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PURITY LIFE SECURES DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT WITH BURT’S BEES® FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF BURT’S BEES® PRODUCTS IN WESTERN CANADA
Toronto, Ontario, July 31, 2007 – Purity Life Health Products, a division of SunOpta Inc. (NASDAQ – STKL) (TSX – SOY) part of the SunOpta Canadian Distribution Group today announced that it has secured a semi-exclusive distribution agreement with Burt’s Bees Inc. for the distribution of the Burt’s Bees® brand of natural health and beauty products in Western Canada. This is a semi-exclusive agreement where Purity Life will be one of only four distributors in Canada selling the Burt’s Bees® brand.
Effective September 1, 2007, Purity Life will begin to offer the Burt’s Bees® brand to its Western Canada customer base. This agreement will allow Purity to service retailers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. David Chapman, President of Purity Life, said “Purity is very proud to have reached this semi-exclusive agreement with Burt’s Bees®. We have always admired the principles, values and products that Burt’s represents. This is an excellent opportunity to leverage our recent investment in our Vancouver warehouse and the expansion of our Western Canada sales team. Working closely with the management at Burt’s, we feel we are well positioned to expand and grow the Burt’s Bees® business in Western Canada. We view this as a real winning partnership – Burt’s Bees®, the prestige brand of natural HABA products partnering with Purity the leading distributor of natural health products in Canada.”
With Purity’s 7 Western Territory Managers, 4 Inside Sales Representatives and 7 Key Account Managers/Regional Managers, complemented by the regional distribution centre in Vancouver, BC, Purity Life is well-positioned to expand the distribution of Burt’s Bees® in Western Canada.
About Purity Life Health Products
Purity Life Health Products was established in 1984 as a small distributor of natural health products and, over the years has grown to be Canada's largest supplier and manufacturer of natural health products. Purity Life has over 200 product lines, carries roughly 6,000 SKU's and services over 2,800 customers from both its Eastern (Acton) and Western (Vancouver) distribution facilities. Purity Life has won numerous industry awards, and is home to some of the industry's most newsworthy brands including Quest®, Nature’s Harmony®, Vivitas®, Herbon®, Kyolic®, and RxBalance®.
About SunOpta Inc.
SunOpta Inc. is an operator of high-growth ethical businesses, focusing on integrated business models in the natural and organic food, supplements and health and beauty markets. The Company has three business units: the SunOpta Food Group, which specializes in sourcing, processing and distribution of natural and organic food products integrated from seed through packaged products; the Opta Minerals Group, a producer, distributor, and recycler of environmentally friendly industrial materials; and SunOpta BioProcess Inc, which engineers and markets proprietary steam explosion technology systems for the pulp, bio-fuel and food processing industries. Each of these business units has proprietary products and services that give it a solid competitive advantage in its sector.
For further information, please contact:
For further information, please contact:
Purity Life Health Products
Matthew James, Senior VP & General Manager
519 853-3511 ext 264
matthew@puritylife.com
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