GNC Holdings, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2019 Results

• Domestic same store sales decreased 1.6%; International segment revenue, excluding China, increased 13%
   
• Net loss of $15.3 million for the first quarter of 2019 including one-time impacts from recently announced transactions; adjusted net income of $19.0 million
   
• First quarter of 2019 adjusted EBITDA increased 11% to $65.9 million

PITTSBURGH, April 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GNC Holdings, Inc. GNC (the "Company") reported consolidated revenue of $564.8 million in the first quarter of 2019, compared with consolidated revenue of $607.5 million in the first quarter of 2018.  The decrease in revenue was primarily a result of the transfer of the Nutra manufacturing and China e-commerce businesses to the newly formed joint ventures and the closure of company-owned stores from our store portfolio optimization strategy.

Key Updates

• Integration of the recently announced joint ventures with Harbin Pharmaceutical Group ("Harbin") and International Vitamin Corporation ("IVC") currently on track with expectations
   
• Retired legacy B-1 Term Loan on March 4th and reduced the extended B-2 Term Loan during the first quarter of 2019 by $114 million. In aggregate, retired over $350 million in debt since beginning of fourth quarter of 2018.
   
• Ended first quarter with $211 million in liquidity
   
• Recently launched CBD topical products in 23 states and the District of Columbia
   
• GNC brand mix increased to 52% compared with 50% in the first quarter of 2018

For the first quarter of 2019, the Company reported a net loss of $15.3 million compared with net income of $6.2 million in the prior year quarter. Diluted loss per share was $0.23 in the current quarter compared with diluted earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.07 in the prior year quarter. In the first quarter of 2019, the Company recorded a $16.8 million loss on forward contracts related to the issuance of convertible preferred stock as a result of the Harbin investment and a $19.5 million loss on the exchange of net assets for the newly formed joint ventures.  In the prior year quarter the Company recorded a $16.7 million loss on debt refinancing.  Excluding these items and other expenses as outlined in the table below, adjusted net income was $19.0 million¹ in the current quarter, compared with adjusted net income of $20.1 million¹ in the prior year quarter.  Adjusted EPS was $0.15¹ in the current quarter compared with $0.24¹ in the prior year quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA, as defined and reconciled to net (loss) income in the table below, was $65.9 million², or 11.7% of revenue in the current quarter compared with $59.3 million², or 9.8% of revenue in the prior year quarter.

"We are pleased with the EBITDA margin improvement we delivered in the first quarter of 2019." said Ken Martindale, GNC's Chairman and CEO. "During the past six months we have completed a number of important partnerships, including the strategic investment by Harbin and the joint ventures with Harbin and IVC, which further enable our team to focus on our core business.  In addition, during that period, we have improved our balance sheet by retiring over $350 million in debt."

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¹ This Non-GAAP financial measure is reconciled to GAAP below, under the caption "Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income and Diluted EPS to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS"
² This Non-GAAP financial measure is reconciled to GAAP below, under the caption "Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to Adjusted EBITDA"

Segment Operating Performance

U.S. & Canada

Revenues in the U.S. and Canada segment decreased $23.2 million, or 4.5%, to $489.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $512.4 million in the prior year quarter. E-commerce sales were 7.4% of U.S. and Canada revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with 7.1% in the prior year quarter.

The decrease in revenue compared with the prior year quarter was primarily due to the closure of company-owned stores under our store portfolio optimization strategy, which contributed an approximate $14 million decrease in revenue, and negative same store sales of 1.6%, which resulted in a revenue decrease of $6.2 million. In domestic franchise locations, same store sales for the first quarter of 2019 increased 0.6% over the prior year quarter.

Operating income increased $8.6 million to $52.1 million, or 10.7% of segment revenue, for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $43.5 million, or 8.5% of segment revenue, for the same period in 2018. The increase in operating income percentage was due to lower occupancy and marketing costs, partially offset by a decrease in product margin rate.

International

Revenues in the International segment increased $0.8 million, or 2.1%, to $40.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $40.1 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to an increase in sales to our international franchisees of $4.6 million partially offset by a decline in China sales of $3.4 million to $4.5 million mostly due to the transfer of the cross-border e-commerce China business to the newly formed joint venture effective February 13, 2019.

Operating income decreased $0.4 million to $14.1 million, or 34.3% of segment revenue, for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $14.5 million, or 36.1% of segment revenue, for the same period in 2018.  The decrease in operating income percentage was primarily due to a lower margin rate driven by a change in revenue mix.

Manufacturing / Wholesale

Revenues in the Manufacturing / Wholesale segment, excluding intersegment sales, decreased $20.4 million, or 37.0%, to $34.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $55.1 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to the transaction with IVC for the newly formed manufacturing joint venture effective March 1, 2019.

Operating income increased $0.3 million to $15.3 million, or 21.9% of segment revenue, for the three months ended March 31, 2019 compared with $15.0 million, or 12.5% of segment revenue, in the prior year quarter. The increase in operating income percentage was primarily due to a decrease in revenues as a result of the newly formed manufacturing joint venture.  Although revenue decreased, the operating income reduction was minimal as GNC continues to recognize margin on product sold in March, but purchased prior to the formation of the joint venture.  The remaining increase in operating income is the result of an increase in GNC brand sales.

Cash Flow and Liquidity Metrics

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company generated net cash from operating activities of $68.7 million compared with $25.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The increase was driven by favorable working capital changes primarily due to an increase in accounts payable as a result of the Company's cash management efforts and an increase in accounts payable related to the establishment of the manufacturing joint venture.

For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the Company generated $154.3 million³ in free cash flow which includes $101 million proceeds from the Nutra manufacturing transaction, compared with $37.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018. The Company defines free cash flow as cash provided by operating activities (excluding fees relating to the debt refinancing) less cash used in investing activities. At March 31, 2019, the Company's cash and cash equivalents were $137.1 million and debt was $888.4 million. No borrowings were outstanding on the Revolving Credit Facility at the end of the first quarter of 2019.

Conference Call

GNC has scheduled a live webcast to report its first quarter 2019 financial results on April 25, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. ET. To participate on the live call, listeners in North America may dial 1-866-575-6539 and international listeners may dial 1-323-994-2082.  In addition, a live webcast of the call will be available on www.gnc.com via the Investor Relations section under "About GNC."  A replay of this webcast will be available through May 9, 2019.

About Us

GNC Holdings, Inc. GNC is a global health and wellness brand that helps people live well. The company is known and trusted for quality performance and nutritional supplements, and its broad assortment features innovative private-label products as well as national recognized third-party brands, many of which are exclusive to GNC.

GNC's diversified, omni-channel business model has global reach and a well-recognized, trusted brand, and provides customers with excellent service, product knowledge and solutions. The company reaches consumers worldwide through company-owned retail locations, and domestic and international franchise activities, and e-commerce. GNC also has exceptional innovation and product development capabilities, manufactures products for third parties and generates revenue through corporate partnerships. As of March 31, 2019, GNC had approximately 8,200 locations, of which approximately 6,000 retail locations are in the United States (including approximately 2,100 Rite Aid licensed store-within-a-store locations) and the remainder are franchise locations in approximately 50 countries.

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³ This Non-GAAP financial measure is reconciled to GAAP below, under the caption "Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow"

Forward-Looking Statements Involving Known and Unknown Risks and Uncertainties

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to the Company's financial condition, results of operations and business that is not historical information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "subject to," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "may," "will," "should," "can," the negatives thereof, variations thereon and similar expressions, or by discussions regarding dividend, share repurchase plan, strategy and outlook. While GNC believes there is a reasonable basis for its expectations and beliefs, they are inherently uncertain. The Company may not realize its expectations and its beliefs may not prove correct. Many factors could affect future performance and cause actual results to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by forward-looking statements, including but not limited to competition; our ability execute on, or realize the expected benefit from the implementation of, our strategic initiatives; resources devoted to product innovation may not yield new products that achieve commercial success; difficulties with our vendors; failure to maintain and/or upgrade our information technology systems, including electronic payments systems; risks and costs associated with security breaches, data loss, credit card fraud and identity theft; risks associated with our international operations; impact of our current debt profile and obligations under our debt instruments; deployment of real estate strategy and significant lease obligation; successful development and maintenance of a relevant omni-channel experience for our customers; disruptions in our manufacturing system; unfavorable publicity or consumer perception of our products; any significant disruption to our distribution network, inventory management system, or to the timely receipt of inventory; issues with franchisees; material product liability claims, or product recalls; any increase in the price and shortage of supply of key raw materials; general economic conditions, including a prolonged weakness in the economy; compliance with new and existing laws and governmental regulations; failure to comply with FTC regulations; failure  to protect our brand name and intellectual property; potential impact of issuance of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock including dividend and repurchase obligations; the terms and features of our current Notes may have a negative impact on our liquidity, dilution or reported financial results; issues related to joint ventures; failure to attract or retain key employees; not being insured for a significant portion of our claims exposure; our use of derivative instruments for hedging purposes; impact of potential future impairment charges; our holding company structure; historic volatility of our common stock price; and the impact of natural disasters (whether or not caused by climate change), unusually adverse weather conditions, pandemic outbreaks, terrorist acts and global political.

The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Actual results could differ materially from those described or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a listing of factors that may materially affect such forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Non-GAAP Measures

Management has included non-GAAP financial measures in this press release, including adjusted net income, adjusted EPS, adjusted EBITDA, segment operating income, and segment operating income as a percentage of segment revenue, adjusted as reflected in this release, and free cash flow, because it believes they represent an effective supplemental means by which to measure the Company's operating performance.

Management believes that these measures are useful to investors as they enable the Company and its investors to evaluate and compare the Company's results from operations in a more meaningful and consistent manner by excluding specific items which are not reflective of ongoing operating results and that can differ significantly from company to company depending on long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, the tax jurisdictions in which companies operate and capital investments.

However, these measures are not measurements of the Company's performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to earnings per share, net income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP, or as an alternative to GAAP cash flow from operating activities, or as a measure of the Company's profitability or liquidity.  For more information, see the attached reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures.

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Statements of Operations
(in thousands, except per share amounts)

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income and Diluted EPS to Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS
(in thousands, except per share data)

Reconciliation of Net (Loss) Income to Adjusted EBITDA
(in thousands)

¹ The Company applies the if-converted method to calculate the dilution impact of the convertible senior notes and the convertible preferred stock. For the reported diluted EPS calculation for the three months ended March 31, 2019, the underlying shares of the convertible preferred stock and the convertible senior notes are anti-dilutive. For the adjusted diluted EPS calculation for the three months ended March 31, 2019, the underlying shares of the convertible preferred stock are dilutive and the convertible senior notes are anti-dilutive. Additionally, the reported diluted EPS calculation for the first quarter of 2019 includes the cumulative undeclared dividends of approximately $3.7 million within reported net income. As a result, amounts in the 2019 Diluted EPS column do not sum.

² 2019 includes $0.7 million retention and an immaterial refranchising gain. 2018 included $0.8 million retention. The retention expense recognized in 2019 and 2018 relates to an incentive program to retain senior executives and certain other key personnel below the executive level who are critical to the execution and success of the Company's strategy.  The total amount awarded was approximately $10 million, of which $1 million was forfeited, which vests in four installments of 25% each over two years.  Vesting dates are on November 2018, February 2019, August 2019 and February 2020.

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
U.S. Company-Owned Same Store Sales (including GNC.com)

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Balance Sheets
(in thousands)

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands)

¹ Change in working capital amounts related to the contribution of net assets to the manufacturing and the China joint ventures are included in the loss on net asset exchange for the formation of joint ventures.

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Reconciliation of Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities to Free Cash Flow
(in thousands)

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Segment Financial Data
 (in thousands)

GNC HOLDINGS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
Consolidated Store Count Activity

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(a) Includes Canada.

(b) Stores that were acquired from franchisees and subsequently converted into company-owned stores.

(c) Company-owned store locations sold to franchisees.

(d) Includes franchise locations in approximately 50 countries (including distribution centers where sales are made) and company-owned stores located in Ireland. Prior year also includes company-owned stores located in China.