Mogul Energy International recently acquired the Flora group of companies, which each provide refrigerated trucking and logistics services to companies operating in the floral, plant, food, and other industries that require specialization in the time-sensitive, temperature-controlled segments of the supply chain.
The group includes Tempest Transportation, Floral Logistics of California, Florida Beauty Flora, and Florida Beauty Express.
Upon execution of the transaction, Ronen Koubi, president and CEO of the Flora companies, became the president, CEO, and director or Mogul Energy; and Steven Siegel, who previously held the same positions with Mogul, resigned.
“This transaction will enhance the ability for Flora to be a competitive refrigerated transport and logistic company throughout the United States, with the ability to transport and warehouse products in strategic locations to optimize and facilitate customer orders.” Koubi said in a release. “The company looks to grow its revenues from approximately $70 million in 2022 to $185 million by 2025, bringing significant value to its shareholders while increasing EBITDA from $3.6 million to $8.1 million during the same period.”
Florida Beauty Flora was established in the mid-1980s and now, along with the other Flora companies, consists of floral transportation, logistic, and warehouse consolidation specialists, supplying primarily refrigerated longhaul, regional, and dedicated transportation, and logistical services for the floral and plant industry.
Mogul Energy, which trades as MGUY, acquired Flora through a reverse triangular merger, with MGUY exchanging 10,000 shares of a new class of preferred stock and 350 million shares of common stock for 100% of the Flora companies.
Flora currently has approximately 230 trucks and 320 trailers under its management, as well as three main locations in Florida, Tennessee, and California. Florida is the bulk hub for Flora, with roughly 200,000 sq. ft. of cold storage dedicated mostly to fresh cut flowers and produce, making it one of the largest in the Southeast region. Flora currently employs approximately 300 people in the United States and plans to double that number over the next few years, the company said. “While the merger into a public company is a tremendous first step, we look forward to becoming an industry leader trading on the NASDAQ,” Koubi said.
The CEO added that he expects to achieve projected revenue and profit growth through “identified and targeted” acquisitions, as well as creating new credit facilities to expand the fleet of trucks and warehouses. Flora also will eliminate older trucks and trailers, while refreshing its fleet with newer models and moving toward an asset-light model. Beyond a new fleet, Flora’s information technology staff will focus on the addition of automation and technology, the company concluded.
