Natural Health Trends Corp. President Chris Sharng Releases Open Letter to Stakeholders
DALLAS, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 01/15/09 -- 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: Jean Bono Natural Health Trends Corp. Email Contact
Released January 15, 2009