The corporate credit rating on SRAM LLC reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' assessment of the company's business risk profile as "weak", and of the company's financial risk profile as "aggressive", according to our criteria. Our assessment of SRAM's business risk profile as weak reflects its position as the distant-second-largest operator in the highly competitive bicycle component market and the generally discretionary nature of its product offering. SRAM's strong EBITDA growth in recent years (the result of its ability to increase market share and its cost-containment efforts) somewhat temper those factors. Our assessment of SRAM's financial risk profile as aggressive reflects its relatively high debt leverage. In the second quarter of 2011, SRAM increased its leverage when it refinanced its
