Earnings Labs

WW International, Inc. (WW)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Tue, May 5, 2015

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Weight Watchers First Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Ms. Corey Kinger, Investor Relations. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Corey Kinger - Associate Managing Director, Brainerd Communicators, Inc.

Management

Thank you, Jamie, and thank you to everyone for joining us for Weight Watchers International's first quarter 2015 conference call. With us on the call are Jim Chambers, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Nick Hotchkin, our Chief Financial Officer. At about 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time today, the company issued a press release reporting the fiscal 2015 first quarter results. The purpose of this call is to provide investors with some further details regarding the company's financial results, as well as to provide a general update on the company's progress. The press release is available on the company's corporate website located at www.weightwatchersinternational.com. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures disclosed on this conference call to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are also available as a part of the press release. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call will contain forward-looking statements. Investors should be aware that any forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed here today. These risk factors are explained in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please refer to these filings for a more detailed discussion of forward-looking statements, and the risk and uncertainties of such statements. All forward-looking statements are made as of today and except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. I would now like to turn the call over to Jim Chambers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Weight Watchers International. Jim? James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Corey. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. My remarks today will focus on our Q1…

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I discuss the results, I would like to note the disclosure in this afternoon's 8-K regarding a pending restatement of our 2014 10-K. To summarize, as a result of conversations with the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission about a particularly complex and technical hardware accounting literature, we have decided to reclassify how certain 2012 and 2013 franchise acquisitions appear on our balance sheet. Specifically, the balance sheet as of January 3, 2015 will reflect a reduction of $38.9 million of franchise rights acquired and an increase in goodwill of $61.5 million. Previously, these franchise rights acquired were accounted as having an indefinite life; after the correction these rights will have a finite life without giving effect to any renewal rights. The resulting difference in franchise rights will now be reallocated to goodwill. As a result of this reclassification, we have also reversed the $26 million impairment charge to franchise rights acquired, which we took at yearend 2014, because of its difference in methodologies for impairment testing of franchise rights acquired versus goodwill. There is no cash impact related to this reclassification and impairment reversal. We intend to issue restated financial statements prior to the filing of our first quarter 10-Q. Now to review our financial performance for the first quarter. Our Q1 results were in line with the expectations we outlined on our February call, with marginal operating income profitability and an EPS loss. In the quarter, total company revenue declined 16% on a constant currency basis to $322 million and we delivered adjusted operating income of $24 million. The GAAP EPS loss was $0.10. Excluding $0.06 in restructuring costs and a $0.05 gain as a result of our debt tender offer, adjusted EPS loss was $0.09 per share. Turning now…

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Jason Anderson from Stifel. Please go ahead with your question. Jason P. Anderson - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Good evening, guys. Just wanted to ask about Humana. You sounded like things are starting off pretty good. I was wondering, could you give us any maybe color on maybe take up rate or I realized it might be early, but are you seeing enrollments or subscriptions happening through Humana? James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, Jason. It is early and we are seeing take up and process of on-boarding and getting people going is working smoothly, which as you know is where we made some considerable investments in our technology and processes this year.

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

I think that's right. Launch has gone well, it's great to see both teams working together to drive the business. Jason P. Anderson - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Okay. And then also just – and I know you are very focused on Humana and rightfully so. But thinking as a whole healthcare corporate initiative, even though we are focused there, are you building a pipeline or is there any progress on a pipeline of additional partnerships happening or is there activity there, is that more pushing out into 2016?

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. Well, look I think our strategy had been very focused on building the necessary capabilities and expertise to serve this space, and that's why we were so thrilled to answer this partnership with Humana. Now look, we're focused on as we have been growing our strategic accounts business and that is pursuing good growth this year. With regard to the healthcare space, look job one is making the Humana relationship successful and where you saw us in probably in 2014 investing ahead of the curve, you can expect us going forward to be investing in line with further opportunities as they arise. But we remain very confident that there is good demand for Weight Watchers in the healthcare space. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: And we are in conversations and actively cultivating that pipeline and staying close to the changes in the regulatory environment, which we feel will increasingly put us in a good position to add value to that channel. Jason P. Anderson - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Great. Thanks and f I could squeeze in one more and I might have missed it, my phone cut out. The marketing expense is a bit lower than you had previously guided to, did you say it was mostly FX or is there anything else or did anything push out to later in the year?

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

In Q1, you're absolutely right, Jason. We had guided last time to $95 million, came in at $87 million, yeah, FX was a major piece of that, but some good cost actions by the team to really make every dollar we just spend effective. Jason P. Anderson - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.: Great. Great, thanks for all that.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Meredith Adler from Barclays. Please go ahead with your question.

Meredith Adler - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst · your question.

Yeah. Thank you very much. I know this is a business that really gets its big energy towards the end of the year, but are you expecting any kind of improvement based on the things you're doing right now between now and the end of the year? I think you said that you thought that North America would get a bit better, but I'm a little concerned that you have a whole new program, but it's not actually going to come out till the 2016 and then you got to wait and see how people respond to it? Is that a question?

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yeah. Meredith, thanks – yeah, look, your perspective on North America is right, our initial guidance was full year revenue to decline in the low 20% range, now it's up to 20%, so some marginal improvement there, but it's just marginal improvement, because really as we look across our markets, our overall demand profile is what we thought it would be when we talked to you all at the end of February. That doesn't mean to say we're not – we're doing some very good things, starting with the promotion activity that Jim mentioned and running into a spring campaign to drive every recruit we can, but a view of the top line is essentially pretty much how we're performing currently. Our guidance doesn't really bake in much improvement as we go through the year. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Meredith, with respect to the end of the year, as you know, we do take advantage of the natural consumer tailwind when we can get it, but to stress that our combination for this upcoming season includes a meaningful program innovation as well as clarity around the positioning that we will market against, and that has been a historical success formula for Weight Watchers and it represents a considerable amount of work and that's what we are focused on, making that a success for January.

Meredith Adler - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst · your question.

That's fair. And then I have another question. In part of your marketing efforts, are you doing anything uniquely for different kinds of customers? I think, Jim, you once talked about flavors and I'm wondering whether that's something that would be helpful if you were talking more particularly to the individual groups of people? James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yes. I think our flavors program was central to most of the international markets as they launched this past January. And while I think it did build equity for exactly the reasons you're referencing, it is a more customized approach allowing people to eat particular ways according to their preference more easily on our program. It wasn't enough on its own to offset the recruiting challenges. Further, I think as we go forward and with respect to what we're going to do for the next winter season as well, you will see us increasingly presenting customized and customizable options for consumers as we broaden the program and understand that they see things differently, particularly as we look towards fitness where the range of activities that consumers would classify as fitness range from closer in to our consumers in terms of more activity and motion and then all the way out through significant intensive athletic activity which is the other end of the spectrum. So, by its nature, that brings us down a bit of a more personalized or customized route. So that continues to be a dimension of the strategy. It did resonate in our European markets when we launched it this year in the form of flavors, which was food personalization.

Meredith Adler - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst · your question.

I do have one other question. I'm assuming that some of the people you partner with and who pay you licensing revenues are aware of the fact that your membership has been declining. Has there been any discussion about wanting to renegotiate or pull out of some of those licensing agreements? James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I don't think we would share details of specific negotiations and relationships with our partners. I think we consider these to be strategic relationships and we consider them to be invested in our turnaround plans as well and work with them accordingly.

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yes, and look, a lot of our licensee partners who have been with us for many years, so they've seen the business go through cycles and they know that we're very focused on renewing the brand and returning to growth.

Meredith Adler - Barclays Capital, Inc.

Analyst · your question.

Okay. That's fair. Thank you very much for answering my questions. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thanks, Meredith.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from R.J. Hottovy from Morningstar. Please go ahead with your question.

R.J. Hottovy - Morningstar Research

Analyst · your question.

Yes. Thanks and good afternoon. I had a two-parter question about some of the new offering and pricing tiers that you put in place earlier in the year. Jim, with some of the discussion about increased promotional activity, have you had any thought about where pricing currently stands with the different tiers and any potential changes or are you pretty comfortable with the pricing where that's at? Second question is, if we could get an update on the level of engagement with the Personal Coaching. I believe you said it was 3% on the last call as well as how consumers have adopted the 24/7 Chat and just what kind of levels of engagement you're seeing on that end. Thanks. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Sure. With respect to pricing, I think, in the framing of your question, we are experimenting with a number of things. I would see them all as contributing to our work around our value proposition, pricing and promotion, the ability to add value to our products and then finally how we experience the product, some would consider it a freemium model. There's a line between what might be sampled and what might be paid. And we have significantly more testing and experimentation going on in this arena than we have had in the past, but too early to tell exactly what the implications of that might be. With respect to Personal Coaching, the penetration of that remains low and we are focused on increasing that. The satisfaction with Personal Coaching remains high. We see it as a significant strategic opportunity for us as we did when we announced its launch to bring the power of our leaders to members in a digital environment, and we will continue to experiment and continue to push the penetration of this product as we go forward.

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yes. If I could just add to what Jim said on pricing. Absolutely right, kind of the focus on focused promotions and offers is a deliberate strategy and you can see in the 10 Lbs On Us example. We're pleased with that innovation. We'd like to stress, though, when you look at our pricing approach holistically, while we are promoting more this year, of course, it's in the context of it being a very high-margin business where the value of an incremental recruit is substantial to us. And also recall that at the start of the year, we increased our pricing headroom with price increases. So net-net, we're actually experiencing better price realization in the first quarter versus same period last year when you look at those two impacts together.

R.J. Hottovy - Morningstar Research

Analyst · your question.

Thanks. I did have one quick follow-up question. With remarks about the consumers taking a more holistic approach to weight management and overall wellness, I wanted to see if we could get an update on the entire API launch, the partnerships that you have out there. What kind of adoption rates you've seen from your customers on that end, and how that may play into the winter 2016 plan? I mean it's probably pretty early to tell, but just any indications or any sense of how that's going would be helpful? Thanks. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yes. As you set it up, I think it's a good indication of the potential of the more holistic strategy. We have on the order of 0.5 million connected members at this point with fitness devices and the penetration has been good and the affinity is natural. And I think we see more opportunity there in the future as we go forward to not just to connect on a tools basis but further integrate fitness into our program thinking.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from John Faucher from JPMorgan.

John A. Faucher - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Thank you. I know you guys talked a little bit about the pricing, but can you talk a little bit about the whole 10 Lbs campaign and you said it had some impact but wasn't sustained. Is this something where you need to keep the promotional levels higher as you go through the year? Is that something you can run more consistently I guess? And then one housekeeping item, can you just give me a repeat of the gross margin guidance? I just want to make sure I nailed that? Thanks. James R. Chambers - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I'll take the first one. Yes. I think we have more headroom in this business around intelligent promotion. Versus other businesses I've been in, our promotions are very profitable. And I think when we look back to 10 Lbs On Us, I think as we're continuing to do the analysis here, I think we will see that there were value effects to that and that there were also behavioral encouragement effects to that that reduced the barriers for people to consider starting the program. And I think that's why we'll see it as being successful and we are pushing it into other markets, as we speak. We won't talk about specific plans beyond that from a commercial perspective, but I think it represents a foundation for us to expand throughout the year.

Nicholas P. Hotchkin - Chief Financial Officer

Management

Yes. And John, on the gross margin, in the first quarter, gross margin declined on a constant currency basis 500 basis points. And we expect Q2's decline to be similar to Q1, primarily lower volume driven, and for the full year gross margin rate decline of approximately 450 basis points.

John A. Faucher - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst

Okay. Great. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And ladies and gentlemen, we've reached the end of today's allotted time for the question-and-answer session and today's conference has now concluded. We do thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your telephone lines.