FitLife direct-to-consumer, online sales fuel quarter; AXIM Wellness launching CBD gum; Canadian firm acquiring PA cannabis cultivator; Clorox' lifestyle division flat in latest quarter despite strong sales of NutraNext supplements; and New Age delays rolling beverage line on confusing FDA regulation messaging.

“We love that we’re in differentiated segments here, emerging segments, not single letter vitamins, but product benefits that are scientifically grounded and that start to have a really strong following among consumers,” Clorox CEO Bennor Dorer says of the firm's recent Nutranext acquisition. He explained the “rationale” for buying a business that competes in a “fragmented category” without a brand leader during Clorox' third-quarter earnings briefing.

Clorox is acquiring Nutranext, manufacturer and marketer of dietary supplement brands including Rainbow Light and Natural Vitality, a month after executives said during the firm's latest earnings briefing that US tax code change, particularly eliminating taxing income earned in foreign markets when it is transferred to the US, heightens their interest in mergers and acquisitions. Expect more from Clorox and in the broader health care space, says analysts.

Clorox and Reckitt Benckiser are among firms that have acquired their way into the probiotics game in recent years, and such deals are likely to continue in a space populous with niche brands.