Pop Plop, Fizz, Fizz, at Jones Soda
By
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
November 7, 2008
|
Jones Soda (Nasdaq: JSDA) is so edgy and anti-establishment that it even knows how to destroy itself.
The troubled premium pop bottler posted horrendous third-quarter results last night. Net revenue fell 26% to $8.7 million. The company's loss widened to $0.20 a share, marking the fifth consecutive quarter in which Jones Soda has posted a steeper loss than Wall Street was expecting.
There may have been some hope at the beginning of last year's slide. Net revenue was taking a hit as a result of costly stocking fees to get the company's eclectic flavors into new retailers. However, now it's the actual viability of Jones Soda as a brand that's at stake, since even gross revenue took a sharp 25% hit during the period.
Sorry, Jones. The market just isn't that into you anymore. When you see a 45% plunge in concentrate sales to distributor National Beverage (Nasdaq: FIZZ) and the company bellyaching over discontinued lines at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) you better start worrying. Small deals like its role as the exclusive provider of canned soft drinks on Alaska Air (NYSE: ALK) flights aren't enough.
Jones Soda is responding to its waning street cred by retreating further into its shell. It is scaling back promotional allowances to retailers and whacking away at its workforce. Naturally having fewer bodies around and dealing with less motivated outlets is only going to make sales deteriorate even more. The hope here is that the company will be able to shave enough overhead to give it time for another crack at winning back soda sippers it lost to mainstream bottlers like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) or those who have migrated to the energy drink market fueled by fast-growing players like Red Bull and Hansen Natural (Nasdaq: HANS).
Either way, the company isn't done defacing itself just yet. I guess it's hard to appeal to the emo kids when you have no more "mo."
Other ways to keep up -- or down -- with the Joneses:
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