"ReShape" Contest

It takes only 90 days to develop a new habit. Start your ShapeWorks (TM) program today to attain and maintain the shape you want. It really works! [Results vary.] This "Heroic" Health Challenge involves prizes and surprises. Obtain more info on Contest page in this blog. Let me help coach you; email 4NRG2B@gmail.com or leave a message at (876)810-1234 ASAP. Create your own simple web site blog to track your progress regularly until (Jamaican) National Heroes Day, e.g. myh3rbalif3.blogspot.com/. Don't forget to fill out the Poll in the side bar on the right to indicate your level of interest in the income opportunity. ReShaping your body can help improve your bottom-line in more ways than one! Ask SAM to learn how.

Wonderful Weight Loss Video

Press "Play" button in middle of the fuzzy picture above to start video.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

"ReShape" Contest

100 Day "Heroic" Health Challenge / "ReShape" Contest
Lose or Gain 25 lbs by Jamaican National Heroes Day! (October 15, 2007 marks the end of the Challenge.)

At least 100 Persons Wanted for this extra special contest to start Healthy Sustainable Weight Change, totalling over 2000 lbs.

Extrinsic Goal: Attain & Maintain Attractive Shape!
Intrinsic Goal: Reduce Risk of Lifestyle Diseases.

When you're overweight, losing even 5-10% of your weight can improve your health significantly.

Prizes & Surprises
Open to Qualified Participants only. Conditions Apply. Participants must buy at least one (1) ShapeWorks product for the duration of contest to be a candidate for awards. [Results vary, depending on the customer's size, individual metabolism and level of physical activity during product consumption.]

Surprise for contestant with largest healthy percentage (%) change in body weight. "Dinner for two" for most deserving "ReShaping" contestant who has become lean and/or added muscle, as desired.

Body Composition analysis, weight and waist measurement, as well as digital pictures taken of all contestants, every three (3) - four (4) weeks until contest ends. For example, Shekira could be analyzed on Day 0, Day 28 (4 weeks), Day 56 (8 weeks), Day 77 (11 weeks), and Day 100.

Entry dates: 07/7/7 - 07/7/31 (International Date Format y/m/dd).
Expected date of announcement of contest winners: 07/11/11.
Notice: Participants with any serious health challenge(s) or who are over forty (40) years should see a physician before starting any exercise or weight loss/ gain program.

Upcoming Event(s)
Short Hike & Games "Bashment" on Heroes Day for all ReShape contestants: Monday, October 15, 2007. Location and Arrangements to be announced.

Income Opportunity
Referral Benefits in kind.
Call SAM (876) 810-1234 or email 4nrg2b@gmail.com for more details.

Background of Coordinator
SAM lost twenty pounds (20 lbs) easily using ShapeWorks(TM) products; as a certified personal trainer and ShapeWorks coach, she is competent to coach others who are serious about applying proven principles of sustainable fat loss. She is a strong advocate of ShapeWorks (TM) products and increased physical activity (including resistance training).

Support
Ongoing support provided by Weight-Loss Coach, who is a certified personal trainer.

Participants are encouraged to start a simple blog to track their progress. Recording your goals in cyberspace will help to keep you accountable!

You could also choose to support others in the contest by meeting at nutrition clubs, or contacting each other using Internet-based communication such as email or chat.

[Blogging is free: Try your hand at using blogger.com, if you want to experiment with the new form of personal expression in the Digital Age.]

Ads
Newspaper Ads posted in Sunday Gleaner starting July 8 and in the Star starting Thursday July 12 2007.

Contest also announced by email, flyers and person-to-person contact.
Challenge / Contest updates in future blog entries.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Wellness Industry "Advertising"

Quote of the Day
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."
- Stephen Leacock

I think that attempting to bypass human intelligence through "sexy" advertisements is - in my opinion - mere manipulation in order to sell goods and services for personal or corporate profit at best or despicable deception that ultimately destroys society in the worst case scenario.... If you persuade persons to engage in practices that are costly in the long run, collectively the society loses, even if a corporation or individual collects funds for short term gain through their "brilliant" marketing efforts. We need win-win advertising, if at all possible....

How then can anyone ethically advertise anything? Sharing information about effective products and services is beneficial to all parties: the corporation, the customer and the media business. Good will is developed when information is spread that helps individuals and community at large; whether the source is from a brand company or not is hardly important.

Since this is a blog focusing on wellness and fitness, I'll share with you five (5) tips for appetite control.... If you are overweight or obese, application of this knowledge could help you lower your fat and thus reduce your risk or current impact of various lifestyle disease.

Dr. Vendryes, a prominent Jamaican physician, believes that five (5) foods effective for weight control are (1) water, (2) green tea, (3) soy drink, (4) green vegetables and (5) apples. I actually eat all of these foods almost every day, without fail. I have green tea two to four times per day, soy shake twice per day, green vegetables (usually from Jenny's restaurant on Ardenne Road) once per day, as well as Jamaican and American apples as snacks regularly. It works for me....

Perhaps, in the words below, you may find a reason to start or continue a program of drinking Herbal Concentrate green tea and Formula #1 Soy Shake regularly.....

The newspaper article follows in full below:


Five appetite-control foods
published: Thursday | February 3, 2005
Daily Gleaner, Dr. Anthony Vendryes

MANY PEOPLE have decided to lose weight this year. Congratulations! But many fear that they may not be able to control their appetite and that hunger will spoil their weight loss programme.

The weight control programme that I use is called Shapeworks and it is remarkably effective at appetite control. However, as you lose weight, you may experience hunger at one time or another. There are several 'lifesaving' foods and beverages you can turn to when you feel hunger that will not wreck your weight loss plan.

These foods and drinks are what I call appetite control foods. What these foods and beverages have in common is that they make your stomach feel like it's full of rich foods. But in reality, you are filling up with foods that contain few calories or carbohydrates. Even though your stomach is full, you are not adding calories to your intake. For example, if you eat one cup of peanuts versus a cup of shredded cabbage, your body can't really tell the difference for the first few minutes. Your stomach will turn off the hunger signals thinking you have eaten a large quantity of food regardless of whether you are eating cabbage or peanuts, but in fact the cabbage may only contain 10 calories while the peanuts contain as much as 500 calories. Raw cabbage is in fact, a great cure for stomach ulcers. But that's another article.

APPETITE CONTROL FOOD #1

Fresh clean water. That's right: water is a powerful appetite suppressant and if you drink an 8-ounce glass of water when you first start feeling hungry, you will find that it suppresses your appetite in nearly every case. If you just drink a full glass of water and have the discipline to wait 10 minutes, you will find that your appetite is either completely gone or dramatically reduced.

APPETITE CONTROL FOOD #2

Green tea: Green tea as distinct from the black tea found in regular tea bags is an excellent beverage for weight control. It not only controls appetite but it stimulates the body's metabolism to burn fat, enhances energy levels, offers protection from several cancers and is useful for hypertension and circulatory disorders. These benefits are not dependent on the small amount of natural caffeine found in green tea. Green tea can be had hot or cold with natural sweeteners.

APPETITE CONTROL FOOD #3

Soy Protein Shakes and Snacks

Add 8 ounces of unsweetened soy milk to the blender, along with 2 tablespoons of Shapeworks Formula #1 Protein powder and a slice of papaya, or half of a banana or apple and blend. This provides an excellent low calorie meal replacement drink that will satisfy your appetite. Avoid those popular meal replacement drinks that contain lots of sugar and carbohydrates and not enough protein. Roasted soy nuts, soy soups, fruit flavoured beverages and bars are other ways to use soy for appetite control while enjoying the many health benefits of soy.

APPETITE CONTROL FOOD #4

Green Vegetables: Vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, bokchoy, field greens and other leafy vegetables contain so few calories that you don't need to count them. Allow yourself to eat an unlimited quantity of any green leafy vegetables. They are 'free' foods that are rich in vitamins, minerals and cancer fighting substances, and yet at the same time, they fill your stomach and make you feel full, turning off the hunger signals in your brain. You can consume these green leafy vegetables in different ways. Most people don't like to eat them plain. Instead, you can make a salad and then add only 100 calories worth of salad dressing. You need to find some of the lower calorie salad dressings available, and try to avoid MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, and other ingredients in your dressing.


APPETITE CONTROL FOOD #5:

Apples: Eat the largest apple you can find of either the Jamaican or American variety. Sure, they contain some calories and some carbohydrates, but the apple will fill you up for quite a while, and that will stop you from eating far more calorie-rich foods.

Let me explain. If you are very hungry, it's very easy to reach for some processed foods like a bag of chips or crackers, for example. You can start nibbling away until you've consumed 1000 calories or more. But, it's almost impossible to eat 1000 calories worth of apples. You'll probably fill up even before reaching 400 calories. Apples are great appetite suppressing foods because the fibre fills up your stomach and turns off your appetite before you overeat. Plus, apples contain various vitamins and minerals and anticancer agents.

OTHER NATURAL APPETITE SUPPRESSANTS:

Fibre supplements

Swallow a couple of fibre tablets before you begin eating. Fibre tablets could include oat bran fibre, apple pectin fibre, or other natural fibres. This creates a feeling of fullness with little food. Although several fibre supplements are available, I recommend one in which the fibre has been "activated" to trap and eliminate any excess fat in your meal. Be careful to drink plenty of water as you take these tablets because without adequate water, they can slow up your digestive system. So, another reason to drink plenty of water.


Herbal Tablets

A variety of herbs is effective at safely suppressing appetite and promoting weight loss. I recommend a tablet that contains a combination of several herbs (Ephedra free) that suppress appetite while stimulating fat burning. They are far better than weight loss drugs.


------------------------------------------

You may email Dr. Vendryes at Vendryes@mac.com or listen to An Ounce of Prevention on POWER 106 FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 - 10:30 p.m.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Countdown until "ReShape" Contest Complete


COUNTDOWNCLOCKS.net

Why Wellness Industry

Isn't time you cashed into the wellness industry?

Interview with Author of "Wellness Revolution" book

Hear Paul Zane Pilzer talk about his research on the growing wellness industry on this video.

Herbalife MarketWatch Info


10-Q: HERBALIFE LTD.
Last Update: 5:31 PM ET May 1, 2007

(EDGAR Online via COMTEX) -- Item 2. Management's Discussion And Analysis Of Financial Condition And Results Of Operations

[Graphs not shown below. See link at end of article.]

Overview
We are a global network marketing company that sells weight management, nutritional supplement and personal care products. We pursue our mission of "changing people's lives" by providing a financially rewarding business opportunity to distributors and quality products to distributors and their customers who seek a healthy lifestyle. We are one of the largest network marketing companies in the world with net sales of approximately $1.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2006. We sell our products in 64 countries through a network of over 1.5 million independent distributors except in China, where we sell our products through retail stores and an employed sales force. We believe the quality of our products and the effectiveness of our distribution network, coupled with geographic expansion, have been the primary reasons for our success throughout our 27-year operating history.

We offer products in three principal categories: weight management products, nutritional supplements which we refer to as "Targeted Nutrition" and personal care products which we refer to as "Outer Nutrition(R)". Our products are often sold in programs, which are comprised of a series of related products designed to simplify weight management and nutrition for consumers and maximize our distributors' cross-selling opportunities.

Industry-wide factors that affect us and our competitors include the increasing prevalence of obesity and the aging of the worldwide population, which are driving demand for nutrition and wellness-related products and the recruitment and retention of distributors.

The opportunities and challenges upon which we are most focused are: retailing of our products, recruitment and retention of distributors and improving distributor productivity, new markets, further penetrating existing markets including China, globalizing successful distributor methods of operation (such as Nutrition Clubs), introducing new products, developing niche market segments and further investing in our infrastructure.

In July 2006, we changed our geographic units from four to seven units as part of our on-going realignment for growth efforts. These changes are intended to create growth opportunities for our distributors, support faster decision making across the organization by reducing layers of management, improve the sharing of ideas and tools and accelerate growth in our high potential markets. Under the new geographic units we report revenue from:
North America, which consists of the U.S., Canada, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic;
Mexico and Central America, which consists of Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama;
Brazil;
South America and Southeast Asia, which includes New Zealand and Australia and excludes Brazil;
EMEA, which consists of Europe, the Middle East and Africa;
Greater China, which consists of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong; and
North Asia, which consists of Japan and Korea.

Historical information presented related to our geographic units has been reclassified to conform to our current geographic presentation.

A key non-financial measure we focus on is Volume Points on a Royalty Basis, or Volume Points, which is essentially our weighted unit measure of product sales volume. It is a useful measure for us, as it excludes the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and ignores the differences generated by varying retail pricing across geographic markets. In general, an increase in Volume Points in a particular group or country directionally indicates an increase in local currency net sales.

Volume Points by Geographic Unit
For the Three Months Ended March 31,
2006 2007 % Change
(Volume points in millions)
North America 130.7 162.3 24.2 %
Mexico & Central America 136.4 154.7 13.4 %
Brazil 44.7 40.3 (9.8 )%
South America & Southeast Asia 56.7 75.5 33.2 %
EMEA 148.9 140.4 (5.7 )%
Greater China 31.9 44.7 40.1 %
North Asia 30.7 32.8 6.8 %
Worldwide 580.0 650.7 12.2 %

Number of New Supervisors by Geographic Unit as of Reporting Period
Another key non-financial measure on which we focus is the number of distributors qualified as new supervisors under our compensation system. Distributors qualify for supervisor status based on their Volume Points. The growth in the number of new supervisors is a general indicator of the level of distributor recruitment, which generally drives net sales in a particular country or group.

As of March 31,
2006 2007 % Change
North America 7,616 9,013 18.3 %
Mexico & Central America 8,299 7,176 (13.5 )%
Brazil 5,087 4,108 (19.2 )%
South America & Southeast Asia 6,366 8,858 39.1 %
EMEA 9,132 7,642 (16.3 )%
Greater China 2,833 5,314 87.6 %
North Asia 2,284 2,115 (7.4 )%
Worldwide 41,617 44,226 6.3 %

Number of Supervisors and Retention Rates by Geographic Unit as of Requalification Period
Our compensation system requires each supervisor to re-qualify for such status each year, prior to February. In February of each year, we delete from the rank of supervisor those distributors who did not satisfy the supervisor qualification requirements during the preceding twelve months. Distributors who meet the supervisor requirements at any time during the year are promoted to supervisor status at that time, including any supervisors who were deleted, but who subsequently requalified.

Number of Supervisors Supervisors Retention Rate
2006 2007 2006 2007
North America 45,778 54,375 41.2 % 43.1 %
Mexico & Central America 38,344 62,622 57.4 % 55.2 %
Brazil 27,318 28,974 29.0 % 28.8 %
South America & Southeast Asia 30,846 46,393 31.6 % 33.9 %
EMEA 66,103 64,862 45.0 % 46.2 %
Greater China 19,447 25,868 34.7 % 34.7 %
North Asia 15,736 15,697 48.6 % 43.0 %
Worldwide 243,572 298,791 41.5 % 42.5 %

Supervisors must re-qualify annually. The requalification period covers the twelve months starting in February and ending the following January. The number of supervisors by geographic unit as of the reporting dates will normally be higher than the number of supervisors by geographic unit as of the requalification period because supervisors who do not re-qualify during the relevant twelve-month period will be dropped from the rank of supervisor the following February. For the latest twelve month re-qualification period ending January 2007, approximately 42.5 percent of our supervisors re-qualified. Since supervisors purchase most of our products for resale to other distributors and consumers, comparisons of supervisor totals on a year-to-year, same period basis are good indicators of our recruitment and retention efforts in different geographic units.

The value of the average monthly purchase of Herbalife products by our supervisors has remained relatively constant over time. Consequently, increases in our sales are driven primarily by our retention of supervisors and by our recruitment and retention of distributors, rather than through increases in the productivity of our overall supervisor base.
We provide distributors with products, support material, training, special events and a competitive compensation program. If a distributor wants to pursue the Herbalife business opportunity, the distributor is responsible for growing his or her business and personally pays for the sales activities related to attracting new customers and recruiting distributors by hosting events such as Herbalife Opportunity Meetings or Success Training Seminars; by advertising Herbalife's products, by purchasing and using promotional materials such as t-shirts, buttons and caps; by utilizing and paying for direct mail and print material such as brochures, flyers, catalogs, business cards, posters and banners and telephone book listings; by purchasing inventory for sale or use as samples; and by training, mentoring and following up (in person or via the phone or internet) with customers and recruits on how to use Herbalife products and/or pursue the Herbalife business opportunity.

Presentation
"Retail Sales" represent the gross sales amounts on our invoices to distributors before distributor allowances (as defined below), and "Net Sales", which reflects distribution allowances and handling and freight income, represent what we collect and recognize as net sales in its financial statements. We discuss Retail Sales because of its fundamental role in our compensation systems, internal controls and operations, including its role as the basis upon which distributor discounts, royalties and bonuses are awarded. In addition, it is used as the basis for certain information included in daily and monthly reports reviewed by our management. However, such a measure is not in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the U.S., or GAAP. You should not consider Retail Sales in isolation from, nor as a substitute for, net sales and other consolidated income or cash flow statement data prepared in accordance with GAAP, or as a measure of profitability or liquidity. A reconciliation of Net Sales to Retail Sales is presented below under "Results of Operations. "Product Sales" represent the actual product purchase price paid to us by our distributors, after giving effect to distributor discounts referred to as "distributor allowances," which approximate 50% of retail sales prices. Distributor allowances as a percentage of sales may vary by country depending upon regulatory restrictions that limit or otherwise restrict distributor allowances.

Our "gross profit" consists of net sales less "cost of sales," which represents the prices we pay to our raw material suppliers and manufacturers of our products as well as costs related to product shipments, duties and tariffs, freight expenses relating to shipment of products to distributors and importers and similar expenses.

"Royalty Overrides" are our most significant expense and consist of: royalty overrides, and production bonuses which total approximately 15% and 7%, respectively, of the Retail Sales of Weight Management, Targeted Nutrition, Outer Nutrition(R) and promotional products; the Mark Hughes Bonus payable to some of our most senior distributors in the aggregate amount of up to 1% of retail sales of Weight Management, Targeted Nutrition, Outer Nutrition(R) and promotional products; and other discretionary incentive cash bonuses to qualifying distributors.

Royalty Overrides are generally earned based on retail sales, and approximate in the aggregate about 22% of retail sales or approximately 36% of our net sales. Royalty Overrides together with distributor allowances represent the potential earnings to distributors of up to approximately 73% of retail sales. The compensation to distributors is generally for the development, retention and improved productivity of their distributor sales organizations and is paid to several levels of distributors on each sale. Due to restrictions on direct selling in China, our full-time employed sales representatives in China are compensated with wages, bonuses and benefits instead of the distributors earnings, distributor allowances and royalty overrides. Because of local country regulatory constraints, we may be required to modify our typical distributor incentive plans as described above. Consequently, the total distributor discount percentage may vary over time. We also offer reduced distributor allowances and pay reduced royalty overrides with respect to certain products worldwide.
Our "operating margins" consist of net sales less cost of sales and royalty overrides.

"Selling, General and Administrative Expenses" represent our operating expenses, components of which include labor and benefits, sales events, professional fees, travel and entertainment, distributor marketing, occupancy costs, communication costs, bank fees, depreciation and amortization, foreign exchange gains and losses and other miscellaneous operating expenses.

Most of our sales to distributors outside the United States are made in the respective local currencies. In preparing our financial statements, we translate revenues into U.S. dollars using average exchange rates. Additionally, the majority of our purchases from our suppliers generally are made in U.S. dollars. Consequently, a strengthening of the U.S. dollar versus a foreign currency can have a negative impact on our reported sales and operating margins and can generate transaction losses on intercompany transactions. Throughout the last five years, foreign currency exchange rates have fluctuated significantly. From time to time, we enter into foreign exchange forward contracts and option contracts to mitigate our foreign currency exchange risk.

Summary Financial Results
For the three months ended March 31, 2007, net sales increased 11.5% to $508.1 million from $455.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2006. The increase reflects the continued retailing success from distributors using the Nutrition Club operating method in Mexico and the U.S. The growth in the two markets accounted for 55.1% of the overall increase in net sales. Venezuela and certain other South American countries also experienced significant sales growth due in part to the opening of Peru during the first quarter of 2007, while net sales in Brazil declined. Net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2007 in EMEA and North Asia, were flat when compared to the same period in 2006.

Net income increased for the three months ended March 31, 2007 to $41.2 million, or $0.55 per diluted share, from $38.7 million, or $0.53 per diluted share for the same period in 2006. The net income increase was driven by revenue growth primarily in Mexico and the U.S. markets and lower interest expense following a debt refinancing in July 2006. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2007 included a $1.0 million unfavorable after tax impact in connection with the Realignment for Growth plan and a $3.6 million charge for an increase in tax reserve. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2006 included the impact of a $3.7 million tax benefit resulting from an international income tax settlement.

Results of Operations
Our results of operations for the periods described below are not necessarily indicative of results of operations for future periods, which depend upon numerous factors, including our ability to recruit and retain new distributors, open new markets and further penetrate existing markets and introduce new products and develop niche market segments.

The following table sets forth selected results of our operations expressed as a percentage of net sales for the periods indicated.

Three Months Ended
March 31, March 31,
2006 2007
Operations:
Net sales 100.0 % 100.0 %
Cost of sales 20.1 21.1
Gross profit 79.9 78.9
Royalty overrides 36.3 35.5
Selling, general & admin expenses 29.6 29.4
Operating income 14.0 14.0
Interest expense 1.3 0.4
Income before income taxes and minority interest 12.7 13.6
Income taxes 4.2 5.5
Net income 8.5 % 8.1 %

Three months ended March 31, 2007 compared to three months ended March 31, 2006
Net Sales
The following chart reconciles Retail Sales to net sales:
Sales by Geographic Region
Three Months Ended March 31,
2006 2007
Handling Handling Change
Retail Distributor Product & Freight Net Retail Distributor Product & Freight Net in Net
Sales Allowance Sales Income Sales Sales Allowance Sales
Income Sales Sales
(Dollars in millions)
EMEA $ 232.3 $ (111.3 ) $ 121.0 $ 20.5 $ 141.5 $ 234.1 $ (112.7 ) $ 121.4 $ 21.8 $ 143.2 1.2 %
Mexico & Central America 141.5 (68.7 ) 72.8 11.2 84.0 161.3 (78.4 ) 82.9 13.0 95.9 14.2 %
North America 140.9 (67.7 ) 73.2 13.9 87.1 168.5 (80.3 ) 88.2 16.3 104.5 20.0 %
SAMSEA 73.3 (34.6 ) 38.7 4.8 43.5 94.4 (45.5 ) 48.9 6.9 55.8 28.3 %
Brazil 59.0 (28.3 ) 30.7 4.8 35.5 54.2 (25.7 ) 28.5 4.8 33.3 (6.2 )%
Greater China 45.9 (20.2 ) 25.7 2.9 28.6 62.6 (25.4 ) 37.2 3.5 40.7 42.3 %
North Asia 58.2 (26.7 ) 31.5 4.1 35.6 56.1 (25.3 ) 30.8 3.9 34.7 (2.5 )%
Worldwide $ 751.1 $ (357.5 ) $ 393.6 $ 62.2 $ 455.8 $ 831.2 $ (393.3 ) $ 437.9 $ 70.2 $ 508.1 11.5 %

Changes in net sales are directly associated with the recruiting and retention of our distributor force, retailing of our products, the quality and completeness of the product offerings that the distributor force has to sell and the number of countries in which we operate. Management's role, both in-country and at the corporate level is to provide distributors with a competitive and broad product line, encourage strong teamwork and leadership among the Chairman's Club and President's Team distributors and offer leading edge business tools to make doing business with Herbalife simple.

Management uses the distributor marketing program coupled with educational and motivational tools and promotions to incentivize distributors to increase recruiting, retention and retailing, which in turn affect net sales. Such tools include company sponsored sales events such as Extravaganzas and World Team Schools where large groups of distributors gather, thus allowing them to network with other distributors, learn recruiting, retention and retailing techniques from our leading distributors and become more familiar with how to market and sell our products and business opportunities. Accordingly, management believes that these development and motivation programs can increase the productivity of the supervisor network. The expenses for such programs are included in Selling General & Administrative Expenses. Sales are driven by several factors, including the number and productivity of distributors and supervisors who continually build, educate and motivate their respective distribution and sales organizations. We also use event and non-event product promotions to motivate distributors to increase recruiting, retention and retailing activities. These promotions have prizes ranging from qualifying for events to product prizes and vacations. The costs of these promotions are included in Selling, General & Administrative Expenses.

The factors described above have helped distributors increase their business, which in turn has driven growth in our business. The following net sales by geographic unit discussion further details some of the above factors and describes unique growth factors specific to certain major countries. We believe that the correct business foundation, coupled with ongoing training and promotional initiatives, is required to increase recruiting and retention of distributors and retailing of our products. The correct business foundation includes strong country management that works closely with the distributor leadership, unified distributor leadership, a broad product line that appeals to local consumer needs, a favorable regulatory environment, a scalable and stable technology platform and an attractive distributor marketing plan. Initiatives such as Success Training Seminars, World Team Schools, Promotional Events and regional Extravaganzas are integral components of developing a highly motivated and educated distributor sales organization that will work toward increasing the recruitment and retention of distributors.

Our strategy will continue to include creating and maintaining growth within existing markets while expanding into new markets. We expect to increase our spending in Selling, General & Administrative Expenses to maintain or stimulate sales growth, while making strategic investments in new initiatives and in new markets.

In addition, new ideas and distributor business methods, or DMO's, are being generated in our regional markets, either by distributors, country management or corporate management. Examples are the Nutrition Clubs in Mexico, the Total Plan in Brazil, The Wellness Coach in France, The Sampling Program in the U.S., and Generation Herbalife, or GenH, in many of our markets, as described under "Net Sales" below. Management's strategy is to review the applicability of expanding successful country initiatives throughout a region and where appropriate, financially support the globalization of these initiatives.

North America
Net sales in North America increased $17.4 million, or 20.0%, for the three months ended March 31, 2007, as compared to the same period of 2006. In local currency, net sales increased 20.2% for the three months ended March 31, 2007, as compared to the same period of 2006. The fluctuation of foreign currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $0.1 million on net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2007. The overall increase was a result of net sales growth in the U.S. of $18.3 million or 22.5% for the three months ended March 31, 2007, as compared to the same period of 2006. In the U.S., we expanded our branding efforts with AEG by entering into an exclusive sponsorship agreement with the LA Galaxy soccer team. We also agreed to a major sponsorship agreement with an AVP Volleyball tour athlete, Karch Kiraly.
The increase in net sales in the U.S. was a result of a number of factors, including supervisor growth, up 19.7% at March 31, 2007, as compared to the same period of 2006, the continued strong relationship between the U.S. country management team and the distributor leadership, continued branding efforts such as sponsorship of the 2007 Amgen Tour of California bicycle race and the growth of the Nutrition Club DMO amongst our Latino distributors. To further support the retailing and recruiting efforts of our distributors, we opened a new sales center in Phoenix, Arizona in April 2007 and introduced a new flavor, Pina Colada, into our top selling Formula 1 shake line in the U.S. In January 2007, our Kickoff Supervisor Trainings attracted over 6,700 Distributors across 16 cities.

We believe that 2007 net sales in North America should continue to show positive year over year growth primarily as a result of the expected continuation of strong momentum in the U.S., the continued success and expansion of the Nutrition Club concept and increased focus on the Lead Generation/ Sampling.

Mexico and Central America
Net sales in Mexico and Central America for the three months ended March 31, 2007 increased $11.9 million, or 14.2%, as compared to the same period of 2006. In local currency, net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2007 increased 18.6%, as compared to the same period of 2006. The fluctuation of foreign currency rates had an unfavorable impact of $3.8 million on net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2007. The overall increase was primarily a result of net sales growth in Mexico of $10.5 million or 12.6% for the three months ended March 31, 2007.

The increase in net sales in Mexico was primarily driven by very strong sales in the re-qualification month of January 2007 and strong supervisor growth, up 56.2% at March 31, 2007, as compared to March 31, 2006. The 2007 retention rate . . .

May 01, 2007 (c) 1995-2007 Cybernet Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved

N.B. Graphs not shown above. Link to original article:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/10-q-herbalife-ltd/story.aspx?guid=%7B397DF597-257F-49FB-961E-10354D2E7188%7D