Youngevity posts rising revenues amid persistent losses
Youngevity, a company that is both a network marketing firm that sells nutritional and personal care products and a vertically integrated gourmet coffee roaster, reported $162.7 million in top line revenue for 2016, a 3.9% rise over the prior year. Net loss decreased to $398,000 compared to $2.5 million in the previous year. Operating income and adjusted EBITDA were both down.
Youngevity CEO Steve Wallach said the income results were promising given the company’s significant investment in a new web platform business model. In addition to North America, Youngevity also operates in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe.
“We are just now entering the deployment phase of our web portal which should allow us to accelerate growth domestically and globally as well as more efficiently integrate future acquisitions. The last half of 2016 we invested heavily in marketing strategies including several newly branded product and training videos in multiple languages,” said Wallach.
Plethora of brands
Youngevity continues to add to its dizzying array of brands through acquisitions. The most recent of these was the addition of RicoLife, a marketer of nutritionally charged teas, beneficial beverages and supplements. RicoLife products remain available on RicoLife.com and are scheduled to be integrated in the Youngevity web and e-commerce site effective April 1, becoming a brand within the Youngevity nutrition category.
The company also announced yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of BellaVita, a producer of natural products based on the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, including whole food beverages, essential oils and anti-aging skin care products. BellaVita products will be available through gobellavita.com and, effective June 1, through youngevity.com.
Mike Brosnan, the CEO and President of BellaVita, which employs a network marketing model similar to that of Youngevity’s, is joining Youngevity as VP of Sales & Marketing, Asia. All of the BellaVita offices in Asia remain open and are now incorporated into Youngevity operations. A number of BellaVita U.S.-based employees will join the Youngevity Utah office and continue to service the Asian market.
Despite the growth projections and acquisitions, stock traders continue to be lukewarm on the company. The company’s stock, which has for most of its history traded in the penny stock realm, has been pinned between $0.20 and $0.39 for a number of years. The stock is trading at about $0.29 today.
