NEW YORK, NY — (Marketwired) — 06/20/17 — RealBiz Media Group, Inc. (OTCQB: RBIZ), currently operating as Verus Foods (Verus), today announced its financial results for its second quarter of fiscal 2017, ended April 30, 2017. As previously reported, the company has not yet begun full operations while it completes the resolution of legacy RealBiz issues that have impacted its ability to transition solely into an international foods business.
“This quarter represents a hint of things to come, as we elected to build out our infrastructure in Dubai and fortify our supplier and customer relationships in the Middle East and parts of Asia,” said Anshu Bhatnagar, CEO of RealBiz/Verus. “Our primary and ongoing frustration involves the legacy RealBiz lawsuits that we inherited, which have prevented us from executing a reverse stock split or closing on financing to begin our rapid growth initiatives. While a trial date (July) and resolution may be just around the corner, we nonetheless were forced to mute our growth this quarter due to these unresolved lawsuits.”
In terms of the Verus business, the company is pleased to provide the following update:
Q2 2017 revenue totaled $1.08 million, a 315% increase over Q2 2016, representing the largest sales quarter in company history
Verus posted a small net loss of $160,806 in Q2 2017, largely due to infrastructure expansion to support future sales growth
Buffalo shipments continue on the previously announced $78 million order, but at a restrained pace pending further financing.
Verus is pleased to announce an approximately $29MM contract to supply Indian meat to Vietnam for a 12-month period.
In Q2 2017, the company added cold storage and butchery operations in Dubai and commenced servicing the important HORECA (Hotel/Restaurant/Café) sector
Verus is also pleased to announce that it has become the exclusive distributor in the Middle East and Africa for Al Taj, a global, India-based supplier of premium meat.
The search for a new CFO is largely complete and is expected to be announced in coming weeks.
Based on customer feedback in Q2, Verus continues to back its previous forecast of $100M in annual revenue following a full business transition and receipt of adequate financing.
“While we sort through the last vexing problems that came with the RealBiz business, we continue to prepare the Verus operations for a rapid and profitable acceleration once we are unencumbered from the company–s past issues,” said CEO Anshu Bhatnagar. “The dominoes, which can be considered such things as the reverse split, name/symbol change, financing, infrastructure build, creation of an independent board, and new customer relationships — are all in place and ready for execution. Our gross margin of 17.7% is consistent with our expectations for this type of business, so we have the ability to become profitable very quickly once we are able to scale our operations to a quarterly run-rate of just a few million dollars in sales. Considering that this quarter was back-end loaded, that is a very achievable near-term goal.”
RealBiz management will host a conference call and live webcast for analysts and investors on June 20, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time (5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) to discuss the Company–s financial results and business plan going forward.
To listen to the live conference call, parties in the United States and Canada should dial 877-419-6593, access code 9106446. International parties should call dial 719-457-2603, access code 9106446. Please dial in approximately 15 minutes prior to the start of the call.
A live and archived webcast of the conference call will be accessible on the “Investor Relations” section of the Company–s website at . To access the live webcast, please log in 15 minutes prior to the start of the call to download and install any necessary audio software.
RealBiz Media Group, Inc. operates two business segments: an international food subsidiary (Verus Foods) that sells products to customers worldwide; and a real estate digital media and technology company. RealBiz Media Group, Inc. (OTCQB: RBIZ) trades on the OTCQB venture stage marketplace for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the company on .
This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plan, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, economic conditions, the impact of competition and pricing, government regulation, and other risks described in statements filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements whether written or oral, and whether made by or on behalf of the Company, are expressly qualified by the cautionary statements that may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.
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