Battling a sluggish economy, L.L. Bean had a second consecutive year of revenue growth and could have done better with a little help from Old Man Winter, the company said Friday.

Sales for the outdoors retailer grew 5.5 percent over the past year, the company said, even though mild winter weather limited sales of skis, coats and other outdoor gear for which the Freeport-based company is known.

“When you have a winter that was as dramatically unwinterlike as this one, then it does have a definite impact on the business,” L.L. Bean spokeswoman Carolyn Beem said.

Revenues were $1.52 billion for the privately held company’s 2011 fiscal year, which ended last month. The year before, revenue was $1.44 billion.

The company, now in its 100th year, struggled with back-to-back declines in 2008 and 2009 after the recession hit. But it bounced back in 2010, and built on that in 2011.

In 2011, L.L. Bean and other retailers took advantage of pent-up demand in the apparel sector, which staged a comeback as customers who had delayed purchases because of the economy began buying, said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners in New Canaan, Conn.

While L.L. Bean missed its internal sales goal for 2011, the company ended up near its pre-recession sales of $1.6 billion, Beem said. The performance was good enough for a 3 percent employee bonus, which was approved Friday by the company’s board of directors.

L.L. Bean’s health is important to Maine. With 5,000 full- and part-time employees, the company is one of the state’s biggest employers.

Founded by Leon Leonwood Bean in 1912, the company is offering 100th anniversary commemorative products, including a special version of its iconic Maine hunting shoe. Even with those special products and Bean’s free-shipping policy, the company sought to downplay projections for 2012.

In a memo, President and CEO Chris McCormick told workers that progress in 2011 was “modest” and that the company will adopt another conservative budget in the coming year.

“As we head into another year of economic uncertainty, we have adopted a conservative budget, maintaining a tight control on expenses coupled with plans for only modest growth,” he wrote.