A Utah company no more: Vista Outdoor quietly pulls out of state

By John Rogers 

In stark contrast to the fanfare with which Vista Outdoors opened its luxurious Farmington headquarters in 2016, the company has quietly idled its Utah corporate workforce of 70 and closed the office. Management operations formerly undertaken in Utah are now split between corporate offices in Anoka, Minnesota, near Minneapolis; and Arlington, Virginia. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}

Vista CEO Chris Metz announced the decision to move its headquarters during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call for stock market analysts in November. Metz included the office move news in a list of cost-cutting measures he said Vista was undertaking. Metz became Vista CEO about a year ago, leaving a similar position at Minneapolis-based Arctic Cat. Anoka is the home to Vista-owned Federal Premium Ammunition.

Industry analysts see the move to shut down the Farmington office as symbolic of the direction Metz is taking Vista following several quarters of tough financial results. “(The Farmington facilities is) much larger than we need (and is) our most expensive piece of corporate real estate and an unnecessary cost to incur during our turnaround,” said Metz.

The move has gone virtually unnoticed locally, with no media coverage. Vista debuted the 33,000-square-foot headquarters in 2016 with great flourish, posting videos on its website and holding a ribbon-cutting attended by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch and the company’s then-CEO, Mark DeYoung.

Vista Outdoor is a three-year-old spinoff of Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) that has other operations, including its rocket motor facility, in Utah. The company operates in two segments, shooting sports and outdoor products, and has a portfolio of well-recognized brands that provides consumers with products for individual outdoor recreational pursuits. Vista Outdoor products are sold through retailers and distributors across North America and worldwide. Vista has manufacturing operations and facilities in 13 states, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, along with international sales and sourcing operations in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe and New Zealand.

Vista located its global headquarters in Farmington following its spinoff from ATK, thanks in part to a tax credit incentive agreement with the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development which called for the creation of 90 new jobs and $125 million in wages over a seven-year period. Vista Outdoor projected a $10 million capital investment in the headquarters facility. 

The design of the spacious Farmington office — located in the upscale Station Park — was intended to illustrate Vista’s slogan of “Bringing the World Outside,” with features such as a main-lobby atrium built from locally sourced wood and stone and a view of the Wasatch Mountains. A fireplace in the back lobby was a communal location for employees to gather and seven outdoor-themed “huddle rooms” provided work collaboration areas. Showers and secured bike storage were part of an initiative to encourage employees to bike to work.

“We feel we picked an epicenter to put our headquarters in, and it supports all of the activities we participate in. Utah is a great place to enjoy all of the activities that our products support,” said former company spokeswoman Amanda Covington in a news release updating progress on construction of the Farmington office.

The Utah headquarters opened during a period when Vista Outdoor purchased a number of businesses that make recreational products in an effort to be a one-stop shop for big-box sporting goods stores. After Metz’s arrival, the company shifted its approach, choosing to focus on ammunition, hunting accessories and a handful of its more recent acquisitions, such as Camelbak and Utah-based Camp Chef.

Vista is currently in the process of selling eyewear brands Bolle, Cebe and Serengeti to an unnamed private equity company and is seeking a buyer for firearms maker Savage. According to industry reports, other subsidiaries that may be divested include paddleboard maker Jimmy Styks as well as Bell, Giro, Blackburn, CoPilot, Krash and Raskulz, companies that make products such as ski helmets and bicycle equipment.

Vista lost $60.2 million in the fiscal year that ended March 31, as the company grappled with dwindling demand for ammunition — a sector of focus for the company after it sold off other product brands. The shooting sports sector boomed under Pres. Barack Obama amid rumors of coming gun controls under the Democrat. But demand fell off dramatically when Donald Trump was elected. That trend has continued with an $85.2 million loss in the first six months of its current fiscal year through Sept. 30. 

In listing Vista’s belt-tightening measures in his address to investors, Metz said, “We made the decision to reduce our corporate footprints and are in the process of finalizing a sublease for our Farmington, Utah, facility. We’ve determined that we can use our other two corporate facilities in an Anoka, Minnesota, and Arlington, Virginia, to house our corporate and shared-services teams. We believe these are important steps to take as we continue our transformation. I’m optimistic about the future of Vista and confident in our ability to succeed. We’re still facing a number of external challenges that will have an impact on our business.”

Metz addressed the future in his earnings call. “The first challenge is the market itself,” he said. “Like the rest of the industry, we do not see a return to growth for the ammunition market in the near term. We had been expecting to see some improvements over the prior year in the back half of this year, but those expectations have not come to fruition quite yet.”{/mprestriction}