TOP 25 NUTRITIONAL PRODUCT COMPANIES
By Richard Alan Miller ©20021999 IN REVIEW
GNC- Royal Numico purchased GNC for a record $2.5 billion last year. This acquisition gives Royal Numico a door to US markets through GNC's 4,200 stores. This includes a new manufacturing facility in South Carolina. By solving an old problem, they also gaines access to pharmaceutical-quality research for use in product development. They estimate the potential for new products from Numicdo's research could add 10% to revenues by 2002.
HERBALIFE- Sales increased with weight-control products, primarily using ephedra (with new regulatory restrictions). Their Thermojetics brand, which uses green herbal tablets, accounts for 42% of sales in the US. New FDA restrictions call for eight milligrams (or less) of ephedra alkaloids per serving. This will probably require reformulation or relabelling of products, at considerable expense to Herbalife.
NBTY NBTY- has four different marketing channels. 28% is through direct response (puritan.com). 17% through retail stores as Vitamin World (US) and Holland & Barnett (UK). 35% wholesale to drug store chains. 20% through network marketing. At the end of 1999, NBTY had 400 Vitamin World and Nutrition Warehouse stores in the US, and 423 Holland & Barnett stores in the UK, and more than six million customers in its puritan.com e-commerce/direct response business.
LEINER HEALTH PRODUCTS- The assets of Granutec and Stanley were aquaired from Novopharm Ltd. In December, 1999. This purchase positions Leiner as North America's largest provider of store brand self-care products. This includes vitamins and over-the-counter (OTC) remedies, and Ranitidine (the generic version of Zantac). They have over 500 products, primarily marketed as Your Life and Pharmacists Formula brands.
REXALL SUNDOWN- Despite the GNC purchase, Numico lacked access to mass retail and drug stores. Its recent purchase of Rexall Sundown furnished those outlets (with their strong history of launching blockbusters). They showed strong revenue performance from increased sales of Metab-O-Lite. Numico also purchased Worldwide Nutrition to their stable of products for $71.5 million. Rexall gives Numico one more high-tech production facility along with a pharmaceutical-grade quality control system.
WEIDER NUTRITION- Weider Nutrition got an international boost in July, 1998 with the acquisition of Haleko. Sale were driven by aggressive promotion of new products. They spent more than $4.6 million in fiscal 1999 in research and development. This is to be compaired to $4.0 million in 1998, and $2.3 million in 1997. Marketing and advertising expenditures were approximately $36 million in 1999, compared to only $17 million in both 1998 and 1997.
TWINLABS- Decreased sales have set back Twinlabs last year. They plan to introduce several new products, to include Highlights Soy Sensations, a new line of soy-rich health bars. Other new products include Fuel Plex meal replacement nutritional shakes and Protein Fuel Sports Bars.
NATURE'S SUNSHINE- In the midst of a building project that will double production, Nature's Sunshine was hit hard last year by the devaluation of foreign currencies (especially Brazil). Since Brazil represents 20% of international sales, the company had little chance of beating 1998 incomes.
MANNATECH- A network marketer, Mannatech sells 20 nutritional products, each with Ambrotose Complex. This is a blend of plat polysaccharides and some products with Dioscorea Complex and other herbal extracts. Citygroup, the largest financial services company in North America, recently acquired a 20% stake in Mannatech. It also owns 5.1% position in www.promotions.com
USANA- 81% of net sales came from nutritional products. USANA Essentials respresented 42%, and Proflavanol was 19%. The company sells directly to more than 46,000 customers and 113,000 distributors worldwide.
CELESTIAL SEASONINGS- Known for its 60 tea varieties, Celestial Seasonings made what appeared to be a seamless move into dietary supplements in 1999. But the line struggled to gain a foothold in a market flooded with products. Revenues declined during the third quarter, reflecting decreaseing sales volumes of the suppliment products. Hain Food Group bought Celestial in March 2000, primarily for the teas. They represented a 50% share of market and have slaes of $100 million. The fate of the supplement line has not yet been determined.
IVC- In July, 1999, IVC sold its Vitamin Specialties retail operations and recorded a loss from the sale in fourth quarter of $2.3 million. To upgrade and improve manufacturing, IVC integrated its Portland, OR manufacturing operations into its New Jersey facility. The cost for this was $1.3 million, to include approriate quality certifications.
PERRIGO- Sales were made from their diversity of personal care products. The installation of a new software system in the first quarter of 1999 resulted in about $50,000 in lost sales.
NATROL- Of their $13.4 million increase in net sales, $4.8 million was attributed to the acquisition of Prolab Nutrition in October, 1999. Another $7.2 million was generated by Lac Le Beau teas acquired in 1998. Other sales were generated through mass market sales, which have grown 50% since 1995. Internet customers also contributed from www.vitaminshoppers.com, www.planettrx.com, and www.mopthernature.com .
AMBI- Nutritional products were up, while pharmaceuticals were down in sales for 1999. The 1997 acquisition of Nutrition 21 increased sales $4.0 million while Jauary 1999 purchase of Lite Bites increased sales $3.1 million. Pharmaceuticals decreased $0.3 million.
(in Millions of Dollars) GNC HERBALIFE NBTY LEINER HEALTH REXALL SUNDOWN AMERICAN HOME
PRODUCTSPHARMAVITE WEIDER NUTRITION TWINLAB CHATTAM NATURES' SUNSHINE MANNATECH BAYER CORP EXPERIMENTAL &
APPLIED SCIENCESNATURE'S WAY USANA CELESTIAL SEASONINGS COUNTRY LIFE MET-RX USA IVC PERRIGO NATROL NOW FOODS NATURAL
ALTERNATIVESAMBI TOTALS $ 8,084 $ 6,833 18%
NOTE: This article was taken from Economic Outlooks for Herbs and Spices ©2002, Richard Alan Miller, ©2002. For this and other books, PDF downloads are available from www.herbfarminfo.com. You can also visit Richard Alan Miller's website at www.nwbotanicals.org
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