Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) : update from "go-shop" period

• 9/24/19:  VSI -10.7% (Vitamin Shoppe ended negotiations with bidder during the "go-shop" period; Board reaffirms recommendation in favor of pending merger with Franchise Group)

Vitamin Shoppe announces update from "go-shop" period; received interest from bidder

The "go-shop" period provided for under the terms of the previously announced merger agreement by and among the company, Liberty Tax (TAXA), and Valor Acquisition, LLC expired at 12:01 a.m. New York City time on September 6; the company announced that it has received an acquisition proposal to acquire the company from a third party during the go-shop period. No parties other than that bidder submitted an acquisition proposal to acquire the Company during the "go-shop" period.

The company has determined that the bidder has qualified as an "Excluded Party" and that the Acquisition Proposal is reasonably likely to lead to a Superior Proposal. The company intends to engage in negotiations with the bidder regarding the Acquisition Proposal. At this time, the company has not determined whether the Acquisition Proposal constitutes a Superior Proposal under the Merger Agreement.

Neither the Board of Directors of the company nor the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of the company has changed its recommendation in favor of the company's pending merger with Liberty Tax and expressly reaffirms its recommendation in favor of the pending merger with Liberty Tax.

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) to be acquired by Liberty Tax for $6.50 a share

   

• The deal is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019. Liberty Tax is the parent of Liberty Tax Service and Buddy's Home Furnishings. Vitamin Shoppe's stock, which is still inactive in premarket trading, has tumbled 57.6% over the past 12 months.

 

Vitamin Shoppe to be acquired by Liberty Tax, Inc. in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $208 million

The Vitamin Shoppe shareholders will receive $6.50 per share, which represents a premium of 43% to its closing share price on August 7, 2019, and a premium of approximately 59% to the 30-day volume weighted average price for the period ended on August 7, 2019.

Liberty Tax intends to finance the transaction with up to approximately $170 million in debt financing and a combination of available cash and/or through the issuance of common stock of Liberty Tax. In connection with the execution of the merger agreement, Liberty Tax entered into debt commitment letters with institutional lenders and an equity commitment letter with an affiliate of Vintage Capital Management, LLC.

Liberty Tax, Inc. is the parent company of Liberty Tax Service and Buddy's Home Furnishings, and Vitamin Shoppe, Inc.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019.

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

Earnings this week : Feb. 25 - March 1, 2019 (wk 9)

Earnings confirmed to report this week:

Monday (Feb 25)

• Morning: PLAN AWI CRI DORM KOS MDR TEN
• Afternoon:  ALSN APLE APTS ATH AWR BWXT CDEV CORT CRZO DDS  DRH ELGX EPR ETSY EVER FBM FRAC FRGI GSM HNI HTZ IMMU JBT KAMN KBR LDL LSI MEDP MOS NGHC NLS OFIX OKE PBPB PEB PLOW PODD QTS RCII RP RRC SHAK SNHY SYKE THC TRTX TWOU XENT

Tuesday (Feb 26)

• Morning:  AMWD ATHM AVNS AZO BCC BLD BMO BNS BPMC CBRL CLVS DISCA DSX FCN HD LGIH LNG M MNK NCI NXST PRFT RHP RLGY SAFM SDRL SERV SFL SJM SPNS SRE SSTK TA TLRA TPH TREE TRI TRXC USCR VCEL VSI WP WYND XHR
• Afternoon:  AAXN ACAD AKCA ARNA AXGN BGS BNFT CERS CGBD CIR CLGX CPE CSGP CW DRQ DVAX ELF ENPH EOG EVH FOXF FRPT FTR GWPH HEI HPR HURN HY ICFI IMAX IMMR INGN INN INSP JAZZ JBGS MASI MED MELI MGRC MMSI MTDR MYL NBR OAS ORA OUT PANW PEN PLNT PSA PUMP PZZA RRD RRGB RTRX SE SUPN SYX TIVO TNDM TOL VEEV WLL WMGI WTTR WTW

Wednesday (Feb 27)

• Morning:  AES AMRN AMT ANIP BBY CHK CLH CPB DF DNR DOC DY EYE FTDR GCP GTE HMLP HPT HZNP IONS LIVN LOW LXP MDCO MGPI MIDD NEWM NOVT OCN ODP PEG PGTI PNM RDC SBGI SHOO TAST TJX UTHR WAAS 
• Afternoon:  AEGN ALEX AMED ANSS APA ATSG AYX BEL BGNE BILI BKNG BOLD BOX CABO CCRN CHDN COLL CRC CVNA CWK DAR ECPG ERI ESTC ESV FG FIT FOE FTAI FTSI GEF GKOS HGV HHC HPQ ITRI KRA KW LADR LB LHCG MNST NNI ORBC PDCE PK PRAH PRGO PRSC QRTE.A SEMG SJI SOI SQ SRI SRPT STAY SWX TDOC TPC TROX TWNK UHS WIFI WING WTI XLRN

Thursday (Feb 28)

• Morning: AAON ABB ACIW AKRX AMCX AMRX BCPC BID BMCH BPMP BUD CARS CM CMD CNP CRAI CROX CWEN CWT DAVA DEA EGRX ENDP EXLS FOLD FRO FSS GOLF GTN GTS GTT HMHC HRI IBP ICPT IRDM JCP JD KDP LAUR LKQ MGLN MYE NLSN NOMD NRG OPI OXSQ PCRX PDCO PRIM PRTY SEAS SPAR STWD SYNH TD TRS TTI VAC VRTV VST
• Afternoon:  DDD ACHC AIMT ALRM AQN ALTR AMBC AMC APPF AGO ATRC ADSK EQH BIO BLDR CARG CSLT CISN SCOR DELL DCO EIX EDIT FTCH FNKO GCAP GPS GSBD HABT ICUI XON JAG KTOS LYV MAIN MAR MTZ MAXR MBI NKTR NPTN JWN NTNX PLYA PRAA PTCT PBYI PSTG KWR RDUS RBA RLJ SGMO SRG SWN SPPI SPLK SRCL RUN TRHC TCMD TERP TPIC UPWK VMW WDAY ZIXI ZGNX ZS WUBA 

Friday (March 1)

• Morning:  ASTE CLNY CORE XRAY EBIX FL KOP NWN PEGI PTLA SSP SNH STRA TGNA TRCO 

******

• Monday: December Wholesale Inventories (Briefing.com consensus 0.4%; prior 0.3%) at 10:00 ET; $40 bln 2-yr Treasury note auction results at 11:30 ET; and $41 bln 5-yr Treasury note auction results at 13:00 ET
• Tuesday: December S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (Briefing.com consensus 4.5%; prior 4.7%) at 8:00 ET; December Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1254K; prior 1256K) and Building Permits (Briefing.com consensus 1290K; prior 1328K) at 8:30 ET; December FHFA Housing Price Index (prior 0.4%) at 9:00 ET; February Consumer Confidence (Briefing.com consensus 125.0; prior 120.2) at 10:00 ET; and $32 bln 7-yr Treasury note auction results at 13:00 ET
• Wednesday: Weekly MBA Mortgage Index (prior 3.6%) at 7:00 ET; January Advance Intl. Trade in Goods; Advance Retail Inventories; and Advance Wholesale Inventories at 8:30 ET; December Factory Orders (Briefing.com consensus 1.0%; prior -0.6%), Fed Chair Powell Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Testimony, and January Pending Home Sales (Briefing.com consensus -0.4%; prior -2.2%) at 10:00 ET; and Weekly EIA Crude Oil Inventories (prior +3.7M) at 10:30 ET
• Thursday: Q4 GDP - Advance (Briefing.com consensus 2.3%; prior 3.4%), Q4 GDP Deflator - Advance (Briefing.com consensus 1.7%; prior 1.8%), weekly Initial Claims (Briefing.com consensus 221K; prior 216K), and Continuing Claims (prior 1725K) at 8:30 ET; February Chicago PMI (Briefing.com consensus 57.5; prior 56.7) at 9:45 ET; and weekly EIA Natural Gas Inventories (prior -177 bcf) at 10:30 ET
• Friday: December Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%; prior 0.2%), Personal Spending (Briefing.com consensus -0.2%; prior 0.4%), and January Personal Income (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) at 8:30 ET; February ISM Manufacturing Index (Briefing.com consensus 56.0; prior 56.6), and Final February Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Briefing.com consensus 95.6; prior 95.5) at 10:00 ET

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) : cooperation agreements with Shah Capital Management and Vintage Capital Management

 

Vitamin Shoppe enters into cooperation agreements with Shah Capital Management and Vintage Capital Management 

The co  announced that it will appoint up to five new independent directors to its Board of Directors. Himanshu H. Shah, Sing Wang and Melvin L. Keating will join the Board immediately and the Board will be expanded accordingly. The Board may also appoint two additional independent directors at a later date. Each of the newly appointed directors will stand for election at the Company's 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. At that meeting, four current directors (other than Colin Watts) will not stand for reelection. Mr. Watts will leave the Board in connection with his previously announced departure from Vitamin Shoppe.

• In connection with today's announcements, Vitamin Shoppe has also entered into cooperation agreements with Shah Capital Management and certain of its affiliates and Vintage Capital Management, LLC and certain of its affiliates, which currently own approximately 17.7% and 14.8% of Vitamin Shoppe's outstanding common stock, respectively. Pursuant to the cooperation agreements, Shah Capital and Vintage Capital will vote their shares in favor of all of Vitamin Shoppe's director nominees at the Company's 2018 and 2019 Annual Meetings of Stockholders and have agreed to abide by customary standstill provisions and voting commitments.
• Pursuant to the cooperation agreements, the Company has also agreed to commence a tender offer for its common stock on the terms and conditions described in the cooperation agreements. The Board appointments and capital return announced today follow a number of steps that Vitamin Shoppe has recently taken as it continues to execute its turnaround strategy to position itself as the Wellness Authority for its customers.

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) reported earnings on Wed 9 Aug 2017 (b/o)

** charts after earnings ** 

  

Vitamin Shoppe misses by $0.16, misses on revs; resets FY17 outlook

• Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $0.23 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.16 worse thanthe Capital IQ Consensus of $0.39; revenues fell 8.4% year/year to $304.84 mln vs the $314.74 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Total comparable sales were down 8.3% in the quarter reflecting a 7.6% decline in retail store comparable sales and a 20.2% decrease in vitaminshoppe.com comparable sales.The decrease in comparable sales was partially impacted by a sales promotion last year that was not repeated, as well as ongoing challenges with the sports customer. The Company opened three stores in the quarter, and transformed seven into the new brand defining store [BDS] format. Manufacturing sales to Vitamin Shoppe increased 63.6%, while third party sales decreased 27.8% from the same period of the prior year as the Company continues to right-size this business.
• Given the unprecedented level of volatility in the market and the potential increase in variability of the Company's results due to the number of initiatives being launched in the back half of the year, the Company has reset its 2017 outlook and is modifying its approach to guidance. The Company is providing guidance around the key levers that drive the business instead of providing specific EPS guidance.
  • The Company expects full year comparable sales decline rate of negative mid-single digits [The company previously guided for total comparable sales growth rate of negative low to mid single digit]
  • Reported full year gross margin rate of 30.2% to 30.7%. This includes charges associated with the Nutri-Force restructuring and North Bergen closure this year. Excluding these charges, full year gross margins of 31.3% to 31.8%.
• The Company plans to close the North Bergen, New Jersey distribution center prior to, or by, the August 31, 2018 lease expiration. Distribution operations will be transitioned to the Company's other distribution centers and will be substantially completed by the end of fiscal year 2017. Costs related to this closure such as severance, inventory-related costs and other charges are estimated to be approximately $4.0 million. As a result of this closure the Company anticipates annualized savings between $4.0 million to $5.0 million upon lease expiration.

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) reported earnings on Wed 10 May 2017 (b/o)

** charts before  earnings **

 

** charts after earnings **

Vitamin Shoppe misses by $0.20, misses on revs; lowers FY17 guidance:

• Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.37 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.20 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.57; revenues fell 5.9% year/year to $316.9 mln vs the $325.71 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Total comparable sales were down 6.3% in the quarter reflecting a 5.8% decline in retail store comparablesales and a 9.1% decrease in vitaminshoppe.com comparable sales. The decrease in comparable sales was partially driven by a change in the Company's Healthy Awards program in first quarter 2016 from an annual redemption program to quarterly, estimated to have had a 2.5% negative impact. Manufacturing sales to Vitamin Shoppe increased 37.7%, while third party sales decreased 13.8% from the same period of the prior year. The Company opened six stores in the quarter, closed one and transformed three into the new brand defining format.
• Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 31.2% in first quarter 2017, compared to 34.5% in the same period of 2016. The first quarter 2017 year over year decrease was primarily from deleverage in occupancy and supply chain due to lower sales, higher promotional activity and a weaker performance at Nutri-Force. This was partially offset by improvements in margin from favorable category and private brands mix shifts and lower costs through new vendor partnerships.
• Co lowers guidance for FY17, sees EPS of $1.50-1.75 (Previously guided for fully diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.95 - $2.20), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $2.04 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees total comparable sales growth rate of negative low to mid single digit (Previously guided for total comparable sales growth flat to low single digit negative)

VSI — is it a buy?

• 11/11/16:  Is VSI a buy?

• +8%  (50 dma)

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI) reported earnings on Wed 4 Nov 2015 (b/o)

** charts before  earnings **

** charts after earnings **

Vitamin Shoppe beats by $0.05, misses on revs; guides FY15 EPS in-line :

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47; revenues rose 1.6% year/year to $313.9 mln vs the $317.16 mln Capital IQ Consensus.
  • Sales growth in the quarter was primarily driven by growth from non-comp stores.
  • Retail comparable sales were 0.1% and e-commerce comparable sales were up 0.6%.
  • Retail sales growth was partially offset by a decrease in manufacturing third-party sales. The company opened 15 stores in the quarter and closed one.
• Co issues in-line guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $2.05-2.15 vs. $2.08 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • Total comparable sales growth to be approximately flat