Lifeway looks to the East Coast for expansion
acquisition of Ilya's Farms, which it hopes will boost distribution
of its functional food brands and expand its range of cheese
products.
Lifeway bought Ilya, a Philadelphia-based privately-held producer of gourmet cream cheeses for a total cash purchase price of $575,600.
"We are excited about the growth opportunities this acquisition presents to Lifeway Foods," said Julie Smolyansky, president of the company. "This provides Lifeway with an important East Coast presence and distribution center, as well as an additional product line."
Lifeway plans to keep the Ilya's Farms brand name in its current markets and to begin producing a line of Lifeway branded gourmet cream cheeses in Chicago using the Ilya's Farms recipes in the next couple of weeks.
"Ilya's Farms attained sales worth $600,000 per year by word of mouth," said Smolyansky. "With Lifeway's marketing and advertising structure, we are confident we can grow our new cream cheese line in Chicago and the Tri-State area. In addition, this acquisition should help boost the distribution of our Kefir, La Frutaô, and Farmers Cheese lines."
Lifeway purchased Ilya's Farms recipes and brand name, and will lease its production facility for a two-year period.
Lifeway Foods reported first quarter revenue of $3.935 million, which was an increase of 18.9 percent compared to $3.309 million in the first quarter of 2003. Net income was $0.765 million or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to $0.993 million or $0.12 per diluted share for the same period last year.
In June, Lifeway expanded its range of kefirs with a new line of no-added-sugar dairy drinks for consumers following low-carbohydrate diets.
