Nu Skin Enterprises Reports Fourth-Quarter And 2018 Results And Provides 2019 Guidance

PROVO, Utah, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS) today announced fourth-quarter and 2018 financial results.

Executive Summary

Q4 2018 vs. Prior-Year Quarter

2018 Annual

"We delivered another strong quarter despite a challenging comparison from the $130 million LumiSpa introduction in the prior year," said Ritch Wood, chief executive officer. "We grew our revenue 18 percent for the year, with growth coming from virtually all of our segments. We were also encouraged that our customer acquisition strategy resulted in 16-percent growth in our customer base. And while our sales leader numbers were down year-over-year due to the LumiSpa introduction, we are pleased with 16 percent growth in sales leaders since the first quarter."

Q4 2018 Year-Over-Year Operating Results

Stockholder Value

Q1 and Full-Year 2019 Outlook

"We are entering 2019 with strong momentum and are projecting meaningful constant-currency top-line growth with continued improvement on the bottom line," said Wood. "We believe 2019 will be a pivotal year as we transform our digital platform to better support customers, while further enabling our sales leaders to leverage the power of social selling. Our product portfolio remains strong, and we plan to build on the breakout success of our LumiSpa skin treatment and cleansing device with the launch of LumiSpa Accent, a specialized eye treatment attachment. On the program front, our Velocity enhanced sales compensation program has now been rolled out in nearly every market, providing us with ongoing flexibility to drive and reward key behaviors from our sales force. We believe we can continue to grow our business and look forward to a strong 2019," Wood concluded.

"Coming off a strong year, we are projecting continued growth in 2019," said Mark Lawrence, chief financial officer. "We project first-quarter revenue of $615 to $635 million, including an approximate 5 to 6 percent negative currency impact, and earnings per share of $0.70 to $0.77. For the year, we are projecting annual revenue of $2.76 to $2.82 billion with a projected 2 to 3 percent negative foreign currency impact and earnings per share of $3.80 to $4.05. We look forward to providing additional details regarding our guidance and 2019 growth initiatives at our investor day event which will be held Feb. 28 at our headquarters," concluded Lawrence.

Conference Call

The Nu Skin management team will host a conference call with the investment community on Feb. 13, 2019, at 5 p.m. (ET). Those wishing to access the webcast, as well as the financial information presented during the call, can visit the Investor Relations page on the company's website at ir.nuskin.com. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same URL through Feb. 27, 2019.

About Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc.

Founded more than 30 years ago, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. develops and distributes innovative consumer products, offering a comprehensive line of premium-quality beauty and wellness solutions. The company builds upon its scientific expertise in both skin care and nutrition to continually develop innovative product brands that include the Nu Skin^® personal care brand, the Pharmanex^® nutrition brand, and most recently, the ageLOC^® anti-aging brand. The ageLOC brand has generated a loyal following for such products as the ageLOC LumiSpa skin cleansing and treatment device, ageLOC Youth nutritional supplement, the ageLOC Me^® customized skin care system, as well as the ageLOC TR90^® weight management and body shaping system. Nu Skin sells its products through a global network of sales leaders in Asia, the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Pacific. As a long-standing member of direct selling associations globally, Nu Skin is committed to the industry's consumer guidelines that protect and support those who sell and purchase its products through the direct selling channel. Nu Skin is also traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NUS." More information is available at nuskin.com.

Important Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that represent the company's current expectations and beliefs. All statements other than statements of historical fact are "forward-looking statements" for purposes of federal and state securities laws and include, but are not limited to, statements of management's expectations regarding the company's performance, growth, product launches, strategies and initiatives; projections regarding revenue, earnings per share, foreign currency fluctuations and other financial items; statements of belief; and statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "believe," "expect," "project," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "continue," "targets," "likely," "will," "would," "could," "may," "might," the negative of these words and other similar words.

The forward-looking statements and related assumptions involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from any forward-looking statements or views expressed herein. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• adverse publicity related to the company's business, products, industry or any legal actions or complaints by the company's sales force or others;
• risk that direct selling laws and regulations in any of our markets, including the United States and Mainland China, may be modified, interpreted or enforced in a manner that results in negative changes to our business model or negatively impacts our revenue, sales force or business, including through the interruption of sales activities, loss of licenses, imposition of fines, or any other adverse actions or events;
• any failure of current or planned initiatives or products to generate interest among the company's sales force and customers and generate sponsoring and selling activities on a sustained basis;
• risk of foreign currency fluctuations and the currency translation impact on the company's business associated with these fluctuations;
• uncertainties regarding the future financial performance of the company's recent acquisitions;
• risks related to accurately predicting, delivering or maintaining sufficient quantities of products to support our planned initiatives or launch strategies, and increased risk of inventory write-offs if the company over-forecasts demand for a product or changes its planned initiatives or launch strategies;
• regulatory risks associated with the company's products, which could require the company to modify its claims or inhibit the company's ability to import or continue selling a product in a market if it is determined to be a medical device or if it is unable to register the product in a timely manner under applicable regulatory requirements;
• unpredictable economic conditions and events globally;
• uncertainties related to interpretation of, and forthcoming regulations under, the recently enacted U.S. tax reform legislation; the company's future tax-planning initiatives; any prospective or retrospective increases in duties on the company's products imported into the company's markets outside of the United States; and any adverse results of tax audits or unfavorable changes to tax laws in the company's various markets; and
• continued competitive pressures in the company's markets.

The company's financial performance and the forward-looking statements contained herein are further qualified by a detailed discussion of associated risks set forth in the documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements set forth the company's beliefs as of the date that such information was first provided and the company assumes no duty to update the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect any change except as required by law. 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures: Constant-currency revenue growth is a non-GAAP financial measure that removes the impact of fluctuations in foreign-currency exchange rates, thereby facilitating period-to-period comparisons of the company's performance. It is calculated by translating the current period's revenue at the same average exchange rates in effect during the applicable prior-year period and then comparing this amount to the prior-year period's revenue. Operating margin, income tax rate and earnings per share, each excluding impairment and restructuring charges and/or the impact of tax reform, also are non-GAAP financial measures. Impairment and restructuring charges are not part of the ongoing operations of our underlying business. The U.S. tax reform legislation was enacted in December 2017 and had a material impact on our tax rate and earnings per share. Removing the impact of these items facilitates period-to-period comparisons of the company's performance. Please see the reconciliations of these items to our operating margin, income tax rate and earnings per share calculated under GAAP, below.

The Company's revenue results by segment for the three-month periods ended December 31 are presented in the following table (in thousands).

The Company's revenue results by segment for the year ended December 31 are presented in the following table (in thousands).

The company's Customers and Sales Leaders statistics by segment for the three-month periods ended December 31 are presented in the following table.

Nu Skin Social Media Channels
• fb.com/nuskin  •  twitter.com/nuskin  •  instagram.com/nuskin

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nu-skin-enterprises-reports-fourth-quarter-and-2018-results-and-provides-2019-guidance-300795290.html

SOURCE Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc.