Bummer news from Bell

kpiper
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4/9/2023 8:38am
cz2crf2wc wrote:
 Vista Outdoor’s sales decreased by $40 million, gross profit declined 15%, gross profit margin decreased significantly, operating expenses rose 16%, earnings before interest...

 Vista Outdoor’s sales decreased by $40 million, gross profit declined 15%, gross profit margin decreased significantly, operating expenses rose 16%, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were down 39%, and Fully Diluted Earnings per Share (EPS) dropped 44%.

This explains a lot.

Digging into the actual numbers before commenting. What a novel concept! Good for you. You should be the Vital editor for a day as a prize.

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Kawboy14!
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4/9/2023 3:24pm
aeffertz wrote:
Monkey see, monkey do.    Let’s fire a large chunk of our employees and force the remaining employees to work harder for the same pay! Share...

Monkey see, monkey do. 
 

Let’s fire a large chunk of our employees and force the remaining employees to work harder for the same pay! Share holders love this one simple trick!

Are you even self employed?

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crowe660
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4/9/2023 5:16pm
Cobbler wrote:

300 dollar gearsets, 700 dollar boots, 900 dollar helmets.. I cant believe things are slowing down!

Boom

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TeamGreen
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4/9/2023 6:04pm

So, Fox and Bell are “The Devil”, now?

Laughing (that LOL smiley face represents Pete Fox) 

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The Shop

4/9/2023 7:54pm

A lot of businesses have taken significant raw material cost increases and at the same time have not been able to raise prices accordingly while maintaining sales.  In some cases they can raise prices, but sales drop as a result which results in flat to lower sales and profit.  Its mainly due to inflation driving costs up where businesses struggle to pass the price increases along and maintain previous sales levels.  The short term knee jerk correction is to layoff workers as it is a direct reduction in the bottom line.  So yes, this is driven by inflation which was driven by everyone in the world printing money while staying locked down (which has now been proven to be the wrong decision).  Basic economics....and elections have consequences.

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Hasletjoe
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4/9/2023 8:12pm

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

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Radical
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4/9/2023 8:34pm

Probably wasn’t too smart to print hundreds of billions of dollars in the past few years…

It's actually thousands of billions... Grrrrrr

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HD1200
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4/9/2023 8:42pm
aeffertz wrote:
Monkey see, monkey do.    Let’s fire a large chunk of our employees and force the remaining employees to work harder for the same pay! Share...

Monkey see, monkey do. 
 

Let’s fire a large chunk of our employees and force the remaining employees to work harder for the same pay! Share holders love this one simple trick!

Not the way it works lol

 

Falcon wrote:

That's completely, exactly, precisely the way it works a large percentage of the time.

I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half the workers to do the job. The rate of pay didn't go up because you work hard, you're suppose to work hard.
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8tensolutions
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4/9/2023 10:37pm Edited Date/Time 4/9/2023 10:39pm

Not the way it works lol

 

Falcon wrote:

That's completely, exactly, precisely the way it works a large percentage of the time.

HD1200 wrote:
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half...
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half the workers to do the job. The rate of pay didn't go up because you work hard, you're suppose to work hard.

Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real skills?

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Cobbler
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4/9/2023 10:39pm
Falcon wrote:

That's completely, exactly, precisely the way it works a large percentage of the time.

HD1200 wrote:
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half...
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half the workers to do the job. The rate of pay didn't go up because you work hard, you're suppose to work hard.
Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real...

Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real skills?

Where does one find a job like this..? Asking for a friend. Yoga is gay though.

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8tensolutions
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4/9/2023 10:40pm
HD1200 wrote:
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half...
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half the workers to do the job. The rate of pay didn't go up because you work hard, you're suppose to work hard.
Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real...

Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real skills?

Cobbler wrote:

Where does one find a job like this..? Asking for a friend. Yoga is gay though.

Fixed it.

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Cobbler
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4/9/2023 10:44pm
Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real...

Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real skills?

Cobbler wrote:

Where does one find a job like this..? Asking for a friend. Yoga is gay though.

Fixed it.

Seriously do people exist with jobs like that? Is that what working in tech is like or something? 

8tensolutions
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4/9/2023 10:49pm
Cobbler wrote:

Where does one find a job like this..? Asking for a friend. Yoga is gay though.

Fixed it.

Cobbler wrote:

Seriously do people exist with jobs like that? Is that what working in tech is like or something? 

Yes.  Not specific to tech, but the unrealistic expectations of the "woke" and others since Covid are literally nuts.  If you watch South Park or even of you don't, check out the hot dog shop episode from a few weeks ago.  It's exaggerated, but not by much.  All the "remote" work for jobs that were never remote, extra PTO, and lack of accountability has created all these issues where so many don't want to actually work anymore.  It's really hard to believe.....and all the kids in high school or college during the pandemic had the easiest workload I have ever seen (my daughter was a junior/senior) and it set them back years IMO.

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5
4/9/2023 11:37pm

Probably wasn’t too smart to print hundreds of billions of dollars in the past few years…

Probably wasn't a good idea to kill the economy over a sniffle, maybe that was the idea.

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7
4/9/2023 11:49pm

I guarantee that Moto 10 costs less than $50 to make, the fact that they have the audacity to charge $900 for it is criminal and I hope they go out of business for it.

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2
4/10/2023 1:04am

If they are willing to move to cost save I’m curious why they aren’t moving out of CA. 
 

CA must have given them a pretty good incentive to stay. 

insider
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4/10/2023 3:22am
Spooner wrote:
It's not that sales are necessarily going down that is the issue.  So many brands had a super hard time getting inventory with any regularity so...

It's not that sales are necessarily going down that is the issue.  So many brands had a super hard time getting inventory with any regularity so they would make bigger orders so that they could go longer between shipments.  But then the lead times shrunk very quickly so a lot of brands ended up getting totally dumped on with inventory.  So if you have 3x as much on hand than you need you start to freak out and do things to cut costs to help with the added overhead.  Also a ton of brands/companies were bought and sold the last few years so there will certainly be more layoffs to reduce redundancies.  I think sales are still going well for most brands but there will be some leveling out for sure.  

Sales wen’t down tremendously for the bicycle catagories, moto has been more or less stable.

Most MX dealers already had similair experiences in the years after the banking crisis in 2008 so learned their lesson. The dealers in the bicycle catagories are in many instances much younger companies and they thought business would stay booming post covid and bought crazy amounts that they can’t clear now.

philG
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4/10/2023 3:37am
Hasletjoe wrote:
It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left...

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

As soon as i saw this, i thought that they were another company leaving California, but it appears not. 

But having said that , why run 2 places , when you can do it from one. 

Its a good job the economy isnt tanking , else things could really be bad. 

 

Spoonguy
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4/10/2023 4:09am
I guarantee that Moto 10 costs less than $50 to make, the fact that they have the audacity to charge $900 for it is criminal and...

I guarantee that Moto 10 costs less than $50 to make, the fact that they have the audacity to charge $900 for it is criminal and I hope they go out of business for it.

So an individual is entitled to make as much money as they can possibly do so, but if a business does the same it is wrong? Money sustains businesses, like oxygen sustains life.

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BBA
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4/10/2023 4:24am
PTshox wrote:
I agree with Falcon. This is how the game works. Further, no longer are these companies (Fox,  Bell etc.) run by founders that wanted to build great...

I agree with Falcon. This is how the game works.

Further, no longer are these companies (Fox,  Bell etc.) run by founders that wanted to build great products.

These companies were sold to a conglomerate that is run by bean counters. Accounts. With out making this a 2-page reply there were some decent things that were done in the case of Fox Factory. But by and large the folks with passion, the product driven guy/gals that built the business... they are pushed aside by the bean counters 1-4 years after the acquisition.

 

And if you read that press release it’s classic. “Inflation, inventory levels….. operational expenditures”…. Well, were in a market pull back after a long expansion. This is how the world turns. It’s cyclical. The fact that they put pressure on the CEO to step down tells me the CEO probably has a clue and gets it’s a cycle… that he was doing his best to keep the team together and ride it out. Knowing they were going to take a margin/profit hit. Which is what smart companies do. But the bean counters… oh they can’t have that! They have their faces buried in Excel an can’t innovate if they had to save their lives. Sad…. Trite.

You must know the numbers when running a company. But you can NOT run a company solely by the numbers. And friends don’t let an accountant run your company!

This IS the American corporate way in a lot of cases. I have an elderly friend who built an amazing furniture mfg business in over a 50 year span. Once him and his partner got into their 70's it was starting to really weigh on them so they decided to sell the companies since their kids cared nothing about carrying on their legacy and just wanted the money. 

The main staple company is,.....WAS,.. very high end products and the corporation that bought them out pretty much forced the older craftsmen workers who had been there for years out by pay cuts, shitty benefits and 401k cutting threats. The materials, quality and reputation of this company was run into the ground in just two years of the sellout. The prices went up while the finished product quality went down. The workforce there now is mostly unqualified and 50% are made up of foreigners. My friend is heartbroken to what happened to his company and to the people that were so loyal to him for all those years. 

My point being there seemingly is no loyalty to the workers and customers in today's business world. Profit trumps everything including dedication, loyalty and dignity. 

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Hasletjoe
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4/10/2023 6:07am
I guarantee that Moto 10 costs less than $50 to make, the fact that they have the audacity to charge $900 for it is criminal and...

I guarantee that Moto 10 costs less than $50 to make, the fact that they have the audacity to charge $900 for it is criminal and I hope they go out of business for it.

I recall an interview with a Bell Helmets representative several years back. His comment was the cost of producing their product had held steady or maybe slightly increased. The big cost center was the product liability.

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4/10/2023 7:07am
Hasletjoe wrote:
It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left...

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

Ah yes, another california hater...you clearly didn't get the memo, that Bell/Giro will be moving from their CALIFORNIA offices, to their new CALIFORNIA offices at the Fox building. Point being, no one moved out of CALIFORNIA.

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4/10/2023 7:47am

Many companies, not just off-road companies, are setting up for the possible future of economic struggles. I hope it's false predictions. 

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4/10/2023 8:41am

Many companies, not just off-road companies, are setting up for the possible future of economic struggles. I hope it's false predictions. 

Economists have been predicting a recession for years.  My previous company was "right sizing" (corporate newspeak for cuts) 5 years ago in anticipation of a downturn that has yet to happen.

I'm not saying that it won't happen, only that it hasn't yet.

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davistld01
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4/10/2023 8:59am
Hasletjoe wrote:
It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left...

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

Hell…California is leaving California! There are tons of Californians moving their families to Texas, Florida, Missouri & other places where the quality of life is less expensive & a better place to raise children! Austin & Houston look like Los Angeles…without the explosion of homelessness & open drug use. 
 

Sad to see Bell helmets is doing so poorly, but I’m not at all surprised. 

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Hasletjoe
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4/10/2023 10:16am
Hasletjoe wrote:
It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left...

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

Ah yes, another california hater...you clearly didn't get the memo, that Bell/Giro will be moving from their CALIFORNIA offices, to their new CALIFORNIA offices at the...

Ah yes, another california hater...you clearly didn't get the memo, that Bell/Giro will be moving from their CALIFORNIA offices, to their new CALIFORNIA offices at the Fox building. Point being, no one moved out of CALIFORNIA.

I did read that. I simply provided facts that a lot of large corporations have moved from the state of California to more business friendly locals.

Read this article from a year ago. States most of the production is now in foreign countries with the engineering in the US.

https://motoprove.com/where-are-bell-motorcycle-helmets-made/

Excerpt:

Does Bell still operate in America?

As their business grew and the cost of labor/production went up, Bell decided to move their business out of America. Currently, Bell operates its plants from different locations around the world. 

The production plants are located in China, Bahrain, and Quebec. Whereas, the R&D department still operates inside the United States

What did I say to elicit such response?  Let me buy you a Bud Light!

 

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1
seth505
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4/10/2023 10:46am
HD1200 wrote:
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half...
I don't know why that is a problem then. If half the workers can do the job if they work hard then it only takes half the workers to do the job. The rate of pay didn't go up because you work hard, you're suppose to work hard.
Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real...

Wait, you're not supposed to have an extra long paid lunch for moto, little or no accountability for performance/production, and a "living wage" with no real skills?

Cobbler wrote:

Where does one find a job like this..? Asking for a friend. Yoga is gay though.

Just came here to say if I could keep my salary but teach yoga I’d start TODAY. 

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4/10/2023 10:55am Edited Date/Time 4/10/2023 10:57am
Hasletjoe wrote:
It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left...

It could be the state they are located in today. The cost of running these businesses in California is extremely expensive. Yamaha left California, Toyota left California, Tesla left California,  Lucas Oil has left California. Lots of other companies who choose not to fight the fight to be there. While there is a lot of great things about California, the business environment is a treacherous path today. 

.

Ah yes, another california hater...you clearly didn't get the memo, that Bell/Giro will be moving from their CALIFORNIA offices, to their new CALIFORNIA offices at the...

Ah yes, another california hater...you clearly didn't get the memo, that Bell/Giro will be moving from their CALIFORNIA offices, to their new CALIFORNIA offices at the Fox building. Point being, no one moved out of CALIFORNIA.

Hasletjoe wrote:
I did read that. I simply provided facts that a lot of large corporations have moved from the state of California to more business friendly locals...

I did read that. I simply provided facts that a lot of large corporations have moved from the state of California to more business friendly locals.

Read this article from a year ago. States most of the production is now in foreign countries with the engineering in the US.

https://motoprove.com/where-are-bell-motorcycle-helmets-made/

Excerpt:

Does Bell still operate in America?

As their business grew and the cost of labor/production went up, Bell decided to move their business out of America. Currently, Bell operates its plants from different locations around the world. 

The production plants are located in China, Bahrain, and Quebec. Whereas, the R&D department still operates inside the United States

What did I say to elicit such response?  Let me buy you a Bud Light!

 

Their racing helmets (along with Fox, TLD, Fly, 6D, and many others) are made by Topkey Composites who is based in Taiwan.  Bell is a helmet brand, not a manufacturer. 

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Bruce372
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4/10/2023 12:43pm

ricardo-chucky-asset.jpg?VersionId=GAL1byel2REgqQLXc

 

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4/10/2023 12:53pm

Can’t believe how hard people want to villainize business leaders at every. fucking. turn.

aeffertz wrote:
There's a large difference between the local 'Harry's Cycle Shop' and a billion dollar conglomerate. Nobody is going to villainize the mom and pop shop if...

There's a large difference between the local 'Harry's Cycle Shop' and a billion dollar conglomerate. Nobody is going to villainize the mom and pop shop if they're making tough business decisions to stay afloat. Color me jaded but I think Vista Outdoors would've been just fine regardless...

*$1.5B

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