(MENAFN Editorial) LOS ANGELES, Dec. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reed's, Inc. (NYSE American:REED), one of the nation's leading portfolios of handcrafted, all-natural beverages announced that it has secured multi-year contracts with Owen-Illinois as its exclusive glass supplier and R.C. Moore as its primary logistics partner for North America. The Company also announced the engagement of Gordon Brothers to lead the Company's process of evaluating and maximizing the value of its operational and non-core assets.

'It was clear when I joined Reed's that it was critical to streamline the business in order to focus on our core Reed's and Virgil's brands to drive growth at higher margins. After a thorough review of the business, I am pleased to announce the securing of these three world-class partnerships. We believe their combined efforts will support driving significant improvements in the Company's profitability, cash flows and net margins in 2018 and beyond. The improvements from lower glass and logistics costs are expected to begin in early 2018. As part of the Company's new strategic direction to focus on moving to an 'asset-light' business model, we are partnering with an experienced restructuring firm in Gordon Brothers to lead the process of unlocking value tied to these assets,' commented Val Stalowir, Chief Executive Officer of Reed's, Inc.

Stefan Freeman, Chief Operating Officer of Reed's Inc. added, 'Working exclusively with Owens-Illinois is going to simplify our supply chain and drive significant cost savings in the largest component of our raw material costs, deliver improved package quality and lower our working capital commitment to glass inventory. After glass, raw materials handling and finished goods delivery costs account for a significant portion of the Company's annual cash outlay. By partnering with R.C. Moore and utilizing their supply chain management expertise, significant transportation assets and extensive experience in the beverage industry, I am confident that we will be able to realize significant operational efficiencies and logistics cost savings.'

Maury Herod, Director Americas Business Development of Owens-Illinois stated, 'Owens-Illinois is pleased to partner with Reed's as their exclusive glass container supplier. We are excited to help them expand the reach of their all-natural craft beverages to more and more consumers in our sustainable, high-quality, brand-building glass bottles. We also look forward to working closely with and supporting the Reed's team in their efforts to improve the Reed's and Virgil's brands' value and package differentiation in the marketplace through our expertise in embossing and proprietary package design.'

About Owens Illinois, Inc.
Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE:) is the world's largest glass container manufacturer and preferred partner for many of the world's leading food and beverage brands. The Company had revenues of $6.7 billion in 2016 and employs more than 27,000 people at 79 plants in 23 countries. With global headquarters in Perrysburg, Ohio, O-I delivers safe, sustainable, pure, iconic, brand-building glass packaging to a growing global marketplace. For more information, visit .

About R.C. Moore, Inc.
R.C. Moore, Inc., based in Scarborough, Maine has been in operation for over 60 years, and is a Turn Key Logistics company offering award winning Logistics Services from seven locations. R.C. Moore has well established distribution relationships with several industry leading beverage companies from the Fortune 500 and boasts overnight delivery access to one third of the US population. Offering transportation and brokerage services to multinational conglomerates and small family-owned businesses alike, we, the second generation of Moores, value our employees and our customer relationships. From the dispatch office to our drivers and maintenance staff, service is our culture.

About Gordon Brothers
Since 1903, Gordon Brothers () has helped lenders, operating executives, advisors, and investors move forward through change. The firm brings a powerful combination of expertise and capital to clients, developing customized solutions on an integrated or standalone basis across four service areas: valuations, dispositions, operations, and investments. Whether to fuel growth or facilitate strategic consolidation, Gordon Brothers partners with companies in the retail, commercial, industrial and consumer products sectors to put assets to their highest and best use. Gordon Brothers conducts more than $70 billion worth of dispositions and appraisals annually. Gordon Brothers is headquartered in Boston, with 25 offices across four continents. For further information, please contact

About Reed's, Inc.
Established in 1989, Reed's has sold over 500 million bottles of its category leading all-natural, handcrafted beverages. Reed's is America's #1 selling Ginger Beer brand and has been the leader and innovator in the ginger beer category for decades. Virgil's is America's #1 selling independent, all-natural craft soda brand. The Reed's Inc. portfolio is sold in over 20,000 retail doors across the natural, specialty, grocery, drug, club and mass channels nationwide. Reed's Ginger Beers are unique to the category because of the proprietary process of hand brewing its award-winning products using fresh organic ginger combined with natural spices and fruit juices. Reed's Ginger Beers come in three levels of increasing ginger intensity that deliver a delicious and powerful ginger bite and burn that can only come from fresh ginger root. The Company uses this same handcrafted approach and dedication to the highest quality ingredients in its award-winning Virgil's line of great tasting, bold flavored craft sodas.

For more information about Reed's, please visit the Company's website at: or call 800-99-REEDS.

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SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
Some portions of this press release, particularly those describing Reed's goals and strategies, contain 'forward-looking statements.' These forward-looking statements can generally be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words, such as 'expects,' 'should,' 'believes,' 'anticipates' or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe future plans, objectives or goals are also forward-looking statements. While Reed's is working to achieve those goals and strategies, actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include difficulty in marketing its products and services, maintaining and protecting brand recognition, the need for significant capital, dependence on third party distributors, dependence on third party brewers, increasing costs of fuel and freight, protection of intellectual property, competition and other factors, any of which could have an adverse effect on the business plans of Reed's, its reputation in the industry or its expected financial return from operations and results of operations. In light of significant risks and uncertainties inherent in forward-looking statements included herein, the inclusion of such statements should not be regarded as a representation by Reed's that they will achieve such forward-looking statements. For further details and a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, please see our most recent reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form S-1, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as they may be amended from time to time. Reed's undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

INVESTOR CONTACT:
Reed's, Inc.
Investor Relations
(310) 217-9400 Ext 6
Email:

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