PetIQ, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

 

 

 

 

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes  ☐     No   ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.  Yes  ☐     No   ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days Yes   ☒    No   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes   ☒    No   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☒

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b‑2 of the Exchange Act). ☐ Yes   ☒ No

 

As of June 28, 2019, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $629.7 million. Shares of Class A common stock held by each executive officer, director and by certain persons that own 10 percent or more of the outstanding Class A common stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

 

As of March 11, 2020, we had 23,889,861 shares of Class A common stock and 4,462,643 shares of Class B common stock outstanding.

 

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

 

We intend to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, not later than 120 days after the close of our fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, a definitive proxy statement or an amendment to this report filed under cover of Form 10-K/A containing the information required to be disclosed under Part III of Form 10-K.

 

 

 

PetIQ, Inc.

Table of Contents

 

 

PART I

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The following discussion includes certain forward-looking statements. For a discussion of important factors, including the continuing development of our business and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results referred to in the historical information and the forward-looking statements presented herein, see “Item 1A, Risk Factors” and “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” contained in this Annual Report. 

Unless the context requires otherwise, references to ‘‘PetIQ, Inc.,’’ ‘‘PetIQ,’’ the ‘‘Company,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘our’’ or ‘‘us’’ refer collectively to PetIQ, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, including PetIQ Holdings, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, which we refer to as “HoldCo”. 

Item 1 - Business    

Business Overview

PetIQ is a leading pet medication and wellness company delivering a smarter way for pet parents to help their pets live their best lives through convenient access to affordable veterinary products and services. We engage with customers through more than 60,000 points of distribution across retail, including veterinary, and e-commerce channels with our branded distributed medications, which is further supported by our own world-class medication manufacturing facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Our national service platform, VIP Petcare (“VIP”), operates in over 3,400 retail partner locations in 41 states, providing cost effective and convenient veterinary wellness services. PetIQ believes that pets are an important part of the family and deserve the best products and care we can give them.

We have two reporting segments: (i) Products; and (ii) Services. The Products segment consists of our manufacturing and distribution business. The Services segments consists of veterinary services, and related product sales, provided by the Company directly to consumers.

We are the sole managing member of PetIQ Holdings, LLC (“HoldCo”), a Delaware limited liability company, which is the sole member of PetIQ, LLC (“Opco”) and, through Holdco, operate and control all of the business and affairs of Opco.

Recent Developments

Capstar Acquisition

On January 13, 2020, we announced that, through Opco, we executed an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) to acquire the U.S. rights to Capstar® and CapAction® and related assets (the “Acquisition”) from Elanco US Inc. (“Elanco”) for $95 million, plus the cost of certain outstanding finished goods inventory in saleable condition. Capstar and CapAction are oral tablets for the treatment of flea infestations on dogs, puppies, cats and kittens. Capstar is comprised of five SKUs and CapAction is sold under three SKUs. The closing of the transaction is contingent upon customary closing conditions, including, among others, the approval of the acquisition under a consent order issued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The parties have agreed that the Acquisition will not close earlier than July 1, 2020.

Following closing, Elanco will manufacture and supply Capstar and CapAction and provide certain technology transfer services to Opco over a 24-month period pursuant to a manufacturing and supply agreement.

Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition

On July 8, 2019, we, through Opco, completed the acquisition of all the outstanding stock of Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Inc. (“Sergeant’s”), d/b/a Perrigo Animal Health, including any assets related to Perrigo Company plc’s animal health business (the “Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition”). As a result of the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition, Sergeant’s is now an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

Our Industry

Attractive Pet Industry Trends. In 2019, approximately 54% of total U.S. households owned a dog or a cat, compared to 50% of total U.S. households in 2009, according to Packaged Facts. Demographic trends in pet ownership and changing attitudes toward pets support our continuing growth, through the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strong Growth in Pet Products. According to Packaged Facts, the $95.0 billion U.S. consumers spent on pet products and services in 2019 nearly doubled their 2009 spending of $53.7 billion. Veterinary channel sales of pet medications grew from an estimated $6.7 billion in 2018 to $7.3 billion in 2019, and overall retail sales of pet medications (excluding pet supplements) are estimated to grow from $9.0 billion in 2019 to $12.5 billion by 2022, according to Packaged Facts. Additionally, our innovative pet treats compete in the U.S. dog and cat treat market, which has grown every year since 2012. According to Packaged Facts, the U.S. dog and cat treat market has grown to an estimated $6.7 billion in 2019 and is estimated to reach $7.5 billion of retail sales by 2023, representing a CAGR of 3% between 2018 and 2023.

Growth of Pet Medication Purchases from Retail Channel. We believe the market for pet medication and health and wellness products in the retail and online channels will likely outpace growth in the broader pet industry. The pet owner has increasingly purchased veterinarian grade pet products from the retail channel and e-commerce. We believe that migration will continue in the future as more consumers take advantage of the convenience of their local retail store and online, become aware of the significant cost savings that retail channels and online can deliver, and our product penetration at retail increases. Additionally, there is a significant segment of pet owners who have not sought pet health care for a variety of reasons. Our affordable high-quality products will help unlock demand and provide customers the leading treatments they want at prices they can afford as the estimated retail share of the U.S. pet medication industry has remained strong and stable over the past decade. In addition, we have strong relationships with established distribution to veterinarians and believe we are uniquely positioned to provide veterinarian services within the retail channel, and continue to benefit from this channel expansion.

Our Business Strategy

There are significant opportunities to grow our brand awareness, increase our net sales and profitability and deliver shareholder value by executing on the following initiatives:

Grow Consumer Awareness of Our Products in the Retail Channel. We are an established category creator in the pet health and wellness and medication market.  While we maintain strong relationships with the top distributors to the veterinary channel, we have strong penetration of the retail channel and high awareness among retailers. With our broad retail network that includes the top U.S. retailers, we are increasingly focused on providing these retailers with excellent value and on building consumer awareness and converting more pet owners to use products we distribute. As retailers continue to see the value our proprietary products bring to their bottom line and in helping them compete with other OTC channels, and as pet owners learn that our proprietary value-branded products offer the same active ingredients as leading brands at lower prices, we believe our share of the overall pet Rx and OTC medications and health and wellness products market will continue to grow.

Increase Volume of Products with Existing Retailers. We conduct business with the majority of leading U.S. retailers with our core product offerings. We believe our net sales will continue to grow as we expand the number of products we have available for sale at each retailer. We also plan to creatively expand SKU placement within existing accounts through our in-house merchandising capabilities. Additionally, we believe we are positioned to expand our presence within leading retailers as a result of the growth of our Services segment.

Provide Veterinarian Services in Conjunction with our Retail Partners. Through our Services segment, we participate in the veterinary services industry, which is expected to grow from $28.5 billion in 2019 to $36.8 billion in 2023 according to Packaged Facts, representing a CAGR of 5.3%. We provide a comprehensive suite of services at 3,400 community clinic locations and wellness centers hosted at retailers across 41 states, which includes diagnostic tests, vaccinations, prescription medications, microchipping and wellness checks. We believe we have the ability to expand those offerings within our existing retail footprint, which will provide an additional earnings stream, as well as drive pet parent traffic to our retail partners for the purchase of pet medication and health and wellness products, thereby expanding the sales of our product offerings through our retail partners. In addition, we opened 80 wellness centers within retail partners in 2019 and we expect to open 1,000 wellness centers by 2023. We believe that our wellness centers will help us address the $10.0 billion underserved veterinary market in 2019, consisting of $7.4 billion of services according to L.E.K. Consulting and $2.6 billion in related product revenue generated from such services based on management estimates.

Employees

As of December 31, 2019, we had 1,866 employees. Our employees are not represented by any labor union or any collective bargaining arrangement with respect to their employment with us. We have never experienced any work stoppages or strikes as a result of labor disputes. We believe that our employee relations are good.

We additionally regularly contract with veterinarians to staff our community clinics and wellness centers.  As of December 31, 2019, we utilized approximately 1,700 contract veterinarians.  

Seasonality

While many of our products are sold consistently throughout the year, we do experience seasonality in the form of increased demand for our flea and tick product offerings in the first half of the year, both leading up to and throughout the spring and summer seasons. Additionally we may experience fluctuations in net sales related to the inventory management strategies of our retail customers.

Similarly, the practice of veterinary medicine is subject to seasonal fluctuation. In particular, demand for veterinary services is significantly higher during the warmer months as there are more fleas, ticks, and mosquitos during these months and products and services sold to prevent or treat illness or diseases related to these insects.

Our Products

Through our Products segment, we are a manufacturer and distributor of pet medication and health and wellness products to the retail channel, and also have strong relationships with distribution to veterinarians, which will be leveraged to sell Capstar to veterinarians upon closing of that transaction. We focus our product offerings on innovative, proprietary value-branded products, and leading third-party branded products for dogs and cats, including pet Rx medications, OTC medications, and wellness products. We offer and supply these products to customers primarily in the United States.

Rx Medications

Our Rx pet medications include heartworm preventatives, arthritis, thyroid, diabetes and pain treatments, antibiotics and other specialty medications, all of which require a prescription from a veterinarian. We co-develop and manufacture our own proprietary value-branded products and distribute well-known leading third-party branded medications.

Our proprietary value-branded Rx medications allow consumers to care for their pets with the same quality of branded medications at a lower cost. We plan to develop, and bring to retail customers, proprietary value-branded versions of other popular pet Rx medications currently available only in branded versions at premium prices.

We also sell to retailers more than 350 SKUs of the most popular pet Rx medications, in multiple formats, that previously had been available primarily through the veterinarian channel. These retailers then sell these pet Rx medications to pet owners who have a prescription. We source these pet Rx medications directly from manufacturers or through licensed distributors. Several of the top-selling Rx medications that we distribute include Rimadyl®, Heartgard® Plus and Vetmedin®.

OTC Medications and Supplies

The OTC medications we sell are primarily comprised of flea and tick control products, which are available in multiple forms that consumers choose between, such as spot on (topical) treatments, chewables, and collars.

We sell to the retail channel more than 500 SKUs of the most popular leading OTC-branded and value-branded medications consisting primarily of flea and tick control medications. We source OTC medications directly from manufacturers or through licensed distributors. With the completion of the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition during 2019, we have expanded our manufacturing capabilities to include spot on and collar flea and tick control medications under the PetArmor, Sentry and Sergeants brands.

Health and Wellness Products

Our health and wellness products include specialty treats and other pet products such as dental treats and nutritional supplements (including hip and joint, vitamins and skin and coat products). We manufacture and distribute more than 350 SKUs of proprietary wellness products for dogs and cats, mainly under our PetArmor, VetIQ, Minties and Sentry product lines.

Specific products in this category include dental treats, such as Minties dental treats; nutritional supplements, such as our VetIQ products, skin and coat chews, vitamin chews and treats that disguise medication to aid in pets’ pill ingestion; and treats, such as our Betsy Farms dog treats and Delightibles cat treats.

Product Innovation

We offer a broad portfolio of pet medications and health and wellness products to our retail customers, including an array of products that we develop, manufacture and distribute. To continue to grow our pet Rx medication, OTC medications and other health and wellness product offerings, we invest in research and development on an ongoing basis. We use a combination of in-house specialists, third-party consultants and animal health research and development experts to expand our proprietary value-branded portfolio and develop next-generation versions of our current pet products.

In addition, we have harnessed our position to emerge as an attractive partner for outside research and development researchers and entrepreneurs developing new products and technologies in the strategic pet health and wellness field. We believe these scientists and entrepreneurs seek out our partnership on innovative products given our experience in proprietary value-branded manufacturing and relationships with key retail channel contacts. Our process of assessing partnerships with any outside research and development opportunity includes performing our own internal research and development review, testing and quality control procedures.

Channels

Traditional industry sales channels for pet Rx medications, OTC medications, and other health and wellness products include sales through the veterinarian, retail and e-commerce channels, depending primarily on the product involved.

Historically, pet Rx and flea and tick medications have been sold through veterinarian offices and, to a lesser extent, e-commerce. We have focused on making these products, as well as our proprietary value-branded products, available directly to consumers through retail outlets, which offer consumers access to these products at lower prices and in more convenient locations. Our retail channel sales are primarily concentrated in five sub-channels of retail: (i) food, drug and mass market sales (e.g., Walmart, Target and Kroger); (ii) club stores (e.g., Sam’s Club, Costco Wholesale and BJ’s Wholesale Club); (iii) pet specialty stores (e.g., PetSmart, Petco and independent pet stores); (iv) e-commerce (e.g., Chewy.com and Amazon.com); and (v) independent pharmacies. The Company will continue to grow its e-commerce business sales in line with total market growth in this channel by supporting its retail partners’ channel strategies and partnering with leading online retailers. 

We believe we are a key participant in the sales growth of pet medication products to the retail channel, with the additional benefit of having access to the veterinarian channel through solid relationships with established distributors.  

Customers

Approximately 99% of our 2019 and 2018 net sales, and 98% of our 2017 net sales, were generated from customers located in the United States and Canada, with the remainder from foreign locations. Our customers are primarily national superstore chains, ecommerce retailers, and national pet superstore chains, such as Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, PetSmart, Petco, Kroger, Target, Chewy.com, Amazon, and BJ’s Wholesale Club. We supply each of these customers on a national basis. Our largest retail customers in 2019 were Chewy.com and Walmart, which represented 23% and 12%, respectively, of our net sales. Our largest retail customers in 2018 and 2017 were Walmart and Sam’s Club, which represented 18% and 6%, respectively, of our net sales in 2018 and 30% and 16%, respectively, of our net sales in 2017. In addition, Anda Inc. (“Anda”), which distributes our products to pharmacies, accounted for 10% of our net sales in 2018, and 15% in 2017.  No other customer accounted for more than 10% of our net sales in 2019, 2018, or 2017.

Additionally, we develop strong and lasting relationships with our pharmacy customers by promoting our product breadth and expertise, superb customer care and support. Pharmacy customers have a higher barrier to entry than other retail customers as they are a highly regulated segment of the retail channel. We believe that, because of such regulation, our pharmacy customers appreciate our focus on integrating our systems with theirs, including interfacing delivery schedules and traceability, which is a key requirement for any major pharmacy retailer. In addition, we try to continually strengthen our pharmacy relationships by providing a variety of value-added services to the pharmacies. These services may include computer programs, training opportunities and web-based customer support.

Finally, we believe that maintaining our level of customer care is critical in retaining and expanding our relationships with our key customers. Our in-house customer care representatives participate in ongoing training programs under the supervision of our training managers. These training sessions include a variety of topics such as product knowledge, computer usage and customer service tips. Our customer care representatives promptly respond to customer inquiries related to products, order status, prices and shipping. We believe that our customer care representatives are a valuable source of feedback regarding customer satisfaction.

Supply Chain

Proprietary Value-Branded Products

None of our suppliers for our proprietary value-branded products are individually significant. We believe there is ample available capacity, including of active pharmaceutical ingredients (“API”), for our value-added products, including at contract manufacturing organizations around the world. Our proprietary value-branded products are currently manufactured by us at our facilities in Omaha, Nebraska, Daytona Beach, Florida and Springville, Utah and through a network of manufacturing facilities owned and operated by contract manufacturing partners across the United States and in Europe. We expect that the combined capacities of our facilities and those of our contract manufacturing partners will meet our forecasted needs for our proprietary value-branded products for the foreseeable future.

Distributed Products

We purchase branded and other products that we distribute, but do not manufacture, from a variety of sources in the United States and Europe, including certain manufacturers and licensed distributors. We believe that having strong relationships with our suppliers will ensure the availability of an adequate volume of products ordered by our retail customers and will enable us to provide more and better product information.

Fulfillment, Warehousing and Shipping

To accomplish efficient fulfillment for Rx medication products across the United States into retail, we utilize our established medication distribution channels with our distribution partner, Anda. We have a multi-year contract with Anda, which automatically renews for successive two year terms.

For most products, our in-house fulfillment and distribution operations manage the entire supply chain, beginning with the placement of the order, continuing through order processing and then fulfilling and shipping of the product to the customer. All customer orders are processed by our customer service team. We inventory our products at, and fill most customer orders from, our distribution centers in Daytona Beach, Florida, Omaha, Nebraska and Springville, Utah. We also use third-party warehouse providers to fulfill a small amount of our orders. We ship our products using common carriers.

Product Quality and Safety

We believe that product safety and quality are critical. We have developed, implemented and enforced a robust product safety and quality program. We have established critical control points throughout the entire supply chain from ingredient sourcing to finished goods to ensure compliance with our quality program.

The food safety program at our Utah plant, where our pet treats are made, is certified at Safe Quality Food (“SQF”) Level II (Food Safety) under Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Benchmarks. To achieve this qualification level, our Utah facility has been built to comply with particular food safety specifications and allows for correct airflow to prevent cross-contamination, among other things. This qualification level also requires us to have certain standard operating procedures in place written to SQF code specifications, hold regular training seminars for manufacturing employees and maintain reporting documentation evidencing compliance with such standard operating procedures.

In addition, our food safety and quality program includes strict guidelines for incoming ingredients, batching, processing, packaging and finished goods. As part of our focus on food safety and quality, we have implemented batch and lot traceability controls across our manufacturing network, including at our manufacturing facilities, where such controls have been implemented into our enterprise resource planning system. These controls allow us to track and tie discreet, inbound raw material components through the manufacturing process to the ultimate finished product, allowing us to maintain and control all finished product lot details and quickly access process manufacturing details.

At the Florida facility where our Rx and OTC medications are held for distribution, we maintain a Veterinary Prescription Drug Wholesale Distributor license with the State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which is the same government entity that regulates distribution facilities for human medications. In connection with our

maintenance of this license, the State of Florida conducts random inspections of our facility. To pass these inspections, we must demonstrate safety compliance at the highest standard, including maintaining correct plant temperatures and environmental controls.

As described above, we use contract manufacturers to produce certain of our proprietary value-branded products. To ensure product quality, consistency and safety standards, we actively monitor each contract manufacturer’s operations through the standard operating procedures and facility audits described above.

At our Omaha location EPA and FDA regulated products are produced and packaged and distributed from our nearby state of the art distribution center. This includes dog and cat flea and tick spot-on, shampoo, collars, toothpaste and hairball paste. We have a robust quality management program that includes quality processes for the laboratory, incoming inspection, manufacturing and packaging inspections, supplier quality, change control, deviations, and corrective and preventative actions (CAPA). We manage customer interaction through our call centers and social media to ensure that products maintain the highest quality. All call data is tracked, trended and reviewed for signals that may indicate product quality issues. The Omaha site is inspected several times annually by external auditors and we perform annual internal audits and mock recalls. We have received high marks and consistently maintain compliance with cGMPs and retain certifications as required.

All of our contract manufacturing facilities are required to have quality control standard operating procedures in place. We require our contract manufacturing facilities to maintain third-party certifications and pass our own quality system and safety audits, and for FDA-regulated products, to comply with the Good Manufacturing Practices of the FDA. Third-party certifications provide an independent and external assessment that a product and/or process complies with applicable safety regulations and standards, though a regulatory authority may disagree with that assessment. In addition, our quality control team conducts reviews of all aspects of our supply chain to ensure that ingredients, finished goods and manufacturing processes meet our strict safety and quality requirements and that all of our ingredients are rigorously tested prior to being used in our products.

Any consumer may call our customer service line, where we have trained representatives on staff. Any call reporting an adverse event relating to our products is further addressed by our third-party vendor, SafetyCall, through its own on-site veterinarians. On a quarterly basis, we submit filings in accordance with the EPA specifications reporting any adverse event associated with our flea and tick products.

Marketing and Advertising

Our marketing strategy largely focuses on building awareness and educating pet owners about our various brands and products. To accomplish this goal, we use a combination of television, digital marketing (e.g. digital coupons, display ads, pay per click, email), social media marketing and in-store displays and promotions. Our marketing message highlights the quality and cost-savings our products offer customers such as our proprietary, value-branded flea and tick products that contain the same active ingredients as leading brands at lower prices.

Competition

The pet medication and health and wellness industry is highly competitive. In our Products segment, we compete on the basis of product quality, product availability, quality, palatability, loyalty and trust, product variety and ingredients, product packaging and design, shelf space, reputation and brand, price point and promotional efforts. We compete directly and indirectly with both manufacturers and distributors of pet medication and health and wellness products and online distributors, as well as with veterinarians. We directly face competition from companies that distribute various pet medications and pet health and wellness products to traditional retailers such as Bayer AG, Central Garden and Pet Company, Hartz (Unicharm Corp.), Mars, Inc. (“Mars”), Manna Pro, Nestlé S.A. (“Nestlè”), Spectrum Holdings, Promika LLC, Tevra Brands (“Tevra”), and The J.M. Smucker Company (“Smucker”), most of which are larger than we are and have greater financial resources. Similarly, we face intense competition from manufacturers who sell pet medications and pet health and wellness products to e-commerce and other retailers and to veterinarians, who compete directly with our retailers to offer consumers pet flea and tick and other pet health and wellness products.

Our retail customers compete with online retailers and veterinarians for the sale of Rx and OTC pet medications and other health and wellness products. Many pet owners may prefer the convenience of purchasing their pet medications or other health products during a veterinarian visit. In order to effectively compete with veterinarians, we and retail partners must continue to price competitively and to educate pet owners about the product availability, service and savings offered by purchasing pet medications and other health products in their retail stores.

Within our Services segment, we compete directly with veterinarians. Our primary competitors for our veterinary clinics in most markets are individual practitioners or small, regional multi-clinic practices. In addition, some national companies such as Banfield Pet Hospitals, VCA Animal Hospitals, or Petco are developing or have developed networks of veterinary clinics or hospitals in markets in which we currently operate.

Our Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property

We believe that our intellectual property is valuable and has contributed to the success of our business. Our primary trademarks include “PetIQ,” “PetArmor,” “VIP Petcare,” “VetIQ PetCare,” “VetIQ,” “Advecta,” “SENTRY,” “Sergeants,” “PetLock,” “Heart Shield Plus,” “TruProfen,” “Betsy Farms,” “PetAction,” “Minties,” “Vera” and “Delightibles” all of which are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.We also have numerous other trademark registrations and pending applications, in the U.S., Canada and Europe, for product names that are central to our branding. Our trademarks are assets that reinforce our brand, our sub-brands and our consumers’ perception of our products. The current registrations of these trademarks in the U.S. and foreign countries are effective for varying periods of time and may be renewed periodically, provided that we, as the registered owner, or our licensees where applicable, comply with all applicable renewal requirements including, where necessary, the continued use of the trademarks in connection with the goods or services identified in the applicable registrations. In addition to trademark protection, we own numerous URL designations, including www.petarmor.com,  www.vetiqpetcare.com,  www.vippetcare.com, petvet.vippetcare.com, www.vetiq.com, www.advecta.com, www.sentrypetcare.com, www.sergeants.com, www.delightibles.com and www.mintiestreats.com, which are important to the successful implementation of our marketing and advertising strategy. We also have patents and pending patent applications for products, formulas and packaging that we consider important to our business. We rely on and carefully protect unpatented proprietary expertise, recipes and formulations, continuing innovation and other trade secrets to develop and maintain our competitive position. The contents of our websites are not intended to be incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Government Regulation

Along with our contract manufacturers, ingredient and packaging suppliers and third-party shipping providers, we are subject to a broad range of laws and regulations, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, intended to protect public health and safety, natural resources and the environment. Our products and operations in the U.S. are subject to regulation by the FDA, the EPA, the Florida Department of Health and the USDA and by various other federal, state, local and foreign authorities regarding the registration, manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling and export of our products, including drug and food safety standards.

All Rx animal drugs are required to be approved by the FDA through either a New Animal Drug Application or, in the case of generic Rx animal drugs, an Abbreviated New Animal Drug Application (“ANADA”). Two of our proprietary value-branded products, TruProfen and Heart Shield Plus, have been approved by the FDA under ANADAs submitted to the FDA by third parties. We have agreements with these third parties that hold approved ANADAs to private label or proprietary value-branded products under such ANADAs. However, the third parties that hold the ANADAs are ultimately responsible for compliance with regulatory obligations associated with these products.

In addition, our foreign subsidiaries are subject to the laws of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the European Union, as well as provincial and local regulations.

Under various statutes and regulations, these agencies and authorities, among other things, (i) prescribe the requirements for registration and establish the standards for quality and safety, (ii) regulate our marketing, advertising and sales to 

consumers and (iii) control the importing and exporting of our products. Certain of these agencies, in certain circumstances, must not only approve our products, but also review the manufacturing processes and facilities used to produce these products before they can be marketed in the United States and elsewhere. In particular, certain of our pet products require EPA or FDA approval prior to marketing. To market such a regulated pet  product, the regulatory agency must approve a new product, supported by data from animal safety and effectiveness studies that adequately demonstrate the safety and efficacy of that product in the target animal for the intended indication; or, in the case of generic versions of previously approved reference-listed pet products, the regulatory agency, supported by data to demonstrate, among other things, that the proposed generic product has the same active ingredients in the same concentration as the reference-listed product and is bioequivalent to the reference listed product. After approval, manufacturers are required to collect reports of adverse events and submit them on a regular basis to either the EPA or FDA. Some of the approved products we distribute are held by third parties with whom we contract to distribute those products under our own label.

We are subject to labor and employment laws, safety and health regulations and other laws, including those promulgated by the EPA and the National Labor Relations Board. Our operations, and those of our contract manufacturers, ingredient and packaging suppliers and third-party shipping providers, are subject to various laws and regulations relating to worker health and safety matters as well as environmental and natural resource protection, including the availability and use of pesticides, emissions and discharges to the environment, and the treatment, handling, storage and disposal of materials and wastes. We monitor changes in these laws and believe that we are in material compliance with applicable laws and regulations. No assurance can be given, however, that material costs and liabilities will not arise in the future, such as due to a change in the law or the discovery of currently unknown conditions.

Certain states have laws, rules and regulations which require that veterinary medical practices be either wholly-owned or majority-owned by licensed veterinarians and that corporations which are not wholly-owned or majority-owned by licensed veterinarians refrain from providing, or holding themselves out as providers of, veterinary medical care. In these states and provinces, we provide management and other administrative services to veterinary practices rather than owning such practices or providing such care. In some cases, in addition to providing management and administrative services we may lease the veterinary facility and equipment to the veterinary practice. Although we have structured our operations to comply with our understanding of the veterinary medicine laws of each state and province in which we operate, interpretive legal precedent and regulatory guidance varies by jurisdiction and is often sparse and not fully developed.

In addition, all of the states in which we operate impose various registration permit and/or licensing requirements. To fulfill these requirements, we have registered each of our facilities with appropriate governmental agencies and, where required, have appointed a licensed veterinarian to act on behalf of each facility. All veterinarians practicing in our animal wellness centers are required to maintain valid state licenses to practice.

Our Corporate Information

Our principal executive offices are located at 923 S. Bridgeway Place, Eagle, Idaho 83616. Our telephone number is 208-939-8900. The address of our corporate website is www.petiq.com, and our investor relations website is located at http://ir.petiq.com. The contents of our website are not intended to be incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Available Information

Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, annual proxy statements and related proxy cards are made available on our website at the same time they are mailed to stockholders. Our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, periodic reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports that we file or furnish pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), are available through our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed or furnished to the SEC. Our website also provides access to reports filed by our directors, executive officers and certain significant shareholders pursuant to Section 16 of the Exchange Act. In addition, General Code of Ethics and charters for the committees of our board of directors are available on our website as well as other shareholder communications. The information contained in or that can be accessed through our website does not constitute a part of, and is not incorporated by reference into, this report. The SEC maintains an internet site

(http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy information statements and other information related to issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

 

Item 1A – Risk Factors

Our business, results of operations and financial condition may be materially adversely affected by a number of factors, including the following:

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We may seek to grow our business through acquisitions of or investments in new or complementary businesses, facilities, technologies or products, or through strategic alliances, and the failure to manage acquisitions, investments or strategic alliances, or the failure to integrate them with our existing business, could have a material adverse effect on us.

From time to time we may consider opportunities to acquire or make investments in new or complementary businesses, facilities, technologies or products, or enter into strategic alliances, that may enhance our capabilities, expand our manufacturing network, complement our current products or expand the breadth of our markets. Potential and completed acquisitions and investments and other strategic alliances involve numerous risks, including:

 

We do not know if we will be able to identify acquisitions or strategic relationships we deem suitable, whether we will be able to successfully complete any such transactions on favorable terms or at all or whether we will be able to successfully integrate any acquired business, facilities, technologies or products into our business or retain any key personnel, suppliers or customers. Our ability to successfully grow through strategic transactions depends upon our ability to identify, negotiate, complete and integrate suitable target businesses, facilities, technologies and products and to obtain any necessary financing. These efforts could be expensive and time-consuming and may disrupt our ongoing business and prevent management from focusing on our operations. If we are unable to integrate any acquired businesses, facilities, technologies and products effectively, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Completed acquisitions may result in additional goodwill and/or an increase in other intangible assets on our balance sheet. We are required annually, or as facts and circumstances exist, to test goodwill and other intangible assets to determine if impairment has occurred. If the testing performed indicates that impairment has occurred, we are required to record a non-cash impairment charge for the difference between the carrying value of the goodwill or other intangible assets and the implied fair value of the goodwill or the fair value of other intangible assets in the period the determination is made. We determined there was no impairment in 2019, 2018 and 2017; however, we cannot accurately predict the amount and timing of any impairment of assets. Should the value of goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, there could be a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We are dependent on a relatively limited number of customers for a significant portion of our net sales.

Our largest retail customers in 2019 were Chewy.com and Walmart, which accounted for 22% and 12%, respectively, of our net sales. Our largest retail customers in 2018 and 2017 were Walmart and Sam’s Club, which accounted for 18% and 6% of sales, respectively, in 2018 and 30% and 16% of our net sales, respectively, in 2017. No other retail customer has

accounted for 10% or more of our net sales for these periods. In addition, Anda, which distributes our products to pharmacies, accounted for less than 10%, 10% and 15% of our net sales in 2019, 2018, and 2017, respectively. If we were to lose any of our key customers, if any of our key customers reduce the amount of their orders or if any of our key customers consolidate, reduce their store footprint and/or gain greater market power, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. We may be similarly adversely impacted if any of our key customers experience any financial or operational difficulties or generate less traffic.

In addition, we generally do not enter into long-term contracts with our retail customers. As a result, we rely on consumers’ continuing demand for our products and our position in the market for all purchase orders. Our customers are sophisticated and have the ability to replace our proprietary value brands with various other supply options if we do not compete aggressively for their business. If our retail customers change their pricing, margin expectations or business terms (including through the imposition of warehouse and other fees), change their business strategies as a result of industry consolidation or otherwise, reduce the number of brands or product lines they carry, decrease their advertising or promotional efforts for, or the amount of shelf space they allocate to, our products or allocate greater shelf space to other products, our net sales could decrease and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We may not be able to successfully implement our growth strategy on a timely basis or at all.

Our future success depends, in large part, on our ability to implement our growth strategy, including introducing products and expanding into new markets, attracting new consumers to our brand and sub-brands, improving placement of our products in the stores of our retail customers, and expanding our distribution and online sales through our retail partners. In addition, our growth strategy includes expanding and increasing profitability of our veterinary mobile clinics and wellness centers. Our ability to implement this growth strategy depends, among other things, on our ability to:

 

We may not be able to successfully implement our growth strategy and may need to change our strategy in order to maintain our growth. If we fail to implement our growth strategy or if we invest resources in a growth strategy that ultimately proves unsuccessful, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.  

We may be unsuccessful in opening new retail wellness centers, which could adversely affect our growth 

One of the key means to achieving our growth strategy is through opening new retail clinics, both wellness centers and mobile clinics, and operating those on a profitable basis. During 2019, we have opened 80 new wellness centers within retail partners and we plan to open an additional 130 wellness centers in 2020 with an expected 1,000 wellness centers by the end of 2023. Our ability to open new retail clinics is dependent upon a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, including our ability to:

 

There is no guarantee that a sufficient number of suitable sites or hosts will be available in desirable areas or on terms that are acceptable to us in order to achieve our growth plan. If we are unable to open new wellness centers, or if openings are significantly delayed, our earnings or revenue growth and our business could be materially and adversely affected, as we expect a portion of our growth to come from new locations.

As part of our longer-term growth strategy, we may enter into geographic markets in which we have little or no prior operating history. The challenges of entering new markets include (i) difficulties in hiring experienced personnel, (ii) lack of familiarity with local real estate markets and demographics, (iii) lack of consumer familiarity with our brand, and (iv) competitive and economic conditions, and discretionary spending patterns that are different from and more difficult to predict or satisfy than in our existing markets. In addition, wellness centers that we open in new markets may take longer to reach expected sales and profit levels on a consistent basis, and may have higher construction, occupancy, and operating costs, than wellness centers that we open in existing markets, thereby affecting our overall profitability. Any failure on our part to recognize or respond to these challenges may adversely affect the success of any new wellness centers.

If we continue to grow rapidly, we may not be able to manage our growth effectively.

Our historical rapid growth has placed and, if continued, may continue to place significant demands on our management and our operational and financial resources. Our organizational structure may become more complex as we add additional staff, and we would likely require more resources to grow and continue to improve our operational, management and financial controls. If we are not able to manage our growth effectively, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We currently purchase our distributed Rx and OTC medications from manufacturers and licensed distributors. We do not have a long term guaranteed supply of medications at pre-established prices for the majority of our products.

We currently do not manufacture the vast majority of our branded products that we distribute and we are depending on certain manufacturers and licensed distributors for our supply of products.  We cannot guarantee that we will be able to purchase an adequate supply of Rx and OTC medications from manufacturers and licensed distributors to meet our customers’ demands, or that we will be able to purchase these medications at competitive prices. As these medications represent a significant portion of our net sales, our failure to fill customer orders for these medications could adversely impact our net sales. If we are forced to pay higher prices for these medications to ensure an adequate supply, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to pass along to our customers any increases in the prices we pay for these medications.  Manufacturers may also decide to compete further with us by pursuing or increasing their efforts in direct marketing and sales of their products.  These manufacturers can sell their products at lower prices and maintain a higher gross margin on their product sales than we can.  In this event, retailers may elect to purchase Rx and OTC medications directly from those manufacturers.  Additionally, in the event that the manufacturers of these Rx and OTC medications take action to prohibit our licensed distributors from selling such medications to us entirely, or dictate the pricing at which our licensed distributors sell such medications to us or that our retail customers sell such medications to end consumers, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We operate in a highly competitive industry and may lose market share or experience margin erosion if we are unable to compete effectively.

The pet products and services retail industry is highly competitive. In our Products segment, we compete on the basis of product quality, product availability, quality, palatability, loyalty and trust, product variety and ingredients, product packaging and design, shelf space, reputation and brand, price point and promotional efforts. We compete directly and

indirectly with both manufacturers and distributors of pet medication and health and wellness products and online distributors, as well as with veterinarians. We directly face competition from companies that distribute various pet medications and pet health and wellness products to traditional retailers such as Bayer AG, Central Garden and Pet Company, Hartz (Unicharm Corp.), Mars, Inc., Meridian Animal Health, Nestlé S.A, Promika LLC, Tevra Brands, and The J.M. Smucker Company, most of which are larger than we are and have greater financial resources. Similarly, we face intense competition from manufacturers who sell pet medications and pet health and wellness products to e-commerce and other retailers and to veterinarians, who compete directly with our retailers to offer consumers pet flea and tick and other pet health and wellness products.

Our retail customers compete with online retailers and veterinarians for the sale of Rx and OTC pet medications and other health and wellness products. Many pet owners may prefer the convenience of purchasing their pet medications or other health products during a veterinarian visit. In order to effectively compete with veterinarians, we and retail partners must continue to price competitively and to educate pet owners about the product availability, service and savings offered by purchasing pet medications and other health products in their retail stores.

Within our Services segment, we compete directly with veterinarians. Our primary competitors for our veterinary clinics in most markets are individual practitioners or small, regional multi-clinic practices. In addition, some national companies such as Banfield Pet Hospitals, VCA Animal Hospitals, or Petco are developing or have developed networks of veterinary clinics in markets in which we currently operate.

These competitors may be able to identify and adapt to changes in consumer preferences more quickly than us due to their resources and scale. They may also be more successful in marketing and selling their products, better able to increase prices to reflect cost pressures and better able to increase their promotional activity, which may impact us and the entire pet health and wellness industry. If these or other competitive pressures cause our products to lose market share or experience margin erosion, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We face significant competition from veterinarians and may not be able to compete profitably with them.

We compete directly with veterinarians for the sale of pet medications and other health and wellness products. Veterinarians hold a competitive advantage over us because many pet owners may find it more convenient or preferable to purchase these products directly from their veterinarians at the time of an office visit. In addition, we now operate veterinary clinics and manage a significant number of veterinarians, both as employees and as independent contractors, and now compete directly with the veterinarians for the provision of veterinarian services.  In order to effectively compete with veterinarians in the future, we may be required to incur additional costs for marketing, promotions and other incentives, which may result in lower operating margins and adversely affect the results of operations.

Resistance from veterinarians to authorize prescriptions, or attempts/efforts on their part to discourage pet owners to purchase from retailers and pharmacies could cause our net sales to decrease and could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Since we began our operations, some veterinarians have resisted providing, or simply refuse to provide, pet owners with a copy of their pet’s prescription or authorizing the prescription to an outside pharmacy, thereby effectively preventing outside pharmacies from filling such prescriptions under state law. We have also been informed by customers and consumers that veterinarians on certain occasions have tried to discourage pet owners from purchasing from the retail channel. If the number of veterinarians who refuse to authorize prescriptions should increase, or if veterinarians are successful in discouraging pet owners from purchasing from outside retailers and pharmacies, our net sales could decrease and our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Any damage to our reputation or our brand or sub-brands may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Maintaining, developing and expanding our reputation with consumers, our retail customers and our suppliers is critical to our success. Our brand and sub-brands may suffer if our marketing plans or product initiatives are not successful. The importance of our brand and sub-brands may decrease if competitors offer more products with formulations similar to the

products that we manufacture. Further, our brand and sub-brands may be negatively impacted due to real or perceived quality issues or if consumers perceive us as being untruthful in our marketing and advertising, even if such perceptions are not accurate. Product contamination, the failure to maintain high standards for product quality, safety and integrity, including raw materials and ingredients obtained from suppliers, or allegations of product quality issues, mislabeling or contamination, even if untrue or caused by our contract manufacturing partners or raw material suppliers, may reduce demand for our products or cause production and delivery disruptions. We maintain guidelines and procedures to ensure the quality, safety and integrity of our products. However, we may be unable to detect or prevent product and/or ingredient quality issues, mislabeling or contamination, particularly in instances of fraud or attempts to cover up or obscure deviations from our guidelines and procedures. If any of our products become unfit for consumption, cause injury or are mislabeled, we may have to engage in a product recall and/or be subject to liability. Damage to our reputation or our brand or sub-brands or loss of consumer confidence in our products for any of these or other reasons could result in decreased demand for our products and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our growth and business are dependent on trends that may change, and our historical growth may not be indicative of our future growth.

The growth of our business depends primarily on the continued shift from consumers purchasing pet health and wellness products from veterinarians to purchasing such products through traditional retail channels, growth of the pet health and wellness products market and popularity of pet ownership, transitions from traditional veterinarians to mobile clinics and wellness centers, as well as on general economic conditions. These trends may not continue or may change. In the event of a decline in consumers purchasing pet health and wellness products through traditional retail channels, a change in pet health and wellness trends or a decrease in the overall number of pets, or during challenging economic times, we may be unable to persuade our retail customers and consumers to purchase our products, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected and our growth rate may slow or stop.

There may be decreased spending on pets in a challenging economic climate.

The United States has from time to time experienced challenging economic conditions, and the global financial markets have recently undergone and may continue to experience significant volatility and disruption. Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected by a challenging economic climate, including adverse changes in interest rates, volatile commodity markets and inflation, contraction in the availability of credit in the market and reductions in consumer spending. The keeping of pets and the purchase of pet-related products may constitute discretionary spending for some consumers and any material decline in the amount of consumer discretionary spending may reduce overall levels of pet ownership or spending on pets. As a result, a slow-down in the general economy may cause a decline in demand for our products. In addition, we cannot predict how worsening economic conditions would affect our retail customers and suppliers, generally. If economic conditions result in decreased spending on pets and have a negative impact on our retail customers and suppliers, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our business depends, in part, on the sufficiency and effectiveness of our marketing and trade promotion programs and incentives.

Due to the competitive nature of our industry, we must effectively and efficiently promote and market our products through television, internet and print advertisements as well as through trade promotions and incentives to sustain and improve our competitive position in our market. Marketing investments may be costly. In addition, we may, from time to time, change our marketing strategies and spending, including the timing or nature of our trade promotions and incentives. We may also change our marketing strategies and spending in response to actions by our customers, competitors and other companies that manufacture and/or distribute pet health and wellness products. The sufficiency and effectiveness of our marketing and trade promotions and incentives are important to our ability to retain and improve our market share and margins. If our marketing and trade promotions and incentives are not successful or if we fail to implement sufficient and effective marketing and trade promotions and incentives or adequately respond to changes in industry marketing strategies, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected.

If our products or services are alleged to cause injury or illness or our products fail to comply with governmental regulations, we may need to recall our products and/or may experience related claims and reputational damage.  

Our products may be subject to product recalls, including voluntary recalls or withdrawals, if they are alleged to pose a risk of injury or illness, or if they are alleged to have been mislabeled, misbranded or adulterated or to otherwise be in violation of governmental regulations. We may also voluntarily recall or withdraw products in order to protect our brand or reputation if we determine that they do not meet our standards, whether for quality, palatability, appearance or otherwise. If there is any future product recall or withdrawal, it could result in substantial and unexpected expenditures, destruction of product inventory, damage to our reputation and lost sales due to the unavailability of the product for a period of time, and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. In addition, a product recall or withdrawal may require significant management attention and could result in enforcement action by regulatory authorities.

We also may be subject to product liability claims if the consumption or use of our products is alleged to cause injury or illness. Although we carry product liability insurance, our insurance may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur in connection with product liability claims. For example, punitive damages are generally not covered by insurance. If we are subject to substantial product liability claims in the future, we may not be able to continue to maintain our existing insurance, obtain comparable insurance at a reasonable cost, if at all, or secure additional coverage. This could result in future product liability claims being uninsured. If there is a product liability judgment against us or a settlement agreement related to a product liability claim, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected. In addition, even if product liability claims against us are not successful or are not fully pursued, these claims could be costly and time-consuming and may require management to spend time defending claims rather than operating our business.

Additionally, we may be subject to claims for veterinary malpractice or negligence in the event as a result of services provided by our veterinarians.  Although we carry appropriate insurance, our insurance may not be adequate to cover all liabilities that we may incur in connection with veterinary malpractice or negligence claims.  Additionally, any such claims may result in reputational damage to our services segment and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

To the extent our retail customers purchase products in excess of consumer consumption in any period, our net sales in a subsequent period may be adversely affected as our retail customers seek to reduce their inventory levels.

From time to time, our retail customers may purchase more products than they expect to sell to consumers during a particular time period. Our retail customers may grow their inventory in anticipation of, or during, our promotional events, which typically provide for reduced prices during a specified time or other incentives. Our retail customers may also increase inventory in anticipation of a price increase for our products, or otherwise over-order our products as a result of overestimating demand for our products. If a retail customer increases its inventory during a particular reporting period as a result of a promotional event, anticipated price increase or otherwise, then our net sales during the subsequent reporting period may be adversely impacted as our retail customers seek to reduce their inventory to customary levels. This effect may be particularly pronounced when the promotional event, price increase or other event occurs near the end or beginning of a reporting period or when there are changes in the timing of a promotional event, price increase or similar event, as compared to the prior year. To the extent our retail customers seek to reduce their usual or customary inventory levels or change their practices regarding purchases in excess of consumer consumption, our net sales and results of operations may be materially adversely affected in that or subsequent periods.

We may not be able to manage our manufacturing and supply chain effectively, which may adversely affect our results of operations.

We must accurately forecast demand for all of our products in order to ensure that we have enough products available to meet the needs of our retail customers. Our forecasts are based on multiple assumptions that may cause our estimates to be inaccurate and affect our ability to obtain adequate manufacturing capacity (whether our own manufacturing capacity or contract manufacturing capacity) in order to meet the demand for our proprietary value-branded products, which could prevent us from meeting increased retail customer or consumer demand and harm our brand, our sub-brands and our

business. If we do not accurately align our manufacturing capabilities with demand, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

If for any reason we were to change any one of our contract manufacturers, we could face difficulties that might adversely affect our ability to maintain an adequate supply of our proprietary value-branded products, and we would incur costs and expend resources in the course of making the change. Moreover, we might not be able to obtain terms as favorable as those received from our current contract manufacturers, which in turn would increase our costs.

In addition, we must continuously monitor our inventory and product mix against forecasted demand. If we underestimate demand, we risk having inadequate supplies. We also face the risk of having too much inventory on hand that may reach its expiration date and become unsalable, and we may be forced to rely on markdowns or promotional sales to dispose of excess or slow-moving inventory. If we are unable to manage our supply chain effectively, our operating costs could increase and our profit margins could decrease.

Shipping is a critical part of our business and any changes in, or disruptions to, our shipping arrangements could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. 

We currently rely on third-party national and regional logistics providers to deliver products to our manufacturing and distribution warehouses from our third-party suppliers and contract manufacturers and to deliver products from our manufacturing and distribution warehouses to our retail customers. If we are not able to negotiate acceptable pricing and other terms with these providers, or if these providers experience performance problems or other difficulties in processing our orders or delivering our products, it could negatively impact our results of operations and our customers’ experience. For example, changes to the terms of our shipping arrangements may adversely impact our margins and profitability. In addition, our ability to receive inbound inventory efficiently and ship merchandise to our retail customers may be negatively affected by factors beyond our and these providers’ control, including inclement weather, fire, flood, power loss, earthquakes, acts of war or terrorism or other events specifically impacting our or other shipping partners, such as labor disputes, financial difficulties, system failures and other disruptions to the operations of the shipping companies on which we rely. We are also subject to risks of damage or loss during delivery by our shipping vendors. If any of the foregoing occurs, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

The growth of our business depends in part on our ability to accurately predict consumer trends, successfully introduce new products and improve existing products, and expand into new offerings. 

Our growth depends, in part, on our ability to successfully introduce new products, including our manufactured products, and improve and reposition our existing products to meet the requirements of our retail partners and those of pet parents.  This, in turn, depends on our ability to predict and respond to evolving consumer trends, demands and preferences.  The success of our innovation and product development efforts is affected by the technical capability of our product development staff and third-party consultants in developing and testing new products, including complying with governmental regulations, our attractiveness as a partner for outside research and development scientists and entrepreneurs and the success of our management and sales team in introducing and marketing new products.

We may be unable to determine with accuracy when or whether any of our products now under development will be approved or launched, and we may be unable to develop or otherwise acquire product candidates or products. Additionally, we cannot predict whether any such products, once launched, will be commercially successful. Furthermore, the timing and cost of our R&D initiatives may increase as a result of additional government regulation or otherwise, making it more time-consuming and/or costly to research, test and develop new products. If we are unable to successfully develop or otherwise acquire new products, our financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Failure to protect our intellectual property could harm our competitive position or require us to incur significant expenses to enforce our rights.

Our success depends in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property rights. Our trademarks such as “PetIQ,” “VetIQ,” “Advecta,” “PetLock,” “Heart Shield Plus,” “TruProfen,” “Betsy Farms,” “PetAction,” “Minties,” “Vera,” “PetArmor” and “Delightibles” and others are assets that support our brand, sub-brands and consumers’ perception of

our products. We rely on trademark, copyright, trade secret, patent and other intellectual property laws, as well as nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements and other methods, to protect our trademarks, trade names, proprietary information, technologies and/or processes. Our non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of our proprietary information, technologies and processes and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of such information, which could harm our competitive position. In addition, effective patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited for some of our intellectual property rights and trade secrets in foreign countries. We may need to engage in litigation or similar activities to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights of others. Any such litigation could require us to expend significant resources and divert the efforts and attention of our management and other personnel from our business operations. If we fail to protect our intellectual property, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We may be subject to intellectual property infringement claims or other allegations, which could result in substantial damages and diversion of management’s efforts and attention.

We have obligations to respect third-party intellectual property. The steps we take to prevent misappropriation, infringement or other violation of the intellectual property of others may not be successful. From time to time, third parties have asserted intellectual property infringement claims against us, our suppliers, or our retail customers and may continue to do so in the future. Although we believe that our products and manufacturing processes do not infringe in any material respect upon proprietary rights of other parties and/or that meritorious defenses would exist with respect to any assertions of infringement of other parties, we may from time to time be found to infringe on the proprietary rights. For example, patent applications in the United States and some foreign countries are generally not publicly disclosed until the patent application is published, and we may not be aware of currently filed patent applications that relate to our products or processes. If patents later issue on these applications, we may be found liable for subsequent infringement. Such claims that our products or processes infringe these rights, regardless of their merit or resolution, could be costly and may divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel. In part due to the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in intellectual property litigation, we cannot predict whether we will prevail in such proceedings. If such proceedings result in an adverse outcome, we could, among other things, be required to:

 

If any of the foregoing occurs, our ability to compete could be affected and our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Adverse litigation judgments or settlements resulting from legal proceedings relating to our business operations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

From time to time, we are subject to allegations, and may be party to legal claims and regulatory proceedings, relating to our business operations. Such allegations, claims and proceedings may be brought by third parties, including our customers, employees, governmental or regulatory bodies or competitors. Defending against such claims and proceedings, regardless of their merits or outcomes, is costly and time consuming and may divert management’s attention and personnel resources from our normal business operations, and the outcome of many of these claims and proceedings cannot be predicted. If any of these claims or proceedings were to be determined adversely to us, a judgment, a fine or a settlement involving a payment of a material sum of money were to occur, or injunctive relief were issued against us, our reputation could be affected and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

A failure of one or more key information technology systems, networks or processes may materially adversely affect our ability to conduct our business.

The efficient operation of our business depends on our information technology systems. We rely on our information technology systems to effectively manage our sales and marketing, accounting and financial and legal and compliance functions, engineering and product development tasks, research and development data, communications, supply chain, order entry and fulfillment and other business processes. We also rely on third parties and virtualized infrastructure to operate and support our information technology systems. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and could result in transaction errors, processing inefficiencies and the loss of sales and customers, causing our business and results of operations to suffer.

In addition, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from circumstances beyond our control, including fire, natural disasters, power outages, systems failures, security breaches, cyberattacks and computer viruses. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as a result of any of these factors or our failure to effectively restore our systems or implement new systems could disrupt our entire operation and could result in decreased sales, increased overhead costs, excess inventory and product shortages and a loss of important information. Further, to the extent that we have customer information in our databases, any unauthorized disclosure of, or access to, such information could result in claims under data protection laws and regulations and could damage our reputation and result in lost sales. If any of these risks materialize, our reputation and our ability to conduct our business may be materially adversely affected.

We are subject to extensive and ongoing governmental regulation and we may incur material costs in order to comply with existing or future laws and regulations, and our failure to comply may result in enforcement, recalls and other adverse actions or significant penalties.

We are subject to a broad range of federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations intended to protect public health and safety, natural resources and the environment. See “Business—Government Regulation.” Our operations are subject to extensive and ongoing regulation by the FDA, EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”), the Florida Department of Health and by various other federal, state, local and foreign authorities regarding the manufacturing, processing, packaging, storage, distribution, advertising, labeling and import and export of our products, including drug and food safety standards. Our operations also are subject to regulation regarding the availability and use of pesticides, emissions and discharges to the environment, and the treatment, handling, storage and disposal of materials and wastes. Many of these laws and regulations are becoming increasingly stringent and compliance with them is becoming increasingly expensive. Costs of compliance, and the impacts on us of any non-compliance, with any such laws and regulations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Later discovery of previously unknown problems with a product, including adverse events of unanticipated severity or frequency, or with our third-party manufacturers or manufacturing processes, or failure to comply with regulatory requirements, may result in, among other things:

 

Regulatory policies may change and additional government regulations may be enacted that could prevent, limit or delay regulatory approval of any current or future product candidates. We cannot predict the likelihood, nature or extent of government regulation that may arise from future legislation or administrative action. If we are slow or unable to adapt to changes in existing requirements or the adoption of new requirements or policies, or if we are not able to maintain

regulatory compliance, we may lose any marketing approval that we may have obtained, which would adversely affect our business.

Our business is also affected by export and import controls and similar laws and regulations, both in the United States and elsewhere. Issues such as national security or health and safety, which may slow or otherwise restrict imports or exports, may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Violations of or liability under any of these laws and regulations may result in administrative, civil or criminal fines or penalties against us, revocation or modification of applicable permits, environmental investigations or remedial activities, voluntary or involuntary product recalls, warning or untitled letters or cease and desist orders against or restrictions on operations that are not in compliance, among other things. Liability may be imposed under some laws and regulations regardless of fault or knowledge and regardless of the legality of the original action. These laws and regulations, or their interpretation, may change in the future and we may incur (directly, or indirectly through our contract manufacturers) material costs to comply with current or future laws and regulations or in any required product recalls.

Certain states have laws, rules and regulations which require that veterinary medical practices be owned by licensed veterinarians and that corporations which are not owned by licensed veterinarians refrain from providing, or holding themselves out as providers of, veterinary medical care. We may experience difficulty in expanding our operations into other states or provinces with similar laws, rules and regulations. Although we have structured our operations to comply with our understanding of the veterinary medicine laws of each state and province in which we operate, interpretive legal precedent and regulatory guidance varies by jurisdiction and is often sparse and not fully developed. A determination that we are in violation of applicable restrictions on the practice of veterinary medicine in any jurisdiction in which we operate, could have a material adverse effect on us, particularly if we are unable to restructure our operations to comply with the requirements of that jurisdiction.

All of the states in which we operate impose various registration permit and/or licensing requirements. To fulfill these requirements, we have registered each of our facilities with appropriate governmental agencies and, where required, have appointed a licensed veterinarian to act on behalf of each facility. All veterinarians practicing in our animal hospitals are required to maintain valid state licenses to practice.

Failure to comply with federal, state and international laws and regulations relating to permit and/or licensing requirements, or the expansion of existing or the enactment of new laws or regulation relating to permit and/or licensing requirements, could adversely affect our business and our financial condition.

We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and other legal obligations relating to permit and/or licensing requirements. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may conflict with other rules or our practices. We cannot guarantee that our practices have complied, comply or will comply fully with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our filed permits and licenses with any applicable federal, state or international related laws, industry standards or codes of conduct, regulatory guidance, orders to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, and may result in claims, proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others or other liabilities. Any such claim, proceeding or action could hurt our reputation, brand and business, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of such proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, result in a loss of customers and suppliers and may result in the imposition of monetary liability. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of non-compliance with any laws, regulations or other legal obligations relating to permit and/or licensing requirements. In addition, various federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies may expand existing laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding permit and/or licensing requirements. Any such changes may force us to incur substantial costs or require us to change our business practices. This could compromise our ability to pursue our growth strategy effectively and may adversely affect our ability to acquire customers or otherwise harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to comply with governmental regulations applicable to our business, various governmental agencies may impose fines, institute litigation or preclude us from operating in certain states.

Certain states and provinces have laws, rules and regulations which require that veterinary medical practices be owned by licensed veterinarians and that corporations which are not owned by licensed veterinarians refrain from providing, or holding themselves out as providers of, veterinary medical care. We may experience difficulty in expanding our operations into other states or provinces with similar laws, rules and regulations. Although we have structured our operations to comply with our understanding of the veterinary medicine laws of each state in which we operate, interpretive legal precedent and regulatory guidance varies by jurisdiction and is often sparse and not fully developed. A determination that we are in violation of applicable restrictions on the practice of veterinary medicine in any jurisdiction in which we operate, could have a material adverse effect on us, particularly if we are unable to restructure our operations to comply with the requirements of that jurisdiction. All of the states in which we operate impose various registration requirements. To fulfill these requirements, we have registered each of our facilities with appropriate governmental agencies and, where required, have appointed a licensed veterinarian to act on behalf of each facility. All veterinarians practicing in our animal hospitals are required to maintain valid state licenses to practice.

Our success depends on our ability to attract and retain key employees and the succession of senior management.

Our continued growth and success requires us to hire, retain and develop our leadership team. If we are unable to attract and retain talented, highly qualified senior management and other key executives, as well as provide for the succession of senior management, our growth and results of operations may be adversely impacted.

We may experience difficulties hiring skilled veterinarians due to shortages that could disrupt our business. 

From time to time we may experience shortages of skilled veterinarians in markets in which we operate mobile clinics and wellness centers, which may require us to enhance wages and benefits to recruit and retain enough qualified veterinarians to adequately staff mobile clinics and wellness centers. If we are unable to recruit and retain qualified veterinarians, or to control our labor costs, our business, financial conditions and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We have incurred net losses in the past and may be unable to sustain profitability in the future.

We incurred a net loss of $14.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. As of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $36.6 million, including the operations of PetIQ Holdings, LLC (“Holdco”) prior to our IPO. We expect to continue to incur significant product commercialization and regulatory, sales and marketing, clinic opening, and other expenses. In addition, our general and administrative expenses increased following the acquisitions of Perrigo Animal Health and VIP to support the larger combined Company and product portfolio. The net income we earn may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter. We will need to generate additional net sales or increased gross margin to sustain profitability, and we cannot be sure that we will remain profitable for any substantial period of time. Our failure to maintain profitability could negatively impact the value of our Class A common stock.

If our cash from operations is not sufficient to meet our current or future operating needs, expenditures and debt service obligations, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our ability to generate cash to meet our operating needs, expenditures and debt service obligations will depend on our future performance and financial condition, which will be affected by financial, business, economic, legislative, regulatory and other factors, including potential changes in costs, pricing, the success of product innovation and marketing, competitive pressure and consumer preferences. If our cash flow and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations and other cash needs, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. Our credit facility restricts our ability to take these actions and we may not be able to affect any such alternative measures on commercially reasonable terms or at all. If we cannot make scheduled payments on our debt, the lenders under our senior secured credit facilities can terminate their commitments to loan money, can declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable, foreclose against the assets securing their borrowings and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. In addition, any downgrade of our debt ratings by any

of the major rating agencies, which could result from our financial performance, acquisitions or other factors, would also negatively impact our access to additional debt financing (including leasing) or refinancing on favorable terms, or at all. Even if we are successful in taking any such alternative actions, such actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations and, as a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

The trading price of our Class A common stock is highly volatile. The trading price of our Class A common stock has fluctuated significantly since our IPO.

This volatility, as well as general economic, market or political conditions, could reduce the market price of shares of our Class A common stock in spite of our operating performance. In addition, our results of operations could be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors due to a number of potential factors, including variations in our quarterly results of operations, additions or departures of key management personnel, failure to meet analysts’ earnings estimates, publication of research reports about our industry, litigation and government investigations, changes or proposed changes in laws or regulations or differing interpretations or enforcement thereof affecting our business, adverse market reaction to any indebtedness we may incur or securities we may issue in the future, changes in market valuations of similar companies or speculation in the press or investment community, announcements by our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments and adverse publicity about our industry in or individual scandals, and in response the market price of shares of our Class A common stock could decrease significantly.

In the past few years, stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. In the past, following periods of volatility in the overall market and the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against these companies. This litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly and could fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors due to seasonality and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, resulting in a decline in our stock price.

Our quarterly operating results may fluctuate significantly because of several factors, including:

 

Seasonal factors and the timing of holidays cause our revenue to fluctuate from quarter to quarter. Our flea and tick business is most significant in the second and third quarters.  Adverse weather conditions may also affect customer traffic to our customers or our ability to meet customer delivery requirements. 

Risks Related to Our Company and Our Organizational Structure

Our principal asset is our interest in HoldCo, and, accordingly, we depend on distributions from HoldCo to pay our taxes and expenses. HoldCo’s ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions.

We are a holding company and have no material assets other than our ownership of LLC Interests of HoldCo. As such, we have no independent means of generating revenue or cash flow, and our ability to pay our taxes and operating expenses or

declare and pay dividends in the future, if any, will be dependent upon the financial results and cash flows of HoldCo and its subsidiaries and distributions we receive from HoldCo. There can be no assurance that our subsidiaries will generate sufficient cash flow to distribute funds to us or that applicable state law and contractual restrictions, including negative covenants in our debt instruments, will permit such distributions.

HoldCo is treated as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes and, as such, is not subject to any entity-level U.S. federal income tax. Instead, taxable income is allocated to holders of LLC Interests, including us. Accordingly, we incur income taxes on our allocable share of any net taxable income of HoldCo. Under the terms of the HoldCo Agreement, HoldCo will be obligated to make tax distributions to holders of LLC Interests, including us. These tax distributions are funded from available cash of HoldCo and its subsidiaries. These tax distributions will be computed, for us, based on our actual tax liability as a result of the net taxable income allocated to us as a result of owning interests in HoldCo and, for all Continuing LLC Owners, based on the net taxable income of HoldCo allocated to such holder of LLC Interests multiplied by an assumed, combined tax rate equal to the maximum rate applicable to an individual resident in New York, New York (taking into account the deductibility of state and local taxes and other applicable adjustments). In addition to tax expenses, we will also incur expenses related to our operations. We intend, as its managing member, to cause HoldCo to make cash distributions to the owners of LLC Interests in an amount sufficient to (i) fund all or part of their tax obligations in respect of taxable income allocated to them and (ii) cover our operating expenses. However, HoldCo’s ability to make such distributions may be subject to various limitations and restrictions, such as restrictions on distributions that would either violate any contract or agreement to which HoldCo is then a party, including debt agreements, or any applicable law, or that would have the effect of rendering HoldCo insolvent. Our credit agreement does not currently restrict our ability to make tax distributions. If we do not have sufficient funds to pay tax or other liabilities or to fund our operations, we may have to borrow funds, which could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition and subject us to various restrictions imposed by any such lenders.  In addition, if HoldCo does not have sufficient funds to make distributions, our ability to declare and pay cash dividends will also be restricted or impaired.

If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as a result of our ownership of HoldCo, applicable restrictions could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Under Sections 3(a)(1)(A) and (C) of the 1940 Act, a company generally will be deemed to be an “investment company” for purposes of the 1940 Act if (i) it is, or holds itself out as being, engaged primarily, or proposes to engage primarily, in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities or (ii) it engages, or proposes to engage, in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and it owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of its total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. We do not believe that we are an “investment company,” as such term is defined in either of those sections of the 1940 Act.

As the sole managing member of HoldCo, we will control and operate HoldCo. On that basis, we believe that our interest in HoldCo is not an “investment security” as that term is used in the 1940 Act. However, if we were to cease participation in the management of HoldCo, our interest in HoldCo could be deemed an “investment security” for purposes of the 1940 Act.

We and HoldCo intend to conduct our operations so that we will not be deemed an investment company. However, if we were to be deemed an investment company, restrictions imposed by the 1940 Act, including limitations on our capital structure and our ability to transact with affiliates, could make it impractical for us to continue our business as contemplated and could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Anti-takeover provisions in our organizational documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that you might consider favorable.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the merger or acquisition of the Company more difficult without the approval of our board of directors. Among other things:

 

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management, and may discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change of control of our Company that is in the best interest of our stockholders. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock if they are viewed as discouraging future takeover attempts. In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we have opted out of Section 203 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the “DGCL”).

Our board of directors is authorized to issue and designate shares of our preferred stock in additional series without stockholder approval.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors, without the approval of our stockholders, to issue shares of our preferred stock, subject to limitations prescribed by applicable law, rules and regulations and the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as shares of preferred stock in series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such series and to fix the designation, powers, preferences and rights of the shares of each such series and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof. The powers, preferences and rights of these additional series of preferred stock may be senior to or on parity with our Class A common stock, which may reduce its value.

Unanticipated changes in effective tax rates or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of our income or other tax returns could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to taxes by the U.S. federal, state and local tax authorities, and our tax liabilities will be affected by the allocation of expenses to differing jurisdictions. Our future effective tax rates could be subject to volatility or adversely affected by a number of factors, including:

 

In addition, we may be subject to audits of our income, sales and other transaction taxes by U.S. federal, state and local taxing authorities. Outcomes from these audits could have an adverse effect on our operating results and financial condition.     

Changes affecting the availability of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) may have consequences for us that cannot yet be reasonably predicted.

We have outstanding debt with variable interest rates based on LIBOR. Advances under our revolving credit facility and our term loan facility generally bear interest based on (i) the Eurodollar Rate (as defined in our credit agreements and calculated using LIBOR) or (ii) the Base Rate (as defined in our credit agreements). The LIBOR benchmark has been the subject of national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals to reform. In July 2017, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (the authority that regulates LIBOR) announced that it intends to stop compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021. These reforms may cause LIBOR to perform differently than it has in the past, and LIBOR may ultimately cease to exist after 2021. Alternative benchmark rates may replace LIBOR and could affect our debt securities, debt payments and receipts. At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect of any changes to LIBOR, any phase out of LIBOR or any establishment of alternative benchmark rates. Any new benchmark rate will likely not replicate LIBOR exactly, which could impact our contracts that terminate after 2021. There is uncertainty about how applicable law and the courts will address the replacement of LIBOR with alternative rates on variable rate retail loan contracts and other contracts that do not include alternative rate fallback provisions. If LIBOR ceases to exist after 2021, the interest rates on our revolving credit facility and our term loan facility will be based on the Base Rate or an alternative benchmark rate, which may result in higher interest rates. In addition, any changes to benchmark rates may have an uncertain impact on our cost of funds and our access to the capital markets, which could impact our results of operations and cash flows. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential changes may also adversely affect the trading market for our securities.

 

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

 

 

Item 2 - Properties

The following table sets forth the location, size, use and lease expiration date of our material properties as of December 31, 2019.

 

We are obligated under non-cancelable leases for our facilities. Our leases have varying terms, typically with three to five year renewal options. 

We believe that our current properties are adequate for our intended purposes and represent sufficient capacity for our near term plans.

 

Item 3 – Legal Proceedings

We are from time to time subject to, and are presently involved in, litigation and other proceedings. Other than the litigation described below, we believe that there are no pending lawsuits or claims that, individually or in the aggregate, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company recorded a liability of $1 million for contract termination costs, related to a settlement for alleged breach of contract. The expense is included within General and Administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019.

On April 4, 2018, Med Vets, Inc. and Bay Medical Solutions Inc. (collectively “Plaintiffs”) filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against PetIQ and VIP Petcare Holdings, Inc. for alleged unlawful merger and other antitrust violations. The Plaintiffs’ sought unspecified monetary damages, and various injunctive relief, including an order to require PetIQ to divest its interests in VIP. In June 2018, the Company filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. On August 3, 2018 the Court granted the Company’s Motion to Dismiss the Complaint, but permitted the plaintiffs to attempt to plead a viable Complaint. The Plaintiffs’ filed an Amended Complaint on December 13, 2018 and we subsequently filed a second Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint. On April 22, 2019, the Court granted the Company’s Motion to Dismiss without further leave to amend, concluding that Plaintiffs were not able to identify any factual allegations to support their alleged claims. Plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on May 21, 2019 and briefing on appeal was completed in December 2019. Oral arguments are expected to occur in mid to late 2020. A final decision from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is estimated in late 2020.

Additionally the Company is subject to various litigation related to its products as well as other corporate litigation.  No individual item is significant. 

The Company records a liability when a particular contingency is probable and estimable and provides disclosure for contingencies that are at least reasonably possible of resulting in a loss including an estimate which we currently cannot make. The Company has not accrued for any contingency at December 31, 2019, as the Company does not consider any contingency to be probable or estimable. The Company expenses legal costs as incurred within general and administrative expenses on the consolidated statements of operations.

 

Item 4 – Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable

 

PART II

Item 5 – Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

As of March 11, 2020, there were approximately 13 holders of record of our Class A common stock and 23 holders of record of our Class B common stock. The holders of our Class B common stock also hold LLC interests in Holdco.  There is no public market for these shares. A substantially greater number of holders of our stock are held in “street name” and held of record by banks, brokers, and other financial institutions. 

Dividend Policy 

We have not historically paid cash dividends on our common stock, and have no current plans to pay cash dividends on our Class A common stock. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors. Our board of directors may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions and implications on the payment of dividends by us to our stockholders or by our subsidiaries to us, including restrictions under our senior secured credit facilities and other indebtedness we may incur, and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant.

Stock Performance Graph

The information contained in the following chart is not considered to be “soliciting material,” or “filed,” or incorporated by reference in any past or future filing by the Company under the Securities Act or Exchange Act unless and only to the extent that, the Company specifically incorporates it by reference.

The following graph compares our total common stock return with the total return for (i) the NASDAQ Composite Index (the “NASDAQ Composite”) and (ii) the Russell 2000 Index (the “Russell 2000”) for the period from July 26, 2017 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NASDAQ Global Market) through December 31, 2019.  The figures represented below assume an investment of $100 in our common stock at the closing price of $23.64 on July 26, 2017 and in the NASDAQ Composite and the Russell 2000 on July 26, 2017. The comparisons in the table are required by the SEC and are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of our common stock.

 

 

 

 

Item 6 – Selected Financial Data –

 

Item 7 – Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

We conduct our business through PetIQ, LLC and its subsidiaries. The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our financial statements and related notes and other financial information appearing elsewhere in this report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs and involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Business Overview

PetIQ is a leading pet medication and wellness company delivering a smarter way for pet parents to help their pet live their best lives through convenient access to affordable veterinary products and services. We engage with customers through more than 60,000 points of distribution across retail and e-commerce channels with our branded distributed medications, which is further supported by our own world-class medication manufacturing facility in Omaha, Nebraska. Our national service platform, VIP Petcare, operates in over 3,400 retail partner locations in 41 states, providing cost effective and convenient veterinary wellness services. PetIQ believes that pets are an important part of the family and deserve the best products and care we can give them.

We have two reporting segments: (i) Products; and (ii) Services. The Products segment consists of our manufacturing and distribution business. The Services segments consists of veterinary services, and related product sales, provided by the Company directly to consumers.

We are the sole managing member of PetIQ Holdings, LLC (“Holdco”), a Delaware limited liability company, which is the sole member of PetIQ, LLC (“Opco”) and, through Holdco, operate and control all of the business and affairs of Opco.

Recent Developments

Capstar Acquisition

On January 13, 2020, we announced that, through Opco, we executed an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) to acquire the U.S. rights to Capstar® and CapAction® and related assets (the “Acquisition”) from Elanco US Inc. (“Elanco”) for $95 million, plus the cost of certain outstanding finished goods inventory in saleable condition. Capstar and CapAction are oral tablets for the treatment of flea infestations on dogs, puppies, cats and kittens. Capstar is comprised of five SKUs and CapAction is sold under three SKUs. The closing of the transaction is contingent upon customary closing conditions, including, among others, the approval of the acquisition under a consent order issued by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The parties have agreed that the Acquisition will not close earlier than July 1, 2020.

Following closing, Elanco will manufacture and supply Capstar and CapAction and provide certain technology transfer services to Opco over a 24-month period pursuant to a manufacturing and supply agreement.

Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition

On July 8, 2019, we, through Opco, completed the acquisition of all the outstanding stock of Sergeant’s Pet Care Products, Inc. (“Sergeant’s”), d/b/a Perrigo Animal Health, including any assets related to Perrigo Company plc’s animal health business (the “Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition”). As a result of the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition, Sergeant’s is now an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.

Results of Operations

Components of our Results of Operations

Net Sales

Our Product Segment net sales consist of our total product sales net of product returns, allowances (discounts), trade promotions and incentives. We offer a variety of trade promotions and incentives to our customers, such as cooperative advertising programs and in‑store displays. We recognize revenue when control transfers to our customers, in accordance with the terms of our contracts, which generally occurs upon shipment of product. Most contracts contain variable consideration, which is estimated at the time of sale and updated at each period end. Trade promotions are used to increase our aggregate net sales. Our net sales are periodically influenced by the timing, extent and amount of such trade promotions and incentives.

Key factors that may affect our future Product sales growth include: new product introductions; expansion into e-commerce and other customer bases; expansion of items sold to existing customers, addition of new retail customers and to maintain pricing levels necessary for profitability; aggressive pricing by our competitors; and whether we can maintain and develop positive relationships with key retail customers. In addition, our products are primarily consumables and, as such, they experience a replenishment cycle.

Our Service Segment revenue consists of providing veterinary services to consumers and selling products to the consumer in conjunction with those services.  The customer renders payment at the time the service is rendered.

While many of our products are sold consistently throughout the year, we experience seasonality in the form of increased retailer demand for our flea and tick product offerings in the first two quarters of the year in preparation for increased consumer demand during the summer months.  Additionally our veterinary services experience seasonality as consumers typically seek more services in the warmer months. 

Gross Profit

Gross profit is our net product sales plus service revenue less cost of product sales and services. Our cost of product sales consists primarily of costs of raw goods, finished goods, packaging materials, manufacturing, shipping and handling costs and costs associated with our warehouses and distribution network. Cost of services are comprised of all service and product costs related to providing veterinary services, including but not limited to, salaries of veterinarians, technicians and other clinic based personnel, transportation and delivery costs, facilities rent, occupancy costs, supply costs, depreciation and amortization of clinic assets, certain marketing and promotional expenses and costs of goods sold. 

Gross margin measures our gross profit as a percentage of net sales. With respect to our proprietary products, we have a manufacturing network that includes leased and owned manufacturing facilities where we manufacture finished goods, as well as third-party contract manufacturing facilities from which we purchase finished products predominately on a dollar-per-unit basis. The gross margin on our proprietary value-branded products is higher than on our distributed products. For distributed products, our costs are driven by whether we source the product direct from the manufacturer or a licensed distributor and the extent of value-added products and services we render with the distributed product. Gross profit in the services segment is driven by the number of pets that seek services in the individual clinics due to the relatively fixed cost nature of providing the clinic.

General and Administrative Expenses

Our general and administrative expenses primarily consist of employee compensation and benefits expenses, sales and merchandizing expenses, advertising and marketing expenses, rent and lease expenses, IT and utilities expenses, professional fees, insurance costs, R&D costs, host fees, banking charges, and consulting fees. General and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales have increased to 14.5% in 2019 from 13.7% in 2018. The increase in general and administrative expenses in 2019 compared to 2018 was primarily driven by costs related to the Perrigo Animal Health

Acquisition and overall expansion of corporate overhead. We incurred significant expenses related to our 2019 and 2018 acquisitions.

Our advertising and marketing expenses primarily consist of digital marketing (e.g. social, display and search, etc.), addressable TV, e-mail, in-store merchandising and trade shows in an effort to build awareness and drive demand for our products and services. These expenses may vary from quarter to quarter but typically they are higher in the second and third quarters. Our Product Segment focuses on promoting PetArmor direct-to-consumer, supported by trade promotions and merchandising. Our Services Segment focuses on promoting our veterinary services direct-to-consumer, geo-targeted around our retail locations, supported by in-store signage. We expect our marketing expenses to increase commensurate with increases in revenue and market share for both segments.

As noted above, we experience seasonality in the form of increased demand for our flea and tick product offerings in the first two quarters of the year in preparation for the spring and summer seasons and, as a result, the sales and merchandizing expenses component of our general and administrative expenses generally increases in the second and third quarters due to promotional spending relating to our flea and tick product lines.

Contingent Note revaluations

The Company entered into two contingent notes associated with the acquisition of Community Veterinary Clinics, LLC, d/b/a (“VIP” and such acquisition the “VIP Acquisition”). The notes were earned based on consolidated company EBITDA as discussed in the accompanying financial statements, and were revalued each period through earnings. During the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company recognized additional expense due to the revaluation of the notes of $7.3 million and $3.3 million, respectively.

Net (Loss) Income

Our net (loss) income for future periods will be affected by the various factors described above. In addition, our historical results are impacted by Opco’s status as a pass-through entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes and our ownership percentage of Holdco. We anticipate future results will not be consistent as our net income will be subject to U.S. federal and state income taxes. Our tax expense is impacted by our structure and, as a result, we expect our tax expense to fluctuate on a quarterly basis depending on the number of exchanges that occur during each period.

Non-Controlling Interest

For the periods from July 20, 2017 through December 31, 2017, and the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, PetIQ, Inc. consolidated the financial position and results of operations of HoldCo. Our Continuing LLC Owners hold their equity investment in us primarily through LLC Interests in the Company’s subsidiary, HoldCo, and an equal number of shares of the Company’s Class B common stock. Our Class B Stock has voting, but no economic rights. Each LLC Interest, together with a share of Class B Stock held by the Continuing LLC, is exchangeable for a share of the Company’s Class A common stock (or at the option of the Company, the cash equivalent thereof). The Company is the managing member of HoldCo and owns a majority of the LLC Interests, and consolidates HoldCo in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The interest of the Continuing LLC Owners in HoldCo is reflected in our Consolidated Financial Statements as a non-controlling interest.

For the periods prior to July 20, 2017, the Company consolidated the financial position and results of operations of HoldCo.  The portion of HoldCo not owned by the Company is reported in our Consolidated Statements of Operations as non-controlling interest.  The non-controlling interest presented in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets is included within members’ equity.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations in dollars and as a percentage of net sales for the periods presented:

 

Year Ended December 31, 2019 Compared With Year Ended December 31, 2018

Net sales

Consolidated Net Sales

Consolidated net sales increased $180.8 million, or 34%, to $709.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $528.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase was driven by Products segment sales, the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition and growth in the Services segment.

Products Segment

Product sales increased $166.9 million, or 37%, to $617.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $450.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase was driven by acquisitions, resulting in approximately $28.9 million in sales growth, and by increased velocity of growth of current customers.

Services Segment

Service revenue increased $13.9 million, or 18%, from $78.4 million to $92.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to the year ended December 31, 2018. The Services revenue growth was driven by the opening of new wellness centers and increasing pet counts within existing community clinics as a result of scheduling improvements. Same-store sales increased $9.8 million, or 13.2%, to $84.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $74.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in same-store sales was driven by improvements in scheduling that were made during 2018 and moving 3 wellness centers and 2 district offices into the same store base, offset by converting successful mobile clinics into wellness centers. Non same-store sales increased $4.1 million, or 103.9%, to

$8.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase in non same-store sales was a result of opening 80 additional wellness centers in 2019, as well as the maturation of clinics opened in the past six trailing quarters, offset by wellness centers moving into the same store sales base.

Gross profit

Gross profit increased by $24.1 million, or 29%, to $107.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $83.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase is due to the significant sales growth as well as higher gross margin in the Services Segment, offset by a significant portion of Product sales growth occurring in lower margin items and the fair value of inventory adjustment recognized through cost of sales from the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition. Gross margin decreased to 15.1% for the year ended December 31, 2019, from 15.8% for the year ended December 31, 2018.

General and administrative expenses

Consolidated general and administrative expenses (“G&A”) increased $30.9 million, or 43%, to $103.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $72.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. As a percentage of net sales, G&A increased from 13.7% in 2018 to 14.5% in 2019, primarily driven by costs related to the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition and overall expansion of corporate overhead.

Products Segment

Products segment G&A increased $11.9 million or 77% to $27.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $15.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase was driven by acquisitions, resulting in approximately $6.1 million in G&A costs related to the acquired businesses, primarily selling and distribution expenses.  Additionally variable expenses increased due to higher revenues. 

Services Segment

Services segment G&A increased $2.9 million, or 22%, to $16.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $13.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. This increase was driven by additional marketing spends as the Company launched new wellness centers, as well as normal variable costs such as credit card processing and host fees which have grown due to Services revenue growth. Nearly all of the G&A growth relates to clinics opened in the last six quarters and therefore is derived from the non same-store sales base.

Unallocated Corporate

Unallocated corporate G&A increased $16.2 million, or 48%, to $49.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, from $33.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. The increase was driven by costs related to the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition, including $6.1 million of acquisition costs and $1.0 million related to contract termination to adjust service providers. Stock-based compensation expense has grown by $3.5 million as a result of corporate growth, amortization has grown $0.8 million related to the additional acquired intangibles, and expenses have grown due to additional corporate infrastructure related to acquisitions, including the administrative departments at the Company’s new subsidiaries of $4.0 million, as well as growth in the headquarters overhead related to corporate employees. This was offset slightly by reduction of corporate overhead as duplicate positions are eliminated as functions are centralized.

Interest expense, net

Interest expense, net, increased $6.5 million, to $14.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.  This increase was driven by additional debt incurred to fund the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition in 2019.

Pre-tax net loss

As a result of the factors above, pre-tax net loss increased $17.0 million to a pre-tax net loss of $17.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019 compared to a pre-tax net loss of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Tax expense

As a result of continued exchanges by Continuing LLC Owners of LLC Interests and Class B common shares, offset by the use of LLC Interests as consideration in business combinations during 2018, the Company now owns approximately 83% of Holdco with the LLC Interests not held by the Company considered non-controlling interest. Holdco is treated as a partnership for income tax reporting. Holdco’s members, including the Company, are liable for federal, state, and local income taxes based on their share of Holdco’s taxable income.

Income tax benefit totaled 18.8% of pretax earnings in 2019. Our tax rate is affected by the lower pre-tax income in the current year, recurring items, such as the portion of income and expense allocated to the noncontrolling interest, and tax rates in foreign jurisdictions relative to the amounts of income we earn in those jurisdictions. It is also affected by discrete items that may occur in any given year but are not consistent from year to year.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA

Effective September 30, 2019, the Company changed its segment measure of profitability for its reportable segments from segment operating (loss) income to Adjusted EBITDA to better align the way the chief operating decision maker views reportable segment operations in light of changes in the Company’s operations, including the increase of manufacturing operations as a result of the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition in the Products segment and the growth of the Company’s wellness centers, host partners, and regional offices within the Services segment. For comparability purposes, previous periods have been recast to reflect the measure of segment profitability.

Products Segment

Products segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $21.3 million, or 41%, to $73.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $52.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. Products segment Adjusted EBITDA fluctuates based on the quantity and mix of products sold, specifically whether the products are manufactured by PetIQ or are distributed for other manufacturers. The significant growth in Products segment Adjusted EBITDA relates to significant sales growth as well as the Perrigo Animal Health Acquisition completed in July 2019 and the HBH Enterprises, LLC (“HBH”) (the “HBH Acquisition”) completed in October 2018 ($48.0 million of aggregate additional sales), which expanded the Company’s manufacturing capabilities as well as added additional brands of manufactured products. Adjustments related to the segment include a purchase accounting adjustment for the step up of inventory to fair value of $4.8 million that was recognized through cost of sales, depreciation on production assets, and costs related to the Company’s SKU rationalization process of $6.5 million, which resulted in disposal of, or a reserve on, inventory not expected to be sold due to brand re-alignment.

Services Segment

Services segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $4.8 million, or 31%, to $20.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to $15.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. Services segment Adjusted EBITDA can fluctuate considerably based on the volume of pets seen in clinics, due to the relatively fixed cost nature of a clinic (i.e. fixed labor costs regardless of number of pets seen) as well as the conversion of community clinics into fixed wellness centers. Additionally, Services segment earnings are impacted by the Company’s growth strategy of opening new wellness centers and the impact of the Company’s same store portfolio, discussed further below under ‘Consolidated Non-GAAP Financial Measures.’ Services segment Adjusted EBITDA has grown on increasing pet counts in existing clinics, driven by schedule optimization and price alignment, offset by cannibalization of pets into newly opened wellness centers from community clinics.

Unallocated Corporate 

Unallocated corporate expenses consist of expenses incurred by centrally-managed departments, including accounting, legal, human resources information technology and headquarters expenses, as well as executive and incentive compensation expenses and other miscellaneous costs. Unallocated corporate costs have primarily grown due to the growth in the size of the Company, including adding to administrative headcount through acquisitions, as well as headquarters growth to support the larger Company. Adjustments to unallocated corporate include expenses related to specific events, such as acquisition expenses, integration costs, and the fair value adjustment to the contingent note. Adjustments also include non-cash expenses, such as depreciation, amortization, and stock based compensation.

The following tables reconcile segment pre-tax net income to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented.

 

 

 

 

Year Ended December 31, 2018 Compared With Year Ended December 31, 2017

Net sales

Consolidated Net Sales

Consolidated net sales increased $261.9 million, or 98%, to $528.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $266.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. The growth is attributed to $183.5 million in additional product sales, which is a result of expansion of items sold to continuing customers, addition of new items, and addition of new customers. Additionally, the $78.4 million of service revenue is new in 2018 as a result of the VIP Acquisition completed in January 2018.

Products Segment

Product sales increased $183.5 million, or 69%, to $450.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $266.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. This increase was driven by expanding item counts at existing customers of existing items and increase in velocity of sales of existing items, as well growth due to the acquisitions.

Services Segment 

Services revenue was $78.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 and the Company did not have any Services segment revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Gross profit

Gross profit increased by $32.1 million, or 63%, to $83.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $51.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. This increase is due to the significant sales growth as well as higher gross margin in the services segment, offset by a significant portion of the product sales growth occurring in lower margin items. Gross margin decreased to 15.8% for the year ended December 31, 2018, from 19.2% for the year ended December 31, 2017.

General and administrative expenses

Consolidated G&A increased by $34.4 million, or 91%, to $72.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $37.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. As a percentage of net sales, G&A decreased from 14.2% in 2017 to 13.7% in 2018, which was the result of increases in net sales exceeding G&A expense growth due to the fixed nature of a portion of the G&A expenses.

Products Segment

Products segment G&A decreased $4.5 million, or 20%, to $18.0 million in 2018, compared to $22.5 million in 2017. This decrease was driven by the change in revenue recognition from ASC 606, which moved certain costs from G&A to cost of sales, as well as reduced sales and merchandising activity as the Company sales grew primarily in distributed products, which the Company does not typically support.

Services Segment

Services segment G&A increased $13.9 million, or 100%, for the year ended December 31, 2018, as the Company did not have any Services segment G&A for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Unallocated Corporate

Unallocated corporate costs grew considerably over the prior year, with growth of $25.0 million to $40.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $15.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2017.  The increase was driven by costs related to the acquisitions, including $3.8 million of acquisition costs. Stock-based compensation expense has grown by $3.4 million on normal corporate growth, amortization has grown by $4.2 million, related to the additional acquisitions, and expenses grew due to additional corporate infrastructure related to acquisitions, including the administrative departments at the Company’s new subsidiaries of $16.6 million, as well as growth in the headquarters overhead related to corporate employees of approximately $2.9 million. This was offset slightly by reduction of corporate overhead as duplicate positions were eliminated as functions were centralized.

Interest expense, net

Interest expense, net increased $6.4 million, to $8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. This increase was driven by new debt agreements entered into in January of 2018 as part of the VIP Acquisition, which increased amounts borrowed substantially, as well as significant use of our revolver to finance higher working capital to support the sales growth, offset slightly by the proceeds of our public offering in October 2018, which allowed for reduced use of the revolver as well as generated interest income from deposits.

Pre-tax net income (loss)

As a result of the factors above, pre-tax net income decreased $12.4 million to a pre-tax net loss of $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to a pre-tax net income of $11.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Tax expense

As a result of continued exchanges by Continuing LLC Owners of LLC Interests and Class B common shares, offset by the use of LLC Interests as consideration in business combinations the Company’s ownership fluctuates. Holdco is treated as a partnership for income tax reporting. Holdco’s members, including the Company, are liable for federal, state, and local income taxes based on their share of Holdco’s taxable income.

Income tax benefit totaled 115.2% of pretax earnings in 2018. Our tax rate is affected by the lower pre-tax income in the current year, recurring items, such as the portion of income and expense allocated to the noncontrolling interest, and tax rates in foreign jurisdictions relative to the amounts of income we earn in those jurisdictions. It is also affected by discrete items that may occur in any given year but are not consistent from year to year. In 2018, we finalized our accounting for the Tax Act resulting in an immaterial adjustment tax expense.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA

Products Segment

Products segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $21.3 million, or 69%, to $52.2 for the year ended December 31, 2018, compared to $30.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. The significant growth in Products segment operating income is the result of significant sales growth, primarily related to increased velocity of sales to existing customers.

Services Segment

Services segment Adjusted EBITDA increased $15.2 million, or 100% for the year ended December 31, 2018, as the Company did not have any Services segment Adjusted EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Unallocated Corporate

Unallocated corporate expenses consist of expenses incurred by centrally-managed departments, including accounting, legal, human resources, information technology and headquarters expenses, as well as executive and incentive compensation expenses, and other miscellaneous costs.

The following tables reconcile pre-tax net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA for the periods presented.