Investors who frequent The Market Herald have been following the steady growth of one of the most unique companies in the plant-based foods business.
Else Nutrition Holdings Inc. (TSX:BABY) has grown to become a national brand, tripling its North American store count.
With more than 11,000 stores and 25,000 points of distribution, the company expects these stores to be selling by Q2 2023.
Else began 2022 with roughly 1,200 natural food stores, most of which carried only one SKU; Else Toddler Organic product. At the time, Sprouts Farmers Market was the most prominent retail chain offering Else’s products.
While the company is some way off from providing earnings guidance for the year, the logic for investors is clear. This team intends to expand to more than 20,000 stores by the end of the year, opening the door to further strong earnings growth later in the year.
Hamutal Yitzhak, CEO of Else Nutrition, commented on the company’s expanse to date.
“We are very pleased with the strong retail channel growth we achieved in North America, which surpassed our expectations by a great margin in both pace and scope. We have already become a national brand trusted by leading retailers, and we expect this trend to continue to grow in the future.”
She added that each U.S. mass retailer, drug store, grocery, and specialty channel demonstrates the company’s valuable brand equity and strong consumer demand.
“We also began our entry into Canada a few months ago with London Drugs and quickly grew to more than 2,000 doors with Metro Ontario and other national grocery and drug retailers soon to be announced.”
Past supply issues resolved, Else can push ahead:
This is the latest good news from the company, who recently more than tripled its production capacity in line with increasing demand. Else Nutrition reached the milestone by adding a second U.S. powder production facility, while initial commercial European production is slated for later this month.
The additions are in response to fast-growing demand from brick-and-mortar retailers, Amazon, and Else’s e-commerce store. Else will perform three production campaigns in March, two in the U.S. and one in Europe, to resolve out-of-stock issues.
The company anticipates significant revenues in China through various e-commerce platforms, with plans to launch in the U.K. and Australia in Q3 2023.
Growing the product:
All this, and the company has its vegan (non-soy) infant formula to come down the pipeline once it has met the requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The company’s infant growth study protocol received Institutional Review Board approval in February, a critical step in the process of launching a new infant formula in the United States.
The infant growth clinical study is one of the critical stages in bringing Else Infant Formula to market, providing vital insights into the formula’s effectiveness and safety for infants.
This formula could be a game changer for the company. In 2020, 40 per cent of infant milk formula sold in the U.S. was specialty cow’s milk formula catering to allergies and intolerances. In a global market that is expected to grow to US$132.4 billion by 2026, Else is keeping a step ahead with its whole plant-based, non-dairy, non-soy, clean label infant formula.
About the company:
This stock has risen more than 38 per cent since the month began and is up 69 per cent year-to-date.
Else Nutrition Holdings Inc. is focused on developing innovative, clean, and plant-based food and nutrition products for infants, toddlers, children, and adults. Its plant-based, non-soy formula is a clean-ingredient alternative to dairy-based formula. The parent company, Else Nutrition Holdings Inc., is also quoted on the US OTCQX Market under the trading symbol BABYF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol 0YL.
Full Disclosure: This is a paid article by The Market Herald .
