Healthy Choice Wellness Corp.
(“HCWC” or the
“Company”) (NYSEAM: HCWC), a holding
company focused on providing consumers with healthier daily choices
with respect to nutrition and other lifestyle alternatives.
My name is Jeff Holman and I serve as the Chief
Executive Officer of Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. (HCWC: NYSEAM).
On Monday, Healthy Choice became an independent company with a
singular focus. I am incredibly proud of what our team has
accomplished with this milestone and am excited to continue this
journey alongside our customers and shareholders. This is week one
of unlocking vast new potential for our company.
In the way of a brief history, Healthy Choice is
a spinoff of the Natural and Organic Health Food Grocery and
Wellness divisions of our former parent company, Healthier Choices
Management Corp., which traded on the OTC Pink.
With its new independent status as a
publicly-traded company, Healthy Choice is well positioned to use
our stronger balance sheet, equity currency and access to capital
markets to capitalize on the many attractive investment
opportunities in our fragmented space.
Over the past eight years, we have grown the
Natural and Organic Health Food Grocery division from an idea to 19
stores, doing business in six states, employing over 500 people,
and are expecting to reach annualized revenue of approximately
$78,000,000 in 2025 with its current stores.
We achieved this monumental growth through the
acquisition of 6 groups of stores, without the benefit of a major
exchange listing to facilitate easier access to capital. Despite
this obstacle, every acquisition opportunity that passed our
rigorous evaluation and offered substantial value was brought to
fruition through our strategic efforts.
By way of example, our year over year growth
from 2022 to 2023 was 92% raising topline revenue from $29.3mm to
$55.7mm.
The stores we acquire do not resemble those of a
national chain. These stores are independently owned, family
managed “mom-and-pops,” if you will, and are staples of their
respective communities. Most of the owners have been in business
for decades, have brought their children into the businesses and
the stores have a significant local following. In fact, compared to
our competitors, they stock their shelves with a considerable
number of products sourced from local vendors and literally feed
their own communities.
These owners are typically reaching the end of
their career horizons but do not want to sell to a large chain that
will dismantle all that they have built. They still live in their
communities and want their legacies and the employment of their
employees to continue. It is not atypical for staff members to have
been with these stores for decades.
These are some of the reasons why their customer
base is loyal to them, along with invariably exceptional customer
service.
In contrast to our large chain competitors, our
commitment to community engagement has resonated deeply with both
store owners and loyal customers, and the overwhelming majority of
employees who have chosen to stay on after acquisitions underscores
the success of our approach. It is this loyalty that we strive to
maintain, not only because we become a part of their communities,
but because for our shareholders this is what drives our sales and
profitability model.
Our strategy is a simple and time tested one,
growth through acquisition and efficiency. However, we are not a
typical “roll up” story. It is our mission to continue to operate
the stores under their current banners and continue to facilitate
their unique cultures and connections to the communities they
serve.
The results of this philosophy: independent
sellers are extremely receptive to being acquired by us. This
dynamic in turn enables us to negotiate very reasonable and
cooperative purchase agreements which typically take the form of a
multiple of their bottom-line EBITDA.
However, worth mentioning is that their bottom
line is not our bottom line once we incorporate and streamline
their operations. There are several reasons why we raise
profitability on day one following an acquisition, most notably is
our significantly better buying power with the major distributors
and larger economies of scale when it comes to areas like payroll,
insurance and accounting.
Another factor in our favor is that our larger
competitors have no interest in buying these 1-10 store chains
because they are frankly too small.
Our plan: continue our proven track record of
consistent, responsible growth focusing on businesses that fall
within our model.
Near term: We will seek to complete another
acquisition either before year end or early in the 1st quarter of
next year, which could bring our top-line annualized revenue to
over $100,000,000 to begin fiscal 2025; yet another milestone.
Mid term: With our newfound path to obtain
proper funding, some of which is already in place, identify and
close multiple acquisitions in 2025.
Long term: Continue to grow and increase
profitability and shareholder value through these unique
acquisitions.
Healthy Choice also benefits from a proven
leadership team and an outstanding Board of Directors. With a
strong accounting team in place, led by John Ollet, our Chief
Financial Officer, formerly with Payless Shoes and Tiger Direct
(owner of Comp USA), and our Chief Operating Officer, Christopher
Santi, who is a former restauranteur, has a strong background in
retail & national sales, has been with the Company for over 12
years, and has steward the integration of all six of the Company’s
acquisitions, we are poised to accelerate our successful growth
efforts of the past.
With regards to the investment side of our
recent listing, spinoff investors typically see share price
volatility short-term due to the number of new shares issued into
the market and also due to a company's newness and lack of
stand-alone financial results. Management believes that the
dividend stock distributed to shareholders of the former parent
company is exerting selling pressure, causing the company's current
stock price to be lower than it should be. We hope that our
investors will understand our goal of creating long-term value and
our expectation that our growth and success will be reflected in
our stock price over the next 12 months.
We hope that you will join us on this journey
and help us to continue to grow, increase our worth and shareholder
value, keep local folks working, and provide a safe haven for
independent operators to fulfill their lifelong goals of selling
their legacies to people who care about their employees and their
communities the way that they have for decades.
About Healthy Choice Wellness
Corp.
Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. is a holding company focused on
providing consumers with healthier daily choices with respect to
nutrition and other lifestyle alternatives.
Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the Company operates:
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- Ada’s Natural Market, a natural and
organic grocery store offering fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins
and supplements, packaged groceries, meat and seafood, deli, baked
goods, dairy products, frozen foods, health & beauty products
and natural household items (www.Adasmarket.com).
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- Paradise Health & Nutrition’s
three stores that likewise offer fresh produce, bulk foods,
vitamins, and supplements, packaged groceries, meat and seafood,
deli, baked goods, dairy products, frozen foods, health &
beauty products and natural household items
(www.ParadiseHealthDirect.com).
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- Mother Earth’s Storehouse, an
organic and health food and vitamin store in New York’s Hudson
Valley, which has been in existence for over 40 years
(www.MotherEarthStorehouse.com).
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- Greens Natural Foods’ eight stores
in New York and New Jersey, offering a selection of 100% organic
produce and all-natural, non-GMO groceries and bulk foods; a wide
selection of local products; an organic juice and smoothie bar; a
fresh foods department, which offers fresh and healthy “grab &
go” foods; a full selection of vitamins & supplements; as well
as health and beauty products. (www.Greensnaturalfoods.com).
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- Ellwood Thompson’s, an organic and
natural health food and vitamin store located in Richmond, Virginia
(www.ellwoodthompsons.com).
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- GreenAcres Market, an organic and natural health food and
vitamin chain with five store locations in Kansas and Oklahoma.
GreenAcres Market is a chain of premier natural foods stores,
offering organic and all natural products and vitamins from both
top national brands as well as locally sourced specialty brand
(www.greenacres.com).
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- Through its wholly owned
subsidiary, Healthy Choice Wellness, LLC, the Company operates a
Healthy Choice Wellness Center in Kingston, NY and has a licensing
agreement for a Healthy Choice Wellness Center located at the
Casbah Spa and Salon in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The Company continues
to seek out locations for new Healthy Choice Wellness Centers but
there are not currently any agreements in place for the opening of
any new locations.
- Through its wholly owned
subsidiary, Healthy U Wholesale, the Company sells vitamins and
supplements, as well as health, beauty and personal care products
on its website www.TheVitaminStore.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of that term in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934). Additional written or oral forward-looking statements
may be made by the Company from time to time in filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or otherwise. Statements
contained in this press release that are not historical facts are
forward looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
and are based on management’s estimates, assumptions and
projections and are not guarantees of future performance. The
Company assumes no obligation to update these statements. Forward
looking statements may include, but are not limited to, projections
or estimates of revenue, income, or loss, exit costs, cash flow
needs and capital expenditures, statements regarding future
operations, expansion or restructuring plans, including our recent
exit from, and winding down of our wholesale distribution
operations. In addition, when used in this release, the words
“anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” and
“plans” and variations thereof and similar expressions are intended
to identify forward looking statements.
Factors that may affect our future results of
operations and financial condition include, but are not limited to,
fluctuations in demand for our products, the introduction of new
products, our ability to maintain customer and strategic business
relationships, the impact of competitive products and pricing,
growth in targeted markets, the adequacy of our liquidity and
financial strength to support its growth, and other information
that may be detailed from time-to-time in our filings with the
SEC.
Contact Information
Healthy Choices Management Corp. 3800 North 28th
Way, Hollywood, FL 33020305-600-5004Email: ir@hcwc1.com
Healthy Choice Wellness (AMEX:HCWC)
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