OpTree

Creative Memories parent company, The Antioch Company, has just announced that they have come to an agreement with its lenders to restructure its debt. Antioch and six of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company felt this was the best way to expedite the restructuring process, and also allowed the company to maintain its normal business operations without any interruption.

There was no specific word from the company on exactly why they had to file for chapter 11, though I’m sure the economy along with the advancement of online and digital scrapbooking products has impacted the company. Creative Memories says that they do not expect to have to lay off any employees or change its operating locations. The company will use the restructuring time to refocus on the business as well as expand product offering to meet the growing digital demands of the public.

After receiving advice from turnaround specialists, Antioch agreed to a prepackaged plan of reorganization that includes the debt restructuring. Company leaders say they expect the process to be completed by the end of this calendar year.

Asha Morgan Moran, global president of Creative Memories feels strongly that the restructuring plan will make the company better and stronger, “We are confident that the restructuring will provide strong opportunities for the company’s consultants, employees, and customers. This process demonstrates our commitment to the future of Creative Memories,” Morgan Moran said. “We will ensure that product development remains a top priority so that the company and our 55,000-plus global sales consultants will continue to benefit from our respected position in the traditional scrapbooking industry. At the same time, new product development will assist us in expanding our role into the digital market.”

Creative Memories is an active member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA).

Popularity: 7% [?]

YTB International Inc., has just released their financial results for the third quarter, and not surprisingly, the company did not do well.

Currently, the online travel agency which uses independent sales reps to sell travel packages, is under investigation by two different state attorney generals, in Illinois and California, for allegedly operating a pyramid scheme.

Corporate filings (YTBLA: OTC) show pretty meager earnings for the third quarter, showing a profit of only $288,000 in the three months ending September 30th. That is a huge decline from the same quarter last year when the company raked in over $2 million dollars in profit.

Filing with the SEC show that while revenue grew, so did its operating expenses which climbed 13 percent this year. All total, net loss for the nine months ending September 30th was $3.4 million dollars.

“While we are disappointed by the reduction in our net income, we are also aware that much of the softness we are seeing is reflective of both an industry-wide trend and a difficult comparison to last year’s explosive growth,” company CEO Scott Tomer said Monday. “In the face of a looming recession, growing companies face the difficult choice of either cutting back on marketing efforts to save on expenses, or increasing these efforts in order to capture the increasingly selective customer,” he added

The company said that it plans to help raise cash by selling some of their assets, including an office building in Edwardsville as well as the company’s Learjet.

The YTB stock has gotten hammered this year.  From a high of over $4 to where it sits today at around $0.33, the company’s issues continue to mount as concerns about the ongoing lawsuits and financial situation continue to plague them.

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Chief Financial Officer Richard Goudis will present at the Morgan Stanley Thirteenth Annual Global Consumer & Retail Conference on Tuesday, November 18 at 3 p.m. ET. The event will be held at the New York Crowne Plaza Times Square.

Morgan Stanley has scheduled a live webcast of the presentation. The webcast can be accessed on the investor relations section of Herbalife’s Web site.

I expect this to be an interesting conference given the state of the economy and the significant decline in Herbalife’s stock (NYSE: HLF) this year - down more than 50%.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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.

Popularity: 3% [?]