DALLAS, TX--(Marketwire - January 15, 2009) - Natural Health Trends Corp. (
NASDAQ:
BHIP), an
international direct selling company, today released this open letter from
its President to its stakeholders.
Dear Members, Investors and Employees:
Natural Health Trends enters 2009 as a significantly different company than
in the past. Many positive changes were implemented in 2008. It is a
lean, cohesive company focused on delivering outstanding health and
wellness products through a distribution system that also provides an
opportunity for satisfied users of our products to create their own
business selling our products. The past year presented many hurdles --
cultural, operational and legal -- but it has also helped us to create a
stronger vision for a company that we hope will effectively reward our
diverse stakeholders.
Our goals and accomplishments in 2008 were built around the need to move
the Company away from its previous culture and to turn around the business.
We were able to cut spending well below the anticipated $4.5 million
monthly target we communicated at the beginning of 2008. Much of the legal
liability facing the Company is mitigated. Importantly, we are developing
an exciting and growing new market in Russia. And our successful sales
events and strong distributors have stabilized our revenues in 2008.
The changes and additions to our management team that we have made directly
reflect the changing goals we have set for Natural Health Trends. We just
announced the appointment of Linda Lucas Padilla as Senior Vice President
of Marketing. With extensive experience in our industry, Linda will drive
our product development and marketing. This new position for Natural
Health Trends demonstrates our commitment to a disciplined approach to the
development, release and monitoring of new products. With the experienced,
professional management team and outstanding employees we have assembled,
we intend to give our distributors more and better products with which to
accomplish their goals and the infrastructure to effectively and profitably
achieve the goals of our Company. Going forward, we intend to release and
support new products with regularity and with discipline.
We are very pleased with our 2008 progress, particularly in the fourth
quarter, in our Hong Kong and Chinese e-commerce markets, which account for
the majority of our revenue. New product introductions have been positively
received in our important Korean and Taiwan markets. We are planning to
enhance service levels in our European market. Finally, our Japanese
operation has managed to stay cash positive all year.
We believe that we have strong distributors and dedicated consumers, and we
intend to continue to support them with marketing programs and events and
reward them with a disciplined and strongly incentive-based model of
compensation.
In summary, we enter 2009 with a strong commitment to our future and a
concerted focus on providing new wellness and lifestyle products to our
members and to a growing consumer market. We will continue to aggressively
support our business with disciplined and unified marketing, operations and
leadership.
Thanks and best regards,
Chris Sharng
President
Natural Health Trends Corp.
About Natural Health Trends Corp.
Natural Health Trends Corp. is an international direct-selling and
e-commerce company operating through its subsidiaries throughout Asia,
North America, and Europe. The company markets premium quality personal
care products under the NHT Global brand. Additional information can be
found on the company's website, and management encourages interested
parties to register for updated corporate information via email on the
company's home page,
www.naturalhealthtrendscorp.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 -- Forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute
guarantees of future performance. Such forward-looking statements are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to
differ materially from those anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties
include the risks and uncertainties detailed under the caption "Risk
Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 31, 2008, with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update
any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with
respect to the announcements described herein.
Contact Information: Contact:
Jean Bono
Natural Health Trends Corp.