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Herbalife Ltd.
4/30/2025
And thank you for joining the first quarter 2025 earnings conference call for Herbalife Limited. During the company's opening remarks, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Following the opening remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Erin Banyans, Vice President and Head of Investor Relations, to begin today's call. You may begin.
Thank you, and good afternoon, good evening, everyone. Joining us today are Stefan Graziani, our president and incoming chief executive officer, and John D. Simone, our chief financial officer. Before we begin today's call, I would like to direct you to the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements on page two of our presentation and in our earnings release issued earlier today, which are both available under the investor relations section of our website. The presentation and earnings release include a discussion of some of the more important factors that could cause results to differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statement within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. As is customary, the content of today's call and presentation will be governed by this language. In addition, during today's call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures, These non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain unusual or non-recurring items that management believes impact the comparability of the period's reference. Please refer to our earnings release and presentation materials for additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. And with that, I will now turn the call over to President and incoming CEO, Stefan Graziani.
Thank you, Erin, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. It's an incredible honor to be with you today as I transition into the role of CEO. I take on this responsibility with a profound respect for Herbalife's 45-year history and with clear purpose to honor our past while redefining what's possible for the future. I want to begin by expressing my deep appreciation for Michael Johnson, whose leadership and vision have been instrumental in shaping the strong foundation we stand on today. His contributions to Herbalife's global impact are enduring, and I'm committed to building on that legacy. I'm pleased that Michael will continue to support the company in his role as executive chairman. Herbalife's mission has always been to change people's lives through better nutrition, stronger community, and an entrepreneurial business opportunity. That mission remains unchanged, but the way we deliver it is evolving because the world is changing. The gig economy, digital and social platforms, and shifting consumer expectations are real forces. We consider them not only an invitation for us to evolve, but an opportunity for us to lead. Before we get into the Q1 results, I want to share with you three things. First, my conviction. I believe Herbalife is uniquely positioned, perhaps more than ever, to lead in the new health and wellness economy. With 2.1 million distributors and a brand trusted around the world, we have the human foundation, our network effect, to reach customers in ways few companies can match. Second, our transformation. We are building on the strengths of our brand, our business model, and our high-quality science-backed products. We will maximize the power of direct selling and expand our reach through technology, personalization, and tools that empower our distributors to connect more effectively with customers in more ways than ever before. we will become a true global platform for optimized health and wellness. And third, our path forward. You will see us focus on innovation in products, in technology, in AI-powered solutions, and how we empower our distributors to better serve today's customer and anticipate the needs of tomorrow. You will see us drive operational excellence, leveraging AI and data analytics to sharpen execution, improve alignment, and increase efficiency across the organization. And you will see us measure success not just by short-term gains, but by the strength of the foundation we are building for sustainable, profitable global growth. I'll tell you more about a significant step we've taken in that path forward through our recent asset acquisitions in just a minute. But before I do, let's look at some of the Q1 financial highlights. Our net sales of 1.2 billion were down 3.4% versus Q1 of 2024, which was just above the midpoint of our guidance range. And on a constant currency basis, we delivered net sales growth of 1.4% year-over-year, our second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth excluding FX headwinds. We delivered strong adjusted EBITDA results, exceeding our guidance. Additionally, through continued debt repayment during the quarter, we reduced our total leverage ratio to three times as of March 31st, achieving the target we set a year ago when we exited 2023 at 3.9 times. We reached this milestone nine months ahead of plan. John D. Simone will provide more on our financial results later on the call. Kicking off a new year at Herbalife is always energizing, and the positive momentum that began last year is continuing in 2025, with the number of new distributors joining Herbalife worldwide up 16% year over year. This is our fourth consecutive quarter of new distributor growth. Details about our new distributor and active non-sales leader growth are included in the appendix of today's presentation. That same positive momentum and enthusiasm was evident at our annual honors event where we brought together our top distributors from around the world. Held in our hometown of Los Angeles, this year's event was especially exciting as we celebrated our 45th anniversary. We hosted several leadership and development panels and announced our planned asset acquisitions of Protocol Health, prove adventures, and link biosciences. As you can imagine, there was tremendous excitement among the approximately 2,600 distributor leaders in attendance as we unveiled these asset acquisitions and the important role they will play in the next era of Herbalife. Since honors, we've completed the transactions, and I want to take a moment to talk about what we acquired, why we made these decisions, and how they collectively strengthen and align with our broader strategy and vision. We acquired assets of both Protocol and Pruvit. Separately, we formed a new entity, HBL Bioscience, and obtained a 51% ownership interest. HBL Bioscience then purchased the assets of Link Biosciences. Slide five provides a brief overview of each of the companies. Let's start with Protocol. Protocol is a health and wellness digital application company. The assets we acquired center on the Protocol technology platform. As you will see on slide six, it's a system designed to deliver tailored health and longevity protocols using individual data and biometrics. Through AI, coaching, and community, the platform will provide personalized nutrition recommendations, lifestyle plans, and ongoing support. Protocol takes today's fragmented and often confusing wellness landscape and unites it into one simple accessible platform, helping people measure what matters, make better decisions, and achieve their health goals. Slide 7 highlights initial key features of the protocol platform, including daily intake tracking, AI-powered nutrition tracking, and a personalized health dashboard. These capabilities are critical for capturing a broad range of consumers, increasing personalization, and driving long-term engagement. In conjunction with this platform, we plan to expand our product portfolio by launching protocol-specific offerings. These new products combined with our existing lineup, will give customers more personalized options than ever before to achieve their wellness goals, ultimately strengthening engagement and driving incremental growth. We pursued this acquisition because protocol aligns perfectly with our vision for the future of health and wellness. It accelerates our plans to offer a modern, holistic technology platform, and, importantly, it allows us to put these powerful tools in the hands of our global distributor network. democratizing access to health optimization on a worldwide scale. Combined with Herbalife distributor coaches, AI-driven health assistants, and both online and in-person community connections, Protocol will bring our high-tech, high-touch model to a new level, helping our distributors better serve existing customers, attract new customers, and attract new distributors who are looking for a more modern, tech-savvy business opportunity. We're excited about the future this unlocks for Herbalife. and we're not the only ones. Cristiano Ronaldo understands the incredible opportunity we have, and he is partnering with us to further develop the platform. His personal commitment to nutrition and keen understanding of its impact on peak athletic performance makes him an ideal advisor. We plan to launch a beta version of the protocol platform at the end of July during our North America extravaganza, making it available to select distributors in the U.S. The commercial release in the U.S. is planned for the fourth quarter, This launch represents a significant opportunity for our distributors to re-engage customers, increase customer lifetime value, and tap into new customer segments. It will also provide nutrition club owners with a powerful new offering for their customers, which we believe will drive higher conversion rates of club consumption customers to preferred customers. Beginning in 2026, we will start rolling out the protocol platform to additional markets. By the end of 2025, we believe we'll have tens of thousands of users on the platform, with hundreds of thousands by the end of next year. Now let's talk about Link Biosciences. Based in Texas, Link Biosciences is a well-established manufacturing company that combines proprietary equipment, advanced technology, and specialized software. It analyzes data inputs, including biometrics, biomarkers, lifestyle factors, and genetics, to formulate personalized products. We're extremely excited about this unparalleled technology, which provides us with the distinct competitive advantage in the U.S. and over time in markets around the world. Very few companies have the integrated capabilities that Link Biosciences offers, making it a truly strategic asset for Herbalife's future. Herbalife has 45 years of proven experience in using science and data to formulate high-quality products and deliver personalized nutrition and supplement programs to customers around the world. Building on that strong legacy, the assets from Link Biosciences will enable us to take personalization to the next level. By leveraging the protocol technology platform, we will be able to formulate and manufacture personalized one-to-one supplements. These custom formulated supplements, combined with the protocol platform and our global distributor network, will enable us to deliver personalized, data-driven health and wellness programs at an unprecedented global scale. empowering people to optimize their health outcomes like never before. Now let's talk about Pruvit, which is a direct seller of patented ketone supplements. The assets acquired primarily relate to the intellectual property, and these assets give us the opportunity to expand our product offerings into a new product category. Pruvit will continue to operate independently under its current ownership for up to two years. In the near term, Pruvit distributors in the U.S. will have the opportunity to join Herbalife and take part in the commercialization of the protocol platform and products. These acquisitions are an important step in our strategy centered on accelerated growth and building on our heritage of science, innovation, and one-to-one support. That one-to-one support, of course, is our distributors who are the heart of our business. We have and continue to implement programs and initiatives designed to rebuild and strengthen our distributor base. These programs are focused on training, leadership, engagement, and accountability, and include programs such as the Herbalife Premier League, Diamond Development Mastermind Program, and our recently launched all-new Herbalife Flex 45 Challenge. Another way we inspire, educate, and motivate our distributors is through our extravaganza training events. Our first events of 2025 were held in April with an extravaganza in Shanghai, China. and in India, which hosted its first two of four extravaganzas planned for 2025 in Bengaluru and Delhi. We expect strong demand to continue for these trainings and development opportunities as distributors look to grow their businesses. Growing our business and achieving our vision for the future can only be realized with a strong, experienced executive team, and ours is one of the best. I'm proud to work alongside talented executives like Rob Levy, our most tenured senior executive, who is stepping into his new role as president. I've worked directly with Rob as a distributor and now as an executive for almost 30 years. He is extremely well respected by our distributors and our employees, and his global leadership and expertise will help us continue to evolve and grow. I'm also excited to be working with Blake Mallon, who recently joined Herbalife as our chief strategy officer and president of protocol. He has more than two decades of experience as an entrepreneur and direct selling executive and is the co-founder of Protocol Health and previously served as the president of Prove-It. Blake shares our vision for the future of health and wellness, and he will continue to lead the development and implementation of the Protocol platform, as well as provide strategic direction as we enter this new era at Herbalife. On our last earnings call, I said Herbalife is destined to become one of the world's most important health and wellness platforms. and that you would start to see this expressed more and more through our digital tech stack, our products, and our services. You're beginning to see it now through these acquisitions, which are just one piece of a broader strategy. There's so much more to come as we continue to make bold moves and deliver on what we've been saying for more than a year, that Herbalife will be the world's premier health and wellness company, community, and platform. Now, I'll turn it over to John for the in-depth financial review. Over to you, John.
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