Nu Skin Reports Record Q2 for 2012

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. announced record second-quarter results with revenue of $593.2 million, a 40% improvement over the prior-year period. Revenue was negatively impacted 2% from foreign currency fluctuations. Earnings per share for the quarter increased 45% to $0.94, compared to $0.65 in the prior year.

"Once again, we are pleased to announce record quarterly results, highlighted by the most successful regional product launch in our history that boosted revenue by more than 150% in greater China and 66% in South Asia," said Truman Hunt, president and CEO of Nu Skin. "The tremendous launches of our latest ageLOC products generated approximately $165 million in product orders, with $140 million reported in revenue during the quarter and the balance to be shipped in the third quarter. Our product innovation is energizing our customer base and sales force, as demonstrated by strong growth in both our actives and executive distributors.

"While emerging markets continue to drive significant growth, we are also very pleased with results in our mature markets during the second quarter, including local-currency revenue improvements of 21% in the Americas and 20% in Europe. We also saw positive trend improvements in Japan.

"Our overall profitability continued to improve as we generated a 16.5% operating margin during the quarter. In addition, we utilized the strength of our balance sheet to repurchase approximately 2.4 million shares for $108 million," said Hunt.

Regionally, North Asia second-quarter revenue for Nu Skin was $177.7 million, compared to $183.1 million for the same period in 2011. Results were negatively impacted 1% from foreign currency fluctuations, and South Korea experienced a local-currency revenue decline of 3% while Japan's local-currency revenue decline improved to 1%. The number of executive distributors in the region was down 5% while the number of actives improved 2%.

The company's revenue in greater China increased 152% to $199.7 million, compared to $79.4 million in the prior-year period. Foreign currency fluctuations positively impacted revenue 1%. Results included approximately $100 million of product launch sales. The executive distributor and employee sales representative count in the region improved 111%, while the number of actives increased 31% compared to the prior year.

South Asia/Pacific for the company revenue was $98.3 million, a 66% improvement compared to the prior year. Sales in the quarter included approximately $40 million of new ageLOC products. Foreign currency fluctuations negatively impacted revenue by 5%. The region's executive count improved 97% while the active count increased 9% compared to the same period in 2011.

And North American revenue in the Americas improved 20% to $71.8 million, compared to $59.8 million in the prior-year period. The number of executives grew 16% while the number of actives increased 3% during the quarter.

Revenue in Europe was $45.7 million for the company, a 7% improvement over the prior-year period. Results in the region were negatively impacted approximately 13% by foreign currency fluctuations. The executive and active counts in Europe increased 18% and 8%, respectively, compared to the prior year.

For Nu Skin's outlook, Hunt said, "We continue to be optimistic about the future as we build on our ageLOC anti-aging product innovation that is helping drive revenue growth and expand our base of consumers and sales leaders. We are confident that the planned product launches during the back half of 2012, combined with the growing interest in our compelling product pipeline will sustain healthy growth. Since launching the ageLOC platform in 2009, we have generated over $1.4 billion in product sales with this brand. And we are confident that the best of ageLOC is yet to come.

"Emerging markets, particularly China and South Asia, will continue to drive healthy overall growth rates. We are also pleased with the positive direction of our more mature markets, including the U.S., Europe and Japan. We expect our North Asia region to show improving trends in the second half of 2012 as we build to the launch of the ageLOC Body Spa in both South Koreaand Japan in the fourth quarter. From a financial perspective, we will continue to use our strong balance sheet and cash flow to create value for our shareholders by repurchasing shares, paying dividends and investing in the business. Due to the strength of our business we plan to continue to do all three," concluded Hunt.

"Given strong second-quarter results, as well as the healthy growth trends we are seeing in our executive and active base, we are significantly increasing our 2012 revenue and earnings guidance," said Ritch Wood, Nu Skin CFO. "We project 2012 revenue to be in the $2–2.03 billion range with earnings per share of $3.16–3.24. This guidance reflects an anticipated negative foreign currency impact of 4% in the second half of 2012.

"We estimate third-quarter revenue of approximately $465 –480 million assuming a negative currency impact of approximately 6% for the quarter. We project third-quarter earnings per share to be in the $0.71–0.75 range," concluded Wood.

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