GTN issue 86

IT’S BERETTA THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

Editor Steve Faragher catches up with GMK chief Karl Waktare and finds out how the year has been for the UK’s leading distributor

AS you enter the welcoming reception of GMK’s head offices in Fareham, you see that there are a couple of chairs and a coffee table provided for your comfort. On the table is a slightly tatty copy of the Parliamentary Review from 2020. Casually flicking through it, waiting for your meeting, you realise how much has changed in such a short space of time.

The magazine has a foreword by a bright young star of the Tory Party called Liz Truss. There’s an interview with the speaker, John Bercow, and there’s a confident editorial telling us that a corner has definitely been turned, and that the days of political chaos and churn are firmly behind us. Additionally, and in rather stark contrast, there’s a feature written by the man I’ve come to meet, Karl Waktare, introducing GMK to the body politic.

And you’re struck by how little he would have to change it if he rewrote it for 2023. While politics may have thrown up more surprises than a stuck-on -repeat jack-in-the-box, GMK is the ultra-solid cornerstone of the gun industry in the UK. Backed by Beretta’s unbelievable 497 years of experience in the trade, GMK has a deserved and enviable reputation for being the stand-up guys of the gun trade.

Established in 1971, GMK is the leading UK importer and distributor of shotguns, rifles, ammunition and accessories for sports shooting, as well as supplying firearms, ammunition and accessories to UK law enforcement and the Ministry of Defence. Their brands include Beretta, Benelli, Franchi, and Chapuis shotguns, Sako and Tikka rifles, Stoeger air arms, Burris and Steiner optics, and now rounding off the offering, Federal, CCI and Sako ammo.

Put simply, if you have an account with GMK, you can pretty much fill a high-street sporting store with no other input. They’re a one-stop distributor.

Balance sheet

So how’s their year been? Karl, a trim, well-dressed man in his early fifties, pulls up the figures on his desktop PC. Daily reporting on all accounts means he can answer that question pretty succinctly. “It’s been good,” he says. “Most of the year we’ve been running at around 10% up on the previous year, and now we’re running at about 5% up.”

He goes on to clarify that he hopes that figure will improve again as they’ve just received a large Beretta shipment, and we’re meeting just a few days before Christmas.

“But the truth is that this year we’ve had sales for the end of last—sales that really belonged in 2021— that have been pushed into this year where supply has gradually improved. So as much as it seems a very positive picture, and the first half of the year was very strong, the second half has been much less buoyant. Plus I do think the market has been quieter this autumn.

“In general that’s down to the triple effect of bird flu, steel and licensing—and licensing more than anything. The best person coming into the trade is a new shooter. They need all the kit.

“Steel is as much of an opportunity for the industry as it is an issue, and I think it is coming. Personally I’m not convinced of the harmful effects of lead, but that doesn’t really matter, does it? No industry stands still. We might think we’re being victimised, but you look at the car industry, or football with its heading injuries. We’re only aware of the steel debate because it’s in our industry, but life is becoming more regulated in every sort of way.”

On target

So those are the issues facing us. But where, I wondered, were the growth sectors? Karl leaned forward in his seat.

“What’s really been strong this year has been rifles. Rifles have been strong again, following a good year in 2021. And that’s been across the board, But you know, Tikka has benefited from good supply. I don’t really know if our competitors have been starved of supply. Certainly, I think anything from America has probably been hard to get. So whether we’re seeing a benefit from that I can’t really say.

“All I can say is that Tikka rifles are a great product in this country. Of course, they’re not for every store—quite a few only have a token presence.

Why? Because you’ve got to have the optics, you’ve got to have the moderators, you’ve got to have the ammunition, and you’ve often got to add reloading. You’ve got to have the whole thing. It’s not something you dabble in really. That said, the big shops will have a presence and they will buy in, so stock holding is really important as well.”

What else has been doing well, I asked?

“The clay season has been strong for us, we’ve sold a lot of 694s and DT11s. The Silver Pigeon V has gone down well too. And premium shotguns have been quite healthy as well, although we have had indifferent supply. But I think it’s perhaps the only recession-proof sector of our industry—that top end. I think those guys are always going to have the money. When I say premium, I’m talking £10,000 and up, but you know, even your sub £10,000 people aren’t moving up quite as readily into those categories. That relies on confidence.

“I’m talking about the guy who has a £4,000 gun and is thinking of moving up to £7,000—his dream gun. I don’t think all those customers are wealthy guys. I think some of them are relatively ordinary Joes—you know, self-employed guys whose business is good. And when they’re not facing other bills, they might stretch on out to the gun of their dreams sort of thing. And that will be it.”

Best guns

Talking of premium shotguns, I wondered how Holland & Holland were getting on under their new management.

“I’m not really the person to talk to about Hollands, but it’s been a lot of work behind the scenes to modernise the factory and to invest in the catering facilities—the ground facilities—particularly with relation to food, because there’s a new dining room now under the main events room that has been completely redone.

“So it’s a period of evolution really. It’s a challenging part of the business. Best gunmaking is very reliant on labour and it’s very difficult to immediately streamline or remove that human element. But as I have said, there is always going to be a market for best guns.”

Okay, so time for one last line of enquiry. How go things with Beretta International? It’s been quite a year.

“The group has had a fantastic year. The US is by far the biggest market for Beretta, Benelli, Sako and Tikka. And following on from the purchase of Ammotec earlier in the year it has been decided to build a new ammo manufacturing facility in the US.

“The Ammotec purchase has had them flat out with the integration. There were many subsidiaries in many countries that all needed to be integrated, so that gave them lots of legal hurdles to work through—not to mention the three or four plants spread across Europe.

“But the US is the biggest ammunition market in the world, and my guess is that, in the end, transport in ammunition is very expensive and very cumbersome. So probably exporting to the US is not going to be viable in a competitive market. So manufacturing there, that makes perfect sense.” GTN GTN