Black Mountain mayor reads CEO statement regarding Avadim Health, Inc.

Shift from growth to profitability delays new facility

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
February 11, 2021

Steve Woody, CEO of Avadim Health, Inc. which plans to build its headquarters just outside of Black Mountain, addressed the impact of COVID-19 on the company and its future plans in a statement read by Black Mountain Mayor Larry Harris to open the Feb. 8 aldermen meeting. Photo by Fred McCormick

A “difficult” 2020 resulted in Avadim Health, Inc., the Asheville-based company that in 2016 announced plans to relocate to a $20 million facility just west of Blue Ridge Road by 2021, to pivot its focus from growth to profitability in an attempt to navigate the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The life sciences company, which designs and manufactures a series of topical skin care products for the healthcare and wellness market, still plans to pursue the expansion, according to CEO Steve Woody. 

Black Mountain Mayor Larry Harris read a statement from Woody to open the Feb. 8 monthly regular meeting of the board of aldermen. The Avadim founder addressed the challenges the company faced as it was forced to postpone its initial public offering at the onset of the pandemic in February of 2020. 

“The impact to Avadim was pretty straightforward,” the statement read. “It limited the capital that the company needed to grow and launch two of the new products we had ready to put on shelves in over 50,000 pharmacies, and other expansion plans.”

An IPO typically generates additional financial support for businesses as they transition from private to publicly held corporations. The process allows companies to raise capital from investors as they target expansion. 

Avadim, which was founded in 2007, filed its IPO plans in January of 2020, when it sought to raise $75 million dollars in the process. The company officially withdrew its IPO plans last Friday, according to IPO investment research platform Renaissance Capital. 

Despite the obstacles associated with the pandemic, Woody added, the shift in focus to profitability yielded positive results. 

“In doing so, we had our second- and third-best quarters in the history of the company, even though we couldn’t call on hospitals, long-term care facilities or even some pharmacies,” read the statement.

Avadim “has work to do” this year to position the company for profitability and growth, Woody continued. The company plans to launch new products intended to support growth in the second half of 2021, but the CEO offered no specific timeline for the construction of the new facility. 

“Our goal is to position the company, by the end of the year, for future growth and expansion as originally envisioned,” Woody’s statement concluded. 

Avadim announced in September of 2016 that it intended to build a 100,000-square-foot headquarters near Access Road, south of I-40, and planned to bring 551 jobs to the Swannanoa Valley. The Town of Black Mountain received grants totaling approximately $1.6 million to fund a pump station capable of supplying the facility with water. The pump, which has the capacity to generate 750,000 gallons of water per day, was installed last year.

Harris read the statement into the public record before offering an update on the I-40 interchange planned for Blue Ridge Road. 

“At the last meeting of the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization, the N.C. Department of Transportation announced they would be picking up the work on that interchange,” he said. “The schedule for right-of-way acquisition in 2023 and construction in 2025 dovetails pretty well with the Avadim progress.”