Janex International Inc. to Acquire Trudy Corp. -- Projects Added Revenue of $4 Million
PHOENIX, Feb 23, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
oKID.com site to feature downloadable stories
with a plush toy narrator
Janex International Inc., (OTC BB: JANX) Wednesday announced that it has entered
into an agreement to acquire Norwalk, Conn. Trudy Corp.
Trudy and its imprint, Soundprints, is a leading designer, manufacturer, and
distributor of high quality specialty publishing products. The acquisition will
give Janex added revenues of $4 million raising Janex's projected revenues for
Fiscal Year 2000 to $34 million. In addition, Soundprint's has an impressive
library of over 80 children's books of which 15 are award winning.
The books, cassettes, and plush toy sets will be incorporated into the oKID Book
Club, a feature of Janex's oKID.com children's Internet portal. Janex plans to
introduce a new line of downloadable stories utilizing these popular titles.
oKID Club members (a free membership program on the site) will be able to
purchase and download these and other stories to a lovable, re-recordable
"Storytime" plush toy straight from the Internet. Once the purchase is made a
read-along storybook is shipped to the purchaser's home.
Vincent W. Goett, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Janex
International stated, "We are very excited about this acquisition. Soundprints
has worked hard to establish a reputation in the industry for producing
educational and entertaining wild life theme products for children. They have
developed strong relationships with their licensors and built up a loyal
following.
"The concept of selling a storybook with a plush toy and audiocassette fits well
into Janex's publishing product lines. With their innovative products,
Soundprints is expected to impact Janex's overall revenue stream by
approximately 4 million dollars this year."
Bill Burnham, president of Soundprints stated, "Our attention to the details and
accuracy of our subject matter are what have made the company so successful.
"Our research includes input from The Nature Conservancy's expert ecological
curators residing in the habitat and in turn for this Soundprints donates a
portion of its sales proceeds to fund wildlife conservation anticipate that
there will be many exciting product developments born from this agreement that
will generate new revenues."
The Trudy Corp., parent company of Soundprints, has 1,700 customers and has a
license with the Smithsonian Institution; Soundprints works closely with
curators at the National Museum of Natural History and the 15 other Smithsonian
museums to create educational toys patterned on actual North American wild
animals and exhibits in these museums.
Soundprints was established in 1988 with the goal of adding a children's
storybook and read-along audiocassette to compliment each of the stuffed animals
in their Wild Heritage Collection. The popularity of these products grew quickly
and today has earned the company the prestigious Parents' Choice Award thirteen
times.
This popularity subsequently brought an expanded license from The Smithsonian to
include the Smithsonian Oceanic Collection and the Smithsonian's Backyard
series. The same combination of product synergism was added in 1997 with a
license agreement with The Nature Conservancy.
Conference Call:
Janex will sponsor a conference call open to all investors on Thursday, Feb. 24
at 4:05 p.m., EST. To participate, call 800/450-0786 five minutes prior to the
scheduled call. For one week the call will be available for playback by calling
800/475-6701, access code 504763.
Janex is a manufacturer and marketer of children's products including children's
toys, water activity products, and other products marketed under the names Janex
and Malibu Fun Stuff.
Janex has licensing agreements with Children's Television Network, Lyons
Partnership (Barney), Disney Enterprises, Saban Merchandising (Power Rangers),
Lot O Fun Marketing, Pure Imagination Co., World Championship Wrestling Inc.,
Warner Brothers and DC Comics, and as part of the acquisitions from Futech, Just
Licensing Limited (Jellabies), Random Games Inc., Hasbro (Winners Circle),
Action Performance Companies Inc., and JG Motorsports (Jeff Gordon).
Certain information in this news release does not relate to historical financial
information and may be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause
the company's actual results in the future to differ materially from its
historical results and those presently anticipated or projected.
Among these risks and uncertainties are general economic conditions, especially
during peak buying seasons for the company's products; competitive pricing and
program changes; manufacturing performance; the company's relationship with its
sales, manufacturing and distributing entities; the company's ability to respond
to customer change, orders and delivery schedules; demographic trends; the
company's ability to control costs; to attract and retain high-quality
employees; and the company's ability to maintain its customer base and finalize
significant transactions.
For more information about Janex International Inc., visit the oKID web site at
www.oKID.com or call their offices at 602/808-9888.
For more information about Trudy Corp. and Soundprints, visit the Soundprints
web site at www.soundprints.com or call their offices at 800/228-7839.
Distributed via COMTEX.
Copyright (C) 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved.
CONTACT: Janex International Inc.
Connie Lambros, 602/808-9888
Vincent W. Goett, 602/808-9888
KEYWORD: ARIZONA CONNECTICUT
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ELECTRONIC
GAMES/MULTIMEDIA
ENTERTAINMENT
MANUFACTURING
MERGERS/ACQ
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