QBI lifts sales at Health Sciences Group

New owner of Quality Botanical Ingredients the Health Sciences Group reported a 300 per cent rise in revenues for the first quarter to end of March to $4.8 million.

The leap in revenue came largely from the acquisition of Quality Botanical Ingredients (QBI), completed on February 25, and effective January 1, 2003. The manufacturer and contract processor of bulk botanical materials forms a platform from which the company is now expecting to launch an aggressive growth strategy, it said.

Gross profit for the first quarter 2003 grew by over 110 per cent increasing to $683,000 from $321,000 reported for the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding non-recurring charges related to the QBI acquisition taken during the first quarter 2003, gross profit totaled $1.1 million, a 244 per cent improvement over the previous year.

Net loss for the quarter totaled $1.0 million, or 21.9 per cent of sales, as compared with a loss of $579,000, or 48.4 per cent of sales for the corresponding quarter last year. Excluding non-recurring charges taken during the first quarter, net loss totaled $596,000, or 12.5 per cent of sales.

Health Sciences co-chairman and CEO Fred E. Tannous, said: "We have begun to see positive results from the implementation of our growth strategy. Our XCEL and BioSelect subsidiaries are performing well and we have high expectations for QBI as we move forward with plans to expand its product lines, streamline its operations and generally enhance its overall presence in the marketplace."​

He added: "Our goal is to establish a significant presence in the supply-side sector of the nutritional supplement market. We expect to achieve this by continuing to make incremental improvements in our current operations while seeking aggressive growth through accretive acquisitions of companies offering synergistic value to our entire enterprise."​