Vista Outdoor leaders talk about company’s future

A quarterly earnings report released this week by Vista Outdoor shed no new light on what the ownership of the ammunition and recreation products maker will be in the future.

The financial results come at a time when Vista Outdoor is evaluating a number of options.

Among them are selling its ammunition-making operations called The Kinetic Group to the Czechoslovak Group, or selling the entire company, including Revelyst, its recreation products segment, to the Czechoslovak Group and partners.

Vista Outdoor may also sell the entire company to MNC Capital, a Dallas-based company led by a former Vista Outdoor board member, or separate Revelyst and The Kinetic Group in a spin off.

“We look forward to evaluating all strategic alternatives that would maximize value for stockholders and we remain as focused as ever on delivering high quality, innovative products for our consumers around the world,” said Eric Nyman, Co-CEO of Vista Outdoor and CEO of Revelyst in a conference call Tuesday for stock market analysts after the release of the financial results for the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Vista Outdoor, the parent company of Lewiston’s CCI/Speer, earned $57 million in the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, according to a Monday news release from Vista Outdoor.

The performance was similar to the same time in its 2024 fiscal year when it made $58 million.

Sales in the ammunition-making operations that include CCI/Speer, decreased 1.6% to $370 million compared with the same time last year, “due to lower shipments across nearly all categories, partially offset by increased price,” according to the news release from Vista Outdoor.

The Kinetic Group performed well on a variety of fronts in the first quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, said Jason Vanderbrink, Co-CEO of Vista Outdoor and CEO of the Kinetic Group.

“Our team has stayed focused while facing economic headwinds and inflationary pressures with rising commodity prices and successfully navigating a global powder shortage,” Vanderbrink said.

If the market starts to slow, he said, “we expect to gain market share due to vendor consolidation” while Vista Outdoor’s customers will generally “purchase the brands they trust.”

The company’s “seasonal build program has produced many calibers that the consumer has not been able to purchase in many years, which also brings higher margins with it,” Vanderbrink said.

One important indicator of demand for ammunition is the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which had more than one million background checks for the 59th straight month in June, Vanderbrink said.

“This continued high monthly volume supports a healthy and higher baseline of shooting and hunting participants,” he said.

The system is used for background checks on firearms buyers.

In Vista’s first quarter of fiscal year 2025, sales declined by 13.6% to $274 million in Revelyst, compared with the same time last year, according to the news release.

Revelyst includes brands such as Camp Chef, CamelBak and Bell helmets.

Those numbers were driven by factors such as pre-order delivery timing delays and an unfavorable product mix toward lower price point channels, according to the news release.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.