"WALL STREET CORNER"
BY WALLSTREETCORNER.COM, INC.
www.WallStreetCorner.com
Corporate Profile
DC Brands International, Inc.
Its "Dickens Cider" is in the $8 Billion Energy Drink Market
DC Brands International is Revolutionizing that Market
Finally a Drink with Great Taste & No After-Taste
Essentials
Business:
Exchange:
Symbol:
Current Price (2/2/2006):
52-Week Range:
Market Cap (@ 2/2/2006):
Shares Authorized:
Shares Out:
Approx. Float:
Management Consulting Services
Pink Sheets*
DCBI
$0.085
$0.08 - $0.75
$11.4 million
300 million
135 million
10 million shares
* COO Keith Howard says the company has begun working through the process of moving
the company off the pink sheets & onto the OTC Bulletin Board this year. He commented: "There is
a lot of work to be done that goes along with making a move like this, including the auditing process.
Our securities attorneys at Godwin Gruber in Dallas, TX will be guiding us through the process."
CEO Richard Pearce commented: "This will be a huge step for us as far as the public
market side of our business is concerned. We have always been an unsolicited company, which means
no direct contact or support with the market makers & brokers. Our volume essentially comes from
word of mouth. Yet, because of the uniqueness of our brand, we have still averaged something in the
order of 500,000 shares a day since we began trading last February. When the process is complete, it
will provide us access to the markets that we have not been able to utilize in the past. The move to the
OTC Bulletin Board should be an extremely healthy move for all of our shareholders.”
Our Comment
We interviewed CEO Dick Pearce, & are impressed with DCBI's
potential to revolutionize a major segment of the popular drink market.
If you have tasted most energy drinks, you were probably disappointed
with both the taste & the bad after-taste you experienced.
Dick explained how he & his team took many months getting their
"Dickens Energy Drink" to have a really great taste as well as no aftertaste. Since the successful conclusion of that effort in 8/2005, DCBI's
primary focus has been to acquire effective distributors nationwide.
That is progressing very well, & monthly revenues are climbing nicely.
DCBI intends for its new entry to the energy drink market to become
a direct competitor to the market leaders Red Bull®, Monster®, &
Rockstar®. However, it differentiates its drink with an additional
ingredient, `Horny Goat Weed,' which adds a unique flavor that has
been extremely well received. DCBI is also in the process of releasing
two new products.
CEO Dick Pearce's Comment
On 1/24/2006, Dick Pearce commented: "Growth is often painful.
Last year was very tumultuous for us. We had to negotiate the buy-out of
previous partners, take the company public, move production from Austria
to the U.S., & change from an 8.4oz can to the new 16oz product. We also
moved our headquarters & began the complete restructuring of our
distribution network to utilize large established beer distributors across the
country. All of those steps needed to happen. However, it was a lot of
mostly non-productive work that took a tremendous amount of time,
money, & energy. Those things are now in the past & they have allowed
us to go into this year focused on our distributor network & the sales of
our current & new products we will be rolling out this spring, including
the `Bag-In-A-Box' & the all new alcoholic `Hard Dickens Cider'
product."
Summary
Here's what Dick Pearce tells his potential distributors:
"We hear it all the time; `Oh no, not another energy drink' -- Relax -we are not just another energy drink! We are the world's first & only
Energy Cider. What's the difference you ask? Much smoother & no bad
after-taste! In fact, it tastes great! [Editor's Note: Richard sent us a case
of the drink & he's right -- it really tastes great & we do not experience any
after-taste.]
"By now you have probably noticed that the energy (functional
beverage) category has gone through a stage very reminiscent of the
Internet boom/bomb era! During the last two years everybody & their
brother tried to get in the energy drink business. They poured something
wet into an 8.4 once can filled with caffeine, a bunch of B-vitamins, some
other junk to wake you up, & then slapped on a really stupid name in most
cases, & an even more ridiculous logo. Next thing you know, baddabing,
baddaboom, presto-chango, ala-kazam, they are in the energy drink
business!
"In most of these cases, perhaps even more ill-conceived than the
actual drink & name/logo scheme, was the business plan many of these
products were backed by. It went something like this… `Boy, if we can just
get this product on a shelf within view of Red Bull, enough of our product
should fall off to make us rich. After all, we only want 1% of their sales!'
Sounds good when you say it fast, doesn't it?
"Welcome to the real world! It's a place where bad tasting products
with bad names, unattractive logos, & virtually no marketing plan to
provide pull-through, is a recipe to failure. That's why so many of these
flash-in-the-pan products are dropping like flies.
"Conversely, DC Brands set out from day one to make a higher quality,
better tasting product that would be packaged in the industry's most clever
& attractive packaging. We strive hard to be sexy, not sexists -- Victoria's
Secret, not Hustler Magazine. People try our product out of curiosity &
because of the sexy graphics on the can. They keep coming back because
of the taste.
"Before us, no one in the industry was selling sex. However, quickly
thereafter, some others decided they wanted to `push the envelope' & threw
their hat in the ring with entries like Sum Poosie, 69, & Pimp Juice.
Really! We're the difference between classy & classless.
"The good news is that just like with the Internet boom/bomb, solid
products with well thought-out business plans that are properly capitalized
are indeed surviving & establishing a strong foothold in the market. Those
who are left standing after the initial "fall-out" will continue to get
stronger. You see, we are not just selling an Energy Drink; rather we are
selling an image that represents a lifestyle! That, among other things, is
our difference! The cult-like following we are currently experiencing is
truly phenomenal. It is not unlike that which made Harley Davidson's
turn-around. The people responsible for Harley's resurrection understood
full well that motorcycles were just ONE of the many products their brand
could, & should, be associated with.
"Dickens Cider has been successful everywhere we go & is here to stay.
Currently distributed in over 20 states, we are experiencing escalating
sales in every market."
Comments from Distributors
Chris Reed, VP of sales at Great Western Distributing/Coors of
Amarillo, TX says: "We really enjoy working with DC Brands. Dickens
Energy Cider is a great product with a great marketing scheme, & a super
team of people involved with the company. As a beer distributor, having a
playful energy drink like this is a change we can have fun with. We pride
ourselves on innovation. We were the first to bring promotional printing
in house, the first to introduce wireless order entry at Point of Sale, and
we've just installed a new route accounting system. We're always looking
for the next big thing. We saw Dickens Energy Cider at the National Beer
Wholesaler show in Las Vegas & loved it. We knew it was going to be a
hot item!
"We really have fun with the bar promotions; the customers love the
drink. Bars & restaurants now have Dickens Energy Cider on the menu
with some fun drink names. The customers have a lot of fun with the
name. One of our retailers told us his customer met his girlfriend with the
pick up line `Have you had your Dickens Cider tonight?' Customers will
care about the difference & it's a great marketing tool. For such an
outrageously fun product, DC Brands takes their business seriously."
Great Western Distributing/Coors of Amarillo currently services
about 450 accounts with Coors products & energy drinks, including
convenience stores, bars, restaurants, gas stations, & liquor stores.
Dickens Energy Cider sells the fastest in convenience stores, bars, &
even truck stops. One Flying J truck stop often sells eight cases a week.
The largest convenience store chain is Toot & Totem, which carries
Dickens in about 63 locations.
Dino Fanelli of Fanelli Distributing in Montana says: "The SugarFree is really catching on. People really like this product."
Recent News
1/23/2006 -- DCBI announced initial results of its new "Taste the
Difference, Feel the Difference" promotion which brought Dickens
Energy Cider in the top three selling brands at store level where the
promotion was conducted. The promotion, the first of its kind in the
industry, is being tested at 16 Colorado based convenience store
locations. The idea is to allow customers who buy energy drinks on a
regular basis to try Dickens Energy Cider along with their current
favorite energy drink & decide for themselves.
Each store is decorated with numerous points of sale pieces
explaining that the customer can get one Dickens Energy Cider free
with the purchase of any energy drink in the store. This means buy a
Red Bull -- get a Dickens free; buy a Monster or a Rock Star -- get a
Dickens free, etc.
Dick Pearce said: "It all stems from our belief that we do have the best
tasting drink in the industry & that belief is echoed by the vast majority of
people we have done side-by-side taste tests with. So our idea was rather
than attempt to staff & schedule people at hundreds of stores each month
to perform traditional taste tests, we would simply give a free can to each
customer that purchased our drink or any other energy drink in the store.
"You cannot get more targeted than that. It would be easy to spend
$20,000 a week in each area on radio or print ads & you are not
guaranteed a single person will ever taste, much less buy one of your
drinks. When we do it this way, approximately every seven to 10 days, we
know that for every 100 stores we run the promotion in, we have 36,000
actual energy drink drinkers who have the opportunity to try our product
so they can taste the difference & feel the difference for themselves. At the
first 16 stores launched just three days ago & over the weekend, the
average store went through more than 5.3 cases, with the best store going
through 11.2 cases. In every one of the stores, Dickens Energy Cider
moved to number one, two, or three. That is huge for us! This number
means that better than 80% of everyone who came to the store to buy an
energy drink is getting in on the promotion. This test will continue
through the end of the month & then we have plans with our distributors
here in Denver, California, & Florida to extend the promotion to 100
stores per distributor per month starting in February. We could not be
more thrilled with the results & we plan to follow this strategy throughout
the entire year & beyond."
Note: DCBI has since begun this promotion in over a dozen Fresno,
CA based convenience stores with the same type of results; immediately
increasing case sales several fold at each location & making Dickens
Energy Cider among the top sellers in the category. The eye-catching
point of sale seems to have not only drawn the attention of the general
public but also two new potential distributors that have now contacted
the company & are beginning talks concerning distribution.
1/19/2006 -- DCBI completed the move to its new corporate
headquarters in Wheat Ridge, CO. COO Keith Howard said: "The
new facility is great! In the past, we worked out of one 1,500 sq ft office
on the 4th floor across town & a separate warehouse, which was some 20+
miles away. Now everything is under one roof & we have plenty of room
for growth. The facility is brand new & was built to our specifications.
Now we can ship & receive at one location. Best of all, it saves us over
$4,000 a month verses what we were paying at the two separate locations
combined. Also, as part of our preparation to move off the pink sheets &
to the bulletin board, we have installed all new computer & software
systems that will allow us to become Sarbanes-Oxley Compliant, which
was necessary in order to make that move. We are now in the initial stage
of the audit phase & expect things to go well over the next 90 days or so to
complete that process. All of this was necessary in order for us to execute
on the type of sales growth we are expecting next year."
1/10/2006-- DCBI reached an agreement with Thies Distributing of
Palm Beach, FL to begin distributing DCBI's products. Thies is the first
of three distributors DCBI met with in 12/2005 to commit to the brand.
They are considered one of the best & largest beer distributors in the
state. They are currently selling such major brands as Miller, Coors,
Heineken, Corona, Beck's, & many others through more than 6,000
accounts.
11/29/2005-- VP of sales Buck Adams announced that since the
announcement two weeks before of the new bag-in-the-box product,
DCBI already pre-sold over 160 units in California alone. Additionally,
Dick Pearce was interviewed by the Wall Street Reporter. The 15minute audio file is available at www.wallstreetreporter.com & provides
a good idea of DCBI's history, position, & future goals.
11/7/2005-- DCBI reached distribution agreements with two
additional distributors, both in Minnesota. VP of sales Buck Adams
said: "Skarr Distributing & Cory Enterprises will give us reach into
Minnesota for the first time. I would expect each of these distributors to
generate better than 1,500 cases a month by spring time. This is just more
proof that the National Beer Wholesalers Tradeshow we did in September
continues to pay dividends."
Sales are Growing
Brisk reorders & initial inventory orders to new distributors as a
result of their attendance at the National Beer Wholesalers Association
trade show in Las Vegas in 9/2005 were outstanding. Dick Pearce said:
"The show was by all accounts a tremendous success. Bottom line is we
stole the show. We were the hottest, most exciting booth there. We had a
hard goal of 12 to 15 new qualified established beer distributors & left with
a solid lead base of 71. The conversion process of turning leads into
distributors is underway. Our team is on the road & we are confident that
we can & will surpass our goals."
New Products
After months of development, DCBI introduced its new Low-Carb,
Sugar-Free Dickens Energy Cider. With only 3 grams of carbs, & no
aftertaste, it's quickly becoming a market leader! Plus, Dickens is the
first to introduce new can technology that glows in ultraviolet light.
Dino Fanelli of Fanelli Distributing, a distributor in Montana, says:
"The Sugar-Free is really catching on. -- People really like this product."
DCBI is about to release its pressurized (on the gun product) which
has been in the works for sometime. Dick Pearce says: "This product
will allow on-premise customers such as bars, nightclub, & restaurants to
purchase our product in a five gallon container that mixes 5 to 1 providing
30 gallons of finished product and allows them to serve our product to
their customers at the press of a button the same way they do most soft
drinks. Also, we scheduled the release of our alcoholic derivative, which
will be a malt based product along the lines of a Mike’s Hard Lemonade™
or Smirnoff Ice™, but in keeping with our tradition it will, in our opinion,
come in what will be by far the most attractive packaging in that category
as well. We expect to be delivering this alcoholic product to our
distributors in 2/2006 to ensure they are in distribution for the all
important spring break season. In that this new product contains alcohol
& is targeted directly at the over 21 & collage crowed demographic, it will
be released under the name "Hard Dickens Cider." We believe these
exciting new products will provide some very significant new revenue
streams for us next year & beyond.”
Financial Status
Financials are being prepared for the company's application for a listing
on the OTC BB. When they are completed, we will update this profile to
include them. Watch for the updates. Larry Oakley will send you an email
alert when the profile is updated -- if you do not get his alerts as yet &
would like to receive them, just ask via email to up415@aol.com.
Our Opinion
We like the progress DCBI has already made. We like management's
careful planning. We like the fact that the drink has a great taste, that it
is packaged in a very attractive manner, & that it has been so well
accepted.
We like the fact that the industry magazine "Beverage Digest"
reported that in 2006, U.S. sales of caffeine-laced drinks are expected to
increase about 75% to about $3 billion.
We like the "Taste the Difference, Feel the Difference" promotion -it saves advertising costs, is extremely effective, & initial results
demonstrate that people really like the product. Frankly, that's one of
the best tests that prospective investors can make -- when the product is
great, the company has a far better chance of being successful.
DCBI is distributing its products in over 20 states, & sales are
increasing in every market. By utilizing soft drink, liquor, & beer
distributors, DCBI represents, in our opinion, attractive appreciation
potential. We feel it is substantially undervalued at its present price
level.
DCBI recently joined the National Beer Wholesalers Association,
providing access to more than 2,600 licensed beer distributors. There
are at least 40 distributors interested in forming a strategic alliance with
the company.
We like CEO Pearce's comments when he stated: "Even with the
incredible success of Red Bull, the second or third place positions, in the
mind of the consumer, have yet to be established. That is where our
opportunity lies & we fully intend to exploit it. Unlike many other brands,
we did not rush our product to market before perfecting both the taste &
imagery. We live, eat, sleep, & drink what the industry behemoths struggle
to understand.
"The brands in this category are primarily targeted towards the 18-29
year-old extreme sports crowd. Those core consumers do not embrace
traditional Fortune 500 corporate brands or their approach to the
customer, but rather become intensely loyal to brands they feel they can
identify with. We have repeatedly proven that our brand wins that core
demographic hands down when they are simply exposed to it. The really
exciting thing is that the appeal of our product allows us to greatly expand
the well-defined core-target market to include the workaholic busy
executives, stay-in-shape baby boomers, etc. No other brand in this
category offers that kind of appeal."
We suggest that you do some of your own homework on this
emerging situation. Check the "Dickens Goes Hollywood" section of
www.DickensEnergyCider.com -- the drink is really catching on.
DCBI will begin issuing a monthly report to shareholders in early
February. If you want to receive it, the company requests you to send
an email to cyovell@dc-brands.com & include your full name, an actual
physical address, valid phone number, & email address.
Dick Pearce commented on that report on 1/24/2006: "We believe the
information we will provide each month in the Dickens Cider Insider,
along with the new website (now under construction), will help instill the
confidence our shareholders deserve as we increase sales across the
country & set out on our goal to rebuild our stock price to above its
previous high of more than $0.85 last April or so. We have had a lot of
people selling our stock lately & we are perplexed as to why. As individual
shareholders, it is certainly their right to do so, but it is our job to make
them really regret it, & that is what we plan to do."
Contact
DCBI is located at 9500 West 49th Ave., Wheat Ridge, CO 80033.
Call Keith Howard at 303-279-3800.
www.DickensEnergyCider.com.
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