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Ralph D. McRae
Chairman and CEO
Leading Brands, Inc.
Toll Free: 1-800-729-2746 ext. 238
[email protected]
Leading Brands, Inc. Arranges Financing
For Quick, Inc. Sufficient To Take To Profitability
VANCOUVER, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2001--Leading
Brands, Inc. LBIX, Canada's largest independent, fully integrated food and beverage
brand management company, is pleased to announce that it has arranged for and
concluded private equity placements of approximately $4,875,000 Cdn for its
Quick, Inc. subsidiary.
The offering was comprised of a series of private transactions and no third party commission was paid.
The financing involved the issuance of Leading Brands, Inc. common and preferred shares with issue and conversion prices ranging from $1.00US to $2.00US.
Leading Brands Chairman and CEO Ralph D. McRae said: "We are very pleased to have been able to arrange this financing, particularly given the state of the equity markets over the past 9 months. Management believes that this financing is sufficient to take Quick to profitability over the ensuing 12 months. If we are successful, we believe that Quick will be the first Internet-enabled grocery company to reach profitability.
"Quick employs a fully integrated, scalable and low cost solution for home delivery. We have been able to design and implement our system for a fraction of the cost of our more well known competitors. Our system is designed to break-even at much lower and more reasonable order levels, something that we believe is key to success in this industry.
"Quick is presently operating in Vancouver, Canada and we anticipate rolling out to other markets once profitability is achieved. This financing is also the necessary first step to executing the spin-off of Quick, Inc.
"When combined with the proceeds of our arrangement with South Beach Beverage Co., announced March 5, 2001, we anticipate aggregate cash receipts of approximately $14,000,000 Cdn from these transactions." About Leading Brands, Inc.:
Leading Brands Chairman & CEO Ralph D. McRae added: "Everyone in our company is proud of what we have been able to accomplish with SoBe. In less than two years we have made it the number one new age beverage in Canada. At the same time, however, we are very pleased with the financial terms of this new arrangement and our ability to remain involved in packaging the product." The details of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Leading Brands, Inc.:
Headquartered in Richmond, B.C., Canada, Leading Brands, Inc. is the largest independent food and beverage integrated brand management company in Canada. The Company's unique Integrated Distribution System (IDS) offers turnkey, one-stop shopping to food and beverage brand owners. Its Quick.com, Inc. subsidiary is building a consumer home replenishment system for the Internet economy.
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NOTE: Any statements that are not historical facts contained in this release are forward-looking statements. It is possible that the assumptions made by management for purposes of such statements may not materialize. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in any forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those relating to product demand, pricing, market acceptance, the effect of economic conditions, including currency fluctuations, intellectual property rights, and the outcome of competitive products, risks in product development, the results of financing effort, the ability to complete transactions, and other risks identified in this release and the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.