Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., a Lehi, Utah-based maker of nutritional and personal care products, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2017.
For the fourth quarter, net sales increased 5.2 percent to $88.3 million; for the full year, sales increased 0.3 percent to $342.0 million.
“Our fourth quarter results reflect continued year-over-year net sales growth, driven by gains across our Synergy Worldwide markets and strong growth in our NSP business in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe,” said Chairman and CEO Gregory L. Probert.
“We believe the disruptions to our North America business as a result of a new ERP system deployed in April 2017 are now behind us, but we have additional work to do to re-energize the market,” Probert continued. “We posted growth in China and continue to emphasize expanding our direct selling efforts in this market with the goal of building a long-term profitable new market. Consistent with our initiative to evaluate our cost structure through a review of our direct and indirect costs, during the fourth quarter we took some actions to reduce SG&A, which led to some nonrecurring restructuring and severance costs during the period. Our focus will continue to be to support and grow our business while matching our organizational structure to our business outlook in order to enhance profitability and shareholder value.”
For the fourth quarter, net sales of $88.3 million increased 5.2 percent, compared to $84.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. On a local currency basis, net sales increased 3.8 percent as compared to the fourth quarter of 2016. NSP China net sales increased 200.3 percent, compared to the same period in 2016. Synergy WorldWide net sales increased 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2016 (or 0.4 percent in local currencies). NSP Russia, Central and Eastern Europe net sales increased 7.9 percent compared to the same period in 2016. NSP Americas net sales decreased 4.9 percent compared to the same period in 2016 (or 5.1 percent in local currencies). Net sales were impacted by $1.2 million of favorable foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.
For the full-year 2017, net sales of $342.0 million increased 0.3 percent, compared to $341.2 million in 2016. On a local currency basis, net sales decreased 0.2 percent as compared to 2016. NSP China net sales increased approximately 91.4 percent compared to the same period in 2016. NSP Russia, Central and Eastern Europe net sales increased approximately 7.3 percent compared to the same period in 2016. NSP Americas net sales decreased approximately 5.6 percent compared to the same period in 2016 (or 5.7 percent in local currencies). Synergy WorldWide net sales decreased approximately 0.8 percent compared to the same period in 2016 (or 1.7 percent in local currencies). The weakening of the U.S. dollar versus local currencies resulted in an approximate 0.5 percent or $1.6 million increase in net sales during the year.
To read the full Nature’s Sunshine Q4 report, click here.
