UPDATE 1-Herbalife Q4 profit falls, shares down
*Q4 net income falls more than 37 pct
*Q4 EPS misses est by 1 cent
*Sees Q1 EPS below est
*Shares down 7 pct
Feb 24 (Reuters) - Dietary supplement distributor Herbalife Ltd's (HLF.N) quarterly per-share earnings missed market estimates by a cent, hurt by foreign currency fluctuations and declining sales in the company's top markets and also forecast first-quarter earnings below market expectations.
Shares of the company were down more than 7 percent at $16.93 in trading after the bell. They had closed at $18.33 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
For the fourth-quarter ended Dec. 31, the company posted total revenue of 512.9 million, down 11 percent from the year-ago quarter.
Sales in the company's top 10 markets fell 8.1 percent collectively.
The company earned net income of $33.7 million, or 53 cents a share, compared with $53.8 million, or 77 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2007, on less contribution margin due to net sales declines, and higher costs.
Adjusted net income was $43.4 million, or 69 cents a share, against analyst expectations of 70 cents a share.
Selling, general and administrative costs rose to $187.6 million from $173.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Los Angeles, California-based Herbalife now expects to earn between 58 cents and 62 cents a share in the first quarter of 2009, on a net sales fall of 15 to 17 percent.
Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn 80 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)
