AMBI Ingredients Business, Marketing Deals Seen As Key To Future
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
AMBI is refocusing its resources on expanding its ingredients business, licensing products to private label manufacturers and launching new products through marketing partners under a restructuring plan announced Nov. 13.
|
AMBI is refocusing its resources on expanding its ingredients business, licensing products to private label manufacturers and launching new products through marketing partners under a restructuring plan announced Nov. 13. The firm explained its financial and human resources were not ideally suited to a retail program. About a quarter of the firm's 45 employees will be let go for the restructuring, the Purchase, N.Y.-based supplements maker conceded. Initial execution began in the last four to six weeks, coinciding with the October promotion of Gail Montgomery to president and CEO from leading the firm's Nutrition 21 subsidiary (1 ). A related pretax charge of $1.5 mil. to $2 mil. for the second quarter ending Dec. 31 partially will be offset by a portion of the estimated $3.5 mil. in annualized cost savings expected from the layoffs, AMBI said. AMBI sales for the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 20 declined 36.1% to $5.3 mil., total revenues were down 17.9% to $6.9 mil. and net income plummeted to $6,000 from $2 mil. in the year-ago period. As it moves away from retail marketing, AMBI has scrapped the NoYo line of weight-loss supplements and functional foods, scheduled to launch in late November (2 (Also see "AMBI NoYo Fat Fighting System Aims To Cut Yo-Yo Dieting" - Pink Sheet, 2 Oct, 2000.)). The firm also is tabling its CardiaNutrition products and is seeking investment backing for the launch of NutritionU.com, an e-commerce and educational platform. AMBI will continue its relationship with TV retailer QVC Networks, which distributes Lite Bites and Sweet Support in the U.S. and Brite Bites in the U.K. New products will be released through QVC this winter. The firm also hopes to expand its involvement with Solgar, which recently launched the Triumph weight-loss line using AMBI ingredients (3 (Also see "Solgar" - Pink Sheet, 2 Oct, 2000.)). AMBI first became aligned with Solgar when the Whitehall-Robins subsidiary licensed the Cardia salt alternative two years ago. AMBI will continue to pursue licensing deals for its Chromax and upcoming Chromax Plus chromium picolinate ingredient. |