ANOKA, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vista Outdoor Inc. (NYSE: VSTO), the parent company of 41 renowned brands that design, manufacture and market sporting and outdoor lifestyle products to consumers around the globe, today announced its new name and identity that will be effective following the planned spinoff of Vista Outdoor’s Outdoor Products business.
Post-spin, Vista Outdoor will be rebranded as The Kinetic Group, a name that surfaced among employees during the naming process and represents the energy behind the company and its leading ammunition brands. The Kinetic Group will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker “HUNT,” and the brand will feature original logo artwork of a North American ram. Sporting Products leaders unveiled The Kinetic Group’s branding to employees during an employee town hall on Aug. 10 at the CCI-Speer ammunition factory in Lewiston, Idaho.
“The performance of our products is so often measured in energy on target. Kinetic energy is the force behind our world-class brands and exhibits the spirit of the 4,500 American workers who represent our company,” said Jason Vanderbrink, Sporting Products President and CEO. “The process of developing a new company name and identity has been exciting and inspiring. We’re all proud of the brands we represent and the products we make in our four American factories. Harnessing the enthusiasm of our employees throughout this process was pivotal to coming up with the best name and logo as we move closer to becoming a standalone company.”
After careful review of hundreds of name options and logo iterations, Vista Outdoor is now one step closer to completing the strategic separation of its Sporting Products and Outdoor Products segments.
“The Kinetic Group will be our name moving forward after the separation and be used for corporate identity to bring employees and stakeholders together with a common purpose and strategic approach,” Vanderbrink said. “To hunters and shooters, their favorite brand of ammunition will take center stage as it always has — they’ll look for CCI, Federal, HEVI-Shot, Remington and Speer on the shelf, at events and online.”
To watch the launch video, visit www.thekineticgroup.com.
The rebranding of Sporting Products is one of several milestones for Vista Outdoor as the company plans to separate its Sporting Products and Outdoor Products segments. In the Sporting Products segment, Vanderbrink was named CEO of the segment in April to go along with his title of President. In July, he was appointed to the Vista Outdoor board of directors, and he will be a director on The Kinetic Group’s board of directors post-spin. Joining Vanderbrink on The Kinetic Group’s leadership team are Andy Keegan (CFO) and Jeff Ehrich (General Counsel and Corporate Secretary).
In the Outdoor Products segment, Eric Nyman will begin as CEO of the segment on Aug. 21, and he will be CEO of the new Outdoor Products company post-spin. The new Outdoor Products company will be led by Nyman and a dedicated management team that he will hire. Vista Outdoor will announce the name of the new Outdoor Products company in the coming weeks, followed by the unveiling of the company’s branding at Investor Day in October in New York City.
Gary McArthur will continue as interim CEO of Vista Outdoor until the completion of the spinoff. McArthur will focus on completing the separation of Vista Outdoor’s Sporting Products and Outdoor Products segments in calendar year 2023, in addition to overseeing Vista Outdoor’s corporate, administrative and financial reporting functions, risk management, stockholder engagement, and ensuring strategy cohesion and coordination across both segments. McArthur will continue serving on the board of directors of Vista Outdoor until the separation and will become the chair of the Outdoor Products company’s board of directors post-spin.
“Sporting Products’ selection of The Kinetic Group as its new name has given Vista Outdoor a surge of energy as we prepare to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies,” McArthur said. “The dedicated, talented and hard-working employees of our Sporting Products segment have delivered a brand name and identity that will be the envy of the industry — much like the products they make at our factories around the United States.”
Separation Update
On May 5, 2022, Vista Outdoor announced that the company plans to separate its Outdoor Products and Sporting Products segments into two independent, publicly traded companies. The company expects to create these companies through a tax-free spin-off of its Outdoor Products segment to Vista Outdoor shareholders.
The company is on track to execute the separation in calendar 2023. The Form 10 has been confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
About Vista Outdoor Inc.
Vista Outdoor (NYSE: VSTO) is the parent company of more than three dozen renowned brands that design, manufacture and market sporting and outdoor products. Brands include Bushnell, CamelBak, Bushnell Golf, Foresight Sports, Fox Racing, Bell Helmets, Camp Chef, Giro, Simms Fishing, QuietKat, Stone Glacier, Federal Ammunition, Remington Ammunition and more. Our reporting segments, Outdoor Products and Sporting Products, provide consumers with a wide range of performance-driven, high-quality and innovative outdoor and sporting products. As Vista Outdoor announced in 2022, the company is separating its Outdoor Products and Sporting Products segments into two independent, publicly traded companies. For news and information, visit our website at www.vistaoutdoor.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements made and information contained in this Press Release, excluding historical information, are “forward-looking statements,” including those that discuss, among other things: our plans, objectives, expectations, intentions, strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; projections with respect to future revenues, income, earnings per share or other financial measures for Vista Outdoor; and the assumptions that underlie these matters. The words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “aim,” “should” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. To the extent that any such information is forward-looking, it is intended to fit within the safe harbor for forward-looking information provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations described in such forward-looking statements, including the following: risks related to the separation of our Outdoor Products and Sporting Products segments, including that the process of exploring the transaction and potentially completing the transaction could disrupt or adversely affect the consolidated or separate businesses, results of operations and financial condition, that the transaction may not achieve some or all of any anticipated benefits with respect to either business and that the transaction may not be completed in accordance with our expected plans or anticipated timelines, or at all; impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic on Vista Outdoor’s operations, the operations of our customers and suppliers and general economic conditions; supplier capacity constraints, production or shipping disruptions or quality or price issues affecting our operating costs; the supply, availability and costs of raw materials and components; increases in commodity, energy, and production costs; seasonality and weather conditions; our ability to complete acquisitions, realize expected benefits from acquisitions and integrate acquired businesses; reductions in or unexpected changes in or our inability to accurately forecast demand for ammunition, accessories, or other outdoor sports and recreation products; disruption in the service or significant increase in the cost of our primary delivery and shipping services for our products and components or a significant disruption at shipping ports; risks associated with diversification into new international and commercial markets, including regulatory compliance; our ability to take advantage of growth opportunities in international and commercial markets; our ability to obtain and maintain licenses to third-party technology; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; disruptions caused by catastrophic events; risks associated with our sales to significant retail customers, including unexpected cancellations, delays, and other changes to purchase orders; our competitive environment; our ability to adapt our products to changes in technology, the marketplace and customer preferences, including our ability to respond to shifting preferences of the end consumer from brick and mortar retail to online retail; our ability to maintain and enhance brand recognition and reputation; others’ use of social media to disseminate negative commentary about us, our products, and boycotts; the outcome of contingencies, including with respect to litigation and other proceedings relating to intellectual property, product liability, warranty liability, personal injury, and environmental remediation; our ability to comply with extensive federal, state and international laws, rules and regulations; changes in laws, rules and regulations relating to our business, such as federal and state ammunition regulations; risks associated with cybersecurity and other industrial and physical security threats; interest rate risk; changes in the current tariff structures; changes in tax rules or pronouncements; capital market volatility and the availability of financing; foreign currency exchange rates and fluctuations in those rates; general economic and business conditions in the United States and our markets outside the United States, including as a result of the war in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia, the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions affecting employment levels, consumer confidence and spending, conditions in the retail environment, and other economic conditions affecting demand for our products and the financial health of our customers. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements we make. A more detailed description of risk factors that may affect our operating results can be found in Part 1, Item 1A, Risk Factors, of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2022 and in the filings we make with Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) from time to time. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law.
