Sunflower Nutraceuticals Case Study

Growth and Value Creation at Sunflower Nutraceuticals
Sunflower Nutraceuticals (SNC) is a nutraceuticals distributor based in Miami, Florida. Prior to 2012, SNC had flat annual sales growth with total revenues of $10 million and had been experiencing financing issues due to its thin margins and high working capital intensity. Miami Dade Merchant’s Bank (MDM) was SNC’s previous financier, but refused to increase SNC’s line of credit of $3.2 million, which was limiting SNC’s ability to grow because of the working capital constraints. In 2012, SNC decided to accept an alternative financing option from Averell & Tuttle (AT), an investment bank. AT provided SNC with a line of credit of $3.7 million at a 10% interest rate for a 10% equity stake.

SNC was able to increase its total firm value by $1,834,000 and its total equity value by $1,581,000, in 2012 dollars. On average, this attributed to an increase of approximately $203,778 a year in firm value. After a complete analysis of the company, SNC has proven and established itself as a trustworthy company, and it is expected that the market will reward SNC with lower risk. From 2010-2021, the equity multiplier decreased about four times from an average of 3.65 to an average of 1.10. The risks associated with taking on debt are mitigated due to SNC’s decreased leverage. This creates shareholder value by allowing the return to be stimulated by the assets and equity of the company. The return on the assets and equity of the company can be directly correlated with operational efficiency, return on investments, and overall optimal business decisions. SNC was able to continually create value in each of the three phases through pre and post strategic financial analysis that enabled leadership to make beneficial decisions. Leadership learned that although there are many decisions to make within the short term, a vision of long-term sustainable growth is critical to the success of a business. If management had the ability to redo the three phases, a similar approach would be taken. This is because of the value generated and company growth shown across the nine years. Even though SNC had to give up equity, they were still able to maintain control of the operating and investment decisions with its remaining stake and did not have to give up any additional equity. SNC is now an established company with room to grow and room to invest in future