Gaithersburg, MD, Dec. 06, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verus International, Inc. (“Verus” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: VRUS) announced today that it is completing a 10,000 square foot manufacturing facility located in Houston, Texas. The facility will operate as a Verus subsidiary under the name “Success Labs,” and has been designed to provide flexibility to manufacture and package a variety of wet and dry consumer goods. The facility’s initial focus will be gummi and nutraceutical products, followed by other to-be-announced products.
“Success Labs represents a major milestone for our company and is part of our goal to become more vertically integrated when in-house processing makes sense,” explained Verus CEO Anshu Bhatnagar. “Surprisingly enough, world-wide gummi production capacity is currently strained, so this is partly a strategic move, given our expectations for a major expansion into more Major League Baseball (“MLB”) team markets during 2020.”
Equipment installation is already underway and the facility is expected to become operational during early calendar year 2020, just in time for the spring MLB selling season. This single Houston location will enable Verus to more easily service a nationwide footprint for a variety of branded packaged goods as well as export internationally given its proximity to Port of Houston. Additionally, Verus has an option to expand the facility’s footprint within the current building to almost twice its current size to support future growth. Furthermore, the impact on profitability will be significant, with the potential to achieve 40% or better gross margins in some categories. The facility is expected to eventually increase to between $2 million and $3 million per month in revenue, depending upon the mix of new products planned for 2020. Success Labs is part of a larger strategic plan to add regional and national manufacturing facilities when such facilities can lead to new business and improved profitability.
“The customers we are in current discussions with are much larger, so part of their decision process involves knowing that a vendor can fulfill orders across a large store base,” explained CEO Bhatnagar. “This facility will provide our customers added confidence in our fulfillment capabilities, while also improving our margins. A key feature of owning our own manufacturing facility is that we can now develop and launch high value lines where we need a higher degree of control, so this facility will accelerate our new product initiatives. Our goal has always been to have Verus brands on multiple retailer shelves. Success Labs is going to bring a number of products to market much earlier, so we are excited to make this long-awaited move into manufacturing a reality.”
About Verus International
Verus is a global, emerging multi-line consumer packaged goods (CPG) company developing branded product lines in the U.S., South America, and the Middle East. The Company trades on the OTC market (OTCQB: VRUS). Investors can find real-time quotes and market information for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com. Additional information is also available at the Company’s website, www.verusfoods.com, and via the official Twitter feed @Verus_Foods and the Big League Foods subsidiary Twitter feed @BigLeagueFoods.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified by the use of the words “could,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “may,” “continue,” “predict,” “potential,” “project” and similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that these plans, objectives, expectations or intentions will be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control) and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience and present expectations or projections. Actual results could differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and the trading price for our common stock may fluctuate significantly. Forward-looking statements also are affected by the risk factors described in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts
Investor Contact:
MKR Group Inc.
Todd Kehrli or Mark Forney
vrus@mkr-group.com