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By Jim Downing, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Apr. 3--NutraCea's last full quarter in the Sacramento area was a good one.
For the three months ending Dec. 31, the El Dorado Hills-based nutritional products maker recorded profits of $778,000, or $0.01 a share, on revenue of $5.2 million.
A year earlier, in its first quarter after merging with sister company RiceX, NutraCea lost $161,000 on revenue of $4.5 million.
The fourth-quarter results, announced Monday, brought NutraCea's 2006 profits to $1.6 million, the first annual profit in its seven-year history.
"This significant turnaround within just the last 15 months is a major achievement for the company," said Chief Executive Brad Edson in a news release.
NutraCea produces "stabilized" rice bran through a technique that deactivates an enzyme that otherwise causes the bran to spoil quickly. Rice bran contains a variety of nutrients as well as dietary fiber. The bran is the outer layer of the rice kernel, usually removed during milling and discarded.
NutraCea and its precursors -- Food Extrusion Inc., RiceX Co. and NutraStar Inc. -- have been in El Dorado Hills since 1989.
Edson was hired in December 2004 to head a new management team. He has lived in Phoenix since before taking the job, and announced in October that the company would soon shift its headquarters to that city.
That transition is reportedly within weeks of completion. The company's lease on its El Dorado Hills office expires this month, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About 45 percent of NutraCea's 2006 revenues came through sales to infomercial firm ITV Global Inc., which markets NutraCea's rice bran nutritional supplements, according to SEC documents. The company also sells rice bran to major food and animal feed companies, which use the product as an additive.
Since the announcement of the move to Phoenix, NutraCea's stock price has nearly doubled. It closed Monday at $3.20, up 19 cents, or 6.31 percent, in trading on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
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