Hauser Non-Botanical Supplement Deal Could Help Offset Herbal Declines
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
A new collaboration with Whitehall-Robins to develop a non-botanical dietary supplement could help Hauser overcome recent losses stemming from a decline in the natural ingredient supplier's herbal business.
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A new collaboration with Whitehall-Robins to develop a non-botanical dietary supplement could help Hauser overcome recent losses stemming from a decline in the natural ingredient supplier's herbal business. Under an agreement announced Jan. 30, the firms will jointly develop a new supplement that derives from a natural source, with Boulder, Colo.-based Hauser supplying the bulk ingredient. Although specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, Hauser's Botanicals International Extracts division, which provides bulk natural ingredients to supplement and food ingredient suppliers in the U.S., will be involved in the project. The division's herbal products line includes echinacea, St. John's wort, valerian, Panax ginseng, Siberian ginseng and goldenseal, as well as the proprietary products RoseOx, a rosemary extract and antioxidant, and TT550, a ginger-based, anti-nausea product. Hauser's natural products division had FY 2001 second quarter revenues of $4.5 mil., a 46% decline from the year-ago period. In its 10-Q filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission for Q2 ended Sept. 30, the firm cites depressed prices due to a worldwide oversupply of herbal extracts. Revenues for Hauser's technical services division, consisting of Hauser Labs and Shuster Labs, fell 16% to $3.7 mil. in the quarter, while revenues from its fine chemicals and excipients business rose 10% to $8.9 mil. Total Q2 revenue of $17.5 mil. represented an 18% decline from the year-ago period. In December, Hauser announced plans to divest the technical services business, thereby allowing it to focus on production and sale of bulk herbal extracts and nutritional supplements and new product development. The company's stock was delisted by NASDAQ effective Nov. 1 for failure to maintain the $1 minimum bid price and $5 mil. minimum float value. Whitehall developed its single-ingredient Centrum Herbals line, launched in 1998, through a collaboration with PharmaPrint. Last year, Whitehall introduced Flexagen, a glucosamine/chondroitin joint care product and its first supplement outside the Centrum or Caltrate calcium supplements lines (1 (Also see "Flexagen Joint Care "From The Makers of Advil " Hitting Shelves Now" - Pink Sheet, 3 Jul, 2000.)). |