Smart Parts closing doors in Jan?

[John C]

Didnt Smart parts make an announcement recently denying any and all rumours about them being about to close / go bankrupt?


Im now confused because its completely unlike Smart Parts to blatantly lie to their customer base or treat us like we were born yesterday


And more importantly, whos gonna be going round demanding their £15 quid per board license fee if SP go under.
Not GI Milsim I hope...

 

[Robbo]

I think this is maybe the deal, SP had an outstanding loan of something like $12 million and the bank just called it in ......
At the time SP went to the bank to seek that investment capital, paintball was on the front of a growth wave .... only for it to crash within a year or so of securing that loan.
I think their decision to not have their products made in the far east meant the margins they could generate were always gonna be problematic for them when going up against other industry manufacturers, all of whom by then, had displaced their production to the far east.
If they were to be competitive, it meant they also had to significantly compromise their margins .... when the recsession finally hit, this double whammy bashed them right in the financial goolies ...


We can all argue till the cows come whether or not SP deserve this fate or not but bottom line is this, it's a sad day for the industry in terms of this being symptomatic of paintball's overall health.

SP has been pretty much involved in world paintball from the beginning, I can remember Billy and Adam Gardner traipsing around the trade tent in 1990 in Nashville trying to sell everybody the idea that their ported barrels were more accurate .. and that was their only product at the time.

They came a long waysince then that's for sure and love them or hate them, they've been an integral, and undeniable part of our sport's development.

I have spent many hours with both those guys and find it pretty sad they won't be around in the same way as before; I fully realise there are a lot of people out there who won't be too sad because of the way all that patent cr@p unfolded but there's always two sides to all that stuff ...and I tell you something, those SP guys were not as bad as everybody made out, nowhere near.
I stayed at both their houses over the years when I visited them and got to know them pretty well, and as for me personally?
I didn't much like some of the things they did, but I have always liked Billy and Adam.
I always found them trustworthy and loyal ... to me at least.
Over and above that, I am sure plenty of people would just love to add their remarks, most of which I'm sure would be negative.

I think it's pretty sad but I also acknowledge some people might not feel the same about their demise.

 

[Missy-Q]

I'm not so sure it's a complete demise, and not a convenient re-shuffling of finances & assets.
Their intellectual property has already been absorbed into another company, also owned by them, and I would imagine the gardners have already done the deals to have their stuff made in China. This was a way to rid themselves of a ton of debt and live to fight another day.

 

[formely known as size6feet]

whether you love or hate sp its another sad day for paintball that a (former?) world leader in playing and or manufacturing of paintball goes bye bye
whose next?

 

[kamikaze_chris]

cheers for that little insight robbo as im sure alot of people dont no what really goes on with sp but like to stick the knife in! and i hope those guys are still involved in paintball for years to come in some way or another. and i guess if taking out a loan in the boom caught them out,well they aint the first thats happend to and they wont be the last company that does it aswell, those type of gambles can sometimes pay off big.

also i hope gi milsim luck for the future!

 

[s1im]

Although their business ethics can be bought into question smart-parts as a company is not just the gardners, I hope every employee able to find employment should they need to.
Unfortunately this company will not be the only casualty of the downturn in sales for paintball companies, PGi being one of the first, hopefully this being one of the last.
Although there will be continued speculation from this forum and others we should respect that the company will need to resolve issues - if they continue to trade the gossip and rumours will not have helped sales - if they fold, the jobs and future of the staff members who have made paintball there lives is the most crucial thing.

For those that feel like I'm being a fan boy here, I have owned 2 smart-parts markers in my life, but 4 aka's and multiple x-mags

 

[kamikaze_chris]

here here