Vista Outdoor

Vista Outdoor Inc.

Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: VSTO
Industry	shooting sports and outdoor products
Founded	2015, spun off from Alliant Techsystems
Headquarters	Utah, United States
Key people	Mark DeYoung, Chairman and CEO
Products	firearms, ammunition, and outdoor accessories
Number of employees	5,800
Website	www.vistaoutdoor.com

Vista Outdoor Inc., is a publicly traded "designer, manufacturer, and marketer" of outdoor sports and recreation products. The company operates in two segments, Shooting Sports and Outdoor Products. It is a "house of brands" with more than 30 well-recognized labels and subsidiaries that produce a wide range of ammunition, firearms, and outdoor accessories. The company trades under "VSTO" on the New York Stock Exchange. ^[1][2][3][4]

History

Alliant Techsystems (ATK), entered the ammunition and outdoor products business in 2001. ATK achieved growth through acquisitions and a surge in demand for ammunition for police, hunting, and other private uses.^[5]

When asked about the spinoff of Vista Outdoor, Mark DeYoung said, "I can trace the origin of this company all the way back to 2000, when ATK won the military contract to produce small-arms ammunition. With that contract came the operation of the Lake City [Missouri] Arms Ammunition plant, and ATK’s 2001 acquisition of Blount [the parent company of Federal, CCI, Speer, etc.]. From there, I recognized that if we could build a business around shoulder-fired ammunition for the military, we could do the same thing for the consumer market, and we put a lot of energy into rebranding Federal, changing our marketing and strategy, reducing costs and increasing profits, and acquiring other brands that fit our portfolio. I don’t think anyone predicted the rate of growth that we achieved."^[6]

In December of 2014, regulators were informed that Vista Outdoor had signed an agreement for a $350 million secured loan with a term of five years and a $400 million revolving line of credit. Proceeds were partially used to pay down debt.^[5] ATK and Orbital filed a joint proxy statement and prospectus describing the share issuance with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17th, 2014. The same month, the Department of Justice granted approval to the merger and spinoff.^[7][2]

On January 27th, 2015, ATK's shareholders approved the issuance of ATK common stock to Orbital Sciences Corporation in order to consummate their merger. About 97 percent of the votes cast, representing 77 percent of the total outstanding shares of ATK common stock as of December 16th, 2014, voted in favor of issuing the shares. Orbital shareholders held a similar vote the same day and also approved the merger. ^[8]

ATK spun-off Vista Outdoor upon closing its merger with Orbital Sciences and became Orbital ATK on February 9th, 2015. Anyone holding ATK common stock at the end of the business day on February 2nd, 2015 received two shares of Vista Outdoor common stock. Eligible shareholders had their brokerage account credited or received a book-entry account statement reflecting their ownership. Vista Outdoor was thus initially 100% owned by ATK shareholders. Vista Outdoor stock traded on a "when-issued" basis from January 29th, 2015 to February 9th, 2015 and began "regular way" trading on the New York Stock Exchange on February 10th, 2015 under the ticker symbol "VSTO." No payment or action of any kind was required of shareholders. This transaction was conducted on a tax-free basis. U.S. shareholders generally did not have to recognize a gain or loss for federal tax purposes.^{[8][9][10][11][1][12]}

On February 25th, 2015, Vista Outdoor announced that its board had approved a $200 million stock repurchase program to be conducted under SEC rule 10b5-1. The timing, number, and value of share repurchases will be determined by Vista Outdoor's management according to the company's financial health, other available investment opportunities, and legal considerations. This program will expire after two years.^[13]

In an interview with Outdoor Life, Mark DeYoung stated, "It’s impossible to talk about the merger and the spin-off separately. They’re entirely related, and they’re both a product of remarkable growth in the outdoor recreation space. Our shooting sports component along had grown to the size that it was making up about 50 percent of ATK’s entire business. I proposed to our board that in order to rationalize our portfolio, we should put the recreation businesses in a category where they belong, with their own strategies, marketing campaigns, and focused on their customers, while we strengthened the A&D [aerospace and defense] business with a merger that gives it more focus and depth."^[6]

Vista Outdoor was the top seller of ammunition in the United States from 2008 to 2013. As of March 2015, it controlled about 40% of the ammunition market.^[14]

In April of 2015, Vista Outdoor released the first issue of Shoot 101, a magazine aimed at consumers new to shooting sports. While offering relevant instruction to shooting novices, the magazine simultaneously promotes products from Vista Outdoor's wide range of brands. The magazine is a collaboration with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, a sports and media empire that controls The Sportsman Channel, The Outdoor Channel, and the Denver Nuggets.^[15]

Brands and subsidiaries

Vista Outdoor's brands and subsidiaries include those listed in detail below as well as: Alliant Powder, Cébé, Champion Targets, BLACKHAWK!, Bollé, Final Approach, Gold Tip Arrows, Hoppe's, Outers, Primos, RCBS, Serengeti, Speer, Uncle Mike's, and Weaver Optics. Most of Vista's brand's are associated with shooting and hunting but the company also makes gear for camping, hiking, skiing, and biking such as flashlights, headlamps, lanterns, helmets, goggles, GPS locators, etc.^[2][3][4]

Bushnell

Bushnell scopes on display at a hunting exhibition

Bushnell specializes in optics and imaging. Its products include binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, night vision equipment, GPS devices, laser rangefinders, riflescopes, holographic weapon sights, game cameras, and other high-end optical equipment. It also sells Bollé Performance Eyewear ski goggles and sunglasses and Serengeti Eyewear all-purpose sunglasses. Bushnell was founded in 1948 by David P. Bushnell during his service in the Allied-occupied Japan. In 1999, Bushnell was acquired by private equity firm Wind Point Partners. In 2007, Bushnell was acquired by MidOcean Partners, another private equity firm, which acquired it in a leveraged buyout. In 2008, Bushnell acquired the assets of Simmons Outdoor Corporation from Meade Instruments. ATK announced its acquisition of Bushnell on September 5th, 2013 for $985 million in cash, subject to post-closing adjustments.^[16][17][3]

CCI

Cascade Cartridge Inc., usually called CCI Ammunition, is based in Lewiston, Idaho. In its infancy, CCI made centerfire primers for government use. As of March 2015, it mainly manufactures rimfire ammunition but also makes centerfire handgun ammunition, primers for reloading and industrial purposes, and shotgun shells. CCI was founded in 1951 by Dick Speer, brother of Speer Bullets founder Vernon Speer. CCI was previously known as the Speer Ammunition Company.^[18][19]

Federal Premium

Hydra-Shok 9mm ammunition

Federal Cartridge, usually styled Federal Premium, is located in Anoka, Minnesota. Federal Premium manufactures finished shotshell, centerfire, and rimfire ammunition, as well as powder, primer, and shell casings.^[20] Federal Premium's UltraMatch Rimfire ammunition helped American shooters win gold, silver, and bronze medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics Games. Later in 1996, Federal was named "Ammunition of the Year" by the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence.^[21]

Savage Arms

A 1904 advertisement for Savage Arms

The Savage Arms Company is based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with a division in Canada. The company makes a variety of rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as marketing the Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. Savage is best known for the Model 99 hammerless lever-action rifle, no longer in production, and the very popular .300 Savage cartridge.^[3]

Savage Arms is well known for quality and innovation, especially in long guns. In 2003, Savage Arms introduced AccuTrigger, an adjustable trigger design that protects against accidental discharge. Many of Savage Arms' competitors soon followed suit with similar designs. As of March 2015, Savage Arms' sales outgrew the overall firearms market for two years straight. In the 2013 calendar year, sales grew 44% year-on-year, compared with a 39% incease in the overall market during the same period. In 2014, the overall market shrunk by 3% while Savage Arms expanded its sales by 1%.^[14]

Leadership

Mark W. DeYoung

Mark W. DeYoung is Vista Outdoor's chairman and CEO. Before heading Vista Outdoor, DeYoung was President and CEO of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) from 2010 to 2015. Under his leadership, ATK completed acquisitions of Savage Arms and Bushnell Corp. In 2015, DeYoung led the transaction that spun-off ATK's sporting goods business to create Vista Outdoor and merged ATK's aerospace and defense businesses with Orbital Sciences forming Orbital ATK. DeYoung previously headed ATK's Armament Systems group, the company's largest business. Under DeYoung this unit expanded into new markets and increased its revenue from $600 million in fiscal year 2003 to $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2010.^{[16][3][22][23]}

DeYoung started his career with Hercules Aerospace in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1985. He held numerous management positions at Hercules in the its solid rocket motor and composite structures businesses. After Hercules was acquired by ATK in 1995, DeYoung continued to advance and held roles in finance, operations, composite structures, human resources, and munitions. DeYoung earned an undergraduate degree in business at Weber State University, in Ogden, Utah. He holds an MBD from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah where he taught management and finance and was named "Adjunct Professor of the Year." DeYoung is also a member of Orbital ATK's board of directors.^[23][24]

In September of 2014, DeYoung was elected chairman of the board for the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation (CSF). DeYoung assumed his duties as chairman in January 2015. He was previously the CSF's vice chairman. ^[25][26]

Operations

Vista Outdoor decided to station its headquarters in Utah after the company applied for and received targeted tax credits from the Utah state government. The company thus capitalized on Utah's stated goal of recruiting global-brand businesses from six strategic economic clusters: outdoor products, life sciences, aerospace/defense, financial services, energy and software/information technology. In its application, Vista Outdoor said it would invest about $10 million in a new facility where about 90 highly-paid employees would work. When medical benefits are included in the equation, these employees will be paid about $125 million over a seven-year period. Utah economic development officials expect about $6.7 million in new tax revenue from the project over this period. ^[27]

Although corporate headquarters is stationed in Utah, the leadership teams for individual brands will remain in the locations where products are designed and developed. ^{[28] [29][2]} Vista Outdoor has about 5,800 employees worldwide, with 4,000 in the United States. The company has manufacturing and support facilities spread over 11 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. It has sales and sourcing operations in Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.^[29][1] For example, 1,200 of Vista Outdoor's employees staff an ammunition factory in Lewiston, Idaho.^[30]

References

External links

• Official website