DENVER, CO, Feb 15 (Marketwire) -- 
MusclePharm Corporation (OTCQB: MSLP), a nutritional supplement company
focused on active lifestyles, is pleased to announce that it has released
a letter from its CEO, Bradley J. Pyatt, to update shareholders on the
current status of the Company. 

    Dear Valued MusclePharm Shareholder,

    I want to personally thank you for being a MusclePharm Corporation
shareholder. We are excited about the future of our Company and this
letter outlines our vision and plans for the future. 

    Over the past three years we achieved exponential product sales growth,
growing from around $1.4 million in revenue for 2009, to approximately
$78 million in 2012. However, to finance that growth from essentially a
startup mode we had to utilize dilutive financing instruments, which were
very expensive and hurt our financial performance, and as one would
expect, our stock price suffered too. All of us at MusclePharm believe
that our market capitalization today is not a valid reflection of our
Company's current underlying fundamentals. Below I address how we are
proactively addressing our future, which we believe should result in
better financial results and a higher stock price as we move forward.

    As you probably know, we recently completed a $12.0 million registered
direct offering of our Series D Convertible Preferred Stock at $8.00 per
share. Each preferred share is convertible into two shares of our common
stock. In 2012, we spent considerable time cleaning up the Company's
balance sheet and raising other capital to support our growth. In late
2012, we issued 516,308 shares of our common stock to several accredited
investors pursuant to conversions of warrants to purchase an aggregate of
728,648 shares of our common stock. As a result of these warrant
conversions and other extinguishments of derivative liabilities, our
stockholders' deficit decreased from approximately $11.0 million at June
30, 2012 to approximately $7.3 million at September 30, 2012 and our
derivative liabilities decreased from approximately $7.9 million at June
30, 2012 to approximately $25,000 at September 30, 2012. Now, in the
first quarter of 2013, after our registered direct offering, we believe
we have positioned the Company to continue growing with the proper type
of capital structure that will allow us to focus on profitability. 

    With the proceeds from our recently completed offering we paid off all
our mezzanine and short-term debt. We are now debt free. We expect to use
the remaining proceeds from the offering to launch new products, seek to
expand internationally, and seek to increase our U.S. sales force. 

    As you also are probably aware, in late 2012 we completed an 850:1
reverse stock split. The reverse split was a necessary step for us to
seek a listing on a stock exchange. We expect we will have such a listing
this summer after we post our 2013 first quarter results. There are
several benefits to being listed on a stock exchange, but the most
important is the ability to seek institutional investment in our shares.
The institutions that were looking at investing in our Company over the
past few years declined for the most part, citing our lack of a stock
exchange listing. Going forward, these investors will have the ability to
participate in our Company once we are listed on an exchange.

    Our Growth Story

    In September of 2008, we started MusclePharm out of my garage in Denver,
Colorado. Fast-forward to today and we are recognized as a global leader
in a multi-billion dollar industry. Our gross revenue increased
exponentially as follows*:

    $s in millions
 2009: $0 - $1
 2010: $1 - 4 (300% gain YOY)
 2011: $4 -
17 (325% gain YOY)
 2012: $17 - 78 (370% gain YOY)

    * These numbers have been rounded for ease of reading, and 2012 is
unaudited. 

    In a time when our economy has struggled, we achieved revenue growth of
approximately 300%+ year over year. We project we will increase our gross
revenues in 2013 to over $100 million. 

    At the 2012 Bodybuilding.com Supplement Awards, we received three Awards
of Excellence; we received (i) the "Brand of the Year" award, (ii) the
"Packaging of the Year" award, and (iii) the "Pre-Workout Supplement of
the Year" award for Assault(TM). On top of that, we've won over 15 other
industry awards since our inception. 

    Our headquarters in Denver, Colorado has a state-of-the-art over 30,300
square feet athletic facility with a medical and clinical testing
department, complete with equipment for measuring and conducting athletic
clinical studies and supporting athletes. Our medical and clinical
professionals consist of several nationally recognized medical doctors
and nutritional experts who oversee our product research, formulation,
efficacy analysis and testing. It also serves as a place for some of the
world's top athletes to come and train and be educated on the latest
nutritional advancements that we have under development. 

    Our primary growth strategy is to:


--  Increase our product distribution and sales through increased market
    penetrations both domestically and internationally;
    
    
--  Increase our margins by focusing on streamlining our operations and
    seeking operating efficiencies in all areas of our operations;
    
    
--  Continue to conduct additional testing of the safety and efficacy of
    our products and formulate new products; and
    
    
--  Increase awareness of our products by increasing our marketing and
    branding opportunities through endorsements, sponsorships and brand
    extensions.
    
Our core marketing strategy is to brand MusclePharm as the "must
have" fitness brand for workout enthusiasts and elite athletes. We seek
to be known as the "athlete's company," run by athletes who create their
products for other athletes, both professional and otherwise. We believe
that our marketing mix of endorsers, sponsorships and providing sample
products for our retail resellers to use is an optimal strategy to
increase sales.

    In addition:

--  Our products are currently sold in over 110 countries, with the goal
    of reaching 175 countries in the next few years
--  Our products are available in over 10,500 U.S. retail outlets with the
    goal of reaching 20,000+ in the next few years
--  Retail stores include GNC and Vitamin Shoppe, as well as over 100
    online stores, including Bodybuilding.com, Vitacost.com, GNC.com,
    Amazon.com, SupplementWarehouse.com, AllStarHealth.com,
    LuckyVitamin.com, Dick's Sporting Goods, and many more

We recently renegotiated our terms with our manufacturers and have
refined our distribution model, and as a result, we should experience
better sales margins. On top of this, we have reviewed our operating
costs and are cutting several non- essential expenses. We also recently
launched a new product called Amino1. To date, it is the fastest growing
product (sku) we have ever had here at MusclePharm.

    Finally, in mid 2012, we hired an experienced CFO, Gary Davis, who most
recently served as executive vice president and CFO for Bodybuilding.com
for almost six years. Bodybuilding.com is a world leader in sports
fitness and nutritional supplements and is a very large website for
nutritional products. Gary's experience includes extensive experience as
a chief financial officer with strengths in external and management
reporting and analysis, accounting, tax, treasury, human resources and
risk management functions in public and private companies along with the
dietary supplement industry. He provides strength and direction for the
demands and growth of MusclePharm.

    Going from no revenues to over $78 million in less than four years was
impressive growth, but all of us here at MusclePharm have the goal of
reaching $500 million in annual sales -- but only at a profitable level.
We are excited about focusing on our core business without the after
effects of burdensome financings. 

    If you have any questions regarding our Company, please feel free to
contact me directly or our office at the numbers listed below.

    Sincerely,

    Brad Pyatt
 Chief Executive Officer 

    ABOUT MUSCLEPHARM CORPORATION 

    MusclePharm is a healthy lifestyle company that develops and manufactures
nutritional supplements that address active lifestyles, including muscle
building, weight loss and maintaining general fitness through a daily
nutritional supplement regimen. The products are formulated through a
six-stage research process using the expertise of leading nutritional
scientists. MusclePharm's products are sold to consumers in more than 110
countries and available in over 10,500 U.S. retail outlets, including
Dick's Sporting Goods, GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and Vitamin World. MusclePharm
products also are sold through more than 100 online channels globally,
including bodybuilding.com, amazon.com and vitacost.com. For more
information, please visit www.musclepharm.com. 
 
  http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/idU...KW20130215