Vitamin Shoppe, Inc. (
VSI)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript
February 17, 2010 10:00 a.m. ET
Executives
Cosmo La Forgia - Vice President of Finance
Richard L. Markee - Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Michael G. Archbold - Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer
Anthony N. Truesdale - President and Chief Merchandising Officer
Analysts
David Schick - Stifel Nicolaus & Company, Inc.
Meredith Adler - Barclays Capital
Alan Rifkin - Banc of America/Merrill Lynch
Radina L. Russell - J.P. Morgan
Peter Benedict - Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc.
Mitchell Kaiser - Piper Jaffray
Presentation
Operator
Good morning. And welcome to the Vitamin Shoppe’s Fiscal Fourth Quarter and Year End 2009 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, I would like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Cosmo La Forgia, Vice President of Finance at Vitamin Shoppe.
Cosmo La Forgia
Thank you. And good morning, everyone. As always, before we begin, I’ll review the requisite forward-looking statement disclaimers. Part of our discussion today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to risk and uncertainties.
Actual results might differ materially from those projected herein. The words believe, expect, plan, intend, estimate or anticipate and similar expressions, as well as, future or conditional verbs, such as should, would and could, identify forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
We refer all of you to our filings with the Security and Exchange Commission, including our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for a more detailed discussion of the risk and uncertainties that may have a direct bearing on our operating results, our performance and our financial condition.
Please note that this call will use non-GAAP terms such as pro forma or adjusted shares. Our 10-K contains an explanation of why we use such terms and reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP numbers.
I will now turn over the call to our Chief Executive Officer, Rick Markee.
Richard L. Markee
Thank you, Cosmo, and good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you all to Vitamin Shoppe’s fiscal fourth quarter and year end 2009 earnings call. As with prior calls, I’m here today with Cosmo; Mike Archbold, our Chief Operating Officer and ChieFinancial Officer; and Tony Truesdale, our President and Chief Merchandising Officer.
Just over three months ago, the Vitamin Shoppe completed a successful IPO. Today, we continue to post record results by recording our 17th consecutive quarter of positive same-store sales growth. Our success is attributed to our continued focus on the customer with our brand values of superior selection, knowledgeable associates, trust and everyday great value.
Our stores strive to have a personal relationship with our customers in order to provide them the help they need and they have come to expect when they shop in our stores.
Moving onto our results this quarter, the Vitamin Shoppe’s comp-store sales increased 7%. Comp-store sales are defined as sales from a store that has been in operation for over 410 days and does not include any sales from our direct-to-consumer business.
Net sales for the fourth quarter increased 13.5% over the comparable prior year period, driven by continued growth in specialty supplements, vitamins and multivitamins, sports nutrition and herbs. Our performance continues to demonstrate Vitamin Shoppe’s ability to grow our business successfully during both good and challenging economic times.
