Greetings and welcome to the Nature's Sunshine Products' Third Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode and this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Richard Strulson, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Nature's Sunshine Products. Thank you, Mr. Strulson. You now have the floor.

Good afternoon, everyone. And thanks to all of you for joining our conference call to discuss our third quarter 2016 financial results. This call is available for replay in a live webcast that we posted on our website at www.naturessunshine.com in the Investors section. The press release which was issued this afternoon at approximately 4:05 Eastern Time and the information on this call may contain certain forward-looking statements, which are based on a number of assumptions that are subject to change and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors, which may not be within the company's control. These statements are often characterized by terminologies such as believe, hope, may, anticipate, expect, will, and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the actual results, performance or achievement of the company may be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to those factors disclosed in the company's annual report on Form 10-K, under the caption Risk Factors and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The press release and the information on this call speak only as of today's date and the company disclaims any duty to update the information provided herein and therein. I'll now turn the call over to Greg Probert, Chairman and CEO of Nature's Sunshine Products.

Thanks Rich. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for your participation in today's call. In addition to Steve Bunker joining me today, I'm pleased to introduce Joe Baty, who joined Nature Sunshine last week as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Joe brings nearly two decades of experience in the nutritional supplement industry with Schiff Nutrition, including significant public company, CFO experience. I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve for his tremendous contribution to the company over the past 10 plus years. Steve announced his planned retirement from the company this past March and has allowed us ample time to find his replacement. All of us at Nature Sunshine wish Steve well in his next endeavor. Turning to third quarter results, I'm pleased to report our ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year local currency growth in NSP US and Canada along with solid growth across the global - Synergy Global business. Third quarter net sales $85.4 million were up 7.4% year-over-year with earnings per share of $0.22 compared to $0.08 during the same period a year ago. Each of our key initiatives contributed to the growth and profit improvement reflected in the quarterly results, I remain confident with our strategy to returning Nature Sunshine to sustainable long-term growth. Notable developments included another quarter of growth in NSP United States and NSP Canada benefitting from significant growth of IN.FORM. We launched initial phase of online certification process for IN.FORM program which we expect can further enhance the expansion of IN.FORM distributor. Double digit growth of Synergy Worldwide led by 20% year-over-year growth in Asia with further evidence of stability in Europe. We've launched our Elite Health program in Europe at our Vienna summit during the quarter, enhancing the system that has been a key driver of our growth in…

Thanks, Greg, and good afternoon everyone. Net sales in the quarter were $85.4 million up 7.4% from $79.6 million in the same quarter last year. On a local currency basis, net sales grew by 6.1% year-over-year. As Greg noted, the growth was driven by Synergy Asia, the product sales through Hong Kong and to a lesser extent NSP Russia Gross margin rose 70 basis points to 74.8% from 74.1% in a year ago period. A favorable market mix and manufacturing efficiencies were the primary drivers of the improved gross margin. Volume incentives accounted for 34.7% of net sales in the third quarter compared to 36.0% of net sales in the same period last year. In dollars, volume incentives increased $1 million to $29.7 million as a result of the higher sales volume. While the decline in volume incentives as a percentage of sales was driven by changes in segment market mix, including the pre-opening products sales to Hong Kong for which no volume incentives are paid. Selling general and administrative expenses were $29.2 million, up $2.1 million compared to $27.1 million in the same period a year ago. As a percentage of net sales, selling general and administrative expenses were 34.2% in the third quarter compared to 34.1% in the prior year. The increase in SG&A was primarily due to $1.5 million of independent service fees related to pre-opening product sales through Hong Kong, and 500,000 of increased investment in China, while other increases and decreased were largely offsetting. Operating income increased 61.2% to $5.1 million, or 5.9% of net sales from $3.1 million or 3.9% of net sales in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA as defined in our earnings press release as net income from continuing operations before taxes, depreciation, amortization, and other income adjusted to exclude share…

Thank you again for your support and for participating in today’s call. If you have any follow-up questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Have a great day. Thank you.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That does conclude our teleconference for today. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day.