$VRUS: NEWS--VERUS INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES FIRST ORDERS WITH MAJOR RETAILERS: TJX COMPANIES AND BIG FIVE SPORTING GOODS
March 11, 2020 14:20 ET | Source: Verus International, Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD, March 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verus International, Inc. (“Verus” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: VRUS) is pleased to announce that it has received initial candy orders from new distributors, sporting goods and national chain customers. These orders mark a major milestone for the Company’s Big League Foods (“BLF”) subsidiary, representing the first sales featuring newly enhanced packaging and custom candy pieces in the shape of bats, gloves, hats, and baseballs. Verus will now have products covering all 30 Major League Baseball (“MLB”) teams, with the potential to have a presence in every major U.S. market by mid-2020.
TJX Companies (“TJX”) is the first national chain to feature the Company’s MLB line. TJX will take delivery of BLF gummy products at its national distribution centers for delivery within its 2,400 U.S. location network of TJ Maxx and Marshalls. This number has the potential to expand to over 3,100 locations with the addition of HomeGoods, a TJX division the Company is in current discussions with. Big Five Sporting Goods (“Big Five”) is the Company’s first sporting goods customer and first regional chain, with 434 locations throughout 11 western states.
In addition to these major chains, BLF also announced sales programs with Rally House in the Kansas City, St. Louis and Philadelphia markets; and Topicz, a convenience store distributor operating in 6 midwestern and southern states covering 900 locations.
“This surge in orders tells us one thing – our newly designed MLB products are resonating with chain store buyers looking for something different for 2020,” said Verus CEO Anshu Bhatnagar. “To attract the attention of TJX, one of the largest retailers in the world, is very encouraging this early in our sales cycle. We are currently in very active talks with more than a dozen additional chains and expect to add grocery, specialty, and drug store customers during the course of the MLB season, giving us a presence in multiple retailer categories.”
Operational Update
Due to extraordinarily high demand, the Company will not be able to provide complete channel fill during the first round of shipments to its new customers, but will scale up in subsequent delivery cycles. In terms of product mix, while the Company has shipped small quantities of ice cream recently, the level of interest in the MLB-candy lines has caused management to shift a majority of resources into the candy category, which is strongly outpacing initial expectations. The Company will begin receiving truckloads of finished product in the next few weeks and is planning for additional bulk supply to meet the accelerating demand.
“We have essentially sold out our first two production runs, so it already feels like we will be chasing a fast-moving target all year,” explained Bhatnagar. “The feedback we are getting from store buyers as we unveil our new products has been outstanding. This has really boosted our confidence that sales trends will continue to be positive as our products gain greater exposure. I can also confirm that we are in talks with three other professional leagues, so our goal to mitigate any seasonality from our BLF business is close to becoming a reality.”
Additionally, the current financial audit is progressing well, with the current plan of filing the delayed Fiscal 2019 Form 10-K by the end of March 2020, followed closely by the 1Q Fiscal 2020 Form 10-Q. Subsequent to regaining current status, the Company expects to finalize new commercial sources of funding to support the growing pipeline of orders.
Furthermore, regarding questions concerning the coronavirus, other than previously reported equipment delivery delays and some travel disruption, the Company has not been affected in its core revenue sources. The Company continues to back previous forecasts for triple digit revenue growth during 2020.
http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/202...GOODS.html
March 11, 2020 14:20 ET | Source: Verus International, Inc.
Gaithersburg, MD, March 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verus International, Inc. (“Verus” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: VRUS) is pleased to announce that it has received initial candy orders from new distributors, sporting goods and national chain customers. These orders mark a major milestone for the Company’s Big League Foods (“BLF”) subsidiary, representing the first sales featuring newly enhanced packaging and custom candy pieces in the shape of bats, gloves, hats, and baseballs. Verus will now have products covering all 30 Major League Baseball (“MLB”) teams, with the potential to have a presence in every major U.S. market by mid-2020.
TJX Companies (“TJX”) is the first national chain to feature the Company’s MLB line. TJX will take delivery of BLF gummy products at its national distribution centers for delivery within its 2,400 U.S. location network of TJ Maxx and Marshalls. This number has the potential to expand to over 3,100 locations with the addition of HomeGoods, a TJX division the Company is in current discussions with. Big Five Sporting Goods (“Big Five”) is the Company’s first sporting goods customer and first regional chain, with 434 locations throughout 11 western states.
In addition to these major chains, BLF also announced sales programs with Rally House in the Kansas City, St. Louis and Philadelphia markets; and Topicz, a convenience store distributor operating in 6 midwestern and southern states covering 900 locations.
“This surge in orders tells us one thing – our newly designed MLB products are resonating with chain store buyers looking for something different for 2020,” said Verus CEO Anshu Bhatnagar. “To attract the attention of TJX, one of the largest retailers in the world, is very encouraging this early in our sales cycle. We are currently in very active talks with more than a dozen additional chains and expect to add grocery, specialty, and drug store customers during the course of the MLB season, giving us a presence in multiple retailer categories.”
Operational Update
Due to extraordinarily high demand, the Company will not be able to provide complete channel fill during the first round of shipments to its new customers, but will scale up in subsequent delivery cycles. In terms of product mix, while the Company has shipped small quantities of ice cream recently, the level of interest in the MLB-candy lines has caused management to shift a majority of resources into the candy category, which is strongly outpacing initial expectations. The Company will begin receiving truckloads of finished product in the next few weeks and is planning for additional bulk supply to meet the accelerating demand.
“We have essentially sold out our first two production runs, so it already feels like we will be chasing a fast-moving target all year,” explained Bhatnagar. “The feedback we are getting from store buyers as we unveil our new products has been outstanding. This has really boosted our confidence that sales trends will continue to be positive as our products gain greater exposure. I can also confirm that we are in talks with three other professional leagues, so our goal to mitigate any seasonality from our BLF business is close to becoming a reality.”
Additionally, the current financial audit is progressing well, with the current plan of filing the delayed Fiscal 2019 Form 10-K by the end of March 2020, followed closely by the 1Q Fiscal 2020 Form 10-Q. Subsequent to regaining current status, the Company expects to finalize new commercial sources of funding to support the growing pipeline of orders.
Furthermore, regarding questions concerning the coronavirus, other than previously reported equipment delivery delays and some travel disruption, the Company has not been affected in its core revenue sources. The Company continues to back previous forecasts for triple digit revenue growth during 2020.
http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/202...GOODS.html
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