AUSTIN, TEXAS — Amplify Snack Brands, Inc., the private equity-backed producer of SkinnyPop brand popcorn, has launched an initial public offering (i.p.o.) for 15 million shares of its common stock.
The i.p.o. price is expected to be between $14 and $16 per share. Amplify has been approved to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BETR.”
In a July 24 filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Amplify described itself as “a high growth snack food company focused on developing and marketing products that appeal to consumers’ growing preference for better-for-you, or B.F.Y., snacks.”
The company’s anchor brand is SkinnyPop, which was established in 2010.
“Through its simple, major allergen-free and non-G.M.O. ingredients, SkinnyPop embodies our B.F.Y. mission and has amassed a loyal and growing customer base across a wide range of food distribution channels in the United States,” the company said.
Citing data from Information Resources, Inc., Amplify said the SkinnyPop brand was the fastest growing brand of scale in the ready-to-eat popcorn category in 2014, increasing its share of the sub-segment by 6.5 percentage points to 12.1%, and accounting for more than 40% of both distribution and sales velocity.
“We plan to continue to grow SkinnyPop by increasing its distribution, household penetration, product offerings per retail location and sales velocity, all of which will be supported by increasing brand awareness, new product introductions and favorable consumer trends,” the company said.
In addition to SkinnyPop, Amplify earlier this year acquired Paqui, a tortilla chip brand that the company said has many of the same key taste and B.F.Y. attributes as SkinnyPop.
“Paqui allows us to leverage our infrastructure to help us grow into an adjacent snacking sub-segment with a second innovative B.F.Y. brand,” Amplify noted in the S.E.C. filing. “We believe that our focus on building a portfolio of exclusively B.F.Y. snack brands differentiates us and will allow us to leverage our platform to realize material synergies across our family of B.F.Y. brands, as well as allow our retail customers to consolidate their vendor relationships in this large and growing category.”
Offering a look at unaudited financial results for the three months ended June 30, Amplify said net income was between $3.1 million and $3.6 million, which compared with net income of $16.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The company said the decline reflected an increase in interest expense and income tax expense. Net sales were expected to be between $47 million and $47.4 million, which compared with $35.5 million in the year-ago period.
