LOS ANGELES—Herbalife International (NYSE:HLF) recorded a 20-percent jump in fourth quarter revenues to a record $487.4 million, pushing sales for the year to $1.9 billion. Management credit the gains to continued growth in several of the company’s largest markets, including Mexico and the United States, which reported net sales growth of 35.1 percent and 25.0 percent, respectively. Earnings for the quarter reached $41.7 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, up from $30.0 million, or $0.41 per diluted share earned the year prior. For the fiscal year, net income rose to $143.1 million, or $1.92 per diluted share, compared to $93.1 million, or $1.28 per diluted share posted in fiscal 2005.
In addition to Mexico and U.S. sales, increases were also logged for Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Malaysia, Brazil, China and South Korea.
Michael O. Johnson, chief executive officer (CEO), said, “We believe our commitment to supporting successful distributor methods of operations, and providing innovative business tools, high-quality products and training events will enable us to sustain momentum in many of our key markets.” The company reported a record 197,000 distributors qualified as new supervisors in 2006, an increase of 25.3 percent over 2005 figures.
During the quarter, Herbalife (www.herbalife.com) invested nearly $18 million in various special projects, including the relocation of the company’s regional headquarters in Los Angeles, enhancements to its management information systems and additional infrastructure investments in China. It also enhanced its product packaging and entered the second phase of its corporate growth initiative, which aims to refine its core processes, internal organizational structure and operating model to improve responsiveness. This initiative is expected to charge between $8.0 to $10.0 million (pre-tax), of which $7.5 million was spent in 4Q 2006.
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