The parent company of Daisy Outdoor Products said Wednesday that it's moving its U.S. headquarters to Rogers and expanding the facility there.
Gamo Outdoor USA said the two companies will add 25 jobs in Rogers over the next two years. Gamo purchased Daisy, the maker of BB guns, air rifles and other outdoor products, last summer.
The plan will include an expansion at Daisy's facility at Second Street and Stribling Drive. Currently Daisy employs 65 people, in addition to 20 seasonal workers. The employees moving to Rogers include managers and executives from Gamo Outdoor USA's former headquarters in Florida, along with top executives from the company's Houston, Mo., distribution center.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, speaking live Wednesday on Facebook from the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, said he was delighted over the decision. He said it shows that the state's workforce and quality of life are important recruitment incentives for the Arkansas' firearms industry.
Hutchinson said he grew up in Northwest Arkansas about the time Daisy moved to Rogers and that his first air gun was a Daisy.
The Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show, commonly known as the SHOT Show, is sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the firearms, ammunition, shooting and hunting industry. This is the 39th year for the show, which features more than 1,600 exhibitors and draws nearly 65,000 people. The industry-only event began Tuesday and runs through Friday.
It is the second year in a row that Hutchinson has visited the show. Last year was the first time an Arkansas governor attended the trade show.
Keith Higginbotham, president of Gamo Outdoor USA and Daisy, said that since the Daisy acquisition he'd been working to consolidate the brands and decided that shifting Gamo's headquarters to Rogers is the best way to proceed. He said having both companies under one roof will allow them to better and more efficiently provide service to retailers.
Gamo Outdoor, a European company, began producing air guns in Spain in 1961. It enter the U.S. in 1995 as the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Gamo Outdoor USA. Equity firm Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co. bought Gamo Outdoor in 2013. The investment firm owns several other companies related to the firearms industry, including Remington, and magazine and accessory-maker Magpul.
Mike Preston, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the move by Gamo puts to rest concerns about the future of Daisy since its acquisition. Daisy began in 1886 and has operated in Rogers since 1958, when the company moved from Michigan.
"It's clear Gamo wants to keep Daisy in Rogers," he said.
State incentives for the deal include a 3.9 percent cash rebate of total payroll associated with the expansion for three years; sales tax refunds on building materials along with taxable machinery and equipment used in the expansion; and a $50,000 grant for workforce training.
Preston added that the Daisy news comes after a strong 2016 for Arkansas' growing firearms industry.
New Hampshire-based firearms-maker SIG Sauer Inc. said it will centralize all of its ammunition production at a new plant in Jacksonville that's scheduled to open soon. The company will employ 50 people during the relocation phase and expects to hire more workers later.
SIG Sauer's Elite Performance Ammunition manufacturing division will be located in a 70,000-square-foot building on 43 acres at 1809 Swift Drive in Jacksonville, allowing for further expansion if needed, the company said.
SIG Sauer first announced the move at last year's SHOT Show where Remington Outdoor Co. said it would add more than 80 jobs at its Lonoke plant as part of a $12 million expansion.
Madison, N.C.-based Remington began production in Lonoke in 1969 and employs about 1,200 people there. It invested $32 million to upgrade the plant in 2013.
In May, Berryville-based firearms-maker Nighthawk Custom said it struck a deal to distribute high-end revolvers built by Korth Germany GmbH. Nighthawk employs more than 50. The two companies first began to hash out a deal at the SHOT show in 2016.
Last year Berryville-based Wilson Combat continued to expand its deal building pistols in concert with with Beretta USA. Wilson employs nearly 150 people.
The Firearms and Ammunition Industry Economic Impact Report, produced by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, counted in 2015 more than 2,600 jobs in Arkansas that are directly related to the firearms and ammunition industry, and total wages at $115.6 million.
Fort Smith is home of Umarex USA and Walther Arms, both under the umbrella of Arnsberg, a Germany-based PW Group. Umarex moved to Fort Smith in 2010, and Walther Arms opened there in 2012. The companies share space in the Chaffee Crossing development and employ about 90 people between them.
In late 2013, Thermold Magazines moved its headquarters to Fort Smith from North Carolina.
According to data collected by the FBI, firearm background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System hit record levels in 2016 at 27,538, up 18 percent from the year before. While those figures don't represent the number of guns sold, they are generally used as indicators of firearms demand.
A report released in August from market research group IBIS World projects revenue from gun and ammunition manufacturing at $16.2 billion for 2016 with annual growth over the past five years averaging 4.7 percent.
The IBIS report pointed to consumer anxiety concerning further gun-control legislation as a major sales driver in recent years, but it anticipates a slowdown in sales over the next five years with annual growth predicted at 1 percent annually through 2021 as demand normalizes.
Business on 01/19/2017