Herbalife Ltd. (Los Angeles, CA) (NYSE: HLF) reported fourth quarter net sales of $578.1 million, an increase of 18.6 percent compared to the same period of 2006. This record performance was attributable to double-digit growth in several of the company’s top countries; the U.S. up 22.1 percent, Taiwan up 18.9 percent, Italy up 21.9 percent and China up 145.8 percent compared to the same period in 2006, coupled with the favorable impact from currency fluctuations. The company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael O. Johnson, said, “We are pleased to report our 16th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth and record net sales reflecting the strong performance of our independent distributor organization. Our margins and record bottom line performance reflects the strong top line growth coupled with our initiatives to continually leverage our infrastructure to improve profitability.”
During the fourth quarter 2007, total Sales Leaders(1) increased 16.0 percent to 473,846 and new Sales Leaders increased 10.4 percent to 56,739 versus the fourth quarter of 2006. The company’s President’s Team membership increased 11.8 percent to 1,105 members and the company’s prestigious Chairman Club increased to 32 members. Greg Probert, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said, “The growth rate of new Sales Leaders in the fourth quarter was the highest of the year, reflecting the tremendous momentum in our distributor organization.”
While the company experienced a record fourth quarter, the stock did not seem to respond during the same period. Since September, the stock has gone from $42 to a high of $45 and then a low of $36.50 to where it closed today at $43. While the spread between the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2007 and today is flat, the stock has had a great deal of volatility to it over the past year.
Fortunately for shareholders of HLF, the stock has yielded a 10% increase over the past year and still remains a much better performer than many in the MLM/Network Marketing space.
Popularity: 1% [?]
