Innovative Food Holdings Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2012

NAPLES, Fla., Nov. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Food Holdings, Inc., (OTCQB: IVFH) a company operating in the gourmet food space through its ownership of a growing number of independent, wholly-owned subsidiaries and brands, today announced its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2012.

Third Quarter and First Nine Months 2012 Financial Highlights

• Record quarterly revenues of $5,130,418; an increase of approximately 77% compared to the third quarter of 2011;   
• Nine month record revenues of $12,768,596; an increase of approximately 57% compared to the first nine months of 2011;
• September 2012 represented 38th consecutive month of increased month-over-month revenue;
• EBITDA (without non-operations related stock, warrant and options gains/losses) for the third quarter of 2012 was $293,280 compared to an EBITDA loss of $96,583 for the third quarter of 2011;
• EBITDA (without non-operations related stock, warrant and options gains/losses) for the first nine months of 2012 increased by over 170% to $656,588 compared to EBITDA of $234,933 for the first nine months of 2011.

"Innovative Food Holdings had a significantly strong quarter, both financially and operationally, as we continued to successfully execute on our growth strategy and further penetrate the gourmet food market," stated Sam Klepfish, Chief Executive Officer of Innovative Food Holdings.  "We remain focused on building a best in class portfolio of synergistic gourmet food companies that leverage the respective strengths of Innovative Food Holdings' core business model.  In addition, as a result of our strong position in the gourmet specialty market, our growing financial strength, and general weak economic conditions, we are now seeing increased opportunities to further grow the Innovative Food Holdings portfolio as we continue to benefit from greater exposure of our products and brands."

Mr. Klepfish continued, "Throughout the quarter we presented the Innovative Food Holdings story to several institutional investors within the microcap space as we continue with our proactive investor relations plan to further increase shareholder value.  In general, we believe that the feedback we have received from those investor meetings has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to continuing our engagement with investors over the coming quarters." 

Mr. Klepfish also stated, "We believe that Innovative Food Holdings offers a unique opportunity for investors in several of the following rapidly growing food related areas and food trends:   

• Food traceability through our growing number of small artisanal farms using highly traceable methods;
• Food safety through our focus on direct from source to customer thereby minimizing touches and time in transit;
• Healthier eating through our expanding lines of healthy food products including a leading position in the rapidly growing gluten free foodservice space; and
• Preference for high quality and unique artisanal products through our growing number of small batch, unique high quality artisanal products delivered directly from small artisanal growers and producers."

Mr. Klepfish concluded, "As we continue to grow the Innovative Food Holdings portfolio of companies, expanding the Company's shareholder base will continue to remain a key initiative for the Company.  On November 27, 2012, Company management will be holding the first of several strategic, investor after-market events offering a tasting of unique products from the Innovative Food Holdings portfolio companies to a select group of institutional and retail microcap investors."

Additional Highlights

During the third quarter, the Company successfully completed the first stage of Artisan's IT integration into the Innovative Food Holdings platform and full integration is expected by the end of 2012.  The Company also test launched the expansion of its Artistre® brand in the third quarter of 2012. 

The Company's strong quarter and year-to-date are further highlighted by its total revenues as sales for the first nine months of 2012 have already exceeded 2011's full year figures. 

Financial Results

Net revenues were a record $5,130,418 for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, an approximate 77% increase compared to net revenues of $2,892,204 for the third quarter of 2011. Revenues for the first nine months of 2012 were $12,768,596, an approximate 57% increase compared to revenues of $8,140,010 for the first nine months of 2011. Additionally, September 2012 represented the 38th consecutive month of increased month-over-month revenues for the Company.

Third quarter 2012 EBITDA (without non-operations related stock, warrants and options gains/losses) grew over 404% to $293,280 compared to a loss of $96,583 in the same quarter the previous year. In addition, EBITDA (without non-operations related stock, warrants and options gains/losses) for the first nine months of 2012 increased by over 170% to $656,588 compared to $234,933 of such EBITDA for the first nine months of 2011.

The company reported basic earnings per share of $0.28 per share for the third quarter of 2012 compared to a net loss of $0.001 in the same quarter in 2011; a significant amount of the reported EPS in the third quarter of 2012 was related to a one-time gain associated with the revaluing of options and warrants.

About Innovative Food Holdings

Innovative Food Holdings, Inc., ("IVFH") is a unique holding company operating in the gourmet food space by owning a growing number of independent, wholly-owned subsidiaries and brands. The subsidiaries utilize IVFH's proprietary technology platform and existing relationships to distribute gourmet foods to restaurants, chefs and many others who utilize these niche products. IVFH's subsidiaries combine to offer over 5,800 unique products to over 30,000 various end users. The Company's current portfolio includes Food Innovations, For The Gourmet, Gourmet Food Service Group, Artisan Specialty Foods, and most recently, Food Hatch. IVFH is also developing selected lines of private label products within the premium gourmet space, the first of which is the Artistre® brand line of Molecular Gastronomy products.

About Food Innovations

Food Innovations, Inc., in partnership with one of the largest Foodservice distributors in the United States, provides over 5,800 of the highest quality gourmet food products to professional chefs throughout the United States. To learn more, visit the Food Innovations website at www.foodinno.com. Food Innovations is a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

About For The Gourmet, Inc.

Through its website, and through additional sales channels, For The Gourmet, Inc. provides the highest quality gourmet food products to the retail consumer market under the For The Gourmet line at www.forthegourmet.com. To learn more, visit the For The Gourmet website at http://www.forthegourmet.com/. For The Gourmet, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.

About Artisan Specialty Foods, Inc.

Artisan Specialty Foods, Inc. is a Chicago based gourmet foodservice distributer with repacking capabilities.  Artisan sells and warehouses over 1500 products and distributes to over 500 customers and its customers include some of the finest foodservice establishments in the Chicago area.  Artisan Specialty Foods, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovative Food Holdings.

This release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to Innovative Food Holdings, Inc. (the "Company") that are based on the current beliefs of the Company's management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain assumptions, including those described in this release. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as "should," "could," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "might," "potentially" or "expect". The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

Investor Contacts:
KCSA Strategic Communications
Philip Carlson / Josh Dver
+1 212.896.1233 / +1 212.896.1239
[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE Innovative Food Holdings, Inc.