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Action Products' Lemonade StandApril 6, 2009There aren’t many publicly traded toy companies. Most are giant manufacturers—Mattel, Hasbro, Jakks Pacific—that offer up juicy bits of data about themselves only when mandated by SEC regulations. They typically issue press releases when they’ve got something specific to promote, like a new product or a fresh licensing deal, but it’s rare they announce anything truly surprising, except for the odd acquisition now and then, and even rarer do they offer anything of real financial depth.
ORLANDO, FL—Apr 3, 2009—Action Products International, Inc. (Nasdaq CM: APII ) — Bob Muniz, President of Action Toys, said, "In the month just ended — and these are 'unofficial' numbers — Action Toys wrote a total of 451 sales orders, totaling $438,898.23 for an average written sale of $973.17. This compares favorably with March of 2008 in this way: In 2008 Action Toys wrote 713 orders, 58% more than this year, but the written business then was $535,531.63 for the month, only 22% more than this year in volume. In March of '08 Action Toys' average written order was $751.10. In March of '09 the average written order was $973.17, providing an increase in written business per order of 30%. That means the company is doing a better job of writing its brands and building orders. The new management considers this very good work in view of the current economic challenges."In February of '09 Action Toys wrote $227,157.61 on 379 orders. Therefore, the firm increased the number of orders in March by 72 or 19%. Our average written order in February was only $599.36. So in March we increased our average written sale by $373.81 or 63%. And our invoiced data also follows similar patterns. In February, we invoiced $171,239.75 on 354 shipped invoices for an average of $483.73. Our March business is (unofficially) $267,695.85 invoiced on 405 invoices for an average sale of $660.98 per invoice. That is an increase from February to March of 37% in average shippable sales per invoice. "Action Toys is still operating below 2008 levels, but we are showing steady improvement. In March of 2008 we invoiced $404,487.02 on 693 invoices. That was an average invoiced sale of $583.68. In 2009 we showed nice improvement with the aforementioned $660.98 per invoice. That reflects a gain of $77.30 per average sale from March 2008, or about 14%. That is encouraging, even though the total sales for March 2008 were 404,487.02. March 2009 totals are $136,791 lower (invoiced) than '08 for an overall decline on a month-to-month comparison of 34%. That's unfortunate, but the previously mentioned averages provide confidence that we can very quickly reverse these trends and begin to quickly show sales (and soon after, profit) gains as we move through 2009. "Looking ahead, in April of 2008 APII wrote $652,619.98. There were 1,005 orders written for an average of $649.38 per order. In that month we invoiced $490,470.29 on 975 invoiced (shipped) sales. That represents an average of $503.05 shipped per invoice. However, based on our new aggressive sales outreach, our efforts to grow distribution, rep participation and internal sales activities and considering our recent averages writing and invoicing business, there is no doubt that we can reach for steadily improving numbers as we work on reversing the recent downward trends. "In April of 2009 we 'own' 22 selling days counting today, April 1st. We have freshly closed business (a new Canadian distributor, other pre-booked sales including (but not limited to) back-orders and pre-sells relating to 'on the water' containers of product due to arrive later this month). Presently that number sits at about $90,000 in 'booked to ship in April' orders, but the shippable amount of those orders is probably closer to $55,000 at this time. "We have recently been experiencing an 'uptick' in our daily sales average for written business, which will naturally produce similar gains in shipped/invoiced business. We have been looking for an average of $15,000 to $20,000 written business per day, and met that average for the last half of March. For April our goal is to average $25,000 per day in written business. Doing that would have Action Toys write $550,000 this month and invoicing (based on current levels) about $335,500. That falls below 2008 results ($652,619.98 written; $490,470.29 invoiced), but it brings us ever closer to positive levels and gains. "In March we wrote a total of 451 orders at an average of $973.17 per order. We have set a goal to write a minimum total of 600 orders in April. If we do that we need only average written orders of $916.67 to achieve a writing goal of $550,000. Of those 600 orders, Mr. Muniz would like to see Action Toys invoice 500 of them in April. If the average invoiced sale is $671.00 the company will achieve $335,500 in invoiced sales with 500 invoices. That is a $10 increase in the average invoice from March and it is $57 lower in written business averages. Mr. Muniz stated that he realizes that the company needs a little more time, inventory and effort to completely turn this 'ship' 180 degrees in direction, but he remains confident that it can be done within a reasonable time to produce increasing sales revenue and a return to profitability." About Action Products International, Inc. Action Products International, Inc. ("APII") is a global manufacturer and distributor of brand-focused consumer products with award winning brands in the educational toys and crafts product segment. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, APII's product line includes action figures, play-sets, activity kits and premium wooden toys that emphasize educational fun within the themes of arts and crafts, nature and science. Action Toys Inc products are distributed to and sold by more than two thousand retail stores worldwide. For more information about the Action Toys Inc, please visit our websites at www.apii.com and http://www.actiontoysinc.com/ Posted by Cliff Annicelli on April 6, 2009 | Comments (0)
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