Vista Outdoor announced that they’ll report Q4 and fiscal 2023 earnings after market close on May 3rd, with a conference call the next morning. It’s been a tumultuous quarter for Camp Chef’s parent company with leadership changes and layoffs.
Executive Changes
Right when Vista Outdoor was going to report earnings last quarter their CEO was ousted, and Board member Gary McArthur took over. A “loss of confidence” was cited as the reason for the change.
Later that month, their General Counsel also separated from the company. It’s an unusual turn of events, given that Vista Outdoor plans to split into two companies.
Layoffs
At the beginning of this month, Vista Outdoor announced they were consolidating their bike brands.
On April 3, 2023, the Company announced an over $50 million cost reduction and earnings improvement program, which includes office closures, spending cuts, EBIT improvements and headcount reductions across our brands and corporate teams. The changes are being implemented in response to
Vista Outdoor – March 31st SEC Filing
elevated retail inventory levels, rising interest rates and inflation, which have pressured our top and bottom lines and impacted our outlook for Fiscal Year 2024. The changes will help the Company compete in the current challenging economic environment and prepare for the separation of its Outdoor Products and Sporting Products segments into two independent, publicly traded companies, which is expected to occur in calendar year 2023 (“Separation”).
There was no mention in the filing of any impact to their Camp Chef brand. It does set a backdrop though of financial issues heading into the upcoming earnings release.
Separation Update
Despite all of the challenges that Vista Outdoor is having, they still plan to separate into two entities. They noted in their earnings release announcement that they are on track to execute the separation in 2023, with the Form 10 being filed confidentially with the SEC.