Nutrastar revenue jumps 18% in 2013

Nutrastar International Inc., a leading producer and supplier of premium branded consumer products, including commercially cultivated Cordyceps militaris, functional health beverages and organic and specialty foods, announced its results for the year ended Dec. 31, 2013.

Financial highlights 
 

Management commentary
"We are pleased to report augmented sales in each of our consumer product categories for the full year 2013,” said Ms. Lianyun Han, CEO of Nutrastar. “Cordyceps product sales were up $5.94 million or 21.4 percent year-over-year. Functional health beverages containing Cordyceps and organic specialty foods, our ancillary consumer product categories, saw an 8.2 percent and 3.6 percent sales increase, respectively. As a whole, revenue was $43.35 million, up 17.9 percent, just short of our forecasted revenue of between $44 and $46 million due to a push out of the anticipated ramp up of our organic and specialty food business. As seen in past years, growing demand within China for our core consumer product Cordyceps was the primary driver of our overall increase in revenue.

“As for our bottom line, we continue to operate at highly efficient and profitable levels, and see improvements in cost and operations. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, gross profit and net income, as a percentage of revenue, increased to 77.8 percent and 51.1 percent, from 76.2 percent and 46.9 percent, respectively. Aiding in this improvement was the Q1 2013 completion of our multi-phase, multi-year production capacity expansion project. For the year 2013, we were at approximately 91 tons capacity and expect to hit the upper 90s by the end of 2014.

"Right now, while we are in an excellent position to capitalize on numerous opportunities with the Chinese consumer product market, our focus remains steadfast on growing our core consumer product offerings. As the largest producer of commercially cultivated Cordyceps militaris, we are keenly aware of market demand and are confident in our ability to stay on top of the competition particularly within China. As mentioned in our third quarter 2013 results, we are actively working towards expanding into the international market with our in-development Cordyceps capsules and tablets, designed to complement our current premium consumer product offering and cater to our everyday customer looking for an on-the-go health supplement similar to other vitamin-type supplements. This is a huge milestone we expect to achieve in 2015."

On the subject of the Company's financial position and growth ahead, Ms. Han added, "We closed the year with a cash balance of approximately $102.6 million. This cash balance was vouched and verified by our independent auditor, and is earmarked the Company's future organic and inorganic growth initiatives such as continued capacity expansion, brand and product development, marketing and advertising, any potential strategic and synergistic acquisitions. With the proper, intelligent allocation of funds, we will continue building greater market awareness for our premium Cordyceps consumer products in China and ease our way into the international market with Cordyceps in tablet and capsule form."

Nutrastar encourages any interested party to reach out to directly for more information on the Company and its innovative, premium consumer product portfolio.

Outlook for the year ending Dec. 31, 2014
Based on management's current expectations, full year 2014 revenue should fall in the range of $47 million to $50 million, representing an approximate 8 percent to 15 percent top line increase year-over-year.