Greetings and welcome to the Nature’s Sunshine Products’ Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 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.

Thanks a lot. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining our conference call to discuss our fourth 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. Also joining me today is our, Chief Financial Officer, Joe Baty. Fourth quarter sales of $84 million were up 4.9% year-over-year, led by Synergy Asia Pacific and $2.3 million of incremental sales in China and new markets during the quarter. We continued to execute well against our growth strategies during the fourth quarter. However, our results were negatively impacted by unusual items and expenses associated with our investment in China and the lack of a direct selling license that led to reported loss during the quarter. Specifically, we took reserves against much for the inventory we’ve built in anticipation of launching our direct selling operations in China, which did not occur on the timeline expected. We have not yet received a direct selling license and are not sure when or whether we will. Additionally, we continue to report a heightened level of SG&A in China in preparation for whether or when we receive a license. Finally, significant deferred tax asset valuation allowances taken during the fourth quarter increased the tax rate and added to the quarterly loss. We reported a loss of $0.35 per share during the fourth quarter. That included $0.15 per share of expenses directly related to our investments in China and inventory reserves, and another $0.18 per share of non-cash costs associated with the deferred tax asset valuation allowances. We continue to generate positive earnings and cash flow from our core NSP and Synergy operation. Let me now discuss our sales performance in further detail. With NSP Americas, we delivered the 10th consecutive quarter of growth in NSP United States. Canada was down primarily due to lower convention sales in the prior year, as a location change and impacted attended. The challenges in…

Thanks, Greg and good afternoon everyone. Net sales in the fourth quarter of 2016 were $84 million, up 4.9% from $80 million in the same quarter last year. On a local currency basis, net sales grew by 4.6% year-over-year. As Greg noted, the growth was driven primarily by Synergy Asia Pacific and the product sales through Hong Kong. Gross margin declined 180 basis points to 71% from 72.8% in the year ago period. The gross margin decline was primarily driven by the accrual of $1.7 million in inventory obsolescence reserves during the fourth quarter. The reserves were associated with inventory build in anticipation of a potential direct selling launch in China, which did not occur on the timeline expected and the sales and related inventory turnover did not meet expectation. Volume incentives accounted for 35.2% of net sales in the fourth quarter compared to 36.4% of net sales in the same period last year. In dollars, volume incentives increased approximately $0.4 million to $29.6 million as a result of the higher sales volume. The decline in volume incentives as a percentage of sales was driven by changes in segment market mix, including the pre-opening products sales through Hong Kong for which no volume incentives are paid. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $31.5 million, up $4.6 million compared to $26.9 million in the same period a year ago. As a percentage of net sales, selling, general and administrative expenses were 37.5% in the fourth quarter compared to 33.6% in the prior year. The increase in SG&A was primarily due to incremental independent service fees related to pre-opening product sales through Hong Kong, expenses associated with increased infrastructure investment in China, an increase in personnel related costs and a reduction of capitalized internal development cost related to the enterprise resource planning…

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. This concludes today’s teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.