Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) reported earnings on Tue 26 Feb 19 (b/o)

** charts after earnings **

  

SECAUCUS, N.J., Feb. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (VSI), an omni-channel, specialty retailer of nutritional products, today announced preliminary results for the three and twelve months ended December 29, 2018.  Total net sales in the fourth quarter were $248.5 million compared to $261.9 million in the same period of the prior year.  Total net sales in full year 2018 were $1,114.2 million compared to $1,146.5 million in the same period of the prior year.

Reported net loss per share from continuing operations in fourth quarter 2018 was $0.14, compared to a net loss per share from continuing operations of $0.66 in the same period of the prior year.  Excluding special items in both 4Q18 and 4Q17 as shown in Table 4 at the end of this press release, loss per share from continuing operations was $0.19 in fourth quarter 2018 compared with earnings per share of $0.02 in fourth quarter 2017.  Reported net income per share from continuing operations in 2018 was $0.58, compared to a net loss per share from continuing operations of $10.17 in the same period of the prior year.  Excluding special items in both 2018 and 2017 as shown in Table 4 at the end of this press release, earnings per share from continuing operations was $0.26 in 2018 compared with earnings per share of $0.80 in 2017.

Fourth Quarter 2018 Highlights:

- Gross Profit Margin Increases 210 basis points

- Total Comparable Sales (4.7%)

- Digital commerce (0.1%); excluding marketplaces ecommerce sales increased 8.6%.

- GAAP net loss per share from continuing operations of $0.14. Adjusted net loss per share from continuing operations of $0.19

- Repurchased $8.0 million face value of December 2020 convertible notes