoes, apparel and accessories, as well as a broad selection of outdoor and athletic equipment for team sports, fitness, camping, hunting, fishing, tennis, golf, winter and summer recreation and roller sports. We supplement our traditional sports merchandise mix with an assortment of other products that we purchase through opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock or close-out merchandise.

We believe that over our 65-year history we have developed a reputation with the competitive and recreational sporting goods customer as a convenient neighborhood sporting goods retailer that consistently delivers value on quality merchandise.  Our stores carry a wide range of products at competitive prices from well-known brand name manufacturers, including adidas, Coleman, Columbia, Everlast, New Balance, Nike, Rawlings, Skechers, Spalding, Under Armour and Wilson. We also offer brand name merchandise produced exclusively for us, private label merchandise and specials on quality items we purchase through opportunistic buys of vendor over-stock and close-out merchandise. We reinforce our value reputation through weekly print advertising in major and local newspapers, direct mailers and digital marketing designed to generate customer traffic, drive sales and build brand awareness. We also maintain social media sites to enhance distribution capabilities for our promotional offers and to enable communication with our customers.

Throughout our history, we have emphasized controlled growth. Our store openings during recent years reflect our cautious approach toward store expansion in the current retail environment, which included the liquidation and closure of certain major competitors in our markets in fiscal 2016 and greater competitor e-commerce capabilities. In fiscal 2019, we opened three new stores and closed five stores, one of which was a relocation. In fiscal 2018, we opened four new stores and closed three stores, one of which was a relocation. The following table summarizes our store count for the periods presented:

For fiscal 2020, we anticipate opening five new stores and closing five stores.

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Executive Summary

Our net income for fiscal 2019 compared to a net loss for fiscal 2018 and was mainly attributable to higher net sales and merchandise margins combined with lower selling and administrative expense in fiscal 2019. Net income in fiscal 2019 reflected improved results in each quarter of the year compared with fiscal 2018. Higher net sales in fiscal 2019 primarily reflected increased demand for winter-related products during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 that resulted from favorable winter-weather conditions compared to unseasonably dry and warm weather conditions in most of our major markets in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. Merchandise margins increased in the second half of fiscal 2019, primarily due to reduced promotions and a shift in sales mix. Selling and administrative expense for fiscal 2019 declined year over year mainly reflecting lower advertising expense.

Our principal liquidity requirements are for working capital, capital expenditures and cash dividends. We fund our liquidity requirements primarily through cash on hand, cash flows from operations and borrowings from our revolving credit facility.

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Results of Operations

The following table sets forth selected items from our consolidated statements of operations by dollar and as a percentage of our net sales, and other financial data, for the periods indicated:

Net Sales.  Net sales increased by $8.9 million, or 0.9%, to $996.5 million for fiscal 2019 from $987.6 million for fiscal 2018. The change in net sales was primarily attributable to the following:

Gross Profit.  Gross profit increased by $11.2 million to $312.0 million, or 31.3% of net sales, in fiscal 2019 from $300.8 million, or 30.5% of net sales, in fiscal 2018. The change in gross profit was primarily attributable to the following:

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Selling and Administrative Expense. Selling and administrative expense decreased by $4.9 million, or 1.6%, to $297.2 million, or 29.8% of net sales, in fiscal 2019 from $302.1 million, or 30.6% of net sales, in fiscal 2018. The change in selling and administrative expense was primarily attributable to the following:

Interest Expense. Interest expense decreased to $3.0 million in fiscal 2019 compared with $3.4 million in fiscal 2018. Interest expense reflects a decrease in average outstanding debt levels of $19.4 million to $63.3 million in fiscal 2019 from $82.7 million in fiscal 2018, partially offset by an increase in average interest rates of approximately 40 basis points to 3.8% in fiscal 2019 from 3.4% in fiscal 2018.

Income Taxes. The provision for income taxes increased to an expense of $3.3 million for fiscal 2019 compared with a benefit of $1.1 million for fiscal 2018. Our effective tax rate of 28.3% for fiscal 2019 compared with 23.3% for fiscal 2018. The net income tax benefit recorded in fiscal 2018 was reduced by a charge of $0.3 million, net of the federal income tax benefit, to record a valuation allowance related to unused California Enterprise Zone Tax Credits.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our principal liquidity requirements are for working capital, capital expenditures and cash dividends. We fund our liquidity requirements primarily through cash on hand, cash flows from operations and borrowings from our revolving credit facility. We believe our cash on hand, future cash flows from operations and borrowings from our revolving credit facility will be sufficient to fund our cash requirements for at least the next 12 months.

We ended fiscal 2019 with $8.2 million of cash compared with $6.8 million in fiscal 2018. We increased our revolving credit borrowings by $1.6 million during fiscal 2019 to $66.6 million from $65.0 million at the end of fiscal 2018. The following table summarizes our cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for each of the past two fiscal years:

The seasonality of our business historically provides greater cash flows from operations during the holiday and winter selling season. We use operating cash flows and borrowings under our revolving credit facility to fund inventory increases in anticipation of the holidays and our inventory levels are normally at their highest in the months leading up to Christmas. As holiday sales typically reduce inventory levels, this reduction, combined with net income, historically provides us with strong cash flows from operations at the end of our fiscal year.

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For fiscal 2019, we increased our purchases of merchandise inventory compared to fiscal 2018 initially as a response to higher customer demand for winter-related products during the first quarter of fiscal 2019 resulting from favorable cold weather conditions experienced in most of our markets in the winter months of fiscal 2019. Higher purchases of merchandise inventory in the fourth quarter, in part due to bringing in certain merchandise early in anticipation of future cost increases, also contributed to higher accounts payable at the end of fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018, and debt was slightly higher year over year. Increased funding of merchandise inventory purchases offset by higher sales in fiscal 2019 resulted in higher merchandise inventory levels at the end of fiscal 2019 versus fiscal 2018 and reduced cash flow from operations year over year.

For fiscal 2018, we decreased our purchases of merchandise inventory compared to fiscal 2017 initially as a response to lower customer demand for winter-related products during the first quarter of fiscal 2018 resulting from unseasonably dry and warm weather conditions in most of our major markets, and then continued lower demand in the second and third quarters of fiscal 2018. Lower purchases of merchandise inventory in the fourth quarter contributed to substantially lower accounts payable at the end of fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017, although debt was higher year-over year. Reduced funding of merchandise inventory purchases combined with sales in fiscal 2018 resulted in reduced merchandise inventory levels at the end of fiscal 2018 versus fiscal 2017 and improved cash flow from operations year over year.

Operating Activities. Operating cash flows for fiscal 2019 and 2018 were a positive $14.3 million and a positive $24.5 million, respectively. The decrease in cash flow from operating activities for fiscal 2019 compared to fiscal 2018 primarily reflects increased funding for merchandise inventory and prepaid expense, largely related to rent, partially offset by net income in fiscal 2019 compared to a net loss in fiscal 2018.

Investing Activities. Net cash used in investing activities for fiscal 2019 and 2018 was $9.2 million and $15.5 million, respectively. Our capital spending is primarily to fund the opening of new stores, store-related remodeling, distribution center equipment and computer hardware and software purchases. Capital expenditures by category for each of the last two fiscal years are as follows:

Our capital expenditures included three new stores in fiscal 2019 and four new stores in fiscal 2018. Capital expenditures in both fiscal years included investment in existing store remodeling to support our merchandising initiatives and enhance information security measures to support our infrastructure. Capital expenditures in fiscal 2018 also included the purchase of a parcel of land with an existing building adjacent to our corporate headquarters location, including a parking lot that we currently use.

Financing Activities. Financing cash flows for fiscal 2019 and 2018 were a negative $3.6 million and a negative $9.5 million, respectively. For fiscal 2019 and 2018, net cash was used primarily for dividend payments and finance lease payments, partially offset by increased net borrowings under our revolving credit facility.

As of December 29, 2019, we had revolving credit borrowings of $66.6 million and letter of credit commitments of $0.7 million outstanding. These balances compare to borrowings of $65.0 million and letter of credit commitments of $0.5 million outstanding as of December 30, 2018.

Our revolving credit facility balances have historically increased from the end of the first quarter to the end of the second quarter and from the end of the third quarter to the week of Thanksgiving.  The historical increases in our revolving credit facility balances reflect the build-up of inventory in anticipation of our summer selling season and our winter and holiday selling seasons.  Revolving credit facility balances typically fall from the week of Thanksgiving to the end of the fourth quarter, reflecting inventory sales during the holiday and winter selling season. The increase in our revolving credit borrowings at the end of fiscal 2019 compared to the end of fiscal 2018 primarily reflects lower-than-anticipated sales and higher purchases of merchandise inventory in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, due in part to bringing in certain merchandise early in anticipation of potential future cost increases.

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In the first three quarters of fiscal 2018 we paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.15 per share of outstanding common stock, and in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 we paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock. In fiscal 2019 we paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock. In the first quarter of fiscal 2020, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock, which will be paid on March 20, 2020 to stockholders of record as of March 6, 2020.

Periodically, we repurchase our common stock in the open market pursuant to programs approved by our Board of Directors. We may repurchase our common stock for a variety of reasons, including, among other things, our alternative cash requirements, existing business conditions and the current market price of our stock. In fiscal 2016, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program for the purchase of up to $25.0 million of our common stock. Under the authorization, we may purchase shares from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, the timing and amount of such purchases, if any, would be at the discretion of our management and Board of Directors, and would depend on market conditions and other considerations. We repurchased no shares of common stock in fiscal 2019 and we repurchased 75,748 shares of common stock for $0.4 million in fiscal 2018. Since the inception of our initial share repurchase program in May 2006 through December 29, 2019, we have repurchased a total of 3,528,972 shares for $41.8 million. As of December 29, 2019, a total of $15.3 million remained available for share repurchases under our current share repurchase program.

Credit Agreement. On October 18, 2010, we entered into a credit agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association (“Wells Fargo”), as administrative agent, and a syndicate of other lenders, which was amended on October 31, 2011, December 19, 2013 and September 29, 2017 (as so amended, the “Credit Agreement”), and has a maturity date of September 29, 2022.

The Credit Agreement provides for a revolving credit facility (the “Credit Facility”) with an aggregate committed availability of up to $140.0 million, which amount may be increased at our option up to a maximum of $165.0 million. We may also request additional increases in aggregate availability, up to a maximum of $200.0 million, in which case the existing lenders under the Credit Agreement will have the option to increase their commitments to accommodate the requested increase. If such existing lenders do not exercise that option, we may (with the consent of Wells Fargo, not to be unreasonably withheld) seek other lenders willing to provide such commitments. The Credit Agreement includes a provision which permits us to elect to reduce the aggregate committed availability under the Credit Agreement to $100.0 million for a three-month period each calendar year. The Credit Facility includes a $25.0 million sublimit for issuances of letters of credit and a $20.0 million sublimit for swingline loans. As of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, our total remaining borrowing availability under the $140.0 million Credit Facility, after subtracting letters of credit, was $72.7 million and $74.5 million, respectively.

We may borrow under the Credit Facility from time to time, provided the amounts outstanding will not exceed the lesser of the then aggregate availability (as discussed above) and the Borrowing Base (such lesser amount being referred to as the “Loan Cap”). The “Borrowing Base” generally is comprised of the sum, at the time of calculation, of (a) 90.00% of eligible credit card receivables; plus (b) the cost of eligible inventory (other than eligible in-transit inventory), net of inventory reserves, multiplied by 90.00% of the appraised net orderly liquidation value of eligible inventory (expressed as a percentage of the cost of eligible inventory); plus (c) the lesser of (i) the cost of eligible in-transit inventory, net of inventory reserves, multiplied by 90.00% of the appraised net orderly liquidation value of eligible in-transit inventory (expressed as a percentage of the cost of eligible in-transit inventory), or (ii) $10.0 million, minus (d) certain reserves established by Wells Fargo in its role as the Administrative Agent in its reasonable discretion.

Generally, we may designate specific borrowings under the Credit Facility as either base rate loans or LIBO rate loans. The applicable interest rate on our borrowings is a function of the daily average, over the preceding fiscal quarter, of the excess of the Loan Cap over amounts borrowed (such amount being referred to as the “Average Daily Availability”). Those loans designated as LIBO rate loans bear interest at a rate equal to the then applicable adjusted LIBO rate plus an applicable margin as shown in the table below. Those loans designated as base rate loans bear interest at a rate equal to the applicable margin for base rate loans (as shown below) plus the highest of (a) the Federal funds rate, as in effect from time to time, plus one-half of one percent (0.50%), (b) the LIBO rate, plus one percentage point (1.00%), or (c) the rate of interest in effect for such day as announced from time to time within Wells Fargo as its “prime rate.” The applicable margin for all loans will be a function of Average Daily Availability for the preceding fiscal quarter as set forth below.

The commitment fee assessed on the unused portion of the Credit Facility is 0.20% per annum.

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Obligations under the Credit Facility are secured by a general lien and perfected security interest in substantially all of our assets. The Credit Agreement contains covenants that require us to maintain a fixed charge coverage ratio of not less than 1.0:1.0 in certain circumstances, and limit the ability to, among other things, incur liens, incur additional indebtedness, transfer or dispose of assets, change the nature of the business, guarantee obligations, pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase stock, and make advances, loans or investments. We may declare or pay cash dividends or repurchase stock only if, among other things, no default or event of default then exists or would arise from such dividend or repurchase of stock and, after giving effect to such dividend or repurchase, certain availability and/or fixed charge coverage ratio requirements are satisfied. The Credit Agreement contains customary events of default, including, without limitation, failure to pay when due principal amounts with respect to the Credit Facility, failure to pay any interest or other amounts under the Credit Facility for five days after becoming due, failure to comply with certain agreements or covenants contained in the Credit Agreement, failure to satisfy certain judgments against us, failure to pay when due (or any other default which does or may lead to the acceleration of) certain other material indebtedness in principal amount in excess of $5.0 million, and certain insolvency and bankruptcy events.

The following table provides information about our revolving credit borrowings as of and for the periods indicated:

Future Capital Requirements.  We had cash on hand of $8.2 million as of December 29, 2019. We expect capital expenditures for fiscal 2020, excluding non-cash acquisitions, to range from approximately $11.0 million to $15.0 million, primarily for the opening of new stores, store-related remodeling, distribution center equipment and computer hardware and software purchases. For fiscal 2020, we anticipate opening five new stores and closing five stores.

In fiscal 2019 and 2018 we paid annual cash dividends of $0.20 per share and $0.50 per share, respectively, of outstanding common stock. In the first quarter of fiscal 2020, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share of outstanding common stock, which will be paid on March 20, 2020 to stockholders of record as of March 6, 2020.

As of December 29, 2019, a total of $15.3 million remained available for share repurchases under our share repurchase program. We consider several factors in determining when and if we make share repurchases including, among other things, our alternative cash requirements, existing business conditions and the market price of our stock.

Contractual Obligations. Our material contractual obligations include operating lease commitments associated with our leased properties and other occupancy expense, finance lease obligations, borrowings under our Credit Facility and other liabilities. Operating lease commitments consist principally of leases for our retail store facilities, distribution center and corporate offices. These leases frequently include options which permit us to extend the terms beyond the initial fixed lease term, and we intend to renegotiate most of these leases as they expire. Operating lease commitments also consist of information technology (“IT”) systems hardware and distribution center delivery tractors. Additional information regarding our operating leases is available in Item 2, Properties and Note 7, Lease Commitments, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. 

In the ordinary course of business, we enter into arrangements with vendors to purchase merchandise in advance of expected delivery. Because most of these purchase orders do not contain any termination payments or other penalties if cancelled, they are not considered as outstanding contractual obligations.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Our critical accounting estimates are included in our significant accounting policies as described in Note 2 of the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Those consolidated financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Critical accounting estimates are those that we believe are most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expense. Our estimates are evaluated on an ongoing basis and drawn from historical experience, current trends and other factors that management believes to be relevant at the time our consolidated financial statements are prepared. Actual results may differ from our estimates.  Management believes that the following accounting estimates reflect the more significant judgments and estimates we use in preparing our consolidated financial statements.

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Operating and Finance Leases

We adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842, Leases, as of December 31, 2018, coinciding with the standard’s effective date.

We have operating and finance leases for our retail store facilities, distribution center, corporate offices, IT systems hardware and distribution center delivery tractors. In accordance with ASC 842, we determine if an arrangement is a lease at inception. Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and operating lease liabilities, current and noncurrent, on the consolidated balance sheet. Finance leases are included in property and equipment, other current liabilities, and other long-term liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets. Lease liabilities are calculated using the effective interest method and recognized at the commencement date based on the present value of lease payments over the reasonably certain lease term, regardless of classification, while the amortization of ROU assets varies depending upon classification. As our leases generally do not provide an implicit rate, we use a collateralized incremental borrowing rate (“IBR”) to determine the present value of lease payments. The collateralized IBR is based on a synthetic credit rating that is externally prepared on an annual basis. This analysis considers qualitative and quantitative factors based on guidance provided by a rating agency for the consumer durables industry. We adjust our selected IBR quarterly with a company-specific unsecured yield curve that approximates our market risk profile. The collateralized IBR is also based upon the estimated impact that the collateral has on the IBR. To account for the collateralized nature of the IBR, we utilized a notching method based on notching guidance provided by a rating agency whereby our base credit rating is notched upward as the yield curve on a secured loan is expected to be lower versus an unsecured loan.

Our adoption of ASC 842 resulted in the initial recognition of operating lease liabilities and ROU assets of $279.7 million and $262.9 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2018.

Any changes in the IBR used to determine the present value of lease payments resulting from adjustments to the synthetic credit rating as of December 29, 2019 could result in a material change in lease liabilities recorded for fiscal 2019. Our projections are estimates, which could vary significantly, either favorably or unfavorably, from actual results if future economic conditions, consumer demand and competitive environments differ from our expectations. At this time, we do not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be a material change in the IBR that we use to calculate our lease liabilities.

Valuation of Merchandise Inventories, Net

Our merchandise inventories are made up of finished goods and are valued at the lower of cost or net realizable value using the weighted-average cost method that approximates the first-in, first-out (“FIFO”) method. Average cost consists of the direct purchase price of merchandise inventory, net of vendor allowances and cash discounts, in-bound freight-related costs and allocated overhead costs associated with our distribution center.

We record valuation reserves on a quarterly basis for damaged and defective merchandise, merchandise items with slow-moving or obsolescence exposure and merchandise that has a carrying value that exceeds net realizable value. These reserves are estimates of a reduction in value to reflect inventory valuation at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Factors included in determining slow-moving or obsolescence reserve estimates include current and anticipated demand or customer preferences, merchandise aging, seasonal trends and decisions to discontinue certain products. Because of our merchandise mix, we have not historically experienced significant occurrences of obsolescence. Our inventory valuation reserves for damaged and defective merchandise, slow-moving or obsolete merchandise and for lower of cost or net realizable value provisions totaled $3.7 million and $3.6 million as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, respectively, representing approximately 1% of our merchandise inventory for both periods.

Inventory shrinkage is accrued as a percentage of merchandise sales based on historical inventory shrinkage trends. We perform physical inventories at each of our stores at least once per year and cycle count inventories at our distribution center throughout the year.  The reserve for inventory shrinkage primarily represents an estimate for inventory shrinkage for each store since the last physical inventory date through the reporting date. Inventory shrinkage can be impacted by internal factors such as the level of investment in employee training and loss prevention and external factors such as the health of the overall economy, and shrink reserve estimates can vary from actual results. Our reserve for inventory shrinkage was $3.0 million and $2.8 million as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, respectively, representing approximately 1% of our merchandise inventory for both periods.

A 10% change in our inventory reserves estimate in total as of December 29, 2019, would result in a change in reserves of $0.7 million and a change in pre-tax earnings by the same amount. Our reserves are estimates, which could vary significantly, either favorably or unfavorably, from actual results if future economic conditions, consumer demand and competitive environments differ from our expectations. At this time, we do not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be a material change in the future estimates or assumptions that we use to calculate our inventory reserves.

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Valuation of Long-Lived Assets

In accordance with ASC 360, Property, Plant and Equipment, we review our long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable.

Long-lived assets are reviewed for recoverability at the lowest level in which there are identifiable cash flows (“asset group”), usually at the store level. The carrying amount of a store asset group includes stores’ property and equipment, leasehold improvements and operating lease ROU assets. When store asset groups are identified to have potential impairment, we forecast undiscounted cash flows over the store asset group’s remaining lease term and compare the undiscounted cash flows to the carrying amount of the store asset group. In situations where the carrying amount of the store asset group exceeds the undiscounted cash flows, a fair value of the store asset group is determined using discounted cash flow valuation techniques and impairment is recognized when the carrying amount exceeds the fair value.

We determine the sum of the undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the asset group by projecting future revenue, gross margin and operating expense for each store under evaluation for impairment. The estimates of future cash flows involve management judgment and are based upon assumptions about expected future operating performance. Assumptions used in these forecasts are consistent with internal planning, and include assumptions about sales growth rates, gross margins, operating expense in relation to the current economic environment and our future expectations, competitive factors in our various markets, inflation, sales trends and other relevant environmental factors that may impact the store under evaluation. The actual cash flows could differ from management’s estimates due to changes in business conditions, operating performance and economic conditions.

The resulting impairment charge, if any, is allocated to the property and equipment, leasehold improvements and operating lease ROU assets on a pro rata basis using the relative carrying amounts of those assets. The allocated impairment charge to a long-lived asset is limited to the extent that the impairment charge does not reduce the carrying amount of the long-lived asset below its individual fair value. The estimation of the fair value of an ROU asset involves the evaluation of current market value rental amounts for leases associated with ROU assets. The estimates of current market value rental amounts are primarily based on recent observable market rental data of other comparable retail store locations. The fair value of an ROU asset is measured using a discounted cash flow valuation technique by discounting the estimated current and future market rental values using a property-specific discount rate.

Our evaluation resulted in impairment charges of $0.5 million and $0.2 million recognized in fiscal 2019 and 2018, respectively, related to certain underperforming stores. These impairment charges represented property and equipment, and leasehold improvements.

Any changes in the sum of our undiscounted cash flow estimates resulting from different assumptions used as of December 29, 2019 for those store asset groups included in our evaluation could result in a material change in the long-lived asset impairment charge for fiscal 2019. Our projections are estimates, which could vary significantly, either favorably or unfavorably, from actual results if future economic conditions, consumer demand and competitive environments differ from our expectations. At this time, we do not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be a material change in the future estimates or assumptions that we use to calculate our long-lived asset impairment charge.

Seasonality and Impact of Inflation

We experience seasonal fluctuations in our net sales and operating results, which can suffer when weather does not conform to seasonal norms. Seasonality in our net sales influences our buying patterns which directly impacts our merchandise and accounts payable levels and cash flows. We purchase merchandise for seasonal activities in advance of a season and supplement our merchandise assortment as necessary and when possible during the season. Our efforts to replenish products during a season are not always successful. In the fourth fiscal quarter, which includes the holiday selling season and the start of the winter selling season, we normally experience higher inventory purchase volumes and increased expense for staffing and advertising. If we miscalculate the consumer demand for our products generally or for our product mix in advance of a season, particularly the fourth quarter, our net sales can decline, which can harm our financial performance. A significant shortfall from expected net sales, particularly during the fourth quarter, can negatively impact our annual operating results.

In fiscal 2019 and 2018, the impact of inflation and tariffs on products we purchase was minimal. At the end of fiscal 2019, we brought in certain merchandise early in anticipation of future cost increases. We have evolved our product mix to include more branded merchandise that we believe gives us added flexibility to adjust selling prices for purchase cost increases. If we are unable to adjust our selling prices for purchase cost increases that might occur, then our merchandise margins will decline, which will adversely impact our operating results. We do not believe that inflation or tariffs had a material impact on our operating results for the reporting periods.

Recently Issued Accounting Updates

See Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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We became a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act as of our second quarter of fiscal 2018 and are not required to provide the information under this item.

The financial statements and the supplementary financial information required by this Item and included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are listed in the “Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” beginning on page F-1.

None.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain a system of disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to provide reasonable assurance that information which is required to be timely disclosed is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), in a timely fashion. We conducted an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our CEO and CFO, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) as of December 29, 2019. Based on such evaluation, our CEO and CFO have concluded that, as of December 29, 2019, our disclosure controls and procedures are effective, at a reasonable assurance level, in recording, processing, summarizing and reporting, on a timely basis, information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act and are effective in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act.

Our internal control over financial reporting includes policies and procedures that pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect transactions and disposition of assets; provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, and that receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with the authorization of our management and directors; and provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projection of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods is subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Management conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 29, 2019, based upon the Internal Control—Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 29, 2019, we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting. As defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, we meet the criteria to be a non-accelerated filer in connection with the preparation of the consolidated financial statements as of December 29, 2019 and, therefore, we are not required to include, and have not included, an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm on internal control over financial reporting.

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Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We implemented modifications and additions to internal control over financial reporting related to the accounting for leases that resulted from the adoption of the new lease standard, ASC 842. We implemented a new lease administration and accounting software system, identified existing controls and designed new controls as part of our internal controls over financial reporting to address the changes resulting from the adoption of ASC 842. There have been no other changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

None.

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PART III

The information required by this Item has been omitted and will be incorporated herein by reference, when filed, to our Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 29, 2019.

The information required by this Item has been omitted and will be incorporated herein by reference, when filed, to our Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 29, 2019.

The information required by this Item has been omitted and will be incorporated herein by reference, when filed, to our Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 29, 2019.

The information required by this Item has been omitted and will be incorporated herein by reference, when filed, to our Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 29, 2019.

The information required by this Item has been omitted and will be incorporated herein by reference, when filed, to our Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 29, 2019.

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PART IV

See Index to Consolidated Financial Statements on page F-1 hereof.

See Index to Consolidated Financial Statements on page F-1 hereof.

The exhibits listed in the Index to Exhibits shown beginning on the next page are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, or are incorporated by reference from documents previously filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission as required by Item 601 of Regulation S-K.

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BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

EXHIBIT INDEX

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated:

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BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

F-1

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation
El Segundo, California

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, the related consolidated statements of operations, stockholders' equity, and cash flows, for each of the fiscal years ended December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, and the related notes and the schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a)(2) (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the fiscal years ended December 29, 2019 and December 30, 2018, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note 2 to the financial statements, effective December 31, 2018, the Company adopted FASB ASC Topic 842, Leases, using the modified retrospective approach.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP

Los Angeles, California

February 26, 2020

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2007.

F-2

BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share amounts)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-3

BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(In thousands, except per share data)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-4

BIG 5 SPORTING GOODS CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except share amounts)