17.SEGMENT INFORMATION

The Company currently has three operating and reportable segments, (i) Monster Energy® Drinks segment, which is comprised of the Company’s Monster Energy® drinks, Monster Hydro® energy drinks and Mutant® Super Soda drinks, (ii) Strategic Brands segment, which is comprised of the various energy drink brands acquired from TCCC in 2015, and (iii) Other segment, which is comprised of certain products sold by American Fruits & Flavors LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, to independent third-party customers.

The Company’s Monster Energy® Drinks segment primarily generates net operating revenues by selling ready-to-drink packaged drinks primarily to bottlers and full service beverage distributors. In some cases, the Company sells directly to retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers and the military.

The Company’s Strategic Brands segment primarily generates net operating revenues by selling “concentrates” and/or “beverage bases” to authorized bottling and canning operations. Such bottlers generally combine the concentrates and/or beverage bases with sweeteners, water and other ingredients to produce ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks. The ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks are then sold to other bottlers, full service distributors or retailers, including, retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, drug stores and the military. To a lesser extent, the Company’s Strategic Brands segment generates net operating revenues by selling certain ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks to bottlers and full service beverage distributors.

Generally, the Monster Energy® Drinks segment generates higher per case net operating revenues, but lower per case gross profit margins than the Strategic Brands segment.

Corporate and unallocated amounts that do not relate to a reportable segment have been allocated to “Corporate & Unallocated.” No asset information, other than goodwill and other intangible assets, has been provided for in the Company’s reportable segments as management does not measure or allocate such assets on a segment basis.

The net revenues derived from the Company’s reportable segments and other financial information related thereto for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 are as follows:

	Three-Months Ended
	March 31,
	2018		2017
Net sales:
Monster Energy® Drinks(1)	$	780,505	$	668,571
Strategic Brands	65,759		68,036
Other	4,657		5,539
Corporate and unallocated	-		-

	$	850,921	$	742,146

	Three-Months Ended
	March 31,
	2018		2017
Operating Income:
Monster Energy® Drinks(1) (2)	$	301,702	$	279,431
Strategic Brands	42,602		42,106
Other	971		1,416
Corporate and unallocated	(65,360)		(58,691)

	$	279,915	$	264,262

	Three-Months Ended
	March 31,
	2018		2017
Income before tax:
Monster Energy® Drinks(1) (2)	$	301,964	$	279,335
Strategic Brands	42,583		42,094
Other	971		1,416
Corporate and unallocated	(63,798)		(57,925)

	$	281,720	$	264,920

(1)

Includes $11.2 million and $10.0 million for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, related to the recognition of deferred revenue.

(2)

Includes $7.0 million and $19.9 million for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively, related to distributor termination costs.

	Three-Months Ended
	March 31,
	2018		2017
Depreciation and amortization:
Monster Energy® Drinks	$	8,809	$	6,541
Strategic Brands	1,926		1,796
Other	1,159		1,153
Corporate and unallocated	2,097		1,693

	$	13,991	$	11,183

Corporate and unallocated expenses for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 include $43.1 million of payroll costs, of which $13.4 million was attributable to stock-based compensation expenses (see Note 14, “Stock-Based Compensation”), as well as $12.4 million attributable to professional service expenses, including accounting and legal costs, and $9.9 million of other operating expenses. Corporate and unallocated expenses for the three-months ended March 31, 2017 include $37.6 million of payroll costs, of which $13.1 million was attributable to stock-based compensation expenses (see Note 14, “Stock-Based Compensation”), as well as $12.3 million attributable to professional service expenses, including accounting and legal costs, and $8.8 million of other operating expenses.

TCCC, through the TCCC Subsidiaries, accounted for approximately 4% and 34% of the Company’s net sales for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. As part of TCCC’s North America Refranchising initiative (the “North America Refranchising”), the territories of certain TCCC Subsidiaries have been transitioned to certain independent TCCC bottlers/distributors and/or TCCC Related Parties. Accordingly, the Company’s percentage of net sales classified as sales to the TCCC Subsidiaries significantly decreased for three-months ended March 31, 2018. CCBCC Operations, LLC accounted for approximately 14% and 11% of the Company’s net sales for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Coca-Cola European Partners accounted for approximately 10% and 8% of the Company’s net sales for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling accounted for approximately 13% and 4% of the Company’s net sales for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Net sales to customers outside the United States amounted to $242.1 million and $190.9 million for the three-months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Goodwill and other intangible assets for the Company’s reportable segments as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 are as follows:

	March 31,		December 31,
	2018		2017
Goodwill and other intangible assets:
Monster Energy® Drinks	$	1,351,780	$	1,346,648
Strategic Brands	994,161		995,582
Other	22,363		23,498
Corporate and unallocated	-		-

	$	2,368,304	$	2,365,728