Vitamin Shoppe's International Expansion; Is the Space Bulking Or Cutting?

The nutritional supplement space is giving contrasting signals on organic growth, especially with respect to international operations. This has given rise to confusion whether they are looking to bulk up or trim down.

Vitamin Shoppe Inc VSI announced Wednesday it is opening two franchise stores in Paraguay. This, according to the company, was on top of the two additional stores opened in Panama and two in Guatemala opened by its other franchisees.

In the year-to-date period, Vitamin Shoppe's international franchisees have opened five stores in Guatemala, four in Panama, three in Costa Rica and two in Paraguay.

GNC Holdings Inc GNC, which operates in about 50 countries and was recently speculated to be interested in its smaller rival Vitamin Shoppe, revealed in its third-quarter earnings report released in late October an 8.1 percent decline in consolidated revenues, with the U.S. and Canada revenues declining 7 percent and international revenues falling a steeper 18.7 percent.

International revenues accounted for about 6.6 percent of its total revenues in the third quarter, down from 7.4 percent last year. However, the performance was better than the 6.4 percent share in the second quarter of 2016.

The company's most recent 10-Q filing revealed that it had 1,991 stores at the end of September 30, 2016, compared to 2,115 as of September 30, 2015, with the store openings for the respective periods at 61 and 89, respectively. Store closings were at 165 and 124, respectively.

At Time Of Writing

• GNC Holdings was losing 0.35 percent to $14.15.
• Vitamin Shoppe was up 0.60 percent at $25.30.