CVSL Outlines Structure For Supporting Direct Selling Acquisitions

DALLAS, May 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Declaring that "the direct selling industry and the world economy are missing out on too many opportunities," CVSL Inc. chairman John Rochon said today that his company's infrastructure in Ohio and Texas is ready to provide the "missing link" that often has stifled the growth of promising direct selling companies, such as facilities and resources to support headquarters, supply chain, R&D, manufacturing and distribution.

Last September, Mr. Rochon outlined his strategy for CVSL [OTC.PK: CVSL] to acquire multiple direct selling companies, of varying sizes, under a publicly-traded umbrella.  Each company that joined CVSL would maintain its separate brand, product line, leadership and sales force. 

"While the direct selling channel is massive -- more than $117 billion in revenue every year -- there are too many good direct selling companies that can't get launched or can't sustain growth, because they lack infrastructure.  It's time to change that," said Mr. Rochon. 

"I call this sector 'micro-enterprise' and I believe it can help rejuvenate the economy -- but only if someone provides the practical support it needs.  CVSL can do that," he added. 

"Up and coming direct selling companies are like gazelles.  They're capable of great speed and can cover a lot of ground quickly if they're properly nurtured."

Mr. Rochon noted that, often, a small and promising direct selling company will begin to grow, but as sales rise, it finds itself at the mercy of vendors, who can raise prices and stifle further growth. 

"The company may also discover that it can't afford R&D and can't keep up with manufacturing needs, even for the products it already has.  When you're entirely dependent on third parties for product development, production and quality control, you can quickly find yourself stuck and your growth can stall," he said.  "That's why a lot of direct selling companies with good products make it for awhile, but then hit a wall." 

CVSL has assets available to support the needs of such companies, including a half million square feet of space for hand-crafting, manufacturing and distribution, as well as a significant amount of office space for headquarters, customer service, IT, security monitoring and related functions at its facility near Columbus, Ohio. 

ActiTech, a CVSL sister company in Sherman, Texas, just north of Dallas, is CVSL's in-house manufacturing arm.  It is a 600,000 square foot, state of the art R&D, manufacturing, filling and warehouse facility for health and beauty, nutritional and consumable products. 

The manufacturing facility is ISO 9001 compliant and is USDA certified organic, as well as Texas certified for food, drugs and cosmetics and is FDA inspected.  It performs new product development, manages regulatory review and compliance, and handles testing and monitoring.  Air and water environmental monitoring in the facility are performed daily and it operates a USP purified water system.  The facility has full capabilities for large volumes for blending, filling and bottle labeling, including several filling lines, each capable of handling up to 120,000 units per day.

Product lines being processed at the facility include skin care, OTC medical devices, hair care, beverages, energy drinks, powders and spices.  The facility has done contract work for major corporate clients in the food, drug and cosmetic sectors.

In addition to manufacturing, CVSL has business support resources in its Plano, Texas office in areas such as marketing, sales, finance, legal and HR. 

"It all comes down to reducing a company's risk and clearing away obstacles to growth," said Mr. Rochon.  "The great American tradition is that someone comes up with a great idea for a great product.  They launch a company, it grows, jobs are created and everyone benefits.  But too often in the direct selling world, a good company hits a glass ceiling because it doesn't have the support it needs to grow to its potential.  We intend that CVSL will help good companies break through that ceiling and be the successes that they deserve to be."

About CVSL

CVSL Inc. (previously Computer Vision Systems Laboratories) is an innovative public company pursuing a strategy of gathering together multiple companies in the direct selling, or micro-enterprise, sector.  Each company will maintain its own separate brand identity, leadership and product line. 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," or "will" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Although we do not make forward-looking statements unless we believe we have a reasonable basis for doing so, we cannot guarantee their accuracy. These statements are only expectations and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including the risks outlined under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended December 31, 2012 and those discussed in other documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements to differ materially from expectations.  Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform our statements to actual results or changed expectations.

Media Contact:  Russell Mack ([email protected]) 
Investor Relations Contact:  Scott Pumper ([email protected])

SOURCE CVSL Inc.