• The Economist, Friday, November 17, 2006 11:15 AM

Just as its most famous customer--James Bond--has done in the new "Casino Royale" movie, Italian gun manufacturer Beretta has reinvented itself. Beretta, which has been making firearms since 1526, is best known for its handguns, but it has started to reshape itself from a gun maker into a luxury outdoor brand.

The transformation began with the purchase in 1995 of Franchi, a gun maker that had run into difficulties. Beretta also took full control of Benelli, a high-end shotgun-maker. A series of other acquisitions in Finland, Turkey and China expanded its range of rifles and shotguns. Meanwhile, Beretta diversified, buying Burris, a maker of sports binoculars and precision scopes based in Colorado. It also began selling its own clothing and accessories in the 1990s, and these accounted for ¬25m ($31m) of the group's ¬400m sales last year.

Beretta opened a store on Madison Avenue in New York in 1995 and another in London last year. Next on the list are Florida, Chicago and Moscow.

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