LEHI, Utah, May 07, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:NATR) (Nature's Sunshine), a leading natural health and wellness company offering high-quality herbal and nutritional products, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024. First Quarter 2024 Financial Summary vs. Same Year-Ago Quarter Net sales were up 2% to $111.0 million compared to $108.6 million (up 4% in constant currency). Gross margin increased 33 basis points to 71.2% compared to 70.8%. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders up significantly to $2.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted common share, compared to $0.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted common share. Adjusted EBITDA up slightly to $9.2 million compared to $9.1 million. Management Commentary "In the first quarter, our omni-channel approach and high-quality products combined to drive momentum in our business," said Nature's Sunshine CEO Terrence Moorehead. "Specifically, we saw digital sales surge 33% with a 34% increase in new customers, helping our North American business unit grow 5% for the quarter. What's more, the successful launch of our new Power Line products helped drive improved performance in our European business that further reinforced our positive momentum. "These results were somewhat offset by slower sales in Asia/Pacific, which were up 5% in local currency, as the weak economic environment in China finally caught up with our positive sales momentum. Overall, our business continued to outpace the market as we delivered 4% revenue growth in local currency. "On the cost side of the equation, inflationary pressures and volatile foreign exchange rates have negatively impacted ingredient costs, placing additional pressure on our gross margin expansion efforts in the quarter, but we remain committed to deliver our $10 million cost of goods savings goal. We are also still firmly on our path to driving sustainable profit growth by expanding our ability to attract and retain customers." First Quarter 2024 Financial Results     Net Sales by Operating Segment(Amounts in Thousands)     Three MonthsEndedMarch 31, 2024   Three MonthsEndedMarch 31, 2023   PercentChange   Impact ofCurrencyExchange   PercentChangeExcludingImpact ofCurrency Asia   $ 46,220     $ 46,345     (0.3 )%   $ (2,514 )   5.2 % Europe     22,296       21,405     4.2       493     1.9   North America     36,525       34,648     5.4       9     5.4   Latin America and Other     5,952       6,236     (4.6 )     214     (8.0 )     $ 110,993     $ 108,634     2.2 %   $ (1,798 )   3.8 %                                       Net sales in the first quarter increased 2% to $111.0 million compared to $108.6 million in the same year-ago quarter. Excluding the impact from foreign exchange rates, net sales in the first quarter of 2024 increased 3.8% compared to the year-ago quarter. Gross profit margin in the first quarter increased 33 basis points to 71.2% compared to 70.8% in the year-ago quarter. The increase was driven by improvements in market mix, price increases in various markets, and contribution margin improvement initiatives, partially offset by increases related to inflation and unfavorable foreign currency exchange. Volume incentives as a percentage of net sales were 30.2% compared to 30.5% in the year-ago quarter. The decrease was primarily due to changes in market mix. Selling, general and administrative expenses ("SG&A") in the first quarter were $40.8 million compared to $43.6 million in the year‐ago quarter. The decrease was driven primarily by a non-recurring loss in Japan in the prior year, partially offset by investments to drive digital growth. As a percentage of net sales, SG&A expenses were 36.7% for the first quarter of 2024 compared to 40.2% in the year-ago quarter. Operating income in the first quarter increased to $4.6 million, or 4.2% of net sales, compared to $0.2 million, or 0.2% of net sales, in the year-ago quarter. Other income, net, in the first quarter of 2024 was $31,000 compared to $1.5 million in the first quarter of 2023. Other income, net, primarily consists of foreign exchange gains as a result of net changes in foreign currencies. The provision for income taxes was $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to $0.4 million for the year-ago quarter. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders increased to $2.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted common share, compared to $0.9 million, or $0.04 per diluted common share, in the first quarter of 2023. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter increased slightly to $9.2 million compared to $9.1 million in the prior year quarter. The increase was driven primarily by the aforementioned increase in operating income. Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure, is defined here as net income (loss) from continuing operations before taxes, depreciation, amortization, and other income (loss) adjusted to exclude share-based compensation expense and certain noted adjustments. A reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted EBITDA is provided in the attached financial tables. Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Net cash provided by operating activities was $2.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, compared to $9.3 million in the prior year period. Capital expenditures during the three months ended March 31, 2024 totaled $3.7 million compared to $2.3 million in the comparable period of 2023. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, the Company repurchased 105,000 shares at a total cost of $1.8 million or $17.61 per share. As of March 31, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $77.8 million and $2.1 million of debt. Outlook The Company continues to expect full year 2024 net sales to range between $455 - $480 million and adjusted EBITDA to range between $42 - $48 million. Conference Call The Company will hold a conference call today at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time to discuss its first quarter of 2024 results. Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024Time: 5:00 p.m. Eastern time (3:00 p.m. Mountain time) Toll-free dial-in number: 1-888-886-7786 International dial-in number: 1-416-764-8658Conference ID: 92920252 Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact Gateway Group at 1-949-574-3860. The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay here and via the Events section of the Nature's Sunshine website here. A replay of the conference call will be available after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Toll-free replay number: 1-844-512-2921International replay number: 1-412-317-6671Replay ID: 92920252 About Nature's Sunshine Products Nature's Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR), a leading natural health and wellness company, markets and distributes nutritional and personal care products in more than 40 countries. Nature's Sunshine manufactures most of its products through its own state-of-the-art facilities to ensure its products continue to set the standard for the highest quality, safety and efficacy on the market today. Additional information about the company can be obtained at its website, www.naturessunshine.com. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the Company's future business expectations, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements relating to our objectives, plans, strategies and financial results, including expected improvements in gross profit and gross margin. All statements (other than statements of historical fact) that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect, project, believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are often characterized by terminology such as "believe," "hope," "may," "anticipate," "should," "intend," "plan," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy" and similar expressions, and are based on assumptions and assessments made in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors we believe to be appropriate. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the following: extensive government regulations to which the Company's products, business practices and manufacturing activities are subject; registration of products for sale in foreign markets, or difficulty or increased cost of importing products into foreign markets; legal challenges to the Company's direct selling program or to the classification of its independent consultants; laws and regulations regarding direct selling may prohibit or restrict our ability to sell our products in some markets or require us to make changes to our business model in some markets; liabilities and obligations arising from improper activity by the Company's independent consultants; product liability claims; impact of anti-bribery laws, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the Company's ability to attract and retain independent consultants; the loss of one or more key independent consultants who have a significant sales network; potential for increased liability and compliance costs relating to the Company's joint venture for operations in China with Fosun Industrial Co., Ltd.; the effect of fluctuating foreign exchange rates; failure of the Company's independent consultants to comply with advertising laws; changes to the Company's independent consultants compensation plans; geopolitical issues and conflicts; negative consequences resulting from difficult economic conditions, including the availability of liquidity or the willingness of the Company's customers to purchase products; risks associated with the manufacturing of the Company's products; supply chain disruptions, manufacturing interruptions or delays, or the failure to accurately forecast customer demand; failure to timely and effectively obtain shipments of products from our manufacturers and deliver products to our independent consultants and customers; world-wide slowdowns and delays related to supply chain, ingredient shortages and logistical challenges; uncertainties relating to the application of transfer pricing, duties, value-added taxes, and other tax regulations, and changes thereto; changes in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation; failure to maintain an effective system of internal controls over financial reporting; cybersecurity threats and exposure to data loss; the storage, processing, and use of data, some of which contain personal information, are subject to complex and evolving privacy and data protection laws and regulations; reliance on information technology infrastructure; and the sufficiency of trademarks and other intellectual property rights. These and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from predicted results are more fully detailed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports filed on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included in or incorporated by reference into this press release. Except as is required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this press release. Non-GAAP Financial Measures We have included information which has not been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), such as information concerning non-GAAP net income, adjusted EBITDA and net sales excluding the impact of foreign currency exchange fluctuations. We utilize the non-GAAP measures of non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA in the evaluation of our operations and believe that these measures are useful indicators of our ability to fund our business. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, U.S. GAAP net income (loss) as an indicator of our operating performance. Other companies may use the same or similarly named measures, but exclude different items, which may not provide investors with a comparable view of Nature's Sunshine Products' performance in relation to other companies. We have included a reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA, the most comparable GAAP measure. We have also included a reconciliation of GAAP net income to non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP adjusted EPS, in the attached financial tables. Net sales in local currency removes, from net sales in U.S. dollars, the impact of changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the functional currencies of our foreign subsidiaries. This is accomplished by translating the current period net sales into U.S. dollars using the same foreign currency exchange rates that were used to translate the net sales for the previous comparable period. We believe presenting the impact of foreign currency fluctuations is useful to investors because it allows a more meaningful comparison of net sales of our foreign operations from period to period. Net sales excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net sales in U.S. dollar measures that reflect current period exchange rates, or to other financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. With respect to our adjusted EBITDA outlook for the full year 2024, a quantitative reconciliation to the corresponding GAAP information cannot be provided without unreasonable effort because of the inherent difficulty of accurately forecasting the occurrence and financial impact of the various adjusting items necessary for such reconciliation that have not yet occurred, are out of our control, or cannot be reasonably predicted, including but not limited to warrant liabilities and stock based compensation. For the same reasons, we are unable to assess the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could have a material impact on our future GAAP financial results. Investor Relations: Gateway Group, Inc.Cody   NATURE'S SUNSHINE PRODUCTS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (Amounts in thousands, except per share information) (Unaudited)       Three Months EndedMarch 31,       2024       2023   Net sales   $ 110,993     $ 108,634   Cost of sales     32,015       31,692   Gross profit     78,978       76,942             Operating expenses:         Volume incentives     33,570       33,128   Selling, general and administrative     40,784       43,642   Operating income     4,624       172   Other Income, net     31       1,514   Income before provision for income taxes     4,655       1,686   Provision for income taxes     2,165       433   Net income     2,490       1,253   Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests     169       393   Net income attributable to common shareholders   $ 2,321     $