Wilderness Experience Posts Loss

Emerging from a proxy fight that it says disrupted operations, Chatsworth-based Wilderness Experience reported a loss of $266,000 on sales of $1.67 million for the third quarter ended July 31.

During the same period a year earlier, the company, which makes outdoors gear, reported earnings of $9,300 on sales of $1.64 million.

Company Chairman Greg Thomsen said slowed sales caused by the distractions of the proxy fight forced the sale of inventory at substantially reduced margins. The proxy fight was resolved Sept. 10 when the two sides agreed to share power on the Wilderness Experience board.

The company said it laid off 30 of its 122 Chatsworth workers earlier this summer and made other unspecified cuts to save money, but that the full benefit of the cuts will not be felt until the fourth quarter.

For the first nine months of its fiscal year, Wilderness Experience lost $551,000 on sales of $4.7 million. It reported profits of $55,600 on sales of $4.4 million for the same period a year ago.