Lifeway beats sole estimate with 53% increase in revenue for Q2
Lifeway Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq:LWAY), maker of a nutritious, probiotic dairy beverage called kefir, said Thursday that second quarter sales increased 53% and beat the sole analyst’s estimate surveyed by Thomson Financial.
For the three months ended June 30, 2007, total consolidated sales increased 53% to approximately $9.7 million, compared with $6.4 million for the second quarter of 2006. The sole analyst surveyed by Thomson Financial had estimated sales at $9.4 million.
The Illinois-based company said the increase in sales was driven by a 30% sales increase of Lifeway's kefir line and that the remainder of the sales’ increase was generated by the company’s Helios kefir line and Pride of Main Street's milk line. The Helios Brand Kefir line generated second quarter revenue of $1.2 million, while the Pride of Main Street fluid milk line generated revenues of approximately $0.24 million.
“The second quarter 2007 was another outstanding quarter for Lifeway Foods,” Lifeway's CEO Julie Smolyansky said. “Both of our main brands, the Lifeway and Helios kefir lines, had their best quarters in terms of revenues ever.”
The company reported that their Helios brand Kefir line, had the highest quarterly revenues for the Helios line ever, increasing roughly 10% compared with the first quarter in 2006.
Lifeway also reported that their Lifeway Kefir hit the shelves in Mexico for the first time ever this week, through a distributor in Texas.
“While this is by no means our largest account, it is an important first step into an important market,” Smolyansky said.
Shares of Lifeway ticked up 2.08% or $0.28 to $13.72 in morning trading.
