Mr. Mark Wynne

GLG News^SM Analyses by Mark Wynne

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NBTY's Vertical Expansion

August 16, 2006

Analysis of:Zila Sells Nutraceuticals Unit to NBTY | biz.yahoo.com

NBTY is described as a Vertically Integrated company, however their latest acquisition of Zila's Ester-C and E products could more accurately be called Vertical Expansion.

At first glance the acquisition has a certain symmetry to it. NBTYis primarily a manufacturing company and as such, buying a branded raw material would seem in line with vertical integration.

The buying price, in my opinion, was a bit steep. The Ester-E product was launched, unfortunately, near the time of the major negative press on some incomplete Vitamin E studies that sent E sales down as much as 40%. Ester-C is a totally different story, it's an extremely popular product with good research behind it and it has consistently sold well. Vitamin C continues to sell well in all major nutritional supplement channels and is found in many skin care products as well.

GNC IPO This Could Be A Wild Ride

August 7, 2006

Analysis of:Apollo Launches GNC | www.thestreet.com

With the Nutritional Supplement market still running relatively flat (according to recent IRI data), why is Apollo taking a chance with GNC's IPO at this time?

After only a couple of good sales quarters, a change in the CEO (an Apollo hand picked choice gone after six months), disgruntled Franchise owners, and a difficult retail sales environment...what are they thinking will fuel this IPO?

Same store sales might be up at GNC and Vitamin World, but let's be real, prior year sales could not get much lower then they were, so going against and beating those low comp numbers was not a difficult feat.

Vitamin Supplement Sales Trending Upwards

May 9, 2006

Analysis of:NBTY Reports Second Quarter Results | biz.yahoo.com

As the Nutritional Supplement Market weathers the storm of negative press reports, several companies, including NTY are reporting strong sales. Over the past year there have been an unprecedented number of negative press stories highlighting scientific studies or partial studies that have hit the vitamin industry quite hard. Recent positive sales numbers from companies like; NTY, GNC, Nutraceutical Intl Corp, Schiff Nutrition, and Herbalife show that there are many baby-boomers and others who continue to purchase supplements in record numbers.