Andrea Jung had been promoted to CEO role at the age of 41 in 1999 and remained there for 12 years. After all those years, the company she handed over to Sheri McCoy was not in a bright situation at all. In her last four years, Avon’s debts went from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion, representing nearly 60% increase. An ex-CFO of Avon said the company’s cash management was so bad that in some years, it even had to borrow money to pay dividends to shareholders. In an industry where mass media spending has always been largely questioned, Avon’s advertising budget increased to $400 million in 2010 (it was $63 million in 1999).

Besides worsening results, the infamous China bribery issue emerged in the same period. The investigation took years, costing the company hundreds of millions of Dollars.

As a result of all, Avon’s stock value dropped by 45% during Jung’s last year. And Jung’s replacement with McCoy was met with cheers.

Sheri McCoy was an outsider to the direct sales industry. She had come from the famous consumer healthcare care products company Johnson & Johnson, after working there for 30 years.

McCoy’s first year was marked as an important year for Avon from an additional aspect: That year, the crown changed hands and Amway became the largest direct selling company, overthrowing Avon. Amway has stayed at that position since then.

Things did not go well under McCoy’s management, too. After all what had been done during Sheri McCoy’s time, an Avon share that was valued around $22-23 on the New York Stock Exchange in 2012 went down to an all-time low of $1.85 in November 2017 (The current all-time-low is $1.40 that happened in July 2018).

Avon announced in 2017 that Sheri McCoy would be stepping down in March 2018 to retire after six years at the CEO office.

Early this year, Jan Zijderveld was appointed as Avon’s new CEO. Just like his predecessor, Jan Zijderveld was also coming from outside the direct selling industry. This time, Avon had chosen its leader from Unilever where he was the President of European business unit.

Following the unsatisfactory results in the first quarter, Zijderveld summarized what they should do as: “To win in this market, we must significantly step up our competitiveness. It is important to be agile and quickly identify, understand emerging trends and capture those opportunities faster. This means Avon must start driving bigger on-trend innovations and platforms, and bring them to market much faster with greater scale and impact. For this, we need to become more glo-cal, this means global and local. A few big global innovations with scale and impact, while at the same time capturing opportunities through locally relevant innovations with speed and agility.”

In a short while, he made several important management changes: Benedetto Conversano was appointed to the newly-created SVP, Chief Digital & Information Technology Officer; Anna Chokina was appointed to VP, Global Brand Marketing, Skincare and Personal Care; Elena Degtyareva to VP, Global Fashion and Home; Amy Greene to VP, Investor Relations, Bill Rahn to VP, APAC region; Dronacharya Chakraborty to GM for India; and José Vicente Marino to GM for Brazil.

Second quarter was not a success, too, with global revenue being down 3% from last year’s same quarter. Avon shares were being valued at around $1.80 after this result.

However, September saw two interesting happenings:

The Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura was said to have been interested in a takeover. This gave a big boost to Avon shares, taking it to as high as $2.25. Natura immediately denied this rumor.

A few days after this, Avon held an investor day to give an update on company’s overall situation and announce its new long-term strategy “Open Up Avon”. The information shared was taken so positively that the share price moved further up to $2.50.

Management said they expected a low-single digit revenue growth, low double-digit margins, and $400 million in cost savings by 2021. The 2021 operating margin target of at least 10% would mean a significant improvement as compared to 2018’s 6.4%.

Additionally, Avon announced plans to invest around $300 million in IT, in new product categories and in various marketing, training, and digital tools.

An analyst commented after this investor day, “We were impressed with the sense of urgency displayed by new CEO Jan Zijderveld at his first analyst meeting on Sept. 21. Unlike the previous CEO, he is engaged in operations, is committed to establishing a culture of accountability and has moved quickly to bring in executives with direct selling experience.” She also said she had upgraded Avon shares from “Neutral” to “Buy” and doubled her price target from $1.75 to $3.50!

Obviously, what we see now are only plans and changes without any strong results yet. The third quarter which actually is over by now will give us some signs when we have the reports in a couple of weeks. Then, we will have a better sense of whether the turnaround is going to be real this time. By the way, Avon shares closed last week at $1.93!

…..

Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a management consulting firm in Canada specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. WDS Consultancy is a proud Supplier Member of the Canada DSA. It is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication since 2010. Hakki is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post Will Avon’s Turnaround Be Real This Time? appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

Before going into individual company numbers, a few general observations:

* All seven companies report profits for the third quarter. All but Avon have been profitable YTD in 2017, too.
* Herbalife, Nu Skin and USANA have considerably lower costs of sales compared to the other four. Avon is on the other end.
* Although still at a healthy level, Tupperware’s profitability was hurt the most this year.
* Herbalife on the operating income and Natura on the net income side stand out on a YTD basis.

AVON

Avon reported 1% quarterly revenue increase that brought it at par with last year’s first nine months. So, Avon has not grown so far this year.

In production costs, we see a slight improvement as it came down by 0.3 points in 3Q and 1 full point in the nine-month period. However, the situation is not bright on Avon’s “selling, general and administrative expenses”. So far this year, this item has gone up to 58.2% from last year’s 55.4%. Avon management attributes this to “higher bad debt and representative, sales leader and field expenses” primarily in Brazil.

Eventually, Avon’s net income for the third quarter was 0.9%. Three quarters combined, Avon reported $70 million loss, down from last year same period’s $97 million.

For the remaining part of the year, Avon expects its modest improvement to continue with flat to positive sales growth relative to last year, but final results to be below full year guidance.

After having reached $6 in February this year, Avon’s share price has come down to as low as $1.85 following 3Q figures. At this price level, Avon’s total value was less than $900 million (had been over $2.6 billion at $6/share).

As a side note, the cosmetics giant Coty had made an offer to acquire Avon (included Avon North America or today’s “New Avon“) in 2012 for $10.7 billion. Shortly after this offer was withdrawn, saying Avon had been too reluctant to answer.

In the meanwhile, Chan Galbato, non-executive Chairman of Avon’s Board of Directors said, “The search for a new Chief Executive Officer for Avon is underway. The Board is pleased with the progress and the strong interest we are receiving.”

For more on Avon’s 3Q performance, please click here and here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife’s third quarter sales showed a decline of 3.3% as compared to 3Q of 2016. Sales YTD is 3.2% lower than that of last year’s, too.

Cost of sales increased from 18.6% to 19.8% in the third quarter. There was a similar increase in company’s operating expenses as well. However, due to the positive performances in the first two quarters  of 2017, Herbalife’s YTD operating income and net income figures were much better than last year’s.

Reviewing Herbalife’s cost structure right after Avon’s brings us to an interesting comparison: The wide difference between these two companies’ costs of production (Avon: Nearly 40%, Herbalife: Hardly 20%) as compared to their net sales.

Investors were quite happy with Herbalife’s performance in 2017 until the end of the third quarter. After closing the year 2016 at $48, the price of a Herbalife share went up to $80 in October this year. After the last quarter results, it has been around $65 which is still significantly higher than last year’s closing price. At this price level, Herbalife is valued at close to $6 billion.

For more on Herbalife’s 3Q performance, please click here and here.

NATURA

Natura’s percentage-wise quarterly cost structure comparison shows a quite steady picture. The only significant difference is in Natura’s net income that declines from 3.8% to 2.6% in 3Q. The company attributes this to The Body Shop acquisition expense.

Natura reported a strong revenue growth in the third quarter with advances in all its businesses (Natura, Aesop, and The Body Shop): R$ (Brazilian Real) 2.4 billion, up 24% vs. Q3 of 2016, including one-month of revenue from the recently acquired The Body Shop. Excluding this, growth was still double-digit: 11%.

Natura management commented on The Body Shop’s acquisition, saying that:

* The Body Shop’s net revenue in September (the only month within Natura group) increased 1.3% from the year-ago period.
* In the first nine months, they got the initial signs of a recovery, with net revenue growing 2.2%, with the highlights being the U.K, Canada, Asia and e-commerce in the U.S.

After going down to R$19 in September 2016, Natura stock has been in a general upward trend in 2017. Lately, it has been around R$30-32. In 2012 though, it had hit R$50.

For more on Natura’s 3Q performance, please click here.

NU SKIN

Third quarter sales of Nu Skin’s was 7% less than 3Q of 2016, although it was still slightly above its initial guidance. Nu skin’s YTD revenue performance was -4%, too.

Both Nu Skin’s cost of sales and operating expense went up in the third quarter, bringing down its operating from 13.6% in 2016 to 11.4% in 2017. The major increase was in its “general and administrative expenses” that went up from 23.3% to 25.4% during the quarter. Content with the 3Q performance, CEO Ritch Wood said, “During the third quarter, we continued to execute our growth strategy and delivered results at the top-end of our previous guidance range.”

Nu Skin shares are being valued at $65-66 these days, meaning the total company value is around $3.5 billion.

For more on Nu Skin’s 3Q performance, please click here and here.

ORIFLAME

Oriflame reported 6% sales increase in the third quarter, bringing its 2017 nine-month sales to €983 million that is 10% better than 2016’s same period.

Looking from a profitability perspective, Oriflame also reported a significant decrease in its cost of sales (from 29.6% to 26.2%) for the third quarter. Management said this was due to the positive impact received from the price/mix effects and supply chain efficiency measures.

For the whole of 2017, Oriflame has been more profitable both in terms of operating income and net income so far, on a year-over-year basis.

After reaching an all-time high in at SEK (Swedish Krona) 466 in March 2010, Oriflame share followed a declining trend until September 2015 when it went down to SEK 103. Then, it started picking up and it is now SEK 335-340. Today, Oriflame’s market capitalization is around SEK 19 billion which is approximately $2.3 billion.

For more on Oriflame’s 3Q performance, please click here.

TUPPERWARE

Tupperware’s 3Q sales was up 3% versus last year. Company’s nine-month sales performance was 3% above 2016’s same period, too.

Cost of sales has been in the 32-33% range for two years, but there is a slight increase in 2017. The major increase is in the operating expenses. At the end of the third quarter, this figure was 58.9% of net sales (was 52.8% in last year same period). This was mainly due to two expense items on the income statement:  “Re-engineering and impairment charges”, and “impairment of goodwill.” These two exceptional items reduce Tupperware’s both operating income and net income this year.

Tupperware share is being currently traded at around $60. At this price, Tupperware is valued at $3 billion. In December 2013, one Tupperware share was at $96, the year Tupperware’s revenue peaked at $2.672 billion. The highest price Tupperware stock saw in 2017 was $74 and that was in April.

For more on Tupperware’s 3Q performance, please click here and here.

USANA

USANA reported 3% quarterly sales increase from last year. This 3% increase meant the company has been growing at the same pace (i.e. 3%) on a nine-month basis, too.

An increase in USANA’s operating expenses (from 68.2% to 70%) hurt its profitability in the third quarter just as it has been so far in 2017. USANA cites investment and IT spending as one of the factors driving this margin compression. The management said this would be resolved and the expected operating income for the fourth quarter was 14%.

USANA became a $1 billion-revenue company in 2016 and it seems it will continue being one at least this year. It lately has updated its net sales outlook for 2017 upward as $1.030 billion that was the top end of the previous guidance of $1.015 billion.

USANA share has been priced at $65-70 lately. Company’s market capitalization at this level is $1.6-1.7 billion. In August 2015, the share price had peaked at $80.

For more on USANA’s 3Q performance, please click here and here.

…..

Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a consulting firm in Canada specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. He is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication. He is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. Hakki was the first corporate professional in the Turkish network marketing industry. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals in Turkey and in Canada. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post Third Quarter in 7 Companies’ Profit Figures appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

This analysis will focus on the public direct selling companies, Avon, Herbalife, Natura, Nu Skin, Oriflame, Tupperware, and USANA, in alphabetical order.

AVON

Avon reported 1% sales increase in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis. But this was not enough to declare a nine-month growth. When the total of first three quarters taken, Avon’s sales is only at par with last year’s.

In order to close this year with at least 2016 sales figure (i.e. $ 5.718 billion), Avon will need to generate $1.571 billion in the last quarter. That means bringing in 2% more sales than what they did in 4Q of 2016.

CEO Sheri McCoy said, “While we saw mixed results, I am encouraged by the revenue improvement in many of our top 15 markets and the underlying business trends we are beginning to see… It will take time to fully realize the benefits from our near and long-term initiatives in this highly competitive market, but with the right team in place we are poised to accelerate the pace of our progress.” In August this year, Avon announced the CEO transition plan that is expected to be completed with Sheri McCoy stepping down in March 2018.

The decline in the number of Avon’s active representatives continued in the last quarter (-3%). Management’s view is that this decline was mainly driven by Brazil as a result of the intentionally applied tighter credit policies in this country. Global average order on the other hand, increased 3% with growth in South Latin America, Asia Pacific and North Latin America.

North Latin America achieved the highest quarterly sales growth (+5%), followed by EMEA’s 1%. Both South Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions reported 1% sales decreases. At the country level, the highest growth came from Mexico and Philippines (each 4%), and the lowest from the UK, where Avon’s new global headquarters is located. (-13%).

For more on Avon’s 3Q growth performance, please click here and here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife’s third quarter 2017 net sales of $1.1 billion showed a decline of 3.3% as compared to the third quarter of 2016. As of end-3Q, Herbalife’s sales this year is 3.2% lower than that of last year’s, too.

CEO Rich Goudis was confident, saying, “During this year of transition, we believe our performance has now stabilized and we are seeing improvements in trends. By continuing to implement our strategic plan, we expect to build on the improving trends and return to growth in 2018.”

The “transition” Rich Goudis mentioned refers to the changes Herbalife had to make in its business in the U.S. as a result of the FTC settlement it had agreed to in 2016.

North America with its 17% decline, was the #1 contributor to Herbalife’s negative growth in the third quarter. South & Central America (-3.6%), China (-2%) and Asia-Pacific (-0.2%) followed it. EMEA (+6.1%) and Mexico (+1.3) were the two regions of Herbalife that reported positive figures.

Based on the current trends, the company expects sales growth in the range of  2.3-7.3% in the last quarter of 2017 on a year-over-year basis. Even with this, Herbalife’s year-end global sales guidance is between -1.9% and  -0.6%.

For more on Herbalife’s 3Q growth performance, please click here and here.

NATURA

Natura reported a strong growth in the third quarter with advances in all its businesses: R$ 2.4 billion, up 24.3% vs. Q3 of 2016, including one-month of revenue from the recently acquired The Body Shop. Excluding this, it was still double-digit: 11.4%.

Natura posted revenue growth of 10.4% in Brazil, its home country. In other countries in Latin America it achieved sales growth of 19% in local currency, “despite the difficult political and economic situation in Peru and the earthquake in Mexico” as Natura reports.

The sales through the Natura Network, Natura’s online channel maintained the trend of triple-digit growth in the first nine months. In the meanwhile, the company continued to expand its retail presence, reaching 18 Natura stores in shopping malls, 13 of which are in Sao Paulo and 5 in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to these Natura is present in 3,300 stores of major drugstore chains.

“This quarter represents a historical milestone for Natura. With the closing of the acquisition of The Body Shop, we took a decisive step towards becoming a global, multi-brand and multi-channel group, with three different businesses and brands committed to ethical and sustainable business practices that generate positive social impacts,” management commented on results. The “three different businesses” that are referred to here are Natura, Aesop, and The Body Shop.

For more on Natura’s 3Q growth performance, please click here.

NU SKIN

Third quarter sales of Nu Skin was $564 million. This was 7% less than 3Q of 2016. Speaking in percentages, the biggest decline came from Nu Skin’s South Korea region (-35%). South Korea used to generate more than 20% of company’s global sales. The other two negative figures were reported by Hong Kong-Taiwan (-15%) and Japan (-14%).

CFO Mark Lawrence said, “Looking forward, we expect fourth-quarter revenue in the $650 to $670 million range.” This, if achieved, will bring Nu Skin to an annual sales of $2.263-$2.283 billion that will be higher than its 2016 sales ($2.208 billion). Again, if achieved, this will also be the end of Nu Skin’s three-year consecutive revenue decline.

For more on Nu Skin’s 3Q growth performance, please click here and here.

ORIFLAME

Oriflame reported a solid 6% sales growth in the third quarter, bringing its quarterly sales to €295 million. This result also brought Oriflame’s 2017 end-3Q sales to €983 million that is 10% better than 2016’s same nine-month period.

Commenting in a written statement on the results, “CEO Magnus Brannstrom said, “We continued to execute on our strategic priorities resulting in yet another quarter of healthy growth and improved profitability. The overall performance in Asia & Turkey remained strong… the growth in the CIS continued… Latin America was affected by the earthquakes and negative timing. “ Please click on the image to watch what Brannstrom had to say in his own words.

Currently, 38% of Oriflame’s global business comes from its Asia & Turkey region. 24% from Europe & Africa, 24% from CIS, and 14% Latin America.

Unit sales in the third quarter increased by 2% and the price/mix effect was up by 9%, primarily driven by mix effect. The positive mix effect was reported as a combination of geographic and product mix, mainly driven by Skin Care and Wellness.

Oriflame’s number of registered actives was stable at 2.6 million at the end of 3Q.

During the quarter, Oriflame held its largest conference ever to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Reportedly, close to 6,000 participants at the Global 50th Anniversary Cruise sailed together in the Mediterranean.

For more on Oriflame’’s 3Q growth performance, please click here.

TUPPERWARE

Tupperware’s quarterly sales growth was up 3% versus last year, reaching $540 million. Company’s nine-month sales performance was 3% above 2016’s same period as well.

Last quarter, Asia-Pacific was the only region that posted negative growth (-2%). South America was the growth champion with 12% increase compared to last year’s same period. It was followed by Tupperware North America (+7%), Europe (+3%), and Beauty North America (+2%).

At the markets level, Tupperware’s sales growth stars in the third quarter were China (+33%), Tupperware South Africa (+12%), Argentina (+12%), Brazil (11%), Tupperware Mexico (+9%), and Tupperware US & Canada (+8%). The most disappointing markets were India (-30%), France (-19%), and Indonesia (-18%).

Tupperware had announced previously it would close its manufacturing and distribution facility next year in France due to overcapacity.

Chairman and CEO Rick Goings said, “Our restructuring program, much of which relates to improvement actions in Europe, is on track, while we are also focused on strategies to reignite revenue growth in key markets, particularly India and Indonesia.”

For the last quarter of 2017, Tupperware’s revenue growth expectation is 0-2% and for the whole year 2-3%, compared to 2016. If the company succeeds in meeting this, just like Nu Skin, 2017 will be Tupperware’s first growth year after a three-year period of declining sales.

For more on Tupperware’s 3Q growth performance, please click here and here.

USANA

USANA reported $262 million global sales in 3Q, up 3% from last year same quarter. This brought company’s sales to $774 million for the first three quarters combined, again representing a 3% increase from last year.

USANA’s North Asia region grew by 36% and Greater China by 5.5% during the third quarter. Southeast Asia-Pacific declined 3.8% and Americas-Europe by 2.1%. Currently, 50% of USANA’s business comes from China.

“The third quarter was an exciting quarter for USANA. In addition to achieving record quarterly sales, we celebrated our 25th anniversary,” said CEO Kevin Guest.

During the quarter, USANA announced the introduction of a new skin care line, under Celavive brand, having seen a drop in skin care’s share in total sales. The expectation is to bring skin care’s 6% share to 10% by the end of 2018. USANA said it would discontinue Sense, its current skin care line. So, Celavive line is expected to be generating more than $100 million per year.

Management updated its net sales outlook for 2017 as $1.030 billion that is the top end of the company’s previously issued guidance of $1.015 billion.

USANA plans to continue expanding into Europe by by opening four new markets in 2018: Germany, Spain, Italy and Romania. CEO Guest said, USANA had allowed a customer base to grow in those markets that already reached several thousand customers in those countries.

For more on USANA’s 3Q growth performance, please click here and here.

These companies’ 2017 past reviews are at First Quarter and Second Quarter, if you wish have a look at.

Next week, we will be reviewing these seven companies’ look from a cost and profit perspective. We will also look into how the investors have been responding to their figures on the stock exchanges.

…..

Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a consulting firm in Canada specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. He is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication. He is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. Hakki was the first corporate professional in the Turkish network marketing industry. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals in Turkey and in Canada. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post Third Quarter in 7 Companies’ Sales Figures appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

AVON

Following the less-than-satisfactory results in the first quarter, there were hopes the second quarter would be better for Avon. This did not happen, though.

Company’s revenue decreased on a year-over-year basis by roughly 3%. There was a 3% decline in the number of representatives, too.

South Latin America reported 4% sales increase during the quarter. There were negative figures in all others: North Latin America -5%, EMEA -6%, and Asia Pacific -7%.

At the markets level, Russia and Brazil each grew by 7%. Mexico’s revenue was down 9%, Philippines’ 10%, and the UK’s was down 20%. In the UK, both the active representatives and the average order declined.

During the earnings call, management stated three reasons behind the poor performance in the second quarter: 1) Issues faced in the segmentation of Avon’s color cosmetics portfolio, 2) Dissatisfaction caused among reps in Mexico due to not being able to meet the increased demand, 3) Disruption in some markets, the U.K. being on top of the list.

Avon’s CEO Sheri McCoy said, “While we anticipated some challenges, second quarter performance fell below our expectations.” Following this last quarter, it was officially announced that McCoy would step down from the CEO role and also from the Board at the end of March 2018.

Sheri McCoy was appointed in April 2012 as Avon’s CEO. Since then, Avon has not been able to report an annual sales increase. It seems 2017 will be just another one. The same month McCoy was appointed, cosmetics giant Coty made an offer to acquire Avon for $10.7 billion . Then, Coty withdrew its offer saying it had taken too long for Avon respond. At the time Avon shares were valued at around $24, and now it is less than $3!

From a market capitalization perspective, Avon is now worth about 1/5 of Herbalife, and about 1/2.5 of each of Nu Skin and Tupperware.

For more on Avon’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife’s second quarter 2017 net sales of $1.1 billion meant a decline of 5% compared to the second quarter 2016.

In this last quarter, among the six regions of Herbalife, only EMEA could report a sales increase (+3%). The others’ performances were: China 0%, Asia-Pacific 0%, Mexico -3%, South and Central America -8%, and North America -18%. As far as the individual markets are concerned, Herbalife management expressed their disappointments especially with the U.S., Mexico and China. The decline in the U.S., Herbalife said, was  a result of short-term trends from behavior, pattern adjustments due to the FTC implementation, and was believed to be transitionary in nature.

Referring to the changes imposed to the company by the FTC, CEO Rich Goudis stated, “With the successful implementation of tracking consumer retail transactions in the U.S., we are now entering into a new chapter for the company. Through technology innovations, and changes in our marketing plan here in the U.S., we are now collecting millions of customer receipts each month… With much of the transition behind us, we can now pivot back to an acute focus on growth.”

Herbalife said, over the past three months, it had captured approximately 9 million receipts in the U.S. It announced a new partnership with Salesforce, the world’s leading customer relationship management platform. Salesforce is expected to help Herbalife distributors leverage the information collected to create a more effective working environment.

The company also announced the promotion of Dave Pezzullo to Chief Operating Officer role. Dave has been serving most recently, as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations. Together with this came announcement of the creation of a new position reporting to the COO, the “Chief Innovation and Needs Officer”, that will be filled by Senior Vice President Chris Morris.

Herbalife expects to close the year with a sales growth of between -3% and +2%.

For more on Herbalife’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

NATURA

Natura reported its quarterly sales was on par with last year second quarter’s (BRL 2b, approx. USD 648m). This result pulled down company’s first quarter sales growth of 2.3% to 1% at the end of first half-2017.

Natura’s global second quarter performance was basically impacted by the poorer performance in Brazil, its largest market. Natura’s second quarter sales in Brazil was down 2.3% whereas its international operations’ was up 4.9%. At the end of the last quarter, Brazil accounted for 67% of the global sales. Three years ago this time in 2014, this figure was 82%.

At the end of Q2, Natura had 1.8 million consultants on the field of which 1.2 million were in Brazil, and 0.6 million in other markets.

Natura reported it had been working to transform the business model in Brazil, and had started implementation of what is called “Relationship Sales.” This new model includes: 1) Introduction of Business Leaders to replace Natura Consultant Advisors with more entrepreneurial focus, 2) New income opportunities, and 3) Communication and promotion campaigns.

Along with the field network, Natura has also been using e-commerce and the retail channel. Management said “Rede Natura”, company’s online sales platform, posted strong triple-digit growth at the end of the second quarter. This channel has reached a consumer base of 1.9 million in Brazil. The retail channel on the other hand, ended the quarter with 15 exclusive Natura-owned stores in shopping malls in Sao Paulo (10) and Rio de Janeiro (5).

In June this year, Natura first made an offer and then, signed an agreement to acquire The Body Shop for EUR 1 billion from L’Oreal. This acquisition is subject to approval by the authorities and that is expected to happen in the coming months.

For more on Natura’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

NU SKIN

Nu Skin’s second quarter sales was down more than 8%. Adding this performance to the one in the first quarter (+5.7%), Nu Skin closed the first half of the year with -2% revenue growth.

From a regional perspective, Americas reported 13.6% and EMEA 1.3% sales increase during the quarter. The rest of the regions posted negative figures: Mainland China -6.6%, South Korea -6.6%, Japan -11.1%, Hong Kong/Taiwan -17.8%, and South Asia/Pacific -26.4%.

Nu Skin’s business has been predominantly generated in the Asia and Pacific countries. As of mid-year 2017, the total volume in these countries makes up 80% of the global volume. Americas account for 13% and EMEA for 7%.

Since this Q2 performance was at the high end of its outlook of $530 to $550 million, management was satisfied with the results. CEO Ritch Wood said, “We believe our second-quarter results provide momentum we can build on as we prepare to introduce several new products and significant business initiatives in the fourth quarter.”

Nu Skin management reiterated its annual revenue guidance of $2.26 to $2.30 billion for 2017.

For more on Nu Skin’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

TUPPERWARE

Although at a slower pace than it achieved in the first quarter (5.5%), Tupperware managed to increase its global sales in the second quarter, too (1.4%).

Tupperware’s shining markets in terms of quarterly sales growth were: South Africa (+60%), China (+37%), Brazil (+32%), and Argentina (+21%). On a regional basis, South America was the most successful. Sales growth in South America in the second was +31% and its performance in the first two quarters combined was +36%.

Those markets that came up with the poorest results were: Indonesia (-38%) and France (-20%).  Having been Tupperware’s biggest market, the second quarter in Indonesia definitely is not something the management would have hoped for. However, management was also very disappointed with the performance in France, saying, “After nearly a decade of solid top and bottom-line growth, France has literally stalled out the last two years… the sales force size and demonstration capabilities have really slipped, and we began to rely a little bit too much on promotions, and this has impacted both sales and margins… In the last few months, we’ve made some important management changes in France.”

For several years, Tupperware Group management has been trying to find a way to reverse the negative trend at its cosmetics branch, Beauticontrol. Having come up with another 28% sales decrease in the last quarter, Tupperware reported it had decided to wind down this business. This decision is expected to bring a cost of $100-110 million to Tupperware. During the investors’ call, CEO Rick Goings clearly mentioned they had no intentions to close down company’s other cosmetics businesses namely, Fuller Mexico, Avroy Shlain and Nutrimetics.

Following the second quarter, Rick Goings said, “Strategically, we continue to move forward with our business transformation plans in key markets and other than for the Beauticontrol wind down, have not changed our expectations with regard to local currency sales growth in the second half of 2017.”

For the third quarter of 2017, Tupperware expects a 2-4% sales increase. Company’s year-end expectation is 3-4% growth. If this happens, Tupperware will be reporting a positive growth figure for the first time since 2013.

For more on Tupperware’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

USANA

USANA reported last quarter, a slight decrease in sales on a year-over-year basis ($257m vs $259m). Following this, USANA’s mid-year net sales growth is still ahead of last year’s.

From a regional perspective, sales increased 23.9% in North Asia, increased by 3.7% in Greater China, decreased by 4.8% in the Southeast Asia Pacific, and decreased by 10.2% in the Americas and Europe region.

USANA said the U.S. had been continuing to be a challenging market for the company and they were working on a variety of initiatives to change the trend in he U.S. But this last quarter, USANA also saw customer declines in Mexico and Canada, two markets that the company said, had generated consistent customer growth for the company in the past.

“The Americas and Europe region continues to present a challenge for USANA, notwithstanding our team’s continued efforts to generate growth. Our strategies for this region in the short-term include market-specific promotions during the back half of the year, as well as other initiatives to generate momentum that will be announced in August at our 25th Anniversary International Convention,” CEO Kevin Guest commented. USANA’s Americas and Europe region currently accounts for 23% of company’s global volume.

In February 2017, USANA disclosed it was voluntarily conducting an internal investigation of its China operations, BabyCare. The investigation focused on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and on certain conducts and policies at BabyCare. USANA said it could not predict the duration or result of this investigation.

USANA management updated its 2017 net sales expectation after the second quarter, increasing it to between  $1.015-1.030 billion (previously $1.04-$1.07 billion).

For more on USANA’s Q2 performance please click here and here.

With this analysis, we covered how six of the largest direct selling companies have been doing so far in 2017. We will be closely watching them in the second half, too.

…..

Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a consulting firm specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. He is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication. He is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. Hakki was the first corporate professional in the Turkish network marketing industry. His work experiences in direct selling include Country and Regional Manager roles at various multinationals in Turkey and in Canada. You can contact Hakki here.

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The post Mid-Year Sales Performances of Six Public Direct Sellers appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

Before going into the details of individual companies, few observations on the above table:

 * Over the last five-year period, Natura (42%), Herbalife (30%), and Nu Skin (27%) succeded to grow. Tupperware (-14%), Oriflame (-16%) and Avon (-38%) had declining sales.

* Avon reported negative growth in each of the last five years. Nu Skin’s and Tupperware’s sales have been decreasing in the last three years.

* Oriflame announced a revenue increase in 2016 for the first time in five years.

AVON

Avon’s last quarter revenue decreased by 2% to $1.6 billion, and 2016 revenue by 7% to $5.7 billion. This result marked the 21st straight quarter of revenue declines.

For the year-end result, all of Avon’s regions contributed to this global 7% decline: Asia-Pacific -11%, North Latin America -8%, South Latin America -7%, and EMEA -4%.

On the markets level, while Brazil was a shining star with a 27% sales increase in the last quarter, UK (-20%) and Mexico (-14%) were major disappointments.

CEO Sheri McCoy said, “Let me begin by saying that I am disappointed with our fourth order results… It is clear that we have more work to do on our multi-year transformation journey to improve consistency of performance, particularly in a handful of markets. For the quarter, both our constant currency revenue and our active representative growth came in below expectations.”

In fact, Avon’s active representitives in the last quarter of 2016 was down 2% as compared to the same quarter of 2015. And the major loss came from its Asia Pacific region (-9%).  The management highlighted the Active Rep declines in Malaysia, Colombia, Turkey and Italy.

As the company moves into 2017, the five key areas of focus and investment were listed during the Earnings Call as:

* Strengthening the Avon brand
* Introducing innovative products
* Pricing discipline
* Improving representative engagement
* Evolving the service model

Management also said  they would work to improve the top 15 markets through more resources and focus which represent approximately 80% of Avon’s revenue.

For more on Avon’s 2016 performance please click here and here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife closed the last quarter of 2016 with $1.045 billion sales. This was 5% less than the previous year’s last quarter. And for the whole year of 2016, Herbalife’s revenue performance was slightly better than 2015 (+0.3%).

On the regional level, China reported the worst quarterly sales (-12%). The others’ were not so bright, as well: South & Central America -11%, Mexico -8%, Asia Pacific -3%, North America -1. The only positive figure was from EMEA (+2%).

Herbalife management also announced an agreement in principle to form a joint venture with Tasly Holding Group, a leading health products and services company based in China. The joint venture will develop and commercialize high-quality consumer health products based on Tasly’s deep portfolio of proprietary formulations, patents, know-hows, and clinical studies.

CEO Michael O. Johnson said, “I’m happy to say that we accomplished a lot in 2016 and I feel we are laying important ground work for the next 10 years at Herbalife Nutrition. That said, there are some key markets where we have work to do.” In a few months’ time in June, current COO Richard Goudis will take over as CEO of Herbalife. Michael O. Johnson will be company’s Executive Chairman.

During the Earnings Call following the 4Q report, COO Richard Goudis explained how they would comply with the FTC-imposed regulations. According to this, the rewards in the U.S. will be based on the final sales to end consumers as opposed to the initial sale from the company to a distributor. This will start in May. If the total of these sales meets or exceeds 80% of the total U.S. retail sales, then Herbalife will be able to pay out additional compensation on these sales. If such sales are below 80% of the U.S. retail sales, then the payout on documented sales will be capped at 10% above the total documented sales value. Richard Goudis added that this 80% was not a compliance requirement, but a threshold that if passed would allow Herbalife to pay out higher rewards for retail sales.

For 2017, Herbalife expects 0.3 to 3.3% net sales increase.

For more on Herbalife’s 2016 performance please click here and here.

NATURA

Natura closed the year with almost the same sales figure as last year’s. There was only a 0.2% growth. The company realized 68% of its annual revenue in its home country, Brazil. Of the six public companies reviewed here, Natura had the highest sales growth in the last five-year period (41%). Natura is also the only one that managed to grow in each of the five year, although its 2016 figure was the worst of the five.

The management announced “Rede Natura”, Natura’s online business unit had doubled its sales compared to 2015, ending the year with R$ 106.7 million and registering 93,000 Digital Natura Consultants and 1.5 million consumers.

Natura’s retail strategy also progressed during 2016 by launching five exclusive stores in shopping centers in the city of Sao Paulo. Natura said all of them have performed better than expected.

However, these developments do not mean Natura’s leaving the direct selling channel aside. The company’s focus in 2017 will be to “revitalize direct selling”. Natura is launching a new value proposition for the consultants to further develop them professionally, and modernize the way they work and increase their income.

During the last quarter of 2016, Natura Board announced that CEO Roberto Lima had resigned, after being for two years in the office. The new CEO would be Joao Paulo Ferreira. Ferreria has been with Natura since 2009 and his last position was the Vice President.

For more on Natura’s 2016 performance please click here and here.

Next week, we will look into Nu Skin, Oriflame, Tupperware and Amway’s figures.

…..

Hakki Ozmorali is the Principal of WDS Consultancy, a consulting firm specialized in providing services to direct selling firms. He is also the publisher of The World of Direct Selling, global industry’s leading weekly online publication. He is an experienced professional with a strong background in direct sales. Hakki was the first corporate professional in the Turkish network marketing industry. His work experiences in direct selling include Country Manager roles at Oriflame, Herbalife and LR Health & Beauty Systems, and Regional Director, North America role at Lifestyles Global Networks.






 
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The post 2016 Growth Performances of Companies – 1 appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

The below table shows us that four companies have been doing better than last year. Avon and Tupperware on the other hand, generated less sales in Dollar terms as compared to 2015.

AVON

Avon’s sales in the third quarter was $1.4 billion, representing a 2% decline on year-over-year basis. Active representatives were relatively unchanged, and average order increased 4%

Among Avon’s four operational regions, only South Latin America reported a sales growth (2%). The other three regions’ performances were not so good: Asia-Pacific -9%, North Latin America -6%, and  Europe, Middle East & Africa -4%. South Latin America’s positive result is important for Avon as this is company’s largest geographical region, accounting for more than 40% of its global revenue. Within this region, Brazil achieved a 14% sales increase in the third quarter.

Having been disappointed with the performances of the Asia Pacific region, Avon placed it under the management of John Higson, who had been leading other geographic segments. Asia Pacific is currently Avon’s smallest segment but the management says it believes it has “strong potential over time”.

Commenting on the third quarter results, CEO Sheri McCoy said, “I’m pleased with Avon’s third quarter results, as they were generally consistent with our expectations. Similar to last quarter, our performance improvements were broad-based, with 8 of our top 10 markets growing in local currency, with particularly strong performance from Brazil and Mexico.”

With these results, Avon’s nine-month sales figure is 9% below last year’s.

As we all know by now, Avon is in the process of moving its global headquarters from New York to London, U.K. It has been announced that a small corporate office was opened in West London. Also, the relocation of U.S.-based Avon employees from the Manhattan building to Rye and Suffern, New York was completed.

For more on Avon’s Q3 performance, please click here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife’s third quarter revenue of $1.1 billion was 2% higher than last year’s same period. EMEA contributed to this performance with a 11% growth, and North America with 10%. The worst performance came from South and Central America: -12%. Herbalife’s new members in the U.S. grew 7% in this last quarter versus last year. The management said this was extremely positive being a testament to the dedication of the distributors in the U.S. and their confidence in their ability to thrive under the FTC settlement announced in July.

Herbalife’s revenue performance after nine months is also +2% on a year-over-year basis.

Herbalife CEO Michael Johnson was satisfied with his company’s results:  “Quarter three was another strong quarter… Reported net sales grew 2% to $1.1 billion, it’s our third consecutive quarter of positive year-on-year reported net sales growth despite the challenging currency environment.”

An important news that was released from the Herbalife headquarters following the third quarter was about the CEO transition. Herbalife’s iconic CEO Johnson was leaving his post after 13 years, to Richard P. Goudis, company’s current Chief Operating Officer, effective June 2017. Michael Johnson would continue serving as the Executive Chairman. The management said they had been planning this process of transition over the past several years and had outlined a seamless transition plan.

For the whole year of 2016, Herbalife expects a sales increase between 1 to 2% as compared to 2015.

For more on Herbalife’s Q3 performance, please click here.

NATURA

Natura reported 5% sales decline in the last quarter. Natura owes the majority of its revenue to Brazil and the contraction here was even worse: -7% Despite this, Natura’s performance in the first three quarters combined, is still slightly better than 2015: +1%.

The management attributed the situation in Brazil to consumers’ intensified search for products with lower prices, especially in fragrances, body and face care, which are more sensitive to disposable income and account for about 60% of Natura’s revenue.

With the poor performance in its core market Brazil, and with the better results in its other markets at the same time, the share of Brazil market has been continuously diminishing. The shares are now: Brazil 72%, other markets 28%.

As of end-Q3, Natura had 1.8 million consultants on the field. 1.3 million of them were in Brazil and 500,000 in its international markets.

With regard to the development of new channels, company said its SOU line is already in 1,334 stores in the drugstore with positive results. Natura intends to expand its presence through this channel in 2017 as well. There are also four Natura-owned stores now again, with promising results. Natura Network, the online channel, continues to post double-digit sales growth and has currently 82,000 digital franchisees (was 54,000 in 3Q15).

In October 2016, Natura appointed a new CEO, Joao Paulo Ferreira. Ferreria has been with Natura since 2009 and his last position was the Vice President.

We have published an extensive review of Natura very recently. You might want to take a look here.

For more on Natura’s Q3 performance, please click here.

NU SKIN

Nu Skin’s third quarter global sales was $604 million, a 6% improvement over last year’s same period. Nu Skin’s North Asia region contributed with 24% growth, China with 15%, EMEA 5%, and Americas 1%. The only region that posted negative performance was  South Asia/Pacific (-35%). As more than 70% of Nu Skin’s revenue is being generated in North Asia and China, the results from these two regions obviously had a strong positive impact.

Nu Skin’s nine-month performance on the other hand, is no better than last year’s. 

“We are pleased that we exceeded guidance and posted year-over-year growth during the quarter,” commented Truman Hunt, company CEO.

During the investors’ call, Truman Hunt said they launched an air purifier in China, designed specifically for this market. The product is about $1,000 and the company expects to generate $15 million in sales in the last quarter in China from this product.

Nu Skin expects to close the year with $2.23 to $2.25 billion revenue, which is almost the same as its 2015 figure.

For more on Nu Skin’s Q3 performance, please click here.

ORIFLAME

Following the 3% revenue increase in the second quarter, Oriflame reported another 6% growth. Company’s third quarter sales was €279 million (approx. USD 260 million). Growth on the field was not that good, though. The number of its active consultants decreased by 5% to 2.6m.

Sales growth in this quarter came from Asia & Turkey (26%) and Latin America (16%) regions. Europe & Africa contracted by 1% and CIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine) region by 13%.

CEO Magnus Brannstrom commented, “We are pleased to report yet another quarter of Euro and local currency growth with healthy improvements in profitability. The strong performance in Asia & Turkey and Latin America continued, while in the CIS the focus remains on returning to sustainable growth and improving margins.”

As of end-Q3 2016, Oriflame’s year-over-year revenue performance has been 2.5% above last year’s. However, the most recent news coming from the field was not good for Oriflame. Sales increase has considerably slowed down in Q4. It has so far been 7% in local currency, about half of what has been since the beginning of the year. This led to a fall in Oriflame’s shares by 15%, the biggest drop ever.

During the quarter, Oriflame entered a long term partnership with IBM to outsource its IT and financial operational services. Oriflame management expects this partnership to bring new levels of customer focus, productivity and automation to company’s technology and internal processes, covering the entire Oriflame group. The full implementation is planned to happen by the end of 2017 and is expected to provide Oriflame with annual savings of approximately €3 million.

For more on Oriflame’s Q3 performance, please click here.

TUPPERWARE

Tupperware reported $522 million sales last quarter which was the same quarterly figure of 2015 ($521 million). Tupperware’s nine-month sales performance is 5% worse than last year’s.

On the segment side, South America region reported 30% growth last quarter; Brazil shines with a 52% sales increase there. There was also a 30% increase in active sellers in Brazil. Tupperware North America posted 4% growth. The U.S. and Canada had 6% growth, whereas sales in Mexico was down 2%. The negative impacts came from Beauty North America (-19%), Europe (-10%) and Asia-Pacific (-1%) units.

Although not a very big business segment (has about 10% share), “Beauty North America” is still a headache to Tupperware. BeautiControl sales was down 24% and Fuller Mexico was down 18%.

CEO Rick Goings said during the investors’ call, “I don’t feel good about what we are seeing in BeautiControl. This just continues to be such a drag on our business. With lower productivity, the strategy has been to focus on skin care, which is the right thing to do, because consumers are more dedicated to their skin care brand than they are to cosmetics, particularly color. But it can hurt short-term productivity, and that’s what really caused it… In the third quarter, we named Rick Heath who really knows the business as Managing Director of BeautiControl… He’s been at BeautiControl before we sent him off on assignments around the world. So he has the credibility with the sales organization and to engage our career leaders.”

For the whole year of 2016, Tupperware expects 1% growth in global sales over 2015.

Segment expectations for this year are: South America up 16-17%, Tupperware North America up 2%, Asia-Pacific down 1%, Europe down 8%, and Beauty North America down 20%.

For more on Tupperware’s Q3 performance, please click here.

….

Like I said in the beginning, we have less than two months to go. Let’s see how these giants will close the year.

The post The Third Quarter in Numbers appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

The new CEO Sheri McCoy who was quite optimistic when she took over in February 2012 would say one year later, “…driving improvement has been more challenging and has taken longer than I had anticipated,” during an earnings call with the investors. All signs showed that the situation was worse than many had thought.

In December last year, Avon took a major step by selling its problematic North American unit to Cerberus Capital, a private investment firm. This move was part of a major three-year transformation plan. After this $605-million transaction, Avon North America became a separate entity of which Cerberus owned 80% and Avon 20%. Cerberus paid $170 million for this 80% stake. With the remaining $435 million, Cerberus owned 16.6% of Avon Inc. and had 3 seats on Avon’s Board. Along with this, Avon also announced it would relocate its headquarters from the U.S. to the U.K.

So for Avon, the year 2016 started with one less big problem and with quite a good amount of cash in its pocket.

The First Quarter

Even without its declining North America unit, Avon was not able to post growth in the first three months: -16%

Sales decline occurred in company’s all regions: South Latin America -28%, Asia Pacific -17%, North Latin America -11%, and Europe, Middle East & Africa -2%.

Avon lost blood on the field as well. Active sale force went down by 1% globally as compared to the same period of last year. The highest negative figure was from Asia Pacific: -10%. Asia Pacific region roughly accounted for 10% of Avon’s global business.

On the profit side however, there were good signs. Although modestly, Avon was operationally profitable in this quarter: +0.6%.

After quarters of disappointments, Avon management was happy with the first quarter. erformances from Avon’s top 10 markets which represented about 70% of its revenue were pleasing for them.

CEO Sheri McCoy said, “Generally, I’m pleased with the underlying performance of the company in the first quarter and looking forward, I’m confident that we will continue to deliver improved performance.”

The Second Quarter

Avon’s second quarter sales also declined but by a less percent this time: 8%. Its active representatives were up 1%, and ending representatives up 2% in this quarter.

Once again, sales decline occurred in all regions of Avon: South Latin America -12%, Asia Pacific -10%, North Latin America -5%, and Europe, Middle East & Africa -2%.

Company’s operating profit was $95 million, 6% more than its 2015 Q2 performance. The first two quarters combined, Avon reported $103 million operating income and this was 81% higher than what it was in the first half of last year.

The company brought in 7 cents per share for the second-quarter, versus 2 cents expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters

CEO McCoy was commenting, “Our second quarter results came in slightly above our expectations, driven by operating performance that was better than anticipated.”

As far as the major transformation plan is concerned, management says they are on track in execution of the $70 million cost savings that they had committed to for 2016.

The Rest of 2016 

The investors reacted quite positively to Avon’s second quarter results. With the  announcement of the figures, Avon shares rose from $4.16 to $5.1. The closing figure of last Friday was $5.43! To remind, an Avon share had closed the year 2015 at $4.05 and in January 2016, it went down to as low as $2.2. You can see the trend in 2016 on the graph to the right:

During the earnings call following the second quarter, Avon’s COO and CFO James S. Scully listed company’s 2016 priorities as:

* Continue to drive improved overall performance in top 10 markets.
* Deliver 1% to 2% active representative growth
* Continue to improve the ending representative trend
* Evolve the service model
* Invest in the brand with “Avon’s Beauty for a Purpose” positioning
* Continue on the path to build the business in China while evaluating strategic alternatives
* Transition of IT infrastructure to HPE for all markets
* Enhance pricing discipline within the top 10 markets.
* Deliver $70 million in cost savings in 2016
* Continue to improve the balance sheet

An overwhelming to-do list, isn’t it? Anyhow, after years full of attempts with no major positive results, it seems things are reversing for Avon this year.

The post Avon’s First Six Months in 2016 and Beyond appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

Having received the second quarter reports, we now have the opportunity to review companies’ growth figures as of mid-2016. This brief analysis will focus on world’s five largest public direct selling companies, Avon, Herbalife, Natura, Nu Skin, and Tupperware, in alphabetical order.

AVON

Avon’s second quarter sales declined 8% to $1.4 billion. Company’s first six months sales growth was -13%.

Once again, sales decline occurred in all regions of Avon: South Latin America -12%, Asia Pacific -10%, North Latin America -5%, and Europe, Middle East & Africa -2%.

When commenting on the results, CEO Sheri McCoy said, “Our second quarter results came in slightly above our expectations, driven by operating performance that was better than anticipated. We also saw some modest easing in foreign currency pressure. Importantly, our performance improvements were broad-base with nine of our top 10 markets”. McCoy added during the earnings call that they had delivered good growth in constant currency in EMEA, South Latin America and North Latin America.

Management announced that the transition of the corporate headquarters from New York to the UK remained on track. The new headquarters in the UK is planned to be operational by the first quarter of 2017. As a part of this plan, Sheri McCoy will relocate her office to the UK.

For more on Avon’s Q2 performance, please click here and here.

HERBALIFE

Herbalife reported 3% quarterly revenue increase achieving $1.2 billion. As shown on the table, North America and EMEA made signficant contributions in the second quarter. Q1 and Q2 combined, Herbalife’s sales is over $2.3 billion, representing a 2% growth over prior year.

The management said they sold more products in the second quarter than any quarter in Herbalife history. Approximately 80% of Herbalife’s markets reported an increase in volume points. Herbalife also announced a 3% increase in its active sales leaders.

CEO Michael O. Johnson said, “This is a fantastic and historic quarter for Herbalife. Our momentum and performance reflects the strength of our distributors’ businesses. And with the regulatory settlement behind us, we’ve never ever been more focused,”.

For more on Herbalife’s Q2 performance, please click here and here.

NATURA

Brazil’s cosmetics giant Natura achieved a sales increase of 5% in the last quarter and 4% in the first six months of the year, over the same periods of 2015. The management was happy to announce that in Brazil, despite the still-challenging scenario, company’s revenue advanced 1.2% from 2Q of 2015, reversing the negative trend observed in the last six quarters.

For a while, Natura has been working on positioning itself as an “omni-channel company”, as opposed to being only in the direct sales business. Within this context, its SOU line in the drugstore channel is present in over 1,200 stores. Natura opened its first owned store in April 2016 in Sao Paulo City, and the second store is to be opened in August 2016. Rede Natura, Natura’s online channel posted double-digit revenue growth, and now has 70,000 “digital franchisees” (was 32,000 in 2Q, 2015) and 950,000 registered consumers.

Currently, Brazil accounts for 67.5% of Natura’s revenue, and all other units for 33.5%.

For more on Natura’s Q2 performance, please click here and here.

NU SKIN

Nu Skin reported 7% sales growth in the second quarter. The $600 million figure achieved was above company’s guidance. Despite this, the first half performance is still 3% below prior year same period’s.

The quarterly growth figures of Nu Skin’s five regions were as follows: South Asia/Pacific 36%, Greater China 18%, EMEA 6%, North Asia -4%, and Americas -19%.

China is the largest region of Nu Skin’s, with a 37% share. With its increasing importance, management announced they would be launching products specific to this market. As an example, this fall, Nu Skin will introduce an air filter for home use in Mainland China.

“We are pleased with our results this quarter and are raising our revenue guidance for the year to $2.20 to $2.24 billion,” said Ritch Wood, CFO. If this happens, Nu Skin will reach its 2015 revenue, but will still be far from its record figure in 2013 ($3.2 billion).

For more on Nu Skin’s Q2 performance, please click here and here.

TUPPERWARE

Following a 10% decline in Dollar sales in the first quarter, Tupperware’s second quarter revenue was down 4% as well. With these, company’s sales in the first half of 2016 is 7% less than what it was in 2015 this time.

The highest sales decline came from Tupperware’s beauty unit in North America: -19%. This was followed by European region with -13%.

CEO Rick Goings said Tupperware U.S. and Canada reported 1% sales increase in the last quarter. He continued, saying, “This was the first full quarter of the new compensation plan change in the U.S. And as we said in April, this is really the reason behind this. It is to incent more career-oriented behaviors, and so it requires continued growth and recruiting from our sales leaders”.

Tupperware reported its total force had increased by 5% at the end of Q2, exceeding 3.1 million, but there was a 2% decrease in its active sales force. Here again, the biggest loss came from Beauty North America: -10.3%.

The region Tupperware was especially happy with in the second quarter was South America. Sales in this region was up 8%, with Brazil recording an impressive 22% growth.

For the whole year of 2016, Tupperware management expects to achieve a global sales decline between 1-2% as compared to 2015. Sales are expected to be down 8-9% in Europe, up 1-2% in Asia Pacific, even in Tupperware North America, down 16-17% in Beauty North America and up in South America by 14-15%.

For more on Tupperware’s Q2 performance, please click here and here.

….

Let’s see how the rest of the year will show us.

The post Giants’ Growth Performances at Mid-Year appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

Following the end of the first quarter, the time has come to briefly review the performances of the largest direct sellers. Normally, this analysis has been covering Avon, Herbalife, Natura, Nu Skin, Oriflame and Tupperware. However, Oriflame’s report would come after mid-May so I have decided skip it this time.

Again, the focus in this review will be on these companies’ revenue growth performances. As you see below, Herbalife and Natura posted positive figures whereas Avon, Nu Skin and Tupperware’s growth figures were negative.

Avon

This was Avon’s first quarter after selling the North America business unit to Cerberus Capital. Even without this declining unit, Avon was not able to post growth. Although the company’s revenue performance was +2% in constant Dollars, it was down 16% in Dollars.

Sales decline occurred in all regions of Avon: South Latin America -28%, Asia Pacific -17%, North Latin America -11%, and Europe, Middle East & Africa -2%.

Avon lost on the field as well, its active sale force shrinking by 1% globally as compared to the same period of last year. The highest negative figure was from Asia Pacific in this: -10%. Asia Pacific region roughly accounts for 10% of Avon’s business.

During the earnings call, CEO Sheri McCoy said, “With the North America separation now complete, our organization is fully focused on executing against the transformation plan for our core business which has three components: driving costs out of the business; investing for growth; and improving our financial resilience.”

Avon previously has announced it would move its headquarters from the U.S. to the U.K. As a part of this plan, some of Avon’s employees will have to move to Sweden, and some to Poland and Brazil. Sheri McCoy said they were dispersing the staff in their New York office so a smaller number would actually move to the U.K.

For more on Avon’s first quarter performance, please click here.

Herbalife

Herbalife came up with a positive growth figure this time: 1% increase in sales as reported and 11% on constant currency basis, compared to the prior year period. This was the first rise after five quarters of decline.

The highest percentage contribution was from China region: 32%. It was followed by North America (9%), and EMEA (6%). Mexico (-11%) and South & Central America (-21%) reported declining sales. Over 20 of Herbalife’s markets had record quarterly volumes, as reported.

CEO Michael O. Johnson was happy with the results, saying, “We’re pleased to report a strong first quarter and a really good start to the year, carrying over the positive momentum we reported in the first quarter of 2015. We’re encouraged by the business performance.”

Herbalife said it expected between 0 to 3% sales increase in the second quarter, and a 1.5 to 4.5% increase for the whole year of 2016.

Herbalife has lately announced its talks with the Federal Trade Commission came to an “advanced stage”. FTC’s investigations were over whether it was operating as a pyramid scheme. The company’s expectation is that the settlement will include a payment of $200 million.

For more on Herbalife’s first quarter performance, please click here.

Natura

Brazilian cosmetics giant Natura’s quarterly revenue increase was 3%. Natura’s international operations maintained their robust results and posted a net revenue growth of 42% on year-over-year basis. With this, international markets now account for 34% of company’s total revenue (was 24% in Q1 of 2015).

Natura’s core market Brazil was again, a disappointment. Sales in this market decreased by 10% last quarter. Management blames Brazil’s “recessive scenario” for this. Natura’s share in this market was 11% as of end-2015 and was the second largest cosmetics brand.

As a part of company’s strategy to go “multi-channel”, Natura opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

For more on Natura’s first quarter performance, please click here.

Nu Skin

Nu Skin reported $471.8 million sales in the first quarter, compared to $543.3 million in the prior-year period. This represented a 13% decline but management was happy with this result as company’s first quarter revenue was at the top-end of their guidance. Management said the negative impact of foreign exchange fluctuations was 5%.

Nu Skin’s field force also decreased in the first quarter. The decline in the number of “Actives” was 7%.

All five regions of Nu Skin reported decreases in sales: Americas 18%, Greater China 15%, North Asia 12%, South Asia/Pacific 10%, and EMEA 2%.

CFO Ritch Wood said, they expected a constant-currency revenue growth of 6-8% in the second quarter and raised the revenue guidance for the year to $2.16- $2.20 billion. This target is close to $2.247 billion that the company made last year but still considerably lower than its 2013 performance when Nu Skin’s sales peaked at $3.2 billion.

“As we’ve stated in the past, revenue growth in 2016 hinges largely on the success of these two product launches. Our management teams have been working hard to prepare for these launch events, and it take place primarily in the second and the fourth quarters of the year,” commented CEO Truman Hunt.

When asked about the direct selling industry in China, Truman Hunt said he expected China should surpass the U.S. in market size this year as direct selling has being going quite well in China following new regulations. He said Nu Skin was the 9^th or 10^th largest direct seller in China.

For more on Nu Skin’s first quarter performance, please click here.

Tupperware

Tupperware’s sales was down 10% in US dollars, up 1% in local currency. While there was a 4% increase in the total sales force, active sales force declined by 2%. Tupperware’s North America unit posted a significant growth on the field last quarter: 8% in total and 10% in active sales force.

CEO Rick Goings stressed the strong performances in Argentina, Brazil, China, Tupperware Mexico and Tupperware U.S. and Canada. Tupperware U.S. and Canada sales was up 9%. Management said last year’s compensation plan change in Canada had helped.

Along with these, Tupperware’s two businesses in South Africa also posted impressive results in the first quarter: Tupperware South Africa sales was up 18% and Avroy Shlain was up 13%.

Revenue in company’s largest market Indonesia decreased by 8%. Mike Poteshman said, they expected to do better in Indonesia in the second quarter, but they had not given an outlook for the full year in this market. Tupperware achieved the most disappointing performance in Egypt and the Middle East with-67%.

For the whole year, Tupperware expects its USD sales growth will between -2% to 0% as compared to 2015.

For more on Tupperware’s first quarter performance, please click here.

The post The First Quarter in Giants’ Figures appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

This week and the next one, we will take a look at six largest public direct sellers’ profitability performances. This two-part review will focus on last three years’ figures to be able to give a better comparative picture. The first part will cover Avon, Herbalife and Brazil’s cosmetics giant, Natura.

Avon
The numbers shown here for Avon do not include its North America business that was sold to Cerberus Capital at the end of 2015. And as Avon did not report its 2013 figures without this unit, we don’t have them in this review.

The table shows a decline in both of Avon’s operating and net income in 2015. Again, this was despite the fact that company’s worse-performing North America unit was excluded.

The graph to the right shows how big a headache  North America had been for Avon. You can see the sales in North America has fallen by more than half between the 2007-2014 period.

In operating profit terms, both in 2014 and 2015, Avon’s EMEA region was the most profitable of all three. Other regions are Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

While commenting on profits, CEO Sheri McCoy said, “Our operating margin continues to suffer, primarily due to FX… the FX pressure we faced over the course of the year was extreme… which had nearly a $0.5 billion impact on adjusted operating profit in 2015 alone.”

The company announced it expected the profit comparisons still to be weak in the first half of 2016 due mainly to the “significant” foreign currency deterioration.

As it has been very recently declared, Avon is now cutting 2,500 positions worldwide and is moving its headquarters from New York to London, UK. This move was a part of company’s Three-Year Transformation Plan. The investors have reacted quite positively to Avon management’s moves lately. Avon shares’ price has been in an upward trend since the beginning of 2016.

Herbalife
In company CEO Michael O. Johnson’s words,”2014 was a record year in terms of net sales, volume and sales leader retention.” However, the situation was not as bright on the profit side. Operating profit went down to 10% from 15%, and net income to 6% from 10% as compared to previous year. The main reasons to this decline in profits were the increases in company’s a) Selling, General and Administrative Expenses (by 6 points) and b)  Interest Expense (by 1 point).

Herbalife explains the increase in Selling, General and Administrative Expenses with “$103.4 million and $98.0 million pre-tax unfavorable impact related to the remeasurement of Venezuela Bolivar-denominated assets and liabilities at the SICAD I and SICAD II rate, respectively, and $7.0 million loss on Venezuela asset impairment.”

Herbalife managed to increase its profits in 2015, despite a 10% decline in net sales. Still, company’s profitability was worse than what it was in 2013.

At the end of 2014, the price of Herbalife shares was at $38. Shares closed the year of 2015 at $54 with over 40% gain in one year.

Natura
Natura’s profitability has been in a downward trend as it can be seen from the figures. This is an interesting situation as the company has been enjoying a healthy sales increase in the same period.

From 2013 to 2014, Natura increased both its operating expenses and interest expenses at a rate higher than its sales increase. We see the same trend from 2014 to 2015, too. As a result, profit is down both in absolute terms and as a percentage of sales.

One last important observation from Natura’s figures is on its sales composition. We know Brazil is still company’s major revenue-generator. However, the graph on the right shows the fact that growth has stopped and turned to negative in Brazil and growth is now coming from Natura’s international markets. International markets account for 29% of company revenue as of end-2015. This was 19% at the end of the previous year. This situation is important as Brazil market’s profitability is higher than international markets.

Next week, we will be covering another group of three giants that are publicly owned: Nu Skin, Oriflame and Tupperware.

The post Performances From a Profitability Perspective – 1 appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

As we now have their last year’s Q4 reports, it is the time for us to take a brief look at how the giants did last year. The group we will cover consists of the six largest publicly-owned direct selling companies, plus the industry leader Amway. As you will see, these companies came with very interesting figures, to say the least.

Let’s take a look at how they have done lately. As a start, I would you to take a glance at the below table:

Few observations:

* Five of the six giants reported revenue decreases in 2015.
* Avon, Nu Skin and Tupperware posted double-digit declines last year.
* Avon, Oriflame and Tupperware has been in a downward trend in the last five years.

 Avon

Avon reported 20% decline in quarterly sales. Without the impact of foreign exchange rates Avon said, it would have increased by 3% in constant dollars. The number of units sold was down 2% as well. With this, Avon closed the year with net sales of $6.2 billion which represented 19% yearly decrease compared to 2014. Avon’s sales volume has shrunk by 30% in the last five years.

All three regions of Avon contributed to the revenue decline in Q4: Latin America (-26%), Asia Pacific (-16%), and EMEA (-13%). The drop in Latin America is important as this region accounts for about half of Avon’s revenue. Russia, South Africa and Turkey came with pleasing results from the EMEA region.

To remind, North America division is a “discontinued operation” and Avon’s figures no longer includes results from North America. Management announced anyways that they were pleased that the North American unit met the goal of being profitable for the whole year.

Beauty category accounted for 74% of Avon’s revenue in 2015. It was followed by fashion (15%) and home (11%). Beauty category is divided in itself as skin care (40%), fragrances (36%) and color (24%) in value.

“Our operating performance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year was in-line with our most recent outlook. Looking back at 2015, our key local markets drove steady improvement in overall performance. Importantly, we improved year-on-year Active Representative trends – with full-year growth of 1%,” said Sheri McCoy, CEO of Avon.

Last month, Avon announced a Transformation Plan, that included cost reductions to improve the cost structure and  to enable the company to reinvest in growth. Sheri McCoy said, “We are on track to close our partnership with Cerberus and fully engaged in executing our transformation plan.”

Avon introduced last year a new brand positioning called “Beauty for a Purpose” in all markets and it looks forward to building upon this in 2016.

Avon will begin to report against its new segments, starting from Q1 of 2016: Europe, Middle East and Africa, North Latin America, South America and Asia Pacific.

For more on Avon’s 2015 performance please click here and here.

Herbalife

Herbalife’s fourth quarter net sales was $1.1 billion, representing a decline of 3.1% compared to the prior year period. Its yearly sales figure was down 9.9%, too.

Without the negative impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, company’s total volume points grew 5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. This, as the management said, had significantly exceeded high-end of their guidance which was 1.5% growth.

Five of Herbalife’s six regions contributed to revenue decline: South and Central America (-31%), Asia-Pacific (-17%), Mexico (-14.5%), EMEA (-10.4 %), and North America (-5%). China reported 27% sales increase.

With regard to the FTC investigation, CEO Michael O. Johnson said, “The company is currently in discussions with the FTC regarding a potential resolution of these matters. Possible range of outcomes… could include monetary penalties and other relief, or the closure of these matters without action… And at the present time, the company is unable to estimate a range of potential loss, if any, relating to these matters. We cannot comment on the scope, duration or the outcome of the investigation at this time. We will provide updates when appropriate to do so.”

For 2016, Herbalife expects its net revenue to be between -0.5% and 2.5% as compared to 2015.

For more on Herbalife’s 2015 performance please click here and here.

Natura

Natura said it had conducted a comprehensive strategic review in the light of structural aspects of our market and business in 2015. Based on the findings, it defined actions focused on revitalizing the direct selling channel by:

* Streamlining the portfolio

* Concentrating investments in priority brands and projects

* Reviewing the brand position and strategy

2015 was marked by a sharp contrast between Natura’s Brazil and International Operations. In Brazil, the deterioration in the economic environment, the higher tax burden and the weaker local currency contributed to lower sales. While sales at home declined 7% on a yearly basis, the growth in the international markets was 62%.

Natura’s international markets account for 29% of revenue as of end-2015. This was 19% at the end of the previous year.

As an important step, Natura prepares to open its first retail stores in Brazil in 2016.

For more on Natura’s 2015 performance please click here.

Nu Skin

Nu Skin’s quarterly sales growth was -6% and yearly was -13%. Management said “fourth quarter results finished a bit softer than expected” and blamed the lower-than-expected LTO (Limited Time Offer) sales in Korea. Nu Skin also reported 18% decrease in its active field force on a year-over-year basis.

Company’s 2015 revenue was $2.2 billion, representing a total of 30% decline in the last two years. Nu Skin’s sales had peaked in 2013 with $3.2 billion.

All five regions of Nu Skin’s posted negative growths last quarter. The worst result came from EMEA with -20%. But as this region accounts for only 6% of company revenue, its negative impact would not be felt should the other regions had performed better.

As of year-end, China remains as Nu Skin’s top region with a 34% share in its global sales. North Asia generates 31%, Americas 15%, and South Asia-Pacific 14%.

Nu Skin announced it had planned primary product launches for the second and fourth quarters of 2016 and said growth in sales leaders and consumers would be critical to success.

Management expects a local-currency growth in the 2% range for 2016 and a 7% negative impact from the strengthening Dollar. So, the revenue forecast for 2016 is $2.10-2.15 billion

For more on Nu Skin’s 2015 performance please click here and here.

Orifame

Oriflame reported 4% decline in both its quarterly and yearly sales. Oriflame’s number of active consultants was down 7%, too. 2015 was Oriflame’s fifth consecutive year of negative growth.

CIS region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Ukraine) continued to be a headache for the company. Sales in this region decreased another 30% in the last quarter. Europe was flat, Latin America up 10%, Turkey, Africa and Asia up 28%. With the downward trend, CIS region’s contribution to Oriflame’s global volume went down to 32% at the end of 2015, from 43% in 2014. The number of active consultants in this region decreased by 21% on a year-over-year basis.

Skin care category generated 25% of Oriflame’s sales in 2015. Color cosmetics accounted for 23%, and fragrances 19%. Although growing, wellness category is still a small category of the company, producing 7% of its revenue.

Commenting on the recent re-organization, CEO Magnus Brannstrom said, “During the end of the fourth quarter we took another step towards becoming an even more agile company when we presented a new organisational set-up to further strengthen our position in a more digital world.”

For more on Oriflame’s 2015 performance please click here.

Tupperware

Tupperware’s quarterly revenue decreased by 13%. The most significant contributions to the fourth quarter growth came from Argentina, Brazil, China, and Mexico. In addition to these, Tupperware U.S. and Canada posted a 10% increase last quarter and that came from a 12% larger sales force.

With this quarterly performance, Tupperware closed the year with a sales figure that was 14% less than previous year’s. On the field on the other hand, total sales force was up 5% versus prior year at the end of the quarter, and there were 2% more active sellers in the quarter, the third consecutive quarter with a year-over-year active seller increase.

On a business unit basis, 2015 revenue performances were: Tupperware North America +1%, Asia Pacific -8%, Europe -17%, Beauty North America -17%, and South America -20%.

Not happy with the results, CEO Rick Goings said, “We had a disappointing quarter as we lapped a tough comparison and continued to see an impact from economic and political headwinds in many of our units. While I don’t want to take away from the strong performances in a number of units, our internal actions did not overcome the impact of worse than expected externals in some of our units.” Goings continued, “Given today’s environment, we’re making some defensive moves to allow us to perform financially and to play better offense in implementing our growth strategies.”

Tupperware management’s revenue growth expectation for 2016 is between -4% and -6%.

For more on Tupperware’s 2015 performance please click here and here.

Amway

Since the beginning, this quarterly review has been focusing on the six largest public companies, for two reasons: First, to give an overall picture without boring the readers with so many companies’ figures; second, we only have access to public companies’ reports in detail.

As Amway has been reporting its yearly results regularly in the last few years, we have been adding this giant’s figures to the year-end reviews, too.

According to the announcement, Amway’s global sales last year was $9.5 billion. While this meant 12% year-over-year decline, Amway is still holds leadership position in the industry.

Amway reported its top 10 markets in 2015 as China, South Korea, United States, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Taiwan, Malaysia, India and Ukraine. China alone represents about one-third of Amway’s sales. Amway announced it had experienced growth in seven of these top 10 markets..

For more on Amway’s 2015 performance please click here.

……..

We are getting closer to the end of the first quarter. In about two months’ time, we will be looking at these companies’ quarterly reports.

The post A Review of Last Year Performances appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.

As you will see on the below two graphs, Avon’s sales growth peaked in 2011 to decline afterwards. However, its profitability had started stumbling two years before that in 2009.

It seems CEO Sheri McCoy was more optimistic when she took over in February 2012. One year later, she would say “…driving improvement has been more challenging and has taken longer than I had anticipated,” during an earnings call with the investors.

In fact, the consequences of all mistakes that were previously made surfaced under the the new CEO Sheri McCoy’s leadership. In 2012 Avon’s global sales declined for the first time in quite some time. It was down 5%. The situation with company’s profitability was much worse. The yearly decline in operating profits was more than 50% (from $1092m in 2011 to $525m in 2012). And again, for the first time in many years, Avon posted a net loss instead of a net profit. 2012 was an important year for Avon from one other aspect, too. At the end of that year, the crown changed hands and Amway became the largest direct selling company, overthrowing Avon.

In February 2013, Avon’s top management gave a presentation at Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference (CAGNY). There, Sheri McCoy summarized Avon’s situation as:

• Underperforming for years

• Eroded financial health

• Disappointed stakeholders

Avon’s decline continued in 2013. Sales was below $10b for the first time since 2008. Avon exited several small, underperforming markets in 2013. The same year Avon sold Silpada for $85m, about one-seventh the amount it paid to buy the company in 2010. Silpada’s sales at the time of purchase were about $230m a year, compared with $155m in 2012.

Last but not least, the infamous “bribery” issue contributed to Avon’s numbers, too. Avon, after spending at least $344m on an internal investigation of corrupt payments, would pay an additional $135m to settle U.S. criminal and civil claims. Avon had begun looking into allegations of improper payments in China in 2008, sparked by a whistle-blower’s letter to then-CEO Andrea Jung.

2014 was far from being satisfactory for Avon as well. Sales was down 12%. 2014 sales figure of $8.6 billion was only better than Avon’s revenue in 2005! Company’s operating profits was also down 6% hitting the worst figure in the last 16 years.

CEO Sheri McCoy said during the earnings call after closing the year, “As I acknowledged previously, the degree of difficulty has been greater than when we set the goals in late 2012, and we remain behind where we thought we would be, particularly in terms of revenue growth.”

So, 2015 marks the fourth year of new management at Avon. And Avon’s growth performance in the first quarter of 2015 was another disappointment. Sales was down 18% as compared to the same quarter of 2014 and the number of active representatives was down 1%, too.

As far as the regional sales performances are concerned, none of the regions were able to post a positive figure: Latin America’s was -22%, North America’s -18%, EMEA’s -16%, and Asia-Pacific’s -1%.

However, the situation was better on the profitability side in the first quarter: While the quarterly loss was $51 million in 2014, this was decreased to $38 million.

In the second three-month period in 2015, the decline continued. Although Avon’s constant Dollar sales was flat compared to last year, sales in current Dollar was once again,18% less than that of last year same quarter’s.

There was a decline in the number of active representatives (-2%) as well as in the number of total units sold (-4%).

Looking at regional performances, the worst came from Latin America (-17%). It was followed by EMEA (-16%), North America (-15%), and Asia-Pacific (-8%).

North America currently represents 14% of Avon’s global business. When commenting on this region, Sheri McCoy said, “The area that has been challenging for us, and you’ve heard me speak about this frequently in the past, is the area of representative engagement and we’re certainly not all the way to bright there.”

Avon’s operating profit in the last quarter was worse than last year’s, too.

In July 2015, Avon announced it would sell Liz Earle, a UK-based skin care brand for $215 million. The Company expects to make a gain on this sale of approximately $50 million after tax. Avon had acquired Liz Earle in 2010 and has since managed this brand as a separate business from its core direct-selling business. Liz Earle represented approximately 1% of the company’s consolidated revenue.

So, is there that light at the end of the tunnel for Avon? Maybe… but for now, it’s not a very strong one.

The post Avon’s 2015 appeared first on The World of Direct Selling.