Top 40 promotional products distributor BAMKO (asi/131431) increased annual sales nearly 33% in 2019 to $107.5 million, according to financial information released Thursday by its parent firm, Superior Group of Companies.

Not accounting for how other Top 40 firms performed in 2019, BAMKO’s full-year sales tally would be enough to move the Los Angeles-headquartered company from 21^st to 19^th on Counselor’s most recent list of the North American promotional products industry’s largest distributors. 

Phil Koosed, President, BAMKO

According to the data, BAMKO had an especially strong fourth quarter, having grown sales 54% year-over-year during the final three months of 2019. BAMKO’s performance includes revenue from former Top 40 distributor Tangerine Promotions and Public Identity, both of which Superior acquired through BAMKO in 2017.

“For the 19th consecutive year since our founding, we increased our sales,” BAMKO President Phil Koosed told Counselor, adding that all the growth in 2019 was organic. “We crossed the $100 million mark for the first time, something that only a minuscule percentage of other companies in this industry have ever done. We are investing in people and technology, while challenging this industry’s conventional wisdom, which we feel limits the full potential of branded merchandise. That strategy is clearly working.”

In an earnings report, Superior executives indicated that they expect continued growth for BAMKO and noted that more acquisitions in the promo industry could be forthcoming. 

“We believe that BAMKO has well-developed systems and processes that can serve as a platform for additional acquisitions that we may complete in this highly fragmented market,” Superior said in the report. “We have seen an uptick in customer orders for (the BAMKO) segment in the current year, and we expect to see continuing growth opportunities within the industry next year. Additionally, we believe promotional products are a synergistic fit with our uniform business that allows us opportunities to cross-sell our products to new and existing customers.”

Superior did sound a note of caution, though. Executives said that issues like tariffs on Chinese imports and disruption from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus have the potential to hamper what should otherwise be a time of solid growth. Of course, those are issues that essentially every promo distributor faces.

“If we are unable to continue to obtain our finished products from China or if our suppliers are unable to source raw materials from China, it could significantly disrupt our business,” Superior said in its report. “Further, we are affected by economic, political and other conditions in China or the United States, including those resulting in the imposition or increase of import duties, tariffs and other import regulations and widespread health emergencies, which could have a material adverse effect on the (BAMKO) business segment.”

Counselor had previously reported that BAMKO’s full-year sales for 2018 were $86.5 million based on information supplied by the company. Revised information provided in Superior’s just-released earnings report indicates that 2018 sales were $80.9 million, which accounts for the previously noted 32.9% year-over-year increase in 2019.

Overall, Superior reported that its total company net sales, which include all of its business segments, increased 8.8% to $376.7 million in 2019. Net income for the fiscal year 2019 was $12.1 million, or $0.79 per diluted share, compared to $17 million, or $1.10 per diluted share, in 2018. The company’s earnings report indicates that the net income decline occurred, in part, due to factors like higher costs for goods sold, increased tax expense, higher selling and administrative expenses, steeper pension costs and more.