Verus International Inc (VRUS)

[Nestegg McMuffin]

$VRUS 2-YEAR TIME LINE (May edition)...

Jan 2017
Anshu Bhatnagar takes over as CEO of Rbiz.
Begins transforming moribund real estate company into global food distributor, building on his success at American Agro Group.

Hires MKR and Mark Forney.
Impeccable PRs who took eGain to Nasdaq, now doing their IPO.
”To Rbiz investors, we ask -- give us a chance,” said Mr. Bhatnagar. “Our incoming team has previously built very successful operations in the international food distribution space, so our goal is to quickly create a large, profitable company."

December 2017
Ashu settles year-long legal fight with old Rbiz management so new incarnation can run free.
(This was the moment I realized Anshu was the real deal. A protracted court case with aggressive, litigious toxic lenders and deadwood shareholders is no picnic. He stuck with it and ensured terms that could allow Vrus to go on to thrive.
Anshu also won me over by the prompt open way he dealt with a disgruntled (and loony) food distributor who bashed him in response to a shareholder. He simply issued swift open reply to shareholders and we all moved on.

Monaker chief Don Monaco personally backs Anshu. “I believe in Verus Foods’ business model and want to help the company begin its growth phase,” explained Mr. Monaco. “This funding provides the company with the solid footing it needs as it lines up additional sources of working capital. I am looking forward to watching the Verus story unfold in 2018.”

July 2018
FINRA approves Rbiz spin-off into Nestbuilder (should have called it NesteggBuilder!).
Vrus revenue for first half of 2018 is $2.24 million, a 102% increase over first half of 2017.
Anshu’s global contacts in food biz paying off already.

August 2018
Verus name change.
Not quite the rocket fuel some predicted, but longs sit tight as Investors Presentation is released.
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/703a12_f83d91291d66422b8492592693f41a65.pdf

Sept 2018
Company posts a 77% increase in sales for the first nine months of 2018
Gets Chris Cutchens as Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO). SEC compliant filings.

Winter 2018
IR Mark Forney manages expectations as company enters self-announced quiet period …
Shares go as low as .0019. Smart longs buy all they can.

Feb 2019
Vrus gets $1.45 million in funding from Cronos whale Andrew Garnock; retires toxic notes from four creditors -- "paid all convertible note holders in full and resulted in a gain on extinguishment of debt of $681,945."
Monaker and Don Monaco and Rick Berdon all stay invested (you bet they did).

$10 million honey deal announced for Europe and Middle East
Verus to offer 20-30 different SKUs. Getting shelf space is big breakthrough.

March 2019
$4 million rice deal annually for Dubai market.
Anshu: “This is exactly the kind of contract that we believe we can replicate many times over.”

Vrus announces annual sales of $5.8 million for fiscal 2018, 101% increase over 2017.
Operating cost actually go down. These guys know how to run a tight ship.
Quarterly sales set to grow in excess of 100% year over year and “accelerate significantly” throughout 2019.
This is one ambitious CEO.

Revenue hits all-time high of $2.4 million in Q1/19, 145% increase from prev. year’s Q1.
Net Loss improves 45.8% over Q1/18, despite extensive one-time costs severing Rbiz ties.
Largest funded backlog in Company history — $24 million for delivery over the next 12 months.
Six months earlier Anshu said he expected Vrus to reach $20M in orders.

April 2019
Monaker on its conference call says its staying invested in Vrus: The company is "doing well" and they expect to “recover several millions of dollars”.

Easter 2019
Anshu tweets about “new beginnings” for Spring, and lo and behold --

April 26, 2019
Announces first M&A deal with Big League Foods to sell Major League Baseball-branded frozen dessert products and confections in 2500 stores.
The license covers all 30 MLB teams, which means 30 different brands with a loyal fan base. It's turnkey op that will generate revenue very quickly.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/04/26/1810571/0/en/VERUS-INTERNATIONAL-ANNOUNCES-ACQUISITION-OF-BIG-LEAGUE-FOODS-INC-GAINS-LICENSE-WITH-MAJOR-LEAGUE-BASEBALL.html

May 2019
Secures $600k in funding for baseball gelato production from GS Capital on impressively favorable terms. "Holder can convert any amount of the principal into shares at a price equal to $0.10 per share."
Big League President James Wheeler joins Maryland operation to run ice-cream subsidiary. Already busy with Anshu setting up production. (Moving fast, folks.)
First footprint into the US market. Huge.

IR confirms there is no threat of dilution from any of the old warrants. All paid off, despite false claims to the contrary.

June 2019...
More dominoes and S1 coming. 8 M&As in the works.
10Q expected -- and set to show profit for first time without one-off legal fees from previous quarter.

- - -

In short, this company has made amazing progress in just over two years. Share price has climbed 400% since start of the year -- and has held above .01 for the past month establishing new base. Company is now in organic growth period which is where things really pay off for long term believers

Each to his own, but I think this ticker is a long haul winner.


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