Source: Taipei Times by Chen Cheng-hui

Health food company Grape King Bio Ltd (葡萄王) yesterday reported record sales for last year and offered a positive business outlook for this year.

The company, which produces the Come Best tonic drink and Granoderma King nutritional supplements, said direct-sales subsidiary Pro-Partner Inc (葡眾), as well as manufacturing units and sales channels in Taiwan and Shanghai, all contributed to its sales growth last year.

The company’s sales have exceeded NT$10 billion (US$322.6 million) for the second consecutive year after consolidated revenue last year increased 2.35 percent to NT$10.64 billion from NT$10.39 billion the previous year, Grape King said in a regulatory filing.

Last month, revenue increased 7.89 percent year-on-year to NT$1.2 billion, the highest monthly level in the company’s history, it said.

That helped boost last quarter’s revenue to increase 2.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$3.2 billion, also the best performance on a quarterly basis, it added.

Grape King said in a statement that its operations in Taiwan reported a double-digit percentage increase in sales for last year, as the contract manufacturing business saw sales rise 10.8 percent annually due to rising demand for its lactic acid bacteria and mushroom raw materials, while the own-brand business reported sales that grew 13.9 percent in the year thanks to stable demand for healthcare products and the effect of promotional campaigns for its energy drinks.

The stable performance of its Chinese contract manufacturing business and the launch of additional sales channels across the Taiwan Strait during the third quarter also helped boost Shanghai Grape King’s sales to expand 46 percent last year, it added.

The company is positive about its business outlook for this year and is optimistic about its three major business units, it said, citing new production lines in Taiwan that have come online and high-margin health food supplements by Pro-Partne that are scheduled to hit the market soon, along with the introduction of brand channel business by Shanghai Grape King.