Continuing transformation
The year ended Jan. 3, 2015 was a milestone of sorts for the company, said CEO Frank Jaksch.
“We saw robust sales growth in our ingredients segment, as well as increased inclusion of our patented ingredients in a growing number of consumer products. We are happy to report that we expect these trends to continue throughout 2015,” he said.
ChromaDex offers a number of branded ingredients including pTeroPure synthetic pterostilbene and Purenergy, a pterostilbene/caffeine crystalline ingredient. But the company’s flagship ingredient of late has been Niagen, a branded form of nicotinamide riboside. In the past year Jaksch said that Chromadex has placed the ingredient new consumer products launched by Thorne Research, multilevel marketing company 5LINX, Live Cell Research, Healthy Directions and Life Extension.
The company also continues to push the science backing for the ingredient, Jaksch said.
“We recently announced that the initial results of the first human clinical study for the company's NIAGEN® nicotinamide riboside (NR) had met its primary endpoint, demonstrating that a single dose of NR resulted in statistically significant increases in the co-enzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) in healthy human volunteers. We expect to initiate further human studies of NR in 2015,” he said.
The company also entered into collaborative material transfer agreements with a number of universities and research groups in 2014 including The Scripps Research Institute, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Jaksch said he expects these agreements to add significantly the evidence backing the ingredient in the future.
Earnings details
For the year ended January 3, 2015, ChromaDex reported net sales of $15.3 million, an increase of 51% as compared to $10.2 million for the year ended December 28, 2013. This increase was largely due to increased sales in its ingredients business segment, led by sales for Niagen. The ingredients segment generated net sales of $6.9 million for the year, an increase of 182%, compared to $2.4 million for 2013.
The core standards and services segment also posted a 13% growth as it generated net sales of $7.5 million for the, compared to $6.6 million for the year prior. Net sales for the scientific and regulatory consulting segment decreased by 16%, from $1.1 million for 2013 to $969K in 2014, as fewer consulting projects were completed during 2014.
Even with all the good news, ChromaDex continues to struggle with losses, however. The net loss attributable to common stock holders for FY 2014 was $5.4 million or ($0.05) per share as compared to a net loss of $4.4 million or ($0.04) per share for FY 2013. The non-cash, stock-based compensation expense related to stock options and other stock-based compensation in FY 2014 was $2.9 million. Net loss adjusted for share based compensation, which is a "non-GAAP measure," would have the effect of decreasing the Company's net loss for FY 2014 to $2.5 million. As of January 3, 2015, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $4 million.