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Reliv International profit dropped 40 percent in the third quarter due to the sluggish economy,

The nutrition and direct-selling company posted Wednesday net income of $536,000, or 4 cents a share, in the third quarter, down from net income of $901,000, or 6 cents a share, a year ago.

Reliv reported sales of $24 million in the third quarter, down 4 percent from sales of $25 million a year earlier.

As of Sept. 30, Reliv’s distributor base totaled approximately 68,540, which represents a slight drop from a year ago.

“The third quarter was not as strong as we had hoped for, and we believe the shocks to the U.S. economy in September played a role in our sales decline,” said Robert Montgomery, president, chairman and chief executive, in a statement.

“Short-term, restructuring our European operations significantly reduced our pre-tax losses in that region as we expected. But that improvement was negated by lower U.S. pre-tax profits resulting from a sales decline.”

“We launched an automatic shipping program in the U.S. at our International Conference in August, which we believe will be a long-term positive for our business. We also launched the program in Australia this month,” he added.

“In addition to a planned product launch on Nov. 8, we continue to look for proven incentive programs to stimulate sales, and we have a national conference for U.S. distributors scheduled for February 2009, which should further motivate our field,” Montgomery said.

As of Sept. 30, 2008, Reliv’s distributor base totaled approximately 68,540, which represents a slight drop from a year ago.

“We are focused on turning around our U.S. business by sticking to the basics: Reliv makes nutrition simple. Our products can play a role in supporting many thousands of people’s efforts to live a healthier life. In addition, we offer distributors an outstanding business opportunity,” he added.

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