Holley Performance Products is moving more of its corporate offices from this Russellville Road headquarters to the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus on Nashville Road, where it also has its research and development department.

Holley Performance Products, a designer, marketer and manufacturer of high-performance automotive parts that has been based in Bowling Green since 1952, has hit some speed bumps rough enough to lead to recent layoffs.

But, says Holley President and CEO Matthew Stevenson, the company’s outlook is looking up after an upbeat year-end earnings report.

Stevenson described Holley as being on a “growth trajectory” in an emailed statement. That growth has included a number of acquisitions before and after the March 2021 merger with special purpose acquisition company Empower Ltd. that took Holley public.

Those acquisitions didn’t immediately translate into improved profitability for Holley, which has seen its stock price plummet from a high of just over $8 a share in August 2023 to an opening price of $4.33 on Monday.

But Stevenson, who last year replaced Tom Tomlinson as Holley CEO, believes the company is ready for a rebound.

“As we plan for future opportunities, we’re making strategic organizational adjustments, including the reduction of about 15 roles in Bowling Green,” he said. “This restructuring also includes bringing in talent with the skills and capabilities to propel our company forward.”

The layoffs, while representing a small percentage of the company’s total workforce of approximately 1,500 people, led to speculation on social media that Holley was planning to move production jobs overseas or to other states, maybe leading to a relocation of its headquarters on Bowling Green’s Russellville Road.

According to Stevenson, that’s not in the cards.

“We remain committed to Bowling Green,” he said, “investing in our talent, upgrading our operations and offices, underscoring its importance to our future.”

Holley has shown a willingness to expand its presence in southcentral Kentucky in recent years.

Since 2017, Holley has opened a plant in Franklin’s Sanders Industrial Park, expanded its Bowling Green operations to include a presence in the South Industrial Park along Nashville Road, and won approval for a plan to build a new headquarters near the National Corvette Museum in northern Warren County.

Holley and property owner Southern Kentucky Land LLC were approved in 2021 by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County for rezoning from planned unit development to light industrial 55.9 acres near Interstate 65 that stretches from Porter Pike to Barren River.

But plans to move Holley’s headquarters to that site have been abandoned, according to an email from the Nashville-based Tiny Mighty Communications marketing firm that handles communications for Holley.

“The tract of land near the National Corvette Museum is for sale, and Holley has no plans to move operations to that land,” Tiny Mighty Marketing Communications Manager J.T. Landry said in an email.

Stevenson didn’t mention any plans for the company headquarters in his emailed comments, but he did address year-end sales and earnings figures that are showing a slight uptick.

Holley’s gross profit for 2023 was $256.1 million on net sales of $659.7 million, up from the 2022 figure of $253.7 million in gross profit. The company’s adjusted net income was $25 million, up from the previous year’s $7.9 million.

“I am encouraged by the progress we made in 2023 to position ourselves for long-term success,” Stevenson said in a news release. “We made significant strides in streamlining our organization.”

Stevenson believes the “organizational adjustments” that included cutting those 15 jobs in Bowling Green will ultimately pay dividends.

“While these transformative efforts are still in their early stages, they have already benefited our operational and financial performance in 2023,” he said. “I am confident that this positive momentum will continue as these programs gain traction.”