LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.,
July 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The
Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN), a leading organic
and natural products company with operations in North America, Europe and India providing consumers with A Healthier Way
of Life™, today announced the acquisition by Hain Celestial Europe
through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Mona Group
("Mona"), a leader in plant-based foods and beverages with
facilities in Germany and
Austria. Mona offers a wide range of organic and natural
products under the Joya® and Happy® brands, including soy, oat,
rice and nut-based drinks as well as plant-based yogurts, desserts,
creamers, tofu and private label products, sold to leading
retailers in Europe, primarily in
Austria and Germany and eastern European
countries.
"We are excited by the acquisition of Mona, which expands our
presence in plant-based products in Europe, solidifying our leadership position in
the category with the addition of Joya® and Happy® to our Dream™,
Lima® and Natumi® brands. This acquisition increases the
scale of our plant-based operations to over $100 million net sales in Europe in a growing category of branded and
private label products, while providing us with additional
manufacturing capacity," said Irwin D.
Simon, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Hain Celestial. "Mona also presents us with the opportunity
to expand our European product offerings of Lima®, Ella's Kitchen®,
Frank Cooper's®, Robertson's® and
Sun-Pat® brands into Austria,
Germany and other central and
eastern European countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. We plan to
create sales opportunities with plant-based beverages and yogurt,
which we have successfully introduced in the United States, expand the refrigerated
category into desserts, extend the reach of our global brands,
including Celestial Seasonings®, Terra® and Tilda®, and leverage
our existing infrastructure, manufacturing and research and
development expertise for cost efficiencies."
In calendar year 2014 Mona had approximately $50 million in net sales and is expected to be
accretive to Hain Celestial's earnings in fiscal year 2016.
Mona's plant-based business, which was established in 2001, was
owned by several venture capital groups and members of current and
former management.
"As a leading natural and organic foods company in Europe, we believe plant-based foods will
become more and more a part of our daily diets. With this
acquisition we will be able to further expand our healthy food
offerings and capitalize on plant-based eating trends," commented
Bart Dobbelaere, Chief Executive
Officer of Hain Celestial Europe. "In addition plant-based
foods and beverages are more sustainable and lighten the footprint
we leave behind."
"We welcome Wolfgang Goldenitsch, Chief Executive Officer of
Mona, who will report to Bart
Dobbelaere, and we look forward to working with Wolfgang and
Peter Garherr, Chief Financial Officer, and their team to expand
our business in Europe," concluded
Irwin Simon.
With the acquisition of Mona, Hain Celestial Europe will have
three facilities producing plant-based beverages, two in
Germany and one in Austria, serving the European markets.
Mona's Vienna office will be the
base for expansion into eastern Europe.
The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
The Hain Celestial
Group (NASDAQ: HAIN), headquartered in Lake Success, NY, is a leading organic and
natural products company with operations in North America, Europe and India. Hain Celestial
participates in many natural categories with well-known brands that
include Celestial Seasonings®, Earth's Best®, Ella's Kitchen®,
Terra®, Garden of Eatin'®, Sensible Portions®, Health Valley®,
Arrowhead Mills®, MaraNatha®, SunSpire®, DeBoles®, Casbah®, Rudi's
Organic Bakery®, Gluten Free Café™, Hain Pure Foods®, Spectrum®,
Spectrum Essentials®, Walnut Acres Organic®, Imagine®, Almond
Dream®, Rice Dream®, Soy Dream®, WestSoy®, The Greek Gods®,
BluePrint®, FreeBird®, Plainville Farms®, Empire®, Kosher Valley®,
Yves Veggie Cuisine®, Europe's
Best®, Cully & Sully®, New Covent Garden Soup Co.®, Johnson's
Juice Co.®, Farmhouse Fare®, Hartley's®, Sun-Pat®, Gale's®,
Robertson's®, Frank Cooper's®, Linda
McCartney®, Lima®, Danival®, Happy®, Joya®, Natumi®, GG
UniqueFiber®, Tilda®, JASON®, Avalon Organics®, Alba Botanica®,
Live Clean® and Queen Helene®. Hain Celestial has been
providing A Healthier Way of Life™ since 1993. For more
information, visit www.hain.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in
this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" under
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words
such as "plan," "continue," "expect," "expected," "anticipate,"
"intend", "estimate," "believe," "seek", "may," "potential," "can,"
"positioned," "should," "future," and similar expressions, or the
negative of those expressions, may identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements include the
Company's beliefs or expectations relating to (i) accretion and
(ii) growth trends and distribution opportunities. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the Company's
actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of
the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from
any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such
factors include, among others, the Company's ability to achieve its
guidance for net sales and earnings per diluted share in fiscal
year 2015 given the economic environment in the U.S. and other
markets that it sells products as well as economic, political and
business conditions generally and their effect on the Company's
customers and consumers' product preferences, and the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations; changes in
estimates or judgments related to the Company's impairment analysis
of goodwill and other intangible assets, as well as with respect to
the Company's valuation allowances of its deferred tax assets; the
Company's ability to implement its business and acquisition
strategy; the ability of the Company's joint venture investment to
successfully execute its business plan; the Company's ability to
realize sustainable growth generally and from investments in core
brands, offering new products and its focus on cost containment,
productivity, cash flow and margin enhancement in particular; the
Company's ability to effectively integrate its acquisitions; the
Company's ability to successfully consummate its proposed
divestitures; the effects on the Company's results of operations
from the impacts of foreign exchange; competition; the success and
cost of introducing new products as well as the Company's ability
to increase prices on existing products; availability and retention
of key personnel; the Company's reliance on third party
distributors, manufacturers and suppliers; the Company's ability to
maintain existing customers and secure and integrate new customers;
the Company's ability to respond to changes and trends in customer
and consumer demand, preferences and consumption; international
sales and operations; changes in fuel, raw material and commodity
costs; changes in, or the failure to comply with, government
regulations; the availability of organic and natural ingredients;
the loss of one or more of the Company's manufacturing facilities;
the ability to use the Company's trademarks; reputational damage;
product liability; product recall or market withdrawal;
seasonality; litigation; the Company's reliance on its information
technology systems; and the other risks detailed from time-to-time
in the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including the
annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014. As a result of the foregoing
and other factors, no assurance can be given as to future results,
levels of activity and achievements and neither the Company nor any
person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of
these statements.
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SOURCE The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.