Caraloe and Parent Company Carrington Feel Sales Woes in 2000

Caraloe and Parent Company Carrington Feel Sales Woes in 2000

IRVING, Texas--Carrington Laboratories Inc.(NASDAQ:CARN) and its raw materials subsidiary Caraloe Inc. experienced declined sales for their fiscal year 2000 ended Dec. 31. Carrington revenues for 2000 dropped to $23.1 million from $28.1 million sold the previous year, and net loss slumped to $3.5 million or $.36 per share from $2.0 million or $.22 per share lost the year prior. Caraloe net sales fell 14.2 percent to $10.9 million in 2000 from $12.7 million sold in fiscal 1999. Management reported that the decrease in Caraloe sales was primarily due to an ordering shortfall by a major customer, despite this customer's signing in the third quarter a two-year extension of its supply agreement for Caraloe's Manapol powder, a nutraceutical raw material.
The company has taken steps to reduce operating costs in Costa Rica and Texas, will move its research and development laboratories into a new space with lower lease costs, and has assembled a team to actively market the company's contract manufacturing products. A week after releasing the fiscal 2000 results, Carrington announced that its board of directors had approved a plan for the company to buy back up to a million of its shares time to time on the open market.
At press time, there were approximately 9.5 million CARNshares outstanding.