Sales & Earnings In Brief

NBTY's net income plummets: Dietary supplement manufacturer and marketer NBTY's net sales grew 12 percent to $596 million in its second quarter, but higher material costs and the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar drove the firm's net income down 91.3 percent to $23 million. According to an April 23 earnings release, the Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based firm's wholesale/U.S. nutrition division saw sales growth of 35 percent to $349.8 million. NBTY's European retail business dropped 15 percent to $134.4 million, its direct response and online sales were down 6 percent to $59.4 million and its North American retail sales were flat at $51.9 million as the LeNaturiste Canadian retail chain lost $800,000 in the January-March period. The sales total included $23 million from Julian Graves, although NBTY's acquisition of the U.K. retailer continues to be the subject of an inquiry from the U.K. Competition Commission for potential antitrust implications. NBTY also owns the Holland & Barrett retail vitamin and supplement chain in the U.K. Chief Financial Officer Harvey Kamil said NBTY has not proposed a plan to U.K. regulators for changing the Julian Graves operation. "Our goal is to keep the chain and operate the chain just like all the other chains that we have," Kamil said in an April 24 earnings call. Leiner Health Products, which NBTY acquired in July 2008, has been fully integrated into the firm and its sales are no longer separately broken out