Colt 1911 Co2 Anniversary (Cybergun)

Jérôme Marsac and Vincent Bouvet developed their model-making activity on the French market before launching the AIR SOFT GUNS® in 1993. Replicas of dummy pistols projecting 6mm plastic balls, these harmless products are reserved for an adult public. Reproducing the real ones so faithfully, the idea then came to the two entrepreneurs to obtain licenses from the big names in defense. Smith & Wesson® signed the first contract in 1997, followed by COLT®, SIG SAUER®, DESERT EAGLE™ and many others, to constitute today a portfolio of more than 20 exclusive worldwide licenses, ensuring the company a position of a world leader. Also a designer, the group filed an unprecedented patent in 1998: clear guns (transparent replicas).

Listed on the stock exchange since December 9, 1999 and renamed for the occasion CYBERGUN, the group (formerly LES 3 PYLONES) floods the American market, which at the end of the 2002 financial year (closed on March 31, 2003) represents 24.1% of total turnover. At the same time, the company conquered new markets in Eastern Europe, signed licensing contracts with Japan and invested massively in R&D, with the filing, in 2003, of 2 revolutionary patents: BAX and CYCLONE.

The 2004 financial year will see the expansion of the American market with the opening of SOFTAIR DEPOT® stores and the takeover of the San Francisco wholesaler, SOFTAIR USA, which becomes a 100% subsidiary of CYBERGUN, today chaired by John Steele, former S&W hired in September 2003.

In 2005 and 2006 the group continued to grow, asserting its position as a market maker, defender of intellectual property and innovator (100% “organic” ball). Its sales thus amounted, as of March 31, 2007, to EUR 36.3 million, of which 79% in the USA, with more than 7,000 points of sale in this territory.

In 2007, after strong investments in people and marketing, CYBERGUN continued its growth with the acquisition in January 2007 of PALCO Marketing, a wholesaler based in Minneapolis which delivers to 1,300 retailers in the USA and Canada, now chaired by Mark Skrocki, former paintball (JT SPORTS), and by that on April 1, 2008 of TECH GROUP, specialized in paintball for children and present on 5 continents.

In 2008, despite the global crisis, the group maintained its sustained and regular growth, closing on March 31, 2009 with a turnover of 42.7 MEUR, of which 64% in the USA. CYBERGUN is pursuing its external growth policy with the acquisition, announced on March 16, 2009, of the Danish company X GUNS, which will be integrated from April 1 and strengthen its Management Committee. Olivier Gualdoni, with the group for 12 years, becomes Chief Executive Officer and Ghislain d'Argenlieu, formerly of Rémy Cointreau, is hired as International Chief Financial Officer.

The 2009 financial year (ended March 31, 2010) confirms the trend of strong growth in activity, close to 20% per year since the IPO. The turnover exceeds for the first time the 50M €.

2010 promises to be another year of organic growth supplemented by strategic acquisitions. In January, CYBERGUN signs a long-term strategic partnership agreement with the company JT SPORTS, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, a recognized player in the paintball market for more than 20 years. In May, the group acquired the Taiwanese company INOKATSU, a leader in the manufacture of very high-end Airsoft products. Other operations will follow in the coming weeks…

A new shareholder takes control of the group: the RESTARTED INVESTMENT fund chaired by Hugo BRUGIERE alongside Claude SOLARZ (Vice-Chairman of the Paprec group).

Creation of the Military and Force Training Division, Spartan Military and Law Enforcement (M&LE), dedicated to the sale of a professional range of replica weapons in the various army corps in France and the foreign.

CYBERGUN and the Austrian arms manufacturer GLOCK win the tender for the replacement of all handguns in the French Army.

CYBERGUN integrates the VALANTUR company (and its production lines) to develop the new military subsidiary, ARKANIA based on training, defense and industry.

CYBERGUN integrates the company VERNEY-CARRON, the first and last manufacturer of French hunting weapons and safeguards 200 years of heritage as well as exceptional know-how.