Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. Reports Financial Results For 2018

Revenue for 2018 Increased 28% to a Record $53 Million
Fourth Quarter Revenue up 67% to a Record $18 Million
Acquisitions Exceed Expectations and Contributed to 2018 e-commerce Revenue of over $9 Million, or 17% of Total Revenue
Addition of Leading Specialty Food e-commerce Assets Significantly Enhances Specialty Food Platform Capabilities

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., April 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: IVFH), (“IVFH” or “the Company”) an interconnected platform of specialty food companies that provides chefs and consumers direct access to the highest quality specialty food products across the U.S., today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2018.

“I am extremely pleased with 2018’s record revenues and favorable financial results, as well as the strong momentum we achieved in the fourth quarter,” stated Sam Klepfish, CEO of Innovative Food Holdings.  “2018’s results reflect our compelling direct-to-chef food services business and the significant growth of our interconnected platform of specialty food companies.  We have been focused on reinvesting our operating cash flow back into our business and during the year made two strategic and complementary acquisitions of certain assets of iGourmet LLC (www.igourmet.com) and Mouth Foods, Inc. (www.mouth.com) to further expand our platform.  Both acquisitions have exceeded our expectations, added important e-commerce capabilities, and accelerated the development of our interconnected platform.  We also added experienced associates throughout our organization including; marketing, branding, procurement, IT, creative, financial, data analytics and e-commerce talent.  In addition, we invested in new business opportunities including a key focus of leveraging our unique multi-faceted specialty food platform to build and launch a portfolio of branded products.”

“Our business strategy leverages the experience, relationships and scale of our core foodservice business, which allows us to identify disruptive opportunities across the food industry.  As a result, we have developed a diversified data driven business strategy focused on expanding e-commerce opportunities that resonate with our customers.  We believe these additional channels and go-to-market approaches are highly synergistic to our overall business, diversify our revenue mix, and can drive rapid and profitable revenue growth.  I am pleased with the initial success we have experienced in 2018 as e-commerce sales represented 17% of total revenue in 2018, compared to 1% of total revenue in 2017. Specialty food e-commerce is both a key component of our platform and an important driver of our growth plans and I am encouraged by the strong momentum underway in this channel.” 

“I appreciate our shareholders’ patience through this period of investment and transformation.  Across our organization our highly talented and expanded team has been working extremely hard to build unique, well positioned, and compelling direct-to-chef and direct-to-consumer businesses as well as working towards the launch of our line of high-quality branded specialty food products.  2018’s results reflect the initial foundation of the expanded platform we have created, and we believe we are well positioned for long-term sustainable growth.  Now that we have accomplished key components of our business transformation, we plan on expanding our engagement with investors and I look forward to significantly increased investor interaction as the year progresses.” 

IVFH’s revenue increased to nearly $18.0 million during the three months ended December 31, 2018, compared to $10.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2017.  The primary drivers of the 67.1% increase in fourth quarter revenue was due to strong growth in the Company’s e-commerce business as well as growth in the Company’s foodservice business.  For the full year of fiscal 2018, total revenue increased 28.3% to $52.9 million, compared to $41.2 million last year. 

Deferred revenue associated with the Company’s e-commerce subscription services, which includes both Mouth and iGourmet, increased to $559,000 at December 31, 2018, compared to $28,000 at September 30, 2018.  The Company did not have e-commerce subscription sales in 2017.  For 2018, iGourmet and Mouth had over 100,000 active unique customers, which include over 30% growth in iGourmet active unique customers compared to 2017. In addition, in 2018, iGourmet’s Pennsylvania facility fulfilled over 175,000 orders for both Mouth and iGourmet, including over 20,000 packages fulfilled for both Mouth and iGourmet during the busiest week in the 2018 holiday season. 

The following table sets forth IVFH’s revenue by business category for the three months and year ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 by segment:

For the 2018 fourth quarter, selling and administrative (“SG&A”) expense, as a percentage of net revenue, was 26.1% compared to 24.8% in the prior year quarter.  SG&A expenses increased as a result of investments the Company continues to make to support growth including investments associated with the launch of Mouth fulfillment within the iGourmet warehouse, as well as overall higher expenses associated with managing the greater than anticipated fourth quarter package volume at the iGourmet warehouse.  For 2018, SG&A expense, as a percentage of net revenue was 26.7% compared to 21.7% for 2017.

For the 2018 fourth quarter, net income was $0.8 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, compared to $1.0 million, or $0.04 per diluted share in the prior year's fourth quarter. For 2018, net income was $1.7 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared to $4.5 million, or $0.15 per diluted share for 2017. Cash EBITDA for the 2018 fourth quarter was $1.1 million, a 15% decrease from $1.3 million in the prior year quarter, driven by record revenue increases and offset by increases in SG&A expenses.

IVFH's balance sheet remains strong with $4.8 million of cash and cash equivalents, and the full availability of over $2 million in commercial credit. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2018, IVFH had cash provided by operating activities of $2.6 million, compared to $3.4 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2017 including over $2.4 million in operating cash flow in the fourth quarter compared to $1.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.

About Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.
Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. is an interconnected platform of small, specialty food companies serving business and consumer customers.  The platform offers efficient, cost effective, and transparent sourcing of over 7,000 specialty food products including proprietary branded products. Sales channels on the platform include specialty foodservice channels and data driven DTC e-commerce channels including leading specialty food direct-to-consumer e-commerce websites www.igourmet.com and www.mouth.com as well as a strong specialty food omnichannel offering via www.amazon.com, www.jet.com and www.walmart.com

Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) that are based on the current beliefs of the Company’s management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain assumptions, including those described in this release. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as “should,” “could,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “plan,” “might,” “potentially” or “expect.” The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements. The content of the websites referenced above are not incorporated herein.