BOHEMIA, N.Y.—For its first quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, NBTY (NYSE:NTY) posted a 1-percent increase in net sales to $511 million, but earnings dropped to $46 million, or $0.67 per share, from $51 million, or $0.73 per diluted share, earned in the same period the year prior. The decreased income was attributed to decreased earnings in the company's direct Response/E-Commerce division.
Sales in the Wholesale/U.S. Nutrition Division—which includes Nature's Bounty, Solgar, Osteo Bi-Flex, Rexall and Ester-C—jumped 5 percent to $259 million, while the North American Retail division, which includes Vitamin World and LeNaturiste (Canada), saw a 2-percent increase in sales to $56 million, with same-store sales up 6 percent. Also up were sales in NBTY's European Retail Division—Holland & Barrett (UK), GNC (UK) and Nature's Way (Ireland)—which logged a 4-percent rise to $159 million. That leaves the Puritan Pride operations as the ill-performer, turning in a 28-percent sales decline to $37 million, including both catalog and internet sales. The company (NBTY.com) noted the comparable prior-year period featured more drastic promotional pricing, which generated more sales, thereby skewing the current results.
Email this article
Add a comment
Printer version
Order reprints
RSS Feed
Bookmark article