The Alkaline Water Company President & CEO Discusses Company’s Double-Digit 2020 Growth Despite COVID-19 Challenges

NEW YORK, Oct. 06, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NetworkNewsAudio — The Alkaline Water Company Inc. (NASDAQ: WTER) (CSE: WTER) today announces that its president and CEO, Ricky Wright, has been featured in an exclusive audio interview with NetworkNewsWire (“NNW”), a financial news and content distribution company and one of 50+ brands in the InvestorBrandNetwork (“IBN”). During the interview, Wright provided some background on the company’s history and strategy, as well as detailing its incredible response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The broadcast can be heard at The NetworkNewsAudio Interviews Podcast.

Wright started the interview by providing some background on the company. “We started about six years ago. We are now the second-largest alkaline water company in the country. … We have moved into a lifestyle brand, so we not only do alkaline water; we also do flavored water. We also have expanded into the CBD arena; we have CBD water, CBD ingestibles and CBD topicals, as well,” he said.

The Alkaline Water Company’s formidable positioning is supported by strong sales and an expansive distribution footprint. “We did $41 million last year at the corporate level; on the retail level it probably translates to about $70 million,” Wright added. “We have great access to great banners, including Safeway, Kroger, Publix, H-E-B, Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid. We have great coverage throughout the country. We’re in all 50 states in about 70,000 stores nationwide.”

While 2020 has seen many of its competitors struggle or even go out of business, The Alkaline Water Company has been able to thrive in the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic. “I hate to say this, but we truly have been a COVID winner. … We were able to deliver when nobody else could. … I moved all of the supply chains once Trump announced the tariffs on China. … So, when COVID hit and a lot of my competitors were having trouble getting stuff … to the U.S. for production, I had that all stateside. We were able to double our capacity, almost overnight.”

“We are literally the only water company in the enhanced space that’s in the top 10 and has had double-digit growth with respect to both units and dollar volume for the Nielson reports every four weeks since the first of the year,” Wright continued. “We’re very, very proud of that.”

The company was also strategically positioned to expand its CBD business. “With respect to the CBD, we also were a winner,” Wright said. “We had met with a number of our banners during the fall … and we had been late to the game in terms of their first sets. Because of that, we weren’t going to get in until later – maybe in a year or two – to some of their shelves. … Well, because of COVID, a lot of the small mom and pops went out. … We expect great things on early resets in the third and fourth quarters of this year for us.”