Miami, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - October 8, 2024) - Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: OCTO) provides complete inventory funding and management solutions for e-commerce businesses in consumer goods and refurbished Apple products. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Forever 8 Fund LLC ("Forever 8"), Eightco supports e-commerce sellers by purchasing inventory on their behalf, enabling them to use their capital to grow their brands without the financial strain of maintaining stock.
Forever 8's proprietary data-driven tool allows Eightco to quickly and confidently assess inventory risk levels, allowing for efficient capital deployment. Forever 8's predictive inventory solution seeks to ensure optimal inventory levels and capital management, integrating planning, purchasing, and payout into one easy-to-use system. This model helps e-commerce sellers, including those on major platforms like Amazon and Shopify, avoid negative cash flow positions that typically arise from the need to continuously supply inventory while awaiting payments.
To see how the company intends to accomplish its goal, Hawk Point Media reached out to Eightco's CEO, Paul Vassilakos, to get his take on the market opportunities his company is targeting and how he intends to capitalize.
Here's what he said:
Q. Paul, your company has had a milestone-filled year. How can these affect the rest of 2024 and 2025?
A. First, I think it's fair to describe 2024 as not only milestone-filled but also transformative. Regaining NASDAQ compliance, which we announced last month, is a big part of that. As our recent press release highlighted, the company exceeded listing requirements, including stockholders' equity reaching $13.4 million, well above the $2.5 million threshold, as well as our common stock's bid price closing above $1.00 for 20 consecutive trading days, surpassing the 10-day requirement. I feel that the company's NASDAQ listing is essential because it unleashes our potential by strengthening the company's foundation and allowing immediate access to capital markets. I'll discuss others, but this one is key to growing our business in Q4 and into 2025.
Q. Okay, talk about some others?
A. We significantly strengthened our balance sheet. The cornerstone to that was getting rid of dilutive warrants as well as reducing, and in some cases, canceling outstanding debt. All in all, these actions increased shareholder equity by approximately $23 million. Furthermore, staying focused on maximizing high-margin market opportunities led to our doubling gross margins to 22%. We're also extremely proud of a 23% reduction in SG&A during the six months ended June 30, 2024, to $6.9 million from $9.0 million in the prior year's 6-month period.
These operational improvements are vital in enabling Eightco to intensify its focus on building its primary operating subsidiary, Forever 8. We can now devote nearly all our attention to growing that business and maximizing the substantial growth opportunity that we believe exists in Forever 8's target markets during the fourth quarter of 2024 and into 2025.
Q. What does Forever 8 do?
A. Forever 8's strategy focuses on monetizing opportunities from the Apple refurbished products market, particularly high-demand items like iPhones, iPads, AirPods, Apple Watches, and the iPad Pencil. The model works like this: Forever 8 purchases existing inventory from sellers and commits to purchasing future inventory directly from their suppliers, maintaining specific inventory levels to enhance sales and growth. We deploy this model not only in the refurbished Apple products market but also in the broader e-commerce market, funding inventory for sellers of more general consumer goods on platforms like Amazon.
In doing so, Forever 8 provides immediate growth capital and inventory management to e-commerce sellers. I want to point out that we're not supporting the wholesalers but rather the smaller, high-growth brands you see selling their products on sites like Amazon and Shopify. That's important to note, because with our commitment to them on the purchasing of products, their capital can be better used to grow their store through additional marketing, which we see as a mutual value driver.
The part attracting significant attention for e-commerce sellers is that we invoice them monthly for transacted sales after the goods are sold, solving a significant working capital issue for those sellers. Forever 8 charges them its cost plus a markup. In return for that markup paid, not only does Forever 8 fund the inventory, but its tech platform also facilitates the entire inventory management process end-to-end, making it seamless and scalable. We believe this win-win model will enable us to onboard significantly more sellers, which has allowed us to aim toward a stated revenue target of $100 million in 2025.
Q. Are you on track to meeting that goal?
A. We released that goal because we believe it's reachable. Of course, global economics matter, which we think will strengthen in a lowering interest rate environment. Selling into that expectation, we expect to maximize the value from the operational groundwork completed in 2024.
Q. Do you think your stock price reflects the company's current position?
A. With less than 2.5 million shares outstanding, we believe that stakeholders are well-positioned moving forward on a revenue multiple basis. We do expect to raise capital to support growth through next year. However, even with some dilution, we believe the return to our shareholders can be significant by deploying additional capital to serve high inbound demand for Forever 8's services from existing and new customers.
Like every CEO, I pay attention to price but can't obsess over it. However, I can make a case for why the price should be higher based on tangibles. Based on those, we can calculate a fair book value share price of over $5.00, which is significantly higher than the current stock price. Based on the demand we are seeing and even considering some dilution over time, we think that trajectory should steepen, not flatten.
Q. Forever 8 is the value driver for now. What is attracting new client interest to support your optimistic expectations?
A. A lot. Particularly, Forever 8's model is in demand, and we believe it deserves to be. Forever 8 provides sellers with a proprietary, data-driven tool that accurately assesses inventory risk. So, instead of purchasing and hoping to sell, we leverage historical sales data, demand trends, and other relevant factors to make informed decisions about which products to stock and in what quantities.
This predictive capability helps us maximize and efficiently deploy capital and minimize risk, creating value for both Forever 8 and its clients. As I noted earlier, the platform's integration of inventory planning, purchasing, and payouts also simplifies the complex process of inventory management. That deliverable enables e-commerce sellers to scale with confidence while reducing their exposure to supply chain uncertainties.
Since we buy and manage the sales dashboard on their behalf and factor in our efficiencies, it's easy to be optimistic about successfully seizing and profiting from our market opportunities.
Q. Those advantages are part of what your company has referred to as "proprietary customer acquisition tools." Explain more about that.
We have developed a proprietary application that analyzes Amazon products to screen for high-performing products sold by sellers who match Forever 8's eligibility criteria. Public Amazon data is scraped and filtered for sales velocity, search rank, known profit dynamics, customer behavior, and geographic location. Accordingly, a list of about 150,000 high-value seller contacts has been created and is regularly updated. These leads are communicated to our CRM and drive our internal sales process.
Q. From reading your company updates, I know there's more to tell. But for today's purpose, can you provide a final message regarding targeted goals?
A. Sure; I think Forever 8 is well-positioned to grow its revenues and client base through the significant demand for refurbished Apple products, as well as its ability to provide a unique and highly efficient inventory capital solution to the growing number of brands that are selling on major platforms, especially the largest ones like Amazon.
Our advantage is being different in the competitive landscape, which we expect will help Forever 8 drive revenues to that $100 million level next year. Moreover, Eightco is better positioned than ever to turn that goal into income, which, after the balance sheet and capital improvements, should fall more quickly to the bottom line.
Our core business is strong, and we see significant opportunities ahead. So, we are in the right markets at the right time to take advantage of proven and consistent demand for Apple products as well as the growing e-commerce market more broadly. Summing and utilizing the value of our parts, I believe we can and will reward our customers and investors. In other words, we think the best is yet to come.
Eightco (NASDAQ: OCTO) is committed to growth of its subsidiaries, made up of Forever 8 Fund LLC, an inventory capital and management platform for e-commerce sellers, and Ferguson Containers, Inc., a provider of complete manufacturing and logistical solutions for product and packaging needs, through strategic management and investment. In addition, the Company is actively seeking new opportunities to add to its portfolio of technology solutions focused on the e-commerce ecosystem through strategic acquisitions. Through a combination of innovative strategies and focused execution, Eightco aims to create significant value and growth for its portfolio companies and stockholders.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this press release other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward looking. Words such as "plans," "expects," "will," "anticipates," "continue," "expand," "advance," "develop" "believes," "guidance," "target," "may," "remain," "project," "outlook," "intend," "estimate," "could," "should," and other words and terms of similar meaning and expression are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, without limitation: Eightco's ability to regain and maintain compliance with the Nasdaq's continued listing requirements; unexpected costs, charges or expenses that reduce Eightco's capital resources; Eightco's inability to raise adequate capital to fund its business; the inability to innovate and attract users for Eightco's and its subsidiaries' products; future legislation and rulemaking negatively impacting digital assets; and shifting public and governmental positions on digital asset mining activity. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause Eightco's actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, see Eightco's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 1, 2024, as amended. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Eightco undertakes no duty to update this information or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of such statements to reflect future events or developments, except as required by law.
Additional Disclaimers and Disclosures: This is sponsored content. Hawk Point Media Group, LLC. (HPM) has been compensated by Interactive Offers to produce and distribute digital content for Eightco Holdings, Inc. It should be expressly understood that HPM is not operated by a licensed broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. It should also be expressly understood that under no circumstances does any information published herein represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. HPM reports/releases are commercial advertisements and are for general information purposes ONLY. The information made available by HPM is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The contributors do NOT buy and sell securities covered before or after any particular article, report and/or publication. HPM holds ZERO shares and has never owned stock in Eightco Holdings, Inc. While HPM does not own or market shares, it is prudent to expect that those hiring HPM including that company's owners, employees, and affiliates, may sell some or even all of the Eightco Holdings, Inc. shares that they own, if any, during and/or after this engagement period. Always do your own due diligence prior to investing in any publicly traded company. For a full disclaimer and disclosure statement, click HERE.
