Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Announces Management Appointments, Hunting Long Gun Production Cuts

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- SWHC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 156-year old company in the global business of safety, security, protection and sport, today announced that it has implemented management changes to streamline its organization and to provide enhanced sales and marketing focus. The Company also announced that it has eliminated approximately 80 hunting-related rifle production jobs at its Rochester, New Hampshire facility.

Michael F. Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "As we have discussed over the past several months, economic conditions and their impact on consumer discretionary spending have negatively impacted the hunting-related long gun portion of our business. As is the case in any manufacturing organization, reduced volumes create added pressure on our infrastructure, which has been built to service higher levels of operation. Until the market for these products strengthens, we remain focused on making sure that our factories operate efficiently. We have made the difficult decision to eliminate 80 production jobs in our New Hampshire manufacturing operations, a facility dedicated to the production of hunting rifles. At the same time, we have also acted to ensure that the sales and marketing functions throughout our company become increasingly streamlined, maximizing our responsiveness to the market conditions in which we operate. We are executing these changes in a manner that assures that we can continue to be responsive to the needs of our customers."

As part of the revised management structure, Leland A. Nichols has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Nichols, (46), joined Smith & Wesson in January 2005 and has served in a number of executive roles, including Vice President of Sales, and most recently President and Chief Operating Officer, for the firearms business. This change will allow Nichols to focus exclusively on the company's sales and marketing activities. He will continue to report directly to CEO, Michael Golden. Also now reporting to Golden will be Kenneth Chandler, Vice President of Manufacturing Operations.

Thomas R. Kelly has been named Vice President of Marketing. Kelly recently joined Smith & Wesson as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Thomson/Center Arms. In his new role, Kelly's responsibilities will expand to include all of the Company's brands. He has amassed 19 years of experience in general management, sales, marketing and business development. Prior to Smith & Wesson, he served as Vice President, Channel Marketing for Newell Rubbermaid - LENOX Division. Kelly also served as Director of Marketing, Industrial Channel at Newell Rubbermaid. He received a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing from the American International College in Springfield, MA and a master's degree in Business Administration from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Hartford, CT. Kelly will report directly to Leland Nichols. In conjunction with these changes, Thomas Taylor, former Vice President of Marketing, has left the company to pursue other interests.

Golden concluded, "The management changes we are announcing today will sharpen our focus on the market and further streamline our decision-making processes. This new structure best utilizes the skills of those executives most suited to our sales and marketing functions, and provides us with the best opportunity to maximize our market potential. In conclusion, we remain committed to, and we are excited about, the future of our business. We are confident that these changes in structure and personnel will help us to further enhance the organizational strength that has allowed us to deliver substantial growth over the past several years."

About Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation, a global leader in safety, security, protection and sport, is parent company to Smith & Wesson Corp., one of the world's largest manufacturers of quality firearms and firearm safety/security products and parent company to Thompson/Center Arms Company, Inc., a premier designer and manufacturer of premium hunting rifles, black powder rifles, interchangeable firearms systems and accessories under the Thompson/Center brand. Smith & Wesson licenses shooter protection, knives, apparel, and other accessory lines. Smith & Wesson is based in Springfield, Massachusetts with manufacturing facilities in Springfield, Houlton, Maine, and Rochester, New Hampshire. The Smith & Wesson Academy is America's longest running firearms training facility for law enforcement, military and security professionals. For more information on Smith & Wesson, call (800) 331-0852 or log on to http://www.smith-wesson.com. For more information on Thompson/Center Arms, log on to http://www.tcarms.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws, and the Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created thereby. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding streamlining, enhancing and strengthening the Company's organizational structure and decision-making processes; sharpening and enhancing the Company's focus on sales and marketing activities; a strengthening market for the Company's products; the efficient operation of the Company's factories; maximizing the Company's responsiveness; and responding to the needs of the Company's customers. The Company cautions that these statements are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the improvement in economic conditions; improvement in industry conditions; demand for the Company's products, the Company's growth opportunities; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including its Form 10-K Report for the fiscal year ended April 30, 2008.

Contacts: William F. Spengler, Chief Financial Officer Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (413) 747-3341 Liz Sharp, VP Investor Relations Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. (480) 949-9700 x. 115 lsharp@smith-wesson.com

SOURCE Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation

http://www.smith-wesson.com

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