Colt Defense LLC said a 59 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profits was fueled by its acquisition last year of sister company Colt Manufacturing and its parent, as well as organic growth in rifle sales.
Profits were $5.4 million, up from $3.4 million a year ago, Colt said.
The West Hartford company doesn’t have common stock, but reports earnings because its debt is publicly traded.
Colt booked $277.9 million in sales for the quarter, up $64.5 million, or 30 percent, from $213.4 million in the final quarter of 2012.
The company attributed more than $35 million of that increase to contributions from Colt Manufacturing, and the remainder to organic sales growth of rifles and spare parts.
Excluding the merger, sales would have been $248.8 million.
Colt also reported that its CEO Dennis Veilleux, who took over for former CEO Gerard Dinkel in August, earned $595,674 between the July 12 merger and the end of the year.
Dinkel, who continues to serve as a manager on the company’s governing board, saw his compensation decline from $872,684 to $779,928 last year. Dinkel’s severance, living expenses and vehicle use were valued at $473,000, but he did not receive an annual bonus or option awards, and his base salary decrease by 30 percent, to $346,154.
Meantime, two former Colt Manufacturing executives are suing the company, saying they were terminated because they refused to modify their severance agreements, The Hartford Courant reports.
Merrick Alpert and Carleton Chen told a Hartford Superior Court judge that they were following directives from their boss, William Keys, in formulating lucrative severance packages meant to deter Colt Defense’s acquisition advances and to keep the management team together to fight the acquisition, the Courant reported.
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