OpTree

Natural Health Trends Corp, (NASDAQ: BHIP) announced their second quarter financial results. The company is happy to report that they have continued to grow and improve, and that sales have been growing steadily.

Sales in the second quarter of 2008 were $12.3 million, an improvement over the first quarter of 2008 when sales were $11.4 million. NHT was also pleased that second quarter operating losses fell from $698,000 in the first quarter of 2008 to only $364,000 in the second quarter.

Chris Sharng, the company’s president, said, “We were very pleased to see our cost-cutting and revenue-generating efforts begin to pay off in the second quarter. We stabilized our cash balance, and operating earnings of the business were positive, considering non-cash items such as depreciation and stock-based compensation totaled $500,000. We believe that the nascent revenue momentum we gained through certain personnel changes, compensation plan changes and dynamic training sessions were the drivers of this improvement.

The company expects that the summer season will be a bit slower, and coupled with Olympics which will affect their sales in Asia, they might see the numbers fall a bit. NHT says in the next quarter they will continue to focus on ways to improve gross profit margin as well as maintaining revenue momentum.

Unfortunately for the company, the stock has not responded very well over the past year. Hitting a 52-week high of over $7 per share, the price has been languishing at or below $1 for most of 2008.

If you could not be a part of the conference call that they company held today, not to worry, full second quarter results are available on the company’s website on the conference call page.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Natural Health Trends Corp. has launched their product line in Italy. NHT Global’s European Subsidiary, NHT Global Europe, S.R.L announced the launch at two event held last week in the Italian cities of Bologna and Vincenza.

Distributors in Italy will have several options in how they choose to sell the NHT health products; they can either choose the person-to-person option or use the advanced Retail Cart tool, an easy to use online application that allows distributors to sell to a larger group of consumers.

“The importance of our ability to sell direct in Italy is very significant,” commented Paolo Giuliani, the managing consultant in charge of NHT Global’s European market development. With the opening of retail selling in Italy, we are closing the pre-launch phase and can now direct the pan-European expansion of NHT Global from a solid foundation,”

According to the Worldwide Federation of Direct Selling, the direct sales market in Italy saw sales in excess of $3.59 billion dollars, making it the eighth largest market in the world, and the third largest in Europe. NHT anticipates that after a successful launch in Europe, their continued expansion throughout Europe will smooth. NHT also announced a new enhanced compensation plan for its European markets that will make it easier and more lucrative to be a distributor for the company.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Natural Health Trends Corp. - an international health and wellness company - appointed a new President of NHT Global, North Asia. Joe Wood, who is currently serving as President of NHT Global Korea, will now oversee operations in the Japanese market, as well as providing assistance with product development in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Wood began his career with NHT in 2002 as President of the Korean subsidiary. Prior to NHT, Wood, a Brigham Young graduate, worked in executive positions at eBay and NusSkin. Wood went on to complete the Master Program at Seoul University to gain more insight into Asian and Korean business practices and their culture.

The Korean market was new for the company when Wood took over in 2002. Joe Wood was in charge of building the business over there, and it had to be done from the ground up. From 2002 to the present, Wood built a strong business in Korea from scratch. The country is now a thriving market for the NHT.

Chris Sharng, President of Natural Health Trends, said, “Joe has the experience and the proven track record to develop the kind of business that we envision as the future of the Company.

Mr. Wood said, “I am excited to take on this additional opportunity with Natural Health Trends. The Company is extremely supportive of my desire to implement the successful tools and methods that we have developed in Korea into our other Northern Asian markets.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

In a move that can often times be perceived as a negative sign, Natural Health Trends Corp. (NASDAQ: BHIP) announced that it will transfer its common stock listing from the Nasdaq Global Market to the Nasdaq Capital Market effective at the opening of trading on Thursday, April 17, 2008.

The news comes after the company reported in its latest 10-K for for the year ended December 31, 2007, the Company no longer satisfies the $10 million stockholders’ equity requirement set forth in Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(3). The Company has reported that it had stockholders’ equity of $9,562,000 on December 31, 2007.

On April 3, 2008, the Company received a letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market giving notice of its failure to meet the minimum stockholders’ equity requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. After evaluating this letter, the Company has decided to apply for a transfer to the Nasdaq Capital Market. The Company believes it meets the continued listing requirements for the Nasdaq Capital Market. Listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market will result in a minor cost savings for the Company. The Company does not believe that stockholders’ liquidity will be adversely impacted by a transfer to the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The Nasdaq Stock Market has approved this transfer, putting the company in compliance with Nasdaq’s continuing listing requirements. Natural Health Trend’s trading symbol will continue to be “BHIP” following the transfer.

Popularity: 1% [?]